%i)e (Sajette. PHILADELPHIA, FRIDAY EVENING, Octobfr. \y. From ti? prrrsßukG gazette. MR. SCOI.T., BY publifojngr in your ufeful paper the letter from, the feqjcUry of State to the Spanifti Minister, the people of the Weftcrn Country will fee whit mifier>bjfc pretence*are fct up by the officers of Spamfhgovcrnmcn i ainft. the honest execution of thtiirtreaty with the United States, an 1 on the oth er hand they will he pleased with the candid, mar ly conduit of Col. Pickering the whole of this momentous bufine.fs Thq imitating the conduA ps Adet, has puMphcd hjs lift: ©f grievances and complaints, hut fortunately for hjmfclf and.his nation fhey appear to be defti tuteof foundation, or ev n plausibility, mere cap tious cavils for the purpose of delay How lons* are th- Spaniards thus to trifle with us ! Do they not know that more than half a million of <American»live on the western water whose dcareft interests demands a fulfilment, of this treaty, and who* called upon by our government, wfould in fant ty. open the navigation of the Mlflifilppi by force-—l ; et the western people read and for themCely —They will then have no hefitatioii a* to the pdice of their claims, the bad faith of the Spanii'. gover ors and mini ers, or an honorable vindication of thv rights of th? Western Country in any way auihorifed bsr our MaMonal Councils. AN OLD SETTLER. LETTER from Mr. PICKERING, ' Secretary of Slate, to the' Chevalier DE 2~R UJO, Envoy Extraordinary and Mi nifler Plenipotentiary of his Catholic Ma jejly to the United States of America. DEPARTMENT OF S'TATE. Philadelphia, August Bth, 1797. Sir, I duly received your letter of the 11 th of the last month, to which my other en gagements have till this time prevented an annvir. My additional report to the President of the United States, on the 3d of July, in relation to Spanish affairs, has offended you, and is mentioned as the cause of your writ jngto me on the 11 th. If, fir, I were now to make the just remarks and recriminations which your letter obviotifly suggests, I am afraid you would be still more offended. I am not stir? indeed, that I can possibly frame an answer that will escape your displeasure ; but I shall endeavour that it be expressed not in a flyle indecorous, unusual, and i/nbe coming a diplomatic correspondence, while it contains a fair exposition of fafts and ar guments, in opposition to errors and aftual irfifneprefentations. In refpeft to your fufpieions of an expe dition preparing oh the lakes by the British, for an attack upon Upper Louisiana, 1 have laid that you never mentioned a single faft or reason on which your fufpieions were founded. In contrafliftion to this afTertion, you fay that " In our conference on the 27th of February, you gave me informa ti«n that a corps of 350 men had been raised at Montreal, and marched towards the lakes, where, after the evacuation of the American posts, there was no ostensible objeft for them:" —" That you knew that the British agents had treated with forpe of the Indian nations in that country, concerning, the intended expedition ; and that you added, that you had received those advices from a person who might be de pended on, who had seen these new levies parting through Johnstown on their way to the westward." To this, fir, I answer, that I have not the flighted rccolleftion that you mentioned' either of these eircum ftanees ; —that the Secretary of War hap pened to come into my office while we were con»erfing, at which you expressed your fatisfaftion, and repeated your fufpieions, —and he fays you then mentioned no faft or reason as the ground thereof; and that when I mentioned the fubjeft to the Presi dent, certainly within ten or twelve days after this conference, I perfeftly remember making to him this remark—That in your letter of March 2d, you said you had three days before declared to me the just rba sons you had for fufpefting that the En yglifh were preparing the expedition in ques tion ; whereas you had offered me no reason at all. Hence I am obliged to conclude that you might have held such a conversa tion with some other person, and by mistake have applied it to me.—The Englilh iaifing 350 men—marching them through Johnf town —and with the Indians to promote the expedition—were eircumftanees which appeared perfeftly fiew to me when I received your letter of the 1 ith inft. I re member also, that the tonference ended by your faying you would write to me on the., fubjeft ; which evidently implied that your written reprefentution was to be the basis of any aft of mine, or of the government. In that letter, fir, if you pofTefTcd any grounds for your fufpieions, you ought to have dated them. For, contrary to the opinion you have now expressed, I have no hefitationin fayingthatthegovernmentof the United States was not bound to take notice of the vague and unsupported fufpieions of any minister; at least not to ineur expense, by its military arrangements, to prevent 6n imaginary expedition,' such as was the ob jeft of«yours. When you made a formal ftatemeut of your fufpieions, but without any faft to (hew that they were founded ; when the government of the United States pofieffed no other information, nor the knowledge of rniy eircumftanees indicative of the expedition ; £.nd when in itfelf it ap peared destitute of even the shadow of pro bability ; it was an aft of complaisance to a fill re you that it " would be anxious to maintain the rights of their neutral situation, and on all occasions adopt and pursue those menfures which should appear proper and expedient for that end." What these tnea-. fuivo should be, and when to be taken, the government itfelf would judge. It was an aft of still grcate* complai sance, when on the 21ft of April you re newed the declaration of your fufpieions, hut Jlill without ajftgrdng any reasons, for the government to refolveon, and to communi cate to you, what you are pleased to allow to be a " determinate disposition on this point." In the next sentence (as in many others) you misrepresent my expressions and misun derstand my meaning. Ido not fay, that " from your not having given me detailed information refpefting the expedition, and from the answer which I received from the British minister on the 19th of June, I be lieved the expedition to be groundless." But after remarking that you never mention ed a single fa ft or resfon to support your suspicious—l fay, " From all the bxis ting circumstances I ever believed the fufpicfon to be groundless." If proofs had existed, you would have produced them; for although intrigues and conspiracies for the military expedition may loßg be concealed; yet the preparations for an expedition (and such you were making) must.be vifibleto many; espe cially " on the lakes," here every movement for such a design wduld be unusual, and therefore attraft the more attention; and fatisfaftory proofs of such preparations would have been attainable: but you pro duced none. Another material circumstance I mull no tice—That troops of the United States were stationed at Niagara, on the Miami, at Detroit and Michilimackinack; and con sequently in fituatfons well calculated to pro test oar territory, as well as" to discover and get information of, any warlike preparations so considerable as such an expedition would require; and the officers commanding on those stations could not have failed to com municate such discoveries or information to the Deparrment ps Wan yet no such com munications were made. But it was also well known that they had not on the lakes a force adequate to the en terprize in question. .1 considered also the great difficulties that would attend the trans portation of troops, equipage, provisions, cannon, snd (tores, by eithei; of the routes fuggefted—,if either could have been taken without violating the territory of the Uni ted States. These when? eircumftanees abundantly fufficient to discredit nakedfufpicion; and the declaration of Mr. Liilon, in the note of the 19th of June, was mentioned, only as confirming the juftpefs of the opinion which which I had at firft formed in March, and which I continued to entertain of your sus picious. I might add, that at that early period, Mr. Lifton aflured me that he had no knowledge of such an expedition; and his inquiries of the governor-general of C n ada and the British secretary of state, have, enabled him positively to assert, in the.a bove note, that no such expedition was ever intended. And this faft repels your fng geftions that I had been " remiss" in not doing for two months, what, on my own principles, was proper to have been done. Buj! you think I ought not to have commu nicated your fufpieions of this expedition to the British minister, although " his mo tions were to be watehed." You think, on the contrary that the President should have given suitable orders to General Wilkinfon or to the commanding officer of the military force "on those frontiers: but have kept a perfeft silence towards the British—have let them complete their preparations (if anyhad been making) and colleft their army on the lakes—have let them move forward, until they should enter npon the territory of the United States : and feeing the President could not know before-h tnd, whether they wonld prosecute their march by " Fox river ; and Ouifconfion, or the Tllonois,'' we may suppose your ideas of the " suitable orders" j to the military to be—that at a great ex- ' pence the troops of the United States should be drawn into that country and divided into corps, to be posted on those rivers, to have fought the British army, and thus have de feated their enterprize. Sir, this is not the only instance in which, after having desired the American government to do some aft intsrefting to your own, you have then pre furoed to diftate how it should be done. " But (you fay) you never could have imagined that I would have giveu to the British minister a piece of advice, which might enable him to alter his plan, by let ting hrni know that th* former one was<lif eovered." And what, fir, was the plan of , the British to drfeat which you desired the American government to interfere ? Why, according to your fufpieions, it was to MARCH AN' ARMY THRCfUGH THE TERRI TORY OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST upper Louisiana. If then the commu nication of your fufpieions to Mr. Lifton would induce him " to alter his plan"—it would by a word or a letter, instead of an army, defeat the expedition *; for it was not possible it should go forward except thro* the territory of the United States ; and con sequently the communication, instead of dif- ; appointing, would have perfeftly accom- j plifhed what you requested. In your sth paragraph you are pleased to , mention what you consider as another o mission of duty. That although on the 2d of March you wrote your fufpieions, and three days you mentioned them ver- ' bally, yet offne 9th, I had not laid the mat ter before the President. I will take the' trouble to (how with how little reason you j have made this remark. The 2d «f "March was the day next prefceding the dilfolution • of Congress ; and at the close of a session the President is overwhelmed with business j that cannot On the 3d the ; then President's term of office expired. On the 4th the inauguration of the succeeding President was celebrated. The sth of t March was Sunday. The five following I days were not unoccupied ', and on the I ith of March the answer to your letter of the 2d was given. And although you attach' so much importance to your fufpieions, the details I have given prove that they were then - destitute of probability—that they wore in faft unfounded : and consequently of no importance ; that as such I then justly considered them ; and therefore needed no '• very powerful" motive to remain fiient five days. I cannot but regret that my reasoning is so often not understood. When reciting mv inquiry whether the pods occupied by the troops of Spain within the territory of the United States had been evacuated; aud your answer, that not having for some months heard from the Baron Caronde'a, you " were deprived of any information touching the steps taken fcr the execution of the treaty"—l put these last words be ween inverted comrnns, not as yon fay, " in order to draw attention"—but because they were an exact quotation from the tranflatiou of your letter. And when I added, in my report, " nevertheless he (the minifler of his Catholic roajefty) fiy inform ed the Baron de Carondelet of hiVfufpicions of a projected expedition from Canada 5" it was net to prove either that the Baron had received your letters, or that you had received his : but as that very information wasafiignedbv the Baron asavj-eafon for dill re taining and reinforcingthepofts,theobvious conclufijon was that you wrote and transmitted to him the information with that view : aiii Hence, that instead of disclaiming all know ledge on the fubjeft, candour should Have ! induced you to answer me, that although you had not received any late letters from the Baron, and therefore jfou could not fay what steps had aftually been taken for the evacuation qf the posts, yet that on account of the fufpefted expedition from the lakes, of which you had informed the Baron, you pfefumed (or you advised, and probably you did advise) that he would still hold polfefT ion of them "to cover Louisiana." This " logic," lir, I hope is intelligible ; and at any rate, not " extremely falfe." I cannot omit noticing your obfervafions on the sth paragraph of my report. If, as you were obliging enough to promise, you had favored me with copies of the Baron de Carondelet's two letters (of which you ui)- I dertook to give me an «>ral but literal tranfla ticm) instead of their « fubftAiice," I might j have:J>c<ni more-carreft in reciting his asser tion—That Mr. .Ellicot had not given him notice of his arrival at the Natchez as the commiflioner of the United States for run ning the boundary line. Whether this was a complaint, or an " observation," as ♦ju choose to call it, every reader of your letter will fee to be of no consequence. But whe ther the aflertion was founded or unfound ed, was material ; feeing, in the fame letter, Mr. Ellicot is charged with having " carried his zeal so far as to attempt to get pofTeflion of the.Natchez by surprize and an afler tion follows, that " Governor Gayofo fays he has in his power documeats which prove evidently the intention of this attempt."-r- This accusation against Mr. Ellicot I con sidered as injurious, not to him only but the government ; for which in the charafter of commiflioner he was appointed to aft. If other circum fiances. induced me to doubt its correftn'fs, the other complaint or " ob servation," which I knew to be unfounded, could not but increase my doubts. It was important, therefore, and my duty, to pre sent them together to the Prafident's notice. I have not " entirely mistaken" this matter. In my report to the President, I did not undertake to recite what you " mentioned," but what you translated from the Baron de Carondelet's letters : you repeated the charge in question ; and it was not till then I handed you the copies of the Baron's and Mr. Ellicott's correspondence (hewing the repugnance of faft to aflertion ; and it was then that you blushed ; as I had before been astonished. And your remark, afterwards, was what I have dated in my report, " That you supposed the Baron did not consider j Mr. Ellicott's letter as official." Youthen ! made no diltinftion between a complaint and.an " observation," nor used the phrase " in the rigour," nor any other qualifying wordi ; except those which are stated in mp report. Befide6, the baron had no right to expeft any other evidence of Mr. Ellicott's appointment than his letter,until they should meet for the purpose of commencing the business of their appointments \ when of cOurse they would mutually exhibit their commiflions. And from the baron's answer of the Ift of March, it is plain that he ex pefted no-other notice : ferAe therein re cognizes Mr. Ellicott as the commiflioner of j the United States., j x ln the last sentence of-your paragraph on this fubjeft you fay, " That when after a mixed and desultory conversation upon va rions fubjefts, you had collected and metho dized your ideas, and committed them to writing, my-anfwer and obfervatioris ought to have been confined to the written com munication.""—This observation, fir, is in accurate. It may, however, be applied *to a former part of your letter. You fay that in our conference on the 17 th of February, you mentioned to me the raising of 350 men at Montreal—that your informer saw them pass through Johnftown —and that you knew theßritifhagentshad treated with some of the Indian natiopsconcerning an expedition pre papingonthe lakes. But iu your letter of the 2d of March, in which left and methodize your ideas" on the fub jeft of your suspicions, you do not introduce one of those suspicions : of course, on your own principles,l ought,if they ever had been mentioned, to have considered them as nul lities. I In the Bth paragraph of your letter, you : observe that my proof obtained from Mr. Ellicott's messengers, that he did not at tempt to get poflefllon flf the Natchez fort Iby surprize, is merely negative. I offered it only as such. But the negative testimo ny of two meu of good characters against a faft yvhich they were likely to be acquainted with, .if it exified, and whose existence other circumstances rendered improbable, and the aflertion of which isrpingled u ,th afTertions, by the fame perfbn, of other fa£ts, of which some, or even one, is known to be unfound ed, merits confederation. There is, how ever, further evidence applicable to this cafe. In the letter dated at the Natchez the'jtli j ot May, from lieutenant. Pope to governor i Gayofo, you will fee-that the governor hnd made the like accusation against' the lieute nant. " A gentleman had informed him (the governor) that the lieateftant intended to attack the garrison at that place." Lieu tenant Pope, jullly hurt by the groundless aflertion, (lefires the informer may be named, and required to acquit himfclf of his afler tion, or be punifhod'as a falfeacenfer. The governor answers the next day,—speaks of the information as communicated to lieute nant Pope in familiar conversation; and adds, that the informer was to bedefpifed. Yet, from the pointed manner in which lie tenant P<>pe made the demand, it is evident that the information was presented to him as a serious accusation. After this detail, will it not be conjeftured, thai the governor's " documents" refpefting Mr. Ellicott's " attempt" are of a piece with his, " fami liar conversation" with lieutenant Pope con cerning his " intended attadjk ?" -PHILADELPHIA, FRIDAY EFENIVC,, OC rOB r .R 13. CITY HOSPITAL REPORT, From 12th to 13th Oft. in the morning. Admitted, since last report, James Colhoun—Northern Liberties. Daniel Rofs—Cox's AlWy, between Front and Second streets. John Lamon—Plumb ftreet,between 3d and 4th street. Joliah Holmes—Christian, above 2d street. Jane Carney—-George's street, between Plumb and Shippen. Discharged, since last report. Mary Haywood, amitted 10th ult. Jane Conley, 3d inft. ' Catharine Hotter, 7th do. Died since last report: James Colhouu, 17 hours after admiflion. Remaining last report - 45 Admitted since 5 50 Discharged 3 Died 1 4 d . ■tt f ~ f Conralefccnt 12146 Remain in Hospital. j gick 34 f In'erred since last report. From city and suburbs 8 Hospital 1 Total 9 Stephen Girard. (Signed) Caleb Lowves. John Connelly. by order of the Board, Wm. MONTGOMERY, Chairnan pro tern. The Infpeftors of the Health-Office feel it their duty to advise their fellow-citizens, whose families are out of town, not to re turn to the city for a few days ; for at present there is a great appearance of the prevailing fever's subsiding, still as an un favorable change may take place, those who are OHt of town, we conceive, had better not move in, particularly to the lower parts of the city and Southwark, until the disor der has more generally subsided ; and in the mean time to employ proper persons to air and cleanse their houses- Publilhed by order of the Board, W m. -Montgomery, Chairman pro tem. Oftober 13, 1797. Married, last evening, Jonathan Wil liams Condy, Esq. to Miss Eliza Hop- daughter ofthe Hon. Francis Hop kinfon, deceased. Died, on Wednesday last, of the present contagion, Mr. Charles Davies, of th;s city. ELECTION. Chejler County Return. senator. Joseph M'Clellan, 2226 John Shoemaker,* 106 Lindfay Coates, 60 assembly'. Roger Kirk, 2313 Thomas Bull, • 1805 James Hannum, *947 A biah Taylor, 1745 * Joseph Hemphill, 17 13 Montgomery County Return. senator. Joseph M'Clellan, 763 Lindfay s Coates, 603 John Shoemaker, 361 assembly. Cadwalader Evans, icoo *Benjamin Brooke, 947 * Peter Muhlenberg, 880 •Nicholas Bellew, 866 Henry Pawling, 865 Joseph Tyfos, 835 Abraham Shultz, 775 Seth Chapman, 164 * New members. Montgomery connty fends four members. Some accounts make Mr. Bellew, and Mr. Pawling equal in number of votes. Thfe diftrift composed of and Montgomery counties, elefts one Sena tor this year. Mr. is unquellion ab!y chosen. By the eafterp papers it appears that the malig- Inaiit fever which has lately pr.evailad at Providence is entirely extinguished'—! he Uudcrits are invited to return to the college. 'the frofts which have taken p'aee since Tuesday will probably defiroy the residue of the ) ci,0 lever in this city—lce of near j-4 of an inch in thicknels, was offetved yefteraay momiDg about four mives from town. F RT£ at A In (hi Latin cjuotation fr- m Diemerbraeck, in yes ttrday's Gazette. Ir the c'.fe' of Herniations Thom.-s, in 'ojini, for " farfuinis ,unc : e iiiii' ro" read, Sangu:: i. tine': 10, e Sinilire—ln the id exttaA, ad line, for '■ rcpta'jkxus,"'r;ad, repctal-anius. ' GAZETTE MARINE LIST. Pour cf Philadelphia. Ai i 'mcd at the Fort. Ship Commerce, Chamberlain, Port-au-Prince. Schr, Ringer, Friar, Jacqucmel. Sloop Barrett, Smith, Driver, Brent, do. - _ New- fork, Oft. ii. Arrived. Schr Aaive, Froji Philadelphia The 19 tb Sept. ajleet of ships arrived at Port au Prince, from Jamaica, with troops on board—their number unknown as they had not landed on the 20th, when our informer failed —— I' ft there Ship j&fon Capt. Pintard, of New- Tori. Names recollected coming in the f.cetfrom Port au Prince—Brig Rofinna, capt. Mi ner—flow Nancy, Webb—Left in the keys— fcm\ Tbomasifor Philadelphia,floop Driver, . do. brig Nancy, do. BOSTON, OCT. 8. Arrived, fchr. Martin, Choate,, Demara ra, 49 days, via Portland, 10 days. Left there captains Gage, Smith, and Patterfon, in brigs belonging here ; several other A merican veflels, names not remembered.— Spoke nothing. ' PIRACY and CR UELTT. Same day, brig Peace and Plenty, Dun bar, St. Croix, 24 days. In hit. 23, N. long. 65, 35, W. was boarded by a French privateer brig, From Guadalonpe, under Eng li(h colours. The particulars of the treat ment which capt. D. received, is thus re corded by him. " The capt. of the priva teer came on board, with five of his crew, and demaaded my papers,; after examinati on, ordered all my trunks and chests to be opened, and topk from them all the money they contained, with the letters, which,, he opened 5 he tiaok all our stock, and cahin stores, with all the spare running rigginga, fails and blocks, and cut one studding-sail from the yard ; he also took one caflv of rum, belonging to the cargo, and a cafe that bilpnged to capt. Haynes, who wa-i to have come paflenger, contents unknown. Af ter plundering us of the above articles, he fuffered his people to rob us of what they pleased ; and so fully devoted were they to the bufmefs of thieving, that they took eve ry article they could find, even to the knives, forks, spoons and tumblers, and in fad e very article remaining in the cabin.—He then put two seamen on board, that were taken a few days before from the brig Fav orite, SifTon, of Baltimore, master, and Mr. Taylor, supercargo, with a cargo of 50,000 dollars. The capt. of the privateer wished to put capt. SifTon and Mr. Taylor on board my vessel ; but they infilled on Haying aboard the privateer, and demanded to know the fate of their property, which spirited behaviour produced on the com mander of the privateer, a condudl, unwor thy a man, for pn their refufal to quit the privateer, he inhumanely flogged them Besides capt. Siflbn, there were feyeral other American mailers and seamen on board the names except one, not to be as certained, this individual's name was .John Barnes, of Marblchead :—A few hours pre vious to our being boarded, the privateer took a sloop from Rhode-Jfland, captain Briggs, bound to Cape Francois, who he said was a good prize. To add insult to our misfortune, this inhuman pirate threat ened to take me on board his and in fljdl an ignominious, -puniflimcnt on me ; and fitiifhed his brutal behaviour by difmifling me, with a curse on my country, and a de clared determination to rob every American veflel he could not make a prize of." Rum. at St. Croix, 15th ult. was from 80 nBS cts. gall. Sugar, C. 9 dolls. 1 Ar ived in town ladevening, capt. Crust, late of the barque Pomona, and Dudley I Colman, jun. late of the Telenwchus, both i taken and carried into Carthagena, proper | ty condemned. By this day's Mail. NEW-YORKToaober 12. Lafl Saturday evening a very sudden fg tti / of wind and thunder came up from the S. W. the S. E. fiajk of which passed over this city, but did no great mifchief. The h'eaviejl part of this f quail passed into Wejlchdler county ; and we learn, that the effeSs of it in North Salem were mofl terrible ; the houfet-if Mr. Nor th rup, Mr. Titus, Mr. Shearman, Mr. Smith and several others, were unroofed ; several hundred apple and other trees, torn up by the roots ; a young daughter of Mr. Nortlfrup car riedfeveral rods by a whirlpool, isfc. Difficulties having arisen within a few days refpeßing the value of ENCH CROWNS we are authorised to pulUJh, that crowns are received at the banks,for 110 ccnte, or eight Hillings and ten pence. [B/3. P. C.~] BALTIMORE, O(Sober 11. BOARD of HEALTH. BURIALS In the weft part of Baltimore, heretofore called the towh, for the lad 24 hours end ing thi|S morning at fun-rife. 2 Adults, 1 Child. ■ Burials in the east part, called Fell's Point 1 See. including the Potter's Field. 3 Adults, j Child. (Signed) Jofffplr Townfend, clerk* O&ober 10. Arrived at the fort, (hip Neptune, capt. Daniel Jaberdom, from Alicant—Captain Jaberdom put a number of .mailers of vessels alhorc at Hampton rvads, on his pafTage up. A Meeting of the Sele'ft arid Com mon Councils WILL b* held, at io o'clock in the,for?noon f n Tu-fday-next, at the St'ate-houfe, in the city of Philadelphia, for the purpose of ele&ir.g a M VY-OR; as the ele&icn can be held on no o'her J.ay, the attendance ofa'l the Members is par ticularly requeued. By order, WIZ.UAM M. TOD, Cltrit onh* Selodl Council. EDWARD J. COALE, Clerk of the Common Council. O&wber T3. $*T The printers of the city are requeued to nubiiih the foregoing in their several gazette.
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