The New Hampshire gazette (Portsmouth [N.H.]), 1808-03-08 00:00:00

CONGRESSIONAL.
REPORT of a Committee appointed
to inquire into the facts relating to the conduct of John Smith, a senator of the United States, from the State of Ohio, as an alleged associate of Aaron Burr.
IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
DECEMBER 31, 1807.
Mr. Adams, from the committee appointed on the 27th of November last, to inquire whether it be compatible with the honor and privileges of this house, that John Smith, a senator from the state of Ohio, against whom bills of indictment were found at the circuit court of Virginia, held at Richmond in August last, for treason and misdemeanor, should be permitted any longer to have a seat therein, and to inquire into all the facts regarding the conduct of Mr. Smith, as an alleged associate of Aaron Burr, and report the same to the senate—submitted the following
REPORT.
Your committee are of opinion, that the conspiracy of Aaron Burr and his associates against the peace, union, and liberty of these states, is of such a character, and that its existence is established by such a mass of concurring and mutually corroborative testimony, that it is incompatible not only with the honor and privileges of this house, but with the deepest interests of this nation, that any person engaged in it should be permitted to hold a seat in the senate of the United States.
Whether the facts, of which the committee submit herewith such evidence as under the order of the senate, they have been able to collect, are sufficient to substantiate the participation of Mr. Smith in that conspiracy, or not, will remain for the senate to decide.
The committee submit also to the consideration of the senate, the correspondence between Mr. Smith and them, through their chairman, in the course of their meetings.—The committee have never conceived themselves invested with authority to try Mr. Smith. Their charge was to report an opinion relating to the honor and privileges of the senate, and the facts relating to the conduct of Mr. Smith. Their opinion indeed cannot be expressed in relation to the privilege of the senate, without relating at the same time to Mr. Smith's right of holding a seat in this body; but in that respect the authority of the committee extends only to proposal, and not to decision. But as he manifested a great solicitude to be heard before them, they obtained permission from the senate to admit his attendance, communicated to him the evidence in their possession, by which he was inculpated, furnished him in writing with the questions arising from it, which appeared to them material, and received from him the information and explanations herewith submitted as a part of the facts reported. But Mr. Smith has requested as a right, to be heard in his defence by counsel, to have compulsory process for witnesses, and to be confronted with his accusers—as if the committee had been a circuit court of the United States. But it is before the senate itself, that your committee conceived it just and proper that Mr. Smith's defence of himself should be heard. Nor have they conceived themselves bound in this enquiry by any other rules than those of natural justice and equity, due to a brother senator on the one part, and to their country on the other.
Mr. Smith represents himself on this inquiry as solitary, friendsless, and unassisted, contending for rights which he intimates is denied him; and the defender of senatorial privileges which he seems apprehensive will be refused him by senators, liable so long as they hold their offices to have his case made their own. The committee are not unaware that in the vicissitudes of human events, no member of this body can be sure, that his conduct will never be made a subject of inquiry and decision before the assembly to which he belongs. They are aware that in the course of proceeding which the senate may now sanction, its members are marking out a precedent which may hereafter apply to themselves.—They are sensible that the principles upon which they have acted, ought to have the same operation upon their own claims to privilege, as upon those of Mr. Smith; the same relation to the rights of their constituents, which they have to those of the legislature which he represents.—They have deemed it their duty to advance in the progress of their enquiry with peculiar care and deliberation. They have dealt to Mr. Smith, that measure, which under the supposition of similar circumstances they would be content to find imparted to themselves, and they have no hesitation in declaring, that under such imputations, colored by such evidence, they should hold it a sacred obligation to themselves, to their fellow senators, and to their country, to meet them by direct, unconditional acknowledgment or denial, without seeking a refuge from the broad face of day, in the labyrinth of technical forms.
In examining the question whether these forms of judicial proceedings, or the rules of judicial evidence ought to be applied to the exercise of that censorial authority which the senate of the United States possesses over the conduct of its members, let us assume as the test of their application, either the dictates of unfeigned reason, the letter and spirit of the constitution, or precedents domestic or foreign, and your committee believe that the result will be the same; that the power of expelling a member, must in its nature be discretionary, and in its exercise always more summary than the tardy process of judicial tribunals.
The power of expelling a member for misconduct, results on the principles of common sense, from the interest of the nation, that the high trust of legislation should be invested in pure hands. When the trust is elective, it is not to be presumed that the constituent body will commit the deposit to the keeping of worthless characters. But when a man, whom his fellow citizens have honored with their confidence, on the pledge of a spotless reputation, has degraded himself by the commission of infamous crimes, which become suddenly and unexpectedly revealed to the world, defective indeed would be that institution, which should be impotent to discard from its bosom, the contagion of such a member; which should have no remedy of amputation to apply until the poison had reached the heart.
The question upon the trial of a criminal case, before the courts of common law, is not between guilt and innocence, but between guilt and the possibility of innocence. If a doubt can possibly be raised either by the ingenuity of the party, or of his counsel, or by the operation of general rules in their unsearched application to particular cases, that doubt must be decisive for acquittal, and the verdict of not guilty, perhaps in nine cases out of ten, means no more than that the guilt of the party has not been demonstrated in the precise, specific and narrow forms prescribed by law. The humane spirit of the laws multiplies the barriers for the protection of innocence, and freely admits that these barriers may be abused to the shelter of guilt. It avows a strong partiality favorable to the person upon trial, and acknowledges the preference that ten guilty should escape, rather than one innocent should suffer. The interest of the public that a particular crime should be punished, is but as one to ten, compared with the interest of the party, that innocence should be spared. Acquittal only restores the party to the common rights of every other citizen; it restores him to no public trust; it invests him with no public confidence; it substitutes the sentence of mercy for the dome of justice, and to the eyes of impartial reason, in the great majority of cases, must be considered rather as a pardon than a justification.
But when a member of a legislative body lies under the imputation of aggravated offences, and the determination of his cause can operate only to remove him from a station of extensive powers, and important trust, this disproportion between the interest of the public and the interest of the individual, disappears; if any disproportion exists, it is of an opposite kind. It is not better than ten traitors should be members of the senate, than that one innocent man should suffer expulsion. In either case no doubt, the evil would be great. But in the former it would strike at the vitals of the nation; in the latter it might, though deeply to be lamented, only be the calamity of an individual.
By the letter of the constitution, the power of expelling a member, is given to each of the two houses of congress, without any limitation other than that which requires a concurrence of two-thirds of the votes, to give it effect.
The spirit of the constitution is perhaps in no respect more remarkable, than in the solicitude which it has manifested, to secure the purity of the legislature, by that of the elements of its composition. A qualification of age, is made necessary for the members, to ensure the maturity of their judgments—a qualification of long citizenship to ensure a community of interests and affections between them and their country—a qualification of residence, to provide a sympathy between every member and the portion of the union, from which he is delegated—and to guard as far as regulation can guard against every bias of personal interest, and every hazard of interfering duties, it has made every member of congress ineligible to office which he contributed to create, and every officer of the union incapable of holding a seat in congress. Yet in the midst of all this anxious provision of legislative virtue, it has not authorised the constituent body to recall in any case its representative. It has not subjected him to removal by impeachment:—and when the darling of the people's choice has become their deadliest foe—can it enter the imagination of a reasonable man, that the sanctuary of their legislation must remain polluted with his presence, until a court of common law, with its pace of snail, can ascertain whether his crime was committed on the right or on the left bank of the river—whether a puncture of difference can be found between the words of the charge and the words of the proof; whether the witnesses of his guilt should or should not be heard by his jury, and whether he was punishable, because present at an overt act, or intangible to public justice, because he only contrived and prepared it—Is it conceivable that a traitor to that country, which has loaded him with favors, guilty to the common understanding of all mankind, should be suffered to return unquestioned to that post of honor and confidence, where in the zenith of his good fame, he had been placed by the esteem of his countrymen, and in defiance of their wishes, in mockery of their fears, surrounded by the public indignation, but inaccessible to its bolt, pursue the purposes of treason in the heart of the national councils? Must the assembled rulers of the land listen with calmness and indifference, session after session, to the voice of notorious infamy, until the fuggard step of municipal justice can overtake his enormities?—Must they tamely see the lives and fortunes of millions, the safety of present and future ages, depending upon his vote, recorded with theirs, merely because the abused benignity of general maxims may have remitted to him the forfeiture of his life?
Such, in very supposable cases, would be the unavoidable consequences of a principle which should offer the cruelties of judicial tribunals, as an apology for crippling the congressional power of expulsion. Far different, in the opinion of your committee, is the spirit of our constitution. They believe that the very purpose for which this power was given, was to preserve the legislature from the first approaches of infection. That this was made discretionary because it could not exist under the prostration of general rules. That its process might be summary because it would be rendered nugatory by delay.
Passing from the constitutional view of the subject, to that which is afforded by the authority of precedent, your committee find that since the establishment of our present national legislature there has been but one example of expulsion from the senate. In that case, the member implicated was called upon in the first instance, to answer whether he was the author of a letter, the copy of which only was produced, and the writing of which was the cause of his expulsion. He was afterwards requested to declare, whether he was the author of the letter itself, and declined in both cases to answer, the fact of his having written it was established by a comparison of his hand writing, and by the belief of persons who had seen him write, upon inspection of the letter. In all these points the committee perceive the admission of a species of evidence, which in courts of criminal jurisdiction would be excluded—and in the resolution of expulsion the senate declared the person inculpated guilty of a high misdemeanor, although no presentment or indictment had been found against him, and no prosecution at law was ever commenced upon the case.
This event occurred in July 1797. About fifteen months before that time upon an application from the legislature of Kentucky, requesting an investigation by the senate, of a charge against one of the members, from that state, of perjury, which had been made in certain newspaper publications, but for which no prosecution had been commenced, the senate did adopt by a majority of 16 votes to 8, the report of a committee, purporting that the senate had no jurisdiction to try the charge, and that the memorial of the Kentucky legislature should be dismissed. There were indeed very sufficient reasons of a different kind assigned in the same report, for not pursuing the investigation in that particular case any further, and your committee believe, that in the reasoning of that report, some principles were assumed and some inferences drawn, which were altogether unnecessary for the determination of that case, which were adopted without a full consideration of all their consequences, and the inaccuracy of which was clearly proved by the departure from them in the instance which was so soon afterwards to take place.—It was the first time that a question of expulsion had ever been agitated in Congress since the adoption of the constitution. And the subject being thus entirely new, was considered perhaps too much with reference to the particular circumstances of the moment, and not enough upon the numerous contingencies to which the general question might apply. Your committee state this opinion with some confidence, because, of the sixteen senators who in March, 1796, voted for the report, dismissing the memorial of the Kentucky legislature, eleven on the subsequent occasion in July 1797, voted also for that report, which concluded with a resolution for the expulsion of Mr. Blount. The other five were no longer present in the senate—yet if the principles advanced in the first report, had been assumed as the ground of proceedings at the latter period, the senate would have been as impotent of jurisdiction upon the offence of Mr. Blount, as they had supposed themselves upon the allegation against Mr. Marshall.
Those parts of the fifth and sixth articles amendatory to the constitution, upon which the report in the case of Mr. Marshall appears to rely for taking away the jurisdiction of the senate, your committee suppose can only be understood as referring to prosecutions at law. To suppose that they were intended as restrictions upon powers expressly granted by the constitution to the legislature or either of its branches, would in a manner annihilate the power of impeachment, as well as that of expulsion. It would lead to the absurd conclusion that the authority given for the purpose of removing iniquity from the seats of power, should be denied its exercise, in precisely those cases, which most loudly call for its energies. It would present the singular spectacle of a legislature vested with powers of expelling its members, of impeaching, removing and disqualifying public officers, for trivial transgressions beneath the cognizance of the law, yet forbidden to exert them against capital or infamous crimes.
Those two articles were in substance borrowed from similar regulations contained in that justly celebrated statute, which for so many ages has been distinguished by the name of the great charter of England. Yet in that country, where they are recognized as the most solid foundations of the liberties of the nation, they have never been considered as interfering with the power of expelling a member, exercised at all times by the house of commons; a power which there however rests only upon parliamentary usage, and has never been bestowed as in the constitution of the United States, by any act of supreme legislation. From a number of precedents which have been consulted, it is found that the exercise of this authority has always been discretionary, and its process always far otherwise compendious, than in the prosecutions before the judicial courts. So far indeed have they been from supposing a conviction at law necessary to precede a vote of expulsion, that in one instance, a resolution to demand a prosecution, appears immediately after the adoption of the resolution to expel. In numerous cases the member submitted to examination, adduces evidence in his favor, and has evidence produced against him, with or without formal authentication; and the discretion of the house is not even restricted by the necessary concurrence of more than a bare majority of the votes.
The provision in our constitution which forbids the expulsion of a member, by an ordinary majority, and requires for this act
of rigorous and painful duty, the assent of two thirds, your committee consider, as a wise and sufficient guard against the possible abuse of this legislative discretion. In times of heat and violent party spirit, the rights of the minority might not always be duly respected if a bare majority could expel their members under no other control than that of their own discretion. The operation of this rule is of great efficacy both over the proceedings of the whole, and over the conduct of every individual member.
The times when the most violent struggles of contending parties occur, when the conflict of opposite passions is most prone to excess, are peculiarly the times when the numbers are most equally divided. When the majority amounts to two thirds the security in its own strength is of itself a guard against extraordinary stretches of power. When the minority dwindles to the proportion of one third, its consciousness of weakness diffuses from any attempts to encroach upon the rights of the majority which might provoke retaliation. But if expulsion were admissible only as a sequel to the issue of a legal prosecution, or upon the principles and forms of testimony, which are established in the criminal courts, your committee can see no possible reason why it should be rendered still more imbecile by the requisition of two thirds to give it effect.
It is now the duty of your committee to apply the principles which they have here endeavored to settle and elucidate, to the particular case upon which the senate have directed them to report: The bills of indictment found against Mr. Smith, at the late session of the circuit court of the United States, at Richmond (copies of which are herewith submitted) are precisely similar to those found against Aaron Burr. From the volume of printed evidence communicated by the president of the United States, to Congress, relating to the trial of Aaron Burr, it appears that a great part of the testimony which was essential to his conviction upon the indictment for treason, was withheld from the jury, upon an opinion of the court that Aaron Burr, not having been present at the overt act of treason alleged in the indictment, no testimony relative to his conduct or declarations elsewhere, and subsequent to the transactions on Blennerhassett's island, could be admitted—and in consequence of this suppression of evidence, the traverse jury found a verdict that Aaron Burr was not proved to be guilty under that indictment by any evidence submitted to them. It was also an opinion of the court that none of the transactions of which evidence was given upon the trials of Aaron Burr did amount to an overt act of levying war, and of course that they did not amount to treason. These decisions forming the basis of the issue upon the trials of Burr, anticipated the event which must have awaited the trials of the bills against Mr. Smith, who from the circumstances of his case, must have been entitled to the benefit of their application: they were the sole inducements upon which the counsel for the United States abandoned the prosecution against him.
Your committee are not disposed now to question the correctness of the decisions, on a case of treason, before a court of criminal jurisdiction. But whether the transactions proved against Aaron Burr did or did not amount in technical language to an overt act of levying war, your committee have not a scruple of doubt upon their minds, that, but for the vigilance and energy of the government, and of faithful citizens under its direction, in arresting their progress, and in crushing his designs, they would in a very short lapse of time have terminated not only in war, but in war of the most horrible description—in war at once foreign and domestic. As little hesitation have your committee in saying, that if the day-light of evidence combining one vast complicated intention, with overt acts innumerable, be not excluded from the mind by the curtain of artificial rules, the simplest understanding cannot but see, what the subtlest understanding cannot disguise—crimes before which ordinary treason whitewashes into virtue—crimes of which war is the mildest feature. The debauchment of our army—the plunder and devastation of our own and foreign territories—the dissolution of our national Union, and the root of interminable civil war, were but the means of individual aggrandizement—the steps to projected usurpation. If the ingenuity of a demon were tasked to weave into one composition all the great moral and political evils which could be inflicted upon the people of these states, it could produce nothing more than a texture of war, dismemberment and despotism. Of these designs, a grand jury composed of characters as respectable as this nation can boast, have upon the solemnity of their oaths, charged John Smith with being an accomplice. The reasons upon which the trial of this charge has not been submitted to the verdict of a jury, have been shown by your committee, and are proved by the letter from the attorney of the United States for the district of Virginia, herewith reported. And your committee are of opinion that the dereliction of the prosecution, on these grounds, cannot in the slightest degree remove the imputations which the accusation of the grand jury have brought to the door of Mr. Smith.
Your committee will not permit themselves to comment upon the testimony which they submit herewith to the senate—nor upon the answers which Mr. Smith has given as sufficient for his justification. Delirious as the committee have been that this justification might be complete, anxiously as they wished for an opportunity of declaring their belief of his innocence, they can neither control nor disturb the operation of the evidence upon their minds, and however painful to their feelings, they find themselves compelled by a sense of duty, paramount to every other consideration, to sub-
mit to the senate, for their consideration, the following resolution.
Resolved, That John Smith, a senator from the state of Ohio, by his participation in the conspiracy of Aaron Burr, against the peace, union and liberties of the people of the United States, has been guilty of conduct incompatible with his duty and fitness as a senator of the United States; and that he be therefor, and hereby is expelled from the senate of the United States.
REPORT.
Of the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures, to which was referred, on the 4th instant, the petition of sundry Merchants and Traders of the City of Philadelphia, January 11, 1808.
The committee of commerce and manufactures, to whom was referred the memorial of William M. Lee and others, merchants and traders of the city of Philadelphia, respectfully submit the following REPORT.
THE committee entertain no doubts, that the facts are justly and correctly stated in the memorial. The object, the memorialists have in view, is to obtain permission for their vessels to proceed on their respective voyages.
The cargoes consist principally of flaxseed, an article depending on a speedy exportation, to ensure its value. The memorialists place great reliance, to obtain the permission sought, on the hardship of their cases, and also on the ground of having procured clearances for their vessels, from the custom house, to proceed on their voyages, previous to the passage of the act laying an embargo.
While the committee view, with becoming sensibility, the distressing situation in which the memorialists are placed; while with them they deplore and deprecate the events, which have brought to a pause the commercial intercourse of the United States with foreign nations—they cannot give their assent to the opinion, that the cases of the memorialists are entitled to exemption from the inconveniences and hardships, if not the losses, which result from a general embargo. The committee cannot see any reason, why the cases now under consideration, ought to be discriminated from those of other citizens. They cannot perceive how the mere compliance with the usual form of taking out clearances; for vessels to proceed on their voyages, can invest the memorialists with any distinguished privileges. From the distressing condition of the American commerce, liable, in its peaceful and inoffensive pursuits, to aggressions and outrages from the belligerent nations of Europe, it became the indispensable duty of congress, to prohibit, by an embargo, the departure, on foreign voyages, of our seamen our vessels and merchandise. The republic feels vitally those injuries; which arise from the impoverishment of its citizens and from the deprivation, by illegal impressments and detentions, of its mariners. The strength of a real public, resides in the citizens it can number, and in their patriotism and valor. Impotent and inefficient would that government be, without the investiture of powers, in extraordinary crises, to control and restrain the persons or pursuits of the citizens. Such a government, destitute of that natural and irrepressible impetus and energy, indispensable to its preservation, would crouch to, and sink under the first blow that should be aimed at it. The enlightened and virtuous patriots, who framed the constitution, foreseeing the trials and conflicts the United States would have, in their political progress, to encounter, infused into that instrument all the vigor essential to the accomplishment of the end for which it was designed—the happiness and salvation of the nation. That the extraordinary powers here spoken of, and contended for, are given to congress by the constitution, cannot be denied. The acts of congress, recorded in the statute book, long acquiesced in by every description of citizens, afford a conclusive argument in support of the right to exercise those powers. The acts alluded to, are the embargo laid in 1794, and the several laws passed the 28th of February, 1806, and 1807, to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States and certain parts of the island of St. Domingo.
The embargo laid in 1794, operated alike on all vessels, whether they were, or were not, cleared out prior to the time it was enforced; nor has such a distinction ever received the sanction of any nation, the peculiarity of whose situation imposed an embargo, as an act of imperious necessity.
With equal grace, and the same justice, could the farmer and planter, the mechanic and manufacturer, put in their claim to exemption from the sacrifices, which they are offering on the altar of patriotism: assigning as a reason for the exemption, that the products and articles of their respective vocations, were the acquisitions of their skill and industry, previous to the existence of the act laying an embargo, and that they have the right, if they should think proper to exercise it, to export those products and articles to foreign markets. If the position of the memorialists be found, it would be absurd in the extreme ever to lay an embargo, as it never could be brought into action at the time, when all the energies of such a measure were required for the public safety and welfare.
Were vessels permitted to proceed on foreign voyages, Congress would deservedly merit censure for inconsistency, and for wanting dignified stability and firmness in the day of trial. The committee can never be induced to recommend a policy, nerveless, and without a character, while they maintain a due regard and devotion to national honor, and to national interest.
The attention of the committee, having been directed to the memorial of the merchants and traders of Philadelphia, by an order of the house of representatives, they feel themselves constrained on deciding on the embargo cases before them, to take a transient view of the causes, which led to

that measure, and to express their opinion of the necessity, imposed on the United States, of adhering to it, until proper assurances are given, that their neutral rights shall be respected. Those who have bestowed any thoughts on the state of affairs in Europe, must have contemplated as probable a measure of this kind, on the pressure of insatiable events.
The love of domination and the cupidity of commercial monopoly, have regularly and undeviatingly been producing and maturing this extraordinary crisis, in which, without their accord, the United States are unhappily involved. If a wise and prudent policy, tolerating and countenancing no measures or practices, which could compromise the peace, or interrupt the harmony of the United States, with any of the belligerent nations of Europe, could have prevailed to them the advantage of an honest and impartial neutrality, our citizens and commerce would not now be lamenting that the belligerent nations had it in their option either to permit the continuance of commerce, or to resort to the secure and precautionary measure of an embargo. If the continuance of commerce had been preferred, Congress, from the existing state of things, would have been compelled, with an inadequate marine force, to afford some sort of protection to it, or to allow private ships to arm for their defence. If such a step had been taken, war must have ensued; if resistance to the execution of the decree of France, bearing date the 21st Novr, 1806, or of such orders as should be issued by the British cabinet, in conformity to the retaliating power contended for by the note of Lord Howick to Mr. Monroe, of 10th January, 1807, and of the proclamation of the 16th October, 1807—could produce it. In this state of affairs between the United States and the nations of Europe, a permission to arm private ships would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Individuals who had been injured by either of the nations, or who might be influenced by narrow prejudices, or short sighted views, would have it in their power to plunge the United States, without their consent, into a war with one of the belligerent nations, and to pave the way to an alliance with the other. From these considerations a preference was given to the embargo. On the 18th December, 1807, the President of the United States addressed a confidential message, since published, to the senate and house of representatives, as follows: "The communications now made, showing the great and increasing dangers with which our vessels, our seamen and merchandise are threatened, on the high seas and elsewhere, from the belligerent powers of Europe; and it being of the greatest importance to keep in safety these essential resources, I deem it my duty to recommend the subject to the consideration of congress, who will doubtless perceive all the advantages which may be expected from an inhibition of the departure of our vessels from the ports of the United States." This message from the executive magistrate, whose province it is to preside over our foreign relations, received from congress that immediate and prompt attention which was due to its importance.
The evidences of dispositions manifested, and of measures adopted and in execution by the belligerent nations, left no doubt on the mind, of the certain prostration of neutral commerce. The embargo was laid as being the least costly: It was considered as the best means that could be resorted to for the protection of our citizens, and for the preservation of our vessels and merchandise. It was a measure that resulted from much deliberation. That it is the best which congress could devise or adopt, is the solemn and profound conviction of the committee, on a review of the whole ground. No charge of partiality can be brought against it, as all nations are placed on an equal footing, their vessels being at liberty to enter our ports and to depart at pleasure.
The embargoes laid in Europe, since the year 1793, never excepted from detention American vessels. The belligerent nations cannot raise the voice of complaint, as their injustice has made this precautionary measure an act of necessity. Should the embargo be rigidly persevered in, the advantages to be derived from its adoption, will simply repay all the sacrifices made to obtain them. New and important treasures heretofore neglected, will be brought to light, and, what is more important, into use. The United States regenerated by their own energies will acquire a confidence in and a reliance on, their own resources, without which it is in vain to endeavor to give effectual and commanding protection to the rights of the citizens and those of the republic. The embargo, by teaching foreign nations the value of American commerce and productions, will inspire them with dispositions to practise justice. They depend on this country for articles of the first necessity, and for raw materials to supply their manufactures.
The embargo will have no inconsiderable influence in breaking those municipal fetters which circumscribe the motions and liberty of commerce. The committee are persuaded, that the national legislature has endeavored sedulously to perform the duties assigned to it by the constitution in a manner to comport with the honor and welfare of a great and free people. The stand which a deliberate and dispassionate judgment recommended and approved, has been taken. The issue is in the hands of that God who has never ceased pre-eminently to manifest his love to these United States; and whatever may be that destiny which his allwise and superintending providence has allotted for them, whether it is to be their happy lot to arrive at that destiny under the guidance and auspices of peace; or whether it is decreed that they shall pierce through war to reach it—to acquiesce with dignity and firmness becomes a duty. Despair can never dwell in the bosom of liberty. That God who led the United States victorious to independence, has given strength to and inspired them with courage to maintain and to perpetuate it.
The committee recommend the adoption of the following resolution: Resolved, That the prayer of the memorials, merchants and traders of the city of Philadelphia, is unreasonable and ought not to be granted.
The Military Court of Inquiry has, we understand, during the last week, had several meetings, at which several witnesses, adduced by General Wilkinson, have been examined. [Nat. Intell.]
FOREIGN ARTICLES.
MILAN, DEC. 29. His Majesty the Emperor, left, yesterday at 1 o'clock, in the morning, the capital of Italy, to return to that of his vast empire. The discourse which his Majesty pronounced at the meeting of the three electoral colleges of the kingdom, in the great Hall of the palace, on the 20th of this month, is of the following tenor—
"I see you with pleasure surrounding my throne. Returning here after three years absence, it pleases me to observe the progress my people have made; but how many things remain yet to be done in order to wipe off the faults of our fathers, and render you worthy of the destinies I am preparing for you!"
"The intestine divisions of our ancestors, their miserable egotism to cities, prepared the loss of all our rights. The country was disinherited of its rank and dignity; that country, which in remote ages, had carried to far the honour of her arms, and the splendour of her virtues. That splendour, these virtues, I make my glory consist in reconquering them."
"Citizens of Italy, I have done much for you; I shall still do more. But on your side, united in heart as you are by interest with my people of France, consider them as your eldest brothers.—View constantly the source of our prosperity, the guarantee of our institutions, and that of our independence, in the union of the Iron Crown with my Imperial Crown." DEC. 22.
Tuscany (or Etruria) is united to the kingdom of Italy.—Napoleon has created 13 new dignities, 50 commanders, and 300 knights of the iron crown. Various changes have been made in the government.
General Reille is Regent of Etruria. The Queen immediately left Florence.
COPENHAGEN, DEC. 8.
Patrician offerings are pouring in from all quarters, to enable government to re-establish our marine. The Asiatic company have offered four gun boats, and 2000 rix-dollars; baron Selby has sent 10,000 rix-dollars, and one of the assurance companies, 30,000 rix dollars. One sentiment—the desire of revenge—seems to animate every part of the Danish monarchy.
AUGSBURG, DEC. 12.
We are informed that the emperor Napoleon has resolved to open a communication between the Po and Mediterranean, by a canal that is to traverse the Appenines, and derive its waters from the Bormida. Not a more splendid undertaking can be thought of in this sort. French engineers are already employed to sketch it out.
HAMBURG, DEC. 12.
We are taught to expect that the Danish government will soon adopt active measures against the king of Sweden, who has lately ordered the Norway post to be stopped, probably in retaliation of what was done by the Danish government, by detaining and opening the letters from Germany destined for Stockholm.
The king of Sweden has set out for Stockholm. A report is in circulation that he will convoke a diet, and propose an abdication of the crown.
LONDON, JAN. 2.
Private letters from France of a very recent date, were received yesterday. They mention an extraordinary movement of troops in every direction, the immediate object of which is not stated.
By an American vessel which left Bordeaux about 12 days ago, we learn that the report is current in the provincial towns on the coast, which we mentioned a few days ago, that the august Josephine is to exchange her imperial crown, as consort to the emperor, for the iron crown, which she is to wear on her feminine brows, as queen of Italy. Her place is to be occupied, say these same French reports, by a Russian princess, the sister of the emperor Alexander.
Somewhat less improbable than this is another, which concerns the projected change in the south of Europe. Napoleon is so anxious to secure the co-operation of his brother Lucien in his plans, that he has offered him, as the price of a reward and reconciliation between them, the crown of Spain. Thus both of the Bourbon thrones will support a Bonaparte! In the mean while, the prince of Asturias is to be indemnified by the crown of Portugal. We have some time since heard that Bonaparte, on appointing him to the command in chief of the combined Spanish and French forces, he intimated, that "he was hereafter to govern the people he was about to conquer." We suppose, that in exchange for this, Napoleon might require some of the provinces of Spain, adjacent to France.—While we are disposed to consider all such reports of slight importance, we cannot deny that the conduct France is pursuing in Spain justifies any suspicion whatever. We are informed, that since the beginning of December, upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand troops have marched through Bordeaux to Spain and Portugal. This is a force so vastly superior to all that can be necessary for a conquest which must be yielded without a struggle, that we cannot but believe the ultimate views of the master, reach much further than is yet publicly known, or is perhaps even definitely resolved by himself.
The Gazette will shortly contain some instructions to our merchants, respecting the mode to be pursued in the trade to be carried on between this country and the Brazils.—Liberty is to be given, to ship and export such articles of traffic as have heretofore been usually sent and admitted into the Portuguese markets; and a regular commercial treaty will be concluded with all convenient speed.—Lord Strangford is making preparations for his departure, and many of our first Portuguese houses, are already preparing to establish their firms in Brazil. The force which sailed with Sir Samuel Hood and Gen. Beresford, amounted to 3724 effective men. JAN. 7.
Dutch papers to the 30th ult. have been received by a neutral ship which is said also to have brought a report of Bonaparte having returned to Paris on Christmas day, in consequence of a conspiracy having been formed, the object of which is not mentioned—his sudden appearance, however, in the capital, is stated to have completely dissipated all apprehensions that might have been entertained. In regard to his return to Paris, we believe the fact highly probable, as, at the time of his departure, it was understood that he would spend his Christmas at St. Cloud.
Through the same channel as the above, we have also a rumour of great dissensions prevailing at Peterburgh, on account of
the rupture with England. Comte Novosiltzoff it is said, has resigned all his honors, and retired from court in disgust. We have no means of ascertaining the accuracy of this account. JAN. 8.
The intelligence which it is said has been recently brought to this country by colonel M'Carroll, in the service of the East India company, tends to confirm the reports that Bonaparte has been trying his utmost efforts to influence the King of Persia in his favor, in order to facilitate his designs on our Asiatic possessions. The colonel was, it seems, charged with a mission to the Persian monarch, but was stopped on his journey.—Hearing that the Persian camp was in the neighborhood, and that the king was with it, he conceived that he had a good opportunity of fulfilling the purpose of his mission, but he found that he could not be received till he had first visited the Persian capital. He therefore went to the latter place, and having given such explanation of the trust with which he was charged, as enabled him to procure proper passports, he returned to the camp, but soon found that a French embassy had waited on the king of Persia, and had actually succeeded in effecting an alliance of the strictest kind between that monarch and France; the colonel, therefore could not obtain an interview with the king, and of course the purpose of his mission was wholly frustrated. This gentleman was then obliged to take a circuitous route, the usual channels being stopped, and come through Russia and Sweden to this country.
A letter from Hamburg, said to have been brought by the mate of the American vessel lately confiscated there (who made his escape) was yesterday received in town. It states, that another order had recently been received in that devoted town, directing the immediate payment of a sum of money, amounting to three millions sterling, into the treasury of France, and that in the event of a refusal, 40,000 French troops would immediately be directed to be quartered on the inhabitants.
The Americans are supposed at this time to be indebted to this country not less than twelve millions sterling for various merchandise: the most violent transatlantic advocates for a war with England, are, therefore, found to be those of our honorable debtors, who flatter themselves that a war will certainly be adopted as the easiest mode for the liquidation of British claims.
LIVERPOOL, DEC. 9.
The prospect before us.—Ministers have at length succeeded in involving us in war with nearly the whole civilized world. The noble acquitted peculator, who, in secret, is said to move the puppets of the state, and all the idle crew who fatten on the miseries of the people, may think light of the difficulties of the country; the faction behind the throne, more powerful than the throne itself, and all the exuvae of the Bute and Melville factions, who still curse the nation with their counsels, may smile at their country's ruin, while they grasp its treasure; but who that has a spark of amor patrie glowing in his bosom can contemplate the prospect before us without horror? We are at war with Austria, Russia, France, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Prussia, Helvetia, Etruria, Italy, the Ecclesiastical States, the States of Germany, Holland, Liguira, Lucca, Ragusa, and the Ionian Republic. Sweden must immediately obey the mandates of Russia, and become our enemy; and appearances strongly indicate that America will declare against us, if she has not already—our manufactures are closed—our docks are empty. How long this state of things may continue, we shall not pretend to determine. The retrospect is painful—the contemplation mournful—and the prospect terrible.
National Legislature.
TENTH CONGRESS.—FIRST SESSION.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
FRIDAY, FEB. 19.
A message was received from the President of the United States, as follows:
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.
"The states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, having by their several acts consented that the public road from Cumberland to the state of Ohio, authorized by the act of Congress of March 29, 1806, should pass through those states, and the commissioners communicated to Congress with my message of January 31, 1807, having been duly considered, I have approved of the route therein proposed for the said road as far as Brownsville, with a single deviation since located, which carries it through Uniontown."
From thence the course to Ohio, and the point within the legal limits at which it shall strike that river, is still to be decided. In forming this decision, I shall pay material regard to the interests and wishes of the populous parts of the state of Ohio, and to a future and convenient connection with the road which is to lead from the Indian boundary near Cincinnati by Vincennes to the Mississippi at St. Louis, under the authority of the act of April, 1806. In this way we may accomplish a continued and advantageous line of communication from the seat of the general government to St. Louis, passing thro' several very interesting points of the Western Country.
I have thought it advisable also to secure from oblation the trace of the road so far as it has been approved, which has been executed by such considerable expense, by opening one half of its breadth through its whole length.
The report of the commissioners, herewith transmitted, will give particular information of their proceedings under the act of March 29, 1806, since the date of my message of Jan. 31, 1807; and will enable congress to adopt such further measures relative thereto as they may deem proper under existing circumstances.
TH: JEFFERSON.
The message and report were referred to a select committee of five members.
Mr. Vandyke called for the consideration of the resolution which he yesterday submitted, (requesting the President to communicate to the house information touching the state of our foreign relations,) but the house refused to take it up. Yeas 27, Nays 70.
Several orders of the day were called for, amongst the rest, Mr. Basset moved for the order of the day on the "bill concerning public contracts" and called for the ayes and noes on the motion; they were taken, and it was lost.
The house went into a committee of the whole on the "bill in addition to the act entitled an act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States."
Mr. Goldsborough moved to strike out the second section, on the ground that its penalties were too severe. This motion was lost.
SATURDAY, FEB. 20.
The house proceeded to consider the amendments yesterday made in committee of the whole on the "bill in addition to the act entitled an act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States."
The first amendment (giving the secretary of the treasury a discretionary power to dispense with the bond from vessels under five tons) was opposed by Messrs. Goldsborough, Vanhorn and Quincy; and advocated by Mr. Newton.
Mr. Goldsborough moved to strike out the word 'five,' and insert 'ten,' so as to include all open boats, from which, he said, no danger could be apprehended. This motion was lost, without debate.
Mr. Taylor contended, that unless this provision was adopted, vessels of a larger size than 5 tons could carry the produce of the country from Charleston and other ports down the river, and put it on board of any foreign ship which might be waiting there, who could thereby be as completely loaded, as at the wharves of a city. This too could be done by blacks, so that no legal witness of the transaction could be produced. He had every reliance upon the patriotism of the people of South Carolina, and had no doubt but they would cheerfully submit to any general regulations which might be made by the government.
Mr. Gardener in a speech of some length, deprecated this measure, as well as the original embargo law, among many other observations declaring that the House, led on by an invisible hand, was taking part with the Gallic conqueror.
Mr. Troup said that he was a friend to the embargo, and had no doubt but if it had been followed up by strong measures of defence, an honorable and permanent peace would have been concluded by this time.—He contended, that unless this provision was adopted, St. Mary's in Georgia would be the depot of all the beef, pork and flour of the eastern states, which would be thence sent to Augustine, in East Florida, from which place it would be transported to the West-Indies.
The question was then taken on the amendment made in committee of the whole and it was lost, no person voting in favor of it.
Mr. J. Clay moved to amend the second section so as to provide that no bond shall be required of boats having no masts or decks, whose employment is confined to the waters of the United States, unless in the opinion of the Secretary of the treasury, it appears to be necessary. Agreed to.
Mr. J. Montgomery, after stating that a serious charge against the character of the House, heretofore rung thro' the Newpapers, had been again repeated by the gentleman from N. Y. (Mr. Gardener) which required a pointed refutation; and after observing the gentleman should be permitted to substantiate his assertion, in the event of failing to do which some other course might be taken with him, moved to adjourn.—Carried, 53 to 25.
MONDAY, FEB. 22.
Mr. Johnson rose to reply to the observations of Mr. Gardener, on Saturday, respecting the embargo. He declared himself a friend to freedom of debate, but said that the charges made against the House, ought not to be excused. It had been said (he observed) that this House was guided by an invisible hand; that like the Council of Five Hundred, they waited for the word of command, and obeyed it—they were under foreign influence; that they were riveting the chains which were to bind us under the dominion of the French Emperor; and that they were mere automata. Mr. J. considered such assertions as a base slander. He said this upon the most mature consideration, and should not retract it—and if the feelings of any gentleman were wounded by this declaration, he should not consider himself guarded by his privileges, or by the canopy which covered him.
Mr. G. W. Campbell said that if the charge made against the government, of being under foreign influence, was true, it ought to be proved and made public, in order that a change might take place in the public councils; and if false, the author of it ought to be consigned to the disgrace and infamy which he deserved. The accuser or accused must be guilty—there was no medium in the case, and the nation ought to know the truth. He asserted that the charge was an INFAMOUS FALSEHOOD.
Mr. Montgomery said, that the House had adjourned on Saturday, in order to give the gentleman from N. York time to substantiate his charge. His failing to do it, was a proof of its falsehood. Another method of proceeding, had at first suggested itself to him; but when he considered the futility of the charge, and the source from whence it proceeded, he thought the best course for the House to pursue, would be to treat it with scornful contempt.
TUESDAY, FEB. 23.
The bill for the Classification of the Militia was again called up, in committee of the whole.—A motion was made to strike out the first section, virtually negating the
bill, which was supported by Mr. Quincy, and opposed by Messrs. Eppes and Lyon, and was carried 55 to 49. The committee then reported the bill, without the first section; it was then moved, that this amendment of the bill be taken up in the House, which was negatived 54 to 51.—So that it now lies on the table.
The Supplementary Non-Importation Bill, which had passed the House, came down from the Senate, with some amendments; which were agreed to without debate.
WASHINGTON, FEB. 24.
MILITARY COURT OF INQUIRY in the case of GENERAL WILKINSON.
THE court being formed on the 16th inst. at the particular request of General Wilkinson, for the purpose of perpetuating testimony, he presented himself & addressed that body.
Gentlemen, I beg leave to premise a few remarks before I proceed to call a witness.
Nothing could be so acceptable to me as to be confronted by my accusers, who have artfully and wickedly hung me up to the world for offences, which cannot but affect the feelings of a man of honor nearer than life; and wherefore am I refused this right indulgence? It is because my enemies, conscious of the fallacy of their accusations, content themselves "fear gret in autum voces ambiguas," and prefer to trust the result to the jealousies of a free people, excited by the machinations of the friends and partisans of that conspiracy which I have detected? Or is it because the eye of the injured man is insupportable to the light of the base injurer?
Whatever may be the cause, it will not be denied, that the case is a hard one. It is indeed peculiarly so—and every person will admit, that to be criminated without an opportunity of defence, and to be condemned without a hearing, is a sad recompence for services acknowledged, and a poor encouragement to future sufferings and sacrifices in the public cause.
Thus circumstanced, and denied the opportunity to meet the testimony which may be opposed to me, I hope the peculiarity of my situation may be my excuse for defying my enemies, and daring them to a candid investigation. If then Mr. Clark will come before this court and answer interrogatories, I will not only defend myself against his foul imputations, but if the testimony which has been recently offered to me, be not greatly deceptive, I will convict him of forgery, perjury, and a co-operation with Aaron Burr in his treasonable designs, and if his right worthy patron, the very gallant and honorable John Randolph, will step from the floor of privilege, and utter what has been ascribed to him in the public prints, I will institute an action of slander, and will give him an opportunity in a court of civil jurisdiction, to verify his assertions, and satiate his vindictive spirit, or of being himself convicted of the most atrocious, wanton, and murderous calumnies which ever found place on record.
It is apparent from the mode of the attack, that my accusers had relied much on the audacity of the assault, and the hateful aspect of the charges alleged, supported by the mock solemnity of a voluntary ex parte affidavit . They expected from the time—the place—the manner, and circumstances of the accusation, to excite a torrent of indignation, which might prostrate reason and justice before prejudice and passion, and in a moment of popular phrensy, sweep me from the lists of honor to the exclusion of all further enquiry. Then indeed Mr. Randolph might with malignant delight have exclaimed "my end is completely answered" by the defraction of the man who has dishonored me.—The attempt was worthy its authors—worthy the cause it was designed to abet. It deserves all the merit which is due to desperation, and will meet the ample reward of full-handed infamy. For I do still live—live in honor, and can assure you, gentlemen, I have fortunately saved from the casualties incident to an erratic life and the wreck of time, the means of my complete vindication, which shall be submitted to you, so soon as the testimony to support the accusation is brought forward.
In the mean time to invalidate, discredit and destroy the effect of whatever has been or may be said or sworn by Daniel Clark to my prejudice, I must pray that his ex parte voluntary affidavit submitted to the House of Delegates may be received by this court at its full estimate, and that I may be permitted to rebut it with such testimony as may now be had, and which if not perpetuated at this time, may, by further delay, be lost to me forever.
I therefore request that Lt. Spence of the navy, and Lt. Murray of the army may be sworn.
The court then proceeded to take the testimony of Lt. Spence of the navy, Lt. Murray of the army, and Thomas H. Williams, secretary of the Mississippi territory.
The rules of the court having prohibited the publication of the testimony as it occurs, we can barely state from a bye-stander of good authority, that Lt. Spence acknowledged he had embarked at Philadelphia with Madame D'Auvergne, Bollman and Alexander, with the privy of Burr—that he bore a letter of recommendation from Burr to Daniel Clark, dined with Clark in company with Bollman, that he bore letters from Bollman and Madam D'Auvergne (alias Norah Hall) to Burr, whom he expected to find at Nashville, Tennessee, but did not meet him until he got to Lexington, Kentucky—that Daniel Clark gave him a letter of introduction to a gentleman, on his route, but that he did not deliver it.
Lt. Murray's testimony was, we learn, of great importance. He declared, that on being urged to attack Baton Rouge, he, after resisting the proposition made by Judge Workman, and Lewis Kerr, applied to his friend Mr. Clark, then in New Orleans, who advised him to attack and take the place by all means, adding that he "was going to Congress, and would do him (M.) all the good there could"—that he would "inform the government it would require a large force to retake the place—and that before the government could send down troops for the purpose, he (Murray) would find himself in a situation to do as he pleased."
This happened in April, or May, 1806. Mr. Williams was called to prove that Daniel Clark and D. Wadsworth were appointed on the part of the American Commissioners, Claiborne and Wilkinson, to receive the Spanish archives at the surrender of the province of Louisiana—which Mr. Williams did most amply and satisfactorily, stating the reasons why Mr. Clark was appointed.
The Military Court have adjourned to the 14th of March, subject to the call of the President in the mean time.

IMPORTANT.
National Intelligencer EXTRA.
WASHINGTON, FEB. 26. The President this day communicated the following important Message to Congress:—
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.
The dangers to our country, arising from the contests of other nations, and the urgency of making preparations for whatever events might affect our relations with them, have been intimated in preceding messages to Congress. To secure ourselves by due precautions, an augmentation of our military force, as well regular as of volunteer militia, seems to be expedient. The precise extent of that augmentation cannot as yet be satisfactorily suggested; but that no time may be lost, and especially at a season deemed favorable to the object, I submit to the wisdom of the legislature, whether they will authorize a commencement of this precautionary work by a present provision, for raising and organizing some additional force; reserving to themselves to decide its ultimate extent, on such views of our situation as I may be enabled to present at a future day of the session.
If an increase of force be now approved, I submit to their consideration the outlines of a plan proposed in the inclosed letter from the Secretary of War.
I recommend to the attention of Congress the term at which the act of April 18, 1806, concerning the militia will expire, and the effect of that expiration.
TH: JEFFERSON. February 25, 1808.
The accompanying documents consist of a letter from the Secretary of War to the President, with two detailed statements. The letter follows:
War Department, Feb. 24, 1808. TO THE PRESIDENT, &c.
SIR,—I take the liberty of suggesting, whether under existing circumstances, it would not be advisable to propose to Congress an augmentation of our regular troops, as soon as practicable; and also the engaging and organizing of twenty-four thousand volunteers, on the principles I have had the honor of proposing for your consideration, the general outlines of which are contained in the paper marked No. 1.
The number of regular troops I would propose being raised immediately, is six thousand, to be composed of suitable proportions of infantry, artillery, cavalry, and riflemen, and organized as stated in the enclosed paper marked No. 2.
It may be presumed that previous to the close of the present session, Congress will be possessed of such further information in regard to our foreign relations, as will be necessary for forming an ultimate opinion on the expediency or inexpediency of a greater augmentation of our army than is now proposed; and in the mean time measures may be taken for the recruiting service in different parts of the U. S.
In the event of war, it will, I presume, be considered necessary to arrange our military force into separate departments, and to have a commander to each department, and of course to have no such officer as a commander in chief; and until a larger army shall be raised than is now proposed, it may not be advisable to have any officers above the rank of Brigadier General;—of that grade it may be proper to have four or five, as soon as a suitable proportion of the troops is raised.
With sentiments, &c. &c. H. DEARBORN.
[We have not received the papers No's 1 and 2, referred to in the above letter.]
The recent arrival at New-York, we learn brings advice of several American vessels being carried into England, ships have been mentioned, and property to the amount of 2,160,000 dollars, ascertained among the number.
Two American vessels of burthen have, it is said, been wrecked and totally lost in the British channel.
The objections to the embargo, it is presumed are now removed. [Aurora.]
The Tory prints now condescend to tell us that the "British cruisers" carry into rigid execution the decree of their government "concerning neutrals"—we should be glad to know when they acted differently from the spirit of that decree.
The English of this information is that the vessels and cargoes of the U. States, which were formerly carried in for adjudication are now carried in without even that pretext.
The preparations carrying on in lower Canada, bespeak very active service—the troops there are in this inclement season going through a course of peculiar discipline; and military dispositions making through that country which speak very plain language.
Accommodations are provided at Quebec for some persons of consequence whose name is not mentioned, nor is it said whether from Europe or the U. States. [Ibid.]
TO YOUR TENTS ONCE MORE!
The public have been constantly imposed upon, by the nefarious deceptions of presses in the pay of Great Britain—we now assure the public, that we are possessed of information of the most authentic character.
THAT ENGLAND HAS DETERMINED TO MAKE WAR UPON US.
And that her ministers have declared their determination not to depart a tittle from their pretensions.
The people of America may rely upon the information we have here given—we should deem ourselves meriting infamy, to hold out a false alarm, on a subject so serious—we have fulfilled the duties of a faithful centinel—if they will trust to traitors—be the evil upon their credulity.—Aurora.
The number of American Seamen now detained in the British Navy is between three and four thousand!
The number of Seamen employed in our own Navy altogether is but 1425. To allow the British quietly to keep nearly three out of four of our Seamen, at a time when we need them ourselves, would require an unusual stretch of generosity.
Yet of this generosity the Federalists appear to be possessed, who represent the detention of our Seamen by the British as no cause of offence! [Tren. T. American.]
Accounts from Washington say, that Mr. Crowninshield, has relapsed; and his friends again despair of his life. Mr. Carlton, of N. H. has had a paralytic stroke; and Mr. Porter, of Penn. is much indisposed.
The Report of the senatorial committee on the contested election of John Smith—and the Report of the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures, on the Memorial of the merchants of Philadelphia, both of which are published in this days Gazette, are important public Documents, and merit an attentive perusal.—The first, contains an affecting picture of the calamities from which the vigilance of the executive, the honesty of the people of the west, and above all, Wilkinson's integrity and energy, rescued the nation. The last, takes a trancent view of the causes which produced the Embargo, and amply elucidates the propriety of the measure, to every understanding that is open to conviction.
JOHN DICKENSON, another of our revolutionary patriots, has paid the debt of nature, at a good old age, and full of glory. The various high stations filled by him, and the patriotic duties he discharged, are fresh in the minds of his countrymen. Few men have ever lived that possessed more strength of judgement, miscellaneous knowledge, and cultivation of taste. These high attainments were tempered by an elegance of manners, an habitual eloquence, and a benignity that made him the delight as well as the ornament of society. The infirmities of declining years long since detached him from the busy scenes of life. But in retirement his patriotism felt no abatement. The welfare of his country remained uppermost in his thoughts; and he was as ready, as any of her sons, to make any sacrifice called for by her violated honor. Having viewed men and all their ways with a penetrating eye, he unequivocally avowed his preference for a republican government, and, as far as his voice went, invariably upheld republican men and measures. The existing administration, of course, commanded his constant respect and affection.
Over the ashes of such a man we may weep without the indulgence of immoderate grief. Having passed a long and illustrious life, he has left a name, which will in future times, be often invoked on the side of principle and virtue. [Nat. Intelligencer.]
DISTRESSING ACCIDENTS.
On the 22d ult. as AMOS KENT, Esq. of Chester, in this State, with his wife, three small children and a sister, was passing the Merrimac at Thornton's Ferry, in a double sleigh, the ice gave way, the sleigh upset at the same instant, and they were all immersed in the water, without any warning of the fatal disaster. Mr. Kent made two ineffectual attempts to get out of the water, the ice as often breaking under him; and then, exhausted, hopeless, and desirous of casting a parting look on his suffering family before he and they should together depart for the world of spirits, made an exertion to turn towards them. In this effort, which impelled him from a nearly horizontal into a perpendicular position, his feet struck the bottom. He then seized Mrs. Kent, who with her infant in her arms, had been under water, and was now exhausted, incapable of motion, and almost destitute of animation; and after the ice once giving way, was able to place her in safety. He next rescued Mary, the oldest of the three. Philip remained in the water, his face just above its surface. Him Mr. Kent supporting in his hand when assistance arrived; who took the child out, and afterwards assisted him to rise from the water. He instantly directed search to be made for his sister, of whom no vestige had been seen from the commencement of the disaster. In about an hour she was found nearly two rods below the place where the accident happened. As the robe backwards on the front part of the sleigh, it is supposed that she fell towards the horse, and that they in their struggles impelled her under the ice. Several wounds, discovered on her body, strengthen the supposition.
During this scene many people had collected, and every possible relief and attention were administered, which distress could ask or humanity could offer. In the family of Capt. THORNTON, whose kindness and attention will make a lasting impression on the minds of the sufferers, all the ordinary means of recovering the drowned were employed; but in vain. At the age of two and twenty, Miss SARAH KENT, young, innocent, and ingenuous, unconscious of danger, and heedless of change, was, in a moment of glee, without uttering a word, snatched from the enjoyments of life into an unknown eternity. [Amberst Cabinet.]
On Thursday last, two children of Capt E. Snow, and one of Capt Henry Snow, all about 10 years of age, were drowned at Cohasset. They were playing on the ice, when one of them fell in; the others, with the mother of two of them, flew to the relief of the child in the water; and all fell in, one after the other. Great exertions were then made to relieve them, particularly by Capt Luther Stevens, and others; who at the hazard of their lives succeeded in saving the woman, after she had been some minutes under water; but all attempts to rescue the children were unavailing. [Boston paper.]
A letter from a respectable mercantile house in London to one in Baltimore, dated January 7, received by the ship Romp, arrived at N. York, states that British cruisers are continually bringing in American vessels bound to different ports on the continent, and the prevailing opinion in London was that they would be detained until a final termination of our negotiations should take place.
From the report of the secretary of the treasury, respecting the importation of merchandise, &c. it appears that during the years 1804, 1805, & 1806, forty-six millions four hundred and ninety-nine thousand five hundred and sixty Spanish Segars were entered at the different custom-houses in the United States; affording to the revenue, at the duty of two dollars per thousand, the sum of $9,999 dollars. The average price of Segars at the Havana may be estimated at seven dollars per thousand. So that in the short space of three years the enormous sum of 418,495 dollars has been puffed away by our citizens in Spanish Segars.
COMMUNICATION.
County Recorder.
Messrs. Printers, I am sorry to learn that it is in contemplation to divide the Republican votes for a Recorder of Deeds at the ensuing election. The Republicans ought to remember what a struggle they had to obtain the office for the worthy man who now holds it, and how difficult it has been to continue him, notwithstanding the unexceptionable manner in which he has conducted himself in it—This has hitherto been done only by the full and undivided vote of the Republicans of this town; any division at this time must inevitably carry the office to Exeter. We ought not to sacrifice the object for which we have so long contended, to the uncertain prospect of promoting the interest of a friend. Mr. Adams has always expressed a willingness to remove the office to any part of the county which may best accommodate the public. No man could have given greater satisfaction in exercising the duties of the office, and no one so well qualified to fill the office more needs its emoluments. 'Tis certain no other Republican candidate can at this time succeed, and we should be guilty of unsearchable capriciousness should we turn him out, merely for the sake of expressing our wishes to serve a fellow townsmen in distress. A Confident Republican.
.....DIED.....
In Salem, Capt. John R. Dolling, aged 30. In this town, a child of Mr. Asa Dearborn; a child of Mr. James Ferguson. Mrs. Daily, from the almshouse. At sea, Capt. Samuel Moore of this town, master of the brig Alert. In a severe gale of wind he was washed overboard.
State of New Hampshire,—Grafton ss.
NOTICE is hereby given to the non-resident proprietors and owners of land in CANAAN, in the county of Grafton, and state aforesaid, who have not paid their taxes, for the year 1807; that so much of their land as will pay said taxes with incidental charges, will be sold at public vendue, at the dwelling-house of Capt. Joshua Harris, in said Canaan, on the fourth Tuesday of May next, at ten of the clock, A. M. unless prevented by previous payment to me the subscriber.
The delinquents and their taxes are as follows.
Table with 4 columns: Original Proprietors, Names, present Owners, No. Acres, Tax. Lists various names like William Chamberlin jr., Capt. William Wintworth, Pinchas Sabin, etc.
THIRD DIVISION.
Table with 4 columns: NAMES, No. Acres, Tax. Lists various names like Daniel Fowl, Richard Sparrow, Capt. William Wintworth, etc.
State of New Hampshire, Grafton ss.
NOTICE is hereby given to the non-resident proprietors and owners of land in BATH, in said county, who have not paid their school, county and highway taxes for the year 1807; that so much of their lands as will pay said taxes with incidental charges, will be sold at public vendue at the dwelling-house of Samuel Hutchins, in said Bath, on the 19th day of May, A.D. 1808, unless prevented by previous payment.
Table with 4 columns: Nonresident School, county and highway taxes for the year 1807, No. Acres, Tax. Lists various lots and taxes.
State of New Hampshire, Grafton ss.
NOTICE is hereby given to the non residents and owners of land in BRIDGEWATER, in the county and state aforesaid, who have not paid their taxes for the year 1807; that so much of each original right will be sold at public vendue at the dwelling-house of Ebenezer Kelley, inn-holder in Bridgewater, on the twenty third day of May next, at ten o'clock A. M. as will pay said taxes together with incidental charges, unless prevented by previous payment.
Table with 4 columns: No. Acres, Tax. Lists various names and taxes.
State of New Hampshire, Cheshire ss.
NOTICE is hereby given to the non-resident proprietors and owners of land in SULLIVAN, in said state, that are delinquent in paying their taxes for the year 1807; that unless they pay the same to me the subscriber, on or before the second Monday of May next, so much of their land as will pay the same with legal cost, will be sold at public vendue at Caleb Hunt's tavern, in said Sullivan, at ten of the clock in the forenoon.
Table with 4 columns: Improved, Nonresident, No. Acres, Tax. Lists various names and taxes.
State of New Hampshire,—Hillsborough ss.
NOTICE is hereby given to the non-resident proprietors and owners of land in the town of FISHERSFIELD, in said county, who are delinquent in paying their highway, town, school and county taxes for the year 1807; that so much of their land will be sold at public vendue, to the highest bidder, as will pay said taxes together with incidental charges, on Monday the second day of May next, at ten of the clock in the forenoon, at the dwelling-house of Lt. Josiah Cutler, inn-holder in Fishersfield, unless prevented by previous payment.
Table with 4 columns: NAMES, No. Acres, Tax. Lists various names and taxes.
State of New Hampshire, Grafton ss.
NOTICE is hereby given to the non-resident proprietors and owners of land in the town of LITCHFIELD, in said county, who are delinquent in paying their highway, town, school and county taxes for the year 1807; that so much of their land will be sold at public vendue, to the highest bidder, as will pay said taxes together with incidental charges, on Monday the second day of May next, at ten of the clock in the forenoon, at the dwelling-house of Lt. Josiah Cutler, inn-holder in Fishersfield, unless prevented by previous payment.
To be sold at Public Vendue by virtue of a Decree from the Hon. Judge of Probate for the county of Rockingham, on Tuesday the 22d day of March inst. at 10 o'clock A.M.
THE real Estate of FRANCIS JENNESS, late of Newmarket, yeoman, deceased, consisting of about one hundred acres, more or less, of mowing, tillage and pasture land, with a house and barn standing on the same. Conditions made known at time and place. SARAH JENNESS, Executrix. Newmarket, March 7, 1808.
TO BE SOLD, AT PUBLIC AUCTION,
On THURSDAY the 14th day of April next, at 11 o'clock A.M. on the premises (if not before disposed of at private sale)
THE elegant brick Mansion HOUSE of the late Hon. Woodbury Langdon, fronting southerly on Broad-street, with a lot of land measuring 224 feet on said Broad-street, 170 feet on Fetter-Lane, and 150 feet in depth.
A very complete building Lot adjoining the above premises, on the easterly part thereof, measuring 76 feet on Broad-street, and carrying that breadth back 150 feet to Fetter Lane.
To those who may be disposed to purchase, a view of the premises will be their best recommendation.
Terms of payment. One quarter part in thirty days, the residue in six twelve and eighteen months, on satisfactory security, with interest. Any further particulars may be known by applying to H. S. LANGDON. Portsmouth, March 8, 1808.
Will be sold at Public Auction, on the fourth day of April next, at ten of the clock in the forenoon, at the house of Nath'l Brown, Esq. innholder in Portsmouth,
That excellent and
well known FARM formerly the property of the late Col. Thomas Packer, situated in the town of Greenland, containing about four hundred acres of land, pleasantly situated on the post road to Boston—The great bay, Winnacunnet river and a brook, north and south of said farm fence the whole of it—Dressing of various kind is found in abundance in several places on said farm, and a very little extra labor would make the whole of it a garden. It has a good proportion of tillage, mowing, pasturing & orcharding, and one hundred and fifty tons of salt and English hay could be cut upon said Farm in one year—A good stream for Mills, and the dam can be built with trifling expense—A new, convenient, and elegant Dwelling-House, two hundred feet of Barn, a Cider House very large and remarkably handy, with other necessary out Houses on said farm, which is only four miles from Portsmouth, and one mile from Greenland meeting-house—The soil and situation is exceeded by none in America. If it should suit the purchaser best, it will be set up in three parcels, it being well calculated to make three farms—Terms of payment will be made easy—Possession will be given the tenth of April next if required—Any person wishing to purchase and if desirous of seeing the premises, is requested to call on the subscriber, living on said farm. MATTHEW B. PACKER. Greenland, March 5, 1808.
TO BE LET,
THE front part of a brick Store opposite the Fifth market, Also—A large wine and porter Celler under the same. Inquire of DANIEL AUSTIN. Portsmouth, March 8.
NOTICE.
ALL persons indebted to the subscriber are requested to make immediate payment, without further notice. Also, For Sale his part of the Schooner DOVE. JOSEPH HAMMOND, jr. March 8th, 1808.
NOTICE is hereby given,
that the Directors of the New-Hampshire Turnpike Road, have voted to farm out for one year, from the first day of April next, the Toll that may be collected at the several gates on the said Road, and the same will be disposed of at Public Auction, to the highest bidder—viz. the Toll that may be collected from Gates No. 1, 2, and 3, being the three lower Gates, at the house of Joseph Richardson, innholder in Durham, on Monday, the 21st of March inst. at 2 o'clock P.M.—The Toll from Gate No. 4, at the house of Moses Furber, innholder at Nottingham, on Tuesday, 22d March, at 2 o'clock P.M. and the Toll from Gates No. 5 and 6, being the two upper gates, at Godfrey's Tavern, at Epsom, on the 23d March, at 11 o'clock A.M.—Satisfactory security will be required of the purchasers, that they pay over to the Treasurer of the propriety, the amount of their respective purchases, in four equal quarterly payments. By order of the Directors, JOSEPH AKERMAN, Jr. Proprietor's Clerk. Portsmouth, March 7, 1808.
State of New Hampshire—Grafton ss. Lincoln, January 15, 1808.
THE proprietors meeting at their
meeting held this day at Doctor Nathan Kimman's in said town, voted a tax of Four Dollars on each original right in said Lincoln, (public rights excepted) and the said tax being assessed and committed to me for collection—This is therefore to notify the proprietors and owners of land in said town that neglect paying the said tax to me the subscriber, at my dwelling-house in said town, as the law directs, that their land will be advertised for sale for the payment of said tax and incidental charges, agreeable to law. JONATHAN TUTTLE, Collector for the Proprietors.
The Proprietors meeting above mentioned, is adjourned to the first Tuesday of September next, to be held at the house of Nathan Kimman, in said town. NATH'L RIX, Proprietors Clerk.
Runaway from the
subscriber, an indentured apprentice girl named PATTY CHASE, in the fourteenth year of her age. All persons are forbidden from harbouring said apprentice under the penalties of the law; and any person taking up said runaway and returning her free of cost and charge, shall be entitled to half a cent reward by REUBEN RUNDLET. Stratham, March 3, 1808.

FOR SALE, 5 Puncheons good flavored high 3d proof rectified American SPIRIT, equal, if not superior to any Foreign Rum offered in Portsmouth, will bear as much reducing, and will be sold twenty per cent. cheaper—Likewise.  A few puncheons 1st and 2d proof, Do. allowed by good judges equal for strength and flavor to any Rum commonly retailed in town or country, and will be sold very low—Purchasers will please to call and judge for themselves—Apply to J. MELCHER, at his store in Market-street.
N. B. Wholesale and retail dealers in RUM, may have any quantity rectified, either American or Foreign, on moderate terms—Apply as above. Portsmouth, February 1808.
TO BE SOLD, Several shares in the NEW-HAMPSHIRE BANK. Inquire at this office. Feb. 16.
To the Honourable the Justices of the Superior Court, now sitting at Portsmouth, in and for the County of Rockingham.
HUMBLE SHEWS, William Simes of Portsmouth, Goldsmith, guardian of Sally Parr Horney, Ann Horney and Charles Horney, minors, children of Gilbert Horney, late of said Portsmouth, merchant, deceased, that his bequeathed Wards are owners of three undivided fourth parts of a certain real estate in said Portsmouth, consisting of a dwelling house, mezzanine, &c. store, building or tenement, other buildings, and of the land whereon they stand, situate on the northerly side of Buck-street, being the late dwelling-house of the said deceased, and other buildings and land of the said deceased, and there, and bounded as follows, westerly by land of William Edwards in part, and in part by land of Jacob Sheafe; northerly by Cow lane, easterly by land lately the estate of Mark Hunking Wentworth, Esq. deceased, and land of George Ham, and southerly by Buck-street, being the same mezzanine land and buildings on said Buck-street, which were lately the estate of the said Gilbert Horney deceased, and occupied by him at the time of his decease, and appurtenances.—That the said real estate is out of repair, and continually becoming more so, yielding little or no profit, and cannot be made productive, as there is no personal estate of the deceased, to put or keep the said premises in repair.—That it is conducive to the interest of your petitioner's said wards, that their parts of said real estate be sold, and necessary also for their support.
Wherefore, as said interest is unproductive, depreciating and incapable of a proper division, and the sale of it necessary for the support of said minors, your petitioner prays your Honors to empower him, as their guardian, to sell and convey the before described real estate of his said wards, agreeably to the statute in such case made and provided, and he as in duty bound, &c. &c.
WILLIAM SIMES. Portsmouth, February 13, 1808. Rockingham, ss.
Superior Court, February Term, 1808; ORDERED by the Court, That the petitioner notify all persons concerned to appear before the Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, to be held at Exeter, within and for the county of Rockingham, on the Third Tuesday of September next, to show cause, if any they have, why the prayer of said petition should not be granted—by causing said petition and order of Court thereon, to be published three weeks successively in the New Hampshire Gazette, the last publication whereof to be six weeks before said term.
Attest, NATH'L ADAMS, Clerk. Copy examined by NATH'L ADAMS, Clerk. To the Honourable the Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, held at Portsmouth, in and for the county of Rockingham, February term, A.D. 1808.
THE petition of Thomas Brown of said Portsmouth, merchant, guardian of Gilbert Horney, a minor, son of Gilbert Horney, late of said Portsmouth, merchant, deceased, humbly shews.—That the said minor, whose guardian your petitioner is, is the owner of an undivided fourth part of a certain real estate in said Portsmouth, situated on the northerly side of Buck-street, consisting of a Dwelling-House, mezzanine and a building store or tenement of the deceased, and other buildings and of the land whereon they stand; bounded westerly by land of William Edwards in part, and Jacob Sheafe's land in part, northerly by Cow lane, easterly by land lately the estate of Mark Hunking Wentworth, Esq. deceased, and land of George Ham, and southerly by Buck-street; being the same mezzanine, land and buildings on said Buck-street, which were lately the estate of the said Gilbert Horney, deceased, and occupied by him at the time of his decease, and appurtenances. That the said real estate is much out of repair; and there being no personal estate of said deceased, to put and keep it in suitable repair, it is and must continue to be, as to the owners, unproductive and depreciating.—That it is conducive to the interest of your petitioner's said ward that his part of the said real estate be sold.
Your petitioner, therefore, prays your Honors to empower and authorize him, as guardian as aforesaid, to sell and convey the before described real estate of his said ward, agreeably to provisions of the statute in such case made and provided. And as in duty bound, &c. &c. THO'S BROWN. Portsmouth, February 18, 1808. Rockingham, ss.
Superior Court, February term, 1808; ORDERED by the Court that the petitioner notify all persons concerned, to appear before the Justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, to be held at Exeter, within and for the county of Rockingham, on the third Tuesday of September next, to show cause, if any they have, why the prayer of said petition should not be granted, by causing said petition and order of Court thereon, to be published three weeks successively in the New Hampshire Gazette, the last publication whereof to be six weeks before said term.
Attest, NATH'L ADAMS, Clerk. Copy examined by NATH'L ADAMS, Clerk. WANTS A PLACE. A young woman (who can bring good recommendations) wishes a place in a family as a Wet Nurse. Inquire at this Office. February 20, 1808.
Nath'l T. Moulton, INFORMS his friends and the public, that he has taken a Chamber in Market-street, where he intends carrying on the TAILORING BUSINESS, in a neat and fashionable style, in so much that with fidelity he flatters himself he shall be able to give satisfaction to all who will favor him with their custom.
He gives further notice that his apartment may be found by taking the door which leads to the N. H. Gazette Printing-Office. Portsmouth, February 9, 1808.
LOAN OFFICE, New Hampshire, June 11th, 1807.
NOTICE is hereby given, That in conformity with the provisions of the act supplementary to the act, intitled "An act making provision for the redemption of the whole of the public debt of the United States," books will be opened at the office of the commissioner of loans for New Hampshire, on the first day of July next, to continue open until the seventeenth day of March, 1808, inclusively, the fourteen last days of each quarter excepted, for the purpose of receiving subscriptions for such parts of the old six per cent. deferred stock as may, on the day of subscription, stand on the books of the said commissioner of loans. Those proprietors of the old six per cent. and deferred stock, who may subscribe, will receive in lieu thereof a new six per cent. stock, equal to the unredeemed amount of the stock surrendered, redeemable at the pleasure of the United States, under a proviso however, that no reimbursement shall be made except for the whole amount of any such new certificate of stock, nor till after six months previous notice: and the proprietors of the three per cent. stock who may subscribe, will receive in lieu thereof, a six per cent. stock, equal to sixty-five per cent. of the amount of three per cent. surrendered, redeemable in the same manner as the new six per cent. stock, abovementioned, but not reimbursable however, without the assent of the holders, until after the whole of the new six per cent. (given in exchange for old six or deferred as abovementioned,) as well as the whole of the eight per cent. stock of the United States, shall have been reimbursed. It is also provided that in every reimbursement which may take place, a preference will be given to those creditors who may notify their will to be reimbursed; and that if the applications to that effect shall at any time either exceed or fall short of the sum then applicable to that purpose, the priority of payment shall, so far as may be necessary, be determined by lot.
The present stock-holders who reside in any part of Europe, and may assent to that modification, may, at their option, receive the interest accruing on the new stock, either in the United States as heretofore, or in London, or Amsterdam at par: in which last case, the interest will be paid there by the bankers of the United States, six months subsequent to the day on which the same would be payable in the United States, and subject to no variation; nor to any other deduction than a commission to the bankers, of one half per cent. on the interest thus paid.
WILLIAM GARDNER, Commissioner of Loans.
NOTE.    Proprietors of 1000 dollars nominal six per cent. Stock, subscribed before the 1st October, 1807, will be entitled to receive, 649 62 of new sixs   If subscribed between the 1st October and 31st December, 1807, : : : : : 644 37 —   between the 1st January, and 17th March, 1808, : : : : : 619 03 —   Proprietors of 1000 dollars nominal deferred, subscribed before the 1st October, 1807, will be entitled to receive, 855 78 —   If subscribed between the 1st October, and 31st December, 1807, : : : : : 853 62 —   between the 1st January, and 17th March, 1808, : : : : : 831 42 —   Being the unredeemed amount of the old Stock on the 1st July and October, 1807, and 1st January, 1808, respectively.   Proprietors of 1000 dollars three per cent. Stock will be entitled to receive 650 dollars of new sixs. JUNE, 1807. (9m.) 
State of New Hampshire, Strafford ss. NOTICE is hereby given to the non-resident proprietors and owners of lands in the town of TAMWORTH, who have not paid their highway, town & school, county, and school-house taxes, for the year 1807; that unless they pay the same to me the subscriber on or before the 25th day of April next, that so much of their lands as will pay the same together with incidental charges, will be sold at public vendue, at the dwelling-house of the subscriber, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, on said day.
   Proprietors Names. No. Quantity. Highway & School tax. County tax. School tax. Amount.     Moses Barnet 10 & 13 7 200 100 76 5   Samuel Dickey 51 & 53 50 100 50 38 3 59   Levi Wallace 50 25 19 2   Henry Weed Jr. 50 25 19 2   James Sheafe Esq. Governor's right, 500 250 180 13 7 20   Samuel Jackson 2 3 3 3 8   owner unknown, part of 1 south 30 15 12 1   Enoch Webster 7 8 5 3 3   John Moor 8 8 5 3 3   William Cochran 9 8 5 3 3   Jere Taylor, } Fowler's mill lot, 99 50 23 19 2    ISRAEL GILMAN, Collector. Also, Will be sold at public vendue, at the same time and place as above mentioned, so much of the improved land off of Ebenezer Davis' farm lying in Tamworth, now occupied by Joshua Kenison, as will pay its town and county taxes for the year 1805, amounting to two dollars and sixty four cents, with necessary charges. ISRAEL GILMAN, Collector. Tamworth, February 9th, 1808.
OAK HILL FARM. TO BE LET, the FARM in this town now occupied by Mr. George Cobbath, containing upwards of three hundred and fifty acres; for one or more years.—Enquire of JOHN PEARCE.
E. WENTWORTH, Has for Sale, At the head of Buck-street— Genuine old Madeira, Frontigniac, Tent, Best white Lisbon, Vidonia, Sherry, Port, Claret, and Malaga WINES. FRESH CITRON, of a nice quality, shell'd Almonds, fresh Zant Currants, Prunes, best white Havanna Sugar, excellent retailing Cotton, &c. &c. 50 barrels of fresh superfine FLOUR, just received. Likewise, constantly on hand, Best Winter Strain'd SPERMACETI OIL. Portsmouth, March 1, 1808.
FOR SALE, A Small FARM in Stratham, Containing about 12 acres of good Land, pleasantly situated on the road leading from Portsmouth to Exeter, and half a mile from Stratham meeting-house, having a number of excellent apple and pear trees, and is the best stand in the county for a shoe maker and tanner.—For further particulars, enquire of EDWARD PARRY, Who has a large assortment of fashionable Superfine Broad-Cloths, Calimeres, and other GOODS as usual, for sale at his Store, N o 10, Market-street, Portsmouth. March 1.
FOR SALE, The BELL TAVERN Estate. SITUATE on Congress-street, near the Court-House, Portsmouth; Comprising the Tavern 55 feet front, with extensive back Buildings (which have been repaired and painted within the last year) Stables, &c. Standing on a lot of ground 66 feet front, and upwards of 200 in depth. The unequalled advantages this stand possesses from its situation on the principal entrance to the town; its central position, the proximity of the Markets, and having been occupied upwards of 30 years as an Inn, are so well, & so generally known, that it is considered almost superfluous, to mention them in this advertisement. ALSO FOR SALE Three Lots of Ground, situate on Mason-street, adjoining the above premises, containing each forty feet in front, and sixty feet in depth—or, in such portions as may suit the convenience of those who may wish to purchase.
A draft of the premises, taken from a survey made the 10th ultimo, may be seen, by application to Mr. BROWN, at the Bell Tavern. For terms of sale apply to GEO: W. SMITH, at Mr. Payson's Boarding house, Market-street: Or JACOB SHEAFE, Esquire. Portsmouth, January 11, 1808.
JUST PUBLISHED, And for sale by DANIEL P. BROWN, Buck-street, THREE Sermons on Election: containing a description of the Election of Jesus Christ—the Angels—the Patriarchs—the Israelites—the Prophets—the Apostles—and the Saints—with one Sermon on Jacob's Prophecy of Suttion: in a small neat volume. By ELIAS SMITH. Sold also by the Booksellers in Portsmouth and Exeter. Portsmouth, Feb. 20
Letter and Writing Papers, At C. PEIRCE's Bookstore. LETTER PAPERS 25 cts. 31 cts. 37 cts. L 42 cts. 50 cts. and 62 cts. per quire, or at a reduced price per ream. WRITING PAPERS 20 cts. 25; 34; 50; 75 per quire; by the ream at a lower rate.
RUSSIA QUILLS. C. PEIRCE has imported for sale 35,000 Russia Quills. Portsmouth, February 9.
Wanted in a small family, a discreet WOMAN capable of taking the entire charge of a Kitchen, in which two other assistants are constantly kept, such as one, well recommended, may find liberal wages.—Enquire of the Printers. Portsmouth, February 23.
WANTED in a small family, a discreet middle aged woman, who perfectly understands cooking and doing other house-work with neatness;—for such a person adequate wages may be had by enquiring at this Office. Portsmouth, January 25th, 1808.
TO LET, and may be entered immediately, a convenient two story HOUSE, situated in High-street,—inquire of the Printers.
TO LET, half a HOUSE, lately occupied by Cazneau Bayley, deceased,—enquire of NATH'L FOLSOM. March 1, 1808.
TO LET, A FARM at Rye, containing one hundred and seventy acres,—apply to PETER PEARSE, jun. Portsmouth, Feb. 2.
TO BE LET, A Building at the middle Town wharf, suitable for a store or dwelling-house. Inquire of GEO: F. BLUNT. December 29.
RAGS. Cash given for RAGS, at the Book store of C. PEIRCE.
Smith & Haven, Imported for the New Galen, last Fall, (previous to the operation of the Non-Importation Act) and for sale by the package or less quantity, for cash or a liberal credit— Caplin SEINS of various sizes. 7 core 16 rams 8 " 20 9 " 25 10 " 30 10 " 40 Herring NETS. 18, 15 and 12 thread LINES; Mackerel and squid ditto; 2 and 3 thread herring, sein and mackerel TWINE; Bank, large, middle and small quarter HOOKS; Mackerel, squid and bob ditto. ALSO, SHIP CHANDLERY, and a variety of articles necessary for Fishing vessels. No. 5 Merchant's Row. March 1.
NOW LANDING From ship Mary, And for Sale by Isaac Waldron, jun. 200 barrels fresh Superfine FLOUR. March 1, 1808.
WANTED 100,000 good Merchantable Boards, for which Cash will be given on delivery,—enquire of DANIEL HUNTRESS, N o 15, Portsmouth Pier. March 1, 1808.
TO be sold at Public AUCTION, on Wednesday the 23d day of March next, that noted Tavern House in Exeter, with about one acre of land with the buildings thereon, lately improved by Ezra Hutchins, but now occupied by Thomas Fulham.—The premises are so well known that they need no description; sale to be on the premises, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the conditions of sale will be made known, or by applying to STEPHEN LAMSON, any time previous to the sale. Exeter, February 24th, 1808.
NOTICE is hereby given that all the real estate, formerly owned and occupied by John Godfrey, lying in Epsom, will be sold at Public Auction on Monday the 4th day of April next, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, consisting of about fifty acres of LAND, with the buildings thereon, viz.—A new and convenient dwelling-house, thirty by forty feet, one story high, well finished with a good cellar under it; a new and convenient Barn, Shed, and a Coopers Shop, situate on the first New Hampshire Turnpike Road, leading from Concord to Portsmouth, and on the road leading from Gilmanton to Newburyport, which renders it an excellent stand for a Tavern or Trader. Sale to be on the premises, when the conditions will be made known.—Further information may be had by applying to LEVI MEAD & JOHN HARVEY, of Northwood,—or JOHN GODFREY, living on the premises. Northwood, February 22, 1808.
FOUND last Thursday evening, near Dr. John Jackson's, a bundle of English GOODS,—the owner may have them by proving property and paying charges,—enquire of the Printers. March 1.
NOTICE. ALL persons having demands on the Overseers of the Poor, for the town of Portsmouth, for supplies for the Aims-house, for the year past, are hereby desired to present their accounts for settlement to the subscriber, on or before the 15th day of March next ensuing. NATH'L MARSHALL. Portsmouth, February 27th, 1808.
William Bordman's Estate. ALL persons indebted to, or that have any demands against the estate of WILLIAM BORDMAN, late of Newmarket, in the county of Rockingham, Attorney at law, deceased, are requested to present them to the subscriber immediately for settlement. STEPHEN BORDMAN, February 29. [Executor.]
NOTICE is hereby given that the subscriber has been duly appointed Administratrix of the estate of RICHARD PERRY, late of Portsmouth mariner, deceased, and having taken upon herself that trust, by giving bonds as the law directs, requests all persons having demands on said estate to exhibit them for settlement; and all indebted to said estate are called on to make immediate payment without delay to CATHARINE PERRY, Portsmouth, Feb. 23, 1808. Administratrix.
State of New Hampshire,—Grafton ss. NOTICE is hereby given to the non-resident proprietors and owners of land in the town of DANBURY, county and state aforesaid, who have not paid their town, school, county and highway taxes for the year 1807; that so much of their land as will pay said taxes with incidental charges, will be sold at public vendue, at the dwelling house of me the subscriber in said Danbury, on Thursday the 26th day of May next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, unless prevented by previous payment.
   Proprietors Names. No. Quantity. Town tax. County tax. School tax. Highway tax. Amount.     Daniel Rindge Esq. 25 3 119 26 45 64 3 39   Joseph Braley 18 3 35 5 7 17 39   Unknown 32 3 110 11 7 41 93   Do. 18 3 110 7 11 3   Do. 31 3 110 11 7 41 93    OBADIAH JUDKINS, Collector. Danbury February 11th, 1808.
Amoskeag Canal Lottery. Class Fifth of the Second Grant. SCHEME. 20000 Tickets at 5 dolls. each, are 100000 Dolls.    1 Prize of 10000 is 10000   1 ditto 2000 2000   9 Prizes 1000 are 9000   4 ditto 500 2000   125 ditto 100 12500   88 ditto 50 4400   70 ditto 20 1400   6386 ditto 7 44702   6684 86002   Subject to no Deduction. Not two Blanks to a Prize. A part of the above prizes will be drawn in the following manner viz.—The first drawn blank on the 5th day shall be entitled to 500 dollars. Do. on the 8th, 500
  Do. on the 10th, 1000   Do. on the 13th, 500   Do. on the 16th, 1000   Do. on the 18th, 500   Do. on the 20th, 2000   Do. on the 22d, 1000   Do. on the 24th, 1000   Do. on the 26th, 1000   Do. on the 28th, 1000   Do. on the 30th, 1000   Do. on the 32d, 1000   Do. on the 35th, 1000   Do. on the 38th, 1000   This Class will commence drawing in Boston on the 24th of March next. Tickets rise to 50 after the 15th March. SAMUEL SWAN, jun. 7 JAMES F. BALDWIN, 5 Managers. Boston February 1, 1808.
Tickets in the above Lottery for Sale by Mr. CHARLES PEARSE, our agent at Portsmouth, N. H. who will pay the prizes on demand.
State of New Hampshire. PURSUANT to application to me made by the proprietors and owners of more than one sixteenth part of the township of PAULSBOROUGH, in the county of Coos, and State of New Hampshire; the proprietors and owners of said township are hereby notified and warned to meet at the dwelling house of Major Daniel Cilley, in Epsom, in the county of Rockingham, in said State, on the third day of November next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, for the following purposes—
 1. To choose a Moderator to govern said meeting.  2. To choose Assessors and a Collector of taxes.  3. To raise a tax for the purpose of making and repairing of roads and bridges, and erecting mills, in said town, procuring settlers to settle there, paying public taxes and other demands that now or hereafter may exist against said proprietary.  4. To appoint an agent or agents to make and repair roads, and to attend to the settlement of said town, and prosecute trespassers.  5. To empower and authorize the proprietor or proprietors, who shall convey any one or more of their lots, that are drawn and severed, to settlers, or convey a lot or lots for the purpose of erecting mills thereon, for the use of said proprietary, to draw and hold in severalty another lot or lots in lieu of the lot or lots by such proprietor or proprietors so surrendered and conveyed to the uses aforesaid.  Given under my hand and seal at Epsom, this 13th day of February, A.D. 1808. WILLIAM PLUMER, Proprietors Clerk of said Paulsborough.
State of New Hampshire. PURSUANT to an application to me made by the proprietors and owners of more than one sixteenth part of the township of MAYNESBOROUGH, in the county of Coos, in the State of New Hampshire; the proprietors and owners of said township are hereby notified and warned to meet at the dwelling-house of Major Daniel Cilley, in Epsom, in the county of Rockingham, in said State, on the third day of November next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, for the following purposes—
 1. To choose a Moderator to govern said meeting.  2. To choose Assessors and a Collector of taxes.  3. To raise a tax for the purpose of making and repairing of roads and bridges, and erecting mills, in said town, procuring settlers to settle there, paying public taxes and other demands that now or hereafter may exist against said proprietary.  4. To appoint an agent or agents to make and repair roads, and to attend to the settlement of said town, and prosecute trespassers.  5. To empower and authorize the proprietor or proprietors who shall convey any one or more of their lots, that are drawn and severed, to settlers, or convey a lot or lots for the purpose of erecting mills thereon, to the use of said proprietary, to draw and hold in severalty another lot or lots