The national intelligencer and Washington advertiser. (Washington City [D.C.]), 1808-06-27 00:00:00

National Intelligencer.
WASHINGTON ADVERTISER.
VOL. VIII.
WASHINGTON CITY, PRINTED BY SAMUEL HARRISON SMITH, PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE.
NO. 1202.
FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
MONDAY, JUNE 27, 1808.
PAID IN ADVANCE.
CONGRESS.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
TUESDAY, APRIL 19.
A bill to authorise the President of the United States under certain conditions to suspend the embargo, having been received from the Senate, and referred to a Committee of the Whole—
The further consideration of Mr. Campbell's resolution was dispensed with; and the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, Mr. DESHA in the Chair, on the bill from the Senate.
Mr. RANDOLPH said that they had lately gotten into a strange habit of calling things by their wrong names. The other day said he, we received a bill from the Senate for making an addition to the peace establishment, without limitation; we christened the bill by the style and title of a bill to raise for a limited time an additional military force. Here is a bill authorising the President of the United States under certain conditions to suspend the operation of the embargo; and for certain conditions certainly none ever were nearer uncertainty than these are. What are the conditions? They are not positive, and of these, such as they are, the President at last is to determine. The President under certain conditions is to suspend the embargo, and when you enquire what those conditions are, you find them uncertainties—contingencies of which, when they happen, he is the sole and exclusive judge. Now if we do authorise the President to suspend the embargo under certain conditions, let us ascertain them. Let him not be uncertain. Let him not have a discretion whether he will suspend the embargo or not.
It is not my purpose now to recapitulate my former argument on this subject; but I do say that if the President of the United States is to have a discretion at all, it ought to be absolute and unqualified, not only substantially so but nominally so; and the objection to this bill is that under the pretence of qualification to discretion, under the mask (not by this intending any disrespect to the other branch of the legislature) of restricting the power, you do in fact give him an unqualified power; and no gentleman who reads the bill can for a moment hesitate to acknowledge the correctness and soundness of the doctrine. I rise not so much to enter into discussion (for I feel myself unable) as to offer an amendment, which, if it be lost in committee of the whole, I will reiterate in the House to ascertain its sense. I move therefore to strike out from the enacting clause in the first section to the end of it and insert "that the act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the U. S. and the several acts supplementary thereto shall be repealed, so far as they prohibit trade with France and her dependencies, and states associated in common cause with her, so soon as the U. S. shall be exempted from the operation of her decrees of the 21st Nov. 1806 and Dec. 1807, and the President of the U. S. shall have officially been notified thereof and shall have received assurances that the existing stipulations between the U. S. and France will be respected by her."
And be it further enacted, That the said acts shall be repealed so far as they prohibit trade with G. Britain, her dependencies and states associated in common cause with her, as soon as her orders of council of Nov. last shall be revoked, so far as they affect the commerce of the U. S.; and the President of the U. S. shall have received official assurances thereof, and that the neutral rights of the U. S. shall be respected by them. And the President of the U. S. shall be and he is hereby authorised and required, on the receipt of such assurances from either of the two belligerents, to notify the same forthwith by proclamation; Whereupon the embargo shall be removed in regard to such belligerents. And if such assurances be received from both belligerents, proclamation shall in like manner be forthwith issued; whereupon the acts aforesaid and the several acts supplementary thereto shall cease and determine."
I will state in a few words why I have not inserted in that amendment any condition respecting reparation
for the affair of the Chesapeake. It was not because the bill from the Senate contains no such principle; but because the embargo has never been considered that I recollect, certainly it was not so considered by the gentleman who moved the resolution, as a re-action on our part in consequence of that outrage; because the step was not taken till some time after that outrage; and because it was taken before we knew whether reparation would be made for the outrage or not. In fact it was never said by any gentleman who advocated it, to have any connection with that transgression which stood on its own demerits. The embargo grew out of the French decrees and British proclamation; and if justified by the British proclamation, was assuredly yet more justified by the orders of council which followed it. It was then a measure intended to meet the aggressions on our commerce by the two belligerents; and not a measure of resentment in consequence of the aggression on the Chesapeake. It is therefore that I have thought proper not to mingle subjects which at all times ought to have been and I understand now are kept separate and distinct.
Mr. QUINCY. Mr. Chairman—The amendment proposed to this bill by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Randolph) has for its object to limit the Executive discretion in suspending the embargo to certain specified events;—the removal of the French decrees: the revocation of the British orders. It differs from the bill, as it restricts the range of the President's power to relieve the people from this oppressive measure. In this point of view, it appears to me, even more objectionable than the bill itself. To neither can I yield my sanction. And as the view which I shall offer will be different from any which has been taken of this subject, I solicit the indulgence of the committee.
A few days, since when the principle of this bill was under discussion, in the form of a resolution, a wide field was opened. Almost every subject had the honors of debate except that which was the real object of it. Our British and French relations, the merits and demerits of the expired and rejected treaty, as well as those of the late negotiators and of the present administration; all were canvassed. I enter not upon these topics. They are of a high and most interesting nature. But their connexion with the principle of this bill is, to say the least, remote. There are considerations intimately connected with it, enough to interest our zeal and to awaken our anxiety.
The question referred to our consideration is, shall the President be authorised to suspend the Embargo on the occurrence of certain specified contingencies? The same question is included in the proposed amendment and the bill. Both limit the exercise of the power of suspension of the embargo to the occurrence of certain events. The only difference is that the discretion given by the former is more limited; that given by the latter is more liberal.
In the course of the former discussion a constitutional objection was raised which, if well founded, puts an end to both bill and amendment. It is impossible, therefore, not to give it a short examination. It was contended that the constitution had not given this House the power to authorise the President at his discretion to suspend a law. The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Key) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Randolph) both of great authority and influence, in this House, maintained this doctrine with no less zeal than eloquence. I place my opinion, with great diffidence, in the scale, opposite to theirs. But as my conviction is different, I must give the reasons for it; why I adhere to the old canons; those which have been received as the rule both of faith and practice, by every political sect, which has had power, ever since the adoption of the constitution, rather than to these new dogmas.
The constitution of the U. States, as I understand it, has in every part reference to the nature of things and the necessities of society. No portion of it was intended as a mere ground for the trial of technical skill, or of verbal ingenuity. The direct, express powers, with which it invests
Congress, are always to be so construed as to enable the people to attain the end, for which they were given. This is to be gathered from the nature of those powers, compared with the known exigencies of society and the other provisions of the constitution. If a question arise, as in this case concerning the extent of the incidental and implied powers, vested in us, by the constitution, the instrument itself contains the criterion, by which it is to be decided. We have authority to make "laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution" powers, unquestionably vested. Reference must be had to the nature of these powers to know what is "necessary and proper" for their wise execution. When this necessity and propriety appear, the constitution has enabled us to make the correspondent provisions. To the execution of many of the powers vested in us, by the constitution, a discretion is necessarily and properly incident. And when this appears from the nature of any particular power, it is certainly competent for us to provide by law that such discretion shall be exercised. Thus for instance the power to borrow money, must in its exercise be regulated, from its very nature, by circumstances, not always to be anticipated by the legislature, at the time of passing a law authorising a loan. Will any man contend that the legislature is necessitated to direct either absolutely that a certain sum shall be borrowed, or to limit the event on which the loan is to take place? Cannot it vest a general discretion, to borrow or not to borrow, according to the view which the Executive may possess of the state of the treasury and of the general exigencies of the country, particularly in cases where the loan is contemplated at some future day, when perhaps Congress is not in session, and when the state of the treasury, or of the country, cannot be foreseen? In the case of the two millions appropriated for the purchase of the Floridas, such a discretion was invested in the Executive. He was authorised "if necessary to borrow the sum or any part thereof." This authority he never exercised, and thus, according to the argument of gentleman on the other side, he has made null a legislative act. For so far as it depended upon his discretion, this not being exercised, it is a nullity. The power "to pay the debts of the United States" will present a case in which from the nature of the power, a discretion to suspend the operation of a law, may be necessary and proper to its execution. Congress by one law direct the Executive to pay off the eight per cent. stock. Will gentlemen seriously contend that by another it may not invest him with a general discretion to stop the payment; that is, to suspend the operation of the former law, if the state of the treasury, or even more generally, if the public good should in his opinion require? An epidemic prevails in one of our commercial cities; intercourse is prohibited with it; congress is about to terminate its session and the distemper still rages. Can it be questioned, that it is within our constitutional power, to authorise the President to suspend the operation of the law, whenever the public safety will permit? Whenever, in his opinion it is expedient? The meanest individual in society, in the most humble transactions of business, can avail himself of the discretion of his confidential agent, in cases where his own cannot be applied. Is it possible, that the combined wisdom of the nation is debarred from investing a similar discretion, whenever, from the nature of the particular power, it is necessary and proper to its execution?
The power of suspending laws, against which we have so many warnings in history, was a power exercised, contrary to the law, or in denial of its authority, and not under the law and by virtue of its express investment. Without entering more minutely into the argument, I cannot doubt but that Congress does possess the power to authorise the President by law to exercise a discretionary suspension of a law. A contrary doctrine would lead to multiplied inconveniences; and would be
wholly inconsistent with the proper execution of some of the powers of the constitution. It is true that this, like every other power, is liable to abuse. But we are not to forego a healthful action, because, in its excess, it may be injurious.
The expediency of investing the Executive with such an authority, is always a critical question. In this case, from the magnitude of the subject, and the manner in which the embargo oppresses all our interests, the inquiry into our duty in relation to it, is most solemn and weighty. It is certain some provision must be made touching the embargo, previous to our adjournment. A whole people is laboring under a most grievous compression. All its active hopes are frustrated. All its industry stagnant. Its numerous products hastening to their market, are stopped in their course. A dam is thrown across the current, and every hour the strength and the tendency towards resistance, is accumulating. The scene we are now witnessing is altogether unparalleled in history. The tales of fiction have no parallel for it. A new writ is executed upon a whole people. Not, indeed, the old monarchal writ, ne exeat regnum , but a new republican writ, ne exeat rempublicam . Free men, in the pride of their liberty, have restraints imposed on them, which despotism never exercised. They are fastened down to the soil by the enchantment of law; and their property vanishes in the very process of preservation. It is impossible for us to separate and leave such a people, at such a moment as this, without administering some opiate to their distress. Some hope, however distant, of alleviation must be proffered—some prospect of relief opened. Otherwise justly might we fear for the result of such an unexampled pressure. Who can say what counsels despair might suggest, or what weapons it might furnish?
Some provision then, in relation to the embargo is unavoidable. The nature of it is the enquiry. Three courses have been proposed: to repeal it; to stay here and watch it; to leave with the executive the power to suspend it. Concerning repeal I will say nothing. I respect the known and immutable determination of the majority of this House. However convinced I may be, that repeal is the only wise and probably the only safe course, I cannot persuade myself to urge arguments, which have been often repeated, and to which, so far from granting them any weight, very few seem willing to listen. The end to which I aim will not counteract the settled plan of policy. I consider the embargo as a measure from which we are not to recede, at least not during the present session. And my object of research is, in what hands, and under what auspices it shall be left, so as best to effect its avowed purpose and least to injure the community. Repeal, then, is out of the question. Shall we stay by and watch? This has been recommended. Watch? What? "Why the crisis." And do gentlemen seriously believe that any crisis, which events in Europe are likely to produce will be either prevented or ameliorated, by such a body as this, remaining, during the whole summer, perched upon this hill?
To the tempest which is abroad we can give no direction; over it we have no control. It may spend its force on the ocean, now desolate by our laws, or it may lay waste our shores. We have abandoned the former, and for the latter, though we have been six months in session, we have prepared no adequate shield. Besides, in my apprehension, it is the first duty of this House to expedite the return of its members to their constituents. We have been six months in continued session. We begin, I fear to lose our sympathies for those whom we represent. What can we know in this wilderness, of the effects of our measures, upon civilized and commercial life? We see nothing, we feel nothing, but through the intervention of newspapers, or of letters. The one obscured by the filth of party—the other often distorted by personal feeling or by private interest. It is our immediate, our indispensable duty, to mingle with the mass of our brethren and by direct intercourse to learn their will; to realise the temperature of their minds and to ascertain their sen-
timents concerning our measures. The only course that remains is to leave with the Executive the power to suspend the embargo. But the degree of power with which he ought to be invested, is made a question. Shall he be limited only by his sense of the public good, to be collected from all the unforeseen circumstances which may occur during the recess; or shall it be exercised only on the occurrence of certain specified contingencies? The bill proposes the last mode. It also contains other provisions highly exceptional and dangerous; inasmuch as it permits the President to raise the embargo, "in part or in whole" and authorises him to exercise an unlimited discretion as to the penalties and restrictions he may lay upon the commerce he shall allow. My objections to the bill, therefore, are—first, that it limits the exercise of the executive as to the whole embargo, to particular events, which if they do not occur, no discretion can be exercised, and let the necessity of abandoning the measure be, in other respects, ever so great, the specified events not occurring, the embargo is absolute at least until the ensuing session; next, that if the events do happen, the whole of the commerce he may in his discretion set free, is entirely at his mercy; the door is opened to every species of favoritism, personal or local. This power may not be abused; but it ought not to be trusted. The true, the only safe ground on which this measure, during our absence, ought to be placed is, that which was taken in the year 1794. The President ought to have authority to take off the prohibition, whenever, in his judgment the public good shall require; not partially, not under arbitrary bonds and restrictions; but totally, if at all. I know that this will be rung in the popular ear, as an unlimited power. Dictatorships, protectorships, "shadows dive will through into the memory." But let gentlemen weigh the real nature of the power I advocate, and they will find it not so enormous as it at first appears, and in effect much less than the bill itself proposes to invest. In the one case he has the simple and solitary power of raising or retaining the prohibition, according to his view of the public good. In the other he is not only the judge of the events; specified in the bill, but also of the degree of commerce to be permitted, of the place from which and to which it is to be allowed; he is the judge of its nature, and has the power to impose whatever regulation he pleases. Surely there can be no question but that the latter power is of much more magnitude and more portentous than the former. I solicit gentlemen to lay aside their prepossessions and to investigate what the substantial interests of this country requires; to consider by what dispositions this measure may be made least dangerous to the tranquility and interest of this people; and most productive of that peculiar good, which is avowed to be its object. I address not those who deny our constitutional power to invest a discretion to suspend, but I address the great majority, who are friendly to this bill, who, by adopting it, sanction the constitutionality of the grant of fresh authority; to whom, therefore, the degree of discretion is a fair question of expediency. In recommending that a discretion, not limited by events, should be vested in the Executive, I can have no personal wish to augment his power. He is no political friend of mine. I deem essential both for the tranquility of the people and for the success of the measure, that such a power should be committed to him. Neither personal nor party feelings shall prevent me from advocating a measure, in my estimation salutary to the most important interests of this country. It is true that I am among the earliest and the most uniform opponents of the embargo. I have seen nothing to vary my original belief, that its policy was equally cruel to individuals and mischievous to society. As a weapon to control foreign powers, it seemed to me, dubious in its effect, uncertain in its operation; of all possible hostile machinery (the most difficult to set up, and the most expensive to maintain) As a means to preserve our resources, no thing could, to my mind, be more ill adapted. The best guarantees of the interest society has in the wealth of the na-

bers which compose it, are the industry, intelligence and enterprise of the individual proprietors, strengthened as they always are by knowledge of business and quickened by that which gives the keenest edge to human ingenuity—self interest. When all the property of a multitude is at hazard, the simplest and the surest way of securing the greatest portion, is not to limit individual exertion, but to stimulate it; not to conceal the nature of the exposure, but, by giving a full knowledge of the state of things, to leave the wit of every proprietor free, to work out the salvation of his property, according to the opportunities he may discern. Notwithstanding the decrees of the belligerents, there appeared to me a field wide enough to occupy and reward mercantile enterprise. If we left commerce at liberty, we might, according to the fable, lose some of her golden eggs, but if we crushed commerce, the parent which produced them, and with her, our future hopes perished. Without entering into the particular details, whence these conclusions resulted, it is enough that they were such as satisfied my mind as to the duty of opposition to the system, in its incipient state, and in all the restrictions which have grown out of it. But the system is adopted. May it be successful! It is not to diminish, but to increase the chance of that success, I urge that a discretion, unlimited by events, should be vested in the Executive. I shall rejoice if this great miracle be worked. I shall congratulate my country, if the experiment shall prove, that the old world can be controlled by the fear of being excluded from the commerce of the new. Happy shall I be, if on the other side of this dark valley of the shadow of death, through which our commercial hopes are passing, shall be found regions of future safety and felicity.
Among all the propositions offered to this House, no man has suggested, that we ought to rise and leave this embargo until our return, pressing upon the people, without some power of suspension vested in the executive. Why this uniformity of opinion? The reason is obvious: the greatness of the comparison. If the people were left six months without hope, no man could anticipate the consequences. All agree that such an experiment would be unwise and dangerous. Now precisely the same reasons which induce the majority not to go away without making some provision for its removal, on which to feed popular expectation, is conclusive in my mind, that the discretion proposed to be invested, should not be limited by contingencies.
The embargo power, which now holds in its palsying gripe all the hopes of this nation, is distinguished by two characteristics of material import, in deciding what control shall be left over it during our recess. I allude to its greatness and its novelty.
As to its greatness, nothing is like it. Every class of men feels it. Every interest in the nation is affected by it. The merchant, the farmer, the planter, the mechanic, the laboring poor; all, all are sinking under its weight. But there is this peculiar in it; that there is no equality in its nature. It is not like taxation, which raises revenue according to the average of wealth; burdening the rich and letting the poor go free. But it presses upon the particular classes of society, in an inverse ratio to the capacity of each to bear it. From those who have much it takes, indeed, something. But from those who have little, it takes all. For what hope is left to the industrious poor, when enterprise, activity and capital are proscribed their legitimate exercise? This power resembles the mild influences of an intelligent mind, balancing the interests and conditions of men, and so conducting a complicated machine as to make inevitable pressure bear upon its strongest parts. But it is like one of the blind visitations of nature; a tornado or a whirlwind. It sweeps away the weak; it only strips the strong. The humble plant, uprooted, is overwhelmed by the tempest. The oak escapes with the loss of nothing except its annual honors. It is true the sheriff does not enter any man's house to collect a tax from his property. But want knocks at his door and poverty thrusts his face into the window. And what relief can the rich extend? They sit upon their heaps and feel them mouldering into ruins under them. The regulations of society forbid what was once property, to be so any longer. For property depends on circulation; on exchange; on ideal value. The power of property is all relative. It depends not merely upon opinion here, but upon opinion in other countries. If it be cut off from its destined market, much of it is worth nothing, and all of it is worth infinitely less than when circulation is unobstructed. This embargo power is therefore of all
powers the most enormous; in the manner in which it affects the hopes and interests of a nation. But its magnitude is not more remarkable than its novelty. An experiment, such as is now making, was never before—I will not say tried—it never before entered into the human imagination. There is nothing like it in the narrations of history or in the tales of fiction. All the habits of a mighty nation are at once counteracted. All their property depreciated. All their external connexions violated. Five millions of people are engaged. They cannot go beyond the limits of that once free country; now they are not even permitted to thrust their own property through the gates. I am not now questioning its policy, its wisdom, or its practicability, I am merely stating the fact. And I ask if such a power as this, thus great, thus novel, thus interfering with all the great passions and interests of a whole people, ought to be left for six months, in operation without any power of control, except upon the occurrence of certain specified and arbitrary contingencies? Who can foretell when the spirit of endurance will cease? Who, when the strength of nature shall outgrow the strength of your bonds? Or if they do, who can give a pledge that the patience of the people will not first be exhausted? I make a supposition Mr. Chairman—you are a great physician; you take a hearty, hale man, in the very pride of health; his young blood all active in his veins, and you outstretch him on a bed, you stop up all his natural orifices, you hermetically seal down his pores; so that nothing shall escape outwards, and that all his functions and all his humors shall be turned inward upon his system. While your patient is laboring, in the very crisis of this course of treatment, you, his physician, take a journey into a far country, and you say to his attendant, "I have a great experiment here in process, and a new one. It is all for the good of the young man, so do not fail to adhere to it. These are my directions, and the power with which invest you. No attention is to be paid to any internal symptom which may occur. Let the patient be convulsed as much as he will, you are to remove none of my bandages. But, in case something external should happen; if the sky should fall, and larks should begin to appear, if three birds of Paradise should fly into the window, the great purpose of all these suffering is answered. Then, and then only, have you my authority to administer relief."
The conduct of such a physician, in such a case, would not be more extraordinary than that of this House, in the present, should it adjourn and limit the discretion of the Executive, to certain specified events, arbitrarily anticipated; leaving him destitute of the power to grant relief should internal symptoms indicate that nothing else would prevent convulsions. If the events you specify do not happen, then the embargo is absolutely fixed until our return. Is there one among us that has such an enlarged view of the nature and necessities of this people as to warrant that such a system can continue six months longer? It is a presumption, which no known facts substantiate, and which the strength and the universality of the passions such a pressure will set at work in the community, render, to say the least, of very dubious credit. My argument, in this part, has this prudential truth for its basis. If a great power is put in motion affecting great interests, the power which is left to manage it should be adequate to its control. If the power be not only great in its nature, but novel in its mode of operation, the superintending power should be permitted to exercise a wise discretion. For if you limit him by contingencies, the experiment may fail, or its results be unexpected. In either case, nothing but shame, or ruin, would be our portion.
But I ask the House to view this subject in relation to the success of this measure, which the majority have justly so much at heart. Which position of invested power, is the most auspicious to a happy issue?
As soon as this House has risen, what think you will be the first question every man in this nation will put to his neighbor? Will it not be—"What has Congress done with the embargo?" Suppose the reply should be—"They have made no provision. This corroding cancer is to be left absolutely on the vital six months longer." Is there a man who doubts but that such a reply would sink the heart of every owner of property, and of every laborer in the community? No man can hesitate. The magnitude of the evil, the certain prospect of so terrible a calamity thus long protracted, would itself tend to counteract the continuance of the measure by the discontent and despair it could not fail to produce
in the great body of the people. But suppose in reply to such a question, it should be said—"The removal of the embargo depend upon events. France must retrace her steps. England must apologize and atone for her insolence. Two of the proudest and most powerful nations on the globe must truckle for our favor, or we shall persist in maintaining our dignified retirement." What then would be the consequence? Would every reflecting man in the nation set himself at work to calculate the probability of the occurrence of these events? If they were little likely to happen, the distress and discontent would be scarcely less than in the case of absolute certainty for six months perpetuation of it. For if the events do not happen, the embargo is absolute. Such a state of popular mind all agree is little favorable either to perseverance in the measure, or to its ultimate success. But suppose that the people should find a discretionary power was invested in the Executive, to act as in his judgement according to circumstances, the public good should require. Would not such a state of things have a direct tendency to allay fear, to tranquillize discontent, and encourage endurance of suffering? Should experience prove, that it is absolutely insupportable, there is a constitutional way of relief. The way of escape is not wholly closed. The knowledge of this fact would be alone a support to the people. They would endure it longer. They would endure it better. We should be secure of a more cordial co-operation in the measure, as the people would see they were not wholly hopeless, in case the experiment was oppressive. Surely nothing can be more favorable to its success than producing such a state of public sentiment.
But it is objected that a power like this, is too great to be invested in the Executive. In my opinion, as I have urged, it has less than that which you are about to confer. But what is this great discretion, so dangerous and alarming? It is simply a power to remove a prohibition, when the public good, in his judgement, requires. It is merely a power to do good; without the possibility of doing harm. If the specified events do not happen, then it is absolutely a six months embargo. Worse than this it cannot be, should he have the discretion, and fail to exercise it. But, suppose the events do not happen, and the state of the country require, that the embargo should be raised; then discretion becomes only an instrument of good; a means of escape from ruin. There is only one apprehension, which is in opposition to this reasoning; and that is, that the Executive might raise the embargo before a fair experiment of its efficacy. Can there be, possibly, any just ground for such a fear? Is not the Executive, in a manner pledged for its success? Is it not eminently his measure? It is not too much to say that he is, and that he ought to be the last man in the nation who can be convinced of its inefficacy.
But there is another objection. It would expose the President to frequent solicitation for its removal. The preparing such solicitation would be a work of time, and while pending, by keeping hope alive, would tend to tranquillize the people. Should such solicitations spring from party spirit, would not its rival party counteract and defeat their efforts? But suppose the real sufferings, previous to the next session, should break down party distinction; suppose that men of all political sects should unite in judgment concerning the wisdom of abandoning the measure, are we prepared to say, that in such a state of things, it shall not be removed.
But I confess there are other reasons which have great weight in my mind, against this limitation of Executive discretion by events. First, it is altogether doubtful whether the contingencies will happen; and if they do, and thereupon the embargo should be raised, there is no possible security can be given that, as soon as our property is again upon the sea, the obnoxious policy will not be renewed. The fear of commissioned piracy, when it is combined with a pre-determination not to protect commerce against it, furnishes quite as sound a reason for a perpetual, as for a temporary abandonment of the ocean. But a more powerful argument, in my mind, against this specification of events, on the occurrence of which alone, the embargo shall be raised, is that, reasoning according to the known principles of human conduct, it seems full as likely to prevent as to promote that change of European policy at which we aim. I think it is clearly to be seen, from the nature of the British decrees, which, in a manner car-
ry their own antidote with them, and by their operation defeat their own object, that a change of measures will be produced from the evils inevitably resulting, independent of any act of ours, not to neutrals merely, but to the English themselves. From the perpetually shifting administration of that government, resulting partly from its nature and partly from the characters of the men now the rivals for power in it, there can be but little doubt that a change will soon be wrought, and a wiser course towards neutrals be pursued. The ready way to prevent such a change is to unite the pride of the whole nation in opposition to our pretensions. Let us once declare to the world, that before our embargo policy be abandoned, the French orders and the British decrees must be revoked, and we league whatever honorable spirit exist in both those nations against us. Not to do that, under a threat, which we could do either from a sense of justice, or from a sense of interest, is a common and a necessary principle of national, as well as personal dignity. No nation will easily be brought to acknowledge that it is so dependent upon another, that, by its withholding intercourse an abandonment has been necessarily effected of a settled plan of policy. The admission sinks the nation making it, from the rank of an equal to that of a dependant. Again, by proclaiming to the world the terms on which our Executive may raise the embargo, we compromise our own honor. This weapon has two edges. It not merely pledges us to raise it, when those events occur, but what is worse it pledges us to keep it on, until they happen. We solemnly avow our purpose; can we recede from it afterwards, but with disgrace? It is infinitely wiser to leave the reasons for the embargo in that obscure and mystical light, which has yet characterized the whole course of its existence. Let us not commit ourselves as to its object. Let it continue to be as it has yet been, sometimes intended to save our seamen, and sometimes to save our property. Now to constrain France, and now to take vengeance on Great-Britain. At one time let its end be to protect commerce; at another to encourage manufacturers. To day let it be an attempt to preserve our neutrality. To morrow a trial, "who shall do one another most harm." Thus we leave ground enough to retreat upon, "in the undefined field of contingencies."
But there is another most weighty objection to this restriction of Executive discretion by events. Such a course places the whole commerce of the United States at the mercy of foreign nations. The language of this policy is—"rescind your decrees and your orders, or we will, in our wrath, abandon the ocean." Now suppose that Great Britain, governed by a spirit of mercantile calculation, should reply—"Is this your mode of vengeance? Take the whole benefit of it. It is the very thing we wish. You are our only rivals. By driving you out of the market, we gain more than we lose by your retirement." Are gentlemen prepared to prove that such will not be her interest; or are they quite certain, if it be not, that she may not mistake her interest, under the influence of some stronger passion? What then will be our situation? Why, the melancholy alternative will alone be left us of abandoning forever the highway of nations; or retracting with shame, a policy to which we had pledged ourselves without sufficient caution. I do indeed believe that the commerce of the United States is important enough to France and Great Britain, to incline both those nations to grant us for its continuance many and great commercial privileges. But that it is so consequential to either, as that for its enjoyment, the one could be tempted to forego a policy, which has for its object to crush the only obstacle in its way to universal empire, or the other induced to abandon a system, adopted as the only means for the preservation of its national existence, now in peril, on all sides, I confess I am very far from believing.
We are but a young nation. The U. States are scarcely yet hardened into the bone of manhood. The whole period of our national existence has been nothing else than a continued series of prosperity. The miseries of the revolutionary war were but as the pangs of parturition. The experience of that period was of a nature not to be very useful after our nation had acquired an individual form and a manly constitutional stamina. It is to be feared we have grown giddy with good fortune; attributing the greatness of our prosperity to our own wisdom, rather than to a course of events, and a guidance over which we had no influence. It is to be feared that we are now entering that school of adversity, the first blessing of
which, is to chastise an over-weaning conceit of ourselves. A nation mistakes its relative consequence, when it thinks its countenance, or its intercourse, or its existence, all-important to the rest of the world. There is scarcely any people, and none of any weight in the society of nations, which does not possess within its own sphere, all that is essential to its existence. An individual who should retire from conversation with the world for the purpose of taking vengeance on it for some real or imaginary wrong, would soon find himself grievously mistaken. Notwithstanding the delusions of self flattery, he would certainly be taught that the world was moving along just as well, after his dignified retirement, as it did while he intermeddled with its concerns. The case of a nation which should make a similar trial of its consequence to other nations, would not be very different from that of such an individual. The intercourse of human life has its basis in a natural reciprocity, which always exists, although the vanity of nations, as well as of individuals, will often suggest to inflated fancies, that they give, more than they gain in the interchange of friendship, of civilities or of business. I conjure gentlemen not to commit the nation upon the objects of this embargo measure, but by leaving a wise discretion, during our absence, with the Executive, neither to admit nor deny by the terms of our law that its object was to coerce foreign nations. Such a state of things is safest for our own honor and the wisest to secure success for this system of policy.
(DEBATE TO BE CONTINUED.)
WASHINGTON CITY.
Monday, June 27.
At a Meeting of Citizens held at Stelle's hotel on Friday, agreeably to public notice—
Resolved, That the ensuing Anniversary of American Independence be celebrated by a Dinner at Stelle's hotel, and that the following gentlemen be a committee to make the necessary arrangements.
Robert Brent, Gabriel Duvall, Thomas Tingey, Samuel H. Smith, John P. Van Ness, Elias B. Caldwell, Franklin Wharton.
**The Committee are requested to meet at Stelle's hotel on Monday evening at 8 o'clock.
The period is probably not distant, when we shall be enabled to form some judgment of the effect produced on the disposition of foreign governments by the Embargo. It is manifest, from the intelligence received from England, that hitherto it has been considered in that country as likely to be but of fugitive duration. Having themselves frequently resorted to a similar measure from motives totally different from those which produced it in this country, they have superficially given it both as to its nature and duration a like character with their ordinary embargoes. They do not appear at all to have realised the probability, or even possibility of its protraction to an equal period with their own orders. The rise of Congress, with the passage of the enforcing supplementary acts, and the act vesting in the President the power to remove it, will alone present the measure to their minds in its true colors. Congress rose on the 26th of April, and information of this event may be expected to have reached England about the 1st of June. Allowing a fortnight for deliberation, and six weeks for a passage across the ocean, we may calculate upon obtaining some interesting information about the beginning of August.
Will this information be such as we wish? Will it restore the amicable relations of the United States with foreign powers?
We confess that we are not sanguine on this point. We have hopes that it may be so; but our disappointment will not be excessive, if a different effect shall be produced.
That the ultimate sense of the British nation, provided we do not shrink from the duties imposed upon us, will overturn the prevailing system, and will do us justice, we entertain no doubt; but it is absolutely impossible to decide when this will take place. Such is the extreme pressure of the enemies of Britain upon her, so singular and unprecedented is her situation, and so unavailing have all her previous arrangements been in producing the benefits calculated from them, that we ought not to be surprised at the excitement of a spirit of desperate infatuation in that country, a spirit resolved on trying a completely new plan, and on stretching vigor to its utmost extent. Who knows, says the advocate of this system, what

may turn up! Despair may throw the die, but fortune may crown it with victory. There is good reason to believe, from recent advices from England, that the orders are there rather popular. Experience only will remove this delusion. The West India planters, the enemies of American institutions, and the merchants generally who are jealous of our commercial rivalry, are probably prepared to make great sacrifices before they will consent to abandon their forlorn hope, and to retrace the rash steps they have induced their government to take. And such is the vast opulence of the merchants of England, that there can be no doubt of their ability to make great sacrifices; there can be as little doubt of the insensibility of avarice and power to the consequent wide-spread calamities of the lower orders of society. Exclusively consulting their own interests, it will be only when the distresses of the lower classes shall materially injure them, that they will relax.
Under this uncertainty with regard to the future, we are rejoiced to perceive our fellow-citizens generally throughout the union, pursuing a course of conduct, which will equally promote their solid interests, whether our foreign relations become more troubled, or shall be restored to their usual tranquility. It is certain that if we are permanently deprived of that commerce which alone enables us to part with our surplus products in a foreign market, we must find a succedaneum in manufactures and internal improvements; and it is equally clear, that even on the return of an undisturbed trade, this progress in the cultivation of our internal resources would, notwithstanding, be of vast benefit.
Who, too, will say whether the zeal with which, under the present pressure, manufactures are pursued, may not be the most effectual means of moving England to a sense of her own interests, by convincing her that we cannot only do without her fabrics, but that we shall find a greater profit in our manufacturing establishments than in the trade that enables us to part with our surplus agricultural products!
By an official statement of the exports from Great Britain to the U.S. of America, it appears that they amount to the annual sum of forty-eight millions of dollars, of which thirty-six millions consist of woollens and cotton goods.
Of cotton we have the most abundant supply within ourselves; and if there be not a sufficiency of wool, the zealous attention paid to the raising and improvement of sheep will in the course of a few years render us equally independent. Our ability to cultivate this resource to a sure profit, and so as to afford the best and finest wool, is unequivocally established. All then that is wanting is the general establishment of manufactories; and these are progressing with inconceivable rapidity. At no period of our existence have such numerous and united efforts been made; and all that have been made on a liberal scale have been crowned with success.
In the New England states, thousands of respectable manufactories are in active operation.
In Philadelphia, besides a respectable public establishment, a great number of private flourishing manufactories of cotton have been established.
In Baltimore a company, with a million, is organized.
In Petersburg twenty-five thousand dollars have been subscribed in a day.
In Richmond, under the most intelligent and patriotic auspices, a capital of half a million is to be engaged in this object.
In short the patriotic flame appears to be fed throughout the whole union by an inexhaustible fuel.
Already it is computed that at least five millions of dollars have been devoted to manufactures in the last six months; a capital competent to the furnishing manufactured articles to the amount of at least ten millions.
Britain, seeing what is already done, will anticipate what will happen if she persist in her injustice; she will see that, five years hence, we shall not need a tenth part of the manufactured goods we now receive from her.
We are assured from the most respectable sources of information, that in the state of Kentucky the universal sentiment is in favor of the measures of the administration, and of the election of Mr. Madison to the Presidency. On both of these points we have reposed implicit confidence in the patriotism of the whole western country.
A plan has been submitted to the citizens of Richmond, and has been adopted for the establishment of The Richmond Manufacturing Company of
Virginia , with a capital of $ 500,000, of which 200,000 are to be reserved for the state. We are glad to find men of all parties warmly united in the plan.
The following resolutions were adopted at a meeting of merchants at Liverpool on the 19th of March: They are under the signatures of thirty-one firms. They are evidently intended as a counter declaration of the sense of that town relative to the British orders; but the small number of the signers most conclusively establishes the accounts heretofore received. There is one circumstance that shows the political effect meant to be operated by these resolutions, as well in this country as in England—their being inserted in the Federal Gazette of Philadelphia for a number of times as an advertisement.
“Resolved unanimously,—That the relations of amity and commerce with the United States of America are highly desirable to be preserved, not less because the intercourse ought to be beneficial, than because the feelings of this country are interested in a nation so similar in habits and character.”
That confidence is due to his majesty's ministers, for a proper solicitude to maintain the said relations; and that interference on the subject of the discussion pending between the two governments, appears to us particularly inexpedient.
That the present interruption to good understanding with the United States of America, is to be imputed to a cause not connected with the blockade orders in council lately issued; inasmuch as that the interruption took place previous to any such orders being issued.
That the blockade orders in council altho' attended with difficulties, appear well calculated to retort upon the enemy, the inconveniences to which he aims at subjecting Great Britain—to subvert his design of limiting within his own sphere the trade of neutrals; and for imposing on him the necessity of acceding to an equitable peace, or of resorting to a more liberal policy in the conduct of the war, with respect to commerce in general.”
On Friday last, about 12 o'clock Gen. Wilkinson commenced his defence before the Court of Enquiry. Not being able to conclude it on that day, from its great length, the Court adjourned about 3 o'clock. On Saturday the General concluded his address; and it is expected that the opinion of the court will be pronounced in a few days.
In the district court of the U. States at Baltimore, held on Friday, the ship Alligator , schr. Juliana , and schr. Seafarer , were severally condemned; the two first for a violation of the embargo law, and the last for a violation of the supplement to it which respects coasting vessels.
Letters have been received in this city from Liverpool, stating that orders had been received from British merchants at the Brazils, to effect insurance on 10,000 barrels of Rice, which had been shipped in that Kingdom for Great Britain.
Charleston Courier.
SPIRIT OF THE TIMES.
Northumberland, May 23.
Agreeably to public notice given in sundry newspapers, at the request of Gen. William Montgomery, a meeting was held on Friday last, at Danville, on the subject of establishing a Woollen Cloth Factory. Gen. Montgomery had carefully collected information from persons experienced in that business in various parts of the Union. The calculations made from the documents produced before the meeting, induced a belief that it would be a profitable institution, and were unanimously considered worthy of the attention of the citizens generally. Therefore it was
Resolved, That Gen. Wm. Montgomery, James Laird, and Joseph Priestley, esqs. be a committee, to draw up articles of association, for the organisation of a company to promote the object aforesaid.
New Hampshire has taken a firm attitude in support of the national government, and against the efforts of the desperate federal faction.
Boston Chron.
Extract of a letter from Concord, (N. H.) June 14, 1808.
“We this day took the Yeas and Nays on the Address to the President of the U. States. In this Address the embargo was clearly approved. It was opposed by Messrs. Upham of Claremont, and Thompson, of Salisbury, and advocated by Mr. Evans of Portsmouth, and others. In the House, Yeas 94—Nays 63. In the
Senate, Yeas 8—Nays 2. We have passed a law for choosing the Electors in our usual mode by a general ticket; we have made our arrangements for carrying it into effect, so as to ensure the choice of Republicans; and you may rely on it, that New Hampshire will not be caught by federal tricks, nor intimidated by federal bullying.”
Boston Chron.
DIED —At his plantation on Horse Creek, Scriven County, Mr. Michael Dougherty , aged 135 years, and was one of the first settlers of this state. The day before he died he walked two miles—the day on which he died, he eat a hearty dinner, smoked his pipe, and in two hours after expired, which was on the 29th May, 1808.
Alexandria, June 23, 1808.
Flour inspected in the town of Alexandria, for the quarter ending the 11th June, 1808.
41,634 barrels flour.
1,941 half barrels flour.
AMOS ALEXANDER,
Flour Inspector.
Extract of a letter from a merchant at St. Croix to his father in New York, dated May 25th.
“This place has at present a supply of flour for about six weeks. Should none arrive in the mean time, it will be up to 40 dollars per barrel; corn meal is 20 dollars per barrel, butter 75 cents per lb. lard 50 to 60, hams 56 cents, candles 50 to 56, tobacco 30 dolls. per cwt. pork 40 dolls. per bbl. beef 24, rice 12 dolls. cwt. fish 12 dolls. peas or beans 25 dolls. per bbl. white pine lumber, 100 dolls. per thousand, staves 100 to 150, rum 32 cents per gallon, and sugar from 4 to 5 dolls. per cwt.”
PROCLAMATION.
By his honor Robert Nichols, Esq. Lt. Governor and Commander in Chief in and over the island of Currao and its dependencies.
WHEREAS it appears to me that a scarcity of provisions of every kind, will in all probability be felt on this island during the remainder of this year, but more particularly of the undermentioned articles, viz. flour, corn, salt beef, salt pork, jerked beef, fish, fruit, papillions, and coffee. And whereas I see it expedient, to prevent the inconvenience attending such scarcity, to encourage the importation of said articles in licenced Spanish and neutral bottoms: Notice therefore is hereby given, that for six months, from the date of this my proclamation, flour, corn, salt beef, salt pork, jerked beef, fish, fruit, papillions, and coffee, when imported on board licenced Spanish or neutral bottoms, shall be admitted to entry at the custom house at Currao, until the 30th day of November, 1808, accordingly.
Given under my hand and seal at arms at the Government House, Fort Amsterdam, this 30th day of May, 1808, &c.
Signed, ROBERT NICHOLS. By his honor's Command, JOHN CONSER, Secretary.
Bennington, June 13.
We are correctly informed, that government has taken on Lake Champlain the sloop Essex , having on board a cargo for a Mr. Page of Middlebury: she was laying at Champlain for further speculation, and just ready to proceed over the province line: her cargo consisted of 157 barrels of ashes and 92 barrels of pork—which, with the vessel, are in possession of Mr. Penniman at Windmill Point, and the cargo landed and safely stored. That on the 29th of May, about midnight, a batteau was discovered passing the custom-house; captain Hopkins turned out with all hands, consisting of nine—and three discharges were made before the batteau would turn to the office—the last ball passed between two of her men: they were from Plattsburgh, were six in all, and were delivered over to judge Hicks and by him conducted under an armed guard to Cumberland head: 25 bbls. of ashes were taken in the batteau, belonging to Levi Platt, who was among the prisoners. That on the night of the 30th, lieut. Whittemore took a boat with 9 barrels on board, but as no authority could be found in Grand Isle county in whom confidence could be safely placed, and as it was deemed improper to keep them under guard till process could be had, the collector liberated the prisoners, and detained only the property: the people and boat belonged to Canada, and were proceeding directly thither from St. Albans bay: they were fired at twice and then boarded by force: lieut. Whittemore informs, he understands the people are collecting a little over the line, to rescue the property from us!—this looks serious, for such an attack would be considered as a commencement of war.
The detachment of militia from
Rutland, commanded by major Chas. K. Williams, passed through Middlebury for the frontiers the 2d inst. Gov. Smith has also ordered from Addison county a detachment on the same expedition, to march this day.
The St. Albans Adviser affects to ridicule the government for sending troops from the north to enforce the laws on the northern frontiers. It is well known the embargo laws were received on the Lake about the middle of March: the Adviser has ever since endeavored to bring them into contempt, and many “worthless” people have followed its advice—it has seemed to exult in the evasion of the laws—it has ridiculed the feeble arm of the officer of the customs, who has been constant in season and out of season in the faithful discharge of his duty; and it has never yet advised the people to support the laws of their country: it has advised how 23 men from St. Albans and Georgia brought too and boarded several rafts, which, in the Adviser's patriotic language, “however found means to liberate themselves;” but it did not advise how the guards placed upon those rafts by the collector were were dreadfully frightened into a deep sleep by the threats of forty strange men who appeared to them in the silent watch of the night, nor how soundly these brave defenders of the laws slept under the threatenings of death till the said rafts drifted over the line: it has advised how “the remaining rafts joined, making a surface of ten acres, and carrying 40 sail, had made an expeditious and safe exit from the U. States” without a man to oppose them: it has advised, how millions of property have been accidentally drifted into Canada by violent south winds: it has advised the people, that the acts of government which command those winds to be calm till the eastern storm is over, are unconstitutional, and therefore not binding. And now we can advise the Adviser to rest assured, that the south wind which blows the militia from the south will prevent future accidents from the storms of the lake. Rutland soldiers will not be frightened into a calm sleep by the threats of murder, or the advices of the Adviser. Thirty years ago, traitors were marked—and the people now know where to apply the “revolutionary garb” of such unprincipled men.
We learn that not long since a number of teams laden with Ashes, on their way from the east side of the mountain to the lake, were stopped in Castleton: the authority and gentlemen of respectability, after reading the embargo law to the teamsters convinced them that any person aiding directly or indirectly in the evasion of the law was liable to a heavy fine—and that they, knowing their loads were intended for exportation would be deemed guilty. The men therefore immediately unloaded their ashes, and prepared to return home peacefully: but the federalists of the neighborhood assembled, and endeavored to persuade them to proceed with their loads, in defiance of law. No comment is necessary.
The editors of the Troy Gazette are informed that a communication in their late paper professing to relate facts respecting the Castleton affairs, states the truth in only two essential points, viz—there were teamsters passing through Castleton, they were carrying loads for Canada market; but it is not true that they were stopped by manual or civil force—two tracts to one lie very well for poor Indian.
All persons having property which was intended for exportation to Canada, whether lumber in rafts, or other merchandize, are informed that no such exportations can be permitted.
The laws and instructions received by the undersigned collectors, are such as require their utmost vigilance and exertion, in effecting the objects of the law; and while they lament the injury that will be sustained by some of their fellow-citizens, they indulge a hope that none will be so inconsiderate as to attempt a violation.
It is recommended, particularly to those concerned in rafts, that they lay them up in secure situations & wait patiently, for relief in a legal way; but it is our duty at the same time to inform all concerned, that we are commanded to use force where reason and consideration are inadequate to restrain the illegal.
MEL. P. WOOLSEY, Collector of Champlain. J. PENNIMAN, Collector of Vermont. April 21, 1808.
BULLETIN.
Gripholm Castle, March 30, 1808. His royal majesty received yesterday two reports from count Klings-
per, commander in chief of the army in Finland, bearing date head-quarters, Longsors and Nerper, not far from Wasa, March 20 and 23. The army continues in good order on its march to Ulenburg, in order to form a junction with the column of count Cronstadt, chief of brigade. The rear was almost daily engaged with the enemy's light troops, but a more considerable affair took place under the orders of count Suenbjelm, adjutant-general, and of colonel Gripenberg, chief of brigade, in which his majesty's troops, with the utmost gallantry, withstood the attack of the enemy, far superior in numbers, and covered the retreat of the rest of the army, which carried away all the magazines formed in Bromeborg. Count Cronstadt, chief of brigade, reported from Knopio, Alpitka, and Idensolen, under date the 13th, 16th, and 18th of March, that with the troops under his command, he is continuing his march, in good order, to Ulenburg, pursuant to his orders. He had some severe engagements with the enemy, on the Lippananta, and the 15th, near Knopio, during which a cannonade was for some time kept up on both sides, without the Russian troops having been able, notwithstanding their great superiority in number, to make any successful attack on your majesty's troops; on the contrary they were continually repulsed.
Norfolk, June 20.
Dispatches were received on Wednesday last by Commodore Decatur, to stay the sailing of the frigate Chesapeake until further orders; in consequence of which she returned to Hampton Roads, where she now rides at anchor.
MARRIED —On Thursday the 16th June, 1808, by the Rev. Mr. John Atkinson, Thomas L. Smith, Esq. of Louisa county, to Miss Sarah G. Clay, eldest daughter of Matthew Clay of Pittsylvania county, all of Virginia.
POSTSCRIPT.
LATE AND IMPORTANT.
The ship Hanonia , captain Dolan, arrived at New-York on the 23d inst. in 36 days from Cork. She left there on the 17th of May, and brings papers to the 14th, containing London dates to the 9th, twelve days later than any European intelligence heretofore received. They give us the opportunity of announcing to the readers of the Mercantile Advertiser the arrival in England of the ship Oxeye , with the American messengers (Messrs. Nourse and Lewis) on board.
Mr. Lyman, the American consul at London, has notified the merchants, that the English government had established the most rigorous blockade of the port of Copenhagen, and all other ports in the island of Zealand.
A fleet of four sail of the line had sailed from the Downs, supposed to blockade some port on the Dutch coast.
The Swedes were sustaining important defeats.—Our latest accounts represent them as having established their head-quarters at a small town almost at the extremity of the Gulph of Bothnia. The Russians, with the exception of Sweaborg, have overrun Finland, along the coast of the Gulph of Bothnia, almost to the frontiers of Sweden Lapland, the most important places in Finland being situated on the Gulph.
The island of Gotland, from its commanding situation, usually called the Eye of the Baltic, is reported to have been taken possession of by a detachment of ten thousand French and Russians.
A Russian Ukase is said to have been issued, prohibiting all intercourse between Russia and all countries not in her alliance.
The papers received by the above arrival, are replete with surmises as to what may be the disposition of the French emperor towards the United States. Amongst other things, it is said that he has refused passports to American citizens, applying for leave to depart the country. These reports, however, have not the appearance of authenticity.
Further Details in our next.
COMMERCIAL COMPANY OF WASHINGTON.
ON TUESDAY the 5th day of July, the Third Instalment , agreeably to the Articles of association, will become due. Attendance will be given at Drummond's tavern, and at the Office of Discount and Deposit for the receipt on that day.
JOSEPH FORREST, Pr. June 27—31.
ALEXANDRIA THEATRE.
The Public are respectfully informed, that the above theatre will open on TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 28, and continue open every Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday, until further notice. Particulars of the first performance will be given in a future advertisement. June 24—21.

LANDING THIS DAY, From on board the Schooner MARIA , Capt. Fitzhugh, from New York— A quantity of prime St. Croix sugar, Coffee, Molasses, Port Wine, Nutmegs, and Chocolate. Also, Gun-Powder, Imperial, and Hyson Teas, in chests, half and quarter chests and canisters of this spring's importation, For sale by ROSS & GETTY. George Town, June 20—tf
PASSPORTS. GRANTED by the Department of State to citizens going into foreign parts, having been in sundry instances obtained from the persons receiving them, by others assuming their names; it has been thought proper to guard against the abuse by requiring the former to write their own names in the body of the passports, and with this alteration they will be issued after the 21st day of June 1808. Department of State, } June 15, 1808. The Printers who publish the laws of the United States are requested to insert this notice. June 17—
PUBLIC SALE. ON Monday the 11th of July next will be sold at Public Auction a two Story BRICK HOUSE, with adja- cent FRAME Building, and the Lots No. 10 and 11, on Square No. 925, near the Marine Barracks. The house was late- ly inhabited by Lt. Col. Wharton, now in the occupancy of Mr. Thomas Car- berry. The terms will be made known on the day of sale, at Stelle's hotel. The Sale to commence at 12 o'clock, June 15—tdos
BURAS AND BEALL. WOOLLEN drapers, men's mer- cers, and tailors, New-Jersey Av- enue, opposite the Secretary of the Navy's, respectfully inform the public that they have commenced business in the above line, where they will endea- vor to give satisfaction—they have on hand a fresh supply of the most fash- ionable goods, suitable for the approach- ing season, all fresh and of the very best quality. N. B. Regimentals and naval uni- forms made in the most elegant and fashionable style with neatness and dis- patch. October 23—tf.
PUBLIC SALE. BY virtue of an order of the Orphan's Court of Prince George's county will be exposed to public sale at the late dwelling, Plantation of Zephaniah Pra- ter , deceased, on Monday the 11th of July next the whole of the deceased's Personal Estate, remaining unsold, con- sisting of Negroes and sundry articles of Household Furniture. A credit of six months will be given on the pur- chases giving bond with two good se- curities with interest from the date. Sale to commence at 10 o'clock. ZEPH. NIAH PRATHER, Adm. Prince George's county, June 22—tds
THIS IS TO GIVE NOTICE, That the subscriber of Mont- gomery county hath obtained from the Orphan's Court of said county in Maryland Letters of administration on the personal estate of William Richards late of said county deceased. All persons having claims against the said deceased are hereby warned to exhibit the same with the vouchers thereof to the subscriber, or Jesse Leach my agent, at or before the first day of January next, they may other- wise by law be excluded from all ben- efit of the said estate. Given under my hand this 16th day of June, eighteen hundred & eight. TABITHA RICHARDS, Adm'r. Rockville, June 22—3t
St. Mary's county court, March term 1808. ON application of Benjamin Tabbs of St. Mary's county to the judges of the said county court, by petition in writing, praying the benefit of the act for the relief of sundry insolvent debtors, on the terms mentioned in said act, a schedule of his property and a list of his creditors on oath as far as he can ascertain them being annexed to his said petition, and the said county court being satisfied by competent testimony, that the said Benjamin Tabbs has re- sided the two preceding years prior to the passage of the said act, within the state of Maryland. It is thereupon ad- judged and ordered by the said court that the said Benjamin Tabbs, give no- tice to his creditors of his intention to apply to the next county court to be held at Leonard Town in said county on the first Monday of August next, for a discharge from his debts, and to warn his said creditors to appear before the said judges on the day and at the place aforesaid to show cause if any they have why the said Benjamin Tabbs should not be discharged, agreeably to his said petition, by causing a copy of this order to be inserted in the National Intelligencer, weekly for three months successively. By order, JOSEPH HARRIS, Ck. May 2—w3m
AMERICAN HEMP. THE Secretary of the Navy will receive until the 1st November next, proposals for furnishing water rotted Hemp of the growth of the Unit- ed States, to be delivered either at Portsmouth, N. H.; Boston; New London; New York; Philadelphia, Newcastle; Baltimore; Norfolk; Wil- mington, N. C.; Charleston, S. C.; Savannah, Geo. or New Orleans. For well water rotted and well cleaned American Hemp, the Secretary of the Navy is disposed to allow a lib- eral price beyond the usual price of such Hemp when dew rotted. Navy Department, May 3—wtN
FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, May 28th, 1808. It has recently been made known to this department, that on the first day of June, 1807, the first moieties of the under-mentioned notes of the bank of the United States, were enclosed by William Keais, Esq. Collector of the Customs at Washington, North Carolina, in a letter addressed to Thomas Tu- dor Tucker, Esq. Treasurer of the United States, and put into the Post-office at that place; and on the 8th day of June, 1807, the second moieties of the said Bank notes were enclosed, addressed and put into the Post-Office as aforesaid: neither of which letters, with the notes enclosed, have been received. On the back of each moiety of every note was written the name of William Keais, and on one part of the back of all or of most of the notes, was written the name of Lewis Leroy; from which circumstance the notes may with certainty be traced and detected. Payment of the notes has been stopped at the Bank of the United States and its several offices of Discount and Deposit; and a reward of five hundred dollars will be paid to any person who shall give such information to this department, as shall produce the conviction of the offender by whom the letters containing the said notes were purloined or stolen. ALBERT GALLATIN, secretary of the Treasury.
 DESCRIPTION OF NOTES.    No. Date. To whom payable. Dollars    1401 20th July, 1804, Adam Gilchrist or bearer at Charleston, for 100  1428 20th July, 1804, Do. 100  2384 12th March, 1805, Do. 100  4729 27th Feb. 1807, Do. 100  4790 27th Feb. 1807, Do. 100  2641 19th March, 1805, Joseph Habersham, Savannah, 100  2620 Do. do. do. do. do. 100  2666 Do. do. do. do. do. 100  2774 Do. do. do. do. do. 100  35 24 April, 1806, W. Warner at the Bank of the U. States, 100  3061 16th April, 1805, Cornelius Ray, New York, 100  3641 23d Jan. 1802, do. do. 100  1973 20th July, 1804, Adam Gilchrist, Charleston, 50  3609 12th March, 1805, do. do. 50  2183 20th July, 1804, do. do. 50  1265 23d March, 1804, Joseph Habersham, Savannah, 50  1355 23d do. do. do. do. 50  5597 18th Nov. 1806, do. do. 50  Dollars 1,500  
NOTICE Is hereby given that application is intended to be made to the Treasury of the United States for the renewal of the undermentioned Certificates of Six per Cent Stock issued by Joseph Nourse, Register of the Treasury, in the name of Christian Alexander , of London or of Bath in Great Britain, which certificates were sent in the ship Bristol Packet , capt. Burns, captured and burnt by the French, and lost in the same, viz. N. B. The name is sometimes written Christine but it is the same person.     Denomination of the stock. Dates of the Certificates Numbers. Sums in   Dolls. Cts.    6 per cent stock. 1792 December 5. 8268 11,000  1795 May 11. 13168 800  1795 July 16. 13450 250 08  1796 June 11. 14337 2,000  1796 14341 247 81  1796 14341 1,567 55  1797 February 7. 14942 277 30  1798 February 1. 15605 2,973 25  1799 December 17. 16918 882  Standing to her credit on the 1st. April 1808. 19,999 99  
Also for the following Certificates of six per Cent Stock issued as above, in the name of Jane Alexander of Bath aforesaid, which were also lost in the said ship Bristol Packet , viz.     Denomination of the stock. Dates of the Certificates Numbers. Sums in   Dolls. Cts.    6 per cent stock. 1796 June 14. 14344 2,000  1796 14345 2,000  1796 14346 2,000  1796 14347 2,000  1796 14348 758 42  1796 3616 2,000  1796 3617 2,000  1796 3618 2,000  1796 3619 2,000  1796 3620 2,000  1796 3621 458 15  1797 February 7. 14944 222 05  1797 March 3. 15005 1,500  1797 June 3. 15204 766 78  1797 15257 1,700  1798 February 1. 15604 1,503 65  1799 December 17. 16917 980  Standing to her credit on the 1st. April 1808. 25,891 05    WILLIAM WHANN. June 20—ep6w
W. & C. SMITH have just received by the Maria from New York, 6 Chests } 20 Boxes } Fine Imperial Teas 100 Canisters } 25 Chests } 15 Boxes } Hyson Teas 100 Canisters } 20 Chests } 18 Half do. } Young Hyson Teas 30 Boxes } 10 Chests hyson skin do. 1 Case nutmegs and cloves. 52 Hds. St. Croix sugars—part of them very first quality. 40 Bags best Martinique green coffee, 12 Bags Corks. 20 Small baskets best Marseilles re- fined olive oil. 10 Quarter casks London particular Teneriffe wine. Georgetown, June 20—2wtf.
CHARLES H. VARDEN MERCHANT TAILOR. RESPECTFULLY informs the gen- tlemen of the district of Columbia and public in general, that he has just received by a late arrival from Philadel- phia, A CHOICE ASSORTMENT Of superfine Cloths, Cassimeres, single and double milled, superfine Coating, black silk Florentines. Likewise an elegant assortment of Spencers and rich silk Molekins for waistcoats with a variety of other articles suitable for the season. Regimentals and Navy Uniforms made in the most elegant and uniform style of fashion. Richard Horwell's celebrated patent parallel suspenders far superior to any hitherto in use can be had on the same terms retail, as at his manufactory. November 27—tf
WANTED At the Woodyard for the ensuing year a Manager, to take charge of the whole estate. He must be a sober, di- ligent and discreet man—well ac- quainted with the culture of wheat, corn and tobacco, and the management of negroes. To such a man who can produce unquestionable testimonials of his capacity, sobriety and fidelity, high wages will be given. A person not con- nected in the neighborhood will be pre- ferred. Apply to RD. W. WEST, Woodyard. N. B. Application must be made be- fore the 1st. Sept. next. May 13—eptS
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD. RAN away on the evening of the 7th inst. a bright Mulatto Man, named BOB , who calls himself Robert Tho- mas , about 5 feet 10 inches high, 24 or 25 years of age, has large black eye- brows, large full eyes, not very dark, and is a stout, well made, handsome fellow. His hair is thick, but not quite straight, and he wears it nicely trimmed, combed and ridged on the top. His beard appears very black if suffer- ed to grow for a day or two, but he usually shaves it very closely. He has recently received an injury on the fore- finger of the left hand, and has it bound up, and may probably lose the first joint of it. He speaks deliberately, and is more correct in conversation than per- sons of his color usually are. He walks slowly, is a very good waiter, but de- lights particularly in attending to horses. He has a variety of cloaths, and took with him one dark green broad- cloth coat and pantaloons with yellow buttons, one cloth coat and pantaloons nearly of the same color, but the cloth of inferior quality, with white metal buttons, one blue cloth coat much worn, one old brown surcoat with cover- ed buttons, a good hat, and a pair of black top boots. The rest of his appa- rel I am unable particularly to describe. He is fond of wearing boots, and pays great attention to his dress. As he can read and write very well, he may probably produce a forged authority for him to pass, or procure the certificate of some one of the Negroes, who, a few years ago, petitioned by the name of Thomas, and obtained their freedom in Maryland. If taken out of the state of Maryland and district of Columbia, and secured in any jail, so that I shall get him again, the above reward will be given, or sixty dollars if taken and secured within the said state or district; all reasonable ex- pences will all also be paid, if he should be delivered to me in the city of Wash- ington, or to Dr. Richard Duckett, in Prince George's county, Maryland.— He is well acquainted in Annapolis, Baltimore, Geo. Town, and the city of Washington. ALLEN B. DUCKETT. May 13—eptf
WASHINGTON BRIDGE COMPANY. THE Stockholders of the Washing- ton Bridge Company are hereby notified that the second instalment of Ten dollars on each share is called for by the Directors and must be paid on or before the 1st day of August, next, agreeably to the act of Congress, enti- tled "An act authorizing the erection of a bridge over the river Potomac, within the district of Columbia." By order of the Directors. DANIEL CARROL of Dud'n President. June 20—w5t
Prince George's county court, April term, 1808. HENRY T. COMPTON of Prince George's county having applied to this court, by petition in writing, pray- ing the benefit of the act, entitled "An act for the relief of sundry insolvent debtors," passed at the session of 1805, and the supplement thereto in 1806; and a schedule of his property and list of his creditors as far as he can ascer- tain them being annexed to his petition; and the court being satisfied by com- petent testimony that the said Henry T. Compton resided the two last years preceding this application within the state of Maryland. And the said Henry T. Compton being in the custody of the sheriff of Prince George's county; and having entered into bond in such penalty as directed by this court, and with approved security, conditioned for his personal appearance before this court, on the second day of the next term, to answer the allegations of his creditor or creditors. It is by this court directed that the said Henry T. Compton be discharged from imprisonment, and the said second day of the next term, which will be the sixth day of September next, is by the court appointed for the said Henry T. Compton to appear before this court, to answer interrogatories, which his creditors may propose to him. And it is ordered, that the said Henry T. Compton, give notice to his creditors, of his application, by causing a copy of the foregoing, to be published three months in the National Intelligencer, previous to the next term. True copy from the proceedings, Test JOHN READ MAGRUDER, Jr. Ck. June 1—w3m
A MIDDLE AGED respectable WOMAN IS WANTED. To take charge of a Small family in George Town. She must produce good recommendations and be qualified to attend to children. To such an one liberal wages will be given. Apply at the Office of the Washing- ton Federalist in George Town. June 17—6t
TUNIS CRAVEN HAS removed his entire stock of DRY GOODS from Alexandria to Washington, and is now opening, at his new Store, between the Marine Garri- son and Navy Yard Gate, an assort- ment equal to any in the District;— among which are, Wood's best London cloths, Do. double milled & plain cassimeres, Bennett's cords and velvets, Constitution Gerrow, hunting, Tra- falgar, and silver cords, Velvets, Imperial, Brunswick waistcoating, Silk molekins do. Toilnets, swansdown do. Plain and figured Marseilles do. Bearskin coatings, Plains, kerseys, halfticks, Rose and duffel blankets, flannels, Superfine green cloth table covers, Calicoes, colored cambrics, Gingham, silk and cotton chambrays. Furniture Chints, Cambric and jaconet muslins, India and British book do. India millmull figured and plain, Plain and figured lenoes, Laced cambrics, Elegant tamboured mulls, Grecian robes and Pelisse dresses, 3-4 damask and raw silk shawls, Damask scarfs, Camel's hair and swansdown do. Down scarfs, Long and short lace sleeves, spider & nett sleeves, Extra long and habit kid gloves, Do. do. silk do. Do. do. raw silk do. Cross-barred and plain Mantuas and interstrungs, Persians and Medes, Thread and cotton laces, Lace caps and handkerchiefs, Book muslin and leno cap patterns, 4-4-7-8 Irish linens, Long lawns, linen cambrics, Irish diapers, table-cloths, napkins, Cotton counterpanes, Cambric Dimities, Common do. Furniture do. Ladies and gentle men's silk, thread, cotton, worsted, lamb's wool & Angola hose, Gentlemen's pantaloons do. Silk cords and buttons, Ribbons, floss threads, Scarlet and other colored bombazets, Hearth rugs, Russia sheeting, tick- lingburg, Osnaburgs, baftas, gurrahs, &c. &c. ALSO, Imperial and young hyson tea of a superior quality in small boxes, to suit families, or by the pound—Also genu- ine Havana segars. T. C. is determined to sell on the lowest terms. February 3—tf
District of Columbia, Washington County. Orphan's Court, 11th June, 1808. WILLIAM RHODES having, this day, applied for letters of administration on the personal estate of HENRY KREB- MER, late of the City of Washington deceased—claiming the same as a cre- ditor. Ordered that he give notice thereof by advertisement inserted once a week for six weeks in the National Intelligencer, one paper published on the Eastern Shore, Maryland, and one in the city of New-York. Test, JNO. HEWITT, Reg. wills. June 13—w6t.
TAKE NOTICE. WAS committed to the jail of Fre- derick county, Maryland, on the 20th day of April last, as a runaway, a negro man who calls himself JOHN ROMAN; he appears to be about 29 years of age, about five feet five or six inches high, well made, very black, and has a smiling countenance; his clothing when committed, was as fol- lows—a blue cloth coat and pantaloons, a striped cotton waistcoat, an osnaburg shirt, a pair of black woollen stockings, and one pair of shoes, all of which are pretty much worn; by trade, as he says, a blacksmith and gunsmith; he has a small scar between his eyes, and says he belongs to Bennet Taylor, of Jefferson county, Virginia, with six miles of Charlestown, on the water of Bullskin, near the place it empties in- to the Shenandoah. The owner is re- quested to come and release him other- wise he will be sold for his prison fees agreeable to law. GEORGE CREAGER, jun. Sheriff, Frederick county, Md. May 13—w8t.
BY Virtue of an order of the Orphan's Court of Calvert county the sub- scriber will offer at PUBLIC SALE at the late residence of Gilbert Smith, of the aforesaid county, on Wednesday the 29th inst. at 2 o'clock if fair, if not the first fair day thereafter, all the Personal Property of the said Gilbert Smith, consisting of two Negro men, 2 boys 1 Woman, and 3 Girls, Horses, Cows, Hogs, Household and Kitchen Furniture, Plantation Utensils, five hogheads Tobacco, and the crop on the ground—the greater part of this property will be sold for cash, and the balance on a credit of six months—the particulars will be made known on the day of sale by MORDECAI SMITH, Adm'r. June 24—tdos
WILLIAMSON'S Packet will sail for NORFOLK on SUNDAY NEXT —For passage apply at Miller's wharf, Alexandria. June 24—1t.