Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1813-01-07

every particular Wv .hors
comnit,ee from New York: othe''
h,y. been read to you by your eterk.
Ven have seen from Baltimore ana ITO"
Ro.ron statement. Of disinterested per-
sons. affidayits and letters when cary
on their face the evitence OF 'ndoonao'Ir
,rn,b all confirming the statements 0.
the committees. ask you, sir' """'
legislative testimony can DC strohs''
Inn this? / ask if the mere absence
Of the form of cross-examlnation IS
sufficient ground for rejecting TINS YES
,;uonv? / ask you, whether that 'es'
t;mony which would consign man 10
,he pallows, deprive him of life, Liberty
properly AID character ina Iudle'a' y;
rision, shall not here be received III e"
dcnce! No member OF the commll.es'
who looked at the gentlemen when 'pey
were tes,ifying could have oooo!eu ."e
General correctness of the testimony
The perseverins and ingenious exanl-
ration of membar OF that com,n'''ee
nut them TO the test. If they had been
Incorrect in their statements, the moor
RICHNESS must nave been detected. BUT
ren.lemcn say, there is some lnconsis'
tcncy in their statements. dr. 10 III
stance mas ever cone within my eeser'
rs,;on. where number Of persons were
examined. but sone diversity appeared
n their statements. 1t is aot given 10
human nature to he p.rfcct. Let gen
,,eurp examine the testimony and they
viii fad no material variance. They
nav 6nd, or suppose they find, in some
unluDorl;.rt particular difference In
| the sta,er!-nss Of one and halt per
cent they noy find some enumeration
| uf particulars winch are not properly
applicable 70 the Cases before US, which
is erroneous Bat take the whole pass
of testimony together, ah@ pledge my
self it /. substantially without contradlc.
ton. Let those who doubt on this sub
icct examine for themselves, and have
! no doubt Of their entire satisfaction at
| the result.
saw then, sir, that the mass of the
testimony proves that the great bulk OF
these goods belonged to bona hde Ane.
rican citizens, and were ordered or pur-
chased long before the revocation OF The
Orders in Council; that they were also
either paid for before that time. or with
money deposited in England before the
revocation, and were shipped in pursu-
ance of orders to ship when it should be
legal 10 do SO, or were shipped by per-
sons on the spot who had no reason to
doubt the legality of such shipments.-
1t fas been proved, also, that the ave
rage sales were not more than Is per
cent in advance of the prime cost. Let
the members of this house examine the
facts. l pledge myself for the substan-
tial accuracy of that statement, trat the
average advance on these importatIons
has aot exceeded IS per cent. 1t will
be found that the charges and duty FIRE.
ouently amount to from so to IS per
cent. and, excluding some Charges
Which are not invariably incurred, are
from 50 to SIS per cent. giving profit,
excluding charges not invariably incur
red, cf from 20 to IS per csnt. and lea
wing profit, over peace times, Of f.om
to 10 per cent. Gentlemen may fnd
particular instances Of greater profit, but
they are counterpoised by sales at cost
charges, and the result do aver to be
as have stated. And if this be the
case, l contend that so many OF the Pc
,itioners as are American cisizens and
bona .fde proprietors of the goods are
men entitled to the humane interposi
too of the legislature, and that it will be
worthy of this House to interposs in
their behalf
will not further discuss the question
of proof, except merely to advert to one
or two particulars respecting which
some observations fell from the gentle
man from Kentucky yesterday. He
said it was impossible for gentlemen un-
acquainted with mercantile concerns 10
detect .he errors or casuistry of gentle.
! men who we're; but, that if he could
| discover one error, il was fair to infer
there were others. II. sir, one material
error in these statements could be dis.
covered, It would be sufficient indeed to
excite the suspicious of the House, but
no, to condemn the statements which
have been made, because ali general
state ments must contain some inaccura.
cies. The gen,icman's rule therefore
will not hold But if on the face of the
testimony in whlck the gentleman thinks
| he discovers errors, there is a refuta.
ton of his supposed discoveries; wha,
shall we say? or if it will be found that
the gentleman is as much wrong in one
statement as he supposes thsy are in a.
mother, will not tine one error counter.
poise the other and cancel the objection
derived from II, even If proved /
think il will.