The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1783-10-11 00:00:00, page 2

Ta the PRINTER.
5 the desire of forne refpeflable Citizens, who ac
iraby became pofferted of the following Letters,
Let you would publish thin in your Pap r to winch
"th y p, ve a preference from its Impartiality on former
Vccdfiotis."
A. B.
C. D.
E. F.
Reading, September 29, 1783.
Honored\sr,
" M'ER.S of the inhabitants of Berks county
with to appoint you as one of their council of
cento s, and defifed me to inform you thereof, and to
bg you to answer me before the election, whether you
win accept of the appointment, which we make not the
Rail doubt will bo almoil unanimously conferred on
You.
I am, fir,
Your mod obedient humble servant,
valentine eckert.
Joseph -Reld, Esq; Philadelphia.
SIR,
I Received your favor of the 25'h ult with every
emotion of gratitude and rtfpeCL Toe honor it de
signates, and the confidence widen it manifefts, deserve
and have my mort sincere and grateful thanks.
Tne office of censor, as defcribtd in our constitution,
is indeed very important, and will require a depth of
judgment, extent of information, moderation of tem
per, and ex^cife of candor, of which few can boast
the pollution. My own experience tells me too plain
ly 1 am not one of that happy few. The fuptrficia'l
and malignant hem to think tne principal duty of a
censor will confid in criminating those gentlemen who
have a& d in force public character, and rejoice in it
as an opportunity arbitrarily to gratify personal and
party rHen'ments. This, I apprehend, will he the
lead ufful, and I trot the mdi unplealing part
of their duty ; and yet on a proper occafioo I hope
they will ex rcife it with wisdom and firmnefst then
the guilty only will have any tiling to fear. For my
part, having been called ly the voice of the Rate
to fill the mod eminent Ration, in which I have met
with an uncommon share of embarrassment and obloquy,
J have long look d forward with pleasure to this peri
od, when li thofr unkind imputations will fink into
guilty silence, or vanish before the face of candid and
judicious enqui y. Wini a mind free from felf re
proach, and that fortitude which arises from a pure
confci nee I Ibid meet and even request a fcrutiuy,
diking no ot er favor than that candid indulgence for
human frailty, which a liberal mind wi I freely give.
Inserted with the idea, that personal enquiry will be
the firft great obje& of a cenfor'6 duty. Some are of
opinion, .hat all wr 0 have borne any office, ought to
be excluded from this great council. If this had been
the ioten ion of the confl itufion, I tnihk it would have
been clearly txpreffed, as in every other part it has ex
prtfily pointed out those restraints which were deemed
necessary for i:s security. Its silence on this head fa
lisfies me they did not think this necessary. Who then
shall presume to abridge the choice of the people or di
minish their righ to chufe where their judgment and
inclination directs I observe we are frequently told
who we are not to chufe, but no one tells who we are
to chufe. They are plainly embarrassed with the diffi
culty of finding a fufficient number of unexceptionable
characters, when the whig* who have been in public
office are excluded. Surely they would reject the ad l
herents of Great-Britain of every complexion, whe
ther active or quiet. The enemies of this country to
set in judgment on its friends and defenders, to regu
late a constitution whole very principles they abhor,
would be mondrous. Those who Shrunk from their
duty, and in a difgraceful inactivity waited the issue of
the conteti, are certainly improper candidates. Men
of defeaive abilities, of violent temper, overheated
with party and prejudice, ought equally to be exclud
ed, let their politics fehtimems be what they may.
Many of t ofe whoarc qualified in every refpedt, from
private confiderahd ^, may decline an office so novel
in itsiiGiiutkc, where they must walk in the tracklefb
path of ieddivs enquiry and political criticism, per
forming duties which will require their whole time
and the full exertion of all their talents.-—.To what
narrow space are we now reduced? In the days of
public cl .r d we eagerly caught at every man
of ability and education to serve in the various
departments, and found them to be too few: mail all
these be exc'uded? and what was their glory and
their country's benefit, now become their mortifi
cation and drferw ? with deference to better judg
ment, I conceive, in most occasions in human life,
the middle line will be the mod wife and beneficial
and I hope this great council will be composed of both
characters, those who have been in civil office and
others who have not—gentlemen who have moved in
the highest spheres of office, whose example and in
fluence have been consequential and important, and
whose stations and cl araAers have set them out of the
reach of common enquiry, I think would not desire a
feat in this assembly, and if they did they ought not
to be gratified. Tuafe who have been leaders in the
house ot assembly, and managed bufmefs there, fland
in tne fame predicament. In our government the af
lembly has very great powers, and a few characters
pradifing on the honed simplicity of others, may and
1w 11 venture to fay have, in fme cases, done much
mifchief: these charaders should not be censors.
Having said so much, which I hope will be excused
as proceeding from a sincere regard to the liberties and
happiness of the good people of this state, from which
I have received great favours, my good friends in
Berks county will fee I stand excluded by my own
judgment, and I nope they will excuse my declining
the honor intended me. My motives however miflaken
are, I am sure, honest, and proceed from that love of
liberty and equal government for which we have fought
.nd fuffered, and which mull be the basis of 9ur com .
AtQn happiness and of cur children after us.
A further r@afon of forne, though not of equal
weight, I would wi(h to suggest before I conclude. An
other refpeftable county, though not in the fame ex
plicit terms, had before favoured me with an intima
tion of the like nature, which I declined on the fame
principles. To gentlemen of sense and delicacy I need
fay no more.
Now permit me, my good friend, through you, to
to convey to my worthy friends in Berks my greatful
acknowledgment and fervent wishes, for their prosperi
ty and ha. pinefs, and to believe me, with the most
perfect esteem and regard,
Your most obliged and obedient humble fervent,
JOSEPH ^REED.
To colonel Valentine Eckhart,
at Reading, Berks county.
Philadelphia, Third-street, Oflober 6, 1783.
° LON D O N, July 29.
A Gentleman, it is laid, intends to offer a premium
of ten guineas (or a gold medal of equal value)
for the belt copy of English verses, and ten :
guineas more (or an equivalent gold medal) for the best
Latin or French profb dissertation on the following fub
jed:
Utrum exoptandum fit, ut Vaticinium Turgotia
num cito impleatur?
In English:
• Whether it ought to be greatly wished, that M.
Turgot's predifti >n may be speedily accomplished ?"
Monsieur 1 urgdt's prediction, about 12 years ago,
was as follows:
g As a citizen of the world. I fee with pleasure an
£ event appro© ing, which will disperse this dreadful
g phantom, 'the jealousy of trade, more than all the
< writings of philosophers. I mean the reparation of
your [Englifh] co onies from the mother country;
c, event whicn will soon be followed by that of all I
( America from Europe. Tuat will be the zra, when
g the difeovery of this part of the world will become a
g real benefit to mankind. For then we fliall enjoy its
g productions in much greater abundance, than when
we purchased them at the expence of lot rents of blood;
<", Eoghfa, French and Spanish nations, &c.
c will use and consume the sugar, coffee and indigo of
c America, and trafic for them with their own mer
chandises, just as theSwifs do at present. And, like
6 the people of Switzerland, they will have the fame
advantage; that is, these sugars, coffee, and indigo,
£ will no longer serve for a pretext to monopolizing
c traders and intriguing politicians, to plunge the
people into dedruaive wars, and overwhelm them
‘ with taxes.' 1
July 10. The following uncommon accident hap
pened very lately in Scotland. An officer, who bad
been four years in America, with his regiment, re
™c% '° hi " native place, was fall o f expectation
at finding happiness in the company of his wife, he had
loved very tenderly, and in the culture of a final!
farm, a part of a little estate, he had left to serve his
°" arri ,™ n ^ in the village, be found that his
house had been burned down near two year# before,
and his wife gone, the people knew not where. He
" ''"' extraordinary that Ihefhould not have
advised him of such an accident: however, he wrote
to the insurance office at Edinburgh, tor the value of
his loft, when, to nA furprite, he found his wife had
received the money, and given a receipt at the time.
He was now very wretched, and full of fufpence > all
the enquiries he made were vain ; he could difeover
no traces where file was gone, nor cond be learn that
fy gentleman had, to common appearances, been
conduced with her. He had not been ruminating long
on his condition, before he determined to go fi'rft to
Aberdeen, and then to Edinburgh, on enquiries. Dil
appointed ev ry where, he set out for London, and At
Newcastle, on the road thither, acconed his wife, as
be thought, in the Arret) io company with an cm er.
The lady drew back, and did'not know him: astonish
ed at this, he instantly laid claim to her, which m^de
the officer who was with her, think him insane. He
perfifled : on which the, went to an inn, wuere seve
ral perfont, living in Newcastle, assured him of his
minake, and that they had known the lady all their
lives, and her conneaionr. petrified at this, he be
gan to think his own intelleßs disordered, took the
diteaion# of the lady, gentleman, and others, and re
tired to hi# own inn in a deep reverie. He was call
ed up in the night, when the lady desired to speak
with him, confeffed that she was his wife. .that appear
ances were much against her, but that she could ex
plain all to his fatisfaßion, and demanded to set off
inflantly with him to Aberdeen. They did so . but
his mind had taken so violent a turn, that he died on
the road.
An electioneering invention.---A poor candidate, who
had no capacity for bribery, having a formidable an
tagonist against him, confuted with a publican in the
town, who had considerable weight, in what manner
he should proceed; the publican, who had formerly
been servant to him, and was zealous in h»interefl
after a variety of inventions, hit upon the following
expedient: on the club night, when mol of the voters
were collected at his house, he addressed them on tne
occaiion, told them they knew his attachment to his
old mafler, and promised, if they eould vote as he did,
he would give them ten guineas a piece out of his own
pocket. This was readily agreed to: when finding he
had got a majority for his friend on the poll, he vot
ed himfelf on the opposite fide, and so cancelled his
engagement.
DERBY, (in England) July gi;
On Monday afternoon, about a quarter before four
o'clock, Fahrenheit's thermometer, in a free cu rent of
air, afpe& S. E. flood at 83 degrees. Same time ano
ther, in afpea just opposite, fun shining on it. role to
96. Nearly an hour after, the fame ioftrument suspend
ed against a S. IV. wall, with a clear fun on it, flood
at iio degtees. Though Sunday was thought by ma
ny to be a s hot a day, the thermometer, at four m the
afternoon, marked 4 degrees lef„ than it did at the
fame time on Monday. Tuesday morning at four
o'clock, the thermometer flood at no more than 60 I
(wind nehrly well, and blowing but little) while the ri
ver Dervent, in the main water, and in the flream,
, arK ' d 7°, which is three degrees warmer than Mat
lock Bath.
BALTIMORE, October 7.
e Antelope, captain Yallot, is just arrived here in
50 days from bpithead. We have received English pa
pers, by this vessel, as late as the 18th of August . but
we have only time to insert the following paragraphs:
LON D O N, Augufl 16.
" wa f t'' l ' day reported, that orders had been lent
out to New-York, countermanding the intended eva
cuation by our troops.
The Irish patriots are still determined to give the
mmiflry as much trouble as possible: a motion was to
'"" ma de the next session for the iromg/iate
building of some men of war, in order to confirm their
right to an unlimited independence of the mother coun
trX'- .
iuinifiry have learnt by experience that there is no.
making a proper peace with our enemies but witli
lw ° r '" hand > which is certainly the principal reason
that has occasioned the spirited orders lately issued
from the Admiralty and war-office, and not any appre
hension of the war being renewed at present.
Not a syllable is to be collected from the foreign
prints, relative to the ratification of the Denfinitive
treaty. The Hague Gazette is all doubt and uncer
tainty ; and by contrafiing the Parisian and London
ao , u ° ts , it leaves the whole to the conjedure of Dutch
politicians. In a Cologne paper there is the following
article, which Items concisely to date the matter in a
just point of view: “ The late belligerent powers have
so much about peace, that they seem perfectly content
to enjoy it in idea ; for the moment they treat about the
reality, so many difficulties occur that it will require
more time to adjust them than those who are in the se
cret are willing to admit."
NEW-YORK, October 4.
Extras of a letter from a merchant in London to his
friend in this city, August 6, 1783.
“ The policy of the United States must, I think, so
far preponderate in the minds of the rulers, as to adopt
no plan which fliall not be liberal and extensive, as it
will by no means answer for riling nations to set out
upon contrasted or partial regulations that do not
tend to the good of the whole, and are of such a na
ture as to warrant a security to, and induce an inter
course and communication with foreigners, it being
liberality alone, in the formation of your various
codes of laws, that can raise the consequence of your
continent in theopinion of European nations : I there
fore in my own mind conclude that the penetration of
the leading men in America will so far fee the propri
ety of a generous and general system, as to exclude en
tirely from their councils every sentiment that mili
tates against it—and under the influence of such a be
lief it is to be expeded that the consequences of the
war will soon subside, and in lieu thereof you may en
joy the bldlings of peace in its utmost latitude.
Philadelphia; O&. IT.
The schooner Sally, captain Afhbridge, of this port
bound to Jamaica, was, on the 16th ult. in I a t. 28:
overfat by a violent gale of wind, which lasted 42 hours'
Tne vessel filled, but, on cutting away her marts
righted again, andarrived here on Saturday last. For
tunatey no lives were loft, and but a small part of her
cargo damaged.
The putrid fever and diffentery have, we hear, been
exceeding fatal in the town of Borton ; more than 6oe
persons have died there since theist of May last.
Sihre out last two velvets have arrived here from
Amsterdam, which they ! eft in company with the
(hip which brings out M. Van Berkel. As that ves
sel was left a few days ago at a little dirtance from our
capes we may hourly expe& his excellency's arrival.
Lawrence Keen, esquire, is appointed prothonotary
of Northumberland county, in the room of Matthew
Srnitii, efquite.
[Tne county for which Mr Keen is appointed, not
being mentioned in some of our last papers, is the oc
cafin of the infection of the above paragraph.]
NAVAL-OFFICE, Philadelphia. Cft. 10, 1781
Inward Entries. "°°
Ship Moore, Burrows, Malaga
Schooner Lovely Ann, Wardrop, Tobago
Tryall, Robeafon, Virginia
Planter, Jones, ditto
Alexander, Lang, Grenada
Fairy Chambers, New-York
Sloo? Fanny, Curtis, Conneaicut
Patty, Williams, ditto
Chance, Laurence, N ew y^rk:
Lydia, L^hrop, ditto
Outward Entries.
Brig Tyger, Nollet, Cape Francois
Schooner Happy Return, Conner, Bermuda'
M ", tchi ^ Charted
Sloop Mayflower, Waterman, Nantucket
Cleared.
Brig Baltimore. Cartwright, Alexandria,
Franklin, M Combe, Jamaica
Schooner Margaret, Delap, ditto
" e '', ' a °d Pohy, Conynham, Virginia
Sloop Charming Nancy, Pinkham, Weft-Indies
'T''™ ""^cr'bers to the Dancing As
sembly, are requested to meet at the
City-Tavern This Day at 12 o'clock,
to chufe new Managers for the ensuing lea
fon, which being already far advanced, 'tis
hoped the gentlemen will be punctual in
their attendance.
Errata in the oration delivered at Princeton, publish
ed in our last—Fixed iurtead of fired, of for to, and
required for acquired.