puUic R 'nvtfr.r.t.V've. vibrates tliro* t'le
>i every leal America* citizen
in the remote!t corrvr oS the United
States, who fe.lVliimfeh perfoiittlly insulted
thereby. Let Grncchut:, let his abetters
know, that tjjouiands and ten thouiands
in this extensive country, cherifhthe name
(it Washing Ast, as The* vital blood which
animates their hearts. Let these men
know that the envenomed fhafts of envy
which thjy aim at this unsullied character,
will like arrows (hot agsfinlt the fun,
with vengeful force upon their own heads.
L-Jt them know that the people of Ame
rica, are men of principle, of iteady cha
racter and the molt solid judgment ; that
they do not change their opinions, men
and manrters with every moon ; and that
t hey liibjctl bcUlkt the heads of their de
fj. ving CitiZens to the bloody Guillotine
6? France, nor their fame to the unceaflng
guillotine of malicious pens.
Having yield:d tinis far to the emoti
ons of a.i iiidigiiHal, hunpft heart, rouged
bv its attachment to liberty, which has
b.'en wounded in the character of her fiill
born Son, I can proceed the more pati
ently to consider the production of Grac
chus, in some detail, and offer a few Uric-
tuv* u;5(-n it
His <.'_>T.C7Til in the beginning
arc; true in thviafelves, but without an ob
ject at this day. They are certainly in
applicable to the cafe, with which he con
nects theni. He fecms, either not to un
deritand, or not to dillinguifn between an
"implicit reliance upon influential men ;
and a gearrrus c& hdepce in those servants
of the public, whose fidelity has been se
verely t«!red on many important occasions,
& proved incorn ptiblc. Unequivocal proofs
of the moll: inviolable integrity direified
t;ie choice of Ana ica to the President of
tiie United States ; and continued expert
eiwc cOi.-5..-ms their opinion of his merit.
His emiuetit capacity for executing im
portant trulls chid his unparalleled fidelity
have united all generous, judicious, noble
lpirits in his favor
This has called him repeated])' and una
ii:rn >ufly to that conlpicuous pollin which
he lo worthily represents the sovereignty
of theAmeriean States.
He is the people collectively ; foi he is
cliafcn by their fuiiragc ; to speak in their
name ; to ad with their power ; and to
m?.;iagc with Angular IcfjXHiiibilitycertain
fpecfiitd a;.d important concerns of the
government, on their belialf. He is thus
a lovereign not of the people, but for the
people, to trail fact our bujinefs with so-
reign lovereigntie6, and to cany into exe
cution the public will, lawfully exprefTed.
This kind of fupremacv he has obtained
hv the only legitimate title, the OPINI
ON, the KNO WLEDGE, the CHOICE
of the people. And will Gracchus dare
to fay, #ciat the opinion, the will of the
peup'e thus largely colleded, ought not
to prevail ? VV ill he avow a feutiment
and yet, with unblushing front, pretend
to repuhlicanifm ? Will he impertinently
fuppoft for a moment, that we ought to
submit our opinion to his, and withdraw
our confidence from the man of our hearts,
to place it—upon whom ? E. lightened
fellow citizens 1 upon whom ? upon some
disguised foe to our liberty, happinefs,and
peace ; some dark affafiin, whose best fe
ctiriry is—his unknown name ! ! To men
tion this monstrous phenomenon, as a pof
frble event, even in our rcra of political
wonders, is to expose it to the most ex
prefiive contempt.
The sllufions to Tufcany and Rome are
the wildest imaginable. Can ignorance
itfclf fitppofe,or is prejudice hardy enough
tft suggest a parallel between George
Washington, the firft of men, and the
artful Cofmo, the bloody and terrific Syl
la, or the ambitious Caesar ? between pow
er committed in trust by frequent, unbias
sed choice, and, power afyimcd and inde
finitely exercised, thro' the insidious arts,
or the r" Ltary force devoted to the ambi
tious will of those despots ? between an
enlightened and comparatively virtuous
nation, in the youth of freedom ; and
people e> ervated by luxury and ready to
submit their servile necks to the firft mat
ter w hit was bold enough to command
them or richenoughto purchase their pros
tration, by fumiftiing unbounded enter
tm'nmentJ and expensive raree-lhews ?
As Giucchus has tired egregioufly in
the application of ancient facts to the prc
fent filiiation of America, so he is not
lifs mistaken hi his interpretation of the
recent governmental atls of the PreHdent,
which he has fpecified, and which he af
firms to have heen " incompatible with the
spirit of a free government.'"
The difaifilon of Du Plaine from Jiis
consular luuttioiw tor a daring outrage up
on the-authority of this country, a fatt
authenticated by the clearest evidence, was
an ;>.ct the molt salutary in itfelf, the most
neceflary from its citomittances, and per
formed in a conltitutional manner by tfye
Pidident, who in ail such public traufae
tions, is the only organ to expreis the Na
tional will. To talk of a trial by jury in
a cafe of that fort, is a weak attempt to
r,-.:(lezd by the fuund of words ; and is
just as ridiculous "s to expect that the In
dians should- be tried by a jury before Gen.
Wayne fhali treat them as enemies ; or
Great Britain, before Congrcfs had dis
cussed Mr. Madison's Resolutions. Yet
Gracchus asserts that this necelfarv severi
ty was ' an outrage upon the trial by ju
ry,' which in f.ift, as has been (hewn,
was not applicable to a circumstance of
that nature ; and that ' the Consul's con
duA was fnl jud'ice, when the proclama
tion declared his guilt ,' nav further, he
inhnuates, that a jury of uur country ac
quitted him in the very instance wherein
the proclamation pa(fcdfcv.ence upon him.
Is this fact ? Or is it not a gross mifre-
calculated to deceive the un
wary > If Du Plaine was. tried by a jury
lat all; was it not with regard to a ques
tion of property or damages ; altogether
diltiuiX from the public breach of the
peace, for which his exequatur was revok
ed Does this writer ignorantly or insidi
ously thus confound these two different ob
jedta ?
The fame ignorance or insidious design,
has induced Gracchus, to separate, as
Mr. Genet also usually does, the people
of America, from their government.—
This he has attempted in his statement of
Henfield's cafe, as well as that of Du
Plaine. But, as well might the body be
diltinguiflied from its form, or matter from
its colour and shape, ae under our cotiftitu
tiou, the people and their government be
separated. How long time will these un
fledged republicans require, to learn, that
our government is the appointment of the
people themselves, their ostensible repre
fentativc ; and the organ whereby they
expreis their will! Surely the general
voice of counties, cities and towns, in va
rious parts of America, in favour of the
President's official conduit, is a decided
proof that there is no repullion between
the people and their owh constituted au
thority ; as falfefly asserted by Gracchus
from the proceedings of one or two un
informed juries: and the tremendous re
solves of a county or two in Virginia,burr
ed in ignorance of what passes in the poli
tical world,except what they receive thro'
the partial medium of a disappointed par
ty !*
The firmnefs and wisdom with which
the President bafßed the repeated attempts
of Genet to disturb our happiness and
peace, have been decidedly and honora
bly appiovcd by Congress. The • dignity'
and candor of that Minister is fnfficiently
obvious to all, who compare his unquali
fied declarations on his firit arrival in A
merica, with his succeeding and avowed
attempts to involve us in war ; and those
public inftru&ions which he afterwards
pulled out of ' his pocket' as the French
interpretation of the treaty. His factious
and intemperate conduct, and his ' undis
guised' impertinence, not so much to the
President as an individual, or to the deli
cate sensibilities of some imaginary court,
as to the • Sovereign and independent Re
public of America,' in her Representative
or Chief Magistrate, has involved him in
just suspicion, and degraded him into an
object of just contempt. Finally the af
fair of the Southern Sicarii, who have re
ceived coinmiffions from him to commit
the peace of their country with Spain, and
liis wretched explanation of that dark bu
siness has finifhed his career, and rendered
him an odious object of abhorrence. The
palliative complaints therefore of Grac
chus upon the fubjeft of this, almost, ex
minifter of France, and his coarse reflec
tions upon the worthiest Magistrate in all
the world ; are nothing but the effufions
of a fretted and cankered heart, and de
serve nothing but indignant reproach,
from every honell man.
To conclude, though I dislike and re-
* Amelia county, the refoves of which
•were pubtifhed ; I believe itlfo, re-publijhed
in our new/papers ; and which speak so lof
tily about Citizen Genet, and so pointedly
againjl Mr. Hamilton, is the native place,
and the usual residence of Mr. G—s. Albe
marle, ivhich pcffejJimilar refolvet, contains
Mr. J n'sfeat.
probate the language and the (Jcfign of
Gracchus, I am neither • a (lave nor a ty
rant.' I have not tamenefs for the one,
nor power and influence, nor congeniality
enough with Gracchus, Genet or hollow
democrats of any party, for the other. I
have no more connexion with the Presi
dent or the officers of government, than
the most remote or obfeure of our fellow
citizens in the wilderness. I never attend
ed a levee, becaule no business called me
there ; and have never seen Mr. Hamilton
or Gen. Knox, fmce their residence in this
city. My feelings as a free citizen, on
reading the (lander of Gracchus, have
been my sole prompters upon the present
occasion. Urged by these, I have attack
ed the slanderer in the stile he deserved,
and leave him to his fate with the public.
CONGRESS
House of Reprefentat'fves.
January 25.
In committee of ihe whole on Mr. MadiforC s
rcfolutions
Mr. Clark observed that having made a
calculation of the time which had alreSdy
been expended in the difcuflion of this bu
siness, he found it amounted to seven days
—-He believed no legislative body ever be
fore consumed so much time in delibera
ting on one fubjeft—he hoped therefore,
the committee would come to a vote im
mediately—any furthei expence of time
he said would be to no purpose, and would
be difgraceful to the legillature.
Mr. Hillhoufe in replying to Mr. Clark
said that it was the right of every gentle
man to aflign the reasons for his public con
duct if he saw proper, for his part he did
not wi(h to consume much of the time of
the committee—he was not in the habit
of making long speeches—and tho' he
could not charge the member last up with
exhausting the patience of the house, yet
he never failed of exercising a right wliich
he now appeared to wilh to deprive others
of—but notwithstanding the remarks of
the gentleman, Mr. Hillhoufe laid he
thought it his duty Rot to give a Clent
vote on a fubjedl of fueh magnitude—he
had heard with pleasure, and had been
much inftru&ed by the observations that
had been made, and wilhed to hear what
further might be said on a fubjeft that
might $ffe£t the most important interests
of his country —For some time pad he
had, from his own observation, from the
high price which our produce had borne,
and the great demand there had been for
it in the markets, from the pressing de
mand for seamen, and from the concurrent
testimony of merchants, and people of
every occupation, been lead to believe,
that the commcrce of the United States
was in a most prosperous train—he had no
,reason to ful'peCt his opinion till those re
folutious were brought forward—They
him the more, as coming from
a quarter of the country, from which he
left txpefted any thing of the kind—and
from which, only two fetlions since oppo
sition was made to measures which had
the fame object in view, so far as refpefts
the encouragement of navigation and ma
nufa&ures, beCause it was said, that such
encouragement, tho' it operated to the
advantage of the eastern, was a direct tax
on the southern states—this made him lcfs
solicitous at that time, to urge mealures
that might have an unequal operation on
the different parts of the union.—What
great event has turned up fmce, to work
this extraordinary change ? He supposed
the gentjeman must have difcovcred some
great hnpofitions and embarralTments on
our trade, which had escaped his atten
tion, he had therefore listened with gicat
attention, to hear them pointed out—as
to tbcorict, he thought they ought not to
be attempted, but in extreme cases, unlcfs
the obje£t was important, and its attain
ment certain ; he had enquired into the
reftriftions laid by Great-Britain, on the
commerce of the United States, and from
that enquiry, as well as from the report
of the Secretary of State, he found that
the fame reftri&ions are laid on other na
tions, that there is no marked diftin&ion
against us, but that the United States en
joyed many, and great advantages over
other nations—He thought it unnecessary
to go into a particular detail of those ad
vantages, as the other gentleman had al
ready done it. He therefore was of opi
nion, that to adopt the measure now un
der consideration, would be hazarding
those advantages for the uncertain chance
of obtaining something which was only
in profpeft. A gentleman from Virgi
nia, (Mr. Giles) had mentioned the dif
criminating favoritism of Britain, to other
neutral powers, viz. Denmark and Swe
den, which was the only instance that
even the ingenuity of that gentleman, ia
gacious in finding out difficulties, could
point tout in the navigation laws, or com
mercial regulations of Great-Britain, in
which any discrimination was made to the
disadvantage of the Ui.ited States—and
even that is not one of which we can
complain ; it was a regulation adopted iu
coni'equence of her present fitUatiuii, 8,
being in a ltate of war, and not for com
mercial purposes—the article complained
oi, is in theie words: " That it lhall be
lawful for the commanders of his Majcfty's
fliips of war, and privateers, that have,
or may have, letters of marque agairill
France, to seize all ships, whatever be
their cargoes, that (hall be found attempt
ing to enter any blffekaded port, and to
fend the fame tor condemnation, together
with their cargoes, except the Ihips of
Denmark and Sweden, which (hall only
be prevented from entering 011 the firft at
tempt, but on the second, shall be sent in
for condemnation likewise"—This article
needs no other comment, or jnllification,
than to read the remark of the Secretary
of State, in his letter to the Britilh Mini
ller on this fubjeft—" We had conjectur
ed, but did not before certainly know, that
the diftin&ion which the injlr nations makes
between Denmark and Sweden on the
one hand, and the United States 011 the
other, in the cases of velfels bound to ports
blockaded, was on the principle explained
by you, that it was yielded to those coun
tries by treaty, it is not unfriendly to re
fufe to us, lecaufe, not yielded to us by trea
ty. I shall not contest the right of the
principle, as a right to its reciprocity nc
eeflarily results to us." And it is upoa
this ground, that our conduit in admitting
French privateers and prizes into our ports,
& excluding those of Great-Britain, isjuf
tifiable ; if then, the advocates for the ic
folutions, cannot find out any inltance in
which Great-Britain has made difcrimina
tiuns to our advantage, and many inltan
ces are Ihewn, in which we enjoy advan
tages beyond the moll favored nations;
can we complain ?
A. B.
The United States have not a fuffici
ent number of (hips to become the carriers
of her own produce, and he much doubted
whether the time was come when it would
be for the advantage of the United Stater
to extend their navigation so far as to an
iwtr that jjurpofe ; and should an impru
dent adoption of these resolutions deprive
us of Britilh veflels, our produce would
perish on our hands. Since we have not
{hipping equal to the carriage of our whole
exports, we- can surely find fufficient em
ployment for those we have, independent
of the trade to the British Weft-India
islands; and tho' it would be a defnable
thing to be admitted into that trade, yet
is that an objedl of so much importance,
that we could be juftified in hazarding the
moll importaut ir.tereils of our country to
obtain it ? If the advancement of our na
vigation and manufaftmes is the rial ob
ject, t.-hy adopt the difcrimi.iating qua
lity ? Is it not putting us in the power of
other nations, ar.d giving them great ad
vantages without an equivalent ?
Since it is admitted that we do not en
joy any special advantage from any com
mercial treaty we now have—it is my o
pinion, that if any regulations are adopt
ed they ought to be general—if any na
tion wifhcs for an exemption and will give
us an equivalent we can secure rt to them
by treaty—if we secure to them the ex
emption by law, they will be under no
inducement to grant it as an equivalent
France whose interest is intended to be
advanced has never come forward and ie
quefted such a discrimination. Why then
should we do it unsolicited ? Ought we to
return the late generous and friendly con
duct of Portugal, by extending the dis
crimination to that nation ? The gentle
man who brought forward the resolution*
seemed to lie l'enfible of the impropriety
of such a measure, and therefore, propo
sed to draw a line which should exclude
that kingdom ; this would point the re
fjlutions so directly again It Great Bri
tain, that it would be much better to
come out in an open and manly way and
call her by name, than to do it in this
indirect mede. He closed fiis remarks
on this part of his argument, by faying
that it was a question that admitted of
some doubt, whether the commerce of
the United States was not at present in as
piofperous a situation as was for the in•'
tereft of the country ; and, whether it
would be for the genera] welfare to give