Norfolk gazette and publick ledger — Norfolk [Va.], 1810-08-24 00:00:00, page 2

THE PtJBLtfK USM*
■A.
mti
=p=s
w
■ *» sinew
**t- a^ Bijcy or THE T|
a
8ti lomi aso patssuae, -*
■gJltDAY EVENING. AUGUST 84, lMpT
~j^:When Congress found, it necessary to raise tbe
^embargo, nod substitute the non-interrourie,#doub 1*
.existed at te those countries which were nominally
> independent of the two great belligerents, against
Whom both acts had in appraiser been directed,—
, ft& Was finally settled that certain ports of Spain,
those of Holland and Naples, were not included in
the piflhibitiont nf the latter art. The incorrect*
Xjfss OQthis determination, events have fully, and
mWy, ver* fatally demonstrated. Of this fart
tbs demurntiflp papers have become Sensible, and
; Ufa now endeavouring to throw the whole blame on
’ h{|. Gallatin, although there it abundant evidence
to shew that the other members of the government
Wcrorded with the Secretary of theTreasury.of which
inme may be satisfied by referring to tbe corres
Ptnfcrnce hatween Mr. Tfskineand our government,
is ter bad been ordered to complain of;
>^#t»*MPt»we*er, «Aher otir doty or. intention to
like (tart in dispute*, which have erisen between
bers of the administration. These disputes we
i»%to fee seltJed or disruesed through the demo*
erktick paper*. But we would wish our readers to
Attend to the manner in which the scandalous ag
gressions of the French government ere noticed by
, tbtSjfcmncrelii k papers. We do not find any of
thosOnfty sentiments which run through those pa
gers, upon the slightest affront from Cteat Britain.
In defiance of truth, they most impudently affirm
And repeat that “ France and Great Britain rrjttal
fy violate our neutral rights.* Although their are
!'4ft,hundred farts t<> djjjjgpTove this assertion, it is re*
ipea:.‘d an I repeated, until a great portion of the
people believe it.to be true, and to aid the impositi
on*'men whose characters and situations ought to
place them above the arts of deception, are not Jt
ahaiued to assist ia the delusion—We are not afraid
..to say,1 that during the continuation of the prohibi
tion* imposed by the nort-interronrse, not fewer than
one tbotmori of ow vessels have entered the Ports
Of Lisbon, Cadiz, Syracuse, &c. where if the Bri
tish had been to inclined they could have seized
Opr Amps and cargoes, but not one has hern molest
ed-—other facts could be mentioned.—Look to Na
pies,Holland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, &r. and
then say “ That France and England equally vio
late.jieutral rights.’—U is thus by confounding
a*.
with wron
that our differences with Great
are fomented/ . We are not satisfied with
demanding what is evidently reasonable end right
{Font that nation, hut we mix in enr demands that
Which is at best questionable.
‘Mv%% *krr.crr.D.—Letters' by Fast moil from
;Uew York state that the ship Pacific was below—
she was to have left England about the middle of
‘;\ tv
., noM the Baltimore American.
A Dewocrutick Paper.
* 4 .? /•
WHO IS TO BLAME? y
A -civil war js said once to. have broken out in
Holland, respecting an impoitant question tliat a
eose among the fishermen which could not b« decid
ed front the tenacity of Opinion of the respective
roatroversiarmts—The question was, if we rightly
j$ceila^t« whether the hook caught the fish ; or the
fish the hook ? Decide the question ns you may, it
was the fisherman laid the bait and the fish were
unwarily caught in the snare, yet they had no busi
ness,^ go where there was danger—Hence the
question arises—^-WIIO IS TO BLAME?
ft- The question is as applicable to the present state of
MAor'rtlations with France as it was respecting the
jDulch citil war.; To say that we have experienced in
'Junesirnm r.iigunnanoirumr ranee ;unu WiHline ln
eipirncy and magnitude of the former preceded and
lestteedsdfai; those t f the tatter is what ever l.odyy
knows. And In guard against their repetition and
jinfreparUfo* another static of thing* were the pri
mary-objects of an embargo law* whit h’ was sot
needed by a non-intercourse art—a measure teftd
"j||th Shp_ the v^ry foundation jf public tnor .ls, by
Af VodToce'ifients it gave jo pursoe the smuggling
m&e. lldwevrr imbecile it may have been, car
tain it.w that the law fought to have teen fully ex*
«it*d'leiierdihg toils express letter, and meaning
And pot upon its construction as given in the ireasu
rj’VireuWr—for tn that construction are the twreh
.ant* Indebted for all our sequestration* in Spatn. lta
Jyand HoHand—v V • - .
i f.'^hjjeylhfteipbargo existed, its operations were
alt confined to one pf )«g oaljtins/but was extend
Id to all, hence odn* kid cause of offence, howevei
injuriousits operations mighlhave been to them.—
■, .Ths remolat of Jhlsaet Vy I substitute pointed psr
ticiilarly at two nations, who we have received in
juris* from both, would undoubtedly receive it as a
measoteindicative of a hostile temper, and would
•f course retaliate. To retaliate upon the? non-in
tercourse, Great Britain ostensibly founded bei
- lata whaling, older and France her ftambooilfetde
* 'v; It ia the qflaiyftdf a statesman and legislator to
forts#* malts sad provide against consequences It
r sna| be sttdyAiat it wta a measure of foresight, in
th* hostile and offensive ebnwsrter
^ Uw uhA-ipUfeoum to Great Br.um and Frame*
operation* pot only in
ihrtrs, “^hofi-raloalea'and dependencies"
\%u
»» the artml tmmsafon o|«i
ba understood th«A to tjbu vttia*
*ct bff « tmaury mratr
sequestration of Ameri
’ " md end Ualy. s TK*.
ftwrehant or Mr. Galli
CmMj vm
it wisely prdvidi
it we Should J»«1<T no
tfl
either of
thp contending powers,
their cnfoiifs, dependent
end (even ** pl*es in
the actual jpossessuakof «
T.” , Is the mere hunt
then to bum*?
bis cropery^to a mark
et upon the construct!
as given
by a subordinate officer of government, whose "wish
to fill the coffers of ibeJfkasury got the better of his
understanding. JP^*
If St. JSebastiu'sJp’hre not in the possession of
trance how is irppssible that Buonaparte could
have sequeitereffAnierican properly there. If Na
ples were not in the possession of French troops Or
a dependency of France, how could sequestrations
have been made there 1 d£ Holland were not a de
pendency of France, bow came Lewis Buonaparte
t# be seated on the throne of his brother’s creation ?
Did Holland-‘-did Spain, Naples, or Portugal at
that period enjoy even a nominal independence ?
when it is well known that all were under the im
mediate and active influence of tbe contending pow
ers against whom the law intended to operate.
\Yhy refuse clearances to St. Domingo—Was not
St. Domingo equally as independent of France aS
Holland? naymoVeso; for it is well known that
Buonaparte did not exercise even a nominal con
troul over that island; and it enjoyed a government
as independent as Spain or Portugal and was uot
under tbe influence of either the contending pow
, Congress have said then in a positive law that
no tr-ide whatever shall be carried on with France
or Great Britain or their colonies or dependencies
or places in the actual possession of either, and in
direct opposition to this, permits are granted at our
custom-houses to clear out for Spam, Portugal, Ita
lj and Holland, places under the actual influence of
one or the other of the belligerents, by an express
order from the treasury—and what has been the
consequence, the seizure of all American properly
within the reach of France—The very seizure oi
this property during the opcraiinn of the non-inter
course ;s proof that the secretary gave aVonstrur li
on to the law not warranted by fact. If this infe
rence be correct, bow can the American minister
interpose in behaif of this property. If he does, he
may b told,that it was not hisprovince to interpose
in behall of property taken in a traffic in open vio
lation of the la- s o» his own country—ll he should
show the secretary’s tifiular, the law in return
would be exhibited to him, end he bf tauntingly ask
ed if a secretary’s circular is superior |to a forami
«ct of congress.- fa tars .business Buonaparte is
ths great angler .vho has caught the shoal, hut is it
not the secretary of the treasury who laid the bait ?
The extract fthe law and one from the circular
Wol be sufficient to show bow far these observati
ons are warranted by fact and how dangerous it is
tn let men meddle in affairs out of their province.
The non-iutercoursfc art bears date March 1,
18-'9- It was to operate'generally, on the 20th of
May following. The 12t’n section says “and belt
rurther enacted, that so much of the act laying an
embargo on- all ships aud vessels in the ports and
harbours of the United States, and of the several i
acts supplementary thereto, us forbids the departure
of vessels owned by the citiaens of the United
States and the exportation of domestic and foreign
merchandize to any foreign port or place, be and the
tame is hereby repealed, after the 15th of March
1809 ; except as far as they relate to Great Britain
and France or their Colonies or dependencies OR
PLACES IN THE ACTUAL POSSESSION OF
either:’
The secretary of the treasury’s circular is dated
3d March, 1809. The following is tbs conclusion
thereof.
'* Every country nominally enjoying an indepen
dent form of government (other than Great Britain
or France) and not in the actual possession of either J
Great Britain or France, is open by the law, and
particularly Holland, Spain and Portugal, and their
colonies ; but you will suspend until1 the question
has been better investigated, granting clearances
for any part of the island of St. Domiugo or the
kingdom of Italy.
Colottiet, conquered bp and in the possession of
Great Britain or France are prohibited.
Infamous as is the procedure of Buonaparte in j
violating his good faith by the seizure of American !
properly during the operations of this law, certain
it is that the law was wisely framed to guard against |
such consequences, hence, a great responsibility
rests upon the secretary for the interpretation he
has given it. .. _ , !
COMMUNICATION. I
A publication in the 'Whig of the 17th instant,
signed A. B. C. charges the Secretary of the Trea
sury with issuing a “ Circular Decree,” in direct
opposition to an act of congress *• tn interdict the j
commercial intcrco*rse between the United States
and Great Britain and France, end their dependen
cies, i.nd for other purposes.” No man, in or out
of congress, conceived it to extend to other than
France and England, with their colonies, or the
countries iu which they exercised exclusive jurisdic
tion ; that was not the case in Holland, Spain, and
Naples, each of these countries having an acknow
ledg'd king and government of their own. What
ever influence France or England might have with
the sovereigns of those, or other countries, was no
part of a law, confined in its operation to the ex
clusive sovereignties of France and England. , The
same publication undertakes to state tbe manner
that the Americans were received on their first ap
pearance in those countries, after the partial raising
ol the embargo, than which, aa the accompanying
letters ami decrees prove, nothing could be farther
from the truth. The first arrival at St. Sebastians
from the United Slates, that sailed under the law
passed the 1st of March, 1809, was tbe schooner
.Fawn; to an application for permission to enter
and dispose of her cargo, the following answer was
given to the commander at St. Sebastians :-—G*n«
ral, on your acquainting me by your letter of the
23o May last, with the reclamation of tbe captain
oT, the scfcoonyr Fawn, you have asked me what
conduct you were, to observe with respect to the
.<tther .vessels from the United States, finding them
sclr.'» in tbe sstqe caae. who should establish the
like reclamation— 1 inform you that the emperor's
intention is, that fcis decrees,-of the 21st November,
. 180b’ and 1307? relative to the blockade of the
\ BritinJai islands, will continue to heexuuied in the
pom of Spain »in the ports of Fiance. Thus any
vpss-i that may he found coutttervsihng tbe derma
| will he subject tpthe measures ol rigour which they
; prescribe, bast when there is on violation dfthedc
tmt, Atftericaa vessels are at ftiU liberty (0 enter
or sail .—Signed, the minuter of war, Count of
Huneburg.
The Fawn’s cargo was disposed of to afivenlage;
on htr return to the United States, the merchants
encouragwPby her reception, end the assurance gi
ven in Jhe foregoing Utter, made many expeditions
lor St. Sebastians; the Fawn went back with a se
cond cargo, and returned from thence for Balimore
on the 25th December. On the 28th December
the first violence was offered to American property,
which, from the previous Jone had been allowed
freely to be imported and exported. The schooner
Kite arrived at Naples the first vessel, on applicati
on to admit b;r to enter, the Neapolitan mfcister
of foreign affairs addressed the American consul lit'
July, 1809, as follows: “On this occasion his
majesty has resolved as a general measure, that all
American vessels that arrive in this kingdom with
direct expeditiohs and positive destinations for its
ports, shall he frtelt) admitted, provided they come
lutoished with the requisite certificate of the origin
of then cargoes, and with the respective papers of
their navigation in order, and ialwayV understood
that they be not found to counteract the royal de
crees of the 24th December, 1806, and 9th Janua
ry, 1808, relative ti^the English commerce, and to
that of the neutral powers, which decrees Bre to be
pieserved iu their full rigour and effect.” Thus en
couraged on the return of the Kile, large shipments
were marie from the United States to Naples, which
were unmolested until about the last of November.
i he government ol Holland issued a dprrpp on tl'.p
31st March, 1809, permitting the importation by
neutrals, of certain articles, among them tobacco
and pot ashes of this country ; and on the 30lh
ol June, 1309. extended importations by the follow
ing decree : Ait. I, The list of articles allowed tt>
be imported by the art of tbe31sl March, shall be
extended to the following:—Rice, staves, bark and
other drugs used in medicine, cotton, Georgia, Loui
siana and Carolina, Java coffee and sugar from our
colonies. Art. II. Besides certificates of origin, re
quired by our former act, the director of the board
of trade shall appoint seven brokers to examine tbe
goods, to ascertain if they are totally the product
ol our colonies, or of the United States, for the bet
ter means of examination, all goods shall be unload
ed in the loyal stores. Art. 111. A month from the
date hereof, our director of the board of trade shall
report to us, if it is advisable to permit the continu
ation of these measures. Art. IV. Ainericeu ves
sels arriving within three months from the date
hereof and those already in port, shall not he sub
ject to the blockade decree, provided the same have
not been in England, nor been visited ly the ene
my ; all captains shall make declaration conforma
ble to this article, and in case of prevarication ship
and cargo to be confiscated. Art. V. For as much
as the cargo as appears to be conformable to our
aforementioned articles the same shall be placed at
the disposal af the proprietors or consignees; the
sequestered goods that remain in the royal stores
to he disposed of according to law.
The above decree vras repealed by that of the
20th July, which confined the importation from the
United States to tobacco and pot-ashes, as permit
ted by the decree of the 31st March, I8O9.—Louis
Napoleon, &c. “ Until farther orders our decree
of the 30th June, respecting tbe admission of Ame
lican vessels into the harbours of this kingdo*,
shall be repealed, and every thing relating thereto
be placed on the same footing* upon which it was
before the promulgation of the said decree, so that
no other vessels than those conforming strictly to
the restrictions contained in onr former decrees,
shall be admitted; (hose which shall not so con
form shall he warned off, the director of tbe cus
toms hereby orders all custom house officers station
ed in tbe harbours and ports of this kingdom, to act
according to the above decree, and to inform all
captains of American vessels who may hereafter
at rive of the contents of the same; as also to send
the papers of those who from the nature of their
cargoes conceive the same advissible, with the ad
dition of the usual declaration of the directors of the
customs, and to wait for farther orders concerning
the same. The vessels that arrived with permitted
articles, disposed of them to advantage, until De.
cember, 1809, those arriving with other articles,
were not permitted to discharge them for sale, but
were at liberty to deposits them in the royal stores,
01 leave the country with them on board, such ves
sels as did not depart wereunmolested until the pro
mulgation in April last, of the treaty between Hoi
land and France of March, 1810. [Ibid.
fROM THE BOSTON CENTINE1.
Mr. Russell,
It is amusing to observe the arts made use of by
the democratic!; writers, and the shifts they resort
to, in order to retain the influence they have unhap*
pily obtained over many of the honest and well mea
ning of our countrymen. To notice at this time
the numerous instances will be unnecessary. A few
shall suffice.—Whenever they are met by truth and
reason, always too powerful for them, they artfully
change ground, and, like Don Quixotte, attack
some neighbouring windmill, and gravely call upon
their readers to witness their address in defeating
their enemy. Previous tu Dr. Osgood’s Discourse
appearing, the important Chronicle editors threat
ened, if be dared to publish it, “ to put in the cru
cible,'’ to torture, reduce to powder, and scatter it
in the four winds of heaven. It appeared; they,
gnushed their teeth in anguish; and vented their ill
nature by abusing its author, but set tbeir seal to
the eternal truths it contained, by forbearing the
attempt at refutation. So also as respects Dr. Pa
rish's Sermon, they curse the author, quote two or
three sentences,' which have nothing to do with the
leading vein of truth insisted on, and leave the im
| portant and interesting facts to remain unanswered.
And.even a Hanning, who comes to them in the
spirit of meekness, whose language is as mild as
hit soul is charitable, and who speaks the senti
ments of a heart wounding and bleeding foi his coun
I try’s wrongs, and trembling tor her danger, eve^
' this son Of philanthropy, is disregarded and mock
ed. But the honest democrat, who has billowed
those who have well nigh ruinad his country, will
pause and reflect,- in the awful and sarieus moment,
when their measures ant about to teal the doom oi
a people, already disgraced, weakened and dispirit
ed, and fast preparing to be the victims of the greet
btttehes of Europe. • I*
Another of their tricks, played eh’ with some
I success, is the pretended sympathy foe the people
[ of Englaud.-~Tbcy arc w uneasy at the state of ela
W? suffered by tli« "geMrourEngfish ,* that they <
pray nigbt and day fora wnHition : aqd they arc
not without the bopc, **n«wing as they do tfiesyra
paihies of France tor that country/(to osetba
wordeof the late president that her eman
cipation may yet be lighted up by a French torch.
’ Ffpr can any man in his senses suppose that they
would not sejh for the same pure flame of French
liberty for their own country ? But y* who Would
invite the application of wildfire in the hand§ of
bloody and tyrannical madmen may receive benefit
from another pause; stop, and ask, where are* the
Robespitrrtt, the Murals, the Duponts, the, Leges*
drts’, and the host of assassins of their country’* .
peace and glory, and of the people’Tright’s} They ^
are dead, and buried beneath the execrations of the
enslaved inhabitants of "Conquered Europe. Yet
these men were incessantly eulogized by the tarn*
leaders whom you now follow and believe. But
how came the monsters their deserts f Not by
the slow returning reason of the people, but by tha
enormities of their own fertile minds. They 'had
raised by their deeds of wickedness a cloud of dark
ness, over their country, which, charged with,ter
ror and destruction, was nmdurted by abler hands,
and made todisrbarge its deatliful contents on their
own guilty heads. H ‘ • Vv,v- •
Again, when an election is pending, they inv&ri
ally seek for patronage and support from extiane
ous events, instead of trusting to their own intrin
sick merits. Witness, the late elections in NewEa
gland^. Who has forgotten the pains taken to de
ceive,^be lies invented to influence the people^ to
Hust again those who bad brought disgrace ip on
the country by every measure their folly devised.—
And who has forgotten the names put to certificates,
which for their weakness, folly, and ultimate false*
hood, ought to make the meanest partizan blush,
— 1 lie untutored savage, before he was acquainted
with civilized man, knew no name for a lie; and
when he found the whites deceived him, he said they"
misused speech ; thereby meaning that God' had -
given us the faculty of speech tft represent things
us they are and not as they are not., ' ^
What would the virtuous son of nature have
thought of our — and —, who, if they are shades
lighter in complexion, are far behind them in mo
rals? - - ; -
Again, when any thing apparently goes Tight,’
the whole merit is their own; their predecessors,
who laid the plan and set them out in the right
path, are forgotten. Bnt when any thing goes
wrong, when disaster follows ignorance an.d dupli-x,
city, then it is all charged to the federalists, not*
withstanding they had the undisputed erntroul.—
I his is very convenient; but how abominable 1—
But just so did their great originals, the French
jacobins ; Robetpiirre himself, in one of his admir
ed re pons, said, “Whatever is great and sublime
in our revolution is our work ; whatever bears a dif->
lerent character, belongs to our enemies.” He it
dead but he J$||peaketb.
If we enquffe, what has become of the resour*
ces of the nation ? What provisions filial these
boasters made lor us the people, against the day of
calamity and misfortune ? Fifteen millions lavished
for a wilderness, which will be a retreat for traitora
—two millions opon a fleet of gun-boats, which
must be suffered to rot secretly, lest the loss upon
the sale of them should awaken credulity itself from
her dosing, and crimson her cheek with resentment;
as mach more upon an army, encamped upnn the
field of destruction, and quartered on the plains of
death : Twenty or thirty millions in the bands of
the champion of mock-freedom, is but the begin
ning ot an answer, which if completed would be
enough to warm the cold blood of apathy itself^—
But all this is trifling compared with the losa of
another kind to our unhappy country. The paltiy
sums of money, the loss of property, might ha
borne, might even he forgotten amidst future indus
try and action—But there bas been a silent, secret,
aiid deathful will, making its way to the public
inind, and corrupting and paralizing the Rationale
nergies. Who is there that has not witnessed with*
soilow the dying spirit of the nation ? If yon touch ~
the body politic you find the coldness of death tip
on it; an unnatural stupor announces that its spi
iit is departing. National honour and "prosperity
may be the tales of other times ; we may keep up
the remembrance of our independence, and toast
high our liberties ; bat we roust shut the door upon *
old-tusbioned Truth, nor suffer her sister Sincerity 1
w rmer wmie we carry ob tbs mock-feast. - ,
Whence is all this f What a sorrowful contrast
to the year 1798, to those times when Europe re
spected us, and France sued for peace: yes, 1 proud- '
ly say it, our little navy, taught her justice. All
this is from the folly and wickedness of oar otto
government: From the day that Mr. Jefferton de- f
dared that *1 he must arrest the progress of ingra
titude and injustice towards France,” I read the
death warrant and disgrace of our gallant little na
vy ; fur the Truxtun’t of the times bad applied-tha
stripes to the bark of the monster that Jrftrtan’t
unnatural desires had fohdly invited to his embraces,
and he could not forgive it. And his successors
like Balaam have been led from place to place, hava
tried every expedient that cunning could devise,
have ascended every eminence, and travelled tha
whole round of poetical deception, ia order to find
a spot, from whence to pour out the curse upon tha
enemy of France; and the nnhully incantation is
still carrying on, but all tha curses and losses light
on us. It et amidst this scene of calamity the Whim
ing eons of disgrace and infamy tell us, “ We ara
not l#88rac*d nationreport say they, and, how
ever absurd the lie, we will report it.—And thud
they wrap it op.
When the king of France, Bound bf the blood
hounds of the revolution, was forced to write to tha
neighbouring courts, and solemnly declare that ha
jvas free, they very justly answered that, a king
who was reduced to the necessity of declaring he
was free could no longer be so. If we are to ha
comhwted by the dities of the Smiths and Giles’of
the nation, and to endeavour to bury our weakness
and disgrace by the mean denial of it ; it will sows
appear through the thin disguise, as did the captive
king’s. WbeirwiU these blind leaders of the, blind
give op the reins of government to trimester and
wiser men f Never, while they can bold them-; thVy i
will go ou, involving themselves and country in .
still greater evils, and never repent^ or return to tha ^
path of truth, reason and common sense.- It it tha
- people must strip them of the power to injure, or
they will still worship their own errours, which will
smiI their destruction, rather than yield to the wis
dom of others. ' It is got in the nature of sach men,
-o give up tha guidance s! the public councils, and
*- ^ V-" .^ ■ l .