PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENNO, No. 63, MARKET.STREET, BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD STREETS, PHILADELPHIA [No. 70, of Vol. ll.] Wednesday, December 29, 179°« FOR THE GAZETTE OF TIIE UNITED STATES, MR. FENNO, EVERY friend ro the mercantile interest of the United States mutt fee with pleasure the exertions of an honorable member of Congreft, from this State, for the improvement of the ma ritime and commercial law. The bill jor the re gulation of mariner* in th: merchants' firvice, which he brought 111 at the lad feflion, does the high est honor to his patriotism and abilities, and the greaieft expectations are entertained from the affreightment bill, which he is now about to lay before Congress. Ft has been observed with wonder, that En gland, the greatest commercial country in the world, is the only one that is not in potlellion of a complete regular code of maritime and com mercial jurisprudence ; and that her judges a>e often obliged to borrow their notions on those fubjeeis from the ordinances and writers of other countries. France, S])ain, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and even the little confederacy of the Hanfe towns, all have maritime ordinances. The ordinance of Philip the second, of Spain, and the ordinances of Bilboa are justly admired ; and the ordinances of Lewis the fourteenth, of France, have ltamped the fame of that monarch as a legislator, and are become in a great degree the general law of the commercial world. Was such an ordinance, Aiited to the particular cir cumltances of this country, to be compiled from the variety of rich materials that we have now before us, and be promulgated in the United States under the Prelidency of a Washington, it would not diminiih any thing from the great character that he has acquired as a promoter of the happiness of man. It would be highly ufe ful and fatiefadtory to merchants and mariners, by ellablidling fettled rules for their ref'pective dealings and preventing many law-fui's among them, and perhaps, and it is very probable it would be the cafe, we should have the honor of dilating laws to that country from which we have so long received them ; for there is no doubt that if the principles ellablifhed in the proposed ordinance were founded on justice and equity, Britain would adopt them in preference to those which she is now obliged to look for in the laws of other countries. Siich a work isuot perhaps so arduous as some perlbns might be apt to imagine. A (mail com mittee of lawyers ar.d merchants would prwba bly be able to perfect it and report a plan to Congress in the space of two years ; the expence would be trifling, the honor would be great and the utility permanent; merchants have also long •wished to have particular courts appointed for the decision of their own differences ; such courts are established in.almost every part of the world. The court of admiralty in England was origi nally inltituted for thole purposes, but their too great attachment to the forms of the Roman ju risprudence, and the just jealousy of the courts of common law on that account prevented the desired effe<ft. Certain it is, that matters res pecting freight, infurancc, bottomry, pilotage, piracy, captures, fitting out and repairing ships and veflels, mariner's wages, bills of exchange, bankruptcies and the numerous other matters that relate to maritime and commercial affairs, are Sufficiently extensive and intricate to become the object of a particular court of judicature. One judge, fkilledin the laws, with two afleflbrs taken from the body of the merchants, in the principal sea-ports of the United Stales, might perhaps constitute a proper maritime and com mercial court, with an appeal to some Superior court of revision, Trial by jury might be pre served in those cases to which it properly applies; and as to the expence, there is little doubt but the merchants themselves would be glad to con tribute to it, as the court would be instituted for their own immediate advantages. It would be improper to fuggefl more, perhaps I have al ready suggested too much. A FRIEND TO COMMERCE. fROM THE (BOSTON) (OLUMBIAX CEXTIA'EL. LATEST FRENCH ADVICES. ["An obligingcorrefpondent having favoured us with Poris papers, from the ill to the 14th of O&ober, we are enabled to furnifh our readers with FRENCH INFORMATION 16 days laterthan hath been before received.] NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, Oct. 6. A LETTER was received from the Keeper of the Seals, informing that the Decrees which suppress the present Courts of Justice, and cftab liih new ones, had been received by the Chatn bers of the Parliament 6f Rouen, Bonrdeaux, 1 ouloufe, Douai, &c.—That tlie Parliament of Toulouse, on receiving them, came to the follow ing resolution, which he laid before the Allein bly. Extract of the Resolve of the Parliament of Toulouse. " The Court considering that the French Mo narchy is verging rapidly to the moment of its difTolutiou, &c. l J rotejts, in behalf of their Lord the King, the Clergy, the Nobiftty, and all the ci tizens, against all att:vi[>ts on the rights of the Crown—the Annihilation as the Nobility, and the total overthrow of the French Monarchy : Again!! all Kdi<fts, Declarations, and Letters Patent, tending to the suppression of this Court—and the clifinem bertnent of the province of Lnnguedoc; againlt all attempts made upon religion, upon the dig nity of its Ministers, and upon the spiritual ju rifliiction of the Church, and its Liberties : And whereas the records made by this Chamber since the 15th November lait were only provifionaty, they are hereby declared of no validity or effect: The said Court ordains, that the present liefolu tion faall be tranl'cribed upon its records, as a testimony of their principles, and as a Memorial that the Magistrates who compose it, and the people Whom they represent, are devoted to the King, and to the Nation : They alio ordain, that a copy of this Resolve shall be sent to the laid Lord the King. Done at Toulouse, 17th Sept. 1790." After it was read, Mr. Robespierre rose. " I observe, said he, that this Aflembly cannot but view the Members of the Parliament of Totiloufe, as weak enemies, vanquished and funk under the weight of the public opinion. I beg tliac may discover that moderation—that prudent firmnefs, which is the surest evidence of ilrength and the diltinguifhing trait of power. Sirj, treat the Members of this Parliament, as enemies of the Nation in a manifeft delirium. I reqnelt then, they may be brought to this bar." This proposal cxcited great murmurs—m?ny Mem bers, among others, Mr. Camus, moved, that the affair might be fabmitted to the committee on reports, to report the day after to-morrow ; but others proposed to fa bin it it to the Committee 011 the Constitution. The lalt motion was carried. Del. 9. —The 'National Afiembly decree, that the National Loans opened by virtue of former decrees, {hall be fnut from the day of the publi cation of the decree. The new affignats [paper-money] created by the decree of 29th Sept. /hall be in Notes of 2000, 500, 200, 100, 80, 70, 60, and 50 livres each. [The following very important Deere: is prefaced by a lengthy speech of M. Barnave, in which he gives th: Afembly a particular detail of occurrtnces in the Colonic, particularly fame illegal measures of the Municipal Assembly of St. Marc, in the iflatid of St. Domingo—At the close of which he introduced the following Decree, which was adopted—] Off. 12. The National Aflembly, after having heard their committee on the fubjetft of (the co lonies, npon the situation of tlie illand of St. Do mingo, and the events which have there taken place, considering that the principles oftheCon ilitntion have been violated, the execution of their decrees suspended, and the public tranquil ity dilturbed by the acfts of the General Aflembly fitting at St. Marc—confideringalfo that the Na onal Aflembly has promised to the colonies the speedy eltablifhmenr of laws the most proper to secure them in the pofleflion of their property ; that they have in order to quiet tlieir alarms ear ly announced to them the intention of hearing their voice on every change which might be pro posed in the laws prohibitive of commerce, and their firm determination of eltabl jfhing as consti tutional articles in their organization, that no perfpnal laws fliould be decreed for the colonies, but upon the special and formal request of the colonial Aflemblies—that they have been solicitous that the colonies of St. Domingo should realize these dispositions, by fecuringto them the execu tion of the decrees of tiie Srh and 2~th of March, and taking every meafnre neceflary to elbablifh public order and tranquility— DECLARES—the pretended decrees and atfts ifl'ued from the Aflembly appointed at St. Marc, under the title of the General Aflembly o't the French division of St. Domingo, an outrageous attempt against the national sovereignty and le o-iflative power, and decrees that they are null and incapable of being put in execution—declares the said aflembly deprived of its power, and all 685 [Whole No. i 74.] its members stripped of the charntfter of deputies of the Colonial Aflembly of St. Domingo— DECLARES—that the Provincial Allcmbly of the North, the citizens of the town of Cape-Fran cois, the parish of Croix de Bouguets, and all those who have remained faithful to the decrees of the National Aflembly, the volunteers of Port au-Prince, those of St. Marc, the patriotic troops of the Cape, and all other aiftive citizens who have been guided by the fame principles, have glorionfly performed all the duties belonging to the title of Frenchmen, and are thanked in the name of the nation by the National Allembly—- DECLARES—that the governor general of Sr. Domingo, those officers of rank who have faith fully served under his orders, and ef|iecial!y thai Sieurs Vincent and de Mauduit, have gloriouily performed the duties of their functions— DECREES—that the King <hp.ll be requcfied to give orders, that the decrees and inftruCiions of the Bth and 28th of March lalt, ihall be put in execution in the Colony ofSt. Domingo—that in consequence they Ihall immediately proceed [ifit has not yet been done] to the formation of a new Colonial Aflembly, according to the rules prescribed by the said infiructions, and to con form to them precisely— DECREES—that all established latvs. shall con- tinue to be executed in the colony of St. Domin go, until new laws are substituted, following tlie lteps presented by the decrees aforefaic!— DECREES, notwitliftanding, that until the or ganization of the tribunals in the said colony,the Supreme Council of the Cape shall be continued in the form in which it was eiiablifhed; and that the judgment therein rendered, since Jan. 10, shall not be set alide by reason of the illegality of the tribunal. DECREES—that the King shall be requelted, in order to preserve the tranquility of the colony, to fend there two ships of the line, and a propor tionate number of frigates, and to complete the number of the regiments at the Cape and Port au-Prince— DECREES nifo—that the members of the be fore mentioned General Aflvmbly of St. Domin go, and the other persons sent frojn the National Aflembly by the Decree ot Sept. 20th, lhalJ re main iu the fame condition until further order* are taken refpe<fling them. EOURDEAUX, SEPT. 0,0. This day at noon the corporation with the May - or at their head and preceded by the trumpets of the city and a detachment of the municipal guard on foot, proceeded to the coufthoufe, place dq( Lombuice, in conformity to the decree of the Na- tional AUemcdy of the 7th of this month fancfti oned by the King, to set the seals upon the regj ftry, archives, and other deposits of papers and the records of the ancient tribunal, formerly the parliament. This formality, which drew toge ther a large concourse of fpeCiators, was finished without the least disturbance ; the officers of the corporation were received at the entrance into the court with universal acclamations. A single picquet of the National cavalry were held in rea diness during this operation, which will not be one of the least brilliant epochs of our history.— Thus then is fallen that ancient oak, whole root sprung from the foundations of monarchy, and whose proud top hasfo often braved the thunder : The traveller contemplates with some remains of horror this enormous trunk which lately threat ened to bury the state in its fall, now laying in the dust, and blefles the vitflorious hand which has thrown it down. Phi l ade lphi a, Dec ember 7, 1790. A S the partnership of JohnDunlap and DavidC.Cl/>y iJL pools. will expire on the firft day of January, 1791, Day id C.Clay pool e propofesto publiih a Newspaper, entitled The Mail, New Daily Advertiser. (To be continued every Evening, Sundays excepted. J THE MAIL shall be printed with an elegant new Type, pr®J cured tor this patticular purpofc, on Paper, equal in fizc and qua lity to any of the Newfpap.rrs of Europe or America—And the Subscriber engages that no Means shall be spared to render the Mail and New Daily Adv e r tiser in other refpe&s worthy 0} the Public Patronage, which he now refpe6Hully solicits. The Price of the Mail will be Eight Dollars pr. annum, to be paid at the end of the Year : And Advertisements will be re-* ceived on such moderate Terms as to prove fatisfaftory to those who may be pleased to favor the Printer with their Command# in tha: line. Stibfcriptions arc thankfully received at No. 48, Market-Street^ D C. CLAYPOOtE.
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