National gazette. (Philadelphia [Pa.]), 1792-06-11 00:00:00

National Gazette.
By P. FRENEAU: Published MONDAYS and THURSDAYS, at THREE DOLLARS per annum.
VOL. I.
MONDAY, June 11, 1792.
NUMB. 65.
AUTHENTIC.
SECOND CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.
At the first Session, begun and held at the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, on Monday the twenty-fourth of October, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one.
An ACT to alter the time for the next annual Meeting of Congress.
BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That after the adjournment of the present session, the next annual meeting of Congress shall be on the first Monday in November next.
Approved by the PRESIDENT May 5th, 1792.
An ACT concerning the Duties on Spirits distilled within the United States.
BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the last day of June next, the present duties upon spirits distilled within the United States, and on stills shall cease, and that in lieu thereof, upon all spirits which after the said day shall be distilled within the United States wholly or in part from molasses, sugar or other foreign materials, there shall be paid the duties following, that is to say:
For every gallon of those spirits of the first class of proof, ten cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the second class of proof, eleven cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the third class of proof, twelve cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the fourth class of proof, fourteen cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the fifth class of proof, eighteen cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the sixth class of proof, twenty-five cents.—And upon all spirits which after the said day shall be distilled within the United States from materials of the growth or produce of the United States, in any city, town or village, at any distillery at which there shall be one or more stills which singly or together shall be of the capacity of four hundred gallons or upwards, there shall be paid the duties following, that is to say:
For every gallon of those spirits of the first class of proof, seven cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the second class of proof, eight cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the third class of proof, nine cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the fourth class of proof, eleven cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the fifth class of proof, thirteen cents;—for every gallon of those spirits of the sixth class of proof, eighteen cents. And upon stills which after the said day shall be employed in distilling spirits from materials of the growth or produce of the United States, at any other place than a city, town or village, or at any distillery in a city, town or village at which there shall be one or more stills which singly or together if more than one shall be of less capacity than four hundred gallons, there shall be paid the yearly duty of fifty-four cents for every gallon English wine measure of the capacity or content of each and every such still including the head thereof: Provided , That it shall be at the option of the proprietor or possessor of any such still, instead of the said yearly duty, either to pay seven cents for every gallon of spirits by him or her distilled, or to pay at the rate of ten cents per gallon of the capacity for each and every month of the employment of any such still; and in case the said proprietor or possessor shall elect to pay either the said rate of seven cents per gallon, of the spirits by him or her distilled, or the said monthly rate of ten cents, according to the capacity of his or her still or stills, he or she at the time of making entry of his or her still or stills in manner herein after directed, shall by writing under his or her hand, left at the office of inspection where such entry shall be made, notify the said election, and if the same shall be to pay the said monthly rate of ten cents, shall demand a licence for the term of time, specifying the day of commencing and the day of ending, during which he or she shall intend to work his or her still or stills, which licence shall without delay or expense to the said proprietor or possessor be granted, and shall be signed by the supervisors of the revenue and countersigned by the officer at whose office application for the same shall have been made. And in the case of an election to pay the said monthly rate of ten cents, it shall not be lawful for any person by whom the same shall have been made, to work his or her still or stills, at any time, within the year from the date of his or her entry thereof, other than that for which a licence shall have been granted, unless he or she shall have previously obtained another licence for such further time, which upon like application shall, and may be granted, in like manner, and if any such person shall work his or her still or stills, contrary to the direction or provision aforesaid, he or she shall forfeit and pay for every such offence, two hundred dollars. And in every case in which any proprietor or possessor of a still or stills subject to the payment of duty according to the capacity of such still or stills, shall not make election to pay according to one or the other of the alternatives
aforesaid; or shall not duly comply therewith, he or she shall be liable to pay, and shall pay the said yearly rate of fifty four cents for every gallon of the capacity or capacities of his or her still or stills.
And be it further enacted, That there be in each county comprehended within any district, at least one office of inspection, at which every person having or keeping a still or stills within such county, shall between the last day of May, and the first day of July in each year, make entry of such still or stills; and at which every person, who being a resident within the county, shall procure a still or stills, or who removing within a county, shall bring therein a still or stills, shall within thirty days after such procuring or removal, and before he or she shall begin to use such still or stills, make entry thereof. And every entry besides describing each still and the capacity thereof, shall specify the place where, and the person in whose possession it is, and the purpose for which it is intended, as whether for sale or use in distilling; and in the case of removal, shall specify the place from which every such still shall have been brought.
And be it further enacted, That every proprietor and possessor of a still shall be jointly and severally liable for the duty thereupon; and that every owner of land upon which any still shall be worked, shall be liable for the duty thereupon, unless the same shall be worked by a lawful bona fide tenant of the land of an estate, not less than for the term of one year, or unless such owner can make it appear, that the possessor or person by whom such still shall have been worked, was during the whole time of working the same, a trespasser or intruder on his land.
And be it further enacted, That every officer of inspection within whose survey any distillery of Geneva or sweet cordials, subject to the payment of duty by the gallon of the spirits distilled thereon may be, shall forbear to visit or inspect for a space not exceeding two hours in each day, such part of the said distillery as he may be required by the proprietor, possessor or manager of such distillery to forbear to visit and inspect, for which purpose it shall be necessary for the said proprietor, possessor or manager, to give notice in writing to the said officer, describing therein particularly the part of such distillery, which it shall be his desire that the said officer may forbear to visit and inspect, and specify the time of each day for which such forbearance shall be desired.
And be it further enacted, That it shall be in the discretion of the secretary of the treasury to regulate as well the marks, to be set upon the casks, vessels and packages containing distilled spirits, as the forms of the certificates which are to accompany the same, and that when any cask or vessel in which distilled spirits have been contained, shall have been emptied of its contents, it shall be lawful for the marks thereupon to be effaced by, or in the presence of an officer of inspection, and if the said cask or vessel shall afterwards be used for putting therein other spirits, the same may be marked anew.
And be it further enacted, That instead of a notice of twenty-four hours heretofore required to be given of the intent to export distilled spirits in order to the benefit of the drawback of the duties thereupon, six hours shall be sufficient.
And be it further enacted, That there be an abatement for leakage at the rate of two per cent, in every case in which the duty shall be payable by the gallon of the spirits distilled, to be allowed at the distillery where such spirits shall be made.
And be it further enacted, That the officer of inspection within whose survey any still shall be, the duty thereupon is payable according to the capacity of the still shall identify by progressive numbers and other proper marks, every such still within his survey, and the duty thereupon shall operate as a specific lien upon the said still.
And be it further enacted, That every distiller of, and dealer in spirits, who may have in his or her possession, distilled spirits not marked or certified, pursuant to the act intitled "An act repealing after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead, and also upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same," shall prior to the last day of September next, report the spirits in his or her possession, in writing at some office of inspection, to the end that such spirits may be marked and certified as old stock. And that from and after the said last day of September next, casks and vessels of the capacity of twenty gallons and upwards, containing distilled spirits, which shall be found in the possession of any distiller or dealer in spirits, except at a distillery where the same were made, or in going from one place to another, without being marked according to law, or without having a certificate from some proper officer, shall be liable to seizure and forfeiture, and that it shall be the duty of the several officers of inspection, upon request of any dealer or distiller to take measures for the marking of casks, vessels and packages containing distilled spirits, and to furnish such dealer or distiller, free from expense, with certificates to accompany the same: Provided , That it shall not be incumbent upon any such officer to mark or certify any cask, vessel or package which ought to have been before marked or certified according to any law of the United States.
And be it further enacted, That from and after the last day of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, no distilled spirits except arrack and sweet cordials, shall be brought into the United States from any foreign port or place, except in casks or vessels of the capacity of ninety gallons and upwards.
And be it further enacted, That no drawback of the duty on distilled spirits which shall be exported after the last day of June next, shall be allowed upon any quantity less than one hundred gallons.
And be it further enacted, That after the last day of June next, no distilled spirits shall be brought into the United States, from any foreign port or place in any cask or vessel, which shall have been marked pursuant to any law of the United States concerning distilled spirits, on pain of forfeiture of the spirits so brought, and of the ship or vessel in which they shall be brought.
And be it further enacted, That if the owner or possessor of any still or stills, shall neglect to make entry thereof, within the time and in the manner prescribed by the second section of this act, such owner or possessor shall forfeit and pay the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars; and if any distilled spirits, except arrack and sweet cordials shall, after the last day of April next be brought into the United States in casks or vessels of less capacity than ninety gallons, all such spirits, and the casks and vessels containing the same, shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture, and every such penalty or forfeiture shall be one half to the use of the United States, and the other half to the use of the person who shall first discover and make known the matter or thing whereby the same shall have been incurred.
And be it further enacted, and declared, That the duties hereby laid shall continue in force, for the same time, and are hereby pledged and appropriated to and for the same purposes, as those, in lieu of which they are laid, and pursuant to the act intitled "An act repealing after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead, and also upon spirits distilled within the United States and for appropriating the same."
And be it further enacted, That to make good any deficiency which may happen in consequence of the reduction hereby made in the rates of the duties on spirits distilled within the United States, and on stills, so much of the product of the duties laid by the act intitled "An act for raising a farther sum of money for the protection of the frontiers, and for other purposes therein mentioned," as may be necessary, shall be and is hereby pledged and appropriated to the same purposes, to and for which the duties, hereby reduced, were pledged and appropriated.
And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be authorized to make such allowances, for their respective services to the supervisors, inspectors and other officers of inspection, as he shall deem reasonable and proper, so as the said allowances, together with the incidental expenses of collecting the duties on spirits distilled within the United States, shall not exceed seven and an half per centum of the total product of the duties on distilled spirits, for the period to which the said allowances shall relate, computing from the time the act intitled "An act repealing after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad, and laying others in their stead, and also upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same, took effect: And provided also , That such allowance shall not exceed the annual amount of seventy thousand dollars, until the same shall be further ascertained by law.
And be it further enacted, That the act intitled, "An act repealing after the last day of June next, the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad and laying others in their stead, and also upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same," shall extend to and be in full force for the collection of the several duties herein before mentioned and for the recovery and distribution of the penalties and forfeitures herein contained and generally for the execution of this act, as fully and effectually as if every regulation, restriction, penalty, provision, clause, matter and thing therein contained were inserted in and re-enacted by this present act, subject only to the alterations hereby made.
Approved by the PRESIDENT, May 8th, 1792.
CHESTER TOWN & BALTIMORE STAGES.
THE Eastern-Shore Stage, by way of Chestertown to Baltimore, starts regularly from James Thompson's, Indian Queen, Fourth-street, Philadelphia, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, mornings, precisely at 7 o'clock, and on the same mornings at 4 o'clock, from Mr. Grant's in Baltimore. The cultivation of the country, and goodness of the roads, together with the attention that shall be paid by the proprietors, will, it is hoped, be a sufficient inducement for a preference being given to this route.
JAMES THOMPSON, ROBERT HODGSON, N. B. Light Waggons for hire by James Thompson, at the Indian Queen.
In the House of Representatives, Monday, April 30.
MR. STEELE'S Remarks on the EXCISE LAW.
[The report of the committee of the whole, concerning the modifications of the Excise Law, under consideration.]
MR. STEELE moved to strike out eight cents and insert six, upon the first class of spirits distilled from fruit or grain within the United States. This motion, he said, had failed in committee, but upon reflection the house might probably express a different opinion, and with that hope he was induced to renew the motion. When a proposition has for its basis justice as well as policy, it cannot lose advocates by consideration, and several days having elapsed since the former discussion, a well grounded assurance is entertained that the present attempt will not be wholly unsuccessful.
The object of the present bill is to remove objections and, if possible, render that mode of taxation more palatable to the community. If therefore it can be proved that neither of these desirable ends can be attained without reducing the duty, common sense suggests the propriety of doing it. The manner in which this law is now executed has disgracefully committed the dignity of the general government, and a sense of national honor requires that one of two things should be done; either that the law be totally repealed, or fully executed. If the latter be the determination of the government, it cannot be productive without reducing the rate, simplifying its operations, and, in many respects, rendering it less exceptionable to the people. It has been enacted now near twelve months, and in that time it cannot be said to have been well executed in all, or productive in any part of the United States, in the degree which was originally expected.
The Secretary of the Treasury has proposed, in his report, that in certain instances the proprietors of stills should be allowed to discharge the amount of their respective duties in the produce of the distilleries. This, sir, will be an accommodation to the distillers, but while it answers this beneficial purpose to them, it operates as a strong argument in favor of a reduction of the duties. If reasonably reduced, an indulgence so unfavorable to the public would not be demanded or expected. The present motion is made under a conviction (resulting from a considerable knowledge of the nature of grain distilleries, and of the circumstances of the country where they are most in use) that the treasury will receive more money from a duty of six than nine cents upon the gallon.
Mr. Steele then begged the house to recollect that this is the first attempt to introduce a system of excise into the U. States; that it is too the first attempt to tax any article of American growth or manufacture; that the law requires a surrender of at least one fourth part of the value of the thing excised, and that not only the justice of the measure is denied, but its policy is doubted.—The necessities of the government are so interwoven at this time with its policy, that it is not easy for this, or any other measure relating to revenue, to undergo the proper consideration, or to be decided simply upon its merits. The opposition to this law has not proceeded from a restless and disorderly spirit among the people, but from an aversion which freemen in all countries ever had and perhaps ever will have to this mode of taxation. And let ingenious theorists refine as they please upon the nature of indirect taxes, it must always be admitted that excises retrench the liberty of the citizens on whom they operate, and that they are subject to solid as well as plausible objections. It

has already been the subject of much complaint in many parts of the union, and will be productive of serious consequences if these complaints be not redressed by the legislature, in the present session. Among the causes of dissatisfaction are the following: 1st, Excise laws are novel in the United States, and odious in their nature; 2d, Articles of American manufacture are not proper objects of taxation, and if they were, the rate of duty in this instance is too high; 3d, The proportion which was established between the rate of duties on molasses, rum, and spirits distilled from fruit and grain, tends to the encouragement of the former, at the expense and depression of the latter; 4th, Because it operates, and is in fact, a tax upon this occupation and agriculture, as they stand connected in one part of the union, while manufactures in other parts are not only rewarded by high protecting duties, but in some instances even by specified bounties.
The agricultural interest has experienced the unfavorable influence of this law likewise, and it operates most oppressively too upon that class of farmers whose estates are situated in the interior country, and whose interests have thus far passed almost unnoticed, in the policy of the general government. That class of citizens, though they have not been most solicitous, are nevertheless not insensible of their burthens, and the neglect with which their interest has been treated.
The value of our lands has been stationary for some time; their produce not in demand, and where it is, at depreciated prices: and notwithstanding this, taxes are imposed, evidently calculated in their operation to render agriculture tributary to the more favored branches of business.
No argument can be advanced that will justify the imposition of burthens upon the cultivation of the soil, for the aggrandizement of manufactures, or the emolument of those concerned in them.
Mr. Steele then said he would put a case, which is a familiar one in the state which he represents, and might be so in others. If a farmer is possessed of a given quantity of rye for sale, money cannot be obtained for it at any price—he sends it to a distillery, where one half is given in the first instance for manufacturing the other. The duty is then to be paid out of the farmer's part, which reduces the balance to less than one third of the original quantity. If this is not an oppressive tax, I am at a loss to describe what is so; and if a proposition had been made to lay a similar tax upon American porter, nails, paper, shoes, or any other article of this kind, we should not shortly have heard the last of it. And here let me ask, what is in the nature of these manufactures which entitles them to such priorities and preferences? It may fairly be answered, that they are nearer to perfection, that they are aided by more capital, that they are therefore better able to bear taxation, and that the advantages which they now enjoy have been derived from the generosity of members representing the agricultural parts of the country. It is most sincerely to be wished that the manufacturing states would fix some bounds to their expectations, and that they will not continue to insist upon unreasonable sacrifices from those who are engaged in different pursuits, and little able to make them.
The tendency of this law has been, and if not differently modified, will continue to be, to build up the rum distilleries upon the ruins of those employed by farmers for domestic uses. These are not suggested to be the motives which actuated any part of the majority in passing this law originally, or which now influence the zealous opposition to the present motion; but as the reduction of the tax is objected to principally by gentlemen, who on other occasions have been anxious to afford legislative aid to American manufactures, it is not uncharitable to say that their singular conduct now might justify such an imputation.
If this has not been the policy, my motion for the proposed reduction will undoubtedly prevail.
Mr. Steele then called the attention of the house to the system of federal taxation in general and instanced several duties which operate unfavorably to the landed interest, in the southern parts of the Union. Particularly the high duty on salt, nails, shoes, and other essential articles in husbandry, with which the people of those states are almost wholly supplied from foreign markets. The enhanced price of salt and nails are seriously complained of in those states, because the one is essential to the improvement of their large flocks of cattle; and the article of nails is in very extensive use because the country is improving in buildings, and yet to be improved. The tax upon these articles cannot be felt in an equal degree in the northern and eastern states for very obvious reasons.
It has been frequently asserted in the course of this debate, that distilleries in the eastern states have flourished and are growing up under the operation of this law, which, if true, is an unanswerable argument in proof of its inequality. In the southern states they are cramped, in many instances annihilated, and the secretary, sensible of this, has in his report proposed a temporary expedient of allowing the distillers the privilege of discharging the du-
ties on the spirits distilled at certain stipulated prices. This is plainly admitting the truth of an assertion which has often been repeated, that the law, in its operation, would be found unequal and oppressive.
In order to vote understandingly on the present question, we ought to have been furnished from the treasury, with a statement of the neat amount of revenue accruing from molasses distillation, after deducting the drawbacks upon the molasses distilled and the rum exported. This, compared with the amount accruing from the distillation of American produce, on which a drawback is seldom demanded, would be placing the subject in a proper point of view for a satisfactory decision. This statement should now be called for, if the late hour of the session did not render it impracticable. A gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Ames) in the course of his remarks, has stated, that the existing proportion is sufficiently favorable to the distilleries employed in grain and fruit. For that the American made rum now pays, including the duty on molasses, thirteen cents per gallon, while its rival liquor of common quality, is only subject to nine cents. This is true, as it relates to the consumers within the United States, and, if none was exported, might be less exceptionable:—but how does it operate upon the American distillers? One in Massachusetts makes a certain quantity of rum for exportation; it is exported, and of course pays no duty; while another, in North Carolina, makes an equal quantity of spirits, from fruit and grain, wholly from home consumption, and stands chargeable for the full amount of the duties. But admitting them both to be articles of American manufacture, and alike entitled to legislative protection; is there any colour of justice in taxing rum, (which by the estimation of the gentlemen themselves, is worth, in the market, at least two thirds of a dollar per gallon) only ten cents, when you propose to tax spirits made from grain, which is worth in the market, but half as much, eight cents? The inequality is so glaring, that if the motion is decided on principle it must succeed, and if it does, there is good reason to believe that the people will be disposed to give the law a fair experiment, even in places where it has been hitherto least palatable.
This, Sir, may not improperly be termed a struggle between two classes of citizens, whose interests are, and will be for some years, dissimilar; the agricultural and manufacturing parts of the United States. It is not the first conflict of the kind, and may not, perhaps, be the last—and if we may judge from experience, it will not be difficult to predict how it will terminate.
However, while facts and principles are in favor of the motion, we shall be justified in contending for what we have not heretofore had, "constitutional equality, and impartial legislation."
It may once for all be remarked, without expecting it will have any influence on the house, that a great majority of my constituents hold in detestation the name as well as the nature of an excise law, and that they would have been among the first to remonstrate, if they had not been fully sensible that their representatives would speak their sentiments and describe their feelings whenever a proper occasion should occur.
This is deemed to be that proper occasion, these are their sentiments, delivered in the language of sincerity; if they are disregarded, the members from that state have discharged their duty, and will not be answerable for the consequences.
But it has been said by a gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzsimons) that if the duty be reduced to six cents, agreeably to my motion, it will not be worth collecting. To this it may be plainly answered, that if the duty be not reduced, it cannot, nor will not be collected.
FOREIGN NEWS.
BERLIN, March 31.—The elector of Mentz's minister at this court has no filled the vacancy of the Imperial throne to his Prussian Majesty, and summoned him to appear at Frankfort on the 3d of July, to assist in the election of a new emperor.
LONDON, April 10.—Dr. Priestley's cause for damages, committed on his property in the riots at Birmingham, was tried on Thursday last. In about nine hours after the beginning of the trial the jury returned their verdict for 2502l. 18s. being 1610l. 14s. 6d. less than Dr. Priestley's claim, which was 4122l. 12s. 6d.
Fuseli, the celebrated Italian painter, has not drawn the portraits of Dr. Priestley, nor Mr. Paine, nor Horne Tooke, as asserted in some of the papers; but what will do him more honor, he has painted Satan, Sin, and Death , in a style of sublimity which modern art has long been a stranger to.
PARIS, April 16.—M. Duranton, an eminent lawyer of Bourdeaux was appointed minister of justice on the 14th instant.
M. Gouvion, formerly colonel in the army of the American United States, and deputy to the National Assembly, has sent in his resignation to the president, of that trust. "It is too painful to me (says he, in his letter of resignation) to live any longer in a
city, where some magistrate of the people, rejoicing in the triumph of the murderers of my brother and his fellow soldiers, have humbled the National Guards, who were stepping forward to the execution of the law. Let me be placed with the true friends to the constitution, and then it will be seen who defend it best, we, or the traitors."
PHILADELPHIA.
JUNE 11, 1792.
On the 30th ult. was held a meeting at the state house, in Boston, for the election of senators and representatives in the general court of that state.—The senate made choice of the honorable Samuel Phillips, Esq. for their president, and the honorable David Cobb, Esq. speaker. After the election a sermon, adapted to the occasion, was delivered by the Rev. David Tappan, from the words, "Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hands of Moses and Aaron."
The Roman Catholics in Ireland, if one might judge from their petitions, remonstrances, &c. in the Irish papers, are beginning to speak a language not at all to the relish of the high flying court party of the nation. By threats and menacing intimations they have recently obtained four points; the right of intermarriage with protestants; pleading at the bar; of taking any number of apprentices in their commercial departments; and establishing any number of seminaries for the education of their youth.—These, however, they consider as mere natural rights, and as much their inheritance as air, light, and water—they now, importunately insist upon what they esteem an unalienable privilege, the right of voting; and have petitioned the parliament for that purpose.—This seems to agitate the minds of the opposing parties, and to such a degree as to make many dread the most serious consequences; both (by the last accounts) seeming determined to carry their points.
Letters from France, to the latter end of March, say, that "the sudden death of the emperor will no doubt operate a great change in the affairs of that country, and at least protract a war, if not wholly prevent it.—Previous to the death of the king of Sweden, the diet refused granting him any subsidy, and had he lived it was their determination to put him under an arrest for the immense deficiency in the treasury, in consequence of the exorbitant supplies that had been lavished out to the French princes and emigrants; which resource is now entirely dried up to those execrable parricides and enemies to the rights and liberties of man. These accounts further say, that Spain is renewing her former policy of entering into the closest alliance possible with France. The Count Florida Blanca is in the completest merited disgrace, having through his whole administration showed himself a tool to the English, the inveterate enemy of France, and the diabolical prosector of the horrid insurrection in St. Domingo.—The king of France has dismissed the only two patriotic ministers he had, Narbonne, and Cahier de Gerville. De Lellart has been arrested by order of the national assembly, his papers seized, and himself sent to Orleans to be tried by the high national court, for obnoxious conduct in a variety of particulars. Other ministers, it is said, are also arrested, and the queen had become so odious to the nation, that her head had been demanded, in Paris; and that she had been publicly accused by the Marquis de Condorcet—The army of the line had a deficiency of 52,000 men. No sooner was this publicly known, and that the country was in danger, than four hundred thousand citizens voluntarily enlisted, and hurried with the utmost rapidity to their standards—this omens well to the cause of liberty, and renders it highly probable, that in a short time at least twenty enslaved nations will be restored to a state of liberty, and with it, to the original dignity of man."
We hear, that on Tuesday last, the President of the United States and his Lady, attended by the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Treasury and his Lady, honored Mr. Pearce with a visit at his cotton manufactory.—The President attentively viewed the machinery, &c. and saw the business performed in its different branches, which met with his warmest approbation.
Few subjects have ever received a greater share of public notice than the Excise Law; and none has ever been more generally disapproved of. The inhabitants of a city accustomed to enjoy every luxury which money can procure, and unacquainted with the labour and trouble attending the distillation of brandies, may perhaps conceive the excise a just and wholesome tax. But the farmer, far removed from any seaport town, and enjoying no luxury, other than the produce of his labour, and who by great toil and trouble has made a few gallons of brandy, only sufficient for his family consumption, will no doubt conceive the excise an iniquitous and oppressive tax.—Oppressive, because it is a tax on labour, and extorts money from the poorer class of people:—And iniquitous, because its effects will be severely felt by
one part of the union, while, at the same time, it will prove a benefit to the other.
That the Excise Law was not repealed at the last session of Congress, is no proof of its goodness. What occasioned the alterations which were made but the murmurs of the people? And it is greatly to be hoped, that when the additional representatives come forward, and the sense of the people is better known, that this much reprobated law will be wholly repealed.
[A.D. Adv.]
On the 18th ult. the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Inhabitants of the borough of Norfolk, in Virginia, addressed his excellency, HENRY LEE, governor of that state, who arrived there the day preceding, expressing their thanks in the warmest manner for his attention to their interests, and expatiating on the gratification they felt in the recollection of a character so distinguished for patriotic exertions both in the cabinet and in the field, being at the head of the commonwealth. The Governor returned a polite answer to this address, thanking the borough for this instance of their esteem and good opinion, and assuring them that the honor and prosperity of the United States (and the borough of Norfolk in particular) should ever command his most faithful exertions and endeavors.
A recruiting officer in the country, writes thus to his friend in this city—"Where I am, the recruiting business goes on heavily, none but the refuse of the creation to be picked up—gallows looking fellows (like Sir John Falstaff's regiment) who only enlist with a design to desert—and when collected will, I fear, be pronounced So worn, so wasted, so despis'd a crew As even the Indians might with pity view."
"The people of Virginia (says a letter from Richmond) are disposed to put the worst construction on the law imposing a pollage on newspapers; and, I expect, will certainly remonstrate against it, at the next session of Congress."
According to a late Hartford paper, the finances of that state are in such a favourable situation, that the Hon. the General Assembly, at their late session, determined that it was "unnecessary to lay any further tax, for the present, on the inhabitants of the state of Connecticut."
Benjamin West, Esquire, a native of New-England, is appointed President of the royal academy of Painters, &c. of England, vacant by the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
The late Governor Wentworth, of New-Hampshire, is appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.
A manufacturer at Springfield, Massachusetts, has discovered a method of spinning hemp, hitherto unknown in this country. His sail duck is now entirely manufactured from that article (instead of flax, as heretofore) and is pronounced by good judges equal to any in the world. It is said to have every advantage over sail cloth made from flax, being whiter, more durable, and not subject to mildew.
It is asserted in a late English paper, that the new government of France had declared war against the King of Hungary, as the most effectual means of securing permanency to the constitution.
The following calculation may afford some idea of the miserable situation of the mass of the people in England. There are many thousands in that country who get no more than one shilling a day (sterling) wages for their labour. "In the present state of things (says Mr. Paine) a labouring man in England, with a wife and two or three children, does not pay less than between seven and eight pounds a year in taxes. He is not sensible of this, because it is disguised to him in the articles which he buys, and he thinks only of their dearness; but as he taxes take from him, at least, a fourth part of his yearly earnings, he is consequently disabled from providing for a family, especially if himself, or any of them, are afflicted with sickness."—Here it is evident Mr. Paine is speaking of those who earn two shillings a day, the number of whom are few in comparison to the one shilling men—What then must be the sufferings of this latter class—and what wonder is it, if out of seven millions of persons that England contains, no less than fourteen hundred thousand are left to be supported by the public, and perhaps as many more begging alms, pocket-picking, or high way robbing through the nation!
Several additional ships of force have recently been sent to the British West-Indies, from a suspicion that the violent discussions in their parliament respecting the slave trade, should occasion an insurrection in the islands.
Letters from Barcelona say, that great importations of wheat have been made into that port, Marseilles, and other places in the south of France and Spain, in consequence of the preceding scarcity. The markets were so entirely glutted, the beginning of April, as to preclude any future sales of cargoes for several months to come.—Great complaints were made of the unfairness of the Virginia measures; the cargoes from that state falling much shorter of measure, than from any other part of the union.