Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

From the Connecticut Mirror.

From official documents now before the publick, the following facts are ascertained:

That the French have captured and condemned a ship, driven on the shores of France by the stress of weather, and the perils of the sea.

That the French have burnt our ships on the high seas, without any offence except that of belonging to the United States.

That there are not less than one hundred American ships, belonging to citizens of the U. States, in the possession of his imperial majesty or those of his allies.

That the king of Naples, the brother-in-law and tool of Buonaparte, has confiscated 29 American vessels, in conformity to orders from Paris, and their proceeds are to be disposed of according to the pleasure of his majesty.

That Spain, Holland and Italy, under the like orders, are proceeding in like manner.

That in Holland, an American ship, conveying remittances from the American government has been captured and detained by the French: and all this while our maritime rights are guarded by the solemnity of a treaty, and without any notice that this course would be pursued; nay, when invited into their ports.

And when our minister remonstrates against these proceedings, and wishes for a decisive reply, he is told with the utmost sang froid, that 'for some days past nothing in the nature of business and unconnected with the marriage of the emperor could be transacted; and that for some days to come the same causes of delay would continue to operate,'— and yet our government retain at their court the ambassador of this imperial robber, and suffer our envoy to remain a witness of the plunder and imprisonment of his fellow-citizens. While on the other hand, an ambassador of another power has been dismissed for an expression, which has been construed into mark of disrespect to our government; and congress have been called upon to pledge themselves to support the administration, in thus vindicating the dignity of the nation.

The facts are now before the publick. They do not depend upon the authority of private letters, nor the communications of private individuals—but they are stamped with the seal of state, and no man can doubt their truth but he who doubts his own existence.

With these acts thus before him, every unprejudiced man must say—That our administration are too weak to discern the difference between real and imaginary wrongs—or that they do not know the distinction between true dignity and affected greatness—or that they are bewildered by their partialities to one government and their antipathies to another.