The Providence journal, and town and country advertiser (Providence [R.I.]), 1799-02-06 00:00:00

The Providence Journal.
AND TOWN AND COUNTRY ADVERTISER.
Published on WEDNESDAYS, by JOHN CARTER, JUN. at the NEW PRINTING-OFFICE, West Side of the great Bridge, PROVIDENCE.
[ No. 6. ]
WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1799.
[ Vol. I. ]
Important State Paper.
To the President of the United States.
THE Secretary of State respectfully submits the following report on the transactions relating to the United States and France, since the last communications to Congress on that subject.
TIMOTHY PICKERING. Department of State, January 18, 1799.
THE points chiefly meriting attention are the attempts of the French government,
1. To exculpate itself from the charge of corruption, as having demanded a douneur of fifty thousand pounds sterling (222,000 dollars) for the pockets of the directors and ministers, as represented in the dispatches of our envoys;
2. To detach Mr. Gerry from his colleagues, and to inveigle him into a separate negotiation; and
3. Its design, if the negotiation failed, and a war should take place between the United States and France, to throw the blame of the rupture on the United States.
1. The dispatches of the envoys, published in the United States, and republished in England, reached Paris towards the last of May; and on the 30th of that month, the French minister, Mr. Talleyrand, affecting an entire ignorance of the persons designated by the letters W. X. Y. and Z.—calling them intriguers, whose object was to deceive the envoys—writes to Mr. Gerry, and “prays him immediately to make known to him their names.”
Mr. Gerry, in his answer of the 31st, wishes to evade Mr. Talleyrand’s request; and with reason, for he and his colleagues had “promised Messrs. X. and Y. that their names should in no event be made public.” Mr. Gerry, in his letter of October 1st, in noting the repetition of Mr. Talleyrand’s request for those names, states as an objection to giving them up, “that they could be otherwise ascertained;” and that Mr. Talleyrand’s messenger, admitting the fact that they were already known, immediately mentioned their names. Mr. Gerry nevertheless certified in writing the names of X. Y. and Z. with the reserve “that they should not be published on his authority.” And besides formally certifying to Mr. Talleyrand the names of his own private agents,—added, that “they did not produce, to his knowledge, credentials or documents of any kind.” “Credentials” in writing were certainly not to be expected to be produced by agents employed to make corrupt propositions: but Mr. Gerry had Mr. Talleyrand’s own assurance that Mr. Y. was acting by his authority. It is recited in the envoys’ dispatches, and upon Mr. Gerry’s own report to his colleagues, that on the 17th of December, 1797, Mr. Y. “stated to him that two measures which Mr. Talleyrand proposed, being adopted, a reformation of friendship between the republics would follow immediately; the one was a gratuity of fifty thousand pounds sterling; the other a purchase of thirty-two millions of Dutch rescriptions.” And after conversing on these topics, Mr. Gerry and Mr. Y. rode to Mr. Talleyrand’s office, where “Mr. Gerry observed to Mr. Talleyrand, that Mr. Y. had stated to him that morning, some propositions as coming from Mr. Talleyrand, respecting which Mr. Gerry could give no opinion;” and after making some other observations, Mr. Talleyrand answered, “that the information Mr. Y. had given him (Mr. Gerry) was just, and might always be relied on.” This declaration stamps with the minister’s authority all the communications made by Mr. Y. to the envoys. And Mr. Y. himself, who is Mr. Bellamy, of Hamburg, in his public vindication, declares, that “he had done nothing, said nothing, and written nothing, without the orders of citizen Talleyrand.” The same may be asserted in regard to Mr. X. for he first introduced Mr. Y. to the envoys; and his separate communications were substantially the same with those of Y. and both together were present with the envoys when the communications were more than once repeated.
It also deserves notice, that in stating the preliminary demands of the French government, the private agents X. and Y. and the minister, use a similar language. The agents declare that the Directory are extremely irritated at a speech of the President, and require an explanation of some parts of it, and reparation for others; that this must give pain to the envoys; but the Directory would not dispense with it; and that as to the means of averting the demand concerning the President’s speech, the envoys must search for them, and propose them themselves. Being asked to suggest the means, the answer is “money”—the purchase of the Dutch rescriptions, and the fifty thousand pounds sterling as a douneur to the Directory.
The minister told the envoys that the Directory were wounded by the President’s speech; and in his conversation with Mr. Gerry on the 28th of October, said “the Directory had passed an arrest, which he offered for perusal, in which they had demanded of the envoys an explanation of some parts, and a reparation for others of the President’s speech to Congress of
the 16th of May, 1797; that he was sensible that difficulties would exist on the part of the envoys relative to this demand; but that by their offering money, he thought he could prevent the effect of the arrest.” Mr. Z. (the “interpreter”) at the request of Mr. Gerry, having stated that the envoys have no such powers; Mr. Talleyrand replied, they can in such case take a power on themselves, and proposed that they should make a “loan.” But this “loan,” as will presently appear, did not mean the “money” which would “prevent the effect of the arrest.” Mr. Gerry then making some observations on the powers of the envoys—that they “were adequate to the discussion and adjustment of all points of real difference between the two nations; that they could alter and amend the treaty; or if necessary form a new one,” added, “that as to a loan, they had no powers whatever to make one, but that they could send one of their number for instructions on this proposition, if deemed expedient:”—“that as he (Mr. Talleyrand) had expressed a desire to confer with the envoys individually, it was the wish of Mr. Gerry that such a conference should take place, and their opinions thus be ascertained.”—Mr. Talleyrand, in answer, said “he should be glad to confer with the other envoys individually, but that this matter about the money must be settled directly, without sending to America; that he would not communicate the arrest for a week; and that if we could adjust the difficulty respecting the speech, an application would nevertheless go to the United States for a loan.”—Now this matter of the money that must be settled directly, could only refer to the douneur; for a loan, in the purchase of millions of Dutch rescriptions, or in any other form, could only be the subject of a stipulation to be afterwards fulfilled by the United States; but the douneur of fifty thousand pounds sterling was a sum within the immediate reach of the envoys; for their credit would certainly command it: in fact, a mercantile house had offered to answer their draughts: and this Mr. Talleyrand unquestionably well knew; for it was a member of the same house who first introduced the minister’s agent Mr. X. to General Pinckney, in the manner stated in the envoys’ dispatches. A collateral evidence, that in “this matter of the money, that must be settled directly,” Mr. Talleyrand referred only to the douneur, arises from this circumstance. The very next day (Oct. 29th) Mr. X. called on the envoys, and said, “Mr. Talleyrand was extremely anxious to be of service to them, and had requested that one more effort should be made to induce us to enable him to be so.” After a great deal of the same conversation which had passed at former interviews had been repeated, the envoys say—“the sum of his proposition was, that if we would pay by way of fees (that was his expression) the sum of money demanded for private use, the Directory would not receive us, but would permit us to remain at Paris as we now were; and we should be received by Mr. Talleyrand, until one of us could go to America, and consult our government on the subject of a loan.”
Although the envoys’ dispatches, and the facts and circumstances herein before stated, cannot leave a doubt that X. as well as Y. and Z. was well known to Mr. Talleyrand, it will not be amiss to add, that on the 2d of December X. Y. and Z. dined together at Mr. Talleyrand’s in company with Mr. Gerry; and that after rising from table, the money propositions, which had before been made, were repeated, in the room and in the presence, though not perhaps in the hearing of Mr. Talleyrand. Mr. X. put the question to Mr. Gerry in direct terms, either “whether the envoys would now give the douneur,” or, “whether they had got the money ready.” Mr. Gerry, very justly offended, answered positively in the negative; and the conversation dropped.
Mr. Z. who has avowed himself to be Mr. Hauteval, was the person who first made known to the envoys the minister’s desire to confer with them individually on the objects of their mission: He it was who first introduced Mr. Gerry to Mr. Talleyrand, and served as the interpreter of their conversation: and in his letter to Mr. Talleyrand, at the close of Mr. Gerry’s document No. 35, he announces himself to be the agent of the minister, to make communications to the envoys.
Mr. Hauteval declares, “his sensibility must be much affected, on finding himself, under the letter Z. acting a part in company with certain intriguers, whose plan (he says) it doubtless was to take advantage of the good faith of the American envoys, and make them their dupes:” yet this person, the avowed agent of the French minister, apparently so anxious to screen himself from the suspicion of an agency in soliciting the bribe required by Mr. Talleyrand, did himself urge a compliance with that corrupt proposition.
The sensation which these details irresistibly excite, is that of astonishment, at the unparal-
leled effrontery of Mr. Talleyrand in demanding of Mr. Gerry the names of X. Y. and Z. after Y. had accompanied him on a visit to the minister, with whom the conversation detailed in the printed dispatches then passed; and who then assured Mr. Gerry, “that the information Mr. Y. had given him was just, and might always be relied on.”—After Z. had in the first instance introduced Mr. Gerry to the minister, and served as their mutual interpreter, and when the conversation between them had also been stated in the dispatches: and after X. Y. and Z. had all dined together with Mr. Gerry at Mr. Talleyrand’s table, on rising from which, X. and Y. renewed the proposition about the money!—The very circumstance of Mr. Talleyrand’s being continued in office after the account of these intrigues had been published to the world, is a decisive proof that they were commenced and carried on with the privity, and by the secret orders of the Directory. It was to accomplish the object of these intrigues, that the American envoys were kept at Paris unrecieved six months after their credentials had been laid before the Directory: and it was only because they were superior to those intrigues, and that no hopes remained of wheedling or terrifying them into a compliance, that two of them were then sent away—and with marks of insult and contempt.
2. The fact that the French government attempted to inveigle Mr. Gerry into a separate negotiation will not be questioned: at first it was made privately, and under an injunction of secrecy towards his colleagues; it was afterwards plainly intimated by the minister, in his letter of the 18th of March, 1798, in which he tells the envoys that the executive directory was disposed to treat with one of the three; and that one he openly avowed, in his letter of the 3d of April, to be Mr. Gerry. The pretence for selecting him was, that “his opinions, presumed to be more impartial; promised, in the course of the explanations, “more of that reciprocal confidence which was indispensable.” But when, before, have their “opinions” been stated as a justifiable ground for rejecting the ambassadors of peace? Ambassadors too of established probity, whose characters were of the first distinction in their own country, and whose demeanour towards the government to which they were deputed was decent and respectful? Who had, with a frankness which the candour of their instructions warranted, communicated the important points which they contained? and who unreservedly, and with the most anxious solicitude, entreated that the negotiations might be commenced? What more proper or more honourable qualities ought ministers deputed to negotiate with a foreign nation possess? But why should a foreign government question the opinions of the ambassadors sent to negotiate with it on subjects of difference between the two nations? If wisely chosen, and faithful to the interests of their own country, they must of course possess different opinions from the government to which they are sent; the different opinions maintained by the two nations on their respective rights and interests being the cause and object of the negotiation. A government really disposed to treat on fair principles would never object to the opinions of foreign ambassadors. It would receive them and appoint its own ministers, with proper powers to treat with them, propose its terms, and receive those offered; and discuss both: and if then they could not agree, put an end to the negotiation. The French government did not wish to negotiate; it desired to impose a treaty on the United States. To this practice it had been accustomed towards the minor powers in Europe, whom it had subjected to its will: and it expected equal submission from the United States. Hence Mr. Talleyrand’s secret declaration to Mr. Gerry, “that if he would negotiate, they could soon finish a treaty; for the executive directory were not in the habit of spending much time about such matters.” Hence the objections to general Pinckney and general Marshall: they manifested a discernment superior to the intrigues of the French government, and an invincible determination not to surrender the honour, the interest, or the independence of their country. It was necessary then to get rid of them; and seeing that neither despair of negotiating, nor studied indigities, could induce them to quit their posts, passports were sent to them to quit France; it was with difficulty that general Pinckney could obtain permission to stay two or three months for the recovery of his sick daughter, to whom an immediate voyage would probably prove fatal. Unembarrassed by the presence of these envoys, the French government—if it really desired a treaty on any terms—hoped to prevail on Mr. Gerry to negotiate separately, although from the first overtire he declined, and continued to decline it. But after the expulsion of his colleagues, it hoped by its seductive arts to prevail over his scruples, and gain his consent to terms which, while they were present, would be rejected; or at all events to retain him with the semblance of negotiating regularly or informally, and thus keep the United States in the torpor of indecision, without preparation for offence or defence. Unfortunately Mr. Gerry was induced, by the threats of immediate war against the United States, to separate from his colleagues and stay in Paris; threats which, viewed with their motives, merited only detestation and contempt. Four or five months before the threats of immediate orders to quit France, and the terrors of war in its most dreadful forms, had been held up to the envoys to frighten them into a compliance with the groundless, unjust and corrupt demands of the French government, those threats had not been executed, and the unworthy purposes for which they had been uttered had been obvious.
Happily for the United States, the character of the French government, as delineated in the official dispatches of all the envoys, and the knowledge of its conduct towards other countries whose governments it had overturned, and whose people, in the names of Liberty and Equality, it had enslaved, so operated as not to leave us exposed to all the evils which suicide was calculated to produce. Mr. Gerry indeed resisted all the arts of the French Minister to entice him into a formal negotiation, after that government had driven his colleagues from Paris: a negotiation which in its nature would have been a surrender of our independence, by admitting a foreign government to choose for us the Minister who should represent our country, to treat of our important rights and interests, which that government had itself violated and deeply injured.
The Directory and their Minister Mr. Talleyrand hoped and expected that general Pinckney and general Marshall would voluntarily have quitted France, after the Minister’s letter of the 18th of March, in which he made the offensive distinction between them and their colleague Mr. Gerry, on the pretence that his “opinions” were more “impartial” than theirs. Accordingly, Mr. Talleyrand, in his letter to Mr. Gerry of the 3d of April, says—“I suppose, Sir, that Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall have thought it useful and proper, in consequence of the intimations which the end of my note of the 18th of March last presents, to quit the territory of the Republic.” Yet Mr. Talleyrand had given them neither passports nor letters of safe conduct! The fact is, the French government wished to avoid the odium of sending them away, and the blame of a rupture, which Mr. Talleyrand predicted would be the consequence; while it was privately intimated to them that they must leave the country. The Minister’s conduct on this occasion towards general Marshall (as detailed in his journal) was particularly marked with indigities. When it was observed to Mr. Talleyrand that this was not the manner in which a foreign Minister ought to be treated, Mr. Talleyrand replied that general Marshall was not a
foreign Minister, but was to be considered as a private American citizen; and must obtain his passport, like others, through the Consul. To this it was answered, that general Marshall was a foreign Minister, and that the French government could not deprive him of that character, which was conferred upon him, not by Mr. Talleyrand, but by the United States; and though the Directory might refuse to receive or to treat with him, still his country had clothed him with the requisite powers, which he held independently of France; that if he was not acceptable to the French government, and in consequence thereof it was determined to send him away, still he ought to be sent away like a Minister; that he ought to have his passports, with letters of safe conduct, which would protect him from the cruizers of France. Mr. Talleyrand replied, that if general Marshall wished for a passport, he must give in his name, status, age, complexion, &c. to the American Consul, who would obtain a passport for him; that with respect to a letter of safe conduct, it was unnecessary, as no risk from the cruizers would be incurred.
The result of these conversations was, a plain demonstration of the intention of the minister, that in consequence of his intimation, at the close of his letter of the 18th of March, that the “opinions” of two of the envoys were not agreeable to the government of France, general Pinckney and Marshall should appropriate to themselves the character which the minister had drawn generally; the envoys, aware of this snare, in their answer of the 3d of April to the intimation that the “Directory was disposed to treat with one of the envoys,” declare to the minister, “that no one of the envoys was authorized to take upon himself a negotiation evidently entrusted to the whole;” and “that no two of them could propose to withdraw themselves from the task committed to them by their government, while there remained a possibility of performing it;” but that if “it should be the will of the Directory to order passports for the whole or any number of them,” it was “agreed that such passports might be accompanied with letters of safe conduct, to protect them against the cruizers of France.”
These endeavours of the French government, whether real or affected, to draw Mr. Gerry into a separate negotiation, constitute the substance of the correspondence between him and Mr. Talleyrand. They appear to merit consideration in several points of view.
1. Because, if real, it was only in the hope and expectation, that by intrigues and terrors the French government might influence Mr. Gerry to enter into a formal treaty, on the terms which he and his colleagues had repeatedly rejected as incompatible with the interest, honour, and independence of their country.—For at this time Mr. Talleyrand had not renounced the demands of loans and a douneur as the indispensable preliminaries of a treaty. Accordingly we see Mr. Talleyrand, in his letter of the 3d of April to Mr. Gerry, proposed “to resume their reciprocal communications upon the interests of the French republic and the United States of America.” And in his letter of July 12th to Mr. Gerry, having mentioned the arrival at Havre of a packet, the Sophia, from the American government, he says, “until then I never supposed you entertained the design of embarking before we had come to an agreement upon the definitive articles to be ratified by your government.” 2. Because if that government had so far succeeded, it would have insisted on its ratification by the President and Senate, on the ground ostentatiously taken by Mr. Talleyrand, that the powers of the envoys being several as well as joint , Mr. Gerry, when alone, even after the French government had ordered his colleagues to leave France, was adequate to the formation of the treaty; and that therefore the public faith would be violated, if it were not ratified. 3. Because under such circumstances, the French government doubtless calculated at least on a division of the public opinion in the United States in favour of the ratification of such a treaty; by means of which it might enforce the ratification, or effect still greater mischief. 4. But these endeavours to draw Mr. Gerry into a formal negotiation are chiefly remarkable because they were persevered in during near five months, against his constant, direct, and positive refusals to treat separately; Mr. Talleyrand asserting, and Mr. Gerry denying, the competency of his powers.
We have seen the envoys, from the 6th of October, 1797, the date of their first letter to the French minister, to the 3d of April, 1798, when their last was delivered to him, expressing their earnest desire to enter upon and prosecute the great business of their mission: we have seen them during that long period patiently enduring neglect and indigities, to which an ardent zeal to re-establish harmony and peace, could alone induce freemen to submit: we have seen them, while held in suspense,—neither received nor rejected—yielding to the importunities of private agents of the French government, and hearing and discussing their propositions, insulting as they were, in the hope that when these should be shown to be utterly inadmissible, others, founded in reason and equity, and in the usual course of diplomatic negotiation, might be brought forward. Doubtless they also wished, when their astonishment at the first overtures had subsided, by listening still longer to such dishonourable propositions, to ascertain the true character of the French government. We have seen them, after waiting five weeks from the presentation of a copy of their letters of credence, entirely unnoticed, “solicit an attention to their mission”—and soliciting in vain. Thus denied an official hearing, they hoped, by an unusual step, to excite the attention of that government; they determined to transmit to the minister a letter representing the views of their own government, in relation to the subjects in dispute with France. This letter, dated the 17th, was delivered the 31st of January, 1798. Waiting near a month without an answer, and “still being anxious to hear explicitly from Mr. Talleyrand himself, before they sent their final letter, whether there were no means within their powers, of accommodating our differences with France on just and reasonable grounds;” on the 27th of February, they desired “a personal interview on the subject of their mission;” and afterwards a second interview. They remark on what passed at these meetings, “that the views of France, with regard to the United States, were not essentially changed since their communications with its unofficial agents in the preceding October.”
At length they received Mr. Talleyrand’s letter of the 18th of March, 1798, in answer to theirs of the 17th of January. The minister’s letter represented the complaints of France: as usual, charging the American government with the non-execution of the treaties with France; with diffimulation ; insinuating that our tribunals were subject to a secret influence ; holding up the British treaty as replete with evil and injury, and “the principal grievance of the republic;” accusing the American government of a wish to seize the first favourable occasion to consummate an intimate union with Great-Britain, and suggesting that a devotion and partiality to that power have long been the principal of the conduct of the federal government.
To this letter of the French minister, the envoys sent their reply on the 3d of April. This reply, and their former letter, detect the sophisms and erroneous statements of the minister; expose his naked assertions; refute his arguments; repel his calumnies; and completely vindicate the fidelity, the justice, and, as a neutral power, the impartiality of the government of the United States; and at the same time exhibit the weighty and well founded complaints of the United States against the French republic.
Hitherto, instead of a desire to obtain a reconciliation, we can discover in the French government only empty professions of a desire to conciliate; while it haughtily refused to receive our envoys, and during six months disregarded their respectful and ardent solicitations to negotiate: And after one of them, whom it induced to remain in France, had declared that “he had no powers to treat separately,—that the measure was impossible;” then the Directory expelled the other Two!
* On the 6th of October, 1797, the day after the envoys had delivered to the minister a copy of their letter of credence, “cards of hospitality were sent to them and their secretaries, in a file just suitable to their official character.” [Dispatches, p. 17.] And in the minister’s letter to them of the 18th of March, 1798, he calls them “the commissioners and envoys extraordinary of the United States of America.” [Dispatches, p. 23.]
* Extract of a letter, dated June 15th, 1798, from Mr. King, minister of the United States in London, to the secretary of state. “Colonel Trumbull, who was at Paris soon after the arrival there of the commissioners, has more than once informed me, that Hauteval told him that both the douneur and the loan were indispensable; and urged him to employ his influence with the American commissioners to offer the bribe as well as the loan.”

It now we survey Mr. Gerry's individual correspondence, we find no solid evidence of any change in the disposition of the French government.
In his first letter to Mr. Gerry, Mr. Talleyrand's artifice is visible: he addresses him as "envoy extraordinary of the United States of America to the French republic;" and proposes to him to "resume" their reciprocal communications. Mr. Gerry, apprehending that the minister intended to draw him into a negotiation, repeats what he had often before declared, that for him to treat separately was impracticable; and that he can only confer with him informally.
On the 20th of April, Mr. Gerry addresses a letter to the minister, and proposes him to come forward with propositions for terminating all differences, restoring harmony, and re-establishing commerce between the two nations. He receives no answer. On the 28th he centers with the minister, who says he cannot make propositions, because he does not know the views of the United States in regard to a treaty. Mr. Gerry gives him the information. He then promises in three or four days to deliver to Mr. Gerry the project of a treaty: This promise was never performed. On the 12th of May, the new instructions of March 23d, sent by the Sophia packet, reached Mr. Gerry; and he gave immediate notice to the minister, that he should return to America in the Sophia, as soon as she could be fitted for sea. "On the 25th of May, the minister sent his principal secretary to inform Mr. Gerry, that his government did not wish to break the British treaty; but expected such provisions as would indemnify France, and put her on a footing with that nation." Yet that treaty had been made, by the French government, its chief pretence for those unjust and cruel depredations on American commerce, which have brought distress on multitudes, and ruin on many of our citizens; and occasioned a total loss of property to the United States of probably more than twenty millions of dollars; besides subjecting our fellow-citizens to insults, stripes, wounds, torture and imprisonment. And Mr. Talleyrand, in his letter of the 18th of March, to the envoys, declared that treaty to be "the principal grievance of the republic." But now, instead of breaking that treaty, France desires to be put on the same footing. This the United States would at any time have done, and the envoys were now explicitly instructed to do: and seven months before, all the envoys, in their conversation with Mr. Bellamy (Y.) the confidential and authorized agent of the French minister, told him "that he might be assured that their powers were such, as authorized them to place France on equal ground with England, in any respects in which an inequality might be supposed to exist at present between them, to the disadvantage of France."
The Secretary also mentioned the claims of the American citizens on the French Republic: he said if the latter should be unable to pay them, when adjusted, and the United States would assume and pay them, France would reimburse the amount thereof. This has the semblance of candour: but on the 4th of March, when the envoys were in conference with Mr. Talleyrand, and they disclosed their principal instructions, "General Pinckney and Mr. Gerry told him they were positively forbidden to assume the debts to our own citizens, even if we were to pay the money directly to them." And doubtless it was because the proposition was already known to be inadmissible, that it was now renewed.
The Secretary and Mr. Gerry had also some unimportant conversation about the consular convention. And it is plain that the whole object of the Secretary's visit was to amuse, by keeping alive Mr. Gerry's hopes of some pacific arrangements.
On the 26th of May, Mr. Gerry had a conference with the minister; pressing on this, as on former occasions, the necessity of sending a minister to the United States with powers to negotiate; to which, he says, the minister acceded; but afterwards explained himself to mean a minister to reside there after the ratification of the talked of treaty.
Such are the proceedings of the French government by its minister, Mr. Talleyrand, before the arrival of the printed dispatches of the envoys: We discover nothing but a proposition for treating with Mr. Gerry alone—which he had repeatedly declared to be impossible and on terms which Mr. Gerry himself, as well as the other envoys, had long before pronounced to be utterly inadmissible, because directly repugnant to their instructions.
We shall now see, by an examination of Mr. Gerry's subsequent communications, that the publication of the envoy's dispatches, far from causing a discontinuance of negotiations with him, or any change in the disposition of the French government more unfriendly to the United States, incomparably greater zeal for negotiating was exhibited afterwards than before.
On the 30th of May, the minister announces to Mr. Gerry the publication of the envoys' dispatches. In his letter of the 27th of June, he says, this incident only "for a moment suspended the principal object"—the negotiation with Mr. Gerry: and in his letter of June 10th, he declares, that "the French government, superior to all the personalities, to all the manoeuvres of its enemies, perseveres in the intention of conciliating with sincerity all the differences which have happened between the two countries." On the 11th of June, the minister sends him a plan for conducting the negotiations; for the first time, states the "three points" on which he says "all negotiations between France and the United States must essentially rest;" and gives (what he calls) "a large development" of them: concluding by pressing him to remain at Paris to accelerate the negotiation—"the drawing together of those ties which the French republic and the true Americans have regretted to see relaxed."
On the 27th of June, the minister again writes to Mr. Gerry; and in language the most importunate, such as had never before been used, urges him not to withdraw, "when the French government, superior to all resentments, and never listening to any thing but justice, manifests itself anxious to conclude a solid and mutually satisfactory agreement." The minister even observes, that the first of the "three points" mentioned in his preceding letter (respecting amicable declarations about mutual recriminations) might be postponed; that the 3d (about the examination of reciprocal damages) would doubtless experience no difficulty on either side, after the 2d should be amicably settled: That it was to the second therefore they should first attend; it being so much the more important, as it embraced the source of all the differences between the two nations. And on the 22d of July, the minister renounces all demands of 'loans and explanations on the subject of speeches;' and even affects to be hurt, that Mr. Gerry should have mentioned them: although both he and his private agents had, before, so long and so obstinately persevered in demanding them of the envoys, as the indispensable preliminaries to a negotiation.
And doubtless it is partly owing to the publication of their dispatches, thereby exposing to the world those shameless demands, with the scandalous proposition of the douteur , that they are now relinquished.
In adducing these circumstances to shew the increased zeal of the French government, since the publication of the dispatches, to negotiate on its differences with the United States, it is not to be understood that they afford a shadow of evidence of its sincerity. But as professions , verbal or written, furnished the only ground on which Mr. Gerry could form his opinion, that "before the arrival of the dispatches of the envoys, the minister was sincere, and anxious to obtain a reconciliation;" much more, professions stronger and more importunate, afterwards made, afford proportionably higher evidence of sincerity. But the present details demonstrate that all those professions were merely ostensible. In the minister's last mentioned letter, after saying that his "second point" (to fix the meaning of the treaties between the two countries) was most important, "as it embraced the source of all the differences," and that to this they should first attend: he purposely passes by the most interesting questions it involves—and sends Mr. Gerry a note on the consular convention , of all possible subjects in difference the most insignificant; as it would have expired by its own limitation in two years and a half; within which time, the commerce of France, judging from its present state of annihilation, would probably not furnish a single ship to visit the ports of the United States. In his next letter, dated July 6th, he pursues his speculations on the consular convention , and sends Mr. Gerry two more notes upon it; complaining that he had not transmitted to him his opinion upon his first note, and recommending the two last to his attention: although Mr. Gerry had repeatedly and positively declined a formal discussion , such as the minister now urged in writing. Mr. Gerry states also that this first note of the minister on the consular convention , was sent to him six weeks after he had demanded his passport, and when his baggage was actually on board the Sophia !
In a word, the more clearly the impossibility of entering on a formal negotiation appeared, the more was it pressed by the French minister. Mr. Gerry, in his letter to Mr. Talleyrand of July 20th, as justly as pointedly exposes the boasted zeal of the minister—"you was the first, you affirm, to press seriously the negotiation: you will agree with me, that the merit would have been greater, had the measure itself been feasible." Again he says to the minister, "you frequently remind me of your exactions [to negotiate] which I am disposed as much as possible to appreciate, regretting at the same time their cirumlocutory directions ."
From this detail of facts, the following are the necessary conclusions. That by the exclusive attentions of the minister to Mr. Gerry, the French government intended to excite the jealousy of his colleagues, to promote dissensions between them, to separate him from them, and induce him to remain in France; expecting either to seduce him into a formal negotiation of a treaty, on terms exclusively advantageous to France, and injurious and dishonourable to the United States; or, failing in this, to hold the United States in suspense , and prevent any measures for our security in the event of war; while we, amused and deluded by warm but empty professions of the pacific views and wishes of France, and by "informal conferences," might wait in spiritless torpor, hoping for a peaceful result: and
That by this course of proceeding, this ostentatious display of zeal to adjust differences, and restore harmony and a friendly intercourse between the United States and France—the French government intended, in case of a rupture, to throw the blame on the former.
It is necessary to make a few observations on the decree of the Executive Directory of the 3d of July, 1798.
This decree was sent after Mr. Gerry to Havre; and he supposes that the official impediments, which for several days prevented his sailing, are to be ascribed to the minister's desire of sending the decree by him. The minister introduces it as "a part of the measures which he had announced to Mr. Gerry on the 22d of July." In his letter of that date to Mr. Gerry, the minister says—"By information which the government has just received, it indeed learns that violences have been committed upon the commerce and citizens of the United States in the West-Indies, and on their coasts. Do it the justice to believe, that it needs only to know the facts, to disavow all acts contrary to the laws of the Republic and its own decrees. A remedy is preparing for it, and orders will soon arrive in the West-Indies calculated to cause every thing to return within its just limits." This "remedy" is the decree of the 3d of July.
1. The first article of this decree confines to the special agents of the Directory the right of issuing commissions to cruisers; and requires these to conform themselves to all the laws relative to cruising and prizes, and especially to those of the 1st of October, 1793. Although the injunction to conform to all the laws of the republic relative to cruising was ominous, as the laws , most recently promulgated and best known, were themselves the sources of the depredations and evils of which we complained, yet not imagining that a decree introduced with so much solemnity, of which one copy was sent to Mr. Gerry, another to the American consul-general at Paris, and a third to Mr. Letombe, late consul-general of France—all to be communicated to the executive of the United States, and all of which have been received—could be a mere parade of words, I was disposed to conclude that the law of the 1st of October, 1793, to which all cruisers were especially enjoined to conform, might contain regulations that would afford some relief from French depredations. By the favour of Mr. Letombe, I obtained a copy of that law; and to my astonishment found its object, conform-
mably to its title, was "To determine the mode of dividing prizes made by French vessels on the enemies of the republic." And the only restriction in this lengthy law of six and forty articles, imposed on the individuals, officers and all others, composing the crews of their armed vessels is, "that they shall not sell before hand their eventual shares of prizes."
2. The second article declares, that all commissions granted by the agents in the French colonies in America, to fit out vessels for cruisers, or for war and commerce, shall be void in thirty days after the publication of the decree in those colonies. It has been supposed, that by this regulation the agents may gather a fresh harvest of fees for new commissions; and that this would be its only effect. The agents, however, had before taken care of this; they had been accustomed to limit the duration of privateers' commissions: and if they continued to cruise after their expiration, such privateers should have been considered as destitute of commissions, and consequently, if they made any captures, as pirates.—But the agents knew their interest better: they did not punish the piratical captors, they did not declare their captures void, and restore the property to the neutral owners; but, declaring such captors to have no title to the captured vessels and cargoes, took the whole to themselves. A remarkable instance occurred in the last year, in the case of the East-India ship New-Jersey , belonging to Philadelphia, to redeem which the owners have paid to General Hedouville, special agent of the Executive Directory in St. Domingo, upwards of two hundred thousand dollars in cash. Whether any and what portion of such prize money goes into the chest of the republic, I am not informed.
3. The third article declares that all agents and other deputies in the neutral possessions , appointed to decide there on the validity of prizes taken by the French cruisers, and who shall be suspected of having a direct or indirect interest in the cruisers, shall be immediately recalled.
It is remarkable that this article, apparently designed to correct the monstrous abuse of public officers sitting in judgment in their own causes, should be limited to such of the agents and their deputies, as were appointed to reside in neutral places . I do not know that an instance of the kind exists. For although the French privateers and their prizes and aliyums in the Swedish and Danish islands, yet the papers are carried thence to Guadalupe, and there the captured vessels receive their doom, under the superintendence of another special agent of the Executive Directory , Victor Hughes. And even the captured American vessels carried into the West-India ports of Spain and Holland, do not there receive sentence: these cases are decided by the agent or his deputies, or other French tribunals, established in the island of St. Domingo, frequently if not generally, in the absence of the masters and supercargoes. The French agents and judges find no difficulty in this mode of proceeding, justice being administered with more facility and dispatch , when only one of the parties is present at the trial; especially when the agents or other judges are interested in the privateers; and this the present decree impliedly allows; the penalty of "recall" being applicable, as above suggested, to such agents only as reside in neutral places , if any such there be.
It is also remarkable, that this decree, which was to give the United States a proof of the justice of the French government (a government, Mr. Talleyrand says, "never listening to any thing but justice") and of its desire of a reconciliation with the United States, should be limited to the West Indies , when as great if not as numerous abuses were practised by French agents and tribunals in Europe, and even in France itself, as in her remote possessions. This too many of our citizens well know. For captures and condemnations are not the less abuses , because made under the colour of municipal laws and decrees, which directly violate treaties, the law of nations and the plainest principles of justice. At present I shall only mention, that in a report made by Major Mountflarence, Chancellor to the American Consulate at Paris, to general Pinckney, in December, 1796, and which was laid before Congress in May, 1797, he states, "That the tribunals of commerce in every port of France take cognizance, in the first instance, of every matter relative to captures at sea;" and "these tribunals (he adds) are chiefly composed of merchants, and most of them are, directly or indirectly, more or less interested in the fitting out of the privateers, and therefore are often concerned in the controversies they are to determine upon."
4. The fourth article requires the special agents of the Executive Directory at Cayenne, St. Domingo and Guadalupe, studiously to take care, that the interests and property of vessels, belonging to neutrals and allies, be scrupulously respected.
We have too long witnessed the studious and scrupulous care of these gentlemen, respecting the property of neutrals and allies, and experienced its ruinous consequences; and as the same laws which authorized that "care" remain in force and with a fresh injunction of a strict conformity to them, we can expect only a continuance of the same abuses.
5. The fifth article enjoins the special agents of the Executive Directory, Consuls and all others invested with powers for that purpose, to cause to be arrested and punished all those who shall contravene the provisions of the present decree. Unfortunately, these special agents, consuls and their deputies, are themselves the aggressors , and justify their proceedings under the laws of the Republic, and the decrees of the Executive Directory.
This analysis of the present decree manifests its futility; and with some remarks on its preamble, will demonstrate it to be a bold impos-
ture; intended to mislead the citizens of the United States into a belief that the French government was going to put an end to the depredations of the French cruisers on American commerce; while the means proposed are so gross as to be an insult on our understandings.
The preamble to the decree sets forth, "that information recently received from the French colonies and the continent of America, leave no room to doubt that French cruisers, or such as call themselves French, have infringed the laws of the Republic relative to cruising and prizes;" and "that foreigners and pirates have abused the latitude allowed at Cayenne and in the West-India islands to vessels fitted out for cruising or for war and commerce, in order to cover with the French flag their extortions, and the violation of the respect due to the laws of nations, and to the persons and property of allies and neutrals." And Mr. Talleyrand, in one of his letters before noticed, dated the 22d of July last, speaks of this information as having been "just received."
But what has been more notorious than French depredations on neutral, and especially on American commerce, in violation of treaties and the laws of nations? These have indeed been coeval with the existing war in Europe; but were multiplied under the loose decree of the Executive Directory passed the second of July, 1796, declaring that, "the flag of the French Republic will treat neutral vessels, either as to confiscation, to searches, or to capture, in the same manner as they shall suffer the English to treat them."
This decree committed the whole commerce of neutrals, in the first instance, to the rapacity of French privateers, and then to the discretion of their agents, consuls and tribunals. These had only to say, truly or falsely, that the English treated neutrals in any given way, and then they were to treat them in the same manner. Accordingly we have seen Santhonax and Raimond, commissioners of the French government in St. Domingo, in their adjudication of an American vessel, on the 10th of January, 1797, declare, "that the resolution (or decree) passed by the Executive Directory of the 2d of July, 1796, precribes to all the armed vessels of the Republic, and the armed vessels belonging to individuals, to treat neutral vessels in the same manner as they suffer the English to treat them;" and "that it is in consequence of the above resolution of the Executive Directory, and in consequence of the manner in which the English government in the Antilles treats neutral vessels, that the commission passed their resolution of the 7th of January, by which they declare all neutral vessels bound to or from English ports to be legal prize." From these facts, and the tenor of the decree itself, we can form but one conclusion, that it was framed in such indefinite terms as to purpose to give scope for arbitrary construction, and confide it to unlimited oppression and exaction.
But without waiting for this decree, the commissioners of the French government at St. Domingo began their piracies on the commerce of the United States; and in February, 1797, wrote to the minister of marine (and the extract of the letter appeared in the official journal of the Executive Directory of the 5th of June) "that having found no resource in finance, and knowing the unfriendly dispositions of the Americans, and to avoid perishing in distress, they had armed for cruising, and that already 87 cruisers were at sea, and that for three months preceding, the administration had furnished, and individuals been enriched, with the product of those prizes." "That the decree of the 2d of July was not known by them until five months afterwards. But, (say they) the shocking conduct of the Americans, and the indebted knowledge of the intentions of our government , made it our duty to order reprisals, even before we had received the official notice of the decree." "They felicitate themselves that American vessels were daily taken; and declare that they had learnt, by divers persons from the continent, that the Americans were perfidious, corrupt, the friends of England, and that therefore their vessels no longer entered the French ports, unless carried in by force."
After this recital before the council of 500, Pastor makes the following remarkable reflections:
"On reading this letter, we should think that we had been dreaming; that we had been transported into a savage country, where men, still ignorant of the empire of morals and of laws, commit crimes without shame and without remorse, and applaud themselves for their robberies, as Paulus Æmilius or Cato would have grafted themselves for an eminent service rendered to their country. Cruisers armed against a friendly nation! Reprisals when it is we ourselves who attack! Reprisals against a nation that has not taken a single vessel of ours! Riches acquired by the confiscation of the ships of a people to whom we are united by treaties, and whom no declaration of war had separated from us!" "The whole discourse of the agents may be reduced to these few words: 'Having nothing wherewith to buy, I seize; I make myself amends for the property which I want, by the piracy which enriches me; and then I slander those whom I have pillaged. This is robbery justified by selfishness and calumny.' Yet Santhonax, one of these 'robbers,' and the chief of those Directorial agents , continued in office, and going a few months afterwards from St. Domingo to France, was received as a member into one of the legislative councils."
Pastor also adverts to a letter from Merlin, then minister of justice, and now a member of the Executive Directory, to Mr. Skipwith, consul general of the United States, which also appeared in the journal of the Directory; and quotes the following passage: "Let your government break the inconceivable treaty, which it concluded on the 19th of November, 1794, with our most implacable enemies; and immediately the French Republic will cease to apply in its own favour the regulations in that treaty, which favour England to the injury of France; and I warrant you that we shall not see an appeal to those regulations, in any tribunal, to support unjust pretensions ." "Have I," says Pastor, "read this rightly? Unjust pretensions ! Could it be possible that they should thus have been characterized by the minister, who is himself their agent and defender?"
After all, this "inconceivable British treaty" was itself but a pretext to countenance the "unjust pretensions," as Merlin himself calls them, used by the French government in its tribunals for the purpose of condemning American vessels. The details I have already given prove it. I beg leave to adduce other evidence. It is the testimony of Mr. Barlow, an American by birth, but for several years past a citizen of France, a man of acknowledged discernment and talents, devoted to the French republic, and intimate with her leading men. Mr. Barlow has long resided at Paris, and cannot have mistaken the views of the French government, nor the motives of its conduct. Mr. Barlow's letter, dated at Paris, the 1st of March, 1798, to his brother in law Mr. Baldwin, has doomed the writer to infamy; yet when it describes the principles and conduct of the French republic it merits attention. He says, "That act of submission to the British government, commonly called Jay's treaty, is usually considered, both by its friends and enemies, as the sole cause, or at least the great cause, of the present hostile disposition of the French republic towards the United States. This opinion (says he) is erroneous." He then proceeds to an enumeration of a variety of matters which he says have influenced the conduct of France. But the most provoking, and the most unparadisable, of all offences of the United States against France, was, fortunately, not an act of the government, but an act of the people. The freemen of the United States, "the true Americans," dared to exercise their independent rights; and, contrary to the wishes of the French government, and the endeavours and practices of its Minister Adet, elected Mr. Adams to the office of President. Mr. Barlow's observations on this event further develop the character and principles of that Government. He says, "when the election of Mr. Adams was announced here, it produced the order of the 2d of March," which was meant to be little short of a declaration of war. "The government here was determined to seize you of your property, to a sufficient degree to bring you to your feeling in the only nerve in which it was presumed your sensibility lay, which was your pecuniary interest." And what was this "feeling" to produce? The answer is obvious: Submission to the will of the French government. The mystery of French policy is here unveiled. The United States did not submit; hence the non-reception of her envoys, and their haughty treatment; hence the insulting demands of tribute, as a preliminary even to their reception; and hence the expulsion of two of them from France.
But to return to the decree of the Executive Directory of the 3d of July last.
I have already shown that the mass of depredations on the commerce of the United States, under the French flag, of which we so justly complain, are not those committed, as the Directory in their preamble insinuate, by "privateers and pirates," but by French armed vessels commissioned by the government or its agents; or whether commissioned or not, whose acts in capturing American vessels receive the sanction of French consuls, or French tribunals, and of special agents of the Directory. I have
* It will be recollected that this is the decree of the Executive Directory, ordering the capture and condemnation of American vessels, not having a valid equipe —that fruitful source of plunder to Frenchmen, and of ruin to American citizens; and which also declared all American seamen, making a part of the crews of enemy ships, even when put on board them by force, to be pirates, and directed them to be treated as such.
* "Decree of the Convention Nationale du 15, 8bre. 1793, 1 er an. 2d, de la Republique Francaise." Que determine la mode de repartition des prises faites par les vaisseaux Francaise sur les ennemis de la Republique."

shown that the laws of France and the Directorial decrees are themselves the sources of those violations of treaties and the law of nations, which have caused such immense losses to the citizens of the United States. And to the proofs already offered, that the information of such aggressions and abuses, particularly in the West Indies and on the coast of America, was not, as the preamble suggests, "recently received," I may add, that their "special agents" authorized those depredations and violations of the law of nations, by decrees assuming the laws of the republic or the acts of the Executive Directory for their basis; by decrees printed and published, and undoubtedly from time to time reported by these agents to the Directory itself. Further, these outrages on American commerce have for years past been the theme of every tongue, and filled columns in our newspapers--those newspapers, which, Mr. Barlow says, "the office of foreign affairs at Paris" regularly receives. I will conclude this point with the testimony of Mr. Letombe, late consul general of the French republic, and still residing in Philadelphia. He has long since and repeatedly assured me, that he collected all those accounts of depredations and outrages committed by French privateers, and transmitted them to his government at Paris.
In relation to the depredations and outrages committed by the French on the commerce of the United States, I have laid that as great, if not as numerous abuses were practiced by the French in Europe, and even in France itself, as in her remote possessions; and that this fact was but too well known to our citizens, who had felt severely their effects. Among these we have seen the case of the ship Hare, Captain Hayley; but never in all its disgusting features. With this I will close my observations on the preamble of the Directorial decree of the 31st of July. Extract of a Letter from Rufus King, Esq., minister of the United States in London, dated September 3, 1798, to the Secretary of State of the United States.
"The pretence for this arrest [the decree of the Directory of July 31st] is of a piece with the vindication of Talleyrand respecting X. Y. and Z.; and the justice and sincerity of the Directory should be ascertained, not by their word, but by the following contemporaneous extract."
"Hayley, an American citizen, master of the American ship Hare, lying in the port of London laden with a rich cargo, the property of Americans, and bound to New-York, went with my passport from London to Paris, where in a personal interview, not with the agent of the minister of marine, but with the minister himself, he disclosed his plan of bringing the ship Hare and her cargo into France; and to enable him to receive the profits of the fraud, without incurring the punishment of piracy, he demanded and received from the minister of marine, a commission naming him the commander of a privateer that did not exist; with which in his pocket, he returned to London; and soon after carried the ship Hare and her cargo as a prize into France."
"The ship and cargo were both claimed by the American owners; and upon the unveiling of this infamous proceeding, before the lower tribunal, the judges hesitated; and finally refused to sanction so unheard of a fraud; though instead of restoring the property to its lawful owner, they on some frivolous pretence adjudged both ship and cargo to be good prize to the nation. Lately the tribunal in the last resort, upon the appeal of Hayley, has reversed the judgment of the lower court, and decreed the ship and cargo to be condemned as good prize to this Renegade."
If a transaction more grossly corrupt and infamous has occurred in the West-Indies,--I have not heard of it: and yet with this case of unequalled infamy and corruption before them, sanctioned by the highest tribunals of the nation, the Directory expect to amuse us with a disavowal of the conduct of a few subaltern agents in a remote part of their dominions!!
Besides the communications from Mr. Gerry, I have received from Fulwar Skipwith, Esq., confidant general of the United States at Paris, three letters, dated the 4th, 8th and 22nd of August, copies of which, and of the papers therein referred to, are herewith presented; excepting the decree of July 31st, which appears among the communications from Mr. Gerry. Mr. Skipwith's letter of August 22d, with its enclosures, was delivered to me by Doctor Logan. I had previously received the original, which had been brought over by Mr. Woodward of Boston.
Doctor Logan having been the bearer of the last mentioned communications from the French government, and his Embassy having not only engaged the attention of the public, but been made the subject of debate in Congress, I trust it will not be deemed improper to introduce into this report some circumstances respecting it.
On the 12th of November the Doctor came to me at Trenton; he advanced with eagerness, and handed me the packet from Mr. Skipwith. On examining its contents, I told the Doctor that I already possessed the same papers. I made some remarks on the decree of the Directory of the 31st of July, to show that it was only ostensible and illusory; and that it would not give any relief to the commerce of the United States. The Doctor, not contesting my arguments or opinion, said that more was intended to be done; but that the Directory could not accomplish it of themselves; seeing it depended on the loix which the legislative councils alone could change. I answered, that this was easy to be done; that as the Directory, on the 18th Fructidor (September 4th, 1797) had garbled the two councils, and banished some and dismissed others of the best members--all who were firmly opposed to their views--and as on the new elections to supply the vacancies and the new thirds of the councils, the Directory sent every new member who was not agreeable to them--every body must see that the Directory had but to declare its will , and it would be obeyed. The Doctor said that the Directory was very well disposed towards the United States, and desired a reconciliation; that they would promote a revision of the laws in regard to privateering, so as to put the rights of neutral nations on a just footing; but that it would take some time to bring this about, "the people concerned in privateering having gained a very great influence in the two councils!"
Is it necessary to enquire how this very great influence has been obtained? Are the leading members owners of privateers? or do they receive their shares of prize-money from those who are? Do the legislative councils really act independently of the Directory? Or does the same "influence" assure both?--The printed dispatches of our envoys, under the date of October 29, 1797, state, on the information of Mr. Talleyrand's private agent, X. that Merlin, one of the members, and now or late President of the Directory, was to receive no part of the discoeur demanded of the envoys, because he was paid by the owners of privateers. And in respect to the loix then demanded, on which subject it was suggested that one of the envoys should go to America to consult the government, the envoys "asked Mr. X. if in the mean time the Directory would order the American property, not yet passed into the hands of the privateers, to be restored? He said explicitly that they would not. The envoys asked him whether they would suspend further depredations on our commerce? He said they would not! But Mr. Talleyrand observed, that on this subject we could not sustain much additional injury, because the winter season was approaching, when fewer additional captures could be made." Here we see our envoys enquiring, not whether the two councils would suspend those depredations, but whether the Directory would do it; and Mr. Talleyrand's agent, X. without intimating that the Directory wanted power , or that they could only "en-deavour to provoke in the legislature a revision of their maritime laws," answered peremptorily, that the Directory would not suspend the depredations . The truth is, that it was an act of the Directory alone (their decree of the 22d March, 1797) which authorized and produced more extensive depredations on the commerce of the United States, than any other decree or law of the French republic. To effect a repeal of that decree, no application of the legislative councils could be necessary. They could also have repealed another of their own decrees, that of the 2d of July, 1796, which subjected neutral property, and particularly that of American citizens, to the discretion of their consuls and cruisers in the European seas, as well as of their privateers and agents in the West-Indies, and on which these agents have founded other numerous decrees, which have occasioned those shocking depredations and abuses there and on the coast of the United States, which the Directory, by their decree of the 31st of July last, affect to restrain.
[Remainder in our next.] PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 28. Accounts received from Norfolk state, that the Montezuma, Capt. Murray, had captured in the West-Indies a French privateer of 18 and a brig of 12 guns. We have not been able to learn by what channel this information reached Norfolk.
On Friday afternoon, the body of the late Mr. Tazewell was interred in the burial ground of Christ Church. The pall was supported by six Senators, of which the Vice-President was one; and attended by both Houses of Congress, their Chaplains, &c. by the Senate and House of Representatives of this State, together with the principal officers of the government.
LONDON, Nov. 21. BRITISH PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS. Tuesday, Nov. 20.
His majesty went with his usual state to the House of Lords, and being seated on the throne, summoned the House of Commons to attend the royal presence. As soon as they were arrived, his majesty opened the Parliament with the following most gracious Speech from the Throne:
My Lords and Gentlemen, THE events which have taken place in the course of the present year, and the signal success which, by the blessing of Providence, has attended my arms, have been productive of the happiest consequences, and have essentially promoted the prosperity and glory of our country.
The unexampled series of our naval triumphs has received fresh splendor from the memorable and decisive action in which a detachment of my fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral Lord Nelson, attacked and almost totally destroyed a superior force of the enemy, strengthened by every advantage of situation. By this great and brilliant victory, an enterprize, of which the injustice, perfidy, and extravagance has fixed the attention of the world, and which was peculiarly directed against some of the most valuable interests of the British Empire, has in the first instance been turned to the confusion of its authors; and the blow thus given to the power and influence of France has afforded an opening, which, if improved by suitable exertions on the part of other powers, may lead to the general deliverance of Europe.
The wisdom and magnanimity displayed at this conjuncture by the emperor of Russia, and the decision and vigour of the Ottoman Porte, have shown that these powers are impressed with a just sense of the present crisis; and their example, joined to the disposition manifested almost universally in the different countries struggling under the yoke of France, must be a powerful encouragement to other States, to adopt that vigorous line of conduct, which experience has proved to be alone consistent with security or honour.
The extent of our preparations at home, and the demonstrations of zeal and spirit among all ranks of my subjects, have deterred the enemy from attempting to execute their vain threat of invading the coasts of this kingdom.
In Ireland, the rebellion which they had instigated has been curbed and repressed--the troops which they landed for its support, have been compelled to surrender; and the armaments since destined for the same purpose, have, by the vigilance and activity of my squadrons, been captured or dispersed. The views and principles of those, who in concert with our inveterate enemy, have long planned the subversion of our constitution, have been fully detected and exposed, and their treasons made manifest to the world.--Those whom they have misled or seduced, must now be awakened to their duty; and a just sense of the miseries and horrors which these traitorous designs have produced, must impress on the minds of all my faithful subjects, the necessity of continuing to repel with firmness every attack on the laws and established government of their country.
Gentlemen of the House of Commons, Under the unavoidable pressure of protracted war, it is a great satisfaction to me to observe, that the produce of the public revenue has proved fully adequate to the increase of our permanent expenditure; that the national credit has been maintained and improved; and that the commerce and industry of my subjects have continued to flourish in a degree hitherto unknown.
The situation in which we are placed, unhappily renders the continuance of heavy expenses indispensable to the public safety; but the state of our resources, and the good sense and public spirit which prevail through every part of my kingdom, will, I trust, enable me to provide the necessary supplies without essential inconvenience to my people, and with as little addition as possible to the permanent burdens of the state. The progress made towards such a system, by the measures adopted in the last session, and the aid given to public credit by the plan for the redemption of the land tax, have been attended with the most beneficial effects, which you will, I am persuaded, omit no opportunity to confirm and improve.
My Lords and Gentlemen, I rely with confidence on the continuance of your exertions, to enable me ultimately to conduct the great contest in which we are engaged to a safe and honourable conclusion.
We have surmounted many and great difficulties--our perseverance in a just cause has been rewarded with distinguished success, and our present situation, compared with that of other countries, sufficiently prove how much, in a period of general danger and calamity, the security and happiness of the British nation have depended (under the blessing of Providence) on its own constancy, its energy, and its virtue.
An over land express from India brings advices from the Company's agent at Constantinople, respecting Buonaparte. His head quarters were still at Grand Cairo, but Berthier was advanced with a strong body of troops towards Syria. No subsequent action had taken place, nor any new attempts been made by the Beys to harass him in his situation, where he was proceeding to organize a government upon the French model. The transports have not been burnt, or even attempted. It is found that they cannot be so without troops.
NEW-YORK, Jan. 30. The present uncommon stir of shipping business is the highest eulogium on our defensive measures; and it silences the clamour of those anti-government men, who are now enriching themselves by those very measures against which they were bawling--but THIS IS THEIR consistency.
The Journal. PROVIDENCE, FEBRUARY 6.
A correspondent has favoured us with the following extract of a letter, dated
LISBON, December 4, 1798. "The Earl St. Vincent cutter, which arrived here last night, in 23 days from Naples, and 5 from Gibraltar, brings accounts that Malta is retaken:--That the Guillaume Tell and two frigates are captured:--That the Russians and Turks are off Alexandria, and blockading it:--That 100,000 Neapolitans had marched to Rome, under the command of Gen. Meck:--That Buonaparte was at Grand Cairo, his army reduced by sickness, &c. to 5000 men. (This respecting Buonaparte wants confirmation.)"
"There was a report on 'Change, this day, that France had declared war against all the northern powers. Should this be the case, I think they will have their hands full. It is expected that the French Directory will endeavour to accommodate matters with our government."
We understand that the house of BARINGS, of London, have made propositions to our Executive, for advancing the money for the whole of the loan of five millions, which it was authorized by a law of the last session to borrow on the credit of the United States. The terms, or whether they will be accepted, we have not learnt.
The House of Representatives of the United States have voted six ships of 74 guns, and the Secretary of the Navy supposes so many will be authorized.
The President of the United States has communicated to both houses of Congress an arrest of the French Directory of the 27th October last, declaring that the natives of neutral countries, when found on board the ships of war belonging to the enemies of France, shall be declared PIRATES, and treated accordingly.
The bill further to suspend the intercourse between the United States and France, has passed the House of Representatives of the United States--51 to 37.
Sir Edward Pellew has captured nine vessels belonging to a convoy of French coasters.
Lord St. Vincent lately captured a vessel from South America, which, among other articles of great value, contained a statue of the king of Spain in gold, designed as a present to his majesty. The gallant tar, with a spirit worthy of himself, and honourable to his country, forwarded the statue to Cadiz, and in a manner which may greatly enhance the value of the gift, solicited his majesty's acceptance of it.
DEATHS. At Smithfield, Miss HETTY WHIPPLE, daughter of Mr. Joseph Whipple, aged 17 years and one month, after a distressing illness, which she bore with christian fortitude.
Believe, and take the pleasures of a God;
Believe, and look with triumph on the comb.
YOUNG. At Parvutuxet, suddenly, aged 75 years, Mrs. Elizabeth Aborn, wife of the late Capt. Josiah Aborn.
In this town, Mrs. Luana Olney, wife of Mr. Stephen Olney.
A correspondent desires us to mention that the poetry which appeared in our last, was written by Mrs. Spratt, wife of James Spratt, Esq. of Taunton; and not by the late Mrs. Soule, as mentioned through mistake.
Our Boston Correspondent has very politely forwarded us J. RUSSELL'S GAZETTE of Monday, and the MERCURY of yesterday. We have to thank Mr. Sabin, the proprietor in the line of stages which goes daily from Mr. Aldrich's tavern, for his care and immediate attention in delivering them.
Ship News. Port of Providence.
ENTERED. Ship Minerva, Page, Copenhagen. Sloop Clementina, Young, Tenerife. Sloop Sophia, Tillinghast, New-York. Sloop Eliza, Earl, New-York.
CLEARED. Schooner Olive Branch, Remington, Baltimore. Sloop Caroline, Allen, Charleston. Schooner Britannia, Nickerson, Savannah. Sloop Hancock, Crapton, New-York.
Capt. Martin Page, in the ship Minerva, 90 days from Copenhagen, on the 11th of December, in lat. 32, long. 43, spoke the ship Minerva, from Charleston bound to London, out 12 days--January 10, in lat. 34, long. 63, spoke the brig Charlotte, Fuller, from Baltimore, bound to Africa--January 25, in lat. 36, long. 72, spoke the ships Minerva, Rand, and Molly, from New-York, bound to Cuba, 3 days out, all well, and desired to be mentioned in the papers.
The long expected ship John Jay, of this port, Capt. Olney, from St. Petersburg, has been heard of at Lisbon, where she lay in to repair some damages which she sustained in the North-Sea. Later from her, dated the fourth of December, they were ready to commence reloading and expected to sail in two weeks.
The ship Mary, Redman, of this port, from the Isle of France, with a valuable cargo, was captured in lat. 26, by a British ship of war, and sent into New-Providence.
The Schooner Lucy, Barton, of this port, sailed from St. Vincent for home, 33 days since.
BOSTON, Feb. 5. Arrived the armed ship Washington, Cunningham, from Loughorn, 97 days. Fell in, on the 19th November, in the gut of Gibraltar, with a French Xebec, of 2 nines, and 4 sixes on her waist, and lined with swivels fore and aft, manned with 60 men, who bore down upon him, and fired a gun; the Washington was prepared with 12 sixes, and about 29 hands to engage her, which she did for about half an hour, during which the Xebec attempted to board the Washington; but at the moment of this manoeuvre Capt. Cunningham fired a well directed broadside into the rovers, and obliged her to sheer off, with great slaughter.
It having been proposed by a number of the inhabitants of Providence to establish an office of mutual insurance of houses, &c. from fire, notice is hereby given, that a meeting is required of those persons who are disposed to promote the plan, at the Town-House, on Thursday, the 7th of February, at three o'clock, P. M. Jan. 30.
For SALE, by Benjamin & Edward Aborn, At their STORE, one door North of the Long Wharf, 250 barrels of Menhaden FISH, put up late last fall, and in good shipping order.--A few hogheads Tobago RUM,--Rock and Turk's Island SALT, by the quantity--and TURPENTINE, by the barrel or quantity.
They want to purchase, Sweet Cider, good Chees, & Potatoes. They have to Let, One half of their STORE, which can be made convenient either for Wholesale or Retail business. Feb. 6, 1799.
On Saturday next, the 9th instant,
At 11 o'clock, A. M. at Messrs. CLARK and NIGHTINGALE's upper wharf, will be sold at public auction, the ship ZENOBIAS, four years old, 76 feet keel, 27 feet beam, 12 feet lower hold, and 5 feet between decks. She is a strong well built ship, and well found; has 10 four pound cannon, 2 Dutch three's, 2 swivels, 20 muskets, and 20 boarding pikes. She may be fitted for a long voyage with little expense, her bottom having been lately overhauled, and well grained. Said ship is sold for no fault, but by consent of the New-York Insurance Company and her late owners, as a question is now pending before the supreme court at New-York for baratory of the master, on her late voyage to Jamaica. Her inventory may be seen at Mr. John I. Clark's store, or at the store of Munro, Snow and Munro. Conditions of sale are, 3 and 6 months credit, for approved paper. Feb. 6.
Final Notice.
THE Hon. Court of Probate having allowed the further time of six months, from the fourth day of December last, for closing the administration on the estate of the late Dr. EPHRAIM COMSTOCK; all persons interested are requested to avail themselves of this information, as no claim will be received or allowed after the expiration of that time. EDWARD DEXTER, Administrator. February 6.
I. P. Berfon, PORTAIT PAINTER & DRAWING MASTER,
IN his way from New-York through this town, takes this method of informing the ladies and gentlemen of Providence, that he takes the most exact and striking likenesses, and intends painting some portraits in this town; for which purpose he has provided genteel and convenient rooms in the house of Mr. Martin Seamans, main street, where those gentlemen and ladies who with either to have their portraits taken, or to see some of his performances, will be pleased to call, at any time in the day.
Those gentlemen and ladies who have a natural taste for drawing, who should wish to have any of their children taught in that fashionable and most useful branch of genteel education, so carefully attended to by all the respectable families of Europe, may find an opportunity of having them taught in this pleasing art; the subscriber intending to give instructions to a few private pupils during his residence in this town. And from the great practice and experience he has had in that line, which he taught for a long time in Europe, and for several late years in the first families both of Philadelphia and New-York; he flatters himself by his short method of explaining the rules of the art, to enable his pupils in a very little time to design with accuracy and elegance, and paint in water colours all kinds of subjects, useful to their various occupations, such as human figures, landscapes, flowers, ornaments for embroidery or tambouring, &c. The terms of tuition may be known by applying to him at Mr. Seamans', main-street. Feb. 6.
State of Rhode-Island, Ge. Feb. 4, 1799.
THE Creditors of Richard Lee, of Foster, in the county of Providence, labourer, are hereby notified to appear, if they shall think fit, at the General Assembly to be held at East-Greenwich, on the last Monday of February instant, then and there to shew cause, if any they may have, why his petition for the benefit of an act passed in 1756, entitled "an act for the relief of insolvent debtors," ought not to be granted. By order, SAMUEL EDDY, Sec'y.
State of Rhode-Island, Ge. Feb. 4, 1799.
THE creditors of William Horton, of Providence, in the county of Providence, Mason, are hereby notified to appear, if they shall think fit, at the General Assembly to be held at East-Greenwich, on the last Monday of February instant, then and there to shew cause, if any they may have, why his petition for the benefit of an act passed in 1757, entitled, "an act for the relief of insolvent debtors," ought not to be granted. By order, SAMUEL EDDY, Sec'y.
State of Rhode-Island, Ge. Feb. 4, 1799.
THE creditors of Joseph Hendrick, of Smithfield, in the county of Providence, are hereby notified to appear, if they shall think fit, at the General Assembly to be held at East-Greenwich, on the last Monday of February instant, then and there to shew cause, if any they may have, why his petition for the benefit of an act passed in 1756, entitled, "an act for the relief of insolvent debtors," ought not to be granted. By order, SAMUEL EDDY, Sec'y.

Miscellaneous.
Extracts from a CHARGE delivered to the GRAND JURIES of Beaufort and Orangeburgh districts, South-Carolina, at the November term, 1798; BY THE HON. J. F. GRIMKE, One of the Associate Judges.
IT is much to the honour of the American character that they were so profuse in their expressions of attachment, so warm in their declarations of acknowledgment, and so sincere in their acts of gratitude, to France. Estimating the services of that government, by the advantages resulting to us, we willingly passed over the cold calculations of sordid interest, which influences every nation to detract from the power of her adversary. We generously attributed the assistance we had received to the worthiest motives, and the purest magnanimity. Nor was this consideration confined to the monarch. The same principle animated our hearts, and dictated our retributions under their new republic. Were expressions incapable of applauding the successful energies of their government? There were none to be found in our language. Was it impossible to describe the rapturous effusions of our hearts? It was because we were overcome by the united result of transport and gratitude. How then does it happen that such sincere affection, and such cordial friendship, have gradually decreased in our minds, and have been replaced by symptoms of distrust and resentment? Was there an American who hears me, and who can doubt of the existence of these emotions, I would refer him to the proceedings of the Legislature of the United States at their last meeting; to the numerous and appropriate addresses from the yeomanry of our country, and to the sensations of his own heart. They all tend to prove the indignation of the American people; to obviate the insinuating theme of France, that we are a divided people, and to repel with contumely their insidious artifices to excite suspicions, and to promote internal jealousies amongst ourselves. Our faithful bosoms, warm in the just expectation of correspondent acts of friendship, were shocked with reiterated acts of violence, with the illegal seizure of our property, the imprisonment of our fellow-citizens, and with the ungenerous treatment of our envoys. We have been told, in the most offensive language, that we had no right to make a treaty with Great Britain; and thousands of dollars have been demanded of us as an expiation for the offence. We have been reminded of the omnipotence of their indignation, and that if we did not yield a base and ready compliance to this their base and insolent demand, the humiliated condition of Venice awaits our country. I had conceived that we were an independent nation, and that it was an attribute of such independency to act without controul. In vain have we struggled to emancipate ourselves from the oppressions of the British nation, if we are to crouch to the dictates of another: Another! more galling in their conduct, as they would fain induce us to believe that they reverence and respect our noble contest for freedom, and yet would exact from us the price of infamy, the tribute of disgrace. It is not so long ago, gentlemen, that our revolutionary war ended in the happiest success, the completest triumph, but that many of us encountered the inconveniences and endured the dangers of a military life: and though enfeebled by them and supervenient age, I trust the principle then engendered in our hearts has not withered; but that the liberal and grateful soil has so embraced and so taught it to thrive, that it can never perish. It would indeed be a melancholy truth, if we were not as sensible of the same ardour and zeal to repulse French exactions, as we have before been to resist British hostility. You are then called upon to signalize yourselves by those proofs of love to your country which you exhibited in the last war, by offering and emulating your services in the field of action, by placing yourselves in the front of the battle, and by stimulating our rising generation by the repetition of those bright examples of valour and good conduct, which co-operated to complete our high destiny. You are called upon to defend the temples and the altars of your holy religion, from the pollutions and abominations, not of the Whore of Babylon, but of the strumpet and idol of Paris.
Wonderful as the achievements of the French troops have been, I am persuaded that it is not by their bravery alone, that France is so distinguished by her military success. Had not the forces of her adversary been illuminated by the abominable doctrines of those treasonable and sacrilegious Societies, detected and exposed to light by Professor Robeson, they never would have yielded so frequently to the assaults of their enemies. As yet a corps of this kind has not been established and organized in the United States, as I have heard authenticated; Mangourit, on his return to France, was much censured for not having planted one in Charleston; he made the attempt, but failed of success, because he found our citizens too virtuous to become the Dupes, the Tools of a French Machine. It is to the prevalence of this Virtue that I confide, and that in a conflict between our citizens in the field and the soldiers even of Buonaparte, and heat their head, I should feel no dismay, with equal numbers, to trust the future fate of my country to the result of such a combat. But with our beloved WASHINGTON to lead us uncorrupt a band, it is not hazarding too much to say, considering the frailty of our natures, and the high overruling power of the Almighty, that the event would be consonant to our most sanguine wishes. Who is there that values the true and genuine Liberty we enjoy in this clime, who feels not his pulse beat high with resentment at the bare mention of the invasion of our country? Who, prizing the Independence of his government, would not press with enthusiastic competition to the national standard? Who, calculating the crimes of the enemy by their idolatry and total contempt of Religion, by the horrible examples they have plainly set before your eyes in their con-
quests of other countries, would not bravely sacrifice his life to prevent enormities of such great magnitude, and too infamous to be named, from falling on the innocent women and children of our much loved country? I read a manly indignation in your eyes, which bids defiance to French threats and French troops; and though we are as yet but a David in years and strength, the monster Goliath may fall at our feet; for nothing is impossible to the God of Armies whom we adore.
By Authority.
WHEREAS, by an act of Congress passed on the 16th day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, the President of the United States is authorized to borrow on behalf of the United States, from the Bank of the United States, or from any other body or bodies politic or corporate, or from any person or persons, and upon such terms and conditions as he shall judge most advantageous for the United States, a sum not exceeding five millions of dollars; so, however, that no contract or engagement be made which shall preclude the United States from reimbursing any sum or sums borrowed at any time after the expiration of fifteen years from the date of such loan: And whereas it is declared by the said act, that so much as may be necessary of the surplus of the duties on imports and tonnage beyond the permanent appropriations heretofore charged upon them by law, shall be pledged and appropriated for paying the interest, and also for paying and discharging the principal sum or sums of all the monies which may be borrowed, according to the term or terms which may be fixed, pursuant to the authority aforesaid: And whereas by the said act, the faith of the United States is pledged to establish sufficient permanent revenues for making up any deficiency that may hereafter appear in the provisions before mentioned for paying the interest and principal sums, or either of them, of any monies which may be borrowed pursuant to the said act: And whereas the President of the United States did, by an act or commission under his hand, dated the ninth day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, authorize and empower the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow, on behalf of the United States, any sum, not exceeding in the whole five millions of dollars, and to make such contract or contracts as should be necessary, and for the interest of the United States, in pursuance of the act of Congress above recited:
NOW THEREFORE, the undersigned, Secretary of the Treasury, in pursuance of the act of Congress, and the authority from the President of the United States, above mentioned, doth hereby, on behalf of the United States of America, contract and engage in manner following, to wit:
1st. A book for receiving subscriptions to a loan of five millions of dollars, for the use of the United States, shall be opened in the city of Philadelphia, at the Bank of the United States, on Thursday the twenty-eighth day of February ensuing; which book shall continue open, for the purpose of receiving subscriptions, until the whole of the said five millions of dollars shall be subscribed. If more than five millions of dollars shall be subscribed on the first day of opening the said loan, the surplus shall be deducted in proportion to the sums subscribed by individuals, exceeding four thousand dollars.
2d. For every hundred dollars which may be subscribed, there shall be forthwith deposited and paid the sum of twelve dollars and fifty cents—and like payments of twelve dollars and fifty cents shall be made within the first ten days of the months of April, May, June, July, August, September and October ensuing. The Secretary of the Treasury however reserves the right of reducing the number of instalments, by special agreements with the individuals who may become subscribers.
3d. On the failure of payment of any instalment of the sums subscribed according to the tenor of the second article, the next preceding instalment of twelve dollars and fifty cents, which shall have been paid, for every hundred dollars subscribed, shall be forfeited to the United States.
4th. The sums subscribed shall and may be paid to the credit of the United States, at the Bank of the United States, or at the offices of discount and deposit of the said Bank at Boston, New-York, Baltimore or Charleston, or at either of the Banks of Salem, in Massachusetts; Newport and Providence, in Rhode-Island; Hartford, in Connecticut; Albany, in New-York; or Alexandria, in Virginia; for which payments, the receipts of the Cashiers of the offices of discount and deposit, and of the Banks aforesaid, shall be received at the Bank of the United States as equivalent to money; but no payment of a subsequent instalment shall be received at any other place than that where the first instalment was paid, except at the Bank of the United States: in case any deposit shall be made at the offices of discount or deposit, or at either of the Banks aforesaid, which shall not be applied to the payment of the first instalment of subscriptions to the loan aforesaid, the said deposits shall be forthwith refunded by directions from the Treasury.
5th. For the sums or number of shares of one hundred dollars, which may be subscribed, certificates shall be given by the Cashier of the Bank of the United States, which shall be assignable by indorsement, and delivery of the parties in whose favour the said certificates may be issued, until the completion of the payments required by the tenor of the 2d article preceding.
6th. The sums subscribed and paid in pursuance of the tenor of the second article preceding shall, after the said payments have been completed, constitute a funded capital stock, divisible into shares of one hundred dollars each, which capital stock shall bear interest at the rate of
eight per centum per annum from the times fixed for the payment of the respective instalments, payable quarter yearly at the Treasury of the United States, or at the Loan-Offices where the same may stand credited, until the last day of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eight.
7th. After the last day of December, in the said year one thousand eight hundred and eight, and after reasonable notice to the creditors, which shall be given by an advertisement in some public newspaper, printed at the seat of the government of the United States, the said capital stock shall be redeemable at the pleasure of the United States, by the reimbursement of the whole sum or sums borrowed, and which may constitute the said capital stock, either at the Treasury of the United States, or at the Loan-Offices where the same may stand credited.
8th. The credits for the said capital stock shall and may be separately certified in sums either for one hundred, four hundred, one thousand, four thousand, or ten thousand dollars; and the credits so certified shall be transferable by the creditors, or their attorneys, at the Treasury and Loan-Offices respectively, in pursuance of the rules which have been or which may be established relative to the transfer of the funded stock of the United States.
9th. A sufficient sum of the surplus of the duties on Imports and Tonnage, beyond the permanent appropriations heretofore charged upon them by law, together with the faith of the United States, are hereby pledged for the fulfilment of this contract, in pursuance of and according to the terms and conditions of the act of Congress herein before recited.
Given under my hand, and the seal of the Treasury of the United States, at Philadelphia, this twelfth day of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine.
OLIVER WOLCOTT, Secretary of the Treasury.
NEW GOODS.
JUST OPENED, BY Elisha Dyer, An elegant assortment of Real London superfine Broadcloths, Kerseymere, Middling and low priced do. Waistcoatings, Forestcloths, Plains Swankins, Baizes, Flannels, Linens, India Cottons, Checks, Sheetings, A variety of Calicoes and Chintzes, Mullins, Muslinetts, Dimities, Best long and short white Kid Gloves, Morocco and Kid Slippers and Sandals, Mens furred Gloves, Bandanno Handkerchiefs. ALSO, Modes, Sattins, Pelongs, Ribbons, and a variety of other articles in addition to his former supply, very cheap. Jan. 23.
FOR SALE, by Malachi Rhodes and Son, At their Store on the Long Wharf, 300 barrels of excellent fine and superfine Alexandria Flour, 50 barrels of pilot and ship Bread, Molasses and Rum by the hoghead, Turks-Island Salt—all which will be sold on moderate terms for approved credit. Jan. 23.
They want to purchase, Good sweet Cider, also apples and potatoes, and a few thousand weight of new milk cheese, for which a generous price will be given. Jan. 23.
James Rhodes and Co. Have for Sale, at the store formerly occupied by Robert and James Rhodes, Alexandria fine and superfine Flour, by the quantity or single barrel, Good ship Bread, wheat Bran, West-India Rum, Sugar, Coffee, St. Martins and Turks-Island Salt, A few barrels of Pork, A few empty Gin-cases, &c. All persons having accounts open with the late company of Robert and James Rhodes, are desired to call on James Rhodes and Co. at said store, for settlement. Jan. 23.
Samuel Aborn, jun. HAS JUST RECEIVED, By the brig Polly, Capt. Whitney, from Jamaica, 17 Hhds. high 4th proof Jamaica Spirits, 13 do. Brown Sugars, 16 bags Pimento, which he will dispose of on a liberal credit, for good security. He has also on hand, a few hogsheads of old Tobago Rum, of a superior quality; St. Martins, Rock and Turks-Island Salt, by the hundred or single bushel—a few barrels fresh Alexandria superfine Flour, at his store, No. 4, Long Wharf. Jan. 23.
Sales at Auction.
ON Tuesday the 12th of February next, at 10 o'clock, A. M. will be sold at public auction, sundry articles of DRY GOODS, taken by virtue of an execution in favour of Messrs. Roe and Metcalf, merchants, of New-York.—Said goods will be exposed for sale at the store lately occupied by Messrs. Blodget and Mathewson. WILLIAM PECK, Marshal. Jan. 30, 1799.
Benjamin Thurber, At his shop, nearly opposite the Episcopal Church, at the sign of the BUNCH OF GRAPES, offers for sale a very good assortment of English, India, Scotch and other GOODS:
AMONG WHICH ARE, NEAT assortment of coloured taffetas, lute strings, satins, persians, modes, and some new fashion silk; also straw bands for ladies hats, black girdles, and clasps, long and short womens' kid gloves.
Newest fashioned dark and light ground patches and chintzes, black russel, moereens of all colours, neat morocco and cloth shoes, broadcloths, durants and baizes, tambour mulins, muslinetts, dimities, and a variety of good laces of the newest fashion; ladies' hats, childrens' fur hats, elegant shawls, waistcoat patterns, best fleece cotton, nankeens and nankeeneets, some neat muffs, furs and ermines.
Spanish float and French indigo, warranted; brass kettles, warming pans, London and Bristol pewter, knives and forks, shovels and tongs, coffee-mills, candlesticks, an assortment of looking glasses; Delf, China and glass ware, iron hollow ware, cart and waggon boxes; clover seed, herdsgrass, red and bent seed, meal and lawn sieves.
West-India Goods, oranges, lemons, raisins, figs, tamarinds, and many other articles, too tedious to mention. The whole will be disposed of at a low advance. All old friends and new customers are desired to call and see for themselves.—I daily expect a fresh supply of goods from New-York and Boston. Jan. 30, 1799. 6w.
NEW AND FASHIONABLE GOODS.
Samuel Ames HAS JUST OPENED FOR SALE, An assortment of calicoes and chintzes, mullins, muslinetts and dimities; lute strings and satins, modes, farsnets and tiffanies; Italian, crape and Rutland net gauze; silk, worsted and cotton hose; black and white silk gloves; long and short white and coloured kid gloves; a variety of plain and fancy ribbons; laces, edgings and fur trimmings; ferrets, tapes, bobbins and threads; pins and needles; fine and superfine broadcloths and cassimere; fashionable cape velvets, rattinees, thaloonos, rufels, durants, tamies, Irish linens and sheerings, fine and low priced India cottons, gentlemens and childrens fashionable fur hats, gilt, plated and steel coat buttons; ditto vest ditto, an assortment of thick woolen goods, with many articles of hard ware and other goods, too numerous for an advertisement; all which he will sell at reduced prices for cash. Jan. 30, 1799. (9w)
FRESH GOODS.  William Blodget, jun. No. 3, CHEAP-SIDE, Opposite Governor FENNER'S, by the Minerva, at Boston, and a late arrival at New-York, has received, and opened for Sale, A Large supply of fine Irish Linens, long lawns, cambricks, dimities, an elegant assortment of plaid, striped and fancy figured chintzes and calicoes; superfine, second and third plain striped and fancy mixed cassimere and broadcloths—cotton, silk and Morocco slings—double and single elastic, long and short kid, beaver, wash and fancy patent mock fawn gloves; kid and Morocco shoes, with and without heels; cotton, silk, and plated hose, with and without lace clocks; muslin and linen handkerchiefs, fancy worked gauzes, common and Paris net for veils, jacquet and book muslins and handkerchiefs, white and coloured threads, shirting and sheeting muslins, hats—and a general supply of THICK GOODS, wholesale and retail, for cash or approved credit, on terms highly favourable.—As usual, but one price. Jan. 30.
FOR SALE, By the heirs of the late Major CHARLES KEEN, the following LOTS OF LAND; TWO House Lots on Benefit-street, 40 by 100 or 120 feet; one Lot, 30 by 80 or 90 feet, fronting on Constitution-street, and extending back to Mootsawick river; one Water Lot, about 70 feet north and south, and 30 feet east and west, on the above river, near the Mill-bridge. January 23.
John Harwood, jun. OFFERS FOR SALE, A LIQUID, prepared by himself, which, from long experience, has been proved to be a complete and radical cure for that loathsome disorder, the ITCH. This Liquid is simple in its composition, perfectly innocent in its operation, and is attended with no inconvenience whatever. It is sold directly opposite the Turk's-Head, Market-street, at 4s. 6d. per bottle, with printed directions. Jan. 30.
THE subscriber having taken part of the shop formerly occupied by Dr. Joseph Bowen, takes this method of informing his friends and acquaintance, that he intends carrying on the TAILORING BUSINESS.—Those who wish to employ him, may depend on his assiduity in performing their work to satisfaction. JOSEPH W. LARCHAR. Jan. 30, 1799.