The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1782-01-31 00:00:00, page 2

A letter from Madeira brings advice, that a French
frigate of 40 guns, called La Bellipotent, is taken, after
an engagement of an hour and a half, by the Amazon
privateer of 18 guns, and the Jason privateer of 12 guns,
and carried in there in so Mattered a condition, that it
was with difficulty that they kept her above water.
Advice is received from Cornuna, by the way of
France, that two French vessels of 500 tons each, laden
chiefly with eloathing for the French troops in the Weft-
Indies, under convoy of a 40 gun frigate, were both
taken the day after they failed from thence, by two
Engi& Cruisers, but into what port they were carried
is not known. That the frigate is returned into Corun
na in a fhattred condition, in engaging one of the En
glish cruisers, whilst the other carried off the prizes.
This day both houses of parliament met, pursuant
to their last adjournment, when the were further ad
jour ned, by commission, to the 27th of November next,
then to meet for the dispatch of business.
A Man who is always fatisfyed with himfelf is fel
,l dom so with others, and they rarely with him.
Such are-the imperfections entailed upon human nature,
that the man who imagines, himfelf so much wiser than
the reftof mankind, is often the moR destitute of
sense. The wifefl of us are too apt to censure the con
dud of others; and, while we imagine we discover a
thousand imperfections in the different persons that
surround us, it is a million to one but each of those
persons pities the imbecility of every one but himfelf.
The man who delights in angling, fneersat the danger
ous and fatiguing amufenfents of the ch- ce : \vhile the
pursuer of Reynard looks down With equal contempt
on the dull and mopish amusements of the angler. Ha
bit, conflitution, and education, are perhaps the foie
causes of that apparent difference so visible between
one man and another; and hence, since men, from
these causes, must have different ideas, it is no won.
der that each man should confider himfelf as a pattern
for the rest of the world. Horace (peaks admirably in
point to this fubjeft:
Oderunt hilarem trifles, triflemque jocofi,
Sedatum celeres, agilem ghavumque remiffi.
The man who is of a gloomy and thoughtful turn,
looks upon the mirth and pleasantry of the cheerful
man, as noise and nonsense ; while the latter considers
the former as the useless drone of society: the {plight
ly hate the grave ; aud the indolent, the bulling and
th® active: those who love the bottle and the bowl,
treat the man with contempt who refuf s his glass.
Perhaps the tnodeft man too often is considered as
sullen, snd the reserved as four. To arrive at that
slate of universal charity, which should induce us to
judge of mankind by otirfelves, is a matter rather to be
wished than hoped for, un'efs we should divest our
selves of those enemies to human re son, vanity, and
felf love. These are many causes that induce people
to think ill of others. The poor man accuses fortune
of impartiality for railing some ordinary genius to
riches and affluence, while he himfelf is fuffered to lie
buried in poverty and obfeurity, and his talents un
noticed and neglected : at the fame time, it is ten to
one, but the man he envies and exclaims againfl, has
an equal right to censure that want of industry, care
and attention in his reviler, which contributed to make
him the child and favourite of fortune. The weak
nesses and imperfections of mankind are in no instances
more visible than in the political line. Nothing is
mere common than to hear people complain, in the
mod vehement manner, againf lthe mdnagementof Rate
affairs of which they are only fpeflators; they will
represent the nation as ruined, our interests fold to the
enemy, and arbitrary power the foie object of pur
suit ; but they no sooner receive a smile from a great
man, or commence partners in the plunder, than they
will positively assert, that no nation under heaven was
ever better governed, nor any people more free and
bappy, Could they but fee things clearly. Selfinter
efl is the load done that attracts every thing that comes
near it, and always inclines to one certain point, at
which almofl every man aims. Virtue, honour and in
tegrity, like fine pictures in a room, make a great show
and are often made use of only to attrad the eye, and
hide the blemishes of th? dirty wall behind them. The
conversation that generally passes in society, turnsup
on the imperfections of those that are absent; and
those who are then preftent, when absent themselves,
come in for their (hare of censure. The man who can
happily bring himfelf to such a temper of mind, as ne
ver to (peak ill of any one, to make allowance in o
thers for those infirmities from which he knows he him
felf cannot be perfectly free, and totally reject the na
tural malignity of the human heart, may then be said
to have acquired, what Mr. Pope confiders as the
principal study of mankind, “ the knowledge of him
felf.'' It is a lesson the young man has to learn, and
which even the aged were never yet perfectly maflers of.
SENEX.
October 2. Five fail of the line are ordered to proceed
immediately for the Bast Indies, under the command
of captain Barber, who is to hoist a broad pendant on
board the Fame; the Yarmouth, Boyne and Anson,
are mentioned as three others of the ships destined for
the above fe vice.
PETERSBURG H, September 7.
TT E R imperial majesty has ordered the keels of nine
1 new (hips, to mount from 50 to ,4 guns, to be
immediately laid, and the utmost expedition used in
resiting those already built, it being determined on to
have a fleet of 34 fail of the line for service as soon as
the season will permit. These orders are said to be in
consequence of an express being arrived from the Ruf
fian ambassador at the Hague.
S I R,
Virtuous and vicious ev'ry man muff be,
Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree:
The rogue and fool, by fits is fair and wife,
And ev4) the best, by fits, what they despise.
POPE.
To the PRINTER.
D 0
Extract of genuine letter from an officer on beard the
Berwick, dated at the Nore, Sept. 8, 1781, to a
relation in London.
" This day we fail for the North sea in search of ad
miral Zoutman, or any of the Dutch commanders who
chufe to dispute our superiority there. The commo
dore has the foie command of the squadron, so that if
we are so fortunate as to beat the Dutch once more, our
expectations' promotion, I assure you, will not be a
little sanguine.
" We have got under our command the Fortitude,
Preflon, and Lady Caroline lately taken from the
Dutch, and after we get to the Northward, we expefl
to finl the frica and Sam son, with several capital
frigates which are waiting off Yarmouth for us; and if
our grand fleet can spare the Bellona, we are to have
her ; so that in all, we shall be eight fail of the line, be
sides some heavy frigates.
" I take the opportunity of writing by our Pilot's
boat ; our 1 eople are in the greatest spirits, and nothing
will pleife them but beating the Dutch, that seems to
be the burthen of their song.
" We have just now got forty fine fellows, in lieu of
those poor men killed and wounded on the sth of
August.
The Lively letter of marque, of Leith, has taken
and sent into that port the Gustavus, an Ameriacn
vessel, bound from Gottenburg for Philadelphia loa
ded with fait &c,
OH. 18. Commodore Johnston is expeßed in England
by the latter end of next month, with all the company's
homeward bound ships due this year; also his valua
ble prizes. Colonel Fullarton's regiment has loft up
wards of 150 men by sickness, &c.
Extract of a letter from Plymouth, Oft. 14.
" Yeflerday morning came in here the Arethufa,
of 38 guns, fir R. Pearson, Baronet, having captain
Holmes on board, with dispatches from commodore
Johnson. The reason of captain Hoimfes being on
board th~ Arethufa is as follows.
" The Larkcutter in which captain Holmes was sent,
fell in with the Arethufa at sea. and imagining he
should be in England sooner, went on board her ; but
haveng light winds, the cutter got into port 24 hours
be fore the frig ite.
There is no news of 'he fleet which failed the nth
of June for India, confining of eight fail, under convoy
of the Sultan of 74, and Magnanime of 64 guns, but
it is supposed to be at St. Helena by this time.
The following are the names of the ships which were
left at St. Helena when the fleet lately arrived in Eng
land failed from thence, Chapman, Haflings, South
ampton, Ofterley, Valentine, Asia, Hinchembfoke,
Locko, and Fortitude.
The East India company have now abroad in their
service thirty eight fail of ships, 21 of which failed this
year, viz. thirteen with commodore Johnflone ; and
eight with the Sultan and Magnanime.
" Between Sunday night and Monday morning, the
25th and 26th ult. the marquis de Bouille, with three
French friga.es, said to be the Galatea, the Medea,
the Amazon, and the sloop of war Eagle, formerly
one of our packets, arrived at the island of St. Eu
flatia. He soon effeded the landing some of his troops,
according to the bed accounts not more than 400, at a
place called White Hook, to the east of Gallows bay
This part of the shore being full of shoals and break
ers, and the furf running prodigious high, it was a
mofl hazardous, and to a man of less firmnefs and re
solution than the marquis, would have seemed an im
pra&icable attempt; he surmounted every impedi
ment, though with the loss, we are told, of ten of his
" Fitzgerald crossed the Moyne at Killala, and
took refuge fr®ro the pursuit of the Mayo volunteers
in Tireragh, in the county of Sligo, whither he con
veyed his father, on intelligence of which the right
hon Owen Wynne immediately marched with a de
tachment of bis regiment of Loyal Sligo vo-
Inmreers, and continued a close pursuit for th ee
days, but on the 4th, Fittgerald having intelli
gence that Mr. Wynne was to be joined by the re
mainder of his corps, and finding every avenue by
which his father could be sent away cut off by the in
telligence of this gentleman, he, in order to save him
felf, delivered the old gentlemen up [to fir Malby
Crotton, bart. who brought him fafe and well t® Mr-
Wynne, happy indeed at his liberation, and grateful
to the gentleman and the troops who effected it, and
to whom the public thanks are certainly due, for their
spirit, alacrity, and judicious conduct It is fuopo
fed Fitzgerald himfelf effected his escape by a boat,
as every pass of that extensive country, intrenched
with mountains, was effectually guarded."
Information being received that the insurgent Fitz
gerald had ventured to town, and that he was lodged
in a house at College green, major Hall, with a party
of horse, immediately set out to apprehend him, when
they luckily met him at the hour of one o'clock yes
terday morning, about the middle of College green,
on which he was taken into custody. He resigned his
sword to m jor Hall, without any attempt at that
mad refi flance which has so remarkably distinguished
this rash unfortunate young gentleman. Since that
time he has been confined in the officer's room in the
castle guard-house: In the mean time proper mea
lures are taken to prosecute him for his various viola
tion and contempt of the laws of his country. For
this purpose his father and brother have arrived in
town. No pressure of misfortune seems however, to
have operated upon his spirits—the romantic ideas of
the Herveys, seems to be blended with the extrava
gance of the Fitzgeralds, and he only shrugs up his
shoulders like Charles of Sweden, when he comforted
himfelf with the reflexion that he loft a glorious op
portunity in miffing the means of holding out three
days longer againfl the siege of Bender.
St. J O H N's (in Antigua) December 5.
The following are such particulars as have come to our
knowledge, relative to the capture of St. Euflatius
on the 6th ultimo.
D U B L T N, October 20.
ExtraO of a letter from the county of Sligo.
Jan. 17. Last Monday the brig Chamcd, captain Gage,
arrived at Beverly from Martinico. He failed from that
island on the 6th ult. and advises, that count de Graffe,
with 31 fail of the line had arrived there from Chefa
peak bay ; and that a detachment of 5 fail more had
arrived at Cape Francois. The count was procuring flat
bo.tomed boats, and making every other decenary
preparation for a speedy expedition; audit was fuppof
A gen leman is come from Providence, ft ate of Rhode-
Island ; by him we learn, that intellgence was received
there from Hispaniola, which fays, That several Span
ish ships ofc the line and transports with troops on
board, had been and reduced the island of Ne Provi
dence ; and after having humanely taken off all its
inhabitants, gave the island to the flames: By which
haapy manoeuvre, the piratical fieet of the notorieufly
infamous Goodrich, wiil, in a I rge degree, be fruf
trated in their more diabolical and infernal plans. The
men of war and transports with the prisoners on board
had arrived at Hilpaniola, before tin's intelligence came
away. Soon after, it is added, the ihips and transport s
with troops, failed on another expedition. St. Au_
guftine may not be an infignificant obje& in the mofl
worthy Dons eyes.
B O ST O N, January 7.
For the fatisfaftion of our readers we have col!e&ed
a lift of the real and acquired titles annexed to the hu
mane, pompous and fortunate British General taken in
Virginia, by the confederate army, viz. Ch rles earl
Cornwallis, vifeount Brome, colonel of the 33d regi
ment of foot, constable and chief governor of the Tow
er of London, lord lieutenant of the Tower of London,
lord lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets, hereditary
member of the house of lords, one of the British king's
mofl honorable privy council, lientenant genera! of the
British arms in America, conqueror of the south
Guilford hero, commissioner for restoring peace to the
6 deluded rebels' in these Rates, the invincible Phcenix
of Vork-Town (Virginia) defamator of his unhappy
bro ker general Burgoyne, competitor of fir Harry
Clinton, and particular associate of that finifhed and
accursed villain, traitor Arnold, whom he has carried
to England with him, in the Robust of 74 guns, in
order, no doubt, to make a tool of him, to help pal
liate the loss of ten thousand men in Virginia, and re
probate the egregious Clinton, whose fame dimifhes
daily, and whose incapacity and inhumanity is too
obvious to require further illufiration.
By a cartel from Halifax, since our last, we learn,
that the Britons there were in great consternation on
the news of the captureof earl Cornwallis. It was with
the utmost reluctance they were brought to believethe
event: many were frank enough to declare that the,
conceived " their race was now pan !" while others, in
fatuated wretches, had the impudence to aver it, as
a fortunate event; asserting, that the exertions of
Britain would now be redoubled, and the rebels ine
vitably conquered. There were 300 American sailors
remaining in Halifax prison when thecartel failed ; but
that their usage is not so rigorous since governor
Hughes's departure for England, fir Andrew Snape
Hammend the present governor there, being a man of
tather more humanity and delicacy, than the former
one: that the intelligence of admiral Graves's being
defeated by the French navy, galled rhem prodigiously:
and that numbers of the British officers heartily wished
themftives ih England again, “ that this ruinous and
infernal war was closed, the coffers of Britain being
exhausted, and the nation involved in an immense and
insupportable debt."
men, Ind of all his baats, which were stove ; it if
even asserted by persons who were there, and had an
opportunity of information, that the marquis placed
himfelf in the surge, above his middle in water, till he
had handed mod of his soldiers on shore.
“ He feleHed from his 400 troops a party of Irish
brigades, and a few picked men of the regiment of
Auxerrois, to the amount of about 250, and began
to climb the hill, when the morning gun went off
which the marquis taking for an alarm, would willing
ly have regained his boats, but knowing it impractica
ble, cheered his troops, put on a compelled counte
nance, and in a word carried all before him with his
feleft few, and with little bloodshed. Would heart of
man believe it, our commander in chief there is allow
ed by every man who knows, to have had between 7
and 800 efftHive British troops under his command !
Tell it not in Gath! They are all sent prisoners to
Martinique.
" It were ungenerous, unmanly, and mean to pass
over in silence the noble virtues, the martial bravery
and the princely clemency of the marquis de Bouille'
as a gentleman and a soldier, even though his laurels
were e rned by our disgrace.
Jan. 12. Last w^ek we told our readers, the booty
taken at St. Euflatius was considerable : This day we
inform them, that a report prevails, that upwards of
Seventy Thousand Half Johannes, fell into the hands
of the conquerors; which monies were deposited there
by admiral Rodney, on account of a demand made
upon him by the merchants of St. Kitta.
Within this week past, two brigs, and one schooner,
have parted their cables, within fix leagues of the cas
tle, in this harbour, and been almoftentirely loft, to
gether with their valuable cargoes, they being allout
ward bound.
" What does he firft address himfelf to, immediate
ly after entire conquest ? Does he run rapaciously up
on plunder ? Does he begin at once to snack and share
booty? No: He not only disdains it himfelf, but he
restrains his soldiers from it, and his firft care is to de
nounce immediate death to any of his followers who
should plunder or insult any of the inhabitants of St.
Euftatia, of whatever country or denomination. He
next proceeds to issue a proclamation, for all persons
who had money or property wrested from them, and
which ftid lay in the deposit of admiral Rodney and
general Vaughan, and their agents, in that island, to
come and make good their claims, when he generously
gave every m< n his own, and sent him away happy.
Oh ! Britons! once trumpeted through the whole earth
for conquest, clemency,and mercy, be yourselves once
more, by example.