PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS RY JOHN FENNO, No. 69, HIGH-STEEET, BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD STREETS, PHILADELPHIA. [No. 84, of Vol. ll.] Wednesday. February i 6, 1791. FOR THE GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES. MR. FENNO, ALTHOUGH I conceive it improper for indi viduals to obtrude their ientiments on the public, too frequently, with refpedt lo lubjeAs that engage the attention, and require the deli beration of the legislature of the Union ; yet if ic appear from proceedings already had, that any thing will be pretermitted, which merits legida tive provision, it ought to be communicated. The multiplicity and variety of buiinefs that is pre sented to the minds of the members of the ho norable body, unavoidably prevent an accurate and precise view of every part : Hence I infer the reason that induced Congress to adopt the practice of refering certain fubje&s to those of ficers, that fill the different executive departments to report on : A practice proper enough, if con fined within due bounds: The danger which may result is, that lb implicit a reliance may be placed on those reports, as to preclude a due investiga tion of the fubje&s reported on—Few men pos sessing industry enough to invelligate a fubjeifl already considered to their hand. This I pre sume, hath been the cafe, from certain proceed ings of the house of representatives, in conse quence of a late report, made by the Attorney- General, relative to the Judiciary Syllem, the re vilion of which, as there recommmended, hath been postponed to a subsequent period. The Attorney-General among other things, recom mends it to the legislature as proper, " That the Clerks and Marlhals should have emoluments equal to a livelihood," considering with jultice that the precarious profits of their relpeJtive of fices cannot be adequate to their support : Upon the ground of this recommendation, I suppose the house of representatives have appointed a committee " to prepare and bring in a bill mak ing provision for the Clerks and Marshals." An indifferent observer would be led to sup pose, from this circumltance, that those were the only officers known in the courts of the Union, and that by some novel regulation, they had dis pensed with a third officer, who hath been here tofore deemed important and elfential in the constitution of judicial tribunals—l mean the Prosecutor of the pleas of the State, whom it would be conjectured from his stile was a character that filled an appointment of considerable trust and confidence. Our observer would be not a little surprised to be told, thataltho such an officer ex i(ted,yethe was thought of such trifling account, that he was left without any kind of provision, except the uncertain allowance of so much as the court might deem fufficient for casual services— and that he was not even permitted to make his own charge for such service. I cannot avoid expressing my astonishment, that it ffiould never have occurrcd to the Attorney- General, or to the Members of Congress, that it was the duty of the Diltric r t Attornies, as well as of the Clerks and Marshals, to attend the refpec tivc feilions of the Courts of Ihe Union—distant perhaps from t heir relidence, without much prof petft of profeffional employment, and with no other object in view but a discharge of the duties of their office, and generally no doubt to the very great injury of their bufinels at home. It is unneceflary to mention the duties incum bent on that officer—they will occur upon reflec tion to the understandings of gentlemen—who, in revolving this fubjec'l in their minds, must be itrongly itnprefled with an idea that talents and profeffional knowledge are requisite for the due discharge of the office—contrary to the usual, I may fiy, aln.ioft tiniverfal praiiice of the honorable body, they have expected that services will be ren dered by the Attornies without proper compen sation. I have lately been informed, that it hath some time ago been required of them, by certain officers in some of the executive depart ments, to perforin certain fervicesth.it called for considerable attention and trouble, and that they were told their aflual expenditures should be re imburfed. lam certainly no friend to salaries, but I think government ought to preserve some degree of confittencv. There is one confederation, in my view, that is conclusive as to the propriety of rendering the diflrifi Attornies an adequate compensation : It is well known that molt, if "<>t all the States, have taken effectual fleps, cither by legislative aifts, or the inculcation of a jealous diftrult, to exclude aU jcderal officers from it ace appointments—in or tier, as they fay, to preserve the stare govern ments free from the influence of the federal go vernment— Ihe consequence of which is, that every person who accepts an appointment under the federal government, " ipfo fadio" expatriates himfelf, and lofeth all chance, while in office, of any appointment in the particular State, how ever important. Is it to be supposed then thai persons, whole talents afford them prospects of advancement kt home, will accept of the office of dijlrit7 Attorney, eltimated at so low a rate as it is ai present by Congress. On the contrary, will it not be spumed at by men of abilities, insomuch that none but inferior characters can be obtained to difcliarge its duties : Would this, I ast, be an eligible plight for pleas, that regard the interefl and welfare of the Union, to be placed in. It is obviously the interefl of the Union, that a due attention be paid to the profecinion of smugglers, the bane of its produiftive resources—and it is equally certain, that a spirited and determined prosecution of such offenders, will tend much to the discouragement of their ma)-prac r tices—This relts very much upon the diftrirt Attornies, who are the principal agents in the commencement and condudl of suits : Men inuft be rewarded for doing their duty—the imperfections of humanity require the spur of interefl::—" If you expeifl work well done, you mult pay well." N E W- Y O R K, Feb. n. Extraß of a letter from London, November 30. " It is with pleasure I inform you that the cre dit and character of the American states is rapid ly appreciating in this country ; one considera ble proof of which is, the speedy appointment of an ambassador, to reside in Philadelphia,whofe arrival, it is said, will be fuceeded by a commer cial treaty with Great Britain ; and which ifcon ftituted npon the liberal basis of rpclpro«"»l ad vantage, cannot ocherwife than highly bene ficial to both countries. Many of your vorks of literature are in growing eflimation 011 this fide of the Atlantic ; and, as refinement advances we have no small apprehensions of rivals in the fine arts riling in the western woods. An American production, entitled, " A law cafe between So loman Dash and Frederick Flute,*" has been lately delivered with great eclat in the British theatre, owing to that fund of fatyrical humour with which it abounds, and yet is of such a na ture as to please without offending." * See a volume of Miscellaneous pieces, by P. Freneau—page 216. PROVIDENCE, February 3. While we remark with pleasure, on the ad vantages resulting to the public from the new regulation, by the Pod Matter General, for con veying the mails from the feat of the general government, we cannot help regretting, that the portmanteaus used in that business are so finall, that Neiufpapers direßed to Printerj, are frequently excluded, and thereby the editors of the public papers at adiftance from the capital prevented the pleasure of prefentingtheir read ers with the latest proceedings of Congress.— The more than usual number of public difpatcli es which weekly go with the mail, point out the necelfity of enlarging the portmanteaus, in or der to leave as much room as formerly for news papers.—lt is of the greatest importance to the general government, that the people in all parts of the union (liould have early and authentic ac counts of the proceedings of Congress—and in no ether manner can rhey receive such accounts but by a free and general circulation of news papers.—By newspapers thus being flopped, op portunities are given to those so disposed to mis represent luch proceedings—and sorry are we to fay there are filch dispositions in every part of the United States. Other substantial real'ons could be given, were it deemed neceflary, tofhew that the legislature of the union ought immedi ately, to give special directions to the officers by them appointed in the Poft-Office department to attend punctually and faithfully to the forwarding and delivery ok newspapers—especially those pub lished at the feat of government. BOSTON, February 2. FOREIGN ARTICLES. Mr. Burke, for his P ilippick on the French National Assem bly, is denominated a: Paris, Guy Faux, and the fifth ot Nov em ber. was burnt in effigy, al Angiaife. 1 he exiled Nobility nf France, ill various quarters, are still pro je&ing coumcr-rcvoluiions. 749 CURT I U S NOTE [Whole No. i 88.] M. de Calonnc, the Ex-Minister ot France, has lately left Ena land for Turin. The city of London has addrefied the Britilh King on the pa cification with Spain. It approves highly of the Convention ,nd the Recorder [Mr. Rose] who read, and the Sheriff who pre sented the Address, were Knighted. The Britiih Parliament will again take up the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Mr. Pitt has a majority in the new Britith Parliament of two o one. John Boydcll, Esq. the celebrated printfeller, is ele&ed Lord Mayor of London. Ot Aflignats [or funded Paper Money] Nov. 4, last, there was fold at Paris, 125,000,000 livres, at per cent, above par. CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE THIRD SESSION', Begun and held at the City of Philadelphia, on Monday the sixth of December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety. An ACT declaring the consent of Congress to a certain adl of the State of Maryland. BE it enabled by the Senate and House of Rprefentativet of the Uni~ tedStatei of America in Congrejs assembled, That the consent of Congress be, and is hereby granted and declared to the operation of an ast of the General Aifembly of Maryland, made and passed at a feflion begun and held at the city of Annapolis, on the firlfc Monday in November last, intituled, " An a£t to empower the wardens of (he poit of Baltimore to levy and collefl; the duty there in mentioned, " until the tenth day of January next, and from thencc until the end ot the then next session of Congress, and no longer. FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, Speaker of the Hovfe cjßeprefentatives. JOHN ADAMS, Vice-President of the United States, and Prejident of the Senate. Appro v ed, feb ru ar y ninth, 1791. CEQRCk WASHINGTON, P?efident of the United States, (True Copy) THOMAS JEFFERSON, Secretary of State. CONGRESS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. MONDAY, Jan. 31. In cVinmittee of the "whole, on the bill for the eflablifh- ment of Pojl-Offices and Pofi-Roads. Mr. Boudinot in the Chair. MR. STEELE moved to expunge the second fec r tion, for the purpose of introducing an other as an amendment; in substance, that the molt diretft route from W'iicaflTet in the diftrictof Maine, to Savannah in the state of Georgia be established as the post road ; and that the Presi dent of the United States be empowered to elta bliflicrofs post roads, where they shall appear to him necessary. He observed that upon the present eftabli/hmenc of the principal post road, a considerable and po pulous part of North-Carolina derived 110 advan tage from the establishment, and the sea coast ex clusively enjoyed the benefit of a regular and speedy conveyance for their correspondencies, and thus the agricultural interest was facrificed to the commercial. In the last felfion, it was true, he had been of opinion that a discretionary power, which by his amendment was propofedtobe left, with thePre fident, should not be given to him ; not that he thought it unconstitutional, but because he then conceived the representatives, from their collect ed local information, better able to determine in. what parts of the coiintry polls would be requir ed : But the Senate did not concur with the house in exercising that power, and a change ofcircum ftances required a change of nieafures ; —the Pre sident, by a tour to the southward, hefaid, could colled: the neceflary information whereon to found proper regulations in that quarter. Mr. Williamfon opposed the amendment offer ed by his colleague. The obje<fl of an eftabli/h ----ed post was not to afford the nioft speedy convey ance, by the ftraightell line between two distant places : but to accommodate on the route as ma iny persons desirous of writing as possible. If the i\tis o
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