that the whole of the cargo was put on board this vessel, at Laguira, under his sole direction and management; the register from the Spanish custom-house clearly showed the whole to be the property of Spanish merchants, and from it and other papers it fully appeared that Mann and Foltz did not own one shilling's worth of the property, unless they could pretend to own some cocoa and indigo, to the value of four thousand dollars, which Noili directs his correspondent to deliver to their order at Cadiz, free of freight, or mission, as he hoped they would charge no commission for the services at Charleston. are com After this statement, it is scarcely necessary that I should say the unjust judge (as this virtuous race of neutrals are pleased to style the judge of a British Court of Admiralty) condemned both vessel and cargo, and I need not tell you how glad I am that the next proceeds will, in a few days, be distributed amongst some of those brave men who the defenders of the civilized world. But I cannot conclude without observing, that if this case should come to the knowledge of the American Government, and it neglect to procure those papers, and decorate the pillory with them, and the ears of the good citizens who fabricate them, I feel little doubt, in my opinion, that that feeble, philosophic government will soon pass away like an empty shadow; and it will remain with the people who profess the Christian religion, to unite in forming a strong and energetic government, sufficiently powerful to erase from the face of the earth a set of vile miscreants who deny the existence of God, and comfort their doubting converts with the hope, that, even if they should find death to be other than eternal sleep, yet that it would require only one grand revolutionary movement to republicanize the infernal regions, and establish a democracy in Hell. I am, E. Such, reader, is American morality! Such is the morality of a people who have taken for their motto, " Virtue, Liberty, and Independence!" --I have at times seen, in those. British prints which are famed for nothing but their attachment to the enemies of Britain, very severe reflections on the conduct which our naval commanders and Admiralty judges have been " guilty " of" "of" (as it is phrased), towards the American neutrals, I trust that the facts stated in the above letter will induce all loyal subjects to doubt the truth of the accusations which these seditious prints are continually preferring against his Majesty's civil and military officers. END OF NO. 111. OF THE RUSH-LIGHT. THE IN THE RUSH-LIGHT. No. IV. March 31, 1800. A Peep into a Republican Court of Justice. "An Englishman loves liberty, but he loves it not for the sake "of the mere name; he must have something substantial that "results from it; something that he can see and feel: this he has in the freedom of his person, and the security of his property. An Englishman, therefore, thinks more of his civil "than his political liberty.” REEVES'S THOUGHTS, &c. LET. I. IN the preceding Numbers of the Rush-Light, I have given a sketch of the parentage, and of the moral and literary character of Rush; I have detailed the insolent absurdities of his general conduct, and the frightful consequences of his system of depletion; and I have, I trust, most satisfactorily justified the words, for the publication of which the oppressive and unprecedented judgment was given against me, in the city of Philadelphia. Here then I should stop, were my design confined to a defence of my own character, and to the blasting of that of my persecutors. But as I observed in the introduction to the subject, my views extend to far greater utility; and therefore, though the injustice towards myself is already universally acknowledged; though it has excited the indignation of of every honest man; though it has roused into action, in my favour, every latent sentiment of friendship, and has, with respect to me, in a great measure extinguished the ardent embers of political hatred; though every wish of a private nature is gratified even to satiety, still the public and the world have on me a claim which it would be a dereliction of duty to resist. The Narrative of the juridical proceedings in the cause of Rush, furnishes, as I observed before, a series of facts, of which justice to the people of America, justice to foreign nations, and particularly to the deceived and infatuated in my native country, demand an ample exposure. This subject is of some importance to every man who has the slightest notion of real liberty, or the least desire to secure its enjoyment. The character and conduct of Rush, the fatal effects of his medical practice, and the decision against me, are, in different degrees, all matters of private or local consideration; but the proceedings of courts of justice, as they stamp the character of a state, and form the truest criterion of its government, are in some measure interesting to all persons, and in all places. Political liberty is a matter of speculation rather than of interest; it is an imaginary something of meaning undefined, and is, at best, a very distant, if not a very questionable, good. But civil liberty, which is, perhaps, better expressed by the single word justice, is clearly defined and understood, and is ardently beloved by us all: it brings us into contact with the government, the excellence of which it makes us feel: it comes to our homes and our fire-sides; it throws a rampart round our property and a shield before our persons; it is our guide and our help through the day, and our guardian when we lie down to sleep. This is the liberty of which our forefathers were so proud: this is the liberty |