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Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser 1807/07-1807/12 msa_sc3722_2_6_2-0230 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
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Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser 1807/07-1807/12 msa_sc3722_2_6_2-0230 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
| N'e-iv-Yorh Eveving Post. •THE CASE CANDIDLY CONSIDERED. "We are n >w, agreeably to our promise, to make a plain and concise statement of -vvVvii we conceive to be the true nature ol *.he present controversy between us and G. X$r' tain. The English writers in Canada insist that trie sailors who are the immediate cause of dis-oute, having entered in the British navy, and taken the king's bounty, and then de- serred, could not be received and protected "by us and that therefore any British cruiser bad a ri rht to retake them whenever she found them, on the high seas " s'ai» being tVie only mode of recovering their deserted seamen.".* And some of the most respect- able Boston prints have for some time been exited in softening down the public re- sentment, and preparing the way for at length maintaining that the attack of the Leopard on the Chesapeake was a necessary and consequently a lawful act. Lastly, letters from Halifax, published and circulated in several of our newspapers, charge us with «* being in the practice of crimping English seamen." When we see such grounds openly taken or countenanced among ourselves it is high time for those who hi Id a different language ta come out and make a stand in defence of our common country. Although not a« qu.tiiit. d with all the facts in the case before vis, yet it will be found, if we do not deceive ourselves, that enough have transpired to enable every man of common sense to form and pr-.neunce a correct opinion up- 011 **' • n It appears by the letter of captain Crafts to the secretary of the treasury, the substance of which was published in, our last Tues- day's paper, that three of the four men about -whom the controversy has arisen, viz. Ware. "Martin and Little belonged to the brig Neptune, which sailed from this port Aug. 18 >5 ; that the brig was captured by the frigate Milampus snd sent into Plymouth for condemnation, the crew, excepting the captain and boy, having been first taken out. The brig" and cargo were liberated or. a hearing, and after the arrival of the Melampns at the same port, she returned the Neptune her ere", including these men. A few days afterwards, while the Neptune lay at inch r, two of the men, Waie and ¦and Martin, were order -\ a shore in the boat which they immediate^ darted, and left on the beach. Capt. Crafts went ashore in search of them, and found Ware mixing with the crew of the Melampns, and on his speaking to him, he received a saucy an- swer, and a refusal to obey him any more. The same evening Little deserted openly before the ciotain's face, getting into the barge of the Melampus, which came along- side and took him in. On the application of capt. Crafts to capt. Poynts. commander of the frigate, to obtain his men again, in- forming him that their loss would distress him, the latter replied that he did n »t uant the men, for he had his complement, and he believed them to he three scoundrels ; hut that if they chose to enter with him, he should expect capt. Crafts to pay th m up their wages, which, how ver, was ratified* Such is the statement made by cap*. Cralts, and it is presumed it is in no part liable to be c ntroverted. Capt. Poynt's answer is given in a very few ¦ oris ; but let us, without doing any violence to probability, imagine him to have been a little more explicit than he is repre- sented to have been ; might he not (sup- posing him to have been a candid man) have spoken somewhat in the fallowing manner?— '¦ Sir, 'tis true I have got your men on board my ship, but I don't want them ; I don't like the fellows themsi-lves, and be- sides my crew is complete ; but my orders are to take sailors wherever I can get them, and it 1 have too many, to pat those I don't want on board some other ship that does want them. We make a practice, as you know, of taking all Swedes, Danes, Span iards, French, Italians, Russians, Portuguese in short, all that are not Americans^ out of your vessels, as often as we come across them, (for it is clear you have no right to them, and in all such cases John Bull is a sort of general residuary legatee to the globe) ; besides, we take, of course, our own sailors whenever we meet with them, and sometimes by a mistake, we take yours. Such, sir, being the broad and liberal princi- ples on which we act, I am under the neces sity, of informing you, that if your men chuse to enter with me, my duty compels me to receive them ; and indeed so innocent or I may say so praise-worthy h their con duct regarded by us, that the men must not Jose a shilling by it ; you must therefore pay them up their wages to this time." Such we think might have been the an- swer of capt Poynt's, had he inclined to be communicatee. Captain Craftit seems re- fused to pay the men their w'agOB, and cap- tain Poynts considering it as rather a hard case, upon the whole, that captain Grafts hatl 1 1 (he first place been captured and sent in for'condemnation with, tit any reason for it, by which means his v yage had proba- bly been entirely broken up and and that it was a sufficient vex .tion to have to hunt up men to supply the place of the deser- ters before he could get home again, and moreover, regarding the follows as great scoundrels whom he did not want, courte- ously let captain Craft's off without insist- « Vide St.it. Geo. S, c. 31, s. 11 & 13, Geo. •9, c. 8, s. 1 and & ing on the back wage.. In tins respect captain Crafts was more fortunate than the eaptain of the ship Fanny, which some time ago sailed from this port to Greenock and while lying there lose the whole crew by desertion to a British Tender, the cap- tain of which not only refused to deliver them up but obliged the American to send them their chests and baggage, and to pay up every shilling of'their back wages ; af- ter which he was obliged to go all the way to Leith to procure a crew to navigate his vessel back to port. Which shews by the way, that the case immediately before us is not an anomalous one. Indeed no one will deny that to receive deserters and encourage desertions to English ships of war is a con- stant, open, and avowed practice and one countenanced by English laws.* But topro- ctcd : Behold now our three seamen all safe on board the Melampus frigate, and making part of her crew, having lounally entered and received the king's bounty. Very well. She arrives at Norfolk and sends her boat ashore for water, and these three sailors in it with one more. They understood per- fectly, the trick of leaving boats ; th.y had left the Neptune's boat, at Plymouth, j in. England, and had been received and pro- tected by a Britih frigate, and it would be hard, indeed, as well as unaccountably strange, if they could n it leave the boat of the Melampus at Norfolk, in America, and find as good a reception and as much pro- tection there too- This mode of reasoning required no great ingenuity ; it was indeed so natural and obvious, they could not well miss it, so they left the boat and made off. Presto, pass and begone ! The cups are turned, and every thing turns too as by en- chantment. That conduct which at Ply- mouth was thought so commendable and worthy of a reward, when it operated against an American vessel, now, at Norfolk, when it is found to operate against an En- glish vessel, is suddenly transformed into the double crime of mutiny and desertion ; both punishable with death. The govern- ment are quickly demanded to deliver up the fugitives; because thi, is not followed ed by a ready compliance, orders are issued by admiral Berkely to the English navy to search f r these deserters and seizs them in whatever ship they maybe found; and if judged neceosary to employ force and take them. Accordingly the captain of the Leo- pard, on receiving a refusal from commo- dore Barom to deliver the men. pours in his broadside, kills and wounds a number of his crew, obliges him to strike his flag, seize the men, and carries them oft in tri- umph. And we are now told by writers among ourselves, that all this was perfectly right and proper, for that '* the principle is uni- versally admitted, that a nation may do whatever is essential to self preservation, and of consequence may not only resist prac- tices unaccompanied with force, but secure itself by force against attempts and designs, winch evidently threaten its safety and exis- tence : " that the duty of self preservation, which sanctions a riststance to actual force, will justify an officer 011 a distant expedi- tion m defending himself against any artifi- ces or practice though not attended with force, which if permitted •would deprive him of the means of self defence, and frustrate the c*d of his appointment ; and that "• to this right is inseparably incident, that, of retaking hy force •whatever is unjustly taken from them either by force or fraud." Such are the pro- positions laid down by a distinguished writ- er in the Boston Repertory, who has vo- lunteered on the British side, under the signature of Anson. What a pity is it that tiiis formidably park of artillery which has been so carefully provided, can be turned in an instant, and made to play upon the ve- ry cause it is brought to ser.e ? Will Anson condescend to inform us 1. hether he thinks that the enlisting sailors from on board an American vessel in a fo- reign port is not an artifice or practice as in- jurious to Americans, as is that of enlisting sailors from on board an English vessel in a foreign port, to the English ? or whether the manning an English ship of war by de- serters, is any more essential to the self pre- servation of the English navy, than the manning an American ship of war by de- serters is essential to the seif preservation of the American navy ? And on which of his principles or on what other of law or e- quity, or common sense, it is that the pre- tensions of commanders at Plymouth (and such as they have always been in the habit ot advancing and piactising upon,) can be reconciled with their pretensions, advanced and practised upon at Norfolk ? It is perceived that we Jay out of the case fov the present, the citizenship of the sailors; and to give those who take the opposite gtound every advantage, we also lay aside the circumstance oi the attack's having been made 011 a national ship^and merely ask for a reconciliation of the two opposite, con- flicting claims advanced by Great-Britain, and on the support of which her,cause de- pends. We confess we are altogether unable to comprehend how it is tftat the English navy can have a right to receive deserters froin us, and piotect them as their own pro- perty because they have received the king's bounty, and at the same time deny us the right, tinder precisely parallel circumstances, to receive deserters tiom them, and protect them as our property, after they have re- ceived our king's bounty. Nor can we un- derstand what sort of justice that can be whioh makes the same act between the same parties, dictated by the same motives, iimo- *Vtdthxtfack Mercury and Montreal Cour. *mt. cent at Plymouth and a capital crime at Norfolk. The truth is, the case presents an inextricable dilemma, which no dexterity can evade, and from which no ingenuity can escape. The two pretensions advanced by the English are totally irreconcilable with each, other, and therefore we run no-hazard in saying that both cannot be rig<;t : In the spirit of amity we will .give them their choice ; they may have either—but we can never allow them both. We have the utmost confidence in this ar- gument ; we think it unanswerable ; if, how- ever, there is still any one disposed to,enter the lists on the other side, let him come for- ward ; no matter under what title he appears, this paper shall be open to him. We make no apology for the part which we have taken. This is a question in which the honor and safety of the nation is involved, nor will we, in complaisance to any man or any set of men, nor from any apprehensions of giving offence, permit little, unworthy considerati- ons to separate us from what we consider our duty. To conclude—We entertain a respect for Great-Britain ; it is land that gave birth to our ancestors, and we feel an attachment to the soil that covers their bones ; we venerate her institutions ; we look with anxiety on the struggle in which she is now engaged for self-preservation ; we hope she will maintain her independence uninjured, and that it will yet be long, very long before the sun of her glory shall begin his descent to the west with diminished lustre ; but we can never behold with a criminal indifference the ill- judged, the unwarrantable attempts of the unwise ministry to trench upon the perfect rights of other nations ; especially one which both inclination and interest strongly unite to render friendly to her. Against such attempts we shall always stand ready to raise our feeble voice and to call on the pa- triotism of our countrymen to rouse and resist them. BY THIS DAY's MAILS. FRENCH ACCOUNT. SEVENTY-NINTH BULLETIN. Battle of Friedland. Wehlau, June 17. " On the 14th the enemy advanced on the bridge of Friedland, and at three in the morning a cannonade was heard. " It is a fortunate day (said the emperor ;) It is the anniverssary of the battle of Marengo." " Marshals Lannes and Mortier were first engaged: they were supported by General Grouchy's dragoons, and by General Nan souty's cuirassieurs. Several movements and actions took place. The enemy were stop ped, and could not pass the village of Ros- tenbourg. Imagining that they had only a corps of about 15,000 men opposed to them, they followed the movements of our troop" towards Konigsburg ; thus the French and Saxon dragoons and ci.isassieurs had the op- portunity of making a brilliant attack, and of taking four pieces-of cannon. " By five in the evening the several corps were at their appointed stations. Marshal Ney was on the right wing, marshal Lannes in the centre, marshal Mortier on the left wing ; the corps of Gen. Victor and the guards formed the reserve. " Meanwhile, the enemy deployed the whole of his army. His left wing extended to the town of Friedland, and his right wing a mile and a half in the other direc- tion. " The emperor having reconnoitred the position, determined to take the town of Friedland. Then suddenly changing his front, and advancing his right, he commenc- ed the attack with the first part of that wing. " About half past five marshal Ney began to move forward. Some shots from a batte- ry of 20 cannon were the signal. At the same moment the division of Gen. Marchand advanced, sword in hand, upon the enemy and proceeded toward the tower of the town ; being supported on the left by the division of Gen. Bison. " When the enemy perceived that marshal Ney had left the wood in which his right wing had been posted, they endeavored to surroundhim with some regiments of cavalry, and a multitude of Cossacks : But General Latour-Maubourg's division of dragoons rode up in full gallop to the right wing, and re- pelled the attack of the enemy. In the mean time General Victor erected a battery of 30 cannon in the front of his centre. Gen. Sennarmont, who commanded this battery, pushed his works forward more than 400 paces, and greatly annoyed the enemy. The several manoeuvres they attempted in order to procure a diversion, were all in vain. " Marshal Ney was at the head of his troops, directing the smallest manoeuvres with that coolness and intrepidly which is peculiar to himself, and maintained that example which has always distinguished his corps among the other corps of the grand army. Several columns of the ene- my which attacked his right wing were re- ceived with the bayonet, and driven into the Alle. Thousands found their graves in that river, and- some escaped by swim- ming ; meanwhile marshal Ney's left wing reached the raveline, which encircles the town of Friedland. The enemy, who had posted the imperial horse and foot guards in Ambush there, advanced with great intrepi- dity, and attacked marshal Ney's left, which for it moment wavered ; but Dnpont's divisi- on which formed the right wing of the re- serve, fell upon the Russian imperial guards, defeated them, and made a most dreadful slaughter. The enemy sent forward seve- ral other corps from his centre to defend Friendland : vain eff -.rt ! Friedland was forced, and its streets bestrewed with dead bodies. The centre, commanded by mar. shal Lannes, was at the same time engaged. The attempts which the enemy had made upon the right wing, being frustrated, he wished to try the effect of similar efforts up- on our centre : he was, however, suitably received by the brave divisions of Ou- dinot and Verdier, and the commanding marshal. " The Imperial horse and foot guards, and divisions of the first corps, were not in the action. The victory was never for a moment doubtful. The fold of battle is horrible to behold. It is not too much to estimate the number of the dead oh the side of the Russians, at from 15 to 18,000. The number of the dead on the French side was not 500, but we have 3000 wounded, We have taken 80 cannon, and a great num. of cass ons : a great number of standards have also fallen into our hand. There are 25 of the Russian generals either killed, wounded, or taken. Their cavalry has suf- fered incalculable loss. " Night prevented us from pursuing the enemy ; they were followed until it o'clk. During the remainder of the night, the cut off columns tried to pass the Alle at several fordable places, and next day we saw, cais- sons, cannon and harness, every where in the river. " The battle of Friedland is worthy to be numbered with those ol Marengo, Aus- terlitz, and Jena. The enemy ere nume- rous, had fine cavalry and fought bravely. " Next day the enemy endeavored to as- semble on the right bank of the Alle, and the French army made manoeuvres on the left hank to cut them off from Konigsberg. The heads of the columns arrived at the same time at Wehlau, a town situated at the confluence of the Alle and Pregel. The emperor had his head-quarters in the village of Peterswalde. " The enemy having destroyed all the birdg es, took advantage of the obstacle, at day- break, on the 16th, to proceed on their retreat towards Russia. At 8 in the morn- ing the emperor thiew a bridge over the Pregel, and took a position there with the army. 1 K> nigsberg was abandoned on the ar- rival of the intelligence of the battle of Friedland. Marshal Soult has entered that place, where much wealth has been found. We have taken taken some hundred thou- sands of quintals of corn, more than 20,000 wounded Russians and Prussians, all the ammunition which England had sent to the Russians, including 160,000 muskets, which had not been landed.—Thus has Providence punished those, who instead of nenociating with good faith to biing ab ut a salutary peace, treated that object with derision, and regarded the repose taken by the conquerors, as proof of timidity and weakness. " It was on the 5th the enemy renewed hostilities. Their loss in ten days which foil wed their first operations, may be reck- oned at 60,000 men, killed, wounded ta- keu prisoners, or otherwise, part hcrsn de combat. A part of the artillery, the neces- sary supply of militaiy stores, and all their magazines, on aline of more than 40 miles are lost to them. The French army has seldom obtained such great advantages with so little loss. A letter from Tilsit. This day, at two in the afternoon, the empercr Napoleon entered Tilsit. The grand duke of Betg, at the head of his cavalry pursued the enemy, and did him considetable mischief, especially the Cos- sacks : c< nsiderable bodies of them wete fre- quently touted. The third corps of the army passed through Labliau, and came up with the rear of the enemy, from which it took 2,500 prisoners- When marshal Ney arrived at Isterburg on the 17th. 1000 wounded, and considerable magazines, fell into his hands. The loss of the Russian army is prodigi- ous. All the villages are full of their wounded. They have not m- re than 60 pieces of cannon left. We hear of new advantages gained over them every day ; but the rapidity of our, marches does not admit of regular and exact details. RUSSIAN ACCOUNT. General Bennigsen's Dispatches. BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND, &c. Copies of the dispatches from general Ben- nigsen, to the emperor Alexander. Head-quarters at Wehlau, June 3-i5. The enemy having immediately directed the whole of his force from Heilsberg to- wards Friedland and Welhau, with an in- tention to cut off my army from the Pregel, I humbly beg leave to inform your royal majesty, that I could not form any posi- tion at Schippenbeil, but made a forced march to Friedland on the 1—13th instant. The advanced detachment which I sent ferward to occupy that town, found the place at three, P. M. in the possession of four squadrons of the enemy, which were however, driven out immediately. la order to keep possession of the town, that my troops might rest from their fatigue, I sent some infantry to the left bank of the Alle during the night. But in the morning at break of day, the enemy attacked my advanced posts, and at half after five th« cannonade conjmeuQei. ,1 therefore sent another division of my army across the ri- ver, to support the other troops, as I had reason to suppose that the enemy's van only had come up. The enemy was repulsed at every point, and the troops fought for four- teen hours together with the greatest brave- ry, and proved always victorious. General Oudinot whose division formed the right wing of the enemy attempted to make an attack with the bayonet ; but my left -wing eagerly advanced upon him and destroyed an entire column. Another column was routed. The cavalry of my right wing, al- so made an impetuous and successful attack upon the enemy's cuirassiers, pursuing them as far as Ileinrichsdorff, which village supported the left wing of the enemy.. At three in the afternoon, Bonaparte arrived in person, with the rest of his army, and sheltered by a wood, he reinforced his right wing in such a degree, that at six, when he commenced a fresh attack, and opened upon ray left wing a masked battery of for- ty pieces of cannon, I was under the neces- sity of resolving to commence my retreat which was effected in the best order, and my rear stopped the whole force of the enemy, until all my troops had crossed the Alle,— Although my loss during- a battle which lasted sixteen hours, and from my army be. ing obliged to file off over a bridge, -which was exposed to the enemy's artillery, can- not be inconsiderable, the enemy must have lost an tqual number at least, since the aw tack with the bayonet, and that of the ca- valry, has caused him a great loss, and as in the former we took from him the eagle of the i5th regiment of the line. Nor has the enemy taken any other prisoners but such as were wounded dangcreu-dv, and which could not be removed from the town, and only some dismounted pieces of cannon belonging to the regiments, with a few which could not be removed, because the horses attached to them had been shot, Ml into his hands. On the other hand, all our pieces of camp artillery were got off safe. I am now taking with my army a position behind the Pregel, near Wehlau, causing »1| the passes of that river, as far as Konigs- berg and Insterburg, to be occupied by my troops, in consequence whereof I have open, ed a communication with general L'Estoco. If the enemy should venture to cross the Pregel, I shall attack him immediately, and the reinforcements which are al early on their march, will soon supply my loss, and enable me once more to cope with the ene- my. (Signed) BENNIGSEN. ANOTHER DISPATCH. From the camp at Schliupischken, June 5-17. After the surrender, of Konigsberg, my position at Wehlau was no longer tenable, and having informed general L'Eestoco that I should make my retreat on the road of Tilsit, I requested him to follow me ; I commenced the retreat yesterday. I am happy, most humbly to inform your royal majesty, that I have this day formed a, junction with that general, and that my army, besides, has this day received a rein- forcement of 3000 men. Moreover, the di- vision from Cow, will pass the frontier to- morrow, consequently my loss will not on- ly be replaced in a very short time, but I shall even be stronger than I was before the battle of Friedland. Thus of all the results of the last battle, the surrender of Konigs- berg proves the worst ; for unless the ene- my pursue me with too great a superitority of numbtis and provided he allow me suffi- cient time to draw towards me my reinfrce • ments, I shall directly advance, and I hope to recover from the enemy the advantages which he has obtained. (Signed) BENNIGSEN. AFFAIRS IN TURKEY. VIENNA, June 21. On the 24th May, the Mufti, at the head of the mal-contents, repaired with 800 Ja- nissaries to the Seraglio, and read to him a list of his pretended offences, recited passages from the Koran, which declared him, on account of those offences, unworthy of the throne, and ordered him to sign a renuncia- tion of it. Selira, seeing no means of re-, sistance, signed the deed of renunciation,, and begged his life. The Mufti promised to intercede for him. His person was then secured, and fourteen of his principal minis- ters were put to death. Couriers were sent to the camp and the Dardanelles, to arrest and strangle the Grand Vizier and the captain Pacha. On the 23th May, a proclamation* was published in Constantinople, to announce to the people that the Sultan had been de- throned, and to make know his offences, and the passages of the Koran which condemned those offences. The people were invited to remain tranquil, and mind their affairs. Ori the 26th, Mustapha, the son of Achmet, was proclaimed Grand Seignior. On the 27th he sent an order to Selim to take poison. Selim obeyed, and died in a short time.— During the whole of this revolution, but few disorders were committed. The mass of the people took no part at all; so mat we attribute this catastrophe to some chiefs of parties yet unknown to the Janissaries. Al^ foreigners have been ordered to be respected. We are assured that the Grand Vizier made no resistance to the order sent him, and was strangled. Of the captain Pacha we know nothing. |