National gazette. (Philadelphia [Pa.]), 1791-12-01 00:00:00

National Gazette.
By PHILIP FRENEAU.
VOL. I.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1791.
NUMB. 10.
For the NATIONAL GAZETTE.
A Political enquiry into the best means of improving the Commerce of the American States. [Concluded from our last.]
TO whatever quarter we turn our view, we shall constantly find, that the civilized nations of antiquity were invariably employed in inventing and perfecting such arts as were of most use to mankind. From a careful inspection into the works of nature, both animals and insects have been made to contribute to the necessities of life. Experiments made upon the hair of goats, first showed the practicability of fabricating that stuff at present known by the name of Camblet, of which such immense quantities are now in common use; and the pearl oyster has given rise to almost as extensive a commerce as the fabric of silk.
I am aware of one objection that will be made to the cultivating of the arts in their full extent in America. The population of the states, it is said, will soon be so considerable, that it must swallow up all the produce of the home manufactures, as well as those of England.
I allow that the population will in time be immense in the United States. Such is the extent and happy situation of this country, and so well is it adapted to the multiplication of the human race, both from the fertility of its soil, and the nature of its government, that it is easy to foresee the existence of countless millions in that prodigious extent of territory known by the name of the United States.
I allow, also, that there will be constantly a very brisk demand for every species of manufacture, that we now see carried on in Europe. But, at the same time, it is evident, that this country can never suffer Great-Britain to enter into a competition with her, in regard to what is manufactured on this side the water. The enterprize and industry of the British nation will, if that is allowed, always find means to baffle America both in her manufactures and commerce. This is a truth that might easily be proved, and a hundred arguments might be brought to oppose a contrary opinion: At present, however, I will confine myself to the quoting a few arguments from an approved author.—
“The unlimited importation (says he) of articles from foreign countries, of the same kind with those manufactured in the importing country, is pernicious to national industry. Every year a vast quantity of merchandise is imported into France from the Indies, over and above what the nation consumes. The design of this surplus of importation is to ensure a profit to the nation upon the re-exporting, and re-selling of India manufactures, which some other commercial nation would not fail of seizing upon, should France diminish her imports of this nature merely to the quantity wanted within the kingdom.”
The same author observes, in another place—“The commercial treaty concluded between England and Portugal, for supplying the latter with woolens and other stuffs, does not fail to impoverish the Portuguese. Under colour of that treaty, England has monopolized their trade to such a degree, that their own manufactures, established in the kingdom, cannot stand in any sort of competition with those of Great-Britain. And so immense is the quantity of British goods consumed in Portugal, that they are not near paid for by a return of the commodities of the country—so far from that, it is computed that they pay a balance yearly to England of more than thirty millions,* in gold from Brazil, besides having their national manufactures ruined in the bargain.”
* £2,250,000 Pennsylvania currency.
France has experienced similar losses, from her treaty of commerce with England. The importation of English goods in a short time ruined several branches of her manufactures; and it is evident that the few manufacturing establishments at present existing in the United States will experience a like fate, if remedies are not speedily provided.
There are still two important considerations to be taken into view relative to improvement in manufactures, and the economy that is necessary to make them flourish.
The first of these is, the necessity of appropriating each particular branch of manufacture to a number of artists of different ages, as is the practice at London, for the sake of saving expence in hiring of hands. A constant repetition of the same work, makes the workman more dextrous and ready than he would otherwise be; and in many instances even children may be beneficially employed at a small expence. It is from this economy in point of wages to workmen, that the English can afford to sell the best goods, of different qualities, at a cheaper rate than other nations; the competition of whom, they, by such means, generally destroy.
The other consideration, and which merits the most particular attention from persons that engage in establishments of this nature, is an enquiry into the cost of workmanship, which ought ever to be in proportion to the price of provisions and other necessaries of life.
From an attention to this general rule, we shall soon perceive that manufactures, in general, can hardly be expected to succeed to any considerable degree, in the neighborhood of the coast, or in the several sea-ports of America, where provisions are dear, and wages, in general, high. A manufacturer who establishes his works an hundred and twenty or thirty miles in-land, where provisions are cheap, will find himself insensibly growing rich; whilst another, who sets up his manufacture in a sea-port town, where markets and wages are high, will in a short time experience certain ruin. The reason is evidently this: the low prices of food and labor yield so much clear profit, and thus contribute principally to make the establishment flourish.
And hence we may conclude with certainty, that, to ensure success in enterprizes of this nature, manufactories ought always to be established in the interior parts of the United States, about the heads of navigable rivers, in order to facilitate the exportation of their fabrics.
From all that I have said, it is apparent, that the government lies under an urgent necessity to cast a favorable eye upon the growing industry of this country. The possibility of doing something I have fully proved. Surely, then, the general powers of administration will not be backward in applying their most solid support to the fair edifice of liberty, by encouraging NATIONAL INDUSTRY. This is the path to prosperity—the basis of power—and the means to render perpetual the glory of this extensive empire.
Much more might have been said on this subject; and it is the intention of the author to make some additional remarks, when he can do it with propriety. If his observations should be thought deserving of attention, he hopes some person will take the pains to publish them in the language of the country, and he will feel peculiar satisfaction in the idea of the probability of his having suggested sentiments that may be of use to the public of the United States.
A few Copies of the Report of the Secretary of State on the subject of the Cod and Whale Fisheries—may be had at the office, No. 239, High-street.
[The following is translated from a French Print, of August last.]
THE court of Great-Britain seems for some time past to have been in search of war as eagerly as the Manchegan knight was wont to seek adventures. But, does it add any honor to the character of the British name to be perpetually seeking to disturb the repose of other powers? Is this an age for mankind to think of mangling and destroying each other for the sake of imaginary claims; or is it not rather a reproach to the enlightened philosophy of the eighteenth century, that a single ship of war floats upon the bosom of the ocean?
Was not all their late immense preparation rather the work of an ambitious minister, than the sentiment of the nation—a minister, who vainly imagines that every court in Europe is bound to obey the mandates issued from his desk—But, the day approaches fast when new taxes must be laid in England. Mr. Pitt ought to meet it with fear and trembling, as it is that which must decide the public opinion of his administration; for it is by no means a majority in the house of commons that will pronounce the real sentiments of the nation. To the honor of the independent members of the house of commons be it said, that they by no means approve the ministerial systems. No one could for a time fathom the reasons of the English minister taking part with the Congress of Brabant in their attempt at a revolution, at the very time when he was raising forces at London and Dublin to join the Belgic Army.—But, it now appears that by protecting the Brabantine revolution, (a revolution abhorrent in its very first principles) the minister saw a scene of anarchy and confusion would result, which must ultimately have injured the revolution in France. The ministers of such powers, as were really the fomenters and abettors of the insurrections in Brabant, finding that the frontiers of France were too well guarded for the Flemish superstition to penetrate them, pretended to interfere merely out of good will, and a humane desire to re-establish order in the Austrian Low-country dominions. They accordingly became mediators between Leopold and the Brabanters; but can any one imagine that the emperor will have much reliance on an interference, founded upon principles held forth by the British Minister?
This plan for exciting disorders in France having failed, Nootka Sound was the next phantom held up as the occasion of war; and the seizure of a contraband trader was the means of sixty sail of the line being equipped. This plan, however, failed as well as the first. Mr. Pitt then wanted to know whether France would dissolve her compact with Spain, in which case, he expected that Spain would do the same by France, as the revolution of the family compact has always been a favorite object with an English prime minister. The curiosity of Mr. Pitt on this matter has cost the nation upwards of three millions sterling.
The eyes of the whole English nation are at this moment directed to Mr. Pitt. If he openly attacks the French revolution he will not be seconded by the efforts of the people. An Englishman is too proud even of the shadow of liberty to assist in restoring substantial despotism. The fact is the nation begins to see its true interest, the least of which is, to restore a ministerial despotic government in France—but—it is necessary to reform their own constitution, the first step towards which will be—that France should possess a good one.
Mr. Burke has exerted his talents in favour of the old government, but his arguments are lost, or attended to only by those who subsist upon the abuses of legislation in Britain. In short there is a total change in the European system of
politics. France has had her share of war, and wishes to be no more concerned in that disgraceful, diabolical business, the invention of blockheads, who find it easier to destroy mankind than to instruct them in the true dignity of their Being, and make it apparent to all that the God of nature has given enough for all, in the world in which we are placed.
The representations from the various commercial towns in England have been the true cause of the tardy procedure of the British fleet towards the Baltic—The whole has, in fact, turned out to be a closet war, and the red-hot bullets which the Empress declared she would put in action, if her dominions were invaded, is perhaps the ultimatum of the most weight in the new political balance which the English minister seems determined to establish.
PHILADELPHIA.
CONGRESS.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
MONDAY, November 28.
A bill was read a second time for the relief of David Cook, and committed to a committee of the whole House to-morrow.—Petitions were then read from Samuel Procter and Samuel Negus, praying compensation for services rendered, wounds received, &c. in the army, during the war.
A petition of Nicholas Shultz, praying a grant of lands and other advantages promised by the late Congress to those who should quit the British service, in consideration of his having left that service, and joined the American army, during the war—Referred to the Secretary at war.
A petition of Zachariah Dowety, praying payment of an account for wagon hire, on account of the United States during the war.—Also a petition of John Byers praying to be compensated for his services as a sergeant in the army, during the war.—Referred, severally, to the committee appointed to bring in a bill for settling the claims of persons, under particular circumstances, barred by previous limitations.
A petition of William Albaugh and Margaret Crowell, executors of Henry Crowell, was read, praying renewal of loan office certificates, the property of the testator, destroyed.—Also, a memorial of James Simpion, praying reimbursement for sundry services and expenses while he was surveyor to the United States, under a resolution of the late Congress—
Said petition and memorial were referred to the Secretary of the Treasury.
A petition of Nathaniel Lucas was read, praying commutation for half pay as a deranged captain in the late army, which was ordered to lie on the table.
A petition of Samuel Breck, and others, proprietors of the sail cloth manufactory in Boston, praying an exclusive privilege of certain marks belonging to their manufactory; and that others may be prohibited from using them, under reasonable penalties.—Referred to the Secretary of State.
A petition of Joel Phelps, praying to be placed on the list of pensioners, in consideration of wounds received in the American service during the war—Ordered, thereupon, that said petition, with the Secretary at War's report to the last session of Congress on the above, and other petitions of a similar nature, whose claims appear to be precluded only by the resolutions of Congress of June 11th, 1788, be committed to a committee of the whole, on the state of the union.
According to the order of the day,

the house in committee of the whole, proceeded to the consideration of the bill for making compensation to widows, orphans, and invalids, in certain cases—Mr. Muhlenberg in the chair.
After some debate on this subject, the committee rose, reported progress, and asked leave to sit again.
The house then resolved to go again into committee of the whole house on the said bill to-morrow.
TUESDAY, Nov. 29.
A petition of Nicholas Rieb, praying compensation for services, &c. during the late war—and that he may receive the pay due to his son, Peter Rieb, a soldier in the same corps, taken prisoner by the enemy, and never since heard of.
A petition of Jacob Paulus, praying to be placed on the list of pensioners, in consideration of disability incurred in the army: and,
A petition of Thomas Wisbart, praying settlement of his account for services as captain in the army, during the war; were referred to the Secretary at War.
Mr. Livermore, from the committee, reported a bill for the establishment of the post-office and post-roads—Read a first and second time, and referred to a committee of the whole house on Monday next.
A petition was read from several Canadian refugees, praying to be compensated for sufferings, &c. in the service of the United States—Referred to a select committee.
According to the order of the day, the house, in committee of the whole, Mr. Muhlenberg in the chair, proceeded to consider the bill for the relief of widows, orphans, and invalids, in certain cases.
In debating on this subject, Mr. Fitzsimons expressed his doubts of the propriety of proceeding in the bill before the committee; and proposed a general law to be enacted to satisfy the claims of such widows and orphans, as had not been provided for by the particular states, notwithstanding the act of limitation. He saw no necessity of examining into every particular case intended to be provided for by the bill, which he thought might be done full as well by a general law, and therefore made a motion that the committee should rise.
Mr. Hartley thought a general law could not provide for every particular case mentioned in the bill—and Mr. Wadsworth conceived, that a general law would open too wide a door to applications. He thought it better to finish with the bill, and make the several individual provisions, than lay the treasury department open to endless applications, which would certainly be the effect of a general law; and after all, in case of the enactment of a general law, it was plain that many special cases in the bill would remain wholly unprovided for.
Mr. Sedgwick wished justice to be done to every individual claimant, but thought that house was not the place to examine into the minute particulars of private claims. He expressed his wish that, in the present instance, certain principles might be established by the house, the execution of which should be left to the treasury officers—Should this prove ineffectual, the house might then, and not till then, undertake the examination of private claims.
Mr. Goodhue, thought it would be sufficient to declare, that the claims of widows and orphans should not be affected by the act of limitation; and therefore was in favor of general regulations.
Mr. Lawrance and Mr. Hillhouse, gave it as their opinions, that the committee should proceed in the bill before them.—The several claims of the applicants had been stated, and their papers examined—all that remained, then, was to decide thereupon. The persons that had applied for relief, were indigent, and lay under heavy necessities—In regard to them, therefore, they wished the bill should be gone through with, that the persons concerned might know what they had to expect. As to application of this kind in future, it might be prevented by general regulations, hereafter to be made—if the bill was passed into a law, it would establish precedents equal in their effects to the operation of a general law, and would
direct the public offices in settling claims made after passing general regulations.
After some further observations on this subject, the motion for proceeding no further in the bill was withdrawn, and the committee proceeded to the further consideration thereof.
The report of the Secretary at War on the particular applications was then read, considered, and decided on—when the bill was reported with several amendments.
A message was received from the Senate, by Mr. Otis, communicating a bill passed by that house, entitled, An act concerning Consuls and Vice-Consuls. Adjourned.
For the NATIONAL GAZETTE.
IN Mr. Fenno's paper of the 23d inst. I read a proposal for dividing the whole territory of the United States into districts of 30,000 inhabitants each, for the purpose of a more full representation of the people in Congress.
I will say nothing of the inconveniences and difficulties that must attend the execution of such a project in the present fluctuating state of population in this country, which is every day so visibly affected both by emigration and immigration. I will suppose all these objections surmounted, the members elected, seated on the federal floor, and just breathing after a warm debate, while the clerk of the house of representatives calls the yeas and nays on some important, national question.—Let us then see what effect our amendment will produce in the political balance.
By the representation bill, without the writer's amendment, the whole number of representatives will be 112, allowing for South-Carolina 140,000 free inhabitants, and 110,000 slaves, which is well known to be pretty near the truth, and will give that state 6 members. Of those 112, Vermont, N. Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, R. Island, and Connecticut, will furnish 30; New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, 40; and Virginia, Kentucky, N. Carolina, S. Carolina and Georgia, 42. But by the proposed division of the United States into districts, the New-England states would furnish 34 members, the middle states 42; and the southern states 44.
To prove this, we need but look into the schedule of the census, in which we will find, that New-England (calculating the slaves according to the ratio prescribed by the constitution) contains 1,007,963 inhabitants; and will therefore, after electing 33 members, have a surplus of 17,963 inhabitants, who coming to vote against 12,037 inhabitants of the state of New-York, will create a decided majority, and thus give New-England an additional member, making her number, as already stated, 34. In calculating the freemen and slaves in the other states, after the same manner, the representation will be found as I have apportioned it; and there will remain in Georgia some thousands of inhabitants who will have no vote at all.
To shew at one view the increase of power and consequence, which the New-England states would gain by this division into districts, and how great a diminution the rest of the union would suffer, we have only to use a very simple arithmetical process, and reduce the different portions of representation to fractions with one common denominator. By this it will appear, that, of 840 equal parts, into which we will suppose the whole power and influence of the United States to be divided, the portions will be thus differently allotted by the representation bill, and by the amendment above mentioned:
   Bill. Amendment.     New-England 225 238   Middle States 300 294   Southern States 315 308   Total 840 840  
Philadelph. Nov. 29. A. B.
NEW-YORK, Nov. 28.
Friday last being the eighth anniversary of the evacuation of this city by the British troops, was celebrated with unusual splendor and rejoicing. The day was ushered in by the firing of cannon; the regiment of artillery, grenadiers, light-infantry, and light-horse, paraded; and a feu-de-joy was fired.
PHILADELPHIA,
DECEMBER 1.
Extract of a letter from Lisbon, Aug. 31. "In one of the English papers, which I enclose you, you will see an account under the London head of English ships laden with fish lately arrived at this port. I am authorised to say the whole is a fiction, not one vessel with new fish having yet arrived."
By AUTHORITY.
Extract of a Letter from James Maury, Consul of the United States at Liverpool, to the Secretary of State, dated September 14th, 1791.
THE ports of Great-Britain are shut against foreign wheat.
Many of our vessels within my district have been under difficulties this year; and although, as yet, they have been released (except in three cases not finally decided on) without any great expence, yet the delay has been extremely injurious to, and been very hard on the owners. The causes have been informality in manifests, irregularity in crews, trading to Guernsey, as before-mentioned, but principally excels of spirits. The Brig Betsey, Capt. Salter of Portsmouth New-Hampshire was refused entry in the Clyde, six weeks, for the tonnage and where built being omitted in the manifest, and the affidavit thereto being made before a justice of the peace instead of the British deputy Consul, although it was afterwards certified by said Deputy Consul.
I submit to you the propriety of making public these particulars, that similar inconveniences may be guarded against in future.
A notice from the Board of Customs to the Collector and Comptroller of Liverpool.
Whereas it has been stated to have been the practice for American Ships and vessels to land at Guernsey, cargoes of tobacco, the produce of the United States of America, contrary to the 12th. Charles 2d. chap. 18th.
We direct you to make it known to all owners and masters of American vessels which may trade to and from your port, that two American vessels have been on that account lately seized there, and that the said act which not only prohibits the before-mentioned article, but all other species of goods the produce of America from being imported into the aforesaid Island, or the Island of Jersey in foreign ships, will be strictly enforced in future.
APPOINTMENT.
The President of the United States has, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed RICHARD HARRISON, Esq. (formerly the American Consul at Cadiz) Auditor of the Treasury of the United States.
Last Monday, we are informed, the election of Directors to the Institution for promoting American manufactures was made at Trenton—seven from New-York, and six of New-Jersey. The situation for this establishment was not yet fixed upon; but it is conjectured, the falls of Passaic will be the spot, as there is, probably, no place on the continent more happily situated for mill seats—a never failing stream of water, with a fall of sixty or seventy feet—no apprehensions from freshes, and within two or three miles of navigable water—Indeed boats, were a small sum expended in clearing out the river, might load and unload at the mills and factories—Add to this the beauty, population, and healthiness of the country; which all conspire to render this the most eligible situation in Jersey.
Accounts from Coopers town, in Otsego county, State of New-York, report the potash manufactory in those parts to be in a flourishing condition. The pearl ash made in the county just mentioned, is asserted, to be a more beneficial remittance, to the planter, than wheat, as the demand is great, the price high, and the ashes procured at a cheap rate, from the burning of timber for the purpose of clearing lands. The climate is said to be peculiarly favorable to the propagation of sheep, and the wolves, the great numbers of which were heretofore a discouraging circumstance to the Planter, are almost extirpated from these settlements. Falling mills are erected, and home made linen has already become an article of no inconsiderable sale among the farmers, so that it is expected, in two or three years, none need be brought from abroad. Manufactures of woolen and hemp are also in contemplation at Coopers town, which has made a rapid progress towards becoming a very considerable manufacturing and trading place. All these improvements, we may say, this new creation, in the northern parts of the State of New-York, are but of four years standing. Vast quantities of excellent maple sugar are annually produced from these parts, which, in time, and with
proper attention to the preservation of the trees, may supersede the importation of this necessary article from the islands, where it is extorted from the hand of misery and the unfeeling lash of avarice and tyranny.
These more remote parts of the state of New-York have gained much by the American revolution, in favor of the people. Formerly this vast extent of territory was parcelled out into manors, lordships, and patroon-ships, the property of the well-born, who were making rapid strides towards enslaving an honest and laborious peasantry, in the same manner as in Germany and some other countries of Europe. This was the cause of so valuable a territory being retained so long in a state of nature; few people, before the revolution, having been willing to hold lands under a species of tenure, little short of the feudal, and, therefore, settled in Pennsylvania and other provinces, where lands could be purchased at an easy rate, and possessed in fee.
Upon looking through European history for a century or two past, it is really astonishing to observe how mankind have suffered themselves to be led quietly in ecclesiastical trammels, without once conceiving themselves at liberty to think agreeably to the powers of reason within them. Owing to these slavish systems, the vigor of the human mind has been lost, and the noblest flights of genius into the regions of science and wisdom, prevented. How often must every reader of history have regretted to see in some of the first writers of Europe, a forced submission to the national creed, which checked them in the happiest attempts of extending sound judgment and understanding, and probably induced them to conceal what might have done honor to the cause of truth and humanity. Boileau was, perhaps, one of the most elegant writers, undoubtedly the correctest critic of the French nation; but it is humiliating to observe what pains he was at to satisfy the clergy, respecting one of his pieces, and by way of apologizing for some little matters he had advanced, in a spirit rather free, and of a gayer turn—naming this, and the other archbishop, or bishop, who, on perusing his manuscripts, had found no fault, nor seen in them any dogma, contrary to the established religion.—Every man, of but very limited reading, must have discerned the same circumstances, in almost numberless instances.
Extract of a letter from London, Sept. 16.
"The rumours of negro insurrection in some of the French colonies, have given no small degree of uneasiness to the National Assembly; and the nation itself does not fail to reproach the British Parliament for having listened to such enthusiasts as Clarkson, and his brethren, who are flickers for Negro emancipation.—Their writers even go so far as to style Mr. Clarkson "A Fire-ship," turned loose upon the colonial Negroes for their destruction."—Sir William Young very pertinently observed, in his speech in Parliament, "When my vote is solicited for an abolition of the African trade, as far as relates to Great-Britain only, I would wish at least to be previously convinced, that while Britain loses, Africa will gain."—Because, as he afterwards as justly observed, "Great-Britain may abandon her share of this trade, but cannot abolish it."—In fact, the general question of abolition of the trade for slaves is not before England. Our parliament is not an assembly of Delegates from France, from Spain, from Holland, and other powers now engaged in that base commerce; it is the mere legislation of a single nation, whose dereliction of the trade, on their part, cannot any ways suppress, but will eventually aggravate the miseries incident to a system of traffic which every enlightened man must acknowledge, and every good man must deplore."
Extract of a letter from Paris, Sept. 18.
"The chief Secretary of the order of St. Francis has just published an estimate of the number of Monks, that went to constitute this particular order, previous to the revolution; and has fixed it to three hundred thousand, in Europe. Besides these, there were four hundred thousand Mendicant Monks, exclusive of those with gifted habits. Each of these drones of society were maintained, by the lowest estimation, at the rate of three hundred livres a year; so that according to this estimate, which is certainly moderate, the public of Europe paid an annual tax for the support of the Mendicants only, of about one hundred and twenty millions. A tenth part of these Monks had fallen to the share of France, and consequently a tenth part of this enormous and superfluous expence: But, such were the aids necessary for the support of despotism,—as Milton said,
"White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery."
The people in this capital regard the abolition of the Monkish orders as one of the great blessings of the revolution. To keep them from starving, however, they have hitherto received a sort of indirect maintenance from the sale of the effects of the high clergy. Things are now put upon such a footing, that, it is computed, in fifteen years France will be entirely rid of these vermin; and one may foretell without a supernatural gift of prophecy, that within the same period, there will not be a country in Europe, but shall have followed the example of France in this particular.
Translated Extract of a letter from Havre, [France] Sept. 16.
"It is easy to see that altho' the monarchical system of government is likely to be retained in this country, it will only be the lion without claws. The burning glass of power will be drawn

to such a focus, in the person of the head of the nation, as to warm and comfort, but not to consume us, as has heretofore been the case. In short, let the government be what it may, the manners of the people of France are becoming truly republican. This spirit is even carried to a length unknown in your country. Several persons in this town and vicinity who were formerly christened with three or four names, such as Jean Valliquiere de Bonvoisin, &c. &c. have made a voluntary surrender to the Priests of all but the first and last name, as a sacrifice to liberty and the downfall of aristocratic pomposity. Monks and Friars are wandering about in abundance, and have no visible means of living, at present, except by turning teachers and preceptors. The state seems to have served them a trick some-what similar to that of the fox with his fleas. He takes a wisp of straw in his mouth, and gradually settles himself to the tip of his nose in a pond of water. The vermin, to save themselves, hurry from all quarters to the straw, when Reynard leaves them afloat to provide for their own safety."
Some attempts have been made to propel boats by the force of steam. The power of steam is certainly prodigious, and there can be but little doubt of its answering this desirable object, if properly applied. Hitherto the machinery made use of has been complex, occasioning much friction and waiting frequent repairs: Beside, the force has been applied to give motion to paddles; whereby power has always been misapplied. In the first experiments, the force was applied to turning an axis which carried a number of paddles as radii. In this mode of proceeding, power was lost: For when the paddle began to act on the water, it acted obliquely; tending, but in a small degree to propel the boat, but chiefly, only to lighten it. In this manner of operating, the paddle, in the progress of its motion, produced more and more of its desired effect, until it acquired a perpendicular position, at which point only for an instant, all its force acted in propelling; after which, while emerging, its propelling power decreased, and its action tended more and more to sink the boat deeper. To avoid this misapplication of power, a more complex and unwieldy machine was constructed, in which the paddles dipped into the water perpendicularly; when operating, acted altogether in propelling, and emerged also in a perpendicular position. This contrivance had its inconvenience. While the paddle was immersing and emerging, it opposed a considerable surface to the action of the water, and checked the progress of the boat.
Dr. Franklin, in the year 1785, planned a simple method of applying steam to give motion to boats. He proposed, that the steam should act immediately upon a piston, which should move in a cylinder, perpendicularly fixed in the centre of the boat. The bottom of this cylinder, connected with a horizontal cylinder fixed from bow to stern, and there communicating with the surrounding water. Two valves in the horizontal cylinder, on each side of the perpendicular one, each opening towards the stern. When in this simple machine the piston rose by the force of steam, the bow valve would open and the water rush in with considerable force, fill it, and also the perpendicular cylinder. The piston would then descend, the bow valve shut, that nearest the stern open, and the body of water rush through the after part of the horizontal cylinder and out, with considerable violence, against the surrounding fluid, and consequently propel the boat.
He conceived also, that when the piston ascended, the boat would acquire a small quantity of motion, by water being sucked in at the bow. These cylinders he proposed should be of a considerable diameter, the exact size to be fixed by experiment; and suggested the propriety of doubling the apparatus, the pistons to work alternately. The simplicity of this contrivance, and the little friction which it would occasion, are considerable recommendations to it; but a striking objection to this is a waste of power. The whole force of the water rushing out of the stern, would not tend to propel the boat, as the surrounding fluid would not oppose an absolute resistance to the column of water acting on it.
The following is proposed as free from the objections to the above contrivances. Let the steam act in turning an axis bearing a number of thin metal vanes, fixed like the vanes of a windmill in the proper angle, and let these vanes act under water at the bow or stern of the boat, as most convenient. By the rotatory motion of the axis, the vanes would all continually screw themselves into the water and give motion to the boat. All the power would here propel the boat, and the continual action of the vanes give the advantage of accelerated motion. It might perhaps be found more convenient to apply the force to two sets of vanes, fixed one on each side of the boat: this might, without much complexity, be done.
An actual experiment gave rise to this idea. At the time balloons were in vogue in France, and all heads were at work in devising means to give them motion ad libitum , an ingenious mechanic, to the bow of a common boat, adapted four vanes like those of a windmill, but smaller, and gave motion to them by means of a simple crank. The boat thus equipped, by the action of the vanes on the air crossed the Seine in less time than another crossed the same river by the means of a pair of common oars, and returned from the opposite shore to the place from which she started, notwithstanding the force of the current.
By extracts of a letter from Aux-Cays, to a merchant in this city, we learn, that there is almost a total stagnation of business; that flour was selling at five dollars, and most other things in proportion. That in consequence of the continuation of the disturbances and the loss of revenue by the destruction of so many sugar Plantations, the duty on sugar was doubled. The writer in order
to give a striking idea of the disagreeableness of his situation, mentions, that he would be willing to put up with any thing, however disagreeable, to be once safe returned from amongst them. All sorts of produce are very scarce and dear.
EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCE Received by the way of New-York.
PARIS, September 15. THE ceremony of the King's acceptance of the constitution did not produce here all the effect which the court expected from it. The cannons of the different sections in the place of Louis XV. and Henry IV. it is true, were fired; the chimes of La Samaritaine were rung, and all the houses were illuminated; and all this insufficient to tranquillize us entirely. The people appeared much better satisfied with the letter of the King than they are with his oath.
There is scarcely room, however, to doubt, that this event will soon unite all parties, and entirely overthrow the different schemes which have been formed by the enemies of the public peace.
The Queen, the Prince Royal, Madame, the eldest daughter of the King, and Madame Elizabeth, were present when the king took the oath: they were seated in a box behind the President.
Sept. 18. Yesterday, for the first time since the journey to Varennes, the King took an airing on horseback. Upon his Majesty's arrival at the draw-bridge, a vast concourse of people, who had been drawn together by the report of his design to take an airing, and a desire to see him, hailed him with repeated and sincere shouts of Vive le Roi! an affecting joy was visible in his countenance at these marks of love and attachment.
A deputation from the community of Paris repaired to the Thuilleries. The Mayor who was at its head, addressed the following speeches to the King and Queen:
"SIRE, The community presents to your Majesty, the homage and respect of the city of Paris. It lays before you the joy and the benedictions of the people. Two years of labor, of evils, and of storms are happily terminated by the completion of the constitution, and by your Majesty's acceptance of it. Henceforth relying upon this constitution, Sire, and governed by immutable laws, you will promote the public prosperity. When every heart is devoted to you—when yours is devoted to the French—who will undertake to disturb that intimate agreement of the nation and its King? the moment which attaches you anew to France, and it to you, will secure the tranquility of the city of Paris, which has been so long agitated. Peace, the goodnes, the justice, and the virtues of your Majesty, are our true friends. You will fix them among us, Sire; and you will be happy in the love of the French, as the French will be in your welfare."
ANSWER OF THE KING. "The welfare of the nation will ever be the wish most dear to my heart. It's true welfare can only be attained by maintaining public order and tranquility. You are to avail yourself of all the means with which the law invests you, to concur with me in attaining that end."
MADAM, The community presents to your Majesty the respects of the city of Paris, in the most memorable epoch—the joy has been universal. The King has received the benedictions of the people—you have participated them, and the city of Paris joins the expression of its sentiments to the voice of the nation. May these sentiments prove pleasing to your Majesty!—Deign frequently to recall them, to the King—
Say, Madame, to the August Prince, brought up for France near your person, that these sentiments are destined for him, and that we will one day repay him all the welfare which his tenderness and his cares shall have shed upon the King, and upon your Majesty."
The Queen answered, "that she coincided in every thing with the sentiments of the King; and entreated the municipality to assure the citizens of the capital, that the would daily inspire her son with them, and that she would contribute, to the utmost of her power, to the welfare of the nation."
In the evening, by order of the King, the Thuilleries and the Champs Elysees will be illuminated.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, Sept. 14.
M. d'Andre reminded the Assembly, that no subject ought to be taken into consideration when the King should be present; and moved that the President should be invested with all necessary authority to prevent any member from making motions in the presence of the King. Decreed.
M. le Chapelier. "I beg the Assembly to grant me a moment's attention, while I give an account of the deputation sent yesterday to the King."
"We fulfilled your mission of presenting to his Majesty the decree you had passed. In presenting this decree, we expressed to the King the pleasure which his message had excited in the Assembly. We said to him,
"Sire, the National Assembly, on hearing your Majesty's message read, often interrupted the reading by applause, expressive of the affection of the French for their King. It experienced the most pleasing sentiments, on observing your Majesty's express your wish for a general amnesty, which might put a termination to all discord and dissention. It hastened to pass a de-
cre, fixing the period of the revolution." "The King, speaking with an air of satisfaction, answered us as follows:
"I shall always consider it as a pleasure and a duty to follow the will of the nation, whenever it is known. I observe with gratitude, that the National Assembly has acceded to my wish. I hope the decree you present me will put an end to discord, that it will unite all parties, and that we shall be but one. I am informed that the National Assembly this morning passed a decree relative to the Cordon Bleu ; I am determined to lay aside that decoration, and beg you to communicate my resolution to the Assembly."
"The Queen and the Royal children were at the entrance of the Council chamber, where the deputation was received. The King said to us, 'There is my comfort and my children, who participate my sentiments.' The Queen then came forward and said,
"My children and I hasten to express our participation of the sentiments of the King."
The hall resounded with applause at the close of M. le Chapelier's account. The Assembly was then occupied for some time in business of little moment, after which the order of the day returned.
The President—"The King is on his way to the Assembly. I need not remind you of the decree which prohibits the making of motions while he is present. At the time the King shall take the oath, the Assembly ought to be seated."
M. Malouet—"There is not a single case in which the nation, assembled, has not acknowledged the King for its head. I move, 'That in token of respect to his function, the Assembly shall continue standing all the time he is present.'"
M. d'Andre—"What has heretofore been practiced at the opening of the states-general, should be observed in this instance: on the king's entering the hall, the members rose—upon the king's speaking, the deputies sat down, covered."
An officer now announced THE KING'S Arrival,
Who immediately entered the hall, accompanied by all his ministers, without any other decoration than the cross of St. Louis. The assembly stood up—The king seated himself beside the President, and addressed the assembly in the following words—"I come solemnly to consecrate my acceptance of the constitutional code. In consequence of which, I swear - - - (the members now sat down) to the nation, and to the law; - to employ all the power with which I am entrusted in maintaining the constitution decreed by the national assembly, and to cause the laws to be executed. "
The king sat down, and the hall resounded with applause, after which he proceeded:
"May this great and memorable epoch be that of the re establishment of peace and union, and become the basis of the welfare of the people, and of the prosperity of the Empire!"
The hall resounded for several minutes with applause, and shouts of Vive le Roi!
The President, on his legs—Abuses of long standing, which had triumphed over the good intentions of the best of kings, and had unceasingly braved the authority of the throne of oppressed France. [The king remained sitting, and the President sat down.] Depository of the wishes, of the rights, and on the power of the people, the national assembly has established, by the destruction of all abuses, the solid basis of public prosperity. Sire, what this assembly has decreed, the national concurrence has ratified. The most complete execution of its decrees in all parts of the empire, attests the general sentiments. It deranges the weak plans of those whom discontent has too long kept blind to their own interests. It promises to your majesty, that your wishes for the welfare of the French will no longer be in vain.
"The national assembly has nothing more to decree on this ever memorable day, in which you complete, in its bosom, by the most solemn engagement, the acceptance of constitutional royalty. It is the attachment of the French—it is their confidence, who confer upon you that pure and respectable title to the most durable crown in the universe; and what secures it to you, Sire, is the unperishable authority of a constitution freely decreed. It is the in-imitable force of a people who feel themselves worthy of liberty—it establishes the necessity which so great a nation will always have of an hereditary monarchy."
"When your majesty, waiting from experience the lights which are about to be spread by the practical result of the constitution, promises to maintain it within, and to defend it from attack from without, the nation, trusting both to the justice of rights, and to the consciousness of its force and courage, and to the loyalty of your co-operation, can entertain no apprehension of alarms from without, and is about to contribute, by its tranquil confidence, to the speedy success of its internal government."
What ought to be great in your eyes, Sire, dear to our hearts, and what will appear with lustre in our history, is the epoch of this enumeration which gives to France, citizens; to the French, a country; to you, as king, a new title of grandeur and glory—and to you again, as a man, a new source of enjoyment, and new sensations of happiness."
Loud plaudits followed.
The king quitted the assembly in the midst of shouts of Vive le Roi! The assembly, in a body, accompanied him to the palace of the Thuilleries, in the midst of acclamations and shouts of joy from the people, military music, and repeated discharges of artillery.
L O N D O N, September 21.
The capture of Darwar took place about the latter end of March. The Mahratta troops displayed much gallantry, and were chiefly instruments in shortening the duration of the siege.
The fortress of Darwar is in the Mysore country, on the Bombay side; and will by the conveni-
encies attached to it, greatly accelerate the total subjugation of Tippoo and his flying followers.
In the course of a fortnight dispatches of a very important nature may be expected from India, inasmuch as they will announce either the capture of Seringapatam, or that Lord Cornwallis has been prevented from approaching it by the setting in of the rains and the swelling of the Cavery. Should the latter be the case, the conquest of the Mysore will cost the company another campaign.
The aggrandizements which must accrue to the Indian company by the capture of Seringapatam cannot be otherwise than immense; for, independent of the revenues of the tyrant, and the quantity of specie in that capital, its being the great emporium for the trade of the Carnatic will render it of inestimable value.
The Spanish edicts respecting foreigners have undergone repeated modifications—and are now reduced to a simple oath of submission to the King; and the laws during the residence of the person taking it in Spain.
These modifications will, no doubt, be a sufficient protection in all the great towns, but it is to be feared, that in all places where the correspondence with the seat of government is less frequent, foreigners, especially protestants, will be exposed to great oppression in consequence of the edicts, before the modifications can be known.
Extract of a letter from the Hague, Sept. 25.
"There are no fewer than three loans going forward in this country at present; one to Russia, at 5 per cent. for twelve years; one for America, at 5 per cent. for ten years; and one for Sweden, at 5 per cent. the prices of all which keep very high. A loan is also attempting for the Emperor, at 4 per cent. but the low interest makes it imagined that it will not succeed."
"The high price of the English funds has induced many Dutch Stockholders to sell their property and invest their money in the funds of this country, where they get 5 per cent. interest and buy in something under par; the profit of this business is the greater from the present high course of exchange in favor of England."
September 22. The BOUILLIES.
The king of Sweden is not contented with taking the Bouillies, father and son, into his service, but has caused his acceptance of them to be thus noticed in the Stockholm Gazette:
"In consequence of the distinguished qualities and military skill, which the marquis de Bouille, formerly general of the army in the service of France, has long displayed; and out of respect to the attachment which he has lately shown to the king and queen of France and to their family, his majesty has taken the marquis into his service, and has granted him the rank of lieutenant-general, with priority, according to the date of his brevet as a French general. His son count Louis Joseph de Bouille, formerly lieutenant-colonel of the French Cavalry, is appointed aide-de-camp to the king, and appointment for both have been assigned in the extraordinary list."
"Thus intemperately and uninvited does the king of Sweden display his enmity to the new constitution of France."
To mark the ingratitude of such conduct, it is necessary to state, that, during the time when the crown of France disbursed the earnings of the people, this monarch received from them the annual salary of 200,000. To shew its indecency, it is enough to state, that he never has been invited, or authorized by any complaint from the French king, to utter an opinion concerning his situation.
There is in this a sort of peremptory violence, which is seldom consistent with justice, a degree of petulant resentment which is beneath a great man upon any occasion. He adopts a General, whom the existing government of another country declared a traitor; and he shews disrespect to a people, whom he dares not attack, knowing very well that they are attending too seriously to their own happiness to think of attacking him.
Sept. 26. Hostilities between the Moors and Spaniards have already begun by an attack made by the former on Ceuta, which have turned out successfully for the Spanish arms.
The Moors cannonaded the place, and damaged some of the works: but the besieged made a sally and spiked up the cannon of the enemy.
Two frigates and 14 bomb ketches arrived on the 23d of August in the Bay of Tangiers, and bombarded that port from five o'clock in the morning till three o'clock in the afternoon. The wind then changed, and obliged the Spaniards to retire under Cape Spartel till the first favorable change.
The Moorish ambassador has left the Spanish court; but being accused by his sovereign of partiality for that nation, and afraid of going home, he still continues in Spain, the government having given orders for a small daily pension to be paid to him for his subsistence.
PRICE OF STOCKS. Funded Debt. Six per cents, - - - - - 219/9. Three per cents, - - - - - 12/5. Deferred six per cents, - 13/1 to 13/1/2. Unfunded Debt. Final settlements, - 19/6 to 20/6. Indents, - - - - - 11/6. Bank scripts, - - - - - 140 to 143 dollars
JUST PUBLISHED, and for sale by THOMAS LANG, No. 21, Church alley;
An Essay on
COMMERCE and LUXURY.
Re-printed from the London edition—Price 1/6. The merit of this work will be acknowledged by every judicious reader. The re-publication of it in this country, at this time, has been advised by several enlightened patriots. These wish to promote our national commerce, on the basis of agriculture and industry, and free from the base alloy of imposition and gaming. They set a proper value on the conveniences and ornaments of civilized life; but detect that luxury which is the offspring of a frivolous taste, and the mother of profligacy, dishonesty, poverty, of numberless private and public vices and misfortunes. Nov. 28. G.E.C.T.

For the NATIONAL GAZETTE. The BANISHED MAN.
[The following is founded upon some ideas of Lord Bolingbroke's, written a little before his sentence of exile into France.—See his Works.]
SINCE Man may every region claim, And Nature is, in all, the same, And we a part of her wide plan, Tell me, what makes the Banish'd Man?
The favorite spot, that gave us birth, We fondly call our Mother Earth; And hence our vain distinctions grow, And man, to man becomes a foe.
That friendship to all nations due, And taught by reason to pursue, That love, which should the world combine, To country, why do we confine?
The Grecian Sage (old stories say) When question'd where his country lay, Inspir'd by heaven, made no reply, But rais'd his finger to the sky.
No region has on earth been known But some, of choice, have made their own— Your tears are not from reason's source, If choice can take the path of force.
"Alas! (you cry) that is not all! — "My former friendships I recall, "My house, my farm, my days, my nights, "Scenes vanish'd now—and past delights."
Distance for absence you mistake— Here days and nights their circuits make; Here nature walks her beauteous round, And friendship may, perhaps, be found.
If times grow dark, or wealth retires, Let reason check your fond desires— Mifers had never gold to spare, And loss of wealth is loss of care.
Thus, half unwilling, half resign'd, Desponding why the generous mind?— Think right—nor be the hour delay'd That flies the sun to seek the shade.
Tho' injur'd, exil'd, or alone, Nobly presume the world your own, Convince'd that, since the world began, Death only makes the Banish'd Man.
ORIGINAL ANECDOTE.
A gentleman, desirous of exhibiting striking proofs of his exuberant imagination and pompous language, was paying a very sensible and amiable young lady some very far fetch'd compliments, comparing her to the sun in its meridian glory, and himself to a dim taper, glimmering faintly beside it; forgetting in the mean while, to show common politeness to the lady, by whose side he sat with his hat on. Another gentleman went up to him, and while he lifted off his hat, said, "Sir, I will snuff the candle, that it may burn brighter."
EPITAPH.
WITH cover'd head, by lovely Anna's side, Who pities folly, and who laughs at pride; Pensive sits he, and thought to please the fair By panegyrics of majestic air, High sounding words, replete with eastern fire, Which fools adopt, and none but fools admire.—
Says he, "Miss Anna, like Sol's splendid light Your radiant beams dispel the shades of night, Whilst I, eclips'd by your resplendent rays, Like a dim taper, sink within the blaze!"
FLORIO, who heard this oriental chat, Said, as he lifted off POMPOSO's hat, "Your case is hard; to make it some what lighter I'll snuff the candle, that it may burn brighter."
Philadelphia, Nov. 30, 1791.
L O N D O N.
If it is asked—What is the French Revolution to us?—We answer, It is much.—Much to us as men; Much to us as Englishmen.
As men, we rejoice in the freedom of twenty-five millions of our fellow men. We rejoice in the prospect, which such a magnificent example opens to the world. We congratulate the French nation for having laid the axe to the root of tyranny, and for erecting government on the sacred HEREDITARY RIGHTS OF MAN.—Rights, which appertain to ALL, and not to any one more than to another. We know of no human authority, superior to that of a whole nation: and we profess and proclaim it as our principle, that every nation has, at all times, an inherent, indefeasible right to constitute and establish such government for itself as best accords with its disposition, interest and happiness.
As Englishmen, we also rejoice, because we are immediately interested in the French revolution. Without inquiring into the justice, on either side, of the reproachful charges of intrigue and ambition, which the English and French courts have constantly made on each other, we confine ourselves to this observation:—That if the court of France only was in fault, and the numerous wars which have distressed both countries are chargeable to her alone, that court now exists no longer; and the cause and the consequence must cease together. The French, therefore, by the revolution they have made, have conquered for us as well as for themselves; if it be true, that their court only was in fault, and ours never.
On this state of the case, the French revolution concerns us immediately. We are oppressed with a heavy national debt, a burthen of taxes, and an expensive administration of Government; beyond those of any people in the world. We have also a very numerous poor: and we hold, that the moral obligation of providing for age, helpless infancy and poverty, is far superior to that of supplying the invented wants of courtly extravagance, ambition and intrigue.
We believe there is no instance to be produced, but in England, of seven millions of inhabitants, which make but little more than one million of families, paying yearly seventeen millions of taxes.
As it has always been held out by all administrations, that the restless ambition of the court of
France rendered this expence necessary to us for our own defence; we consequently rejoice as men deeply interested in the French revolution: for that court, as we have already said, exists no longer; and consequently the same enormous expences need not continue to us.
Thus rejoicing, as we sincerely do, both as men and Englishmen, as lovers of universal peace and freedom, and as friends to our own national prosperity and a reduction of our public expences: we cannot but express our astonishment, that any part, or any members of our own government, should reprobate the extinction of that very power in France, or wish to see it restored, to whose influence they formerly attributed (whilst they appeared to lament) the enormous increase of our own burthens and taxes. What then, are they sorry that the pretences for new oppressive taxes, and the occasion for continuing many old taxes, will be at an end?—If so, and if it is the policy of courts and court-government to prefer enemies to friends, and a system of war to that of peace, as affording more pretences for places, offices, pensions, revenue and taxation, it is high time for the people of every nation to look with circumspection to their own interests.
Those who pay the expences, and, not those who participate in the emoluments arising from it, are the persons immediately interested in enquiries of this kind. We are a part of that national body, on whom this annual expence of seventeen millions falls; and we consider the present opportunity of the French revolution, as a most happy one for lessening the enormous load, under which this nation groans. If this be not done, we shall then have reason to conclude, that the cry of intrigue and ambition against other courts, is no more than the common cant of all courts.
We think it also necessary to express our astonishment, that a government desirous of being called free, should prefer connexions with the most despotic and arbitrary powers in Europe. We know of none more deserving this description, than those of Turkey and Prussia, and the whole combination of German despotism.—Separated as we happily are by nature from the tumults of the continent, we reprobate all systems and intrigues which sacrifice (and that too at a great expence) the blessings of our natural situation.—Such systems cannot have a national origin.
If we are asked, what government is?—We hold it to be nothing more than a national association, and we hold that to be the best, which secures to every man his rights, and promotes the greatest quantity of happiness with the least expence.
We live to improve, or we live in vain; and therefore we admit of no maxims of government or policy, on the mere score of antiquity, or other men's authority, the old whigs, or the new.
We will exercise the reason with which we are endowed, or we possess it unworthily. A reason is given at all times, it is for the purpose of being used at all times.
Among the blessings which the French revolution has produced to that nation, we enumerate the abolition of the feudal system of injustice and tyranny, on the 4th of August, 1789.—Beneath the feudal system all Europe has long groaned, and from it England is not yet free. Game-laws, borough-tenures, and tyrannical monopolies of numerous kinds still remain amongst us: but rejoicing, as we sincerely do, in the freedom of others, till we shall happily accomplish our own, we intended to commemorate this prelude to the universal extinction of the feudal system, by meeting on the anniversary of that day (the 4th of August) at the crown and anchor. From this meeting we were prevented by the interference of certain unnamed and sculking persons with the master of the tavern, who informed us that on their representations he could not receive us.—Let those who live by, or countenance feudal oppressions, take the reproach of this ineffectual means and cowardice to themselves. They cannot stifle the declaration of our honest, open, and avowed opinions.
These are our principles, and these our sentiments. They embrace the interest and happiness of the great body of the nation of which we are a part. As to riots and tumults, let those answer for them, who by wilful misrepresentations endeavored to excite and promote them; or, who seek to stifle the sense of the nation, and lose the great cause of public good, in the outrages of a misinformed mob. We take our ground on principles that require no such riotous aid. We have nothing to apprehend from the poor; for we are pleading their cause. And we fear not pride or oppression; for we have truth on our side.
We say, and we repeat it; that the French revolution opens to the world an opportunity, in which all good citizens must rejoice; that of promoting the general happiness of man, and, moreover, offers to this country, in particular, an opportunity of reducing its enormous taxes.
September 15.
Every arrival brings dismal accounts from the convicts at Botany-Bay. Every feeling heart must be roused, that our fellow-creatures should, after being transported to such a distant clime, be suffered to linger out a miserable existence, almost without raiment, and but little food (scarce ten ounces in twenty-four hours) and that not good—we should hope, that now the experiment has been tried, for more than three years, and does not appear ever likely to answer—that it may be abandoned, and some more eligible mode or place be fixed on, as likely to be of some service to this country, and less expensive: already there has been not much short of three millions expended, and not the least benefit derived therefrom.
The effect produced by the news-papers, is so prodigiously great, that it ought to be reckoned as one of the most important among the numerous causes, which have brought this country to its present exalted and unrivalled situation. While the improvements of the public roads and the creation of immense aqueducts, have shortened the laborious communication of real commerce; while the universal confidence of fictitious commerce, has removed in many cases the necessity of such weighty communication in practice; the news-papers have given wings and light to every thing. The value of all things is known in all places; private correspondence is shortened, and sometimes made superfluous; distances are removed; doubts are cleared up, and the same
knowledge of every bargain, every offer, every wish is diffused with the same certainty and clearness over the whole kingdom, as the petty transactions of a village are made known by the monotonous proclamation of a bell-man. So far their operation extends as to trade and the real concerns of life; but when we consider them in a censorial capacity, we shall be still more astonished at their effect. It is well known that a censorial power is only another word for public opinion—it cannot exist without it. When the republic of Rome ended, the emperors wished to retain the censorship, and it was often revived, but always without effect. Public opinion was corrupted; shame had lost its blush; no person feared it; and shame is the only real punishment of a censorial power: so that it is true, though miserably true, that beyond a certain line, just in proportion as such a power is wanted, its authority is of no effect. With us, however, it is different. Publicity is the censor of Great-Britain. The certainty that the proceedings of every individual, from the highest to the lowest, will be immediately transmitted from one end of the country to the other; from Johnny Grate's house to the Ultima Thule, keeps all the inhabitants, with a coercion far stronger than the law, from doing any thing, which they would be ashamed to read themselves, or afraid that others should hear.
It is true that this power may be, has been, and must be liable at times to considerable abuse, but this abuse has its remedy. The great variety of the papers having separate interests and separate employers, often by contradicting each other, set mutual errors to rights; when these errors are palpable, they become of little consequence. If they be of a great and dangerous nature, the law is open, and it is now upon, experience, not only open to hear, but ready to punish whenever there is occasion. It is true that such prosecutions are sometimes but poor satisfaction to the person complaining; yet such a defect is only one among the evils our situation exposes us to as individuals, which we each of us really hazard the chance of; having a much less stake in that hazard, than we have in the general benefit, that results to us with certainty, as members of the community, to whose prosperity these papers contribute so much, and could not do so, but with this abuse as incidental to their nature.
It is certainly incumbent upon newspapers for their own sake to avoid it as much as possible. There is enough sal volatile , enough matter that is piquante without it, and real wit never requires a sacrifice from propriety or truth, to propitiate its divinity. Accordingly we find, that however some years ago the licence of the press might be complained of, when its liberty was new; there are at present but few drawbacks on this head from its general utility. Another good consequence of the same tendency, has followed the delivery of the newspapers from messengers and secretaries. Persons of better talents, of better education, and of a higher station in life, than formerly, are induced to undertake an employment, which by that delivery acquired a freedom and independence that makes it equal to any other department of writing, and renders it a liberal and honorable, as well as lucrative engagement; from whence arises a security against its abuse that gains ground every day, and is more operative than the strongest direction of law; namely, the conductor's own interest, in preserving the purity of his paper, by sacrificing which to the disreputation of another, he in a much more effectual manner, counteracts his own.
P O R T S M O U T H, Sept. 12.
An invention is successfully used in the dock-yard for tarring ropes by the labour of horses instead of men, and another is shortly to be introduced for laying the cables by the same means. This will be a great injury to the people employed in the rope house, but a very considerable saving to government.
Mr. Pring, a brush maker of this place, has also discovered a method of preventing the fatal accidents that happen through guns bursting by being honeycombed, &c. This invention has been submitted to and approved of by the master general of the ordnance, and a board of field officers of the artillery, and by them ordered in future to be used. It is a brush with springs, constructed on extremely ingenious mechanical principles, and cannot possibly fail of answering the end proposed.
C O R K, Sept. 13.
Some young gentlemen of this city, who have lately returned from France, give the most favorable accounts of the peace and tranquillity which reigns in the capital and provinces of that free country, as well as the unanimity of the people in favor of the new constitution.
K I N G S T O N, (Jamaica) Sept. 10.
Some misunderstandings are likely to take place between the English and Spaniards, on the coast of Honduras, owing to the absence of the British superintendent, who some months ago failed for England, without leaving a deputy to transact his public business. During his absence, arrived a Spanish commissary, who, as stipulated by the treaty of 1786, visits the British limits twice every year, to see that the conditions of the treaty are complied with.—The commissary not finding any person on the part of Great-Britain to receive him, and appoint a commissary to accompany him, as the treaty provides, sent to General Galvez, to acquaint him with the event. While he was waiting the answer, in visiting the islands along the Honduras coast, he found the English turtle-fishers fishing beyond their limits; all of whom he seized, and detained till further orders. He has also threatened to cut down all the English planters walk; which may be attended with serious consequences—as plantains, with fish and turtles, constitute the principal food of the inhabitants of these coasts.
B O S T O N, Nov. 9.
The great ox, so much talked of, raised by Mr. Rich of Brookfield, was publicly exhibited in State-street yesterday. He is said to be the largest ever raised in America, and to be equal to any that Europe can boast of. His weight at Weymouth was 2520lbs.
GEORGE MEADE
HAS FOR SALE, At his Stores on WALNUT-STREET WHARF, A FEW pipes of 3 and 4 years old bns of exchange Madeira WINE, which he will dispose of by the pipe, hogshead or quarter cask. London market Madeira WINE, 5 and 6 years old. Old Sherry WINE of the first quality, by the hogshead or quarter cask.
Three and 4 years old Lisbon WINE, of a superior quality to what is generally imported, by the pipe, quarter cask, or larger quantity. Choice old Coniac BRANDY, by the pipe, tierce, or larger quantity.
A few quarter casks of first quality Hysen TEA. He has just received from the Fagus, Loxey, master, from London, a few quarter casks of old Madeira WINE—And
By the brig Mercury, capt. Stevens, from Dublin, a few boxes of Irish LINENS, low priced and well assorted: a few bales of Red and White FLANNELS, and some GLUE.
A few boxes of Spermaceti CANDLES of the first quality, and Buxington PORK of prime quality. He has also to dispose of a quantity of dressed White Oak SLAVES.
He means to keep a constant supply of First Quality Madeira and Lisbon WINES, and whoever is pleased to favor him with their custom, may be assured of being well served.
He will through the Winter and Spring, buy undressed HANDSPIKES. He is purchasing FLAXSEED and BEES-WAX, and will give the highest Price for them.
N. B. A few Hamps of excellent London PORTER and Taunton ALE, just arrived and to be disposed of.
CHARLES BITTERS,
No. 120,
South Market, near Fourth Street, Has received from New-York, and manufactured BY LOT MERKEL,
A large and General Assortment of Muffs & Tippets, Trimmings & Edgings,
Great Coats, Caps, Mitts & gloves lined with Fur; which he will sell,
Wholesale and Retail, at the lowest Prices.
Oct. 4.
rawt
TO BE SOLD, BY JOHN CAREY,
No. 26, Pear-Street,
A COLLECTION OF Scarce and Valuable
B O O K S,
Which may be seen every day, until 6 o'clock P.M. Among them are the following:
Folio. Homer, Xenophon, Plato, Plutarch, Eusebius, Sozomen, Theodoret, Virgil, Horace, Livy, Tacitus, Patricius, Pliny, Concordantia Lat. Concordantia Gr. Theaurus Ciceronis, Biblia Junii & Tremellii, Bible de Martin, Wells's Maps, Scapulae—Phavorini—Martini—Hoffmanni Lexica, Vossii Etymologicum, Antiquit. Ecclesi. Britannica, &c.
Quarto. Pindar, Cyropedia, Bentley's Horace, Terence and Phaedrus, Ovid, Juvenal, Manilius, Cicero's op. om. Caesar, Suetonius, Julius Pollux, Hederici Lexicon, Vossii Ars Gram. Cluverii Geographia, Justinian Code, &c.
Octavo et infra. Homer, Anacreon, Aelius-phanes, Longinus, Theophrastus, Hesiod, Poetæ minores Gr. Isocrates, Phalaris, various editions of Horace, Virgil, Terence, and Ovid, Tibullus, Plautus, Lucan, Martial, Claudian, Val. Flaccus, Ausonius, Buchanan, Sallust, Curtius, Florus, Justin, Val. Maximus, A. Gellius, Hist. August. Scriptores, English and French Translations of some of the Classics, a great variety of Greek and Latin Grammars, &c. &c.
Catalogues may be had of Messrs. Rice & Co. Booksellers, Market-street, or of Oct. 31. JOHN CAREY.
This Day are published, SERMONS,
Historical and Characteristical: By WILLIAM LINN, D. D.
One of the Ministers of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, in the city of New-York. Sold by T. DOBSON & R. CAMPBELL. [Price Three Quarters of a Dollar.]
This day is Published, By CHILDS and SWAIN, In one Volume Octavo;
[Price One Dollar and a half, the small Edition, and One Dollar and three quarters the large,]
THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.
Collated with, and corrected by the original Rolls in the Office of the Secretary of State.
With a copious INDEX; or A complete DIGEST of the LAWS; (Making 56 pages:)
Executed by an eminent Law Character.
To obtain this useful and necessary Part of the Work complete, has retarded the Publication. This Volume comprises the Acts of the Three Sessions of the first Congress; also, the Federal Constitution, and the Treaties between the United States and Foreign Nations—Together with an Appendix, containing the Declaration of Independence, and sundry Ordinances and Resolutions of Congress under the Confederation.
Sold by Childs and Swaine, No. 239, High-street, Thomas Dobson, Joseph Crukshank, and Robert Campbell, Philada. pbia. October 25.
PRINTED BY CHILDS AND SWAIN, AT THEIR OFFICE, NO. 239, HIGH-STREET, NEAR SIXTH-STREET, PHILADELPHIA.