The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1780-09-30 00:00:00, page 2

Doctor MORG A N's continuation.
*'f H E third charge exhibited to the Co^rt-Martid,
[ on tie trial of Dr. William Shippen Jun. was, his
keeping no regular books and accounts, with proper
checks and vouchers, for the expendiure of public monies
and hospital fiores, and negleaing and refuting to pay
just and reasonable hospital accompts, and misusing the
persons who applied for Settlement
Can there be a Wronger proof of confeions guilt, in
support of this charge, than Dr. Shippen's refufal to pro
duce bis books, or rather let me fay the books of the pub
lic, to clear up the affair. More than two years ago,
Cougrefs puffed a revive that the Director General, and
Purveyor General of the hospital thould immediately fet
tle his accompts. Is there another man, in the United
States, besides Dr. Snippen, who has treated the poffitive
orders of Congress with contempt and impunity ? Can
another instance be produced of any person, in favour of
whom a Cou t Martial has ventured to disregard, and
run counter to repeated resolves of Congress? On such a
charge is a refufal to produce his books and accompts a
Efficient reason for his aquittal? What a precedent for
future criminals ? May they be permitted to follow the
example, and plead this proceeding as authority for their
refufal ? If this is the case, I fee not why every public de
faulter, may not mo k and elude an inquiry into his coo
dud,and sing a joyful requiem to the qualms of conscience
and the fears @f impending justice.
That Dr. Shippen negh fled and refufed to pay just
and reasonable hospital accounts, is proved on the depo
sitions of Joseph Tatem, David Thomas and Owen Tho
mas, already quoted : To these I add the following.
Philip Eppright deposed that he sited for tome time
as Steward and Commissary to the General Hospital at
Reem Town, and laid out considerable funis of his own
money, in Support of the sick; that he then drew out his
accompts in a proper and regular manner, and called se
veral times on Dr. Shippen for his money at Manheim,
to no purpose, not being able to obtain payment of his
account, a'tbo' no objection was, or could be made a
gainst theearges as improper or unjust, and that ,vhen
in the following year, the hospitals were moved down the
country, and Dr. Shippen was gone to Philadelphia, he
wa, obliged to undertake three journeys to Philadelphia,
before he was able to get his account fettled, so thar be
sides tie loss oftime and fatigue he underwent, heexpend
td as much mjney in looking after his pay before it was
cifeharg d, as the accompt came to.
Mr William BaWsman deposed in May lafl, that
his accompts for fimdries, as well for Dr. Shippen's pri
vate use, as that of the hospital (perhaps thrown into one
account) amounting to near four hundred pounds, and
controlled for when money was but little depreciated,
was not then paid, altho’ many applications had been
made for settlement.
At that rate it is erfy for public officers at the head of
any department, to trade with public money, lodefraud
both individualsand the public, and to raise princely for
tunes by their oppressions; and when money is depreciated
as seventy to one, to fettle them with a fatal! portion of
their value.
Susanna Babs, deJared upon oath, that about three
v^eks s fter the battle of Germantown two of the wound
ed fibers brought with the Genera Hospital to Reading,
were bideted at her house, one of whom Dad his erm cut
off but a little time be'ore, and they had no provifiens al
lowed them but their rations, and no nurie, and that their
pr^vdioua at that time was very b d. For these men who
remained (even we-ks at h.r house, the never received
any pay tho' it was often promised; that there were fe
vered fika- ? d wounded also billete I in the adjoining house,
who fufrred exceedingly from neglea and want of pro
per tiurfes Their loudcries for God's lake to give them a
drink of water, induced her often to go in, and give them
both drink and victuals. Whenever die came amongst
them, ore and another broke forth; good mother, do
give me some, and others, give me tome too, at length
the was so overcome with their piteous complaints, and
to? poor to Supply all their w^nts, that (he could go io,
no more, amongit them.
Reading, September 17, 1780.
Hanau Lewis deposed that in the month of oa-ber
1777, feveo sick soldiers ware brought to her house at
Rea ring, and billeted upon her, fix of them by Dr.
Frfby (an ; pprendce of Dr Shippen's) mate in the hos
pital, and remained weh her from firfl to last, near two
mbths. One only died; with faithful care and good
nurfin„ the rest recovered ;— she laid out several fumsof
muoey for food and other neceflarits, but tho' the was
often promised pay, and delivered in her accompts, and
is but a ,cor woman having nothing to maintain her but
whet fae works for, file could not get a fa, thing.
Reading. September 19,1779. .
Elizabeth Melfy d posed that when the General
Hospital under Dr. William Sh .pen, Junior, was nrlt
eflabtilhed at Reading, fhortiy after the battle of Bran
dywine, a wounded officer of the name of Lieutenant
M Kinley of rhe Infantry, and cne Howard ofti e Light-
Horie, a private also badly wounded, were sent to her
h u s e to be taken care of, and (he was promised th t every
thing comfortable and necessary for them should be lent,
an 1 that file 11l mid be paid for her trouble, and any ex
pence she was at, in taking care of them by the Director
General. But none of th fe things that they wanted, and
which had been promised were ie.t to them. The Lieu
tenant remained at her house nine weeks, and HSwnrd
five weeks She provided them daily withafow; and other
victuals cooked and dressed the fame herfflL and also
nursed and faithfully attended them. On their recovery
the cal ei on Dr. Kennedy, siting utder Shippen, for
pay, Dr. Kennedy lent her for it to Dr. Shippen, who,
on telling her errand, and without looking at her bill,
peremptorily refufed to pay her a farthing, said the Ge
neral Hospital was not obliged to pay for any officer; and
as or the private he fail the might flop it out of his
cioaths, er any thing e'fe he had, for he would not pay
for him, altho' the man was o ill the greater part cf the
time he was with her, that the was obliged to help him
in and out of bed, to dress and undress him as a child,
he not being able to assist himlelf, that file represented
this to Dr. Shippen with all miidnefs, yet he ordered her
to be gone, for he would pay her nothing; that, in fine,
he paid her nothing, but " behaved to her unlikeagen
tleman, al*'-o' the gave no cause for it."
Dr Rush deposed that no account was taken of the ex.
penditures of public floras; that the deponentfaw,wlth pain
the waste of Acres from this cause ; and in order to put
it out of the power of the Commissaries to defraud the
sick and the public, he had ordered that no floret fllould
be issued, without the order of a prescribing surgeon ;
that Dr. Shippen treated this order with indignation, and
forbade the Cemmiffary to pay any regard to it. This
was confirmed before the Court by the following depo
sition of Samuel Leacock, Junior.
Philadelphia, July 07, 1779.
This is to certify, that about the month of Oftober,
1777, I ailed as a Commissary of stores in the General
Hospital at Reading, and received orders from Dr. Ben
jamin Rulh, Physician General, not to issue out any hos
pital Hores withopt a general order, as a voucher, from
the prescribing Surgeon ; that force time after, on my re
fufing to issue out wine to Dr. Kennedy without an or
der cr receipt, as a voucher, which he would not give, Dr.
Shippen, Director General of the hospital, demanded from
me, why I refufed to comply with the demands of Dr.
Kennedy. Upon which I produced a written order from
Dr. Rush, as above mentioned, directing me not to issue
any stores without a written order, &c. That Dr. Ship
peD looked at Dr. Rufh's order with contempt, and bade
me wipe my backside with it.
SAMUEL LEACOCK.
Sworn before Benjamin Paschall.
With tMefe depositions flaring them in the face, on
what principles a Court-Martial could declare that no e
vidence was ihewn to prove the want of Sufficient vouch
ers and checks in the department, and thereupon formal
ly acquit Dr. Shippen of this change, is left with the pub
lic to judge tor itfelf.
I proceed to coufider a Small part of the evidence on the
fourth charge, viz. negleft of hospital duty, from which
many of the sick fuffered and died in a fhockng and fhame
ful manner ; and making falfe returns to the President of
Congress, of the slate of the hospitals and of the sick.
Dr. William Brown, Phytician General of the hef
pital, deposed before the Court, that Dr. Sbippen refu
sed to allow Sufficient room and frefti air for the sick in
the General Hospital ; that this was a fubjed on which
they always differed in Sentiment; the deponent ever re
quiring more room and air than Dr. Shippen allowed for
the sick ; that this was a powerful cause of the increase of
the contagious fever that prevailed in the hospital, and
proved so deflruflive to the sick. He further declared on
oath, that previous to the alteration of the Hospital de
partment by Concrete, in 1778, by which the issues ofthe
hospital fibres were taken out of the hands of Dr Ship
pen and his Cowmiffaries, his orders and those of the
prescribing Physicians and Surgeons were refufed by Dr.
Shipper's Commiffa ries,and that if the refufal of the orders
of the Surgeons who acted immediately under him, is to
be deemed a refufal of hi* orders they all refufed ; that
Commiffmy Hugh James frequently refilled, as did Com
missary Roberts at tee Yellow Springs, and the Commri
ffary at Trenton ; that the issues ot nine for the sick cf
the hospital were frequently refufed ; that th*fe persons
all claimed the absolute direction of the issues, immedi
ately under the Director General's authority ; that Dr.
Shippen's orders re pi-ding the issues did not pals through
the gentlemen of the hospital, but wire immediately given
to the Commissaries, fc that ,he Phyficans and Surgeons
coulloot know what was the Director General's p cafure
rcfpTlmg the issues arid Acres ; and cenfequently could
have no rule by which to regulate their application to the
Commiffartes; that if the Commissaries ever received
directions to look upon the Physicians General, or the
Pbyficians and feuior Surgeon's orders, as their vouchers
for the expenditures of public flores, the deponent, Phy
foans and Surgeons had no notice of it, nor did the
Commiffari^ follow such directions ; rhat ,previous to the
time he bus already spoken of, toe whole issues were made
wit mut any fach orders, at the diferetjon of Commiffa
riesand Stewards. And that the Commissaries often gave
as a reason for their refufal to issue what was prefcribea by
the Physicians and Surgeons, that they did not know
what Dr. Shippen might think of it, and that applications
therefore for wineand such lilce things for the sick, were
made a? feldorm as possible, in order to avoid the mortifi.
cation of a refufal from such persons ; especially as it was
frequently attended with terms of infolen e.
He further deposed, that when the hospital was open
ed at Eetulehem, where he refitted for some time, it
w §, for many weeks, without so necessary an article <s
brooms, and all his influence on two or three Commiffa
ries that were there, could not induce any of them to
take the least hep towards obt tiring them ; and he was at
last obl ged to have them taken from the inhabitants of
the place.
[ To be continued. ]
1 —w _—Gueret mercz® —■ u.
LONDO N.
HOUSE of PEERS.
WEDNESDAY, June 21.
^pHE Lord Chancellor reported his Majefly's Answer
A to the Addrefsof the House, a copy of which toge
ther with the Address, is as follows :
De Luric, 19° Junii, 1780.
Most Gracious Sovereign,
" WE, your Majesty's mo,ft dutifuland loyal fubjefts,
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in Parliament affem
b!ed,beg leave to return your MajeAy our humble thanks
for your most gracious speech from the throne.
6 We feel the utmost abhorrence and detestation of
the outrages committed iu various pms of this Metro
polis by bands of desperate and abandoned men ; outra
peg that broke forth with such violence into afts of felony
and treason, and which threatening so direOly the im
mediate subversion of all legal authority, the deflruaion
of all property, and the cen'ufon of every order in the
S ate, called loudly for the speediest and most etFe&ual
application of the force entrusted to your Majesty by
law.
" We beg leave to teffify cur warmest gratitude to
your Majesty for your paternal care and concern for the
protection of your fwbjeas, so manifeft in the meafureg
your wisdom directed in this urgent nectffity to suppress
in every part, these rebellious infurreaians, and to pro
vide for the general fafety, by the restoration of public
peace.
" We thank your Majesty for the communication
you have been pleased to make to this House of the Pro
clamations issued in this alarming conjunaure.
" We learn with fatisfaaion that orders have been
given for bringing the offenders to speedy trial, and to
P HILA DELPHI A, .September go.
As the public curiosity and anxiety mufi naturally be
railed to a high pitch by the providential detection
of the perfidy and treachery of a late distinguished
general officer of the United States, we Ihall endea
vour to give our readers such particulars as have
come to our knowledge, and are well authenticated.
On Monday last Congress received a letter from ge
neral Greene, inclofing one from colonel Hamilton,
one of general Waffling.on's aids, informing him that
a feene of the blacked villainy had been jufidifclofed :.
that Arnold was gone off to the enemy that colonel
Andrie, general Clinton's principal aid and confident,
was apprehended in dif;ufe in our camp. that Weft-
Point (where Arnold was commanded,) was to be the
Sacrifice, and th t all the difyofitions were made for
delivering it up as lafiMond ly right : that he had
pursued Arnold as far as Verplank's point, from
winch the letter was dated, but without success.; that
tho' it wasnot probable the post would now fall, yet
it was possible, and especially as the wind was fair;
therefore he recommended to general Greem (who
commands the army in general Wafhin., ton's absence)
to put it under marching orders, and dec ch a bri
gade immediately.
The letter from general Greene confirms theabpve
account, but adds no material particulars.
As soon as these letters were read, the contents were
communicated to the vice president and the council of
this slate and the juEicei of the supreme court, who
direfted an immediate seizure of'all Arnold's papers,
which was made,and tho' no cee proof of his treachery
was found, the papers disclose such a f.ene of baseness
and prostitution of office and character, as it is hoped this
new world cannot parallel His participation of the
plunder of this city when he held the command after
the evacuation of the enemy, is row found by thea
greement, signed between him and his accomplices to
Ihare the profits of that fhameful business. It appears
that he and some others, whole names will probably
in due time be made known, now have subsisting con
trasts with persons in New-York for merchandize.
In making an efiimate of his efiale he enumerates bis
Ihare of the sloop Active,tho' he found witnesses to swear
before the grand jury that he had no ihare in her.
In snort, his whole command appears to have beeh a
fi ene of the basest traffick and public plunder In Au -
guff last he directs his wife to draw all the can from 11 e
commiffaries,and fell it or flore it, tho' at that very tore
the army was destitute of provisions. In the private
correspondence of Irs family & himfelf are contained the
mos t sarcastic and contemptuous expreflions of the
French Nation and of an eminent personage of that
country, whole hospitality and politeness they were
at that time frequently experiencing,The iliberalabufe
of every character oppoefd to his fraudulent and wick
ed tranfaCtions exceed, all description.
Prudence forbids our mentioning the names of these
persons who appear by his letters to have supported
and abetted him in bis nefarious practices; nor is it
necessary, as the journals cf a great assembly and the
countenance he received in this city from some persons,
will easily direct the public judgment. The attempts
to fiigmatize the president and council cf this fiate,
and to saddle it with the payment of the sloop Active,
must now appear in their proper light and fill the au
thors with shame and remorse.
Our correspondent concludes with a remark on the
fallacious and dangerous sentiments so frequently a
vowed in this city, that fema lA opinions are of no
consequence in public matters. The Romans thought
far otherwise, or we fliould not have heard of the
Clelias, the Cornelias and Anias of antiquity : and
had we thought and afted like them we fliould have
despised and banished from social intercourse eVery
character, whether male or female, which could be so
loft to virtue, decency and humanity, as to revel
with the murderers and plunderers of their country
men. Behold the consequence. Col Andrie, under the
malk of Friendship and former acquaintance at Mef
chianzas and Bails, opens a correspondence in August,
1779) with Mrs. Arnold, which has doubtless been
improved on his part to the dreadful and horrid issue
we have described, and which but for the over-ruling
case of a kind Providence, must have involved this
country and our Allies in great distress, and perhaps
utter ruin.
The following are the reports of the manner of dis
covery, but we can only give them as such, viz.
That col Aadriecame up theriver in a Frigate, and
then went on there in disguise, supposed to meet Ar
nold, and finifli their intended fcherae ; butjit happen
ed,) that a Britifildeferter crossed the river in the
fame boat, who know Andrie notwithstanding his dis
guise. The deserter took no notice of him in the boat,
but hastened up to Arnold's quarters to give informa
tion ; colonel Hamilton fortunately was there on busi
ness, and was present when it was given; he, with some
others, haflened immediately to the place, where An
drie was found, seized, and disowned himfelf ; but,
such condign punishment as the hw prescribes, and the
vindication of public ju fiice ch mantis.
'' Although the uniform tenor o r your Majefly' scon
dua rendered unnecessary the renewal of your gracious
assurances to your Parliament, yetthe manner in which
they are given raises in us the warmer! emotions of grati
tude, aff?a:on, and duty Strh a declaration of the just
and wife principles, ihat are the rule and measure 01 your
Majesty's government, must endear your Majefly more
and mere to all four fubjefts, and meet with the fulkft
return ©(attachment, confidence and zeal."
His Majesty's most r racicusanfwer :
" My Lords, I thank you heartily tor this addrtfs,
so full of duty to me, an? ofzeal for your Country. Your
abhorence of the rebellious infurrectious, and your una
nimous approbation of the meaforrg taken to suppress
them, must have themoft falatary effeHs .Nothing can
give me greater fatis'afle n thinthe confidence you repose
in me. It fliall be juflified by the whole tenor of my
Reign."
BASSETERRE, September 7.
A boat lately arrived from Antigua, informs, that a
brig from Philadelphia has been carried into that island
by one of his Majedy's cruizerg.