Indiana Intelligencer, Volume 5, Number 254, Charlestown, Clark County, 2 July 1823 — Page 2

COMMUNICATED.

In December, 1818, a law passed to exempt certain enumerated articles in each family from sale on execu-tion--among these were several not so useful to every family as some articles

would be that are not therein enumerated; and other articles, as the yarn and

cloth made from certain sheep, and the flax, yarn and cloth, made from certain flax-grounds, the officer was by said law and oath of office, obliged to know and distinguish, while by the laws of nature he could not possibly do so, even at his utmost trouble and expense. But the evils of that law lay deeper and greater in its inefficiency for the purposes intened by it. The honest unfortunates, still trusting to their debtors, and struggling and hoping for the receipt of means to pay such executions, were sure to be caught without those enumerated articles, or with but very few of them, so that the law gave them little or no relief;--while the long-sighted, base-designing delinquents, were generally sure to have two or three hundred dollars worth of said articles always ready, and the best possible arrangements made, (as that law too easily admitted of,) for having them valued down to the one hundred dollar standard, by a majority of three of the nearest (dearest) neighbours; that is, to have them valued at one half or a third of their real value. Thus, in the use of said law, it was discovered to be pervertable to a double or treble extent, for the benefit of the cunning and fraudulent, and of almost no use to those honestly unfortunate. About the first of the present year, the legislature, as their duty was, amended said law, by saying, in page 84 of the late laws, that "if any debtor to whom are exempted certain articles from execution, under the laws heretofore existing in this state, shall not be the owner of any or all the articles specified in the law, such debtor shall be authorized to select any other articles he may own not to exceed the value of the articles excepted by law of which such debtor nay be destitute, which in case of any difference of opinion as to the value thereof, may be valued and governed in all respects as is prescribed

in a former section of this act, for settling a difference of opinion." Theses are the words of the law, and the mode of valuing now is by the officer having the execution, unless the debtor disagrees in which case they each choose their man, to be sworn by the officer; and if those two men disagree, the officer again values, and that must be final. Thus by the present law, the two near door neighbors are hindered from valuing, and the honest unfortunates are secured the benefits of the law, which at present requires no proof what sheep or flax ground, the yarn or cloth arose from, and every such debtor is permitted to choose such articles as best suits his particular case, not to exceed on the whole the valuation exempted by the former law, which every body knows was one hundred dollars. This reference to the one hundred dollar law which passed in the year 1818 and not later, has, either through ignorance, or base electioneering design, erroneously stamped these late improvements with the name of the Hundred Dollar Law, tho' 'tis only a substitute for it as above. An exclamation is raised about it by those who never read, or at least never understood it. --First, a long writer of broken English in the Madison

paper, called "Old Suke," or some such name, gives fearful account of it and the effects that are produced by it as he supposes, any or ail of which would not be worth noticing; --but here comes next the "Western Censor," of the 4th instant, printed at Indianapolis, & under the head of "Hundred Dollar Law,'' seems to threaten us with ponderous mischiefs from the late law which was made to prevent mischiefs, says every kind of confidence must henceforth cease--that a man who is worth five hundred dollars may easily conceal his property, & bring himself within the provisions of this law, &c. Quere--Did he not know that the former law was the one so easily pervertable to such base purposes, and if a man could conceal four out of five hundred dollars to bring himself within the act, could not conceal the other hundred also, and do without the law, which surely makes him no concealment?

It would seem as though the law had not arrived or been read at Indianapolis for some knowledge of the former law, on which this is a great improvement, has certainly been there.--But most likely some candidate there has been known to express his approbation of said almost unknown law in an unfortunate moment, and an opposing cantiidate by hunting down said law may hunt down the candidate attached to it, and rise on the ruins of both.--Quere--May not the same or some such be attempted in more southern latitudes? "Twould seem so from the impositions now playing off on men who cannot or will not read for themselves; but who can each give a good vote at the election, if they are not basely misled. A.B.

From the Richmond (Ia.) Weekly Intel. LEGISLATIVE BLUNDER. A blunder appears to have been committed by our last General Assembly, in fixing the western boundary line of Wayne county. We have no idea of its being an intentional blunder, as some have insinuated. The statute itself effectually screens the legislature from the imputation of design, with respect to the diminution of Wayne.--The following is a copy of the act fixing the boundary: "Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General assembly of the state of Indiana, That the said line, dividing Wayne and Henry counties, as fixed by the general assembly of this state, in the year A.D. 1819, be and the same is hereby altered; the said boundary line, dividing the said counties of Wayne and Henry, to commence at the south west corner of sec. 34, in totisaip to, j '.n 12, eu--t of the second principal it. e rid aa ; tht iu: north on said stT.tiou line, to the lirn' dividing towns 16 an'l 17, crossing t!ie rt'ui Wv.t ; tlicncis east to the section line liividir. sections 33 :ad 34; thence i.ertli, to t!ie i.orth hcunJi:y line cf Wayne county. Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That hereafter all that part of Henry county, falling by this line, within the said county of Wayne, be and the same is hereby attached to, and made a part of the county of Wayne. And all that part of the county of Wayne which may fall by the said line in the boundary of the county of Henry, be and the same is hereby attached to, and made a part of the county of Henry." From the 2d sec. of the above act, it is clear the legislature intended to attach territory to the south west part of Wayne ; and to detach, and annex to Henry, from the north west; but, the designated boundary, instead of mak.ing a reciprocal distribution of territory between the two counties, divides off from Wayne a tract of more than two miles in width, extending across the whole county, and containing upwards of 30 square miles. Our Senator, Patrick Beard, in a communication published in our last, acknowledges himself unable to account for this error. It is evident, however, that the principal mistake originated in a treacherous memory, which presented the statute of 1819, instead of the statute of 1820. The legislature well knew, had it not slipped their recollection, that an act was passed in 1820 for the creation of Union county ; that a part ot Wayne was included within the bounds of the new county ; and that, by way of remuneration to the former, between 40 and 50 square miles

of territory were attached to it on the west. By examining the 8th sec. of an act approved Jan. 5, 1821, entitled an "Act for the formation of a new county out of the counties of Franklin, Wayne, and Fayette, and to en large the county of Wayne," it will be found that all that part of the new purchase lying east of a north line commencing on the north boundary of Fayette, and at the south west corner of sec. 32. in town 16, was annexed to Wayne. The line established at last session, commences at the south west corner of sec. 34 being two miles farther east than the boundary fixed in 1820. There is one position taken by our worthy senator, which, in our humble opinion, is not tenable. He says -- "As the act reduces Wayne county below the constitutional size, it is of course unconstitutional and of no effect, and the counties will remain as they were." That the law is unconstitutional is certain,

but that it is of no effect, before it is set aside and made oid by legal authority, we can in no wise admit. It would be preposterous, and subversive of order ant government, to confer the power of deciding on the constitutionality of legislative acts, on the people ; for, it they had the tight to decide, every individual would have the right to act in conformity

to his own decision, which would be tantamount to anarchy. Hence the absolute, necessity of a constituted tribunal for the decision of constitutional questions ; and for the suspension of unconstitutional laws. The only tribunal legally invested with these powers, in this state, is the legislature. It is expressly declared in the 6th sec. of the 1st art. of our constitution, "That no power of suspending the operation of the laws shall be exercised, except by the legislature or its authority." THE YOUNG SEAMAN. At a representation of Chances, at Plymouth, 2 or 3 years ago, Miss Mellon performed the part of the second Constantia ; a young midshipman was enraptured with her; and when she recited, "Now if any young fellow would take a liking to me, and make an honest woman of me, I'd make him the best wife in the world." "I will, by heaven," exclaimed the tar; " and I have two years pay to receive next Friday."

Office of the mercantile Advertiser, New York, June 2. The following extract from a let-

ter lately received Irom Trieste, is a further confirmation of the cruelty and merciless conduct of the Turks to the inhabitants of Scio? From ----, to ther Brother ---, in London; dated TRIESTE January 31, 1823. "My dear Brother. --Although I cannot give you an account ot my sufferings. and what has befallen our countrymen. without much distress of mind, I will endeavor to do it in a few words. "My husband and myself were so unfortunate as not to be able to escape by flight from our country with the other part of our family, and we were taken by the Turk and carried into the Castle; they put us into a very dark and dismal room and the next morning some of them came to the door, and desired my husband to go out ; but on perceiving they were about to kill him, he returned, and threw himself into my arms, and exclaimed, This is my last hope -- perhaps they will pity me on your account ; but the cruel barbarians rushed into the room, tore him away, and murdered him in my presence, without mercy. Oh ! I can never forget that awful moment. I saw many others sacrificed, and many innocent children torn from their mothers by the inhuman Turks, it would seem merely for savage amusement; one taking the infants by one foot, and another by the other, and thus tearing thern asunder as a piece of cloth, in the presence cf their mothers. "You will judge of my feelings whilst thus confined in the Castle, and quite at a loss to know what would be my fate. In this situation I remembered my father had been a friend to --Malla, a Turk--I enquired for him, and he came to me and acknowledged he was much indebted to my late father for many things he had done for him, and said he would assist me, being assured that I would repay him what he might give for my redemption ; this he obtained for 800 piasters, about L 25 sterling which sum I afterwards obtained from my late husband's partner, who was at that time concealed at Smyrna. A few days after, Mr, P. our cousin, arrived from Constantinople, and took me to the Austrian Consulate; but. oh! my God ! what a dreadful sight it was to behold so many bodies of both sexes, lying in the streets and highways. All the houses being burnt or destroyed, I could hardly distinguish the streets in the city -- My distress was greatly increased from not knowing what had become of the rest of our family. In a vessel that came from Smyrna to that place of slaughter and desolation I arrived here where I met our dear brother Paul, who came from Constantinople through Odessa, with his wife and family, when I was informed of the safety of our brother Demetrius, our sister and

their families at Ancona. So I gave a thousand thanks to the merciful God who preserved us with our boys and girls from massacre and slaughter."

HOLY ALLlANCE.. The following are extracts from tbe private correspondence of one of the London papers, dated Paris, April 7: "It is confidently reported that Alexander is deeply touched in the brain The only book he reads at present is the Apocalypse, in which he thinks, he has discovered that he is destined to be the conqueror of

Spain and the destroyer o! the hydra of liberalism in Europe; after which a millenium is to commence, during which his family is to reign undisturbed in all the plenitude of despotism for a thousand years; and he talks confidently of living to the age of a hundred himself. It appears almost ridiculous to write down seriously such absurdities; but be assured that they come from Pozzo di Borgo's Hotel, who is so convinced of the crack in his master's brain that he would willingly quit the Russian service for any thing approach-

ins to an equivalent in a more civilized and secure quarter of Europe. He is a French subject, being born in Corsica. It is said that the fourth

regiment has gone over to Colonel Fabviere, leaving behind but seven

officers and seventeen soldiers. The letters of the Duke d'Angouleme give the most alarming account of the progress of the desertion. They state that two-fifths of the soldiers, those who have been four and five years in the service, have got a most strange and absurd idea into their heads, that Napoleon is alive, and in Spain, and they are burning to join him. They call him le-Mal-Mort. Singular to say, this opinion prevails also amongst the peasantry; they cannot be persuaded of his death. When you speak to them of it, they laugh slily and incredulously -- Austria, after a month's hesitation, has acceded to all the measures of Russia. M, Metternich is loudly cried out against, as it is supposed he has lost sight of the interests of his country, by looking too closely to his own. He has an immense part of his fortune in the funds, and in case of a war, or even a coolness between Russia and Austria, they would tumble low indeed. The Archduke Charles and the reasonsable party at Vienna look upon this assent to the propositions of Russia as highly detrimental to the power of the monarchy. They hope at Vien.na to induct the Imperial Prince, who is not very abundantly gifted with intelligence, to take a Cardinal's hat, in which case his brother, who is twenty-six years old, would become heir presumptive. This Prince is devotedly attached to his uncle, the Archduke Charles, and young Napoleon, who is the idol of Vienna, and is already designated as the hope of the monarchy " Suffocation of one hundred and ten Boys. On the 11th of February last at Malta, a procession of boys, from eight to fifteen years of age, had been formed as is usual in that Island, to keep them out of the riot and confusion of the carnival, in the streets of the cities. In the evening they were taken to a convent to be served with a colation of fruit and bread. When they were let into the corridor, the door was locked, and they were to pass into a place called the Strada Sr. Usola one at a time. There was but one lamp burning, which was put out by accident, or by some of the boys in sport--thus they were left in total darkness. At the end of the corridor there was a flight of steps, down these the foremost boys were precipitated by the crowd behind, and fell one upon anther, cocked up a half closed door at the bottom, and the place was filled with bodies. Assistance was rendered as soon as possible, many were taken out fainting and apparently lifeless, others were afterwards brought to their senses; but 110 boys perished from suffocation, by being pressed together in so small a place, or trampled upon. New York, June 7. The news by the Othello does not go much beyond what we last night gave in our postscript. The Paris papers are not later than those before received, and, of course, furnish nothing. The

only additional item in the Bourdeaux papers is the narrative of an excursion of the Dutchess of Angouleme on board a steam boat, which can have little interest here. We collect, from other sources, that the advance of the French army to Madrid will probably be accomplished without much resistance, and certainly without any pitched battle. That the purpose of the Duke of Angouleme was understood to be, to establish, on his arrival in Madrid, a regency, under the pretext, probably, that the king was held in duress, and in its name to divide and distract, if he could not govern the kingdom. That great care was taken to conciliate, as much as possible, the people of the country and towns thro' which the French troops passed, every article of supplier and subsistence being regularly paid for, and the advance of the army being studiously represented as that of allies, and not of enemies.

The opinion was, nevertheless, strongly

entertained among intelligent men, that the Spanish people would succeed in