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mies has pointed out to you in your first victory.

(Seville Gazette, July 23.)

PROCLAMATION

Of our Holy Father Pope Pius VII. to the Catholic Spaniards. Beloved children! You who deplore at the foot of the altar the wounds given to religion-You who are still mindful that we form one people of brethren, join we, the vicar of Christ; approach ye families, the remnant of vast destruction, to the throne of my predecessors, to see me, like Daniel, surrounded by lions. Preserved hitherto by the inscrutable designs of Providence, I see the vessel of St. Peter entrusted to my care combated by the fierce apostate, whom I myself have placed on the throne, and who, like a degenerate son, pants for the destruction of his mother, the church, to whom he had sworn fidelity at her altar. But let us draw off the veil that covers so great iniquity. The first victim that was sacrificed to his ambition has been your shepherd. Rome, the centre of faith and the shield of religion, has been prostituted. The idol Dagon has been united to the cruel Antioch of our days to accomplish the destruction of religion, which is the great bar to his perfidious designs; however, do not despond. The successor of St. Peter is still extant, though overwhelmed with affliction; groaning under his chains, he lifts his eyes and tremulous hands to heaven, imploring incessantly the protection of the God of hosts over his flock. Oh! the happy effects of religion! In this fatal situation, my soul, penetrated with Christian feelings, learns with trans

port and surprise, that Spain,
happy Spain, has remained true to
her religion and king. I hasten,
my
beloved children, to surmount
the shackles by which I am de-
pressed, to transmit to your king-
doms the circular that will testify
to you of my gratitude. Arouse,
and combat like David, the impe-
rious Goliath of our times.

Valorous Spaniards, sons of the church, come and break the chains of your shepherd. Already my heart assures me of your sensibility; do not tarry; raise the standard of faith; victory invites you; come then to your brothers in bondage. Raise your tents, and pursue the usurper of nations. Enter into the heart of his dominions, and follow him to the remotest limits of the earth. Shew to the nations of the north that

oppression is in its agony, and let
the Spanish sword strike the deci-
sive blow on the guilty head.
Compassionate the ill-fated king-
dom of France, condole with its
people, and they will assist you to
overwhelm her traitorous tyrant.
Oh, with what transport will the
catholic Ferdinand learn the intre-
pidity and heroic loyalty of his
subjects; the strait situation to
which he is, like myself, doomed,
precludes the means to him of
manifesting the sentiments of his
I feel not
magnanimous heart.
the strength of saying more. If I
survive the calamity, and you spill
your blood for religion, your coun-
try and monarch, to whom I sup-
plicate from heaven all happiness,
the world shall be witness to my
gratitude.

The President Jefferson's Answer to the Dissent of the Republicans from the Proceedings of the Town

Town of Boston relative to the laws which have preserved them Embargo.

I have duly received the address of that portion of the citizens of Boston who have declared their approbation of the present suspension of our commerce, and their dissent from the representation of those of the same place who wished its removal. A division of sentiment was not unexpected; on no question can a perfect unanimity be hoped, or certainly it would have been on that between war and embargo, the only alternatives presented to our choice; for the general capture of our vessels would have been war upon one side, which reason and interest would repel by war and reprisal on our part.

Of the several interests comprising those of the United States, that of manufactures would of course prefer to war a state of non-intercourse, so favourable to their rapid growth and prosperity.

Agriculture, although sensibly feeling the loss of market for its produce, would find many aggravations in a state of war.

from greater, and have saved for our own use, our vessels, property, and seanien, instead of adding them to the strength of those with whom we might eventually have to contend.

The embargo, giving time to the belligerent powers to revise their unjust proceedings, and listen to the dictates of justice, or interest and reputation, which equally urge the correction of their wrongs, has availed our country of this only honourable expedient of avoiding war; and should a repeal of these edicts supersede the cause for it, our commercial brethren will become sensible, that it has consulted their interest, however against their own will. It will be unfortunate for their country, if in the mean time these their expressions of impatience should have the effect of prolonging the very sufferings which have produced them, by exciting a fallacious hope that we may, under any pressure, relinquish our equal rights of navigating the ocean, go to such ports as others may prescribe, and there pay the tributary exactions they may impose; an abandonment of national independence and essential rights revolting to every manly sentiment. While these edicts are in force, no American can ever consent to a return of peaceable intercourse with those who maintain them.

Commerce and navigation, or that portion which is foreign, in the inactivity to which they are reduced by the present state of things, certainly experience their full share in the general inconvenience; but whether war would be to them a preferable alternative, is a question their patriotism would never hastily propose. It is to be regretted, however, that overlooking the real sources of sufferings, the British and French edicts, which constitute the actual blockade of our foreign commerce and navigation, they have with too little reflection imputed them to

I am happy in the approach of the period when the feelings and the wisdom of the nation will be collected in their representatives assembled together. To them are committed our rights, to them our wrongs are known, and they will pronounce the remedy they call for; and I hear with pleasure from

all,

all, as well those who approve as who disapprove of the present measures, assurances of an implicit acquiescence in the annunciation of the general will I beg leave, through you, to communicate this answer to the address, on which your signatures had the first place, and to add assurances of my respect.

T. JEFFERSON. To Colonel Edward Procter.

To T. Jefferson, esq. President of

the United States of America. The Petition of the Subscribers, Officers of Merchant Ships belonging to the Port of Philadel phia,

Respectfully sheweth, That in consequence of the present embargo laws, the situation of your petitioners is grievous and afficting; that they have been engaged in the mercantile service since their infancy, with few exceptions, and accustomed only to conduct ships or vessels across the ocean; that from the operation of the present restrictive laws, they find themselves cut off from their sual employment, and of course the means of subsistence are gone. Your petitioners are well acquainted with the duties of conducting ships from port to portwell versed in naval tactics, but Grable to handle the harrow or plough.

Your petitioners have for a long time borne with patience the privations incident to those restrictive laws, without murmur or complaint; Lut, when imperious neressity compels them to disclose the cause of their grievances, they humbly suppose they have a right

so to do in a decent and respectful manner.

Your petitioners therefore pray that your excellency will take their case into consideration, and adopt such measures as will relieve the wants of your petitioners; or, if there are vacancies in the navy, to give your petitioners, or some of them, an opportunity of serving therein, as they think themselves capable of performing services of that nature. They, however, submit their whole cause to your consideration, hoping your excellency will adopt such measures as wisand as in duty bound will pray, &c. dom and justice may point out,

Philadelphia, Aug. 10, 1808.

President's answer to the bearer of the foregoing petition.

Sir,-In answer to the petition which you delivered me from the officers of merchant vessels belonging to Philadelphia, I must premise my sincere regret at the sacrifices which our fellow citizens in general, and the petitioners in particular, have been obliged to meet, by the circumstances of the times. We live in an age of affliction, to which the history of nations presents no parallel: we have for years been looking on Europe covered with blood and violence, and seen rapine spreading itself over the ocean. On this element it has reached us, and at length in so serious a degree, that the legislature of the nation has thought it necessary to withdraw our citizens and property from it, either to avoid or prepare for engaging in the general contest. But for this timely precaution, the petitioners and their property might now have been in the hands of

spoilers,

spoilers, who have laid aside all regard to moral right! Withdrawing from the greater evil, a lesser one has been necessarily encountered; and certainly, could the legislature have made provision against this also, I should have had great pleasure as the instrument of its execution: but it was impracticable by any general and just rules to prescribe, in every case, the best resource against the inconveniences of this new situation. The difficulties of the crisis will certainly fall with greater pressure on some descriptions of citizens than others, and on none perhaps with greater than on our seafaring brethren. Should any means of alleviation occur within the range of my duties, I shall with certainty advert to the situation of the petitioners, and in availing the nation of their services, aid them with a substitute for their former occupation. I salute them and yourself with sentiments of sincere regard. T. JEFFERSON.

SPANISH PATRIOTS.

Manifesto of the Junta of Seville.

The defence of our country and of our king, that of our laws, our religion, and of all the rights of man, trodden down and violated in a manner which is without example, by the emperor of the French, Napoleon 1. and by his troops in Spain, compelled the whole nation to take up arms, and to choose itself a form of government; and in the difficulties and dangers into which the French had plunged all, or nearly all the provinces, they, as it were, by the inspiration of heaven, and in a manher little short of miraculous,

created supreme juntas, delivered themselves up to their guidance, and placed in their hands the rights and the ultimate fate of Spain.

The effects have hitherto most happily corresponded with the designs of those who formed them. The provinces have armed themselves; some have formed large armies of veteran troops, and have united to them the enlisted peasants; all, or nearly all, have fought and are fighting against the French, in behalf of their king, Ferdinand VII with a valour and a constancy of which neither Greece nor Rome, nor any other nation of the world, had any idea. The French are really amazed and terrified, and the hopes of conquering them are as sure as human certainty can reach.

The only thing which can impair or frustrate them is discord, and the want of union among the provinces themselves. Hence the supreme junta paid its first attention to remove that danger, with which view it printed and published the official paper, entitled Precautions, which it communicated in every possible manner to all the provinces of Spain. The bringing this plan to perfection, and carrying it into complete execution, is now more than ever necessary. Our enemies are anxious to foment our divisions. Human passions, personal interests ill understood, the ignorance, the weakness, the blindness of men, may, perhaps, without their knowing it, assist the evil designs of our enemies, and thus destroy a beginning so glorious, and facilitate and consummate the entire ruin of Spain. This it is that we are endeavouring to guard against, urged only by the most sacred motives, by our he

nour,

nour, by our loyalty as affectionate subjects, by our duty as Spaniards, by our faith as Christians; and here we protest before God and man, whose aid we invoke with all fervency, that we will write nothing but what is dictated to us by the love of our country, the preservation of our king and of our rights, not mingling with it any thing that appears to partake of passion, of interest, or of any other personal motive, but being always ready to hear the opinions of the other provinces, and to amend our own errors, wherever it shall be shewn that we have committed any.

Be it the chief care to avoid every thing which is not absolutely necessary, and which may serve to sow the seeds of disunion in the provinces, and to excite divisions among them; and of this nature we esteem all conversations about the royal house, and of the order of succession in different families who derive a right from it There is no person so ignorant of the history of Spain, and of the manner in which the throne has been occupied, as not to know the changes which have taken place in the succession. It is also known what are the legislative proceedings upon this point; what the manner in which endeavours were used to introduce an alteration into them; the different pretexts for this alteration; and, lastly, the final settlement which was made by the cortes of 1789, and which ought in future to be the rule.

But are we in a situation to talk of these matters? Long live our king and indisputable sovereign, Ferdinand VII. and long live his august brothers, heirs of the crown after his attested decease. Why then anticipate those enquiries which can only be necessary in

default of these? The anticipation may produce, by the diversity of opinions which it creates, a cruel disunion, which, of itself alone, will utterly ruin the only aim and object which Spain at present has in view, and that is, its own entire and independent preservation for its sovereign lord and king, Ferdinand VII. and his undisputed successors; and, with its king, the preservation of its own rights and laws, and the unity of the holy Roman catholic apostolical religion, which it has gloriously professed and defended for so many ages. It is therefore both absurd and dangerous to dispute about the succession in cases evidently remote; all the provinces of Spain ought to confine themselves in this respect to this general expression-" Hereditary succession according to the fundamental laws of the monarchy."

Not so is it with the second question moved by the various juntas of the kingdom, which certainly keeps the people in a state of disquietude and agitation, is the continual object of public conversation, and may produce divisions fatal to the generous design and the virtuous obligation into which we have entered, of defending ourselves against our enemies, and of preserving our country, our king, our monarchy, our laws, and our religion. This second question is

is there a necessity for creating a supreme government, which may unite the sovereign authority of all the provinces, till the restitution of king Ferdinand to his throne?

This supreme junta declares openly, that from the beginning to the present time it has been persuaded that such a supreme government is altogether necessary,

and

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