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For the Gazette of the UnitedStatls.
To JOSEPH PRIESTLY, l. l.d. &c.
Sir,
A Itrmger arrived in a new country
with whose opinions, habits, and manners,
he has but that imperfett acquaintance
which is formed by literary correfpon
dtnce, v.iil be fafer by preserving a fe
fj-eclfu' distance from, than by an inti
mate union witbj any party who may step
forward ar.d endeavor by a flattering ad
driis lo prepofitfs his mind in their fa-
Vir.
Your anfwef to the address of the De
nocratic Soeiety cf New-York, is modcft
ind dec ent, it conveys ideas of peace ai;d
harmony with all the World, but diffeiing
fn m their expectations.
They hoped to find in yon the enemy of
thofc who have persecuted you—theytruf
ted tbr.t you weie like themfelve* unable
to forgive injuries or to forget wrongs
done.ii/ or to, themselves ; that becauie
you have written and preached in favor of
the Unity of the Deity, you therefore,
with liitm, were adverle to the principles
of Chriitinnity, inculcated ill the sermon
"of Jefys (brill, delivered on the Monnt
tif dives, <v herein he tells US that " Blrf
" fed are the reaej-makers for they fliall
" be called the Children of God," Matt.
v. 9. " BleiTed are ye when men (hall
" revile y;u, and persecute you, and fay
" all manner of Evil again 3: you falfely, for
my fake; Rejoice and be glad: For great
■"is your Reward in Heaven: For so
persecuted they the Prophets, which
" were before you," Matt. v. 11 and 12.
Your answer to them convinces a number
of your friends that they were and are
mistaken in their ideas of your refent
mer.ts. There are few men in America,
who will not be happy in the acquain-
tance of a person diiiinguifhed as ypu are
by your researches in philosophy and ma
thematics—and the moderation of your
enquiries into moral, natural, and revealed
religion, and you will reap in this Wes
tern World a tempoial enjoyment of a
well earned reputation, if yoit preserve
yourfelf from the spirit of party.
But, Sir, you ?.rc in danger—a party
is endeavoring to make a merit to them
selves of your weight and influence—Be-
ware, Sir,, of calling it into the fca'e on
cither fide. In the preponderant scale,
its value wiil be ijft by a sri xturc with the
majority—in the lighter scale it will kick
the beam with yonrafTociates and be found
wanting :—Preferve it then; for rhe good
of mankind, by your guarded conduct,
and let us (who have only heard from a
ditlance) fee that your virtues are truly
Chnftian, tho' you express doubts of the
Divinity of our Saviour; that you believe
in the rr.efiage, tho' you doubt the cha
• rafter attributed to the Meflenger, and
that persecuted in one City you have fled
to another, only for peace and repose.
Be afflired Sir, that there is no perfe
ction here against opinion?, and that
however different your's may be from
that of the majority, you may write, print
or preach them, without danger of per
secution of any kind ; and that while we
are inftrufted by those parts, of your doc
trines, which with freedom we imbibe, we
fhnll never be angry because we cannot
fublcribe to those which we reject, nor
fuipeft you of being displeased for the
Cxercife of our free will.
Conducting yourfelf in this way, your
private virtues, your indultry in the pur
s iit of knowledge ufeful to mankind, will
render ypur name refpefted as Franklin's
—-by a contrary conduit, by coalescing
with any' party whatever, you will cer
tainly diminish your.fame as much as the
opposite party is proportioned to that
whiohi.yxSu (hall adopt, and poflibly by
the merger of that party, fink the whole
of your well earned reputation in a long
Yours, See.
Phil. June 7th, 1794,
CONGRESS.
HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES.
"f Mr. Sedgivicl's observations, in
House of R-prrfcn 'ativet, on the mo
o/ Mr. Gersdbuc, for an ir.dcmr.ifica
' t the fpaliatians committed on slme-
ommerce.
not been his wifli, Mr.
'-."ilorverj, tmt this, question
'■ ' "uught forward at the preient
time. As it was, however, be r ore the
House, as he approved the motiies of his
colleague, who made .the motion, and as
he perfedtly concurred with him :n opini
on on the fubjedt, he should make a few
concifc observations.
He believed he said that in a govern
ment (nth as that of this coiintry, it was
the peculiar duty of those, to whom the
administration has been committed, to ex
tend security and protection to all the in
terelb, and redress for all the injuries of
the citizens. That inexcusable and unex
ampled injuries had been perpetrated, and
an immense value in property unjufily spoil
ed, and that the honor of our country had
been insulted, without provocation, were
facts admitted by all. Those whose pro
pel ty had been the sport of wanton viola
tion, which in many inftartces had reduced
the fufferers from ease and affluence, to
want and mifsry ; come forward and de
mand redress and indemnification. That
they were entitled to such indemnification,
from the nature of our social compact he
understood to be agreed by every gentle
man. (Here Mr. S. was interrupted by
several members, and Mr. Nicholas and
Mr. Smilie declared that in their opinion, 1
there was no obligation to indemnify the
fufferers, except it were done cut of a fund
to be formed by the sequestration of Bri.
tifh debts.) Mr. S. said he was much o
bliged to the gentlemen for setting him
right; till now he had believed that the
right of the fufferers to indemnification
was denied by none. If this however was
Really a question, yet to be decided, it
Was due to the fufferers, it was due to our 1
own honor to decide it without delay.
It was asked, he said, by what means
is the government to administer- redress;
They were lirft to apply to the govern
ments which had infli&ed the injuries, to
state their nature, and extent, and to de
mand in unequivocal terms redress. This
bufincfs notwithstanding all the opposition
which had been made was happily irt a
proper train. He hoped, and believed
the application would be effedlual. It
might however fail; and in that cafe he
was free to declare, that we owed it to our
honor, and to our injured citizens, to at
tempt redress by means of the Fall, resort.
In that unhappy event, the interest of the
fufferers must be involved with the general
interests of the nation, and must abide the
result-os war.
But if fatisfaflion should not be obtain
. Ed by negociation,«and should the govern
j nient from any political confederation, not
seek redress by force in such events, the
fufferers would have a just claim on their
country for indemnification.
The question now immediately before
the House was, to fefer the motion for
indemnification to the committee of the
whole on the fubjedt of sequestration.
This was not fair, as refpe&ed that part
of the Hojife who approved the engage
ment to indemnify, and who would never
consent to sequestration. It was not fair
as refpe&ed the fufferers, because he be
lieved there was not a gentleman in the
House who supposed that the measure of
sequestration would prevail. He was asto
nished that any should believe that it
ought to be adopted. He liimfelf with
out hesitation approved of engaging to
indemnify the fufferers ; but at the fame
time with all his heart, he abhorred seques
tration and confifcation of debts as the
measures which all civilized nations had
for more than a century abandoned as im
moral and unjust.
He would not now enter into a difcufTi
on of the question of sequestration. When
ever it came directly under consideration,
he pledged himfelf ro undertake to prove
that it was againit the law of nations, that
it was immoral, unjust, and impolitic. He
had been sorry to perceive that the feelings
of the mover of that proposition (Mr.
Dayton) were wounded, by the terms in
which gentlemen had spoken of his mo
tion. He himfelf, in his conscience, be
lieved it to be immoral and unjust, and as
such he felt himfelf bound as a man of ho
nor to give it his strenuous opposition.
The gentleman surely could not reasonably
expect that independent men, would fa
crifice opinion to politeness or to friend
ship. All he could do and that he did
with pleasure, was to dcclare that he be
lieved the gentleman's motives were pure
and upright, and that he had a perse&
confidence in the correftnefs of his moral
lentiments.
SENEX.
Viewing the fubjeft in the light he had
cxprefTed, he appealed to the candor and
fairnels of gentlemen, to what tended the
combining of those irritative questions of
[ indemnification and sequestration, hut to
j wound the feelings and evade the just ap
plication of the fufferers ? f
he said, had charged his
colleage, and those who had supported his
motion, with attempting, by these means,
meanly to court popularity. To refute
this chargo would, in his opinion, be un
necessary, because no well-informed man
in America could believe it. He did not
know that the opinions, which were held
by his friends and himfelf, on this fubje<£t,
were popular. It was fufficient that they
were believed to be just. Was he, how
ever, disposed to recriminate, by disclos
ing motives which were not avowed, but
concealed, he could tell a tale, which, he
believed, would be heard with effe£k.
From the commencement of the admi
nirt;ration of this government, certain gen
tlemen, and particularly those of the eastern
states, had been charged with regulating
i their political conduct by local considerati
ons. That they had difregaided the inter
[ eft of every part of the United States, but
the particular diftri&s of the country from
I which they came. The charge was now
' reversed—those diflri&s have fuffered in
j finitely beyond their neighbors, by the ef
i fefts of those measures of which we com
! plain; and notwithstanding all this, the re
-1 prefentatives of those diftri&s all at
; once so totally changed," have become so
1 tame, so torpid, as to be regardless of the
| interests and fufferings of their immediate
I < onftitu nts. " Not," said he, is this all;
our kindfouthern brethren have, from pure
disinterested benevolencej and with a most
acute sensibility, determined to procure
for our conltituents that redress to which
we are indifferent.
It had been fair!, that the gentlemen
vho wlfe in favor of indemnification, had
tppofed every measure of energy. They
lad indeed opposed certain measures, to
which they would give a very different ap
pellation. They had not only favored, but
had been the authors of every measure of
refpe£tab!e efficiency, as well in refpeft to
force, as the means of defraying the expen
ces which our (ituation had rendered it ne
cessary fhotild be incurred. He need not
fay who had opposed those measures,
PHILADELPHIA,
JUNE 10.
From a Corrcfp^ndint.
The diforganizers of this country who
pretend to be the (launch friends of liber
ty, have long since forfeited all right to
that diflirguifhed character.
The rial friends of the equal rights of
man, while they lincerely rejoice at the
triumphs of freedom and justice in every
quarter of the globe, regret excefles which
not only tarnilh the lustre of the belt of
causes, but put to hazard the eventual es
tablishment of a fret government.
The partizans of discord on the other
hand, have uniform-y Ihouted hofannas to
the triumphing faction in France, let it
consist of whom it will, and have jultified
the measures of men who have destroyed
each other Can this be right ?
Jn the General Advertiser of Friday la ft,
there is however a paragraph which devi
ated for a moment from this hitherto uni
form line of condu&. The fate of the
celebrated Danton who has fallen tinder
the axe of the guillotine, through the pre
valence of a competitor—is there attribu
ted " to the manoeuvres of the aristocrats"
—nor is this all, the exigence of rival fac
tions is not only recognized, but it is also
con. r e[Tcd that, instigated by the aristocrats
thefc fadlions destroy each other. This
was going too far—it was a concefiion in
favor of truth and common sense, that lays
the axe to the root of the whole system of
anarchy—the next day we accordingly
find in the General Advertiser another
tune is introduced—the man who it is fug.
gelled, has fallen a vi<3im to aristocracy,
is denounced as a Traytor, an ambitious,
avaricious wretch. It is now said, " his
love of money directed his steps in the
high road to the guillotine ," that he was
"lepeatedly bribed, and in Belgia purloin
ed a large sum of money that he had
" risen from poverty to the possession of
immense fortune, which he must have ac
cumulated by malpractices —if bring
ing such a man to the guillotine is aristo
cratic, (and this is affcrted in the General
Advertiser,) what mull the people of
France think of Arillocracy ?
Extra<fl as a letter from London, dated
March 24th, 1794.
ii 1 he political horizon of Europe begins
to brightenthere are ftroneer hone,
twined of the French Republic ucinl
to detach the Pruflian from the coalition r 1
tyrants : his coffers are perfeflly draißed ,
his preoeceffor had 68,000,000 of dollars in
rial specie locked up in his palace, but thev
are flown. France we know has made him
ad\ ".ices of money T England feat last wet V
to the fame person half a million ; perhar,,'
he 11 keep both and remain inactive. Till
this negociation is terminated youare'nof to'
eXpect any conliderable attack to be mad*
by France.
The loan of the minister here of ii.ooo.cco
was applied for by lenders to the amount of
71 millions, they expe&ed to clear 8 or 10
per cent, but the omnium has nsver rea" l »d
beyond 1 i-j so that the subscribers f«I
much chagrin in their diiaopointin.'iit. Near
3000 tickets of the lottery, now drnvine
were held hy the purrhallrs of the hct'Jv
when the drawing commenced, by which on
a fair calculation they Ihould lose 100 00a
The bonus (a term made use of in Chanee
Alley) in the new loan of a lottery ticket ij
found to be nothing in (lead of 11 or 'ir
pounds, which th-y hive been wofth'in <"ormi.
er years ; they cannot vend them at more
than 10 pounds. I hope vou manage the e
things better in Philadelphia; as well as
* rancc * Gqi. Adv.
Laieji European Intelligence,
Tranfiatcd from Par'u paper by
the Jbip Harmony, Ci.pt. Qfmon.
PARIS, April 7.
For some time pall the ftrifleft Dolic» is
observed here. The committees of public
lafety continue to purine with indt'feti»aUe
zeal all the enemies of liberty under whate
ver mask they endeavor to''-j>hreaf them
selves. The atidacity of public ;,qt:*:!c3 is
seen no more ; and the p;r,ple, u hot- every
I sentiment and with eemtrs in t!:- national
convention, becomes enlightened ar.d appears
armed against the intrigues which were tiif
traeling them in every quarter.
Every day a crowd of the emiHirieii of
foreign powers is arrested, also emigrants
and intriguers who were prctefled iiy the
faiflion which lias been annihilated.
Frequent visitS are made 111 the public
places. The several theatres have been search
ed. On the sth, at ,eight in the evening,
the ci-devant Palais : Royale was furroimried,
and it is laid that several accomplices of the
last conspirators were am-lled.
April u.
From Toulon, April 2.
The Duqupfne ?.nd the Corvettee la
Fauvette arrived here yefterd j y evening,
with a fleet of 20 vefltfs from Marleilles,
lo ioed on the Repnblic's scc.iunt, with
ammunition Bcr. of all Und* for this aTfe
nal. They fell in with three enemy's vef
fe's, one of which came with si gunfliot of
the Duquefne, Kit the Republican v.ffcl
preparing tc> receive her, {he tacked about
and made off. The naval preparations
proceed with an aftivitv unknown under
the old government, Already we have fit
ted out several vessels of fyrce, which are
employed to convoy merchantmen. The
state of the vefftls in the harbor follows:
Firlt division armed and ready for sea
The Sans Culotte ot 80 guns
The Tonnant of 74
The Timoleon of 74
The Genermx of 74
The Heurenx of 74
Second division, Arming.
The Languedoe of 80
The Cenfeur of 74
The Duquefne of 74
The Conquerant of "4
The Guerrier of 74
Third division, Equipping.
The Ca Ira of 80
The Mercure of 74
The Alcide of 74
Tlie Souvermn of 74
The Barrat of 74
Makes five (hips of the line ready for
sea, five nearly ready, and rive preparing.
Add to tliefe, a vast number of frigates,
corvettes and ether light veilils.
April 12.
On the iotli 25 persons :ppeared be
fore the tribunal. The ast of accusation
mentions them as the accomplices of the
infamous Hebert, Clootz, and others,
who have already received the punishment
due to their crimes. They are accused
of conspiring againit the liberty and fa fif
ty of the French people, of wishing to
disturb the tranquility of the republic, by
a civil war, dnring which, in the mentis
of Ventofe and Germina 1 , the coirfpira
tors were to difTblve the National Conven
tion, aflafdnate some of the members a:>d
other patriots, deftrov the republican go
vernment, flize the reigns of anminiftra
tion and give a tyrant to France. Their
names follow :
P. Gafpnrt! (Anaxagoras) ChswwnfWtt
aged 3 1 ; man of letters, fx-agent of the
commune of Paris.
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