Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1775-05-22 00:00:00, page 5

Postscript to the Pennsylvania Packet. No. 187, % 22
WILLIAMSBURG, (Virginia) May 5.
^aa^A^TE on Wednesday night, Col.
^^fi Carter Braxton arrived in town
L fr° m a number ®f armed people,
M% all men of property, led by Patrick
Henry, Esq; on their march for
i^irhrt, t hi s city, from the counties of
Hanover, New Kent, and King William. The
intent of their coming, we are well assured, is the
general alarm spread over the country by the re
moval of the gunpowder from the public magazine,
and to secure the Treasury from a like catastrophe;
as also to seize upon the person of his Majesty's
Receiver General (then in this city) till either the
gunpowder was restored, or a sum of money paid
down to its value. Next morning Col. Braxton
returned, with the Hon. Richard Corbin's bill of
exchange for 3201. sterling; and at the fame time
the inhabitants of this city engaging themselves to
guard the public Treasury, the gentlemen dispersed
yesterday afternoon, and are returned to their re
ipe&ive homes, perfectly fatisfied with the success
of their expedition. They had proceeded as far
as Doncaftle's, about 15 miles from town, where
they were encamped to the number of 150 men
and upwards, all well accoutred, and had a very
martial appearance.
As soon as his Excellency the Governor re
ceived intelligence of the above armed force com
ing down, he dispatched a messenger to the Fowey
man of war, now lying before York-town, and by
ten o'clock yesterday morning a detachment of
40 sailors and marines belonging to that (hip, un
der the command of Capt. Stretch, arrived at the
Palace; they did not march through the main
Street, but were led through the Governor's park.
Upwards of lOQ of the citizens last night guard
ed the public Treasury, and patrolled the streets.
This morning a warrant was issued to search
certain houses for arms, fufpeded to have been
taken out of the magazine in this city, a consider
able number being miffing; but the officer, we
hear, has not been able to find any.
The Right Hon. the Countess of Dunmore,
with all the Governor's family, are now on board
the Fowey man of war.
At a Council held at the Palace, May 2, 1775;
present his Excellency the Governor, Thomas Nel
fun, Richard Corbin, William Byrd, Ralph
Wormeley, jun. Esquires, John Camm, Clerk,
and John Page, Est;
The Governor mas pleased to address himfelf
to the Board in the following manner :
Gentlemen,
COMMOTIONS and infurredtions have
faddenly been excited among the people,
which threaten the very existence of his Majesty's
government in this colony; and no other cause is
aligned for such dangerous meafur'es than that the
gunpowder which had, some time past, been brought
from on board one of the King's ships, to which
it belonged, and was deposited in the magazine of
this city, hath been removed, which, it is known,
was done by my order, to whom, under the con
stitutional righg of the Crown, which I represent,
the custody and disposal of all public ftorcs of arms
and ammunition alone belong; and, whether I
a&ed in this matter (as my indifpenfible duty re
quired) to anticipate the malevolent designs of the
enemies of order and government, or to prevent
the attempts of any enterprifmg Negroes, the pow
der being still as ready and convenient for being
distributed for the defence of the country, upon
any emergency, as it was before, which I have
publicly engaged to do, the expediency of the step
I have taken is equally manifeft : And therefore,
it must be evident that the fame headstrong and
deligning people, who have already but too fuc
cefsfully employed their artifices in deluding his
Majesty's faithful fubjeds, and in seducing them
from their duty and allegiance, have seized this
entirely groundless fubjed of complaint, only to
inflame afrefh, and to precipitate as many as pos
sible of the unwary into ads, which, involving
them in the fame guilt, their corruptors think may
bind them to the fame plans and schemes, which
are unquestionably meditated in this colony, for
subverting the present, and ereding a new, form
of government.
Induced by an unaffe&ed regard for the general
welfare of the people, whom I have had the ho
nour of governing, as well as aduated by duty
and zeal in the service ®f his Majesty, I call upon
you, his Council in this colony, for your advice
upon this pressing occasion, and I fnbmit to you
whether a proclamation fliould not issue conform
able to what I have now suggested ; and, before
our fellow fubjeds abandon themselves totally to
extremities, which must inevitably draw down an
accumulation of every human misery upon their
unhappy country, to warn them of their danger,
to remind them of the sacred oaths of allegiance
Although I confider myfelf, under the autho
rity of the crown, the only constitutional judge
in what manner the ammunition, provided for the
protection of the people of this government, is to
be disposed of for that end, yet, for effecting the
salutary objects of this proclamation, and remov
ing from the minds of his Majesty's fubje&s the
groundless suspicions they have imbibed, I think
proper to declare, that the apprehensions which
seemed to prevail throughout this whole country,
of an intended infurreCtion of the slaves, who had
been seen in large numbers, in the night-time,
about the magazine, and my knowledge of its be
ing a very insecure depository, were my induce
ments to that measure , and I chose the night as
the properest season, because I knew the temper of
the times, and the misinterpretations of my de
sign which would be apt to prevail, if the thing
should be known. Acting under these motives, £
certainly rather deserve the thanks of the country
than their reproaches. But, whenever the pre
sent ferment shall subside, and it shall become ne
cessary to put arms into the hands of the militia,
for the defence of the people against a foreign
enemy, or intestine insurgents, I shall be as ready,
as on a late occasion, to exert my best abilities in
the service of the country. In the mean time, as
it is indifpenfibly neceflary to maintain order, and
the authority of the laws, and thereby the digni
ty of his Majefly's government, I exhort and re
quire, in his Majesty's name, all his faithful fub
jeds, to leave no expedient uneffayed which may
tend to that happy end. Such as are not to be
influenced by the love of order, for its own fake,
and the blessings it is always productive of, would
do well to confider the internal weakness of this
colony, as well as the dangers to which it is ex
posed from a savage enemy; who, from the most
recent advices I have received from the frontier
inhabitants, are ready to renew their hostilities
against the people of this country. But as, on the
one hand, nothing can juftify men, without pro
per authority, in a rapid recurrence to arms, no
thing excuse, resistance to the executive power in
the due enforcement of law, so, on the other,
nothing but such resistance, and outrageous pro-
which they have taken, and to call up in their
breads that loyalty and affection, which, upon
so many occasions, have been profeffed by them
to their King, their lawful Sovereign ; and far
ther, to urge and exhort, in particular, those
whose criminal proceedings on this occasion have
been, and are still so alarming, to return to their
duty, and a due obedience to the laws; and, in
general, all perlons whatsoever to rely upon the
goodness and tenderness of our most gracious So
vereign to all his fubjeds equally, and upon the
wisdom of his councils for a redress of all their
real grievances, which redress can only be obtain
ed by con ftitutibnal applications ; and lastly, to
enjoin all orders of people to submit, as becomes
good fubjeds, to the legal authority of their go
vernment, in the protection of which their own
happiness is most interested.
The Council thereupon acquainted bis Excel
lency, that as the matters he had been pleased to
communicate to them were of the greatest conse
quence, they desired time to deliberate thereon
till the next day.
At a Council held at the Pa'ace, May 3, 1775;
present his Excellency the Governor, Thomas Nel
son, Richard Corbin, William Byrd, Ralph
Wormeley, junior, Esquires, John Camm, Clerk,
and John Page, Esq;
The Board, resuming the consideration of the
fubjed laid before them yesterday by the Gover
nor, adrifed him to issue the following proclama
tion, and the fame was ordered accordingly.
VIRGINIA, to quit,
WH EREAS there is too much reason to
suppose that some persons, in different
parts of this colony, are difaffe&ed to his Majes
ty's government, and, by their weight and credit
with the people, are endeavouring to bring the
country into such a situation, as to afford them
the faireft profpeft of effecting a change in the
form of it, covering their wicked designs under
the specious appearance of defending their liber
ties, and have taken advantage of the unhappy
ferment, which themselves have raised in the minds
of their fellow fubjeds, in prosecution of their
dangerous designs, to oppose the most undoubted
prerogative of the King, which in a late instance
I thought it expedient to exert, by removing on
board his Majesty's ship the Fowey, a small quan
tity of gunpowder, belonging to his Majesty, from
the magazine in this city: I have thought fit, by
advice of his Majesty's Council, to issue this my
proclamation, with a view of undeceiving the de
luded, and of exposing to the unwary the destruc
tion into which they may be precipitated, if they
fuffer themselves to be longer guided by such in
fatuated counsels.
ceedings, shall ever compel me to avail myfelf of
any means that may carry the appearance of se
verity.
Anxious to restore peace and harmony to this
diffracted country, and to induce a firmer reliance
on the goodness and tenderness of our most graci
ous Sovereign to all his fubjeAs equally, and on
the wisdom of his councils for a redress of their
real grievances, which can only be obtained by
loyal and constitutional applications. I again call
upon and require all his Majesty's liege fubje&s,
and especially all Magistrates and other officers,
both civil and military, to exert themselves in re
moving the difeontents, and suppressing the spirit
of faction, which prevail among the people; that
a dutiful submission to the laws of the land may
be ftri&ly observed, which shall ever be the rule
of my conduct, as the interest and happiness of
this dominion ever have been, and shall continue
to be, the objects of my administration.
Given under my hand, and the seal of the colony,
at Williamfburgh, the 3d day of May, 1775,
and in the fifteenth year of his Majesty's reign.
DUNMOR E.
GOD SAVE THE KIN G.
May 6. A few nights ago some people privates
ly entered the public magazine in this city and
took a great number of guns, cartouch boxes,
swords, canteens, &c. for which his Excellency
the Governor has ordered a diligent search ta,^
made.
Yesterday there was a meeting of the Commit
tee of King William county, and part of the mi
litia, when the contents of the second express
from the northward was communicated, and it
had such an effect on the minds of the people, that
near zool. was immediately subscribed for the
use of our brethren now fighting in the common
cause. Most of the principal gentlemen subscribed
ten pounds each, as not half the country were
present, there is no doubt but that it will be near
ly doubled.
The town cf York being somewhat alarmedby
a letter from Capt. Montague, commander ofhis
Majesty's ship the Fowey, addressed to the Hon.
1 homas Nelson, Esq; President of his Majesty's
Council in Virginia; and a copy of laid letter
being procured, a motion was made, that the co
py should be laid before the Committee, and
considered. The copy was read, and is as follows#
" Sir, Fomey, May 4, 1775.
" I have this morning received certain infor
mation that his Excellency the Lord Dunmore,
Governor of Virginia, is threatened .with an at
tack at day break this morning, at his palace in
Williamsburg, and have thought proper to fend a
detachment from his Majesty's ship under my com
mand, to support his Excellency, therefore Wrong
ly P ra y y° u to make use of every endeavour to
prevent the party from being molested and attack
ed, as in that case 1 must be under a necessity to fire
upon this town. From
George Montagus."
lothe Hon. Thomas Nelson.
The Committee, together with Capt. Monta
gue's letter, takinginto consideration the time of
its being lent, which was too late to permit the
President to use his influence, had the inhabitants
been disposed to moles and attach the detachment ;
and farther considering that Col. Nelson, who,
had this threat been carried into execution, must
have been a principal fufferer, was, at that very
moment exerting his utmost endeavours in behalf
of government, and the fafety of his Excellen
cy's person, unanimously came to the following
resolutions :
Rejoroed, That Captain Montague, in threat
ening to fire upon a defencelefs town, in case of
an attack upon the detachment, in which said
town might not be concerned, has teftified a spi
rit of cruelty unprecedented in the annals of civili
zed times; that, in his late notice to the Presi
dent, he has added insult to cruelty; and that,
considering the circumstance, already mentioned,
of one of the most considerable inhabitants of said
town, he has discovered the most hellish princi
ples that can a&uate a human mind.
Resolved, That it be recommended to the in
habitants of this town, and to the County in ge
neral, that they do not entertain or shew any
other mark of civility to Captain Montague, be
sides what common decency and absolute necessity
require.
Refoived, That the clerk do transmit the above
proceedings to the public printers, to be inserted
in the Virginia Gazettes.
(A true copy.)
William Russell, Clk. Com.
We hear from York Town, that in consequence
of Capt. Montague's letter to the President, many
of the inhabitants were lo much alarmed that they
immediately removed their families and effects in
to the country.