Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1777-03-04 00:00:00, page 2

Lie all their influence and authority, to route the su
pine; to animate the irresolute; to confirm the waver
ing; and to draw from his lurking hole,' the Skulking
neutral, who, leaving to others the heat and burden
of the day, means in the final result, to reap the fruits
of that victory, for which he will not contend. "Let
us be peculiarly assiduous in bringing to condign pun
ishment, those detestable parricides, who have been
openly aXive against their native country. And may
we, in all our deliberations and proceedings, be influ
enced and directed by the Great Arbiter of the fate
of nations, by whom empires rife and fall; and who
will not always fuffer the fceptre of the wicked to rest ox
the lot of the righteous; but in due time, avenge an in
jured people on their unfeeling oppressor, and his
bloody instruments.
WILLIAM LIVINGSTON.
Haddonfield, 25th February, 1777.
To the FREEHOLDERS of the STATE of
PENNSYLVANIA.
Gentlemen,
AS the time is approaching for the choice of Magi
strates, I slitter myfelf, a discourse on the import
ance of the office, with the qualifications necessary for its
discharge, will not be disagreeable to you. There is
scarce any office in the kingdom of Great-Britain more
ancient or extensive, than that of a Justice of the Peace.
It may at least be traced as far back as Edward the Third,
but there were officers in the nature of Justices of the
Peace, called Conservators of the Peace, long before the
reign of that Prince. Their jurisdiction is so various,
and extends to such a multiplicity of cases, as to fill ma
ny folios of a certain profeffion, equally famous for their
volubility of tongue and voluminous writings ; they have
in particular as Justices of the Peace, a very ample jurif
d dion in all matters concerning the peace, and hence
it has been held by some of the long robe, that not only
assaults and batteries, but libels, barretry, and common
night walking, haunting of baudy houses, and the like
offences, which have a direct tendency to cause breaches
of the peace, fall within their cognizance as trespasses
within the proper and natural meaning of the word. It
is evident that a Magistrate, of such e^tenfive jurifdi&i
on, may, by the due exercise of his office, diffufe his be
neficial influence far and wide, or do the publick un
known mifebief by not difehar^ing it aright. It must
needs adminiffer a sublime pleasure to every honest breast,
to fee our Courts of Judicature held by men of capaci
ty and reputation, therefore, I shall confider the qualifi
cations necessary for so important an office, under the
soar following heads, viz. conscience, learning, impar
tiality *nd reflation.
Perhaps some persons will expe& an apology for my
making conscience a necessary ingredient in the charac
ter of a Juflice of the Peace, on account of its being so
rarely infixed on heretofore, in officers of greater dif
tinXion : Let us confider we are members of an infant
State, if the foundation is laid on a rock, the fabrick
will neither fhak^ nor totter. As I have the misfortune
to be a little lingular in my opinions, I am not absolute
ly convinced, that a confcientioos Justice of the Peace,
would barely Mpon that account, do any considerable
mitchief to the community ; it might, I own, if things
go on in the old channel, make him appear a little sin
gular, and perhaps create bin the ill will of his brethren
who esteemed it an infringement on their prerogative, but
then he might easily assuage their anger, by Shewing them
that it was originally an appendant of his effice, and by
that means retcue himfelf from the charge of innovation.
So great a veneration had the ancient Greeks for a man
of virtue and piety, that although no man's rank or condi
tion exempted him from bearing public offices, yet his
course of life and behaviour did : For if any man led a
loose, difiolute lie, he was thought unworthy the mean
est employment in the State, it being conceived impro
bable, that a person incapable of behaving himfelf so as
to gain reputation in a private life, should be able to de
m^an himfelf prudently in a publick station, nr that he
who had neglected his own concerns, or failed in the
management of them, sh uld be capable of undertaking
public business and p: v ding for the Common Wealth,
for this reason, before any man was admitted to a pub
lick employment, he was obliged to give a fuccinCt ac
count of himfelf, and his past conduct to certain Judges
in the Forum, which was the place appointed for his ex
amination, nor was this alone thought fuffirient ; for
though at this time they past trial with credit, yet the
firft ordinary assembly after their election, brought them
a second time to the test, when, if any thing scandalous
was made out against them, they were deprived cf their
honours. Without an inviolable regard to the voice of
conscience, an officer's refped will naturally be bound
ed by his own pei fonal interett ; or if he prefers honour
to riches, instead of extending his views to the publick
emolument, he is wrapt up in the contemplation of his
own grandeur. Heis in post, and that flutters his ambi
tion. and he is hurried away in the pursuit of his own
elevation, he tramples upon the happiness of those whose
interests are iritrufted to his care: Your confeientious
man on the contrary, is ever and anon ruminating on
his duty, he cannot facrifice the public welfare to his
private interest, without disturbing his inward tranquili
ty and repose. He inviolably observes the noble precepts
of Plato, " so to watch the fafety of the people as to aim
" all his actions to that mark," while he forgets his own
advantage. Hence it is, that friends and foes meet with
the fame treatment, and he a&s as though he was utterly
void of natural affe&ion. Nay, he thinksit is his duty
to divest himfelf of himfelf, and to immolate his own in
clinations on the altar of the law. He confiders himfelf
a terror to evil doers, and cn the least suggestion of par
ti l ty in favour of an old friend or a bottle companion,
his oath founds dreadful in bis ear. He is in fine a stub
born, inflexible, incorruptible creature, that will not
permit himfelf to be biaffed for love or money, notwith
standing all the precedents that might be produced in his
juftification, happy will it be for the people in this State,
if their Magistrates will ever hereafter merit this amiable
character.
Learning.—The want of a competent education in a
Magistrate is an incredible prejudice to the community.
Ignorantia mater error'ts, said an temtant lawyer. A man
may really intend well, and exert his utmolt efforts tor the
publick good, but itill, if he is unacquainted with his
own power and duty, fruitlefs and unavailing are his most
generous withes, and in the language of the Apostle, he
bears the sword in vain. A sense oohis incapacity ren
ders him timorous and diffident, and frequently deters
him from proceeding right, through an apprehension he
is going wrong. It moreover debates the grandeur of bis
function, and Subjects it to popular odium and contempt.
Mankind have a itrong aversion to submitting to a pcr
fon of inferior capacity, and a riveted notion that their
luperiors ought to surpass them as well in knowledge as
in authority. A Magistrate ought at least to have a ge
neral idea of the laws of his country, and a more parti
cular acquaintance with those relating to his own office.
With such a stock of knowledge he will be able as well as
willing to assert his prerogative, nor fuffer an offender to
escape, for tear of becoming a criminal himleif. The
fight of an illiterate Magistrate never failed to put me in
mind of Mr. Gay's monkey with his sword and perriwig.
Impartiality is another essential ingredient in the cha
racter of a Magistrate; for if he follows any other rule
than that of his own reason and judgment, or fuffers him
lelf to be blinded by favor or animosity, how precarious
our property ! how defencelefs our perfonsl the most sa
lutary laws may be perverted through his prejudice, and
the strongest bulwarks of our liberty thrown down, or
leaped over : On the contrary, a man anting from impar
tial motives, will so take care of the collective body, as
not to serve the interest of one party to the prejudice or
negle& of the other. But it is beyond expression fatal to
a community to have the administration of justice com
mitted to men Swayed by prejudice and resigning those
gudes, which the Author of Nature hath given them for
their direction, to their own intemperate zeal, or the dic
tates of a party. A man anting in the capacity of a Judge
ought to divest himfelf of all biafs, and as it were, to an
nihilate his own passions. His oath, his honor, and his
country demand impartial disinterested justice. He ought
to drop the man whenever he assumes the Judge, and
know nothing cf the persons litigant, but that they are
parties to the controversy before him. To pervert justice,
which, like the liberal light of Heaven, ought to Shine
equally on all, tor the the gratification of a personal pique,
is the utmost degradation of human nature, and the molt
villainous revenge that can be conceived.
Liftly, without resolution and intrepidity, all other
qualifications will but little avail. A man may be honest,
wife and impartial, but if be is fearful and pusillanimous,
he will lie dormant and inactive where there is the great
est necessity of exerting himlelf. Some Magistrates, tho'
honestly disposed, have neglected their duties for fear of
being traduced by malignant calumniators. But men,
who voluntarily screen themselves from ufeful offices, or
neglect their duty to avoid the rest Ctions that may be cast
upon them by vulgar tongues, Should confider, that the
duty they owe their country is not to be dispensed with
through fear of a little undeserved reproach : They
Should disdain thus to bury their talents, for the fake of
palling their days in a kind of living death, or to resign
the prize of glory, in the service of the Common- Weal,
for a cowardly indolence and the insipid joys of foft re
tirement and felfifh repose. If we trace the wisdom of
Providence in the harmony of the creation, the mutual
dependence of human neture renders it demonstrable,
certain, that man was not defined Solely for his own hap
piness, but to promote the felicity of his fellow creatures
also. A man of resolution will fprmg into action, and
check the torrent of vice 'anti licentiousness, in defiance
of reproach and irriamy: Slander in such a case is real
glory, and aspersion and opp fition present renown and
immortal fame: It is a kind of tribute which every man
must expe& to pay for his integrity : It is a fiery purga
tory, through which the better men must pass: But then
it refines their characters and augments the luftre of their
names ; for in the end they will be triumphant. When
Fabius would not come to a battle wirh Hannibal, but en
deavoured tq weary him out by delays, he was abused by
his own countrymen and reproached with cowardice, and
called Cunflator [the delayer:] But afterwards his con
duCt, which experience evinced to be equally admirable
and faccefsful, procured him universal commendation.—
Thus intrepidity and perfever mce in our duty will at last
disarm malice itfelf, and Stop the venomous mouth of
envy; our greatest tradycers will applaud our resolution,
and blush because they have been our enemies. B'fi es,
integrity is a constant Support of courage, and the testi
mony of a good conscience the best cordial for the wounds
of obloquy. ,ufium et tenacem feropofite virum, non ci
arium ardor prauajubentium; non wultus inflantis tyranni
mente qualit folida.
I Shall close my address to you in the words of an emi
nent poet.
For forms of government let fools contest,
Whate'er is belt administered is belt.
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight,
His can’t be wrong whefe life is in the right. &c.
Chester County, Feb. 27, 1777.
)^^^):oo(X^?^^ ^X^
BALTIMORE, February 25.
TH E following gentlemen are promoted to the rank
of Majors General in the army of the United States,
viz. Lord Sterling, Thomas Mifflin, Arthur St. Clair,
Adam Stephen, and Benjamin Lincoln, Esquires.
Colonels Enoch Poor, Glover, Patterson, Anthony
Wayne, James Mitchel Varnum, John Philip Dehaas,
George Weedon, Muhlenbuig, John Cadwalader, and
William Woodford, are also promoted to the rank of
Brigadiers General.
We hear that the " vapouring insurgents" of the East.
ern Shore have, as we expe&ed, deserted their “ ignoble
colours," and resumed the spade and the hoe, “ which they
so chearfully had laid aside." Several dangerous persons
have been taken into custody and properly secured. Others
discover such marks of penitence that they will, undoubt,
edly, avail themselves of the clemency of government.
' a !'„°' "° troops sent against them have since marched
to join General Walhington. It is said, the independant
company of this town have had the pleasure es lowering
the abandoned King’s colours ; and our gallant General
Smallwood, e having fuller powers than the British Com
missioners, is now employed in accepting submissions,
and dispensing real pardons lor real crimes.
PHILADELPHIA, MarJ 4.
Last Friday died at Darby, ofa putrid fever, Do^or
JOHN MILLER, aged about 23, on his journey
to Dover, the place of his nativity.
Mr. Dunlap,
The (oh&wingi intended rather as a moral lesson than a
coarafhr of the dead, me hope +wiil net be received in
the circle of your correfrondents, as a piece of that com
mon place panegyric, so often beftomed upon tbe^ e occa
sions mitbout a due discrimination.
—DOCTOR MILLER with great assiduity
for a confiderabie time served his country in the capa
city of a Volunteer-Surgeon in the army. Though
naturally of a slender and delicate constitution, he was
observed, particularly in the late fuccelsful moverrents
or our army, to undergo the fatigues and hardfliips of
a military life with farprifing equanimity. He had
long been absent from an affectionate father and fond
mother; he paid a sacred deference to the hoary head
of age; he could not but know their fond attachment
to a son who was locked upon in a great m p a ( ure as the
Support of their feeble years. He was probably enjoy
ing in idea the pleating circumstances of that endearing
feene which he expeAed shortly to experience, in an
interview with his dearest connexions —He was, with
impatient speed, hafteniog the arrival of those happy
moments with so much pleasure anticipated, when the
iron hand of relentless Disease arrested him on hs
journey, and marked him for his prey. His seizure
was violent; the progress of the disease was rapid; the
struggles of nature were agonizing; and Death, at length
considered as a welcome messenger, with irresistible
force soon laid the helpless victim at his feet.
'Tis no uncommon thing for the fdlfely-reputed great
of the world to be surrounded by crowds of interested
dependents, who seldom fail to bestow the most ex
travagant encomiums upon the most undeserving ob
jeffs, but when fummon'd by the voice of Mortality co
submit to the irreversible decree of fate, they have ge
nerally Slept in obfeurity ; their names have seldom
been mentioned urilefs it were to execrate their memo
ries. Ihe vain and empty adulations of Some cringing
expedant may perhaps have been lavished upon the de
tested character, but after a little affected pomp ani
constrained ceremony, the lying voice has been forever
hushed : but the memory of our much lov’d friend, to
whom we are now paying bur last public tribute, will
exist unimpaired in the breast of every friend to merit
who was bleft with his acquaintance; in those faithful
repositories his virtues are recorded with the point of
a diamond. The plaintive voice of his mourning friends
may teftify with what warmth he loved: His breast was
the feat of those refined passions which dignify and ern
bellifh human nature; when he contracted a real friend
fllip it was for life; the price of it was beyond rubies,
and the objeds of it had the most ample cause to feli
citate theinfelves upon the inestimable favour. So ma
ny testimonies would preclude the necessity of an herald
to proclaim his fame, were it not that Survivors might,
by viewing the fair example, be induced to copy it.
When he felt the approaches of his last, and we be
lieve his on'y foe, so keen and so lively an idea had be
formed of that affecting Scene which usually attends a
dying bed Surrounded by a circle of weeping friends,
that upon being pressed to apprize his diflant relatives
of his dangerous situation, he strenuously opposed the
proposal, adding, that he wished the confliX might be
over before the heavy tidings of his malady should have
reached their ears, left they should be witnesses to the
painful combat.—His calmness and intrepidity upon
the field of danger were conspicuous—He was peculi
arly attentive to the wounded soldiery, and as to his
chirurgical character, it is Sufficient to observe, that in
him was exhibited a remarkable instance of that happy
combination of compassionate tenderness and manly
firmnefs, so requisite to that profeffion of which the
miserable and distressed are the objects. In argumen
tation he difeovered a depth of genius with which few
are favoured, and there were few fubjeXs upon which
he could not converse with the greatest ease and perfpi.
cuity. The last impressions from parting objects are
usually vivid and permanent; the character of our friend
shone with distinguished luftre in the latest period of his
life. Dry up your tears, then, ye grieving relatives; it
is just that the ripest fruits should be firft gathered, and
protected from the rude storms of fortune: The aged
parent, the amiable filler, and affeXionate brother, may
reflect upon the numerous temptations to which the
variegated Scenes of life expose us, and console them
selves with the happy belief that Death in kindness Se
cured him from them. The voice of Reason and Phi
losophy should check the too violent effufions of grief.
Wedo not expeX, nor wish, his virtues to be forgotten ;
this indeed were impossible; the reflection upon the left
of so worthy an afTociate, will frequently cast a fable
mantle over the enjoyments of life—But peace to hr
dust—The weeping genius of celestial Virtue, fhaf
spread her foffering wings over the embalmed ashes c;
her favorite son, shall watch the Sleeping clay with tl:
lamp of glory in her hand, shall protect it from the rude
intrusions of unhallowed feet, and when earth and seas;
shall be Summoned to deliver up their dead, shall gather
the re-animating dust, and present it, we trust, to an
approving God, whose almighty fiat shall clothe ^he
once corruptible mass with a robe of effulgent luftre,
and though the unstable systems of matter shall have
periled in the last convulsions of universal nature, shall
fliine as a far for ever and ever.