Norfolk gazette and publick ledger — Norfolk [Va.], 1807-02-11 00:00:00, page 1

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Fitzhugh’s Packet
HULDAH it ANNA, will sail in a few days
for New-York.—For freight or passage, hav
ing excellent accomodations, apply to the
master on board, or
Moses Myers.
Feb. 9.
For LONDON,
Ship PLANTER, Horatio Moore, mas
will positively sail in all the present
,th, having the greater part of her cargo
engaged. For freight or passage, apply to
Donaldson, Thorbum, & Co.
Wiw are landing from the brig Ann Elizabeth,
60 puncheons choice Grenada Rum,
which will be sold low and on liberal credit.
February 6. 3w
For Freight or Charter,
5 To any port in the United States, or the West
Undies, the fast sailing sloop ALERT, Eben
SS»Gav, master, burthen 87 tons, now ready to
receive a cargo. Apply to the master on board, or
Phinehas Dana.
In Store for Rale,
36 bags Green Coffee,
26 puncheons St. Vincent’s Rum ; 2 hhda. Molasses.
February 6. tf
For Sale, Freight, or Charter,
The Brig At\N ELIZABETH, R. Owens,
master, 173 tons burthen, or 1300 barrels,
will be ready to receive a cargo in 3 days. Ap
ply to
John Brown.
Who has for Sale,
A few puncheons Grenada RUM.
Sw
Feb. 4.
CADIZ SALT.
10,000 bushels Cadiz SALT,
for sale on boa-d the ship Eleanor, rapt. Lord, now laying
at my wharf, Gosport, which if taken from along side may
be had on reasonable terms, by apjrl . ing to
William Pennock.
Who offeri for Charter,
The ship JANE, Capt Colley, of 420 tons;
the ship INDUSTRY, capt. Wright, of 270
.s£5c*tons; the ship LIVE OAK, capt. Yarrcll,
2^0 tons, all ready to receive cargoes. r
Feb. 4. 3w
For CHARTER,
The Schooner UNION, S.Arey, nias
* ter, burthen about 900 bbis a good stanch
svessc!, and will be ready in a few days to re
ceive a cargo. Apply to tire master on board, or
Chistopher Fry.
Feb. 4. tf
Kor Freight or Charter,
The Schooner COMBINE,
for the West-Indies will be preferred. For terms apply to
the master on board, or
Fisk & Catlett. •
Who has for Sale,
Boston No. 1 and 2 BEEF.
January 28. tf
~r For Freight or Chartar,
&{$& The schooner CITIZEN,
jfrfyf/.iy?\<J William.Howes, master, burthen 7(0 barrets;
freight to Charleston will be preferred. For
tfcl ms apply to the master oh board at Maxwell’s
Wharf, or
Fisk & Catlett.
Who has for Sale,
A few hhcls. prime Jamaica Sugart,
2425 Gunny Bags. January 26. tf
For LOND ;N,
The S/'ll> INDlA PACKET,
VVilliam Uimlyp, muster; a partofher cargo
wLSsSSCS* being cngagerl, for the remainder, or passage,
having good accommodations, apply to the master on board,
or FlIINEHAS DANA. ,
January 23.tf*
. J-^TV. For Freight or Charter,
very fast miiling Ship THOMAS,
o'j3vp*Capt. N. Botilh Apply to
GEORGF. MURRAY, <$: CO.
St. Ubcs SALT,
•n board the Ship Thomas, for Sale.
January 12. tf
The American Ship
AMIABLE ANT0N1ETTE,
Captain Williams, burthen 450 hogsheads to
bacco, is offered for Charter by
C. & F. Whittle.
December t7.
tf
.-ETTV, • For FREIGHT or CHARTER,
The Phil’a built Ship William Penn,
Se-* IhmPcoppered, burthen 360 tons, row ready to re
scoive a cargo. Apply to
Eduard Watson.
Who has for Sale,
ii:w
3 Trunks excellent Linen ; ^ doz. Chairs: 1 case
Umbrellas, well afforted ; 12 casks white Wine Vinegar.
November 14. tf
For BREMEN,
t
The Hr emeu Skip JUNO, -
•»..
Herman Dewers, ma ter, can take the'bufk
- « of one hundred hogsheads on freight, if im
mediate application is made to
Moses Myers.
January 14. tf
* Fur SALE,
153 barrels new Posk ; 50 kegs Lard,
100 do.
Tar; 20.000 wt. Bacon Hams.
* Rich’d & John Taylor,
Feb. 9."
tf
From the Repertory.
AN ALARMING PROSPECT.
The overthrow of Prussia has produced an anxi
ous sensation throughout America. It is general
ly said, Prussia put off the evil day of resistance
till Austria had fallen, till Prussia was defeated,
and till Prussia herself had no longer any chance of
resisting with success. • -IVji^t a-pity it Was, every
one exclaimed, that^Jus^a l»d not joined the co
alition fifteen months pgof when her army would
have added force enough tq ths.Austrians and Rus
sians to have expelled *liw-French from Germany,
l'hen she might have saved herself from ruin and
subjugation. ’Now her blood flows in vain,though
it flows in rivers.
lew will dispute the justness of tj>e sentiments,
but it seems as if fewej, still Derceive or feel their
ell s'; and exact application to our own case. The
tardiness and blindness of Prussia appear, noas
it Heaven had iniatuatcd king i'redejicK,l mind,
like Pharaoh’s, against the light of truth and thjt,
warnings of his near neighbours’ experience. -We
can scarcely think it possible to doubt that he lost
h.s senses betorehe losfhis kingdom. '
If Buonaparte shoultf proceed three yqars more
as successfully as he has done, (and we can scarce
ly conceive'of any impediment except" the British
Xavy,tli^t will stop him) the conquest of this coun
try, literally its conquest, would be found one of the
'•asiest of ail his mighty atchievments. \Ve should
then perhaps think we had bestowed
hastily upon Prussia and too late on
When we t^lk of the conquat
Puonaparte, we*naturally turn 01
things. •
I. The continuance of the B
ority, to hinder French troops
invade us :
me competency or
to expel such an invader <
3. And the foresight
seasonably to call fnrtfe s«
1. The continuance of
superiority of Great Brit
has got all Europe subjui
the Dardanelles, an even!
m the course of 1807, if
accomplished already,
>*>
patriotism, wisdom, anij
England can long susta
d sc mi agcm-nt arising frow t
sal power, bestriding tire ]
be added the vcj
England must fecit
(jeered by a Frencl
ing laws to cripple
it not be natural:
11 rent llytain to i
any ray of hope i
low her a short r«
she is with such
backpnnd spendingr
sterling every wee
almost *
pitc,
own dire nai yMMlj
Either our Nonintei
five and distressing operdl
nnd commerce, or it has nJWfc I
impotence will riot conceal the host
birth to it, and we may say that 1Wjpr temper
Great Britain, in case of her making peace wi
I ranc?, would not be unlike wlrat we have suppnsi
But if the Noniniercouree aetcould operate wl
all the overwhelming force upon British commerced
that its authors were ignorant enough to fancy it
would, then such an operation wouid assist to en
feeble Great Britain in her contest with France,
and really to hasten her subjugation by. Buonaparte.
I lave we protected commerce hitherto bv our own
arms, or have we yet spent a dollar to deter an in
vader from landing on out shores ? What has hin
dered him? Distance?* With a navy, nations a
thousand leagues off lie within touch of a conquer
our's sword.* Talk no more of moderation or of
obstacles in the mind of that man who conquered
Egypt and intended to traverse and subdue India,
beyond the llyphasis and the Ganges, which even
Alexander could not pass. All power that h.e
cannot routfoul is an enemy’s power; itad the re
sources of the United States will appear to his view,
while England exists* as the aliment of the dread
ed nayil greatness : and when England is no more,
what should restrain him from appropriating those
resources to himself? The eagerness his emissaries
have shewn to confer the government of this coun
try and of each of the states upon the most servile
and poor spirited of his creatures, and to make the
acts of congress hostile to England, surely this e
vinces experimentally the desire of the rulers of
France to engross the controul of the administrati
on of the United States.
If then our commerce has prospered- without a
navy of our own to protect it, if we have yet en
joyed our independence in peace, there is no pre
tence for ascribing those advantages to any other
cause than that the British fleets have confined the
great destroyer of nations to the land: nor have we
been safe from the want of motives, or, if that na
vy werfe out of hi? way, of means to subdue us.
We have been shaded by her triumphant flag from
the baleful glare of tiia| comet, that baa shaken
pestilence upon Europe.
2. Next we inquire into the sufficiency of our
means to expel such an invader.
Certainly Bonaparte has no want of soldiers. As
fast as he conquers states, he enlists the refuse, of
the cities to assist in keeping their countrymen in
subjection. After allowing, then, most amply for
all the demands that so manv conquered provinces
will make upon his French troops, there is no rea
son to doubt his ability to send over eighty thousand
veterans to Norfolk and New York.—Nor if he
chose at least twenty thousand of these Cavulry,
would there be any rfHficulty in getting horses in
this country to remount bis dragoons. lie could
seize them by force, and we have some hundreds*©!'
patriots who would not scruple to buy them for his
use. Let it not be objected that so large a force
could not be transported across the Atlantick, even
by victorious France. In 1801 France, humbled
at sea, availed herself of the first month of peace
with England to send 40,000 troops to St. Domin
go, and even in war time as many in Egypt; ami
when it is considered that‘Frenchmen are stowed in
ships of war and transports as* thick almost as ne
groes in a slave ship, we cannot derive any reasona
ble hope from the deficiency of the means for tran
sporting an army of Frenchm-n by sea.
We hav«^neither forts, garrisons nor ships of
war to himferthese men from landing where they
might choose. , ~t • .
isie^pmani-geoerai s returns ana
lesi6t Tdilcetion will shew, that
such an army wnnld be most
^UPRp '*■ w'°uJd be next to impossible to collect it.
And we beg the lovers of our country to look back
upon the late war, and ponder.well on the effects of
having a two years’ and perhaps a seven years’ war
to maintain, with two months'^aen; men unused
to discipline and impatient ami jfoJaiuful of it, As
the case may concern our polities life as a nation^
we entreat all real patriots, whatever their party
may be, to discard delusion and that absurd anil
presumptuous reliance on what the mass of our po-'
pulation may do, and which all experience and all
common sense combine to shew, that they uill not
do,. On such reflections of men ol sense, and espe
cially on the judgment of every military man, we
forbear, therefore, to enter into the details, which
we think none but persons of little consideration
will require to corroborate them.
When all the deductions are made from our mili
tia force that the twelve hundred miles of seaboard
will demand, and when the extreme difficulties at
tending the arfay of an army before mentioned are
maturely weighed, it is, we think, a great deal too
much to imaging, that our army would equal the
French in number. Admit, however, if you will,
that we have, one hundred thousand to their seventy
or eighty thousand. Even then our force would be
inferiour ; for if their army should endeavour to j
penetrate the country in any one direction, our !
force opposed to them in that part «f our line would
be less than that of the assailants. Our business
would be to cover every exposed point, their’s to at
tack only one. All their force would be disposable,
and only part of ours.
It is not immaterial here to remark, that before
we could collect the shadow of an efficient army ^ the
invader would have an almost uncontrouled com
mand of our country. It would take six months to i
gather our forces together ; and if we attend to pro
viding the magazines necessary,to keep them tnge
... ........:.v
nature m tneir
Idren, The wis
les it a8 certain,
fre would be neces
thousand men, of
be 'Cavalry, would
a grist extent of
the militia
the French
ce, It is
ts would
re
av
would
r states,
Savannah,
The mi
their fa
doubt of
But they
n
========^^=S=3H3SSBSS»
ther, more probably a year before \ee could so much *
as begin to oppose the enemy with any prssibla
chance of success. Defenceless as we now are, bow
much, mote defenceless we should be made, indeed ‘ :
how near we should be brought to absolute conquest,
by an enemy having for a year or only six months,
the possession of our cities and all the open conn#
try from New-York at least to Savannah ;• what j'2
poverty, despair, division and ruin would eusue, can
be more easily imagined than described.
Inlying however these terriiick considerations af
murh as we can out of the case, the great poiqt,o£ ’ ....
discussion is still remaining ; are we capable of re* ?
sisting such an invading enemy ? ' '!"■
We again request all men of sense to disregard * ,
the silly, and for the most part, the cowardly decla
mation of demagogues on the invincible energies of »
republicans ; and to ponder on the causes which
drave conferred upon the French such a permanent ’*
and substantial superiority over the disciplined ar*.
mies of Austria and Prussia. Events that happen-,
ed so uniformly are not owing to chance,'and woe
to that government and nation, which shall expfet
to defeat a French invading army, unless they can*
equal or surpass them ip the command of those very
things that have so long made them irrcsistable. ,
In our opinion then, the French owe their victo
ries to those three things; superiority of numbers ; » \
cavalry ; and artillery, F.verv invaded state stood
•on the defensive. Its forces were of course scatter*
ed, and those of France being concentered to a sin*
g'e point of attack, four men could overwhelm ten.
Nothing was left to chance. Buonaparte has noi. *
trusted fortune, though it is said he worships her. c
If a column of ten thousand men could break thro’
a line of defence, or turn an enemy’s flank, he sent
thirty, and made the work sure. This is lndecdone :~fii
of the advantages inseparable from the position of
an assailant, and unless we could abandon the pro
tection of wealthy cities and districts of country a
bounding in forage, an enemy would enjoy this ad«
vantage over us, and make every attack with
forces twice or three times as numerous as our ‘
own.
2d. By this prodigious superiority of cavalry,
Buonaparte lias had it in his power, not only to me- , _
nace every part of a great extent of line, and to
concentre his forces on the Weakest aud most ituex-.
peeted quarter, not only to turn an • enemy's flank,
•ftit to make the effects of a victory decisive. It is
a new thing, in modern war, for battles to decide the
fate of nations. But within ten years a defeated
foe has not been able to rally. 'The cavalry has
been poured in upon the fugitives, and the dispersed
.bodies of the retreating army were cut up, or sur
rounded and made prisoners. When we reflect that
this has not in a single instance failed to take place,
against veteran armies, and ill their own country,
“with a fjprtified town every ten or twenty miles to
take refuge in, we shall not hesitate to dread the ef
fects of such a victory over raw multitudes. The
havock would be great, (tbe prisoners overtaken by
4be cavalry many, and the discouragement even
greater than the lo3s. -Col. Tarlton’s four hundred
horse scoured the whole state of Virginia, as per- ,
haps Mr. Jefferson may remember, and even passed ,’p
the Blue Ridge without jpolestation. This too af
ter we had been five.yeafs at war.
^The immense field of artillery of the French ar
mies is no less a cause of their victory. It is said
they have made great improvements in their con
struction. Experience has shewn beyond all con
tradiction, that the bayonet can be used only by
-disciplined troops, and that the small aims are of
exceeding little Use in battle except for the bayonet,
But while the fire of musquetry is no longer of any ‘ J
gre.it account, the field artillery has become, within
lert years, infinitely more destructive than if it was
formerly. The management of artillery no doubt
requires the most consumate skill of the regular
bred officer: It is eminently that branch that re
quires and displays the scholarship, of the warrior.
l’>y collecting the light horse-artillery into a small
scale and pouring the fire of several hundred pieces- - *
! upon a part of the line of defence, such a tempest ,
i of grape shot would thin the ranks and disorder the " *
j line before the serious attack with the bayonet should
be made. Now when it is remembered that we
have no defenders but militia, whom, brave as they *
[ are, would be temerity and madness to oppose to the
j french bayonets ; that we trust exclusively to tbf
j fleet, the known and experienced little effect, of the *
j fife o* the small arms j that we have no cavalry ;
that wehave few field pieces and scarcely a dozen ,
artillerists, who could be spared from the defence off
the seaport towns ; with all this in mind we ask,
would our army be in a condition to hazard a bat
tle ? W ould it be constituted in such a manner that
nevertheless it could avoid one ; and can any
man contemplate the issue of a battle without ago
ny of heart.
I As to what a seeker of a seat in congress would
to the subject, and happy, truly happy shall we he,
if they can convince us that, without any more pre
paration than our government seems disposed to -
make, we shall lie in a conditiou to save ourselves
and our country, if it should be invaded. We con
fess we ourselves once thought that there was as much
, truth as vanity in the common boast that here on
our own ground we could resist the world in arms.
The late tremendous events in Europe have dig
closed to our eyes the comfortably delusion this ",
opinion,' • /•> *
Far he it from us to sa$ that ‘ Buonaparte will
actually Invade this country. * But if the British
navy phould be destroyed or removed by peace out.:
Sof highway, it is the most profound conviction of onr ,
souls that he coaid have the undisputed rontroul ■*( . >
i the administration and government of the United