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li III

11 III Iii-
Jlffifl
'I givethtfe
for the founding if a ColUgt In this Cclotif '

•YAEJE-VMVEKSinnr-

DEPOSITED BY THE

LINONIAN AND BROTHERS LIBRARY

wtr.MBPitw.rMt

PORCUPINE'S
WORKS;
CONTAINING VARIOUS
WRITINGS AND SELECTIONS,
EXHIBITING A FAITHFUL PICTURE
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;
OF THEIR
GOVERNMENTS, LAWS, POLITICS, AND RESOURCES;
OF THE CHARACTERS OF THEIR
PRESIDENTS, GOVERNORS, LEGISLATORS, MAGIS
TRATES, AND MILITARY MEN;
AND OF THE
CUST,OMS, MANNERS, MORALS, RELIGION, VIRTUES
AND VICES
OF THE PEOPLE :
COMPRISING ALSO
A COMPLETE SERIES OP HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
AND REMARKS,
FROM THE END OF THE WAR, IN 1783,
TO THE
ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT, IN MARCH, 1801.
BY WILLIAM COBBETT.
IN TWELVE VOLUMES.
(A yolume to be added annually.)
VOL. V. .. J^"~- , .
nmmm,," " •¦¦ • ** s- ' -e .:¦>'.
LON
PRINTED FOR COBBETT AND V^OIliEiAN^- AT.. THE fiROYfV
AND MITRE, PA&fcjMAXt-i*
MAY, iSoi.

Cl>33.f35~

Printed by S. Gosnell,
Little Queen Street, Hulborn.

CONTENTS

OF

VOL. V.

Selections from Porcupine's Gazette, from the Begin
ning of March, to the End of May, 1797.

SELECTIONS

FROM

porcupine's gazette.

mmmmmmmm —

vol. r.

GAZETTE SELECTIONS.

Saturday, 4th March, 1797.
ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC.
A HE objects which this paper has in view have al
ready been fet forth, and that they are generally
approved of is demonftrated by the numbers of fub-
fcribers, that the propofals have brought from all
parts of the United States. Nothing feems neceifary
here, then, but to give a fketch of the manner in
which the publication will be conducted.
The editor of an advertifing paper, which was
ufhered tq the world not long lince, expreffed a
good deal of concern for the anxious fufpenfe of the
public mind reflecting his politics : and to fay the
truth, it is often a fubjecT: of curious fpeculation,
and one that would puzzle the moft accurate calcu
lators, to determine beforehand what will be the
politics of a news-monger. It is generally a thing
fo dependent upon circum fiances, fo entirely fub-
jected to the control of adventitious caufes, fuch,
for inftance, as the caprice of the multitude, the.
length of the purfes of certain wholefale fubfcribers,
&c &c. that it is extremely difficult, if not altoge
ther impoffible, for the public, or even the editor.
himfelf, to know what will be his politics, before
he begins to publifh, ©r, for any length of time,
s 2 after

4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
after he has begun. This ftate of uncertainty,
however, my readers and I are happily exempted
from. My politics, fuch as they are, are known to
every one ; and few, I believe, doubt of their conti
nuing the fame.
Profeffions of impartiality I fhall make none.
They are always ufelefs, and are befides perfect
nonfenfe, when ufed by a news-monger: for, he
that does not relate news as he finds it, is fomething
worfe than partial ; and as to other articles that help
to compofe a paper, he that does not exercife his
own judgment, either in admitting or rejecting
what is fent him, is a poor paffive tool, and not an
editor. For my part, I feel the ftrongeft partiality
for the catife of order and good government, fuch
as we live under, and againft every thing that is op-
pofed to it. To profefs impartiality here, would be
as abfurd as to profefs it in a war between Virtue and
Vice, Good and Evil, Happinefs and Mifery. There
may be editors who look on fuch a conflict with
perfect indifference, and whofe only anxiety, is to
difcover which is the ftrongeft fide. I am not one
of thefe, nor fhall a paper under my direction, ever
be made an inftrument of deftructiqn to the caufe I
efpoufe. Communications will be thankfully received. I
wifh my paper to be a rallying point for the friends
of Government. Here they may fpeak their minds
without referye. They may employ their leifure
hours, without fearing that their productions will be
rejected, or gutted, or frittered away, for fear of
offending this or that perfon, fociety, or nation. I
have not defcended from the Cenforial chair merely
to become a news-monger ; I have not made this
facrifice for the fake of augmenting the number of
retailers of fmall beer politics ; in fhort, I have not
taken up that cut-and-thruft weapon, a daily paper
without a refplutipn not only tQ make ufe of i( my'

MARClij 1797. $
felf, but to lend it to whomfoever is difpofed/to
affift me. But, as all the refponfibility muft alight
on me, it is no more than reafonable, that I fhould
have an abfolute power, to accept of, or to refufe,
whatever aid is offered me 5 and that this may be
exercifed unfettered by the fear of giving offence, I
think proper to notify, that I wifh to receive no com
munications (except from diftaiit correfpondents),
that are not depofitedin the letter-box, which, I have
for this purpofe placed in the window of my fhop,
and which will be kept open till ten o'clock in the
evening. Gentlemen at a diftance, who think my
undertaking worthy of their aid, will pleafe to direct
their letters to me, poft paid ; and I take this op
portunity of requefting all my correfpondents in the
United States, whether they write on their bufinefs
or mine, to pay the poftage and place it to my ac
count. This is a regulation I have been obliged to
adopt, to difappoint certain democratic blackguards,
who, to gratify their impotent malice, and put me to
expenfe, fend me loving epiftles, full of curfes and
Bawdry. It will naturally be expected, that a paper pub
lifhed in five weeks from the day of its being pro-
pofed, muft, for a time, exhibit a want of early
pofleflion of intelligence to be derived from corre
spondents in foreign countries ; but, I truft, this
will not long be vifible, as I have taken meafures,
which I doubt not will prove efficacious, for a
regular fupply of papers from every port of confe-
quence in Great Britain, France, and Irelandj and
in the Weft Indies. In the mean time, I fhall
be extremely- obliged to any gentlemen for the
ufe of papers of recent date, or for important
news of any kind, in whatever way if may come to
hand: Befides the ufual fource of foreign intelligence,
the public papers, it is my intention to give extracts
b 3 from

6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
from all the good political pamphlets, publifhed ill
London ; from which a much better idea of *he J**1
fituation of affairs is generally to be gathered, than
from fhe promifciious mifcellany of a newfpaper. 1
I will not promife to publifh tranflations from trench
pamphlets ; becaufe fuch is the " unreftrained li
berty of the prefs" among that free and enlightened
people, that I much fear no political pamphlets are
publifhed. One thing I will promife, however, and
that is, to fpare neither pains nor coft to come at
the exact ftate of flavery, and its confequent mifery,
that the people of that once happy country are now
groaning under. Not that I would by any means
undertake, with the beft poffible information, to
give a full account of the feven hundred and five
harlequin tyrants and all the devil's tricks they have
played and are playing; but I think it would be
extremely ufeful, at this time, to place the fituation
of France in a true light : one fuch example is better
than all the precepts in the world.
The price of Advertifements will, of courfe, be
according to the propofed conditions, and, in this
line, I think, " Porcupine's Gazette" need not fear
a rival. The fubfcribers already amount to more
than a thoufand, not including fome hundreds
whofe names have not yet reached me. This paper
has more fubfcribers at Baltimore, New-York, and
at almoft every town of note along the great poft
road, than any two other papers publifhed in Phi
ladelphia. The laft paragraph may, by fome, be conftrued
into a boaft ; but when a man declares what it is
his intereft to declare, and does not depart from the
truth, no one can juftly accufe him either of vanity
or deception. Such a declaration docs not refemble
thofe public thankfgivings (of which we have lately
fcen fo many) for hundreds of fubfcribers never ob
tained, and a "liberal proportion of adverrifing; favours,"

MARCH, 1797, 7
favours," never received. This is finging Te Deum
after a defeat, or after a fevere repulfe at leafh
After acknowledging the encouragement I have
received, I fhould not conclude, perhaps, without
thanking my fubfcribers ; but I truft they will give
my filence on this fubject the proper interpretation.
I never Was maftef of the God-blefs-your-honour
ftyle ; and as I have at this time promifed to lend my
feeble fupport to a good caufe, I imagine that a
punctual adherence to that promife is the beft and
moft unequivocal mode of expreffing my gratitude to
thofe who have favoured my undertaking.

To Franklin Bache, Editor of the Aurora.
Sir,
Your vehicle of lies and fedition, of Saturday lair,
contained the following paragraph :
" From a Correfpondent. — Speech of Peter Porcupine.
" In converfation a few days ago the Britifh cor-
'• poral declared, ' that he never would forgive the
" Americans for their rebellion againft their king,
" and that he never would reft until they were re-
" duced to their former obedience.' If the fellow,
" whofe back ftill exhibits the marks of his former
" virtue, fhould dare to deny this, it can be fub-
" ftantiated by undoubted evidence. After this
" fpeech it may be well to repeat, that Peter Porcu-
" pine is confidered the champion of the fede-
" ralifts! ! !"
Now, pray, is this of your manufacture, or is it
really from a correfpofident ? , If you own it for.
yours, I affert that you are a liar, and an infamous
feoundrel : if you do not, your correfpondent has
my free leave to take thofe appellations to himfelf.
Having thus fettled the point of courtefy, give me
leave to,afk you, my fweet fleepy-eyed fir, what end
b 4 ' you

S GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
you could propofe to yourfelf in publifhing not only
what you knew to be a falfehood, but what you
muft, if you are not quite an idiot, perceive every
one elfe would look upon as fuch ?. Do you dread.
the effeas of my paper ; and do you imagine that a
poor miferably conftruaed falfehood of your pub
lifhing will tend to obftrua its fuccefs ? If you do,
you are egregioufly miftaken. Not alMhat you and
your correfpondents can fay, not all the reports of
your fpies, nor all the aflignats of your Gallic
friends, difpofed of in bribes, will ever be able to
rob me of a fingle fubfcriber.
But, I cannot for my life fee, why you fhould
wrangle with me. " Two of a trade can never
agree.*' Very true ; but I hope in God my trade is
very different from yours. We are, to be fure,
both of us news-mongers by profeffion ; but then,
the articles that you have for fale are very different
from mine. Befides, you fell yours wholefale ; a
line which I fhall be many years before I arrive at.
Your exportation bufinefs, too, is a branch that I am
fure I never fhall interfere with ; and as to the give
away trade*, which forms no contemptible portion
of your commerce (and perhaps none of the leaft
profitable), you may, for me, have the exclufive en
joyment of it for life. No one fhall have my paper
that does not pay for it.

* Bache was paid by the three fucceffive French Ambafladors^
Genet, Fauchet, and Adet, for ioo of each number of his gazette,
which were fent to Europe, and for 300 more, which were dis
tributed amongft the people gratis. The newipapers are not, in
America, purchafed in quantities, and diftributed to the readers, by
hruifmen. There are no perfons of this defcriptiorr in that countrv.
The proprietor diftributes all his papers by the afliftance of car
riers, who, in going through the ftreets, can eafily fcatter their
papers amongft the people, unperceived. The French agents have
availed themfelves of this circumftance, and have never failed, on
any important occafion, of propagating amongft the people thofe
©pinions which they wiftied to fee adopted.
' Whv

MARCH, 1797. 9
Why then, in the name of all that is rafcally and
corrupt, cannot you let me alone ? I tell you what,
Mr. Bache, you will get nothing by me in- a war of
words ; and fo you may as well abandon the conteft
while you can do it with a good grace. I do not
with (and I call on the public to remember what I
fay), I do not with to fill my paper with perfonal
fatire and abufe ; but I will not be intuited with
impunity ; and particularly by you. I have not
forgotten your pointing out the propriety of defcrib-
ing my perfon, and hinting at the fame time the dark
purpole of fo doing : I have not forgotten, that
while a mob of vile infamous pamphleteers were
barking round me, the grandfon of old Franklin
publifhed a paragraph fetting forth the juftice of
cutting my throat. You thought they had laid me
iprawling, and, like a bafe cur, came to have your
fnap among the reft. I have not forgotten all this ;
but I fee no neceffity for teafing the1 public with a
repetition of it ; and for the fame reafon I wifh to
avoid all perfonality whatever. Our readers, and
efpecially thofe of this city, know already every
thing that is worth knowing about you and me. No
thing that we can fay will alter their opinions of us ;
and as for altering our opinions of one another, that
is a thing not to be thought of. I am getting up in
the world, and you are going down ; for this reafpn
it is that you hate me, and that I defpife you ; and
that you will preferve your hatred and I my con
tempt, tilf fortune gives her wheel another turn,
or till death fnatches one or the other of us from the
fcene. It is therefore ufelefs, my dear Bache, to fay any
more about the matter. Why fhould we keep buf-
fetting and fpurring at each other ? Why fhould we
rend and tear our poor reputations to pieces, merely
for the diverfion of the fpeaators ? A great number
of'perfpns, rather lovers of fun than of decency, have
4 already

to GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
already pitted us, and are prepared to enjoy the
combat. Let us difappoint them ; let us walk about
arm in arm : many a couple, even of different lex,
do this, and at the fame time like one another no
better than we do. .
Your pride may, indeed, rejeft the foCiety of a
Britifh corporal, as you very juftly ftyle me ; but,
my dear Sir, whatever we have been, we are now
both of the fame honeft calling. Nobody looks
upon you as the grandfon of a philofopher and an
ambaffador. People call you (they do indeed) Be»
Bache the newfman; nothing more I affure you.
And, as they have no regard to your illuftrious de-
fcdnt, fo you may be fure they will not long remem
ber the meannefs of mine.
Once more, then, I fay, let us be friends. You
will profit from my converfation. I fhall convince
you, as well by precept as example, that it is a folly
for a man to print papers and throw them about the
ftreets. As I began this letter without ceremony, fo I fhall
end it.
P. PORCUPINE.

Britifh Commerce and Finances — Among all the
fqurces of public deception, none has been oftener
reforted to, by the papers in the pay of France, than
the ruined commerce and exhaufted finances of Bri
tain. I do not know how it has happened, but they
certainly have fucceeded in perfuading a confiderable
portion of the people, that England muft fink under
the burden of the prefent conteft, merely for want of
the means of fupporting it. They have, againft
reafon, and ocular demonflrafion, contrived to pro
pagate this opinion, till it begins to be looked upon
as a fort of political herefy to difbelieve their re
ports. Yet notwithftanding all this, their reports
on this fubjea are, and ever have been, fraught with
mifrepre-

MARCH, 1797. ri
mifreprefentation, and fomefimes with abfolute falfe
hood. I fhall not flop here to inquire, how it comes to
pafs, that the commerce and finances of Britain arc
looked upon as fubjeas of fuch importance here as
to be worth mifreprefentation ; it is fufficient to me
that it is fo ; and whatever is worth mifreprefenting,
is worthy of being placed ih a true light.
The Marquis of Lanfdown, whofe fingers itch to
be playing with the guineas in the Englifh Exche
quer, brought forward feme time ago a firing of refo-
lutions (nearly as long as that of Citizen Madifon, of
irkfome memory), by which the Lords were to make
a public confeffion of the wretched ftate to which, by
their own imbecility, they had fuffered tbe king's
minifters to reduce the nation, and concluded his
penitential propofifions with the following exhorta
tion ;
" In a fituation fo alarming, and fo manifeftly
" tending to deftroy the confidence of the people in
'¦' parliament, which (as every refleaing man muft
" have with deep concern obferved) has for fomeyears
** part been rapidly on the decline ; it behoves par-
" liament, by a timely revival of its ancient energy
" and integrity, to convince the people that their
** conftitutional guardians are awake to the common
" danger, and are determined to come forward with
" fuch firm meafures of public order and reform, as
iC will effeaually relieve the fubjea, and remedy
" evils which, if ftill fuffered to accumulate, will
fC be paft all remedy, and muft inevitably terminate
*c in public confufion."
On this a debate enfued, during the courfe of
which Lord Auckland went into a full and complete
examination of the fubjea, concluding a fpeech
of great length with the following condolatory re
marks : « I fhall,

i a GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" I fhall, my Lords, clofe this comparative account
" by a ftriking and important ftatement.
" Amount of revenue (including the
" land and maltj below the com-
" puted expenditure on a peace
" eftablifhment of fifteen millions,
« 1783, - - £.2,000,000
" Ditto above the computed expendi-
" ture on a fimilar peace eftablifh-
" ment, with the addition of in-'
cc creafed charges for the debt in-
«' curred by the prefent war, 1 795, £.3,400,606
" Ifwecomparetheexcefsof 1795 (£.3,400,000)
with the deficiency of 1783 (£. 2,000,000), the dif
ference of the revenue in favour of the latter period
will be £.1,400,000.
" Your Lordfhips cannot fail to have remarked
that all thefe objeas converge in a remarkable man
ner towards the fame conclufion ; and that coinci
dence is an irregular proof that they all fpring from
the fame fource, the real profperity of the country.
If there is any inaccuracy in my ftatements, I am
perfuaded it is inconfiderable, and certainly it is not
intentional. " Faas, fuch as thefe, my Lords, greatly out
weigh all the declamations that the genius and elo
quence of mankind can produce. I fhall leave them
therefore without comment; they fufficiently en
force themfelves. They are unequivocal proofs of
the refources of the kingdom ; no man can look
with an unprejudiced eye at fuch ftatements, and
not perceive that this country has increafed in pro
fperity even under the preffure of the war.
" To what, under the proteaion and favour of
Divine Providence, fhall fuch profperity be afcribed?
To our naval fuperiority and fucceffes ; to our con-
quefts in the Eaft and Weft Indies ; to the acquisi
tion of new markets ; to the enterpri'fing fpirit of our
merchants 5

MARCH, 1797. 13
merchants ; to the improvements of our manufac
tures ; to the energy of our countrymen in arts and
in arms ; to the union of liberty with law; to the
national character cherifhed by, and cherifhing, the
principles of our inimitable conftitution ; that con
ftitution, which it has been the objea of our enemies
to deftroy, by means and efforts utterly deflruaive
to themfelves ; that conftitution which is the great
purpofe of our ftruggles, in that juft and neceffary
war, to preferve and to maintain."
This' day Mr. John Adams entered on his func
tions, as Prefident, and Mr. Jefferfon on his as
Vice Prefident, of the United States of America.
The ceremony of inftalment took place at twelve
o'clock, in the Houfe of Reprefentatives, in prefence
of the members of that Houfe and of the Senators.
Citizen Adet. — It is faid that this fufpended minif-
ter is aaiially preparing to leave us. Whether' he
is to be fucceeded by fome other graduate from "the
lchool of infurreaion, is not yet afcertained; but
there is every reafon to fuppofe that his poft'will not
long remain vacant,
Mr. Vans Murray, a member of the Federal Houfe
of Reprefentatives, from the State of Maryland, is
appointed Minifter Plenipotentiary from the United
States to the Republic of Holland.
Stock — Six per cent
Three per cent.
41-2 per cent.
5 1-2 per cent. - r
Deferred fix per cent.
Bank of the United States,
"i — 1  » — Pennfylvania, ¦
*  North America,

- 17/
- - 10/

16
20
45

12/3
I-? per cent,
do. do.
Jnfurance

U GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Infurance Comp. N. A. fhares, 35 per cent.
- — r-r—  Pennfylvania, 4 Per cent- adv"
Ctatr/i of Exchange— On London, at 30 days, par
—  at 60 days, - - 65
- at 90 days,

Amfterdam, 60 days, per guilder, - 4°
—  50 days, - . «¦ - 42
Monday, 6th March.
Philadelphia.— Saturday morning, the Senate of
the United States, being convened in their chamber,
on the call of the late Prefident, Thomas Jefferfoij
was fworn in as Vice Prefident of the United States,
and Prefident of the Senate. He addreffed them
in the following extempore fpeech :
" Gentlemen of the Senate,
" Entering on the duties of the office to which
I am called, I feel it incumbent on me to apologize
to this honourable Houfe, for the infufficient man
ner in which I fear they may be difcharged. At an
earlier period of my life, and through fome confider-
able portion of it, I have been a member of legifla-
tive bodies ; and not altogether inattentive to the
forms of their proceedings. But much time has
clapfed ; finee that, other duties have occupied my
mind; in a great degree it has loft its familiarity
with this fubjea. I fear that the Houfe will have
but too frequent occafion to perceive the truth of
this acknowledgment. — If a diligent attention, how
ever, will enable me to fulfil the funaions now af*
figned me, I may promife that diligence and atten
tion fhall be feduloufly employed. For one portion
of my duty I will engage with more confidence,
becaufe it will depend on my will, • not on my
capacity. " The rules which are to govern the proceedings
^ of

MARCH, 1797. 15
of this Houfe, fo far as they fhall depend on me for
their application, fhall be applied with the moft ri
gorous, and inflexible impartiality, regarding neither
perfons, their views nor principles, and feeing only
the abftract propofition fubjea to my deciiion. If,
in forming that opinion, I concur with fome and
differ from"others, as muft of neceffity happen, J
fhall rely on the liberality and candour of thofe from
whom I differ, to believe that I do it on pure mo
tives. 1 might -here proceed, and with the greateft
truth to declare, my zealous attachment to the Con
ftitution ,of the United States,' that I confider the
union of thefe ftates as the firft of bleffings, and as
the firft of duties, the prefervation of that Conftitu
tion which fecures it ; but I fuppofe thefe declara-r
tions not pertinent to the occafion of entering into
an office whofe primary bufinefs is merely to prefide
over the forms of this Houfe : and no one more fin-r
cerely prays, that no accident may call me to the
higher and more important funaions which the Con
ftitution eventually devolves on this office. Thefe
have been juftly confided to the eminent charadter
which has preceded me here, whofe talents and in
tegrity have been known and revered by me through
a long courfe of years, and have been the foundation
of a cordial and uninterrupted friendfhip between
ns; and I devoutly pray he may be longpreferved
for the government, the happinefs, and profperity
of our common country *." " Soon

* A declaration more falfe and hypocritical than this, never
difgraced a public, affembly. Not only had JdfFerfon been the rival
candidate of Adams, not only had he feen every bafe and wicked art
made ufe of to degrade and difappoint his opponent, but it was
notorious, that he himfelf had written feveral moft artful and in-
femous. libels againft the man whom he here pretends to love and
refpeft, and for whofe life, health, and continuance in office he
affe&s to pray ! The fable of the Fox and the Grapes is but too
frequently

i

|6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" Soon after, the Senale removed to the Cham
ber of the Houfe of Reprefentatives.
" At an early hour, a great number of citizens
had affembled round Congrefs Hall to witnefs the
retirement of our late worthy Prefident Wafhing-
ton from public life : the concourfe increated to
fuch a degree as to fill the flreet, and when the gal
lery doors were thrown open, the Houfe was fud-
denly filled up to overflowing. The ladies added
to the dignity of the fcene, numbers of them were
feated in the chairs' of the Reprefentatives, and
others were accommodated with feats on the floor of
the Houfe.
" A few minutes after, the Senate arrived, pre
ceded by their Prefident ; George Wafhington en
tered, but before he had advanced half way acrofs
the floor, a burft of applaufe broke forth from every
quarter of the Houfe — on the entrance of John
Adams like marks of approbation were expreffed."
The Chief Juftice of the United States, Oliver
Elfworth, together with Judges Cufhing, Wilfon,
and Iredell, were feated at a table in front of, the
elevated feat ; John~ Adams then took his oath of
office, as Prefident of the United States, and deli
vered the following fpeech :
" When it was firft perceived, in early times, that
no middle courfe for America remained, between
unlimited fubmiffion to a foreign legiflature, and a
total independence of its claims ; men of refleaion
were lefs apprehenfive of danger, from the formida
ble power of fleets and armies, they muft determine
to refift, than from thofe contefts and diffenfions,
which would certainl y afife, concerning the forms of

frequently found applicable to the conduct of public men ; but,:
for a man to put up a petition to Heaven that he may long be kept-
from the poll for which he has been a candidate, is a flcetch of
hypocrify unexampled even amongft republican patriots. government

MARCH, 1797, 17
government to be infiituted, over the whole and
over the parts of this extenfive country. Relying,
however, on the purity of their intentions, the juf-
tice of their caufe, and the integrity and intelligence
of the people uuder an over-ruling Providence,
which had fo fignaily proteaed this country from the
firft, the Reprefentatives of this nation, then con-
fifting of little more than half its prefent' numbers,
not only broke to^ pieces the chains which were
forging, and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but
frankly cut afunder the ties which had bound them,
and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.
" The zeal and ardour of the people, during the
revolutionary war, fupplying the place of govern
ment, commanded a degree of order, fuffieient at
leaft for the temporary prefervation of fociety. — The
confederation, which was early felt to be neceffary,
was prepared from the models of the Batavian and
Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which re
main with any detail and precifion, in hiftory, and
certainly the only ones, which the people at large
had ever confidered. But refleaing on the striking
difference, in fo many particulars, between this
country and thofe where a courier may go from the
feat of government to the frontier in a fingle day, it
was then certainly forefeen by feme who affifted in
Congrefs at the formation of it, that it could not be
durable. " Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its
recommendations, if not difobedience to its autho
rity, not only in individuals but in States, foon ap
peared with their melancholy confequences — univer
sal languor, jealoufies and rivalries of States ; de
cline of navigation and commerce ; difcouragement
of neceffary manufaaures ; univerfal fall in the
value of lands and their produce ; contempt of pub
lic and private faith ; lofs of consideration and
credit with foreign nations ; and at length in dif-
vol. v. c contents,

is GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
contents, animofities, combinations, partial con
ventions, and infurreaions, threatening fome great
national calamity.
' " In this dangerous crifis, the people of America
were not abandoned by their ufual good fenfe, pre-
fence of mind, refolution, or integrity. Meafures
were purfued to concert a plan, to form a more 'per-
fea union, eftablifh juftice, enfure domeftic tran
quillity, provide for the common defence, promote
the general welfare, and fecure the bleffings of li
berty. The public difquilitions, difcuflions, and
deliberations, iffued in the prefent happy Conftitution
of Government.
" Employed in the fervice of my country abroad
during the whole courfe of thefe tranfaaions, I firft
faw the Conftitution of the United States in a foreign
country. Irritated by no literary altercations, ani
mated by no public debate, heated by no party ani-
mofity, I read it with great fatisfaaion, as a refult
of good heads, prompted by good hearts ; as an ex
periment better adapted to the genius, charaaer,
fituation and relations of this nation and country,
than any which had ever been propofed or fuggefted.
In its general principles and great outlines, it was
conformable to fuch a fyftem of government as I
had ever moft efteemed, and in fome States, my own
native State in particular, had contributed to efta
blifh. Claiming a right of fuffrage, in common
with my fellow-citizens, in the adoption or rejeaion
of a Conftitution which was to rule me and my pos
terity, as well as thera and theirs, I did not hefitate
to exprefs my approbation of it on all occafions in
public and in private. It was not then, nor has been
finee, any objeaion to it, in my mind, that the
Executive and Senate were not more permanent. 
Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting
any alteration in it, but fuch as the people then£
felves, in the courfe of their experience, fhould fee
and

MARCH, 1797. 19
and feel fo be neceffary or expedient, and by their
Reprefentatives in Congrefs and the State Legifla-
tures, according to the Conftitution itfelf, to adopt
and ordain.
" Returning to the bofom of my country, after a
painful feparation from it for ten years, I had the.
honour to be eleaed to a ftation under the new order
of things, and I have repeatedly laid myfelf under
the moft ferious obligations to fupport the Conftitu
tion. The operation of it has equalled the moft
fanguine expeaation of its friends : and from an ha
bitual attention to it, fatisfaaion in its adminiftra-
tion and delight in its effeas, npon the peace, order,
profperity and happinefs of the nation, I have ac
quired an habitual attachment to it and veneration
for it.
'•' What other form of government indeed can fo
well deferve our efteem and love ?
" There may be little folidity in an ancient idea^
that congregations of men into cities and nations,
are the moft pleating objeas in the fight of fuperior
intelligences; but this is very certain, that to a be
nevolent humane mind, there can be no fpectacle
prefented by any nation, more pleafing, more noble,
majeftic,, or auguft, than an affembly, like that
which has fo often been feen in this and the other
chamber of Congrefs, of a government, in which
the executive authority, as well as that, of all the
branches of the Legiflature, are exercifed by citizens
feleaed, at regular periods, by their neighbours, to
make and execute laws for the general good. Can
any thing effential, any thing more than mere orna
ment and decoration, be added to this by robes .or
diamonds ? Can authority be more amiable or re-
fpeaable, when it defcends from accidents, or in-
ftitutions eftablifhed in remote antiquity, than when
it fprings frefh from the hearts and judgments of an ho-
neft and enlightened people ? For it is the people only
c 2 that

20 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
that are reprefented : it is their power and majefty,
that is refkaed, and only for their good, in every
legitimate government, under whatever form it may
appear. The exiflence of fuch a government as
ours for any length of time, is a full proof of a ge
neral diffemination of knowledge and virtue through
out the whole body of the people. And what ob
jea or confideration more pleafing than this can be
prefented to the human mind ? If national pride is
ever juftifiable or excufable, it is when it fprings,
not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but
from conviaion of national innocence, information^.
and benevolence.
" In the midft of thefe pleafing ideas, we fhould
be unfaithful to ourfelves, if we. fhould ever lofe
fight of the danger to our liberties, if any thing
partial or extraneous fhould infea the purity of our
free, fair, virtuous and independent elections. —
If an election is to be determined. by a majority of
a fingle vote, and that can be procured by a party,
through artifice or corruption, the government may
be the choice of a 'party for its? own 'ends, not of the
nation, for the national good. If that folitary fuf-
frage can be obtained by foreign nations by flattery
6r menaces, by fraud or violence,* by terror, intrigue,
or Penality, the government may not be the choice
of the American people, but of foreign nations. It
may 'be foreign nations who govern us, and not we
the people who govern ourfelves. And candid men
will acknowledge, that, in fuch cafes^ choice fhould
have little advantage to boaft of, over lot or chance. .
- " Such is the amiable and interefting fyftem of
government (and fuch are fome of the abufes. to
which it may be expofed) which the people of Amei
rica have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of
the wife and virtuous of all nations, for eight years,
under the adminiftration of a citizen, who, by a
long courfe of great aaions, regulated by prudence, juftice,

MARCH, 1797. 21
juftice, temperance, and fortitude; conduaing a
people infpired with the fame virtues, and animated
with the fame ardent patriotifm and love of liberty,
to independence and peace, to increafing wealth and.
unexampled profperity ; has merited the gratitude
of his fellow-citizens, commanded the higheft praifes
of foreign nations, and fecured immortal glory with
pofterity. " In that retirement which is his voluntary choice,
may he long live to enjoy that delicious recolleaion
of his fervices, the gratitude of mankind, the happy
fruits of them to himfelf and the.\^orld, which are
daily increafing, and that fplendid profpea of the
further fortunes of his country, which is opening
from year to year. His name may be ftill a ram?-
part; and the knowledge that he lives, a bulwark
againft all ppen or fecret enemies of his country's
peace. " This example has been recommended to the
imitation bf his fucceffors, by both Houfes of Con
grefs, and by the voice of the legiflatures and the
people throughout the nation.
fc- On this fubjea it might become me better to be
filent, cr to fpeak with diffidence : but as fomething
may be expeaed, the occafion, I hope, will be ad
mitted as an apology, if I venture to fey, that
" If a preference, upon principle, of a free repub
lican government, formed upon long and ferious re-
ffeaion, after a diligent and impartial inquiry after
truth; if an attachment to the Conftitution of the
United States, and a confeientious determination to
fupport it, until it fhall be altered by the judgments
and wifhes of the people, expreffed in the mode pre
ferred in it ; if a refpeaful attention to the con-
ftitutions of the individual States, and a conftant
caution and delicacy towards the State governments;
if an equal and impartial regard to the rights, in-
terefts, honour, and happinefs of all the States of
c 3 the

22 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
the Union, without preference or regard to a north
ern or f iuthern, an eaftern or weftern pofition,
their various political opinions on uneffential points,
or their perfonal attachments ; if a love of virtuous
men of all parties and denominations ; if a love of
fcience and letters, and a with to patronize every ra-^
tional effort to encourage fchools, colleges, univer-
flties, academies, and every inftitution for propar
fating knowledge, virtue, and religion among all
laffcs of the people, not only for their benign influ
ence on the happinefs of life, in all its ftages and
clafles, and of fociety in all its forms ; but as the
only means of preferring our Conftitution from
its natural enemies, the fpirit of fophiftry, the
fpirit of party, the fpirit of intrigue, the pro
fligacy of corruption, and the peflilence of fo
reign influence, which is the angel of deflruaion
to eleaive governments ; if a love of equal laws, of
juftice and humanity, in the interior adminiftration ;
if an inclination to improve agriculture, commerce^
and manufaaures, for neceflity, convenience, and
defence; if a fpirit of equity and humanity toward?
the abpriginal nations of America, and a difpolition
to meliorate their condition, by inclining them to
be more friendly to us, and our citizens to
be more friendly to them; if an inflexible deter
mination to maintain peace and inviolable faith
with all nations, and that fyftem of neutrality and
impartiality toward the belligerent powers of Europe,
which has been adopted by this government, ahdfo
folemnly fanaioned by both Houfes of Congrefs,
and applauded by the legiflatures of the States and
the public opinion, until it fhall be otherwife or
dained by Congrefs ; if a perfonal efteem for the
French nation, formed in a refidence of feven years
phiefly among them, and a fincere defire to preferve
the friendfhip which has been fo much for the ho
nour and intereft of both nations ; if, while the
confcious

MARCH, 1797. %i
confcious honour and integrity of the people of
America, and the internal fentiment of their own
powers and energies, muft be preferved, an earneft
endeavour to invefligate every juft caufe and remove
every colourable pretence of complaint ; if an inten
tion to purfue by amicable negotiation, a repara
tion for the injuries that have been committed on
the commerce of our fellow- citizens by whatever
nation ; and if fuccefs cannot be obtained, to lay
the faas before the legiflature, that they may con-
fider what further meafures the honour and intereft
of the government and its conftituents demand ; if
a refolution to do juftice, as, far as may depend upon
me, at all times and to all nations, and maintain
peace, friendfhip, and benevolence with all the
world ; if an unfhaken confidence in the honour,
fpirit, and refources of the American people, on
which I have fo often hazarded my all, and never
been deceived ; if elevated ideas of the high deflinies
of this country, and of my own duties towards it,
founded on a knowledge of the moral principles and
intelleaual improvements of the people, deeply en
graven on my mind in early life, and not obfcured
but . exalted by experience and age: and, with
humble reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add,, if a
veneration for the religion of a people, who profeis
and call themfelves Chriftians, and fixed refolution
to confider a decent refpea for Chriftianity among
the beft recommendations for the public fervice ;
can enable me, in any degree, to comply with your
withes, it fhall be my ftrenuous endeavour that this
fagacious injunaion of tbe two Houles fhall not be
without effea.
" With the great example before me; with the
fenfe and fpirit, the faith and honour, the duty and
intereft of the fame American people, pledged to
fupport the Conftitution of the United States, I
entertain no doubt of its continuance in all its
c 4 energy,

24 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
energy, and my mind is prepared, without hefitatio»>
to lay myfelf under the rpoft folemn obligations to
fupport it to the utmoft of my power.
" And may that Being, who is fupreme over all,
the patron of order, the fountain of juflice, and the
protector, in all ages of the world, of virtuous liberty,
continue his blefling upon the nation and its govern
ment, and give it all poffible fuccefs and duration,
confiftent w,hh the ends of his providence."

Tuesday, 7th March.
To the Public. — Moft of my readers will recoi
led, that, about the time I entered into the book-
felling -bufinefs, a publication appeared, entitled,
" Chriftianity contrafted with Deifm ; by Peter
Porcupine." This attack on the Chriftian Religion
was firft publifhed at New- York, and the fidtitious
name, which I had long before affumed, was placed
to it, either to difcredit my performances, or for the
moft innocent purpofe of promoting the fale of the
work. I immediately denied it, and Mr. Fenno
was fo obliging as to publifh that denial. It died
away : its demerit in point of ftyle, as well as mat
ter, was its paffport to oblivion. Yet, to anfwer
fome end or other, it is now revived, and very in-r
duftrioufly circulated.
Merely as a bookfeller's puff I can have no objec
tion to the ufe of my affumed name : it is, on the
contrary, rather flattering to my vanity as an author,
to obferve that the affumption is looked upon as a
recommendation to purchafers ; more efpecially as
the title is completely equivocal ; for no Qne can tell
by it whether the contraft be favourable to Chrif
tianity or not. But, in the other point of view, look-,
ing on the ufe of my name as intending to fix the
odium of the deteftable performance on me, I have
very great objeaions to it. I would lie under any
other

MARCH, 1797, $s
other imputation, that can poflibly fpring from the
fertile brain of difappointed malice, rather than that
of endeavouring to fop the foundation of the Chrif
tian faith ; the rock to which we all cling in the
hour of diftrefs, and without which the idea of death,
or even the remoteft fymptom of mortal difeafe, ap
pals the ftouteft heart.
In the rigid fenfe of the term, I am certainly very
far from being a Chriftian. I feel the dominion of
the turbulent paffions : when my coat is taken from
me, I cannot give my cloak ; nor does a buffet on one
cheek incline me patiently to turn.the other. But as
far as profeffions can go, whether verbally or in
writing, I truft I have fome pretentions to that eha-
raaer. Let any one examine my publications, from
the firft to the laft, and fay, if he can, that they con
tain even a hint that leads towards infidelity. What
ever ill qualities I may poffefs, that of hypocrify is
not one of them, every body will allow. Had I
been a deift, I fhould have declared it long ago. It
is impoffible for me to fupprefs the utterance of
what I think. Thofe who have read the Striaures
on Tom Paine's Age of Reafon, on the doarines of
Prieftley, and on the impious proceedings of the
French affemblies, will do well to compare them
with the other parts of my writings, and then judge
whether it bepoflible for the fame man to be at once
capable of fuch profound diflimulation and fuch
indifcreet opennefs.
But the work in queftion carries on the face of it
the marks of impofture. Had I aaually written it,
can it be fuppofed that I would have put that very
name to it, under which I had ufed all my feeble ef
forts to difcountenance and reprobate the opinions it
inculcates ? Had I been hypocrite enough to write
in defence of a religion that I did not believe in$
would not the fame hypocrify have taught me to af-
fame another name, when I began to attack it ? Tq
fuppofe

«6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fuppofe the contrary is an abfurdity too grofs to me
rit expofition.
The faa is, this impious effufion of fome illite
rate, democratic demon is now trumped up in hopes
of oppofing the progrefs of this paper. The dif-
comfited crew are rallying their broken and difperfed
columns. Lies, flanders, and menaces have failed ;
the ufe of a name that they hate and dread more
than they do hell, has at laft been reforted to. The
defperatenefs of the ftep proves to what dcfpair they
are reduced.
Either the name of Peter Porcupine was taken up
by this democratic writer to promote the fale of his
pamphlet, or it was done to injure me in the opinion
of my friends : if for the former purpofe, it proves
that the name is of more value than that of the real
author ; and if for the latter, it proves that the de
mocrats, after all their railing, look upon my friends
as being the moft pious and confeientious part of the
community. What their friends are, then, need not
be added. P. P.
From the Aurora. offYeJIerdqy Morning.— r*' Lord,
now letteft thou thy fervant depart in peace, for
mine eyes have feen thy falvation," was the pious
ejaculation of a man who beheld a flood of happi
nefs rufhing in upon mankind. — If ever there was
a time that would licenfe the reiteration of the ex
clamation, that time is now arrived ; for the man
who is the fource of all the misfortunes of our coun
try, is this day reduced to a level with his fellow-
citizens, and is no longer poffeffed of power to mul
tiply evils upon the United States. If ever there
was a period for rejoicing, this is the moment. Every
heart, in unifon with the freedom" and happinefs of
the people, ought to beat high with exultation, that
the name of Wafhington from this day ceafes to
give a currency to political iniquity, and to legalize cprru.p-

MARCH, 1797. 47
corruption — a new sera is now opening upon us, an
sera which promifes much to the people ; for public
meafures muft nqw ftand upon their own merits,
and nefarious projeas can no longer be fupported
by a name. When a retrofpea is taken of the
Wafhingtonian adminiftration for eight years, it is
a fubjea of the greateft aftonifhment, that a fingle
individual fhould have cankered the principles of
republicanifm in an enlightened people, juft emerged
from the gulf of defpotifm, and fhould have carried
his defigns againft the public liberty fo far, as to
have put in jeopardy its very exiflence : fuch, how
ever, are the faas, and with thefe flaring us in the
face, this day ought to be a jubilee in the United
States. March 4,
Remarks on tfie foregoing. — " And when David
" came to Bahurim, behold, there came out a man
" of the houfe of Saul, whofe name was Shimei,
<( the fon of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin ; he
*l came forth, and curfed ftill as he came.
" And he caft ftones at David, and at all the fer-
" vants of David, and at all the people, and all the
" mighty men that were on his right hand and on
" his left.
" Then faid Abifhai the fon of Zeruiah, Why
" fhould this dead dog curfe my lord ? Let me, I
" pray thee, go over and take off his head.
" And David forbad it, and faid, Let him alone,
** let him curfe J"
Good old David faw, I fuppofe, that the malig
nity of this blafted fprig of the ftock qf Benjamin not
only carried its own punifhment with if, but that
it couldnot fail in a fhort time to work his ruin,
without the aid of any other caufe.

Wbd-

28 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Wednesday, 8th March.
Taking of the Baftile.— In my endeavours to putt
off the veil of deception, I fhall now and then go
back a little, becaufe, to remove errors built on
.mifreprefentation of feas, the fads themfelves muft
be firft ftated in a true light.
The French revolution, that fource from which
the jacobin gazettes of America have drunk of the
never-dying ftreams of falfehood, furnifhes few in-
ftances of impoiition, more artfully and effeaually
propagated, than that heroic aa, the taking of the
Baftile. Playfair, in his Hiftory of Jacobinifm, fets the
whole of this brilliant achievement in a fair point
of view. He was on the fpot, and he turned that
circumftance to the advantage of the caufe of truth.
The following note on the Baftile adventure will
make fome of the quondam admirers of French va-i
lour blufh at their credulity :
• jyote.i~A circumftance little known will prove
that there was no bravery difplayed in the taking of
the Baftile. A number of the fubfcribers to the Ly
ceum at Paris determined to collea and publifh the
faas relative to fo extraordinary an exploit ; accord
ingly, a great number of witnefics were examined,
and it was difcovered at laft, that the governor had
opened the door, and let the conquerors walk in. A
debate then arofe among the compilers of the hif
tory — Shall we publifh a thing that will be difgrace-
ful to the Parifians after fo much boafting and fo
many falfities ? or fhall we defift ? were the quef-
tions. Let us go on, faid one fubfcriber ; we are
fearching for truth, let us find it : but as all truths
are not good to be told, let us not publifh it. The
advice was taken, and the latter part of it was the
befl;. for certainly the conquerors of the Baftile would

MARCH, 1797. 29
would foon have pulled down the Lyceum, if the
truth, had been publifhed.
This anecdote, for the truth of which I appeal to
M. de la Harpe and M. la Croix, or any of the
literary gentlemen who attended the Lyceum at that
time, is a proof of the fpirit of democratic deception
which pervaded the people of Paris from the begin
ning of the revolution, and the unanimity with
which the French nation joins in exalting its own
bravery and deceiving the world. Whilft all orders
of nobility were deftroying, an order was inftituted
(corapofed of revolted foldiers, and fome of the fans-
culottes of the Fauxbourg St. Antoine, and M. M.
Bailly and La Fayette), decorated with a medal,
bearing the infcripfion, " Conquerors of the Baftile."
The origin of this was infurreaion, and the manner
of obtaining it, was the teftimony .of feven con
querors, which dubbed the eighth conqueror too.
As French books of heraldry are all burned, I know
not by what regulation M. Bailly and La Fayette
were admitted conquerors, as they were at Verfailles
on that glorious day. It was by fuch tricks as this
that all Europe was juggled by the firft revolu-
tionifts, who were neither conquerors, philofophers,
nor well-meaning men ; but who, by falfe faas and
falte appearances,. contrived to pafs for all*the three.

Curious Advertisements.
Who loves a lie — lame flander helps about — Pope.
I Consider as a bad man : and though averfe to
controverfy, and wifhing to live in peace with alt
men, it will not accord with my fentimentsto fuffer
flanderous imputations to be paffed over in filence.
When the deteftable tongue of malice endeavours
to blaft my reputation, who will blame me for pub
licly refuting the villanous charge ?
1 On

3d GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
On the 29th day of Oaober laft, at the houfe of
Jofeph Pearfon, in Ridley, Ifrael Elliott afferfed,.
" that I fold corn to the Britifh," meaning, I fuppofe,
when the Britifh army were in Philadelphia during
the late war : I declared it was an infamous falfe
hood— he faid Nicholas Diehl was his author.
Subfequent to the above, I happened to-be at the
houfe of Henry Pafchall in Kingfeffing, the faid
Elliott, Nicholas Diehl, Hugh Lloyd, and Matthew
Hufton being prefent. — I mentioned the charge to
the neighbours, and declared it was an infamous lie;
Nicholas Diehl utterly denied that he ever men
tioned it to Elliott, which Lloyd and Huflon will
prove. 1 declare the above affertion of Ifrael Elliott's to
be an infamous lie, and defy all created beings to
make it appear, that I ever, during the continuance
of that juft, neceffary and glorious war, diredtly
or indireaiy aided, aflifted, or abetted the Britifh,
or their adherents (the Tories), in their attempt to
fubjugate the United States, or either of them, in
any manner or way whatever.
March 2. John Pearson.
Darby, Delaware County, March 4th,, 1 797.
To the Public. — Some time finee, as I was going
towards Chefter, I happened to flop at the houfe of
Mr. Aaron Morton, where, to my great aftonifh-
ment, I read, publicly pofted up, the foregoing
denial, figned John Pearfon.
Seeing my character thus publicly attacked, I felt
the neceflity of as public a juftification of it. I am
charged with the propagation of a falfehood. Barely
to affert that the charge is without foundation, would
perhaps, be fufficient, confidering the charaaer of
the accufer ; but I do not wifh to oppofe affertion
by affertion : I fhould be afhamed to fuffer, for a
moment, a competition between my veracity and
that

MARCH, 1797; $t
that of John Pearfon. For this reafon it 'is, that I
lay before the public the following depofition.
Delaware County, ff. — Perfonally appeared Wil
liam Smith before me, the fubferiber, one of the
Juftices of the Peace in and for the county aforefaid ;
and on his folemn affirmation doth declare, that he
was at Nicholas Deihl's, fenior, houfe, and heard
him fay that John Pearfon need not pretend to be fo
great a Whig as he was : he, the faid Smith, afked
for what reafon ? He faid he traded with the Britifh,
and fold them Indian corn. Further faith not. Af
firmed and fubfcribed this 26th of January, 1797,
before me,
Ben. W. Oahford. William Smith.
Thus is Mr. Smith's oath oppofed to Pearfon's
bare word, the oath of a man whofe word nobody
will doubt, oppofed to-the naked aftertions of one
who finds moft belief where he is leaft known ; and
thus has the meddling, faaious, and turbulent tan
ner of Darby, who, were he permitted, would drefs
the fkins of his peaceable neighbours with as little
remorfe as he does the hides of quadrupeds ; thus
has this would-be village tyrant, by his arrogance
and infolence, eftablifhed the truth of my affertion,
which he wifhed to be looked upon as a lie, and
rendered that public which was before confined to a
few. By a violent effort to efface what the hand of
time would have foon worn away, he has revived the
ftain, and has rendered it indelible.
March 6.  Israel Elliott.
To the Public. — When I wrote the piece which
Ifrael Elliott, without my knowledge, publifhed in
Porcupine's Gazette of the 13th inft. 1 only meant
abfolutely to deny the malicious charge of Elliott,
which he in the reply, compofed for him, has not
pretended to fupport, but wanders from the fubjea
into perfonal abufc. The falfehood, I fuppofe, ori-
q gmated

32 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ginated in his indefatigable malice. I fay his malice,
for it commenced at the time when I, as a juft»ce °*
the peace, chofen twice by the unfolicited fuffrages ot
the good Whigs of the neighbourhood (previous to
Thomas Mifflin's having the power to commiffion
fuch a man as him, a power fhamefully proftituted/,
was obliged to take cognizance of his condua on a
charge of fornication. The epithets of his- writer, of
«¦' faaious, turbulent tyrant," cannot apply to me—
I therefore take no further notice of him.^ Having
the good fortune to be taught the tanner's trade, I
am acquainted with fkins, and Elliott may reft af-
fured I will not drefs his. I fhould expea from the
abandoned profligacy of his youth, and confequent
filthinefs, the fkin would prove rotten, and as fkins
dried in a hot climate (and 'mercury may have a fimi-
lar effea in ours) the old fores would break out
afrefh, and caufe holes — iri that cafe it would not
do for a drum, as the celebrated Lifca's * was ufed
for — unlefs, as it would be noifelefs, it might fuit
a captain of the militia horfe like him* who has the
daflardly cowardice publicly to declare, that we
(meaning the Americans) were not able to contend
with the Britifh.
I am extremely forry to be concerned in a difpute
of any kind, and wifh anxioufly for peace. I was
not the aggreffor, and have not been in any cafe of
that nature ; if there is any individual upon the earth
who conceives himfelf injured by me, let him come
forward ; the neighbours (the beft tribunal) fhall de
termine, and fuch compenfation fhall be made by me
as they think proper.
Darby, March 24. John PEARsoN-f".
* Meaning, I fuppofe, Zifca's.— Editor.
¦f The reader will obferve, that both thefe honeft men were
jufiices of tbe peace ; and will, doubtlefs, conclude, that the ap
pointment of fuch men to fuch an oftice muft be wholly afcribed
to the fupefior wifdom and virtue of republican government.
From

MARCH, 1797* 33
Front the Merchants' Advertifer •j".— -A London
Courier of December ftates, that a change in the
adminiftration was confidered as indifpenfable to the
obtainment of a peace, and afferts, that the follow
ing arrangement had been laid before the friends of
a great perfonage :
Firfi Lord of tbe Treafury — Duke of Bedford.
Secretaries of State — Marquis of Lanfdpwn, Right Honourable
C.J. Fox.
Lord Chancellor, •tuitb a Peerage — Hon. T. Etikine«
Lord Prefident of tbe Council — Lord Thurlow.
Firfi Lord of tbe Admiralty, — Earl Howe.
Mdfter General of tbe Ordnance — Duke of Northumberland*]
Lord Privy Seal — Duke of Grafton.
Amlaffador to tbe French Republic—Earl of Lauderdale.
Treafurer of the Navy—Mr. Sheridan.
Prefident of tbe Indian Board of Control — Earl of Guildford*;
Paymafter of tfre Army — Mr. Grey.
Secretary at War — General Fitzpatrick.
Chancellor of tbe Dutchy of Lancafter — Mr-. Mansfield.
Secretaries of tbe Treafkry-^-Mr. W. Adam> Mr* Courtenay.
Attorney General — Mr. Pigot.
Solicitor General — Mr. Mingay.
Thus far the London Courier; and thtis our
Merchants' Advertifer, in ftria obfervance of that
impartiality which itprofeffes, difmiffes the abomi-»
nable lie, without glofs or comment. The editors or
conduaors of this advertifing paper did fet out with
the pious refolution, not to meddle with patty mat
ters ; this, efpecially when we recollea that they alt
bear an implacable hatred to one of the powers now
at war, will undoubtedly be looked upon as an in
ftance of the moft heroic felfcdenial.
However, I muft not be underftood as allowing,
that their natural inclination has never got the better"
of their prudence and piety. A few days ago, after
repeating an article from the Whitehall Evening
t A paper publifhed by ihy old bookfeller, Bradford* in part-
nerfhip with one Lloyd, a fcoundrel, who, in 1793, graced the1
pillory at the Royal Exchange, London.
VOL. V. D Poft,

34 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Poft, they add-, in italics ; " It is but fair to ob-
" ferve, that the Whitehall Evening Poft is under
" the direaion of the Britifh Minifter." Now,
then; if a ftrict impartiality would admit of fuch a
commentary as this, why would it not admit of
fomething in the fame way after the extraa before
us ? When an article was extraaed which feemed ra
ther favourable to the caufe of Great Britain, it was
" but fair" to undermine. its force by afcribing it to
undue influence; but when, on the other hand, a
well-known falfehood is to be found in a London
paper, and that falfehood holds out a belief of the
inftability of the miniftry, and of the confequent
abandonment of the interefts of the kingdom ; then,
it is very fair to let the intelligence ftand upon its
own foundation. This, in the new-fangled jargon*:
of mendicants for public favour, is called impartiality.
Yes, Meffrs. Conduaors, there is very little doubt
but you would rejoice at fuch a change in the admi-
niftration of Great Britain. You would then pro
mife yourfelves the pleafure of feeing the ruin of
thofe whom you hate, merely becaufe they are not
already ruined.
, Randolph. —The followingrefolution was laid on
the table of the Houfe of Reprefentatives of the
United States by Mr. Williams, and agreed to by
the Houfe :
" Whereas, it is ftated to this Houfe in the report
" of the Secretary of the Treafury, of the 15th of
" February, that the accounts of Edmund Ran-
" dolph, Efquire, late Secretary of State, for monies
" advanced to him for foreign expenditures, ftill re-1
" main unfettled ; and that neither the accounts of
" the foreign miniflers, bankers, and agents of ihe .
" United States, nor the records of the Department
«c of State, contain any explanation in refpea to a
" confiderable fum of the faid monies :" Refolved, that

MARCH, 1797. ,35
that the Secretary of the Treafury lay before this
Houfe, at their next feflion, information of the
amount of monies fo received by the faid Edmund
Randolph, for which there is no explanation as
aforefaid, and what meafures have been taken to
obtain a fettlcment of his accounts*."

Thursday, 9th March.
B. Franklin Bache. — A gentlemen who ftyles him-
felf, and I believe juftly, a Friend to Good-nature (in
yefterday's paper), afks me what " diforder that ani
mal is feized with, which fnarls and growls fo in the
Aurora." — I will tell the gentleman in one word : his
diforder is poverty. While that able financier, Ci
tizen Guillotine, poffeffed influence enough to keep
affignats at par ; while the French agents had a de
mand on the treafury of the United States ;, the de?-
mocrats, and the four mortal in queftion among the
reft, were in perfea good humour : there was then
nothing but feafting and jollity ; the coppers were
heard to clink in the pockets of the very fcum of
them, and their faces wore a continual grin. But
now, when the fource of corruption is dried up ;
when the fpoons, the watches, the rings, the lockets,
and the thimbles, that the murderers of Paris ftrip-
ped from the corpfes of their prey ; now, when all
thefe are fpent in bribing foreign traitors, and in,
decking the new-born defpots, the poor democrats
grow hungry, and it is well known that hunger and
anger are feldom long feparate.
So much for the malady. As to the cure, I am
* It' is aftonifhing that even to this time (July 1799), not ano
ther word has ever been heard about this deficit. Randolpblives
undifturbed in Virginia, though he owes thoufands to his country!
So careful are republican governments of the treafure of the peo
ple ! Such a defaulter, under the Britifh Government, would find
no reft for the fole of his foot : he would be profecuted, and lam
pooned, and caricatured out of exiftence.
"' » a not

S6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
not certain that I could with to fee it effected, either
by a healing or mortal remedy. A long life of rni-
fery, of the cravings of an empty ftomach, and the
flings of a guilty confcience, is not a punifhment
adequate to the atrocities committed by this yelper
of the democratic kennel. However, if I muft pre-
fcribe a remedy, I muft. I would then recommend
confinement in the firft place; 2dly, his drink
.fhould be water, and his food bullock's liver, ferved
out with a fparing hand ; 3dly, he fhould be con
stantly employed in that polite and healthy exercife,
beating of hemp, until fuch time as he is capable
of making a rope ; and, 4thly, to complete the
cure, he fhould be decently tucked up in his own
manufaaure. General Wafhington. — In a morning paper of yef-
terday appeared the following extract from a Lon
don fans-culotte Gazette. — " Even the advocates of
" Miniflers are obliged to bear their tribute of ap-
" probation to the merits of Wafhington. Would
" to God that their patrons had imitated his pacific
" difpofition ! Wafhington is one of thofe few cha-
" racers who, during his lifetime, has commanded
" the praife of all parties, by unequivocally deferv-
" ing well, by a condiia above all the affaults o(
" envy, and beyond the reach of fufpicion — Id quod
" difficillimum eft, laudem fine invidia peperit. — The
" condua of Auguftus in his laft moments is not
" unknown to our claffical readers. But how much
" more juftly than any proud tyrant that ever ex-
" ifted, may George Wafhington make his laft ap-
«c peal to his fellow-citizens, ' whether he has done
" well ;' and claim to his departing fcene the meed
" of their grateful applaufe 1"
When we compare this language with that of
Bache, and fome other journalifts in this country
we are naturally led to inquire, how it comes to
pafs that men of the fame principles, politics, and
views,

MARCH, 1797. 57
views, differ fo very widely on a fubjea which
neither can mifunderftand. The patriots of Great
Britain tell the people there, that General Wafhing
ton may " claim to his departing feene, the meed
" of grateful applaufe;" but the patriots of America
deny this: fo far from allowing the claim, they fay
"he is the fource of all the misfortunes of bur
" country," and rejoice, that he is " reduced to a
" level with his fellow-citizens, and is no longer
" poffeffed of power to multiply evils on the United
" States. Their hearts beat high with exultation,
" that the name of Wafhington now ceafes to give
" currency to political iniquity, and to legalize cor-
" ruption." The firft moment of leifure that offers itfelf I fhall
endeavour to explain this feeming inconfiftency, and
have not the leaft doubt but it will appear, that the
patriots of England and thofe of America underftand
one another perfeaiy well, and that, though their
means be different, their end is exaaiy the fame *.
French Fraternity. — From a lift of " Evidences of
" French Fraternity," in the Baltimore Federal Ga
zette, it appears that the French privateers and gun
boats have captured and carried into St. DomingOj
.fifty-four American veffels, in the courfe of about

* There is one fubjeft of the praife beftowed on the General
that requires immediate remark ; that is, his pacific difpofttion.
" Would to God," fay the Englifh Republicans, " that Minister's
•' had imitated his pacific difpefition !" This, you will pleafe to
obferve, is decidedly approving of the Prefident's having perti-
nacioufly refuled to join in the war. For this he.certainly was
deferving of praife ; but do thefe mifcreant eulogifts perceive, that
in this their approbation, they do, in reality, juttify the conduct
of their miniftry in entering into the war ? Do they know, that
America was bound by treaty to ajjift trance in a defetifive war ? If
€hey do know this, they muft acknowledge, that France was the
aggreffor in this war, or they muft condemn the pacific conduct of
General Wafliington.
¦q 5 one

3R GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
one month ; of which twenty-nine were condemned,
value not eftimated, thirteen condemned, veffels
and cargoes j valued at upwards of one hundred and
eighty thoufand dollars, feven remained for trials
three abandoned, and two cleared.
Lyceum*.— The query' in Tuefday's paper, pro-
pofed for difcuffion by this ultramarine affociation,
appears calculated to lead the members into ham
pering and unprofitable difputes, rather than to fe-
cond their generous endeavours to enlighten and
inform the public. Inftead of fruitlefs inquiries
about what none of us underftand, nor with to un-
derftand, 1 imagine my correfpondent would have
done well to propofe a queftion or two of the fol
lowing kind :
i . When eloquent fwine are growling and fqueez-
rhg and fighting for the wafh, which is " head hog
*' at trough," he that gets the lowermoft place, or
he that gets the uppermoft ?
2. Is it either probable or poffible, that thofe who
have been traitors to their own country, will ever be
faithful to another?
3. Which is the moft abundant fource "of emigra
tion, the love of plunder or the fear of the. gallows \

Frit>at, 10th March.
Mifflin's Sincerity. — On Wednefday laft a meffage
was fent to the Legiflature by the Governorrof
Pennfylvania, in which he informed the two Houfes,
* A company of vagabond political fpouters, chiefly from the
tLondon Corfefponding Society, Coachmakers' Hall, &c. &c, who
having been put out by the extinguilher of Mr. Pitt, are come
here to get lighted up again. The perfons who have the direction
.of affairs in the Uniyerfity oi Pennfylvania, are certainly entitled
to the thanks of the public for furnifhing apartments for thefe fa
ctitious wretches. that

MARCH, 1797. 39
that he had offered the new houfe (formerly built
for the Prefident ) to Mr. Adams, the Prefident elea.
This meffage was accompanied with the copy of the
Governor's letter to the Prefident, and the Prefi-
dent's anfwer. The Governor concludes thus : " I
" take this opportunity, Sir, to prefent my conr
" gratulations upon your eleaion to the office of
"Chief Magiftrate of the United States; and to
" affure you that as far as my conftitutional powers
" and duties extend, you may rely upon a zealous
*f and faithful co-operation to advance the honour,
'* and enfure the fuccefs of your adminiftration."
Governor Mifflin congratulating Mr. Adams on
his eleaion to the office of Prefident ! ! Gracious
heavens ! and Mr. Dallas wrote the letter, I fuppofe.
I fhould like to have feen the Prefident's face while
he was reading this fincerely affeaionate congratu
lation. If his mufcles are not as inflexible as the
rock of Gibraltar, he muft have burft into a laugh
that convulfed his whole frame.
This was, however, a fort of an after-day con
gratulation, and was conveyed in fuch a way as to
leave a doubt, whether it was meant as a compli
ment or an infult. If our worthy and chafte and
honeft Governor had been very anxious to exprefshis
joy at the eleaion of Mr. Adams, one would ima
gine that he would have made it the fole fubjea of
a note, and not have mentioned it at the bottom of
a letter on bufinefs, as a thing that had accidentally
fhot acrofs his memory. — " I take this opportunity/'
&c. Yes, but if this opportunity had not offered
itfelf, what would he have done? If Pennfylvania
had not wanted a tenant for a houfe, the letter
would not have been written, and confequently the
congratulation would have died in the tender breaft
of the congratulator.
The good Governor's letter puts me in mind of
d 4 one,

+o GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
one, mentioned by a fprightly French female, which
ran nearly thus :
" To Madam, the Countefs of C- ••-".
" My dear Creature,
" For the love of God fend me the rouge which
" you promifed me yeflerday, for I look as pafe as
" death. Apropos, my poor dear hufband is juft
"dead." This apropos is very much like Governor Mifflin's
" I take this opportunity ;" and as fuch I dare fay it
was received;- for, notwithftanding the wheedling
of His Excellency, the Prefident refufed to have any
thing to do with the houfe *.

Mr. Pinckney. — Reports are in circulation, that
this gentleman has been refufed an audience at the
court of the Cut-throat Republic,

Saturday, nth March.
Wilmingtonians. — By a gentleman juft arrived from
Wilmington (Del.) it is reported, that General
Wafhington parted through that borough yefterday,
amidft the acclamations of the grateful citizens.
If ever public acclamations were pleafing to the
ears of heaven, thofe of the people of Wilmington,
on this occafion, were furely fo ; for it is faid by
Him who cannot err, that, in the celeftial manfions,
" there is more rejoicing over one repentant finner,
" than over ninety and nine that need no repent-
" ance."

* It was ridiculous enough to fee a legiflature employed in ex
amining the correfpondence between a Governor and a Prefident
ontbefubjeft of letting a dnuelllng-boufe ; but it was, ifpoflible,
ftill more ridiculous to hear the Prefident rejeft the bargain upon
conf 'itutional principles. "I entertain," fays he, "¦great doubts
" whether, by a candid conftruaion of the Conftitution I am at
"liberty"  to do what ?— To rent the hou£ certainly ; for no,
thing elfe was propofed to him. This

MARCH, 1797. 41
This Wilmington (and it is a pity too, for it is a
delightful little place), this Wilmington, in Dela
ware, was the moft abominable fans-culotte of any
town in the whole continent. They burnt their
Senators and Mr. Jay in effigy ; they caballed, and
harangued, and remonftrated with more induftry and
virulence than even the virtuous town meetings of
Bofton and Philadelphia. I leave any one to guefs
at their indefatigablenefs in the caufe of faction,
when they made fhift to drag the old Pennfylvania
Farmer to the field of oppofition, and to prevail on
him to take a part in the combat, though a Quaker.
People wonder at this faaious difpofition in the
Wilmingtonians, feeing that they are moftly Quakers,
which ufually fignifies men mild, peaceable, and
obedient to the laws. But the Quakers of Wilming
ton differ from all other Quakers in America : they
frown and look fierce, and, if contradiaed in con-
verfation, not honey, but wormwood, drops from
their lips : they are a fort of Puritans in a Quaker's
drefs. Some exceptions, however, muft be underftood
here. Many of the people, as well Quakers as
others, of this pleafant little town, did not ftand in
need of French fpoliations to render them friendly
to the federal government, or to awaken their gra
titude towards General Wafhington.
From the Gazette of the United States.
Department of State, Philadelphia, March 9, 1797.
Sir,
I enclofe the copy of a letter which I received the
third inftant, from the late Prefident of the United
States. The letter itfelf will fatisfy you of the pro
priety of its being publifhed. The original, as de-
fired, is depofited in this office.
1 am, Sir, your obedient fervant,
Timothy Pickering. Dear

4-2 GAZETTE SELECTIONS,
Dear Sir, Philadelphia, 3d March, 1797.
At the conclufion of my public employments, I
have thought it expedient to notice the publication
of certain forged letters, which firft appeared in the
year 1777, and were obtruded upon the public as
mine. They are faid by the editor to have been
found in a fmall portmanieau, that I had left in the
care of my mulatto fervant» named Billy, who, it
is pretended, was taken prifoner at Fort Lee in
1776. The period when thefe letters were firft printed
will be recolleaed, and what were the impreffions
they were intended to produce on the public mind.
It was then fuppofed to be of fome confequence to
ftrike at the integrity of the motives of the American
commander in chief, and to paint his inclinations as
at variance with his profeffions and his duty. Ano,-
ther crifis in the affairs of America having occurred,
the fame weapon has been reforted to, to wound my
charaaer and deceive the people.
The letters in queftion have the dates, addrefles,
and fignatures here following :
« New- York, June 12th, 1776. To Mr. Lund
Wafhington, at MountVernon, Fairfax county,
Virginia." " G. W."
" To John Parke Cuftis, Efq. at the Hon. Bene-
dia Calvert's, Efq. Mount Airy, Maryland."
June 1 8th, 1776." "George Wafhington."
" New- York, July 8th, 1776. To Mr. Lund
Wafhington, at Mount Vernon, Fairfax coun
ty, Virginia." " G. W."
" New-York, July 15th, 1776. To Mr. Lund
Wafhington, Efq. &c," « G. W."
" New- York, July 16th, 1776. To Mr. Lund
Wafhington, &c." " G. W."
" New-York, July 22d, 1776. To Mr. Lund
Wafhington, &c." " G. W. " June,

MARCH, 1797, 43
« June 24th, 1776. To Mrs. Wafhington."
" G. W."
At the time when thefe letters firft appeared, it
was notorious to the army immediately under my
command, and particularly to the gentlemen at
tached to my perfon, that my mulatto man Billy
had never been one moment in the power of the
enemy. It is alfo a faa, that no part of my baggage,
or any of my attendants, were captured during the
whole courfe of the war. Thefe well-known fkas
made it unneceffary, during the war, to call the
public attention to the forgery, by an exprefs decla
ration of mine : and a firm reliance on my fellow-
citizens, and fhe abundant proofs they gave of their
confidence in me, rendered it alike unneceffary to
take any formal notice of the revival of the impofi-
tion during my civil adminiftration. But as I cannot
know how foon a more ferious event may fucceed to
that which will this day take place, I have thought
it a duty that I owe to myfelf, to my country, and to
truth, now to detail the circumftances above recited,
and to add my folemn declaration, that the letters
herein defcribed are a bafe forgery, and that I
pever faw or heard of them until they appeared in
print. The prefent letter I commit to your care, and de-
fire it may be depofited in the office of the Depart
ment of State, as a teftimony of the truth to the pre
fent generation and to pofterity.
Accept, I pray you, the fincere efteem and affec
tionate regard of, Pear Sir, Your obedient, Geo. Washington-.
Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State.

Monday,

44 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Monday, 13th March.
General Wafhington accufed of Murder. — The fol
lowing moft wicked attempt to blaft the charaaer
of the General, is taken from the Aurora of this
morning :
Mr. Bache,
I faw. in your laft number a letter figned Geo;
Wafhington, folemnly denying the authenticity of
certain private letters dated in 1776, and afcribedto
him. For tbe honour of my country I fincerely re
joice, that thofe letters were not genuine; but [
muft fay, that I think Mr. Wafhington blameable for
not having earlier noticed the forgery. I own for
one, that his long filence produced on my mind dis
agreeable doubts. Others have felt them, and I can
not but think, that, as a fervant of the public, it was
his duty immediately to have removed fuch doubts,
finee it was in his power to do it fo readily. His
perfonal pride fhould have been overcome for the
fake of his public duty. The neceffity of public
confidence being attached to officers in important
ftations, efpecially in a goverhment like obrs, fhould
have pointed out early to him the neceffity, however
difagreeable the talk to his perfonal feelings, of ftep-
ping forward with a public denial of the unworthy
fentiments attributed to him in thofe fpurious letters.
Since he has prevailed upon himfelf to break the
ice, there is another fubjea on which the public mind,
I think, fhould receive fome light. I have not
known it lately to be a matter of public difcuffion,
but it has been frequently'brought forward in private
converfatidns, and I never could find any one capa
ble of giving a fatisfaclory explanation ; and proba
bly, from the old date of this tranfaclion (1754),
Mr. Wafhington may be the only perfon capable of
giving an eclaircifemenf.
Theaccufation in queftion is no lefs, than having, while.

MARCH, 1797. +5
while commanding a party of American troops, fired
on a flag of truce ; killed the officer in the aa of
reading a fummons under the fanaion of fuch a
flag ; of having attempted to vindicate the aa, and
yet, of having figned a capitulation, in which the
killing of that officer and his men was acknowledged
as an aa of affaffination.
The charge is of fo ferious a nature ; firing on a
flag of truce fo unprecedented an aa, even in lavage
warfare ; and figning an acknowledgment of having
been guilty of affaffination fo degrading to a man,
and more efpecially to a military man, that I feel
confident, there muft have been fome egregious
miftatement in the account given of the bufinefs. I
have imagined this alfo muft be fome forgery, or
that Major George Wafhington who was taken at
Fort Neceffity in 1754, could not be the fame per
fon as George Wafhington, late Prefident of the
United States.
The tranfaction alluded to is recorded in a pam
phlet publifhed here in the year 1757, purporting to
be the tranflation of a " Memorial containing a
fummary View of Faas, with their Authorities, in
anfwer to the Obfervations fent by the Englifh Mi-
niftry to the Courts of Europe."
Mr. Wafhington can fettle every doubt upon this
fubjea, by declaring whether this Memorial was a
forgery : whether the Journal it contains, purport
ing to be his Journal, and efpecially the capitulation,
acknowledging the killing of Mr. Jumonville and
his men, to have been an aa of affaffination, were
papers forged to anfwer the purpofes of the French
court; or whether he is the Major Wafhington
there alluded to.
T. T, L.
Remarks on the above. — The Aurora, which begins
now to be pretty generally, and not improperly, termed

46 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
termed the Infernal Gazette, had before accufed
General Wafhington of every crime, fave that of
murder; and, as love always treafures up its ten-
dereft careffes, fo it feems hatred referves its moft
malicious afperfions, for the moment of a farewell.
The General, in his very firft fpeech to Congrefs,
hinted that he was aware of the flanders to which
his fituation would expofe him ; but, I believe, pre
pared as he was for the bite of ingratitude, he little
imagined that he fhould at laft retire to his fields
with the charaaer of a murderer ! I fhall not flop
to admire the indefatigable malice that could lead a
man forty-three years back to fearch for this fubjea
of calumny ; nor fhall I inquire, at prefent, whe*-
ther Frenchmen or Frenchmen's ghofts are to haunt
us for everlafting. Murder is ever murder ; and,
whether of recent or ancient date, whether com
mitted on the body of a Chriftian, a Jew, or a
Frenchman, it ought to come to light.
Happily we have written evidence to appeal to.
If it appear that the charge is well founded, we
muft give the criminal up1 to the juft cenfure of the
world ; but, on the other hand, if it fhould appear
to be (as I am confcious it will) a bafe cut-throat
accufation, intended merely to embitter the remainder
of the life of General Wafhington, what execration,
what difgrace, what mifery and torment, is due to
the wretch who has dared to bring it forward !
Previous to the year 1754, there had been conti
nual difputes between England and France relative
to the boundaries of their poffeffions, lying in what is
now called the weftern countries of the United
States. It would be foreign to our prefent purpofe
to dwell on the merits of thefe difputes, which the
improvidence of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle left an
opening to ; it is fufficient to remark, that they pro
duced a war in America, in which the Englifh were
generally unfuccefsful. Seeing that nothing was fo
be

MARCH, 1797. 4f
be done with the enemy by confining the war to the
continent of America, the King of England refolved
on hoftilities by fea alfo, where fuccefs was certain.
Several French veffels were feized, without the for
mality of a declaration of war, the king infilling
that the French had already begun making war on
him in America. The French made a demand of
their veffels, as property feized in time of profound
peace ; to this the Englifh gave a refufal, accompa
nied with certain obfervations, which were addreffed
to the different courts of Europe. Thefe obferva
tions were anfwered by the French in a memorial,
likewife addreffed to the courts of Europe ; and it is
this memorial to which the induftrious correfpondent
of the patriotic Mr. Bache is indebted for his charge
of affaffination.
Such is the fource of information to which we are
now going to apply. It reprefents Monfieur de Can-
tiecceur commandant of a detachment of French
troops employed in the conftruaion of Fort du
Quefne. Here he " was informed," fays the Me
morial, " that a confiderable body of forces was
marching towards him. Hereupon he charged M.
de Jumonville with a written fummons, in form of
a letter, direaed to the firft Englifh officer he fhould
meet: it was dated 23d of May, 1754. He affured
the Englifh that no violence would be offered
them, and defired the Englifh commander to return
his anfwer by M. de Jumonville, &c. This latter
fet out with an efcort of thirty men, and the next
morning found himfelf furrounded by a number of
Englifh and Indians. The Englifh quickly fired
two vollies, which killed fome foldiers. M. de
Jumonville made a fign that he had a letter from
his commander ; hereupon the fire ceafed, and they
furrounded the French officer to hear it. He im
mediately ordered the fummons to be read, and as it
was reading the fecond time, the Englifh (for fo
4 the

48 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
the Americans were then called) affaffinated him,
and made his men prifoners of war."
There is fomething fo abfurd, fo completely felf-
contradiaory, fo impoffible, in this account, that it
is hardly neceffary to oppofe it by the journal of
Major Wafhington, whom, as commander of the
Englifh, the Memorial treats as an affaflin. I quote
this journal, however, with pleafure, becaufe it
recalls us back to times when Frenchmen were
looked upon in their true light :
"About eight at night I received an exprefs
from the Half King, which informed me, that, as he
was coming to join us, he had feen along the road
the tracks of two men, which he had followed, fill
he was brought thereby to a low obfcure place ; that
he was of opinion the whole party of the French
was hidden there. That very moment I fent out
forty men, and ordered my ammunition to be put in
a place of fafety, under a ftrong guard to defend it,
fearing it to be a ftratagem of the French to attack,
our camp ; and with the reft of my men fet out in a
heavy rain, and in a night as dark as pitch, along a
path fcarce broad enough for one man; we were
fometimes fifteen or twenty minutes out of the path
before we could come to it again, and fo dark, that
we would often ftrike one againft another : all night
long we continued our route, and the a 8th about fun-
rife we arrived at the Indian camp, where, after
having held a council with the Half King, it was
concluded we fhould fall on them together ; fo we
fent out two men to difcover where they were, as
alfo their pofture, and what fort of ground was
thereabout ; after which, we formed ourfelves for an
engagement, marching one after the other, in the
Indian manner : we were advanced pretty near to
them, as we thought, when they difcovered us ;
whereupon I ordered my company to fire ; mine was
fupported by that of Mr. Wager's, and my company and

MARCH, 1797. 49
and his received the whole fire of the French, during
the greateft part of the aaion, which only lafted a
quarter of an hour, before the enemy was routed.
" We killed M. de Jumonville, the commander of
that party, as alfo nine others ; we wounded one,
and made twenty-one prifoners, among whom were
M. la Force, M. Drouillon, and two cadets. After
this I marched on with the prifoners ; they informed
me that they had been fent with a fummons to order
me to depart. A plaufible pretence to difcover our
Camp, and to obtain the knowledge of our forces and
our fituation ! It was fo clear that they were come
to reconnoitre what we Were, that I admired at their
affurance, when they told me they were come as an
embaffy ; for their inftruaions mentioned that thpy
fhould get what knowledge they could of the roads,
rivers, and of all the country as far as Potowmack ;
and inftead of coming as ambaffadors publicly, and
in an open manner, they came fecfetly, and fought
after the moft hidden retreats, more like deferters
than ambaffadors : in fuch retreats they encamped,
and remained hid for whole days together, and that
no more than five miles from us : from thence they
fent fpies to reconnoitre our camp : after this was
done, they Went back two miles, from whence they
fent the two meffengers fpoken of in the inftruaions,
to acquaint M. de Cantiecceut of the place we were
at, and of our difpofition, that he might fend his
detachments to enforce the fummons as foon as it
fhould be given.
" Befides, an ambaffador has prihcely attendants :
whereas this Was only a fimple petty French officer.
An ambaffador has no heed of fpies, his charaaer
being always facred : and feeing their intention was
fo good, Why did they tarry two days, at five miles
diftance from us, without acquainting me with the
fummons, or, at leaft, with fomething that related
to the embaffy ? That alone would be fufficient to
vol. v. E raife

50 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
raife thegreateft fufpicions, and we ought to do them
the juftice to fay, that as they wanted to hide them
felves, they could not pick out better places than
they had done.
" The fummons was fo infolent, and favoured of
the gafconade fo much, that if it had been brought
openly by two men, it would have been an im
mediate indulgence to have fuffered them to return.
"It was the opinion of the Half King in this cafe,
that their intentions were evil, and that it was a
pure pretence ; that they never intended to come to
us but as enemies ; and if we had been fuch fools as
to let them go, they would never help us any more
to take other Frenchmen.
" They fay, they called to us as foon as they had
difcovered us ; which is an abfolute falfehood, for I
was then marching at the head of the company
going towards them, and can pofitively affirm,
that when they firft faw us, they ran to their arms
without calling ; as I muft have heard them, had
they fo done."
And thus the affaffination flory is completely
done away. Pretty ambaffadors truly, armed with
fufils and fcalping- knives 1 Almoft as bad as the
French ambaffadors of the prefent day.
But we are told by Bache's correfpondent, who is
certainly fome Frenchman, that Mr. Wafhington
himfelf afterwards acknowledged the affaffination,
in an inftrument that he figned at Fort Neceffity.
We fhall fee that this is as impudent a falfehood as
ever found its way to the public.(even through the
foul channel of the Aurora), when we come to exa
mine the paper referred to.
Bache's correfpondent was well aware, that the
journal, juft quoted, would do away any evil im-
preffion that might be made by an extract from the
lying Memorial of the court of France. For this
reafon it was thought neceffary to" conftrue Mr.
Wafhington's

MARCH, 1797. " S1
Wafhington's figning of a capitulation, tn which
the death of Jumonville is called an. affaffination,
into an acknowledgment of the truth of the charge.
The following is the capitulation alluded to —
CAPITULATION
Granted by Mr. de Filliers, Captain and Commander .of
his Majeflys Troops, to thofe Englifh Troops atlually
iii Fort Neceffity. July the 3d, 1754, at eight o'clock at night.
As our intentions have ever been not to trouble
the peace and good harmony fubfifting between the
two princes in amity, but only to revenge the affdjjln-
alion corrimitted on one of our officers, bearer of a
fummons, as alfo on his efcort, and to hinder any
eftablifhrnent on the lands of the dominions of the
king my mafter : upon thefe confiderations, we are
willing to fhow favour to all the Englifh who are in
the faid fort, on the following conditions, viz.
Article I. We grant leave to the Englifh com
mander to retire with all his garrifon, and fo re
turn peaceably into his own country ; and promife
to hinder his receiving any infult from us French ;
and to reffrain, as much'as •fhall be in our power,
the Indians that are with us.
II. It fhall be permitted him to go out, and carry
with him all that belongs to the Englifh, except the
artillery, which we referve.
III. That we will allow them the honours of war ;
that they march out with drums beating, and one
fwivelgun, being willing thereby to convince them,
that we treat them as friends.
IV. That as foon as the articles are figned by both
parties, the Englifh colours fhall be.-ftruck.
V. That to-morrow, at break of day, a detach
ment of French ihall go and make the garrifon file
off, and take poffeffion of the fort.
VI. As the Englifh have but few oxen or horfes
left, they are at liberty to hide their efteas, and to
e 2 come

$2 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
come again, and fearch for them, wheh they have a
number of horfes fufficient to carry them off; and
that for this end, they may have what guards they
pleafe ; on condition that they give their word of
honour, to work no more upon any buildings in this
place, or any part on this fide of the mountains.
VII. And as the Englifh have in their power one
officer, two cadets, and moft of the prifoners made
at the affaffination of M. de Jumonville, and promife
to fend them back with a fafe guard to Fort du
Quefne, fituate on the Ohio : for furety of their
performing this article as well as this treaty, Mt
Jacob Vambrane and Robert Stobo, both captains,
fhall be delivered to us as hoftages, till the arrival oi
our French and Canadians above mentioned. We
oblige ourfelves on our fide, to give an efcort to
return thefe two officers in fafety ; and expea to
have our French in two months and a half at farr
theft. A duplicate of this being fixed upon one of
the pofts of our blockade, the day and year abov^
.mentioned.
TJames Mackay,
Signed < G. Washington,
tCoULON VlLLIERS.
Now I fhall not plead the danger in which the
Englifh were, the impoffibility of further refiftance^
the hurry and confofion in which this fcroll muft
have been figned, added to the circumftance of its
being in a language, that perhaps neither Major
Wafhington nor any of his people perfedly under
lined : I fhall wave all thefe confiderations, and
fhall ftill infill, that here is no acknowledgment of
having committed the crime of affaffination.
The articles figned by Major Wafhington do
indeed affea to call the death of Jumonville fo but
who is it that gives it this name ? The perfons who
impofe the terms of capitulation, and not thofe who
accept

MARCH, 1797. 53;
accept them. The French commandant drew them
up ; and though he fpeaks all along in the firft perfon
plural, which feems to imply that all thofe who
figned participated in the draught, yet it is clear that
no one but himfelf had any thing to do with it, and
that the ufe of the plural pronoun we, and its corre- .,
fpondent ohes, was in conformity to a vain cuftom
Only. A writing in the firft perfon plural makes all thofe
who fign it refponfible for the whole, or for none of
its contents ; makes them the fpeakers of every word
in it, or of no word at all. If then, Major Wafh
ington and Mr. Mackay are to be looked upon as
the fpeakers in this capitulation, what are we to
make of their faying : " As our intentions are only
to revenge the affaffination, &c." — Again ; " We grant
to the Englifh"  " We allow the honours of war,
&c " Do Major Wafhington and his brother
officers fay this ? And if Major Wafhington does
not fay this, why is he to be looked upon as the
fpeaker of a particular word of it ?
The fa£t is, the figning of a paper like this can
never, be conftrued to extend any further than to
an acceptance of the terms impofed, and by no means
renders thofe who accept them anfwerable for the
phrafeology in which thofe terms are expreffed. If
the Frenchmen chofe to call the killing of Jumon
ville murder, or affaffination, that was nothing to
the perfons with whom he was treating, fo long as
it made no difference in the terms of capitulation,
which would have been the cafe had they formally
acknowledged the juftice of the charge. Had there
been an article, indeed, by which the murder of Ju
monville was acknowledged, then the perfons who
figned might have been juftly faid to have confeffed
their crime ; but in the prefent cafe the pretended
crime is introduced only by way of apology for the
proceedings of him who draws up the inftrument ;
e 3 no

$V GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
no compenfation, no retaliation, no fatisfaaion
whatever,, is ftipulated for, or even hinted at ; in
fhort, the crime, which the viaor afferts that he is
exprefsly come to revenge, forms no part of the
capitulation, and therefore is not acknowledged by
the parties who figned fhatcapitulation;
The motives of the court of France in bringing
forward this charge, fhall next be noticed.
The French, for a year Or two preceding the time
when Jumonville was killed, had been encroaching,
on the weftern part of the Englifh territory, and all'
under the moft folemn profeffions of a pacific difpor:
fition. We have feen a French commandant con-,
ftruaing Fort du Quefne (now Fort Pitt). Their
Indians made incurfions into the very heart of the
Englifh provinces : in Pennfylvania they fialped
people at Lancafter, no more than fixty miles from
Philadelphia. Still, however, war was far from their withes*
They had too lately felt the power of Great Britain
by fea ; and, in cafe of a war, it was of the greateft
importance^ to them to throw ihe firfi aggreffion, the
firjl aclofhqftilities, on the enemy. When, therefore,
the commandant on the Ohio learned that, the Go
vernors of Pennfylvania and Virginia had raifed a
fofce and fent it to the frontiers, in order to put a
flop to their favage inroads ; when he found that he
had to contend with foldiers in place of feattered in
habitants, he detaehed Jumonville with a fmall
party to difcover their pofition, ftrength, &c. If he
fucceeded, it was well ; if not, if he was taken, he
was an ambaffador, the bearer of a fummons. Curious
invention ! When men are fent with- a fummons,
they bear a flag of truce ; but this would have been
acknowledging a flate of warfare, and that was nota
flate the French fighed after. Their blood-hounds,
in America in thofe days were juft what their blood
hounds now are in Europe. They hold it juft they
• 3

. MARCH, 179.7, 55
fhould have the privilege of making war on their
neighbours, of fending their fpies ^or ambaffadors),
into every country in the world; raife infr.rrettions,
hire incendiaries and affaffins by thoufands ; but if
the injured nation takes up arms to avenge itfelf,
or adopts any efficacious meafure to drive the mif
creant and bloody race from its bofom, they begin
to cry Murder! and call on the univerfe to affift them
againft their oppreffors.
As it happened, the ambaffador, Jumonville} did
not fucceed. He was found with arms in his hands,
was attacked and killed in the field of battle, and
with the weapons of honourable war. This brought
things to a point : the French commandant was
obliged either to acknowledge the hoflile intentions
of Jumonville's errand, or to reprefent his death as
an affaffination.
Still aauated by the fame policy, Villiers, who
took Fort Neceffity, as we have feen above, artfully
fays in the capitulation, that he is not come to make
war, but merely " to revenge the affaffination, &c."
The fort was taken, the horfes, and cattle, and
cannon feized, and yet this Frenchman was not
making war ! He was only come " to revenge an
affaffination /" The fincerity of this declaration will
be feen in a moment.
When men are expreffly fent to revenge a mur
der, they generally do revenge it, and that too by
taking the life of the murderer, if he falls into their
hands. How did it happen, then, that the aven
gers of Jumonville never thought of demanding. Mr.
Wafhington ? This, one would naturally fuppofe,
would have been the firft condition they would have
offered to the befieged, and one that they would
never have departed from ; yet was this ib far from
being the cafe, that Mr. Wafhington was fuffered
to march out with the honours of war, when they
had it in their power to impofe whatever conditions
they pleafed, and they humanely confined their
e' 4 vengeance

56 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
vengeance to the horfes, oxen, and cannon, found
in the fort.
Such mercy and forbearance in any Frenchman,
when triumphant, muft naturally feem incredible ;
what, then, will the reader think of it, when he is
told, that the Frenchman who took Fort Neceffity,
Coulon Villiers, was the brother of Jumonville?
Will he, can he believe, that a man, who was fent
exprefsly, by his fuperior officer, to inflia vengeance
on the affaffin of his brother ; who attacked a
fort, loft many lives, and hazarded his own,
to come at him ; can any one believe, that this en-*
raged brother (a Frenchman too) would., when he
faw the affaffin within his grafp, have fuffered him
quietly to depart, without fo much as afking pardon
for the heinous deed ? No ; he would have re
taliated on him, the moment he was poffeffed of
him ; the firft tree would have been his gallows, if
the impatience of the viaor would have fuffered
him to delay his death, in order to render it the
more ignoble.
This circumftance alone is a clear and undeniable
proof, that Villiers knew that his brother had not
been affaffinated, and that the word affaffination was
introduced into the capitulation merely as an ex-
cufe for attacking thofe, with whom the befieger
wifhed the world to believe he was not at war.

Wednesday, ij,h March.
Wilcocks to Adet. — Sir, you fent a certain French
general to explore the weflern part of the United
States ; the counties of Pennfylvania bevond the
Alleghany ; Kentucky ; the country along'the Ohio
to the Miflifippi. You inftruaed him, in writing,
to tell the people that Louisiana would probably be
.furrendercd to the French. You inftructed this
general (I could tell his name) to found the dif-
pofition of the people about a feparation from the

MARCH, 1797. 57
United States, and an union with Lou'ffiarta. You
inftruaeu him to perfuade them, that the Atlantic
States were, in their interefts, prejudices, and inclina
tions, Englifh: that the intereft of the weftern people
made them French. Sir, you inftruaed this general
to found the difpofition of the people with regard
to a Prefident for the United States, and to promote
the election of Mr. Jefferfon! You alfo defired
him to obferve the country, as to military purpofes,
flate of fortifications, &c. And laftly, Sir, this
fame general was furnifhed with money, to be em
ployed in accomplifhing the objeas of his miffion.
You may not have known that this general was
detected in promoting the very bufinefs you fent him
on; but I have fatisfaaory reafon to know, and be
lieve, he was detected.
You may wonder how I came by my knowledge,
and I am forry that I may not at this time difclofe it.
But I fancy, if you recur to your files, you will be
convinced you do not hear without authority, from
March 9. Wm. Wilcocks.
I think Mr. Wilcocks has given us here a pretty
fair fample of French fraternity. The faas he bas
brought forward are certainly of great importance
now, but they ought to have been laid before the
people of the United States long ago, for they muft
have been very long in the poffeffion of thofe whofe
duty as well as intereft demand the communication.
The expedition of the French general to whom
Mr. Wilcocks alludes, is not fuch a fecret as he
feems to imagine. When he was on his journey
weftward, he got into difpute, with fome perfons in
the ftage, about the Britifh treaty, which had juft
then been ratified. The difpute grew warm ; the
prudence, which the nature of the Frenchman's
miffion impofed on him, gave way to his uncon
trollable vanity and infolence; and he fwore, that
4 ' he

58:) GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
he hoped, in a few years, to return with an army,r
and lay the city of Philadelphia in afhes !
This is, I believe, the only country on earth,
where fuch a declaration would have gone un-'
punifhed. Let not a cold infenfibility to outrages
of this nature be called magnanimity ; it is no fuch
thing, it is rather a proof of a total want of public
fpirit, without which no nation ever did, or ever
will, long preferve its liberty and independence:'
Thofe who can hear their country flandered and
menaced, infultedi and degraded," without refentihg
the injury as done to themfelves, will patiently fuf-
fer an hoftile army to invade it, without drawing a
fword in its defence.

War with France, and an Alliance with Great Bri
tain propofed by a Correfpondent.— After Mr. Bache
and his correfpondents have laboured for more than
three years paft, by degrading the government of
this country, as far as they have been able, to draw
on us the arms of a rapacious enemy, it is ex
tremely provoking they fhould affea furprife at the
idea of our feeking redrefs by the only means left in.
our power. Shall we continue to fubmit patiently to
the infu] ts and robberies of the French, until we have
notafailor left to navigate our veffels, nor a dollar to
freight them, rather than recur to a lawful defence,
and a natural alliance? Honour, intereft, fafety, all
point to means of defence ; and fhall we be deterred
from ufing them,, by , the clamours of a feaion in,
the pay of our enemies ? If this faaion has intereft,
enough with the Executive Direaory, to perfuade
them to make compenfation for what they have al
ready taken by force and by fraud, and to recall their
execrable decrees againft the United States, it will
be wifely done to exert it. We are averfe from
war ; peace is moft agreeable to our intereft as well as

MARCH, 1797. St>
as inclination : but let them ceafe to flatter them
felves or their French mafters with a hope that we
will much longer bear or forbear. Is there a fingle
American who has theleaft refpea for the honour or
welfare of his country, that will hefitate a moment
to " declare war againft France, and form, a treaty
" of alliance offenfive and defenfive with Great
*' Britain," rather than continue any longer to be a
butt for the infolence, and a prey to the rapacity of
the French Republic ? What is there in the name of
a republic, or of allies (and nothing but the names
of either exift), that can warrant robbery, perfidy,
and infults on her part, or fuch fervile fubmiffion on
ours ? Or what is therein the name of monarchy or
Great Britain, that fhall deter us from uniting with
her in arms, to obtain juftice, when all other means
have failed ? Names have amufed and deceived the
honeft unfufpeaing Americans long enough : the
charm is diffolved ; the French themfelves have
broken it ; and we are now compelled, by provoca
tions without meafure, to vindicate our own dignity,
and to* endeavour to obtain compenfation for our
plundered property.
To Tredwell Jackfon, Hangman to the Democratic
Society- of New-York. — Citizen, Your having been
appointed to burn my Gazette, a paper that your
fociety had formally condemned; I can look upon
you in no other light than that of their Jack Ketch
(extraordinary. You will, undoubtedly, look upon
this as a compliment, finee, as you well know, your
fellow-labourers, the guillotiners of Trance, have
been honoured with an honourable title, and that
their employment is one of the moft important in
that free and happy republic.
They tell me you have fomething to do in the
jnfurance offices ; I hope, therefore, that the drub
bing which the burning of my Gazette brought on
you,

60 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
you, will induce you to enfure your hide and bones.
Should you take a jaunt to Philadelphia, fuch a
precaution will be particularly neceffary. P. P..
Lord Malmfbury. — This day news is received of
his having been ordered to quit Paris.
Mr. Pinckney: — It is reported that this gentleman
has been refufed an audience at Paris.
Spain. — The war, in conjunaion with the French
infidels, is faid to be very unpopular.

NOTICE
To enterprifing Traders, Gentlemen of Genius,
&C.&C. '
Juffl arrived from theManufa&ory at Wafhington City,
and fit for immediate Ufe, a large and general Afffort-,
vient of NOTES AND ENGAGEMENTS
Of a very fuperior Quality, bearing the following
dates, viz.
Sundry notes and engagements due 3 a 1 8 months
paft;
Ditto, ditto, due next term ;
Ditto, ditto, payable in the miU
lennium, with a collateral fecurity of the
chance of a fifth mortgage on fome valuable
NEW DISCOVERIES ;
all of which will be peremptorily fold for cafh, and a
reafonable allowance made to thofe who buy to fell
again.
Touch Half the Ready iff Co,
South corner of Speculation Square,
N . B. Warehoufe opened ")
133 o'clock, p. m. j
Mr.

MARCH, 1797. 6r
Mr. Porcupine
Will pleafe infert the above in his Gazette — We
are aware of his terms — (cafh on the nail) — But we
pledge our facred word of honour, we will pay the coft
on Monday noon, when we fhall unavoidably re
ceive 300,000 cents for our Pine-Knob traa.
March jth, 1797. t. h. t. r. &' co.

Tuesday, 14th March.
Metallic Points. — Mr. Porcupine, We are often
difpofed to find fault with thofe abfurdities which
occur at a diftance from us, without reflecting that
we ourfelves may be guilty of an equal, or even a
higher, degree of the fame eccentric condua.
" The. faults of our neighbours with freedom we blame,
" But tax not ourfelves though we praftife the fame."
I am led to this remark, by having lately perufed
a pamphlet, entitled, " Evidences of the Efficacy of
" Doaor Perkins's Patent Metallic Inftruments." —
Thefe points, as they are fignificantly called, having
within a fhort period been highly celebrated (how
juftly I fay not), in the cure of an immenfe variety
of difeafes ; and as they have in fome degree received
the approbation of the public, influenced moft pro
bably by the refpeaable names which are brought
forward in the above pamphlet, they become with
propriety the objea of inquiry ; becaufe, if ufeful,
they fhould be more known and employed ; ifother-
wife, the fooner they are configned to oblivion the
better. In looking over the European papers, and efpe
cially thofe from England, the fuppofed emporium
of confummate quackery, we are aftonifhed that
death in any fhape fhould appear there, when we
read of their reftorative balfams, and tinaures, &c.
for every complaint incident to man. Some allow ance

6* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ance is, however, to be made for the difpofition t&
have our pockets thus picked, when we confider that
the remedies are chiefly internally applied, and may
therefore be fuppofed to have fome effe& upon the
fyftem. The famous balfam of Fierabras, fo celebrated by
the. ingenious author of Don Quixote, would not
want advocates at the prefent period. The wonder
ful expeaations which were formed from the appli
cation of that powerful agent, the ekaric fluid, in
various diteafes, gradually fubfided ; animal mag-
netil'm followed, but very foon loft its credit, though
much might be expeaed from its operation upon the
imagination, whofe influence on the fyftem I need
not infill on.
But, Mr. Porcupine, when I fee our wife rulers,
and others throughout the Union, by a hop, flep,
and jump, at once pafs the intermediate grades, and
arrive in a moment at the fummit of quackery, as if
determined to outdo their trans-atlantic brethren "in
folly, I confefs I cannot remain an idle fpectator of
this facrifice to error. I can affure you, I am not
aauated by a defire of depreciating any man's merit ;
but by the fame motive you fo ftrongly advocate — a
love of truth.
To imagine the metallic points can cure an epilepfy
(or even fufpend it), cynanche tonfillaris, burns,
or even a rheumatic pain, requires a greater ftock
of faith than falls to my fhare. I much wonder if
the good people who ajlowed themfelves to be -fo
completely deceived, pay as great a deference to the
miracles of old. I confefs, I doubt many of them ;
for we generally find extremes meet in the fame per
fon — I will not fay they had any other view than the
good of mankind, in allowing their names to appear
in the above pamphlet ; but I think their judgments
fhould have been exercifed in their oblervations. I
fhall not even fay that the Doaor himfelf is now-
laughing

MARCH, 1797. 63
laughing in his fleeve at the cullability of his fellow-
citizens. Yet I cannot help thinking this muft be
the cafe, when he fees them running eagerly to buy
for twenty dollars, two pieces of metal, intrinfically
not worth fixpence. If they poffefs any virtues, it
muft be either magnetic, which never Was fuppofed
to have any influence on the body ; or we muft con
clude the Doctor is acquainted with the black art,
the punifhment for which, in old times, I need not
mention. Let me, however; leridufly aik the Doc
tor, on what principle does this amazing property of
his points depend ? He may fafely inform me, as
he has obtained a patent for them ; of courfe I can
not legally take advantage of the information ; and
he will, if he goes on as he has begun, foon make
a noble fortune*,; and with more propriety he may,
fhould he be induced to build, like Joe L'Oblong,
of hair-dreffing memory, call his feat " The Citizens'*
Folly." But the- Doaor may be perfeaiy fure, I will
take no undue advantage of his communication,
whilft I can obtain either a fork, a fkewer, or what
I believe to be the only truly efficacious metallic
point in difeafes, a lancet, even if applied by the
" inexorable Doctor Ruth." — I am, yours, &c.
Genoefe Bafenefs. — A new convention between the
French republic and Genoa excludes the Englifh.
from the Genoefe ports, during the war, and the
veffels of the latter are prohibited from carrying pro-
vifions to the Britifh. Genoa is to pro tea her own
forts and harbours, but in cafe of neceffity fhe is to
be -aided by French troops. If Genoa Ihall be in
volved in a war with England, France will under
take to protea her trade and navigation, and will

* It is faid he has fold upwards of a thoufand fets, which makes
the enormous fum of twenty thoufand. dollars. affift

64 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
affift her with fhips of war, and intercede for her in"
negotiations for peace.— Genoa pays to France two
millions of livres in advance, and two millions to be
refunded after peace I ! I
French Piracies. — This day's Gazette concludes a
detail of certain aas of French piracy on the Ame
rican commerce. My valuable correfpondent, who
has furnifhed this detail, concludes with the follow
ing general eftimate :
*c A reafonrble eftimate of the lofs fuftained by
" the above-mentioned piracies, veffels cap-
" tured and feized in the different ports :
tc 250 at 10,000 dolls. - - 2,500,000*
" 1 Indiaman - 500,000
To which add for
ee American property fold to the
" French government from '92
" to '96 hot paid for by an offi-
" cial return Sept. '96 - 7,000,000
'" Veffels feized, and cargoes de-
" tained or fold in the Weft ln-
" dies, before the promulgation
" of Adet's decree - 100 1, 060,00a

Dolls. 11,000,000

This is a pretty round fum, nearly equal to a
fixth part of all the national debt, and its lofs muft
be felt feverely by the community at large, but more
immediately by thofe concerned in the fhipping
trade : but it does not feem to excite that indigna
tion and alarm, that might be expeaed among a
people who, about three years ago, difcovered (o
much refentment againft the Britifh fpoliations. —
Many at that time, and fome very refpeaable per
fons too, raged and ftormed as furioufly as Achilles
did, when he was robbed of his miftrefs, who are
now

MARCH, 1797. 65
fcibw as patient as Job, when " the Chaldeans with
three bands had carried off all his- camels, and flain
his fervant with the edge of the fword." I have not
philofophy enough to account for this — or to dif-
cover how a fimilar caufe fhould produce fuch con
trary effeas ; unlefs it be that we were then " kicked
" into courage," and are now, by a more potent
application of the foot, kicked entirely out tif it.
Various are the inftances of French rapacity, in
folence, and cruelty, and of American humiliation
and bafenefs, difplayed in the above mentioned de
tail. To infert them all would require the room of
a volume ; the following one, however, muft .not
be omitted. — The brig William, Captain Benja
min Henderfon, belonging to Mr. William Gray,
jun. of Salem, Maffachufetts. She was met with
on the 19th Oaober 1793, by the French privateer
Citizen Genet, which had left Philadelphia ten days
before. The privateer obliged Captain Henderfon
to hoift out his boat and bring his papers on board,
which being done, he afked to whom the French
fugar on board belonged ? He replied, To William
Gray, of Salem — upon which the perfon who afked
the queftion, and who he underftood was the French
captain, called him a damned liar, and walking
forward fpoke to the men : five failors immediately
advanced, took Captain Henderfon by the collar,
dragged him to one of the guns, where they held
him, cut his trowfers behind, and beat him with
twenty lathes on the bare flefh, until he was black
and blue. On expoflulating on this extraordinary
treatment of a neutral veffel, he was told, that the
Americans were a parcel of damned rafcafs, and did
not deferve better treatment. On Captain Hender-
fon's being difmiffed, fix French failors were fent
with him on board the William : thefe immediately
fell to ranfacking the veffel, and plundered from her
in cafh and goods to the amount of 350/.
vol. v. p . The

66 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
The foregoing is prefented to the public as an
accurate ftatement,: the occurrence is known to
many : and Mr. Gray is now in poffeflion of au
thentic proofs to fupport it.
Bache' sEulogium on Mr. Adams'. — It cannot be for
gotten, that this mifcreant grandfon of the feditious
old Franklin employed his infamous paper for feve*
ral months in defaming Mr. Adams. It cannot be
forgotten, that he made ufe of every art to perfuade
the people, that that gentleman was an ariftocrat,
and even a monarchift both in principle, and, as far
as poffible, in praaice; and that, fhould he be
elected Prefident, he moft certainly would deftroy
every veftige of republicanifm in the United States,.
In faa, there is no fpecies of turpitude that this
bafe hireling of France hasx not imputed to Mr.
Adams. With the recolleaion of all this I beg the
reader to perufe with attention the following para
graphs. " Who can perufe the Prefident's inauguration
addrefs without giving it his moft unreferved appro
bation ? It is fo long finee the citizens of America
heard ari acknowledgment on the part of their Exe^
cutive, that all power was derived from the people,
•.hat they had almoft forgot their government was a
reprefentative one — how grateful then to every re
publican muft it be to hear their new Prefident fo
highly eftimating " inftitutions which fpring from
the hearts and judgments of an honeft and enlight
ened people ?" to hear him fpeak of the " power
and majefty of the people," and to pledge himfelf
to confult only " their good" in all his aaions ?
Not lefs pleafing muft it be to hear him place, in a
light bordering on ridicule, the " diamonds, robes,
and other ornaments and decorations" of royalty.
" It has hitherto been too common to degrade the
fovereignty of thefeveral States, and to treat them as

mere

MARCH, 1797. 67
taere fubordinate corporations. Mr. Adams, on the
contrary, expreffes his fixed determination to " pay
a refpeaful attention to their conftitutions, and a
conftant caution and delicacy towards their govern
ments." How will the anti-republicans foam at
finding him alfo determined not to attempt to fup
port any amendment to the Conftitution of the
United States, but in the mode prefcribed therein I
Their hopes on this fubjea muft vanifh in an
inftant. " The determination to maintain our " faith in
violate," although perhaps too late to be attended
with proper effect- — his profeffion of " perfonal,
" efteem for the French nation," who have been fo
grofsly abufed by the minifters of his predecefior;
his defire to preferve our friendfhip with that repub
lic, which, contrary to the affertion of the federal
junto, he declares has been " much for the horiour
" and credit of both countries"1 — his " endeavour to
" remove every colourable pretence of complaint,"
although the tafk will be an arduous one, cannot
fail of giving the higher! fatisfaaion to his confti-
tuents. It is a courfe of condua which they have
long been earneftly looking for in the Executive of
the Union. The period is arrived when there is a
fair probability that their hopes will be realized, and
the views of a defigning and wicked faaion be ut
terly fruftrated *.
" It is impoffible in the few moments which I
have allowed myfelf, to do juftice to the feelipgs
which this addrefs has occafioned — >we difcover in it
no little attempts to wOund the feelings of one party
by exaggerated applaufe of the other-— no mean in-
iihuations, indicative always of a low and grovelling
* By language like this the French faction thought to have
gained him over ; and, indeed, his fpeech was well calculated
to give them hopes.
v a mind,

68 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
mind, againft the party which was known to be op
pofed to his eleaion. Let any one contraft if with
the fpeech made by out governor upon his exaltation
to his prefent office, and he will find abundant room
for comparifon. The one is the effufion of a noble
and generous mind, which, in the gratitude1 it feels
for thofe who have honoured him with their fuf
frages, betrays no ill will or diffatisfaaion at thofe
who have voted for his competitor : the reader is left
to form his own opinion of the other*."
[Aurora of the ioth.~\
' Again — " After having brought our country to
the verge of ruin, Wafhington has retreated from
the gathering ftorm. Having run the veffel of flate
between rocks and fhoals, he has abandoned the
helm, and left her to her fate. Our country was
profperous when he began his political career, and
by his means it has become miferable. Never were
profpeas more flattering overcaft by the condua of
any man. • Let our fituation be a warning to future
generations. It will be an inftruaive leffon never
to give too much adulation or too much confidence
to one man ; never to fuppofe an individual every
thing, and his country nothing.
" A kihd Providence, it is to be hoped, ftill has
reeling for us, and will extricate us from our diffi
culties. It is univerfally admitted that Mr. Adams is
xa man of incorruptible integrity -j~, and that the re-
fourc6s

* This praife is a cruel fatire on the Prefident.
f Remember that Mr. Adams was one of the twenty Senators
whom this very wretch Bache accuTed of \av\r\g fold their country
to Great Britain in ratifying the treaty. Mr. Adams was one oi:
thofe who were burnt in effigy at PhiladeIphia,'on the 4th of July,
1795. Mr. Jay was burnt in'effigy, having about his neck, tied
with a hempen firing, Adams's Work on Government, on the cover
of which was written this motto : " GOLD bade.me •write." This
13 the man who, now the bafe faction wifh to gain him over -to
;>ir purpofes, " is UNIVERSALLY ADMITTED to be of
INCOR.

MARCH, 1797. 69
fources of his own mind are equal to the duties of
his ftation ; we may then flatter ourfelves that his
meafures will be taken with prudence, that he will
not become the head of a party, and; that he will
not be the tool of any man or fet of men. His
fpeech on his inauguration augurs well to our coun
try. Let it be compared with any of his preder
ceffors, and they muft hide their dimimfhed heads
in the comparifon. He declares himfelf the friend
of France and of peace, the admirer of republican-
ifm, the enemy of party,: and he avows his deter
mination to let no political creed interfere in his
appointments. How honourable are thefe fenti-
ments ! how charaaeriftic of a patriot ! When,
Wafhington, as Prefident, was fulminating his ana
themas againft particular defcriptions of citizens,
Adams, in his place, is endeavouring to footh the
irritated public mind, and to harmonize the different
parties. May Heaven grant fuccefs to his labours,
and his reward be in the fruition of his endeavours
and the plaudits of his country!" — Aurora of the. 1 4th.

'French Arret. — Sir, Pleafe to give the following
infamous arret, and the remarks thereon, a place in
your Gazette :

INCORRUPTIBLE integrity .'" But, in fe£r, there is nothing
too inconfiftent, too barefaced, too brutiftily bafe, for the Demo
cratic faction of America. '.
Bache (and when I fay Bache, I mean Jefferfon, Madifon, Gal
latin, Dallas, M'Kean, 'and all the fa&ion, of whom he is the
mouth-piece), Bache conceived that the President's inauguration
fpeech indicated an intention of admitting the Democrats into
place, and of patching up a peace with France, or rather bowing
the neck to her. This fuppofed intention, which muft have
damned the Prefident in the opinion of every good man, entitled
him to the praifes and flattery ' of Bache, who was in hopes of
fringing him over to the Democrats, or, at leaft, to coax him into
a line of conduit that fhould make him be, defpifed by the Fe-
deralifts,

* 3

'< Arret

?a GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" Arret. — The fpecial agents of the Executivfc
Direaory in the Weft Indies,
*' Confidering, that the ports of the iflands at
the windward and leeward, as well as thofe of De-
mara, Effequibo, and Berbice, delivered up to the
Englifh, occupied and defended by the emigrants,
are in a ftate of permanent fiege, and ought not to
enjoy the fame advantages as the ports of the differ
ent Englifh colonies, poffeffed by that power before
the war, and by other titles."
Remarks. — Thefe fpecialagents of the terrible re
public feem to be as mad as a flraw-bed king in
Bedlam : while the wretch is confined within the
four walls of a cell, he fconceits himfelf the ruler of
nations. How can thefe iflands be in a ftate of
permanent fiege, or any fiege at all, when the agents
have not force enough to inveft a fingle one of them,
nor even to protea the trade of their own infular
Baftille ? Let them firft fend out an armament to
difperfe their enemies, who conftantly inveft this
ifland, before they publifh any -more of their bom-
baftic arrets, to regulate the trade of others,
" Confidering it to be contrary to every principle
to treat a horde of rebels, without country, without
government or flag, with the fame regard which ci
vilized nations obferve among themfelves during
war." Remarks. — " A horde of rebels" — true . Viaor
Hugues ! A horde of rebels, whether they have a
country, a government, and a flag, or no, are ftill
, rebels, and have no juft right to expea the fame
treatment as loyal fubjeas and citizens: but Lebas
and Hugues are the laft men in the world, who
fhould preach this dodtrine. It points imme
diate deflrqaion at their own authority. But wav
ing this point ; are the merchants of America bound
to furrender a profitable trade to the iflands in quef-
tipn, which are now in the poffeffion of the Eng lifh,

MARCH, 1797. 71
lifh, upon the authority of your arret ? Shall they
declare the faithful adherents of the ancient govern
ment rebels, and withhold from them the neceffaries
of life, or, in other words, aid you to deftroy them,
becaufe you have thought proper, contrary to all
law arid right, to forbid the trade ? No ! So long as
we have fpirit enough to affert our own independ
ence as a fovereign ftate, or humanity to feel for the
miferies of others, we fhall fpurn at the infolence and
cruelty of fuch a decreed
" Confidering that by authentic aas in our poffef
fion, it is proved that divers places of the colonies
delivered to the Englifh by the French and Dutch
rebels, belong not to the Britifh Government, more
than La Vendee, in which the Englifh' Miniftry
had alfo their mercenary troops, regiments in their
pay, wearing the fame uniform as the troops of the
King of England."
Remarks. — It is immaterial to us how, or on what
conditions, the Englifh obtained the poffeffion of
thefe iflands ; it is fufficient that they now hold
them, and that the French and Dutch Republics
united have not force enough to recover them. Of
courfe thefe fpeciahagents have no more right to in-
terdia our trade thither than to any other places in
the poffeffion of their enemies.
" Confidering that by virtue of the fecond article
of the treaty of alliance concluded at Paris, Feb. 6th,
1778, between the United States and France, the
former power engages to defend the poffeflions in
America, in cafe of war, and the government and
commerce of the United States have ftrongly abufed
the forbearance of the French Republic, in turning
to her ^detriment the favours which had been ac
corded to them, of entering and trading in all the
ports of the French colonies :
" By permitting for a longer time neutral veffels
to carry provifions of war and of fubfiftence to men
p 4 evidently

tjt GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
evidently in a ftate of rebellion, we fhould he the
means of prolonging civil war, the calamities and
the crimes which proceed therefrom, order as
follows." Remarks. — " Confidering that by virtue of the
treaty of alliance concluded at Paris in 1778"-—
Ah ! Citizen Agents, you had better not have
touched on this fubjea ; it calls up the ghofts of mur
dered men againft you. This treaty was concluded
with the King of France, the unfortunate Louis
XVI. with the nobility, the gentry, the landed and
commercial intereft ; or, in other words, with thofe
who not only poffefled the rightful government, but
who were alfo the proprietors of the foil and all that
was on it ; and the alliance carried honour and
fefety with it. But if this ancient and refpeaabte
government, this proprietarifhip, by one of thofe
flupendous events which occur once in four or five
centuries to feourge and aftonifh mankind, fhould
be transferred to a band of latheiftical philofophers,
clerks, ftage- players, country attornies, and valets,
united for the putpofe of univerfal plunder, tell me,
Civilians, would the contraa ftill be binding on the
United States ? But be this matter as it may, I am
fure the treaty has no relation to our trade in the
Englifh ports, or, if you like the words better, to ports
in their poffeffion ; nor could the contraaing par
ties ever have thought of the conftruaion that thefe
upflart agents have given it ; unlets we may fuppofe
that Louis intended to lay us under an obligation to
flarve4 his friends, and feed his foes, and that we
were wicked enough to fign fuch an abominable
compaa. After this explanatory preamble the agents go on
to promulgate their refolves as follows \
" Art. I. The fhips of the republic and French
privateers are authorized to take: and condua into
the ports of the republic, neutral veffels deftined for

MARCH, 1797. 73
for the Windward and Leeward iflands of America,
delivered up to the Englifh, occupied and defended
by the emigrants."
Thefe ports are, Martinique, St. Lucia, Tobago,
Demarara, Berbice, Effequibo ; and, at the leeward,
Port-au-Prince, St. Mark's, l'Archayes, and Jeremie.
*"' Art. II. Every armed veflel having a commif-
jion from either of thofe ports, fhall be reputed a
pirate, and the crews adjudged and punifhed as
fuch. " Art, III. The veffels and cargoes defcribed in
the firft and fecond articles, are declared good prizes,
and fhall be fold for the benefit of the captors.
" Art. IV. Every veffel taken .which fhall be
cleared out to the Weft Indies, generally, is com
prehended in the firft and fecond article."
All thefe refolves grow naturally from tbe pre-
mifes, and are as ftupid as they are daring, efpeci
ally the fecond ; which declares all the captains and
crews of Englifh veffels, armed in either of the faid
jflands, to be pirates. Thefe ruffians feem to have
forgotten not only all treaties, but all laws, even
the law of retaliation ; the lex talionis has no weight
with them. Can they imagine that their enemies,
with a fuperior force in their hands, will not reta
liate f or are they totally indifferent about the fate
of the miferable flaves whom they arm and fend
out to plunder ? But the fourth refolve outdoes all
their other extravagancies. " Every veffel taken
which fhall be cleared out to the Weft In
dies, generally (ours are often cleared in this
manner), is comprehended in the firft and fe
cond article ;" that is, every American veflel, even
though fhe fhould touch firft at Cape Francois
or Guadaloupe, ffiall be condemned on account of
her doubtful clearance, and the crews be punifhed
as pirates. I do not know how others may feel on
this occafion, but I frankly declare that for every
American

74 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
feaman that fuffered in this or any other manner, in
the purfuit of his lawful bufinefs, I would inftantly
retaliate tenfold on the French fans-culottes, until
there was not one of the favage race left alive in the
United States.

Genius of American Captains. — The London Morn
ing Chronicle, of 16th November laft, obferves :—
The Americans are remarked as not having dif-
tinguifhed themfelves by any works of imagination1.
If we may judge, however, from the fpecimeri of,
the reports afcribed to American captains, the
natives of that continent are by no means deficient
in, invention : but it is probable, indeed, that
this faculty may be improved by travelling."
If the fans-culotte, who "publifhes the Morning
Chronicle (and a moft furious one he is), finds in
the reports of our captains fo ample a fubjea for
commendation, what ought to be the extent of our
praife ! Three, times have they landed the French in
England ; and as often has the tri-coloured flag been
hoifted on St. James's palace, and the head of Pitt
rolled from the guillotine. We have received po-
fitive information of feventeen rebellions in Ireland,
Scotland, and England, one of which was headed
by the Duke of Clarence. To enumerate the efforts
of imagination, with which the fea-travellers have
entertained us, finee the beginning of the prefent
war, would far exceed the limits of a newfpaper.
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments are outftripped
both in number and in marveloufnefs by the mari
time tales we are fpeaking of, the authors of which
feem to ftudy nothing, during their abfence, but
how to render themfelves agreeable at their return.
I have always obferved, that the longer the paffage
is, the tougher and more complex is their ftory.
When their imagination has only a week or two to
work in, the produaion is very fimple and lame :
y°n.

MARCH, 1797. 75
you perceive their drift at once. But after being
months at fea, with the fails flapping or the helm
tied up, then deteaion is amazingly difficult — the
piece comes out perfea in all its parts ; the lan
guage, the charaaers, the time, and the plot ; which
laft is often fo perplexingly intricate, that after hav
ing bulled the politicians for feveral days, the un
ravelling of it is abandoned in defpair. This is
nearly our fituation at the prefent moment.
Swiniffh Multitude of Philadelphia. — Good Mr.
Porcupine, I am out of allpatience with the Swinijk
Multitude of this place. Indulge my complaint with
a place in your Gazette. Permit me to leaure the
woild a little. Thofe fine-founding words Liberty
and Equality have hurt this place more than the
Britifh army and the yellow fever.
I cannot get along the ftreets for crowds of ragga-
muffins, tatterdemalions, and ft\v?o\yf freemen, ftrolling
about idle, who, if they had matters, might be em
ployed in fomething ufeful both to fociety and them
felves. Go to the State-houfe or Congrefs Hall, the
galleries are filled with a refpeaable group of idle
oyfter-men and lounging* apprentices, fuperintend-
Ing the proceedings of government. Go to the
Court-houfe, it is crowded with vagrants who have
nothing to do, hut ftudy law. You cannot fqueeze
into an auction-room for idle vagabonds, who are
glad of fomething to flare at ; the occupation of
thefe gentlemen is commerce. Every rafcal in the
city who can fleal half a dollar, you will fee in the
chief feat at the Theatre. A funeral, a houfe on
fire, a fhip-launch, a fpeech, a birth-day, or a quar
rel in the ftreets, collects them in thoufands ; per
haps the poor devils are ftarving with hunger and
cold. Would it not be a kindnefs to themfelves to
take their liberty from them ? and a material ad-
vantage'to the public to whip them to their work ?
8 ^ That

76 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
That government which promotes the general good
both of the public and of individuals is certainly the
belt — O for monarchy, defpotifm, flavery, or any
Jpecies of government, that will conduce to the hap
pinefs of mankind ! It is our intereft to be beaten
and compelled to our good, when we are too igno-*
rant and too ftupid to ftudy and purfue it ourfelves.
Few are fit to be their own mafters ; one fpends his
money, another his time, fome their clothes, others
their vidhials ; thus many fuffer for want of better
mafters than themfelves ; fuch, nature intended to
ferve. I have a fum of money fufficient to fupport me
all my life, but know not how to hufband it ; I may
wafte it in a fhorMpace, and be reduced to beggary
the reft of my life : were it not better to put it into
the hands of fome wife banker, who would parcel it
out to me according to my neiieffities ? So, if liberty
be put into my hand^nd I know not how to ufe it,
let a wife mailer take me under his proteaion, and
make me comfortable. If time be given to me, and
I know not how to employ it, let a prudenj: matter
difpofe of it according to his better judgment: "To
day you fhall do this, boy ; to-morrow ; that, &c."
Such a ftupid creature will probably be lazy, for,
though we know our duty and intereft, we are often
backward to the performance ; then beating, cor-
reaion, and compulfion become neceffary. I with
every lounger in Philadelphia had a mafter, were it
but to keep him out of the ftreets, that we might pafs
in fafety. In one place a wheelbarrow drives me
into the gutters, whilft the mafter of the ceremony
deafens me with the vociferation of " Beautiful
Oyfters !" In another, a wench with a baflcet fills the
way ; then three jolly fellows, linked together,
would be as fatal to me as a chain-fhot, if I did not
give place. Another meeting me, hefitates which
fide to give, me, until he throws his dirty corporation
full in my face ; and juft now a brawn. v boor, with

MARCH, 1797. 7jl.
with a/00/ a yard long, trod on my tecs till I almoft
fainted, and provoked my paffion fo high, that I
could not pafs your box without entering my com
plaint againft our fwinifh multitude. It brings to my^
mind Horace'sy^y lutulenta, when our dirtier fwine'
run againft me in thetlreet. If I can rid the ftreets
of them, I fhall be the befl: fcavenger in the city.
John Farmer tells his hogs, that the devil took pof
feffion of the fwine long ago, and has not left them
yet ; the devil of lounging poffeffes the fwine of
Philadelphia. I with the Gadarean devil would
enter them, and condua them into the Delaware.
Harry Hedgehog.

Thursday, 1 6th March.
General Sketch of foreign News, down to Dec. 20, 1799.
RUSSIA.
It is faid to have loft its. old, intriguing ambitious
cxprefs ; if this be true, it is naturally to be expect
ed that it will have fome influence on the negotia
tions for peace. Should the war continue, it is to be
hoped that the new Emperor will diveft himfelf of
the felfifh and jealous policy of his predeceffbr, and
fend armies, inftead of promifes, to the aid of the
EMPEROR,
Who, with fuch affiftance as Ruffia is able to
give, would in a little time reconquer every inch of
territory that the barbarians of Gaul have overrun.
On the Rhine, and in its vicinity, his armies are
every day gaining ground on thofe of the regicides.
By Par;s papers of the 8th December, it appears that
one of their generals had been fent to Vienna to pro-
pofe an armiftice, which the Emperor was not at all
anxious to accept. There is every reafon to hope
that the Auftrians are now mafters of the important fortrefs

78 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fortrefs of Kehl, and that they will be enabled t&
take up winter-quarters on the left of the Rhine.
The Emperor perfifts in his determination not to
treat with the Directory but in conjunaion with
Great Britain and Ruffia. He has direaed the
Germanic diet to come to a definitive and categorical
refolution as foon as poffible, concerning thole ftates
of the Empire which have concluded a feparate peace
with the French republicans. His Majefty exacts
that thofe ftates fhall furnifh provifionally their
contingents of troops, and orders them to join the
Imperial armies.
London accounts of the 1 9th December fay, that
at Vienna it was generally underflood that peace
entirely depended on the Britifh cabinet, the French
negotiator having been fent back. < The whole re-
fources of the Empire were to be employed in profe-
cuting the war with unprecedented Vigour, efpe
cially in ITALY,
Where, it feems by the following paragraphs from
London papers of . the 19th and 20th December,
French republicanifm is growing very much out of
fafhion ; and that, in place of taking Mantua, the
fans-culottes are like to meet with a Sicilian vefpers.
Bonaparte, it is faid, has been fo ftraitened for
reinforcements, that it was propofed by the Direaoty
to claim the Spanifh troops ftipulated for in fhe
treaty for immediate fervice in Italy.
Accounts immediately from Rome confirm all
the reports, that his Holinefs again attempted to
re- open negotiations with the French, and reprefeftt
the army of Bonaparte as fo much weakened»by the
late aaions with the Adrians, that he is in no
condition of putting his threats of deftroying Rome
into execution, even to flrengthen the garrifon
of Ferrara and Bologna. Thefe places, it is faid, will

MARCIJ, 1797. 79-
will foon be attacked by the Pope's troops, in con-
jiinaion with fome Englifh emigrants, every day
expeaed at Civita Vecchia from Corfica. The
formation of the new Italian republic, it is ob-
ferved, does hot go on as if the formers of it were
in earneft.
It appears that the lofs of the French in the
aaion of" the 6th ult. between Baffano and Vicenza,
amounted to 4000 men in killed, wounded, prifon
ers, or drowned in the Brenta; that in the affair of
the 13th, near Caldero, the Auftrians met with the
moft complete fuccefs, took feveral pieces of cannon,
and made a great number of prifoners, among whom
is a general ; that the battle of the 1 6th, near Ar-
cole, remained undecided, both parties claiming the
palm of viaory, and that General Alvinzy maintains
himfelf in a pofition in front of Vicenza. The fame
letters add, that General Davidovich, in the engage
ment of the 17th ult. near Rivoli, took twelve pieces
of cannon, and two ammunition-waggons j and that
the lofs of the French on that day confifted of 2.000
killed, wounded, and prifoners ; but thefe letters do
not reach down to the 21ft ult. when, according to
Bonaparte's and Berthi'er's letters, General Davido
vich retreated.
A letter from Florence mentions, that the difafters
¦experienced by the French on the Rhine, have re
vived the animofity of the inhabitants of Tufcany
againft the French, and that the republican minifter
Miot, as well as feveral other republicans, have been
publicly intuited.
In tracing the Vandal army backwards, we tra-1
verfe the enflaved country of the enflaved king of
SARDINIA,
Who is in a fituation to be envied only by his un
fortunate fubjeas and their neighbours of GENEVA,

8* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
GENEVA,
Whofe treachery to their ancient magiftrateS and
defenders renders them objeas of feorn rather than
of pity. By the laft letters from' this little ftate, it ap
pears that French regeneration has produced its full
effea, the combined evils of poverty, vice, arid
flavery. All the moft ingenious artifts have found
mearis to fly to other countries/where opulence finds
exercife for their talents, and where fecurity is an in
centive to induftry. Nothing remains but the fittings
of Geneva, the chaff. It is, from being one of the
happieft, moft orderly, and moft moral' ftates of
Europe, become a little nation of pure unadulte
rated mob, fuch as never was equalled, except in the
republic of FRANCE.
Softly, reader 1 Take care how you tread here !
We have rambled about over monarchical and def-
potic ftates ; but now that we have fet our foot on
the land of libertv, we muft advance with caution.
— The firft thing is a bayonet at your' breaft.
"Your paffport !" — There it is, an't pleafe your
fans-culottefhip. Next they examine you all over,
like ahorfe at a fair. Your height, hair, eyes, fore
head, nofe, cheeks, chin, lips, teeth, and complexion.
When the commiffary, the filthy agent of liberty and
equality, has, jockey or butcher like, finifhedjhis
furvey of your carcafe, you are conduaed by a file of
raggamuffinsto what is called the town-houfe, which
generally gives pretty evident tokens of having lately
been a barn or ftable. Here you have to ftand hat
in hand (if it is not already ftolen from you) before
half a dozen baleful-looking fcoundrels, who were
the other day on the highway or at the galleys ;
and, having fupported their feoffs and fcornful looks
and geftures for an hour of two, you are fuffered,
4 " .j.- firft

MARCH, 1797, 8l
firft paying Liberty her fees, to proceed till you come
to the next red-capped villain that pleafes to flop
and examine you,
lt is rather ticklifh work to talk about news in a
republic like this; yet we do find that there are
newipapers fuffered. As far as we can poffibly
judge from thefe, of the real flate of the public
mind, the people feem as anxious for peace as their
tyrants for a continuance of the war. Thefe latter
profefs a defire to put a flop to the effufion of blood,
but it is eafy to fee that they have no fuch intention.
Paris papers of the 1 2th December feem to fay, that
there is a profpea of a happy iffue to the negotia
tion with Lord Malmfbury, while letters arrived at
Bofton, from Rotterdam, affure us, that he has
been ordered by the tyrants to quit their ftarving
land. Thefe letters are faid to be dated fo late as
the 5th of January. Accounts from England fay
that there was a fleet at Breft ready for fea, confifl-
ing of fifteen fail of the line and about the fame
number of .frigates ; but the report of a fleet, with
troops on board., having failed for
IRELAND,
is not totally unfounded; and it is with the greateft
pleafure we affirm, from London accounts, that the
reports refpeaing the difturbances in Ireland were
generally mere efforts of the imagination, and al
ways exaggerated. The people of that ifland feem
ready to co-operate heartily with their fellow-fub-
jeas of GREAT BRITAIN,
Where the ftrong meafures of the Parliament, to fup
prefs feditious meetings, and thexmexampled fuccdfe.
of Mr. Pitt's financiering operations, feem to have
ftruck faaion dumb. The Britifh fleer, under the
command of Admiral Colpoys, is playing juft the
fame game with the fans-cufotte fleet at Breft, as
Vol. v. G Captain

8a GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Captain Murray is now playing with Commodore
Barney, at Norfolk ; that is to fay, one is aaing the
part of the cat, and the other that of the moufe.
The cruifers of Great Britain let nothing efcape
them in the European feas, efpecially along the.
coaft of France. I with as much could be laid of
thofe in the WEST INDIES ;
But, in that unfortunate quarter, I know not how-
it happens, they do nothing at all. They feem to
go there for no other purpofe but to get drunk and
die. Whether better is to be- expeaed from Sir R.
Abercroaaby, muft be left to thofe who know him.
A report has been in circulation, that Guadaloupe
was taken, and that confummate cut-throat, Viaor
Hugues, made prifoner ; but this is no't confirmed.
To mention, in this Iketch, particular inftances of
French depredations on the commerce of
- - AMERICA,
syould be fwelling it out unneceffarily, as every
paper teems with them. The Weft Indies is the
grand feene. Every thing that can carry guns is
fitted out from all the ports they poffefs. Whites,
btacks, and mulattoes, are employed in the fervice;
the profits arifing from which, except a certain pro
portion, is feized on by the regicides. They are a,
nation of pirates. It is foolifh to imagine that they
will quit the lucrative trade. They never will till
they are- dragged from their holds.
Much has been faid about Mr. Pinckney's not?
being received in France; and fo many contradiaory
reports are in circulation, th^t it is quite impoffible
$o fpeak positively on the fubjea.

St,

MARCH, 1797. 83
St. Domingo — Proclamation. — Port-au-Prince, Ja
nuary 15, 1797. Gordon Forbes, Major-general
And Commander in Chief of St. Domingo, &c. &c.
to all the Inhabitants of the Spanifh Part of St.
Domingo.
The French Republic, abufing the afcendency
which the chances of war have given it in Europe,
over his Catholic Majefty, and the condefcenfion
which this monarch thinks himfelf obliged to fhow
to its will, has forced him to declare war againft his
faithful friend and ally, the King of Great Britain.
Thus the evils which for four years paft have af-
fliaed humanity, are about to increafe. His Ma
jefty feels them with forrow, and the firft impulfe
of his folicitude is direaed towards you. — He has,
in confequence, ordered me to declare and guarantee
to you the following refolutions :
All the rights, privileges, prerogatives, and ad-
Vantages, without any exception whatever, which
were offered and promifed to you by my Proclama
tion of the 12th of July laft, fhall, notwithftanding
the war, be faithfully granted to all the inhabitants
Df the towns, boroughs, forts, and other places of
your territory, who, upon the firft fummons thereof,
made according to the cuftoms of war, fhall uhite
themfelves to the government, and fubfcribe the
oath of allegiance and fidelity to his Majefty.
But the more indulgence and generality which
his Majefty intends for thofe among you who will
loyally, and voluntarily place themfelves under his
protection, the more feverity he will think he ought
to Ufe towards thofe who fhall oppofe to him either
an offenfive or defenfive refiftance. The treaty of
Bafle not having been revoked, it vvill not be as
faithful fubjeas of your King, but only as the fol
ders of the French Republic, that you fhall be
a. 2 con-

«4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
confidered in your oppofition to the fuccefs of hi*
Majefty's arms. '
Inhabitants of the Spanifh part of this ifland, I
am pleafed in the confideration, that you will haften
to enable me to put you all into the enjoyment of
the numberlefs advantages of the Britifh govern
ment, and to give full fcope, with refpea to each
of you in particular, only to thofe natural fenti-
ments of affeaionand good will I bear towards you.
You, as well as the whole univerfe, know, that,
infulated by nature from the continent of Europe,
England might have remained infulated without
danger from the commotions of the French revolu
tion. — But it could not fee without horror, a mon-
ftrous fyftem, which, under the name of Liberty and
Equality, tended only to Another the facred and
eternal principles of religion and focial inftitutions;
it could not fee without the moft tender care and
companion, the unfortunate of all fexes and ages
coming in crowds into its bofom, feeking an afylum
from the chains and daggers of perfecution. Such;,
were the motives, the only motives, which com
pelled his Majefty to take arms, to call around him
the martyrs of the French revolution, and to lavifti
on them- hirptoteaion and kindnefs.
Inhabitants of the Spanifh part, come into the
ports of this ifland, where the proteaing flag of his
Majefty floats triumphant. ,In fpite of the horrors,
of war, notwithftanding the national diftrefs of
their inhabitants, you will. only perceive the confo-
Jaiing images of eafe, plenty, joy, and happinefs;
animated and- vivified hy the richeft commerce in
the world, and the favours of the moft generous of
-governments; tranfport yourfelves afterwards. to the
.places fubjeaed to the empire and dominion of the
Republic — thenchoofe the fate-of a man fimply pro-
teaed by England, or of a fubjea of the French
Republic. And

MARCH, 1797. $5
And you, prelates, prebendaries, priefts, and
ecclefiaftics of all the orders that compote the auguft
clergy of St. Domingo, contemplate the refpect
and the liberty with which the holy exercife of the
religion of which you are minifters, is officiated in
the countries lately fubjecled to his Majefty — afk,
on the other hand, of the French domains, of all
France, what is become of their prelates, their
priefts, and altars ; read, in fhort, the recent hif-
tories of Belgia, Savoy, Rome, Italy, and of all the
Catholic countries, where the republican armies
have carried their fteps, and judge yourfelves where
the fafety of your perfons and the calls of your re
ligion ought to attraa you.
Spanifh inhabitants of all ranks, of all ft at ions
and all claffes, in enlightening you I only obey the
diaates of my lively fentiments for you. — Never
were fo many fnares, humiliations, and dangers,
hovering around your heads. To convince you,
read the treaty of St. Ildephonfo— -it clearly difcovers
the motives that determined the Republic to induce
Spain to declare war.
Deprived of its navy — of which fome veftiges tct
main only in the ports of England — incapable of
effeaing herfelf the overthrow of the American
colonies ; fearing, and doubtlefs with reafon, to
lofe the right fhe had acquired at Bafle, of fubjea-
ing you to her deftruaive government ; the Re
public has now no other view than to force the King
of Spain to charge himfelf with the promulgation
of her principles, the execution of her plans, and to
make himfelf, in his own ftates, the provoker of a
revolution which maybe fatal to his crown, and to.
the ancient conftitution of the Spanifh monarchy.
Betides, fhe dares believe and hope to induce you,
if not as new fubjeas, at leaft as Spaniards born, to
take arms and lavifh yonr blood to defend the dag*
eers and torches, which are to mow down your fa*'
G3 miiies*

«fi GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
milies, and fire your property, your churches, you*
altars, and reduce the rich and immenfe territory
you have cultivated for three centuries, into tho
frightful ftate of defolation in which the colonial do-<
mains of the Republic are plunged.
Succeffors of the firft miffionaries, and defcend-
ants of the firft conquerors of the New WorldWatch,
is the part which the Direaory of France imperioufly
requires the King, which Heaven has given you, to.
aa^ — and fuch is the part which it flatters itfelf to
perform. Spaniards, I leave you to your own refleaions !
Happy fhall I be if I can avert the misfortunes and
woes which are about to crufh you— -and which you
cannot efcape, unlefs you place yourfelves under his
Majefty 's proteaion.
Convoy of American Ships. — Bofton, March 7th,
1799. Owing to the depredations made by the
French privateers on our commerce, and the indig
nities to which the Americans are fubjeaed, tfe>
inhabitants of Antigua petitioned the Prefident and
Council to addrefs Admiral Harvey, requefting a
convoy to the American veffels ; and a paffage-boat;
was immediately difpatched to Martinico, with dif-
patches to that purpofe ; and when the informant of
the above was at St. Kitts, on the firft of February,
it was reported a convoy was granted, and that An
tigua was to be the place of refort for all American
veffels homeward-bound *. French

* This petition of " tbe inhabitants of Antigua" was, I fancy,
figned by none but American owners, their captajns, their fac-'
tors, and the perfons immediately concerned in the American
trade ; yet, fo unwilling are the Boftonians. to allow that w©
ftand in need oi Britifh proteBion, that tliey have the affurance to
call this a petition from ." the. inhabitants of Antigua."— When tha
States were rewarding Tom Paine for writing his Common; Senfe%

&ARCH, 1797- #)
Ftetich and Englifh Flags at the Tontine Coffee-
hovfe, New- York. — The following paragraph is ex-
traaed from Mr. Webfter's paper (the Minerva) of
the 14th inft. " A few days finee the Englifh flag,
*' printed on a card with the American, was affixed
" in the Exchange Room in the Coffee-houfe. We
" cannot believe any American has condefcended to
*' this thing. At any rate, it is a low pitiful bufi-
" nets, equalled only by the meannefs of putting
fe up a French flag. Americans, do you not blufh
" for your fervility, to be thus bandied about be-
fe tween the enfigns of foreign nations — plundered
" as yottr merchants are by both flags, whenever it
«' fuits their intereft ? When will the honour of the
" American name be vindicated by difcarding fuch
te badges of faaion ? When will the Americans
<e unite under then* own flag, and learn to be a
" nation?"
Contrary to the fpirit that generally prevails in,
this paper, I am forry to fay, there is mdre of vul
gar prejudice and miftake in the above-quoted para
graph, than there is either of juftice or good policy*
The union of the flag of the United States with
that of Great Britain or of France, would reffea no
difgrace on either party, if the purpofe or intention
was honourable : if done with a view to repel
aggreffions from a common foe, it would be wife
ahd juft : the quo animo, the intention of the aa,
is .what ftamps its charaaer. Should either of thefe
flags be unfurled as a ftandard of difeord and anar
chy, to rally malcontents againft the government,
and animate them to rebellion, to join it would
really be an aa of treafon : and when it ftreams
from the veffels of fea- robbers, who are daily infult-
Senfe\ they little thought, that, in lefs than twenty years, they
fhould ftand in need oj' Britiflvyconvoys to protect them againft
prance!!!
g 4 ing

«8 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ing and plundering the commerce of America, with
out any reafonable provocation, to tolerate it even
on our land or waters, deferves a worfe name than
that of a low and pitiful bufinefs : it really betrays a
mind prepared to receive the yoke. But to unite
the American Eagle with the Britifh Lion againft
an ambitious and determined enemy, the difturber
of the peace of both hemifpheres, is a purpofe that
no American need to be afharned of: the alliance
would be produaive of equal honour and advantage
to both. I know there is a pride on both fides,
inherited from a common ftock, reluaknt to make
the firft advance; but the firft advance, I am
equally fure, will reflea no difhonour on the party
that makes it.
Americans exchanged with the Britifh for French Pri
foners of War. — We have had information of the
capture of Captain Sanford in the brig Hope of
this port, on his homeward-bound paffage from
Barbadoes : his veffel and cargo were condemned at
Guadaloupe. One of the crew of his veffel has
lately arrived at Norfolk, and ftates, that Captain
Sanford and his men were put in irons, and con
fined with the Britifh prifoners; that their daily al
lowance was half a pound of bread, a quarter of a
pound of falt-fifh, with the requifite quantity of
wafer to waih it down ; and that after being fully1,
republicanized by this fraternal regimen, he, with
four other American mafters, was fent to Mar
tinique, tb be exchanged for as many French officers *.
Bloody

* This is not war, I fupppfe,/ This is only a gentle way of
expreflirig their difpleafure. "This calls for no fequeftrations,
prohibitions, or embargoes. This is no iiifult to the AmeVicaii
flag, nor does it call forth the, curfes of even the tarpawlingsV
Well, be it fp. J.et them pillage and baftinado. Infamous as is
their

MARCH, 1797. 59
: Bloody French in Suabia. — Extraa of a letter of
Hauffman, commiffary with the army, to the Direc
tory, fubmitted to the Council of Five Hundred,
tranflated from the Leyden Gazette of Nov. nth,
Supplement. " Melancholy details were received
pf the ill treatment of the peafants in Suabia by
the French troops, which ocoafioned an infurrec-
tion. Twelve French foldiers entered a farm, where
ihey found a girl of eighteen years old, and they
forced her father to he a witnefs of the brutal violfince-
committed xm her by them fuccefjively . Pillagers wan
dered about the country, feized and carried off chil
dren, and compelled their parents to redeem them
wilh money* !! !"
Salvage on American Veffels recaptured hy the Britifh,
js to be one eighth of the value of fhip and cargo.
The American Ship Olive-branch, which was lately
captured by the Audacious, with a cargo of fmall
arms, ordnance, and a camp equipage, and brought
into Portfmoufh, was fome time ago freighted from
the north of Ireland, at a time that a large quantity
qf fpecie was fent from the metropolis, by certain
y ' 1 ¦ ' i ¦ «
their conduct:, the punifhment it infli&s is yufi. American mai
lers of veffels taken, and exchanged for French prifoners of war f
Yes; and. yet the humble nation fawns on them; aye, and fuch.
is our debafement, that the tri-coloured enfign of robbery and
murder, that now waves over the^American flag in every part of
the Weft indies, ftill graces the Tpncine Coffee-bpufe, the ren
dezvous of the merchants of New-York! Nor is it neceffary to
fend tKe reader fo far for a fight of this deteftable enfign of re
bellion and murder. Philadelphia prefents it in every ftreet. —
N. B. A puEiic-houfe fign, in the Northern Liberties, is the French
Flag and Liberty Cap.
* It wijl be remembered, that this fa£r. is related by a French
commiffary, who certainly would not exaggerate on fuch a fubjeft.
Let '.the impudent Democrats ftill try if they can lie away the/
horrid fafts that are related in tiie Bloody 'Buoy.
known

'¦p* GAZETTE SEtSeTlONS.
known agents of the worthies in that quarter*.-*
Englifh article.
Blafphemous Adulation.— The following paragraph
is too notorioufly blafphemous not to excite a pub
lic abhorrence. It is taken from a federal paper,
©n the fubjea of a feflive day in honour ot the
birth of General Wafhington.
<£ Two public companies, and many private par'-
*« ties, obferved this POLITICAL CHRI SIMAS,
?' and hallowed it !" What will our profeffed reft-
gmus elafs of citizens fay to the paragraph? what
wilt the clergy fay to this fpecies of blafphemy >
" Political Chriftmas f What is the idea of this
cxpreffion, but ranking Wafhington with Jefus
Chrift } Hallowing the birth-day of Wafhingfon,
is compared with hallowing the birth- day of ©«*#
Saviour, or at leaft it is ufing the fame word as it
applies to Jefus Chrift, and Wafhington "f-

/

Mr. Relf and Ms Novel, the Fi3mi ef Sent'Wfnt*
— This gentleman being an apprentice to the print
ing bufinefs, and obferving, probably, that his maA
fer, Mr. Young, was generally engaged in printing
Worthlefs trafh, thought that he might as well try

* This Slip and cargo belongs to Ira Allen, of Vermotifj a
furious Democrat, who was himfelf in France at* the time of ttt"?
fhipment of the arms; but it will by and by appeal that' the
arms wei'e not deftined for Ireland, though it will be lefs evident '
that they were not intended for an expediti.ori agdinft Canada.
f This ankle is taken from the Bofton Chronicle, a.. pap"et
which I feldom quote, but which I quote with pleafure on this.
occafion, fubferibing moflr implicitly to the propriety of its re.
marks on fo indecent, not' to fay impibus', a" paragraph. I am
certain that, no man's <jhara£ler ever was exalted by hyperbolical
eulogium, and cannot help remarking, that, if fuch an eulogium,
Iiad been beftowed on a king., the puritanical Republicans of Bof-
ten would have been the ftrft to condemn the blaiplhemous fycor
phant to the flames' of hell.
a hi&

hts hand in providing materials for the prefs. With,
this very commendable objea in view he fet to
work, and, early in 1797, produced a novel, en
titled, the Ficlims of Sentiment, dedicated to Mifs
Ann Louifa Bingham* a child of a wealthy and
fafhionable family. The appearance of this novel
produced the following communications to P. Por
cupine :
Mr. PoRCuBiNE-r-Through the medium of your
paper be kind enough to caution the author of the
Viaims of Sentiment to fupprefs his vanity from
appearing again as a novel-writer, unlets his genius
can affift him to fend forth fomething that will dp
more credit to America, both as to aufhorfhip and
the virtue of its fair. A Lady.
Mr. Porcupine — Seeing in your paper a caution
to the author of the Viaims of Sentiment, under
the fignature of A Lady, I $as not a little furprifed
at her prefomption. You will, through the medium
pf your ufeful paper, be pleated to communicate
my opinion of that' lady.
Her judgment muft: certainly be biaffed by jea-
loufy, pride, rancour, or vanity, in thus*cenfuring
a book and its author, who has difplayed his genius
in the fulnefs -of perfeaion ; and although his firft
effay into the regions of effort ought not to be.
viewed with the ferutinizing eye of critieifm, yet
this lady has attempted' a bold ftroke, in order (as
the may fuppofe) to ruin the' charaaer of the au
thor and the tale of the book. Perhaps, Sir, fhe is
a little chagrined, becaufe the " Viaims of Sen-
" timent" was not (as fhe expeaed) dedicated to
her Ladyfhip. Poor creature ! how forry I am for
her accumulated difappointments !
This old maid of a lady, wallowing in the mire:
of flupidity, has controverted the deftgn, and mif-
ponftrued the author's meaning (which is to fhow
the evil tendency and bad effects arifing from parents
obliging

$« GAZETTE ^ELECTIONS.
obliging their children to marry againft their inch-
nations) into a violation of the virtue of her fcx.
I hope, the lady will give the book an impartial
perufal, and decide upon its merit with candoar,r
accuracy, and precifion ; and when fhe perceives her
error, and acknowledges it, then, Sir, I fhall crave
pardon for this intrufion. A Gentleman,
Mr. Porcupine — " A Gentleman," who feems
rather new and awkward in that charaaer, in your
paper qf Monday, replied to " A Lady" on the adr
vice fhe thought proper to give to a young author
of this city. This gentleman is, affuredly, .of the
regenerated race ; for he nnderftands as little of the
rules of gallantry as of grammar. His defence of^
the Viclims of Sentiment is as replete with ill manners
as the work he commends is with nonfenfe, his ad
miration of which isseafily accounted for, on the,
maxim, that " a foot always finds a greater fool to,
admire him." A Lady!
Mr. Porcupine^— I fhould be very much gratified
to fee your correfpondent {" A Gentleman") fhow
wherein the publication entitled The Victims of Sen
timent evinces fo much merit as he pretends to find
in it. For my part, as far as my underflanding
goes, I can perceive no other defign in the writer
than an abfolute defence of conjugal infidelity. - If his
intentions were different, he has certainly gone
afide from his purpofe ; for, inftead of labouring to
prevent an evil, he only goes to point out how its
anguifh may be mitigated by feeking- for indul*
gences elfewhere.
I do not indeed apprehend much mifchief from
the prevalence of his doarine, becaufe the produo*.
tion is too frivolous to recommend his principles
with fufficient force to overturn the chaftity or mo
rality of our fair ; hut the author ought certainly to
be

March, 1797. 93
be cautioned not to expofe himfelf by appearing in
public in fo bad a caufe.
In the advertisement prefixed to this book, we
are told that the defign of it is to appeafe thefuffer-
i«gs of an unhappy wife, or to prevent the harfh
Control of a parent over the affeaions of his child.
But, granting this to be the innocent motive, what
occafion is there for his precept ? Where have we
an inftance, in a free country like this, of a parent
compelling his daughter to marry againft her will ?
And if there be no example of the error, whence
the neceffity of cenfures or admonitions ? To what
purpofe is it that we wield the weapons of fatire
where there is nothing to receive its force ? Let the
author referve his talents to do away prevalent vices,
and endeavour to reform where reformation is re
quired. In Spain, or perhaps in Ruffia, the author's
fentiments might be relifhed better, even though
they fhould not be fo fortunate as to receive the ap
probation of a wealthy patron ; but the writer may be
affured, that in a country where his leffons are fo
ufelefs, riches can be of no avail to refeue it from
contempt. I fay nothing as to the merits of the performance
ia point of compofition, becaufe, whatever defire I
may have that the tafte of our young ladies may not
be vitiated, it would perhaps be thought to proceed
more from ill nature than a defire to rectify their
judgment ; but the faa is, that it prefents nothing
valuable, either of ftyle or fentiment ; and it is to
he wifhed that a produaion, intended for the peru-
fal of the world, , might be fubmitted, before, public
cation, to an underftanding more matured than that
of the youthful female to which this is addreffed. I
have not the honour to know her perfonal ly, but I
thoulcj 'not fuppofe from her age that fhe was quali
fied to " fanction" a primer, much lets a work in
tended

9* GAZETTE SELECTION.
tended to reclaim fathers from the praaice of crUett^
and redrefs the grievances of daughters.
Maritus*.
More Americans exchanged for French Prifoners of
War.— Captain More, of Alexandria, and his crew,
captured by the French, were put in irons and con
fined with the Britifh prifoners. Their daily fubfift>
ence was half a pound of bread, a quarter of a pound
of falt-fifh, and as much water as they required.-^
Captain More, was fent with Captain Calvert to be
exchanged at Martinique.
Britons and Americans ! the French feem refolved
to .unite you in fpite of yourfelves-"-in fpite of the
treachery and folly that are too obvious in the con*
dua of individuals in both countries to oppofe it. If
found policy, good fenfe, and mutual intereft were
not powerful enough to bring about an alliance in
the days of profperity and eafe, the hour of adver-
fity, French jails and kicks, ftarvation and hand?
cuffs, will teach you at leaft to fympathize together*
Lines written at Newport, on feeing the Sign of .the
Liberty Cap,
•SAY,.fcllow-eitizens, did you ever fee
Th' unmeaning emblem of French liberty,

* Here I thought proper to interfere, and prevent the further
wafte of ink and time on fuch a contemptible performance ; nor;
fhould I have given the controverfy a place here, had not a recent
event [1799] in the family of Mr. Bingham rendered the jtiftnefs of
the obfervations of Maritus lingularly ftriking.There have been
feveral attempts made in the novel way in thefe States : they have
all fallen far beneath mediocrity in point of literary merit ; and,.
which is ftill worfe, all thofe that 1 have feen, have, like the mi-
fcr able fluff of poor Relf, been of an immoral tendency. The
fate of this imp of a printer's devil may be juftly delcribed in the
very words in which the author concludes it, in defcribing the
fete of its hero :— " he dropped, down, and at once difatiearei
from the world." J rr Plac'd

March, 1797. , ^s
jPiac'd at a tavern-keeper's door as fign,
To indicate the licens'd man of wine?
1 own to me it is a novel fight,
To. fee this ufeful covering for the night,
With gold fo finely ornamented all,
And ftuck without a head upon a pole :
Pray, is it by this tinfel out£de fhow
That we the Cap of Liberty «iay know ?
I own 1 fhould have ta'en this fptendid bright cap,
Simply to fignify a golden night-cap, '
Unlets by inspiration I fhould fee
The form appertinent to liberty ;
Aad 'tis a cap, it truly may be faid,
In which th' aerial dame ne'er plac'd her head I
It might a fool ov T  d fit as well,
A Have, a tyrant, or fome imp of hell !
Oft have I feen that form of bloody hue
Bedeck the head of many a fcoundrel crew
Of robbers, and of bafe affaffins too ;
Whiift they, exulting o'er their flaughter'd prey,
With beitial yell, cry Five la Liberie!
Oh impious fignal, terror of the good,
Borne by a favage herd through fields of blood J
Shall this fell fign difgrace Columbia's coalr,
Whofe happy fons a peaceful freedom boaft ?
I like not here thy mad-cap form to find,
As fign of freedom in thy owner's mind !
Much truer emblems of French Liberty,
Are bears or wolves juft from their chains fet free*

i:

To Correfpondents. — Several favours are omitted
to-day that fhall be inferred to-morrow.
" Ruffl'icus" is thankfully received, and fhall ap
pear in the next number.
" A Friend to Peter Porcupine" will pleafe, ano
ther time, to convey his advice in terms lets autho
ritative, or he may depend on being -difregarded.
" A True Democratf who complains of my abuf-
ing Meffrs. Bache and Swauwick, and who con
cludes his letter with, " Read the Bible and Boflon's
Four- fold State, you d— -- — d fcoundrel," has my free
liberty to tuck himfelf up to the lamp poft oppofite
my doer.
" A ' Spbfcriber,'" who is highly difpleafed at my
feverity

$5 GAZETTfc SEL^Cf IONS.
feverity on the Regicide Direaory of France; is moft
refpeafully requefted to withdraw his fubfcription.
OT Correfpondents are defired never to write un
der the name of Subfcriber. It feems to found very
much like Mafier.

Friday, 17th March.
Rufiicus's Reflections on Bache. — Mr. Porcupine, I
was very much amufed lately, with the entertaining
anecdotes' and inftruaive leffons contained in an
old newfpaper. It was dated but in 1790, yet the
difference between the fubjeas of that and thofe of
the prefent day was fo ftriking, that I was amazingly
taken with it. I left no part, not even an adver-
tifement, unread, On turning back to the firft
page, ftill for fomething more ; the motto attraaed
my notice : Truth, Decency, Utility — exprefiive, I
thought, of the contents of the paper. I then looked
for the printer's name, but imagine, Sir, my fur*
prife, when 1 read that of Benjamin Franklin Bache !
I was now led to confider the amazing change in
this paper, in fo fhort a period, and its aberrations
from every principle by which it feemed at firft to be
direaed. To give you a fpccimen of its politics, I fhall
tranfcribe a paragraph from the number how before
me, dated November 27, 1790. This may ferve as
a contraft to thofe very frequently exhibited for fome
time paft, and particularly with one on the 6th of
this month.
" Succefsful in war, but foiled in the arts Of
" peace, the people of the United States were long
"the dupes of European policy, and were nearly
" the victims of their own indifcretion. We were
" animated by a fpirit of falfe trade. Induftry was
" aaive, but her aaivity was ill direaed. Liberty,
" was tremblingly alive^ and hit aliv«. Attacked " by

MARCH, 1797. 97
"¦ by illiberality and difunion, we dreaded left fhe
" fhould expire on the threfhold of government.
" But licentioufnefs was evidently her moft formi-
". dable foe. More than one State was convulfed
" by the efforts of (now) difappointed faaion.
" Commerce ftagnated in all her channels, and
" credit was moft deplorably at the loweft ebb.
" But the feene is changed. A new, a happy
" feries of years commences. Juftice defcends from,
*' the fkies, where too many had compelled her to
" take refuge. ' The hands of the manufaaurer are
" beneficially employed. Our ports abound in our
tf own veffels. Agriculture is encouraged. A
" Wafhington prefides. over us with as much dignity
ft and wifdom as man is capable of exerting. The
" found policy of Adams fhall again be manifefted-;
" and the diftinguifhed talents of Jefferfon advan-
" tageoufly difplayed.
"jWith thefe profpeas, which reft on as much fe-
" curity as humanity can expea, what evils have
" we to fear ? or rather, what bleflings may we not
" hope for ?"
From a natural affociation of ideas, I then began
to figure to my mind the young man, as he appeared
at that period ; like his paper and his motto — young,
modeft, unafiuming ; and to inquire (for I feldom
now fee his paper), whether the motto, as well as
the fubjea matter, the title of the paper, and the
very figure of the man, were not changed. I foon
recollected that it was ; -and that for one excellent in
itfelf, in our plain mother tongue, another, in a
dead language,, was adopted, not fo familiar to the
vulgar readers, to be fure; but yet a very good
motto— -Surgo ut profim. I had Latin enough to
find out that this ftill promifed fomething that the
plain Englifh one did ; to be ufeful. What ! me-
thought, at the expenfe of truth and decency !
VOL. V. h In

.9* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
In my future communications, if you have no
objeaion, Mr. Printer, I mean to confider, and
treat as my fubjea, the progrefs of this paper
through all its mutations; the probable, caufes of
thofe mutations ; and, in fine, to write on the ef-
feas of ambition and guilt, as exemplified in the
charaaer of a printer. Rusticus *.
Barney and his Squadron. — Extraa of a letter
from Wiiliamfburg, Virginia. " The Afia, 64,
" Captain R. Murray, and the Thifbe, 28, Cap-
" tain O. Hardy, are lying yet in Hampton Roads.
" TheTopaze, 38, Thetis, 38, Lynx floop, 18.
*' Commodore Barney is preparing faft for his de-
" parture ; and however ftrange it may appear, he
" certainly will not delay his departure one day
" when ready, on account of any force the Britifh.
" may have on our coaft. His fhips fail remark-
" ably well, and have both very refpeaable of-
" ficers."
Now the readers of Porcupine's Gazette will
pleafe to remember this declaration. We fhall fee
that the noble commodore will never budge an inch,
fo long as there is a Britifh cannon pointed againft
him. 
Young Orledns and La Fayette. — Our information
was wrong, with refpea to the Duke of Orleans I
having arrived in town on Sunday With the late
Prefident. It was another gentleman, the inflruaor

* My friend Rufticus's favours, if I may judge from this fam-
ple, will always be welcome. The progrefs he propofes to trace,
will, undoubtedly, he very amufing. 1 am miftakeniflt will hot
iiirpafs the hark? s progrefs, both in variety of incident, and degree
©f proffitation. p. p. Of

march, 1797. .90
of Mr. Fayette, who has accompanied the General
from Mount Vernon *.
Ffench Flag at New-York.^-" The charm diffolves
ef~apace," fays old Profpero — -and fo fay 1 : for on
Tuefday laft, the proprietors of the Tontine Coffee-
houfe at New-York, formally tqok down the French
flag from the altitude, whence it had, for three
long years, caft dilgrace on all who entered the
building. ¦ v .
The editor of the Daily Advertifer of that city,
in giving an account of -this removal, affumes the
foftening tone. He feems afraid to attribute it to
any change that has taken place in the fentiments of
the proprietors of the houfe, and of the people of
New-York ; and therefore he very ferioufly tells us,
gently ftroking his beard all. the time, " that ftep
" was taken in confequence of the difturbances
" occafioned by the frequent difplacing of thofe
" figures by inconfiderate individuals, to gratify
" their private folly or intemperate opinions."
Private opinions and intemperate folly might, per
haps, have been preferable to " private folly and
" intemperate opinions ;" but remarks of this nature
I fhall leave to thofe who are difpofed to criticife on
the flyle of a newfpaper, and confine myfelf to fuch
as relate to the meaning of this conciliatory para
graph. If what it withes to tell us be true ; if the dif
turbances occafioned by the fcandalous and degrad
ing emblem in queftion, were the fole reafons for
taking it down, I would like to be informed, how it
* The two Egalites are in the United States at this time, on.
their travels ; but it is worthy of remark, that though they boafted
at Paris of being the defcendants of a coachman, they now think
proper to abandon their new name and take up their old one. Faff
what they do this I know not ; as it would be a very nice point
tt> determine which of the two names is iribft infamous*
h 2. canle

tfoo GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
earhe not fo be taken down long ago ? Was it laft
week that thofe difturbances began, or were thofe of
laft week of a more ferious nature than any which had
before Happened ? The beft anfwer to this queft'ion
will, perhaps, be found in the following documents
and paragraphs from New- York papers of May
1795 :
New-York, May* 26, 1795-—" Stop thief ! Stolen
u from the Tontine Coffee-houfe, on the morning
" of the 20th inftant, the flag of the French Uepub-
il lit, recently put by the republican citizens of Nevv-
*' York, in union With the American colonrs. A
" certain William Anderfon, lately from Englahdi
" in the fhip Hope, is fuppofed to be the thief.
" Whoever fhall apprehend the faid perfon, or any
" other perfon or perfons, who fhall have been
" guilty or concerned in the faid theft, and fecure
" him of them in any jail of the United States, fhall
" receive a reward of 150 dollars. " Walter Bicker.
" In behalf of the republican citizens of New-
" York.
" N. B. All the printers in the United States are
ft requefted to infert the above advertifement."
Again. — " Perfonally appeared before me, An-
" drew Van Tuyl, one Of the Aldermen of the city
" of New-York, James Durham, who depofeth and
" faith, that he lives with Mr. John Hyde, at the
" Tontine Coffee-houfe, and was up on the night
" of Tnefday the 19th, until about three o'clock in
" the morning ; that he was requefted by William
" Anderfon, one of the lodgers at the Tontine Cof-
" fee-houfe, to go up to his bed-room to fee that
" his bed was ready for him : this was about two
" o'clock. That he went up flairs, and remained
" there about five minutes ; that when he returned
" to the large coffee-rborur he met the faid William
j-, *-' Anderfon

MARCH, 1797. jci
" Anderfon going up ftairs out of the cofl^e-room,
" with his coat and hat off ; that this deponent
" found the lamps under the liberty cap broke ; and
" looking up, obferved the French flag torn off ;
" this deponent then exclaimed againft the pro-
" ceeding, on which the faid William Anderfon
" ufed threatening language to this deponent, and
" told him vto hold his tongue.
" That the following perfons .were in company
" with the faid William Anderfon, viz. Young-
*e hufhands, Codd., Blackflpne, M'Kenzie, Robins ;
" all lodgers at fhe Tontine Coffee-houfe.
" After this the above perfons retired to bed ; and
" this deponent, after finding the French flag torn
<r down, went and unformed Mr. Hyde, who was in
" b,ed. From every circumftance attending this
" bufinefs, and from the aafons fnd Jangqage of
" ,the C^d Anderfon, this deponent does truly be-
" lieye, fljat the faid William Anderfon was the
" perfon principally concerned in (tearing down the
V French flag. " James Durham."
" Sworn before me tbi,s -">
•.'fothMay, 1795." J
Again, M,ay 21.—  " Y,efterday between the
" hours of twelve and one, a number of Frenchmen,
" on feeing their national flag infulted by fome Eng-
" lifhmen (who they fuppofed took it down from the
" liberty cap on the night before), went up ftairs
" wl\ere an Englifh officer, a Mr. Codd, lodged,
" an,d jfu.ppofipg hnn oijie of the guilty perfons, took
& his regimental coat, brought it down, and tore it in
" pieces"." The attention of the tovyn was yefterday much
ft engaged by the circumftance ofthe removal of the
fl French flag, which had been attached (with the
H American) to the liberty cap that was replaced pn
H3 iC Monday

joa GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
*' Monday evening, in the coffee-room of the Ton-
" tine Coffee-houfe.
« By the examination of James Durham, a waiter
** at the coffee-houfe, before Mr. Alderman Van
" Tuyl, it appears, that circumftances ftrongly con-
" curred to fix the aa on a Mr. Anderfon, who
" arrived within a few days from England.
" A whaling boat, manned with fixteen hands,
*e armed, left the city about noon to overtake him ;
<c but returned laft evening, after having boarded a
"veffel in which he was fuppofed to have embarked
*' for Halifax. He was not on board."
Now what, pray, has lately happened ofconfe-
quence equal to this ? If the proprietors of the houfe
were aauated by no other motive than the preven
tion of difturbances, how comes it that this motive
did not lead them to the fame meafure, when the
above hue and cry difgraced their city ? The faa is,
that the livery of Orleans was hung up by the con
tent of a majority of the proprietors of the houfe,
notwithftanding the Daily Advertifer now wifhes to
make us believe that they knew nothing at all about
the matter. I look upon the Daily Advertifer of
moderate, and, generally fpeaking, good principles ;
but the following contraft will teach the Editor that
trimming, efpecially in print, is never fafe.
Paper of May ? r, 1 795. Paper of March 1 5, 1 797.
It was readily and juftly fup- The original impropriety of
pofed, that no friend" to this enforcing a peaceable acquief-
country had committed the aft ; cence in a meafure which had no
the impolicy and infuJt attending poffible ufe in its firft adoption
it are unpardonable. For al- (by men who. had no bufinefs to
though it is far from being call them to the room ; or right
right, that the peace of this to di&ate at all to the public
city fliould depend on the fixture opinion), was long confidered
of an emblematical figure in a as derogatory to the independ-
. coffee-room : yet, heing there by ence of thofe by whom the houfe
the confent of the citizens who are was really fupported; "and no-
IVtcrefted m, andfufport the houfe, thing' but a defire to prevent
as

MARCH, 1797. *»3
as well as of tbe citizens at large, further ridiculous difturbances
the removal of it was an aft of admitted of its being countenance?
indifcretion and wiciednefs that in any degree whatever.
fhould meet with the higheft
contempt. This, Mr. Editor, is called boxing the compafs I
,an art very neceffary to be fure, where the fea of po
lities is agitated by contrary winds; but in doings
it, you fhould always keep a fharp look-out ahead ;
a piece of advice that is equally applicable fo the
Tontine Coffee-houfe *.

Satueoav, 18th March.
Captain Calvert fraternized. — The following is a
copy of a letter from Captain Thomas Calvert, late
of the brig Friends, from London to this port,
blown off our coaft laft December, and captured by

* The fate of this flag is fomewhat lingular. - I have the ho
nour to know Meflrs. Robert Tounghufbands and William Ander
fon, who pulled it down. The former is an Englifhman, the lat
ter a Scotchman, both of them as found-hearted, brave fellows,
as ever exifted ; and I think 1 can venture to fay, that, " armed,'>
or unarmed, they would not have turned their backs on any "fix-
teen" fans culottes that ever exifted. Very far were they from
fleeing, or fkulking from the enraged republicans. They went
on board Captain Younghufbands's fliip, where they remained,
ready armed for their defence, till they failed out of the harbour.
If Bob Younghufbands had been in the place of Mr. Codd, the
French cannibals would not have torn his coat in pieces. He
would have felled the mifcreants by fcores, as Sampfon did the
Philiftines. — This emblem of French and American fraternity
was, in order to render it fire-preof, made of tin. It was not
only pulled down, but carried off, clean out of the country ;
and it is at this time [Auguft, 1799] aftually a plaything for th»
children of a good loyal fubjeft, in the city of St. John, Province.,
of New-Brunfwick ! Such has been the fate of the famous frater
nal flag, which, for a long time, occupied the ferious attention
of the grave magiftracy of New-York, and which caufed more
bnftle and anxiety amongft the citizens, than the captuie of" a
hundred of their velfels and the flogging of a thoufand of their
failors !
H 4 a French

M>4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
a French privateer off Antigua, carried into Guada-
loupe, where both veflel and cargo were condemned,
and the captain and crew imprifoned.
" I am in a hurry — this moment arrived from
(e Port Royal, where I was exchanged from a
" French prifon of hunger and drought. I have
" wrote to you before, and make no doubt of your
" receiving my letters. I have to return to. Port
" Royal for your boy Aaron, whom I purpofe bring-
" ing home with me. — J have to inform you that I
" am now without clothes or money, and much ex-
" haufted with hunger and the abufe I received.
" My brother and mate are yet in Viaor Hugues's
" prifon — .0 God! the lofs of money is nothing;
" but the horrid treatment I received, has nearly
" deprived me of exiftence. I remain yours,
" Thos. Calvert *."
Death of the Emprefs of Ruffta. — An arrival -from
Liverpool has this day brought us the following
very important article of news — " St. Peters-
" burgh, Nov. 18, 1797. Laft night her Impe7
" rial Majefty, who had been feized with an apo*
*' pleaic fit on the preceding day, expired at a
" quarter before ten o'clock.
" Immediately after her Imperial Majefty's de-
" ceafe, the Emperor Paul was proclaimed befor.e,
<c the palace in the ufual form ; and the whole
" court, which was there affembled in anxious ex-
fc peaation from the morning of the Emprefs 's ac-
" cident to the moment of her death, immediately
" took the oath of allegiance to the new fovereign,
." as did the four regiments of guards ; and every

* If poor Captain Calvert was a.gopd Whig during the lat?'
revolution, I dare fay he never expefted any treatment like this
at the hands of our generous allies, the French, efpecially after
^hey fhould become " virtuous republicans."
' ' •. . *c thing

MABCH, 1797. log
(r thing paffed with the greateft order and tranquil-
" lity." H
A Dream. — Some time ago, a refpeaable lady of
England, who was of undoubted veracity, and ex
emplary for her attention to religion (a thing quite
unfafhionable in our enlightened days), dreamed a
dream. And, behold ! the was at the gates of the
infernal regions. Either from fome unaccountable
impulfe, or impelled by that curiofity which is ge
nerally a leading feature in her fex, ihe knocked at
the door. What was her aflonifhment, when, in
stead of a porter, fhe beheld his Satanic Majefty
himfelf officiating as door-keeper ! She immediately
inquired the reafon, and received for anfwer, that
his whole infernal holt was fo much engaged in
propagating the interefts of liberty, equality, murder
jen mafffe, &c. &c. in France, that he was obliged
to attend to the whole duty of the lower houfe him-i
felf.

Monday, 20th March.
French Incendiaries at Charlefton. — Mr. Printer,
Obferving a few days finee in one of the gazettes,
that a further proyifion is intended to be made for
the fupport of the emigrants, commonly, though
abfurdly, called our good and faithful allies (while
many of our native unfortunate poor are unpro
vided for, and every day experiencing the keeneft
want and mifery), I ftep forward to aid fo laudable
a defign ; and therefore through the channel, of
your Gazette, beg leave to introduce, Mr. Porcu
pine, to yourfelf and the public, fome circum fiances,
which probably at this moment you are all unac*
ouainted with.
Shortly after the St. Domingo maffacre, when the
Inhabitants, white, black, and mundingoes, were
,- flying

«©6 • GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
flying in every quarter and direaion, Charlefton, ifj
South Carolina (my native foil), received into its
bofom upwards of fifteen hundred ; they have finee
increafed, and in December laft amounted to near
two thoufand five hundred.
Conceiving them unfortunate and diflreffed, in
every point of view, the humanity of my country
men did not admit one moment's paufe. Exertions
were inftantly made for their relief, and quickly ef-
feaed to provide for their every want.
How have we been recompenfed ? — Our citizens
intuited, and frequently wounded by them in our
own territories ; our laws laughed at and trampled
under foot, and our officers of juftice threatened
with death if they dared to execute the orders of our
magiftrates. I will yet go further — What has oc
cafioned the change of condua in our domeftics,
even to a degree of infolence ? I reply, the French
refugees of St. Domingo and elfewhere. What has
laid wafte and defolated our once flourifhing city of
Charlefton ? A refugee cut-throat from St. Do
mingo. I ftate the cafe, be judges yourfelves.
The laft dreadful conflagration in that apparently
devoted city, broke out about three o'clock in the
afternoon in an obfeure houfe in Lodge Alley, at
the dwelling of one of thofe bleffed St. Domingo
gentry, who had been often heard to fay, that Ca
rolina, as well as Georgia, belonged to their nation,
and that they would ultimately have it; This All-
lie had built, adjoining to his kitchen, two flails,
one for a horfe, and the other for a cow ; and at
the further end had piled up his hay. Now, it is
notorious that he had neither horfe nor cow ; nor
was he able" to purchafe either ; confequently, did
not want hay, unlefs for fome other purpofe.
On the fatal day of the fire, he ordered his wo
man cook to fry fome fifh (from refulting circum
stances all was planned), and went immediately

MARCH, 1797. 107
from the houfe — to which he never returned. He
had fcarcely reached the end of the alley, before
the fire burft out, covered the neighbourhood with
flames, and fpread defolation in every direaion.
The confequences are well known ; the diftreffes of
the fufferers were great, till the extended arm of
humanity relieved them.
But how did this frying of fifh occafion fire ? I
give the cook's own words ; fhe had put too much
fat in the pan, which being overheated took fire;
fhe was frightened, ran to the pile of hay, and
thruft the pan into it ; but, oh marvelloufly wonder
ful ! the hay, inftead of outing the fire, took the
benefit of it to itfelf, and burft into a flame, that
hurled deftruaion all around it. What I have
ftated are melancholy faas ; myfclf being amongft
the number of unfortunate fufferers.
During the time of the fire, not one of thefe
bleffed gentry ever offered to affift, unlets where
their own fraternity were in danger, but viewed the
diftreffes of our natives with calm compofure, and
puffed their fegars.
Yet thefe, or their fellow-emigrants, who are
the people we are anxious to provide for, rob and
plunder us by fea ; ruin us at home ; and laugh at
us for our folly.
My countrymen, will you be blind for ever; or
at leaft will you not fee till it is too late to open
your eyes ? American us.
French Flag at New->York. — The public have been
informed, that this banner of infamy was a few days
ago taken down from its place in the Tontine Coffee-
houfe at New- York. It feems that this removal gave
great difpleafure to King Mob, who, on the 16th
inft. affembled 4II his forces in order to reinftate it.
With peculiar fatisfaaion, however, it is that I
* , relatd^

jo8 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
relate his difcomfit. -The proprietors of the houfe>
were upon their guard, and his Briarean majefty
was obliged to retire in difgrace, leaving feveral of
his tattered hoft in the hands of the watch.
Captain Holden and Crew' fraternized. — —The
fchooner Vernilla, Henry Holden mafter, on her
pafiage lately from St, Thomas's to the Havannah,
off the eaft end of St. Domingo, was boarded by a
privateer fchooner under French colours, the crew
of which robbed him of his watch, and feveral fm.aH
articles ; and in the latitude of Havannah was fired
on by a fchooner privateer, which hoifted Spanifli
colours, and made him fend his boat aboard, though
it blew fo hard that it was with difficulty be fayjed
his boat from being ftove : they robbed him of a
barrel of flour, all his cabin flores, fire -wood, the
people's clothes, , and every thing they could fee,
and threatened to cut the throat of one of his crew,
who went on board the privateer. In neither inftance
could Captain Holden learn the names of the vef
fels or mafters, to whom he was indebted for fuch
liberal treatment.
Captain Town fraternized. — Captain Yerby (men
tioned in yefterday's Gazette) gives the follow
ing inftance of the fraternity ,of the French go
vernment in Hifpaniola, towards the Americans:
The brig America, Captain Town, of Philadel
phia, having fold his outward-bound cargo at
St. Thomas's, put into Port de Paix to purcjhafe
coffee ; but immediately on his entering the port,
his veffel was boarded by order of the governfiient,
by an armed banditti, who broke open his hatches,
ftate room, chefts, and every thing that came in
their way, nor did they leave her till they plun^
dered her of fixteen thpu&nd dollars cafh ! Every
' Z effort

MARCH, 1797. io,f
effort was made by the captain to obtain juftice, but
without fuccefs ; for as they had taken his property
without pretext, fo they intended to keep it.
Cut-throat Negroes in Georgia. — Savannah, 44th
February, 1797. — On Wednefday the 15th inft. a
fhocking murder was committed at the plantation of
Mr. H. Herfon in Scriven county, the particulars of
which, as far we are informed, are as follows : Mr.
Herfon had purchafed feven men and a woman,
from a cargo of negroes lately imported, and carried
them up to his place in Scriven county, where
they appeared to be happy and content, never re
ceiving harfh language or blows from their mafter.
On the morning of the 15th, one of the fellows
came to the dwelling-houfe, requefting his mafter
to walk with him to the fpot where they had been
working, alleging that he had finifhed what was
pointed out to them, and wanted more. Some little
time after, his ladv looking out, obferved one of
the fellows ftrike Mr. William Rate on the head
twice with the club end of his ax; on her fcrearn-
mg with terror, three or four rufhed into the houfe,
with axes in their hands, and attempted her life, as
alfo that of a young lady who refided with her, but
were prevented by the fpirited condua of the latter,
who raifed a chair to defend herfelf. The confo
rm n this threw them in, gave time for her to make
her efcape; Mrs. Herfon was clofely purfued, and
faved her life only by the interpofition* of a fellow
and wench, who had long lived with them, and oh
finding the fellows running from the place where
they had depofited articles plundered from the
dwelling-houfe, advifed her to conceal herfelf un
der a houfe. Stria fearch was made for this unfor
tunate lady, but happily fhe remained undifcovered.
The faithful fellow having fecured her fafely, as far as

sio GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
as lay in his power, ran to the neighbours and gate
the alarm, which occafioned the colleaion of a few
men, who, arriving on the fpot, found Mr. Rate
quite dead, and on fearching, difcovered Mr. Her
fon about the fpot where he was enticed to examine
the work, lying without any other fenfations of life
than that of laborious breathing, the back part of
his fkull being driven in by a blow of an ax. In
this fituation he remained about twenty hours, and
expired, greatly lamented by all who had the plea
fure of his acquaintance; his charaaer being that
of an amiable, worthy man. The party immediately
purfued, and came up with the murderers, who
made refiftance, but were overcome, three being
killed on the firft difcharge, and one badly wounded;
two furrendered, one=of which declared himfelf the
author and contriver of the murder; and after
much deliberation, was, by the men affernbled,
condemned to the flames ;. which fentence was im
mediately put in execution.
Much credit we hear is due to three brothers,
gentlemen of the name of Scrugg, who commenced
the purfuit, and by their fpirited attack, prevented.
thefe villains from perpetrating other enormities
of the fame nature, which was their declared in
tention. We alfo are informed, that Mr. Thomas Kirk, of
this place, was on the fpot, and received a wound
from one of them, but fortunately made his efcape.
We have a warning in this melancholy cafe of
the feourge that hangs over this country, if the im
portation of flaves from Africa is continued; and
at, the fame a proof of the natural fruits of the fpirit
of infubordination which fo ftrongly marks many
influential charaaers in this ftate. If General
Jaekfon and others will take the liberty to fpurn at
the authority of lawful government, in imitafion,of the

MARCH, 1797. ui'
the cut-throats of France, they may depend upon
it, the blacks will not be long quiet fpeaators in fo
troubled a feene.

Newark Sans -culottes. — This fhamelefs race are
rare in the country places, particularly in the ftate of
New-Jerfey ; yet, fomehow or other, one of them
is fupported in the capacity of a news- monger, ia
the town of Newark. His fmutty half-fheet of the
15th inft. contains a tiring of toafts (which I am
fure were drunk in whifkey under the fmokey raf
ters of fome cabin), levelled at General Wafhing-
ton's adminiftration.- — Why does not fome federal
gentleman of Newark put a ftop to the yelpings of
this cur, bytofling him the orts from his table ? The
fellow muft live ; and if nobody elfe will feed him,
who can blame him for fawning on the French ? I
have often thought (and I am now convinced of it)
that a judicious diftribution of broken viauals would
very foon deprive the defpots of Paris of alL their ad
herents in this country.

Tuesday, 21st March.

Effecls of French Philofophy .—-_ -There is nothing that
diftinguifhes the features of French philofophy, next
to a general fcepticifm, fo much as a profufion of
wanton ideas and images,, as if its principal bufinefs,
after annihilating religion, was to fill the world with
whores and baftards. It is not to be wondered,
therefore, that, when a body of thefe immoral philo-
fophers have been chofen to legiflate for a country,
their laws fhould promote an univerfal depravity of
manners ; and nothing is more certain than that all
the poifoned ftreams that now deluge France, have
flowed from this corrupt fountain, The facred
bond that in better times united the fexes for life, and

ua GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
and was the fource' of {lability and happinefs to
families, has been ftripped of all its fanaity, and
confidered, by the reformers of France, merely as a
temporary bargain— to be made or diffolved, as it
fuited the appetite or the caprice of the parties. In
confequence of this hateful innovation, divorces have
been multiplied beyond all former examples, and
almoft beyond credibility.
" In the Paris paper that correfponds to the ufual
" regifier of births, marriages, and deaths^ in other
" countries, divorce has the poft of honour : it occu*
" pies the firft place on the lift. In the three firft
" months of the year 1793, the number of divorces
" in that city amounted to five hundred and fixty-
*' two: the marriages during the fame time, were
" but feventeen hundred and eighty-five ; fo that
<c divorces were to marriages nearly as one to three;
" andfo it was in moft of the fubfequent months.'"
From an inquiry made laft year at Doaors' Com*
mons, it was found that all the divorces in the king
dom of Great Britain, for a hundred years, amounted
to no more than one fifth of thofe which took place in
the fingle city of Paris in three months, from the day
that France was nick-named a republic.
In whatever country this licentious philofophy
meets with countenance, it will, in a, greater' or lefs
degree, produce the fame baleful effeas : govern-
ment will lofe its energy, and morality as well as re
ligion their facred obligations. Thank God, the
United States of America, in general, have hitherto
efcaped the infeaion. Religion and its facred in-
ftitutes are yet reverenced, maugre all the impious
efforts of Tom Paine and his coadjutors ; and
" wedded love" is ftill hailed as the " true fource
" Of human offspring-

" By which adulterous luft was driven from men
" Among the beftial herds to range—--  u.
" -arid all the charities,

Of

MARCH, 1797. . ' 113
" Of Father$>fan, and- brother* firft were known."
*.-* -^T ' ^ -
How long we fhall remain uncontaminated is a
problem. Methinks I already difcover in the fouth
fome ill-boding fymptoms of a temper predifpofed to
receive the contagion. The authority of government,
which ought to be fupreme over all its members,
however diftant, has been treated with difrcfpea by
the legiflature of one ftate, and by the chief magis
trate of another. Laws have been paffed in one fef-
fion to convey property, in another to refume it, and
in a third to deftroy every veftige ,of the contraa.
Threats have been publifhed by influential charac--
ters, to feparate from the confederacy, and to unite
with a foreign nation ; and what betrays a grofs de
terioration of manners, numerous divorces have been
announced in the public papers. At the laft feflion
of the legiflature of Georgia, when there were no
more than thirty aas paffed, five were made to fe
parate hufhands and wives. Thefe are certain marks
of a rottennefs at cote, which, if not refitted by fome
potent application, will produce evils not to be re
medied but by excifion. Read your fate, ye Geor
gians, in the hiftbry of St. Domingb. Difeord,
anarchy, and corrupt manners in the maflers, were
the forerunners of licentioufnefs, conflagrations, and
murders among the flaves, which in the courfe of a
few years have totally ruined one of the fined iflands
in the world. Do you imagine, that when you have
been adopted into the French republic, which fome
of you meditate, your feven hundred and fifty ty
rants will relinquifh their pretence of liberating the
world, to fave your property, when they refufed to do
it t<? preferve their own iflands ? No! if you ima
gine fo, "it is a delufion. Hear then the parental
voice of your country : " Come out from among
" them, my children, partake not of their fins, left
" you.partake alfo of their plagues."
vol. v. 1 " May

"4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" — —  May not my words prove true, ^ ...
" Nor what I tremble but to think enfue." Pop* * mmefi
. Mr. Porcupine — I have this moment received in
formation that you are fpreading your laft plumes, and
will be no longer able to tyrannize over the good fenfe
of the people of America : for that a certain young
gentleman, now of Bucks county, late from New-
York-, who is well read in Paine's Age of Reafon,
Rights of Man, Prieftley's Emigration, &c. who has
been honoured with a tete-a-tete from Governor
Clinton, and highly approves of the brickbat elo
quence of the mobility of New-York, practifed upon
Mr, Hamilton, has fpent great part of this winter in
fefeaing the moft exceptionable parts from your
writings, and. intends, as foon as he has reduced his
notes to order, to publifh them to fhe world. He
expeds to be able to prove that Peter Porcupine is
an enemy to both civil and religious liberty, and that
from his own writings he has fhown himfelf to be an
atheift.
- It may be proper to inform you that the gentleman
in queftion was educated a hatter ; I therefore beg
you to be on your guard, keep all your quills in
order, for the attack you are now to meet with is,
perhaps, the moft foul, if not fhe moft formidable
you ever experienced. W. R.

The Lock faw cured by Stroking IN — For the Eaftern
Herald.— Mr. Baker, At Saccarappa Mifs Elizabeth
, fvmght was taken with puking in the night preced
ing the 15th day of this month ; after which fhe lay
down and took. a nap, and in the morning waked
up fpeechlefs with, the lock-jaw. After various ap-
nS^"5 ^ SPntleme» of the faculty to no effect,
untdthc 18th in the afternoon, when by the applies tion

JVfARCH, 1797. 115
Nation bf Dr. Perkins's metallic points the was cured*
To this fita many witneffes can atteft. By infefting
this account in your paper, you may be the means
of faving the lives of fome; at leaft you will gratify
your humble fervant,
Fahmuth, Feb. 11, 1797. A Customer *.
Capt. Uempftead's Proteft againft French Fraternity.
— " Before me, John Norderling, judge and" notary
royal and public of this Ifland St: Bartholomew, per-
fonally appeared John Hempftead, mafter of the
American fchooner Henry and Gu.ftavus; of New-
York, who declared upon oathi That after, having
left the Danifh ifland of St. Thomas on the 14th of
laft month (December 1 796), bound home to New-
York, he, on the ifjth of faid month, at five o'clock
A. M. difcovered a fail to the windward, from which
about an hour after the faid fchooner got a lhot,
upon which the deponent hove to$ and was ordered

* This is the firft ftory refpecting the efficacy of the metallic
?' oints that £ ever could think of giving credit td. This* however,
muff cdnfeft, carries about it a ftrong appearance of probability-;
becaufe, if the reader has ever feen the tractors, as they are fome-
times called, he muft have obferved that they are extremely fliarp
at one end, and that, as they grow thicker, they alfo grow wider,
till they become about a quarter bf an inch thick, arid half an inch
wide, being round on one fide* and perfectly flat on the other.
From this defcription it will be readily conceived, that a couple of
more convenient vledges for wrenching the jaw open could hdt be
invented ; but methinks that the efficacious application of the
tractors in the abo^e diforder fhould point out to the ingenious
Doctor the neceffity of adding to his cafe a third inftrument, no lefs
ufeful than thofe already in ufe, and that is a hammer, which,
befides its being a neceffary auxiliary to the points iti. fotrte
complaints, would, in others, fuch as the tbotb-acb, for inftance,
Operate more fpeedily and more effectually than the points them
felves. Whether the learned Doctor would be able ta add this
third metallic inftrumeht to h\s patent or hot, I fhall not pretend
to fay ; but the profound wifdorn of Congrefs, and the confum-
hiate durability of the people, muft certainly give him great en
couragement to proceed in his difcoveries. $ a to

ii6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS
to get his boat out and come on board, which he
immediately did, having his papers with him, and
found her to be a French brig, armed with from fen
to fourteen gups, fome of which he fufpeaed to be
wooden : that the boat returned to the fchooner with
feveral of the brig's crew, who foon after fentfor the
key of the deponent's trunk ; the deponent then
Went back to' his own fchooner, where he found the
Frenchman had begun a general fearch both in the
cabin and in the holds,': and during which they took
from the deponertt from under his bed, one hundred
and twenty- feven joes, and a few dollars, all in filver
money, which lay in a bag : farther, the Frenchmen
from the faid armed brig took out of the faid
fchooner, one hogfhead of rum, two barrels of fu-
gar, and about one barrel Out of a hogfhead in the
hold, the runner and runner-blocks, twelve fpafe
blocks, with a coil of new rope, a compafs, a pad
lock, a pocket tumbler, the deponent's filver watch;
fomevvearing appatel,„fome. fowls, and. fundry fmall
articles, which cannot be fpecified with any exaa-
nefs ; and finally, about onp hundred and eighty
kveight of coffee ; that the deponent does not know
the name of the commander of the faid armed brig,
or to what place fhe belongs, but has been credibly
told, fhe is from Guadaloupe,. and that the com
mander of her is one Citizen Antoine^ fhe ia copper
bottomed, and the people on board her faid the eame
laft from Porto Rico ; that ihe deponent was. obliged
to fign a paper, in French, the contents he did not
'know, until he came to this ifland, where he has had it
\tranflated to him, and to his great fur p'rife finds, that his
cargo was looked upon by .the faid Frenchman as good
prize, as being Englifh property ¦ that inflead of com
ing from St. Thomas's, they faid, in faid paper, fhe
"(the faid fchooner) came from St. kitts, and. that they
have taken, nothing more .put -of her than 'a few
pounds of fugar and coffee, and a-tierce-of rum. .^
¦ - i « ln

MARCH, 1797. u7
"In confequence of all which, the faid mafter
does hereby folemnly proteft againft the proceedings
of faid French brig, as not only illegal, but piratical;
and referves to himfelf, his owners and enfurers,
and all others concerned, due recourfe againft the
commander, crew and owners of faid brig, when
ever they fhall be known and found out."
Signed, &c. P

Wednesday, 22d March.
Eulogium on the Emperor of Ruffjia by the Sanscu
lottes. — That the Sans-culottes, the haters of roy
alty, fhould eulogize an Emperor, would be aftonifh-
ing to any unacquainted With their impudent bafe-
nefs. France is looked upon as a home by thefe
fcoundrels in every part of the. world. The intereft
of France, , the focus of rebellion, is all they care
about. They like kings and emperors as well as
other people, if the folly pr turpitude of thofe king's
is calculated to further the views of the bloody in
fernal republic. They imagine (for what reafon I
know not) that the Emperor Paul has refelved to
remain an idle, or rather criminal fpeaator of the
prqgrefs of the cut-throats ; and therefore they are
heaping their blafted praifes upon him.
The' Redatleur (publifhed by the ~D\ve&.ory) fays t
" The new Emperor of Ruffia appears to have em-
" ployed his retirement of twenty years vnfober re-

¦* Now-this is a formal proteft againft the. fraternity of that very
nation with whom the Americans have been fraternizing for fe
veral years paft. How this Britifh aotary muft have laughed in his
fleeve Whilft he was drawing up the proteft ! and how filly Captain
Hempftead muft have looked at the fame time, if he recollected
the fcores, of public rejoicings which had taken place ,in New-
York (the place- froqh which he panne) to celebrate the "glorious
fuccejfes ofourfifter republic." 13 " fleclion

n8 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" fleilion on reforming the abufes in his government:.
" and we hope it will be for the future happinefs of
^ his people. Immediately on his acceflion to the
" throne, 'he caufed, as we have already obferved,
." the edit! for recruiting more troops ta, be revoked ;
" the tribute of forty roubles, which each lord had
'¦' a right of exaaing from his vaflals, was reT
" "duoed to five; every perfon ^foreign minifters and
" travellers excepted) was interdiaed from driving
" more than two horfes in his carriage through the.
" ftreets of Peterfhurg, inftead of four or fix, as was
" ufual. This has been done to promote agricul-
'y ture in the coyntry, ana. to. prevent fo many horfes
" being employed in luxury in the capital. The
" new Emperor, who has been always very popular
" among the lower clafs of people, has fhpwn him-
" felf daily about the ftreets, and been uncommonly
«*.. well received."..
; Bache fays : — " If is allowed that the prefent Em-
" peror of Ruff$a is of a mild and amiable difpofiiion,-*
(i he will now have an opportunity of difplaying
"it, by releafing the braye Kqfciufko from his
" prifon rj~."
Duane, Lloyd, and Bradford fay : — " This prince is
" remarkable for a fenfibility of heart, which values
" mankind and their welfare above every thing. He
". ads with thoughtful deliberation, and never fuffers
" himfelf to be the fport of the paffions. He en-
" deavoured to inquire into every thing, and pof-
" feffes a, large fibre of valuable knowledge. His
" behaviour to all is marked with affability and con-
" defcenffon ';'" and he hates the noify pleafures and
" the pageantry of courts. General Count Partin,'
" formerly minifter for foreign affairs, who educated
*' his Majefty, had his whole. efteem artd confidence ;
*. Which he very uhadvifedly did, ', *¦' and

MABCH, 1797. "9
** and at the moment of the Count's death he fell at
*c h'S feet, and bedewed the hands of his agonizing
ft inftructor with tears of gratitude. A few hours
*' before that great man's burial, he repeated the
" fame touching marks of affeaion upon his lifelefs
*' remains."
, I believe all this is true : for once I' believe, that
the toolsof the five-headed monfter, both in America
and France, have fpoken the truth ; yea, for once? I
do really believe, a faa, though ftated by the Re-
daacur, by Bache, by Duane, Bradford, and Lloyd.
How different then is this " ermined monfter" ^to ufe
the language of Mr. Dixon) from' the ferocious and
bloody republicans, who tyrannize over France !
Nothing can exceed the hafenefs of the French*
except it he that of their hirelings. The ftiamelefs
versatility of thefe latter fo far exceeds all conception,
that to attempt tq defcribe it is to, rob it of half its
infamy. When the guillotiners had declared war
againft all the "crqwnedmpnfters," and propofed a
corps of twelve thoufand regicides, and had folemnly
declared (a,s far as the aaions of fuch wretches can be
attended with folemnify) that they never would
make peace with 3 king, at this time the cut-throat
papers in America, fwore, that nqthing with a crown
on its head ought to, be fuffered to exift ; that all
princes were by natqre cruel and ferocious ; that to
murder them was meritorious, and no peace ought
ever to be made, of which.their dethronement fhould
not be a ppfitive condition,. But finee that time tne
guillotiners, in order to fit down in the, quiet enjoy
ment 0/ their plunder, have thought proper to make
peace with feveral monarchs, and have found the
means of fo doing in the fpoils of France, and in the
degeneracy, of their new friends. This has changed
the nofe of their hirelings here. The " defpotf of
Pruffia is now "" " a very good fort of. a man s"J the
V defpot" of Spain is a " magnanimous monarch 1"
: • ' I4 ^ the

120 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
the " defpot" of Denmark is a " wife prince ;" the
young " defpot" of Sweden, who lives in friendfhip
with the bloody ruffians that murdered bis father, as
well as with thofe who placed the buft of his aflaflin
Armfeldt, in their hall, is " a manly young mo-
" narch ;" and the " defpot of all the Rufiias,"
whofe mother was a" fhe-bear," is " remarkable for
" fenfibility of heart," a quality, albeit, that bears
fcarcely ever poffefs in an eminent degree.
But turning about is not all that their matters
require of them, and that they are ever ready to per
form : they muft and will turnback again, when it is
neceffary. For inftance, if it fhould be proved true,
as I believe it will, that fhe Emperor of Ruffia has
acknowledged Louis XVIIL in place of acknowledg
ing the republic of regicides, thefe their tools will
tack about, and load him with every term in their
copious vocabulary of abufe.- Indeed, I have ex-
traaedthe above eulogiums, in order to have them
on record againft the change of the wind.

Robberies and Murders in France. — Paris, Decem
ber S. — The Council of Five Hundred receives daily
accounts of robberies and affaflinations committed
all over France, but knows not how to prevent them.
No lefs than twenty-three mails have been flopped and
robbed within the laft fix months. On the' 7th inft,
the Council paffed to the order of the day with refpea
to the remonftrances of the Paris merchants againft
the law which prohibits the importation of Englifh
merchandife.

Hampton Roads, March 14, 1797,.
ADVERTISEMENT EXTRAORDINARY.
Lies fkulking, in or about the harbour of Norfolk,
a little gafconading commander, dreffed in a blue
cqat with brickduft facing, a high cocked hat, de
corated

"~<SX2&C8, 1797."- '-A y*,
eorated with a. knob (fuch las is frequently feen on
the bridles of coach-hortes) pf red, white, and blue
riband. He is very much bloated, from having long
been wind-bound, and has lately contracted an un
conquerable fondnefs for port.
Whoever will difeover the faid Gafcon, fo that he
may be brought before any one of his Majefty 's
frigates, fhall receive a handfome reward from the
Captain op the Asia.

Mr. Hamilton accufed of being the fecret Enemy of
Mr. Adams. — Bache, in his paper of yefterday, fays i
" Notwithftanding all the artifice and trick ofthe ci-
devant Secretary' of the Treafury, Mr. Adams ob
tained the major fuffrages as Prefident. It is a well-
known faa, that Pinckney was Hamilton's man;
and fo confident were the Hamiltonians of fuccefs,
that the fubjea was mentioned at the prefent Ame
rican Minifter's table in London, as fearcely admit
ting of doubt. Things were fo happily ordered in
the eftimation of thefe men, that the people of the
United States were to be tricked into a Prefident they
did not want, and oufled of one they did want. The
conftitution favoured fuch a defign; and had the
"Hamiltonians fucceeded in this ftate, their plan
would have been fuccefsful. It was rumoured be
fore the eleaion, that the ci-devant Secretary wrote
to a certain excifeman in this State, to ufe all his in
fluence to carry the anti-Jefferfon ticket, and it was
faid by thofe who appeared in the fecret, that, if that
ticket fucceeded, another man belides Mr. Adams
would be their chpice. The unanimity of the votes
in New-York and New-Jerfey are ftrong proofs' in
favour of this plan ; but as fome eaftern people are as
cunning as a Creole, they were not to be duped by
any infidious Catiline._ In fpite of every vile and
deteftable artifice the voice of the people was fully
1. 1 declared,

ia* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
declared, and neither Mr. Adams nor Mr. JefFerfoflf
were tricked out of their eleaion*.''

Thursday, 23^ March.
Hoche in Bantry Bay t-P^easing, News.— On the
14th December the Breft fleet failed, confifting qf
eighteen fail of the line, fourteen, frigates, fix large
franfports, and fome fmall veffels, with twenty-five
thoufand troops on board and fix weeks provisions.
, The fignal having been made for failing, fome went
through fhe pa.ffage de Raz ; La Fraternite frigate.,
with Admiral de Galles and General Hoche on
board, and a few other fhips, got put ; but the great
eft part of the fleet went through Des Feottes. 1
A gale of wind coming on, the divifions could not
join, and the Admiral had only theNeftor of feventy-
four guns with him ; which having loft her main-
maft, alfo parted with the Admiral. She had fif
teen milliohs of livres on hoard to pay the troops.
The fleet made Ireland in three days, but having
miftaken the Durfeys for Mizen Head, could not
make Bantry Bay until the 2,4th, and then only part
had anchored, when the gale came qri and forced
them to cut cables in confufion.
L'Indompta,ble, of eighty guns, ran foul of La Re,-
folue, and difmafted her, fo that fhe muft be loft,, '
with Admiral Neily on board. L'Indomptable
fprung her bowfprit. The firft divifion anchored in
the Bay, which the fecond could not effect. Itcon-
fifted of four feventy-four gun fhips, three frigates,
* Nothing was ever more infernally wicked, than thefe infmua-
tions. — The charge againft Mr. Hamilton is totally falfe ; yet I
am forry to fay, there is great reafon to believe that, even to this
day (Auguft 17, 1799), Mr. Adams thinks the charge w«R
founded. .;' '
tWQ(

MARCH, 1797. 12$
two corvettes, and two powder-veffels, with five
thoufand troops.
A council of war was held ; the troops were der
cidedly for landing, by the advice of fome Iriihmea
with them ; but none of them having feen La Fra-
ternite, they refolved to return ; and failed on the
4th of January from Bantry Bay, and were in fearch
of the iquadron when captured.
A French officer endeavouring to pafs from one
fhip to another in Bantry Bay, was driven on, fhore;
he was taken and fent by Government to London,
where he underwent an examination before the Privy
Council. The Ville de l'Orient, a feventy-four fhip, armed
en flute, was taken by the Druid, foon after the difper-
fion, and carried into Ireland. The following is an
account of the officers, men, and cargo on board of
her :
One captain, one lieutenant, five officers, ninety-
four feamen, one lieutenant, one colonel^ four cap
tains, fifteen officers, three hundred and eighty
huflars, two ten-inch mortars, two eight pound field-
pieces, nineteen thoufand fhells, one thoufand muf-
kefs, ten thoufand cartridge-boxes, filled with ball-
cartridge, three hundred and eighty barrels of flour,
twenty-fix pipes of brandy, ten bales clothing, fix
hundred faddles, five boxes of fhoes, artillery-car
riages, &c.
When La Ville de l'Orient and the Druid made
fafl for Kinfale, the Unicorn, and another frigate,
were in chafe pf the remainder of the divifion, which
moft: likely would be the means of detaining them
by aaion,or manoeuvring, until Lord Bridport, who
was not far off, came up with twenty-one fail of the
line. From the 12th of January to the 3d of February,
yumour, it appears, was very bufy in London. To
follow it through its contradiaory windings would be

J 24

GAZETTE SELECTIONS.

be amufing enough, perhaps, in fome countries,
but here it would be irkfome. The fate of the Ar
mada is all that is worth inquiring about, and this
was not, when the Veffels left England, fully afeer-
tained. The following detail, however, may be
looked upon as a pretty accurate account of it.

Veffels, Guns.
Les Droits de l'Homme, 74 j
Le Seduifant, 44
Le Scgeyola, 74
L'Impafiente, 40
La Tortue, 40
L'Atalante, 20
"La Surveillante, 40
, Le Nicomede, - 74 en
La Ju'ftine, 74 en
La Ville de l'Orient, 74 en
Le Suffrein, 74 en
'Le Neftor, 74-
Le Tourville, 74
Le Fougueux, 74
Le Redoubtable, 74
Le Pluton, 74
Le Pegafe, 74
La Romaine, 40
La Concorde, 40
La Serene, 40
La Refolue, 40
L'Indomptable, 80
Le Caffard, 74
L'Eole, 74
Le Decius, 74
Le Patriote, 74
La Conftitution, 74
Le Trajan, 74
Le Wattigni, 74
La Revolution, 74

Driven on fhore by
Sir E. Pellew.
Loft off the Saintes.
Foundered.
Wrecked off Ireland.

flute flute
flute
flute

Taken by the
Englifh.

Unfortunately get
back to Breft, but
in a fhattered con?
dition.

? 'Still miffing.

L'Expe-

VefTjJs.- L'Experiment,
La Concorde,
La Bravoure,
L'Immortalite,La Bellone,
La Coquille,
La Charante,
La Fraternite,
La Mutine,
Le Renard,
Le Vaqtour,
Le Voltigeur,
L'Affronteur,

MARCH^ 1.797,. 1
Guns. 74 en flute "
4040 40
46 40
A? 40 1816 16
1616

X 2$

» Still miffing^

J

recapitulation.

"I Driven on fhore, foun-
J dered and Wrecked.
Taken by the Englifh.

Got back to Breft.

Still miffing.

3 Ships of the line,
1 Frigate,
2 Frigates,
1 Corvette,
4 Ships of the line cut down
and armed en flute,
6 Ships of the line,
4 Frigates,
9 Ships of the line,
1 Armed en flute,
.7 Frigates,
5 Corvettes,
Thefe laft will be very pretty picking for the Eng
lifh cruifers ¦- if they let one of them efcape, may
they never more hear the found of cannon, or fee a
fwelling fail ! May Neptune refufe them his trident
when combating tbe fleets of France, and iEolus hijs
breezes when in fight of a- Spanifh galleon !
The difinterefted fans-culottes had, it feems, as
ufual, no other objea in this expedition, than the
generous one of conferring, liberty and happinefs;
and the better to effect it, they had made their
1 fwords

126 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fwords and bayonets extremely fharp. When theif
fcattered fleet began to return, the poor cut-throats
of Paris were obliged to trump up a flory to fatisfy
the canaille (of whom, by the by, they begin to be
fomewhat afraid). All thb fault was laid upon the
elements. The Irifh were ready to receive them with
open arms, they faid ; and one of their papers went
fo far as to affert, that eighteen thoufand men had
aaually effeaed a landing, and were received like
brothers. Hoche' % proclamation to his raggamuffins; previous
to his failing from France, is a curiofity in its kindj
and very well worth a place in the archives of
Gafcony. Republicans,
Proud of having led you to trinquefl on various
occasions, I have obtained from the government the
permiffion to conduct you to new fucceffes. To com
mand you, is to be fure of viaory.
Jealous of giving liberty to a people worthy of \t,
and ripe for a revolution, tbe Directory fend us to
Ireland itr order to facilitate the revolution, which
excellent republicans have juft undertaken there. It
will be a proud thing for us, who have conquered
the fatellites of Kings armed againft the Republic,
to break the fetters of a friendly nation, and to affift
them in recovering their rights, ufurped by the
odious Englifh Government.
Ydu will never forget, brave and faithful comp&-
nions, that the people to whom we are going arethe
friends of your country, and that we ought to treat
them as fuch, and not as a conquered country.
On arriving in Ireland you will find hofpitality
and fraternity ; foon will thoufands of her inhabit
ants fwell our phalanxes : let us take care never to
treat any of them'as enemies. They, as well as our
felves, have to revenge themfelves upon the perfi-
% dious

MARCH, 1797. 127
<3ious Englifh ; the latter are the only perfohs upon
whom we have to inflia a fignal vengeance. Be
lieve that the frifhmen do notfigh lefs than you after
the moment in which we fhall go in concert to Lon
don, to recall to the recolleaion of Pitt and his mi
nions, what they have done againft our liberty.
From friendfhip, from duty, and from honour for
the French name, you will refpea the perfons and
property of the country where we are going.
If, by conftant efforts, I provide for your wants,
believe, that, jealous of preferving the reputation of
the army which I have the honour to command, I
fhall punilh feverely whoever fhall depart from what
he owes to his country. Laurels and glory fhall be
the lot of the republican foldier ; death fhall be the
price ¦ of violation and pillage. ; You know me
enough to believe, that for the firft time I will not
forfeit my word; I have given you warning, and
recollea it. (Signed) General La Hoche.
How fheepifh this heaoring commander of repub
licans muft have looked, as he was fneaking back
into Breft ! And what muft his wolfifh followers.
have thought, when, in place of " open arms," they
found open jail-doors to receive them in Ireland \
How " Pitt and his minions" muft have laughed
when they learnt the fate of the poor baffled mif-
creants ! Juft as much, I dare fay, as I laugh at thofe
newfinongers in this country, who were chuckling
to themfelves, and all a- tiptoe, to relate the fuc
ceffes of the fans-culotte invafion.
This vain attempt to invade Ireland, belides the
deftruaion it has occafioned among the French, is
very fatisfaaory, as its effeas on the people of that
ifland give the lie to all that has been fo often re
peated, in the public papers of this country, refpea-
ing their readinefs to join the enemies of Britain. —
What

*?8 GAZETTE SELECTK)NS4
What exaggeration, what falfehood, has not mailed
given rife to on this fubjea ! Tbe Irifh were fighing
for liberty ; ripe for revolt ; they only wanted to fee
a French fleet on their coaft, and that moft accurfed
thing, a revolution, was to take place inftantly.,
The Government was to raife troops, we were told,
but all to no purpofe. The fufferings of that op-
preffed people were ho longer fupportable ; England
and Englifhmen were the objeds of their refentment
and hatred, and Frenchmen' of their love.

Kehl is taken, and the ftupid Badeaus of Paris have
been perfuaded, that the Auftrians will not attempt
any thing further now : that they do not even mean
to keep the command of the paffage of the Rhine,
which they now have. " Scarce" (fays one of the
republican papers of 13th January),: ." fcarce was the
fufpenfion of arms known, when the Auftrians and
French mutually embraced, and drank brandy to
gether." . That the French were deceitful and bafe
enough to flobber the cheeks of men whom they
called flaves and the fatellites of a defpot, I have not
the leaft doubt ; it is in character : but that the brave
Auftrians, who had thus been feopied by an info-
lent foe, the ravager of their country, the defolater of
their dwellings, the murderer of their parents, their
children, and their wives ; that they fhould return the
perfidious embrace, I never will believe. Nature
teaches the breaft of the foldier to recoil from that of
the affaffin..-
The plotting divan have their views, however, in
propagating an opinion, that the Auflrian foldiery
are friendly to theirs. Not a .word drops from their
lantern-jaws without a purpofe. This is the diflant
manner in which they begin to hint, that they fhould
have no objeaion to a feparate. peace with the Em
peror. And, indeed, their newfman obferves in
another place, that both armies feemed .to with for
:- peace.

MARCH, 1797. 129
peace. They wifhed Lord Malmibury to conclude
a feparate peace on the part of Great Britain, and
leave the Emperor to fhift for himfelf : they were
foiled there, they now are turning to the Emperor
with the fame defign on Great Britain ; and I ven
ture to predia, that we fhall foon begin to be en
tertained with accounts of the negociation. But, for
once, Great Britain plays a fure game. She holds
her ally in her hand, and that fo firmly, that were
he as flippery as the eel, or rather the fnake, of Pruf-
iia, he could not efcape her.
Unprecedented Spoliation.— Bofton, March 13. — We
learn from Salem, that by the arrival there of a bark
from St. Euflatia, information has been received, that
the new fhip Eliza, Captain Hodges, owned by Mr.
Jofeph White, of and from Salem, bound to Can
ton, in China, with fair and perfea papers, and laden
with a fmall quantity of lumber, and above forty
thoufand dollars in cafh, has been captured in the
latitude of the Cape de Verd iflands, and fent for St.
Domingo, for trial. This is the moft alarming cap
ture we have heard of. (

ViBor Hugues now become a Tyrant. — -Captain Ro
berts, of the brig Charming Betfey, of Baltimore,
ftates, that Viaor Hugues had given out, that war
was declared againft America, and in confequence
had imprifoned every American in the ifland, to the
number of 250. This information he received from
Captain Calvert and feveral other Americans, whom
the tyrant of Guadaloupe had fent to Martinique to
be exchanged for French prifoners. They further faid,
that the American prifoners at Guadaloupe were treat
ed far worfe than the Britifh ; as it was a favourite
maxim with Hugues, that the Britifh were enemies,
but the Americans were a " pack of double-face.d raf-
mls." Their allowance was, for two days in the
. vol. v. K. week,

iS» GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
week, four Ounce's ftinking meat, and the re-ft of
the week, four ounces fifh, with a fmall quantity of
bread and water, per day. The prifoners were im
mediately liberated, but not exchanged by Admiral
Harvey, whofe condua on this and many other oc-
cafions, has procured him the greateft goodwill of
all the Americans there. Captain B  further
informs, that three frigates and fifteen privateers are
immediately to fail for our coaftr, to relieve Commo-.
dore Barney.
How Jurprifingly the tone of thefe** captaims is
changed ! French jails, and fhort allowance, have
operated what, I am "much afraid, reafon and equity
never would. Nature bids us pity our fellow- crea
tures when we fee them famifhing, or writhing un
der the lafh ; but in the inftance before us I, for my
part, feel my compaflion confiderably leffened whea
I reflea on the paft. I remember when ! Viaor
Hugues, " this tyrant of Guadaloupe," was the
favourite of the American; captains, fhe hero of their
hyperbolical tales. Yes, I can remember when that
bloody favage, at the time too when he appeared
moft bloody, was toafted to the found of cannon,
in a commercial city of the United States ; and
I could now extract fcores of paragraphs" from
moft of the public papers in Philadelphia, wherein
his maflacre of the emigrants, and his digging up
and infulting the body of General Dundas, are
fpoken of with applaufe and exultation. But now
behold ! he is " the tyrant of Guadaloupe," becaufe,
forfooth, he imprifons the Americans, and keeps
them on ftinking fifh ! When ho treated the Britifh
•prifoners thus ; when he kept them under hatches
-till they were ftifled, or expofed them naked to the
¦fcorchingfun, he was no tyrant. When he but
chered four hundred loyal emigrants, whofe lives he
had promifed to fpar-e ; when he ftripped a young
dady of noble birth to her fkin, and locked her up
-. ..." in

MARCH, 1797. ,3,
in a room with two black fellows till fhe expired,
then he was no tyrant, but " a brave republican." — .
Let thofe who gave him the title, thofe who ap
proved of thefe aaions,, now bite their lips and
fuffer in filence.

Friday, 24th March.
Munro, the fans-culotte Ambaffador. — Paris, 31ft
December, 1796, public fitting of the Direaory. —
Citizen Munro, Minifter Plenipotentiary of the
United States of America, communicated his letter
of recall which he had recently received. He ex
preffed his attachment to France, to the revolution,
and his wifhes for our glory. He added, that the
Prefident of the United States had charged him ex-
preflly to repeat his afiurance of the intereft which
the United States take in our republic, and of the
wifhes which they formfor our welfare.
The anfwer of the Prefident (Barras) is remark
able :
" In this day, prefehting your letters of recall,"
faid Barras to Mr. Munro, " you give to Europe a
" very ftrange fpeaacle.
" France, rich in her liberty, encompaffed by her
" train of viaories, ftrong in the efteem of her al-
" lies, will not abafe herfelf by calculating the con- ;
f fequences of' the condefcenfion of the American
" Government to the fuggeftions of its ancient maf-
" ters. The French Republic hopes, that at leaft:
" the fucceffors of Columbus, Raleigh, and of Penn,
" always jealous of their liberty, will never forget
" what they owe to France. They will weigh, in
" their wifdom, the magnanimous good will of the
" French people, with the crafty carefles of certain
" perfidious perfons, who meditate to bring them
" back to their former flavery. Affure, Sir, the
" good American people j that, like them, we adore
K a " liberty ;

132 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" liberty ; that they fhall always have our efteem 'I
" and that they will find, in the French people, that
" republican generofity which knows how to grant
" peace as it knows how to make its fovereignty re*
" fpeffed. " As for you, Mr. Minifler Plenipotentiary, you
" have contended for principles, you have known
" the true interefts of your country : depart with
" our regret. We give up in you, a reprefentative
" of America, and we keep the remembrance of a
" citizen whofe perfonal qualities do honour to that
" title."
This is a very good match to Hoche's proclama
tion that was addreffed to the Irifh rather than to liis
array, and this was intended for the people here
much more than for Mr. Munro. So ; we are ftill
" the good people of America ;" and, what is more,
" the good American people," have the efteem of
the magnanimous French ; notwithftanding they
rob us of twelve millions of dollars, imprifon, bind,
and lafh our failors, infult our Government, and
call upon us to rebel againft it. — " The focceffora
" of Columbus and Penn !" As to Columbus, his
fucceffors in America are the Spaniards ; and the
mention of Penn was Angularly unfortunate, for his
name awakens the remembrance of every thing that
the French wifh to have forgotten. " Former fla-
ie very!" Did, then, the followers of Penn live in
flavery ? Penn's government exifted in his flate until
the revolution, and therefore, if, till this glorious
epoch, Americans were flaves, Penn fhould be exe
crated as a tyrant, rather than be held up as a wor
thy predeceffor.
But to what purpofe do I comment on this
fpeech ? Barras talks like a republican Frenchman,
that is, at once like a cut-throat and a whining
hypocrite. JMhmro

MARCH, 1797. 133
Munro and the Paris Monfler. — The tranflation of
Citizen Barras's fpeech to Citizen Munro, pub
lifhed in yefterday's Gazette *, contained an error,
which it certainly would not, had the original fallen
into the hands of the Editor. It was copied from
another paper, the tranflator of which wifhed to
foften, as much as poffible, the language Of a fen-
tence fo well calculated to route the fpirit of the
people of America. Thus it is : " The French Re-
" public hopes too, that the fucceffors of Columbus
" and Penn, always proud in their liberty, will
" never forget what they owe to France."
Thus it flood yefterday ; but, inflead of " what
" they owe to France," it fliould have been ' ' that
<e they owe it to France •}-.'' So that the fentence
corrected runs thus : " The French Republic hopes
" too, that the fucceffors of Columbus and Penn,
" always proud in their liberty, will never forget
" that they owe it to France.*'
If this be the cafe, let the Whigs of 1 776 (as they
call themfelves), and Noah Webfter among the
reft, no longer teafe us with their inceffant boaft,
or let them publicly refent cuUthroat Barras's affer
tion. Let them recolfea, that it is no ariftocrat
that thus robs them of their "glory," but a good
blood-red republican ; and the Prefident of the
grand illuminated and illuminating Affembly of
France, Their reputation is at flake ; filence will
be interpreted into an acknowledgment of their
worthleffnefs. 
Munro and the five headed Monfler. — The followT
ing is a correa tranfeript of the letter delivered to
the French Direaory, by Mr. Munro, previous to
his departure, .
i*-. —  ..  ¦ — — — - - ¦-•
* I have now brought all the publications, which appeare.: ia
JJarch, on this fnbjeii, under one head.
f Qu'ils la doivent & ia France. £ q 4t Citizen;

134 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" Citizens Direclors,
u I have the honour to prefent you with my let-.
" ter of recall from the Prefident of the United
{C States of America, and which clofes my political
" funaions with the French Republic : and I have
" the honour to add, that I am inftruaed by the
" Prefident to aVail myfelf of this occafion, to re-
sc new to you on his part, ah affurance of the fe~
" licitude which the United States feel for the hap-
" pinefs of the French Republic.
- " In performing this aa^ -many other confidera-
<< tions crowd themfelves upon my mind. I was
*' witnefs to a revolution in my own country. I was
*' deeply penetrated with its principles, which are
*' the fame with thofe of your revolution. I faw
*{. its difficulties, and remembering thefe, and the
*' important fervices rendered us by France- on that
" occafion, I have partaken with you in all the
" perilous and trying fituations in which ydu have
" been placed.
" It was my fortune to arrive among you in a
" moment of complicated danger, from within and
** from without ; and it is with the moft heart-felt
*' fatisfaaion, that, in taking my leave, I behold
" viaory and the dawn of profperity upon the point
" of realizing, under the aufpices of a wife and
^"excellent conftitution, all the great objeas for
" which, in council and in the field, you have fo
" long and fo nobly contended. The information
" which I fhall parry to America, of this ftate of
" your affairs, will be received by my countrymen
" with the fame joy and folicitude for its continu-
" ance, that I now feel and declare for myfelf.
" There is no objea which I have always had
" more uniformly and fincerely at heart than the
^ continuance of a clofe union and perfea harmony
" between our two nations. I accepted my miffion
?c with a view tq ufe my utmoft efforts to increafe

MARCH, 1797. j 35
";and promote this objea ; and now I. derive con-
V folafion in a review of my condua, from the
<* ..knowledge that I have never deviated from it.
<£ Permit me, therefore, in withdrawing, to ex-
'.' prefs an earned with that this harmony may be
''. perpetual.
.." 1 beg leave to make to you, Citizens Direaors,
*•'< my particular acknowledgments for the confi-
"deneeand attention with which you have ho-
" noured my miffion during its continuance; and
*' at the fame time to affure you, that as I fhall
" always take a deep and fincere intereft in what-
" ever concerns the profperity and welfare of the
" French Republic, fo I fhall never ceafe in my
" retirement to pay you in return for your friend-
". fhip you have fhown me, the only acceptable
" recompenfe to generous minds, the tribute ot
" grateful remembrance."
Munro and Fauchet. — Fauchet, the excellent ex-
pofitor and confeffor, Fauchet tells us, or rather
fie tells the Convention, c. xvi. of his invaluable
Jreatife on bribery and corruption, to confult Munro
on the fubjea. " Still there are patriots," fays the
penetrating envoy, " of whom I delight to entertain
an idea worthy of that impofing title. Confult
M.unro, he, is of the number; he had apprized me
of the men, whom the current of events had drag
ged along as bodies devoid of weight, &c. &c."
When we take a. review of this recommendation
and of all the circumftances under which it was
given, we are not furprifed that patriot Munro
ihould acknowledge " the confidence with which tie
had been honoured'' during the continuance of his
miffion in France.
Yes; 1 dare fay Fauchet's advice was followed.
I'll engage that the " Citizens Direaors" did
(i -confult Munro," and there is little doubt of their
k 4 having

135 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
having done it in vain. It is fomething new in
diplomatic hiftory, to hear an envoy recommended
to a foreign power, as the proper perfon to give an
account of what the intereft of his own government
required to be kept fecret ; and it is equally new, to
hear a recalled minifter taking his leave with a
naufeous eulogium on thofe, who had robbed his
country, and outrageoufly intuited the government
from whom he held his powers. In former times
this would have excited univerfal deteflation, and
called down condign punifhment on the head of the'
infolent emiffary ; but in this bafe, degenerate, un
natural age, when real patriotifm is treated as a
" local prejudice," and treafon is openly juftified,
it is not much wonder if the fpeech .of Munro
fhould pafs unnoticed, by thofe who have a right to
demand an account of his aaions.
Munro and the Divan. — Mr. Printer, There are
fome faas in circulation relative to Mr. Munro's ad-
drefs to the French Direaory, which, if well
founded, fhow a devotednefs in that minifter to
France, and a meannefs of foul, that muft fink
him in every American mihd, far below contempt. >
The faas feem pretty much as follows : That in
the beginning of December, Mr. Munro gave in his
letter of recall to M. Delacroix 5 that Mr. Pinckney
prefented his letter of credence at the fame time;
and'that in a few days Mr. Munro obtained an
anfwer, recognizing his letter of recall, and inform
ing him, " that the Direaory would receive no
" minifter plenipotentiaryfrom the United States,
" till after the United States had redreffed the
"grievances complained of by .France;" that the
Direaory refufed cards of hofpitality or protection
io Mr. Pinckney, and in a conversation with his
fecretary, M. Delacroix expreffed his furprife to learn,
that Mr. Pinckney was ftill in Paris; threatened^ him

MARCH> 1797. 137;
him with the officers of the police in cafe he did not
leave the French territory; and laftly, that thefe
various infults were perfectly known to Mr. Munro,
and that all of them a&ually happened previous to
his farewell addrefs to the Directory, which was
.delivered the laft of December.
After thefe infults to Mr. Pinckney; after the
high injuries done to the United States ; after re
futing to receive a minifter having authority to
enter into friendly explanations ; after fhutting the
door againft thefe explanations, by telling Mr.
Munro, that they required from the United States
as a preliminary to receiving a minifter, things
which no American can ever confent to ; Mr.
Munro fays to the Direaory: " It is with the moft:
heart-felt fatisfaaion, that, in taking my leave, I
behold viaory and the dawn of profperity, upon the
point of realizing, under the aufpices of a wife and
excellent conftitution, all the great objeas for
which, in council and in the field, you have fo
long and fo nobly contended. The information
-which I fhall carry to America, of this flate of your
affairs, will be received by my countrymen with
the fame joy and folicitudefor its continuance, that
I now feel and declare myfelf."
No, Citizen Munro, your fellow -citizens cannot
realize the moft heart-felt fatisfaaion at the fuc-
ceffes of a nation, nor folicitude for the continuance
of that flate of its affairs which has induced it to
heap upon them infults and injuries. Americans,
who love their country, cannot kneel to thofe who
have robbed them, cannot court a continuance of
robberies, and tick the hand juft raifed to fhed
their blood. For though you could crquch and
kheel, and lick and fawn on fuch an occafion, your
fellow-citizens can feel nothing but contempt, and
for the Direaory, who requires of the ynited States

*3& GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
States an ddYthat would proftrate them in fhe-duftj
the Utmoft indignation. . :i
Thank God, the fpirit which led the United
States to independence, has hohforfakeif them, and
that « the. fucceffors of Columbus, -Raleigh,! and
Penn," will never fubmit to be , governed by the
agents of the French Direaory. :-. ; :. ' N. P.

i: l.*.l,
Saturday, 25th March. • ;
Mr. Harper once a Democrat. — This gentleman,
at the time that the eleaion for Prefident was pend
ing, wrote a letter to his conftituents,. partly on
that fubjea, and partly on thei infamous conduct of
France. The part of this letter, which related to
the latter fubjea, he wifhed much to fee circulate
all over the State, and he enclofed feme copies' of
it to men whom he looked upon as his friends, for
that purpofe, marking 1 the , paragraphs which -one
wifhed to have omitted. < It evidently appears, that
thefe paragraphs were marked for omiflion, more
from the perfuafibn that the whole would be too
long for a newfpaper, than from any other motive ;
for;, it was impoffible that the Writer could either
hope or with to keep from the; world the contents
of a letter, which he had had printed, and difpatcted
to his conftituents. ;l Neverthelefs, this circumfiance
has furnifhed the democrats, who are everlaltingly
on the watch for 'articles of accufation againft Mr-
Harper, with a fubjea of bafe mifreprefentation!.
Some villain, to whofe care one of the marked "let
ters-was committed, has, as hefuppofes, injured the
author,, by divulging what he looked upon as a
confidential communication. This, difcovery has
l.rredup the gall of one P. F. Defveruay, whois,
"SmnV *f.cretfV0 the "French Patriotic, or
focfev in I"' S°C1Cty ^Charlefton," of which
society, m the year , 793j M,m Harper ^^ fg u
3 admitted^

* MARCH, 1797. 1^
admitted, and was admitted, a member. Citizen
Defvernay now brings forward this circumftance,
and moft grofsly.abufes Mr. Harper for what he
calls his apoflacy. This letter of Defvernay, hav
ing found its way into the infamous Gazette of the
French hireling Bache, Mr. Harper yefterday re
plied to it, through the fame channel.
Philadelphia, March 24, 1797.
Mr. Bache,
Not having read your paper nor the Daily Ad
vertifer, finee the adjournment of Congrefs, I did
not know till yefterday, that you had publifhed
fome paffages of a letter of mine. Thofe paffages,
I find, are republifhed in your paper of this morn
ing. I do not think it neceffary to take any notice
pf the obfervations of your correfpondent, much lefs
of thofe made by M. Defvernay ; but I requeft you
to inform your readers that the publication of the
extraas in queftion, fuch of them-, I mean, as relate
to the talents and political charaaer of the candi
dates in the late eleaion for Prefident, was a breach
of private confidence. The opinions there ex
preffed, are fuch as I believe to be perfeaiy well
founded ; but I did not intend them for the public,
which has nothing to do with my opinion about
Mr. Adams, Mr. Jefferfon, or Mr. Pinckney. Nay,
they were intended for my particular conftituents,
who expeaed them from me, and to whom, for
that and other reafons, I thought it my duty to
give them. I am ftill of the fame opinion. But
as- they were not intended for the public, when I
requefted the printers at Columbia and Charlefton
to publifh other parts of the letter, containing
ftatements that I thought might be agreeable to the
people of the State at large, I direaed thefe paffages
to be omitted. I owe

140 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
I owe this declaration to the public, on which I
would not b6 thought to have obtruded opinions
that I was ih no manner called on to give. But
finee the partifans of Mr. Jefferfon are refolved that
the public, whether I will or not, fhall know my
opinion Of him, I cannot help it. I with for his
fake, arid ftill more for the fake of the United
States, that my opinions concerning him may be
contradiaed by experience. Should he difappoint
me as much as the French have finee I applied for
admiflion into the Patriotic Society at Charlefton, I
fhall avow my change of opinion with as little re-
ferve as I before ufed, for a year paft, in exprefling
my abhorrence for the conduct and views of Govern
ment, which, in the year 1793, I fo greatly, and,
as 1 finee find, fo unjuftly admired.
I will further add, finee the occafion offers, that,
had the partifans of Mr. Jefferfon taken lefs pains
to reprefent him as a flandard for talents, virtue,
and republican principles, as not only preferable to
his rival, but fo greatly and undeniably preferable^
that his election could have been prevented by no
thing but " the depravity of the times, the cor
ruption of manners, a fondnefs for monarchy, and
a defire of war with France ;" had they taken lets
pains to connea his eleaion with the maintenance
of peace, and the fupport of republican government,
and to reprefent Mr. Adams, and all his fopporters,
as ariftocrats, friends to monarchy, and enemies to
France ; had they been lefs induftrious in attempt
ing to fanction every meafure of opposition to the
prefent government with his name and popularity}
and to employ them in impofing on the public mind
an opinion, that hatred to England, and not merely
a defire of peace with France, but fubferviency to
her views, under the name of attachment to her
caufe, were effential qualifications for an American patriot,

MARCH, 1797. * 141
•patriot, ahd the only true criterions of republican
principles ; had Mr. Jefferfon's partifans done lefs
than all this, thofe who believe themfelves to know
his real political charaaer, and to entertain jufter
Opinions about his political talents, might have
thought themfelves under lefs obligation to contri
bute all in their power towards undeceiving the
people. I, for one, fhould in that cafe have been
filent. But finee my conftituents were, in the num
ber of thofe attempted to be impofcd on, with the
greateft probability too of fuccefs, I thought myfelf
obliged to fpeakj and to repeat it once more,, I have
fpoken what I believe to be perfeaiy true, but with
that experience may contradidt. Your humble fervant,
Robert G. Harper.

The Tree of Liberty : a Fragment. — " It cannot be
ft may-pole," faid an old gentleman, " at leaft I
never faw one with a cap on it ; it Cannot be a
¦whifkey-pole — I can fcarcely think that the inhabits
ants of this place would permit a whifkey-pole to be
ereaed in the very centre of the town — what can it
mean i"
A dapper Jacko who overheard the old gentle
man's foliioqpy, eager to relblve his doubts, addreff
ed him : " That, Sir, is the Tree and Cap of Li
berty." — " Is it indeed ?" replied he. " A truly un
fortunate emblem have you chofen ! This tree, as you
call it, appears to be a mere pole : it has neither
root, nor branch, nor fruit, nor leaf; even the bark
is ftripped off. Is this pole then emblematic of the
bleffings which liberty brings? — Depend upon it,
young man, this tree, if Co it muft be called, never
will take root ; never will it afford a delicious fhade
for the panting traveller ; never fhall we enjoy any
fruit of its bearing. Stupid mortals who planted it
with any fuch expeaation ! — It is fit for nought but to

H* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
to be taken down and caft into the fire ; in no other
manner can it be of ufe — and as to the cap, it feems
fit for nothing elfe but to fwing on the top of fuch a
pole; to decorate the brows of a highwayman j or
to protea the fhallow brains of a Jacobin.
Senex.

BY THE PRESIDENT
OP THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas the Conftitution of the United States
of America provides that the Prefident may, on ex
traordinary occafions, convene both Houfes of Con
grefs ; and whereas an extraordinary occafion exifts
for convening Congrefs, and divers great and weighty
matters claim their confideration : I have therefore
thought it neceffary to convene, and I do by thefe
prefents convene the Congrefs of the United States
of America, at the city of Philadelphia, in the Com
monwealth of Pennfylvania, on Monday-the fifteenth
day of May next ; hereby requiring the Senators and
Reprefentatives in the Congrefs of the United States
of America, and every of them, that, laying afide all
other matters and cares, they then and there meet
and affemble in Congrefs, in order to confult and
determine on fuch meafures as in their wifdom fhall
be deemed meet for the fafety and welfare of the faid
United States.
In tefiiraony whereof, I have caufed the feal of
(l. s.) the United States to be affixed to thefe pre
fents, and figned the fame with my hand.
Done at the city of Philadelphia, the twenty-
fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord
one thoufand feven hundred and ninety-feven.
John Adams.
By the Prefident, Timothy Pickering,
Secretary of State. NOAH

.MARCH, 1797. i4|

NOAH WEBSTER; s
ATTACK ON PETER PORCUPINE.

FROM THE MINERVA OF NEW-YORK. March aift, 1797.
AN a late paper we inferted fentiments of this kind,
that the putting up in the Coffee-houfe a card, on
which was printed the Englifh flag, was a low, piti
ful bufinefs, equalled only by the meannefs of put
ting up a French flag ; and that it is fervile to be
bandied about between the flags of different foreign
nations. We ought to unite under our own flag, and
learn to be a nation.
Peter Porcupine has copied the paragraph with
dilapprobation, and fays it contains more of vulgar
prejudice and miftake, than of juftice or good po
licy. He obferves, that it is the " quo animo," the
intention of the aa, that, ftamps its charadler. He
would have no foreign flag hoifted, as a railying-
point for malcontents againft their own govern
ment.; but to unite the American Eagle with the
Britifh Lion againft an ambitious enemy, he thinks
would be an aa that we need not be afhamed of.
He then fpeaks of an alliance of that kind, as ho
nourable and' advantageous to both parties.
No comment will be made oil the infinuation of
" vulgar prejudice," againft the editor of the Mi
nerva. When Peter becomes acquainted with the
editor's real charaaer, he will learn, that, in a com
bat of that kind, he himfelf muft certainly be the:
lofer. But we conteft Peter's principles. It was ftrongly
fufpeaed many months ago, that his principles are
not very friendly to the independence of America,
and fliitlefs fo to the form of our government. This

444 Gazette selections.
This fufpicion has been greatly increafed by the
manner in which his Gazette has been conduaed.
His retailing abufe againft La Fayette, whofe fufier-
ings (even fuppofe him to have been in fault, which
is doubtful or not admitted) are far too fevere, and
call for the fympathy of all mankind, denotes a man
callous to the- miferies of liis fpecies, and extremely
difrefpeaful to the opinions of the Americans, who.
entertain friendfhip and gratitude for La Fayette.
We obferve alfo whole columns of fome of the firft
numbers of Peter's Gazette, filled with " apologies
" for the old government of France," that is, for
the feudal fyftem, though in a relaxed ftate, and
for as corrupt a fyftem of defpotifm as Europe ever
witneffed. The fuccefs of Peter's pen, in attacking the de
mocratic faaions of our country has perfectly intox
icated him ; and he miftakes the fenfe of America
extremely, when be fuppofes the danger we have
efcaped of being proftrated at the feet of France,
will urge us to lay our country at the feet of Great
Britain. No, Peter ; your abufing the men who fought for'
our independence, and your recommending the old
government of France, are not the means by which
your popularity is to be maintained. The old go-
vernrhent of France was not fo bad as the Jacobin
. government, it is true ; but there is a government
different from both, which La Fayette fought, and
which the people of this country will rejoice to fee
introduced, that is, ?ifree government.
As to an alliance with Great Britain, we want.
,none, except what is diaated by commercial views.
Here our irttereft calls for mutual aid and proteaion.
oo far as Great Britain will protea our trade, for
farther" fake* We fta11 Slad,y receive it, and no
We afk no favors of Great Britain, nor of any
' z other

MARCH, 1797. US
other nation ; for this would lay the foundation for
toore claims of gratitude, with which we have been
outrageoufly tormented by the French, and theie
hirelings. The United States and Great Britain are
allied by intereft. Setting afide famenefs of lan
guage, habits, and private connexions, no two
countries are fo clofely united by commercial ad
vantages. Nor can this union of intereft, for a
long time to come, have a competitor. It is as*
much for Great Britain's intereft (not to fay more)
to protea our veflel s, as it is ours to have them pro
tected. So far an alliance will arife out of neceffity
and convenience, which will require very little mo
dification by exprefs agreements. As to any thing
like a general treaty, pffenfive and defenfive^ God
forbid! Sooner may the United States be doomed
to encounter another eight years war for independ
ence, than hold the bleffing at the mercy of any
foreign nation !
No, Peter : the man who writes this, once volun
tarily bore arms to defend independenccr: in purfu-
ance of the fame principles, he firft propofed publicly
the plan of the National Conftitution ; perfevering in
the fame principles, he affailed the monfter fac
tion, the moment it appeared, in the infldious form
of popular clubs: and from that moment to this, he
has never ceafed to expofe the artifices of the French
agents, to lay this country at the fea of France.
With the fame determined zeal and firmnefs, Peter,
he now openly declares war againft the man who
dares to vilify the defenders of American independ
ence, or to propofe an alliance that would commit
that independence to the power of a foreign ftate, or
to the fate of European contefts.
Americans defire peace, and rejoice that the flagsr
of all nations ftream in their harbours. But the man
who unites a foreign flag with that of his own coun
try, on the territory of the United States, without'
vol. v. h aa

146 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
an order of Government, is a faclious man, and has
not the honour of his country at heart. This little
emblem of national honour ought no more to be the
fignal for mobs and for violence in a neutral country.
Such, Peter, is my political creed — I know no
party, but that of my country. My country is
independent ; it is for our intereft, the intereft of
Great Britain, and of all Europe, that it fhould be
fo ; and the man who feeks to tack it on any foreign
country, to 'involve it in European broils, or make
its independence the fport of European policy, is con
ceived to be an enemy. As fuch, his intrigues will
be expofed, and Jiis influence refitted, by all thofe
decent and legal means that diftinguifh the gentle
man and the good citizen.
P. S. If Peter Porcupine's views are miftaken, it
belongs to him to remove the impreffions which his
writings made on the genuine. friends of this country.

PORCUPINE'S answer.

LETTER I.
Philadelphia, 35th March, 1797.
to mr. noah webster of new- york.
Sir,
YOU tell me and the public, that you, with " de
termined zeal and firmnefs, now openly declare war
againft me ;" and that " I muft certainly be the
Iqfer." Softly, Squire Webfter ; it is not fo certain,
perhaps, as you may imagine. If you had remem
bered the fable of the man who fold the lion's fkin,
and was afterwards killed in hunting him, you would.
not have cried Vicloria ! before you had given your
antagonift time to return your fire. This,

MARCH, 1797. i47
This, Sir, I defire you to look upon as a counter-
declaration ; as a preparative for repulfing the un
provoked attack. Your long, familiar, and modeft
addrefs fhould have been anfvvered this day (notwith
ftanding the certainty of my being the lofer), did not
the very extraordinary remarks it contains call for
delay, in order to afford time for a full and fair
difcuffion of a fubjea, of much greater importance
than the " political creed" of a news- monger. In
the mean time, Sir, be not too confident of viaory.
" Achieve me firft, good Squire, and then fell my
« bones."
For your attachment to the Government under
which we live and profper, and for the fervices
(however trifling) you have rendered it, accept the
refpeas of Your humble fervant, P. Porcupine. ,

LETTER II.
TO MR. NOAH WEBSTER OF NEW-YORK.

" Vain, fickle, blind, from thefe to thofe he flies,
" And ev'ryfide of wav'ring combat tries ;
" Large promife makes, and breaks the promife made ;
" Now gives the Grecians, now the Trojans aid."
Pope's Homer, lib. v.
Sir,
SOME days ago I promifed you an anfwer to
your Addrefs (or whatever elfe you may pleafe to
call it) of the 21ft of March. It luckily matters
little how this anfwer begins. Aware, I fuppofe, of
the uncouth manners of the man you were about
to affail, you kindly contrived that the rudenefs of
your attack fhould furnifh an ample apology for his
want of politenefs.
Your Addrefs freats of your important felf, of me,
x. 2 and

148 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
and of the propofed alliance between the United
States and Great Britain. This alliance is a fubjea
of too much confequence to be blended with an in
quiry into your and my charaaer, principles, and
condua ; I fhall therefore referve it for another op
portunity : not lofing, however, the prefent oppor
tunity of declaring, that your reafoning, inftead of
convincing me that I was miftaken, has ftrength-
ened, as far as any thing in itfelf contradiaory can
flrengthen, the opinion which gave fo much offencfc
to your wifdom.
You fet out with telling the public, that " in a
" late paper, we inferted fentiments of this kind,
" that the putting up in the Coffee-houfe a card, on
" which was painted the Englifh flag, was a lout,
" pitiful bufinefs, equalled only by the meannefs of
" putting up a French flag ; and that it is fervile to
" be bandied about between the flags of different
" foreign nations. We ought to unite under our
" own flag, and learn to be a nation."
You then complain of my having quoted the paf-
fage " with difapprobation,'' which, with the appli
cation of the words vulgar prejudice, was, it feems,
a flretch of prefumption which your pride could not
forgive. I muft confefs, that to venture to quote " with
" difapprobation" the oracular precepts flowing
from the lips of the high prieft of Minerva, was
rather bold ; but (and with due fubmiflion be it
fpoken) it was not fo much your advice as yotir
partiality, your verfatility, that I .difapproved of.
You have uttered fuch Cart-loads of fentiments,
that it is abfolutely impoffible you fhould recollect
one half of them ; and as, in politics particularly,
you are led by'no fixed, fio polar-ftar principle, it
is as impoffible that you fliould ever be confiftent
long together. Your faying that the putting up of
an Englifh flag " was a low, pitiful bufinefs," founds
* well;

MARCH, 1797. 149
well ; but did you fay this when the French flag
was put up ? No ; you called that neither low nor
pitiful: it was even honoured with your applaufe,
as far as a man, who looks upon himfelf as the ex-
clufive poffeffor of all that is praife worthy, can ap
plaud the aaions of others. The hoifting of the
French flag was attended with feafting and noife,
little inferior to what we have witneffed at the cele
bration of the murder of the Swifs guards : yet it
efcaped your cenfure ; it was fuffered to hang very
peaceably, and to receive the adoration of the devout
fans-culottes of New- York ; Folly was permitted to
revel at the foot, as it were, of the fhrine of Wifdom,
for the fpace of three whole years, without receiving
either chaftifement or rebuke. But, behold the dif
ference ! The moment a reprefentation of the Britifh
flag appears, though painted on a bit of paper only,
and intended merely to produce a little fport, you
caft off your lethargic forbearance. Your patriotifm,
that patriotifm, which flept like a dormoufe, while
the French flag was not only hanging up in the
Coffee-room, but was borne about your ftreets to
eleaions and town meetings ; that drowfy patriotifm,
which teemed fcarcely to perceive a banner of two
yards fquare, though it brufhed its very note, became
all alive, took fire in a moment, upon fight of a
Britifh flag in miniature.
You do, indeed, now talk about the " meannefs
" of putting up a French flag" but when do you
find courage to do this ? At the moment the people
around you are got tired and afhamed of their bau
ble. Far were you from calling it a meannefs, and
fo far from it, that your voice was one of the moft:
fonorous in the ridiculous and difgraceful hue and
cry raited againft thofe who pulled it down, in the
month of May, 1795. — On that occafion you very
patriotically obferved* that " it was hoped that the
** flags of the lifter Republics would have remained
l 3 " undif-

150 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" undifturbedhy the enemies of our peace ;" and then,
on you go to exprefs your abhorrence of the condua
of the facrilegious wretches whofe impious hands
had removed them. And recolfea, that you took
fpecial care not to utter a fyllable againft the favages,
who attempted to murder a Britifh officer, to avenge.
" the mighty wrong." To intrude your precepts/
therefore, at this time 5 to ftrut and heaor over the
poor fallen Tricolor, and to call on your readers to
" unite under their own flag, and learn ' to le a
" nation," entitles you to but very little praife. Your
advice comes too late. The patient was in a ftate of
convalefcence, before you ventured to prefcribei
French privateers, jails, whips, and irons, had ef
feaually removed the malady of the public, while
you flood fumbling its pulfe. Had the fame ftupic
admiration of the French, that prevailed, and thai
you participated in, for feveral years ; had this adi
miration and its concomitant partiality ftill exiftedi
you would never have dared (with all your heroifini
to call the hoifting of their flag '< a low pitiful bufi-j
" nets :" you would prudently have left that to a
writer of lets caution and more fincerity, referving
to yourfelf the agreeable tafk of endeavouring to dif-
figure his motives and blafi his fame.
And was it then fuch a heinous offence to quote
a writer of your flamp " with difapprobation," or
apply to him the charge of vulgar prejudice? It
would be curious to hear on what it is that you
grounded your right of exemption from all cenfure
and criticifm. Befides, to fay that a man has
adopted a vulgar prejudice, is calculated to give of
fence to no one but an illiterate booby, who does
not know the meaning of the words, or a captious,
inflated, felf-foflicient pedant. Yet it is this phrafe,
and this alone, that bas provoked you to feek reta?
Jiation, and retaliation too of the moft bafe and
malicious ipecies,—" We conteft," fey you (after
declaring

MARCH, 1797. »5«
declaring that I am unable to cope with you), " we
1 conteft Peter's principles. It was ftrongly fof-
" peaed, many months ago, that his principles. are
" not very friendly to the independence of America,
" and ftill lefs fo to the form of our government."
r The grammatical inaccuracy of this laft fentence,
jhough fallen from the pen of a language-maker, it
would be foreign to my purpofe to remark on : it is
the flander it conveys that it is my duty to expofe.
" It was ftrongly fiifpetled." This is the true goffip-
ping, calumniating ftyle. All verbal affaffins fpeak
in the paffive voice, that what they cannot prove they
may at laft throw on public report. If you had
faid, " I fufpeaed many months ago/' though it
would have led to a deteaion, you would have
aaed more like a man ; and this might have been
expeaed too, in a volunteer of your " determined
" zeal and firmnefs."
However, as you are very fond of the pompous
plural number and paffive voice, perhaps it is but
fair to fuppofe that you mean to intimate, that you
fufpeaed my principles many months ago ; and if
this was really the cafe, pray how came you to re
commend my pamphlets to the perufal of your
readers, as the'beft antidote to the anarchical prin
ciples of the enemies of the government ? How
many months ago was it that your penetration- made
fhe grand difcovery ? When I propofed publiihing
a paper, which was no more than about fix weeks
anterior to the date of your Addrefs, you told the
public in an exulting manner, that I fhould " provp
f{ a terrible feourge to the patriots," meaning Bache,
Greenleaf, and all the antifederal crew. Six weeks,
Squire Webfter, is not many months. If you really
fufpeaed my enmity to the government, and to the
independence of America, you were a very great
hypocrite, if not fomething of a traitor, to applaud
my undertaking ; and if, on the other hand, you
j, 4 had

fjjt GAZETTE SELECTIONS. f
Jiad no fuch fufpicion, and have now feigned jfr
merely for the purpofe of revenging what yo^r
haughtinefs has conftrued into an affront, I leate
the public to determine what name you are worthy
of. l- ¦
But you do not flop at fufpicions. You feem U
have forefeen that your readers would require fome
thing more than mere furmife, and you were deter
mined to furnifh it. When a man has once got into
mifehief, he does not flick at trifles. — " This fufoi-
" cion," fay you, " has been greatly increafed by
" the manner in which Peter's Gazette has been con^
" duaed." Now, who, upon reading this, would
not imagine, that my Gazette had difcovered a de
parture from the principles which I had before pro-
feffed ; a fpirit hoftile to the government of this
country, or at leaft unfriendly to it ? Who would
imagine that you, .or any other man who wifhes to
preferve the leaft pretenfions to candour, would have
ventured to accufe another of enmity to the govern
ment upon a foundation flighter than this ? You can
produce -no fuch thing. After having turned and
rummaged my poor Gazette over and over again,
pried into every paragraph, and weighed each Angles
expreffion, all you can col lea to " increafe" your
fufpicion, is, my " retailing abufe againft La Fay-
" ette,"- and my publifhing whole columns, " filled
" with apologies for the old. government of France!"
as if the fentiments of a man refpeaing La Fayette
and the French monarchy, formed a criterion where
by to eftimate his attachment to the conftitution and
independence of the United States ! Futile indeed
muft be the charge, that has no other fupport than
fuch ropndabout kind of evidence as this.
I certainly might pafs over, with filent contempt,
what, if ft/felly true, goes not an inch towards juf-
tifying your malignant infinuation; but, as you have
been mean enough to take fhelter under the popu lar^

MARCfit 17-97. '53
Jar, the *e vulgar prejudice" that prevails in favour
of La Fayette and againft monarchical governments,
J fhall take one ftep out of my way, in order to cqu-
vince the public, that I never fhall decline a cora-j
bat with Noah Webfter, though backed with the
mifplaced partiality of millions.
What you are pleated to term " retailing abufe
" againft La Fayette," and, in another place, " vi-
*' tyfying the defenders of American independence ;'*
all this put together, is, the publifhing of a fpeech
of Mr. Burke, on the motion brought forward in the
Britifh Parliament, for the purpofe of prevailing oa
the King to intercede for La Fayette's releafe. This
fpeech was publifhed in my Gazette of the 7th
March ; and, fo far from its being an abufive, vili
fying harangue, though it is one of thofe pieces of
oratory that will for ages be an ornament to the pro
ceedings of the Britifh Commons, it is not more re
markable for its eloquence than for its truth.
You, indeed, tell us, that La Fayette's being
" in fault, is doubtful or not admitted" — and in this
thort fentence you have given a more complete fpe-
cimen of the equivoque, than is to be found in Boi-
leau's famous poem on the fubjea. In the firft place,
we know not whether you exprefs the opinion of
pthers, or your own : next, if you are understood as
f xpreffing your own opinion, you declare the quef-
tion douhtful, you do not admit the fault, and yet
you do not venture to declare your friend innocent :
laflly, fhould fome warm partifan, whether Royalifl:
or Republican, call you to account for hefitating on
the fubjea, ftill you have a fhift left ; for you dq
not fay, or even hint, whether it be La Fayette'sj
crimes againft the King, or thofe againft the Affem
bly, that you doubt of. — It was in the wars, I pre-
fume, that you learnt this precaution, of always fe-
puring a fafe retreat.
Jo one who fo carefully difguifes his fentiments, it

*S+ GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
it is next to impoffible fo make a fatisfaaory reply* :
however, fuppofing you to doubt of La Fayette s
fault with refpea to his fovereign, I would afk yOu,
where you have lived for thefe ten years laft paft ?
To hear .you ftart doubts on this fubjea, one would
imagine you had dwelt in a dormitory or a hermit
age ; that you had been abforbed in heavenly me?
ditation ; that your veffel (as the Puritans call it)
had been a refervoir of godlinefs, in place of being
what, alas ! it is, a mere channel for news.
To enter into a minute examination of La Fayette's
condua, during his fhort-lived career in the French
revolution, would be giving an importance to his
charaaer which it does not deferve. It is true that
he always was an underworked like many others ;
and therefore is not to be reckoned among the mif
creant Mirabeaus, Condorcets, &c. whofe puppet he
was ; but he neverthelefs comes in for a confiderable
jfhare of that cenfure which is due to a combination
of ambitious men, determined to build their own
fame and greatnefs on the ruins of a mighty empire,
without remorfe for the miferies it muft produce*
One faa, when the merits of La Fayette are to be
tried, ought never to be forgotten ; it was his revo*
lutionary brain that conceived the French Rights of
Man, pf which no more may be faid than that they
are the very texts from which Tom Paine has ever
finee been preaching the duty of holy infurreclion.
I would willingly believe that gratitude for thefer-
vices which La Fayette rendered America, has now
called forth your compaffion for his fufferings, and
your refentment againft my paper, or rather againft
me. I would willingly trace ypur afperity back to
S1*Tn?iablf f°Urce ; but y°ur Paft condua tells me
J?; JrV d ^ttemPt i4 in vain. 'How came you to
to fhf a t0- La 'Fa)rette alone ? Has "° other friend
Of a dnnrnCa>\TeVOlUtIOn lahl °" the damP ^Or
of a dungeon ? Never did you (with fhame be it
fboken.

MARCH, 1797. 155
fpoken, Webfter), never did you utter a word of
eompaflion for the unfortunate, friendlefs Louis
XVI. when this fame La Fayette was leading him in
triumph from prifon to prifoh. Never did you talk
of cruel treatment, when the Queen of France was
dragged in flow proceffion to Paris, while the myr
midons of this fame La Fayette carried the ghaftly
heads of her murdered guards before hen No ; you
rejoiced at all this ; and yet, I believe, no one will
have the impudence to pretend, that La Fayette's
fervices to this country were a millionth part fo great
as thofe of poor Louis and his confort. Nay, you
faw the head of this fallen prince roll from the feaf-
fold ; you faw his family cut off, one by one ; you
faw his innocent child lingering in a dungeon, robbed
of fleep, terrified four times an hour with orders to
prepare for death, and at laft you faw his bloated
and livid corpfe ftretched in a dung-cart. — On all this
you looked with a philofophic eye. Not a tear ef-
caped you ; not a groan, not a figh was heard from
the tender-hearted Minerva, who now tells us that
(e La Fayette's fufferings call for the fympathy of all
" mankind."
No, Sir ; nor did you ever feel any thing worthy the
name of eompaflion for La Fayette himfelf, or you
would have expreffed your abhorrence of the cruel
and favage meafures adopted againft him and his
family by the pretended republicans of France.
That was the time for your gratitude and friendthip
to have fhown itfelf. You, who " once voluntarily
<c bore arms to defend independence, and who now
" with determined zeal and firmnefs openly de-
(t clares war againft the man who dares vilify the
" defenders of it," among whom you count La
Fayette ; you, Sir, fhould have flood forth againft the
then popular Convention, who had fixed a price on
the head of your friend; who had by law authorized
\he cjtizens to fhoot him, or knock his brains out,
• ' like

iS6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
like a dog ; nay, had jmpofed it on them as a duty.
Then was the time for the blue- eyed maid to grafp her
javelin, and fhelter the injured hero beneath her
ample fhield. As fhe negfeaed to do this, as fhe
fhrank from the encounter with popular fury, as fhe
tamely yielded fo the vulgar prejudice that then pre
vailed in favour of every aa of the mock legiflators
of France, however cruel and infamous, the will
now receive but little applaufe from men of fenfe,
for her cenfure of the Emperor of Germany, whofe
title alone, fhe well knows, will, with the grots" of
her readers, be a fufficient apology for .any departure
from decency and truth.
No, Sir ; it is too clear that a defire to ingratiate
yourfelf with the deceived part of the public, together
with that of injuring me, led you to bring forward
the ftalking-horfe La Fayette, and not any friend'*
ihip, gratitude, or eompaflion, that you entertained
for him. This your manner of proceeding incon?
teftably proves. Firift, you pretend to fufpea my
enmity to the independence of America ; then you
artfully produce my publication of Mr. Burke's cen
fure of La Fayette, as a proof of that enmity, leaving
your readers to draw the natural conclusion, that I
had " retailed abufe" againft him merely for his
having fought in the caufe of independence.— -Never
did envy and revenge fuggeft a bafer infinuation,
or one, the falfehood of which it was more eafy to
detea. If, I bear malice againft La Fayette, if I have
publifhed a cenfure on him, if I have " retailed
abufe againft him," as you are pleated to call if, on
account of his having ferved here during the revo
lutionary war ; pray does it not follow that I muft
bear the fame malice, and feel the fame inclination to
cenfure every one, who aided the caufe of inde
pendence ? If fuch be the motive from which I aa,
\ certainly could look round among thofe who did
move

MARCH, 1797. t$l
more' injury to the caufe of Great Britain in one day^
nay, in one minute, than La Fayette did during the
war, or could have done in his whole lifetime. I
call on you then, to fay whether I have ever, direa-
ly or indireaiy, difcovered an inclination to defame
any man, merely becaufe he was inftrumental in
eftablifhing the independence of this country. Have
I ever attempted to afperfe, have I ever hinted any
thing to the difhonour of Mr. Jay, Mr. Adams, or
General Wafhington ? Thefe gentlemen, the moft:
eminent aaors on the great drama of the revolution,
have all been attacked, flandered, and abufed, by
thofe who are among the eulogifts of La Fayette ;
and I leave the public to determine who has fhown
the moft diligence, zeal, and courage in defence of
their characters, Peter Porcupine or Noah Webfler.
In purfuance of the fame view it was that you
chofe to comment on my having publifhed " an
** apology for the old government of France," which
you affert to be " as corrupt a fyftem of defpotifm as
" Europe ever witneffed."
To call the old government of France, which all
the civilians have reckoned among the limited mo
narchies ; to call this government a defpotifm, argues
a mind ftrongly tinaured with the principles of li
berty and equality ; but to fay that it was as corrupt
a fyftem of defpotifm as Europe ever faw, puts you.
upon a level with the flanderous haranguers of the
;fuburbs of St. Antoine and St. Marceau. He that
can call the monarchical government of France the
worft of defpotifins, would make little fe^uple to imi
tate the venerable Pere Du Chene, in branding St.
Louis, Henry IV. and Louis XVI. with the name
of tyrants.
You do, however, allow that there is one fpecies of
government ftill worfe than that of the French mo
narchy ; and here your confiftency is well worth at
tention. Firfi:, the old government is as lad a one as
Europe

IS8 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Europe ever faw ; then the Jacobin government is
worfe. This is not amifs ; but you do not let us off
fo. After having thus acknowledged that the Jaco
bin government is worfe than theworft; you have the
conscience to quarrel with me, to wage eternal war
with me, for cenfuring one of the principal founders
of this very Jacobin government ! You had forgot,
or you never knew, the hiftory of the firft years Of
the French revolution. You contemplate your
friend in the dungeon of Olmutz only ; you do not
look back, and behold him in the tribune of the
Jacobin club at. Paris. La Fayette was one of the
very firft that took -the name of Jacobin : he was a
founder of the fea, and continued to be a member
of it till July, 1792. Even then he did not withdraw"
himfelf, but was expelled.
"The old government," fay you, "was not fo
bad as the Jacobin government, it is true ; but there-
is a government different from both, which La
Fayetteyoz^/, and which the people of this country-
will rejoice to fee introduced ; that is, a. free govern
ment. "—Now, Sir ; what do you mean by a govern
ment that La Fayette fought f To hear you, one
would imagine, that he had been foiled in fome pre
cious projea for the good of his country ; that his
councils had been rejected, and himfelf perfecuted on
account of bis probity and wifdom ; whereas the
very feVerfe of all this was the cafe. His projeas
fucceeded to the utmcfft of his wifhes. The famous
rights of man, of which he was the propofer,- became
a fundamental law, was fenaioned and fworn to by
the whole nation. The conftitution, grounded on
thofe rights, he faw completed, and he retired from
the legiflative feene well pleafed with the work.
? °a' *he Sovernment he fought he obtained, and a
molt ftupid, bafe, and cruel government it was; a
government that acknowledged the horrid aa of in-
forreaion to be a facred duty, and that, in its prac-, tice,

MARCH,. 1797. i§g
tice, made a beginning in that career of facrilege,
plunder, and affaffination, which has been fo unre
mittingly purfued by fucceeding and more ftjccefsful
ufurpers. And this is what you call a free govern
ment — one that the people of America will be glad to
fee eftablifhed in France ! If the people of America
are filly or wicked enough to entertain any fuch
with, I fincerely hope it may not be accomplifhed.
The government they have now in France, is cer
tainly a moft abominable defpotifm, but it is not fo
deftruaive either in principle or praaice, as that
which La Fayette fought and affifted to form.
What involves you in thefe inconfiftencies and I
contradiaions is evident enough : you were a long
time a very great admirer of the French revolution.
I will not fay that I could make you blufh, but I am
certain I could make your friends blufh, by a quota
tion from your paper in approbation of Tom Paine's
Rights of Man, the manual of Jacobinifm. Exaaiy \
how far you went hand in hand with the revolution-
ifts, I know not ; nor do I believe that you yourfelf
know. You are in the predicament of a great many
others, who, when they are afked what they ap
proved and what they did not approve, anfwer, that
they went as far as La Fayette, but no farther, and
God knows that was far enough.
You, and all thofe who thus pinned their political
faith on the fleeve of this unfledged flatefman,
would ftill have been revolutionifts in the fulleft.
fenfe of the term, had not the ufurpers beefi prepar
ing to extend their fraternal grafp to this government
and country. Tilt then you carefully avoided fay
ing a word againft them : all their moft atrocious
deeds were fmoothed over; their plundering de
crees, their invitations to rebellion, were all right,
till they caft their looks this way — then your eyes
were opened at once : like Bailly and La Fayette, you

t6a GAZETTE SELECTIONS*
you adored the holy right of infurreaiony till it be*
gan to operate againft yourfelves.
From this digreffion, which your rrraggling from?
your fubjea invited, I return to examine more
elofely the accufation of having publifhed " an apo-
" logy for the old government of France." This
apology is contained in certain extraas from Gif-
ford's Anfwer to Lord Lauderdale's Letters to the
Peers of Scotland. The writer obferves with great
jufinefs, that " one of the moft fuccefsful modes of
exciting fentiments favourable to the French revolution
has been the imputation of every vice creative of
difguft to the old government of France." He then
notices the feandalous negka of candour and truth,
that has been difplayed in the performance of this
tafk, the unfair mode of arguing that has been
adopted, and the exaggeration and calumny that
has impofed on the uninformed. The objea of all
this, he obferves, has been not only to juftify the
revolutionifts in deftroying the monarchy, but to in
culcate a belief that the people, notwithftanding
their prefent mifery, are ftill gainers by the defpo
tifm that has been raifed on its ruins.
To expofe the fallacy of this reafoning, to reaify
the mifconceptions of the Weak, and to detea the
mifreprefentationsofthe wicked, Mr. Gifford enters
into a candid examination of the fubjea, during
which he proves, and that moft fatisfaaorily, that
the aas of oppreffion imputed to the French old go
vernment, were generally, not to fay always, exag
gerated ; that in many inftances the charges were
totally unfounded, and even ridiculous ; that, in
fhort, to the happinefs of France, no revolution
was neceffary; and, of courfe, that this dreadful
fcourge is to be afcribed to the ambition and trea-
«hery of the ufurping legiflators.
With refpea to the extrads, in themfelves eonfi-
i dered,

MARCH, 1797. 161
dered, the faas they contain are of indifputable
authenticity; as to the ftyle, it is as far above the cri-
ticifm of Noah Webfter, as it is beyond his imita
tion ; and I defy you to cull out a fingle fentiment,
from beginning to end, which, by the moft violent
contortion, can be called hoftile to true liberty. The
elegant and convincing writer is an Englifhman, and
confequently knows how to eftimate the bleffings of
freedom full as well, if not better than you. He is
afcholar, and, which is more to the prefent point,
the author of a Hiftory of France, which has re
ceived the applaufe of the whole literary world, and
which is the fruit of a long and painful refearch
during many years of refidence in that country : of
courfe his knowledge (particularly of whatever
relates to the monarchy of France) is not to be funk
to a competition with that of a man, the greateft:
extent of whofe travels has been from Conneaicut to
New-York, and the utmoft exertion of whofe talents
is to be fought for in the compilation of a fchool-
book. Laftly, the author of the " Apology for
" the old Government of France" is a gentle
man, whofe fole objea in writing muft be the
. attainment of honeft fame^ and who is not therefore,
like a diurnal retailer of wifdom and news, obliged
to vairy his politics to the more than female caprice of
the multitude.
Bui, to do you juftice, I really believe you poffefs
too much good fenfe not to be, in the prefent in-
flance, charmed with what you pretend to difap-
prove of. Whether you will be pleated to hear your
judgment thus complimented at the expenfe of your
fincerity, I neither know nor care ; but it certainly
was me, and not the extraas in my paper, that you
were angry with, and that it was your objea to
decry. You wifhed to propagate a belief that I was
an enemy to the independence of America, and alfo
tp the form of the federal government. The former
vol,, v. m charge,

1 62 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
charge, which has already been refuted, was tp btf
looked upon as proved by my publifhing Mr. Burke's
cenfure on La Fayette ; and the latter by my pubr
lifhing, from Gifford, an Apology for the old. Go
vernment of France. : .
The fame fhameful abandonment of candour, the
fame jefuitical fpirit of perverfion, that you difeover
in your comments, on what refpeas La Fayette, is
ftill more apparent in what you fay of the apology.
— You tell your readers that you fufpea my enmity
to the form of government under which we live; and
add, that this fufpicion is increafed by my publifhing
an Apology for the old Government of France. Here
you ftop without faying that my intention is to in
troduce the latter form of government here : how
ever, left you fliould be mifunderftood , of which
you feem to have been much afraid, you afterwards
revive the fubjea, and, addreffing yourfelf tome,
very gravely and very malicioufly obferve, that my
"popularity is not to be maintained by recommending
" the old government of France ;" thereby intimat
ing that I had aaually propofed the old government
of France, which you call the worfl of defpotifms,
as a fubftitute for the federal government of the
United States ! Whaf a wretched attempt at impofi-
tion ! This may well be termed, in your own flag
language, " a low pitiful bufinefs." — You befl know
what ftock of flupidity the readers of the Minerva
are bleffed with ; but this I -am certain of; that the
clumfieitand moft impudent vagabond juggler never
ventured' to play offfo barefaced. a deception to' the
gaping clowns at a country fair. — And were youi
could you be, iu completely infatuated as to hope
that any man in his fcnfes, any thing in human
fhape, would become the dupe of your fpiteful infi-
huation ? The thing is beyond the compafs of belief:
to attempt to difp'rove it would be ufelefs : tp give
n~ "' it

MARCH, 1797. 163
it a formal denial, or even to call it a lie, would be
doing it too much honour.
After having fhown the abfurdity, the malice of
your pretended fufpicions with refpea to my politi
cal principles', you will permit me to aflc you once
taore, why thofe fufpicions were never awakened
fill lately?— Many of the men who fought for Ame
rican independence have been treated, in my writ
ings, with much lefs mercy than Mr. Burke's fpeech
treats La Fayette. Nay, I have never fpared La
Fayette himfelf, when I have had occafion fo fpeak
of him (and that has been very often), either indi
vidually, or as a member of the conftitution-making
Affembly. And, as to the old government of
France, I have often paffed higher commendations
On it than Mt. Gifford does in the extraas you com
plain of. To be fure, I never recommended it to the
people of America, as you fillily infinuate I have
done in. publifhing thofe extrads ; but I have ven
tured " to predia, that, fooner or later, the French
" will return tq that form of government under
" which they were happy, and under which alone
" they can ever be fo again ;" and this 1 did in -my
Life and Adventures. — How came thefe things to
efcape your awful cenfure fo long ? How came you
neVer before to think it your duty to reprefent them
as an indication of my enmity to the government
and independence of your country ? You let me go.
on uninterrupted, pamphlet after pamphlet, for
three whole years; yea, and even applauded my
efforts all the time ; and now, at laft, you .find
me to be a dangerous fellow, and burft out upon
me all at once, like thunder from a fummer cloud.
In vain would you make me believe that any real
fufpicion, that any appreheniion of my in'lincerity,
has caufed this change in your condua towards me.
It is. poffible, indeed, and barely poffible, that your
Vanity has been unable to fupport the charge of
M a i-u'lpar

1 64 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
vulgar prejudice, and has ftimulated you to this un
manly mode of revenge. But, are you fure, Web-
fter, that envy, curfed envy, has had nothing to do
in the " low pitiful bufinefs ?" Are you fure that the
hundred and fifty of Porcupine's Gazettes, daily fent
to your city, together with thofe which may proba
bly have fupplanted yours round your neighbour
hood, through New-England, and the Jerfeys ; con
fult your heart, and tell me if you are fure that it is
not the fpread of thefe innocent papers, and not any
thing which they contain, that has roufed your le
thargic patriotifm. \
It is ever painful to be obliged to think ill, and
much more fo to fpeak ill, of thofe that we have
been accuftomed to efteem, and I fhonld hardly
bring myfelf to impute your enmity to fo difhonour-
able a caufe, were I not well affured that the impu
tation is juft.
Unfortunately for your reputation, it fo happens,
that you poffefs a more fatisfaaory proof of my at
tachment to the government, than perhaps any other
man in the country' does. The letter which I wrote
you when. I requefted you to publifh the propofals '
for my Gazette (a letter written in the fulleft confi
dence), muft have convinced any man, of a mind
not endued with the quality of turning its nutri
ment to poifon, that the American government had
not a more fincere, more zealous, or more devoted
friend than I. This letter, whatever reluaance
I might on any other occafion feel, to fuffer its ap
pearance in print, I now call on you to publifh in
your paper ; and, if you have one fingle grain pf
candour or juftice left, you will not hefitate to com
ply with my requeft.
Here I fhould clofe ; but there are two or three
paffages more in your Addrefs, which fo ftrongly
invite attention, that your vanity might, perhaps,
take the alarm again were they to pals totally un
noticed ;

MARCH, 1797. 16s
noticed ; and after having tailed fo feverely of the
effeas of your wrath, it is not to be wondered at
if I feel no inclination tp brave it a fecond time.
You are fo good as to inform me, " that you
" once voluntarily bore arms to defend independ-
" ence : that in purfuance of the fame principles
" you firft propofed publicly the plan of a National
" Conftitution ; that, perfevering in the fame prin-
" ciples, you affailed the monfler faclion, the mo-
" ment it appeared in the infidious form of popular
" clubs; and that, from that moment to this prefent
" writing, you have never ceafed to expofe the ar-
" tifices of the French agents to lay this country
" at the feet of France."
How all this got into a letter written about an
Englifh flag I cannot for my foul conceive. How
ever, it is news, and as fuch I am, in common with
the reft of the trade, obliged to you for it.
I have read the hlftory of the American war over
and over again, but I do not recolfea ever having
feen the name of Noah Webfter in it. That you
were not very famous is therefore certain, and it is
more than probable that you were looked upon as
mere food for powder, a fituation that, whatever
might be the caufe you were made ufe of in, is no
thing at all to boaft of.
Your being the " firft who publicly propofed a
" National Conftitution," is a curious anecdote
enough ; and I cannot fay but I am glad it is come
to light, as it will tend to quafh, or at leaft to mo
derate, the exorbitant pretenfions of that uncon-
fcionable dog Tom Paine, who puts in an abfolute
claim to the whole credit of the invention. Tom
does, indeed, confefs, that he was anticipated by
one writer on the fubjea, who infifted, that thirteen
flaves without a hoop would never make a barrel; and
if you can make it out, as 1 have not the leaft
doubt you' can, that you were the real legitimate
m 3 author

1 66 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
author of this fhrewd and learned obfervation, Tom
rhuft give way to you, or, at leaft, you muft be
permitted to come in with him for a fhare of the
honour. Thus, you fee, I do not difpute your pretenfions
to military or conftitution-making fame : but as to
your bold nefs in affailing " the monfler faction;"
as to your " perfeverance and fuccefs in expofing
" the artifices of the French;" thefe I do' difpute,
and not only difpute, but pofitively deny. • You
have, indeed, as far as you have found it prudent
to go, latterly efpoufed the caufe of order, and,
confequently that of the government ; but, to dp
this with effea, you fhould have begun long enough
before you did, and fhould have affumed a tone.
that never has been heard from the Minerva. At
firfi you were a warm partifan of infurreaion ; you'
were among the abufers, the calumniators of Burke,
and the eulogifts of Paine. At this.epocha you
were bold, becaufe you aaed with the crowd.
When Genet's infolence awakened the fufpicions of
the people here, then you began to veer, to fhuffle,
and to trim ; and from that time to the prefent mo
ment, you have been playing that double-handed
game, which, however profitable you may contrive
to make it, entitles you to thp charaaer of a Vicar
of Bray. If my worthy patron, Bradford, is to be
believed, your old friend and partner in the language
trade, Doaor Franklin, was fix weeks in Congrefs
before any one could divine whether he was a Whig
or Tory ; and I have frequently been at a lofs to
guefs, fuch a compound is your politics, whether I
ought to clafs you among the Federalifts or Demo
crats. If thefe words have any meaning, as applied
to you, you are a Democrat in principle, and a Fe-
jleralift for convenience.
Not content with a malignant mifreprefentation
of my motives, and the meaning of my words, you
muft

MARCH, 1797. 167
muft infult me with your advice. You tell me, that
I do not proceed in the right way to preferve my,
popularity, and caution me againft publifhing what
is" ft direfpeclful to the opinions of Americans " and
thus you difcover a fervility of mind that would be
difgraceful even in a mendicant. When you form
a judgment of me, Mafter Webfter, and of what
is likely to produce a change in my condua, be fo
good as not to confult your own heart, for it will
affuredly deceive you. Popularity may be your
God, as indeed it evidently is ; fo is it not mine.
Small is the facrifice that 1 would make at its fhrine.
A volume of the beft of praife is not, with me,
worth its weight in bread and cheefe : and as to
the ftupid plaudits of a partial and prejudiced throng,
I fhould think that -they covered me with infamy in-
ftead of honour.
According to your notions of the liberty of the
prefs, a man muft: not publifh a wotd againft La
Fayette,1 though it be extraaed from fome other
writer; becaufe, forfooth, fi it is extremely difre- '
u fpecTful to the opinions of Americans !" In other
words, • nothing muft appear in a newfpaper that
does not perfectly chime in with the prevalent prer
judice, however prepofterous that prejudice may be,
or however dangerous its tendency ; and thus the
prefs, in place of a cenfor, is to be a parafite to the
public ; inftead of being a terror to evil-doers, it is
to be the pander of folly and of vice.
That this has, for a long time, been the charaaer
•f the American prefs, as far as relates to newipapers,
is but too true. Every one feems to have been upon
the watch to find out the humour of the public, and
to accommodate his fentiments, and even his news,
accordingly : hence it is that we have feen hundreds
of eulogiums upon Robefpierre and Marat, and have
been ferioufly told that the French gained a viaory
pver Lord Howe on the ift of June, 1794, The
m 4 motto

1 68 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
motto of our Philadelphia Gazette, " the Public^ Will
" our Guide" would fuit the whole of you, with a
very few exceptions. The people are not told what is
their interefl, but what it is their with, or rather the
with of the multitude, to hear. If any one dares to
fpeak what he thinks, to publifh what he conceives
to be ufeful, if it happens to be contrary to the vul
gar prejudice, he is told that he is difrefpeclful to the
opinions of Americans.
According to the cant of the day, the people of a
flate not governed by a monarch, is called the Sove
reign. For my part, I never hear talk of a fovereign.
people, of a fociety, every individual of which is lia
ble to the grafp of a catchpole ; I never do or can
hear talk of fuch a Sovereign without laughing. But,
as fuch you look upon the people : well then, to have
an idea of your own fervility, tell me what you
would fay of a news-printer in England, who fhould
cenfure another for publifhing fentiments extremely
difrefpeclful to the opinions of the King f Would you
not call him a flave, a poor rampant fpaniel-like
fycophant ? And where is the difference, I would
be glad to know, between crawling to a fovereign
with one head, and a fovereign with many ? — No,
Webfter, your infinuations that I treat the people
of America, or rather their opinions, with difrefpetl,
will never deter me from following the bent of my
own inclination. In my publications I hope I
fhall always be guided by truth : how few I may
pleafe, or how many I may difpleafe, is to me a
matter of very little moment. I entertain, I truftu
a due refpea for the real people of this country, and
a grateful fenfe of the liberal encouragement I have
received from them ; but neither this refpea nor
this gratitude will ever lead me fo far as to flatter
what I look upon as a foible or a prejudice. I have
no pretenfions to patriotifm ; and as to difintereflednefs.,
it is nonfenfe to talk of it ; but though gain, be one
principal

MARCH, 1797. 169
principal objea of my labours, I fcorn to purfue it
by the bafe means pf trimming and truckling. No,
Webfter, the public will is not my guide ; when
my readers become fo unreafonable as to require a
foppreffion of every fentiment that does not accord
with their own, I will quit the trade of a newf-
monger, hire a garret, write Carmagnole ballads
for-the diverfion of the fovereign people, and elegies
on the departed liberty of the prefs.
You. conclude by declaring your refolution to an
noy me " by all thofe decent and legal means that
" diftinguifh the gentleman and the citizen." This
I highly approve of, and on my part I folemnly
promife to oppofe your annoyance by all thofe de
cent and legal means that diftinguifh the Porcupine ;
that is, by pricking you every where, and in every
way that I can come at you. After this candid de
claration, you will undoubtedly look upon me as
Your moft humble
and obedient Servant,
P. P.

Monday, 27th March.
Statement of the Diftribution of the Britifh Naval
Force, to. 31/? December, 1797, exclufive of the
hired armed Veffels, which are chiefly employed in
protesting the coafling Trade of Great Britain.
Line 50's Fri. Sps. Tot.

In port and fitting
Guard-fhips, hofpital-
fhips, and prifon-fhips
at the feveral ports

33 I3

4 1

40 3

b6 163
0 17

In the Englifh and Irifh

- -

channels
In the Downs and North

23

3

3*

34 02

teas -

9

1

11

14 35

Carried forward
1

78

9

86

134 207
Brought

17© GAZETTE SELECTIONS. Line 50's Fri. Sps. Tot,"
Brought forward 78 9 86 134 207
At the Weft 1 ndia iflands
and on the paffage - 15 2 29 20 66
At Jamaica - -31 4 5 13
In America and at New
foundland - - 1 I 9 5 l6
Eaft Indies and on the
paffage , - - 8 4 17 8 37
Coaft of Africa - -00 1 1 2
Gibraltar and Mediterra
nean - - - 19 1 34 11 65

Total in commiffion 124 18

180

184

506

Receiving fhips - -91
Serviceable and repairing
for fervice - *¦ 60

4 3

0 1

10

In ordinary - -114
Building - - - 22 3

23 9

56 0

94 30

Total 172 26

219

241

658

State of the Ordinary at each Port.

Portfmouth - - 14 2

*3

21

5°

Plymouth - - -91
Chatham - - - 6 2

7 2

9 1

26 11

Sheernefs - - 0 0

4

6

10

River - - - 0 0

4

17

21

Total 29 5 30 54 118
Look at this and weep, Sans-culottes ! Here is
thunder enough to fend you all to the fhades, in the
courfe of this very war. — Let Mr. Bache now ftand
forth with his French navy, and dare us fo a com-
parifon,- as he did in 1 793.
Wilcocks' s Contrafl between the ConduiJ of the Ame
rican Government and that of France. — " At the com
mencement

MARCH, 1797. 17!
menccment of the French revolution, and uni
formly from thence to almoft the prefent period, the
people of America, however diftinguifhed by party,
exulted at the profpea of the emancipation of mil
lions of men from the galling yoke of flavery, and
manifefting by civic feafts, the ringing of bells, and
the found of cannon — their rapturous joy at the
victories of the new republicans over the vaft com
bination of their enemies.
" When Citizen Genet arrived at Charlefton,
feveral hundred miles from the feat of government,
and excited and commiffioned our citizens to war
againft nations with whom we were in a ftate of
peace, and for which the Governor of South Caro*-
Jina was bound in duty by all the laws of nations
and common fenfe to hang him, without the forms
of trial, at the moft convenient tree ; he was ne-
verthelefs treated with unbounded hofpitality and
friendfhip. " After having aaed thus, and, in all his tour
from Charlefton to Philadelphia, having excited a
fpirit of hoftility and folly in our citizens — after
having by fuch condua infulted and degraded the
dignity of our Chief Magiftrate, our government,
and all the people — he was received at head-quarters
with a fraternal fqueeze, and affiliated with all his
treafon into the very bofom of the great and too
good Wafhington. Whereas, had the juftifiable
refentment of the people been exercifed, he would
have been fufpended at a lamp-poft, or immediately
have been tranfported to his native land.
" When the fame minifter afterwards in various
ways abufed our government, and endeavoured by
many means to excite a fpirit of jealoufy or infur-
reaion in the people againft their own legitimate
rulers, inftead of being torn to pieces by the popu
lace, which he juftly merited, or being fent home
by the Prefident, or even fufpended, he was allowed
• the

172 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
the plenary exercife of his diplomatic funaions, un
til recalled by his mafters; receiving no chaftife-
ment but fuch as fell from the pens of a few inde
pendent and honefl. Americans.
" When Mr. Fauchet was fanning the fire of
civil war and rebellion in conjunaion with a fet of
villains, whom fome have the folly and wickednefs
to clafs among the patriots of America, he was
courted as the virtuous reprefentative of' the imma
culate Republic.
"When Mr. Adet, the prefent fufpended minif
ter, was employing his agents to perfuade the peo
ple of the weftern country to feparate themfelves
from their brethren of the United States, and form
an unnatural and treafonous coalition with French
men, healfo lived unfufpeaed among us as one of
our brethren. And although he betrayed his cloven
foot by another infidious attempt to fet up the people,
againft their government, he is fuffered to live in
qniet amongft us, and retire with whole bones to
the land of violence and intrigue.
" Whilft the Britifh were plundering us, and the
French were fwindling us, our Prefident granted the
latter more than they could expea by treaty. And
like more than honefl men, whilft our good allies
were thus cheating us, We paid them a million of
dollars before they became due.
" The French wanted us to engage in their war
—we courted peace — for this at one time they flat
tered us, and at another time bullied us. And final
ly, becaufe we made peace with England, and they
have got all the money we owed them, and at leaft
forty millions belides, by plundering, they have boldly
now thrown away the mafk of treachery and deceit,
and have commenced with a high hand the moft un
provoked and cruel hoftilitiesagainft our property, and
the lives and liberties of our brave defenceless feamen.
" For all thefe infults and immenfe lofles, our go
vernment

MARCH, 1797. 173
vernment has been as harmlefs as lambs — nay, more
harmlefs ftill, for they have not only proftrated
themfelves to be bit and torn to pieces by thefe dogs,
but have fcarcely uttered a murmur or a groan.
" Humiliating, foul-finking reffeaion ! I would
forget that I am an American ; I am afhamed of the
charaaer ; it once was honourable.
" Routed, however, at laft by the deadly fhafts
direaed at our vitals, our government was induced
to fend the olive-branch by a meffenger of peace,
barely to afk for juftice, and require only a difcuf
fion of grievances. The proud and indignant five-
headed monfler, the Direaory, more unjuft and in-
folent than Nero, or the tyrant of Syracufe, treat
the reprefentative of the only freemen on earth, with
contempt and ignominy ; afraid to hear the truth,
and too villanous to do juftice, they not only refufe
to recognize Mr. Pinckney, as ambaflador, but will
not even receive from him a line ; they fubjea him ,
to intuit and imprifonment from the ruffians of
police ; they put his life in jeopardy. Whilft they
are robbing us on the high teas, they refufe to hear
even our complaints ; theyrejea the ambaffador of
peace with the moft infolent contempt, contrary to
all ufage of civilized nations, their own praaice at
this very moment with an open enemy, and every
principle of common fenfe, juftice, and neceffity.
Yet thefe are our magnanimous, dear friends and
allies ! ''Such then is the contraft between Ameri-
* cans and Frenchmen !'
" That they may be defeated in Italy, and upon
the Upper Rhine, and upon the Lower Rhine, and
all the world over, until they are duly chaftifed for
their infamous abufe of the honrfi republicans of
America and Europe — for their unheard-of crimes
and murders, and for their departure from the
avowed principles they fet out upon, is the fervent
hope of W. Wilcocks."
. 3 Porcupine's

i?4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Porcupine's Remarks on Wilcocks's Contrafl. — Sii*j
your Contrafl is certainly a, ftriking one, and a num
ber of fhameful faas it will undoubtedly bring to the
memory of your countrymen. But, Sir, it contains
a contradiaion or two, which, from your warmth
in the caufe of republicanifm, you feem to have
overlooked, and on which, as I am not quite fo
warm, I fhall make a few remarks.
You fay, and with great truth, i. That the peo
ple of America, of all parties, have decidedly and
uniformly efpoufed the caufe of France, and have
manifefied their joy at her victories over her enemies,
by every poffible mode of expreffing joy. 2 . You
as juftly obferve, that Genet commiffioned your
citizens to make war upon the enemies of France
(though neutrals to you) ; that he did this uncheck
ed by the Governor of South Carolina ; and that,
after this his condua was known, he was received at
the feat of the general government with a fraternal
fqueeze, and affiliated, with all his treafons, into the
very bofom of the great and too good Wafhington.
3. You fay that at the very time when the French
were fwindling this country, the Prefident granted
them more than they could expecl by treaty. And, 4.
You tell us, that the federal government paid them a
million of dollars before they became due.
Now, Sir, whether all the treafons of Genet were
abfolutely affiliated (by which I prefume you mean
infufed) into the very bofom of General Wafhington,
and whether fuch affiliation, or infufion, proves the
General to be a great and too good a man,, is not for
me to determine : neither fhall I inquiie why you
did not cite many other inftances of impolitic and
unjuft partiality towards France ; but, Sir, you
will give me leave to affure you, that, whether you
know it or not, you have brought forward four dif-
tina acts, each of which was a breach offtritl neutra'-
lity, and confequently either of which would "have
warranted

MARCH, 1797. j75
Warranted a declaration of war againft America, on
the part of Great Britain. There is, then, a mani-
feft contradiclion in your firft making this acknow
ledgment, and then ftigmatizing the feizure of your
veffels by the Britifh, by the word "-plundering ;"
that feizure being no more than a meafure of pre
caution, which the condua of America impofed on
them. The other contradiaion that I have alluded to,
fhall not detain us long. — After having defcribed
the humiliation of America with an energy and pre
cifion peculiar to your pen ; after having declared,
that the people and government have gone all
lengths, lawful and unlawful, to flatter and to keep
well with the defpots of Paris ; after having afferted
that your government proftrated themfelves to be bit
and torn to pieces by thefe dogs, without uttering
fcarcely a murmur or a groan ; after having, in
fhort, defcribed your countrymen as the moft
degraded and abjea wretches, you are fo unreafon-
able as to complain, that their envoy has been
received with contempt and ignominy, and you are
fo contradiclory as to call this envoy, " the repre-
fentative of the ONLY FREEMEN ON EARTH ! "
I fhall not detain you to hear me remark on the
infolence of this affertion, as applied to the otber
nations of the earth ; nor fhall I mortify you by
laughing at ihe freemen, who have "proftrated them
felves to be bit and torn to pieces, without a murmur or a
groan ;" but fhall take my leave of you with obferv-
ing, that as you feem to with to fee the French chaf-
tifed for their abufe of " honefl: republicans" only, you
will not think it unnatural if there fhould be others,
who with them chaftifed for quite another reafon.

Tl'ESDAY,

fj6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Tuesday, 28th March.
Impartial New/papers. — Thefe are a fpecies of
publications that few people are filly enough to be
taken in by ; yet it does fometimes happen, that by
profeffing impartiality, and obferving it for a fhort
fpace of time, the conduaor, or conduaors, make
fhift to catch the ftraggling gulls. Bradford's paper,
or rather the affociation paper printed at Bradford's,
fet our with fuch a filver tongue, and fo meek and
fo placid a mien, that you would have fworn the
conduaors were Quakers ; not fighting, fwearing,
drinking, buckifh, rakifh Quakers, fuch as we fome
times fee in this enlightened age, but Quakers of the
good old ftamp, deflitute of every ornament but that
of virtue. In this guife, or rather difguife, it was
that the Merchant's Advertifer made its appearance.
It was to be perfeaiy impartial, to fleer clear of the
virulence of party, and, indeed, it was to avoid all
political difcuffion of whatever nature. No lies, I'll
. warrant you, were to come out of its pious mouth ;
no, nor any exhortations to domeftic infurreaion,
by applauding the condua of the infurgents and
traitors of Great Britain and Ireland, and by finging
forth the praifes of the ufurpers of France. " Is it
poffible (exclaimed the public, when the firft paper
appeared,", is it poffible that any thing good can
come out of Nazareth ? Can thifiles bear rofes, or
can honey drop from the poifonous upas ?" Had I
been called upon to anfwer thefe queftions, I fhould
certainly have done it in the negative ; I was fully
perfuaded that it was to be, in every fenfe of the
term, a French paper, and fuch it has this day prov
ed itfelf. The divan of Turkey, it tells us, is in
ftria friendfhip with the divan of France ; the Auf
trians are obliged to retire from the Rhine ; Mantua
muft furrender foon, very foon now ; the Kings of
Sardinia

MARCH, 1797. I77
Sardinia and Pruffia are going to join the fans-cu
lottes ; the Englifh have not yet got fafe poffeffion
of the Cape of Good Hope ; their affairs in the Eaft
Indies are in a very dangerous fituation ; Great
Britain has a good many fhips of war, to be fore; but
(now let us hear this but), " but, a battle fought,
" and obftinately difputed by the brave united fleets'
" even though the Britifh fhould be the viaor'
" would be a deadly blow to the fecurity of the
" Britifh power." — There the fans-culotte ftands
expofed. He has been ftripping, rag by rag, till at
laft he appears in all his natural naked deformity.

Wednesday, 29th March.
PICTURE OF FRANCE
IN 1794,
In a Letter from a Gentleman in Switzerland, to his
Friend in America.
. Laufanne (Switzerland), Feb. 24/A, 1 794.
My dear Sir,
I AM juft returned from a very interefling tour,
and will employ the few moments I remain in this
place, in giving you a fhort, and probably a very
imperfea ftcetch of it. In my laft, I mentioned
having a letter from the Marquis de la Fayette to
his wife. I had, without confideration, undertaken
to forward it to Mr. Morris, our minifter at Paris ;
but on reffeaion, I was ftruck with the impropriety
of enclofing him a letter from a man whofe name
alone was treafen in France, and at a period when
all letters were opened, and when the flighteft and
moft innocent correfpondence with emigrants con
tinually brought numbers to the guillotine. I en
voi., v. n deavoured

iii GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
deavoured ,'bpth at Laufanne and at Geneva, to find
fome perfon going into France, who would promife
to deliver it ; but I eafily perceived there was no
one who would expofe himfelf to fuch a rifk. In
this fituation, the intereft I felt for. the charaaer.
-who wrote the letter, and a defire of feeing France
at a period fo critical, induced me, though ftill
indifpofed, to refolve on being the bearer of it my
felf. I applied to Citoyen Soulavie, the French
refident at Geneva, for a paffport. He told me the
one I had from Mr. Pinckney was better than any
he could give me, but that in a time of revolutions
the mereft trifle might irritate the people ; and with
my Englifh accent and appearance, he thought it
advifable to give up entirely the idea of going to
Paris. Not fatisfied with his advice, I determined
to apply to higher' authority, and to wait on a Re-
prefentanZidlt peuple*, who had lately ^arrived in
the department bordering pn Switzerland. The
curious accounts I had heard of this man made me
defifous offeeinghim ; and I ;,was fortpnate enough
to meet him a few days afterwards at Verfoy. A
Repr.efentff.nt dupeuple is a fort pf viceroy, chofen
in the bofom of the Convention, and fent into the
departments by .the Comite de Salut Publique\, with
the power to kill, burn, and deftroy, at the rifk
bf iofing his own head at his return. I was ufliered
jhto a room, where this animal was furrounded by
'his officers : his drefs was curious — a bonnet rouge%
with the motto, " Liberte, Egalite, &c." a woollen
jacket and trowfers, an enamelled bonnet de la Li
berty tied round his neck, with the tri-coloured
riband, and a card with his name, « Gouly," hung

* A member of the Convention.
tCsmmitiee of Public Safety.
*ed «P- § Liberty cap.
4

MARCH, 1797. i7^
at his button-hole as a member of the Jacobin Club ;
his hair cut fhort, and without powder. I was re
ceived with " Queveux tu monfrere*?" — " To know'
whether I could fafely go to Paris under the protec
tion of a paffport from the American minifter in
London." — " Ce n'eft pas mon affaire, va au Comite
de Surveillance"^-." The prefident of this committee
proved to be an uncle to the Profeffor Pidet, of
Geneva. — He was pleated to find that I was ac
quainted with his relation, fhowed me much polite-
nefs, figned my paffports, and when I alked him
what the reprefentant had done finee his arrival, he
whifpered me in the ear, " 11 a tout change — Les
jens riches font arreles. Ceux qui etaient en place ne
e font plus ; men ami, e'efl la fin du monde qui va
arriver%'' In the mean time the Citoyen Gouly fent
to inform him that he would anfwer with his head
for what he was about— that many agents of the
infamous Pitt had been deteaed in France with
American paflports. Inftead of " Mon ami' from
my friend the Prefident, it was now, " Ah fcelerdt}
on te mettra dans la rattiere^," and I was on the
pbint of being hurried to prifon. I infilled on fee
ing the reprefentant, gained admittance, and fo
perfeaiy fatisfied him refpeaing my being an Ame*
rican, that he infilled "on my dining with him. — He
put his feal of office to my paffport, and told me I
might now go to Paris without fear. The feene that
fucceeded was curious ; fervant and mafter, officer
and foldier, all fat down to table together, with

I

*

What doft thou want, brother ?
f That is none of my bufinefs ; get thee to the Committee of
Superintendance. t He has changed every thing ; the rich are imprifoned, ail
-who were in office are difmiffed j ah, my friend I the end of the
world is at hand.
§ Ah wretch, thou fhalt be put in the rat-trap.
, N 2 their

i8o GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
their hats on. Gouly gave us an account of the de-*
fcent that was foon to take place on England, and
that in two months time he it was that would be
fent to deftroy Carthage, and to cut off the heads
of George and of Pitt. He declared that we had
treated the Citoyen Genet very ill, that he had been
joined by the true patriots, but that Hamilton and
his fet were fold to Pitt. I obferved, that though
traitors were very eafily to be found in fome coun
tries of Europe, I flattered myfelf that America had
not yet gone to that degree of corruption, and that
the -reprefentative of a nation fhould never adopt
any party. He then gave us a differtation on the
bleffings of Liberie, Egalite, and Fraternite, fwore
that the people in the departments into which he
was fent were all ariftocrats or egotifts ; that they
had no efiprit revolutionaire ; but before he left them,
with the affiftance of the guillotine, they fhould be
" bien montes, a la hauteur des circonflances * ." I
got up to take my leave, and was not a little fur-
prifed at his throwing his arms around my neck,
and giving me the baifer fraternel : this was an un
fortunate compliment for me ; it gave me fo much
confequence in the eyes of the people, that before I
j;ot out of Verfoy I was kiffed by the mayor and
all the municipality. The day after, I fet out on
my journey to Paris, and, notwithftanding the
ridiculous feene I had been witnefs to, I flattered
myfelf that I fhould return with many arguments to
fupport my favourite opinion, <fcthat after all their
follies, and' the horrors they had committed, the
French would end by rendering themfelves not only
feared but refpea ed." «.
I left Nyon on the ioth of January, but my chaife
breaking down on the top of the Jura, I was ex-

* Well fcrewed up to the height of exifting circumftances.
3 pofed

MARCH, 1797. 181
pofed for near two days to the moft inclement wea
ther at a fmall village called Les Rouffes, the firft
French poft in Franche Compte. I found here a
great degree of tranquillity: they were happy in
having the Swifs for their neighbours, and in the
proteaion of their mountains. At Dijon, Auxerre,
Sens, &c. the efprit revolutionaire was in full force.
Crofles were broken, chapels burnt, many churches
entirely deftroyed, and thofe that remained had
fome part or other torn down ; the celebrated con
vent of the-Chartreux, near Dijpn, a heap of ruins;
all the bells colfeaed together to be turned into
cannon ; every houfe with the tri-coloured banner
at the window, and the motto, " Lib. Ega. <&)V.
&c." on the door ; chaifes, waggons, carts, all
with their little flags ; the cap of Liberty feulptured
on the mile-ftones, -and the national colours painted
even on the trees that line the great road to Paris.
I had frequently been conduaed by the guard tp
the Comiti de Surveillance, but had never met with
any detention. On my arrival, however, at Pon-
thieny, about thirty miles from Paris, my fears
began to increafe, and I was agreeably furprifed to
hear that Saint Port, the country refidence of Mr.
Morris, was juft oppofite on the other fide of
the Seine. I was happy in getting under the pro
teaion of his roof, and determined to wait for his
advice before I proceeded. The next day I received
a polite note from him, informing me that 1 fhould
meet with no difficulties ; and on the 20th I entered
Paris for the firft time. Inftead of the noife and
buftle I expeaed, there was a dead calm ; the road
appeared deferted, and not a carriage was to be
feen in the ftreets. — I waited on Mr. Morris, and
heard with regret that Madame de la Fayette was
confined near her country-feat in the fouth of
France, with circumftances even of cruelly and in-r
Recency. He had made a private application in her
# 3 favour-

18a GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
favour to the Minifter for Foreign . Affairs,, and waS-
anfwered, " That fhe was fortunate in being fo far
from Paris, and that the greateft fervice her friends
could render her, would be never to mention her
name." -.,
He fmiled at my obfervations refpeaing flie
Frenrh revolution, and faid he would leave me /to
form my opinion from experience.
I began by attending regularly the debates of the
Convention. I entered the, tribune for the firft timpyf
with that refpea one naturally feels at the idea of
feeing the rulers of a great nation.- I found tlie
Prefident ringing his bell with all, his might — halfar
dozen members fpeaking at the fame time,, and
when they could not be heard from the chair, they
attacked each other. It proved to be a quarrel re-j
fpecting a member who had been denounced. The
figures of the Roman worthies ornamented " the
walls; the bufls of Brutus, Le Pelletier, and Marat,
furrounded the Prefident's chair; oppofite was a
large thing like a trunk ; il was the Ark of the Co
venant, covered with tri-coloured ribands. I had
an opportunity fome days afterwards of feeing on,
the place of the Baftile a great ftone figure of Li
berty, and an immenfe trough, out of which the
deputies drank large draughts of water to the-
goddefs, on the adoption of their laft conftitution.
There was a poor fellow who narrowly efeaped-
being guillotined for obferving, that no doubt
many wifhed it was wine.
The National Convention I foon perceived to be
a farce ¦, of the feven hundred and forty-nine mem
bers of whom it was firft compofed, . one hundred
and fifty-five had either given in their difmiffions,
were guillotined, confined, affaffinated, or taken
prifoners : two hundred and twenty-eight form the
feventeen different committees for the tranfaaion of
bufinefs ; a confiderable number are fent into the
depart;-

MARCH, 179-7. i«3
departments, and thofe who fit in the Convention,-
appear to meet merely for the purpofe of giving an
apoarem fanblion to the meafures of the Comite de
Saht Publique. The Prefident is continually en
gaged in receiving addreffes, patriotic donations,
ant in giving the honours of the fitting, and the
hai/.r fraternel. I was witnefs to a laughable feene
of tnis kind ; a deputation from St. Domingo entered
tht hall ; it confifted of a white man, a. mulatto, and
a legro. La Croix moved that the circumftance
fhould be diflinguifhed by the accolade* of the
Pnfident. The white man firft flew into his arms,
atd was embraced moft tenderly — the mulatto was
higged with ftill more affeaion — but when he
cane to the negro, had it been a miftrefs, he could
nt have preffed her more ardently — there was no
ed to the kififes that were given and received amidfl
he repeated applaufes of the Convention and the tri-
'unes. The next day they voted the emancipation of
he flaves, and declared, that they would form with
ill negroes and mulattoes a " tri-coloured coali
tion, which would foon deftroy the combined
powers of ariftocracy and tyranny." An old negro
wench, who was in one of the tribunes, thought
this fo fine, that fhe fainted away; fhe was imme
diately brought into the bofom of the Convention — .
the members crowded round her, and again fell a-
kiffing not only the negroes, but each other.
I next attended the Jacobin Club ; they met about
feven o'clock, but the tribunes were filled before fix,
with the vileft colfeaion of people I think I ever
faw, moftly women and children. The fitting
opened by reading the proces verbal -f of the pre
ceding everting, by which it appeared that a depu-r
tation of blacks had been received moft fraternally,
* Embrace, f Journals*
n 4 and

i84 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
and that it had unanimoufly decreed that a flag fhould
be hung over the chair of the Prefident, on whica
fhould be a negro, a mulatto, and a Frenchman
holding up together the banner tri-coloured. Sone
bad verfes were afterwards read in favour of tie
Mountain, made by a woman, who attended tie
debates ; and to this fucceeded tbe epuration* of fie
members. The queftions alked on this occafion are,
" Where were you on the tenth ofAuguftt'V— "Hcjv
did you vote in the cafe of Marat ?" — " Were y<ju
ever a banker or an agent de change -j- ?" Amor
others that were to be examined, was one Chambef-
toy : as foon as he began his anfwer, a blackguard
looking fellow who was fitting next me, got uf
and bawled out for the "parole X" — he fwore thj
Chambertoy was a rafcal and an ariftocrat ; anothei
declared him to be as much of a patriot as the Kins
of Pruffia ; Chambertoy faid a few words, when a\
woman got up behind him, and gave him the lie in]
plain terms. The moft violent noife and uproar
fucceeded, and I was convinced that Chambertoy'
would be turned out ; -at length a child of about
thirteen or fourteen years old, a member pf the club,
mounted the tribune, made a long fpeech, obferved
that no perfon fhould be condemned without being
heard, and gained Chambertoy an opportunity of
making his defence ; he proved that he was one of
the party who propofed the events of the tenth of
Auguft (for they now confider as the greateft merit
in themfelves, what they attributed to their King as
the greateft crime) : he fhowed a wound he bad re
ceived at the Thuilleries, and was re-admitted with
unbounded applaufe. — I was indebted afterwards to
my being taken for an Englifhman, for the pleafure
of feeing Robefpierre — they were fatisficd on my
fhowing a certificate from Mr. Morris, figned by the
* Purification." -j- Broker. $ The right to fpeak,
Minifter

March, ^97. 185
Minifter for Foreign Affairs, and made way for a
" brave American." — 1 had thus an opportunity of
approaching very near Robefpierre at the Jacobin
Club. He is a little man, very pale and thin, de
cently dreffed, in general ; a light-coloured great
coat, and powder in his hair, much the appearance
of a petty fogging attorney : he was liftened to with
great attention, and brings out his words with an
almoft affeaed flownefs, while every other perfon
fpeaks with violent paffion. They diftributed in the
tribunes * a moft ridiculous effay on the Englifh
conftitution; when one Brichet got up and moved,
that the Club, before it debated the great queftion of
a defcent into England, and the vices of the Britifh
government, fhould occupy itfelf in deftroying the
" toads that had crawled up the Mountain," and
that at leaft thirty members of the Convention fhould
he guillotined. Robefpierre obferyed, that he was
an intrigant and an ultra- revalutionaire\, and
moved that he fhould be turned out ; which was im
mediately decreed: a friend of Brichet got up to
take his part ; Robefpierre moved that he fhould
fhare the fame fate, and turned him out alfo.
Frequently on leavingthe Convention, I paffed
through the garden of the Thuilleries, to the Place
de la Revolution, in order to'get there after the exe
cutions had taken place, and was once or twice fo
unfortunate as to be a witnefs of them. It is out of
my power, my dear friend, to give you a competent
idea of this feene. Near the door of the Convention
you fee two men with great fur caps and long beards,
reading to the people the crimes of the Kings of
France, and abufing them all, from Charlemagne to
Louis XVI. A little further is a woman tinging
patriotic fongs, and giving leffons of morality ; on

* The gallery, f One who goes beyond revolutionary limits. the

1S6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
the other fide is a man preaching againft JefoJ
Chrift. Every where you are peftered with jouiv
rials, and the produaions of Pere du Chene and)
Camille Defmoulins. At the entrance of the ga4v
dens are two reftauratives * filled with people eatings
drinking, and laughing : — oppofite is the' guillotine, and
ten yards from it is a puppet-fhow, where Punch is
guillotined ! Here you fee figures dancing on wires,
there an exhibition of piaures, and a calf born with
a national cockade on its forehead-^— a crowd of wo
men, and a colfeaion of dogs immediately under
the guillotine ; children peeping into the hamper*
that hold the bodies, and men felling the names of
thofe who have juft fuffered, and crying out, " Ve~
nez demain, ny manquez- pas, vous en aurez plufieurs,
vous aurez des f emmes ¦jf. It is difficult to fay which
are moft mad, the fpeaators or the fufferers. I have
heard people in the ftreets obferve to each other,
" Ou allons nous, voulez vous aller au caffe ou a la
guillotine^ ?" I have feen women go to be executed,
as if to an entertainment, chattering and paying
compliments to each other, even at the fcaflbld ;
fome laughing, cry, " Five la Republiquef The
people call for the head, to fee whether it ftill fmiles.
But what, adds the greateft horror to the feene, is
the gaiety that reigns on every countenance !
I attended many of the trials at the Tribunal Re-'
pdutiohaire ; you there find the forms of juftice, but
none of the reality. It confifts]of two courts, the
Salle de la Liberte, and the Salle de V Egalite ; each
compofed of three judges, befides the prefident and
an accufateur public— -all dreffed in black gowns,

* Eating-houfes, or ordinaries.
f Come again to-morrow, don't fail; you'll have feveral more,
you'll haveforne women guillotined. ?>
J Where fhall we go ? Will you go to the coffee-houfe or to the
guillotine? . " , - and

MARCH, 1797. ig7.
and black feathers in their hats ; round their necks a
national riband, to which hangs a gold medal. —
The jury confifis of ten perfons. The clerk reads the
accufation ; the witneffes are examined ; the ac
cufed is afked if he has any thing to fay for himfelf;
the accufateur public fpeaks, and is anfwered by
the defender chofen by the prifoner ; the prefident
declares the debate to be finifhed. The accufed is
carried out, the jury give in the verdia, and the
accufed is brought back to hear his fentence ; if he
is condemned, he wifhes the company a good morn
ing, and goes away to ,be executed within twenty-
four hours. If he is acquitted, he embraces the
whole court ; fome of the fpeclators are pleafed
when this happens to be the cafe, but I heard others
fay, " Je n aim e pas les voir echapper a la guillotine* ';"
not only the judges, and the accufateurs publics,
but the jury alfo, are nominated by the Convention,
that is, by the Comite de Salut Publique, and you
may eafily conceive the fpirit which they receive ;
accufer, judge, and jury, all appear anxious to find
the prifoner guiliy; and if he is noble*, or has pro
perty, he is almoft fure of being condemned.
Paris is perfeaiy quiet ! One part is a defert, the
other is plunged into the profoundeft apathy ; and
no where is there fo little appearance of intereft in
the affairs of France as in its own capital. There
are from fixteen to twenty fpeaacles (theatres) every
evening, and once each decade all the theatres are
opened gratis to the populace, when fome patriotic
piece is given. The guillotine was the fpeaacle
generally the befl: attended ; but to render the piece
fufficiently amufing, and wind up the efprit revolu-
tionaire, they are obliged at times to execute women,
or fome remarkable charaaer. There are a fet of

* I don't like to fee them efcape from the guillotine. people

1 88 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
people paid to attend the Convention, the Jacobin
Club, the Tribunal Revolutionaire, and the guillotine,
to keep up an appearance of popularity.
There is no truth of which I am fo perfeaiy con
vinced, as that the great majority of the people in
France are already againft the revolution, and
would be happy to change, for any government
whatever, the horrid tyranny under which they
fuffer. One of the members of the Comile de Salut
Publique has been heard to fay, " We know that
nine out of ten are againft us ; but the tenth man
Ihall make the other nine march *." A prefident of
a Jacobin Club not far from Paris, has whifpered to
me, " Un roi foible eft unfieau-f ;" and I have never
had an opportunity of converting with any perfon
above the loweft clafs, who did not execrate the ty
rants of the day. In the mean time the military dif-
pofition of the French, the attention which is paid to
flie army, the unlimited powers of the Comile de
Salul Publique, and the immenfe riches on which
they have feized, will give the ruling faaion the
means of making the ftrongeft refiftance, and it is
poffible they may involve in their own deftruaion
the ruin of all France. There was a time when,
befides tbe Vendee, Bourdeaux, Toulon, Marseilles,
Lyons, Strafburg, were all for a counter-revolution;
and bad the combined powers, inflead of the deteft-
able policy of difmembering France, been ferioufly
occupied with the idea of putting Louis XVII. oh
the throne, it might have been effeaed. The
Vendee was left to be deftroyed by numbers, after
giving repeated proofs of the moft aftonifhing bra-?
very. Bourdeaux was on the point of declaring,
but the Mayor, who was a man of property, hefi-

* Precifely the declaration of M'Kean, at the epoch when the
American independence was declared. P. Porcupine.
¦j- j\. wak king.is a feourge.

MARCH, 1797. i89
tated ; Lyons became a leffon, Bourdeaux efeaped,
but the Mayor was guillotined. Marfeilles flill
fuffers under the wrath of the Convention ; Lyons,
though obliged to adopt the language of the day,
fought for royalty ; ihe expedted affiftance, but was
cruelly difappointed. Strafburg offered itfelf to
General Wurmfer, if he would accept it for Louis
XVII. His orders were to take it for his mafter;
in the mean time the reprefentatives of the people
entered the city, and guillotined all who were fuf
peaed. The opportunity has been negfeaed, and
humanity fhudders at the approach of the next
campaign. For two years paft: it has beeit expeaed,
and even wifhed by fome, that the want of prpvi-
fions would put an end to the exertions of France.
Thofe who entertained fuch hopes did not reffea
that the army would be the laft to fuffer, and the
innocent the firft viaims. The papers mentioned
but five thoufand four hundred and fifty* perfons;
but I know from good authority, that there are at
leaft fifteen thoufand confined at Paris, and thofe
who are arretted in the departments may amount to
about two hundred and fifty thoufand. Would not
thefe, as the " bouches inutiles*," be the firft fact i-
ficed ? In fome places already, the foldiers receive
good bread, while the people are obliged to eat that
which is made of potatoes and bran. The profpeas
of a famine in France were probably never more
ferious than at the prefent moment, and the French
may fuffer greatly before their harveft ; but they
will not ftarve. In many cantons the bread is good,
and cheaper than in Switzerland ; in Paris it is bad,
but is fold at the maximum ; in fome few places the
wheat was expended : the occafionof this difference
is, that all grain remains in requifition in each

* Ufelefs mouths. canton*

19® GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
canton — wheat is in general fearce. I have feen
fome of the people laugh at their own wants, and
cry " liny a point demifere en France*" and when I
have afked thepoftilion which was the beft inn at the
place I was going to, he anfwered with the greateft"
levity, " Il y en a deux, mais on n'apas depain "---'' Et
que fail on alors ?"• — " Onfe chauffe\ !" Thefe is one
circumftance, which after much inquiry I found to
be certain, that in the department through which I
paffed, there was as much corn planted as at any
former period.
I went to Paris by the northern road, and return
ed by Nevers, Moulins, and Lyons. At the firft of
thefe places many of the populace were intoxicated,
and I could hardly get any perfon to examine my
paffport; they had juft taken up about feventy
priefts ; thefe unfortunate men had conformed to ah*
the decrees of the Convention ; fome of them were
married— *many were old, and fome invalids ; they
were crowded with great inhumanity on board a
hatteau to be fent to Breft. I afked one of thofe
who attended, " what was to be done with
them ?" — " I believe," faid he, " they are going to
drown them" — this they call the New Baptifm of
Priefts. Moulins was formerly famous for its ma-
nufeaories in cutlery ; its commerce was deftroyed,
as well as that of every other city in France. But
imagination cannot conceive the- miferable fituation
of Lyons ; all that was beautiful in building, rich
in commerce, or refpea able in inhabitants, is totally
deftroyed : the Place de. Belle Cour, formerly one of
the moft beautiful in the world, does not exift ; the
noble range of buildings near the Rhone, a heap of
ruins ; and the duft that arifes from the houfesfhey

* There is no mifery in France.
f " There are two, but there's no bread." — " What do people
do in that cafe ?"_« They warm themfelves." continue

MARCH, 1797. 191
continue to demollfh, renders the air almoft fuffo-
cating. They had juft torn to pieces fixty perfons with
grape-fkot ; the bodies were afterwards ftripped by
women and children, with the utmoft degree of in
decency. The guillotine had been illuminated on
the anniveffary of the King's execution. It had cut
off twenty-eight perfons the day before my arrival,
and was again prepared. Adjoining to it is the
grand Autel de la patrie*, where there are fetes every
decade. I went into the Hotel de Ville to get my
paffport examined ; I was furrounded by officers —
here a crowd were waiting to be married, there they
were waiting to be divorced. I faw a burial: the
corpfe was on a bier, half uncovered, with the bonnet
rouge on the head ; all thofe who attended had their
heads ornamented in the fame manner, and followed
fhe body tinging the Carmagnole. The executions
at Lyons had already amounted to above three thou
fand perfons, and to thofe who fpoke of mercy, the
reprefentans had anfwered, ~ " that there were ten
thoufand more to fuffer." There are two tribunals
continually employed in condemning, the " Com-
miffion Militaire'' and the " Tribunal Populaire ;"
and women have been tied to the guillotine to be
witneffes of the execution of their hufhands, merely
for having folicited their pardon. I was obliged to
remain at Lyons near two days, from the difficulty
of getting horfes, and was happy to get out of it, and
a-elieve my eyes from fuch a feene of horror and mad-
nefs. The great inftigator of all the cruelties that
are committed in this unfortunate city is Collot
d'Herbois -j~ ; this man was not long ago an inferior
comedian, and has often aaed at the theatres of
Lyons and Geneva ; he was the prefident of the

* Altar of the country.
f This is the monfler who moved in the Convention the aboli
tion of royalty, committee

19* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
committee that formed the laft conftitution, at pre
fent heads that party which is called by fome Ultra-
revolutionaire ; and as the people here always join
thofe who go to the greateft exceffes, it is probable
that Collot d'Herbois, Hebert, the author. of the
Pere du Chene, and their fet, may treat Robefpiefre
and the Marats as they did the Briffotines. When
any man gets to the top of power, he naturally feels
himfelf fomcwhat interefted in the welfare of the
country, and unwillingly adopts moderation as one
of the means of increafing his popularity. Robe
fpierre wifhed to have a motion paffed, for liberating
all thofe who had been arretted without any grounds
of accufation, the number of whom you may eafily
conceive to be very great, when for fome time every
perfon who denounced another, received one hun
dred livres. Such however was the clamour, that
he was obliged to abandon the idea. He next,
without appearing himfelf, fet Camille Defmoulins
to write againft the violent party : he begins by de
claring himfelf a votary of the divine Marat. He
was, however, expelled from the Jacobin Club, for
having mentioned a committee of clemency, and
before he could be readmitted, was obliged to con
fefs his error. It is the violent party who, to amufe
the people, have ftar ted the idea of a defcent upon
England. Robefpierre declares that the Englifh
only merit their contempt ; that if they are deflrous
of having their liberty, they are capable of gaining
it for themfelves, and if they are not, a defcent upon
England would only be throwing themfelves into the
fnares of Pitt.
The Jacobin Club is the fource of power, and
thofe who lead it govern France. It keeps up an
intimate correfpondence with all the inferior clubs in
the different departments, and takes care that they
ihall be formed of none but the vileft and moft
ignorant of the inhabitants, entirely devoted to itfelf. II

MARCH, 17^7. -193
It is the feat of information, gives what impreffion it
pleafes, and a defeat in the north is reprefented in
the fouth as a viaory. It has caufed all the miferies
of France ; and, compofed as it is at prefent, no goPd
can ever be expeaed from it : God knows what will
be the end, and we are at a lofs what lo hope. — The
French appear incapable of being free ; the govern
ment of an ufurper only leads to new convulfions ;
the people, when fatigued with the prefent mode of
fovernment, may change it for fomething new.
iberty is at prefent the fafhion in France ; you meet
it at all the corners of -the ftreets ; it is ftuck up in.
large charaaers on every houfe ; it fpouts at the
theatre; it ftruts at the opera ; it is become. a by
word — I never heard fo much, and never faw fo
little of it. The " ancien -regime" has totally difap-
peared, and the decade is as much in vogue as if
Sunday had never exifted. But will not a people
who have with fo much levity abandoned their re
ligion, forget in the fame manner their liberty ?
Such appears to be the charaaer of the French,'
a foil where every thing flourifhes for a time, but
nothing takes root ; if well or ill direaed, a cha
raaer capable of the greateft extremes of virtue or
vice. I entered France one of the warmeft advocates Of
the revolution ; I firmly believed that the great
body of the people had juft ideas of liberty, were
acquainted with their rights, and, after defeating
the attempts of their enemies, would eftablifh an
equal and well-regulated government. I left it with
fentiments of indignation, disappointment, and dif-
guft, convinced that there never was a people in the
world fo little calculated to enjoy the bleffings of
freedom. During my ftay at Paris I found nothing fo
interefting as the converfation of Mr.  . He
had been fo obliging, before my arrival, as to take
vol. v. o lodgings.

*94 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
lodgings for me near his own hotel ; and I had the
pleafure of feeing him every day. He was formerly
exceedingly well received at court, and poffeffed in
a great degree the confidence df its minifters, and
has finee been able to render himfelf, though not
liked, yet refpeaed by all the parties that have fuc
ceeded : though a man of great abilities, he muft
have found it difficult to have fleered fo far with
fafety through the ftorm : and America is indebted
to him for remaining in a fituation which, though
none can fill it with more capacity, cannot hut be
particularly irkfome to him. All thofe for whom
he could have felt any confideration, have either
emigrated, been arretted or guillotined; and. from
being in the moft agreeable fociety, he is left with
hardly an acquaintance in France : the condua he
has purfued was the only one of avoiding all parties,
and maintaining in every refpea the dignity of his
fituation. He particularly detefted the Briffotin'es,
whofe policy it was to draw America into the war ;
add had they not been guillotined, Genet might have
done us confiderable mifchief. Mr.  read
me fome of his correfpondence, and I was fur-
prifed at the accuracy with which he had foretold the
principal events of the revolution. Thefe letters
have fallen into the hands of perfons, who from
being, I believe, prejudiced in favour of the French,
have negfeaed to pay them -the attention -which
they fo highly merited.
A party of Americans have petitioned the Conven
tion in favour of Tom Paine ; they were invited to
the honours of the fitting, but could not be much
flattered, when, a few days after, a fet of negroes were
received- with far greater attention. As the French
have no farther occafion for Common Senfe, or the
Rights of Man, Tom Paine flill remains in prifon,
where he abufes.Mr. Morris for not claiming him as
an

MARCH, 1797. i9S
an American, and amufes himfelf, I am told, with
writing a book againft Jefus Chrift.
, It is difficult to meet with beauty at Paris ; all the
pretty women are in requifition ; they are confined
and employed in making fhirts for the army. I en
deavoured to confole myfelf at the gallery of paint
ings, which is without exception the fineft in the
world — a colfeaion of all the moft valuable paint
ings that exifted in France. Many Americans have
been arretted on their firft entering the republic, and
you are fearched half a dozen times before you are
permitted to leave it. I returned by Geneva, and
found the violent party worthy imitators of their
neighbours — they had found that their laft projea of
a conftitution was impraaicable, and accepted a
new one, which the day after was violated. As
there was a Vendee in France, they were determined
to have one alfo. It confifted of one houfe, and of
one man, a Mr. Miquily; his hotife was furrounded,,
his furniture deftroyed, and himfelf thrown into
prifon. The Provifional Committee accompanied
the Marfeillois who went on this expedition, in order
to prevent mifchief ; but fuch was their impotency,
that a poor man was torn to pieces before their
faces for refilling to put on the bonnet rouge. On
entering Switzerland I felt as if I had at length ef-
caped from the madhoufe, and again got into the
fociety of reafonable beings. /
I have, without thinking, permitted my letter to
run on to an immoderate length; you will, I flatter
myfelf, excufe not only the length of it, but alfo the
hurry in which I have written it.
The aaive life I led at Paris, and the excellent
table of Mr.  , have been of fervice to my
health ; andfince I have found that exercife is a reme
dy, I fhall not remain idle. I leave this place immedi
ately for Milan, where my carriage and horfes have
o 2 been

196 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
been arrived near two months. I expea to pafs the
holy week at Rome. The heat will foon oblige me
to leave Italy, when I propfe going to Vienna, to
which place I have excellent letters.
I am anxious to hear from you ; pray write to me
frequently. There is no expreffing the intereft I
feel in whatever paffes in America.
I remain, moft fincerely,
Your affeaionate -

Thursday, 3O"1 March.
Lachefe the French Spy. — From New-York. The
public are under a partial miftake at prefent, with
refpea to the French emiffary, fent to delude our
fellow-citizens of the weftern country ; my informa
tion, which is direaiy by a gentleman from Pittf-
burg, is, that a French general, by the name of
Lachefe, has been apprehended in Kentucky, and
imprifoned :) that, the better to cover his defigns, he,
travelled on foot, carrying his fiddle on his back, at
the mufic of which he is remarkably expert ; that he
has been deteaed in exploring the country with a
military afpect, and in his converfation and condua
endeavouring to alienate the affeaions of the people
from their brethren of the Atlantic States, and fo per
fuade them fo join the French in forming a republic
with Louifiana, &c. &c. : that he is the fame general
who was concerned fome years ago in railing the
army againft the dominions of Spain.
But, fellow-citizens, he is not direaiy the general
to whom on a former occafion I alluded. The pri
foner is a fubordinate agent in the villany. But the
principal has made his tour, and returned to Phila
delphia, where he yery probably, like other traitors
of his country and ours, is balking in the funfhine
of prefidential favour. He being more circumfpea
2 than

MARCH, 1797. 197
than his colleague, the prifoner, made his way good
through the weftern territory,' without imprifon*
ment, though not without aflifcovery of his infidious
embaffy from Mr. Adet.
He very freely and warmly advocated the eleaion
of Mr. Jefferfon, and, agreeably to his inftruaion,
endeavoured to difmember the United States, by
alienating the attachment of the. weftern country
from the people of the Atlantic States. In fhprt, hy
a variety of contingencies, which will fometimes
occur to favour villany, the principal has as yet et-
caped with impunity, whilft the fubaltern has been
brought to an end. I have a violent fufpicion that a
certain French philofopher who has had the late
Prefident's paffport to explore the winds, has had a
commiffion from the Direaory to explore the mpft,
plaufible way to our throats. W. Wilcocks,

Friday, 31st March,

TO MERCHANTS,
FOR PUBLIC SALE,
At the fign of the Britifh and American Flags united,
on Monday the 1 5th day of May next,
The two good Ships, viz.
The CUT-THROAT, } • , PLUNDERER,
of 3,8 guns. J X of ditto.
,Now lying high up in Hamp*
ton roads, built with live oak
and<cedar, fheathed with cop
per, completely fitted for an Eaft India voyage, and
ready for fea, there having been for a long time paft
but one obftacle to their failing, which will be re
moved previous to the day of fale.
Norfolk, 26th March, 1797. Bjzfo Short, Audi.
N. B. Several favages'how on board, to be fold at faid time and
place, — The Commodore would be a valuable aeqxiifition in the
jftone-fawing or nail manufactory line. March a8.
o 3 WILL

198 GAZETTE SELECTION'S.
WILL AND TESTAMENT.
SINCE I took up the calling that I now follow,
I have received about forty threatening letters; fome
talk of fifticuffs, others of kicks, but far the greater
part menace me with outright murder. Several
friends (whom, by the by, I fincerely thank) have
called to caution me againft the lurking cutthroats;
and it feems to be the perfuafion of every one, that
my brains are to be knocked out the firft time I
venture from home in the dark.
Under thefe terrific circumftances, it is impoffible
that death fhould not flare me in the face : I have
therefore got myfelf into as good a ftate of prepara
tion as my finful profeffion will, I am afraid, admit
of; and as to my worldly affairs, I have fettled
them in the following Will, which I publifh, in order
that my dear friends, the legatees, may, if they think
themfelves injured or negfeaed, have an opportunity
of complaining before it is too late.
In the name of Fun, Amen, I Pbter PPrcufine,
pamphleteer and newfmonger, being (as yet)
found both in body and in mind, do, this fifteenth
day of April, in the year of our Lord one thoufand
feven hundred and ninety- feven, make, declare,
and publifh this my Last Will and Testa
ment, in manner, form, and fubftance following,
to wit;'
In pr imis, I leave my body to Doaor Michael, Leib,
a member of the Legiflature of Pennfylvania, to
be by him diffeaed (if he knows how to do it) in
prefence of the Rump of the Democratic Society.
In it they will find a heart that held them in
, abhorrence, that never palpitated at their threats,
and that, to its laft beat, bade them defiance. But

MARCH, 1797. *99
But my chief motive for making this bequeft is,
that my fpirit may look down with contempt
on their cannibal-like triumph over a breathlefs
corpfe.
Item, As I make no doubt that the abovefaid Dr.
Leib (and fome other Doaors that I could men
tion) would like very well to fkin me, I reqPeft
that they, or one of them, may do it, and that
the faid Leib's father may tan my fkin ; after
which I- defire my executors to have eight copies
of my works complete, bound in it, one copy to
be prefented to the five Sultans of France; one to
each of .their Divans; one tp the Governor of
Pennfylvania ; to Citizens Maddifon, Giles, and
Gallatin, one each ; and the remaining one to the
Democratic Society of Philadelphia, to be care
fully preferved among their archives.
Item, To the Mayor, Aldermen, and Councils of the
city of Philadelphia, I bequeath all the fturdy
young huckfters, who infeft the market, and who,
to maintain their baft ards, tax the honeft in
habitants many thoufand pounds annually. I
requeft them to take them into their worfhipful
keeping — >to chaflen their bodies for the good of
their fouls ; and, moreover, to keep a fharp look
out after their gallants ; and remind the latter of
the old proverb, Touch pot, touch penny.
Item, To Thomas Jefferfon, philofopher, I leave a '
curious Norway fpider, with a hundred legs and
nine pair of eyes; likewife the firft black cut
throat general he can catch hold of, to be flayed
alive, in order to determine with more certainty
the real caufe of the dark colour of his fkin :
and fhould the faid Thomas Jefferfon furvive Ban-
ncker the almanack-maker, I requeft he will -get
the brains of faid Philomath carefully diffeaed,
to fatisfy the world in what refpeas they differ
from thofe of a white man.
o 4 Item,

aoo GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Item, To the Philofophical Society of Philadelphia,
I will and bequeath a correa copy of Thornton's
Plan for abolifhing the Ufe of the Englifh Lan
guage, and for introducing in its flead a repub
lican one, fhe reprefentative charaaers of which
tear a ftrong rpfemblance to pot-hooks and hang
ers ; and for the difcpvery of which Plan, the
faid Society did, in the year 1793, grant to the
faid language-maker 500 dollars premium.*-It
is my earneft defire, that the copy of this valuable
performance, which I hereby prefent, may he
fhown to all the travelling literati, as a proof of
the ingenuity of the author, and of the wifdom
of the Society.
Item, To Dr. Benjamin Rufh, I. will and bequeath
a copy of the Cenfor for January, 1797; but
upon the exprefs condition, that he does not in
any wife pr guife, either at the time of my death,
or fix months after, pretend to fpeak, write, or
publifh an eulogium on me,1 my calling or cha
raaer, either literary, military, civil, or political.
Item, To my dear fellow-labourer, Npah Webfter,
"*gentlemanrcitizeh," Efq. and newfman, I will
and bequeath a ( prognoflicating barometer of
curious conftruaion and great utility, by which,
at a fingle glance, the laid Noah will be able to
difcern the exaa ftate that the public mind will
be in the enfifing year, and will thereby be ena-
, bled to trim by degrees, and not expofe himfelf
to deteaion, as he now does by his hidden lee-
ihore tacks. I likewife bequeath to the faid
" gentleman-citizen," fix Spanifh milled dollars,
to be expended on a new plate of his portrait at
the head of his fpelling-book, that which graces
it at prefent being fo ugly that it feares the chil-
dre" f?m ^eir leffons; but this legacy is to be
paid h.m only upon condition that he leave Out
the utle of Squire, at the bottom of faid pia ure,
which

t

MARCH, 1797. 20t
which is extremely odious in an American fchool-
book, and muft inevitably' tend to corrupt the
political principles of the republican babies that
behold it. And I do moft earneftly defire, ex
hort, and conjure the faid Squire newfman to
change the title of his paper, The Minerva, for
that of The Political Centaur.
Item, To F. A. Muhlenburgh, Efq. Speaker of a
late Houfe of Reprefentatives of the United
States, I leave a moft fuperbly finifhed ftatue of
Janus.
Item, To Tom the Tinker, I leave a liberty-cap, a
tri-coloured cockade, a wheelbarrow full of oyf-
ters, and a hogfhead of grog : I alfo leave him
three blank checks on the Bank of Pennfylvania,
leaving to him the talk of filling Ihem up ; re
quefting him, however, to be rather more mer
ciful than he has fhown himfelf heretofore.
Item, To the Governor of Pennfylvania, and to the
late Prefident and Cafhier of the Bank of the
faid State, as to joint legatees, I will and be
queath that good old proverb : Honefty is the beft
policy. And this legacy I have chofen for thefe
worthy gentlemen, as the only thing about which
I am fure they will never difagree.
Item, To Tench Coxe, of Philadelphia, citizen, I
will and bequeath a crown of hemlock, as a re-
compenfe for his attempt to throw an odium on
the adminiftration of General Wafhington ; and
I moft pofitively enjoin on my executors, to fee
that the faid crown be fhaped exaclly like that
which this fpindle-fhanked legatee wore before
General Howe, when he made his triumphal
entry into Philadelphia.
Item, To Thomas Lord Bradford (otherwife called
Goofy Tom), bookfeller, printer, newfman, and
member of the Philofophical Society of Phila
delphia, I will and bequeath a copy of the Peer

age

202 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
age of Great Britain, in order that the faid Lord
Thomas may the more exaaiy afcertain what
probability there is of his fucceeding to the feat
which his noble relation now fills in the Houfe
of Lords.
Item, To all and fingular the authors in the United
States, whether they write profe or verfe, 1 w;ll
and bequeath a copy of my Life and Adventures;
and I advife the faid authors to ftudy with par
ticular care the fortieth and forty- firft pages
thereof; more efpecially, and above all things,
I exhort and conjure them never " to publifh it
together," though the bookfeller fhould be a faint.
Item, To Edmund Randolph, Efq. late Secretary of
State, toJMr. J. A. Dallas, Secretary of the State
of Pennfylvania, and to his Excellency Thomas
Mifflin, Governor of the faid unfortunate State,
I will and bequeath, to each of them, a copy of
the fixteenth paragraph of Fauchet's intercepted
letter.
Item, To Citizen J. Swanwick, Member of Con
grefs, by the will and cpnfent of the fovereign
people, I leave bills of exchange on London to
an enormous amount ; they are all protefted, in
deed, but, if properly managed, may be turned to
good account. I likewife bequeath to the faid
John, a fmall treatife by an Italian author, wherein
the fecret of pleafing the ladies is developed, and
reduced to a mere mechanical operation, without
the leaft dependence on the precarious aid of the
paffions : hoping that thefe inftances of my
liberality will produce, in the mind of the little
legiflator, effeas quite different from thofe pro
duced therein by the King of Great Britain's pen-
fion to his parents.
Item, To the editors of the Bofton Chronicle, the
New-York Argus, and the Philadelphia Mer
chants' Advertifer, I will and bequeath one ounce of

MARCH, 1797. ae>3
of modefty and love of truth, to be equally di
vided between them. I fhould have been more
liberal in this bequeft, were I not well affured,
that one ounce is more than they will ever make
ufe of.
Item, To Franklin Bache, editor of the Aurora of
Philadelphia, I will and bequeath a fmall bundle
of French affignats, which I brought with me
from the country of equality. If thefe fhould
be too light in value for his preffing exigencies, I
defire my executors, or any one of them, to be
llow on him a fecond part to what he has lately
received in Southwark ; and as a further proof of
my good will and affeaion, I requeft him to ac
cept of a gag, and a brand new pair of fetters,
which if he fliould refufe, I will and bequeath
him in lieu thereof — my malediaion.
Item, To my beloved countrymen, the people of
Old England, I will and bequeath a copy of
Dr. Prieftley's Charity Sermon for the benefit of
poor Emigrants ; and to the faid preaching philo
fopher himfelf, I bequeath a heart full of difap-
pointment, grief, and defpair.
Item, To the good people in France, who remain
attached to their fovereign, particularly to thofe
among whom I was hofpitably received, I be
queath each a good ftrong dagger ; hoping, moft
fincerely, that they may yet find courage enough
to carry them to the hearts of their abominable
tyrants.
Item, To Citizen Munro, I will and bequeath my
chamber looking-glafs. It is a plain but exceed
ing true mirror: in it he will fee the exaa like-
nefs of a traitor, who has bartered the honour
apd intereft of his country to a perfidious and
favage enemy.
Item, To the republican Britons, who have fled from
the hands of juftice in th'eir own country, and
who

2«4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
who are a feandal, a nuifance, and a difgrace
to fhisj I bequeath hunger and nakednefs, fcorn
and reproach ; and I do hereby pofitively enjoin
on my executors to contribute five hundred dol
lars toward the ereaion of gallowfes and gibbets,
for the accommodation of the faid imported pa
triots, when the legiflators of this unhappy State
fhall have the wifdom to countenance fuch ufeful
eftablifti ments.
Item', My. friend, J. T. Callender, the runaway from
Scotland, is, of courfe, a partaker in the laft- men
tioned legacy ; but, as a particular mark of my
attention, I will and bequeath him twenty feet of
pine-plank, which I requeft my executors to fee
made into a pillory, to be kept for his particular
ufe, till a gibbet can be prepared.
Item, To Tom Paine, the author of Common Senfe,
Rights of Man, Age of Reafon, and a Letter to
General Wafhington, I bequeath a ftrong hempen
collar, as the , only legacy I can think of that is
worthy of him, as well as befl adapted to render
his death in fome meafure as infamous as his life :
and I do hereby direa and order my executors to
fend it to him by the firft fafe conveyance, with
my compliments, and requeft that he would
make ufe of it without delay, "that the national
razor may not be difgraced by the head of fuch a
monfter.
Item, To the gaunt outlandifh orator, vulgarly called
the Political Sinner, who, in the juft order of
thingty'follows next after the laft-mentioned le
gatee, I bequeath the honour of partaking in his
cataftrophe ; that, in their deaths, as well as in
their lives, all the world may exclaim, " See how
rogues hang together !"
Item, To all and fingular the good people of thefe
States, 1 leave peace, union, abundance, hap
pinefs, untarnifhed honour, and an unconquer able

APRIL, 1797. 2©5
able everl aft ing hatred to the French revolution
ists and their deftruaive abominable principles.
Item, To each of my fubfcribers I leave a quill,
hoping that in their hands it may become a fword
againft every thing that is hoftile to the govern
ment and independence of their country.
Lafily, To my three brothers, Paul, Simon, and
Dick, I leave my whole eftate, as well real as
perfonal (firft paying the foregoing legacies), to
be equally divided between them, fhare and fhare
alike. And I do hereby make and conftitute my
faid three brothers the executors of this my Laft
Will ; to fee the fame performed, according to its
true intent and meaning, as far as in their power
lies. P. Porcupine.
Witneffes prefent,
Philo Fun. ~\
Jack Jocus. j
Saturday, ist April, 1797.
A Tale. — Once upon a time (no matter exaaiy
when or where) there was a farmer named John
Blunt, who had thirteen tons ; and they all dwelt
together in perfea harmony until the boys grew up
to man's eftate. Unhappily for the old gentleman,
he became more tenacious of his authority, juft at
the period when the young men grew more im
patient of control ; and an obftinate temper gave
rife to, frequent difputes between them about trifles.
At one time, as the ftory goes, they differed about
the glazing of feme windows, and the painting of a
new houfe they had juft built ; at another, about
the meaning-of certain words ftamped on the corner
of anewfpaper; and, at laft, they quarrelled irre
concilably about the precife value of a difh of bohea
tea. This feemingly infiguificant fubjea, by in
temperate

ao6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
temperate behaviour on both fides, became the caufe
of their final feparation.
The( young men, who, before the difpute hap
pened,' had cleared a large traa of woodland, at
fome diftance from the homeflead, now fet up for
themfelves, and fet their father at defiance. At firft:
angry meffages paffed between them, which were
rather aggravated by the evil minded flewards of
the old man ; and angry words at length produced
aaual warfare. The father armed a body of his
domeftics, and invaded the new fettlement, where
he knocked down the hen-roofts, demolifhed the
hog-pens, and deftroyed fome other fmall improve
ments; the young men feized their father's cows,
hogs, and horfes, whenever they found them flray-
ing in the woods, by way of reprifal. The parties
frequently came to blows, and fome few lives were
loft. In this ftate of affairs, Francais Le Singe, a
near neighbour of John, and who had had a grudge
againft him ever finee they were boys, very offi-
cioufly flepped in, and encouraged the young men
to perfevere in their hoftilities, furnifhed them with
weapons, and fent fome of his pimps and proftituted
lacqueys to affift them.
This Monfieur Le Singe * (for he always called
himfelf a gentleman) was a moft reftlefs and ma
licious fellow ; he took delight in fetting his neigh-
hours together by the ears, and would fpare neither
pains nor expenfe to bring it to bear ; nay, fo much
pleafure did he take in mifehief, that he would
fometimes aid one or other of the parties ; but in
that cafe (for he was no fool) he always took good
care to make them pay pretty dearly for his af-
fiftance. The unhappy diffenfion between the father and

* Monkey, in Englifh, I believe.
4 fons

APRIL, 1797. 207
fons continued for feveral years, until at length both
grew weary, and were reconciled : indeed, the cir-
cumftances of both parties made it neceffary. The
parent family was advanced fartheft in improve
ments, and manufaaured many articles that were
ufeful to the fons ; and thefe, on the >ther hand,
had many coarfe materials, fuch as fcantling, flaves,
and tobacco, that were wanted by the father. A
commerce fo convenient and profitable to both could
not fail to revive the friendfhip and affeaion of forr
mer times, and it very foon had this effc&.. Al
though the relationfhips of parent and children
could not be revived (their feafon being paft), the
want of them was effeaually fiipplied by the ties of
mutual intereft and friendfhip founded on the folid
bafis of efteem and confidence.
In this ftate of things, one of thofe untoward ac
cidents happened, which fometimes occur to difturb
the peace of fociety. The family of Le Singe fell
into a ftate of dreadful confufion ; fome of them
went ftark mad, occafioned, it was thought, by a
diforder which they catched in the hot weather
while they were aiding the fons of Farmer Blunt.
Be that as it may, the greater part of their fervants
fell upon their mafter, cut his throat, murdered his
wife and. lifter, poifoned his fon and heir, and either
killed or drove away all their fellow-fervants that
refufed to join them : fome of thefe they cut, and
ftabbed, and hacked, and mangled in a moft fhock
ing manner ; they murdered women in childbed,
ftrangled poor little infants, and others they ftuck
alive upon the tops of their dung-forks ; and, in
fhort, they committed fuch horrid cruelties as it
makes one's blood run cold to think of. After this,
they feized their matter's eftate, and not fatisfied
with the mifehief they had done at home, difpatched
emiflaries from their gang to debauch the fervants of
ajl the- neighbouring farms ; threatening, at the
fame

*e>8 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fame time, to fet fire to the four corners of the pa-
rifh, if any body dared to oppofe them. But to
conceal their real purpofe, they gave out that they
had no intention to injure their neighbours ; all the
hypocrites wanted, they faid, was to reform fome
ancient abates that ' had crept into the parifh from
inattention. This, however, did not quiet the ge
neral apprehenfion. Every body faw that murder
was the natural bufinefs of fuch a banditti, and ex-
peaed nothing elfe : they were, therefore, not aflo-
nifhed when they heard that the refult of this re
forming projea was to cut off all the progenitors of
the parifh, and to divide their eftates among the
fervants, referving a large portion of each for them
felves. As far as they met with, fufficient encourage-*-
ment they made dreadful innovation, they left no
thing facred or civil unchanged. Befides the total
transfer of property, already mentioned, which was
the/ groundwork of their reformation, they com
manded that, inftead of walking on their feet as
men had done ever finee the days of Adam, men
and women too fhould walk on their heads ; and
inftead of uniting the fexes together in the holy
bond of wedlock, they ordained that they fhould
range at large like the brutes ; man they decreed
had no more foul than a bull-frog, and that he was
made only to rob, murder, and die; they fwore
there was neither God nor religion, and they hanged
the parfon of the parifh before the church-door as
an impoftor. Thefe, and a hundred other mon-
flrous lies which they termed philofophy, they en
deavoured to propagate every where. Some of their
apoftles found their way into John Blunts family;
but John quickly difcovered their manoeuvres, and
endeavoured' to fruftrate them by every prudent
precaution, in which he was finally fuccefsful. This
enraged the fcoundrels, and they inftantly fwore to
defiroy John with all his family-— and, indeed, they left

APRIL, 1797, 260
left no means untried to accomplifh it. But John
Was a ftrong man, and as refolute as ftrong, and by
a peculiar way of fighting that he had, he proved
his fuperiority, not only by keeping them off his
own plantation, but by taking fome of the beft fields
from them.
In this ftate of affairs, the affaffins recolfeaing
the affiflance that poor Le Singe, their late mafter,
had given to Blunts children when they quarrelled
with their father, refolved to apply to them for help
to crUfh the old man. The young men received
the meffenger politely, and acknowledged their
obligations to Le Singe, but declared that they hated
fighting, and had a plenty of better bufinefs on
hand : they would not affift their father, they faid,
nor would they take part againft him. This enraged
the affaffins beyond meafure ; they facre'd and
foutre'd, and ftormed and foamed like fo many de
mons. One of the young men they kicked on the
breech, another they tweaked by the note, and tbe
third they pinched till he was all over black and
blue. The young men were naturally of an amiable
peaceable difpofition, which, together with the eafe
and plenty in which they lived, inclined them to put
Tip with a great number of injuries and infults.
After all the vile condua of the treacherous fervants,
now become freebooters, they forbore to make repri-
fals in any way whatever, and even fent a meffen
ger for the purpOfe of accommodating matters.
Thefe inftances of uncommon forbearance the raf-
cals looked upon as indications of fear : they feoffed
at the poor meffenger, were going to horfewhip
him, and aaually threatened to give him up to the
mercy of their underftrappers. This, at laft, routed
the fpirit of the young farmers, and indeed it was
time, for all the neighbours began to call them
cowards. They recolfeaed that all the folks of Le
vol. v. p Singe

*io GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Singe were a defpicable crew ; they called to mind
the times when they, with their good old father at
their head, gave them fuch a drubbing, that they
were obliged to down upon their marrow-bones and
promife never to interrupt them again ; they looked
back to thofe days when not the beft man in the pa
rifh would have ftruck one of the young Blunts, or
even fpoke a faucy word to him, without having old
John's fift in his face ; in fhort, after a long ftruggle
between pride and intereft, the father and fons agreed
to aid each other in chaftifing the violent and favage*
banditti. The ftory does not fay who made the firft
advances, nor is it much matter ; but certain it is,
that, one fine May morning, juft at funrife, each
being armed with a good cudgel, out they tallied,
and ******** Catera defunt.
Matchlefs Impudence. — Extradl of a Letter from
Bourdeaux, January 11. — " We have, for fome time
paft, feared a rupture between France and the
United States ; but the French Government, though
it fays it has caufe of complaint againft the American
Government, has juft given'affurances that its inju
ries will in no manner affea the commerce or indi
viduals of that country."
This extraa was given in a morning paper a few
days ago : as it is fuffered to pafs without comment,
the truth of its impudent contents feems to be ad-.
mitted. — Yes, this is the language the French and
their hirelings will hold. They will come by and
by, and feize our veffels in our very docks, and will
flill " give affurances," that they intend-" no in
jury on the commerce of individuals." Never forely
were the underftandingsof the people fo barefacedly
intuited < 
Mr. Pinckney.— -The Times (a London paper) pf
the ;fh February confirm the accounts refpeaing
Mr.

APRIL, 1797* iii
Mr. Pinckney's having left Paris for Amfterdamj
but it does not fay whether he has done this in con-
fequence of an order from the many-headed tyrant,
or not. It feems pretty well afcertained, that he re
ceived no pofitive orders to depart, but that the con
tempt he met with from the underftrappers of thofe
in power, and the 1 perfonal danger he was hourly
expofed to, had determined him to quit France,
Without waiting for a veffel coming to this country.
Curious FacJ.—>-A. correfpondent affures me, and,
I believe, from the beft authority, that the audience
which a certain fufpended Minifter lately folicited of
a great perfonage in this city (and which was granted
him) was for the purpofe of demanding that Mr.
Wilcocks might be profecuted for afperfing his cha
raaer and that of his Republic. — The modeft re
queft was anfwered by a declaration, that the Go
vernment in this country could not interfere in fuch
cafes. — Poor devil ! — Baffled every way !
Monday, 3d April.
TO THE EDITOR OF PORCUPINE'S GAZETTE.
Sir, Baltimoie-Town, March 30th, 1797.
The enclofed copy of a letter be fo good as to infert
ih your paper : though addreffed and fent to Mr.
Fennel, the propriety of inferting it in the Gazette
will be evident, I doubt not, to every reader.
Your humble fervant,
Luther Martin.
(copy.)
Mr. Fennel,
By the late Philadelphia- papers I obferve> Sir,
that in your " readings and recitations, moral, cri
tical, and entertaining," among your other fefeaions
you have atroduced " The Story of Logan the
p 2 Mingo

iii GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Mingo Chief." In doing this, I am fatisfied ydtl
were not aauated by a defire to wound the feelings
of a refpeaable family in the United States, or by a
with to give a greater publicity to a groUndlefs ca
lumny. You found that ftory and fpeech in Jefferfon's
Notes on Virginia ; you found it related with fuch
an air of authenticity, that it cannot be furprifing
that you fhould notfufpea it to be a fiaion.
But, Sir, philofophers are pretty much the fame,
from old Shandy, who in fupport of a fyftem facrificed
his aunt Dinah, to De Warville and Condorcet,
who for the fame purpofe would have facrificed a
world. Mr. Jefferfon is a philofopher ;— he too had his
hypothefis to eftablifh, or, what is much the fame
thing, he had the hypothefis of Button to over
throw. When we fee him employed in weighing the rats
and the mice of the two worlds, to prove that thofe
of the new are not exceeded by thofe of the old —
when, to eftablifh that the body of the American
favage is not inferior in form or in vigour to the body
of an European, we find him examining minutely
every part of their frame, and hear him declare that,
though the wrift and the hand of the former are
fmaller than thofe parts of the latter, yet "fes or-
ganes de la generation ne font plus foibles ou plus pe-
tits ;" — and that he hath not only as many hairs On
his body, but that the fame parts which are produc
tive of hair in the one* if left to themfelves, are
equally produaive of hair in the other : — when we
fee him fo zealous to eftablifh an equality in fuch
trifles, and to prove the body of his favage to be
formed on the fame modula with the " Homqfapiens
Europaus" how much more folicitous may we fuppofe
him to have been to prove that the mind of this fa
vage was alfo formed on the fame modula \ Than

APRIL, 1797. 213
Than the man whom he has calumniated, he
cpuld fcarcely have fefeaed a finer example to efta-.
blifh the pofition that the human race in the weftern
world are not be littled in body or mind; but
that unfortunately that man was not born in Ame
rica. For the want of better materials he was obliged
to make ufe of fuch as came to his hands ; and we
may reafonably conclude, whatever ftory or fpeech
he could pick up calculated to deftroy the hypothefis
of Button, or to eftablifh his own, efpecially in fo
important a point, inftead of being fcrutinized mi
nutely, would be welcomed with avidity. — And great
and refpeaable as the authority of Mr. Jefferfon
may be thought, or may be in reality, I have no hefi-
tatipn to declare, that from an examination of the
fubjea, I am convinced the charge exhibited by
him againft Colonel Crefap is not founded in truth ;
and alfo, that no fuch fpecimen of Indian oratory
was ever exhibited.
That fome of Logan's family were killed by the
Americans I doubt not ; whether they fell the viaims
of juftice, ofmiftake, or of cruelty, refts with thofe
by whom they fell. But in their death Colonel Cte-
fap, or any of his family, had no fhare. And in
fupport of this affertion I am ready to enter the lifts
with the author of the Notes on Virginia.
No man, who really knew the late Colonel Cre
fap, could have believed the tale. He was too brave
to be perfidious or cruel. He was a man of un
daunted refolution ; a man of whom it might be
faid, with as much propriety as I believe was ever
faid of man, " that he knew not fear."
Courage, hofpitality, candour, and finqerity were
the prominent features of his charaaer. Thefe alfo
are the leading traits in his defcendants.
Immediately after the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle he
cftablifhed himfelf at Old Town, on the north
p 3 branch

H4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
branch of the Potomac, only fifteen miles this fide
of Fort Cumberland, and one hundred and forty
miles to the weftward of Baltimore-Town. What
muft have been the fituation of himfelf and his fa
mily on fo diftant a frontier, during the war which
terminated in the year feventeen hundred and fixty-
three, and during the troubles which preceded that
war, may be eafily conceived by thofe who have any
knowledge whatever at that time of the fettlements
of Pennfylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.
After the defeat of General Braddock, a company
raifed and commanded by his eldeft fon, Thomas
Crefap, and in a great meafure fiipplied with arms
and other neceffaries by the Colonel himfelf, at
tacked the invading favages, and drove them over
the mountains 5 but this viaory was embittered
by the lofs of their gallant leader ; he and one of
the Indian Chiefs fell by wounds mutually infliaed,
and expired together. Soon after this event, Colonel
Crefap, and bis then eldefl fon, raifed another com
pany, at their own expenfe, crofted the mountains,
and defeated the Indians with confiderable flaughter.
After the inhabitants of that part of the country
•where he refided had generally fled from their houfes,
and retired to the neighbourhood of Conococheaque,
he remained with his family at his houfe near Old
Town, which he had furrounded with a flockade
for twelve months or upwards. When at laft he was
induced to withdraw from fo dangerous a fituation,
removing with his books and papers, accompanied
by a few of the former inhabitants, who had been in
his neighbourhood colfeaing their cattle, and were
driving them down the country, he was attacked by
the Indians who lay in ambufli for him, and four
of his party were killed op the fpot ; the Indians
were, however, repulfed with confiderable lofs, and
he had the good fortune to efcape unhurt.
That Colonel Crefap and his family were fre<»
qnently

APRIL, 1797. 315
quently and aaively engaged in the conflias which
took place between us and the Indians, is well known.
That fome of the Indians have fallen by their hands,
is not denied ; but thofe were not in the number of
our friends.
To the Indians who were attached to our caufe
his doors were ever open. At his houfe was their fre
quent rendezvous ; there often they met meffengers
from the then governors of Virginia and Maryland ;
there they were often furnifhed with arms, with am
munition, and with proviflons, and not unfrequently
out of his own flores, and at his own expenfe.
• It was to thofe favages, who were employed by
the French nation (before it became our very good
friend and ally) to ravage their frontiers and butcher
the peaceful inhabitants, that he and his family were
terrible. And to thofe they were terrible, though
not " as the fires of heaven."
But, perhaps, it was from the faas which I have
here ftated that Mr. Jefferfon confidered himfelf au
thorized to fay " Colonel Crefap was infamous for the
many murders he had committed on the much-in
jured Indians." — And left fome future philofopher,
in fome future Notes on Virginia, might be tempted
to call him alfo " infamous for his many murders o£
the much-injured" Britons, may, perhaps, have
been his motive for . flying with fuch precipitation
from the feat of his government, not many years
finee, when the Britifh army invaded that State.
As to Logan ; — lightly would I tread over the
grave even of the untutored favage ; but juftice obliges
me to fay, I am well affured that the Logan of the
wildernefs — the real Logan of nature — had but little,
if any more likenefs to the fiaitious Logan of Jeffer-
fon's Notes, than the brutified Caffree of Africa to
the enlightened philofopher of Montecello.
In what wildernefs Mr. Jefferfon culled this fair
-flower of aboriginal eloquence ; whether he has pre-
p 4 ferved

si6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ferved it in the fame ftate in which he found it, or, by
tranfplanting it into a more genial foil, and expofing
it to a kinder fun, he has given it the embellifhments
of cultivation, I know not.
There are many philofophers fo very fond pf repre-
fenfing favage nature in the moft amiable and moft
exalted point of view, that we feel ourfelves lefs for-
prifed when we fee them become favages themfelves.
To fome one of this clafs of philofophers, I doubt
not it owes its exiftence.
Yet, but for Jefferfon, " it would have breathed
its poifons in the defert air." — Whatever was the
foil in which it firft fprung up, it foon would have
withered and died unnoticed or forgotten, had not
he preferved it in his colfeaion. From thence the
authors of the Annual Regifter have given their
readers a drawing as large as nature. The Rev,
Mr. Morfein his Geography, and Mr. Lendrum ii|
his Hiftory of the American Revolution, have fol
lowed their example ; and you, Sir, are now in
creafing its celebrity by exhibiting it to thronging
fpeaators, with all its colouring retouched and
heightened. by the flowing pencil of a mafter.
Do you afk me how I am interefted in this fub-
jedt ? I anfwer, the daughter of Michael Crefap
was the mother of my children. I am influenced
alfo by another motive not lefs powerful. My much-
lamented and worthy relation, who died on the ex
pedition againft the weftern infurgents, bequeated
to me as a facred trufl, what, had he lived, he in
tended to have performed himfelf, to refcue his fa
mily from this unmerited opprobrium.
Do you afk me, why have I fo long negfeaed this
fluty ? I anfwer, becaufe for a long time paft every
feeling of my mind has been too much engroffed
by the folicitude, though an unavailing folicitude,
of preferving the valuable life of one of that family,
to attend ,to any objeas which could bear a poft-
ponemenf.

April, 1797- aij
ponement. The fhock is now paft. I begin to
recall my fcattered thoughts to other fubjeas ; and
finding the ftory of Logan in the catalogue of
your readings, it inftantly brought me to the recol-
feaion of a duty, which I have haftened thus far to
fulfil. And now, Sir, to conclude : I arrogate to myfelf
no authority of prohibiting the ftory and fpeech of
Logan from being continued in your readings and
recitations ; this I fubmit to your fentiments of pro
priety and juftice ; but from thofe fentiments I cer
tainly have a right to expect, that, on its conclufion,
you will inform your hearers, it is at beft but the
ingenious fiaion of fome philofophic brain ; and
when hereafter you oblige an audience with that
floty and fpeech, that with the ppifon you will dif-
penfe the antidote, and by reading to them this
letter, alfo oblige your very humble fervant,
¦ March 29, 179,7. Luther Martin.
To Mr. James Fennel.
*#* Mr. Martin will be obliged to the different
printers of the United States to infert the foregoing
copy in their refpeaive papers.
Mr. Porcupine,
A writer in your paper of Saturday laft has at
tacked the doarines of Mercator by calling him an
ufurer, which is falfe, hoping thereby to prepoffefs
his own readers, which is unmanly. As to Merca-
tor's being a lame hand, I fcarcely underfland
the Irifhifm ; but if we are to judge from the fre
quent hobbling of the faid writer, we ought to fup
pofe him a lame fubjea indeed, and one that the
uftirers can give a pretty good account of. If, in
his fubfequent numbers, he fhould contribute to
diffolve the mifchievous monopoly which the money
lenders in Philadelphia and other places poffefs, he
will

4i* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
will fo far promote what appears to me to be Merca-.
tor's wifhes.
Saturday Evening. ABystander.

Tuesday, 4th April.
Admigzl Jervis beats the Spanifh Fleet. — By the
brig SJphia, Captain O'Brien, arrived in this port
laft Saturday, from Lifbon, after a paffage of forty
days, the following moft pleafing intelligence is
received. On the 17th of February, the Britifh Admiral,
Sir John Jervis, with fifteen fhips of the line and a
proportionate number of frigates, fell in with the
Spanifh fleet, of twenty fhips of the line and as
many frigates, off Cape St. Vincent. Notwith
ftanding his vaft inferiority of force, the' Britifh
Admiral engaged the Dons, captured four fhips of
the line (two of which are three-deckers), and funk
another three-decker, fuppofed to be the Admiral's
fhip, the Trinidada of 120 guns.
Fifteen fhips againft twenty, had they all been in
equally good condition, would have rendered this
viaory a moft glorious one ; but, belides this great
difference as to numbers, two of the Englifh fhips,
the Culloden and the Coloffus, were incapable of
being brought into aaion, being difabled by falling
foul of each other a few days before,
At the date of this intelligence (19th February)
the Britifh Admiral, with his prizes, was at anchor
in Lagos Bay, not far diftant from Cape St. Vincent.
A divifiott of his fleet was left in chafe of feveral
Scattered fhips of the enemy, and, from the Lifbon
accounts, there was good reafon to hope that they
would come up with them.
This was the Spanifh fleet that was " to clear
the Mediterranean fea of the infolent Ensrlifh." Alas J

APRIL, 1797.' 219
Alas ! how many times have we been duped !
How many times the fans-culotte papers of Ame
rica have promifed us the deftruaion of John Bull !
How invariably events have given the lie to their
prediaions ! Their difappointment can be equalled
by nothing but their perfeverance in malice.
I have obferved too, how grudgingly the account
of this viaory is given by fome of my brother newf-
mongers. It muft be well remembered, that while
the eleaion for Prefident was going on, a report
was circulated through the Union, that this fame
Admiral Jervis, with fome viaorious fleet, had been
engaged by the French and Spaniards, and that his
whole fleet was taken. This was " important in
telligence," in all the papers ; and the Philadelphia,
whilome the Federal, Gazette, did " not hefitate
to declare it of the greateft importance to humanity
of any thing that had happened for many years."
But, now that the viaory is on the other fide, it is
of no importance at all ; it is nothing worth retail
ing. Something is faid about it, to be fure, juft to
fwear by; but uncommon care is taken, that, if
poffible, it fhall not catch the eye.
Britifh Commijfioners arrive in the Squirrel.-^-Yeftev-
day arrived in this river, and anchored oppofite the
Ship-yard, in Southwark, his Britannic Majefty's
fhip of war the Squirrel, commanded by Temple
Hardy, Efq. This fhip has brought out Mr. Mac-
donald and Mr. Rich, the Commifiioners on the
part of Great Britain, for fettling the claims of
Britifh fubjeas, under the fixth article of the treaty
of amity, commerce, and navigation, concluded in
1794. The Squirrel left Yarmouth roads on the
1 8th February. _
Real Source of French Hoftility .^-Nothing has fur-
prifed me more than to hear men of real good fenfe
attribute

*26 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
attribute all the hoftile aas of France againft the
United States, their fpoliations of our trade, their
infults to our government, and their late barbarian
condua towards Mr. Pinckney, to the deceptions
and encouragement of an American faaioh. This
appears to me to be the fetting up for a caufe, what
has only been an effea. As malicious as this party
has proved itfelf on various occafions, 1 believe the
number and the importance of thofe is very trifling
indeed, who would volunteer their fervices to dife
honour and opprefs their own country. The evil
did not originate with them, but in the deep-rlaid,
inveterate policy of France ; her ambition, intrigues*.
and corruption, are more to be dreaded and exe
crated too, than all the democrats in America.
We know that it has beep the uniform praaice of
this nation, under its ancient regimen, as it is now
under its tyrannic ufurpers, to afpire at a fupreme
influence in every ftate, where it has had a minifter ;
and where it could not work on the government, to
foment divifions and cherifh malcontents againft it.
To divide and govern, is the grand arcanum of
French politics, with refpea to all foreign nations j
and with this fingle inflruraent they have achieved
greater conquefts, and done infinitely more naif.
chief, than by their armies.
With, refpea to the United States of America',
this will appear clear enough, by a little attention
to faas and dates. In the fummer of 1 793, Citizen
Genet, a difeiple of Briffot (who was the father of
clubs and infurreaions), landed in South Carolina.
He did not know then how he would be received by
the Executive, and, indeed, he behaved as if he
did not care any thing about it ; for as foon as he
had fet his foot on fhore, which was at a port fix;
hundred miles from the feat, of government, he
began his miniftry with all the arrogance of a pro-
conful in a conquered province. Some of his diplo, matic

APRIL, 1797. 2a t
tnatic aas were to iffue commiffions of war, by fea
and land, againft the enemies of France ; to
eftablifh a confular jurifdiaion for the trial of
prizes, and to fit out privateers : in fhort, he took
poffeffion of all our ports, and of all our country,
with as little ceremony as if it had been a depart
ment of France, or one of its diftant territories.
But as he was fenfible this could not be fupported
long againft the will of the government, and peo
ple too, he began to organize an holy infurrectiQa
againft the former, by inftituting clubs among
the latter, after the manner of the Jacobin focieties
in France. He knew what mighty things his friend
Briffot had achieved by the means of clubs in that
wretched country, and he expeaed by a like inftra-
ment to overturn or govern the United States^
As foon as his condua was refented by the Ame
rican Government, as it furely would have been,
even by a Republic of Geneva, or St. Marino, the-
audacious Minifter hurled defiance in the Prefident s
teeth, and appealed to the people, or rather to
thofe firebrand clubs which he had planted among
them: but happily he opened too foon ; thefe clubs
were not ready to co-operate with him ; they had
not had time enough to fpread their deftruaive
flames through the country, and the explofion ended
quickly in a few ftinking fquibs and crackers. Hav
ing failed in this attempt, the divan pretended to
condemn Genet's condudt, and recalled him; but
he had too much wit to obey them ; for although
he had conformed ferupuloufly to the defign and
fpirit of their inftruaions, he knew they might take
his head off, for not managing with more addrefs.
With them, as with the favage Spartans, it was no
crime to rob or fteal, but to be deteaed in the at-*
tempt they never pardoned.
Genet was fucceeded by fhe Confeffor Jofeph.
This man executed his orders with more art and
fecreey ; and had it not been for the want of the
4 means

aaa GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
means of corruption, he might have done mor#
mifchief. It was fortunate for the United States that
the Confeffor's purfe was empty, and his intrigues
with the flour-merchants expofed by the capture of
his difpatches; otherwife, God knows how many
more infurgents he might have armed againft the
government, or where his intrigues would have
ended. They faifed, and Jofeph was recalled : , I
never knew for what reafon, unlets it was merely
to make room for fome favourite of the party who
had guillotined his mafter Robefpierre.
The next and laft diplomatic emiffary was Pierre
Antoine Adet, the prefent ex-minifter. He was
called a moderate being, fent out by the ruling
party in France, that was diftinguifhed by that
name, in oppofition to their predeceffors, the Ter-
rorifts. How far Peter Anthony's condua, which
is frefh in the memory of all, correfponded with the
reft, I leave all to judge: one thing is clear, the
latter part of his miniftration has been managed
with a fettled defign to diffolve the connexion pf
this country with France, otherwife he would never.
have fwelled his lifts of complaints, by criminating
the poor almanack-makers, for placing the name
Great Britain before that of France, or the Prefi
dent for not hoifting the Gallic ftandard in Con
grefs Hall. Thefe are puerilities without example ;
they even furpafs the King of Spain's laft declarar
tion of war againft the King of Great Britain, and
feem defigned for a fimilar manifefto.
Thus we fee, that whoever rules in France, whe
ther Briffotines, Terrorifts, or Moderates, their
fyftem of condua towards the United States is
uniform and fteady. We muft either agree to be
governed by a French Minifter, and conform at all
times to her ambitious and turbulent politics, or
incur her difpleafure : an honefl neutrality fhe will
not fuffer, any more than fhe will bear , a rival.
She afpires at holding the balance of Europe in her
hands,

APRIL, 1797. 223
hands, and this fhe knows cannot be effeaed, but
by deftroying the trade of Great Britain, and giving
the law in America. As to thofe miferable beings
whom fhe has raifed and paid for bellowing in beer-
houfes, at town-meetings, and in fenates, they will
all become perfeaiy harmlefs, and moft of them
good citizens, when we have once got rid of this
domineering republic. Providence has thrown one
more opportunity in our way, not only without our
feeking, but in direa opposition to our foolifh pre
judices ; to get rid of an alliance which neither God,
nor nature, nor intereft, nor policy ever formed for
this country. If after frowning, robbing, and in
tuiting us fo long as fhe has done without any pro
vocation on our part, the fliould once more turn
about with one of thofe deceitful fmiles which fhe
has always at command; fliould the even promife
compenfation for the plunder the has taken, and en
gage to offend in like fort no more, let us not for
get that the flill is France, artful, perfidious France,
and only waits another opportunity to aim a furer
blow : — and that, when fhe has planted her ban
ners on our borders, as well as fpread her poifon
wider within our bofom, the irruption will be ten
fold more dangerous. Y.

Wednesday, 5th April.
Mifflin, Bompard, and Crew. — Some unpleafant,
not to fay difgraceful, circumftances that have
taken place with refpea to the military reception of
his Britannic Majefty 's frigate the Squirrel, natu
rally lead us to look back to the fans-culotte days of
1793, when a French frigate, newly decked with
the infignia of rebellion apd murder, entered the
port of Philadelphia. The reader, if he was in
America at that time, will perceive that I am about
fo fpeak of the Embufcade of ridiculous and black-
x guard

aa* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
guard memory. She came flowly up the Delaware,
hanging out her infamous rag, and firing her cannon
to every group of fans-culottes that could approach
near enough to give her the fraternal huzza : at laft:
up the came to the city. Then it was that you might
have been diverted, if frenchified folly, vanity, inde
cency, and fwinifhnefs can afford diverfion. Happy
was the man who could get a fiand in a wood-boat,
on a plank or a bowfprit. The Governor of Penn
fylvania (who, God knows, is not the moft difereet
or leaft ridiculous of mortals at the beft of times)
feemed abfolutely bereft of his reafon. In faa his
Excellency looked juft like a fellow flaring drunk ;
whether with joy, or with grog, or with raw rum, I
do not pretend to fay, but he really went on like a
bedlamite. The inftant the charming Embufcade
appeared in fight, out he drew his fhining blade, as
valiantly as he could have drawn on the Bank. Not
a moment's time was loft in faluting. The cannon
were drawn down to the foot of Market- ftreet, where
they flood ready to difchargefhe fulphur of fraternity ;
which was done amidft the reiterated fhouts of the
affembled majefty of the people, or at leaft that frac
tion of it that was then on and about the wharfs.
While all this was going forward in the field, the
cabinet of newfmongers was not idle, you may de
pend. When the mad dog of faaious folly runs
through the ftreets, they feldom go unbit. To re
peat a millionth part of their filly remarks, their nau-
feoufly patriotic fentiments, would be to repeat a
dole that now almoft poifons one but to think of.
Our ftomachs were ftronger in 1793, than they are
in 1797, particularly finee the game of French
piracy and plunder began.
A defcription of this fans-culotte veffel, as given
by poor Bache, who was then in his glory, may not
be amifs. « She

APRIL, 1797. sas
" She is ornamented," fays he, " with many re-
*' publican emblems. Her head and figure on tile
" ftern, are caps of liberty. The fore-maft is alfo
" crowned with the liberty-cap. On the feveral
*' round-tops are the following inferiptions :
" Ofthemizen,-maft. [" Tranflated,]
" • We are armed to defend the Rights of Man !"
" Main-maft.
" Freemen I we are your brothers and friends ."
" Fore-maft.
*' Enemies of Equality, relinquifhyour principles, or
tremble J"
" Citizen Bompard, commander of the Embuf-
" cade, gave a dinner to the Governor of Pennfylva-
tc nia, the Minifter of the French Republic, and fome
" other citizens, onboard the frigate. After dinner
" feveral fongs fuited to the occafion were fung
" with great effea, and the following toafts drank:
" The American and French republics — may they
" for ever be united !" (A falute of twenty-one
" guns.) " The Rights of Man — may they become univer
sal law !"
" The republican fair fex"— (that is to fay, the
" fifh- fags.)
" The frigate Embufcade" — (a volunteer by the
" Governor of Pennfylvania.
" As the American citizens were preparing to
" leave the frigate, Citizen Dupont, the boatfwain,
" addreffed them in the name of his meffmates, in
** a fpeech replete with patriotic fentiments, preffed
" with feeling. The Governor made an appropriate
*< reply."This feene puts one in mind of Congreve's deferip-
tion ofa Countefs drinking gin in a cellar with a
vol, v. a hackney-

*a6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
hackney-eoachman. Not that I would infinuate,
that Citizen Dupont, or any of his meffmates,
were blackguards any more than his Excellency,
or poffeffed of lefs fentiment, " preffed with feel-
" ingr" I dare fay that they were very well met,
and if they continued together to this day it might
have been a lucky thing for us. From my foul I do
not think we fhould have been worried if one of Ci
tizen Dupont's meffmates had become head hog at
trough in poor Pennfylvania.
Cifpadanian Republic. — I preferve the following
article to be read when it will only excite ridi
cule. PROCLAMATION.
The Congrefs of Ci/padana, to the People of Bologna^
Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio. -
Reggio, 1 6 Nivofe, firft year of the Republic of
Cifpadana, one and indivifible, Dec. 30, 1796
(old ftyle).
The firft ftone of the foundation of your infant li
berty was laid in the Congrefs held at Modena laft
Oaober, thanks to the invincible French nation,
which not only was fo generous as to reftoreto you
your natural rights, but alfo to enable you to exer-
cife them in order to fecure your future exiftence. It
was in this view you formed the bonds of a friendly
confederation which nothing could untie : you alfo
wifhed for the means of drawing thofe bonds ftill
clofer, in order that thefiruaure, once begun, might
rife great and majeftic. In fine, you called us to the
Congrefs of Reggio, and we, ftrong in your com
mands, were proud of being able and authorized to
give our concurrence to an enterprife worthy of the
honour of Italy, and which will be the admiration of
future ages, Citizens,

APRIL, 1797. 227
Citizens, the Congrefs is eager to inform you, that
your wifhes are fulfilled, and that you are hence
forth but one people, or rather one family. The
following is the tenour of the refolution :
" A motion having been made in the Congrefs to
form the four nations into a republic, one and indi-
vifible, in every refpea fo conftruaed that the four
nations may only form one people, one fingle fa
mily :
" The Congrefs having put this motion to the vote
" with each nation, they have all accepted it."
The people of Reggio were witnefs of the publica
tion of this decree, in the fame manner as we were
witnefs of their joy. Our brave brethren, who came
from the Tranfpadanian region, to fraternize with us4
took part in the univerfal joy. May they imitate
us, finee we ardently with it, and may they form fo
clofe an alliance with our republic, that tyranny may
henceforth lofe all hopes of again enflaving Italy !
It feems as if fomething would have been deficient
in the general enthufiafm, had not our invincible de
liverers been prefent at fo folemn an aa.
Citizen Marmont, fent expreffly by the Commander
in Chief to watch over the fafety and liberty of our
union, affifted at the Congrefs, and faw in us, and
the whole people affembled, brothers not unworthy
of the love of his generous nation. He took it upon
him to give an account of this glorious event to the
Commander in Chief. We could have wifhed you all
to have been prefent at that happy moment, certain
that your joy would have joined in unifon with that
of your brothers; but if diflance of place deprived
us of this double joy, we make you amends for it,
by imparting to you that glorious event before your
delegates return again to their country. People of
the republic of Cifpadana, the great epoch is already
marked. Rejea far from you all ancient quarrels,
and that rivalfhip which was fomented by ambi
tion and defpotifm. Liberty, equality, virtue, let
a 2 thefe

228 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
thefe be your mottos. The powerful republic which
has invited to the great work of liberty, will protea
you, doubt it not, with all her forces. Slavery is
flying from thefe countries. The tyrants to whom
you were an objea of derifion, fhudder and turn
pale. The eyes of the whole world are fixed upon
you, and Italy anxioufly expeas that you will reftore
to her that prill ine fplendour which made her once
refpeaed by all nations.
(Signed) C. Facci, Prefident.
PlSTORlNI,"
Macchi, Lamberti,
Leonelli,

• Secretaries.

Sir, Philadelphia, April 3d, 1797.
I delay not fo acknowledge the receipt of your
letter by this day's poft, a copy of which I obferve
publifhed in Porcupine's Gazette ; but I hope I fhall
be excufed for replying only to that part of it in
which I am immediately concerned. ,
I beg leave to affure you, Sir, that I had no view
in fefeaing the fpeech of Logan the Mingo chief for
recitation, but that of offering a fpecimen of natural
eloquence as an exemplification of remarks which I
had formerly made while treating on the fubjea of
oratory. I had no view in reading the flory of Logan,
but that of offering a neceffary introduaion to his
fpeech. I was ignorant of the probability of wounding the
feelings of any individual, and have only to regret
that I have involuntarily given pain, of which I fhall
be very careful to avoid a repetition.
I am, Sir, with refpea,
Your very humble fervanr;
James Fennell.
Luther Martin, Efq. Baltimore. French

APRIL, 1797. 229
French Marriages. — Citizen Finot, prefident of the
provincial adminiftration of this department, for
merly a huffarat Avrolles, and afterwards a member
of the National Convention, has found the means of
multiplying, by a fingle alliance (not indeed a very
common one), his kindred and family connexions.
He married, as his firft wife, the female citizen
Baubet, widow of Rofe, by whom fhe had a daugh
ter, now living, named Mary Ann Rofe.
The Prefident Finot had by. this widow another
daughter, who is alfo ftill living.
His wife died, and on the 14th of January laft
he married his daughter-in-law Mary Ann Rofe.
The confequence of this marriage is, that the Pre
fident becomes the fon-in-law of his firft wife, the
father-in-law of his fecond wife, and the brother-in-
law of his own daughter.
Madame Finot becomes the mother-in-law of her
filler. If Madame Finot contributes any little Finots to
the republic, Monf. Finot will be both their father
and grandfather, and the firft Mifs Finot will be
their aunt and lifter.
By the law on the fubjea of marriage, of the 20th
September 1792, article 11, feaion i. title 4th, mar
riage is prohibited between natural and legitimate
relations in the direa line, between perfons allied to
each other in this line, between brothers and lifters.
Madame Tallien, — On account of feme domeftic al
tercation between the former lady and her hufband,
fhe lately forfook him for the more convivial fociety
of Citizen Barras, oneof tbe prefent Direaory. The
latter, however, foon getting tired of his conqueft,
quittedher, inreturn, forMademoifelleContat, of the
TheatreFrancois, which preference had nearly coft the
other her. life ; for Madame Tallien was fo much en
raged anddifappointed, thatfhe challengedherrival to
a 3 meet

430 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
meet her with piftols in the Bois de Boulogne. They
aaually met, and fired twice each, when the female
duellifts became at length fo much alarmed and inti
midated, that their femmes de chambre, who aaed
as feconds, were obliged to carry them off the field.
Paris Paftimes, and Barras's Ball. — Extraa ofa
letter from Paris, December 6, 1796. Barras gave a
ball fome few nights ago ; fuch a ball you can have
no idea of. Several of your acquaintances were
there as well as myfelf. La C  danced the whole
evening with the fon of De V———, who affafr
finated her hufband, her father, and her brother.
La de G  jumped about with M — t, who pur-
chafed, and now occupies, the hotel of the Marquis
de G  , her emigrant hufband ; and no one
could be more fociable than La de la C-  was with
F  , who attempted to poifon her, and caufed
her hufband and feven of his neareft relations to be
guillotined. I fhould never have done were I to
attempt a recital of all the little circumftances that
fo ftrongly mark our national and republican charac
ter. As I only went to this place to avoid the fufpi
cion of their republican majefties, I left the rooms at
an early hour. As I came away, I faw the citizens
domeftics of the citizen king Barras, occupied in
throwing the relics of the dinner through the win
dows to citizen mob, our fovereign, who were fight
ing in the ftreet for the purpofe of prolonging their
wretched exiftence, amidft the rigours of winter, for
a few hours longer ; fwearing at the fame time at
Barras and the whole direaorial crew. Juft by, ih
front of a public houfe, in the Rue Vaugirard, I faw
three dead bodies naked in a cart, the ufual coffin of
the French republicans. Thefe were wretched
flate creditors, M. le Comte de R — <  , for
merly a moufquetaire, with his wife and daughter,
who, receiving their intereft inmandafs, had, in or
der

APRIL, 1797. 231
der to avoid dying with hunger, put an end to their
own exiftence. A little farther they were dancing in
the two oppofite houfes ; and clofe by was a group of
miferable beings in rags, warming themfelves at a
wood fire made of fome barrels which they had ftolen,
and deliberating whether they ought not to pil
lage the houfes of the venders of wood, who were
all ariftocrats. At a little diftance was a band of
thieves occupied in forcing-an entrance into a gold-
fmith's fhop, who was calling out "Murder!" but
to no purpofe ; although there was a corps de garde,
no doubt accomplices, within a few yards of the fpot.
Very near to my own door I found a party of drunken
men and women dancing la Carmagnole. All this
I faw myfelf; and the fame feene, with very little
variation, may be feen very night if a perfon choofes
to take .the trouble, or run the rifk of going out.
They talkhere a great deal about Merlin's Review;
that is, our Merlin, minifter of French juftice, who
las ordered a review of all the galley flaves and
malefaaors in the different prifons, whom he means
to fend on a defperate adventure on board our fleets
at Breft and Toulon. As the gallies and the jails have
fupplied a great number of noble patriots finee our
dear revolution, Merlin is accufed of fingular ingra
titude to his old benefaaors and comrades. You,
no doubt, know that feveral members of the deceafed
Convention, before they laboured for the happinefs
of the Republic, had the happinefs to labour on
board the gallies, and in the prifons, for crimes com
mitted under the reign of Louis XVI. and which that
monarch was little aware would be one day called
civic. Adieu.
European Articles. — London, 17th February —
Mr. Pinckney, the American Minifter at Paris, hav
ing received orders to quit the territory of the French
Republic, has aaually taken his departure accords
a 4 ingty.

S532 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ingly. War between thefe two powers may there
fore be confidered as inevitable.
We fee then that it is underftood in London that
Mr- Pinckney has been ordered away. There is now
no excufe left, . no room for an apology; America
muft now fhow to the world either its fpirit or its
bafenefs. The Neapolitan fleet, which had formerly failed
combined with the Britifh, and had been withdrawn
on the conclufion of a treaty of peace with the French
Republic, had been completely refitted, and were
about to proceed to fea ; they confified of fix fail of
the line and feveral frigates. It was underftood
that they were to join the Spanifh fleet.
Indeed it feems pretty clear Great Britain will have
to fight her old allies. But if their exertions againft
her are as feeble as. they were for her, fhe has little ta
fear from them. This Neapolitan fleet will make
very fine Indiamen, and the people on board wil)
furniffi the city of London with excellent fhoe.
blacks ; a calling in which the fubjeas of the brav <j
King of Naples are faid to fihine.
A grand confpiracy, in which Tallien and the Spa
nifh ambaffador are faid to be implicated, has beefi,
difcovered at Paris..
Buonaparte is at Verona. The Auftrians feem to
be driven out of Italy, except from the fortrefs of
Mantua, which cannot hold out long.
Thursday, 6th April.
Merry, the Delia Crufcan Poet.
For Porcupine's Gazette. — Mr. Peter, Of all the
fpeaacles that ferve as leffons to check the pride of
human nature, none is, perhaps, better calculated
to produce a lafling effeft, than that of fallen ge
nius. With this perfuafion it is that I requeft you
tp oubliih the following epilogue, and to tell the
public

APRIL, 1797. 233
public at the fame time that it is the produaion of
Mr. R. Merry. I companionate the cafe of the poor
gentleman with all my foul ; it is pity to fee him
thus wither in his prime. It is vexatious to us
alfo, that " the rofe that was to adorn our wilder-
" nets," fhould thus by tranfplantation become a
mere bramble.
However, fuch is the inflability of man,- and of all
that pertains to him ; and when we look back to
inftances of the fame kind, ftill more ftriking and
awful than that we are now contemplating, if we
find not confolation, we fhall more patiently fubmit
to the will of fate. When we fee the once learned,
accomplifhed, acute, fprightly, and humorous
Dean Swift, become " a driv'ler and a fhow," we
repine lefs at hearing Delia Crufca endeavouring to
entertain a Philadelphia audience with an awkward
imitation of Mary the Cook- maid's Letter to Doaor
Sheridan. EPILOGUE
To the Abbey of St. Augufline. — Spoken by Mr. Har-
wood, at the New Theatre.
Ladies and gentlemen ! the managers are totally at a lofs what
to fay;
They are extremely forry it has happen'd fo, but they have mif-
laid the epilogue to the play.
The author of it is a modeft man, though authors in general are ir
ritable folks,
Yet he is very unhappy about it, becaufe he declares it was excel
lent, and full of jokes;
That not only the poetry was beautiful, but alfo that it had a great
deal of wit;
Upon my word I thought the poor fellow was going into a fit,
Becaufe hesame tome and faid, "My dear Mr. Harwood, you feem
to be a fenfible man,
Will you go forward and fpeak fomething on the occafion, the beft
that you can ? "
To which I anfwer'd, " Mr. Griffin, finee you are fo pertinacioua
and explicit,
I will fpeak one off hand, and I dare fay the audience will be too
kind to hifs it." So

234 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
So here I am, though very much alarm'd, juft going to begin;
If any of the company are in the lobby, pray defire them tq
walk in."
To-night, to-night, you have feen a tick Nun die,
And a Friar ftab himfelf; — " I fhall get on better by and by." ,
O grant your generous favour if it is due,
And cheer our trembling bard — "1 think I fhall do."
The rofe expanding with its leaves fo red,
The lily, that declines its humble head,
Shall form a wreath for him. — " Now really that was vefy
well faid."
I believe indeed I ought to have mention'd the laurel and the bays;
They, however, will come of courfe fhould we obtain your praife.
But I know it is abfolutely neceffary that I fliould give you a touch
of the fublime,
Which I will now do, though I find it very difficult to exprefs my
felf in rhyme.
The tragic mufe all nations muft adore,
Melpomene — "I am afraid you have heard fomething liktf
this before."
Her reign extends from Indus to the Pole—
" Now that is capital upon my foul."
She paints the paffions, fhe fubdues the heart,
With trumpets, ghofts, the dagger, and the ftart.
Her power myfterious animates, refines ;
" I think I never fpoke much better lines."
Great revolutions, convents abolifh'd, nuns fet free,
War, virtue, honour, glory, liberty !
Lord ! 'tis as eafy as one's ABC.
I fufpeft you rather like my tragic manner; if fo, I declare
I will give up low comedy, and become a candidate for defpair.
How I will mouth the blank verfe ; how I will groan when I am
dying,
And how I fhall fplit my fides with laughing when I fee you all a-
crying !
Well, now I am perfectly fatisfied, and look upon it as mere fun
To have been confidei ing how I fliould begin, till I find I have
done.
So I will only add, that I hope the play may be deemed wprthy
your protection,
And if you approve of my epilogue I fhall have no objection.

? A Bear and two Negroes dancing round the Liberty-
pole. — We have received information from Newark,
New-Jerfey," that on Saturday laft a bear and
two negroes decorated with the cap of liberty, ac
companied with a violin, danced round the flag-

APRIL, 1797. 235
fiaff in that town, in commemoration of the vic
tories lately obtained by the French in Italy.
While drunkennefs and complexion may, plead
an apology for them, we have to lament that the
colours of the United Stages, belonging to the mi
litia in that town, were moft fhamefully proftituted
on this occafion.
It is however to be hoped for the honour of the
militia, that the colours were procured without their
knowledge or confent ; if fo, they ought in future
to be entrufted to a foldier who feels the injuries
his country is daily experiencing from the French.

Abominable republican Fraternity. — N orfolk , March
25. On Tuefday evening arrived in town, Cap
tain Worth, of the brig Two Sifters, formerly of
this place. Captain Worth failed from Norfolk in
the above brig for Leogane. Juft to the leeward
of Hifpaniola was brought to by a French privateer,
and ordered on board ; when the captain of the pri
vateer offering a paper written in French, ordered
Captain Worth to fign it ; on his refining, the pi
rate drew his cutlafs, and fwore he would cleave his
fkull if he did not immediately put his name to the
paper ; but Captain Worth ftill perfifted in refuting,
reafoning on the abfurdity of his figning a writing in
language he did not underfland. The privateerfman
then turned to the failors (two Italians), arid com
manded them to write their names : they could not
write ; he then forced them, with threats and a
drawn fword over their heads, to make their marks
at the bottom of the paper. He immediately hailed
the brig, informing that fhe was a good prize, as
the men had figned a declaration that fhe was bound
to Jamaica. Captain Worth was carried to Cuba
in the privateer. Four days after the brig came in;
and on his obferving to the picarooning captain that
he could not have her tried or fold at Cuba, he was
told

236 GAZETTE SELECTIONS,
told fhe was already fold ; and foon after a Spanifh
merchant was put in poffeffion of her. Her papers
were then to be fent to Cape Francois in order for
trial. [Execution before judgment with a ven
geance !]
French Spy. — The following account of Augufte
Lachefe is handed us by a French gentleman, who
can anfwer fer the truth of it.
Augufte Lachefe, who has been arretted and
imprifoned in Kentucky, for attempting to detach
the people of that country from the government of
the United States, to unite it to the Spanifh pro
vinces, is not a general, nor a native of France,
but an officer of inferior rank, born in Louifiana.
He ferved fome time in the life-guards of the King
of France. He repaired to St. Domingo to mend
his fortune, and the revolution prefented him the
means. At Jeremie, he made a cruel war on the
mulattoes, and carried it to fuch excefs, that the
whites, in refentment, expelled him from the town,
arid he went to Cape Francois. There he appeared
wherever there was trouble. He united with San-
thonax and Polverel to deftroy the government,
which proteaed property and the white proprietors,
and to exalt the mulattoes into power, who drove
him away in turn.
He then came to New- York, and gave himfelf up
to the Minifter Genet, who affembled round him
none of the beft men. This diplomatic Jacobin
found him a convenient inftrurnent for his difor-
ganizing purpofes, and fent him to the weftern ter
ritory of the United States to excite the people to
infurreaion againft their legitimate government.
N. B. At the Cape he was appointed by Santhonax
a captain in Walfh's regiment in the Irifh brigade,
with mulattoes and negroes, American

APRIL, 1797. 237
American Liberty of ihe Prefs.-— Whereas a perfon
called at my houfe this morning, and told the lad
that ferves in my fhop, that if I publifhed any more
pieces about the Governor of Pennfylvania, there was
a parly ready to inflia vengeance on me (or words to
the fame effea) : this is to inform the faid party, that
I will continue to publifh whatfoever pieces I pleafe
about the Governor of Pennfylvania ; that my pub
lications fhall be circumferibed by the law, and by
the law alone ; that I defpife menaces of every de-
feription, and that, let who will be flaves, I am re-
folved to be free. — The impertinent bearer of the
above threat ought to have, left his name, that it
might have been communicated to the public.
Wm. Cobbet't.

FaiDAY, 7th April.
American Liberty of the Prefs. — In yefterday 's Ga
zette I informed the public of the unwarrantable
and bafe attempt that had been made to intimidate
me from publifhing Ariaures on the condua and
charaaer of the Governor of Pennfylvania. I have
flnce been given to underfland, through various
channels, that a knot of villains have formed a plan
for affaulting me.
After repeating my moft profound contempt for
thefe bravoes, and for their employers, and de
claring my refolution to perfevere in expofing the
folly and wickednefs of all thofe whom I look upon
as enemies to the government, I fhall take the liberty
of making an obfervation or two on the effea that
thefe threats muft produce in the world.
Can it be fuppofed that foreigners will not laugh
at our " unlimited liberty of the prefs," when they
fee a man threatened, in this impudent manner, for
ridiculing the conduct of a public officer ? If Mr.
Pitt were to fend a ruffian, to threaten the editor of
i the

238 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
the Morning Chronicle with the vengeance of " a.
party," or a gang, popular as he is, I much quef
tion if he would not be driven from his place by the
voice even of his friends. What a pretty handle
would fuch a threat furnifh the newipapers of Ame
rica with! How they would vaunt, and trumpet
forth their fuperior liberty ! They would fome of
them, at leaft, congratulate their readers on it, as
a certain prefage of a revolution, of univerfal
•deflruaion, in England. They would tell us, that
the people could not much longer fubmit " to fuch
oppnfijion" and yet they tell us, that the Englifh are
flaves ! How is this ?
A newfpaper in England fatirizes every man in
public life, from the King to the common foldier; it
ia:ls againft all the meafures of Government ; it ex-
preffes its refpea for the nation which is at open
war with its own, and even its wifhes for the
enemy's fuccefs ; yet no one infults the editor. No
rafcaily fellow in office dares fend his runners to
threaten him with vengeance. Decency, a fenfe of
true liberty, and a confidence in the equity and
efficiency of the laws, prevent any fuch defperate
proceeding. ,
Let not this comparifon be called invidious; every
man would have made it for himfelf. The threat
againft me is gone forth to the world ; it is impoffi
ble to recall it, or prevent its being properly com
mented on, in every country where the Englifh
language is fpoken, and the liberty of the prefs is
thought a thing of any value.

Neutrality and Impartiality . — When the Prefident's
proclamation declaring the fituation of the United
States to be neutral with regard to all the powers at
war, was firft made public, it excited the angry
paffions of every heated advocate for war, and drew
upon him the reprobation of many a tedious effayift, whofe

APRIL, 1797. 239
whofe prqjeas of perfonal aggrandizement were
blafted by a meafure as juft as it was feafonable.
The propriety of that proclamation has been fo
amply eftablifhed, and its conftitutionality fo ably
defended, againft the numberlefs attacks direaed-
againft it, that no man in his fenfes. now pretends
to entertain a doubt on the fubjea. That it was
our duty as well as intereft to be neutral, has
been clearly evinced by the refult ; we have enjoyed
the fruits of it during the courfe of a war which has
half ruined the faireft portion of Europe; and the
facrifices we have fuftained, facrifices infeparable
from a ftate of neutrality, extremely vexatious, have
been much more than countervailed by the advan
tages drawn from our fituation. The government
has aaed uniformly, juft, and proper, notwith
ftanding the, charges of American democrats and
French minifters; but we Cannot fay as much for
individuals and particular cities. It is not, for in
ftance, very confiftent with a ftate of peifea neu
trality, for a neutral people to fet their bells a-ring-'
ing on receiving news of a victory gained by one of
the contending powers over another ; yet we have
feen repeated inftances of this ; and once' the federal '
Houfe of Reprefentatives had the culpable weaknefs
to adjourn on hearing from Genet that a French
army had beaten their enemy; when the report was
traced, it was found that Genet had feen it mentioned
in a newfpaper, and finally the whole was difcovered
to be falfe ! Such inftances may evince attachments,
but they are not evidences of neutrality properly fo
termed. At prefent our partialities are in a train of
payment ; when they will be compenfated is in the
womb of futurity. — 0 temporal
Monkey with the Rights of Man. — London, Sep
tember 15, 1794. — An officer of the cufloms lately
feized a monkey on board a fhip in the river, and
- 3 being

240 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
being afked by what law monkeys were declared
contraband, faid he found the young foreigner with
Paine's Rights of Man aaually in his hand.
How tyrannical and cruel ! why m&y not mon
keys turn politicians, and fraternize, and give and
receive the fraternal embrace ? Why not declare
them free, and incorporate them with the French
Republic

?

Saturday, 8th April.
The Moon-light Reflections of Charles Fox, during
the Chriftmas Recefs.
'Tis now fome fourteen years ago
Since I was Minifter — tot fhow,
A thing of four months ftanding;
Since then, how have I fpent my days ?
At hazard, faro, or at quinze,
Or on my legs haranguing.
But then, my tame — well, what is that?
The twirling of a greafy hat,
Not worth a man's regarding;
A toaft, by drunken patriots given,
When ev'ry thing's at fix or feven,
A fhout round Covent Garden.
My fo-rtune, though, alas! 'tis' fpent,
Both money had, and money lent,
Such is my lad condition !
Thus what I eat, and what I wear,
With what I drink, and what I fhare,
Are dol'd me by subscription.
D— — n ! there's the thought that flings !
I who afpir'd to ftars and firings,
To titles and what not,
Muft now ftay browfing round St. Anne's,
Without or future views or, plans,
A pauper — and forgot.
Come, Riot, then! Come, quickly come!
With bloody flag", and murd'rous drum—
Ye great and rich uncafe !
That in this buttling, tev'ling world,
Whilft all are in conlufion hurl'd,
I may pick up a place. Buonaparte,

APRIL, 1797. 241
Buonaparte, the Cut-throat. — Milan, January 7,
1796. The infurreaion of Carfagnana, and that
in the city of Ferrara, are entirely quelled. The
following letter from General Buonaparte to General
Rufca, who was ordered to reduce the infurgents to
fubmiffion, will throw fome light upon that event,
and upon the ulterior projeas of the Commander in
.Chief. j
" The town of Ferrara, a part of Carfagnana,
and particularly the town of Caftelnuovo, are in a
flate of rebellion. The miferable infurgents have
fuffered themfelves to be feduced by perfidious
agents, who are overrunning Italy, to excite the
people to revPlt, and to involve them in all the
horrors, of war. You will proceed to Caftelnuovo;
with a moving column; you will direa the chief of
the rebels to befihot ; you will fend twenty hoftages
to Milan ; you will order the houfe of the, Duke of
Modena's confeffor, who is the author of the rebel
lion, to be deftroyed ; you will erea upon the lite of
it a pyramid, with this infcription : ' The punifh-
ment of a prieft, who, abufing his facred miniftry,
preached revolt and affaffination.' You will affem
ble the magiftrates, the chiefs bf the different con
vents, and all the razors : you will tell them from
me, that as long as the rninifters of religion fhall
be influenced by true principles, as the Cardinal
Maffei, the Archbifhop of Bologna, and the Bifhops
of Pavia and Modena, who, by their wifdom, and
the purity of their morals, recall to mind the firft;
ages of the church, I fhall refpea them, their pro
perty, and their cufloms, as they contribute to pub
lic tranquillity, and to the general good ; but when
the facred nature of their miniftry fhall becPme, in
the hands of difaffeaed perftwis, an inftrumerit of
difcord, and of civil war, / will deftroy their convents,
ednfifcate their property j and puniih perfondlly the rec-
VOi. V. . R tors

24a GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
tors and curates* of villages, who fhall have demeaned
themfelves ill.
~*s You will afterwards proceed to Ferrara, and
from thence to Leghorn, where you are to join the
garrifon of that place, and the moveable column
which you will find at Bologna, under the com
mand of General Lanus, to defend the coafts of
Tufcany from all invafion on the part of the Eng
lifh. (Signed) Buonaparte."
The Antigallican. — The French are alike cele
brated for their fkill in making treaties, and infamous
for their perfidy in breaking them : the obfervation is
of great antiquity, and may be verified by a long
lift of treaties for the'compafs ofa century, to go no
higher. Their ordinary round of policy and condua is
precifely this; they firft fcheme out fome plan or
other of ufurpation, which they cannot execute ; to
effea which they feruple not to commit the moft
flagrant violations of the moft folemn treaties, and
the moft enormous breaches of faith and amity ; in
confequence hereof a war enfues, in which they are.
always in a ftriking pofture well prepared, and give,
as well as execute, orders with celerity : their firft;
pfforts are often attended with fuccefs ; this elates
them, fills their fancies with exalted notions of their
own puiffance, arid conjures to their eyes that be--
loved dlufive phantom — univerfal empire.
Who, upon reading the above, would not ima
gine that it was called forth by the circumftances of
the prefent day ? It is very probable that the reader
has already faid to himfelf, " Ah, Peter, this is dic
tated hy your Englifh prejudice." How will he be
disappointed, then, when I tell him, that the para
graphs which fo juftly depia the perfidy of the
French national charaaer, are quoted from a publica -
... tion,"

APRIL, 1797. 243
tion, intitled, " The American Magazine," printed
in this city upwards of thirty-nine years ago !
But it may be faid, that this charaaer was, per
haps, drawn by an Englifhman, though publifhed
in America. To remove all feruples founded on
this fuppofition, I will quote the language of one
whom every American is proud to call his country
man : I mean'George Wafhington. This gentleman,
in a letter of his to the Chiefs of the Six Nations, in
1757, gives the following mafterly defcription of the
French charaaer :
" Brethren,
" We are very glad to fee you, and forry that
fuch reports difquiet you. The Englifh do not in
tend to hurt you, or any of your allies. This news,
we know, muft have been forged by the French,
who are confiantly treacherous, afferting the greateft:
falfehoods, whenever they think they will turn out
to their advantage. They fpeak well, promife fine
things, but all from the lips outward, whilft their
heart is cormpted and full of venomous poifon. The
Englifh, your real friends, are too generous to think
of ufing their allies in this manner, &c."
Such was the unanimous voice of Americans about
forty years ago ; and what has occurred, I would be
glad to know, to alter the fentiments it expreffed ?
Nothing. Indeed, with fo much truth do thefe fen
timents abound, that the whole which I have copied
above, is as applicable to the United States at this
moment, as it formerly was to the Six Nations.

Monuay, 10th April.
I have been informed that it was currently re
ported, that I have had a moft hearty drubbing from
tome "¦ good republican."
It has been afferted that I was firft beat, and then
dragged round my fhop, &Ci and fome have gone
r a fo

244 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fo far as to name the good republican that did all
this. Now, I do affure the public, that no good repub
lican, nor any other perfon, has attempted to ftrike
me ; and, which is more, I as pofitively affert, that
no one ever will do it with impunity, unlets he at
tacks me behind or in the dark. If, therefore, there
are any gentlemen, who are good enough to feel
anxious for my fafety, let them be perfeaiy tran
quil. A thoufand ftories of this kind will get about,
and they will die away, as all thofe hitherto propa
gated have done. Bache told his readers feme
months ago, that a Frenchman horfewhipped me :
every onp knew that Bache told a falfehood ; but
now Bache tells the public that himfelf has been
horfewhipped, every body believes him.
It is fomething remarkable,, that of fo many heal
ings as I have been faid fo receive, np particular re
publican fhould claim the honour of bellowing any
one of them ! Numbers extol the gallant aaion, but
each individual mpdeftly -declines the glory of it.
]$o pne fays, I beat Peter Porcupine. . It is always
fome other perfon ; it is every body, and it is
nobody. Thefe reports, however, clearly indicate the ge
nerous defires of the " good republicans," as they
are pleafed to call themfelves. When people are
very induftrious^ in propagating a falfehood, it is
ever to be concluded, that they are aauated rather
by their wifhes than by their credulity. Far am I
from doubting their good will towards me, and all
that belongs to me. . I dare fay, they would with
pleafure fee my carcafs, with thofe of my wife and
children, dragged lifelefs into the ftreet : all the dif
ficulty lies in finding an arm to irtflict the blow.
They are like the mice in council, who, by an una
nimous vote, determined that the cat fhould be
3 hanged ;

APRIL, 1797. 345,
hanged; but when it came to the pinch, no one was
to be found to put the halter round her neck.
 . P. P.
Sir John Jervis's Vitlory over the Dons. — We have
now to perform the agreeable talk of laying before
the numerous readers of Porcupine's Gazette,' the
official account of Admiral Sir John Jervis's glorious
viaory over the Spanifh fleet, off Cape St. Vincent.
When the news of this viaory was firft publifhed
in Porcupine's Gazette, it was treated by fome of the
other -papers as an exaggerated account, if not as al
together a flam. They would allow but a fhip or
two, at moft, to betaken; and, on Friday lad, the"
Philadelphia Gazette, and the Merchants? Impartial
Advertifer, affured us, that a certain Captain from
Lifbon, who failed two days later than the date of
the letters containing the intelligence, informed, that
no further account of the matter had been received ;
which. was as much as to fay, that there was every
reafon to fuppofe the whole a fabrication. — It would
be hard to fay what makes fome of our brethren fo
unwilling to allow of the authenticity of intelligence
favourable to -the only country upon earth that Ame
rica can now call its friend ; while they are ready to
cram down their readers' throat every vague report
they can lay hold of in favour of thofe who are at
open war with, us, all but the name. They are undep
the influence of modern patriotifm, I fuppofe.
The refult of the aaion between the Britifh and
Spanifh fleets is much more honourable to the for
mer than it was at firft reprefented. It was ftated,
that there were only thirteen fighting ihips of thei
Jine againft' twenty, but it now appears that the dif
ference was ftill greater, there being twentyrfevep
Spaniards againft fifteen Englifh ; and it appears,
from the Admiral's report, that twp of thefe were in
R 3 want

a46 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
want of repair ; fo that the difference was at leaft.
one half.
Front the London Gazette Extraordinary of 3d March.
Admiralty Office, March 3, 1797.
Robert Calder, Efq. firft Captain to Admiral Sir
John Jervis, K. B. arrived this morning with dif-
patches from him to Mr. Nepean, of which the fol-
lPwing are copies :
Sir, Victory, in Lagos Bay, Feb. 16, 1797.
The hopes of falling in with the Spanifh fleet,
expreffed in my letter to you of the 13th inflant,
were confirmed that night by our diftinaiy hearing
the report of their fignal guns, and by intelligence
received from Captain Foote, of his Majefty's fhip
the Niger, who had, with equal judgment and per-
feverance, kept company with them for feveral days,
on my prefcribed rendezvous (which from the ftrong
fouth-eaft winds I had never been able to reach),
and that they were not more than the diftance of
three or four leagues from us. I anxioufly awaited
the dawn of day, when being on the ftarboard tack,
Cape St. Vincent bearing eaft by north eight leagues,
I had the fatisfaaion of feeing a number of fhips
extending from fouth-Weft to fouth, the wind then
at weft and by fouth. At forty-nine minutes paft
ten, the weather being extremely hazy, La Bonne
Citoyenne made the fignal that the fhips feen were
of the line, twenty-five in number. His Majefty's
fquadron under my command, confifting of the fif
teen fhips of the line named in the margin, were
happily formed in the moft compaa order of failing
in two lines. By carrying a prefs of fail I was for
tunate in getting in with the enemy's fleet at half
paft eleven o'clock, before it had time to conriea,
and form a regular order of battle. Such a moment was

APRIL, 1797. «47
was not to be loft ; and confident ih the fkill, valour,
and difcipline of the officers and men I had the hap
pinefs to command, and judging that the honour
of his Majefty's arms and the circumftances of tbe
war in thefe teas required a confiderable degree of
enterprife, I felt myfelf juftified in departing from
the regular fyftem ; and paffing through their fleet,
in a line formed with the utmoft celerity, tacked,
and thereby feparatedone third from the main body,
after a partial cannonade, which prevented their re-
junaion till the evening ; and by the very great ex
ertions of the fhips which had the good fortune to
be on the larboard tack, the fhips named in the
margin were captured, and the action ceafed about
five o'clock in the evening.
I enclofe the correaeft lift I have been able to ob*
tain of the Spanifh fleet oppofed to me, amouhting
to twenty-feven fail of the line, and an account of
the killed and wounded in his Majefty's fhips, as well
as in thofe taken from the enemy. The moment
the latter (although totally difmafted), and his Ma
jefty's fhips the Captain and Culloden, are in a ftate
to put to fea, I fhall avail myfelf of the firft favour
able wind to proceed off Cape St. Vincent in my
way to Lifbon.
Captain Calder, whofe able affiftance has greatly
contributed to the public fervice during my command,
is the bearer of this, and will more particularly de
fcribe to the Lords Commifiioners of the Admiralty
the movements of the fquadron on the 14th, and
the prefent ftate of it.
I am, Sir, &c. J. Jervis.

r. 4 LIST

U*

GAZETTE SELECTIONS.

LIST

OF THE

f Britifh.

Guns.

Viaory

- IOO

Britannia

- IOO

Barfleur

- 98

Prince George

- 98

Blenheim

- 9°

Namur

- 90

Captain

- 74

Goliath

- 74

Excellent

- 74_

Orion

- 74

Egmont

- 74

Culloden

- 7-4

Coloffus

- 74

Irrefiftible , -

- 74

Diadem -

- 64

Total, fifteen fhips 123 a

TWO FLEETS.
Spanifh.
St. Trinidad
Mexican a
P. de Afturias
Concepcion -
Cphde de R'egla -
Salvador del Mundo
San Jofef
San Nicholas
OrienteGloriofq «
Atlanta - r
ConquefiadoreSoberano
Firme »
Pelayo * »
San Genero s
San Ildephonfo
S. J. Nepamuceno
S. F. de Paula \
San Yfldon -
San Anfonip
San Pablo - -
Sap Firmin -
NeptunaBahama Name unknown -
Name unknown -

Guns. 13O,HZxiz112 uaua
ua 84.
. 74 74
747474 74
7474 74 7474 7474 74 7474
74 7474

Total, twenty-feven fhips 229a
SHIPS TAKEN..
Salvador del Mundo 112 San Nicholas r 84
San Jofef - -112 San Yfidor - - 74
¦ > 224 - '-, " *¦
Tptal, four fhips 382

Tbtaf

APRIL, 15197.. 245
Total of killed and wounded on board the Britifh
fleet. Five officers, fifty-nine feamen, fix marines,
five foldiefs, killed, Five officers, one hundred
and eighty- nine feamen, twenty one marines, twelve
foldiers, wounded — three hundred.
Lift of the killed and wounded On board the Spanifh
Ships taken by the Squadron under the Command
pf Admjral Sir John Jervis, K.. B. on the 14th of
February, 1797.
San Yfidor, four officers killed, eight wounded ;
twenlyrfive artillefifts, feamen, and foldiers killed,
fifty-five ditto wounded.-^Salvador del Mundo, five
pfficers killed, four wounded ; thirty-feven artille-
rifts, feamen, and foldiers killed, one hundred and
twenty-one ditto wounded. — San Nicholas, four
pfficers killed, eight wounded ; one hundred and
forty artilferifts, feamen, and foldiers killed, fifty-
pne ditto wounded. — San Jofef, two officers killed,
five wounded ; forty-four artilferifts, feamen, and
foldiers killed, ninety-one ditto wounded. Total
killed, two hundred and fixty-one ; wounded, three
hundred and fortyrone— 4ix hundred and three.
Npte.— Among the killed is the General Doa
Francifep Xayier Winthuyfen, Chef d'Efcadre.
J. Jervis.

Tuesday, 11th April.
Mr. Murray goes off for, tjie Hague. — William V.
Murray, Efq. Minifter Plenipotentiary from the*
United States tp the Bafavian Republic, left this
pity on Sunday. l,aft in the fhip Good Friends, for
Amfterdam. Bank of England', and Defcent of the French in
Wales*— rExtracV of a letter from London, dated
March 3d, received by one of the firft mercantile
houfes, in .America.--" The regulation at the Bank bears

250 GAZETTE' SELECTIONS.
bears no' refemblance to a ftoppage of payment.
Payments are ftill made of fmall fums, and the
commercial people feem not at all alarmed at the
adoption of a meafure, which ought to be looked
upon rather as a preventive than a remedy. , Aniidft
the rumours of invafions, and the fears of fome
perfons, excited by thofe which have already taken
place, it was not proper to leave anything, particu
larly an inftitution of fuch national importance as the
Bank, fubjea to the influence of that timidity which
ever accompanies the- poffeffion of riches.
" It was great pity that the Mounfeers who
landed in Wales, were not left to the pitchforks
of the country people. Taffy would have fent them
to a place much fitter for them than an Englifh
prifon, of which fuch favages are unworthy.
" At the moment I am writing this, fhe Park and
Tower guns are firing in honour of the glorious vic
tory obtained by Sir John Jervis over the Spanifh
fleet off St. Vincent. The latter confifted of twenty-
feven fhips of the line, many of them of more than
a hundred guns, while that of our brave Admiral
confifted of no more than fifteen. I believe there
never was fuch 3, battle fought at fea. The Dons
will foon repent of their folly in joining the repub
licans. We hear fomething about the King of Na
ples, acceding to the alliance with France and Spain,
and it is generally believed that this will be the cafe.
What this foolifh King can mean, I know not ; his.
poor fleet would not be a breakfaft for us. I verily
believe, if the war fhould continue fome years
longer, of which there is at ptefent every appearance,
nobody will have any men of war worth foeaking1
of but ourfelves. All that we have to dp, is to re
main firm and faithful to ourfelves. While we 6\q
this, all the world combined cannot hurt us • and
when we have rid out the florin of war, the riches
of the univerfe will concentrate themfelves in our
ifland.

APRIL, 1797. 251
ifland. You never faw the people fo united as they
now are. The Jacobins are few ; or at leaft, they
dare not fhow their heads, particularly flnce the
attempt to invade Ireland. Hoche's proclamation,
boafting of the aid he expeaed from thefe gentry,
has roufed the refentment of all ranks of people
againft them ; and for a man to declare his friendfhip
for the French caufe now, would draw on him the
deteftation of all that know him.
" The Oppofition are quite mum. They do,
however, accufe the Minifter of having laid his
hand on the Bank without caufe ; but it muft be
remembered that they alfo afferted, that he was
preparing to refift an invafion without caufe."

Wednesday, 12th April. .
Language of the two Parties on Mr. Pinckney s Dif-
miffalfrom Paris. — Volumes have been publifhed on
this fubjea ; the two following articles, one from a
Federal, and the other from a Democratic paper, will
give the reader an idea of the general language of
the two parties.
The Federalift. — As foon as the French difcovered
that they could not provoke us to make a common
caufe with them in the war againft Great Britain, and
that their prefumption and infolence only drove the
United States into a clofer amity with that country,
they refolved to confider both nations as their ene
mies, and to treat them both alike. They never
loft fight of this hoftile refolution, although it has
been moderated, and at times fufpended, from a
vain hope that they had a party here ftrong enough
to overturn the prefent government, and to intro
duce another more propitious ; but the mift is now
fcattered^ and they fee clearly that all their manoeuvres
have not only rendered them more odious, but that
the friendfhip of America will turn, in fpite of all
their

95* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
their efforts, into its natural and ancient channel.
This perfuafion muft render them very indifferent
about the contents of the Prefident's laft letter to
Mr. Pinckney, whenever it comes to hand. I am
doubtful whether they will ever deign to give it a
reading;. but jf they do, I believe it will only in-
create their irritation, and perhaps produce an im
mediate declaration of hoftilities.
There is a certain degree of bafenefs, from which
a man or a nation may return to reafon and juftice ;
but when they have -boldly rufhed forward to fuch
an excefs of hypocrify, ingratitude, violence, and
perfidy as the French government has raanifefted
towards America, their return is hopelefs. They
will never forgive us the enormous injuries they
have done us, and- ftill lefs the defeat of the greater
wrongs they intended. For fhould they receive the
Prefident's memorial, and affent to the 'juftice of
his complaints, they will proclaim to the world their
own condemnation, and affume the payment of a
debt they are unable to difcharge; they muft re
voke their piratical decrees ; ceafe from plundering 3
and pay for all the provifions they may want here?
after, either in ready money or a fair exchange.
This they have neither the honour nor the means tp
do ; war, therefore, and plunder, are moft agree
able to their neceflities as well as choice ; as thefe
afford a pretext, at leaft, to difannul a treaty which.
they fay has been a real difadvantage to them, and
to cancel a debt of twelve millions of dollars that
they, have never intended to pay. And when we
recolfea that this line of condua towards neutral
nations, and the United States in particular, is a
part of their monftrous projea of ruining the Britifh
commerce, there can. be but little doubt that they
will perfift in it. If we will unite with them in this
abominable defign, we may have them as friends^
if not,, it will be wife to prepare for war. This

APRIL, 1797. 553
This condua of our quondam allies, as they are
pleafed to call themfelves, has had a wonderful
effea on the public mind ; it has diffolved a charm
that for five years had bound the good fenfe of
America with more than magic enchantment. We
no longer confider the French as an enlightened
people contending for liberty ; but as the miferable
flaves of a few low-bred, unprincipled tyrants,
fighting for dominion ; perfidious and oppreffive to
their friends, and purfuing war with a fpirit of car
nage and plunder difgraceful to the age ; invading
all the neighbouring ftates without provocation, and
violating every law without feruple : " unappalled
by peril, unchecked by remorfe, defpifing all com
mon maxims and all common means," they march
flraight forward to the firft objea; which, was, to
extend the dominions of France, or " to fet fire to
the four corners of Europe."
It is not ftrange, therefore, that when our own
experience, harmonizing with the teftimony of all
Europe, has placed this monftrous compound of a
government in its true light, univerfal horror
and refentment fhould arife, and that the general
voice fhould now cry louder for revenge than com-
penlation. The Democrat. — The news of Mr. Pinckney's be
ing difmiffed by the Direaory is confirmed. What
an awful crifis does this make in the affairs of this
country ! Yet, awful as it is, it was forefeen and
prediaed by the republicans the moment the infa
mous treaty with Great Britain was ratified. They
were certain France would never tolerate fuch an
explicit departure from our neutrality, and open
violation of our moft facred engagements, with her.
Solemn as is the afpea of our affairs, they are pre-
cifely where a wicked adminiftration have, long
wilhed to fee them. If war with France was not a
favourite objea with the Prefident's miniftry, why was

254 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
was Jay the greateft enemy France ever had, and
who had juft libelled the French minifter fent to-
Great Britain ? Why was a treaty made by which
America facrificed every thing but its hoftility to
that republic ? Why Government, on all occafions,
fo partial to the Britifh ? Why were Tories every
where promoted to office ? Why was Pickering's
long letter publifhed? Why was Morris fo long
kept in France ? Why was Munro recalled ? Why
was King, an Englifhman at .the heart, and a bit
ter enemy to France, fent to the court of St.
James's ? Why was Mr. Jefferfon oppofed ? In
fhort, why were a thoufand things done which could
have had no other objea than to embroil us with
that nation ?
Americans, reffea ! — It is time to exprefs to the
Federal government, in refpeaful but firm lan
guage, your fentiments on the alarming ftate of
your public affairs. Let the Prefident know there is
nothing you with for fo much as peace and friend
fhip with France— nothing ypu deprecate fo much
as war with that Republic, or an alliance offenfive
and defenfive with Great Britain. If the Britifh
treaty muft be the price of this peace and friendfhip,
in God's name let it go : it w.as founded in iniquity,
it was carried by art and corruption, and there is
no way pf healing our wounded honour, or repair
ing our violated faith, but in refcinding the articjes
of that execrable contraa,' which have given juft;
umbrage to our allies *.

* There never was, I will venture to fay, language fo bafe as
this held by any party, or any man, in the whole world before.
.Would one imagine, that thefe were the fentiments of men pro-
feffing themfelves the fupporters of independence? Never was
there before fuch a bafe crew exifting in the world.

Thursday,

APRIL, 1797. 25S
Thursday, 13th April.
. Bitter Whigs, Bradford & Co. — The Merchants'
Advertifer of this morning publifhes fomething that
bears the form of a letter from Marblehead, ftating
that the Britifh Admiral (the gallant Sir John
Jervis) was, on the ift March, arrived at Lifbon
with his prizes ; but the intelligent writer fays, that he
had taken but one three-decker, the other three being
two-deckers. This trifling deduaion from the proi-
fit of battle one could bear well enough ; but when
we hear the Merchants' Advertifer afferting, that
Jervis (plain Jervis mind) had to encounter only the
van-guard of the Spanifh fleet ; when we fee this
malicious paper attempting to rob the noble Admi
ral of his glory as well as his title, we cannot help
thinking, that it has abandoned that rule of impar
tiality whicl\ was ever to regulate its condua.
The perverfe writer ftill continues to dedua. He
has the affurance to tell us, that there were but
twenty-three Spanifh fhips, though we are affured
hy the official report to the Admiralty that there
were twenty-feven.
The moft curious circumftance mentioned in this
letter, is, that Jervis {to fpeak in the fans-culotte ftyle)
fhould bring the van of the Spaniards to aaion,
while the reft of the fleet could not get up. Now, it
is pretty generally underftood, that the van goes
foremoft; therefore, if the Spanifh fleet was not
failing backwards, the wind would have brought
up the centre and rear fquadroris, without any ex
ertions whatever on the part of their crews.
This filly ftory, invented to detraa from the ho
nour of the Britifh fleet, bears a flrong refemblance
to thofe that were circulated here after Lord Howe's
defeat of the fans-culottes in 1794. Several of our
newfpapers faid and fwore, that it was no defeat at
all on the part of the French, and fome of them
4 went

256 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
went fo far as to infift on its being a viaory : rior
fliould I be aftonifhed, if the Merchants' Advertifer
were to receive a letter by next poll, affurlng that
Jervis had run away.
Traitors in Canada.-^-k letter frorh Cahad^, dated
March 17th, fays, " The Parliament here have not
done any thing worth noticing. The Government
have taken up feveral people about Montreal fof
treafonable praaices, &c. &c. One Bifette, a rich
tanner near that city, is now in clofe confinement,
and will foon be tried. A French cPmrniffion was
found on him, and it is faid there are feveral others
in the fame predicament."

Friday, 14th ApriL.
American Panity.— -The following has been pub
lifhed in all the papers as an extfaa of a letter from
an American gentleman in London. — " It is very
important, and at this period more fo than formerly,
that we fhould eftablifh peace with the Barbary
Powers. " The exclufion of England front the Mediterranean
forts, the prefent incapacity of France to profecute
commerce, the indulgence of Spain, and the influ
ence of the war on the Italian States, furnifh ari
opportunity for the extenfion of our navigation
that ought not to be negfeaed. If we once introduce
ourfelves we fhall never again lofe our hold. This trade
is important to the foutherft as well as the northern
States, and it is incredible what freights might now
be made by our people, were our colours free in the
Mediterranean. " I am informed, from very gPod authority, that
both General Sir Ralph Abercromby and Governor
Simcoe, before they failed for the" Weft Indies, vi-
fited

APRIL, 1797. 257
fiteid our Minifter Mr. King, and affured him of
their difpofition by every means in their power to re
lieve tbe Americans, and their trade in the Weft.
Indies, from the embarraffments to which they have
been expofed by the irregularity of fome Britifh pri
vateers. Both thefe officers treated that fubjea, as
well as our complaints refibe'aing fearches of Ameri
can veffels for Britifh feamen, in a very proper
manner : General Abercromby had been witnefs to
thefe irregularities, and lamented them : he will, I
am convinced, do whatever lies in their power to
remedy them in future.
" I am much pleafed with the manner in which
he is reprefented to have fpoken, in the pretence pf
many of his countrymen, refpeaing our Prefident
Wafhington, whom he expreffed a great defire
to fee, adding, that he confidered him to be the
greateft and moft perfect character of any man living.
General Simcpe, who is appointed Governor of
St. Domingo, for the purpofe of preventing the
extenfion of the principles taught there to the Engr
lifh neighbouring iflands, has given affurances
that he would immediately after his arrival confer
with the Admiral, and endeavour to prevent the in
juries Pf which we have complained *."
Republican Ferocity with refpect to Priefts. — The
Executive Direaory, in purfuance of the law of 15
Fruaidor, for fupprefling religious hoUles, have if?-
* This is about the ten thoufandth " Extract of letters," pre
tended or real, that I have feen publifhed in the American newfpa-
pers, for no other purpofe that I can perceive, than that of feafting
the already over- fworn vanity of the people. A pretty ftory this,
of getting the trade.of the Mediterranean to the exclufion of (jieat
Britain! General Simcoe may indeed have a high opinion of Gene
ral Wafliington; but, as to his confidering him the grenuft and
moft perfeS character exifting, I am fure it is a LIE.
VOL. V. & fued

25 8 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fued an order -requiring all the religious to appear be
fore the municipal magiftrates, and give in a decla
ration of their names, of their age, the community
to which they belonged, of the commune in which
they propofe to fix their refidence; of the bufinefs
or profeffion they intend to follow, and of their
means of fubfiftence. In default of conforming to
this order, the ex-religious are to be confidered as va
gabonds, and treated as fuch. — L'Eclair.
This fevere law was intended to operate princi
pally in conquered countries, as the religious efta-
blifhments in France were abolifhed by the Confli-
tuent Affembly. It has> created great difturbances in
Belgium, where the people have flrong religious
prejudices. A letter from Bruffels, dated 16 Nivofe,
January 5, gives an account of an infurreaion ih
the neighbourhood of that city. A detachment Pf
republican troops had been furprifed, and compelled
to lay down their arms. The infurgents were dif-
perfed by a body pf troops from Bruffels of fix hun
dred men, with fome cannon. :•.',;
In other villages there have alfo been tumults.
The inhabitants have affumed the black cockade,
and declared they will exterminate the republicans, to
the laft man. An armed force is patrolling night and
day, to keep the peace and arreft the rioters. —
L'Eclair. ; '?•
[What ftupid bigots the Flemings are, not to fit
eafy and quiet under the faddle of French fraternityl
Whatbeafts ofburden are they, who can prefer their
old fuperftitious eftablifhments., their priefts, their
monks, and nuns, and the. quiet enjoyment of their ef-
tates, to French republican taxes, contributions, and
plunder ! /]
Letters from the head-quarters of the army of the
Sambre and Meufe announce, that many of the
commiffarie's have* been cafhiered for their dilapida
tions and robberies of every kind.
1 An

APRIL, 1797. 259*
An account from Bologna, of December 1 1 , ftates,
that the republican conftitution was accepted by the
Affembly on the 4th of December, by four hundred
and fifty-four votes againft thirty. The bells of the
temple where the deliberations were held, announced
this event to the people, and the fignal was repeated
throughout the city and territory. The Affembly
was occupied in choofing deputies to repair to Reggio
on the 27th, to unite in council with the reprefenta-''
fives of Ferrara, of Modena, and Reggio, upon the
common interefts of the Cifpadane confederation;
\Cifpadane means to the fouth ward of the river Po z
on the hither fide of the Po, with regard to Rome.]
We fhall fee in due time whether the Italians can
manage a republic better than the French. If they
cannot, they may as well reft eafy under lords and
priefts. The old government of France was the
little finger of defpotifm, compared with the thigh of
military government now exercifed in that country.
Murders, affaffi nations, and robberies multiply all
over France, and even the military are too corrupt
or too feeble to reftrain thefe exceffes and crimes.
This is a ftatement made by the Legiflative Body. •
The misfortune is, men are not made republicans
as they are made mafons or knights; by patting
through a few ceremonies. It is an egregious error
in Europe, to fuppofe a republic can be founded as
men found a manufaaory. The people in Embpe
want the knowledge and the habits that are effential
to the quiet eftablifhment and duration of free go*
vernment. The duration of even the form of a re
public is yet problematical in France ; for, what is
that government which is to be maintained by dif-
jarming, the militia, and calling for regular troops to
guard the elections ? This is the faa at the prefent
efeaidns in France.
..'¦:¦ . s 2 TU

%%& GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
The Irifh. <Gtmfipkator' s Complaint. — The following
curious piece, taken from the Msrehants' Advertifer
of the other day,. and faid to be ah extraa of a letter
from Ireland to,a friend in this city, may be properly
enough thus termed.
Tl embrace the opportunity fo congratulate you
" on your arrival in a country, the facred repofitory
<* of liberty, and on your efcape from one at pre-
«' fent convulfedi by party fpirit and religious animo-
,e fity; that whidh has been inftituted for the good
*e of fociety, is here become^ a eurfe ; mercilefs per-
*.' fecution and grim oppreffion move with rapid
" flrrdes over this ill-fated country. Heavens !
te what fcenes! men heretofore an ornament to fo-
' ** ciety, independent in fpirit as well as property, fa-
te crificed at the, altar i of intrigue by the difeiples of
" 'Mammon, :the junto anditheir fatellites who fway
" our counties. JBut they are the minions of Pitt,
*'• and muft obey his dictates.
" A few. days back we: hada fpeGimenof minifterial
tf- lintrigue in this town, at the efeaioaofa member
.*¦' in the room of Mr. Forbes. The Speaker, John
" .Fofter, exerted his i influence by perfuafion, pro-
" mifes,, and threats, in favour of his favourite herd
sman ; but, after a conteft of fix days, your friend
'^' Ball carried) it, to the great joy of the inhabitants.
" Mr. Grattan came from Dublin to vote for Mr.
-** Stall. -He was -received amidfr. the acclamations
i^jota grateful people."
c sMemarks.- — About a twelvemonth ago, Mr. Grat-
-tan wastaken into the Fitz william adminiftration,
?and profefled himfelf a firmifciend. to Mr. Pitt's, mea
fures ; and that he was no friend to the French the
^following .coEdlu|tpmof a fpeech of his will prove.
:" Tauch:nofethe,plant of Gallic growth ; its fruit is
death, though it be not the tisee of, knowledge."
»-TThis fpeech, and the fpeafcer's profeffions of loyalty
at the fame time, earned him the execration of the
patriots.

APRIL, r7r/7. «6j
patriots. They called him an apoftate^ and nothing
but his double apoftacy could have now merited
" the acclamations ofa grateful tribe of traitors."
" From the difappointment of the afcendancy on
" this occafion, I fear new intrigues are on the ta-
" pis, and the old farce played by Ralphand Sweeny^
" in conjunaion with their affodates,. Grimes and
" Murphy, will be brought on again.
" Thofe who have in any manner oppofed their
"¦ nefarious fchemes, are marked as viaims -, I hope
" our old tried andfpirited friends, Bird, Hamelk,
" and Skelton, will efcape at prefent, in compliment
" to their former fufferings. Linton is mad, and
" Brabazon pines away, being haunted with imaginary
" vifions."
This kind of vifionary madnefs is very common to
the patriots of thefe latter times. Exaaiy contrary
to all other mortals, they fee befl: with their eyes
fhut. No fooner does fleep get the better of hunger
and the fleas, than they dream of whips, jails, and gib*-
bets. So ftrong is the irnpreffion fometimes produced
on their minds, that waking does not undeceive them.
If report fays true, a very diftinguifhed perfonage
among the imported patriots was, not long agd,
heard to bellow forth curfes againft the &xeet
pumps, which his difordered brain had transformed
into fo many pillories.
" The country prefents nothing but afpeaacle of
" wretchednefsi A number of counties are declared
" out of the King's peace ; perfecution is in its zenith ;
" diftruft andjealoufy pervades every rank; the peo-
" pie in a flate of infurrefiion, the embers of which
" are only finothered for a time ; perjurers, fpies, and
" informers fupported and careffed ; the dread of
" an invafion, which a few days ago had. been
" nearly completed ; all combined, portend fome-
" thing of a moft ferious nature."
Thus this fellow complains of perfecution, of the
s 3 cruelty

S6a GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
cruelty of declaring feveral counties out of the Kings
peace, in the very fame fentence that he acknow
ledges the people to be in a ftate of infurreaion !
This is the true democratic cant. All that tends to
oppofe their abominable projeas, becomes perfecu
tion and tyranny.
" Public papers ere this have informed you of the
" arrival of the French fleet in Bantry Bay, where
*' they rode for feven days ; a moft dreadful ftorm
" at laft came on to blow fo hard, they were ob-
" liged to cut their cables and put to fea ; otherwife
" they would have landed, the confequences of which
" I leave you to guefs. However, a fecond inva-
" fion is in contemplation, and I am of opinion ere
" long they will attempt it. All depends on Mantua.
te and the reinforcements fent to Alvinzi. If Man-
" tua falls, the Emperor muft conclude a feparate
" peace, and we are left to oppofe legions accuf-
" tomed to conquer ; and policy will diaate to the
*' Direaory, to employ them rather than permit
" them to return to the interior at the prefent
" crifs"
From this we may conclude that the writer of the
letter is in all the fecrets of the French defpots ; it
might not be amifs, therefore, if " his friend in this
city" would let us know whatthey intend doing with
us '* Poor O'Connor lies inNewgate ! and the print-
" ers of the Northern Star for publifhing his letter :
" Minifters being heretofore defeated in their at-
" tempts on thofe public-fpirited men, are now de-
?c termined to carry their point. They are confined ;
«' their prefs deftroyed : many others from different.
" parts are fharing a fimilar fate. Spies and inform-
" ers are the only traffic of moment here at pre-
" fent." r
Alas for poor O'Connor! — Apropos: I wonder
whether any " party" in Dublin ever threatened poor

APRIL, 1797, 263
yioor O'Connor with " vengeance ;" and whether
they wrote afcarecrow letter to his landlord, threat
ening to deftroy his houfe if O'Connor was not put to
filence. It would be curious to know this, becaufe
then we might determine with more precifion the
difference between the Dublin liberty of the prefs
and that of Philadelphia.
" Flax-feed is a bad fpeculation this year. There
ft is a veffel arrived at Londonderry from Riga with
" eighteen hundred hogfheads, and many more are
" expea ed. This, added to the prefent ftate of the
" country, leaves it an article of little value. Our
" flaple manufaaory is at a ftand; indeed there
" feems to be a total ftagnation in every branch of
" bufinefs except lawyers, attornies, and foldiers ! ! !"
From the liberty of the prefs, to flax-feed, is a
pretty fudden tranfition ; but this is not the only
fault in the lafl paragraph : it wants truth. Lawyers
and foldiers are not the only defcription of perfons
that find full employment : the hangmen are as bufy
as bees ; and the true reafon why flax-feed is in fo
little demand, is not, as the writer ftates, the ftag
nation of trade, but the very urgent call which there
has lately been for hemp.
" My friend, you have efcaped in good time ; I
" with I was away likewife, but family duty calls upon
" me to flay. Government has it in contemplation to
" prevent any veffel clearing out, having any paffen-
" gers on board. I hope we fhall meet again." — And
fo I hope too with all my heart ; but I hope the
meeting will not take place on this fide of the water.
We want no more'bf your efeaping folks ; we have
too many of them already. We keep no gallows
here, and confequently are at a total lofs how to
difpofe of them.— What this plaintive correfpondent
means by family duty, I leave Mr. Bradford, or any
of the conductors, to explain. Perhaps the writer may
he a fprig of a noble family, and thinks it his duty to
S 4 hang

»64 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
hang dangling over the trunk; iffo, I applaud his
filial piety, and may that hand he palfy-flruck that
would attempt to cut him down !

.Saturday, 15* April.
extract from london,
A Poem, written by Dr. Johnson, well worth &
Minute's Perufal by the Citizens of Philadelphia.

 The needy villain's general home, "
With eager thirft, by folly or by fate,
Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted ftate.
" All that at home no more can beg or ileal,
Or like a gibbet better than a wheel,
Hifs'd from the ftage, or hooted from the court,
Their air, their drefs, their politics import.
Obfequious, artful, voluble, and gay,
On Britain's fond credulity they prey :
JsTo gainful trade their induftry can 'fcape,
They fing, they dance, clean fhoes, or cure a **¦** j
All fciences a faffing Monfieur knows,
And bid him go to hell, to heH he goes.
" Studious to pleafe, and ready to fubmit,
The fupple Gaul was bora a paralite :
Still to his intereft true, where'er he goes,
Wit, brav'ry, worth, his lavifh tongue bellows }
In ev'ry face a thoufand graces fhine,
From ev'ry tongue flows harmony divine.
" Thefe arts in vain our rugged natives try,"*
Strain out with falt'ring diffidence a lie, >
¦ And gain a kick for awkward flattery. J
Ijlow, when competitors like thefe contend,
Can furly virtue hope to fix a friend ?
Slaves that with ferious impudence beguile,
And lie without a blufh, without a frriilc;
Exalt each Virtue, ev'ry vice adore,
Your, taifte in fnuffi your judgment in a wh--t».
" For arts like thefe prefefr'd, admir'd, carefs'd,
They firfi invade your table, then your breaft ;
Explore your fecrets with infidious art,
Watcji the weak hour, and ranfack all your heart ;
Then foon your ill-plac'd confidence repay,
Commence your lords, and govern pr betray."
2 Ireland's

APRIL, 1797. 36$
Ireland's Security. — Grave politicians, hearing of
the French invaffon of Ireland, expofe the wildnefe
of the attempt, by arguments drawn from the nature
of the coafl, the fortified flate of the harhours, and
the loyalty of the people. A laugher may affert the
fafety of the Irifh, hy flating a circumftance in the
natural hiftory of Hibernia. St. Patrick having, in
early time, warned all reptiles from his precinct, it
muft be concluded that frogs were among the num
ber: as they form a very "capital article in French
diet, an army of ten thoufand famifhed Monfleurs
would foon make a very flender figure in a country
where not one croak can be heard.

Monday, 17th April.
TCRTHER EVIDENCES OF THE BLESSINGS OP FRENCH
•FRATERNITY TO POOR HOLLAND.
proclamation of the French Commissioners at the Hague,
2ph January, ifo.^.
* Egalite
Unite Jf Indivifibilite"
CT.
Fraternl'te
" The reprefentatives of the people, belonging
to the armies of the north, &c. taking info their
confideration the wants of the army of the Repub
lic, and the neceffity of fupplying it with the objects
of fubfiftence, fupplies of provifion and clothing,
of which it has occafion in the countries where it is
eflablifhed, wifhipg to avoid the means of parti-

* Thefe five words, which grace the head of all their 'frater
nizing proclamations, and poffefs a magic effecl:, have never beea
properly tranflated : the literal translation of them is, '« One fteady
objeft, the liberty which they allow none to fhare with them,
ef equality, plundering friend and foe," cular

266 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
cular requifitions, and the intervention of fubaltern
agents, they think it moft agreeable to addrefs them
felves to the States Genera], and formally invite
them to fupply them, in the fpace of one month, with
the following quantities, viz. 200,000 quintals of
wheat, avoirdupois weight; 5,000,000 of rations
of hay ; 200,000 rations of flraw ; 5,000,000 bufh-
els of corn ; 150,000 pair of fhoes ; 20,000 pair of
boots; 20,000 coats and waiftcoats; 40,000 pair of
breeches; 150,000 pair of pantaloons; 200,000
fhirts; 50,000 hats; to be delivered, further, within
two months, 12,000 oxen. The reprefentatives of
the people anxioufly expect that the States General
will comply with the above requeft, and do every
thing in their power to prevent their fellow-citizens
from being troubled with the forms of a requifition,
always perplexing to the inhabitants, and that they
will ufe every exertion to complete their contingent.
They hope that the flow form of ordinary admini-
ftration, and the doubts of the competence of their
authority, which' may put fome floppage to this ope
ration, may be carefully set aside. They have
a right to -flatter themfelves that all the citizens of the
United States *, and all the conftituted authorities,
will ufe the. fame zeal to fecond their views, and
amicable intentions.
" Every neceffary meafure fhall be taken to fettle\
for the payment of the above articles."
In confequence of the preceding modeft requeft,

'* This proclamation will form a good precedent for the United
States of America, when, by the aid of domeflic traitors, the
French Republic fhall have obtained the fame footing here which
the has obtained in Holland.
_ T They fettled for the payment of this property bv levying
immediately after, a contribution of five millions flerling on the
Wretched inhabitants, ' s- K M
the

APRIL/ 1797. 267
the enflaved States General iffued, on the very fame
day, the following proclamation :
" The States General of the United Provinces to
all who fhall fee or bear thefe prefents, greeting :
Give to know that the reprefentatives of the French
nation, now in this country, have intimated to us,
that it is neceffary that fpeedy provifion fhould be
made of feveral articles, &c. he. (enumerating the
above catalogue). The above-mentioned reprefent
atives have alfo added, that, inftead* of following
the practice introduced in other countries which their
troops have entered, namely, that the requifitions
of fimilar articles have been made, publifhed, and
carried into execution by themfelves, they have
chofen to treat this Republic in another manner,
and thereby prove the inclination of the French na
tion to confider it in the light of an approaching ally,
and, of confequence, have begged of us to effectuate
the delivery of the above-mentioned neceffaries, &c.
Convinced of the neceffity of taking the moft effec
tual meafures for complying with the faid requi
fitions, we have judged that the beft and leaft bur-
denfome method of accomplifhing this object, will
be for the government to contract for the articles in
queftion, and for the respective provinces to furnifh
the neceffary funds.
" We doubt not that the inhabitants will be con
vinced pf the abfolute neceffity of enabling their
provincial fovereigns to furnifh thefe neceffary funds
without the fmallefl delay ; but we think it necef
fary to hold up to all, conjunctly and feverally, the
diftrefs to which they muft expofe themfelves, if
they manifeft the leaft unwillingnefs, or even pro
crastination; for we are intimately perfuaded of- the
ferious intention of the above-mentioned reprefent
atives of the French nation, that their requifitions
fhall be copiplied with, at the appointed time, and
muft therefore mark all, in the moft impreffive man ner,

s68 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ner, that they will have themfelves to blame if mea
fures of force and violence muft be employed to
maintain what we with to fee accomplifhed with the
greateft poffible order and regularity."
The above is one fpecimen of that! fyftem of friend
fhip and generofity which a French hireling in the
Aurora has the impudence to fay has been the in
variable conduct of the French towards Holland.
In a future communication, fome account will be
given of the .manner in which the French Republic
has lately forced upon Holland a form of govern
ment, adapted to the views and defigns of France,
but fo repugnant to the wifhes of the Dutch, as to
have been previoufly rejected by their reprefentatives
in convention, by a majority of more than three to
one, after many days debate.
The King and Wafhington. — The following is taken
from the New-York Daily Advertifer. — When the
King was informed of General Wafhington's vo
luntary refignation of the Prefidency of the United
States, the amiable Monarch exclaimed, " Well,
** now that I'find he can thus difpenfe with power,
*' when his duty commands, I muft declare he is a
" great man *."

Tuesday, i8lh April.
Jefferfon. — Extract of a letter from a gentleman in
Georgia, to his friend in this city, dated March i ,
1797. — " There is one piece of information you
have given me, which, though not very furprifing,
has puzzled me a little. The letter from Jeff  rt

* I fhould be glad to know nvho heard the King fay this. And
1 am very glad that the King, who, in ,1776, was falfely faid to
poffefs every trait that couldf characterize a tyrant, is now called
an " amiable monarch." to

APRIL, 1797. 469
to Madifon, which fpeaks of the Prefident elect in
the moft flattering terms, is perfectly intelligible.
But I have not yet clearly made up my mind what
Mr; J  's motives are for accepting the office
of Vice-prefident, to which he has been elected.
You appear to have fettled the point yourfelf, and
think that he intends to rally the faction round
him, and put himfelf at the head of the French
party. Were this not a fervice of danger, I fhould
think it his intention, as I- have no doubt it is his
with. I have no opinion of the flrength of his
nerves, and I think that he has fagacity enough to
difcover that this French faStion is but a temporary
monfler. It has. produced calamity and defolation
wherever it has appeared. Fortunately for the
world, it bears the principles of its own deftruction
within itfelf. It refembles the mammoth in fome
refoects, which it has pleafed God to extirpate. Had
that deftructive beaft been permitted to continue in
exiftence, all animated nature within his reach muft:
have been fwallowed up. Thefe monfters have both
engaged a confiderable fhare of that gentleman's
attention. I am inclined to believe that fhe publi
cations reflecting his charaxfter and conduct: have
given him a great deal of unhappinefs, as he muft be
fenfible4hat he has deferved a confiderable part, if
not. the whole, of what has been faid of him. By
coming forward and acting a cunning part, he may
expect to get rid of a great deal of that odium,
which he could not hope to remove by continuing
in retirement. After all, it is probable that, when
he defeends from his mountain and mixes in the
world, he will act as I have ftated, or as you fore
tell,, according to circumftances. If the French con
tinue their fucceffes (which God forbid!) he will be
peftilentially rr.ou.blefome. If they meet with their
deferts,.(whieh God. grant !) and are brought to their
fenfes, he wilLflatter, and endeavour ta conciliate. It

270 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
It gives me pleafure to learn that Adet has not met
wrfh the fupport he expected, and that he appears
to be in a ftate of defpondency. The fpears bf
Muriel roufed Satan from the humble condition of
a toad. Should tbe French armies begin again to
play their pranks with fuccefs, I have no doubt that
the fame effect would be produced on Mr. Adet;
we fhould fee again fpring up, " in his own fhape,
the Fiend."

Nelfon in the Battle off Cape St. Vincent. — The
Santiffima Trinidada, a Spanifh fhip of one hundred
and fifty guns, and on board of which the flag of the
Spanifh commander in chief, Don Cordova, was
flying, ftruck to the Victory ; but as fome of our
fhips were about to take poffeflion of her, five frefh
fhips of the enemy came up, and carried her off.
After the action, however, fhe was heard of by the
Britifh fleet as being in tow of a frigate, and fome
of the Britifh fhips, we underfland, were detached in
queft of her ; fo that there was ftill a chance of her
being taken.
Commodore (now Rear-admiral) Nelfon, we un-?
derftand, behaved with the moft unexampled en
terprife and intrepidity. His pendant was flying
on board the Captain of feventy-four guns — he or
dered the commander of that fhip to lay him on
board the Salvador del Mundo. This order was
inftantly obeyed, and the gallant Commodore, at the
head of the boarders, was the firft to enter the
enemy's fhip, which he almoft immediately carried.

Wednesday, 19th April.
Queen of France defended by Play fair. — It is well
known that the fanguinary Convention, in order tp
flifile all eompaflion for the fufferings of Marie
Antoinette, and finally, to juflify the murder they had

APRIL, i?97. 27 1
had refolved to commit, charged her with every fpe-
cies of criminality, calculated to create difguft and
deteftation ; nor can it be forgotten, that, in the
profecution of this humane and honourable work,
they received confiderable aid from a very great
majority of the newfpapers in America. Think
not, gentle reader, that I am going to add to the
volumes of calumny that you have heard vomited
forth againft this ill-fated princefs. My intention is
to refcue her memory from the opprobrium which
has been heaped on it with fo unfparing a hand,
and with fo much injuftice ; and, in fo doing, to
refcue the American prefs from the difgrace of being
the paffive undifcriminating tool of popular ' pre
judice. The following extract is taken from Playfair's
Hiftory of Jacobinifm, vol. ii. p. 1 25. P. P.
*f To prepare the people for the judgment of the
detained reprefentatives, and to divert them from the
lofs of Valenciennes, the Convention thought proper
to gratify their thirft of blood, and its own venge
ance, by bringing to the laft punifhment the un
fortunate Queen.
" Vengeance and favage ferocity were, however,
on this occafion completely humiliated by the calm,
mild, and dignified behaviour of an injured and
intuited princefs. Never has the world been witnefs
to a feene where more modeft and becoming dignity
was difplayed by the accufed, nor where lefs regard
was paid to decency, truth, humanity, and juftice,
by the accufers.
" All Europe had been filled with libels and af-
perfions againft the Queen of France, even in the
days of her power and profperity ; and what the at
tachment of her friends could never accompliih, the
infamous accufations of her enemies effected in a
moment. Calumny was filenced, and not a doubt left

272 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
left with sefpeet to the purity of a reputation fo oftcrt
and fo unjuftly attacked.
" Neither offers of reward, nor threats of venge
ance, had been able to procure one fingle proof of
criminality or vice againft the widow of the unfortu
nate King, whom, in order to find guilty, though a
flranger, unprotected and alone, her enemies faw
themfelves reduced to the neceffity of employing the
moft difgraceful, abominable, and abfurd of all ex
pedients ; her infant fon was intoxicated, and at the
fuggeftion of that mifcreant Hebert, whofe name
alope brings to mind every thing that is vicious or
wicked, the affectionate carefles of a mother to a
child of nine years of age were conftrued by thofe
monfters into a crime, the committing of which
would be unnatural, if it were not impoffible *.
* " Hebert publifhed a paper called the P.eredu Ghene, in which
oath3, blafphemies, and obfcenities, filled up two thirds, at leaft, of
every fentence : it would be neceffary to have feen a fpecimen of
that precious morfel, in order to form an idea of the talents of its
author, and the refined tafte of the Parifian fans-culottes. Well,
this fame Hebert propofed to bring the young Prince into court,
and queftion him, after having him in a ftate of intoxication ; not
that even then he could be brought to accufe his mother, but quef-
tions were to be afked in fuch a way, that the anfwers might be
conftrued unfavourably for the mother. This artifice was fb glar
ing, that even the judges of the revolutionary tribunal objected to
it; the fpe&ators, they faid, would fee through it: an examination
was then "fabricated by Hebert and fome of his companions. Even
the fatellites of the tribunal found this accufation too abominable
and abfurd, to which tbe Queen very properly refufed to anfwer,
but by an ' appeal to the hearts and feelings of all mothers.'
" Hebert was the projector of the worfhip of Reafon'; his mif-
trefs perfonated that Goddefs of Reafon ; but Robefpierre's feaft in
-honour of the Supreme Beingdid away all this, the defpot having
previoufly fent both the oracle and the goddefs to the guillotine.
Paris was never difpofed to be more gay than when the Pere du
Chene mounted the fcaffold; even the executioner mocked and in-
iulted him, to the great delight of the fpe&ators. Such circum-.
itances lead to a hope, that all fentiment of juftice is not yet banifh*
ed from the minds even of the Parifians, and that the- day may yet
come, when all the companions of his crimes will be treated in the
fame manner."
"The

APRIL, 1797.' 273
. *{ The Qufeen of France had long fuffered every
intuit and humiliation which it was poffible for her
(enemies to invent ; and certainly if Frenchmen had
retained any of that humanity and feeling which
they pretended to poffefsj the departments and the
whole pf France would have joined in demanding
for her that refpect which is due to misfortune, and
that juftice which is due to a defencelefs ftranger.
Such a ftep would have been highly honourable.
There was no reafon for not doing fo, as it could
have been attended neither with tumult nor danger.
But the French nation has fhown, that with a fuper-
abundant vanity, and pretenfions to every virtue, it
pfofleffes none ; and that it would be better for de
fencelefs innocence to be in a cavern of robbers in a
foreft, than to be before the revolutionary tribunal
of Paris.
• ' As the character, the rank, and the accomplifh-
ments of this unfortunate Queen, have infpired her.
advbcates v?ith a warmth of expreffion that is very
natural and excufable, though ill fitted to convince
the malicious, it may not be improper to prove, as
far as probable evidence can go, that the Queen of
France was totally irreproachable on the fubject o(
fidelity to the marriage- bed; This digreffion, it is
hoped, will be excufed, when it is remembered that
many of thpfe who once flourifhed in the funfhine
Pf her favour, contributed by their own levity of con
duct, as well as by their filence, to fupport calum
nies which it would have been their duty and their
intereft to contradict ; and when we have the ex
ample of whole vplumes being written to vindi
cate the characters of queens, who, though perhaps
more beautiful, were certainly not more accomplifh-
ed, were lefs unfortunate, and much more liable to
reproach, than the daughter of Maria Terefa, It
will be a relief tP us, after cpntemplating the horrors
vol. v. t and

374 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
and villanies Pf men, to dwell for a moment on the
virtues of an amiable woman. .
<c We' ought in the firft place to confider, that in
nocence, unlefs when the charges are direa, can
never be proved by pofitive evidence •, we muft be
contented with probable evidence, as the nature oi
things dPes not admit of any other. _•'
" The court of France was in a very corrupted,'
diforderly ftate> when the late Queen arrived, and was
married to the Dauphin. The example of a king,
who in his latter days had given a loofe to debau
chery, was followed with eagernefs amongft a nobi
lity naturally given to the fame fort of vice.
" At that fame time Madame du Barry *, raifed
from being upon the town, in a -very inferior flyle,
to be miftrefs of the King, difpenfed the royal fa
vour amongft the courtiers, and of confequence the-
young German Princefs made her entry in the midfl
of cabals, intrigues, and enemies. Open, amiable*
and generous, fhe foon had friends ; but, innocent
and unfufpecting, fhe expofed herfelf to the flander
of her enemies, from which thofe friends could not
protect her.
" When, after the death of his grandfather, Louis
XVLbegan to reign, his Ample manner of life, his
want 'of tafte for the plealures and diffipations of the
court, contrafled with the love of fplendour carried
too far, and of gaiety, which the Queen did not at
tempt to conceal, gave room for the courtiers at
Verfailles and the people of Paris, fo much addicted
to fcandal, to fufpicion, and fo much accuftomed to
find fcandal and fufpicion juflified by the loofenefs

¦ * "Madame du Barry condu fled, herfelf, however, on moft oc-
cafions, with a moderation and prudence that did _her gl-eat
honour. The old King was not fo prudent as his young miftrefs,
and often not fo juft."
Of

APRIL, 1797. 275
of their own conduct, to raife thofe reports, which,
fpreading all over Europe, tarnifhed her character *.
" The French always judge of others by them
felves ; it is the failing of their nation, and they did not
cbnfider that a Princefs, defeended from one of the
moft illuftrious and the proudefl families in Europe,
and who was accufed by themfelves of having too
much Auftrian pride, would have been irreparably
humiliated and. ruined, had fhe put herfelf for 3.
moment in the power of any perfon upon this deli-
cafe fubject.
" But levity, and the national character of the
French, did not alone contribute to fpread and cir
culate thefe reports. The Duke of Orleans, and all
his adherents and affociates, exerted themfelves to
give plaufibility and probability to defamation ; and
particular circumftances which malignity had con
trived, were circulated by unfufpicious credulity.
" The levellers, who began to with for that fyf
tem which they have finee feen realized, feized upon,
this occafion to degrade royalty ; the King of France
was laughed at and turned into ridicule ; and before
the revolution began no two perfons 'in the kingdom
were fo much mifunderftood, as to their real charac
ters, as the King and Queen.
" A myfterious affair of a trick played upon the
Cardinal de Rohan, about a diamond necklace-f~, by
fome of thofe fortune-hunters, male and female, who
fwarmed

* " The turn of the French for this fort of fcandal was fo great,
that, by becoming univerfal, it feemed to have rendered their man
ner of fpreading it an affair of courfe."
•J- " This affair of the necklace was merely a trick pracTifed on
the Cardinal, who had been ambaffador at Vienna when the fcheme
of the marriage bf Louis XVI. firft took place. He had tried
rather to prevent the union, and, as he did not fucceed, was not
in the good graces of the parties after it had taken place. The
Cardinals had always been furrounded wjth adventurers, who pre
tended to have difcovered the art of making gold, and other va-
t 2, * luable

^6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fw armed in Paris, in which the Queen had been per-J
fonated bv a Mademoifelle Oliva, who refernblecl
her confiderably in features and perfon, made a noife
all over Europe ; and as this affair was never pro
perly fearched to the bottom and explained, many
people believed the Queen was actually one of the
adventurers who duped the Cardinal.
" In France, as the firft impreffion is generally
yielded to, things are feldom much examined and
compared, otherwife the Queen fhould either have
been acquitted of this, or, if not, acquitted of the
accufation of lavifhing away millions every week ;
for if fhe had fuch fums at her command, how could
any one fuppofe that.alady, who never fhowed that
fhe would floop to play a mean part, fliould, for the
fake of fo fmall a fum, put herfelf into the hands of
her enemies ; and, in fhort, become the affociate of
half a dozen miferables, who would, probably,
flnifh by dividing the fpoils among themfelves ? This
was ridiculous. The flory of the necklace * would
have been barely probable, if the Queen had been
a mean-fpirited woman, who had not any means of
procuring money to defray her extravagancies -f.
" Such were the caufes that operated principally

luable fecrets in chemiftry : a plan was formed by fome of thefe
adventurers to dupe him out of a great fum of money, upon the
idea that the Queen wifhed to be poffeffed of this necklace, and
that ,f he could procure it he would get into favour at court."
, "The value of the necklace was only i,A<SQ 000 livres. or
SffiS for' hie r^ C0U^ ^ fcI! ** ha* ^ °™° 2 ri
diculous for thofe fame perfons, who accufed the Queen of giving
SSS^wtdSKa charge required fome proof, and ^Z^i^..'**
tJr £ , ^W11 was, that fl,e did this tobe ,e™d of
^no\n^^
Which the Queen had, on fo manv occafons/both before 2T'
nng the revolution, manrfefted. To r^l^XZ^o rt
tahate, was known to be her maxim with refpea to enemie>>*

in

APRIL, 1797. 077
in making injurious reports be fpread ; and theQueep,
who, though preferving dignity, through which a
confiderable fhare of pride could be feen, was good-
natured in tlie extreme, was unfufpecting, familiar,
and generous : fhe had banifhed from her private fo-
cieties the fliff etiquette of a court, which feemed
the more ftrange in a Princefs who came from a
country where court etiquette is carried to) an ex
treme ; this gave a fort of probability to the accufa-
tions which were brought againft her.
" The facts, however, were quite different. The
Queen was generous, and loved power ; but fhe
had no other means of gratifying thofe, which were
her ruling paflions, than by preferving the affection
and confidence of her hufband; and it may be af-
ferted, without danger of being contradicted by thofe
who approached thefe two perfonages the neareft,
that the King was literally in love with the Queen
(amour eux d'elle) during the whole of their union ;
and that, though her turn for expenfe vexed him to
the heart, in other refpects fhe enjoyed his full con
fidence and efteem ; and it is certain that the Queen
made no other ufe of this afcendancy fo obtained
over her hufband, than to make her friends and thofe
around her happy.
" Thofe who imagine that the King of France
would have fubmitted peaceably to any thing that
looked like a ferious indignity offered, knew nothing
of his character *. Like moft good-natured, plain,
honefl men, the King was quite ungovernable when
he found people were unjuft, or treated him ill ; he

* " Since the revolution, if the King did not fhow this difpo
fition, he only a£led like other prifoners, who know that ill-hu
mour only doubles the evil ;. but when things ufed to vex him
from wilful extravagance or mifmanagement, few people were
more difficult to keep within bounds. This is often the cafe with
svell-meaning men." T 3 then

27B GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
then became unmanageable and obftinate, to a vio
lent degree; and if the Queen had once committed
an irreparable fault, he certainly would not have par
doned her, and from that inftant Ihe would have
loft her ppwer over him.
" Thofe again, who think that the Queen could
ever have been guilty of infidelity without the King
knowing any thing of the matter, are ftill more mif-
taken. We have obferved, that fhe commenced her
career at Verfailles in the midft of enemies ; and that
fhe never was without fuch, the flanders which we
are refuting is a proof: thofe enemies never loft fight
of her motions ; and if the fmalleft ground had been
given for ferious -fufpicions, it would immediately
have been turned by them to their advantage.
" Thofe who were friends to the Queen *, and who
depended upon her bounty, or, at leaft, who pro
fited of her bounty, were as much inferefted in
watching her conduct, to prevent any thing that
might deftroy her influence and blaft their hopes, as
her enemies were to watch for fuch an event ; fo that
on all hands the Queen was furrounded with fpies,
and the fharpefl of all fpies, thofe who were looking
after their own intereft.
Nothing, therefore, would have been fo foolifh
or unnatural in a Princefs who had ambition, who
knew her dignity and fupported it well, though not
by fliffnefs and etiquette, as to have rifked all, and
run fo headlong into a feene of difgrace and humi
liation, as nothing could be more impoffible than to
efcape difcovery and the fa|al confequences.
" Scandal, fupported by envy and felf-intereft,
firft robbed the Queen of France of her reputation ;
and they were facilitated in their enterprife . by the

* " It is a great reproach to many gentlemen who were pro
tected by this amiable Queen, to have permitted fufpicions to be
whifpered that difgraced fo generous a friend." - levity

APRIL. 1797- 279
levity of the age, and by the high rank and profpe-^
rity of their victim. A cruel reverie, and the unexr
ampled fortitude, temper, and patience, with which
fhe bore it, have however proved, that fhe was an
affectionate wife, a tender mother, and a Princefs
who knew, on all occafions, how to fuppprt her
own dignity better than how to punilh her ene

mies *."

Thursday, ( 20th April.
Sir,
In your paper of Saturday I read a bungling
though well-meant piece of wit, refpecting the
ftarvation the French would have experienced, had
they effected a landing in Ireland, fuppofing that
country to be deftitute of frogs. St. Patripk's in
fluence did not extend to fuch innocent animals, and
the ifland abounds in them ; but as if extends to all
venomous reptiles, the French, had they landed,
would moft probably have met the fate of other ani
mals, equally poifonous, which many of the curious
have attempted to introduce into that happy climate,
nfudden death. An Irishman.
Newark, April 18th, 1797.
Madam Tallien. — Paris, March 3. — MadamTallien
has left her hufband. The particulars of this falling
out of lovers, which our dramatic poets will, as oc
cafion fuits them, convert into a tragedy, a comedy,
a comic opera, or even a farce, deferve to be re-

* " To all thefe ought to be added, that if there had been any
guilt, her enemies would have found the means of bringing.it
home on her trial ; they had the inclination, and they wjuld not
want the means ; but this is fo evident a vindication arifing from
the trial itfelf, that it is not neceffary to infift upon it : that the
Queen was innocent is dear ; the above vindication is meant to
fhow hoivjhe txjas fuppofed to he guilty."
t 4 corded.

«8o GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
corded. Madam Tallien was furprifed by her huf
band, as fhe was embracing Madam de F. the wife
of an emigrant. Tallien, purfued by gloomy
images, accufed his wife of being connected with
perfons who meditated his deftrudtion, and who had
even lifted the poniard againft him ; he dragged
Mad3c> Tallien away, and gave himfelf up to every
fpecie^ of fury, and even of actual violence. Madam
Tallien, alarmed, left him, and went to feek an
afylum at the houfe of a woman with whom fhe was
acquainted ; placed herfelf under her protection, and
informed her of the refolution fhehad taken to with
draw herfelf for ever from thofe perils. Some of her
old friends called there to fee her. Fear purfued
her, and fhe every moment thought fhe faw Tallien
madly entering the rpom, warmed with piflols. At
the end of two days fhe was forced to return to her
home, to look for fome things. Tallien was there in
waiting for her : he threw himfelf at her feet, put a
dagger info her hand, and implored her to flrike,
faying, that he was a mpnfler, a madman ; and, in
fhprt, calling himfelf, ip his defoair, by all thofe
names with which the journalifls have long branded
him. Madam Tallien repulfed him at firft, then
wept, and at laft was foftened into forgivenefs. No
thing, it is determined, fhall henceforth difturb the
felicity of this happy couple.
Such, reader, are the lords of the land of liberty
and equality ! Suph is the morality, fuch the virtue
of the legiflatprs of France ! What difmal, woml
tales have we not heard of the acts of tyranny
brought about by the miflreffes of the Kings of
France ? of this and that poor gentleman whom they
caufed to be immured in the Baflile? Perhaps a
dozen fuch inflanees of their influence are to be found
on record ; while this ftrumpet of Tallien, has
already fent fcores to the guillotine, and no one fays
$ word about the matter. A people capable of bend- in°f >¦¦*.

APRIL, 1757. a8i
jng the neck to the riotous oppreflion of common
whores and their culls, ought never to tafte of
liberty, fafety, or comfort : they deferve to be chained
for life, to be treated like beafts of burden.
Tallien and his ftrumpet feem to be among thofe
who bear a confpicuous part in avenging on the
French the murder of their mild and >• gentle Mo
narch. May they not fpare them 1 may they lath
them like hounds ! { fhould not be forry to fee this
princefs of cut-throats putting a flambeau to every
©ne of their cities. No earthly punifhment is fufii-r
cient for fuch degraded, degenerate wretches.
Bradford and Co.— The Merchants1 Daily Adver
tifer of this day has the following curious query :
*' Are not the generous prifons of France fehools of
freedom for hundreds and thoufands of her ene
mies ?"
This queftion, addreffed to the people of America
at this moment, while hundreds of their countrymen
lie in the dungepns of St. Domingo and Guadaloupe,
is, I think, the moft daring outragp that ever was
committed on the feelings of a nation.
Spch a queftion is, perhaps, beft anfwered by ano
ther, viz. " Are not the generous prifons, Newgate
and the jail of Bengal, moft excellent feminaries for
the education of the conductors of a patriotic newf-
paper ?"
American Magnanimity. — Extract of a letter from
a refpectable houfe at Port-au-Prince,, dated 27th
March, 1797.— t" The Americans are at prefent
" protected by Government, fo as to put them in
e( fafety on their paffages both out and home ;
*' Veffels of war convoy them off, and there are
" frigates which protect their entrance into your
" ports, and orders are given for a continuation of
f this protection.-— Three thoufand troops arrived " at

28a GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" at the Mole On the % ift, and were expected to be
" fent up againft that neft for pirates, Leogane."
And do the Americans, I wonder, fubmit to be
convoyed by the Britifh fhips of war ? Would it not
be far preferable to fall into the hands of the repub
licans, be whipped and laid in irons ? What free
and independent man, what fovereign citizen and
citizen fovereign, would demean himfelf by accepts
jng of protection from " the flaves of the tyrant
*-' Guelph !" — Alas! how have the people of this
country been amufed, deceived, their, good fenfe
infulted, for thefe four years paft ! Nothing in the
annals of the world bears the leaft refemblance to
the infatuation, the fort of voluntary blindnefs; ia
which they have been walking.

Friday, 21st April.
Lloyd, Bradford, & Co.- — Extract of a letter from
Cadiz to a refpectable mercantile houfe in this city,
dated 20th February. " Captain .Surer will, no
*' doubt, inform you of the engagement which took
" place the < 14th inftant, about forty leagues eaft
•' of this place. We have as yet learnt nothing of
*' the affair further than that it was the Spanifh
" fquadron commanded by Don Jofeph de Cordova,
" compofed of twenty-four fhips of the line, feven
" of which were three deckers, and the Englifh
" fleet confifting of fifteen fhips. It commenced
" at three quarters paft eleven in the morning, and
" was vigorously kept up till half paft eleven in the
" evening, at which time the Admiral's fhip, the
" Trinidad, a heavy, unwieldy veffel, feparated,
" much fhattered, and was towed off by one of the
" fleet. The Admiral with his principal officers
" went on board the Diana, where he made moft
" vigorous exertions, and, it is faid, much injured
*' the enemy. , « A thou-

APRIL, 1797. , 283
te A thoufand conjectures are made here, accord-
" ing to the difpofitions of the authors, concerning.
" the event of this dreadful engagement, which, it
" is expected, will make a new epoch in maritime
" hiftory, and perhaps deftrpy the mean opinion in
" which the Englifh hold the Spanifh navy, as well
" as infpire it with a juft idea of its own fuperiority
" and ability to conquer, from the goodnefs and
" number of its fhips, oppofed to the vafour and dif-
e,e . cipline which is generally attributed to the Englifh.
" I am inclined to think the Englifh have been
" worfted ; perhaps I am miftaken : time, however,
" will determine. Should any further accounts ar-
'" rive before I clofe this letter, I will inform you."
Sir John Jervis's (now Lord, St. Vincent's) victory
over the Dons does not yet go down with the conduc
tors' of the Aurora the Second, from which the above
is taken. The other day they deducted thirty-eight
guns from one of his prizes ; and, in order entirely
to efface the glory of the day, they not only made a
deduction from the Spanifh fleet, but made every
fhip in it fail backwards, following the rudder in
place of the bowfprit. Now they conjure up a new
tale, by which another fhip is fubtracted from the
flrength of the Spaniards, and which completes the
attempt at deception : the reader is left to believe that
the Englifh were beaten. This is an exact imitation
of Bache's account of the Carmagnoles' victory over
Lord Howe.
The writer of this " extract of a letter," which I
flirewdly fufpect was penned in fome dirty hole in
Philadelphia, inftead of at Cadiz, leaves his corre
fpondent to gather information from the Captain re-
fpeeting the engagement, telling him that he knows
hardly any thing about the matter. We might afk
him, if the Captain could tell us about it, why he
could not have told him about it alfo. But, to fay
the truth, the writer himfelf appears to havp known a great

\U GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
a great deal about it ; for, immediately after excus
ing himfelf on account of want of information, he
not only tells. his correfpondent the name of the Spa
nifh commander, the flrength of his fleet and that
of the enemy, but mentions the exact hour when the
action began, and when it ceafed; and even gives a
detailed defcription of it, concluding with an eulogium
" on the moft vigorous exertions" of Don Cordova. The
fame modefty, 1 fuppofe, that induced him to plead
ignorance of the-affair, prevented him from taking
notice of the four fhips of ihe line taken by the Eng
lifh. This was left for the Captain to relate ; or,
indeed, it might be thought a circumftance too tri
fling to be honoured with a place in an extract of
iiich importance. The writer does, however,- fay
fomething even about the refult of this affair, that he-
knew nothing hardly about. He thinks (mind, he
don't fwear to it) that the Englifh have been worfted ;
and tells his friend, that the victory ¦" will infpire
the Spanifh fleet with a jufl confidence in its own
fuperiority f*
To remark on the infolence of fuch a barefaced
attempt to deceive and delude the inhabitants of this
city, who are in poffeffion of the official account of
this moil glorious difplay of Britifh difcipline and
bravery, would be ufelefs ; but to notice the motive
of fuch mifreprefentations is neceffary, becaufe they
are not, as is generally. fuppofed, to be attributed to
ftupidity, but to fomething infinitely worfe.
.„ f ° ^tQl the power and valour of the French and
their allies and to reprefent Great Britain as in a
fallen and feeble ftate, thereby exciting in the minds
foATl rrSanr?d0f fte f°rmer' a"d a exempt
for the latter : thefe are the objects which the Mer
chants Advertifer, as well as all the other fans-
culotte prints, kept fleady in view. The confe-
quence they hope to produce is too evident : an M m
fondimial fubmtfjion to the will of the plundering, Z~-
perious^

APRIL, 1797. 285
ferious, and impious defpots of Paris. That fuch is the
eafe in the inftance before us, the reader need only
be told, that the Conductor in Chief was the author
of the infolent and feditious letter to General Wafh
ington under the fignature of Ja/per Dwight.
Mr. Pinckney. — The following reflections, taken
from a Paris paper of February 16, are well worth
our notice. " Should any European power take it
" into its head to declare to our ambaffador, ' You
*' are not to my liking ; you belong to a party that
" is oppofed to my views ; you are a friend to thofe
" who have aflifted in the forming of fuch a treaty
" of alliance and commerce ; therefore your go-
" vernment was wrong in fending you to our re-
" public. Quit the country, and go tell thofe who
" have fent you, that we with for a man of prin-
" ciples more analogous to ours; tell them betides,
" that the new Director (to be chofen in Gerniinal
" next) does not pleafe us ; that he has not a re-
"• publican phiz ; that he has the look of a man
" who favours the Bourbbn family, and French no-
" bility ; that we want one quite Jacobinic, or at
'« leaft Orleanift.' I now afk the queftiop,
" What would the Executive Directory do 1. What
" would the two Councils bring forth ? Vengeance !
" War unto death ! would be the exclamation of
" our reprefentatives. We muft confound the jnfo-
ft fence of that nation !
" The Republic has juft ordered Mr. Pinpkney
" to withdraw ; is it not to be feared that national
" pride will require reparations for this infult ? No ;
" the Americans will, not quarrel with us ; in order
" to difappoint the fcherrjes of their natural enemies,
,{ the Englifh, they will know how to diffemble."
Thefe reflections, and the confident prediction
with which they are followed, fully prove, that the
French are convinced that they have injured and
infulted us ; and th^t they are equally convinced we

a&6 Gazette selections.
we do not poffefs the fpirit to refent it. I hope the
beft; but I am much afraid they will not be difap-
pointed. This is the age of degeneracy.
It is curious to obferve alfo how exactly they have
hit upon the caufe of our tamenefs. We fhall dif-
femble — that is, hold our tongues ; . put up with every
outrage they offer us, fuffer our ambaffador to be
fcoffed at, menaced with the guard-houfe like a
drunken foldier ; and all this " to difappoint the
Englifh r
Abfurd, brutifhly ftupid as this appears, and as
it really is, it is neverthelefs the motive for fubmif-
fion that the partifans of France, and even fome of
thofe who are not, hold out to us. Could we make
war on them with fuccefs, fay they, without the
aid of Great Britain, it would be well enough ; but
to aid her, or be aided by her, muft not be thpught
of: rather than that, let us fuffer robbery, infult,
humiliation, nay, everlafling difgrace and infamy.
This is the language that the crafty and infidious
foe wifhes to hear.' Only let the French be certain,
that you will always keep in this mind, and you will
have them on your coaft in fix months. — Only let
them be certain that your prejudice againft the Bri
tifh is ftrong enough to get the better of your own
intereft and honour, and they will foon flrip you of
your property, your government, and your independ
ence.

Saturday, 22,a April.
Lying American Prefs. — Take jsotice, good mer
chants '! — Your yefterday's Advertifer fays, " By
" the Aurora, Captain Suter, we have received the
*' Madrid Gazette, and other mifeellaneous Spanifh
" prints down to the middle of February : in them
" we find details of the political and military occur-
«' rences of Europe and America, expreffed with
4 " the

APRIL, 1797. aSj
** the fame unreftrained freedom as in our public
<e papers; the letters of Buonaparte and Morcauy
'? the valedictory addrefs of General Wafhington,
ff the proceedings on the introduction of Prefident
" Adams to office, and his fpeech on the occafion*
" are amPng the leading articles ; and among the
" publications ,advertifed, • and critically noticed,
" are, The Utopia of. Sir Thomas More, Har-
li rington's Oceana, and the Works of Thomas
" Paine, tranflated from a Philadelphia edition."
Now, I will not call on you to flare at the Spanifh
liberty of the prefs, and the good effects which it is
hoped Tom Paine's works will produce among the
Dons ; all I want you to notice is, that Prefident
Adams's inauguration fpeech, which was delivered
here on the 4th of March, was publifhed in the
Madrid Gazette on or before the 15th of February.
' Wafhington and the Editor of the Leyden Gazettei—
From a Bofton paper. — The refpectable editor of the
Leyden Gazette, at the conclufion of the addrefs, of
the late Prefident to his felloW-citizens of September
laft, inferted in his paper, makes the following re
marks :
" Such is the conclufion of a peace, which com-
" pletely places the illuftrious Wafhington in the
" rank, not only of the greateft men of all ages, but
" ''(what is more) in the rank of the moft generous,
et the moft wife, the moft virtuous. The founder of
*.' a great republic by his courage and his military
" talents, he has been ftill more its, founder, in
" confojidating it by his firm> prudent, and juft:
" adminiflration ; by the refpect which his difin-
ic terefted character and his enlightened underftand-
" ing have infpired even in his enemies and his ca-
" lumniators (for virtue, however pure, is never with-
ie out them), in fine, by his perfonal example, which " ha*

aS8 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
«' has made him the model of his refpectable fellow^
*' citizens."
As to me, in my arduous career, which the wic-s
kednefs of mankind has often planted with thorns*
in the career of a public journal ift, which I have evef
laboured " to render ufeful to my cotemporaries, it
" is to me a fatisfadtion which I feel with the live-
" lieft fenfibility to have always known in Wafh-*
" ington the hero, the legiflator, the fage, and the
<c virtuous man *."

Monday, 24th April.
The lying Year of 1794. — The late pitiful attempts'
Wade by fome of the public prints, to leffen, if not
totally efface, the honour gained by the Britifh fleet
in their combat with the Dons off Cape St. Vincent>
feems to have recalled to the mind of an obliging
correfpondent the year 1 794, ever famed as the sera of
falfehood. He has enclofed me an article of news
from the Philadelphia Gazette of Auguft 28th, which
is curious enough, particularly as it bears fuch an
exact refemblance to the "extracts of letters," which
fome of my brethren are now amufing the publie
with.

* This hyperbolical praife might be excufable in the editor ofa
foreign gazette, but it was not very modeft in the Bofton editor to
copy it. Aftonifhing has been the blindnefs of the world with re-
fpeft to every thing relating to the Americans and their revolu-^
tion ! It is curious to obferve the conclufion of the Leyden editor.
He was vaftly taken up with Wafhington, but not fo much fo as
entirely to forget himfelf. Wafhington he proclaims to b'e the firft
man in the world, and. he feems to give us a broad hint, that he is
ftis fecond.

News

APRIL, 179^. 1289
News direct from France! — " Captain Bramble
has favoured the editor with the following letter :
" Letter from Julien, Member of the Executive
Commiffion of Public Inftruction, fent by the
Committee of Public Safety to Bourdeaux.
" Breft, 3oPrairial, l'an z (iSthJune, 1794).
*c The armed fleet arrived at Breft the 23d Prai-
" rial (nth June). Two fucceflive combats took
" place the 10th and 13th (29th May and ift Junej;
" the Englifh fleet confifted of thirty-four veffels
" of the line, nine of them three-deckers ; and the
" French of twenty-fix fail of the line, three of
*e them three-deckers.
" In three hours feventeen veffels were difmafted,
" ten Englifh, and feven French. Two Englifh
(c fhips of the line, and one three-decker, were funk.
t( We have difabled one half of the fleet, and
" damaged the reft. They were feen almoft about
" mid-channel, retreating in the greateft diforder.
" We are now mafters of the fea, and expect: in
" two days to fail with a ftrong fquadron."
This was publifhed without any comment on its
falfehood, though. Lord Howe's official account of
his victory , had been publifhed about a fortnight
before. This official account of Julien was to
balance againft that of the Britifh Admiral, and, as
the fans-culotte came laft, it flood the beft chance
of belief among the grofs of newfpaper readers.
Thus it is that the people have been deceived apd
mifled. Thoufands believe to this day that Lord
Howe gained no victory at all. The newfpaper
publifhers have treated the people of thefe States
(as far as they have been able) juft as the Conven
tion has treated the French.
American political Parties.— It is well known that
from the firft organization of our government, there
vol. v. v ha$

290 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
has exifted a party in oppofition to it, and that this
party has been continually increafing, by attaching
to itfelf the oppofers of the funding and banking
fyftem, the mint and naval eflablifhment, the French
zealots, the reftlefs and ambitious, and, in fhort,
all the difappointed in fortune or politics, the rapa
cious and difcontented of every defcription ; but it
has not been fo well known, or fo generally under-
flood, that the French government has all along
co-operated with this party in every meafure it has
attempted. Though, at firft blufh, every one muft
have feen, that, at the commencement of the Euro
pean war, it was for the intereft of France to com
bine all the commercial part of the world againft
Great Britain, thereby to weaken her overgrown
marine ftrength, and reduce her naval force ; and
although the conduct of Genet* Fauchet, and Ran
dolph, gave ftrong indications that France patron-
ifed and foftered the oppofition to the adminiftration
and meafures of our government in every thing re
lating to the prefervation of our neutrality; yet
fuch has been our confidence in the purity and juf
tice of that nationfrefulting perhaps from our own in
tegrity), that we have attributed all thofe proceedings
to the enthufiaftic zeal of a reftlefs party in France,
rather than to fuppofe that they werfe dictated by
any fettled policy of that government, firmly be
lieving that fhe could not be fo loft, not only to a
fenfe of juftice, but even humanity, as to facrifice
the intereft, peace, and happinefs of an innocent
unoffending nation to her own ambition. I believe
it is ftill lefs known, that there has been continually
a number of native Americans' in Paris correfpond-
ing with the malcontents in America, and exerting
every faculty of the foul, to excite that government
to a cp-operation with the oppofition here ; for no
pne could,' without blufhing, fuppofe that an Ame
rican could be fo abandoned to every fentiment of
V juftice,

APRIL* 1 797 j 291
juftice, integrity, honour,' or liberty, and independ
ence. But, fhocking to our feelings as it may be,
we have been moft egregioufly miftaken as to both
thefe points.
Though the objects of thofe called democrats, in
America, have been various: fome wifhing to effect;
an alteration in the conftitution ; fome defirous of
overturning the funding and banking fyftems 5 fome
the mint and naval eftablifhments; others partak
ing in the fympathetic frenzy infpired by the French
revolution and extending their chimerioal views to
the regeneration of the world, by revolutionizing
all nations, and fome attempting to deftroy our own
government: thefe, however various in their ob
jects, have all united in meafures, and, carrying
along with them that numerous clafs of difappoint^-
edj reftlefs, and .ambitious individuals, always fo
be found in every government, formed fuch an op
pofition to our Executive, and meafures of Admipi-
ftration, as gave juft grounds for France to fuppofe
"that the fentiments of the great mafs and body of
the people here coincided with her intereft ; and
that, if this fentiment could be left to act without
control, and was not checked in its operations by
our Executive, America would at any time be ready
voluntarily to abandon her neutrality, throw herfelf
into the feale of France, and unite with her againft
the commercial ftrength of Britain. At an early
period, a fvvarm of fpectilators from America, like a
numerous flock of vultures collecting round a mafiy
carcafs deftined for their prey, reforted to Paris, to
feize on the immenfe quantities of floating property in
that country, occafioned by ihe revolution. Succefs
equalled their enterprife. They acquired vaft fums,
and became deeply interefted in the French revo
lutionary funds. In proportion fo their intereft thus
fituated, have been their zeal and anxiety for the efta-
blifhment and permanency of the French goyern-
v 2 ment.

$92 GAZETTE StL&uiiONS.
ment. This anxious zeal flimulated them on to em
ploy every artful intrigue toinfluence that government
to interpofe her artful fway in directing the policy of
ours. As many of thofe fpeculators were men of ta
lents as well as wealth, and as France was flattered
by her own intereft as well as thofe appearances in
America ; it is not furprifing that fhe fhould be
wrought upon to add her influence to the faction
here. This you may be affured was the cafe. A tri
ple alliance between the oppofition in America, the
American fpeculators in France, and the French
government, was early formed for the purpofe of
throwing America into the fcale of France, and
making her a party in the war ; and as the only ob-
flacle in the completion of this object was fuppofed
to be the Executive, their whole artillery has been
uniformly levelled againft that great fortrefs of Ame
rican liberty, peace, and independence. From the
joint influence and intrigues of this combination have
originated all the clamours againft Britifh influence,
Britifh. bribery, and Britifh gold ; the calumnies
againft the Prefident, the proceedings of Genet,
erecting of democratic focieties to cenfore the mea
fures of Government, perfecution of Mr. Hamilton,
conduct: of Randolph and Fauchet, all the noife
about Jay and the treaty, &c. &c. &c. ; all of which
was evidently calculated to raife the jealoufy of the
people ; while pedagogues were declaiming, and
hireling feribblers and printers continually publifhing
inflammatory pieces to increafe that jealoufv, and
infpire the fame enthufiafm as reigned in France.
Whoever will recollect that at the commencement of
the European war our Executive affumed a neutral
ground in refpect to all the belligerent powers ; and
will take a retrofpect of occurrences, will at once
fee that all the meafures of Adminiftration have
been invariably directed to a fcrupulous obfervance
and fupport of that neutrality ; while on the other
hand,

APRIL, 1797. agj
hand, every meafure of the oppofition has been uni*
formly directed to a violation of it, or to the de-
flrudtion of the Executive itfelf, on which its foppor|
has effentially depended.
It is true that the Madifonian fyflem was not fo
directly levelled againft the Executive ; but it went tp
a direct violation of our neutrality in refpect tp Grea$
Britain, and to counteract the meafures of the Ad^
miniftration. It was to cut off all commercial inter-
courfe, and cpnfequently all fupplies from tins coun»
try to Great Britain, while that intercourfe, and.
thofe fupplies, were to be continued to France, and
confequently the whole turned to her advantage in
profecuiing the war againft England. Before this,
however, the miniftry of England, apprized of the
faction here, tbe intrigues of Americans at Pa*
ris, the co-operation of France with that faction,
and the object in view, were undoubtedly alarmed,
and ferioufly expected that our government would
be thrown into the balance againft: them ; confe
quently begun their depredations, determined to
fecure what advantages they cpuld from our com
merce before they fhould be totally deprived of it.
Thofe depredations on our commerce were, there-,
fore, the effects of the co-operation of the French
government with the oppofition in America ; while
thofe depredations furnifhed the pretext for that op
pofition to bring forward a fyftem which would at
once have attained their end, the violation of our
neutrality, and confequently a war with Britain.
Thofe commercial regulations brought forward by
Madifon, and fupported by a majority in Congrefs,
joined to the conduct of Genet, and the fpirit difco
vered by the people at that time, brought matters to
a erifis, and rendered the treaty with England abfo
lutely neceffary tp avoid a war. The treaty, there
fore, which has been fo much curfed, is chargeable
uppn. thofe performs who curfe it : but the treaty it-
v 3 felf

29+ . GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
felfhas never been, either to them or the French,
ah object of diflike in any other point of view, than
asrit checked thofe proceedings, and prevented the
accomplifhment of their end. The ferious and afto-
nifhing evils pretended to arife out of the treaty,
both with refpect to France and America, and of
which fo' much has been faid, never yet exifted any
where but in the noife that was made about it, and
that wholly with a defign to work up the public pre
judice to fuch a pitch as would prevent its ratifica
tion, or juftify a violation of it after it fhould be
ratified ; either of which would effect the fame pur
pofe as thofe proceedings which the treaty put an
end to. I believe that laft winter, when the public
fentiment was fo clearly expreffed on the fide of the
Prefident, and in favour of the treaty, the French
government would have given over the purfuit, and,
for a time at leaft, would have left us at peace, had
riot our own unprincipled citizens ftimulared the
French government on to make new exertions.
There were at that time in Paris a man of fuperior
talents from Bofton, and feveral Carolinians who ac
cepted bom ttiiffions under Genet, all of whom were '
deeply intereft ed in the French revolutionary funds;
and, if poffible, more zealous in the caufe of France
than the French themfelves. Thofe Americans, with
many more, rendered themfelves very confplcuPus
by every fpecies of cenfure againft the Prefident, and
meafures of Adminiftration ; and having formed an
acquaintance, -they acquired an influence over many
members of the French Directory. They echoed
there the doctrines of the democrats here, infinu-
ated that our Executive was ftill under the Britifh
influence, and defirous of forming a flrict alliance
with thai nation ; that the treaty was entered into
for that purpofe ; and that unlets" a rupture could be
effected between Britain and America, the latter
would be totally toft to France ?-' and- that they muft
hereafter

APRIL, 1797^ «9S
hereafter calculate upon America as offenfively
united with Britain againft her.
Thefe infinuations coming from a quarter fo re-
fpectable in the view of the French court, and con
tradicted by no American there, had the defired ef
fect-- A plan of operation was fettled. The fyftem
of terror, by which France heretofore governed her
internal affairs, was to be adopted in refpect to her fo
reign relations. She was to fpeak in a high and
commanding tone ; to complain aloud of the Bri
tifh treaty; accufe us of ingratitude ; proclaim her
own magnanimity and juftice ; while the took care
at the fame time to intimate her terrible power, and
the vengeance fhe had in referve for her finally impe
nitent enemies. Thus many a letter has been writ-*
ten from Paris to America, giving an account of the
refentment of that nation to the treaty, and the mea
fures of our adminiftration; when the only defign
was to create and keep alive that refentment here.
And many a letter has been written from America
to Paris, reprefenting the evils of the treaty, and re
fentment of the people to it here, with a defign to
encourage that government in the profecution of her
noble plans. As the Prefident was fuppofed to be
pledged for the fupport of our neutrality, and* inflex
ible to all their manoeuvres, he, of courfe, became
the bulwark to be deftroyed. Tom Paine was there
fore fet at work under the aufpices of the French
government, to attack his private as well as public
character c the Paris fpeculafors and American de
mocrats were in all their writings to cenfure his con
duct; and. Adet was to act as occafion fhould re
quire. When Tom Paine's efficacious pamphlet was fully
charged, Adet'snoteto the Secretary of State cocked
and primed, and the terrible decree of the Directory
prepared, the whole was to burft forth like thunder
from conflicting ftorms, while the lightning of their
u 4 navy

296 GAZETTE SELECTIONS .
navy dafhed in ruin on bur commerce. This, it was
fuppofed, would at once diftract and confound us j
and you may depend upon it, that they even contem
plated an alteration of our conftitution, and the intro
duction of a Directory here inftead bf a Prefident,
in order effeaually to eftablifh their influence over
us hereafter. Thefe things are not the effufions of
my over- heated imagination ; nor do they depend on,
appearances only for their fupport. I have been fa
voured with the perufal of letters frorp Europe*
written by a faithful fervant of the public there,
which demon ft rate and prove thofe facts beyond all
contradiction ; and the originals would be publifheu,
was it not for the apprehenfion of expofing that pub?
lie fervant to the rage of an unprincipled faction ia
a foreign court, and depriving tbe public of his ferT
vices in future.
The terrible explofion has taken place ; the pam
phlet of Paine, the note of Adet, and the decree of
the Directory, and thunder of their navy and priva
teers upon our commerce, have been ail difeharged,
and, thank God, have all had a directly contrary ef
fect from what was intended. Our magnanimous
hero in war, firm and unfhaken patriot in council,
the father of his country, is not driven from his;
office ; but, loaded with the gratitude of our citizens,
and crowned with unrivalled honours (in compari-
fon of which, royalty finks into contempt), calmly
retires; while the meafures of his administration
meet with univerfal applaufe, and will fland as a
pattern for nations yet unborn. His fucceflbr has
pot only a comprehenfive but minute knowledge of
all the intrigues of this hypocritical court of France ;
and this their policy, inftead of confounding, will
be turned upon their own heads, and excite that
juft and general indignation, under which the fyco-
phant creafpres mutt iink into contempt. I have
before^

APRIL, 1797. s.gf
before noted that the Britifh depredations, and con-
fequent treaty, were chargeable upon the oppofi
tion in our government, American fpeculators, and.
the co-operation of the French court ; and from
what I have now flated, it is equally plain that the
depredations we now fuffer from France are wholly
imputable to the fame fpeculators, and our democrats
here. The whole of our difficulties are, therefore,
the fruits of their patriotic Jgbpurs. As our revenue
depends on commerce, and that commerce is laid
proftrate by the intrigues and policy pf thofe flaming,
but falfe patriots, it is become abfolutely neceffary
to refort to other fources of revenue ; and a direct
tax, which thofe French partifans have been for
years advocating, and which they would have long
ago adopted, that the people might feel what they
paid, in order that they might attend to the expendi
tures, is the only expedient which now prefents.it-
felf; but now, when they have rendered it neceffary,
thofe very champions for direct taxes, thofe friends
of liberty and zealous patriots, will be the perfons to
fling every poffible embarraffment in the way, and
the laft who will vote for it. This is however only
matter of opinion, and future facts muft prove thp
truth or falfehood of the affertion. We have a bill
pow before the Houfe, reported by the Committee
of ways and means for the purpofe. We have not
yet entered upon the difcuffion of it, and it is of
courfe unknown how the members will vote : but I
prefume that the chief, with many of his party, will
find fome fpecious pretext to vote againft it ; and my
brother S  1 know will negative it if in his power.
While we could get along without direct taxes, they
were advocating the meafure, and wifhing to adopt
it ; but now that it becomes neceffary, and they be
lieve the people, from a conviction of that neceffity,
would fubmit to the payment, they will oppofe it.
Thus

$%$ GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Thus ypu fee their confiftency, and will judge cjf
* their defigns. «
I am Sir, with much efteem,
your friend and humble fervant.

Tuesday, 25th April.
• Echo on the Schuylkill-  Sir, I was an unbe
liever of the flory of a wonderful echo on the banks
of the Schuylkill, until, in company with a friend, I
received the fqljpwing anfwers to my feveral ques
tions. £>ue/!'.— What is the employment of Governor Mifflin ?
echo— tippling.
Is it true that he is goyerned by one Dallas ?
echo — alas !
I fuppofe that, in compliment to the French, we fhall cele*
bi ate the 14th inftead of the 4th of July.
echo— -you lie.
We are finely under pbligations to our dear allies^
echo — all lies.
What is the object of a modern patriot i
echo — :ript.
What are the prefent pretenders to democracy.
echo — Of crazy.
What is the proper-aliment for fuch' democrats ?
echo — rati.
On fhip-board, what did the printer of the Aurora ?.
echo — roar " <i/a"
What<toes he at fight of young Humphreys ?
ECHb— -freeze.
What does he at the fuccefs of Porciiipine J
echo — pine.
For what does Citoyen Munro pafs ?
echo — afs.
What have we cancelled by the infolence of Adet J
ECHO— a debt.
Republican Honefty. — On the capture of St. Martin's
the inhabitants figned a capitulation (without de
fence), to retain their property, on fw earing allegi
ance to the Republic, and difarming themfelves ; but
their

APRIL, 1797. 499
their effects were neverthelefs confifcated, and all
thofe fent in chains to Guadaloupe who had not
briefs of citizenfhip before the French revolution.
The inhabitants were fubjected to an exceflive tax,
and robbed of their negroes. A number of the na
tives were exiled.
Rights of Man exercifed at Wifcaffet. — Wifcaffet,
April 1, 1797. On Wednefday morning laft, between
two and three o'clock, the gaol here was opened
by an armed force, and,three perfons liberated who
had fome days before been arretted on mefne procefs ,
and for want of bail were committed. The procefs
was at the fuit of Mr. Trueman, on whom they com
mitted a moft outrageous trefpafs the laft fummer,
in-the town of New- Milford. The mob was about
two days in collecting, and it is fuggefled that they
principally came from the upper fettlements of
Sheepfgut and Damarifcotta ponds, and that their
number was between two and three hundred. They
appeared well, armed, and fuitably provided with
axes and bars to pull down the gaol, if they could
not otherwife effect their purpofe. At the point of
charged bayonet they- demanded of the gaoler the
liberation of the prifoners, to whom he was forced to
comply. The number that furrounded the gaol
was befween fifty and fixty ; but it was faid there
were two large parties at a fmall diftance : one of
them, about fifty in number, it feems was ftatiohed
jn the road between the gaol and fettlements, and
the other at fome diftance from the gaol on the op
pofite fide. No doubt they came expecting to
find an armed force to oppofe them; which would
have been the cafe," had it not been fatisfactorily
ascertained, that their* numbers were fo great as to
Overpower an inconfiderable guard, and that btood-
fhed would have enfued. Indeed no guard military
could legally have been called out to defend the gaol by

$eo GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
by force of arms, without a fpecial order from the
Sheriff, or one from two Judges of the Supreme or
Common Pleas court — which could not have been
feafonably obtained. Another confideration, how
ever, had weight ; moft of the rioters were actually
known, and will no doubt be eventually appre
hended, and held to anfwer for the abufe of the
conftitution and laws, although for a while they
efcape. It was reported on Tuefday, that the rioters had
difperfed, and gone home. ,Many perfons from the
fettlements before alluded to, were here during the
greateft part of the day, and I converfed with feveral
on the fubject of their lands, advifed them, efpecially
fuch as lived out of incorporated places, to apply to
Government for redrefs, and fuggefted the poflibility
of relief heretofore digefled between us,
French Influence in America.-— France : Council of
Elders. In this affembly a debate took place on
the 23d of laft November, refpecting imports, du
ring which the following remarks fell from Dupont ;
" The Americans have fcarcely any means for
" making payment for our wines, brandy, and filk,
" except their rice, fifh, and tobacco ; and tobacco
" is the moft confiderable article they can offer us.
*' Will they not be diffatisfied to fee us treat their
" principal ftaple with this financial feverity, and
*' Punic infidelity?
"v At what moment are we inviting upon our-
" felves thefe charges ?' at the time when Wafhing-
" ton is retiring from public life, and his fucceffor
*' is to be named, as the depofitary of the executive
" power. '* Two parties divide that republic,- as is the cafe
\( with other republics. One is attached to France
" by gratitude for her fervices ; the other is attached
<e to England. The latter obtained the advantage,
1 » by

APRIL, 1797. 30X
** by two votes only, in the difcuffion on the treaty
" of commerce with England; and this was owing to
" a political error of our own government.
" But the triumph of the Englifh party, relative
" to the treaty, has rendered the French party more
" popular, and affords a ftrong hope of feeing the
"future Prefident, the fucceffor of Wafhington,
" chofen from among the citizens who are known as the
" friends of France."
This extract is well worthy of attention. Dupont
cautioned his colleagues againft laying an additional
import on tobacco, not becaufe he had any objection
to the exercife of fuch "Punic infidelity," but becaufe
it might operate to the difadvantage of France in
our choice of a Prefident. Juft as if he had laid,
" Don't let us lay this impoft now, when the Ame
ricans are going to choofe a new chief magiftrate.
They are divided; one half of them for England,
and the other for France: there is every reafon- to
hope that Wafhington's fucceffor will be chofen
from among thofe who are known as the friends of
France ; let us, therefore, ftop till this important
election is over, and then we may fafely do what we
pleafe." Such is the language of Dupont, and fuch the con
temptible opinion he entertained of the people of
America. But the moft curious part of the ha
rangue is that in which he obferves, that the two
votes, which decided the fate of the Britifh treaty,
were loft by " a political error of the French govern
ment." A morning paper afks, " What can this
mean ?" What it means is as clear as what it fays j
and both are equally humiliating to every American
that has the leaft anxiety for the honour of his coun
try. The French have fo long talked of thefe States
as their provinces, and of the people as their flave3,
or at leaft as their tools ; their infolent language is
.grown fo familiar to our ears, that it has in fome
' meafure

%<a% GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
meafure loft its effea with refpect to us ; it has
ceafed fo roufe us -to refentment, and even to cxcf-e
furprife : — but let us fuppofe for a moment, that
they were to ho.ld this language towards any other
nation ; let us fuppofe that Dupont were to tell the
Divan that the Parliament of Great Britain had de-*-
termined to continue the war by two voices only;
and that the lofs of thefe two Voices " was owing to
a political error of the French government." Sup*
pole we were to behold the members of a foreign le
giflature, thus counting the votes of the Houfe of
Commons ! and exclaiming, " We have loft it by tiv&,
and that was our fault :" were we to behold this, I
afk any fans-culotte printer in America how many
pages he would fill up about bribery and corruption?
So much for Dupont's fpeech ; now for a word or
two of Mafter Dupont. himfelf. The Minerva of New-
York calls him"**. a refpeblable member of the legif
lature of France." Ihe epithet refpectable, applied
to anv one of the guillotine legiflators, who arc
now plundering the cpmmerce of this country, argues
a pretty high ddgrce of complaifance in the editor ot*
an American newfpaper ; but when we recollect who
the complimented perfon is ; when we recollect that
this refpectable member is no other than that very
Dupont (furnarned the infamous), who firft mounted
ihe tribune to call on the Affembly to hurl down the
altars of God, and who firft openly pronounced in
the fame tribune, that there was " no God in the
•world-,' when we hear this plundering legiflator,
this daring blafphemer, called refpeBable, and that
nn° 11 Vuan who is an :lc''vocare"for neither plunder
or .blaiphemv, we cannot help fearing that the
cf a irinT ° ,ndienation is faA giving way to that
a cungmg hypocritical compliance.

Wednesday

jn

APRIL, 1797. 303;
Wednesday, 26th April.
Buonaparte's Correspondence with the Pope. — Paris
journals of the 4th' and 5th arrived yefterday ;
they bring an account that peace is Concluded be
tween the Pope and the French.
The following are the official letters publifhed by
fhe Directory on the fubject of the peace concluded
between the Pope and the French Republic.
JBuonaparfe,i Cotnmander in Chief, to the French Execu
tive Directory.
" Head-quarters at Tolentino, 10th Ventofe, Feb. 19.
" I fhall fend you immediately the ten ftandards
which we have taken from the Pope in the different
actions we have had with his troops. You will find
annexed the copy ofa letter which the Holy Father
has written to me, and of my anfwer.
(Signed) " Buonaparte."
" Dear Son — Health and Apoflolic Benediction.
" Defiriag to terminate amicably our differences
with the French Republic by the retreat of tlie troops
which you command, we fend and depute to you, as
our plenipotentiaries, two ecclefiaftics, the Cardinal
Matty, who is perfectly known to you, and M. Ca-
leppi ; and two feculars, the Duke Doii Lewis
"Bralchi, our nephew, and the Marquis Camillus
Maflimi, who are inverted with our full powers, to
concert with you, promife, and fobferibe fuch condi
tions as we hope will be juft and reafonable, ob
liging ourfelves,' under our faith and word, to ap
prove and ratify them in fpecial form, in order that
they may be valid and inviolable in all future time.
Allured of the fentiments of good will which you
have manifefted, we have abliained from removing
any tiling, from Rome, by- which you will be per-
foaded of the entire confidence wc repyfejn you.
2 'We

304 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
We conclude by affuring you of our perfect efteem,
and in giving you the paternal apoflolic benedic*
tion.
" Given at St. Peter's in Rome, the 12th February, 1797*
the twenty-fecond year of our pontificate.
**' Pius, P. P. VI."
Buonaparte, General in Chief of the Army of Italy,
to his Holinefs the Pope:
" Head-quarters, Tolentino, ift Ventofe, fifth year.
" I ought to thank your Holinefs for the obliging
things contained in the letter which you have taken
the trouble to write to me.
" The peace between the French Republic and
your Holinefs is juft figned. I felicitate myfelf on
being able to contribute to your perfonal fafety.
" I entreat your Holinefs to guard againft the
perfons who are at Rome, who are fold fo the courts
the enemies of France, or who fuffer themfelves to
be guided exclufively by the paflions of hatred which
the lofs of territory conftantly engenders.
" All Europe knows the pacific inclination and
the conciliatory virtue of your Holinefs. The French
Republic, I hope, will be one of the trueft friends of
Rome. " I fend my Aid-de-camp, Chief of Brigade, to
exprefs to your Holinefs the perfect efteem and ve
neration which I have for your perfon, and to en
treat you to confide in the defire which I have
to give you, on every occafion, proofs of the refpect:
and veneration with which I have the honour to be
your moft obedient fervant,
(Signed) " Buonaparte."

Thursday, 27th April.
y The Sons of France and Aiherica," at Charlefton.—
We learn from Charlefton, under the date of April jo,

APRIL, 17.97. 505
10, that the French, privateer the \Gruper was hying
off the bar of the harbour, and had there brought,
to, and overhauled, an American veffel, Captain
Almy, of Rhode Ifland, which veffel, in confe-
quence of the conduct of the privateer, had been very
much injured, and had very narrowly efcaped total
deftruction. The Charlefton editor concludes a long
account of this bufinefs with the following very fpi-
rited obfervation :
'f It is expected, that a proper inveftigation of this
" bufinefs will take place, and that pur merchants
" will be made perfectly acquainted with the pro-
" priety with which privateers, fitted out in our own
" ports, fhall go and lie in wait for our veffels off
ft our own bar, to capture them."
Remarks. — The humiliating day of retribution is
come ! Why fhould not privateers fitted in the port
of Charlefton lie off the bar fp capture American
veffels? Itisjufl. Privateers fitted out from that
port in 1793, partly manned, if not owned, by Ame
ricans, made a piratical war on the commerce of
Great Britain. By this the French were taught
what they might venture to do : villany feldorn
miffes its reward in the end.
Betides, how can the people of Charlefton have
the face to complain of the conduct pf the " fons of
France ?" For four long years we witneffed the
fliameful, the odious teftimonies of approbation
which this city beftowed on the revolutionifts. Every
one of their bafe and bloody actions was applauded :
but now, behold ! their feizing an American veflel
off the bar, is expected to be inquired into !
At Charlefton, on the 6th of February, 1794, be
it known, and be it remembered too, that the Repub
lican Society (not the Democratic Society) celebrated
the anniverfary of the alliance between France and
America. This fociety pf Americans paraded at thp
vori. v. x hotel

366 GAZETTE SELECT IONS.
hotel of a Citizen Harris, whence1, they fent a deputa
tion to invite the Citizen Conful of the French Re
public, and Citizen Captain Branzon and Lieutenant
Langlois of the republican floop of war Las Cafas,
to join thert. From the rendezvous the whole re
publican tribe matched, or rather ftalked, in pro-
ceflion, to the city-hall ; and this place of their defti-
nation proves, that, if the corporation did not affift
at the feftival, they approved of it.
There is fomething at once fo bafe and fo ludicrous
in the circumftances of the feaft, that I cannot help
repeating them juft as they ftand in my common
place book of fans-culotifm.
Firft in the proceflion came the -prefident of the
fociety, fupported by the Conful of France, and the
citizens officers of the floop of war.
The cap of liberty, carried by the fecretary, fup
ported by two citizen members.
The treafurer of the fociety.
The members of the fociety, two and two.
Arrived at the town-hall, an oration was delivered
by Citizen Stephen Drayton. The whole then re
turned to Harris's hotel, drums beating and fifes
playing ca ira. Here dinner was prepared ; the flags
of the fitter republics were difplayed from the bal
cony ; the dinner-room was decorated with laurel,
and the flags joined together. Over the prefident's
chair was placed the cap of liberty.
Among the favourite toafls were, Citizen Genet,
Citizen Madifon, the fans-culottes of Great Britain
and Ireland, and the guillotine. One toaft in par
ticular it is worth while to recall to memory at this
time: " May the enemies of republican Frenchmen
perifih, in whatever clime they may be found /"
After the toafts were over, the liberty cap was
placed on the head of the prefident, and then alter
nately on the head of each member, accompanied
with three cheers and ca ira. After being returned to.

APRIL, 1797. 307
to, and worn by, the prefident fome time, the cap
was prefented by him to the crew of the Las Cafas.
" And thus," fays the Charlefton paper, " glided
the hours away of this feaft, which was made by con
genial fouls to commemorate the happy day when
Frenchmen joined the fons of America to overthrPw
tyranny in this happy land." Impudent, ftupid
mifcreants ! Befhrew me, but it glads my heart to
hear that their viper-like afperfions have at laft met
with their reward. Would to heaven that their
dear brothers, " the fons of Frenchmen," would
flrip them of their very fkins !
But the groffeft foolery of this feftival remains to
be noticed. "In giving this relation," continues
the gazette, " it may not be improper to mention a
circumftance that brought the tear of joy into the
eyes of all prefent, from the extra ordinarinefs of it.
In the room of feftive mirth, and about the clofe of
the evening, were two boys, not exceeding ten years
of age, and nearly of the fame fize ; the one a na
tive of France, and belonging to the floop of war
Las Cafas, the other a native of America ; both rather
handfome than pretty. They had amufed them
felves for fome time behind the prefident's chair, by
joining in the chorufes of the Marfeilles hymn;
when, to the great furprife of the company, they
fpontaneoufly exhibited a ftriking, and it is to be
hoped a juft, emblem of the genius of each people in
their refpective characters. They mounted each on
a chair, and enfolded themfelves in the colours that
were difplayed in the rear of the prefident ; the
American in thofe of the French Republic — the little
fans-culotte in thofe of America ; and when they
had fo done, they chanted in an animated manner,
the favourite chorus of ga ira."
I leave the foreign reader to guefs (thofe of this
country know but too well) what a flate of infatu-
x 2 ation,

'jot GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ation, of flupidify, of debafement and ferocity, a
city railft be funk to, that could fuffer itfelf to be
amufed with foch exhibitions as thefe : ca ira, the
carol of the lamp- poft, the death-howl of the favages
Of Paris, chanted by two children to a company of
Charleftonians, drew from their eyes tears of joy !
When the world fhall have recovered from the fer
ment into which it has been plunged by the infernal
revolution of France, and the hiflorian fhall have
leimre'to record the inftances of folly and wickednefs
it has produced, Charlefton in South Carolina will
not be forgotten.
To return to the fubject of the feizure : once more
I fay it is juft. I wifli " the fons of Frenchmen"
\v0uld not only capture their fhips off the bar,
but in their harbour, and from the edge of their
very wharfs. They " expect that an inquiry will be
made into the matter." Upon my word, I fee no
occafion for any inquiry at all. They themfelves
waited for no inquiry to toaft deftruction " to the
enemies of republican Fenchmen, in whatever clime
they might 'be found;' and 'I therefore cannot con
ceive them entitled to any inquiry now. It is tlie
dear " Tons of Frenchmen" that feize their veffels,
and that*s enough ; let them afk no queftions.
To pfeafe thefe. " fons of Frenchmen," they
'foafted " Confufioti to William Smith," their mem
ber in Congrefs, the ornament of their State, and,
at that time, almoft the only man in the United
States who had the courage to attempt to ftem the
deftructive fide' of French principles and French
influence that was overwhelming us : they vomited
fofth this toaft, without waiting for an inquiry, and
therefore let them now fwallow their injuries and
their difgrace in filehce.

Regicide

APKILj 1797. 309
Regicide Feftival. — From a Paris paper, called the
Eclair. — He who kills his fellpw-creatures is called
a homicide, he who kills his father a parricide, he
who felects a king for his victim a regicide, and he
who ftrikes a tyrant a tyrannicide.
It was yefterday that thofe who killed Louis $TVl,
regicides according to fome, tyrannicides according
to others, met to celebrate the memorable day of
their triumph, and to fwear an eternal hatred to
royalty. I did not partake of their tranfpprts pf joy ;
.1 was not prefent at their feftivaj.
The people have fanctioned the republic. I re
fpect their will; but I do not call him a tyrant
who, until the 10th pf Auguft, was a legitimate
king, who, on the throne, was the mildeft of kings,
and, in private, furnifhed an example of the yirtue,s.
I blame no one. I love and refpect the majority
of our prefent reprefentatives ; but I declare this,
that if the voice of the people had .given me a feat
in the legiflature, I fhould not have con.fented to
take, on the 21ft of January, the oath that was
yefterday taken by both Councils in the church of
.Notre Dame.
I fhould have dreaded that this oath, taken on.
that day of eternal mourning, would be cpnfidprpd
as an affent to the fentence pronounced by the Na
tional Convention on the laft King of the French.
I had rather die a thoufand deaths than fubject
myfelf to fuch a fufpicion.
If I can truft appearances, the majority, nay, I
will .go fo far as to fay, all the Parifians unani-
moufiy, are of my opinion. All the fhops were
yefterday open, . the artifans employed, and the
Catholic temples /filled with a greater number of
the faithful than on ordinary days. More than one
fervent prayer was, without doubt, addreffed to
Heaven in favour of him whofe death was cele
brated. The avenues to the cathedral were deferted.
Curipfity itfelf, which fo powerfully fways the mul-
x 3 titude,

310 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
titude, feemed yefterday to have loft its charm, and
no longer to allure the wretched inhabitants of
Paris. How many perjuries were yefterday committed
throughout the whole extent of the Republic ! What
a burlefque ceremony that of an oath taken by the
French in the eighteenth century |
O Jupiter ! exclaimed a Roman, treat me like
this low I am going to immolate, if 1 break my crath^
But thou deftroyer of altars, where is the fecurity
for thy promife ? Who will punilh thee for thy
perjury ? thy heart full of impiety ? Didft thou not
fay Ipng ago, there is tio God? I know that thy
pride, fhy corruption, has mifled thee, and thou,
wilt one day find the avenging God whom thy per-
yerfity now denies. In the interim, a madman,
muft he be who trufts the deceitful words thou haft
juft pronounced. To which of thy oaths art thou
defirous that I fhpuld give credit ? tp that pf 1796,
or to that of 1793, or to that oi* 1791, or to that of/
Prieftley and Jefferfon. — :At a late meeting of the
Philofophical Society of Philadelphia, the new Pre-.
iident produced a large bone, fuppofed to be the
claw of fome lion, which muft have been twice the
fize of the largefl lipns of Africa. With this mon-
flrous bone before him, and Volney on his right
hand, and Prieftley on his left, he delivered to the
aftonifhed fociety a very learned difeourfe on the
fize of the beaft whofe claw was exhibited. It was
remarked by a member prefent, that when he faw
the worthy Prefident thus fupported by the wind
and the air, he could not but portend fome tem-
peftuous weather to the United States. The affo-
ciation pf thefe extraordinary characters certainly
exhibited a triumvirate of atheifm, deifm, and no-*
thingifm, full as curious as the lion's paw. American^

. APRIL, 1797* , 311
American Tamenefs. — Extract of a letter from Lon
don,, ilated March 2. — " The affair of the Bank, .
" which caufed fuch alarm at firft, has within this
" day or two loft its terrors. Confidence is again re-
" eftablilhed, and there is no doubt but the wifdom
" pf the Minifter will preferve it unimpaired. We
" were thoroughly perfuaded that a war would take
*« place between you and France ; but Mr. King,
?*. on whom we waited this morning, gives us every
f< affurance that there is not the leaft danger of any
(f fuch event."
The above extract is given as it was handed to
the editor, hut he does not think proper to let it go
before the public unaccompanied with an obferva
tion, that the paffage reflecting France and Ame
rica feems very problematical. Every one, at leaft:
every one who has any thiqg to lofe, wifhes for, a,
continuation of the bleffings of peaGe ; but then
this muft be fecured upon honourable terms to give
any man of fpirit fatisfadtiop ; and who can point
out a probability, or even a poflibility, of doing
this at the prefent moment ? When we look at
France and the defpots who govern her ; while we
fee the impoffibility of their paying for what they
have plundered^ and while the contemptuous treat
ment of Mr. Pinckney furnifhes fuch inconteftable
proof of their intention to continue their depreda
tions, their pirate-like warfare ; while things are in
this flate, to affert with confidence, that no rupture
will lake place, is, I hope, counting tpq much on
the tamenefs of America *.

S We have now [ J 799] feeny however, that it <was not counting
too much ; we have feen, that the people of America can bear any
thing and every thing, that comes from a- " filter republic.''
That inflexible fpirit, which has been looked upon as the leading
pharafteriftic of republicans, has never made its appearance in the
councils of the United States. Infult after infult, injury after
injury, have been Rocketed with the moft vtiMapblcAfang-fraJd.
x4 MUCH

5t£ GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
From the Norfolk Herald. Norfolk, April 20.
Britifh Conful's Office, Norfolk, Virginia, April 18, 1797.
¦ Gentlemen,
I beg you to infert in your next Herald, the en-
clofed copy of a letter I have juft received from
Captain Murray of his Majefty's fhip Afia.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your obedient fervant,
-John Hamilton1*
Mefrs. Willet & O'Connor. (COPY. )
Afia, Hampton Roads, April 17, 1797*
Dear Sir,
Enclofed is a copy of an advertifemerit found in
an American paper ; permit me to requeft you will
find fome means of publicly contradicting it, or of
affuring the public that it did not come from me ;
as I would by no means have it believed, that tbe
Captain of a Britifh man of war was capable of iri-«
flilting any enemy whatever, particularly in fuch a
'gafconading manner.
1 am, with fincerity,
Dear Sir, yours, very "faithfully,
(Signed) Robert Murray,
¦ John Hamilton, Efq. his Britannic Majefty's
Conful, Norfolk, Virginia, (COPY.) Hampton Roads, March 14.
Advertifement Extraordinary.
Lies skulking in or about the harbour of Norfolk,
a little gafconading commander, dreffed in a bide
coat with a brick-duff facing, a high cocked hat de
corated

APRIL, 1797. 313
corated with a knob, fuch as is frequently feen on
the bridles of coach-horfes, of red, white, and blue
riband. He is very much bloated from having been
long wind-bound, and has lately contracted an un
conquerable fondnefs (or port.
Whoever will difcover the faid Gafcon, fo that he
may be brought before one of his Majefty's frigates,
ihall receive a handfome reward from the
Captain of the Asia.
Extratl of a Letter from Norfolk, dated 2 ift of
April, 1797.
" You will fee by the public papers that we are
like to rival you in the dramatical line. Yefterday
was performed our new farce of Much ado aeout
Nothing. The principal character, Captain Ma-
defty, which was performed with a vaft deal of fea-
faring fimplicity, fet the whole houfe, boxes, pit,
and gallery, in a roar of laughter."
Seafaring Delicacy. — 'Captain Murray's folemnly
ridiculous difavowal of the Advertifement Extra
ordinary, which every one looked upon as a mere
fourt of wit, and which, therefore, no one imputed
to him, has drawn on him the difgraceful com
mendations of all the fans-culotte newfmongers in
this country, who only about nine months ago
honoured him and his father with the appellation of
.freebooters, and who flill call his fovereign the Royal
Brute of Britain. Let Captain Murray congratulate
himfelf on having deferved their applaufe ; as to
the author of the Advertifement Extraordinary, he
would fhun it as he would a tri-coloured cockade
or the knife of its wearer.
The democratic printers call it " an infulting ad
vertifement, intended to wound the feelings of Com
modore Barney." They are very tender-hearted
grown lately. They forget, furely, that the noble-
fpirited Commodore bound an .American Captain hand

3i4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
hand and foot, and fwung up our flag reverted'
under that of France, and that they jufiified him
too; juftified an American who, acting under a
foreign ftate, made war upon the defencelefs com
merce of his own country, came into its ports with
the avowed intention of profecuting his bafe un
natural warfare, and even infulted the Congrefs by
repeatedly appearing in their hall, dreffed in the
garb of his infamous calling.
° This is the man whofe feelings are not to be
wouniied! This is the man whom Captain Murray
is as cautious of offending as the Indians are of
offending the devil. I hope it is not for the fame
reafon; but I muft confefs that J tremble for the
reputation of a Britifh commander, when I hear
bim applauded by the fworn enemies of Britain : it
puts me in mind of Buonaparte's encomium op, the.
*f refpectable Qeneral Proyero.',

Friday, 28* April,
French Conful at Bofton threatens to profecute th&
Printers. — Bofton, 20th April, 1797.— " The un-.
derfigned Conful of the French Republic in Bofton,
declares, that the piece publifhed in this day's Cen-.
tinel, 30th Germinal (19th of April, 1797, O. S.),
under the title of ' An Extract from a Pamphlet now
in Circulation in France, publifhed by Order of the
Directory, and addreffed to the People, figned
Hoche,' is abfolutely falfe ; that the government of
the French Republic never avowed, but inceflantly
withftood, the principles which this defpicable writer
fuppofes them to purfue. In thofe countries that
have been conquered by the victorious arms of the
Republic, religion, perfons, and property have
bepn invariably refpected. 2 . f.f The

APRIL,- 1797. 3l|
«' The underfigned propofesto take the orderof his
government for profecuting the authors of this falfe
publication ; a publication which it would be pepd-
lefs to demonftrate the abfurdity of.
" The good citizens defpife erroneous opinions,
that may fpring from party fpirit and hatred towards
a republican form of government ; but if, under pre
tence pf the liberty of the prefs, the community were
to tolerate the infertion of falfe pieces, given as au
thentic ones, thefe forgers would perhaps foon emit
bank bills under the felf-fame cloak*.
" Mozard.'^
Jefferfon and Freneau-rfWhen a certain printer fet
tip his paper in Philadelphia, entitled the National
Gazette, a certain quondam Secretary fent it to fundry
agents in flie United States in foreign countries with
a recommendation of it as a patriotic paper, which
would enable the agepts to fee both fides of the
queftion, reprefentipg thereby this National Ga
zette, which was always filled with abominable lies
and abufe againft the Federal Government, as one
fide of the queftion, in oppofition to the acts of
that Government of which the panegyrift of this pa
per wa3 himfelf a member.
Dollars flamped with the King of England 's Head. —
Our readers have been informed that the dollars,
which are now iffuing from the Bank of England,
bear a ftamp of King George's head on the neck of the
King of Spain : upon this fubject a correfpondent
pbferves, that he has no objection to the mode of
fupplying the city with fpecie, but thinks that by all
means his Majefty's foot inftead of his head fhould
have been flamped on the neck of his enemy ; and,
* It may not be-amifs to obferve, that nothing more has to
this time [ 1799] been heard of this profecu tion , indeed,,

3*6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
indeed, it muft be confeffed that the Moft Catholic
ally of the French Atheifts, in their war againft the
fucceffor of St. Peter, would look very well if pour-
trayed with the addition of this badge of honour.
The Wonder of American Patience.— -The little
runaway Scotchman, Callender, wrote a pamphlet
againft Peter Porcupine laft fommer, which he en
titled " The Wonder of American Patience." This
title, as the pamphlet has no ufe for any, I now beg
leave to transfer to the following accounts from
Charlefton, of April 4. Tranflated from the State
Gazette. From " Le Patriote Francais,'' of the 3d:
Addrefs to the French and American Patriots.
Republicans, '
Dragged by fome amateurs to the theatre of
Charlefton, we did not prefume, that a juft fenti
ment of indignation would there afflict our minds,
and caft a gloom over the agreeable ideas which we
had previoufly formed of the entertainment. Re
calling to our memory the French theatre at the
capital (Paris), we communicated to each other our
remarks on the difference of declamation, of tafte,
of geftutes, and intrigues ; we admired even our
conftancy in hearing expreflions which the greater
part of us could not underfland, when Placide with
his rare talents came forth to roufe us from this
lethargic ft upon
But how great was our aflonifhment, in the Lock
and Key, to learn that the actor J. W". fung, with
an affected enthufiafm, the high exploits of an Eng
lifh frigate, the fole afpect of whofe flag had put to
flight three French frigates ; and that a blind populace,
with exceflive and thrice reiterated plaudits, demand-
• 'ed the repetition of the fame couplet, whilft they had
their eyes fixed upon us. Reafon and pity, much lefs than
-anger, determined us to depart; and we laughed to
gether at theabfurd and rude affront which had juft
grated

APRIL, 1797. 31I
grated our ears. We faid then : Is it then thefe
people fhould feign to be ignorant that at all times
the Englifh have not dared to meafure themfelves
with an equal force of the French, and that nothing
but treachery and fuperior numbers have ever afford
ed them fome fuccefs ? Should they have forgotten.
that Admiral Byng, beaten by Galiffonipre, and
flying before Mahon, had been beheaded, becaufe
he boldly faid to the Council that fat on his judgr
ment, " Cite to me a Angle inftance, when the Eng
lifh navy with an equal number of veffels van
quished the French navy, and then I will alfow that
I was a coward. But if the fire of the enemy, and
the decayed condition of my fquadron, though it had
been fuperior in numbers, have forced me to yield
the field of battle to him, why fhould this be charged
as a capital crime againft me ?"
It is neceffary here to relate the difgrace where
with this ambitious and pillaging nation has loaded
itfelf at Toulon, Tiberon, and Dunkirk. To en
lightened and impartial perfons we leave the care of
drawing herefrom juft conelufions, and pronouncing
on future events.
But you, American Englifhmen, removed two
centuries from the belligerent and political career pf
the world, fhall ingratitude be your portion ? Will
you :foffer much longer, that in your h^Usof public
exhibitions, on your theatres, malevolent perfons
fhall make their efforts to revile the French nation ?
you who, without her, would flill groan under the op-
preffive and tyrannical yoke of the defpot who appa
rently wifhes to rule this day v over your country.
Open your eyes, and, like freemen, repulfe from you
a nation, that by the means of a crafty, perfidious,
and :to you difgraceful .treaty, wifhed to reduce you
again into flavery.
As for you, found part of the United States, our
allies, our brethren, whofe ftandard, glorious by the
1 aid

$iS GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
aid of 6ur arms, flill Waves in the republican Senate
of France, redrefs through your energy the wrongs of
your fellow-citizens 5 infpire them at this critical
moment with fentiments worthy of a regenerated
people. Tell them, if neceffary, France^ torn by
an inteftine war, has glorioufly combated againft fe
venteen European powers that had coalefeed againft
her. The greateft part of them have been vanquifh-
ed, feveral others have demanded peace from her*
which the generoufly granted them ; England foes
for it, and will foon be forced to fubfcribe thereto.
Teach them further, that the French Republic, now
founded on a folid bails, is going to be the prepon
derating power, that the will balance the equilibrium
of nations, whom the will compel by her clemency*
by her laws, and by the wifdom of her government,
to pay her the tribute of admiration. Ah ! if reafons
fo juft, and motives fo powerful, do not bring them
back to the level of their means, then add this laft
admonition to them, " Fear, indignant France will
make you, feel the weight and effect of her refentment,
and plunge you again into that nothingnefs, from whence
fhe has raifed you"
As for you, flovenly buffoons, and all of you who
are their partifans, ignorant applauders, receive as a
reward of your zeal the public contempt, which you
have fo well deferved, and to which we devote you
through life.
GR. ME. of the French part of the ifland of
St- Martin's ; and the other French repub
licans, paffengers on board the corvette La
Lourde. REMARKS.
To obferve on the ignorance and cant that runs
through this impudent publication, would be ufelefs:
it comes from republican fans-culotte Frenchmen,
and that's enough. It is its abominable infolence, and

APRIL, 1797/ 31$
and the clear indication that it contains of the
fpirit and intention of the French; that is to be at
tended to.
I affert, and I defy any One to produce proof iri
contradiction to my affertion, that no nation, no
city, no affemblage of perfons on earth, calling
themfelves free and independent, were ever fo in- ,
fulted as the people of America, in divers parts of
the Union, have been by this horde of new-fafhioned
favages : but I really think that Charlefton has had
the preference in the diftribution of their fraternal
favours ; not unmeritedly, without doubt. Oh !
the glorious free and independent Charleftonians !
They cannot applaud a good fong without being
menaced by the dear ¦" fons of France."
What liberty we fhould enjoy, if the French could
fo fraternize with us, as to get us to join them in the
war ', then it would be glorious work indeed. If the
fanguinary, red-headed crew of a privateer take upon
them to remonftrate and to threaten us, and that too
merely for applauding a fong, what might we not
expect- from a republican general, with ten thoufand
blood-hounds at his heels, and his aid-de-camp,
Guillotine, at his elbow ? Then we fhould tafte of
the bleflings of equal liberty in its purity. They
would no longer be offended with our fongs, becaufe
they would rtot foffer us to fing or fpeak in any lan
guage but French. They would fall out with the
very cut of our faces, and would twift our good
level Englith-looking features into the baboon pro
minency of their own.
" Fear, indignant France will make you feel the
*' weight -ana\ effect of her refentment, and plunge you
"again into that nothingnefs, from whence fhe has
Xi raifed you I" If the captain or crew of an Englifh
veflel had publifhed a threat like this, how foon
would their blood have flained the pavement of
¦Charlefton 1 Yet the raggamuffin " fons of French men"

3** GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
men" are not only permitted to depart \mmolefted*
but their threat, left the whofe wptld fhould not heat.
Of it, is tranflated and very politely publifhed in a
paper of the infulted and humiliated city ! Let us
then no longer talk of the meannefs of the Kings of,
Spain and Sardinia, of the voluntary debafement pf
the Queen of Naples, or the hypocritical, fear-in-
Spired profeffions of the Pope ; to find inftances of
the degeneracy pf the prefent age, we need not go
beyond the limits of our own territory.

Saturday, 29th April.
Grattan.- — The alarm refpe&ing the Bank has once
more given life to the reformers of this kingdom.
Grattan, who got extremely well fatisfied with the
prefent flat e of things as foon as he gpt into officej
and who became as difeontenfed with it the moment
he was difplaced : this verfatile Cerberus heads the
pack. lU is to be hoped that the Government will
not be compelled to give him another fop : a baypnet
would fuit him much better.
Political Retribution.— A Paris paper of the 2d
March, fays, that C( the King pf Spain is preparing
for a journey into Catalonia, where there are difcon-
tents, as there are alfo in Navarre. t The Cortes, pp
States, of the latter province having recently affem-
bled, fent to Madrid deputies who returned without
being able to obtain an audience, and that the con-
fequences to be apprehended were ferious."— [Thaft
right, Moft Cathplic : it will teach yop what it is tp
ySTl tliefriend of tile "wrderers of the head of your
the&v£^^e5OUrt ofTarla has fent orders t0
Corfica 3 everf^'-n,a £ furaifl» the ***** «»
squire. T^L h rg **T CommW^y Miot Jh.ll
te Ghevaher de Purora has been apr
pointed

APRIL, 1797. 321
pointed Minifter of Foreign Affairs by the King of
Sardinia, inftead of the late Count Graneri.
" Our advices from Genoa, dated February 9,
flate, that the King of Sardinia had juft caufed his
brother, the Duke d'Aofte, to be apprehended,
on a charge of having had a fhare in the confpiracy ;
of having fought to put himfelf at the head of the
difcontented Nobles, for the purpofe of feizing on
the city and citadel of Turin, and of intending to
declare himfelf Regent of the kingdom."
All this is right too : he who hugs the traitors of
other nations to his bofom, and gives them all the
aid in his power, ought to be betrayed by his own
fubjects and family. Certainly nothing can be more
juft. Corfica. — " Some bloody difturbances have taken
place in Corfica, owing to the levying of recruits for
the French army. The mountaineers cut down the
trees of liberty, and nothing but the marching of
troops againft them, and other meafures of the moft:
exemplary rigour, could reduce them. Several of
the chiefs of the infurgents, including four priefts
who had taken up arms, have been fhot."
Very juft. The Corficans want more liberty than
the Britifh Government allowed them, and now they
have it. They drove their own King from his terri
tory, that they might become a fovereign geopk, at
the point of the bayonet.
Cifpadane. — " The congrefs of the Cifpadane Re
public lately difcuffed the queftion, whether there
fhould be any mention of the Catholic religion in
the n«w conftitution ? No fooner had the people
heard of this, than a great tumult enfued, the mul
titude crying out, that they would rather die than
fuffer the holy Catholic religion to be abolifhed.—
The French dragoons difperfed the mob.''
The mob ! And do you hear a republican newf
paper call the foveriega people of regenerated Cif-
Tol. v. te padan#-

%%% GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
padanetf mob? The editor was certainly drunk, ot
dreaming about feme monarchical ftate. — But, only
obferve how foon the troublefome fovereign was fa-
tisfied, upon fight of the flaming fabres of the fans- •
culottes ! Thefe French dragoons are excellent con-
ftitution-makers. Their logic and eloquence never
fail to produce conviction.
Tufcany.—" The Grand Duke of Tufcany, it now
appears, fome time ago fent the Marquis Manfredini
to General Buonaparte. The refult of their confer
ences was the following convention :
" i. The Grand Duke engages to pay 800,000
livres to defray the expenfes of the French garrifon
at Leghorn.
" 2. General Buonaparte promifes, in the name of
the French Republic, to withdraw the 160 French
troops which are at Leghorn ; and the Grand Duke
engages to pay on the day they fhall begin their ;
march, 1,200,000 livres more."
1 This wretched Duke was the firft: Italian prince
that gave encouragement to the advances of the
French. It was ftrongly fufpedted, that a confider
able portion of the plunder of the Frertch nobility
and clergy went to purchafe his friendfhip and con
nivance ; and the five Kings are now addrefli'ng
him in the language of Hamlet : " Thus wefqueeze
you, fponge, and you are dry again."
Sans- culotte Foolery in America. — Sir, At the fame
time that I do nof intend to juftify the conduct of
a violent Jacobin party, which has long exifted in
Charlefton, yet it would be withholding juftice from
thofe who are entitled to it, not to inform you that
a majority, of the inhabitants of that city have never
approved of the tranfactions publifhed in your paper.
Trailing in that change in the public mind which
they knew muft foon be accomplifhed by fuch infa
mous, proceedings,, and dreading to involve the city
> . 3 . in

APRIL, 1797. 3^
inbloodfhed and conflagration,' by any violent mode
of ihowing their reprobation ; they too long fuffered
this party to outrage common decency : the evil has
now cured itfelf, and the public mind is undergoing
in that city a very rapid change. . Tbe unfortunate
permiflion to fell French prizes brought here a num
ber of privateerfmen ; and they, enlifting on their
fide all the worfhlefs and difcontented, kept the city
for fome time nearly in a ftate of terror.
Though it cannot be denied that very fcandalous
feenes have been the confequence, ftill it muft be
allowed that Charlefton has not been alone the the
atre of them. Scenes quite as indecent- have been
exhibited in. other towns, where there were no -gangs
of armed buccaneers to terrify the peaceable citizens
— witnefs Bofton, where the Governor of the State,
decorated with a red cap, drank on board the Con
corde frigate, " May France give law to all the
world!" witnefs New-York, where the French flag
was exhibited for years in the public coffee-room ;
witnefs Baltimore, where the militia turned out to
compliment the renegade Barney ; in fhort, witnefs
Philadelphia, where a few days ago a civic feaft was
given to celebrate French conquefts; and then it
muft be confeffed that Charle/'on is not more de
ferving of reproach than her Afters : as an evidence
that the majority of the refpectable citizens of that
place never approved or countenanced thofe tranf-
actions, it may be added that they have twice finee
re-elected their member, who, whatever may have
been his other offences, has never been accufed of
facrificing his country "to French influence.
A Native of Charlefton. '¦ .
Neutrality of America, in a Letter from a French
Gentleman at Baltimore. -r-The following is a literal
tranflation of the French letter which I publifh in
tbis clay's Gazette.
tj « Sir,

$*4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" Sir, " Baltimore, April 14, 1797'
" It is furprifing that Peter Porcupine, who lets
mo opportunity efcape him of expofing in a forcible
manner the true fituation of this country, with re-
jfpecVto the belligerent powers, fhould fifently pafs
over the following reflections on tbe manner in
which the Americans obferve their pretended neu
trality. " It is very aftonifliing that while we fee all the
newfpapers of the United States abound with com
plaints of the numberlefs captures continually made
of their veffels by the French Republic, in a manner
fo unjuft, fo piratical, fo inhuman ; that at the
fame time in which we hear thofe exclamations we
ihould fee fo ftriking a contrafl prefent itfelf to our
eyes. Americans, read the following reflections :
fiience your clamours, and anfwer \ For what; pur
pofe do thefe privateers arm in your ports ? Is it not
to take your own fhips, and that even at the en
trance of your own bays and rivers ? For nothing
elfe, and you know it with certainty ; and neverthe-
lefs you fuffer it ! What, can nothing then roufe
you from your fatal lethargy ? You complain that
you are pillaged, and that you are bafely and even
barbaroufly mal-treated : this is a truth which has
no need of proofs ; and yet at this moment that I am
writing, your pretended friends are only buffed to
give frefh ones to your brothers, your hufhands,
your children, in Spoiling them cruelly of their
goods ; and robbing them of that property which
you have confided to their care and ind'uflry. And
you fuffer that fhips fhould be armed among you,
deftined only for robbery and your ruin ? For the
public is not ignorant that fuch and fuch a fhip,
which is arming under their eyes, is really deftined
only for privateering : every thing denionftratcs it :
the confiructk«i, the tranfactions on board, the
2 manner

APRIL, vffli &$
manner of out-fitting, the converfatioti, the pur-»
chafes of fmall arms made in town, &c. &c.^-alj
this is concealed under the pretence that they are
going for Guadaloupe, the Cape, or other ports;
while every body knows that the true deftination
and only defign is a cruife ; a number of paffengeus
alfo (a crew of French, and even American failors)1;
that in going down they purchafe cannony powdev,
&c. &c. in the creeks of the bay. To whom is fuch
a conduct to be imputed r To yourfelves, Americans.
" For it is neceffary that a merchant fhould lend
his- name at the Cuftom-houfe to cleaT out the veflfeV,
and it is more than probable that he himfelf is chiefly
interefted. What are we to think of this ?— -If- an
honefl man fliould exprefs too freely his opinion, or
take the fmalleft flep which might difpleafe a certain
party ; to be drawn in a cart, tarred and feathered,
followed by a thoufand blackguards, and the huzzaSs
through the ftreets, would be his fate. We fhould
hear nothing but the cry of War ! war ! and yet it is
but three years fipce it was faid, England will be
careful not to provoke America. She would feeltne
effects of the wrath of a free people, fhould fhe af
front them. Yes ! it is exactly three years the feGond
of May next, that a mate of Baltimore was led
about, tarred and feathered* with an inferiptioa
placed on a board at the head of his cart — ** Ameri
can pirate." Americans ! thofe who now are com
manders of privateers to pillage you, are they better
citizens?, Whether the Government can, or nof,
hinder thofe clandeftine armaments, fo ruinous and
difhonourabk to you,, I fay not ; but exift they cer
tainly do ; and what opiniorr, think you, muft fo*
teign nations conceive of you, when they fee you
Conduct yourfelves thus> in a manner at once fo cbn1-
trary to the laws of neutrality, and derogatory to na?
tiorial dignity ? Upon, whom (hall fall tlie odium fuch
a conduct excites ? ¥3 " Laft

t33* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" Laft week* a fchooner failed from the Point af
.Baltimore, on a cruife : it is afferted,' and with great
probability, ' that Barney has comrriiffioned her. At
this moment thereis another in dock, juft ready to fet
fail ; and fome merchants, who expect their veffels,
efcaped from the pirates of fhe iflands, expreffed' yef
terday their fears ; faying, This privateer goes out next
-week, and perhaps wilf capture my fhip, which I
ipofitively expect: at the fame time.— Thefe are reali
ties : but which, however, will not ftrike fo forcibly
as fome puffed -up phrafes of a wretched Gazetteer,
whofe only aim is to roufe the minds of the people
with impoifoned vapours, which tend to their mifery.
"Americans, you lately enjoyed the efteem of
•foreign nations ! Take care left you lofe,* for ever,
fo precious, fo honourable a fituation. You have
hot a moment to lofe in your endeavours to avoidfo
fhame'fol a reproach as that of ho longer deferving
if." French Impudence, Ambition, and Perfidy. — Mr.
Porcupine, If any thing vain or impudent from the .
yen of a Frenchman could furprife, I flibuld have
been aftonifhed yefterday at reading " An Account"
inthe United States Gazette, f of the naval Powers
of Europe ;" written by a French citizen, who calls
himfelf one of the Bureau of Commerce at Paris.
You know thefe gentry have a wonderful talent a|
difpofing of all things on this earth to their own,
liking. '. In eftimating the maritime force of France, Spain,
and Holland, he reprefents the ftrengh of their re-
¦fpective fleets, as it appeared oh their navy lifts,
at the commencehient of the French revolution ; he '
makes' ho abatement whatever for what Jack Englifh
has had the good fortune to deftroy and take from
them finee that period. We are fenfible that thefe
nations cannot at the prefent time equip for fea one
: - ' ' bal^

¦-¦" APRIL, 179^- -' 327
half the fhips he mentions -T and that, united with
Denmark and Sweden, they are not able to oppofe
Great Britain alone, fuppofe fhe had not a fingle
ally. But what particularly engaged my notice, was the
fuperlative modefty of this Frenchman. He pro-
pofes a confederacy of thefe States, " fomething like
the armed neutrality of 1 7 8 1 ," for the purpofe of de-
ftroying what he calls the ," coloffal power of Eng
land on the ocean ;" and this he endeavours to prove
would be' the " intereft of every naval power of the
fecond order," and the ,( only means of emancipat
ing the ocean from Britifh tyranny." ,
How ftupid muft that man be, or how eafily
duped muft he think all others, that could ferioufly
bring forward: fuch a propofition to the nations of
Europe ; at the very time, when the enormous am
bition of France juftly excites an univerfal alarm by
her rapid and extenfive conquefts, and her humili
ating requifitions from the conquered ! One would
imagine this crazy Frenchman thought that his re
public had. a divine right of acting the devil all over
Europe, and that tyranny,- plunder, fraud, and op-
preffion, were no crimes in the fans -culottes. I defy
him and any other man to mention a fingle ftate,
within the reach of their arms, and they have ex
tended wide, the liberty-loving defpot of Pruflia
excepted, that has not had the ftrongeft reafons to
curfe and dread the power of France.
I will not fay any thing of the United States of
America : every day's intelligence is a new leffon
on her breach of faith, her piracies, and infults ; and
feems to point, as with the finger of Providence, to
the wifdom and the neceffity of fwearing againft her
an everlafting hatred. — If I bad a fon, I would take
him, as Hamilcar did Hannibal, and make him
flvear at the altar of God an irreconcilable enmity to
fh is faithlefs and ambitious race, , Y.
T ^ Monday,

#* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Monday, ist May.
Paying for being fihot at ; or, a remarkable Inftance
of republican Juftice. — From New- York we hear
that the floop John, Enoch Lee mstfter, arrived on
Thurfday from Cura£Oa in thirty days, informs,!
that on his outward-bound paffage he was taken hy
a French privateer called the Goquan, out of Gua
daloupe, between St. Kitt's and St. Bartholomew's^
carried into St. Martip's, and detained two days td
fearch for Englifli property ; but finding none, after
breaking open all letters, chefts, and yeffel's hold^
and obliging him lo pay for fhot the privateer fired at
him, they permitted him to depart. He likewife in
forms that there were four fail Of American veffels.
there that were brought in as prizfes and condemned.
While in Curaeoa, the French privateers brought
in four others, and it was expected that they alfo!
would be condemned, their papers being fent to Sk
Domingo for trial.
Hanging for Self-defence. — The Bofton Mercury
fays that the brig General Warren unfortunately
fell into the clutches of the " ferocious" French.
She was captured and carried into St. Euflatia. The
Captain was retained on board the privateer, and
conducted to Guadaloupe. Soon after her arrival
at Statia, information came down that fhe had been
condemned, and alfo an order for her fale, together
with her cargo. Common adventures were feized,
and difpofed of with the reft of the property. The
veffel was purchafed by the Captain.
The William, Strong, of Portland, being taken
by a French privateer, two officers and fix men were
put on board to conduct her into port. The Ame-.
ricans finding a favourable opportunity for the reco
very of their property, rofe upon the veffel, and in
tbe enfuing ftruggle killed the two French officers,
The

MAY, 1797, r 3«f
The next day fhe was again taken by another French
privateer, and carried ihto Porto Rico* // wasfup*
pjqfed the Americans would be hanged*.
French Spies in London. -^-London, February 28.
Friday Godie, one of the Prince of Wales's cooks,
was brought tip from Critchel, and underwent an
examination at Carlton-houfe, on the charge of hav
ing held fecret correfpondence with the French i
when the charge appeared to be founded. He was
fent down in a poft chaife to Yarmouth,1 to be con
veyed to Hamburgh, and from thence fent in a neu
tral veffel to France.
Tauraude, the paftry-cook, a German by birth,
is put on board the Sandwich man of war, lying at
the Nore, in order to ferve as a feaman.
It is faid to be the intention of his Royal Highnfefs
to difcharge all the French perfons employed in his
fervice. Laft Saturday, feventeen French Jacobins were
ordered by Government fo quit the kingdom, who
have lately deferved this puniftimePt by their con
duct and fpeeches. Among them is a very danger
ous fellow, who was one of the moft zealous pro
moters of the pillage of the hotel of Caftries.
Remarks.— Each of thefe mifcreants fhould have
been hanged at once. The Engiifh Government con
tinue to play the fame filly game that they have been
playing all the war : the machinations and villanies
of the devil they oppofe, or rather they affift, with
their ftupid adherence to long-eftablifhed cuftom.
In the prefent inftance, however, they have gone
beyond their ufual lenity. Spies are, by the law of
* What excites the moft indignation is, that this fuppofition is
treated as if it were nothing extraordinary. The poor humiliated
Ration looks on without daring to exprefs its anger, if, indeed, it
fe?t any. nations,

33© GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
nations, pnnifhable with death ; and whatever re
fpect and deference might be thought due to the Prince,
no fuppofed partiality of his for a rafcally paftry-cook
ought to have been fuffered to give encouragement
to the moft dangerous of all enemies. Until more
rigorous meafures are taken, until the French* are
met upon their own ground, combatted in their own
furomary and deft ructive way, England will continue
fo be haraffed with alarms, plots, and cpnfpiracies. .
Jean de Brie and the Regicide Legion. — Milan,
February \%.- — The following are -the particulars
which appear in the laft letters from Turin, relative
to the confpiracy formed againft the King of Sardinia.
The confpirators were numerous, and were, dif*
perfed in every quarter of the capita], in order, to
feize tbe moft important pofiyin the moment. of the
explofion, to deceive the people as to the real caufe
of it, and to influence the multitude to their, own
purpofes ; and they bad emiflaries throughout. Pied
mont to give a fimilar impulfe .there.
Their leaders, who were charged with, carrying
into effect the great attempt, reforted to the chapel
where the King was acciitomed to hear mafs ; they
were, on a fignal agn.cd upon, to facrifice fome in
ferior victims, to feize the perfon of the King, and
to make him on the fpot fign an order fo deliver up
to the confpirators the citadel of Turin and fome
other places.
Fortunately the chief of the confpiracy, who was
tp have given the fignal, failed to be at the rendez
vous at. the appointed time -, and Government, ap
prized of the confpiracy^ took its meafures to over?
turn it.
The leader, we will not fay of the confpiracy, for
perhaps that important perfon is yet unknown, but
the condudlor of the executive part of it, was named
Trombetta. He has long been notorious fof pro-*
fefling

MAY, 17*97. 33t
lefling "ultra-revolutionary principles; which ren
dered him a fufpected perfon in Piedmont.
We are affured that the Executive Directory of
France informed the Sardinian 'Ambaffador, that
-this Trombetta gave himfelf out to be the agent of
the French Republic, immediately applied to the Mi
nifters to know if they had any individual of that
name in their ftrvice, and they received an affurance
that his name was utterly unknown to them.
Trombetta, or thofe who had given him the falfe
title of an Agent of the Republic, are evidently ene
mies to the good " underftanding which fubfifts be
tween the Republic and the King of Sardinia. The
^Executive Directory, we are credibly informed, have
fignified to Count Balbe the Sardinian Ambaffador,
how much they are penetrated with indignation and
horror at the news of this confpiracy.
Remarks. — What ! the murderers of the King of
France and the Queen of France penetrated with
indignation and horror at the news ofa confpiracy
againft the " Defpot of Sardinia !" The buft of
Brutus, one of theaffaflins of his beft. friend Caefar,
and that of Ankerftrom the affaffin jof the King of
Sweden, now grace the halls of thefe ufurpers : it is
well known that they celebrate the anniverfary of the
affaffination of Louis XVI. and that they obliged
the whole nation to repeat annually their oath of
mortal hatred to royalty ; and yet they have the alx miT
nable impudence to pretend to be fliocked at a con
fpiracy againft the poor filly quondlm King of the
Savoyards J
-" It will perhaps be faid, that fhej^w Kings might
really be alarmed for the fafety ; of their brother
monarch ; if this be the cafe, they are greatly re
formed finee they have been on the throne. One of
thetu, Jean de Brie, was the very man (or rather
monfler) who firft propofed to raife a corps of
'twelve thoufand regicides for the purpofe of murdering
'¦•--- the

33a 6AZETTE SELECTIONS.'
the feveral princes of Europe ; and another of then*,
La Croix, was Prefident of the Affembly at that
time. To leave no doubt on the reader's mind refpectf-
ing this fact, I here add an extract from a Paris pam
per called the Therimmetre du Jour, dated 28th Att-
gnft, 1792.
National Affembly. Prefidency of M. La Croix.
M. Jean de Brie, at the clofe of an energetic
fpeech worthy of a Brutus or a Scasvola, propofed to
raife a Theban legion, to be called the legion of
twelve hundred, whofe fole bufinefs fhould be lofeek
to effect the death of hoftile generals in chief, and tlmt of
kings. The determined men competing this legioo
of tyrannicides were to be maintained all their life
time at the expenfe of the ftate, and the penfion of
two thoufand livres (about a hundred pounds fterling
a year) to be granted them, was propofed to be con
tinued to their families to the third generation.
After this I leave the reader to judge of the hvrrsr
thefe fellows muft feel at a confpiracy againft the
life of a king.
Tuesday, adMAV.
Tories unjufily reproached. — Mr. Porcupine, I
find that poor John Bull and his friends the quondam
Tories are ftill the butt of farcafm and ill-nature ; but
.what fome years ago was the general ton, has of
late been confined principally to the Jacobinic Ga
zettes; which are equally employed in defaming
the conftitution and government of the United
States. To infult a nation that is now warring
againft that devouring monfler the Republic of
France, and to vilify that clafs of citizens who hare
always been diftinguifhed by their attachment to fub-
ordination and order, is quite natural to fuch papers
as the Aurora and Argus ; and to them I fhould be
glad

MAY, .1797; 33S
glad to fee the ill-natured talk afligned ; flander
from them is the flamp of merit. But the Edi
tor ofa paper, who wifhes to contribute to the fup
port of law and government, which are now every
where attacked by the fiends of anarchy, contradicts
his own principles when he gives publicity to fuch
effufions. Impartiality has been the profeffion of
moft, and perhaps the intention of fome Gazetteers ;
in common cafes it is right, but there are particular
circumflances in which it is improper.
I have been led into thefe thoughts by perufing a
late publication in the Gazette of the United States,
which the writer calls an "Interefling Parallel," or a
comparative ftatement of the conduct of Great Bri
tain in 1774, and of France in 1796, towards this
country. In the name of common fenfe and good
manners, what analogy is there in the two cafes, or
what refernblance in the two governments ? At the
former period we were Britifh Colonies, bound to
the parent ftate by the ties of gratitude and the
obligations of moral and political juftice. We had
never denied the relation, and only difputed about
the quantum of obedience. From her we derived our
exiflence, our knowledge of liberty, as wel} as our
fpirit to defend it; we had progreffed from infancy
to manhood, from imbecility to ftrength, under her
foftering care and protection. This created a confi
derable obligation ; and although tbe claims fhe fet
uo were inadmiffible, we owed her much— every
well-informed American will ftill acknowledge it ;
but what do we owe the prefent Government of
France ? Nothing. Has it the fmalleft claim even
to our1 refpect and good will ? No. By a feries of
crimes unequalled in the annals of the world, it me
rits univerfal deteftation, and particularly from the
United States of America, which it has robbed and
iafulted without even the. fhadow ofa provocation. Our

334 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Our fons will blufh that their fathers even called
fuch an abandoned and faithlefs people allies.
It would degrade the. regency of Tunis or Algiers
to be put on a level with the French Republic ; they
are neither fo bloody minded nor fo perfidious. It
is therefore indecent, as well as unjuft and impolitic,
to compare the moft refpectable nation and freeft
government in Europe, with fuch a band of robbers
and affaffins. With the bloody daggers in their hands
with which they murdered their too benevolent
King, our great ally, the rebels firft demanded the
debt we owed him, which they received to the laft
fous ; and then they fet about plundering and ca
joling us alternately for four years, in order to mani-
feft their ingratitude or contempt, I don't know
which. When we fent an ambaffador to complain
of their infults and aggreffions, they fpurned him
from their prefence with indignity, and threatened
him with a corps de garde-, if he did not leave their
territory without a hearing.
Should the five Beys and their Mamelukes per-
fift in this atrocious fyftem, or refufe to make com>
penfation for their piracies, we muft either refolve
inftantly to do ourfelves juftice by an appeal to arms,
or give our honour and independence to the winds.
In cafe of a war, I leave any .man to judge whether
we could promife ourfelves fuccefs without the aid of
a powerful naval ally ; and whether, when we have
fo much at flake, it is prudent wantonly to abufe
the only nation on earth which has the power and
inclination to affift us. For although it is the inte
reft of this nation to fupport the independence, of
America againft all invaders, it . is poflible the
may not refpect it properly, when fhe fees that we
ceafe to value it ourfelves.
Should France be foiled in the prefent arduous
conteft before fhe difcharge her debt to America,
we muft pocket the lofs ; but fliould fhe be victorious,

, , MAY, 1797. 335,
rious, (which God forbid !) the fame ambition that
has impelled her to defolate Europe for an exten- •
fion of territory, will lead her acrofs the Atlantic,
The millions fhe has already plundered are not fuf
ficient to pay the mighty debt we owe her ; and I am
really afraid the liberty fhe gave, fhe will think fhe
has a right to refume ; or, to ufe one of her own bold
figures, to " reduce us to our ancient nothingnefs."
The democrats have often affected a mighty concern
about liberty and the rights of man, in cafe the al
lied powers fhould deftroy the Republic of France :
Kings, they faid, would not fuffer an honefl repub
lican to breathe. But I would now afk them, or
rather any rational being who is not a democrat,
what is to become of the rights and independence of
nations, their privilege of governing themfelves,
fhould this Republic one and indivifible prevail.
But I am ftill more difpleafed, if poffible, with the
writer's injudicious attempt to place that clafs of citi
zens who during the American war were diftin-
guifhed by the name of Tories, on a level with the -
frenchified Jacobins. The former clafs comprifes
many of the moft refpectable characters in the
United States ; men who, at this time, are among
the moft zealous advocates for our happy conftitu
tion and government. If they erred during the con
flict of independence, it was from an excefs of attach
ment to the peace and profperity they enjoyed under
the ancient regimen, and an averfion to the dangers
ofa revolution. They are now equally fatisfied with
their prefent flate, and as fincerely deprecate a
change. Not fo with. the turbulent democrats;
they are never content but when the reins of govern
ment are relaxed, and a door is open for buftle and
confufion. Order is their bane, and law their ter -
ror. Thefe two claffes are as diverfe as light and
darknefs ; and, although it is impoffible by any
abufe whatever to unite them in projects inimical to
the

US GAZETTE SELECTIONS;
the State, it is poflible by a feries ofundeferved kfuJii
to difguft, and to render men paffive fpectators, who
would otherwife be powerful, alert, and zealoua
friends. Mirabeaus Slander againft the Englifh, circulated hjf
Bradford. — Among the numberlefs efforts that have
been made by the Americans in the pay of France,
and by the renegado traitors from Great Britain and
Ireland, to degrade the character of Englifhmen in
the eyes of their defcendants, the following mali
cious piece, taken from a paper that calls itfelf the
" Merchants' Daily Advertifer," is, I think, one of
the moft feandalous. This paper is noted for extracts of
letters ; accordingly the prefent moft vile effufion is
faid to be an " Extract ofa Letter from the famous
Mirabeau, to his friend Champfort the poet."
London, Nov. 10, 1794.
" No, my friend, I am not at all an enthufiaft of
,c England ; I am now acquainted well enough with
" that ifland to fay, that if her conftitution is the
" beft known in the world, its adminiftration is
" the worft that exifts ; if an Englifhman is the
" beft, freeft man in fociety, the Englifh nation is the
*' moft enflaved on earth. I believe ftill further, I
" believe that, fpeaking individually, we are far
" fuperior to them, if we admit with mo A writers,
" that men owe a great deal to the influence of cli-
"> mate, and even with the Englifh writers, that
" tbe foil which produces wine and immenfp
" variety of other delightful productions, is fuperior
" to that which gives to its dull inhabitants only
" coarfe beer and pit-coal. Men therefore muft be
" more or lefs affected by the influence' of the eli-
*' mate, in their phyfical, as well as in their moraj
" conftitution. I fhall not fay, like M. de LauFar
" gais, that the Englifh have no other ripe fruit than
" roafted

MAY,"r7$7- 337
** roafled apples, and nothing polithed but their
*' fleels ; yet I do not believe them poffelfed of any
" thing that can juftify their ferocious pride. Brit no-
" thing demonftrates more the advantages of liberty
*c than that the little of it which the Englifh enjoy,
" by one or two of their laws, has raifed, to the firft:
" rank, a nation fo little favoured by nature. What
" cannot good laws effect, if, however imperfect and
" defective the Eriglifh conftitution is, it has been
" able to fave, and will yet fave from deftruetion
" the moft corrupted people on the earth? What would
" be the effect of a good conftitution on any nation,
" if a few laws have rendered fo powerful and rich
" a people ignorant, fuperftitious,ftubborn, avaricious,
** and faithlefs ? What would be ours, if we enjoyed
" a little more civil liberty ? 'Tis wonderful, my
" friend, for a man who thinks and reflects upon
" the nature of things, but it is a problem for others.
" We are perfectly ignorant of what concerns Eng-
" land. This is nof the time to give you a detail of
" our prejudices in favour of that country ; but I
" am making notes, which will convince you that we
" French people belieVe a great many things which
" only exift in the eulogiums we have beftowed on
«' them."
Remarks.— "Now, admitting this not to be a fabri
cation of the brace of infampys villains who con
duct the Merchants' Advertifer; admitting it to be
extracted from a letter written by Mirabeau, whom.
thofe people call famous, and whom all honeft meh
call infamous ; admitting it to be the product of this
half-rogue ha,lf- madman's brain ; let us fee what fort
ofa man he was, and whether, like the officious repub-
lijhers of his extract, there be no particular circum •
fiances of his life that will account for his hatred of
the Englifh laws.
Play fair, in his HiftoTy of Jacobinifm, vol. i.
p. in, fays, " Mirabeau, whofe whofe life had been
vol, v. a a hiftory

338 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
a hiftory of crimes, of blunders, and of misfortunes,
whofe name was confidered as a reproach, and whofe
company was fhunned by every man who had mo
ney or reputation to preferve, made himfelf confpi-
cuous the moment that the ufual order of fociety be
gan to be inverted. The fon of a man of fortune
and of letters, he had a good education ; but very
early in life fhowed difpofitions which obliged his
own father to folicit as a favour a lettre de cachet to
put him ip prifon. From one crime to another, and
from debt to debt, he had paffed the greater part of
his time in different prifons. In England [now for
the reafon of his animofity againft the Englifh laws
and conftitution], in England, where he came for a
little while, he got himfelf into a fcrape' with juftice, by
which he got into Newgate, and narrowly efcaped
being fent to Botany Bay, or to the hulks at Wool
wich." Such was the " famous" fcoundrel whofe (lander
againft: the Englifh and their government is now
fubmitted to the perufal, and intended to influence
the opinion of Americans. May the country I love
ever be an object of execration with the tenants of
Newgate, whether 'they write letters, or whether they
publifh them !
Wednesday, 3d May.
A new Mode of paying Debts. — A few days ago, a
gentleman called on a perfon in Bofton for the pay
ment ofa note. The debtor replied, feemingly with
as much jpy and exultation as if he had paid the notes,
" O ! blaft it," fays he, " I am fhut up J"
French Colonifts at Charlefton defended. — Sir, In
your Gazette of the 20th of March, is a letter
figned Americanus, which in my opinion has been in-
fpired by fo rancorous a difpofition, and fo little
regard

MAY, 1797;. 339
regard to truth in its author, that he has indifcri-
minately paffed fentence on all the refugees from
"St. Domingo, without once reflecting that, with the
fame propriety, one would be authorized to judge of
the people of the United States by Brigadier Bar
ney's apoftacy, by the conduct of fome American
captains, who, after the conflagration of Cape Fran
cois, taking advantage of the unhappy fituation of
their paffengers, have fairly betrayed them into the
hands of the Bermuda and Providence privateers, for
a fhare of what thefe unfortunate people had faved
pf their properties, and the proceeding of many a
merchant on this continent, who has fent gunpow
der, concealed in flour-barrels, to the mulattoes and
negroes at St. Domingo, for purpofes beft known to
himfelf. Thefe, Mr. Porcupine, being near the truth, if not
abfolute facts, don't you think that Americanus,
before he fat down to make fuch an illiberal and
grofs abufe of the prefs, ought, chriftian-like, to have
firft removed the beam .from his own eye, left the
fin fhould lie at his own door ?
Americanus's Frying-pan is one of the thoufand
•tales fpread on the caufe of the conflagration in
Charlefton in June laft ; and it may, by the fame
reafon, be attributed to fome fchoolboys, who were
in fact playing with fquitjs clofe to the very ftreet
where the fire broke out ; nay, I have heard feveral
people fwear that Mr. Pitt was the incendiary ; and I
believe, after all, that it was as accidental as the
conflagration in May, which happened through the
careleffhefs ofa black woman.
As for any other conflagrations finee, the incen
diaries have been convicted and punifhed ; and I
defy Americanus to quote a fingle inftance of the
French colonifts having had any hand in fuch horrid
deeds-. v
That fome of the people,, indifcriminately called
z 2 French,

34* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
French,-have been diforderly throughout the United
States, I don't deny ; but at St. Domingo, as on this
continent, the population was a mixture of all na
tions, and I even fafely fay, in this refpea, that no
true French colonift has ever given his benefactors
any caufe of complaint.
I fhall add, that the St. Domingo refugees in this
town were not among its citizens who hung the
Britifh King, his Minifters, and others, in effigy ; and
that at Savannah they did not meddle, in the leaft,
with the burning of Mr. John Jay and one of the
Senators in Congrefs of that State ; on the contrary >
Mr. Porcupine, they have always behaved in a
decent and quiet manner, and proved" themfelves to
be the friends of a government, under whofe pro
tection they have enjoyed that tranquillity which
they had fo long looked for in vain, and which
Americanus, without any provocation, feeks to trou
ble anew, by his ungenerous fortie againft them.
It was not, perhaps, enough for him, that thefe
inbffenfive and induftrious refugees were witnefies
of the murder of their neareft and deareft friends,
themfelves driven from their homes by fire, fword,
and profcriptions, perfecuted even in this land of
neutrality by the agents of thofe execrable villains,
who, under the cloak of equality and humanity,
have partly deftroyed, partly invaded their proper
ties, perfecuted both by friends and foes, and molt
iniquitoufly outlawed by the favage Directory, are
now moft of them reduced to want, mifery, and
defpair ; but Americanus muft ftill, after fuch a feries
of unheard-of misfortunes, come forward to brand
them with the infamous appellation of cut-throats.
This recalls to my mind the fable of the old lion
a* the point of death.
I am, yours, &c. '
One of the St. Domingo Refugees. ¦
Major

MAY, 1797. 34«
Major Grsfe and Margarot — The following letter was
addreffed by Maurice Margarot to Major Grofe,
immediately on the arrival of the former at Sidney
Cove. To Major Grose.
May it pleafe your Honour,
Brought a prifoner to this colony, in confequence
of a fentence of trarifportation paffed againft me by
the Lord Juftice Clerk of the High Court of judi
ciary in Scotland, and approved by his Britannic
Majefty ; I, with all refpect to thofe officers who
here act in his name, claim the refloration of my
freedom — freedom, the common birthright of
Britons, and to which I feel myfelf entitled, info-
much as I conceive my fentence to be fulfilled on
my arrival here — that' fentence being tranfportation,
not flavery ; the latter unknown to our laws, and
directly contrary to the Britifh conftitution, as it
was eftablifhed by the revolution of 1688, which
placed the prefent family on the throne, for the im
mediate purpofe of more effectually protecting
Britifh freedom. It would, therefore, not be doing
juftice to my countrymen, when cheerfully under
going a long exile for their fakes, were I filently to
fuffer in my own perfon fo great a violation of their
charters. Unufed to the more refined language ofa courtier,
I muft entreat your Honour not to be offended at the
plain manner in which I here exprefs myfelf; this
cafe applies not to me alone, but to every Briton ;
for if the executive power can make one flave, it
may make all fo. Your Honour will then, I hope,
perceive the abfolute neceffity Iam under of making
fuch my conftitutional demand ; and as Lieutenant
Governor of this colony, you will, I truft, officially
jmd publicly reflpre to me my freedom.
z 3 §h.Qu!d

342 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
¦ Should it, notwithftanding, prove otherwife, I
muft take the liberty, whatever perfonal danger
may impend, to enter a formal proteft againft a re-
fufal, which I apprehend may be fupported, but am
certain cannot be juftified by thofe to whom the
executive power has been committed.
With the grea' eft refpea, I remain
Your Honour's moft obedient humble fervant,
Maurice Margarot.
Major Grofe's Anfwer.
Mr. Margarot,
I have received your letter of the 29th inftant,.
which I fuppofe is written for the purpofe of difco-
vering with what patience I fhall bear any feditious
remarks you may hereafter fee fit to entertain me
with. >
I hope, Sir, for your own fake, our correfpondence
is to clofe here : that inftead of the Prefident of
fix thoufand perfons, whom ysu boaft . to have ha
rangued, you will now confider yourfelf as the con
vict, from whom humility is expeaed, and to whom
very little ceremony will be ufed, if the leaft pro-
penfity to difturb the peace of this place is ever dif
covered. There is every inclination on my part to accom
modate your unfortunate fituation, as far as it con
fidently can be done. But this I have fome idea
does not anfwer your purpofe fo exaaiy, as if you were
able to complain of fetters and fevere treatment; if
this is at all your defire, it is eafy to be furnifhed
with materials for a very long letter. For you may
reft affured, I have not the fmalleft doubt, neither
fhall 1 have the leajt hefitation of forcing as much good

MAY, 1797. 343
good order from you, as from any other prifoner in
the place. I am, Sir,
Your humble fervant, &c.
Francis Grose*.
O' Carey's Bull. — An evening paper of yefterday,
publifhed by one Carey, an Irifhman, afks feveral
qiieftions concerning the condua of Great Britain
during the American war, and, amongft the reft :
*e jyidfhe not violate our women ?" — Paddy is no na
tural philofopher.
, Cure for Sans-culotifm. — Charlefton (S. C), April
14. — French victories would, not long finee, have
caufed joy in the hearts of Americans ; they are now
fources of forrow to America as well as to Europe,
groaning under the oppreflion of her arms. The
conteft is no longer for liberty, but plunder.
This obfervation is juft, but it comes too late : it
is like devotion infpiredby the yellow fever. When
the French were plundering other perfons, and other
nations ; when they were feizing on the property of
their own nobility and clergy, and extending their
robberies to Savoy, Brabant, and the United Nether
lands, their aaions met with the moft unqualified

* How it muft grind the foul of the haughty and info-
lent Citizen Margarot to be obliged to fay " Your Honour" to an
•officer of King George! Mr. Grofe's anfwer muft, one would
think, have bereft the fcoundrel of his fenfes. Would to heaven
that all the Britifh and Irifh patriots, that have unfortunately ef-
caped to thefe States, had gone, with their beloved Prefident, to
au'gmentthe population of Botany Bay ! — When Sir Joieph Banks
named this place, he could hardly flatter himfelf that it would ever
become the receptacle of fuch eminent perfonages as Prefident
Margarot and his fubalterns. It will make a delightful republic
V\ a few years. z 4 applaufe ;

344 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
applaufe ; but now we begiri to have a juft fenfe o£
the bafenefs and cruelty of their pillaging warfare*
Men ieldom think right till they begin to feel.
French Fraternity. — Yefterday arrived the brig
Maria Wilmans, Captain Gardner, twenty days from
Guadaloupe. A gentleman who came paffenger.
in the Maria Wilmans has\handed the following
information :
That he took paflage in the brig Lady Walter-
ftorff, of Philadelphia, bound from Demarara to
Philadelphia ; that on the 5th March faid brig was
taken under the lee of Martinique, by a French pri
vateer, and fent into Baffeterre, Guadaloupe, thp
captain, fupercargo, and people, with himfelf, taken
put, and kept op hoard the privafoer thirteen days ;
and when they arrived in Baffeterre, they found tbe
faid brig Lady Walterftorff and cargo condemned,
and moft of the cargo taken out and fold, without
either, captain or fupercargo being prefent, or having
any opportunity of making any claim: mare and
people of faid brig immediately fent to prifon ; and
although the captain ufed all the endeavours he
could to, get ihem out, he could not obtain their en
largement, nor even permiffion to fee them before
he left the ifland.
\_Here follow the names of eleven veffels carried into
Guadaloupe.'] The mates and people of thofe condemned veffels
are aWput in prifon, and fent on board flags of truce to
be exchanged with the Englifh. An inftance of this
happened while at Baffeterre, ofa number of Ameri
cans being fent off in an Englifh flag of truce, to
Martinique, among whom were fome of Captain
Gutterfon's people, of the Lady Walterftorff, and
Captain Peck's of the Sufanna, and in two days
after

MAY, 1797. 345
after they were fent back again to Guadaloupe,
becaufe the Englifh would not receive them in exchange *.

Thursday, 4th May.
Jefferfon 's Letter to Mazzei. — From the Paris Mo
nitor of January 25. — Florence, January 1.
Letter from Mr. Jefferfon, late Minifter of the
United States in France, and Secretary to the De
partment of Foreign Affairs, to a Citizen of Vir
ginia.
This tetter, literally tranflated, is addreffed to Mr
Mazzei, author of Refearches, Hiftorical and Poli
tical, upon the United States of America, now re-
fident in Tufcany.
" Our political fituation is prodigioufly changed
finee you left us. Inftead of that noble love of
liberty, and that republican government, which car
ried us through the dangers of the war, an An
glo-monarch io-ariftocratic party has rifen. Their
avowed object is to impofe on us the fubftance, as
they have already given us the form of the Britifh
government. Neverthelefs, the principal body of
our citizens remain faithful to republican principles.
All our proprietors of lands are friendly to thofe
principles, as alfo the men of talents. We have
againft us (republicans), the Executive Power, the
Judiciary Power (two out of three branches of our go
vernment), all the officers of government , all who are

* " Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will fecure
Ms the peace and friendfhip of all Europe ; becaufe it is the intereft
of all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade 'will always
fe her protistion." Painf.'s Common Sense.
" Let Independence be our boaft,
" Ever mindful what itcoft."
Hopkinson's Song.

feeking

3*6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fe eking offices, aU timid men who prefer the calm of Def
potifm to the tempeftuous fea of Liberty, the Britifh mer
chants, and the Americans who trade on Britifh capitals,
the fpecidators, perfons inter efted in ihe Bank and public
funds. [Eftablifhments invented with views of
corruption, arid to aflimilate us to therBritifh model
in its corrupt parts.]
" I fhould give you a fever if I fhould name the
apoftates who have embraced thefe herefies ; men
who were Solomons in council, and Sampfons in
combat, but whofe hair has been cut off by the
whore of England. [In the original, par le catin
d'Angleterre, probably alluding to the woman's cutting
off the hair of Sampfon, and his lofs of ftrength
thereby.] " They would wreft from us that liberty which we
have obtained by fo much labour and peril ; but we
fhall preferve it. Our mafs of weight and riches
is fo powerful, that we have nothing to fear from
any attempt againft us by force. It is fufficient that
•we guard ourfelves, and that we break the Lilliputian
ties by which they have bound ps, in the firft flum-
bers which fucceeded our labours. It fuffices that
we arreft the progrcfs of that fyftem of ingratitude
and injuftice towards France, from which they
would alienate us, to bring us under Britifh in
fluence, &c.
(Signed) « Thomas Jefferson*." Thus

* This letter is mentioned to be addreffed to a Citizen of Virgi
nia. To underfland this, it is neceffary to know that Mr. Mazzei
came from Italy to Virginia before the American revolution, pur-
chafed land, and fett'ed at or near Montecello (Mr. Jefferfon's refi
dence), where he planted a vineyard. Mr. Jefferfon was his inti
mate friend, during whofe adminiftration, as Governor of. Virgi
nia,. Mazzei was fent by the State of Virginia on a miffion to the
Grand Duke of Tufcany, but was taken by the Britifh and carried
into New-York, where he found no' difficulty of accommodating
..Jiis fentiments to his company. While

MAY, 1797. 347
Thus far the letter ; to which are fubjoined, in
the French paper, the following remarks :
P " This interefting letter from one of the moft
virtuous and enlightened citizens of the United
States, explains the conduct of the Americans in re
gard to France. It is certain, that, of all the neutral
and friendly powers, there is none from which
France had a right to expect more intereft and
fuccours, than from the United States. She is their
true mother-country, finee fhe hasfecured to them their
liberty and independence. Ungrateful children inftead
of abandoning her, they ought to have armed in her
defence. But if imperious circumftances had1 pre
vented them from openly declaring for the Republic
of France, they ought at leaft to have made demon-
flrations, and excited apprehenfions in England,
that at fome moment or other they fhould declare
themfelves. This fear alone would have been fuf
ficient to force the cabinet of London to make peace>
It is clear that a war with the United States would
ftrike a terrible blow at the commerce of the Eng-

While Mazzei was a prifoner in New-York, the Britifh General
Phillips and the Heffian General Riedefel, who as prifoners of
war had been quartered near Montecello, obtained leave to go to
New- York, when the fituation of his friend Mazzei was particu
larly recommended by Mr. Jefferfon to General Phillips, and
Mazzei was releafed. While at New- York he dined with both
thefe generals. With Riedefel Mazzei was for abfolute mo
narchy ; with Phillips for a mixed monarchy, as in Virginia he had
J>een a choice rebublican.
Since he returned to his native country Italy, he has continued
to correfpond with his Virginia friends. And as the French Re
public have marched their troops into Tufcany, and acquired an
^fcendancy and control in that as in every other neutral ftate
within their reach, Mr. Mazzei's republican feelings have been ex
cited anew; and in a fit of fraternization, and to promote the kind
-views of our dear fifter republic towards the United States,
and probably alfo from the vanity of fhowinghis countrymen,
France, and Europe, that he was the correfpondent of the great
luminary of the weftern world, he' has now publifhed his friend
Mr. Jefferfon's letter. lift,

348 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
lilh, would give them uneafinefs for the prefervation
of their poflcfffons on the American continent, and
deprive them of the means of conquering the French
and Dutch colonies,
" Equally ungrateful and impolitic, the Congrefe
baftens to encourage the Englifh, that they might
purfue in tranquillity their war of extermination
againft France, and to invade tbe colonies and the
commerce . of England *. They fent to London a
minifter, Mr. Jay, known by his attachment to Erig^
land, and his perfonal relations to Lord Grenvilie,
and he concluded, fuddenlyj a treaty of commerce,
which united them with Great Britain more than a
treaty of alliance.
" Such a treaty, under all the peculiar circurrt-
ftances,' and by the confequences it muft produce, is
an act of hoftility againft France. The French govern
ment, in fhort, has teftified the refentment of the
French nation, by breaking off communication with
an ungrateful and faithlefs ally, until fhe fhall return
to a mare juft and benevolent conduct. Juftice and
found policy equally approve this meafure of the
French government. There is no doubt it will give
rife, in the United States, to difeuffions which may
afford a triumph to the party of good republicans, tlie
friends of France."
"Some writers, in difapprobation of this wife and
neceflary meafure of the Directory, maintain that in
the Uiv.ed States, the French have for partifans only
certain demagogues who aim to overthrow the exist
ing government. But their impudent falfehoods
convince no one, and prove only what is too evi
dent, that they ufe the liberty of the prefs. to ferve
the enemies of France."

* There feems' to be a miftake in the original, in this paffage,
or we miftake the conftruflion. franflator. Rev*

MAYi 1797. 349
Rev. Mr. Abercrombie 's Letter to the 0' Careys. —
What I am now going to lay before my readers will
confirm the truth of all I have ever faid reflecting
the impartiality of our fans-culotte newfpapers ;
and will furnifh an ample. proof of the deteflable dif
pofition of the editors.
On the a8th ultimo, the following paragraph, ap
peared in a paper called the " Daily Advertifer"
publifhed by a fellow of the name of Carey, an im
ported patriot from Ireland :
" An epifcopal prieft in this city, well known
*•' fsom his fodden metamorphofis into one of the
" clerical order, after having been difappointed in a
" cafhierfihip, it is faid has turned one of Peter Porcu-
" pine's news boys. He has been employed in run-
" ning about. among his neighbours and parifhio-
" ners, foliciting fubfcriptions for Porcupine's Ga-
*' zette ! What an employment for a divine ! Whe-
" ther he receives afubfidy from the Editor, or from
" the Editor's patron, his own. confcience, if he has
" any, will fufficiently explain. A difeiple of the
*' Mefliah being thus employed verifies the adage,
" tempora mutant ur !"
This bafe attack has brought forth a reply from
the clergyman who was the object of it, and which
reply was (as the reader will fee prefent ly) refufed a
place in the paper which contained the flander.
To the Printers of the Daily Advertifer.
It is with great reluctance that I again addrefs the
public through the channel of a nevyfpaper ; but the
unmerited calumny contained in your paper of Fri
day laft extorts a reply.
The author firft reproaches me with being " fud-
denly metamorphofed into one of the clerical order,
after having been difappointed in a cafhierfhip."
That I was one of the candidates for the cafhier
fhip of the Pennfylvania Bank previous to my obtain-
3 * ing

350 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ing orders in the year 1793, is true, and a circum
ftance I never wifhed to conceal. My motive fof
the application will, I truft, not Onlyjuftify it to eve-»
ry ingenuous mind, but exculpate me from the im
putation of infincerity in the adoption of the clerical
character, or of being compelled to affume it by una
voidable neceffity.
The early religious impreffions which my mind
happily received from the precepts and example of
an affectionate and pious mother, aided by her ear-
neft wifhes that I fhould dedicate myfelf to the
church, naturally induced in me a predilection for
that profeffion from a ftate of childhood. With that
view I was educated, and after having graduated at
the College in this city, and arrived at the age of
admiflion into holy orders, I fhould have applied
for them had the epifcopal authority exifted in this
country, or could 1 have obtained permiffion to go
to England for that purpofe, which I folicited from
the Executive Council. All hope therefore of being
gratified by a regular admiflion into the clerical or
der, agreeable to the principles of the epifcopal
church, being thus extinguifhed, and not being able
to forefee how long. the war between Great Britain
and this country would be continued, I wasfubject
to the painful neceffity of directing my attention to
fome other employment. The mercantile profeffion
appeared the moft eligible, and I accordingly en
gaged in it. But being impofed, its exCrcife became
daily more irkfome, though confiderably relieved by
the indulgence and activity of a valuable and intimate
friend with whom I was affociated. At the expira
tion of twelve years I determined to withdraw from
an occupation which I could no longer purfue with
the leaft degree of comfort, and exchange it for one
which might be more tolerable, although any one but
the clerical, however great its emolument, would
have been a painful drudgery. The cafhierfhip of the
4 Pennfylvania

MAY,-. 1 797. - , 3it
Pennfylvania Bank being then vacant, I offered myfelf
asa candidate, and was (luckily on my own account),
unfuccefsfuh A fimilar fate attended foon after
my application for the fame appointment in the Bank,
of the United States, and for the treafuryfhip of the
Mint. Having made thefe exertions, which duty ¦
feemed to require for the fupport of a large and in
creafing family, and being difappointed in them all,
I thought myfelf at liberty, and indeed directed by
Providence to engage in the exercife of that profef
fion, which an uninterrupted and ardent defire from
infancy had in a peculiar manner attached me t£ ;
although the flender provifion which it offered ap
peared, upon principles of human , prudence, de
cidedly to prohibit fuch a ftep. Relying, however,
upon the fincerity of my intention, and the protec
tion of Heaven, I made known my defire to the
bifhop and clergy of our church, and was received
by them in the moft friendly and affectionate man
ner. The following extract from the Bifhop's ferraon
at my ordination, which he kindly permitted me to
tranfcribe at the time, will confirm the truth of the
foregoing narration, and, I truft,_fhield me from the
obloquy contained in the Daily Advertifer.
" In admitting to ordination it has been matter
of fpecial care with us not haflilyto give encourage
ment to the pafling from fecular employments to
the miniftry. In the prefent inftarice we have been
relieved by our knowledge of the candidate's being
educated with a view of this object, of the unfur-
mountable impediments which occurred at the time of
his reaching the age for orders, and of the predi
lection he hath ever finee entertained for a profef
fion, the profpect of which he had reluctantly relin-
quifhed. Thefe circumftances, with the declaration
which the folemnoccafion requires of him, and added to

35« GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
to all, his paft life and converfation, make us rely
on the rectitude of his intentions."
As to the charge of " having been eniployed in
running about among my neighbours and parifhio-
ners foliciting fubfcriptions' for Porcupine's Gazette,"
I can only fay that it is an abfolute falfehood, that I
never have folicited a fubfcription from any individual,
and, as far as I can remember, have never propofed
to any perfon to fubfcribe to Mr. Cobbett's paper,
although, had I done fo, it would have been an in-
fufficient ground for the accufation of having made
it my employment, much more for that of my "re
ceiving, a fubfidy from the author, or the author's
patron ;" which bafe infinuation is too contempti
bly malicious to merit a reply, or even a contra
diction. Undifturbed by fuch feeble though venomous af-
failants, I fhall, in all matters of an indifferent na
ture, continue to do as I pleafe, nor fhall the feurri-
lity of fuch pretended patriots ever in the fmalleft de
gree influence my conduct. They may tell the
world as often as they think proper, that I was once
a merchant, and that I " folicited a cafhierfhip ;"
but thefe are things of which I fhall never be
afhamed ; and they whofe friendfhip I value will
never efteem me the lefs, becaufe fuch characters
are, on thefe grounds, my enemies-. And as I do
not cenfure thofe who choofe to read Markland and
Carey's paper, or who even folicit fubfcriptions for
the fupport of it* fo I hope thofe gentlemen and their
paragraph-writer's * will indulge me in the privilege
which I think myfelf entitled to, of reading what
—  ,  _^_ — ,  ,  ,  >f.
* An application was made to me to fubfcribe to the Daily Ad
vertifer, which I refufed to do, being already a fUbfcriber to two
other papers ; and in a few days after, the paragraph now tinder
confideration appeared in the faid paper. newfpapers

MAY, 1797; 355
fcewfpapers I pleafe, and even of recommending
them, if I am fo inclined, to the perufal of my
friends. James Abercrombie,
One of the affiflant Minifters of Chrift,
May t, 1797. Church and St. Peter's.
Mr. Fenno,
The above was intended for Carey and Mark-
land's paper only, and offered to them ; but as Mr.
Carey refufed to publifh it unlefs I would fupprefs
the note, I am under the neceffity of handing it to
another printer. J. A.
Thefe, reader, are the people that talk of their
moderation and impartiality ! Here is a gentleman,
a clergyman, a man of talents, of untainted reputa
tion and undoubted piety, an ornament to the
church, and an honour to his country ; againft this
gentleman anewfmonger fuffershis paper to become
fhe vehicle of the moft foul and moft atrocious flan-
der; and when the injured party comes to defend
himfelf by a fimple and modefl narrative, in which
not one untruth or violent expreffion is to be found ;
when he comes with this paragraph of felf-defence,
he is told that it is inadmiffible, unlefs he will ex
punge a circumftance, the moft material of his re
lation, as it at once accounts for the real motive of
the infamous publication to which he replies ! — Talk
about the liberty of the prefs indeed ! Where is it ?
I would be glad to know.-^-I defy any one to pro
duce me an inftance of fuch glaring, fuch unjufl
partiality in the conduct of any printer not of the
degraded fans-culotte tribe.
It never was ray intention to take notice of any
thing contained in this poor crawling paper, which
came into the world with death written on its front ;
I will, however, to-morrow, juft give the public
the hiftory of the wretched publication ; ptomifing
voir. v. 4 -^ at

354 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
at the fame time never to anfwer any thing it that!
in future contain againft me. I know the .object of
the poor editors well enough,' and will therefore
take good care to defeat it. I hate every thing that
favours of equality, and fhall carefqlly avoid in
troducing into the parlour what is , deftined by
nature to refide in the garret and the cellar.

Friday, 5th May.
' 0 'Carey's Paper. -—I yefterday promifed to give
fome account of the impartial newfpaper, which has
rendered itfelf infamous by giving publicity to flan-
der, and refuting to publifh the injured party's re
ply ; but, previous to this, it may not be improper
to trace the bafe infinuations againft the Rev. Mr.
Abercrombie back to their fource.
So long ago as the month of April, 1794,' this
gentleman had the honour to be abufed by the, de
mocratic or French faction. In a fermon, preached
on Eafter-day, he took an opportunity of .caution
ing his audience againft the danger of adopting the
horrid tenets of the French atheifls. This was
called an unprovoked attack on a great and magnani
mous people. 1
From an extract of the fermon, which was after
wards publifhed in fhe papers, it appeared that
the French were alluded to in no part of it, ex
cept in the following elegant paffage: " Let us put
(.{ on the whole armour of God, and refolutely ftand
li as Chriftian foldiers in the. breach which the in-
" folence ofdeifm, and the infidious dejufions ofa
-" falfe philofophy, have lately made in the walls of
" the fanctuary. Let us vigilantly guard againft;
** the introduction of that fhocking tenet, which is
" now, alas ! the fafhionable, . though fatal doc-
ft trine in a nation, who once gloried, in the name
„*' of Chfiflians, but who, having extinguifhed the
" 1!Sht

MAY, 1797. 355
** light of the bleffed Gofpel, in mercy given to con-
c< duct them to eternal blifs, now grope in the
** dark, and madly conceive that the actions of
" the prefent life fhall at the clofe be forgotten in
K everlafting fleep."
This feafonable exhortation was not, it feems,
allowable in a land of liberty. It brought repeated
attacks on the preacher, and, among the reft, one
concluding with thefe remarkable words: "Ec-
" clefiaftics, beware ! The feelings of Americans are
*' irritable, and they will not hear their French, bre-
'* thren traduced with impunity !"
¦ This fo exactly refembles the language of the
French cut-throats, at the time tkey were preparing
to murder their priefts, that I am almoft aftonifhed
Mr. Abercrombie fhould, have lived to fee himfelf
abufed in the impartial Daily Advertifer.
When I came to write the Hiftory of the American.
Jacobins, the infolent invafion of the liberty of' the
pulpit naturally prefented itfelf; and it was ac
cordingly noticed in the following manner :
" As I have more than once obferved, that , the
democrats aped the regenerated French in all their
follies, and in all their crimes, as far as they were
able, it will be underftood, that they made a boaft
of being atheifts or deifts, as the Convention changed
its creed. When the faction of Danton feemed to
preponderate, and members exclaimed againft the
* ariftocracy of Heaven ;' when the infamous Du
pont exclaimed, ' Oh ! fhame, legrflators of the
univerfe ! you have hurled down the thrones of
kings, and you yet fuffer the altar of God to
remain!' The democrats made an open pro
feffion of atheifm. But when Robefpierre obtained
the afcendency, and ordered the Convention to de
cree that there was a Supreme Being (Eire Supreme) ;
then did our good fans-culottes burn incenfe on the
altars of deifm, witb as much devotion as the ragged
a a 2 groups

356 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
groups of Si. Marceau, and the whores and bullies-
of the Palais de I'Egalite."
It has been often obferved, that, however widely
atheifm and deifm may differ in theory, in practice,
that is, in their effects, they are nearly the fame : fo
it happens now ; for whether they profeffed the
opinions of Danton or thofe of his bloody fucceffor,,
they ftill teftified the fame hatred of the Chriftian,
religion, and perfecuted with every infult they durft.
offer, all thofe who had courage enough to ftand
forward in its defence.
The firft affault of this kind was on the Reverend-
Mr. Abercrombie, of the epifcopal church, Philadel
phia. This gentleman had preached a fermon,
warning his congregation againft the contagion of
French atheifm and deifm. For this inftance of
becoming zeal in the difcharge of the moft im
perious of all duties, he was attacked in the public
papers ; accufed of bigotry, of being an enemy to the
taufe of liberty and of the French people. There was
not a worthy man in the city, who did not feel an
indignation againft the authors of this unprovoked
calumny, and who did not regret, that the injured
clergyman fhould fee the neceffity of anfwering it»
Dreadful times indeed are thofe, when the fervant*
of the Lord are brought to the bar of the public,
for daring to obey the commands of their Mafter!
for daring to defend him againft thofe who brand
him with the name of cheat and impoftor * ! At
the fame time"that we are recording the violences of
the clubs againft Chriftian inftitutions, truth re
quires that we fhould confefs, that but too many of

* About the fame time that this infult was offered to Mr. Aber-!
Crombie, a paragraph appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette, pub-
iiflied by one Brown, containing a lift of eminent men who had
arifen on the " democratic floor," and concluding with " Marat,
St. Paul, and Jefus Chrifi. "

the

MAY, 1797. 2S1
the clergy appeared either contaminated with French
principles, or cowardly enough not to attempt an
oppofition to their progrefs. All that can be faid
in defence of fuch men is, that they feared to offend
their congregations, on whom they were totally
dependant for fupport. This is furely a very weak
defence ; but I am afraid it is one that mult often
be made, where the paftor is removable at the plea
fure of his flock.
But there were others who were not merely
paffive ; who were not afhamed to mingle in the
bacchanalian orgies of tlie civic fefiivals held to
celebrate the fucceffes of athcifts over the religion
of which they profeffed to be believers, and of
which they were teachers. Among thefe the Rev.
Citizen Prentifs, of Reading, Maffachufetts, and
the Rev. Citizen Doctor, Mr. Knight, of New-York,
claim the feandalous pre-eminence.
It was Mr. Abercrombie's manly oppofition to the
truly infernal tenets.of the French that firft brought
on him the abufe of Ofwald and Bache? and ihe
other hirelings of France ; and it is his fteady per-
feverance in that oppofition that has now procured
him the honour of being flandered in the beggarly
Advertifer, which was preferred to the faded and fal
len Aurora, as not having a character for falfehood fo
completely eflablifhed.
So much for the motives of the writer of the pa
ragraph- The printers knew well the falfehood and
malicious intent of it ; but were induced to give it a
place, as clearly appears from Mr. Abercrombie's
note, out of revenge for his refufing to fubfcribe to
their paper ! Had they admitted it m adherence to
their promifed impartiality, they would certainly have
admitted the reply. 1 his is truly a decent way of
raffing contributions on the public: " Here, fub-
" fenbe to my paper, or I'll. traduce your character."
J$ this liberty of the prefs?
A A 3 This

358 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
This paper has exhibited a complete fpecimen of
patriotic meannefs from its abortive entrance into the
world to the prefent time. It was not to appear,
till feveral weeks later than it really did appear; but
the death of Brown, that awful event that for fe
veral clays fpread a gloom over the city, ferved only
as a ftimulus to the induftry of Carey and Mark-
land, who feized what they imagined to be the
lucky moment for picking up the fubfcribers of the
Philadelphia Gazette. This did not, however, fuc-
ceed. Their papers were thrown into the people's
houfes in vain ; in vain did they place their children
at the corners of the ftreets to diftribute their quack
like propofals, and in vain does their mendicant
collector now go from houfe to houfe with their
God-blefs-your-honour petition.
Had a perfon been accufed of having folicited fob-.
fcriptions for a poor half-ftarved paper like this,
indeed, fome credit might have been given to the
tale ; but who will believe that my Gazette, whieh
has as many thoufands of fubfcribers as O'Carey's has
hundreds, flood in need of a folicitor ? I never yet
afked for a fubfcription, even in my own fhop : the
O'Careys, on the contrary, are guilty of every meap-
nefs that interefted fervility can invent. > The other
evening they afferted that I muft be paid by Britain,
becaufe my Gazette and Cenfor were fo cheap ;
when, no longer ago than yefterday, their mumper,
in order to prevail on a perfon to quit my paper for
theirs, told him that theirs was much cheaper !
This Daily Advertifer, without advertifements,
has once changed its abode already, and, if I am
not much miftaken, it will ere long make its final
exit. It is got under the hands. of the famous Doc
tor Morpheusr whofe medicaments have reduced the
poor Aurora to her laft gafp, and who will difpatch
his prefent almfhoufe patient in the courfe of a moon
at fartheft, Jefferfon

MAY, 1797. 359
¦ ' Jefferfon. chofen by the French for Prefident. — The
lefter, .publifhed yefterday from the Minerva, and
imputed to Mr. Jefferfon, has given rife to a differ
ence of opinion among the democratic printers. The
conductors of the partnerfhip newfpaper in Front
Street fwear .bitterly that it is abfolutely impoffible
Mr. Jefferfon fhould write the letter, while Bache,
as if by way of a death-bed repentance, candidly
confeffes that he does not doubt of its authenticity.
The upright conductors of the Merchants' paper fay,
that there is not the leaft earthly refemblance between
the Federal Government and that of Great Britain;
but Bache declares, with his friend Tom Paine, that"
they are alike both in form and fubftance.
How thefe differences are to be reconciled I know
riot. I think the merchants in partnerfhip with
Bradford would do well to appoint a committee
(agreeably to the articles) to wait on Bache, and get
.matters adjufted. The papers muft act in concert,
or all is ruined.
But, whatever may be the opinions of Bache and
the conductors, refpecting Mr, Jefferfon's principles,
it appears that the French are unanimous on the
fubject. The following extract from the Nouveau
Journal des Journaux, of the 27th January laft,
tpeaks the general fentiment of the French nation :
" On ecrit de Philadelphie que M. Adams fera
te probablement nomme Prefident des Etats-Unis.
" Le bonheur des EtatSrUnis et les interets de la
" Repubhque Francaife trouveroient dans M. Jef-
fc ferfon un agent plus zele ; c'eft un fage, un phi-
" lofophe a. qui les maximes du Gquvernement An-
*' glais ne fauroient convenir."
Tranflation. — We hear from Philadelphia, fhat it
is very probable that Mr, A^ams will be elected
prefident of the United States. The happinefs of
the United States, and the interefts of the Republic,
WQ14I4 |ind a niore zealous agent in Mr^JefferfoQ.
a a 4 H§

360 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
He is a fage, a philofopher, who could not be
brought to adopt the maxims of the Engliih Govern^
ment. 
Adet and the Almanac -makers. — The complaint of
the French Minifter, Adet, to the Executive of the*
United States, againft an alraanacrprinter, for in
ferring his name in a manner he did not like, is not
fo unprecedented as it is ridiculous. In Voltaire's,
Age of Louis XIV. we find, that the French bncq
exhibited a complaint againft the Dutch, on account
_of a medal which was ftruck in Holland, limply ex*
pfeffing the gloripus deeds of that republic, without
containing any kind of reflection againft France, or
any other nation ; and that, notwithftanding the
States General ordered the medal to be broken, in
order to appeafe the French, yet they affected fo
confider it a juft caufe of war, and with an immenffc
army overran Holland, and reduced the Dutch to
the brink of deftruction. Thus being predetermined
to wage war, it was indifferent what was the pre
text : the printing of an "almanac, or the impreflion
of a medal, "may be made to excite refentment, and
produce chaftifement !

Saturday, 6* May.
Talleyrand a Spy-— The following is taken from,
the Bofton Mercury, and is faid to be derived from
ah authentic fource. — " The Bifhop of Autun, who
" refitled fome time in this country, under the name
" of Talleyrand Perigord, has informed the Direc-
" tory of France, that they need nof regard the
" United States any more than the State of Genoa,
" or Qeneva ; as o'ur divifions have weakened us
*' down fo nothing in point of ftrength and exertion
" as a nation ; and that there would probably foon
lf he a revolution here, which would tend to throw

MAY, 1797. 36f'
** us entirely into the French fcale ; as the partifans
•" of France were increafing, and would foon turn
V£ out of the Government all the Wafhingtoniau
** party, all of whom were in the Britifh pay.
" In this information he was joined by almoft all
** the Americans who were before in France, or have
" finee gone to that country. "
" In the mean time, the French party on this fids
" of the A'lanlic are continually exciting the
" French Government to acts of hoftility againft 'he
" United States ; and are fo defperately determined
tl to deftroy the Britifh treaty, as to be willing, for
" the accomplishment of that purpofe, to rifk our
(e independence, and even our national existence."
That the apoftate Talleyrand was a fpy in this
country is evident from his being afterwards re
ceived with open arms by the very men who had
profcribed him. But I have a word or two to fay
about this atheiftical bifhop* Firft he fet up as a
¦pterchan't and dealer, at New-York, till he had ac
quired what knowledge he thought was to be come
at among perfons engaged in mercantile affairs ;
then he affumed the character of a gentleman, at the
fame time removing to Philadelphia, where he got
accefs to perfons of the firft rank, all thofe who were
connected with, or in the confidence of, the Gor
•yernmenf. Some months after his arrival in this
city, he left a meffage with a friend of his, requefting
me tp meet him at that friend's houfe. Several days
paffed away before the meeting took place : I had
ho bufinefs tp call me that way, and therefore I did
not go- At laft this modern Judas and I got feated
by the fame fire-fide. I expected that he wanted to
expoftulate with me on the fevere treatment he had
met with at my hands : I had called him an apoftate,
a hypocrite, and every other name of which he was
deferving ; I therefore leave the reader to imagine
my aftonifhrjaent, when I heard him begin with com
plimenting

362 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
plimenting me on my wit and learning. He praifed
feveral of my pamphlets, the New Year's Gift in
particular, and ftill fpoke of them as mine. I did
not acknowledge myfelf the author, of courfe ; but
yet he would infift that I was ; or, at any rate, they
reflected, he faid, infinite honour on the author, let
him be who he might. Having carried this fpecies
of flattery as far as he judged it fafe, he atked me,
with a vaft deal of apparent ferioufnefs, whether I
had received my education at Oxford, or at Cam
bridge ! Hitherto I had kept my countenance pretty
well ; but this abominable ftretch of hypocrify, and
the placid mien and filver accent with which it was
pronounced, would have forced a laugh from a
Quaker in the midft of meeting, 1 don't recollect ,
what reply I made him ; but this I recollect well, I
gave him to underfland that I was no trout, and
confequently was not to be caught by tickling.
This information led him to fomething more folid.
He began to talk about bufinefs. \ was no fiour-mer.~,
chant, but I taught Englifh; and, as luck would
have it, this was the very commodity that Bifhop
Perigord wanted. If I had taught Thornton's or
Webfter's language, or fold fand or afhes, or pep
per-pot, it would have been juft the, fame to him,-
He knew the Englifh language as well as I did ;
but he wanted to have dealings with me in fome
way or other.
I knew, that, notwithftanding his being profcribed;
at Paris, he was extremely intimate with Adet ; and
this circumftance led me to fofpeet his real bufinefs
in the United States : I therefore did not care to
take him as a feholar. I told him, that, being en
gaged in a tranflation for the prefs, I could not pof-
fibly quit home. This difficulty the lame fiend
hopped over in a moment, He would very gladly
come to my houfe. I cannot fay but it would have
been a great fatisfactfon to mc to have feen the ci-
devant

MAY, 1797. „•• 363
devant Bifhop of Autun, the guardian of the holy
oil that anointed the heads of the defcendants of St.
Louis, come trudging through the dirt to receive a
leffon from me ; but, on the other hand, I did not
want a French fpv to take a furvey either of my deftc
or my houfe. My price for teaching was six dol
lars a month ; he offered me twenty ; but I refufed ;
and before I left him, I gave him clearly to under
fland that I was not to be purchafed.
I verily believe that, had I had any flour o^ pre
cious confefftons * for fale, I might have difpofed of
them to good account ; and even my pamphlqts,
though Bradford calls them dirty water,. I think I
could have fold to Bifhop Judas for more than one
Jhilling and fev en-pence halfpenny apiece.
There is no doubt of there being at this moment
hundreds of horiett miffionaries among us, whofe
fole bufinefs is that of fpies. They are flying about
the country in every direction ; not a corner of it
will they leave unexplored. They are now much
better acquainted with the fentiments of the people
of the Union, and know more exactly thofe who are
to be counted upon in cafe of a war, than either the
Federal Government or State Governments.
Letombe to Mr. Fenno. — Confulat General pres les
Etats-Unis. Philadelphie, le 15 Floreal, an 5*
de la Republique Francaife, une et indivifible
(4 Mai, 1797, V.S.).
Monsieur,
J'ai lu dans votre papier d'hier le paragraphe fui-
vant : — " Orders are iffued by General Rigaud,
faid to be in confequence of advice from Mr. Adet,
fufpending all ancient debts due to Americans ; and
there is no probability of reverfion."
*-¦.¦.' ¦ ¦ '¦ '  —  —  ~ *
* See the .New Year's Gift. Jamais

364 GAZETTE SELECTION'S.
Jamais le Citoyen Adet n'a donne de pareils or-
tfres au General Rigaud ou a tout autre. "Le fait
qu'on impute a cet ancien Miniftre Plenipotentiaire
Cit faux, et vous devez a, la verite et a vous meme,
Monfieur, de la dementier dans votre Gazette.
Je vous prie, Monfieur, d'agreer mes falutations.
Le Confeil General de la Republique Francaife
pres les Etats-Unis,
Mr. John Fenno, Letombe*.
Chefnut Street. Weights
* The devil himfelf cannot furpafs thefe Frenchmen in impu
dence ; their ancient minifter plenipotentiary, Peter Anthon)',
threatened the United States with the vengeance of the terrible
Republic, becaufe fome of our a manac-makers did not gi^eF ance
la precedence of Great Britain, in the arrangement of, the minifters,
tonfuls, &c. The Conful at Bofton threatened the editor ot the
Centiuel with a profecution, for publifhing the favage Hoche's
• ddrefs to his hungry, fhirtlefs legions, to animate them with the
profpeft of the roafl beef and guineas of Old England; and iheir
Conful-general now calls on Mr. Fenno te contradiit a paragraph
of news inferted in the Gazette of the United States, which had
paded through two pnpers, before it appeared in his.
This diplomatic citizen feems, to thin.k that the reputationof
his mafters is infulted by the paragraph in queftion, when 1 will
engage that nine Americans out of ten, that read the papers, be?
lieve it is fubftantially true. Indeed, fo fully are the cieditors
perfuaded of it, that tew of them exuecT: ever to receive fixpencg
in the pound, of either ancient or modern debts. Whether Peter
Anthony ever gave orders to the copper- faced general or not to
fufpend payment, is quite immaterial : nobody doubts, however,
that he has received fuch orders, becaufe we all believe and know,
that the regenerated government is quite capable of fuch a trick,
A highwayman, in the very aft of robbing a traveller, might with
as good a grace, give himfelf airs, and blufter about his honefty, as
this pillaging, plundering republic. Indeed 1 think the comparifon
is rather unfair againft the knight of the roads ; for there have
been many of that clafs, who, after a lucky expedition, have paid
fome of their debts 'with honour ; but this mdnfter'of a republic
feeksto fpunge off all hers, both new and old, by thrufting her
creditors into chains and dungeons.
But what provokes me moft in this application is, its unparal
leled audacity. At a time when nothing but a degree of patience,
that borders on pufillanimify, enfures any officer of the Republic

MAY, 1797* 365
Weights and Meafures of the Sam-culottes.*— Th<s
equalization of weights and meafures being accotn-
plifhed throughout the territory of the French Re
public, the daflification of terms has been adopted
as follows : In meafures of length.
10 metres make one decametre.
roo . one hectometre;
rooo one kilotire.
j 0,000 one myriametre.
¦*• In. land meafure.
10 acres make oneflecare.
100 one hectare.
1000 one kiltare.
10,000 one myriate.
, In meafures of capacity.
10 litres make one decalitre.
-100 one hectolitre.
1000 one kilotire.
lo,coo one myrialitre.
In weights.
16 grammes make one decagramme.
100 one hectogramme.
1000 one kilogramme.
10,000 one myriagramme.
The metre is, in Englifli meafure, 3 feet 3 inchef
4708 line. The acre is 10,000 fquare metres,
107,623,043 Englifh fquare feet.
The litre is equal to 1766 pints Winchefter mea
sure, or 2081 wine meafure.
The gramme is 2lbs. 8 ozs. 5274 drachms avoir
dupois.
a fafe refidence in our country, to offer fuch a heftoring attack on
the freedom of the prefs t What! when weare plundered, cheated,
Jcicked, and fptt upon; fhall an infolent officer come forward with
an inftrument in his hand, and a s'il vans plait, citizens, be fp
<jomplaifant "as to l«t me g3g you ? Regicide-

380* GAZETTE SELECTIONS. .
Regicide Fefiival. — Great alterations ate expeclect
to be produced by the elections. The different par"
ties aire ftraining every nerve to fecure a triumph J
they work day and night ; write, print, talk, cry*
fwear, and lie; act the atheift, the faint, the mode*
rate, and the jacbbin : and all this, oh wretched
France! is purely for thy good.
If the public opinion of the day may be looked
upon as the thermometet of the primary affemblies,
their choice will not be very favourable to the prefent
government, and flill lefs fo to the governors ; but
it is prefumed, and not without reafon, that thefe
latter intend artfully to create fome menacing tu
mult, in order to have a pretext for ftrengthening their
own hands, and diminifhing. the liberty Of the" prefs.
On the morning of the 21ft January, the day
.when the people were fummoiied to fwear " hatred
to royalty" 'there appeared an excellent epigram in
a paper called the Quotidienne, faying, that the
people werefo lavifh in their hatred of the Directory
and Reprefentatives, that they had none left for royalty.
The fans now moft in fafhion are ornamented
with five candles, or fometimes five flambeaux, with
this infcription : " L'economie exige que vous en e'teig-
nez , ^quatre" — " Economy requires you to put out
four of them."
This is a fafe way of publicly declaring that one
king is better than five.

Monday, 8th May. -
Adet decamps. — Citizen Adet has made his exit
from the American ftage. He went off very quietly,
and is faid to have fhed tears at being forced to
leave his faction at the laft gafp.
If the Britifh cruifers are not all afleep, we fhall
probably have another bale of precious canfeffions.
< ' Tuesday,

MAY, 1797. 36$
Tuesday, 9th May.
An Election Scene. — After being an eye-witnefs to
a feene which was exhibited in this village yefter
day, I can neither doubt the influence of Fauchet' s
mint, nor that even Americans (though I hope their
number may be few) are fufceptible of corruption.
When the poll was opened in the village of Troy,
a number of the fupporters of David Hopkins, with
fhe French or tri-coloured cockade on their hats,
formed themfelves into a body, with Dr. Samuel Gale
at their head, and marched from or near Afhley's
tavern to where the poll was held.
A report was circulated in the morning, that thefe
cockaded fons of equality had made a declaration (or
rather bound themfelves under a curfe) that any elector
who voted againft their favourite candidate fhould
be knocked down : it was alfo reported, that thefe
French Americans had denounced fome particular
characters who were obnoxious to them — but whe
ther it was owing to the infufflciency of their num
bers, or that they were checked by the more refpect
able citizens, together with the magiftrates, who
abhorred their conduct, fortunately, except fcurrility
and abufe, no violence was offered.
The moft clamorous among the cockade club
'were the aforefaid Doctor Samuel Gale, a Laurence
Dorfet, and a certain John Stillwell — Thofe lefs
noify were, Samuel Gale, jun. Anthony Goodfpeed,
an Englifhman, whofe name is Lynfing, and a fel
low by the name of Bennom, with feveral others of
flill lefs Dote.
The projectors of this Jacobin club did not appear
among the actors of this feditious drama ; but al
though they kept behind the feene, they are well
known, and will be properly attended to in due
time.
' Americans ! fee to your rights, be watchful, be
2 vigilant;

$6* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
vigilant ; for there is a nefi of traitors in the bofom of
our country ; but publifh it not in the Argus, let it
never appear in the Aurora of Citizen Bache, left the
enemies of America rejoice. Albany Gazette.
French Cruelty and Spanifh Perfidy. — Captain
Jones, arrived here on Saturday, from Porto Rico,
brought home feveral of his unfortunate countrymen
who had been taken by the French, and robbed of
every thing they poffeffed. From the collected in
formation of Captain Jones and his paffengers, it
appears, that the fhip William, Captain Strong, of
Portland, on his homeward-bound paffage from
Grenada, was captured by a French privateer with
a Spanifh crew, and the captain and all the crew
taken on board the privateer, except the mate, and
one feaman, returning two officers and feven Spanifh
failors to take charge of the fhip ; fhortly after the
privateer had left the fhip, the Spaniards on bo^rd
menaced the two Americans, who, not fond of brook
ing the infult, and irritated by their cowardly beha
viour, repelled their infult by fevere reproaches. The
affair becoming ferious, the mate ordered the boy, an
American, who belonged to the privateer, to take the
helm, and himfelf and company armed themfelves as
well as they could, the mate with an axe. The two of
ficers then interfered, and the bloody affray began— r
one of the officers was killed by the mate with his axe,
and the other feverely wounded and hurt, with moft;
of the Spanifh failors. The affray continued for the
fpace of four hours, when the crew agreed to give
tip the fhip to the two Americans, provided they
would grant them the long-boat, and provifions'
fufficient to proceed to the neareft French port :
this was agreed to ;. but before they had got ready
to embark, another French privateer hove in fight,
took poffellion of the fhip, and carried her into Porto
Rico, where the two Americans were imprifoned,
3 and

MAY, 1797. 369
and put in irons, to be fent like malefactors to St.
Domingo ; where it is fuppofed they will fuffer
death, not for an outrage of the .laws of humanity,
but for bravely defending themfelves againft flffaffins,
.greatly fuperior in point of numbers and weapons.
'Captain Jones would have found means to have
refeued thefe unfortunate men, had he been able to
have (remained a night longer in port; butieyeijal
Britifh fhips of war appearing off the coaft, he was
apprehenfive of an embargo being immediately Liid,
and put to fea.
Such, Americans, is the treatment your country
men receive from the generous French and the, mag
nanimous Spaniards !

Wednesday, 1,0th May.
A Report on the Law of Divorces in France. -

Favard. — You have directed a fpecial commiffion fo
examine the expediency of fufpending, until after
the difcuffion of the civil code, every demand in di
vorce, founded on fhe Ample allegation of temper
¦and character.
" It is a rule," fays Montefquieu, " derived from
nature, that the more the number of marriages is di-
•minifhed, the more are thofe which exift corrupted;
the fewer people marry, the lefs fidelity in the mar
ried ftate ; as, when there are the moft thieves, there
are moft thefts."
The union contracted by two married perfons
ought not to depend on the caprice or libertinifm
of one of them. The civil connexion is .of too
facred a character to be fported with at pleafure.
If, unhappily, circumftances exift which render a
feparation neceffary, there is ftrong reafon for autho
rising a divorce.
You know that the Constituent Afiembly, which
vol. v. b » was

370 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
was compofed of- learned men, durft not approach
the queftion of divorce.
The Legiflative Affembly authorized a law of
September 20, 1792, which at the fame time de
termined the caufes, the mode, and the effects.
But at what time was this important act paffed ? On
the verge of their diffolution, and in the evening
fitting. The law was adopted, without giving to
the difcuffion all the extent and reflection which it
demanded ; and, in one word, if that is not impro
per, it is an act paffed in extremis, of which the Na
tional Convention feems to have been only the faith-
"fulexecutor. Among the fingular difpofitions of this law, I will
content myfelf with reporting that relative to the
particular point now under confideration, which is,
article 3. — " That one of the married parties may
obtain fentence of divorce, upon the Ample alle
gation of incompatibility of temper or character."
Thus a hufband diflatisfied with his wife^ or a
wife with her hufband, calls together the parents or
friends, who prefent themfelves before a municipal
officer. The applicant for a divorce fays only, that
his humour is incompatible with that of his partner*
The tribunal has not even the right to make hira
render an account of the reafons of that incompa
tibility : it is charged againft the party, and that is
fufficient. If the applicant perfifts in his declaration
to each of the three articles fpecified in the law, the
tribunal prepares a procefs verbal of non-concili
ation, and fhe public officer pronounces the divorce,
on the fole reprefentation of three procefs verbals of
non-conciliation. Here, in two words, are all the formalities obferv
ed for four years paft, by married people, who feek
divorce ; and you know the feandalous abufe which
has been.made.of this mode of divorce.
- . - AU

MAY, 1797. 371
All good men are agreed, that if divorce can be
maintained at all on the ground of difference of tem
per, at leaft this mode requires great modifications,
lince the caufe is often rather imaginary than real,
and the practice has hitherto produced nothing but
Very ill effects.
I will not enumerate the incalculable evils it has
produced ; I will not relate to you that more than
twenty thoufand married perfons owe to that law
their difunion, and that they now bewail its exiftence.
You would burn with indignation, if I fhould pre
fent to you a faithful picture of the victims which
libertinifm and luft have amaffed together in France,
under the operation of a law which had for its ob
ject to render marriage more happy and refpectable,
by rendering the parties more free.
Here is a young woman, whofe beauty and virtue
have attracted and excited the defires of a libertine,
who has fought a connexion, which he breaks
the moment his paflion has abated, and who thus
configns to the humiliation of being abandoned', a
perfon of whom he was not worthy.
There you will fee a hufband for a long time
happy, now weeping over the lofs of a wife who
was dear to him, who is no longer any thing to
him, and whofe children are no longer objects bf
her cares. To what is this misfortune to be afcrib-
ed ? To the intrigues of feme other man, without
morals, who has feduced her, and to the facility of
breaking a connexion, which the parties formed for
life. Further, it is luft which breaks this connexion —
generally ficklenefs.
Citizen Legiflators, be not deceived. You have
not a moment to lofe, if you with to put a flop to
this deteftable abufe which is made of divorce for
difference of humours. It is repeated to you con-
ftantly in the mafs of petitions which are addreffed
bb 2 to

372 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
to you, "That we fee every where married perfong
who, forgetful of their duty and their honour, tram
ple underfoot all decency, violate all laws and the
moft facred obligations, abandon their families with
out remorfe to gratify their fhamelefs paflions — in
fhort, that it is time to lay fome reftraint On this
fpecies of depravation."
I might add, that libertinifm is not the only vice
which has abufed this law of divorce ; ambition has
more than at one time, or in one manner, made ufe
of it to evade the effect of another law — I, mean that
On fucceffion. It may be well to cite an example
that is within the knowledge of one of the members
of your commiffion.
A young woman married, with the affurance of
receiving the eftate of a grand-aunt. The law of
the' 1.7 th Nivofe intervened, and deprived her of the
profpect. The parties obtained a divorce by Col-
lufion — the project was executed — the hufband
then married the grand-aunt, aged 82 years, who
gave him all her eftate by contract of marriage, as
the law permitted her to do. The old woman foon
died, and the young widower again married his
former wife*.
What muft we think of the law*of divorce, which
thus caufes a fhameful traffic to elude other laws?
Is it not to demoralize marriage thus to fport With
it? What father but muft tremble when he gives his
daughter to marriage ?
All thefe confiderations have made a deep impref-
fion on your committee, who uiianimoufly advife a
fufpenfion of the law of divorce for incompatibility
-of temper.
[The reporter then difcuffes the point, whether the
-fufpenfion fhould have a retroactive operation, Or
* No Speculating tricjcscan go before that. ' • only

MAY, 1797. 373
only a future one : he urges an immediate decifion,
and in the courfe of his obfervations cites from a
memorial ofa woman on the fubject, the following
paflage : " Whatever may be ihe confequence,"
fhe writes, " the day in which the law againft di
vorce fhall replace that monfter my hufband in my
bed, fhall be the laft of his days — I will poniard
him. But the moment I do this, my father, my
mother, who dwehs with me, and myfelf, will
bear to our bofoms a fubtle poifon, which fhall
baffle every effort of relief," [The Council frowned
with horror.]
She muft indeed be a monfter, who can write
what I cannot read without horror. — Monfters are
rare, but it is not rare to obferve, that paffions once
unchained never can be reduced to bounds.
Circular Orders from Government againft arming, to
the Collectors of the Revenue, .
Treafury Department, April 8th, 1797.
Sir,
The depredations to which the commerce of the
United States is at prefent expofed, have given
rife to a queftion, which being of general concern,
is, therefore, made the fubject ofa circular commu
nication. The queftion is, Whether it be lawful to arm the
merchant-veffels of the United States, for their pro
tection and defence, while engaged in regular com
merce ?
It is anfwered, that no doubt is entertained, that
defence, by means of military force, againft mere
pirates and fea-rovers, is lawful. The arming of
veffels bona fide engaged in trade to the Eaft Indies,
is, therefore, on account of the danger from pirates,
to be permitted as heretofore ;• but as the arming of
veffels deftined for European and Weft India com
merce, raifes a prefumption that it is done with hof-
B b 3 tile

374 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
tile intentions againft fome one of the belligerent
nations, and may cover coll ufive practices inconfift-
ent with the act of Congrefs of. June, 1794, unlets
guarded by provifions more effectual than have
been hitherto eftablifhed ; it is directed that the
failing of armed veffels, not bona, fide deftined fo the
Eafi Indies, be reftrained, until, otherwife ordained
by Congrefs.
Information has been received that fome veffels
are arming by flrangers for the purpofe of capturing
the veffels of the United States. The utmoft vigi
lance on the part of the collectors to prevent the
progrefs of this evil is enjoined ; where there is rea
fonable ground to believe that veffels are equipped
for the purpofe of being employed againft the corr^-
merce of this country, they are to be arretted, ana
the circumftances flated to this department. ,-•
I am, very refpect fully, Sir,
Your obedient fervant,
Oliver Wolcott, Jun.

G^ambling-houfes. — Richmond, April 2,9- Thurf-
day night laft, the magiftrat.es, together with the
ferjeantand conftables of the city, divided themfelves
into different parties, and went to feveral gambling-
houfes, and feized upon the implements with which
they were then playing. The proprietors of the
tables were indulged till yefterday, to get fecurity for
their appearance at the next court ; and the tables,
together with a great variety of implements, were
taken by the conftables yefterday morning to the
market- houfe, and burnt, in the prefence of a very
numerous aflemblage.
[This is a very good match to the article under
the London head. Wherever the French go, there
will vice and immorality prevail. Neither England
nor America knew any thing about the fwindling
game of Faro, till finee the emigrants from France.
3 Their

MAY, 1797. 375
Their accurfed revolution has done more towards
corrupting the world than any other event ever
did.] Dreadful Inftance of Party-fpirit. — Fayetteville,
April 29. Extract of a letter from a Gentleman in
Pittfborough, Chatham county, to a gentleman in
this town, dated the 20th of April, 1797. " Ttie
mere talk of a war with France has already fhown
its baneful efficacy. Two brothers, by the names of
Thomas and Richard Riddle (ftimulated by the
effects of liquor), turned out the other night in
Angle combat, the former efpoufing the caufe of the
French, the latter on behalf of the Americans.
The former, the moft inebriated, ftabbed the latter
with his knife in various places, two of which were
very deep: he was immediately apprehended and
put in gaol. On the following day, finding that
there was no reafon to be apprehenfive of the
wounds being dangerous, the prifoner was releafed.
As foon as his frenzy abated, and having confidered
of the unnatural action which he had committed, he
immediately forwarded money to his brother to pay
the furgeon, his wife to attend him, and afforded
him every affiftance in his power.
[We have heard of republicans whofe zeal for
their country led them to punilh with death, the
difaffedion of their neareft relatives ; but it was re
ferral for thefe degenerate times, the enlightened
eighteenth century, the age of reafon, of liberty, and
equality ; it was referved for this bleffed age to pro
duce a monfter, bafe and bloody enough to flab his
brother, becaufe he preferred his own country to that
of its enemy.]
Remarkable Occurrences. — A late newfpaper article
mentioned that the Georgian legiflature had ordered
certain mortgages and titles to lands under their own
BB 4 ' grants

37^ GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
grants to be burned, which they difcovered had ef-
caped a former" le'giflafive bonfire.
About the fame time a man was killed in Geor
gia, by a negro. The murderer being purfued, was
overtaken, and immediately burnt alive % thofe
who apprehended him.
Not ten days ago we read, that Captain Cowell
of Bofton had turned privateerfman under a French
commiffion, and made prize of a Bofton veffel.
Thefe circumftances have been mentioned in the
newfpapers without one wdrd of comment.
A ftranger to America, reading thefe articles, and
remarking this filence, would have a ftrange opi
nion of the juftice; humanity, and patriotifm of Ame
ricans. A Lexington paper, of March 25, relates the fol
lowing unhappy affair, which took place on fheSa-
tufdayeveningbefore, in Lincoln county (Kentucky),
riear tlie court -houfe. Two neighbours, the one of
the nairie of Ciitton, the other Hackney, had fome
difference about a fmall fum of money owing from
one to the other. Hackney picked up a fharp-pointed
fhoe-knife and ftabbed Cutton in the breaft, who
died in a few feconds. Hackney was taken up and
committed to gaol, ironed, and ftrictly guarded.
The fame paper fays, " On Tuefday night laft,
the Indians killed a man at Co'llihs's on the Wilder
nefs road. There were but two men at Collins's, one
a brother of Captain Collins, the other a man hired
to clear land. Collins being at a houfe about a mile
from home, on his return, when he had got within
a few fteps of the houfe, heard the Indians (two in
number) cock their guns, but fuppofed it to be the
hired man intending to frighten him : the Indians
immediately fired; but he, ftill fuppofing it to be the
hired man, rufhed up and threw the tail Of his great
coat in their feces ; by this time he difcovered them
to be Indians ; he fp'rang into the houfe, and fattened the

MAY, 1797. 377
the door. The Indians immediately fell to work
with their tomahawks, and foon cut down the door,
on which Collins ran out between the two Indians.
He received a ftroke on one fhoulder with a toma
hawk, which however did him no injury; but after
a clofe chafe of about two hundred yards, made his
efoape by taking to the woods, where he lay all
night, and returned next morning to the houfe from
whence he came the over-night, and gof four men
(two of whom were travellers) and returned home,
where they found the hired man killed, and man
gled in a moft horrid manner, and their guns carried
off.

Thursday, 11th May.
Republican Candour. — From the Aurora of May
9. — The Captain of a fchooner arrived in this port
from Norfolk, which he left on Tuefday laft, in
forms that Captain Barney's frigates were ready
for fea when he failed, and would probably depart
foon in the face of the Britifh fquadron, relying
upon their faft failing.
The fame Captain confirms the intelligence con
tained in an extract of a letter from Norfolk, which
lately appeared in the Aurora, refpect ing the fhelter
given by one of the Britifh veffels of war to three
deferters from the fort. The Englifh commander is
faid to have refufed giving up the men, on the
ground, that, as they were Irifhmen by birth, he had
the befl right to them.
To what lengths the Britifh mean to go in their
career of infult and injury is difficult to determine ;
we hope this laft inftance of aggreflion is their ne
plus ultra. To this they have come by regular fteps.
Nemo fuit repente- turpiffimus. They firft im-
preffed American citizens of Britifh birth. This they
found men in our councils to vindicate. They next, as

378 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
as in the inftance of the Squirrel, having imprefled
American citizens in the face of protections, brought
them into our port, and there kept them in confine
ment. They then, as in the inftance of the fame
veflel, openly recruited in our territory by public
advertifment ; and have lately at Norfolk avowedly
received and protected American deferters, and
encouraged indeed their defertion by the temptation
of a large bounty. Quoufque tandem? We fhall
not be long fubject to thefe indignities. We un
derfland that Adminiftration havetakendecifive fteps
to vindicate the American character, thus infoltingly
trampled on in our very ports.
DIALOGUE.
A. Pray, citizen, ought deferters to be reflored ?
Bache. No.
A. There are three Britifh deferters concealed in
my fhip. Their captain came to demand them.
Shall they be given up to him ?
B. No, to be fure.
A. They are natives of the United States.
B. How dared the tyrant enlift them?; — Give them
up ! ! I'd fee his heart's blood ftream firft.
A. But I miftake. It is three natural-born fub-
jects of the King of Great Britain that have deferted
from the fervice of America.
B. Oh ho ! That alters the cafe.
A. They have taken refuge on board a Britifh
fhip. B, That is quite a different ftory.
A. Ought the Captain of the fhip to give them up ?
B. Ought ! he muft, he fhall. — This aggreflion,
it is to be hoped,' is the ne plus ultra of infult and in
jury. We fhall not be long fubject to thefe indigr
nities. — Zounds and blood and thunder ! !
A. Aye — and what do you fay^ to the Captain of
the

MAY, 1797. 379
the Squirrel's offering a reward to his deferters to
encourage them to return to his fervice ?
' B. Why, it is infamous ; it is recruiting in a neu
tral country : it is contrary to juftice : it is contrary
to the law of nations ; it is an infult upon our fove-
reignty ; it calls for vengeance.
A. But, friend Bache, you forgot that you inferted
riot long ago, repeated advertifements from Don
Carlos Martinez de Yrujo the Spanifh envoy, en
couraging deferters from the fervice of his Catholic
Majesty to return to their allegiance.
B Oh ho ! That is quite a different ftory. There
every thing was proper and rcgularand natural. Why,
man, the fupplementary law paffed by Congrefs for
the punilhment of certain crimes againft the United
States, contains a provifo that entirely juftifies the
Chevalier Yrujo ; but that does not apply to a Bri
tifh officer, you know. That is another, flory : that
is another ftory. P. L.
Admiral Vandeput. — The merchants of the United
States will unqueftionably prefent an addrefs of thanks
to Admiral Vandeput, for protecting their commerce
from the depredations of Commodore Barney's fqua-
drop ; which ftill continue cannon-bound at Norfolk.
Bostox Centinel.
[ The merchants of the United States, and the
King of Great Britian too, would be much more ob
liged to the Admiral if he would go off on a cruife,
fcour the coaft along, and leave one frigate, or two
at moft, to watch Barney. Every body that I con-
yerfe'with feems aftonifhed at, and afhamed of, the
inactivity of this fquadron. While the Carma
gnoles are playing the devil all around us, nine or
ten Britifh men of war lie fleeping in our roads.
What is the ufe of bravery or difcipline, if not em
ployed ? A favourite toaft with General Howe's offi
cers was " A glorious war, and a long one," — I
hope the latter part of this toaft is not again become
fofhionable.] Friday,

380 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Friday, 12th May.
A curious Climax of Lies and Vanity. — Madrid,
February 2 1 . — News has been received of the Spa
nifh fleet under Admiral Cordova, confifting of
twenty-fix fail of the line, having met with the
Englifh fquadron of nineteen fail of the line off Cape
St. Vincent. A battle was fought. When the ad
vice-boat was fent away at midnight, the battle,
which commenced at eight in tbe morning, conti
nued with obftinacy, and every thing prefaged the
defeat of the Englifh. Six Englifh merchantmen
from the Eaft Indies, very richly laden, and which
were convoyed by the Britifh fquadron, have been
taken into our power, and arrived at Cadiz. An
Englifh frigate, taken by another Spanifh fhip, is
alfo arrived at Cadiz. Two fhips belonging to the
Philippine Company, which, without being ac
quainted with the declaration of war, had accompa
nied feveral Englifh fhips, having been informed bf
the war by American veffels, feparated from the ef-
cort, and are arrived fafely at Teneriffe. Their car
goes are valued at five millions of ducats.
[In this accountthe Dons fhow fome little regard to
truth and modefty : but two days afterwards the
news fell into the hands of a Frenchman at Aran-
juez, and he gives it the French drefs, as fol
lows.] Aranjuez, February 23. — .The Englifh fleet of fix
teen fail of the line, three of which are three deckers,
and feveral frigates, commanded by Admiral Jervis,
came up withthe Spanifh .fleet near Cape St. Vin
cent : the latter attacked the former on the 16th Plu-
viofe, with an audacity worthy of great praife. The
Englifh remained firm, and on both fides a battle
was fought with an obftinacy to which the prefent
age, perhaps, affords no parallel. From the 26th
both

MAY, 1797. 381
both fides fought inceflantly ; on the 30th, the
day when the laft advices were fent away, they were
ftill fighting ; at that period more than fifteen fail
on both fides weredifabled, and it is faid two of the
Englifh fhips were funk. The Spanifh fhip Trinite
loft 430 men, made water in all parts, and would
have been taken by the Englifh if they had not been
fo difabled : a frigate took her in tow, and brought
her back toCadiz.
Paris, March 1 1 . — The official part of the Redac-
teur contains the following article: "The current
report of an Englifh envoy having arrived at Paris is
without foundation. The particulars which are re
lated reflecting this envoy are equally falfe, and no
lefs circumftance has occurred able to give the co
lour to this erroneous humour."
Among the non-official articles of the fame jour
nal we find the following paragraph : " The fer
ment produced in London by the Bank having
flopped payment, has reached the utmoft pitch. The
flrength of the Oppofition is increafing in the fame
proportion as the difficulties augment which the Bri
tifh government has to encounter. The circum-
flance, that all the Englifh newfpapers, the laft of
which are of the 27th of February, arrive fo late, of
fers an additional proof of ferious commotions being
on the point of breaking out in England, which
feem to announce the approaching downfalofher
government, which perhaps will foon only be men
tioned as an inftance of paft and punifhed arro
gance." The Marquis del Campo, ambaffador from Spain
to the French Republic, received yefterday from
Madrid a courier with the news of a decifive vic
tory obtained by the Spanifh fleet over the Englifli
fleet: the circuraflantial detail will, no doubt, foon
be publifhed. It is, however, already certain, that
three fhips of the line have been taken, and three others
l SUNK.

3$2 , GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
sunk. The reft of Admiral Jervis' s fquadron hadfleJ,
and were clofely purfued to the coaft of Portugal!
The combat failed for feveral days, and was fup
ported on both fides with an obftinacy of which
there are few examples in hiftory. The prodigies
performed by the Spanifh marine recompenfe it for
the -unjuft difdain which had been heaped on it;
The Englifli, according to their cuftom, endeavoured
repeatedly to cut through the Spanifh line ; not being
able to fucceed, feveral of their fhips were fur
rounded. The glory of our allies is the more precious
to us, as it is not foreign to our nation itfelf. Men
who have long done honour to the French marine,
aided the Spaniards in their triumph. The difpatch
from the cabinet of Madrid obferves, as a very re
markable circumftance, that the celebrated Albert
de Rions fought by the fide of the young and brave Cor
dova, and that ten or twelve French emigrant
officers either commanded the Spanifh fhips or ferved
on board, and contributed much to the victory.
This victory, joined to the financial crifis to which
England is at this moment brought, muft greatly ac
celerate a peace. We are ftill very mal adroit ; and
our diplomacy will be as badly directed as it has hi
therto been, if peace fliould not be made before
two months, and that on the moft honourable
conditions. Other advices ftate, that the whole Englifh fleet has
been driven onfhore near Cape St. Vincent.
[And thus the climax is topp'd.] " A French
man" faid Mr. Windham (who feems to be the
only man inEngland that entertains juft notions of
the French), "a Frenchman" fays he, " muft change
his nature before he can fpeak truth." Every one
will now, I believe, be convinced that Mr. Wind
ham was right in his opinion of our dear allies.
After this, what dependence can there be put in
any thing that comes through the vile channel of Pa

ris?

MAY, 1797. 383
ris ? To believe them in future would argue us as
flupid as their flaves, without the apology of their
vanity.

Saturday, 13th May.
Bradford and Lloyd. — One of the moft alarming
of the innovations of the Britifh, while we were
under colonial government, was the plan propofed
by Governor Hutchinfon and Oliver, for the intro
duction of a clafs or diftinction in Maffachufetts,
under the denomination of Efquires, who alone
fhould be eligible for civil functions ; the difcovery
of that plot, in the celebrated correfpondence, de
veloped the defigns of tyranny more effectually than
the flamp-act.
In fuch a republic as this, men fhould by every
fair means be legally prevented from becoming exorbi
tantly rich. In an affemblage of rich men, where
there is a natural ariflocracy which evermore has or
makes a feparate intereft from that of the pepple,
perfons of this description are apt to acquire a dan
gerous influence. It is a fact, that there is a coach-
maker in a certain city of thefe States, who for fome
years paft has been under the neceffity of quitting
his bufinefs, merely for profeffing himfelf a ftrict
republican, and a friend to the equal political rights of
mankind! I !
Remarks. — Mafter Lloyd's merchants muft differ
very much from merchants in general, if they
would be pleafed with a law to prevent them from
growing rich. But Lloyd pays his court to the moft:
numerous clafs of his fubfcribers (or rather his part
ners), and it is pretty well known, that it is not
compofed of either Efquires or Merchants.
As to the coach-maker, I fhould fuppofe there
jnuft be fome miftake ; for if he is fo ftritl a republi
can, and fuch a ftaunch friend to the equal rights of
mankind,

384 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
mankind, it is more than probable that he left off H
bufinefs, which confifis in making machines which
are deftined to the exclufive convenience of -arifto
crats ; machines of abfolute inequality, finee they
place men above one another, and caufe fome to be
carried, while others are obliged to walk ; it is, I
fay, more than probable, that he left off this liber-
ticide bufinefs from feruples of confeience rather
than from neceffity ; at leaft, if I had been in his
place, I would have faid fo. „
Befides, if " republican benevolence ought to ex-
" tend itfelf to what is called (falfely, I fuppofe)
" the brutal creation," and if the comfort of this
laft-named clafs of citizens ought to become " an
" object of legiflative concern" is it not reafonable to
fuppofe that our conscientious coach-maker gave up
his bufinefs to others and himfelf to ftarvation,
rather than conftruct heavy carriages for poor beafts
to draw about, and thus be inftrumental in the
flavery of his fellow-creatures ?

Etiquette of Almanac-makers. — Letter from D. I. P.
to his Friend in London.
My dear Friend, February iph, 1797.
Among my other plans I have conceived the idea
of printing a work upon an improved model, which
fhall unite all the excellencies of an almanac to the
details of what is called a Court Calendar in your
part of the world ; and fhall confequently, befides
the public affairs ih the different States of the Union,
embrace a full and particular account of the fove-
reigns of Europe, their ambaffadors and minifters,
£ec. &c.
But as I defire to live quietly and peaceably with
all men, and to give juft caufe of offence to none,
and am alarmed by an application which I perceive
has been made by the French Minifter, Adet, to
the

MAY, 1797. 38^
the Secretary of State here, complaining that the
agents of Great Britain have, in certain almanacs of
the United States, been placed before thofe of
France and Spain. He afferts that the French Mi
nifters have always . enjoyed the precedency to thofe of
England, not in the United States only, but through
out the world, and infills, that if almanacs are cor
rected under the eyes of Government here, as they
are in other countries (and asi with my work to be),
the publication in queftion may befuppreffed.
Now, though Colonel Pickering is not likely to
comply with arbitrary requefts of this nature, his
fucceffor may, and I may, feverely feel the confe
quences. I therefore with to know how European almanac-
makers, and European court correctors, manage this
matter ; what rule is eftablifhed among civilized
rations, and how poor I am to place the great ones
Of the earth in rank and file, in fuch order as to avoid
the vengeance, not of France only, but of Spain,
and Batavia, and Britain.
I apply to you, becaufe I know you muft be
mafter of the fubject. You have travelled over all
Europe ; you have been employed in diplomatic
bufinefs ; you have paid attention to little matters as
well as great. Do fatisfy me, without delay, on this
(to me) important queftion 1 Is there any acknowledg
ed rank among nations ? And if there is, what is it ?
I remain, your fincere friend,
And obliged fervant, D. I. P.
ANSWER.
Dear P. London, March iSth, 1797.
Make yourfelf eafy on the fubject of etiquette.
Difputes concerning rank among the ambaffadors of
different powers, feem now to be by common con-,
font avoided; and the application you allude to (by
vo£. v. cc the

3«$ GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
the French Minifter to the Secretary of State), is fo
extremely abfurd, that it would on this fide the
water have rendered the man who made it ridicu
lous for life. I perfuade myfelf it will not be repeated
even on yours.
With regard to your queftion, " if there is any
acknowledged rank among nations," I moft pofitivg-
ly anfwer it in the negative. There is no fuch acknow
ledged rank, and it is in particular falfe, .that the
firfi rank has ever been allowed to France. • \
On the contrary, the Pope's Nuncio, and the Mi
nifter of the Emperor, have uniformly, claimed a
priority in place, and the Minifters of Spain and
England have always afferted at leaft an equality in
that refpe<5t. The inftruclions, indeed, that have
been given to the Britifh ambaffadors for a hundred
and fifty years paft (as I am informed by my friend
of the Paper-office), have exprefsly prohibited them
from acquiefcing in any diftinction that might be
conferred on thofe of France by a foreign court,
unlets fuch diflinctions were equally extended tp
themfelves. , , . .
Within the prefent century, a : tacit admiflion of
equality appears to have taken place among fhe
kings and flates of Europe.
Thus, when treaties have been concluded, two
copies have, of courfe, been written, and the minifter
of each of the contracting parties has figned hjs
name, firft in one of thefe copies, and laft- in the
other. This ceremonial has been obferved, not only
betweemthe Kings of Great Britain and Spain, or of
Great Britain and France, where a fort of equality
rnay be fuppofed to have exifted, but between
France and Pruffia, France and Sweden, and other
powers that ufed to be claffed in the fecond or third
rank. As to almanacs, I much doubt if, with the excep
tion of the Almanac de Paris, Monf. Adet could pro-
duce

MAY, 1797. 387
<luce a fingle compilation of that kind, in any other
part of the world, in which the firft place amongft
fovereigns has regularly been given to the King of
France ; I have feen none fuch.
If any where, this partiality might naturally be
looked for in Spain, where an almanac is publifhed
by the authority of the court, and where a branch of
the Houfe of Bourbon fits upon the throne. Yet in
that court almanac, printed in Madrid, the minifters
of foreign princes are put down according to the
date qf their arrival. So that, at this moment, the
refident of the republic of Genoa muft be near the
top of the lift, and the ambaffador of France at the
bottom of it.
In northern countries the almanacs generally re
gulate the place of princes, and their ambaffadors, by
the order of the alphabet, fo that you will find them
ranged nearly thus :
DENMARK
ENGLAND FRANCENAPLESPOLAND PORTUGAL
PRUSSIARUSSIASARDINIASPAINSWEDEN, &c.
And a fcrupulous almanac-maker in America
would, I think, do well to adopt this impartial
method. It falls hard, indeed, with the French, who, whe
ther we are called Englifh or Britifh, muft yield the
pas. — But if they choofe to alter the name of their
country, as they have done the names of every thing
eUe, and be pleafed from henceforth to call it An-
c c 2 thropophagia

388 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
thropophagia or Cannibal-land, they will acquire a juft
claim to precedence ; I fhould think it prudent in
that cafe to grant it them.
(Signed) L. O. M.
To D. I. P. Philadelphia.
P. S.- — A wag has juft informed me, that Citizen
Adet was bred an apothecary, and his averflo'tt to
being placed behind another perfon is, the drCad of
fome mauvaife plaifanterie on the fubject.

Monday, 15th May.
Jacobin Induftry. — In vain, fays a correfpondent,.
will be ourjate federal labours, if by remiffnefs and
inattention the enemies to bur public peace fliould
now fuddenly furprife us. Every engine is at work
to place in the legiflature men of anti-American
principles. From fo great an evil, may the Almighty
preferve us ! Let all good citizens, with one heart
and one voice, declare, that no Jacobin fhall fit among
the rulers ; and it will be fo, if they give an early
and punctual attendance at Fanieul-hall, to-mor
row. French Fraternity. — Captain Appleton, of the
fohooner Cynthia, in writing to his wife, fays, that
he was taken by the French privateer Catharine,
one Jolly commander, and carried into St. Martin's,
where the veffel and cargo were condemned ;. that
he was treated in a cruel manner, and ftripped of
every thing but what he had upon his back, and that
the crew on board were treated in the fame way. He
adds, that were it not for his wife and dear child, he
would have preferred being taken by the Algerines.
Mr. Simmons, the mate, who has returned, corro
borates the above account ; he fays, that the whole
-crew were cruelly treated by the French, and that
Captain

MAY, 1797. 389
Captain Appleton was beaten and drove forward on
board his own fchooner.
[Even fuch conduct as this do our Jacobins juftify.]
Tuesday, i6i1iMay.
French Hatred of Great Britain. — We can inform
the public, on good authority, that the French Go
vernment is purfuing its plan of controlling neutral
nations, to annihilate the commerce of Great Bri
tain. A peremptory demand has been made on the
Government of Denmark, Hamburgh, and Bremen,
to exclude Britifh veffels from their ports, which has
been refufed. In confequence of this refufal, the
French Conful has withdrawn from Hamburgh, and
preparations for defence are making by thofe neutral
powers of the North.
We can alfo affure the public that already have
the French attempted, through the agents of other
nations in amity with the United States, to obtain
an exclufion of Britifh veffels from our ports. Thefe
facts lead to important and ferious reflections.
Men who think of diverting the French from the
inflexible purfuit of their prefent maxim of " Delenda
eft Carfhago" Britifh commerce mufl be annihilated,
will find themfelves all in the virrong. No fpecial
Envoy from the United States, not even a Madifon
or a Jefferfon, can perfuade the French Government
to abandon that favourite object ; and if they cannot
detach the United States from their commercial rela
tions with Great Britain, or render our trade lefs
ufeful to that nation, war will be our portionr
There is no other alternative, and no man willhefi-
tate a moment to fay, that, foqner than be compelled
by France to abandon our commerce, we will pre
pare for defence *. [Minerva.]
 j  — ¦ ; 
* It appears (1799) that this wretch knew precifely the. fize of
Federal politics. ¦
£ C | Wed-

390 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Wednesday, 17th May.
Land Forces of the United States, May 1 7, 1797.-'
The following is the diftribution of the forces of
the United States, at the different pofls :

Otfego, - , -

62 men

Niagara, -

124

Prefqueifle,

124

Detroit,

248

Michillimackinac,

124

Chicago, ¦ -

124

Opie, -

62

Phifeats,

124

Maffac,

62

Fort Knox,

62

Fort Wafliington, -,

62

Pittfburg and Franklin;

124

Fort Wayne,

180

Walnut Hills, -

62

Natches, -

248

S. W. Territory, ¦* -

124

Georgia, -

37°

2286
Which reduces the flanding army of the United
States to three regiments.

La Fayette's Imprifonment. — Mallet du Pan has
written a letter from Berne, under tbe date of No
vember 22, to the editor of the Eclair, which is
publiftied at length in the paper of December 4. In
this letter, the writer cenfures the abufe and re
proaches caft on the Emperor of Germany, for the
fevere ufage of La Fayette and his affociates. He
declares this is a calumny. He fays the Emperor is
a mild and humane character, who, never finee his
reign, exercifed one of the barbarous acts laid tohis
charge.

MAY, 1797. 391
charge. ^ He declares, " That La Fa)rette for a long
time enjoyed at Olmutz the utmoft extent of liberty
ever indulged to any prifoner. His attempt to efcape
occafioned his clofer confinement in the citadel. He
is better lodged, better fed, better treated in every
refpect, as well as his family, than you have ever
been in the dungeons of Liberty and of the holy
Revolution."

Curious Advertifement. — Wanted, for a fober fa
mily, a man of light weight, who feats the Lord,
and can drive a pair of horfes. He muft occafionally
wait at table, join in houfehold prayer, look after
the horfes, and read a chapter in* the Bible. He
mull, God willing, rife at feven in the morning, and
obey his mafter and miftrefs in all lawful commands:
if hs can drefs hair, fing pfalms, and play at crib-
bage, the more agreeable.
N. B. He muft not be familiar with the maid-
fervants, left the flefh fhould rebel againft the fpirit,
aridhe fhould be induced to walk in the thorny paths
of the wicked.
Wages fifteen guineas a year. [Farmer's Mufeum^\
Early Influence of France in the Councils of the
United States. — The influence which the Government
of France has endeavoured fo maintain in this coun^
tiy, is too apparent to every honeft and enlightened
.American to require elaborate proof. But the truth
cf the propofition has been fo often denied by the
zealous partifans of France, and the adroitnefs of the
fatefmen of that nation in acquiring an afcendency
h the public opinion of foreign nations is fo great,
md fo univerfal ly admitted, that it may not be
anifs to fummon to our aid the proofs which have fo
?ften been adduced by writers on this fubject, and
which cannot be too deeply engraven on the mind
of every true friend to his country. During the war
c c 4 ' in

39* GAZETTE SELECTIONS,
in which we were allies with France againft Great
Britain, a fenfe of common intereft, a belief that
the aid of France was ufeful to us in a con
teft highly momentous to America, and, above
all, a generous confidence peculiar to our national
character, forbade us to harbour any fufpicions of a
gallant nation, whofe foldiers were fighting at our
fides. The citizens of America not Immediately in
adminiftration had no opportunities of obferving the
artful Machiavelian policy of the King of France,
and his favourite Minifter, Vergennes, in attempt
ing to gain a ftrong footing in the fupreme Legifla?
ture, and with our foreign Minifters. In a war, in
which an infant nation was ftruggling againft its
parent ftate, in which debility and inexperience were
oppofed to Herculean force and energetic councils,
in a war, in which the fears and anxiety of the peo
ple were conflantly on the ftretch, it would aavp
been the wprft policy to have expofed the intrigues
and artifices Of our moft powerful ally.
But it is a well-known fact, hitherto uncqntetedj
in its nature indifputable, and one that I have al
ways thought fhould have been earlier made punlic,
that the intrigues and influence of the French c<Wt
in the Congrefs of the United States, and wif| a
certain American Minifter refident in France, were
fo great and fo palpable as to alarm the honeft flateC-
men of that day, and to oblige them to exert their
utmoft talents to counteract their effects. If it
would be fair to call as witneffes before the tribunil
of the. public, many who aye ftijl at the helm, aid
who were perfpnally acquainted with fhe facts, I
could lummorfa hoft whom the virulent democrt
would not feel difpofed to difcredit. I fhquld n t
confine myfelf to the venerable Samuel Adam;,
J. Adams, Dana, Jay, Gerry, and the northern
delegation; but I would confront them with th
Lees, Livingftons, Machfon, Jefferfon, and othej
enlightJ

MAY,* 1797. 293
enlighteaed flatefmen from the fouthern ftates. But
as fuch a collifion might recall fome unplealant
reflections, and as my object is to fmooth afperfions,
rather than increafe them, I willingly forbear. Pub
lic records are, by many perfons, efteeraed of higher
authority than any evidence derived from' oral tefti-
mony ; to fuch I would refer, as proofs of my affer-
tions, the Journals of Congrefs, both public and
private ; in the courfe of which will be found mul
tiplied examples of motions, votes, and refolutions,
always brought forward by the fame characters, and
invariably favouring the views and objects of France
in contradiftinction to thofe of our own country :
the moft eminently difgraceful of which I cannot
refra}n from mentioning, although it has been fre
quently adduced by able pens. I allude to a refolu
tion paffed in Congrefs, directing our ambaffadors
to take no fteps relative to peace without firft con-
fulting and having the approbation of the Prime
Minifter of France. Happily for this country, the
fpirit and good fenfe of our minifters led them to
difregard a refolution originating, as they well knew,
in the fecret intrigues and private influence of the
French court, and breaking through the fetters at
the rifk of their lives and fortunes, they obtained
for their country an honourable peace, and for
themfelves immortal fame. The treaty of amity
and commerce, and the confular convention with
France, are public acts which carry on the face of
them inconteftable evidence, and have in their ef
fects afforded the moft painful proofs of the influ
ence under which they were made. The former of
thefe internments was made under the aufpjces of
Franklin, Deane, and Lee, and the latter under thofe
of Mr. Jefferfon alone. By the firft, France fecured
fo herfelf our important and growing trade, and in
tended to retain the power of hampering and re-
flraining it. She has cunningly referved to herfelf the

394 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
the right in all events of the fifherieis on the banks
Of Newfoundland ; but in the event of her con
quering that ifland, we were to be excluded, and
our fhips liable to confifcation if they are found
fifhing there. When firft made, this treaty contained
two articles (No. XL and XII.), which even the
French partifans had not the hardihood to defend,
and which Congrefs indignantly refcinded, as too
humiliating for an independent nation.
By the confular convention, France effected what
was the darling with of their politic miniftry, the
legal eftablifhment of privileged fpies.
It will not be pretended that her trade at that time
required fo expenfive an eftablifhment.
Independent and unheard-of powers, judicial and
executive, were given to confuls, who had hitherto
been viewed merely as commercial agents.
The Deftruction of Great Britain, the great Object
of French Politics. — The defign of the French ty
rants to diforganize and give law to all the govern
ments of Europe, is now fo manifeft, that he who ftill
doubts, muft have read the public papers to very
little account. Their conduct difplays this wicked
and ambitious character more and more clearly every
year. Their hypocritical pretexts are all expofed,
and there is now but one opinion refpecting them,
in the minds of almoft all men, on both fides of
the Atlantic. But this dominion over Europe can
not be effected, without firft obtaining a predomi
nant influence in the councils of America ; fo far
at leaft, as relates to Great Britain, whofe power
has ever been, and I hope ever will be, an infur-
mountable barrier to their ambitious fchemes. This
power once reduced, farewell to the boafted inde
pendence of thefe States, as well as the freedom of
¦ Europe. - Every real friend of humanity muft contemplate thofe

MAY, 1797- 39$
thofe fchemes, even at a diftance, with abhorrence,
and rejoice at their defeat ; but when he fees them
fwell and extend, to the fubjugation of his own
country, he muft be either a fool, or fomething
worfe, if he does not feel indignation enough,
to oppofe them with all his might. However un
concerned a man may be, about the fate of the Bri
tifh empire, fuppofe he could even view its fall with
the fang-froid of a Jacobin ; ftill, if it involved his
own rum, intereft alone would awaken his anxiety,
and call forth fome exertion's to prevent it.
Such then is the prefent awful 'crifis of affairs.
The conduct of France towards neutral nations, and
the United States in particular, is all directed to this
one point : To invade the rights and liberties of all
the world, in order to ruin the commerce of Great
Britain, and to procure the means of continuing a
war of fubjugation. Let the vile Jacobins attempt
to qualify or extenuate French piracies as they
pleafe, for their own amufement, or the deception
of their matters ; their efforts can have no other effect
on their fellow-citizens, than to produce more uni
verfal deteftation, and the more fpeedy vengeance of
infulted freemen. The public mind is made up:
we fee, with the clearnefs of a demonftration, that,
to accomplifh their atrocious purpofe againft Great
Britain, the French are aiming a mortal ftroke at
our honour and our independence. Their nefarious
plan is, to force us to violate a treaty we have re
cently contracted, and to render American faith a
proverb of infamy : -as they well know that, without
this abominable regeneration, we fhall not be fit
fubjects for their fraternal embraces.
As the friends of humanity and of peace, we have
done much to avert a war; we have borne long; we
have remonftrated again and again ; until at length
our enemies have refufed even to grant us a hearing.
To ftop our complaints, they have had the impuT dence

30 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
dence to accufe the United States of being the
aggreffors, and to fay that they are only punifhing
Us for our offences. This is the wolfifh reafoning
they condefcend to offer to a nation which they out-.
raged by innumerable robberies and infults, but;
which they look upon as a feeble unrefifting prey.
Not fatisfied with infultjng oqr underftandings,
with their own frivolousand fictitiousallegations,they
have now brought forward one of their fatellites, the;
magnanimous Spaniard, to infult us likewife. As they
had forced every nation in Europe, as far as their
arms extended, into a direct or indirect: war with
Great Britain, fo have they now compelled his Ca*
tholic Majefty to fecond their defigns againft Ame,
rica. The obfequious King has told us, doubtlefs,
as he was commanded by his mafters, that we have
offended him, alfo, by making a treaty with Great
Britain. So that, unlefs we choofe to fend France a
carte blanche, and employ fome gracious envoy to
deliver it, I much fear we fhall have as many ene
mies as Kjpg George and his Minifter Pitt, in a very
fhort time. The once high and mighty States of
Holland will come forward next with their com-;
plaints ; and they will be followed, in courfe, by the
Duke of Tufcany, the Kings of Sardinia and Naples,
his ptolinefs the Pope, and 1 don't know how many
more. We fhall either have to fight them all, or
to beg their pardon, for fome fecret fins, fome un
known offences, which thefe rafcally Frenphmen,
will put into their mouths.
But before, this hoft of enemies attack us in a,
body, I think it will be beft for us to refolve what
to do with the former two. There is no doubt that
they are acting in concert, and have one and the
feme object in view ; the infernal Britifh treaty is
flill the burden of their fong. Are we willing to
furrender our independence, and our right, as a fo
reign flate, of making treaties^ when and with
whorn,

May, 1797. 397
Whom we pleafe ? I believe that there is not a fingle
American, who has the fmalleft tincture of genuine
fpirit, but is roufed even by the queftion, and who
will not immediately anfwer, No. Are we able to
vindicate this right againft the force of France and
Spain united, without the aid of fome powerful ally ?
No. Then, as we have enemies to deal with, who will
not compromife, we have but one choice ; which is,
to conclude an alliance, or fome fpecial compact,
with Great Britain, on the beft terms we can ; and
I fee no reafon to doubt that it may be formed on
terms equally honourable and advantageous to both
countries. This is the natural alliance of America, which
muft and will take place, if not at this, at fome pe
riod not very diftant, in fpite of the perverfe or mif-
taken oppofition of all its enemies. " Men are irre-
" fiftibly led to affociate," fays an eminent philofo
pher, " by refemblances, by conformities, by fym-
" pathies. It is with nations as with individuals ¦:
u nothing is fo ftrong a tie between nation and
*' nation, as a correfpondence in laws, cufloms,
" manners, and habits in life : they have more than
" the force of treaties in themfelves : they are obli*
li gations written in the heart. The fecret, unfeen,
" but irrefragable bond of habitual intercourfe, ap-
** proximates men without their knowledge, and
" holds them together, even when their litigious
" and perverfe nature fets them to equivocate,
" feuffle, and fight, about the terms of their written
<e contracts." On this text our treaty with France
affords the moft inftructive comment. Nothing could
exhibit a more complete fiction of amity ; the con
tract that was formed, was equally liberal, and at
firft pleafing to both parties : but there was no moral
refemblance, to bind them together : they were per
fectly heterogeneous, and it would have taken many
generations of peace to eftablifh a. tolerable har
mony.

398 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
m ony. During the found and honourable period of
the alliance, there was little more than a grimace of
friendfhip preferved ; but in its laft and memorable
flate, it has been nothing but a perpetual conflict of
difcordant parts ; indignant nature has at length
arifen, and, to affert her violated rights, has fnapped
the band afunder. Thus have we been fhatched by
the interpofition of Providence from the embraces of
a harlot, that have been fatal, without a fingle ex
ception, to all her paramours — and if, regardlefs of
this leflbn of experience, we fuffer ourfelves to be
erifnared again, we fhall merit all the evils we may
foffer. I know what the noify Jacobins will fay ; What !
fhall we form an alliance with a nation that waged
a feven year's war againfl us ; that burnt our towns,
and flew our countrymen ? Yes, if our prefent necef-
fities require fuch a league, although the peace was
concluded but yefterday. But the conteft has been
ever thefe fourteen years ; the feparation in govern
ment is now irrevocably fixed ; and nothing but the
malignant forcery of a Jacobin can call up ghofts
long finee departed, to thrill our blood with fears, or
prevent an union for common defence.
Although I have recommended for the difeafe of
the, ftate, with the ufual confidence of an empiric,
I fhall be glad, neverthelefs, to fee the prefcriptions
of any of my brother-quacks. Some of them, it is
probable, inftead of the exciiion-knife which I have
propofed, will prefcribe a milder treatment, perhaps
another and a ftronger dofe of humiliation, fo
the form of an envoy extraordinary ; while others
again, like bolder practitioners, may propofe ftarv-
ingthe diforder by means of an embargo. Neither
would remove the caufe of cpmplaiht : the latter
might have fome. temporary effect, if it could be
confined to the offending part only ; but if by an
embargo thefe gentlemen mean to flarve ourfelves
2 as

MAY, 1797. 3-99
as well as our enemies, I will difagree with them in
toto. There are, I know, at leaft two hundred
thoufand of my fellow-citizens, for whofe lives I
have a great regard, that could not furvive fuch a
rude procefs ; and about two hundred thoufand
more, whom it would infallibly bring to death*
door : befides an equal number, at leaft, that, dur
ing, the operation, would run ftark flaring mad
through every part of the Union. And fhould the
enemy, while all this is doing, flip in at a back
door, and attack us, when a part of the inhabitants
will be walking ghofts, and another part crazy
¦enough to join them, the Lord have mercy upon us?

Thursday, i8(1iMay.
Bache's Bow Wow.— The public muft have ob
ferved how artfully, how bafely, this fpaniel has
been fawning on the Prefident for fome time paft.
He and his correfpondents pretended they had been
deceived in John Adams ; inftead of an ariflocrat, as
they had fuppofed him to-be, they found him " a
•*' good practical republican, and recommended to
*' their readers to confult his conduct and not his
" book." They difcovered too, that he had been
groflly ill ufed by the Adminiftration of General
Wafhington, who never admitted him to any of
their fecrets, and who really wifhed and endeavoured
to prevent his being elected ! Now, after all this, who,
that does not know Bache, would have imagined
that he would tack about, all at once, and reprefent
this very " practical republican" as the tool of a
Britifh faction ? Who would have imagined, that
there was a wretch in exiftence capable of fuch
barefaced bafenefs ?
The following paragraph appeared in his paper
of yefterday morning :
" A correfpondent would be glad to know .whether " Ike

«0 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" the fpeech delivered yefterday was frbin the Repre-
u fent alive of the American people, or whether it was
" delivered by fome alien in difguife? Such was its
" temper, that it would licenfe a conjeblure, that fome
" foreign minifter had intruded himfelf by fome fort of
tl legerdemain, into the place of the Prefident of the
" United States.'*
This was by way of preparative : to-day morning
the Aurora feems determined to fhow, that fhe has
not lofl the malicious fpirit, by which fhe has fo long
beeti diftinguithed, and that heir old correfpondents
have not forfaken her.
" Correfpondent ist. The Britifh have already thrown
" the gauntlet, and as they have given the fignal
*' of hoftility, fhame on the coward heart that re-
" fufes to take it up ! It was expected that they
tc would have affumed a virtue if they had it hot,
*« and, in the prefent critical ftate of public affairs,
** that they would have aimed at conciliation in-
*' ftead of irritation* But the fact is otherwife :
** they feem determined to meafure fwords, and it
" is to be hoped the republicans will fhow the true
" temper of theirs and their fkill in the management
" of them.
" The opening of Congrefs augurs ill. The firft
*' flep of certain members was to difplace an officer
" of capacity, fidelity, and integrity, who has
" ferved in that ftation for eight years. Not a
" whifper of mifconduct or incapacity has ever gone
" forth againft him, and yet he has been fuperfeded
*.' — and why ? Becaufe he has acted like a freeman,
** according to his own conference and the dictates
" of his own underftanding ; becaufe he was not a
¦" tool of fadtion, but would think and act for him-
" felf. Is this the treatment a faithful fervant of fhe
" public is to receive becaufe he has an opinion of
" his own ?"
The firft of thefe paragraphs we might have found
2 fome

* MAY, 1797. 401
fome difficulty in tracing to its fource, but the fecond
proves them both to be a commencement to that fe
ries of lucubrations which we may now reafonably
hope for from the leifure hours of the poor difap
pointed " Calm Observer." His debut is not amifs ;
but I would have him be cautious how he talks
about not being " a tool of faction," or I fhall be ob
liged to afk him at whofe houfe Adet and his friends ufed
to meet, and hold their confultations for enfuring the
election of Mr. Jefferfon.
" Correfpondent id. - It is not to be wondered' at
" that the Britifh Minifter was fo well pleafedas to
." have a conftant fmile on his countenance during
" the delivery of the war-fpeech by Mr. Adams. It
" appeared to be an agreeable furprife to him, and
" therefore he could not have been confulted on the
" occafion." I am not certain whether the Britifh Minifter
fmiled during the war-fpeech, ox not ; but if he did
not, I know the fpeech had a different effect on
him from what it had on me, and on every real
friend to the independence' of America. Few peo
ple, except the democrats, were bafe enough to con
ceive it poflible that John Adams would crouch
down at the feet of the Parifian defpots ; yet many
were agreeably furprifed at the decided and refolute
tone of his fpeech. If breathes what every good
man wifhed to hear, but what few had the courage
to utter. No fpeech delivered within the waljs of
Congrefs ever met with fo warm and fo univerfal ap
probation. " Correfpondent 3d. — From the temper . which a
" great man thawed in his fpeech on Tuefaay to a
" great affembly, we are unavoidably led to believe
" that his men Timothy and Oliver have fed him
" upon pepper-pot thefe three weeks paft, ir\order to
" bring his nerves to a proper AntigalliCan tone.
" The effects which aromatics dr high-feafoned food,
tou y. d d " produce

jot GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" produce upon a cold northern conftitution every
fi quack can tell."
" A great man and a great affembly !" — Blefs us !
how cautious we have grown of late ! It did not ufe
to be thus during former feflions of Congrefs.
One may fee that the faction is completely fallen by
their mild manner of expreffing themfelves : they are
always boifterous and infolent in the hour of fuccefs,
or when they have a hope Of fuccefs before them ;
but the unrooftingofthe "Calm Obferver" feems to
have difheartened them -, their lungs are grown weak
all at once, and they talk as if their teeth were
knocked out. They may talk and puff away
about " taking up the gauntlet j" no gauntlet will
they take up : the Prefident's fpeech has already be
numbed them, and I truft the anfwer of Congrefs
will freeze them as fliff as an icicle.

Friday, 19th May.
/ Beciley. — As various reports will get abroad re
specting the fracas that took place at my fhop this
morning between me and Beckley, late Clerk to the
Houfe of Reprefentatives, I think proper to give the
public a faithful account of it.
Beckley put a paper into my hands, containing
fomething about a defence of his conduct on a parti
cular oceafion, whife clerk. I read it. When I had
done fo, he told me he fhould expect to fee it
in my paper this evening ; to which I replied, that
things of" greater confcquence would engrofs the
whole of the paper this day ; that, therefore, it could
not appear, and if it could, it fliould not ; but that,
jto-morrow, it could, and fhouldrappear.
As no objection could be made to this, Beckley
made none; but he had the affu ranee to tell me,
that if I took any more liberties with his name he
would horfewhip me ! This he accompanied with a
pofture

MAY, 1797* 403
pofture as menacing as his poor emaciated frame
could poflibly affume. I replied, that I was re-
folved to take juft what liberties with his name I
thought proper, and invited him to come immedi
ately into the ftreet, and put his threat of chaftife-
ment into execution. Finding him hang back, it
ftruck me that he might be afhamed to fhow his bare
bone to the populace, which were gathering about
the houfe: I therefore propofed to him to go back into
my garden, and bring his friend with him. He now
bethought himfelf (for the firft time) that I was a
" fcoundrel beneath his notice." — To this I replied,
that he was ", a damned fcoundrel/' and dared him
(which I now do again) to a comparifon between
our characters, adding, that I owed nobody any
thing. The reft of the converfation would be
very unedifying, as it confifted almoft entirely of a
mutual exchange of abufive names and epithets,
of high-toned threats on his part, and of contemptu
ous defiance on mine. - /
It will be obferved (and the number of witnefles
precludes the poffibility ofa denial) that Beckley was
the aggreffor, both in threats pf violence and in
abufive language. I am fully perfuaded that his in
tention was to provoke me to ftrike him, and rfhis
opinion is corroborated by his having two or three
perfons with him, I certainly did feel an almoft ir-
refiftible temptation to kick him into the ftreet ; but I
luckily forbore, and he went off with no more fatif-
fact ion than the miferable one of being called " jft
damned fcoundrel."
Gallo- Americans. -j-The late fuccelfes of the French
in Italy were celebrated at Kenfingtoa, near Phila
delphia, by a junto of Gallon Americans, who, in the
led tide of liberty, in the flowing bumper of Buo-
d o 2 naparte.

4«4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
naparte,. wafhed away difcretion and the ;imag6 of
their native country *.
Saturday, 20th May.
Jefferfon.-  To Thomas Jefferson, Efquire, Vice-
Frefident of the United States, and Prefident of
the Senate.
Sir, ' -'•'¦'<••¦'
Your arrival at the feat of government immedi
ately after the publication ofa letter faid to be writ
ten by you to your friend Mazzei in Italy, affords
you a fair opportunity of doing away any bad im-
preflion refpeeting your character, which the falfely
afcribing to you improper fentiments may hitherto
have occafioned. For the honour of the American
name I would with the letter to be a forgery, al
though I muft confefs, that your filence upon the
-fubject, and the condu6bof that party with which
you appear at prefent to act, leaves but little pro
bability of its riot having proceeded from your pen.
If it is not your production, an explicit difavowal
, <of it appears incumbent on you, for feveral rea-
fons. i. Becaufe it implies a contradiction of thofe fen
timents refpeeting our excellent conftitution, which
-you have former!^ held before a difappointed ambi-
Ition threw you into the hands ofa defperate faction,
by whofe mearis you expected, no doubt, to have
•; filled the firft office of our government.
-*— - i i i — > m
* After a thoufand, more inftances of. the atrocity of the French
Republic, which have happened finee the' date of the above-men-
* tioned fa&, there are ftill fome Americans who have a hearty
c.mendfhjp for her, and who deplore .her recent defeats, as
.touch as they formerly rejoiced aj her fucceffes : ;and this, in
f&ipitegf common decency, as. well as the intereft ,and honour of
1 their ^>wn country. *• - ¦-
4 2. Becaufe

MAY, 1.797. ¦ • -, 40|
2. Becaufe it is a direct libel on the character of
thofe men, whom the choice ofa free people called
to the exercife of the executive and judiciary powers
of our government : And,
3. Becaufe its publication in a country from whofe
government and citizens we have met with every
kind of injury and infult, has a tendency to encouT
rage a continuance of fuch conduct in our allies,
from a perfuafion that our internal fituation would
admit of its exercife with impunity.
You ftated truly when you reprefented all our pro-*
prietors of land as friendly to republican principles;
and if you had gone further, and declared all our na
tive citizens as faithful to the government they had
formed, and difpofed to defend their rights as an in
dependent nation from the infidious attacks of foreign
foes, you would have run no rifk of a contradic
tion. It is, to be fure, unfortunate for the ancient do
minion of Virginia, that the names of the late fecretary
Randolph, Giles, Madifon, Munroe, and yourfelf, are
found in its rolls of citizens ; but whilft fhe pofleffes
the beloved Wafhington, and the memory of his great
achievements and illuflrious character is cherifhed
by Americans, thofe names, like fpecks upon the
fun's difk, will be but tranfiently obferved, and de
tract but inconfiderably from her luftre. But it pro
bably foited your purpofe better to fay, " Ourpoliti-
," Cal fituation is prodigioufly changed-fince you left
" us. Inftead of that noble love of liberty, and that
" republican government, which Carried us triumph-
" antly through the dangers of the war, an Anglo-
*c monarchico-arrttocratic party has arifen. Their
" avowed object is to impofe on us the fubftar.ce,
te as they have already given us.. the- form of the
" Britifh government. Neverthelefs the principal
" body of our citizens remained faithful to»repubIi-
" can principles. All our proprietors of lands are
«' friendly to thofe principles, as alfo the mats of
d d 3 " men

4©6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
" men of talents. We have againft us (republicans)
" the executive power, the judiciary power (two of
" the three branches of our Government) all flu?
" officers of Government, all who are feeking
" offices, all timid men who prefer the calm of .Def-
" potifm to the tempeftuous fea of Liberty, theBrk
lc tifh merchants, arid the Americans who trade on
" Britifh capitals, the fpeculators, perfons inte-s
" refted in the banks and public furiis (eftablifh -
" ments invented with views of corruption, and to af-
" fimilate us to the Britifh model in all its corrupt
" parts)."
Suppofing for an inftant, what I can by no means
admit, that fuch is the prefent fituation of our count
try ; is it, Sir, the part of a friend to his country,
is it the part of a citizen, who had been frequently
entrufted with the management of public concerns,
thus to expofe the failings of his brethren; the weak
and vulnerable part of his native land, to a prattling;
foreigner, whofe felf-confequenee and pride, ah-
flracted from any other motive, might induce
him to make an improper ufe of this, at leaft very
imprudent, confidence? We have not forgotten,
the fine theme which the precious confeffions of your
countryman Randolph furnifhed to a former French
Minifter; and we can readily conceive that your
letter, under the improving hand of an intriguing
Italian, may prove the fource of accumulating evil
to the United State's. Have we not repeatedly ftiovvn
our attachment to the caufe of liberty and to-France i
• — Did we not exert every mufcle, flrain every nerve,
to affift her in eftablifhing her right to make her own
form of government untrammelled by the will of
other nations ?— -and that too, when thofe who now
bafely fawn by her fide, and ignominioufly lick the.
duft from her feet, were foremoft in their oppofition
to the regeneration of a numerous people. Did we
"' '¦'¦> ' not,

MAY, 1797. 407
not, for a long time, patiently bear with the cring
ing infolence of Genet, the impertinent fuggeftions
of Fauchet, and the dark andinfidious manoeuvres
of Adet, without fhowing any intemperance of con
duct at their behaviour, or ceafing our good offices
to their nation, or their compatriots ? True it is, Sir,
that the feeble attempts of a riling republic, with*
out a navy, or large ftanding army, could be of
little fervice in battle to either of the contending par
ties. Of this, in the commencement of her flruggle,
France feemed fully fenfible ; and was aware of tho
advantage to be derived from our remaining neutral.
And is it for this we are charged by you with ingra*
titude and injuftice i and are thofe men, whom you
once thought Solomons in eouneil, and Sampfens in com
bat, for this to be branded by you with the name of
apoftates ?
But I am, perhaps, intruding upon your time, and
taking up fome moments which might be more pro
fitably employed in attention to public affairs ; I
fhall, therefore, clofe this letter with a with, that if
the writing aferibed to you is fpurious, it may be dis
owned. In doing this you will render a juftice due
to yourfelf, and oblige many of your fellow-citizens,
but no one more than A Native American.
Beckley s Letter.— rMr. Cobbett, You have ufed an
unwarrantable, I will not add bafe freedom, with my
name and character, in your Gazefte of Tuefday
evening laft. Referring to the proceedings of the
Houfe of Reprefentatives of the United States on
Monday laft, refpeeting the appointment ofa clerk,
you remark in the following words :
" As to Mr.' Beckley's ability, I can be no judge
« of that ; but refpeeting his fidelity, the adding up
" the vptes on the important queftion refpectmg the
*'¦ Britifh treaty, by which a point already decided
f* was fqbmitted to the decifion of the Chairman,
** \yas no Yery favourable fpecimen."
pD 4 The,

408

GAZETTE SELECTIONS.

The following facts, of which you could not be
ignorant, will prove that the injurious infinuation
which your remarks are calculated to convey, is to
tally unfounded in truth :
On the 30th day of April, 1796, when the refolu
tion for making an appropriation to carry into effect
the Britifh treaty, was depending in the Houfe of
Reprefentatives of the United States, a motion was
made by Mr. Dearborne, to prefix to the refolution
a preamble,, flating certain objections to the treaty:
on this, motion the Yeas and Nays were called for. In
taking the Yeais and Nays on every queftion, the mode
of proceeding is known to be this : — A record-book
lies on the Clerk's table, in which the names of all
the members are alphabetically entered, with a co-?
lumn on each fide of the name, one for the Yeas, arid
the other the Nays, in this form :

l^eas.

Names.

Nays.

rA

CD.

X

• ••••• Jlj* .!?•.•¦••*.

G.H.

X -

J. K.
X
As foon as the call is over, the £lerk reads aloud
the names of all the members as they voted, whether
yea or nay, fo that if any member's vote has been
omitted to be entered in the record,, or afterwards to,
be read aloud by the Clerk, the error is inftantly
difcovered and corrected. Now in the cafe to which,
you refer on Mr. Dearborne's motion, it happened
that there were 49 Yeas and 5 o Nays, and that, in the
hafte of running up the numbers, I reported to the
Chair 49 Yeas and 49 Nays, when the Speaker being
about to give, or having actually given, his caft
vote, a member foggefted that the Clerk had made a
' - miftake
r MAY, 1797.. 409
miftake in counting the numbers ; I inftantly recur
red to the record- book, and reported to the Chair,
that it appeared that there were 50 Nays entered on
the. queftion ; and having previoufly read aloud to
the Houfe the names of thofe 50 members without
having omitted a fingle vote either in entering the
votes or reading the names, the miftake in catling
up the numbers was fo obvioufly a cafualand unin
tentional one, in the view of the whole Houfe, that
the proceeding was inftantly put right, and the de
cifion of the queftion on Mr. Dearborne's motion
entered on the minutes and journal of the day, by a
vote of 50 Nays againft 49 Yeas, without the decifion
of the Chair, and contrary to your affertion, as will
appear by a reference to the printed journal of the
Houfe, page 380.
This explanation will, I prefume, fatisfy the moft:
tortured fuggeftions of malice ; but, to remove all
poffibility of doubt, I fubjoin the then Speaker Mr.
Dayton's certificate on the fubject.
May 19, 1797. John Beckley..
This may certify, that the ftatement of facts herein
before made by Mr. Beckley, both as to the method
of' taking, entering, and announcing the Yeas and
Nays, generally, and as to the error in catling up the
votes on Mr. Dearborne's motion, particularly, is
accurate and juft. This I can declare with the
greater freedom and confidence, becaufe I recollect
perfectly my having marked with my pen the num
ber of 50 Nays, as Mr. Beckley read and announced
thenrfrom his entry. • Jona. Dayton.
Remarks.—! might fafely fuffer this curious defence
to go forth without any comment ; for it does no
more than give a circumffantial confirmation of the
charge it is intended to do away. I charged him
with having givenin a falfe report of the Yeas and
Nays;,

4i© GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Nays, by which a point already decided, was fubmitted
to the decifion of the Chairman. Now, how does lie
difprove this ? Why, he acknowledges (for he could
not do otherwife) that " there were fifty Yeas, and
forty-nine Nays," and that he " reported to the Chair
forty-nine Yeas and forty-nine Nays" He alfo acknow
ledges, that the Speaker (he means Chairman) was
about to give his calling vote, or had actually given
it (it is well known that it was given), when the
miftake was difcovered ; and heis befides obliged to
confefs, that the miftake, as he calls it, was difcovered
by a member of the Houfe ! and yet he has the im
pudence to call my charge an "injurious infinu*
ation!" It is well enough to obferve, that he builds his
defence on the circumftance of his having called over
every name, which he wifhes to be looked upon asa
proof that the falfehood of his report was not inten
tional. But, let it be remembered, that he could
not omit a name without certain detection, as the
member who found his name omitted, would have
immediately complained ; but in giving in the re
port as to numbers, there was little danger of detec
tion, as the inaccuracy could not be well afcertained
by any one who had not the lifts before him.
In fliort, Mr. Beckley feems to have formed a
refolution to make himfelf appear guilty ; and, not
thinking himfelf a credible witnefs, has called in the
teftimony of Mr. Dayton, a man whofe veracity no
man will doubt of.
I will juft add, that this fubject was not revived by
me for the cruel purpofe of triumphing over a fallen
man. It was courted, it was loudly called for, by a
paragraph in his friend Bache's paper, in which his
¦fidelity was boafted of, and in which a majority of the
Houfe of Reprefentatives were ftigmatized as a. ran
corous faction, merely becaufe they did not choofe
him for their Clerk,
The,

MAY, 1797. 4II
The impudence of thefe fellows furpaffes every
thing that we read of in Hibernian fable. They
have a right to abufe Congrefs ; call the officers of
ftate man Timothy, and man Oliver ; charge the fu-
prerne executive power of being under Britifh influ
ence, and purfue General Wafhington to his retreat,
with the appellations of traitor and murderer ; but
the moment a word is uttered againft themfelves,
the moment an attempt is made to repel their vile
accufations, they ftun us with a cry of vengeance.
For my part, I have been fo long accuftomed to d&r
fpife them, that any thing I could now fay. on the
fiibjedl muft be repetition,

Monday, 22^ May,
To Thomas Jefferfori, Efq. Fice-Prefident of the United
States, and Prefident of the ' Senate of the United
States. Sir,
With that refpect which is due to your high
official ftations, as the next officer to the chief ma-
giftrate of the Union, and the Prefident of an im
portant branch of the national legiflature, I exercife
the right ofa citizen of the United States to call on
you for an explicit avowal or difavowal of the fol
lowing letter *, which has been publicly afcribed to
you in all our newfpapers, and which contains fenti
ments and principles too deeply affecting the inter-
pft, character, and fafety of America, to be paffed by
unnoticed by any Ameriean who values and cherifhes
them. Although that letter has been the fubject of
great public agitation, I have been too often deceived
byfpurious fabrications of this nature, too haflily to
adopt an opinion on the fubject; and knowing your
* See Mr. Jefferfon's letter to Mazzei, page 345. expected

41* GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
expected arrival in this city, have forborne to make
any ftrictures upon it, until you had had a fair op
portunity of denying it.
The prefent crifis of our affairs will not brook any
further delay ; ihe time is now come, when every
citizen muft fpeak his opinion without difguife j
ivben the public have 1 right to know the real
opinions of their high public functionaries. If you
entertain the fentiments afcribed to you in, that fetter,
it is your duty to avow them, to come forward man
fully and to fupport them. If they have been falfely
attributed to your pen, it is no lefs incumbent on
you explicitly to difavow them. I fhall, for. the prcr
fent, withhold further remarks. Should your filence
continue, you will be juftly regarded as the author
of that letter, and duty to the American nation will
compel me to prefent to the public view thofe obfer*
vations whichj on the perufal of it, have aruen in the
mind of A Fellow-citizen.
French Influence. — That we may , be enabled the
more juftly to form an eftimate of the degree and
extent of the French influence in this Country1, it
will, be proper to paufe here a moment, and reflect
upon the nature of public opinion, how it is to be
collected, and in what manner it may be excited,
created, or directed..
In every civil fociety the majority, unlefs- roufed
by fome appeal to their paffions Or intereft, are
quiefeent and inactive. In a republican government
like ours, the great body of the people are perfeclly
eafy, and repofe with confidence on the rulers whom
they have freely elected, and whoth they know to be
equally interefted with themfelves in the promotion
Of the public welfare and happinefs.
But in every fociety, however happy the general
ftate of il may be, there will be perfons of fome one
Of the following defcriptions : reftlefs uneafy fpirits,
" , - , impatient

MAY, 1797. 4t3
impatient of reftraint, four, morofe, malevolent
hearts, difpofed to view the fair objects of nature
and art, the beautiful fyftem of laws, order, and
public happinets, with jaundiced eyes ; depreffed,
defperate, profligate, abandoned wretches,pbffeffed
of a gambling fpirit, defirous of change ; or vain am
bitious minds, purfe-proud men, but of dull and
feeble talents, who think that their merits are over
looked, and who. with an overturn for the fake of
gratifying their rage for diftinction. Thefe various
defcriptions abourid more or lefs in different coun
tries, according to the ftate of manners. In Eng
land, Mr. Burke computes them at one fifth of thofe
who think at all, but fuppofes, that, unlefs carefully
watched, they are fofficiently numerous to over
throw the government. In this country, I do not
believe that more than one tenth of thofe who are
capable of forming any opinion for themfelves, are
of any of the foregoing defcriptions ; but, though fo
defpicable in numbers and character, yet they are fo
fobtle, active, perfevering, indefatigable, and or
ganized, that we have feen them effect in a few
weeks an almoft 'total change in the opinions of
-their fellow-citizens, affume the language and au
thority of the people, and threaten the very exiflence
¦of government. Taught this truth, partly by their
experience in their own country, and partly by ob-
-fer-vation of the American character, the emiflaries
of France early learned how to acquire an influence,
and had almoft difcovered how to obtain a dominion
over the opinions and conduct of the open andun-
futpecting Americans. From the peace of 1783,
• until the period when the Jacobin faction had erected
a new defpotifm in France upon the ruins of the old,
no particular occafion exifted to call forth the in-.
triguing fpirit of the French Governments We do
not, therefore, find any particular exercife of this
• their darling propenfity. They

4»4 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
They contented themfelves with filling up the full
quota of diplomatic and confular agents, who were
well employed in watching every interefl ing move
ment of our Government, and who were ready mar-
fhajled" to commence effective operations, as events
or occafions might require. Such an occafion,
unfortunately for this, Until now, happy country^
foon prefented itfelf. The firft fteps towards liberty
which the French nation adopted* having for their
object fimply a diminution of the royal prerogatives,
and an amelioration of the condition of the commo
nality and peafahtry, were received in this country
with univerfal and unfeigned pleafure. Our public
papers teemed with congratulations on the aufpi-
cious event. When, therefore, the mild, humane, and
philofophic Warville, and his accomplices, of the
Giroridift faction, aimed the /fanguinary fteel againft
the head of their unfortunate monarch (to whom, if
to any of the French nation, we were under obliga
tions) ; when they perceived that all Europe flood
aghaft at the horrid fpectacle, and that incenfed hu
manity was urging combined nations to vindicate
her rights, it was to be expected that they fhould
turn their views to America as their only friend.
Selecting then one of their moft daring and intri
guing fpirits, a man who had already proved his abili
ties againft the devoted heads of the unhappy Gene
vans, and recalling from this country a Minifter who
had too much honefty, and too great friendfhip for
us, to be trufted; they fent out this emiflary to draw
clofer the bonds of fraternity which united the two
republics. Every artful device, every ingenious
fcheme, every plaufible, every fafeinating fentiment,
was to be fuggefted to entrap us. To pleafe our
vanity) we were to be told, that the French revolu
tion was but an emanation of our own ; that a
tpark from America had lighted the holy flame. To
gratify refentments yet warm, to rekindle jealoufies
2 hardly

. MAY, 17,97, 41$
hardly extinguifhed, to refufcitale injuries not yet
healed, we were reminded of Britifh tyranny, Britifh
treachery, and Britifh cruelty. But above all, to
captivate the idle and the defperate, who have ever
finee been the warmeft friends of French principles,
they preached the mild, perfuafive, and irrefifiible
doctrines of liberty and equality. Myfterious terms !
what wonders you have wrought ! equality of pro
perty ! agrarian laws ! liberty to actas our whims,
paffions, or intereft dictate ! How fafcinating to the
diffolute ! how captivating to the lazy and impo-
verifhed fans-culotte ! This hopeful fon of fedition,
begot by Anarchy (the defcription renders it fuper-.
fluous to call him Genet), with a dozen choice fpirirs
in the confular character, to act as aids, were can
toned out at proper diftances in the different parts of
the Union. The happy effects of their exertions
and talents have been widely felt, and forely realized,
but cannot be juftly defcribed, without devoting to
them a feparate number. Leonid as.
Award in favour of American Claimants. — The fol
lowing is a copy of an award of the Commiffioners
on American claims in London, in a fingle cafe of a
veffel belonging to New-Haven.
Communicated for the Minerva.
Jan. 14. We award four thoufand fix hundred and
fifty-eight dollars, American currency, with intereft
thereon, at five per cent, from the firft of January,
1794, in compenfation of the lofe and damage fof-
tained by the capture. Wm. Scott,
John Nicoll.
To * ' London, Feb. nth, 1797.
Gentlemen,
I have the pleafure to fend you the above copy of
an award in your favour, by the gentleman, to
whom.

4*6 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
whom, by an arrangement between the Government,
of the United States and Great Britain, cafes ofcofts
and damages have been referred for a more early
fettlement than could be had by way of appeal. By
the earlieft conveyance after the fum awarded you
has been paid, and the amount of cofts to be deduct
ed from it has been afcertained, you fhall hear frOm
me, and be authorized to draw for the balance.
Your obedient fervant,
Samuel Bayard*

Tuesday, 23d May.
To Meffrs. M'Lean. & Lang, Printers, New- York.
Gentlemen, ,
In your paper, received this morning by the poft,
I find the following requeft : " If you do not ftop
" writing, Meffrs. M'Lean and Lang, printers to
" King Mob> pleafe to ftop your paper."
Give and take, is a good old maxim, gentlemen ;
you cannot, I fuppofe, have forgotten, that you ad
dreffed your paper to " P. Porcupine, printer to his
Majefty." Being the aggreffors then (if there is any
aggreffion in the matter), you can have no reafon tp
complain. You might mean no harm in bellowing
a title on me : I dare fay you only wifhed to regale
the poft- office clerks with a liftfe printing-office wit ;
and I aflure you, upon the word and honour of a
newfmonger, that "King Mob" was intended .as no
more than an humble imitation of fo laudable an
example. AsT find, however, that if gives you dif-
pleafure, I fhall in future'defift.
I am, Gentlemen, your moft obedient, ,
And moft devoted fervant,
Peter Porcupine.
Philadelphia? May %d, 1797.
:, Wednesday,

MAY, 1797. 4lj
Wednesday, 24th May.
Parlous Forms of Government. — From the Shop of
Meffrs. Colon and Spondee.
Arifloeracy. — I have looked into my Entick, and
he fays, that it is a government by nobles. Heaven
preferve us from ariftocrats ! they would cut all our
farms into lordfhips, and fell us for flaves : fo fays
my neighbour Grumble, and he knows, for he is
what they call a difhononary member of a Jacobin
club. But pray, my dear jealous countrymen, are
not all kind of ocracys dreadful things ? and are
they not running rampant among us?
Yes" — there is your
Hogocracy. — That is, where an ignorant booby
has blundered into a great eftate, and has thp riches
without the education, fentiments, or manners of a
^gentleman. His pride and infolence form a horrid
•hogocracy over his poor neighbours. More happy is
the Ruffian peafant, fold, with the land he ploughs,
to his haughty boyar, than the tenant or dependant
pf fuch a hogocrat.
Then there is your
Pigocracy.—- The pigocrat may be known bj his
long pig's tail, bound with fix yards of riband, his
wheat-meal and lard upon his head, and his thrill
dolorous whine ; with thefe he eftablifhes a tyran
nical pigocracy over the blooming generation of
young ladies.
Then there is your ^
Ribocracy. — That is, when the married lady dis
cards the bewitching drapery of the ikirt, for the
immemorial infignia of the man, and rules tbe con
jugal roaft ; when fhe neglects the pie and pudding,
and fcolds politics at her hufband's vifitors ; and,
after having infulted the patience of the good man
by day, awakens. him by njght to the refreftiingelo-
vol.. v. e fi .quenee

41 8 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
quence of a curtain lecture. Such a woman has
eftablifhed a Da****** — I dare not at prefent fay
what ; as, unhappily, my own dear rib now cafts a
loving look over my left fhoulder.
N. B. My wife is a profound politician : I with you
could hear her talk upon liberty and equality.
Then there is your
Mobocracy. — But I beg pardon, this is only a fpe-
cies of democracy. I fay again, Heaven preferve us
from all ocracys. [Farmer's Mufeum.']
Mifcarriages bf the Mails. — To. Subfcribers. From
different parts of the Union I have received repeated
complaints of the mifcarriage or delay of my papers i
and though, with fuch numbers of diftant fubferib-
ers, it would be rather bold to declare that the
fault is never to be attributed to my people, yet I
can venture to affirm, that it rarely or ever is fo.
But, what is fomething Angular, fubfcribers have
often caufe to complain who live at places among
the leaft diftant, and to which the conveyance is di-;
rect, and extremely regular. . I am loath to give
out any thing like an accufation ; but when I am
well informed that certain poft-mafters are free to
declare their mortification at being obliged to deli
ver out my papers, and of one, in particular, who
declared he would give thirty dollars a-year out of
his own pocket, if he could put a ftop to its circula
tion, I think myfelf juftified in communicating the
circumftances to my fubfcribers. A miftake may
now and then happen in my office ; but the fubfcrib
ers may be affured/ that in no office in this city is
the difpatching of papers fo carefully attended to ;
and that, therefore, their difappointments muft be
afcribed to fome of the perfons concerned in the con
veyance of them. Thefe feandalous perjured delin
quents I will ufe my utmoft endeavours to find out ;
and in fpite of the latitude for fhift and trick which
the. aature of their, office affords them, they have
much

MAY, 1797. .-, 41.9
much more cunning than they have honefty, if they
long efcape undetected, or unexpofed. William Cobbett.
Beckley s Cafe. — Mr. Cobbett, I was rather fur
prifed to find the Speaker of the Houfe of Reprefent
atives of Congrefs coming forward to vindicate the
conduct of the difmiffed Clerk. I think your remarks
on the Clerk's paltry defence very pertinent, but you
have taken no notice of a curious tact in the Speak
er's certificate. He certifies, that " he recollects
perfectly having marked with his pen the number of
fifty Nays, as Mr. Beckley read and announced them
from his entry :" now, as there were forty-nine Yeas,
and the Speaker knew there were fifty Nays, how
came, he to vote ? It is well known that the Speaker
never votes, unlefs the Houfe is equally divided; or
his vote, added to the minority, will make the votes
equal. But the Speaker did vote on that 'occafion,
and voted on the fide of the Nays, on the fide of
the majority ; which, it is fairly prefumed, he would
not have done unlefs he had believed the Houfe
equally divided. The conclufion is, that Beckley,
being unacquainted with the Speaker's real fenti
ments, expected his catting vote, and that the
Speaker, from the diftance of time, may now have
an imperfect recollection of the transaction. This
requires further explanation. A, Querist. .
This communication has led me to perceive, that '
in my remarks on Beckley's defence, publifhed in
Saturday's Gazette, I put Yeas for Nays, and Chair
man for Speaker.
For Porcupine's Gazette.—M.R..CoBBBTT, Although
I have never entertained a very high opinion, of John
Beckley's political principles or political fidelity; yet,
I confefs, I did not believe him to be that whining,,
pining, cringing, contemptible creature he has
fhown hiriifelf, on the occafion of his late difappoint-
e e 2 ment.

4io GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
ment. If he has merited his fate, as I moft firmly
believe he has, fhame and contrition fhould ftop his
mouth : if he is the innocent injured man he pre
tends to be, an honeft pride and confcious rectitude
fhould place him above fuch pufillanimous conduct.
At one moment he groans out the moft lamentable
complaints, calling perfonally on the eompaflion
of thofe members of the Houfe, whom, not long
finee, he treated with hauteur and infulting neglect ;
at another moment, he threatens a terrible ven
geance if he is not reinftated, by the difcovery of
dire and important fecrets. Pray, Mr. Beckley, if
you are really in the poffeffion of thefe valuable fe
crets of official mifconduct in certain high characters,
was it not your duty, long finee, to have difelofed
them ? Or, isf it more reputable to have refer ved
them as bolts of vengeance and difappointment?
But fuch threats are either the ravings of approach
ing infanity, or the fretful foamings of a weak mind.
That Mr. Beckley might have expected the punifh-
ment he has received from thofe who inflicted it, is
too evident to require proof. If a conftant difoblig-
ing carriage, and a marked neglect of the federal
fide of the Houfe ; if the moft ftriking partiality in
his official conduct to the democrats ; if an habitual
difregard of our Government, and the moft public
arid indecent abufe of its meafures, at all times, and
in all places, juftly demand the cenfure and punifh-
ment of the friends and fupporters of that Govern
ment, furely this foreigner, this wretched tool of a
fallen faction, has no great caufe of furprife, if he is
among the firft of the bricks that fall from the Tem
ple of Anarchy. As to his hopes of fuccefs at the
law, I fufpect he will meet with a fecond difap
pointment here. All the rank and ftinking cats are
already pledged to Secretary Dallas, and what re
mains will not be worth the attention of the ci-devant
Clerk. Perhaps his friend Dallas will employ him as

MAY, 1797. 4M
as a journeyman, either in law or politics, both of
which, I believe, are a fource of profit to this pre
cious coadjutor of Randolph, Gallatin, &c.
Justice.
Tuesday, 25th May.
Barkley Townfed's Advertifement. — To be printed
and publifhed in Porcupine's Gazette.— This writing
is written by a quill that is yet foft ; and the writer de-
fires his brethren to keep the commandments, and
walk in the ftatutes of the Lord, and love one ano
ther. I ffiall be fhort and plain, as this is only a
fliort feratch of the foft quill of the young Porcupine.
There is one book written, which is now at tlie prefs,
and I hope to have it in circulation in four weeks
from this inftant : there is one book now in circula
tion, and to be fold in Market Street ; in that book
it is explained for what reafon Thomas Paine called
it his Age of Reafon. I fhall, in the next book, ex
plain how the great red dragon is now caft down to'
the earth, and I have had to encounter him. On
Monday morning, betweeri three and four o'clock,
was the battle ; and fuch a battle I never faw before :
but fo it was, 1 knew his intention, and where
he wanted to ftrike, and a hard quill was pointed in
fuch a manner, that he dare not ftrike : he then em
ployed the witch of Endor ; it was the fame way
with her. In the name oi God, the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghoft, I bade him defiance, and all that
take his part. And I fhow pointedly that the tail
has fwept down fome-ftars : and in the ftate of Penn
fylvania it is done : at this time the preachers of a
certain perfuafion have deviated from the wholefome
rules of a Gofpel church : in the Methodift Maga
zine for February and March there is fome falfe
doctrine ; and I now inform you, that fome part of
{he doctrine is no better than Thomas Paipe's Age
SP 3 of

422 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
of Reafon : and if you affume a pre-eminence over
all other perfuafioiis, I recommend you to confider,
and look to the end of the chapter, and not deftroy
yourfelves. It is my opinion, when the full force of
your law, made by your body politic, comes fairly to
be underftood, the five New-England ftates will be
like lions ; New-York nearly the fame ; and the
next ftate between two fires, and a deviation in all
the reft. Throughout the whole of the United
States truth fhall conquer. The New-England men
are the leaft corrupted of any in the United States,
according to their number : therefore, my worthy
friends, remember ; when ye are flout, be merciful :
ihe Lord fights for his people ; therefore keep forti
tude, and do not let refentment carry you to acts of
violence againft your own countrymen. The true
Chriftian is an open man ; he does not carry a wheel
within a wheel, as fome do at this prefent time.
We are inft ru ments in the hand of the Lord, and let
every one difcharge his duty faithfully, or elfe he
hath no reafon to expect to live.
And let the printer difcharge his duty as a printer,
and publifh this in three different papers, or elfe he
may expect to be rewarded as his works fhall be.
There is a fon of David, by adoption, that fhall kill
Goliath. By authority I fpeak it, and direct it to be
publifhed in Porcupine's Gazette; and, according to
rule and order, I fhall fign my name, and will not
deny ; I truft in God, and wicked men defy.
Bark-ley Townsed*.
Philadelphia, May 24, 1797.
Friday, 26th May.
Soporiferous Effect ofa long Speech. — Mr. Porcupine,
I take this method of returning Meffrs. Livingfton and
* This fellow feems to me to be a match for Brothers. He is
certainly a very great rogue or a very great fool. Giles

MAY, 1797. 423
Giles my hearty thanks for the nap I have for thefe
two days enjoyed under the potent poppies of their
oratory ; but, at the fame time, I have to complain of
the improvidence of thofe whofe bufinefs it was to
provide furniture for the Reprefentatives' chamber.
The hall indeed is pretty well ; the chair-bottoms are
foft, and the backs recline very commodioufly ; but,
in the gallery, the place where the people refort to,
there is nothing to be found but bare hard boards !
Is it juft, is it decent, Mr. Porcupine, for the "fer
vants" to be bolfteredup to their ears, while their fo
vereign lies like a foldier upon a guard-bed ?
Yours, &c. G. D.

M. M. Jefferfon and Madifon. — -A gentleman who
arrived in the General Wayne from Bourdeaux,
obferves, that the late election has clofed in the
choice of fuch men as will ufe their influence to re-
ftore a good underftanding between France and
America. This circumftance was thought to be
pleafing to a large majority of that nation ; who,
hey fay, muft now look to moderate legiflatures for
Uftice and protection. Americans muft be highly
pleafed at this event ; it looks pacific.
Mr. Jefferfon, inftead of Mr. Madifon, was men
tioned in yefterday's Gazette as being expected in
France as a fecond extra envoy.
Remark. — It is very probable that either of thefe
gentlemen would be the choice of the Executive Di
rectory, as being well inclined to fecond their de-
figns of diftreffing the commerce of Great Britain,
and humbling the Government of the United States
into a complete fubmiffion to the imperious dictates
and ambitious fehemes of France. But, if this fliould
take place, would thefe States be any longer free and
independent ? If the French are once gratified in
4he appointment of a Minifter, it will, not be long be-
e e 4 fora

434 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
fore they will expect the fame complaifatfeC in the
election ofa Prefident, a Congrefs, and every other"
confidential officer. But it fo happens, that there
is no need of a new appointment. Should the Exe
cutive think it proper to renew the application to
France for juftice, it may be done through Mr*
Pinckney : he is waiting for the purpofe, and, if
they refufe to hear him, they would not hear, " even
fhould one arife from the dead."
There is no reafon to expect a change in the con
duct of France towards the United States, fo long as
the war lafts in Europe : whatever men govern
French affairs, whether jacobins, moderates, or roy-
alifts, the deep-rooted hatred of Great Britain will
Continue ; they will ftill envy her profperity, and,
particularly, the extenfion of her commerce in this
country. The great object of French politics, which
they have manifefted every eight or ten years for a
century paft, has been to reduce the power of their
rival to a ftate of lefs importance in the fcale of na
tions ; and the queftion now before the American.
Government is fimply this ; is it to the intereft of our
country to co-operate in this important meafure,
and to truft our future fortune to the magnanimity
and friendfhip of France ?
Saturday, 27th May.
Chevalier D' Yrujo' s Letter to the Secretary of State.
Sir, Philadelphia, May 24, 1 797.'
In the collection of documents referred to in the
Prefident's fpeech, and printed for the ufe of the mem
bers of both Houfes, I have feen the tfanflation of
the memorial I had the honour to prefent to you on
the 6th infl. and, after a curfory perufai of it, I have
obferved with concern, that the tranflation has not
been exact in fome particular paffages ; and as it has
! been

May, 1797, 425
been publifhed and prefented to Congrefs in that
imperfect ftate, 1 fhall take the liberty of pointing
out to you, Sir, thofe paffages which appear to me.
moft material, flattering myfelf you will be pleafed
to order the publication to be corrected.
In the 8th line, page 45, at the beginning of my
memorial, it is faid, that the ceffion of a Confider
able portion of territory from Spain to the United
States has been made by agreeing to draw a line of
demarcation between the poffeffions of both parties.
At a time when the fenfe of every propofition is fo
minutely examined into, I cannot pafs over this with
out remarking to you, that as every State has a right
to a line of demarcation to its poffeflions, it is not
by agreeing to draw limits that the ceffion was made
to the United States, but " by the manner" in which
his Catholic Majefty agreed it fhould be done ; and
this is the literal fenfe of my words.
In the 10th line of the fame page, fpeaking of the
advantages arifing to the American citizens from the
principle that free fhips fhall make free goods, it is
faid in the tranflation that this flipulation promifed
a neutrality as advantageous as durable ; when in
my memorial I fay, that the Americans, for reafons
therein affigned, would promife themfelves a neu
trality as advantageous as durable.
In page 47 it is faid, Whilft " a flate of war"
requires that his fquadrons and fhips fhould refpect
Englith property on board of American veffels. The
fenfr of my words is quite different — Whilft it may
be required of his fquadrons and fhips to refpect Eng
lifh property on board of American veffels.
In the 37th line of the fame page it is faid, Whilft
the latter muft fuffer from " avarice" or the high
price of an article to her fo abfolutely neceffary. My
words are, Whilft the latter muft fuffer from the
*( want" or the high price of an article, &c.
There are feveral other paffages where the lan-
3 guage

426 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
guage is materially altered ; but, as the fenfe is pre-:
ferved, I fhall not trouble you about them. I fhall
only take the liberty to obferve, that, had you been
pfeafed to have fent me the translation, I could have
corrected it, and faved you the trouble of this letter.
As the tranflation of my memorial has appeared in
the newfpapers, I fhall through fhe fame channel
publifh this letter, in order to have thefe miftakes
removed. I have the honour to be,
With great refpect, Sir,
Your moft obedient fervant,
Le Chevalier D'Ykujo.
Timothy Pickering, Efq.
Remark. — The Chevalier is marching directly in
ihe fteps of Citizen Adet. The above is mere verbal
criticifm : the correction produces no alteration in
ihe import of his refcript ; and the liberty he has
taken of publifhing it has no example except that of
the Diplomatic Blunderbufs. Was the Britifh Minif
ter ever guilty of fuch a breach of decorum ? No.
When the very warm difpute refpeeting the conduct
of Governor Simcoe was on the tapis, this Govern
ment publifhed its complaints on the fubject : Mr.
Hammond foon after received the Governor's expla
nation of the bufinefs, doing away the calumnies
which the French faction had fpread through the
country ; yet Mr. H. did not publifh this ; he re
quefted that the Prefident would bepleafed to order it
to be publifhed.

Monday, 29th May.
Advertifement extraordinary. — For an extraordinary
purpofe, relative to a Minifter Extraordinary. ,-—.
Wanted immediately, A dozen of balloons, finifhed
and decorated in the moft fuperb and magnificent
manner, and fit for the reception of a number of the
members of an auguft affembly who are deputized to
go

MAY, 1797. 427
go to the Moon, and, perhaps, as far as Sirius the
Dog-ftar, in queft of arguments relative to national
gratitude, and which alfo can be ufed in giving a fo-
lution of* the following important queftion, viz.
Shall the United States imitate the inflexibility of the
ruth, that bovtfs down before fhe ftorm ; or fhall they
affume the attitude of the oak, that does not invite
the tempeft, but ftands ready to meet it ?
N. B. If the balloons are conftructed upon pure
French principles, the deputation will have no need
of gas or inflammable air ; for the whole weight of
Congrefs Hall will barely be fufficient for their
ballaft. Augufia, May 11. — A foreigner made his appear
ance in Augufta, in the courfe of laft week, to whom
fome gave the title of a Spanifh General, others, that
ofa French General, and fome again called him the
Governor of Louisiana ; be his rank what it may,
it is certainly underftood that his errand was to in
duce America to aid and affift the Republic of France
in their riew dominions, the Floridas, in cafe of
any attempt by the Britifh in that quarter. A' very
defecate requisition this, on the part of either France
or Spain — whilft the one infults us with the difmiflal
of our Ambaffador, and feizes our property where-
ever it can be found ; and the other refufes to fur
render the polls which by folemn treaty they had
yielded to the United States ! It is doubtlefs a very
natural predilection for the people of the fouthern
country to prefer their Spanifh neighbours to any
change which the prefent profpect of affairs promifes ;
but defpotic as the fyftem of the Britifh Government
is, it would be found to fuit us quite as well in the
way of neighbourhood as the liberty and equality
which emanates from the terrible Republic. Thefa,-
turnalia fefia in ancient Rome were well enough for a
little fun occasionally, but the perpetua falumalia, would

':**¦''

¦jfa» GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
would go d — mn — bly againft the grain of a Geor>
jgian, or Carolinian.

Tuesday, 30th May.
Something- to excite our " warmefi Senfibility ." — Ex*
tract of a letter from the Captain of the fchooner
Sufannah, dated Guadaloupe, 2d April. "I am
forry to inform you of our ill fuccefs on the voyage.
I left Cape Henry on the 25th of February, and on
the 1 ath Of March, five leagues N. W. of Antigua,
was captured by a French privateer mounting two
guns and forty men, who took myfelf and three mert
out of the fchooner, put a prize-mafler and feven
Frenchmen on board, and brought us to this place,
where, after two days, our trial commenced — both
veffel and cargo condemned-^-myfelf plundered of
books, quadrant, and moft of my clothes ; and, what
is ftill worfe, the whole of my people put in jail, and
myfelf threatened very hard. There are upwards of
forty Americans in jail in this place, befides a great
number that have been exchanged with the Englifhi
Our treatment is moft intolerable ; worfe than that
of the Turks in Algiers— infulted by every black fcamp,
mid they protected by the Government. Nothing is
more common here than for a black foldier to have a
white man arrefied for the fmallefl offence-rA don't
know what fo compare it to, for I am fure the
Moors in Barbary have fnore humanity— all the black
American feamen are obliged to work for the Republic^
and have only three quarters of a pound of bread
and four ounces of cod-fifh for twenty four hours. They
Condemn all veffels cleared out for the Weft Indies,
tx'cept for Guadaloupe; there have been about ten con
demned Since 1 was here. I have not been able to,
fee my people Since they were put in jail, except;
one, who works for the Republic. We are not per*.
mitted to go the jail, as they have an idea that Ame*
1 rm

MAY, 1797. 429
rica will declare war againft them. If I were to infert
the whole of my ill ufage, it would take two or three
fheets of paper. They condemn veffels, fome for
one thing and fome for another; any thing will an
fwer if they want the cargo — The owners of the pri
vateers are the judges ; fo that every one tries his
own caufe. I fhall be at home, I fuppofe, fome
time in May, and hope to find Congrefs fitting ; 1 am
determined to go before them^and if they will not give
us fatisf action, nor fuffer us to defend ourfelves, 1 will
never fail under the flag again, for I am determined to
have fatisf action at the rifk of my life and falvation.' — I
have taken charge of a fhip here for St. Thomas's,
where I fhall make all poffible difpatch for home. —
Ships of aoo tons fell here for 100 joes.
" I fhall be obliged to leave my people here ; I
have tried every means to get them out, but all to no
purpofe." [Let Mr. Livingston and his friends reply to
this honeft fellow if he fhould come before them.
When they talk again about the forty-two American
feamen whom the British preffed, fome gentlemen will
do well to read this letter. Here we fee forty Ameri
can feamen crammed all into one jail ; while others
are put to hard labour for the Republic, leorned and
infulted even by blacks.
How different is the language of this captain from
that of the oppofition in Congrefs ! The injuries, the
flripes inflicted by the French, excite in their minds
"¦ the warmeft fenfibility," while he Swears revenge,
at the riSk of his life and Salvation. What can be the
caufe of this mighty difference ? — I fhall endeavour
to account for it in an effay on corruption, that I in
tend very foon to put to the prefs.
The cruelties inflicted on Americans by the fan-
guinary tyrants in the French colonies would form
another Bloody Buoy, and I have fome thought of
making a compilation of them under fome fuch title.]
Wednesday,

439 GAZETTE SELECTIONS.
Wednesday, 31st May. -t/
Conciliation with France, on reafonable Terms, im
practicable. — During the debates in Congrefs, there
has been a great deal faid (and it has been repeated
over and- over, until every hearer muft have been
tired of it) about neutral bottoms covering enemies
property ; about the extension of the lift of contra
band articles ; and the capture of provision- veffels :
it has been faid, that in all of thefe articles our
treaty with Great Britain gives her an advantage
over France ; and that juftice and Strict neutrality
require that both nations fhould be put on a level.
From which the oppofition members infer, that an
envoy extraordinary fliould be fent to France, with
full power to negotiate with the Directory, and to
relinquish all claims founded on the treaty of 1778,
that are incompatible with this equality. Wquld
haughty France be Satisfied with this propofition ?
Is it probable that fhe has run the rifk of driving us
into the arms of an enemy, for whofe destruction,
principally, She now continues the war, for fuch
trifles as thefe ? What would She gain, if we fhould
confent to her feizing British property found on
board of American veffels ? She knows, and we all
know, that we are not carriers for Great Britain, and
of courfe that She would find very little Britiffi pro
perty on board of American veffels. She is not like,
therefore, to be caught with fuch a Shadow. Suppofe
aga in She were permitted to feize articles for Ship
building, and any other of the additional contraband
articles, deftined to Britifh ports, that fhe may find
on board of American veffels ? Would this fatisfy
her ? Docs She want thefe articles ? Has fhe not al
ready more veffels than She can man and equip ? Is
it not well known that She has burnt or fcuttled
many of the veffels that She has taken, for want of
the means of turning them to better account ? Or
1 would

MAY, 1 797-' ¦ 431
would this injury, trifling as it really would be to
Great Britain, afford any material affiftance to
France in the prefent war ? I believe there is not a
fingle member in Congrefs weak enough to believe
it would.But fuppofe She were permitted alfo to flop all the
provifion-veffels bound to Britiffi ports, on condition
She would pay a reafonable price for the cargoes and
freights of the veffels : would affignats, mandats, or
any other paper current in France, or her dominions,
purchafe frefh cargoes in America ? I guefs one mil
lion of livres in fuch paper would not buy a Single
barrel of flour. So that I think it is quite as wellto
fuffer her to take our flour as She does at prefent,
without the trouble of a bargain and fale, as to con
fent to part with it for paper that is really worth
nothing. Indeed it is better, becaufe fuch a com
pact would clear her from the infamy fhe now juftly
deferves, and imprefs the American character indeli
bly with the names of fool and coward. But if we
do not intend, while we pacify our enemy, to create
another, we ought to confider, likewife, whether by
making this alteration in our treaty with France, we
Shall not excite the complaints of Great Britain. As
equalization is the favourite principle with our mode
rators, they ought to inquire, whether Great Britain
will not have juft right to demand that her cruifers
and privateers fhall enter our ports with their prizes,
and come and go where they pleafe, as well as
France ? May it not often happen then, that Englifh
and French privateers will be in our ports at one and
the fame time : that their crews may quarrel, fight,
and involve many of our own rafh partifans in their
contefts, to the great terror, and perhaps destruction,
of fome of our towns ?
And as depreciated paper is the currency in which
France will pay for moft of our cargoes of flour,
will not Great Britain think it right to pay us in the
fame

43« GAZETTE SLLECTIONS.
fame way? for it is as eafy for her to makepaper that
will be worth nothing, as it is for France.
In Short, I am really apprehenfive, that, by acced
ing to any alteration or infraction of the treaties we
have already made with either of thefe powers, we
¦ffiall involve ourfelves in a labyrinth of abfordity,
confufion, and difgrace ; and that the wifeft policy
we cap purfue, is, 'unanimously to agree with our
Executive, that we have done no injuflice to pro
voke the refentment of either nation : that we are
determined to affert our own innocence ; to defend
ourfelves, and to repel the unprovoked aggreffions
Of all.
Americanus'. ¦'

THE END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

Printed by S. Gosnell,
Little Queen Street, Holbortt.

00632 7572

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