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<flion to that of Paris. They will
not bear that this one body ihould monopolize
the captivity of the King, and the dominion over
the Afletnbly calling itfelf National. Each will
keep its own portion of the spoil of the church
to itfelf—and it will not even fuffer that spoil, or
the more just fruits of their industry, or the na
tural produce of their foil, to befent to (well the
insolence, or pamper the luxury of the mechanic
of Paris."
From the (London) Morning Chronicle
A Jhort Auf'jjer to Mr. BURKE's Pamphlet, by sb sw
ing the relative Jltuation of France and England,
undtr their new government.
France.
All Tythes abolished.
t
C
All Feudal Rights
aboliihed, and Lands a
granted as Free Lands, r
No Copyholds.
Nor Lords' Courts. t
No Herriots and Fines
The National Debt
paid off by the exceifivc
property of the Clergy
being fold, and France
relieved from Taxes.
Fanners general,—
and oppreflive taxes a
bolished a Trial by
Jury introduced.
A free representation
of the People annually
renewed by themselves.
The Corporations
open to the inhabitants
of the Towns.
A free Toleration—
Offices open—Refugees
recalled.
By tliis short, but incontrovertible statement,
the present lituation of the two countries will
more plainly appear, than by the arguments of
Sophistry.
LEGISLATURE of VIRGINIA.
In the HOUSE of DELEGATES, Thursday, December 16,
1790.
The Central Ajjembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to the United
States, in Congrefi ajjembled,
R IPRESEKT,
THAT it IS with great concern they find therofclves compelled,
from a ienfe of duty, to call the attention of Congress to an
ait of their lad feflion. entitled, 11 an ast making provifunfor the
debt of the Lnited States;' which the General AHembly conceive
neither policy, juftice,nor the constitution warrants. Republican
policy, in the opinion of your memoriahfts, could scarcely have
suggested those clauses in the aforefaid afl, which limit the right
of the United States in their redemption of the public debt. On
the contrary, they difcerna ftrikiiig refcmblancebetween this sys
tem, and that which was introduced into England at the revolu
tion. A iyflern which has perpetuated upon that nation an enor
mous debt, and has moreover insinuated into the hands of the exe
cutive, an unbounded influence, which, pervading every branch
of the government, beats down all oppofttion, and daily thuatenj
the drftruftion of every thing that appertains to English liberty.
The fa;ne causes pioduce the fame cffeQs ! In an agricultural
717
England
Tythes collecftcd in
kind, and Queen Ann's
bounty buying up large
tradls of land for the
Clergy*
All Feudal Rights
and base Copyhold Te
nures preserved.
Herriots exacted from
the Widow.
The Yeomanry ha
rafled with unprofitable
attendances at the will
of the Lord, at bis Ma
norial Courts
A debt of 263 millions
unliquidated, with the
addition of 5 millions,
from the late armament.
Taxes farmed
The Excise Laws ex
tended A Trial by
Jury curtailed.
A partial representa
tion, and once in seven
Years, principally by
the Lord*.
The corporations in
general closed, and c on
fifting of few people,
and having but little to
do with the people at
large
A partial Toleration
Offices (hut to a million
and a half of people—
Emigrations likely to
ensue.
[Whole Nc. i 82.]
country like this, therefore, to erect and concentrate and pern,
tuate a large mo tiled mtereft, i, a measure, which your memori ll
' apprehend roust, in the couife of human events, produce our
or other of two evils. The proftrotion of agticultu-e at the feu
of commerce, or a change m the present form of federal govern
ment, fatal to the exigence of American liberty.
The General Alfembly pafsby various other parts of the fubiefr
which they apprehend will have a dangerous and impolitic ten
dency, and proceed to (hew the injustice of it, as it applies to this
Commonwealth. It pledges the faith of the United States for the
payment ofceriain debts due by the several States in the Union
contrasted by them during the late war. A large proportion of
the debt thus coutrafted by this State has been already redeemed
by the collection of heavy taxes levied on its citizens, and mca
fures have been taken for the gradual payment of the balance. f 0
as to afford the-molt certain prolpeft of extinguiihing the whole
at a period not very distant ; but by the operation ofthe aforefai-l
aft-, a heavy debt, and confcquently heavy taxes will be iritailtd
on the citizens df this commonwealth, from which thev never can
be relieved by all the efforts of the General Airembly, whilst any
part of the debts contiafled by any State in the American Union,
and so assumed, Itaall remain unpaid : For it is with great anxietv
your memoria-lifts perceive, that the said ast, withont thefma:;-
cft neceflity, is calculated to extort from the General Affeiably
the power us taxing their own condiments for the payment of their
own debts, in fuel) a manner as would be bell suited to tlicir own
ease and convenience.
Your memorialing cannot suppress their uneasiness at the dis
criminating preference which is given to the holders of the prin
cipal of the continental debt, over the holders of the principal of
the State debts, in ihole instances, where Stales have made ample
provision for the annual payment of the inteieft, and where of
course there can be no interest to compound with principal, which
happens to be the filuation of this Commonwealth. The con
tinental creditors have preferences in oiher refpefts, which *I. e
General Aftembly forbear to mention, fatisfied, that Congress mull
allow that policy, justice, and the principles of public credit ab
hor difcrimination'a between fair creditors.
Your tnemorialifls turn away from the impolicy and iniuftice
of the said ast, and view it in another light, in which to lh:m it
appears still more odious and deformed.
During the wholedifcuflion of the federal constitution by the
convention of Virginia, your memorialists were taught to believe,
" that every power not granted was letained." Under this im
preflion andupon this positive condition declared in the instru
ment of ratification, the said government was adopted by the peo
ple of this commonwealth ; but your memorialists can find fw>
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«