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Law Intelligence. Among the cases that have been discussed in the Supreme Court of the United States, now in session, a very interesting question has arisen as to the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts. This question of the United States against John Bevens, on which h division.of opinion took place between the Judges of the'circuit court in Mas sachusetts, and the question was consequently referred to the Supreme Court for the deter mination of the Judges of that tribunal. The case was argued by Mr. Wirt, (Attorney Gener al,) and Mr. Wheaton of New-York, for the Uni ted States, and by Mr. Webster, of Boston, for the accused. Bevens was a marine onboard theU. States 74 gun-ship Independence, and was indicted lor, and found guilty of murdering a seaman on board while the ship was lying in Boston harbor. It was ur ged on the purt of the prosecution that the place where the ship lay gave the circuit court cogni zance of the offence, under the grant of admiral ty and maratime jurisdiction given to the Feder al Court in the constitution, and also because the m ime was committed on board a public Shi ;> of War. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Chief Justice Marshall, on Saturday last. The Judges were of opinion, that though Congress had the power to legislate in the case, and to make the offence punishable under the admiral ty jurisdiction given to the judiciary in the con stitution, that Congress had not exercised this ‘power in the act of 1790, for the punisment ol certain crimes against the United States, or in any other law. They were likewise of opinion that though Congress had clearly authority to in fest any of the federal courts, or a court martial, with cognizance of offences committed on board of ships of war of the United States, wherever they might lav 5 yet, as the act of 1790, in speak- ip" of a place within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, evidently referred only to ob jects immovable and strictly territorial : such as a fort, arsenal, dock-yard, &c. and as by the na-. tv mutiny act the crime of murder was pupisha- bie by a court martial, only when committed out of toe limits 06 the United States, the offence for which the prisoner was indicted was not cogniza ble in the Circuit Court. The consequence is, the accused cannot be sen tenced in the Circuit Court for the crime of which he has been found guilty, and the judgment a- gainst him will of course be arrested. Niit. Iut At the Supreme Court of the United States now sitting in this city, the important case of Evans against Eaton, which had been tried at the circuit court before Judge Washington, Phil adelphia, came on to be heard, upon the excep tions to the opinion and charge delivered by the learned judge at the trial. The cause was ar gued by Mr. Harper and Mr. Ingersoll, for the plaintiff, and by Mr. Hopkinson and Mr. Ser geant for the defendant. The suit was brought bv Oliver Evans, against the defendant Eato.ri, for the use, by the defendant, of the plaintiff’s improved Hopper Boy, without a license. The opinion of the Supreme Court wn“ delivered by Chief Justice Marshall, on Saturday lust. The points decided by the Court are, 1st. That the defendant Eaton, having given notice under the 6th section of the act for the,promotion of the useful arts,.«§*c. that he would prove at the trial, tliatthe improved Hopper Boy hod been used previous to the alledged invention of Oliver Ev ans, in several places. (which were specified in the notice,) or n some of those places ; “ and also at sundry other places in Pennsylvania, Ma ryland, and elsewhere in the United States and having given evidence as to some of the pla ces specified in I lie notice, had a right to give similar evidence as to other places not specified. 2d. That after this testimony had been admitted, the plaintiff Oliver Evans, was entitled on his part to give evidence that the persons, of who^e prior use of the improved Hopper Boy the de fendant had given testimony, had paid the pluin- tiff for license to use the same in tneir mills since his patent. 3d. Tnat the plaintiff’s patent in cludes not only the general result'produced by all the machinery mentioned in his specification, that is, the improvement by means of the combi nation uf those machines, in the manufacture of flour, but also the several improved machines' themselves, separately taken, or any two or more of them taken together ; consequently that he could support an action for. the use of any one or more of these machines, without license.—Ibid, Novel.case.—Last Thursday, came on, before his honor Judge Hors, the trial of Tho’s Leonard, charged with being nn eaves-dropper. Ilia of fence, it appears, although recognised by the law has not been tried by any court of justice in this commonwealth for many years. An eaves-drop- j er appears to be one, who lays under the win dows of a person’s house, and listens to the pas sing occurrences of a family, with a view of giv ing publicity to slanderous and injurious reports. The novelty of the case drew to the court-house many spectators. Able counsel was employed on both sides, and after lengthy pleading, the ju- ■ry returned a verdict of guilty', on two indict ment* out of four. His honor after a brief ex position of the character and conduct of an eaves dropper, pronounced sentence, which was, that Leonard pay a fine of twenty dollars to the coin,’ mini wealth, give security to the amount of one hundred dollars for his good behavior for one year, and pay the costs, etc.—Pennsylvania pap. The trial of a deaf and dumb woman A sin guliir event has occurred before a judicial court in Scotland ; in the indictment of one Jean Bruce, a deaf and dumb woman, for the murder of her child, uy throwing it over the bridge bf GlassgoV. Her counsel objected to her being put on trial, as she could not plead ; and as he was totally unable to get any information from her to conduct her defence ; and as, having re ceived no education, she waj as incapable, as a child «f six months old, of distinguishing between right atid wrpng. Many witnesses were examin ed} by whom i| was tested on one Bide that she wW #wuinan of strong power* of mind ; that sh'e^pofessed the power of conscioushess to a cerium degree ; appeared to have a strong natural affection for her (three) children; persist ed by signs, that the child accidentally fell Irmn- the parapet of the bridge, while she w as attend ing to another child, and manifested the most in dignant feelings when charged with having wil fully killed it, and seemed sensible that pun ishments would follow the commission of a crime. _ . O11 the other hand, il was the Opinion of wit nesses, (including teachers in the deaf and dumb institution,) that ,she was incapable of distin guishing between right aud wrong} that she was not conscious of having done any thing w rong in regard to the child, and altogether unable to plead guilty or not guilty. The court were unan imously of opinion that this noveland important question, of which no precedent appeared in the records of the country, deserved grave considgr- ation, and every information the council on each side could procure and furnish.—Port Folio. CONG HESS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Wednesday, March 11. The speaker presented the memorial of Vin cente Pazos, of Peru, deputed agent of the au thorities acting in the name of the representatives of Venezuela, New-Grenada and Mexico, and states the motives of these representatives in giving authority to occupy Amelia, &c. and (he manifold grievances of loss of military stores, $*c. as well as of the military position ; com plaining also of a recent decision of the admiral ty court for the district of Georgia, in ti c case of a prize vessel, and denying the crimes of smuggling and slave dealing imputed to the occu pants of that Island. The memorial, after stat ing that the memorialist has address® the presi dent of the United States on this subject,land has received an answer not satisfactory thereto, con cludes as follows : “ In repeating these manifold grievances to your honorable' house, your memorialist looks with confidence for that dignified, and sincere support of tire great republican cause in which those whom he represents are so deeply engaged, and lie reposes in the bosom of your august as semblies those representations depending on such a redress of grievances as shall comport with the honor, dignity and justice of the government of the United States.” The house determined, a debate of nearly three hours by a vote of 124 to 28, that the paper should not be received. Claims fur property destroyed.—Mr. Williams of N. C. Irom the committee of claims, who wen instructed to enquire into the expediency of con tinuing in force the act of April 9, 181(5, and the supplementary act passed in 1817, for indemni fying those who have sustained losses of proper ty while ill the military service of the United States, made a report, concluding with the fol lowing resolutions, the latter of which it will bo perceived, have referrencc to certain combina tions to commit frauds »n the office of claims, which have been detected : 1. Resolved, that it is inexpedient to continue longer than the 9th of April, 1818, the Act enti tled “an act to authorise payment for property lost, captured or destroyed while in military service of the United States arid for other pur poses,” passed the N h of April, 1816, <ind the act in amendment thereof, passed the 3d of March, 1817. ' Resolved, that all claims which shall not have been acted on in tiie office of the com missioner on the 9 th of April next, he .transfer red for adjudication to the office of the 3d auditor of the treasury department, and the said auditor in making up his decisions shall he governed in all respects by the same rules, regulations and restrictions as have been prescribed' to the coin- missioner of claims. 3. Resolved, that the committee of claims he directed to report a bill pursuantly to the forego ing resolution. 4. Resolved, that the attorney general be di rected to cause to be instituted in the cqurts of the United States for the state of New-York, any suit or suits which may be necessary fo recover from individuals the money they have fraudu lently obtained from thegovernmentof ilje'Unit- ed States, under the act of the 9th of Apiil, 1816 and the Act amendatory thereto passed 3d of March, 1817. 5. Resolved, that the attorney general be di rected to cau e to be instituted in the courts of the United States for the state of New-Yiirk such prosecutions as may lead to the conviction and punishment of those persons who may have been guilty of the crimes or perjury and subornation of perjury, in support of fraudulent claims against the government of the United States, under the aforesaid acts of the 9th of April, 1816, and 3d of March, 1817. The report was read, and order ed to lie on the table. ^Extracts of letters to the editor.of tfi^Cjiarles. ton Courier from a member of Congress.] Washington City, March 10. Mr. Lowndes yesterday' made one of the most brilliantly argumentative speeches that have for many years been heard in congress, bn the sub ject of internal improvements. He expressed his surprise that such an alarm should have seized the gentlemen on the other side, as if conso lidation and the worst of tyranny were at their very doors, at the congress taking upon them to exercise, on the part id the United States, a right, which not only the United States, but every cit izen in it possessed, of laying out his own mo ney in hi; own country, in buying land and hold ing it for his own proper and necessary occasions. He allow ed in a variety of strong lights, the ab surdity of saying that congress had no right to appropriate money for making roads and canals, because such an application of the public funds was trot particularly specified in the powers enu merated in the constitution ; a principle which if it could be maintained, would put an end to a multitude of just rights of appropriation which bed jfever been called in question For instance, who did not know that,ht every act oT incorpora tion the funds of the body were appropriated to objedts, many of Which were not only not men- tioned-in (lie act, but never were even thought 0 at live-time of making it; yet no one ever doub ed the right to apply them. He insisted that the frambra of the constitution never could have in' tefidedito to restrict the right of appropriation, as had been argued They had given tho power t» ra<9e armies, to raise a navy, arid oi course had •riven the power to do every thing that was lftci- ilentaliy necessary to the exercise of those pow ers. In fair construction it was demonstrable, that when the power ol raising an instrument was •minted, the powi!r to make use of that instru ment nlust be granted along with it—It would else be a nullity :r-In granting the power to raise armies and a navy, therefore, the liVakcrs ol the constitution, fixneccssitate. granted the power to make use of those armies and that navy at the discretion of congress; and to do every tiling that should be fouud expedient for the mainten ance, as well as the employment of those instru ments. “ You can (said ne) employ the armies in labor as well as in war—vou can employ the navy if you sec fit, in making discoveries ; yet not one of these can be found among the enutnc rated powers of the constitution :—How then cm gentlemen say that the rights of congress are ne cessarily confined to the enumerated powers ? Adverting to a position of Mr. Barbour’s, that congress had no right to purchase land, except for forts, for dock-yards, or for arsenals, Mr. Lowndes called to the recollection of the house the fact, that great purchases of land had been made by the general government, without an v view or pretence to use it for a fort, duck-yard, or an arsenal. It had purchased that part of the Mississippi country which was now called the Alabamg territory, from the state of Georgia ; and it had nevertheless, been suggested that it had no right to buy the land, of which it had not acquired the jurisdiction :—It had, on the'eontra- ry, made great acquisitions of property, over which it had no jurisdiction. Mr. L. went fur ther and by fair reasoning, from the constitution, and the frequent unquestioned practice of the IJ. States’government, as a comment on it, main tained the political right of the United States’ government to take property, wherever the pub lic interest should require it:—And he paid to Mr. Clay the tribute of concurrence iu what that gentleman had snid on Saturday last, declaring that the ground that gentleman had taken was so secure that he would nut pretend to add any thing to fortify it. It was impossible, (Mr. Lowndes continued) (hat any man could imagine, that all the various unforeseen incidental necessities of war could be made a matter of constitutional detail; but must await the process of war itself, aud be provided for as they should arise. Yet gentlemen seemed to argue, that the preparations for war were for bidden, because they were not specified iu the enumerated powers of congress, until the war should be brougnt to our very doors—that we were not to make roads or canals, for the trans portation of our munitions of war, or the march of our armies, ’till we were in the face of the ene my. The power was allowed by those gentle men to be vested in congress to raise armies ; but was that power Unfitted by the constitutionals time of war ?—No: It was given generall^^ff peace as w e!*as war ; and the supply and trans portation of munitions, and all other necessary ingredients and accessary circumstances of war, must of course follow, as of inevitable inference, if not from the letter, certainly from the reason ing and spirit, of the constitution. War cannot be made without: munitions—munitions, therefore are included in the very idea of war and in the use of armies, and no possible provisions cau be sup posed to exist against them, when the right to make war is granted. A^to a proposition which had fallen from Mr. Barb^F, that instead of hav ing roads made to supply the armies when order ed to the frontiers, there ought to be depots form ed on the frontiers lor the purpose, Mr. Lowndes thought it scarcely necessary to do more than barely state it, to expose its futility.—Making depots in such situations, and on such an extend ed line of defence, would cost infinitely more than making the roads, and after all, be establish ing them only for the enemy: And Mr. Lown des appealed to the members present, among whom were certainly some who were qualified to decide the fact—whether there were not many positions on the coast where an engineer would say that forts were necessary, and where the first object of that engineer would be to have roads first made to communicate with and supply them. Upon the point of the power of taking posses sion of property, of which so much had been said, as if its not being specially enumerated among the constitutional powers amounted to an exclusion of it—Mr. L. pointed out in the constitution a provision, that private property should not be ta ken by government without making compensa tion for it; and this negative, lie maintained, to bean undeniable proof of the affirmative:—The constitution evidently allowed its being taken, by saying that it must be paid for. Mr. L. said, that when a state possessed from the law of nature and nations, rights prior to the establishment of its government, the con stitution was understood to give that government all the means of enforcing them. Some of those rights, he said, could nut, from their nature be enforced by the judiciary : they must, therefore, be enforced by the legislature—by the govern ment itself. Every body allowed, that from all parts of the interior of a country there must ever exist a right of way to the ocean-rand that right it was competent to congress alone to main tain. Such had been our right of wav down the Mississippi to the ocean, wlien Spain possessed the territory througli which it passed :—would it not he strange, it (as the oppusera of this measure would fain infer) we were to‘lode that right when question frai yesterday put, that it should r u be‘read a third time ; when Mr. Poindexter 1 grounds which I could not hear him ffijn ’ 2 1 particularize, moved that it should he L„i ■ 1 the table. Mr. Taylor observed, that'there Pi already been sufficient discussion on the queo' to enable every man to make up his uiind_T - • , us inind^.K„ therefore hoped it would nofbe postponed C yond tomorrow, which would afford 30 daysP to the 13th of April, a space, which if gentletnc^* would resolve to economise the time, wotild scrv" for the discharge of the remaining husine g8- ^ This premature decision was strenuously . by 4 Mr. Baldwin, who said that there weie l0 less than 113 cases On the docket, and that too were lying on the table ; and, with regard to the time they would occupy, it seemed to lie 0 f |j t ,| M cohsequence whether they were public or private as appeared from the bnffimg case of Henry Kina’l' claim for a pension, which that day had consum- ed the w hole morning, up to 2 o’cloak, Home of the cases waiting for legislation, he said, were of great importance—intricate and operose, and re. quiring whole systems to be digested. Hee,n. phatically put the question to them, how the? could tlnnk of rising till the public business which they had undertaken with their constituents t« do, should be done ? Were they not bound to do it? and how could they do it in 30 days ? It was impossible. The subjects embraced in it were some of the most important interests in tin union—its manufactures, its commerce, its navi, gation, its revenues. If they adjourned on tl t day proposed, they must leave most of it on. done—and in that case, what would they be able to say to their constituents ? What answer would they give to those unfortunate individual claim, ants, who had been for, God knows how Ion" a time, knocking in vain at their doors for justice? How should they answer to the public at lan-c? General Harrison said, that with proper econo, my of time—(surely he could not hope that they would leave off oratorising) —the house could do all the necessary business:, anti adjourn on tho 13th of April. . Altec having given Ids opinion, he urged the Necessity of going through tho mili. tia bill, and said'that several of the stales, par. ticularly Georgia, had suspended their legishi tive proceedings on the subject of their respect ive militia, waiting for congress to decide upon it first. lie wished the resolution to lie on the table, in order to see Whether the house could not adupt sttme mode of economising time. 'Bio motion of laying on the table was then negatived; and then came the question of adopting the reso lution, which Mr. Forsyth opposed—saying them was no adequate reason for it, that it was a de sertion of the public duty, and that it was the first time ever the house adjourned five weeks be forehand :—Ile therefore moved to postpone the question to the first Monday in April. Mr. Baldwin moved that the question should be take# by ayes and nays. It was accordingly so taken,' and carried by 10! yeas to 46 nays—-so the house is to adjourn on the 13th of April, the territory became American jtroperty. Mjournment.—The committee to whom it was referred to fix upon and report a day for the ad journment of congress, for the present session, reported a resolution fixing on Monday, the 15th ol April, for that purpose ; and that resolution having beqn twice read oq Saturday last, the FOREIGN. Porto Bello, Feb. 19.—Bolivar is at Hogan;; where La Terra defeated Sazazyo. He lias 12 pieces of artillery and 3000 men. A few clays ago his cavalry surprised the royalists, and at to pieces a fine regiment of hussars, of F’erdinani the 7th, 500 in number. The advanced picket* of the royalists have been also defeated, in some late attacks by the cavalry of the patriots, which is very formidable, and has formed a junction with Bolivar. Morillo has advanced from Cala- bozo to join the army. Much is expected from his presence ; and should ti c patriots risk a gen eral engagement, Morillo no doubt will succeed, otherwise it is very doubtful. By this you will perceive that Bolivar advancing, and Moiilloon the defensive. Both main armies are not one days march from each other ; but the vast supe riority of the patriots’ cavalry shields their army from Bolivar’s infantry. We look every hour for some decisive act from one sido or the other. 1’he fact is, Morillo is surrounded ; and, unless by some desperate act on his part, it will he diffi cult for him to<cscape. The above may be relied on, as it conics in such a manner as to put thb truth beyond a doubt.” Gibraltar, Jan. 10.—The Washington, 74 tfr. sailed from Algiers about the 18th December for Syracuse. The brig Spark, sailed to day t» join the commodore, being ordered to wait until the 10th for the Franklin. The Alert is at Mar seilles, and our letter from that place says Dr. Eustis, U. States Ambassador to Holland is here. London, Jaif. 12—The President's Message t» Congress was received and published in London on the. 8th. The Morning Chronicle remarks upon it—From a press of mutter, we can meiw ly allude to this very important State Paper. While the finances of all the governments of. Europe are more or less disordered and the sub jects are every where groun,* down with heavy taxes—we find the head of these republicans, at the close of an expensive war, proposing the re peal of all the internal taxes, etc. We are glad to find, by the American papersi that the House of- Representatives have passed a Resolution, which is likely to remove a frequent cause of dispute between England and the Uni ted States.—One of their committees has been directed to inquire into the expediency of pro viding fiir the apprehension of foreign seameq deserters from their vessels in the North Ameri can harbours. As they are chiefly British sea men who coroiftit tins offence, and ns it leads to their employment in theAmerican ships of war,the resolution may be considered as a strong symp tom of a proper feeling in the House toward* England.’’ The following handsome Compliment to the V. S. ship Franklin, we copy from the Truro, (Eng-) Gazette of the 16th January. “ United States* ship Franklin.—The late arrival of this formula* file vessel in the waters of the country, which once possessed the supremacy over the land, where she was built, has excite'd much attention and curiosity in our shipwrights- and seamen, some of vhem embraced (he opportunity, rbiL*