ofmm I [No. 47, of Vol. IV.] fßOti THE AMERICAN DAILY ADVERTISER No. IV. VINDICATION OF Mr. JEFFEIISON. Continued from the Gazette of the\sh ult.. A DISREGARD for the public cre dit, or to life terms more corres pondent with the idea of the writer, a desire to extirpate it, is the remain ing article, in the 1 ilt of charges which have been brought forwatn oy tiie American againll Mr. Jefferfon. In the notice I firft took of these al legations, this had escaped me. It (hall however now receive the atten tion to which it is entitled. To support this charge,a paragraph stated to be an extract from one of his letters to the former Congress, containing some communication re lative to a proposed transfer of the French debi, to a company of Dutch merchants, has been submitted to the public v: e w. Upon (his ii.igli <j,>cu ment it has been rested, and upon this of course mud the demonftraii on depend. The extra A in question lias been repi tfemed to be as follows. " Jfthere W .r danger of the public payments i ■ 0c 1 )» punctual, i fubinit wlje may not be better that the •ius which would then arise, :>e transferred from a court s good offices we have f 0 much netru, . i ilie breaits ol a private com- P : • >$y iliis Mr. Jefferfon is ex hni.it I,if not as the author of this propulsion, ypt as fubmining it sin g!y # to i licit couiitfe itiun, and prefl mg iis adoption by Congress. Hr.d Irom lie manner oi ihe publication, and his comments on ii, the honor and ci edu of the writer become pledged, 11 <{ onlv f>r i « truth and accuracy but likewifc for iis impar tiality, in prefeniing before the pub lie, a full and candid ftateiiient of whatever was neceliary to enable them to foi m ajult ediniate of its Of Wiijl merit. To exculpate him from tins dilho norable imputation, even the extract furnilhed, f\tlfe and deceptive as it is, upon a found couftruc'tion, would have been fuSicient. The sole ques tion it involves is, whether the (.on grefs would consent that the French court (houid aliign the debt vve owed them, to a company of private mer chants ; whether they would agree, to pay the latter at the fame time, •nd under the fame conditions, pre cisely the fame sum vve owed the fot n*Cl\ , JefFsrfon had advocated this idea, wherein does the turpitude con/ilt ! Debts between individuals have this property, and alignments of ihem are daily supported in the courts of law and equity. I hose fiom the public to individuals like vile have it : indeed the greater part, perhaps by this time the whole, of the American debt has undeigune this process. Upon what principle J then refule it to thac due to France.' Dees morality diflinguifti between the cases ? Or were the claims of that magnanimous nation, for part advances, and at a period of great diftreli, less to be regarded ? or thole, who were to profit by thetranf acftion, less the favorites of our go vernment, than others who have since infelled its ieat, and preyed upon in dividuals- But (he vindication of Mr. J'jffer fon againlt ibis charge does not reft upon the above principle. The con- ot his lettei, even in the extrnc't published, have been fhamefully mis represented ; other pat ts, abloluiely necefl'ary for ihe full conipreheniiyn of it fupjn elled ; and the propofiiion * TVk wr-.ter in answer to a very sensible and well written piece under the oi' -ARistidk; has confefled that the firit ftateraent made bv him with 'o much confidence, was in •ccurit'e ; but even here he still rtate> it in a point of view which jiiftifies the remark I have nude. A NATIONAL PAPER, PUBLISHED w* 'ui tS n ,v. , r ,,. _ ■ ' —~—— ' ' ;V ' LRUAVS BY JOHN FEN NO, No. 69, HIGH.STREET, I'HIL ADtLI'H • which he difcauntenanced, nnpofed on him as his own. 1 have lately seen an extra A, in pofleflion of a gen tleman, who was at that time a mem ■ ber of the Congress, and whose au thenticity cannot be questioned, which verifies wha< I have here advanced. The only proportion which he made < to Congress, was to borrow the mo ney in Holland, and discharge the Fi encii debt. 1 his alone was his wi<h. With tefpeift to the projetfrof the transfer he was only the vehicle of communication, and ac the parti cular request of the agent of the com pany ; hazarding transiently »nly, m presenting it to the view of that body, an idea which occurred, and which mult have occurred to any o ther pet (on, that it might be better to have for creditors,thofe from whom 110 friendly offices had been received, I tha.} a powerful nation who bad al> ready-conferred, and from whom we might hereafter have occalion to so licit, the most important fe'rvices. Mr. JefFerlon never fought to in- t 1 ranee : that court- and the whoie nation would exculpate him trom the charge. And the imputati on of intendingany deception on the mercantile company, is equally falfe and groundless. By them the con tract was solicited of France ; and for t he deposit of twenty millions of livres, they were to have become in titled to twenty-four, making there by a clear gain of four millions,with the high rate of intered ftipnlated [by the loan. Our afient was only de liiedfor its consummation. Is it to be presumed that this company were ignorant of the atfiual state of the iU\Jn or Hf nur ability to pav it ? aiicL. was it in such event his duty to in terfere, in derogation of the charac ter of his country, to warn them of the danger of our probable failure ? The person who publilhed the mu tilated extract pollelles I presume tlie true one. The whole was deposited in the quarter from whence it is be lieved to have been taken. I now therefore call upon hiin to produce the imire paragraph in his defence. In contempt ofofficialduties, as here tofore suggested and not denied, the veil of secrecy has been torn from it. Whatever detriment, if any, could be futtained from the exposure of a confidential paper, has been already rendered. It only remains by the publication of the truth, to fix the itigma on him who deserves it. Let j this likewile proceed from the fame; party thus notably diftinguilked, in j | gratification of private fevenge, for; the pernicious example of a gross j violation of the duties of a public t ti ulb, and a glaring outrage on the : delicacy of a foreign correspondence. The viiionary danger which threat ens in the minds of some men, the public credit, has long been a theme for copious declamation. An enqui ry into any proposition, fandioiied ■by a certain party, however uncon i net'ted wiili it, has been represented [as f'eeking its deftrurtion ; and thole who conduct it, though other wife pre eminent ly d illiuguilhed for their ta lents, their pairiotifm, their public and private vittues, as having this object solely in view. Much labor and ingenuity have alio been bellow ed in an effort to iinprefs the public creditors wi.h a belief iliat 011 the I'uccels of this enterprising faction, in all its meafuies, their fafety depends. Can ihefe arts long bewilder the pub lie mind, and divert it from the true object of enquiry ? Can any person who difpalfionately contemplates the obvious tendency of meafuies, withj the known and avowed principles of those who elpoufe them, doubt that the end to which they are intended to be made subservient, far furpafl'es the honelt boundary of a ftritfl fulfill ment of the public faith ? Saturday, November io, 1792. 185 OF the THEATRE at TURIN ' | ''HE form is that of an egg, cut acrois. There are fix rows of boxes, which are narrow in fron f, but very commodious, and hold eight perlons each. The king's box is in the second row, and fronts theftage ; it is 30 feet wide, Paris meafule, and the back front is covered with look i"j- g!-'s, which reflects the stage so, th 'L thole who happen to have their backs turned to the adlors, being ei . ther conversing or at play, may fee 1 the performance in a miiror. These glafles form a partition, which may j moved whenever they choose to : enlarge the box, there being a room ! behind. The very grear breadth of I tbt ft<age produces a 1110 ft noble ef >' "5. r h proxeniurci meafutes for jt yfive Paris feet. The depth of the jftige one hundred and five, beyondj j \"hich they can have a paved court of! feet. A gentle rife is contrived J u the fides, by which may be intro duced triumphal cars for great pro ceflions, liorfes, &c. They can also throw a draw-bridge across when the ne requires it, and have a contriv ance for letting in water, so as to pro duce a jet d'eau of thirty feet high. Sixty liurfes at a time have been bro't on the stage, and have manoeuvred with eafein representation of battles, &c. The orchestra it so curiously conftrmfled, as, by having a place left underneath, which is concave and feinicircular, to augment the the found of the inliruments very considerable FROM THE CONNECTICUT COURANT. IF any government has a right to be obeyed it is a republican government; the people! only obey themfeives— each individual fubmitsi to the whole ibciety. It is not doing fufficient justice to republicanism to fay that the people (übmit to authority, they in fact exercise it, they rule their rulers. In a thouiand forms, in practice as well as in theory, a republican na- i tion is the real sovereign ; Americans have bled to eflablHh this truth, and now lhalJ they deny it ? rhe world has profited by the lefibnswhich .;ave coil us iodear, and more than one great nation is now reducing them to practice, fliall we, in spite oi our own experience and ap plause, which encourage us to proceed, tread backward and !ole our rank among freemen ? \ve are lead by the extraordinary nature of the resolutions of certain persons in the back coun ties of Pennsylvania, to aik whether in our country these truly republican principles have trteir authority ? Whether like ingenious lophifms which are the fafhion of one age and out oi vogue in the next, they are to be ad mired in books and rejected in the ad minflra tion of public affairs ? But the people of Ame rica know, and it is a truth written with their biood, that their freedom confifti in their being governed by laws of their own enacting. It is a folemtx truth, and to be praefciftd, or law and equal right, and liberty would lose half their value by losing all their obligation.—What then fliali we fay to the resolutions ? They af fe<X to abhor an excile law ; in this pollibly tHey may be fin cere, and thole will mod readily be have they are so, who suppose they equally ab hor all law out their own will, and all govern ment but their own pafllons. It may not be a hard or difficult task for a few artful men in a country where few minifterg of the gospel arc to be found, and few ii any ichools are kept, to persuade the uninformed that an excile or any other law is unfriendly to their liberties. Any law is unfriend v to the wild liberty of an indi vidual ; but civil liberty cannot fubifift an hour wiitjppt 'aw-—the liberty a ftromger man than I las to knock me the headmuirbe refrained, or I can enjoy no liberty. We think the people oi the New-England States do not love liberty ieis than the iettlers in the back parts of Penn fvlvania ; yet they have been long used to an excile, and submit to it cbearfully, as they fee the Treasury of the United States filled with the monies arising from the duties on their dis tilleries. Direct taxes are by this means nfvoid ed, and the farmer is left to pursue his impor tant calling without interruption. But arc the frontiers of Peunfylvania to be defended by committees of correspondence created for the express purpose of opposing the laws ? Are they to be exempt from the very taxes which #aufe the ilream of public money to continue to flow mto that country who will not pay a far thine, [Whole No. 569.] >-> the L'nitcd State;' Is all the horthe* to \c orne by those who cfc>?y t'i? Jaw i What riot" t iignily t.'u-.t laws a<e ma 'e by r-prefent-.tivct qually chosen, and on principles of equal jus* ice, it they are not equally enforced : Sure;*/ t any arc to be treated with partial favor it houUi not be the breakers of the'public peace ; t ihould not be those who confplre ngainft law nd liberty. They pretend to dread the arbi rary nature of an excise act. Who believe« hose understand well what liberty is who prac ife it To illy . What is to be the eife<st of thele combinations—these county meetings ? Are :h?*y ready to r«Hft the will of t) e tiopli ex- M the law of the land, or (hall the#' re liance controul the government ? In a word, bair the people of the United States be go erned by the four western counties of Pemt ylvania ? or, flia.ll thole counties be governed >y the people of the United Srates ? The excifc aw might perhaps be wanting in many provi ions to feenre its due execution ; but it has icver been Oicwn (and is hardly pretended) to save any tiiinic in it more dangerous to liberty han the impost act; yet the merchants who übmit to the latter, have (hewn themselves :minently*attached to liberty and good govern nent The w*xcile law ever i.:J many pre udices to contend against—allowances ought :o be made for the firft unfavorable impreifions >n men not much accuftomei to law—such al owances were the more proper to be made, as uen were not wanting who made it a business o blow up the minds of the people «i<yiintl the ■>tcife. Every body knows how restless and mprincspled men get power and influence, in urbulent times*—-for that end they seize every »ccafion to make the times turbulent. All nefe allowances have been made for the oppo ers of the law—time ha-, been allowed for their >aflions to subside, and their prejudices to wear 'Ut > tueir outrages have been winked at, and n condescension to them the law has been re afed, and almost every exceptionable or ob loxious part, as far as could cor.fift with* the xecution of «t, has been modified. The in rcafcd and increasing expence of an Indian var w,:y;'\ carries tie solid wealth of the other •aits of the United States into the wilderness, eemed !:o be iufLcient to silence those who are o direftlv interested ; but we behold with re ;ret and ftnpi'ife t'.iat a plan of opposition to he law has been matured into a l vftcm. A neeting of private persons aifqmes for the back ounties of Pennsylvania, the authority of a "üblic body. Any mail wha Hiall be so loft to a enie of right and wrong as to accept of a com uifiion from the President of the United States o execute this law, is to be cut off from focie y. Like Cain, he is to become on outcast, and very man's hand is to be railed against him. •Vhat doth all this mean ? the will of part of tie people of a small part of L e mfylvania, is ►ppofed to the will of the Unired Stales that s to their law— and they let ns know that their orce also is opposed to that of the nation. Ei her this open refinance to lawful authority is o remain or to be suppressed. If it remain, hen the law must be repealed, for it would be nonftrous to colledt taxes from those who are billing to pay, and to excuse those who defy he power of the Union, and dare you to en force the laws. If the laws be repealed what iiall be lubfcituted ? such a law as a Jew indi viduals will be jlie afed of their own free will to 'bey, or must we do as we can without any aw of the kind ? What law for collecting an nternaJ revenue would be fubmittedto by meu vho pursue measures subversive of all law and •rder, it is not easy to conje&ure. Would they iot tar and feather a collector of a land or poll ax? The produce of their farms ij not to be ouched—ls this not faying government fball xempt our persons and property from taxes, aid they are welcome to what they can get ithei wife. It is a farce to conjecture what re enue law will suit them—ls it poflible to re >ea' the law in question confillent with the pub ic good ? The money raised by it, now, mult •e then fought for in some other way—rtne im loft is already great; will the farmers of Ame ica now treed from land taxes, and as it were eftored to the use of their hands, submit to ave them tied again, and a second time taJke he miliftone of direst taxation about their ecks, becaule the frontier people of Pennfyl ania dislike the present mode of raising mOr ey ? It no money ought under present circinn lances to be obtained by dry taxes, and no nore ought to be railed by iinpoft, what other noper and adequate revenue is to be eftablifk td ? none is suggested. Shall the laws of the Jnited States be opposed, and in effect set ilide and repealed in the corner of one State ? Perhaps they will fuffer others to pay, and may tope money will thus be obtained for public exi gencies. It concerns the dignity of a repub ican to shew that the law is really supreme. The difol>edience of the minority is a wrong lone the majority-—Burdens are made unequal. .The conititution of the United States and the laws of Congress have made provision for exe«- cuting the lawful authority, and they are no more than a dead letter if it be not done. A tardy support of the law is a surrender of it. It can only embolden the oppofers—-it will ag gravate the malady whick must be destroyed or it will destroy.
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