Gazette of the United States and daily evening advertiser. (Philadelphia [Pa.]), 1794-08-21 00:00:00

Gazette of the United States AND DAILY EVENING ADVERTISER.
[No. 60 of Vol. VI.]
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1794.
[Whole No. 610.]
Treasury Department, August 16, 1794.
SIR, It appears probable, that advantages will result from giving to the citizens at large full information on the subject of the disturbances which exist in the western parts of Pennsylvania. With this view, if no objection to the measure should occur to you, I would desire a publication to be made of the report which I had the honor to address to you, dated the 5th inst.
With the most perfect respect, I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient, and Humble servant,
ALEXANDER HAMILTON. The President of the United States.
United States, 16th August, 1794.
SIR, I AM directed by the President to inform you, in reply to your letter of the 16th inst. that relating to the facts contained in the report, have been stated with due care, and from authentic sources, he perceives no objection to the publication of it, as proposed.
I am &c. your most obedient servant, E. DANDRIDGE.
The Secretary of the Treasury.
Treasury Department, August 21st, 1794.
SIR, THE disagreeable crisis at which matters have lately arrived in some of the western counties of Pennsylvania, with regard to the laws laying duties on spirits distilled within the United States, and on stills, seems to render proper a review of the circumstances which have attended those laws in that scene, from their commencement to the present time, and of the conduct which has hitherto been observed on the part of the government, its motives and effects—in order to a better judgment of the measures necessary to be pursued in the existing emergency.
The opposition to those laws in the four most western counties of Pennsylvania, (Alleghany, Washington, Fayette, and Westmoreland) commenced as early as they were known to have been passed. It has continued, with different degrees of violence, in the different counties, and at different periods.—For Washington has uniformly distinguished its resistance, by a more excessive spirit, than has appeared in the other counties, and seems to have been chiefly instrumental in kindling and keeping alive the flame.
The opposition first manifested itself in the milder shape of the circulation of opinions unfavorable to the law, and calculated, by the influence of public disesteem, to discourage the accepting or holding of offices under it, or the complying with it by those who might be so disposed; to which was added, the threat of a discontinuance of the business of distilling.
These expedients were shortly after succeeded by private associations to forbear compliances with the law. But it was not long before these more negative modes of opposition were perceived to be likely to prove ineffectual. And in proportion as this was the case, and as the means of introducing the laws into operation were put into execution, the disposition to resistance became more turbulent and more inclined to adopt and practice violent expedients. The officers now began to experience marks of contempt & insult. Threats against them became frequent and loud; and after some time, these threats were ripened into acts of ill-treatment and outrage.
These acts of violence were preceded by certain meetings of malcontent persons, who entered into resolutions calculated at once to confirm, inflame and systematize the spirit of opposition.
The first of these meetings was held at a place called Red Stone Old Fort, on the 27th of July, 1791, where it was concerted that county committees should be convened in the four counties, at the respective seats of justice therein. On the 23d of August following, one of these committees assembled in the county of Washington.
This meeting passed some intemperate resolutions, which were afterwards printed in the Pittsburgh Gazette, containing a strong censure on the law, declaring that any person who had accepted or might accept an office under Congress in order to carry it into effect, should be considered as inimical to the interests of the country; and recommending to the citizens of Washington county to treat every person who had accepted or might
hereafter accept any such office with contempt, and absolutely to refuse all kind of communication or intercourse with the officers, and to withhold from them all aid, support, or comfort.
Not content with this vindictive proscription of those who might esteem it their duty, in the capacity of officers, to aid in the execution of the constitutional laws of the land, the meeting proceeded to accumulate topics of crimination of the government, though foreign to each other; authorizing, by this zeal for censure, a suspicion that they were actuated, not merely by the dislike of a particular law, but by a disposition to render the government itself unpopular and odious.
This meeting, in further prosecution of their plan, deputed three of their members to meet delegates from the counties of Westmoreland, Fayette and Alleghany on the 1st Tuesday of Sept. following, for the purpose of expressing the sense of the people of those counties in an address to the legislature of the United States, upon the subject of the Excise Law and other grievances.
Another meeting accordingly took place on the 7th of September, 1791, at Pittsburgh, in the county of Alleghany, at which there appeared persons in character of delegates from the four western counties.
This meeting entered into resolutions more comprehensive in their objects and not less inflammatory in their tendency, than those which had before passed the meeting in Washington. Their resolutions contained severe censures not only on the law which was the immediate subject of objection, but upon that which termed the exorbitant salaries of officers; the unreasonable interest of the public debt; the want of discrimination between original holders and transferees, and the institution of a national bank.
The same unfriendly temper toward the government of the United States, which seemed to have led out of their way the meeting at Washington appears to have produced a similar wandering in that at Pittsburgh.
A representation to Congress and a remonstrance to the Legislature of Pennsylvania against the law more particularly complained of were prepared by this meeting—published together with their other proceedings in the Pittsburgh Gazette, and afterwards presented to the respective bodies to whom they were addressed.
These meetings consisted of very influential individuals, and conducted without moderation or prudence, are fully chargeable with the excesses which have been from time to time committed; serving to give countenance to an opposition which has at length matured to a point, that threatens the foundations of the government and of the union—unless speedily and effectually subdued.
On the 6th of the same month of September, the opposition broke out in an act of violence upon the person and property of Robert Johnson, collector of the revenue for the counties of Alleghany and Washington.
A party of men armed and disguised, way-laid him at a place on Pidgeon Creek in Washington county, seized, tarred and feathered him, cut off his hair, and deprived him of his horse, obliging him to travel on foot a considerable distance in that mortifying and painful situation.
The case was brought before the district court of Pennsylvania, out of which process issued against John Robertson, John Hamilton, and Thomas McComb—three of the persons concerned in the outrage.
The serving of these processes was confided by the then marshal Clement Biddle, to his deputy Joseph Fox, who in the month of October went into Alleghany county for the purpose of serving them.
The appearances and circumstances which Mr. Fox observed himself, in the course of his journey, and learnt afterwards upon his arrival at Pittsburgh, had the effect of deterring him from the service of the processes, and unfortunately led to adopt the injudicious and fruitless expedient of sending them to the parties by a private messenger under cover.
The deputy's report to the marshal, states a number of particulars evincing a considerable fermentation in the part of the country to which he was sent, and inducing a belief on his part, that he could not with safety have executed the processes. The marshal transmitting this report to the district attorney, makes the following observations upon it.
"I am sorry to add, that he (the deputy) found the people in general in the western part of the state, and particularly beyond the Alleghany mountains, such a ferment on account of the act of Congress for laying a duty on distilled spirits, and so much opposed to the execution of the said act, and from a variety of threats to himself personally, although he took the utmost precaution to conceal his errand, that he was not only convinced of the impossibility of serving the process, but that any attempt to effect it would have决ided the most violent opposition from the greater part of the inhabitants, and he declares that if he had attempted it, he believes he should not have returned alive."
"I spared no expense nor pains to have the process of the court executed, and have not the least doubt that my deputy would have accomplished it, if it could have been done."
The reality of the danger to the deputy was countenanced by the opinion of Gen. Neville, the inspector of the revenue; a man who before had given, and since has given numerous proofs of a steady and firm temper; and what followed is a further confirmation of it.
The person who had been sent with the processes, was seized, whipped, tarred, and feathered; and after having his money and horse taken from him, was blindfolded and tied in the woods, in which condition he remained for five hours.
Very serious reflections naturally occurred upon this occasion. It seemed highly probable, from the issue of the experiment which had been made, that the ordinary course of civil process would be ineffectual for enforcing the execution of the law, in the scene in question—and that a perseverance in this course might lead to a serious concussion. The law itself was still in the infancy of its operation; and far from established in other important portions of the Union. Prejudices against it had been industriously disseminated, misrepresentations diffused, misconceptions fostered. The legislature of the United States had not yet organized the means by which the executive could come in aid of the judiciary, when found incompetent to the execution of the laws. If neither of these impediments to a decisive exertion had existed, it was desirable, especially in a republican government, to avoid what in such cases the ultimate resort, till all the milder means had been tried without success.
Under the united influence of these considerations, it appeared advisable to forbear urging coercive measures, till the laws had gone into more extensive operation; till further time for reflection and experience of its operation had served to correct false impressions, and inspire greater moderation; and till the legislature had had an opportunity, by a revision of the law, to remove as far as possible objections, and to reinforce the provisions for securing its execution.
Other incidents occurred from time to time, which are further proofs of the very improper temper that prevailed among the inhabitants of the reactory counties.
Mr. Johnson was not the only officer, who about the same period, experienced outrage. Mr. Wells, collector of the revenue for Westmoreland and Fayette, was also ill-treated at Greensburg and Union town; nor were the outrage perpetrated confined to the officer; they extended to private citizens, who only dared to show their respect for the laws of their country.
Some time in October, 1791, an unhappy man, of the name of Wilson, a stranger in the county, and manifestly disordered in his intellects, imagining himself to be a collector of the revenue, or invested with some trust in relation to it, was so unlucky as to make enquiries concerning the distillers who had
entered their stills; giving out that he was to travel through the United States, to ascertain and report to Congress the number of stills, &c. This man was pursued by a party in disguise, taken out of his bed, carried about a mile back, to a fresh's shop, stripped of his clothes, which were afterwards burnt, and after having been himself humanely burnt in several places, with a heated iron, was tarred and feathered, and about day-light dismissed, naked, wounded and otherwise in a very suffering condition. These particulars are communicated in a letter from the inspector of the revenue, of the 17th of November, who declares that he had then himself seen the unfortunate maniac, the abuse of whom, as he expresses it, exceeded description, and was sufficient to make human nature shudder. The affair is the more extraordinary as persons of weight and consideration in that country are understood to have been actors in it, and as the symptoms of insanity were during the whole time of inflicting the punishment apparent—the unhappy sufferer displaying the heroic fortitude of a man, who conceived himself to be a martyr, to the discharge of some important duty.
Not long after a person of the name of Roseberry underwent the humiliating punishment of tarring and feathering with some aggravations, for having in conversation hazarded the very natural and just, but unpalatable remark that the inhabitants of that country could not reasonably expect protection from a government, whose laws they so strenuously opposed.
The audacity of the perpetrators of these excesses was so great, that an armed banditti ventured to seize and carry off two persons, who were witnesses against the rioters in the case of Wilson, in order to prevent their giving testimony of the riot to a Court then sitting, or about to sit.
Designs of personal violence against the inspector of the revenue himself, to force him to a resignation, were repeatedly attempted to be put in execution by armed parties, but by different circumstances were frustrated.
In the session of Congress, which commenced in October 1791, the law, laying a duty on distilled spirits and stills, came under the revision of Congress as had been anticipated. By an act passed May 8th, 1792, during that session, material alterations were made in it—among these, the duty was reduced to a rate so moderate, as to have silenced complaint on that head—and a new and very favorable alternative was given to the distiller, that of paying a monthly, instead a yearly rate, according to the capacity of his still, with liberty to take a licence for the precise term, which he should intend to work it, and to renew that licence for a farther term or terms.
This amending act, in its progress through the legislature, engaged the particular attention of members who themselves were interested in distilleries, and of others who represented parts of the country in which the business of distilling was extensively carried on.
Objections were well considered and great pains taken to obviate all such as had the semblance of reasonableness.
The effect has in a great measure corresponded with the views of the legislature. Opposition has subsided in several districts where it before prevailed, and it was natural to entertain and not easy to abandon a hope that the same thing would by degrees have taken place in the four western counties of this state.
But notwithstanding some flattering appearances at particular junctures, and infinite pains by various expedients to produce the desirable issue, the hope entertained has never been realized, and is now at an end as far as the ordinary means of executing laws are concerned.
The first law had left the number and positions of the officers of inspection, which were to be established in each district for receiving entries of stills, to the discretion of the supervisor. The second, to secure a due accommodation to distillers, provides peremptorily, that there shall be one in each county.
The idea was immediately embraced, that it was a very important point in the scheme of opposition to the law to prevent the establishment of offices in the respective counties.
For this purpose, the intimidation of well-disposed inhabitants was added to the plan of molesting and obstructing the officers by force or otherwise, as might be necessary. So effectually was the first point carried (the certain destruction of property, and the peril of life being involved) that it became almost impracticable to obtain suitable places for offices in some of the counties; and when obtained, it was found a matter of necessity, in almost every instance, to abandon them.
After much effort the Inspector of the Revenue succeeded in procuring the house of William Faulkner, a Captain in the army, for an office of inspection in the county of Washington. This took place in August, 1792. The office was attended by the Inspector of the Revenue in person, till prevented by the following incidents.
Captain Faulkner being in pursuit of some deserters from the troops, was encountered by a number of people; in the same neighborhood where Mr. Johnson had been ill-treated the preceding year, who reproached him with letting his house for an office of inspection, drew a knife upon him, threatened to scalp him, tar and feather him, and reduce his house and property to ashes, if he did not solemnly promise to prevent the further use of his house for an office. Captain Faulkner was induced to make the promise exacted; and, in consequence of the circumstance, wrote a letter to the Inspector, dated the 26th of August, countermanding the permission for using his house; and the day following gave a public notice in the Pittsburgh Gazette, that the office of inspection should be no longer kept there.
At the same time another engine of opposition was in operation. Agreeable to a previous notification, there met at Pittsburgh, on the 21st of August, a number of persons, filling themselves "A Meeting of sundry inhabitants of the Western Counties of Pennsylvania."
This meeting entered into resolutions not less exceptionable than those of its predecessors. The preamble suggests that a tax on spirituous liquors is unjust in itself and oppressive upon the poor, that internal taxes upon consumption must in the end de-
stroy the liberties of every country in which they are introduced—that the law in question, from certain local circumstances which are specified, would bring immediate distress and ruin upon the Western country; and concludes with the sentiment, that they think it their duty to persist in remonstrances to Congress, and in every other legal measure, that may obstruct the operation of the law.
The resolutions then proceed, first, to appoint a committee to prepare and cause to be presented to Congress, an address stating objections to the law, and praying for its repeal;—secondly, to appoint committees of correspondence for Washington, Fayette, and Alleghany, charged to correspond together, and with such committee as should be appointed for the same purpose in the county of Westmoreland, or with any committees of a similar nature, that might be appointed in other parts of the United States; and also if found necessary to call together either general meetings of the people, in their respective counties, or conferences of the several committees; and lastly to declare that they will in future consider those who hold offices for the collection of the duty, as unworthy of their friendship, that they will have no intercourse nor dealings with them, will withdraw from them every assistance, withhold all the benefits of life which depend upon those duties, that as men and fellow citizens they owe to each other, and will upon all occasions treat them with contempt; earnestly recommending it to the PEOPLE AT LARGE, to FOLLOW THE SAME LINE OF CONDUCT TOWARDS THEM.
The idea of pursuing legal measures to obstruct the operation of a law, needs little comment. Legal measures may be pursued to procure the repeal of a law, but to obstruct its operation presents a contradiction in terms. The operation, or what is the same thing, the execution of a law cannot be obstructed, after it has been constitutionally enacted, without illegality and crime. The expression quoted is one of those phrases, which can only be used to conceal a disorderly and culpable intention under forms that may escape the hold of the law.
Neither was it difficult to perceive, that the anathema pronounced against the officers of the revenue, placed them in a state of virtual outlawry, and operated as a signal to all those who were bold enough to encounter the guilt and the danger to violate both their lives and their properties.
The foregoing proceedings, as soon as known, were reported by the secretary of the treasury to the President. The President on the 14th of September, 1792, issued a proclamation "earnestly admonishing and exhorting all persons whom it might concern, to refrain and desist from all unlawful combinations and proceedings, whatsoever, having for object or tendency to obstruct the operation of the laws aforesaid, inasmuch as all lawful ways and means would be put in execution, for bringing to justice the infractors thereof and securing obedience thereto: and moreover, charging and requiring all courts, magistrates and officers whom it might concern, according to the duties of their several offices, to exert the powers in them respectively vested by law for the purposes aforesaid, thereby also enjoining and requiring all persons whomsoever, as they tended the welfare of their country, the just and due authority of government and the preservation of the public peace, to be aiding and abetting therein according to law."—And likewise directed, that prosecutions might be instituted against the offenders, in the cases in which the laws would support, and the requisite evidence could be obtained.
Pursuant to these instructions, the attorney-general, in co-operation with the attorney of the district, attended a circuit court which was held at York-Town in October, 1792—for the purpose of bringing forward prosecutions in the proper cases.
Collateral measures were taken to procure for this purpose the necessary evidence.
The supervisor of the revenue was sent into the opposing survey—to ascertain the real state of that survey—to obtain evidence of the persons who were concerned in the riot, in Faulkner's case, and of those who composed the meeting at Pittsburgh—to uphold the confidence and encourage the perseverance of the officers acting under the law—and to induce, if possible, the inhabitants of that part of the survey, which appeared least disinclined, to come voluntarily into the law, by arguments addressed to their sense of duty, and exhibiting the eventual dangers and advantages of resistance.
The mission of the supervisor had no other fruit than that of obtaining evidence of the persons who composed the meeting at Pittsburgh, and of two who were understood to be concerned in the riot—and a confirmation of the enemy which certain active and delinquent leaders had industriously infused into a large portion of the inhabitants, not against the particular laws in question only, but of a more ancient date, against the government of the United States itself.
The then Attorney-General being of opinion, that it was at best a doubtful point, whether the proceedings of the meeting at Pittsburgh contained indictable matter, no prosecution was attempted against those who composed it, though if the ground for proceeding against them had appeared to be firm, it is presumed, that the truest policy would have dictated that course.
Indictments were preferred to the circuit court, and found against the two persons understood to have been concerned in the riot, and the usual measures were taken for carrying them into effect.
But it appearing afterwards, from various representations, supported by satisfactory testimony, that there had been some mistake as to the persons accused—justice and policy demanded that the prosecutions should be discontinued, which was accordingly done.
This issue of the business unavoidably defeated the attempt to establish examples of the punishment of persons who engaged in a violent resistance to the laws—and left the onus to struggle against the stream of resistance, without the advantage of such examples.
The following plan, afterwards successively put in execution, was about this time digested, for carrying if possible the laws into effect, without the necessity of recurring to force.
1. To prosecute delinquents in the cases in which it could be clearly done for non-compliance with the laws. 2. To intercept the markets for the surplus produce of the distilleries of the non-complying counties, by seizing the spirits in their way to those markets, in places where it could be effected without opposition. 3. By purchases, through agents, for the use of the army (instead of deriving the supply through contractors as formerly) containing them to spirits, in respect to which there had been a compliance with the laws.
The motives to this plan speak for themselves: It
For the Remainder see the last page.

Treasury Department, Revenue Office, Aug. 20, 1794.
Notice is hereby given, that PROPOSALS
Will be received at the Office of the Commissioner of the Revenue until the expiration of the first day of October next inclusive, for the supply of all Rations, which may be required for the use of the United States, from the first day of January to the thirty-first day of December 1795, including both days, at the places, and within the districts herein-after mentioned, viz.
 1. At any place or places between York and Carlisle, in the State of Pennsylvania, and at Pittsburgh, and at Pittsburgh, York, and Carlisle.  2. At any place or places from Pittsburgh to the mouth of Beaver Creek, and at the mouth of big Beaver Creek.  3. At any place or places from the said mouth to the upper falls of the said Big Beaver, and at the upper falls.  4. At any place or places from the said upper falls to Mahoning, and at Mahoning.  5. At any place or places from the said Mahoning, over to the Head Navigation of the river Cayahoga, and at the said Head Navigation.  6. At any place or places from the said Head Navigation to the mouth of the said river Cayahoga, and at the said mouth.  7. At any place or places between the mouth of the Big Beaver Creek, to the mouth of the river Muckingum, and at the said mouth to the Tuscarawas, and at the Tuscarawas, and thence over to the Cayahoga river, and thence down the said river to its mouth.  8. At any place or places between the mouth of the river Muckingum and the mouth of the Scioto river, and at the mouth of the said river Scioto.  9. At any place or places between the mouth of Scioto river and the mouth of the Great Miami, at the mouth of the Great Miami, and from thence to the Rapids on the falls of the Ohio, and at the said Rapids.  10. At any place or places between the mouth of the Great Miami, upon the said Miami, to and at Pique Town.  11. At any place or places from Fort Washington to Fort Hamilton, and at Fort Hamilton. At any place or places from Fort Hamilton to Fort S. Clair, and at Fort S. Clair.  12. At any place or places from Fort S. Clair to Fort Jefferson, and at Fort Jefferson.  13. At any place or places from Fort Jefferson to Fort Recovery the field of action of the 4th of November 1791; and at the said field of action.  14. At any place or places from the said field of action to the Miami Villages, and at the Miami Villages.  15. At any place or places from the said Miami Villages to the falls of the Miami river, which flow into Lake Erie, and at the said falls, and from thence, to its mouth, and at its mouth.  16. At any place or places from the mouth of the said Miami river to Lake Erie to Sandusky Lake, and at Sandusky Lake.  17. At any place or places from the said Sandusky Lake, to the mouth of the river Cayahoga.  18. At any place or places from the mouth of the said river Cayahoga to Presque Isle, and at Presque Isle.  19. At any place or places from the said Presque Isle to the stream running into Lake Erie from towards the Jadaghaque Lake, & thence over to and at the said Jadaghaque Lake, and thence down the Allegany river to Fort Franklin.  20. At any place or places from Presque Isle to Le Boeuf, and at Le Boeuf.  21. At any place or places from Le Boeuf to Fort Franklin, and at Fort Franklin, and from thence to Pittsburgh.  22. At any place or places from the Rapids of the Ohio to the mouth of the Ouabache river, & from the mouth of the said Ouabache river to the mouth of the river Ohio.  23. At any place or places on the East side of the river Mississippi, from the mouth of the Ohio river, to the mouth of the Illinois river.  24. At any place or places from the mouth of the said Ouabache river up to Fort Knox, and at Fort Knox.  25. At any place or places from Fort Knox up the said Ouabache to Quitman, and at Quitman.  26. At any place or places from Quitman, up the said Ouabache to the head navigation of a branch thereof, called Little River, and at the said head navigation of Little River.  27. At any place or places from the said head navigation of Little River over to the Miami Village.  28. At any place or places from the mouth of the river Tenesse to Ocochappo or Bear Creek, on the said river, including the same.  29. At any place or places from the mouth of the river Cumberland to Nashville, on the said river, and at Nashville.  30. And at any place or places within thirty miles of said Nashville to the Southward, Westward or Northward thereof.  Should any Rations be required at any places, or within other districts, not specified in these proposals, the price of the same is to be hereafter agreed on between the United States and the contractor.
The Rations to be supplied are to consist of the following articles, viz. One pound of bread or flour, One pound of beef, or 3/4 of a pound of pork, One quart of salt, Two quarts of vinegar, Two pounds of soap, One pound of candles, } per 100 rations.
The Rations are to be furnished in such quantities, as that there shall at all times, during the said term, be sufficient for the consumption of the troops at each of the said posts, for the term of at least three months in advance, in good and wholesome provisions, if the same shall be required. It is to be understood in each case, that all losses sustained by the depredations of the enemy, or by means of the troops of the United States, shall be paid for at the prices of the articles captured or destroyed, on the deposition of two or more persons of creditable characters, and the certificate of a commissioned officer, ascertaining the circumstances of the loss, and the amount of the articles for which compensation shall be claimed.
The contract for the above supplies will be made either for one year, or for two years, as may appear eligible. Persons disposed to contract will therefore confine their offers to one year, as they may form their propositions so as to admit an election of the term of two years.
The offers may comprise all the places which have been specified, or a part of them only.
It is also desired that proposals may be offered for supplying at the two posts of Fort Washington and at Pittsburgh all the rations necessary for the main Army, its detachments and the Garrison above mentioned during the said year. The provisions &c. which will be required at Pittsburgh will be those which by civil law he was not perfectly convicted. The motion was referred to the committee of public safety.
Aug. 21
[From the American Spy.]
At a meeting of the Democratic Society of Cumberland, in the State of Vermont, on the 24th of July, 1794.
WHEREAS all men are born free and like, and the lands and produce thereof were created and made for them; we, therefore, cannot see any propriety or reason why some men should live in luxury, while others have scarce bread to eat; why some should possess thousands of acres, while others have hardly room to lay their heads; conceiving this to be contrary, not only to the law of nature, but, more, especially, to the original intention of the institution of this society. To remedy which,
Resolved, If our brother-societies of Burlington and Caledon agree therewith, That, on the 1st day of January next, the law proposed by the ancient Romans, when a pure Republic, called the agrarian law, shall be adopted.
2dly. Resolved, That no person shall own, possess, or enjoy, more than one hundred acres of land: and shall not have more than eight bushels of wheat yearly, for each of his family: that the remainder shall be kept in store, for whoever may hereafter be admitted, and who shall bring unequivocal proofs of their principles, that they never have, nor ever will be contented, under any government, without they have the sole management thereof: and all those who do not bring such proofs, shall be called Aristocrats; of consequence, ought not to have any portion or share with the Democrats.
3dly Resolved, That suing, or collecting debts, is an infamous practice, contrary to the law of nature, and only supported by Aristocrats: therefore no person shall hold any office in the government, without he will use his endeavours to annihilate all laws tending thereto.
4thly That the aforesaid agrarian law shall be put in force, annually on the 1st of January.
5thly. That all the offices of government shall be exposed to sale at the post and the person who will accept of it at the lowest salary, shall have it; provided he belongs to a Democratic society.
6thly. That we highly approve of the plan of our brother society in New York, in having all the printers in the states to publish their proceedings; but we confess, it gives us pain to think that there are so many Aristocrats in that city, that should deter them from publishing the whole of their plan.
7thly. That the secretary cause these resolutions to be published, as those of New York were ordered to be; and the expence attending thereon to be paid out of the surplus wheat: and whatever printer shall neglect or refuse to publish them, on our credit, shall be called an Aristocrat; and we will not read his paper!
Jonathan Arlington, Sec'y.
Foreign Intelligence.
By the ship ACTIVE, Captain BLAIR.
JACOBIN SOCIETY.
May 25.
Dumas entered into a detail of the examination of the female who had formed the plan of assassinating Robespierre, and who had been ordered to be tried by the Revolutionary Tribunal. He afterwards moved, that the Society should, on the succeeding day, proceed in a mass to the Convention, with assurances that the attention of the Jacobins was concentrated on the conspirators, and
the Society had made the virtues be made either for one year, or for two years, as may appear eligible. Persons disposed to contract will therefore confine their offers to one year, as they may form their propositions so as to admit an election of the term of two years. The offers may comprise all the places which have been specified, or a part of them only. It is also desired that proposals may be offered for supplying at the two posts of Fort Washington and at Pittsburgh all the rations necessary for the main Army, its detachments and the Garrison above mentioned during the said year. The provisions &c. which will be required at Pittsburgh will be those which by civil law he was not perfectly convicted. The motion was referred to the committee of public safety.
A citizen moved, that every armourer should be forbidden to sell offensive weapons to any person, of whose probity and civil law he was not perfectly convicted. The motion was referred to the committee of public safety.
Couthon moved that the Society should solemnly declare, that the British government which he alleged to have abetted the crimes committed against the deputies of the National Convention, had been guilty of treason against humanity.
The members rose to express their approbation of this motion.
Couthon afterwards informed the Society that in the National Representatives meant to be more circumsped with respect to the persons they admitted to private audiences.
A debate now took place on a motion made by Rousselin, that civic honours should be paid to Geoffroi, who had secured the assassin that had attempted the life of Collot d'Herbois.
Robespierre opposed the motion, and Rousselin was denounced, dismissed from the Society, and ordered to be carried before the committee of general safety.
UNITED STATES.
NEW-YORK, August 18.
We have already published the declaration of Kosciuszko, the leader of the Polish insurgents, dated March 24, but the following instrument, signed at Cracow, the same day, we believe has not yet appeared in America. The Editor regrets that his translation will not do justice to the energy and elegance of the original.
The act of insurrection of the citizens, inhabitants of the Palatinate of Cracow.
The wretched state in which Poland is involved is known to the universe—the indignities offered by two neighbouring powers, and the crimes of traitors to their country, have sunk this country into this abyss of misery. Catherine II. who in concert with the perfidious William has sworn to extirpate even the name of Poland, has accomplished her iniquitous designs: There is no species of fallhood, of perjury, or of treason, which those governments have hesitated to commit, to satisfy their vengeance and their ambition. The Czarina, while she impudently promised to guarantee the entire possessions and the independence of Poland, has afflicted it with every species of injury; and when Poland, weary of bearing the shameful yoke, had recovered the rights of her sovereignty, she employed against her, traitors to their country. She supported their sacrilegious plots with all her military force, and having artfully diverted, from the defence of his country, the king, to whom the diet had confided the national forces, she shamefully betrayed the very traitors themselves. By such arts, having made herself mistress of the fate of Poland, she invited Frederick William to take part of the plunder, to recompense him for having broken a most solemn treaty with the Republic, under imaginary pretexts, whose falsity and impiety accord only with tyrants; but in fact to satisfy the boundless ambition of extending his tyranny, by an invasion of the adjacent nations.
These two powers, confederated against Poland, have violently seized the immemorial and incontestable possessions of the Republic; and for this purpose, have obtained, in a diet, convoked with this view, a forced approbation of their decisive measures; to wit, those of annexing a commander in chief of the armed force of the nation, to establish a temporary supreme national council, a criminal court of appeals, and a subordinate criminal court in our Palatinate. For this purpose, with the consent of the Assembly, we ordain as follows. 1st. We elect and declare by this act, Thaddeus Kosciuszko sole commander in chief of all our armed forces. 2d. The said Commander in chief, shall immediately convene a Supreme National Council. We confide to his civic zeal the choice of the members, who shall compose it; and also the care of organizing the Council. The chief himself shall have a seat in the Council as an active member.
But the remainder of Poland has not been able to purchase any amelioration of its fate, at the price of such cruel misfortunes. The Czarina, in concealing her ultimate designs, which must
be prejudicial to the powers of Europe, force of the nation shall be entrusted in the mean time sacrifices Poland to her folly to the chief; as also the nomination of military officers of every grade; she shall also employ his force against the enemies of his country, and of this insurrection. The Supreme National Council shall, without any delay, fulfil the orders and dispositions of the commander in chief, elected by the free will of the nation.
4. In case the Chief Kosciuszko, by reason of sickness or otherwise, shall not discharge the duties of his important office, he shall name his Lieutenant after having communicated for this purpose, with the Supreme council, chief in interim, and the council shall appoint another Commander in chief. In both cases, the Supreme chief of the forces, not being immediately appointed by the nation, but by the Supreme Council, shall be subject to the orders of the said Council.
5. The Supreme council shall have the care of the public treasury, for maintaining the forces and providing for the expenses of the war; as also for the expenses they may judge absolutely necessary for supporting this insurrection. Therefore the Council is authorised to ordain temporary imposts, to dispose of all national property and funds, and to negotiate loans in this or foreign countries. The same council shall ordain the levy of recruits, shall furnish the national troops with every thing necessary for the war; arms, ammunition and clothing. They shall endeavour to procure a sufficiency of provisions for the nation and the army; maintain order; watch over the safety of the country; and removing all obstacles and disconcerting all plans prejudicial to our great object, they shall take care that public justice be administered with promptitude and energy. They shall endeavour to negotiate with foreign powers for support and assistance. In short they shall endeavour to rectify public opinion, and rouse a national spirit, that liberty and their country may become the most powerful incentives with all the poles, to make the greatest sacrifices for the public good. These are the principal duties imposed on the Supreme national council.
6. We create in our palatinate a commission of good order; by organizing it for the present in a particular manner. This commission shall be among us, a single organ, a chief Executive magistrate of the armed force and Supreme Council. It shall be bound to execute all their orders and all their regulations, conformable to their powers. The Supreme council shall prescribe immediately the organization and particular duties of this commission. We on our parts engage strictly to execute their decrees.
7. The Supreme council shall prescribe the arrangement, the proceedings and the fixed principles of the Supreme criminal jurisdiction, which shall sit near the council.
8. As in the present circumstances, we cannot conveniently choose suitable persons to form the Supreme criminal tribunal except those of the palatinate, therefore we charge the council to make choice of judges from among the persons, who, by the last free territorial diets and elections of the cities, were designated for those judicatures.
9. This tribunal shall have cognizance of all crimes against the nation, and all proceedings contrary to the object of this sacred association as also of all crimes against the safety of the country. All these crimes shall be punished with death.
10. We commit to the commander in chief of our armies, the power of establishing a council of war, according to military rules and customs.
11. We reserve to ourselves most solemnly, by the act prescribed, that none of the temporary powers, we have now established, shall hereafter either separately or collectively form any of the acts which shall compose a national Constitution. Every act of that nature shall be regarded by us, as a usurpation of National sovereignty, like that against which we are now struggling, at the hazard of our lives.
12. All the temporary powers created by the present act, shall exist in full force, until we have obtained the object of our present association, that is, until Poland shall be delivered from foreign troops, and of all armed force, opposed to this our association; and until the entire possession of our territorial rights shall be secured. Of this the commander in chief and the council shall be bound to notify the citizens, under the most rigid responsibility of their persons and property. Then the nation, assembled by its representatives, shall cause to be rendered an account of
the powers of Europe, force of the nation shall be entrusted in the mean time sacrifices Poland to her folly to the chief; as also the nomination of military officers of every grade; she shall also employ his force against the enemies of his country, and of this insurrection. The Supreme National Council shall, without any delay, fulfil the orders and dispositions of the commander in chief, elected by the free will of the nation.
4. In case the Chief Kosciuszko, by reason of sickness or otherwise, shall not discharge the duties of his important office, he shall name his Lieutenant after having communicated for this purpose, with the Supreme council, chief in interim, and the council shall appoint another Commander in chief. In both cases, the Supreme chief of the forces, not being immediately appointed by the nation, but by the Supreme Council, shall be subject to the orders of the said Council.
5. The Supreme council shall have the care of the public treasury, for maintaining the forces and providing for the expenses of the war; as also for the expenses they may judge absolutely necessary for supporting this insurrection. Therefore the Council is authorised to ordain temporary imposts, to dispose of all national property and funds, and to negotiate loans in this or foreign countries. The same council shall ordain the levy of recruits, shall furnish the national troops with every thing necessary for the war; arms, ammunition and clothing. They shall endeavour to procure a sufficiency of provisions for the nation and the army; maintain order; watch over the safety of the country; and removing all obstacles and disconcerting all plans prejudicial to our great object, they shall take care that public justice be administered with promptitude and energy. They shall endeavour to negotiate with foreign powers for support and assistance. In short they shall endeavour to rectify public opinion, and rouse a national spirit, that liberty and their country may become the most powerful incentives with all the poles, to make the greatest sacrifices for the public good. These are the principal duties imposed on the Supreme national council.
6. We create in our palatinate a commission of good order; by organizing it for the present in a particular manner. This commission shall be among us, a single organ, a chief Executive magistrate of the armed force and Supreme Council. It shall be bound to execute all their orders and all their regulations, conformable to their powers. The Supreme council shall prescribe immediately the organization and particular duties of this commission. We on our parts engage strictly to execute their decrees.
7. The Supreme council shall prescribe the arrangement, the proceedings and the fixed principles of the Supreme criminal jurisdiction, which shall sit near the council.
8. As in the present circumstances, we cannot conveniently choose suitable persons to form the Supreme criminal tribunal except those of the palatinate, therefore we charge the council to make choice of judges from among the persons, who, by the last free territorial diets and elections of the cities, were designated for those judicatures.
9. This tribunal shall have cognizance of all crimes against the nation, and all proceedings contrary to the object of this sacred association as also of all crimes against the safety of the country. All these crimes shall be punished with death.
10. We commit to the commander in chief of our armies, the power of establishing a council of war, according to military rules and customs.
11. We reserve to ourselves most solemnly, by the act prescribed, that none of the temporary powers, we have now established, shall hereafter either separately or collectively form any of the acts which shall compose a national Constitution. Every act of that nature shall be regarded by us, as a usurpation of National sovereignty, like that against which we are now struggling, at the hazard of our lives.
12. All the temporary powers created by the present act, shall exist in full force, until we have obtained the object of our present association, that is, until Poland shall be delivered from foreign troops, and of all armed force, opposed to this our association; and until the entire possession of our territorial rights shall be secured. Of this the commander in chief and the council shall be bound to notify the citizens, under the most rigid responsibility of their persons and property. Then the nation, assembled by its representatives, shall cause to be rendered an account of

the labors and of the proceedings of the temporal authorities, and shall publish to the world their gratitude to the virtuous children of their country, by recompensing their labors and sacrifices in proportion to their services. Then they will decide on their future prosperity and that of the most distant generations.
13. We require the commander in chief of the forces and supreme council, to inform the nation, by frequent proclamations, of the true state of public affairs, without concealing or disguising the most disastrous events. Our despair is at its height; and the love of our country knows no bounds. The most cruel misfortunes, and the most insurmountable difficulties, shall neither enfeeble nor discourage our virtue and civic valour.
14. We pledge ourselves to each other and to the whole nation, for our firmness in enterprize, for our fidelity to the principles, and our obedience to the national authorities, expressed and decreed in this act of association. We conjure the commander of our forces and the supreme council, by the love of their country, to employ all the means capable of delivering the nation and saving the Polish territories. By depositing in their hands the power of commanding our persons and our estates during the combat of liberty with despotism, of justice with oppression & tyranny, we desire that they may keep constantly in view this great truth, that THE SAFETY OF A NATION IS THE SUPREME LAW.
Done at Cracow March 24, 1794 in an assembly of Citizens, inhabitants of the Palatinate. [Here follow some thousands of signatures:] Conformable to the original. GASPAR MZCZEWSKY, Commissary of Good Order, of the Palatinate.
PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST 21.
The Governor of Maryland on the 14th instant, issued orders for drafting two thousand three hundred and fifty non-commissioned officers and privates out of the militia of that State, pursuant to the late Proclamation of the President of the United States.
British wit has found a Toaft in the North American Merchants. "He said the communications Lord how?"—a correspondent re- marks that from the swarms which fly but it was believed, if it was found true from the French hive to attack the al- lies, the whole of the verse will proba- bly form a sentiment that will be more general than ever the Toaft has been; and it will not be surprising if, instead of its being confined to the Chaplains became more particular, there would be of the navy," the whole nation should but little doubt that the matters in dif- exclaim, "Lord how are they increaf- ed that trouble me, many are they that rile up against me!"
By a handbill dated NEW HAVEN August 13, it appears that a contagi- ous putrid fever rages in that town.
At a meeting of the committee (of twenty one) of the town of Pitts- burgh on Monday morning 4th of that August, 1794, Report was made to them by the committee of Battalions on Braddock's fields the 2d inst. That in committee on Braddock's fields, it was stated on the part of the committee of four, that the three prescribed persons of the town of Pittsburgh, viz. Abraham Kirkpa- trick, James Brison, and Edward Day, were expelled the town and had disappeared.
IT was then taken into view what other persons were obnoxious as being suspected of being friendly to the Excise Law as might appear from letters by them written or otherwise, and on certain letters being read which had been intercepted in the Mail from Pitts- burgh to Philadelphia, viz. one from Col. Presby Neville to his father, con- taining in a certain paragraph words un- favourable to the opposers of the Excise Law, though no persons in particular were named, but this being considered a sufficient evidence of his enmity to the cause, it was resolved that he should be expelled the country within ten days.
Also one letter from Gen. John Gib- son, to the Governor of Pennsylvania, which in certain paragraphs evinced a like disposition by a misstatement made by him in information, which informa- tion was thought not to be exact, and which he had too hastily credited, it was resolved, that he should be subject to the like sentence, and that the Com-
mittee of Pittsburgh should carry into effect these measures necessary for the public safety. Resolved , Therefore that notice of their respective sentences be forthwith given to these persons, and that they be ordered accordingly, and that a guard be ordered for each of them to conduct them to a proper distance. Resolved , Also that a copy of this minute be given to each of those per- sons, as a passport from the country. For behalf of the Committee. JAMES CLOW, Chairman.
By this Day's Mail.
NEW-YORK, August 20.
Extract from two letters from a very respectable Mercantile House in London, dated June 19, and 25, to their cor- respondent in this city. "June 19. "The moderation and wisdom of America in sending a man of Mr. Jay's known and high character, to settle the differences between us by fair represent- ation and negotiation; and in sending a commissioner to the West-Indies to af- certain the real damages under the or- ders of 6th Nov. clear of exaggeration, is much to be commended. "The Merchants had conferences with Ministry before Mr. Jay's arrival, to smoothe the way for his negotiation, which we have therefore reason to sup- pose will be completely successful. "Indeed Ministers have said as much, provided no new demands that they are unacquainted with are brought forward. We are persuaded that they are prepared to make all reasonable com- pensation for the damages sustained un- der the orders of the 6th Nov. and we have reason to believe that all other points at issue between the two coun- tries, will be put on such a footing as to secure future harmony and a good un- derstanding between us. "Mr. Jay had yesterday a confer- ence with our Secretary for foreign af- fairs, Lord Grenville, and we under- stand that this opening of the negotia- tion was satisfactory to him, and that he saw no impediment in any thing that non-commissioned officers and privates passed to an amicable arrangement."
"June 25. "We have now to inform you of the substance of a communication from Mr. Pitt yesterday, to the committee of British Merchants. "He said the communications with Mr. Jay had hitherto been general, but it was believed, if it was found true there existed the same disposition in the Government of the United States, (as it would be more was thought would be the case) which there certainly was in this, to be on friendly terms, when the negotiation of the navy," the whole nation should but little doubt that the matters in dif- pute would be all amicably arranged; therefore there was no reason seen why the merchants and manufacturers should not execute the orders they now had or might receive. "As the opinion was drawn from Ministers by the pressing address of the merchants and manufacturers, Ministers disclaim any responsibility for the error should it unexpectedly hereafter happen, but the influence of any party in Ame- rica should overrule the better dispositi- on of her government, and prevent the negotiation terminating as was expect- ed."
Died off the Cape of Good Hope, on his passage to Canton, Major SAMUEL SHAW, of Boston, Consul of the United States, at the port of Canton.
Extract of a letter from Martinique to a gentleman at Philadelphia, received by yesterday's post.
"On the 10th of July arrived at Barbadoes, a ship of 64, and one with 50 guns, with two frigates, 6 trans- ports, and 1200 troops from England. On the 13th they were dispatched to Point-a-Petre, Guadalupe. The Bri- tish commanders use every exertion to finish the business at that place. The principal motive to their hitherto de- clining to fire on the French frigates in the harbour, is, that the latter have em- barked 300 royalists on board those ships; but now the Admiral and Gene- ral had come ultimately to a resolution for an attack of them, without any farther delay—the success is said to be infallible."
PARIS, June 7.
The Revolutionary Tribunal conti- nues to increase the number of its vic- tims every day, and since the 3d inst. near one hundred persons have been guillotined. Amongst others 27 inha-
bitants of Sedan were executed on the 4th who were condemned to being ac- complices of La Fayette in manœuvres against the National representation, by detaining some of the representatives of the people as hostages. Most of the latter unfortunate sufferers are merchants and shopkeepers. The rest were men who formerly respected as Noblemen, or as civil and military officers.
The revenues, bonds, &c. belonging to the Insurance Company were ordered to be sequestered—their debts to be paid, and the surplus to be carried to the National treasury.
The National palace, in which the Convention holds its sittings, is to be extremely beautified, with all the fur- nishings of the Tuilleries. The Statue of Liberty is to be erected on the top of it, with the Tri-coloured Flag in one hand, and the Declaration of Rights in the other. In the Court-yard, Statues are to be erected, representing the Repub- lican Virtues.—The declaration of rights and the constitution are to be engraved on a monument, in golden letters. At the entrance of the yard the statues of Justice and public prosperity will be placed. The gallery near the Pavilion de l'Unité is to contain the statues of great men; and the Terraces, orange- trees, vases, busts, &c. The Orange- ries of Versailles, Meudon, &c. are to be brought to the National Garden. The Court-yards near the Terrace of the Feuillans, are to be converted into places for gymnastic exercises.
The committee of public welfare has already assigned and issued the sums ne- cessary to put these plans of embellish- ment into execution, and put in requi- sition all the artists.
NATIONAL CONVENTION.
5th Prarial, June 6.
A letter from Lyons stated the following facts: The Patriots rally, and become con- fident; but it is a matter of urgency for the Convention to occupy themselves with this Commonality especially, with the means of keeping the workmen to their work, and to make commerce flourish. Let us learn to make proper use of resources—otherwise foreigners will seize upon our industry and our best workmen.
We ought to come to a resolution re- specting the condemned women; we are quite stunned with their petitions, they re- quest more the loss of their property than that of their husbands: they get fresh ones near ready; judge with what vermin they mean to poison the Republic, if we do not remedy it. It is also time that fugitives, whose number exceed 2000, and the first conspirators be judged for contempt. If we are not im- mediate, we have to fear left they should re- turn soon or late, insinuate themselves by divers tricks; and, by the early manner in which certificates are obtained, complete the undoing of this Commonality.
All the former supporters of royalty and federalism are no better informed this year than they were in the last: they are the most cruel enemies of the Patriots: they list every where the dagger, to strike at the first opportunity.
The patriots ought to know one ano- ther, and to act closer than ever against their old enemies, who will remain so, as long as they shall breathe and exist among us! We ought to be well per- suaded that the Aristocrats, and all those who serve them, are capable of every thing, to crush liberty the more safely.
19th Prarial, June 7.
After a report from the Committee of Finance had been read the Conven- tion decreed:
1. That for the present year alone, an extraordinary war contribution shall be established:—that this contribution shall consist of the tenth of the sums carried to the lists of the forced loan, established by the law of the 3d of Sept. last, old style. 2. That this extraordinary contribu- tion shall attach upon all those whose names are contained in such lists, in the proportion fixed by the first article; and according to the sum at which they have been assessed. 3. That for this purpose there shall be made out in each Municipality, in the decade after the publication of the present decree, a particular list of all persons assessed in the lists of the forced loan. 4. The lists of the extraordinary war contribution shall be closed and exami- ned by the Municipality, and remitted to the receiver in the next decade. 5. These new lists shall contain four columns. In the first shall be in- scribed the names of persons assessed—in the second, the sum assessed—in the third, the half the sum forming the tax quota of the person assessed—and the place fourth shall be reserved for the account of payments made. 6. This contribution shall be paid by universal confirmation had seized on the inhabitants of the cities on the fron- tiers, and that the panic had reached even to the Towns of the United Pro- vinces—that the fugitives were flocking
PHILADELPHIA.
By the late arrival at Boston from Amsterdam, letters have been received by a merchant in this city, from that place dated the 28th June, which stat- ing all before them in Flanders—that universal confirmation had seized on the inhabitants of the cities on the fron- tiers, and that the panic had reached even to the Towns of the United Pro- vinces—that the fugitives were flocking
be proceeded against in such manner as the law prescribes in matters of contri- bution. 7. The produce shall be paid monthly by the receiver into the hands of the receiver of the district. The produce collected at Paris shall be paid directly into the national treasury within the decade, after the expiration of the time appointed for the payment of the sums aforesaid.
8. The national agents in the districts and communes shall take care, as far as relates to them, that the present decree be carried into execution. They shall be made responsible.
It was decreed, "That sue courts should be immediately afforded to the Belgians, Liegeois, the people of May- ence and other refugees of countries united to the Republic. The arrears of the succours are to be paid up from the date of the period when they last ceased."
LONDON, June 12.
BRITISH PARLIAMENT.
The Speech of the Speaker of the House of Commons, when he gave the thanks of the house to the mem- bers who were appointed the mana- gers of the impeachment against War- ren Hastings, Esq.
GENTLEMEN, It is my duty to communicate to you the thanks of this house, for the man- ner in which you have discharged a most arduous trust, on an occasion highly in- teresting to the honor and justice of the nation.
The subject, to which your attention has been directed, was intricate and ex- tensive beyond example. You have proved, that it was well suited to your industry and eloquence, the exertions of which have conferred honor, not on yourselves only, but on this house, whose credit is intimately connected with your own. A forcible admonition has been given, on this occasion, to all per- sons in situations of high and important national trust; that they can neither be removed by distance, or sheltered by power; from the vigilance and authority of this house, which is possessed of no privilege more important; than that by which it is enabled to bring public delinquents to the bar of public justice, and thus to preserve, or rescue from dishonour, the British name and cha- racter.
But in addressing you on this occa- sion; and in considering the beneficial consequences to be expected from this proceeding, it is impossible not to ad- vert to the increased security, which the constitution has derived in the course of it, from the recognition and full con- firmation of the principle, that an im- peachment is not discontinued by a dis- solution of parliament; a principle es- sential to the privileges of this house, and to the independent and effectual admin- istration of public justice.
Under these impressions, suggested by the nature and importance of your trust, and by the manner in which you have discharged it, I obey, with the ut- most satisfaction, the commands of this house; by stating to you their resolution. "That the thanks of this house be given to the members, who were ap- pointed managers of the impeachment against Warren Hastings, Esq. for their faithful management in their discharge of the trust reposed in them."
CHARLESTON, August 1.
By a letter from France, received by the Argus, we learn that after harvest grain will not be wanted, as their crops promise to be abundant. Above double the quantity has been sown, that was ever known in one year before.
Yesterday arrived the ship Friendship, Perard, prize-master, from Jamaica 54 days, a prize to the French privateer Montagnac; also came up to town, hav- ing performed quarantine at Fort John- son, the schooner Adventure, Mitchell, Nassau, a prize to the French privateer Who would have thought it?
Died on Tuesday night, Daniel Wil- son, Esq. in consequence of a wound received in a duel fought on the 27th ult.
in such multitudes to Holland, that the Cities were crowded with emigrants— It may therefore be safely presumed that nothing had occurred to check the career of the French successes as late as the 26th of June.
Remarks from a Correspondent.
When you hear a man of property ad- vocating opinions and principles that are hostile to the peace of Society and security of personal rights—you may determine that he is either a knave or a fool.
When opinions are supported which the experience of ages testifies are untenable on any ground of public happiness, we may justly suspect the motives of their ad- vocates—for tho' the doctrine may not hold universally true, that "experience is the test of truth"—yet it is undoubtedly the best guide in political concerns.
There are opinions sprouted now-a-days which strike at the root of all those principles and establishments in religion, gov- ernment, politics, commerce, arts & litera- ture, with which mankind have heretofore associated every idea of human enjoyment and felicity.
Whether the people of the United States shall relax and fever every bond of amity, peace and good will which have heretofore linked society together, by substituting a new creed in religion and politics, is much more the question of the day than many ap- pear to apprehend.
From examining the trails of the In- dians on their retreat from Fort Reco- very, on the 1st July, it would appear the Wabash Indians and Patawatimas separated from the others about 12 miles from that place, and took a N. W. direction towards their towns; and a- bout 25 miles another trail broke off and steered an easterly course, towards Sandusky, supposed to be the Wyano- totts. By those trails it would appear that the Indians were scattering, and that there were from 250 to 300 who went off upon each of those trails: but the main body continued together; and took a direct course for Grand Glaize.
For Boston, The Schooner Elizabeth, DAVID PHILLIPS, Master. Will sail on Wednesday next. For freight or passage, apply in the Captain on board at Chestnut street wharf, or to JOSEPH ANTHONY & SON. Aug. 21. d5t
THIS DAY IS PUBLISHED, And to be sold by Robert Campbell, No. 54, South Second Street, second door below the corner of Cheswain Street.
MENTORIA; OR The Young Lady's Friend, BY Mrs. Rowson; Of the New Theatre, Philadelphia; au- thor of the Inquisitor, Fille de Chambre, Victoria, Charlotte, &c. Price neatly bound 75 cents.
Detect the pen whose baneful influ- ence Could to the youthful docile mind convey Pernicious precepts, tell loose tales, And paint illicit passion in such colours, As might mislead the unsusppecting heart, And vitiate the young, unsettled judg- ment. I would not for the riches of the East Abuse the noblest gifts of Heaven thus, Or sink my Genius to such prostitution. Aug. 21 tawxim
German Passengers. A few healthy Young Passengers just arrived in the Ship Holland, Captain FRANKLIN, from Amsterdam, now at anchor opposite Vine-Street; whose times are to be agreed for by applying on board, or to Prager, & Co. August 20. d1w.
War Department,
August 1, 1794. Information is hereby given to all the military Invalids of the United States, that the sums to which they are entitled for their annual pension, which will become due on the fifth day of September 1794, will be paid on the said day, by the Commissioners or Loons within the States respectively, under the usual regulations. Applications of Executors or Adminis- trators must be accompanied with legal evi- dences of their respective offices, and also of the time of the decease of such in- valids whose pensions they may claim. By command of the President of the U- nited States; H. KNOX, Secretary of War.
The Printers in the several States are requested to publish the above in their newspapers or the space of two months. Aug. 6 d2m
JAMAICA RUM, LANDING at Hamilton's wharf, above the Drawbridge, out of the ship BACCHUS Sept. VANNEMAN, from JAMAICA. FOR SALE BY PETER BLIGHT. May 16. d

aimed, besides the influence of penalties on delinquents, at making it the general interest of the distillers, to comply with the laws, by interrupting the market for a very considerable surplus, and by, at the same time, continuing the benefit of the large demand for public service to those who did their duty to the public, and furnishing, through the means of payments in cash, that medium for paying the duties, the want of which was alleged to be a great difficulty in the way of compliance.
But two circumstances conspired to counteract the force of the plan—one, the necessity, towards incurring the penalties of non-compliance, of there being an office of inspection in each county, which was prevented in some of the counties, by the means of intimidation practised for that purpose—another, the non-extension of the law to the territory north-west of the Ohio, into which a large proportion of the surplus before mentioned was sent.
A cure for these defects could only come from the legislature.—Accordingly in the session which began in November 1792, measures were taken for procuring a further revision of the laws. A bill containing amendments of those and other defects was brought in;—but it so happened that this object, by reason of more urgent business, was deferred till towards the close of the session, and finally went off, through the usual hurry of that period.
The continuance of the embarrassment incident to this state of things, naturally tended to diminish much the efficacy of the plan which had been devised. Yet it was resolved, as far as legal provisions would bear out the officers, to pursue it with perseverance: there was ground to entertain hopes of its good effect, and it was certainly the most likely course which could have been adopted towards attaining the object of the laws, by means short of force;—evincing, unequivocally, the sincere disposition to avoid this painful resort, and the steady moderation, which have characterised the measures of the government.
In pursuance of this plan, prosecutions were occasionally instituted in the milder forms, seizures were made as opportunities occurred—and purchases on public account were carried on.
It may be incidentally remarked, that these purchases were extended to other places: where, though the same disorders did not exist, it appeared advisable to facilitate the payment of the duties by this species of accommodation.
Nor was this plan, notwithstanding the deficiency of legal provision, which impeded its full execution, without corresponding effects.
Symptoms from time to time appeared which authorized expectation, that with the aid, at another session, of the desired supplementary provisions, it was capable of accomplishing its end, if no extraordinary events occurred.
The opponents of the laws, not insensible of the tendency of that plan, nor of the defects in the laws which interfered with it, did not fail from time to time to pursue analogous modes of counteraction.—The effort to frustrate the establishment of offices of inspection, in particular, was persisted in and even increased: means of intimidating officers and others continued to be exerted.
In April 1793, a party of armed men, in disguise, made an attack in the night upon the house of a collector of revenue, who resided in Fayette county; but he happening to be from home, they contented themselves with breaking open his house, threatening, terrifying, and abusing his family.
Warrants were issued for apprehending some of the rioters upon this occasion, by Isaac Mason and James Findley, assistant judges of Fayette county, which were delivered to the sheriff of that county, who it seems refused to execute them;—for which he has since been indicted.
This is at once an example of a disposition to support the laws of the Union, and of an opposite one, in the local officers of Pennsylvania, within the non-complying fence.—But it is a truth, too important not to be noticed, and too injurious not to be lamented, that the prevailing spirit of those officers has been either hostile or lukewarm to the execution of those laws—and that the weight of an unfriendly official influence has been one of the most serious obstacles, with which they have had to struggle.
In June following, the inspector of the revenue was burnt in effigy in Alleghany county, at a place and on a day of some public election, with much display, in the presence of and without interruption from magistrates, and other public officers.
On the night of the 22d of November, another party of men, some of them armed, and all in disguise, went to the house of the same collector of revenue, which had been visited in April, broke and entered it, and demanded a surrender of the officer's commission and official books. Upon his refusing to deliver them up; they presented pistols at him, and swore, that if he did not comply, they would instantly put him to death. At length, a surrender of the commission and books was enforced. But not content with this, the rioters, before they departed, required of the officer, that he should, within two weeks, publish his resignation on pain of another visit, and the destruction of his house.
Notwithstanding these excesses, the laws appeared during the latter periods of this year, (1793), to be rather gaining ground. Several principal distillers, who had formerly held out, complied, and others discovered a disposition to comply, which was only restrained by the fear of violence.
But these favourable circumstances served to beget alarm among those who were determined, at all events, to prevent the quiet establishment of the laws. It soon appeared, that they meditated, by fresh and greater excesses, to aim a still more effectual blow at them;—to subdue the growing spirit of compliance, and to destroy entirely the organs of the laws, within that part of the country, by compelling all the officers to renounce their offices.
The last proceeding, in the case of the collector of Fayette, was in this spirit. In January of the present year, further violences appear to have been perpetrated. William Richmond, who had given information against some of the rioters, in the affair of Wilson, had his barn burnt with all the grain and hay which it contained; and the same thing happened to Robert Shawhan, a distiller, who had been among the first to comply with the law, and who had always spoken favourably of it. But, in neither of these instances, (which happened in the county of Alleghany) though the presumptions were violent, was any positive proof obtained.
The inspector of the revenue, in a letter of the 27th of February, writes, that he had received information, that persons living near the dividing line of Alleghany and Washington, had thrown out threats of tarring and feathering one William Cochran, a complying distiller, and of burning his distillery; and that it had also been given out, that in three weeks, there would not be a house standing in Alleghany county, of any person, who had complied with the laws. In consequence of which, he had been induced to pay a visit to several leading individuals in that quarter, as well to ascertain the truth of the information as to endeavour to avert the attempt to execute such threats.
It appeared afterwards, that on his return home, he had been pursued by a collection of disorderly persons, threatening, as they went along, vengeance against him. On their way, these men called at the house of James Kiddoe, who had recently complied with the laws, broke into his
still-house, fired several balls under his sill, and scattered fire over and about the house.
Letters from the inspector in March, announce an increased activity in promoting opposition to the laws—frequent meetings to cement and extend the combinations against it; and among other means for this purpose, a plan of collecting a force to seize him, compel him to resign his commission, and detain him prisoner—probably as a hostage.
In May and June new violences were committed. James Kiddoe, the person above mentioned, and William Cochran, another complying distiller, met with repeated injury to their property. Kiddoe had parts of his still-house, at different times, carried away; and Cochran suffered more material injuries. His still was destroyed, his saw-mill was rendered useless by the taking away of the saw, and his still-house so injured, as to require to be repaired at considerable expense.
At the last visit, a note in writing was left, requiring him to publish what he had suffered, in the Pittsburgh Gazette, on pain of another visit; in which he is threatened, in figurative, but intelligible terms, with the destruction of his property by fire: Thus adding to the profligacy of doing wanton injuries to a fellow-citizen, the tyranny of compelling him to be the publisher of his wrongs.
June being the month for receiving annual entries of bills, endeavours were used to open offices in Westmoreland and Washington, where it had been hitherto found impracticable. With much pains and difficulty, places were procured for the purpose. That in Westmoreland was repeatedly attacked in the night by armed men, who frequently fired upon it; but according to a report which has been made to this department, it was defended with so much courage and perseverance, by John Wells, an auxiliary officer, and Philip Ragan, the owner of the house, as to have been maintained during the remainder of the month.
That, in Washington, after repeated attempts, was suppressed. The first attempt was confined to pulling down the sign of the office, and threats of future destruction. The second effected the object in the following mode. About twelve persons, armed and painted black, in the night of the 6th of June, broke into the house of John Lynn where the office was kept; and after having treacherously seduced him to come down stairs, and put himself in their power by a promise of safety to himself and his house, they seized and tied him, threatened to hang him, took him to a retired spot in the neighbouring wood; and there, after cutting off his hair, tarring and feathering him, swore him never again to allow the use of his house for an office, never to disclose their names, and never again to have any sort of agency in aid of the excise: Having done which, they bound him naked to a tree, and left him in that situation till morning; when he succeeded in extricating himself. Not content with this, the malcontents, some days after, made him another visit; pulled down part of his house, and put him in a situation to be obliged to become an exile from his own home, and to find an asylum elsewhere.
During this time, several of the distillers, who had made entries and benefitted by them, refused the payment of the duties; actuated, no doubt, by various motives.
Indications of a plan to proceed against the inspector of the revenue, in the manner which has been before mentioned, continued. In a letter from him of the 10th of July, he observed, that the threatened visit had not yet been made, though he had full reason to expect it.
In the session of Congress which began in December 1793, a bill for making the amendments in the laws, which had been for some time desired, was brought in, and on the 5th of June last became a law.
It is not to be doubted, that the different stages of this business was regularly noticed to the malcontents, and that a conviction of the tendency of the amendments contemplated to effectuate the execution of the law, had inured the resolution to bring matters to a violent crisis.
The encircling energy of the opposition, rendered it indispensable to meet the evil with proportional decision. The idea of giving time for the law to extend itself, in scenes where the dissatisfaction with it was the effect, not of an improper spirit, but of causes which were of a nature toyed to reason, reflection, and experience (which had constantly weighed in the estimate of the measures proper to be pursued) had had its effect, in an extensive degree. The experiment, too, had been long enough tried, to ascertain, that where resistance continued, the root of the evil lay deep, and required measures of greater efficacy than had been pursued. The laws had undergone repeated revisions of the legislative representatives of the union; and had virtually received their repeated sanction, without even an attempt, as far as is now recollected, or can be traced, to effect their repeal;—affording an evidence of the general sense of the community in their favour. Complaints began to be loud, from complying quarters, against the impropriety and injustice of suffering the laws to remain unexecuted in others.
Under the united influence of these considerations, there was no choice but to try the efficiency of the laws, in prosecuting, with vigour, delinquents and offenders.
Process issued against a number of non-complying distillers in the counties of Fayette and Alleghany; and indictments having been found at a circuit court, held at Philadelphia in July last, against Robert Smille and John McCulloch, two of the rioters in the attack, which, in November preceding, had been made upon the house of a collector of the revenue in Fayette county, process issued against them also, to bring them to trial; and if guilty, to punishment.
The marshal of the district went in person to serve these processess. He executed his trust without interruption, though under many discouraging circumstances, in Fayette county; but while he was in the execution of it in Alleghany county, being then accompanied by the inspector of the revenue (to wit) on the 15th of July last, he was beset on the road by a party of from thirty to forty armed men, who, after much previous irregularity of conduct, finally fired upon him; but as it happened, without injury, either to him or to the inspector.
This attempt on the marshal was but the prelude of greater excesses.
About break-of-day, the 16th of July, in conformity with a plan, which seems to have been for some time entertained, and which probably was only accelerated by the coming of the marshal into the survey, an attack, by about one hundred persons, armed with guns and other weapons, was made upon the house of the inspector in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. The inspector, though alone, vigorously defended himself against the assailants, and obliged them to retreat, without accomplishing their purpose.
Apprehending that the business would not terminate here, he made application by letter to the judges, generals of militia, and sheriff of the coun-
ty for protection. A reply to his application, from John Wilkins, jun., and John Gibson, magistrates and militia officers, informed him, that the laws could not be executed, so as to afford him the protection to which he was entitled, owing to the too-general combination of the people in that part of Pennsylvania, to oppose the revenue-law; adding, that they would take every step in their power to bring the rioters to justice, and would be glad to receive information of the individuals concerned in the attack upon his house, that prosecutions might be commenced against them; and expressing their sorrow, that should the posse comitatus of the county be ordered out in support of the civil authority, very few could be gotten that were not of the party of the rioters.
The day following, the insurgents re-assembled, with a considerable augmentation of numbers, amounting, as has been computed, to at least five hundred; and on the 17th of July, renewed their attack upon the house of the inspector; who, in the interval, had taken the precaution of calling to his aid a small detachment from the garrison of Fort-Pitt, which, at the time of the attack, consisted of eleven men, who had been joined by Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, a friend and connection of the inspector.
There being scarcely a prospect of effectual defence against so large a body as then appeared, and as the inspector had every thing to apprehend for his person, if taken, it was judged advisable, that he should withdraw from the house to a place of concealment; Major Kirkpatrick generously agreeing to remain with the eleven men, in the intention, if practicable, to make a capitulation in favour of the property, if not to defend it as long as possible.
A parley took place under cover of a flag, which was sent by the insurgents to the house to demand, that the inspector should come forth, renounce his office, and stipulate never again to accept an office under the same laws. To this it was replied, that the inspector had left the house, upon their first approach, and that the place to which he had retired was unknown. They then declared that they must have whatever related to his office. They were answered, that they might send persons, not exceeding six, to search the house, and take away whatever papers they could find appertaining to the office. But not satisfied with this, they insisted unconditionally, that the armed men, who were in the house for its defence, should march out and ground their arms, which Major Kirkpatrick peremptorily refused; considering it and representing it to them as a proof of a design to destroy the property. This refusal put an end to the parley.
A brisk firing then ensued between the insurgents and those in the house, which it is said lasted for near an hour, till the assailants having set fire to the neighbouring and adjacent buildings, eight in number, the intenseness of the heat, and the danger of an immediate communication of the fire to the house, obliged Major Kirkpatrick and his small party to come out and surrender themselves. In the course of the firing, one of the insurgents was killed and several wounded, and three of the persons in the house were also wounded. The person killed is understood to have been the leader of the party, of the name of James McFarlane, then a major in the militia, formerly a lieutenant in the Pennsylvania line. The dwelling-house, after the surrender, shared the fate of the other buildings; the whole of which were consumed to the ground. The lots of property to the inspector, upon this occasion, is estimated, and, as it is believed, with great moderation, at not less than three thousand pounds.
The marshal, Colonel Presley Neville, and several others, were taken by the insurgents going to the inspector's house. All, except the marshal and Colonel Neville, soon made their escape; but these were carried off some distance from the place where the affray had happened, and detained till one or two o'clock the next morning. In the course of their detention, the marshal in particular suffered very severe and humiliating treatment; and was frequently in imminent danger of his life. Several of the party repeatedly presented their pieces at him, with every appearance of a design to assassinate, from which they were, with difficulty, restrained by the efforts of a few more humane and more prudent.
Nor could he obtain safety or liberty, but upon the condition of a promise guaranteed by Colonel Neville, that he would serve no other process on the west side of the Alleghany mountain. The alternative being immediate death, extorted from the marshal a compliance with this condition; notwithstanding the just sense of official dignity, and the firmness of character, which were witnessed by his conduct throughout the trying scenes he had experienced.
The insurgents, on the 18th, sent a deputation of two of their number (one a justice of the peace) to Pittsburgh, to require of the marshal a surrender of the processess in his possession, intimating, that his compliance would satisfy the people and add to his safety; and also to demand of general Neville, in peremptory terms, the resignation of his office, threatening, in case of refusal, to attack the place and take him by force: demands which both these officers did not hesitate to reject, as alike incompatible with their honour and their duty.
As it was well ascertained, that no protection was to be expected from the magistrates or inhabitants of Pittsburgh, it became necessary to the safety, both of the inspector and the marshal, to quit that place; and, as it was known that all the usual routes to Philadelphia were beset by the insurgents, they concluded to descend the Ohio, and proceed, by a circuitous route, to the seat of government, which they began to put in execution on the night of the 19th of July.
Information has also been received of a meeting of a considerable number of persons at a place called Mingo-Creek Meeting-House, in the county of Washington, to consult about the further measures which it might be advisable to pursue: that at this meeting a motion was made to approve and agree to support the proceedings which had taken place, until the excise law was repealed, and an act of oblivion passed. But that, instead of this, it had been agreed, that the four western counties of Pennsylvania, and the neighbouring counties of Virginia, should be invited to meet in a convention of delegates, on the 14th of the present month, at Parkinson's, on Mingo-Creek, in the county of Washington; to take into consideration the situation of the western country, and concert such measures as should appear suited to the occasion.
It appears, moreover, that on the 25th of July last, the mail of the united states, on the road from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, was stopped by two armed men, who cut it open, and took out all the letters, except those contained in one packet: these armed men, from all the circumstances which occurred, were manifestly acting on the part of the insurgents.
The declared object of the foregoing proceedings, is to obstruct the execution and compel a repeal of the laws laying duties on spirits distil-
led within the united states, and upon this. There is just cause to believe, that this is connected with an indisposition, too general in that quarter, to share in the common burthens of the community; and with a wish, among some persons of influence, to embarrass the government. It is, however, by well-informed persons, to be a fact of notoriety, that the revenue laws of the state itself, have always been either resisted or very defectively complied with in the same quarter.
With the most perfect respect, I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient, and Humble servant, Alexander Hamilton. The President of the United States.
 For Hamburg The Ship HARMONY, CAPTAIN LOWELL, Having great of her cargo on board, will sail few days. Freight will be taken if ap- plied for immediately, for which as as for passage, apply to Andrews & Meredith, At Wiling's Wharf. August 6.
 For Sale The American Schooner VENUS, Captain McComell. Now lying at Mr. ROSS's Wharf, an excel- lent vessel, about 220 tons by register; car- ry near 2500 bbls. Flour, is remarkable well found, and may be sent to sea, at a very small expense, having lately had upwards of one hundred pounds sterling, laid out on her. If not sold in fortnight, she will then be exposed at public auction. Any reasonable credit may be given—Inventory may be seen on board, by applying to Capt. McCON- NELL, or to
Peter Blight, WHO HAS FOR SALE, PORT WINE, In Pipes and half Pipes and Quarter Casks, Madeira in do. do. Havanna White Sugar in Boxes. d2w.
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For Sale or Charter, The Ship Washington, NOW discharging at Maffey's wharf. She is a prime sailer, well found, and burthen about three thou- sand barrels. For terms apply to JOSEPH ANTHONY & SON, Aug. 19 dot
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Next Monday Will be landed from on board Ship Wash- ington, Captain JOHN COLLINS from BORE- DEAUX, lying at Maffey's Wharf near the Crooked Billet. A CARGO OF White Wines In Barrels; and CLARET In Hds. and Cales—For Sale by FRANCIS COPPINGER, No. 165, South, Second-Street. August 15, 1794. Choise St. Croix Sugar, JUST IMPORTED. And for Sale, By JAMES YARD. Also a quantity of RUSSIA Malt. June 24th.
NO. 68. District of Pennsylvania, TO WIT. BE it remembered that on the even- ing of the 27th day of July in the nineteenth year of the independence of the United States of America, JOSEPH BOGGS, 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: "The Philadelphia Directory for the year 1795—by Joseph Boggs." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning by secur- ing the copies of maps charts and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies dur- ing the times therein mentioned." Sam. Goldwell Clerk of District of Penna. Marts July 32
NOTICE. The GAZETTE of the United STATES is now published at No. 115, CHESNUT STREET—to which place the OFFICE of the Editor is removed, and where PRINTING WORK in general is performed.