The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1782-09-05 00:00:00, page 2

>§ool the New York (city) Mercury, dated Friday,
Augull 30, 178 g.
A LETTER
To the C IT IZENS of Charleftown,South-Carolina.
Charleßown, August 9.
Quo nos cunque feret melior fortune—
b^imus 6 Socii Comitefque—
Nil defperanciurn—
SIRS,
rip H E txter.five plan of tlje war in which Great
-1 Britain is engaged, renders it expedient 'for 'her
1) drawher troops from the southern diftrid of North-
America.
The wisdom or folly of the measure is foreign to the
fubjed of this address.
In the pr< sent hour of impending danger, a review
of the fyfiem of policy which has been pursued fiuce
the reduction of this town is of little moment.
The army habituated implicitly to approve the or
ders of th^ir commanders, will feel little regret in leav
ing us; the national honour of the soldier is wounded,
whtn he reflects on the last scene of an unfuccefsful
campaign, and his gallant heart is touched with pity
at the herd fate of those his arm can no longer protect,
and from numbers of whom perhaps he has experienced
every mark of kiudnefs awd attention.
But there is a defcriprion of persons, whose situation
is much to be lamented, it includes all those who ac
knowledged themselves British fu bjefls at the conquest
of this province in the year 1780. Their property was
then here, and their property now compels them to
remain in this country. See their situation! Not ve
ry pleasant, it must be owned, but surely it will ad
mit of fomealleviation.
Why do not these persons find out their number ?
When they hhve found how numerous they are, they
will view their affairs in a more favourable light.
The names of these persons may be collected into the
form of an association ; this will include a body of citi
zens, by no meins unworthy the notice of the think
ing part of the leaders of the American party ; a fort
of convention m^y be entered into dishonourable to
neither party.
But here a seeming difficulty occurs. There is a
'fhynefs in a great many against signing associations of
any kind. But observe, this association has nothing to
do with politics, not a word will be mentioned of the
supremacy of the British parliament, or dependency or
indf pendency of Arner ca
This is to be considered as the rdmonfirance of those
persons, who after a severe contest, fuerendered to the
British forces,which forces will in a short time, withdraw
their proteaion. These persons, of course, are now
defircus of being considered as to be protested by the
power which will succeed the British.
This is the purport of the intended association—The
form will be agreed to by a feled committee.
Who will not acknowledge, but that this is a more
eligible, a mere manly mode of proceeding than the
prevailing fafhion of “ making one's peace," as they
flile it. For instance, one person fleals out of town,
with profound humility, conftffes his manifold trahf
greffions, makes a wonderful merit of anticipating an e
vacuatioo, and prays fervently to beadmitted.
Another person is perfectly polite and courteous to
every American officer he accidentally meets with in the
Greets; perhaps he commences the humble servant of
some reputed whig in to\vn.
Another inirtats his wife or some friend to write lettfr
intercessory for him ; then there is another person has
a cousin of his wife's aunt now in the American camp;
there is another has all his relations married in Ame
-lica, and last of all, one pleases himfelf with the charm
ing thought, that he was always a friend to the Ame
rican cause in his heart, though perhaps he now and
then does duty at the city puard in a red coat.
What wretched fhifts are these, though some have
succeeded by them! Yet surely men of sense would blush
to follow their example.
Another great objection to the proposed association
is, the supposed refufal of the merchants and others,
who have fettled here since the surrender of the town.
It is surmised that they are apprehensive of offending
a body of people, with whom they expeCt shortly to be
commercially connected. Let them confider the spirit
of the association proposed. There will not be the sha
dow of an offence couched in it. It is a civil treaty ;
a treaty, which they as individuals have solicited, and
surely it would be more refpedable if it came from their
aggregate body.
Certainly, there is semblance of spirit and confidence,
to rely on the generosity of the power they soon will
bend to —but this is not the c^fe in the common trans•
actions of life.
How much greater fatisfadion must that merchant
enjoy, who has received f.om the Americans, assur
ances of proteaion in perlon and property, while he
demeans himfelf as a good Citizen, than one who
blindly trusts to the event of things, and spends
the tedious moments in hoping for the befl !
Though the pencil is dipped in colours of the deep
est dye, yet faintly indeed are the horrors of civil war de
picted. It is not therefore to describe them, but to (oft
en, that this letter is obtruded on the public.
Let then the names of those persons who, either from
necessity or choice, wish to remain in this country, be
collected, to these names let there be prefixed proposals
to the commander in chief of the American forces. It
Cannot be doubted but an agreeable answer, as well as
the times permit, will be returned.
Their conduct will be considered, and those to whom
reasons of state policy deny longer residence in this
country, wi I know the worst ; they will be freed from
the anxiety of fufpence, and must stand prepared to re
ceive the rudefl shock of adverse fortune.
And may it not be hoped, that the eye of humani
ty will drop a tear of pity over such a long melancholy
lift of names, whom banishment from America must de
vote to indifcribable misery.
May it not be hoped, that the hand of lenity will
mark the smallest number possible of state criminals ;
flill considering them as brethren, though they have
differed in their political sentiments. They will remem-. t
ber that their moral characters are unimpeached, and
that in their various situations in life they have dis
charged their duty with integrity and honour.
Should these proposals of the citizens of Charleflown
be unattended to, but forbid the thought! they can
not be rejected. Let the trial be made, if rejected,
then condemn the Americans in power of inhumanity.
But let the Americans contemplate the vicissitude of
human affairs ; let them know, that mildness is a firm
er balls on which to rear the firuaure of American
greatness, than oppression and severity.
The inhabitants of a large and opulent city will have
great weight in the scale of American politics. If their
offers are rejected, despair will render them formida
ble. Even cowards grow desperate when pushed too far.
It would be a novelty in the hi fl ory of nations, for
citizens to throw open their gates to a power from
whom they have differed in political Sentiments, with
out some previous treaty.
The spirit of good and brave men revolts at uncon
ditional submission, if it is infilled upon, they must be
reduced to the fad alternative of defending themselves
to the last extremity. T is will prolong the distresses
of the war, and probably deprive the Americans of
the honour of takiog^peaceable possession of the me
tropolis of Carolina, without the assistance of foreign
troops.
The firfl wish of the heart of the writer of this ad
dress is, that some abler pen may be excited to point
out a line of conduct which may prevent that anarchy
and misery into which so great a number of our fel
low citizens are rapidly haflening.
I am, firs,
With great refpeCt,
Your well wither,
A CITIZEN.
From the PARLIAMENTARY REGISTER.
DEBATES in the House of To r ds, on the 4th of
February, 1782, refpeCtihg the Execution of Colo
net ISAAC HAYNES, at Chdrleflown, on these•
cond day of Augufl, 1781.
(Continued from our paper of Saturday last.)
MONDAY, February 4.
THE order of the day having been called for,
the duke of Chandos rose, and desired, that
previous to the reading of it, their lordships
would indulge him with the pefriffon of in
truding for a moment on their patience. At the l>ft
meeting of the house, lie had embraced the opportu
nity which then prrfented itfelf, and intimated his re
solution of deliberately putting a question to ministers,
relative to a point of infinite importance, and for the
great purpose of difeovering the causes of that severe
and irretrievable calamity which had befallen the troops
under the command of earl Cornwallis, at York Town
in Virginia. His grace observed, that the reply with
which he had been favoured by the noble vifeount
(Stormont) in the green ribband, wasat leaf! equal to
all which he was entitled, in his private capacity, to
expert. But, as he had taken the liberty to appeal to
the noble vifeount, in the most solemn manner, and to
propose his interrogatories in the great name of the peo
ple, he must affirm, that the answer which he obtained
was not by any means so fatsfadogy a that which
ought to have been returned to him. The public (to
use the just language of the noble vifeount, on the pre
creding Thursday) enjoyed a claim (which it was cri
minal to contest) on ministers for apaple information
concerning all particulars, that might have introduced
within the British empire, the unexampled violence of
irretrievable calamity. The people had a right to
know where guilt exited, and from what source this
torrent of alarming evils came reining down upon
them. Enquiries were abfqlutely requisite. Convinc
ed of this important truth, his grace laid, that, there
fore, he should move that the lords be summoned for
Friday the Bth of February.
The lord Chancellor put the motion, and it was
Ordered.
When the order of the day was read,
The duke of Richmond rose, and begged leave to re
mind their lordships. that on the foregoing Thursday,
he considered it as their duty to proceed at once to rhe
inflitution of enquiries for the great and serviceable
purpose of probing to the bottom of those alarming
and ignominious circum fiances, reported to have pre
ceded and accompanied the execution of col. Haynes,
at Charleftown, and of taking such measures as might
secure the English officers from any danger of being
made the viCtims to the threats of general Greece, and
of retrieving the British name from the opprobrious
stain which had been cast upon it in a proclamation so
filled with censure and with threats. He had observed,
that the advantages of enquiries would not be limitted
to a single roint; but that signal benefits would arise
from the difeovery to all the world, that their hrd
fhips were rigidly averse from giving countenance, in
any shape whatever, to such a line of conduct in Bri
tish officers, as might expose to foul reproach our na
tiona! pretensions to justice and to clemency. He had
ventured to assure their lordships that a train of happy
consequences would follow the applauded inßance of a
determination in the English parliament on no account
to fuffer the particulars of such a conduct either to ap
pear in print or be adverted to, even by report, with
out immediately availing themselves of all the oppor
tunities within their power, to trace out the authority
on which the faffs in question were given to the public.
He must again afiert that if the particulars of this af
fair were not accounted for beyond thereach of censure,
an ignominious ft^in would rest upon the British cha
racter, and all the states of Europe, with every distant
country through which the scandalous report might
spread, would mark, us a nation totally efirauged from
the benevolent and noble feelings ofthe mind, and dead
to those exalted principles of justice and of mercy which
are the true and great charaderiflics of a magnanimous
yet mild, commiserating people. His grace trusted
that the house would take into their serious confede
ration the present perilous and awful posture of affairs.
They would please to recoiled that Great Britain was
engaged not merely in an expensive, bloody and un
fuccefsful war against America, but (with the excepti
on only of a few nothern ftates)againft most of the ma
ritime powers in Europe. Under circumflances to
which her strength and her resources, how great and
numerous soever they might prove, were scarcely equal,
it certainly behoved us to ad even with an excels of
caution and anxiously to guard against the introducti
on of new modes in the prosecution of hostilities - of
modes contaminated by lawless and uncivilized barba
rity, unknown in former war, and such as had not hi
therto disgraced the luftre of the British arms. The
execution of colonel Haynes, at Charleftown, without
any of the previous forms of trial, and without the al
lowance of an opportunity to the unhappy man to en
ter on his defence was, certainly (supposing that the
fads were truly Bated, and that only the account of
them, of which he had given the outlines to their lord
ships on the preceding Thursday, but thechannel thro'
which this account reached him were unexceptionable)
a matter which called for an immediate, full and serious
enquiry. This alone could convince our enemies that
we neither authorifed nor countenanced an ad of cru
elty and injustice; that even when the bare report of
the commission of such an outrage against the great
principles of equity and mercy bad reached our ears,
we did not lose a moment in eftablifhing'an enquiry for
the purpose of exploring faffs, and bringing all the va
rious circumflances by which they were accompanied
to the test of truth. His grace remarked that, so far
from acceding to the objection urged on the preceding
Thursday, by a noble earl (of Hillfborough) high in
office, against the institution of an enquiry, he must
assume the freedom of expressing his disapprobation of
it, and of declaring that he would not fubferibe to its
supposed validity. The noble earl had asked whether
it would not be impolitic and cruel to expose, even for
a moment, to the popular suspicion, the characters of
officers who had deserved the approbation of their coun
try. On every principle of found policy and justice,
objections of this nature were, surely, inadmissible ;
because they were designed to flrike even at the root of
all enquiries, and totally destroy them. The penetra
tion of their lordships would at once lead them to dis
cover that such unwarrantable objections must place
any person who moved, though on the best and firmeft
ground, for an enquiry, in most invidious points of
view. Nor would the mover only stand in this unwel
come situation. The who'e house, the whole parlia
ment of the people might be exposed to it, and repre
sented as afting invidiously when they proceeded to the
exercise of one of their most ancient and, perhaps, one
of their most salutary powers, the power of feeling
themselves to be the grand inquest of the nation, and
of enquiring into any part of the mismanagement of
the public affairs. All this their lordships must at once
perceive, and join with him in opinion that the charac
ter of no person whatsoever ought to impede enquiries,
provided it should appear that they were actually re
quisite. In the great line of public duty, it behoved
their lordships to fiifle every private feeling, ts dismiss
all personal considerations, and to attend to those impor
tant points which should perpetually remain the chief
objefts of their regard ; to theinvaluable rights and in
terests of the people. His grace remarked that, he
had considered it absolutely requisite to answer, at the
opening of the fubjed, the objection of the noble earl
(of Hillsborough) which, if permitted to remain impress
ed upon the minds either of their lordfllips or of the
public, might throw him into a predicament from which
the motives whereon he a&ed ought certainly to secure
him. The duke said, that he had not advanced com
plaints against any officer whatsoever. His complaints
were not those of an individual ; but complaints made
on the part of the people. He looked with scorn and
deteflatioh on the idea of an endeavour either to attack
or injure the military cLaraßer of any officer; and,
therefore, it was impossible that he could mean to per
petrate so vik an outrage. The whole of his intentions
was to persuade their lordfllips to enquire into the
several particulars of an occurrence which, if truly
fated, reflected an a'moft indelible disgrace upon
the name of Englishmen. If (as the result of an en
quiry) tIA flatement of the facts should prove er
roneous; the proclamation published by the Ame
rican general Greene, fliould appear founded upon
miflakes; the whole story bear strong and incon
teftible marks of aPud misrepresentation ; and the
trial, conviction and execution of colonel Haynes stand
forth in all their legal and unexceptionable points of
view, then would the characters of those officers who
were mentioned on the preceding Thursday, as con
cerned in these transactions, break forth with a re
doubled luftre, and raise them in the opinion of their
country to heights f>ill more exalted than even those
which they had hitherto attained. His grace, there
fore, expressed his hopes and wishes, that their lord
ships, not only in justice to the officers, but in assent
to those reasons which he had laid before them, would
as preparatory to the requisite enquiries, agree to the
motion for such papers as might elucidate the fubjeft,
and bring it to a decisive termination.
His grace remarked, that having determined from
the very outset, to proceed with openness and candor,
throughout the progress of this important business, he
slated on the foregoing Thursday, the information up
on which he had presumed to trouble their lordships,
and to request the favour of their serious attention.
He said, that the manufeript papers which he held
within his hand, and on the contents of which he
should beg leave to ground some obvious arguments,
were sent to him by a person who signed his name Bow
man ; and described himfelf as a loyalist fettled at
Charleflown, under the protection and patronage of the
British government. Mr. Bowman, had forwarded
these paoers to him through (what he doubtless thought
the properest cnopnel) the department of(lord George
Germain) the American feccetary of state. Under
such circumfiances, his grace said, he fliould once
more beg leave to declare, that wl.ilft he brought the
matte before the house, and intreated their lordships
to make it, in the drifter! sense of the expression, the
ground of an enquiry, he would not, in the least, pre
sume to pledge himfelf for the veracity of the incidents
which he was desirous of submitting to thejr close ex