Lynchburg star (Lynchburg [Va.]), 1807-04-09 00:00:00

LYNCHBURG STAR.
Virginia.)
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YEAR 2.
Thursday, April 9, 1807.
N
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Foreign.
BATTLE OF PULTUSK.
RUSSIAN OFFICIAL ACCOUNT.
Gen. Benningsen to the King of Prussia.
I have the happiness most respectfully to acquaint your majesty, that I have succeeded in repulsing the enemy, who yesterday morning attacked me on every point near Pultusk. The main attack was made by general Souchet, at the head of 15,000 men, on my left wing, near Farmguar-ka, in the view of getting possession of that town; I had only 5,000 men under Gen. Baggonant, to oppose the enemy on that side; they made a brave defence, until I sent a reinforce of three battalions in reserve, and afterwards three more under general Tolstoy, by which means the right wing of the French was totally defeated. The second a tack, equally brisk, was made on my right flank, where Gen. Barkelby de Tolly was posted with the vanguard. The aving extended on the road towards Szczegocyn to a small wood, where I had placed a covered battery, which the enemy attempted to turn. I therefore made a movement backward on their right, which succeeded so well, that I not only frustrated the attempt of the enemy, but was also so fortunate as to reinforce Gen. Barkelby de Tolly, with three battalions, ten squadrons, and one battery to repulse the enemy; on which the enemy retreated from the wood.
The attack commenced at eleven in the morning, and lasted until dark. From the relation of all the prisoners, I was opposed by Messrs. Murat, Davoust and Lannes, with an army exceeding 50,000 men. They have lost 5,000, according to their own account.
All my troops fought with the greatest bravery. The following generals particularly distinguished themselves: Offerman, Tolstoy, Barkelby de Tolly, Prince Dolgorouky, Baggonant, Somoff and Sitoff, of the infantry, also Colonel Davidofsky and Gondoff, &c. &c.
Field Marshal Kamenskoy departed from Pultusk for Ostrolenka on the morning of the 26th December, previous to the attack, and again gave the whole command to me, so that I have had the good fortune to command alone in this affair, and to beat the enemy.
I have to lament that the long expected succour of Gen. Buxhowden had not arrived, although
he was but two German miles distant, and even halted half way. I should otherwise have been able to follow up my victory. I have further to lament that the total want of provision and forage oblige me to retire with my corps to Rozaw; the enemy had not molested me in my retreat.
(Signed)
BENNINGSEN.
Rozaw, 17th (15) Dec. 1806.
ABSTRACT
Of other Russian Official Accounts.
Daily skirmishes from the 23d December preceding the battle of the 26th, when Benningsen having been reinforced by a division under Prince Gallitzin, resolved to make a stand.—The French were under the immediate command of Bonaparte, who confided the attack upon the Russian wings to Davoust and Lannes, they appeared to have made some impression in the early part of the attack. Davoust forced General Baggonont to fall back; but the latter having been promptly reinforced, Davoust's was effectually checked. Meanwhile Lannes was endeavouring to turn the Russian right wing. The principal attack and heat of the battle appears to have been in that quarter. Bonaparte directed the operations in person. An underwood favoured the approach of the French, who obliged the Russian advanced guard to fall back upon the main body. But Benningsen had foreseen that the chief efforts of the enemy would be made upon his right wing; and had thrown up a masked battery between the front of his main body and the advanced guard that had been posted to cover it. So soon therefore as the advanced guard was forced by the impetuosity of the attack made upon it to fall back, the masked battery opened upon the enemy a most galling fire of grape shot which checked their progress.—General Tolstoy, who had the command of the advanced guard, pushed forward again, but was again obliged to fall back, and the enemy attempted to outflank the battery. Benningsen saw that this was the critical moment, and with great promptitude, skill, and decision, ordered his right wing to change front, reinforced General Tolstoy from his centre, and having thus stopped the progress of the enemy, made an attack upon them himself, General Osterman advancing with his division towards the right, and Benningsen supported him with a strong train of artillery and 20 squadrons of cavalry. He ordered also the remainder of the cavalry to form their front in his centre, which had the effect of keeping the centre of the French from making a movement to support their left wing. The attack and the defence were furious and sanguinary; the French fought with desperation but were obliged at last to fall back, and were driven in confusion from the field."
The King made another speech to the States, concerning the new organization of Pomerania. Among the essential matters are:—the introduction of the Swedish Common Law, published 1734, and now translated into German, the formation of a new haven at Klein Zyker on Rugen; the additional strengthening of Stralsund; and a plan for moving the suburbs farther from the fortifications."
PETERSBURG, Jan. 8.
The prisoners we have taken declare that they have lost in killed alone, above 6,000; our loss not exceed 2,000 men.
LONDON, Feb. 10.
It is supposed that the campaign is over, and that as the French are gone into winter-quarters, no warlike operations will take place for some time. But it should seem from the last dispatches from Russia, as if marshal Kaminskoy had concentrated his army within the circuit of a few miles, for the purpose of resuming offensive operations immediately. He is only waiting the supplies that are on their way to him of forage and provisions. The Russian troops are peculiarly calculated for carrying on war during the winter, and we should imagine that Kaminskoy will attack the French in their cantonments. The two armies are so near each other, particularly those detachments that are between the Omulcio and the Or-cye.
That the fixed centinels almost receive.
The secret whispers of each other's watch.
The Russian army is in the best state, full of confidence and enthusiasm, and impatient to meet the enemy.
We are more and more convinced that Buxhowden was not
engaged at all on the 26th Dec. If our readers will refer to the disposition of the Russian divisions, they will find his division occupy a position in the rear of Ostrolenka, at Glenki, Nowygrod, and Lomiza.
The utmost exertions continue to be used in the king's dock-yards at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, in order to get ready a fleet for the Baltic. Sixteen of the line, mostly old 74's, are to be cut down and fitted for sea, with masts of the rate of 74's.
Gen. Paoli died on Thursday night, at a very advanced age, at his house near the Edgeware road; famous for the part he took in the affairs of Corsica, in the reign of Louis the fifteenth, and the god father of Bonaparte.
Private letters from a very respectable merchant at St. Petersburg, to his brother in London, dated 6th Jan.
"Long live our brave emperor and his gallant army! Is the universal exclamation at St. Petersburg. Vassilzikoff, the courier, arrived from the army in Poland yesterday at 11 o'clock, and brought the auspicious tidings that our brave soldiers had defeated the French in a masterly style, with the loss on the side of the enemy of 4,000 men killed, and 6,000 prisoners. The particulars I have this instant learned, from a highly respectable quarter. They are as follows:
"The scarcity of provisions in the French army, and the hope of ending the campaign by a decisive blow, concurred to induce Bonaparte to pass the Vistula, at the head of 60,000 men. On the 23d of Dec. he advanced to the outposts of Gen. Benningsen's army, where Gen. Osterman commanded. Although Benningsen's force was formidable, (55,000 men,) he preferred at first the prudent alternative of retreating, during the 23d, 24th, and 25th Dec. On each of these days skirmishes took place, but on the 26th the two armies made a stand in sight of each other, at a village called Selim, which lay between them. This village Bonaparte, who commanded in person, set on fire, to cover his attack on the Russians, whom he thus thought to envelope in smoke. This artifice, however, was soon turned against himself; for Benningsen, discovering his intention, instantly formed his reserve into a hollow square, which advanced, unperceived, under the smoke of the village. This gallant corps marched with fixed bayonets; the Russian line opened to let them pass through, and they never stopped till they reached the centre of the French. Here an obstinate conflict took place; but the Russians succeeded in not only routing their centre, but also turning both their wings. The left wing of the French being shaken by the Russian infantry, was entirely borne down and dispersed by general Chaplits, at the head of the cavalry, who killed 2,000 men. Their right wing shared a similar fate from general Kozen, at the head of his Yagers. The rout of the French was complete. Davoust, Lannes, Bonaparte himself, all fled in confusion to Pultusk, which is eleven miles from the scene of action, and had been Benningsen's head-quarters until the 23d instant.
"It is inconceivable what exultation this victory has caused throughout St. Petersburg. Benningsen is by birth a Hanoverian; but such is the enthusiasm for Britain in Russia, that the people persist in calling him an Englishman. His victory is very generally compared to the battle of Maida.
Both of these men have proved that the fighting the French is to rush to the very heart of their artillery. It was this order which annoyed the Russians so dreadfully at Austerlitz; but we trust our brave irregulars, the Cossacks and Bashkirs, will prove an overmatch for it: in which case Kaminskoy has declared he will answer for the success of the war, since our infantry is decidedly superior.
"Bonaparte's spies appear to have been as unsuccessful as his soldiers. When Kaminskoy was at Grodno, one of these, pretending to be a Prussian general, brought a letter, signed apparently by his Prussian majesty, and requesting a confidential communication of the intended route of the Russian forces. The sagacious veteran instantly penetrated the fraud. Two Cossacks stripped the wretch, and, after administering to him some salutary correction, Kaminskoy ordered him to return to Bonaparte, and to shew him on his back the route of the Russian army.
"The account I have given you has been personally confirmed by Vassilkikoff, the courier, who was an eye-witness of the action; and I send it you by a messenger, who is on the point of departure for England."
DEMI OFFICIAL BULLETIN.
"Colonel KRUSER arrived at Koningsbery on the 3d Jan. with dispatches from gen. Kalkreuth and a Russian messenger following the day after, with dispatches from gen. Kaminskoy. Excepting a trifling affair on the 28th December, in which a detachment of French was defeated, a successful advance of Cossacks has been made towards the enemy."
three between tula. "Gen corps of gen. Bar little v Om has To the has fall sition o corps of pr Somdof, Bailstock, Buxhowden Newygrod, "The wh concentrate a few pile difficult

Storage; and it is hence obvious, that general Kaminskoy is determined to resume offensive operations the moment he is in a condition to do so. His impatience is such as to make him impatient of every delay. General Kaminskoy is determined to resume offensive operations the moment he is in a condition to do so. His impatience is such as to make him impatient of every delay.
The Star. Leipsburg. Thursday, April 9.
As has been said, and so many stories have been respecting the Treaty, or the intended treaty, lately at London by the American and British Ministers, that it has been baffled, and no certain data to rest upon.
We believe we have it now in our power to relieve the public mind from that uncertainty in which it has heretofore been suspended. The treaty will be immediately returned to London for further negotiation. For this purpose the Wasp ship of War is ordered to be got ready for sea immediately. The officers are selected, the crew completed, and Thursday next (2nd April) is named as the day on which she is to sail. Captain Smith, who is to command the Wasp, will be the bearer of the Treaty to London; from thence the Wasp will repair to the Mediterranean, where she is to be stationed.
In conversation on the subject of the Treaty, the President has been heard to declare, that had he laid it before the Senate, and that body had been unanimous in advising its ratification, still he would have withheld the sanction of his signature. So hostile does he feel himself to some of its principles, and so determined on its total rejection in its present form.
Washington Paper.
Major Thomas Coles of Providence, R. I. one of the Commissioners of the United States, who surveyed the coast of North Carolina the last summer, has lately completed and sent to the national Treasury, under whose authority he acted, and to whom it is inscribed, a Chart of that coast. This Chart is 48 inches by 28; and is executed in a manner highly honorable to the artist, being both elegant, scientific, and from its superiority, in point of accuracy, over other Charts of that dangerous Coast, it may prove a happy means of preserving life and property.
Chronological Comparison.
On the 14th of October, Frederick I. was surprised in his camp near Hockirchen by the Austrians, and on the same day his sister, the Margavine of Bareuth, whom he was most affectionately attached to, died. Ever after he used to say, "The fourteenth day of October is an unlucky day for Russia." But little did the Great Frederick then think of the terribledisaster that awaited his country on the same day in the year 1812, when the fatal battle of Borodino was fought.
AMERICAN IMPROVEMENTS IN PHYSIC.
THOMAS BEDDRES, the celebrated English Physician, is at present the reader of American books. He has abandoned the Old School in the question of Contagion, and is now a complete convert to the doctrine of the contagiousness of yellow fever. In a letter to one of his correspondents he writes thus, "I do not know any country in which so much has been done for Medicine as in America; if you except the introduction of Vaccine Inoculation, the most useful practice ever fallen upon." Indeed it must be owned, that since the appearance of the yellow fever in 1791, and more especially since the commencement of the first American Periodical work on Medicine at New-York, in 1797, a new Era has commenced in the history of that profession.
Subscriptions have been opened in Kentucky for a state BANK and have been attended with considerable success.
LITERARY.
Captain Lewis has published
the prospectus of a "Tour to the Pacific Ocean," which he has found the more necessary, as he has been informed that there are several unauthorised (and probably some spurious) publications, now preparing for the press, by individuals entirely unknown to him. It is the intention of the author to furnish three volumes, with many and valuable plates, together with a map on a large scale. The engraving will not be confined to the geographical department; they are to afford ample gratification to the curious and the scientific.
Captain Lewis has not been able to ascertain the price to subscribers, as the necessary expense of publication is uncertain. But he assures the public that his object is not pecuniary emolument; and assigns his reason for asking subscription at all; which we think very sufficient; it is "to enable him to form an estimate of the proper number to be struck off."
The author of this work deserves the esteem and the patronage of all liberal and enlightened Americans; none of whom will countenance the suspicious editions.
Virg. Argus.
AMPHIBIOUS CARS.
The subscribers beg leave to inform the western citizens of the city of Philadelphia, that they have for sale at a moderate price, these Amphibious Cars, they are constructed much like the common cart, they move on two wheels, and one horse can drag two persons, if the driver is very careful to pick his way; and when swamped you can take to water, the body being well caulked and furnished with a pair of sculls, and two setting poles, (in case the passengers cannot row.) Any person inclined to purchase will please apply at mud hole in Spruce between 3d and 4th streets Schuylkill.
MUD, WATER, & MIRE.
N. B. Persons inclined to sail in the western waters of the city, can be supplied with a boat by applying as above.
Aurora.
There is an admirable partition of qualities between the sexes, which the Great Author of being has distributed to each, with a wisdom which calls for all our admiration.
Man is strong; Woman is beautiful. Man is daring and confident; Woman is diffident and unassuming. Man shines abroad; Woman at home. Man talks to convince; Woman to persuade and please. Man has a rugged heart; Woman a soft and tender one. Man prevents misery; Woman relieves it. Man has science; Woman taste. Man has judgment; Woman sensibility. Man is a being of justice; Woman of mercy.
On Friday evening last, a most daring attempt was made on the life of Mr. Robert Hoey, merchant, of this place, by Joseph Whitting Foster. Foster, being intoxicated, had been very abusive in the store, and was ordered out; he went to his house and returning with his gun, loaded with coarse shot, which he discharged through the window into the store. The charge passed near Mr. Hoey, and another person in the store, and lodged in the ceiling, and among the goods. Foster has been examined and we understand has confessed the fact. This man exhibits an awful instance of the effects of intemperance. He was not long since distinguished for sobriety, industry, and a peaceful life, but he now exhibits a melancholy picture of depravity.
Sag. Har. Gaz.
The following letter has been put into our hands by a gentleman, who thinks with us that the strange transactions to which it relates have not been sufficiently developed. We all know something of the horrid scenes of tyranny of which Ireland's miserable Ireland, has been recently the theatre. These scenes were the natural offspring of monarchy & oppression—they are every where to be found where kings & priests
govern. Shocked, therefore, as our feelings may be at their recital, they occasion but little surprise. But that the American government, or its representative, should become the engine of carrying this oppressive system into effect, that they should aggravate the sufferings of the oppressed, that, in violation of the constitution and laws, established principles and deep-rooted feelings of the nation, they should deny them an asylum in this country, when offered to them by their tyrants, is surprising and merits perpetual remembrance. The correspondence between Mr. Adams, or his Secretary, and Mr. King, on this subject has never been published. It could scarcely fail to be the best commentary on the times of Alien and Sedition bills.
For prudential reasons, relative to the gentleman who wrote the letter given, we suppress his name and some circumstances of a personal nature.
The letter is from a respectable Irish gentleman, resident in the state of New-York, and is dated March 2, 1807.
National Intelligencer.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
"God knows, with what sentiments of fond remembrance I read over your letter again and again—it is long since I reckoned you amongst the dead, for I had heard of such an event taking place before I left Ireland. But to find you alive and in such respectable circumstances as your situation indicates, gives me a degree of pleasure which I cannot well describe.
"You desire me to give you an account of my affairs and my situation. Just Heaven! was I to relate the occurrences of my life since I last saw you, 'twould fill more than an hundred pages. I will in a few words tell you, that I have been four years shut up in a dungeon—I was arrested in the beginning of '98, and effected my escape from Dublin Castle; I got on board a ship of my own, and arrived in Norway; thence passing through Zealand and Germany, I got to France, where I heard that an expedition had just sailed for Ireland, I then made the best of my way to Hamburg, and entered (as a common sailor) on board a vessel bound for Liverpool. When I arrived there, I found that the handful of French (1037) that landed in Killala after having performed prodigies of valor, were obliged to surrender—that the principals of their Irish adherents were hanged, and that there was a reward of five hundred guineas for my apprehension.—I then fled from Liverpool to Cumberland, in the North of England, where partly with a friend, and partly in a thick wood near his house, I remained four months, at the end of which time, the state prisoners then confined in the different jails in Dublin, made a stipulation with the government that they should banish themselves for life to the United States; and they also stipulated that if I thought proper I might surrender myself on the same terms. I availed myself of this, and accordingly gave myself up in an unhappy hour. At this time, federalism, (but a more appropriate term would be aristocracy) in this country was in the wane, and verging fast to dissolution, the minister from this to the court of St. James's, was Rufus King, who being directed (as he said) by his government, preferred a memorial or protest against us, and easily obtained the promise of the British government not to let us come here without his consent first had in writing, permitting such emigration. There were 70 persons of our party, Henry Jackson and John Lynch, who through the interest of some duke or duchess (I suppose) got leave to come to America. I also wrote to him, and received an answer, that "as I was so highly recommended, if I would transmit him a petition, praying for leave, he would inclose it to his government, and he made no doubt (by accompanying it with the documents which he then held in my favor) but I would obtain the desired permission."
sion." This letter I answered, telling him, "that I never would so solicit: that the crime I had committed (by the bye, he made use of the word) formed in my mind, his countrymen's best distinction, that I would lie in goal 'till my locks grew "as white as the foam of the ocean," &c. &c. and other such language ill-suited to a courtly ear. In consequence I lay in goal three years after this; in the mean time, the great philosopher was placed at the head of the government of this country, but owing to some commercial or other reasons, King was not recalled, neither could we tell at that distance, and shut up as we were, in a tomb of the living, but Mr. Jefferson also coincided in our exclusion from this country; being now almost four years in close confinement, and growing grey indeed; my affairs all deranged, my fortunes broken, my (naturally strong) constitution beginning to give way, I obtained leave to go to Portugal. I had a little before this time sold seventeen ships and brigs by auction, for less than half their value, the remainder of thirty two of which I was entire and part owner at the time of my arrest, were either lost, taken, or the captains took them off, and I never heard of them, but now that I have time to make some woful calculations, I have lost about 120,000 dollars, and more than half of this I could have saved, only for Mr. King's prohibition. As I said before, I brought my family to Portugal, where I remained a short time at a monstrous expence, and finally got to America. I sunk a few vats here, and commenced tanner, though a business I knew nothing of, however by working hard at it for these two or three years, I have got some knowledge of it, and am just able to support a family of a wife and seven children."
EXTRACT
From the Address to the people of Massachusetts, on the nomination of the republican candidates Sullivan and Lincoln, for Governor, and Lieutenant Governor of that State.
"It now remains with you whether these gentlemen shall be honored with your suffrages, and thereby shall be given to Massachusetts her original character, dignity, and patriotism, or by supineness and neglect, you will suffer your candidates to be in the minority, and submit to be vilified and abused by those neutral enemies of your birth right, the leaders of the federal party.
"It cannot be eradicated from your recollection, that in more gloomy times, when Monarchic Federalism was in the full tide of unsuccessful experiment—when dire election from whig principles and a sycophancy to a "stupendous fabric" of folly and churlishness, JOHN ADAMS was the only passport to public patronage, the foul and illiberal allegations which were brought forward against your motives—and the absurd chimeras which were prolifically prognosticated as the direful consequences which would inevitably take place should Republicans come into power.
"In those times it was hazardous for a republican even to express a doubt of the infallibility of the powers that were, or to utter a sentiment congenial with the constitution! To secure more powerfully the awful superstructure of Despotism, acts were unblushingly passed by the general government militating against the dearest privileges of the citizen, calculated to shackle the powers of speech and of the Press, and other ensigns of tyranny followed—both offensive and oppressive.
"You have so far progressed in the good work, as to give to your general government eleven out of seventeen representatives. Your state legislature has now a decided majority of practical republicans—your counsellors are unanimous in those "feelings and principles," by which your original independence was achieved. The Venerable Heath was called by your voice last year, to preside as Lieut. Governor—and it is ve-

ry much doubted if Gov. Strong would not have enjoyed that retirement last year for which he is so well calculated—had the federalists possessed half so much candor or political honesty as they expected from others—with all their quibblings, twistings, and prevarications, Mr. Sullivan was within less than an hundred votes of his competitor; and the day is doubtless near at hand, when Massachusetts shall have completely regenerated herself from a particle of monarchic federal sore; and shall become a firm and united pillar of the great federative compact; when all will be harmony, happiness, and union."
(From the Enquirer.)
LOOK AT THIS PICTURE—AND THEN AT THAT.
Plutarch has drawn the most striking parallels between the worthies of Greece and Rome; he has placed them together in pairs, side by side, and face to face; and instituted an accurate comparison between their respective excellences and defects; the traits in which they agreed, and those in which they differed.—Let us draw a still more instructive parallel. It is not the comparative picture of a Greek and a Roman; of two individuals, distinguished by different characters and fortunes. It is in the same being cast into the pursuit of very different careers; between what he might have been, and what he is; between the destiny of A. Burr such as it would have been at this very moment, if he had but pursued the path of honorable ambition; and such as it actually is.
"He on a sledge is drawn, His strong right arm, unweapon'd and in chains, And garlanded around his helmless head The laurel wreath of scorn."
A few months from this time, he would perhaps have been clothed with the highest office of the world; he would have been the President of the U. States; he would have been the object of the love of the freest people on the earth, of the respect of Europe, and his name would have descended to posterity among the benefactors and ornaments of his species. He had an energetic mind which might have extended the means of information among his ardent countrymen. He had a spirit and an understanding to meet the difficult relations which we have always to maintain with foreign powers. He would have had as ample a theatre as he could have wished for the display of all his powers—Such might have been Aaron Burr.
And behold what he is now!—A prisoner—under the eye of a military escort—charged with the foulest crimes which an American bosom can conceive—covered with the most odious suspicions; his reputation at its last gasp; his very life endangered.
He might have been President of the U. States. He is Decked with a wreath of glory. A Prisoner. Elevated by new plans of beneficence. Covered with a crown of thorns. Trusted by all. Degraded by plots of treason. Self satisfied. Suspected by all. His own conscience re-echoing the decisions of the world.
Whence this change of destiny?
Men borne down with adversity, are apt to impute all their miseries to the dominion of fortune. Why, they ask, should a man be prudent; why contrive his plans with the most sagacious intuition; why prepare a train of causes to conduct us to wealth or reputation; when there is a blind destiny continually interposing in the affairs of man, and turning his wisest resolutions into sport? The merchant lays down the chart of a profitable voyage; the winds and waves destroy his ships.
The warrior marshals his army with the most admirable skill; every thing seems to promise him the laurel of victory; when some wandering ball falls him to the dust. The wheel of fortune is forever rolling on: that which is the top to-day, shall be down to-morrow; and the man who is this day the favorite idol of a nation, and saluted by the applause of the world, may in the very next moment be sunk into the foulest and most unremitted disgrace.
Is this picture opposite in the present case?
No, Aaron Burr was not one of the niggard sons of fortune. She had never been to him a "relentless power," whose torturing lash had maddened and prepared him for the deeds of desperation and power. She had been an indulgent mother, at whose exuberant bosom he had partaken of the cherishing and invigorating draughts of hope. Prosperity had crowned his previous efforts with success; and had he possessed but a moderate and patient ambition, there was not a beam in hope's fairy circle, which would not have gilded and refreshed the remainder of his days.
No man can boast of an intellect superior to his own; penetrating the bottom of a subject at glance; practised in the lore of the law; acquainted with the world, and not "thro' the spectacle of book;" bold in argument, eloquent in debate, and of a spirit to work wonders in the cabinet or in the field. He was high in the confidence of his country. He was placed in the second office of the union, and various circumstances had given him a kind of pre-emption right to the first. It was not the least of his recommendations that he was already the Vice-President of the U. States; that he was from the state of N. York, one of the most powerful in the union; that he was from a district of the country which had aspired to the honor of giving a President, and would have backed him with all its interest.
No, it was not misfortune, which has involved the ruin of col. Burr. It was not that blind goddess, which sometimes mars and destroys the best and wisest of men. It was his own imprudence; it was his own want of virtue. It is true that he was once near the top, and is now at the bottom of the wheel: but it was not the revolution of Fortune's wheel, which is the cause of this vicissitude. It was the consequence of that vicious indiscretion, which knows not how to regulate its wishes by its means, nor to wait with patience, till time itself shall have prepared the means of gratifying its desires.
Was col. Burr ill treated, during the presidential contest in 1800-1? Were his services or talents unrewarded? Was there any thing to make him complain of the dispensations of fortune? Far from it: Fortune had scarce ever done more for any of our citizens; and no citizen had ever received more from his country. It was his ambition that ruined him. Although it was well known to him that his country had never designed him to be the competitor of Jefferson; that it was mere chance which gave him an equal number of votes; yet still he aspired to supplant Mr. J. in the presidential chair. He was indifferent to the acknowledged voice of his country; and he was prepared to prostrate it at the feet of his own ambition.
The consequence is universally known. His fate, as a public man, was sealed for ever. And now behold the same vicious propensity is bursting once more into action. He stands charged as a Traitor!!
Come hither ye men of ambition! and behold this melancholy example!!
Come, and confess, that as a Republic rests upon virtue only:
So under a virtuous Republic, the political prosperity of individuals must repose upon the same basis.
From a Liverpool paper of Jan. 24
From the blood stained fields
of Europe, the din of arms, and noise of the battle, the thought of which is enough to sicken the heart, we turn our attention, and look with pleasure across the Atlantic, to that country where peace reigns and plenty abounds; whose government seems as anxious to decrease the quantum of taxation, as those of the old world are to increase it. The wisdom and moderation of the American government must be acknowledged by all. The readiness it has manifested to repeal the act which prohibited the importation of British goods, shews their desire of peace and friendship, for we cannot give into the common opinion of the day, that commerce is as necessary to America as to us. That a breach of friendship, and a cessation of trade between the two countries, would be of mutual disadvantage, we admit, but our own country would be the greatest sufferer. Although America may not at present be able to carry on manufactures to any considerable extent, yet is she able to produce what is calculated for the support and convenience of life; the loom and shuttle are not unknown even among some of the Indian tribes in America. Millions of acres yet remain to be cultivated. Cattle abound, and fuel is plentiful.—What are the wants of man? Our poet says:—
"Bread, cloths, and fire;" What more? He answers:— "Fire cloths, and bread."
Who are happy to find there is one country on the face of the earth, that is not disposed to exhaust its treasures on the dangers that may be prevented by wisdom and moderation; or like the present emperor of France, for the purpose of spreading desolation and ruin in the neighboring states. The cultivation of the arts of peace is the greatest glory of the Chief Magistrates of any nation. The laurels of the hero are always stained with blood, and too often sullied by rapine and injustice. He is the greatest minister of State, who knows how to rule his own passions, and to teach others to govern theirs; who when a storm arises is able to avert the threatened blow, and by his counsels to command peace.—The sycophants of the French court are lavish in their praises of the emperor Napoleon—but, alas! what a contrast between him and the peaceful President of the United States—The one, is like the waves of the sea, never at rest, tortured by plans of murder and blood—the constant witness, and a very common cause of the ruin and destruction of thousands of his fellow men—the other dwelling at peace in the midst of a country made every year happier by his prudent administration—devising plans for the improvement of knowledge, the increase of virtue and the prevention of crimes, unblushingly committed on the unoffending Africans—The name of Jefferson will be remembered with pleasure when the destroyers of mankind will be buried in oblivion.
FROM THE VIRGINIA ARGUS.
COMMUNICATION. French and Russian accounts of military affairs in Poland.
There appears to be a considerable difference of opinion concerning the battles late fought between the French and Russian armies. The French Bulletins speak of a complete victory, and support their claim by the capture of eighty pieces of cannon, six thousand prisoners and the field of battle. The Russians merely say that they beat back and defeated the French army of 50,000 men. This victory as it is claimed and called by the Russians, was at Pultusk, &c. gen. Benningsen does not pretend that he was opposed by more than 50,000 French troops. The French accounts say that immediately after the battle of Pultusk the united Russian armies were defeated at Gollymin—and other English accounts admit that each of the armies amounted to 140,000. So that the battle alluded to in that account could not be the same
concerning which Benningsen admits that the French had 50,000 and no more. Benningsen's army of 80,000, of Tolstoy of 20,000, were united at Pultusk. Even if they did beat back 50,000 French in their first onset, it does not afford cause for a triumph—but when these armies were afterwards united with Buxkowden's, the whole force was from 170 to 180,000 men—the numbers of the French armies is not known, the English say 140,000, as it is customary in London to publish erroneous statements concerning the French armies, it will not be believed that they exceeded that number—the same accounts shew that the Russian armies were but little, if any thing short of 180,000. These armies have fought, the French wearied with incessant and hard service; the Russians fresh, and as their friends pretend anxious for the combat. If this explanation be correct or substantially so, what chance will the Russians have in the next campaign, when the French armies will be reinforced, the men in fine spirits, the cavalry in good order, and their numbers equal to their enemies. It requires no foresight to determine that they will be beaten, destroyed, captured, or dispersed, as was lately the fate of the Prussians. The French troops alone are adequate to the task, without estimating the services of at least 100,000 men from Bavaria, Wirtemberg and other confederate states of the Rhine, or the volunteers of Poland, who in all probability will be still more numerous. It is the best policy of every politician, let his wishes be what they may, to understand the truth. It is for this purpose only that this explanation has been written. When it is seen that the French head quarters are at Warsaw, that reinforcements daily arrive, that the Poles are in commotion, that a requisition is called out from France, and that the whole Russian forces have either retired from or failed to drive back 140,000 men, fatigued with severe duty, it cannot be believed that the same Russians will successfully oppose three or four times as many. Z.
From the Trenton True American.
Federal Facts and Arguments: Condensed from Federal Papers and Speeches.
Wilkinson is a Tyrant, a Traitor, and a Coward!—To preserve the Constitution from total destruction, he violated one of its provisions—to protect the liberties of millions, he abridged the freedom of four or five individuals for two or three weeks!—to prevent a deluge of blood, he denounced and delivered up to civil authority those who were convinced were prepared to make it flow—to obviate the table and expense of an arm march from Washington to Orleans, he sent some suspicious characters from New Orleans to Washington, when they seemed to be busily preparing for a journey to Mexico!—He is a bloody tyrant or he would have used these men for spies and conspirators, and then maned them!—He is a odious Traitor, or he would have joined Burr in overturning the constitution, and establishing a monarchy!—He is a consummate coward, or he would have dared to lead his army against his country, instead of risking life, property and reputation in defence of it!—He is a pensioner of Spain, for a convention of Kentuckians voted him their thanks for the very act which is now charged upon him as traitorous!—If he would not aid Burr he might have winked at his designs, and by this time an army of 50,000 men could not have quelled the conspiracy, nor have saved the Union from division, and our Government from destruction!—Wilkinson ought to be shot!!
President Jefferson is undoubtedly at the bottom of this conspiracy! he is attached to congress because they are republicans, and would therefore love to see them
RANAWAY from plantation in Bedford County, 20 weeks ago, a negro man who is trusted.
ORANGE.
He is 35 or 40 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high and looks or middling weight, will weigh about 180 pounds, went away with negro cotton clothes on, has one tooth out of the upper part of the mouth and has a low voice when he talks. He carried a bag and an axe when he started. Any person that will find him and bring him to me shall be
At
of Be, about 60 high, a perceiver, six years of 40 dollars b
Bedford
I hereby certify that the within is a true copy of the advertisement of James Hudnall and duly qualified to before me. Given this 27th day of
HEN A Copy-T