The enquirer (Richmond, Va.), 1804-05-19 00:00:00

THE ENQUIRER.
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NUMBER 4.]
SATURDAY MORNING, MAY 19, 1804.
[VOLUME 1.]
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FROM THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
We invite the attention of our readers, and of the republican printers of the United States, to the interesting debate, this day published in part, on the bill to protect the commerce and seamen of the United States against the Barbary powers. Its importance merits its entire insertion, every print and every word of discussion, correct information. Much misrepresentation has been already indulged in regard to the new duties laid by this bill, and it is highly probable that more will be practised. A better antidote cannot be furnished than the perspicuous and conclusive statements of Mr. Nicholson. By them it is irrefragably appears that the honour and interest of the country called for vigorous measures in the Mediterranean; that the treasury was not equal to providing the means without a resort to new taxes or loans; and that of consequence, the government had only a choice between them. The republican side of the legislature preferred the imposition of new taxes; the federal side were in favour of loans. The former were for paying the expense in a period of unsurpassed prosperity; the last were for delaying payment perhaps, a season of adversity. The former were hostile to increasing the national debt; the latter were adding to it. Let the nation judge between them!
CONGRESS.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
THURSDAY, March 23.
DEBATE on the Bill further to protect the commerce and seamen of the United States against the Barbary Powers.
The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole; Mr. VARNUM in the chair.
Mr. GRISWOLD moved to strike out the first section, which is as follows:
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that for the purpose of defraying the expenses of equipping, officering, manning and employing such of the armed vessels of the United States, as may be deemed requisite by the President of the United States, for protecting the commerce and seamen thereof, and for carrying on warlike operations against the Barbary powers, which may commit hostilities against the United States, and for the purpose also of defraying any other expenses incidental to the intercourse with the Barbary powers, or which are authorized by this act, a duty of two and a half per centum ad valorem, in addition to the duties now imposed by law, shall be laid, levied and collected upon all goods, wares and merchandise, paying a duty ad valorem, which shall after the thirtieth day of June next be imported into the United States from any foreign port or place; and an addition of ten per centum shall be made to the said additional duty in respect to all goods, wares and merchandise, imported in ships or vessels not of the United States, and the duties imposed by this act shall be levied and collected in the same manner and under the same regulations and allowances as to drawbacks, mode of security, and time of payment respectively, as are already prescribed by law in relation to the duties now in force on the articles on which the said additional duty is laid by this act."
I regret very much, said Mr. Griswold, that the bill should be clogged with any provision for which all the members of this House cannot vote. For this section I for one cannot vote. I object to the adding
two and a half per cent duties on all goods imported after the 30th of June, which now pay a duty ad valorem. It is well known to the members of this committee, that goods imported into the United States charged with ad valorem duties, now pay twelve and a half, fifteen and twenty per cent, when imported in American bottoms; and an addition of ten per cent. on these duties, when imported in foreign bottoms, of course, if two and a half per cent. be added, it will bring up the duties to fifteen, seventeen and a half, and twenty two and a half per cent. In my judgment these duties are higher than trade will bear. In laying duties on imported goods, there is a point beyond which it is neither proper nor safe to go. If we go beyond this point, we create a temptation to smuggling, so strong as to be uncontrollable by any revenue laws. In my opinion the present duties are as high as it is safe to carry them; and I believe that nothing but the honesty and integrity of our merchants, and its being considered disreputable to smuggle, has hitherto prevented its extensive practice. If we carry the duties higher, and impose our whole taxes on commerce, and embarrass it in this way, the measure will have a tendency to bear down the only barrier which has heretofore been a security for a safe collection of duties; the feelings of our merchants will be changed; the temptations to smuggling will be increased, and the practice will be gone into. For these reasons, I think, unless the necessities of government are very pressing, it is improper to increase the existing duties.
I cannot, on this occasion, see any such necessity. By an official report laid before the House, it appears that on the first of last October, there was a specie balance in the treasury of 5,860,000 dollars. The President also at the opening of the session informed us that it amounted to near six millions. Now, with this sum in the treasury at that time, which I know is chargeable with payments under the conventions with France and Great Britain, but which cannot be swallowed up by them, I think this extraordinary tax unnecessary. We have been told from time to time that our revenues were progressing.
What expense it is contemplated to incur on this occasion I know not. Yesterday I thought it my duty to go to the Navy Yard, and to enquire what ships were ordered to be got in readiness. I found to my surprise there were only two, in addition to those in the Mediterranean. This loose information, I am sensible, ought not to be relied on; and I only mention it to ascertain, from gentlemen better acquainted with contemplated measures, what additional force it is contemplated to send out. What will be the expense of this expedition? By turning to the estimates of the last year, I find the annual expense of a 44 gun frigate is stated to be 98,000 dollars; a 36, 84,000; a 32, 65,000; a vessel of 12 or 14 guns, 21,000. This estimate is, I believe, a little short of the estimate of the present year. If this estimate be taken the following will be the result. If there be sent into the Mediterranean two vessels of 44 guns, one of 36, one of 32 and 4 of 12 or 14 guns, the annual expense will be 288,000 dollars. This, perhaps, will be a sufficient force. I do not, however, know what is sufficient. I certainly wish a sufficient force to be sent to prevent a new disappointment, and on an occasion like the present, we ought not to begrudge the expense. If this force be sufficient, the annual expense of it will be 288,000 dollars. In addition to this, there will be some further expense in fitting out the vessels.
Under these circumstances this question presents itself. Are the necessities of government such as to justify this great addition to the duties on imported goods? If fairly collected, what will they produce? I am sensible this is a matter of climate. The whole importations, exhibited by the last statement, amounted to forty millions. Two and a half per cent, on that sum, will produce a million of dollars. An allowance is to be made for drawbacks on goods exported. Making this and all other allowances, on no computation can we estimate less than 750,000 dollars. Why lay this large tax at this time; when our existing revenues are so productive, and when we had on hand on the first of October last, five millions of dollars? Why make this great addition to duties so high already? I do not perceive any necessities of the government so pressing as to require this.
I am sensible that by the second section it is contemplated to keep the fund by itself, and that it is distinctively called the Mediterranean fund. But gentlemen must perceive that this provision is fallacious; and that it holds forth an idea not strictly correct. The whole expense of the navy is incurred in the Mediterranean, and the whole expense of the navy may be paid out of this fund, and in this way the treasury may be liberated from it entirely. I must, therefore, consider this as a bill introduced, to liberate the other resources of the country from the expenses attending the naval establishment.
For these reasons, I hope the committee will reject the first section. The government will have resources enough without the proceeds of new duties. As I said before, I regret that the bill is encumbered with this section. As to the other sections
there is not a member on this floor that will give them a more cordial support. We are all interested in protecting our trade, and in obtaining relief to our suffering citizens. This relief, I trust, will be obtained by the vigorous measures of our government.
Mr. NICHOLSON regretted that it was not in his power to furnish the information desired by the gentleman from Connecticut. Had he been solicitous to learn the extent of the armament about to be fitted out, he would not have gone to the navy yard for information; but to a high authority, equally accessible to the gentleman as to himself. He had not himself found this information, because he knew that the President, having confided to him a discretionary power as to the armed force of the nation, would use it in such a manner as would be most effectual. His only object, therefore, was to give him the power of using means of the United States with energy; leaving the discretion in him, as it necessarily must be to use it as he should think proper. If we were about to raise an army to commence hostilities against a foreign nation, it would not be the province of the House to enquire how it should be directed. Having authorised the raising and equipping it, it would forthwith come solely under the power of the Executive department; our power being confined to supplying the means by which it may be raised.
In introducing this bill, Mr. N. said he had thought it proper, when the government were about to incur a very heavy expense, that means should be provided by which it should be defrayed. The gentleman from Connecticut who has moved to strike out this section, seems extremely willing to incur the expense, on condition that no means shall be provided by which it shall be defrayed. Mr. N. said he held it a sound doctrine in politics, and more particularly applicable to a government like ours, when provision was made for incurring expenses, to provide likewise the means of meeting them. This was the doctrine by which the legislature ought to be governed. They ought not to authorise any expense, without at the same time providing the means, unless on great emergencies when the means are not in their power. There may be such emergencies, when it is proper to authorise the Executive to loan considerable sums, when no other means can be resorted to by the government.
We are now about to authorise an expense about usual, and the legislature are called upon to provide means for its discharge. For one, said Mr. N. I can never consent to add to the public debt, while the resources to the country are adequate to its wants. These are my ideas; and I feel somewhat surprised at the calculation of the gentleman from Connecticut, on the expense about to be incurred. He estimates this expense at 388,000 dollars, though yesterday when this subject was laid before the committee of ways and means, and it was contemplated to provide 750,000 dollars, he moved, to strike out 750,000, and insert a million. And yet he now tells us that only 388,000 dollars are required. As to the specie in the treasury, the gentleman states that on the first of October there were five millions. But with what disbursements are this chargeable? Out of it there are to be paid American citizens for French spoliations, the sum of 2,750,000 dollars in cash, which must remain in the treasury that just claims may be paid as soon as presented. Under the British convention there is to be paid 800,000 dollars; and there is likewise to be paid the interest on Louisiana stock, amounting to 625,000 dollars; the aggregate of which sums is 4,275,000 dollars. Not having made this calculation until the gentleman made his observations, it is possible that it may not be perfectly correct.
When the loss of the Philadelphia was announced, my first enquiry of the Secretary of the Treasury was what money could be spared from the treasury for the protection of vigorous measures. His answer was, that the greatest sum which could be spared would not exceed 150,000 dollars. I did not, like the gentleman, go to the clerks or to the navy yard; but I got the best information I could.
The gentleman from Connecticut, who appears willing to incur an expense of a million of dollars, while he is unwilling to provide the means of meeting it, objects to the mode of raising revenue proposed by the committee of ways and means, without proposing any other. He objects to the laying additional duties on imported goods. In his remarks he has made an erroneous statement of the quantity of goods on which ad-valorem duties are paid. His error has arisen from not deducting the amount of drawbacks. By an official statement, made this session, it will be found that during the year 1802 goods paying ad-valorem duties were as follows:
   Rate. Amount. Duty.     12 1-2 p. c. 23,377,717 2,922,214   15 7,838,614 1,185,992   20 439,830 87,966  
Amounting to 31,706,161 4,195,172 The average duty on goods charged ad valorem is about 13 and a half per cent. Let us consider the duties paid by other articles. The gentleman says, in laying duties there is a point beyond which we cannot go in safety on account of the temptation to smuggling. This is true. But of all goods imported those chargeable with ad valorem duties are the most difficult to smuggle. The invoices are made out in the country from which they are imported. These must be authenticated, and presented at the custom-house, and sworn to. If the collector has any reason to suspect that there are goods on board of a vessel, not in the country, he is to make a thorough examination of the vessel. If he sees a bale in which he suspects there are goods not stated in the invoice, it is in his power to have it examined. I believe there is but little smuggling at this time; but that the articles on which there is most smuggling are, rum and coffee. If the gentleman allows that the duty on articles charged specifically is not so high as to encourage smuggling to any great or dangerous extent, he will allow the same in the case of articles charged ad valorem. The great articles from which revenue is obtained, are—
Spirits, which pay an average duty of 23 2-10 cents, and which produce 2,253,496 dollars, and cost the importer from 23 to 50 cents per gallon. Spirits which pay 25 cents a gallon do not cost the importer more than 50 cents, and consequently pay a duty of 50 per cent. on the price of the article. Spirits of the third proof pay 28 cents, and do not cost more than 56 cents a gallon, which is equal to a duty of 50 per cent. So with spirits of higher proof. From this article is derived more than a fifth of our revenue, and yet I never heard the amount of the duty complained of until a few days since a petition was presented from the merchants of Connecticut. It is certain that Congress have never considered it so high as to encourage smuggling.
Of Imported Sugars 39,443,814 lbs. are consumed within the United States, which pay, on an average, a duty of two and a half cents per pound. The price of brown sugar to the importer is about five or six dollars the hundred. The duty is therefore between forty-five and fifty per cent. Is this duty considered so high as to encourage smuggling? If not, shall gentlemen complain when we are about to lay an additional duty of two and a half per cent. upon articles now chargeable with duties of from 12 and a half to 20 per cent.
Of Salt there is consumed 3,244,309 bushels in the United States. It pays a duty of 20 cents a bushel. In many instances this is equal to the first cost; and amounts therefore to 100 per cent.
The consumption of Wines amounts to 1,912,272 gallons, and the average duty is 38 cents. The duty on Madeira wine is 38 cents, and it costs the importer one dollar and twenty-five cents. The duty therefore amounts to near fifty per cent. If the cost be taken at one dollar and fifty cents the duty will be thirty-three and a third per cent. And yet it is not complained that it encourages smuggling.
Sherry and St. Lucar pay 40 cents per gallon, and the original cost is not more than 66 cents. This duty is above fifty per cent. The duty bears the same proportion in the case of Lisbon.
Taking the average duty on wines we find it is from 38 to 50 per cent; and yet gentlemen say if the duty on articles chargeable ad valorem be raised from 12 1-2 to 15 per cent, it will encourage smuggling.
Teas produce 382,669 dollars. Bohea Tea pays a duty of at least 100 per cent. and Sonchong, Hysan and other teas pay in the same proportion.
Thus it appears that articles of great consumption, and many of them of almost indispensable necessity, pay a duty of from fifty to one hundred per cent, and yet gentlemen are unwilling to lay an additional duty of two and a half per cent. on articles now paying duties of twelve and a half and fifteen per cent. As to those charged with twenty per cent, they are not worth considering, as the whole duties on them only amount to 87,966 dollars, and as they are in themselves unimportant. I have heard an idea thrown out, that instead of laying a duty on articles now charged with ad valorem duties, it would be more advisable to lay a duty upon all imported goods. I think I have shown that this would be unjust, and that the articles which at present pay specific duties are charged relatively sufficiently high. I believe if we might, without disturbing the proper proportion, lay an additional duty of from ten to fifteen per cent, on goods charged ad valorem, and without the increase being felt by the country, or its producing smuggling. At present it is only contemplated to raise them two and a half per cent.
I repeat it, that I consider it the duty of the legislature when they authorise extraordinary expenditures to provide so far as it is in their power, extraordinary means; for I believe we have no right to burthen posterity with taxes which we dare not ourselves meet. The protection now asked for our trade is for our own benefit; we ought not, therefore, to shrink from the burthen it necessarily creates. This is the reason why I advocate this additional duty of two and a half per cent, and because I believe trade will bear it, and because I do not think it will be felt by a man in the country. What will be the effect of the additional duty? The greater part of goods charged ad valorem are woolens, linens, manufactures of steel, brass, and articles of a similar kind, and muslins. In a muslin gown the additional duty will make a difference of about five cents. India muslins cost about fifteen cents a yard, and English about twenty five cents. The additional duty will therefore be about three eighths of a cent on India, and about three fourths of a cent on English muslin. This I consider a burthen which no one can feel. The additional duty on linens will be equally unfelt. In a bale of Osabrigs which cost twenty cents, the additional duty on a hundred yards will not exceed fifty cents. So as to Irish linens and woolens—The difference in a coarse suit of clothes for a common man will not be more than twenty-five cents, and that of a better kind will not exceed one dollar and twenty-five cents. I am surprised, after taking this view of the operation of the proposed duty, that gentlemen should dwell upon the great burthen it will impose, when it can, in truth, scarcely be felt by the poorest man in the country. It is indeed of no consideration but on account of the money raised by it, which I have estimated at about 450,000 dollars.
The gentleman from Connecticut thinks he has discovered in the second section a design that is not avowed, to wit, to liberate the present resources from their application to the support of the navy. I wonder, however, that the gentleman, before he made this unguarded remark, did not read the section through. He would then have seen that the fund established by this act is to exist no longer than three months after the discontinuance of war in the Mediterranean. Nor is it true that the whole expenses of the navy are in the Mediterranean. It is true, that at this time they are principally there. But there is likewise considerable expense incurred here in the Navy Yard, on the ships, and on the half pay officers not in actual service. Whence the gentleman deduces the inference, when the bill itself declares that the new duties shall cease three months after the end of the war. I am altogether at a loss to comprehend. The duties are to cease with the occasion which produced them. When we shall no longer be at war, the war duties will be at an end.
I had hoped that on an occasion like this, there would not have been a dissenting voice on this floor on measures for protecting the trade, and supporting the character of the nation. But I find all hope of this kind is vain, and that every measure proposed, however necessary, will be opposed. I can only say I regret it, & more particularly on this occasion, when our constituents have a right to expect perfect unanimity.
[To be continued.]
Spring Goods, WILLIAM TEMPLE
HAS just received by the ship Rebecca, from London, and Yorkshire from Liverpool.
AN ASSORTMENT OF GOODS,
Suitable to the season, which he will dispose of on the usual terms.
Richmond, May 24th. (1.)
TO BE DISPOSED OF BY PUBLIC SALE,
At Mrs. Beckner's Tavern, in the town of Manchester, on Wednesday the 30th day of this present month, at the hour of four o'clock precisely.
ONE Hundred and Seventy-Eight 3/160 acres
Well Timbered LAND,
adjoining the lands of Mr. David Ross, called and known by the name of the Falls Plantation. To house-builders and others using pine and oak timbers, this land must certainly be an object. The terms will be made suitable to intending purchasers, and declared at the time of sale. For further particulars, application may be made to Mr. Benjamin Hatcher, Manchester, or to Mr. Thomas Wilson, Richmond.
JAMES STRANCE.
Petersburg, 15th May, 1804. [3]
THE NEW-YORK WEEKLY MAGAZINE;
Handsomely bound—Containing a great variety of Valuable Selections in Prose & Verse, adapted to the moral improvement and rational amusement of a domestic life.—ALSO,
The Vision of Columbus:
A POEM—in nine Books.
BY JOEL BARLOW.
Elegantly printed, bound, and lettered.
For Sale at this Office.
Printing,
IN ALL ITS VARIETY, EXECUTED AT THE
OFFICE OF THE ENQUIRER, WITH NEATNESS, ELEGANCE, AND THE GREATEST DISPATCH.

Foreign Intelligence.
LETTER FROM MOREAU TO BUONAPARTE.
Les Nouvelles a la Main, Ventose An. XII. No. 11. or Paris, March 9, 1804, contains what follows.
The letter which we now publish, has been circulated all over Paris for this week, and many thousand copies have been sent into the departments. We reprint it, however, that foreigners may read what this man exerts so much interest in France. It is addressed to "Monsieur Bonaparte, the First Consul, by Citizen Moreau, the Victor of Hohenlinden, now a close prisoner in the Temple."
"TO MONSIEUR BONAPARTE, THE FIRST CONSUL."
"From the Dungeon of the Temple, Ventose 10th, Year XII. March 1, 1804."
"SIR,—Since your ambition requires more victims, strike, but do not calumniate those you butcher. Wade in the blood of innocence, but spare honor in taking away life."
"If you expect from me the supplicant's petition, read no farther. In this dungeon, where your tyranny has plunged me, I am more elevated than you upon your usurped throne. So far all just men of my contemporaries, and future ages will confirm their sentence. No Sir, on the borders of eternity I call you to an account for your treason against my country and against myself. Do you remember our mutual agreement on the 8th November, 1799? Talleyrand, Sieyes, and Le Fevre were present.—I promised to die by your side in the attempt of removing the Directorial tyrants. You swore to establish a Government, not depending upon the life of one individual, not tyrannical, but firm, stable, and liberal; bestowing freedom on Frenchmen, & worthy to obtain, by gratitude from foreign nations, that confidence and esteem, which your predecessors and yourself have commanded by the dread of your bayonets. When I shortly afterwards went to head armies—disorganized and defeated—your last words were:—'I know your love of your Country; be victorious, and France shall force admiration, even from her rivals and foes, by the liberty she enjoys at home, and by the generosity of her external negotiations!' How have you fulfilled these great promises! how have you respected these oaths? In my degraded country, I see nothing but cringing slaves and proud tyrants; base placemen and infamous spies. Every where in Europe, from Sicily to Moscow, yourself and your Government are alike feared and detested. Deny those facts if you can! You have long followed the example of Sylla the triumvir; imitate for a month only, Sylla, the private citizen, and you shall be convinced, that the compliments of felicity and enlarged princes prove no more the standard of merit in a governor, than the flattery of vile courtiers, or the praise of corrupted counsellors."
"But as this will probably be the last time that you will hear from me, consider what I now tell you, nor as the envious declaration of an imprisoned rival general, but as the genuine emotion of the mind of a dying patriot, who forgives his death and your ingratitude. You pretend that my countrymen are happy, and satisfied with your government. Let it be so, though slaves can have no opinion, or at least dare not express one. But you are mortal as well as myself. If you love Frenchmen, let not their happiness depend upon your life. You have too much sense not to know that, with you, the Consulate for life will expire in the Bonaparte family; and other pretenders of other usurper families combat for, ambition, or occupy a consular throne, of only some few years standing. As to your right of appointing a successor in your will, remember that Louis XIV. the royal descendant of fifty kings, was, after a reign of upwards of three-score years not five minutes a corpse before his will was overturned; a will approved by the Princes of the blood, registered in his Parliament, and applauded by all his courtiers: and that the Duke of Maine was shut up as a prisoner when he expected to rule as a Regent."
"To prevent our children and grand children from suffering the wretchedness of our forefathers by turns, tormented by anarchy, or crushed by tyranny; and from witnessing those scenes of horror, terror, and scandal, we have seen; recall the legal heir to the throne of France, and limit severally his authority: make him a King, but not a Despot. Such was the plan of Pichegru, of myself, and of Georges: and with this plan your preservation was necessarily connected, because we wanted your fortune, your talents, and your rank, as well as our own services, to watch the reign of a foreigner, who, though misfortunes may have made him prudent, sufferings liberal, and gratitude just; may, by relatives less patiotic than himself, be tempted to extend his power."
"I defy your Grand Judge, and his horde of spies to prove anything contrary to this assertion. My wife, my mother-in-law, and my brother, know nothing of this loyal undertaking. I should regard the day of my death with greater satisfaction than those of my triumphs, could I but hope that it served to make my country flourishing, my fellow citizens free and prosperous, and worthy of liberty and prosperity. "MOREAU."
"The preceding letter is taken from the Baltimore American. We have neither been able to find out, what vessel it was which brought the paper from Europe, nor whether the article was taken from the Paris paper itself, or an English paper, which had extracted it from the French. The letter appears to be a forgery."
PARISIAN MUSEUM.
It is stated that the MUSEUM NAPOLEON of Paris has been enriched by the addition of a bust of Alexander the Great, presented to the First Consul by the Chevalier Azara, Spanish ambassador at Paris. The bust was found at Tivoli in 1777, in the ruins of the palace of Pifo. The Pallas of Valletti, has also been added to the museum. This statue is thirteen feet high, possesses much sublimity and grandeur of character, and is an object of particular admiration from the superior execution of its drapery.
A convoy from Rome arrived at Paris on the 10th of January. It brings as a present from the Pope to Bonaparte a number of valuable curiosities—camcos and intaglios, bronzes, mosaics, vases, urns, medals, &c. A variety of Egyptian curiosities and antiquities are also received, and new suites of apartments are in preparation for the arrangement of the numerous additions to the museum.
INVASION OF ENGLAND.
Extract from "Reflections on the invasion of England," slated to have been published at Paris by order of Bonaparte.
"My opinion is, that after the reduction of London, the French should not advance farther—But that they should without delay propose a capitulation, holding this language:
"We shall not destroy London, nor throw rubbish or ballast into the river to choke up its port, if you forthwith agree to the following articles:
"These articles will naturally prevent themselves to our consideration; but the English government probably will not capitulate. Secretly contemplating the possibility of such a catastrophe, it has some time since formed its determination, which is, to transfer the seat of Empire to Bengal, and at Calcutta to establish the London of the Indies. They will embark 60,000 troops and their whole fleet with convey them. In this speculation it is, perhaps, that they have collected, near Plymouth, a force of 40,000 men, to serve, in case of necessity, to cover such an embarkation. It is my opinion that the government of England will carry such a plan into execution immediately after the fall of London!!"
"In this Anglo Indian Empire the government may yet be very powerful. It will form a state on principles entirely new, and will find recruit in the many enthusiasts and adventurers who will follow it from Europe. But India will be governed with more lenity when the seat of empire is placed in her own bosom. The remaining parts of Hindostan will be easily subjugated: the Cape of Good Hope and the colonies on the western coasts of Africa, will furnish an empire in that part of the world. Through the medium of Botany Bay, it will dominate the Southern Hemisphere—Canada will supply the means of keeping up its naval force.—The government thus situated may yet be very powerful; it will command a great part of the seas; but, it will at least be banished from Europe."
"All the English royalists would accompany and follow their government.—Those whose fortunes consist in bank paper will undoubtedly depart with the government and in India be indemnified for their losses.—It is certain, however, that the South of Asia would under Providence a powerful engine in effecting the civilization of the universe."
"But the better, the greater, and especially the republican part of the English nation, would accept the capitulation offered by the French—or emigrate to North America, or to Louisiana."
"The present war, very far from being unfortunate, has already produced results favourable to the happiness of mankind. By it the United States of America have obtained Louisiana."
FROM CADIZ.—Accounts from Cadiz dated Jan. 4th, say that the Aurora register ship arrived a few days ago from Lima: she has one million eight hundred thousand dollars on board for government, besides goods and specie for individuals to a great amount, and is supposed to be worth considerably upwards of One Million sterling. She was boarded by the English cruisers off the port, who must have been very much mortified at seeing such a prize slip through their hands at this critical moment, when they daily expect to hear of a war. [U. S. Gaz.]
NEW-YORK, May 12.
We mentioned in the last number of the Mercantile Advertiser that the ship Hardware, for this port from Bristol, had been spoken on the 6th instant, and that she had papers on board to the 25th of April. We are happy to announce her safe arrival last evening; and we acknowledge our obligations to captain Burger and a valuable commercial friend for London papers to the date above mentioned, from which the subjoined articles are copied.
Bonaparte, it is said in letters from Berlin, has demanded that Louis XVIII (who resides at Warsaw) should be given up as implicated in the late conspiracy, and the Prussian government has refused compliance. Other accounts state that the First Consul had only required that the papers of the exiled monarch should be examined, and that he be confined in one of the Prussian fortresses until the termination of the present war.
Price of Stocks at London on the 5th April, 3 per cent consols 56 1-2. Consols for April 56 1-8, 56 1-2.
LONDON March 20.
Yesterday Mr. Yorke set the outlines of his plan for recruiting the army. Eight new regiments of Infantry are to be raised, ten battalions added to existing regiments, 2000 added to the Guards, and 5000 additional Cavalry. In all 25,000 men. The recruiting for the Army of Reserve is to be suspended; and the bounties for the new levies not to exceed ten guineas, exclusive of levy money. He also proposed to bring over to this country 10,000 of the Irish Militia, adding at the same time a similar number to that force.
MARCH 30.—The blockading squadron has failed from the Downs for the Coast of France. Nothing new has appeared in that quarter. No account has yet been received of the stone expedition.
MARCH 31.—There reports from Holland, rather the fabricated accounts, vary every day. It is now said there are lying at the Helder 160 transports and 170 gunboats, 2 frigates, and 2 brigs; and that the greatest exertions are making to embark military stores on board the transports. The French troops are said to be very numerous at the Helder and at Amsterdam.
An additional foreign force of 6000 men is likewise proposed by Ministers in addition to a levy now going on in our American and West Indian possessions, which is estimated at 4000 men.
With respect to those counties which have not made up their quota of men for the Army of Reserve, it is intended to propose a pecuniary fine, proportioned to the number of men deficient.
APRIL 2.—The Toulon fleet is slated to consist of nine full of the line, and eight frigates and corvettes: about 2000 Genoese seamen are on board of it.
It is said that the French Army of Reserve, stationed in the environs of St. Omers, Arras, Amiens, Compiegne, &c. had received orders to advance to the coast.
It is reported that the Flushing flotilla is to join that of Boulogne, and it is stated that the enterprise was delayed only waiting the accomplishment of this junction.
The embargo on all vessels is continued with great strictness along the Dutch and Flemish coasts; the fishermen of Ostend and Blankenburg, and every other port are prohibited from putting to sea on any occasion. They are not even allowed to fish under the batteries.
Our Boulogne squadron, consisting of the Monarch and Illustrious, the Immortalite and Squirrel frigates, besides sloops and gun brigs, have returned to the Downs. They were forced off the French coast in a gale of wind. The stone vessels have also returned to the Downs.
Pichegru, it is stated, has been removed to the Prison de la Force.
Pichegru, tempted by hopes of pardon, is stated to have given full information as to the objects and extent of the conspiracy. General Valence, who served under General Dumourier, in 1792, has, it is said, been with many others arrested in consequence.
Throughout the Belgic Provinces, the post-masters are forbidden to let post-horses to any person without a certificate from the police officer, and in every town or village, and even on the public roads, Gens d'Armes are placed to examine the parties of travellers, and to arrest all such as may be unprovided. Orders have been sent to Paris, to Italy, and different parts of Germany, for the arrest of persons implicated in the late conspiracy.
According to the return of the Navy up to this time, it appears that we have in commission 100 sail of the line, 24 or 50 guns, 126 frigates, and 227 sloops, cutters, gun-boats, &c.
APRIL 5.—Yesterday a Message was sent down to the Bank, and by them communicated to the Stock Exchange, that the Chancellor of Exchequer for Ireland would readily this day have an interview with such Gentlemen as might be desirous of contracting for an Irish Loan; to state to them the amount of the sum wanted, and to settle the preliminaries of a bidding for an earlier day next week. This unexpected notice had the effect to lower the funds about five-eighths per cent.
As it was thought that the Loan for the service of the United Kingdoms would have been made in one contract. This piecemeal Budget gives an alarm that the total will greatly exceed what was apprehended.
We understand that considerable distress has been felt in Ireland by the utter contempt into which the counterfeit silver has fallen. The tradesmen of Dublin have at length refused to accept of it in exchange for commodities, and as nothing but copper coin is now current, great confusion, and even some rioting, has taken place. The exigency demands the serious attention of wiser men than the present Ministers.
Yesterday dispatches were received at the Admiralty from Lord Nelson. A report has been since very current in the best informed circles, that the French fleet have made their escape from Toulon, and that his Lordship's dispatches contained an account of this event. We do not think the report improbable, as we know, from unquestionable authority, that the Toulon fleet was ready for sea some time ago, and only waiting for a favourable moment to elude the vigilance of our gallant Commander, in the Mediterranean. If they have actually failed, Sicily, no doubt, is their destination, with the only thing which has hitherto prevented the French troops from entering Naples, has been an apprehension, that if they did so, the British would immediately take possession of that island. If the French should be able to land their few thousand troops, they would find themselves under no restraint, and would respect the neutrality of Naples as little as they have lately done that of Germany.
A great quantity of ammunition, camp equipage, &c. has been sent off to different parts of the sea coast, within these two days, particularly saddle trappings, and other things of that description fit for the conveyance of either military or any of the more helpless part of the inhabitants in case of Invasion.
A Paris paper of the 24th says, "We are assured that the French Government has seized a secret correspondence, which throws fresh light upon the horrible conspiracy formed by the enemies of the Republic against the Government and person of the First Consul. This correspondence consists of several original letters, written by a Minister of England accredited one of the German Courts, and were addressed to a mercenary Agent, whom he had sent to Paris to assist his designs. The English Minister recommends it especially to his Agent, to obtain a knowledge of the warlike plans of the French Government; to employ all possible means to disorganize the armies, and to endeavour to corrupt the persons employed in the manufactory of gunpowder. There is reason to believe that this correspondence will soon be published."
PARIS, March 10.
All the Ministers of the Republic in foreign countries have received, with the despatch, orders to claim the arrest of every conspirator, who might have escaped from France, and is supposed to reside in the respective states where they represent the First Consul.
Last Wednesday the American Minister, Livingston, gave a most splendid ball in honour of the discovery of the conspiracy against the First Consul. The whole diplomatic corps, with the exception of the Neapolitan Minister and the Russian Chargé d' Affairs, were present.
Some of our papers, state that the act of accusation against Moreau contains eighteen different charges, upon each of which, he is to be tried separately. So much ceremony will not be used towards Pichegru and Georges, and his other accomplices. Their names being upon the list of emigrants they required only to be known again to be sentenced to death.
Lucien Bonaparte, after his return from Italy, had long conferences with Bonaparte and Talleyrand. Among other services that he has done France, he has discovered a plan of the King of Sardinia to throw himself entirely into the arms of the English. This and other circumstances will cause some great and unexpected changes in Italy, but the report of the First Consul having demanded from the Pope, that the King of Sardinia should be given up to Gen. St. Cyr, is hitherto without foundation.
JERSEY, March 27.
Considerable alarm was excited here, on Friday last. Signals were made for an enemy's fleet, about two o'clock; thirteen gun boats were so near Granville Bay, that their hulls could be perceived from the lowest part of the shore, without the help of glasses. They were in sight for some hours, and appeared to be sailing in the direction of Granville. At night the Mercury frigate, Captain Bouverie, came from Bantry Bay, and made chase. On Saturday night a very heavy cannonade was heard on the French coast, supposed to be the frigate engaging the gun vessels. On Sunday night a heavy firing was again heard; scarce a day passes but what signals are made for envoys or vessels passing along the French coast. There appears to be a great want of light vessels on this station, to intercept them; had there been a few gun brigs or cutters in Granville Bay on Friday, they could easily have got up with the French ships, as they were in sight several hours. It is true that sometimes a gun brig or two comes to Granville Bay, from Guernsey, but in general there is nothing here to intercept the enemy's ships.
Domestic Intelligence.
TRIPOLI, Nov. 24, 1803.
I mentioned in my last, under date of the 15th, that, in consequence of orders from the Balthaw, communicated to us on the evening of the 15th, we were on the following morning conducted to the castle. The object of this removal was to punish us, by way of retaliation, for ill treatment which they say the Tripolitan officers, taken in the ship captured by the John Adams, received from Capt. Rogers. The prime minister, a few days previous, had written to Captain Bainbridge, informing him that a letter had been received from the Tripolitan Captain at Gibraltar, in which he complained of being ill treated by Capt. Rogers; and in consequence of this, by way of satisfaction, the prime minister requested Capt. B. to write to and order Commodore Preble to deliver up all the prisoners taken in that ship; in which case we should continue to be treated as heretofore; but should Capt. B. not comply he would be compelled to exercise retaliation upon us. No exchange was proposed; but we were to deliver up seventy-eight prisoners to insure our not being ill treated. Captain Bainbridge declined compliance and we were conducted to the castle. The change was indeed an unpleasant one, from a large commodious house to what they call a castle, which in fact is nothing less than a loathsome prison. We were placed in the same place with the ship's company. How well calculated the room was to contain such a number you may judge, when I tell you that it was about 80 by 25 feet; how comfortable, when the only place to admit the air was at two holes in the ceiling, grated over. However, it was not intended that we should remain there any time, and was only done under the idea that we were to be frightened into a compliance with the prime minister's demand.
While we were there, Lisse, the Tripolitan admiral accidentally passed that way, and was very much surprised to see us there. He came up to enquire the reason of our removal, and said that he understood a letter had been received, mentioning that the Tripolitan prisoners had been ill treated. Capt. Bainbridge told him that it was an infamous falsehood; that the laws of the United States absolutely forbid any prisoner being treated ill, and that he knew Capt. Rogers had given no just cause of complaint; that if such a letter had been written, it was without foundation, and the writer had asserted a most malicious falsehood: That even supposing they had been treated ill, that could not justify their retaliating upon us; that it would not tend to produce a reconciliation; but would have a quite contrary effect: that we were with the whole of us, and they might sacrifice the officers and men enough to send out. He said that the Balthaw was out of town, and would not return till evening, when he would see what could be done.
In the evening we were reconducted to our lodgings. Shortly after Capt. Bainbridge received a note from the prime minister, in which he affected to be entirely ignorant of our removal, until after it had taken place. He expressed his grand surprise at hearing it; and to use his own phrase, "could not have felt more hurt if one of his own limbs had been taken off; or if one of his own family had been taken away;" and concluded with assuring us, we might rely upon our not being disturbed in that manner again. The Danish consul, in company with the French consul, waited upon the prime minister the day we went to the castle, and assured us we need be under no apprehension of a second removal. We feel ourselves perfectly secure. I cannot say which was the greatest, our contempt for a character so replete with duplicity, or our indignation at the prime minister, for supposing us so weak and credulous as to believe him unacquainted with our removal, until after we had gone. He and the admiral are both renegees: the former a Prussian the latter a Scotchman.
I mentioned in a former letter, that, when our ship was plundered, the Tripolitans carried off all our trunks and chests, so that we were left entirely without any change of clothing. The prime minister got as many of our clothes as he could collect, and offered them to Capt. Bainbridge for 1200 dollars. Capt. B. did not purchase them; and a day or two ago the minister gave us permission to go to his house and purchase whatever we wanted. We only bought a few of the most necessary articles of clothing. We also purchased some books which were extremely acceptable, having been as great a rarity as clothes. They were sold far below their value.
[U. S. Gazette.]
Captain Hodge, arrived at Newburyport from Cape-Francis, states that a week before he failed from the Cape, a disturbance happened between Christophe, and the captain of an English frigate, The lieutenant of the frigate, with several of her men attempted one night to take off a number of the French inhabitants. The blacks were alarmed, assembled in great numbers, and, with Christophe at their head took from the lieutenant his side arms. The next morning they were sent along side, but the captain of the frigate refused to receive them, and would neither suffer the boat to be along side the frigate nor to go ashore. A flag of truce was then sent a shore demanding satisfaction; in the mean time the frigate got springs on her cables and warped up abreast the city, with signals of hostility flying, and in readiness to fire on the city if necessary. The English captain, however, received no satisfaction, and three days was ordered from the place.
The French people at the Cape are in a most distressing situation, expecting every moment a general massacre: as it was known that Christophe had received orders from Gov. Desfalin to leave the Island, & American vessels are strictly searched, both before sailing and by the barges outside. A Danish Schooner which sailed from the Cape for St. Thomas was overhauled by a brig & barge, French & passengers found on board. She was immediately carried into a small port to leeward of the Cape, and the captain, crew, and every soul on board shot. The Schooner was afterwards brought up to the Cape. The whites are daily missing, supposed to be secretly murdered, and their property immediately confiscated and sold at auction. No age or sex is spared from the outrage and inhumanity of the blacks, who boast of their mild treatment when compared to the cruelties which they have suffered from French men. Men, women and children are held in the most abject slavery, and daily expire from hardship and fatigue. They are now obliged to carry cannon balls to a fort building in the mountains about fifteen miles back, and are not even permitted to hire it done for them. Great numbers drop down with the fatigue & die on the road.
The few Americans who arrive at the Cape are obliged to be extremely circumspect. For want of proper regulations, and from the ignorance and jealousy of the blacks, they are subjected to much hazard and inconvenience. Christophe will take what proportion of the American cargoes he pleases at his own price. One day he will permit certain goods to be taken on board, and the next order them to be landed again, and no dependence can be placed in any trade with them. The slightest transgression of their rules is punished very severely. An American supercargo was kept three days in a dungeon for going on shore after dark. In general the Americans, notwithstanding the professions of the blacks, are treated extremely ill. The arrests and proclamations of Desfalin and Christophe are mere humbug and a sham or never put in execution.
Newburyport Herald.
We hear that Stanford and Ambler, two of the convicts who escaped from the State Prison, have since been apprehended near Tappan.
[New-York paper.]

PLANS TO PREVENT COUNTERFEITING BANK NOTES.
The following Letter appeared in the Political Repository of May 16th.
MR. RICHARDSON,
TO your politeness in handing me the second number of the Enquirer, I am indebted for the view of the ingenious Editor's remarks on the different plans for preventing the counterfeiting Bank notes.
As I feel a solicitude for the success of that object, I am pleased that it has excited the attention of a gentleman of his learning and ingenuity. He has remarked with freedom upon the two plans, proposed to the public, and some of his observations appear to be correct.
It appears that notwithstanding the certificate procured in favour of the Stereo-type plan, that the Editor of the Enquirer still thinks it liable to the objections which I formerly suggested, and has gone a little way in explaining an objection which has just occurred to him: the possibility of imitating the effects of these plates upon paper.
ture of the Bills produced by it, but such pictures will not pass for the realities with those who are only tolerably informed any more than the elegant delineations of ancient architecture which adorn gentlemen's rooms should pass for the real ruins of Palmyra, or the mouldering monuments of ancient Roman grandeur.
After all, perhaps there may be some few people who might be imposed upon by bad notes. Of this there can be but little doubt.
SAMUEL BROOKS. Richmond, May 14, 1804.
Two observations have occurred to me, on reading this letter:
1st. That the general maxim, with which the author sets out, is not true in all the cases, to which it might be extended:
2nd. That although I cannot deny it to be true in the particular case which is mentioned in the letter, I cannot discover its complete application to the subject in controversy;
1. He begins with a general maxim; that, what nature has done, art is unable to do. He adopts the language of Franklin, who told him that if this had been "the effect of nature," he "might justly despair to have matched it."
The maxim, that art is incompetent to imitate the operations of nature, is not even universally true in those cases, the general principle of which was the reason of introducing this maxim into the present discussion.
Although this maxim, or even that branch of it which comprehends the influence of chance, does not thus appear correct in every case, no one will deny its truth in the particular case which is introduced into the preceding letter.
some ingenious substitute. The expedient which he had to encounter, was the ordinary method of engraving on a plate, which it was contended might be sufficient to imitate the impression of these cracks.
Let us consider then what must be done by an engraver who prepares an imitative plate.
Must he scoop out so much of his plate as to make its excavated surface exactly similar in all its irregularities, to the fissure in the cracked plate?
That the impression which it makes may be double; the outer edge of each of them be determined by the outer edges of the fissure; and the inner by that interior portion of the crack, which the pressure of the rollers may force it to touch.
We are sorry to learn, that accounts are received stating that a few days since a fire was discovered in the Mansion house of Mount Vernon.
The Royal Junta of State, of the provinces of Merida and Yucatan, allow the importation from the United States of Indian Corn and Peas, at the ports of Campeachy and Sisal, in American and other bottoms, with absolute prohibition of any other sort of goods, wares or merchandise, and to load in return log-wood and other valuable woods.
The following Representatives in Congress in the state of New-York.
REPUBLICAN. Samuel L. Mitchell, D. D. Tompkins, Eliphalet Weeks, P. Van Cortlandt, John Blake, junr. D. C. Verplanck, Joseph Masters, Pe'er Seily, F. Savons, J. Russell, Silas Halsey, Uriah Tracy, Nathan Williams, David Thomas, M. G. Schumman.
FEDERAL. Henry W. Livingston, K. K. Van Rensselaer.
Those in Italic, viz. eleven, are new members.
Yesterday's Mail.
The Morning Post, of the 19th of March, (received by the Juliana) says, "that according to letters from Constantinople, it appears that the Porte continues to view with a natural eye of jealousy, the hostile preparations of the French in the ports of Italy;
Whether I consider, then, the general maxim, or the particular reason which our author has laid down, I cannot suppose that the employment of back-stuff plates would prevent the counterfeiting of bank notes.
difficult to remember! I am told that the Banks in England, which formerly employed very simple devices, have now adopted this preventive system.
Our author has recommended one method, which may perhaps facilitate the detection of a fictitious note.
Is then Mr. Perkins's plan of stereo-type plates;
Is Mr. Brooks's plan of back-stuff plates;
Is the adoption of a simple or diversified device;
Is the publication of blank notes;—calculated to prevent the counterfeiting of notes?
These are some of the questions, which the Commissioners of the Bank of Virginia may consider worthy of their serious investigation.
Payment is not expected from those who subscribed to this paper before it came out, until the end of six months.
No Northern Mail came to hand on Thursday.
No II. on the Press is postponed.
BANK OF VIRGINIA.
The Commissioners have not yet graduated the share-holders according to the legal scale, but when the books were closed the members stood nearly thus:
Table with 3 columns: SHARES, taken by, Persons. Rows include: 4381 taken by 2702 Persons, 3750 (legal No.) 1023 Subscribers for 1 share, 631 (supernumerary) 1679 Subscribers for more than 1 share, leaves 1048, and 1654.
His honour Bushrod Washington, at present holding court in Philadelphia, in consequence of hearing this disagreeable intelligence, has been obliged to adjourn the session, and intends immediately to proceed to Mount Vernon.
COMMERCIAL INFORMATION.
CAROLINE SPRINGS.
THE subscriber intends to open a TAVERN at CAROLINE SPRINGS, on the first day of June next; and hopes, from the pleasant and healthy situation, exclusive of the Medicinal qualities of the waters, that it will be a place of general resort.
The Springs are situated about 36 miles from Richmond, 18 from Port-Royal, 12 from the Bowling-Green, and 14 from Fredericksburg. The roads leading to them are remarkably good...
ANN GATEWOOD. Fredericksburg, May 19. 31/8 7/.
The following Six Hogsheads of TOBACCO,
now lying in Lymer's Ware House, will be sold according to Law:
1800, January 10th—Judith Kelly, marked I. K. No. 5, Gross 1111, Tare 114, Nett 997. 1801, January 9th, do. do. No. 10, Gross 1180, Tare 118, Nett 1077...
THOMAS HURST, Wm. MEREDITH, Inspectors. May 19.—Lawson
THE subscriber has in his possession, a GREY GELDING about 14 hands high, 5 years old, the hairs of his mane and tail lately by appearance cut short, bred on the near shoulder (as well as can be made out) I. W. and which has been appraised, according to law, to $40.
Francis Patterson, 31/8
Horses & Mules AT AUCTION.
WILL BE SOLD, at Prosser & Moore's Vendue Office, on Monday the 22nd instant,
Three very likely Mules.
ALSO,
Two likely Wagon-Horses.
The Mules are in good order, rising four years old, and well broke to the wagon, cart and plough.
90 days credit will be given, with Notes and approved security. May 19.
By virtue of a Deed of Trust executed to me by Mr. John Woodson, of Hanover County, to secure the payment of a debt due from him to Giles Terrell, Executor of Rev. William Douglass dec., will be exposed to SALE at Hanover Court House on the fourth Wednesday in June next, it being Hanover Court day, the
TRACT OF LAND,
WHEREON the said Woodson now resides, adjoining the lands of Nathaniel W. Dandridge and others, or so much thereof as will be sufficient to satisfy the balance of the said debt still due, and the costs attending this trust,
DAVID BULLOCK, FREDK. HARRIS, Trustees. May 9, 1804. ids. (1)
Richmond County, June 1803.
John Campbell, comp't. AGAINST William Morgan and Peter Northern defs.
THE defendant Morgan not having entered his appearance and given security according to the act of Assembly, and the rules of this court, and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that he is not an inhabitant of this state, on motion of the complainant, by his counsel, it is ordered that the said defendant do appear here on the first day of the next term, and answer the bills of the complainant, and that a copy of this order be published in some newspaper printed in the city of Richmond, for two months successive, and a copy also posted at the front door of the courthouse; and it is further ordered that the defendant Norther, do not pay, convey away or secure, the debts and effects in his hands, due and belonging to the said Morgan, until the further order of the court, in the premises. A copy Teste. D. MCGARTY ex. c.

[The following picture of one of the forms of despotic government is drawn by Volney, who visited Syria and Egypt in the years 1783, 1784, and 1785. The evils, which are detailed in this extract constitute but a small part of the evils, which these political institutions entail upon the people. In the administration of justice, in their religious system, in the condition of the peasants, the artisans and merchants, in the deep ignorance of the people, and in the whole of their moral character, the enlightened Historian of the Syrian nation has found inexhaustible themes for his indignant eloquence.]
TURKISH GOVERNMENT IN SYRIA.
From such grandeur, how must the Sultan look down on the rest of mankind? In what light must he view that earth which he possesses, and distributes, but as a domain of which he is absolute master? What must the people he has subdued appear, but slaves devoted to his service; and what the soldiers he commands, but servants by whose means he retains these slaves in obedience? Such is the real character of the Turkish government. This empire may be compared to a plantation in one of our Sugar Islands, where a multitude of slaves labour to supply the luxury of one Great Proprietor, under the inspection of a few servants who take good care of themselves. There is no difference, except that the dominion of the Sultan being too vast for a single administration, he is obliged to divide them into smaller plantations, and separate governments, administered in the same mode as the united empire. Such are the provinces under the government of the Pashas. These provinces again being too extensive, the Pashas have had recourse to further subdivision, and hence that series of sub-pashas, which, step by step, descends to the lowest employments. In this gradation of authority, the object in view being invariably the same, the means employed never change their nature. Thus, power being absolute and arbitrary in the monarch, is transmitted absolute and arbitrary to all his sub-delegates. Each of these is the exact image of his next superior. It is still the Sultan who dictates and commands, under the varied names of Pasha, Mutsallim, Kaim-Makam and Aga, nor is there one in this descending scale, even to the Delsibache, who does not represent him. It is curious to hear with what insolence the lowest of these soldiers, giving his orders in a village, pronounces: The will of the Sultan: it is the Sultan's pleasure. The reason of this insolence is easily explained: for the bearer of the orders of the Sultan becomes himself, for that moment, the Sultan. It is not difficult to conceive what must be the consequence of such an administration, since all experience invariably proves, that moderation is the most difficult of virtues; and since even those men who preach it most fervently, frequently neglect to practise it; how numerous must be the abuses of unlimited power in the great, who are strangers both to forbearance and to pity, in upstarts proud of authority and eager to profit by it, and in subalterns continually aiming at great power! Let us judge therefore, how far certain speculative writers are justified in insinuating, that despotism in Turkey is not so great an evil as we imagine, since, from its only residing in the person of the sovereign, it can alone affect the great by whom he is immediately surrounded. It is certain, to use the expression of the Turks, that the sabre of the Sultan does not descend upon the dust : but this sabre he entrusts to the hand of his Vizir, who delivers it to the Pasha, from whom it passes to the Mutsallim, to the Aga, and even to the lowest Delsibache: so that it is, in fact, within the reach of the vilest retainer to office, and its destructive edge descends even on the meanest heads. This erroneous reasoning arises from the state of the people at Constantinople, to whom the Sultan is more attentive than to those of the provinces; but this attention, which his own personal safety renders necessary there, is paid to no other part of the empire; and, even there, it may be said to be attended with disagreeable effects: for, if Constantinople is in want of provisions, ten provinces are famished for a supply. Yet, which is of most importance to the empire, the capital or the provinces? In case of war, by which most soldiers be furnished, and by which fed? To the provinces therefore must we look to discover the real effects of despotism, and, in Turkey, as every where else, we must be convinced that arbitrary power in the sovereign is fatal to the state, as from the sovereign it must necessarily devolve upon his subalterns, and become more abused the lower it descends; since it is a maxim verified by constant experience, that the slave, become master, is the most rigorous of tyrants. Let us now examine the abuses of this administration, as far it respects Syria.
In each government, the Pasha, being the image of the Sultan, is, like him, an absolute despot. All power is united in his person; he is chief both of the military and the finances, of the police and criminal justice. He has the power of life and death; he has the power of making peace and war; in a word, he can do every thing. The main object of so much authority is to collect the tribute, that is, to transmit the revenue to the great proprietor who has conquered, & who possesses the country by the right of his terre-lance . This duty fulfilled, no other is required from him; he is employed by the agent to accomplish it is a matter of no concern; those means are left to his discretion; and such is the nature of his situation that, he cannot be delicate in his choice of them; for he can neither advance, nor even maintain himself, but in proportion as he can procure money. The place he holds depends on the favour of the Vizir, or some other great officer; and this can only be obtained and secured by bidding higher than his competitors. He must therefore raise money to pay the tribute, and also to indemnify himself for all he has paid, support his dignity, and make a provision in case of accidents. Accordingly, the first care of a Pasha, on entering on his government, is to devise methods to procure money, and the quickest
are invariably the best. The established mode of collecting the mirani and the customs, is to appoint one or more principal farmers, for the current year, who, in order to facilitate the collection, divide it into lesser farms which are again subdivided, even to the smallest villages. The Pashas these employments to the best bidder, wishing to draw as much money from them as possible. The farmers, who, on their side have no object in taking them but gain, strain every nerve to augment their receipt. Hence an avidity in these delegates always bordering on dishonesty; hence those extortions to which they are the more easily inclined as they are sure of being supported by authority; and hence, in the very heart of the people, a faction of men interested in multiplying impositions. The Pasha may applaud himself for penetrating into the most hidden sources of private profits, by the clear-sighted rapacity of his subalterns; but what is the consequence? The people, denied the enjoyment of the fruit of their labour, restrain their industry to the supply of their necessary wants. The husbandman only sows to preserve himself from starving; the artist labours only to support his family if he has any surplus, he carefully conceals it. Thus the arbitrary power of the Sultan, transmitted to the Pasha and to all his sub-delegates, by giving a free course to extortion becomes the main spring of a tyranny which circulates through every class, whilst its effects, by a reciprocal reaction, are every where fatal to agriculture, the arts, commerce, population; in a word, every thing which constitutes the power of the state, or, which is the same thing, the power of the Sultan himself.
This power is not subject to less abuses in the army. Perpetually urged by the necessity of obtaining money, on which his safety and tranquility depend, the Pasha has retrenched, as far as possible, the usual military establishment. He diminishes the number of his troops, lessens their pay, winks at their disorders; and discipline is no more. Were a foreign war now to happen, were the Russians to appear again in Syria, as in the year 1772, who would defend that province for the Sultan? It sometimes happens that the Pashas, who are Sultans in their provinces, have personal hatreds against each other. To gratify these, they avail themselves of their power, and wage secret or open war, the ruinous consequences of which are sure to be felt by the subjects of the Sultan. It also happens that these Pashas are tempted to appropriate to themselves the power of which they are the depositaries. The Porte, foreseeing this, endeavours to provide against their defection, by various means. The employments are divided, and particular officers maintained in the castles of the capitals, as at Aleppo, Damascus, and Tripoli; but should a foreign enemy appear, what benefit would result from this division? Every three months Capidjis are sent, who keep the Pashas in alarm, on account of the secret orders of which they are the bearers; but not unfrequently the Pashas, as cunning as themselves, get rid of these troublesome spies. The Porte, in short, often changes the residence of the Pashas, that they may not have time to form connections in the country; but as all the consequences of a bad form of government have a mischievous tendency, the Pashas, uncertain of to-morrow, treat their provinces as mere transient possession, and take care to make no improvement for the benefit of their successors. On the contrary, they hasten to exhaust them of the produce, and to reap in one day, if possible, the fruit of many years. It is true, these irregularities, every now and then, are punished by the bowstring, one of the practices of the Porte which best displays the spirit of his government. When a Pasha has laid waste a province; when in consequence of repeated acts of tyranny, the clamours of the people have reached Constantinople, woe be unto him if he be without a protector, or sparing of his money! At the end of the year, a Capidji arrives producing the firman of prorogation: sometimes bringing with him a second or third tail, or some other new mark of favour, whilst the Pasha is celebrating a festival on the occasion, an order appears for his deposition, then another for his exile, and frequently a kat-sherif for his head. The ostensible reason is always for having oppressed the subjects of the Sultan; but the Porte, by taking possession of the wealth of the extirpated, and restoring nothing to the people, leaves sufficient room to think that the government is far from disapproving a system of robbery and plunder which finds so profitable. Every day, therefore, affords fresh examples of oppressive and rebellious Pashas; and if none of them have hitherto succeeded in forming a stable and independent government, it is less owing to these wise measures of the Divan, than the vigilance of the Capidjis, than their own ignorance in the art of governing. In Asia, those moral means are never employed, which, in the hands of able legislators, have frequently raised powerful states on foundations at first extremely feeble. The Pashas regard nothing but money; nor has repeated experience been able to make them sensible that this, so far from being the pledge of their security, becomes the certain cause of their destruction. They are wholly devoted to amassing wealth, as if friends were to be purchased. Asa, Pasha of Damascus, left eight millions of livres (above three hundred and thirty thousand pounds), and was betrayed by his Mamlook, and smothered in the bath. We have seen what was the fate of Ibrahim Sabbar with his twenty millions. Djezzar is following the same course, and will end in the same way. Not one of them has ever thought of inspiring and promoting that disinterested love of the public welfare, which in Greece and Italy, nay, even in Holland and Switzerland, has enabled the lower classes of people to enter into a successful contest with the greatest empires. The Emirs and Pashas all imitate the Sultan: all regard the country they govern as their private property, and their subjects as their domestics; while they, in their turn, see in their superiors only imperious masters; and since they are all alike, of what importance is it which they serve? Hence, in these states, the custom of employing foreign in preference to national troops. The chiefs are distrustful of the people, conscious that they do not merit their attachment: their aim is not to govern but to tyrannize over the country,
and by a just relation, their country sees their ruin with indifference. The mercenaries, too, whom they keep in pay, continually intent on their own interest, sell them to the enemy, to profit by their spoils. Daher had maintained for ten years, the wretch who murdered him. It is a truth worthy of remark, that the greater part of the African and Asiatic states, especially since the days of Mahomet, have been governed on these principles, and that no part of the world has exhibited so many commotions in its provinces, or revolutions in its empires. Ought we not then to conclude, that arbitrary power in the sovereign is no less fatal to the military strength, than the finances of a nation? But let us proceed to enquire what are its effects on the civil government of Syria. The Pasha, as being the image of the Sultan, is the head of all the police of his government; under which title must be comprehended criminal justice. He possesses the most absolute power of life and death, and this he exercises without formality, and without appeal. Wherever he meets with an offence, he orders the criminal to be seized, and the executioner, by whom he is accompanied, strangles him, or takes off his head upon the spot; nay, sometimes, he himself does not disdain this office. Three days before my arrival at Sour, Djezzar had ripped up a Mason with an axe. The Pasha frequently strolls about disguised, and woe to the man whom he surprises in a fault! But as he cannot be present every where, he commits this duty to a deputy, called the Wali, whose office resembles that of the Officers de Guet in France. Like them he patrols night and day; keeps a watchful eye on the seditious; apprehends robbers; and like the Pasha, judges and condemns without appeal. The criminal bends his neck; the executioner strikes; the head falls, and the body is carried off in a leathern sack. This officer has a multitude of spies, who are almost all of them thieves, and by their means knows every thing that passes. It is not, therefore, astonishing that cities like Cairo, Aleppo, and Damascus, should be safer than Genoa, Rome, or Naples; but how dearly is this safety purchased! and how many innocent lives are sacrificed to the partiality and injustice of the Wali and his agents!
BY AUTHORITY.
[LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.]
AN ACT
For levying and collecting duties on imports and tonnage within the territories ceded to the United States by the treaty of the thirtieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, between the United States, and the French Republic; and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the same duties which by law now are, or hereafter may be laid on goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the United States, on the tonnage of vessels, and on the passports and clearances of vessels, shall be laid and collected on goods, wares and merchandise imported in the territories ceded to the United States, by the treaty of the thirtieth of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, between the United States and the French Republic; and on vessels arriving in, or departing from the said territories: And the following acts, that is to say the act entitled, An act to establish the treasury department.
An act concerning the registering and recording the ships and vessels.
An act for enrolling and licensing ships or vessels to be employed in the coasting trade and fisheries.
An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage.
An act to establish the compensations of officers employed in the collection of the duties on imports and tonnage, and for other purposes.
An act for the more effectual recovery of debts due from individuals to the United States.
An act to provide more effectually for the settlement of accounts between the United States and receivers of public money.
An act to authorise the sale and conveyance of lands in certain cases by the marshals of the United States, and to confirm former sales.
An act to provide for mitigating or remitting the forfeitures, penalties and disabilities accruing in certain cases therein mentioned.
An act to establish a mint, and to regulate the coins of the United States.
An act regulating foreign coins, and for other purposes.
And the act supplementary to and amendatory of the two last mentioned acts, or so much of the said acts as is now in force and also so much of any other act or acts of the United States as is now in force or may be hereafter enacted, for laying any duties on imports, tonnage, seamen or shipping, for regulating and securing the collection of the same, and for regulating the compensations of the officers employed in the collection of the same; for granting and regulating drawbacks, bounties and allowances in lieu of drawbacks; concerning the registering, recording, enrolling and licensing of ships and vessels; to provide for the settlement of accounts between the United States and individuals; for the recovery of debts due to the United States; and for remitting forfeitures, penalties and disabilities—shall extend to and have full force and effect in the above mentioned territories: Provided however, and it is hereby further enacted, that ships or vessels which on the twentieth day of December last were owned by persons then residing in the above mentioned territories, and who either were citizens of the United States, or had resided in the said territories during five years next preceding, shall be entitled to the benefits and privileges of vessels of the United States, whilst they shall continue to be wholly owned by
such persons, or by citizens of the United States; Provided, nevertheless, that the persons claiming such privileges for their ships or vessels, shall in every other respect comply with the provisions of the acts for registering, recording, enrolling and licensing of ships or vessels, and who, if not citizens of the United States, shall have previously taken an oath of allegiance to the United States; which oath the collector of the port is hereby authorised to administer.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of any act or acts of the United States now in force, or which may be hereafter enacted, concerning the bank of the United States, and for the punishment of frauds committed on the same; for the relief of the sick and disabled seamen; for the protection of American seamen; for the government and regulation of seamen in the merchant service; and for preventing the exportation of goods not duly in- spected; shall extend to and have full force and effect in the above mentioned territories.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That so much of any law, or laws, laying any duties on the importation into the United States of goods, wares, and merchandise from the said territories, (or allowing drawbacks on the importation of the same from the United States to the said territories,) or respecting the commercial intercourse between the United States and the said territories, or between the several parts of the United States through the said territories, which is inconsistent with the provisions of the preceding section, be, and the same hereby is repealed: and all duties on the exportation of goods, wares, and merchandise from the said territories, as well as all duties on the importation of goods, wares, and merchandise into the said territories, on the transfer of ships or vessels, or on the tonnage of vessels, other than those laid by virtue of the laws of the United States, shall, from the time when this act shall commence to be in force, cease and determine: Provided however, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect the fees and other charges usually paid in the said territories on account of pilotage, wharfage, or the right of anchoring by the levy of the city of New Orleans, which several fees and charges shall until otherwise directed, continue to be paid and applied to the same purposes as heretofore.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That to the end that the laws providing for the collection of the duties imposed, by law, on goods, wares, and merchandise, imported into the United States, and on the tonnage of ships and vessels, and the laws respecting the revenue and navigation of the United States may be carried into effect, within the said territories, the territories ceded to the United States, by the treaty above mentioned, and also all the navigable waters of the rivers, creeks, bays, and inlets, lying within the United States, which empty into the gulph of Mexico, east of the river Mississippi, shall be annexed to the Mississippi district, and shall, together with the same, constitute one district, to be called the "District of Mississippi." The city of New Orleans shall be the sole port of entry in the said district, and the town of Bayon St. John shall be a port of delivery—a collector, naval officer, and surveyor shall be appointed to reside at New Orleans, and a surveyor shall be appointed to reside at the port of Bayon St. John; and the President of the United States is hereby authorised to appoint, not exceeding three surveyors, to reside at such other places, within the said district, as he shall deem expedient, and to constitute each, or either of such places ports of delivery only.
And so much of any law or laws, as establishes a district on the river Mississippi, south of the river Tennessee, is hereby repealed, except as to the recovery and receipt of such duties on goods, wares, and merchandise, and on the tonnage of ships or vessels, as shall have accrued and as to the recovery and distribution of fines, penalties, and forfeitures, which shall have been incurred before the commencement of the operation of this act.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the shores and waters of the town of Natchez, shall be one district, to be called the district of Natchez; and a collector shall be appointed, who shall reside at Natchez, which shall be the only port of entry or delivery within the said district of any goods, wares, and merchandise, not the growth or manufacture of the United States: Provided nevertheless, That it shall be the duty of every master or commander of any ship or vessel destined for the said port of Natchez, to stop at New Orleans and there deliver to the collector of the said port a manifest of the cargo on board such ship or vessel, agreeably to law, on penalty of five thousand dollars. And it shall be the duty of said collector to transmit a certified copy of such manifest to the collector of the said port of Natchez, and to direct an inspector to go on board such ship or vessel and proceed therewith to the port of Natchez, and there report such ship or vessel to the collector of said port of Natchez, immediately after his arrival, when the duty of said inspector shall cease.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That foreign ships or vessels shall be admitted to unlade at the port of New Orleans, and at no other port within the district of Mississippi; and ships or vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, coming directly from France or Spain, or any of their colonies, shall not be admitted to unlade at any port within the district of Mississippi other than New Orleans; and ships or vessels arriving from the Cape of Good Hope, or from any place beyond the same, shall be admitted to make entry at the port of New Orleans, and at no other port within the district of Mississippi: Provided however, That nothing in this act contained, shall authorise the allowing of drawbacks
on the exportation of any goods, wares, and merchandise from the said port of New Orleans, other than on those which shall have been imported directly into the same, from a foreign port or place.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the master or commander of every ship or vessel, bound to a port of delivery only, other than the port of Bayon St. John in the district of Mississippi, shall first come to at the port of New Orleans with his ship or vessel, and there make report and entry, in writing, and pay, or secure to be paid, all legal duties, port fees, charges, in manner provided by law, before such ship or vessel shall proceed to other port of delivery; and any ship or vessel bound to the port of Bayon St. John, may first proceed to the said port and afterwards make report and entry at the port of New Orleans, within the time by law limited: and the master of every ship or vessel, arriving from a foreign port or place, or having goods on board of which the duties have not been paid or secured, and bound to any port within the district of Mississippi (other than New Orleans or Bayon St. John) shall take an inspector on board, at New Orleans, before proceeding to such port; and if any master of ship or a vessel, shall proceed to such port of delivery, contrary to the directions aforesaid, he shall forfeit and pay five hundred dollars, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction, with the costs of suit.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That during the term of twelve years, to commence three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the above mentioned treaty shall have been notified, at Paris, to the French government, French ships or vessels, coming directly from France, or any of her said colonies, laden only with the produce or manufactures of France or any of her said colonies; and Spanish ships or vessels, coming directly from Spain or any other her said colonies, shall be admitted into the port of New Orleans, and into all other ports of entry which may hereafter be established by law, within the territories ceded to the United States by the above mentioned treaty, in the same manner as ships or vessels of the United States coming directly from France or Spain, or any of their colonies, and without being subject to any other, or higher duty on the said produce or manufacture, than by law now is, or shall, at the time, be payable, by citizens of the United States on similar articles, imported from France or Spain, or any of their colonies, in vessels of the United States, into the said port of New Orleans, or other ports of entry in the territories above mentioned; or to any other, or higher tonnage duty, than by law now is, or shall at the time be, laid on the tonnage of vessels of the United States coming from France, or Spain, or from any of their colonies, to the said port of New Orleans, or other ports of entry within the territories above mentioned.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the collector of the district of Mississippi shall give bond for the true and faithful discharge of his duties, in the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, and shall be allowed in addition to the fees and emoluments of his office, in lieu of all other commissions, one and a half per cent on all monies by him received, on account of the duties arising from goods, wares and merchandise imported into the said district, and on the tonnage of ships and vessels; and the naval officers and surveyors of the said district shall, respectively, receive an annual compensation of two hundred and fifty dollars, in addition to their other fees and emoluments.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is authorised to cause to be built and equipped one revenue cutter, in addition to those heretofore authorised by law, which cutter may be officered manned and employed, in the same manner, and the expense thereof shall be paid out of the same fund, as is provided for defraying the expense of the revenue cutters heretofore authorised by law.
Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is authorised, whenever he shall deem it expedient, to erect the shores, waters and inlets of the bay and river Mobile, and of the other rivers, creeks, inlets and bays emptying into the gulph of Mexico, east of the said river Mobile, and west thereof to the Pascagoula inclusive, into a separate district, and to establish such place within the same, as he shall deem expedient, to the port of entry and delivery for such district; and to designate such other places, within the same district, not exceeding two, to be ports of delivery only. Whenever such separate district shall be erected, a collector shall be appointed to reside at the port of entry; and a surveyor shall likewise be appointed, to reside at each of the ports of delivery, which may be established, and such collector or surveyor shall be entitled to receive, in addition to their other fees and emoluments, an annual salary of two hundred & fifty dollars. And the said collector shall give bond for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office in the sum of five thousand dollars.
Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That this act shall commence thirty days after the passing thereof.
NATHL. MACON, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JOHN BROWN, Pres d of the Senate, pro tempore. February 24, 1804. APPROVED, TH. JEFFERSON.
AN APPRENTICE TO THE PRINTING BUSINESS, WANTED AT THIS OFFICE.