The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1782-04-02 00:00:00, page 3

NEW-LO ND O N,. March 15.
It is said that two frigates were, a few days ago, seen
cruizing between Montauk and Block-island.
A letter from New-Haven, dated the 12th inflant,
fays, “ A 10 gun sloop and a number of boats are
I lying at the Thimble-islands, and a brig is passing al
most every day; two vessels were taken this afternoon
in fight of this town. They frequently take vessels
while in harbour."
NEWPORT, March 16.
The honourable general assembly of the flare of Con
ne&icut, at their late sessions, appointed the honoura
ble Eliphalet Dyer, William S. Johnson, and Jesse
Roote, esquires, as council on the part of that Rate to
meet their competitor the state of Pennsylvania before
congress the firft of June next, in order to produce the
evidences of claim to the weflern frontiers, called the
Sufquehannah grants.
We are informed, that no person will be received in
to this state's continental battalion, except those who
have served three years or upwards in the continental
army, and can produce an honourable discharge; or
such as are lawfully maried, and have resided three
years or more within this state.
26, 1782.
" Among the laws passed this session are, one aft
for confiscating the estates and banishing the persons
of 238 citizens; another for amerfing about forty per
sons, twelve per cent, on the whole value of their
estates teal and personal ; another for amerfing nearly
the fame number of persons ten per cent, on the whole
value of their estates ; another for granting pardon to
a number of persons who came from the enemy and fur
rendered themselves agreeable to the governor's pro
clamation of the 27th of September last, on condition
of their paying ten per cent, on the whple value of their
estates. By these acts, the public will take immediate
ly into their possession at least a million and an half
sterling, out of which eight hundred soldiers are to be
raised to fill our Continental line."
We are informed from unquestionable authority,that
the reverend Mr. Ha.rifon, who was found in York at
the surrender of lord Cornwallis, and was then suppos
ed to have voluntarily adhered to and taken part with
the enemy, has been acquitted by the Examining court
Of Dinwiddie county, ne Evidence appearing against
him.
Last Sunday morning, about fun rife, a party of
Joyalißs from this garrison, commanded by captain
Blanchard, landed at Tom's river, N^w-Jerfey, about
forty miles from Sandy hook, and formed a rebel fort,
bayohetted twelve rebels and took eleven prisoners ;
spiked and threw into the river an iron fix pounder,
brought off four brass swivels mounted on a block
house in the fort, which they burned. They also de
firoyed a salt works, a mill, and the habitations of some
notorious villians in the vicinity of th, fort. The re
bels, it is laid, had a major and two fubd^rns killed,
a captain and the noted Randall are among the prifo
nefs In this gallant attack, captain Anfiie, and lieu
tenant Iredale, of the loyalists, fell, and two of the par
ty were wounded.
£l, 1782.
“ By the January packet arrived at Antigua, weare
just now advised, that Rodney is arrived at Barbadoes
with eleven fail of the line. Count de Graffe has heard
of it, and is making the best of his way to Martinico ;
the packet brings an account, that proposals are sent
to America for a cessation of arms for three years —
You will soon know if thisfs true."
Extract of a letter from one of the members of Assem
bly of the state of South-Carolina, dated February
Through the vigilance of the town watch (whose con
flant care for and attention to the interest and welfare
of the town, justly deserve its warmest thanks, not to
fay any reward) some notorious villains were, last
Thursday night, detected as they were dealing out of
the store of Mr. Jeremiah Alien, in Butler's-row, where
they had, but a few minutes before, forced themselves
in, and were pretty heavy burthened with their ill
gained booty: the goods were recovered and the
,thieves conduded to fafe keeping till next morning,
when they were had before a magistrate, where they
confeffed the crime, and were again committed to
prison, to Band trial at the next supreme judicial
court; when, no doubt, their exaltation will be as
conspicuous as their crimes are meritorious.
L O N D O N, September 15.
@ri^n of the proverbial expression—by Hook or by
Crook.
<TOOK and Crook were the names of two of our
H judges at the beginning of the lad century. They
were both men of eminence in their profiGon, but not
more remarkable for any thing than for the perpetual
diversity of opinion that prevailed between them on the
feat of justice. Be the cfe what it would, every suitor
wa s fore to have either Hook or Crook of his fide.
R I C H M O N D, IMHrch 23.
Extras of a letter from a merchant at St. Thomas's,
to his correfpondeno in Virginia, dated February
We hear the noted colonel Conchy, who was taken
prisoner at the siege of York, has in open violation of
his parole, gone to Detroit, and is now meditating the
most hostile designs against the united Rates.
We learn from good authority, that the assembly of
South-Carolina have directed an estate of the value of
ten thousand guineas, to be purchased for gen. Greene,
as a mark of their gratitude for his dißinguifhed services
in the recovery of their country, and there-establish
ment of civil government.
Captain Gray, in a privateer of this port, arrived
from a cruize on Thurs ay last. on the 19th ult. he
carried a prize sloop into one of the harbours of New-
Jersey, and the next day sent a boat with seven men in
pursuit of a brig which lay near the bar, but the boat
was loft, and all the men were unfortunately downed.
N E W-V OR K, March 25.
B O S T O N, March 21.
SALE M, March 14.
CHATHA 'M, March 27.
By accounts from New-York we learn, that a detach
ment of about 400 men failed last week, supposed on a
picarooning expedition towards Tom's river or Egg-
Harbour:—That nothing can exceed the animosity
fubfißing between general Clinton and admiral Digby :
— That the young prince is recalled to the royal pre
sence :—That the inhabitants are obliged to work on
the fortifications Conftru&ing for the defence of the
city : —That a vast number of the inhabitants are pre
paring to fail for England :--That the fleet of light trans
ports which lately failed from New York, had arrived
at Charleftown, and, it was generally believed, would
bring off the garrison.
Monday the 18th inflant, Samuel Iriflee, printer, at
Trenton, fllot himfelf through the head. —Insanity, it
is supposed, had got the empire over reason, which gc
cafioned him to commit this rash aft.
“ A Spanish fleet, composed of 41 fail of the line, un
der M. de Cordova, failed from hence on the 3d in
flant. They took under convoy transports with 4000
troops, defined for the Havannah. It is supposed they
were to cruize in the latitude of Madeira, to wait the
junction of M. de Guichen, who failed from Brest on
the nth ult. with 19 (hips of the line, convoying 15,000
troops, for the Weft-Indies."
On Thursday arrived here from Surinam, after a
passage of 20 days, the letter of marque sloop Success,
cap ain John B. Hopkins. He informs, that it was re
ported there before he failed, that two French frigates
and four transports, with a number of troops, were on
their way from one of the French islands to retake De
rnarara.
A letter from Baltimore mentions the arrival there
of a vessel from the Weft Indies, after a short passage,
which brings accounts of the landing of 5000 01 his
most ChriftianM•jefty's forces on the illaod of Anti
gua, and also of the blockade of 18 Blips of the line at
that island by the count de Graffe, with a far superior
force.
The following paragraph is taken from the Virginia
Gazette, dated the 23d of March:
" A fllip is arrived in York river with dispatches
" from count de Graffe to his excellency general count
" Rochambeau, giving an account of the taking of St.
“ Kitt's and Nevis with 3000 land forces. She also
" brings an account of the naval a&ion between the
" French and British fleets, in which the latter i§B the
" Gibraltar of 80 guns blown up, one funk, on^ ran
" aground, and one taken, together with two frigates,
" three Poops of war, and 1,5 transports. 1
A letter from a gentleman in Richmond to iris friend
here contains the fame acounts ; -but we must wait for
a confirmation before we give them to our readers as
authntc.
Wednesday last, the 27th inflant, the house of his ex
cellency the minister of France was struck by lightning.
This building Bands alone, at a considerable diftuce
from any other, at the wefiern 'extremity of the city.
The lightning struck it in three different places. The
principal explosion was on the weft fide of the house.
The chimney of monsieur le chevalier de la Luzerne
was thrown down to the roof, and the bricks Scatter
ed to a great diflance ; the lightning descended down
the chimney, attracted by a flove that flopped up the
fire-place; irritated by this obstacle it broke the flpve
in pieces, demolished entirely the mantle piece, fpli'-
the funnel of the chimney, threw down and broke all
the wainScotting near it, dispersed the bricks to the
other end of the room, and cast pieces of the stove to
the diCance of ten or twelve feet, broke the furniture
and glass, and the chamber was found covered with
rubbish The eletric matter appears to have Scattered,
by traces left on the wall at the front of the house, in
returning upwards towards the roof, where the lead
of the gutters attracted it without doubt. The fame
explosion which Bruck the chimney followed thecourfe
of the gutters and defeended by a leaden pipe, the end
of which terminated on the outside of the wall of the
bedchamber ®f the chevalier: attracted by an
iron bedflead in the chamber, it penetrated the wall
and tore two bricks out of it, leaving a long black
trace on the wall, and Collected by the iron bedflead
set the curtains and bedcloaths on fire; it has flarted
the flooring and made its way into the dining room,
underneath this chamber, by a breach in the ceiling of
the dining room of about fix feet long and two feet
broad; gliding along the wainfeoting has fallen upon
the window-leads and hinges of the Flutters, which
were all torn off, and has cast the window Gutters
to the other fide of the r om; Split in Several places a
mahogany bufet and broke all the china within; the
chairs were all broken by tr.e force ofxhe commotio ®
after which it passed out at a window of the court,
without any other consequences.
Two persons who were in this chamber saw the bed
polls dart abundance of slashes of fire in the milft of a
thick black smoke, which had a Sulphurous Smell; it lias
torn up all the flooring under the bedstead, and has
opened a large passage into a parlour on the ground
floor, by breaking away the intermediate boards, ^nd
removing joices four inches thick. Here the electric
matter appears to have divided and taken three differ
ent directions ; one has followed the wire of the bell in-
The lightping struck also the eaflern fide of the house
at the fame time, that it did te weflern fide. The
electrical matter without doubt was conduced by the
moisture on the roof, caused by a considerable Blower
of rain, that had just fallen and coming to a Cheval
de plomb, penetrate I through the cramp irons which
fattened it to the timber work of the r of, and entered
a clofc-prefs id a chamber on tee upper flory, set fire
to the clothes, broke down the Ihelfs, melted all the
nails, broke a china jugof milk, and reduced the milk
to Smoke. It is probable it would have done a great
deal more damage in tnis chamber, if it had not met
with the attraction of an iron bed-ftcad, which was in
a room on a lower story.
Philadelphia, April 2.
PROVIDE N C R, March 16.
Extraa of a lettter from Cadiz, dated January 7.
to an adjoining .redm, and has taken off a great part
of the corniche therein, and then Scattered; another
has Sunken a part of the floor in the direction of its
firft entrance, but out of the parlour and hear the flair
case, whence it has been conducted in two different di
regions along a bell wire, one end of which terminated
at the door of the house, and the other at a wafh-bafou-
It tore off the cornice on one fide of the front door,
and pushed out of its place one of the ornamental pil
lars on the outside where the bell-wire hangs ; it went
off in an iron cilender full of live coals, placed in the
middle of a tray of water ; it dispersed the coal in all
directions ; it partly extinguished in the water, and
Scarce left any further trace. But the third, in its
passage, took along the sashes of the window next to the
place where it entered, struck rhe window leads and tore
off on one fide,all the casing and the window flutter,fol
lowing the gilding of the rods, and defeending along the
rods on the lining of the window, opposite to the place of
its entrance, which it partly br&ke. Unfortunately &
French officer was near this window ; the shock threw
him into a swoon on a chair, and set fire to his cloaths-
He was alone, and no one coming to his affiflance for
some minutes, he was terribly and daneeroufly burnt
his clothes were almost wholly confuted about him.
Here the lightning seems to have divided partly by the
sash, a piece of which was torn off; and partly by a
nail, through the flour to the cellar ; whither it was at
tracted by some tin'd plates towards which it made its
way, by tearing Several boards, blackning the whole of
the tin and melting in Several places the white metal off
the plates ; and even some parts of these plate; it Scat
tered, and threw afid. the dung that closed up a cellar
window, through which i' escape 1, having marked th?
iron bars of the window. Besides it broke a great many
bottles and pa rtly overturned every thing in the cel
lar.
Exclusive of these particular tracks of the lightning,
the house appears to have had a general fheck; all the
walls have been th ken and cracked; chinks haveo
pened in many places; tle moll of the bell wires have
been melted ; itveral locks torn off or broken, the cor
nices near the bells broken in many pieces; there is
Scarcely a nail but what has been removed by the
shock upon tuehoufe, which was general; the inside
of the rooms were covered with dust; a black, thick
hiding vapour, wh ch emitted an intolerable Smell of
brimhone, filled the whole house, and was cleared a
way with difficulty. Wherever the electrical matter
failed of a conductor, the ipark or slash with which it
darted, has traced io zigzag a bread black Break, with
a narrower one within, kfs tinged.
This incident is a new proof, added to a great many
other, of the ufefulnefs of the metalic conductors for
which mankind are indebted to the invention of the
celebr.ted doctor Franklin ; there is every reason to be
lieve that if the-house of the miniSer of France, lad
been provided wit.; such, that even supposing the light
ning had struck a part of the building, distant from
the conductor, its violencemuft have been conffdera bly
weakened by the attraction of the point; audit would
have left but light marks 0 the Broke, as happened
some time since, to doCtor Shippen's house.
The circumftnces farther fliew that the stove, which
attracted and flopped the lightning, occasioned these
dreadful conculfions, from whence we are led to be
lieve, that by this the dangers were greatly encreafed;
it seems also, that the iron bed-fiead had like effect,
as by concentering the eleHric fire they gave new en
ergy to the thunder clap; and that iron bid-Beads
would be very dangerous Should a thunder storm hap
pen in the night.
A CASE For CONSIDERATION.
OF late we have had great depredations committed
on the trade of this city by refugee boats, cruis
ing in disguise in the river and bay ; t„ey affe& to ap
pear like market boats, or imitate any other appearance
which serves to suit their purpose.
Every thing in difeuife is a spy. A British officer
throwing off his regimentals, putting on a country
man's coat, and found fl<ulking about the country,
would be treated as a spy ; A refugee boat in the river,
without l^r proper colours being hoißed (which are
her regimentals) is in the f me predicament; foe is a.
spy boa(, and the perlons aboard her have no right to
be corifidered as prisoners. Suppose an ordinance was
published, t .at after a certain time, every boat or ves
sel of the enemy, which should enter the capes of any
bay or river in America, not having her proper colours
constantly hoifled and flying, or making use of any
disguise, should if taken be considered asafpy. In the
wide ocean wh : ch belongs alike to every body, vessels
may praßice disguise, but within the territory of a
country the case is widely different, and let them serve
ours in the fame manner if they catch them, for the
practice on any fide is scandalous- —
Strayed away on the 27th of
Much, from a fervent who war leading him by the
markrt-houle, a Black carriage HORSE, about ^
hands high, eight years old, a fmali tp.t on his fore
head, and in good order. Whoever fecutes the said
horse and brings him 10 Clement Biddle, in Water
ftrtet, er to general K ox's quarters at Mrs. Ritchies
near the draw bridge, thali receive Four Dollars reward
with re fonable charges.
Mrs. Fisher takes this method of
informing the Public, that the has amoved hom New-
York to the city of Philadelphia, where (he now car
ries on MIDWIFERY. Any one thatcl ules luf.ivovr
her with their command, m^y depend upon her en
deavouring 10 gve fdt.sk flijD, as (he can be w II re
commended by able doQozfy Mrs. Filh o- livesin Chrif
tian-facet, between Front auu Water Hlre%
To be SOLD, a NEGRO lOY about 12 years of
age. Enquire of the Printer.