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

BLU E, brown, green,
purple scarlet, buff,
arid light-coloured, fuper
fine Broadcloths, twilled
and knap'd.
Brown, blue, claret, cin
namon and doth colour
ed Second Cloths.
Blue, green, grey and
brown, strong English
Knaps.
London brown, blue, buffi
fca let, white .n firm'd
C ffimers.
London brown, striped,
Purple, and a varety
of /potted and blue for
reft Clo hs.
Buff, blue, green, cloth
coloured and white
Philh.
Crimson, and a variety of
fpetted, brown, claret
coloured, and black Vel
vets, plain and cut
Brown, claretfrOliv^,black,
green, white and purple
C rdurois.
Grey, white and striped
Citings.
Black EverLftmgs.
Serge Denims,
Ser^e De jean.
Punellas.
Durcons.
A variety of corded and
plain werfteds, suitable
for gentlemens jackets
and breeches.
A variety of silk jacket and
breeches Patterns.
Corded Dimities.
White, brown, olive, blue
and emborfed Serges.
Min< re Surges.
White Flannel.
Corded, plain and 'pitted
Calliman oes, of various
colours.
B'ue and brown Baizes.
Waite Swanlk n.
Shalloons of every colour.
Mens and womens worded
and cotton Hide of va
rious Colours.
Purple, green and doth
coloured Crapes.
A beautiful affortraent of
chintz and calicoes.
Marseilles Quilting.
Blue, ffraw, white, brown,
changeable and clouded
Mantuas of different
patterns.
Black, garnet, crimson,
pink and striped Sattint.
Black Modes.
Dove coloured Paduafoys.
A few piece: of beautiful
Brocades.
Striped, and striped and
fpottd bordered, blue,
green, brown and crim
fin, ell-wide Perfi^ns.
White and crimion Sarf
nets.
An elegant assortment of
the rest fashionable
6k Gauzes, K.ntings
and Catgut.
Coarse and fine Cam
bricks and Lawns.
Silk, kenting, linen and
cotton Handkerchiefs or
different patterns and
colours.
Beautiful tiffany Handker
chiefs.
Bick gauze Handker
cuief^
And the SPINNING WHEEL is removed, one Door
from where he lived, to the Corner of Market and
Third-streets, vh< re is now Opening a large and ge
neral Assortment of
MERCHANDIZE,
Which he will Sell, Wholesale and Retail, at Prices
so very low as to be perfectly agreeable to every :ea
fonable Purchaser.
Together with numherlefs other Articles, he offers to
Sale the following, viz.
re^ib
JOHN KEA N,
Cotton Romallo
Irish, Dutch and French
Linens.
Bag Holland.
Bread and narrow Russia
Sheetings.
Dowlas.
Lavals.
Write Sheeting.
Flowered & mdinet lawns.
Mdlnct lawn Handker
chiefs.
Sewing silks of all colours.
Thread of every colour
and fincnefs.
Plain and striped Mullins,
ccarfeand fine.
Long Lawn.
Ladies cotton Hole.
Sdk S clings ad Mitts.
Purple Gloves and Mitts.
Twist of different colour.
Furniture Check.
Mens coaile Hcfe and
Mitts.
Small milled Hose.
Snuff in bott.es.
Camblets.
Durants.
Rattinets.
Venetian Poplins, &c.
Plated & Gilded Buttons.
Pen Knives.
Taylors & Small Sciffarg.
Paper and japanned Snuff-
Boxes.
Common Spedacles.
Plated, pinchbeck, cop
per, brass and white,
mettal fhee and knee
buckles.
White-chappie and com
mon English N ed'es.
Hunters Knives & Forks,
Twelve and 14 . oz. lad
lers Tacks.
Pound Pins.
Cork-screws.
Pohfhd steel and japan
ned Snuffers.
Silver Locket-buttons of
various patterns.
Ink-pots.
Buckle B ufhes.
Hanover Laces.
Tapes and Bobbin.
Quality and Coat B ndin^.
Razors, of the firlt Quali
ty, in Cases, with
Straps, &c.
Tully Garters.
Writing paper.
Bass Cocks,
Watch Chryftals and
Springs.
Brass Naili,
Crooked Combs.
Horn Spoons.
Back and white narrow
and bread Lice.
Bengali and Ginghams.
An assortment of Rib
bands.
Hyfen and Berea Tea of
the firft Q_ality.
A few Hogthesis of Cla
ret.
Claret in Botles.
Puts
Skillets
C ft B xes.
Window Weights.
Bake S ones, &c.
AL S O,
Some Hogsheads of extra
ordinary Indigo, with
numbering other arti
cles to® tedious to men
tion.
There is not, in the world, a more generally admit
ted sass, than the extreme and lavish waste of the pub
lic tre sure in England, which has risen in the present
war to a heighth hardly credible, if the most authentic
vouchers, ar d oartiameotary proofs were not every mo
ment in view before the eyes of all mankind. We shall
not speak of the extravagance of ministers, because it
may be, and we believe is, greatly for their interest,
but the condu& of a sovereign who permits it must be
perfectly unaccountable, as it is to the full as much
against his interest as that of his people What is the
interest of a king, Shewn in by the most able ones —
wealth, power, armies, navies, viftories, &c. and can
any man of common sense imagine that there might not
have been fived in the four last years expends ure, a
sum of ten or twelve millions! would not this have
given us 20 fail of the line more last year ? would it
not have conquered a rebellious colony ? This public
and extravagant waste of treasure,. therefore, gives a
deeper wound to the royal interests than to any other
in the fiate. As to fecuringa majority in parliament,
other ministers have always done it, when the national
expences were not half so great, so that pretence is on
ly proving the present men to be greater bunglers than
ail their predecessors. If all these circumstances, and
an hundred others which might be added, are consider
ed, it will certainly be expected by the world—by his
The inconveniences that would arise from permit
ting any circumstances to plead for extenuation of a
crime so very dangerous to the service, as mutinies
in the navy, are very obvious; the sailors are a bo
dy, the most ufeful people which this, as a marine and
commercial state know, but if there was to be any
relaxation in the discipline ; British sailors would no
longer carry away the palm from those of every other
country on the globe.
If it be true that decisive success against the French
in the Weft Indies, was prevented by the disobedience
and perverseness of some of fir George Rodney's of
ficers it is to be hoped an exemplary pnnifhment will
be b flirted on the delinquents, since discipline is the
life and foul of military service ; and from late pub
lic events, discipline in the navy seems to have been
most fatally relaxed.
Though it is the occasional cant of miniflers to
plume themselves on appealing the Ir sh, and bring
ing them to a fatisfied acquiescence on the friendship
of England, the reverse is notoriously the case, as ap
pears from the general spirit and declaration of the
associated corps, as well as from their periodical
writers. The following is a proof of the opinion of
the latter in a letter to the people, speaking of the
absolute necessity for an independency in the Irilh
parliament.
“ Inflead of being allied, or inseparably united to
the interest of an old empire, tottering under a decay
of nature, and hurried on by her vices, we Should en
joy in our own renewed constitution all the soundness,
virtue and vigour of youth ; that worst of all cor
ruptions introduced by the worst of all tyrannies,
that of the corrupt parliament of a Superior and de
generated nation, would be removed. The interest
of the governors and of the people, now so opposite,
would be reconciled. We Should be our own gover
nors, for the nation would be more free to indulge her.
Public spirit would Shake off the despair of centuries ;
public virtue would have an objed, and be at once
the spring, the effi &, and the cement of government"
As this once glorious empire has been brought so
rapidly from the high elevation to which it was raised,
to the very brink of deftruftion ; is it wife, is it pru
dent to imagine, the fame identical councils and mea
sures, if pursued, can extricate us? the thought is
absurd, the wish would be folly.
It has been often averred as a sass amongst the medi
cal class, that particular founds will have singular ef
fefts on particular constitutions, and produce very of
ten most amazingly wonderful consequences, happy as
powerful- A recent infiance seems to verify the positi
on. A certain lethargic constitution, Scarce capable
of feeling any common Stimulus, was some time ago
rouzed into sudden, immediate, and violent action, by
the founds of impeach now, Striking too forcibly the
tender tympana of the courtly ear. It is observable
there has been an alertness about the gentleman ever
since, and he seems to have all his faculties in a per
fect found Rate, so attentive particularly are his auri
cular organs, that even whispers alarm him ; and some
of the rougher and fiercer tones of the voice are likely
to throw him into universal convulsions.
THE number of fllips built by three belligerent
powers from the peace in 1762 to the present time,
are on a moderate calculation :—England 114, France
73, Spain, 27. No vessels under the fifth rate are in
cluded in this lift.
Two vessels are now fitting out in the river on (pe
culation and experiment ; they are to have two ports
to each gun, wiich they are to fight under' cover;
the Americans pradife this with success, and if it is
found ufeful in our service, it is intended to be adopt
ed generally.
A certain lord being asked by his friends, in what
line of life he meant his son to walk ? " In these criti
cal crazy times, replied his lordfnip, I scarce can tell,
he is an Englishman, therefore unfit for court favour;
in the law he cannot rife, his very principles will de
stroy him ; in the army he will be inflated, clerks and
cominis's, without rank or knowledge, will be made
his superiors, it is not now for the sons of courage—
but daughter ; I'll even confine him to the gentle
man, for as his abilities will not be permitted to ren
der him ufeful in public, in private his virtue shall
make him an ornament to his country ; it is the only
resource left for honour."
It it much to be regretted, in a Rate like that of
Great Britain, no other channel for the supply of
men, to man her fleets in times of emergency, has been
hit upon, but that very disagreeable one of impress
ing ; it is certainly a much more politic scheme to in
duce than to compel, and we might reasonably ex
pert much more happy consequences to arise from the
service of men induced to enter, than from treble the
number forced into such a situation.
LONDO N.
reputation—by the kings, his brethren in the world—
by all mankind, trat his majefiy should be as ready
to detect his mmifhrs in their corrupt extravagances
as his people can be—to meet them half way—to exa
mine into the sass, with that efficient scrutiny so fully
in his power, but not in theirs; and by so doing he
will probably double his real power, regain the advan
tages of the war, and be the sovereign of his people's
minds, as well as their perlons.
An artist, of great eminence in the ordnance branch,
has made great improvemen s on a piece on the con
flru&ion of a howi zer, formed with a double bore, in
such a manner, that it carries two granaries, kwhich
when chained together, have been found to be of the
greatest utility, much more so than any thing hither
to invented for the deftruaion of not only rigging, but,
when properly dirtied, has an equal effect on the
decks of the enemy's (hips, as when fired from the tops,
or any commanding height. It answers in proportion
to its size the purpose of a granade and chain shot.
We have caused an account to be rendered to us, of
the motives which have determined them to authorize,
in such a precise manner, the cuft m of the Question
Preparatoire, and we have been informed, that in the
conferences held previous to the production of the or
donance of the month of Augufl, 1670, the magistrates
most eminent for wisdom and consummate experience,
in explaining their sentiments upon this kind of tor
ture, declared, that it always appeared to them as
useless, that it was very rare that the Question Frepa
ratoire drew the truth from the m>uth of any accused
person, and that there were many strong reasons for
suppressing the use of it; and it appears to us, that
they acceded to it at that time only from a refpeß to
its antiquity : We are very far from bringing ourfelvea
too easily to a determination of abolishing laws which
have been authorized by long cufiom ; we are cauti
ous not to introduce any thing that may open a way
to eftablilh a new right in all matters, which might
fliake their foundations, and which might lead, by
degrees, to very dangerous innovations; but after
having employed our whole attention to the custom in
question, after having examined all its success, and all
the incoveniences attending it, and having weighed
them with the advantages which justice may derive
from it, and which can result from its consequences,
for the conviction and punishment of criminals, we
cannot reject the reflections and experience of the firft
magistrates, who have made it appear to us, that there
is more of rigour to the person accused in this kind
of punishment, than of hope that justice will be able,
by the confeffion of the accused, to compleat the
proofs of the crimes of which they stand fufpeCted-
We thought it ourduty therefore, no longer to defer
the abolition of such a cufiom ; but at the fame time
to anuoun e to our people that if, by an aft of our
natural clemency, we are induced in this instance to
lessen the antient severity of the laws, we do not, ne
vertheless, mean to retrain their authority,, in any
other method prescribed by them for the difeovery of
crimes, and for the punishment of those who are fu'ly
convicted, we are, besides, well assured, that our courts,
which are the repositories of this authori y, will con
tinue, after our example, the constant protectors of
innocence and virtue- For these, and other causes,
we are induced, with the advice of our council, and
from our compleat knowledge on the (object, our full
power, and royal authority, to abolifli and abrogate
the custom of La Question Preparatoire, and. forbid all
our courts and judges to decree it, with or without
reservation of proofs, in any case, or under any pre
tence whatever ; and this our present declaration, rec
koni. ^ from the day of its publication, th di be put
proofs rendered it neceflary to determine the place
which each of these condemnations should occupy in
the order of punithmsim, that the judgements mi^ht
be decisive and exemplary, it being judged proper to
pass the mildest sentence in criminal matters, unless
there should appe r a majority of one voice for the
more severe judgment in those cases which are judged
by appeal, and of two voices in those which are judged
en dernier rtffort; it therefore became indifpenfibly
necessary to regulate between these two different man
ners of proceeding, and to pronounce which was the
most mild, and which the most fevere.—lt was after
these considerations that by the thirteenth article of
the twenty-fifth record of the fame ordonance, which
determines the order of punishments; after that of
death, the torture with the proofs remaining after
wards in full force is marked as the most rigorous, and
that of the torture without reservation of proofs is
ranked after the punishment of the galleys for life or
banishment for life, as being less figourous.
By the firft article, in the 19th record of the ordo
nalice of the month of August, 1670, all the judges are
authorized to adminifier the torture, entitled, Quef
ton Preparatoire. By the second article, they are
even authorized to decree, that notwithflanding hav
ing fuffered the torture, the proofs should remain in
full force to condemn the accused to all kinds of pe
nalties and personal punishments, death only excepted,
to whch the accused, who has undergone the torture,
without having made any confeffion, cannot be con
demned, unless new proofs should arise after the tor
ture has been admin flered. The discretionary power
left with the judges, of decreeing the torture, accord
ing to circumstances, with or without reservation of
LOUIS, by the grace of God King of France and
J Navarre, to all to whom these present letters
come, greeting—The ancient ordonances of the Kings,
our predecessors, have always adopted the custom of
a pp!y il ?g the torture to persons accused of capital
crimes, which, by the law are punished with death,
when circumstances have made firo: gly against the
accused party, but yet no proof has been brought fuf
ficient to fubjid them to the sentence above-mention
ed.
Among other of the public AQs which have graced the
Reign of the present King of France, is t e follow-,
ing DECLARATION, abolishing the ancient Cus
tom of the Torture. Given at Versailles, the 24th of
Augufl, 1780, and registered in Parliament an the
Sth of September following.