Newspaper Page Text
From the Avgusta Herald.
Lou'ifvUlt, 16th June, i8o2«
Mr. Bonce,
IT is hoped that impartiality will in
duce yon to give the following a place in
next Wednesday's paper.
I am Sir, Your obedient ferv’t.
THOS. COLLIER.
GENERAL JACKSON has been
much surprised at the Tight of a publica
tion in your paper of the 23J inst. sign
ed Ralph Spence Philips, containing a
narrative of the affair of honor between
him and Col. Watkins, of the 18th.
Publications on fach occasions arc always
bed avoided, but when inferred ought
never to be so expatte; the principal or
lecond on the other fide ought, as jullice
requires, to have a mutual examination
and correction, that errors or improper
•ixprefilnns might not creep in to rip up
old fores and disturb exilting harmony,
‘he foundation whereof uuy be but hare
>/ laid. The General, although on a lan
jjuifliing bed, feds himfclf more hurt than
the wound .he has received by an ex
prefiion ot Mr. Philips’s, t( that ii\con
“ forpiity to tbcpofirive inilruPaons which
he 1 Si.td received, arrangements were
" m:ide to ‘meet the General on his own
" ground, accordingly the place was fix
ned in Burke county, on the main road
‘•'Lading from Louisville to Waynelho
" rough, about 24. miles from the former
" and one from the latter.” The Gene
ral is at a lyfs to know how this could be
called or underload as the General’s own
ground—he declares that he does not own
4>ne .foot of land in the county, and it is
•vcfl known that in the vicinity of
AYayrclborough, Col. Watkins has as
enny friends as the General. If as Mr.
Philips observes he proposal, it had been
igreed to be half way between their re
fpcflive refidcnccs, the meeting rauft
have taken place at the -ower end of Scriv
en county, tbr the General’s rcfidence is
Chatham, and Col. Watkins’s Richmond
county ; this would have been worse for
he Colonel as to filiation in case ot the
General’s death. In Jeffcrfon, the Ge
trerai has a plantation but no rcfidence,
even a dwelling house on that plan
kton, nothing but a bare temporary
•i welling made pf his cotton house In fum
mer-—fyjt the Colonel had made Louis
ville his own ground by giving the chal
lenge there, and the General by all the
rules of honor could have confined him to
that ground ; these observations might
be extended, but a vvifh to prevent the ,
Irenes too oflcn exhibited to view for the
peace and happiness of two amiable females
vnd their infant families from being afted
over again forbids it—we need go no fur
thcr to prove the impropriety of a publi
cation at all. Mr. Philips has called on
i.Te to cornil any part of his relation, 1
wiih to impute no improper motives to
that gentleman from his publication. —
After the affair of the 18th was over, and
General Jackson on his bed at Carter’s, I
rtlked Mr. Philips if it were intended to
poblifh on the fob j est ; he replied he
Ihoald only publilh the tranfaftions of
that day, which I might rdt assured would
Ue perfectly fatisfadory to all parties—
General Jackson questioned me on the
point, anil gave me immediate inltrudllons
to return and infill on there being no pub
lication at all, at least- without I had a
previous fight and correftion of it. Col.
Watkins and Capt, Philips during this
conversation (for I immediately fought
them) had left town.
I (hall touch on one or two points and
r.OC dwell on the fubjeft—it appears that
by Capt. Philips’s declaration, the di
stance was left to me which I chose at ten
steps—it is a jullice to General Jackson
:o declare, that his directions to me just
before we reached the ground, were to
take a position of eight or ten steps, and
advance a step every fire—this was pro
posed by me, but I was told that it was
inadmissible, that as we begun we mpft
finilh, and a filth article was that neither
of the principals were to leave their
ground. Capt. Philips is also a little
incorretl in the statement of the time
when the parties (hook hands; it was not
on the ground, but after the wound had
been Tome time examined. The General
was returning to his station for another
(hot, the furgeons'interfered and'infilled
on examining the wound received firft,
and on examination, doubts were enter
tained whether the ball had penetrated the
• cavity or not, as if it had, mortality
might tnfue, and by this time the Gene
ral could not have stood another fire, it
appeared also to me that both parties were
equally forward to reconciliation as re
spected animosity and oblivion, to the
IB difagrecable and dangerous conflidls which
thole gentlemen had been too often en
gaged in—The greatness of the General's
mind, as Col. Waikint himfelf expressed
\ *
' > 4 *
* V
it at the time, as well as the gcncroCuy
of his heart, was evident from his con
dad at a period when his antagonist’s ball
was thought to be lodged In his body.
On the General's obfervition to Col.
Watkins, mentioned by Capt. Philips,
after being conveyed from the ground as
to another (hot—he added, had you kill
ed me I (hould have died happy, for on
Wcdnefday, I obtained an objed (allud
ing to the ratification of the ceflion of
our Weficrn Territory) for which I have
been struggling thefc seven years pad.
I mean nothing herein mentioned, to
impeach the bravery or conduct of Col.
Watkins during the contest, no man could
have behaved better.
' General jackfon requests me to add,
that from the unqualified expreftions of
frlcndihip which Mr. Philips alludes to.
in his account of the reconciliation, it
may be understood by fomc, that neither
party is to oppose each other on political
grounds in future ; this conduction mud
not be placed on the event. The Gene
ral has no right to control Col. Wat
kins’s political tenets or principles, for
that would have a tendency to destroy
the republic and public principle thro’
the means of private feuds. Os course
the Colonel can have no such demand on
the General—whiift therefore he buries
all private animosity, and wishes a friend
(hip with Col. Watkins, he allures his
republican friends and compatriots, that
nothing (hort of life (ball make him desert
that cause, which he has so many years
labored to fupparr.
THOMAS COLLIER.
Note. —The printers throughout this
and the United States, who publilh Mr.
Philips’s relation of the duel between
General Jackson and Col. Watkins, are
requested to pubiifh the foregoing.
Reply to the above.
AS no improper motives are imputed to
me in Mr. Collier’s publication, I (hould
willingly remain (ilent on this fubjed,
were it not for a few observations which
I think myfelf called upon to notice.
I disclaim any intention of injuring the
feelings of Gen. Jackson by the words al
luded to, the meaning of such expreflions
is eafdy comprehended—they occur in
Mr. C's. own statement, nor docs choice
of ground, on such occasions, convey an
idea of private property.
As toexparte bufineE, it appears from
Mr. C’s. own statement that he was aware
of my design, to which he did not objtd,
although I had an interview with him just
before ray departure from Waynelborcugh,
which was, I suppose, at about 4 o'clock
in the afternoon, and at the door of the
house in which the General was lodged ;
the Colonel and I had gone there to pay
our refpeds to the General previous to our
leaving the place; I must also remark,
that my statement was not publilhed until
the 23d, this afforded a (pace of four
days to make objedion to the original
Undcrftanding ; but hearing of no wiih of
Mr. C’s. to fee my statement before it
was printed, I took it for granted that
he had no such inclination.
I presume it escaped Mr. Collier’s
rccolledion to mention two matters
which 1 (hall here insert.
An article of agreement between us
was “That as we began we were to con
tinue in all our arrangements to the end;”
the other is the time of his making the pro
position to me for the gentlemen to advance
a step each fire, this was not made until as,
ter fcveral (hots were exchanged, when I
objeded to it from an unvvillingncfs to in.
fringe one article, or I could have informed
Mr. C. that my inftrudions from the
Col. were to allow him the privilege of
naming any distance from 10 to 4,3,
2, or even one pace if they wilhed it.
On a review of my statement Mr. C.
may difeover that 1 have not fpecified any
precise time or place when or where the
parties (book hands ; but only the im
pfdfions under which it was done, and
therefore he will not find any incorrednefs
in this refped.
My intention throughout has been to
ad with candour and impartiality; and if
in any refped I may have deviated, it has
been the result of inadvertency and net
design. RALPH SPENCEP HILIPS.
The Printers throughout the li
nked State, who have publilhed Mr.
Collier’s statement, will, I hope, do me
the justice to give this reply a place in
their papers also. 4
4-s-
WILL BE SOLD,
On Wednejday the nthof Augujinext , at
the market-house in the city of Aue,u{la y
ALL the personal estate of
Isaac Wingate, deceafcd.—Conditions of
sale Cadi.
MARY WINGATE, Admix.
PHILADELPHIA, June g.
St. Domingo.
How must their fronts be bronzed, how
callous must be their feelings, who can
defend those who attempted the infamous
involvement of the United States ir the
tranfartions of St. Domingo. Well might
Mr. Ada*,-, fay, that “ for all that is
land was worth, he would not that he had
any hand in it.” Yet we fee persons ,
impddent enough to Hand forth as the eu
logists of the adminiltration which was
guilty of the tranfartions. We have be
fore us the official paper of Touflaint,
containing his proclamation against Ri
gaud, dated the zoth Brumairc, gih year,
in which we find Rigaud publicly charged
Touflaint with entering into a treaty
with “ Maitland and the Prefidcnt of
the United States, in which there were
. fecrct articles and Touflaint cooly re
plies—“ Cela ejl <vrai” —it is true!
By what authority did Mr. Adams con
clude this treaty ? when did thefenate re
ceive and ratify it ? We were led at this
time to notice this tranfaftion, by the pe
rusal of an article, which has been badly
translated into English, from a Paris pa
per, and which we subjoin.
The Paris writer has evidently no cor
rert knowledge of the constitution of our
government, or he must have known that
no treaty could be valid or binding upon
America, which had not received the
consent of the fenatc of the United Stat es.
The treaty thus acknowledged to have
been concluded by Touffaint, with Mait
land and the Prcfident of the United
States, and all the mealures flowing from
it, were the arts, not of America, but
of an individual or a few individuals —
unauthorifed by the constitution, and fuh
jert to incapacitation forever from holding
any office under die government for the
treasonable art.
The furnifhing of arms and ammuni
tion cannot be confidcred as the art of the
American government. The mode in
which they were conveyed, andinwhofe
Ihips is well known, and it will belong
to congress, in the progress of its mve
fttgation?, to develope the whole of their
iniquity. We cannot avoid remarking
that the h'jiory of John Adams's admi
tnft ration, which makes so much noise at
present, is totally silent on the tranlarti
ons of St. Domingo. Was this ignorance,
or was it produced by the fame spirit of
accommodation which panegyrized Ha.
vulton and iiurr in the fame book.
From the Gazette de France.
Every body, perhaps, has not remark
ed with the fame attention, a paifage in
the firft dispatches from general Lcclerc,
in which he observes, that the gtms, can
non and powder which were found at the
Cape, were furnifhed by the United States
of America.
Perhaps it would be unjust to found up
on this circumstance a serious reproach a
gainst a government supposed to be attach
ed to France by principle, by interest,
and by a just sentiment of gratitude.—
But if we connect this fart with several
other things; if we apply it to a general
system of politics adopted by the United
States, under the presidency of Mr. Jef
ferloa’s predecessor, the above mentioned
pallagc in general Lcclerc’s letter may not
appear infignificant.
Some months ago \\c publiflied in this
paper an anecdote, which, though it re
mained unknown for some time, did not
the less deserve serious attention. It re
lated,to an interview which took place
at St. Domingo, between Touflaint Lou
verture and the commercial agent of the
United States, at ,the moment in which
the result of the famous buttle of Marin,
go had been made known. The plan of
the American government was then to art
in concert with the Britilh, to determine
Touffaint to declare the independence of
St. Domingo; and that was one of the
principal inftrurtions of the commercial
agent. Conferences continued to take
place upon this iubjert, when Touffaint,
informed of what had taken place in Ita
ly, changed his resolution all at once,
and cried out, in the accent of difpair,
Mot pas connoitre ca qus devenir — man
Martngo le tuer mot, (I know pot
what all this will produce ; but this Ma
ringo kills me) and upon this the nego
ciation was put an end to, or at ieaft fuf
pendec*.
That Mr. Jcfferfon, become fincePre
fident of the federal government, has not
followed the political system of his predccef
! for, that he has adopted a mode of condurt
less Machiavelian, appears inconteftible.
But the ideas, either more or less liberal,
of a man who is placed for a time at the
head of an elertive government, ought
not to be of any weight in the judgment
which may be formed upon the order of
things to which he belongs eventually ;
and when it is neceffury to examine tlit
general interests and situation of America
the private opinion of Mr. Jeffcrfon be!
comes almost a matter of indifference.
If we pay attention to the rapid in.
crease of the population, the induftrv,
trade and wealth of the United States
we cannot avoid forefeeing that, that
power is destined one day to rule over the
new world, and to place under its yoke
all the Wcft-India colonies. Is it not
the interest of Europe, to endeavor, while
it is yet time, to remove that epoch to a
greater distance ; and does not policy re,
quire that there ihould be eftablifned, as
soon as possible upon the continent of A.
merica, a barrier against the presum
ed ambition of a people, to whom nature
has promised the empire of half the
world ?
The idea of rc-attaching Louisiana, to
the domain of France, is perhaps, of all
political conceptions, the wisest and most
important. England herfelf could not
avoid applauding the plan of ettablifhing
on the terra firtna of America, an Euro
pean power capable oi opposing an inipc.
netrable barrier to the torrent which might
one day,- without that precaution, ipread
from the North to the South, cover Mexi.
co, the Welt-Indies, Canada, and Ihut
Europe out from the paffageof the Atlan
tic. Spain, enfeebled, has too many di
stant poiidfions to defend and preserve, to
keep the power of the United States con
fined within its present limits. Great-
Britain heiiclf is not in a condition to
form a military cftablilhihcnt upon terra
Jirma, capable of insuring the pretensions
and rights of Europe, upon that part of
the world.
It is true that the government of the
Union has,promifed to other nations to re
main within its present limits. But do
we not know, that in politics, the exe
cution of thelc kind of promises remain
always subordinate to a multitude of e
vents and circumstances which cannot be
fbrefeen ? And bcfidcs, though the fede
ral government (liould renounce for a ten.
tury, all fyltem of aggrandizement, is it
nothing to occupy a territory fertile and
extcnfive enough for the support of 100
millions of inhabitants ? Is it nothing to
rule over 500 leagues of maritime coast,
to have 50 Hies under the eye and hand,
to reign on the Atlantic, and to feeinfdf
separated from the fouth Tea, only by la
vage nations, ready to receive the yoke
from whatever power fhali appear before
them in arms ? What means this project
of civilizing the Indian tribes; and to
whom would these people belong, but to
the government who takes upon itfelf 10
polilh them, and which has no rival to
fear, being itfelf alone eftablifhcd in the
centre of the new world ?
Let it not then be imagined that the
plan of uniting Louisiana to the dominion
of the French republic is diftated by am
bition, or that it is part of a pure and
ftmple system of aggrandizement. The
preservation of the European poflcftiGns in
the Weft-Indies has rendered this plan ne
cessary ; and the interest of all the mari
time powers cf Europe is, to fee the frrong
eft amongst them form an eftablifiiment ca
O t I
the continent of America, fufficicntly im
posing and important to serve as a ccan
terpoife to the domination of the United
States. j
WASHINGTON CITY, June ir.
'The triumph of Rcpublicanifni in the E- |
lefiion of the Slate of 2VVw-2 orb, I
Previous to the left eleflion, there I
were ten members in the heufe of repre- I
lentatives of the congrcfs cf Ihe United I
States for this state. * I
Forty-three members in the senate and I
one hundred and eight in , the aftembly oi I
the state. |
The republicans then had in congress I
fix—The federalifts, four members; but I
onefcdcral member resigning, his Icat v/iS I
1 replied by a republican. I
Re pub. Fed, I
In the state senate, 19 24. I
In the aftembly, 82 if) I
Under a new arrangement, the number I
cf the members of congress was iivcreafod I
to 17 ; that of the state senate reduced w I
32, and of the r.ff.mbly to 100, and the I
last clcftions have turned out as follows: ; I
Repub . Fed, >■
In Congress, 11 6 I
In the senate, 20 12 I
In the aftembly, 77 23 I
The general accuracy of this ftatetneot I
may be relied on. N, T. Cit • |
June ii. I
On the 17th arrived at Baltimore, tbs I
Hoop of war Courier, capt. Mount fort, -a I
French national Ihip, from L’Orienf, I
which place she left on the 28th April. I
the commander arrived in this city y’edcr- I
day, # I
We learn that the objeft rs this veffei' s p
hsrs wag to apprise admiral v ui> I