[No. XCIX.] the tablet. No. XCIX. " Great events give scope for great virtues ; but the main tenor of human life is composed of small 0c- citrrences THE greater part of mankind can be conver sant only in small occupations and incidents. There are few eminent stations to be filled, and few remarkable events to be noticed by men. We should therefore conclude, that the materi als of our happiness, and the objects of our duty, principally consist in the due regulation ot the common transactions of In whatever sphere a man may move, his virtue is frequently put to a trial, respecting matters which appeared too trivi al to have exerciled his thoughts. He departs from the line of his duty, and mars his felicity in many instances, merely because he does not view the occasion important enough, to make it material in what manner he conducts. 1 here is no remedy against the evils which result from errors in thefmall concerns oflife, but to acquire such virtuous dispositions and habits as lead us to prefer right to wrong, in the most immateri al circumstance that may occur. In distinguished situations, a man may be prompted to great exertions, and feftrained fiom vicious aitions, from a regard to his character. But in the humble walks of his life he m3y sup pose his character out of the reach of notice, and will not be on his guard againil those little (lips and inadvertencies, which are more prejudicial to his happiness, and indicate a want of virtuous habits, in a greater degree than errors or oniil lions of duty, in more confpicuos situations. Ihe reason is obvious We are (eldom called to the performance ofillnftrious actions; but everyday and every hour oflife introduces us to common occurrences. An habit of doing wrong in these will occur so frequently that the aggregate of in convenience will exceed what would result from a wrong procedure, in the few instances of emi nent conduct, with which we may beconverfant. The danger likewise of error on great occasions is diminilhed by the energy of motive that im pels us to act with propriety. Habits of virtue form the only security against; the numerous temptations by which we arc con stantly surrounded. " Theymnft be formed and fupported,potby unfrequent a<ts,but by daily and frequent exertion, in order to their becoming vi gorous andufeful. Great events give lcope for great virtues ; but the tenor of human life is composed of ftnall occurrences. Within the round of these lie the materials of happin.efs of most men ; the subjects of their duty, and the trials of their vir tue. Whatever is to be our profeflion, no edu cation is more necefl'ary to success, than the ac quirement of virtuous dispositions and habits. Whether science, or business, or public life be our aim, virtue still enters for a principal share into all those great departments of society. By what ver arts we may at firft attract the attention, we can hold the esteem and secure the hearts of o thers, only by amiable dispositions, discreet ha bits and virtuous actions." BRUSSELS, Jan. i, 1790, The following is the Copy of a Letter from the Emper or to General D' Alton, Commander in Chief in tbe Lout Countries, dated Nov. 22. Intercepted by the Patriots. "T Received, my Gen. this day, by dispatch, your A report of the 14th, and I leave you to judge if I have not reason to be furpiized, that since the 31ft of October, which was the date of your last letter, I have not received from you further re ports ofthe important circumstanceS and state of the country that is confided to your care. I can fay nothing of the events, becaule I am ignorant of the dispositions that are made; but they ap pear inefficacious, by the evil growing worse. The permitting the rebels to establish tliemfelves in .Flanders, and take Ghent, may be attended by the most troublesome consequences. " I expecfl, in your next report, that the troops which arrived effetfted the purpose. This is riot the moment to complain, but to endeavor for the general good, and establishment of order in the provinces. " I am itill ignorant of the effects the different requisitions have produced, and of the evidence againll the people of diftintftion that are arrested, as you have not mentioned either in your reports. (Signed) PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FEN NO, No. 9, MAIDEN-LANE, NEW-YORK. JOSEPH." WEDNESDAY, MARCH, 24, 1790. Copy of a Letter /rotn General D' jilt on to the Emperor, dated Brujfels, November 27. Intercepted by the Patriots. " Sincc my report of the aotli instant, made to your Majesty, the placart of the fame date, publiflied the day after, proves that my ideas werejuft, upon the intentions of Government; the insolence of the people, notwithstanding does not .contradicft it. Not only the four companies of the regimentof Clairfayt, and two of Vierfit, are detained prisoners at Ghent, and that of Captain Bropore at Bruges, but bands of Patriots are again upon our frontiers. The day after (the 21ft) the insurgents, tb theamount ofinany thou sands, thre\v themselves into Turnhout and Hoog ftraeten, which they still occupy. The rebels of Flanders are entrenched at Ghent, and many of them joined those in the town of Dieft after an a<ftion in which they loft two or three hundred men, but obliged' Major Broeda, with a division of the regiment of Bender, which he commanded, to retire to Arfchot, with the loss of nineteen men and a piece of cannon. " The misfortune at Dieft was moil unex pected by me, and owing to General Count Baillet, who commanded at Louvain, deferring for twenty-four hours the dispositions I ordered to make. " To parry th" danger of the attack upon Louvain, I instantly placed a battalion on the bor ders of the sorest of Meldert, to intercept all those inclining that way. , " General Hopencourt having evacuated Mons without my orders, on the simple requisition of Colonel Blekem, who found himfelf threatened at Namur, I sent him, with his battalion and fqua di 011 to the right of Neville, where he now is, and from whence 1 may order him either to Lou vain or to BrufTels, as occasion may require. " The account of the taking of Dieft, deter mined me to aflemble a force at Louvain, to drive off the insurgents ; and I ordered a battalion of the regiment of Ligne to march to that garrison, and intended myfelf to take the executive com mand of four battalions, and three hundred and fifty horse, to force that troop of banditti; but the edidt of the 21ft inft. required infinite circum fpetftion on my part, and not to cross the negocia tions of the Minister, recommended by his letter to the people, of the 25th inflant. I enclosed hiin a copy of the opinions of the general officers, and Colonel de Brofe, assembled in council, at my ' house; but having received an equivocal and verbal answer, I addressed to him a note, a copy of which I enclose for your Majefly, and meeting with a similar answer, I repeated my reprefenta tioti; and the Minister coming tome in company with the Vice Chancellor, M. Crumpipen every reason urged could not make him alter his con duct, notwithftandingthe importance of the ob ject, under the pretext, that he should wait the effect of his letter, written the 2jth, and the Edicft of the 26th ; however, I engaged him to make no further concession, which he promiled me ; I then determined to defer my expedition until the insurgents were informed of the favor able disposition of Government, although I had taken the preparatory and certain measures to re duce tliem, &c. &c. " But what was my aftoniftiment to find that the Edicft of that day had been printed, and distributed to the public two hours before the Miniftei* de clared, in a note to me (the original of which I subjoin to this,) that he would not fuffer it to be publiflied, until we had determined upon that point. Such is the situation in which I find my felf, and I dare to hope your Majesty will deign to fee the defed; of that situation. My troops, in garrisons, inceflantly occupied in strengthening them, those detached, harrafled, by continual marches, and my operations always counteraded, or at least flopped by the fliackles of administra tion. Surrounded by these misfortunes, I re ceived from Colonel Buckim an account a little fatisfacftory of thefirft advantage gained over the banditti. " Your Majesty will find, by the original, that I have the honor to transmit to you, that it is fufficient to (hew ourselves to this undisciplined mob to disperse them ; and that the infurreclion in the country would have long lince been fnio thered, if my advice had been attended to, and above all, it' my orders had been obeyed. 1 expert that my next report will prove to your Majesty, how much I had reason to think, that it is by force alone that these people are to be governed, now that administration are abandon ed to the moll humiliating conceflions. " In the mean time I have the honor to trans mit to your Majesty a copy of a note, I this day Jpttiift. PRICE THREE DOLLARS PR. ANN lent to the minister; it will, without doubt, prove to him, that I never deviated from the conftann and uniform condu<3: I imposed upon myfelf, not to take any step without firft con falling him ; and that I have infinite cause to complain of the in ceflant obftaclesadminiilration throws in my way by visible delays, and other acts, to those difpoli tions that circumstances require. " I shall not finifh my report, without inform ing your Majesty, that I believe, notwithstanding all the concessions of Government, the Insurgents will not accede to the propositions, unless the fu ture maintenance of their privileges are gauran teed by other powers. ' (Signed) CONGRESS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. MONDAY, MARCH t, 1790. IN committee of the whole Houfe»—The proposition for altum ing the State debts, and the amendments proposed thereto, be ing under consideration. MR. JACKSON observed, that he had from the intro duction of the resolutions before the committee,particularly agai\il the one now in contemplation : That he was opposed to it, not only in its original form, but ia every poflible modification it might aflume. That his ind'ifpofition had prevented his rising be fore : That altho many arguments must have been used, which it was importable for him to know : His duty compelled him to come forward ; not with an expe£tation that his small abilities could change the sentiments of a fjrjgle member, or that he should gain a single proselyte ; but to (hew t*he reaions for which he op posed the meafurc, and to produce some fa&s arising in the State he represented. He confeffed, that if he was in favor of any mo dification, it was the one which an honorable gentleman from Virginia (Mr. White) had brought forward a few days finct: As he had not been present at the former part of the debatt. he hoped the house would indulge him in entering on the original ground, and pointing out the light in which the buiinefs appeared to him. The question might be viewed on three grounds : lft. the ex pediency; 2d, the policy ; and 3d!)*, the justice of the refoiution. It might be expedient, either from the prefling call of the States who might complain of the grievance of their debts ; or, it might be expedient from the clamors of the citizens of the refpe£H\»e States, complaining of the State taxation. On the firft point, he believed the States had made no fbch requeil, and that therefore the expediency on that head was obviated. That he had hearjd indeea, that South-Carolina had made some kind of application, but that one or two States could not declarethe fenfeof the Union; it could be known only by a majority, which did not appear t-o demand this aflumption. That on the contrary he believed a ma jority of the States were against the proposition, and that North- Carolina had made it an article of amendment, u that Congress should not interfere with the state debts," and that the voice of North-Carolina, as well as South-Carolina, should be attended to. With rcfpeft to individual citizens, no complaints had been made to the house ; no petitions or Lnftru&ions had been forwar ded to their representatives. Here he would remark, that it was on this latter principle he wiflied, at a former day* the postpone ment of the question, that the sense of his constituents might be known. The wifli of individuals was therefore not ascertain ed by cither method, and he believed that a great majority were for the State debts remaining as they were; That they were fatis fied with the State taxation by known and accuftomcd methods, handed down to them by their ancestors. Many of the States had imposed taxes in those certificates, and had cxtinguifhed a great part of the State debts ; which taxes the citizens had cheaiiully Submitted to : This had been done in the State he represented. To those, he observed, he might add a third reason, why it was not expedient, the creditors themfelve* had not requested it; there was no petition, no evidence to warrant a conftru&ion that they wished it. He would now consider its policy : Here the field expanded. He had as high an opinion of the Secretary's abilities as any man : They were conspicuous : The force of his genius was flriking, and his talents in the report were admired ; but he was one of thole who did not think the Secretary infallible; aslongas he poflefied human nature, so long would he possess the imperfe&ions and failings of human nature. Ambition, laudable perhaps, to do theutmoft for thfc Union, might lead him too far, and the plan, evidently to him, in its policy, had reference to one of two points : firft, that it is extended as an additional ligature to the continent, by detaching the creditors from their dependance on the state governments, and transferring that dependance to the nation, and thereby making it the intereftof the remote parts of the Union,to support its mea furcs ; or, secondly, by this specious method of relieving the States, to remove every pretext for taxation from them, and thereby throw that power entirely into the hands of Congress. If we examine however the firftof those pofitioris, we shall find it will not hold its ground ; for, the securities of the refpe&ive States, likethofe of the continent, will change their holders ; nay, they are already to the fouthwardgone from the original creditors and are in the hands of speculators : they will like the continental fecuritie6, be drawn to a point in a few commercial cities, or travel into the hands of foreigners. The ligature, if this position is true* will therefore not hold ; the tie will soon be broken. The second will better stand its ground ; Snd I grant that the whole powers of taxation may be absorbed by the Union. But Sir, is it policy to take all the powers of taxation from the indi vidual States and leave them' with the (hadow of a governmenr. Is it policy to reduce their power to the infignificance of a. small city corporation, or will the citizens be pleased with it ? A ma jority, I believe, will be found attached to the modes and the lawg of the State governments. Some of the most zealous partizans of the present government, in the State conventions, in order to point out its excellencies, compared it to a pyramid ; the foundationo( which was the broad bans of the people, the middle or second story the State governments, and the top or head the government of the Union. Sir, let us beware, left in weakening this centrc work, the head itfelf is riot in danger. The system before the committee would require a multitude of tax gatherers, who would be oppreflive to the people ; and at the best view what would the people gain, but a change of masters and customs which they had been used to, for masters and customs they had been unacquainted with. The Union, he observed, had been frequently compared to a rope of sand ; it was well to beware, left the argument be carried too far the other way ; left this ligature—this cord, by its too great D'ALTON."
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