I . - - Cutis re ft if the TJmted States* G J %J House of Jsj£r*fnlatiuM Thursday, April 10. Mr. Clark's prjtpojitiqii for flopping the commercial iuttrcuurfe between the Uni ted States and Great Britain under con-, Jideration of the Committee of the -whole —Air. Sherburne in the chair. Mr. SEDGWICK's SPEECH, (concluded.) He.said he had yefterdav taken the li berty to suggest to the committee certain conltuuiioiial cohfiderations. The an fwere which had been given had by no Cleans been fatisfactory. It was incum bent on gentlemen who had so frequently warned us of the dnnger of uftirping power—who had so frequently, and in language so animated, charged us to avoid grasping power by implication, and con ltruction. It was incumbent on those gen tlemen, would they preserve consistency of character, clearly to demonftrate'tlve authority which they a [Turned—that it might not be supposed that their conduc tion of the Constitution was a conveni ent accommodation to the existing cir cumstances. It was not now a question whether the people had made a wife or prudent dilli i bution of the powers of their govern ment. They had declared their will, and that will we were bound by every confide puion of honor and duty to cxecute. In the inllrument under which we acted, they had declared, that the President, under ccrtain modifications should: be their or gan to treat exclusively with foreign pow ers. This authority thus exclusively dele gated, include all the terms on which a treaty could be formed. What was the present meallire ? Prescribing the terms of treaty, and reftrainiug the constitutional power from treating on any other terms. If the Legislature could prescribe those terms in this instance, it may then pre scribe all the terms in every instance ; and of course contioul in all things the exer cise of that power. To this reasoning two answers have been given, the one by a gemlcman from Pinnfylvania (Mr. Smi-lie\ that the Le gislature might make such a law, becaule t+ie eXfCtitivi eolild repeal it. He rcajly not comprehend the force of the reasoning; he was gl.id however, he could with perfect confidence contradidl the af feru'on, which he was sure would be a ve ry difgulting one to the people of Ameri ca.—There was in fad, in no instance an authority given to the executive, to repeal a. ouiftitutional act of the legislature.— The other answer was that given by a gen tinman from Virginia, (Mr. Nicholas) that there could be no objection to the exercise of this power if it should be assent ed to by the President and Senate—This was still a more extraordinary and unfatis factory anfwei than the other—it implied that the President aitd Senate could make grants of power to this House, not con tained in the constitution. Tg this he would answer, that all the powers which the House could legally exercise were ex prefTed in the instrument under which we acted—that thoft powers could be neither enlarged nor abridged by any rpan or body of men on earth, but in the way pointed out by the instrument itfelf. Mr. Sedgwick said these considerations he had expressed, without any previous preparation as they occured to his mind. Should gentlemen who viewed the fubjeft in the light he did remain silent, he would in the further progress of thismeafnre, he pledge 1 himfelf, with more orderly ar rangement, and he hoped with more per spicuity, and force, address himfelf to the consideration of this committee, or of the Houfe.—lt would avail little to tell him that his opposition would be unpopular no man more than himfelf, wished the good opinion of his countrymen, but no peifonal inconvenience, no loss of fame or popular affection, should ever inducc him to fee his country threatened with evils incalculable in number, and duration, with out warning her of her danger—A country which he loved, and which he might on this occasion be permitted to fay, he bad long served with honest fidelity, and with out a single instance of fihiller or mere per sonal regard. For the Gazette of the Uustrd States. OBSERVATIONS. The present Is an age;of Paradoxes; as well as of experiment and revolution Republicans fay, that their form of civi) is more propitious, ; thaii all others, to the preservation of peace on earth, (how truly is yet to be proved*) yet republicans are'uiing every means that fmixiiiitr, stimulated by wrath, can devise, to plungeTßetrcouatEy into a war, without employing previously any prudent means to avoid it :—while others, who arc brand ed as ariltociats, are as zealous in prefling the healing expedients of negotiation. The men, who spent many days to prove, that we were not strong enough to risque a few broadsides with the petty pi rates of Algiers, and, therefore, declar ed that the arming against them wasufelefs, can hardly afford a few days for considera tion, before they would have us rush irtto a war with Great Britain, the greatest naval power in the"world ; and before we have a single veflel ready for the lea, tit to engage a sloop of war. Some men complain that the powers of the executive are dangeroully great ; and that the public creditors have had their patriotism debauched by dealing too large ly in national securities : yet these men are exerting every nerve, to destroy a state of peace, in which alone the Executive (if there be any need of it) may easily be circumferibed, and the public debt ex tinguiflied ; and urge us to engage in a war, whereby the debt wfll not only be increased, but the powers of the execu tive, which have excited such alarm, ne cessarily be enlarged. Those, who preach that liberty and e quality are the common rights of all men, endeavour to confine the most valuable right of thinking and speaking to thtm felves, and their alTociates in opinion and to make it criminal to publish a dif fering sentiment. Those, who declare the warmest friend fhip for the people of France, and wish them all manner of ptofperity, are inces santly encouraging the rulers of that peo ple to proceed, to bury tliemfelves and their country in one common ruin, rather than receive a conllitutiofi, which at one time, lately, had almost umverfal appro bation ; and thereby put a Hop to the dreadful havoc, and delolatipn, which are pursuing them. Thole, who polfefs a belief in the cbrif tian Religion, as a necilfary revelation from Gftdj are. to their utmoH, atkttirg sceptics and at lit i Its in their attempts to overturn the altars of that Deity, whom themselves adore, and in exteiminating their fellow believers. O! Liberty, thou art a paradox, a composition of paradoxes. Foreign Intelligence. NATIONAL CONVENTION, Jan. 8. Letter from Lacofle and Baudot, reprefenta tivcs of the people with the army of the Rhine and the Moselle, dated Strafburgh, January 3. "We have been at Spires, citizen col leagues, as we announced in our last. The enemy fly with luch rapidity, that it is im pofiible to overtake them ; but if the men escaped, their magazines remain. The can ons of Spires have left upwards of 100,000 pitchers of wine in their cellars, and the granary was Hocked in adequate proportion. The bilhop's houses were full of forage, bran dy and all kinds of eatables. The moll speedy measures are taken to convey all those provisions to Landau. The metals which l'erved to decorate or to compos.- the monu ments of the cathedral, were also carried off, the faints dillodged, 6000 wax tapers unpack ed, feme ciboires and other initruments of folly melted down, and the bells broke, all to the greatest glory of the republic. " The public chests of the city have been delivered up to the paymaster-general j but they haye been vilited so often that there hardly remains any thing in them. The cus tom-house, full of all kinds of merchandize, deposited, as it were, in a place of.fafety, by the French and foreign aristocrats. This prize, worth one million, ftiall turn to the profit of the defenders of the country. The rich inhabitants of the palatinate have emi grated : we treat them like the worthless Frenchmen, whose people they have imita ted. Our troops have advanced as far as Neuftadt and Frankenthal. " We do not reckon, in the enumeration of the prizes, the small magazines of private persons, which add however to the great mass. Our chief attention is now turned to fill the magazines of the republic at the expence of the enemy. " The elements agree with us in extermi nating the traitors ; the Rhine has just fwal lewed five hundred emigrants who fled from Weiiicmbourg, to swell the broken army of Conde. " The municipal officers and the com mandant of Lauterburg dared to demand hf us an amnesty for those inhabitants of that city who followedtheli.fc.mouß Auftriansin their flight. We nnfv.ered by putting them under arccft, and their conduit will be ex amined in Inch a mariner 35 to convince the traitors and eowlrds that they have nothing to expert but death from the re lublic. " P. S. This moment, dear colleagues, we receive news of the greatfft importance. The famous poll of Kaisers .Lautern is in our power. Vive la Kepubliqut \" " The enemy abandoned, at Leimerfhent, thirty thousand cwts. of forage ; at Germen heim, seventy tons of flour, fix thouland sacks of oats, and fix thousand sacks of dried vegetables; at Markftall, twelve thousand sacks of oat 9; at Weiffembourg, fifteen thousand muikets, a great number of sick and dying wounded, whom they inhumanly deprived of the small portion of the provi sions they had deftributed among them, to support for a few moments their feeble ex igence ; at Lauterbourg, all kinds of ammu nition, a great number of muikets, an im mense magazine of gun-powder, and thirty thousand blankets; under the glacis of Fort Louis,, fixly waggons, with their horses be fore them. The number of muikets picked up in all parts, amounts to near thirty thou sand. From the London Gazette. Whitehall, January 15. This morning fir Sydney Smith and Major Moncrief arrived at the office of the right hon. Henry Dundas, his ma ■ jefty's principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, with dispatches from Vice-Admiral lord Hood and.Major-Ge neral David Dundas, of which the fol iowing is a copy. Toulon, Dec. 18, 1793. My Lord, Agreeably to your Lorcuhip's order, I proceeded with the swallow Tender, three English and three Spanish gun boats, to the Aifenal, and immediately began ma king the neceflary preparations tor burn ing the French Ihips and ltores therein.— We found the Dock Gates wek iecured by the judicious arrangements of the Go vernor, altho' the Dock Yard people had already lubftituted the three coloured coc kade tor the white one. 1 did not think it fafe to at.empt the iecuring of them, confidermg, that contell of any kind, would occupy our whole attention, and prevent us trom accomplishing our pur pose. The Galley Slaves, to the (lumber of as leafl "Oco, mewea tncmiclveT^eilous"" ~ fpettators or our operations: Their dii pofition to oppose us was evident; a..d being uncliaincd, which was luminal, ren dered if neceflary to keep a watchful eye on them on board the galley, by pointing the guns of the Swallow lender and one of the Gun Boats on them, in iuch a manner as to enfUade the quay on which they mult have landed to come to us, as suring them, at the fame time, that no harm ihould happen to them if they re mained quiet. The enemy kept up a cross fire of shot and /hells 011 the spot from Malboul'quet, and the neighbouiing hills, which contributed to keep the Galley Slaves in lubjeftion, and operated in every refpeft, favorably for us,, by keeping the Republican party in the town within their houses, while it occasioned little interrup tion to our work of prepariug and placing combustible matter in the different flore houses, and an board the Ihips; such was the (teadinefs of the few brave seamen I had under my command. A great mul titude of the enemy continued to draw down the hill towards the Dock Yard wall, and as the night closed in, they came near enough to pour in an irregular tho' quick fire of mufquetty on us from the' Boulangerie, and of cannon from the heights which overlook it. We kept them at bay by discharges of grape /hot from time to time, which pre vented their coming so near as to discover the infufficiency of our force to repel a closer attack. A Gun Boat was itationed to flank the wall on the outlide, and two field pieces within agaialt the wicket ulu ally frequented by the workmen, of whom we were particularly apprehensive. A bout eight o'clock I had the fatisfaftion of feeing Lieut. Gore towing in the Vul can firefhip. Capt. Hare, her command er, placed her agreeably to my directions, in a mod masterly manner, across the Tier of men of war, and the additional force of her guns and men diminished my ap prehensions of the Galley Slaves rising on ' 11s, as their manner and occasional tumul tuous debates ceased entirely 011 her ap- ; pearaace. The only noise heard among 1 them was the hammer knocking off their ; fetters, which humanity forbade my op. \ poling, as they might thereby be more at" 1 liberty to save themselves 011 the conflagra- f tion taking place,among them. In tliis , fitiiation we continued to wait moll anxi oiidy for the hour concerted with the Go vernor for the inflamation of the Trains. r l'!ie moment the signal was made, we had the fatisfadlion too fee the flames rife i(i every quarter. Lieutenaut Tupper \Y»s charged with the burning of the .Ge neral Magazines, the Pitch, Tar, Tallow' and Oil Store-houfes,-and fucceeda) most perfe&ly ; the Hemp Magazine was in cluded in this blaze: Its being calm was unfortunate Jo the spreading of the flames, but 250 barrels of Tar divided among the Deals and other timber, insured the rapid ignition of that quarter which L ieo tenant Tupper had undertaken. > The M.iit-houfe was equa l/ well set on fire by Lieut. Middle ton, of the Britannia, Lieut. Pater, continued in a most daring manner to brave the flames, in order to :ompleat the work where the fire feemef 1 I was to have caught imperfectly ed to call them off, left his fe. ,iuld become impracticable: his fituatiou was the more perilous, as the enemy's fire re doubled as soon as the amazing blaze of light rendered us diflindl obje&sof their aim. Lieutenant Ironmonger, of the Royals, remained with the Guard at the Gate till the lad, long after the Spanish Guard was withdrawn, and was brought fafcly off by Captain Edge, of the-Alert, to whom I had confided the important ser vice of closing our retreat and bringing off our detached parties, which were laved 10 a n\an. 1 was sorry to find myfelf depriv ed of the fuither services of Capt. Have : He had performed that of placing his firr fhip to admiration, but was blown into the water, and scorched, by the ex. plofinn of hei priming, when in the ast cf putting the match to it. Lieutenant Gore was affo much burnt, and I was con iequently deprived of him also, which I re gretted the rhore, from the recollection.of his bravery and a&ivity in this warm ser vice. The guns of the sir.'ship going off on both fides as they heated, in the dire&ion that was given them, towards those Quar ters from whence we were moil apprehen sive of the enemy forcing t,heir way in u oon us, checked their career, Theit bouts and Republican Songs, which we :ould hear d flluftiy, continued till they, rsrweTl 3?omXctves, were in a maun i tliun- ' Itriiruck by li.e cxplofion of some ti.ouf ihd barrels of Powder on board the liis Fiigate, lyi'g in t.ie Inner Road, witltout is, and wh en iiad been injudiciously set ji! I r by the Spanish Boats, in going -oft, niie d i,::>k, as ordered. The onci -iio ofair, ..J thefhowerof fa ling imbtr on fire* w s such asnearly to dellroy he whole of u:. Lietitcnant Pater,, cf he I'ei ribli, > thhis who'e Boat's/Crew, learly per'i■ ed ; the boat was nearly blown io pieces, but the men were picked up a live. The Ui iion Gun Boat, which was leareft to the Iris, fuffered confideiablv, Mr. Young being killed, with three men, and the vessel (haken to picces. I hsd given it in charge to the Spaniih officers to fire the (hips in the Baton before the town, but they returned, and reported that various obllacles had prevented their entering it. We attempted it together, as soon as we had compleated the business in the Arsenal, bu.t were repulsed in our attempt to cut the boom by repeated Vol lies of Mufquetry from the Flag ship and wall of the Battere'y Royale. The cannon of this battery had been spiked by thejudicious precaution takeuby the Go vernor, previously to the evacuation of the Town. The failure of our attempt on the /hips in the Bason before the town, owing to the infuffiviency of our forces, made me regret that the Spauifli gun boats had been withdrawn from me to perform other fer- vice. The-Adjutant Don Pedro Cotiel la, Don Francisco Riguelme, and Dun Francisco Trufello remained with me to the last, and I feel bound to bear teftitr.o ny of the zeal and activity witk which they performed the molt eflential services during the whole of the business, as far as the infufficiency of their force allowed being .reduced by the retreat of the gfun boats, to a single Felucca, and a mortar-boit which had expended its am munition, but contained 30 men with cut laflts. We now proceeded to burn the Hero and Thcmiftocle two Seventy four gun (hips, laying in the inner road. Our ap proach to them had hitheito been imprac ticable in bo3ts as the French prisoners who had been left in the bitter fliip were still i.n poffeflioß of her, and had shewn a
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