⚫ have come to demand of me the payment of their prizes. 6 · Under these circumstances, Gentlemen, I can no longer remain silent. You may spare yourselves the trouble of any further overtures to me. Either you must immediately pay the prizes, or I 'must bring the whole matter before the public.' . I am, Gentlemen, Your most humble and 'WM. COBBETT.' Philadelphia, 6th May, 1799.' This letter caused some little confusion in the camp. A meeting of the managers was called, and, afterward, a meeting of the Canal Company, the immediate consequence of which was, a publication of the list of prizes. This, I thought, was a proof of their having resolved to do justice to the prize-holders, in which opinion I was confirmed by their paying the prize of 500 dollars, which I held, and some others; but, in a few days afterwards, I found that they still refused to pay any other prize of considerable amount, and in this refusal they have continued ever since. It is a fact, that they have cleared by the Lottery, No. 2, TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS, and yet they have the impudence to assert, that they are unable to pay the prizes!!! To comment on the profligacy of such conduct would be an insult to the understanding and to the rectitude of my readers. Every one must see it in its true light, and seeing, he must abhor it. I am told that Mr. Montgomery should declare, that he did not care a damn for me, or for any thing that I could publish on the subject. There are some persons, who may may perhaps, admire such an heroic contempt for the good opinion of mankind; but I believe, whatever Mr. Montgomery may think of the matter, that there are very few honest men, who will wish for a like opportunity of evincing their intrepidity. 20th July.-Canal Lottery, No. 2.-The Managers of this Lottery are, JOSEPH BALL, STANDISH FORDE, These gentlemen seem to be perfectly callous.-They laugh, I am told, at my exposition of their conduct, and at the universal indignation, which that exposition has produced. They do, however, now and then condescend to tell people, that they are unable to pay any prize above 50 dollars. Now, I assert, that they have cleared by the Lottery, No. 2, TWENTY-TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS ; that is, they will have this sum left, after having paid all the prizes; and yet they are unable to pay !!! Unheard of impudence! But, there is another fact, a most damning fact, which I did not produce against them, because I was in hopes that they had some sense of shame left, and that my last publication would have induced them to do justice.-They tell the holders of prizes, that they are unable to pay any prize above fifty dollars; now, the truth is, one of them, or all of them, purchased the twenty thousand dollar prize of the person who drew it. The neat amount of this prize is seventeen thousand five hundred dollars, for which they, or one of them, gave some lands; and, of this prize they have received, out of the Lottery-office, fourteen thousand dollars, at least!!!-Thus, to themselves, they are able to pay fourteen thousand dollars on on one single prize, while to others, they are unable" to pay a poor hundred dollars! One of the four thousand dollar prizes is due to the daughter of a poor countryman. The neat amount of it is 3,400 dollars, which is a very pretty little fortune, and would, probably, be the lasting source of happiness to a numerous and worthy offspring. The proprietor of the prize, as well as her parents, must have been greatly elated at this favour of fortune. It must have given a new turn to their plan of life. They must have anticipated their future comforts. Already, perhaps, had they fixed upon the farm to be purchased with the money. And shall all these hopes be dashed, shall they for ever be destroyed, and shall these unsuspecting people be replunged into poverty, with the addition of disappointment and despair, by the blasting rapacity of Joseph Ball and Co. ?-Is there no law, no public spirit; is there nothing in the country to prevent this? * The Boring Judge, and the Dealer in Passports. The following articles, from Boston papers, furnish a pretty tolerable specimen of republican patriotism and decency. My readers have heard, that certain young men, in Boston, celebrated the 7th of July, the anniversary of the dissolution of the treaty with France. Several orations were delivered on the occasion, one by a Judge Livermore, of Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, which contained the relation of a curious fact, respecting the sale of French passports for vessels, by one Lee. After this preface, the Boston publications will speak for themselves. The Managers have never yet paid the money: they live and laugh at the public!!! Boston, "MR. RUSSell, "Boston, August 13, 1799. 66 As many of my friends have not seen and probably never will see Mr. Livermore's oration, I request you will, for their information, publish the following extract from it :-"There are other ways "of bribing than the bribe direct. And how has "it happened, that many gentlemen in the United "States have their vessels untouched by French"privateers? Some have made fortunes; and most "have greatly enriched themselves; and those gen"tlemen invariably violent partisans of the French. "It is easily solved-it is a well known fact, "that a gentleman (Mr. LEE) arrived from France "last summer with French passports, which he open ly offered for sale."-Had Mr. LIVERMORE have omitted my name, I should possibly have taken no other notice of the piece, than to have asked him in private an explanation of this passage; but as he has so pointedly and personally attacked me, I am compelled, in justice to my own feelings, and in vindication of my character, thus publicly to declare, the said Judge EDWARD ST. LOE LIVERMORE, Esq. of Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, to have been guilty of a malicious and scandalous falsehood." "W. LEE." [This brought the parties together; but, instead of death-doing deeds, they, like their country, very humanely and very wisely proposed negotiation; and, as if they were resolved to imitate the Federal Government in form as well as in spirit, the negotiators appointed were three in number.] Accommodation." IT APPEARS, that Mr. LEE purchased of Mr. Mourgue, a Citizen of Paris, two instruments of safe conduct or protections for two cargoes to be shipped from America to France (which passports Mr. Mourgue obtained from the Minister Minister of Marine in Paris) this appears to have been merely a mercantile transaction on the part of Mr. Lee, to cover his property, and with no view to render any service to France or injury to America. "On the other hand, it appears, that Judge Livermore had no personal knowledge of Mr. Lee, and no intention to injure his reputation; but deemed the circumstance of Mr. Lee's being in possession of the instruments, or passports aforesaid, a justification of adducing it in proof of his general position, that the French Government were using indirect means to influence and bribe the Citizens of America. "From this statement, we are of opinion that Judge Livermore ought to acknowledge to Mr. Lee, that he did not merit the insinuation of " bribery," nor charge of "openly offering for sale" the protections in question, as contained in his oration. "And on the other hand, that Mr. Lee acknowledge to Judge Livermore, that he did not merit the charge made against him by Mr. Lee, in the papers, that he "was guilty of a malicious and scandalous falsehood." JOHN C. JONES, "Boston, Aug. 21, 1799." [Both parties were, it seems, satisfied with this ingenious award, and, if I do not admire their spirit, I cannot but commend their extreme moderation. The profound casuistry of Messrs. Jones, Eustice, and Winslow are also worthy of the highest encomium. The "mercantile transaction" of Mr. Lee is admirable; and, to say the truth, the whole of the award proves most incontestibly, that these negotiators are endowed with a discrimination rarely to be met with. It is unpleasant, however, to add, that their labours proved abortive. While they were settling |