The national intelligencer and Washington advertiser. (Washington City [D.C.]), 1805-08-23 00:00:00

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, AND WASHINGTON ADVERTISER.
VOL. V. WASHINGTON CITY, PRINTED BY SAMUEL HARRISON SMITH, PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE. NO. DCCLX. FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1805. PAID IN ADVANCE.
Council, Annapolis, May 16, 1805.
ORDERED, That the act to provide for the trial of facts in the several counties of this state, and to alter, change and abolish, all such parts of the constitution and form of government as relate to the general court and court of appeals, be published twice in each week for the space of three months in the Maryland Gazette at Annapolis; the American Telegraph and the Federal Gazette at Baltimore; the National Intelligencer; the Republican Advocate and Barigis's paper at Frederick-Town; Greaves's paper at Hagerstown, and in Smith's and Cowan's paper at Easton.
By order, NINIAN PINKNEY, Clerk.
AN ACT
To provide for the trial of facts in the several counties of this state, and to alter, change and abolish, all such parts of the constitution and forms of government as relate to the general court and court of appeals.
BE it enacted by the general assembly of Maryland, That this state shall be divided into six judicial districts in manner and form following to wit: St. Mary's, Charles and Prince George's counties, shall be the first district; Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot counties, shall be the second district; Calvert, Anne Arundel and Montgomery counties shall be the third district; Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset and Worcester counties, shall be the fourth district; Frederick, Washington and Allegany counties shall be the fifth district; Baltimore and Harford counties shall be the sixth district; and there shall be appointed, for each of the said judicial districts, three persons of integrity and sound legal knowledge, residents of the state of Maryland, who shall previously to and during their acting as judges, reside in the district for which they shall respectively be appointed, one of whom shall be styled in the commission chief judge, and the other two associate judges, of the district for which they shall be appointed; and the chief judge, together with the two associate judges, shall compose the county courts in each respective district; and each judge shall hold his commission during good behavior, removable for misbehavior on conviction in a court of law, or shall be removed by the governor, upon the address of the general assembly, provided that two thirds of all the members of each house concur in such address; and the county courts, so as aforesaid established, shall have, hold and exercise, in the several counties of this state, all and every the powers authorities and jurisdictions, which the county courts of this state now have, use and exercise, and which shall be hereafter prescribed by law; and the said county courts established by this act shall respectively hold their sessions in the several counties at such times and places as the legislature shall direct and appoint, and the salaries of the said judges shall not be diminished during the period of their continuance in office.
II. And be it enacted, That in any suit or action at law hereafter to be commenced or instituted in any county court of this state, the judges thereof, upon suggestion in writing by either of the parties thereto, supported by affidavit or other proper evidence, that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in the county court of the county where such suit or action is depending, shall and may order and direct the record of their proceedings in such suit or action to be transmitted to the judges of any county court within the district for trial, and the judges of such county court, to whom the said record shall be transmitted, shall hear and determine the same in like manner as if such suit or action had been originally instituted therein; provided, nevertheless, that such suggestion shall be made as aforesaid before or during the term in which the issue or issues may be joined in the said suit or action; and provided also, that such further remedy may be provided by law, in the premises, as the legislature shall from time to time direct and enact.
III. And be it enacted, That if any party presented or indicted in any of the county courts of this state, shall suggest in writing to the court in which such prosecution is depending, that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had in such court, it shall and may be lawful for the said court to order and direct the record of their proceedings in the said prosecution to be transmitted to the judges of any adjoining county court for trial, and the judges of such county court shall hear and determine the same as if such prosecution had been originally instituted therein.
IV. And be it enacted, That if the attorney general, or the prosecutor for the state, shall suggest in writing to any county court, before whom an indictment is or may be depending, that the state cannot have a fair and impartial trial in such court, it shall and may be lawful for the said court, in their discretion, to order and direct the record of their proceedings in the said prosecution to be transmitted to the judges of any adjoining county court for trial, and the judges of such county court shall hear and determine the same as if such prosecution had been originally instituted therein.
V. And be it enacted, That there shall be a court of appeals, and the same shall be composed of the chief judges of the several judicial districts of the state, which said court of appeals shall hold, use and exercise, all and singular the powers, authorities and jurisdictions, heretofore held, used and exercised, by the court of appeals of this state, and also the appellate jurisdiction heretofore used and exercised by the general court; and the said court of appeals hereby established, shall sit on the western and eastern shores for trans-
acting and determining the business of the respective shores, at such times and places as the future legislature of this state shall direct and appoint, and any three of the said judges of the court of appeals shall form a quorum to hear and decide in all cases pending in said court and the judge who has given a decision in any case in the county court, shall withdraw from the bench upon the deciding of the same case before the court of appeals; and the judges of the court of appeals may appoint the clerks of said court for the western and eastern shore, respectively, who shall hold their appointments during good behavior, removable only for misbehavior on conviction in a court of law; and in case of death, resignation, disqualification or removal out of the state, or from their respective shores, of either of the said clerks in the vacation of the said court, the governor, with the advice of the council, may appoint and commission a fit and proper person to such vacant office, to hold the same until the next meeting of the said court; and all laws passed after this act shall take effect, shall be recorded in the office of the court of appeals of the western shore.
VI. And be it enacted, That all and every part of the constitution and form of government which relates to the court of appeals and the general court, or the judges thereof, or that is in any manner repugnant to, or inconsistent with, the provisions of this act, be and the same is hereby repealed, abrogated and annulled upon the confirmation hereof; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed so as to authorise the removal of the clerks of the respective county courts being in commission at the time of the passing of this act, in any other mode or manner than that prescribed by the constitution and form of government.
VII. And be it enacted, That if this act shall be confirmed by the general assembly, after the next election of delegates, in the first session after such new election, as the constitution and form of government directs, that in such case this act, and the alterations and amendments of the constitution and form of government therein contained, shall be taken and considered, and shall constitute and be valid, as a part of the said constitution and form of government, to all intents and purposes, any thing in the said constitution and form of government to the contrary, notwithstanding. May 31—2aw3m
West Indies.
BERNARD M'MAHON SEEDSMAN, No. 129. CHESTNUT STREET. PHILADELPHIA, Has just imported from London by the ship Columbia, A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF Garden Seeds,
PARTICULARLY of such kinds as are usually in demand in the West Indies, and as other hot climates; and also of such sorts as are necessary for summer and fall sowing in the United States. They are all fresh, of the last season's growth, and will be disposed of on moderate terms.
TURNIP SEED.
He has likewise imported from one of the most eminent Turnip farmers in England, a quantity of the genuine White Norfolk field Turnip seed, which is the most profitable kind yet known for cattle feeding, and exceeded by none for ordinary purposes.
FLOWER ROOTS.
His flower roots being now taken up, his friends and the public may be supplied with upwards of three hundred varieties of the most superb Tulips, all named, and arranged in their proper divisions; a large collection of the best double Hyacinths, Anemones, Ranunculus and Jonquils; likewise Crown Imperial, crocus spring and autumnal Cyclamen roots, with several other kinds.
BOOKS.
He is constantly supplied with the best and most approved works on Agriculture, Botany and Gardening, and in a few weeks will have ready for publication his treatise on AMERICAN GARDENING, adapted particularly to the climates, seasons, and vegetable productions, that are, or may be profitably cultivated in the United States.
He is also supplied with the best English flour of mustard and split peas; white and brown mustard seed for mangoes, &c. watering pots, bails mats, pruning, grafting, and inoculating knives; garden rakes, hoes, reels, lines, spades, shovels, trowels and edging irons, hot bed lights and glass, hyacinth glasses, red, white, and yellow clover seed, burnet, lucerne, ray grass, timothy, herd grass and orchard grass seeds, lentils, vetches, peas, beans and every other necessary article in the seed trade.
M'MAHON invites, may he solicit a correspondence and reciprocity of services with the admirers of curious and useful vegetable productions, in the United States and elsewhere; and having it considerably in his power, being generally supplied with an immense number of scarce, curious, and valuable seeds, he hopes they will find in him an attentive and useful correspondent. July 15.
IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE CHASE.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25.
Mr. HARPER'S speech concluded.
Let us advert, Mr. President, to the state of mind in which this witness was, at the time when these expressions are supposed to have been uttered.
He informs us that he was the author and chief supporter of those measures of the Maryland legislature, against which the respondent levelled his artillery; that he considered himself as particularly pointed at; and supposed the eyes of the audience to be turned upon him. So greatly was he irritated by this imaginary attack on himself, that as he left the room, after the charge was finished, he declared that the respondent should be impeached for that charge. This we learn from the testimony of Mr. M'Macken, who heard the declaration. After he went home, he wrote an inflammatory piece for the press, purporting to be the substance of the charge. This piece was avowedly written, for the purpose of promoting an impeachment. It recommends that measure; abounds with the most abusive and abusive language against the respondent; and, what is still worse, it varies very materially from the testimony which the author of it has delivered at this bar.
Is it surprising that a man in this state of mind, should misconceive the truth? Is it to be wondered at that he should convert his own inferences, the misconceptions and distortions of his own brain, into facts? Have any members of this honorable court heard a person give an account in a court of justice of a quarrel in which he himself had been a party? Of a brawl or riot in which he had been himself engaged, in which he had perhaps been beaten, and of his wrongs in which he came to complain? Have they observed how the truth in such situations, is distorted by the blindnesses of passion, the partiality of self love, and the thirst of revenge? I presume that they have; and they will then know how to appreciate the testimony of a witness, in the state of mind in which Mr. Montgomery viewed these transactions, and in which he has given evidence at this bar.
I have said that his publication, purporting to be the substance of this charge, varies materially from his testimony in the case. For the truth of this statement I refer to the publication itself, which is in evidence before the court, and to his testimony, which is in the recollection of the honorable members. But I will point out one of the most remarkable variances.
In the publication he represents the respondent as saying "that in a country where were equal rights and equal laws, that is, laws equally administered, and that operate equally upon the rich and poor, there was freedom, but that country was not ours; we had no equal rights or equal laws." In his testimony, as taken down by the short hand writer, he represents the respondent as saying, "that where there were equal laws and equal rights, there was freedom, but where the administration of the laws was partial and not certain, the people were not free; and that we were approaching to that state of things." In his publication he accuses the respondent of saying, that we actually were in this condition; in his testimony, that we were approaching to that state of things. Is it possible to give credit to a witness who thus contradicts himself? And what assurance have we that he whose memory is so treacherous, and who is proved, by his publication to have been so angry, has not stated his own impressions and inferences as facts?
This witness has indeed made an attempt to support himself, by an explanation of this part of his testimony. In his explanation he tells us, that although he attributed the word "administration" to the respondent, the term used might perhaps have been "government." In this way he endeavors to get rid of the contradiction between himself and the numerous other witnesses. But this cannot avail him. The expressions, whether applied to the administration or the government, must, in this instance, have meant the same thing. The charges of weakness, relaxation, incapacity, and a view to the continuance of their un-
fairly acquired power, instead of the public good, could have had no application to the government in its general abstract nature. They could have been applied to it only as administered, by the persons or the party now in power. So that whether the term "government" or "administration" was used, the meaning was precisely the same. The expressions were equally remarkable, in one case as in the other. They must have struck the by-standers as much in one case as in the other. They were in fact the same, with the variance of a single word, which did not in the least vary the sense. The witnesses have all sworn that they heard no such expressions, and the contradiction is as strong after the explanation, as it was before.
Who are these witnesses thus standing opposed to Mr. Montgomery? These witnesses that were present, and attentive, and yet did not hear these remarkable expressions which he heard so distinctly, and which he tells us made so strong an impression on his mind? If, when he stood on his own merits, and on the comparison between his publication and his testimony, he was so weak, how must he appear, when opposed by this host of witnesses?
First, Mr. Mason. That gentleman, indeed, was so much occupied by the salutations of his friends, that he did not attend accurately to the whole charge; although he had leisure enough to remark what nobody else saw; that the respondent, in the intervals of reading his charge, sometimes seemed to introduce extemporaneous observations, by way of comment on what he read. Still he has given us with great confidence, and no less accuracy, the principal points of the charge. He recollects nothing of these expressions. Can it be believed that they would not have struck him, had they been used? Mr. Mason is one of the strongest adherents, one of the warmest and most zealous friends of those who now administer the government. Indeed he is one of the chief props of the present administration, united with it in interest, principle and affection. He is, moreover, so accurate in his observation, and so correct in his recollection, about what relates to the respondent, as to be able, after a lapse of five years, to repeat a casual, and jocular conversation; which is usually forgotten as soon as it passes. Can it be believed that so outrageous an attack upon his friends, by this judge, and in such a place, could have escaped his notice, or been effaced from his memory?
Next Mr. Smith, Editor of the National Intelligencer, than whom the present administration certainly has not a more zealous friend. He is, indeed, remarkable for the devotedness of his attachment to this administration; his lively and keen sensibility to all its wrongs, real and imaginary; and his vigilant and unwearied zeal in its defence. He is, moreover, remarkable for his talent of stating in writing, whatever he has heard spoken or read; a talent into the careful cultivation and constant exercise of which he is led by his profession. He listened attentively to this charge. After hearing it he sat down in his chamber, the same evening, and committed the substance of it to writing, for the express purpose of publishing it in his paper. This publication he has produced and attested, and it contains no such expressions about the present administration, or the present government, as were heard by Mr. Montgomery. Is it possible to believe that had such expressions been used, they would not have been heard by Mr. Smith; or that if he had heard them, he would have omitted them in his publication?
Mr. Stephen, too, who is known to be strongly attached to the present administration, was present at the delivery of this charge, attended to it, but heard no such expressions as those related by Mr. Montgomery. A multitude of other witnesses who stood round the respondent while he delivered the charge, who were all for various reasons very attentive to it, have with one voice declared that they heard no such expressions. Among them is the district judge, who sat by the side of the respondent; the clerk of the court, who sat next to him but one, and who moreover is an adherent of the present administration; the foreman of the grand jury, who stood close to the respondent, and to whom the charge was particularly addressed; and one of the judges of this district, who attended that court as a witness, and stood very near to the respondent, while he delivered the
charge. The others are gentlemen of the bar, men of high character, who have delivered their testimony with great accuracy, and aligned with candor and precision the reasons of their belief. And all these persons declare most positively, that they heard no such expressions as have been related by Mr. Montgomery, about the conduct, character and views of the present administration.
Nay more. The charge was read from a written paper, and that paper is produced in court, and proved by the person who wrote it, from a rough copy furnished by the respondent. Mr. Mason, it is true, states, that some extemporaneous comments appeared to him to be made by the respondent, while reading from the written paper; and the inference to be drawn from this, I presume, is that these expressions might have formed one of these extemporaneous comments, and therefore might have been used, tho' they do not appear in the paper. But Mr. Mason, it will be remembered, though very correct and positive in stating the substance, does not pretend to accuracy in the particulars. He was too much interrupted by the salutation of his friends, who pressed through the crowd to speak to him. And it may very well have happened that when, after these interruptions, he turned his attention again to the respondent, he sometimes found him with his eyes raised from the paper, as those of every man will be who reads his own composition, or any writing with which he is familiar.
This might have led him to conclude, that the respondent sometimes spoke extemporaneously. But Mr. Montgomery himself has stated that the whole charge was read from a paper; and the same fact has been established by the testimony of nine or ten witnesses, among whom are the district judge and the clerk of the court. Those gentlemen sat near to the respondent, while he delivered the charge. One of them sat next to him, and the other next but one. They were both attentive to the manner in which the charge was delivered, and they both say that it appeared to them to be entirely read. They both say that the respondent, in reading it, occasionally raised his eyes from the paper at the close of a sentence, and turned them on the audience; but not longer at any one time than is usual with a person reading. In this the other witnesses fully concur. They all stood round the respondent, had their eyes upon him during the whole time, and were particularly attentive to the manner as well as to the matter of the charge.
Mr. Montgomery, indeed, after he had heard the testimony of Mr. Mason, explained himself on this subject. He said at first, that the whole charge appeared to him to be read from a written paper. But after he heard Mr. Mason state that the respondent, in delivering the charge, sometimes appeared to leave the paper, and introduce extemporaneous matter, he was called again, and he then informed us that his eyes were not constantly directed towards the respondent, but were occasionally turned on the by-standers, whose eyes he observed to be directed to him as the known author of the measures reprobated in the charge. From this he inferred very properly, that the respondent might have spoken extemporaneously from time to time, without his observing the fact. This explanation certainly removes the contradiction which at first appeared between Mr. Mason and Mr. Montgomery; and weakens materially the testimony of the latter gentleman, as to the fact now in question. But it has no such effect on the testimony of the other witnesses, whose attention was not called off like that of Mr. Montgomery; who had their eyes upon the respondent during the whole time; and who firmly believe that every word which he delivered, was read from the paper. This fact, then, I consider as completely established. The paper has been proved, and is in evidence before the court. A true copy of it will be found among the exhibits filed with the answer, No. 8. On examination, it will be found to contain no such expressions as are attributed to the respondent by Mr. Montgomery.
The testimony of Mr. Montgomery on this point, thus liable to suspicion in itself, on account of the state of irritation in which he saw the transaction; thus contradicted by his own written statement, by the testimony of so many witnesses, and by the written charge; is not entitled to belief, but must be law wholly out of the case. I do not charge him with wilfully misstating the fact; but that he has utterly mistaken it cannot be doubted.
There is another point on which some contrariety appears in the testimony. Some of the witnesses have supposed that the respondent concluded this charge with a direct recommendation to the jury, to use their endeavors on their return home, towards preventing the

final passage of the act of assembly of Maryland, for abolishing the supreme courts; by procuring in their several counties the election of such persons as would vote against that measure. Others are under the impression, that no such recommendation was expressly made, but was merely to be inferred from the general tenor of the charge. That such a difference of opinion should take place is by no means surprising; but the difference is immaterial. The object of the charge undoubtedly was, to dissuade the people of Maryland from adopting the measure in question; and to impress on the grand jury and the audience, the necessity of exerting themselves against it, at the election which was then approaching and was to decide its fate.
If this recommendation was not expressly given, it was plainly implied. Such was the intention of the respondent; and his defence rests on the correctness of this intention; on his right, according to the long established custom of this country, to pursue the object in this way.
Let the charge, Mr. President, be carefully examined, and it will be found to have no object in view, but to convince the people of Maryland, by arguments drawn from reason and experience, of the danger of adopting a change in their state constitution, which had been submitted to their consideration, and the object of which was to abolish all their supreme courts of law; to introduce a system entirely new and untried; and above all to destroy the independent tenure of judicial office, secured to them by their existing constitution; and to leave the judges dependent on the executive for their continuance in office, and on the legislature for their support. The respondent who had contributed largely to the formation and establishment of the state constitution, was greatly alarmed at these changes. He considered them as of the most destructive tendency to the liberty and happiness of the state to which he belonged; and he resolved to take this opportunity of warning his fellow-citizens against them. This is the whole scope of his address to the grand jury, to show the importance of an independent judiciary, the dangerous tendency of changes already made, and the mischiefs which would result from taking this additional step in the career of innovation. He did, indeed, advert to the act of Congress for repealing the circuit court law, and remarked that it had shaken to its foundation the independence of the federal judiciary: but the manifest and sole object of this was, to show that the spirit of innovation had gone forth, and ought to be carefully watched; that the public respect for great constitutional principles had begun to be weakened; and that by how much the security which might have been derived from an independent federal judiciary, had been diminished, by so much the more vigilantly it behooved us to guard our state institutions. No other object can be discovered in the charge, or inferred from its general tenor, or from the language in which it is expressed; neither is there any evidence which has the most remote tendency to show, that he had any other object in view. And was not this an object which a citizen of this country might lawfully pursue? Is it not lawful for an aged patriot of the revolution to warn his fellow citizens of dangers, by which he supposes their liberties and happiness to be threatened? Or will it be contended that a citizen is deprived of these rights, because he is a Judge? That his office takes from him the liberty of speech, which belongs to every citizen, and is justly considered as one of our most invaluable privileges? I trust not. And if there could be any doubt on this point, I would remove it by referring to a recent instance of two judges of the supreme court of Maryland, who in a late political contest, entered the lists as champions for the rival candidates, and travelled over a whole county, making political speeches in opposition to each other. Yet these gentlemen justly possess the confidence and respect of the public; their conduct in this instance has never been considered as a violation of duty; and he who espoused the interest of the successful candidate, has been far from receiving any marks of displeasure from the government of this country.
If, therefore, a judge retain this right, notwithstanding his official character; if it still be lawful for him to express his opinions of public measures, to oppose by argument such as are still pending, and to exert himself for obtaining the repeal, by constitutional means, of such as have been adopted; I ask what law forbids him to exercise these rights, by a charge from the bench? In what part of our laws or constitution is it written, that a Judge shall not speak on politics to a grand jury? Shall not advance, in a charge from the bench, those arguments against a public measure, which it must be admitted that he might properly employ on any other occasion? Such conduct may perhaps be ill judged, indiscreet, or ill-timed. I am ready to admit that it is so; for I am one of those who have always thought, that political subjects ought never to be mentioned in courts of justice. But is it contrary to law? Admitting it to be indecorous and improper, which I do not admit, is every breach of decorum and propriety a crime? The rules of decorum and propriety forbid us to sing a song on the floor of Congress, or to whistle in a church. These would be acts of very great indecorum, but I know of no law by which they could be punished as crimes. Will they who contend that it is contrary to law, for a Judge to speak of politics to a grand jury, be pleased to point out the law of the land which forbids it? They cannot do so.
There is no such law. Neither is there any constitutional provision or principle, or any custom of this country, which condemns this practice.
And will this honorable body, sitting not in a legislative but a judicial capacity, be called on to make a law and to make it for a particular case which has already occurred? What, sir, is the great distinction between legislative and judicial functions? Is it not that the former is to make the law, for future cases; and that the latter is to declare it, as to cases which have already occurred? Is it not one of the fundamental principles of our constitution, and an essential ingredient of free government, that the legislative and judicial powers shall be kept distinct and separate? That the powers of making the general law for future cases, shall never be blended in the same hands, with that of declaring and applying it to particular and present cases? Does not the union of these two powers in the same hands, constitute the worst of despotism? What, sir, is the peculiar and distinguished characteristic of despotism? It consists in this, fir, that a man may be punished for an act, which when he did it was not forbidden by law. While, on the other hand, it is the essence of freedom, that no act can be treated as a crime, unless there be a precise law forbidding it, at the time when it was done.
It is this line which separates liberty from slavery; and if the respondent be condemned to punishment for an act, which far from being forbidden by any law of the land, is sanctioned by the custom of this country for more than twenty years past, then have we the form of free government, but the substance of despotism.
Let gentlemen, before they establish this principle, recollect that it is a two edged-sword. Let them remember, that power must often change hands in popular governments; and that after every struggle, the victorious party comes into power, with resentments to gratify by the destruction of their vanquished opponents, with a thirst of vengeance to be slaked in their blood. Let them remember, that principles and precedents, by which actions innocent when they were done may be converted into crimes, are the most convenient and effectual instruments of revenge and destruction, with which a victorious party can be furnished. Let them beware how they give their sanction to principles, which may soon be turned against themselves; how they forge bolts which may soon be hurled on their own heads. In a popular government, where power is so fluctuating, where constitutional principles are therefore so important for the protection of the weaker party against the violence of the stronger, it above all things behoves the party actually in power, to adhere to the principles of justice and law; left by departing from them they furnish at once the provocation and the weapons, for their own destruction.
I have stated, Mr. President, that the practice of introducing political matter into charges to grand juries, has been sanctioned by the custom of this country, from the beginning of the revolution to this day. Need I adduce any proof of the fact than its general notoriety? Need I refer to the charge delivered in South Carolina, in 1776, by William Henry Drayton, for which he has been so much admired and applauded? Need I refer to the recommendation of the executive council in Pennsylvania, at a period something later, in which that body, with John Dickinson at its head, enjoined it on the judges, to avail themselves of their charges to the grand juries on their circuits, for disseminating correct political information and principles among the people? Shall I refer to the case of judge Addison in Pennsylvania, who has delivered many political charges, and against whom when he was lately impeached, those charges made no part of the accusation? Shall I refer again to the charge of judge Iredell, delivered to the grand jury, which found the first indictment against John Fries, and containing a variety of political matter? It is unnecessary to dilate on these instances. They have been given in evidence, and are fresh in the memory of this honorable court. The recollection of the honorable members must furnish them with many others equally striking.
And yet have the authors of none of these political charges been censured. No mark of public or private disapprobation has been fixed on their conduct. No legislative act has forbidden this practice. From the time of judge Drayton to the time of judge Chafe, it has been considered as innocent. It remained for the year 1803, after a lapse of twenty seven years, to discover its criminality. But this honorable body will not so determine. It will not forget the distinction between its judicial and its legislative character. In its judicial character it will declare, that an act, however improper in itself or dangerous in its tendency, shall not, if forbidden by no law, be punished as a crime; that the prevalence of this custom for
twenty years, the countenance which it received from some governmental authorities, and the acquiescence of all, are sufficient evidence of legality; and that the criminal intent which constitutes an essential ingredient of the offence, in this as well as in every other case, and of which no direct proof is now adduced, can never be inferred from the act itself, when done in compliance with a custom so long established, and so highly sanctioned. But if the members of this tribunal should be individually of opinion that this custom is dangerous or improper, they will, after pronouncing a sentence of acquittal in the case, resume their legislative character, and pass a law to restrain the practice in future. Thus will the mischief be prevented on one hand, and the principles of liberty and justice respected on the other.
This charge, therefore, falls like the rest, and what remains of the accusation? It has dwindled into nothing. It has been scattered by the rays of truth like the mists of the morning, before the effulgence of the rising sun. Touched by the spear of investigation, it has lost its gigantic and terrifying form, and has shrunk into a toad. Every part of our honorable client's conduct has been surveyed; all his motives have been severely scrutinized; all his actions have been brought to the test of law and the constitution; his words, and even his jocular conversations, have been passed in strict review; and the ingenuity and industry of the honorable managers have proved unable to detect one illegal act, one proof, or one fair presumption of improper motive.
Perceiving, perhaps, by anticipation, this desperate situation of his case, the honorable gentleman who opened the prosecution, has devised another expedient to escape from anticipated defeat, and to secure that conviction on which he seems to have set his heart. He has told us, and no doubt will hereafter insist, that in order to form a true judgement on the respondent's conduct, the whole of it must be embraced in one view; and all the particulars regarded as parts of one whole. This means, if it means any thing, that although no single act alleged in the articles should be considered as an impeachable offence, yet all the acts taken together may constitute such an offence. That is, in other words, that many nothings may make something; that many nothings may make an unit: that many innocent acts may make a crime. What is this but recurring, in another form, to the absurd and monstrous doctrine, that judges may be removed on impeachment for reasons of expediency, without the proof of any specific offence? No, fir! This last subterfuge will not avail the prosecutors. This honorable court, adhering to the principles of the constitution, the positive rules of law, and the plain dictates of justice and common sense, will require, before it convicts, the clear proof of a criminal intent, manifested and carried into effect, by some act done in violation of the laws. Under the shield of this great principle, our honorable client stands secure. In full confidence that you, Mr. President, and the members of this honorable court will be guided by it, I cheerfully submit the case to you; and when you retire to deliberate on it, remember that posterity will sit in judgment on your conduct; that her decision will be pronounced on the testimony of impartial history; and that from her awful sentence there lies no appeal.
A Valuable Tract of Land FOR SALE,
LAYING on the main road, leading from Charlottesville to Washington city, containing 268 acres; six miles from C'pepper Court House, Virginia, convenient to a number of fine merchant and saw mills. The situation pleasant and remarkably healthy, the land level, fertile and well adapted to the production of Indian corn, tobacco, wheat and other small grain, and is remarkably well watered, having the north fork of Cedar Run passing through the center of it, and sixteen bold and never failing springs on it; 140 acres of timothy meadow land on it, all of which may be put in good repair at a very small expence and a superabundance of large and lofty timber on it. The improvements are a dwelling house, three rooms on a floor, a good kitchen, a very large barn two stories high and other out houses sufficient, and which are strong and well built—2200 bearing fruit trees, principally apple trees, together with all kinds of seed and stone fruits. It is so situated as to admit of being divided into two convenient and profitable farms. I will sell it entire or divide it as may be found most convenient and give immediate possession—there is a good chance to seed a large crop of grain on it this fall. I will take negroes to the full amount of the above land or any part thereof for the accommodation of a purchaser; if the above land is not sold before the 20th of October, it will be sold on that day to the highest bidder; the sale to take place on the premises.
MORTON PANNELL, C'pepper county, Virginia. August 21—wtt
THE services of THOMAS EWELL, M. D. in the practice of Medicine and Surgery may be had by applying at the office lately occupied by Wm O. Sprigg, esq. opposite Mr. Semmes' tavern. George-town, Aug. 16—3t.
WASHINGTON CITY.
FRIDAY, August 23.
IN the year 1781, Mr. Jefferson, then governor of Virginia, and now President of the United States, wrote his celebrated Notes on Virginia. In this tract he gives, with characteristic openness, his opinions on a variety of topics, and among the rest on the relative character of farmers, mechanics and merchants. Carefully abstaining from any particular application of these remarks to his own countrymen, he freely and boldly avows his opinions of the farmer, the mechanic and the merchant generally. The following extracts, drawn forth by disappointment, are brought up in judgment against him.
"Let any man" says the editor of the Register, "peruse the following passages from Mr. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia with attention—let him compare them with his practice in public life, and he will perceive a bigoted attachment to opinions, that degrade the meanest capacity, and a course of action, which, in the page of impartial history, when the passions and prejudices of the day shall have subsided, will sink the character of THOMAS JEFFERSON beneath that of any statesman, who has ever obtained the elevating suffrage of a free people."
Extracts from Jefferson's Notes on Virginia.
"Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue."
"The proportion which the aggregate of the other classes of citizens bears in any state to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is a good enough barometer whereby to measure its degree of corruption. While we have land to labor then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are wanting in husbandry: but, for the general operations of manufacture, let our work-shops remain in Europe. It is better to carry provisions and materials to workmen there, than bring them to the provisions and materials, and with them their manners and principles. The loss by the transportation of commodities across the Atlantic will be made up in happiness and permanence of government. The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the human body."
Pa. 325 & 326—R. T. Rawle's ed.
"Perhaps, to remove as much as possible the occasions of making war, it might be better for us to abandon the ocean altogether, that being the element whereon we shall be principally exposed to jostle with other nations: to leave to others to bring what we shall want, and carry what we can spare."
"I repeat it again, cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and independent citizens. It might be time enough to seek employment for them at sea, when the land no longer offers it."
Pa. 344, R. T. Rawle's ed.
Recollect, reader, that these are the abstract opinions of a private man, that they were avowed more than twenty years ago, that they are general remarks, and that, although in most cases correct, they may admit of exceptions, which the writer might have been the first to acknowledge, had there been any necessity for it. But no such necessity has existed, or does now exist. There is not a philosopher of the new, or of the old world that has not most emphatically sanctioned their truth. We shall be called upon for our authority. We will give those who make the demand their oracle, which speaks a language of greater energy than we either could or would use. Adam Smith has, on this subject, as well as on the various and diversified subjects of political economy, accumulated the researches of all who went before him, and erected not only a monument to his own glory, but has given the world a guide which is now implicitly followed. Although a subject of what may emphatically be denominated the empire of trade and manufactures, he has dared to avow his honest opinions, and to inculcate the salutary admonitions of truth. And, what proves the solidity of the structure he has raised, is that it is every where the universal guide of the merchant and manufacturer.
Hear him then, merchants of America, and while you profit by his honest truths, do not feel indignant that your own countryman should think as he thinks, and speak as he speaks.
It is, however, in the first instance but justice to Mr. Jefferson, to give the whole of what he says in his Notes on the subject referred to, instead of the mutilated passages quoted; from which it will be seen that he harbored no hostility to merchants or mechanics, and that while, as a philosopher, he was indulging himself in a free expression of his wishes, he was not insensible to the actual state of things, nor romantic enough to expect to realize them. He says:
"We never had an interior trade of any importance. Our exterior commerce has suffered very much from the beginning of the present contest. During this time we have manufactured within our families the most necessary articles of cloathing. Those of cotton will bear some comparison with the same kinds of manufacture in Europe; but those of wool, flax and hemp are very coarse, unsightly and unpleasant: and such is our attachment to agriculture, and such our preference for foreign manufactures, that be it wise or unwise, our people will certainly return as soon as they can, to the raising raw materials, and exchanging them for finer manufactures than they are able to execute themselves."
"The political economists of Europe have established it as a principle, that every state should endeavor to manufacture for itself: and this principle, like many others, we transfer to America, without calculating the difference of circumstance which should often produce a difference of result. In Europe the lands are either cultivated, or locked up against the cultivator. Manufacture must therefore be resorted to of necessity, not of choice, to support the surplus of their people. But we have an immensity of land courting the industry of the husbandman. Is it best then that all our citizens should be employed in its improvement, or that one half should be called off from that to exercise manufactures and handicraft arts for the other? Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example. It is the mark set on those, who not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does the husbandman, for their subsistence, depend for it on the casualties and caprice of customers. Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and consequence of the arts, has sometimes perhaps been retarded by accidental circumstances: but, generally speaking, the proportion which the aggregate of the other classes of citizens bears in any state to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is a good enough barometer whereby to measure its degree of corruption. While we have land to labor then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are wanting in husbandry: but, for the general operations of manufacture, let our work-shops remain in Europe. It is better to carry provisions and materials to workmen there, than bring them to the provisions and materials, and with them their manners and principles. The loss by the transportation of commodities across the Atlantic will be made up in happiness and permanence of government. The mobs of great cities add just so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigour. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution."
Again—"To this estimate of our abilities, let me add a word as to the application of them, if, when cleared of the present contest, and of the debts with which that will charge us, we come to measure force hereafter with any European power. Such events are devoted to be deprecated. Young as we are, and with such a country before us to fill with people and with happiness, we should point in that direction the whole generative force of nature, wasting none of it in efforts of mutual destruction. It should be our endeavour to cultivate the peace and friendship of every nation, even of that which has injured us most, when we shall have carried our point against her. Our interest will be to throw open the doors of commerce, and to knock off all its shackles, giving perfect freedom to all persons for the event of whatever they may chuse to bring into our ports, and asking the same in theirs. Never was so much false arithmetic employed on any subject, as that which has been employed to persuade nations that it is their interest to go to war. Were the money which it has cost to gain, at the close of a long war, a little town, or a little territory, the right to cut wood here, or to catch fish there, expended in improving what they already possess, in making roads, opening rivers, building ports, improving the arts, and find-

ing employment for their idle poor, it would render them much stronger, much wealthier and happier. This I hope will be our wisdom. And, perhaps, to remove as much as possible the causes of making war, it might be better for us to abandon the ocean altogether, that being the element whereon we shall be principally exposed to jostle with other nations: to leave to others to bring what we shall want, and to carry what we can spare. This would make us invulnerable to Europe, by offering none of our property to their prize, and would turn all our citizens to the cultivation of the earth; and, I repeat it again, cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and independent citizens. It might be time enough to seek employment for them at sea, when the land no longer offers it. But the actual habits of our countrymen attach them to commerce. They will exercise it for themselves. Wars then must sometimes be our lot; and all the wise can do, will be to avoid that half of them which would be produced by our own follies and our own acts of injustice; and to make for the other half the best preparations we can. Of what nature should these be? A land army would be useless for offence, and not the best nor safest instrument of defence. For either of these purposes, the sea is the field on which we should meet an European enemy. On that element it is necessary we should possess some power. To aim at such a navy as the greater nations of Europe possess, would be a foolish and wicked waste of the energies of our countrymen. It would be to pull on our own heads that load of military expense which makes the European laborer go supperless to bed, and noistens his bread with the sweat of his brows. It will be enough if we enable ourselves to prevent insults from those nations of Europe which are weak on the sea, because circumstances exist, which render even the stronger ones weak as to us. Providence has placed their richest and most defenceless possessions at our door; has obliged their most precious commerce to pass as it were in review before us. To protect this, or to assail a small part only of their naval force will ever be risked across the Atlantic. The dangers to which the elements expose them here are too well known, and the greater dangers to which they would be exposed at home were any general calamity to involve their whole fleet. They can attack us in detachment only; and it will suffice to make ourselves equal to what they may detach. Even a smaller force than they may detach will be rendered equal or superior by the quickness with which any check may be repaired with us, while losses with them will be irreparable till too late. A small naval force is then sufficient for us, and a small one is necessary."
Speaking of merchants and master manufacturers, Adam Smith says:
"As their thoughts, however, are commonly exercised rather about the interest of their own particular branch of business, than about that of the society, their judgment, even when given with the greatest candor (which it has not been upon every occasion) is much more to be depended upon with regard to the former of those two objects, than with regard to the latter. Their superiority over the country gentleman is, not so much in their knowledge of the public interest, as in their having a better knowledge of their own interest than he has of his. It is by this superior knowledge of their own interest that they have frequently imposed upon his generosity, and persuaded him to give up both his own interest and that of the public, from a very simple but honest conviction, that their interest, and not his, was the interest of the public. The interest of the dealers, however, in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public. To widen the market and to narrow the competition, is always the interest of the dealers. To widen the market may frequently be agreeable enough to the interest of the public; but to narrow the competition must always be against it, and can serve only to enable the dealers, by raising their profits above what they naturally would be, to levy, for their own benefit, an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow-citizens. The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order, ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."
Again—contrasting the usefulness of the three orders, he observes:
"No equal capital puts into motion a greater quantity of productive labor than that of the farmer. Not only his laboring servants, but his laboring cattle, are productive laborers. In agriculture too, nature labors along with man; and though her labor costs no expense, its produce has its value, as well as that of the most expensive workmen. The most important operations of agriculture seem intended, not so much to increase, though they do that too, as to direct the fertility of nature towards the production of the plants most profitable to man. A field overgrown with briars and brambles may frequently produce as great a quantity of vegetables as the best cultivated vineyard or corn field. Planting and tillage frequently regulate more than they animate the active ferti-
lity of nature; and after all their labor, a great part of the work always remains to be done by her. The laborers and laboring cattle, therefore, employed in agriculture, not only occasion, like the workmen in manufactures, the reproduction of a value equal to their own consumption, or to the capital which employs them, together with its owners profits; but of a much greater value. Over and above the capital of the farmer and all its profits, they regularly occasion the reproduction of the rent of the landlord. This rent may be considered as the produce of those powers of nature, the use of which the landlord lends to the farmer. It is greater or smaller according to the supposed extent of those powers, or in other words, according to the supposed natural or improved fertility of the land. It is the work of nature which remains after deducting or compensating every thing which can be regarded as the work of man. It is seldom less than a fourth, and frequently more than a third of the whole produce. No equal quantity of productive labor employed in manufactures can ever occasion so great a reproduction. In them nature does nothing; man does all; and the reproduction must always be in proportion to the strength of the agents that occasion it. The capital employed in agriculture, therefore, not only puts into motion a greater quantity of productive labor than any equal capital employed in manufactures, but in proportion too to the quantity of productive labor which it employs, it adds a much greater value to the annual produce of the land and labor of the country, to the real wealth and revenue of its inhabitants. Of all the ways in which a capital can be employed, it is by far the most advantageous to the society."
"The capitals employed in the agriculture and in the retail trade of any society, must always reside within that society. Their employment is confined almost to a precise spot, to the farm, and to the shop of the retailer. They must generally too, though there are some exceptions to this, belong to resident members of the society."
"The capital of a wholesale merchant, on the contrary, seems to have no fixed or necessary residence any-where, but may wander about from place to place, according as it can either buy cheap or sell dear."
Again—"When the capital of any country is not sufficient for all those three purposes, in proportion as a greater share of it is employed in agriculture, the greater will be the quantity of productive labor which it puts into motion within the country; as will likewise be the value which its employment adds to the annual produce of the land and labor of the society. After agriculture, the capital employed in manufactures puts into motion the greatest quantity of productive labor, and adds the greatest value to the annual produce. That which is employed in the trade of exportation, has the least effect of any of the three."
"The country, indeed, which has not capital sufficient for all those three purposes, has not arrived at that degree of opulence for which it seems naturally destined. To attempt, however, prematurely and with an insufficient capital, to do all the three, is certainly not the shortest way for a society, no more than it would be for an individual, to acquire a sufficient one. The capital of all the individuals of a nation, has its limits in the same manner as that of a single individual, and is capable of executing only certain purposes. The capital of all the individuals of a nation is increased in the same manner as that of a single individual, by their continually accumulating and adding to it whatever they save out of their revenue. It is likely to increase the fastest, therefore, when it is employed in the way that affords the revenue to all the inhabitants of the country, as they will thus be enabled to make the greatest savings. But the revenue of all the inhabitants of the country is necessarily in proportion to the value of the annual produce of their land and labor."
"It has been the principal cause of the rapid progress of our American colonies towards wealth and greatness, that almost their whole capitals have hitherto been employed in agriculture. They have no manufactures, those household and coarser manufactures excepted which necessarily accompany the progress of agriculture, and which are the work of the women and children in every private family. The greater part both of the exportation and coasting trade of America, is carried on by the capitals of merchants who reside in Great Britain. Even the stores and warehouses from which goods are retailed in some provinces, particularly in Virginia and Maryland, belong many of them to merchants who reside in the mother country, and afford one of the few instances of the retail trade of a society being carried on by the capitals of those who are not resident members of it. Were the Americans, either by combination or by any other sort of violence, to stop the importation of European manufactures, and, by thus giving a monopoly to such of their own countrymen as could manufacture the like goods, divert any considerable part of their capital into this employment, they would retard instead of accelerating the further increase in the value of their annual produce, and would obstruct instead of promoting the progress of their country towards real wealth and greatness. This would be still more the case, were they to attempt, in the same manner, to monopolize to themselves their whole exportation trade."
"The course of human prosperity, indeed, seems scarce ever to have been
of so long continuance as to enable any great country to acquire capital sufficient for all those three purposes; unless, perhaps, we give credit to the wonderful accounts of the wealth and cultivation of China, of those of ancient Egypt, and of the ancient state of Indostan. Even those three countries, the wealthiest, according to all accounts, that ever were in the world, are chiefly renowned for their superiority in agriculture and manufactures. They do not appear to have been eminent for foreign trade. The ancient Egyptians had a superstitious antipathy to the sea; a superstition nearly of the same kind prevails among the Indians; and the Chinese have never excelled in foreign commerce. The greater part of the surplus produce of all those three countries seems to have been always exported by foreigners, who gave in exchange for it something else for which they found a demand there, frequently gold and silver."
Again—"In our North American colonies, where uncultivated land is still to be had upon easy terms, no manufactures for distant sale have ever yet been established in any of their towns. When an artificer has acquired a little more stock than is necessary for carrying on his own business in supplying the neighboring country, he does not, in North America, attempt to establish with it a manufacture for more distant sale, but employs it in the purchase and improvement of uncultivated land. From artificer he becomes planter, and neither the large wages nor the easy subsistence which that country affords to artificers, can bribe him rather to work for other people than for himself. He feels that an artificer is the servant of his customers, from whom he derives his subsistence; but that a planter who cultivates his own land, and derives his necessary subsistence from the labor of his own family, is really a master, and independent of all the world."
Again—"Compare the slow progress of those European countries of which the wealth depends very much upon their commerce and manufactures, with the rapid advances of our North American colonies, of which the wealth is founded altogether in agriculture. Through the greater part of Europe, the number of inhabitants is not supposed to double in less than five hundred years. In several of our North American colonies, it is found to double in twenty or five and twenty years. In Europe, the law of primogeniture, and perpetuities of different kinds, prevent the division of great estates, and thereby hinder the multiplication of small proprietors. A small proprietor, however, who knows every part of his little territory, who views it with all the affection which property, especially small property, naturally inspires, and who upon that account takes pleasure not only in cultivating but in adorning it, is generally of all improvers the most industrious, the most intelligent, and the most successful."
Again—"The capital, however, that is acquired to any country by commerce and manufactures, is all a very precarious and uncertain possession, till some part of it has been secured and realized in the cultivation and improvement of its lands. A merchant, it has been said very properly, is not necessarily the citizen of any particular country. It is in a great measure indifferent to him from what place he carries on his trade; and a very trifling disgust will make him remove his capital, and together with it all the industry which it supports, from one country to another. No part of it can be said to belong to any particular country, till it has been spread as it were over the face of that country, either in buildings, or in the lasting improvement of lands. No vestige now remains of the great wealth, said to have been possessed by the greater part of the Hanse towns, except in the obscure histories of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It is even uncertain where some of them were situated, or to what towns in Europe the Latin names given to some of them belong. But though the misfortunes of Italy in the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries greatly diminished the commerce and manufactures of the cities of Lombardy and Tuscany, those countries still continue to be among the most populous and best cultivated in Europe. The civil wars of Flanders, and the Spanish government which succeeded them, chased away the great commerce of Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges. But Flanders still continues to be one of the richest, best cultivated, and most populous provinces of Europe. The ordinary revolutions of war and government easily dry up the sources of that wealth which arises from commerce only. That which arises from the more solid improvements of agriculture, is much more durable, and cannot be destroyed but by those more violent convulsions occasioned by the depredations of hostile and barbarous nations continued for a century or two together; such as those that happened for some time before and after the fall of the Roman empire in the western provinces of Europe."
Again—"The French have been particularly forward to favor their own manufactures by restraining the importation of such foreign goods as could come into competition with them. In this consisted a great part of the policy of Mr. Colbert, who, notwithstanding his great abilities, seems in this case to have been imposed upon by the sophistry of merchants and manufacturers, who are always demanding a monopoly against their countrymen."
Again—"Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consu-
mer. The maxim is so perfectly self-evident, that it would be absurd to attempt to prove it. But in the mercantile system, the interest of the consumer is almost constantly sacrificed to that of the producer; and it seems to consider production, and not consumption, as the ultimate end and object of all industry and commerce."
Here then we have the opinions of Mr. Jefferson, and the opinions of Adam Smith. So far as they go they coincide. There is only this difference between them, that those of the latter are more energetic and go still further than those of the former. Let it be noted too, that the opinions of the enlightened author of the Wealth of Nations are given, after a most elaborate and profound investigation of the sources of national prosperity, and of the means heretofore made use of to draw them into action.
No man but the editor of the Register has ever dreamt that such opinions evinced hostility to trade or manufactures generally, much less to the traders and manufacturers of his own country. And with as little truth can a like charge be preferred against the President. Adam Smith, in other parts of the same work, avows himself the friend of these sources of benefit; while the President, in some of the most deliberate official writings, makes a similar declaration.
A few words more and we have done. In many of the European nations, such is the ignorance or injustice of rulers, and so prejudiced are the minds of their subjects, that the interests of agriculture, commerce and manufactures, in their existing state, are at war with each other. That which benefits the one is often an injury to the other. But in this country, the principles of our policy are so just, and the minds of our citizens so exempt from prejudice, that but one common interest animates the three classes. They are the best friends of each other. Why? Because little has been done for the exclusive benefit of either. Government has either done nothing, or acted impartially in what it has done. Hence our prosperity and our harmony. While these causes continue, they will produce like effects. When they cease, we shall go the same road with other nations. Let then the superficial politician, who from genuine conviction, or interested motives, is either the real or the affected friend of either class, beware, lest by overacting his part, he does not expose himself to the derision of those whose favor he courts:
Baltimore, August 17. On the evening of the 15th, the officers in the Farmers' Bank were chosen, viz: John Muir, President; Jonathan Pinkney, cashier; Samuel Maynard, teller; Thomas Shaw, book-keeper; General John Davidson, discount clerk; Lewis Green, runner; James Cleary, Porter.
A friend from Annapolis has politely favored us with the following list of gentlemen chosen directors for the Farmers' Bank of Maryland, for the Western Shore:
John F. Mercer, Arthur Shaff, John Gibson, William Steuart, Lewis Duvall, James Mackubin, Horatio Ridout, Richard H. Harwood, Joseph Wilkinson, Robert Bowie, Henry H. Chapman, William Somerville, Thomas Davis, John Tyler, Frisby Tilghman, James J. Wilkinson, Benedict E. Hall, Upton Bruce. For the city of Annapolis & Anne Arundel county.
COMBINED FLEETS.—By the arrival of the ship Sally, capt. Webb, at Newburyport, in 40 days from Liverpool, we learn that upon the 6th of July, in lat. 43, 30, long. 22, 30, she fell in with the combined French and Spanish fleets. They put on board the ship Sally, the lady of the governor of Montserrat, and Messrs. Drysdale and Cook, late supercargoes of two English merchantmen captured off Antigua, and burnt by the French fleet. The fleets were but 700 miles west of Ferrol, and steering a direct course for that port, so that their object must be to drive off or capture the blocking vessels, form a junction with the Ferrol squadron, and then proceed to the attack of the Channel fleet. Should Lord Nelson proceed to the Mediterranean or not arrive in time to check the career of his flying foe, the consequence may be of a most alarming and fatal nature to the safety and prosperity of the British Isles.
New York pap: ALEXANDER MCCORMICK, has received from New York by the schooner Enterprise, Capt. Ellis; 20 barrels Prime PORK which he offers for sale. August 23—3t
NOW PUBLISHED, By G. DOUGLAS, BALTIMORE. Forensic Eloquence: SKETCHES OF TRIALS IN IRELAND FOR HIGH TREASON, &c. INCLUDING THE SPEECHES OF MR. CURRAN At length, to which are prefixed, A brief sketch of the History of Ireland, and a Biographical account of Mr. CURRAN with an Elegant engraved Likeness of that orator. CEDENT ARMA TOGAE, CONCEDAT LAUREA LINGUAE. NOSCE HAEC OMNIA EST ADOLESCENTULIS. SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS. August 23—3t
BOARDING SCHOOL FOR YOUNG LADIES. MRS. LEE takes this method of returning her grateful acknowledgments to her friends and the Ladies and Gentlemen of Washington and its vicinity, for their liberal patronage, and solicits a continuance of their favors which she hopes to deserve by a strict attention to their morals, as well as the other branches of education, and Hatters herself from her long residence in Paris, that she is enabled to teach the French language with peculiar advantage. TERMS AS FOLLOWS: Dolls. Board and Tuition, per quarter, 30 Nedle and Fancy work, English Writing, and Arithmetic, 5 French, 4 Small children, 4 Pennsylvania avenue, three doors west of the President's square August 23—6t
REMOVAL. THE CITY TREASURER'S OFFICE and COUNCIL HALL, is removed to the Brick House next west of the Theatre. August 23—w3t
ISAIAH BALDONTON, & SON, At the sign of the Fan and Screen, No 34 Front Street, Old town, and 1 Hanover Street (nearly opposite Evans's Tavern) Baltimore. Manufacture and sell the following articles: viz—Fans for cleaning wheat, Wire Sates of the most approved kinds, Rolling & Standing Screens (for merchant mills, and flaxseed Rolling Screens may be had on the common construction, or on Mr. Baldontons improved plan, which is found to be superior to any heretofore in use for separating garlic from wheat) Riddles and Seives for corn, coal, ore, barley, rye, oats, flax and clover seeds, wheat, cockle, lime, sand, stuff, flax, and brick dust. Woven Wire for milk houses and cellar windows, together with all kinds of wire work, of which they constantly keep a complete and extensive assortment. Orders for any of the above articles left with Wm. Morgan, George Town, or forwarded to them will be executed with punctuality and dispatch moderate terms. 8th Mo. 23—
ELEGANT HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, FOR SALE.
AT PUBLIC AUCTION on Monday the 2nd day of September next, at 10 o'clock in the morning, at the house of Mr. DAVID RAWN, deceased, a variety of Household and Kitchen Furniture, consisting of Tables, Chairs, Bureau, Bedstead, Beds, Bedding, Carpets and Currains, one superb double barrel'd Fowling Piece, one Franklin, and one ten plate Stove together with a variety of other articles, too lengthy to enumerate. Purchasers to pay cash for all sums not exceeding 20 dollars, and six months credit for all purchases above 20 dollars with approved indorsed notes, (negotiable at the Branch Bank of this city) bearing interest from the day of sale. All persons having demands against the estate are requested to bring in their accounts for settlement within three weeks from this time. ELIZA RAWN. JOHN H. CHEYNEY, Adm's. August 23—3t
ELIAS B. CALDWELL, ATTORNEY AT LAW, has removed his Office, to the house lately occupied by Mr. Law, on Capitol Hill. Washington, July 26—tf
NOTICE. THE Battalion court for the 1st battalion of the Riflegion of Militia of the district of Columbia will meet at Rhodes's tavern, in the city of Washington, on Saturday the 24th inst. at 10 o'clock in the morning. And the Court of the 2d battalion of same legion will meet at McLaughlin's Union tavern in George-town, on Saturday the 31st inst. at 10 o'clock in the morning. The Legionary court will meet the 13th September next at Rhodes's tavern in the city of Washington, at 10 o'clock in the morning. By order, WM. D. BEALL, acting adjt. August 19.—1awt133p.
RAGS. The highest price, in Cash or Books will be given for any quantity of clean Linen and Cotton Rags, by Raphe Conrad and Co. Capitol Hill June 24—

PUBLIC SALE.
IN virtue of an order issued from the hon. court of Calvert county, will be offered at public sale, on the 28th day of August next, (if fair, if not, the first fair day thereafter) at the late mansion of Benjamin Ward, deceased, at the hour of 12 o'clock, a valuable plantation, containing 184 acres of Land, lying on the Chesapeake Bay, in Calvert county. The improvements are a small dwelling house, kitchen, tobacco house, corn house, and other out houses; a large orchard of fine fruit. This fertile spot has every advantage, it abounds in heavy timber, and has a great proportion of rich low ground, capable of being made into meadow at a very trifling expense. The soil is extremely rich—tobacco, wheat, rye, and Indian corn, grow with little labour—the neighbourhood affords a society of very genteel and friendly people—places of worship surround it—convenient to mills, and a ware house for the inspection of tobacco within two miles of the premises. This Land will be laid off in small parcels, or sold all together, at any best suit purchasers—bond with approved security will be required, carrying interest from the day of sale, payable in two equal payments, the first in 12, and the last in 18 months from the day of sale.
WM. M. CAMCAUD, DAVID L. WREMS, CHAS. WILLIAMSON, Commissioners.
July 3—ep8w
Twenty Dollars Reward.
STRAYED or was stolen from the commons of the city of Washington on the night of the 4th inst. a Bright Bay Riding Horse, about eight years old and fifteen hands high—he has a star in his forehead, and as well as it is recollected one of his fore feet is white—he canters, paces and trots, and possesses great spirit—he has had for some time a fore on his back which has prevented his being rode. His tail is cut square and is trimmed remarkably close. The above reward will be paid on the recovery of the horse, and if stolen, for the conviction of the thief, and ten dollars will be paid for the delivery of the horse to the subscriber and all reasonable charges.
WILLIAM BRENT.
Aug. 12—tf.
To be Sold,
Or exchanged for other property in the City, or its vicinity.
TWO valuable and contiguous TRACTS of LAND in the state of Kentucky, the one containing 80 acres, and the other 62 1/2 acres, by late survey. They are under old and indisputable titles of more than twenty years, and situate in a populous county, adjoining flourishing settlements. All taxes thereon have been duly paid.
Apply to the subscriber, JOHN BECKLEY, City of Washington, July 17—cp2m
Fifty Dollars Reward.
RANAWAY on the 9th inst. from the subscriber's farm near Frederick Town, (Maryland) a dark mulatto fellow named MOSES,
But commonly called LANHAM, He was raised near Piscataway and sold by a Mr. Burress to the late James Marshall, deceased, of Frederick county. Lanham is about thirty years of age, nearly six feet high, stout and very active, fond of spirituous liquors, has been accustomed to working aboard shipping, likewise in a brick yard and is well acquainted with the management of horses and with the ferrying business; he is a very artful fellow, and I expect he has obtained a pass and will pass under the name of Samuel Beall. He had on and took with him an cznaburg shirt & trowsers, a blue cloth coat with a black silk velvet cape bound with silk ferretting, a black fur hat nearly new, a pair of shoes nearly new, an old drab fustout coat, with sundry other clothing not recollected; he has a scar under one of his eyes but it is not recollected which, somewhat hard of hearing and round shouldered. From his acquaintance in the city of Washington I suppose he has made for that place or some other seaport. Whoever takes up and secures said fellow in any jail so that I get him again shall receive if taken ten miles from home eight dollars, if twenty miles sixteen dollars, if thirty miles twenty dollars, if fifty miles thirty dollars, and if a greater distance the above reward with all reasonable charges if brought home.
JOHN L. HARDING.
N. B. Masters of vessels and others are cautioned against harboring said runaway at their peril. July 26—1m
STELLE'S HOTEL & CITY TAVERN.
THE Subscriber takes this method of thanking his friends and the public for their favors whilst on the Capitol Square and begs leave to acquaint them that having purchased and now occupying the tavern, late Tunnicliff's hotel; which he has commenced enlarging and improving—he respectfully solicits a continuance of the patronage of his friends and the public, assuring them that 'tis his full determination to fit up his present hotel, and to conduct it, as to merit, he hopes, the preference of the public travelling, as well as those coming to the permanent seat of the Government of our Land of Liberty.
PONTIUS D. STELLE. Washington City, March 25—tf
Ten Dollars Reward.
WAS missed on Sunday, the 5th of May a double faced silver Watch, maker's name Crosthwatc, Dublin, and in the outer case was a watch with Mr. Park's name of Philadelphia. Whoever will bring the said watch to the office of the National Intelligencer, shall receive the above reward, and no questions will be asked.
May 10—tf.
1500 DOLLARS REWARD.
HIGHWAY ROBBERY.
YESTERDAY about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, Mr. JOHN PETER, an Officer of the BANK OF COLUMBIA, was stopped on horseback on the road between this town and Alexandria, and within about 2 miles of the latter place, by some unknown villain, shot through the body with a pistol, and robbed of a sum of money in his possession belonging to this Institution which he was taking to Alexandria, for the purpose of exchanging with the banks there.
The whole sum taken amounted Eighteen Thousand One hundred and Fourteen Dollars and Sixty five Cents, made up in several packages, among which were,
 1 post note of the Bank of Virginia, Dol. C. 300  1 do. of the same, for 300  1 do. of the same, for 300  1 do. of the same, for 450  1 do. of the Bank of Potomac in favor of Joseph Riddle by him endorsed to Washington Bowie, dated 6 July, 1805. No 117 149 65 
A check of the Union Bank, on the Bank of Alexandria, drawn by R. Higginbotham, cashier, in favor of Greatham and Deverau, by them endorsed and by Benj. Stoddert, and C. Smith, Teller.
There were also a parcel of post notes of the Bank of Alexandria for 100 dollars, and for 50 dollars, each. The remainder was in current notes, principally of the banks of Alexandria and Potomac, and some few of the Bank of Virginia of different sizes and denominations.
As the attack was sudden, and the wound received of a nature to deprive Mr. Peter instantly of his senses, (although it is now hoped he will recover) the description obtained may not be very accurate—as far as we are informed—the man who perpetrated the act, is of middle stature, good countenance, and had a genteel appearance. He had on a dark blue or black coat, nankeen pantalettes, shoes, and a black hat, he was on foot and alone at the time, but may have had accomplices concealed, and will probably change his clothes.
FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS will be given to any person or persons, who will detect and bring to conviction the robber: and ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS additional for the recovery of the whole of the money, or in proportion for any smaller sum recovered—should there be accomplices, and one of them make a discovery, so that it leads to the conviction of the robber, or to the recovery of the money he shall receive the above reward, and interest will be made to obtain his pardon.
WILLIAM WHANN, Cashier of the Bank of Columbia. George Town, July 31—
TO BE SOLD, AT PUBLIC VENDUE,
At Gadsby's Hotel, in Alexandria, on Monday the 16th day of September, at 12 o'clock at noon.
ALL that TRACT of LAND late Preffy Thornton, Esquire's, situated in Northumberland county, Virginia, lying immediately on the Potomac river. The following description is given of this property by persons well acquainted with it:—It contains 2,500 acres, 1700 acres of which are the most valuable low grounds on the river, between 3 and 400 acres heavily timbered, and the remainder very high land extremely productive. The soil of this tract is equal to any in the state for the cultivation of corn, wheat, tobacco, timothy, and small grain of all kinds. On this tract are a large commodious Brick Mansion House and two Offices, a large Brick Stable, valuable Barn, Cow House, and many other out houses. The Orchards and Garden contain a variety of valuable fruit trees, and the waters abound with excellent fish and oysters. It is situated about a day's sail from Baltimore Alexandria and Norfolk. There are two good mill seats for grist and saw mills on the estate, and plenty of cedar and chestnut timber, for which an excellent market may be found at the city of Washington.
The terms of sale are—one fourth cash, one fourth in one year, one fourth in 18 months and the residue in two years from the day of sale. The payments to be secured by bonds, with mortgages on the premises, and to be on interest from the day of sale.
For further information, application may be made in behalf of the subscriber, Thomas Robinson, to Richard Peters, jun. attorney at law in the city of Philadelphia, or to William Lewis, in the same city, (Philadelphia.)
THOMAS ROBINSON, W. LEWIS. June 19—ep Sep.16
Twenty Dollars Reward.
Ran away from the subscriber's plantation near this place, on Monday the 10th of
PHIL, Who commonly calls himself Phil Brice, a dark mulatto, aged about twenty four years, five feet eight or nine inches high, remarkably polite, speaks quick (though with difficulty) when spoken to, his clothing unknown. Having acquaintances in Baltimore, Alexandria and the City of Washington, I think it probable he has gone to one of those places. The above reward will be paid to any person who shall bring him home, or ten dollars for lodging him in any jail, so that I get him again.
WM. B. BEANES. Upper Marlborough, July 12—w6:
Runaway Negro.
WAS committed to the jail of Frederick county, Maryland, on the 19th day of May last past, as a runaway, a negro man named JIM, who says he is the property of a certain John Chew Thomas. He is about 23 years of age, five feet three inches high; has thick lips and long wool: His left hand and wrist have been considerably injured by a waggon. His clothes are, a striped gingham sailor-jacket, a swansdown waistcoat, white calfskin small clothes, woollen stockings, an old fur hat, and a muslin shirt. His owner is desired to release him, or he will be sold for his jail fees agreeably to law.
GEORGE CREAGER, Sheriff of Frederick County. June 12th—1805—1awgw.
CHARLES H. WARDEN, MERCHANT TAYLOR.
Has received from Philadelphia a handsome assortment of FALL goods, consisting of the best London and French superfine cloths, cashmeres, patent Bennet's cord, toilenettes, fancy and white Marceilles, black and figured silk, moleskins, fancy silk, Marceilles, constitution cords, velvets, Genoa cord, silk and fatten Florentines, superfine coating, knapped cloths, with a variety of other articles suitable for the winter season. N. B. Ladies habits, regimentals, and navy uniforms made in the first style of fashion. New Jersey avenue near the Capitol. December 20—tf
Twenty Dollars Reward
STRAYED or stolen from the subscriber on the night of the 4th instant, two BAY HORSES, one a large bay six years old, one of his eyes appears to be injured, his tail bobbed very short, shod all round; the other an old horse, with two white hind feet, several white saddle spots, has a switch tail, which has been lately cut at the ends; the first accustomed to the carriage, trots & paces, the second made use of as a road horse, trots easy, but paces badly, very lately shod all round. As I am satisfied they have been stolen, I will double the reward, on conviction of the thief or thieves, and on getting the horses.
DANIEL CARROLL of Dud'n. July 12—F&Wim.
On a liberal credit.
THE subscriber will dispose of at private sale, his estate called Chichester, lying on the eastern branch, immediately off the city of Washington. This tract of land containing 697 acres is laid off in lots from 83 to 144 acres for the convenience of purchasers. Plats of the estate and the terms of sale are in the hands of colonel Hanson from the navy yard, and Charles Wayman of George Town. The lots will be shewn by Mr. Wedden, living on the premises, near the Eastern Branch bridge.
ANTHONY ADDISON. Barnaby, 12th June 1805—tf
SALE at AUCTION.
ON the 7th of October at 11 o'clock in the forenoon will be sold at public auction (at the COLUMBIAN INN in GEORGE TOWN) a handsome assortment of HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, consisting of beds, bedsteads and furniture, mahogany dining tables, side board, walnut tables, locking glasses, carpets, chairs, bras and irons, fenders, shovels and tongs, &c. &c. and a great variety of other articles—a liberal credit will be given for all sums above one hundred dollars.
JOHN TRAVERS, Au. d. Aug. 21—2awtf District of Columbia, County of Washington, to wit.
ON the Petition of ROBERT DILLON, an insolvent debtor confined in the prison of Washington county for debt. Notice is hereby given to the creditors of the said Robert Dillon that on the 26th day of August inst. at 9 o'clock, A. M. at the court room in the Capitol the oath prescribed by the act of Congress for the relief of insolvent debtors within the district of Columbia will be administered to the said Robert Dillon and a trustee appointed unless sufficient cause then and there be shown to the contrary.
It is ordered that this notice be published twice in the National Intelligencer and Washington Federalist, before that day.
By order of the hon. Wm. Cranch, Assistant Judge of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia.
WM. BRENT, Ck. August 21—2t
District of Columbia, Washington county, to wit:
ON the Petition of JANE BURCH an insolvent debtor confined in the prison of Washington county for debt. Notice is hereby given to the creditors of the said Jane Burch, that on the 26th day of August inst. at 9 o'clock A. M. at the court room in the Capitol, the oath prescribed by the act of Congress for the relief of insolvent debtors within the district of Columbia will be administered to the said Jane Burch and a trustee appointed unless sufficient cause then and there be shown to the contrary.
It is ordered that this notice be published twice in the National Intelligencer and Washington Federalist before that day.
By the hon. Wm. Cranch, assistant judge of the circuit court of the district of Columbia.
WM. BRENT, Ck. August 21—2t
Rapine, Conrad, & Co.
On New Jersey Avenue Capitol Hill,
HAVE just received and offer for sale, at a low price, a quantity of PERUVIAN BARK by the pound and smaller quantity.
They have also, lately received an addition to their former assortment of books and stationery. July 10—
For Sale
IN the county of Prince William, Virginia, Neabico furnace and its appendages, with four or five thousand acres of land adjoining, near the town of Dumfries, and within four or five miles of the Potomac—the soil is generally adapted to small grain, and if too considerable for one purchaser, will be laid off in Lots suitable for small farms—a description of the land is thought unnecessary—as those wishing to purchase will no doubt first view it: the payments required will be one third cash, and the other two thirds in annual instalments, to be secured by a mortgage on the land; and no deed given until the last payment is made; any person wishing to purchase, may know the terms by applying to Mr. Thomas T. Page, living near the premises, who is fully authorized by me to sell the whole or any part.
JOHN TAYLOR. August 16—3m. N. B. A valuable mine bank in Maryland may be had with the furnace if required. J. T.
SULLIVAN'S LECTURES,
PROPOSALS
By THOMAS B. WAIT & Co.
FOR PRINTING, BY SUBSCRIPTION,
AN HISTORICAL TREATISE
ON THE
FEUDAL LAW,
AND THE
CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF ENGLAND;
With a Commentary on Magna Charta, and Illustrations of many of the English Statutes.
BY THE LATE
FRANCIS STOUGHTON SULLIVAN, L. L. D. Royal Professor of Common Law in the University of Dublin.
To which authorities are added, and a Discourse is prefixed, concerning the Laws and Government of England,
BY GILBERT STUART, L. L. D.
THE Lectures of Professor Sullivan, delivered to the Students in the University of Dublin, are in very high repute among all Lawyers of eminence, and have been uniformly recommended as an elementary book to those young gentlemen who begin the study of Law with a view to render themselves respectable in the profession.
However obsolescent the feudal policy may now seem to be, it having gradually disappeared as mankind grew more civilized and became better acquainted with their natural and inalienable rights and privileges; yet a research into the history of the government of jurisprudence of the nations of Europe, will satisfy any one, that many consequences of that system still exist and influence the opinions and decisions of the highest and most enlightened tribunals of justice. Every author who has undertaken to give a regular and systematic account of the rise and progress of modern nations, has felt himself obliged to resort to the history of feuds and feudal rights, as the fundamental principle from which all existing civil and political institutions have taken their rise; and every jurist who has employed himself in expounding the constitution and laws of his country, has gone to the same source for the correct materials of his essays and dissertations. Robertson, in his history of the Emperor Charles V. has with great beauty and perspicuity illustrated so much of the feudal policy as was necessary to enable the scientific reader to understand that valuable book; and Sir Wm. Blackstone has in the course of his commentaries, led the student to a contemplation of the ancient tenures, many of which depend upon the doctrine of feuds, as established in England by the Norman conqueror.
But in both those invaluable productions, the feudal policy was adverted to, only as incidental to the principal object of the authors, and therefore cannot be supposed to furnish so complete and satisfactory an account, as would be given by so distinguished a lawyer as professor Sullivan, who declares the great purpose of his lectures to be the full discussion of the subject, which was of necessity but partially considered by the other writers.
This work has become so scarce in this country, as to be seldom seen, even on the shelves of a practising lawyer; a fact to be accounted for only by the difficulty of obtaining the book: for it cannot well be supposed that any one of the profession, who has higher views than the mere pecuniary advantages of the practice, would willingly neglect an enquiry into those ancient institutions, upon which, notwithstanding the lapse of ages, most modern improvements are founded. But it is not to the profession alone, that this book may be considered useful. In this rising empire, where local knowledge to a certain degree is claimed by all, and actually possessed by many; a book which succinctly and perspicuously brings to view the laws, institutions, manners and customs of those nations from which our English ancestors descended, must be peculiarly useful, as it will enable young politicians to trace all our civil regulations to their source, and thus to account methodically and scientifically for many modern usages and practices, of which their knowledge is extremely superficial. In this book they will see how our ancestors struggled for the establishment of those privileges which artful monarchs and a proud nobility were continually attempting to destroy; and they will also learn that the perfecting industry of the people, aided by the wealth which their skill and enterprise brought into the country, finally obtained a complete victory in the establishment of principles and customs, which, transplanted into America by our progenitors, terminated in those glorious constitutions which distinguish the people of America, for liberty and happiness, from every other people on the earth.
CONDITIONS.
The work shall be elegantly printed, in two octavo volumes, on fine wove paper, with a new and beautiful type.
It will be delivered to Subscribers, bound in calf, at Five Dollars; and in boards, at Four Dollars.—To non-subscribers the price will be enhanced. No money will be required till the delivery of the work.
Those who subscribe for ten sets shall have one gratis. To booksellers the usual allowance will be made.
Portland, June 24—
The above work will be printed from a correct London Edition.—The few copies of an Irish Edition now circulating in this country are considered by the first law characters as extremely incorrect, and not to be relied on as historical authority.
HISTORY
Of the West Indies :
A WORK in the contents of which every citizen of America must be interested, whether devoted to business, or desirous of information through the medium of amusement.
A new & revised edition of Mr. EDWARDS's History of the West Indies, with a third volume, (completed by its amiable author a short time previous to his death) has lately been published in London. This third volume contains the interesting and important history, with a large Map of the Island of St. Domingo, or Hispaniola, as also that of Tobago; likewise a history of the war in the West Indies from its commencement in 1793, and a tour of Sir William Young through several of the islands. It is accompanied by a highly finished portrait of Mr. Edwards, a history of his life written by himself, and a prefatory advertisement by Sir William Young, Baronet, M. P. F. R. S. &c. under whose editorship it has been given to the public.
The subscriber, impressed with a sense of the great importance a general knowledge of the History, civil and commercial, of the West Indies, must be to every citizen of America, and of the great celebrity of the above work, proposes to print it by subscription, and respectfully offers the following for public patronage and encouragement.
Proposals for Printing,
From the London copy, 3 volumes quarto, THE HISTORY, CIVIL AND COMMERCIAL, Of the British Colonies in the West Indies.
BY BRYAN EDWARDS, ESQ. F. R. S. A. S. Containing, with a variety of other matter:—
 A political and topographical survey of the sugar islands.  A comprehensive account of the ancient and present inhabitants, agriculture, productions, laws, government, constitution and commerce.  An historical review of the slave trade; including observations on the character, genius, disposition, and situations of the enslaved Africans.  An historical review of St. Domingo, comprehending an account of the former government of the French part of that island, its political state, populations, productions, and exports; a narrative of the calamities which have desolated the island ever since the year 1789; and a detail of the transactions of the British army in that island.  Also, a tour through the islands of Barbadoes, St. Vincent, Antigua, Tobago and Grenada, by Sir William Young, Baronet, &c. And  A history of the war in the West Indies from its commencement in 1793, &c. &c 
CONDITIONS.
It will be printed in four volumes, large octavo, on a perfectly new and beautiful type, and on a handsome large medium paper, agreeable to a specimen, which may be had at the subscriber's Book Store.
The price to subscribers to be three dollars the volume, in boards; each volume to be paid for on delivery.
With the last volume will be given an ATLAS, (without any additional price) containing the following maps, viz.
 1 A large general map of the West Indies.  2 A map of Jamaica.  3 Barbadoes.  4 Grenada.  5 St. Vincents.  6 Dominica.  7 St. Christophers.  8 Nevis.  9 Antigua.  10 Virgin islands.  11 St. Domingo, or Hispaniola.  12 Tobago. 
To prevent disappointment or complaint, it is now promised, that on the publication of the second volume the subscription price will be advanced to three dollars and a half the volume, and on the publication of the last volume the price will be again enhanced.
With the last volume, besides the Atlas, will be given an elegant engraving of the celebrated author. Also a list of the subscribers names.
The London copy of the foregoing work in three volumes cannot be sold in America, in boards, under sixty dollars.
JAMES HUMPHREYS.
Subscriptions are received by said Humphreys at his book-store the corner of Second and Walnut streets, and by the principal Booksellers through the Union. Philadelphia, July 15—
FOR SALE.
AN unfinished two story brick house with an excellent cellar fronting on Seventh street, east, square No. 907, in the city of Washington; if not disposed of at private sale previous to the 4th day of September next, it will on that day be offered at public sale, for terms apply to the subscriber.
And on the same day will positively be sold a frame house situated on the same street and square as the above property; and a quantity of household and kitchen furniture.
The vicinity of the above property to the navy yard renders it an object worthy of attention.
WILLIAM PROUT.
Aug. 12—
This is to give notice,
That the subscriber hath obtained from the Orphans Court of Washington county and district of Columbia, letters of administration on the personal estate of Joseph Hodgson, late of Washington city, deceased—all persons having claims against the said deceased, are hereby warned to exhibit the same, with the vouchers thereof to the subscriber, at or before the 20th day of January next, they may otherwise by law be excluded from all benefit of the said estate—Given under my hand this 29th day of July, 1805.
REBECCA HODGSON.
Aug. 5—1aw3w.