The national intelligencer and Washington advertiser. (Washington City [D.C.]), 1809-09-04 00:00:00

National Intelligencer.
WASHINGTON ADVERTISER.
WASHINGTON CITY, PRINTED BY SAMUEL HARRISON SMITH, PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE.
NO. 1285.
FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM,
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1809.
PAID IN ADVANCE.
The National Intelligencer is conducted by Samuel H. Smith, and Joseph Gales, Jun. and printed at the office of the former, to whom subscribers and correspondents are requested to address themselves.
The annual price, payable in advance, is Five Dollars.
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[BY AUTHORITY.]
An act to suppress Gaming.
Sec. 1. BE it enacted by the First and Second Chambers of the City Council of Washington, That after the passage of this act, no E O, A B C, L S D, Faro, Rolly-bolly, Shuffle-board, Equality-table, or other device, to be used with Cards, Balls, Dice, Coin or money, except Billiard Tables, for the purpose of playing or gaming for money or any thing in lieu thereof, shall be set up or kept in any part of this city, under the penalty of twenty dollars for every day or less time that such E O, A B C, L S D, Faro, Rolly-bolly, Shuffle-board, Equality-table, or other device shall be so kept and maintained, to be recovered of the person so setting up or keeping the same, before any single magistrate, one half whereof shall go to the informer, and the other for the use of the City Council.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That if any person or persons whatever, shall after the passage of this act, permit any E O, A B C, L S D, Faro, Rolly-bolly, Shuffle-board, Equality-table, or other device, except as aforesaid, to be set up, kept or played, in his, her or their house, out-house, tavern, or place of resort, or any other place, or place of resort, he, she, or they, shall incur the penalty of twenty dollars, for every day or less time, that the same is so kept up and maintained, to be recovered before a single magistrate, one half whereof shall go to the informer, and the other for the use of the City Council.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That after the passage of this act, no game shall be permitted to be played on any Billiard-table, properly licenced, except with three or four balls and with a mace or cue not more than two inches wide at the extremity.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That every tavern and ordinary keeper, and every retailer of wine and spirituous liquors, having a licence from this Corporation, for keeping and retailing the same, shall, on being provided as aforesaid, before a single magistrate, to have permitted any E O, A B C, L S D, Faro, Rolly-bolly, Shuffle-board, Equality-table or other device, for the purpose of playing or gaming for money, or any thing in lieu thereof, to be set up, kept and played, in his or her house, or appurtenances thereto, and on being sentenced as aforesaid to pay the penalty aforesaid, forfeit his or her said licence, from the day that judgment shall have been obtained.
SAML. N. SMALLWOOD, President of the First Chamber.
DANL. RAPINE, President of the Second Chamber.
APPROVED, August 16th, 1809.
ROBERT BRENT, Mayor.
CLERMONT SHEEP-SHEARING.
CLERMONT, JUNE 29, 1809. To Samuel Bard, M. D. President of the Agricultural Society of Duchess County. Dear Sir,
When I last had the pleasure of seeing you at Hyde Park, you appeared to think that the account which you published of my sheep-shearing two years ago, had much effect in forwarding my favorite plan of finding a new staple for the U. States, and opening the eyes of our fellow-citizens to the advantages that would result to them and the community, if the Merino was substituted to the common sheep. I required no other inducement to repeat the experiment upon a more enlarged scale; and the rather, as I could now do it with more ease to myself, and without apprehending the errors which interruptions from company or business might have occasioned. Mr. Briggs, in whose accuracy I could confide, undertook the task, in which I occasionally aided him. The inclosed letter and report embraces every object I had in view from the investigation, and presents such results as leave no excuse to prejudice or indolence for neglecting to cultivate this invaluable stock. I have seen with some pride and much pleasure that my efforts to introduce these sheep have not been ineffectual, and as I number you with the earliest of my disciples, and place you at the head of those whose principles and examples have had most weight with intelligent farmers, I have availed myself of your name to introduce this communication to their notice, and the rather as your suggestions gave birth to it. I am fully sensible that plain facts, and obvious deductions from those facts, make more forcible impressions on the mind than labored and eloquent reasoning. If therefore I extend the limits of this letter, it will be merely to place the facts mentioned in the inclosed in a still stronger point of light, and to subjoin others which do not appear in Mr. Briggs' report. You see that with a view to ascertain the proportion which the fleece bears to the carcase, I directed a number of the sheep to be weighed. I regret that this had not occurred to me before the higher grades had been shown and turned out; but from the average weight of their fleeces and their general size, I think the result would have been similar to that drawn from the half and three-fourths blood, which I own differed greatly from any opinion I had previously formed, and I should have suspected some error had I not been myself present at the weighing. For the still greater certainty I had a ewe weighed which hap-
pened to be under the shears, when Mr. Schuyler and Mr. B. Pilots accompanied me to the barn. The neat weight a ter shearing was 61 lbs. that of her fleece 7 lbs. 2 ounces, about one eighth of her weight of carcase, though she had a lamb of 3 months old. The average proportion however of the ewes, fleeces to their weight appears by the report to have been one to ten and a half, while that of the common ewes was one to twenty. As the consumption of food in animals of the same species must (generally speaking) be in proportion to the carcase, it will follow that one pound of common wool worth three shillings, costs as much hay and grass, as two pounds of wool from a 3-4 Merino worth two dollars and fifty cents. It should be understood that those sheep were not washed, which however makes no difference in the comparative result, since the common sheep were also shorn without washing, or in the price, as the wool was sold at the price stated in the report as it came from the sheep's back.
I might add that though the Merino wool loses more than common wool when scoured, yet that when washed on the sheep's back it loses much less. Doctor Pary says the loss is only one-ninth, while the common wool loses a fifth. My sheep were however kept as clean as possible, having been littered all winter and fed from the racks. The tags and dirt were taken off before the wool was weighed. It is observable that the proportion of wool to the carcase is not the same in the males as in the females, probably because of their great weight of bone and horn; thus the Tup Clermont weighed without his coat 136 lbs. his fleece nine pounds six ounces—his wool therefore was to his carcase when shorn as one to 12 and 1-2. Ramboulet weighed 140 lbs. including his coat, and his fleece 9 pounds; the general average may I think, be stated as one to fourteen, while in common wethers it is as one to twenty-seven. I found the weight of our wethers to be about 128 lbs. the average of their fleeces to be about 5 lbs. if well kept. In this difference between the males and females we may probably find a reason for the Spanish shepherds destroying the ram lambs. It is certainly from this view of the subject much less profitable to keep wethers than ewes. The tables state the quantity of wool and the price at which it sold. From these then it appears that the gross weight from 230 sheep was 1068 dollars 68 cts. leaving 765 clear profit after paying 150 cents per head for keeping. It is observable, that upon the common sheep composing part of this flock, if the fleece only is taken into consideration, there was a loss of 3 cents per head; that the profit upon two hundred & one Clermont Merino's of different grades, amounted to seven hundred and sixty-seven dollars, instead of a loss of six dollars and three cents; which would have been incurred had the flock been composed entirely of common sheep. To the benefit of the wool must be added that arising from the increase. I raised 140 lambs, the estimate of their value must be arbitrary if we consider them as stock in the market, because the demand may be uncertain. Let us then take up a rule applicable to every man's situation. I will suppose every lamb to be worth twice the value of his fleece, or in other words to pay 50 per ct. upon his cost yearly. This I believe will be deemed a rich return even though the capital should sink in ten years (the life of a sheep) the lamb will more than pay the expense of keeping. The estimate may then be made from the value of the fleeces as contained in the report, without deduction.
  33 half bred lambs at $7 6 cents 232 98   54 three-fourths do. 12 50   23 seven-eights do. 15 38   24 full bred and 15 1-6 20 50   Amount of wool as per report, 1068 68 
  Deduct expense of keeping } at 150 cents per head, 2842 90   345 
Clear profit, $2497 90
  Five lambs are omitted to make up casualties. Had the flock consisted of common sheep, the amount would have been thus:   140 lambs at 150 cts. $210 00   Loss of 3 cents on each fleece 6 90   Profit on 230 common sheep 230 10 
Difference between them & mixed Merino sheep, $2294 80
These calculations are not made from the selling price nor even on the intrinsic value of the sheep, for surely twenty-five per ct. would have been thought an ample profit, in which case the value of the lambs would have been carried to twice the amount that I have stated, and the clear profit have been $3299 48 cents; upwards of $14 and an half per head. It may may be alleged that when Merino sheep are common, the price of their wool will fall. Admit the fact for a moment; will not the price of other wool fall in proportion, will not the Merino still maintain its relative superiority? Again, suppose so great an absurdity as that fine & common wool should be equally valuable, as it appears by the above table that the Merino gives twice the wool in proportion to its carcase, and it is known to afford mutton of a superior quality, must it not be the interest of the farmers under every circumstance to prefer them? But it is by no means clear that the price of fine wool will fall when the quantity at market shall increase. When an article is intrinsically useful the consumption grows as the means of obtaining it is facilitated. When cotton was introduced into the southern states, the same argument might have repressed the ardor of the planters, and they should have continued to raise tobacco and indigo, lest the increase of cotton should reduce the value.
The contrary effect has however resulted from their exertions; fifty pounds of cotton are now consumed where one was 30 years ago. Let it be remembered too, that cotton is in some sort a luxury, while wool is a
necessary of life. Wool is employed in a variety of manufactures in which cotton cannot be used, while there are few manufactures to which cotton is applied which would not be much more highly estimated if fabricated of Merino wool, which is capable of being spun as fine or finer than cotton; witness the India and even the French shawls. How many years will roll away before the sheep of Europe and America are converted into Merino's? How long will it take to supply the void which is doubtless made in this valuable stock by the conversions in Spain? How many machines will be introduced which by reducing the price of labor extend the consumption of a manufacture while they add to the price of the raw materials? This subject appears to me in a more interesting point of view, when I consider its influence upon the general mass of the people. It enriches the farmer, it affords employment to the manufacturer and to the family of labor, and it saves an immense capital to the community. But this is not all, it is consoling to humanity to think that it can bring ease and comfort within the reach of every middling farmer; it requires no capital to enable him to commence his undertaking. He need not 10 talents to make other 10; let him not bury his single talent if he possesses but one, and he will soon be on a footing with his richest neighbor. Both may tend to the same goal without jostling each other; there is sufficient room for the exertions of all.
The able farmer will set out indeed with some advantage in the purchase of a higher bred ram, the poorer will however will overtake him though he sets out with less advantage, since he is creating capital as he goes. If he sets out with a tup of inferior grade, provided the form, figure, and fleece is good, in the profits of his stock he will find the means of advancing to higher improvements. The price of a tup is not cash expended, but money put out on interest, since their fleece will pay net twenty per cent. upon the capital. A small sum saved out of any casual expenditure puts the farmer in the road, and with very little attention he will progress to wealth and ease. Should I profess to teach the husbandman how to make two bushels of wheat grow, where one of rye now grows, would he not say, teach me this and I shall soon be as rich as I would wish to be? Have I not done this? Have I not shown him how to make two pounds of fine wool grow upon the pasture that now yields only one of coarse? Is not this substituting wheat for rye, and more than doubling the produce of his soil? Let him thus be as rich as he wishes to be, and let me enjoy the satisfaction of thinking that I have contributed to his prosperity.
I am, with much esteem, Dear Sir, yours, &c. ROBT. R. LIVINGSTON.
LETTER
From the hon. E. Gerry, to Mons. C. M. Talleyrand.
[The following letter is in answer to an official note from Mons. T. published in the Patriot of May 20th. It casts new light on the mysterious X. Y. Z. negotiation, and will be read with interest by every one who wishes to see the complete justification of Mr. Gerry against the aspersions of the French Machiavalian.]—Editor Patriot.
To his Excellency CHARLES MAURICE TALLEYRAND, Late Minister of foreign relations, and now a Prince of imperial France.
SIR, Your official letter, dated Paris, the 11th Fructidor, 6th year, (the 28th of August, 1798,) to Mr. Pichon, then Secretary of Legation at the Hague, has been lately published by his Excellency Mr. Adams, late President of the United States, and contains remarks on my conduct whilst on the embassy you refer to, which leave no alternative but that of a public answer. To me it appears immaterial, whether your object in writing that letter, was merely to obtain the negotiation which resulted from it, or was intended to extend to personalities: for admitting the former, what apology can be offered for unmerited and unnecessary censures on a preceding minister, in order to obtain a successor? The letter states, "that you used your endeavor to enter on a negotiation with Mr. Gerry, in the spirit of substituting calmness for passion, and confidence for suspicion, from a conviction that distrust alone was the cause of the misunderstanding between the two republics." Admitting the fact, you will readily grant, sir, that the distrust on the part of the United States, existed long before the date of my commission to negotiate with France, and resulted from a series of measures on her part highly injurious, and, as the United States conceived, unjust towards them. And have not the dispatches of the three envoys to their government proved to a demonstration, that the dark & crooked policy of negotiating with them by secret agents, whom you recognised to me as having acted under your authority, increased that distrust & finally defeated the negotiation? On the first approach of those agents, sociably was
I convinced of what would be the result of conferences with them, as to have proposed to my colleagues to terminate their agency without delay, by the following declaration to them viz: "To the question whether the propositions, informally and confidentially communicated to us, as private citizens, at the request, as is stated, of Mr. Talleyrand, in his private capacity, will be adopted as the basis of a treaty?—This answer is given: that it is highly probable some of the propositions communicated on the evenings of the 19th and 20th of October, (being the 28th and 29th Vendemaire) will be considered as the basis of a project of a treaty and others as inadmissible: but that it is impossible to discuss them, or to come to a decision on them, until they are presented to us in our official characters." After the rupture of the negotiation, by the dismissal of my colleagues, & the publication throughout Europe of our dispatches, then indeed, you "used," and it might be stated, you repeated, "your endeavors to enter on a negotiation with myself;" not because it was practicable, or promising success, but because it was necessary to allay the indignation of the French nation and directory against yourself, as the sole cause of the rupture of the negotiation with the three envoys. Can these facts be controverted? Are they not fully proved by the dispatches of the envoys, and by your correspondence with myself?
Your letter next states, "that your correspondence with Mr. Gerry, until the day of his departure, is a curious monument of advances on your part, and of evasions on his." That it is a curious monument of advances, or a monument of curious advances on your part, made with a conviction of the impossibility of their being accepted by him, is readily admitted: and permit him to enquire, whether you urged him to enter on a negotiation which was warranted by, or on one which was directly repugnant to, the powers given him by his government? You advocated his right to treat separately from his colleagues, because the government of the United States had commissioned, "jointly and severally, three envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, of whom he was one, to treat with the French republic." Had his colleagues, by any other means than the agency of that republic, been disqualified from acting, then indeed he would have had a separate authority, and would have exercised it; but, sir, your political abilities require no arguments to prove, that a separate power was not by his commission given to one envoy to treat, when the others were by the French government officially charged with misconduct, and dismissed from the embassy. If solid reasons did actually exist for the dismissal, was it not incumbent on the French Directory to have stated them to the government of the United States, that the latter might have corrected the evil? Was it your object, by urging that envoy to negotiate separately, to induce him to a measure which would have terminated beneficially to the two republics, and honorably to the negotiators, or to one, which, by his admitting the right of the French government to select one of the three envoys to proceed in the negotiation, would have sacrificed, on his part, the rights, honor and independence of his government, and disgraced himself?—Let him enquire further, sir, whether you was authorised by the government of the United States, (for your own government could not authorise you,) to construe for their minister, the powers which they had delegated to him? Was it not, to say the least, indelicate to make the attempt, and unjust to refuse him the right of being governed in this construction by his own judgment? Could he have met the advances, of which you boast, with a due regard to the rights and independence of his country, or to his own honor? Most assuredly he could not, and for not meeting them has incurred your censure. As to the evasions with which you charge him, they were refusals, and you so considered them, to close with your propositions. Your letter next states, "that it is wrong to suppose you confined yourself to vague protestations, that among that series of official letters, which will doubtless be published at Philadelphia, you select one wherein he (Mr. Pichon) will see that
you make very positive propositions, without any mixture of preliminary conditions. That this letter was followed by three notes upon the articles to be discussed, and that you intended to complete the others in this manner, if Mr. Gerry had not refused to answer thereto." But let any candid man read our correspondence, and declare, if he can, that your protestations were not altogether vague from the beginning to the end—did you not know before the publication of the dispatches of the envoys, that, superior to pretexts, the envoy you had selected to negotiate, declared himself, for the reasons herein stated, unauthorised to treat? Did you not, in consequence of those reasons, and from a conviction of their truth, pledge yourself to prepare informally with him, a treaty, and to send a minister to the American government for a ratification of it? And did you not, after the promulgation of the dispatches, depart from the arrangements, and renew propositions long before made to and rejected by him for treating separately? If then, sir, your protestations were not vague, why did you not, in the informal mode agreed on, discuss fairly and substantially the important subjects of the negotiation? Why, in lieu thereof, did you propose a formal epistolary negotiation, and even in this confine yourself to the correction of a consular convention, which was soon to expire? Why did you not enter on the most important object, the project of a commercial treaty? Of what use, without such a treaty, was a consular convention? Your beginning with the smallest object of the negotiation, and indeed your whole conduct in that discussion amounted, in my mind, to proof positive, that you was governed by no motive or expectation of attaining the important objects of the negotiation, but that your sole view, as before stated, was to amuse the French government and nation, and to divert from yourself their indignation, resulting from the rupture of the negotiation. Your letter then proceeds: "when it became necessary to abandon the idea of treating with that envoy, who thought it important only to know how a negotiation might thereafter be resumed, I gave him the most solemn assurances concerning the reception that a new plenipotentiary would receive."—But did that envoy think it important only to know how a negotiation might thereafter be resumed? You know, sir, he did not. In his letters to yourself of the 4th and 20th of April, 1798, the first being before, and the last subsequent to the departure from Paris of one of his colleagues, he early proposed to "confer with you informally and unaccredited, on any subject respecting his mission, and to communicate to the government of the United States the result of such conferences." He gave you, agreeably to your request, the outlines of such a treaty as he thought would have been acceptable to his government; and repeatedly urged you to come forward, on your part, with propositions "for terminating all differences, for the restoration of harmony and friendship; and for the re-establishment of commerce between the United States and France;" and to effect those objects he assured you of his immediate and cheerful co-operation. Look at your correspondence with him, which you appear to have forgotten, and you will there find a record of these and numerous other facts, proving his unremitted exertions while in France, to establish a commercial treaty & restore harmony between the two republics. Is it not then much to be regretted, sir, that you have hazarded such unfounded assertions, and produced the painful necessity of detecting them?
Your letter then proceeds to state, "that you wished to encourage Mr. Gerry by the testimonies of regard that his good intentions merited." Although you could not dissemble, that he wanted decision, at a moment when he might have easily adjusted everything. That it does not thence follow, you designated him; that you will even avow, that you think him too irresolute to be fit to hasten the conclusion of an affair of this kind." "Testimonies of regard," Sir, in negotiations, inspire neither courage or confidence: they are seldom successfully practised and always illusive; and had you manifested such to him, he must have candidly declared to you, "timeo danos et dona ferentes." His primary object was to promote, on principles of reciprocity,

the honor, interest and welfare of his country. In the pursuit of these you was fully convinced that he was above encouragement, and that all your discouragements were to be availed.
That he "wanted decision" to close with your degrading propositions , is confessed; it is demonstrated by the correspondence you refer to; and it appears also that he was "irresolute" to do wrong; an irresolution which he frankly avows, which he professes to "diplomatic skill," or diplomatic artifice, and which, permit me, sir, from a long experience and full conviction that public as well as private concerns, "honesty is the best policy," to recommend to your consideration and patronage.
As a duty which I owe to myself, I have transmitted copies of this letter to yourself, through French and American channels, which will ensure the delivery of it; and had you adopted a similar measure, by sending to me a copy of your official letter to Mr. Picton, in which you very freely use my character, you would have received an immediate answer.
Accept my assurances, sir, of all due consideration and respect.
E. GERRY.
Cambridge, July, 1809.
Wilmington, August, 29, 1809.
Extract of a letter from a gentleman residing in Batavia, county of Genesee, N. Y. to the editors of the American Watchman, dated August 5th, 1809.
We have, occasionally, news from Canada. The inhabitants of that country have just received intelligence of Mr. Canning's disavowal of the engagements of Mr. Erskine. It has created the utmost alarm. Some believe it to have been a secret understanding between the government & the minister; many are of the opinion that Mr. Erskine was unauthorised; others consider it as emanating from the proverbial treachery of the ministry; but they all agree in the opinion that war will inevitably be the consequence. So prevalent was the latter opinion, that many Americans, inhabitants of Canada, are preparing to remove within the limits of the U. S. Others, less faithful, were determined to remain in Canada, and, in case of hostilities, to take arms in favor of the Americans. It is a fact that nearly half of the inhabitants of Canada are friendly to the U. S. and only wait a favorable opportunity to tear asunder the shackles of English tyranny.
The British are making every preparation for war. Unusual activity is observed in the organization of troops, the training of the militia, and the preparation of military stores. I saw an intelligent gentleman the other day from York [a small town in Canada.] He stated that from every observation and appearance he was firmly persuaded that England had determined on war, but that it was delayed in order that the word might be accompanied with the blow.
There has lately been an unusual intercourse, by couriers, between certain notorious smugglers in the states, and the British officers in Canada. Some plan is evidently in embryo, but what I am unable to determine. It is not my wish to excite unnecessary alarm, but I am firmly persuaded some method should be speedily adopted to annihilate this unlawful intercourse, this secret understanding, this torrid smuggling, more particularly at the present crisis, when all appearances are indicative of an approaching rupture."
FROM THE NEW-YORK MERCANTILE ADVERTISER.
NON-INTERCOURSE.
Ship owners, agents, and shippers of goods be on your guard, as many people entertain incorrect opinions of the extent of the present non-intercourse law. The conditions of the bond required at the custom house under the March law and June law are very different.—The conditions of the bonds under the March law, were, that the ship should not, when leaving the port , proceed to a prohibited port, nor be concerned during the voyage with a prohibited port; that the cargo should not be put on board any other vessel, but be landed at a permitted port, and a certificate thereof returned within a limited time. Therefore, a vessel proceeding to a permitted port, landing her cargo, and procuring a certificate, satisfies the conditions of these bonds; as the U. S. courts have often decided in cases of sailors' wages, &c. that a voyage was, from the loading a cargo at one port, until it was discharged at another. But the conditions of the bonds required under the June law are, that the vessel shall not proceed to, or trade with, a prohibited port, (without any limitation). So that landing a cargo is not necessary. Our vessels may sail from the U. S. deliver their cargoes on board other ships, or proceed to permitted ports, and land
their cargoes, and return home, or proceed to other permitted ports, without violating the bonds; but the vessels cannot proceed to a prohibited port, during the continuance of the non-intercourse law, without violating the bonds, required at the custom-house, under the June law. Should any vessel that cleared for a port in the U. S. proceed for a prohibited port, the vessel & cargo would be forfeited, & the owner and agent (as well as each shipper) would incur the penalty of double the value of vessel and cargo, so that ship merchants ought to be careful how they ship by vessel intending to go off in that way without bonds, and not rely on the false idea, that the ship and cargo, together with her owner and commander, are only liable; for, I repeat it, that each ship would incur a penalty of double the value of vessel and cargo, whether the vessel be seized or not.
A Friend to Commerce.
COL. WARDLE.
To the people of the United Kingdoms. Honored as my parliamentary conduct has been by the approbation of so many of my countrymen, I feel myself called upon, in consequence of an event that yesterday took place, immediately to address you, and that in vindication of my character, rendered open to attack from the verdict of the jury upon the evidence of Mrs. Clark and Mr. Wright, the brother of her upholsterer, in a cause in which I was defendant, in the court of King's Bench. The detail of the evidence the public prints will afford. It is with me to state, that my council, satisfied in their own minds that the jury would not, upon such testimony as had been given by the plaintiff's brother and Mrs. Clark alone find a verdict against me, did not comply with my earnest entreaty (repeated to them in writing during the trial) in strongest terms that Maj. Dodd, Mr. Glennie, and other respectable witnesses subpoenaed by the plaintiff and myself, might be examined, as I knew their testimony would be found in truth, and be in direct contradiction to what had been sworn against me. Under such a circumstance the verdict was obtained. There only remains for me now, before my God & my country, to declare, that it was obtained by perjury alone; and I do pledge myself to prove that fact the earliest moment the forms of the law will allow me to do so. Anxiously, therefore, do I look forward to that period; and I trust that till then the public will suspend their judgment upon the case.
With sentiments of the deepest gratitude and respect, I remain your ever faithfully devoted servant,
G. L. WARDLE.
James street, July 4.
WASHINGTON CITY.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4.
It will be seen by the article under the Norfolk head, that Mr. JACKSON, the British envoy, has arrived at Norfolk.
London dates are received six days later than the last accounts, which however furnish no news of importance. A few extracts will be found in the succeeding columns, from which it appears that the plot thickens on the Danube.—News of an engagement may soon be expected.
[The following article was written before the late disavowal by the British government, but has been deferred for want of room.]
GUN-BOATS.
Among the measures suggested, but not adopted, during the late session of Congress, was the sale of the whole, or nearly the whole of the Gun-Boats. This, like every other measure having the least tendency to relax in the general measures of defence, was very wisely, in our opinion, deferred. The subject will, however, it may be presumed again in no long time come under the cognizance of Congress; and the question, so often discussed, will once more present itself, whether this species of defence is worth maintaining, or whether it ought to be totally or partially abandoned, or extended. In deciding this question no inconsiderable difficulty will arise from two considerations. First , from an inability to foresee the course which the United States shall eventually pursue in regard to the maintenance of her maritime rights; and, secondly , from the great want of experience with regard to the value of this mode of defence.
Never to this day has the question been fairly decided, whether we shall have a permanent and respectable navy. Every decision made has been the offspring of temporary state of things; and since the institution of our naval establishment, Europe has undergone so great a change in regard to the relative naval strength of her several powers, as to cause no inconsiderable doubt whether our course ought not to be accommodated to it. Then there
were several, at least two respectable navies, which, if they did not equipoise each other, notwithstanding, were so proportioned, as to admit of an equipoise by uniting all the smaller navies against the largest. Now, there is but one navy in the world; nor is there the faintest hope at present of balancing it. This memorable change, so far as it operates, should tend, perhaps, to inspire doubts of the propriety of creating in this country any considerable naval force. If committed to the ocean, the chief service contemplated from it would consist in protecting our trade against the British navy, or that of her enemy. Enlisted against Britain, it would be almost inevitably swallowed up by this Leviathan of the seas, and embarked with her (as it virtually would be opposed to her enemy) it would be useless; for she requires no addition to her naval strength to be irresistible. The case can scarcely be imagined in which we shall be engaged in war with any nation, while England shall be at peace.
On the other hand, our trade has risen to such importance, that it may have become a question whether for its maintenance we ought not to incur every hazard, and, consequently, pursue the course in which every commercial nation has hitherto gone. Our government, moreover, is eminently the offspring of accommodation, and whatever bold speculative opinions we may philosophically entertain in our closets, we are compelled, on entering into the world, to consult other opinions than our own, relinquishing or modifying them according to circumstances.
Under these circumstances, it is not in the least surprising, that on this head there is a greater distraction in the public mind, than on any other, a distraction not ascribable to party.
Our want of experience with regard to the value of gun-boats, however it may embarrass our judgment, is on the whole a fortunate circumstance, as it has arisen from our exemption from any serious collision with a foreign power fitted to test their importance. This circumstance, duly weighed, should rather decide our judgment in their favor. We have been preserved from any such serious collision. The inquiry is by what means? Our means, for the protection of our ports and harbors, have been fortifications, frigates and gun-boats. If then these have been, in any wise effectual, what right have we to ascribe the effect produced to one or two of these means to the exclusion of the others? Who is there prepared to prove that our gun-boats have not been as operative as our fortifications or frigates? Happily, neither of them have been brought into play; but had the trial of their efficacy been required, is there the slightest evidence that the gun-boats would not have contributed their share to the general defence? There is none. On the contrary, the best opinions of practical men are on their side. There is no maritime nation that does not avail itself of them. They have even rendered us the most effectual service in the Mediterranean. Before then they are dismissed as a weak link in our chain of defence, let their merits be dispassionately investigated. For our part, we consider the trade as involving no common interest, and, consequently, as eminently entitled to the general attention. Let this attention be bestowed upon it, without respect to party, and free from prejudice. Let no mean jealousy of the fame of Mr. Jefferson condemn them without proof. Let it be forgotten by the federalists that it was among the leading measures of the republican party. Let it only be remembered that it has had the almost unanimous sanction of Congress for a number of years, and that when a course of policy is adopted on sufficient grounds, it betrays a levity of character hastily to abandon it without good cause. If, however, good cause can be shewn, let it be relinquished.
In this examination, it becomes us, in the first instance, to consider the peculiar characters which ought to mark our military means, whether land or naval. They should be strictly defensive. There may be occasions in which offensive operations may be justifiably carried on against our enemy; but they must be so extremely rare, as not to affect our general and permanent policy, which will be completely satisfied by the use of means that shall securely defend us against the great aggressions of foreign powers. This policy is not only consonant with the genius of our government and the habits of our people; but seems likewise to be the offspring of necessity, as for offence we are as weak, as for defence we are strong. On our own soil, no force can be disgorged upon us which we should not be able to overwhelm, while at a distance from our shores, on land or water, we must long continue to rank with the lowest nations.
The most obvious species of defence is fortification . Let this be carried to a solitary length. Let heavy ordnance strew our shores. Let our frontiers, by sea and land, be literally an union-frontier, that when occasion calls, the enemy may be met at the cannon's mouth. From this species of defence great good must ensue, and no evil except the expence attending it, a consideration, when the great interests of the nation are at stake, light as air, the chief end of our system of defence being to keep off aggression, and that system must be the best, which has this effect. Once convince your enemy that by attacking you he will suffer more severely than yourself, and he will take care not to make the attack. Whatever shall produce this impression calls for adoption. It will save us from all bloody conflicts, whose issue, however certain, could not fail to involve a prodigal expenditure of the lives of our people and occasion a great addition to the ordinary expence.
Are then common fortifications alone sufficient to ensure this result? It will be allowed, by all, that they are not. And hence the necessity of frigates or gun-boats, or both. Fortifications are stationary, and cannot avail, until the hostile force approaches so near as materially to injure our harbors. This force will be embarked on floating objects, to meet which on reciprocal terms, it becomes necessary to create a species of defence possessed of similar attributes. Besides, completely to defend a harbor, which is generally embosomed in a large town exposed to imminent danger from the approach of a fleet, it is, in the highest respect, important, using fortifications only in the last resort, to cope with the enemy at such a distance from the town as will insure it from any serious injury.
This can only be done by larger vessels of war, or gun-boats. If the former be exclusively relied upon, it becomes instantly necessary to possess a fleet equal to the hostile fleet. Is this, in our present circumstances, attainable? There is not a sensible man that will say that it is. England can readily detach twenty ships of the line, with as many frigates, to attack any harbor in the United States. And even if we had an equal force, she would have struck the blow, before we could possibly collect our vessels distributed over so wide a country. But such a force, totally inadequate as it would be, would cost us annually more than our whole ordinary receipts. Some other resort then must be had. And this is gun-boats; not with a view to the total exclusion of larger vessels, but to support and assist them, and thus make a small number of them equally powerful with a large.
Let us look at the subject somewhat in detail. Most of our harbors are situated at some distance from the mouths of our rivers, and all of them surrounded by an expanse of water detached from the ocean that will enable gun-boats to operate, not merely in calm, but likewise in stormy weather. The hostile fleet enters this field. If a calm ensues, such are the valuable loco-motive powers of the gun-boat, its means of annoyance and its own invulnerability under such circumstances, that it becomes a dreadful instrument against the largest ship that floats on the ocean, always able to cripple, and sometimes destroy it. From the ability, too, of navigating shoal water, inaccessible by large vessels, it not only has the capacity of meeting the enemy at the most eligible station when about to attack the harbors, but likewise of stationing itself at convenient positions in its rear, and thus surrounding it with a tremendous fire in every direction, without being itself much exposed. Suppose, for instance, a harbor to be attacked that is twenty miles up a river or bay. A number of gun-boats are stationed in the vicinity of the harbor, to meet the attacking fleet, and a number are likewise judiciously placed in recesses or in shoal water, near the mouth of the river or bay, from which considerable injury will certainly ensue to the fleet after its passage, and, perhaps, complete destruction in case of a calm, which increases the power of the gun-boat in the same ratio that it paralyses that of the frigate. If this representation be correct, and we believe it is strictly correct, frigates and gun-boats, so far from being rivals, are the best friends, the one always supporting and aiding the other, and the gun-boat exerting its greatest energy at the very moment when that of the frigate fails.
A great and solid recommendation of the gun-boat is its happy inability to be used as an instrument of offence. It arms the Executive with no dangerous patronage. It subsists in the bosom, and under the eye of the nation, whose vigilance will guard it from abuse. It engenders no collisions with foreign ships of war, and gives no facility to the President to embroil the nation. Its entire maintenance is among ourselves. Those
who man it do not cease to be in some measure citizens; and all the money taken from the Treasury to support it, is expended at home.
Finally, it is not susceptible of serious abuse, considered in any light in which it can be contemplated; unless, indeed, the cost of its maintenance be so considered. Every objection that has been urged will be found to resolve itself into this, which we have reserved to this stage of the discussion, with a view to its more lucid examination.
On this point, the first circumstance that occurs, is the great difficulty, if not total impracticability, of estimating the exact value of any means of maritime or commercial defence. In proportion as those means are effectual, they tend to avert the necessity of a resort to force. To infer from this effect, that they are useless or unavailing, would be an egregious error. There is but one legitimate end for which an armed force can be justifiably raised, the preservation of essential rights; and if this end is secured, without a recurrence to war, it constitutes the highest possible demonstration of the wisdom of the measures pursued. If, therefore, the maintenance of our rights be the consequence of our fortifications, gun-boats and frigates, they ought not to be less prized, they ought in fact to be infinitely more prized, because a single gun has not been fired or a single life lost. These circumstances are the surest evidences of their efficacy, the proudest trophies of their wisdom.
But, although this proposition will be assented to by every dispassionate and enlightened mind, it is to be feared that the bulk of mankind reason on this point, as they do on the maladies to which their own persons are exposed, and estimate the value of the political medicine administered, not so much by its results, as by the violence with which it operates. In the latter case they consequently ascribe little credit to the sagacity that from slight symptoms foresees the gradual approach of disease, and by gentle prescriptions, seasonably administered, almost imperceptibly eradicates its seeds; while they extol to the skies the talent that, by violent means, rescues the life from raging fever or excruciating torment. So, in the affairs of nations, the wars which are totally prevented by the vigilant foresight of statesmen make little impression compared with those which are conducted to a brilliant issue, although that issue be attended with the most prodigal waste of life and felicity.
In this unreflecting strain, we are asked on this occasion, what good has been done by gun-boats? What combat have they enabled us to gain, what glory have they shed on our name, what harbor have they defended? It is almost fruitless to reply that they have protected us from the necessity of gaining any combat, of acquiring any glory, of defending by force any harbor. This description of mortals require some decisive, ocular, thundering demonstration of their efficacy. It, however, may be replied, perhaps with some effect even on such minds, that, in this point of view, there are no reasons for denying to gun-boats an equal share of praise with either fortifications or frigates, as they have all operated with the same silent and preventive influence.
It results conclusively, from this view, that the only test we possess of the value of our means of defence consists in the general comparative prosperity of the country, and in the full national independence we enjoy. And so far as this only true universal criterion shall be applied, it will appear that our means have been more efficacious than those of any cotemporary power; that we are more prosperous and more independent than any nation of Europe.
Shall then one feature in a chain of defence which has proved thus effectual be suddenly broken? Certainly not, unless recommended by the most cogent reasons. Let us now examine, whether the comparative expense constitutes such a reason.
On this subject the Secretary of the Navy has afforded us much valuable information luminously displayed. From the tenor of this information it has been hastily, perhaps, incorrectly inferred, that he is unfriendly to gun-boats. We profess not to be acquainted with his opinions on this head; but a close inspection of his report will be found not to justify the inference drawn from it; and will shew that he has been as cautious in expressing opinions, as he has been free in communicating facts.
These facts, as connected with the purposes of this enquiry, are:
1. The whole number of gun-boats and bombus, under the existing laws is 176, at the average of 9,000 dollars, amounting to 1,584,000 dollars. 2. The annual expence of a gun-boat laid up in ordinary is estimated at 400 dollars.

3. The annual expence of maintaining one gun-boat in actual service is stated at 1,500 dollars.
4. The annual expence of maintaining those now in service, is estimated at 250,000 dollars.
5. The whole sum expended since July 1804 on gun-boats amounts to 1,558,410 dollars. Add for unliquidated accounts 441,590 dollars, and we have an aggregate of two millions. This amount arises in part from computation; but it is believed to be near the real sum expended.
Let us now compare with these expenditures those made for the same period of time on fortifications and frigates.
For fortifications.
The sums appropriated amount to about 1,750,000 dollars.
For frigates and smaller vessels, exclusive of the building gun-boats. The sums appropriated amount to about 8,500,000 dollars.
If there be deducted for sums expended on maintenance of gun-boats (not ascertainable from the printed document) there remains 750,000.
From these statements it follows that during a period of five years there have been appropriated to—
Fortifications 1,750,000 dollars. Frigates, &c. 7,500,000 Gun-Boats 2,000,000
Being equal to an annual sum for—
Fortifications of 350,000 dollars. Frigates, &c. 1,500,000 Gun-Boats 400,000
It likewise follows that the relative sum applied to gun-boats is only about a sixth part of the whole sum.
Nor should it be overlooked, that gun-boats, being a new institution, have required a much larger relative expenditure during the foregoing period than fortifications or frigates, and a positive expenditure, greater than for the creation of a like force, will hereafter be requisite.
Having taken a view of past expenditures on these several objects, let us now examine the subject prospectively.
There is every reason to believe that, at least for a considerable number of years, our fortifications will demand the same appropriations made during the above period.
The same may, perhaps, be safely predicted of our frigates.
While with regard to gun-boats, the great expence, accruing from their first cost, will be in no small degree saved, as well as other expences in the first instance unavoidably incurred from the immature knowledge incident to the infancy of the establishment.
From the statements of the Secretary of the Navy the expences of the ensuing year are computed at 64,000 dollars for the boats in ordinary, 250,000 for those in service; making together 314,000 dollars. Some allowance, with regard to future years, must be made for the building of new boats, and perhaps for a larger number, that may be taken into service. Combining these circumstances, let us estimate the annual appropriation required for gun-boats at 500,000 dollars.
It will follow that the relative annual expences of these several links in our chain of defence will be—
For Fortifications 350,000 Frigates, &c. 1,500,000 Gun-Boats 500,000 If to these items be added the expence of the army computed at 1,500,000 3,850,000
We shall have the aggregate of our military and naval expences, amounting to 3,850,000 dollars; of which that applied to gun-boats, consequently, only amounts to an eighth part.
Let every sound and dispassionate mind, on these data, judge for itself, and pronounce whether this feature of our system, which involves an expence comparatively so small, ought to be abandoned; a feature, which has sprung from the purest motives of the human heart, which is recommended by the sanction of some of our ablest men & which, it is allowed on all hands, constitutes the most innocent military weapon, that can be put into the hands of our government.
But if the opponents of gun-boats shall still remain so inflexible, as to reject the inferences drawn in their favor as inconclusive, there remains one argument on their side of irresistible force. This disapprobation comes principally from the devoted friends of a navy. Let the advocates of this establishment, then, reflect that it is altogether the offspring of concession and compromise, and that to maintain it in its present state, much more to extend it, requires imperiously a continuance of this temper of mind. Let them reflect, how much of its support it has derived from the friends of gun-boats, and that if they should be thrown into the scale of its enemies (which
they probably would be by the demolition of their favorite feature) the navy in its turn might soon kick the beam.
The Anniversary of the battle of Bennington has been lately celebrated on the spot by 1200 freemen, with the highest demonstrations of gratitude for the event & a desire to perpetuate its remembrance. After various exercises appropriate to the day, the ceremonies were concluded by reading the following letter from the veteran General JOHN STARK, who bore so conspicuous a part on the 16th of August, 1777, the day which the company had assembled to commemorate.
At my quarters, Derryfield, 31 July, 1809.
My friends & fellow-soldiers, I received yours of the 22d instant, containing your fervent expressions of friendship, and your very polite invitation to meet with you, to celebrated the 16th of Aug. in Bennington.
As you observe, I "can never forget" that I "commanded American troops" on that day in Bennington. They were men that had not learned the art of submission, nor had they been trained to the art of war. But our "astonishing success" taught the enemies of liberty, that undisciplined freemen are superior to veteran slaves. And I fear we shall have to teach the lesson anew to that perfidious nation.
Nothing could afford me more pleasure than to meet "the sons of liberty" on that fortunate spot. But as you justly anticipate, the infirmities of old age will not permit; for I am now four score and one years old, and the lamp of life is almost spent. I have of late had many such invitations, but was not ready, for there was not oil enough in the lamp.
You say you wish your young men to see me, but you who have seen me can tell them, that I never was worth much for a show, and certainly cannot be worth their seeing now.
In case of my not being able to attend, you wish my sentiments—them you shall have as free as the air we breathe. As I was then, I am now the friend of equal rights of men, of representative democracy, of republicanism, and the declaration of independence, the great charter of our national rights—and of course the friend of the indissoluble union and constitution of the states. I am the enemy of all foreign influence; for all foreign influence is the influence of tyranny. This is the only chosen spot of liberty—this the only republic on earth.
You well know, gentlemen, that at the time of the event you celebrate, there was a powerful British faction in the country (called tories) and a majorial part of the force we had to contend with was tories. This faction was ranking in our councils, till they had laid the foundation for the subversion of our liberties. But by good counsels at our out-posts we were apprized of our danger; and the sons of freedom beat the alarm—and, as at Bennington "they came, they saw, and they conquered." But again the faction has rallied to the charge, & again they have been beaten.
It is my orders now, and will be my last orders to all my volunteers, to look well to their centres: for there is a dangerous British party in this country, lurking in their hiding places, more dangerous than all our foreign enemies. And whenever they shall appear openly to render the same account of them that was given in Bennington, let them assume what name they will: not doubting that the ladies will be as patriotic, in furnishing every aid, as they were at Bennington in '77, who even dismantled their beds to furnish cords to secure and lead them off.
I shall remember, gentlemen, the respect you and the inhabitants of Bennington and its neighborhood have shown me, till I go to the country from which no traveller returns.—I must soon receive marching orders. JOHN STARK.
P. S. I will give you my volunteer toast: "Live free or die.—Death is not the greatest of all evils."
FOR THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER. TO MY NEIGHBOR MR. X.
AS I am a near neighbor of yours, and a well wisher also, I am sure you will permit me to address a line or two to you—I have but a moment's time; and will not analyse or discuss in detail your very elaborate, and I suppose you think, your very profound system or theory of banking, its practical operation, advantages, &c.—I make no objections, my dear neighbor, to your endeavoring to coax a few such modest gentlemen as Mr. Barlow, Mr. Young, Mr. Ladd, &c. into liberal subscriptions to your new establishment, by pretended offers to elect them to your direction; or, to your endeavoring to obtain from our industrious mechanics (although this may be exceptional and iniquitous to them) their present small surplus funds, by persuading them to transfer them into other hands, who will narrow down their use and employment to a few individuals, in comparison with the number who have at present the application of them to objects of utility and comfort—and perhaps even of necessity, to themselves and their families.—But why do you state that Washington languishes whilst Alexandria and George-Town flourishes? Why assert that the members of the National Legislature are driven to seek lodgings among our neighbors, &c.?—Why assert that the runs of skill and industry are stalking about our city, the inhabitants harmonizing with our ruined buildings, falling before they are finished, &c.?—Surely you must know our prosperity is much greater than that of either George-Town or Alexandria. The superiority in the increase of our population for the last five or six years above George-Town, with other circumstances, incontestably decides the point in the one case: and as for Alexandria, it is allowed on all hands to be at least stationary, if not on the decline. —Surely also, if you know anything about our local circumstances a few years ago, you must recollect that then a great proportion of the National Legislature, &c. resorted to George-Town for lodgings, whereas now only a few, very few individuals do so.—I presume you will not repeat so glaring an error, and pray where are those runs of skill and industry stalking about our city—buildings falling before they are finished, &c.?—Why thus insult the sense of our own citizens and deceive the public abroad, extremely to our injury, by notorious misrepresentations?—The increase of our buildings is beyond a parallel in this country, and what is more important, they are all occupied—in short, neighbors you must know that our progress of prosperity and improvement generally is gratifying and satisfactory to our best friends—I mean all who are not so unreasonable as to expect to create a large city in a day or two. As for the instances of ruin stalking about our city—of ruined buildings falling before they are finished,—you must know those existed only in former times, and in times too when both the Banks in George-Town and this City were recently established; and when their amount of capital, in proportion to the population and business of the two places, was much greater than their capital is at present.—Do not misunderstand me; I do not mean to ascribe the ruinous effects which you depict, to the Banks—I mean to draw no such inference myself—other causes produced them. But I wish to caution you against the incorrectness of your own statements and the drift of your own arguments in some respects.—You may defeat your own favorite object by the means you take to secure it. You may become suspected of intending to gull . Y.
By this arrival we have London papers to the 13th of July, six days later than those received at Halifax;—We select the most prominent articles, and leave the reader to judge for himself.
London, July 13.
Orders were received at the custom house this morning for a general embargo to be laid on immediately. The expedition will sail in two or three days.
Fortune has frowned upon another of the Bonaparte family, and Jerome, who had advanced with his Westphalian and Dutch troops against the Austrians, threatening to drive them in a few days out of Saxony, has been checked in his presumptuous boasting, and been himself beaten. This we infer from an article in the second edition of the Berlin Gazette of 1st July—he would not else have ordered all the baggage in his rear to return to Magdeburgh, nor send in such haste to Cassel for all the disposable troops to be put in motion. A victory over Jerome Bonaparte will be important, inasmuch as it will enable the Austrians to advance about the time when great events were to take place in Hanover and Hesse. The following is the article to which we have alluded:
Extract from a second edition of the Berlin Court Gazette of the 1st July, 1808, which has been printed later than those forwarded by the Hamburg mail.
"At this moment, the 1st of July, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, we received the following intelligence:
Extract of a letter from Leipzig, June 29.
"The Westphalian troops which arrived here, marched again on the 27th, in pursuit of the Austrians; the king himself followed them on the 28th, and promised to clear Saxony of the Austrians in a few days.
"According to accounts received from Dresden of the 29th, the Austrian army having received reinforcements of five thousand cavalry, which made their force 96,000 men, has taken post at Keitzenhausen, in the environs of Meissen, expecting the enemy.
"The Austrian army is provided with a train of 50 pieces of cannon, and is commanded by general Kinsky.
"This moment a courier from the Westphalian army has passed through here, to order all baggage he finds on the road to return to Magdeburgh; he is also to proceed to Cassel to order all the disposable troops to put themselves immediately in motion.
"Since yesterday afternoon it is said the roar of cannon has been heard."
Yarmouth, July 10. Arrived, the Havoc gun brig, lieutenant Bamber of the Baltic, and brings intelligence that SERRALL is not dead, but only wounded, and is fortifying the island of Rugen.
THE EXPEDITION.
Ramsgate, July 11. We are all bustle here this day, 20 sail of transports having come in, which in consequence of adverse winds, occasions great confusion amongst them, but being moderate was attended with little or no damage to the vessels. The troops are to embark to-morrow, as far as the present arrivals will admit, when these will be despatched for the Downs, and others sent in, so that to appearance one of the most formidable expeditions ever witnessed from this country, is now likely to be very soon ready for its destination.
The march of the troops for their various destinations on the Kent coast was completed yesterday.
Besides the artillery already stated, 1200 horses of the Commissariat Corps of gunners, drivers, from Woolwich, Chatham and Canterbury, are ordered to accompany the expedition; a strong indication this, that the service is continental. They will be embarked in divisions at Northfleet and Ramsgate. A detachment of the Waggon Train is also expected to embark this day at Deptford.
Extract of a letter from capt. Currie, of the navy, dated Benjabe, July 7, to a mercantile house in Liverpool.
"Gentlemen—I left Palermo on the 1st ult. honored with the charge of dispatches from Lord Amherst, British minister plenipotentiary, and gen. Sir John Stewart, whom I left at Melazzo embarking an army of 23,000 men, British and Sicilians, under his command, destined to attack Naples, and which were intended to sail three days after my departure."
At a late hour this morning we received Hamburg papers to the 6th inst. Berlin to the 2d, and Frankfort and other papers to the 30th ult. The following is the intelligence contained in them:—
Leipzig, June 26. Six or seven thousand Saxon and Wittenberg troops entered our city yesterday. We expect orders to-day. June 26. The king of Westphalia entered this place on the 26th, and yesterday marched with his army towards Dresden.
Mercersbourg, June 25.
Official letters from the king of Westphalia's head quarters, arrived this morning state that Gen. D'Alby had orders to pass the Saal yesterday and attack the Austrians near Lutzen. After several actions the enemy were obliged to retire. The Austrians evacuated Leipzig at midnight.
Prague, June 24. We learn by official reports from the Generalissimo's head quarters, that up to the 22d, nothing had occurred between the two main armies. The archduke Charles
is daily receiving reinforcements from 2 to 3000 men, so that his force on the line from Grems to Presburg is estimated at 163,000 troops of the line.
"As the Tyroleans and Vorarlbergers, supported by the imperial troops under the command of Col. Verner, consider themselves strong enough to make head against the enemy, Gen. Chasteller has united with the Rands of Croatia, Count Czirac, and in conjunction with them has entered Hungary by the mountains.
Berlin, July 1. —By way of precaution the Duke of Vandy has removed the treasury of Hanover to Mentz.
The Austrians have extended themselves considerably in the territory of Friaul.
Accounts received at Frankfort from Upper Swabia give reason to tremble for the fate of the unfortunate town of Lindau.
The scarcity of meat greatly increases at Vienna.
Banks of the Elbe, June 30. —Nothing decisive has as yet arrived from the great theatre of war; but according to all accounts, may be daily expected, as the three bridges over the Danube were finished on the 27th, & great reinforcements had reached the French army. Napoleon had also finished all the preparations and dispositions for a grand and decisive attack on the heroic Archduke Charles, and his valiant army, who were also prepared to receive him.
The victory which the French boast to have obtained over the Archduke John, by their Italian army, and the occupation of Raab, were mere ephemeral successes, as intelligence has been officially received of a much later date at Prague, stating that the Archduke had re-taken the position on the Raab, and the French are said to have retreated before him.
According to private letters from Austria, the duke of Ragusa's army has been defeated and totally dispersed in the confines of Hungary, and no more than 6000 men are said to remain of it. By the same channel it is said, that a combined British and Turkish naval and military force has re-taken Trieste and Fiume, and conquered the greatest part of Dalmatia.
The presence of a British army in Hanover would be a great diversion in favor of Austria, as many of the inhabitants would join it, particularly as the conscription for France will soon be introduced."
From the Banks of the Maine, June 27. —Letters from Paris state, that serious negotiations for peace are carrying on, and that Napoleon will certainly celebrate his birth day (the 15th of August) at Paris.
Prague, June 25. —The army of the archduke Charles, which is now 160,000 strong, and is daily increasing in force, has thrown up fortifications on different points of the Danube, and adheres to a plan of defensive operations. The archduke sends detachments to Hungary and Germany to alarm the enemy. It also appears to be intended in a short time to have more corps acting under generals Klenau, Kienmeyer, and Tiernyer in Saxony, Francoia, and Swabia.
Leipzig, June 28. —This day about noon the king of Westphalia left this city, and advanced with the whole of his army to the neighbourhood of Dresden. Before his departure, he was waited on by a deputation of the magistracy. His majesty issued here the following.
ORDER OF THE DAY. Soldiers! the rapidity of our march, and the perfect combination of our movements, have had the same effect on the enemy as if he had lost a battle.
Only the day before yesterday he insulted our allies, and threatened nothing less than fire and destruction to our towns and villages. To day he flies full of terror before us. He has not been able to bear the look of our advanced posts.
He occupied eight days in advancing from Dresden to Leipzig, and has obtained no advantage except discovering that it requires only two days to arrive from Leipzig to Dresden.
He believed us still on the bank of the Fulde, while we were on the Saal. He did not suppose, it seems, that we would encounter either fatigue or danger, even when it was necessary to hasten to our worthy ally the King of Saxony.
Soldiers! you have obtained a right to the friendship of the brave Saxons, and you may in a similar case reckon on their assistance with the same noble confidence as they have relied on you.
JEROME NAPOLEON. Royal Westphalian head quarters, Leipzig, June 26, 1809.
FIVE DOLLARS REWARD. Lost a silver watch, No. 833, maker's name J. M. T. Hall, Whitehaven. Whoever returns said watch to this office shall receive the above reward. Sept. 4—3t
PUBLIC SALE. The Sale at the Washington Bridge has been postponed on account of the weather, until Friday the 8th. On which day, if fair, if not the next Friday, will be sold a Sloop, Boats, Sleds, Tools, Blankets, &c. Terms of sale, cash for all sums under twenty dollars, and notes with good endorsers at 60 days for all sums over this amount.
By order of the President and Directors, SAM. ELSTON. N. L. & H. M. QUEEN, Auctioneers. September 4—3t

Treasury Department, March 26, 1809.
WHEREAS, in conformity with the provisions made by law, for the reimbursement of the Exchanged Six per Cent Stock...
PUBLIC NOTICE
IS therefore given to the proprietors of the Certificates of Exchanged Six per Cent Stock...
It is further made known for the information of the parties concerned, that no transfers of the Certificates of Exchanged Stock...
ALBERT GALLATIN, Secretary of the Treasury. SCHEDULE.
Table with 4 columns: Certificate Number, Amount, and two columns of figures (likely interest or value). Rows include 5, 7, 5,017, 5,018, 5,021, etc.
March 31-1am
NOTICE TO COTTON SPINNERS. THE Manufacturing Company of the city of Washington, have erected a machine for carding Cotton on Pennsylvania Avenue...
I want a good Weaver (of Cotton goods,) to whom a constant employment will be given, or a Family accustomed to Carding, Spinning by Billes and Jennies, and Weaving.
J. GARDNER, Superintendent. Pennsylvania Avenue, August 22, 1809.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, THAT the partnership heretofore existing between the subscribers, Silver Smiths and Clock and Watch Makers, under the firm of Bentley and Wood, was this day dissolved by mutual consent.
JOS. BENTLEY, W. WOOD. Washington City, Navy-Yard, Aug. 30-2aw7t.
NOTICE. The subscriber has commenced the practice of the LAW, and opened an office in the town of Upper Marlborough, Prince George's county.
THOS. G. ADDISON. Aug. 30-cp5w.
Treasury Department, March 27, 1809.
WHEREAS, in conformity with the provisions made by law, for the reimbursement of the Exchanged Six per Cent Stock...
PUBLIC NOTICE
IS therefore given to the proprietors of the Certificates of Exchanged Six per Cent Stock...
It is further made known for the information of the parties concerned, that no transfers of the Certificates of Exchanged Stock...
ALBERT GALLATIN, Secretary of the Treasury. SCHEDULE.
Table with 4 columns: Certificate Number, Amount, and two columns of figures. Rows include 8, 10, 5,002, 5,003, 5,004, etc.
March 31-1am
By Montgomery county, Orphans Court, August 16, 1809.
ORDERED by the court that the executors of Samuel Turner late of Montgomery county, deceased, give the notice required by law for the creditors of the said deceased to exhibit their claims...
Test SOLOMON HOLLAND, Reg.
THIS is to give notice that the Subscribers of Georgetown and District of Columbia, have obtained from the Orphans Court of Montgomery county Maryland, Letters Testamentary on the Personal Estate of Samuel Turner...
Given under our hands this 21st day of August 1809.
THOS. TURNER, SAML. TURNER, Executors. August 21-4w
BANK OF WASHINGTON. THE subscription books will be opened at Long's Hotel on Monday the 4th day of September next...
No person will be allowed to subscribe in the name of another without producing to the commissioners powers authorizing him so to do.
THE COMMISSIONERS. Aug. 21-ep4sp.
ROMULUS RIGGS, Has just received and opening at his New Cash Store, a complete and well selected assortment of SEASONABLE AND FANCY GOODS...
CASH GIVEN FOR TOBACCO inspected at the Georgetown Warehouse. FOR RENT, THE upper part of the House I now occupy...
FOR SALE, A NUMBER of well built brick houses, several of which are immediately tenable...
JAMES GREENLEAF, or in his absence to SAMUEL ELIOT, junr. July 6-3w
A FARM TO LET. TO Let on shares, a Farm containing 61 acres, distant between 2 1/2 and 3 miles from the Centre Market House...
Apply to JAMES HOBAN. August 23-
FOR SALE, A Framed HOUSE on the Virginia avenue, between 7th and 8th streets east near the Navy Yard.
THE House is 16 feet front and 27 deep, completely finished, with an alley in front and running back to I street...
N. B. If not sold by private Sale, it will be sold at Public Auction on the premises the 7th day of September at the hour of 2 o'clock, P. M.
ANTHONY ADDISON. Barnaby, September 1-6t
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD. RUNAWAY on Monday 21st August, 1809, from the Subscriber living in the lower end of Montgomery county, state of Maryland...
JOHN JARBE. N. B. All masters or owners of vessels are warned from harboring or carrying off said fellow, at their peril, as I am determined to prosecute any person guilty thereof.
J. J. September 1-4t
VALUABLE FARM FOR SALE. I WILL sell the tract of land on which I reside, called BUSSARD ISLAND, lying on Patuxent river, in Calvert county...
The arable part of this plantation is level and much of it covered with oyster shells, and is divided into three fields...
I will sell at public sale on the 20th December next, in the town of Upper Marlborough, all the personal estate on the above premises...
N. B. If the above tract of Land is not disposed of, it will be for rent the ensuing year.
RICHARD W. HARWOOD. Sept. 1-420 Dec.
TO BE SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION, AT Northumberland court house, in the county of Northumberland, and state of Virginia, on Tuesday the 5th of September next...
The premises will be shown to persons inclining to purchase, by col. James Moore, who lives on them, or by Samuel Blackwell, Esq., who lives near to them...
REPUBLICAN MEETING. THE Republican Citizens of Prince George's county are requested to meet at Upper Marlborough, on Tuesday the 5th of September next...
August 28-
FIVE DOLLARS REWARD. STRAYED or Stolen, about a month since, from the Commons in the Western part of this city, A BAY HORSE, six years old...
Whoever will return said Horse to the Subscriber near F street, shall be entitled to the above Reward, with reasonable charges.
O. B. BROWN. August 21-3t
LANDS IN THE STATES OF OHIO AND KENTUCKY FOR SALE. BY Virtue of the Last Will and Testament of Robert Means, deceased, the subscriber offers for sale, all the Lands of the testator in the states of Ohio & Kentucky.
BY Virtue of the Last Will and Testament of Robert Means, deceased, the subscriber offers for sale, all the Lands of the testator in the states of Ohio & Kentucky.
DANIEL CALL, Executor of the last Will & Testament of Robert Means, dec'd. Richmond, July 19-4t
A VALUABLE FARM FOR SALE.
WILL be sold in pursuance of the last Will and Testament of Samuel Turner, Esq., deceased, at Public Sale on the premises on the 15th day of November next...
A further description is deemed unnecessary, as it is presumed that those inclined to purchase will view the property.
The terms of sale, which will be accommodating, may be known by applying to the subscribers living in Georgetown, district of Columbia...
THO. TURNER, SAML. TURNER, Executors. July 28-tldos
TWENTY DOLLARS REWARD.
ABSCONDED on the 21st of July last, from the subscriber, (manager at the farm of Mr. Isaac Duckett, on South river, near Annapolis) Negro TOM, a small black fellow, lost the sight of one eye.
This Negro was purchased of Capt. J. S. Brooks about five years since; it is probable he may be in the neighborhood of Upper Marlborough.
HENRY BASFORD. August 7-4t
PATENT KNAPSACKS.
THE Subscriber having obtained from the United States, a patent for an improved KNAPSACK, which in point of durability and convenience, has been pronounced by the best judges infinitely superior to any hitherto in use.
The officers of the different volunteer companies in the United States, are respectfully solicited to adopt them. They may be had in any quantity, and will be sold on the most reasonable terms by JOHN P. LHERBETTE, 81, Maiden Lane, New-York.
To whom application is addressed by post may be made, or to B. H. Latrobe, at the city of Washington. May 3-1809.
August 19-tldos
NEW STORE. THE Subscriber having opened a New Store in F street, between the Bank and the Treasury Office, has supplied himself with a variety of the best qualities of Cloths & Blankets suitable for the approaching season...
Joseph Wheaton. Washington City, Aug. 25-3t.
Superintendent's Office, Washington, 9th August, 1809.
WHEREAS the late Commissioners of the city of Washington, on the 24th December 1793, sold or contracted to sell to Robert Morris & Js. Greenleaf, all the then title, interest and estate of the public in the squares following, among others, in the said city...
Which sale was upon the terms and conditions of a certain stipulated price being paid therefor at certain fixed periods of time subsequent to the contract.
And whereas in the course of certain transactions between the said James Greenleaf and the said Robert Morris, and a certain John Nicholson (who had acquired an interest in said squares) and between the said James Greenleaf and Mordecai Lewis and Edward Burd, a certain interest, estate and title of the said Greenleaf, Morris and Nicholson, in and to the same squares, became pledged, by way of mortgage, to the payment of certain debts due to the said Lewis and Burd, respectively.
And whereas, the Chancellor of the state of Maryland, in a certain suit lately pending in the Chancery Court of that state, between the executors of the said Mordecai Lewis and the said Edward Burd complainants, and Robert Morris, the heirs of John Nicholson, the Commissioners of the city of Washington, James Greenleaf, Henry Pratt, Thomas W. Francis, John Miller, Jr., John Ashley, Jacob Baker, George Simpson, William Oranch and Thomas Law, defendants, did, among other things, decree, that all the right, title, and interest, which at the time of executing a certain mortgage mentioned in the bill and proceedings filed and had in the suit aforesaid, was in the said Morris and Nicholson, Thomas Law, and the Commissioners of the city of Washington, in and to 295 lots and 3-4ths of a lot, of 5265 square feet each, contained in the squares before enumerated, should be sold, and the proceeds applied to the payment in the first instance, of the debts due as aforesaid, to the said Lewis and Burd, and the residue of the whole proceeds, if any, to the payment of certain other debt or debts in the said decree mentioned.
And whereas, at the time of sale or contract for the sale of the before enumerated squares by the commissioners, to Morris and Greenleaf, as herein-before recited, the public interest in the said squares, or in any or either of them, was not then specifically ascertained and known, but was to depend on and be determined by a division thereof, to be thereafter made, between the said commissioners and the original proprietors of the land on which the same were laid out, pursuant to law and certain deeds of trust, which had been executed by the said proprietors and others for all their lands lying within the city of Washington, and such division was accordingly afterwards made, by which it appears that no part or portion of four of the said squares, to wit, Nos. 687, 726, 966 and 1016, was allotted or assigned to the public, and consequently no estate therein was passed to the said Morris and Greenleaf by the commissioners, under or by virtue of the said sale.
And whereas there are in the public's part or portion of the aforesaid squares obtained on the division aforesaid, and exclusive of the said Nos. 687, 726, 966 and 1016, 68 lots of 5265 square feet each, over and above the said 295 3-4th lots sold as aforesaid by the said E. Burd, pursuant to the decree aforesaid, and whereas the purchasers and grantees of said 295 3-4th lots hold the same in an undivided interest and possession or tenancy in common with each and every person and persons entitled to the said 68 lots.
And whereas the purchase money for the said 68 lots has not been paid & satisfied to the said commissioners or to any other person or persons for the use of the public according to the terms and conditions of the sale, and the same having been due for more than thirty days after it ought to have been paid, and for at least two years prior to the first of May 1802, and being still due and unpaid-by reason whereof and by virtue of the statute of the state of Maryland, entitled "A further supplement to the act concerning the Territory of Columbia and the city of Washington," and of the act of Congress, entitled "An act to abolish the board of commissioners in the city of Washington, and for other purposes," the superintendent appointed in pursuance of the said act of Congress is authorized and required to proceed to sell the said 68 lots.
Now this is to give notice that the undersigned, the Superintendent appointed as aforesaid shall and will at 11 o'clock A. M. on Monday the 23rd day of October next at Rhodes's hotel in the city of Washington aforesaid by reason of the premises and by virtue of the statutes aforesaid, sell to the highest bidder at Public Auction for cash, all the said 68 lots of ground of 5265 square feet each, contained in some or all of the squares above enumerated, except the said four squares Nos. 687, 726, 966 and 1016, the purchaser or purchasers thereof to take and hold the same in an undivided and common possession with the purchasers and grantees of the aforesaid 295 3-4th lots; subject to have the possession severed, and due partition made between the several parties according to their respective interests and proportions by consent or in due course of law.
THOMAS MUNROE, Sup.