The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1780-11-11 00:00:00, page 4

Doctor Morgan's Continuation.
Before! proceed to the fifth change ag^nft doctor Ship
pen, that of scandalous praai es, &'. it may not be
amiss to review the principal testimony, already ex
hibited, on the four firft charges.
ift.QRO M William Bennet's deposition it ap
, pears thit do&or Shippen fold him wine and
sugar from the hospital migazmes at Bethienem, and
assumed the name of Toomas Brown, to c;rrv on
his trade with greater fetrecy and ^9. 1 he evidence
of Nicholas Rimmri and John Marine pi^v?, t^?t Ni
cholas Rimm I's waggon was forcibly imprefl-x to
tranfpmt them from Eethlehcmt. Mr B nne'l tavern,
in Buck's county, mader pretense of puhe service,
paid for at a public experce : why then was co^or
Shippen acqui ted of the I'nft charge, and a poor baker
punished for felling a little continental flour for his own
emolument, who neither broke the laws of this lute,
in making use of mpreffrd waggons for the tanfporta
tion /thereof, nor yet, from a conkioufneis of g,"i
strove to conceal his transitions under a fictitious
name.
" But little sinners must fuhmit to fate; ~
" That great ones may enjoy the world in Rite.
Was that man, upon whole unhappy fate our orave
officers and soldiery diopped a pitying tear, executsd
for coming within our lines in ddguiie, And illuming
a q&itioui name to betray them to the enemy ; and (hail
one entrust d with power and distinguished with un
merited honours, who passed under a counterfeit name
to defraud the public, be looked upon as an henrit and
ufeful citizen ? General Arnold was tried and fent
fenced to receive a reprimand, for employing public
waggons to prefrrve i# property; and ihall the fame
a&ion in do&or Shippen, accompanied with many ag
gravating circumlAnces, be neemd innocent. What
are we to think of the leisure of Mr. Joseph latent s
fi>gar, and do&br Shipper's infilling upon his taking
thirty pound per hundred for it, whillt he, himhh,
fold Lugar from the helpitals for forty-two pound a
hundred ? But so soon as he knew that Mr. latent had
difeovered it he changed his tune and behaviour, al
lowed his demand to be viry reasonable, and paid it
without a muirour. Was not this Seizure oi private
property deftruaive of liberty,and the whole tranl.&i
on difyrareful to public authority? The firft charge
agiinft dc&or Shippen being luppomd on ;u<h clear
and undeniable evidence, is there a gentleman in tbe
hospital department, who do.s not think himltlf bit
honoured in bring placed un"er his dirt& on ?
Ai to the second charge, I appeal to the candour of
every impartial perform, whether the sales of hospital
stores from the magazines at Lanesfter and Reading,
" whilst the sick fuffcred and died for want of them,"
is not fully proved, on the united evidence of do&or
John Kuhn, debtor Ruth, Thomas Lloyd, captain John
Mears, Michael Bright and Peter Ozras ? The wrtnef
ies are gentlemen remarkable for probity, and of dif
tmcuifhed chataaer for love of their country, love of
truth aod independency ? Are not accomplis, orders and
receipts tor choice Madeira wine and lugar fold from
the hospital magazines, amidst the greatest [offerings
and clamitiesof the fik, produced before the court in
d flor Shipper?# own hand writing, (efficient vouch
ers of the molt criminal tales and (peculations in the
Bores of his department ? Are the attrited acccmpts of
files, bothnrivrte and at public auction, in Boston, by
M ffieuts S-muel B net and company, of wine and
fu .ar, paid for with money drawn from the public trea
sury, no proofs of criminality in office? What means
the transfer of public wines to his deputy, defter
Foster, for which he received twenty-fix hundred pounds
public money, to enable him the better to carry on his
{peculations, and repaid do&or Foster three thousand
pounds in return, as appears in 'he fame account ?
Was the four hundred pounds difference the confide
raticn paid dc&>r Foster lor the loan of public money ?
It might be worth while to inquire whether this trans
fer was real or fictitious, or whether there was no col
lusion in this affair betwixt the principal and the depu
ty; wherefore is doctor Folt-r, who has been ordered
by Congress for a trial, above a year ago, drfouff d the
service, without an enquiry into it, and doaor Shippen
yet retained in office ? His there been no secret and un
due influence employed to preterve doctor Shippen in
Office That undue influence and a (hameful prostituti
on of justice and honour have been made tie of for that
purpose is evident ; or how comes it to pf : , that when
nine Rates to two voted against dc&sr Shippen's ac
quittal; he was nevertheLfs re appointed to his former
Station, acquired by the molt guilty praaices, as I (hall
fc«rin my fifth charge against him.
When do&or Brown has declared upon oath, doctor
Sh'poen'r acknowledging to him, within the conical#
of lets than half a year r .lter his being appointed ductor
general and purveyor of the hospitals, tint he had made
io,ocq pounds by trade, equal to two millions of dol
lars, and upwards, in the pr tent rtate of cur curriny,
and this before his Bbt^n affair, by which alone he made
If ar as much more, (hall we call ourselves freemen, and
groaning under a load of taxes, tamely acquiesce in this
proiufe dissipation of the public treasure ? Shch he who
b$ contributed so much, by bs fpecu anons, to de
preciate our money, to the ruin of widows and orphans,
be allowed to taint our boated virtue, and triumph
ever every attempt to brin^ him to jullice ? If crimes
in office are to be honoured with ptrenap- +n what a
pitiful condition must we loon be reduce. ? Whit is to
deter our enemy from bop*s of prodding hrinery with
success, when we are so coriupt, cur necks already fit
ted to the yoke, and we are degenerate enough to be
willing (lives to the servants of the public?
I? not peculation and adulteration of hospital wines
Ft Bethlehem proved, whn do&cr William W. Smith
has sworn to the court, that an execrable turbid and va-
PHILADELPHIA: Printed and Sold by JOHN DUNLAP and DAVID C. CLAYPOOLE.
p'd liquor wugiven to the sick, h^vin^none of the
qualities that difrnguiftnd true Madeira? and when
d &or Shipn-n, in the perforated name and charter
of Tnomas B own, fold the belt Madeira from thence ;
when only eighteen pound of sugar has been iffiied, on
an order of twenty-four p?und, which was to be pro
duced as the only voucl er, and when it has been
evinced upon the oaths of dc&ors Biown, Rush and
Tilton, that no perlon had authority, fuperinundency
or controul over th' iliums, but do&or Shippen a id fuco
persons as he Aw fit to appoint ?
I, not the third charge, of keeping no regular books
and accounts, with proper checks and vowhfistor t^e
expenditure of public money and hospital fl Mes, Itffi
cunily elta >li(hed by his refofal to produce them at his
trial, on the plea that a man wzs not obliged toconvi&
himftlf? From whence dii this proceed, but from an
apfrehenhon that if he produced his books they would
be found restive, or make further dilcoveries whifh
he was anxious to conceal ? Wucreloe, upon ccmrril
fary Leacock's (hewing him the phjfician genera's or
d: r to issue ne writ or other stores without a written
od^r; did he look upon it with contempt,end bid hm
convert it to a use whi h delicacy forbids to menrion?
Are not the depositions of Owen, and of D^vid
Thomas,efquiie, member of ailembly in this Rate, and
of William Biw(raan, Philip Eppright and El zroeth
Niely, proofs of his refusal to pay just and reasonable
hospital accompu, and minuting the persons who ap
plied for feit'ement ? Meffieers Thom s anti E iztb th
Niely, in pati ular, deposed, that he treated him in a
mann r unbecoming a gentleman, although th?y gave
no caule tor it. Where was the humanity of the di
rea u-general, wc .n, to excuse himferi from the pay
ment of the sick fold e<s billeted on the former, he to d
one of them, they might have left the lick at the hoi
pita; doors, if there was not room within for their le
cepti-n; and on one of th+ra telling him that if they
had been left out in that ( vere weather, they wend
have perilhid, he reph cl taunting?,, " then there
would be an end of them": was this the regard he
chose to mani elt (or American foedier; ?
As to the fourth charge, negle& :fhofri al duty, from
which the sick and wounded ioldiery fullered and'died
in a Crocking and Iharas ul manner; are not proofs
bright as the meridian fan, exhibited in the numerous
depofitiors of the honourable John H imbright, Thomas
Llovd, Dmiri Lev^n, tfquiic, captain join M*ais,
Andrew EnJe, William Reefer, efqu' e, Elizabeth Nir.
ly, Surinna Babb, |chi Fry and Peter Oznas. Can
any men nor rendered c^FoUs to the distresses of ho
mmiiy, read their depehtinns cf the lufferipgs and
deaths of the tick arid wounded soldiery, covered with
vermin, and whilst ; et living, eaten up with maggots,
with other circumstances of neglect and tiuelty that
beggar every description yet given ns of gaols and prif
©n-ihips, and feel no resentment ? Are not all these
p owed to be owing to want of fuffi lent room, frrih air,
Madeira wire, which do&br Shippen (old, and either
comforts and refreflurients which the Con^refs allowed,
and which ir ^as djaor Shippen's duty to provide ; wi;h
want of induftri, c*re and humanity in the dir<&.>r
general ? The depefitions of do&ors Rufli, Hutchiufon,
Hinan, Peter Ozers and others, all represent him as
Icidom seen in the infids of an hospital, but often at
taverns where he fold the hospital wine and sugar, and
that he resided chiefly at Manheim, where was no hos
pital, and at Philadelphia, where bir coromiffary drew
several hundred rations a day mote titan there were tick?
What an amazing contrast between the care do&or
Shippen took of the sick and himfelf.
That d' dor Shppen appeared highly criminal in the
eyes of Cons refs, on leading the proceedings of the
court martial, at bis trial, may be seep in the following
ahftraa from the Jourmdo# Congress, Aiigul t IS, 1780.
Congress resumed the ronfiseratid,i of the nroreeamgs
of the court martial on the trial of do&or W. Shipper,
dire&or general, when a motion was made by Mr.
Matlack, (econded by Mr. Houlton, as follows;
That the court martial having acquitted the laid
do&or W. Shipperi, the Aid acquital be confirmed; a
motion was made by Mr. A'ams, (cconded by Mr.
S-ott, to strike out the words, " The laid acquital be
co timed."
On th question, (hall the words moved to be struck
cut, hand, the yeas and nays being required by Mr.
J. Henry, were
New lismpfhiie no.
MaflichufiLts Bay no.
Rhode 1(1..ad (represented by one voice) ay.
Connecticut no.
New York no.
New Jersey no.
Pennlylvanja ay d
Delaware no.
Maryland no.
Virginia divided.
North Carolina no.
South-Carolina no.
Georgia had no voice.
So it pass d in the negative, and the words were struck
out.
Is it not astonishing, therefore, that a man, unac
quitted by Congress, and convi&ed by a court martial,
of peculating in hospital stores, is re-appointed direa^r
general of the holprals of the United States.
When the idea ot elAbldhing a city bank came firft
into Contemplation, was it not with a view to (uppurt
public credit, lo fatally wounded by the pra&i.e; cf
(peculators ; and did not Congress engage, 10 the en
coura; ement of so important an undertaking, to rid
the army of them immediately ? I Ik thed, is the re
appointment of do&or Shippen a prod! or a breach of
that Iromite ? I humbly *fk, how we are to reconcile
this with the z^l ot C ng eA to reform public abufs,
and its repeated relo ves, that it is the outv of eve,y
man to piofecute delinquent officers, io thaijuftice may
be done; wlun upon the fullefl conv'& on of do&*,
Shippen's cr minai and ceft/u&ive (peculations in the
hospital depart nw t, the prof cutor and wi'ivffes in be
half of the public, are the perlons attempted to be put ta
(ham?, :n' lthe criminal is hour ured with are appoint
ment to office ? To whom are the Unit'd Starts indebt
ed tor this, but to tie fic.eHry oi the Rate of Pennsyl
vania, of whole motives whither upright ;nJ cifihter
cited, and 0? whole e^nfilAncy of condua, in ptofccut
i0 E general Arnold t etore a court martial, and dcf<nd
i g < o&or Shri, pen in Compels, alter being convi&cd
by a court martial, cf f,uculu;ng in the stores of bis
department, let his country judge; that country on.
which, in the pinion 0 m ny worthy ci zens, he has
refl&:d intle he cu , and whereof be has but little con- T
suited the inteu ft, if it be true, " as it is alledged,"
thad he (hon'd affirm, this date made a point of it, or
would relent it, if do&or Shippen w^s not re-appointed
director gen, rI If A, let me t 11 b m in the words of
the proph t Ehlha, “ Therefore (hull the leprosy of
Nuhaman cleave to Gch-zi for ever," aid he went out
a leper. I conclude this review of the firft four ch. r,g
in the emphatic language of his excel ency Mr. Lauier%
late ureti lent of Congress, to the gov. rnoi of Georgia &
" Were I to unfold to you, scenes of venality, perula
'' lion and fraud which I have di^overe/, the d friufe
" ure would afioni(h ycu; nor would you be left afton
" dhed. were I, iy a detail, winch the eccafian would
" require, prove to you, that he mutt he a pitiful rogue
" im eed, who, when detected or fufp<acd, m et snot
" with powerful advocates amongst thole, uho, in the
" present corrupt times, ought to exert -L their power
" in lupport of their plundered, much it jured and al
" molt -ruined count y."
To the PUBLI C.
▼HAVE beta called before a court martial by the
l malice of a displaced and angry nun. After along
and full trial, in which ev.ry effort of malice, every
low art was employed, I have been ac quitted % f every
charge; that a # quintal h s been carefully examined in
Congress, has been by th in approved, and I have been
re-elected to the office from which it Was the olj % & of
this wicked probcution to remove me. After so mi
nute an investigation of my conduct, and so honoura
ble an tu quittal, ought I not to appear to every sensible
and good man in a fairer light than before ? My pro
secutors, or rather my pericenters, Avt cohfeni with
this, hive ro v celled me before you, and by publifh
iug part of the t ftiraony and milreprefenting fs&fy
have endeavoured 10 deceive you into being the inftru
nunis of their malevolence : they do net seem, how
ever, to be aware of the extent of their undertaking,
because if you could brieve what they alledge to be
true, it mutt inevitably follow that the court martial
which acquitted me, and Congreis who confirmed thig
acquittal, were blind or corrupt beyond all example.
I have no offedion to be re-tried at your bar; and
although the duties of my office make it inconvenic nt,
as my adversaries well know, yet I will devote as many
of my hifure hours to it as will be fuffiient to intro
duce to you do&or Morgan and do&or Rush in their
proper charters, and convince you that every charge
made against me is falfe and malicious.
The malice and wickedness of these men will appear
plain from the following declarations on oath, of sundry
reputable witness, which I will give in the next paper.
WILLIAM SHIPPEN, juar.
November 9, 1.780.
CAME to the plantation of the fubferiber. in Paffy
uok township, Philadelphia county, tome time in
April Lift, a sorrel HOKSE, switch tail, 12 or 14.
lands high branded on the near hind leg with the let
ter O. The owner is defined to come, prove his p.o^
Verty, pay charges, and take him away.
JOHN WHITE.
O&ober 17, 1780.
WHEREAS complaint hath been made to the
Commissioners for the city and ccnuty of Phila
delphia, by the Co le&ors of the State and Continental
taxes, in the Northern Liberties, weft part, th?t they
cannot procure or obtain the taxes due 011 the 10l o*ing
estates, to wit, lohn Smith's, of Burlington, Peter
Turner's, Mary Dutton's, and Joseph Fite's. NOTICE
is hereby given, 7 hat unless the above named p<rfons,
or their certain Attorniss or Agents, discharge and pay
the taxes as above juitly due on Aid estates, on cr be
fore the twenty-eighth day o f November next enluirg
the date hereof, so much of the prsmifts will be feld a#
may be fulticient to d fchsr?,e laid taxes, with Colts, a
greeible to the ;a%s of this Comm onwelth.
Given under our hands this 34ft day of August, 1780.
PREsTeV BLACkTsTON. 1 Commiffionen.
WHEREAS complaint hath been made to the Com
miffionm for f ha City and County of Philad lph a,
by the CoUcaoi# cf North Waid, ihrthe cannot obtain
the taxes due on a lot fi uate on Market and Fighth
Greets, containing 48 Let 3 incher in bie^dth by 306
feet deep, the property of Petr r Gafk-11. NOTICE
is hereby given, That unless the laid Peter G*cl,his
Attorney or Agent, difchr-rge raid pay trie taxes jaftly
due on Aid eltate, on or before the twenty-eighth day of
November next eufuing the d^te hereof, the premises
wi" be fold agreeable to the laws cf this Commonwealth.
Given under our bands this 23d day 0 Auguti, 170;.
FRENCH GURNEY, b
PRESLEY BLACKISTON, ) C^mmiffiontr,.