Gazette Of The United States

Extract of a letter from England, dated Sept. 15, and received by the Packet.

"Our harvest has hitherto been very fine, and Wheat has fallen considerably. The importation to Great-Britain will soon cease; but it may be wanted in France, where public disturbances may probably produce scarcity.

The clouds appear to be gathering, and I am fearful that the liberties of Frenchmen will not be secured without much bloodshed. The sons of liberty have been, in my opinion, much over-seen in attacking the power both of the Church and of the Nobles, by which they have obliged these to join in one common cause; and these two formidable bodies will undoubtedly use every secret artifice and open endeavor to recover their ascendancy, and crush the democracy. A letter to the Marquis de la Fayette, sent last July twelve-month, proposed two houses of parliament—a house of representatives for the commonalty, and a representative body of nobles chosen out of the whole body by the votes of the respective individuals, which would have prevented the making of Nobles by the Sovereign, and sending them to the house of Lords to answer particular purposes, as has been too often done in this kingdom. It was urged also to leave the Sovereign in possession of as much power as could be enjoyed consistent with general liberty. In a populous nation, whether titled or not, there will be aristocrats, no less than democrats; and I am fully of your Vice-President's mind, that these must be balanced by the interposing hand of some single sovereign executive power, in order to preserve universal freedom.

It is still uncertain whether War or Peace will be the portion of Great Britain and Spain for another year: If war, it originates from the attempts of the British adventurers to exclude the Americans from trading with the Indians bordering on the Pacific ocean, by forming a settlement at Nootka Sound; which settlement excited the apprehensions of the Spaniards, and so an attack. The purchasing provisions, &c. for a twelvemonth to come for supplying the navy, may be only a finesse of the British ministry to obtain better terms in the accommodation, by putting on the appearance of resolvedness to go to war; for the provisions can be re-sold at far less loss than the advantages gained by the linen will compensate for; but the policy of the United States, I hope, will be Peace, and Trade with all the world."