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