The recorder, or, Lady's and gentleman's miscellany (Richmond, Va.), 1802-10-27 00:00:00

THE RECORDER; Or, LADY'S AND GENTLEMAN'S MISCELLANY,
Printed by HENRY PACE, and JAMES T. CALLENDER, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, and published every WEDNESDAY Morning. Subscription Two Dollars per annum.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1802.
TO THE PUBLIC.
MANY gentlemen residing in states north of this have addressed letters to us, to send them the Recorder; and requested we would name any person in Philadelphia, or New York, where they could send their subscription money. We take this opportunity of informing the public, that Mr. Lewis, paper-maker, at Philadelphia, will receive any subscriptions sent for the Recorder, and Mr. Coleman, printer of the New York Herald, at New York.
FALL GOODS.
SAMUEL H. BRADDICK
HAS just received by the Octavia, from London, a very handsome assortment, which he will sell low, for Cash or Produce. Richmond, Oct. 12th 1802. (2m.)
50 DOLLARS REWARD.
RUN away from the Subscriber in this city, on May last, a Negro man, named BAILOR . A Black complexion, about Twenty-Six or Seven Years old, about Five Feet Seven or Eight. Formerly belonged to the estate of Boones and Tollers, has worked at the Blacksmith's trade. Was purchased of a Public Sale last Spring. Whoever secures the said Negro, and lodges him in Jail in this City, shall have the above reward by applying to William Fletcher.
October 25th. 1802. THOMAS MOORE.
100 DOLLARS REWARD.
SCHOONER TRIAL of Norfolk, was freighted from Richmond for Baltimore with beer, on the 28th of July last, John Dudley master. She is about Twenty-Five Tons Burden. Fitted Boat built, with a Red Frank Composition. There is a suspicion that the master of the Schooner has run away with her, as he or the has never since been heard of. Probably, Dudley may have taken her to Charleston, S.C. I will give an hundred dollars to any person who shall find said Vessel, providing that Dudley has run away with her, and who will put it in my power to get her again. Address to
JOHN TAYLOR, Norfolk.
P.S. The Printers of the Times, at Charleston, are requested to republish this three times. 1A
JOHN YLOR [6m.]
October 20th 1802.
LIME.
A CARGO of fresh Stone Lime in Tierses, just arrived from Providence, Rhode Island, and for sale at Rockets landing by
JOHN LESTER.
Richmond, Oct. 10, 1802. (3t.)
BY THE LATE ARRIVALS
WM. MACKENZIE, & Co.
HAVE RECEIVED THEIR
FALL GOODS
Richmond, Sept. 30th. 1802. (8t.)
TO BE SOLD,
FOR READY MONEY.
PURSUANT to a decree of the Federal Circuit Court of the United States, for the District of Virginia, in a suit between the executors of Hanbury's, plaintiffs, and the trustees of gen. Nelson, and others, defendants, a tract of land in the county of Prince William, on the waters of Bull Run, containing 220 acres, now in the occupation of Mrs. Gwynn; or so much thereof as will be sufficient to raise the sum of £. 259 with interest thereon from October 1797, and the costs & expenses of this sale, which will take place at Gadsby's tavern, in the town of Alexandria, on Saturday, the sixth of November next.
They above tract of land was purchased by Peyton Gwynn, deceased under the said decree, and the purchase money not being wholly paid, is again to be sold for the satisfaction thereof, in conformity to said decree, and terms of original sale.
D. M. RANDOLPH
Late Marshal, v. p.
Richmond, Sept. 18th. 1802. (14d.)
THE Subscriber, leaving his present employer in the course of this Fall, will engage himself with any Gentleman, who would require his services.
J. GREEN.
N.B. To prevent trouble, none but liberal terms will be accepted. Shares, on those terms, will be preferred. Hanover, Oct. 20 h, 1802.
FIVE DOLLARS REWARD.
THURSDAY See-night arrived from a Smith's shop near the Court House of Richmond, a small Bay Horse, with a short bob Tail, a J and an H upon his left Shoulder. He is about twelve hands and an half high, about six years old. I will give the above reward to any person who will bring him to me, Smith and Farrier, near the Court House, Richmond.
October 19th 1802.
JAMES LYNCH.
"A saving of time, is a saving of money, for time is even more precious than money."
FRANKLIN.
MAYO'S
TOLL BRIDGE
THE Public is respectfully informed, is now completely and permanently finished; is furnished with good, strong, and substantial Hand-Rails; and will, very shortly, be supplied with Lamps, from one end to the other, so that passengers may pass it by Day, or by Night, with the utmost safety, and most unbounded confidence.
When the vast magnitude of this undertaking by a single individual; the chimerical light in which it was originally viewed by the whole community; the immense sum which it has cost; the great length of time (a period of no less than 17 years) which it has taken to bring it to its present state of perfection; but above all, the importance of it to those who travel north or south, and particularly to the whole country south of James River, in bringing their produce to market, and coming to the seat of government, are considered, a confident hope and belief is entertained that it will meet with, and always receive, universal patronage and support; exclusive of these considerations, ECONOMY itself points out this to be the CHEAPEST, (and surely it is the most AGREEABLE) mode of crossing the river; for the very small difference in the expence of going by any other conveyance, bears no proportion to the certainty, safety, and expedition, which this excellent and useful bridge affords.
SAMUEL JONES.
Richmond, Virginia, Sept. 4th. 1802.
JUDGE TUCKER'S Blackstone.
PROPOSALS FOR PUBLISHING AN AMERICAN EDITION OF
BLACKSTONE'S
COMMENTARIES,
WITH NOTES OF REFERENCE TO THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
AND OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA.
With an appendix to each volume, containing the most important cases at law, and the most useful cases in equity, to illustrate the principles of the laws of Virginia, as a Member of the Federal Union.
By ST. GEORGE TUCKER,
Professor of law in the college of William and Mary, and one of the judges in the General Court in Virginia.
Printed for WILLIAM YOUNG BIRCH, and ABRAHAM SMALL—Philadelphia.
THE PROPOSED EDITION WILL CONTAIN—
 I. An introduction, or preface.  II. Notes on such parts of the Commentaries as treat on subjects which relate to the constitutional powers, delegated by the constitution and laws of the federal government, or of the state of Virginia; shewing in what instance the principles of the British constitution, the maxims of that government, the general customs or common law of England, acts of the British parliament, and particular customs, or prescriptions, have been adopted or confirmed; altered and amended; or wholly changed and repealed, by local circumstances, political considerations, or the express provisions contained in our constitutions and stated law.  III. To each volume of the commentaries there will be an appendix, into which 
will be introduced note of a more considerable length, which cannot conveniently be inserted in the body of the work, and short tracts upon some subjects arising out of our own constitution and laws.
 The appendix to the first volume will contain. 1. A discourse on government. 2. An enquiry into the obligation and authority of the common law and statutes of England, in the United States respectively, and whether the same be the law of the federal government of the United States or not. 3. A view of the written law of the commonwealth of Virginia, as partaking of the constitution and laws of the federal government and treaties made thereby; as well as of its own particular constitution and acts of its legislature; together with such acts of the parliament of Great Britain as may be still held to have any force or obligation therein. 4. A view of the constitution of the United States, its relation and connection with the state constitutions; a brief examination of their respective powers; a short parallel between it and that of Great Britain; an examination of some of its defects; and a view of the amendments thereto proposed by the several state conventions, and of such as may still be proper to be taken into further consideration. 5. A short view of the constitution of Virginia; an examination of some of Mr. Jefferson's positions respecting it; some hints with regard to an amendment of it. &c.  6. Observations on the right of conscience and the freedom of the press, in the United States of America.  7. A view of the origin, progress, and present state of slavery in Virginia, with a plan for its gradual abolition.  8. A view of the laws respecting glebes and churches in Virginia. 
 The appendix to the second volume will contain a short abstract of the land laws in Virginia, with a reference to such as are to be found in any general code.  2. A discourse on the law of descents in Virginia.  3. An engraved copper plate table of descents according thereto.  4. A table, shewing the manner in which estates in parsonage shall be divided pursuant thereto.  5. A view of the laws respecting estovers and forfeitures, passed during the revolutionary war, and of the rights of foreigners to hold lands in Virginia.  6. A view of the laws respecting slaves as property.  7. A discourse on the subject of the laws restraining usury. 
VI. The appendix to the third volume will contain a short view of the courts of the United States, and of the commonwealth of Virginia, with an abstract of the laws by which the practice therein is regulated, Scire facias on the trial by jury in Virginia, under the existing laws, and a plan for their amendment.
VII. The appendix to the fourth volume will contain an abstract of the criminal jurisdiction of the federal government, and of the commonwealth of Virginia; and a short discourse on treason.
VIII. The tracts mentioned in the fourth section together with the Editor's preface, and the Commentator's introduction, being all attached to the first volume of Blackstone will, in this edition, be divided into two parts, the preface and introduction, and the five tracts first mentioned in the fourth section will be attached to the first part, and the other three tracts mentioned in the same section, will make the appendix to the second part.
The notes dispersed throughout the work will amount to fourteen or fifteen hundred. Those which refer to the constitution and laws of the United States are very numerous.
CONDITIONS.
 I. That the work be printed on a new type, on superfine paper, and in five very large Octavo volumes; and be bound in neat law binding.  II. That it shall go to press as soon as a sufficient number of subscribers shall be obtained to make it prudent—and from the time of going to press be published in one year.  III. That the price of the whole, complete and bound, shall be twenty dollars, payable on delivery. 
ADDRESS BY THE PUBLISHERS.
It is presumed, a little consideration will make it obvious, that a work so extensive, and which will employ a large capital, cannot
be put to press until a sufficient number of subscribers are obtained to make it prudent: The publishers do not recollect that any book of the same amount, has been printed in the United States, without either a part of the purchase money, being required in advance, returns made as it proceeded, by delivering the volumes as they were printed. In the present case, the whole work will be finished and completely bound, before any payment is made.
It is earnestly requested that the gentlemen who intend subscribing will forward their names as soon as possible, either by letter (post paid) to the publishers in Philadelphia, or through the medium of booksellers in the neighbouring towns. The post-masters will also be furnished with a subscription paper, and it is presumed they will forward any names that may offer; as a remuneration, and to induce gentlemen to give it a little attention, whoever procures nine subscribers shall be entitled to a tenth copy, but it is to be explicitly understood, that the person who receives a copy for procuring subscribers, must be answerable for the payment of all the gentlemen who sign his list. The publishers demand nothing but on delivery of the books, complete; they are therefore determined not to leave a single set, without at that time receiving payment for it.
Gentlemen who forward names to the publishers, are requested to mention where the books are to be sent, and if possible, to make the place of delivery some considerable and well known town.
Subscription papers will be found in the hands of Mr. Prichard and Mr. S. Pleasants, in Richmond; Messrs. Ross and Douglas Petersburg—Mr. E. Merick, Norfolk; Mr. R. Greenhow, Williamsburg; Mr. Henderson, Frederickburg; Mr. S. Bishop, Alexandria; Mr. J. Albouin, Alexandria; Mr. M. Mullen, Winchester; Mr. J. Gales, Raleigh, North-Carolina; Messrs. Bailey and Waller, Charleston, South-Carolina; Mr. J. Marsh, Georgetown, Potomac; Messrs. Ralph and Co. Washington City; Messrs. G. Hill, and Conrad and Co. Baltimore, &c. &c.
The publishers have only to add, that they believe it will be found to be considerably the lowest priced law book, of a similar extent, and including a copy-right purchase, that has appeared for many years, either in America, or Europe.
WILLIAM YOUNG BIRCH. ABRAHAM SMALL, Philadelphia, Sept. 1. 1802
JUST PUBLISHED
AND FOR SALE
AT THE OFFICE
PRICE TWO SHILLINGS AND THREE-PENCE
THE
CONDUCT
OF
MERIWETHER JONES,
IN
A SERIES OF LETTERS,
ADDRESSED
TO THE PUBLIC,
By JAMES T. CALLENDER.
MANY gentlemen, when subscribing to this paper, have enquired for complete sets of the Recorder. These are not to be had. But this little publication will, in some measure, supply the want of them. Besides the seven letters to Jones, the last of which has rung through every state, and every second newspaper in the union, the collection contains many other articles. Among these are, Defence of Aaron Burr—Dr. Samuel Coleman, No. 1.—Defence of Timothy Pickering—A little more about republican economy—with a variety of small pieces.
THE Subscriber has lately removed to the Brick House, opposite to Crouch's Tavern, and near to Proffer and Moncure's Vendue Store.
He proposes to practise the Law in the High Court of Chancery, and District Courts, and in the County and City Courts, which are held in this city.
HENRY BANKS
Richmond, August 22, 1802.

THE PRESIDENT,
(Concluded from the Recorder of September 1.)
Dr. Adam Smith has remarked that the coward, the man incapable of defending or avenging himself, is evidently more mutilated in his mind than the cripple is in his body. The right of self defence and self preservation is, indeed, the very first principle engraved in the breast of every animated being. Among the wonders of the present age, it is not perhaps the smallest, that some Virginian critics consider one of the editors of the Recorder as an exception to the common rule. They seem to consider it as his duty to submit, without a murmur, to the most exasperating injuries, and to bear the vilest calumnies with respectful silence. For instance, there is more than one newsprinter on the continent that has privately remonstrated to him on the imprudence and impropriety of attempting to defend his conduct against their attacks; while they were at the same time, publishing what they must have known to be fictitious. This, to be sure, is a degree of insolence, at which the common race of mortals have not yet arrived. But, such is the fact, Sir!
William Giles had stated certain particulars, which were, upon his authority, inserted in a political publication; and when he was afterwards cited as a witness to support his assertions in a court of justice, he gave an insolent answer, and broke his constitutional oath by refusing to attend. So early as the winter of December, 1796, Giles had attacked Callender on the floor of Congress. He had entered into a combination with Dr. William Smith for getting this person excluded from taking down the debates. The united force of the house gave Giles and the doctor an ignominious defeat. No attempt was made to revenge all this usage. On the other hand, his character was constantly defended, as far as it was known to be defensible. His refusal of attendance, therefore, combined cowardice, ingratitude and perjury. Eighteen months after all this had past over, Giles, in a long speech to Congress, deplored the scandalous treatment which Callender had received upon his trial. This complaint, as coming from him, was certainly the height of audacity, for it does not deserve the more respectful appellation of hypocrisy. As the sequel of such conduct, the newspapers of Giles's party commenced an unprovoked attack upon the Recorder. Upon this we returned the blow, marched into the enemy's territories, and among other citadels of Republicanism, we attacked General Giles. This gave great offence. Ingratitude, desertion, apostasy, were thundered in our ears; as if Giles were a being of some superior species, as if Callender were bound to bear every thing from him, and he nothing from Callender. It is just four years ago, since Mr. Jefferson had received a full detail of the baseness of that man's conduct. No writer has even attempted to vindicate his refusal of attendance, as a witness. Yet, while groaning under such a load of infamy, there were persons in this state, who could be ambitious of seeing Giles chosen Governor. His most formidable competitor was known to be John Page. To remove this obstacle Mr. Jefferson turned colonel Heth out of the collectorship of Petersburg; and Mr. Page was appointed in his room. This profound scheme was defeated by the refusal of Mr. Page to accept of the collector's office, and there is very little doubt that he will be chosen governor. Virginia has escaped from disgrace; but, for this escape, we cannot thank Mr. Jefferson. We have stated the account current of obligations between Callender and Giles. The impartial world will decide what title the latter had to the Recorder's tenderness; and whether you are bound to feel respect or kindness for a man, who, twice, within four years, has brought you almost to the brink of destruction. Many honest people seem to think that certain political characters must be supported at all hazards; and that Giles and Jefferson are two of them. When Demosthenes impeached Eschines, and when Eschines, in his turn, impeached Demosthenes, the Athenians never dreamt that either the one, or the other was above censure. Their fellow citizens heard both with patience. But, in America, we have names that are regarded as above all discussion. To say that such a man has adopted such a measure is, with many honest people, to pronounce it infallible; while these infallible personages laugh in each other's faces at the simplicity of their admirers. Almost every newspaper on the continent is the sworn advocate of a party; and this is the very reason why our public affairs have, in general, been conducted so wretchedly. It is the fixed purpose of the Recorder to expose, as far as we can, the faults of both parties; for no party was ever yet without its faults. And if we seem to bear hardest upon the men, at present, in office, it is only because they are, at this time, more formidable and dangerous than their defeated adversaries. A few months of additional reading, a little candour and patience, an acquaintance with an hundred important facts, that very few people appear to know, will convince the majority of our subscribers, that neither the one nor the other, ever have deserved, or ever
will deserve implicit confidence. They have often concurred in Congress in laws and in votes the most unwarrantable and oppressive. After all the noise which has been raised against the Alien and Sedition laws, and they were bad enough, they never, collectively meditated or inflicted one five hundredth part of the injuries, or wickedness, that have resulted from the two statutes of limitation. Yet the personal sufferers excepted, nobody complains of them; and the writer of this article is perhaps the only political author who has dared to attack their principles. The reason for so much forbearance is as evident, as it is dishonorable. They were the joint work of both parties; and as almost all our pamphlets and newspapers are composed in defence of one of the two great parties, the authors could not attack them without, at the same time, attacking their friends and patrons. But the interest of the public has nothing to do with that of a party. Let the people have all the truth, or at least as much of it as possible, and then let them judge for themselves. It is proper that they should know the truth, whatever pangs it may cost the party favorite, or the public officer, whose ignorance it ridicules, or whose guilt it arraigns.
The press is to public opinion, what eyes are in a man's face. A virtuous and correct opposition is as necessary to preserve even the best government from corruption, as false is in a barrel of beer. If there are public names above truth, such names are a public nuisance. Athens, as above noticed, knew nothing of this weakness. Demosthenes, all Demosthenes as he was, tells us, that at one period of his life, he was impeached almost every day. Thomas Cooper demanded, upon trial, that Mr. Adams should be cited as an evidence. Mr. Chase refused a warrant; and Harper, that veteran of political profligacy, hath since in congress defended the refusal. "Thus," says Duane in a private letter, "we have one man above the law." The remark was perfectly correct; and Duane, if he pleases, may now add another. Mr. Jefferson and his invaluable republican majority, have not passed the slightest censure upon the judges who embraced this enormity. The only reason must be that they approved of the principle; although, in Mr. Cooper's instance, they disliked the practice. This omission would, of itself, be sufficient for unveiling the genuine character of the governing party. It was considered by the republicans, as a very great absurdity that the marshals of Pennsylvania and Virginia could pack a jury for the trials of Cooper, &c. We believe, but we are not at this moment certain, that the marshal of Vermont packed, also, colonel Lyon's jury. The republicans have not said a word about the correction of this abuse. We have no reason for suspecting that either John Smith of Philadelphia, or major Scott of Richmond are better men than their predecessors in office.
It is a singular fact, and we mention it much to his honor, that the ex-marshall of Virginia highly commends the spirit of independence that pervades this paper. He says, upon various occasions, that we tell the truth upon both sides, which is the very thing that he wanted to see. The chief justice of the United States is, what we did not expect, another of the defenders of this paper. Not that he can be supposed to approve or defend every thing; for no two thinking beings are always of the same opinion. But Mr. Marshall says that this is the best conducted paper in America, that such editors must be supported, and that he never before saw such a variety of subjects so correctly handled. We mention these anecdotes as a counterpoise to the volumes of imposture that are poured upon this paper from all quarters.
We former took notice of the invectives which are daily vented by government papers against the first consul. Miss Smith issues declarations, almost every week, upon the usurpation of the power of Bonaparte. What business have we with such matters? The first consul has prohibited English newspapers. But even they are not, by many degrees, so obnoxious to him as our new-papers will be. Can any man that is in his wits vindicate Jones and Cheetham for recommending the assassination of Bonaparte? Our sentiments upon this head have already been explained. No person was more dissatisfied than Mr. Jefferson with the harsh manner in which the late administration spoke of France, and the directory. And, to our entire surprise, Mr. Jefferson has adopted that very line of conduct which he had been forward to condemn.
NOTICE.
WILL be sold to the highest bidder, at Dunkirk in King and Queen County, on Monday the 31st of January, 1803. A TRACT OF LAND On the main road to King and Queen Court House, adjoining Col. Luther Smith's Mill Pond, containing Ninety Three Acres and a quarter. Also, thirty nine Acres of Marsh Land, running out from Mr. Carter Braxton's high land to Mattaponi river. The above land will be sold on a credit of six months, i.e. purchasers giving bond with approved security, to pay interest from the date if not paid at maturity. Also, at the same time and place, will be sold for cash, to the highest bidder, fourteen or fifteen hogsheads of MALT, consisting of Men, Women and Children. King and Queen, Oct 28th 1802. R. B. CARTER.
VIRGINIA. In the High Court of Chancery for the Richmond District Between Henry Banks And Nathaniel Anderson, Robert Pollard, George Winston and Thomas Steward, Defs. ON the motion of the plaintiff, the court, this second day of October in the year of our lord one thousand eight hundred and two, with the consent of the defendant Nathaniel Anderson, by counsel, doth refer the accounts between the plaintiff and that defendant, to one of its commissioners, to be by him examined, stated, settled, and to the court reported with any matter specially stated, thought pertinent by himself, or required by the parties to be so stated, and ordereth, with the consent of the parties, the cause to be finally heard at the next term, if that officer, in the mean time, shall state and examine them, or, upon examination of the papers, a final decree can be made without the report.
A copy, teste, Peter Tinsley, c. c. Commissioner's Office, Richmond, October 20, 1802. The parties concerned, are desired to take notice, that I have appointed Monday the twentieth day of December next, for carrying into effect the within Decree; order, upon which day, their attendance is required at my office, with copies of the court papers and their accounts ready for examination. William Hay, m. c.
THE RECORDER.
RICHMOND. OCTOBER 27th. 1802.
TO SUBSCRIBERS.
THE subscribers to "The Recorder," are desired to recollect, that the payments for this paper should be regular and prompt. We shall not, at any future period of our editorial progress, be telling the public, in terms of deprecation, that our subscribers are indebted to us in four, six, or ten thousand dollars. We pay a strict attention to our subscription list; and as soon as we can convince ourselves that a subscriber is disposed to fall behind in his payments, off he goes, without delay. Do you think that the editors of this paper are going to be such simpletons as to have a parcel of twelve, or fifteen hundred ragged, beggarly subscription accounts, dispersed all over the state of two, four, eight, or twelve dollars a head? Do you think that we know so little of common business, and of common sense, as to be giving credit for two or three years at a stretch, or even two months, to republican citizens, that remember to forget to pay the postage of their letters, wherein they solicit us to put down their names? Indeed, gentlemen, as the mayor of Coventry said to queen Elizabeth! They have got the wrong pig by the ear. You may depend upon it that no patron exists upon the surface of this commonwealth, who shall ever be five dollars in debt to the Recorder, unless by the most peculiar and fatal combination of incidents. Does any man of business fancy that we are going to send money before hand to Philadelphia, to pay for paper, to wait three months for its arrival; to pay every body in the house in advance, for working it off, and then, to be giving three years credit, with a law-suit at the end of it, to some worthy republican who resides five hundred miles to the westward of the Blue-Ridge? That is not the way, in which we design to do business. We shall have no advertisements ascertaining the simplicity of our having accounts dispensed all over the state, to the amount of six, or eight, or twelve thousand dollars. Whenever a subscriber to The Recorder, knows himself to be behind hand, he must not differ with the post-master of the county; he must not think that he feels an apology of surprise, if the paper does not come next week; for, he may rest assured, that we shall pay the strictest attention to the state of payments and of defalcation; and, as we are obliged to pay for every thing in advance, our subscribers may rest assured, that nobody shall be in our debt, if we can help it.
NOTE. * We are satisfied that this will very seldom be the case. We have not more than one subscriber in Fort; but what pays in advance, and assures us that he will continue to do so.
MRS. WALKER.
In the Recorder of the 13th current, reference was made to a circumstance, which had occurred a considerable time since, between a certain great personage, and a lady in Albemarle county. We meant to publish it for various reasons. One of them is that the public have a right to be acquainted with the real characters of persons, who are the possessors or the candidates for office. A second reason is, that an enemy cannot refuse the right of being attacked with his own weapons. Every body must well remember the note which was made by the democrat in summer, 1797, concerning a personage of the opposite party, who had fallen into an illicit commerce with another man's wife. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander, says the proverb.
A third reason, for publication is that we have been loudly accused of a design to attack the character of a most respectable lady, whereas such a thing never once came into our heads. The Bee had published the story, with a contradiction or denial of it. Meriwether Jones, with his wonted judgment and delicacy, transplanted the article into his Examiner, so that the Recorder cannot be charged as the first publisher of the tale. In all of arraignment, we are going to vindicate the lady's character, if indeed a character so uncommonly respectable and amiable could be supposed to stand in want of a vindication. We beg to be understood that, if Jones had been silent, we should, most probably, have been so likewise. But a certain great personage has got such an absurd set of defenders about him as would be sufficient for destroying the character of any man. We never before witnessed so complete an example of literary suicide. Without any common place declamation upon the sanctity of the seventh commandment, or the guilt of seduction, or such trite matters, we shall tell a plain story that is universally believed, and that ought long since to have been published.
Mr. John Walker of Albemarle is a gentleman of independent fortune, and a most irreproachable character. His lady is universally represented as worthy to be the pattern of her sex. A great personage, who resides at some distance from Mr. Walker's, and who had been at school with him, had, after Mr. Walker's marriage, been in some measure, domesticated by him. Upon all occasions, he was received, in Mr. Walker's family, with that cordial hospitality, for which a Virginian country gentleman is so proverbially distinguished. The return to this friendship was an attempt, as foolish, as it was infamous, to injure the virtue of Mrs. Walker, and the happiness of her husband. He was repulsed with the contempt he deserved; and his intended exertion of his ENERGIES for the multiplication of our species, was, in this instance, disappointed. The lady, at the request of the great personage, consented to the concealment of the proposal. She did this, on the promise of better behaviour, in time to come. Matters remained in that situation, for a certain period; how long we do not exactly know.
We did not suspect that the great personage had posited that article of constitution, which was necessary for the renewal of so defestable, and so desperate a scheme. We have been, within the last fortnight, almost overwhelmed with reputable affirmations of what was, before, sufficiently credible. A second attempt was made, by slipping a billet into the lady's hand.
In the commission of the very same crime, a multitude of subordinate circumstances may lessen or augment the proportion of guilt; any there is not, perhaps, any vice, where the degrees of guilt admit of a greater diversity than in that which is the subject of the present article. Upon a topic so delicate we decline the hazardous office of endeavouring to expatiate. We only say that, in combining the circumstances of this Albemarle conspiracy, there is not a single point of alleviation.
Whether the great personage was, at that time, married, we do not pretend to say. We have, in relating this affair, adhered to a generality of expression, to prevent the little contradictions of our precious public printer. On receipt of the billet, Mrs. Walker took her husband aside. She put the paper into his hand, and told him of the former attempt, that she had conditionally promised to suppress. The great personage received immediate permission to quit the house; and it is almost needless to add that this permission was accepted.
Mr. Walker never mentions the name of the great personage but in epithets of the most ardent detestation. We have been assured that he received from the great personage either one or more letters of deprecation; and that, if any great clamour shall be raised by the democrat, these letters, or that letter, will burst upon the indignation of mankind. Now, don't give us any more ensnarements to publish letters. You have had quite enough of that. For, in spite of the childin practice of the Examiner, the Recorder of October 6th. made an impression which can never be recalled. Don't give us any more defiances to do all that we can do. If you had not violated the sanctuary of the grave, Sally and her son Tom would still, perhaps, have slumbered in the tomb of oblivion. To charge a man as a thief, and an adulterer is, of itself, bad enough. But when you charge him with an action that is much more execrable than an ordinary murder, even than that at the Bloody Run, is the party injured not to repel such baseness, with ten thousand fold vengeance upon the miscreant that invented it?
ERRATUM.
WE hasten to correct an involuntary mistake in our last. Major John Wimbish, of Halifax, is the clerk of that court—Berrymar Green, who wrote the very idle letter to the editors, is deputy under him.
BUONAPARTE
AND THE KING OF PRUSSIA.
It rarely happens that the same man is at once a master of the sword and the pen; but it may here be mentioned as

singularity of this kind, that the present first consul of France is not only one of the greatest generals in the republic, but that he is, at the same time, the very best writer of gazettes that perhaps ever existed. Pictureque, rapid, nervous and sublime, all the principal features of the scene rush forward in one luminous assemblage. In a word, Buonaparte describes a battle with the same fire and promptitude that he fights it.
The stile of Frederick has merit of a different kind. Superior to vanity, and incapable of fear, concise, modest, perspicuous, and candid, the hero relates his own astonishing actions with the seriousness of a philosopher, and the simplicity of a veteran. He never blazes, and he never smokes. He does not seem to be conscious of his infinite superiority to the rest of mankind; yet the reader feels it as distinctly in the closet, as Laudohn, at Lignitz, felt it in the field.
On the other hand, the first consul has more of the impetuosity of youth, and the vivacity of a Frenchman. Without apparent ostentation, he makes you to understand very sensibly that he expects to be admired. But, as Dr. Johnson has said of Dryden, "while he forces himself upon our esteem, we cannot refuse him" [a title] "to stand high in his own."
From the LANCASTER JOURNAL.
DEMOCRATIC CONSISTENCY AGAIN.
Till very lately Callender stood on the pinnacle of democratic praise. O! "he was one of the sincerest patriots in the world!" "His writings were unparalleled" "The Spirit of Despotism," "the Register," "the History of the United States," and "the Prospect before us," were more eagerly sought after by the democrats than the bible. A Senator of the United States was proud in offering him a hospitable roof. The mild and charitable Mr. Jefferson, paid him considerable sums of money for abusing Washington and Adams,--and the public treasury was unlocked for his necessities.
But the moment Callender became distinguished with the vile hypocrisy of pretended republicanism; the moment he began to unmask the demagogues, and to tell serious truths of self-styled patriots; that moment the democrats began to abuse him, and he is now called a liar and a vagabond, in every jacobin brothel and public office of the union. But Callender knows human nature too well to write under such a feeble lash. He has discovered their ingratitude and hypocrisy and he is determined no longer to be the confident of their secrets, or the dupe of their machinations.
[The reader is requested to observe that Callender never wrote nor never saw such a book as "the Register," or, "The Spirit of Despotism."]
FROM THE BALTIMORE REPUBLICAN, OR ANTI-DEMOCRAT.
PERHAPS, nay, in all probability, there is not a more abandoned liar in the United States than William Dun, alias Duane. In the Aurora of Monday last is the following.
It is an abandoned falsehood that Mr. Nicholson declared during last session, on the floor of Congress, that Mr. Pickering was a man of unimpeachable integrity." He asserted no such thing, last session. He said that, in relation to Mr. Pickering, without evidence or enquiry, he must be considered as unimpeachable in his integrity. Evidence has been had and it is full time he were impeached before his country, and held up as an example to future servants of the public, who disgrace the government, or despise the people."
Aurora.
Is it possible there can be another being who can tell such barefaced falsehoods? If Duane, when you penned this paragraph, the vengeance of Heaven had been immediate, your tongue would have blistered, would have hung swollen down from your jaws, never again to return to your mouth, that like Cain, by such marks, all men might know you.
I was present at the time Mr. Nichol-
son made these declarations. It was on Tuesday, December 8th, last session. I took notes; I gave the substance of all he said, and the words printed in Italic are, I sincerely believe, for I took great care to have them so, the very words used by him. You stood not seven feet behind him. Immediately on penning the words in Italic, I looked at you; the corners of your mouth, when I first observed you, in a kind of hardened impudence, were drawn close to your ears; many were staring at you; you drew them towards your nose some inches, and endeavoured to compose yourself. Had not your feelings been blunter than lead, you would have sunk to the floor. Had I been guilty of such conduct, and been thus publickly exposed by one of my own party, I would have flown to some corner of the earth, where men who knew my guilt should never see me more.
Here follows the close of the debate on that day:
Mr. Nicholson, in reply to Mr. Griswold. The gentleman and himself differed as to the power of the committee that had attended to the investigation of the treasury accounts he believed they were not authorized to enter on enquiry whether all the monies received by col. Pickering were properly appropriated: this was his object. He had been informed, of late, that Mr. Pickering had in some instances appropriated more money than he was allowed, and had sometimes appropriated money to purposes, though public purposes, otherwise than ordered: it was his wish that the house should adopt some regulations in those matters, not leaving appropriations discretionary with officers, and the better to enable the comptroller to settle accounts. He was sensible of the impossibility of their making a thorough investigation, and that they must trust to the treasury for information; but that when the attention of the people was called to particular characters in this manner, it was their duty to satisfy them, he did not wish to single out Mr. Pickering alone; he wished equal reference to others. The proposed resolution was not on account of any doubts in his mind. "He did not entertain the least suspicion that Mr. Pickering had ever appropriated to his own use, or defrauded the public of a single dollar; he believed him to be a man of irreproachable honesty and integrity;" but the report of the former committee did not say enough. [This is highly honorable to Mr. Nicholson. We wish every member were equally candid and honest in his confession of facts, the truth of which we believe not one of them doubts: yet how many (a just indignation pricks us) how many joy in having their constituents believe that Mr. Pickering, Mr. Dayton, &c. have been defaulters and defrauders: how many glory in the murder of that loiter reputation, towards which they can never reach. Duane stood back of Mr. Nicholson in the lobby: and though some slight addition might have been made to his natural hideousness of visage, he bore the frown of general scorn and condemnation with all that triple brass, which usually distinguishes this lame imitation of humanity.]
Mr. Griswold. He presumed it very probable that there had been occasional excesses of appropriations; every man acquainted with public business knew that the public service would have often suffered, had not this been the case: most members knew how often this had happened, and how often Congress had justified and granted, afterwards, this excess of appropriation: laws cannot always touch contingencies: it had often been the case in the office of the secretary at war; Congress afterwards made up the expenditures, the excess appearing fairly and necessarily applied: so may it have been in the office of the secretary of state.
A LATE Examiner spoke something about the Virginian donation of the North Western territory to Congress. This was, undoubtedly, one of the most absurd measures that ever a legislative assembly adopted. If this state had kept that conquest, and her title to it was both undisputed, and indisputable, we never should have had the least occasion for a single tax. This would have
encouraged the establishment of manufactures; instead of which we are encouraging emancipation, which, with mathematical certainty, must end in the bad fortune of this country.
The following extract from a late publication will explain the Examiner's affirmations concerning the North Western donation. We did not wish, at this time, to publish it; but have been obliged to do so, by the heat of Mr. Jones.
ON December 20th, 1788, the assembly of Virginia passed a law, whereby they authorised their delegates in Congress to convey to the United States all right which this state had to the territory north westward of the river Ohio! The whole records of legislative absurdity do not perhaps contain one single feature more perfectly wild and distracted than this extravagant cession. The law says that the assembly had agreed to this measure, upon the recommendation of Congress, who would no doubt have been equally disposed to accept as a donation of Kentucky, or even of Virginia itself. Advise your neighbor to make you a present of the best horse in his team; and guess his answer. But here comes the perfection of simplicity! The law subjoins that the grant was given "in full confidence that Congress will, in justice to this state for the liberal cession she hath made, earnestly press upon the other states, claiming large tracts of waste and uncultivated territory, the propriety of making cessions equally liberal for the common benefit and support of the union." The law proceeds, in its usual form, to authorise the Virginian delegates in Congress to make over to that body "all right, title, and claim, as well of soil, as jurisdiction, which this commonwealth hath to the territory, or tract of country, within the limits of the Virginian charter, situate, lying and being, to the north west of the river Ohio."
Before the assembly had made this strange grant, they should, at least, have been certain that other states were to copy their example. But even then the bargain would have been unequal. Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and the four states of New-England, neither gave, nor had to give, the breadth of an acre of the western territory. Vermont kept her waste land for the benefit of her own citizens; and New York was careful to keep, as well as to get an extensive addition, upon the Canadian frontier, which had been surrendered by the British, at the close of last war. The consequence to New York is, that by this, and some other measures of economy, she is reputed to have become the richest state in the union. She sold vast quantities of land for continental certificates, and then had them embodied in the national debt, at six, ten, or possibly twenty times the price which they cost her. For instance, an old officer gave certificates to the state of New York for a tract of land, which was worth one hundred pounds. He paid this sum in depreciated paper, that was not worth more than, perhaps, half a crown per pound. Thus, he gave eight hundred nominal pounds, in order to pay one hundred. In 1790, when these certificates were funded by the first Congress, New York soured down upon the treasury for the full nominal value of her paper. Thus, in fact, that state received four, six, ten, or twelve times the price for which she had actually disposed of certain lands; while this paragon of knight-errantry, the commonwealth of Virginia, had made a present of her immense rights to the general government. The consequence is, that the citizens of Virginia find themselves harassed with state taxes, to the extent, upon a medium, of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum; whilst, for several years previous to 1795, the treasury of New York possessed such a fulness of money, as wholly superfluous the necessity for state taxes.
The grant by the assembly of Virginia is made "upon condition that the territory so ceded shall be laid out and formed into states, containing a suitable extent of territory, not less than one hundred, nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit." The act then enumerates several conditions of subordinate importance, upon which this surrender was to be made. Virginia was to receive compensation for her expenses in subduing British posts, and maintaining garrisons in them. The French and Canadian settlers in Vincennes, and other adjacent villages, were to be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties. An hundred and fifty thousand acres of land were reserved for the use of general Clark and his regiments. A second reservation was made in favor of the Virginian troops upon the continental establishment. It is then subjoined, that all the lands not thus reserved, shall be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become or shall become members of the confederation, or federal alliance of the said states (Virginia inclusive), according to their usual respective proportions, in the general charge and expenditures; and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other purpose whatever."
As to the division of this tract into states of an hundred, or an hundred and fifty miles square, the framers of the law did not foresee that, for a long period of time, such an arrange-
ment would be impracticable. Accordingly, in 1787, Congress cast the country into one government; and the charge of this single establishment forms a burden quite as heavy as the inhabitants are able to bear. The proposed arrangement must have produced twenty, thirty, or forty separate governments. The Assembly did not reflect that a very long period of time was to elapse before the population of that western country could be expected to support so chargeable a system. They spoke of dividing the north-western territory with the pomp and promptitude of Don Quixote bestowing islands upon Sancho Panza, with the exactness and tranquility of a grocer cutting a pound of cheese.
In 1787, Congress created this wilderness into a single government. They hailed, also, to attest their veneration for their Virginian benefactors. They ordained that "there shall be formed in the said territory, not less than three, nor more than five states; and the boundaries of the states, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession, and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows." &c. Congress might at least have suspended the passing of this law till they had first obtained the consent of the proprietors of the soil. An act of assembly ratified the alteration. Thus Virginia, like the son of Jacob, renounced her birth-right; but without receiving, like him, a mess of pottage.
Here it may be worth while to make an estimate of the actual value of the territory thus wantonly cast away. The whole tract is about nine hundred miles long and seven hundred broad: it contains four hundred and eleven thousand square miles, and two hundred and sixty three millions and forty thousand acres of surface. Of this immense area, forty three millions and forty thousand acres are water, and two hundred and twenty millions of acres are dry land. This is the computation of Mr. Hutchins, late geographer of the United States. During the last war, the north western territory was conquered by the Virginians, and especially, by the talents intrepidity, and perseverance of the memorable George Rogers Clarke. New-York and Pennsylvania had not the least claims upon this country, in consequence of their antiquated and ridiculous charters from the crown of England. The Virginian right of conquest presented a most intelligible and substantial species of tenure; and by this tenure, she might, with certainty, have held that immense territory. With regard to Pennsylvania, that state swarms with sectarians, who deny the lawfulness not only of conquest, but even of self-defence. After a struggle of thirty years, Pennsylvania has not yet been able to expel from her bosom a small but resolute body of emigrants from Connecticut. From such an antagonist, Virginia could not have entertained apprehension. As for the citizens of New-York, they have such an abundance of excellent land, and they gained so largely by the peace of 1783, that they would not have felt much ambition to combat the rights of this commonwealth.
But let us make the supposition that Virginia had ceded to these two rival States seventy millions of acres, and had reserved an hundred and fifty millions for herself. The probable number of white families in Virginia is about eighty thousand, less or more, and this north western territory, if partitioned equally, would have furnished each of them with a farm of seventeen hundred acres. What do you think of this? And whether is it better to keep seventeen hundred acres of land to yourself, or to bestow them upon another, who plunders and defames you?
But farther: the assembly of Virginia might have retained this invaluable acquisition, under their own immediate management, and have sold it off, at an easy quit-rent, to new settlers. By this means, the citizens of Virginia, like those of New-York, would have been delivered from the burden of state taxes, or at least from a great part of them. To encourage adventurers from the old world, the terms of sale should have been published in the Dutch, the British, and Irish newspapers. This would have augmented the influx of emigrants, and have tended greatly to brace the nerves of the white population. In order to rid this commonwealth of a proportion of its enormous mass of negroes, a simple plan would have been effective. The blacks are most numerous upon the sea coast. The precious race gradually vanishes, as you advance to the westward. The counties might have been divided into three ranges, and a bounty offered for the exportation of slaves, apportioned to the situation of each range. On the Atlantic, where the number is greatest, perhaps a premium of twenty per cent. might have been granted on the value of each negro transported to the north western territory; ten per cent. for those of the middle division; and five, for the slaves on the western. Some plan of this nature must, in a few years, have reduced the Africans to a much smaller number, without committing a material injury to the country whither they were sent. At present, two-fifths of the inhabitants of Virginia are negroes. But if this body could be reduced to one-fifth, there would not be much reason to complain, with respect to the remainder.
Thus, by an honest and economical management of the quit-rents of these hundred and fifty millions of acres, this state might have been freed from negroes, and from

TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA, ABOVE THE BLUE RIDGE.
OUR state extends more than 600 miles, from the Atlantic ocean to the river Ohio, embracing in its territory two immense portions of country, dissimilar in their manners, their pursuits and their interests. That they have been hitherto united under one government is an accident growing out of the revolution, which organized the different colonies into states, according to the boundaries of each, under the old British authority. Twenty years of prosperity have more than trebled the numbers of our people above the Blue Ridge; and it may be safely affirmed that the western part of Virginia would at this day have contained more than double its present numbers, had a wise and liberal policy been pursued in the settlement of our western lands. We may easily trace the causes which have discouraged northern emigrants from purchasing or settling in our fertile country; and the reasons which determined their preference of the lands beyond the Ohio. A very slight survey of our situation will convince ourselves, as well as our neighbours, that our present condition is far from being eligible, and that, while it continues, we can have no reasonable hope of advancing in prosperity with that rapidity which our present exertions would certainly accomplish, under a more auspicious government.
The country below the Blue Ridge is intersected by numerous navigable rivers which afford, to the planters, a ready and cheap water transportation to market. Nature has bounteously provided their highways, and it cannot be expected that people in so enviable a condition would appreciate the value, or feel the want of good artificial roads; but in the upper country, our produce, without good roads, can never reach the sea-ports. The labour and expense of transportation from remote, but fertile parts of the state, at present far exceeds the total expense of raising the crop. Below the Ridge, almost every rivulet is navigable. Above it, there is no safety even for small craft without clearing away obstructions, and forming canals. Many of our great western streams, leading to the Ohio, are altogether useless, merely because a few thousand dollars are wanted to remove rocks and deepen shoals, which interrupt the navigation. These improvements will never be made upon a proper scale, nor with proper spirit, until we have a separate treasury of our own. When we all feel an interest in such public works, taxes will be cheerfully paid, and economically applied. The value of our produce and of our lands will be enhanced, and we shall no longer hear complaints of being unable to get to a market.
By the late census it appears that there are more than 320,000 slaves below the Ridge and only 23,000 above it. The white population below above
Thus while there is but little difference between the number of whites, we see the slaves in an alarming proportion of fourteen below to one above. The price of every slave executed for insurrection, or any other crime, below the Ridge, or who is banished from the state, must be paid out of the state treasury. The militia employed to suppress insurrections to patrol the low country, and to guard the property of those who have numerous hordes of negroes, are all paid out of the state treasury. The arms, ammunition and military stores are paid for in the same way. We are now taxed for all these purposes, and shall be still more heavily taxed in future. Yet we see none of these taxes expended upon roads, canals, or clearing our rivers above the Ridge. Indeed the evil does not end here, for we are constantly infested by gangs of negroes emancipated in the lower parts of the state, who come up among our slaves, and spread the destructive poison of discontent and insubordination.
According to our present laws, real property cannot be sold for the payment of debts. This may suit the purposes of those below the Ridge, who are incumbered with debts they are unwilling to pay; but it discourages the settlement of a new country; it enhances the price of every article we buy at our stores; and it entirely destroys credit. Strangers are not willing to risk their property among us, unless it be that description, who fly from their creditors in other states, and invest their money in new lands to prevent the payment of their debts. We see the industrious, active yeomanry of the northern states, passing by our rich western lands, and fixing themselves beyond the Ohio, rather than submit to a system so discouraging, unequal and oppressive, in this state.
Nor have we the consolation of hope that these grievances will be removed by our legislature. The house of delegates is composed of two members from each county below the Ridge, where there are sixty counties and only thirty above it; so that two thirds, of the popular branch and the same proportion of our senate come from the low country; and have an evident interest in maintaining the present state of things. They make our laws; they tax us; it is from them we must ask our own money, to make our roads, canals, &c. It is to them we must resort for protection, against the very blacks the turn loose to infest us, and without their permission we cannot prohibit the introduction of fresh swarms of slaves from other states to endanger the people of the upper country as fatally as those below.
For these evils there is but one sure remedy; that is a separation of the upper from the lower country. Our national constitution has provided in the fourth article, that new states may be admitted into the union, provided the assent of the state, or states, of which it was part, be obtained. Let us then embrace the season of domestic tranquility to attain so desirable an object. We have no election at hand to disturb us, no calamity abroad to contend with; and there cannot be a more unexceptionable moment for such a discussion. Our numbers, our wealth, our position, render us respectable, and our dearest interests are now in hazard from a continuance of connection with the lower country. As a separate state, we could afford them more effectual aid than at present, because we could adopt decisive measures for our own security. Let us then think seriously of this momentous business. Let us meet in the different counties, and consult upon the expediency of the measure. The wiliest men among us seem to think the time has arrived when we ought to act. If so, let a petition to our assembly be drawn up, signed, and sent forward, asking consent of this commonwealth to the erection of a new state above the Blue Ridge. When that assent shall be obtained, the sanction of Congress, and admission into the union, will be easy. It might be advisable for the people to meet in each county, and instruct their delegates on this all important subject. This is submitted to their own discretion, after they shall have discussed and decided upon the expediency of the measure itself. And it seems impossible to doubt of the expediency of a change, when one half of the society is deprived of the fair benefit of its resources, and made subservient to the advancement of the wealth and security of the other.
A WESTERN FARMER, October 5. 1802.
From the Aurora.
The amount of the tribute paid by the United States, since the year 1791, to the Barbary powers, is 2,059,320 dollars.
The distance between Portland in Maine, and Savannah in Georgia, is about 1400 miles, say 100 miles from the extremes of the line to the state boundaries, which will make fifteen hundred miles.
The cost of constructing the best kind of turnpike road, for instance, that which
is now making between Philadelphia and Perkiomen bridge, through Germantown, cost the turnpike company from 1500 to 2000 dollars a mile. In many parts of the union, where stone and gravel are easily had, and labor cheaper, such a road might be constructed for 1000 dollars the mile, as we have understood to be the case in New-England; however, taking the whole of the 1500 miles on an average of 1400 dollars the mile, the whole of the road from Portland to St. Mary's might have been made a turnpike, if the sum paid to the Barbary powers, had been applied to that purpose.
It would be an useful object of investigation to bring together the whole of the amount of the trade to the Mediterranean from the United States for the last twelve years, and by estimating a fair per centage, on the whole, to see whether the profit to the individuals, and the revenue to the union, approached to any thing like this sum paid for a dishonorable tribute.
Another enquiry might be made parallel with this, if the saving in time, and wear and tear of travel between the extremes of the union during the same period, would not have been a vast sum, if the tribute money had been applied to the construction of a road.
From Lancaster to Philadelphia is about sixty miles. Twenty years ago it was from three days to a week's journey between the two places, owing to the badness of the roads, and in some places to their circuitry, by which the distance was encreased. This distance is now travelled with so much celerity, that it is common to breakfast in one place and dine at the other. This is owing to the provident wisdom which constructed a good turnpike road--apply the principles deducible from these facts to the sum of money laid out in the nefarious tribute, and say what would have been the advantages of intercourse between the extremes of the continent. Roads, like rivers, enrich and enliven society, by the facility which they give to intercourse and to trade. Roads draw men, and towns, and states into closer neighbourhood. Roads enrich the countries through which they are carried, for they invite to population, by the means which they afford for carriage of produce. And they enrich the land-holder, as well as the merchant. They encrease the value of land on the high roads, and they encrease the market. The circulation of vast sums on such great works is of equal value to the public, as double interest upon the principal; for it retains capital in activity, and it circulates capital at home instead of abroad. Every man who is interested in the good of the community, is interested in the construction of roads. Those who come here to trade and send the profit to other countries, can have no interest in canals, bridges, or roads.
It would be a wise measure of our state legislature, to accommodate themselves to the patriotic wishes of those who are solicitous for the re-establishment of the taxes on pleasure carriages, to levy a tax equal to the federal tax, and expend it on good roads.
If the farmer can find two men to purchase his produce, where he formerly found only one, the price of his goods is of more value--his chance of a good market is doubled--if two towns are established in a country where there was formerly only one--the advantage is encreased in the same proportion.
Apply this principle another way. There are ten towns in a country. The towns are remote from each other---creeks liable to overflowing, and rapids separate them---the rivers are in some places obstructed by a mass of rocks, which a small expence would remove---or a small canal correct---there are no roads, or what is of equal effect, roads impassable; these impediments render those ten towns of no more advantage to each other than if they were scattered over the extremes of Siberia and Caf-fararia.
Promote roads, canals, and bridges in all parts of the country, and while you promote the circulation of the public capital, you promote the health and
prosperity of the community---you facilitate internal commerce---internal riches---and provide the best and quickest of all markets---the home market.
The farmer in the neighborhood of Pittsburg may bring his flour to Philadelphia, and be sure to find a market---but there is the expence of carriage to enhance his price; if the road is so bad that it will take his horses and waggon driver three or four days more to travel to Philadelphia, than if the road was good, the three days labor of his man and horses must be added to the price of commodity, or lost.
If the road is made so good that he may pass over it in three days less than at present---the distance may be said to be three days journey shorter, and he sell cheaper and return home quicker, and have a more frequent and a sure market. For, so far as it concerns the export, the farmer cannot command his price, but according to the exigency---this depends entirely on accidents of a foreign and uncontroulable nature.
To preserve the market when there is no foreign exigency, the price alone must secure the market. By improving roads, canals, and bridges, so that produce may travel with safety and celerity at all seasons, the farmer is enabled to accommodate his price to the demands of the factor or merchant, because his own loss of time and expence is lessened by that of the public government.
Pennsylvania feels this in many parts; but there are some parts of the state in which a false policy, or an unjust jealousy prevails to the detriment of one part of the state. In Bucks county, for instance, the upper part of the county is improved and ornamented in the highest degree with elegant bridges and good roads. Their policy, as to that part of the county, is excellent and commendable, and they prosper by it; but it is execrable as it relates to the lower part of the same county, which contributes at least an equal, perhaps a greater share to the expence. Over the Neumanny, in the lower part of Bucks, on the great high post road between the principal cities of the union, perhaps there is the worst bridge in the union---it is worse than any thing of the kind in Maryland. Yet a few miles farther up in the county, where one carriage does not pass for every twenty that pass below, there are bridges that might vie with the bridges of the most improved parts of Italy, or England.
This case is specified only to be applied to the state at large, and to the state all together---the principles of improvement apply with equal force to one state as to another. The neighboring state of Maryland would seem, from its backwardness of improvements, to be in the hands of a few persons determined to retard the progress of civilization, and of human industry. The indifference to interior improvement in Maryland, is truly astonishing, considering that the lands are not in the hands of persons who reside in any foreign country---but who really reside at, or near them.
They should know that good roads in every direction, will encrease the value of lands adjoining to the roads---it is the point from which every state ought to set out, that wishes to increase its population, its prosperity, and the value of its lands and produce.
A principle, long understood, has been recently stated with much consequence---"that the real strength and riches of a state, consists in its internal resources, in its own productive force, in the increase of labor---the augmentation and circulation of capital---in the freedom of commerce, and industry at home.
The plain English of which is, that you multiply as much as possible the number of your people---whose labor will pay for what they require, the necessaries of life---this production and reproduction of necessaries for subsistence and for comfort, are the great wheels on which modern civil society move.
WANTED.
A SITUATION, by a person who professes to understand the business of a MILLER.
The advertiser is a native of the Old Country. He has been bred to this business, and any application on his account, which may be made at this office will receive a favorable answer.
Kirkland, Oct. 27th. 1802.