Novemeep. 30. The Duke of Orlean's defence has jufl made Its appearance in an English dress; together with the advice of his Counsel, who recommended liim to commence an adtion againlt the King's At tormy for a malicious prafecution ; and agaiiift se veral of the witnefles for perjwy. In an intro ductory advertisement tliefe circumltances are applied to a celebrated trial now depending. Alexander Maconochie, Esq. is to succeed the late Dr. Adam Smith as one of the Commilfioners of the Customs in Scotland. On Wednesday lad the Lord Provolt, Tvlagif trates, and Council of Edinburgh, unanimouily agreed to address his Majeily on the continua tion of peace, in consequence of the convention entered into between the Courts of Great-Britain and Spain. It was yesterday determined in the Court of King's Bench, that a man marrying a widow is not bound to maintain her children by her firft husband. Ireland, in the ten last years, has paid to Swe den and other countries, the enormous sum ot five millions for Iron alone, which their own mines were adequate to produce. Letters from Vienna confirm the viofi>ig others m their /lead. Mr. Boudinot in the chair. MR. Williamson adverted to the publica tion of the resolutions of the aflembly of North-Carolina, in which business he said, some mifinforniation had taken place. He then al luded to the assumption, and observed that since the United States had made the State debts the debts of the union, it becomes necefl'ary to pro vide for them, and he supposed some fort of ex cise was neceifary. He reprobated aland tax— and then observed that excises according" to- the constitution, ought to be equal ; he proposed to equalize them by impohng a tax 011 beer and cy der. If there will bean excess in the revenue, as appears pretty evident, let the duty on our own produce be struck out. He infilled on the injustice of layingthis duty 011 those States, which had been averse to the afl'umption. He fuggefled other sources of revenue—men tioned newspapers, on which he supposed if a duty was laid, it would be advantageous to the public and to the printers. He concluded by faying he hoped the i 3th feOtion would be ftrutfk out. Mr. Ames offered a few remarks, to shew the obligation of the government to provide perma nent funds for the payment of the interest ofthe debt agreeable to the fpiritof the law pafled the laltfeffion—nor did he conceive that acafual sur plus was any fufficient reason for not making complete provision ; annual grants for the pur pose of supporting the public credit had been fuf ficiently proved inadequate to the objetfl. 714 AUCKLAND, KEI.LER, VAN DE SPIEHEL. Mr. Elocdu crtli observed that if prejudices do exist, whether well founded, or not, ihey pro duce all the niifchiefs of a we(l founded oppofi" tion till they are removed ; he said a universal opposition to excifes,exifts in North-Carolina, and he dreaded the consequences of this measure's being urged ; North-Carolina has been well dis posed to the government —what is the reason this is not at prefentthe cafe ? It is owing fir, to the ineaCures which have been pursued by the govern ment. The r.Huinption was a m,eafure aniverfally odious to the people of that State, and he believ ed it was so to many other persons in the South ern States. With refpeifl to the observations of the gentleman from Mallachufetts, that North Carolina knew when (lie adopted the Conl'citution that the general government had a right ro lay excises, he observed, that' North Carolina expect ed that some attention would havn been paid to her proposed amendments : On the whole he hoped the clause would be struck out—and if an excise is thought to be necefl'ary, let it be laid only on foreign spirits, andfpirits manufactured from foreign materials. Mr. Lawrance replied to Mr. Bloodvvorth's ob servations refpedtingconfining the duty to foi eigu spirits : He said this would operate to produce a very great deficiency in the revenue—The impor tation of foreign spirits will be destroyed, and the revenue derived from that source will be loft. He adverted to certain objections which had been urged againltthe bill, from the experience of Great Britain—he (hewed, that none of these applied on the present occasion : The bill is di velted of those qualities, commonly supposed to be connected •-it h Excise Laws. He took notice of the accounts of uneafinelles which are said to exist in some of the States—and counterbalanced them by the tranquility and fatisfaction which appear in others : In those which it is presumed bear at leafl: a full proportion of the burdens al ready imposed by government. He contended, that the operation of the bill would be to equalize the public burdens—and when this is realized, as it will be, he doubted not a fpiritof conciliation and good humor would be the consequence. Mr. Jackson said that the funding law had ap propriated the revenue for the payment of all the debts original and a (Turned—and the faith of the United States is pledged only to make up such deficiency as may happen. It appears from the calculations before the committee, that no such deficiency will be to be provided for. He wished gentlemen to shew some plausible reason for this additional burthen on the people—The estimates he had offered cannot be invalidated. Mr. Parker said he had heard nothing to in duce him to change his mind refpet'ting this bill. He had been uniformly opposed to excises—and he should not withdraw his oppo(ition at the pre sent time. He then adverted to tlie unequal operation of an excise, especially on the foiithern States, \\ hich he said rendered it entirely cantrary to the spirit of the Constitution. He doubted not the revenue would encrenfe, not withllanding the supposititious defalcations which had been mentioned. He urged the un popularity of the tueafure—the cultivation of the foiithern orchards ought to be encouraged by the northern states, as the foothern states had encouraged their navigation and fifheries. But if this partial duty is to be prefled upon us in this manner, I fliall not think it my duty, said he, to be equally zealous in their favour in future. Mr. Livermore observed, that several estimate s had been offered to the committee—they cannot be all right because they disagree. He observed that itliad not been noticed by any person that the,prefent duty on foreign rum would be taken away by this bill, and the whole funi to bevaifed from that article is from the bill now under con sideration. But suppose a surplusage of revenue of i or 200,000 dollars should be in the Treasury, which I wi(h with all my heart may be the cafe, are there not ways enough to apply this surplus age to the advantage of the United States ! He instanced a variety of ways in which such.a ftir plus might be applied ; but he did not seriously contemplate such a surplus. He then adverted to the objection on account of the inequality.— He said the duty on spirits diftillec! from rnolaf fes is agreed to—why should not the spirits dis tilled from peaches in the southern States be also fiibjedl to a duty : This he confideredas unequal —and discovered a want of candor in the gentle men from the southward. Mr. Parker aiked the gentleman if molasses was an article of the produce of this country? the southern Hates have nothing by which they can procure molafles : If the gentleman would confentto excise fifh, he would content to an ex cise on peach brandy. Mr. Fitzfimons observed, that the deficiency occasioned by the alteration in the duty on fo reign ruin, would occasion a very considerable addition to the deficiency of the revenue. With refpedt to theinequality mentioned, he said there was no probability that the southern states would ever pay an over proportion of the revenue.