The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1782-03-23 00:00:00, page 2

LONDO N, Nov. 2% 1781.
Yeft< relay at a little after eleven o'clock, Mr. Mil
ler,' printer of tins paper, was carried up from Mr.
Armfl/ong's, in Carey-street, to the court of king's
bench, by habeas corpus, in order to receive the
judgment of that court, for copying a paragraph re
fpehing the Ruffian ambassador, from a morning pa
per into the London Evening Pest, of which he was
then the printer. After attending about an hour, Mr.
Miller was brought into court, when the attorney
general moved the judgment of it against him. Being
then called upon to fignify, whether he had any affi
davit to offer," Mr. Miller addressed their lordships in
the following words:
My Lords!
VOU have before you one of the mofl honest and bold
' est printers that ever lived! A profeffed enemy
to all the enemies of Old England, and* to all Scotch
enemies in particular. I do not come here to intreat
mercy. I cannot be served worse than my brother
printers have been; unless justice chufes to make an
example of itfelf as well,as me ; for it will then become
a capricious, arbitrary tyrant, instead of a dispenser
of juftice,riff should be punished worse than others si
milarly circumßanced.
Hence, then am I to go to the King's Bench prison
for a year, and to inureafe the punishment, lam to
be debarred the society of my wife and children ; a new
species of pppreffion, not known in any other country
in the world!
I know the worst ! Neither exhortation nor punish
ment will produce any alteration in me; for I pro
mise to go on whilf lI have hands, without any atten
tion to my ears, in the great line of duty as an Englifh'
printer, a character the most refpeHable. I shall fill
keep a faithful watch over the conduct of public men,
where f concave their mtafures may affed the public
interest or public liberty ! The Roman goose was not
more watchful over the capitol, nor the cock over
Peter! I shall both crow and cackl'e when I think it
right, without asking any leave, or waiting for any o
ther approbation, than thatofthe public! In this con?
duffy I own, I may fometimts give a falfe alarm, but
it shall be through error only, and not through design!
In the prefect inßance, all that can be laid to my
charge, is the hasty adoption of a eurrent report.
Were the report true, I could not answer to conscience
not to publish it. Were it ill-founded, it would do no
harm. Men of good character are little hurt by bad
reports.
As to the idea of embroiling the nation, it is too
ridiculous to call for a serious refutation. What !
the err,prefs of all the Ruffias g'o to war with the king
of Great-Britain, because John Miller told a lie about
her ambassador ! Her Imperial majesty would certain
ly have been fatisfied with an apology for the surmise ;.
and so (hould her ambassador be, so he has been, and,
which I am now, and at all times ready further to make.
But if I am proceeded against juridically, I claim at
lead judicial forms to be attended to. lam not to be
called -upon to confefs guilt, unless the confeffion will
produce me some favour
I fad fay, T am not guilty! I call for proof, and de
mand a trial.
W^at is it to me that a piece of paper was left at my
_ house?
This is a criminal-proceeding.
In civil process, it may be fu fficient to give a man
notice, and if he does not appear, to take the charge
pro confeffo. In such cases there is no presumption in
his favour. But, by the law of England, all men are
in criminal matters presumed innocent,- till they are
found guilty. There are but two ways of finding a
man guilty ; one is by his own confeffion on record ;
the other is by a verdict of twelve men. But in both
cases he muff appear and plead. Now, I have never
appeared, nor ever pleaded ! I may be guilty of a con
tempt ; punish me for that, if you please. You might
indeed have proceeded to outlawry against me, but
you have not done so ; yet you fay lam attainted of
high crimes and misdemeanors. The attaint, I again
infill, must come only from my pleading guilty, or
my being,ound so by a jury if I pleaded not guilty.
Your taking judgment by default, is by affimiisting
informations with civil actions ; yet you make them
have the effed of indictments. I cannot Rand before
this court more as a culprit, by being informed against
by one man without oath, than by twelve upon oath.
I demand rthe privilege of an Englishman ; that I
may be admitted io plead; I do plead not guilty.
Thereupon try me ; and if lam convicted upon proof
by a jur) l , do your worst! Till then, I aman unheard,
and therefore should be considered an innocent man.
My Lord!
I have served the public fourteen years faithfully and
disinterestedly. Seven years of which I laboured in de
fending and asserting the rights of my countrymen
and fellow citizens! and the last seven years in decry
ing and exposing the wickedness and folly of the AC
CURSED AMERICAN WAR!
I now fit down an oppressed and distressed man!
And though without a (hilling in my pocket, with a
wife and seven children, I go to prison, in the utmost
"The public rail probably recall, that feme 'time
daft yearthe Rritifh ministry commenced a prosecu
tion against fame of the London printers, for a pa
ragraph in their several papers, refpeAingthe Ruf
fian ambassador, which paragraph, the mere report
of the day, proved not to be true; 'The ministry
were eagerly .glad of the opportunity, in order to
curry favour wirt,-the empress, who by the bye, is a
woman of too . great and difeerning a mind to. be
hummed by such trifling littleness /however the mi
piflry went on with the p^fecution, and the follow
ing, taken fr°m the London Courant of November
29th, /ill il^w the' fervid and persecuting Spirit
of the JritiXh ministry, and that John Miller the
Printer, bath mere sense, more honefly, candour,
and fortitude, than the king of England and all his
ministry with lord Mansfield at the headof them,
put together: John Miller will rife when they will
fall; and mol probably, when he is out of prison
they will be in.'
In the Leicefler and Nottingham journal of Satur
day iis the following extraordinary paragraph—On the
20th of September both fir Henry Clinton and admiral
Graves knew that lord Cornwallis could not possibly
hold out longer than the 18th of October. (The printer
of that paper fays, he has the information from the
person who delivered it by order of lord Cornwallis, to°
the commanders at New-York) —but notwithflanding,
we find they did not leave Sandy hook, till the day after
they had every re^fon in the world to believe he mull
have surrendered—nor do we find that they even at
tempted to inform his lordship of their inability to do
so. Under such information, lord Cornwallis would
never'have flaid at York, which he could have quit
ted at any time before the arrival of the French and
Americans at Williamsburgh —(penned up in a narrow
peninsula, betwixt two great rivers, from whence he
could not stir a Hep forward without walking into the
sea) —And when he otherwise certainly would have
taken post, either at Peterfburgh upon the upper
road, or Suffolk upon the lower road with, James river
in the front of his army ; where the blame lies we know
not, but it seems to have been a needless parade of the
fleet and army procee ing from Sandy hookto the Che
fapeak, after the time was expired, which the command
ers were assured, was the utmost period his lordship
could hold out —Well might the gallant Cornwallis des
pond,
If tie acurfed American war is to be abandoned, or
pursued to the deßruGioa of our country, a (hort time
will determine; ministry give no signs of remorse for
their past conduct as yet ; but whether the people will
fuffer frefh taxes to be imposed upon them, in addition
to the enormous burthens they already endure, mere
ly to gratify the obflinancy of any one man, or set of
men whatever, or to retain the present incapable and
impolitic men in office, remains to be seen-
The behavior of the minority in parliament, by their
immediate opposition to vote an early supply, is truly
laudable and spirited, in this hour of calamity, when
the nation is involved so much, by the wretched con
duft of admifiratlou, and we trust such conduft
receives the full countenance and support of the
people of England ; for there is no measure more con
stitutional, than to withhold the purse of the public
from those men, who have mifapphed it ; and by rath
and improper councils, have brought the country to it
present degraded and miserable slate. Why don't mi
nisters confefs their faults, own their errors, abandon
the impracticable attempts of American subjugation,
and reform their conduit, ere they again put their
hands in the pockets of the people?
Some friends to their country, recommended a gene
ral secession, but many others thought that conduft
rather weak, as it would in this critical moment, leave
the parliamentary field entirely to the ministry and their
dependents ; therefore it was considered, and agreed,
as the mod advisable, to use the utmost efforts of all
the friends to the constitution, by an immediate and
earned opposition to the American war in all its seve
ral Rages ; and if possible, check administration in their
obstinate and mad career, by withholding £he grant
of supplies, till a reform in the conduft and measures
of the ministry was promised ; and'if such efforts should
not succeed, then to wait the inftruflions and directi
ons of the great con ftituent body of people,the with re
gard to additional taxes, and the further profecutioi
of the American war. There can be no doubt there
fore, but every county, city, and large town in the
kingdom, will'take up this important concern, which
is now brought home to every man's feelings and pock
et, and aft with that firmnefs and true public spirit,
which the unhappy situation of the nation to loudly de
mands, and to controul a perseverance in those enor
mous measures, which has diflrafled the nation, and
which can only be accounted for by the avarice and
4uR of power es obflinate men.
Dec. 5. Mr. Thomas Pitt's reply 'to lord North,
on Friday last, (when hislordfhip asked what would all
Europe fay., if, in such a juncture, an aft of that house
should declare that the king and his people were two,
or rather that the government of Great Britain and
the British commons were disunited ? ) was one of the
molt able as well as one es the most manly and spi
rited pieces of eloquence ever delivered in the house of
commons. He declared, that he had no scruple to
acknowlege, that he wished to shew all Europe, that
the crown of Great Britain and the parliament were
disunited. That the measure was the firongeft he had
ventured upon, but he had warm expectations of the
most benificial consequences, from its being univerfaly
known, that the deliberative branch of the British go
vernment had a difference with the executive branch.
So sure was he in his own mind, that good would
come out of it, that he offered to take the responsibili
ty of the measure entirely on himfelf, and pledged him
felf to the house to be answerable for the consequences.,,
Ministry are in daily and anxious expectation of the
arrival of -the packet from New-York, jn which they
expert lord Cornwallis will come as a paffisgec; The
Foreign Intelligence.
L O° N D O N.
Dec. 4. When Mr.. Laurens heard that lord Corn
wallis had actually marched into the interior country
of Virginia, he said his lordship may burn tobacco
and deflroy buildings, as Arnold has done, but if he
does not /quickly*tread his Reps back again he will be
burgoyn^d. When he was told that his lordship was
captured, he replied, I rejoicein no man's misfortunes,
I hope it will have a happy effect for both countries,
but mark me, lord Cornwallis will not be so inhuman
ly treated as I have been, nor any of his officers. He
lamented the caf6 of those deluded Americans who are
excepted in the capitulation by the 10th article, but
added, you will find there were very few, perhaps not
above fifty, and I am sure not so many as five hundred,
and of these few, very few will fuffer the penalty of the
law, there will be found no men of coufequence among
them. These particulars I received from one of the per•
sons in the house with him.
confidence of my Afoul, calling them upon the public
for protedi^n and support.
This day the body of foreign ministers and ambassa
dors made their GOTplimiuft to the king on the fame
occasion.
In the evening were displayed off, in the place d'armea
very beautiful fire works, which the king saw from the
balcony of hl'sapartment, as well as all the court.
Thisfovas followed by a general illumination of thecity.
The princes of the blood, and all the lords of the
court, have had the honour of making their reverent
ces to the king, on occasion of th@ birth of the dauphin.
The princesses of the blood, have also had the ho
nour of making their reverences to his majesty, on the
fame occasion. The ladies of the court have also been
admitted to the like honour.
The king who had not quitted the queen during her
illness, and who conftant'y minifefted his tender con
cern for her, appeared the moment of the dauphin's
birth moved with the purest and most affectionate joy:
it was painted on his majesty's face ; and he was witness
of the joy of all his court, and of the vows which they
made for his happiness as well as for that of the queen.
After the firft cares were given in presence of the
king, to the monseigneur the dauphin, his majesty a
nounced -to the queen that the had born a prince. Her
majefly having demanded to fee him, he was brought
to her by the princess Guefnenee governess of the chil
dren of France, accompanied by three sub-governesses.
This day, about three o'oc ! ock P. M. foonfigneur
dhe dauphin was baptized by the prince Louis de Rohan
cardinal of Gueneree, grand almoner of France, in
presence of the fieur Broqueville, curate of the parifk
of Notre Dame, and held over the baptifmnal font
by monsieur, in thename of the emperor, and by madame
Elizabeth de France in the name of madam
the princess de Piedmont. The king was present, as
well as all those princes and princesses of the blood,
who had fufficient time to appear at court.
Moofigneur the dauphin was named I ouis Joseph
Xavier Francois. After the baptism, being ' carried
backto his apartment, the comte de Vergennes, mi
nister and secretary of Rate for foreign affairs, grand
treasurer of the king, invefled him with the ensigns of
the order ofthe Holy Ghost; and the marquis de begor,
minister and secretary of war, with the cross of St.
Louis, pursuant to the orders which these ministers had
received from the king.
His majesty as well as all the court, assisted after the
baptism, at the te deum, which was performed on this
occasion, in the chapel of the castle, by the king's mu
fick.
the birth of Monseigneur the Dauphin.
TH E 22d of this month the queen having felt some
1 pains denoting the speedy approach of herdyin^
in, the princess de Lamballe, fu perintendant of the
queens house, repaired to her majesty, pursuant to
the orders which had been previously flven.
As soon as the princess de Lamballe was arrived, she
gave orders for notifying monsieur Madame, mon
seigneur comte d'Artois, mesdames Aleleaide, Vifloire,
and Sophia of France, who appeared without delay at
the queens house. The king was already present.
Madame comteffe d^Artois being indisposed, was not
notified. The other princess and princesses of the
blood, had notice given them immediately.
The keeper of the seals of France, and a,ll the mini
sters and secretaries of slate, who had been likewise
notified, assembled in the grand cabinet of the queen,
whose appartment was instantly filled with lords and
ladies of the court. Her majesty, after a labour of
aboufotwo hours, was, at 23 minutes after one o'clock,
P. M. very happily delivered of a prince, whose strength
and health afford the greater hopes for the preserva
tion of his life.
F R,A N C E.
From the Supplement to the Gazette of France,
& October 26.
Relation of what passed at Verfrilles, on occasion of
The late birth of an heir to the crown of France has
occasioned inexpressible joy to that nation. And as
these Rates are nearly interested in every event which
increases the happiness of their illustrious ally, the
following particulars, which we have translated from
the Courier-de I'Europe, may not be unentertaining
to our readers.
mail which, in the usual course, should have failed
this day, is to be delayed till the arrival of his lord
ship, as no inflruClions can be forwarded to the differ
ent commanders, till autf entic accounts are received
of the movements of the French and Americans after
the affair at York, and Wat appears to be the pro
bable plan of their future operations.
Lord Huntington has received letters from lord
Rawdon, announcing his fafe arrival at Brefl. His
lordship speaks in terms of the highest compliment of
the civility he has received from monsieur de Graffe,
the due de Lauzun, and other of the French officers.
He fays in particular of the latter nobleman, that he
treated him with all the affection of aulntimate friend
during the course of their passage, and on their arri
val at Brefl, delivered his letters of credit before he
paid any attention to his own personal business.
Notwithflanding the mode of carrying on the war
as adopted by the advice, and carried on under the di
reaion of lord George Germain, hath proved so unfuc
cefsful, his lordfllip still perfevtres in recommending the
fame line of conduft, Wrongly contending for the pro
priety of replacing the army loft in the Carolinas, and
throwing an additional force into New-York; but in
this way of thinking he differs from most of the mem
bers of the interior cabinet, the lord Chancellor, lords
North, Sandwich, and Loughborough, having flrenu
oufly contended for collecting all our force at New-
York, and making one vigorous firuggle before we
abandon the thoughts of subduing America. This be
ing th^ case, and lord George being daily left in a mi
nority, it is thought his lordship will speedily resign,
rather than submit to have the negative put upon all
his propositions for the future operations of the war.
The much talked of treaty between England and
Holland, appears to have been negotiated in nubibus,
ratified in the moon, and signed in behalf of the con
trading powers by the celeflial Dr. Graham.