Norfolk gazette and publick ledger — Norfolk [Va.], 1810-05-28 00:00:00, page 2

, *W*h*ve given tba.re#irlta of the Naticmci In
'tdBfmtr a place ta oar paper, nit it Decenary
that alt oar readers should know tbs {round which
ths Mwlsri of the government ban taken to ex
culpate theta from lha charge of having deceived
the people in respect of the letter of Mr. Pinkney.
Instead of Seeking for causes to which a change in
thr ^athaeate Of the British minister ought to be
aecribed, it would be more satiefartory to shew that
then has been say change.
, The letter o( the Secretary of the Treasury,
which we have copied from the Charleston Courier,
together with some remarks from that paper, de
serves the attention of the publirk, and will we ap
prehapl prove a further sourc of disagreement be
twaea the two nations. It is a complete exclusion
;oT all British merchantmen from enr ports, except
the very inconsiderable number of' email vessels
• *frvm the Islands and Colonies of Great Britain.
i ne extract irom in* proceeding* of the Legisla
tor* of Rhode Island, which will be found in this
njlt paper, furnishes a most deplorable evidence of
the ax tent to which the spirit of party will rgrry
.men* That we should prefer to office, men whose
opinions are consonant with our own, is natural,
*nd most happen, when we freely exercise our rights
—-But we ought not to indulge our political resent
nts, et the expense of our enuntiy’s honour, and
we estimated things correctly) to the ultimate
ruia of our government. A republican system of
government exists in the virtue and intelligence of
the People, other governments are supported by
force or- corrupt intrigue. The circumstance to
which we allode, is recommended to the attention
of the honest men of all parties, and more particu
larly to the honourable and patriotick portion of
the republican party. It is more to be deplored
that tbit disgraceful transaction was not the art of
an unreflecting multitude, bot the deliberate act of
the legislature of the state, where we ought to look
Cur (if we do not find) the collected virtue and wis
OTb of (fee nation. To the other crimes of the man,
Who was the worthy object of democratic patro
nage, we-find that be added that of a traitor to his
Country, not, that that little ciraim/ance would be
J^lot in the escutcheon of bis political arms,
'ad he is now a good democrat.
Due ox Cx do re’s Letter. It is to be hoped
we shall hear no more denials and doubts of the au
thenticity of this infamous letter, since at will be seen
by an extract from the National Intelligencer, that
• Paris paper has been received at Washington con
taining this document, with a note (from whom we
pboutd like to know) which marks its date of the
8th of February. We believe very few if any of our
readers ever doubted the letter (as long since publish
ed) being grnuiue, though as the Intelligencer says
U was. ^ clumsy tr^ption,” which is the only
comment that thin independent journal half vouch
•{fed to make Upon a document the most insulting
to this nation, taking the time, place, and manner
of it* publication into consideration, that was ever
penned. It was published at a time when our
«i
minister was pressing France to render us justice,
by the revocation of her unjust decrees, and to res
tore our property seized in her ports, and in those
Of Bin countries under her contmul, to cease burn
ing our ships on the ocean and imprisoning our ci
tizens—It was published in Paris by order of
the French government before it was seen by our
government, that Europe might bear witness to the
Contempt in which o.r nation was held by the Usur
ped, who probably imagined that our government
would not publish it—It wa* puhlised as sd answer
to our complaints, and principally to say to the
lisers, that they needed no longer to respect
rty, a semi-official declaration of war upon
imerce—And bow has this document been
fectived in America? lias the government publish
•dil* *)®tS,os# P*P,r« whose columns are filled
with indignant essays upon nor national honour,
ioaolteSl bjs insinuation, notice it}—Let us suppose
for a moment that this letter had keen signed
M WtU«!ey” instead of i" Cadore," what would have
teas % tone of the nation} It would, w* arc sure,
hacn wanly, and such as a high spirited people
“ ‘wht« iaaulted—but it suits the purpose of
to accustom the citizens of America
(he insults and injuries of France without
Sniug. Time alone can develope the n»o
ia undeniable.
.
. lata paper wt noticed that a certain person
■WMO* ®f -Gardner, had been brought forward
indidate for % judge of one of the »on«s of
pa,Plea* in the state of Rhode Islaod. The
w*' took of him stated that be bad beta
*■ crime, (ns
the tarot
fBktata, and boocodsid^obla^omber^
M
froostbtpro^
Island/copie*
- • __
from the Newport Mercury ef
the 2d of thi*
'■tenth.;. . . _
M In the choice of jvdoeJpf the eonrt of common
pleat for the county of Kent, o democratic member
nominated a man by the name of Gardner, in op
position to the present jo<lge Nichols. A member
from that county begged that this nomination might
be abandoned : which being refused, be stated in
bit place, that Samuel Gardner, the candidate, had
been convicted before the supreme court uf an infa
mous clime, for which he was sentenced to stand
in the pillory, end be whiped at the cart’s tail,
which sentence he (the member) bed himself seen
duly executed. This declaration produced no sur
prise : the fact was before notorious, and the only
effect it had was to sharpen the zeal of the culprit’s
friends. Onemember complained that this charge
had already been three times brought up against
Gardner in the general assembly, forgetting that
the disgrace was theirs, who by their support of
such a man, rendered the exposure of his crime ne
cessary. Another member said, that many ofGard
ner’s neighbours thought his conviction and pu
nishment unmerited and that at any rate, it was an
old story, and ought no longer to be remembered,
fur that be bad been several years a member of the
general assembly, and likewise had been a judge
before. His excellency the governour then inform
ed the committee, that be had heard the late judge
Bourn (who it appeared had been counsel for the
criminal) say, that he did not believe Gardner was
guilty ol the crime for which he was punished, and
that in his opinion he was ronvicted by mistake.—
The speaker also summed up and urged all the argu
ments in favour of the criminal's pretensions to be
come an honourable judge: particularly insisting
upon his having been before a ^udge and a member
of the general assembly. To these recommenda
tions it was answered, that every member advocat
ing the criminal had confessed the fact of his hav
ing been convicted of an infamous crime and pub
licklv whipped.—Tlmt no man pretended to be pos
sessedof any knowledge nr evidence by which tb*
cunviction could be proved erroneous. On the con.
trary, in opposition to the verdicts of the grand and
petit juries, (who had all the evidence before them,
and were under oath to deride according to that evi
dence,) in opposition to these verdicts and thejud
ment of the supreme court, nothing was alledged
but the mere surmise or opinion of some of the cul
prits neighbours and friends that be was not guilty.
Were the verdicts of juries and the judgments of
courts to be so estimated and valued even by tire
legislature of the state, and that too for the purpose
of raising a convict to a post of honour ? It was
further remarked, that the man himself had mani
fested his consciousness of the justness of bis pu
nishment. by never having applied for a new trial.
The nomination of this man however was still per
sisted in, and he received the voles of 34 democra
tic members, failing of bis judgeship only by 4
“ In consequence of (he high favour in which
this man appeared to staud with so many members
of the general assembly, we have taken some pains
to inquire into the transaction above alluded to,
and have ascertained from correct sources, that,
Gardner was one of the Gang of Tories, during the
revolution, who made it their business to destroy
as much of the property of their enemies the Whigs
(or rebels as they called them) as they could with
impunity. That on this occasion, having burnt the
barn and hay of Mr. Othiel Gorton, killed some of
his stock and committed other outrages ; Gardner
and five or six others were brought to trial, con
vicled and punished. We are also informed, that
while this man was standing on the pillory, and
^before be was whipped, his father offered to save
him from the whipping by paying his fine of 1001.
and deducting it out of the portion he meant to
leave him : but that Gardner preferred the whipping
to losing the 1001."
A woundedconscience who can bear f—A few days
since John White, a private in the Newfoundland
regiment, unable any longer to bear the stings of
his conscience, which bad preyed upon him foryears,
voluntarily surrendered himself to the civil power,
confessing himself to have been one of the crew who
I mutinied and carried bis majesty’s frigate Her
j moine, into Laguira, upwaids of seven years past,
i He relates the particulars of the murder of all the
oHirers except one quarter-master; but says he
took no active part whatever in the murders. He
is au American by birth, and had been only three
weeks oa hoard the Hermoine, at the time of the
perpetration of these dreadful crimes. Of him may
it be duly said,
“ Ob, what a curse is lire, when self conviction
Flings our offences hourly in our fare,
And turns existence torture to itself!”
Quebeck Mercury.
THE DAT Ot ACCOUNT COMING.
Wp learn from the last Richmond Enquirer, that
Mr. Livingston has at length uppealed to the laws
ol his country tor justice in the Batture case, by in
stituting a suit for g 100,000 damages, against Mr.
Jefferson, in the federal circuit court, and that the
deputy marshal had set off to serve the writ upon
him. The action appeals to be founded upon the
principle, that the order given by Mr. Jefferson,
when president, for tb« ejecting of Mr. Livingston
by military force, after a judicial decision by the
highest civil tribunal of the territory, was illegal
and not warranted by his office, and'being so he is
as much responsible for his conduct in the ordinary
course of justice, as he would be for any other torti
©osact. It is an inestimable feature in our law,
that it teaches all, in anil out of office, and that no
thing can stop its course. On the present occasi
on vrwrrjnire, that an individual will be made to
bow to it, who in the days of his pride and power
distinguished the judiciuiy by bis insults and inju
ries; and rqrieuvoared to undermine and destroy it.
He is now unexpectedly called upon to answer for
an abuse of office before the same illustrious chief
justisc, against whom he so lately transmitted a
ftuse and officious complaint to congress. But be
will ^nevertheless obtain impartial justice, more im
partial «* suspect, than will be agreeable to turn
He will b# taught, that the executive <g the .United
States is only a eitfrt&M apt a dftspot; that bii
'«**« £*. him only ts long as hi ksep, s*h*|
L
mm.
*!>•» b* who- v iolii tea *l»c first*
“‘"Wf reversing >itb military
Jwrpf a* competent tribunal,
.. •• *•» wrong he faardona t«rhi»eqaal
citizen, by cetntarxiing and proving that
be was, at the time, of the Injury committed preai-*
dent of the United States, undns such sworn to see
(be laws executed— This cause will afford a grand
lesson upon the dWy and responsibility of limit ted
magistrates, who grasp at, inordinate power ; who
maliee military arrests in civil rases; who detain
prisoners, at the eeat at government, under a mili
tary guard, without auy commitment whatever;
and who substitute their mandates in%he plare ot
right and their will sounded with the drum and fife,
for the law speaking through the judges.
Balt. Fed. Repub.
MORE EMPTY TREASURIES THAN OURS.
The consequences of complying with Buona*
parta’s anti-commercial system have been precisely
similar on both side* of the Allantirk. Russia has
lately by an Ukase declared her treasury to be bank
rupt. The miserable king of Denmark is worse
than bankrupt. While his own subjects will not
trust him, he is compelled to mortgage his province
of Holytein, and, we suppose all our Tonningen
property with it, to the Dutch to obtain supplies of
money. According to late accounts, which the
reader may peruse under the Salem head, Buona
parte is thought to be about to foreclose the mo. t
giige by taking the property into his possession, I .
dong this, we wish, mere l|an we can hope, that
he may net, like a griping landlord, seize the move
ables, which do not belong to his debtor.
That our own treasury is empty as that of either
Russia or Denmark, Mr. Oulltitin has candidly in
formed us; and we know the drain has bt-cn occa
sioned by the same means which exhausted theirs,
that is to say, the hand of Buonaparte has done it.
To all he dictated his system of living without
trade. Ilis agent Jefferson acquiesced and sent a
message to Congress for laying the embargo and it
was laid. But the scorn of an impartial world
and the contempt of posterity will never forsake
the authors of our dishonour and ruiu. We envy
them not the voles of democrats, for the honest
and sincere among them will not very long be their
dupes, and they are welcome to all the incense with
which the tainted breath of fartiun can comfort
We understand, on the authority of a letter frum
Mr. Forbes, Consul of the United States at liam
burg, written at Copenhagen on the 3d of March
last, “ that by a royal order, privateering was im
mediately to recommence." There is therefore rea
son to fear that the trade of the United States to the
north of Europe will have been put in as perilous a
situation as that to the other parts of the conti
nenl* National Intelligencer.
The extraordinary delay of the Marquis Welles
ley in answering the letter of Mr. Pinkne) proves
the British ministry to have been governed by
events in their occurrence poster ior to tire dismissi
on of Mr. Jackson. Mad they, as they should have,
been exclusively influenced by that art, with tire
circumstances that led to it, no reason for delay
could Trava existed. The rase was too plain and
isolated to embarrass the most ordinary judgment.
The farts vveie amply stated by both parties.—
The wide field of antecedent negotiation on the
complicated affairs of the two nations in this
instance presented no obstacle, and Mr. Jackson
was at least as fully heard as our government. The
requsitions on our part were lew and simple, and
called for dispatch. In such a state of things the
reflection of a day was as good us that of a month,
and the judgment must have been as ripe for deci
on as it ever could he. A prompt compliance with
our requests would have been no less honourable to
the British government, than promotive of the best
interests of the nation it represented. It would have
revived the waning good will of the two nations,and
produced, certainly in this country, a zealous dispo
sition to yield much for the sake of an entire resto
ration of harmony. On the other hand, that go
vernment must have been sensible that a reluctant
and tardy acquiescence in our demands, would as
sume more the air of policy than justice, of com
pulsion than of a spontaneous disposition to do
what was right. Such must have been the feeling
of the British government had it considered our re
quisitions reasonable. On the contrary, bad it
viewed them as unreasonable the obligation was e
qually strong to give an immediate answer, that we
might be enabled to form an unambiguous estimate
of its disposition, and pursue measures dictated by
the actual slate of things, instead ol being bewilder
ed in the inextricable mazes of doubt and mystery.
The demand made by ns, indeed so loudly called for
a speedy decision, that tbe annals of diplomacy may
be ransacked in vain without finding an analogous
case attended with such delay, even in those dark
periods when force was the acknowledged arbiter
between nations. At this day such a delay would
not have been tolerated by an European govern
ment, which would, long before it elapsed, have
done itself justice by dismissing the offending minis
ter. England herself would most unquestionably
bave pursued this course. '
Tbe delay, then, was unequivocally the result of
circumstances foreign from the original case. These
were either—
1 • * existing state nf parties in England :
2. 1 he political divisions among us; or
3. The line of policy of I-'rance towards us :
Separately, or collectively, these causes dictated
the stately and measured answer of the Marquis
Wellesley. H
1. We know that the prese.nt English ministry
tottered to dissolution at the very moment it drew
its first breath, and that it has ever since been
exposed to the several paroxysms, of which the par
liament ha» been the theatre. In this state of mix
ed infancy and dotage, it was all important, to a
void any thing like a rupture with America. In the
midst of a wide spread defeat and discomfiture ol
the British arms, when every ray of hope was
quenched in the fatal bogs of Walcheren, and the
right arm of British power paralistd by . the rapid
disappearance ©f specie and the consequent depreci
ation of the paper currency, when, added to all this,
so gr?at was the demand for grain, as to have ren
deretf necessary the licencing of vessels trading to
Frauce, which at one time amounted to above five
hundred lying in-tbe Thames, it »*» not politick to
fikdd ta her eneuiiss or increase her difficulties. Thf
aec-mtercoarse with her wasetUl in, alleast nomi
nal, tttKiacV»na*»i*t be fate,
P* bppwbewio. Wt&K wt event: might!W
tbtowrt -weight i«o, (6e skive?** Mi; which; ad.
ded to tbttalready it, might ha# Wp 1.1*1 to
th* ret jniitg party. Hen# tfea impttftance or as
buibm* lh«|*r ttf great ramtW, dodft^jisolute
spirit *rfcMCiliation towards tl.is Aountiy, a spirit
that Mould, in the activity of liis zeal, extract good
fr#in evil. In the.mean time, the session of ptirli
nment was passing away, the ministry were plum,
iog themselves on the amicable relations with this
country and gaining no mean accession of strength
from the reputation ; Mr. Pinkney was, with cn
suspicious, and even injudicious, eloquence, panegy
rising the ministry, and, perhaps, more than til, the
impression was sent across the channel that Ameri
ca and Engl and were soon to be.the best friends,
thus awaking the jealousy, if not acii*e hostility of
I*ranee towards us, for causes which had no exist
ence. Even on the ^th of April, twenty-two days
•iter the delivery of lord Wellesley’s nuswer, we hod
tbe British prints, ministerial as well as others ex
ulting in the prospect of an accommodation and
even treaty between the two nations ; nay, the trea
ty itself is said to have gone out.* In this expec
tation the British parliament will iu all probability,
ere this have adjourned, and undi r the same exper
t-lion the good people of England, in all likelihood,
will for months to come be gaping for the returned
treaty—an expectation which will gain strength
.oin the removal, instead of enforcement, of mir
non-intercourse, which they will Dot (ail to ascritse
to the confidential good understanding between-the
respective governments.
+ • yur poll. zeal divisions have eminently-7*>steredf
if not imperatively dictated, the conduct of Britain
towards us So long os we presented a united front,
while the spirit ut taction slept or ieared to raise its
head,- so long as the loud burst of indignation re
sounded through the country, airj so long as the
representatives of the people appear to uphold^wfhh
unhesitating resolution the course taken by tbu exe
cutive, the British government exhibited every dis
position to do us full justice, not merely in this case,
biiUin all others. Attend to dates and contempo
raneous events and mark the eflects !
Mr. Pinkney received his riespatchcsun the 07th
of November, and on the Saturday following hail a
conterenre with the marquis Wellesley, in the course
of which he explained to him fully the grounds up
on which he “ was instructed to request Mr. Jack
sens immediate recul.” Lord Wellesley’s reception
was trunk and Iriendly and he leit him *• with
a persuasion that we should have no^cure to le dis
satisfied with the final course of Hits government.”
At this time we appeared to be united. Most of
the lederal presses espoused the side of the govcin
nient. Only two or three formed an exception to
this honourable spirit. This state of things re
mained unaltered until more th in a month after
the meeting of congress, when the proceedings in
the senate held out the flattering prospect of an al
most unanimous support of the president by both
houses; and, under this impression, Mr. Piikoyy
on the 2d of January presented his letter to bud
Wellesley, whose immediate inswi r was expected,
llad the answer been promptly made, there is tl e
strongest reason to believe that its tenour would
have been very different from that given ten weeks
afterwards; it is prohable, that it would bavV ulfi.
tialiy admitted Mr. Jackson to have been in the
wrong, announced his immediate recal, and nr.med
a successor of rank and talents actually substituted
in his stead ; connected with the expression of a,u
ardent hope that all exist ng ciilli renc.s might he set
tled without delay by lord Wellesley and Mr. Pink
ney, under the assurance of the former that he wes
not wedded to any set of men or to any particular
doctrines.
But, unfortunately, while the pen of the nolle
marquis was probably engaged in drawing up such
a note, intelligence was quickly conveyed across
the Allantirk, that chilled the warm current that
flowed fresh Irom his heart, and afterwaids gave it
a contrary direction. Party had again raised her
hy*dra head in this country, and through the chan
nels of communication with the British govern
ment, held out the hope, that she would be aide to
carry every thing betore her+. Averse to yield ng
more than was requisite 10 gaining their ends, the
ministry hesitated to lake any decisive steps, resol
ving in the interim to watch events. This inderi
sion, no doubt, emboldened the enemies of this
country, as well in as out of the cabinet. For if
the ends of Britain were to be attained, in conse
quence of our divisions, without making any con
cessions on her part, or abandoning the ground she
bad taken, it is easy to calculate the odium that
would have been cast upon ineo, who had resolute
ly formed a treaty of reciprocal stipulations,, invok
ing important sacrifices, whicb,: however just,
could not fail at onre to shoe! powerful prejudices
snd to wound the national sensibility. This pause
proved fatal; every arrival Irom this country paint
ed in glowing, and probably exaggerated colours,
our divisions, and the increasing strength tf the
opposition, until the conviction was produced that.
not only no effectual measures would he taken to re
sist the aggressions on our maritime Tights, but thal
even the existing measures, inadequate as they wife,
would most probably be abandon) d. Such, we have
no doubt, was the purport, and such the elject of
the intelligence sent from this country about the
beginning of February.
3. Lastly, the line of policy pursued by FffcnceO
lowarus us may have bad no inconsiderable iuntie net
* “ It is generally believed," says the Courier of
March 28, fourteen days subsequent to the date of
the marquis of Wellesley’s answer—" that a project
of an arrangement between this rocntry and the U
nited States has been agreed on with Mr. Pinkney
and that it has gone on to America in the John A
dams.”
t I ake the following extract from a London print
published in Match, as an evidence of the effect of-'
our divisions on the nuldi. k sentimeut in England.
American papers arrived in town yestefdiy.’
“ I he question on the comparative disadvunta
ges of war with Great Britain and France, bs* oc
casioned much discussion in congress, and indeed .
throughout the United States : and we are happy to’
find a snore just disposttioa to appreciate the chose
queores of a war vmh^is, rduntry, than fiat hi
therto been displayed inf$§£hgrica, begins to be pre
valent. The revdgggsWthe local legislative f
Massachusetts, on£Mkmi*sal oF MfcclfOa.’ refit
to tins subject, a^mnnotfail, hoptf%
make a due impression on every ;u!>er Vyiaded man ih
the United S(ates." ~4 ».*
t. -.i- ■ 'w? . • a. > viJM y ki.