The recorder (Richmond, Va.), 1803-06-08 00:00:00

THE RECORDER;
PRINTED BY HENRY PACE, & JAMES T. CALLENDER, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA; PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY. SUBSCRIPTION FOUR DOLLARS PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 1803.
THE NEW EDITION OF THE REVISED CODE OF THE LAWS OF VIRGINIA,
BY SAMUEL PLEASANTS, JUD. and HENRY PACE, Richmond, Virginia. Is now ready for Sale, at this Office.
THAT the public may be so far enabled to determine upon the merit of the work, it is thought most ad- visable to publish the
PREFACE.
BY an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, dated December 28th, 1792, it was ordained, that a collection should be made of all such acts of the Assembly, of a public and permanent nature, as were then in force. For this purpose, several lawyers were solicited to superintend the compilation. Mr. Davis, then printer to the commonwealth, did not get the work completed till the close of the year, 1794. It, therefore, embraced all such laws, of a public and permanent nature, as were passed during the session, which commenced November 11th, 1794.
It was unavoidably to happen that this collection would almost immediately become defective; and that its defects were to increase annually, and without intermission. The new laws of the more important class were, for the most part, occupied in altering, or in repealing some of their predecessors. Hence, it was evident, that if a man of business was not regularly supplied with the additional laws, the Revised Code would be quite as likely to lead him into mistakes, as to give him proper information. The consequence was, that every practitioner of the law found it necessary to purchase, annually, the large folio pamphlet, containing the laws of each succeeding assembly. In the course of a man's life, these publications would have swelled into a library; and, what was extremely inconvenient, by far the greater part of them were laws of a local and private nature, which were totally useless, and a mere incumbrance to the practitioner in a court.
This Revised Code, with all its augmenting imperfections, had become extremely scarce. The original price was eight dollars. But it was almost impossible to obtain the book at any price whatever. The constant demand for the Revised Code induced the proprietors of the present work to publish proposals for a second, and improved edition, which was to bring down the collection to late as to the end of the session of December, 1802. In the former edition, therefore, the latest act of Assembly bears date 26th of December, 1794. In the present edition, the latest statute passed upon February 2d. 1802. This makes a difference of more than seven years; and these seven years appear to have been distinguished beyond every former period of the history of the commonwealth, by the multitude and importance of the laws which in that time were passed. To give a complete idea of this fact, we have only to observe, that the edition of Mr. Davis, contained one hundred and eighty-one statutes; and that the present contains THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN. Of these, one hundred and thirty-two were passed within those seven years. They compose, therefore, in point of number, more than two fifths of the whole collection. The other six laws, which make up the total additional number of one hundred and thirty-two, had been passed long before the publication of the former edition of "The Revised Code." Some of them are of very considerable length. They were selected, and inserted by the special advice and desire of Governor Monroe. He was one of the gentlemen who had been appointed to revise the former edition; and it was his opinion that these six acts of assembly had been improperly omitted.
Exclusive of the index, the title page and preface, the present volume contains four hundred and fifty-four pages. Of these, the additional laws all an hundred and twenty-four pages, which is not much less than a third part of the whole text. It is not necessary to say how much more convenient this concise and perspicuous arrangement must be, than to have the trouble of wandering through seven folio pamphlets, in quest of a statute.
These details, without any comment of ours, abundantly prove, had, indeed, other evidence been wanting, the propriety and necessity for a second edition of this book. It is now, also condensed into a much more manageable size than it formerly assumed. No gentleman's pocket can, at least, in the present age, contain a folio volume; and much less would it contain the enormous appendage of seven folio pamphlets. In riding ten, or fifteen miles to a country court-house, a gentleman does not always think it worth while to take a portmanteau along with him; nor indeed is every portmanteau large enough to contain such masses of print and paper. Upon this account, the present edition has been reduced to an octavo size, and printed as closely as possible. Hence, a lawyer, when he sets out for the county court-house, will no longer be obliged to leave his eight
folios behind him, and, amidst a crowd of competitors, to solicit the unfortunate clerk of the court to let him have a sight of the Revised Code. He can now put his hand into his pocket, and take out a gentle, portable, octavo volume, which comprehends his former library, disencumbered of all its rubbish. The type on which the present edition is printed, is either the same, or almost exactly the same with that of the last, and most esteemed London edition of Coke upon Littleton. This circumstance is mentioned here, because a complaint had been made, in one of the Richmond newspapers, by some nameless writer, that the type was too small. You cannot, at the same time, enjoy the cool, bracing breeze of winter, and the verdant vegetation of summer. You cannot, in the same book, unite the advantages of a folio, and of an octavo. If this edition had been printed upon a type as large as that of Mr. Davis, it must have been one third part dearer than it is; for the volume, including the new index, and the bottom notes, positively contains one third part more of matter than the former edition. The price to subscribers, must have been raised to nine dollars; and to non-subscribers, to twelve dollars. Very few purchasers will regret that the publication can be had at a price so much more reasonable.
The former edition laboured under more than one material defect. It was often impossible to tell at what time a statute had originally passed. Put the case, that a deed was to be contested, which bore date in 1760. It is clear that this transaction could not be affected by laws made posterior to its date. It became a question how long the law had existed, or, when a predecessor to it, or to some part of it, had been passed in, perhaps, a different form. For instance, of chapter CXXXVII, a considerable part appears to have been enacted at different periods; one part in 1786, others in 1791. In the old edition of the Revised Code, the law is dated December 26th 1792.
The bottom notes of the new edition give notice, that various parts of it were in force before, although the whole had been covered by the subsequent statute of 1792. The same notes give intimation, that this law has been amended by another, of 1801. Again, chapter CXXXVII bears date the 26th of December, 1792. But we learn that the first clause of the statute existed in 1762, that is to say, thirty years before. The second clause, which is by far the longest in the act, had been taken from a former statute, dated October, 1770. From not knowing how far back the force of these laws extended, the court was often cast into irretrievable confusion. To discover how far back a statute extended, was often a work of great time and difficulty; and perhaps the requisite apparatus of old laws could not always be had. Gentlemen of the bar assure us, that the bottom notes, which are to be found at the foot of almost every page of this edition, are, themselves alone, fairly worth the whole price of the book. We have neither received, nor asked permission to publish the name of the supposed author of these notes. He is, however, a gentleman whose name has long been familiar to every lawyer in Virginia. He has long filled more than one interesting department in the system, and the science of jurisprudence. In point of legal knowledge and abilities, his reputation is inferior to none.
All the gentlemen of the law, with one voice, complained of the imperfection of the former index. A new one has been entirely wrote over again, and at a very considerable expense for the present edition. In the former, there were, under the letter A, only twenty six different heads. In this edition there are forty nine. In the former, letter S contained only twenty-five heads. This has forty-seven. These particulars are mentioned to show the superior perspicuity and completeness of the present index; and how greatly it must facilitate an accurate examination of the contents of the volume. The index contains seventy-two pages. The text of the laws, exclusive of the preface and title page, contains as above mentioned, four hundred and fifty-four; so that there is one page of index for about every six pages of text. A larger number of references would have been useless, and have served rather to embarrass, than assist the reader. This laborious part of the work was drawn up by Mr. James Rind, who had been employed as an assistant, by the supervisors of the former edition. We have every reason to think that his performance will give entire satisfaction.
This volume, the index excepted, was completely printed off several months ago. But it was impossible to deliver the book until this time, because the bad state of Mr. Rind's health did not permit him to furnish the index sooner. This apology will, no doubt, be considered as sufficient for a long delay of publication, which it was impossible for the editors to prevent.
It would be the summit of frivolity to expatiate upon the importance of a work like this; because it is plain, that every family in the commonwealth, should, if possible, possess a copy of it. To judges, magistrates, and lawyers, it is indispensably necessary; and every private gentleman, who wishes to understand either his own rights, or those of his neighbours, ought to be conversant with its contents.
Richmond, April 17, 1803.
WILLIAM MCAY, CLOCK AND WATCH MAKER, MAIN-STREET, RICHMOND,
TAKES this method to inform the public, that he has just received by a late arrival from Europe, a large and general assortment of GOLD and SILVER WATCHES. Among which are elegant repeating watches, lady's gold do. Also an elegant assortment of seals, keys, chains, &c. He has likewise a few good CLOCKS for sale. All of which he offers to dispose of on as reasonable terms for cash, as they can be purchased in any part of the United States.
He returns his sincere thanks to his friends for the liberal encouragement he has met with since his residence in this city.
Clocks and watches repaired on the shortest notice.
May 6, 1803.
gw '6
NOTICE.
THE co-partnership of Adams and Fisher, was, on the 12th of last month dissolved by mutual consent. All those having claims against that concern, will apply to James Fisher for settlement, and those indebted will make immediate payment as no further indulgence can be given.
RICHARD ADAMS. JAMES FISHER.
N. B. James Fisher having purchased the stock of goods belonging to Adams and Fisher, intends carrying on the business on for his own account. The assortment of goods is equal to any in that line.
Richmond, April 6th, 1803.
(if.)
RICHMOND MILLS.
THE subscriber hereby informs the public, that at length, after much trouble and expense, he has nearly completed one of his Mills on the James River Canal, in which there are two pair of Burr stones, for manufacturing WHEAT, and two pair of Cologne stones, now ready to grind CORN.
That the inconveniences which might arise from delay and difference of measures may be avoided, CORN will be received only by weight, at fifty pounds to the bushel, and a supply of MEAL and HOMINY will always be kept ready to give in exchange, at the rate of eighty-five pounds of Meal, or ninety-two pounds of Hominy, for one hundred pounds of Corn.
After the loss of weight by cleaning, and evaporation in grinding is deducted, the toll on Meal will be only about one tenth, and on Hominy one twentieth; it will, therefore, be much to the interest of those who keep horses, to have all their Corn ground.
As the subscriber is now providing a Fan and Screen for the purpose of cleaning the Corn effectually before it is ground, and as the Meal will be made from the best Corn only, and none but such as is merchantable will be received; he hopes that general satisfaction will be given.
THOMAS RUTHERFORD.
N. B. The deduction for Storage and Shrinkage on Corn, deposited to be exchanged for Meal and Hominy, will be made as moderate as possible. January 1, 1803.
GREY MOGUL.
A BEAUTIFUL DAPPLE GREY, six years old this spring, fifteen hands and an half high, will stand the balance of the ensuing season at my stable, near Rockers; to be let to Mares at the moderate price of Twelve dollars; to be discharged by the payment of ten within the season. Five dollars will be expected to soon as the mare is covered. Corn will be taken at the market price in discharge of the season, with half a dollar to the Groom.
May 10, 1803.
ISAAC AELLEN.
PEDIGREE.
Mogul was got by Quicksilver; Dam by Sprightly Cub, a son of old Cub; Sprightly Cub's Dam was got by True v. high, on a thoroughbred Mare; Grand Dam of Mogul was a full bred Mare, the property of Mr. Richards, esq. of Culpepper, remarked for having produced a number of fine colts; also the Dam of Mr. Richard's celebrated running Mare, by Shark.
A QUANTITY OF STONE LIME
In Tierses, for sale by
WILLIAM DAVIDSON,
Who has just received a large quantity of excellent IRISH POTATOES which he will sell cheap for cash.
Richmond, April 24, 1803.
NOTICE.
I SHALL be obliged, very shortly, to leave this State for a few months. Should any person having demands against me, with to have them previously adjusted, I shall be glad if they will bring them forward immediately, for that purpose.
As the patronage I have received from my Friends and the Public, since my commencement in Business, has fully equalled my most flattering expectations, I beg leave, with due sensibility and respect, to offer in return my most grateful acknowledgements.
During my absence Mr. William H. Fitzhugh will receive and pay money, and settle all outward transactions and accounts on my behalf. The business of Book-binding, in all its various branches, will be carried on by Mr. Samuel Combs, who will execute all orders with promptitude and fidelity.
There is now on hand, and will be constantly kept up a complete assortment of Stationery, and of all kinds of Blank and Ruled Books used in Mercantile, Legal and Private business.
JOHN PUMFREY.
Richmond, May 21st, 1803.
10
BURR MILL-STONE MANUFACTORY.
THE subscriber takes this mode of returning his thanks to his former patrons, and informing the public in general, that he has (by desire of his friends) re-commenced the MANUFACTURING of BURR MILL-STONES, and having furnished himself with a supply of the best materials, and having had sixteen years experience in the business in Baltimore, Petersburg, and Richmond, hopes to be able to give satisfaction to his employers.
The stones he will warrant to be as good as any in the United States. Any orders left with Capt. WILLIAM PENNOCK, Norfolk; Capt. WILLIAM CHAMBERS, Staunton; Mr. WILLIAM HAY, Wythe County; or Mr. ROBERT MOORE, Petersburg, shall be duly attended to, and country produce received in payment at the customary prices.
TWO APPRENTICES will be taken to the above business, and short time required. WILLIAM DAVIDSON. Richmond, Jan. 10th 1803. (if.)
N. B. For sale, PLAISTER of PARIS, in stone or ground, for the improvement of land, with directions for the use thereof.
RICHMOND MILLS.
THE public are hereby respectfully informed, that we shall continue to furnish Meal and Hominy for next quarter at the same prices as the last, viz. for Meal per bushel of 50 lbs. 38 3/4, Hominy per bushel of 50 lbs. 35 3/4. And they are requested to take notice, that these articles will only be delivered hereafter to tickets which may be had at our counting-house.
T. RUTHERFORD & Co.
March 31st, 1803.
TUCKER'S BLACKSTONE.
GENTLEMEN in any part of Virginia, who have fabrication papers in their hands, are earnestly requested to send them immediately by post to the publishers in Philadelphia. The work is in great forvardness, and will, it is presumed, be ready to deliver early in the fall, before which time it will be the interest of those who intend to subscribe to leave their names with the publishers. Since the Prospectus was first issued, Judge Tucker has made a selection of the most applicable of Mr. Christian's Notes, which will be printed under their proper references.
The printer of all the Virginia papers will please to insert the above one month, and send their accounts to Mr. S. Pleasants, Richmond, a drafted to A. Small.
May 10, 1803.
rm. '3.
BURR MILL-STONE MANUFACTORY.
THE subscriber returns sincere thanks to his friends and the public generally, for the very great encouragement he received in his line of business since his commencement in Richmond. He has lately received a large supply of excellent Burr-Stones at his manufactory, and does not hesitate to say, that he will sell Burr Mill-Stones as cheap as they were ever sold in the United States; he will warrant them to be of the best quality, and give ample security (if required) for their performance. Country produce will be taken in payment, or a short credit given; he has almost every sized Mill-Stones ready for delivery; also PLAISTER of PARIS ground and in the stone.
CARSON HOLIDAY.
Richmond, Jan. 25th, 1803.
(if.)

The following miscellaneous remarks have been inserted as a relief to the reader from the fatigues of political details. They refer to subjects of universal interest, and which, in the most expressive manner, demand reformation.
On Saturday, the 12th of March, 1796, two stage coaches, set out at six o'clock in the morning, from Freuchtown to Newcastle. The distance is only seventeen miles, and yet the drivers did not reach the latter place till twelve o'clock. They took six hours to travel a space, which a healthy active man would have walked over with ease, in four and an half. The road through which the coaches had to go, was very tolerable. One of these drivers, when near Newcastle, attempted a kind of quicker pace than usual. The wretched harnessing instantly gave way; the two foremost horses broke loose, and set off at full gallop. One of them was near breaking his neck.
When the passengers arrived at Newcastle, the wind was fair, the tide was making, and the boat for Philadelphia was ready and waiting; yet they were detained an hour and an half. The only conceivable reason for this delay was, that the innkeeper might scrub the passengers out of the price of a dinner.
At last the boat got off, and with a fair wind came up within less than two miles of Gloucester point; but the wind and tide failing, the vessel was obliged to come to anchor. If she had left Newcastle but an hour more early, she might have come with ease to the wharf at Chestnut street, by six o'clock in the evening.
Another time was expected to begin about one o'clock in the morning. The master, whose name is Mitchell, fate us; drinking grog, playing at cards with some passengers, and making an intolerable noise, till the hour above mentioned; he then went to bed. About four in the morning, some of his men came down to tell him that the tide was ebbing, and that the boat was run aground. It was a long time before they could make him understand them.
Seven or eight of the passengers, who were anxious to get forward, were obliged to pay half a dollar each to the sailors to row them ashore. If the owners of these boats are capable of shame, which is extremely doubtful, they must blush at such multiplied instances of negligence, insolence and extortion.
Finally, the boat came up to Arch-street wharf on Sunday evening, with the tide; having performed a passage in twenty eight hours , which, with the utmost ease, might have been executed in six .
The above appeared in a Baltimore newspaper. Some of the parties felt themselves angry, and said so; but they did not attempt to contradict the statement, for it was only a specimen of their daily practice.
Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Philadelphia, to his friend in Baltimore, dated April, 25th. 1796.
In the Maryland Journal of the 28th of March last, I observed an account of an expedition from Freuchtown to Newcastle in the stage coach, and from the latter place to Philadelphia by the stage boat. The writer complains that the coach took six hours to drive seventeen miles over a tolerable road; that the boat spent twenty-eight hours on a voyage up the Delaware, which might have been ended in six hours ; that Mitchell, the master of the boat, got drunk; that his sailors fleeced some of the passengers, &c. &c.
This malcontent must undoubtedly be a foreigner, otherwise he never would have attempted to grumble, for two solid reasons. First, because, with a few exceptions, brutality, negligence and slopping, are as naturally expected by people accustomed to travelling in some parts of America, as a mouth, a nose and two eyes, are looked for in a man's face. Secondly, because legal redress, and individual reformation, are equally hopeless. The former would require such a waste of time and money, with so extreme an uncertainty of the issue, that no person of common prudence ever thinks of it. As for the second, there are exceptions, both as to landlords and drivers, between this place and Baltimore; and others may be found in different parts of the country. But the blanks in this lottery are more numerous than the prizes; and to hope for reformation or amendment of character among the worthless, would be the most visionary of all visions.
Thus standing the case, this gentleman, instead of grumbling, should, rather be very thankful to have rode from Freuchtown to Newcastle, without getting his limbs broke, and his trunk, if he had one with him, scattered to pieces, or pitched a yard deep into the mire. Mitchell, the boatman from
Newcastle to Philadelphia, did not endanger the lives of his passengers. He only kept them about five times longer than was necessary on the water. If his sailors took half a dollar a piece for rowing some of the passengers on shore, they should have been very grateful that the boat was not over set. Permit me to relate some of my own trials and troubles of this nature.
In June 1794, I had occasion to go to New-York. Two rival coaches came near the town of Brunswick; at the same time. The one in which I was, got the start of the other by a few yards; and entered the town at full gallop. I expected every moment when the coach would break down, or some of the horses fell dead under the fatigue. Most of our passengers were as fond of this triumph as the driver himself, and did every thing in their power to encourage him to break their necks. At Elizabeth-town, a young lady, well mounted, came up behind us, and attempted to ride by. Six or eight of us instantly raised a huzzah, frightened her horse, and almost unseated her. On attempting to expedite, I soon found that I might presently be treated still worse than I was. The whole cargo roared out, What? Suffer any body to take the road of us? They reviled the lady in the most shameful style. One of them I learned to be a merchant in New-York, and a man not of an obscure situation. A second was a quaker. I tried to argue with him on the principles of hospitality, on the violence and cowardice of hazarding the life or limbs of a fellow creature for in a jockey piece of etiquette. I had a surly answer, and was, at the same time, taken up by a clergyman from the north of Ireland, who constantly kept himself in a state of elevation, during the last sixty miles of our journey.
At New-York, I was lodged with four others, in a back room, on the ground floor. This was a dirty hole about three yards and an half square. What can be the reason for that vulgar hogging custom, so common in America, of squeezing three, six or eight beds into one room? No such thing is seen in the British islands. Among genteel or decent people, every person has not only a bed, but even a room to himself, and very frequently locks the door.
The back yard, into which the window of our cell opened, was about six yards wide every way. Within this space, and just opposite to our window, stood a little brick kitchen, along side of it, an edifice of the most necessary nature. They were separated by a brick partition about six or nine inches thick. The delicacy of this arrangement must irritate every person of superior taste. Having occasion to visit the temple, I found that the roof had tumbled in. It was about noon, and a very sultry day, and before I could get out again, I had well nigh fainted with the most horrible stench that ever assailed my nostrils.
If the continent of America were only ten miles broad, there might be some excuse for jamming buildings together in such a disgusting, awkward and dangerous way. I call it disgusting, as the scene just described might turn the stomach of a Hottentot. It is awkward, for when these receptacles of filth come to be emptied, matters are often so badly laid out, that the only passage to get the ratiocines away, is through the very middle of the house itself. Such is not universally the mode of purgation, but it occurs, in too many instances. Now it is surely awkward to be thus, almost in a literal sense, entrenched up to the teeth in human excrement; and it is the more extraordinary, as the Americans are highly and justly commended for the general easiness of their domestic economy. Can any body wonder that a city, under the torrid degree of latitude, should be visited by the yellow fever, when a part of its inhabitants are permitted to render it a centre of putrefaction? The danger of squeezing houses together like herrings in a barrel, is readily seen in cases of fire. A house burnt down last winter in Philadelphia, near the corner of Arch-street; and such was its situation that it was either almost, or entirely inaccessible to fire-engines. I know a city in Europe larger than Philadelphia, that did not suffer so much by fire in fifteen years, as I have repeatedly seen the latter do in a single evening. Excuse this digression. I now return to my travels.
In coming back from New-York to this city, I preferred going by water. The master of a stage-coach, which took us over an arm of the sea to New-Jersey, gave an eminent proof of attention to his duty. He suffered our boat to be very nearly run down on a smooth calm sea, in broad day light, by a vessel of much larger bulk than ours, that was coming up in full sail. At last, when within perhaps twenty yards of her, the shouting of her crew awaked him from his torpor; but after all, we missed only by a few feet a stroke that inevitably would have sent us to the bottom. Thus were the lives of twenty or thirty people brought into the most imminent risk, because the boat was entrusted with a blockhead, who had not common sense enough to drive a dung cart.
At Annapolis, part of our baggage was forgotten, notwithstanding the injunctions which
we gave, and the assurances which we received, that the whole would be carefully packed. So great was the politeness of the house, that, though we had paid for seats over night, the coach was on the point of setting off without giving notice to five or six of us, who were in considerable danger of being left behind.
In our passage across Jersey, the drivers did every thing in their power, to kill the horses, by making them go at a hand gallop for six or seven miles together, without stopping, over a deep sandy road, and in a very hot day. If the owners of those coaches had the least sense even of their own interest, they would flog such barbarous villains, in place of paying them wages.
At Bordentown, we went into a second boat, where we met with very sorry accommodation. This was about four o'clock in the afternoon. We had about twenty miles down the Delaware to reach Philadelphia. The captain who had a most provoking tongue, was a boy about eighteen years of age. He and a few companions, dispatched a dozen or eighteen bottles of porter. We ran three different times against other vessels that were coming up the stream. The women and children lay all night on the bare boards of the cabin floor. A little boy, one of the passengers from New-York, lingered at the brink of the grave, during several months, in consequence of this mode of travelling. We reached Arch-street wharf, about eight o'clock on the Wednesday morning, having been about sixteen hours on a voyage of twenty miles. Compared to such navigators as those two, whom I have just given an account of, even poor Mitchel was an Anson or a Columbus.
Print the above. The press cannot do better than to describe scenes of inhospitality and twirling that could hardly be expected in a Turkish caravanserai.
The RECORDER.
RICHMOND.
JUNE 30. 1803.
ROBERT BRUCE. STATE OF MANUFACTURES IN VIRGINIA. NORTH WESTERN DONATION. THE ARMORY. THE PENITENTIARY. THE TOBACCO WARE HOUSE. COLONEL MAYO'S BRIDGE.
ROBERT I. king of Scotland was one of the ablest and most celebrated monarchs of the fourteenth century. When he assumed the title of king, almost the whole country was in possession of the English. He assembled a few adherents, as determined and desperate as himself. By a series of the most heroic efforts, he finally drove the usurpers out of his dominions; and, as Hume expresses it, he conducted his countrymen "to liberty, to victory, and to vengeance."
There is a vulgar Scots tradition that, having been beaten in eleven battles, Bruce took shelter, after the last of them, in a solitary house, or cottage, where he observed a spider attempting to fix the end of a thread against the wall. The thread broke eleven times, but in the "twelfth attempt, the spider was successful. "Shall I fail the king, "have less patience and fortitude" than this little insect?" He resumed his arms, reassembled his partisans, and gained the twelfth battle.
The story is a fable, but the moral is good; and in no country was ever its application more wanted, or more desirable than in Virginia. We have neither the spirit nor the perseverance of Bruce and the spider. By the most unpardonable negligence, we have cast aside a great part of those advantages that nature had set before us. New-England, with a barren soil, and five months per annum of ice and snow, is crowded with manufactures, and the final ces of the several states are in a reputable condition. New-York abounds with manufactures. Her treasury is full, and it is but a few years since her citizens paid a single state tax. Pennsylvania is still more distinguished for the industry of her people, and their progress in all kinds of manufactures. They have got several turnpike roads, such as that from Philadelphia to Lancaster. This road would not be despised in the best improved county in England. Nine years ago, the state had sixty six paper mills.
Proceeding to the secondary state of Maryland, we meet with an overflowing treasury, and a single town, which contains at least as many inhabitants, and does at least as much business, as Alexandria, Norfolk, Peterburgh and Richmond put together. New York is said to have about fifty thousand people, Philadelphia sixty thousand, and Baltimore at least twenty thousand; while the metropolis of poor Virginia contains only four or five thousand people, of whom one half are black. The foreign trade of the city is large enough considering the size of it, but a trifle when compared with that of Baltimore. The principal manufacture is let the reader guess what. For we have promised to many of our friends never to write another word upon so ticklish, so very ticklish a subject.
On a survey of Virginia, there is perceived an immense tract of territory, of which by far
the greater part is yet uncultivated. There is not a single thing deserving the name of manufactures. Wheat and tobacco, race horses and a little cotton, engross almost all that deserves the name of industry. In the mean time, the public revenue has often been raised in the most oppressive and squandered in the most shameful manner. According to the universal report and belief of Richm'd, the capital cost at least twice and probably three times as much as it is worth. Because the state could not pay her own debts, (because it is proper to give your estate to any body rather than your creditors, the wise assembly, with Madison at their head, made congress a donation of the north western territory. Such mock legislators were much fitter for the cells of Williamsburgh than the benches of an assembly room.*
The armory is another pitfall of Virginian finance. If the house and machinery had been the work of an individual, and if he had made a present of them to the public, they would not have been worth acceptance; because fire arms can be had, in private American manufactory, at a cheaper rate than in this armory.
The Penitentiary presents another brilliant instance of the wisdom and frugality of our government. It is expected that a residence in this mansion, will improve the morals of its inhabitants. Three of the felons broke out some time ago. Two of them fled to North Carolina, where they immediately stole some horses, and brought them back to Virginia. The gentlemen have since been reconducted to their former lodgings. This is the progress of reformation in the penitentiary. Instead of eighteen pence a piece for a halter, these criminals have already cost the state abundance both of expence and trouble; and as they are to have a second trial, they will cost us a great deal more. As for the reformation of a horsestealer, you may as well speak about the chastity of a bawd, or the humanity of the lieutenant of a British press-gang. The whipping post and the gallows are quite sufficient for the substantial purposes of justice, without the enormous apparatus of a building, that has cost an hundred thousand dollars, or perhaps much more.
As for the armory, it is pretended that so many thousands muskets are to be manufactured per annum. This requires ready money, and the treasury is often empty for five months in the year. Hence in such a dearth of money, the state cannot purchase the materials requisite for the manufacture of arms. The workmen, or some of them, are at present paid with drafts on the treasury. These drafts they are obliged to sell at a discount for ready cash. One of them, as we are informed, came lately into the store of Mr. Joseph, a Jew, who resides a little above the bridge. He produced one of those receipts. He wanted goods for one part of it, and money in advance for the rest. This would very likely occasion a discount of ten, or fifteen per cent. The New-England workmen will not stay upon such treatment; or at least, if they do, their wages must be raised in proportion. The situation selected for the armory is remarkably injudicious. In the war of 1775, the British, under Arnold, came up to Richmond, and destroyed the cannon foundery at Wetham, six miles farther up the river. But if this foundery had been placed at Staunton, it would have been safe. We cannot be sure but what a second army that is five times stronger than the former, may come up the river, and their first object will be to demolish the armory. But if this building had been erected at Staunton, or even sixty miles above Richmond, there would have been ample time for collecting a body of troops to repel them. At Staunton, the New Englanders would have found a cooler and more healthy climate, one more suited to their constitutions than this. Many of them complain very much of bad health.
NOTE.
* Some months ago, there appeared in this paper a statement of the present opulence of the treasury of Connecticut. We long since, and more than once, adverted to a donation, or something very like it, which congress, a few years ago, made to that state! This consisted of about twelve hundred thousand acres of land. The tract stretches along the southern bank of lake Erie, and is fully as large as Connecticut itself. After this mad donation, by Virginia, can any body wonder that our treasury is often empty for six months in the year, although the people, and especially the store-keepers, are harassed with oppressive taxes. When this glorious act of generosity was explained in the Prospect before Us , it appeared that not one person in five thousand had ever thought or heard of the matter. An able lawyer in Richmond assured the author that he had glanced at this act an hundred times, without ever once thinking of what it meant. Such is the worse than Egyptian darkness in which the minds of the people are involved! Having long since explained this affair at full length, we shall say nothing more at present, upon so bright an instance of Apollonian facility. That Mr. Madison was the father of the donation, we have been assured by the late general Mason, who spoke of it with the purest abhorrence, and by another general, who then sat in the assembly, and who resisted the passage of the law.

The new tobacco house on the canal would alone present a complete illustration of the wisdom and economy of our executive council; and of the vigilance and sagacity with which our illustrious assembly attends to the expenditure of public money. Men of Virginia! Take notice! I am only going to tell you what is inconceivable. The tobacco warehouse was begun two years ago. The building has, for a long time, been stoop, for want of money to finish it. You all know that when a thick stone wall is left unfinished, and without a cover, the rain is absorbed in the crevices, washes out the lime, and destroys the masonry. When a private man is building a house, if any accident stops its progress, the universal practice is to cover the top of the walls with turf, or slabs of stone to keep out the rain. But nothing of that sort is to be seen at the half built tobacco warehouse. If the last assembly had ordered such a covering to be placed on the top of the walls, they would have been quite as well employed as they were in passing impertinent votes about the virtues of PRESIDENT PAPER TEN-DER, of a man who professes the utmost respect and gratitude for his creditor, and, at the same moment, attempts to pay him with a falling per pound.*
The new tobacco warehouse should have been built of brick. This would have saved two thirds, perhaps, of the money, which has been expended. The building could, in that case, have been completed in six or eight months; whereas, at the end of two years, it is standing half finished, without so much as the protection of slabs, or turf, to save the walls from being soaked with rain. This is the way in which public business is done! This is the way that your money goes! This is your precious republican executive council! And this is the manner in which your delegates attend to your business, after all the fine promises which they make over oceans of whiskey. Not one of these profound sages has ever been seen in Richmond at a gaming table! All the trumpets in the city with that the assembly could sit per annum from the first day of January to the last of December.
If the ware house had been finished, the state might have been, at this moment, receiving fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars a year for lodging tobacco. Instead of that, a very large sum has been expended, and the work is standing still, and has been so, for many months, perhaps for a twelve month. The sublime genius of Alexander McRae is too much engaged at Loo, to think of such trifles. In the session of December, 1800, this firm democrat told me, one morning in Goodall's, that he had won two hundred dollars at cards, since the beginning of the session. The answer was "that is a very good story; but I advise you never to tell it again." I had once wrote out, and actually prepared for the press, the history of a certain letter addressed to Mr. Oliver Wolcott. This letter was intercepted by some democrats, just like the far famed dispatches of Liston, the British ambassador. The letter itself, containing nine or ten pages, was read to me by a democrat. In the remarks, I had said something about thirty nine lashes, but a friend interposed, and the story was suppressed, after it was just going to press.
We return to the tobacco ware house, that inexhaustible fund of praise and admiration. Many people wonder why the house was begun, (we are not certain that it will ever be built,) of stone. They say that brick would have answered the purpose quite as well; that there was no occasion for making this warehouse stronger than its neighbours of brick or wood; that, by this means, much money might have been saved; and that, by this time, a considerable sum could have been collected by way of house rent, for the lodging of tobacco. These grumblers farther affirm that a state tax was long since imposed upon and paid by the planters for the express purpose of building a ware house. They offer to prove that the the raisers of tobacco are very great sufferers by the want of such a warehouse; and that the conduct of the assembly, and still more of the executive council, is ungrateful and infamous. They observe that they have some excuse for the assembly, because from ignorance, and want of a regular education, not one tenth part of that body is fit for public business. Daniel Sheffey of Wythe county is undoubtedly, and in every sense of the word, one of the best of them.† Last
NOTES. * The demos of Richmond are hard put to it, in defending their hero. Some of them say, that he had just before sold land, and had been paid with depreciated paper. Others affirm that the tender laws afford him a complete vindication. On the same ground, because another person has picked my pocket, I am entitled to pick yours. But the fulsome hypocritical epistle from Jefferson himself to Mr. Jones, (Vid. last Saturday's Recorder,) cuts up the roots of any sort of vindication that could be thought of.
† Every man has his blind side. This respectable gentleman, for such he is, trimmed a little, in the last session, about the public printer's business. Eighteen months ago, he told me that delegates were sent to the assembly to save public money; that it was their duty to employ the cheapest bidder; pro-
winter, in presence of one of the editors of this paper, he made the following tremendous and most astonishing observation. He said that—
Here the compositors give notice that they cannot find room for another line. For the remainder of this article, you must have patience till Saturday.
Note continued. viding he could do their work as well as any body else; and that no honest man could set his face against such a principle. When the cross-eyed delegate, one Brokenborough, proposed that Mr. Pace's memorial should not be read in the assembly, it is said that Mr. Sheffey opposed this most unprecedented, irregular, and scandalous motion. He did not, however, adhere so firmly to the reduction of the salary as he might have done. By accepting the proposals of Mr. Thomas Nicolson or Mr. Pace, the same business could have been done for twelve hundred dollars, which has since cost the commonwealth two thousand seven hundred. This affords a capital evidence of the economy, and fidelity of the Jeffersonian regiment. By paying for the whole printing work, at the common rates, here must have been two thousand five hundred dollars; or most probably three thousand dollars per annum, saved to the public. But when some of you accept of a pint of flinking, red hot whiskey for your votes, what is to be expected from such a candidate, or what kind of service have such constituents a title to demand? When writing upon this head, I feel myself immersed in an ocean of ignorance, of absurdity and corruption, which has neither bounds nor bottom. Even the salaries of our judges are in arrears; although it is generally understood that they fulfil their duty with great diligence and integrity, with strict impartiality, and with exemplary independence. Yet, at the same time, while men of probity and abilities must wait long, and long enough before they receive their shabby pittance, an executive council which is not worth its room, is paid with the most rigid punctuality. Nobody thinks of a comparison between the characters of judge Jones, or of judge Tyler, and that of George Hay. Nobody fancies that judge Roane has any kind of resemblance to that quondam candidate for a mad house, Alexander Macrae, who is mentioned in the county court of Henrico, as a kind of MARplot pleader.
There is in this office, a bill of exceptions , (I think that is the name of the paper,) by which it appears that Alexander Macrae was for a whole winter, an associate in a club at LOO. The company were poverty-struck ! Hence it was agreed that they should take each other's notes for what might be lost, and pay when they were able. I speak from the records of court. And I beg leave to ask the impartial and respectable part of my fellow citizens, whether such a reptile as Macrae is fit to be entrusted with a vote in the disposal of three hundred thousand dollars per annum of your public money? Citizens! When you are to sell a horse, or a hoghead of tobacco, you invariably behave like men of business. You wriggle to the last penny. But when a tax is levied, as it sometimes happens to be, in the most oppressive manner, and when it is applied in the most absurd manner, you never think of grumbling. What is the armory, which has cost, or will cost two hundred thousand dollars? This includes twenty thousand dollars for the removal of clay, which the adjacent bricklayer would have been glad first to purchase, and then to remove at his own expence. More than fifteen thousand dollars of the money have been paid out. The James River canal company have since been removing additional clay. But instead of their paying for the clay, you pay them for the removal of it.
The penitentiary, the barracks, the tobacco warehouse, would each of them require a pamphlet Citizens beyond the Blue-Ridge! this is the way in which your beloved dollars are expended.
THE buildings of Richmond and Baltimore, New-York, and Philadelphia, contain in their construction so great a proportion of wood, that if a flame has once fairly caught, nothing but the most vigorous efforts can stop its progress.
If the ground floor of one of our houses catches fire, a family residing in the second floor, may run the utmost hazard of being either suffocated by the smoke, or burnt alive in the flames. Their only shift is to jump out of the windows, at the expence of breaking half their bones, unless, which does not always happen, ladders are brought to their assistance. Even in that case, from hurry and confusion, the risk is considerable. In many places, houses are heaped together in such a manner, that in case of a fire, either exit or access would be almost impracticable.
Every man who sees a conflagration in an American town, must remark the
facility with which it spreads from one roof to another. This is one of the great and leading causes, which make our fires so destructive. The first reason is, that our houses are roofed with wood; and secondly, there is a most absurd and stupid practice among house-carpenters, that, in Boston, New-York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore has multiplied the hazard in a ten-fold proportion.
When two houses of equal height are built close together, it is very common for the planks of each roof to cross over and join with those of the other. By this means, whenever one roof kindles, the flame, if it gets not opposition, from a fire engine, spreads immediately to the next. In Dublin, the houses are roofed with slate or tile, and each roof is separated from others by a little parapet of stone, which is raised about nine or twelve inches above the roof, being in fact, the top of the partition wall between the two buildings. This impenetrable boundary makes the conflagration spread far more tardily than it otherwise would do.
When a traveller from Europe first lands in the United States, he is amazed at the blindness and infatuation of persisting in the practice of running the wooden roofs across each other, a practice so pregnant with danger and ruin. A few years of habit reconcile him to it; and if he builds a house for himself, he is not ambitious of looking wiser than other people.
We often hear of fires in London, and they are sometimes very terrible. But London is about seven times more populous than the three largest seaports in America put together; so that if we compare the number of buildings with the number of fires, in these different places, it will be found that those of London are of much inferior frequency.
In Edinburgh, the houses are far more durably built than in London or Dublin. In the two latter, the walls are almost universally formed of brick, and the stairs of wood. In Edinburgh the walls and stairs are of stone, and every stair is arched quite round with stone, so firmly compacted, that the wooden parts of the house might be consumed twenty times over, and the stair-case itself remain without damage. No wooden roof is to be seen; and the slate roofs are invariably separated by a parapet wall. The result from this style of architecture is, that a well built house can hardly burn to the ground, on any account. A dirty chimney may kindle, cause occasional alarm, and produce petty damage, but the burning out of a family is a most uncommon accident.
[For obvious reasons, we request particular attention to the following article. It shews, in a striking light, the blessed consequence of abolition societies , of emancipation , and of the permission or rather encouragement, for the multiplication of African brothels. Instead of their being imprisoned these villains should have had something worse than bare hanging. We hold in perfect contempt that juridical coquetry, which has overrun the continent, and which affects to be so mightily afraid of hanging a letter-stealer, a horse-stealer, or a house-breaker; and surely even these are comparatively innocent, when we think of such wretches as those just mentioned. To a negro mere imprisonment is almost nothing. You might as well put a horse in jail. Providing his belly is tolerably crammed, he cares very little about it. Nay, some of them, even of those that have indulgent masters, would rather stay in jail than come out of it. Many of them would much rather rot in jail upon straw than be obliged to work in any other place. The idea of death does not make that impression upon the mind of a black man, which it does upon a white one. He is too stupid for acute reflection; and a sense of shame is out of the question. Some of the fellows concerned in Gabriel's conspiracy were
preachers. They had many of their hymns by heart, and hence, when condemned, they were able to sing all night, as well as all day. The consequence was such an insufferable bellowing, that no other person in prison could get any sleep. One night, a white man, whose slender stock of patience was exhausted, went down stairs, and assured them that not one of them was to be hanged; that this was kept as a secret from them, only to make them penitent; and that, as this was really the case, he hoped they would make less noise, and permit him to enjoy a little quiet. The music immediately ceased.
The court at York was inexcusable for not ordering each of these fellows a sound whipping per annum, during their captivity. Their punishment, as it now stands, is a mere bubble. The president might have spared his address to the banditti; a red hot iron would have been more like to make an impression.]
YORK, (Pennsylvania,) May 23.
LAST week, those black miscreants who had planned the destruction of this Borough, and who had succeeded in laying several valuable barns in ashes, received their sentence. Four of them pled guilty to the charges brought against them, and four pled not guilty. Two of the four who plead not guilty were found guilty by a jury. The Court appointed learned Counsel, on the part of the prisoners, whose trial was conducted with the strictest regard to justice. When the criminals were all brought into court to receive their sentence, the president of the court reminded them, of the obligations they were under, to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, for their benevolent exertions to remove the blacks from a state of slavery—that many of their colour had already obtained the rights of freemen. After telling them of their ingratitude towards the citizens of Pennsylvania, who had done so much for them, the president of the court pronounced sentence against them. Five of them were condemned to hard labour for twelve years—six years of the time to solitary confinement, and one was condemned to hard labour for five years—six months of the time to solitary confinement. The two other blacks together with one or two white men, who had been imprisoned on suspicion of being concerned in the plot, but against whom the grand jury did not find bills, were ordered by the court, to find bail for their good behaviour for a limited time.
In the course of the trial, it appeared in evidence to the court, that this borough was infested with some disorderly houses, that served as a place of rendezvous for the blacks. We were highly pleased with the censure that the president cast upon our magistrates and burgesses, for permitting such disorderly houses to be kept in the borough. We have often with grief, viewed the apathy of our magistrates, with regard to the suppression of vice and immorality; but we hope they will in future act more consistent with their oaths of office. The conduct of the members of the Abolition Society in this Borough is in our opinion inimical to the peace and happiness of the town. We do not call in question the purity of the motives that gave rise to this society; but we think it is, like other good institutions, liable to be abused, and has been abused by some of its members in this town, in consequence of which it has afforded an asylum for many vile, worthless, black people, fugitives from a neighboring state.
[*I would rather emancipate a horse than a negro.]
MATHEWS, & Co. HAVE FOR SALE, AT THEIR STORE, At the front of the Recorder Printing Office. SWEDISH and country best port Iron, sugar in hogsheads, sherry wine, hylon tea, allspice, pearl barley, gin cakes, demy-johns, mankeens, flax linens, &c. June 7, 1803.

FOR THE RECORDER.
THE BRITISH VOLUNTEER.
WHEN siccence a solid meal cannot supply To a jolly young man five feet ten inches high, Who has jogg'd with his knapsack twelve leagues through the rain, While his wench and three brats had each ancle to frail; The starv'd volunteer to the halberts is tied, For stealing two chick-eggs and getting them stied: What carters and jockies should suffer he feels, And the blood gushes down from his nape to his heels. The Commander in chief, who is almost fifteen, And a tailor's apprentice by right should have been, Now stunts round the circle, then turns on his heel To belabour the drummers who don't make him feel-- Swears England could ne'er have produc'd such a rogue, And divers in his howling the true Irish brogue. The Surgeon, whose sympathy swells in each vein, When a swoon interrupts the convulsions of pain, Makes them fly till he starts to his senses again. Nay, Doctor and Drum for attendance are paid, And his pockets are fleec'd, while his shoulders are flay'd: He's pack'd in a transport on every State quar- rel, More tightly than biscuit and beef in a barrel; In torrents each summer shower streams through his rent, In barracks more dismal, December is spent; In damp rotten bedding, the moment he's laid, To the rage of whole armies his rear is betray'd; In hasty, he infallibly more than half starves, Waterian, he's us'd as a rascal deserves. His ChJoe, by hunger, compell'd to sad pranks, Is chas'd as a windler in form through the ranks; His children, when some baggage cart is o'erthrown, In a ditch, like blind puppies are suffered to drown: And when for his king thirty years he has toil'd, In Canada frost-bit, in Africa broil'd; Has been thrice a week handcuff'd for drinking his pay, Got nine thousand lashes for running away; Has oft like a hero been wounded before, And clear'd with a cudgel each concubine's lore; At last, with the Dons, point to point he engages, For more than one fourth of a scavenger's wages; Some merciful volley then shatters a leg, And his crutches obtain him permission to beg.
EXTRACT FROM SEDGWICK AND CO.
(CONCLUDED FROM OUR LAST.)
THUS we perceive that, by con- gress paper money, almost every man on the continent was robbed of more or less. All those who lost by the continental bills were, and are, as real creditors to the treasury, as any person imaginably can be. Suppose that a bankrupt has an hundred creditors, and that by dexterity of manouevring, he forces ninety-nine of them to pay out of their own funds the whole sum due to the old one. This is exactly what the new government has done, and what Theodore Sedgwick pretends to call the preservation of public faith.
In 1783, congress passed a law, or- daining that the officers of the continen- tal army should receive a sum equal to the full pay of five years, in lieu of the whole arrears due to them. One year's pay was, by the same law, granted to the soldiers. There could not be a more glaring act of injustice. The private was quite as well entitled to five years of pay as the officer. The whole con- tinent refunded with clamours of re- sentment. On this occasion Connecti- cut distinguished herself by peculiar zeal. A convention was held at Middletown. Resolutions were past reprobating the law. The state assembly met in Octo- ber, 1783. The house of representa- tives framed a remonstrance against the commutation in favour of officers; and,
though their senate refused to concur, they sent the paper forward to congress.
Morse says, that the steps of the con- vention were unconstitutional, and that they were opposed by men of infor- mation, viz. "the officers of govern- ment, the clergy, and persons of li- beral education." It must be a strange kind of education that would tempt any man to vindicate such iniquity. The clergyman who defended it, disgraced his profession. By what kind of mora- lity were congress warranted in paying one set of claimants with twelve shil- lings in the pound, and the remainder with half a crown? But the matter was greatly worse. The superior wages of the officers could only be defrayed by a general tax, of which the privates, thus previously robbed, were of course to pay their quota. Morse calls the pro- ceedings of the convention of Middle- town unconstitutional, that is to say, when a soldier is injured by government, he has no right to remonstrate. The truth is, that this act was a much bold- der step towards oppression than the British stamp-duty; and merited, in a far greater degree, the abhorrence and resistance of honest men. It excited disturbance in Massachusetts, and other states, as well as in Connecticut; but opposition and remonstrance gradually died away. The law remained in force: and, on this principle, the army receiv- ed their certificates. Thus the arrange- ment even of the original creditors was founded on fraud, upon a measure, which if acted in private life, might have sent its author to the pillory. Yet Dr. Morse comes forward to excuse it, and to condemn all those who complained of this enormity. No sophism can be viler than that here advanced by this man of information. It would serve as a pre- cedent for the robbery of every future army; and for the chicanery of every future bankrupt. Dr. Ramsay slips over this distinction between the com- mutation to the officers and that of the soldiers, by telling what was ordained for the former, and saying nothing of the share granted to the latter. Thus is a narrative patched together. Dr. Ram- say conceals legislative knavery. Dr. Morse defends it.
The exact amount of the commutation granted to the soldiers of the continental army cannot, in this place, be ascertain- ed. In a British regiment of five hun- dred foot, at six pence per day, the pay of the commissioned officers was, in the late war, somewhere about equal to that of all the rest of the corps. Guessing for American troops at the same rate of equality, the commutation to the offi- cers of five years pay, would be five times greater than of the rank and file, who were allowed a commutation for only one year of their service. Of the do- mestic debt of forty millions of dollars due in 1790, set aside ten millions for contractors and commutaries. The re- maining thirty millions are then to be divided into six equal portions. Of these, the above conjectural estimate allows five parts, or, twenty five millions to the officers, and the sixth part, or the odd five millions to the sol- diers. This calculation makes a loss of twenty millions of dollars to the rank and file. It is given merely as conjectural, nor is precision as to the respective amount essential for the inference here in view. The infinite number of inter- vening casualties renders an accurate computation beyond the power of the best informed accomptant; but take the above difference of twenty millions, as a probable medium of what sums were denied to the soldiers by granting them one instead of five years of pay. From January 1st, 1790, to January 1793, eight years elapsed. At six per cent, the simple interest of the twenty millions comes, within that term, to nine mil- lions and six hundred thousand dollars. If this was to be defrayed by taxes, a considerable expence would have been incurred in collecting them. If the mo- ney had been borrowed, a second in- terest would have ensued upon the loan. The original sum, along with the sim- ple interest, would, at this time, have arisen to thirty millions of dollars in ad- dition to the public debt; along with an
annual interest of eighteen hundred thousand dollars.
Such an yearly sum requires heavy taxation, and always creates, in one shape or other, abundance of inconve- nience, and sometimes of beggary. It is very doubtful whether the federal go- vernment could support its credit under so great an increase of existing burdens. A consideration thus important may soften regret, though not indignation, at this manœuvre of the old congress. It has helped to secure the constitution, but that does, not lessen the inherent in- justice of the law itself. According to strict honour, a distinction so aristocra- tical and degrading should neither have been accepted by the officers, nor endured by the men. He is a fool who, after establishing the rights of his coun- try, forbears to assert his own. If the officers had a just demand for five years of commutation, every centinel possess- ed the same; and he had a title to enforce it.
After having repelled English despo- tism, it was inconsistent in an American army to crouch under that of congress. That they submitted was fortunate for their country, and perhaps for them- selves. But this does not diminish the cruelty of the insult which they receiv- ed. One circumstance tended greatly to embitter the public rage at this law. It was "supposed that the officers had been generally indemnified for the loss of their pay, by the grants made them from time to time by the legis- latures of the several states!" The fact is here held out as a beacon for fu- ture American armies. No maxim has produced more mischief than the Dulce est pro patria mori . If private soldiers, in every part of the world would reflect, how very small their own personal con- cern is in national quarrels, the ranks would soon become thin, and much less would in future be heard of war. A soldier's country consists of a mass of individuals. Perhaps an hundred of these are acquainted with his existence: perhaps three or four interest themselves in his fate. The public at large praise him, till their turn has been served, and thereafter they would cheerfully permit him to die on a dunghill.
We have touched upon some of the principal outlines of this transaction be- tween congress & the army. Much more might be said; but this would require whole years of research and whole vo- lumes of writing. The sketch here of- fered is very incomplete; but, so far as it goes, it is believed to be correct.
In point of morality, the following is a summary of objections that occur to the national debt.
First. The funding law past through congress by the influence of a majority, who purchased certificates from the ar- my at an under value. They voted for the law, with the single view of enrich- ing themselves. This manœuvre al- most entirely excluded the real holders of certificates from the benefit of the statute, and of consequence it pervert- ed the substantial ends of justice.
Second. Even if the law had operat- ed only in favour of the original holders, still the arrangement was radically un- just. The privates received certificates only for one fifth part of the sums to which they were entitled.
Third. Although the rank and file had really been placed on a level with the officer, yet they had not a better claim to compensation than the myriads of other citizens, who lost their whole property by the extinction of congress paper money, and who are now actually taxed to pay the public debt. It is ap- prehended that, in a court of mere equity, these objections would be deci- sive against the moral obligation upon the public of paying this debt.
Fourth. As no man can transfer a title which he does not possess, every objection applicable to the original member of congress, enriched by the funding law, must apply to the assignees
NOTES.
* Morse, 2d American edition, vol. 1. p. 309.
† It is pleasant to die for your country.
of any such creditor. They are, on the supposition of previous fraud, pre- cisely in the situation of indorsees to a forged note, or the purchaser of a sto- len horse. These remarks, as before explained, do not militate against the expediency of paying off the public debt. They tend merely to explain the nature of the moral obligation. We must again remind the reader that to tax the public debt would be the direct road to public ruin.
FROM THE VIRGINIA GAZETTE.
[The Recorder had promised an addi- tional criticism on the Washington Algeron Sidney . The following ex- cellent paragraph has satisfied us that it is not worth while to squander print and paper upon dulness, which can interest nobody, upon ignorance too gross for aggravation, and falsehood too evident for detection.]
"The subjects which were discussed by one of our correspondents, un- der the signature of Falkland, some time ago, have been noticed by a writer who has appeared in the Na- tional Intelligencer, and also in a pamphlet, & who calls himself Alger- non Sidney. He appears to have taken up many of the same ideas which were enforced by Falkland. The difference between them is, Alger- non Sidney has written a volume in- stead of an essay; a dull heavy co- lumin instead of a paragraph; a para- graph instead of a sentence; and a sentence instead of a word. They who have pen, ink, paper and time, who understand the rudiments of our lan- guage, and possess a moderate share of industry, may, by such means, write books, pamphlets and essays; but who will read them; or, having read them, will burthen their memo- ries with such trash?"
BOSTON, May 26.
SEVERAL persons have lately been convicted in Newhampshire, of passing counterfeit bank notes, dollars, &c. & Three have also been convicted of horse stealing; and received the following sin- gular punishment, "being marked with India ink, over the forehead, from the hair of the temple on one side, to the hair of the temple on the other side, and from the middle of that line, by ano- ther deeply inserted to the end of the nose, leaving an indelible impression of letter T. [ Quare! Did they not get a flogging. ]"
FROM THE COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.
A dozen new ships are on the stocks at Honfleur; fifteen at Havre. In Havre there is now a prodigious con- course of English, Dutch, Danish, Rus- sian, and Spanish seamen and merchants. The ordinary population of Havre is not much above 21,000 souls. It is aug- mented by the present concourse of stran- gers to 30,000.
IRISH LINENS.
THE Subscribers have just received a large assortment of 7-8ths. and 4-4ths. Irish Linens, which they offer for sale on very low terms. Also a few Bales of best Twill'd SACKING.
GILLIAT & KIRBY.
Richmond, May 18th. 1803.
1 m. ad. 20.
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 mo- ney. 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, prin- ter of the New York Herald, at New York.
BLANK
BILLS OF LADING,
For sale at this Office.