The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-10-15 00:00:00, page 3

of'the art charged in the
id*
ment, might be received.
Wl.cn this opieic n was delivered,Mr.
Hav proci eil.d in the examination of
witnesses ; but finding that he could not
bring tiie-ca* e within the principles laid
down by the court, he proposed to enter
a noli j-rosequi. Burr objected to this,
anti the court decided that it could not
bt done, after the jury w us "impaneled,
without consent. The jury then retired,
Mid returned it verdict of not guiltv.
Mi. Hay then moved the court to
toimwii Burr, Blennerhassct, and Isra< 1’
Smith, to Kentucky, or the Mississippi
IdTitory, to he there tiled for treason,
fjw counsel for Burr objected to this
motion, and contended that he could not
be tried lor tr<.ason m the A) issi -sippi
territory. They also contended, thrjt as
be had been once tried for tr< ason anti
acquitted, he could not he a^aie tried
for the same offence. A discussion en
sued on these points, which lastt d two
days; w hen the court decided that the
court of the Mississippi territory could
nottake cognizance of treason ; of course
*0examination could take place of what
had been done there ; that as to the o
peration of the previous acquittal, the
judgment of the court was not formed;
that therefore the examination of acts
committed within the United States, Ly
the accused) might be gone into ; and
% court would in the mean time reflect
further on the^ subject.—The examina
tion of w itnesses progressed at the date
of our latest advices from Richmond.
mm -^
rcr the Wheeling Repository*
* IT is surprising with what facility
4c mind of man adopts the habits and
opinions of those with whom he thinks
and acts, and how readily those opinions
arc changed with a change of situation
and circumstances. Whoever takes a
dispassionate review of the conduct of
political partisans, in this country, for
ten years past, will be astonished to find
how much tergiversation may be justly
charged upon each. Did not the fact
•tore us directly in the face, it would
•tern incredible that men of understand
nZ and apparent integrity, would at
different times, within so short a period,
advocate principles nnd opinions direct
ly opposite and contradictorv.
We have seen how utterly impossible
•t is to reconcile the doctrines of the ci
tarens of Richmond and Caroline, as
advanced in 1798, with those which ih«
party now maintain, pn the sub
| jcct o. war. I shall proceed 10 shew
| that the Aurora, and the Republicans of
Pennsylvania, are equally inconsistent;
that in \7° i they pursued that very
ce-urse, which diey now proclaim can be
pursued by none but British Agents and
Bo rits.
The following paragraph is extracted
from the Aurora of the 2d April, K98.
It is a specimen of the opinions advan
ced in that paper, ;;t that time, on the
subject of war. The insinuation respect
ing the suAAen glories of Paymasters,
Agents, Contractors and Comr.itsAoners,
shews the manner in which it was then
thought proper to prejudice the public
mind,on the subject of money expendi
tures, in o; J :r to undermine their con
fidence in the administration.—
1 yV hat arc the advantages to be re
‘ Ceived by the United States, if they cn
4 gag: in a warfare with a maritime na
4 lion ? Nothing1 but anjncrca.se of debt;
4 and the few individuals who are bene
‘ fitted, are not supposed to have the
4 clearest right to th. ir advantages. If
4 he .that shared the danger, enjoyed the
‘profit; if he that bled in the'battle,
4 grew rich by the victory ; he might
4 shew his gains without envy. But at
4 the conclusion ot a long war, how are
4 we compensated for the death of mul
4 titudes, and expense of millions, but
4 hy contemplating the sudden glories of
4 Paymasters and Agents, Contractors
4 and Commissioners, whose equipages
4 shine like meteors, and whose palaces
4 rise like exhalations.”
Here war ?s considered as a mere
matter of profit and loss. Who gains and
who loses, is the subject discussed, by
the Aurora. National character and na
tional honour is not taken into the ac
count. Hut what says the Aurora now?
4 Is war a matter ol book entry, o’ debt
4 and credit, that must he courted if we
4 can make any thing by it. and shunned
4 it we are likely to lose?1 (Aurora 24-th
August.) V* ar is surely the same now,
that it was in 1798. If it was then ‘ a
4 matter of book entry, of debt and credit ,*
it is the same now. It it ought then to
be avoided, because in a 4 xuarfare xuith
4 a maritime nation* wc could gain 4 no
4 iking but an increase of debt,' it ought
tor the link reason to ue avoided now.
But he who holds this language now, is,
according to the. Aurora, a British A
gent and Tory//—Fellow-citizens, is
not this most illiberal and unjust?
But I can vindicate and justify my o
pinions on the subject of war, and the
j propriety cf publishing thos« opinion*,
1 by a more elevated authority than Vir
giniaresolutions and Aurora paragraphs.•
On the 20th of March, 1798, in the house
of Representatives of Pennsylvania,Mr.
W. Maclav submitted certain resoluti
ons, declaring the sentiments of that
house on the subject of war. These re
solutions, with the ayes afitd noes taken
upon them, were published in the Au
rora of March 21, 1798. The follow in*
is a copy:—
4 Resolved, That the Representatives
4 of Pennsylvania consider it as their in
4 dispensable, duty, at this alarming cri
4 sis, to express their unequivocal senti
4 ments on engaging in hostilities with
4 any ef-the European ^powers now at
4 war. While they lament the distresses .
4 of their f How-citizens engaged in cotr.
4 merce,they openly declare tty r disap
4 probation of seeking redress, by arms, •
‘ the expense of which must be certain,
4 and tlie event doubtful. To interfere
4 in the,quarrels of such powerful rivals,
4 is, in their opiuion, highly imprudent, *
4 where perhaps equal danger is to be
4 apprehended from the protection of one,
‘as the hostility of the other, and thf*
4 hour of peace may behold the Unite!?’
4 States sacrificed to the interests of both.
4 While any door to reconciliation remains
4 open, negociation may do much, and*.
4 some compensation for injuries maybe ,
4 obtained ; but hostility cuts off at once .
4 all hopes of compromise; incurs further
4 loss and an accumulation of debt, which,
4 an infant country, already burthened'
1 with the expcnces of a revolutionary
4 war, cannot hear; and must of course
4 involve the United States in a state of' ~
4 warfare, that last, that worst of human •
4 calamities. The Representatives of ^'
• Pennsylvania, therefore, bear their pub
* lie testimony against war in ant shape,
4 or against any nation, unless the ter
4 ritory of the United States should be in
lvaded; but more especially against A
4 people with whom their hearts aiuT'
‘ hands have, been so lately united in' ,
4 friendship. ♦*
‘ Resolved, That the foregoing reao- •
‘ lution be transmitted to the Senates
4 and Representatives for the state il^ ’
4 Pennsylvania in the Congress of tl^
4 United States, with a request that they
4 pay due attendance to the same/
The foregoing resolutions Were nega-1
tived, • chiefly,’ as the Editor of the Au
rora observes, ‘ upon the ground that*
‘the Legislature had not a right to In-‘
4,struct the Senators ia Congress.* But; t