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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