Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1775-04-17 00:00:00, page 2

Tj the Cap/aiHsBARBER ^/Andrews, arrived at
Marb edead from Falmouth; the February Pack
et, an 1 Cap. Lawrence, arrived at New-York,
and (dipt. Read, arrived here from London, ive
have the so lowing further advices.
L ONDO N.
HOUSE of LORbS, Friday, Jan. 20.
THE American papers were laid before the
House of Lords by his Majesty's com
mand, on which eccafion, Lord Chat ham is
said to have delivered himfelf to the following
effed :
—“ I rife with astonishment to fee these papers
brought to your table in folate a period of this
business ; papers,—to tell us what ?—why, what
all the world knew before—that the Americans,
lore under injuries, and irritated by wrongs, flript
t)f their inborn rights and dearest privileges, have
resisted, and entered into affociotions for the pre
servation of that b/effing to which life and proper
ty are but secondary considerations ; aflociations
prompted by no other motive than that glorious
and exalted one, the preservation of their common
liberties ; and under this idea the people have been
induced to appoint men competent to so great an
undertaking; men of tried and found principles,
embarked in the fame great cause, and, from fi
mildr sentiments, taught to pity the miferiesofthe
whole.
" Invested then with this right (thechoice of a
free people) these Delegates have deliberated with
prudence, wisdom, and spirit; and,in consequence
of their deliberations, have addressed the justice
and honour of this country. This is their fault
—this is their crime ; petitioning for that, with
out which a free people cannot possibly exist;— =
yet, for ;fl<ing this boon, the unalienable privi
lege of Englishmen, are they reprobated,and Stig
matized with the epithets of ingrates—traitors-^
and rebels.
" Had the early situation of the people of Bos
ton been attended to, things would not have come
to this—but the infant complaints ofßofton were
literally treated like the capricious faualls of a child,
who, it was said, did not know whether it was
aggrieved or not. —But full well I know, at that
time, that this child, if not redressed, would soon
resume the courage and voice of a man. Full
wdl I knew, that the sons of ancestors borne un
der the fame free constitution, and once breathing
the fame liberal air as Englifhtnen,—anceftors,
who even quitted this land of liberty, the moment
it became the land of oppression, and, in resistance
to bigoted councils, and oppressive measures, tore
themselves from their dearest connections ; I fay,
full well I knew, that the offspring of such ance
stors would resist upon the fame principles, and on
the fame occasions.
" Much of late hasbeen said about the autho
rity of Parliament—ads of Parliament are held
up as sacred edicts that should be implicitly fob
knitted to—for if the supreme power does not
ibdge somewhere operatively and effectively, there
mult be an end of all legislation ! —But they who
argue, or rather dogmatize in this manner, do
not fee the whole ofthis question on great, wife
and liberal grounds; for in all free dates the con
ftitKtion is fixed, and ail legislative power and au
thority, wherever placed, either in collective bo
dies, or individually, must derive under that con
stitution who framed them.—Ads of legislation,
therefore, however strong and effective the/ may
be, when they are framed in the spirit ofthis confti
tution, yet when they resist—they attack their
own foundation; for it is the constitution, and it
alone, that limits both fovereiguty and allegiance.
" This doctrine is no temporary do&rine, ta
ken up on particular occasions to answer particular
purposes—it is involved in no metaphyfieal doubts
and intricacies—but clear, precise, and determi
ned—it is recorded in all our law books -it is
written io the great volume of nature it is the
fflcntial, unalterable right of Englishmen it
accords with all the principles ofjuftice and civil
policy, which neither armed force on the one fide,
nor fuhmifon on the other, can, upon any occasion
whatever, eradicate.
" The fads being, then, as I have stated them,
what has Government de ne ? They have sent an
armed force, confining of above seventeen thousand
men, to dragoon the Bostonians into what is cal
led their duty, and, so far from once turning their
eyes to the policy and destructive consequence of
this scheme, are constantly lending out more troops,
and we are told, in the language of menace, that,
if seventeen thousand men wont do, fifty thousand
shall. Tis true, my Lords, with this force they
may ravage the country; waste and destroy as
they march,; but in the progress of seventeen hun
dred miles, can they ocupy the places they have
paded? Will not a country, which can produce
three millions of people, wronged and insulted as
they are, Part up like Hydras in every corner,
and gather frefh strength from frefh opposition ?
Nay, what dependance can you have upon the
soldiery, the unhappy engines of your wrath?
'1 hey are Englishmen, and must feel for English
men; and their carrying muskets and bayonets
about them, surely, does not exclude them from
the pale of civil community. D® you think that
these men, then, can turn their arms against their
brethren ? Surely no a viflory must be to
them a defeat carnage ?f crifice.
“ But it is not merely three millions of people,
the produce of America, we have to combat with,
in this u natural struggle; many more are on their
fide, dispersed over ihc face of this wide empire.
Every whig in this country is for them—lreland
is with them; nay, even those Englishmen, who
way now be temporally inactive, when they once
come to be roufod to a sense of recollection,—
when they come to weigh the great line of right,
for which, their brethren in America ar contend
ing, the sense of their own danger will inftruft
them to range themselves on their fide.
“ Who then, in the name of Heaven, could
advise this m afure ? Or who can continue to
give this strange and unconstitutional advice ? I
do not mean to level at one man, or any particu
lar fetof men—but thus much I will declare, that
^^s Majesty continues to hear such councilors
His Lordship concluded by observing, “ that
he would by no means undertake to fay, the Ame
ricans were not now in, what administration might
call rebellion ; but, even admitting them to be
in this state, it proceeded not from political tur
pitude, but a heroism of foul, a love of liberty,
for which our forefathers were famed; and it was
this principle which rendered the Colonists ob
noxious to a ministry, whose fouls were of too
daftardlya cast to feel the force of political virtue."
Lord Sandwich spoke against <he Americans,
and urged as a reason why the least relaxation on
the part of Great-Britain ffiould be forbore, the
subsequent information he had received from re
fpettable authority. His Lordship, by letters, had
been assured “ that at Port L'Orient three (hips,
laden with arms and warlike Pores, were ready
to tail for America ; that at Amsterdam tbere were
other vessels filled with supplies of a similar na
ture." For these and other reasons, Lord Sand
Such were foroe of the great out lines of Lord
Chatham's proposed bill, which he supported with
that manly force of reasoning, and erlengy of sen
timent and sublimity of expression, for which na
ture, conspiring with genius, so fupereminently
qualified him. At the farce time, however, that
he was virttioufly on the fide of liberty, be was
warmly in favour of political order and con
stitutional government. Hence, though he sup
parted the Americans, where their claims were
well founded, he arraigned their pretentions where
they appeared too assuming on the rights of le
gislation. The complaints larged hy the Ameri
cans “ against the King's troops being Rationed
in the Colonies," Lord Chatham by no means
thought juftifiable ; for he contended, “ that the
King certainly had aright to dispose of the troops
in his service, though the employing them to
enforce unconnitutional laws, was converting sol
diers of honour into the mercenaries of despotism.
With refpe& to the Americans, Lord Chatham
contended, “ that they were the best fubjedts in
the King's dominions; that by repeated ill usage
they had been exasperated even to madness ; then
petitions were rejected; their agents refufed a
hearing; their merchants had been treated with a
contemptuous insolence, unknown in policed go
vernments, and thus driven to defparation, work
ed up by an enthafiaftc zeal for religion on the
one hand, and liberty on the other, it was not
surprising they had been provoked to commit ac
tions, and pa r s resolves, which, if not ftrialy
juftifiable in the abftra&, were yet, with relation
to circumftances^ entitled to every degree of fa
vourable mitigation."
The two leading propositions in this Bill were,
the one of a "declaratory," the other of a “ con
ciliating" nature. As a fundamental basis of nc
geciation, “ the Sovereignty of Great-Britain
over the American Colonies was primarily infilled
on." 1 hat being admitted, the propositions of a
conciliating kind were, “ that such an American
Con^refs should be established, as by the consent
of Great-Britain might constitute it, in every
sense of the word, a legal meeting. That the
Delegates chosen to represent the Several provin
ces in this Congress should be invested with full
and efficient powers to treat with Great-Britain in
behalf of America. That the conciliating pro
positions offered on the part of Great-Britain,
through these Delegates, to America, should be
a total exemption from Parliamentary taxation,
on condition that the Colonies contributed a cer
tain annual subsidy by way of free gift which was
to be set apart as an accumulating fund, and ap
propriated solely to the purposes for paying off the
national debt."
—he will not only be badly^dvifed—but undone.
—He may wear his crown, indeed, it is true, but
it will not be worth his wearing : robbed of so
principal a jewel as America, it will lose its luf
tre, and no longer beam that effulgence, which
should irradiate the brow of Majesty.
" In this alarming cribs, this diftra&ed Rate
of affairs, 1 come with this paper in my hand to
offer you the best of my experience and advice,
which is, “ That an humble petition be present
ed to his Majesty, most dumbly to advise and be
seech his Majesty, that, in order toopen the way
towards a happy Settlement of the dangerous
troubles in America, it may graciously please his
Majesty, that immediate orders may be dispatch
ed to general Gage /or removing his Majesty's for.
cel from thetown of Boston, as soon as the rigour
of'the feafom, and other circumstances indifpen fa
ble to the fafety and accommodation of the said
troops, may render rhe fame practicable.'^—And
this, my Lords, upon the most mature and deli
berate grounds, is the best advice 1 can give you
at thisjunCture—Such a conduct will convince
America that you mean to try her cause in the
spirit offree&m and enquiry, and not in letters of
b ood; it will be a pledge to her, that you mean
nothing more than friendship and equity, and She,
I trust, will meet you halfway.
" I have crawled, my Lords, to this House
to-day to tell you so—l think it my duty to give
the whole of my experience and council to my
country at all times, but more particularly when
fire is in so much need of it ; and having thus en
tered upon the threshold of this business, I will
knock at your gates for justice, and never flop,
except infirmities should nail me to my bed, until
I have, at least, tried every means io my power to
heal those unhappy divisions.
" There is no time to be loft—every hour is
big with danger-—perhaps whilst I am now speak
ing, the decisive blow is struck, which may in
volve millions in the consequence; and, believe
me, the very firft drop of blood that is spilled will
not be a wound easily Tinned over—it will be ir
ritable vulnus; a wound of that rancorous and fef
tering kind, that, in all probability, will mortify
the whole body."
HOUSE of LO R D S, February 1.
A most interesting debate on American Affairs
was this day agitated in the House of Peers; it
originated from a motion made by Lord Chatham,
who brought in a Bill, which in the noble Lord's
opinion, would have an happy tendency in recon
ciling the present .differences between Great-Bri
tain and America.
Moved to agree with the Commons in the said
address, by filling up the blank with ( Lords Spi
ritual and Temporal and)
Which being objected to,
And a question hated thereupon ?
Alter a long debate, the previous question was
put, Whether the main question /hall be now put?
Contents - - no)
Proxies - - 10 4
Not Contents - - 29?
Proxies - - oo j ~3
It was revived ,in the affirmative
The Earl of Dartmouth and the Marquis of
Rockingham both rising to speak, a debate arose
who should speak firft.
The question was put, Whether the Earl of
Dartmouth should now be heard?
It was resolved in the affirmative.
Then his Lordship read the address delivered
at tlie confei ence---and the fame being again read
by the Clerk,
His Lordship speaking of England said, “ that
with relation to America, it was a country which
had been more tinned against than finning." Be
fore the last American A^s were passed, the Co
lonies, in his Lordship's opinion, had been solely
to bl^nt; but hnce those a&s took place, Eng
land merited the severity of censure.
The House divided about half past nine o'clock,
and about ten the division was declared to be
against the bill 61, proxies 7, in all 6s; for the
bill 32; majority against the bill 36.
1 he Noble Lords, who voted for Lord Chat
ham's plan of reconciliation, were the following.
The Dukes of Cumberland, Richmond, Devonshire,
Portland, Manchester, Northumberland. Marquis
of Rockingham. Earls of Stamford, Abington,
Scarborough, Cholmondeley, Strafford, Tanker-'
ville, Stanhope, Effingham, Fitzwilliams. Tem
ple, Radnor, Spencer, Chatham. Lords Aber
gaveny, Ferrers, Craven, Romney. King, For
tefeue, Ponfonby, Lyttleton, Wycombe, Suedes,
Milton, Camden.
PROTES T.
HOUSE of LORD S.
Die Martis, 7° Feb. 1775.
"E Lord President reported, that the ma
nagers for the Lords had met the managers
for the Commons at a conference, which on the
part of the Commons was managed by Lord North,
who acquainted the managers for the Lords, that
they had taken into consideration the state of his
Majesty's colonies in North-America, and had
agreed upon an address to be presented to his
Najefty, to which they desired the concurrence
of this House.
Earl Temple, in a speech pregnant with good
sense, freely admitted " the supremacy of the
Riag in Parliament, and the consequent right to
levy taxes on British fubje^s, in whatever part
of the British empire they resided." He contend
ed, “ that all the unhappy diffentions, in which
this country had for a series of years been involv
ed with the Colonies, originated from the fatal
Stamp A&, which however legally right, was un
politically wrong. He declared the sense he had
of the Ads, passed in the la I Parliament; that at
the time of their passing he had argued they would
turn out bills of exasperation or bills of intimida
tion; unfortunately for this country they had
proved of the former kind."
wich concluded wiih " moving for rejecting the
bill brought in by Lord Chatham."
Lord Lyttleton was for the admission of the
bill, “ as a plan that would conciliate, without
impairing the sovereignty of Great-Britain, was
on all hands allowed neceffarv, and.no such plan .
had been proposed by any of the perforages con
nected with adminiftrauon."
The Duke of Grafton complained much of not
being apprized of the motion made by Lord Chat
ham, declaring that he was hurried into the House
against his will. He condemned the Americans
in very severe terms, and concluded with giving
his most hearty affirmative to the motion for re
jewing the bill.
Lord Camden spoke highly in favour of the
Americans, and was much for the bill being ad
mitted.
Lord Hillfborough expressed himfelf severely
against the bill. He contended, with great warmth,
for the supremacy of this country over America ;
said he was averse to yielding up a Single point,
for though there might be three millions of fouls
in America, they were not all of one opinion; that
he was confident, could the British Standard be
once fixed in America, and if those well affected
to government could be assured of protection, mat
ters would then wear a very different afpeCt.
Lord Chatham, in reply to his Lordfllip, spoke
warmly in favour of the Americans.
Lord Gower said, the House was frequently
disturbed with two or three persons, who advanc
ed their opinions in contradiction to the sense of
the major part of that assembly; that in his opini
on the ad was of a dangerous nature, therefore
he should be heartily for rejeftiugit.
The Duke of Richmond contended for the
Americans with the public spirit of a Roman pa
triot, the dignity of a patrician, the virtue of a
man, touched with an intimate sensibility for his
country's weal.
The Lord Chancellor spoke about twenty mi
nutes against the bill, and was for his country's
exerting in a vigorous manner, her power and au
thority at this important crisis.
The Duke of Manchester contended "that the
bill oughtto be received, as it might probably con
tain fonie very material and important advice; he
cautioned the House to proceed with deliberation,
as America had now three millions of people,
and most of them were trained to arms, and he
was certain they could now produce a larger ar-'
my than Great-Brita n."
Lord Dartmouth said, he by no means would
ever admit a bill, because it might contain forae
good advice; that what he could learn of the bill,
rendered it in his opinion imperfect, as it did not
mention the qualifiations necessary to form a De
legate, he should therefore be for totally reje&ing
the bill.
adly. BECAUSE no legal grounds were
laid in argument, or in fad, to shew that a rebel
lion, properly so called, did exist in Massachusetts
Bay, when the papers of the latest date, and from
whence alone we derive our information, were
written. The overt-a&s to which the species of
treason affirmed in the address ought to be applied,
were not established, nor any offenders marked
out ; but a general mass of the a&s of turbulence,
said to be done at various times and places, and
of various natures, were all thrown together, to
make out one general conflru&fve treason: Nei
ther was there any fort of proof of the continu
ance of any unlawful force, from whence we
could infer that a rebellion does now exist. And
we are the more cautious of pronouncing any part
of his Majesty s dominions to be in actual rebellion,
because the cases of conftro&ive treason under that
branch of the 25th of Edward the Third, which
describes rhe crime of rebelljon, have been alrea
dy so far extended by the Judges, and the dif
tin&ions thereupon so nice and subtle, that no
prudent man ought to declare any single perlon in
that fituatien, without the cleared evidence of
uncontrovertible overr-affs to warrant such a de
claration: Much le's ought so high an authority
as both Houles of Parliament to denouncerfo se
vere a judgment against a confiderahle part of his
Majesty s fubje&s, by which his forces may think
them selves juftified in commencing a war, without;
any further order or commiffiom'
gdly. BECAUSE wethick that several a&£
of the late Parliament, and fev^zl late proceed
ings of ad^iu^QiGn with %. ^ iebr.%
bifentient,
Ift. The previous question was moved, not te
prevent the proceeding in the address, communi
cated at the conference with the Commons, but
in order to present the petitions of the North-
American merchants and of the Weft-India mer
chants and plameis, which petitions the Houle
mi^ht reject if frivolous, or postpone if not urgent,
as it might seem fit to their wisdom ; but to hurry
on the business to which th^fe petitions so materi
ally and diredly related, the express prayer of
which was, that they might be heard before " any
resolution may be taken by this Right Honourable
House receding America," to refufe so much as
to fuffer them to be prelented, is a proceeding of
the most unwarrantable nature, and diredly sub
versive of the most sacred rights of the fubjeft.
It is the more particularly exceptionable, as a
Lord in his place, at the express desire of the
Weft-India merchants, informed the House, that
if necessitated so to do, they were ready without
counsel or farther preparation, instantly to offer
evidence to prove, that several islands of the
Weft-Indies could not be able to subsist after
the operation of the proposed address in Ame
rica. Justice in regard to individuals, policy witli
regard to the public, and decorum with regard t@
ourselves, required that we should admit this pe
tition to be prefeated. By refufing it iuftice is
denied.
STANHOPE. COURTENAY,
CHOLMONDELEY, TANKERVILLE.
Then the main question was pur, whether te
agree with the Commons in the said address, by
inserting the words (Lords Spiritual and Temporal,
and)
ift. BECAUSE the violent matter ofthis
dangerous address was highly aggravated by the
violent manner in which it was precipitately hur
ried through the House. Lords were not allowed
the interposition of a moment's time for delibera
tion, before they were driven headlong into a de
claration of civil war. A conference was held
with the C ommons, an address of this importance
presented, all extraneous information, although
offered, positively refufed ; all petitions arbitrarily
rejected, and the whole of this mast awful busi
ness received, debated, and concluded, in a tingle
day.
We protest therefore against the refufal to fuf
fer such petitions to be presented, and we thus
clear ourselves to our country of the disgrace and
mifehief which muftattehd this unconstitutional,
indecent and improvident proceeding.
RICHMOND, PORTLAND,
PONSONBY, CAMDEN,
ARCHER, FITZWILLIAM,
ROCKINGHAM, SCARBOROUGH,
WYCOMBE, ABERGAVENNY,
EFFINGHAM, ABINGDON,
TORRINGTON, CRAVEN,
3dly. BECAUSE we are of opinion, That
in entering into a war, in which mifehief and in
convenience are great and certain (but the utmost
extent of which it is impolTible to forefee) true
policy requires that those who are most likely to
be immediately afFe&ed should be thoroughly fatis
fied of the deliberation with which it was taken:
and we apprehend that the planters, merchants,
and manufacturers, will not bear their losses and
burthens, brought on them by the proposed civil
war, the better for our refufing so much as to hear
them previous to our engaging in that war; nor
will our precipitation in resolving, add much to
the success in executing any plan that may be pnr
fued.
2dly. BECAUSE the papers laid upon our
table by Ministers, are so manifeftly defective,
and so avowedly curtailed, that we can derive
from them nothing like information of the true
state of the object on which we are going to aft,
or of the consequences of the resolutions which
we may take. We ought (as we conceive) witli
gladness, to have accepted that information from
the merchants, which, if it had not been volunta
rily offered, it was our duty to seek: There is no
information concerning the state ®f our Colonies
(taken in any point of view) which the merchants
are not far more competent to give, than Gover
nors or Officers, who often know far less of the
temper and disposition, or may be more disposed
to misrepresent it than the merchants. Of this
we have a full and melancholy experience in the
mistaken ideas on which the fatal a&s of the last
Parliament were formed.
It was resolved in the Affirmative.
Contents 87
Not Contents 27
Diffentient,