The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1781-06-02 00:00:00, page 2

general, in the heat of the engagement, '' Look at
that fellow, Vaughan, by G—* he is an honour to his
country." Chanticleer, it seems, escaped unhurt, and
as the reader may suppose, has been ever since honour
ed with the particular attention of the commander in
chief.
March i. Lord North on Tuesday gave notice to the
house, that he should on Monday next open the budget.
The following circumstance is a dreadful effect of
th,e cruelty of unsealing creditors. A few d ys
ago Mr. A , an eminent wine merchant of
the city, in consequence of some unexpeaed losses in
trade, particularly in reipeff to some connedions at
Gibraltar, was obliged to call a meeting of his cre
ditors ; he however previously , adjusted his affairs,
and clearly demonstrated by his books, that after th#
entire fatisfaaion of all demands he should be worth
7000 I. if they would allow him a year to turn him
felf about. Some of them were inclined to accede to
this reasonable proposal, but two, who are not distin
guished for the amiable weakßeffe# of the heart, re
marked. that he had no btfnefs to sport with their
property, and influenced the others to insist upon im
mediate payment, under terror of a bankruptcy. The
unhappy man, finding it impossible to (often their ob
duracy, went home immediately, and applied a gun
to his ear, the trigger of which he pressed with his
cane, and blew off half his head.
From Rivington's Royal Gazette, May 26, 1781.
The humble address of the right honourable the lords
spiritual and temporal, in parliament assembled.
Die Jovis, 25 Januarii, 1781.
" Most gracious sovereign,
" We your majefly's mod dutiful and loyal fub
jeßs, the lords spiritual and temporal, in parliament
affembbd, beg leave to return your majefly our bum
ble thanks for your mod gracious message, and for
having been pleased to communicate to this house your
majefly's public declaration, setting forth the causes
and motives which have obliged your majesty to dj
reft letters of marque and general reprisals to be is
sued againfl the States General of the United Provinces,
and their fubjeds.
" We observe, with much concern, and ju^ indig
nation, that the governing part of a nation, whom
the tics of common interest, and the faith of mutual
engagements, should have made a sincere friend, has
employed the mod boftife and pernicious means to an
noy an ancient ally, by leaguing with your majefly's
revolted fubjeas, and furni^ihg constant and effectual
aids to your inveterate enemies.
" We acknowledge with the highest fatisfaaipn, and
warmefi sentiments of gratitude, your maj, fly's wrf
dom, in endeavouring to bring the States General back
to those principles which they have deserted, and in
the reluftance you have ihewn to proceed to hostile
meafufes against a flare connected with this country
by the closest ties of mutual interest. Your majefly's
great moderation and forbearance strongly aggravate
their condud, which made the present rupture indis
pensably necessary.
We beg leave to assure your majefly, that we shall,
with the warmest and most dutiful zeal, give every
support to those vigorous measures, which your ma
jefly has determined to pursue. We are sensible they
are founded in juftiee and wisdom, and are such as the
honour of your majefly's crown, and the essential in.-
terefts of the nation require."
His majefly's most gracious answer.
My lords,
« I thank you for this very dutiful and affectionate
address.
“ I have the fulleft reliance on your support; and
I trust that the vigorous exertions I am determined
to make, will i,der the providence of God, defeat the
designs of all my enemies, and procure to my people
the blessings of a fafe and honourable peace."
The humble address of the house of commons to the
king.
" Most gracious sovereign,
“ We, your majefly's most dutiful and loyal fub
jefls, the commons of Great Britain, in parliament
assembled, return your 'majefty our humble thanks
for your most gracious message, and for having been
jdeafed to communicate to this heufe your Majefly's
public declaration, of the causes and motives which
have obliged yeur majefly to direct letters of marque
and general reprisals to be issued against the States Ge
neral of the United Provinces and their fubjeds.
“ Permit us, Sir, to assure your majesty, that we
take a most sincere part in the concern and regret
which your majesty expresses, for the unavoidable ne
cessity of hostile measures against the ancient friends
and natural allies of your kingdoms.
“ We acknowledge, with the warmest sentiments of
gratitude, the wisdom and moderation of your majes
ty's condud, in using every endeavour, before your
majesty proceeded to extremities, to prevail on the
States General to revert to that fyflem of found policy
which used to govern their councils in the best times of
the republic, and which formed and eflablifhed her
union with Great Britain, for the common interest and
mutual fafety of both countries.
“ We beg leave to assure your majesty, that your
faithful commons will, with a firm and determined
resolution, support your majesty against all your ene
mies, in the prosecution of this just and necessary war,
for the maintenance of the honour of your crown, and
of the rights and interests of your people.
N BW- Y O R K, May 26.
On Wednesday arrived his Majefly's ship Loyaliff,
captain Ardefoif, from Charleftown, but last from
Chefapeak-Bay : By her we learn, that the royal ar
mies to the southward are very healty, and carrying on
th p ir operations under the command of brigadier-gene
ral Arnold, with great vigour and success.
CHARLESTOWN, April t 6.
By his majefly's ship Pearl, which arrived here last
Friday evening, we have the pleasure to learn that lord
Cornwallis, with his army, was advanced to Living
ften's creek, on Cape-Fear River.
Head Quarters, Camp at Guilford, 16th March, 1781.
ORDER S.
Lord Cornwallis desires the officers and soldiers to
accept of his warmest acknowledgements, for the very
extraordinary valour displayed by them in the adion
of yesterday. He will endeavour to do justice to their
merit, in his representations to their sovereign, and
the commander in chief; and shall confider it as the
greatest honour of his life, to have been placed at the
head of so gallant an army.
He gives his particular thanks to Major General
Leslie, for the spirited and judicious attack Which he
conducted on the left wing of the enemy : to brigadier
general O'Harra, and lieutenant-colonel Webster, for
the eminent services which they rendered at the head
of their refpe&ive brigades : to brigadier- general How
ard, and to the officers who commanded the battalions
and corps of the guards and British line : to major Du
Buy, who so eminently distinguished himfelf at the
head of the brave regiment of Bose, and captain Roeder
who commanded the jagers : to lieutenant colonel T< r
leton, for the spirit and ability shewn by him in the
eonduft of the cavalry, which so greasy contributed
to the final success of the glorious day ; and to lieute
nant M'Cleod, for his ab'e management of the artil
lery. He must likewise acknowledge the assistance he
received from the services of his aid-de-c^mp, captain
Broderick, major Ross, and lieutenant Haldane; of cap
tain Skelly, aid de camp to major- general Leslie, ma
jor Defpard, deputy-adjutant-general, and major of
brigade England, anting as quarter mailer-general,
and the majors of brigade, Colins, Bowes and Mauley.
J. DESPARD, dtp. adjutant-general.
[The following speech of general Conway was pub
lished in New-York by Mr Rivington, on the 22d
ult- On what occasion it was delivered we a:e unac
quainted ; and that it should have been spoken so long
ago as the sth of May, 1780, (as Mr. Rivington
fays in his paper of May 23d, ult.) and never before to
have appeared in America, at leg ft beyond the British
polls, is to us unaccountable,—However, we pub
lish it in the fame order we received it.]
General Conway's S P EE C H,
For quieting the Troubles in A m e'r 1 c a.
Against an INDEPENDENCY: He is for Peace, but
yet urges the vigorous Prosecution of the War:
The great Distresses and Debt of America : General
du Portail's Account of America sent to the French.
Minister : General Conway recommends the fending
a strong. Reinforcement to America.
& S to withdrawing the troops, or granting inde
pendence, I shall fay little. The former has the
air of a poor and cowardly yielding, leaving them all
their force uncontrouled, and their league with France
and Spain entire. The latter I think a dreadful alter
native, for should the Thirteen Colonies be fevered
from us, we may still, perhaps, exist as a people, ne
ver as a great people. In the dying wards as lord
Chatham, “ it is a total dismemberment of the British
" empire : that empire which his majefly received
" entire from his progenitors, and which was gua
“ ranteed to the heirs of the princess Sophia." The
prince of Wales, he said, might demand his inheri
tance.
As to [the other, of offering no conditions at
all, whoever thinks this is a wound enfe recidendum,
to be cured by the sword alone, errs fatally in my
opinion ; we have tried that experiment too long, and
there is neither common sense nor humanity in it.
But, fir, I fay the sword alone, I never denied the
use of the sword since the war began ; I never refufed
any aid to the full employment of it. On the con
trary, I have urged and do now, the employment of
it with more activity and vigour.
There is no medium in war, and there is neither
honour nor humanity in a lingering one. I would
not keep one fuperfluous man at home, nor delay a
moment reinforcing your armies there to the utmofi ;
ten thousand men at least should immediately reinforce
fir Henry Clinton. I don't know what so many troops
are now doing at home, no way wanting to your de
fence. I would not lefe a moment in fending them.
What I desire is, that the alternative may be fully
and fairly before them : Let the picture of the famous
artist be actually and conflantly predated to their
view ; on the one fide," the horrors of war; on the
other, the certain blessings of peace. Let the golden
Hefperian fruit be placed, not only within their fight,
but within- their reach, for, fir, they cannot taste of
it but we must partake. As to the probability of
success, lam not too sanguine. I said, I saw a ray of
hope ; I think I do ; but if I could not prove a great
probability, it should fuffice (to shew the expediency
of this measure) that nene is more probable ; that it
is fafe and honourable, the terms being of your own
dictating, and that the experiment, which I have of
ten urged, has never been tried. Great terms, indeed,
were offered by his majefly's commissioners, but they
were not fpecifically authenticated by parliament. I
think the Americans wanted faith in them, and they
wanted subsequent ratification.
Sir, I do not fay he Americans will accept these con
ditions.N am not so pefumptuous ; yet I think there are
many reasons why they may accept them. I described,
I think, truly the wreched fixation of this country.
But, fir, the Americans are not upon a bed of roses
If we hive difficulties, so have they ; if we have dis
tresses, they are not exempt from them Ido not pre
tend to measure our mutual difaflers, nor to determine
which must fink or expire firft. I believe their personal
distresses are much greater than ours, and their resour
ces much less ; but they have great and potent allies,
who support them, and we have none. But to what
degree, and in what manner those allies will continue
to support them, it seems essential to know. .Will their
great and good ally the king of France assist their cre
dit, and pay their debts? I hear they already owe
three hundred million of dollars; that they have very
little money, and their paper currency excessively dis
credited. By a late order of congress, forty dollars
currency are to be paid for one silver dollar.
The quotas now demanded from the di^reut frat#
are very great; their troops are ill paid, ill fed, and il
cloathed ; and from hence a great difficulty in keeping
them together. I have been told the men in Walhingionh,
army in the Jerseys were last winter some days redu
ced to live on halt a pint of peafe, and many had not
shoes to their feet.
If these things are so, which I am not refponfibfe
for, but have some grounds to believe, their great and
good ally seems rather flow in supplying them. And
this proteaion of their liberties'dbes not, I believe
prevent much arbitrary proceeding and tyranny iR
their rulers. Should such distresses therefore continue
and increase ; should their demands on France be re
fufed, who knows but they too may wake from "their
golden dreary like ourselves, and fee in this protedor
ally?""' defi ^ in ^ conqueror, and the perfidious
I undetfland, indeed, that the French are now pre
paring to fend them a corps of troops; but I believe
that is not the mode of supply they have most wifhe#
tor ; bores, provisions, necessaries, and above all, mo
ney, have been the conftaut objects €/ f their demands
hitherto. That of fending troops has long been a
measure of great doubt and deliberation. I am not
Ture the Americans do not think, that when they a sk
for bread it is giving them a serpent. I know it is th*
opinion of some French, and many more Americans.
I do not speak at random.; I have heard and seen opi
nions of great weight on that head : one I will name
to you, M@nf. du Portail, a man of rank and charac
ter ; and as they are very firong and very apposite, I
wid quote to you f® m e lines out of as sensible a letter
: ^ is a letter from that gentleman to
Mons. de St. Germain, at that time minister of the war
department in France, written about a year ago. Hi,
words are:
" ft may be asked whether it would not be better fa
fend a body of 12 or 15,000 men thither, Ce feroit le
vrajmoyea de tout gater : that would be the true way
?."' r he ' e people here, though at war with
tire English, hate the French much moe than the Eng
- and notwithfcmding all that France has done, or
might go for them, they would prefer a reconciliation
wit,h their ancient brethren.—This fays he would
prove every day ; and mould they for a moment con
tent that French troops doming amon? them, their na
tural antipathy would soon difdafe itfelf, and would
produce the most fatal quarrels." And speaking af
terwards of the idea in putting the French in the psf
feffion of Canada, he adds -
" The neighbourhood of the French is Efficient tn
give them a dislike to their liberty . because they would
not ex peel to keep it long: dependance for dependance^
they prefer that of England."
He makes many other remarks of the Rate and dif
pohtion of America, very well worth attention, and
much confirming some proportions I have already
thrown out. He fays, They want floret and necessa
ries of many kinds, cloth, linen, leather, cordage, salt
sugar, brandy, &c. And that these things were of the
more consequence, because these people before the war
though net living in aßual luxury, 'had all the con!
veniences of lite in great abundance ; loved their ease
and their indolence ; their pipe of tobacco, and their
tea. They were heartily grieved to become soldiers all
of a sudden, and to be plunged into the rigours and
hardships of war, which they detefied.
' 'This may seem, fays he, a strange language - but
such is really the turn of this people ; they aft with no
energy, vigour, nor passion, in the cause they have
efpbufed, and continue in it only because they have
been once set a going in it. lly a cent fois plus d'en
thufiafme pour cette revolution dans un caffe de Paris,
que dans toutes les colonies unies^ ''There is a hund
red times more enthuiiafm for this revolution in a cof
fee house at Paris, than in all the united colonies."
Such Sir, are the genuine reflections of this gentleman :
Ido not assert the infallibility of Mons. du Portail - I
do not swear by Mons. du Portail; but I think 'he
writes like a man of sense ; he was then conversant
with the Americans; he had an high rank in their ar
my, and he seems by his style to have been confiden
tially employed to fludy and report to the French mi
nifler, the hate of things in that country.
I should add too, that after all these ebfervations,
he urges ftrenuoudy the support of the American war
m a proper way ; and that because he thinks the in
dependence of America vreuld annihilate the marine of
Great. Britain, and throw its commerce into the hand&
of France.
To some it may seem strange, fir, that I, profeffed^
ly a favourer of the Americans, and a determined ene
my to this war, ffiould in any degree adopt such lan
guage, should express such aversion to the independ
ence of America, and with a plan of conciliation in m,
hand, and' God knows at my heart, should yet urge
the increase of our army there, and the more spirited
and vigorous prosecutions of hoftilities>
First then, let me fay, that it is because I bate the
war, that lam for carrying it on with vigour. If 1
wished to prolong the war, I should be for carrying it
on ignorantly and flimfily.
And I desire it may be remembered, that although
to America, persecuted by our cruelty, and trampled
on by our pride ; to America, goaded and forced in
to rebellion, I was an ardent friend, y^t to America,
irrevocably, as her Congress afferti, leagued with France
and Spain, our natural enemies, against us, I have
long ago declared, if I ara a friend to Great Britain,
I must be an enemy.
ff therefore they are determined to be French and
not britifh colonies ; if they will have unconditional
submission from us, badas our fituatior .may be, I will
not think it desperate—Despair is a mean and coward
ly vice ; deftruftion for deftmaion : I would fdi man
fully at least, and, as our great deliver king William
said 'die in the last ditch.' But, fir, you have a vast
army in America ; I believe the eflablifhment is a^ove
76 @OO men, though we have fought our principal
battles with 10, or at most 15,000 men • where as, coul^
we have an army of 30,000 dfembfed, I am perfuapedl
the Americans never could have drawn, er kept to
gether, one to face them ; we .fo.e to.did£s the \n^