The recorder (Richmond, Va.), 1802-12-22 00:00:00

THE RECORDER;
PRINTED BY HENRY PACE, & JAMES T. CALLENDER, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA; PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNING. SUBSCRIPTION TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 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.
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 person 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 dispersed 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 defalcations; 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 forty, but what pays in advance, and assures us that he will continue to do so.
THE subscriber having so arranged his distant business, as to be enabled to spend much the greater part of his time in Richmond, and its vicinity, will be again prepared to render services in the line of his profession, to those who may favor him with their confidence.
JOHN ADAMS.
December 12th, 1802.
(240.)
WANTED
A WET NURSE,
Enquire of the Printer. Richmond, Dec. 12th. 1802. (2w.)
FORTE-PIANO MAKER.
J. VELTINERE,
OFFERS his service to the public for the repairing and tuning of Organs, Harpsichords, Forte-Pianos, &c. He may be heard of by ladies and gentlemen wishing to employ him by enquiring at the Eagle Tavern, or at the Theatre. Venetian Swells may be had, upon very reasonable terms.
Richmond. Dec. 12th 1802.
(2w.)
LOST
ON Sunday evening, the 12th inst. a small plain gold WATCH CASE. It should be offered for sale, please stop it, and apply to this printing office. Dec. 13th 1802.
FALL GOODS.
SAMUEL P. 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.)
FISH,
A QUANTITY OF HERRINGS and SHAD, for Sale, By FRANCIS HYLAND. Richmond, Nov. 2d. 1802. t. f.
TO BE HIRED,
For the ensuing Year, five valuable BLACKSMITHS.
TWO of them are equal to any of their colour in this State; one of them excels as a carriage smith. The hire to be paid quarter-yearly; bond with approved security of an inhabitant of Richmond will be required.
My house and lots in this city are still for sale; their situation is surpassed by few in the place. The house contains five bed-rooms, and three entertaining ones, two of which are 28 feet by 22. The terms may be known by applying to LEWIS BURWELL. Richmond, Dec. 1st. 1802.
50 DOLLARS REWARD.
RUN away from the Subscriber in this city, in May last, a Negro man, named BALOR. A Black complexion, about Twenty-Six or Seven Years old, about Five Feet Seven or Eight. Formerly belonged to the estate of HOOPER and TOLSON, has worked at the blacksmith's trade. Was purchased at Public Sale, last Spring. Whoever secures the said Negro, and lodges him in a Jail in this City, shall have the above reward by applying to William Fulcher.
THOMAS MOORE.
October 21b, 1802. if
VIRGINIA; In the High Court of Chancery for the Richmond District, Between Henry Banks Plff. And Nathaniel Anderson, Robert Pollard, George Winton and Thomas Stewardson. 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 matters 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 decretal 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.
WANTED TO HIRE,
BY THE YEAR,
AN ACTIVE NEGRO-MAN,
Who will be taught the Printing Business, at Profits Enquire at this Office. Richmond, Nov. 3d. 1802.
WANTED,
AS AN APPRENTICE
To the Printing Business, A Young Lad, from the Age of Thirteen to Fifteen Years. Enquire at 151. Office.
Nov. 17th, 1802.
KENTUCKY LANDS
FOR SALE.
To be sold at public auction, on Thursday, the 30th of December next, at 12 o'clock at the Eagle Tavern, in the city of Richmond.
5320 ACRES OF LAND,
in the State of Kentucky, belonging to the estate of the late Andrew Ronald, deceased—viz. 2450 acres, lying on Big Barren River; 1000 acres on Green River, on the mouth of the Big Barren; 1840 acres on the head branches of the South East Forks of Skeggs Beaver Creek.
5320 acres, issued in four patents to Charles Dabney, of Hanover County, the 2d. Oct. 1784, and purchased of him by the late Andrew Ronald—the whole recorded in the court of appeals, in the State of Kentucky, the 22d June, 1796, as by a certificate of Thomas Todd, esq. clerk of said court.
The terms of payment will be, one fourth of the purchase money to be paid in 6 months from the day of sale, one fourth payable in 12 months, one fourth in 18 months, and one fourth payable in two years, with bond and approved security—the bonds to bear interest from the date.
WILLIAM WISEHAM,
Executor to the estate of Andrew Ronald. Richmond, Nov. 12. 1802. (4d.)
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 25, 1802. tf.
LANDS FOR SALE.
To be sold at Public Auction on Thursday the 30th of December next, at twelve o'clock at the Eagle Tavern in the City of Richmond 17,101 Acres of Land in the State of Kentucky.
 Lot 1st. 9000 Acres in Hanover County Bay Creek, above Sulphur Lick; } 31673  2 800 ditto ditto Walnut Creek;  3 960 ditto ditto, above Sulphur Lick  4 207 2-3 do. do. Middle Fork Dripping Creek;  5 7300 do. do. Skeggs Beaver Creek;  6 1000 do. do. North side Big Barren;  7 2000 Acres in Green County East side South Fork Little Barren; } 2440  8 2440 do. do. South side Little Barren  9 5000 Acres in Logan Co. on Big Barren River, } 8593  10 200 do. do. N. side Cumberland River  11 666 2-3 do. do. South side of ditto,  12 270 ditto, ditto, North side of ditto,  13 1000 do. do. Wolf Fork Crosses Creek, 286 2-3 do. do. 2 Fork Little Barren 
Acres 17,101
ALSO
Lot 25 200 Acres on the Waters of Eagle Creek North West of the Ohio.
Special warrants will be given on securing the payment of the purchase money, by bond with approved security. Payable one fourth in six months from the day of sale, one fourth in twelve months, one fourth in eighteen months, and one fourth payable in two years, with interest from the date of purchase.
JAMES BROWN.
Richmond, Nov. 26th, 1802. (4d.) William Wiseham, Executor to the Estate of A. Ronald.
By virtue of a deed of trust made to me by Nelson Berkeley, to secure the payment of a sum of money therein mentioned, will be sold at public sale on the premises, for ready money.
A TRACT OF LAND
in Hanover county, containing 302 acres, situated on New Found River, and bounded by said River on the South, by the land of Capt. Thomas Price on the East; by the main road on the North; and by Landon C. Berkeley on the West. There is on the land a small Dwelling House, with a Kitchen, Dairy, and Meat House, and a new Barn 20 by 40 feet. There are also young Orchards, of Apple and Peach Trees, and more than one hundred bushels of Wheat have been sown upon the land, together with some Rye and Barley. At the same time will be sold several valuable Negroes, the flock of Horses, Cattle, Sheep, Hogs, a Waggon and Team, and Plantation Tools.
CARTER BERKELY.
ALSO
Will be sold one moiety of a Merchant Mill, and 500 acres of land adjoining, on New Found River within a mile of the above tract of land, together with an unexpired lease for six years of the other moiety. The above Mill will be sold to satisfy a mortgage. The sale of the above property will commence on Monday the 3d day of January next, and continue until the whole be sold.
Hanover Nov. 22d. 1802. (2d.)
PORT WINE.
A FEW pipes and quarter casks of genuine old port wine are this day landed, and will be sold on moderate terms by ROBERT GAMBLE. Richmond, Nov. 2d. 1802.
JUST PUBLISHED
AND FOR SALE
AT THIS 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—Mr. Samuel Coleman, No. 1.—Defence of Timothy Pickering—A little more about republican economy —with a variety of small pieces.
VALUABLE PROPERTY FOR SALE.
THE surviving partners of Mr. GEORGE NICOLSON, late of the city of Richmond, dec. and the acting executors of his last will and testament, will offer for sale, at public auction, on Wednesday, the 12th day of next month, the following valuable property of the late Rope Walk concern at Rockats.
All that valuable piece of GROUND of nearly 16 acres, lying on James River, adjoining the city of Richmond, commonly called the Rope Walk Tenement. On this piece of ground are the following buildings: a Rope Walk of 150 fathom in length, 120 fathom of which is covered in; a Brick Lumber-House of four stories, and nearly 40 feet square; a Brick House (used as a lodging house for workmen) of two stories, 50 by 20 feet; a large Hemp-House of two stories; two small Dwelling-Houses, one of them 24 by 18 feet, the other 20 by 16 feet; a Stable and a Tarring House. Besides the improvements above mentioned, there is on this tenement, a valuable Wharf.
All the IMPLEMENTS for carrying on the Rope-making business (of which an inventory will be shown on the day of sale) will be sold with the tenement.
Twe hundred acres of WOOD LAND, in Henrico county, about six miles below the city of Richmond.
Fifteen NEGRO MEN SLAVES and one WOMAN. Ten of the men slaves are valuable spinners, having been for several years employed in that business at the rope-walk; four are labourers, and one a waggoner. A WAGGON and four MULES.
For the rope-walk tenement, and for the two hundred acres of land, a credit of one, two, and three years will be allowed the purchasers. Bond and approved security will be required, to bear interest from the day of sale, if not punctually paid, and additional security by a deed of trust on the property will also be required.
For the slaves, and for the waggon and mules, twelve months credit will be allowed the purchasers giving bond and approved security, to bear interest from the day of sale, if not punctually paid. The sale will commence precisely at 11 o'clock, at the rope-walk.
JOHN CRINGAN, } Surviving WILLIAM ATCHISON, } partners. THOMAS NICOLSON, } Acting ex- ANDREW NICOLSON, } cutors. December 6th, 1802.
The acting Executors of George Nicolson, dec. will on the day and at the place above mentioned, offer for SALE, the following
VALUABLE PROPERTY.
All that TENEMENT in the city of Richmond lately occupied by their testator. The buildings on this tenement, are a large

convenient dwelling house of two stories, 48 by 30 feet; a brick kitchen and laundry of two stories, 30 by 20 feet, a smoke house, spring house, stable and coach house. The elevated and healthy situation of this tenement, and its commodious buildings, render it as comfortable and pleasant a situation for a private family, as any in this city.
Two unimproved LOTS OF GROUND of two acres each, lying near the tenement last above mentioned.
10,000 acres of LAND in Fayette county, in the state of Kentucky, on the north branch of Sandy river. This land was surveyed in 1785, and patented to James Cobbon, assignee of David Clayton and William Netherland, in August 1787.
2,600 acres of LAND in Nelson county, in the state of Kentucky on Hough creek. This tract was surveyed in April 1790, and patented to Robert Clark, jun. in 1792.
666 acres and 2-3 of an acre MILITARY LAND, on the waters of Anderson's creek, north west of the river Ohio. This tract was surveyed for Willis Wilson in June 1794, and patented in his name in May 1796.
A credit of one, two and three years will be allowed the purchasers; bond and approved security will be required to bear interest from the day of sale, if not punctually paid and, as an additional security for the purchase money of the tenement lately occupied by the subscribers testator, a deed of trust on that property will also be required.
On the 13th day of next Month, at the late dwelling house of George Nicolson, dec. will be hired until the first day of January 1803, all the HOUSE SERVANTS of the deceased, and several valuable SPINNERS, who have for several years been employed at the Rope Walk.
The subscribers will at any time before the 12th of next month, treat privately with any person inclined to purchase the tenement in Richmond lately occupied by their testator, which contains about 3 1-2 acres of ground.
THOMAS NICOLSON, } Acting ex- ANDREW NICOLSON, } ecutors. Dec. 6th, 1802. (47.)
JAMES LYNCH, HORSE SHOER, & FARRIER, TAKES this mode of informing the public that he has removed from his shop near the COURT-HOUSE, to the CROSS-STREET, leading to Mr. Court's FERRY, where he intends to carry on every branch of the above business, with Blacksmith Work of every kind.
Richmond, Dec. 22d, 1802.
The RECORDER. RICHMOND. DECEMBER 22d. 1802.
ERRATUM. In the Recorder of December 8th. p. 3, column 4 line 25th from the top, for Buckingham , read Rockingham . The mistake was noticed, just after the paper went to press. To unlock the form &c. would have required twenty minutes, at a time when every second was precious. This must be our excuse for some other small slips, that occasionally happen.
GEORGE HAY, AND CALLENDER.
I had got thus far, when it became desirable to have a translation of one of the Dutch newspapers, in which some pieces were intended to have been republished. The title page of the newspaper was hardly legible: and I stepped down to Mr. Darmstadt's store, to obtain assistance in reading, or deciphering the Dutch text. While attempting to read the title of the paper to his book-keeper, I felt a violent stroke on my forehead. The blow was repeated three or four times. An immediate effusion of blood was so violent, that, for some seconds, it was impossible for me to distinguish who my adversary was. The cowardly villain, (it was George Hay) came behind my back! Without a moment's warning he struck me over the forehead. I had, hitherto considered that high crowned hats were a mere species ofoppery. But it was this kind of a hat which saved my life. In less than half a minute the strokes were repeated several times, with a large bludgeon, which had been, undoubtedly, prepared for the purpose. As soon as it was possible to recollect myself from the surprise of three, or perhaps, of six strokes, I endeavoured to collar the ruffian. He started back, with a view to keep out of a grasp, and at the same time repeated his blows as fast as possible. Upon this, I threw myself on the ground, and took hold of a bundle, or package, of some sort, which chanced to be lying at the door of Mr. Darmstadt's store, to shield me from his blows. By this time, for the whole scene passed in about two minutes, a number of people were gathering. George Hay immediately disappeared. The enormity of this transaction is too evident to admit of exaggeration. I had avoided a quarrel with the semi-mendicant protege of Mr. Edmund Randolph's kitchen, as long as it was possible to do so. I
had honestly, and manfully, told Hay to his face, that I was going to publish concerning him. Hay had, at that time, a bludgeon in his hand. The readers of this paper have seen the publication. It was temperate and guarded. It was my conception, that the man, (I beg the reader's pardon for degrading this respectful appellation) the man, I say, had a very prompt opportunity of exhibiting his courage and of exerting his vengeance. The dastard sneaked off, because he saw that I was ready to meet him, face to face. He watched, as it seems, for eight days, till he had leisure to give me a blow behind my back! He well knew, that face to face I did not value him a thilling. He, therefore, came behind my back. He struck me through a strong coarse hat. Through that hat, he cut my forehead. There can be no doubt but that George Hay designed to commit murder. The poltroon was aware, that it was beyond his power to contradict the detail which has been printed concerning him in last week's paper. He fears, also, that I am in possession of the most unanswerable, of the most blasting, of the most damnable documents concerning his behaviour in Dr. Read's business. The wretched, theoretical, and almost practical , assassin, conceived, that, by knocking out my brains, he would extinguish the source of information. He has almost crippled my left hand. George Hay had the meanness to aim his bludgeon at a finger, which, two days ago, had been accidentally cut. The democratic bludgeon was aimed at a lame finger, and the citizens of Virginia are extremely welcome to repose whatever confidence they may think proper in this precious member of the executive council . The citizens of Virginia will contemplate, with peculiar complacency, this admirable specimen of democratic brutality. One for all, by occasionally censuring republican character we do not wish to injure, in the smallest degree, the predominance of republican principles. Notwithstanding the dictionaries of falsehood that have been published against the writer of this paragraph, he has never triumped, or equivocated, for a moment.
The person who attacked the writer of this paragraph, was chosen, last week, by the Assembly, as a member of the executive council. It is a peculiar feature in the political character, or at least, in the police character of the commonwealth of Virginia, that a man may get himself hanged for almost any crime but that of murder. By the inestimable constitution of this state, a person may cut the throats of his father and mother. He may procure a personal pardon from the governor, in a court of justice; he may produce this pardon; and, in consequence of the pardon, he may laugh, as Skelton Jones at present laughs, at the very name and existence of Virginian jurisprudence.
If the citizens of Richmond; if the subscribers to the Recorder; if the citizens of the United States, are entirely convinced that the truth, or falsehood of a paragraph, are to be decided by the bludgeon; if they are convinced, that all sorts of personal and political trials are but a farce, we should be glad to ask them, as long as reason can be supposed to be in the question, whether such a common blackguard, whether such a PREMEDITATED assassin, as George Hay, was proper to have been selected by the Jefferson majority of the Assembly, as a member of the executive council.
In plain English, the democrats are as entirely disposed to tyrannize, and to trample, as their federal predecessors were before them. The writer of this article is extremely ready to acknowledge, that he was completely deceived, in his conception of the principles of that party. His skull, cut to the bone, his eyes, almost extinguished in an effusion of blood; his left arm, whereon a cut finger was attempted to be mutilated; all these casualties announce what sort of treatment he was to have expected from the republican party. George Hay was afraid that I had the most impressive, the most inexorable, the most extinguishing facts, concerning his professional character. He well knew that Mr. Wickham had repeatedly, and in the face of the whole court, compelled him to acknowledge his extreme unacquaintance with the laws and usages of chancery. George Hay, as an honest man, and as a professional character, shall be completely overhauled in the progression of this paper. George Hay was aware of all this. But, instead of acting sensibly, and of making a hash about the matter, he wanted to determine it by a bludgeon. At the same time, he very well knew, as some of his predecessors in challenges and defiances had known before him, that, to come into the office of the Recorder, and to give such challenges, might be a service of danger. There is always a possibility that an advertised assault might possibly meet with a resistance. If the cowardly, if the most honorable member of the executive council had given me two minutes warning, I should have cared very little indeed about the cowardly, the behind-the-back ruffian. He knew very well that, face to face, I was very willing to give an account of this creature; and now he goes home to his respectable wife, and plumes himself upon his heroism in striking me before I had leisure to take him by the throat.
[More of this in our next.]
MR. LARKIN SMITH Concluded from our last.
TO all these queries Mr. Smith would answer in the negative, nor is any personal disrespect designed by their being addressed to him, in particular. Of the gentleman we know very little more than his name. But we suspect that his knowledge of human life, and his sphere of political observation, must have been extremely contracted. By adopting a resolution of a nature so uncommon, and so very far removed from the plain high road of their functions, the assembly would excite a suspicion that there was something in the conduct of Mr. Jefferson, which required a defence. The leading points of accusation are universally believed, and can be incontestably ascertained. In the Recorder of the 8th current, an offer was made of proving some of them, if desired to do so, in a court of justice. Those, which were not specified in that paper, are very much in the same situation. As a man of honour and consistency, the exciting hand-writing and subscription of the president are sufficient to finish him. Compare also, his speech to Congress with the letters of Mr. Paine, as printed in Miss Smith's paper. The former is choked up with encomiums upon Adams and Washington; the latter with accusations and reproaches against them. Mr. Paine was invited, or at least, he was encouraged to visit America by the flattery of Mr. Jefferson. Smith's newspaper is a mushroom, which has vegetated into notice, upon the bog, or the dunghill of presidential patronage. The reviver of Jesus Christ is the table companion of the president! The printer of Mr. Paine's letters is the creature of Mr. Jefferson! While such facts are blazoned in the focus of demonstration, while they are crammed down the throat of Virginian conviction, with what sort of feelings would an assembly of Virginia profess to adopt Mr. Smith's resolution? When a man's conduct is inconsistent with itself, when the second page of the record gives battle to the first one, it is not within the compass of stupidity to bestow Mr. Smith's unequivocal and decided approbation to every part of his conduct . It is sufficiently common to call black white . But an approbation of Mr. Jefferson is infinitely worse. You must affirm that a thing is black and white at the same time. You must affirm that Mr. Adams and general Washington were, at once, among the most venerable, and most despicable of mankind. This would be a degree of absurdity "with which the world" is yet unacquainted, and which can only "be the last refuge of desperate guilt."
NOTES.
* We have just learned that Mr. Gabriel Jones, of Rockingham, is highly satisfied with the reference which we first made several weeks ago, to himself and Mr. Jefferson; and which has been reprinted in the Frederick Town Herald, the Gazette of the United States, the Baltimore Federal Gazette, the Anti-Democrat, and in perhaps twenty other newspapers. The article was a very long one; which we mention for the sake of remarking that, for some other pieces, which were, in that article, promised and referred to, we have, not yet been able to find room.
† Part of a sentence from Dr. Samuel Johnson.
‡ "We rush upon a thing that is forbidden."
§ This anecdote is taken from a French book. The title page has been forgot.
dictate. They wanted to tell mankind what they were to speak, and what they were to think. The imperishable pride of the human heart revolted against compulsion. The spectre of despotism glimmered across the page, and vanished in eternal darkness. The framer of this resolution has not attempted to produce a second sedition law; but the tone of his production excites a jealousy that he is not absolutely hostile to its existence. Mr. Smith says that "it is highly impolitic, as well as unconstitutional , to place any legal restraint on printing presses." This is part of the first sentence of the resolution. The language of it is unaccountable. If Mr. Smith had been a lawyer, the first rudiments of his profession would have told him that the laws of Virginia are engrated upon its constitution; and of course, that, what is unconstitutional , ever can be legal . The constitution can do nothing that is illegal. Its functionaries can only act illegally, by breaking it.
Mr. Smith has but to open his eyes, and he may see how little the citizens of a state value the ipse dixit of their delegates. It is but six years ago, since the assembly of Georgia declared the majority of their predecessors to have been infamous. They tore their proceedings from the record, and directed their attorney general to prosecute some of them for perjury. Pennsylvania, when compared to Virginia, has a constitution of despotism. Yet there is a regular battalion of newspapers, kept in pay, to attack and revile almost every thing, which an assembly can say or do. In that state, as well as in all the rest, a resolution of encomium, such as that of Mr. Smith, would be read by many people only that they might be sure to contradict it.
The North Carolina Minerva of the 23d of November, affords a strong specimen of the respect in which the assembly of that state are held, by a great number of their constituents. The writer goes, almost as far as print and paper can carry him. Even Congress, in
NOTE. The whole article is here cast into a new, that the reader may see the transaction at full length. It presents a beautiful instance of democratical economy.
"On Friday last, the legislature re-elected Mr. Gales, their public printer; no other person was in nomination for this office. There are some circumstances which attended this appointment, highly worthy of note; as they tend to show the citizens of North Carolina, how most shamefully they are misrepresented by those who, by their duplicity, and professions of attachment for economy, have won their confidence.
On Wednesday last, the editor of this paper addressed the members of the assembly, by letter, on the propriety of dividing the public work between the other printer and himself. This plan, which appeared to expedient, and, at the same time so reasonable, alarmed the democrats so much, that to prevent a resolution to this effect, Mr. Hooks, from Duplir, moved that the public printer be balloted for on Friday morning; and was seconded by Mr. Cochran of Fayetteville. The editor finding that his proposals for a division were defeated, made an offer to do the printing for four hundred pounds, a sum of four hundred dollars less than what is allowed to the state printer. The house of commons referred this memorial to a committee of 3, and sent a message to the senate to appoint a similar number, to take into consideration the propriety of disposing of the printing by contract; but the senate having adjourned, gave the democrats an opportunity to distribute, out of doors, much abuse against the editor. If his first proposition created an alarm, the last rouzed their resentment; and some were so unguarded as to declare they would give their idol 2,000 dollars of the public money in preference to allowing the editor TEN. Such is the patriotism of these honest legislators, who are continually bellowing in favor of economy in government. The senate, the next morning, rejected the proposition of the commons.
Salary and Perquisites of the Public Printer.
   Dolls.     For printing the laws and journals 1200   Carrying the same to each county 240   Extra printing during the session 150   Advertisements published in the State Gazette 200   Laws and journals sold to lawyers and other persons, not entitled to them, 75  
Dolls. 1865
   Paper used for the laws, and journals 63 reams, 157 50   Ditto for extra work 5 50   Labor 200   Carrying round laws and journals, 120, but to make the whole expense an even sum 137  
500
Actual profits 1365 The editor hopes the above statement will give the lie to the many assertions by the democrats, that his intentions in offering to do the public printing for £. 400, was merely out of ill will to the present state printer. Indeed, this statement was necessary for his own

every step of their proceedings, are incessantly criticised, contradicted, and insulted. Material passages in the speeches of members are drowned by the persons to whom they are ascribed. The reporter gives the lie to the legislator; and the foot-ball of reproach is kicked about upon all sides, without ceremony. In such circumstances, an attempt to anticipate or to dictate a declaration of the public will would be scouted with contempt. If a resolution like that of Mr. Smith had been likely to serve Mr. Jefferson, his friends in Congress are sufficiently numerous and fertile to have long since carried such a point.
We beg leave to propose various amendments to this resolution. The paper, when altered, according to our corrections, will read thus:
RESOLUTION.
"THE extreme accuracy of the federal editors in their remarks upon the president, has been such as to deserve encouragement; and as it is highly politic, as well as constitutional, to give legal patronage to printing presses, the best mode of enforcing the beneficial effects of such publications should be, by an expression of the public will."
"Resolved therefore, That the present legislature, as a component part of the community, declare their entire approbation of the just, accurate, and irresistible attacks which have been made on the character of the president of the United States; and so fully and confidently are they assured of the wickedness and impurity of his motives, as well as that his official duties have been discharged in such a manner as to produce real injury, misery, and tyranny in this country, that they are induced to give their unequivocal and decided condemnation to every part of his conduct, as far as it has come within their knowledge; and they feel a sorrowful duty in declaring that there is no man in America, who deserves more of the distrust and opposition of the people of these United States, than that pedantic, misanthropic, malevolent and designing hypocrite, Thomas Jefferson."
"Resolved, That the foregoing expression of the sentiments of the house of representatives, be communicated to the senate for their approbation."
The above was prepared for last week's paper; and before we had learned the issue of the question in the assembly.
"The resolution, as finally adopted by the assembly shall appear in our next."
vindication, and if its accuracy should be doubted, the editor here declares, that if the state printer will assign over to him his right to the public printing, the editor will perform the work and give him one thousand dollars, 500 of which shall be paid this day, and the balance on the first day of June next. Let it be considered, however, that the present salary and perquisites of the state printer shall be guaranteed to the editor; otherwise, the assembly would, from the principles of economy, reduce the salary—benefit men.
DUANE.
LAST summer, this doughty editor commenced an unprovoked attack upon the Recorder. He did this, as Mr. Bronson says, to show his prowess in scolding. All the demos in Richmond expected that Duane was to beat us into atoms! At first, he could not, as he said, tell in what part of Virginia this paper was printed. Then he attacked the defence of Pickering, as to his correctness in handling public money. To the satisfaction of all America, Duane was completely kicked out of that ground. The hundreds of lies which he has printed since could not all be republished. We have about twenty of his papers lying by with marks on the margin, of falsehoods to be contradicted. His name has become so much despised in Richmond, that the demos never wish to hear of him.
The publication of his letter to Callender in a late Recorder has made much more noise than we thought of. Mr. Bronson has honored it with no less than two successive editions in his Gazette. But we have a much better letter than that from Duane, wherein he acknowledges himself to be the publisher, not of Stolen letters , but of Stolen goods ; in a word, to be the genuine partner and associate in a transaction of theft, robbery, or house-breaking; for we can hardly say to which of these three appellations, the affair is most properly entitled. The property was Callender's . We shall not shrink away from this story, as Duane did from his MAHOGANY LIE . Before defending Mr. Jefferson, Duane should be capable of defending himself. Here follows a fresh fib, from the Aurora of December 17th.
"Previous to the late state elections throughout the union, two stories about the president for infamy unrivalled , were industriously circulated—these were modelled and re-modelled, copied first in gross, then in paragraphs, into every federal paper on the continent—oh what a bad man the president was, and what a good fellow Callender had become in the eyes of FEDERALISTS ; but after a full peal and changes, these stories have descended to the tomb of infamy with the preceding ones."
We do not know who wrote this paragraph,
whether Duane, or Dr. Reynolds, for we hold them too much about one , as a certain great personage said to the collier. We cannot imagine which of the Recorder's assertions has descended to the tomb of infamy . Is it the relation of Callender's fine? or the two letters to Mrs. Walker? All these are incontestibly true. As for infamy unrivalled , we should be glad to hear to which of them it is here meant to be applied?
MRS. M'KNIGHT VERSUS BISHOP COURTNEY.
OUR wife assembly, in search of a chaplain, have dived to the very bottom and dregs of the clerical profession. The Jefferson party made a bold push for having no chaplain at all. In this conduct they were correct and consistent. They were holding in countenance the president himself. They were honestly telling the world that they despised religion, as much as Mr. Jefferson did. This was giving him what is called a dead lift . The approbation of an assembly "cannot remove mountains of infamy; but it undoubtedly lessens, for it divides the burden." In this selection, the Jefferson members seemed to have contemplated a burlesque upon the custom of choosing a chaplain. That a choice so disgraceful may never be made again, the following specimen of the character of the chaplain is submitted to an admiring world.
About six years ago, a sea-faring man came to Richmond. His name was M'Knight. He married in this city. In a short time he ran away to Baltimore, and left his wife. Between hunger and a broken heart, the poor woman was soon reduced to an extremity of distress. A relation of hers, one Mr. Wylie, happened, sometime after this, to remove from Petersburg to Baltimore, as a clerk in the store of Heathcote and Doyle, of that place. One day, M'Knight came into the store, and Mr. Wylie instantly reproached him with the desertion of his wife, with a second marriage in Baltimore, and swore that if he did not make some reparation, he should instantly be exposed as the villain that he was. M'Knight was extremely alarmed. He saw that he stood on the brink of ruin. He begged for a truce. In a few days he produced a sum of ten pounds, or thereby. To remit this money to his kinswoman, Mr. Wylie drew, or obtained a draft for the money upon Mr. William Fenwick, of Richmond. This he inclosed to John Courtney, with an injunction to pay the money to Mrs. M'Knight. The reason for selecting him as the bearer of the money was, that Mrs. M'Knight being in a very obscure situation, it seemed possible that the post-master might not be able to find her. She was one of Courtney's hearers. This chaplain of the assembly, this apostle of negroes, was very well known; and hence, by some fatality, he was chosen to convey this remittance. Courtney drew the money from Mr. Fenwick; but he kept it to himself. Mr. Wylie wrote him repeatedly to enquire if he had received the draft, and got the cash. But no answer could be got. After various delays, Mr. Thomas Hooper and Mr. Dabney Minor called upon the woman, who denied her having received any part of the money. They next called upon Courtney to enquire if he had ever got such a draft? He seemed confounded. He looked as George Hay sometimes looks, in the court of chancery, when he is receiving a lesson from Mr. Wickham. But recovering after some time, and being told that his receipt for the money could be exhibited, he confessed the fact. He added, however, that he had given Mrs. M'Knight meal, and other provisions in part of payment; and that he had paid a long account of hers with Dr. Cringan and Currie. The woman declared that she had never got any thing from him, but, at one time, half a bushel of meal; and at another, a quarter of a loaf so tainted that she could not make use of it. In the file of their benevolent and liberal profession, the two physicians affirmed; and are still ready to affirm, that they considered Mrs. M'Knight as an object of charity; and that they never entered a line in their books against her; and that they never received nor thought of asking for a single farthing from Courtney. As a whip to the reckoning, Dr. Currie subjoined, that the said patron was a LIAR, and an infamous scoundrel, who in his profession, as a carpenter, had grossly overcharged, and cheated the doctor. Mr. Hooper, and Mr. Minor did not think it worth while to go back to Courtney. They called upon some of his elders, who repaid the money to Mrs. M'Knight, by a private contribution.
* Junius.
THE ARMORY.
UNDER this head, the reader will find a long and copious article in our next number.
Four hundred muskets are displayed at the capitol, as the produce of the first year of the armory. The delegates are told that they cost eleven dollars each. Some of our legislators are so idle, so ignorant, and so silly, as to re-
peat the story. It is true that the muskets have been made here. They are also very good. But, using a cant expression, "they have cost more than they come to."
To ascertain the cost of the musket, you must first set down the interest of the capital, which built the house, and then the annual repairs, which the building will infallibly cost. To these add the clear profit, which could have been made upon that capital, per annum, if it had been expended upon paper mills or good toll bridges like that of colonel Mayo, which does so much honor to the diligence and perseverance of its owner. Add also the sum which is paid to the James river canal company, and the salaries of John Clark and the other overseers. Take in likewise the expence of collecting the state taxes. All this cannot come to one farthing less than fifty thousand dollars per annum. Divide this sum by four hundred. You have then a product of an hundred and twenty five dollars. This, when added to the former pretended price of eleven, makes AN HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX DOLLARS, or twelve times more than the musket is worth! Instead of paying or of losing an hundred and thirty six dollars of hard money, out of your pockets for this musket, you might have a good musket from England in exchange for nine or ten dollars worth of wheat or tobacco. This is republican economy!
Next week's Recorder will convince every man who is able to count his fingers that these calculations and assertions are absolutely and most miserably true; that the whole plan of an armory has issued in the most stupendous ignorance, absurdity, and profusion. If we are prepared to suffer such work, Virginia must already have sunk into the lowest abyss of faction, corruption, and abasement. "When we attempt to prove things so evident," says Montequieu! "we are sure never to convince!"
WE are happy to learn that the remarks upon Mr. Paine's first letter have afforded general satisfaction. They are passing, or have passed through a second edition at Norfolk, and a third at Baltimore. In the Norfolk Herald of December 4th, the first part of them is introduced with the following paragraph:
"In this day's Herald we lay before the public Thomas Paine's third letter. We have not chosen it as a valuable production, but give it publicity, that the people of America may have a true idea of the man who has sought an asylum on our shores; and since some violent democratic prints have thought proper to deprecate his conduct, we judge ourselves in duty bound to expose to the public eye what we can collect with respect to this (in our opinion) infamous character. We with his motives for writing bore the appearance of "the public goods;" but they are so hostile to harmony, that we fear society will have to regret the day that Tom Paine received the president's invitation to this country. "A man is known by the company he keeps." Whether this adage applies to the president of the United States, or to Tom Paine, they may decide at their next meeting.
"We have thought fit to commence the commentary of "The Recorder" on this emigrant's first letter, and shall continue as much as in our power to lend an aid to unmask him."
"We have an official publication of Mr. Morales, intendant of New Orleans, stating that port and interdicting any future commercial intercourse with the United States, which, with other articles of less importance, are omitted this day on account of Paine and Callender."
MR. CURRAN'S SPEECH.
(Concluded from our last.)
ONE of these instances I feel, I am now bringing to the memory of your lordship. A learned and respected brother barrister, had a silver cup; the major heard that for many years it had borne an inscription of "Irish go brach," which means "Ireland for ever." The major considered this perseverance in guilt for such a length of years, as a forfeiture of the delinquent vessel.
My poor friend was accordingly robbed of his cup. But upon writing to the then attorney-general, that excellent officer felt the outrage, as it was his nature to feel every thing that was barbarous or base; and the major's loyal fidei-board was condemned to the grief of restitution. And here (said Mr. Curran) let me say in my own defence, that this is the only occasion, upon which I have mentioned this circumstance with the least appearance of lightness. I have often told the story in a way that it would not become me to tell it here. I have told it in the spirit of those feelings, which were excited at seeing, that one man could be sober and humane at a crisis, when so many thousands were drunk and barbarous. And probably my statement was not tinted by the recollection, that I held that person in peculiar respect and regard. But little does it signify, whether acts of moderation and humanity are blazoned by gratitude, by flattery, or by friendship; they are recorded in the heart from which they sprung; and, in the hour of adverse vicissitude, if it should ever come, sweet is the odour of their memory, and precious is the balm of their consolation. But to return. Hevey brought an action for his mare. The major not choosing to come into court, and thereby suggest the probable success of a thousand actions, restored the property and paid the costs of suit, to the attorney of Mr. Hevey. It must perhaps strike you, my lord, said Mr. Curran, as if I was stating, what was not relevant to the action. It is materially pertinent; I am stating a system of concerted vengeance and oppression. These two men acted in concert; they were Archer and Alnwell. You Master at Litchfield, and I at Coventry. You plundered in the jail, and I tyrant in the street. And in our respective situations, we will co-operate in the common cause of robbery, and vengeance. And I state this (said Mr. Curran) because I see major Sandys in court. And because I feel I can prove the fact, beyond the possibility of denial. If he does not dare to appear, so called upon, as I have called upon him, I prove it by his not daring to appear. If he does venture to come forward, I will prove it by his own oath, or if he ventures to deny a syllable, that I have stated, I will prove by irrefragable evidence of record that his denial is false and perjured. Thus far, gentlemen (said Mr. Curran) we have traced the plaintiff through the strange vicissitudes of barbarous imprisonment, of atrocious condemnation, and of accidental deliverance. Here Mr. Curran described the feelings of himself (Hevey,) and his family, upon his restoration; his difficulties on his return, his struggle against theasperations on his character; his renewed industry; his gradual success; the implacable malignity of Srr and of Sandys, and the immediate cause of the present action. Three years (said Mr. Curran) had elapsed, since the deliverance of my client; the public clamour had cleared; the private testimony of Hevey seemed to have brightened, but the malice of his enemies had not been appeased. On the 8th of September last, Mr. Hevey was sitting in a public coffee-house: major Srr was there. Mr. Hevey was informed that the major had at that moment said that he (Hevey) ought to have been hanged. The plaintiff was fired at the charge; he fixed his eye on Srr, and asked, if he had dared to say so. Srr declared that he had, and had said truly. Hevey answered that he was a slanderous scoundrel. At the instant Srr rushed upon him, and assisted by three or four of his satellites, who had attended him in disguise, secured him and sent him to the castle-guard, desiring that a receipt might be given for the villain. He was sent thither. The officer of the guard chanced to be an Englishman, but lately arrived in Ireland; he said to the bailiffs, if this was in England, I should think this gentleman entitled to bail; but I don't know the laws of this country. However I think you had better loosen those irons on his wrists, or I think they may kill him. Major Srr, the defendant, soon arrived,

went into his office, and returned with an order which he had written, and by virtue of which, Mr Hevey was conveyed to the custody of his old friend and guler, major Sandys . Here he was flung into a room of about thirteen feet by twelve; it was called the hospital of the provost. It was occupied by six beds in which were to lie fourteen or fifteen miserable wretches, some of them sinking under contagious distempers. On his first entrance, the light that was admitted by the opening of the door disclosed to him a view of the sad fellow-sufferers for whose loathsome society he was once more to exchange the cheerful haunts of men, the use of open air, and of his own limbs; and where he was condemned to expiate the disloyal hatred and contempt, which he had dared to show to the over-weening and felonious arrogance of slaves in office, and minions in authority; here he passed the first night, without bed or food. The next morning his humane keeper, the major appeared. The plaintiff demanded, "why he was so imprisoned," complained of hunger, and asked for the jail allowance. Major Sandys replied with a torrent of abuse, which he concluded by saying, "Your crime is your insolence to major Sire ; however he disdains to trample upon you. You may appease him by proper and contrite submission, but unless you do so, you shall rot where you are. I tell you this, that if government do not protect us, by god we will not protect them. You will probably, (for I know your insolent and ungrateful hardness) attempt to get out by an Habeas Corpus, but in that you will find yourself mistaken, as such a rascal deserves. Hevey was insolent enough to issue a Habeas Corpus, and a return was made upon it, "that Hevey was in custody under a warrant from general Craig on a charge of treason." That this return was a gross falsehood fabricated by Sire I am instructed to assert. Let him prove the truth of it if he can. The judge, before whom this return was brought, felt that he had no authority to liberate the unhappy prisoner; and thus, by a most inhuman and audacious lie, my client was again remanded to the horrid mansion of pestilence and famine. Mr. Curran proceeded to describe the feelings of Mr. Hevey , the despair of his friends; the ruin of his affairs; the influence of Sandys ; his offer to let him at large, on condition of making an abject submission to Sire ; the indignant rejection of Hevey ; the supplication of his father and sister, rather to submit to an enemy, however base and odious than perish in such a situation; the repugnance of Hevey ; the repetition of kind remonstrances, and the final submission of Hevey to their entreaties; his signing a submission, dictated by Sandys ; and his enlargement from confinement. Thus, said Mr. Curran , was he kicked from his jail into the common maw of his fellow slaves; by yielding to the tender entreaties of the kindred that loved him; to sign what was in fact, a release of his claim to the common rights of a human creature, by humbling himself to the brutal arrogance of a pampered slave. But he did not suffer the dignity of his nature to be subdued by its kindness; he has been enlarged, and he has brought the present action. As to the facts that he had stated, Mr. Curran said he would make a few observations: it might be said for the defendant, that much of what was stated, may not appear in proof. To that, he would answer, that he would not have so stated if he had not seen major Sandys in court; he had therefore put the facts against him in a way which he thought the most likely to rouse him to a defence of his character, if he dared to be examined as a witness. He had, he trusted, made him, feel, that he had no way of escaping universal detestation, but by denying those charges, if they were false; and if they were not denied, being thus publicly asserted, his entire case was admitted; his original oppression in the provost was admitted; his robbery of the cup was admitted; his robbery of the mare was admitted; the lie so audaciously forged on the Habeas Corpus was admitted; the extortion of the infamous
apology was admitted. Again, said Mr. Curran , I challenge this worthy compeer of a worthy compeer, to make his election, between proving his guilt by his own corporal oath, or by the more credible modality of his silence. And now, said Mr. Curran , I have given you a mere sketch of this extraordinary history. No country governed by any settled laws, or treated with common humanity, could furnish any occurrences of such unparalleled atrocity, and if the author of Caleb Williams , or of the Simple Story , were to read the tale of this man's sufferings, it might I think humble the vanity of their talents, (if they are not too proud to be vain,) when they saw how much a more fruitful source of incident could be found in the infernal workings of the heart of a malignant slave, than in the richest copiousness of the most fertile and creative imagination. But it is the destiny of Ireland to be the scene of such horrors, and to be flung by such reptiles to madness and to death. And now, said Mr. Curran , I feel a sort of melancholy pleasure, in getting nearly rid of this odious and nauseous subject. It remains to me only to make a few observations as to the damages you ought to give, if you believe the case of the plaintiff to be, as I have stated. I told you before that neither pride nor spirit belonged to our situation. I should be sorry to inflame you into any apish affection of the port or stature of freedom, or independence. But my advice to you, is to give the full amount of the damages laid in the declaration, and I'll tell you why I give you that advice: I think no damages could be excessive, either as a compensation for the injury of the plaintiff, or as a punishment of the savage barbarity of the defendant; but my reasons for giving you this advice, lie much deeper than such considerations; they spring from a view of our present most forlorn, and disastrous situation. You are now in the hands of another country; that country has no means of knowing your real condition, except from the information that she may accidentally derive from transactions of a public nature. No printer would dare to publish the thousand instances of atrocity, which we have witnessed as hideous as the present, nor any one of them, unless he did it in some sort of confidence, that he could scarcely be made a public sacrifice by brutal force, for publishing, what was openly proved in a court of justice. Mr. Curran here made some pointed observations on the state of a country, where the freedom of the press is extinguished, and where another nation, by whose indolent mercy, or whose instigated fury we may be spared, or sacrificed, can know nothing of the extent of our sufferings, or our delinquency, but by casual hearsay. I know, said he, that those philosophers have been abused, who think that men are born in a state of war. I confess I go further, and firmly think that they cannot be reclaimed to a state of peace. When I see the conduct of man to man, I believe it. When I see the list of offences in every criminal code in Europe; when I compare the enormity of their crimes with the still greater enormity of their punishments, I retain no doubt upon the subject. But, if I could hesitate as to men in the same community, I have no doubt of the inextinguishable malignity, that will forever inflame nation against nation. Well was it said, that a "nation has no heart," towards each other, they are uniformly envious, oppressive, and unjust. What did Spain feel for the murders or the robberies of the West-Indies? Nothing. And yet, at that time, she prided herself as much as England ever did on the elevation of her sentiment, and the refinement of her morality. Yet what an odious spectacle did she exhibit? Her bosom burning with all the fury of rapine and tyranny; her mouth full of the pious praises of the living God; and her hands red with the blood of his innocent and devoted creatures. When I advise you therefore to mark your feelings of the case before you, don't think I mean that you could make any general impression on the morality, or tenderness of the country, whose property we are become. I am not so foolish as to hope
any such effect; practical justice and humanity are virtues that declare libidinous acts, and mortifying privations; expect therefore to find them appear not to them. But there are principles and feelings, substituted in their places, a stupid preference and admiration of self, an affection of humanity and a fondness for unmerited praise; these you find, for they cost nothing; and upon them you may produce some effect. When outrages of this kind are held up to the world, as done under the sanction of their authority, they must become odious to mankind, unless they let fall some reprobation on the immediate instruments, and abettors of such deeds. An Irish lord lieutenant will shrink from the imputation of countenancing them. Great Britain will see that it cannot be her interest to encourage an infernal spirit of subaltern barbarity, that reduces man to a condition lower than that of the beast of the field. She will be ashamed of employing such instruments as the present defendant. When the government of Ireland lately gave up the celebrated O'Brien to the hands of the executioner, I have no little reason to believe that they suffered as they deserved on the occasion. I have no doubt, but that the verdict of this day, if you act as you ought to do, will produce a similar effect. And, as to England, I cannot too often inculcate upon you, that she knows nothing of our situation. When the torture was the daily and ordinary system of the executive government, it was denied in London, with a profligacy of effrontery, equal to the barbarity with which it was exhibited in Dublin; and, if the facts that shall appear to day, should be told on the other side of the water, I make no doubt, but very near one hundred worthy persons would be ready to deny their existence upon their honor, or if necessary, upon their oaths.
I cannot, also, but observe to you, continued Mr. Curran , that the real state of one country is more forcibly impressed on the attention of another, by a verdict on such a subject as this, than it could be by any general description. When you endeavour to convey an idea of a great number of barbarians, practising a great variety of cruelties upon an innumerable number of sufferers, nothing defined or specific finds its way to the hearer, nor is any sentiment excited, save that of a general, erratic unappropriated commiseration. If, for instance, you wished to convey to the mind of an English matron, the horrors of that direful period, when, in defiance of the remonstrance of the ever to be lamented Abercromby, our poor people were surrendered to the licentious brutality of the soldiery, by the authority of the state, you would vainly endeavour to give her a general picture of lust, and rapine, and murder, and conflagration. By endeavouring to comprehend every thing, you would convey nothing. When the father of poetry wishes to portray the movements of contending armies, and an embattled field, he exemplifies only, he does not describe; he does not venture to describe the perplexed and promiscuous conflicts of adverse hosts; but by the acts and feats of a few individuals, he conveys a notion of the vicissitudes, the fight and the fortune of the day. So should your story, to keep her clear of generalities, instead of exhibiting the picture of an entire province select a single object; and even if that single object do not release the imagination of your hearer from its task, by giving more than an outline, take a cottage; place the affrighted mother of her orphan daughters at the door, the paleness of death upon her face, and more than its agonies in her heart; her aching eye, her anxious tear, struggle through the mists of closing day, to catch the approaches of desolation, and dishonor. The ruffian gang arrives, the feast of plunder begins, the cup of madness kindles in its circulation. The wandering glances of the ravishers become concentrated upon the shrinking and devoted victim. You need not dilate, you need not expatiate; the unpolluted mother, to whom you tell the story of horror, beseeches you not to proceed; she presses her child to her heart, she drowns it in her tears, her
fantasy catches more than an angel's tongue could describe; at a single view she takes in the whole miserable succession of force, of profanation, of despair, of death. So it is in the question before us. If any man shall hear of this day's transaction, he cannot be so foolish as to suppose that we have been confined to a single character, like those now brought before you. No, Gentlemen, far from it; he will have too much common sense not to know, that outrages like this are never solitary, that, where the public calamity generates imps like these, their number is, as the sands of the sea, and their fury, as insatiable as its waves. I am therefore anxious, that our masters should have one authenticated example of the treatment which our unhappy country suffers under the sanction of their authority; it will put a strong question to their humanity, if they have any; to their prudence, if their pride will let them listen to it, or at least, to that anxiety for reputation; to that pretension to the imaginary virtues of mildness and mercy, to which even those countries the most divested of them, are so ready to assert their claim, and so credulously disposed to believe that claim allowed.
There are some considerations respecting yourselves, and the defendant, to which I should wish to say a word. You may perhaps think your persons unsafe, if you find a verdict as you do—I know he might lend you to the provost, as he has done the plaintiff, and forge a return on any writ you might like for your deliverance; I know there is no spot in this devoted nation (except that on which we now are) where the story of oppression can be told or heard; but I think you can have no well-founded apprehensions. There is a time, when cruelty and oppression become satiated and fatigued; in that satiety at least, you will find yourselves secure. But there is still a better security for you: the gratitude of the worthy defendant; if anything could add to his honours, and his credit, and his claims, it would be your verdict for the plaintiff; for in what instance have you ever seen any man so effectually accredited and recommended, as by the public execration? What a man for instance, might not O'Brien have been, if the envy of the gibbet had not arrested the career of his honours and preferments? In every point of view, therefore, I recommend to you to find liberally for the plaintiff. I have founded my advice upon the real circumstances of your situation; I have not endeavoured to stimulate you into any silly hectic of fancied liberty. I do not call upon you to expose yourselves by the affectation of vindicating the cause of freedom, and humanity, much less do I wish to exhibit ourselves to those, whose property we are, as indignant or contumacious, under their authority. Far from it, they are unquestionably the proprietors of us; they are entitled of right to drive us, and to work us, but we may be permitted modestly to suggest, that for their own sake, and for their own interest, a line of moderation may be drawn. That there are excesses of injustice, that human nature cannot bear. With respect to her western Negroes, Great Britain has had the wisdom, and humanity to feel the justice of this observation, and in some degree to act upon it; and I have too an high opinion of that great, and philosophical nation, not to hope, that she might think us, not undeserving of equal mildness; provided it did not interfere with her just authority over us. It would, I should even think, be for her credit, that having the honor of so illustrious a rider, we should be kept in some sort of condition, somewhat bordering upon spirit, which cannot be maintained, if she suffers us to be broken down, by the malicious wantonness of her grooms and jockeys. Mr. Curran , concluded by saying, that the cause was of no inconsiderable expectation, and that in whatever light the jury regarded it; whether with respect to the two countries, or to Ireland singly, or to the parties concerned, or their own sense of character and public duty, or to natural consequences that must flow from the event, they ought to consider it with the most profound attention, before they agreed upon their verdict.