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*wr, although in the latter stages of the cTis
cussicm, no reply tvas attempted. The doors
were closed, and the minority whose motives
were impeached, a.'.d whose persons were al
most denounced, were voted down without de
hate. In reply to the case of Louisiana, it was
said that it was no precedent at all; that eve
ry argument drawn from that source was utter
ly inconclusive in the present instance; that
no two cases were more dissimilar: that ex
cept the patties being the same, there was no
p >int of resemblance ; that, when Spain with
held front us the right of deposit at New-Or
leans. Congress had acted on its own instiga
tion al me ; they bail not been apprized by the
ex'-cn ivc of any hostile movement on the part
of Spain ; the territory of the United States had
not been insuite l, nor the persons of our citizens
within our own jurisdiction, violated: It had
not been officially announced to Congress
«• that thsir protection, as well as the spirit ami
honor of our country rendered the interposition of
the national force indispensibte." The chief
magistrate of the union heal not officially de
clared that the ict of aggression in question
was committed b persons acting by the or
d"rs ami under th ■ sanction of the court of
Madrid: on tlv- contrary the House of Rep
resentatives had expressed b« a formal resolu
tion, their belief, that the wrong in question
had proceeded from the. u ueuthorised miscon
duct <f a certain Spanish officer, and declared
their determination, in case it should be sanc
tioned by their government, to redress the in
juries, and vindicate the rights of our citizens.
On that occasion, congress avowed, that they
rt sorted in the first instance to an amicable
explanation with the Spanish court; on this,
the fair experiment ol uegociaiiott had been
tried, and “ after five months of fruitless en
deavour, on our part,-to bring them to some
definite and satisfactory result, had entirely
failed.” And it must be vein 'inhered, that
the acquisition of Louisiana, which put a stop
to these aggressions of Spain, (for which no
sa isfacrion had as \ct been rendered) was
made, not from the pari by whom those of
fences had been otic red, but from one in no
wise connected with them.
And admitting at the juncture, the proprie
ty of our malting overtures for :he purchase of
a country, the possession of which, i; wasc-on.-
ceded on all hands, \v as highly desirable to us.:
yet, what measures had we taken, or did we
propose to take, for the refusal on the part of
Spain, to “ ratify her convention with us, sign
ed by her oven mi dster under the eye of his sove
reign, pledging her to mate compensation for
spoliations committed on our commerce during a
preceding war; to indemnify our citizens for the
renewal if the same practices, already of great
am runt during the present war ; for the obstruc
tion if the navigation of the Mobile ; for refus
ing to come to ary fair ami amicable adjustment
<f the boundaries if Louisiana; ami fora dar
ing violation, by persons acting under the author
ity of Spain, anil no doubt apprized of her senti
ments and views of our undisputed limits, which she
h vl solemnly recognized by treaty ? ’ ’ —N ONE!
The denial of the stipulated compensation for
the spoliations of a former war ; the reitera
tion of. the same practices during the presen ;
the obstruction of the Mobile ; the perempto
iy refusal to adjust the boundaries of Louisia
na ; the insults committed on our territory, and
the violation of the property and persons of
our citizens within our acknowledged limits:
all seemed forgotten, in the zeal ro purchase
Florida, or thrown with the national purse in
to the scale.
The bill nevertheless passed bv a large ma
jority. A motion was then made to transmit,
by a committee, the following message to the
Senate :
“ By the House of Representatives, Jan.
I6:h, 1806
Gendemen of the Senate,
We transmit you a bill which has passed the
House, entitled, “ An act making provision
for defraying any extraordinary expences at
tending thein'ercourse between the U. States
and foreign nation’s” and to which we require
your concurrence. This bill has been passed
by us to enable the President of the United
S’ateS to commerce, with more effect, a nego
ciation for the purchase of the Spanish territo
ries lying on the Atlantic Ocean, and Gulph
of Mexico, and eastward of the Mississippi.
The nature and importance of the measure con
templated have induced us to act upon the sub
ject with closed doors. You will of conse
quence, consider this communication as confi
dential Mr. John Randolph then moved to
strike out the words “ River Mississippi," and
to insert “ Bay of Perdido," upon this ground,
that the country between the Mississippi and
the Perdido was in dispute between the U
States and Spain, being a part of Louisiana,
“ such as it was as possessed by France,” and
convex ed by the treaty of Paris of SOth of
April, 1803, to the U. States. The territory
ia question (embracing the hanks of the Mo
bile, and out of which all our differences with
Spain, on the subject of boundary on this side
of the Mississippi had grown) the Executive
had advanced what they deemed an undoubt
ed claim Upon this claim Congress had al
ready legislated, having passed a law, erecting
the shore and waters of the river Mobile into
a collection district, and it was deemed, that
the authorising the President to purchase that
p irtion of the country, would not only be a
commitment of the national honor, but might
fa : rly be considered as a surrender on our part
of all pretensions to the disputed territory.
This motion, however, was negatived—Yeas
59 —Nays 68. It is perhaps worthy of remem
brance, that, on this, as on most of the other
questions arising out of this subject, many of
the warmest advocates of the measures even
tually pursued were in the minority. (See the
secret journal, since published, page 33.)
But to the message itself, as well as to the
general course of proceeding, this strong, and
(as i r is presumed) unanswerable objection
was taken : That the direction which the
Ho use of Representatives had chosen to per
sue was to be prescribed, not to the Senate,
but to the President: and that it would be im
possible for the Executive, even with the in
genu'ty of Oedipus himself, to divine, from a
message to the Senate; what was the real in
tentions of the Representatives of the people:
that this message was not to be announced to
him, bat to the other branch of the legislature,
<* r - ; V !
■ ar.d that, evenrifit were, his duty was to exe
; cute the laws, which should be enacted, and
; which could not be enlarged, restrained or mod
ified in any degree whatsoever, by any mes
sage from one house of Congress to the other:
, and the appropriation being for any indefinite
■ purpose ts extraordinary foreign intercourse, and
not made in consequence of any intimation, or
recommendation from the President, he must
• be presumed to be totally in the dark, “as to
i the secret wishes " of the Senate and House of
Representatives, and to be incapable of infer
ring the intentions of the legislature from any
thing but context of the law itself; much less
should he be deemed responsible for the execu
tion of plans, of which by the general maxims
! of legislation, as well as by the known principle
of the constitution, he must be supposed td be
altogether ignorant As 1 have said however,
this, with every other difficulty that could not
be solved was overruled: and on Thursday,
'I the 26th January, the engrossed bill, with the
message above recited, was transmitted to the
Senate.—On the day following, when the bill
was no longer in the possession of the house or
under its comroul, the dispatches from our min
ister at London, on the IBth and 25th of Octo
ber, 1805. which had been four weeks lying in
the office of the Secretary were laid before
i lie bouse. Those dispatches which had a most
important bearing upon our Spanish relations,
which had occupied the attention of the Mouse
of Representatives for nearly three preceding
weeks, during which their doors were closed,
produced an instantaneous conviction on the
minds of many, the best informed and most
influential members of the house presumed to be
in the confidence of the Secretary of State, that
the dispatches had but recently arrived, and
this inference was supported by this circum
stance. that a single copy only (perhaps the
original) was submitted to the two houses to
be interchanged between them ; from whence
it was concluded by many ; that sufficient time
had not elapsed since their reception, to.enable
the clerks in the office of foreign affairs to
make out duplicates of the papers. But ibis
fact wasimiv^y^uly-^paprovedbvMi. J. Ran
dolph’s callmgatTiie Secretary of State’s office,
where he learnt from Mr Wagner, the chief
clerk of that department as well as from the
secretary himself, that they had arrived a week
before Christmas; that is, prior to the 21st of
December.
The House of Representatives having re- j
solved to incur an expence for the purchase of i
Florida, the second member of Mr. Bidwell’s i
resolution, to continue for years, the i
additional duty of two and a half per cent ad j
valorem, imposed by the “ act further to pro
tect the commerce and seamen of the U. States
against the Barbary powers,” to make good
thesame, came under consideration But this
proposition was vehemently opposed by Mr.
J Randolph, who stated, that lie deemed it
an unconstitutional mode of voting to raise
taxes in conclave : that if the members of that
house should once come to levy impositions
upon their constituents, with closed (jbors,
whilst the votes which they should give (to
say nothing of the discussion) from the very
nature of the secret journal, remained conceal
ed from their constituents, there was an end
of the public liberties Congress might thus
pass any law. however constitutional and op
pressive, whilst the people would remain ignor
ant of the part which their representatives
had respectively taken, and be consequently
unable to apply the proper corrective and that,
however reasons of state might render it expe
dient to proceed in ibis way against a foreign
enemy or to give a secret direction to military
expeditions against the common foe; those
reasons were totally inapplicable to the im
position of burthens upon the people or to
any curtailment of their rights, with which
that enemy could have no concern, and from
the knowledge of which he could derive no ad
vantage. The proposition was at that time
withdrawn, but on the last day of the session,
April 21, this tax was continued : the only os
tensible motive is to be found in a message from
the Executive of the 14-th of the same month,
intimating the existence of an unfriendly dispo
sition on the part of Tunis towards the United
States. ,
In a future number, some remarks will be
offered on the proceedings of Congress respect
ing our relations with Great-Britain : a subject,
which, if possible, has been more misrepresen
ted, and less understood, than that of the pre
sent communication.
DF.CIUS.
BOSTON, August 23.
, (fRUISLVG SQUJDRO.XS.
„ The master of a vessel which has ar
rived at Liverpool (Nova-Scotia) re
ports, that' on the 30th July, at night, he
saw* 3(T leagues S. E. of Scattery (a
small island near Cape-Breton, in lat.
46, long. 59, 30,) four sail of large ships,
steering northwardly, close hauled,
wind at E.—supposed them to be men
of war, as one had a large lanthorn at
her poop. We conjecture these ves
sels to have been La Guerriere 44, La
Revanche 44, La Syrene 44, La-
Felicite 44, French frigates, which
were nat long sines in the West Indies ;
probably proceeding to Europe, or,from
the high latitude they were in, bound
against the British station at Newfsund
land.
A squadron supposed to be admiral
Warren’s from the West Indies, was
seen the 29th July, in lat. 43, long. 57,
when the Scorpion brig ol 18 guns,
Capt. Stansell, was dispatched for New
foundland, to apprize the officers there
of the approach of Jerome’s squadron.
The British have but a small force on
the Newfoundland station.
The French squadron, under Admi
ral Wallaumez, (the Mentor of Jtrome
Bonaparte) was seen it is reported, on
the 10th August, in lat. 37, 30, long.
63, 30, standing to the eastward.
PHILADELPHIA, August 20. j
Extract of a letter from London, dnua
June 17, received at Boston.
“ I have enclosed a lew papers by
the Sarah. I wanted much to send
The Times , cf this morning, which de
nies the report of Lord Yarmouth’s
having gone to Paris, to negociate with
Talleyrand, or otherwise of carrying a
favorable answer from Mr. box, to the
proposal of a negociation for peace. I
cannot conceive of a peace between
this country and France, on any terms
of safety, while one commands the con
tinent and the other the ocean. This
is the general op]fcp»n here, however
the present administration may be in
clined to peace on almost any terms,
they dare not make it, unless it com
bines security.
“ As to a war with America I dont
think it even probable. On a proper
representation, by negociation, justice
will be done where injtry has been re
ceived. The Administration are much
more friendly disposed towards the
United States, than the People, more
particular some of the merchants.
“ Mr. Sullivan, private Secretary of
Mr. Bowdoin, has arrived here from
Paris. He is said to have brought dis
patches for Mr. Munroe, and is only six
days from Paris. Something about
Spanish cessions is spoken of; but what
I have not heard. Portugal, it is said,
is to he extinguished as a kingdom, and
become a Spanish province ; and Spain
is to cede some of her maritime domin
ion to France.”
SF,PT. i .
On Saturday last arrived at New
castle, a French frigate, having carried
away her mizen-mast and main-top
! mast, and received some other damage
j in the late gale of the 23d ; she has a
| nurnber-of British prisoners on board,
1 and from report only, we are enabled
j to say, she is one of Jerome’s fleet, that
1 they have ail been in the gale, that one
of them was obliged to throw over all
her guns, that most of them had re
ceived damage, that they were bound
for the Chesepeake, that they had tak
en upwards of 20 sail of British vessels,
supposed part of the Jamaica convoy,
and that they had a great number of
English prisoners on board.
NEW-YORK, August 27.
Yesterday, about half an hour after
one o’clock in the afternoon, the Pow
der House at Brooklyn, to
Mr. Lewis Sands, blefr upl ItcontuiTi
ed four hundred casks of powder. The
explosion was dreadful; but the persons
employed in the house being at dinner,
no lives were lost, The materials of the
building were blown to a great distance;
some of the fragments, it is said, were
thrown into this city. The damage
done the adjacent buildings, by the
breaking of windows, Sec. is considera
| ble. A rope walk near the spot was
levelled with the ground ; and the nur
sery garden of Mr. John Hastings sus
tained much injury. An opinion pre
vails that the explosion was-riot the ef
fect of mere accident.
August 28.
On Sunday morning last, about 9
o’clock, as the ship Rose-in-Bloom , capt.
Baker, from Charleston, S. C. was mak
ing for this port, a sea struck her and
immediately threw her on her beam
ends. The cabin passengers were
principally in their births, and the first
notice they had of their frightful situa
tion was the rushing of the water down
the companion. They had only just
time to seek the safety of their lives by
getting upon deck, as fast as possible,
without a moment to catch at a single
article of cloathing. As many as could
got out at the door. Some could not.
Os those who did, some found them
selves entangled among the bags of cot
ton that lay to the leeward, and with
them were washed overboard.
The number and names of the lost
are given below. Among them the
fate of General Macpherson excites sin
gular commiseration. Both himself
and daughter were washed overboard
on their coming out of the cabin ; be
ing an excellent swimmer, General
Macpherson made the quarter railing,
but perceiving his daughter struggling
in the waves and just sinking, he plung
ed into the sea after her, seized her
and brought her to the wreck ; but was
himself washed oft'a second time, and
again he made out to reach the quarter
deck, but his strength was exhausted,
and he had not enough left to get on
board, even with all the assistance that
could be then afforded; he was drowned.
Mr. Booth, another passenger had
the astonishing courage and presence
ot mind to make his way through the
water to the after cabin, where was his
wife with her little son, to shove up the
dead light, thrust out his wife and son,
and jumped out after them. He was
jin '.--.Dcs they, might get hold of the
quarter ’-(k, hot it was beyond the
power oi CK:-» r. He saved nimself,
but botn v.ile anti w«re drowned*
All that could saw tin. mselves clung to
the quaiter railing, and it was soon
contrived to cut away the masts, Ly
which she righted, but full of water
and lying level with the sea. 50 bales
of cotton in the hold prevented her go
ing down.
Twenty-seven persons now found
themselves on the wreck, without cloth
ing or food, or any possibility of get
ting any. They were obliged to lush
themsplves on for the sea run tremen
dously, and made almost continually u
fair breach over them ; while the spat s
and loose ropes and other matters that
remained along side being washed a
gainst them, cut and bruised them in a
shocking manner. In this situation
they remained all Sunday, and Sunday
night, during which one or two perish
ed, but about 8 o’clock on Monday
morning they were spied by Captain
Phelan, (an Irishman) of the brig Swift,
St. Johns, about 5 miles distant, who
immediately hove about, and the wind
be ing light, sent off his jolly bout ahead
to their assistance. This boat took off
Miss Macpherscn, having hardly any
signs of life in her, and the Hon. Mr.
Rutledge, with one other person. The
long boat was then dispatched which
took ofl the remainder. The following
is a list of persons saved :
The fico/ile /t reserved rjere,
Captain Stephen Barker, Capt. Oli
ver champlin, lion. John Rutledge,
Miss Eliza Macpherson, Mr. L. Petroy,
M. Brennan, Jos. W. Page, B. Booth,
D. Botifeur, John Davis, H. Turner,
W. Perry, D. Crocker, and 14 seamen.
The following ficrsons were lost:
General Macpherson and Servant,
Mrs. Booth and Son, Mr. Clarke, Jas.
Miller, Jun. Thomas Tait, Doctor Bal
lard and Servant, Mr. Henry Bower
ing, ID. Botifeur’s Servant, D. Crock
er’s Servant.
Steerage Passengers and Seamen.
William Whitledge, John Forcha,
D. M’Carty, Wm. Robinson, Charles
Bryce, Fortune Johnson, John Trusty,
Adam Knott, and Harry Kid, the 3 last,
men of color.
Captain.Phelan went on board him
self and fished up several trunks out of
the cabin and about i 4,000 dollars, but
night coming on, the passengers beg
ged him to make the best of his way
.to New-York, especially as a Philadel
phia Pilot-boat had got along side the
wreck and would probably save the rest.
DOCT. BURKE,
HAYING at length resolved, to
make Augusta his future resi
dence, informs the community, that he
will resume the Practice. He lives in
the large brick house, at the upper end
of Broad-Street, belonging to the estate
of Col. Watkins.
July 26. (ts.) 1—
Book Binding .
o
THE Subscriber informs his
friends and the pubiic, that he has re
moved from the herald Printing-Of
fice to the Office of the Columbian
centinel, where orders in the line of
his business will be thankfully received
and duly attended to.
William Butler.
July 19. 56
BROUGHT to Edgefield jail
the 25th of August, an African Negro
woman, who calls her name SALLY,
she appears about 20 years of age, has
the marks of the small pox in her face,
she has a very shame faced, modest
countenance, when spoken to, she says
her masters name is Thomasse, she
speaks very few words that can be un
derstood, has no clouthes except one
white plains petticoat—the owner is re
quested to come forward, prove his pro
perty, pay charges, and take her away.
E. Whatley , Jailor.
September, 13. 8—
NOTICE.
NINE months from the date hereof
application will be made to the
honorable the inferior court of Greene
county,for leave to sell one hundred and
fifty acres of land, be the same more
or less, lying on Town creek, to be sold
for the benefit of the heirs and credit
ors of Elias Cozart, deceased.
Robert Watt son, Acini'r.
March 29, 1806. 40
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