PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY' JOHN FENNO, No. 69, HIGH-STREET, BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD STREETS, PHILADELPHIA [No. 78, of Vol. ll.] FROM THE GENERAL AD'/ERTISER. Mr. Bache, ACCORDING to prouiife I fend yon the peti tion, and afl'ure you that the subscription goes on rapidly; iooo having signed already.— The total number of 10,000 is deemed fufficient, although twice as many might easily be obtained. The proceeding has been scrupulously candid ; not one having set down her name without a careful perusal of the contents. Much less have absent or fictitious persons been added to the lift, or school-boys and other trumpery taken in. Your friend, C. To the Honorable Congress of the United 7'he humble Address of ten thou/and Federal Maids With a blufli of female modelty we present this refpedtful address, in hopes that our federal voice may in fonie degree fofteii the clamour of discontent that Ituns your ears. We are grieved to lee, that a glorious empire cemented by the blood of gallant fellow-citizens, fathers and bro thers, is jet in danger from licentious discord; and we make you a folenin tender of all the aid that faithful female hearts can give. Phlegmatic pedants and flirting beaus may ridicule this lan guage as the efFufion of enthusiasm ; we scorn «r» & the paltry beings who never felt the sublimity and ardor of our country's facred love. We repeat again, command our utmost efforts for the public good. If the men will not fuffer your excise to touch their darting grog, excess in which does evety year destroy thousands, brings many hun dred families to beggary, and breaks the hearts of many amiable wives—tax then freely our fa vorite tea, our caps, bonnets, cushions, biihops, every piece of ornamental dress. If Hill more is wanted, tax our very under-petticoats. If our young men will not learn how to defend their li berty and property, their hoary fire, the mother who bore and suckled them—then order lis into the field. We shrink indeed from violence ; fonie of us cannot without pain kill a chicken : But alas, tlie sword is yet in this civilized tera, the ultima ratio. This charming country may invite bold invaders ; it may breed vipers in its bosom. This land of liberty tnuftbe defended against fo reign and domestic foes. Some of us are of tlie society called Friends, and we all refpedt the civil virtues of this society; but we cannot believe that a man does please the righteous judge of mankind, and father of mercies, by fuffering a savage to scalp his child, or burn the viife of his bosom in flow fires. We all know the value of national industry ; but gold must be defended by fleet. In dependence muftnot be hazarded merely to make an apprentice work some additional days more in tlie year for his mailer. Learning is both tifeful and ornamental to nations : But do not our scholars know, that Minerva -was the Coddefs of arms as -well as arts? Some of us will never marry a fellow who cannot protedl his fweet lieart, although he could chaunt all the battles of Homer in Greek. Your petitioners revere tlie rights of consci ence. They know also that general regulations require modification ; but every good citizen will cliearfully bear his portion of the public burden ; if he cannot fight, he will pay; if he drinks a gieat deal, lie will not grudge the price of his enjoyment. Finally, as those that sow have a right to reap, your petitioners request with due fubtuiffion a few small privileges: as an order offemale hereifm, like that of the Cincinnati ; the right of election to all public offices ; and especially an absolute command over non-paying and non-fighting hujbands. Ten Thousand Federal Maids. £X TRACTS Fro:.'i Mr. Burke's Publication on the Revolution in "TT is frtid that twenty-four millions ought to i- prevail over two hundred thousand, true— if th e constitution of a kingdom be a problem of arithmetic. This fort of discourse does well enough with the lamp-pott for its second : To men who may reason calmly, it is ridiculous.— The will of the many, and their interest, must ■very soon differ ; and great will fee the difference ■when they make an evil choice A government of five hundred country attornies, and obscure curates is not good for twenty-four million of men, though it were chosen by forty-eight mil lions ; nor is it the better for being guided by States France Wednesday, January 26, 1791. a dozen of persons of 'quality, who have betrayed their trust in order to obtain that power. At present, you seem in every thing to have strayed out of the high road of nature. The property of France ddes not govern it. Of course proper ty is destroyed, and rational liberty has no exist ence. All that you have got for the present, is a paper circulation, ai)d a stock-jobbing conttitu tion—and as to the future, do you seriously think that the territory of France, upon the republican system of eighty-three independent municipali ties (to fay nothing of the parties that compose them) can ever be governed as one body, or can ever be set in motion, by the impulse of one mind ? When the National Aflembly has com pleted its work, it will have accomplilhed its ruin. These commonwealths will not long bear a Hate of fubje clause in the constitution, authonfing Congress to ailume the debts of the States! As the guardians then of the rights and intcrefis ot their constituents, as centmels placed by them over the minis ters ot the federal government, to lhield it from their encroach ments, or at least to found the alarm when it is threatened with in. vafion, they can never reconcile it to their confeiences, silently to acqui, fee in a measure which violates that hallowed maxim. A maxim, on the truth and facrcdnefs of which, tie federal govern ment depends for its adoption in this commonwealth. But this injurious ast not only deserves the censure of the General Airem bly, becaule it is not warranted by the constitution of the United States, but because it is repugnant to an express piovifion of that constitution—this provision is " That all debts contrasted and engagements entered into before the adoption of this constitution, ftiall be valid against the United States under this constitution, as undei the confederation," which amounts to a constitutional ra tification of the contrasts refpefting the State debts, in the Situa tion in which they existed under the confederation. And resort ing to that standard, there can be no doubt, that in the prcftrit question, the rights of States as contracting parties with the Uni ted States, must be confidercd*as sacred. The General Assembly of the commonwealth of Virginia, con fide so fully in the justice and wisdom of Congress upon tlie prc fent occasion, as to hope they will rcvife and amend the aforefaid ast generally, and repeal in particular, so much of it as relates to the ailuinption of the State debts. December pg, i;go. Agreed by the Senate, H. BROOKE, C. S. CHARLES HAY, C. H. D. Test L O N D O N, Nov. 26. ON the evening of the jth inft. the Sovereign Congress at Bruflels assembled at the Town houfe at Nainur, where they received the citizens ; after the President, in an animated lpeech,had ad drefledthem refpedtirig the Emperor's Manifefto, he, in the name of the Sovereign Congress, re quefled their sentiments, which were delivered by one of their head, who spoke to the following effect: " We have considered the Emperor's Mani fefto, which I have the honour to inform you the citizens of Bruflels not only rejeifl but difpife ; the people have drawn the fvvord in the cause of God and their country, nor will they ever {heath it but in the bodies of their enemies ! " They are firm and determined, they have and will most chearfully expend the last portion of their property in support of their's and their posterity's liberty! They beseech you,therefore, high and mighty Lords, to adt with zeal and at tachment in your several august stations ; for lhould a link of your great chain give way, our cause must fall to ruin. I lie Manifefto was then ordered to be produc ed ac the table, where ic was pricked by the sword of the President, and head of the people,and then burnt in form. This appeal from Congress to the people, has been ordered to take place all over the States, and there is but one voice, frcsdom or dtath. A proclamation was ifl'ued, offering a pension of twenty florins per ann. and a silver medal, t«