better tUflf Conjjrefs fhruld be convened at some other place, t:nn that furh a postpone ment should take place. He did not think the President asked for more than this 5 and so far from being difrefpeftful, he thought it the only way in which the bill could be agreed to. Mr. Harper admitted, that if nb other cafe were contemplated by this bill than the one lately experienced, the proposed limit might be admitted, as harmlcfs ; as by the Constitution, Congress must have been in fefiion about the beginning of December, and thirty days would not have elapsed from the second Monday in November to the pe riod fixed by the constitution for the meet ing of Congress. He truft:d, however, they should tot pass a law without an ofcjcft. Suppose, said he, Congress flood adjourned to the Ift of July, or lft of August, and a contagious disorder should break out, or an enemy invade the city, a few day* before eit'uet of those periods, might it not be de finable that the President (hould have the # p«wer of postponing the meeting for longer than thirty dap* ? If such a disorder were to break out in June, could it be supposed that it would subside in July, when it was clear to every one that nothing but froft. will fiut an end to the contagion ? This amend ment, therefore, where it could be afted up on' at all, would be mischievous, aad in other cases perfectly nugatory. As to refpeft and confidence,-he did not mean that they should be induced by them to do an im;n oper thing. Cut if it were proper to place the power in question in the hands of the President, he would not have it so placed as to be nuga tory and foolifh. The gentleman had found out that refpeft could only be personal, though all mankitid had agreed that refpeft might be paid to offices, separate from per sons. He never supposed that the law would be particularly difrefpeftful to the present President; but it seemed to (hew too grt'at a jealousy of the Executive Depart ment. The 1 gentleman feemed-to think the difficulty would be removed by the Prefi dertt's- having the power to convene Con gress at-a different place; but he did not consider what expence and trouble would attend a removal of all the Machinery of government. He could not suppose that if the proposed power were placed in the Pre- | fident, that he would postpone Congress for ( a longer period, at arty time, than was ne cessary. His own credit would be a fuffi cient guard agaiiaft this. The Gentleman from Pennsylvania himfelf could scarcely be lieve that it would not. Mr. Swanwick said, that when congress adjourned to any other day than that fixed th|> Constitution, they had doubtless some reason for doing so. If this were the cafe, why (hould they put it in the power of the President to fruftrate their views. But th* expence of removing the government had been objefted against. This could not be allowed to be so great an evil as the part ing with the power which had been vested in them, of fixing their own time of meeting. He thought the motion of his colleague to limit the postponement to thirty days, would be'' lite fuffieient, if fnch a power was ne cessary at all, though be thought that of convening congress at any other place, was fuffieient tp guard against the contingencies which Wfbeen mentioned. ' Mr. Nicholas believed giatleraen could not fifrnre to themselves a cafe where, if a postponement were proper, thirty days would not be a fuffieient time. The con stitution said, they (hould meet once a year; but that the two houses (hould have power to adjourn themselves to any time that they thought proper ; and if they agreed to meet in July or August, as the gentleman from S. Carolina had fuppoftd, was it proper that the President of, the United States (hould have thepower of preventing them ? He would agree, that in all likelihood, his refpeft for his own charafter and his refpofibility, Would in general, prevent him from mak ing an improper use of this power ; yet still it was a power vested in the legifiature, and it fhonld be recollefted that in placing the different powers of the government, there had always been a jealousy over the execu tive. He could well suppose that c Yes might exist, where the wishes of a President to do right, might be counterafted by in terefl. It was possible that the President and legifiature might have different views, and it might be extremely important to him to effeft his purposes, to have the power of postponing the meeting of congress. If these different cases were within the view of the framera of the constitution, when they arranged the several powers of the govern ment, they ought to be touched with a de-, licate hand. The law before them was meant to operate principally against any fu ture contagious sickness. To give the pow er of l postponing congress for five or fix months, would he an improper power. No thing that he had fcen of the present gov ernment could lead him to suppose that such a situation of things as tbat which he had mentionad (hould ever take place, by a disa greement in the different branches, but he believed the distribution of powers had been made with a view to thefe 1 differences. He therefore hoped, the power would be limit ed. Mr. Thatcher did not know that the house could be engaged on a fubjeft of less importance than the present amendment ; for if they looked back upon a'l the adjourn ments which had taken place since the com mencement of tfie government, there had been only one or two cases in which the .a mendment could have operated ; and it was not. probable that in fifty years to came, there would be another. He supposed a number of cases, in which the amendment would either have no effeft, or a bad one. He hoped, therefore, it )vould be disagreed tq. Mr- Wadfworth could fee no good effeft which itie amendment could produce, as the time was already limited by the constituti onal day, and thinking it unncceffary, he (hould be opposed to it. , The question upon the amendment was p\it, and negatived, 4.5 to 44. 1 lie question now heuigon the engrossing of the bill for a third reading, Mr. N. Smith said, he did not at present fee the propriety of palling this bill. Per haps gentlemen in favour of it, could fatis faftorily explain its principles. They had not been explained, and until tjiey were, he should not be willing to vote for it. The Constitution, he said, provided that there should be one session in a year, commencing the firft Monday in December. Thebill be fore them provided that whenever an earlier period of meetiag should be fixed by law, that the President (hould have the power to poftpon* the meeting, provided that the postponement did notgo beyond the consti tutional day. Now he supposed there Viould not be a meeting of Congress before the constitutional day, except by an express law. If this were the cafe, it followed, that whenever the legifiature should pass a law for an earlier meeting, they could at the fame time provide for asy difficslty which might arise. Tire Prttfidefit might be au thorised to delay the meeting, in cafe of ne cessity, to the constitutional day, or any o ther ; but why pass a general law to provide for inconveniences which may possibly grow out of some future law ? He had heard of legiflatureS. providing for difficulties arising from laws which they had passed, but never far fueh as might be' supposed to grow out of future laws, the parting of which was wholly uncertain. As well might they fit down and provide for inconveniences which may grow out of a law laying a land tax ; since that law may pass, and some gentlemen may wish and expeft it will pass. He tho't however, it would be tim» enough to pro vide for the difficulties arising under it, af ter it was passed. He might be told that be told that the law, notwithstanding the objeftion he had brought against it, would do no harm; but this was not a fuffieient reason for him to vdte for it : before lie did this, he must believe it would dogotd. The question on engrossing was £ut, and negatived, 58 to 32. Of course tbe bill was'loft. Mr. Livingfton, from the Committee of Commerce and Manufaftiires, made an un favourable report on the petitions of Archi bald Cook, Abiel Wood, and Robert Coo per, who all prayed for the remission of duty on goods, which had been loft and deftroy |ed. On motion of Mr. Sewall, this report was re-committed, as he said he had receiv ed some frelh documents in support of the claim of R. Cooper. Mr. Thatcher also wished that the cafe of Cook and Wood might be also recommitted.-*—Agreed. Mr. A. Foster called for the order of the day oh the report of Committee of Claims on the petition of Edward St. Loe Liv<;rmore, ■ which being agreed to, the House went into a comuiitte of the whole on the fubjeft. i It appears that from the fingalar situati on of the Judge of the Diftrift of New- Hampshire, on the 3d of April, 1794, Con gress were induced to pass an aft, whereby the duties enjoined on the Diftrift Judges, by the aft " to regulate the claims to inva lid pensions," were transferred, as far as re luted to the diftrift of New-Hampshire, to *he Attorney of the said diftrift, whose du ty it was thereby made to perform the fame. The objeft of this petition is to obtain com penfatio* for the difeharge of th£ said duties > and as duties have been required and per formed under the laws of the United States, by the petitioner, the committee conceived ; he was entitled to a reasonable compensation j and submitted a rrfolution to the House, au thorising the accounting officers of the Treasury to fettle his account. This report occasioned some debate. It was supported as reasonable by Messrs. D. and A. Foster, Gordon and Brookes, and opposed by Messrs. Nicholas and Coi|, 011 the ground, that no expence was ever con templated to be incurred by the business in question, and that if they allowed a compen sation in this cafe they might expeft appli cation from all the officers of the United States, whenever any new duty was laid u pon them by laws subsequent to their ap pointment. The report was negatived 43 to 31, and the House concurred in the votes. Mr. Sitgrcaves said, the House had made afubjeft the order of the day for to-morrow upon which he did not think they had fuf fieient information; he meant the bill rela tive to Foreign Coins. The last report which had been received from the Direftor of the Mint was in 1796, and all the calcu lations which had been made in the course of the late debate were founded upon that Report, and not upon the present aftual state of that establishment. He should, therefore, propose a resolution to the fol lowing effeft: " Resolved, that the direftor of the mint be direfted to report to this House a state ment of all the Bullion deposited in the mint since his last report, and an account of gold and Silver Coin issued from the Mint in the fame period; distinguishing in the ftatcment of deposits, the Foreign Coin from the Bul lion." Mr. Nicholas had no objeftion to this if it were not meant to postpone confideration of the bill which the gen tleman had alluded to; as any postponement of that business would have the effeft which some gentlemen had said was already pro uuced, of dbing all the mifchief which the aft, if not repealed, was calculated to pro duce. He could fee no "ffeft which this re port could produce as to the bill in ques tion. Mr. Sitgrcaves said, the gentleman from Virginia misapprehended his intention, if he supposed he meant to delay for a single mo ment the bufiuefs he alluded to. If he had any such intentions, he would have taken a direst mode of effefting his purpose: he left it to others to pursue their ends by indireft means. He wished only to correft the state ments which had been made on tbe fubjeft, collefted from an old report, ".'Mch might be done and sent to the Houfo by to mor row morning.—Carried. Mr. Sewall presented the petition of Si mon Forrefter, praying for the *mifi)on of the duty on certain hemp which had been destroyed by lire.—Rcferre" t« the commit tee of commerce and manufactures. On motion of Mr. Sftgwaves, the reso lution referring that part of the Prelident's speech which had reference, to a proviiion for the expences of carrying into effeft the 6th article of the Treaty wi h Great-Bri tain, to a committee, was referred to the committee of ways and means. Adjuttrntd. PENNSTL FAN IA L ■■GISLATURE. ZJ " • rlouss of Representatives. December 16. A retitiin from a number ol citizens of Ch m b-t ib-irgli 111 the county of Franklin, praying an aA to incorporate that town, was prcfinted, rtaj ■and referred to a committee. A Setter from Jonathan Williams and Reynold Keen two of theaffociatt judges of this diftriit, stating the various ferviccs they are called upon, to perform, the great length of time such services require, and the incompetence of their salaries, W.'.J pie'.ented and read. Mr. Evans called up his rcfcilution for the ap pointment of a committer to bi>iii£ ln a-MN to per petuate the aft extendingtb?powers of thejuftioes of the psace. which was made the order of the day for Thursday next. A committee was appointed to join a committee of the feaate to com pate engrolTcd bills'and to prefetit them governor for his approbation. I The report oi tjic committee appo ared to ?s~ the fii*>jrs matter aeh •f the parties was furniflicd with a lift and had the right each to flrike offfeur, and thereby to reduce the number to nine The parties retired and.the following members are the committee 1 Messrs. William Maclay, Mawhorter, Horn,' Wells, Kirk, Rea, Philfon, Tittermary and Snyder. The committee were direded to meet 4 o'clock in the aft.rnoon. Adjourned. NEW-YORK, December 16. From Jamaica papers received lajl evening. Kimcston. (Jam.) Odober 13. Exttsft of a letter from Cape Nichola Mole, dated the 17th ultimo. " The night before last the Pelican returned here •from a eruiie, aftor a mod gallant aftion. The re- Gonaives had fined rut a brig of 14 guns, long fix pounders, and M| ps men, a schooner with one nine pounder purpofr of taking the Drake rluckily, however, they I*ll in with the Pelican inftcad ofher, and attacVcd her, and after an aftion of near two hours, half an hour closely engaged, the republican brig funk, hav ing firft (truck her colors—about 15 \>f her crew, which at the commencement of the aftion was near too meu, were pr< served, asd many ol them misera bly burnt, by the blowing up of citiidges " November 4. We understand that Higaud haj at last taken Leo : gsne, and that he intends going against the English pnlToltions at Grand Anfe By the Guinea fliips which called at Barbadors, we learn, that the crew of the fhlp Thomas, bound from Angola for this island, wis overpowcied by the negroes near Barbadors, and thati4 hands, leaving the captain, and the left to maintain a very unrquil com bat, betook thcmfelves to the boat, wirliout an oar, provifioni, or water. After being out 3a days, the boat drifted to Baibadoes, when only four milcrable wretches were found alive—lt appears that their h'i< - ger be. oming infuppouable, thev cafl lots, in order toalcertain who (hould die for the subsistence of the .emainder, when the lot fell on the Doftor'j Mate, uho accordingly was killed. The remainder,fe l viftims tc dtfeafe, arising from the extremity of their wants: and, of 4 who reached Barbadoes, one died on the beach, and two were not expefted to live. A Baibadoes paper, containing the particulars, was Teen by the captain of the Bridget, but he hai oot brought it with htm. By the last arrivals from St. Domingo ac counts are received that his Majesty's (hips Severn aad Magicienne had failed from the Mole to endeavour to destroy the veflels of Commodore Barney, in Port-(Je-Paix, for whifch purpose they are pidvided with mor tars. His Majesty's (hip Grampus, of 54 guns lately arrived at C- N. Mole, from England; on her passage some of the seamen manifef. ted a mutinious spirit. One man who had been a delagate on board the rautinioue fleet at home, and had been acquitted, insulted the Captain on the quarter deck, and was' seconded by another of the crew, they were however, both put ii} irons, were tried at the Mole, and the ci-devant delegate was executed; the other was condemned, but awaits his Majesty's peafure. SAVANNAH, Nov. 17. By a gentlemen from St. Simons, wc are favoured with the following melancholy ac count: That on or about the firft instant, the schooner Nancy, Capt. M'Connel, from this port bound to St. Mary's, was.cast a way on Wolf-Ifland inlet. The above schooner was chartered by a col. Deitx, who lately arrived here from New York, and who together with his wife, daughter and servant, and a Mr. Lttvin Bowen, cordwai ner of this crty, took their passage- The keel aad one fide of the has been found driven alhore on the Beach oppefite were it is fuppofod (he had went to pieces; but nothing has been heard of any of the crew or pafiengers, except Mr. Bowen, who was found dead on the sth inft. 011 the north end of little St. Simon's, above high water mark, by our informant. Several articles together with some papers belonging to Col. Deitz, have been found, which place it be yond a doubt that they muit have all perilh ed. He hae specie on board to the amount of 10,000 dollars, bef;das other property, and Mr. Bowen property to the amount of 15,00. —Col. Deitz was going to St. Ma ry's with a view't'o take tip his rvu Tence there. WILMINGTON,- f(N. C.) Nov.' We are authorized to fjy, and from pretty good authority, that the French. Re publicans are in quiet ppftiffion of LouiGan —Particulars, if any, in our next. %\)t ©alette* PHILADELPHIA, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 19. LAW OF THE STATES. iStuthotity 'Fifth Congress of the United States : AT THE SECOND SESSIOK, Begun and held at the City of Philadelphia, in the Stateof Pennfylvania,on Monday, the thirteenth of November, one thousand fcven hundred and liinety-feveo. An ACT to pojlpone, for d Hjnitcd time, the commencement of the duties imfiafcd by the aS, intituled " An a 9 laying dmi'S onjlamp ed vellum, parchment and papet BE it enaSed ly the Senate and Hiufe of Re pi efentatives of tlx Ignited States of A merica, in Congress affemlled, That so much of the aft, intituled " An aft laying duties pn damped vellum, parchment and paper" as direfts that the duties imposed by that aft, (hall be levied, collefte'd hnd paid " from and after the thirty firft day of December next," (hall be, and the fame hereby is re pealed ; and that rhe duties aforgfaid (hall be levied, collefted and paid, from ir.ti af ter the thirtieth day of June next, and not sooner ; to which last mentioned day, all no tices,certificates,and other matters or things, direfted by the said aft, and having refpeft to the commencement or colleftion of the said duties, or any of them, (hall relate. Jonathan Dayton, Speaker if the House of Representatives. Th : Jefferson, Vice-Prefdent of the United States, and President of the Senate. Approved Dec.") I then ne ciffaiy ihey (hauld quit the harbour, ui order to pre vent that censure which might otherwilt? fall on them for negleft of duty. • * . > By this day's Mail. NEW-YORK,' Dec:. 18. . IMPORTANT ! j ! Captain Rumford, of ths brig Sir John Wcntworth, in 21 days from Martinique, informs us,, that two days previous to his failing, an English armed brig belonging to Lancaster, arrived there in 32 days frora Liverpool, with the important news of ad miral Duncan's engagement with and com plete victory over the Dutch fleet from the Texel, which happened about the 12th of Odtoter. In "this engagement admiral Duncan cap tured eight Jhipt of the line, and "a lifty gun fliip, among which were two admiral-hips. The account states it to have been a fcvere and bloody battle. Admiral Duncan's fliip was> in a disabled state, towed to, and anchored ofF, Dover, tvith four feet water in her hold ; and, ayi, and feme other veffcls were sent from the Downs to pick up the disabled Ihips. In consequence of the reception of thi* news at Martinique, every armed vessel at St. Piers, fired guns of rejoicing. The news of this vidlory was ptiblifhed in an Extra, paper the day the brig left Liver pool ; one of which papers capt. R. saw at Martinique. This will, by many, be ealled Weft-India news, and of course, diibelieved, but, from tha veracity of the capt. and the positive manner in which he states the above particu lars, we cannot heiitate in declaring it to be our opinion that it is well founded. The njght before the brig ftom Liver pool arrived at Martinique, flic fell in with the F reach privateer Satis Pareil, from Gua daloupe, jvith which flic had a severe en gagement—the captain former was killed, and Several, hand# baofy wonndtd. ARGUS ACCOUNT. EXTRAORDINARY NEWS. Leeked out on Saturday, a raoft impor tant piece of intelligence if true, viz. that the Dutch fleet, in the NortlrSeas, had met the Entifc flset, and bft 'nine fliipi taken ! To render the ft«ry mce probable, it is ad ded, that the Britirtt Admiral Dunce's fliip had' nine feet of water in her hold, that se veral other of his fleet were much disabled, and that afrejh fleet was Tent out ta tw them In ! This plaufille account, it would seem, is brougkt by a British armed brig which ar rived at this port from Martinico on Tuef. day, but never leeked out until Saturday af ternoon, though it fell into good hands. It is related as follows—Tkat prior to the fail ing of this said British armed vessel, a vessel had arrived at Martinico with the above account ill 32 days from Liverpool, that great rejoicings were had at Martinico in confequencc of it, and that he, himfelf, the brave little Britiih armed vessel akovementi onee, popped off many gang ! What renders this account extraordinary in our view is, that by accounts from the Texel to Oftober 1, we were informed,' that in consequence of fern? difaffeaion in the Dutch fleet, there was a disembarkation of ma,ny thoufaeds, and no appearance of an expedition. NEW THEATRE. TO-MORROW evening, DECEMBER 20, Will be presented a COMEDY, c»llcd the COUNTRY GIRL, - To which will be added a farce in two a£U called the IRISHMAN IN LONDON, In which Mr. Hardinge will make his firll appear on this Itagc. Box, one Dollar ; Pit, three quarters of a Dol lar j and Gallery, half a Dollar. •%J" The doors of the Theatre will open at five, and the curtain rife precifcly at fa o'clock. Places tor the i?oxe« to betaken at the Office in the front of the Theatre, from 10 till 2 o'clock, and from to till 4 on the days of performance. Tickets to behid at H. Rice's book-ltoce. No, 50 Market-Greet, and at t!)e Office adjoining the Theare. VII'A T RSSPUBLIGA t Ffefh Kaifins. A Small cargo, jufl arrived, and now landing at Chcfnut street wharf, from the {loop Ya rico. ca»t. Haflcell. confiding of Kegs, Boxes amd jars. A few Jirs of excellent Grapes, and sack* of foft (helled Almonds. Apply to the Matter jn board, or to "Jos. Anthony & Co. December 19 * § ? t J? or Charleston, j —THE SHIR VENUS, " Lying *1 tbe wharf cf Mejrt. Ptrolls' j w '" Freight on very ' 3w£fflS»)fcfr; O low terms, and fail the firft opening.- Apply to the malUr on board, ©r to Jos. Anthony & Co. Detemberiß CLERKS HIP. ~ A YOUNG MAN, who ceuld bring in difpa ta&le recftmmendations, is defirons to be em p!«yed in the capacity of copying Clerk, at a public office—H* would engage on moderate terms. For further particulars enquire at the office of this Gazette. § Dee 19 Chocolate and Mustard, of a superior quality manufactured, GINGER and Pepper, ground ; Ihelled or pearl Barley ; Philadelphia Porter, Beer, Ale ancl Cyder ; Taunton ar.d Button Ale ; London Porter ; red. Port and Lilbon Wine, luitahle for exportation or home consumption. The highest price given for Mustard-Seed. Also for fate, A quantify of Booking and common Baizes, a variety of colors j a baleof Fustians, Shawls, &c, for fate by JOHN HA WORTH, No. 98, south Front-street. »w. *7* _ _ m &th.t.lj. Wanted, to Hire, A I.arge and convenient HOUSE, in or near the centre of the city—for which a gea rout rent will be given; to be taken lor a year, or on more for a longer term. Inquire of the Printer. 0&. 17. iotf