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About Athens gazette. (Athens, Ga.) 1814-18?? | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 1815)
VOL. IT. printed weekly, BT BODGE er MCDONNELL. CONDITIONS. Anijual Subscription will be three dollars, half in advance. 2d. übscribers living out of the State will pay the whole subscription upon the delivery of the first number. 3d. No Subscriptions will be received for less than one year; and no paper shall be dis continued until arrearages are paid. 4th. Advertisements will be inserted at the customary rates. |C7* Letters addressed to the Edi *ons Must be post paid . ; t official/ Copy of a letter from Capt. Biddle to [ Ccmmodore Decatur , dated U. S. Sloop Hornet, off Tristain d'Acunha, March 25, IJIS. Slß—lfhaVe the honor to inform you, that on the morning of the 23d mst. at half past ten, when, about to anchor, off the north end of the Island of Tristan d’Acunha, a sail was seen to the south* ward and eastward, steering to the west ward, the wind fresh from the S- S. W. In a few minutes she had passed on to the westward so that we could not see her the land. I immediately made sail to the westward, and shortly after getting sight of her again, perceived her to bear up before the wind. I hove tpo for him to come down to'us. When she had approached near, I filled the maintopsail, and continued to yaw the ship* while she continued to come down ; wearing occasionally to prevent her pas sing uuder our stern. At 1 40 P. M. being nearly within musket shot “dis tance, she hauled her wind on the star board tack, hoisted English colors and ,6,red, a _gnn. We immediately luffed .top, hoisted our ensign, snd gave the ,enemy a broadside. The action being thus fCpmmenced, a quick and well di rected, fire was kept up from this ship. £he enemy gradually drifting nearer to ns, when,at lh 55m he bore up, appar ently to run us on board. As soon as I perceived; he would certainly fall on {board, .1 called the boarders so as to be yeady tp repel any attempt to board vis. At the instant every officer and man re paired to the quarter deck, w.here the twG vessels were coming in contact, and eagerly pressed r me to permit them to board the enemy ; but this I would not permit, as it was evident from the com mencement of the action, that our fire was greatly superior both in quickness and in effect. , The enemy’s bowsprit came in between our main and, mizen rigging, qn our starboard side, affording him an opportunity to board us, if such was his design, but no attempt was made. There was a considerable swell on, *and as the sea lifted us ahead, the enemy’s bow spirt carried away bur mizen shrouds stk~n davits and spanker boom, and he hung upon oui* larboard quarter. At this moment an officer, who was. after wards recognized to be Mr* M’Donald, the first iieut. and then commanding officer, called out that they had surren dered. 1 directed the marines and musketry-men to sease firing, and, while on the taffrail asking if they had surren dered, 1 received a wound in the nefck. The enemy just then got clear of us, and his foremast and bowspirt being both gone, and perceiving us wearing to give him a fresh brpadside, he again called out that he had -surrendered. It + was with difficulty I could restrain my crew from firing into him again as he certainly fired into us after having surrendered. From the firing of the first gun, to the last time the enemy cri f ed out he had surrendered, Was 22 min utes by the watch. She proved to be his B. M. brig Penguin, mounting six j teen 32 lb. carronades, two long i 2’s, a \ twelve lb. carronade on the top gallant forecastle, with swivels op the capstern and in the tops. She had a spare port forward, so as to fight both her long guns of a side. . She sailed from Eng land in September last. She was shorter upon deck than this ship by two feet, but she had a greater length of keel, greater breadth of beam* thicker sides, ATHENS , THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1815. ancl higher bulwarks, than this ship, and was in all respects, a remarkably fine vessel of her class* The enemy acknow ledge a compliment of 132 men ; 12 of them supernumerary marines from the Medway, 74, received on board in con sequence of their being ordered to cruize for the American privateer Young Wasp. They acknowledge, also a loss of 14 killed and 28 wounded ; but i Mr. Mayor who was in charge of the prize, assures me that the number of killed was certainly greater. Among the killed is captain Dickenson, who fell at the close of the action, and the boat swain ; among the wounded, is the se cond lieutenant, purser, and two midship men* Each of the midshipmen lost a leg. We received on board, in all* one hundred and eighteen prisoners, four df whom have since died of thier wounds Having removed the prisoners, and ta ken on board such provisions and stores as would be useful to us, I scuttled the Penguin this morning before day-light and she went down* As she was com pletely riddled by our shot, her foremast and bowspirt both gone and her main mast so crippled as to be incapdble of being secured, it seemed unadvisable, at this distance from home, to attempt sen ding her to the United States. 1 his ship did .not receive a single round shot in her hull, nor any material wound in spars ; the rigging and sails were very much cut j but. having bent anew suit of sails and . knotted and se cured our rigging, we are now complete ly ready in all respects, for any service. We were eight men short of comple ment, and hatl nine upon the su k list the morning of the action* Enclosed is a list of killed and woun ded* I lament to state that Lieut Connor is wounded dangerously. I feel great solicitude on his account, as he i« an officer of much promise* and his%,s> would be a serious loss to .the service. It is a most pleasing part of my duty to acquaint you, that the conduct of Lieuts. Connor and Newton* Mr. Mayo, acting lieutenant, lient. Brownlow of the marines, sailing master Romney and the other officers,, seamen and marines 1 have the honor to command, was ip the highest degree, creditable to them, and calls for my warmest recommendation. r 1 cannot indeed do justice, to their mer its. ; The satisfaction which was diffused throughout the ship, when it was ascer tained that the stranger was an enemy’s sloop of war, and the alacrity .with, which every one repaired to quarters, fully as sured me that -theft* conduct in action would be marked with coolness and in trepidity. . , I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, Li J. BIDDLE. FPOM COBBETT’S REGISTER, May i3. To the Earl of Liverpool , on the part which America is likely io take in a war between England and France • „ . * * . . f ’ • ‘i L M . . My Lord —From several parts of A merica I have received thanks for my letters Jo your Lordship on the subject of the American war. * The people in A merica think, or at least many of them think that those letters had great weight in producing the peace pf Ghent, than which you and your colleagues never adopted any measure more Wise nor in better time. Yet you have never thank ed me for my advice. You, to Whom the peace was much moire necessary than to Mr. Madison,..have never acknow ledged your obligation to me—you have appeared to be sulky about it, though 1 taught you so exactly what to do, in or der .to avoid the great evils which were coming upon you from all quarters. The consequences of the American war were foretold by me nearly two years before the war began. I told you that you would have war if you persevered m sei zing men on board American ships on the high seas. You did persevere, and you had war. I told you that the Ame- would beat you in fighting, if you continued the war for * two years. You continued the war and they did beat you. I told you that you would never have have peace if you demanded any conces sion from America.—You insisted on great concessions on her part as a sine yua non of peace / after three months more you nia by giving up every thing, not excepting the sine qua non it self. In short, You expended fifty mil lions of money, & lost 1 dare say, thir ty thousand men in accomplishing no thing except creating a nayy in Ameri ca, causing her manufactures to flour ish, and implanting in the hearts of A mericans for ages a hatred of the English government. k ; , ~ I remind you of these things, in order to bespeak your attention on the present subject, I shall here deal in prophecies again ; and shall not be afraid at all of proving in the end, not to have been a false, prophet. You now appear to me in a yery fair way of adding another six hundred millions to our debt, and bring ing the guinea up to forty shillings, at which point it is now nearly arrived. I w ish to prevent this ; and» if I do not suc ceed .1 shall at any rate havfc these pages to refer to, when the mischief has taken pi ace, and when few besides inyself Will be able to say that they did all in their powe,r to prevent it. I am of opinion, that France alone is now, as she was in 1793, more than a match for tlie coalition against her. But I am further of opinion, that before the war against her be six months old, you will find America taking a part in it unless you absolutely abstain from every thing that can be construed into a viola tion of neutral maritime rights. War, or peace, with Aftierica, will depend upon the people in .that coun try,—The people that are really and truly, represented in the Congress. There are no vile sham elections in the U. That which the people wills will be done,. The Americans are a sensible people ; they read from a press which is really free ; they discuss all po litical matters freely. v They love peace ; would prefer peace ; they would make some sacrifices to peace ; but they will never hesitate a moment in prefering war to slavery or dependence. v .. , Now, then, what is likely to be the view-which the Americans will take of the present scene in,Europe l And what is likely to be their ‘feelings with regard to what is passing in this quarter of the world l It is very easy for our corrupt press to persuade the alarmed and sel fish part of England that it is necessary to plunge the country into war, in order to root opt the presept government of France., .But U . will not be easy for any body to persuade the American peopl; that such au undertaking is just.—They will see the matter, in its true light They will see that Napoleon has been replaced at the head pf the government by the will of the people of France ; they will see that jie has had the wisdom and virtue to abandon his ambitious projects; they, will see that he has voluntarily con fined himself within the ancient limits of France ; they will see he has ten dered the olive branch to all surround ing, nations j they will see that he means to contend solely for the indepen dence of France ; they will see that he has returned as nearly as circumstances will permit to the principles of 1789 ; they, will see he has prov ded for the people being really represented in the le gislature ; they will sed that there is to be no religious persecution) and no pre dominant chiirch in France ; thiey will see that the French people have derived great benefits from the revolution, and that now all these benefits are to be con firmed to them ;.in France they will see a free people , and in Napoleon they will see the soldier of freedom • On other hand, they will ask what right England, or any other power, can have to interfere in the internal affairs of France ; they will ask why England should not treat with him now as well as at Amiens ; why not treat with him a3 well as with the Directory at Lille ?—. They will ask why England should re fuse to treat with him from whom she received the Islands of Ceylon and Tn nadad.—They will ask what can be the real object, the ultimate object, of a coal ition ot those powers who were assem bled at Vienna and who were disposing of states at their pleasure ? , The Americans have seen the repub lic of Genoa given to the King of Sardi nia—they have seen Poland parcelled out between Prussia, Russia and Aus tria—they have seen the fleet of Den mark taken away—»tbey have seen the peofple of the republic of Holland sunk into the subjects of a king—-they have seen the republic of Venice transferred, to the Emperor of Ausria—they have seen the Pope replaced with the Jesuits at his heels—they have seen, that in Spain where a Free constitution had been formed by men who were fighting on our side, the king has been .brought back— that.he has treated the makers of it as traitors ; that he has re?established the Inquisition which Napoleon had abolish, ed ; that when two of the alledged trai tors.took shelter in Gibraltar, they were given tip to their hunters, and that when complaint of this was made in our Par? liament, the reply that « we had no right to interfere in the domestic affairs of Spain.’* The Americans will ask* why this principle is not applied to the domestic affairs of France ? They will ask not. far vile foul mouthed abuse of v Napoleon and the French people ; but for some proof of our right to interfere against him. , , Having seen all these things ; having seen what we and our allies have been at in every part of Europe ; having seen that the people of France sre the only people in Europe Hying under a govern ment approaching towards a resemblance of their own, they will wanl.very little td assist them in forming a correct opinion as to thq real object of the war against France, if suth war Should now, without provocation on the part of France b$ re solveij on, , , v v It appears to me, therefore, that the American people will, at least, feel great interest in this war—much greater than they felt in the last war—and that as they have just laid down their arms, af ter a contest in defence oftheir mari time rights, they will, ,the mqment they hear of this war, .prepare again for that defence. { America in all likelihood, will again be the only neutral nation. There will be no Milan , and Berlin decrees to give a pretence for Orders in Council. So that, if we trench upon her, ; rights, her ground of war will be cleared of all con fusion. , She will stand upon her Mis* putable- rights, % and’, if she be left in the full and freeenjoyment of her advantages as a neutral power, .she will carry on three-fourths ,of the commerce of the world ~ Ourcruizers may keep,at sea, but it wifi be only to witness the increase of her mercantile paring, and all the proofs oF, her^ t wonderful France will receive all that she;, wants from foreign countries by - American ships.... America will supply her with colonial produce, and with certaip arti cles of ( manufacture., The latter, will, through the same channel, find an outr > let for niuch, pf her abundantproduce* I hese two countries will become much more closely conne,ctecl than ever, & we should come out of the war shorn of our means, while the means, of all sorts, of „ America, would be found to be prodi giously increased. , . , .But, my Lord, W\tsuite certain that the people of America would not feel strongly disposed to take part ip this war against us ?.. They see that France is the only country left with a government resembling their own. Great as is their distance.from Europe, they have felt, that when left to be dealt with singlehanr ded, their very existence, as an inde pendent nation, was put in jeopardy- There were many persons in America, who loudly blamed the President Wash ington, for not taking part with the? French, even when America had not a single public ship of war. They reas oned thus s—that England was, from the nature of her force, as well as the situation of her dominions, the only ene my that America had to; fear—that she. had never ceased to demonstrate a hos tile mind towards America—that she saw in Americd not only a successful exam ple of democratic revolution, but a dan gerous rival ip commerce and maritime power—that she only waited for a favor eble moment to use her force to crush this rising rival—and, therefore, it was lew dangerous to declare at once for the republic of France, and .make common cause with her, than to wait the issue of the contest, in which if France should fall, America could not long survive without at least another long and bloody war upon her own soil. r 1 his was the reasoning against neu trality in 1798. How these reasoners NO. LXXVII.
