The recorder (Richmond, Va.), 1803-02-23 00:00:00

THE RECORDER;
PRINTED BY HENRY PACE, & JAMES T. CALLENDER, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA; PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNING. SUBSCRIPTION TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1803.
TO THE PUBLIC.
MANY gentlemen residing in states north of this have addressed letters to us, to send them the Recorder; and requested we would name any person in Philadelphia, or New York, where they could send their subscription money. We take this opportunity of informing the public, that Mr. Lewis, paper-maker, at Philadelphia, will receive any subscriptions sent for the Recorder; and Mr. Coleman, printer of the New York Herald, at New York.
REVISED CODE.
THE SUBSCRIBERS to the REVISED CODE are respectfully informed that the Book will be ready for delivery on the first of April next. February 16th 1803.
HENRY TOLER Jun. having purchased of us the debt due, and owing to him before he became bankrupt, those indebted will therefore take notice, that we have no further interest in said debts, and that the said Henry Toler, has full power and authority to receive the same, and grant discharge, those indebted to the late concern of Hooper and Toler only excepted.
MARCUS ELCAN, WILLIAM TEMPLE, Assignees of Hooper and Toler.
Teste THOMAS HOOPER. Richmond, Jan. 15th 1803. (41.)
THE SUBSCRIBERS
To the Washington Federalist are respectfully informed, that I am empowered by Mr. William Rind, to receive payment of the balances due to him in this city, and neighbourhood.
THOMAS TAYLOR. Vendue Master
Richmond, Feb. 26th. 1803.
WANTED, AS AN APPRENTICE
To the Printing Business, A Young Lad, from the Age of Eleven to Fifteen Years. Enquire at this Office. Nov. 14th. 1802.
TO BE RENTED,
THAT large and convenient BRICK TENEMENT in this city, lately occupied by Mr. Robert Turner, as a Tavern and Boarding-House, situate on the corner of the Main Street, and that leading to Col. Mayo's Bridge. The central situation thereof cannot fail (if rented by a gentleman qualified for the purpose) to ensure a considerable number of respectable boarders; or, it is an eligible residence for a genteel private family. The premises may be entered, on the first day of March next, or immediately, as circumstances may suit; for terms apply to
ROBERT GAMBLE
Who has for sale a handsome assortment of CARPETS and CARPETING, and genuine PORTWINE, in pipes and quarter casks.
BURR MILL-STONE MANUFACTORY.
THE subscriber takes this mode of returning his thanks to his former patrons, and informing the public in general, that he has (by desire of his friends) re-commenced the MANUFACTURING of BURR MILL-STONES, and having furnished himself with a supply of the best materials, and having had sixteen years experience in the business in Baltimore, Petersburg, and Richmond, hopes to be able to give satisfaction to his employers. The stones he will warrant to be as good as any in the United States.
Any orders left with Capt. WILLIAM PENNOCK, Norfolk; Capt. WILLIAM CHAMBERS, Staunton; Mr. WILLIAM HAY, Wythe County; or Mr. ROBERT MOORE, Petersburg, shall be duly attended to, and country produce received in payment at the customary prices.
TWO APPRENTICES will be taken to the above business, and short time required.
WILLIAM DAVIDSON.
Richmond, Jan. 10th 1803. (15.)
N. B. For sale, PLASTER of PARIS, in stone or ground, for the improvement of land, with directions for the use thereof.
NOTICE.
THE subscriber intends to remove from this State, requests those having demands against him, to call for payment. Those indebted to him will see the necessity of making immediate payment.
ASHER MARX. Manchester, February 11th. 1803. (41.)
FISH,
A QUANTITY OF HERRINGS and SHAD, for Sale, By FRANCIS HYLAND.
Richmond, Nov. 2d. 1802. (4.)
CITY OF RICHMOND,
In Common Hall, Jan. 17th 1803.
WHEREAS the present funds of the corporation are not adequate to the expense of erecting a WORKHOUSE for the city, which would combine within itself all the conveniences which a well regulated institution of this kind would require, having a regard to the future population of this city, yet it is wise and expedient that the funds now destined for this useful institution should be laid out in such a manner as to answer the present purposes of the corporation, and to admit such future additions as the increasing population may require. Your Committee, therefore, beg leave to recommend it to the consideration of the Common Hall, to call in the aid of those who have experienced of such institutions, and to offer a premium for the best plan of a Workhouse, which will be so contrived as to admit of being erected in parts, as the funds of the corporation will from time to time afford.
Resolved, therefore, that the committee appointed to prepare a plan of a Workhouse be discharged from further proceeding therein. And that the Mayor be requested to give notice in the newspapers, or otherwise, that the sum of thirty dollars will be given by the corporation, as a premium to the person who shall produce to the Hall, on the third Monday in February next, the best plan of a Workhouse, constructed as above mentioned, and to be approved of by the Hall, estimating the cost at four thousand dollars.
Copy Teste ADAM CRAIG, C. C. H.
JUST PUBLISHED
AND FOR SALE AT THIS OFFICE PRICE TWO SHILLINGS AND THREE-PENCE THE CONDUCT OF MERIWETHER JONES, IN A SERIES OF LETTERS, ADDRESSED TO THE PUBLIC, By JAMES T. CALLENDER.
MANY gentlemen, when subscribing to this paper, have enquired for complete sets of the Recorder. These are not to be had. But this little publication will, in some measure, supply the want of them. Besides the seven letters to Jones, the last of which has run through every state, and every second newspaper in the union, the collection contains many other articles. Among these are, Defence of Aaron Burr—Mr. Samuel Coleman, No. 1—Defence of Timothy Pickering—A little more about republican economy—with a variety of small pieces.
BURR MILL-STONE MANUFACTORY.
THE subscriber returns sincere thanks to his friends and the public generally, for the very great encouragement he received in his line of business since his commencement in Richmond. He has lately received a large supply of excellent Burr Stones at his manufactory, and does not hesitate to say, that he will sell Burr Mill-Stones as cheap as they were ever sold in the United States; he will warrant them to be of the best quality, and give ample security (if required) for their performance. Country produce will be taken in payment, or a short credit given; he has almost every fixed Mill-Stone ready for delivery; also PLASTER of PARIS ground and in the stone.
CARSON HOLIDAY. Richmond, Jan. 25th, 1803. (11.)
NOTICE.
ALL persons having any claim on the estate of JOHN MERIDE, deceased (either by bond or upon account) are desired to make them known to the subscriber, and all those who stand indebted to said estate are desired to come forward and discharge the same.
ALSO
On the 25th day of February, 1803, will be sold at the late dwelling house of said John M'Bride, deceased at 12 o'clock, all the personal property, consisting of Boats, Boats, household Furniture, &c. belonging to said estate. A credit of six months will be given to all purchasers above ten dollars, giving bond and approved security.
MARY M'BRIE, Adm'x. Richmond, Jan. 26th, 1803.
The subscriber begs leave to inform the citizens of Richmond and public in general, that she continues to carry on the TRUNK making business, as usual, and flatters herself by her attention to merit the patronage of a generous public. At present she has on hand a quantity of Trunks, Portmanteaus, and Dumb-Boxes, which she will dispose of at low prices.
MARY M'BRIE.
WANTED.
TO hire, for the present year, a NEGRO MAN, who understands PLANTATION BUSINESS. Likewise, a BOY of 14 or 15 years old, or a woman who has been used to out-door business. Enquire at this office.
RICHMOND MILLS.
THE subscriber hereby informs the public, that at length, after much trouble and expense, he has nearly completed one of his Mills on the James River Canal, in which there are two pair of Burr Stones for manufacturing WHEAT, and two pair of Cologne Stones now ready to grind CORN.
That the inconveniences which might arise from delay and difference of measures may be avoided, CORN will be received only by weight, at fifty pounds to the bushel, and a supply of MEAL and HOMINY will always be kept ready to give in exchange, at the rate of eighty-five pounds of Meal, or ninety-two pounds of Hominy, for one hundred pounds of Corn.
After the loss of weight by cleaning, and evaporation in grinding is deducted, the toll on Meal will be only about one tenth, and on Hominy one twentieth; it will, therefore, be much to the interest of those who keep horses, to have all their Corn ground.
As the subscriber is now providing a Fan and Screen for the purpose of cleaning the Corn effectually before it is ground, and as the Meal will be made from the best Corn only, and none but such as is merchantable will be received, he hopes that general satisfaction will be given.
THOMAS RUTHERFOORD.
N. B. The deduction for Storeage and Shrinkage on Corn, deposited to be exchanged for Meal and Hominy, will be made as moderate as possible. January 1, 1803.
TO MASTER BUILDERS.
A NEW THEATRE of Brick or Stone is designed to be built on the Lot of Ground, on Shockoe Hill, where the old Theatre formerly stood, now the property of Mrs. WEST. The fund necessary for the completion thereof is raised partly by subscription, and partly from the private funds of the proprietor. Those disposed to undertake the building, or a part thereof, are requested to send in their proposals immediately, to Mrs. MERIWETHER JONES, who will shew the plan, and from whom more particular informations may be acquired.
February 1st. 1803. (31.)
N. B. The subscription for the above building is full open.
FRESH FLOUR.
THE Subscribers hereby give notice, that they are now ready to make Sales of FLOUR of their own manufacture, and are also desirous to purchase Wheat, Corn, Flour-Barrels, and Stoves.
Such as may want a supply of Meal, Hominy, Sifted-Off, and Bran, are informed that they can be furnished at certain prices during the year, and that for the present quarter, ending the last of March, the prices will be for 50 lbs. Meal, 3s. and 6d. and for 50 lbs. Hominy, 3s. 3d.
They hereby solicit all those indebted to them, to make payment as fast as possible, as their situation does not enable them to grant such indulgence as heretofore.
They have on hand a large assortment of IRISH LINENS, which they are anxious to dispose of.
THOMAS RUTHERFOORD, & Co.
Feb. 16th. 1803.
VIRGINIA.
AT a court continued and held for Halifax County, on Wednesday the 24th day of November 1802.
Isaac Coles, Senr. Plaintiff. AGAINST Stephen Biggs and James Snod, Defendants. Chancery
THE defendant Biggs, 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 country. On the motion of the plaintiff by his counsel, it is ordered that the said defendant do appear here on the fourth Monday in March next, and answer the bill of the plaintiff, and that a copy of this order be forthwith inserted in some newspaper of the city of Richmond for two months successively, and posted at the front door of the court house of this county.
A copy—Teste BERRYMAN GREEN, B.C.H.C.
50 DOLLARS REWARD.
RUN away from the Subscriber in this city, in May last, a Negro man, named BAILOR.
A Black complexion, about Twenty-Six or Seven Years old, about Five Feet Seven or Eight. Formerly belonged to the estate of HOOPER and TOLER, has worked at the Blacksmith's trade. Was purchased at Public Sale, last Spring.
Whoever secures the said Negro, and lodges him in Jail in this City, shall have the above reward by applying to William Rutherford.
THOMAS MOORE.
October 5th, 1802.
IN the Recorder of November 24th, 1802, there was inserted an article, which, perhaps, never could have appeared in any other American newspaper. The amount of it was simply this. One of the editors of this paper has been repeatedly upbraided, with the composition, or fabrication of ideas, that never once crossed his mind. After suffering dictatorialities of calumny, and of abuse, to be published against him, he, upon the above date, published a deliberate and regular denial of the accusations against him. In particular, he took the freedom of denying some allegations which had been charged against him by Mr. Bronson.
Mr. Bronson has published part of this paper from the Recorder. He has likewise published a reply. He has thought proper to suppress the material and interesting portion of the paper that originally appeared in the Recorder. He says, that
IN the Recorder received on Tuesday, we find a couple of columns devoted to one of the editors of this Gazette. The following is all that is of the least consequence, either to the public, or to the individual to whom it is addressed.
"But, Mr. Bronson, I have another crow to pluck with you. All the world knows that Cheetham intercepted one of your letters at Stiles's tavern, that he broke it up, and shewed it to Duane; and that Duane printed it. All the world also knows, that if Cheetham had played such a trick in England, he would most infallibly have been hanged; and that if Duane had not stretched a halter, he would at least have been sent to Botany Bay. You have upbraided them as rascals, for such conduct; but, pray, Sir, what better is your own? Take notice! For about two months past you have been repeatedly advertising in your gazette, that you were in possession of a letter, which was wrote by this very William Duane to James T. Callender. You say that you will publish this private letter, and you say this, after having reprobated Duane as the blackest of men, for publishing a private letter of your's! Is there any principle or consistency in such conduct? You never received from Callender any letter which Duane had wrote him. If, by accident, such a paper had come into your hands, it was your duty, as an honest man, either to have sent it back to Duane, or to have lent it forward to J. T. C. What excuse can you make? You very justly upbraided Duane for having published a stolen letter. But you are so inconsistent as to boast that you are in possession of a letter that must have been stolen, and you boast that you are going to publish it; or at least that you can do so.
"The truth I take to be that you have no such letter; and that your menaces are made

ject. If you have a paper such as you mention, be so good as print, or else return it, either to the author, or to the person to whom it was addressed.
"We beg the plain impartial reader to put these matters together. He will then see that, although Bronson has never, perhaps, been elevated upon a pole, nor broke into a public office at midnight, yet, that with regard to the publishing of stolen letters, he is at sixes and sevens with the Canadian oracle. It is not the information, but the deception, the pillage of the people that the trumpeters of the two factions are fighting for."
REMARKS.
A very few words will be sufficient to answer all this frothy rodomontade. The letter to which we have often alluded, and the threatened publication of which, gave the hero of the Calcutta pole so much uneasiness, was republished in the Gazette of the United States, of Tuesday the 13th of May, 1800, from a Richmond paper, in which it was originally published. It is there called, "An extract of a letter from the editor of the Aurora, to his correspondent in Richmond," and is signed WILLIAM DUANE . Happening to remember that such a letter had been published, we recurred to the files, at the time that Duane was bluffing of his knowledge of the infamy of Callender, and declaring, that from the year '98, he and his whole party had known Callender as a mere brute, and the natural enemy of every thing that was unlike himself. Though, as it now appears, the whole of the original letter was not published, enough was published to show that Duane was on good terms with this monster of infamy, this natural enemy of every thing unlike himself, that he thought highly of the character and writings of Callender, and, consequently, that the whole of this vapouring of Duane, was neither more nor less than wilful falsehood. As Callender has now published the whole of this letter, of which the address, and a few sentences in the body of it, were omitted in the copy which we had before seen, we shall insert it at length, in our paper of to-morrow.
With this explanation we shall leave Mr. Callender to pluck his crow by himself, and with that it may afford him much amusement. We shall also have an opportunity of witnessing the boasted impartiality of his paper, by publishing the explanation, and retracting the gross and indecent charges connected with his statement.
The above is an exact copy of the passage that Mr. Bronson has thought proper to transcribe from the Recorder. There next follows a direct copy of his answer. We say, that they are complete and correct copies, because Mr. Bronson himself has made such a transcendent mutilation in his transcription of the Recorder, as perhaps, never before existed since the known use of an alphabet.
The piece in our paper consists of seven paragraphs; and any one, who remembers to have read them, will at the same time, recollect, that by far the most material part of their contents is comprehended in the first four paragraphs. These four paragraphs contain details which were published by compulsion, which were published in personal defence, and of which we do not think it proper, at this time, to circulate a second edition.
The world says that truth should not be told at all times. In obedience to this maxim, we forbear to republish the four first paragraphs of the article referred to. But, as a respectable private gentleman we should be glad to know whether Mr. Bronson can stand opposite to a looking glass without blushing, when he re-peruses this sentence. For reasons that are extremely intelligible to him, we do not chuse to republish that article at full length; but we solicit him to republish, upon his honor, his expression that the tremendous facts therein detailed are not of the least consequence to the public. Mr. Bronson, it is sufficiently understood that if you could have made an answer you would have made one. And are you not ashamed, sir, to be quoting a book, which it is evident that you never read? In what part of the "Prospectus Before Us," will you find those next to blasphemous expressions, which you have affected to quote concerning one of the leading characters in the American revolution? Is it fair, sir, to clip three words from the middle of a whole page of reasoning? What would you have said, or thought, if Callender had misquoted you as vilely as you have misquoted him? Before objecting to the writings of any individual in Ame-
rica, has not the Recorder made it an invariable rule to quote, at full length, the passage that was to be objected to? Were there ever any two editors who made it an invariable rule to reprint as far as it was possible, whatever had been published against them? In the extremity of contempt and defiance, has not the Recorder republished from your paper, as well as from many others, all sorts, of materials that had been wrote against its editors? Have we not published pages upon pages, and sheets upon sheets, without writing one single line in answer to them? And have not the public displayed an entire conviction of our rectitude, by such another rapidity of subscription as few newspapers have had? Perhaps, Mr. Bronson, you are not old enough to remember, but I am old enough to remember the time when your predecessor, Mr. John Fenno, boasted, that he had the circulation of between four and five hundred papers. His candour admitted, that, out of this number, eighty were sent in exchange to newsprinters. Now, Mr. Bronson, if the Recorder contains nothing but falsehood, what can be the reason that this paper has acquired more subscribers in one year, than Mr. Fenno could collect in four? To the personal character of Mr. Fenno, we have never been able to learn that there was a single objection. The writer of this article was intimately acquainted with him, and felt a personal attachment for him. But he told us, that in the course of four years he had not been able to muster, in Philadelphia, four hundred subscribers. The people of America want truth , and we should be very glad to know your reason for speaking so disrespectfully of the Recorder, with such a superiority of subscriptions upon our part! Do you think that a plain country farmer cares who is president, or who is not president, providing that public money is properly taken care of? Do the public interest themselves in a series of nick-names? Is it of the smallest consequence whether A, or B, or C, saves their money, providing that it shall be saved?
We should be very glad to hear, Mr. Bronson write an explicit answer to the former part of the Recorder, of the 24th of November. We are entirely satisfied that he cannot write an answer to it; but, if he chooses to attempt it, he is extremely welcome. We are at all times prepared to give opposition to objectionable matter.
In the passage reprinted from the Recorder, we had, by surprise, spoke of Mr. Bronson in much harsher terms than it appears that he deserved. By the ambiguous manner in which Mr. Bronson expressed himself, the writer of the present paper found it impossible to comprehend the gentleman's meaning. It appeared to him, that Mr. Bronson had obtained possession of a private confidential letter to Mr. Duane. As a sort of menace Duane was told that this letter would be published. The menace was conveyed in such a tone, as to make it be thought that the letter had never been published before. At last, Mr. Bronson executed his threatening, by the publication of the letter; when, behold! it turned out that it was something which had been published two years and an half before; but Mr. Bronson had embellished his file to such a degree, that our curiosity was extremely excited to see to what he could possibly be referring. He spoke, as if he had been master of some original article that had never before been seen in print. At last out came this notable original article; and what was it? It was an article that had been printed in the Examiner two years and an half before; just a few weeks before the Richmond sedition trial, which Mr. Bronson was so impatient and intrepid to defend. We did not exactly know, till we learned it from Mr. Bronson, that the article had been republished in Mr. Fenno's paper. In fact, it was entirely forgot, that it had ever been published at that time; and a complete copy of the letter was republished without our chancing to recollect that an extract of
it had been published two years and an half ago.
The conclusion is this:—Mr. Bronson expressed himself with boasting ambiguity. It was impossible for the writer of this paper to comprehend his meaning.
A few lines were printed, that Mr. Bronson had placed himself upon a level with Mr. Duane, by saying that he could publish a private letter. It has since appeared, that Mr. Bronson was in possession of no private letter, and that he only made a boast of being able to publish something, of which he never was in possession.
The present explanation would have been made between two and three months ago; but, from the extreme inconvenience to which the editors of the Recorder are incessantly reduced. Such is the pregnancy of materials, that we have to be delivered next week of things that the world should have heard six months ago.
WILLIAM HARPER, SADDLER & HARNESS MAKER, MAIN STREET RICHMOND,
RESPECTFULLY informs his friends, and the public in general, that he still continues to carry on the above business, in all its various branches, in the house formerly occupied by Mr. William Cook, and nearly opposite Col. GAMBLE's store. He also returns his sincere thanks to his friends, and the public in general, for the encouragement that he has met with during two years residence in this place, and hopes for the long continuance of the same. He now offers for sale, on the most reasonable terms, for cash, a variety of Saddles, Bridles, Portmanteaus, and Velaces; Coach and Wagon Harness, of various descriptions, and other articles, too tedious to mention.
All orders from the country will be strictly attended to, and work executed in the neatest manner, and at the shortest notice.
Two or three Apprentices will be taken to the above business, if well recommended.
February 6. 1803.
BY a decree of the Court of Hustings, will be sold at the UNION TAVERN, to the highest bidder, for ready money, on Monday the 7th day of March next, ten Feather Beds and Furniture , six Mahogany Tables , ten pair of Window Curtains , one Mahogany Desk , one large Cupboard , or Beaufet , three dozen Windsor Chairs , one single Chair for travelling in, one Cart , one Dray , seven Batteaus , and three Bay Horses , to meet the demand of JOHN GRAHAM, against SAMUEL JONES, administrator of WILLIAM BOOKER, dec'd.
JOHN GRINSTEAD, Com'r. Richmond Feb. 21, 1803.
The RECORDER.
RICHMOND. FEBRUARY 23d, 1803.
IN some late papers of the Recorder, it has been stated, as our intention, to publish twice a week. Gentlemen who wish to promote this idea, are requested to forward their subscriptions at as early a period as they can make it convenient. The day of our second publication will commence on Saturday the 12th of March next. If a reasonable number of subscribers can be collected, and of this we entertain but very little doubt, the paper will be regularly published twice a week. Those who wish to be supplied with it only once a week, will continue to receive it in its present shape. Those that wish to have it twice a week, will be so good as to forward an additional remittance, at the rate of four dollars per annum for the two papers. With respect to this part of the business, no credit must be expected. It requires no depth of reasoning to perceive, that an editor had much better have three hundred subscribers, who pay him punctually before hand, than twelve hundred that never pay him at all. It will be entirely unnecessary, therefore, to send us notice that the writer of the letter cannot find bank paper; but that he will take an early opportunity of remitting the cash ten months hence, when the next assembly shall sit down. It will be quite as unnecessary to send us letters, of which the subscriber has, by the merest and most surprising accident imaginable, forgot to pay the postage. We will admit
of no exception whatever to this general rule, and if people choose to save twelve, or thirty cents, at the risk of having their letters sent back under a cover, they are welcome to do so.
The reader will easily perceive that an article in the Wednesday's Recorder will very frequently be extended into the Recorder of Saturday. This circumstance, it will be impossible to prevent; and we submit it to the consideration of every literary man, whether he wishes to have the half of a newspaper, which without the conclusion, must often be entirely unintelligible. We cannot help the inconvenience to our original subscribers. The inquiries why we did not print twice a week, have been loud and incessant. We shall endeavour to keep the Recorders of Wednesday, and of Saturday, as nearly upon the point of equality as possible, with regard to original matter, and in this as in every other instance, our friends may rest assured of the sincerity of our wishes to deserve success, and of the diligence of our exertions to acquire it.
We shall now be able to pay more attention than we hitherto have done, to the historical affairs of Europe. We expect to be able to convince every one of our readers, that, in nine instances out of ten, the paragraphs which have been wrote for half a crown a piece in a London garret, or perhaps in a London night cellar, have not the most distant relation to the real state of human affairs. From an intimate acquaintance for the last twenty-five years, with extracts of letters, from St. Domingo, from Constantinople, from Vienna, and from fifty other places, we shall be able to prove, that they are almost nothing but scurrilities and fabrications. Has any body forgot that the newspapers of London had the barbarity last summer to imprison M'Donald, Massena, and, in the whole, fifteen of the most eminent field-officers in the French army. And, would not a person have spent his time much more eligibly in the perusal of Robinson Crusoe, than in loading his memory with such heaps of baggage. What has become of the partition of Turkey? or is there any class of publication so thoroughly and universally impregnated with untruth as newspapers? More of all this in our next.
[In republishing the following article, a particular passage has been omitted. It respected one of the editors of this paper. It had been designed to republish it, with an answer. Want of room has prevented this. And we chuse to omit the original, as we have not time, or room for inserting the antidote along with the poison. Among other strange assertions one is that, two years ago, Callender and his family were starving. In Virginia, he never had a family, and has three sons reside, and then resided in one of the most independent and respectable families in the state of Pennsylvania. If the Courier is a person of candour, he will reprint the explanation, which presents a very fair specimen of the multitude of fallacies which has been jammed together in the passage omitted.]
FROM THE CHARLESTON COURIER.
TO THE EDITOR.
SIR,
A circumstance has lately occurred at Richmond, (Virginia) which in whatever way it can be viewed, whether as a private wrong, a public grievance, a violation of the laws, and of personal security, or an attempt to violate the great public right, the liberty of the press; or, lastly, as a dereliction and total abandonment of shame, and an avowed disregard of consistency, and reciprocal justice, may rank with almost anything that has passed since the introduction of French morals and principles into this country, and will, no doubt, excite correspondent emotions in every honest bosom.
Callender at last yielding to the strong gust of poverty, and moving perhaps on a very slippery pivot, veered round,

and attacked the faction which his bad labours had raised their bad eminence to. He asserted strong facts - they were denied, with abuse! he maintained and proved his allegations, and returned their invective with all the greater poignancy of his far greater talents. What was to be done? To clear the way for their own slander, and at the same time raise miserable popularity, at the expence of Mr. Adams's administration, they had repealed the sedition law; and there was no way even by democratic packing of democratic juries to stifle the voice of Callender.
At length it occurred that a system of terror, out of the law, or rather in direct violation of it, might be raised to silence the press, which, as the great mouth of a nation, they knew must speak some truth, while every truth must condemn them. In a word, this very Mr. Hay, who was Callender's advocate, as before mentioned, assaulted and for some invectives which, as Mr. Hay says, hurt his feelings, battered him severely. Callender bound him over to the peace: And he, (would it at any time but this, in any other country but Virginia be believed?) this Mr. Hay, the defender of Callender, against a prosecution for a libel, arrests Callender, and has the modesty to call upon the court to bind him over, from libelling him, (Hay) and his friends. And on this occasion Mr. Hay made a speech, which may stand for a pattern - in its way. Thus the matter stands. Let me offer a few remarks upon it.
In the first place, Mr. Hay is a lawyer; as such he is more peculiarly bound to know the law and to obey it. In England, to the laws of which he refers, a solicitor or attorney is an officer of the court, and as such his actions are scanned by the judges with severe and rigid nicety - he cannot plead ignorance; and passion, or the indulgence of the will, was never allowed in any country to be pleaded in excuse for a breach of the law.
In the first instance Mr. Hay stands upon most unjustifiable grounds. No man has a right to presume an offence against him punishable, if it is not made punishable by law. Mr. Hay knew, or at least, being a lawyer, ought to know, whether the law afforded him any remedy against the libels of Callender; and if so, to that alone he ought to have had recourse. If he had no remedy, he had to thank the repeal of the sedition law for it; and certainly it was a most grievous crime in him to take vengeance into his own hands, to erect a court in his own breast, and to execute its sentence in breach of the public peace. - Mr. Hay knows, or ought to know, that the offence of an assault is of a two-fold kind; the inferior as it touches the individual, the far superior as it regards the public peace, the violation of which is equally criminal in the eyes of the law, whether the character of the party assaulted be good or bad. The laws of England, which, like the bounties of nature are given alike for the benefit of the wicked and the worthy, proclaim, that the worst felon, till found guilty by a jury, his peers, is as much under the protection of the law as the first duke in the realm: and the most wretched profligate prostitute, as the first and best lady in the land. But Mr. Callender hurt the feelings of Mr. Hay, and Mr. Hay, tho' a lawyer, carves for his own vengeance, and violates the law of which he is a member.
Well, Mr. Hay is bound over; and if he were to be tried by a British judge and jury, would be most severely punished. But what does he further? Instead of humbling himself before the laws of his country which he had offended, he boldly stares them and the world in the face, and says - "You have not punished me, though I am conscious I deserve it; but you must go further - you must become the pander of my party and of my feelings - you must become the instrument, not only of your own violation, but of the violation of the liberty of the press, of private rights, of national character - you must do that which you have no right to do - you must stop the press from hurting my feelings, and the feelings of my friends."
Gracious God, that it should come to this! That in a country which has within it the means of freedom, an inquisitorial tyranny should be exercised - a system of personal terror set up - a total devotion of that temple of our freedom, the press, to the idols of an impure faction. Let the foul-mouthed demagogues who tell Americans that the English are less free than them, know (Mr. Hay knows, or ought to know it) that the sovereign of Great Britain, and each and every of his ministers, are every day libelled in as bad terms as any to be found in the vocabulary of American newspaper writers. That they cannot often reach them, because they take care to keep within the entrenchments of the law, which, fortunately for the people of that country, are proof against not only the arts and outrages of democratic faction, but of force to resist the power of sovereignty itself, if it were arrayed against them; and to defeat all the intrigues, cabals and corruptions of a court. I say then, that Mr. Hay, who quoted the laws of England, and who therefore, and because he is a lawyer, ought to know them, desires at once, to engross the benefit of those laws to himself, and to have the right of violating them to others.
You and your readers will find some difficulty in comprehending how the strange association of incongruities which appear in the speech of Mr. Hay, could have entered into the mind of any but a comic poet. If it be true, as has been suggested, that the sense of ridicule is gratified by an inconsequence of circumstances in the same object, or in objects nearly related in the main - nothing can be more perfectly ridiculous than that speech; except, indeed, it be the conduct of Mr. Hay, which, if it were not too seriously mischievous to be treated lightly, would be extremely diverting and laughable. He says, "I shall prove to the satisfaction of the court, that to protect the freedom of the press, and not to lay any check upon it, is both my zealous desire, and most anxious wish." One would think that at the heels of this grand pas promette, there was to follow a whole cavalcade of contrite acknowledgments for his beating Callender, a request that his contrition might be recorded pro bono publico, and an offer to pay all costs as an amende honorable! But no no such thing. "I am not one of those philosophers (continued he) who conceal their thoughts so well as to bear, with every symptom of indifference, all the attacks which malice and calumny can attempt against me; I am actuated by feelings the most natural and honorable to the human mind - the protection of MY OWN FEELINGS, and those of my family."
Let me, Mr. Editor, construe this into plain unadorned English. I wish to protect the liberty of the press, as I once before endeavoured to do. Let the press groan with libels against others; let it outrage the feelings of every other man, only let it spare me, and I am its humble servant and protector. But if it hurts my feelings, then I will ransack heaven and earth for weapons to assail it. Let those philosophers, who can conceal their feelings on such occasions, smart under the lash of libels, and I will defend the libeller! Why should I feel for others, I have enough to do to feel for myself! Let the hyenas and the jackals of the faction tear up WASHINGTON from the grave! Let the Kites and Carrion Crows mangle ADAMS, HAMILTON, and RUTLEDGE; but don't let them hurt my feelings; those feelings which I find irritate and inflame my heart, so natural and honorable to the human kind, and which for that reason, I will not allow to others. D--n me, what right has any man to feel but myself. I have been wounded by the slanders of the Recorder, the editor of that paper has represented me as a murderer and assassin. But I have proved that allegation false, by giving him only a severe drubbing, when I might have killed him; from which I had philosophy enough to abstain. Indeed I was afraid that in my rage I should have given him a fatal blow; a thing that might be inconvenient, for though I should not I
know, ultimately swing for it, it would detain me sometime from my practice in the courts and in elections."
It is difficult to manage a subject in which there is so much of the ridiculous and of folly, that it seems absurd to speak seriously, and so much of serious mischief and wickedness, that it ought to be treated with severity. We put in however, to the bosom of any honest man, whether the peace of the country ought to be broken, and the laws strained, in compliment to the morbid, irritable feelings of a man who would, if he could, have hustled out of court, the feelings, the rights and the legal complaints of some of the first characters in the country, where they were libelled by that very Callender? Whether he shall be allowed, without repulse to accuse, before a court of justice, of being an unprincipled man, that had been publickly convicted by a jury, of a slanderous libel that very man whom he himself did defend in court, against lawful prosecution, for that very libel? Whether he ought to be suffered to pass, with impunity, who, being a lawyer, violated the laws? Whether, after having combined with others, to take away and deprive the community at large, of their protection against libellers (the sedition law), he shall come to seek protection unknown to and unprovided by the law of the land, and have recourse to remedies penally forbidden by those laws?
FROM THE BALANCE.
Nothing extenuate, nor sit down aught in malice. AN ACCURATE STATEMENT OF FACTS, CONCERNING MR. ATTORNEY GENERAL SPENCER'S LATE ATTACK ON THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS Written by a gentleman who was at court during the whole transaction, and who pledges himself that the details are substantially correct.
[It is not pretended that the arguments are given verbatim; but care has been taken to preserve the ideas which were advanced on both sides.] ON the 11th day of January, 1803, Harry Croswell, the junior editor of the Balance, was taken by an officer on a bench warrant and carried before the court of sessions of Columbia county, then sitting in Claverack. Two indictments were there read to him. One of the indictments, with the usual epithets and inuendoes, charged Mr. Croswell with having published a paper called the "Wasp," in which "Jefferson" was charged with having "paid Callender for calling Washington a traitor, a robber, and a perjured; for calling Adams a hoary headed incendiary; and for libelling almost all the worth and virtue in the country." The second indictment stated in effect that Harry Croswell had, in the same paper, published a piece entitled "a few squally facts," which contained the following charges: 1st. He [Jefferson] ordered money to be paid out of the treasury to repair the Bercan, contrary to the clause in the constitution, which gives the sole power of appropriating money to Congress. 2d. He has displaced the honest patriots of this country, and appointed to succeed them, foreigners and flatterers, who have always shown themselves hostile to it; one of whom was prime agent in raising an insurrection to oppose the constituted authorities. 3d. He planned and directed the attack on the constitution last winter, by which the independence of the judiciary was destroyed, and our constitution marred and mangled. 4th. He has remitted a fine to a criminal, after the fine was collected, against the express provision of the constitution. 5th. He released Duane from a prosecution, instituted for a libel on the senate, without the least authority from the constitution, or any law - only, because Duane had contributed his share to the him into office. It would be an endless task to enumerate the many acts, in direct hostility to common sense and the constitution, of which this "man of the people" has been guilty. - These are facts, and I now ask his friends and his foes - every American - do you not blush for your country and your president? - Do you not in all this, plainly perceive the little arts of a very little mind.
Any observations upon the truth or falsehood of the charges here made, would be improper. They are to be tried hereafter. And in the language of one of the counsel, "I thank my God, that those trials must be by a jury of the country - by men drawn from the community - the creatures of no party - responsible to no power, but to their consciences and their God."
Messrs. Williams, Van Nels, and Van Renselaer, the counsel for Mr. Croswell, demanded
* Albert Gallatin secretary of the treasury + Callender.
copies of the indictments before they are compelled to plead. They stated, that there never was an instance where a copy was thus demanded and refused. That copies could not be before obtained, in the usual way from the clerk; for that the indictments had never been left with him. Mr. Spencer, with great warmth, opposed the demand. He could not say that ever a similar request was refused, because he did not believe, it was ever before made. But he said, if this was granted, every person indicted would make the same demand, and thus public business be greatly retarded.
He was answered, that inasmuch as this was a motion to the sound discretion of the court, whenever the request was made for the purpose of delay, the court would be justified in refusing; and that the delays apprehended would never happen. The present case, it was stated, was eminently entitled to the interference of the court. That the indictments were long and unintelligible; and to force Mr. Croswell to plead without copies, was to entrap him and sacrifice his cause. A majority of the court, however, refused the request, and ruled that Mr. Croswell should immediately plead. To both indictments he plead NOT GUILTY.
It was suggested by the counsel for Mr. Croswell, that as the law on the subject of libels was extremely intricate even in England, and less known in this country than that on any other subject, it would be proper that the trials should be postponed until the next court of Oyer and Terminer, when a judge of the supreme court would be present and assist in the decisions. This was rejected to by Mr. Spencer, and the court refused to interfere.
It was then stated, that from the face of the indictments it would appear, that the witnesses required by Mr. Croswell, were in Virginia, and of course could not be obtained this court. It was, therefore, moved that the trials should be postponed until next session.
To this Mr. Spencer objected. He said that the only evidence Mr. Croswell would want which he could not obtain this court, was merely to prove the truth of his publications. He declared, explicitly, that the truth could not be admitted in a justification; and, therefore, even if Mr. Croswell by this postponement, could obtain evidence of the truth of his publications, it would not avail: it never would be admitted. The only question was, whether Mr. Croswell had published those libels. Upon this question he was as well prepared now as ever he could be. The postponement of the trials, he contended, was totally unnecessary. Besides, he said, the application was not properly made; that an affidavit, stating the grounds of the application, should be made, and that in no other way could it be legally obtained.
He was answered, that when, in any cause, sufficient appeared on record to convince the court that a postponement of trial was proper, they would never require an affidavit. This was the fact here. They denied the doctrine of Mr. Spencer, that, in this country, "the truth cannot be given in evidence." It possibly might be true as to libels on private character; but, as it respected the official conduct of the officers of government, it never could be admitted.
It is stated, that our government is elective; that it is necessary to its very existence that the people should be truly informed of the conduct of their rulers. It had been the cry of a party, and, heretofore, the first article in his [Mr. Spencer's] political creed, that the people possessed the sovereignty, and that governors and presidents were servants; and that whenever the people should write on their ballots "turn them out - turn them out," those whom they created must fall. But how, it was asked, could this power, this sovereignty be correctly exercised, unless the conduct of their servants might be faithfully exhibited? How could they pluck down the vicious demagogues, and raise and support the virtuous patriots, unless their variant conduct could be faithfully represented? And what printer would dare to represent such conduct, if the truth of the facts is represented, could not shield him from destruction? In short, they contended, that the doctrine of Mr. Spencer went to this point - that if a president should violate the constitution, or be guilty of any crime, and his conduct was correctly and truly stated by any printer, yet that printer might be indicted, fined, and imprisoned. This could not be law in this country. It was fundamentally opposed to the principles of our government. And, however, in the English monarchy, such a principle may be recognised, under a free government, whose existence in a great measure, depended upon the spreading of truth and correct information among the people, it never could be tolerated. At all events, it was stated to be an important and doubtful question, and time ought to be given until another term to investigate it thoroughly.
Mr. Spencer consented to the postponement of the trial of one of the indictments, to the court of Oyer and Terminer. With respect to the other he persevered; and a majority of the court decided that the trial should not be postponed. Mr. Croswell was then recognized to appear in court from day to day during the term, and requested by Mr. Spencer to be ready for his trial the next day.

The next day (Wednesday) towards evening, Mr. Crowell came into court with his counsel, and offered an affidavit to the following effect:—That he intended and expected to prove the truth of the facts as stated in the "Wolf" of Sept. 9th, and for the alleged publication of which he was indicted. Upon this affidavit, they moved the court to postpone the trial. The attorney-general saw fit to abandon his opposition, and it was agreed that Mr. Crowell should be recognized to appear at the next court of sessions to be tried upon one of the indictments, and on the other upon the next court of Oyer and terminer. Mr. Crowell then came forward with his sureties; and Mr. Spencer moved, that he should also be bound to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. The counsel for Mr. Crowell, admitted that it was proper he should enter in a recognizance to appear, and answer, &c. But they insisted, that to demand surety for the peace and good behaviour, was illegal, a violation of liberty as a free citizen of the United States; that it was a direct attack upon the liberty of the press, and that if any thing could, at this time, astonish them, it was a composition pregnant with such direct and palpable hostility to the freedom of discussion, and to the best principles of true republicanism. Mr. Spencer persevered, and the debate on the question was deferred until the next morning. [The arguments of the counsel on both sides will be given next week.]
"At the close of the year 1796, in digging a cellar in Colebrook, Connecticut, belonging to Mr. John Hulber, two workmen, at the depth of about nine or ten feet, found three large tusk and two thigh bones of an animal, the latter of which measured each about four feet, four inches in length, and twelve inches and a quarter in circumference. When first discovered they were entire, but as soon as they were exposed to the air, they mouldered to dust. This adds another to the numerous facts, which prove that a race of enormous animals, now extinct, once inhabited the United States."
EPILEPSY.
A few days ago a woman passing along the streets of Bourdeaux, was suddenly attacked with a fit of epilepsy, having at the moment a child of six months old in her arms. Such a distressing situation speedily attracted a crowd of spectators, who were, however, unable to yield the woman any relief. At that moment, a young soldier breaking through the crowd, called for some grain of rough salt, which he forced into the woman's mouth. This immediately had the effect of restoring the woman's sensation and speech, and her convulsions were at once put a stop to. The young man, who had been at Madagascar, said, that he there saw this remedy applied to persons in epilepsy, with wonderful success.
Scotch paper.
FROM THE FEDERAL GAZETTE.
BANK NOTES FORGED.
The public are cautioned to be careful in receiving five dollar bank notes, in imitation of those issued by the bank of Baltimore, dated in July, 1790, with the alphabetical letter X at the top. They are well executed, and the paper imposing; the signatures of the president and cashier will discover the forgery, if properly attended to. These notes are supposed to be fabricated in Kentucky, and it is conjectured that some persons are now here endeavouring to pass them. It would be doing a commendable action to apprehend and bring before a magistrate all suspicious characters concerned in their circulation.
FROM THE NEW YORK EVENING POST.
LIBERTY OF THE PRESS.
The following extract from the Albany Centinel of this morning, shews what the federalists are now to expect as to the freedom of the press. When the sheriff, for the trial of an issue between a man and his country returns a jury of twelve, who are all notoriously violent party men, and all of that side in politics opposed to the defendant it is making use of his office to deprive a
member of the community of his law it is to poison justice at its fountain; and unless it meets with that unequivocal expression of execration and abhorrence from the more respectable part of our citizens, which shall deter from its repetition, must end in civil war and bloodshed. Let this prediction be remembered!
By the way, we should be glad to know under what statute this prosecution is commenced? We know of none we never did know of any, excepting the sedition law; but that expressly allowed the defendant to screen himself from punishment by shewing that what he had said was no more than the strict truth. In this case the attorney general says, the truth can form no defence. After the party have declared over and over again, in congress and out, that there is no common law in the United States to punish a libel, do they mean now to resort to that very common law to punish, the first printer they can get hold of? democratic conspiracy forever!
"We are informed that Mr. Crowell, jun. editor of the balance, had two indictments found against him this week, at a court of sessions now sitting in Columbia county, for "slandering the president." The indictments were found the first day in term, by a grand jury returned by a democratic court, and the ming well cut and dried, we presume, by a democratic attorney-general, who, we are told, pressed hard to have the matter tried the second day in court, and opposed the application for a postponement, on the ground of the common law principle, that the defendant could not be permitted to justify; by giving the truth in evidence; and therefore could be no better prepared for his trial at a future day than he was then.
This, we presume, is one of the "monuments of safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, when reason is left free to combat it."
Albany Centinel.
TO SUBSCRIBERS.
IN last week's paper, it was intimated that the Recorder, will, in a short time, be published twice a week. We had expected to be able, in this day's paper, to lay before our subscribers a complete explanation of this proposed change in the publication. Circumstances have made it inconvenient for the editors to find leisure. But that the idea may not seem to have been neglected, we shall give a very short sketch of our proposal, reserving ourselves till next week for a fuller detail.
The multiplicity of communications that has been made for this paper, exceeds, very far, the limits of a single weekly sheet. Manuscripts have been laid by for six months at a stretch. The armory article, of which a part appears in this day's paper was received in its original state of imperfection in the month of July last. The part of it which appears in this day's Recorder was completed, in its present form, between two or three months ago. Of the typographical bullet that feared George Hay into the attempt at assassination, not one sentence has yet appeared. The manuscript has laid by, is dead and buried, for at least eight months. Our subscribers can hardly have a conception of the nature of the atrocious charge. But George was given to understand, that something was in the wind, and he was conscious that his rotten bulk was liable to be overset by the slightest gale of imputation. It is sometime ago since we promised to prove, by Duane's own hand-writing, that he had been a partner in the pilage of the property of one of the editors of this paper. For want of room, the execution of this promise has been so long delayed, that some people may have begun to suspect it was a mere rodemontade. Blocked up with incessant and various communications, and labouring under the inveterate habit of writing, per se, five or six columns a week of temporary matter, it has been found entirely impossible to give every one of our numerous correspondents that attention which they deserve; for instance, The Mountains to Larkin Smith. A letter of thirty-five pages from Newbern Coffee House (N.C.) A letter from a gentleman to the Witwaters, (P.S.) concerning the Mississippi business. A truly important communication from Alabama county. An account of the expedition at Brokenborough, of Mr. Ray, and of Hay, to the hon. Judge Roan with many other private communications, have all been unavoidably postponed. This arises from printing only once a week.
From what has been laid our original and
friendly subscribers are not even for a moment, to suppose, that this additional publication will, in the smallest degree, injure their interest. They will continue to receive their weekly paper, the Wednesday's Recorder. If they think proper to endanger the subsistence of their families, and the excellence of their personal credit, by sending forward the enormous sum of two additional dollars, they will receive the Saturday's Recorder, as well as the Wednesday's. But those friends who think, that once a week is quite enough, they will continue during the time for which they have subscribed, to receive the paper at the usual rate. At the expiration of which, all subscribers at once a week, will have to pay two dollars and an half per year.
When this paper was originally published it excited surprise, not on account of its materials, but of its price.
It is intended to commence the publishing of this paper twice a week in the beginning of March, or so soon as a sufficient number of subscriptions are received for that purpose. We therefore beg leave to request such subscribers, who are inclined to encourage the early publication of the Recorder, to forward their subscriptions.
These remarks have been hastily made, and under the pressure of a variety of business very different from that of a printing office. Of course, the candid reader will be disposed to pardon their probable incorrectness—More of all this next week.
United States of America, Fifth Circuit, Virginia District.
December 9, 1802.
Henry Banks, Plaintiff, AGAINST David Campbell, Wm. M c Whann, administrators of Patrick Carnes, dec'd. John M c Queen, and James Warrington, Defendants.
ON motion of the plaintiff, it is ordered, that one of the commissioners of this court do examine, state, and settle all matters and accounts between the parties in the cause, and make report thereof to the court stating such matter specially, that either may require, or he think fit.
A Copy—Teste, WILLIAM MARSHALL, CLK.
Commissioner's Office,
Richmond, Dec. 20, 1802.
THE parties concerned, are desired to take notice, that I have appointed Tuesday, the 22d. day of February next, for carrying into effect the within decretal order, upon which day their attendance is required at my office, with copies of the court papers, and their accounts ready for examination and settlement.
Wm. HAY, M. C.
December, 22.
United States of America, Fifth Circuit Virginia District.
December 9, 1802.
IN CHANCERY.
Henry Banks, Plaintiff AGAINST Pheneas Miller, and Catherine his wife, who was widow and executrix of Nathaniel Greene, dec'd. and who reside in the state of Georgia; Edward Rutledge, a citizen of the state of South Carolina; Jeremiah Wadsworth, a citizen of the state of Connecticut, which said Rutledge and Wadsworth, are executors of the said Nathaniel Greene, dec'd. James Warrington, a citizen of the state of South Carolina, who is agent and representative of Harris and Blackford, late merchants of Charlesstown in South Carolina; Ebenezer John Collett, of the kingdom of Great Britain, surviving partner of Newcomb and Collett; William Burnett, of the state of New Jersey, heir at law and representative of Isaac Burnett, dec'd. John M c Queen, who resides in some part of the kingdom of Spain; David Campbell, and William M c Whann, citizens of the state of South Carolina, or Georgia, administrators, &c. of Patrick Carnes, dec'd. and John Steel, esq. a citizen of the state of Pennsylvania, and comptroller of the treasury of the United States.
Defendants.
ON motion of the plaintiff, it is ordered, that one of the commissioners of this court do examine, state, and settle all matters and accounts between the parties in this cause, and make report thereof to the court, stating such matter specially, that either party may require, or he may think fit.
A Copy—Teste, WILLIAM MARSHALL, CLK.
Commissioner's Office,
Richmond, Dec. 20th, 1802.
THE parties concerned, are desired to take
notice, that I have appointed Tuesday, the 22d day of February next for carrying into effect the within decretal order, upon which day their attendance is required at my office, with copies of the court papers, and their accounts ready for examination and settlement.
WM. HAY, M. C.
December 22.
Richmond, (Vir.) Dec. 25, 1802.
The foregoing order relates to circumstances of very great importance, not only to the United States, but to all the parties. It has cost me a great deal of trouble, much expence and personal inconvenience to bring the case even to this state.
Some of the defendants have substituted calumny instead of apoplexy, abuse instead of thanks, and avaricious cupidity instead of truth and justice.
Many persons who will see this publication, will understand what are the purposes to which the pursuit will be extended; among these there are some who will perceive that their interests or characters will be not only very nearly approached, but endangered, and that they may not hereafter plead surprise, the foregoing order will be published in several other papers, in different places.
The person who was most conspicuous in these transactions, has been long dead. There were, and are, individuals who found it expedient, in order to succeed in their own designs, not only to draw a veil over the timely and important services which he rendered to his country, but also to smother the very recollection of them, by falsehood and imposture. He was dear to me. I owe to his memory a vindication, and though it has been long delayed, it has never been forgotten. But a the following letter, written to him by general Greene, in the glowing warmth of truth and gratitude, will establish more than could be done at this time, by the publication of a volume, I shall at present be content with the impressions which it cannot fail to make.
Head-Quarters, Dec. 25 1782.
Dear Sir,
The comfortable condition in which you have put the army from the large supply of blankets and clothing furnished it, claims my particular acknowledgments; for although I expect the public will make you a reasonable compensation, yet as you were the only person who had the will and the means to serve us, our obligation is equally great. I am happy to find that most, if not all our officers, are likely to get supplies of clothing through your agency. Col. Carrington, who is appointed to make the contracts for the subsistence of the southern army, also informs me your house have it in contemplation to engage in this business. Great as all our other obligations are, if you contract for the supplies of the army, this will be greater than all the rest, for the present mode in which we are supplied is truly distressing, both to the people and to the army. The manner of collecting by military parties, renders it distressing to the citizens, and from the uncertain collections, the army is often without any thing to eat. This is hard upon troops who have bled so freely for an oppressed people. I must beg you to hasten your proposals, and I flatter myself you will, from your attachment to the cause, as well as a regard for the army, serve the public on the lowest terms.
I am, dear Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
NATH. GREENE.
Mr. John Banks.
This, from a victorious general, to a young man of a warm and sanguine temper, was highly flattering.
It is farther added, that J. Banks made the contract—peace ensued—he not only sunk a great deal of money by it, but died before his accounts were settled. General Greene administered upon his affairs, obtained possession of all his papers, besides very valuable landed estates in South Carolina and Georgia, which circumstances, with many others of great importance, are clearly stated upon the bill.
A copy of my bill of complaint and exhibits have been forwarded to the secretary of the treasury, accompanied by a letter which was dated upon the 15th of November, 1801, in which an investigation was requested. This mode was adopted, because it appeared to me that as the interest and honor of the United States were concerned, a direct application to him, was not only proper, but would facilitate the settlement and decision. It is, however, to be presumed, from the silence of Mr. Gallatin, that he thought otherwise. My next application, therefore, must be to Congress. In the mean time, it affords me pleasure, if such aid may be offered by Mr. Gallatin as may be reasonable. This application will be made during the present session, if possible, but at all events, before the end of the next.
HENRY BANKS.