The recorder (Richmond, Va.), 1802-11-10 00:00:00

THE RECORDER;
Printed by HENRY PACE, and JAMES T. CALLENDER, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA; and published every WEDNESDAY Morning. Subscription Two Dollars per annum
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1802.
TO THE PUBLIC.
MANY gentlemen residing in states north of this have addressed letters to us, requesting 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 fend 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 apoplexy 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 delinquency; 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.
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.)
50 DOLLARS REWARD.
RUN away from the Subscriber in this city, in 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 Hoover and TOLER, has worked at the Blacksmith's trade. Was purchased at 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 Fulcher.
THOMAS MOORE. Oct. 8th, 1802. if
BY THE LATE ARRIVALS WM. MACKENZIE, & Co. HAVE RECEIVED THEIR FALL GOODS.
Richmond, Sept. 30th. 1802. (31.)
100 DOLLARS REWARD.
SCHOONER, TRYAL of Norfolk, was freighted from Richmond for Baltimore with bran, on the 25th of July last, John Dudley master. She is about Twenty-Five Tons Burden. Pilot Boat built with the Red Frank Companion. There is a suspicion that the master of the Schooner has run away with her, or he has never since been heard of. Pilot Dudley may have taken her to Charleston, S. C. and will give one hundred dollars to any person who will stop 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 C. Station, are requested to republish this three times. JOHN TAYLOR. [5m.]
Fish.
A QUANTITY OF HERRINGS and SHAD, for Sale, By FRANCIS HYLAND. Richmond, Nov. 2d, 1802.
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.
NOTICE.
WILL be sold to the highest bidder, at Dunkirk in King and Queen County, on Monday the 3d of January, 1803.
A TRACT OF LAND
On the main road to King and Queen Court House, adjoining Col. Larkin Smith's Mill Pond, containing Ninety-Three Acres and a quarter. Also, thirty nine Acres of Marsh Land, running out from Col. Carter Braxton's high land to Mattaponny river. The above land will be sold on a credit of six months, the purchaser giving bond with approved security, to carry interest from the date if not punctually discharged. Also at the same time and place, will be sold for cash, to the highest bidder, fourteen or fifteen likely Negroes, consisting of Men, Women and Children. King and Queen, Oct. 23d 1802. R. B. CARTER.
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.
VIRGINIA; In the High Court of Chancery for the Richmond District. Between Henry Banks And Nathaniel Anderson, Robert Pollard, George Winton and Thomas Siewardson. 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,
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 suitable answer. Richmond, Oct. 27th. 1802.
FIVE DOLLARS REWARD.
THURSDAY Sea night frayed 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 10th, 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 sight 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.
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. if
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 run 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.
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 these terms will be accepted. Shares, on those terms, will be preferred. Emery Oct. 20th. 1802.
CORRESPONDENCE.
No. 1.
Rockington, October 28th. 1802.
Messrs. Callender & Pace
IT has been but a few days since I had an opportunity of perusing your valuable paper, entitled the Recorder. I say valuable, because it appears therefrom that your determination is not to be biased by either of the parties that now exist in this country. But, on the contrary, to publish to the world the conduct of all, which may not be consistent with the interest of your country.
Long have we, who live in this retired part of the state, wished for such a press to be established; for the most of them are managed by those who suffer themselves to be so much corrupted by the bribes, &c. of the contending parties, that it is impossible to find an impartial account of any thing, in which either is interested.
The information you have given respecting the president, so far as it concerns negro Sally, is new on this side the ridge. It will ever be considered as a stigma upon his character, by all religious and genteel citizens. He has broken the laws of God and man. It is therefore to be hoped that the people of the United States will never continue in the honorable post of presidency, a man who has been guilty of such an irreligious and dishonorable act. And indeed should they do so, we shall have sufficient reason to think the time is not far distant when all will become fornicators and mongrels; for it is well known how apt most people are to imitate, as near as they are capable, the actions of those we call great men. In the short reign of the present president, if report be true, he has been guilty of another unjustifiable act, I mean that of his drawing 200 dollars, mentioned in the Recorder, out the officer's hands, which act, in my opinion, was little short of taking it out of the treasury, because it is presumable a receipt had passed, which ought to have placed it beyond his reach.
The executive of this state, it is also reported, drew on the treasury contrary to all law, for a sum of no small amount, for the purpose of illuminating the capitol on the election of president, &c. &c. Thus you see how the public money is handled by these gentlemen, without the least authority. Could not the auditor, with as much propriety, have granted a warrant on the treasury for a sum of money for the purpose of paying a private debt contracted by you, or myself? I think he could.
The next thing noticed in your paper was respecting the very great salary allowed to the public printer by our legislature. At this you will not be surprised, when it is recollected that the public printer —But let us hope for the better. Perhaps the next assembly will act as men who have the interest of their state at heart, by offering the business to the person who will do it for the least money. However, should we be mistaken in this and they should do otherwise, you will no doubt present to public view the ayes and noes on the question, which will be a guide for us in our next choice. Should any thing I have said appear harsh, it will be a sufficient apology to observe that I am nothing more than A POOR DUTCHMAN.
POSTSCRIPT TO THE ABOVE.
THIS letter is the genuine production of a person beyond the Blue Ridge. After leaving out a few hard words, which it would not be advisable to print, the letter is published exactly as it was wrote. It is amusing to contemplate the operations of a plain intelligent mind, which reflects and feels for itself, apart from the battle of contending factions. Such appears to be our Dutch correspondent. In answer to his letter, we can assure him that it is our sole and unalterable purpose to tell both sides of the truth. Before the election of Jefferson, this was impossible. The violence of the two parties had come to such a height, that a newspaper on the plan of the Recorder could not then have existed. I went as far as it was possible to go, in telling the faults on both sides. Witness the absolute censure both of McKean and Gallatin, in Sedgwick and Co. as well as many others.
NOTE.
* Our correspondent must excuse us for suppressing the remainder of this sentence. Vid. Recorder of the 20th of October last.

passages of the same kind. I always considered this as the reason why Madison and Jefferson would be glad to get quit of me, as soon as they could; but, at the same time, I made no scruple of believing that they desired force me to attack them. They were known to be timid; and I built not upon their generosity, but their prudence . Their characters were mistaken. They fancied that the completeness of their victory placed them beyond the reach of danger; and that they could safely quarrel with a friend. The man who had known them four years ago, as well as they are known at this time, would have been unpardonable for recommending them to the confidence of the people. It was essential, however, for the welfare and peace of this country that the authors of the alien and sedition laws should be driven from the helm. It will not take one tenth part of the trouble to get clear of Jefferson, and Madison, which was required to rout that firm and well-compacted phalanx, which had governed America for twelve years.
As for what our correspondent says about the partiality and corruption of newspapers, this is perhaps the only publication of that sort on the continent, which has acquired an extensive circulation without courting the favor or fearing the frowns of either party. With much satisfaction it is perceived that Virginia contains a body of impartial independent citizens, who do not care a shilling for any party farther than what is consistent with the welfare of the country. We were assured that a newspaper upon a plan like ours never could keep upon its legs ; that we must either become federal, or antifederal, or we could be nothing . This is a poor account of the state of national press, and of the public mind; but such was the tale told us.
I proceed to the third paragraph of our Dutch letter. As for Sally, there is no doubt that the will finish the business of her admirer as completely as the CALCUTTA POLE will put an end to Duane. There can be no question that the republicans must look out for another candidate. Jefferson has already forfeited all countenance, or cordiality with the French government, by the swarm of dirty libels which Miss Smith and the rest of his printers have issued against the first count Bonaparte complained officially to the court of England of the freedom taken with his name in parliament. He has since, for the very same reason, expelled English newspapers from France. Let Jefferson's editors persist in railing at him. Whether the censure is just, or otherwise, it was the president's duty to have enjoined silence to his dependents. His neglecting to do so, or rather his encouraging them both to begin, and proceed, affords a very good reason for sending him back to Monticello, to sow turnips and manufacture nails. As for Sally's affair, what our correspondent says is extremely correct. The republicans may degrade themselves; but they can no longer elevate Thomas Jefferson. The second election of a negro keeper would be considered in Europe, as well as in every state of America, as a national and indelible reproach.
The letter goes on to complain of the money taken to illuminate the capitol. Very right; but the people do not, till lately, seem to have suspected that the greater part of their cash is regularly wasted in a manner equally foolish. What do you think of seven hundred dollars a piece to two lawyers for pleading in Beaumarchais's suit against the commonwealth? The gentlemen cannot be blamed for accepting of their fees; if ten times as much had been offered. But the wicked world will persist in believing that if John Guerrant had been to pay the cash from his own pocket, he would have halted at half the sum; and would, after all, have got the cause about as well pleased as it has been. It is surprising that, in this case, the council forgot to employ the attorney general of the State. You know the immense reputation that he acquired in the affair of the Richmond conspiracy for driving Callender out of the city. You know the judgement, perseverance and success, with which the attorney general prosecuted that suit. But perhaps you do not know that to a feeble, stupid, prodigal government, such as that of our present executive council, and to all its classes of venality, there is nothing more terrible than a newspaper like the Recorder.
Our Dutchman proceeds to the job of having a public printer. I believe that this is the only state in the union, where any thing of the sort is known. In Pennsylvania, a printer, is engaged at the beginning of a session of assembly to do their work. But there is no extravagant salary annexed to this officer. The printer gets from the assembly what he
NOTE.
Sally's brother was set free by the president. He has an infirmity in one of his arms. During the sitting of last assembly, he sold fruit in the capitol. It is said, but we do not give it as gospel, that one of her daughters is a house servant to a person in this city. This wench must have been by some other father than the president.
The details recited in another part of this day's paper comprehend an ample justification of all these epithets.
would get from any other set of customers. There is no squinting at the service which his newspaper may render to any political faction in the state. The question is who will do this work the cheapest and the best ? On the contrary, Jones was put into this office of public printer with the precise view that he should go every length in the service of those who set him there. The salary was augmented for the purpose of supporting him. In a word, the whole matter was a job . The majority of the assembly were undoubtedly unacquainted with its extent and magnitude; or the matter never would have passed.
This day's Recorder probes the matter to the bottom. It would be insulting the next assembly to suppose that they can ever countenance so vile a waste of public money. Various members have been consulted. They unanimously declare that no honest man can ever set his face to the payment of twenty-seven hundred dollars, for the same piece of business, which can be done for a thousand. Besides his salary, the public printer receives various other sums upon a scale of expence which is still more extravagant, and still more scandalous. I presume that no vote will ever be taken upon the question of preferring the cheapest. If it should, however, be found necessary, our correspondent has put the point with perfect exactness. The people will be curious to know which of their delegates robbed, or attempted to rob their constituents of three thousand dollars per annum. The eyes and noses would be printed in the Recorder, and the enemies (but there can be no enemies) to the SAVING OF PUBLIC MONEY would find it a service of danger to return home, and face their constituents. They could not entertain the faintest hope of ever being sent back to the assembly. And, setting aside all principles of honor and public spirit, what gentleman in his senses would sacrifice his interest, popularity and importance in his country, for the sake of serving a being so abandoned as Meriwether Jones? a being that has violated every political, social, and domestic duty, a being of whom it is hardly possible to say, whether, as an editor, as a husband, or as a master, his character is the most truly execrable? A small part of the facts upon which this assertion is founded have been stated in the Recorder; and a portion of these may be found in the pamphlet, which we are now selling at this office, for three eighths of a dollar.
I would be very sorry to see the republican cause sinking under that of federalism. It is desirable for the state that the two parties should be balanced with a degree of exactness. On this account, I should be concerned to see the republican press, or presses of Richmond, beat down by their adversaries. The Recorder does not profess to stand neuter. But its activity will not be destined to the indiscriminate service of either party. This paper will do all the public good which it can do, by publishing all the important truth which comes within its reach.
These remarks lead me to mention an advantage that must redound to the community by turning Jones out of the public printing, over and above the benefit of saving three thousand dollars. His Examiner has become as useless to the republicans, as it is disgusting to men of sense of all parties. It is full time that this typographical nuisance should either pass into better hands, or that it should cease to exist. By refusing to give Jones his extravagant sinecure any longer, the assembly will at once reduce him to bankruptcy. It was but a few days ago, that his slaves were in the talons of the sheriff; and last Wednesday morning, after all other newspapers in Richmond had been worked off, the Examiner's press stood still for want of paper. A deduction of three thousand dollars from the annual income of Jones would produce an immediate stoppage of his credit, and consequently of his press. The Examiner of course would either be transferred to a purchaser, if such could be found, or it would be stopt altogether. Jones once proposed to sell the property for ten thousand dollars. For its present actual value five hundred would form a much more suitable compensation. Conscious that his ruin is unavoidable, Jones vents his rage in railing against Callender. Thus, in former days, a malefactor, when nailed to the cross, used sometimes to spit on the spectators.
No. II.
FOR THE RECORDER.
Mr. Recorder,
Mr. Wormeley is again attacked in the Examiner in the lowest strain of vulgar and senseless scurrility. His letter was unanswerable, and therefore, the editor of that paper is obliged to resort to personality. Terms of opprobrium and ridicule are introduced to expose this gentleman to contempt. But if I know him at all, he will disregard them, as the effusions of impotent malevolence. He knows that "a total neglect is the best return the generous can make to the low abuse of the base." A conceited ass had once the impudence to bray forth some insolent speeches against the lion. The suddenness of the insult at first raised some emotions of wrath in his breast, but turning his head, and perceiving from whence it came, they directly subsided, and he very sedately walked on without
deigning to honor the stupid creature, with even so much as an angry word. But, though Mr. Wormeley may think the Examiner beneath his notice, yet, as that paper has some circulation, it may not be amiss to observe, that the charge of "venerable tory" confutes itself. If any thing reproachful was intended by that word tory , the epithet "venerable" which embraces all that is virtuous, completely sets it aside. The charge of "shameful traitor" is libelous. For a libel so shameful and manifest, we should not be surprised to see the Examiner prosecuted. He not only deserves prosecution for this calumny, but for another equally gross. He calls Mr. Wormeley "the encourager of insurrection." The property which this respectable gentleman possesses in slaves, to the amount of thousands and tens of thousands of dollars, gives the lie direct to this slander; which, we must confess, comes with a very bad grace from one, who labors under the unconfuted accusation of living in such habits of intimacy and close connection with a certain description of persons, as must tend more than any thing else whatever, not barely to encourage but to excite them to insurrection.
Whatever were Mr. Wormeley's opinions of government twenty-six years ago, when he was a very young man, is now beside the question. I have known him for many years, and have often conversed with him upon these topics. But I do not recollect ever to have heard him, when speaking on the abstract principles of government, express himself in favor of an absolute monarchy. If he ever did, it must have been when contrasted with the greater evil of "absolute democracy." He is honored with the title of "Lord." If by this word he meant every thing that is noble, generous, hospitable and honorable, the title is very properly bestowed upon him; and this, he who confers it, would himself acknowledge, were he to travel into the neighbourhood of that gentleman's residence.
PHILO WORMELEY.
No. III.
FOR THE RECORDER.
I HAVE by chance discovered the following article in the Norfolk Herald, which, as far as it appears in that paper, is past as an original article, having never appeared before in print. My observations are at the bottom.
AFRICAN SENSIBILITY.
An African, who had become unfortunate, surrendered himself to his creditor, who, according to the established custom of the country in such cases, sold him to the Europeans. Before the departure of the vessel for the West Indies, the son of this man came to him on shipboard. After the tenderest effusions of sensibility on both sides, the son respectfully reproached the father for not having made use of the power the law gave him, of selling his children for paying his debts; and demanded with great earnestness, to be allowed to take his place; but the father, not less generous than the son, having refused to agree to this exchange, the son applied to the owner of the slaves, and had no difficulty in persuading him, that a young, robust person was better able to bear the fatigue, than a man already advanced in years. This offer was accepted; the son was put in chains, and the father, in spite of himself, not being able to prevent it, was set at liberty. Mr. Hert having been witness to the generous contest, was so affected by it, as to represent it to the governor, who, moved by the story, sent for the owner of the slaves, paid out of his own pocket the money he had given for the old man, and restored the son to his father.
"Those who wish to degrade human nature, and vilify the works of God, must often meet with facts which contradict their detestable hypothesis. God made man upright; and there are traces of the original propensity of the human mind to benevolence and kindness, in all nations, and among every people. Whoever attempts to inculcate an opposite doctrine, is guilty of treason against the majesty of human nature."
In the first place, the foregoing article is copied from the estimable work entitled Travels of Mungo Park; which carry with them the internal evidence of truth. The editors of the Norfolk Herald would have lost no credit in showing their acquaintance with so a book.
By the extract just quoted, by the entire authority of the book from which it is taken, and by all the evidence from that country, it appears that slavery is common to the natives of Africa. Mr. Park says that he conjectures that three fourths are slaves. There are many kinds of slaves, and many causes which produce slavery. It is not uncommon for persons to submit to a voluntary slavery; and very frequent for parents to sell their children. The master has the power of life and death over his slave.
There is not an intelligent man, who reads those accounts, who will not admit that a state of slavery in this country is preferable to a state of slavery in Africa. Some say that it is better than African freedom. These truths present a melancholy picture, as to the miseries of Africa. They present nothing to show that it is the will or design of providence that those who are their descendants, should be put
upon an equal footing in this country with the whites.
This subject has afforded much speculation to the curious, and to the benevolent. Firmly persuaded that there is an all ruling providence, which directs the destinies of mankind, and believing that when it shall be right to emancipate the blacks in this country, it will be ascertained by a general revolution that shall take place among the countless millions of Africa; I must content myself with discharging the duties of a humane master towards those who shall fall into my hands.
In a political point of view, there is not a single argument to favor a general emancipation; but every thing to oppose it.
A PLANTER
[The following articles were drawn up for last week's Recorder. They are now printed, exactly as they were originally wrote.]
ABOUT ten days ago, we had a letter from Mr. Burnham, printer of the New York Evening Post. He complained that not one of our subscribers in that city had got a single Recorder for a fortnight. The printer of the York Recorder has also wrote us that, excepting himself, not one of our subscribers at York (in Pennsylvania) has ever got a paper at all, although this gentleman obliged us with a list of names at least six weeks ago. These are very infamous things; but if there are thieves belonging to the post-office department, it is from want of power, and not from any want of good will, that we do not transfer them to the workhouse and the whipping post. The rascal, who stops your paper, would, with equal pleasure, steal your shirt.
THE CALCUTTA POLE.
WE have at length obtained satisfactory evidence that William Duane, editor of the Aurora, organ of the public will, &c. was really and truly paraded upon a pole through the streets of Calcutta. One of our subscribers, who lives within less than five miles of Richmond, was in that part of the world when the affair happened. Pray sit, Duane, was it a MAHOGANY pole? or what kind of a pole was it? We had prepared a column upon this melancholy discovery; but it must be deferred till our next. We understand that the organ was publicly whipped, sent to England in irons; and that Sir John Shore had once an idea of hanging him.
JONES
Has finished the Virginian edition of the laws of the last session of Congress. It consists of 83 folio pages, and 1500 copies. In order to spin out the page, the subscriptions of the speaker, the vice president, and president, are spread at full length. The executive council have made a settlement of Jones's bill; but we do not yet know what it is. If the council had done their duty, they ought to have sent for Mr. John Dixon, who did the work for Jones. They should have paid the bill of Mr. Dixon, and nothing more. All the rest is a mere robbery of the public. When Mr. Davis printed Congress laws for the executive council, he was not allowed to strain out his pages by the useless addition of so many signatures. Mr. Davis appears to have been but moderately paid. But then Mr. Davis is not a republican. He is a man of regular manners. He keeps only one wife; and he is so great a fool, as to be a faithful and affectionate husband. Davis never parades in his kitchen with a drawn cutlass; nor encourages his slaves to revolt against the commonwealth. Davis pays his journeyman; and there is not a constable in town, that could ever lay hands on his rail . He never jumps upon a table, at four o'clock in the morning, to dance among bowls and glasses. He prints a newspaper, which is, at least, legible . In short, Sis, he is not the thing. More of all this in our next.
The RECORDER.
RICHMOND.
NOVEMBER 10th. 1802.
WITH respect to the little fracas with the Virginia Gazette, we engaged in it with reluctance, and we close it with pleasure. But however we may esteem Mr. Davis personally, he must know, once for all, that no personal attacks which may be made in that paper, or in any other, against the Recorder, or upon the writer of this article, shall pass unnoticed. If I was to tread upon Mr. Davis's toes, would he not be apt to kick my shins, or break my head? All that we shall do is to give tit for tat. In one of our late papers, our sentiments upon this point were communicated. Since that time, we have seen no reason to alter them.
Some weeks ago, the honorable John Clopton was served with a warrant from a justice of peace. The sum in question was five dollars, as the price of a sledge hammer, which our representative had borrowed, and which he could not be persuaded to return.
NEXT week's paper will contain an abstract of some sentences in Mr. Jefferson's letter to Mr. Walker, concerning his unfor-

tunate attempt, &c. We have reasons for thinking that the letter itself, with a more correct detail of particulars than we were formerly able to give, will appear in a short time. It is, to be sure, a complete model of its kind.
THE Examiner of last Saturday was, like its predecessor of Wednesday, retarded in its way to the press for want of paper, and of money to purchase it. It is now three months, or thereby, since we sent a remittance to Philadelphia to buy paper. By a letter of September 20th we learnt that it was shipped. From that day to this, we have not been able to hear any thing about it. A state like Virginia, with only one paper mill! What a shame!
LAST week, Mr. Thomas Paine arrived at Baltimore from France. The Philadelphia Gazette says that he is immediately to set up a newspaper, and is pitched against Callender. The first of the story is probable, and we hope that the last is untrue.
ERRATUM.
P. 4 column 2d, line 21, from the bottom, in this day's paper, for flight , read flight .
THE
PUBLIC PRINTER.
THE MEMBERS OF THE NEXT GENERAL ASSEMBLY, or at least such of them as wish to prevent the waste of public money, are requested to give an early attendance in the approaching session. One of the first questions that are to come before them will be upon the choice of a public printer . The second will be whether it is proper to pay two thousand seven hundred dollars per annum , for a piece of business, that can be got equally as well done for one thousand . It is very possible that Mr. Jones may endeavour to get an election struggled through the house, on the first or second day of the session. This paragraph is wrote, therefore, to warn those members who are anxious to serve their constituents, that they ought to come to town in time at the first opening of business, in order to prevent an attempt of that nature; if indeed any delegate could be supposed to countenance it.
A memorial will be presented to the assembly on the first day of their meeting, stating the common printing price for which the duties of a public printer can be performed. The memorial will offer to perform the whole for a given sum, of about nine, or perhaps eleven hundred dollars. In the Recorder of October 20th, we made some remarks on this subject. They are not entirely correct. It is said that Jones, for his salary, printed two thousand eight hundred copies of the laws of last session. Further information assures us that Jones printed only two thousand for his salary. He printed eight hundred and seventy copies additional ; and for these he received eight hundred and seventy dollars. These additional copies, containing each of them fifty six folio pages, would require twenty-eight reams of paper. The highest price which the paper cost him could not be more than three dollars and an half per ream; or, in whole, ninety-eight dollars.
  Paper Dolls.   Presswork 98   Stitching 30   24   Total expence of Jones 152   Paid by the executive 870   Balance in favor of Jones 718 
Thus Jones received a fraction more than five dollars and seventy-two cents, instead of one dollar; just as if you had paid five shillings and eight-pence half-penny for a loaf of bread, which was worth only one shilling.
This, to be sure, is a very promising sample of your executive council. They cost two thousand pounds a year for salaries; and governor Monroe is not entrusted with a vote among these venerable sages. No part of the blame can, therefore, be attached to the preserver of the life of Thomas Paine. He achieved this act of justice and humanity at the notorious risk of offending those who sent him to Paris; at the risk of being recalled from his embassy. Jones was no doubt laughing within himself at this orn' on upon our part, of these eight hundred and seventy dollars. For its extent there is not, and there cannot be a viler job, in the whole annals of corruption. You cannot shut your eyes, against facts like these! Samuel Coleman, the sub-clerk of this council, thinks it a terrible crime to tell such secrets; and such explanations form, with John Guerrant, one reason for affirming that Callender is a traitor. A dollar for a meagre folio pamphlet of fifty-six pages! The very sound of the words is an outrage upon common sense. The wretched stammering answers that Jones gives upon this subject demonstrate his consciousness that the ground upon which he stands is breaking down under him.
Senators and delegates of the assembly of Virginia! We have been assured by several of
your members that there is not one man of you who will set his face in defence of those things. They say that the longer endurance of such enormities is not possible. They affirm that the story requires but to be proved in order to command reformation. You have only to peruse the public accounts, as they will be laid before you, and all doubt is at once extinguished in a burst of conviction. Get a name, let him be paid at the rate by which other printers are paid. If one is ready to do the business for nine hundred dollars, for which you are at present giving twenty-seven hundred dollars to another, who, by the way, never set a type in his life, can you be simple enough to cast away eighteen hundred dollars? It cannot be.
We have formerly stated that the public printer receives large sums besides his salary. Such were these eight hundred and seventy dollars. The whole saving by a reform cannot be less than THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS per annum.
THE CALCUTTA POLE.
WE have often been astonished at the feebleness and infatuation of the federal editors. In Summer 1799, when Rind's Federalist was printed in Richmond, the compiler of that paper was acquainted with BLACK SALLY's story. He had only to have printed that, and the great personage was gone. He durst not. Even when we had given it in full to the world, and were entirely responsible for its consequences, none of the federal editors durst republish it, till they got their signal from Field Marshal Coleman; and even then, some of them were afraid. Eh!
From this censure there was just one exception, that fearless little wild cat Democrat , which gave us, the other day, such a droll description of Duane's mouth! By the way, Duane is not hideous. He is a plain looking man, without ugliness. We could mention other instances, wherein the feds have committed woe-ful mistakes. Here follows one of them.
It is a considerable time ago, since Mr. Coleman of New-York received authentic information of Duane's real history at Calcutta. It came from a person in that city, who had been in the East Indies, while Duane was there. Mr. Coleman refused to print it. We consider this as weak management; for, when a struggle has begun, we count it folly not to stand straight up to the enemy, and strike as hard as possible! If you will pardon the pedantry of a latin quotation, here it is: Quod neque Tydides, nec Larissens Achilles, Nec decem damuere anni, nec mille carinae , the Recorder did with a single bounce at the gates of the seraglio of Monticello! The federal editors had been battering not merely for decem anni [ten years], but for thirteen , at the character of the great personage; and a miserable hand they made of it, which was proved by his election as president. But, after the Recorder's exhibition of our little mullato president rom, after C. had done for the feds, what they durst not do for themselves, there is no more chance of the second election of the great personage, than there is of the resurrection of his great grandmother.
That sacred band of patriots, the present republican majority of Congress, conceived that they had done every thing, that they had secured their power for a century to come, by the repeal of the internal taxes. In the back countries of this state, there is a great number of German, or Dutch farmers, and they as well as others, were led away with that very shallow project of saving their money, which this repeal held out. They approved highly of the president, until the Recorder of Sept. 1st. had crossed the Blue Ridge. That sheet of paper reversed their feelings. There
NOTE.
* Mr. Prentis must excuse our freedom. He set the first example, in whose pages of scolding. In one place, there is perhaps a sort of compliment. "We do not know, whether C. is an honest man; but he is, at least, a very formidable scoundrel."
is a gentleman, who has seen a great deal of the world, and who has not always been distinguished either by the multiplicity, or the sublimity of his amorous scruples. Our friend was in a remote part of the state, where he has been used to receive this paper. He said that he had no language to describe his astonishment and confusion upon opening that number of the Recorder. In a word, the grand magical operation of the repeal of internal taxes has been completely extinguished in him, as well as in all the rest of the plain white dealing Danamen, in that part of the country. Other correspondents, who are not datamen, tell the same tale.
Such is the impression made by this story. All Virginia having arisen in such horror against it, we wonder that Mr. Coleman should have felt so many scruples at putting an end to Duane, and that Encyclopedia of slander, his far famed Aurora.
We shall not travel the length of New-York, in quest of evidence as to the CALCUTTA POLE, or the gentleman, who was elevated astride of it. Full testimony can be had, within less than five miles of Richmond. Upon this ground, we must ask Duane a few questions.
 1st. Did not you, sir, go to Calcutta, in the character of a private foot soldier?  2d. Were not you, from the beginning, considered as a suspected, and noxious character?  3d. Were not you, during the time you staid in India, prohibited from stirring out of the town of Calcutta?  4th. Were you not finally convicted as a mutineer, and a thief?  5th. Were you not publicly whipped, at least once, but, as we believe, more often?  6th. Were you not publicly elevated upon a pole, by four Indian porters, and paraded, as a spectacle of infamy, through the streets of Calcutta? I dare you, for your soul, to deny the truth of this occurrence?  7th. Was not the literary associate, and the bosom friend of Doctor James Reynolds, was not that outcast, even of criminals, sent back to England in IRON?  8th. Was not Sir John Shore within a very small matter of hanging you?  9th. Do you, the table companion of a great personage, recollect any instance of meanness like his, or of impudence like your own?  10th. Pray, sir, how often do you recollect of your having breakfasted with Sir John Shore? Is it common for persons of his rank to breakfast with mutineers whom they are going to dog, and to astride a pole, and put in the bilboes?  11th. Will you be so good as to tell us the valuable name of that gentleman, at Belle's tavern, from whom you got Bronion's letters; and by what laws, either divine, or human, you found a right of bribing another man's clerk, of stealing another man's keys, and of going into another man's office at midnight, and stealing away his books? 
When Duane has answered these queries, I shall oblige him with a few more. He has hitherto been silent as to the pole which has been so frequently cat in his face. This silence alone would be a sufficient evidence of his guilt. His newspaper, as now conducted, is a nuisance to all parties. I call upon him for a direct answer. To brag of his elevated situation cannot be admissible. Every body will think of THE POLE. Pray, sir, did the porters permit you to put a truss of straw between that piece of wood and your venerable posterior? When persons are astride upon a pole, it is customary for the populace of Calcutta to pelt them with dead cats, and rotten eggs? Were your hands tied behind you; or your legs tied beneath you? Is there a pillory at Calcutta? Did you stand in it? Did the British drummers cut deep when they flogged you; and how long after each whipping did you find it necessary to sleep upon one side? Did you begin to squat in the first, or was it in the le-
contempt? Were you led to the halberts, like a British soldier; or were you tied to the whipping post, like a common thief? How did you keep your health in the bilboes, and in the hold of a British East-Indian, for six or eight long months? And when you saw your family, after an absence of eight years, how did you look at your children?
Thus far had been prepared for the Recorder of last Wednesday. Since that time, we learned that the Aurora of last week has a long article respecting Callender. Duane has proffered an exchange of papers; but this particular number he thought it advisable not to send us. He feared, as we presume, a disagreeable answer. Indeed, it was by mere accident that his attack was heard of. You can hardly name a newspaper, which is less known or noticed than the Aurora, in this our metropolis at Virginia. Sometime this Summer, we enquired at the post office here, what number of Auroras come to town? The answer was thirteen . If we have been misinformed, the post office clerks at Philadelphia can give a certificate of the misstatement; and we pledge ourselves to republish it in the Recorder. Of these thirteen Auroras, two or three went to printers in exchange. Of the rest a part went to gentlemen, who lived in the country, perhaps thirty, or fifty miles, from Richmond. We have not been able to trace more than four subscribers to the Aurora in Richmond, while the Recorder has forty seven, or upwards in Philadelphia. From all this you may judge of what non-importance to a Richmond editor is the friendship or hostility of William Duane. Of his pretended four thousand subscribers, Virginia does certainly comprehend a very diminutive proportion; probably not more than fifty. You may judge what preponderance the circulation of any newspapers can have upon the opinions of eighty or ninety thousand white families! If this statement shall prove incorrect, the reverse can be proved by the "organ of public will," the rider upon a Calcutta Pole, the publisher of stolen letters, the self-recorded house-breaker. What the public will either is, or may hereafter be, we do not presume to say; but we say that it is a very shabby sort of a public will, if it must send to the bilboes, or the whipping post, for an organ.
FROM THE ANTI-DEMOCRAT.
IT is quite as probable as otherwise that Jefferson will treat Paine, as he did Callender—He'll scarcely rent him a part of his house,—I tender you the homage of my high respects for the services you rendered me in vilifying Washington, Adams and the constitution, but, you see how 'tis, Mr. Paine; I did not think you would come "in event,"—J-I-should be happy to see your services rewarded—by "the grandeur of nations;" the only reward a true philosopher wishes.
On second consideration I think it more probable than otherwise, that Paine and Jefferson will not break friends: the executive bought his wit de enough in quarrelling with Callender.
Extra from the Balance, and the Frederick Town Herald—A great deal more about Duane—Answer to a most formidable attack from the Petersburg Republican—Mr. Ralph Wormeley—A few words with the Examiner—and several other articles deferred till our next.
The state of New Jersey elections arrived too late for this number.
A LIE.
RALEIGH, October 19. An important letter from a gentleman in Fayetteville, to the editors, dated the 15th inst. follows. "A letter received here yesterday, by a young gentleman of the Academy, from his father, a very respectable man in George-Town, S. C. dated 11th. says, "this town and neighborhood are all in great alarm. Four French

Frigates from St. Domingo, were the whole of yesterday employed in landing Brigand Negroes at Mr. Aitton's sea shore plantation, Waccamaw, and it is said they have landed not less than one thousand—the militia are marching from all directions against them." We presume those are the frigates that were some time ago at New-York and finding that they could not effect their design there, steered round to take advantage of a more defenceless place."
God forbid, says the Savanna paper, that those cargoes of human butchers should curse our shores with their presence: Letters however, of the 28th ult. from New-York, speak of it as too probable; the report which we mentioned in our last, of their being destined for the southern shores of the United States, is there obtaining additional credit every moment.
[We have seen Charleston papers regularly down to a much later date than that of this letter. They contain not one word of militia marching from all quarters . Pish!]
SINCE writing the above we have seen the following article from the Norfolk Herald of November 4th.
WE have conversed with a respectable gentleman who has been lately through the Carolinas,—He says there is no truth in the various publications concerning the French ships landing negroes to the southward.
FREE NEGROES.
THERE certainly never was a madder method of sinking property, a method more absolutely hostile to the safety of society, than the freak of emancipating negroes. Let any man, who retains the exercise of his senses, reflect what would be the condition of Virginia, providing that this wild scheme were completed, and all the slaves turned loose. The self-evident consequence is that we should be immediately in the midst of a civil war, and there never could nor would be an end of the business, till the last of the black and yellow race was exterminated. This horrid scene could only be consummated with a destruction of property, and a deluge of the blood of white people, from which the commonwealth could hardly recover in the course of a century. The business is going on by degrees, and if the assembly does not take some effectual means for putting an end to it, the emancipators will, first or last be held answerable to their country for some fatal issue of their experiment.
It is vain to urge, in this case, a purity of motives. About twenty years ago, a person in the state of New-York, in a fit of fanaticism, cut the throats of his wife, and children. Upon this catastrophe the novel of Wieland , a book at once horrid and ridiculous, hath since been founded. The purity of this man's motives is likewise incontestable; but that does not render his conduct a just model for imitation.
In Pennsylvania, the society of Friends took the lead in the business. Their proposal excited, in Europe, at least a million of encomiums, nor is it our design to censure, but rather to commend them. But then, the domestic situation of the two States is quite different, or rather, it is exactly opposite. In Pennsylvania, you may travel an hundred miles without meeting so much as a single black face. The negroes do not, in that fortunate country, constitute an hundred and fiftieth part of the people. Their emancipation, therefore, could never be considered as dangerous to the peace of the community. Yet, with all the noise that has been made about it, the chance is that three fourths of these people lived quite as happily, and as plentifully, before their emancipation as after it. For, after all the racket which has been raised about slavery by Tristram Shandy, and five hundred other fanciful writers, it is certain that, in very
numerous cases, the slave is a much more happy being than his master.
We have no scruple in affirming that either the black people should not be emancipated at all, or that they should have a tract of land assigned to themselves in a sequestered part of the continent, where they might live in their own way, without intermixing with the whites. If this were found impracticable, they might be sent to the West Indies, under the guarantee of the French or British government that they should be treated with humanity, and permitted to enjoy their freedom. If Mr. Jefferson had kept any sort of terms with the first consul, if his editors had not so warmly reviled the usurpation of Buonaparte, if they had not recommended the murder of that uncommon and superior man, the new French establishment at the mouth of the Mississippi might have formed an auspicious asylum for this class of people. Provisions will be cheap, and labour dear. The soil is, in general very fertile; and the climate being warmer than that of this state, would agree very well with the constitution of a black person.
In the mean time, what are we to think of the political foresight of our secretary of state, that father of the donation of the north Western Territory? We have formerly quoted his report to Congress concerning the last census. By this report, Mr. Madison appears to consider that the multiplication of free negroes and mulattoes is a desirable object. We wish to know whether there is one farmer out of forty in the commonwealth, who does not consider this plan as an object of alarm. What is the common process of emancipation? A freeman , as soon as he is his own master, marries the female slave of some farmer. He cannot well be prevented from residing with his wife. She feeds him gratis , and from being an useful member of society, he sinks into dissipation, laziness and theft. To this, as to all remarks of a general nature, there are various exceptions. But in a large majority of instances, the picture is correct. As an illustration of the business, we shall present the reader with some part of the history of one of these sons of freedom , as we had it from an eminent and intelligent citizen of Virginia.
There was a black man in one of the north western counties of this state; who had always been remarkably well behaved. He had never received perhaps even a single stroke from an overseer. His master died, and left him free . It was but a short time after this, when he found himself in the county jail. He sent for the gentleman from whom he had the particulars; and who had known him formerly, when a slave. At the prisoner's earnest request, this gentleman became his security for good behaviour; and advanced, if we mistake not, a sum of money to get him out of jail. The issue of the matter was that the negro bound himself to serve his deliverer for two years, or some such term; for he did not make a written memorandum of the particulars. He went to work; but the genius of emancipation , as Curran, or Patrick Henry calls it, began to break out; and the overseer informed the gentleman that it would be necessary to flog him . The gentleman was gone from home, and was to be absent for several months. He sent for the fellow, and addressed him to this effect. "You fancy that you are not my slave. You have refused to obey my overseer. If there is another word of this, you shall be tied up instantly. If you disobey my overseer, he shall flog you, just as if you had always been a slave." The fellow went back to his work; and during the term of his service, his behaviour was without exception. He was the same plain, active, peaceable and industrious man, that he formerly had been. At the end of his service he was dismissed.
NOTES.
* Vid. this affair explained in the Recorder of the 27th. of October last.
† See his defence of Archibald Hamilton Rowan; a most admirable specimen of eloquence!
ed with good cloaths on his back, and a sum of money in his pocket. Some time after, I saw him in this gentleman's house, in poverty, and rags. The free-man had relapsed into his former habits of freedom : In a word, he was prepared for every kind of mischief. This is the general termination of African freedom . We are acquainted with various and respectable exceptions. But such is the common issue. In Pennsylvania, and the eastern states, the number of slaves was so trifling, that their behaviour, when emancipated, became of little consequence. In Virginia, where the blacks form two fifths of the population, all circumstances are the reverse. It is as incontestable as any position in Euclid, that the endless emancipation of slaves is the certain road to public ruin.
Mr. Jefferson was active in obtaining a legislative prohibition of the future importation of slaves into this state. The prohibition was, in itself, extremely proper; and it corresponded, also, with the personal interest of its patron. At that time, Mr. Jefferson's estate was crowded with slaves. The prohibition instantly raised their value by at least twenty percent. Massinissa, the famous Numidian, at the command of the admired Scipio, poisoned his wife Sophonisba, and upon this occasion, the writers of the Universal History very gravely remark that "his virtue and his interest got the better of his love." It is not very clear in what manner virtue can extinguish love. But it would seem that in this instance, his public spirit, or his private interest, had extinguished in Mr. Jefferson his appetite for African variety. I say appetite ; for it would be profaning the name of love to suppose that such a passion could ever glow in the bosom of the president.
By the way, it is somewhat surprising that editors are still to be found of sufficient hardness to deny the existence of Sally, and President Tom. In Virginia, nobody questions the correctness of the statement. Jones, indeed, and Jones alone, seems to require ocular testimony of the genuineness of the mulatto plantation. The account of the attempt upon Mr. Walker's lady stands upon ground equally immovable. Repeated assurances have been received that Mr. Walker himself is ready to give testimony to the point. I could name the gentleman's house, where he repeated the whole story; at no remote distance of time, and with sufficient marks of disgust and indignation. But as the president's friends in this part of the world have given up the debate; the gradual conviction of other states will succeed as a matter of course. To publish a disgusting detail of circumstances, and what is still more painful, to publish private and confidential letters, is a very painful and, in most cases, a very disreputable office. Besides, what good end can be answered by heaping evidence upon evidence, when the party and his friends are silent? I dare them to the uttermost, and "hurl defiance" in their faces? It is needless to roll a millstone upon a rotten egg. The assertions of the Recorder meet with universal credit. If the great personage has the ordinary feelings of an intelligent man, I would not endure his situation for three days, to be the master of America; "although," as general Burgoyne says, "it had the wealth of worlds in its bosom, and a paradise on its surface."
We return to the subject of emancipation. There certainly can be no greater crime against the Virginian State of society than that of exasperating the discontent, or of exciting the revolt of the black people. It is useless to expatiate, upon a subject so horrid. The bloody volumes of Guadalupe and St. Domingo lie open before us. The negroes revolted. They were ten to one of the white people. They committed, in the first instance, a multitude of massacres. A French army arrives; and a general rout ensues. The wretched fugitives are shot by whole droves in their flight; or dragged by hundreds to inevitable execution. Thousands are shipt
for the Spanish main to be sold for digging in the mines. The Spaniards, very wisely, forbid them to land. They have since, and most properly, been rejected at New-York; where they were dying by hundreds on board of a French fleet. It is painful to die by land, but it is truly horrible to perish on ship board, excruciated by thirst, and hunger, suffocated with stench, and trode down by every aggravation of brutality. It is most likely that Richepanse has long since cast five or six thousand of these wretches into the gulph stream. They will serve as a breakfast for the dolphin, or a supper for the shark. There's your fine African republic, of which Miss Samuel Harrison Smith, and all the rest of our typographical brethren, were so happy to print the constitution! You must recollect to have seen this piece of trash. It was within these eighteen months that it ran through all the American newspapers, federal, and anti-federal, the Recorder alone excepted. No stuff of that sort, none of your encomiums upon emancipation, shall ever pollute a press of ours.
Can any body wonder that Virginian negroes have been disposed to revolt, when your newspapers were crammed with the glory, the constitution, and the victories of Toussaint? Upon this point, our printers are incurable; for, although they have been obliged to confess that the black fellow has been sent in irons to France, and that he is now in the bottom of a French jail, they have since killed LeClerc's army with the yellow fever. They have excited a fresh insurrection in St. Domingo, of all which we do not believe much more than one single word. We know that a runaway negro will often rejoice to murder his master; as also, that the yellow fever will kill a Frenchman ! But as for the rest of the story of the second insurrection, we have our reasons for thinking that whether it is true, or false, all such newspapers should be cast into the fire.
In the Recorder of last Spring and Summer, we opposed the printing of such vile news. We published but a very small part of it, and chiefly, for the pleasure of contradicting it. We since found that our conjectures had been right; that there never had been any thing like a battle; that the black fellows ran away from hill to hill, as to be sure, they always will do, when there is any thing like an equal number of white men to oppose them.
In St. Domingo, when they first began their glorious revolution, as the British call King William's son, the negroes had not been in arms for three days, when they quarrelled among themselves. To work they went, and hewed down man, woman, and child, without mercy. Such were the first fruits of their independence!
We have more than once hinted that Meriwether Jones had encouraged ideas of insurrection in his slave Lewis. He used sometimes to hold forth in this style at breakfast. He explained what a vile thing slavery was; and that he was resolved, at one time or another, to set Lewis free. This he never will do, as the man has been more than once arrested by his master's creditors. At first, it was supposed that Jones said all these fine things from a real scatter-brain spirit of benevolence. But a farther acquaintance with his character has discovered that they were only spouted on purpose that Lewis might repeat them in the seraglio, and acquire Jones popularity with the black girls. On one of these occasions, Mr. William Cunningham, who was then a Journeyman printer with Jones, and who now resides in Hanover town, called me aside, and spoke to this effect: "Don't you think that it is very wrong in Jones to talk thus to Lewis? We call ourselves Republicans, and friends of liberty; but all that has nothing to do with speeches like this." The observation does credit to Mr. Cunningham's good sense; and we mention his name, that people may not take all this to be a mere random assertion, and fancy that the charge is incapable of proof.