Newspaper Page Text
mxml
VOL.
M1LLEDGEVILLE, WEDNESDAY, MAY G, 1812.
No. 28.
PUBLISHED BT
Ssjrros It* Flsuivg GuAsrLAtiD,
PRINTERS TO THE STATE,
O® Jeflenon-Street, oppotit. the Sute.Hoate.
Tj«RMS....«.THREE DOLLARS PER AN
NUM, ONE HALF TO BE PAID IN AD
VANCE.
ADVERTISEMENTS WILL BE THANK
FULLY RECEIVED, AND PUBLISHED
AT THE CUSTOMARY PRICES.
Qj° John Mathews, Esq.
we are authorised to state, will be a
candidate to represent this county in
the ensuing Legislature.
' April 23, 2G — tf -
Q3° WE are requested to an
nounce Capt. J- H.Howard at a Candidate
for the Representative Branch of the Legis
lature, at the enfuing eleftion.
April 29. 27—tf.
Sour-Krout
Can cover with covenience a few more
mates.
Edward Jordan.
April 29*
P ERSONS indebted to the Subfcriber
are requefted to make immediate pay
ment ; or at lead to come forward and li.
quidate their accounts. Having a large Tup.
I'lyof Iron on hand, he will execute work
at the fliorteft notice, 8c on moderate tertni.
G. Huft
starch 18. 21—tf
Stolen,
FROM Captain Harris** Tavern on Sunday
Morning laft, a (mail Black Hat with green
lilk and yellow leather lining. A fuitable Reward
Will be paid for its delivery.
April 39- 27 2t
A 1
LL perfons indebted to the eftate of
_ l Benjamin arrison, late of Lauren
county dec’d, are requefted to make pay
ment immediately to the Subfcribers, and
thofe having demands againft faid eftate,
are alfo requested to render in accounts of
the fame duly attefted within twelve months
from the date hereof.
Charitv Harrison, Adm x.
James Harrison
Daniel O.
March 2, 1812.
Neel
29
* \ £
On the firft Tuesday in June next, a few
LOTS will be fold in this place at four in.
Raiments. Likewife, tile JAIL will be let
to the loweft bidder
J. B. Vpivey,
J. G. Underwood, |
Henry Sheppard, J>|.
Benjamin Adams, 1 jr
J. Sawyer. J
Dublin, March 27. 23 9t
For Sale,
! THAT well known place, formerly
belonging to Mr Gabriel Moffett, being
« central and handsome situation for a
public house, and remarkably healthy ;
there is on the plantation a good dwelling
and convenient houses, about 2500 bear
ing Peach Trees and a young Apple Or.
chard, now bearing ; the whole confists
of three hundred acres of land, and there
is about one hundred and fifty improved,
and will be fold low, and on reafonable
terms ; apply to the fubscriber on the
premifes. Selby Franklin.
Washington county, March 16 21—tf.
( WILL BE SOLD,
ON Thurfday the 14th day of May ncx>,
a! the residence of Benjamin Harrifon, late
of Laurens county, dec’d the PERSONAL
PROPERTY of faid dec’d, consifting of a
Pilhing Seine, Horfes, Cattle and Houfe-
hold Furniture and a number of other
ftock and other articles too tedious to
tnention—to be fold for the benefit of the
heirs and creditors of faid dec’d ; the fale
to continue from day to day until the whole
is fohl; the conditions of fale to be made
known on the day of sale.
Charity Harrison, Adm'x.
s James Harrrison,") , , ,
Daniel O. Neel,
April l. S3 6t.
From Cobbett’s (London) Weekly Regifler,
American States.—I now re
sume where I left off in my last,
when I proposed to offer some ob
servations upon the American cor-
despondence as relating to the occu_
palion of the Floridas, and to the Or
ders in Council. This latter subject
has, however, been so fully discussed,
that, really there remains nothing to
be said npon it, especially after the
publication of the correspondence
between our Secretary of State for fo-
dtign affair*. Lord Wellesley, and
the American Minister, Mr. Pink
ney, which I shall endeavor to get
into this number, and to which I
beseech the attention of the reader,
lliere are but two letters for him to
read; but these two are quite enough.
I have read a great many diploma
tic letters in my time ; but such a
letter as Mr. P’s. I certainly never
read. It is a model for tnen who
have to conduct disputes of this sort.
It i3 a master-piece of reasoning, and
the style and manner are equal to
the argumentative powers displayed.
Mr. Pinkney seems to have laid a-
side the lawyer for this ouce, and
have resolved to write like a states
man and a patriot. I have never
read so good a letter; but, I must
confess, that as I read it, the justice
of the case was more than once lost
in feeling for my country. The con
trast is, in all respects, so great, that
no comparison can be made ; though
it is but justice to Lord Wellesley to
say, that his adversary had all the
advantages belonging to a good cause.
The answer of the Republican is, in
many instances, sharp and satirical;
but he no where looses sight of dig
nity, and these qualities united, are
very rarely to be met with in any
writing whatever. The question re
lating to the Floridas is new ; and it
is as neat and snug a dispute, take it
altogether, as we ever got into, the
dispute about Nootka Sound or about
opening the Scheldt not excepted.—
The case is this : The reader knows,
that the Floridas arc two provinces
in North America, which are (or,
rather, were) colonics of Spain;
that they lie on the south ^ide of
Georgia, the southernmost in the U-
nion ; that they form the southern
most end of that chain of coast, which
1,400 miles in length, extends from
the Bay of Fundy to the Gulph of
MerMco, atid that, with these in their
possession, the United States wou'd
be masters of the whole of that chain
of coast. Let the reader, who for
gets where the Floridas are (and,
God knows, that the last 18 years
areenoughto drive it out of his recol
lection) imagine himself possessed of
a piece of land lying by the side of
a common (his house in the middle),
thirteen acres irt his own hands, and
one acre, at the end, in the hands ol
another person, and he only wanting
that one acre to make his parcel com
plete, and to guard him against de-
pradations, the common right being
partly attached to that one acre ;
and then he will have, in that acre, a
tolerably correct idea of the Floridas
in their bearing upon the American
states. Now, then, the Floridas, or,
rather, Florida, is divided into two,
the one called West and the other
East Florida; the formej*exteudiug
back to Louisiana towards the West,
the latter bounded by die Atlantic
ocean to the East, both bounded to
the North by Georgia and to the
South by the Gulph of Mexico.—
The United States have taken pos
session of both. I have said before,
they were colonies of Spain. There
fore, Mr. Foster, our minister now
in America, had scarcely taken time
to eat his first dish of ham and fried
eggs, when he began to complain of
these invasions. He had an uphill
battle to fight about the orders in
council, and this complaint about the
Floridas appears to have been look
ed upon as a set-off to make weight
in the negociation. In short, he
makes a regular and formal com-
| plaint, in the name of the Prince Re
gent (in behalf of his majesty), of the
occupation of the Floridas by the
American States. He says, that
there exists between England and
Spain the most strict and friendly al
liancc ; that Spain is contending for
her liberties and independence a
gainst a most unjust and wicked ir.-
passcs over »n silence all that is said
about the wickedness of the French
in invading Spain ; he says thattho’
he has seen other nations guilty of
ungchcrous and greedy ambition, he
disclaims all such motives; and, that
though England has no sort of right
to call Upon him for an explanation
ol his Conduct- towards a third pow
er, he will, to shew how sincerely
he is disposed to cultivate harmony,
voluntarily give such explanations
with regard to the Floridas. And
thus, in brief, he gives it. He says,
that, as to one part of Florida, it is
his own, he having bought it of
France, to whom it had been ceded
by Spain, and that therefore he takes
possession of that in full right. That
as to the other part, he has taken pos
session of it as security for a debt
due by Spain to the people of the U.
States. As to this last claim, it is
alledged, by Mr. Monroe, that Spain
several years ago, committed great
spoliations upon the commerce of
America ; that the latter made ap
plication for payment of these ; that
a cession of the Spanish part of Flo
rida had been proposed as a compen
sation to America ; but that the ne
gotiation was put an end to by those
troubles in Spain which led to the
struggle now going on in that coun
try. Therefore, say the Americans,
we hold this territory as a security
for the payment of the deb; due
to us from Spain, This is very fair
ground, supposing all the facts to be
true ; lor, one nation has certainly
as good a right to seize the land of
another as that other has to seize its
ships and merchandize. The seizure
of the Florida?, as far as they belong
to Spain, is, in this case, an act of re
taliation fully justified by reason as
well as by the usage of nations ; and,
it is the less to be blamed as coming
so late ; for it appears by Mr- Mon
roe’s statement, that the American
states were endeavoring, for a long
time, to obtain by negotiation that
which they were at any moment able to
secure by force. But the question
presents itself in a point of view
much more interesting than this,
when Mr. Monroe comes to talk of
third powers, and the necessity there
was of preventing any third power
from taking posssession of the terri
tory in question. The contest in
Spain was, ltom the first, a very in
teresting one to the American states,
for if it ended in the placing of a Bo
naparte upon the throne, or in the
subjugation of Spain by France, and
the annexation of it to the French
empire ; then Florida became a colo
ny of France, and placed a most for
midable power on one of the flanks
of the American states, which they
could not look for yard to without
alarm. If France was foiled in her
attempts upon Spam, it was evident,
that, considering the situation ol
Ferdinand VII. and other circum
stances, Spain would be wholly de
pendent upon England; and the pro
babilities were that the Utter would
obtain from her colonial cession in
repayment of loans and services, and
that, at any rate, the Spanish go
veriiment Would, in all its acts, be
come subservient to England. Be
sides, if Napoleon did obtain the
complete sovereignty of Spain, it was
not to be doubted, that England, ha
ving the command of the sea, would
prevent him from obtaining possessi
on of the colonies of Spain ; and, it
was naturally to be expected, that,
under color of preserving Florida to
hisrightful sovereign, England would
have taken possession of it, if Napo
leon became wholly master of Old
Spain. 'Thus, end in what way it
would, the struggle in Old Spain
threatened the American states with
a dangerous neighbor, and which
neighbor, therefore, they were, it
vasisn : and that the Prince Regent ! seems, resolved not to have. They
cannot view with indifference any at
tempt to deprive her of her territo
ries ; and that it is indicative of un
generous and greedy ambition to
make such an attempt at such a time.
Jonathan coolly answers, that, in the
first place he does not acknowledge
would have disliked us for neighbors
more than the French ; but they re
solved to have neither. From the
old, feeble, crazy government of
Spain they had nothing to drea 1
but they had much to dread from
“ ranee, and more to dread from us.
the right of England to interfere at j Therefore, they resolved to be before
all in any concerns with Spain ; he : hand, knowing that amongst nations
as well as amongst individuals, pos
session is nine points out of ten in
any dispute. But after all, it may
he a question how far the Ameri
can States would have been justifi
ed in taking possession of the Flori
das merely upon viewing the situa
tion of Old Spain. What is that si
tuation ; Why, the okl king of Spain,
the only sovereign of Spain that the
American states have ever acknow
ledged, has, in our view of the mat
ter been sbcceeded by his son, in
whose name the Regency of Spain
is acting. This old king denies, that
his son has any httoful authority as
sovereign of Spain. And both of
them have abdicated their rights in
favor of Bonaparte, who has the per
sons of both in his possession. Now,
under these circumstances, how are
the Americans to be supposed to pay
any regard to any ol the acts of the
Regency or Cortes of Spain, who have
controul over scarcely any part ol
Spain, where, indeed, there is a Bo
naparte reigning in virtue of the ab
dication of the old family f How
are the Americans to know who
will finally be sovereign of Spain l
It appears to ine, that agreeably
to every principle of public law, they
are at full liberty to choose whether
they will acknowledge any sovereign
in Spain, except the old king, as long
as he shalllive. They have a right,
of course, to consider any other pow
er as power usurped, or assumed by
conquest; and, be it observed, that
the right of conquest, though perfect
as far as actual forte extends, cannot
give any right to territory not actu
ally conquered. Banaparto, if he con
quer Spain, will have u right to Spain,
as we have to viarunico and Java ;
but the conquest of Spain will give
him no title to Florida. To have an
equal right to that he must first ac
tually gain possession of it by con
quest. Therefore if Bonaparte were
even to tender the Americans pay
ment of the debt due to them from
Spain, they would have solid grounds
lor objecting to deliver Florida up
to him. . They would have equallv
soliu ground for refusing to deliver
it up to us or to the new government
iu Spain; and, in short, unless the
’old king, or his lineal descendant, be
re-established upon the throne ol
Spam, and actually governing that
country, the Americans have always
good gi uund whereon to resist any
demand of a relinquishment of the
territory in question. The Ameri
can government have avoided touch
ing upon these points ; but they
give us clearly to understand, that
they will suffer no third power to
set a foot in Florida* And, real
ly it doe3 seem wonderful, that our
ministers should not have foreseen
this; that they should have ima
gined that the Americans would
be induced by their remonstrances to
give up so important an object, a
thing in which their is peace and
safuy are so deeply involved.—
What do the Americans know about
our alliance with Spain ? What do
they knbw about the Spanish Regen
cy and Cortes ? We say that these
are the rightiul rulers of Spain and
that the Spanish colonies are under
their control; but the Americans
have never said so ; they have ne
ver acknowledged Ferdinand ; they
may have no faith in that political
transubstantiation which makes Fer
dinand present at Cadiz St in France
at the same time ; theirs may be
a more narrow belief than ours ; and,
even if they saw Ferdinand at Cadiz,
they see Joseph at Madrid with more
of the people of Spain on his side
than there would be on the side of
his rival. If, indeed, the people of
Spain had assumed the government
of their country ; if they had made
war against Napoleon in their own
name; then the Americans might
have been a little puzzled for grounds
whereon to take and keep possession
of the Floridas, unles . the people of
Florida had chosen to unite them
selves to the States ; but, as things
now stand, the grounds of justifica
tion are so clear as not to admit of
disputation, except fer disputation
, sake.
Congress
IMPORTANT DEBATE,
On the President’s Message recom
mending an Embargo.
FROM THE PHILADELPHIA REGISTER*
Mr Porter, chairman of the coma
mittee of foreign relations, moved
that the message be referred to said
committee, which was agreed to.—
It was then observed by Mr. P. that
the committee had been informed that
such a message would be received
from the President on that day, and
that they were ready to report a bill
for laying an embargo—but they
wished first to r etire for a short time.
Mr Porter very soon after returned
to the house, and asked leave to in-
troduce a bill, which was granted,
and read the first and second time,
after which it was committed to a
committee of the whole house, and
made the order of the day for this
day. The houle resolved itself into a
committee of the whole on the same,
Mr Bassett in the chair. The bill
was read through by the chairman.
Mr Boyd then moved to amend it
by striking out of the first section 00
days, and insert 120 days. He said
a gentleman declared the measure to
be a precursor to war. The time
will he much too short for the great
amount of American property now
abroad to return; the motion was
negatived.
Mr Scybert viewed the subject as
of vast importance ; he considered
that the proposition came to the hou^e
in a very questionable shape ; fie
wanted information, and he called
upon the committee,of foreign relati
ons to say whether it is to be consi
dered a peace measure, or a pre
cursor to war 1
Mr Grundy (one of the committee)
said he was willing to answer the ve
ry proper enquiry of the gentleman
from Pennsylvania (Mr Seybert) ;
that he understands it at a war mea
sure, and it is meant that it shall lead
directly to it; that with any other
view, there can be no propriety in it;
as a peace measure he had no idea
the President would have recom
mended it, nor would the committee
have agreed to it. He hoped the
gen leman from Pennsylvania would
now be satisfied, and pepare his
mind o vote for it.
Mr M l Kec objected to the last sec
tion, on account of the penalties
which it proposed, which he consi
dered altogether unimportant, as it
is to be a precursor of war, it being
merely precautionary and for a short
period. He made some other en
quiries respecting the section, and
why such provisions were in it.
Mr Porter said the bill was draft
ed according to the wishes and di
rections of the Secretary of the Trea
sury.
Mr Slow (of New York) said, the
subject before the committee ought
to be considered of very great im
portance. If, ns some gentlemen
say, it is a precursor of war, there
were some very serious questions to
be asked—What is the situation of
our fortresses? What is the situation
of our country generally ? He would
answer, they were defenceless, par
ticularly the fortifications of New-
York, which are unmanned and un
armed. He said this fact appeared
by a letter now in possession of a
member oi the house, which has ve
ry lately been received from Judge
Livingston of New-York. Mr S.
said, that to try the question whether
we will now lay an embargo, he mo
ved that the first section of the bil}
be stricken out.
Mr Clay (the Speaker) then warm
ly expressed His satisfaction and full
approbation of tbe message, and the
proposition now before the commit
tee, lie approved of h because it is to
be viewed as a direct precursor to
war. He did not wish upon this oc
casion to hear of the opinion of
Brockholst Livingston or any other
man. No gentleman can question
the propriety of the proposition.—
Gentlemen who said so much about
the want of preparations are not for