Lynchburg star (Lynchburg [Va.]), 1806-06-05 00:00:00

LYNCHBURG STAR.
Virginia,
PUBLISHED BY JAMES GRAHAM.....AT THREE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.....(Payable in advance.)
No. XXXII.]
THURSDAY, JUNE 5.....1806.
[Vol. I.
Latest Foreign News.
LONDON, March 31
Meditated assassination of Bonaparte.
On Monday night last, the 24th inst. a strict search was made by the Magistracy of Hamburg, assisted by the French Minister and all the French inhabitants, throughout the whole of that city and its environs. Every hotel, inn, and public house was inspected with the most pointed scrutiny. At an inn of the second sort, a French officer was seized, whose appearance accorded strictly with the description in the hands of the Police. On his being arrested, he immediately exclaimed, "take me, and do with me what you please—I have deserved to suffer more than you can inflict for my awkwardness." He then confessed that he had twice fired at Bonaparte on the evening succeeding the battle of Austerlitz, but unfortunately missed him. On the affair taking wind he had deserted, and had got to Hamburg, whence intended to have sailed for England. He was immediately sent off in a private conveyance to Paris, inevitable fate awaits him. native of France, 1-10 Hamburg
perien- h, as it ht have
strange extraor- und obli- or such a , however, communic-
Continent are go- arte; and we have he fate of this unfor- be equally mysteri-
April 1.
h mail due on Sun- late hour last night, ich it brings are of a ture from the notice , that the French ar- ing to France to be put establishment.
it is said, is to experience ilar to that of Naples: the be dethroned and his domi- be partitioned among his s. Russia, Prussia, and Den- Austria is to cede Silesia and Gallicias, and to be indemnified from the Turkish empire; and lesser changes and transplantations of the Mecklenburgh branches, and of the Duke of Brunswick's family are also talked of.
Private letters from Holland state, that the Batavian Government had re- ceived assurances from the Court of the Tuilleries, that the emperor Napo- leon had determined to give to Holland the choice either to have a King at the head of its Government, or to become a department of France; and this sub- ject, it is supposed, would engage the attention of the Dutch Legislature, which had the commencement of its session fixed for this day.
It is confidently asserted on the au- thority of private letters from Berlin, that the following proposals form a considerable part of the negotiations pending between France and Prussia. It is intended to obtain the consent of the emperor of Russia, if possible, but in case that should not be granted, France engages in conjunction with Prussia and her other allies, to endeavor to effect them by force of arms. Prus- sia to cede 400 more square leagues of its possessions, and to receive in lieu thereof 700, which will consist of the following countries:
1st. The Duchy of Mecklenburgh Schwerin, whose sovereign is to re- ceive Barreuth in exchange, with a proportionate pension to make up every deficit.
2d. The Duchy of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, whose Prince is to be pension- ed for life.
3d. The Duchy of Brunswick, whose sovereign and descendants, in direct line, are to be pensioned—and the Duke himself permitted to remain as sovereign, in his capital during the remainder of his life.
4th. The whole of Austrian Silesia and Galicia, for which the emperor of Austria is to be indemnified by the Turkish provinces of Servia, Bosnia, Wallachia, Moldavia, and the whole of the Turkish Dalmatia.
5th. The King of Sweden to be dethroned, and part of his dominions to be given (if the emperor Alexan- der consents to the plan of spoliation) to Prussia; the remainder of the king- dom of Sweden in Denmark, which on these conditions shall put Prussia in possession of Holstein and Swedish Po- merania.
According to the last advices from St. Petersburg, these proposals have been rejected.
Private letters from Russia of the 18th ult. describe the roads of the country as covered with artillery, am- munition waggons and troops—on the frontiers an immense army is already collected, and the recruiting in the in- terior goes on without interruption. The armies that lately returned from Moravia, Austria, and Bohemia, are kept in readiness to act.
April 2.
The condition of the cessions which have been extorted in Westphalia, from the court of Berlin, has not long remained undetermined. Prince Mu- rat, after having been proclaimed Duke of Cleves and Berg, made his formal entry into Dusseldorf on the 25th of March. The sovereignty of these territories is conferred upon him, with the same restrictions and limita- tions that Bonaparte has been pleased to set to the inheritance of the throne he has usurped. It is to be defendible, in default of male issue on the part of prince Joachim (the title of the new Duke) to prince Joseph and prince Louis, and their respective heirs, but is in no case to revert to France.
There is some talk of a negotiation between the courts of Vienna and St. Cloud for the restoration of the King of Naples.
April 5.
List of New Kings and Princes created, or to be created, by Bonaparte.
Himself—Emperor of France and King of Italy.
Elector of Bavaria—King of Bava- ria.
Elector of Wirtemberg—King of Wirtemberg.
Elector of Hesse—King of the Catt.
Elector of Baden—King of Baden.
Joseph Bonaparte—King of Naples.
Louis Bonaparte—King of Batavia.
Lucien Bonaparte [upon re-entance and submission]—King of Switzerland.
Eugene Beauharnois—Viceroy of I- taly.
Murat—Duke of Cleves and Berg.
Jerome Bonaparte—Prince of Pied- mont.
Madame Le Clerc (now Princess Borghese)—Princess of Piombino.
All the other Beauharnois's to be provided with Principalities and Duke- doms—the females to be matched with German Princes, and to receive por- tions of the German empire as dow- ries.
Murat is the new sovereign of the Duchies of Cleves and Berg. He has formally assumed the sovereignty, under the title of Prince Joachim Duke of Cleves and Berg—he made his for- mal entry into Dusseldorf on the 25th ult. and a proclamation was immedia- tely issued to his new subjects. At the same time a proclamation was pub- lished in the name of Bonaparte, de- claring that the kings of Prussia and Bavaria having ceded the two Duchies to him, to be bestowed on such French princes as he shall select, he had trans- ferred them to his well beloved bro- ther Prince Joachim, to descend to his male issue, to the total exclusion of fe- males, & in default of heirs male, to re- vert to Bonaparte's male descendants, or in failure thereof, to theirs of Prince Joseph Bonaparte; or otherwise, to the heirs of Prince Louis, but in no cases are the Duchies to belong to the crown of France. We need not, however, adduce any argument to prove that the duchies will be just as much dependent upon, and subject to France, as if they were formally uni- ted to her.
The King of Naples is said to have commanded the Calabrians to lay down their arms; and at the same time, is- sued orders for the evacuation of that province. The whole Neapolitan ar- my is to assemble in Sicily. The mild Massena is to be the governor of Calabria.
The French army it is said, is to be
reduced to the peace establishment by the 1st of April. The corps of reserve and national guards may be disbanded —but we shall be much deceived if Bo- naparte disbands one battalion or re- giment of the line—nor does this in- telligence of the reduction of the French army accord at all with the ac- counts of the French force in Italy, and of permission having been deman- ded for an army to march through Bohemia for the purpose, as is suppo- sed, of an attack upon the Russians in Poland. Whether that permission has or has not been granted, we are unable to state; it certainly cannot be granted consistently with any principle of good faith.
Under the Vienna head of March 19. it is said that a negotiation is on foot between our court and France, in favor of the king of Naples, and that the French charge d'Affaires, Dudon, after a conference with the minister count Stadion, sent off a cou- rier with dispatches relative to this sub- ject to Paris.
In the course of the last week, the court of France made two demands of the House of Austria; the first, its pure and simple adhesion to the new treaty of partition between France and Prussia; the second, a permanent and perpetual passage for the French troops through the Austrian territory into Ve- netian Illyria and Dalmatia. There is in Upper Carinthia a frontier town named Ponteba, divided into two un- equal parts by the river Tella, the smaller part of this town is Austrian, and the other Venetian; a bridge se- parates the two territories, and it is over this bridge that the French de- mand a passage in order to gain the great road which leads from it into I- taly.
Exertions are continually making to repair the enormous deficit of arms and ammunition of every kind, which the war has occasioned in the hereditary states.
We are assured that the preparations are making at Venice for the recepti- on of the Pope.
From a London Paper.
MILITARY TACTICS OF BONAPARTE.
It is well known that the greater part of the victories of Bonaparte may be im- puted to the singular system adopted by this general—a system which however of- ten repeated, has still been attended with the same success—a system, to which es- tablished tactics have as yet applied no remedy, or rather, to which the confu- sed habits of men, educated in the ancient system, are as yet unwilling, as unable to accommodate themselves.
This system is comprehended in the following principles:
1st. To select a partial point of attack, most frequently the enemy's centre, but occasionally one or other of the wings— and then, strengthening that part of their own army which is opposed to the point of attack, by drafts from the other divi- sions, to bear down upon the point of attack with the advantage of numbers, and consequently of greater physical force.
2d. To counteract the effect of the weakness of the other divisions—1. By assigning them a defensive part only; a purpose which evidently requires a less power than is necessary to attack—2. By some advantage of position. This is ei- ther natural, as a strong position proper- ty to called, or relative, as where the weaker divisions are so placed, as either to be protected by the stronger; or, in case of dispersion, to be enabled to fall in with the main body.
3. The necessary, the inevitable effects of this system are—
That the part of the enemy, which is the point of attack, is almost invariably broken; driven back, in a word defeated.
That in the mean time, the weaker di- visions of the army which attack, accor- ding to the system, are either enabled to maintain their ground against the strong- est wings of the enemy, or they are re- pulsed.
That if the divisions maintain the ground, the defeat of their enemy is cer- tain, complete and irrecoverable.
The main body of the attacking army having driven before it the point of at- tack, has now become in the rear of those other divisions of the enemy which are contending with its own divisions. The divisions of the enemy are thus be- tween two bodies—the divisions they are in the act of attacking, and the victori- ous main body, which having accomplish- ed its own part, is hastening to the relief of its divisions.
That on the other hand, if the weaker divisions of the attacking army, (attack- ing according to this system) should hap-
pen to be dispersed; confident of their victory they exert themselves like con- querors, with the spirit of hope, and courage of assured victory. They dis- pute the ground, retreat inch by inch, and if they cannot prevent, still protract their defeat till the victorious main body shall come to their aid.
Finally, and indeed most materially, though the weaker divisions of the attack- ing army should be absolutely defeated, the victorious main body cannot but re- cover every thing. The divisions of the enemy, which have succeeded in defeat- ing the divisions of the attacking army, must be equally dispersed in pursuit, as the defeated divisions by defeat. It is indeed an essential part of this system, to contrive that they should be dispersed by the scattered flight of the divisions de- feated. By this means the victorious main body, formed by the strictest disci- pline to keep their ranks, returning from their pursuit at the word of command, and in the very moment of opportunity, have an easy conquest over the scattered divisions, which are thus likewise under the circumstances of being placed between two fires.
Such is the celebrated system. Three singular inferences must be reduced from it:
That, where an army attacks accor- ding to this system, the defeat of one part of the army of its enemy is the defeat of the whole.
The defeat of the smaller divisions by the defending army is no defeat at all; the defeat or at least repulse of the divi- sions, being one of the means of the victory of the attacking army.
That is the event of the main attack, and not the repulse or even defeat of the subordinate and merely defensive divisions, that should decide the victory.
Domestic Summary.
THE KENTUCKY AMENDMENTS.
The importance of every question which concerns the landed tenures, or the judiciary authority, from whate- ver part of the union it originates, calls for the most sedulous attention of the people of the United States. It is the experience of history, that the fall of the Roman republic from its glory and its liberty was produced by the monopoly of the public lands—by the col- lusions of magistrates and senators to defraud the people at large, and to ap- propriate to themselves the lands of which under the forms of law, but in defiance of its spirit, they had defraud- ed the community; it was by a kind of Yazoo robbery, which was accom- plished by the corruption of the senate of Rome, that Roman peace was de- stroyed, and Roman liberty prostrated. We might refer to the corruptions of the Athenian Areopagus, for the mis- fortunes of that great, most glorious, and most illustrious of republics— which, while the people elected their public officers, never made an injudi- cious choice; and whether the officer to be chosen was a legislator, an am- bassador, a military, or a naval com- mander, the men chosen, were always the best qualified and the ablest men of the state. It was in the Areopagus, that corruption made its first inroads, for there the people had no right of choice, and ultimately no controul— every subject that involves either of these topics, merits the particular re- gard of every man who is sincerely a friend of free representative govern- ment.
We give the following speech on the amendments proposed by the legisla- ture of Kentucky to the constitution of the United States, the subject was dis- cussed, but remains inoperative at pre- sent; the speech of Mr. Maclay, the faithful and consistent representative of this state in senate, merits notice as well for its general propriety, as for the soundness of the principles which it asserts.
I will consider this question in two points of view and endeavour to shew, 1st. That it is a grant of judicial power, which is not necessary to car- ry into effect any of the great and im- portant purposes of the confederacy; and
2dly. That its operation is oppres- sive on the citizens of the respective states.
The object of the confederacy, doubtless was, to vest in a general government such powers, and such only, as would be competent to man- age the great and general concerns of the union; all such, it was necessary for the states to relinquish, and no more—powers of local and inferior
nature, in no wise necessary to the ad- ministration of national affairs could be of no use, and might be emba- rassing; and to cautious were the peo- ple, lest the general government should at- tempt to enlarge the powers granted by the constitution, that an amend- ment was thought necessary, which declared, that the powers not delega- ted were retained.
So much of the sovereignty of the states it was necessary to relinquish, as could be better exercised by the gene- ral government, than by the states. All powers on the other hand, which did not partake of this general nature, and which could be exercised by the state governments were consequently improper to be granted, and were re- tained. The power to make war, peace, and treaties with foreign nation- s, to levy money, and regulate commerce, with all their necessary in- cidents included: these, sir, as I con- ceive, are the great and sole objects of the federal constitution, they form the fundamental principles, and constitute the great and important pillars on which the confederacy rests: powers local in their nature, and partial in their operation, and consequently in- capable of being exercised by congress for the good of the whole, were re- tained by the states.
If in the distribution of these pow- ers, therefore, any have been granted to the general government, which are not essential to the great purposes of its institution, and which cannot be exercised with equal advantage to the community, as by the states in their separate capacity, I presume it will be no loss to the interest of the union, than of the individual states, that such power should be relinquished; as it will thereby render that instrument, which binds together the union, more perfect, and consequently more dura- ble.
Of such a nature do I conceive the judicial power to be, which it becomes my duty as one of the humble organs of the state of Pennsylvania, in com- formity to her wishes, to attempt to have withdrawn from the list of federal powers.
If any of the rights and attributes of sovereignty are more peculiarly attach- ed to, and indeed unalienable by a state, they are those which relate to the disposition and adjudication of the right of their soil—persons, and per- sonal property are transitory and fluc- tuating; but the soil is permanent.
The proprietors of the soil are the true sovereigns of the country—they make the government—they adminis- ter it—they grant the titles to their citizens—and they ought exclusively to adjudicate those titles.
The states would startle at the idea of surrendering directly to the United States, the right of deciding the land titles of these citizens—yet by the op- eration of this clause of the constituti- on a great portion of the land titles of the new states, and of the titles grant- ed recently, and consequently liable to be contested, will be withdrawn from the cognizance of the state tribu- nals. If therefore my ideas, with re- spect to the great and leading objects of the federal constitution be correct; if this grant of power be unnecessary to the due execution of the powers re- ally necessary to our federal prosperity, it would alone furnish no inconsidera- ble argument in favor of its surrender.
But secondly—I consider it not on- ly unnecessary, but oppressive in its operation.
No subject, I believe, has more flexibly and uniformly occupied the wisdom and attention of the state go- vernments, than the administration of justice: their codes abound with essays towards this great object: an early, cheap, and uniform distribution of jus- tice, are the cardinal objects they have pursued: "justice freely without sale, completely without denial, and promptly without delay," forms an article in one of the oldest constitutions of one of the old states. "That all courts shall be open, and every man for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay."†
In obedience to these constitutional provisions, the different stat
* Constitution of Massachusetts, article 9.
† Constitution of Pennsylvania, section of the 9th article.

tures have been uniform in their efforts to effect these objects. In some, circuit courts; in others, county courts:—But all in pursuit of the same object, to wit: to administer justice as cheaply and as conveniently as possible to the people in general. If such care and attention be necessary to secure the citizens of the states, against an oppressive administration of justice, when contending in the courts of their own states, no possible provision, it appears to me, can prevent it, when their own controversies are to be decided many hundred miles from the place in which they originated.
I will ask this Senator, for a moment, to consider what must be the feelings of a man residing on the banks of the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Mississippi or the margin of Lake Erie, three hundred or one thousand miles distance from this place, whose principal and, it may be, his whole wealth, consists of a farm on which he is settled, when served with a process, and told, he must travel to the banks of the Potomac to defend his title? His feelings must be those of despair. The attempt is beyond his power. His enquiry will not be whether he has justice on his side, but whether it is worth his while to sacrifice his time, and risk his remaining substance in contending with his more powerful antagonist.
But this is not all; his situation may be such as to prevent his making any effort in order to obtain justice. his family may depend on the labor of his hands for bread; can he leave them to perish with hunger? No, humanity forbids it; he is compelled to submit.
These are not the suggestions of fancy; they will prove to be facts, unless they are prevented by the humanity and good sense of the general government.
The evil is the more dangerous as it will increase with the extension of our settlements; it will grow with our growth; are the inhabitants of the Washita, the Red River, and the Missouri, to travel here to defend the titles which they are daily obtaining, and respecting which it is impossible, but that disputes will arise between the actual settlers and the land mongers, about which they will go to law?
If cases of this kind were few, and in all probability rarely to occur, the inconvenience might possibly be tolerated. But it appears to me to be morally certain, that they must be numerous in all the states of modern creation; as also in those portions of the ancient states, which have been disposed of since the commencement of the revolution. Some of the states disposed of these vacant lands for paper money; this, depreciating rapidly, introduced speculators and land mongers, who, in their struggle to procure large tracts, covered the land of each other over and again with their claims.
Some of the states, who possessed vacant territory, bestowed a portion of it on their officers and soldiers. These claims, through inattention or mismanagement, became subject to litigation—doubtful titles will always produce speculation, and that of the most oppressive kind: the speculation of the artful and cunning upon the ignorant and unwary. In this conflict, in the remote parts of the union, the prospects of the weak by and artful land monger are flattering, indeed he may almost graduate his chances of success by calculating the degree of resistance which the ignorance or weakness of his antagonist will enable him to make. But, admitting that every title at its first creation was perfectly free from dispute, it is well known, in a country like ours, where there is no restraint on alienations, and when property, particularly the soil, in new countries is continually changing owners, what a perpetual source of litigation must exist.—That inconvenience to the wealthy and oppression to the poor, will result to the remote parts of the union by deciding their controversies in the federal courts, is too evident to deny. Let me now ask, what are the advantages to the parties or to the public, by retaining this jurisdiction? Is it that more complete justice will be rendered? Of that fact I really doubt, at the same time I mean to detract nothing from the talents, integrity or legal acquirements of those who now, or at any future time may, compose the supreme court of the U. States—completely to understand the decisions, principles and laws, both statute and common, which appertain to a single state, and to apply all these with judgment and uniformity, to the variety of cases which occur, is an intelligence possessed but by few men in each state; and even by those few, not without the aid of good talents, much application and long experience.
To become equally versed in the laws of seventeen states I believe not within the scope of any man's talents, and the difficulty, instead of decreasing will increase with our population and the accession of new states.—In all the states perhaps the most abstruse and difficult branch of the law,
is that which regards the titles to land. In most of them the system is different, is a system of its own very little resembling any to be found in the English books, from which are drawn most of our general legal notions. In some of the states, particularly in Tennessee and Kentucky (in the last of which states this proposition originated) most of whose land titles have been created since the commencement of the revolution, their systems of land laws compose an extensive science of abstruse and difficult investigation; to many of the states with this argument apply, at least to such portions of their territories as have been granted since the separation from Great Britain. It is not among the least of my objections to this jurisdiction, that it implies a distrust in the justice, as well as in the competency of the state courts; it exhibits a principle, odious and injurious in my view, that is by furnishing regulations intended for the accommodation of non-residents and foreigners alone, without having any regard to the inconvenience incurred by the resident citizens. I cannot discern the reason why property as well as persons should not be exclusively under the control of that government possessing jurisdiction over it. In this opinion I am, I think, supported by the president of the U. States, he, in his speech, when first sworn into office, says—"The support of the state governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies." And again—"When we consider that this government is charged with the external and mutual relations only of the states; that the states themselves have the principal care of our persons, our property, and our reputation; constituting the great field of human concerns, we may well doubt whether our organization is not too complicated."
I cannot discern the reason why in any state of things, the laws of the individual states, which regulate the property of those states, should be expounded by judges not amenable to the justice of those laws; I cannot discover the possible danger of partiality in decisions governed as the state courts must be, by honor, by respect for character, by justice, and by long established precedent.
But my strongest objection to this jurisdiction yet remains; an objection which I flatter myself cannot fail to strike every one alike. It is the phenomenon which it exhibits, of two independent judiciaries, of equal and concurrent jurisdiction, and neither acknowledging the superiority of, or, controlling the other—this is certainly a solecism in government.
It is visionary in theory; and must be mortal in practice. Some tribunal of exclusive final jurisdiction, must exist in all governments—upon no other principle, can one of the purposes of government be obtained; an equal & uniform administration of justice—two such courts of appellate jurisdiction cannot exist—to suppose their decisions will be the same on similar questions, is to suppose a perfection never yet attributed to man. But it is not necessary to reason on theory, when facts exist—a collision of opinions, a clashing of jurisdictions, was foreseen before the ratification of the federal constitution—in Kentucky, as I am told, it has actually happened—the title to a tract of 1000 acres of land sold to two different persons, one of whom went into the federal and the other into the state court; the cause has been adjudicated different ways. In one court, the title of one of the purchasers was supported; in the other it was destroyed. These are plain matters of fact; facts of the same kind have taken place in Pennsylvania, but it would be trespassing too long on your patience to go into the detail: these facts are before us, they require no comment, they are the inevitable result of such a state of things—they are effects which must forever flow from such causes.
But these are not all the consequences of this business; what is to prevent a collision, a conflict of authority in these courts in carrying the respective decisions into effect? Whole mandates are to be obeyed? Whom is the posse comitatus to obey? The sheriff or the marshal? Who has the right to interfere and control this conflict of authority? Sir, I believe the provision is a dangerous, and impracticable one; and I believe that wisdom and policy both require that it should be surrendered.
Far be it from me to detract from the wisdom displayed in this instrument. No human production is perfect. Excellent as it is in general, progressive knowledge and experience (the only unerring tests of human contrivances) have shown, that it is defective; in 16 years practice it has betrayed many defects which have required to be remedied; some of its
* President's speech, March 4th, 1801. † President's speech, December the 8th, 1802.
provisions have been found impracticable, and have been expunged, witnesses the suitability of states, the wisdom of its framers stamped on its face, a caution against its infallibility, by inserting in its provisions for remedying its imperfections—it is not usual to surrender power when once fairly acquired, but the general government of the United States can have no interest different from that of the states. The general government was instituted to promote the general interests of the states. Should the latter be oppressed by any operation of the former, the intention of the confederacy is so far defeated; and every deviation in practice from that object, tends to weaken its ties. I am one of those who believe, that the general and state governments are so intimately connected and so mutually dependant on each other, that the same destiny awaits them both; that their prosperity and duration are inseparable—if this impression be general, if the American people are in a progressive state of political improvement, and not only better understand the true principles of a free government, but also better understand the true art of practising on these principles than any other people on earth, as I believe they do, it is impossible that any danger can be apprehended or experienced from the amendment now under consideration, as the whole community are equally interested in the existence and prosperity of the general, as of the particular governments. The one as superintending and guarding their general, the other their local rights and interests, it will be equally their wish and care, to confine to each, the powers necessary to accomplish their respective objects.
Should, therefore, powers oppressive or embarrassing in their operation, be at any time improvidently bestowed on the general government; or, powers necessary to its successful administration be omitted to be granted, not a doubt can remain that as long as public virtue exists, they will be surrendered in the one case, and granted in the other.
In this question, there can be nothing local, nothing of party spirit to influence the result, on every portion of the community, or political men of every description, will the regulation be alike operative and salutary. Our opinion on the question are not local, the states will judge for themselves—if it is a proposition which, if its own merits cannot support and carry it through, will fail, all I ask is to give it an experiment. It comes from sections of the union attached to the constitution, and whose ardent zeal for its preservation is too well known and experienced, to be recalled to your recollection.
L Y N C H B U R G. THURSDAY JUNE 5, 1806.
The first wing of The Rev'd James Tompkins ACADEMY on Lynchburg Hill, will soon be completed.
The POST ROUTE, hence to Lexington, by Rachel, Elias's Mills, &c. &c. established by a law of the last Congress, will be carried into effect on the 1st of October next.
Worms.
The ravages, in many places, throughout the country already made in the present crop of corn and wheat by a species of worm, unknown before the last season, in this part of the world, excite considerable alarm. Their number and ruinous effects are almost incredible.—Like an Egyptian plague, their progress is destruction.
About 40 years ago in Pennsylvania, a similar worm threatened famine to some parts of that State. The method used there to save the wheat, was to sweep it night and morning, or oftener, with long poles carried horizontally between two persons: Thus, the worms were brushed to the earth, and by perseverance and repetition, the grain was miraculously preserved. This information was obtained here, a few days ago, from a traveller, then a boy, the descendant of a Pennsylvania farmer, who aided in the operation, for such was the destruction, and such the apprehensions of scarcity from this cause, that all who were capable of affording aid, were constantly employed.
With the following account we are obligingly favoured by a gentleman of this neighbourhood. It must be considered interesting. Such, or whatever other information, that may tend to promote the agricultural interests of the country, the basis of wealth, of comfort, and convenience, or to preserve the fruits of the husbandman's toil, will be thankfully received, and speedily made public.
"You asked me when I saw you last to give you some information of the worms so injurious to our crops of grain. They are of the Caterpillar genus, from two inches in length, down to half an inch; of a fine purple colour, with streaks of bright yellow, running lengthwise from head to tail.
In July last, they attacked my corn field, and destroyed the fodder of two
thirds of it, and nearly all the young shoots, by eating off the stalks.—About the tenth of this month I discovered them in my tobacco-ground wheat, where they were not last year. They eat all the blades of this wheat first, and afterwards, began upon the heads, which they have injured extremely. In some instances, they eat it as low, as it cut with a sythe, but generally only a part of the head.—They are now getting into my corn-ground wheat where they first appeared last year, and I have but little doubt they will destroy the greater part of it. They are innumerable in quantity, & rise out of the ground where the egg has been previously deposited. When the worm is of full growth, they quit eating & turn into a small fly of a gray colour, like our can'tle fly.—A gentleman of my acquaintance in Buckingham, told me that, he saw one of those flies lay sixty eggs in a few minutes."
I know of no way to destroy them, but by running small ditches in front of them, about twelve inches broad, and eight or nine inches deep, with the sides sloped under a little to prevent them crawling up again.—These ditches will soon get nearly filled, & the worms may then be destroyed by burning straw dragged along the ditches."
The following interesting communication originally appeared in the "Examiner" the principal Democratic News-paper in Virginia in its day; a paper conducted with spirit and unfinching firmness, and at a time, when the exercise of both, were no less perilous to the manly Editor, than they were eminently instrumental in re-establishing the genuine principles of true republicanism. Its appearance at this juncture, in the Richmond "Enquirer" (from which we copy it) is opportune. It must excite the deepest interest. It merits attentive perusal.
Although one of my age* can have little to hope, and less to fear, from forms of government, as rather belonging to the next world, than the present; and possibly may be charged with intermeddling where he has no interest, whenever he utters opinions concerning social regulations; yet I feel impelled by an anxious desire to promote the happiness of my country, to submit to the public consideration, some reflections on our present political state.
It is far from my intention to damp the public joy, occasioned by the late changes of our public agents, or to disturb the calm which already prefaces the most beneficial consequences; on the contrary, I consider this event as having arrested a train of measures which were gradually conducting us towards ruin.
These changes will be matter of tenfold congratulation, if we make the proper use of them: If instead of negligently reposing upon that wisdom and integrity, which have already softened even political malice, we seize the opportunity to erect new barriers against folly, fraud, and ambition; and to explain such parts of the constitution, as have been already, or may be interpreted contrary to the intention of those who adopted it.
This proposition does not argue a want of proper confidence in our present Chief Magistrate, but the contrary. It can be no tenure to believe that he has a nobler destiny to fulfil, than that of making his co-temporary countrymen happy for a few years, and that the rare event of such a character at the head of a nation, imposes on us the sacred duty of seizing the propitious opportunity, to do all in our power to perpetuate that happiness: as to that species of confidence, which would extinguish free and popular watchfulness, it is never desired by patriotism, nor ought to be yielded by freemen.
In pursuit of our purpose, we ought to keep in mind certain principles which we believe to be found; to enquire whether they have been violated under the constitution? And then consider how a repetition of those violations may be prevented.—A thus...
I. Government is instituted for the good of the community, and not to gratify avarice or ambition; therefore unnecessary increase of debt—appointment of useless officers, such as flat onary ministers to foreign courts, with which we have little connexion, and sixteen additional judges at a time when the business of the Federal Courts had greatly diminished—and engaging us in war abroad, for the sake of advancing party projects at home, are abuses in government.
II. The chief good derivable from government is civil liberty ; and if government is so constructed, as to enable its administrators to assail that liberty with the several weapons most fatal to it, the structure is defective; of this sort, Standing Armies—Fleets—severe Penal Laws—Wai—and a multitude of Civil Officers, are universally admitted to be; and if our government can, with ease and impunity, array these forces against social liberty, the constitution is defective.
III. Peace is undoubtedly that state which proposes to society the best chance for the continuance of freedom and happiness.
*Eighty.
ness; and the situation of America is such as to expose her to fewer occasions for war, than any other nation; whilst it also disables her from gaining any thing by war. But if, by indirect means, the executive can involve us in war, not declared by the Legislature; if a treaty may be made, which will incidentally produce a war, and the Legislature are bound to pass all laws to give it full effect; or if the judiciary may determine a war to exist, altho' the Legislature hath refused to declare it; then the constitution is defective since it admits constructions which pawn our freedom and happiness, upon the security of executive patriotism, which is inconsistent with republican principles.
IV. Union is certainly the basis of our political prosperity, and this can only be preserved by continuing, with precision, the federal government to the exercise of powers clearly required by the general interest, or respecting foreign nations, and the state governments to objects of a local nature; because the states exhibit such varieties of character and interest, that a consolidated general government would be in a perpetual conflict with state interests, from its want of local knowledge, or from a prevalence of local prejudice or interest, to as certainly to produce civil war and disunion. It then the distinct provinces of the general and state governments are not clearly defined; if the former may assail the latter by penalties, and by absorbing all subjects of taxation—if a system leading to consolidation, may be formed and pursued,—and if, instead of leaving it to the respective states to encourage their agriculture or manufactures as their local interest may dictate, the general government may by bounties or protecting duties, tax the one to promote the other; then the constitution has not sufficiently provided for the continuance of the union, by securing the rights of the state governments and local interests.
V. It is necessary for the preservation of republican government, that the legislative, executive, and judicial powers should be kept separate and distinct from each other, so that no man, or set of men, shall be authorised to exercise more than one of them.
Many of these when the constitution was voted for, were then, because of the union, which placed in hazard—for the amendments as yet defects—and the mean time, the instrument, might produce a proper tone is given to it by the several agents in it. But since experience has evinced, much mischief may be done under a wise administration, and that even the most valuable parts of the constitution may be evaded or violated, we ought no longer to rest our security on the vain hope which depends on the rectitude of fallible men in successive administrations. But now that the union is as firmly established by the general opinion of the citizens, as we can ever hope it to be, it behoves US to bring forward amendments, which may fix upon principles capable of restraining human frailties.
Having I trust, shown the utility and necessity of such efforts at this time, I will venture to submit to the consideration of my fellow-citizens with great humility and deference whether it would not be advisable to have the constitution amended.
1st. By rendering a President ineligible for the next term, and transferring from him to the Legislature, the appointment of the judges, and stationary foreign ministers; making the stipends of the latter to be no longer discretionary in the president. 2nd. By depriving the Senate of all Executive power; and shortening their term of service, or subjecting its members to removal by their constituents. 3rd. By rendering members of the legislature and the judges, whilst in office, and for a limited time thereafter, incapable of taking any other office whatsoever, (the offices of president and vice president excepted); and subjecting the judges to removal by the concurrent vote of both houses of Congress. 4th. By forming some check upon the abuse of public credit, which, though in some instances useful, like Fleets and Armies, may, like these, be carried to extremes dangerous to liberty, and inconsistent with economical government. 5th. By instituting a fair mode of impanelling juries. 6th. By declaring that no treaty with a foreign nation, so far as it may relate to peace or war,—to the expenditure of public money—or to commercial regu-