The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1808-01-14 00:00:00, page 2

Volnc-y, in his travels through the U
nite.l States, says, “ Fhe Americans
th ink whiskey, just like the Indians.”
^'t he had forgotten, while passing this
censure on the Americans in general,
that such was the practice of inebriation
formerly (and in some parts, perhaps,
th - practice is not entirely' relinquished)
in Lurope, and its pernicious effects on
the administration of justice, that it was
thought necessary to pass a law, forbid
ding jurors to ha\'e access to spiritous
liquor tor some hours before hearing and
deciding a case in law.
In fine, w henever we censure, it should
be with the utmost caution ; for if things
are misrepresented, either in act or in
tention, it is clear that the censure pro
ceeds from a corrupted heart or an irri
tated head.
I shall close my remarks on this sub
ject, by relating an anecdote concerning
a cr.se which some time ago came be
fore a called court in Wheeling. — In an
examination on a charge of burglary,
the attorney f jrthe defendant found that
t ne only plan lie could adopt w hich was
ikely to ootain his client’s discharge,
yens impeaching the character of one of j
the principal yvitnc sses, and supporting !
th it of his client. Accordingly, his !
witness, being duly sworn, yvas asked if
he could give the characters of the lyvo
men. “ Ah really can I, (says he) for
they are both my neighbours. As for
the witness lit re, his character is not so
good, I can assure you.” “ Well, (says
t'l 1 attorney) is he called a man of j
truth ? ’ 4t Indeed lie is very far from '
it: and as for the licensed, he is a very
honest, sober man, only w hen he is in
liquor, which is not very seldom ; but
wii ;n he h is taken his dram, he’d fight,
ah ! he’d fight his own dear father, so he
would.’—-Yet the first-mentioned yvit
r.ess could produce two certificates,
signed by two gentlemen of respecta
bility, stating that he was a man gene
rally to be b li ved. l-b
j o the Editor f Ihe Wheeling Repository,
Sir,
Ip <->u • ij- r of this lay, I set- some
remarks r r. ting the n inoval of the
Co •-hou . from Win * ling to Grave
o - i measure which appears to a
l.i id irritate the gentry of your
pla . Wiiy tre they displeas d ? Is it
because thi I vise o( D legates did not
as!: tli ir p*.;v. ;on to pa .; the act ?—
i* i haps a In, t ■ jorit«” • tie mcni*
btrs supposed ihai the people oi Wiuci
Ing cared little about the small advan
tages arising from having the Court
house ; and they might be confirmed in
this opinion, by seeing no petition a
gainst the removal. It may be the mem
bers heard how your people were cm
gaged otherwise, viz. fixing the great
portage road from Cumberland to the
Ohio—making laws, rules and regula
tions, and once in a while passing a hog
act, for the Corporation—sit zing some
hogs, and selling them, for running on
your pavements, and permitting others
to run unmolested. Those who run at
large, I suppose, are wiser than common
hogs, and must be of the breed of the
Learned Pig. It seems if they ran on
the pavements, they were siezed and
sold by a regular hog-catcher; but if
they kept the streets, or only broke in
to gardens, and belonged to Irish
men, they were not much disturbed.
So there appears to be something past
common either in these hogs, or in their
owners.— blxcuse me, Mr. Printer, ex
cuse me, it you please, for this digres
sion. I assure you I meant no reflec
tions on the Irish. I remember to have
heard my grand mother say that her fn
ther was an Irishman, and as much of a
gentlemen as could be expected. But I
return to the Court-house.
11 the peopie ol your town did count
any thing on the advantages arising
from a Court-house, why not attend to
the matter in time, unless they were too
much engaged in the pursuits aforesaid,
nr something else. For my part, I think
Mr. Tomlinson has acted in the pr*. sent
case like a gentleman, and a man of in
dustry. He has endeavoured in an ho
nourable way, to promote the interest of
his neighbourhood. Me did not go a
bout this business privately. No, he
went about it in the most public man
ner. The law obliges him to advertise
in cases of this nature. He not onlv
done so, but conversed on the subject
with some your Burgesses, and (I am
informed) publicly offered to bet that lie
would get the seat of justice removed
Mr. Printer, I am sorry you mention,
by way of jest I suppose, a wh el-bar
row. Probably some of your people
would have been as well pleased, if vou
had said nothing about that old wheel
barrow. For my part, I thought it had
been burnt or lost several years ag >.
Let me see—hew long ago was the si >
of justice wheeled to your town fro
! VV* >t-Liberty? It must he seven o>
1 years. It the wheel-barrow was
not burnt, it must be rotten by this tiniej
unless it was well taken care of. But
stop, Mr. Printer—I think this said old
wheel-barrow is public property, and
belongs to the county. If so, who keeps
it f I suppose the Clerk, or the Sheriff',
or perhaps the Overseers of the poor: I
am not certain which ; but no doubt it
is safe, and tolerably strong yet.—Now
it Mr. Tomlinson gets his bill passed in
the Senate, (as it is likely he will) it will
really be a laughable thing to see the old
gentleman calling for the very same old
wheel-barrow,to wheel the Court-house
another twelve-mile trip
It Mr. Tomlinson should get his
wishes accomplished, and remove the
seat of justice from Wheeling to Grave
creek, can any of your people censure
him ? They certainly ought not. lie
will have done nothing, but what they
would do themselve s. The like has been
done before now: witness West-Liberty,
which, excepting the appearance of a
very tew families, may with propriety
be called Waste-Liberty.
Now, Mr. Printer, I hope you will be
so good as to give this a place in your
paper; but first correct it a little ; I mean,
where there are too many letters, leave
some out, and where there are not e
nough, slip a pretty one in, and make it
(what men of letters call) grammar.—
If you do all this for me, Sir, I will
perhaps subscribe for your paper ; and
il I do, I promise you I will not belike
some people mentioned in vour paper :
I will pay you every half'year in ad
vance. Donaughey.
Grave creek, Jan. 7th, 180 b
CONG R E S S.
House of Kkprksf.ntativfs.
As vt rv cons h ruble sums of money
have been appropriated hy Congr «s for
fortifications and gun-boats, it must be
of importance to the public, to know
something of the n iture f these means
of d< fence. In addition to the remarks
of members of Congress heretofore giv
en to our readers, \vc insert a few ob
servations of Messrs* Blount and Mas
ter®, on the bill from the S nate autho
i/.ing the erection of fortifications and
the building of gun-boats.
Mr. Blount move 1 to fib ih • blank
lor the sum to be appt wpriated lor lor