i
BY AUTHO.iU'i'i.
From the Philadelphia Gazette.
By the President of the United States
of America,
A PROCLAMATION.
WHEREAS combinations to uefea
thj cKccunon of the laws layinqj dutie
11., i! iplrits Milled within the Unitri
S :.tes and upon stills, ha»e from tlt
laws exiited in fomeofthe weitern part
c f Pennsylvania ; /Ind whereas the fail
combinations, proceeding in a manne
subversive equally of the just authorii
of government and of the rights of in
ilividuals have hitherto effeitsd the!
dangeious and criminal purpose; b'
the influence of certain irregular meet
liigs, whose proceedings have tended ti
encourage and Uphold the spirit of op
position, by mifreprefentatioris of th
laws calculated to render them odious
by endeavors to deter those who migh
be so disposed from accepting offices un
dcr them, through fear of public re
fentmsut and of injury to person ani
property, and to compel those who hai
accepted fueh offices by aftuai violence
to surrender or forbear the execution o
them ; —by circulating vindictive mcna
ces again (I all those who should other
wile directly or indirectly aid in the exe
cution of the said laws or who, yielding
to the dictates of conscience and to ,
sense of obligation should themfelvc
comply by actually injuring
and destroying the property of person
who were understood to have so cornpli
ed :—by inflicting cruel and humiliating
punilhmenlt upon private citizens forr.(
other cause than that of appearing t<
be the friends of the laws; —by in
ferceptiug the public officers or
the high ways, abusing,
and otherwile ill treating them ; by going
to their houses in the night, gaining ad
mittance by force, taking away tbei
papers and committing other outrages:
employing for these unwarrantable pur
poles the agency of armed banditti dif
gulfed in fueh manner as for the most part tc
escape discovery j —ft. And whereas the era
deavars of the Legislature to obviate ob
jeSions to the said laws, by lowering th<
duties and by other alterations conducive tc
the convenience of those whom they im
mediately affeck (though they have giver
fatiffidlion ill other quarters )and the en
deavors of the executive officers to con
ciliate a compliance with the laws, by ex
p'.anations, by forbearance and even by
accomodations founded on the suggestion
of local confederations have been difap
pointtd of their effect by the machination?
of persons whose indiiftry to excite re
fiflance has incrcafed with the appearaucc
ot" a difpolition among the people to relax in
their opposition and to aquiefce in the laws :
insomuch that many persons in the said
western parts of Pennsylvania have at
length* been hardy enough to perpretratc
a<fts which 1 am advised amountto treason,
being overt acts of levying war against the
United Slates ; the said persons having on
thi fifteenth and seventeenth of Julylall
pad proceeded in arms (on the second
day amounting to feverai hundreds) to
the house of John Neville infpeftor of
the revenue for the fourth survey of the
diftrift of Pennsylvania, having repeat
tdly attacked the said house with the
persons therein, woundingfomeofthem;
—having seized David Lenox marshal
of the di'trift of Pennsylvania, who
previous thereto had been fired upon,!
while in the execution of his duty, by
a party of armed men detaining him for
some time prisoner, till for the preser
vation ot his life and the obtaining of
his liberty he found it necefiary to enter
into flipulations to forbear the execution
of certain official duties touching proces
ses ifTuing out of a court of the United
States—and having finally obliged the
said infpeftor of the revenue and the
Marshal from confederations of personal
fafety to fly from that part of the coun
try, in order by a circuitous route to
proceed to the feat of government; a
vowing as the motives of these out
rageous proceedings an intention to pre
vent by force of arms the execution of
the said laws, to oblige the said inspec
tor of the revenue to renounce his said
office, to withstand by open violence the
lawful authority of the government of
the United 'States, and to compel there
by an alteration in the measures of the
It viflature and a repeal of the laws a
forefaid—/hid whereas by a law of the
United States entitled, " An aft to
provide for calling forth the militia to
execute the laws of the union, suppress!
infurreftions and repel Ttivafions," it is
enacted " that whenever the laws of the!
United States (hall be opposed or the
execution thereof obftrufted in any rtate
by combinations too powerful to be fup-1
j re.Ted by the ordinary course of judi-i
ciai proceedings or by the powers veiled <
in tne marshals by that aft, thefdmel
being notified by an aflociate justice oi c
the D.ftrift judge, it (hall be lawful for
the President of the United States to <
call forth the militia of such (late to iup
prefs such combinations—and to cauf
the laws to be duly executed. And if
the militia of a ltate .where fnch com
bination may happen shall refufe or be
infufficient to suppress the fame, it shall
be lawful for the Prelident if the legii
•ature of the United States shall not b>.'
in fellion to call forth and employ such
numbers of the militia of any other
(late or Hates moll convenient theteto,
■s may be neceflkry, and the fe of the
militia so to be called foith may be
continued, if neceflary, until the expi
ration of thirty days after, the com
mencement of the enfuiftg fefiion , Pro
vided always, that whenever it may be
neceflary in the judgment of the Preli
dent to life the military force hereby di
rected to be called forth, the President
fhal! forthwith and previous thereto, by
Proclamation, command such insurgents
to disperse and retire peaceably to their,
refpeftive abodes within a linrited time."
—And whereas James Wilson ffn nflo
jriate jultice on the fourth inltant by
writing under his hand did, from evi
dence \Vhich had been laid before him,
notify to me that " in the counties of
" Washington and Allegheny in Penn
" fylvania, the laws of the United States
" are opposed, and the execution there
" of obftru£led by combinations too
" powerful to be fupprefled by the or
" dinary course of judicial proceedings
" 01 by the powers veiled in the Mar
" fhal of that diflrifl.".
And whereas it is in my judgment
necefl'ary under the circumstances of the
cafe to take measures for calling forth
the militia in order to suppress the com
binations aforefaid and to cause the laws
to be duly executed, and I have accord
ingly determined so to do, feeling the
deepeit regret for the occalion, but with
al the most fblemn conviction, that the
eflential iriterefts of the Union demand
it, that the very existence of goverh
ment and the fundamental principles of
social order are'materially involved in
the and that the patriotism and
firt.inefs of all good citizens are seriously
called upon, as occasion may require to
aid in the effectual suppression of so fatal
a spirit.
Wherefore, atnd in pursuance of the
provision above recited, I George Wash
ington, President of the United States,
do hereby command all persons, being
insurgents as aforefaid, and all others
whom it may concern, on or before the
firft day of September next to disperse
and retire peaceably to their refpe&ive
abodes. And I do moreover warn all
persons whoiiifoever against aiding abet
ting or comforting the perpetrators of
the aforesaid trcafonable acts : And do
require all officers and other citizens ac
cording "to their refpeftivc duties and
the law of the land to exert their utmost
endeavors to prevent and suppress such
dangerous proceedings.
In tellimony whereof I have caus
ed the feaj of the United States
of America to be affixed to these
presents, and signed the fame
(L.S) with my hand. Done at the
city of Philadelphia the seventh
day of Augutt one thousand se
ven hundred and ninety four,
and of the independence of the
United States of America, the
nineteenth.
G°. WASHINGTON.
By the President,
Edm. Randolph.
From the Minerva.
WHILE the United States are ra
pidly extending theii improvements in
arts, agriculture and commerce, it is
with peculiar pleasure we notice any
attempts of our citizens to cultivate
the sciences and advance the literature
of their country. Among the most
refpedhble writers in America, we may
number Dr. Belknap, the author of,the
history of New-Hampshire, who is emi
nently versed in the history of the Uni
ted States. To this gentleman's induf
fry and talents, will America be here
after greatly indebted, for collecting
and preserving many very valuable docu
ments of its history ; which is the no
ble design of a society established in
Boftoil, in a great measure by his influ
ence. As a writer, he is refpe&able ;
as a historian, accurate and faithful, and
as a patron of ufeful sciences, deserving
of the highest encomiums.
Dr. Belknap, is now entered upon a
literary path, hiterto unexplored in this
country ; that of biography ; and the
firft volume of his " American Biogra
phy," has lately been publish -d, and is
now for sale in this city. To this vo
lume is prefixed a dissertation on the
circumnavigation of Africa by the an
cients, and its probable consequence,
the population of some part of Ameri
ca. In this the author gives the sub
.lance of the arguments used to prove
or disprove the probability of a voyage
round Africa irndebv order of Necho,
600 years before Clrill; inclining
felf to the opinion hat the voyage re
lated by Herodotuswas not a fiction,
in which lie doubtics is- supported by
the weight of eviderre. He then exa
mines the accounts of the voyage of
Hanno, the Carthajinian,' and that of
Endoxues. He proceds to inquire into
the probability that America was peo
pled by the ancients The fa£ts cited
to prove some settlements made under
the tropics in very ancients times, are
by no means flight evidence of such an
event. In this part of the work, the
author has collected from Herodotus,
Pliny, Rollin, Robi/ifon, Bruce, and
some other writers, all the acDountsthat
appear to throw light 011 this fubjedl;
and has difci'ffed the question with the
utmost fairnets and discernment.
The author's next article is a " chro
nological detail of adventures and dik
coveries, made by the European nations
in America, before the establishment
of the council of Plymouth in 1620."
The firlt person whose difcoveriesthe
author relates, is Biron or Biorn, a;i
Icelander, who is iuppofed to dii
covered the island of Newfoundland
and ttie Labrador coait, about the year
1001. The evidence of such a <}if<-"0-
very is by no means flight, especially
as it relts principally on the authority
of the " Icelandic chronicles hilto
rical records of high intiquity and un
impeached authority- The author re
lates the story of Madoc, the Welch
prince, as us doubtful origin, and not
very credible.
In the 14th century, one Zeno, a
Venetian, it is related, discovered a large
island, in latitude 59 and 60 north,
which is called Frifland. Many con
curring accounts of this island, given
by early navigators, seemed to render
its existence probable ; but as latter
voyages did not confirm these accounts,
they have been eonfidered as fictions.
Dr. Belknap, however, leems inclined
to believe that such an island has attu
allv existed in the northern seas, in lati
tude 57 to go and longitude 1.3 weft
from some diftanci flora Ice
land and Grefehfend ; and that the island
is funk. Two strong arguments hr fs
vor of this opinion, are : firft, that two
American captains in their voyages, one
from St. Peterlburg and the other from
Amsterdam, have within a few years
past, discovered a rock and shoals ex
actly in the place described as being
formerly the position of this island ;
and secondly, the appearance and disap
pearance of iflanda if! the northern fcas
is no uncommon thing. An instance
happened near Iceland in 1753.
The next article is the life of Colum
bus ; which if. well treated by the au
thor ; but as most readers are acquaint
ed vith the history of this dilcoverer,
it is not neceHary to enlarge upon it.
In the close of this article "the Doctor
considers the qtieftion of Martin Be
haim'6 voyage to Fayal in 1460, and to
America in 1484 ; and whole
story of his difcoverieff as a fiction.
The Doctor proceeds in the order of
time to give the life and discoveries of
the Cabots, and of Cartier, who made
voyages to North America ; as Ferdi
nand de Soto, who traversed the Flori
das and lands on the Miffifippi, in search
of geld ; of Humphrey Gilbert who
took formal pofleffion of Newfoundland
for the crown of England j of Walter
Raleigh and Richard Grenville, who
labored to effect a settlement in Virgi
nia ; of John de Fuca, a Greek, who
in the year 1592 discovered the north
weft coast of America; of Gofnold,
who discovered and gave name to cape
Cod ; of John Smith, the real father
of the firft settlement in Virginia, and
a man of singular talents and adven
tures ; of de Monts, Poutrinhourt, and
Cliamplain, made voyages to Ca
nada, and began a settlement in 1604;
of Ferdinand Gorges and John Mason,
who dillinguifhed themselves in the fiift
settlement of New-Hamplhire & Maine;
and of the Henry Hudson, who, in'
1609, in his second voyage to Ameri
ca, entered and gave name to the river,
which penetrates the present state of
New-Y«rk. A fliort account of Hack
luit and Purchase elofes the firft volume
of the American Biography.
The Doctor's style is easy and per
spicuous ; frea of affected elegance, and
well adapted to his fubjed. If any
inaccuracy, worthy of critipifm, has es
caped his pen, it is such an expreflion
asprcmoujly to, or agreeably to ; in which
he adopts a modern innovation, but one
that renders th« conftruftion uncouth
and violates one of the moil materia]
rules in the formation of eiur language ;
that of the agreement of adje&ives with
lentences or members of sentences. This
principle in the conftru&ion has been
, n° n^ CTcd the c Wpilcrs of
•B.ngh(h Grammars. That celebrated
republican, John Home Tooke, who
has lately been committed to the tower
on a charge of sedition, is the firit writei
who has fully proved and illullratei
that rule ; and the English grammar
in moll repute were publilhed prior tc
Mr. Home Tooke's Dissertations 01.
that fubjeft.
Dr. johnlon declared jnft before his
death, that if he fliould live to publifl
another edition of his Dictionary, h<.
fliould certaiuly make use of Mr. Hornt
Tooke's discoveries to correal his own
works; but this never took place. It
it is to be regretted that royal influence
fliould injure Mr. Tooke's literary
fame, and check the pregrefs ofhis ptin
ciples. But such is the fact; or it couli
not happen that some moll egregiou:
errrors of 'Lowth and other court wri
ters fliould prevail over the moil obvious
rules of propriety.
Yet errors of the kind here mention
ed are frequent in American state pa
pers, such as, " I enclose you a letter,
from the secretary of state, relatively to
the design, &c." " exclufiuely of this cir
cumstance independently of that"—
and others, which injure the melody,
and deltroy the true conftrudtion of tht
language, while they difgraee the liter
ature of the country.
UNITED STATES.
NEW-YORK, August 6.
Communication.
The Enteprize of the American charac
ter has almost become proverbial—but it ts
no where more co'nfpicuods that in the at
tempt sO vie with Europe in arts that ihc
has till lately caller' her own; those manu
failures however seem principally to de
serve our encouragement that by means of
the late improvements In mechanics draw
the feweft hands from cultivation, and by
the assistance of the elements, enable one
man to perform the labor of an hundred ;
of this kind is the cotton manufactory of
D. Deekfon and Co. in the vicin
ity of this city. The silent operation of
the machinery, while it gradually reduces
the material from its natural state to the
most allervated thread, is there finely con
trailed with die busy clattering of an hun
dred looms—but the most intereftins
fpedfacleis pefented by a number of chil
*lrcn of both frxrs {hatched from poverty
and vice, and fed, clothed, and educates
so as to promote their own happingjmr
become the instruments of the commercia!
independence of their country. This efta
blifhrncnt deserves and will surely obtain the
greatest favor and encouragement, efpeci
ally when i . can be afforded at no greater
expense than that of wearing in hot weath> r
suit of light cloths.
RICHMOND, July 31,
Last week was call at Mr. Taylor's
Brass Foundery in this City, a largt
bell, for the use of the Federal City—
which, on examination by the different
Mechanics, is said, in point of propor
tion and tone, to be equal to any im
ported bell.
It appears from unquestionable au
thority, that Sinclair's (hip, which has
been seized at Smithfield, under the au
thority of the United States, was al
the time of her faizure under rapid e
quipment for privateering. Her guns
and military stores were in readiness.
A surgeon and other officers unknown
to commercial veflels, were engaged,
and in a very ftiort time file would have
been ready for sea. But it is to the ho
nor of our citizens, that though they
poflefs the most sacred regard for the
rights of individuals in lawful pursuits,
yet no man in any situation, or under
any pretext is permitted to infringe the
laws, or oppose the legitimate authority
of the government.
The con do ft of all who were con
cerned on this oecafion reflects the high
ell credit on themselves and their coun
try. The Marflial and Major Tyler
before the arrival of the diltaut militia,
were cxpofed to great insult, and were
not free from "danger: but with them,
an entire devotion to their duty seems
to have conquered, every other conside
ration. The prompt nel's and alacrity of
the militia from this place, who were
detached in coniequcnce of some tardi
ness in the militia of lfle of AVight, td
aflift the Marlhal in the execution of his
office, juftifies the most pleasing antici
pations of their Cervices if any adverse
event, (hall hereafter produce a more
important necessity.
Indeed no blame seems to be imputa
ble to the people of the lfle of Wight, who,
upon receiving orders for that purpose,
appear to have co-operated with great
sincerity with the militia who were sent
from the other counties ; so that this
small experiment of the public mind,
evinces it to be as heretofore it has been
disposed to order and the support of the
laws, and hoftilc to licentioufneis undei
all circumftarices and forms. If laws
are any where to be viewed as sacred
things, they are to be coniideied so in free
governments, where the right, the di
''ity, and fqual happjnrls of the who!<
society conftitutt: the foundation and ob
iea of every public ordinance I n
her empires, men are deemed to
obedience to some superior man . bl £;
this happy republic, it is to -
|y_l a ws which they themielves have
formed, that the cuizens are bound '
submit. Reverence then the laws and
as our government is wore hapr,', f
we may justly hope that it will have »
onger duration than any whose hi|l or !
hatb yet been discovered.
PHILADELPHIA,
AUGUST 8.
The governor has appointed the Chief
fuft.ce and gen. Irv.ne to proved toT
Western country, to ascertain the f 3( «'
relative to the late riots, and if praflj cd s
to bring the rioters to a fenfc of their d 7
ty.—ln conlequence of the Ph;ftdem'sn ro ."
: lamatKin, he has also convened tht 1
giflature to meet on the ift of SeptemW
next.
By verba! information from PittlW},
we understand, that thehoufe and bam 0 )
Benjamin Welis, an cxcife officer and
those of some others have been burnt but
no lives were loft as norefiftance wa « at
tempted. At the meeting held at Brad
dock's fields on Friday last in confequenc ■
of the notice in the handbill, between ?
and 6000 men, we understand, assembled
m arms, and appointed sixty of their num
ber a committee to report what further
proceeding should be bad. The oppof ers
of the ercife are so decided in their me».
lures that none of a. contrary opinion dare
express it. Gen. Adv.
Exports from Pennfyhauia,
The exports from the port of Pluladel
phia, to foreign countries, (exdulive of
all shipments coaft-wifcjamounttdto on;
million seven hundred and ninety-two
thousand fix hundred and eight dollars,
during the quarter ending on the 30th of
June 1794 ; although the embargo existed
during 55 days in April and May, and
theTe wasof course an exportation dnringjj
days only, in May and June. It appears
therefore, that, whether Jce or Embargo
obftruft the trade of Philadelphia, forfu
or eight weeks, the a&ive merchants of
that port, will get through the bufinets of
the quarter. Am. Adv.
The following is the copy of an hand
bill, printed at Pittsburgh.—The
Post Rider left that place without a.
• "7 Isttfxl or newfpapcrs—
At a Meeting of the Inhabitants of Pittf
burgh, on Thursday evening, July iI,
1 794> io ta ' ie info consideration the
present fit nation of affairs, and didtrt
their fenLments ok this tLljcatt erifit.
A great majority, almost tiie whelt
;>f the inhabitants of the town, afftm.
bled. It being announced to the mett
>ng, that certain gentlemen from the
town of Wafliington, had arrived, and
had fignified that they were intruded
with a meflage to the inhabitants of ths
• town relative to present affairs; a com.
mittse »)f three persons weie appoiultd
to confer with them, and report the
> melfage to the meeting—the perfoni
ppointed were George Wallace, H. Hi
Bvackenridge, and Jolin Wilkins, juu,
these gentlemen made report to thi
; meeting, viz.
That in consequence of certain letteri
1 sent by the lafl mail, certain perfoni
1 were discovered as advocates of the Ex
' cife Law, and enemies to the interefh
»f the country; and that a certain Ed
ward Day, James Biifon, and Abraham
Kirkpatrick, were particularly obnoxi
ous, and that it wasexpeftedoftlie coun
try, that they should be difmified from tfc
' town without delay : whereupon, it wa
resolved, that it should be so done, and
a committee of twenty one were ap
pointed to fee the resolution carriedinto
etfe£t, to wit. George Wallace, H. H.
Brackenridge, Peter Audrain, Jot" 1
Scull, John M'Mafters, John Wilkics
fen. Andrew M'lntire, George Robin
son, John Irwin, merchant, Andrew
Watson, George Adams, Davul Evans,
Jofiah Tan'nehill, Matthew Ernest, Wil
liam Farls, Alexander M'Nicklc, Col.
John Irwin, James Clow, WilliamGorm
jly, Nathaniel Irish, A. Tanneliill.
! Also, That whereas it is a part of
(the mciTage from the gentlemen ol
Wafliington that a great body of tin
people of the country will meet to-mor
tow at Braddock's fields, in order tc
' carry into effedt mcaftires that n»y
seem to them adviieable with refpeft tc
the Excise Lawand the advocates or it
Resolved, That the above commit
tee, {hall at an early hour wait upon 'J"
people on the ground, and affiire tlii
pegple that the abovt resolution,
rcTptft to the profctibed perfonj, M
been carried into effifi.
Resolved, also, That the
of the town fliall march out, W«d J O,l
the people on Braddock's I'ielo, <•'> ,e
hren, to cairv into effect with t ten
:ny meafurethat mayfe'em adTifcaofctc
:he common cause. .
Resolved, also, That we fha'l *
watchful among ourselves of fill c _ l3l ac
ters, that by word or may u