The Connecticut courant and Hartford weekly intelligencer — Hartford, Conn., 1775-03-20 00:00:00, page 1

The following Later it fad to have bra •written, and
font by General Lee, in the Service of the King of
Poland, and Lieutenant Colonel upon bedf-fytn that of
bit Majeft, King George the third, to the Right Hon.
Earl Perg, Son of bitbrace theDuke ofNorthumberland,
and Cel, of the yh Regiment, now at Bcflon;
My Lord,
IA7 EREyourLordihip onlya common Colonel of a
regiment, I certainly should not have given
rnyfelf the trouble of writing, nor you the trouble of
reading this letter ; still higher, I conceive it will
not be improper to address you, and in some measure
to apoligize for my seeming want of refpe& Asl
have not waited on the General (for reasons which
he cannot, I think disapprove) Iwa# not certain
whether you might in your military capacity, con
fider my visit as proper. But, as you are not merely
a soldier, but a citizen of the firft class and impor
tance from your illultrious family and falhion, your
vast property, and being defined by birth to be a
Counfellor of the nation, I think some explanation
of my conduct not only proper, but necessary, and I
flatter myfelf, that some time or other, yourLordfhip
will not simply approve my conduct but become a
friend to the fame cause. My Lord, I will venture
to fay that it it the cause of Great-Britain as well
as of America; it is the cause of mankind. Were
the principle of taxing America without their con
sent admitted, Great-Britain would that instant be
ruined; the pecuniary influence of the crown, and
the army of placemen" and pensioners would be so
increased that all opposition to the most iniquitous
ineafures of the molt iniquitous ministers would b^
forever borne down' Your Lordihip lam furemud
be sensible that the pecuniary influence is already
enormously too great, and that a very wicked use
is made of it. On these principles every good Eng
lishman (abftraft of any particular regard for Ame
rica) mult oppose her being taxed by the parliament
of Great-Britain, or more properly by the frit
Lord of the treasury, for, in fa&, the parliament
and treasury have of late years, been one and the
fame thing. But, my Lord, I have betides a very
particular regard for America: I was long amonglt
them, and I know them to be the molt loyal, af
feftionate, zealous fubjeds of the whole empire.
General Gage himfelf must acknowledge the truth
of what I advance. He was witness, through the
course of the las twar, of their zeal, their ardor,
their enthufiam for whatever concerned the welfare,
the interest, and the honour of the mother country.
When I fee therefore the extreme of calamities at
tempted to be brought down upon such a people,
by the intrigues or such persons as Bernard and
Hutchinson; when I fee a minilter, violent and ty
rannical like North, mowing down whole commu
nities, merely to indulge his hereditary hatred to
liberty, and those who are attached to her, I think
it the duty of every honett man, and friend to hu
manity, to exert his ucmoft to defeat the diabolical
purpose. That these people have been totally mis
represented at home, that they have been most un
justly and cruelly treated, your Lordlhip will I
make no doubt, be sooner or later convinced. But
as, from your present Situation, and many circum
stances, you will not probably fall into the way of
truth so soon as I could wilh, I beg leave to recom
mend to your perusal a fort of pamphlet, lately
sent from England; it is intitled, " a true state of
the proceedings of the parliament of Great-Britain,
and in the province of Massachusetts-Bay."
Mr. will furnifh your Lordship with it, if
you will make use of my name. It is a fair and
candid relation of the whole process from the be
ginning to the end. When your Lordihip has read
-it, you will be struck with companion and horror,
and, I have great hopes, will become not a less
warm (but more powerful) friend to this injured
country than myfelf. I take the liberty of recom
mending this method to your Lordihip, as 'tis im
possible you should gather any thing but mifinforma
ion from the men who, I find, surround head quar-
Containing the Freshest ADVICES,
MONDAY, March 26, 17,5.
CONNECTICUT
AND
WEEKLY
Open to all PARTIES-—not under the influence of ANY.
KING Charles had three favourites: Bucking
ham stabbed to death ; William Laud, and
Thomas earl of Stafford, both beheaded. Bishops
and clergymen, whom he most favoured, and wholly
advanced, and occasionally ruined, he lived to fee
their bifhopricks fold, the bilhops themselves scorn
ed, and all the whole clergy of his party and opini
on quite undone.
The English noblemen he cared not much for, but
only to serve his own turns by them : yet such as
had the unhappiness to adventure their lives and
fortunes for him, he lived to fee them and their fa
milies ruined, only for his fake. Pity it is many of
them had not served a more fortunate master, and
one more grateful.
ters, The Sewels and Paxtons are not only inter
ested to misrepresent and calumniate, but to exter
minate their country; theß is no medium, their
country must perish, or thev meet with the desert
of impious paricides. It was the misfortune of Ge
neral Gage, from the begirdng, to fall into such
hands as these; had he not been deluded by men
of this damp, we Should nc/cr have seen him act
ing in a capacity so incompatible with the excel
lence of his natural difpori >n. 1 must now, my
Lord, entreat, that as fools and knaves will, from
misunderstanding and mr^/e, probably disfigure
my condu&, you will not buffer them to make any
wrong impressions, that youvill be persuaded that
1 ad not from any pique or disappointment (which
I conclude will be insinuate I) but from principle.
I think my Lord, an Engliri soldier owes a very
great degree of reverence to he king, as firft ma
gistrate, and third branch < ''the legislature, called
to this mighty Ration by 'he voice of the people;
but I think he owes dill a [ eater degree of reve
rence to the rights and liben.es of his country,
His country is every part of the empire; that in
whatever part of the enip: ? a flagitious minister
invades those rights and libt:ties, whether in Gieat-
Britain, Ireland, or America, every Englishman
(soldier or not soldier) ough to confider their cause
as his own: And that the 'rights and liberties of
his country are invaded, every man must lee who
has eyes, and is not determined to keep them shut.
These my Lord, are ray principles; from these I
swear bv ab that is sacred and tremendous, I purely
an ? loiely aft; and these ! h r e will rather serve
than prejudice me in your Lordffiip's opinion. I
flatter myfelf ibll farther: I flatter myfelf that you,
my Lord, before it is long, will adopt them; that
you will at lead, in your letters to your father,
(whom I have always been taught to edeem as an
honest man, and friend to humanity) endeavour to
undeceive the people at home.
If the delusion is too strong, I can venture to af
firm, that you will feel some consolation amidst the
calamities ready to fall upon your country, in the
reflection that you had attempted to avert them. I
shall now finilh, my Lord, entreating, that if any
thing appears impertinent, either in the matter or
length of this letter, you will attribute it to an in
temperate zeal, in an honed cause, and that you
will be affared I should not have addressed it to a
man, of whom I entertained an unfavourable opi
nion.
The old prince of Orange he almost beggared,
and yet to no purpose, the parliament one time or
other getting all a r ms and ammunition which ever
came over to 4 it is confidently averred, if the
The Scots, his countrymen, on whom he bestow
ed so many favours, he lived to fee them in arms a
eainft himfelf: to fell him for more money than the
Jews did Christ, and themselves to be handsomely
routed, and fold for knaves and slaves. They made
their belt market of him at all times, changing their
affection with his fortune.
From the LONDON MAGAZINE.
General remarks on the character of King Charles
the firft.
tH£
By Mr. WILLIAM LILLY.
[NUMBER 534.)
C OURA N T,
HARTFORD
INTELLIGENCER.
b oth FOREIGN and DOMESTIC.
* Lilly, in the Memoirs of bis Life, averts, that it q^Q
lieutenant colonel fyee.
Or when, in 164.5, he had taken Leicester, if then
he had speedily marched for London, £ know not
who could have refilled him : but his camp was fa
overcharged with plunder and Irijb whores, there was
no marching.
Many curiously enquired who it was that cut off
his head: I have no permission to speak of such
things ; only thus much I fay, he that did it, is „
valiant and resolute a man as lives, and one of a
competent fortune. *
TheSwedes extremely complained of him for non
performance of some secret contrast betwixt them,
and uttered high words against him.
The Protestant princes of Germany loathed his
very name.
' „The Portugal king and he had little to do; yet
in one of his own letters to the queen, though he
acknowledges the Portugal's cotirtefy unto him, yet
faith, that he would give him an answer unto a
thing of concernment that should fignify nothing.
The Hollanders being only courteous for their
own ends, and as far as his money would extend,
furnished him with arms at such rates as a Turk
might have bad them elsewhere: but they neither
loved nor cared for him in his prosperity, or pitied
him in his adversity ; which occasioned these words
to drop from him, " If he ere came to his throne,
he would make Hans Butter-box know, he should
pay well for his fifhing,and fatisfy forold knaveries."
In conclusion. He was generally unfortunate in
the world, in the esteem of both friends and ene
mies : his friends exclaim on his breach of faith )
his enemies would fay, he could never be fall enough
bound. He was more lamented as he was a king,
than for any affection had unto his perlon as a man:
He had several opportunities offered him for hi,
restoring. First, by several treaties, all ending in
smoke, by his own perverseness. By several oppor
tunities and vidories which he prosecuted not.
First, when Bristol was cowardly surrounded by Fi
ennes : had he then come unto London, all had been
his own ; but loitering to no purpose at Gloucester,
he was presently after well banged by Essex.
When in the well, viz. Cornwall, he worsted
Essex : had he then immediately halted to London
his army had been without doubt masters of that
city ; for Manchester was none of his enemy at that
time, tho' he was general of the associated counties.
Or had he, ere the Scots came into England,
commanded Newcastle to have marched southward
for London, he could not have miffed obtaining the
city, and then the work had been ended.
Denmark could not endure him; sent him little
or no assistance, if any at all; besides, the old king
fufpeded another matter, and made a query in his
drink.
king had become tbfolute here in England, Orange
had been king.
1 he city of London, which he had fore opprefled
and flighted, he lived to fee thousands cf them in
arms against him ; and they to thrive, and himfelf
coniume unto nothing. The parliament, which he
so abhorred, and formerly scorned, he lived to know
was superior unto him ; and the scorns and flights
he had used formerly to Elliot, and others, he saw
now returned upon himfeifin folio.
With Spain he had no perfect correfpondency,
since his being there; less after he fuffered their
fleet to perish in his havens ; least of all, after he
received an ambassador from Portugal; the Spani
ard ever upbraiding him with fallhood, and breach
of promise. Indeed, the nativities of both king#
were very contrary.
With France he had no good amity ; the protec
tants there abhoring his legerdemain and treachery
unto Rochelle ; the Papists as little loving or trust
ing him, for some hard measure offered unto those
of their religion in England. He cunningly would
labour to please all, but in effect gave fatisfa&ion
to none.