Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1775-05-29 00:00:00, page 2

Brr/ ? , PUBLIC Adv^MTIcER.
% the Non. the Common, of (treat Britain,
in Parliament aflembled.
Gentle
AT this important ..Tra,wh'' the Brif'^ em
pire is in danger of bei,ng involved in a Ci
\J War, when wade and commerce are at a (land,
when all the horimcvfmHerw.rbr^ry-and w+erch
ednefs are hanging over our heads; when wirit
and famine threats n to succeed our former plenty,
>mi t not ever y Englishman fludder at the approch,
lag danger.
When from the heighth of power^pu'enre and
grandeur,, we are on the point of being precipita
ted into the lowed abyss of slavery and infigniti
c+nce; when from being the firft and mod relpedl
able people in the world we shall be look below
thecouftqueuce of a nation, what must not be the
feelings of every man, whole generous foul is no
.b!y Excited bv a love of his country ? What will
not he his indignation? What bounds will there
be to his resentment ? Which of ye will then
Hand forth and confe's you have been the author
'of these measures? The general calamity, I fear,
is not far diflant ; and horrid as it must be to this
country in general, till it will bring with it this
comfort, that wicked ministers and corrupt Mem
bers of Parliament muff then render an account
of their achons. The public Justice of this nati
on has been long eluded, and calls now aloud for
redress.
Beware, ve Ministers; ye know not on how
final! a point ye stand; ye are now on the brink
ofan impenetrable gul,h; still ye have time to
tetrad; but if tempted by the placid flowings of
its waters, ye think Iccmelv to swim along rhe
summit, ye are deceived. When once immerged,
the briny waves will use their wonted might, and
foaming billows fend you down to the regions be
lows The people of England arc not yet fully
apprised of their danger ; but be allured when
they once come to be thoroughly lentible of the
calamities your wrong headed measures have
brought on them, it will not be easy to rtand the
torrent oftheir resentment. Your venal hirelings
in the senate will desert you, or, if sensible oftheir
being equally involved in your guilt, from a ferric
of common danger they should Hand by you, do
not think their weak arguments will have any avail.
The people without doors will resolve upon those
measures which thole within should have done ;
and ye can exped nothing but that just punishment
which your folly,prelumptiun and wickedness fhlll
have merited.
It is foreign to my present purpose to enter in
to a difejffion ofthofe rights you, as the supreme
power of this nation, claim of sovereignty over
the Americans ; let it fuffice to fay, it is not pro
bable that men, who are defeended from the
fame common ancestors with ourselves ; who have
beep bred up from their childhood in the princi
ples of liberty, and have lived from their firft set
tlements there in the actual poffeflion of this inva-
Eable blefling; it is not to be imagined, I fay,
that fitch men will now quietly submit, and fuf
fer themselves to be delpoiled of that freedom
their ancestors have transmitted to them pure and
inviolate; nor is it to be conceived that men, who
are not defliture of spirit, and who have arms in
their hands, will quietly lay them down arid bend
their neck to the galling yoke of tyranny; or is it
likely that those who have a fnpeiior force, able
to curb their opponents, will be terrified by emp
ty threats or menaces, when those threats are
unsupported by authority, a n d unaided by justice?
Your decrees will fall into the fame ignominy and
contempt as the denunciations of the Court of
Rome. You might as well think to intimidate
these pe'ople by the Pope's Bulls as by arts of par
liament: For what, indeed, Signify threats or
menaces without the two essentials necessary to
Support them, justice and power; the one to per
suade, the other to enforce? In the irefent eon
teft with America I think I may lafely fay you
are destitute of both.
Is it reasonable or equitable that such of yeas
represent Northumberland, Cumberland, or any
orhercounry in England, or more especially such
of ye as are placed in the House of Commons by
the ferrie and corrupt votes of dependant ba
loughs m. the [different parts of the kingdom,
should govern a large and extensive country at
3000 miles dittant? What knowledge have ye of
America ? What know ye ofits concerns? Have
ye been inftruded by the people of that land?
Are ye acquainted with their manners and their
customs ; the date of their finances ; the riches
and numbers of their people, and what imports
they are able to Hear, and what would entirely
©ulh them ? To all the e questions I believe I may
lafely answer in the negative: But in reply you
lay, you think it is reasonable that they, as mem
bers of the British empire, should bear a part of
the burthen and expence, not considering that by
the advantages which accrue to Great-Britain
from the commerce of these countries, and by the
reflriftions we have laid on their trade with all
other nations, we already receive mere and great
er benefits from them than their proportion oftax
cs would amount to. Wifely then have ye. done
to rtop this certain source of riche s from the vain
and improbable hope of taking from them by foice
what they already paid with good will,
I neednot remind you of the story of the old
woman, whose hen brought her a golden egv
every morning, and would have continued so to
do had nit the covetous old hag thought by kill
ing the hen, die should at once obtain the whole
rods of riches, which now (he could only receive
by detail, and accordingly put in force this cruel
lefolution. The fable tells you what was the con
fqueues.
Now how nearly you stand in the fame predi
c latent with this old woman I leave to yourselves
to dete mine: Hut isl grant that the Americans
Should pay a proportional tax, besides maintain
ing their own internal government, what right
have ye to be the affeffurs ? Y^o fit ip the Rritnh
Parliament, a landed qualification is neceiTary.
But where must that qualification be faulted ?
Why within the rirind or Great-Britain. ; t is a
maxim of our law, that roman ffiall be taxed mt
br his own consent, given either in person 01 ^
his representative. 1 should be glad toknowwoat
assent ye can give for the Americans. Few or
n me of ye possess any property in America, or ri
ye do, it is not in.wtue of luch property ye lit
in the British Senate /therefore whatever burthen
you lay on their (hauliers will be so much clear
gains to yourselves: You will not feel the weight
of the taxes, which, with io m^h ease and con
fidence. you order to be levied on the Americans.
Some of you, indeed, may know the value of the
fumsrailed by the shares you receive of the spoils.
The Minister cannot be so ungrateful as to neg
led adding to your salaries, when by your means
he (ball have brought about his end, and increas
ed his own. But how weak these measures are,
and how ineffectual a very short time will demon-
Ibrate. Indeed, except yourselves, who will not
be convinced ? Every one is fenfib'e ofthe danger
ous fitaation to which we are now reduced.
Now, Gentlemen, let me advise /you, as you
regard your own prosperity, let me conjure you
as you value your fafety, to confider well the Si
tuation of this unfortunate country; look on the
dangers that threaten it on every hand ; confider
not only the inexpediency of these measures, but
the total inability of this country to go through
with them. Do you imagine the French and Spa
niards will bl tame andidle fpedators, when they
fee us once deeply involved in a war with our
Colonies? Throw off then your supine indolence;
awake from your lethargic state; and if ve will
not be excited by the desire of doing gobd, awake
at least to the sense of your own danger : Think
when the general calamity comes who will be the
objeds of public odium. Will not the advisers of
thele deftruftive measures be the firft facrifices to
the popular clamour? When the merchants, tra
ders, and manufacturers are Carving; when the
whole mass of the people are in misery and dis
tress, what fecuruy can you expect to find?
Where will you hope to conceal yourselves? Will
you be fafe even within those sacred walls ? Or
rather, may you not fear being pursued, not only
there but even into your most fecretlurking holes ?
Stratford and Laud were condemned and justly
executed for being the advisers of arbitrary mea
sures. Tire King, had he beenable, would have
protested them; they only echoed back to him
his own Sentiments, strengthened by their flatte
ry and oblequioufnefs-: But weak is the power of
rulers when opposed to the wants and diftrertes,
the rage and resentment of the multitude.
When the artificers and handicraftsmen come
by thousands to your house demanding bread, it
will be too late to argue; the mifchief will be
done: You then wili have only to conceal your
obnoxious heads, and save yourselves, if you can,
from popular rel entment and public justice. There
may be a time, and I believe that time will soon
come, when the nod and smiles of the Minirter
will be shunned with as much care as they are now
fought for with eagerneis.
• Once more I admonish you to awake before it
is too late. Stop the further progress of the evil
ye cannot now totally cure; and though ye will
not be rouzed by a love ofyour country, nor a
sense of the impending ruin which threatens us,
yet confider your own danger, as moll aShredly
such of ye as have been the advisers of these mea
sures will bethe firft facrifices. Repeal thenthefe
accursed ads, acknowledge yourselves to have
been in the wrong, and thus atone as much as
now lies in your power for the milclaiefs you have
already occasioned. M 0 NITO R.
Extrafi of a LettrfrowDEAN SWIFT^
William Pulteney, Esq.
" 'I 1 H E fo!kes /^re, whom they call a Par
liament, will imitate jour's in every
thing; after the fame manner a monkey doth a
human creature. If my health were not so bad,
although my years be so many, I fear I might
outlive liberty in England. It hath continued
longer than in any other monarchy; and must end,
as all others have done, which were eftablilhed
by the Goths, and is now falling in the fame man
ner that the rest have done.
" It is very natural for every King to define
unlimited power; it i^ as proper an object to their
appetites, as a wench to an abandoned young fel
low, or wine to a drunkard: But, what puzzles
me is, to know how a man of birth, title, and
fortune, can find his account in making himfelf and
his posterity slaves! They are paid for it; the
Court will rellore what their luxury hath destroy
ed ; I have nothing to obie&.
" But let me suppose a Cliief Minister, fronia
scanty fortune almost eaten up with debts, ac
quiring by all methods a monstrous overgrown
estate—-W hy, he will still go on, to endeavour
making his niafter alflute, and, thereby, their
power of seizing all his possessions at his pleasure,
and hanging or banishing him into the bargain.
Therefore, if 1 were fe^ a Minister, I would a<rt
like a prudent gamester, and cut, as the (harpers
call it, before luck began to change. What, if
such a Minister, when he had got two or three
millions, Would pretend to conviction, seem to
dread attempts upon Liberty; and bring over all
his forces to the country fide?
“ As to the lull of absolute fter, I despair it
can ever be cooled, unlels Princes had capacity
to read the history of the Reman Emperors ; How
many of them were murdered by their own army?
And the fame may be said of the Ottomans by their
Janissaries; and many other examples ar^ easy
to be found. If / were such a Minister, I would
go further, and endeavour to be King myfelf.
Such fears have happened among the petty ty
rants of old Greece, and the worst that happened
was their being murdered for their own pains."
s*+*^-+* ,*+-#+s± +-Q-+^s
H A G U E, March 7.
AT so critical a period as tEe present, sn im
portant piece of intelligence from the Court
cf Berlin must naturally cause various conjectures
and serious (peculations. M. Galfter, a favour
ite Minister and Privy Counfellor of the King of
Prufia, who, and who only, had the ear of the
King, nnd Wis the only Minister uhd&id leave
to open the difpatcbes before they were given for
the Royal peru'al ; even this Minister was sud
denly seized, and carriedto the castle of Spondau,
where he is guarded by a whole Company of Dra- .
goons with drawn swords. The reason of this
affonifhing incident is not Tufily to be accounted
for; but it is not totally unknown, that this fallen
Minister dared to keep urYpetmitted cdrrrfporri-•
ence with the Courts of Stockholm, Versailles,
and Drefdtn, which, as it seems, threw a great
light upon several matters which hitherto have
been a feeder even to the mort sagacious politicians.
We must, however, wait for particulars till next
mail; and although it was given out, that he was
imprisoned on account of some affairs concerning
the Prullian Marine Society, yet we know better.
Dublin, March 18. 1 here is nb doubt but the
ria of Parliament now passing io England, to re
strain the Americans from filling on the banks of
Newfoundland, will be sensibly felt in this king-,
dom, as the quantity of blubber and oil will be so
much diminished, as to enhance the value of this
ufeful article to a most distressing degree.
LONDO N, March i 6.
It is now said, with some degree of certainty,
that Lord Sandwich will go as Lord Lieutenant
to Ireland, as soon as the Earl of Harcourt's time
is expired.
March 17. Although every thing on the fub
jeft has been so blent of late, 'tis said, for certain
that an attempt will be made in the Irilh House
of Commons next meeting to unite that kingdom
With England.
It is an old adage "that when times are tit
the worst they mend." Corruption fays a corre
spondent, like the spider Arachne, seems to have
spun out its own bowels, and must fliortly expert
annihilation.— 4u contraire, this never can hap
pen, but when the Minister has no more money
to corrupt wish.
There was a Angular paper picked up in St.
James's Park on Sunday last, addrelTed to a Great
Personage, which concluded with these words:
“ I o your tents, 0 Israel, bind your Nobles in
chains, and your Princes in fetters ofiron."
We are informed that few or no seamen enter
at the five houses of rendezvous which have been
opened for some weeks part, so great is the aver
sion of our honest tars to form any part of an ar-•
mament against our North-American brethren.
Government giving a bounty for railing 2060 ad
ditional fai'ors, would incur a disgrace, and a
much greater if any attempt to impress.
His Majerty has given leave for the royal vault
to be opened in Westminster Abbey, for the in
terment of the Princess Carolina Augurta Ma
ria, youngest daughter tothe Duke of Gloucester.
House of Commons, March 27.
This day the House was well attended. At
three o'clock Mr. Rice was lent with a message
to the House of Lords, desiring an immediateebn
ference with their lordfllips in their painted cham
ber. The managers names were then called over,
and having gone to the conference, and being re
turned, Lord North reported, that they had left
the bill with their lordflrips for restraining the
trade, and prohibiting the fifliery of Maffachuf
fetts-Bay, &c. on the banks of Newfoundland,
together with the reasons for the Commons hav
ing disagreed to some of the amendments made to
said bill by their lordffiips.
At had after four, Mr. Hartly rose and ex
plained, after reciting them, the intended objects
and extent of his four motions, all directed to
procuring from America aids as here ofore, by
royal requfition. It, he fays, will be evident,
that if the present proportions are over-ruled,
whatever charges of insincerity may be made a
gainst America, it will no longer remain doubtful
for a minute to whom latent designs may be with
justice impu ed.
He was seconded by Sir Cecil Wray, and an
swered by Lord North, who declined giving any
fpecific or direct answer to the conclusion drawn
by Mr. Hartly.
The question was put at half after seven o'clock,
which passed in thenegative, wi bout a division.
House of Commons, March 30.
At three o'clock Lord North moved for the
order of the day, to receive the report of the a
mendments made in the committee to the bill for
refraining the commerce of the colonies of New-
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and
South-Carolina. The House washery full, and
long debates wereexpeded but nothing was fail
but a few wordsby Captain Luttrell,'ivho con
demned the principle ofthe bill throughout, and
ventured to foretell, that it would answer no^ood
purpose but one, that of bringing disgrace and
ruin on its framers and abettors.
Lord North, after replying fbortly, and de
fending the bill on the old gronud of necessity,
offering a claule to extend the bill to the counties
of Newcastle, Kent, and Snffex, on Delaware.
I he clause was contained in the following words.
" 1 hat during the continuance of this a&, no
goods fha!l be ihipped from the conyties of New
castle, Kent, and Saflex, on Delaware, but to the
places therein before mentioned." A few obser
vations were made upon this extraordinary mode
of procedure, unprecedented and unknown in the
annals of parliament, that of condemning people
unheard, nay, even without enquiry. The clause
however with the other amendments, being read
a second time, w<re agreed to by thl House with
out any further opposition, and the bill was or
dered to be engrossed, and read a third time on
Monday next.
March 28.
The following is an authentic co, ofthe Petition of
the North-American Merchants, presented to his
Majesty on Thursday last, by Messrs. Lane, Ale,-
lefon, and Bridgen.
io the King's Mort Excellent Majesty.
The humble Address and Petition of the Merchants,
Traders, and others of the city cf Lendon, con
cerned in the Commerce cf North-America.
WE, your Majefty'sdutiful and loyal fub
je&s, the merchants, traders, and others,
concerned in the commerce of North-America,
beg leave to app-orcL and fun.!lyto for before
your Majesty those grievances, from the weight
of which we are obliged to feck refuge in your
royal wisdom and juQice. An app'icarim of this
extraordinary nature, we hope, will not be at
tributed to any design on our part to disturb your
Majesty's government, but to our present uncom
mon {offerings, the severity of which is aggravat
ed by the profp?& of future calamities.
We are constrained, with very #eep concern, to
obfeire, that the minirters of your Majesty have,
for feme years part, adopt d a new mode of go
vernment with regard to the Colonies; a mode
which has created great di quietude in the minds
of your Majesty's American lubjees, and has
been productive of repeated interruptions of the
valuable commerce carried on between this coun
try and America. An evil of such magnitude
awakes us from that silence which we have hither
to obfetved, in confidence that your Majesty's
ministers, perceiving the effect, of this fatal inno
vation, would revert at length to those wife re
gulations by which the government of the Colo
nies had befh fuCcefsfully adminiftred. In the
measures of late pursued, we have the unhappiness
to find that experience has been disregarded ; and
that the mifebiefs resulting from this error, which
by the application of seasonable and moderate re
medies might have been prevented, have been
furtered to grow to a degree of alarming invete
racy. The interruption of commerce, the dirtrefs
of manufactures, the diminution of your Majesty's
revenues, are mifehiefs which are loft in the con
templations of your Majesty's fubjefls in America
and the Irorrors of a civil war.
If the fubjeds of your Majesty in North-Ame
rica have been led into any a&riof extravagance,
we confide in your Majefty'sjuftice to explain their
p r esent proceedings by that loyalty which has
distinguished them upon former occasions. Your
Majesty will eftirnate their conduct by the integri
ty of their intentions; and if they have been be
trayed by repeated provocation, or excessive pu
nishment, into any measures which may be re
proved, your Majesty will impute them to their
true cause, and will make a just diftinClion between
the turbulence ofa faction, and the eager conten
tions of a free people.
I o enforce this system cf severity towards the
Colonies, an ad has been parted by both houses of
parliament, and is now awaiting yeur Majesty's
royal aflent;“ To refrain the trade and com
merce of the province of Massachusetts Bay and
New-Hampshire, and the colonies of Connecticut,
and Rhode-Ifland, and Providence plantations, in
North-America, to Great-Britain, Ireland and
the British islands in the Weft-Indies; and to pro
hibit such provinces and colonies from carrying
on any fi fhery on the banks of Newfoundland, &c.
By the operation of this ad, many thousands
of your Majesty's fubjeCts in those provinces, be
reft of their occupation, and in vain desirous of
exerting their usual industry, will either remain a
burthen on the community, or fuffer themselves
to be hurried away by a spirit of enterprizing des
pair. Thelofs they will luftain by the interrup
tion of jo valuable a branch of their commerce,
will be Aggravated by the /want of provisions
which they derive from that source. Their minds
already too much irritated, will be still more in
flamed; and to their other causes of difeontent,
will be added the flrong and irrefiftable impulse
of famine. So forcible an incentive, it is fcarce
!y to be supposed that human nature can withfland.
I he most moderate will at length give way to the
impatience of complaint, , the most loyal will for
get (heir duty in the severe conflict of obedience
and necessity.
We are sensible indeed, from the imperfect in
stitution of human judicatures, that it is not pos
sible in adcafes to diferiminate the innocent from
the guilty. But no arguments, inour apprehen
sion, can juftify a mode of punishment that in
voltes thousands, who confeffedly are not guilty
of the offence for which it is inflicted; a puniffi
ment that is not to be averted by the future de
portment of the unfortunate persons who are the
innocent victims of it, but which may be entailed
upon them for ever by the persevering refinance of
their neighbours.
The impolicy of this aft, we apprehend, will
afford an argument no kfi weighty toindure your
Majesty to withold your assent from it. It mult
be admitted, if the European market could be
supplied by the merchants of Great-Britain or
Ireland, that it cannot be supplied upon the fame
terms, ano consequently that it will create an 0-
pening for the French to interfere and rival us in
that beneficial commerce. Nor can it be urged
that they are prevented from so doing by the li
mits to which their fishery is confined; for.it is
rot improbable but that they may take a fufficient
quantity of fifh within their own limits to fupplv
the European market; and even if that were not
the case, they would undoubtedly effeCEt by other
means. Whatever reliance may be placed in
theory upon the invifihl lines drawn by treat",
as the boundaries of their right of fifherv, we are
well acquainted by experience, how easily these
limits are eluded or t^nfgrcfl'ed. But if this
profitable branch of trade should be once interop
ted, it will be as a river diverted from its courie,
ano will either loose itfelf entirely, or wander into
ne w.channels, from whence ro human effort can
recal it.
We therefore most humbly pray your Majesty,
to withold your royal affect from an a&, which
is no less repugnant to good policy than justice.
We acknowledge the many buffings which we and
our ane'ertors have enjoyed under the Princes of
your Majesty's illurtriaus Hou r e; and feeling an
unsigned fitisfa&ion in the paternal regard, which
your Majesty Ins repea;ecly exprefled for the
welfare and happine's of all your fubje&s, with
the greater confidence we intreat the exertion of
that just and necessary prerogative, which the
constitution has wifely placed in your Majesty's
hands. Permit ns at t';e fme time to express our
w:fhes, that your Majerty may temper with cle
mency those rigorous measures with which your
American fu,je«s are threatened. The benevo
lence of your Majesty will infoire you u; a this