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.