The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1779-06-26 00:00:00, page 1

3ATURDAV, ibNE^CTI
w obpw rwi iWww^
OR / ! T HE
G E N E R A L ^ ADVERTISER
DOCTOR MORGAN's Vindications
( Continued from cur las.)
On the Expenditure of Public Money.
Thirdly. q^HE army during my time was greater
I than it has been since; yet my expen.
ditures were beyond comparison less than the expendi
tures. for an equal space of time since, under ray suc
cessor in office.
The returns to the War Office prove the firft point ;
and the Treasury books ihew, that my whole expendi
tures irom October, 1775, when I was chosen Director
General, to the 25th of April, 1777, eighteen months,
& were but thirty-three thousand eight hundred and feventy
nine dollars ; and from the fame authority it appears, that
under my fucceffor^ from April, 1777, to November,
17,8, being twenty months, the expenditures of the Ge
neral Hospital Department is about sixty times as great,
as it amounts to near two millions, viz. one million nine
hundred and forty-feven thousand dollars, exclusive of
those expenditures in the Commiflary-General's and
Quarter. Master General's Departments, on accompt of
the Hospitals, which are proportionally great*. Nor
can this immense difference be attributed to the deprecia
tion of our money. Thq depreciation was already begun
in my time, and since it h^ but gradually increased, dur
ing thoNtwenty months, A silver dollar will go as far
now, nearly, as tlaeQ Individuals have fold thousand, of
pounds in gold and silver, at the rate of one silver for
four paper dollars currency of the United States, almost
down to November, 1778. About fix months preceding
that period,, gold and silver were purchased at the fame
rate and twelve months before at two to one, which facts
may be ascertained by referring to gentlemen of the * most
unexceptionable character and veracity. My successor
about the time lift fpeciheL purchased near twenty pipes
of the bed M^idra wine at one hundied.and fifty pounds,
or four hundred dollars, a pipe im paper currency, either
for the General Hospital or his own private use. The
like kind of wi^e before the war commenced, would bring
feventy-five pounds, or two hundred dollars, per pipe in
gold or silver. Mr. Allen Mo@re, of this city, informs
ine, that he, in company with Mr. Rogers, purchased in
the summer of 1777, of Messieurs Willing and Morris,
• sixty pipes of Madeira wine of the firft quality, for 0^
hundred and twenty pounds a pipe, and could not have
got such wine for less than seventy or feventy-five pounds
a pipe before the war..
Thus when I was dismissed in January; 1777, exchange
was two to one ; eight months after it was at the fame rate;
fourteen months after the exchange was four to one, and
it was at the fame rate till near November, 1778, twenty
months after my difmiffion. Hence the medium of depre
ciation between my time and November, 1778, is fifty
per cent, and of course, supposing the army since my time
to be as numerous as it was then, and the cecbnomy since
to be the fame as then, add fifty per cent, to my expen
ditures, and the expenditures of the Hospital Department,
since Dr. Shippen has been Director General, to Novem
ber, 1778, ought to be but about fifty fix thousand four
hundred and fixty-five paper dollars, instead of nineteen
hundred and forty-feven thousand dollars. But allowing
there was no depreciation in my time, and that a paper dol
lar was equal in value to a silver dollar, and the medium
between inytime and that of my successor, in the depreci
ation of money, being set as three to one, which is great
ly in his favour ; then from one million ninehundred and
forty-feven thousand dollars, fubftraH one hundred and
twenty-three thousand dollars, expended by Dr. Potts in
the Northern Department, and three hundred and fixty
three thousand dollars expended by Dr. Foster, inthe East
ern Department, which is the sass, as appears from the
Treafury.books, amounting together to four hundred and
sixty-nine thousand dollars, it leaves a balanceof one mil
lion four hundred and sixty-one thousand dollars, expend
ed in Dr. Shippen's department, exclusive of the expendi
tures for the General Hospital, in the Qiarter-Mafter Ge*
neral's and Commissary Geiferal's departments, no less Gon
fiderable. The medium between my time and Dr. Ship
pen's, in the value of money, being allowed as above, at
three to one, will reduce the expenditures of his depart
ment, according to the Treasury-books, to four hundred
and eighty-seven thousand dollars in silver. Now suppos
ing the army since my time to be as numerous as it was
then, the sick to be as many, the discipline as defective ;
and supposing the fame ©economy to be continued, the
• I
* £ venture to give it as my opinion, that if ever an in
quiry is made into the true ft ate of Hospital expences, during
those twenty monthsof Dr. Sbippen's Direflorjbip, and the
ferovifion and dores drawn for the sick from the Commifary-
General's Department, and of every article of expence
which the garter- Mafler- General's Department bas Jur
lifted, or sands charged with, are added to the expendi
tures above-mentioned, which certainly ought to be done to
afeertain the real expenses of the General Hospital, the
amount will not fall far foort of four millions. This is but
conjefiure, however it is a fubjed of such importance as to
deserve a critical invefigalion.
[Price 2s. 6d. single, 2s. by the quantity.
whole expence of twenty months, finee Aprils 1777, to
November, 1778; ought not to amount.to forty thousand
dollars in silver, which rs twelve times less than it has cost
the Continent in that time. Nor ought it to amount to
more. If it be said great part of my stores cost the public
nothing but my personal application and induflry to col
lect them ; I fay the ftor.es I left in the Hospitals and Ar
my werea full equivalent in favour of my successor. In
dependent of which I have the merit of coileding great
fiores, withoutcoft to the public, in &hich I have *0 ri
val in the Hospital Department. And if there is merit in
making such an original collection, without cost, there is
equal merit in preferring it, at the hazard of life or liber
ty, from the almost inevitable rifque of falling into the
hands of the enemy ; and to do this, is, in effect, to make
a second collection of floret, without cost to .the public.
The following extract of a letter from General Washington,
ofJanuary ; 1779, ^d certificate from General Knox,
shew that I did this.
" I have every reason to think that you exerted your
" felf in the remov 1 of the Hospital stores from Newark,
" in 1776, and I well remember the fa& of your Haying
" in the citv among the last that flayed.
"G. WASHINGTON."
General K N O X's Certificate runs thus.
Frederickjburgh, Artillery Parke, lythof O^ober, 11778.
1 This may certify, that Dr. Joon Morgan, Director
' General of the Hospitals, on the^vaciiation ofNew, York,
' was particularly attentive in getting the Hospital stores
' out of New York, and that late in the day of the 15th
' of September, 1776, aft^r the ene^y had beat back part
' of the American troops, and extended themselves acrcfs
' the island, thereby cutting off thecommunication of some
' few troops, then in the city, with the main body of the
' army about Haerlem heights, he came over from Bowles
' Hook in a pettiauger > and had her loaded with Hhfpi
' tai ftores< The fubferiber and several other officers made
6 use of this conveyance over Hudson's fiver, who, other
' wife, would inevitably have been made prisoners. I was
' a wjtnefs to„Dr. Morgan's zeal and industry in collecting
' the ft®res from the wharves of Powles Hook and Hoe
' buck Ferries, and in fending the sick to Newark.
/ IL KNOX,
' Brigadier General of Artillery."
But farther to evince the propriety of my conduct in the
article of expence from the occasions arising, I must again
Contrast my Hospital establishment with that under my
successor : My eftablifhinent when the greatest number of
officers wqe employed, consisted of eight Surgeons, thirty
Mates, tro Apothecaries, one Quarter-Matter, one
Clerk and Pay-Mafler, two Storekeepers, a Purchasing
Commissary, a Ward Master, and fix Stewards.
Upder my successor there were at onetime one Assistant
Director- General, two Physicians and Surgeons-Generab
fifty-four senior and junior Surgeons, sixty Surgeon's
Mates, besides Commissaries, Cterks, and subordinate
officers without number. Yet, admitting the wounded in
my time and since to be about equal, the army was larger
in 1776, than at any time since; and the sick more nu
merous on account of the rawness of the men ; the haste
in which they were colleßed ; the fatigues of their fre
quent motions; the want of military discipline in an in<
fant service, and the defective constitution of the army in
general. Yet in the General Hospital Department under
my direction, no fatal sickness prevailed, end the deaths
were few, as may be seen from the returns now before
you. Frora those marked No, 12, it appears that of
near fix hundred men in the General Hospital at Cam
bridge, Roxbury, and the small-pox Hospital at Sewel's-
P©int, in less than fix weeks ora breaking up the Hospitals
there in May, 1776, only fourteen died, three hundred
and twenty were discharged fit for duty and joined their
regiments; one hundred and £fty were difeharged from
the army at their owq desire, being gieatl, relieved and
the term of their enlNments expired ; many were allowed
to visit their friends fora few weeks, under engagement at
the expiration of that time to join the army at New-
York; and the Hospitals were entirely dismissed at Cam
bridge and Roxbury, without leaving one sick man be
hind, or one accompt unsettled.
In the certificates of Drs. Warren, Adams, Mcknight
and Burnet, Surgeons, who had the charge of attending
the sick under my direction in the General Hospitals at
Lobg-Ifland, New-York, the Bowery, Newark, Hackin
fack and Kings Bridge, it is declared, " That the sick
" in those Hospitals were well attended ; that few of them
“ dyed, and that mofl of them were difeharged from the
" Hospitals, cured, and joined their regiments, fit for
" service." It aifo appears in particular from the certifi
cates of Dolors Turner and Euftis, whom I appointed
to take charge of the Hofpitalsat Stamford and Norwalk,
on the east fide of Hudson's river, when I was excluded
frora farther authority in the Jerseys, to make way for Dr.
Shippen's power, delegated to him, October ~ 1776;
" That from November, 1776, to March, 1 77, about
'' two thousand sick were admitted into those Hospitals,
" which were accommodated and provided by me, for.the
" purpose of taking care of them ; and that the number
" was reduced by the month of March to thirty-five, most
Published every Tuesday, Thursday and Saiurday 6 ]
" of the rest being difeh^ed from the Hospitals, well and
'' for doty." Whilst in Dr. Shippen's department of
the Flying Camp, and in the difirici of the Jerseys, after
being taken out of my hands, by the undermining prac
tices of Dr. Shippen, and trufled to his foie care and ma
nagement, a dreadful fatality prevailed, and forae thou
sands diedf.
Can there then be a Wronger contrast than this is, be
twixt the deaths on the east fide of Hudson's river at the
e b'^ °' " e 'afopaigh,' and those which happened in the
Frying Camp and Hospitals, under Dr. Shippen's charge
at the fame period ? Although the men oq the east fide of
the river had been exposed 'to. at leaf! as great hardships
^nd difficulties from the sieges of Long-Island and New-
Zork, and the battles of Haerlem, White P'_ &c. as
the men of the Flying Camp were, from bei ' fixed great
part of the campaign in,the plentiful country of the Jerseys.
Fourthly. That my accempts were rendered in faith
fully vouched and fettled to my honor appears fr®m the fol
lowing official certificate, dated Hartford, July .1 2, 1777,
and from Mr. De la Mater's letter of October ^O, 177:.
We do hereby certify that we have Carefully examined
the accompts exhibited by Doffy John Morgan, Direc
tor-General of the American Hospitals, and find the fame
to be right call and well, vou lied;—that the whole ac
compt of expenditures to the 25th day of April h.l, in
cluding his own pay, also his accompt of difl^rfements,
amount in the whole to 33,^79 ddNes arm 30-72 parts of
a dollar:—find we do further certify, that from the cre
dit of the accompt exhibited by him, it appears he has
received at different times, the sum of ^9,000 dollars;
which with the amount passed to his credit, difcompted,
as will appear in said accompt, amounting to 3:65 dollars
and 70-^z parts of a dollar making 31,265 dollars and
7® 72 parts,of a dollar, leaves a balance due to him from
the United states of 613 dollar's and 32 72 parts ofa dollar.
JAMES STEVENSON,] Commiiuonerg
JAMES DOWNE, ] of Accompts.
Mr. John 'De la Mater, now Clerk and Pay-Mafler to
the General Hofehai at Danbury, thus certifies, in his let
ter of October 20, 1778. ' I had the fatisfaßion to hear
" one of* the Commissioners for fettling the accompts at
" Hartford, fay,.Dr. Moriah's accompts were the best set
“ of accompts thet had been preferred to that Board ; and .
“ the Cemmlffioners were furprized to fee so fma.il a sum
" dra^n for the Hospital Department, the whole time of
“ Dr. Morgan's direAiort.
JOHN DE LA MATER, Clerk and
Pay-Mafler to the General Hospital at Danbury^
f According to Dr. Rufo's account, who was employed
to offijl in flopping the mortality, betwixt one thousand and
eleven hundred of those men were burned in the Potters-field
alone, and according to. the account cf Mr. Chace, a Delegate
from Maryland, at that time, near two thyufAnd of the Ma- ?
ryland troops only, who cempofed part of the Flying Camp,
were loft in that campaign, and negle& in the Hospitals of
the Flying Camp, to which they belonged, and of which Dr.
Sbippen was Director, is charged with the greater part,
( To be continued. )
TO BE RENTED,
And may be entered upon the firft of July next,
ALAR GE commodious House in Letitia Court,
at present in the tenure of John Heffernan, School
matter; with a kitchen and two small tenements ad
joining, and a pump at the door.
Also to be LET to a tingle Gentlemen, and may be,
entered into immediately, ready furnished LODGINGS
in a genteel house and airy part of the town, confiding
of a v^ry neat dining-room, hd.chamber, and a room
for a servant. Enquire of the Printer.
MIFFLIN and ATTMORE,
In Market-street near the Coffee house, have for Sale,
tyEST-INDIA Rum,
'A few barrels Sugar,
Window Glafe 8 by 6,
Yellow Oker in kegs,
Spanish Brown in ditto,
Cinnamon,'
Jesuits Bark,
\A few c^'ks of Mails,
Deepfea Lines,
A piece belt white Sattin,
Tobined Luteftrings,
The HIGHEST PRICE
13 GIVEN FOR
CLEAN LINEN RAGS.
; b. y
JOHN DUNLA P.
A few patterns of fuperfine
Cloths, with Trimmings
suitable,
IFine white linens,
Fine white India Dimity,
Fine dam^fk Table Cloths 4
yards long and yard and
half wide,
Two elegant sets of Tea*
table China. 4