V ■ f PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND .WriKDXvS BY JOHN fENSO, No. 6 9 , HIG lis TR EET, BETWEEN' 3 j-CP AT) AND THIRD MEETS, FrtLADELPHII [No. 87, of Vol. ll.] Difcotirfes on Davila No. 24. (Continued from No. 63 of this Gazette.) AFFAIRS had now taken a new face. It was easy to forefee, that the animosities of the two factions would never be excinguilhed but by arms—and that the tempest which had long grumbled in the air, would soon pour upon their heads. Accident soon produced a favorable con juncture for precipitating France into the greatest misfortunes. The King of Navarre, having de clared himfelf openly for the Catholic party, fixed his residence at Paris. This city, situated in the centre of France, is much more populous, more rich, more magnificent and more powerful, than any other in the kingdom. This Prince, believing that the other cities would easily con form to the example of the capita], forgot no thing to hinder the Hugonots from holding their allemblies, and preaching their sermons there ; in which the Parisians in general, enemies- of the reformation, seconded him with zeal. By this means he hoped in time to diminilh insensibly the credit and the forces of the Protestants, and take away their liberty of conscience, which alone fupponed their existence. The Prince of Conde resided also at Paris, where he promoted and so* | xnented the designs of the Hugonot ministers. Under the pretext of causing to be obferved'the edict of January, he extended from day to day the liberiy of conscience ; and, whether by power or by right, arrogated to himfelf a great autho rity in what refpe&ed the State. The King of Navarre, animated equally against his'brother by a love of repose, and by jealousy, resolved Irov compel him to, gp out of Paris. Several other motives determined to put an en A to trou bles and seditions, as as conventrcles, in a city which was the firwfcfl: support of the Cathq lic party ; but whether lie felt himfelf too weak to attempt such an enterprize alone, or whether he wiflied to consult his Confederates before he execute'stry-rTrrrrg, TmnviT?ani § and the Constable to come pfnd join him, with their partisans, The Duke of Guise, since his retirement from Tourt, reficled at Joinvil'le. one of his country "eats, upon the frontiers of Champaine and Pi :ardy. L'pon the invitation of the King of Na 'arre, he departed for Paris, accompanied by the Cardinal his brother, a numerous retinue of gen lemen attached to his interests, and two compa res of men in arms. The (it ft of March, in the norning, as he palled by Valli, a little city in Champaine, his.people heard an unusual ringing ifbclis, and having asked the reason of it, were old that it was the signal of a sermon at which the Hngonots aflembled. The valets and foot men of the Duke, who were mod forward on the road, excited by the Angularity of the thing, and by curiosity to fee one of these airemblies, which were but lately begun to be holden publicly, ad vanced in a tumult, uttering their coarse jokes, towards the place where tlie Hugonots were af lembled to hear their ministers. The Calviniits understanding that the Duke of Guise, whom they regarded as one /if their mod ardent perle cutors, was not far off, and feeing a troop of his people coming direcftly to them, whether they dreaded some insult, or whether they were piqued at the rude railleries and fcornful speeches of this servile mob, they answered by atfts of vio lence, pelting with stones th? firft who were ad vancing towards their congregation. This is the account of Davila—and at this day it may be of as little consequence to enquire which fide began to use force, a> to ascertain which party fired the firft gun at out Lexington. When a nation is prepared for a civil war, when parties are formed and paflions enflamecl, which can be extinguished no other way, it is, only for the fake of popularity, neceflary to en quire which strikes the firft blow, but in our /American revolution, we know it was the party who were in the habit of domineering who be gan—and fucli is commonly the cafe. Most pro bably De Thou is in the right for the fame rea lon—who aflei ts that the Duke of Guile s ser vants threw the firft stones ; and if this was done without the Duke's orders, it is certain that his mother, a bigotted furious Catholic, had often entreated him to deliver her from the neighbour hood of the Protestants of Vafli ; and very pro bably she had enflamed his whole family against theui. However this might be, the Catholics abandoned all their prudence and attacked the Saturday. 26, 1791. Protestants, sword inland, and the lkirmilh Toon became furious. [lie Dhke, informed of the tumult, and wishing to appease it, ran in all halte and ruihed into the iriidlt of the combatants— while he reprimanded his own people,' and ex horred the Hugoriots to retire, he was slightly wounded by the itroke of a stone upon his left jaw. The blood which he lolt obliged him to retire from the uproar, when his followers, growing outrageous, had recourse to fire-arms, forced the house where the Calvinifls had bari cadoed themselves, killed more than sixty of them ; and their minifies - , dangerously wounded, escaped with great difficulty over the roofs of the nighbouring houies. When the commotion was alluaged, the Duke of Guise fenc for the Judge of the place, reprimanded him for tolerating such conventicles. The Judge excused himfelf' because these allembiies were permitted by the eclicft of January. The Duke, as much enraged at this answer as at the disorder which occasion ed it, laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, and replied, with great fury, " The edge of this iron fhal] soon deliver us from that edict which they think so solidly These words, uttered in the ardour of his indignation, did not escape the attention of those who heard them — and in the feqnel he was accused of being the Boutefeu, and the author of the civil wars. The Hugonots, irritated by the, massacre at Vaffi, could no longer contain themselves within the bounds of moderation—not content with the excefles committed by them in several cities of the kingdom, and especially in Paris, where they had maliacred fevergl Catholics, and set fire to trc?sbhurch of St. Medard ; they listened only to ; th|fr-«wn rage, and excited everywhere troubles arid bloody seditions ; monasteries were pillaged, images broken, {altars overturned, and churches profaned. Thelb on both fides, embit tered, mens' minds, and they rushed every where to arms. The chiefs of the two parties, agitated prepared openly for war. But the leaders of both fattions were not iguorant that, in the ac tual Hate of things, they could not take arms without rendering themselves guilty of rebellion, and that there was neither pretext nor colour which could authorize any measures which tended to war, The Catholics could not interrupt the execution of the edict of January, without con troverting openly the decisions of the council, and wounding the royal authority from which' this edict had ifl'ued. The Hugon-ois had no rea sonable motive to revolt, while they were pro tected and allowed to enjoy the liberty of con-, science granted them by that edict. The leaders of each party desired to draw-the King to tkairftd?. and to become mailers of his perfun, either to abolilh the edi<t, or to derive new advantages from it, in order to prove that their cause was the molt just—and that it was t;ie opposite party which erected the standard of rev.olt, by opposing the, apparent will of the Sovereign, and by attacking even his person. CONGRESS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ' THURSDAY, Feb. 3. The B ANK BILL under conjideration, IS/TR. AMES : Little doubt remains with vef -L' a-yieft to the utility of Banks. It seems to be conccklect within doors and without, that a public Bank would be ufeful to tiadc, that it is almost eH'ei'tfal to revenue, and that it is little Ihort of indiipenfible necessity in times of pub lic emergency. In countries whose forms of go vernment left them free to chufe, this inftitu tioll has been acUptcd of choice, and in times of national danger vnd calamity it has afforded such aid to government to make it appear, in the eye,s of the people, a veceflary means of felf pre servation. Ihe fubjewyhowever intricate in its nature, is atlaftefeared fiW obfem ity. It would not be difficult to eflablifh principles, and to deduce from its theory, fucli conferences as 761 [Whole No. j,,,.]. I would vindicate the policy of the meafui e. > why should we lose time to examine'the Theory** when it is in our power to resort to experience ? After being tried by that test, the world has agreed: in pronouncing the inrtitution excellent. This new capital will invigorate trade and ma nufactures with new energy, It will furni/h ? » medium for the collection of the revenues ; and if government fliould be preited by a sadden ne, ceility, it will afford aid. With all these and many other pfetenfions, if it was now a question whether Congress Would be vested with the power of eftablifting a Banfcf I trust that this house and all America w<rald ak sent to the affirmative. This however is not a question of expediency, but of duty. We are not at liberty to examine which of several modes of acting is entitled to the preference. But we are Solemnly warned again ft acting at all. We are told that the con iUtution will not authorise Congress to incorpo rate the fubferibers to the Bank. Let us ex-na ine the conltitution, and if that forbids our pro ceeding, we must reject the bill ; though we fliall do it with deep regret that filch an oppor tunity to ferye our country must be Suffered to escape, for the want of a constitutional power to improve it. The gentleman from Virginin considers the oppofcrs of the bill as fuffering disadvantage, be cause it was not debated as bills uCuaily are in the committee of the whole lioufe. He has prepared us to pronounce an eulogium upon his conlift ency, hy informing us that he voted in the old Congress against the Bank of North America, on the ground ofhisprefent objection to the con stitutionality. He has told us that the meaning of the constitution is to be interpreted by cotem potaneous testimony. He was a member of the convention which formed it, and of course his opinion is entitled to peculiar weight. While we refpe«ft his former conduct, and admire the felicity U1& fituarion, we cannot think he lof tains disadvantage in the debate. Be/ides, he must have been prepared with objections to the constitutionality, because he tells us they are of long {landing, and had grown into a fettled ha bit of thinking. Why then dill he fuffer the bill to pass the committee in silence ? The friends of the bill have more cause to complain of disadvan tage ; for while he has had time to prepare his objections, they are obliged to reply to them without premeditation. In making this reply, I am to perform a talk for which my own mind had not admonished me to prepare. I never fufpecfted that the objec tions 1 have heard Hated had exigence : I consi der them as discoveries ; and had not the acute penetration of that gentleman brought them to light, 1 am lure that my own understanding would never have suggested them. It seems ilrange too that in our enlightened country, the public ihould have been involved in eqiv*l blindtiels. While the exercise of even the lawful powers of government is disputed— and a jealous eye is fixed on its proceedings ; uoc a whisper has been heard againit its authoriry ta eitablijh a bank : Still, however unseasonably, the old alarm of public discontent is founded in our ears, Two questions occur : May Congress exercise any powers which are not exprefsjy given in the constitution ; but may be deduced by a reason able conftrnrtion of that instrument ? And se condly, will fucli a conftrucftion warrant the ef tablifhinent of the Bank The docflrine that powers may be implied which are not exprefaly veiled in Congress has long been a bugbear to a great many worthy periods. They apprehend that Congress by put ting conftruftions upon the constitution, will go vern by its own arbitrary discretion ; and there fore, that it ought to be bound to exercise the powers exprefily given, and those only. If Congress may not make laws conformably to the powers plainly implied, tho not exprefled in the frame of government, it is rather late in the day to adopt it as a principle of conduct : A great part ofour two year's labor is loft,and worse than loft to the public, for we have scarcely made a law in which we have not exercised our discre tion with regard to the true intent of the consti tution. Any words but those used in that inftrn ment will be liable to a diiferent interpretation. We may regulate trade—therefore we have taxed (hips, creifted light-houses, made laws to govern #I^o * * VI V'
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