Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-05-13 00:00:00, page 1

mffit^m^
O R
general
PREMIUMS for the year 17^6, to be given by tie
Managers of the Contributions J or promoting the culture o j
Silk i^tle prince of Pennfyfrnta, febjeet totheJolfo
,„g co s ^ ^ %^ X"'
HE Cocoons or BUU for which ? nyP^ff is to
rbe demanded, mutt be found, merchantable and
finale*; t^y muff be railed in rhe province of Penn
;vX and brought to the ^^ at P.lff p^
fate or to be reeled for the Ch^ • ^n ft^,
the fr* of Aogutt and H of f'%
fi&ory proof must be given -0 the , n „ $ , %^
Cocoons were raised at one crop within the Clamant
fit le fimilv; and that over and above tae Cocoons
brought to the Filature, one t^enfftho ^ e whole c^p
has been served cut of ^,,e c^^
gage to raise good eggs, tor % n -,
Managers will give a dollar per
PR E M I U M S. ,
ift. For the greatest quantity of Cocoons not ©s tjan
Sixty Tkoufand, VIFTEEN Pounds.
X For the next gr^teß quantity not less than r.„
Tboufand, Ten Pounds. .
3 d. For the next grtateft quantity not less than sort,
Tboufanf Five FOUNDS. .., err#
X. For the next gr^teft quantity n^ than
Vboufand, a Silk Reel and Copper Kettle on.the
belt conftru&ion. ,
s th. To that person who mail produce to the Mana
ged the best foecimen or sample of Atew3%ot his or
her own rai/ing and reeling, not less than
ounces, a Silk Reel and Copper Kettle as above.
6-h. For the fecund and third next best samples of
Silk not less that Sixteen ounces, a ccmpleat Silk Ree
° ' 7 "th. To that person who shall raise Twenty Tboufand
Cocoons entirely on the mite or Italian Mtubeiry-tree of
the Claimant's own planting and cultivation,
Pounds. .
Bth. Two more premiums of Three Pounds each .o
thole tiro persons who fliall raise not less thnn Fijtetn
Tbonfand Cocoons eaJi entity on the Italian Mulberry
tree as afcrefaid.
B files the encouragement offered above, the Mana
gers hereby agree to gi ve Five Shillings per pun< or
all merchantable well dried Cocoons tailed in either ot
the provinces of Pennsylvania, New-Jerny or M^ry^n^,
or the three lower conn's on Delaware, which ^y °e
brought in between the firft day of Augu'l and the hrit
day or November enduing, of whch hmiation toe raneis
of Cocoons are defined to take notice, as no person will
attend to receive them at any other time until next ica
fon ; a considerable inconveniency and expence 1 aving
been found to arise from receiving live and g ree " °°"
coons, as well as dried ones, at inconvenient and di ant
times..
N. B. The Italian Mulberry Seed to be had gratis by
applying to JOHN KAIGHN.
* The double Balls ought to be kept for feed.
ftH E Members of the Library Company of
Philadelphia are tequefted to attend at the Li
brary Room, on Thurflay, the 30th day of May infant,
at Two o'clock in the afternoon, in order to confidei of
the propriety of impowering the Directors to remove the
books and efftfts of the Company, and determine cn the
place where they Ihall be depofued in case any future
event fliould render that measure neceflary.
By order of the Directors,
§ ANDREW ROBESON, Secretary.
ALIGHT travelling POS F CHARIOT
for a single person, to be fold or exchanged tor a
four wheel or two wheel C-H AIS E, the difFuence in
value to be fettled in cash. Enquire of the Printer. §
W A N T E D,
A SINGLE MAN who understands the diddling
of gram, &c. as praNited in Pennsylvania. A pei-
Fm qualified tor that business, and can be recommend
ed, will meet with good wages and accommodations by
applying to Doctor Harris of Philadelphia, or Mr.
Thomas Usher of Biltimore.
R , p bi!adefkia, Mfy 1, 1776.
2 Creditors of Patrick Flanagan
JL are h r^by notified that he is lately deceased, and
it appearing doubtful whether there will be effects ft ffici
ent to fitufy the demands against the elht~, they are de
f.red either to meet and divide the t£&< or tome one
is requeftyd to take out administration, the Widow not
chufmg to intermeddle farther than to take care of the
effdb until they are disposed of by proper authority.
t MARY*FL ANAGAN.
A lew Clicks a^d Barrels of the best
SWEE T 0 1 1
T O BE SOLD °
EDWARD EVANS
On South-street Wharf. §'
V 0 L. V.
MONDA Y, MAY i 3 tb, 177 6.
D U N L A P's
7b ts Printer of the Pennsylvania Packet.
SIR,
TH AVE a few thoughts to communicate, firft to
yourfelf, and after that, if you please, to the Pub
lic, upon the manner of conducting what is now called
the Independent controversy in the news-papers. There
are to be found in the tra&s upon one fide of this ques
tion, almost without exception, complaints of feme
restraints felt or feared upon the freedom of the press :
I shall be glad to be informed, because I am as vet ig
norant, what foundation there is for these complaints.
A pamphlet was published some time ago, calling itfelf
Common Sense, which nobody was obliged to read
but those who were willing to pay for it, and that
pretty dearly too. Jt was, however, read very gene
rally, which I suppose must have arisen either from the
beauty and elegance of the composition, or from the
truth and importance of the matter contained in it.
That it did not arise from the lirft of those causes I
shall take for granted, until [ meet with somebody who
is of a different opinion. When this is added to the
circumstance of its being fold in the manner above
mentioned, it is plain that the fubjed matter of Com
mon Sense was proposed to the world under every dis
advantage but that of its own manifeft importance and
apparent truth or probability.
Things being ia this liquation, after time fufficient to
have matured any pamphlet of an ordinary size, out
comes an answer to Common Sense under the title of
Plain Truth. This, in one re'peN, was perfectly fair,
for it was pamphlet against pamphlet, and the laid
Plain Truth was fold as well as Common Sense at a
very high price. For this last circumstance there was
no need of aligning a reason. I apprehend it is the
undoubted ri<ht of every author to let whatprice he
pleases upon the productions of his genius, and of eve
ry printer upon the productions of his press, leaving it
always to the free will of the Public to determine whe
ther they will purchase these productions at that price
or any other. A reason, however, was assigned, which
was as fingu'ar as it was unoeceffaiy. We were told
that only a final! number of copies were printed of this
firft edition. I believe this is the only ihltance that
can be. produced of calling a book on its publication
the frit edition. The realon of making more editions
than one of any book is the speedy sale of that number
of copies, which the modefly of the author or the pru
dence of the printer thought might be fufficient for rhe
probable demand. In this case there is, 'as the printers
express it, a call for another edition. But there are
multitudes of publications as to which this call is never
heard, and therefore none of them can with propriety
of speech be stiled the firft edition. How would it
look if l should fay that a man who came alone into my
house was the firlt of the company who entered ; or
that my wife, who is Bill alive and well, is my iirlt
wife, when it is very pofiible that she may live till I am
u.fit for any other wife, or till the is at liberty to take'
a second husband?
But further, supposing the author and bookseller had
been right in the expectation which the ule of that
phrase plainly shews the vanity of the one and the mil
take of the other had railed in them, I desire to know
how that was a reason for printing few copies, and thus
rendering them unreasonably dear. You printers know
best, but I take it for granted, from the nature cf the
thmg, that you print feweft copies of a book when you
do not expect a general sale. If I v ere certain that
this duTertation of mine would cause an uaufual de
mand for the paper that contains it, f would modefely
suggest to you to print 3 or 400 copies of that number
more than common. In life manner, if it was certain
at the appearance of this pamphlet that it would be the
lirft of many editions following one another in rapid
fucceffiom, it seems the most obvious thing in the wot Id
that the edition should have been as large as pofiible.
Upon the whole, this was an unlucky Rumble at the
threshold in the author of Plain Truth, as well as an
unexpected lapsus of the illustrious and exalted R. B.
provedore (as he calls bimfelf) to the fentimentJiHs,
for which I can find no way of accounting but that
they were inadvertently led, by the fubje& they had in
hand, to afl as . well as write in direct opposition to
Common Sense.
Well, the book cones out, of which I had a present
of two copies from different persons notwithstanding
R^#_Q^
te^^TC^^
ADVERTISER.
t e frrallnefs cf the number printed. But what shall I
fay either of the stile or reasoning of the performance ?
1 he reading of three pages gave me the opinion of it
which all who read it afterwards concurred in, an&
which all who had not read it easily acquie'ced in. H
execution it was so contemptible that it could not p#p
cure a reading on a fubjeC tas to which the Curiosity d.f
the Public was at the greatest height. It not otify
wanted good qualities in point of taste and propriety,
but was eminently pofieffed of every bad one. Common
Sense sometimes failed in grammar, but never in pef^
fpicuity. Plain Truth was so ridiculously ornamented
with vapid, fen felefs phrases, and feeble epithets, th'm
his meaning could hardly be comprehended. He oft^
put me in mind of tie painted windows of feme efd
Gothic buildings which keep out the light. If Com
mon Sense in some places wanted pdifh, Plain Trutty
was covered over from head to foot with a deteftas:
and Linking varnish.
As to the argument itfelf, although nothing coutt
be more clearly Bated than it was in Common Sense,
yet in Plain Truth it was never touched upon in the
least degree. The author of Common Sense did not
write his book to show that we ought to refill the un
conftitutiona! claims of Great Britain, which we all
had determined to do long before: He wrote it to shew
that we ought not to seek or wait for reconciliation,
which io his opinion is bow become both impracticable
and unprofitable, but to establish a fixed, regular go
vernment, and provide for ourselves. Plain Truth, on
the contrary, never attempts to shew that there is the
least probability of obtaining reconciliation ori such
t^rrhs as will preserve and secure our liberties, but has
exerted all bis little force to prove that such is the
strength of Great- Britain that it will be in vain for us
to refill at all. I will refer it to the impartial judg
ment of all who have read this treatise, whether the
juR and proper inference from his reasoning, if con?
chifive, be not that we ought immediately^to fend an
embassy with ropes about their necks, to make a full
and humble Surrender of ourselves and all & ur property
to the disposal of the Parent State. 1 his they have
formally and explicitly demanded of,us, and w^ have
with equal clearness determined we will never do. The
queffion then is this, shall we make refinance w ; th the
greatest force as Rebel Subjects cf a government whicli
we acknowledge, or as Independent States against an
usurped power which we detest and abhor,
After this reprobated r^thor was off the Rage, a new
set of antagonists appeared against Common Sense; but
instead of publishing the firft editions of pamphlets they
chose to appear in the news papers. The propriety of
th;s I beg leave to examine. Much has been said about
the liberty of the preis, Suffer me to lay a few words
for the liberty of re iders. When a pamphlet is pub?
lilhed and fold nobody is wronged; when the answer
to it is published and fold the thing is quire fair. The
writers and their cause will undergo an impartial trial.
But when the ar.fwering of one pamphlet by another
b-. 3so Ihamefully failed, to undertake the fame thing
by various detached pieces in the news-papers is cram
ming the Sense or nonsense of these authors down our
throats whether we will or not. I pay for your news
paper and for two more, and frequently read others
bolides these. Now if I pay far news must my paper
be ftufFd with differtatiegs? and must I read them
four or five times over? I declare I have paid and am
to pay three times for the molt part of Cato's letters,
and if they were to be published in a pamphlet I would
not give a ruth for them all together. But it will be
said, the custom is old and universal to write dissertati
ons ia a news-paper. I ahfwet, it is both old, univet?
fal and ufeul when under proper direction, but may be
abused. It is the light of every publisher of a news
paper to insert in it upon bis own judgment and choice,
when news are Scarce, whatever he luniks will recom
mend his paper to his readers. Io this view an able
writer is a treasure to a publifber of ai y periodical pa
per, and ought certainly to be paid liherailv either in
money or thanks, or both, and therefore, Sir, if you
have paid for or even fol cited from the authors the pa
pers you have published, y u are wh)|ly acquitted cf
blame further than sometimes a mistaken choice. Bud:
on the contrary, which I strongly lufped, if you and
others are paid for inserting political pieces, I affirm
you take money to deceive your readers.
(For the remainder fee the Fourth Pare.)
N U M B. 238.