no reafon at all. their trade, though they may refult in confequences unfavorable to the harmony of the Union. Mr. Gregg faid no perfon could deny reafons which never can be known, or for deem calculated to enfure protection to that this was a very important refolution and deferved a full and free difcuffion. It was the first time that he had heard any objection against referring an important refolution to a committee of the whole. He thought it the ordinary courfe of fuch bufi. nefs, and the courfe which ought to be pursued in the prefent inftance. [Debate to be concluded in our next.] Be it our weekly task, To note the passing tidings of the times. Dudson, February 1, 1803. The Rev. TIMOTHY ALDEN, one of the miffionaries, appointed for the purpose of foliciting benefactions for the relief of the fufferers by the late diftreffing fire at Portf mouth, N. H. is now in this city. A fubfcription has been begun, and there is reafon to hope that a fum not unworthy of the opulence and humanity of the citizens of Hudfon, will be collected. Mr. Grifwold faid, if the object of the prefent motion had been to give opportu nity for a more free difcuffion of the refolution than it could receive in the house, he fhould not have the leaft objection to the reference. He was willing it fhould be difcuffed with all the freedom that any gentleman could wish. It feemed to be the ideas of the gentleman from Pennfyl. vania, last up, that this was the fole object of the motion. The gentleman muft certainly be mistaken. The motion is for a reference to a fecret committee on the ftate of the union, a committee in which the refolusion may be rejected without the neceflity of giving any reafon for the rejection the information may be denied, and the world can never know why or by whom. For this réafon I object to the motion, and not because I am unwilling to afford an opportunity for a full and free difcuffion. Another gentleman from Pennfylvania (Mr. Smilie) fays that the course now proposed was adopted in the cafe of the refolution calling for papers relative to the British treaty, and at the inftance of A memorial has been in circulation in fome of the gentlemen who now oppofe the Western country to be prefented to the this motion. It is true, fir, that refolution Prefident and Congrefs, on the fubject of was referred to a committee of the whole; the late infraction of the Spanish treaty, at but it was not to a committee of the whole New-Orleans. The memorial is couchon the ftate of the union; it was not to a ed in bold and manly language, and ferves fecret committee. That refolution was to fhew with how much indignation the publicly difcufled, and gentlemen did western people muft obferve the trifling not fhrink from affigning, before the world, and pufillanimous conduct of our governtheir refon for the conduct. If gentlemen ment towards the Spaniards.-The memowill take the fame courfe now, I have not rialifts ftate, that they owe the United the leaft objection; I will confent to go States arrears of excife, and other debts and immediately into committee of the whole, taxes, and have no means to discharge and if gentlemen are of opinion that the re- thofe demands, but the produce of their folution requires difcuffion, I fhould think farms. That, fhut out, as they are, from that the molt proper mode of proceeding; a market for their produce in the east, it but let the transaction be public. If gen- muft rot on their hands, unless the governtlemen intend to allow us the information, ment receive it from them, at a reasonable they can have no objection to allow it pub- price, or protect them in the profecution licly; if they intend to deny it, the public of a lawful trade. That, in their opinion, ought to know their reafons for the denial. prompt and decifive meafures are neceff It is in vain for the gentlemen to fay that ary, and that they rely on the immediate the refolution may involve matters of fecre- interpofition of the United States.-They cy there can nothing of fecrecy arife out declare that they have a right to demand, of it it is comprifed in a fimple queftion and do demand that the government either -fhall we have the information? Who adopt fuch meafures as will fecure them in can fay that there is any thing of fecrecy in the profecution of their commerce, take this? I repeat, if gentlemen will deny ust their produce from them at a reasonable the information, let them deny it openly, price, or otherwife relieve them from conin the face of the country, and let the tributions of any kind whatever. They country judge of the propriety of the deni-clofe by obferving, that imperious neceffial, and do not let them fend us to a fecretty may compel them, unlefs relief is afford- for this paper, are poftponed for want of committee, and there make the denial fored, to refort to measures which they may Sundry"Clofet" articles, prepared room. The ftate Legislature met on Tuesday laft. 39 PROGRESS OF VILLAINY. A moft extraordinary attempt has lately been made to break into the vaults of the Bank of South-Carolina. The robber, it appears, had entered a drain under one of the streets, which had been opened for the purpose of cleaning. From this he had dug his way to the walls of the vault, thro' which he was endeavoring to penetrate, by means of a chiffel and mallet, when he was difcovered. Aftonifhing as it may feem, this daring adventurer had been immured in his fubterraneous paffage nearly three months, without having once feen the light of the fun. He had received his provifions, confifting of bread and cheese, in the night time, from his accomplices, through a grate of the drain. He faid he had been driven to this defperate act by loffes at the gaming table - An awful warning! CONSPIRACY. By a late arrival at Charleston, from London, intelligence is received of the discovery of a confpiracy which was first faid to be of a treafonable nature, and to have for view nothing lefs than the murder of the king, feiging of the tower, and with the arms depofited there, the taking poffeffion of the bank. On examination, however, no evidence appeared of plotting against the life of his majefty, or of feizing the tower, bank &c but of feducing fome of the guards from their duty and allegiance. A great number of the confpirators, with their leader, Col. Defpard, were committed to prifon. The examination was going on when the laft accounts left England. The Knot. MARRIED, On Thursday last, at the Friend's Meeting house, Mr. WILLIAM SHIPLEY, of Pleasant Valley (Dutchess county) to Miss PHEBE COMSTOCK, daughter of Thomas Comstock, of this city. Mr. HOLT, If your reply to me had been civil, I should have returned the civility; but your railings are far beneath my notice. EZRA SAMPSON. January 25th. On mis'ry's tide life's shatter'd vessel sails, SWEET madd'ning charmer, leave this troubled breast, Disturb no more the tranquil hours of life; While lasts this phrenzy how can I be blest? Depart, and still this tort'ring mental strife. Thy angel-pow'r with rapture fills the mind, Then fires of anguish in the bosom burn; Bright hope departs, despair's dark night prevails, 66 THE HE butter, which is moft- preferve butter moftly by falting. I have hiftory of Noah's flood, I fhall at several times, communicate to you for publication, a few from among the numerous facts, which have appeared in corroboration of that important piece of sacred hiftory and perhaps it might not be improper to publifh my communications on this fubject, under your monitorial head. W. Washing does not fo intirely free butter it, as boiling and melting; when, then, DOCUMENTS CONCERNING THE EXIST To the EDITORS OF THE BALANCE, As S the moft ftrenuous exertions have been made to invalidate the fcripture Among the various testimonies of tradition and ancient history, in proof of the existence of the deluge, called Noah's flood, is the following, which is mentioned by BARNARDIN ST. PIERRE. "I find (fays St. Pierre) this hiftorical teftimony in the hiftory of China by father Martini, Book 1." 66 During the reign of Yaus, the fev. enth emperor, the annals of the country relate, that for fix days together the fun never fet, fo that a general conflagration was apprehended. The refult, on the contrary, was a deluge, which inundated the whole of China. The epoch of this Chinefe deluge, and that of the universal delúge, are in the fame century. Yaus was born (according to the Chinese Chronology) two thousand three hundred and feven years before Chrift; and the univerfal deluge happened, according to the Hebrew computation, two thousand three hundred and forty years before the fame 'epoch." TERMS OF THE BALANCE. To City Subscribers, Two Dollars and fifty cents, To Country Subscribers, who receive their papers at the office, Two Dollars, payable as above. To those who receive them by the mail, Two Dollars, exclusive of postage, payable in advance. A handsome title-page, with an Index or Table of Contents, will be given with the last number of each volume. Advertisements inserted in a conspicuous and handsome manner, in the Advertiser which accom panies, and circulates as extensively as the Balance. Complete files of the first volume, which have been reserved in good order for binding, are for sale -Price of the volume, bound, Two Dollars and fifty cents-unbound, Two Dollars. The whole may be sent, stitched or in bundles, to any post-office in the state, for 52 cents postage; or to any post-office in the union for 78 cents. PUBLISHED BY SAMPSON, CHITTENDEN & CROSWELL, WHERE PRINTING IN GENERAL IS EXECUTED COLUMBIAN Political. The FOR THE BALANCE. CONCERNING "6 HAIL SACRED POLITY, BY FREEDOM REAR'D ! Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." AN ACCURATE STATEMENT OF FACTS, HUDSON, (NEW-YORK) TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1803. Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL SPENCER's LATE ATTACK ON THE Liberty of the Prefs, IN THIS COUNTY, AND Written by a gentleman who was at court during the whole transaction, and who pledges himself that the detail is substanstially correct. [CONTINUED.] MR. R. VAN NESS began by regretting, that on a queftion of fuch ac. knowledged importance to every freeman, longer time for preparation could not be afforded. He felt that in defending Mr. CROSWELL from the demand of the public prosecutor, he was defending the legitimate rights, the legitimate privileges of every freeman-rights and privileges which could be entombed only in the great tomb of our republic. He believed, that the attempt of the Attorney-General was a direct attack upon the most important principles of a republican government; and if he fhould fucceed, no man could hereafter know when he was fecure from the vengeance of power. He felt it, therefore, a facred duty to raise his voice against this unhallowed attempt, and to exert all his powers, in concert with his friend, to Balance, REPOSITORY. BEATTIE. He faid, the gentleman who had preceded him, had taken fo wide a fcope-fo thoroughly inveftigated the authorities adduced, and fo conclusively proved the illegality of the motion, that little remained for him to observe upon the law. His obfervations would be principally directed to the confequences which would refult from a restriction of the prefs, such as was now demanded. The prefent cafe, he said, exhibited a curious fpectacle. It was within the recollection of every man, what clamors, what tumults were raised by a certain party, when a law was paffed forbidding any man to publifh falfhoods refpe&ting government. By that flatute, the truth might be given in evidence. But fcarcely has that law expired-scarcely have these clamors ceafed to echo through the continent, when that very party commence profecutions upon the principle that the truth itfclf is a libel, and must not be told of thofe facred characters whom they have exalted to power. Thefe circumftances furnished topics for reflection which he would not indulge. He wished that the prefent queftion might be abstracted from party. And he hoped that the fhort-lived pleasure of triumphing over his opponents, would not urge the public profecutor to perfevere against conviction and confcience. For, faid Mr. VAN and confcience. NESS, tranfitory indeed would be those laurels which he may reap around the ruins of the freedom of the preís. Mr. VAN NESS then, in glowing ours, painted the blefings refulting to the community from a free prefs. Look round the world, faid he, and in every country fnatch Mr. CROSWELL from the clutches where the prefs is free, the arts and fcienof the profecutor. ces flourish. From this fountain, have flown all the improvements in modern times, in general intelligence, in the fcience of political government, in all the conveniences and luxuries of life. In a word, in every country where it has been protected and cherished, its bleffing were far beyond the reach even of the prefs to describe. It was, he faid, and fo experience had demonftrated, the unbending protection of the rights of man, and an unconquerable bulwark againft oppreffion. He enjoined it upon the judges, as they valued the nobleft principles of freedom, and as they wished to leave their children in the full enjoyment of its bleffings, to avert the blow aimed at the very vitals of our republic. Mr. VAN NESS proceeded, with great ability, to prove that the prefent measure, if executed, would reftrain the true liberty of the prefs. He quoted Blackstone's definition of the liberty of the prefs.--"The liberty of the prefs is indeed effential to the nature of a free flate. But this confifts in laying no previous refraint upon publications, and not in freedom from cenfure for criminal matters when publifhed." And, with great force and clearnefs, he demonftrated, that in every point of view, this recognizance would operate as a previous refraint. What, faid he, is the due courfe pic-" fcribed by law for the punishment of a libel? Indictment and conviction by a ju ry. Upon what ground does the public. col-profecutor demand a more fummary pro cedure? Does he contend that Mr. CROSWELL is a perfon of bad fame? He dare not contend it. For every act of his What is the effect of this motion? The from the afhes of both a third may fpring This, Mr. VAN NESS contended, was mon- ties." He then read the following fentence from the fpeech of Mr. Fox, on the law of libels: In the prefent enlightened age, "Mr. Fox faid, that he had no reafon to fear that previous reftraints would be atteinpied to be impofed on the prefs. "The good fenfe of the times would not "brook an imprimatur, or previous fure"ties of any kind for good behaviour. "And it was not in fuch way that he "dreaded any danger to the prefs." In exprefs words, it is here called a previous refraint, in the form of " previous fureties of any kind for good behaviour." life is a living monument of the reverse. --No! he goes upon the ground that Mr. CROSWELL is a libeller. And by what right does he pronounce him a libeller? Has he been convicted by a jury? Have his peers pronounced his publications libellous? Let him wait the illue of the trial; let him restrain his eagerness to fetter the prefs until a jury fhall judge Mr. CROSWELL guilty; then, indeed, with fome plaufibility, may he come forward with the prefent motion. 66 Can there be a doubt, then, that this meafure would operate as a previous reftraint? And if fo, according to the defin ition of Blackflone, and the opinion of all approved writers, it is an illegal violation of that facred guardian of our rights, the liberty of the prefs. trates always fubje&t to the power of those who created them; and they affume the right to decide whether publications are libellous or not. The court would hefttate long before it took a ftep pregnant with fuch awful confequences. For, faid Mr. VAN NESs, hiftory teaches, and our experience confirms the fact, that in free governments parties will fucceffively rife to power, and fink into weaknefs. This is the beaten track of all republics. Today a party rifes to the zenith of power. But a few years roll away when another rifes on the ruins of its predeceffor; and confequences, before they finally paffed the Rubicon. Mr. VAN NESS then, with great force of argument, anfwered the authorities ad duced by the Attorney General, and took a view of thofe produced by Mr. WILLIAMS; and clearly proved, that the attempt was illegal, unprecedented, and di Befides, faid he, the citizen is robbed of the right of trial by jury. Their province is ufurped by every juftice; by magif-rectly against the policy of our govern He then read the third fection of the habæs corpus act, which gives to any one imprifoned for any mifdemeanor, (other than treafon and felony) the writ of habæs corpus, by which he may come before a judge of the fupreme court, and he recognized for his appearance at the proper court, and at the proper time; and upon fuch recognizance the judge is bound to liberate him. Here, then, faid Mr. VAN NESS, is our final fecurity. Whatever may be Mr. CROSWELL's fate before this court, there is an appeal to a higher tribunal.— liber-knowing that no court, no profecutor, can The writ of habes corpus is fecured, and ima-deprive Mr. CROSWELL of this right, he felt perfc&tly fecure. This writ is that holy palladium of human rights, which, in the worft times which England ever knew, had always fecured to the fubject those privileges which the laws had guaranteed, And in this country, it will bear the citi it will bear Mr. CROSWELL to a tribunal where party fpirit is a ftrangerwhere the influence of no man can pervert the freams of juftice, and where, happily for our country, the law and the conflitution are paramount to every power. Mr. VAN NESS faid, that by whatever he had faid, he meant no difrefpect to the court he was then addreffing. He had spoke of the tendencies of the prefent motion; and he had fpoken his folemn convictions from the fincerity of his heart. And he hoped and trufted, that the juflices would weigh well the question they were about to decide, and that in their decifion they would be guided by found difcretion and folid principles. In the full belief that this would be the cafe, he delivered his client into their hands. He did this in the fulleft confidence, that by their decifion, they would convince the world, that courts of WIL-juftice would not fanétion the attempts of any man to fetter the prefs-to deftroy the rights of a free citizen, and pervert the law to an engine of party perfecution. That in matters which the law hath left indefinite it is better to fall short of than exceed his authority." These are not the idle fantafies of freedom of difcuffion now checks, in its ment. But, as his arguments upon this Mr. VAN NESS then read the following It is here obvious, faid Mr. VAN NESS, with what caution the English Magiftrates approach the liberties of the fubject. And in a republic, fhall the courts of juftice negle&t thofe rules of caution, which, in the English Monarchy, are held facred; and, for the purpose of impofing fetters on the prefs, fhall they refort to more rigid con ftructions? Mr. VAN NESS here clofed a very impreffive and forcible argument, and was followed by Mr. SPENCER upon the other fide of the queflion. [Mr. SPENCER's arguments, the decifion of the court, &c. are unavoidably postponed until next week.] Messrs. EDITORS, IN giving an account of the occurrences at Claverack, in the BALANCE No. 4. I could only ftate, what took place in open court. In juftice to the Attorney General, I now correct that account in one particular. I am informed that the caufes were put off, in confequence of a propofition made by the Attorney-General, out of court, to the defendant's counsel. This propofition appeared in the Bee.-And I prefume it was affented to, merely because the defendant's counfel believed, that if the affair was left to the judges, Mr. CROSWELL would have been driven to trial totally unprepared. C. FOR THE BALANCE. TO MR. HOLT, N OTWITHSTANDING the two great political parties which exift in our country, difagree in moft effential points on politics, ftill they are united in opinion in one refpect, viz.-that it is important that the people have correct information; and that it is the duty of editors of newspapers to furnish it honeftly and truly as far as they are able.-This, Mr. Holt, you will almit; and on this ground I fhake hands with you. You are, fir, on fome occafions, a man of candor, and I intend, in what follows, to be under the influence of candor myself.-I mean to treat you delicately, and fhall expect the fame in return from you. I fhall afk you fome ferious queftions, and have a right to expect catagorical anfwers. Mr. Jefferfon, in his late meffage to congrefs, has ftated that he had, in one year laft paft, paid between eight and nine millions of dollars of the principal and intereft of the public debt. Where did he get this money? Did it come into the treasury as the refult of measures devised and pursued under the adminiftrations of Washington and Adams ? How much money has been faved by the repeal of the judiciary fyftem, internal taxes, the abolition of the law refpecting the army and navy, and by difmifling the revenue officers, &c. &c ? Did Thomas Jefferfon ever invite Thomas Paine to come over from France and refide in this country? Was it ever proven to your fatisfaction, that Timothy Pickering, Oliver Wolcott, Jn. Dayton and James Rofs, appropriated a cent of the public money to private purpofes ? Have not the democrats uniformly de. clared, 'till within two years paft, that no man ought to be removed from office on account of his political fentiments ? No. 3-Holt's account of the Attorney. General's late attack on the liberty of the press, is a mass of misrepresentation. wantonly made. This, to be sure, is the less surprizing, as he was not at court himself, and probably received his information from the most impure sources. It is needless to add any thing on this subject, as some of the most respectable characters in the county are ready to give testimony of the accuracy of the statement now publishing in the Balance. CANDOR. No. 4. Has Thomas Jefferion turned any perfon out of office on account of his polit ical fentiments ? Have the Poft-Mafter General, and the Governor and Council of Appointment of this ftate, done the fame ? Feb. 1, 1803 [Several other queries to Mr. Holt, by the fame correfpondent, are deemed improper for publication at this particular time.] Balance Closet. [The following articles were prepared for publication last week, but omitted for want of room.] FIBS OF THE BEE. Perhaps there cannot exist a more contemptible being, than a man who is in the constant habit of telling falshoods, which he, at the same time, declares are " immaterial," and avail him nothing.We will not say that the editor of the Bee is such a Iman; but we will here note down some of his wan on mistakes. No. 1.-A few weeks since Holt published a plump falshood concerning the junior editor of the Balance. It was immediately detected and exposed; when Holt (not having any extracts of letters with out signatures to prove it) acknowledged its falsity, observing, that "the writer's argument was not affected by this mistake."-That is, it was a mere wanton fib No. 2.-In the last Bee, Holt asserts, that, in the warfare between the Balance and the Bee, we were the agressors; but that he holds this immaterialThis also will prove to be a wanton fib.-On receiving the very first number of the Balance, published in the spring of 1801, Holt mentioned its establishment, and foolishly and sneeringly remarked, that if its editors had no other business than publishing a newspaper, two of them had better go to West. Point, and enlist for soldiers, and the other imme diately follow-or something to that effect. The junior editor of the Balance wrote a short reply— but Mr. Sampson, on perusing it, observed, that he thought the Bee too contemptible for notice; and the reply, therefore, was never published.—Sometime after this, and before the Bee had ever been mentioned in the Balance, Holt made another unprovoked attack on the senior editor, comparing him with Judas Iscariot. Mr. Sampson still declined noticing him; and he was answered by the "junior editor."-These facts can be proved by recurring to the files ; and they are sufficient to sink the veracity of the Bee lower, if possible, than it now lies. But we desist. A PAIR OF BULLS. The editor of the Bee has long been attempting to bear away the palm from Duane in the democratic art of fibbing. For the want of ingenuity, he has succeeded but indifferently. He is now trying his hand at making bulls.-See, here they come :- Addressing Mr. Sampson, he says, "So long as your name is foremost at the foot of the Balance," &c. This reminds us of Paddy's companion, who "Walk'd by his side and follow'd before him." Again, Holt asks, "Have you forgotten your frequent attacks on the Hudson Bee.......previous to its existence ?" If the editor of the Bee had been but two months from Ireland, he could not have done better. He beats Duane himself. "With the vulgar, the scurrileus, the unprincipled, and the contemptible, I will hold no converse," says Mr. Holt.-If any reliance could be placed on the promises of this man, there might be some hopes of him; for it would appear evident, from the above declaration, that he is about renouncing his party. "The greater the truth the greater the libel." Holt ascribes this observation to the editors of the Balance. If he had been at court the other day he might have heard it thundered from the eloquent lips of Ebenezer Foot, ESQUIRE, the DistrictAttorney. Mitchell, the being who conducts the Poughkeep. sle Barometer, or fog mill, after mentioning that Cheetham had been arrested at the suit of Col. W. Smith, for a libel, damages laid at sixty-thousand dollars, asks, "Do ye still think, ye federal editors, that the press is in danger ?"-If any thing like honesty or fair-dealing, could be expected from such a wretch as Isaac Mitchell, we should be surprized at this baseness. It is insinuated that the above suit was brought by a federalist, when the fact is, Col. Smith is a democrat, as well as Cheetham.Yes, Mitchell, federal editors still think the press is in danger-not, however, from private actions for libels, but from the malice and persecution of public prosecutors, who are striving to prevent the publication of truth concerning the government. It appears by several late accounts, that most of our large sea-port towns are infested by robbers, house-breakers and incendiaries," managing their own affairs in their own way, and for their own use, unembarrassed by too much regulation," &c. |