The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1780-05-16 00:00:00, page 2

E XTRACTS from the Journals of Congress.
SA TURDAY," March 25. 17^0.
Ft TIE Commute to whom were referred the papers
& relative to the capture of the brig Eagle brought in
a report , whereupon,
Resolved, That toe papers and original affidavits, re
lative to the capture of the brig Eagle, John Afhmead
commander, under a fort in tire island or Saba, be filed
in the office of the Secretary of the United States in Con
gress assembled :
That authenticated copies thereof,figned by the faidSe
cretary, be transmitted to their High Mightinesses the
States General of toe United Provinces, by the Miwider
Plenipotentiary of these United States at the Court of Ver
sailles ; and tnat he be directed to apply to them for their
aid in procuring fatisfa&ioo for the lot's of the said brig
f Eagle and cargo ; and for some assurance that the flag of
the United States of America Ihall be protested from insult
when in the ports of the United Provinces.
Ordered, That the report of the committee on the de
vice of a great seal for the United States in Cohgrefs assem
bled, be referred to a Committee of three ;
The Members chosen Mr. Lovell, Mr. Scott and Mr.
Houston.
March 27.
The Board of Treasury to whom was referred the reso
lution of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia,
dated November 10th, 1779, refpe&ing the widow and
children of the late Lieutenant Colonel John Seaycr, re
port as their opinion, that Congress by their recommend
ation to the federal States on the 17th of August, 1779,10
provide for officers and fcJdkrs intifted for the war, fully'
takes in the present case ;
Resolved, That Congress agree to the said report.
The Board of Treasury laid before Congress an extract
@f a letter from Jeremian Wadsworth, late Comraiffary
General of Purchases, dated February 27th, I/80, repre
fentieg " That several demands were made of inn for
traafportation when anting in the Quarts rmafler's de
partment, which he had refuted to pay as the people had
not fulfilled their agreements; Thatne is threatened with
adions." whereupon,
Resolved, Thue Congress will support Jeremiah Wad
sworth, late Commissary General of Purchases, and for
merly Assistant to the Quartermaster Gene al, in defend
ing suits w.ich Ihall be wrought against him for fuel, de
mands on account of services performed for the use of
the Unite.: States, as he aali deem unjust and unrea
sonable.
A motion was made by Mr. Ellery seconded by Mr.
Folfpir,
That when Cpngrefs adjourn from Philadelphia, the last
Saturday of April next, they adjourn to the town of
Hartford in the State of Connecticut.
A motion was made by Mr. Matthews seconded by Mr.
Jones, to strike out the words “ Hartford" and “ Con
neHicut."
And on the question, Shall the words moved to be
struck out stand ?
Paged in the negative : So the words were flruck out.
A motion was made by Mr. Ellsworth seconded by Mr.
Searle, in the firft blank to insert " Trenton."
On which the yeas and nays were required, and
it passed in the negative.
Ordered, That the farther consideration thereof be post
poned.
A motion was made by Mr. Matthews seconded by Mr.
Clarke, “ that the resolution of Congress of the third day
of December last, refpe£tmg the removal of Congrefstrom
the city of Philadelphia, be repealed."
On the question to agree to the foregoing resolution,
The yeas and nays were required, and
It passed in the' negative.
March 30.
Resolved, That the Executive of the State of Virginia,
be requeued to Supply a (efficient quantity of prpyifious
for tyc use of the Convention prisoners and their guards
an tuc p,h of CharlQttevife j such (applies to, be credited
to the quotas of provisions required of the State by the reso
lution of the 25th of February lalt
Aph-
The Delegates of the State of Conneßicut, pursuant
to nijru&ons from tie Legislature of the laid State, mo
ved toe following resolution, which, at their request,
C.mgre/s agree shall be entered on the Journal:
" That the Several States be authorized, , by and with
¥ie advice of the Commander in Chief qtQie army, to re
duce ihew battalions of infantry in toe Continental army
ton num^r proportioned to the number of non-commit
ficned offiiers and privates, according to the eftabiilhinent
made by a r-solution 01 Congress of the 27th of May,
1770, and to difeharge the supernumerary commiUi^ned
officers, who ihall be iatitled-i.Q half-pay tor (even years
from t.te time of their difeharge, to be paidrin specie or
0 her current money equivalent; and aIG co receive
grants of land at the dole of Lie war. agreeable to a re
solution of September 16th, 1776 ' . That preference be
given to officers who ihall chyle to continue in the service
according to ftnionty, and that the said redudion be
made at such time as the Commander in Chief fliall think
most expedient: Arid that it be recommended to the
refpedive States to make such farther prc/vifion for the
laid officers as they may judge reasonable,"
Ordered, Tnat Thursday next be assigned for the con
deration of the foregoing motion.
April 4.
The Committee to -whom were referred the letter from
the Governor of New-York and concurrent resolve of the
Senate and Assembly of that State, brought in a report,
which was read ; whereupon
Resolved, That Governor Clinton be informed Coa
grefs approve the railing a body of eight hundred militia
for the defence of that State, and thatt^ey, be entitled to
receive Continental pay and rations, and be employed
under the direction of the Commander in Chief of the
Continental army for that parpofe.
April 6.
On motion of Mr. Livingflon, seconded by Mr. Searle,
Resolved, That a Committee of three be appointed
to proceed to Head-Quarters, to confer with the Com
mander in Chief on the fubjecl of his letter of the $d ins
tant, together with the report of the Board of War, and
the letter from Baron Steuben, on the fubjeft @f a reduc
tion of the regiments, and tne report of the Commission
ers on the arrangement of the Staff Departments of the
BOSTO N, May 1°
Friday last arrived here, His Most Chriflian Majesty's
frigate the I+mmome, of 36 guns, commanded by the
Chevalier I'Etoch, in 36 days from Rochfort, with dif
pateties for Congress.
In this frigate the Marquis la Fayette, and several
other gentlemen, came passengers.
The arrival of this nobleman was announced by the
difeharge of cannon from the batteries and fttips in the
harbour. <T ±
On his landing, he was escorted to his lodgings in
State - ftree't, ^provided for him by order of the General
Assembly.
At the request of the Marquis, he had conference with
the General Assembly, in the state-house,
'The great refped all ranks of people entertain for this
hoblemgo was tefiiried by demynftrations of joy.
To the Gentlemen merchants rind other persons in Ame
rica, who remit bills of exchange to Europe.
Gentlemen, - Nantz, Feb. 8, 7780.
OF the man, bills which have been sent ftdm Ame
rica to me, few whole sets have arrived, parts of
them (firfts, feconda; thirds or fourths) having been
thrown overboard or taken,—Of those which I bate re
ceived, a great number have been only blank eiiborfecQ
widen leaves them as much exposed to fradd, as it they
had been payable to the bearer. I have accordingly
more than once found, on presenting a lecond bill for ac
ceptance, that the fitft had been already paid, and on exa
mining the bill to paid, J have seen my friend's name on
the back, without a fy liable by which F could dtfeover
the hands it h d afterwards passed through: In one |n
flance, I accidentally d+fcovcied that the' bill' paid; had
been in the poffeffioa of a Captain of a Bririlh privateer,
.which clearly proves mat our enemies eCTd%/er Bids of
Exchange blank encoded as 4 good ar&clt frf ; under.
In order to remedy this evil etfeadakyr Ityrfhrefpeft
pfopofe to you, to make it an invariable" ?u^ ^yt^eu
dorfe all bills which palathrough your hand^A^rffomake
them payable to the orders of the person to seom you re
mit them.
- So far as this affefis myfeff or my friends, it:wou!don
ly be necessary to write to my correspondence to put a flop
to it ; but as it is of a very exten^vu nature, and may
ofcafion great loss to many individuals, I think it my
duty thus publicly to caution all perlons in America
againftir.
I have the honor to be, 1;
with great refped, mmv
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient, and
Mold tumble ferva^t.
— Y - JONATHAN VviLbIAMS.•
[Every Printer on the Continent is requeued to insert
this Letter in his Paper.]
Monday last arrived here, a flag from Penobfeot with
6 prifoners.—lt is said they bro't out 18 but left the re
maining 12 at several eafl/rn posts.
— q,0,. Whether this flag was hot deigned, more
for observation than exchange.
Monday lad was bro't to town from Cape-Ann, a
Capt. Sheldon, belonging to the eastward, arretted on
suspicion of being a spy from Penobfcot.
army ; and that a Committee of force be appointed to re
port in firuftions for such Committee ;
Congress proceeded to the election of a- Committee to
report inftrudions, and the ballots being-taken ;
The Members chosen were Mr. Liviogdon, Mr. Ells
worth and Mr. Matthews.
April 2.
According to order the report of the Committee on the
motion of the Delegates from Maffachtifens Bay was taken
into consideration,
And the firft paragraph being read, viz.
'' That the 'reasonable expence incurred by any of the
States,luring the present war, tor pay and fubfiftance of
Militia, necessarily employed by them for defence against
the common enemy, be credited to such States upon a fi
nal adjustment of their accounts with the United States :
A motion was made by Mr Schuyler, seconded by Mr.
Holton,
That the fame be postponed;
And on the qaeflion ihall it be postponed ?
The yeas and nays being required, and
The States being equally divided the queftron was loft.
A motion was made by Mr. Partridge, seconded by
Holton, to amend the Paragraph by inferring the follow
ing words, viz. “ the,Stale of Mafactiufetts-Bay endea
vouring to repel an invasion of the enemy at Penobfeot or,"
after the words ' incurred by,"
On which the yeas and nays were required, and
It passed in the negative.
LONDO N, Jan. 18.
A resolution of the Admiralty Board has lately taken
place to build no more 20 gun ihips, nor any flocps under
it guns ; as this is adopted in the French'navy, and it is
absolutely necessary to keep on as equal a footing with
themes possible, all the new irigatts are to carry 18 and
12 pounders ; the old elta^hfh uent are twelve ana nine
pounders only.
March 1. Yeflerday dispatches arrived at Lord George
Germaines office from General Haldimand at Quebec.
The Moon Galliot, and the St. Antonia, are both feat
into Fortfmcutb, andadarge Spanish Ship into Falmouth.
The 28th of February, Sir James Wallace was tried by a
Court Martial at Ponfmouih for the loss of his ffiip, and
was most honourably acquitted.
A correfponilentfays, Lord North has fettled the loan
of twelve millions without a lottery.-.-Each fubferiber of
100 L to have 21. 12s. 6d. profit, viz.
1. s. d.
icol. 4 per cent, confelidated with thofeof
1777, and valued at - - - 75 0 0
And il. ixs. 6d, Long Annuity confolidateo
with thole of 1760, at 16 years purchase 27 ix 6
102 6
From the Massachusetts Independent Chronic le.
Mr. WILLIS,
I observed in your last Chronicle, a paragraph from a late
London paper, containing the following proportions
tor conciliation, which it was said would soon be made
, by the British government to America, viz.
“ rt& rs , H E United States shall be put on the fame
footing as Ireland by late concTfion ; to have a
Parliament and a General Governor, with an Iloufe of
Feers, which are net to exceed a limited number. The
appointment of Governors of provinces and forts, to be in
the crown."
Whether the court of London is ferrous in all this, or
whether it was given cut to amuse, nothing could be mote
affrontive to tne government and people of America,
than such piopofals. To put these slates upon the looting
of Ireland, is to place therm in a condition in which they
must be under a necessity soon to take up arms again, as
oppressed Ireland has lately done, ior the fu,p- rt of
those rights which the governing kingdom .11 always
feel itfelf interefled to destroy. Could it be imagined,
that America would not receive with in ignatieft such of
kr% made by England, not from a fpirrt cf justice and
moderation; but btcaufe, after having drenched our
land with the blood of its inhabitants for five years pafl,
the is at last convinced of the impoflibility cf reducing us
to slavery, and now thinks it would be more politic to
disguise the chains with which she still wiftles tu load us,
from an hope that the people, weary, as the would faith
Yuppofe, of the war, Would at length submit to them un
der some such disguise?
But is it poflibie England could ever believe, that so
brave and sensible a people as the Americans have proved
themselves to be, through the woole ccurfe of the preftnt
contest, would not immediately discover a snare so clum
sily laid ; or that they would not at once decern, that
Governors appointed, arid troops font to protest us, by
the King of Britain, whose graciotfoels we have so
largely experienced, must soon be found such protestors
of the people, as provofis and jailers are of the prisoners
confided in their dungeons' How could cur enemies sup
pose, that after a five je^rs honorable and fucttfsful war,
when there is no ground to doubt our being able, by the
bieffing of Heaven, completely to efiabhlh our independ
ence, we fhculd be willing to accept terms that would
have been rejected b, us tne very firft moment after we
had drawn the (word?
Britain, it seems, is now willing to grant uep what we
bold by nature's law, the right of taxing ourfeives, if
we are willing to accept this right as her donancn, and
with rhe qualifications she is pleased to annex to it. But
how, according to the above-mentioned propohls, w 11
she allow us in the plenitude of her gbedptfs, to xxereife
this right? Why, truly, under the mouth of hr can
non, and in the face of faiiifli garrisons and Hessian
mercenaries. This brings to my mind, the imagtef an
African despot, faying to hit flames, " I authorize you to
carry your treasures into my coffins on your own backs ;
but should your contributions prove infuffcknr, my
guards will brandish the labrr over your Leads,.and find
means to awaken your generosity."
But it is needless to employ many words' and laboured
arguments to detect what common tense may difetrn, e
ven at a glance. Tne under ftandipg of my cuuonymrn,
even of the lowest orders is too found to be deluded by
the flight veil with which the Britons-have repeatedly co
vered their bale defies against America. - After ail the
oppressive, the unmanly, and inhuman measures by which
they have paved the way for, and conduced the present
war, we are willing to meet them in conciliation upon an
equal footing : They may be our friends again, but not
our mailers ; they may trade with us, but never reign 0-
ver us. Any connexion with them that implies fubjedi
on, we cannot brook : the rank we have t^kea among the
nations, th€ treaties we have entered into with France,
our intcreft our pride forbid it. It is impossible an ho-/
nest sensible American should ever entertain a thought of
submitting again, even in the lead degree to the govern
ment of Britain. Any cpnceffion ot this kind, however
it may be qualified, fofttned, and disguised, must only
prov^the lource of eternal difeord in our country, be
tween the friends of that government, and the asserters
of American liberty : we mean hereafter to liv£ in peace
among ourfdves, and the natrons of Europe ; not to en
gage with Britain in all the wars her prioe may foment,
nor to be wielded by her as a, mere machine, perhaps a
gainst those who have geherbufiy aided us in the day of
our distress, and protested eur rights. We know how to
value tee iceftimabfe advantages of our present emancipat
tkon ; to cnerifh the irriarged ideas it allows us to enter
tain ; to be just and grateful to the illustrious Monarch
who has exposed his own dominions for the fake of tup
porting us in so happy a situation ; and are resolved never
10 leave it in tie power of our perfidious *nd 'reien!le;s e
nemies, by any dangerous confidence in their; to ..reck
in some future time, their vengeance ag i..)t u, Their
intention, in proposing a^ain 10 bring 06, in afy form,
under t^eir own government, can only be to d&reTe our
credulity, to support the expiring hopes 0 their partizms
.amoug us, to prolong the horrors of war in America, and
tQ gain a better opportunity of changing this fait country
into a frightful deiert, since they cannot exped any long
er to monopolize its advantages. In so inbunfan a re
folutian, it is now known, they have imitated the barba
rous Asiatics, who carry their jealousies even beyond the
grave.; and left their wives Ihould be enjoyed by o
tber men, order those unfortunate vi&ims to be burnt
alive at their funerals, or buried with them in the fame
tomb--^
A FREEMAN.
% the Publisher of the Independent Cbromcle.
Yfj HENCE carae the denominations of Whig and
" Tory? Did they originate from political or reli
gious disputes ? This is a question that may. employ the
pendants of England, of Scotland or Ireland. But in
this couDtrv we certainly ought, from.hencefcr h, to lay
aside alt difiinaions that properly belong only to the fub
je&sof Great- Britain. r fhe American colonies had their
Whigs and their Tories kill tke 4th day of July, 1776;
but they no more ekift in the Thirteen United States.
Nineteen th twenty of their inhabitants are good citi
zens, and zealous for the rights cf their country. The
difaffefted are comparatively few, and their condud must
determine what treatment and name they deserve. If, to