Western Sun, Volume 4, Number 14, Vincennes, Knox County, 4 January 1812 — Page 1

THE

WESTERN SUN

EACH CENTURY HAS ITS PECULIAR MODE OF DOING BUSINESS, AND MEN GUIDED MORE BY CUSTOM THAN BY REASON, FOLLOW WITHOUT ENQUIRY, THE MANNERS WHICH ARE PREVALENT IN THEIR OWN TIME.— HUME.

VOL. IV.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1812.

THE WESTERN SUN,

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Extract of a letter from a Spanish Gentleman at Cadiz, 30th Sept. 1811.

"You have heard of the disasters of the central army, and how this once great magnanimous nation is rapidly hastening towards its dissolution; but the aggravation is, that we have men who know where the evil lies, and how to apply the remedy, but the wicked are more numerous and powerful than the good. "How often I think of you in these perverse times . The president has ordered to be read in the Cortes a representation made in the name of the consulate of Mexico, and with the signatures of Don Francisco Echevarri, Don Diego de Agreda and Don Lorenzo Gracia Noriega. This

representation affords the most horrible picture of the natives of New Spain ; it says that they are Iazy, immoral, obscene, and wicked, and in a word that the government would act very unwisely in granting them equal rights with the Europeans, and should treat them only as a colony of conquered

savages. The document, my friend, is of

such a detestable nature, and has given such scandal to the European members in the Cortes, that they objected to further reading of it ; but the Americans, and more especially Morales Duares, insisted on its

continuance which in effect took place, to

the utter astonishment of the Cortes and citizens. The American members attempted to discuss the subject but the president would not allow them to proceed. "This very day, at the moment of proceeding to call for the yeas and nays, the American deputies began to leave the house when the president ordered them to return.

but they persevered in their intention of

withdrawing, when the president ordered the guard not to suffer any American to go out. Mr. Arispe, who was amongst the retreating party replied with an ironical but resolute and serene air -- "We Americans stand in no need of the bayonet to enforce our obedience," -- Do you think

my friend that the Spanish government

will ever become wise? I don't, I cannot think it, and the worst is, that these Mandarins seriously continue to excite

the odium and detestation of the American Spaniards against us Europeans, and by this means to exclude the faithful and loyal Spaniards from the only asylum which remains. "I wish, my dear friend with all my heart that the Americans may, without delay, establish their independence, before the dissolution of this splenetic government; for I think it is the best mode of frustrating the intrigue and influence of the European cabinets which cannot with indifference behold the Americans occupy a rank proportionate to their wealth, their territories, and the luxuriant productions which nature has heaped upon them. "May you enjoy the happiness denied to your disappointed, &c. Aurora The following letter is from a gentleman of this city, who has been some time travelling through England and other parts of Europe. A gentleman who Ieft America

without partialities or prejudices for any

country but his own, and after seeing Europe with a dispassionate eye, and every where with a wounded feeling; he perceives, on the comparison of what he had seen at home and what he sees abroad, the causes of American sufferings and the certain means of saving her from further and

more serious injury. Indeed it is consoling

to find many of our young men who

have travelled abroad with a more humble opinion of our own country than our correspondent, have returned home with very different feelings. Extract of a letter from a gentleman of Philadelphia, dated "Liverpool, Sept. 30th, 1811. "The storm that has been threatening these four years past is at length ready to burst, and if the American government will even at this late hour, act with the firmness and decision which they appear so long to have been destitute of, we shall yet rise to dignity as a nation, and retrieve that national character which foreign aggression and a domestic faction seem to have almost extinguished. To suppose that the present outrageous state ot things can much longer exist, is to suppose our people destitute of all the feelings that do honor to men, and our rulers unfit for aught but the tools of British ministers. As the case now stands, we are suffering all the evils of war and reaping none of the benefits. "The only trade at all worth pursuing is to the Continent, and the vessels engaged in it are almost all a prey to the English pirates. When we left Bordeaux there were three other American vessels in company, and the whole four have been captured. If these things must be, in the

name of common sense and common justice let us have an opportunity of retaliating,

those who have suffered by these lawless robbers, (and what seamen has not) be permitted to scour the ocean and execute that retribution upon British commerce which British piracies so loudly calls for at our

hands. The moment has arrived on which much must be done when "the dogs of

war must be let loose," when our country (a happy period) will be purged of British agents and British emissaries, when the spirit of party will be swallowed up in the name of patriotism, and the slumbering energies of the only people on earth who have rights and freedom worth contending for, will be awakened to vigorous exertions--

or when the United States must sink to contempt, and deserve to be expunged from the list of independent nations. May they choose as becomes a great people. Extract from Congress, Dec. 9, 1811.

"I am sure war will follow our proceedings:

Mr. Madison authorises it to be said

that he is for war if Great Britain should not recede; and a blow will be struck as soon as we are ready. The intention of government is, to take the possessions of Great Britain in North America - and the country to Florida point. This is the policy.

Cincinnati, Dec. 14, 1811. A gentleman in this place has favored us with the perusal of a letter dated at Fort Wayne Nov. 21 - from William Wells, Esq. late Indian agent, in which he states that he has conversed with several Indians who were in the battle lately fought on the Wabash, and that from the information they have given him he calculates that the number of Indians killed in the battle is not much short of an hundred ; he also states that the Kickapoos and Winebagoes who were the principal sufferers, have withdrawn from the Prophet and gone towards the Mississippi; that the Prophet and the remains of his nation are moving towards white river, and that the Indians are very much dissatisfied with him, and say they will put him to death. Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Washington (Ky.) to his friend in this place, dated Dec. 19, 1811. "Dear Sir, "On monday morning a very severe earthquake was experienced at this place and Maysville, but much more severely and oftener at the latter place, from whence two or three families have removed.--Those successive shocks continued until yesterday evening. On Tuesday, a large quantity of black matter was seen floating down the river which upon examination, was found to resemble soot and charcoal finely powdered. It was then supposed that an eruption had taken place on Sandy ;--

and on the same day a person arrived at the point, and stated he had been informed as he passed the mouth of Big Sandy that about 12 acres of the coal hill 3 or 4 miles above the mouth had fallen in." Destruction of Batavia By the arrival at Philadelphia, of the ship Cordelia, from the isle of France, it is learnt that the city of Batavia has been burned by the French, and that the inhabitants had fled to the mountains. Batavia was formerly the capital of the Dutch possessions in India, and was taken from them by the French. The British had now blockaded the port -- and to prevent the city from falling into their hands it was set on fire and destroyed. From France Mr. Barney arrived in town yesterday from New London. He arrived there in the ship Ann, Bond, of Baltimore, from Bayonne, from which place the Ann failed on the 8th of October, with a cargo of brandy, merchandize, &c. A privateer crossed with the Ann, whose captain stated he had orders not to molest the Americans.

Mr. Barlow had met with a most cordial reception from the Duke de Bassene, with whom he was formerly on intimate terms : and there was no doubt of a speedy removal of all subjects of difference between the two governments. Mr. Lee reported at Bordeaux that Jonathan Russel, Esq. was to go in the Constitution to England as Charge des Affairs, in place of Mr. Smith. The French still continued to send immense reinforcements into Spain and Portugal.--The trains of artillery and baggage waggons loaded with ammunition and provisions were without end, and generally destined for the last place. Among them were considerable quantities of besieging materials particularly those designed for mining. London, Oct, 20 -- One cannot read the account of the preparations making at Amsterdam for the reception of Bonaparte, without feeling a pity for the people of that once great republic. The gates of the city shall be decorated, and triumphal arches shall be erected in different parts; emblems of navigation and commerce shall be placed, and the whole city shall be illuminated. For whom, or for what? To greet the arrival of a man who has reduced the nation to the lowest state of degradation ; who has deprived them of the last vestige of independence; put an end to navigation and involved their once fluorishing commerce in wretchedness and ruin. It is for these benefits that the people of Amsterdam and Rotterdam are to illuminate and make merry ; and after having received this "mouth honor which the poor heart would fain refuse but dare not, Bonaparte will cause it to be blazed in the Moniteure,

with what acclamations and joy and honors he has been received in his good city ot Amsterdam, "the third city of the Empire." The war in Turkey has assumed a character of more vivacity and vigor. There have been some warm actions on the left bank of the Danube, in which the Russians claim the victory. But an article from Semlin on the I7th Sept. in a Paris paper, announcing 50,000 Turks have already passed the Danube and entrenched themselves. We have no doubt that Bonaparte is encouraging the Turks to continue the war in order to render Russia less able to resist him on the side of Poland. New York, Dec. 5. Yesterday afternoon the United States sloop of war, Hornet, capt. Lawrence, sailed from this port for France and England, with two messengers, Lieut. Biddie and Mr. Taylor, who are the bearers of dispatches from our government to our charge des affairs at Paris and London, and from Mr. Foster, the British minister at our court. The Hornet remained at anchor last evening, at the watering place, becalmed. Philadelphia, Dec. 9. Great Britain. Letters are received this day, dated Liverpool, 24th October last. by which it appears that the king of Great Britain experienced a relapse, it is understood that the Physicians have unanimously declared that he will never again be in a situation to resume the reins of government. Parliament was prorogued to meet for business on the 7th January next, previous