ebryma, Ira, Mine." It was at firft intended merely to publish the two papers, upon neutral spoliations, and that which fuggefted the probable caufe of the prefent diffatisfactions in France, which appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette and in the Merchants Advertiser. The attack upon the motives of the writer, by an effay in the Philadelphia Gazette, figned Civis, would have paffed unnoticed; but, as it offered some arguments, and its statement of facts was materially wrong, the paper on fpoliations, headed No. 2, and thofe which followed, were forced from the writer. Thefe papers blame France ftrongly and explicitly in many refpects; but they were defigned alfo to fhow that Great Britain, Ruffia, Germany, &c. actually set many of the examples on which the French have injured us, and that there were even fome peculiar pleas of defence and neceffity on the part of France, arifing from the previous detentions and fpoliations committed by her enemies. The original defign of thofe papers was privately to contribute to the information of our own government, and to a prudent conduct in a difficult cafe and an alarming time. They were not, nor could they be, official. They do not convey any official information. They refer to promulgated documents. To prevent ill effects, either among our own citizens, or in France, they were retained from the press from the Spring of 1797, till the prefent month, They were the acts of an individual, that were at his own disposal, under

the laws.

A late writer has afferted, that the proceeding of the French, in November, 1792, in relation to the governments of Europe, called the fraternization decree, was prior to the first British detentions of French fupplies under their proclamation of the 15th of that month. This is a new ground of defence of British fpoliations. The writer was forely preffed.

But it is an unfortunate error;

for the French proceeding was of the 19th of November. But the known tenor of the English conduct on the occafion of the suspension of the royal authority in August preceding, and in regard to the members of the French government, who fhould decree, or otherwise participate in meafures against the late French king, was fuch, as the British never permitted, from any other nation. If England or Denmark fhould choose to make themselves republics, and try and punifh their kings, the people of the United States would not approve of menaces to the republican functionaries from mr. Pickering, nor of his taking measures to hunt the members of the English government out of civil fociety. Yet, mr. Dundas and lord Grenville adopted this conduct on the 17th of August and the 21ft of September, 1792. The French act was late in the November following. What we thought proper to do under the fame circumftances, will plainly appear; for we recognized the republic of France, though founded on the ruins of the throne, in our communications of January and March, 1793, to mr. Ternant and Mr. Genet. Thefe remarks on the particular fuggeftions concerning the French political aggreffions, might be fufficient to fhow their fallacy; but, since this subject has been opened on the other side, it is fair to purfue it. The times requires the whole truth.

Authen

Too many good men appear to have forgotten the original acts of aggression against France, which have involved the greatest part of Europe in the prefent bloody war. tic documents relative to that aggreffion, as the cause of French retaliations, will be particularly interesting to candid men. Ruffia, Germany, France, and Great Britain, with their various connexions, formed a lift of empires more powerful than were ever before combined against a single nation. The political state of each of thefe countries refembled that of

all the others, in fome of the most important particulars, though one of them laid high claims to freedom. In regard to an bereditary and expensive executive power, an bereditary and luxurious nobility, an unrepresented people*, an established and wealthy church, a constitutional and ostentatious hierarchy, a great standing army, a select or neglected militia, a large public debt, a limitation of the right of fhooting and hunting (and, of course, of the use of arms) all thofe countries were in a great degree fimilar. In Britain alone, a very small minority of the people, the two hundredth part, legally retained a little power; but they held it at the will of the king, the nobles, and the very rich. A confiderable part of her judiciary establishments refted in the dangerous tenure of the crownt, as in Ruffia, Germany, and France. The feudal principle, which concentred the power of the many in the hands of the few, pervaded all Europe. Although feudal rights are of a nature and origin entirely military, they were the bafis of the civil conftitutions and landed property of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Ruffia! Not only the emperors, the kings, and the nobles of thofe Countries fwept from their brothers and sisters the mass of the estates

NOTES.

* 6000 electors conftitnte a majority of the whole body of electors, who return the majority of the Britifh house of commons, though the inhabitants of Great Britain are fuppofed to be above eleven millions. Let this be well remembered.

†The lord chancellor and the judges or juftices of the assizes are here meant; as alfo the whole body of the judges of the admiralty and of colonial judges. The lords, too, can be increased at pleasure, as well as the privy council. The house of peers is the ultimate court of appeals, and the privy council fits upon the most important colonial cafes.

and honours of their families, but even the commons of Great Britain were unwifely governed by the fame principle! Their lands, the lands of the commons of England, inconfiftently defcended, like the crown itfelf, to the eldest male!

All the great empires of Europe being thus erroneously arranged, the first movements of France, in 1788, though instituted by the king, were regarded by the furrounding monarchs, with the most disapproving eyes. The mere concurrence of the people, in the reform of the government of France, though in concert with the king, the nobles, and the clergy, feems to have alarmed the governments of Europe. They appear to have conceived, that the maintenance of abfolute monarchical and ariftocratical power, in their own kingdoms, required them to check a reform of the French government, in which the people really partook, and by which the people were to be strengthened. They hoped too, that in the moment of an arduous revolution, accompanied by the known embarraffments of the French finances, they might apportion to themfelves and their auxiliaries, the territories of that kingdom. They secretly combined, therefore, to partition France, as they have thrice partitioned Poland, till they have blotted that injured country from the map of Europe. In this unworthy attempt, fome of the combined powers, by the juftice of Heaven, have brought themselves to the verge of ruin. The following is the substance of the treaty executed in 1791, at Pavia, a city of the Milanefe, which, by a Providential reverse of those regal schemes, has become the centre of the most brilliant conquests of once devoted France.

The treaty of Pavia.

"Subftance of the partition treaty between the courts in concert, concluded and figned at Pavia, in the month of July, 1791.

"His majefty, the emperor, will retake all that Louis XIV. conquer ed in the Auftrian Netherlands, and, uniting thefe provinces to the faid Netherlands, will give them to his ferene highness the elector palatine, fo that these new poffeffions, added to the palatinate, may hereafter have the name of Austrasia.

"His majefty, the emperor, will referve for ever, the property and poffeffion of Bavaria, to make in future an indivifible mafs with the domains and hereditary poffeffions of the house of Auftria.

"Her ferene highness, the archduchefs Maria-Chriftina, fhall be, conjointly with his ferene highness her nephew, the archduke Charles, put into poffeffion of the duchy of Lorrain.

"Alsace fhall be restored to the empire; and the, bishop of Strafburg, as well as the chapter, fhall recover their ancient privileges; and the ecclefiaftical fovereigns of Germany fhall do the fame.

"If the Swifs cantons consent and accede to the coalition, it may be propofed to them to annex to the Helvetic league, the bishopric of Porentrui, the defiles of FrancheCompte, and even thofe of Tyrol, with the neighbouring bailiwicks, as well as the territory of Verfoys, which interfects le Pays de Vaud.

"Should his majesty, the king of Sardinia, fubfcribe to the coalition, La Breffe, La Bugey, and le Pays de Gex, ufurped by France from Savoy, fhall be restored to him.

"In cafe his Sardinian majefty can make a grand diverfion, he shall be suffered to take Dauphiny to belong to him for ever, as the nearest defcendant of the ancient dauphins. "His majefty, the king of Spain, fhall have Roufillon and Bearne, with the island of Corfica, and he fhall take poffeffion of the French part of St. Domingo.

"Her majefty, the emprefs of all the Ruffias, shall take upon herself the invasion of Poland; and at the

fame time retain Kaminieck, with that part of Padolia which borders on Moldavia.

"His majefty, the emperor, fhall oblige the Porte to give up Choezim, as well as the fmall forts of Servia, and those on the river Larna.

"His majesty, the king of Pruffia, by means of the above-mentioned invasion of the emprefs of all the Ruffias into Poland, fhall make an acquisition of Thorn and Dantzic, and there unite the Palatinate on the eaft to the confines of Silefia.

"His majesty, the king of Pruffia, fhall besides acquire Lusace; and his ferene highness the elector of Saxony fhall, in exchange, receive the rest of Poland, and occupy the throne as bereditary sovereign.

"His majefty, the prefent king of Poland, shall abdicate the tdrone, on receiving a fuitable annuity.

"His royal highness, the elector of Saxony, fhall give his daughter in marriage to his ferene highness the youngest son of his royal highnefs the grand duke of all the Rus sias, who will be the father of the race of bereditary kings of Poland and Lithuania.

(Signed)

"LEOPOLD,

"PRINCE NASSUA,

"COUNT FLORIDA BLANCA, "BISCHOFFSWERDER."

Observations by a British Historian.

"The king of England acceded to the treaty in March, 1792: this was eight months before the French decrees of fraternity, and concerning the Scheldt. It was in Louis the XVIth time; and Holland acceded afterwards, provided the arrangements refpecting their limits with his imperial majefty fhould be made, according to the desire of the republic, before the partition.

"Spain renounced it, when count d'Aranda came into office as minifter, giving affurances, however, of the ftricteft neutrality."

By this treaty of territorial spoliation, military defpotism, and ufurpation, the dominions of the nation and king of France, as settled by numerous treaties, were to be taken from the king, by the emperor of Germany, the brother of the queen of France, and his illuftrious coad jutors. A new territory was to be raised, at their will, out of one part of the French dominions, to be called Austrafia, and to be given, with out his own knowledge, to the elector (Palatine) of Bavaria. From that elector, though a member of the Germanic empire, Bavaria was to be wrested, and to be given to the emperor of Germany, contrary to bis own oath and to the Germanic constitution! Lorrain, another portion of France, was to be wrefted from the king and queen of France, by the fame kinfman and fovereigns, and to be given to their Auftrian sister and nephew. Alface, another portion of France, was to be taken from it, and bestowed on a German bifhop. Porentrui, a sovereignty of Germany, was to be transferred, without the consent of the people or prince, to the Swifs Cantons, who artfully pretended to have no know ledge of the scheme. The defiles of Franche Compte, the natural barriers of France, were to be alfo placed in the hands of the Swifs, with other douceurs, to tempt that warlike people into this notable league againft France. The whole province of Breffe, the territory of Bugey, and the country of Gex, were to be wrested from France, and given to the king of Sardinia, a brother-in-law of the French king, to enlist him in the combination. As a farther inducement, this prince was permitted to take from France, the whole province of Dauphiny. The barbarous legions of Ruffa were to seize on Poland, the king of that devoted country was to be deposed; yes, this illuftrious combination of sacred kings, engaged to force a sacred brother" to abdicate a throne," and

afterwards to live on a yearly allow◄ ance from his cruel fpoilers! The emperor of the Turks was to fuffer his fhare of plunder, though no less defpotic than his imperial brother of Germany. The royal houfe of Saxony was to be uzited with a prince of Ruffia, and to receive the crown of difmembered Poland, not from that injured nation, nor even by descent. The barbarous legions of Ruffia were to impose a fovereign on that independent people. Is it poffible to fet before an immenfe power, like France, more pernicious examples?

No compenfation appears to be referved for the king of Great Britain or the late government of Holland. The advantages of fuppreffing the authority of the people abroad, and keeping it down in Britain and Ireland, full opportunity of conqueft in France or in her colonies, the deftruction of the trade of that nation, both foreign and internal, and of their manufactures, in the moment of their attempt to render themselves more free, and profitable fpoliations of neutral commerce, by the aid or contrivance of Ruffia, were the benefits refulting to thofe two governments*.

Such was the beginning of that career, which the combined powers

NOTE.

* The memorable fpeech of lord Dorchester to the Indians, gave occafion to fufpicions, that a spoliation of territory, as well as merchandize, was meditated by Great Britain against the United States. The movement of governor Simcoe to the rapids of the Miami gave to those suspicions an irresistible confirmation. It is fince obferved, that mr. Alexander Hamilton has declared in his Pacificus, that Britain meant to dismember our territory at the Ohio! He fays, there were numerous evidences. He has no prejudices against the English government, and was at the time of the defign, in our coun cils.

engaged to run.-Such was the deftruction they prepared for France and us. Such are the difpofitions they agreed to make of the people and of the sovereigns of the earthof their allies-of their co-statesof the princes and princeffes of their own blood! The caufe of the combined powers is manifefted, by their own acts, to be the cause of defpotic, spoliating, and ufurping kings. The maxims of our law, founded in the experience of ages, refcue from crimination, thofe, who unhappily flay a daring assaulter. Let us not refufe to apply this just and wholesome principle to thofe who did more in 1793, to rescue the territory and independency of thefe ftates from the tremendous arms of the combined kings, than they did in 1778, to maintain it against the efforts of Great Britain.

Let us then confider, whether the people of this country, brought to remember these things in a feafon of calamity, will approve of any meafures of their legiflature, or of their executive, leading us into a war on the fide of England, or favouring the expiring caufe of the combined powers. Let us confider, alfo, whether this great scheme of political injuries to the French nation, has not produced the fubordinate fcheme of commercial injuries to France, which has been already difplayed. Of this there cannot be a doubt. If the French republic, rendered wild and outrageous by such monstrous plans of oppression and destruction, has been led by self defence, party rage, and foreign and domestic intrigue into corresponding exceffes, and if we and other neutrals have fuffered thereby, fhe is not more to blame, than the governments which brought her into her prefent condition and temper. Nor have we a greater right to blame her, than those our fifter neutrals, who have not, in the middle of this peculiar war, formed fuch a compact with the most dangerous enemy of France, as the provision article of

our British treaty. When Améri« can citizens demand of Great Bri tain a stipulated treaty price for being forced from their voyages to fupply France when they constantly and openly receive that price-when every act of fettlement for our cargoes is bottomed on the treaty by the British liquidations when our government conftantly knows, and, knowing, acquiesces in thefe acts, the true intent, meaning, tendency, and effect of the British provifion article cannot be disputed. Whatever violent or interested writers, and printers may fay, this subject must be confidered, as serious in the extreme. Nor will it be doubted, that the wise and good will perceive reason to fear, that our conduct upon the provision subject has greatly contributed to bring on our prefent indignities, injuries, and dangers. Let then the ftale and unworthy device of mis-reprefenting motives to damn a cause, be difcountenanced, as unfit for the ferious crifis, in which we now are. Let us rather endeavour to fearch out the causes of past evils, the best remedy for them, the means of restoring harmony, and of preserving peace.

AN AMERICAN MERCHANT.

Philad. March, 27, 1798.

No. VIII.

France and Combined Powers. THE treaty of Pavia for partitioning France, Bavaria, and Poland was figned, as we have feen, in July, 1791. The emperor, one of the parties, was the brother of the French queen, who was the devoted friend of her German relations. He was of courfe the brother-in-law of the king of the French. Let the world remember, then, that two years be fore the republicans beheaded Louis the fixteenth and his queen, an emperor, her brother and his brotherin-law, had fecretly confpired with the king of Pruffia, of notable memory, to rob the unfortunate Louis,