MR. FENNO, [7« the Connecticut Journal, printed at Nev:haven, there lately appeared an address "to the people of Connellicut," under the signature ej Cyrus, on the important fubjcll of EUftion—the foil ruing extract containing general observations on a republican go vernment, an' that vital principle offreedom, repre sentation —appears to ute -worthy of republication. Tonr'j, Z.~] ON ELECTIONS. AFTER all the minute speculations of the ini nuteft politicians, we feein to reft in this im portant truth, that popular security, in republics, principally conlilts in a certain fair division and balance in the branches of the government, and the eftablilhinent of a pure and equal fyftein of representation. When you have provided pro per checks, that is, when you have so arranged the capital parts of the machine, as that, while it is acting in a right direction, they will move :n perfect harmony, and when in a wrong direction, will produce an immediate and mutual resistance ; and when you have secured such a frequency and freedom of popular election, as that the democra tic branch, in the government fliall feel withfen fibility the interests of their constituents on the one hand, and their own responsibility on the other ; you have Sxed the main pillars on which public liberty mult reft. When you have done this, you may go on to organize tne Tmaller and dependant parts of the fyftein, multiply the ob jects of its exercise, and accumulate its powers without limitation. Power cannot of icfelf, render a government •langerous ; because danger generally arises from irregular operations ; and power, so far from producing irregular operations, is, in well con ltructed machinery, the belt preservative against them ; as weight, imposed upon a perfect arch, but augments the solidity and security of the ftrucfture. That the truth of my com pari Ton may not be mistaken, I mull explain it further. In the form of a well adjulled republic, there mull be an interior principle of mutual refiflatice, de signed efTentially for the security of the people : Theftronger this check, the more perfect is this security. I suppose that power has in the poli tic.il, as in the physical machine, a tendency to flrengcheu the reciprocal resistance of the parts, and consequently to augment the security of all that depends upon it. The security which power adds to the government itfelf, is derived from the solidity it gives to the whole, by confirming the union of its parts : The security which it gives to the people, arises from its overcoming all irregular tendencies in the government. The danger to liberty must spring either from the irregular operations of the parts, or from the united and direct operations of the whole go vernment : Krom the firft of these the admirable system of balances, eflential in all republics, is an effectual preservative ; for thelaft we have a free system of election, as a (till more efficacious and more radical remedy. This is the 1110 ft irrefifta ble power in a nation ; it acts with universal and perpetual influence ; it is a fpirit,which pervades, invigorates and purifies every part of govern ment ; the spirit of political regeneration, which infofeslife, health and beauty into the most de formed and debilitated body : It is our final re source in all our painful apprehenhons : It is our sweetest solace, t.ie firm foundation of our hope, a relief, ever ready, accompanying the diltempers it is designed to cure. Let us cling to our right of election as to the rock of our political fafety. Our Constitution has provided a system of repre sentation calculated on the truest principles of liberty. So ample, that the interest, the feelings and the wants of all parts of the community are exprelled in the administration : So equal, that every citizen, whatever may be his rank or for tune, has his voice, and every state its jult propor tion of influence, in the public measures : so fre quently ren wed, that the representative cannot lose for a moment the image of his dependence, nor the conllitucnt the pride of his creative au •hr#nty. It belongs to us to give activity and energy to this beautiful theory, and to maintain in fall vigor its inestimable principles. The design with which I have undertaken to address you, is to point out and urge the extreme importance of your right of election. If some of the remarks I have already made fliould appear to be foreign to this purpose, I beg you to recol lect, that contracting thebafis of our security to a finall conipafs, neceflkrily increases the impor tance of the parts which compose that basis. If our resources are few, do we not embrace them with proportionable ardor ? If there is no dan ger in bellowing powers, is it not on the ground of the all powerful influence of election, which, by operating on the prime interefls and more fleady paflions of our rulers, gives a salutary di rection to the public measures > Indeed no politi cal axiom appears to my mind more demonftrably true, than that, with a perfect system of elective representation, no power can possibly be danger ous ; bjt that, without Inch a system, every pow er, that can be conferred, is pregnant with dan •' * Sg FRANCE. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PA his, JULY 13. M TALMA, an atftor in the French Theatre, . complained that the Rector of St. Sri/pice, had refufed to publifli the banns of marriage for him, alledging that Comedians aiv deprived by law of the holy sacrament of matrimony. Several members exprefled their surprize at this perverse opposition in the Re.lor of St. Slll pice, adding that it was cultomaiy to admit the people of the Theatre to the sacrament of matri mony, under the charter of musicians. It was decreed—• That the comnittees of the constitution, and of ecclesiastical affairs, do take this into imme diate consideration. The address made to the President by a depu tation of Americans, was much applauded. " The force of truth is irrefiftable ; the cele rity of its progress, beyond calculation— " We have long believed that the nations of the earth would wake out of their lethargy ; and that men would claim their rights in a voice that men would not be able to refill. We believed that religion would be d ifrobed of its borrowed terrors, and thatfaniuicifm and intolerance would fly at the presence of reason. " We have but one wish on the present occasion, and that is to aflift at the august confederation, and to swear, at the feet of the fame altar, to be faithful to the nation, to the law, and to the King, and to vow eternal friendfhip with the peo pie of France." The answer of M. Bonnmy, the President, was not less applauded— " It was in aiding you to be free, brave Ame ricans, that the French became acquainted with Liberty and loved her. The arm which broke your fetters afunder,difdains to be fettered itfelf. " But in this refpedl we are more happy than you were. We have a Patriot King to affilt us in the recovery of our liberties. " Liberty cost you torrents of blood, you won her by your courage. We are free by following the ditftares of reason, the Throne of Liberty is now established in the two worlds." The address and answer were both ordered to be printed. LONDON, July 13 THERE are flill idle whispers about the King of France being rescued, as it is called. They are wretched politicians who believe that the King ofFrance, with the History of England before hiin, will fly from his throne to make it more secure. He knows that in any country a King is more easily fonnd than public liberty. The trial by Jury is much applauded by all Englifhinen, ami in conjunction with the liberty of the Press, is justly fuppol'ed to be theftrongeft pillar of the British Constitution. But when in dividuals at e called to attend 011 the public ser vice, it is truly astonishing what trifling excuses are made. One wilhes to be exempted because he has served in the army ; another because his eltate is not fufficiently large ; a third because he has only a copy hold ; and a fourth pretends he is deaf or has got the gout. The determination against the notorious old Mother Hajfe! does honor to the Jury who tried the cause, and it is hoped will operate as a prece dent now eltablifhed by several trials, that a bond or note given by a fednccd female to the mistress ot a brothel is invalid and cannot be recovered and that those unhappy females who have unfor tunately fallen into the clutches of those pelts to society, are not bound to pay for either board, lodging, or clothing, furniihed evidently for the pur pose of a proltitution, from the profits of which those Ba-xds exac r t about nine-tenths of the whole. Mr. Winne, a quaker, a man of the firft re fpertability, who has a considerable plantation in Jamaica, in a letter to a gentleman at Birming ham, declares, that he knows several plantations on that island, where slaves are treated with a due degree of kiudnefs, which not only keeps, but increases the number of their slaves, without ever purchasing—His own estate is one of these. Ar,d by this mild and gentle manner of encou raging the negroes to perform their work,he has increased the produce ot his lands four fold. In deed Mr. Winne fays, " I am acquainted with the proprietor of a plantation, whose negroes have doubled their number in eighteen years, and three over, whilst in that period the planta tion has greatly increased its produce. On the other tiand, fays he, 1 know another plantation where, in three years, the slaves have been di minished seventy-two, which was more than a third of their whole number, merely by acls of feveriry and cruel treatments—Mr. Winne con eludes his letter with observing, he is well con vinced the abolition of the slave-trade would be of the highest advantage to the planters, consi dered only m a pecuniary point of view Bella horrida bella !— at present rages in the Carnatic. Earl Cornwallis mod certainly hasfent a bold defiance to the tyrant Tippoo, whom it is earnestly to be wilhed may now meet the fate nis inlolenceand cruelty deserve. 606 REMARKS dN* TH2 ENGLISH LAKGOAcijr NOTHING is more common in our courts, than the ule o( the word evidence for vituefs Th person who teftifies is called an evidence "and * unfrequently by men of considerable eminence' But it is equally common to use the word cviderc't for tejlimonj, a person gives hir evidence. This con fufion of terms is altogether inexcusable anion? profeliional men ; for technical language ihould always be corre<ft. The person declaring is a witncfs ; what he de clares, is his t-flimony - the effect of what lie de clares, is evidence. Evidence is the effect of /., mony in producing conviction, or it is the proof ariling out of testimony. The diftiii&ion will be clearly obvious in thisconcife phrafe,fA f evidence produced by the teflimony oj the viitnefs.' The oath administered to witnetlcs in this State runs thus— " you swear that the evidence you Ihall give to this court, fliall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Here the word evidence is very improper ; for how can a man swear to his evidence! Or can a man fay what effedt his declarations will huve on another i uiind, in makinga thing evident. The oath ihocid run thus, " you swear to declare to this court the truth, the whole truth, &c." or, " you swear that the teflimony you shall give to this court, &c." Whatever carelessness may have done in introdu cing such confufion of words into use, the dif tinc r tions ought to be known and observed. In anew country like America, it is of conse quence that words should have one uniform mean ing through the country. It is a misfortune that the word Court has very different figniScations ia different States. In Maflachufetts, and Connec ticut, General Court is the conflitutional name of the Legislature ; in Maryland and Virginia, Ge neral Court is the constitutional name of the Su preme Judicial Court. I bave known persons in. converlation led into material errors by this dif. ference. The v ord Court, traced back to anti quity, is found to figuify the afleinblics or coun cils of men, who, in ages of simplicity, had both legislative and judicial powers ; as the county courts or shire motes of the Saxons in England, and the cortes of Spain. But it is to be regretted that in this country, the word should have diftiiuS and opposite figuifications. N.- W, (From a Lonneflicut paper. / IN COUNCIL, Sept. 21, 1790. A LETTER to the Secretary of Council, from sundry inhabitants of Huntingdon County, taken prisoners by the lndia»»,~»uJ cariicJ «- Detroit, being read, Ordered, That the said letter be pulilifhed. Extrafl jrom the Minutes, > CHARLES BIDDLE, Secretary. " WE, James Crefl'well, and Ann hi; wife, two children—Walter Crefl'well, and Margaret his wife ind one child—David Mears, and Eliza beth his wife and three children ; and John Evans, lately l efidents in the county of Hunting don, in the state of Pennsylvania, do molt earn estly request, that your honor will have the good ness to makepubllic as soon as poflible, that we were made prifonersonthe2 7thdayof June last, within seven miles of Limestone Landing, on tie Ohio River, by a party of Saganan Indians, eigh teen in number, who ttripped us of all our good* and effe<fts, tied us together by the necks, and brought us on the 25a of the present month ot July to Detroit, on our way to the Saganan \ il lage, on Lake Huron. That Major Smith, ot the sth regiment, commanded at that post, af fenibled the said Indians and us their prisoners, and after a talk of some length, the war Chiet made a present of us all to the said commandant, who instantly gave us our freedom, ordered us s house to live in, with new bedding and cloath ing forourfelves and fami lies, together with pre villous, kettles, firing and every thing necellary for a comfortable fubliftence, until he (hall have an opportunity of conveying us fafely back to some of the American polts. " We have no view in desiring this to be made public, except for the information of our relati ons and friends and that of acknowledging to all the world, our gratitude and fenfeof obligation for the inestimable blessing of liberty and happi ness we now enjoy, through the ani humane disposition of his Britannic Majesty* commandant at this post. JAMES CRESSWELL, WALTER CRESSWELL, JOHN X EVAN's mark, DAVID MEARS. Detroit, 26th July, 1 790. To the Secretary of the state ? of Pennsylvania. 5 " Be pleased to notify also, that John Canada, half-brother to James Creffwell, was taken by the fame party and left at Glaze-Town, on the Toway river, and that orders will soon from hence to hare him brough: to Detroit also. . PHILADELPHIA} StfT. 12.
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