The enquirer (Richmond, Va.), 1808-11-22 00:00:00

PUBLISHED BY THOMAS RITCHIE, OPPOSITE THE UNION TAVERN, AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.
MR. WM. E. WEBB, Administrator of Benjamin Edwards, deceased. North-Carolina—Str.—Please to take notice, that on the second Monday in January next, I shall take the deposition of Mr. Spencer Ball, jr. of Northumberland county, in Virginia, at the court-house of said county, at the tavern occupied by Joseph Rogers, at that place, to be used as evidence in the suit depending in chancery in the United States circuit court, held in Richmond for the district of Virginia, in which I am plaintiff and you are defendant. CHARLES J. LOVE. Nov. 18. [1f]
ALLAN McRAE, informs his friends and the public, that he has removed a short distance from the town of Manchester, and shall continue to practice LAW, in the county courts of Powhatan and Chesterfield; that he shall also commence the practice in the county court of Henrico, and the Richmond District Court. A. McRAE, still continues his office in Manchester, in one of the rooms of the house occupied by Dr. Branch T. Archer, where he may be found every day from 9 o'clock in the forenoon, till 4 o'clock P. M. November 18. [2w]
MUST received from Philadelphia, a consignment of TRAFFIC, consisting of—Waxed Calf-Skins, Crossack, Fair-Top, and Cordovan Boot-Legs, Skirting, Roundings, etc. & ending Skins. For sale, at low prices by D. J. PURR. Nov. 18. 2w2c1c1a4w
PUBLIC SALE.—The subscriber intending to remove to the Western country, some time the ensuing year, will positively sell, at public auction, upon the premises, on the second Monday in December next, the tract of LAND on which he lives, lying in the county of Henrico, on Westham creek, containing 345 acres, with a Saw and Grist Mill; only about thirty acres of this tract is cleared, from which one crop only has been gathered. One other tract containing 100 acres, separated from the first named Land by the three chopped roads; this last named tract is entirely wood Land. Also, all his household and kitchen FURNITURE, among which is, some excellent Mahogany—Several likely Virginia born Slaves—the stock of Cattle, Hogs, about 1500 or 2000 weight of Pork, four Horses, five Mules, two Waggons and Gear, and the plantation Tools. And on the 2nd Saturday in the same month (Dec.) will also be sold upon the premises, a half acre lot of Land lying and being in the city of Richmond, on Shockoe-Hill, known by the No. 738—Also, part of a half acre Lot, adjoining Mrs. E. Page. Terms of sale made known on the day. Any person inclined to view the premises, will be shown them by the subscriber. All persons having any demands against him, will make application without delay. SPOTSWOOD LIPSCOMBE. Westham, Nov. 4. [2awtds]
HOBDAY & SEATON, adjoining the City Hotel, on the Cross-Street from the Brick-Row to the Governor's house, respectfully inform their friends and the public, that they have commenced business in FANCY & WINDSOR CHAIR-MAKING, TURNING, SIGN-PAINTING, GILDING, &c. and solicit patronage. Intending always to employ the best materials, and the best skill in the line of their profession, they hope to give universal satisfaction. Nov. 8. [1f]
BY virtue of ample powers delegated to the Subscribers, will be sold to the highest bidder, for ready money, at the Eagle-Tavern in the city of Richmond, on the 23rd day of November next, all that valuable estate in Boon county, in the State of Kentucky, well known by the name of the Big Bone Lick, or salt works on Big Bone Creek, about two miles from the Ohio River, containing two thousand acres more or less. Also four thousand acres of valuable LAND on the Ohio river, a great portion of which is low ground of good quality. The Lands on the Ohio, and the above mentioned Tract, do not actually join, but are within a half mile or thereabouts, of each other. The whole six thousand acres were located and surveyed under military warrants; with respect to the title, the purchaser will be made satisfied on the day of sale. These lands are said to be extremely valuable, in point of situation and soil, besides the advantages of the Salt Works, which, it is believed, would be very productive, if prosecuted on a judicious plan. WM. C. WILLIAMS. Oct. 25. [tds]
IN addition to the above mentioned Lands, & by virtue of the powers aforesaid, will be sold, at the same time and place, the following valuable Tracts of Military LAND, viz. One thousand acres in the state of Kentucky, on the waters of High Land creek, adjoining the Lands of Mason Carrington, and Peter Casey, patented the 15th June, 1783. A tract of 353 1-3 acres in the state of Ohio, on a fork of Paint creek, adjoining Nathaniel Burwell's survey, No. 982, patented 22d Nov. 1802. Also, a Tract of 266 2-3 acres, in the state of Ohio, on Todd's fork of the Little Miami river, adjoining Wm. Barlow's survey, No. 2923, Thomas Reiley's survey, No. 699, patented the 23d Nov. 1802. The three last mentioned tracts of Land, will be sold upon the following terms, to wit: One fourth of the purchase money in hand, and the other three-fourths in three equal annual payments—the purchasers executing deeds of trust, on the Land, to secure the last payments. BEN. MOSLEY, WM. C. WILLIAMS. Richmond, Oct. 25. [tds]
DESERTED—from the service of the United States, on the 8th instant, a Private in the 5th regiment of Infantry, named JOHN FERGUSON—30 years of age, 5 feet 11-1/2 inches high, swarthy complexion, dark hair, blue eyes, has a sickly appearance—He was born in Delaware county, state of Pennsylvania—by profession a shoemaker. The said Ferguson had on at the time of his desertion, a round sailor's jacket, slant sleeves, dark drab colour, blue striped Virginia cloth vest, and Corduroy Pantaloons, torn on the knees—Virginia cloth shirt; and an old pair of half boots, bound with cord, which he generally wore under his pantaloons. Also—Deserted on the same day, GABRIEL JONES, 21 years of age, 5 feet 8 1-2 inches high, fair complexion, hazel eyes; auburn hair—when spoken to has a dazed look—Born in Essex county, Va.—bred a Farmer—He wore a round striped Virginia cloth coat, white home spun pantaloons, and vest of the same. Whoever will apprehend the said deserters, and deliver them to me, or to any officer in the service of the United States, shall receive twenty dollars reward, or ten dollars for either. EDWARD DILLARD, Capt. U. S. Reg. Infantry. Rendelburg, Frederick. Sept. 16. [1f]
FOR SALE, that well known and valuable FARM, on Chickahominy river, formerly the property of Mr. Thomas Watkins, deceased, about 14 miles from Richmond, containing 546 acres; a very considerable part, is valuable swamp Land, a part of which is reclaimed, and now in meadow, from which I have been credibly informed, that Mr. Watkins in his life-time, cut upwards of 100 ton in the year; there is about 150 acres of swamp Land now in timber; and could be reclaimed at a very inconsiderable expence, to make at least double the quantity of hay, that has formerly been cut. There is a considerable quantity of Cedar on the high Land, and I believe, full sufficient to fence the greater part of the plantation in. On this plantation, is a tolerable good dwelling-house, kitchen and a very good barn, with several out-houses for the negroes. Also, an excellent young-apple orchard, of about 300 bearing trees, independent of the old orchard of 100 more of the best fruit, and about 300 peach trees, selected from the best kind, with a variety of pears, and cherries, and all of which are choice fruit. There is also, on this plantation, a very valuable mill seat, on which there was formerly, a good grist mill, and from information, used to receive from 50 to 60 barrels of toll corn, per annum. Last year I erected a new mill house on it, with a considerable part of the running year finished, and for about 100 dollars expence, the mill could be completed. Few plantations in this country, possess more natural advantages, as the whole of the meadow can be watered from the mill stream. This Farm is worthy the object of any person who is fond of farming, and can be made as productive as any in the state, for the number of acres it contains. I am satisfied, to any man, who would turn his attention to making of hay, the product of that article alone, would be from 4 to 500 pounds annually, independent of corn & wheat; to any person inclined to purchase this farm, I will give a credit of 3 years on paying down 1-3 of the purchase money, on securing the balance by a deed of trust on the premises. Also, for sale, four Mules and about 30 head of CATTLE, and the crop of Corn, Fodder, &c on hand, which will be sold independently of the plantation. DANIEL L. HYLTON. Nov. 1. [1f]
A FEW boxes of 18 by 12 WINDOW-GLASS, of the first quality for sale.—Enquire at this Office. Oct. 14. [1f]
BANK NOTES, as below described, were put into the post office at this place on 27th May last, enclosed in a letter addressed to Messrs John Warder and Sons, Philadelphia, and which letter has never been received; it is therefore apprehended that the BANK NOTES may have fallen into improper hands; and should such appear in circulation, we earnestly request that they may be stopped. Any satisfactory information regarding them will be thankfully received, and if required, liberally rewarded. BUCHANAN & POLLOK. Petersburg, July 5. (1f)
Bank of Virginia payable at their Office of Discount and Deposit Petersburg, to Robert Burchett President thereof or Bearer, B No. 532 9th February 1805, $ 100 C 856 6th July, 100 D 153 7th February, 100 394 9th — 100 700 6th May, 100 753 7th — 100 788 — — 100 $ 700
ON Saturday the 10th day of Dec. next, will be sold, at public auction, the following HOUSES & LOTS to wit: The Tement lately occupied by Mrs. Byrd, with ground on the cross street opposite to Dr. McClurg's lot, sufficient for a carriage house and stable. The Tement now occupied by Miss Bennett, adjoining the former. Also, two Brick Tenements on the main street, leading from the turnpike road to the Swan-Tavern, & 49 feet of unimproved Ground, lying between said houses and the one occupied by Mrs. Vannett. The terms of sale will be, one-fourth in 6 months, another fourth in 12 months, and the remainder in 2 & 3 years. THOS. NORVELL. Nov. 18. [1f]
N. B. Any person wishing to purchase the above property at private sale, will be pleased to apply to T. N.
WILL be sold, to the highest bidder, on Friday the 25th inst. at the late residence of Oba Smith, deceased in Chesterfield county, about four hundred barrels of CORN, together with the present year's crop of OATS & FODDER, consisting of about forty thousand weight of superior quality. Terms will be made known on the day of sale, by PETER F. SMITH, Adm'r. JNO. HOWLETT, Adm'r. Nov. 15. [epts]
N. B. Also, a few likely NEGROES for cash. WANTED as a TUTOR in a private family a person qualified to teach the Latin and English languages grammatically, and Arithmetic—Apply to the Printer. Nov. 15. [1f]
ELLIS & ALLAN have received per the ship Hero, a supply of full GOODS, making their assortment consist of napt Cottons, Plains, Forster's London Cloths and Rose Blankets, best superior London Cloths and Kerseymeres, double and single milled, Swansdowns and Toilets, Flannels, Baze, coatings and Frizes, gentlemen's nett Shirts and drawers, gentlemen's and ladies Angola and lamb's wool hose, ladies very fine cotton and silk hose, Muslins, Cambrie, Dimities & printed Muslins, Calicoes, and a few pieces furniture Chintz, silk Shawls, elegant Mulls and Capes, Veils and laced Turbans, thread and cotton Laces, English Lustrings, Sattins and Florentines, very fine black Bombazine, elegant worked Robes, a few Irish damask Table Cloths, Irish Diapers, 5-4 Irish sheeting, a few pieces very fine 4-4 Irish Linen, Ivory Knives & Forks, Smith's Bellows, Anvils, Vices and Hammers, Hominy Mills with fly wheels, brass and iron Rim Locks, &c. &c. A few cases Hibbert's best brown Stout, Hardham's Stout, No. 9, of superior quality, a few boxes gentlemen's fashionable London made Hats, gentlemen's and ladies Gloves of very good quality, best steel plate, mill, pit and cross cut saws, 3 1/2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 & 20 d. nails, and 20 d. flooring Brads, sack Salt (Liverpool filled) White Lead, Yellow Ochre, and Spanish Brown. Wheat and Tobacco will be received in payment, at liberal prices. Sept. 27. (eT8w.)
NOTICE—The Subscribers having commenced business in this place under the firm of BYRCE & GORDON in the Grocery and Commission line, beg leave to offer their service to their friends and the public, to transact any business on commission that may be entrusted to their care. JOHN BYRCE, JOHN M. GORDON, Lynchburg, Nov. 1, 1808. [1aw4w]
The Subscriber respectfully thanks those who have hitherto favoured him with the tuition of their Sons, and informs them and his friends generally, that his SCHOOL will be continued the ensuing year, in which will be taught the Latin Language, the English Language grammatically, Writing and Surveying. His terms are, For teaching the Latin Language $25, English Grammar, Geography, &c. $20, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic $10, Surveying $10. It will be in his power to accommodate 6 or 8 boarders at 20 pounds each, (each boarder finding his own bed,) or 22 pounds, if lodging is furnished—25 dollars will be required on signing, with the balance at the end of the year. The School will commence on the 15th day of January, and end on the 15th of December; there will be a vacation of about ten days at Whitsuntide, and again from the 15th of August, to the 1st day of September. He assures those who may think proper to send their sons with him, that good attention will be paid to them; and he hopes, from a strict attention to the duties of his functions, to render satisfaction to those who may intrust the education of their sons to his care. WALLER LEWIS, Jr. Nov. 18. [1aw4w]
WANTED as a TUTOR, in a private family, a single man qualified to teach the Latin and English languages grammatically, and Arithmetic. Apply to Charles Woodson, Cumberland county, near Cartersville. Oct. 25. [oawtf]
THE Subscriber is published, (and may be had at Jacob Johnson's Book-Store, adjoining the Market-bridge,) Part 3 of Vol. 1 of HENING & MUNFORD'S REPORTS, containing the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, at the October Term, 1807, and completing the first Volume. At the same place may be had the said Volume (of 636 pages) elegantly bound in calf. Price to subscribers $5, to non-subscribers $6. The size of the volume having far exceeded the limits at first contemplated, (which were 500 pages only,) the authors have been induced to furnish it to subscribers at the above price, which is considerably less, in proportion, than that mentioned in the Prospectus. Gentlemen who take these Reports in numbers, will be permitted to return them at any time within six months, & receive a volume, for which numbers they will be allowed the original cost in part payment for the volume. Nov. 1. [1awtf]
DOMESTIC.
Copies and extracts of Letters from Gen Armstrong to the Secretary of State, with copies of their enclosures.
General Armstrong to Mr. Madison. (Duplicate) PARIS, Nov. 12, 1807.
SIR, It was not till yesterday that I received from Mr. Skipwith a copy of the decree of the council of prizes in the case of the Horizon. This is the first unfriendly decision of that body, under the arrest of the 21st Nov. 1806. In this case, and on the petition of the defendant, the court has recommended the restitution of the whole cargo. I did not however think proper to join in asking as a favor, what I believe myself entitled to as a right. I subjoin a copy of my note to the minister of Foreign Affairs and am, sir, &c. &c. JOHN ARMSTRONG. Note of General Armstrong. "In the former copy nearly a page of his letter was omitted by the copier."
The same to Mr. De Chauvy. PARIS, Nov. 12, 1807.
SIR, The document to which these observations are prefixed, will inform your excellency that an American ship, trading under the protection of the laws of nations, and of particular treaties, and suffering ship-wreck on the coast of France, has recently been seized by his majesty's officers, and adjudged by his council of prizes as follows, viz: "Our council puts at liberty the American vessel, the Horizon, ship-wrecked the 30th of May last, near Morlaix, and consequently orders, that the amount arising from the sale legally made of the wreck of the said vessel, together with the merchandise of the cargo, which, according to an estimate made in the presence of the overseers and the administrations of Marine and Custom-House, shall have been acknowledged not to have proceeded from English manufacture, nor from English territory, shall be restored to capt. Maclure, without deducting any other expences than those relative to the sale."
"And with regard to the other merchandise of the cargo, which, from the result of the said estimate shall be acknowledged to come from manufactures of English territory, by virtue of the 5th article of the decree of the 21st Nov. 1806, they shall be confiscated for the use of the state; the whole to be sold by the forms prescribed in the regulations; and the application of the product to be made in conformity to the arrangements of the said decree, deduction being made for the expence of saving the goods, and that of the support of the crew, until the day that the captain shall receive the notification of the present decision."
The reasons upon which this decision is founded, are at once so new and so alarming to the present friendly relations of the two powers, that I cannot but discuss them with a freedom in some degree proportioned to my sense of their novelty and importance. "Considering" says the council, 1st. "that the neutrality of the ship & cargo were sufficiently established, the whole ought to be restored (agreeably to the provisions of the convention of the 30th Sept. 1800) provided no merchandise of English origin had been found in her, and of course that she had not been brought within the limits of the imperial decree of the 21st Nov. 1806."
Here is an open and unqualified admission that the ship was found within the rules prescribed by the convention of 1800; that according to these rules, her cargo and herself ought to have been restored, and that such would have been the fact, but for the operation of the decree of the 21st November, 1806. In the letter your excellency did me the honor to write to me on the 7th of October last, you thought it "easy to reconcile the obligations of this decree with the preservation of those arising from treaties." It was not for me to examine the means by which this reconciliation could be effected: they
no doubt fully existed, and yet exist in his majesty's good pleasure; and taking for granted this fact, I saw in the opinion nothing but proofs, of friendly dispositions and pledges that these were not to be either wantonly destroyed, or diminished. How inauspicious, however, to those authority and the consolations derived from it, is this recent act of the council of prizes! An act which explicitly acknowledges the opposite characters and conflicting injunctions of these two instruments, and which of course draws after it considerations the most serious to the government of the U. States.
The second reason of the council is "that the decree declaring (British) merchandise good prize had principally in view captures made on the high seas; but that the question, whether ship-wrecked goods ought to be restored or confiscated, having always been judged under the 5th article of the regulation of the 26th of July, 1778, and according to their character (which might have rendered lawful or have even commanded their seizure at sea) there is no reason to introduce in this case any new distinction which, however philanthropic it may appear, has not as yet been adopted as a rule by any maritime nation."
The doctrine resisted [in] this passage, & which inculcates the duty of extending protection to the unfortunate, is not now his majesty's council of prizes. They have themselves consecrated it by their decision of the 5th of March, 1800. By that decision they restored an enemy's ship (the Diana) on the single ground, that "she had been compelled to enter a French port by stress of weather." "I should certainly fail" says the Attorney general "in respect to myself and to the council before whom I have the honour to represent the government, were I not to maintain a principle consecrated by our laws and by those of all nations. In all circumstances let the loyalty of the French government serve as the basis of your decisions. Prove yourselves at once generous and just. Your enemies will know & respect your magnanimity." Such was the principle adopted by the council in the year 1800, and in the case of an enemy's ship; yet we are now told, that this very principle, so honorable to the court, to the nation and to human nature, is utterly unknown to all maritime people. And on what occasion do we hear this? When an enemy's ship is again thrown on the French coast? No; it has been reserved for the wreck of a neutral and friendly vessel! for a ship of the U. States! It is not denied that had this ship escaped the rocks & made the port of Morlaix, the only inhospitality to which she would have been exposed, (under the most rigorous interpretation of the law in question,) would have been that of being ordered again to sea. Has then the misfortune of ship-wreck so far altered her condition, as to expose her to the injury of confiscation also? And is this among the principles which the defender of maritime rights means to consecrate by his power and his wisdom? It is impossible.
The third reason of the council is "that the application of the 5th article aforesaid in as far as it concerns the American and other nations, is the result both of the general expressions of that very article, and of the communication recently made by his excellency the grand judge concerning the primitive intention of the sovereign."
This reason will be found to be substantially answered in my reply to reason No. 5 of the council. It will be seen that the opinion given here that "the application of article 5, of the imperial decree to American commerce, is the result of the general expressions of that very article," was not the opinion of the council on the 5th of March last, when they judged the case of the Hibernia; they then declared in totidem verbis that the decree "said nothing of its own influence on the convention of 1800" between the United States and France.
The fourth reason of the council is, "that the expedition in question having certainly been made with full knowledge of the said decree, no objection can be drawn with any propriety, from the general rules forbidding a retrospective action, nor even in this particular case, from the posterior date of the act in which the sovereign decides the question, since that act sprung from his supreme wisdom, not as an interpretation of a doubtful point, but as a declaration of an anterior and positive disposition."
A distinction is here attempted to be taken between the interpretation of a doubtful point and the declaration of an anterior and positive rule. This distinction cannot be maintained, for if the rule had been positive, there would have been no occasion for the declaration. Neither the minister of marine nor the council of prizes could have had any doubts on the subject; the execution of the decree would have been prompt & peremptory; nor would a second act on the part of his majesty, after the lapse of 12 months, have been necessary to give operation to the first. Need I appeal to your excellency's memory for the facts on which these remarks turn? You know that doubts did exist; you know that there was under them, much hesitation in pronouncing. You know that as late as the 9th of August, I sought an explanation of the decree in question, and then even then, your excellency (who was surely a competent and legitimate organ of his majesty) did not think yourself prepared to give it; the conclusion is inevitable: his majesty's answer, transmitted to the court of prizes on the 18th of September last thro' the medium of the grand judge, was in the nature of an interpretation, and being so, could not, without possessing a retrospective quality, apply to events many months anterior in date to itself.
This fifth reason of the council, and the last which enters into my present view of the subject, is, "that though one of the principal agents of his majesty had given a contrary opinion, of which the council had at no period partaken, this opinion being that of an individual, could not (whatever consideration its author may merit) balance the formal declaration given in the name of his majesty himself; and that, if the communication of this opinion had, as is alleged, given room to and served as a basis for
many American shipments, and particularly of the one in question, this circumstance which may call for the indulgence of his majesty, in a case in which the confiscation is entirely to the advantage of the state, does not prevent a council rigid in its duty, to pronounce, in conformity to the decree of the 21st of November, and of the declaration which follows it."
It would appear from this paragraph, that not finding it easy to untie the knot, the council had determined to cut it. Pressed by the fact that an interpretation of the decree had been given by a minister of his majesty, specially charged with its execution, they would now escape from this fact, and from the conclusions to which it evidently leads, by alleging,
1. That at no time had the council partaken of the opinion given by the minister; and
2. That this opinion, being that of an individual, could not possess either the force or the authority of one truly ministerial.
It appears to me, as I think it will appear to your excellency, that the council have, in these statements been less correct than is usual to them on similar occasions. If, as they now assert, they have never partaken of the minister's opinion; if they have even hesitated on the question whether the decree of November did or did not derogate from the treaty of 1800, why, I ask, suspend the American cases generally? or why decide as they did in the case of the Hibernia? If I mistake not, we find in this case the recognition of the very principle laid down by the minister of marine. That officer says, "in my opinion the November decree does not work any change in the rules at present observed with respect to neutral commerce, and consequently none in the convention of the 8th Vendémiaire, year 9." And what says the council? "Admitting that this part of the cargo (the rum and ginger) was of British origin, the dispositions of the November decree (which contain nothing with regard to their own influence over the convention of the 8th Vendémiaire, year 9) evidently cannot be applied to a ship leaving America on the 6th of the same month of November; and of course cannot have authorised her capture in the moment she was entering the neutral port of her destination." We have here three distinct grounds of exemption from the effects of the November decree.
1st. The entire silence of that decree with regard to its own influence over the convention of 1800;
2d. The early period at which the ship left the U. S. and
3d. The neutral character of the port to which she was destined.
If such, sir, were the principles admitted by the council on the 5th of March last, with what correctness can it be now said "that at no period have they partaken of the opinion of the minister?"
The second fact asserted by the council is that the interpretation of the decree in question given on the 24th of December 1806, was private, not public, or in other words, that it was the interpretation of the man, not that of the minister, and as such, cannot outweigh the more recent declaration coming directly from his majesty himself.
On the comparative weight of these declarations I shall say nothing, nor shall I do more to repeal the first part of the insinuation (that the minister's declaration was that only of the individual) than to submit, to your excellency my letter of the 20th of Dec. 1806, claiming from that minister an official interpretation of the decree in question, and his answer of the 24th of the same month, giving to me the interpretation demanded.
To your Excellency, who as late as the 21st of August last, considered the minister of marine as the natural organ of his majesty's will, in whatever regarded the decree aforesaid, and who actually applied to him for information relating to it, this allegation of the council of prizes and the reasoning founded upon it, cannot but appear very extraordinary, and will justify me in requesting that his majesty may be moved to set aside the decision in question, on the ground of error in the opinion of the council.
If in support of this conclusion I have drawn no arguments from the treaty of 1800, nor from the laws of nations, your excellency will not be at a loss to assign to this omission its true cause. It would surely have been a useless formality to appeal to authorities, not only practically, but even professedly extinct. In the letter of the minister of justice of the 18th September, we are told by his majesty himself, that "since he had not judged proper to make any exception in the letter of his decree, there was no room to make any in its execution." & in the report of your excellency's predecessor, of the 29th November, 1806, we have these memorable words:
"England has declared those places blockaded, before which she had not a single ship of war.—She has done more, for she has declared in a state of blockade, places, which all her assembled forces were incapable of blockading—immense coasts, and a vast empire. Afterwards, drawing from a chimerical right and from an assumed fact the consequence that she might justly make her prey of every thing going to the places laid under interdiction, by a simple declaration of the British admiralty, and every thing arising therefrom, and carrying this doctrine into effect, she has alarmed neutral navigators and driven them to a distance from ports whither their interests attracted them, and which the law of nations authorised them to frequent. Thus it is, that she has hastened to her own profit, and to the detriment of Europe, but more particularly of France, the audacity with which she mocks at all rights and insults even reason itself. Against a power which forgets to such a pitch all ideas of justice, and all humane sentiments, what can be done but to forget them for an instant one's self?" Words cannot go further to show the extinguished authority in the one case of the treaty subsisting between the United States and his imperial majesty, and in the other, of the law of nations; to appeal to them therefore, would be literally appealing to the dead.
Accept, Sir, &c. &c. &c. (Signed) JOHN ARMSTRONG. His Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
* Published last winter,

Gen. Armstrong to Mr. Madison. PARIS, Dec. 1st, 1807.
SIR, I have this moment received a letter from his majesty's minister of foreign relations, of which I submit a copy.
And am, Sir, With very high consideration, Your most obedient and Most humble servant, (Signed) JOHN ARMSTRONG.
Mr. Champagny to Gen. Armstrong. MILAN, Nov. 24th, 1807.
(Translation.) SIR—The execution of the measures taken against the English commerce has frequently caused reclamations on your part. The intention of his majesty, without doubt, is, that every particular abuse may be repressed; but the Federal government cannot make any complaint against the measures themselves, and while the United States allow that their vessels may be visited by England, that she may drag them into her ports and turn them from their destination; while they do not oblige England to respect their flag and the merchandise which it covers; while they permit that power to apply to them the absurd rules of blockade which it has set up with the view of injuring France—they bind themselves by that tolerance towards England—to allow also the application of the measures of reprisals which France is obliged to employ against her. His majesty regrets, without doubt, to have been forced to recur to such measures; he knows all that the commercial classes may have to suffer in consequence of them, particularly those who having habitual relations with England, using a common language, and often mixing their interests, might more frequently occasion an apprehension of some commercial connivance with the English, inasmuch as they would have greater facilities in covering it. This circumstance made it necessary to use towards them precautions more exact, and an unceasing watchfulness, in order not to be exposed to abuses, which might result from a less constant vigilance. But it is not to France, it is to England that these inconveniences to individuals ought to be imputed. She it is, who has given the example of measures unjust, illegal, and infringing on the sovereignty of nations. To oblige her to renounce them it has become necessary to combat her with her own arms. In violating the rights of all nations, she has united them all by a common interest, and it is for them to have recourse to force against her; to forbid her the search (la visite) of their vessels; the taking away of their crews; and to declare themselves against measures which wound their dignity and their independence. The unjust pretensions of England will be kept up as long as those whose rights she violates are silent. And what government has had more to complain of against her than the United States? All the difficulties which have given rise to your reclamations, Sir, would be removed with ease, if the government of the United States, after complaining in vain of the injustice and violations of England, took with the whole continent the part of guaranteeing itself therefrom. England has introduced into the maritime war an entire disregard for the rights of nations: it is only in forcing her to a peace, that it is possible to recover them. On this point the interest of all nations is the same. All have their honor and their independence to defend.
Accept, Sir, &c. &c. (Signed) CHAMPAGNY.
General Armstrong to Mr. Madison. PARIS, 17th Feb. 1808.
(Extract.) "Enclosed is a copy of the answer from the minister of marine to my letter of the 13th instant, in relation to the sale of a part of the cargo of the ship James Adams. It would now appear, that the promises of forbearance made by another department, are applicable only to vessels sequestered in the ports, and not to such as have been captured at sea."
Fifth division } of prizes. Extract from a letter of the Minister of Marine to Gen. Armstrong, dated, PARIS, 15th Feb. 1808.
(Translation.) "I observe to you moreover that the question now is not as to a vessel sequestered in port; but as to a prize made at sea and seized for a contravention of the decree of the 17th December last; that the provisional sale ordered on account of the "average," is for the interest as well of the captors, as of the captives, and that it is directed according to the case provided for by the regulation of the 2d Praireal 11th year."
CONGRESS.
SENATE.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1808. The president communicated certain resolutions passed by the house of representatives of the Indiana territory, on the 14th of October last, stating the disscontents of the people, west of the Wabash, in consequence of their connection with the people eastward of said river, and requesting a separation of the said territory as the only means of terminating those disscontents and restoring harmony, so essential to their general prosperity. The resolutions were read, and the senate, Ordered, That they be referred to Mr. Pope, Mr. Tiffin, and Mr. Bradley, to consider and report thereon. Mr. Reed from the committee appointed on the 9th instant "to enquire into the state and condition of the chamber prepared for the senate during the present session, and whether it is safe and convenient to continue therein," made a favorable report which was read, and Ordered to be for consideration. When the senate adjourned.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1808. Mr. Bradley laid the following resolution on the table for consideration: Resolved, That so much of the message of the president of the United States, as relates to the Barbary powers, and the unjustifiable proceeding of the Dey of Algiers towards our consul at that regency, with the documents accompanying the same, be referred to a select committee to consider and report thereon. Mr. Thurston was appointed a committee for enrolled bills on the part of the senate. On motion it was agreed that Mr. Hillhouse's motion for repealing the embargo laws, be the order of the day for Monday next. When the senate adjourned.
the same proceedings assigns the following as the Remarks of Mr. Mumford in offering his Resolution to the H. of R. These remarks are important, as they contain an enumeration of the ports and countries, with which Mr. M. is ready to open a trade. Mr. Mumford observed, that his object was, simply, to enquire into the propriety of opening our trade, with those countries not subject to the orders and decrees of England and France, viz. Spain and her colonies in the East and West Indies, including Buenos Ayres; Portugal and her colonies in the East and West Indies, including the Brazils; China and the native ports in India; Russia; Denmark; Sweden and her island of St. Bartholomew's in the West Indies; the coast of Barbary; and the island of Hayti.
EMBARGO.
TUESDAY, Nov. 15.
Mr. Sawyer begged leave to add one more resolution to those already before the house on the subject of the EMBARGO.
Resolved, That it is expedient for the United States to open a communication and trade with the West Indies generally."
Mr. S. said, he thought the present resolution would be found, when they were all taken up and examined by the House, the least liable to exceptions of any. For he could not go so far with trade as to vote for the resolutions of the gentleman from Vermont in favor of an indiscriminate repeal of the whole embargo system; neither could he go so far against it as to support those of the gentleman from Virginia for a total non-intercourse. He thought our best policy might be found in a medium between the two. In the first place, the orders of council, which were, he supposed, a principal cause for those latter resolutions, do not effect our West India trade; and unless that trade came under the cause which very properly influenced the gentleman in his intention of suppressing our foreign trade, he could not see the necessity of its being included in its effects. He would mention one fact, of serious importance, which was, the very great amount of revenue which we derived from that quarter. By recurring to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of November last, it would be found that almost one half our revenue arose from that trade. [He here read the report, enumerated the different articles, with their relative amount, the aggregate of which was $7,803,195.] Whether it would be prudent or wise in us to give up this large sum, to dry up this genial current, at a time when it was so much required to support the body politic under its accumulating ills, was certainly a serious question. To these considerations of a general nature, which he trusted would have some weight with the House, he added another particular reason, which had very great weight with him for introducing this resolution. The district he had the honor to represent, was engaged exclusively in this trade. Their staple article, viz. lumber, was calculated for no other market. Vast piles of that article had been accumulating in the hands of our merchants, in payment of their accounts as in ordinary cases, under a supposition that some opportunity might offer of making their usual shipments, by which means alone they would be enabled to comply with their engagements. If this opportunity were now denied them, inevitable ruin must overtake a considerable portion, and infinite injury the whole of them, as their creditors would see no motives for farther indulgence, but would fill upon them, and the hard earnings of an active life would be wrested from them for comparatively inconsiderable claims. This would induce the merchant to heap upon his customers a share of the evils which he felt himself. He therefore felt some solicitude for the fate of his resolution.
The resolution was referred to the committee of the whole to whom several resolutions on the same subject have been referred.
Mr. Clopton, from the committee of revision and unfinished business, made a report in part, which was ordered to be printed.
On motion of Mr. Fisk, the house came to the following resolution:
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to enquire into the expediency of altering the time and place of holding the circuit and district courts of the United States in the district of Vermont, and report by bill or otherwise.
CAPT. PIKE'S EXPEDITION.
On motion of Mr. Montgomery, the house adopted the following resolution:
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to enquire whether any, and if any, what compensation ought to be made to Capt. Z. M. Pike and his companions for their services in exploring the Missouri and other rivers, &c. and that they have leave to report by bill or otherwise.
TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
On motion of Mr. Poindexter, the House agreed to the following resolution, proposed by him:
Resolved, That a committee be appointed to enquire into the expediency of repealing so much of the ordinance for the government of the territories of the United States as authorises the Governors of the territories respectively to prorogue and dissolve the General Assemblies.
Several petitions of a private nature were presented and referred.
FROM THE MONITOR.
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16, 1808.
Mr. McCreery presented the memorial of sundry American citizens, taken in the expedition fitted out by Miranda, and now in a state of confinement in Spanish fortresses, praying congress to adopt some measure for their liberation. It was referred to a special committee of five.
On motion of Mr. Van Borne, the petition of sundry inhabitants of the city of Washington, relative to the opening of a canal from the Tyber to the Eastern Branch, presented on the 10th of November, 1807, was referred to the committee on the affairs of the District of Columbia.
Mr. Verplanck presented the memorial of certain freeholders and electors of the county of Dutchess, in the state of New-York, signed by order and in behalf of the meeting, by Israel Smith, their chairman, and attested by Jonathan Haight, their secretary, praying a repeal of the laws laying an embargo. Referred to the committee of the whole house, to whom was referred the resolution offered by Mr. Chittenden, relative to the same subject.
Mr. Poindexter from the committee appointed for that purpose, reported the following bill:
"A BILL CONCERNING THE POWERS OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS."
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of the ordinance of the 13th of July, 1787, as gives to the governors of the several territories of the United
States, the power to prorogue and dissolve the General Assembly, be, and the same is hereby repealed."
The bill having been read the first and second time, Mr. Poindexter moved for a third reading to-day, which was objected to by Mr. Trumbull, upon the ground that such a course was unusual, & that the alteration of the powers of governors of the territories of the United States, contemplated by the bill, was important, inasmuch as it included a regulation with respect to them, as serious an amendment to the constitution of the United States. The first was finally committed to a committee of the whole house to-morrow.
A bill which was yesterday ordered to be engrossed, relative to franking the president's message of the 8th instant was read a third time and passed.
Previous to the passage of this bill, Mr. Randolph expressed himself desirous that its provisions should be made general, so as to embrace all documents of a public nature, which it might be necessary for members of congress to forward by mail. He said, the existing law permitting members to frank their letters, operated to the levying a considerable tax upon the public, as where no provision was made for franking pamphlets of large bulk, they would be separated and inclosed in packages of a size within the regulations of the law, thereby increasing the number of officers, to the great emolument of the post master at this place, who was allowed two cents out of the public treasury for every letter franked and transmitted by the mail.
Mr. Chittenden called up his resolution relative to a repeal of the embargo laws; but the house refused to go into the order of the day on that subject—only 31 members rising in support of the call.
Mr. Smith, before the vote was taken upon going into committee of the whole, on Mr. C's resolution, proposed that that committee be discharged from the further consideration of that and similar resolutions, and that they be referred to the select committee to whom was referred so much of the president's message as relates to foreign affairs. The Speaker mentioned that his motion would not supersede the call of Mr. Chittenden; and upon this latter being rejected, Mr. S. did not urge his proposition.
Mr. Randolph offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That provision ought to be made by law for sending, free of postage, to and from members of congress, all papers and documents touching the public service of the U. States, or of any state or territory thereof.
The resolution was referred to the committee of post-offices and post-roads.
Mr. Cook offered a resolution, the first part of which was similar to that of Mr. Mumford, which was submitted on Monday—but on the suggestion of Mr. Elliot was stricken out:—when the resolution in the following form was considered, agreed to, and referred to the committee of the whole house, to whom had been referred the several resolutions touching the embargo.
Resolved, That the citizens of the U. States be authorised to arm and equip their merchant vessels for the purpose of defending them against French and British cruisers, who may molest them when bound to any port or place not actually invested or blockaded.
The resolution was ordered to be printed.
A message was received from the senate notifying the appointment of Mr. Thurston, on their part, to join with such person as the house might appoint, to form a committee on enrolled bills; which was concurred in by the house and two gentlemen named accordingly.
Several petitions and resolutions of a local and personal nature were presented to the house and disposed of in the usual way.
When on motion of Mr. Mumford the house adjourned.
FROM THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
THURSDAY, Nov. 17.
EMBARGO.
Mr. Livermore said he held in his hand several petitions from inhabitants of the state of Massachusetts, signed by between 4 and 500 persons praying for a repeal of the embargo laws.
One of the petitions (from Newburyport) was read.
[In this petition the following sentence was twice read, by desire of one of the members:]
"Your memorialists would further represent to your honorable body, that they have witnessed with great surprise and alarm a systematic attempt among the enemies of the people to excite a belief that our nation has it in its power only a choice of evils: that an embargo, or war with Great-Britain is our only alternative; an opinion which appears to your memorialists wholly devoid of foundation. Whatever injuries the U. S. may have sustained from that power, we cannot perceive that a war with her would be either necessary or just, whilst she evinces on her part a disposition for an amicable settlement of all subjects of controversy; and especially, when we view her as almost alone maintaining a contest, on the successful issue of which depend the rights and liberties of the civilized world."
Mr. Livermore said as the other petitions were precisely similar, he moved that their reading be dispensed with, and that they be referred to the committee of the whole to whom several resolutions on the subject have been referred.
The Speaker proceeding to put the question on reference.
Mr. D. R. Williams said, as he understood the same sentiments were repeated in all, and as there were sentiments expressed in the first which he could not understand, he called for the reading of another of them.
Mr. Livermore said he had no objection.
Another of the petitions was then read and they were all referred, without opposition, to the committee to whom several resolutions on the same subject have been referred.
Mr. Livermore moved that the petition be printed—Negatived, 17 only rising in favor of it.
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
Mr. Macon said already had many resolutions been submitted to the consideration of the House on the subject of our foreign relations, and the embargo; some for a total and some for a partial repeal of it. As none of the motions had met his entire approbation, and as he considered this as one of the most important questions that could come before the House, he wished to submit to the House two or three propositions; which he wished to take a course different from that which had been given to the others on the same subject.
I have been astonished (said Mr. M.) to see so many resolutions on the subject of the embargo, and none contemplating its entire continuance. Is the American nation ready to bow the neck? Are we ready to submit to be taxed by Great-Britain and France as if we were their colonies? Where is that spirit which for this reason separated us from the nations of Europe? Where is that spirit which enforced a simple resolution of the old Congress, not then binding upon the people, as a law from Hesse? Is it extinct? Is it lost to this nation? Has the love of gain superseded every other motive in the breasts
of Americans? Shall the majority govern, or shall a few wicked and abandoned men drive this nation from the ground it has taken? Is it come to this, that a law constitutionally enacted, even after a formal decision in favor of its constitutionality, cannot be enforced? Shall the nation give way to an opposition of a few, and those the most profligate part of the community? I think the stand we took last year was a proper one; and I am for taking every measure for enabling the nation to maintain it. Just as our measure is beginning to operate, just as provisions are becoming scarce in the West-Indies and elsewhere, notwithstanding the evasions of our law, we are called upon to repeal it. I should not have made this motion at this time, had it not been for the petition just presented. When I stand here, Sir, charged by a part of the community with being one of "the enemies of the people" notwithstanding I am willing to commit the petition, treating it with that respect which I conceive to be due from us to the prayer of any portion of the people, I wish my sentiments on this subject to be seen.
A proclamation has been issued by one of the belligerents since the passage of the embargo law, Sir. Look at it. What says it? Clearance or no clearance, we will receive any neutral vessel into our ports; and in speaking of neutrals, recollect that there is no nation in the civilized world that has a claim to the title, except ourselves. This Proclamation then tells our citizens "Evade the laws of your country, and we will receive and protect you." This is the plain English of it.
If the mad powers of Europe had entered into compact to injure us as much as they could, they could not have taken a more direct course to it. I consider them both alike, and the measures I would take would place them both on the same footing. I have made my resolutions as general as possible, to give all latitude to the committee.
Mr. M. then read his resolutions as follows:
Resolved, That the committee appointed on that part of the President's message which relates to our foreign relations, be instructed to enquire into the expediency of excluding by law from the ports, harbors, and waters of the U. S. all armed ships and vessels belonging to any of the belligerent powers, having in force orders or decrees violating the lawful commerce of the U. S. as a nation.
Resolved, That the same committee be instructed to enquire into the expediency of prohibiting by law the admission into the ports, harbors and waters of the U. S. any ship or vessel belonging to or coming from any place in the possession of any of the above mentioned powers and also the importation of any goods, wares and merchandise the growth, produce and manufacture of the dominions of any of the said powers.
Resolved, That the same committee be instructed to enquire into the expediency of amending the act laying an embargo and the several acts supplemental and additional thereto.
On the subject of the first of these resolutions (said Mr. M.) it might be proper to interdict the entrance of all armed vessels, although I have confined the interdiction to the belligerents. A certain time might be fixed at which the second should go into operation.
I have thought proper, sir, to bring forward all these resolutions together, to shew my own opinion on what ought to be done. It is time for those who think the embargo a lawful and proper measure to come forward and declare it. No other person having as yet thought proper to do it. I have now done it. I believe the embargo was right; that it was right to pass laws to enforce it; and believing this, I feel no hesitation in avowing it. Time has been when the impression of our seamen was cried out against by a large majority of congress. Now the cry is that we will not let them go out and be taken. For in case they go out they must be taken. Neither of the two great powers of Europe have shown the least disposition to relax their measures; neither I hope shall we. I believe we have but three alternatives—war, embargo, or submission. The last I discard; this nation never will submit; nor are there many people in it that would. That out of the question, then, the only question is, whether in the present state of the world, the embargo or war is the best for us. Arm your merchantmen, as has been proposed, send them out, and you have war directly. If we are to have war, I should rather have it openly, and let the nation know that we mean it. I am for the embargo yet, I am told flour is from 30 to 50 dollars a barrel in the West-Indies; I am also told that wheat is 14 shillings sterling a bushel in England. This must have an effect, if adhered to, through Spain and Portugal. France, if she carries her armies into that country, cannot support them. Nor can Spain support her armies, and at the same time those Great-Britain sends there; for where war is waged, almost all agriculture is destroyed and it only requires firmness in us to force them both by this measure to acknowledge our rights. If I am mistaken in my opinion, I wish that measure to be adopted which may best maintain our rights and independence.
It is not the embargo which causes the pressure on the people. No, sir; it is the orders and decrees of England, and France. Take a licence from England, and you may trade, but on no other terms. Let an officer of the British fleet visit your vessel, and France will condemn it. These are the things which destroy commerce. The country in which I live feels the measure as much as any; they are agriculturalists, and their crops remain unsold; and if they will do without the principal, and resist imposition by withholding their produce, those who make a profit by the freight of our produce, may afford to lose that profit. Can any man tell what would be the consequence of war, in these times? In common war some regard is had to the laws of nations by belligerents, and they fight each other. In the present war the belligerents disregard the laws of nations, and fight every one but one another.
Mr. M. concluded by saying that he was aware that he had said nothing new, nor could any thing new be said. The documents published at the last session and those published now to put the subject in so complete a point of view, that it was impossible to add light to them.
The House agreed to consider the resolutions.
Mr. Alston suggested to his colleague the propriety of referring the last resolution to the committee of Commerce and Manufactures, who had last session reported all the bills mandatory to the embargo laws.
Mr. Macon said he meant nothing less than disrespect to the committee of Commerce and Manufactures, but he wished all
the resolutions go to one committee that they might have the whole system before them.
Mr. Dana made a few observations which were not distinctly heard. He thought that an agreement to the third would commit the House on the subject of the embargo; and suggested the propriety of taking the question on each separately.
Mr. Quincy said he wished the last resolution to be separated from the first, as the House would be committed by its adoption. Not that he wished to avoid a discussion of that subject, for he wished for nothing so much as that the House would permit them to go into a discussion of that subject, in committee of the whole. [Mr. Q. said he wished to lie on the table.] Mr. Q. said he wished to press a discussion on the subject of the embargo; for such was the state of public opinion in the northern part of the union that but one general sentiment prevailed, that the embargo would be immediately raised. Instead of postponing the subject from day to day, he only wished it to come before the house that gentlemen might understand one another, and put an end to the doubts that now existed.
The first and second resolutions offered by Mr. Macon were agreed to without a division. The third was ordered to lie on the table, Ayes 78.
SHOT-MANUFACTORY.
Mr. Say presented a memorial from sundry persons in the city of Philadelphia, stating that they have at great labor and expence erected a manufactory of shot; and praying that, to encourage the domestic manufacture, a duty be laid on all imported shot. Referred to the committee of Commerce and Manufactures.
MR. CHITTENDEN'S RESOLUTIONS.
Mr. Chittenden called for the order of the day on the resolution submitted by him for repealing the embargo.
Mr. Quincy called for the yeas and nays on the motion to go into committee of the whole on the subject.
The yeas and nays were taken on the motion as follows:
YEAS—Messrs. L. J. Alston, Basset, Blackledge, J. Campbell, Champion, Chittenden, M. Clay, Clopton, Culpepper, Dana, Davenport, Elliot, Ely, Goldsborough, Gray, Harris, Heister, Hoge, Richard S. Jackson, Jenkins, Kelly, Lambert, Lewis, Livermore, Lloyd, Macon, Marion, Masters, Milnor, D. Montgomery, Moseley, Mumford, Newbold, Pitken, Quincy, Randolph, M. Richards, Riker, Russell, Sloan, Smelt, J. K. Smith, John Smith, S. Smith, Stanford, Stedman, Sturges, Swart, Taggart, Taylor, Uplam, Van Horn, Van Rensselaer, Wilbour, D. R. Williams, N. Wilson—56.
NAYS—Messrs. W. Alston, Bacon, Barker, Bibb, Blount, Boyd, Brown, Burwell, Cutler, Calhoun, G. W. Campbell, Cutts, Dawson, Desha, Durell, Eppes, Findley, Franklin, Garnets, Gholson, Goodwyn, Green, Helms, Holland, Holmes, Howard, Humphreys, Isley, Johnson, Jones, Kirkpatrick, Love, McCreery, J. Montgomery, N. Moore, Jer. Morrow, John Morrow, Nelson, Newton, Nicholas, Porter, Pugh, Rea, Rhea, Say, Scavler, Shaw, Smilie, Southard, Storer, Thompson, Trigg, Troup, Verplanck, Wharton, Whitehill, A. Wilson—58.
So it was decided that the house will not on this day take up the subject.
Several petitions and resolutions of a private nature were presented and referred; and the house adjourned about one o'clock.
BOSTON, NOVEMBER 11.
MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE.
Yesterday the Legislature of this Commonwealth assembled at the state House in this town. In the afternoon, the Secretary delivered the following Message from His excellency the Governor:
Gentlemen of the Senate, and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,
THE Secretary of the Commonwealth has, by your direction, informed me that a quorum of the Senate and House of Representatives have assembled, and are ready to proceed to the public business of the Commonwealth, pursuant to the design of their adjournment. I congratulate the people of the state upon the assembling, in health and safety, of so many of their Representatives. It would have given me inexpressible pleasure, if, when I had met you, I could have offered you my congratulations on a happy situation of our foreign relations; but as they cannot be in our present state, it is therefore not my duty to concern with them, and I shall therefore leave the subject to the Representatives of the People in the National Government.
Gentlemen of the Senate, and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,
The adjournment which took place on the 11th of June last, was made from that day to this, at your request, for the special purpose of choosing Electors of President and Vice-President, as well as for transacting any other business which might become necessary at this time. From this mode of expression, it has been conceived by many, that the Senate and House intend to proceed in convention to the choice of Electors themselves in their legislative capacity; as appears by the Resolutions of the inhabitants of many towns in the Commonwealth, with all or the greatest part of which you are no doubt already acquainted. I think it my duty to suggest to you, that a choice by the people at large, or in districts, might have a tendency to obviate those objections, which otherwise may leave the States involved in uneasiness and content on a part from my acquaintance with the local situation of the Commonwealth, I think the time now remaining, if candidly and properly improved, will be sufficient for that purpose. I therefore request your attention to a question of so much importance to the harmony of the government; and I shall make every exertion within my power to effect an object so desirable.
Gentlemen,
The state of the Treasury, with some unfortunate circumstances, which have lately appeared to attach themselves to it, shall be communicated to you, by special message, and explained by special documents. Other documents concerning the government, shall be laid before you, as occasion shall offer; and my attention shall be devoted to render the session agreeable to your constituents, and pleasant to yourselves.
JAMES SULLIVAN.
November 10th, 1808.
In another Message, the Governor expresses his belief, that the public Treasury will probably sustain no loss by the great mismanagement of its funds.
The hon. Elijah Brigham, Samuel Dana & Eli P. A. Dutton on the part of the Senate, and Messrs. Jackson, Morton and Edwards on the part of the house, were appointed a Committee to take into consideration the most eligible mode of appointing Electors of President and Vice President of the United States, and report.

The Federalists of Massachusetts have pursued the same course, as to the Presidential Election, which was to have been expected. To serve to themselves the right of electing Electors, they have, 1st, excluded the people from all share in the election, although Gov. Sullivan had assured them, that there was a sufficient time for this purpose; and 2dly, they have virtually violated their constitution, by depriving the Governor of his constitutional powers.
Massachusetts H. R. Nov. 12. The following Order of the Legislature, prescribing the manner of appointing Electors of President and Vice-President, having passed the Senate—Yeas 22, Vies 17, came down for concurrence. REPORT: It is hereby ordered and directed by the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, that on the 14th day of November instant, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the Senate and House of Representatives will meet in convention, and by joint ballot, elect and appoint NINETEEN persons as Electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, not being Senators or Representatives in the Congress thereof, or persons holding any office of trust or profit under said United States, one of whom at least shall be an inhabitant of each district which is assigned for the choice of Representatives in the Congress of the United States.
MARYLAND ELECTION. The election for Electors took place in Maryland on the 14th Inst. Edward Johnson, John Johnson and Tobias E. Stansbury, were elected; of the two former from the district composed of Baltimore & Annapolis cities, the county of Anne Arundel, and part of Montgomery—the latter from the district containing Baltimore county. They will vote for James Madison as President, and George Clinton as Vice-President of the U. States.
NEW HAMPSHIRE ELECTION. Returns from 76 towns in New-Hampshire give the republican ticket for Electors, 6,433—federal ticket, 6,235. The republican gain since the election in August, is 1007!!!
BALTIMORE, November 18. "Maryland federal." It is now reduced to a certainty, that general Robert Bowie, col. Natl. Rochester, Dr. John Tyler, Edward Johnson, John Johnson, Edward H. Vazey, Richard T. Earle, Tobias E. Stansbury, and col. Perry Spencer, are elected electors of President and Vice-President for the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th districts—all of which are pledged to vote for James Madison as President, and George Clinton as Vice-President. From the 1st and 2d districts there is no return; but from the circumstance of the inhabitants of these two districts being so remote from places where democratic newspapers are printed, and scarcely any circulated in the six counties, it is expected that these two electors will vote for King, Pinkney, Luther Martin, or any other person except James Madison. Thus Maryland has shown to her sister states what the sentiments of her patriotic citizens are on the subject of the embargo or tribute. Pray, Lawyer Jacob, where are the eight federal votes that were to be given in Maryland? Are they, like Dean Swift's eclipse, composed till another day? Lord! how Lawyers are given to lying....Whig.
Robert Wright, esq. is re-elected Governor of Maryland, without opposition. The federal prints of Boston state that New-Hampshire has chosen federal electors. This information is doubtful.
WILL be sold, to the highest bidder, at the Saw-Mill of Capt. Ben Johnson, dec'd. of Henrico county, on Wednesday the 30th inst. a large quantity of PLANK well assorted; also, some HOGS, and many other things too tedious to mention. Credit will be given the purchasers until the 25th of October next, by giving bond with approved security, with interest from the date, but the interest will be remitted if punctually paid, for all sums above ten dollars, and for ten and under, cash will be required by— NAT. PERKINS, Administrator of BENJ. JOHNSON, Dec'd.
WILL be offered for sale on the 29th inst at the residence of Mr. Rice Graves, in Louisa, if fair, if not the next fair day, several EGYPTIAN NEGRHOES, stock of CATTLE and SHEEP, three HORSES, several Beds and Furniture. Cash will be required for all sums of ten dollars and under—for all sums above ten dollars, twelve months credit will be given—Bonds with approved security will be required of the purchaser, to carry interest from the date if not punctually paid. JOHN GRAVES, Trustee.
PROJETS. There have been various propositions laid before the House of Representatives respecting our foreign relations. It is obvious, that there are but three great expedients for our adoption, War, Submission—or the Embargo in some form or other. Of these propositions, not one has yet been submitted, recommending a declaration of war against either or both of the belligerent powers. Such a measure may be expected from the Honorable John Randolph, if he sees the slightest encouragement for such a proposition. War against France, is said to be his political panacea for our present embarrassments.
One of these propositions recommends the disgraceful expedient of submission. Another recommends an intermediate expedient which must resolve itself into war. Most of them are founded on various relaxations or partial suspensions of the embargo. Of all these, there is not one, to which the rights, honor and independence of the U. S. are not strongly opposed. Mr. Chittenden's Resolution is an abandonment of our interests and honor, because it implies Submission to encroachment and tribute, without the slightest resistance. Mr. Mumford's Resolution will not answer, because it ultimately leads to the same submission, though with a show of resistance; as the circuitous trade, which his project would permit, would furnish a large equivalent to Great Britain for the loss of a direct trade, and thus renders the Embargo completely unavailing with respect to her.
Mr. Cook's plan will not relieve us, because the arming of our merchantmen would produce war with Great Britain. And Congress would thus merely transfer its constitutional power of declaring it to a set of merchants and Captains. Mr. Sawyer's proposition to trade with the West-Indies generally, would not avail us, because 1. a large proportion of our trade to those Islands is dependant upon our trade to Europe, the quantity of their produce which we purchase being considerably dependant upon that which we can export to the continent; a branch of trade, which is not embraced within Mr. S's proposition. 2. because our trade to the French Islands is now interdicted by the British blockading Orders, and that to the British West-Indies is completely forbidden by all regard to the rights and honor of an insulted country. It is certainly a source of deep regret with every patriotic mind, that Mr. Sawyer's lumber has no other vent to pass off; but it is an eternal principle in politics, that partial evils must submit to the general good; the interest of a part must yield to the interests of a whole country. Were each representative to lose sight of the great rights of the nation, by consulting the temporary interests of his own district only, the embargo would be totally repealed: The representatives of the east would press for its revocation as to their vessels; those who represent a tobacco district would insist upon a trade to Germany; the cultivators of cotton would pray for a trade to Great Britain; and even the humble farmers of peas and beans would petition Congress for an exemption for their staple productions.
What remains, but to continue the embargo in its present form, or to enforce it with new provisions? But if the embargo in its present form is liable to evasions—if it permits too extensive a commerce with the enemies of our country—is it not our bounden duty to tighten and not to relax it? Who can resist the noble and generous sentiments, the firm and powerful arguments, which Mr. Mason's speech displays? That speech breathes the spirit of an American, and the "independent sentiments of an independent representative of an independent people." Let no such man be pronounced "the enemy of his country."
Let us then throw all our public armed vessels into service. Let the President of the U. States be authorized to employ an additional number of seamen. Let him be enabled to employ an additional number of Revenue Cutters and fast sailing vessels, to overtake and expose the smugglers and Pirates of their country. Our Gun-Boats may be of excellent use at the mouths of our harbors; but they are not sharp-shinned enough to admit of a sufficiently rapid sailing. The resolutions of Messrs. Eppes and Mason, with respect to a non intercourse law, contain new provisions for the enforcement and aid of the Embargo laws. With a partial suspension of the Embargo, a non-intercourse law would not be armed with sufficient Energy. The adoption of this measure would impart new pressure and additional terrors to the System. Let such resolutions then be adopted, either in the words of these resolutions or in the following words of the able report of the committee of the United States presented to that body on April 16th 1808.
Resolved, That the committee be instructed to report a bill, prohibiting after the day of all commercial intercourse with such of the belligerent nations, whose edicts against the neutral commerce of the United States may render such prohibition expedient. The preceding prohibition to apply not only to the vessels, but to every thing that is the growth, produce or manufacture of France and Great Britain. With this resolution, let a restriction be combined which shall not only punish those degenerate citizens, who are now dishonoring their country's flag in the European service, but shall prevent their breaking the force of the non-intercourse law by returning hereafter to the U.S. with smuggled goods. This restriction is expressed in the following resolution of the same report.
Resolved, That the committee be further instructed to report a bill, expatriating all citizens of the U. States, commanding ships or vessels of the U. States, who shall be convicted of voluntarily accepting any license, or paying any tax, in conformity to the British orders of council, of the 11th of November last. This resolution to go into effect after the end of a limited time. With these measures is it not best to combine an increased duty upon such goods as can be manufactured within the U. S.; these duties to continue beyond the period of suspending the non-intercourse law? These duties should not be so exorbitant, as to operate as an encouragement to smugglers. Their duration will be a necessary pledge and encouragement to such capitalists and workmen, as would be willing to embark their money and labour in all rational at-
tempts for the establishment of domestic manufactures. These duties might yield a sum of considerable magnitude, and would tend to ameliorate the gloom of the war. The prosperity of their manufactures would be some compensation to them for the loss of their trade.
BRITISH PLEA. The Documents, which are now going before the people of the U. States, will most strongly demonstrate the firmness as well as love of peace; the impartiality as well as discretion, with which their affairs have been conducted. But when will Federalism abandon its opposition? Or how can the prejudices of party be charmed to sleep?
What now becomes of the charges of French influence in our cabinet; and of its partiality to France? These papers dissipate this illusion. It now appears that our government was willing to accept the same terms from both powers, and that no proposition was made to France, which was not offered to G. Britain. Nay it seems, that the proposition was made to Great Britain to repeal our embargo as to her; but that no such proposition was actually made by our minister at Paris. What more could our government have done to manifest its sincere love of peace, & its regard for the feelings of G. Britain? We proposed to suspend our embargo as to her, provided she would suspend her orders with respect to us, and continue it on with respect to France, provided France should reject our propositions. What more could G. Britain have demanded consistently with her previous professions? To our acquiescence in the decrees of France, she had ascribed the extension of her orders in council to the U. States. What more then could she have required from the U. States than this measure? If G. Britain accepted of our terms, France would either have accepted or revised our proposition. If she had accepted, then her decree, the ostensible cause of the orders of council, would have been withdrawn. If she had refused, then our continuance of the embargo as to France would have displayed our resistance to her decrees, at the same time that it would have been a much more efficient substitute for the British orders in council. The propositions, therefore, which we made to G. B. would either have removed the French decrees themselves, or those objections of a pretended acquiescence on our part, on which her orders were ostensibly founded. But these propositions have been rejected—and nothing more is wanting to show how hollow and hypocritical are the professions of G. Britain. It is unquestionable, that this plea of acquiescence has never been any thing more than a mere pretext to cover her aggressions upon us. The official note attached to the treaty of December 31, 1806, says "that if however the enemy should carry these threats into execution, and if neutral nations, contrary to all expectation (mark this!) should acquiesce in such usurpations, his majesty might probably be compelled, however reluctantly, to retaliate in his just defence." The same idea is stated in Mr. Erskine's letter of March 12, 1807. "And yet seven days after the date of this note, without any consultation with the U. S. without knowing whether they would acquiesce or even giving them time to determine, G. B. enacts her orders of January, in professed retaliation of this decree. Even with respect to original and grievous aggressions, the laws of nations require a certain time for a demand of satisfaction, before reprisals can be attempted. As her orders of Nov. according to Mr. Canning, are only "an extension in operation but not in principle," of these first orders, Great Britain would have been just as well entitled to pass her Nov. orders at the very commencement of her retaliating system.
Other facts will show how contemptibly hollow has been this pretext. It is indisputable that "the enemy did (not) carry these threats into execution;" that the minister of the French government officially declared, it was not intended to apply to the United States; that for nine months there was no overt act to contradict these assertions; that the United States suffered no injury from France, and Great Britain, of course, none through us. With what consistency then could the British government offer a pledge, in this official note, which was never fulfilled? Or with what face could she plead an excuse for her aggression, an alleged acquiescence on the part of the U. S. in injuries which never existed?
The rejection of our proposition has dissipated every possible doubt on this subject. That proposition would have either removed the original subject of her complaints, or it would have drawn from the U. States a strong and vehement resistance to the views of France. She had no right to expect that we should resist France by a declaration of war. It was sufficient for her, that we should refuse the benefits of our commerce to her enemy, who had attempted to cut off our commerce with her. The very grounds too, on which Mr. Canning rejects our proposition are full of quibbles and equivocations; & manifestly shew the impotent injustice of his cause.
Considering the Embargo "as a measure of impartial hostility," and France as the original aggressor, our proposition would have come up to the wishes of G. Britain. For if G. Britain had suspended her orders and France had refused a similar atonement for her wrongs, our embargo, that is our hostility against her, would have continued. Where then is that acquiescence of which G. B. has complained?
If it be considered as a "voluntary self-restriction" for the purposes of precaution—still it is absurd to say, that there is "no assignable relation between its repeal by the United States and a surrender by his majesty of his right of his retaliation against his enemies;" because he has no right of retaliation in this case; our resistance to his enemies, according to his own doctrine, taking away this right of retaliation.
Every thing therefore conspires to prove the hollowness of the pretence on which his Britannic majesty has proceeded. He has rejected our propositions, not because they are unjust or unreasonable, but because he had other extraneous, interested inducements. Mr. Madison has no doubt intimated one of these when he declared "there is too much reason to believe, that if the British government should not concur in a mutual abolition of the Orders & the Embargo, it will result from an unwillingness to set an example, which might be followed and might consequently put an end to the irritating career of her enemy on which the calculation is built."
To make any appeal indeed to the justice or reason of either of the belligerents, is almost a superfluous labour. They have no guide but their interest. Why appeal to the laws of nations to convict them of injustice,
when they have trampled those laws under foot? To appeal to them would be literally appealing to the dead."
"Par Noble Fratrum." The Honorable James Elliot of Vermont, indulging his usual talent of versatility, is about to step forth on the public stage in a new character. He has associated himself with a certain William McCorkle of Philadelphia, for some time the Editor of a public print in that city, entitled, "The Freeman's Journal"; and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser; and their joint labours are to issue, under the title of "The Freeman's Journal, and Philadelphia Mercantile Advertiser." One of the Editors is to "attend at Washington during the session," to furnish congressional information. "At its close, both the editors will be established at Philadelphia, and their papers will then assume their professed character of general originality and universal information."
Few public prints have ever been ushered into being under more inauspicious circumstances. Mr. Elliot has not only his own want of political reputation to encounter, but even the much greater want of it in his colleague. The print of which he has taken the helm, has sunk to the lowest bathos of contempt. It has no "character," as the French call it, no expression, no principles. It is not a complete feather in the political scale. It has not only no weight of itself, but is so light and versatile as to be blown about by every breeze. In some respects, its past and present conductors are alike. They have, neither of them, any fixed principles to guide their course. Both of them are apostates; trimmers, and quids. They are perfect non-descripts even in the quiddity world; they are bats to one set of trimmers, & birds to another. Each of them has passed through all the signs of the political zodiac; and has now stopped at Libra. Their shiftings, doublings, equivocations and libations, are objects of the most supreme contempt. McCorkle has supported McKean against Ross, McKean against Snyder, and Ross against Snyder. Elliot was once a friend of the administration; then a dubious and equivocal advocate; and now a political monster, which defies description. "Neither fish, flesh, nor fowl." Neither of them has been guided by high and generous principles. One has been led by the love of self; a little grovelling vanity and low love of distinction have been the wandering lights of the other. In point of great talents, there is not much to choose between them. Elliot has a little more experience, a little more historical reading, a few more Latin scraps than his colleague—of these things indeed he could scarcely have less—But to all that constitutes the great and comprehensive mind, neither Elliot nor McCorkle has any pretensions.
Their Prospectus is a medley of pedantry without genius & Egotism without merit. It does not contain, what is certainly the great requisite in such things, a frank and open confession of political faith. The only trait in it which breathes the air of principle, seems strongly to smack of Burr's famous maxim of "an union of all honest men." It unfurls its broad banner for all those minorities of both the old political parties of the republic, which embrace with now and then a solitary exception the whole mass of genius, wisdom and patriotism in this new world of the west.
"And gathers in its shade this living world." Among other objects, this paper is to take up a regular series of essays calculated "to explain and illustrate the universal connexion between the Agricultural and Commercial Interests."—"to explore, develop and depict the causes of that mysterious secrecy which so long a time concealed from the people, the true state of our relations with foreign powers"—and to investigate "the constitutionality and policy of removing the seat of government from the wilderness of Washington"—to that "most beautiful and splendid city, Philadelphia, the natural metropolis of this great nation." We sincerely congratulate our brethren on the acquisition of so enlightened and honourable a member to our fraternity—and we seriously trust that the hon. James Elliot of Vermont, will as well for his own fame as for the good of his country, prove himself just as harmless and powerful in the ranks of an Editor, as he has uniformly been on the floor of the House of Representatives.
It appears by the last accounts from the West-Indies, that the British are proceeding in their usual encroachments on the Laws of Nations. They have now virtually extended their infamous Orders of Council to the West-Indies; Rear Admiral Cochrane having advertised a blockade of all the "French Leeward Caribbean Islands." It is thus that the British government warns us of the mighty benefits which we are to expect from a submission to its encroachments!!
These islands cannot be less than 5 or 6 hundred miles "on their outline," exclusive of inlets. It is therefore impossible, for the British force in the W. I. to carry into effect any blockade, "within the true definition" of the term. Blockades can only exist, "when places are so invested that no serious attempt can be made to approach them without exposing the parties making them to imminent danger." The proclamation of Cochrane is therefore a manifest violation of those "musty and worm-eaten volumes" called the Laws of Nations. But what says Mr. Sawyer to this innovation? It comes just in time to show his famous resolution to pieces. Mr. S. will not now assert that the "Orders of Council do not affect our West India trade." This foundation having vanished, his whole superstructure falls into ruin.
Mr. Canning once protested against blending the affair of the Chesapeake with a most relevant subject, the imprisonment of our seamen. How consistent is this British statesman! He has now thought proper to blend it with the orders of council to which they have not the smallest affinity.
Extract of a letter from a member of Congress, dated WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 1808.
"We may now consider it certain that neither England or France will recede from their decrees and orders. Among the Republican members of Congress, but one sentiment exists on the subject of these decrees. All unite in the opinion that submission would be a surrender of the honour, interests, and independence of the nation. Some shades of difference at present exist as to the course which ought to be pursued. Among the various opinions are the following:
1. An adherence to the embargo with new provisions. 2. A partial repeal and a commerce with self-armed vessels, with the powers not affected by the decrees of England and France. 3. A general suspension of intercourse with England and France with or without general letters of marque and reprisal.
In passing to several opinions in review, there are none to which strong objections may not be made:—1. The Embargo was laid for two purposes; 1st. together in our commercial capital which was on float at the time of the attack on the Chesapeake. 2. As a measure of coercion against both powers by withholding from their West-India possessions provision and lumber. The first object has been answered. The want of patriotism on the part of our citizens, and the extent of our seaboard have prevented a fair experiment as to the second object—and its future success is rendered extremely doubtful from the same causes. To cling to it too as a permanent measure, and oppose no other species of resistance would ultimately destroy our navigation and commerce as effectually as the decrees.
2. A partial repeal with self-armed vessels—the decrees of England and France include the whole continent of Europe, Sweden excepted; for the purpose therefore of a trade unimportant to the U. States, its safety and honour would be committed to our sea captains—on whom it would depend whether with either or with both these powers we should be involved. It renders too the embargo useless by increasing the means for evading it.
3. A general suspension of intercourse with France and England—without letters of marque it is adding new provisions to the embargo—with letters of marque it is war against England and France and their dependencies including the whole civilized world. Our injuries and our feelings would justify this course. Perhaps however prudence might for the present point to a total non-intercourse, without letters of marque which ought to precede war or any measure which will certainly produce it. I am interrupted and can proceed no farther—this sketch will be sufficient to turn your attention to the serious situation in which we stand—to go back is impossible—to stand as we are, useless and against the public sentiment; to progress produces war—arrays 6 millions of people against 100 millions which probably the countries in alliance with and dependent on England and France may contain."
FOR THE ENQUIRER.
To JAMES MADISON, Esq. To that pure praise a grateful nation breathes, The Muse shall strive to join unsullied wreathes; And haply singing to thy virtuous name, Acquire herself a partial share of fame. No other recompence can e'er be blown, By Fortune's gales upon a bard unknown. What tho' the pride of despotism tow'r, In all the whirlwind of delirious pow'r, And boldly rushing in its bleeding course, The test of justice make unfortuinate force! Primeval reason yet can boast thy pen; To shield the rights of Nations and of men; Truly to paint aggression's wanton flame, And add to crimson war the blush of shame. Come, Retropection! thro' the mists of time, Poultry the patriot, who with soul sublime Has never bent nor bow'd to pow'r, Nor left his country in her needful hour; Has ne'er deserted freedom's sacred cause, Nor lent his suffrage to unrighteous laws, While long admir'd, belov'd, has stood Chief of the wise, and first among the good: Oft has the halls of listening senates rung, With the soft sapience of thy dulcet tongue. Thy simple virtue baffled all the arts, Inrigue had nurtur'd in corrupted hearts. And taught the minions of despotic lords To feel the worth integrity affords. But yet, how great, how brilliant was thy lot? The man, the patriot never was forgot. O! fitted to succeed a nation's pride, Who long the thorny path of pow'r has try'd And to the harbour of his age now bears The grateful tribute of a thousand prayers. May you, like him, the helm of office steer, And guard Columbia with a parent's care; And urg'd like him, by wisdom to retire Obtain that parent's name, thy last desire. PIERRE.
Election of Electors, from OFFICIAL Returns received by the Executive.
Table with 4 columns: County, Federal, Republican, Total. Lists returns from 54 counties including Accomack, Bath, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Franklin, Halifax, Isle of Wight, King & Queen, Middlesex, Matthews, Montogomery, Norfolk, Co., Russell, Rockingham, Tazewell, Wythe. Totals: 12049 Federal, 2628 Republican, 422 Total.
25 Counties to be heard from.
Communication—Mr. Edward C. Davis, who was a candidate before the Executive Council, will also be a candidate before the Gen. Assembly for the appointment of Register of the Land Office. Mr. D. has for some time been chief Clerk in that Office.
17 We earnestly request our Subscribers to transmit their arrears by the Members of the Assembly.—The times are not a little hard with us.
By virtue of a deed of trust, executed to us by Miller Waddill, of Prince Edward county, bearing date the 15th May, 1808, for the purpose of securing to Sterling Smith, and to Sterling Smith & Co. a sum of money therein expressed: We shall, on Wednesday the 21st December next, (if fair, if not, the next fair day,) at the Tavern of Sterling Smith, in Farmville, proceed to sell, for ready money, the following SLAVES, to wit: LUCY and her children, WINNEY and TAYLOR, or as many of them as may be sufficient to discharge the purposes of said deed. JAMES DICK, John S. Trustees. WILLIAM WHITE, S.
FOR SALE, 387 Hds. upper Inspected TOBACCO, 1000 lbs. Soot LEATHER, 40 Tierces common WHISKEY, 8 Casks real old rectified do. 10 Tons country bar IRON, by W. M. W. DICKENSON.
GORDON, TROOKES & Co. have put a stop to the sale of their GOODS, on the long credits heretofore given; and are desirous to close, as soon as possible, the d-due to them, and the former firm of R. Gordon & Co. Those indebted to them, who are unable to make immediate payment, are requested to close their accounts by bond. They offer for sale, their assortment of DRY GOODS & CROCKERIES, for cash, or on short credit to punctilious people.