Norfolk gazette and publick ledger (Norfolk [Va.]), 1808-12-21 00:00:00

NORFOLK GAZETTE AND PUBLICK LEDGER.  SINT HIC ETIAM SUA PRÆMIA LAUD.
MR. PICKERING'S SPEECH,  In the Senate of the United States on the resolution offered by Mr. Hillhouse to repeal the several acts laying an embargo, November 30, 1808.
MR. PRESIDENT, The ample discussion already given to the resolution on your table, leaves me nothing to detail on the effects produced by the embargo, in regard to France, to England, or to ourselves. On the two great belligerents, practical men, who knew the characters and resources of those nations, foresaw and pronounced, that it would make no impression. This we all now know to be the fact: while we ourselves severely feel its pressure. Why, then, not remove it? Because, as we are told, those two nations have violated our neutral maritime rights; and seeing, that to compel their respect for these, we imposed the embargo, and they treat the measure with contempt; to remove it would be submission. So we will endeavour to conceal our mortification; and because we cannot injure them, we will continue to punish ourselves. To renew our commerce while their decrees and orders remain uncancelled, would, we are told, be "abject and degrading submission;" and that we have but this alternative, "to make war with both nations," or "continue and enforce the present suspension of commerce."
It has been justly remarked by the gentleman from Connecticut, (Mr. Hillhouse) that to run away and abandon our rights, is abject and degrading.
To make war on both the belligerents, is the most strange, Quixotick idea that ever entered into the head of a statesman. I suppose, as we have a thousand and a thousand times declared, that we have maintained an impartial neutrality towards those nations, so, to verify our declarations, we must now make war upon both impartially! And as their injuries are said to be equal, or, we will not enquire which has done us "the most harm;" so we must measure out to each an equal quantity of resentment, and give to each an equal number of blows!
In respect to our violated rights, as far as Great-Britain is concerned, those presented by the administration in the front of our claims, are
 I. An exemption from impressment of all seamen on board our merchant vessels.  II. A free trade with the colonies of her enemies.  III. An exemption from capture of our vessels destined for any port of her enemies, not actually blockaded. 
I am aware, sir, of the consequences of advancing any thing from which conclusions may be drawn adverse to the opinions of our own administration, which by many are conceived to be indisputably just. Merely to state these questions, and to mention such arguments as the British government may perhaps have urged in their support, on her side, is sufficient to subject a man to the popular charge of being under British influence, or to the vulgar slander of being a "British tory;" he will be fortunate to escape the accusation of touching British gold. But, sir, none of these things move me. The patrons of the miscreants who utter these slanders know better; but are nevertheless willing to benefit by the impression they make on the minds of the people. From an early period of my life, I was zealously engaged in every measure opposed to the attempts of Great-Britain to encroach upon our rights, until the commencement of our revolutionary war; and during its whole continuance, I was unintermittingly employed in important civil and military departments—contributing all my efforts to bring that war to a successful termination.
I, sir, am not the advocate of wrong doers, to whatever country they belong: whether emperors or kings, or the administrators of a republic. Justice is my object, and right my guide—and wherever she points the way, I shall not fear to go.
Great Britain has done us many wrongs. When we were colonies, she attempted to deprive us of some of our dearest birth-rights; rights derived from our English ancestors; rights which we defended and finally established by the successful conclusion of the revolutionary war. But these wrongs, and all the wounds of war, were intended to be obliterated and healed by the treaty of peace, when all enmities should have ceased.
Great Britain wronged us in the capture and condemnation of our vessels under her orders of 1793; and she has made reparation for these wrongs; pursuant to a treaty negotiated on practical principles, by a statesman, who with liberal views and real candour, sought adjustment and reparation.
At subsequent period she has committed other wrong; and if reparation had been demanded in the same spirit of candour and firmness which were manifested in 1794, that distinguished precedent authorises the opinion, that a like equitable adjustment and reparation might have been obtained. But after a four years negotiation, in which volumes of essays and letters have been written, it has, like the seven years negotiation with Spain, been bro't (in the language of the present) "to an issue of some sort;" that is, every subject of dispute remains as far, probably farther from adjustment, than when the negotiations were begun.
It is this disastrous issue which now enters into our deliberations. According to the statements of the administration, we are brought into a situation from which we cannot advance without war, nor retreat without dishonour. Their negotiations with France have also terminated in mortification and defeat.
On the two questions of the impressment of seamen on board our merchant vessels, and a trade with the enemies of Great Britain prohibited in time of peace, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Smith) was pleased to read some parts of a letter, written by me last winter, to the governor of Massachusetts to be laid before the legislature—and on the latter (neutral trade) he also read the journal of
the senate, which exhibited an unanimous vote declaratory of our right to that trade; and then the names of the senators (none being one) who voted to request the president to demand and insist on reparation for the injuries done us in violation of that right; and for this purpose to enter into amicable arrangements with the British government.
On these two questions, I should add nothing to the observations made yesterday, by the gentleman from Connecticut, but for the apparent intention of the gentleman from Maryland, to exhibit an inconsistency between my votes in the senate and the observations of my letter on the same subject.
It is sufficient for me to remark, that in the passages recited by the gentleman from my letter, my object was to shew, by exhibiting in a few words, to the view of my immediate constituents, and thro' them, to the people of Massachusetts, some of the reasons which might have influenced Great Britain not to relinquish her ancient usage of impressing her own seamen—nor to consent that neutral vessels should carry on (as we and other neutrals were carrying on) the whole trade between the countries of her enemies in Europe and their colonies; to shew, I say, that as much was to be said on both sides, those rights as claimed by the United States, were not to be considered so clear and indisputable as to justify a war with Great Britain; into which the proceedings of the executive, in a variety of ways, seemed calculated to plunge us.
Before I quit this subject, I will make one more observation. It appears to be generally supposed that the rule respecting the colonial trade adopted by Great Britain, and usually called the rule of 1756, which it seems she has considered as "the ancient and established principle of maritime law," was peculiar to Great Britain: and Mr. Madison says, "it is well known that Great Britain is the only nation that has acted upon, or otherwise given a sanction to it." He also mentions this rule as having been introduced, for the first time, in the war of 1756; as having been in operation only a few years in that war; and not afterwards acted upon until 1793. Let us examine the subject.
In Valin's celebrated work on maritime law (a book in the secretary of state's office) is a regulation of Louis the fourteenth in 1704, from which I will recite some passages.
The title of the regulation is remarkable: it is, "concerning prizes made at sea, to secure the navigation of neutral states and allies during war;"—implying that this regulation was intended to abate the rigour of maritime law before that time practised towards neutral commerce.
After observing that propositions had been made to him by the deputies of the council of commerce, the French king, expresses his approbation of them, "seeing he finds in them the means which he has always sought of procuring equally the advantages of the subjects of neutral princes and French cruisers. He adds, "The subjects of neutral princes will thus find the care which his majesty has taken to preserve for them the same extent and the same liberty of commerce which they have been accustomed to enjoy during peace."
I will now read such of the articles of this French regulation as relate to the question under examination.
"Article 1.—His majesty forbids French privateers to stop or bring into the ports of his kingdom vessels belonging to subjects of neutral princes, going from the ports of their dominion, and laden on account of the owners or other subjects of the said neutral princes, with merchandise of the growth or manufacture of their own country to carry the same directly into any other states whatsoever, even those with which his majesty is at war; provided, nevertheless, that there be not in the said vessels any contraband goods."
"Article 2.—They are in like manner forbidden to stop vessels belonging to subjects of neutral princes, going from the ports of any state whatsoever, even of those with which his majesty is at war, and laden on account of the owners or other subjects of the said neutral princes, with merchandise which they shall have received in the same country or state whence they shall have departed, to return directly into the ports of the dominion of their sovereign."
"Article 3.—He also forbids them to stop vessels belonging to the subjects of neutral princes, departing from the ports of one of the states neutral or allied to his majesty; provided they are not laden with merchandise of the growth or manufacture of his enemies; in which case the merchandise shall be good prize, and the vessel shall be released."
"Article 4.—In like manner his majesty forbids privateers to stop vessels belonging to subjects of neutral princes, departing from a state allied to his majesty or neutral, to go to a state the enemy of his majesty; provided there be not on board said vessel any merchandise contraband, nor of the growth or manufacture of the enemies of his majesty; in which cases the merchandise shall be good prize, and the vessel shall be released."
"Article 6.—Vessels belonging to subjects of neutral states which shall depart from the ports of a state the enemy of his majesty, and there have taken their laden, in whole or in part, to go to the states of any other prince than their own, whether allied to his majesty, neutral, or enemy, may be stopped and brought into this kingdom, and shall be declared good prize with their laden, even although laden on account of the subjects of his majesty, or of an allied or neutral state."
This regulation of Louis XIV. in 1704, (he being then at war with England and Holland) was re-enacted by Louis XV. in 1744, (France being then
* Mr. Madison's letter of March 23, 1808, to Mr. Erskine.
† Same letter. ‡ Idem.
at war with England) with some exceptions in regard to those neutral nations with whom France had formed treaty stipulations incompatible with that regulation.
In these five articles we have, if I mistake not, the whole doctrine of the rule 1756. The direct trade to and from neutral ports and the enemy's ports, being permitted; but not the trade to and from the ports of one allied or neutral state, to and from the ports of another allied or neutral state; if the laden of the neutral vessel consist of merchandise the production of the enemy's country; much less to carry the same from one port of the enemy to another port of the enemy.
The PRINCIPLE of the British rule and the French regulation appears to be to prevent neutrals coming in to aid the enemy in the commerce of one part of his dominions with another part thereof, or in procuring a market for the enemy's productions, in any other country but that of the neutral actually transporting the same, and for its own use and consumption.
It appears, moreover, by the preamble to the French regulation, that the restrictions on neutral commerce, which we are now examining, instead of commencing in 1756, were in exercise by the English and Dutch antecedent to that regulation, and with greater rigour; the French king professing to ameliorate the condition of neutral commerce by that regulation.*
On the subject of the blockade, when vessels of war were not so stationed before the port declared to be blockaded, as to constitute what is called an actual blockade, undoubtedly abuses have taken place.
To form an actual blockade of a port, ships destined for that object must be "sufficiently near to produce an evident danger in entering." But these words by no means imply a certainty of capture by the blockading ships of the vessels so attempting to enter. What degree of risk from blockading ships will amount to a lawful blockade, may sometimes be a disputable question. Would the chance of capturing three vessels out of four, or seven out of eight, exhibit such an "evident danger in entering" as would constitute an actual blockade? that is, when to insure their entering in safety would be worth a premium of from 75 to 90 per cent. This must remain a question of some difficulty to adjust.
On these points, sir, and all others in dispute with Great Britain, my opinion remains unchanged, that they are yet proper subjects of negotiation, to be undertaken in the real spirit of conciliation and adjustment. That the embargo will not induce her to yield to our demands, we have ample proof, not only in the answer of the British government to our minister in London, but in the certain ability of that nation and her colonies to supply all their own wants. That she possesses the means, I think, has been demonstrated by gentlemen who have spoken before me. We have heard much of the patriotism and patient endurance of our fellow citizens, under the distresses of the embargo, and gentlemen speak confidently that this patience will hold out till Great Britain shall be brought to our feet. At the same time they calculate on the distresses, which they fondly imagine the embargo will inflict on the people of Great Britain and her colonies, to excite discontent and insurrections sufficiently alarming to induce that government to abandon usages on which she relies to maintain her maritime ascendancy, and at this time, her independence as a nation. But why should it be supposed that the people of Great Britain will be less patient under suffering than the people of the United States?—Their woes arise from causes beyond their control.
* But Great Britain has admitted that the vessels of the United States might carry on an indirect trade from the European dominions of her enemies to their colonies, and from those colonies to their parent countries in Europe; and in both cases, the trade has been considered indirect when carried on through the United States: that is, when the cargoes laden on board American vessels, in the ports of the enemies of Great Britain, have been first imported into the United States, and carried thence in the same or other American vessels, to the enemy's countries, or colonies, respectively. But the facts which should constitute an indirect trade, not having been definitively declared; on the contrary, as they have been several times varied, either by the orders of the British government, or by the decision of her courts of admiralty—much vexation and injury have thence accrued to the commerce of the United States.
But the treaty negotiated by the president's ministers [Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney] and signed by them, with the British commissioners on the 31st of December, 1806, comprehended a definitive provision on this head. Such trade between the parent countries and colonies of the enemies of Great Britain, was to be considered indirect, when the articles of the growth, produce or manufacture of Europe were first carried to the United States; and on re-exportation, remained after the drawback, subject to a duty of one per cent. on their value. In like manner, all the articles of the growth and produce of the enemy's colonies, being first brought to the United States, and there entered and landed, and on re-exportation remaining subject to a duty of two per cent. on their value, might be re-laden and freely exported to any country in Europe. The duties in both cases, to be paid into the treasury of the United States.
This arrangement was calculated to prevent any further dispute between the United States and Great Britain, about the trade between the countries of her enemies in Europe and their colonies. But the president thought fit to reject this treaty, without laying it before the senate.
troul; ours from some cause or causes operating on our rulers, but which the people can neither see nor understand. Within four months after the embargo was imposed, the president himself, by proclamation, announced to us and to the world the existence of one insurrection, occasioned by the embargo; and the provisions made in the supplementary acts, to compel obedience at the point of the bayonet, shew how apprehensive the government were of discontent and resistance. The extraordinary provisions for the execution of a specific measure demonstrate that it was considered opposed to the general sense of the people; and in a free country, such a measure cannot long be carried into execution. The votes of the approbation of the embargo by public bodies, and other assemblies of citizens, so ostentatiously displayed, while they manifest the force of party, are, to say the least, but equivocal indications of the general sense of the people, or even of the individuals composing those assemblies. Those votes have always had fewer HEARTS than voices.
Mr. President, the gentleman from Maryland mentioned the extreme danger to which our commerce would be exposed, while the French decrees and British orders remain uncancelled. It has been said and perhaps oftener insinuated, in newspapers and pamphlets, that if our vessels were permitted to go to sea, all would be taken. What escaped the French, would be captured by the English; and what escaped the latter would fall a prey to the former. There is a want of truth in all this. The same gentleman quoted a statement, made by an eminent merchant of Massachusetts, [Mr. Gray of Salem] that of eight or ten vessels which sailed about the time the embargo was laid, one only had reached the place of her destination. I remember seeing a statement of that sort; and I think also that I saw a detection of its fallacy. If they had not reached their destined ports, it did not follow that they were captured and condemned.
The same merchant has expressed his decided opinion, that "notwithstanding the French decrees and British orders in council, if our embargo was off, we should have more trade then would be enjoyed by us, if, all the world were at peace, and the respective nations should monopolize as much of their own commerce as usual." Another eminent merchant [Mr. Thorndike, of Beverly] expressed at the same time the same opinion.
But without resting the question on opinions we may appeal to facts. I have sought informations of the risks which have attended our foreign trade within the present year, from the two principal districts of Massachusetts.
By the statement in my hand, lately received, and which is of unquestionable authority, I find, that at one insurance office in Boston, 43 policies have been written, on vessels engaged in foreign voyages, since the first of January, 1808. Of these,
 5 were undetermined.  1 vessel (the Neutrality) bound from Marseilles to Boston, captured and condemned at Gibraltar, for violating the blockade declared by the British orders in council.  37 arrived safely. In all 43. 
It is stated that there were three policies on the Neutrality; and that possibly there were more than one policy on one vessel among the 37 safe arrivals.
At another office in Boston, out of 75 risks, principally to the West Indies,
 3 vessels were captured by the French, of which the British recaptured 2.  1 captured by the British supposed to be French property.  16—about this number are undetermined, and the rest, about  25 have ended safely. In all 75. 
At another office in Boston, out of somewhat more than 100 risks,
 4 vessels were captured by the British, of which 2 were condemned for breach of orders in council; 1 probably enemy's property, and 1 remained under adjudication.  1 captured and condemned by the French; and  1 seized by them at Alicante, while they had the power there. 
25 risks were undetermined; and the remainder ended safely.
The premiums of insurance have been about eleven per cent. to and from the West Indies, for the whole voyage.
7 per cent. from the West Indies, with cargo on board.
9 to 10 per cent. from Europe, if not violating British orders.
4 to 5 per cent. from Europe, against French captures only.
By a statement received from Salem, on the correctness of which I can rely, I find that in the district of Salem and Beverly, 22 vessels sailed, by the president's permission, between the 5th of April and the 10th of August. Of these vessels, one sailed to Sumatra, one to Senegal, and the rest to the different ports in the West Indies. Of the whole number,
 1 returned leaky, and remained at home.  12 returned in safety; and  9 remained undetermined; but it was not known that any of them had been detained or condemned by any foreign power. In all 22. 
The insurance on the Sumatra voyage, out and home was 14 per cent.
Martinico, } The voyage out and home, Havanna, } 9 to 10 per cent. Surinam, }
The premium of insurance from Calcutta to the United States, the last summer and autumn, has been 3 per cent.
Thus, Mr. President, we see that the risk on our

foreign trade has been very little increased since the issuing of the French decree of Berlin, and the British orders in council.
The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Smith) asks what would have been the insurance on an American vessel bound to France? I am not informed. Perhaps 75 to 90 per cent. though it is not probable that our merchants would hazard their vessels on such a voyage, or that the underwriters would insure them. But what does this prove? Why, that the risk under the British orders, is so great, in attempting to enter a port in France, as perhaps to amount to an actual blockade.
I now beg leave, sir, to communicate the information I have recently received from the latter of the two merchants before referred to. Having requested of him the data on which his opinion before mentioned was founded, he has sent me an answer (dated the 23d inst.) from which I will read the material parts.
He says, "respecting the comparative trade of profound peace, and the present moment, if the embargo should be removed, and the decrees and orders of council remain, it is a subject about which it is difficult to go into that detail which will show satisfactorily an exact result; because, if you resort to the exports of a year in time of profound peace, and compare the aggregate with a year in war, the prices being so different, the difference in amount will not give the exact data we want. And to take the quantity of each article of export will not be satisfactory; because in different years we export more of the same article to the same market, and in proportion to the increased quantity raised, or the goodness or badness of the crop. But of the fact I have no doubt, that our trade would be much greater and more productive, if the embargo were removed, than it can be in time of peace: because, when the colonial trade of the European powers is confined as usual, we cannot carry any kind of provisions to the colonies of any of them, without being subject to a heavy duty, nearly equal to a prohibition. And we are not allowed to bring away any thing but rum and molasses; and of course we lose the whole of the colonial trade, so far as respects importing any articles with a view of exporting them again, except only from the Isle of France and Bourbon, which has generally been free. But we may be shut out there. The trade to the colonies is now free for all exports and imports with small duties. And if the largest and most natural European markets for the sale of colonial produce are occluded, still we have open to us, all that the British have, and we can now carry those articles to Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Coast of Barbary, Turkey, Sicily, Sardinia and Malta; the three last of which are ports at which the articles sell high, and are bought for the purpose of smuggling over to the continent, where they are sent in great quantities.
The following statement is then given, of the amount of our exports from the 30th September, 1806, to September 30, 1807, (taken from the report of the secretary of the treasury) to countries and places other than those in Europe, which are under the government or control, or in alliance with the French emperor; all which are considered as shut up by the British orders in council.
Domestic exports, (or articles of the growth, produce or manufacture of the United States,) $ 36,109,991 Foreign goods exported, 24,140,495
60,250,486
To this may be added Spanish dollars, exported to India and China, and which are not noticed in the report of the secretary of the treasury, and may be estimated at least at 6,000,000
Whole amount, $ 66,250,486 "This amount may be exported without being subject to the British orders in council: and the extra premiums against French captures, would not exceed the following rates, viz.
To Sweden, 2 per cent. Swedish and other West Indies, and the Spanish Main, 5 do. Cape of Good Hope, 4 do. England, Scotland, without the Channel, say Liverpool, Greenock, Ireland, &c. &c. 4 do. And within the Channel, 6 do. Guernsey, Jersey, &c. 5 do. Gibraltar, 3 do. Spanish ports in the Bay of Biscay, 6 do. Spanish ports on the Atlantic, 3 do. Spanish ports on the Mediterranean, 5 do. Madeira, the Canaries, Fayal and other Azores, 3 do. Portugal, 3 do. Cape de Verd, 3 do. Sicily, 5 do. Malta, 6 do. China, 4 do. Sumatra, 3 do. Spanish and Portuguese America, 3 do. Calcutta, and the Coast of Coromandel and Malabar, 5 do. Africa, 4 do. Arabia and Red Sea, including Mocha and Muscat, 4 do. Manila, 4 do. North West Coast of America, 2 do. Halifax and Newfoundland, 1 do.
"In time of profound peace, our trade might be fairly estimated thus:
Domestic Exports. 48,699,592 To which may be added specie to China and India, 6,000,000
$ 54,699,592
Foreign Exports. Nothing. In time of peace these must be so very inconsiderable as to be unimportant in this statement.
This is supposing the same domestic articles as were exported in 1806, and allowing them to be at the same prices: so that the comparison stands thus:
Our exports, if the embargo were removed, $ 66,250,486 Free from any embarrassment from the British orders in council.
If peace were to take place, and the European nations assume their trade as usual; and the prices of our domestic articles remain as the average prices in 1806, (which they would not) we should export, 54,699,592
Leaving, $ 11,550,894 less export trade in time of peace than we might now enjoy; and which amount is to be twice water borne, once in importing it from the places of growth, and again in carrying it to the consumers: and of
* Mr. Thorndike.
course would employ shipping appertaining to the carriage of one freight, equal in amount to more than twenty-three millions, one hundred thousand dollars.
"As an evidence of the correctness of the statement, it will be seen by a reference to the statement of the secretary of the treasury for the year 1806, that the exports had fallen in that short space, from 93,020,513 to 55,800,633 dollars.
"It is to be observed, that we might now enjoy a trade to South America and the Spanish Main, which might be estimated, at least, from four to five millions of dollars, a considerable part of which would be again exported to Spain and Portugal, and which has never made any part of the secretary's report; because the trade to those countries has been prohibited until lately. It may also be remembered, that the export trade does not show the whole advantage of the colonial trade which we might now enjoy; because all we import for our own consumption ought to be added."
[Here Mr. Lloyd stated, that in his opinion the value of the trade which might now be prosecuted from the United States, considering the present circumstances of the great nations of Europe, would be as extensive as could be carried on after a general peace, and the adoption by the European powers, of their restrictive colonial systems.]
On this clear and interesting view of the commerce which the United States might carry on, were the embargo out of the way, no comments are necessary. The observations of the writer of the letter are evidences of his being master of the subject.
Mr. President, the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Giles) has been pleased to attribute the contents in New-England, especially in Massachusetts, relative to the embargo, solely to the arts of demagogues, who wished to get into office.
The gentleman from Connecticut noticed this reproach: but as it appeared to be levelled chiefly at leading citizens in Massachusetts, I feel it to be my duty further to remark, that of all the citizens of the United States, none stand more aloof from, none more detest the character of demagogues, than those to whom the gentleman referred. I know those men who reprobate the embargo, and who, in conversation and in newspapers, express their sentiments about it, or patronize those who do. They are not seeking for offices; many of them could not be persuaded to accept the best office in a president's gift; but to save their country from the effect of measures, in their view, alike ruinous and disgraceful. They are men, sir, whose age, whose experience, whose knowledge, whose wisdom, whose virtues, place them in the first rank of citizens. They are men, sir, ten of whom, had they been in Sodom, would have saved that city from destruction. Among them was the immortal Ames, from whom a purer spirit never left the earth. He wrote while he had strength to hold a pen. He died on the anniversary morning of the nation's birth day—and this was among the last of his prayers—O! Save my country!
Gentlemen have said much about insurrection; and, in language not very conciliatory, pointed all their allusions to the people of New-England. Other rulers pronounced them rebels more than 30 years ago; while many then unborn, now wish to cover themselves with their mantle, and to share the honours of the patriots of seventeen hundred and seventy-six.
But why should gentlemen be surprised that great discontent prevail in that country; and that the legislators, with a deliberation and solemnity which should command attention, have pronounced their opinions of the embargo. Gentlemen will recollect that there the revolution began, of which Boston was the cradle. And if they will turn to the declaration of independence, they will find one of the reasons for the colonies separating themselves from Great Britain, and renouncing the government of the king, was their enacting laws "For cutting off our trade with all parts of the World."
Mr. President, in a public document on our tables, we are told, that "after a period of twenty-five years, hardly interrupted by transient hostilities, and of prosperity unparalleled in the history of nations, the United States are for the first time, since the treaty which terminated the revolutionary war, placed in a situation equally difficult, critical and dangerous."
That our country has enjoyed such unexampled prosperity, I readily agree; but the present is not the first time that these states have been placed in a difficult, critical, and dangerous situation.
The gentleman from Connecticut yesterday noticed the most difficult crisis. In 1793, it required all the firmness and immense popularity of president Washington to stem the torrent of popular delusion, that was hurrying the United States into the vortex of the French revolution.
In 1794, the same steadiness the same undeviating pursuit of the publick welfare, in spite of publick clamour and formal opposition, were necessary to institute a mission to Great Britain, to negotiate and settle with that government questions of the highest moment to these states, and which, if they remained much longer unsettled, might endanger the peace of the nation. The negotiation, committed to the conduct of a statesman, than whom our country has produced not one more firm, more wise or more upright, was, by his candour, ability and decision, brought to a happy conclusion, in fewer months than some more modern negotiators have occupied years, without being brought to any conclusion; unless their utter failure may be called a conclusion.
In 1795, the United States were agitated to their centre, by the opposition to the British treaty. Artful and aspiring demagogues seized upon the known prejudices of the people in regard to the two great contending nations! and exerting all their faculties to keep up the popular delusion, hoped that, by the loud and extended clamour, the president would be deterred from ratifying the treaty which Mr. Jay had so happily concluded. Here again were displayed the firmness and patriotism of Washington. Always determined to pursue the true interests of the people, although at the hazard of his own popularity, he ratified the treaty. Here, it was presumed, all opposition would cease. But it again appeared, and with a more formidable aspect, in the national legislature. But I will not dwell upon it. The treaty was finally carried into execution. It had, however, one more enemy to encounter.
Revolutionary France, wishing to involve us in a war with Great Britain, which this treaty (merely of amity and commerce) had prevented, pretended that it was equivalent to a treaty of alliance with
G. Britain. And seizing upon this pretence, at once to vent her resentment, and gratify the rapacity of her rulers with the plunder of our citizens, she let loose her cruizers upon our commerce.
We urged the obligations of treaties, violated by these captures. She answered, that she found only a real disadvantage in those obligations! and continued her depredations.—Repeated missions of respectable ministers to Paris endeavoured to propitiate her rulers, and prevail on her to put a stop to such enormities. Then it was that our government authorized an armed commerce, and equipped a small but gallant navy for its protection; and made other defensive preparations, such as have been stated by the gentleman from Connecticut.
If, sir, our country is now placed in a situation more "difficult, critical, and dangerous" than at any of the periods to which I have adverted, (tho' I am very far from adopting that opinion) where shall we look for the cause? If in 1794, when England had powerful associates in her with France, and the latter had been comparatively but little extended beyond her natural limits, the United States with perhaps two-thirds of her present population, and less than half her present revenue, were able to induce England to accede to her just demands, and to close all differences by an advantageous treaty; how has it happened that the present administration, with all the accession of power from an increased population, and a more than doubled revenue; when, too, gigantic France wielded the force and the resources of continental Europe; and England, single-handed, was left to meet a world in arms; how has it happened, that with these superior advantages and more powerful means, all the negotiations of the present administration with England, (one excepted, of local rather than general application, and which I need not explain) have failed? Had they been conducted with equal candour, ability, and dignity, must they not have produced as early, and at least as advantageous results? Was this a cause of their failure, that points of questionable right, because not settled by the universally acknowledged law of nations, and therefore of doubtful or hopeless attainment, were pertinaciously insisted on.
Mr. President—to find a remedy for evils, as well in the body politic, as in the body natural, it is necessary to investigate their causes.
Nearly eight years have elapsed since we were told, by the highest authority in the nation, that under the auspices of the federal government, the United States were then "in the full tide of successful experiment." And the report on our tables, to which I have before alluded, declares, in grave and solemn language, that during a period of five and twenty years, which brings us down to the embargo, the United States have enjoyed a "prosperity unexampled in the history of nations." Yet during the whole of this period of unequalled prosperity, arising from the active pursuits of commerce and agriculture, each giving life and vigour to the other, that commerce has been exposed to the aggressions of the belligerent nations. For those of Great-Britain up to near the close of 1794, compensation was made, pursuant to the provisions of Mr. Jay's treaty. For the like aggressions by Spain, the like indemnity was given by virtue of the treaty with that power, concluded in October, 1795. For French spoliations during the whole period of her revolutionary war, (spoliations which have been estimated at twenty millions of dollars) we have received nothing! Nor have we obtained any reimbursement from Spain for the spoliations committed by her cruizers, after she became the ally of France.
Captures and condemnations, however more or less extended, have never ceased: notwithstanding all which, and the continued impressment of seamen from our merchant vessels, the same unexampled prosperity has attended us; until suddenly, and to the astonishment of the nation, this flowing tide of successful commerce and agriculture was stopped by that fatal measure, the embargo. The shock was aggravated by the concealment of its real cause. Sir, I hazard nothing in asserting, that to this day that cause has not been satisfactorily declared. Allow me time to justify this assertion. I will bring together facts and circumstances, and then gentlemen will judge whether my conclusion be erroneous or just.
On the 14th of December, 1807, the dispatches brought by the Revenge from our minister in Paris, were delivered to the secretary of state. On her arrival at New-York, reports brought by her stated, that the French emperor had declared that there should be no neutrals. The sources of information, and the character of the emperor, rendered those reports worthy of credit; and though afterwards publicly and stoutly denied, they were believed;—and no gentlemen here will now be inclined to doubt the fact. These reports, and the mystery which surrounded the recommended embargo, naturally excited suspicions and alarms.
Of the French papers supposed to be brought by the Revenge, none were communicated to congress, save a letter dated September 24, 1807, from gen. Armstrong to M. Champagny, and his answer of the 7th of October, relative to the Berlin decree, and a letter from Regnier, minister of justice, to Champagny, giving the emperor's interpretation of that decree. These three papers, with a newspaper copy of a proclamation of the king of Great Britain, issued in the same October, were all the papers communicated by the president to congress, as the grounds on which he recommended the embargo. These papers, he said, "shewed the great and increasing dangers with which our vessels, our seamen and merchandise were threatened on the high seas and elsewhere, from the belligerent powers of Europe."
As to the proclamation of the king of Great-Britain, requiring the return of his subjects, and particularly the seamen, from foreign countries, it was no more than every government has a right to issue, and commonly does issue, in time of war.—This proclamation contained no evidence of increasing danger to "our seamen;" on the contrary, if I mistake not (for I have not the proclamation by me) there was a solemn, publick injunction to his naval officers to conduct impressments with increased caution and care. So that impressments would probably rather be diminished than increased.
Let us now examine the three other papers, all of which, as I have noticed, and as gentlemen remember, related to the decree of November 21, 1806. This decree was issued at Berlin, by the French emperor, at the moment when, inflated with more than ordinary arrogance and pride, he was sitting in that capital of the Prussian monarchy, just then subverted by his arms.
The first article declared all the British Isles in a state of blockade. This, according to its terms, subjected to capture and condemnation all neutral vessels bound to and from British ports: but it seems to have been held in a state of suspense.—But another article declaring, "all merchandise belonging to England, or coming from its manufactures and colonies (although belonging to neutrals) to be lawful prize," was to be carried into execution. Such was the decision of the emperor as stated by his minister of justice on the 18th of September, 1807, in his letter to Champagny, and asked whether it was the emperor's intention to infract the obligation of the treaty subsisting between the United States and the French emperor." Mr. Champagny in his answer of the 7th of Oct. inclosing the letter of the minister of justice, with wonderful assurance, tells general Armstrong, that it was easy to reconcile the execution of the decree with the observance of treaties! although nothing was more obvious, (as Mr. Madison on the 8th of February last, wrote to general Armstrong) than that it violated as well the positive stipulations of our treaty with France, as the incontestable principles of public law.
In the European ports, under the emperor's control, and even in neutral ports, the decree was rigorously executed. And although it is said that there was no formal decision in the French council of prizes, condemning American property, under the decree, till the 16th of October, 1807; yet Mr. Madison states, as early as the 23d of May, 1807, [in his letter of that date to general Armstrong] that "there were proofs the French West India privateers had, under colour of the edict [the Berlin decree] committed depredations" on our commerce. And moreover, that Spain "avowedly pursuing the example and the views of the French emperor," had issued a similar decree, and even in broader terms, which, "if not speedily recalled or corrected, would doubtless extend the scene of spoliations, already begun in that quarter."
Now let us see the amount of "the great and increasing dangers which threatened our vessels, our seamen and merchandise."
In the letter of February 8, 1808, from Mr. Madison to gen. Armstrong speaking of the Berlin decree, and the emperor's decision thereon, Mr. Madison says, "[The conduct of the French government, in giving this extended operation to her decree, and indeed in issuing one with such an apparent or doubtful import, against the rights of the sea, is the more extraordinary, inasmuch as the inability to enforce it on that element, exhibited the measure in the light of an "empty menace!" And in his letter of the 25th of March, 1808, to Mr. Erskine, Mr. Madison, speaking of the same decree, says, that France was without the means to carry it into effect against the rights and obligations of a neutral nation."
Thus then we see the president's "great and increasing dangers with which our vessels our seamen and merchandise were threatened on the high seas and elsewhere," from the French decree and its extended operation, rested on what he, through his secretary, Mr. Madison, has since pronounced an "empty menace," a project "which France had not the means to carry into effect!"
Shall I be told, Mr. president, of the British orders of council? and that they were comprehended in the president's view of the great and increasing dangers to which our commerce was exposed? If that were the fact, was it not his duty to give such information of them as he possessed, to the senate? He gave none. I know that those orders were afterwards pressed into this service to justify the measure: and still later it has been confidently said "that those orders stood in front of the real causes of the embargo;" and yet they were invisible to the senate. What! the great the operative cause of the embargo, "before which all other motives sunk into insignificance," not seen, not known to the senate? not glanced at by the president in his message, nor intimated to any of the members who were honoured with his confidence, and by them to the senate?
But from reasoning I will recur to written proofs, furnished by the president himself, and now on our tables.
In Mr. Madison's letter to Mr. Pinkney, the president's minister in London, dated December 23d, 1807, the next day after the act laying an embargo was passed, and this after it had undergone three days of earnest opposition in the house of representatives—during which it behoved the father of the measure, and his friends, to furnish every possible argument to silence opposition, and to satisfy the nation of its expediency and necessity—after all this, Mr. Madison, in that letter, tells Mr. Pinkney, that "the policy and the causes of the measure, are explained in the message itself." The contents of the message comprehending the papers it referred to I have already stated: and the statement demonstrates, that they were not the causes or motives of the embargo; for an "empty menace," a decree without the means of carrying it into effect, could be no cause, no motive, for a measure, whose avowed object was "to save our vessels, our seamen, and merchandise from great and increasing dangers."
Sir, let all the documents laid on your tables by the president be examined, and you will not find one in which he hazards the assertion, that the British orders of November 11th, were known to him at the time he recommended the embargo, or that an expectation of them determined his recommendation. It was not until the 2d of February, when they had been officially communicated by the British minister, that he offered them to Congress as a farther proof of the increasing dangers to our navigation and commerce, which led to the provident measure of the act laying an embargo." And Mr. Madison, in his letter to Mr. Pinkney, of February 19, 1808, cautiously avoids describing the origin of the embargo to the British orders; tho' he says, the probability of such decrees was among the considerations which "enforced" the measure: the language of the British gazettes, with other indications, having (he said) left little doubt that such orders were "meditated." And he adds, that "the appearance of these decrees (meaning the British orders) had much effect in reconciling all descriptions among us to the embargo."
But I must notice the change of language in Mr. Madison's last letter. In that of December 23d, to Mr. Pinkney, he says, "the policy and the causes of the embargo are explained in the president's message." But in his letter of February the 19th, he says, "my last (that of December 23d) included a copy of the act of the embargo, and explained the

policy of the measure," leaving out "causes," and introducing the unknown British orders as among the considerations which enforced it.
The president, too, in his answer to the Boston petition for suspending the embargo, says not that the British orders were known to exist at the time when the embargo was laid; but only that they were in existence at the date of the law; from which the unwary reader might suppose that they were known to exist at the date.
From all these considerations, it appears to be demonstrated, that the British orders in council of November 11th, 1807, were not known, and newspaper rumours concerning them never entered into the views of the president and congress, as a motive for laying an embargo. And here the well known maxim applies, de non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem ratio . Although the British orders were in existence, yet as they were not known to exist, they were as to the embargo, non entities.
The conclusions resulting from the facts and circumstances which I have collected and compared, are serious and alarming. They demonstrate that the representation in the president's message recommending the embargo, was delusive, calculated to lead congress into the belief that the situation of the United States in relation to France and England, was extremely perilous, requiring the instant adoption of the measure recommended. And as congress did adopt it, enacting the law recommended, it must be presumed that they believed an embargo was necessary to preserve our vessels, our seamen and merchandise, from great and increasing dangers, with which the message stated that they were threatened.
It also follows, as no subsequent disclosure has been made of the other dangers known at the time the message was communicated, that the real cause or motive for the embargo has been, and yet is, veiled from the eye of congress and the nation.
M. Champagny's letter of Oct. 7, (one of the papers communicated with the president's message) requires examination. But I should first remark, that during the years 1806, and 1807, in order to reduce England, by destroying her commerce , the French emperor, in execution of, and in the spirit of his Berlin decree, ordered all English merchandise to be seized and confiscated, in every place on the European continent, enemy or neutral, occupied or which should be occupied by the French armies. For this purpose, and as one instance among many, his troops took possession of the city of Hamburg (a city with which American merchants carried on a large and valuable commerce, and which as neutral was entitled to the same exemption from hostile violence as the territory of the United States) and by the emperor's orders, Bourrienne, his accredited minister to that free city, addressed a note to its senate, in which, having stated that every person who traded on the continent in English merchandise, seconded the views of England, and ought to be considered as her accomplice; and that a great portion of the inhabitants of Hamburg were in that predicament, and notoriously attached to England; the emperor caused possession to be taken of their city, and his Berlin decree to be carried into rigorous execution. Accordingly, that minister, in obedience to the emperor's orders, among other outrages, declared, "All English merchandise that may be found in the city, in the harbour, or on the territory of Hamburg, no matter to whom they belong , shall be confiscated." This was done as early as the 24th of Nov. 1806, only three days after the Berlin decree was issued.
With equal atrocity the emperor caused to be seized and sequestered the vessels and cargoes of neutrals which were brought into or voluntarily resorted to the ports of France for purposes of lawful trade. And we know from a source which will not be questioned, that their liberation was hopeless, because they were worth eighteen or twenty millions of dollars.
Of the vast property thus plundered, a large portion belongs to citizens of the United States. On the 15th January last, the emperor's minister Champagny, wrote to our minister gen. Armstrong, that their property would remain sequestered until a decision should be had thereon; and this decision depended on our associating or refusing to associate ourselves with him and his allied states in their war with Great Britain. Indeed the emperor was willing to save us the trouble of considering and deciding for ourselves; he declared war for us. "War exists then in fact between England and the United States," are the words of Champagny, in the letter just mentioned! What measures ought to be kept with such a power? While we are yet independent, he undertakes to prescribe the line of conduct we shall observe, on pain of confiscation of all the property of our innocent and unsuspecting merchants within his grasp! And this monstrous outrage upon our honour and independence, the secretary of state, with very exemplary meekness, says, "had the air, at least, of an assumed authority!"
Where his armies did not thus penetrate and plunder, the French emperor sent to the several powers on the continent, whether emperors, kings, or petty states, requiring (or which from him was equivalent to a command, inviting ) them to shut their ports against the commerce of England: and, Sweden, excepted (between whom and the French armies lay a narrow sea guarded by Swedish and British ships) all obeyed. Even the emperor of Austria, though at peace with England, shut against her his two or three little ports at the head of the Adriatic sea.
The prince regent of Portugal, whose country for more than a century had lived in friendship with England, was the last to obey. But though he shut his ports, national faith and gratitude towards his friends, forbade his arresting Englishmen and English merchandise. By shutting his ports, he hoped to appease the emperor, and save his kingdom. But his fate had been determined: although Portugal had for many years been paying a heavy tribute to France, and been moreover, anxious to observe the duties of a neutral nation. To save himself and family from disgrace and bondage, the prince quitted his kingdom; finding an asylum in his American dominions.
Thus we have seen the French emperor not only shutting his own ports and those of his allies, but even those of neutral states, against British commerce; and seizing and confiscating the merchandise proceeding from England and her colonies, although belonging to neutrals, and on neutral territories; and that this unexampled scene of devastation commenced within four days after the Berlin decree was issued.
It was after she had witnessed all the atrocities,
and seen the deadly weapon aimed at her vitals, that England issued her retaliating orders of November 11th, 1807.
I now recur to Mr. Champagny's letter of October 7, to general Armstrong, in answer to his inquiry, "whether (in executing the Berlin decree) it was his majesty's intention to infract the obligations of the treaty now subsisting between the United States and the French empire?" The answer to which has been already recited.
Allow me to repeat, that this letter of Champagny was one of the four papers communicated by the president with his message recommending the embargo, and one of the two which, after being read, was not then suffered to remain on the files of the senate, but was returned to the president, together with general Armstrong's letter to which it was an answer, agreeably to his request. Subsequent events drew it from the cabinet. Gentlemen will also recollect, that the concluding paragraph of the president's message, in which he desired a return of those two letters, was ordered by the senate to be omitted; so that no evidence of the existence of those letters could appear on the senate's journal, or in the printed copy. In this letter of Champagny, the views of the French Emperor were but two clearly indicated. To render his decree of blockade "more effectual" (that is in destroying the commerce of England) "its execution must be complete." But as it could not be complete while the vessels of the United States (then with those of England carrying on, almost exclusively, the commerce of the world) continued their extensive trade with England; we were, in language sufficiently intelligible, invited to fall into the imperial ranks, with the maritime powers of Europe, whom the French Emperor had marshalled against England, and "to unite in support of the same cause;" that is, to destroy the commerce of England. But the people of the United States would have been shocked at an open proposition to shut their ports against the English commerce, at the command, or invitation of the French emperor; they would not have endured it. The measure could be accomplished only by an embargo, and that wrapped up in the mystery which I have endeavoured to unfold.
This letter of Champagny must have arrived in the Revengy; and gen. Armstrong's dispatches by her, reached Washington, as Mr. Madison informs us, on the 14th of December; and on the 18th the embargo was proposed and recommended! Four days gave little enough time to digest and mature such a plan!
These, sir, are my views of the origin of the embargo; the result of a careful, and I trust, an impartial investigation. The material facts are on the record. Of my reasoning and conclusions gentlemen will judge. If these be correct, the course to be pursued must be obvious. The nation's honour is compatible with the repeal of the embargo. The welfare of our country is not to be sacrificed to the views or feelings of those who have brought it into its present situation.
Let then, the resolution before us be adopted, and the embargo removed. As the British orders in council were not the cause of the embargo, the honour of the United States is not pledged for their previous repeal.
IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
DECEMBER 8. Mr. GILES from the committee appointed November 11th last, on that part of the message of the president of the United States as relates to the embargo laws, reported (in part) the following bill, which was read and ordered to pass to the second reading.
(On the 18th, this bill having been read a second time and ordered to be engrossed, was recommitted.) BILL, making further provision for enforcing the Embargo.
BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That during the continuance of the act, entitled "An act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States," no ship, vessel, or boat, of any description whatever, other than those which having been uniformly employed in the navigation only of bays, sounds, rivers, and lakes, within the jurisdiction of the United States, may be excepted in the manner hereinafter provided for, shall be permitted to take on board any specie or goods, wares or merchandise, either of domestic or foreign growth, produce, or manufacture, unless a permit particularly stating the articles thus to be laden, shall have been previously obtained from the collector of the district in which such ship, vessel, or boat may then be, or from a revenue officer specially authorized by the collector to grant such permits; nor unless the latter shall be made under the inspection of the proper revenue officers, nor unless the owner or owners, consignee, or factor of such ship, vessel or boat shall, with the master, have given bond with one or more sureties to the United States, in a sum six times the value of the vessel and cargo, that the vessel shall not have the port without a clearance, nor shall, when leaving the port, proceed to a foreign port or place, nor shall put any article on board of any other vessel; and that the whole cargo shall be re-laden either in the port where the vessel may then be, or in such other port of the United States as shall be designated in the clearance. And it shall be lawful for the collectors of the customs to refuse permission to put any cargo on board any such ship, vessel, or boat, whenever in their opinion there be an intention to violate the embargo, or whenever they shall have received instructions to that effect by direction of the president of the United States.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the owner or owners, consignee or factor of any ship, vessel, or boat as described in the preceding section, which may, at the time when notice of this act shall be received at the several custom-houses respectively, be laden in whole or in part, shall, on notice given by the collector, either discharge such cargo, or give bond for the sum, in the manner, and on the conditions mentioned in the preceding section; and if the cargo shall not be discharged within ten days, or the bond given within forty-eight hours after such notice, the ship, vessel, or boat and cargo shall be wholly forfeited: But the collectors are hereby authorized to order, or to cause the cargoes of such vessels to be discharged for the same causes as they may refuse permission to put any cargo on board of vessels not yet laden in whole or in part. And they are likewise authorized in the meanwhile, and until the cargoes shall have been discharged, or bonds given, as the case may be, to take possession of such vessels, and to take such other measures as may be necessary to prevent their departure.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the collectors of the customs be, and they are hereby authorised to grant, under such general instructions as the president of the United States may give to that effect, a general permission to ships, vessels, or boats, whose employment has uniformly been confined to the navigation of bays, sounds, rivers, or lakes, within the jurisdiction of the United States, when it can be done without danger of the embargo being violated, to take on board at any time during the continuance of the acts laying an embargo, such articles of domestic or foreign growth as may be designated in such general permission or permissions, bond with one or more sureties being previously given to the United States by the owner, owners, consignee or factors of such ship, vessel or boat, and by the master thereof in an amount equal to three hundred dollars for each ton of the said vessel, that such vessel shall not during the time limited in the condition of the bond, depart from any district of the United States without having previously obtained a clearance, nor until the master or commander shall have delivered to the collector or surveyor of the port of departure a manifest of the whole cargo on board, that the said vessel shall not during the time above mentioned, proceed to any other port than that mentioned in her clearance, or put any article on board of any other vessel,
or be employed in any foreign trade; and that on every voyage or trip the whole of the cargo shall be landed in a port of the United States within the bay, sound, river or lake to which the navigation of such vessel is confined.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That if any ship, vessel or boat, not having received a general permission and given a general bond in the manner provided for in the next preceding section, shall, during the continuance of the act, entitled, "An act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States," take on board any specie, or any goods, wares or merchandise, either of foreign or domestic growth, produce or manufacture, contrary to the provisions of the first section of this act, such ship, vessel or boat, together with the specie and goods, wares and merchandise, shall be wholly forfeited; and the owner or owners, agent, freighter or factors of such ship, vessel or boat shall for every such offence moreover pay a sum equal to double the value of the ship, vessel or boat and cargo; and the master or commander of such ship, vessel or boat, as well as all other persons who shall knowingly be concerned in such prohibited acting, shall each respectively forfeit and pay for every such offence a sum not exceeding twenty thousand nor less than one thousand dollars.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the person or persons whose names do or may appear as owner or owners of any ship or vessel either on the certificate of registry, enrolment, or license of any such ship or vessel, or if neither registered or licensed, on the last clearance or custom house document issued before the passing of this act for any such ship or vessel, shall be reputed as the true owner or owners of such ship or vessel and be liable to the payment of all penalties which may be incurred by the owner or owners of such ship or vessel, by reason any violation of any of the provisions of this act, or of the act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States, or of any of the acts supplementary thereto, by such ship or vessel: Provided always , That nothing in this section contained shall be construed to release any other person or persons from the payment of any penalty incurred by virtue of any of the acts aforesaid. And in case of any new register or license being granted during the continuance of the said acts, or in case of the sale of any ship or vessel neither registered or licensed, a bond with one or more sureties to the United States may, previous to the granting any such new register or license, or to recognizing the sale of such vessel not registered or licensed, be required by the collector, in an amount equal to three hundred dollars for each ton of such ship or vessel, that such ship or vessel shall not during the continuance of the act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States, contravene or infringe any of the provisions of the said acts: Provided always , That such bond shall not release the owners and master of such ship, or vessel, or any other person from the obligation of giving every other bond required by this act or any of the acts aforesaid.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That in all cases where either under this act or under the act laying an embargo on all ships or vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States, or under any of the acts supplementary thereto, a bond has been or shall be given to the United States with condition that certain goods, wares, and merchandise, or the cargo of a vessel shall be re-laden in some port of the United States, the party or parties to such bond, shall within two months after the date of the same, (unless in the case of a voyage from New Orleans to an Atlantic port or from an Atlantic port to New Orleans, in either of which cases four months shall as heretofore be allowed) produce to the collector of the port from which the vessel had been cleared with such goods, wares, merchandise, or cargo, a certificate of the re-laden of the same from the collector of the proper port; on failure whereof, the bond shall be put in suit; and in every such suit, as well as in every suit instituted on a bond given for a voyage from or to New Orleans, judgment shall be given against the defendant or defendants, unless proof shall be given of such re-laden, or of loss of the vessel at sea. But neither capture, distress, or any other accident whatever shall be given in plea or admitted as evidence in any such suit: Provided however , That nothing herein contained shall be construed to impair or alter the power vested by law in the secretary of the treasury to remit or mitigate any fine, penalty, or forfeiture incurred by virtue of this or any other act respecting the embargo. And in every suit instituted on a bond given as aforesaid, the defendant shall pay all costs, if they shall not within the limited time have produced the certificate of re-laden, to the collector of the proper port.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That during the continuance of the act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States, no registered or sealer vessel, although in ballast, shall receive a clearance, or be permitted to depart from any port of the United States, unless the same bond shall have been previously given which is required from vessels licensed for the coasting trade, before they are allowed to depart. And if any such ship or vessel shall depart without having given bond as aforesaid, the said ship or vessel shall be forfeited; and the owner, owners, agent, consignee, factor and master of such ship or vessel, as well as any other person concerned in such prohibited departure, shall be liable to the same penalties imposed by law in the case of vessels licensed for the coasting trade departing without having given bond, or without clearance.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That if during the continuance of an act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbours of the United States, any specie shall be transported by land out of the United States or territories thereof, the same shall be forfeited; and the owner or owners thereof shall moreover forfeit and pay double the value thereof, and every person knowingly concerned in such prohibited transportation, shall each respectively pay and forfeit for every such offence, a sum not exceeding the amount thus illegally transported.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the collectors of all the districts of the United States shall, and they are hereby authorized to take into their custody any articles of domestic growth, produce, or manufacture, deposited in unusual places, or in unusual quantities, or in places whence there is reason to believe that they are intended for exportation, or when in vessels, waggons, sleighs, or carriages, or in any manner apparently on their way towards the territories of a foreign nation, or the vicinity thereof, or towards a place whence such articles are intended to be exported; and not to permit such articles to be removed until bond with sufficient sureties shall have been given for the landing or delivery of the same in some place of the United States, whence in the opinion of the collector there shall not be any danger of such articles being exported.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That the powers given to the collectors, either by this or any other act respecting the embargo, to detain any vessel, or to take into custody any articles for the purpose of preventing violations of the embargo, shall be exercised in conformity with such instructions as the president may give, and such general rules as he may prescribe for that purpose; which instructions and general rules the collectors will be bound to obey: nor shall they be liable to any action, suit, or judgment on account of any detention of vessel, or for having taken articles into their custody in conformity with such instructions and general rules.
Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the president of the United States, or such other person as he shall have empowered for that purpose, to employ such part of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia thereof, as may be judged necessary for the purpose, in conformity with the provisions of this and other acts respecting the embargo, or preventing the illegal departure of any ship or vessel, or of detaining, taking possession of, and keeping in custody any ship or vessel, or of taking into custody or guarding any articles of domestic growth, produce, or manufacture, and also for the purpose of preventing and suppressing any armed or riotous assemblage of persons resisting the custom-house officers in the exercise of their duties, or in any manner opposing the execution of the laws laying an embargo, or otherwise violating or assisting and abetting violations of the same.
Sec. 12. And be it further enacted, That all penalties and forfeitures incurred by force of this act, shall be sued for, recovered, distributed, and accounted for in the manner prescribed by the act, entitled "An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage," passed the 2d day of March, 1799, and may be mitigated or remitted in the man-
ner prescribed by the act, entitled "An act to provide for mitigating or remitting forfeitures, penalties, and disabilities accruing in certain cases therein mentioned," passed the third day of March, 1797, and made perpetual by an act passed the 11th of February, 1800.
THE PUBLICK LEDGER.
WEDNESDAY EVENING, DEC. 21, 1808.
The Reverend Mr. BRACKEN will perform Divine Service in Christ Church on Christmas Day.
The electors of the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New-Hampshire, have voted for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as President, and Rufus King as Vice-President, giving 20 votes for each.
We give this day the speech of Mr. Pickering, the friend and co-patriot of Washington. Its great length has compelled us to omit many articles of interest.
Mr. GILES' bill, is this day given, if it passes into a law, of which we have no doubt, we shall look to an order of things, which we shall not name. We have not room for the amendment of, or rather substitute for, this bill, proposed by Mr. Brady.
It is fully established by advices from England, that the British government has taken off the export duty, or tribute , as our October parrots call it, from articles of the growth, produce or manufacture of countries and colonies in amity, carried to England in British or friendly vessels. The day before yesterday we published an extract from the Courier of the 15th, a ministerial paper, containing the assurances of the ministry to that effect; and also, that it should operate retrospectively. The next arrival will doubtless give us this modification of the orders in council, in an official form.
When the pretext of tribute fails, what other spirit of deception will be called up to exasperate, it is impossible to conjecture. North American.
NEW YORK, Dec. 14. Yesterday morning arrived within the Hook, the ship Favourite , Pierce, from Cadiz, which port she left the 11th of October. The passengers came up from the ship in a pilot-boat. One of them is the bearer of dispatches from our consul, Mr. Erving, to the Secretary of State.
We learn by the passengers, that the American vessels detained under the Berlin decree, at Algiers, had not been released. They further inform us, that the patriots of Spain were confident in the belief that they should eventually succeed in expelling from their territories the disturbers of Europe.
The harbour of Cadiz was full of British merchantmen, laden with rich cargoes, which would not bring more than first cost.
The French fleet remained in Cadiz, with the exception of one 74, which had been despatched to Lima by the Spanish government.
AUCTION. Will be Sold, TO-MORROW at 11 o'clock, at the County Wharf, for Cash, 34 Kgs RAISINS. James Taylor, Jun. Dec 21
VALUABLE PROPERTY.
Will positively be Sold, by virtue of three deeds in trust executed by Robert Gibson and David Patterson, deceased, to secure a sum of money to Robert B. Taylor, transferred to D. R. Waddey, and by him transferred to Beverly Bayton:
WILL BE SOLD, for cash, on TUESDAY the 27th instant, at the Exchange Coffee House, at 11 o'clock, That fine large fire proof WAREHOUSE in Wide Water Street, lately occupied by said R. Gibson The HOUSE & LOT, in Duke-Street, at present in the occupancy of R. Gibson—And that large WOOD DWELLING HOUSE on Town-Point, Main-Street, lately occupied by R. B. Taylor and at present in the occupancy of D. R. Waddey. James Taylor, Jr. Theo: Armistead, Trustees. Dec. 16.
FOR SALE.
By virtue of four separate deeds in trust from Bart Yates, to satisfy sundry claims, will be sold at Gloucester Courthouse, on Saturday the 24th instant, for ready money,
Four likely young NEGRO MEN, two of them are very excellent Blacksmiths, the third a Carpenter, and the fourth accustomed to different sorts of labour—These negroes are under most excellent characters. William Jones, Ex'r. of John Callett, dec'd. Dec 21
TURKS ISLAND SALT.
3000 bushels Turks Island Salt now on board the brig Alert , captain Hatchard, from Turks Island, for sale by William Pennock. Dec. 21.
FOR SALE. On board the sloop Merit , at Campbell's Wharf, Stone Lime, and first quality English Hay, brought under deck.—The said SLOOP will take freight for any port in the Chesapeake.—Apply to the master on board. Dec 21 3*
The CARGO of the British Brig Meanwell, from St. Kitts—Consisting of Prime SUGAR and MOLASSES, For Sale, by C. & F. Whittle. Dec. 5.
The CARGO of the British Schooner Commerce , captain Collins, consisting of COFFEE and SUGAR. For Sale by C. & F. Whittle. Dec. 5.
NOTES.
According to the form lately ordered by the DIRECTORS of the VIRGINIA BANK, for Sale at the Ledger Office. Nov. 28.

BRIG MOSES MYERS.
NOTICE. —All those who had an interest in the American Brig Moses Myers , James Maitland , Master, or her cargo, captured by the French in the year 1800, on a voyage from Madeira to Norfolk, and re-captured by the British privateer Rover , and carried into Halifax, Nova Scotia, by applying to the subscriber, will receive their proportion of the funds collected from the receivers, by the agents of the claimants, according to a decree of the high court of appeals in Great-Britain.
Robert Maitland. November 4. km
FOR SALE, The armed and fast sailing Schooner TRIMMER, of 121 tons burthen, now lying between Marsden's and Commerce Street Wharves. She has some entirely new sails, and will be ready for sea in three days. For terms apply to James & Thos. Tucker.
Dec. 16. 3t
FOR NEW-YORK, The Schooner CARLETON,  JAMES JOHNSON, Master. For freight of a few hundred barrels, or passage, apply on board at Southgate and Dickson's wharf.
Dec. 17.
Phoenix Fire Office, Norfolk.
NOTICE. The following Policies issued from this Office expiring in the month of December, viz.
  283,169 283,174   170 175   171 176   172 177   173 178 
Richard Taylor, Agent. December 19.
Phoenix Fire Office, No. 13, MARKET-SQUARE, NORFOLK.
INSURANCE UPON SHIPS.
NOTICE is hereby given that the following premiums only, will henceforward be charged by this company for insurance from fire upon Ships, Vessels, and all Water Crafts, and also upon Cargo on board, in the seaports and rivers of Virginia and North-Carolina.
  One month 12 1/2 cents per $100   Two do. 20 do. do.   Three do. 25 do. do.   Four do. 30 do. do.   Five do. 35 do. do.   Six do. 40 do. do.   Seven do. 45 do. do.   Eight do. 50 do. do.   Nine do. 55 do. do.   Ten do. 60 do. do.   Eleven do. 65 do. do.   Twelve do. 70 do. do. 
The above premiums will be charged for any sum not exceeding 40,000 dollars in one risk; but a separate sum must in all cases be specified on the ship and another on the cargo.
Richard Taylor, Agent. Dec. 19.
The Members of the Dismal Swamp Company, are requested to meet at Suffolk on the 28th of December.
That place is preferred for a meeting, because it is a very small distance from the land, and the members will have a better opportunity of information as to the whole business of the company than at any other place—Those who may not attend will be pleased to give powers to others to act for them.
William Nelson, John Bracken, Corbin Griffin, Managers. Dec. 2.
At the particular request of some of the Members, the Meeting is postponed to the 17th of January, and also Williamburg appointed instead of Suffolk.
Wm. Nelson, J. Bracken, Corbin Griffin, (17thJ) December 19.
FOR SALE, by the Subscriber, 50 tierces RICE; 30 bales COTTON. GEORGE RAINCOCK. Dec. 16. 1m
FOR RENT.
That convenient BRICK HOUSE in Market Square, at present occupied in part by Mr. Fabre—it is well calculated for two Grocery Stores below, and will be neatly fitted above for the residence of families—possession given the first of January. Apply to William A. Armistead.
Dec. 14. 3w
To be Hired out from 1st of January,
A WOMAN, who is an excellent washer and house servant generally, and a good plain cook.—Apply to the Editor of the Ledger. Dec. 14. tf
NOTICE.
ALL persons having claims against the estate of William Cary, deceased, formerly of York Town, are required to present them to the subscriber, for settlement; and all those persons who are indebted to the estate of said Cary, are desired to make immediate settlement—No further indulgence can be allowed.
Thomas Griffin, adm'r. York Town, Dec. 7. 1808. 2w
NOTICE.
ALL persons indebted to the estate of Alexander Macauley, deceased, formerly of York Town, are required to present their claims, upon for settlement of their debts—Suits will be commenced against all defaulters indiscriminately.
Thomas Griffin, Surviving trustee of Alex. Macauley, dec. York Town, Dec. 7, 1808. 2w
FOR RENT.
A Convenient Dwelling House on the Main-Street, near the Bridge, next door to Mrs. Archer. Also,
That commodious House on Catharine-street, at present occupied by Mr. James Dykes, adjoining the subscriber, they have excellent gardens, and all convenient out-houses. Also,
A very convenient Dwelling-House, just finished, on Commerce-street. For terms apply to James Tucker. August 15. tf
Norfolk Borough, At a quarterly session court held the 28th day of November, 1808.
The Marine Insurance Company of Norfolk, PLAIN TIFES,  Against  In Chancery. Felix Corran, Michael Corran, Noble and Arbuthnott, & co. and Theodoric Armistead, DEFENDANTS.
THE defendant Felix Corran not having entered his appearance and given security according to the act of assembly and the rules of this court, and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that he is not an inhabitant of this county, it is ordered that the said defendant Felix Corran do appear here on the fourth Monday in February next and answer the bill of the plaintiffs, and that a copy of this order be forthwith inserted in one of the newspapers printed in this Borough for eight weeks successively, and posted at the front door of the courthouse of said Borough: and it is further ordered that the defendants Michael Corran, Noble and Arbuthnott, & co. and Theodoric Armistead, who have effects of the said Felix Corran in their hands do not pay, convey away or secrete such effects, but retain them until the further order or decree of this court.
A Copy, (Teste,) Wm. Sharp, c. e. Dec. 2.
FLOUR.
FOR SALE, BY JOHN GRANBERY, AT HIS WARE-HOUSE ON COMMERCE-STREET, A small quantity of very excellent
New Flour, in barrels and half-barrels, now on hand, fit for family use, and a regular supply expected from the Columbian Mills—Richmond inspection.
CASH given for good new flour barrels and half-barrels. Nov. 9. tf
FRESH GOODS.
WOOD AND HASTINGS, Have just received,
Cambricks and Common Callicoes, Cotton Shirtings, Cotton Cambricks, Irish Linens, Long Lawns, Linen Cambricks, &c.
Also, A few pieces of best
London Superfine Broad CLOTHS, and most fashionable Coat BUTTONS, which with their Goods on hand, will be sold at very low prices for Cash. September 9. tf
J. & W. SOUTHGATE, OFFER FOR SALE,
For Cash or short credit, at their Store, No. 1, corner of Commerce and Main-Streets,
A General Assortment of GOODS, suitable to the present and approaching season;
AMONG WHICH ARE,
Superfine Cloths and Cassimeres, 6.4 and 7.4 coarse Cloths, Flannels, Baizes, Coatings, Thicksets, Corduroys, Blankets, Plains, Halthicks, Scarlet Cardinals, &c. &c. Kendal Cottons in assorted bales, Coarse Hats in assorted boxes, Nails and Spikes of all sizes, F and FF glazed Powder and Shot—ALSO, 200 good Bacon Hams, 30 kegs Lard, 50 barrels Smithfield Apple Brandy, 100 sacks Liverpool fine Salt, 60 barrels very white Allum Salt, 80 barrels good Coffee, Lakeview, 2 grand and 6 small fine toned PIANO FORTES. And a handsome English made GIG and HARNESS, almost new September 21. 3m
FOR SALE
In our Ware-House, where the largest vessel can come along side,
15,000 bushels of CORN,
2000 do. do. white, 30 bales Cotton. Also,
4000 bushels coarse SALT,
150 sacks Ground Allum do. 45 hogsheads old Antigua Rum, do. Jamaica do. 40 hogsheads Sugar, 50 barrels do. A few casks excellent Port Wine, Coffee in hogsheads, Madeira Wine, 45 crates Earthenware, Tobacco from several inspections.
GEO. MURRAY, & Co. September 9. tf
THE SUBSCRIBER
Wishes to Sell, and will Sell or Rent on moderate terms,
That very excellent Wharf and Lot, in the town of Gosport, at present occupied by William Smith; the Wharf, Ware-Houses, and Dwelling-House are all in good repair.
Thirteen Lots in the Town of Suffolk; And the following Property in Norfolk,
Two good Fire-Proof Warehouses on the Eastern side of Commerce-Street, Nos. 4 and 6.
Two Dwelling-Houses and Lots on Boush-street, in good repair, and very pleasantly situated.
Apply to, John Granbery. tf September 14.
Leather, Cordage, and Loaf Sugar.
The subscriber will hereafter expose for Sale at his Ware-house on Campbell's wharf the above Articles, of the manufacture of Norfolk, at reduced prices for Cash, or on short credit only.
Theo. Armistead. He will sell or lease for a term of years, the STORES at the end of Marsden's and Rothery's wharves. Feb. 20. tf
TO RENT,
The LIVERY STABLES lately occupied by Lewis Armistead, on Wolf-street, opposite the United States' Bank—attached to which is a comfortable small two story Dwelling House, and another building which at times has served as a kitchen to the dwelling, or as a Blacksmith or farmer's shop to the stable. The whole together, or either separately will be rented on moderate terms, and possession given immediately. Luke Wheeler. Nov. 25. 3w
Just received, and for sale on board the brig Samuel , at the end of Campbell's wharf,
Lime, Codfish, Mackerel, Pickled Lobsters, Beef, Cheese, Potatoes, Shoes, and a few excellent Grindstones.
Dec. 16. 3w
For SALE at my Brew-House,
Strong, Table, and Ship BEER, by the hogshead, barrel, and half barrel—and a constant supply of bottled PORTER in packages and by the dozen. And in Store,
Wines, Liquors, and Groceries, wholesale and retail.
Joseph Hayes. Feb. 18. tf
FALL GOODS.
WOOD & HASTINGS, Have just received a general assortment of SEASONABLE GOODS,
Which they will sell at very reduced prices for Cash, by Wholesale and Retail, at No 76, Main-street. October 19. tf
FOR SALE,
On board the British ship John , capt. Gilmer, just arrived from Liverpool.
250 Tons STOVE SALT, loose and
in sacks 50 crates QUEEN'S WARE—By C. & F. Whittle. October 24. tf
COW POCK.
DOCTOR BALFOUR informs those persons who have not had the Small Pox, and who are anxious to avoid being susceptible of it (as it is said to exist in the county of Princess Anne about Nott's Island, and there has been a case in Richmond,) that he now has several arms with a genuine vaccine pock, fit to inoculate from. He will take a young man as a Student of physics. Nov. 16. tf
TO BE RENTED,
AND POSSESSION GIVEN IMMEDIATELY,
Several TENEMENTS in the town of Portsmouth—They will be let at REDUCED PRICES, provided good tenants can be had.
Also that desirable little FARM, the COTTAGE, near the Town—The House will be in good repair, and the land is rich. William Leigh. Dec. 5. 3w
FOR RENT,
THE BRICK STORE, Lately occupied by Mrs. Cox, facing the Market. Apply to Messrs. Wood & Hastings, or Robert Taylor, sen'r. Dec. 5. tf
FOR SALE,
3000 bushels Turk's-Island SALT, Now on board the Sloop Juliana , Capt. Stowe. Also,
21,000 feet MAHOGANY, A few puncheons Old Antigua Rum, New do. Molasses, Sugars, Indian Meal in barrels. John Granbery. September 21. tf
FOR SALE,
Little England Plantation, near Hampton, containing 555 acres of excellent land, about 300 of which are cleared, the remainder under wood, with a Dwelling-House, Offices, &c.
This Plantation has many advantages over most others in the low country. There is a wharf within fifty yards of the house, with sufficient water for any vessel to lie at that can come into Hampton Creek, and there is a fair market to a farmer of having every thing conveyed to and from so considerable a market as Norfolk by water, is a circumstance of the first consideration. There is an excellent Pump in the farm-yard, with a well sufficient to water any fleet that may generally be in Hampton Roads: from this pump there are water-ways to the wharf, by which a boat can load from 10 to 12 tons of water in two hours—It yielded the late proprietor at one time 700 dollars in twelve months. The Plantation is most completely fenced by double ditches, staked, and wattled, with some hedges—in short, the House, Offices, and Land, are in such perfect neat and good order, that any person purchasing the place would not have a cent to lay out on it. Those who may wish to view the premises will please apply to Dr. Ward, at Little England—For terms or other particulars, apply to William H. Thompson. N. B. The Negroes, Stock, and Farming Utensils, will be sold with or without the Plantation. October 7. 2wtf
Boot and Shoe Manufactory.
SAMUEL COLEMAN, Opposite the Market, (westward) has received by captain Hand, from Philadelphia, a quantity of the Highest Priced Boot Legs, Vamps, Tops, and other Materials, for his Factory—He has also Sole Leather, which has been in use seven years; with these, the best workmen he can get, and the greatest care and punctuality, he believes the people of this place and its vicinity, may be as well served as by any factory in the union. His Stock at present is as good as this country can furnish, and he intends to use no other kind, the price of course must be higher, and when the Boots go the money must come, having found in a number of instances that a few days means six or twelve months, and an application even then for the money is ample cause of enmity. He has on hand a large assortment of BOOTS and SHOES. ALSO,
SALT, LONDON PORTER, &c. &c. Fresh SHOES from New-York for Ladies, of red, green, and black Morocco, with 1, 2, and 3 ties.
JOURNEYMEN WANTED.
The best Boot and Shoe Makers, not only such as can, but such as will do the best work in all cases, may meet with as much encouragement in my factory, as in any in this state, for any state in the union north of this. October 3. tf
German Linen for Exportation.
NIEMEYER & VON KAPFF, OFFER FOR SALE At their Warehouse in Water-Street, at the corner of Maxwell's wharf, for cash, or approved paper only.
54 packages of German Linen, consisting of
140 pieces Osnabrugs, 60 pieces Tickenburgs, 500 pieces White Rolls, 900 Hedenens, 80 pieces Hespian, Entitled to Drawback.
1 case Patillas, 1 case Shirt Linen, 1 case Sheetings, 1 case Table Cloths, 1 case Bed-Ticking. ALSO,
40 pieces best Russia Canvass, 65 do. Topgallant Duck, 3,500 Coffee Bags, 3,500 Gunny Bags, 90 boxes best Spanish Segas, 50 boxes English Pipes, 700 Straws 1-2 pt. Tumblers, 30 doz. do. Decanters, 350 pieces excellent Oil Cloth, 30 pieces Paper Hanging, 3 cases Port Wine. And at their Store in Main-Street, a great variety of Cutlery and Fancy Articles. Apply as above. Nov. 9.
SUGARS.
200 boxes White and Brown Cuba SUGARS, For Sale, by Cocke & Sanford. Dec. 12. 6t
THE Cells appropriated to the reception
of Male Patients in the Lunatic Hospital being all full, no more can be received until further notice.—By order of the Court of Directors. William Russell, Clerk. Williamsburg, Nov. 28. 1m Dec 12
FOR RENT,
That delightful little FARM,
Belonging to the estate of David Patterson, deceased, SITUATED on Elizabeth River and Tanner's Creek, adjoining the land of the quarantine house, containing about 65 acres, the greatest part of which is cleared and fit for immediate culture; has on it a good comfortable dwelling house, kitchen, &c. for a small family, a most excellent garden, apple and peach orchard, and its convenience to the best fish, oysters, and Norfolk market, must render it desirable and valuable. For terms apply to D. R. Waddy. ALSO, FOR RENT.
A TRACT OF LAND,
Containing about 260 acres, in the county of Princess Anne, adjoining the tract now advertised for sale by Mr. Tully Robinson. This tract is well timbered and well worth the attention of a good farmer, who might in a short time put it in a state of high cultivation. And for Hire,
A Valuable BLACKSMITH,
With a complete set of Tools. For terms apply as above, to Capt. Thomas Calvert, near Kempville. Dec. 12. tf
For SALE, or will be Bartered for Tobacco,
70 puns. choice Old Demarara RUM, James Young. October 19. tf
FOR RENT,
And possession given the 1st day of January, The HOUSE at present occupied by Mr. Argote, near the Virginia Bank.—Apply to Edward Roberts. December 9. tf
FOR SALE,
And a Bargain given, The LOT in the rear of Mr. Nivison's dwelling house, on which are two excellent two story Brick Houses, one of them at present occupied by Mr. Thomas Lawson, and the other vacant. For terms apply to Brunet & Thompson. Dec. 9. 131Dec
A BARGAIN OFFERED,
In a fine and Valuable FARM, in the County of Princess Anne. THE Subscriber is disposed to sell his Plantation called LEVEL GREEN, situated in the county of Princess Anne. It contains about 300 acres; and, as it may be advantageously divided into two or three Farms, the subscriber will accommodate a purchaser, in selling either the whole or a part. He will also give a long credit. This tract of Land is certainly the most desirable in the county, lying on the Eastern branch of Elizabeth River, and distant from Norfolk Market only five or six miles by water, and 8 or 9 by land—The soil is excellent, about one half of the tract being cleared land, and fit for immediate culture; the other heavily timbered with Oak, Pine, Ash, and Hickory—It has also the advantage of several good landings—Any one disposed to view the land, and to purchase, may apply, in the absence of the subscriber, to JAMES ROBINSON, or JOHN READ, who reside in the neighbourhood. Tully Robinson. Dec. 7. tf
TO BURWELL WILKS, Esq. Brunswick County.
SIR,
HAVING given a challenge directed by you to Gen. Ridgeley of Maryland, wherein you except no horse which he might name—I will run my Colt Sir Solomon by Tickle Toby , against your celebrated Horse Potomac by Diomed , or any other horse in the United States of America, four mile heats, agreeable to the New-Market rules, over the NEW Course at Norfolk, on the first Tuesday in June, 1809, for the sum of Five Thousand Dollars, or any other amount which you may choose to name. I will also bind myself to procure you good Stables and Litter, and pay all reasonable expenses. Caleb Boush. Princess-Anne, Dec. 5, 1808; P. S. I shall expect to hear from you through the same medium, on or before the first day of February next. C. B.
FOR SALE,
The CARGO of the British brig Euphemia , from Liverpool, 210 ton Stowed SALT. Robert Dickson. Dec. 5.
TO BE RENTED.
And possession given the 1st of January, The HOUSE and LOT on Catharine Street, occupied by Mr. Francis S. Taylor, adjoining Mr. John Taylor's. ALSO,
The Fire Proof WAREHOUSE on
Maxwell's wharf, now in the occupancy of Mr. John Macgowan, to which is attached a valuable privilege with respect to wharfrage. Apply to John Nivison. Nov. 18. 3w
For SALE, or will be Bartered, in part for Tobacco, Flour, or Naval Stores,
150,000 wt. Muscovado SUGAR, 200 hlds. MOLASSES, 500 sacks Liverpool SALT, 5000 bushels Cabiz SALT, superior quality, 25 crates QUEEN'S WARE. James Young. October 21. tf
NOTICE.
All persons indebted to the estate of David Patterson, deceased, are desired to make immediate payment; and those having claims to render them properly att