PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FE.VXO, No *69. MARKET-STREET, BETWEEN* SiXQND AND THIRD STREETS, PHILADELPHIA [No. 62, of Vol. ll.] Wednesday, December i, 1790. [THE Observations of General da i*ortail on the importance of the Union of these States, discover an intimate acquaintance with the principles oj human na ture, and those incidents -which affeCt, and en ■which the happiness and freedom of a country fume times de fend —conjidering the period at which they were wrote, they evince the sagacity and penetration of the author, *nda very fuper'tor under[landing-, in this view they wiU Mrreft the serious attention tf every friend to our coun- try THE following extradl is rendered highly in teresting at this moment,when a disposition unfavorable >to an efficient general government has been recently The paper from which it is fele&ed, was written, during the Jate war, by General du Porta il, a French officer in the service of the United States. Had this country remained under the old confederation, it is plain that his «;ouje<ftures and apprehensions would have been long fine: deplorably rcaltjcd ; and a!tho a larger portion of energy, than was at that time contemplated by any among ns, has been lince infufed, by the people thtmj'elves, into the National Constitution, an unhappy example has been lately exhibited of those "efforts to render the authority of Congress nugatory and its decrees in effectual," which he predicted. _ " THE happiness and tranquility of the United States of America (fays this judicious I'rench jnan) we may fay their very exigence, seems to depend entirely on their union. Ij that ccc.f:s, we perceive no longer "what they may become, there is n? longer any thing to be laid about thein—there is no longer any plan whatever to be formed. " VVe must then in every Speculation which concerns them, suppose the Union, and every pro jected establishment ought to have in view these two things—firft to maintain and confulidate the Union ; secondly, to draw from it all pofiible ad vantages " Some fay that by patting many means in tlie bands of Congress i by giving that body snu.-I.sa- j thority, it will be tempted, to enterprise the liberties of the particular states ; anu to i up port this opinion they go rummaging among the biftories of individuals and bodies who have at tained to the subversion of the government and to the possession of absolute power. But if tiisy would examine the thing with attention, they would soon fee, that these pretended examples are not real ones,becaufe the cases are not liinilar. For my own part, f#r from believing it poOile that Congress ihould usurp too much powc-r, I be lieve it easy to demonstrate with the liigheil evi dence, that whatever power the confederation may at firft give Congress, (provided the forma tion of Congress be the fame) that body can ne ver preserve during a length of time, that porti on which will be neceflary for the general good of the United States. As this is not the place to difcufsthut matter, 1 will only offer in support of my opinion, a single reason ; which, however, I believe will appear fufficient to every man who knows the human heart and the motives which ac tuate it. " I fay that (like what happens to individuals) each Hate, altho fenlible of the advantage of the Union, of the necessity of a general government, and therefore of parting with a portion of their independence to enjoy the reft in tranquillity, ■will as soon as that Union is firmed, *bat general government eflablijhtd, be jealous of it, try to elude its authority, and look upon every ast of that just au thority, as an attack on its liberty. It will even be to the ambitious of every state, a sure means of making their court to their fellow-citizens, and saining popularity to teach them to chicane the emand of the general government, and to throw as much as they can upon theothe>*ftates, ofthat portion of the common burthens which they ought to bear. " There •will then be an effort continued and per petual of all the [fates to render the authority of Con gress nugatory, and to render its decree,- tneffeSual, Now I ast what means has Congress to defend it - felf againlt this inceflant attack ? If the members ■who compose it were for life, eftablilhed in the place where they reside, it might be supposed that there would grow among them a Spirit of Corps which would oppose that of each state, and hold it in check. But this is not the cafe, the members of Congress are only such, transiently, ihey areftrangers to their place of refidence,fur rounded with people jealous of them, which thereforethey cannot seduce. It must also be ob served, that each of them is after all, only the Ddegate of a /late, that he is only feut to execute i s oidcr and follow its views, a departure from which would fooa occasion his recall ; that he has, besides his fortune, his faniilj,the ultimate objedt of his ambition, all his greateil interells in his Hate, and far from apprehending that he will not be conducted by these interests, it is to be reared that he will not be able fufficiently to ltrip hitnfelf ofthem, it is no be feared that each mem ber of Congress will never be effectually more than the Delegate, the Mttn of such or fucha Hate, and never the Men ofthe United States, c.s never theless ought to be the cafe for the general good. " A body composed in such a manner, can then never have the force and energy which would be necellary to preserve the authority which should be given to it ; and it must be ex pected to fee it day,tilltlie incon veniences wlr'ch relult from it become considera ble, and the states thus recalled to found princi ples by experience, (hall reftoi e things to order, an operation which mart: be performed from time to time, so long as the Union shall last. " There may then be given to Congress, with out danger, more power ;even than the general good of the United States might exact, because the power might be naturally soon rcduced ; but at least there mull be given to it as much as is ab folately neceflary to maintain the Union, and to make each Prate profit equally of its adtant C.] iuiwccui.ii jr.uc prone fcjuaiiy ui wuvantages. TIMBER. W r> . O Q.O 3 i; rr o p; , A —, D" 3 o -. 3 E-. -3 r. /n •> o>M*aiS-""V 3'- 3 s? £ ='-s'" 5" S■© 7.J- 1 tr i --r! f -I • & o c/>u> c: —■ < no - 5 «•" S 2" •« ft < •c •c o r-1 - 2 o s •TI Cu o" 1 » c» a- =■ s a 5. 2. CO C-I •-* o F co a' S 3* r- « " I c r. T> r> 5 §• c cn b" cn 2.. - » "-v CO .P Cn I? £L CJ p ►&. - - to CO O, to t5 - to CO - o o N> on 'n ~ C\ «-» CO *>►£'• — C> o CTi.'-» 'Or r 10 " ? to CO to *JC OJ a. Q H! a ST • REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TT is frequent to hear the word quantity used for rumbn, and in i. crease for multiply. Thus people fay great quantities offhingles 1 and cattle or horses are ilUrcafed. These phiafes are inaccurate. Quantity and increase r fer to a thing in bulk ; numher and multiply, tofepa'raie individuals. A single tree, or horse increases by growth; but when individuals are added, they are said to multiply. We fay with propriety quantities of grain, of fait, of timber, because we speak of articles in bulk, not separable into individual things : but we should fay, of Jhingles, of slaves, &c. where the articles arc usually separable. The Irilh frequently mistake in uling these words. They fa), great quantities of men ; and I have often heard them use the phrase, a great deal of gentlemen. There are two mpdern innovations made in our language, which demand particular notice, bec.vjfe they are found in good authors. One is the omiflion of the f:gn of the pofieflive cafc ir. fuchexpreffions, as, " I could not write, on account c/ the Jhip failing Judienly." It ought to be, on account ot inn flip's failing. Modern writers, particularly the Scotch, are remarkable ior this omiflior ; and our Newfpapersare full of such errors. The phiafe is not English nor sense ; for the s and apostrophe are just as ne cessary to mark the cafe, as in any other example where two nouns meet. Writers seem not to know that in our language, we have a peculiar fort of words called participial nouns,which answer the purpose both of a participle and a noun in the fame phrase. Thus, I heard of a man's pojfe/flng a large eflite ; In this phrase, pojjejmg is a noun, as it refpetls the conftruition with man ; but a participle as it refpefts the subsequent word ejlate, which it go verns. This is a phrase or idiom of our language, as well estab lished as any other; and when a pronoun is used, we never fee it mistaken. Thus, we always fee it written, " we heard of his pofTtfling an estate," tho, " we heard of he poffelTing an estate," would be just as good Englifli, as " we heard of aan poflefling it." That these remarks arc well founded, will appear from the following examples. 657 to so C-. Co O. - c- 00 O O 3- -J- T* cr cr o i« co - «-i o -O C- o «- o o o :« or tn Co to- to ►- to o 10 4- _ o cr> M » no to o co Cirf- O o OJ O ~ - co <y> ~ c. ci is , _ a ' a. O w • • v 3 J" 01 N * » Dolls. Cts, Total value, 156,951 11 " For the pol&bility of B's dying before A." Blacks, z. 170. " The plaintiif cannot take advantage of thcplet'smounting to the general iflue." St range's Rep. Vol. l 5. They would be glad to purchase the advantage of the Bifhop'i being in such a post. LordCt arendon's LettertoSirWm.Temfle. Works 46;. This is good Englilh, *nd the modern omiflion of s is a gross error. The other innovation is the change of such phrases as " agreea ble to notice, the motion was made " previous to this, I re ceived a letter into, agreeably to notice, frevioufly to this. One wojild think the awkwaidnefs ol found in the latter phrases would have prevented the use of them ; but this will not be fufficient to restrain men, who are unwilling to take the rules of our language as they find them, and disposed to make rules of their own. The truth is, it is a rule of onr tongue, as well established as any prin ciple in it, though grammarians have not generally discovered it, that adjeflives, pronouns, and relatives may agree with or refer to whole sentences, or members oj sentences. This is not onlv an idiom, but one of the mojl frequent, in the language. Thus, the word that, fometiincs callcd a conjun£tion, ,is always a relative, or ad jeUive. Thus, when we by that man went, that refers to a fingls name, man ; but in this phrase, u I heard that he went," that re fers to the affirmation in the words he went, and agrees wilh it a? a member of the fentcncc. This is more obvious by changing th • order of the words, " he went, I heard that ; M sfk the q ieftton, what did I hear ?he went, that is what I heard. These remark* hold with refpe& to that in all other situations. In the fame mari ner, are used agreeable, previous, prior, antecedent, according, &c. " He wrote, agreeable to promise" or " according to prornife." What was agreeable to promise ? the affirmation in the words, he , wrote, or the acl of writing. The adieftive in this cafe refers to the members of a sentence, a complete detached affirmation, or fatfc stated ; and the change of the word into an adverb, agreeably to prov.ife, or accordingly to promise, turns the phrafft into nonsense. iages. 1 ' THE condac r t of the people of Avignon to ob tain their liberty, very seriously affeifts our court. Difgulled with the inutility of negotia tion to bring back the people to obedicnce, it has at length determined to solicit the intervention of different powers. Thebnef which is as follows his holiness has dispatched to his Nuncio at Paris. " The maxims of independence, and anuiire ftrained liberty, propagated by the enemies of rel'gion, fovereiguty, and public tranquility have iiiuuccd inhabitants of the town cf Avignon to commit the most enormous outrages, and to despise theuil'elves by the most execrable perfidy. This people, which has lived so many ages under the mild and liappy dominion of the Holy See, has been imprudently led away by the bold and artful practices of I'ome defigniisg persons, who ainidit tumults and anarchy, have at length pro duced an open rebellion." "To prevent all cause of complaint, the Holy See has in vain displayed its benevolence towards t'nofe fubjedls, of whose difaffe(ftion it complains, by occasionally furnifliing them, from its own sources, with plenty of grain ; by lightening their expences ; by facilitating the administrati on of justice, and by inviting them paternally to make known the defedts andabufeswhich might have crept into their legislation, in order to their being reformed. " All these cases, all these effetfs of condescen sion of a generous Pontiff, far from exciting any gratitude, have only served to render these.un happy men more rebellious, and jniore infolenu. f Even' day has produced new crimes and new ex. cefles. N J -a w 3 ~ P-J 3 0' n 3 •JO , ~ ? tt. V) n b a. X 0 rs? a. i w "S. H ? W tO 1 c •< — £ c r ampj u H uz o 3 5* r» a & S o to n» ?" i? §- 3- ? o g ■H S» <—i X* r>* o u.> o 5* CO f» ~T hi N| NO o Ol C» cr c " After having overturned from the fqundati-' on, the ancient fyltem of the municipality and the tribunals, seduced the militia, usurped the rights of the throne and the altar, insulted the Holy Father and the ininifters, publiflied writings injurious to the supreme power, and violated even with contempt every thing sacred and pro fane, they have at length attained the aim ofr their infamous defigns,by imbruing their hands on the 12th and 13th of June last, in the blood of their fellow-citizens, by forcing M. Gafloui, Vice Legate, tojleave the city and territory of Avignon by pulling down the arms of the reigning pontiff, their only sovereign, and tumultuoully substitu ting for them thofeof his moftChriftian Majesty, whose known equity, religion and refpe<sl for the Holy See, fully convinces that court, that, far trom favoring so criminal a procedure, he would notfufFerit to pass with impunity. " Such, in a few words is the. account of the infurreclion of the revolters of Avignon, of which the cardinal secretary of state, by order of the Holy. Father, has the honor to inform yon, to the end, that you would be pleased to communicate the fame to the court where you reside : and it is in the full persuasion that it will take a part suitable to the importance of an event, which i» the common cause of all sovereigns, and to the particular friendfhip which it has ever protelled towards the sacred person of his holineii." Hkso [Whole No. 166.] ROME, July go.
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