The Rhode Island American, And General Advertiser

Political.

FROM THE BALTIMORE TELEGRAPH.

Messrs. Allen & Hill,

I find William Cobbett is become a great favourite with our democrats, and in order to shew their opinion of each other, I request you will publish the following extracts, viz:

Extract of William Cobbett's Will, dated the 15th April, 1797.

"Imprimis—I leave my body to Mr. Michael Leib, a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, to be by him dissected, (if he knows how to do it,) in presence of the Rump of the Democratick Society. In it they will find a heart that held them in abhorrence, that never palpitated at their threats, and that to its last beat, bade them defiance. But my chief motive for making this bequest is, that my spirit may look down with contempt, on their Cannibal-like triumph over a breathless corpse.

"Item—As I make no doubt that the above-said Dr. Leib, (and some other doctors that I could mention,) would like very well to skin me; I request that they, or one of them, may do it, and that the said Leib's father may tan my skin; after which, I desire my executors to have eight copies of my works complete, bound in it, one copy to be presented to the Five Sultans of France; one to each of their Divans; one to the Governour of Pennsylvania; to Citizens Madison, Giles and Gallatin, one each; and the remaining one to the Democratick Society of Philadelphia, to be carefully preserved among their archives.

"Item—To Thomas Jefferson, Philosopher, I leave a curious Norway spider with a hundred legs and nine pair of eyes, likewise the first black cut-throat general he can catch hold of, to be flayed alive, in order to determine with more certainty, the real cause of the dark colour of his skin: and should the said Thomas Jefferson survive Banneker, the almanack maker, I request he will get the brains of said Philomath carefully dissected, to satisfy the world in what respects they differ from those of a white man.

"Item—To Tench Coxe, of Philadelphia, citizen, I will and bequeath a crown of hemlock, as a recompense for his attempt to throw an odium on the administration of General Washington; and I most positively enjoin on my executors, to see that the crown be shaped exactly like that which that spindle-shanked legatee wore before General Howe, when he made his triumphant entry into Philadelphia.

"Item—To Edmond Randolph, Esq. late secretary of state, to Mr. A. J. Dallas, secretary of state of Pennsylvania, and his Excellency Thomas Mifflin, Governour of the said unfortunate state, I will and bequeath to each of them, a copy of the sixteenth paragraph of Fauchet's intercepted letter.

"Item—To the editors of the Boston Chronicle, the New-York Argus, and the Pennsylvania Merchants' Advertiser, I will and bequeath one ounce of modesty and love of truth, to be equally divided between them. I should have been more liberal in this bequest, were I not well assured, that one ounce is more than they will ever make use of.

"Item—To Franklin Bache, editor of the Aurora of Philadelphia, I will and bequeath a small bundle of French assignats, which I brought with me from that country of equality. If these should be too light in value for his pressing exigencies, I desire my executors, or any one of them, to bestow on him a second part of what he has lately received in Southwark; and as a further proof of my good will and affection, I request him to accept of a gag, and a brand new pair of fetters, which if he should refuse, I will and bequeath him, in lieu thereof, my malediction.

"Item—To the good people in France, who remain attached to their sovereign, particularly to those among whom I was hospitably received, I bequeath each a good strong dagger; hoping most sincerely, that they may yet find courage enough to carry them to the hearts of their abominable tyrants.

"Item—To citizen Monroe, I will and bequeath my chamber looking-glass. It is a plain but exceeding true mirror—in it he will see the exact likeness of a traitor, who has bartered the honour and interest of his country to a perfidious and savage enemy.

"Item—To the republican Britons, who have fled from the hands of justice in their own country, and who are a scandal, a nuisance, and a disgrace to this, I bequeath hunger and nakedness, scorn and reproach; and I do hereby positively enjoin on my executors to contribute five hundred dollars towards the erection of gallowses and gibbets for the accommodation of said imported patriots, when the legislators of this unhappy State shall have the wisdom to countenance such useful establishments.

"Item—My friend J. T. Callender, the runaway from Scotland, is of course a partaker of the last mentioned legacy, but as a particular mark of my attention, I will and bequeath him twenty feet of pine plank, which I request my executors to see made into a pillory, to be kept for his particular use, till a gibbet-car be prepared.

"Item—To Tom Paine, the author of Common Sense, Rights of Man, Age of Reason and a letter to General Washington, I bequeath a strong hempen collar, as the only legacy I can think of that is worthy of him, as well as best adapted to render his death in some measure as infamous as his life: and I do hereby direct and order my executors to send it to him by the first safe conveyance with my compliments, and request that he would make use of it without delay, that the national razor may not be disgraced by the head of such a monster."

From Cobbett's paper of the 19th October 1797.

"Pray, Monsieur Jefferson, if the freedom of Britain has crossed the Atlantick, whither is it gone? You will not pretend, I suppose that it has taken up its abode among Americans, unless indeed you have the impudence to assert, that to be chained, kicked, flogged and thumb-screwed by the French, are the distinctive marks of freedom; unless you have the impudence to assert, that men are free in a country where a Governour can order them to be seized without a warrant and transported for a month, without a trial, or even a hearing: unless, I say, you are prepared to make these assertions, you will pretend that the freedom of Britain has taken its flight this way, and above all, you will dare to assert this of her Liberty of the Press. No, Monsieur Thomas, the sun of Britain will shine; her philosophy will illuminate, an admiring world, and her freedom, (her real freedom,) will continue to be the charter of the land, when thy head will be rotting cheek by jowl with that of some toil-killed negro slave. She will flourish in commerce, in arts, and in arms, when thy pivot-chair shall be crumbled into dust; when thy French-spun theories, thy flimsy philosophy, thy shallow, shifting politicks, and thy envious vindictive predictions shall all be damned to eternal oblivion; and when nought shall be remembered of thee or thine, save thy cool, unprovoked, and viperous slander on the family of Cresap."