cution, will of courfe devolve upon his minifter. As a Lawyer, his comprehenfive genius reached the principles of his profeffion; he compared its extent, he fathomed its profound, perhaps even more familiarly and eafily than the ordinary rules of its practice. With moft men, law is a trade, with him it was a fcience. As a Statefman, he was not more dif tinguifhed by the great extent of his views than by the caution with which he provided againft impediments, and the watch. fulness of his care over right and the li berty of the fubje&t. In none of the In none of the many revenue bills, which he tramed, though Committees reported them, is there to be found a fingle claufe that lavours of defpotic power; not one that the fagest champions of law and liberty would on that ground, hefitate to approve and adopt. It is rare that a man who owes fo much to nature defcends to feek more from induftry. But he seemed to depend on induftry as if nature had done nothing for him. His habits of investigation were very remarkable; his mind feemed to cling to his fubje&t till he had exhausted it. Hence the uncommon fuperiority of his reasoning powers, a fuperiority that feemed to be augmented from every fource, and to be fortified by every auxiliary; learning, tafte, wit, imagination and eloquence. These were embellished and enforced by his temper and manners, by his fame and his virtues. It is difficult, in the midft of fuch various excellence, to fay in what particular the effect of his greatnefs was not manifeft. No man more promptly difcerned truth, no man inore clearly difplayed it; it was not mere. ly made visible, it feemed to come bright with illumination from his lips. But prompt and clear as he was, fervid as Demonhenes, like Cicero full of refource, he was not lefs remarkable for the copioufnefs and completeness of his argument, that left little for cavil and nothing for doubt. Some men take their frongest argument as a weapon, and ufe no other. But he left nothing to be inquired for more-nothing to be anfwered. He not only difarmed his adverfaries of their pretexts and objections, but he flripped them of all excufe for having urged them; he confounded and fubdued as well as convinced. He indemnified them, however, by making his difcuffion a complete map of his fubje&t, fo that his opponents might indeed feel ashamed of their mistakes but they could not repeat them. In fact, it was no common effort that could preferve a really able antagonist from becoming his convert. For, the truth, which his refearches fo diftin&tly prefented to the underftanding of others, was rendered alnoft irresistibly commanding and impref five by the love, and reverence which it was ever apparent, he profoundly cherifhed for it in his own.. While patriotifm glowed in his heart, wifdom blended in his fpeech, her authority with her charms. Such alfo is the character of his writings. Judiciously collected, they wil be a public treafure... No man ever more difdained duplicity, or carried frankness further than he. This gave to his political opponents fome temporary advantages; and currency to fome popular prejudices, which he would have lived down, if his death had not prematurely difpelled them. He knew that factions have ever in the end 'prevailed in free States, and as he faw no fecurity, and who living can fee any adequate, against the deftruction of that liberty which he loved, and for which he was ever ready to devote his life, he spoke at all times according to his anxious forebodings, and his enemies interpreted all he faid according to the fup. pofed intereft of their party. is no doubt that, being confcious of his powers, he defired glory, which to mok men is too inacceffible to be an object of defire. But, feeling his own force, and that he was tall enough to reach the top of Pindus or of Helicon, he longed to deck his brow with the wreath of immortality. A vulgar ambition could as little compre. hend as fatisfy his views: he thirfted only for that fame that virtue would not blush to confer, nor time to convey to the end of his course. The only ordinary diftinction to which we confefs he did afpire was military, and for that, in the event of a foreign war, he would have been folicitions. He undoubtedly difcovered the predominance of a foldier's feelings, and all that is honor in the character of a foldier, was at home in his heart. His early education was in the camp, there the, firft fervours of his genius were poured forth, and his earliest and moft cordial friendships formed. There he became enamoured with glory and was admitted to its embrace. Those who knew him beft, and especialin the army, will believe that if occafion had called him forth, he was qualified beyond any man of the age, to difplay the talents of a great General. But he ever extorted confidence even when he most provoked oppofition. It was impoffible to deny that he was a patriotly and fuch a patriot, as fecking neither popularity nor office, without artifice, without meannels, the beft Romans in their best days would have admitted to citizenship and to the Confulate. Virtue fo rare,, fo pure, fo bold, by its very purity and excellence, infpired fufpicion, as a prodigy, His enemies judged of him by themfelves. So fplendid and arduous were his fervices, they could not find it in their hearts to believe they were difintereЯed. Unparalleled as they were, they were nevertheless no other wife requited than by the applaufe of all good men, and by his own enjoyment of the fpectacle of that national profperity and confideration, which was the effect of them. After facing calumny and triumphantly furmounting an unrelenting perfecution, he retired from office, with clean though empty hands, as rich as reputation and an unblemished integrity could make him. Some have plaufibly, though erroneously, inferred from the great extent of his abilities that his ambiton was inordinate. This is a mistake. Such men as have a painful concioufnefs that their fations happen to be far more exalted then their talents are generally the moft ambitious. Hamilton, on the contrary, though he had many competitors, had no rivals; for he did not thirst for power, nor would he, as it was well known, defcend to office. Of course, he fuffered no pain from envy when bad men rofe, though he felt anxiety for the public. He was perfectly content and at eafe in private life. Of what was he ambitious? not of wealth. No man held it cheaper. Was it of popularity? That weed of the dunghill, he knew, when rankeft, was nearest to withering. There It may be very long before our country will want fuch military talents. It will probablay be much longer before it will again possess them. Alas, the great man who was at all times (o much the ornament of our country, and fo exclufively fitted in its extremity to be its champion, is withdrawn to a purer and more.tranquil region.. a We are left to endless labours and usavailing regrets. Such honors Ilion to her hero paid, The most fubftantial glory of a country is in its various great men. Its profperity will depend upon its docility to learn from their example. That nation is fated to ig nominy and fervitude, for which fuch men have lived in vain. Power may be feized by a nation that is yet barbarous, and wealth may be enjoyed by one that it finds or renders fordid; the one is the gift and the fport of accident, and the other is the fport of power. Both are mutable, and have paffed away without leaving behind them any other memorial than ruins that offend tafte and traditions that baffle conje&ture. But the glory of Greece is im perifhable, or will faft as long as learning itfelf, which is its monument. It frikes an everlafting root and bears perennial blo!foms on its grave. The name of Hamil ton would not have difhonoured Greece, in the age of Ariflides. May Heaven, the guardian of our liberty, grant, that our country may be fruitful of Hamiltons and faithful to their glory. The invafion-drama in France has been limited, in the French papers, to the middle of July; but fome of thefe who pretend to be initiated into the arcana of cabinets, fay, the invafion will not be attempt The verdict of the Coroner's inqueft against Mr. Burr, it is faid, comes under the 24 paragraph of the ad fection, of the 4th article of the Conftitution of the United States, which provides, that any perfon charged with a crime, "who fhalled at all. flee from juftice, and be found in another State, fhall on demand of the executive authority of the fate from which he fled, be delivered, to be removed to the ftate having jurifdiction of the crime." If this be correct, we cannot but hope that Gov. Bloomfield will make the demand requir. ed; and that the Vice-Prefident will be delivered up to take his trial for the murder which he is charged with having commit The report of the illness of Col. Burr, proves unfounded. On Thursday laft, the editor of this paper was ferved with another piece of parchment, from his honor Judge Spencer.ted. What he now complains of, I know not:: Neither do I know what his object is, in multiplying thefe fuits fo rapidly; neither do I care. If, however, it is poflible that he intends to perfecate and opprefs, until he drives me to fubmiflion, he muft lay in a good flock of parchment-that's all. I had almoft forgotten to mention, that his honor De Witt Clinton, Mayor of N. York, lately commenced what is called in fashionable language a Spencer-fuit against M. Crofwell, editor of the Catfkill Recorder. Formerly, when the officers of the Fed. eral Administration happened to be absent, on bufinefs, from the feat of government, the Aurora, and its copyifts, would conftantly charge them with a desertion from their duty; but now it is no harm for the whole body of executive officers to leave Washington at once. "Where now is the government of the United States ?" This question can be, anfwered thus, fays the Boston Centinel The Prefident of the United States is at Monticello ;-The Vice Prefident, like Cain, a wanderer over the continent ;the Secretary of State, at his feat in Virginia; the Secretary of the Treasury in the interior of Pennfylvania;-the Secretary of War in Bofton;the Secretary of the Navy in Baltimore;-the AttorneyGeneral in Worcester ;-the Poft-MafterGeneral in Connecticut; and none left in Washington, fave only a few fubordinate officers in the departments. It is flated in a number of papers that Mr. Monroe has been appointed, by the Prefident, Governor of Louifiana. If An attendant of the deputy-mar fhal in Lycoming county (Penn.) has been fhot. No particulars. It is faid to be very fickly at Charleston, South Carolina. The fhip Little Cornelia, Harrison, from Rochefort for New York, was captured on the 6th inft. just off the Hook, by the Britifh fhip of war Leander, and ordered for Halifax. The veffel and cargo were own. ed by Mr. J. Juhel, of New-York. The Britifh fhip of war Leander blockades the port of N. York-fires upon and boards American veffels, treats them with boards American veffels, treats them with It appears that Jerome Bonaparte, now in this country, not being in the order of hereditament, is not Prince, nor his fair poufe a Princess !!! A new form of prayer is introduced into all the churches in France ;-the Republic is no longer to be prayed for; and inftead of the words, "O Lord fave the Conful," the following are introduced, "O Lord fave our Emperor Napoleon.” The following is given, under London June 20, as an extract of a communication, received by a gentleman at Antwerp, from his brother at Boulogne, who is employed in the armament deftined for the invafion of England : "All the horfes, forage, and heavy ar tillery, are embarked. We wait only the arrival of the generals. I fhall not, therefore, write to you again from hence; and, probably I may never behold you more." It was reported in London, on the 19th June, hat a perfon had arrived from France with overtures for peace. To Correspondents. "OBSERVATOR" and a "FRIEND,” shall receive due attention. We pity "OLIVIA," but to publish her poetry would be no proof of it. "AMOR LIBERTATIS," next week. Brigade Orders. AS a-tribute of refpect to the memory of the Patriot, Hero, and profound Statefman, Major General HAMILTON; and as a public teftimony of their fenfe of the irreparable lofs our country has sustained in the death of that great and good man, Brig is true, Mr. Monroe has, in the courfe of the utmoft infolence, and in one inftance, adier General Butler, recommends to the one year, been appointed to no lefs than three important and lucrative offices, viz. Minifter extraordinary to France, with an cutfit of 9,000 dollars, and a falary of 9,000 dollars. Minister to Great-Britain with the like outfit and falary-and now Governor of Louifiana !-Thus are Virginia favorites rewarded !! preffed 17 paffengers from Londonde ry. Particulars and reflections hereafter, derry. Particulars and reflections hereafter. Six privateers, mounting from ten to fourteen guns, and full of men, have been fitted out at Gaudaloupe for St. Domingo, all American veffels bound to or from that with exprefs arders to take fink and destroy illand. officers of his Brigade, to wear crape on Morton Lodge, Delaware? To dry thy constant tear; If yet in Sorrow's distant eye, : Expos'd and pale thou see'st him lie, Where Greenwich Shades appear. Where'er from time thou court'st relief, The Muse shall still with social grief, With thee her vigils keep: Ev'n VERNON'S lone sepulchral vale Shall learn the sad respected tale, Where sainted relics sleep. Diversity. PETER PINDAR. TOM PAINE once afferted, in the prefence of Peter, that the minority, in all deliberative bodies, ought at all times, to govern the majority. Peter fmiled. "You grant me, (faid Paine) that the proportion of of fenfe to the ignorant, is not more than twenty, or at most thirty, to a hundred: confequently, the majority of mankind are prone to error; and if we would act rightly, we ought to be guided by the fenfe of the minority."" men ALARMING!! [Ibid.] A barrifter, blind with one eye, plead ing one day with his fpectacles on, "Gentlemen in my argument, I fhall ufe nofeet-thing but what is neceffary." Mr. Mingay replied immediately, "take out then, one of the glaffes of your fpectacles." Peter, who had liftened with great ing attention, now mildly replied, will not fay but your arguments are cogent, though not entirely convincing. As it is rather a fubject out of my line, I will not attempt to argue the point, but merely hold the negative of your propofition and leave it to the good company which is right. Agreed" faid Paine, who faw himfelf furrounded by his admirers., "well gentlemen," faid Peter, with all the gravity of a Speaker of the Houfe of Commons," you that are of opinion that the minority, in all deliberative bodies, ought in all cafes to govern the majority, pleafe to rife in the affirmative." Paine immediately stood up himfelt, and, as he had foreseen, the company all rofe in his favour. "Then I rife in the negative" cried Peter, "I am the wife minority,; who ought in all cafes to govern your ignorant majority; and confequently, upon your own principles, I carry the vote, let it be recorded.' 66 This unexpected manoeuvre. raifed a hearty laugh, Paine retired from the prefence of triumphant wit, mortified with being foiled at his own weapons. [London Paper.] [Ibid.] TERMS OF THE BALANCE, FOR 1803. To City Subscribers, Two Dollars and Fifty Cents, payable quarterly. To those who receive them by mail, Two Dol ars, payable in advance. To those who take their papers at the office, in bundles, or otherwise, a deduction from the city price will be made. A handsome Title Page and Table of Contents will accompany the last number of the volume. Advertisements inserted in a handsome and con. spicuous manner, in the Advertiser which accompa nies the Balance. $2 $ 2,50 $ 4 If bound, the price of binding (either plain or el egant) will be added. An unbound volume may be sent to any post-office in the state for 52 cents post. age; or to any post-office in the union for 78 cents PUBLISHED BY HARRY CROSWELL, WHERE PRINTING IN GENERAL IS EXECT? Original. HUDSON, (NEW-YORK) TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1803. the darkest colours, and malignance has faftened with rapture on the fpurious catalogue of their political iniquities. They practifed against the federal administration. ed of their attention, I would thus addrefs No men have been more cruelly traduced, than thofe Federalifts who have been moft confpicuous and efficient in conducting us to our present flate of profperity. Their motives have been wantonly misreprefented, and defigns have been imputed to them, which they never entertained.— As a Federalift, I only defire a candid Every measure adopted by the late adminhearing before the people.. I wish to adiftration to place our government in an at. titude efficiently to refift foreign aggrel-their understanding; and could I be affurdrefs myself not to their prejudices but to fion, and to protect us against foreign infults, were maliciuofly conftrued into an invafion of our rights. An honeft zeal for the energy and ftability of government, and only defirous of giving a solid bafis to our liberty, was malevolently aspersed in the moft opprobrious language, by the furious fpirits of faction. The most attrocious calumnies were propagated with unceafing perfeverance. Falfhoods were reiterated with unblufhing effrontery. No artifice, no trick, no deception, within the reach of human ingenuity, was left un them : Fellow Citizens, Your ears have been deafened with inceffant clamors against the Federalifts. They have been reprefented to you as men hoftile to liberty, arbitrary in principle, and entertaining fentiments. incompatible with the fpirit of our free conftitution. The federal adminiflration has been denounced as odious and oppreffive. The meafures of the Federalifts have been pourtrayed by a faction, in ble. Did you experience thofe miferies. during the period the Federalifts were in power? I now appeal to your under ftandings, and rely on the determinations of your calm unbiaffed judgments. Take a retrospect to the era of the organization of your government-contraft your fituation at that time with your fituation at the time of the change of adminiftration. When your prefent government went into ope ration, you had an immenfe debt to provide for. Your revenue was not more than fufficient to pay the intereft that yearly accrued on the fame. The fpecie circulating in the United States, did not exceed that intereft. Public credit was low, and your finances were difordered. The Federalifts, who were then at the head of affairs, by their wifdom and perfeverance, furmounted every difficulty. They called into action your refources, arranged your difordered finances, fyftematized your revenue, made provifions for the discharge of your debt, and eftablifhed your credit on a folid and permanent basis. What has been the refult of their labours? The whole amount of your revenue, from the year 1789 to the year 1791, was fomewhat more than four millions of dollars. The circulating fpecie in 1790, about the fame. In 1800, your revenue was equal to eleven million of dollars; your fpecie to nine. teen millions. Here, then, is a fimple flatement of facts, fufficient to oppose to the impudence of falfhood and the calumnies of malice. Where truth is refpected, it will command attention, though unadorned with the eloquence of declamation. It is evidence which will carry to pofteri ty the unfading honors of fatefmen and patriots, whofe names will dignity the pages of the impartial hiflorian, when those of their calumniators, fhall be loft in ob. livion, or recorded only to be execrated or defpifed, From thofe, faithful fervants, you have withdrawn your confidence, and repofed it in men as much diflinguifhed for the vehemence of their profeffions, as their characters are equivocal in point of uprightness and fincerity. For my part, I queflion the foundnefs of their underflandings, and the purity of their hearts. I cannot beflow my praife on a man who affumes the language of a patriot, and a&ts the part of a perfecutor; whofe practice demonftrates his political theory to be the mere offspring of philofophic reverie or artifice, decorated with rhetorical flourifhes and the tawdry figures of an intoxicated imagination; whofe philanthropy invites to our hores the outcafts,of, Europe, and deprives the hoary veteran of his bread; and whofe political tolerance, profcribes the citzen who differs from him in opinion, and who will not abandon principles which he honey thinks corret. Sach men may appear to those who reanze the benefits of adulation, to poffefs great and intrinfic merit: But to thofe who judge with candor and difinterested. nefs, I believe their merit will appear at leaft equivocal: What, then, have we gained by a change of men? Are we more rich, more happy, or more contented than we were four years ago? Are party divifions healed? Have party animofities fubfided? It is not merely the oppofition of the Federalifts, that now disturbs the harmony of focial intercourfe." The moft ferious differences have arifen among the democratic worthies. In Pennfylva-hero, of whom I will relate to you a little nia, M.Kean has been denounced as an apoftate. Duane has plucked from the brow of Tench Coxe the laurels he ac 66 quired under the noble Howe. The fig. nal honours gained by Brackenridge, in the attack on the Judiciary, will not, I fear, be able to "reprieve his fall." Gale latin, whofe fame fhall endure as long as whiskey fhall be drank, is threatened with the thunder of democratic vengeance; and even the terrible and celebrated Lyon (a. buled by Duane) roars tremendous in the woods of Kentucky. What will be the result of these violent diffentions, I will nat pretend to determine, The caule which has originated them, may be fatisfactorily explained; and I believe the unprejudiced will agree ambition which, upon the fame princi. with me in attributing them to that fe fish ples that united the democrats in their op. pofition to the federal adminiftration, now divides them, fince they have effe&ted the oftenfible object of their oppofition. A FEDERALIST.. REPLY TO CAPT. BLANK-ALIAS C. HOLT mire it. Men lefs brave than you, might Have condefcended to attack Harry Crofwell; or they might have deigned to become the antagonists of fomebody who had a name; but you, moft intrepid captain, difdaining fuch fmail things, have had the unparallelled heroifm to call into the field a mighty champion-no lefs than Blank Blank, Elq. Too noble to wage war with flesh and blood, you have most dauntlessly attacked ........ Nobody! You have followed the example of a famous gallic anecdote: This hero, like you, captain Holt, was brave without a parallel. He, like you, would refent an infult, at any rifque. Once on a time, it happened that an infult was offered him; but, like you, he pretended not to know by whom it was offered. However, like you, he threatened and bluftered, and declared that if the perfon" would affume his proper shape." he fhould receive attention." At length his gallic intrepidity run fo high that he counted down ten guineas, and offered them to any man who would difcover the perfon who affronted him, The other, with a waggifh air, fcraped the reward from the table, and frankly acknowledged himself to be the author of the infult.exclaimed the enraged. FrenchmanHere was a fcene for a hero! "Goddam," "Goddam," (with double vehemence) Goddam-Goddam-Goddam... 66 nobodee!" Efq, and all other's concerned. If the learned and ingenious gentlemen I HAVE often, moft noble captain, who amute themfelves in venting their had occafion to admire the undaunted malice and Spleen against the editor of the fphit and amazing courage which you have Bee under cover of the name or authority manifefled in your editorial career. Bu of Harry Crofwell, in the Bilance, will never until now could I fufficiently ad-picafe to affume their proper shape, they |