The recorder, or, Lady's and gentleman's miscellany (Richmond, Va.), 1802-06-23 00:00:00

THE RECORDER; Or, LADY'S AND GENTLEMAN'S MISCELLANY;
Printed by HENRY PACE, and JAMES T. CALLENDER, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA; and published every WEDNESDAY Morning. Subscription Two Dollars per annum WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1802.
JOHN PUMFREY, BOOK BINDER AND STATIONER.
Has just received by the late arrivals from Europe, such an addition to his former STOCK, as to make his ASSORTMENT general and complete.
Merchants Account Books, of all descriptions, Record, Stert's Book &c. &c. kept constantly on hand. Books ruled to any pattern, and Binding carried on in all its various branches.
It is earnestly requested, that should there yet remain any unsettled claims against the late Co. Partnership of CURRIE and PUMFREY, they may be brought in for payment. Those indebted thereto, are also requested to come forward and discharge the balances due by them, no farther indulgence can be given.
The debtors to the estate of Archibald Currie, dec. and the creditors, if any there now are, are solicited to make immediate application to the subscriber in order to a final adjustment of their accounts, as he is anxious to close the business of his administration.
JOHN PUMFREY. Surviving Partner of C. & P. and Administrator of Arch. Currie, dec'd.
Richmond June 4th, 1802. N. B. Subscriptions received for publishing the DEBATES on the Virginia Convention. A few copies of Hening's Justice for sale.
FOR SALE, Mount Comfort Farm,
In view of the City, and about one mile from the Capitol, it contains fifty six acres of Land, eight ten whereof are excellent meadow. The whole is well enclosed last fall and separated into convenient lots. The houses are, a large two-story Brick Dwelling, with four rooms on a floor, with convenient cellars, closets, and parlours, and a large Cellar with two rooms, Kitchen, wash-house, dairy, stables, granary, coach-house, and all other houses, which are necessary for a family, and for farming use.
The advantages resulting from a well conducted farm, so contiguous to the City, are so numerous and so well known, that I shall not undertake to describe them. It evidently is one of the most pleasant and healthy situations within the vicinity of Richmond.
Persons wishing to purchase, are invited to view the premises, and for terms, apply at my Office, in this City.
THOMAS WILSON, Richmond, 15th June, 1802. (4. w.)
Stone Lime IN HOGSHEADS AND TIERCES. Cut Herrings & Shads,
For Sale at ROCKETTS, by JOHN CRADDOCK. June 16, 1802.
WALTER POTTER, Book Binder & Stationer
OPPOSITE Messrs. MITCHELL & GARDNER'S Main Street Richmond.
TAKES the liberty of informing his Friends, and the Public in general, that he has commenced the above Business, and solicits the patronage of those who may think proper to employ him.
Merchants account Books ruled to any pattern, and Book-Binding of every description executed with accuracy and dispatch.
ALSO A constant supply of STATIONARY. June 2d, 1802.
City of Richmond; IN COMMON HALL, May 26, 1802.
DOCTORS Cringan and M'Caw, having tendered their services to inoculate the Poor of this City for the COW POX gratis, Resolved, that the Constables be directed to notify the same to the Poor, in their respective Districts, without delay. If the other Physicians in this City should think proper to inoculate the Poor gratis, and will give information thereof to the Mayor, he will direct the Constables to notify the Poor within their several Districts thereof. And that the Printers in this City be requested to insert this Resolution in their respective Newspapers.
Copy Tofts. ADAM CRAIG. c. c. h. c. R.
CALL'S REPORTS, SECOND VOLUME.
District of Virginia, to wit:
BE it remembered, that on the Twenty-Fourth Day of May, in the Twenty-Sixth Year of the Independence of the United States of America, DANIEL CALL of the said District hath deposited in this Office, the title of a Book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following to wit: "Reports of cases argued and adjudged, in the Court of Appeals of Virginia, by Daniel Call." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States intitled, "An Act for encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned."
WILL. MARSHALL, CL. of the District of Virginia.
The above Work will be published in the course of the present Year. Price to Subscribers Four Dollars. Subscriptions received at the Printing Office of Thomas Nicholson.
Mrs. Booth, and Co. HAVE JUST RECEIVED, By the ship Octavo, from London, an Elegant assortment of MILLENERY.
LIKewise FASHIONABLE DRESSES, Of all descriptions, now open for Sale at their house, next door to Mr. ROBERT MITCHELL'S, near the Market. May 14th. 1802. 6t.
WANTED, As an Apprentice, To the Printing Business, A Young Man, of good Character and Connections, from the age of 13 to 16. Apply at this office.
THE CASE OF DR. READ, OF NORFOLK.
THE general court has just finished its semiannual session. The public curiosity has been much excited by the expected trial of the commonwealth's prosecution against Dr. John K. R. Read, of Norfolk. The prosecution was founded upon an accusation, which was exhibited against Dr. Read, about two years ago. He was accused of having committed to the jail of Norfolk, and having afterwards delivered to Mr. Hamilton, the British consul, a sailor named Hugh Jones, who had been one of the mutineers, on board of the British frigate Hermione. It was further alleged that Jones was sent by Hamilton to the West Indies, where he was tried, condemned, and executed. A complaint, embracing all these things, was made to governor Monroe, by Richard Evers Lee, of Norfolk. The governor and council sent Mr. George Hay to Norfolk, to enquire into and make a report of the facts. This trip cost the commonwealth about 100 pounds. Mr. Hay was some time at Norfolk; he took many affidavits, and enclosed them to the governor and council, accompanied by a letter, in which it appeared that he conceived the facts to be established. It appears that governor Monroe was of this opinion; because at the succeeding session, he so stated it to the assembly, in his official communication. This is well recollected, and also that there was immediately an universal sentiment of detestation and vengeance, which burst from every corner of the house, and which spread all over the country, accompanied with such terms, and threats of horror and violence, that it was dangerous, for a man, even to say that the facts had not happened.
It appears that the testimony of one Brannan, the jailor, was chiefly relied upon by Mr. Hay. Brannan, at one time, expressly denied that the facts had happened; at another, he said that he believed they had happened. His testimony is therefore contradictory. But Brannan's testimony is opposed by the affidavit of one Colls, who, at the time when the fact is said to have happened, acted as the
assistant to Brannan. Colls's affidavit is to the following effect: that Brannan, at the time alluded to, was not only very sick, but was delirious; that he (Colls) kept the keys, the books, and transacted all the duties of the jail. He received all prisoners, and kept a regular account of the names and causes of commitment, in every case. He declares solemnly that no man by the name of Hugh Jones was committed to prison by Dr. Read, or any other person. This affidavit is confirmed by Mr. Boyce, the sergeant of the borough of Norfolk. Colls also lays that he was interrogated by Mr. George Hay upon the subject, and that he informed Mr. Hay that no such man had been in jail. It is most likely, if Colls's affidavit had been taken and reported by Mr. Hay, with the others, that neither Dr. Read nor the assembly would have had any further trouble upon the business.
This case was to have been tried at the session of the general court, which is just now over. Dr. Read came with his witnesses, prepared and anxious for a trial. The trial has been postponed by the attorney general, at a very great expense to Dr. Read, and a still greater to the commonwealth.
We understand that Dr. Read has many points of defence. The first is the denial of the fact. From the affidavit of Colls, it would seem that this might be sufficient. But it appears that much inveteracy and political madness have been used, and as there is no telling to what length party zeal may go, other points are kept in reserve. One is that no such man as Hugh Jones ever did belong to the Hermione. Another is, that at the time when it is stated, that this Hugh Jones was delivered to Col. Hamilton, it so happened that Hamilton was not in the state of Virginia! Another point is that, even admitting all the facts to be as they are pretended to have been, it would have been right for Dr. Read to commit the man to prison, and then deliver him to Col. Hamilton. It would have been also right for Col. Hamilton to send him to a place where he ought to be tried. This opinion is supported by the constitution of the United States, and by the treaty with Britain. The first declares that treaties shall be the supreme law of the land, and that all judges are bound to regard them. The second declares that persons guilty of treason, or murder, and taking refuge in the other country, should be delivered for trial, provided the evidence of criminality was such as to justify a commitment, if the offence had been committed at the place of apprehension. We do not, however, wish to hear a great deal about the propriety of delivering up one of these mutineers. The sense of the country does not go along with it. This was proved in the case of Jonathan Robbins. Pigot was both a pirate, and a monster of tyranny. He richly deserved his fate. Dr. Read's case rests upon a more popular basis.
It appears, by the commonwealth's testimony, that the man confessed the crime. It is therefore alleged to have been right to commit him and being committed, to deliver him to the representative of George the third. Another point is that no prosecution was commenced against Dr. Read, until more than twelve months after the fact is alleged to have happened.
It appears that all this clamour and trouble, originated in some tattling of one Setchell, one of our Norfolk republicans, who dined at a private house in Norfolk, with the British consul, Dr. Read, capt. Truxton and others. When all parties were well freighted with wine, Read was asked what had become of one of the mutineers, who had been delivered to him by capt. Truxton? Dr. Read answered that he had gone to hell, where all such scoundrels ought to go, alluding to one Osborne, who had died in jail. On the next day, Setchell told something to one Starke, who told something to Richard E. Lee, the accuser, who wrote something to the governor; but it appears that the circumstance alluded to in the convivial conversation just mentioned, and Lee's letter to the governor, are by no means alike. And it appears, also, that some of these busy people have contrived to manufacture a man (viz. Hugh Jones) to suit their purpose, who never existed, except in their own imaginations. It is for this that Dr. Read has had so much trouble, and for which the whole community have been roused to execrate him in the blackest terms of detestation.
We have thought proper to say just so much to our readers. We shall forbear to make a single remark, which may raise a prejudice either upon one side, or the other, notwithstanding
that we might quote the report of Mr. Hay, the opinion of the attorney general, the public letter of the governor, and the universal language of the assembly for the year 1800, as examples, and in justification. If ever this case shall be tried, during the existence of this paper, we promise to give a full account of the trial. In the mean time, we shall receive communications on the subject from either party, if any shall be sent for publication.
In general, it is improper, and even highly punishable, to interfere, before the decision of a cause, with any publication respecting its merits. Of this we are well aware. But the present instance will justify some deviation from the common rule. The facts are correct. The court is candid. The governor, and Mr. Nicholas, the attorney general, are two of the last men in the world, who would wish to support an injurious prosecution. Both of these gentlemen will be highly gratified by this endeavour to relieve a citizen from unjust reproach. Dr. Read, if he is a man of acute sensibility, must, within the last two years, have suffered more in his peace of mind, than could be repaid him by the wealth of Potosi.
Something yet remains to be said concerning the case of Dr. Read. Our friend and subscriber, Mr. John Warden, has now, in his possession, a list of the whole officers and crew of the frigate Hermione. This document bears the seal of the British navy office. It is subscribed by three of the commissioners; and Mr. Warden is ready to shew the paper to any person that expresses a wish for it. In this list the name of Hugh Jones is not to be found. This, of itself, amounts to a pretty strong evidence, that the ship contained no such person. Thomas Nash, alias Jonathan Robbins, appears upon it. Thomas Osborne, another of the crew, stands there. This is the man already mentioned, whom Dr. Read actually committed to the jail of Norfolk. Truxton had brought him before the Doctor, as a magistrate. The man confessed the charge; and Dr. Read could not help committing him.
COPY OF COLLS'S AFFIDAVIT: Borough of Norfolk
This day William Colls, came before me the subscriber, recorder of the Borough aforesaid, and being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that he took up his residence with John Brannan jailor of the Borough aforesaid, on the thirty first day of January, 1798, that he resided with said Brannan, during the time which he the said Brannan specified to have been his long illness, and that, during that illness, he the said William Colls transacted the whole of his (Brannan's) business at the stipend of fifty pounds per annum, that he received all prisoners, whose names were entered in a book, kept for that purpose; kept all mittimus granted, discharged and received the prison fees; that during his continuation in the said office, as deputy jailor, no person of any description, as a mutineer from the Hermione, was ever committed to the jail, or said Borough by Dr. I. K. Read; that, after Brannan's recovery, there was a man, by the name of Osborne, committed, and the said deponent believes, by Dr. Read; but who died in a day or two after his commitment; that the said deponent lived a long time after this transaction with Brannan; but, to his certain knowledge, no person whatever, other than Osborne, was ever committed to the jail; and that, to his certain knowledge, no man of any description whatever, as a mutineer from the Hermione, was ever delivered to the British consul by Dr. I. K. Read, and further this deponent saith not.
WILLIAM COLLS. Sworn before Thomas Newton.
MORE ABOUT BENJAMIN STODDERT, CENSOR SMITH, AND THE SIX NAVY YARDS, FROM A VIRGINIAN CORRESPONDENT.
THE National Intelligencer has taken more pains to mislead the public concerning the case of Mr. Stoddert, the late Secretary of the Navy, than upon any other occasion. In the misrepresentation, No. IV, there is enough to exhaust the patience of any man, who has not determined to probe the subject to

We have just heard from the country that the Gilesites have determined to put to death one of the editors of this paper. This is the way that Robespierre waded through blood and infamy, from the rank of a pettifogger attorney to be the scourge of France and of Europe.
We should be glad to know whether or not Citizen Giles is above the Virginia Laws? We have proved that he holds in perfect contempt those of the United States, which he has often sworn to support.
The following letter was received a few days ago, from one of our readers.
Virginia, June 4th, 1802
'Tis twenty years since I have been in Richmond. Possibly shall never go again. Nearly bed-ridden. Read much. Neighbours furnish newspapers. Take none myself. Never shall again; because made a vow not to do it, after discovered the infamous character of — and how horribly he is given to lying. Had been a warm supporter of his paper. Am now sorry for it. Hope to be forgiven. Your paper of Wednesday 28th, last month, sent me this day. The merited switching you have given to Farmer Giles is well worth the inclosed five dollar note, as much as you wished to borrow in Summer 1799, of your quondam friend with the harmonious voice.
The above means no great matter. But we understand that the publication of it would be acceptable; and it is always particularly agreeable to be obliging to an old man. The name of the printer is suppressed. He never published a paper in Richmond.
TO THE PUBLIC.
I never, till within these two days, read with any sort of attention, Jones's Richmond Head of May 29th. If I had suspected it to contain such a mass of calumnies, as I since find that it does, it should have been answered before now. So much effrontery, inconsistency, and equivocation, have not often been assembled in any single piece. I am now tracing it out by paragraphs; and shall, in next number, give him five columns. Jones has introduced his BED CHAMBER! Amen.
J. T. CALLENDER.
Richmond, June 22d 1802.
Letters received from St. Helena give a singular and affecting Narrative respecting six Defectors from the artillery of that Island. Their extraordinary adventures produced a Court of enquiry on the 12th of December last, when John Brown, one of the survivors, delivered the following account upon oath.
In June, 1799, I belonged to the First Company of Artillery, in the service of this garrison, and on the 10th of that month, about half an hour before parade time, M'Kinnon, gunner, and orderly of the 2d company, asked me if I was willing to go with him on board of an American ship called the Columbia ; after some conversation I agreed, and met him about seven o'clock at the play-house, where I found one M'Quinn, of Major Seal's company, another man called Parr, another man called Brighouse and the sixth Matthew Conway.
Parr was a good seaman, and said he would take us to the island of Ascension, or lye off the harbour till the Columbia could weigh anchor and come out. We went down, about eight o'clock, to the West Rock, where the American boat was waiting for us, manned with three of the American seamen, which took us along side the Columbia .
Brighouse and Conway proposed to cut a whale boat from out of the harbour, to prevent the Columbia from being suspected, which they effected.
We observed lanterns passing on the line towards the Sea Gate, and hearing a great noise, thought we were missed and searched for. We immediately embarked in the whale boat, with about twenty five pounds of bread in a bag, and a small keg of water, supposed to contain about thirteen gallons, one compass and one quadrant, given to us by the commanding officer of the Columbia ; but in our hurry, the quadrant was either left behind, or dropped overboard.
We then left the ship, pulling with two oars only, to get a head of her; the boat was half full of water, and nothing to bale her out; in this condition we rowed out to sea, and lay off the island a
great distance, expecting the American ship hourly.
We continued our course till about the 18th in the morning, when we saw a number of birds, but no land. About twelve o'clock this day, Parr said he was sure we must be past the island, accounting it to be 800 miles from St. Helena. We then, each of us, took our shirts, and with them made a sort of a spritsail, and laced our jackets, and trousers together, at the waist band, to keep us warm, and then altered our course to W. by N. thinking to make Rio de Janeiro, on the American coast. Provisions running very short, we allowed ourselves only one ounce of bread for twenty four hours, and two mouthfuls of water.
We continued until the 26th, when all our provisions were expended. On the 27th, M'Quinn took a piece of bamboo in his mouth to chew, and we all followed his example. On that night, it being my turn to steer the boat, and remembering to have read of persons in our situation eating their shoes, I cut a piece off one of mine; but it being soaked with salt water, I was obliged to spit it out, and take the inside sole, which I eat part of, and distributed to the rest, but found no benefit from it.
On the 1st of July, Mr. Parr caught a dolphin with a gaff, that had been left in the boat. We all fell on our knees and thanked God for his goodness to us. We tore up the fish, and hung it to dry; about four, we eat part of it, which agreed with us pretty well. On this fish we subsisted till the 4th about eleven o'clock when finding the whole expended, bones and all, Parr, myself, Brighouse, and Conway, proposed to scuttle the boat, and let her go down to put us out of our misery; the other two objected, observing that God who had made man, always found him something to eat.
On the 5th, about eleven, M'Kinnon proposed it would be better to cast lots for one of us to die, in order to save the rest, to which we consented. The lots were made; William Parr, being sick two days before with the spotted fever, was excluded. He wrote the numbers out, and in a hat which he drew out blindfolded, and put them into our pockets; Parr then asked whose lot it was to die, none of us knowing what number we had in our pocket, each one praying to God that it might be his lot. It was agreed that No. 5 should die; and the lots being unfolded, M'Kinnon's was No. 5.
We had agreed that he whose lot it was should bleed himself to death; for which purpose we had provided ourselves with nails sharpened, which we got from the boat. M'Kinnon with one of them cut himself in three places, in his foot, hand, wrist and praying to God to forgive him, died in about a quarter of an hour.
Before he was quite cold, Brighouse, with one of those nails, cut a piece of flesh off his thigh and hung it up, leaving his body in the boat. About three hours after, we all eat of it only a very small bit. This piece lasted until the 7th. We dipped the body, every two hours into the sea to preserve it. Parr having found a piece of slate in the bottom of the boat, he sharpened it on the other large stone, and with it cut another piece off the thigh, which lasted until the 8th, when it being my watch and observing the water, about break of day, to change colour, I called the rest, thinking we were near shore, but saw no land, it not being quite day-light.
As soon as day appeared, we discovered land right ahead, and steered towards it. About eight in the morning, we were close to the shore; there being a very heavy surf, we endeavoured to turn the boat's head to it, but being very weak, we were unable; soon after, the boat upset! Myself, Conway and Parr, got on shore. M'Quinn and Brighouse were drowned. We discovered a small hut on the beach, in which were an Indian and his mother, who spoke Portuguese, and I understanding that language, learnt that there was a village about three miles distance called Belmont. This Indian went to the
village, and gave information the French had landed, and in about two hours the Governor of the village, (a clergyman) with several armed men, took Conway and Parr prisoners.
On our telling them we were English, we were immediately released, and three hammocks provided; we were taken in them to the Governor's house, who let us lie on his own bed, and gave us milk and rice to eat, but not having eaten any thing for a considerable time, we were lock jawed, and continued so till the 23d, during which time the Governor wrote to the Governor of St. Salvador, who sent a small schooner to a place called Porto Seguro, to take us to Salvador. On our arrival at St. Salvador, Parr, on being questioned by the Governor, answered that our ship had foundered at sea, and we had saved ourselves in the boat: that the ship's name was the Sally , of Liverpool, and belonged to his father.
We continued at St. Salvador about thirteen days, during which time the inhabitants made up a liberal subscription for us. We then embarked in the Maria , a Portuguese ship, for Lisbon. In 13 days we arrived at Rio de Janeiro. Parr and Conway sailed for Lisbon, and I was left in the hospital: in about three months, Captain Elphinstone, of the Diomede , pressed me into his Majesty's service, giving me the choice of remaining on that station, or to proceed to the Admiral at the Cape. I chose the latter, and was put, with suspected deserters, on board the Ann , a Botany-Bay ship, in irons, with the convicts.
When I arrived at the Cape, I was put on board the Lancaster . I never entered. I at length received my discharge, since which I engaged in the Duke of Clarence as a seaman, I was determined to give myself up the first opportunity in order to relate my sufferings to the men of this garrison, to deter them from attempting so mad a scheme again.
From the Boston Centinel
VALUE OF NEW LANDS IN THE UNITED STATES.
The value of new lands in this country will appear from the following statements. By the late census it is made evident that the annual increase of men in the United States is now upwards of one hundred and eighteen thousand; and supposing sixty eight thousand to remain in the old towns, (which is a large allowance) and the remaining fifty thousand to settle on the new lands, allotting to each man two hundred acres, which the new settlers on an average will require, as the wealthy will purchase more, there will be a demand for ten millions of acres annually. This demand will increase with the growing population of our country, augmented by the migrations from Europe, which are to be expected in greater numbers than in any former period. And as several millions of the public debt will be annually paid, many of the receivers of it may wish to vest their money in new lands, as these will adopt the greatest prospect of gain. This is an important circumstance in favor of the rise of new lands which never before existed in this country. Add to this, that some capitalists in Europe have already made large purchases of our new lands, and many more may be expected to pursue the same object, as the prospect of gain is so inviting. Such a concurrence of powerful causes as are now in operation, must produce a great effect. How clear then and forcible is the demonstration, that the unsettled lands in the United States will continue rising in value?
This calculation is founded on such well known facts, and principles, its truth must be obvious to all intelligent persons. It also shews, how easily and certainly great part of the national debt may be paid by the sale of the new lands now owned, and which may be purchased by the Union, if government acts with wisdom.
The genius of our people leads them much more to pursue agriculture in new settlements, than to labour in manufactures in the old towns. This disposition is likely to continue; and it is encouraged by the late improvements in cultivating new lands with less labour and more profit than formerly, and the more rapid increase of society in new settled towns.*
Before the revolution, a new town was often longer a time in peopling to the number of an hundred persons, than the state of Kentucky has been settled, which now contains more than two hundred and thirty thousand.
---In the western part of Pennsylvania, a new town was begun some time after the peace, and in three years it contained more than one hundred dwelling houses and a church. Many similar instances of rapid settlements might be mentioned. Even the interior settlements on the Ohio, which were begun a few years ago, now contain upwards of forty six thousand persons, and Congress has admitted them into the Union as a new State. The infant settlement on the Mississippi, contains upwards of 8,000 people, and such is the fertility of the soil, and other favorable circumstances, that their exports of produce in cotton, indigo, and other articles, the last year, exceeded the sum of six hundred thousand dollars; and more than a million was entered at the custom house---It is highly probable the population of this district will in five or six years require its being formed into a State.
The above facts may suggest to our legislators the propriety of holding the public lands until a valuable consideration can be obtained for them; and also to serve as a valuable hint to the less informed citizens whose property is in new lands, not too readily to listen to the tales of land jobbers, and designing persons, who represent them as being of little value.
A late sensible and well informed writer observes (published in England) "the astonishing low prices of lands in America have heretofore been occasioned by the want of capital to invest in them. The great increase of capital in America, together with the investments of Europeans, will probably raise their value far above the rate at which it has increased at any former period."
"The price of any commodity may be raised in two ways, either by diminishing the quantity for sale, or by increasing the demand; the extension of settlements, and the increase of wealth and population, operate at once in both these ways, to raise the value of American lands."
This writer further remarks, "that if we calculate upon the present scale of progression, and the probabilities arising from the state of Europe and America, considering the low price Congress sells lands, for (two dollars per acre) by the year 1834, all the new lands in the United States, supposing all the Indian claims to be purchased, will be taken up.---But as it is not to be expected that the greater nations of Indians northerly and westerly of the river Ohio will dispose of one half of their lands for several ages, we may calculate that all the new lands now for sale, and such as may be, will be disposed of and settled long before the year 1834. This great and highly interesting subject merits the attention of the rulers and people of the United States. The time cannot be very distant, when every acre of land will be in demand. It is therefore wisdom to look forward."
---This country is forming a nation upon a scale far surpassing the history of all former ages, and the vast combination of circumstances tending to its rise, with its unexampled rapidity of population, will no doubt push it forward as far beyond the present calculations, as it has exceeded all the past.
NOTE. * The settlers on new lands, now convert their waste wood into pot and pearl ashes, which often more than pays for clearing the land, and sowing it with wheat: so that they clear their lands, and obtain large crops without expense.

FARTHER SPECIMENS OF FEDERAL ECONOMY.
On November 6th, 1798, there appeared in the Aurora, a letter from the crews of two French vessels, the Sanpa-riel, and the Jaloux. They had been captured by some of our armed ships, and the men had been confined, from the 20th of September 1798, in the small prison of New-Castle. This letter describes their treatment and their situation. For the first two days of imprisonment, the French seamen were left without food! 'They have not,' says the letter, 'been allowed even a bucket, to contain the provisions, which pri-vate humanity bestowed upon them. A single pot serves for every species of vessel for sixty men. Locked up at night, they are under the necessity of making use of their hats, their shoes, their handkerchiefs, and their shirts, to contain those excretions, from which nature has not exempted an individual of the animal creation. They have been without a separate apartment for the sick; nor have they been grant-ed the most trifling utensil to pre-pare or administer to the sick the few medicines which they have left. They are totally destitute of warm cloathings, and the naked floor of the room, often wet, is the place where they may re-pose during the night. Men not long from a tropical climate, men long estranged from the rigors of a northern winter, may, without being deemed unreasonable, call this treatment cruel.'
After such a sample of truly federal humanity, we should not say much about the massacres of Nantes, or the horrors of the Jersey prison ship. The cabinet could have no personal pique at these unhappy men; and therefore, the design must have been to exasperate the French nation beyond all possibility of recon-cilement, and thus to rivet upon Ameri-ca the numerous felicities of a French war. His letters excepted, even Trenck was hardly worse treated for his impured treachery as a soldier, for his inexpi-able sarcasm * on the king of Prussia, and for his improper connection with Fre-derick's sister. The French letter pro-ceeds in these words:
'Two of our number have literally perished, † since our confinement in this prison; one died through want, it not being in our power to administer medicines, and the other fell a victim to the severity of the cold. Two others must have paid the last debt to nature, had it not been for the humane atten-tions of the inhabitants of New-Castle, to whom they owe their protracted existence. These acts of humanity were attributed by a pettifogger of the same place to some lurking remains of friendship for the French; but his wickedness was of no avail.' The pri-soners then relate, that the people of New-Castle supplied them with clothes, without which they say that many of them must have perished. They add that, on the day of writing this letter, they were, for the first time, visited by Mr. Robert Hamilton, commissary of prisoners. They complained to him, and were an-swereed that government allowed us no-thing .
The accusation thus made in the face of day has not been contradicted; and there is complete reason to believe that the whole statement is strictly true. Whatever subsequent barbarities may have been committed by the French upon American prisoners, the letter from New-Castle must shut our lips. To the inhabitants of that place, America must feel herself immeasurably indebted for redeeming our general character from the ultimate degree of ignominy and
NOTE.
* Dr. Zimmerman, some years ago, published memoirs of this monarch; and avers that the accusation was totally false.
† The meaning, though imperfectly expressed must be that they died for want of necessaries.
perdition. When Charles the ninth wanted the governor of a town in France to massacre the protestants, he received for answer that the people were brave soldiers, and faithful subjects, but that they had not among them a single exe-cutioner. When Robespierre issued an edict for giving no quarter to Hessian or English soldiers, the French armies refused to comply. In the same man-ner, when our administration attempted, and with some success, to starve their prisoners, the inhabitants of New-Castle felt, as men ought to feel, 'in the ven-erable presence of misery.' * These are the gentry who forbid us 'to bring them into contempt or disrepute,' un-der a penalty of two thousand dollars. The citizens of New-Castle have cer-tainly incurred the penalties of five years of imprisonment, and a fine of five thousand dollars, for they did unlaw-fully combine or conspire together , to op-pose the starvation and murder of French prisoners, when that measure was 'directed by proper authority.'
XI. In 1792, William Duer was engaged as commissary, for supplying the army of general St. Clair. On May 8th, 1792, a report on this affair was made by a committee of Congress. 'The cloathing for the levies,' says the report 'appears to have been of a very inferior quality, particularly coats, hats, and shoes, the last of which, in many cases, lasted not more than four days! Repeated complaints were made of fatal mismanagements and ne-glect in the quarter-master, and military stores department, particularly as to tents, knapsacks, camp-kettles, cart-ridge-boxes, pack-saddles, &c. &c. all of which articles were deficient in quantity, and bad in quality.'
The pack-saddles, particularly, were made in Philadelphia, which with the transportation amounted to more than double the price at which they might have been procured at Fort Pitt, and were found upon examina-tion, to be unfit for use . The arms sent forward appeared not to have been du-ly examined, and arrived at Fort Pitt ex-tremely out of order, and many, totally unfit for use . Two complete travelling forges were sent forward, and upon examination, both of them were found to be without an anvil ! Many other things equally necessary were either wholly omitted, or unfit for their in-tended use. There were six hundred and seventy-five stand of arms at Fort Washington, the 1st of June, [1791] and most of them totally out of repair. The contractors for supplies, agreeably to the terms of contract, were to fur-nish horses, &c. for the transportation of the supplies. In this condition of the contract, there was a total failure . The privates of the levies received but three dollars pay each, from the time of their enlistment, to the time of their respective discharges, and were actually discharged without fur-ther pay or settlement. Notes of dis-charge were given them. The notes were sold for trifling considerations. The real sums due on the notes were various, from ten to twenty five dol-lars, and they were frequently sold for five dollars, or one gallon of whis-key. There is a great deal more to the same purpose. The very com-mencement of the business betrayed the utmost inconsistency and negligence. Alexander Hamilton originally con-tracted for supplies with Theodosius Fowler, who found security for the ful-fillment of his bargain to the amount of an hundred thousand dollars. All at once the trust was transferred to the late William Duer, a wretch of the most abandoned character, and who has fre-quently been distinguished by the app-ellation of the King of villains ! From this outcast, no security was required, and the bond which he granted contain-ed a penalty of no more than four thou-sand dollars. On this hopeful expedi-tion, the report says that five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars had
NOTE.
* Sterne. † Vid. The Sedition Act.
been issued; and from the sample which we have seen, it appears likely that one half or two-thirds of the whole sum was pillaged. The western expedition pre-sented a similar scene, and of this fact the refusal to produce an account of the charges affords a significant attesta-tion. *
In this way your money is managed in every department of administration. In the deplorable event of a French or British war, forty or an hundred millions of dollars per annum are sure to be wrenched from your fingers, and the greater part of that sum will undoubt-edly be embezzled by a thousand official harpies. War is always a vortex of rob-bery, as well as of slaughter; and this is one of the principal reasons why state-men are commonly so fond of it.
XII. In his report to congress of December, 17th, 1799, Mr. Wolcott † mentions that the collection of the as-sessed tax of two millions of dollars was originally expected to cost one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; but that two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars additional ‡ are found necessary; and, after all, it turns out that no more than twelve hundred thousand dollars ¶ can be scraped together in the course of the present year. Thus we shall collect twelve hundred thousand dollars at an expence of three hundred and sixty-five thousand. The charge of collecting this latter sum from the pockets of the people was probably quite as large in proportion to its amount.
  The real charge will then stand thus: Dolls.   For collecting the assessed tax, 365,000   For collecting the money which was paid for collecting it, at the rate of thirty per cent. 109,500   If these twelve hundred thousand dollars had been suffered to remain in the hands of their owners, they would, upon a medium, have produced a clear profit of at least twelve per cent per an-num. This, upon the whole sum, extends for one year to 144,000   Total 618,500 
The result is that the collection of the assessed tax, for the present year, will cost more than FIFTY PER CENT of the whole sums which can be collected. This is much worse, more prodigal, more ruinous and frantic than even an eight per cent loan . The latter, therefore, did not deserve that peculiar degree of reprobation, which has been raised against it.
The impost is not raised upon much better terms. Put the case that a whole-sale merchant imports a yard of cloth, which is valued at four dollars; and that he pays twelve and an half per cent, that is to say half a dollar as impost. But in selling out this cloth to his cus-tomers, he must, in mere justice to him-self, charge something beyond the net half dollar. In this manner, goods often pass through two or three hands, while every one lays an additional tax, before they reach the ultimate consu-mer; who must frequently pay in fact double or treble the nominal amount of the impost. Thus the collection of a duty, although it shall apparently cost but ten per cent, for custom house offi-cers, may very often rise in effect, to thirty, fifty, or an hundred per cent; or possibly to much more. Some years ago, an excise was laid upon American distillers, at least in this state, instantly raised the price of their liquor in a vast-ly greater proportion than the whole amount of the duty. A similar cause unquestionably produces the same ef-
* Vid. Prospect, &c. chap. 2d. † P. 30.
‡ This immense undercharge proves, by the way, the habitual accuracy of these previous estimates. The act of May 7th, 1800, assigns two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars for this ar-ticle.
¶ The latter estimate I have seen in some official document, of which I can-not, at present, recollect the title.
fect in the case of impost; and it would be rash to affirm that, on a medium, it finally costs less to the consumer than an hundred per cent additional, besides the tax itself. The exorbitant expence of this impost, as here described, has more than once been explained to the federal representatives by General Smith of Bal-timore, one of the most intelligent speakers, that has ever entertained or in-formed an American congress. The clamour excited against an eight per cent loan, as more than usually wasteful, serves only to prove that the public are unac-quainted with the practical effects of American taxation. It is assuredly bet-ter to borrow money at eight, or even at ten per cent, than to raise assessed taxes at fifty per cent, or impost at an hundred.
Men of Virginia! This is your fede-ral government. This is that system of robbery and rapine, which has burst from the bosom of your ineffable con-stitution. And it is for the guilt of de-monstrating that we are governed by rascals, that, surrounded by malefactors and prostitutes, I am now compiling this page, in the itench and suffocation of a jail. My fellow-citizens! Do you not feel the disgrace of your condition? Has the blood of Europe froze in its passage across the Atlantic? Has that convulsive effort which began with the stamp duty, exhausted the sum total of American animation? Has the spirit of seventy-six expired? Or where lies the visible distinction between the tyranny of the old England, and the new one?
BALTIMORE, June 4.
Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, to a gentleman in this city, dated 28th May, 1802
"This morning passed this town, four arks from the Genesee country; two of which were loaded with fatted oxen, of a very large size, one with staves, and the fourth with wheat, all for the Baltimore market. These arks belong to Colonel Wadsworth, who lives on a branch of the Tioga, extending about seventy miles up into the western parts of the Genesee country. They performed their voyage to this place in about three and a half days, a distance by water of three hun-dred miles. It is pleasing to observe the rapid progress of agriculture in that country. Colonel Wadsworth, who has been a resident but a few years, assures us that he has now laid down in the best English grass, a meadow containing 350 acres, from which he receives yearly from 2 to 3 tons of hay per acre. It also gives us much pleasure to think that our waters are calculated to afford a con-veyance of the numerous productions of that country to your market, instead of carrying them to Albany and New-York. "Too much cannot be done by Pennsylvania and Maryland to encou-rage and support this trade."
From Washington, Georgia, May 8.
General Clark has received a letter from Col. Harris of Jackson county, da-ted the 1st. of May, enclosing two letters from Major Carson and John Mc. Con-nel Esq. the purport of which is, that the Indians have been committing some de-predations on the frontier settlers, that on the evening of the 23d of April, the Cherokees killed a child of Mr. Shel-ton's and threw it into the fire, and des-perately wounded two others. The pa-rents being out of the house, but within hearing of the children, Mr. Shelton ran to a neighbouring house for a gun, with which he killed an Indian, and took his dead and almost consumed child out of the flames.
Mr. Jacob Alrichs, an ingenious me-chanic of Wilmington, (Del.) has in-vented a mode of constructing clocks, which promises to be of much utility. Clocks made in his manner, will have but six wheels and one pinion; instead of twelve wheels and six pinions, which those of the most simple kind now in use have. From the simplicity of their con-struction, they can be made for about two thirds of the price of the common kind---will keep time better, and be more durable. We understand that Mr. Alrichs intends to apply for a patent for the improvement.