Wuft have dropped down lt Ah ! Ye*, Ah ! Yes!" cried the Hon. Members, staring at each other with faces of wonder. w But, ex claimed the Hon. A. J. D. certainly fir, you did not irrite all thin poem in one day ? 44 One day! replied the astonished author, one day Whv, fir, how you degrade my poem j Can you be fermus in your cjueftion \ N T o, fir, —I locked myfelf 111 this study i'or 19 days and nights—l lived during the who'e time foleiy on dry bread andJi'ong cvjfte, which you know Doflar is a powerful stimulant to the imagination—The firft day I made one stanza, and so greatly was I by it", pathos, that I gained not one wink of ileep that night —The next morning being wearied, I fell in to flam'iers} during which 1 saw the ghost of Patty—-immediately on beholding her, I broke out into that foiritted addreft which begins the second stanza— 1 ' Ah ! ah ' dear patty ! Oh ! ah ! oh \ dear Cat !"—Whert I awoke at four in the afternoon, I put down the line, left I (hould forget it—then getting my cot' fee down and walking twice across my room, I was capable of purftrfng my labor, and by next day evening finifhed the second stanza. In twelve days I finilhed the other four stan zas, and the sixteenth day I began to read over my work, in order to make corrections' in grammar and spelling—l came to the line " Ah ! what have I to do but lie and !" I saw something wanting, and being then un der the influence of ftroi-g coffee, and of the poem as I had read it eolle&ivcly, I fat down, and before night completed the poem, by that matter-piece of composition the concluding stanza. The three remaining days I spent in corrections and copying—For the fpeUings I always followed Entick's pocket dictionary. Thus, my honorable and worthy friends, you fee what labor can effect ; and as I have done this poem in so short time, you ought not to despair of completing your panegyrical poems in the space of one month But before I con clude, gentlemen, let me take the liberty to observe to you, that the best and easiest me thod I have found to make verfew, is firft by putting down the words which rhyme to each' other, which you can procure from that valu able book called the Rhyming Dictionary. This is the mode I follow and approve—and indeed I believe the great Mr. Pope followed this plan also, for in his immortal poem enti tied the " Wife of Bath," the only poem of his that I have read, I find he has almost eve ry rhyme from that dictionary." Here the honorable gentlemen bowed to the learned author, and the Hon. A. J. D. moved that the thanks of the company be presented to him for his information conveyed; which motion being carried, they were accordingly present ed by the Hon. mover. It was now i 2 at midnight, and the honorable gentlemen mutu ally pledging themselves to appear at the fame place on the 3d* day of February, with their poetical addrelTes to their worthy leader the virtuous P •t of the S—e of P — -a, they retired to their refpedVive habitations. + Thro' '.he Jane channel that I received those Jketches, I have obtained the proceedings of the meet. ing held agretMy to this rrfnlution, on the 3d 0/ Fe. irutiry, and shall fend them to you in a few days. For the GAZETTE of the UNITED STATES. Mr. Fe N NO, I COULD not help smiling at a late remark on the Speeches and Refolutionsof certain mem bers of the House of Representatives of the U. S. refpe&ing some of the Officers of Government, viz. " Satan hath desired to fiftyou as wheat." — 1 know the transparent and firm integrity of enc of thoje officers of mod refpe&able chara£ter : but tho' I had no (hadow of doubt of his integrity, or fear of his faith in an omniscient overruling Providence, failing; yet I could not be certain of his faith in the intelligence, penetration and candor of a very great majority of the citizens of these United States, and a continuance thereof, "till I considered the further means of ufefql knowledge and discernment of their own true interests, and of his real merits and capacity, which would be afforded in consequence of the reccnt investigations and fillings of his conduct since his appointment to that very weighty of fice— I then took comfort, and doubted not, that even his faith in this refpefl would not fail him ;—and upon reading his Letter, or Report, of the 4th inft. I am exceedingly pleased to fee his foul rife superior to those premature and groundle-fs insinuations, in a certain precipitate and rema»kable publication. And though I perceive he is not insensible to what might have been the motive to those erroneous and uncandrd insinuations, yet his answer puts me in mind of the Angel whvn contending with Satan about the body of Moses—He brought not a railing accusation against him (as in justice he might) but only said, " The Lord rebuke thee, Satan" —to which I fay, Amen. I rannot help ferling hurt when I fee inno cence and remarkably superior rnen't attackrd by anv son of Adam or of Eve—be he whom he will—as I can with conscious truth declare my felf a lover of mankind—and in particular, of the peace, credit, profprrity and honor of these highly favored United States— And am, Sir. Your friend and fuNfrriber, PHILANTNROPOS. Norfolk, January 26. Extratt-tf a letter from a gentleman in Cape-Fran cois, td his friend in this towri, dated Dec. 28. " We have for sometime been under fearful appre.henfions that the opinions of the metropo-i lis would prove fatal to the interest of the coun try. We are now happy to inform you, that the National Convention have sent 45,000,000 livres to the relief of this colony—Ninety ihou fy»d dollars arriyed lad evening in a vessel from Hourdcaux, and 130,000 «ry>re are now entering our pori. We are farther aflured, that 20,000 troops have lately embarked from France, who will establish good order in Martinique & Gua daloupe. This oughc to animate our courage and forces, and infpire-ns with a hope that a general tranquillity will soon be established in thii unhappy country." Foreign Affairs. F U L DA, November 9. PRIVATE letters fromHanau mention, that they expe& every day large reinforce men t* from Austria and other powers.■ Eight days ago, three Hanoverian regiments arrived alrea dy at Marburg, where are like wife some Hef fan dragoons, and ten thousand men more are ready to march at a moment's warning to the alii (lance of the Prince of Hefle Caffel. The regiment of Carabineers of HefTe Caffel is marching towards Hanau. Three thousand three hundred Auftrians, who had with them great quantities of cannon and ammunition, were obliged to halt at Afkaffenburg, on ac count of the French being in Franckford. Jw Franconia the quarters were bespoke for the? Austrian troops, and they are procuring provi sions for the men andhorfcs. It is said for certain, that the Ele&or of Sax ony is going to march his contingent of fixthou fand men towards Mentz, and that lix thousand more are in readiness in cafe of necessity. LIMBURG (on theLahn) Nov. 9 The Pruflian van-guard, which was quarter ed here, and amounted to about thirteen hun dred men, was attacked this day by the French; these advanced suddenly from Weilburg, with about two thousand five hundred men. The engagement was very severe, and lasted from one till four o'clock. But this timt the supe rior numbers had the advantage, the Pruflians were obliged to retreat by the Lah Bridge, with a loss of two hundred men killed and wounded. The French then took poffefiion of our city. They had in the engagement five cannons served with canister (hot, which gave them a great superiority, the Pruflians had only two cannon with them. The French immediately took pofleflion of the EleiSloral Caflle and Offices. They demand ed two thousand five hundred guilders as z con tribution from the fame, but did no kind of in jury to any of the citizens. COBLENTZ, November ir As soon as the news of the engagement at Limburg arrived here, the Duke of Brunfwick marched thither with a considerable body of troops. The Kmg departed likewise with a (mall retinue. P.S. This inflant we received the news, that the Duke of Brunfwick has drove the French out of Limburg again. The Pruflian general Prince Hohenlohe, who commands the rear guard of that army, covers the city of Treves, where there it yet a considerable Pruflian maga zine. Our Elector (of Treves) is gone to Augs burg, and the Ele&or of Mentz to Vienna. It is reported that an engagement took place between the Heflians and the French, wherein the firft had the advantage. Several Pruflian re giments pal Ted thro' this city to-day for Lim burg on the Lahn, where general Kalkreuth; stands now, who isready to march against Frank-' fort. Nov. 12. The king of Pruflia is still with the army, and the duke of Brunfwick, it is nowaf ferted, will keep the command in chief. They have built a bridge across the Rhine in order to accelerate the march of the troops —A great many wounded have been brought in here, a mongst the reft a prifonerof ft ate, whose name is not known A strong corps ofPruflian canno neers is marched into our fortrefs. The Carthu-; fians have left their conventand have taken lodg ings in town. Their,convent is full of Prussians,< and several batteries are to be ere&ed there. Ge neral Ihlow has died here. The French troops near Weilburg are said to amount to 8000 men. The army of general Kellerman, which some reckon at 40,000 men, is already near Mertzig and threatens Treves. The garrison in Mentz must be very strong, as every day frefh troops are marching there ; those that have not room in the city, entrench themselves under the can tion of the fortrefs. General Cuftine ilegleils nothing to secure himfelf; it is even said that he is about condu&ing the river Mayn so as to strengthen and secure his fortifications. It is said, that te ? more regiments are to come from Bran denburg. Ye Herd ay an express brought the ac count, that the French had destroyed the Prus sian and Imperial magazines at Remich and Gre venmachern. REGENSBURG, November 9. The consideration of the third article of the Imperial decree of the ift of September, concern ing the fafety and the war establishment of the empjre, which had been made the order of the day for the sth instant, has been postponed quite unexpc&edly a second time. Some fay that the ele<storate courts had altered their in ftruclions. So much may be depended upon, that the day preceding that appointed for the said deliberations, a number of expresses arrived at the hotels of some of the ele&oral ambafladors. A great number of French emigrants arrived here within those few days, but our magistracy hath intimated them, that they must quit the city before Sunday next* Orders have been like wise given at the gates, that no more French men {hall be admitted into the city without hav ing previously obtained a special permiflion for that purpose. Much is talked here of a great prisoner of state, who was with the combined armies in France, and as it is said, had been gui ty of trea chery when they were about surrounding Gen. Dumourier. F R A N K F O RT, November 13. The king of Pruflia is said to be near Lim burg on the Lahn with 16,000 men, and the French have withdrawn from that quarter. On the 9th the French marched 5000 men from Hu ningen into the neighbourhood of Speyer, and on the 13th, they we e to be followed bv 7000 more. 299 B A. N A U, November 13 . Yetlerday some more French troop?, with ,qannon and ammunition-waggons, marched Frankfort; but another large detachment marched from there iikewife with cannon to wards Friedberg. According to the account the Wetzlar Gazette ha? given of the en gagement near Weylburg, between the French and Hessian troops —the Hessians have taken two cannon and a number of horses ready saddled, .and the French had carried off seven waggons with wounded. In the Hefiian dominions every body is taking up arms; all the corps-de-refervd . are complete, and fevcral thousand Hanoverian troops have marched into Lichtenau and Witz- enhaufen, BRUSSELS, November 15 On the 13th instant, a severe engagement took place between the roar guard of the Austri an army and the French, which reachcd ourfu burbs of Anderlech. They fired from our walls till night, when the Auitrian troops marched off and some of the French officers came into town with torches. The next day General Du mourier followed with his van-guard, confiding of about Sooo men, and another column palled by this city. The cities of Ghent, Cortryck, Dornick, &c. have been taken pofTeflion of by the French in the name of the committee of re volution of the Belgians and Liegois. CONGRESS. HOUSE OF REPRESENT JT IF ES. In our Paper of 6th iiijlant, <we gave the fuhjlance of Mr. Murray's rrmaris On the bill to amend the a& to promote the pragrefs of the ufeful arts, —the following is a more particular fhetch of his olferva tions on that oceafion. MR. MURRAY said, he intended to move to finite out dirritnroj tbr mint, for the pur pose of inserting, the judge of the diftriel where in the applicant might reside. As he thought the bill of great consequence as it related to the tifeful and ornamental arts, he would trouble the committee with his reasons. He thought it was of con equence, that while the law holds out an invitation to genius, the mode of gratifying the fair fehoneft inventor ftiould beaseafyas possible. The director of the mint mull reside at the feat of government; and if he alone, or any other person were exclufivcly empowered to issue pa tents, the benefits of invention would be bnt ] very partially enjoyed by the citizens who reside at a diftanca from the feat of government. The law ought to facilitate the granting of patents, and as the right of exclusive enjoyment, at least . for a limited term, was inherent in all equally in every part of the nation, so all ftiould as far as possible have equal facility in making their pretensions known and eff.ftual. A country in Europe, Great Britain, had afforded, it was true, much experience on thefubjeiS; but regu lations adopted there, would not exactly com port in all refpe&s either with the fitiiation of this country nor with the rights of the citizen here. The minds of some members had taken a wrong diredlion, he conceived, from the view in which they had taken up the fnbje<£t under its analogy with the docftrine of patents in England. There is this ftreng feature which diftinguiflies that do<Strine in that country from the princi ples on which we mult fettle it in this. These patents are derived from the grace of the mo narch, and the exclusive enjoyment of the profits of a difcoveryis notfo much a right inherent, as it is a privilege bellowed, and an emanation of prerogative. Here on the contrary th» citizen has a right in the inventions th-y may make, and considers the law but as the mode by which he is to enjoy their fruits. England is one entire kingdom. Its court is the feene where its pre rogative diffufes its bounties, and being stationa ry at London, the business can be well managed in afingle spot. Here on the contrary, there are fifteen Hates sovereign as to many purposes, and forming within themselves tenters of attraction for the ingenious and aspiring. London in that country, not only attra&s as the mart of genius arid of "all riiat contributes to ease or gain, but by its immense combination of things aids inven tion and draws the genius into a£tion which it may have attracted—But we are differently cir oumftanced both as to local situation, and as to the thing as it regards the principle on which it is to/be obtained. The diilance from the ex tremes of the union, or from its center to its ex tremes, is very g eat. If the power were lodg ed with the diftricSt judges, the citizen of inge nuity would have an opportunity of taking a pa tent certiinly with more safe, than if you oblige him to take a journey of perhaps fix or eight hundred miles. The facility of enjoyment would prove an incentive to invention. Difficulty and diflance would discourage it, andwould frequent ly overpower the wifli to obtain a patent for a discovery, the profits of which would often be doubtful. One, and but one objetflion had been made to this alteration—that if the district judg es hava the power, patents may issue in differ ent places for the fame discovery. This would be an evil,but is not without a remedy. Patents are matters of record Let it be the duty of the judge, immediately after the granting of a pa ► tern, to transmit a copy of the application with all the necessary description of the article, to the supreme court, from which it may be easily dif femmated to every district court, and through the United States. An inventor desirous of ob taining a patent, would of courfc examine the patent records, to fee whether he had been anti cipated. 1 he grant of a patent does not destroy a,claim or right founded in priority. Here he would observe, that if the inconvenience were not entirely removed by this measure which he pi opofed, neither was the inconvenience of clalh mg claims as to originality and priority of dis covery removed by any provision of the bill as It ftspj,, sor ewM hmu iitjmcay p .y, v ,. devifc a complete mode in which it couU b., viated. If a man who i, rea! l y tht , k chufes to try his title a, t» t h c originality of*' invention, even after a patent in aivrn > 7 he will make ar.d vend the article, and tCfoS title will be tried before a junr in „„ J 1 brought igainft him by ,h c pi tmtci . ,)*"•» mcalure he propofsd were not deemed a W eqt guard, he would suggest the proprietor 0 f ] further cautton-Ut.thc application be JLi* ed and remain 111 the office, at in Fnil-,- does, he believed, two months in the fh cc 'J the attorney-general, that a cavui n-..- v be en tered by any man who mig ht claim or d.f™,' the applicant s title. p He believed that the bill, either a* it tend 1 to foftec the genius of men, or wa< , with refpe£l to distant emolument and . chara&er, was extremely important. It was -j* mod immediately one of thofc laws that emW* ed national views and national eitwenfhiu anj looked to an obje& of advantage which n'.lhinz but a national government could secure. With out the aid of a general government, the »nii u j of the Americans could, not reap its fruits"; ncr had the state governments given a fair occ'afiw, for the display of the ingenuity which he believ ed existed in the country. As to this great ob je&, which requires national citiz.-nftiip, the state laws were impotent. He thought that it was of consequence that no J„, wr . v^r small or irrelative it might at firft appear, should be loft ; and where he saw the idea of a patent law ridiculed by some, and unattended by others he believed they were accustomed to fahe things in their appearances, and had not exerted their reflexion. A little reflection would teach us that whAtever is great and aftonilhing in the work* of art was humble in its origin, had been oppoftrf by ignorance or cramped by poverty, and had become important but by gradual ivcu mulation and a very flow progrelfion ; and that the wisdom of government should b« exerted in forming a repository, where nothing that mi-fht eventually be of service should be faffered to pe rilh. He therefore wilhed to fee such a Is v as would not only secure what micdit be off -cd near the feat of government, but invit-and draw forth the ufeful invention of those who lived at a distance. That it Ihottld present an r:- fy method of granting it prote&ion, he then fore moved, that the judge of the diftri& where in the applicant may refida, Ihouldbe fubfliluc • edfor Director of the Mint. TUESDAY February 11 A bill pursuant to the petition of Robert Eden for exempting from duty live flock imported :n to the United States, for the purpose of improv ing the breed of particular species of ufeful ani mals; was reported, read twice, and committed. The petition of GifTard Dally wa taken up, and a resolution proposed pursuant to the prayer thereof—Laid on the table. \ petition of Lewis Garanger was read, pray ing an adjuflment and payment of interest pn certificates received by him and his brothers; and that they may be considered as foreign offi cers of similar rank—Referred to the Secretary of the Treasury. A bill for the relief of Elijah Roftwick was taken lip in committee of the whole, Mf>Muh lenberg in the chair, amended, reported, and or- . dered by the House to be engrofled. A petition of Lewis Pintard, of the state of New-York, was prefentcd by Mr. Lawrance, praying to be exempted from the duties on a quantity of wine loft by isakage—Referred to a feleA committee, A message from the Senate by Mr. Otis, in formed the House that they have agreed to the report of the joint comfnittee, refpe&ing th\j mode of opening counting the votes for Prefl dent and Vice-President of the United States. fn committee of the whole on the plan report ed by the Secretary of the Treasury for the re duction of the public debt—Mr. Muhlenberg }he chair. The rcfolutions offered yeflerdaybv Mr.Fit?- simons were difcufled. These refutations are in conformity with the Secretary's report. After further debate, the committee, without coming to any vote, rose and reported jfrogreft, and had leave t® fit again. Adjournedj. WEDNESDAY, February i^. A bill for the relief of F.lijxh Boftwick wa» read the third time and passed. The resolution,. laid on the table yesterday tiy Mr. W. Smith, in conference of a petition of Gifford Dally, authoring the Clerk todifcharge the necessary expence for L b »r, incurred dur ing the present feflion, out of the money appro priated by law for the contingent expences of the House, under the dire<Stion of the Speaker was taken up and agreed to. Mr. Parker presented the petition of Thomas Mathews, which was read, and on motion of that gentleman, referred to the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Sumpter called the attention of the house to ail a& pafled the lall felfion, providing i(* the settlement of claims not barred by the limi tation ; heretofore established; recurring to parti cular fe<slions of that a<sl, he {hewed that the provisions therein contained fubje<sl the claim ants to so much expence and .delay in, getting their claims adjuftcd and fettled as amounts to precluding them from obtaining that justice t e a& appears to be designed to afford. Mr. Sump ter concluded his remarks by moving that a com mittee be appointed to bring in a f ill for re pealing the second fe&ion »f the a#, an<t t» provide adequate regulations in the cale— on the table The bill to refund to Jacob Bell certain ti tles on pickled fifli, was taken up tn committee of the whole, Mr. Murray in the chair. bill was reported without'amendment, am or dered by the House to be eqgrofk'd for a t ir reading..
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