Berkeley and Jefferson intelligencer (Martinsburg, Va.), 1808-12-30 00:00:00

W. W. Wilson
The Berkeley and Jefferson Intelligencer.
Martinsburg, Virginia; Printed and published by JOHN ALBURTIS.
No. 32 of Vol. X.
FRIDAY, December 30, 1808.
Whole No. 500.
Terms of the Intelligencer.
THE price of this paper is two dollars per annum, one dollar payable at the time of subscribing, and one when the year expires—Distant subscribers pay for the whole year in advance—No subscription received for a shorter term than six months, and no paper discontinued until arrearages are paid—a failure to notify a discontinuance of the paper at the end of the time subscribed for, will be considered a new engagement. The price of Advertisements , to non-subscribers, is one dollar per square for three weeks insertion, and for continuance after that time 25 cents per week—Subscribers will continue to receive a reduction of one-fourth on their Advertisements .
A settlement of all the accounts with this Office is anxiously desired; the greater part of them have been standing open, from two to six years, and some as long as eight years. It is not our wish to oppress at any time, much less at a period like the present, when distress and gloom appears to pervade all grades of society from the once independent farmers, down to the more humble mechanic and labourer; but justice to ourselves and others, requires, in a voice that must be heard, that a settlement should shortly take place.—We are disposed to make every alleviation in our power, will therefore take in payment any kind of grain, wood, or any other useful article our employers have to dispose of.—From those who cannot make payment in any way, at this time, we shall certainly expect notes for what is now due, before their accounts are increased.—Many have expressed a willingness to settle annually, but from not being called upon, have neglected it and some have generously paid us in advance—to such we tender our thanks. It is determined upon to settle all the affairs of this establishment up to the first of January next, after which time, if the Intelligencer remains in our hands, we shall endeavour to "alter the procedure," and have our accounts closed at the end of every succeeding year; this, we are certain, will be agreeable to our patrons, and more beneficial to themselves.
For the paper on which we now print, we have been obliged to pay an advanced price of nearly fifty per cent, and cannot obtain it even at that rate, without advancing cash; the time is fast approaching when we shall want a supply for the winter; we hope our friends will not forget that their aid is necessary to accomplish this.
Intelligencer Office, October 7, 1808.
The Federal Republicans of Berkeley, Jefferson and Hampshire, have resolved to support Major James Stephenson as a Candidate for Congress, at the election in April next.
Dec. 2, 1808.
PROPOSALS
FOR PRINTING & SUBSCRIPTION, The Armenian Skeleton , BY WILLIAM HUNTINGTON.
THE publisher has been induced to offer a new American edition of this work to the public from the scarcity of it, (it being almost out of print) and with the hope that its circulation will be a great public good, and have a tendency to point out to searchers after righteousness the true path in which it may be found. He trusts that it will richly repay those for its perusal who are in search after Divine truths; all who wish to see the glorious Gospel promoted and spread through our land, he doubts not, will feel a disposition to encourage this scarce and valuable work.
The publisher is not actuated by interested views in offering this work to the public; his sole object is the dissemination of truths necessary for every human creature to be acquainted with; he only wishes to obtain as many subscribers as will pay for the printing, his own situation being such as to put it out of his power to have it republished without the aid of others.
The work will probably make from 250 to 300 duodecimo pages; it shall be well printed on good paper, and the price, half bound, shall not exceed one dollar; those who wish them bound in leather can have them at the additional expense of binding; if the number of subscribers should be equal to his expectation, the price in all probability will be less.
The work will be put to press as soon as a sufficient number of subscribers are obtained to pay for the printing.
Subscriptions received at the office of the Intelligencer , JOHN HUTCHINSON. June 5, 1808.
Patent Medicines.
Lees' Anti-Bilious Pills,
For the prevention and cure of malignant Bilious complaints; the operation of these pills is perfectly mild, so as to be used by persons in every situation, and of every age.
The Indian Vegetable Specific,
A safe and radical cure for Venereal complaints of every description.
Lees' Essence & Extract of Mustard,
A certain & speedy cure for Rheumatism, Gout, Palsy, Numbness, White swellings, sprains, bruises, &c.
Lees' Worm destroying Lozenges,
Celebrated for the cure of all complaints arising from Worms, and from foulness or obstructions in the stomach and bowels—and are so innocent in their nature, so mild in their operation, that they are used in every season of the year, by the most delicate women, and infants of the tenderest age, with invariable success.
Lees' Ointment for the Itch,
Warranted to cure by one application.
Lees' Restorative,
Long celebrated for the cure of nervous disorders, indigestion, impurity of the blood, inward weakness, immoderate evacuations, Female complaints, obstinate Gleet, Hysterical affections, pains in the back and loins, cramp in the stomach, &c.
Lees' Genuine Corn Plaster.
Lees' Elixir, The most certain remedy known for colds, obstinate coughs, Catarrhs, Asthmas, sore throats and approaching consumptions—affords immediate relief, and in a short time entirely removes the HOOPING COUGH.
do. Restorative Tooth Powder,
The above Medicines to be had at L. Price's Store, Martinsburg.
Will be sold by public auction, at the subscriber's residence, on Monday the 2d day of January next, the following articles:
HORSES, Cows, Young Cattle, Sheep and Hogs, a Plantation Waggon, Farming Implements, Household and Kitchen Furniture, and a variety of other articles too numerous to mention. The sale will begin early in the day. Due attendance and a reasonable credit will be given by JOHN DUNCAN. December 16, 1808.
Negroes to Hire.
THE Executors of JAMES STRODE, dec'd. will Hire to the best bidder, on Saturday the 31st inst. at the dwelling house of Henry Bedinger, SUNDRY SLAVES belonging to said estate for one year. Terms will be more fully explained at the time. HENRY BEDINGER, ABRAHAM SHEPHERD, Executors. December 16, 1808.
Replevin Bonds for sale at this Office.
Will be sold by public vendue, on Wednesday the 4th of January next, at the plantation of Laurence Hensel, deceased, near Shepherd's Town, all the personal property of the said deceased, consisting of
ONE Negro Woman and her three Children, two boys and a girl; Horses, Cows, a good fat Beef, Sheep and Hogs; fat Hogs in the pen; two road Waggons; Wheat, Rye, Oats, Barley and Flax-seed; a quantity of Hay in the mow and stack; Flax in the bundle and broken Hemp; a quantity of old Rye Whisky, Apple Brandy and Cyder; one eight day Clock; one Cross-cut Saw, a stone Sledge and Crowbar; Farming Implements of almost every description; Household & Kitchen Furniture, among which are some good Beds and Bedding and many other articles too numerous to mention. Twelve months credit will be given, the purchaser giving bond with approved security. The sale will commence at ten o'clock, and continue from day to day until the whole is sold. MICHAEL HENSEL, HENRY COUTZMAN, Executors. December 16, 1808.
ALL persons indebted to the estate of the said Laurence Hensel, deceased, by bond, note or book account, are desired to settle the same by the 1st Feb. next. Those having claims against said estate, are requested to come forward with them properly attested, and receive payment. MICHAEL HENSEL, HENRY COUTZMAN, Executors.
ATTENTION! The Martinsburg Independent Blues!
YOU will be particular in meeting at your usual place of parade in Martinsburg, on Saturday the 31st instant. JAMES FAULKNER, Captain. December 16, 1808.
Land For Sale.
I WILL give a great bargain in part of the Tract of Land bo't from Mr. Joseph Chambers, lying in Berkeley County, State of Virginia, within six miles of Martinsburg and one of the Sulphur Spring, containing about 110 acres, and bounded by the Sulphur Spring road, the lands of Mr. Amos Mendenhall and Stroud's heirs.—There is on the premises a comfortable Dwelling House, &c. an Apple Orchard of good Fruit, and a never-failing Spring. About seventy acres of Land are cleared, some Meadow made, and eight acres in readiness to make Meadow of the ensuing spring.—The whole tract lies level and is well divided into different fields, enclosed with good fences. The wood land is heavily timbered. There are about twelve acres sowed in wheat in new land, which I will sell with said land. I will take in part payment, a new well-made light Waggon and two middle sized young horses well-broke to the gears. For further information and terms, apply to the subscriber adjoining said premises. WILLIAM LINE. Berkeley County, } [tf.] Decr. 16, 1808.
Wanted immediately, A lad from 16 to 17 years of age, to learn the Gun-Smith's business. JOHN WHETSTONE. Martinsburg, Nov. 11, 1808.
To Lease.
THE subscriber wishes to lease for four or five years, his Farm in Berkeley County, whereon Mr. Benjamin Pendleton now lives, lying on the head of Falling Waters, on the road leading from Martinsburg to Williamsport, within two miles of the Potomack, and about the same distance from an excellent Merchant Mill. This tract contains about 340 acres, 250 of which are cleared, the soil is inferior to none in Berkeley County, and lies well for cultivation—One half of the money for which it will lease for the above term, will be required in hand, and the balance at the expiration of the lease. A more particular description is deemed unnecessary as any person wishing to lease, will first view the premises, which will be shewn by Mr. Pendleton, and the terms made known by the subscriber, living on Long Marsh, Frederick County.
JAMES CLARE. December 16, 1808.
DOCUMENTS
ACCOMPANYING THE MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. (CONTINUED)
Extracts of a letter from Mr. Madison, secretary of state, to Mr. Pinkney, minister of the United States at London, dated DEPARTMENT OF STATE, December 23, 1807.
"Mr. Erskine having been so good as to let me know that the mail of this evening will carry his dispatches for a British packet, which will sail from New-York immediately on their arrival there, and other conveyances now failing, I avail myself of the opportunity, to inclose you a copy of a message from the president to congress, and their act in pursuance of it, laying an immediate embargo on our vessels and exports. The policy and the causes of the measure, are explained in the message itself. But it may be proper to authorize you to assure the British government, as has been just expressed to its minister here, that the act is a measure of precaution only, called for by the occasion; that it is to be considered as neither hostile in its character, nor as justifying, or inviting or leading to hostility with any nation whatever, and particularly as opposing no obstacle whatever to amicable negotiations and satisfactory adjustments with Great-Britain, on the subjects of difference between the two countries. The suddenness of the present opportunity does not allow me time to add more than a newspaper, containing a part of the proceedings of congress in relation to the embargo."
"P. S. As you may be able to find conveyances to Paris, whether none will for some time offer hence, I request the favour of you to communicate to general Armstrong the contents of this letter, and through him, or otherwise, to Mr. Erving at Madrid."
Extract from the same to the same, dated Department of State, February 19, 1808.
"A vessel having been engaged to carry from the port of New-York public dispatches and mercantile letters to Europe, I avail myself of the opportunity of forwarding you a series of gazettes, which contain the proceedings of congress, and such current information as will give you a view of our internal affairs. They will be put, with this letter, into the hands of Mr. Nourse, a passenger in the dispatch vessel, who will deliver them at London; and as the vessel, which will have
previously touched at L'Orient, will, after waiting ten or twelve days at Falmouth, return to that port, and thence to the United States, you will have an opportunity of sending thither any communications you may wish to make to Paris, as well as of transmitting to your government such as may follow up your correspondence, which, at the present period, will be the more acceptable, the more it be frequent and full.
"My last, which was committed to the British packet, inclosed a copy of the act of embargo, and explained the policy of the measure. Among the considerations which enforced it, was the probability of such decrees as were issued by the British government on the 11th of November; the language of the British gazettes, with other indications, having left little doubt that such were meditated. The appearance of these decrees has had much effect in reconciling all descriptions among us to the embargo, and in fixing in the friends of their attachment to its provident guardianship of our maritime interests.
Mr. Erskine communicated, a few days ago, the several late decrees of his government, with expressions of the regret felt by his Britannic majesty at the necessity imposed on him for such an interference with neutral commerce, and assurances that his majesty would readily follow the example, in case the Berlin decree should be rescinded, or would proceed, pari passu , with France, in relaxing the rigor of their measures. Mr. Erskine was asked, whether his government distinguished between the operation of the French decree, municipally on land, and its operation on the high seas? On this point he was unable to answer; as he also was to an enquiry, whether the late British decrees had reference to the late extension of the French decree with respect to the United States? He seemed also, as is perhaps the case with his government, to have taken very little into consideration the violations of neutral commerce, and thro' them the vast injury to France antecedent to the Berlin decree. It is probable that something further is to pass between us on this subject."
Extract of a letter from the editor to the same, Department of State, March 8, 1808.
"Having just learnt that the present mail will arrive at New-York in time for the British packet, I avail myself of the opportunity of forwarding your commission and letters of credence, as successor to Mr. Monroe, in the legation at London."
"Since my last, which went by Mr. Nourse in a dispatch vessel, bound first to L'Orient and then to Falmouth, I have received your communications of the 23d November, and of December. These, with a representation from gen. Armstrong to the French government on the subject of the decree of Berlin, as expounded and enforced in the case of the ship Horizon , were thought by the president to throw so much light on the course likely to be pursued by G. Britain and France, in relation to the U. S. that he had the documents confidentially laid before congress."
"Mr. Erskine has made a written communication on the subject of the British orders. I shall answer him as soon as the very urgent business on hand will permit."
Extract of a letter from the same to the same, dated Department of State, March 22, 1808.
"My last bears date the 8th

the British acknowledged your number 23d, and of number 1. I have since those referred to in the 26, which came to hand last evening.
I cannot inclose my answer to Mr. Erskine's communication of the British orders; the unceasing pressure of other matters, on a state of health still feeble, having thus far delayed it. You will anticipate the complexion which will necessarily be given to it by the character of measures, not only violating our rights & stabbing our interests; but superadding, under the name of indulgences, a blow at our national independence, and a mockery of our understanding."
From Mr. Madison to Mr. Pinkney. Department of State, April 4, 1808.
(Extracts.)
"My last was of March 22, and went under the care of Mr. Rose. I now forward printed copies of the correspondence with him, on the subject of his mission, and of the antecedent documents, relating to the case of the Chesapeake. As soon as the voluminous residue of the communications made to Congress is issued from the press, it shall also be forwarded. You will find that they include certain documents relating to France which were thought proper for the knowledge of congress at the present crisis."
"To these communications I add copies of Mr. Erskine's letter to me on the subject of the British decree of November last, and of my answer. And, that you may have a view of the ground which has been taken with respect to the French decree of November, 1806, and to the judicial exposition; in the case of the Horizon giving to it an illegal operation against the United States, I enclose copies of two letters to general Armstrong on those subjects."
The president made to congress a few days ago other communications relating to the present crisis, with Great Britain and France: among which were Mr. Erskine's letter, now enclosed, and a letter from Mr. Champagny to gen. Armstrong, explaining the course meditated by the French government, with respect to the commerce of the United States. These being excepted from the confidential character attached to the others, have been published, and found among the printed enclosures. Your letter of February 26 was included in the communications to congress, but not in the exception.
"The conduct of the two great contending nations towards this country, as it will now appear to it and to the world, fully displays their mutual efforts to draw the United States into a war with their adversary. The efforts, on both sides, are too little disguised to be worthy the discernment of either, and are addressed, moreover, to motives which prove great ignorance of the character of the United States and, indeed, of human nature."
From the posture in which Mr. Rose's final reply to the compromise proposed to him, placed the question of adjustment in the case of the Chesapeake, it remains with the British government to resume it, if adjustment be their object. Whether a tender of reparation will be made here, or to you will also lie on that side. It will certainly be most becoming that government, under all circumstances, to make the reparation here; and this course might, of right, be insisted on by this government. The president, nevertheless, in the liberal spirit which always governs him, authorizes you to accept the reparation, provided it be tendered spontaneously; be charged with no condition, unless it be, that on the receipt of the act of reparation here, the proclamation of July 2 shall be revoked; and provided the reparation shall add to the disavowal of the attack on the Chesapeake, an express engagement, that the seamen retained shall be immediately restored,
and that the guilty officer experience an exemplary punishment. The reparation will be the more satisfactory, and not exceed a just expectation, if the restoration of the seamen be made to the very ship from which they were wrested, and if provision be made for the wounded survivors, and for the families of those who lost their lives by the attack."
"I must repeat, however, that it is considered entirely proper, that the reparation should be offered here, rather than in London; and it is only in the event of a decided repugnance in the British government to make it through a functionary here, that you are to accept it there."
"The answer to Mr. Erskine's letter on the British orders will furnish the grounds to be taken in your communications with his government on that subject. If the cabinet can be brought to view the orders in the true light, a revocation of the whole of them cannot fail to take place unless they mean to violate every maxim of justice, or are fixed in hostile purposes against the U. States. In not regarding the orders, indeed, as acts of hostility, and in trusting for redress to the motives and means, to which they have appealed, the United States have given the most signal proof of her love of peace, and of their desire to avoid an interruption of it with the British nation."
"Still it is to be understood, that whilst the insult offered in the attack on the American frigate remains unexpiated, you are not to pledge or commit your government to consider the recall of the orders as a ground on which a removal of the existing restrictions on the commerce of the U. States with Great Britain, may be justly expected."
"The two letters to General Armstrong of the 22d May, 1807, and February 8, 1808, are proofs of the sincerity, and impartiality with which the president has proceeded in relation to the belligerent parties; and may, perhaps, assist in repressing unjust suspicions imbibed by the British cabinet. It would be happy for all parties, the belligerent, as well as the United States, if truth could in this case be made to prevail; and if the retaliating rivalry of the former against the latter could be converted into an emulation, as politic as it would be magnanimous in both, to take the lead in a fair, lawful and conciliatory course towards a nation which has done no wrong to either. Should the experiment be made on either side, it would probably be followed on the other; and it could never happen that the first side doing justice would suffer on that account."
"In the present state of our relations to Great Britain it would be premature to mark out the course to be pursued with respect to further negotiations on other topics than the above noticed. You are authorised, however, to continue your interpositions in behalf of our impressed or detained seamen; and in the event of a repeal of the British orders and of satisfactory pledges for repairing the aggression on the Chesapeake, to enter into informal arrangements for abolishing impressments altogether, and mutually discontinuing to receive the seamen of each other into either military or merchant service, conformably to the instructions on this point transmitted by Mr. Purviance."
"You will find by a passage in Mr. Rose's reply of March 17, that the British government does not maintain the principle, that the obligation of the U. S. extends beyond the discharge of deserters from their public service; and by an order of the navy department here already carried into execution, of which a copy is enclosed, that it had lately been decided that no foreign seamen, whether deserters or not, shall serve on board our ships of war. The principles respectively manifested by these documents ought to facilitate such an adjustment as is contended for by the U. S."
Extract of a letter from the same to the same, dated Department of State,
April 20, 1808. "My last was of the 4th inst. and went by a British packet from New-York. I now forward a copy of it."
"Congress ended their session on the night of the 23d instant. The series of newspapers, herewith sent, affords a view of their proceedings subsequent to the communications last made to you. Some other prints are included which throw light on the workings of public opinion and the state of public affairs."
"You will find that the critical posture of our foreign relations, has produced provisions of different kinds for our greater security; and particularly that no pains have been spared to stop every leak by which the effect of the embargo laws might be diminished. I refer you also to the report made to the senate by a committee on the documents relating to the affair of the Chesapeake, and on the letters of M. Champagny and Mr. Erskine; and indicating the spirit which may be expected to influence the future policy of this country, if kept under the excitement resulting from the system now pursued against it."
"You will observe at the same time, that, whilst a determination is sufficiently evinced against a dishonorable acquiescence in the despotic edicts enforced on the high seas, the United States are ready to resume their export trade as soon as the aggressions on it shall cease; and that in a hope that this might happen during the recess of congress, the president is authorized, in such an event, to suspend, in whole or in part, the several embargo laws."
"The conditions on which the authority is to be exercised appeal equally to the justice and policy of the two great belligerent powers, which are now emulating each other in a violation of both. The president counts on your endeavours to give to this appeal all the effect possible with the British government. General Armstrong will be doing the same with that of France. The relation in which a revocation of its unjust decrees by either, will place the United States to the other is obvious; and ought to be a motive to the measure, proportioned to the desire which has been manifested by each to produce collision between the United States and its adversary, and which must be equally felt by each to avoid one with itself."
"Should the French government revoke so much of its decrees as violate our neutral rights, or give explanations and assurances having the like effect, and entitling it therefore to a removal of the embargo as it applies to France, it will be impossible to view a perseverance of Great Britain in her retaliating orders, in any other light than that of war, without even the pretext now assumed by her."
"In order to entitle the British government to a discontinuance of the embargo, as it applies to Great Britain, it is evident that all its decrees, as well those of January 1807, as of November, 1807, ought to be rescinded, as they apply to the United States; and this is the rather to be looked for from the present administration, as it has so strenuously contended that the decrees of both dates were founded on the same principles, and directed to the same object."
"Should the British government take this course you may authorize an expectation that the president will, within a reasonable time, give effect to the authority vested in him on the subject of the embargo laws."
"Should the orders be rescinded in part only, it must be left to his free judgment to decide on the case. In either event, you will lose no time in transmitting the information to this department and to general Armstrong; and particularly in the event of such a course being taken by the British government, as will render a suspension of the embargo certain or probable, it will be proper for you to make the communication by a courier to general Armstrong, to whom a correspondent instruction will be given,
and to provide a special conveyance for it hither, unless British arrangement shall present an opportunity, equally certain and expeditious."
[To be continued.]
Virginia Legislature. HOUSE OF DELEGATES. Friday, December 23.
In the House of Delegates, on Monday last, Mr. Pope, (of Powhatan,) from the Special Committee appointed for that purpose, made the following REPORT, in part:
The Committee to whom were referred sundry resolutions, among other things, our Foreign Relations, and the measures of the administration consequent thereon, beg leave now to report on this branch of the subject:
That the French Edicts and British Orders of Council, although the immediate causes of the embargo were not the first grievances of which we had to complain against those nations: they were the last links, only, of a long chain of indignities and oppressions, which they had previously conspired to cast upon us. Agreeing in nothing else, those powers, seem to have agreed, at least, in the point, of heaping insults and injuries on the United States, in total disregard of the relations of amity which subsisted between us, and in direct and gross violation of the best settled principles of the Law of Nations.
As to Great Britain, it seems to your committee, that, ever since she was reluctantly compelled to acknowledge our independence, she has been pursuing a system of measures calculated to regain the ground which she has lost; to bring us back to our colonial subjection and dependence on her, and thus to effect, by her policy, what she was unable to accomplish by her arms.
Availing herself of the identity of our language she has extended her laws of impressment to us; and, as if we were still her colonies, has forced us to contribute to man her fleets. At this moment, at least three thousand free born American citizens, perhaps many more, are mourning on board the British fleet, a hopeless separation from all the connexions dearest to their hearts; are pining and expiring in a captivity worse than Algerine, because its immediate consequences are to be involved in a war of plunder against their own country, and, in the end, too probably, in a war against the lives of their countrymen. Great Britain not only refuses to release these men, but she refuses to adopt any regulation, whereby the outrage may be prevented in future. On the contrary, her board of admiralty, in answer to a proposition to this effect, from a late minister Lord Holland, has declared that the existence of her navy depended on the continuance of impressments as heretofore practised.
Your committee see, in this declaration, the avowal of a firm and settled purpose, that so long as the United States shall speak the same language, with G. Britain, they shall contribute to nourish and support the British fleet, although the power of that fleet is to be turned against themselves. Your committee deem it an idle and ridiculous mockery to vaunt of the sovereignty and independence of our country, while the persons and liberty of our citizens are insecure; while a foreign nation is permitted, at her pleasure, to come amongst us, to seize on our countrymen, and take off, for the purpose of war, whatever number her occasion may require. Tribute in any form, has been thought a badge of dependence and servility; but never can it assume a form so humiliating and degrading, as when it is a tribute of men and freemen, too, furnished to fight the battles of a foreign prince; battles in which, if directed against other foreign powers, they feel no interest; but which may be directed against their own country, and thus force them to imbue their hands in the blood
of a Brother or a Father.
Again, Great Britain not content with the actual power of her navy, has, without any addition thereto, contrived the means of multiplying its operations and extending the range of its action to the great annoyance and even ruin of neutral commerce. The law of nations has declared that a blockade cannot exist without actual investment by the ships of the enemy; and in this state of things, it is admitted, on all hands, that a neutral has no right to enter the port, since, by carrying in supplies, he might defeat the object of the blockade. But G. Britain was not satisfied with this legitimate restriction on the commerce of neutrals. Not able with all her ships, numerous as they are, to lay up all the ports of her enemy, she has invented a species of blockade unknown to the law of nations, by which she avoids the expense of an actual siege, keeps her ships free for other operations, harasses her adversary most effectually and extensively, by blockading all his ports at once, and (what alone, is of immediate importance to us) drives neutral commerce from the ocean, or fills her coffers by its plunder. Your committee allude to the new mode of creating a blockade, by proclamation instead of actual investment. To say nothing of the principle, the injury which American commerce has already sustained by the practice of this innovation is immense. When a blockade has been formed according to the law of nations, the appearance of the besieging fleet is sufficient warning to neutrals; who, with such notice, are in no danger of committing a breach of blockade without intending it. But where neutrals have no such warning, no notice to guide them; where the blockade, instead of being actual is merely ideal, existing no where but upon paper; they incur the penalties without intending the offence and find themselves ruined by the imputation of a crime, which they would disdain to perpetrate. Nor is this innovation objectionable only on the ground of the surprize which it practises upon neutrals; in its principle, it is still more obnoxious; it gives to belligerents the power of implicating peaceable nations in the consequences of foreign wars to an extent, denied to them by the law of nations; to an extent which, if the peaceable nation be dependent on commerce, goes directly to her ruin, as certainly and immediately as if she were a party in the war. For according to this new invention, it is just as easy to blockade a whole island as a single port, and a whole continent as a single island. It is but necessary to declare the island of the continent blockaded and neutrals must believe the fact, whether it is so or not, or take the consequences. Upon this principle it is obvious that where belligerents, as at the present time, have involved almost every commercial country upon earth in their contests, it is easy for them, by reciprocal declarations of blockade to say to neutrals "you shall not trade at all." This idea, extravagant as it would have appeared a few years back, has been actually realized in relation to this country. Great Britain has by her declaration put a whole continent in a state of blockade. France while her ministers have been continually declaring this pretence of blockade "absurd" "monstrous" "indefatigable" "a mockery of right" and "an insult upon reason," has nevertheless proceeded to do the same thing, and, without a ship afloat upon the seas, puts the British isles in blockade by her simple proclamation. Great Britain treats that proclamation as an empty menace, which France had no power to carry into effect, and boasts that the ascendancy of her navy has locked up the ships of France in their ports; she proceeds, nevertheless, by way of return, to blockade on paper, the island of Zealand, two hundred miles in extent; and she calls this, "retaliation," as if France and not herself had been the mistress of the

invention. To us however, it is immaterial by whom it was invented; since by whomsoever invented, or whomsoever practised, it is a gross and intolerable usurpation on our rights. The spirit of this nation will never submit to the idea that because France and Great Britain are at war, the commerce of the United States shall perish: that we shall become the victims of their mutual animosities and insatiable lust of power and dominion.
But this extravagant and monstrous invention of blockade by proclamation was not sufficient for all the purposes of Great Britain: being an innovation and a bold one too, it required a gradual introduction and extension—a process, it would seem too slow for all the views which she meditated. Hence the resort to those instructions to her cruisers and her judges in admiralty, sometimes so secretly issued as to justify the belief, that they were intentionally concealed for the purpose of plunder. These instructions or orders of council, began to prey upon our commerce so early as the year 1793, and were continued with little variation down till 1798. They were not pretended to be justified by the law of nations, they were regulations merely promotive of the British interest, and which she relied upon the power of her navy to enforce. A key to the character of such instructions, has been candidly furnished by one of her own writers of considerable eminence. Marshall in his treatise on the law of insurance, (page 322) speaks of the subject thus—"in every maritime war, the belligerent powers take upon themselves to make various marine regulations, adapted to their own respective situations and interests; but often contrary to the law of nations, and inconsistent with the independence of other states. And though it may be prudent for the subjects of neutral states which are unable or unwilling to contend with such belligerent powers to conform to these regulations, for their own safety, yet it seems to be now settled that they are not bound by them." The feelings which will arise in the bosom of every American on reading this extract and comparing it with the practice of the country to which the writer belonged, will supercede the necessity of any commentary on the part of your committee. The policy of the British instructions, now under consideration, so far as it relates to American commerce, seems to have been to cut it up by the roots, or to force it into British channels and thereby bring about that monopoly of our trade, which she claimed as a right while we were her colonies; the immediate effect of those instructions was to fill the British coffers, by the lawless plunder of American property. Scarcely ever before, has the world been called to witness such a scene of insolent rapacity, on the one hand, and of patient remonstrance and forbearance on the other.
France totally regardless both of the subsisting treaty and the laws of nations, and pretending that by submitting to British impressment and spoliation, we were strengthening the hands of her enemy against her, (at a time when our government was making every exertion, short of war, to obtain the redress of those wrongs,) came out with what she pronounced to be measures of retaliation, and by her Imperial edict of Berlin arrogantly forbade us to trade with G. Britain. From the impotence of the French fleet, that decree had very little other effect towards us, than to display the hostility and injustice of the government from which it proceeded. To Great Britain, however, it answered an important purpose: it furnished her with a pretext to crown her grand project of re-colonizing the United States. Accordingly, on the backened and iniquitous pretence of retaliation, she issued against her orders of council of January and November, 1807. By these, under pain of seizure and confiscation, she totally interdicts us from trading with every port or place at war with her, or from which the British flag is ex-
cluded: except, indeed, we choose to land our goods in Great Britain, and re-export them on the payment of such duties, as shall be imposed by the British Parliament. This is precisely the indulgence which we had while we were colonies; and if the British Parliament has the right to impose this tax on our trade, the principle of the revolution has vanished from under us; we relapse into subjection, and the blood of our fathers has been spilled in vain. We return to the ground which we occupied before the declaration of our independence, taxed by a British Parliament in which we are not represented, and that, without even the old correlative claim of maternal support and protection.
Nor is it merely of commercial restrictions and spoliation that we have to complain against those nations: they seem to have vied with each other in adding insults to our injuries. Great Britain comes within the line of our jurisdiction, to violate the sovereignty of our nation by burning a French ship stranded upon our coast.—France arrogates to herself the right of dictating our course towards Great Britain, and by way of enforcing her dictate, she seizes and burns our ships upon the high seas, and threatens a confiscation of all American property sequestered by order of his Imperial Majesty.—Britain determined not to be behind in this noble contest of insulting and outraging a nation whom she calls her friend, attacks an American ship of war within sight of our coast, and in a manner, at once, the most perfidious and dastardly, murders a part of her crew, and carries off others of them to bondage or death.
If ever the wrongs and sufferings of a nation would justify a declaration of war, that declaration had long since been made on the part of the United States. But war, if it can be avoided with honor, is not the policy of this nation. It is their true policy, as it is their sincere wish, to cultivate peace with all the world. The administration of the United States, influenced by this spirit of conciliation and friendship, has laboured with equal zeal and energy to obtain the redress of our wrongs by amicable adjustment. These efforts have not, in the opinion of your committee, been either too often repeated or too long continued. They will convince the world, that peace is, indeed, our wish, and if at length we shall be forced into war, we shall take the field with that animated and firm determination which injured honor feels, when every effort at peace has been fairly exhausted and no alternative remains but war, on the one hand, and disgrace and oppression, on the other.
Our negotiations both with France and Great Britain, protracted to a length which only the purest spirit of peace could reconcile to itself, had sometimes worn the most pleasing aspect: when, in the course of the last winter, information of the hostile construction of the French edict, and of the meditated orders of the British councils arrived in this country. At that time property of American citizens to a large amount, and a great number of American seamen were upon the ocean, embarked in commerce still active in spite of all previous restrictions. But these new measures, which G. Britain, at least, had the power to enforce, and which seems to have been projected by her with reference to the rich plunder then presented to her grasp, made it necessary on the part of our government to adopt a countervailing policy and save our citizens and their property from the ruin which hung over them. A declaration of war, considering the ascendancy of the British navy, instead of preventing, would have hastened that ruin. To have carried on our commerce, subject to the capture and confiscation, menaced by those edicts and orders, would have been to have made that ruin certain. To have turned our trade into the channels pointed out by G. B. and to have pursued
it on the conditions prescribed by her, would have been to return, with our eyes open—to the degrading state of colonial vassalage. To have accepted the protection either of France or England would have been to truckle to an aggressor, to have been precipitated at once into the wars of Europe, which if we survived, we might have had the consolation, at the end of it, to find ourselves French or British Provinces.—Under these circumstances, your committee believe that the administration of the U. States advised the only measure of redress, compatible with our power, and at the same time with our honor. They advised the embargo, and it met the approbation of congress, as it had done, under similar circumstances, during the administration of Gen. Washington. As a measure of precaution, it has been completely successful. If it has failed, in any degree, as a measure of constraint, your committee believe that it is not because our enemies have not felt its force, but because they believe we have felt it too sensibly; because the unfortunate opposition with which the measure has met in some parts of the union, has inspired them with the fallacious hope that we, ourselves, either could not or would not bear its privations. Your committee entertain a firm persuasion that those of our citizens who, from the dictates of their judgment and a sense of duty, have written or spoken against this measure, will themselves, regret the opposition, when they see the manner in which it has been seized, and the insulting light in which it has been viewed by the British governor of Canada and the British prime minister. The first, by inviting the citizens of this country to a breach of the embargo and promising them the protection of the British government, has evinced his impression, that the opposition made to that measure did not proceed from objections to its policy, but from hostility to our own government and attachment to that of G. Britain. He would not otherwise have dared so openly to make a discrimination between the people of this country and their government, to interpose himself between them, and insult them by a tender of British protection in violating the laws of the government of their choice.
[The remainder next week.]
MARTINSBURG, December 30, 1808.
IN SENATE—December 21. The act to enforce and make more effectual, an Act, entitled an act laying an Embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States, and the several acts supplementary thereto, was read the third time.—Messrs. Giles and Pope supported, and Messrs. Billingsley and Pickering opposed its passage.—The debate was continued 'till about 8 in the evening, when the question was taken by yeas and nays—Yeas 20—Nays 7.
In the House of Representatives the 22d inst. the bill from the Senate for enforcing the Embargo, was twice read and referred to a committee of the whole on the next Saturday.
Mr. Newton reported "A bill to deprive in certain cases vessels of their American character, and to prevent under certain disabilities any citizen of the U. States from taking a license from any foreign power to navigate the ocean or trade with any foreign and independent power."—twice read and referred.
The bill authorizing the President of the United States to employ an additional number of seamen and marines (2000) went through a committee of the whole.
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 23.
Latest From Europe. Through the polite attentions of a valued mercantile friend, the editors of the Freeman's Journal have been favored with Liverpool papers to the 31st of October, in-
clusive, being THREE DAYS LATER than heretofore received, and containing London dates to the 29th, received by the ship Orozimbo, arrived in the Chesapeake in 47 days from Liverpool.
From these papers it appears that the city of Coruna in Spain had been illuminated for three successive nights in consequence of a great victory said to have been obtained by the Spanish patriots over the French.
That the French troops had evacuated Bilboa on the 12th of October, and had returned coastwise to St. Sebastians.
That Palafox, with 8,000 men, was advancing to Fontarabia, to secure that important maritime pass into France.
That the Spaniards had entered Vittoria, after a considerable loss.
That a cabinet council had been held on the dispatches of the Russian and French messengers at Erfurth and a special messenger (Mr. Shaw) was sent to Calais with the answer of the British government. He was instructed to proceed to Erfurth, provided Bonaparte should be still there on his landing.
That the duke of Clarence had received a high naval command, and was preparing to sail from Portsmouth with several regiments of gen. Slade's brigade, which were embarking for Spain.
That the grand army was expected to reach Spain by the 1st of Nov.—as the advanced brigade was calculated to arrive at Bayonne on the 24th Oct. when both armies being powerfully reinforced, great carnage may be expected—unless a general peace of the European powers should prevent it.
The convention at Erfurth, &c. When Bonaparte was on his journey to Erfurth he is said to have written to the Prince Primate a letter in which he says, "I am going to Germany to give peace to Europe."
At Erfurth the two Emperors usually pass the greater part of the day together, and attend the theatre in the evening. "Not a word (says the Paris paper) has hitherto transpired respecting the real object of his assemblage of so many sovereigns." The emperor of Austria had sent his minister Baron Vincent to attend to it. The grand seigneur is probably startled at the expected designs of the meeting, as he is augmenting his army by every means in his power. A new levy of 100,000 men was also making by the Emperor of Russia at the late accounts. As much expectation has been excited by this meeting, we copy the following, which is the only circumstantial account we have seen of it.
Erfurth Oct. 2. The kings of Saxony and Westphalia have already arrived. To-morrow we expect the king of Wirttemberg, and on the 4th, the king of Bavaria; and if the reports in circulation are to be credited, we may also expect the king of Prussia.
The Austrian gen. Vincent arrived here in the evening of the 29th ult. Yesterday morning he had his first audience of the Emperor Napoleon, and immediately after he had an audience of the Emperor Alexander.
The Prince Primate is expected here by the 5th inst.
Though the departure of the emperor of the French is not yet positively fixed for a particular day, we learn that the Post Masters on the road to Frankfort by Wurtzburg, have had orders to have relays of horses ready about the 13th inst.
Court of Opinion.
When fascinating Beauty smiles, Tho' deem'd a transient flow'r, Vain man, with all his boasted might, Submissive owns its pow'r.
Married, on Friday night last, Mr. WILLIAM SOMMERVILLE, Post-Master of this place, to Miss PEGGY BROWN, daughter of Mr. William Brown, Printer, dec'd. Thrice happy pair! your choice we well approve, All hail, and welcome to the dome of Love.
WILL be sold by public vendue, on Monday the 9th day of January next, at the late dwelling house of John Shrode, deceased, near Sibert's Mill, and three miles from Smithfield, a variety of Household and Kitchen Furniture, two Mares, a Wagon and gears, Cattle, Hogs and Sheep, a quantity of good Hay, Grain in the ground, Corn in the crib, and a number of other articles too tedious to mention.—Nine months credit will be given, on giving bond with approved security.
WILLIAM ROBERTS, Jun. Administrator. December 30, 1808.
Notice.
ALL those who became purchasers at the sale of the late Martin Sheets, dec'd. are informed that their respective obligations became due the 18th day of November last, and if not discharged by the 1st day of February next, suits will be commenced, without respect to persons.
All those indebted to Julian Eckhard and said Sheets, dec'd, either by bond, note or book account, are requested to make immediate payment, as it is absolutely necessary that the affairs of said estate should be settled.
JACOB HAINES, Esq. Shepherd's-Town, Dec. 30, 1808.
Estray Cow.
STRAYED from the subscriber's plantation, living on Dry-Run, three miles from Martinsburg, on Monday the 19th instant, a fresh Milch Cow, of a black colour, with small horns and a white spot in her face, has in the left ear a slit and is about five years old. Three dollars reward will be paid to any person who will return said Cow to GEORGE MONG. December 30, 1808.
NOTICE.
THOSE who made purchases at my sale in April last, will please take notice that their notes will be due on the 15th of next month, and are lodged in the hands of Messrs. R. Worthington, & Co. at which place the subscriber will be thankful if they will call and discharge the same, those who fail to comply need not expect any indulgence.
WILLIAM STRODE. December 30, 1808.
Messrs. Wm. M. Sterrett and John Gritton, TAKE NOTICE,
THAT on the 27th day of January next, after the date hereof, I intend to take the depositions of John Turner and Lewis Mecke, at the house in which Edmund Graham now resides, in the town of Martinsburg, County of Berkeley and Commonwealth of Virginia, to be read in evidence on the trial of a suit in Chancery, brought and now depending in the County Court of Berkeley, wherein I am complainant, and you the said William M. Sterrett and John Gritton are defendants. Said depositions to be taken by virtue of a commission issued in said suit from the County Court of Berkeley for that purpose. Yours, &c. EPHRAIM LOWMAN. December 30, 1808.
Messrs. William M. Sterrett, Aaron Steed, John Gritton and John Kennedy, & Co. TAKE NOTICE,
THAT on the 27th day of January next, after the date hereof, I intend to take the depositions of John Turner and Lewis Mecke, at the house in which Edmund Graham now resides, in the town of Martinsburg, County of Berkeley and Commonwealth of Virginia, to be read in evidence on the trial of a suit in Chancery, brought and now depending in the County Court of Berkeley, wherein I am complainant, and you the said William M. Sterrett, Aaron Steed, John Gritton and John Kennedy, & Co. are defendants.—Said depositions to be taken by virtue of a commission issued in said suit from the County Court of Berkeley for that purpose. Yours, &c. EPHRAIM LOWMAN. December 30, 1808.
The following BLANKS , printed with new and elegant type, are always kept for sale at this Office:
CONSTABLE'S BLANKS, Delivery BONDS, DECLARATIONS, Promissory NOTES.