The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1780-11-21 00:00:00, page 2

To Dr. William Shippen, jun.
Diredor General of the Military Hospitals of the
United States.
I T is with reluctance that I am obliged to appear in
j a news paper controversy with a man of your un
wort! y char ter. Jam well aware of the advantage
you will have over me in point of leisure. While eve
ry hour of my time is employed in discharging the du
ties of my profeffion, you have nothi gto do, from
the manner in which you execute or rather hold your
prfent office, but to transcribe the depositions of your
fteWards and commissaries.
The regard I bear your worthy connections obliges
me to lament that you have forced me to contribute
my mite towards exposing your crimes, and a^akeieg
against you the refcntmeut of your plundered country.
U id you been well advised you would have avoided a
public Scrutiny into your conduCt, by resigning your
commission, and retiring, with your blufliing ho
nours thick upon you.—But you were permitted by
heaven to continue in office, that public infamy, (the
ward of all punifliments,) might Supply the place of
" public juftice.'
I am much obliged to you for the extracts you have
published from my letters, written to you in the Sum
mer of the year 1776. They prove that I entered into
the hospital department with you with prejudices in
ybur favour, and that the rupture between us was oc
cafiooed only by your gross negligence of your duty,
and by your consuming and felling those stores th^t
were proper and necessary for the hospitals-
It is to no purpose for you to attempt to perSuade
the public th tI used indirect roeafttres with witnesses
to induce them to appear againiiyou. You know
that I had no Sinecures or rations of Coffee, Sugar,
Wirie, Spirits, and Forage, to lavish upon them. How
far a plentiful allowance of theSe articles have influenced
your witnesses, the following extraCt of a letter from
Dr- Otto, the most refpedable of them, will Sufficiently
shew. It was receive # three weeks before he Subscribed
the certificate of the wants of the hoffital at Trenton,
and of your neglect to supply them. The original let
ter is lodged with the printers of this paper.
“ I BEG I may be Supplied with articles in the in
" closed lift, which things stand in very necessity of.--
" I thill take the greater care to do my duty in the
" important office here to which you were pleased to
" appoint me, and all orders Shall be punctually obey
" el by, ref'pefted fir, your obedient and very humble
" servant,
"BODO OTTO, Surgeon."
. The articles mentioned in the above lift were 1 the
fame which he declares in his certificate to be wanting
in the hospital. His application to me is a proof that he
had applied to you for them to no purpose; for he well
knew that it was no more my business to furnith those
articles than it was to provide beef and flour for the
army. I take it for granted that the attorney general
of the Bate will take proper notice of this man's depo
sition. He knows the name and punishment of his
cringe.
You miflake in Supposing by this publick attack up
on your conduct in office that any reflection is intended
upon the court that tried you, although I fee no reason
why the decisions of a military court in a free country
ought not to be as fubjeft to public examination as
the decisions of a civil court or the proceedings of a
legislature. Considering the amazing number of your
witnesses and the uhblufhing manner in which many
of them performed the evolutions you had taught them,
I am furprized at the Sentence of your court-martial.
They gave you only a cold acquital of four of the
charges brought against you, and this in all armies is
considered only as a merciful confirudion of evi
dence. But they found you guilty of (peculation.
They convifted you of a crime agarnft which the reso
lutions of Congress, the force of laws, the virtue of the
army, the declamations of patriots, and the rage of
mobs, have been uniformly direfted since the beginning
of the war. The rules and articles of war provide no
punishment for this crime: the court left this to the
Congress, and expected it would be Severe and exem
plary. lam told they were much disappointed and
Shocked with the news of your re-appointment, and
join with the other officers and Surgeons of the army
in considering their commissions as lets valuable since
the Congress have conferred a new one upon you.
I have the highest reSpeH for. the public authority of
our country ; but I am Satisfied that the Safety of our
infant republic consists in keeping a watchful eye over
our rulers, and irrexpofing their faults with a manly
freedom . I am led here unwillingly to declare that the
Congress threw every possible obstruction and delay for
two years in the way of your being brought to a tryal.
At last you were dragged from their arms to appear
before a court martial When the proceedings of the
court were read in Congress, a sense of duty and jus
tice for a while prevailed in the house. The Congress
saw you lounging nine months in twelve in Philadel
phia, an hundred miles diflant from your hospi
tals, and ther^fore-were forced to believe the proofs
that were brought of your negle& of hospital dirty.
They were moreover better acquainted with the private
charade's of the witnesses in behalf of the United States
than the gentlemen of the army who tried you ; and, in
spite of their partiality for you, nine slates out of ele
ven refufed to confirm the Sentence of the court-marti
al. The pensive genius of American liberty railed her
eyes from the ground to read the vote, anda moment
ary joy irradiated her countenance; while peculation
and every other Species of public fraud Suddenly grew
pale, and trembled for their fate. But the joy of vir
tue and the fears'pf vice were of Short duration : the
Congress soon relapsed into their ancient habits of fa
voritism. Whether it was the effects of their own Ma
deira, issued to them at yonr own table, I will not
pretend to fay, but they repented of their virtue, and
re elected you director general of their hospitals. Tam
told only seven Rates concurred in your disgraceful
appointment. I wish, forthe honourof republican vir,
trie, that the eastern Rates and the Rate of Pennsylva
nia, who pursued general Arnold for Speculating in
dry goods, and who voted for the recalling of Mr.
leant on a report of his Speculating in the British
funds, had been among the fix virtuous Rates who op
poled your election. It requires no Spirit of prophecy
to add, that, unless you are dismissed, and the dele
gates who voted for you discovered and changed, it
will not be in the power of foreign alliances or (oans to
save our country. In spite of tuem both, and even of
the miracles and munificence of heaven, we must be
an undone people.
Let not the friends of our union be offended at the
freedom of these Strictures upon Congress. The old
maxim of dividing and conquering does not apply to
the prefect circumßancesof America. Wemuft divide,
or we Shall be conquered, The Speculator in -office,
and the trimmer in power, must be Separated from t e
faithful servant of the public, and the upright ruler
of the people. The enemy are more encourag'd to
prosecute the war by that^uft for gain, which has at
last contaminated feme of our public officers, than
ever they have been by our parties or deputes. They
have Seen, by the success of a late experiment, how
much the prostitution of tank and office to the purpo
ses of Speculation debars the heart, and prepares it
for Seduction and treachery. Ido not mean by this
difgreffion to insinuate that fir Harry .Clinton will ever
tempt you with waggon loads of fiores proper for hos
pitals, as he probably did general Arnold with th*
favourite articles of his Speculations. It will be more
natural for him to pass the Speculator bye, and beset
with his temptations those members of Congress who
fanftified and rewarded hjs crime.
Your injured country, which you have robbed of
above a thousand of its citizens by your negl gence and
inhumanity ; the parents and children of those brave
men whom you furf'ered to perish without honour or
benefit to their country in your hospitals; and the
grave-yards of Bethlehem, Reading, Lancaster, Le
ditz, Irince-Town, and Philadelphia, all of which
you have creuded with the bodies of your countrymen ;
cry Houd for your difmiffion from office. You have
become the butt of the camp, the jest of taverns, and
the contempt of the Coffee house. Women be lew the
papers that contain the tales of your cruelties to the
tick with t. eir tears: and children, who hear them
read, ath if you are made and look like other men.
Your Crimes, I believe, have been.equalled in other
countries. Lord Clive committed depredations upon
human nature equally Shocking with those you com
mitted on the Soldiers of E e United States. Even your
acquital is not without precedents in the annals of his
tory. Men have been found in all countries who have
prostituted their consciences for much leE favours than
you had conferred upon your witnesses. But your re
appointment to your present high and important office,
after the crimes you have committed, is a iww Fhce
nomenon in the hiflory of mankind. It will Serve like
a high water mark, to Shew posterity the degrees of
corruption that marked the present stage of the Ame
rican revolution.
BENJAMIN RUSH.
November 18th.
RIC H MON D, (Virginia) November. 4.
qpHE particulars that we have been able to colled
1 since our last, is as follows: That.the enemy have
advanced as high up, the river as Nanfemond, .Seven
miles above Suffolk, at a place, called Joseph Sect's
and are killing arid fal'ting up cattle. Their number
from the be ft accounts does not exceed 3000, comman
ded by general Leslie. Fanning's royal emigrants, about
300, the Queen's rangers, a regiment of Hessians, the
royal Highlanders, 100 of Burgoyne's dismounted dra
goons, with accoutrements for a large body of caval
ry, and all the refugees below Cabin- Point, waggons
with a quantity of geer, a great number cf arms', mi
litary stores and eloathing. Their naval force is the
Romulus of 40 (but mounts 44 g^hs) the Blonde cf 32,
the Delight Roop of 16, a 20 gun Ship of John Good
rich : and two row gallies 'mounting a 32 pounder in
their bows and two fixes on each fide. Three of the
Goodrich's,-it is Said, came in this fleet as pilots. It
is also Said by a person who lately got out of Pprtf.
mouth, that their destination is for Baltimore.
WILLIAMSBURG, November ir-
Extrafl of a letter from a gentleman to his friend in
this city, dated Warren county, North Carolina,
November 5, 1780.
NOTHING has tranSpired lately; the British Rill
retreating, and our men advancing as Speedily as
possible- We have an army in their front, who, I make
no doubt, 'will retard their march in Such a manner as
will enable our army in the re r to come up with the
lads. They have lived some time upon parched corn,
not daring to go out of the road, on account of the
advanced riflemen concealed in the woods- from which
circumdance, end the armies in front and rear, peo
ple are generally of opinion that they inevitably must
become our prisoners Shortly. Cornwallis is very ill,
being obliged to go in a waggon at the front of his
army.
On Sunday night, the ftb inflant, came to the house
of Nathaniel Burwell, esquire, in Isle of Wight county
(being piloted there by one of his own negroes) about
sixty men from one of the enemy's privateers - when
they got into the house, they asked for Something to
drink, but before it could be got, they Seized Mr.
Burwell's watch out of his pocket, took all h : s plate,
besides other plunder, and carried off nine of his ne
groes. They would have Stripped him of every thing
he had but hearing that a few light horse were elofe
by, they immediately puffied down to the rhet, and
went on board their privateer.
We have advice from below, that colonel Mtthew
Godfrey, with about Seventy militia, was attacked last
Monday, near the Great Bridge, by a considerable bo
dy of the enemy; the colonel, after exchanging two
fires with them, retreated, leaving nine of the enemy
dead-on the field, and did not lose a single man killed,
and had only one wounded in the arm, which has fine#
been cut off.
ANNAPOLI S, November 17.
On Monday last, being the day appointed by the con
stitution and form of government for the eleftion of a
governor of this state for the y<a- ensuing, his excel
lency THOMAS SIM LL£, Ufq; was unani*
meufly re-elected. And the next day the honourable
Daniel Carroll, James Brice, John H. Stone, Jeremiah
T. Chafe, and Samuel T. Wright, ESquires, were chs<
fen members of the honourable council.
Some ot the enemy's Small armed vessels have lately
vifit'd Several places on the Enftern Shore and the
mouth of Patuxent, where they have committed the
greatest outr ges. Not content with plundering the in
habitants of tneir negroes, cattle, and other property,
they have Savagely laid many of their habitations in
ashes. Roufby-hall, the elegant feat of colonel William
Fitzhugh, and a handsome dwelling house, the property
of John Parran, Rfq bptt ifituated near the mouth of
Patuxent, are entirely consumed by means of these in
cendiaries.
PROVIDENCE, Oaober 2s.
Saturday last the following tragical ass ir happened
at Scituate.- One Jof ph Brigs, whole wife, in conse
quence of his brutal behaviour towards her, had been
Separated from him about a year, formed the horrid
design of murdering her. With this view he went up
to a house where his wife was vifit'ing a relation, and
in bis way called at a neighbour's to sharpen a knife ;
while at the house where iris wife was, he Seemed much
Agitated, and on her departure, which was about two
in t e afternoon, he followed and overtook her at a lit
tle dißance from the house where ihehad been, having
another woman in company with her. He demanded of
his wife whether She would return and live with him,
to which She replied in the affirmative, provided file
could be well treated. This answer not proving fatis
faacry, he drew his knife, Sized and slabbed her in
Several parts of the body. The other woman immedi
ately ran towards the house and Brigs, observing a
young man approaching him, quitted Iris mangled wife,
and Stabbed himfelf in the breast, and under the ribs,
of which wounds he Soon expired —Mrs. Brigs's life
was at firft despaired of, but it was yesterday Said there
waga possibility of her recovering. A jury of inquest,
which fat on the body of Brigs, brought in their ver
drit, Suicide.
November 1. The privateer Ship General Washing
ton, of this port, Silas Talbot, esquire, commander,,
was on the 16th ult. taken off Sandy-Hook, by admi
ral Arbuthnot's Squadron. Captain Talbot with about
20 of his hands were Sent to New York ; the remainder
arrived at Newport, in a flag of truce, on Friday last-
By a person who came in the General Washington,
w learn, that when she Sailed, 13 Ruffian Ships of the
li el?y at the Texel- that 5 other Ruffian thips of the
line, with a Danish flees were expected Soon to join
them; and that the Dutch were hauling all their capi
tal Ships out of dock.
Captain Joseph Cooke of this port, a brie from Bos
ton, arid the brig Fox, of Virginia, were arrived at
Amßerdam. Captain Stonehoufe, in a Schooner, fai
led for Boston three days before captain Walker.
Arbuthnot's squadron, when the Washington was ta
ken, confi Red of 8 Ships of the line, a 40 gun Ship, and
2 frigates. Two Ships of the line were said to be cruiz
ing off Boston bay.
Philadelphia, N0v.21..
The Supreme executive council have appointed the ho
nourable James Smith, enquire, of the county of York,
and the honourable Henry Wynkoop, esquire, president
of the court of common pleas for Bucks county, judges
of the high court of errors and appeals.
Jonathan Dickenfon Serjeant, esquire, attorney ge
neral of thi-s Rate, has resigned his commission, and recei
ved toe unanimous thanks of the council for his early
and faithful Services in that office. His successor is not
yet appointed.
Lately died in this city, captain Henry Dougherty,
whoSe fondue in life very generally gave him the cha
rafter of a worthy cjtizen-
Last week arrived in this port the Trumbull frigate,
commanded by James Nicholfoo, esquire.
Yesterday morning came into port the * Viper priva
teer, from Boston, and brought in with her a large Ship
laden with proyifeus, &c. from Cork bound to I ew-
York. The Viper, off Sandy Hook, engaged a Ship,)
(formerly the Hetty, of t is port.) In the action the
brave.ca ptain of t e Viper received a musket ball in his
br^aft. Soon, after which he expired.
QUER Y.
S it not a dired violation of the constitution of Penn-
R Sylvania, for any person who holds a lucrative office
under t+ e government of that Rate, to be its represen
tative in Congress ?
&^£s&,3TZs&&9 ?2.;9^^)@2^(D? k 9&:
To be fold by Public Auction,
On THURSDAY next, at Twelve o'clock, at the
Tvw.iof G oucelter, in New J rey, The
Brig diehard and Cargo,
Prize to the Privateers &ir American and Hot Ker.
Tiie CARGO consists of P re WINE in boules,
CORDAGE, DELF WARE, HARD WARE, and
lunmy D) Goods.
B Order of the Court of Admiralty.
Z iCHARIaH KOSWJ L, Mattel.
T 0 B E L, E r l,
And my he entered on in a tew days,
A House in Markec-flreec,
Very Suitable for athop er StOie. Enqu r^ of the
Printers. Nov, 20.
T 0 BE L F. T T,
Anl may be Entered on immediately,
A genteel Front Room,
Suitable for an Ortie: Al'o, A large, good, dry CEL
LAR, in a public p^at of t:.c city. Enquire of th#
Printers. Nov. zo.