The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1782-12-24 00:00:00, page 2

The following letter is -coped from the Morning
'Poft, of the 12th of September last, a ministerial Eng
lish news-paper, replete with the most impudent falfe
hoods, from which Mr. Rivington extra&s those lying
paragraphs contained in the Royal Gazette, which do
not originate from his ownfertile brain. When the to
ries in New-York are obliged to have recourse to so
weak and wretched an attempt, to impose upon the
people of England, as doctor Walter's letter, the pub
lic rail! judge how miserable and hopeless their situati
on mud be.
And a messenger is just arrived from the western part
of New- Hamplhire, who fays, that fmilar dispositions
are prevailing in that country ; the courts of justice are
flopped there likewise, and the people fay they will pay
no more. He likewise affirms, that the flare of Ver
mont has taken its resolution to be a British govern
ment : and that he was authorifed from the principal
prop e of that slate, to assure their friends, that before
December the settlement would take place. W@ there
fore Hatter ourselves, that the war is drawing to a close,
and that the remainder of the contest will be a conten
tion of words, which I hope will end in such a free and
generous fyflem of government, as will unite all par
ties to perpetuate the happinefe of both countries.
With the greatefl consideration and reiped,
I am, dear Sir,
Your most obedient,
And very faithful servant,
W. WALTER,
iir William Pepperell, bart.
Wimpcle flreet.
[From another London paper of the fame date, but
of a more liberal complexion, the following Strictures
are copied.]
STRICTURES on the NEWS from AMERICA',
THE pretended advices from New-York, which
the Morning Post, of yesterday, fays, “ has thrown
" the whole gang of republicans, on this fide the wa
" ter, into the utmost conflernation,'' was yesterday
so universally exposed and ridiculed, and so generally
given up, even at a full meeting of the Broughton re
fugees, as absurd and idle, that it could not have been
expelled by any one, that another word about it
would have been said.
The Morning Post, however, not choosing to give
up, or part io the fmallefl degree from that credulity
which has so much distinguished it, when necessary for
the support of an accursed war, has yesterday served
up a second dish of this miserable American farrago,
in which, not only the desertion from congress of the
provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, but
also of several parts of Connecticut, of Maryland, Vir
ginia and Pennsylvania, are minced up and garnished
out, with every thing necessary to render it nice and
relishing to the creatures of the minister. Those who
will not fwollow it, are pronounced " puny miscre
ants," and libelled with a variety of epithets to mark
the brilliancy of the editor's fancy, and show how far
and how delightfully he can indulge it.
With refped to the endeavours of the'Morning Post
to mislead the public, and hang out a hope that Ame
rica may yet be subjugated, for the more mifinform
ed to catch at, we shall no farther animadvert upon.
The earl of Shelburne, firft lord of the treasury, and
the ostensible minifler ®f this country, is the man we
look to; and upon him we call, not to fuffer his fove
reign to give ear to any of the accounts said to be re
ceived from America; or to harbour a moment's ex
pedation, that the people of that country are ever to
be brought to the yoke of Great-Britain. As to the
people of England, they have long seen the folly of the
attempt, and sorely lamented the Daughter and ex
pence that has attended it.
A thirst of power, natural to royalty, may yet have
kept, unextinguifhed, a glimmering hope in the breast
es majesty, of recovering the colonies, but it is the
Yeßerday morning the editor of this paper had the
hononrpf receiving from the hands of fir William Pep
perell, the original letter written by dodor Walter, of
New-York, particularly alluded to in the Morning
Post of Monday and Tuesday last. As fir William
was so obliging as to give the editor his full permission
to publish it, We uavs now the peculiar fatisfaflion of
laying before ouV readers the most important article of
information that has reached this country since the re
beNion firft broke out in the American provinces.
Deak Sir, New York, July 24, 1782.
IT is with particular pleasure teat I embrace this op
portunity of writing to you, as I know how sincerely
you wish to fee this country r Hored to the empire, and
a perfea conciliation effeAed. Be affurtd the profpecl
is abundantly greater at this day than in any former
period of the war: and what will add to your pltafure
as a New-England-man will be, to hear that the refor
mation is like to commence in that quarter. All the
provinces have declared fufficiently their inability to
continue the war; for of the four millions of dollars
which, by the resolves of congress, ought to have been
paid into the continental treasury before this day,
twenty thousand only have been received, and tbefe
from three only of the states, Rhode-Ifland, New-Jer
sey ^nd Pennsylvania, the others nothing. Notwith
standing which the general assemblies of the Rates south
ward of this, have by the urgency of congress declared
against holding any treaty with Britilh comm'ffioners
for a truce or peace, except with consent of their great
ally ; but none of the New. England assemblies have
done this : they are rather determined to hold them
selves free to fee and hear for them elves, and to do
what shall appear to them most for the public advan
tage. Scarce half the towns of the Massachusetts have
sent reprefentafives to the general assembly tnis year,
because they will not be acceffary to any further impo
sition of taxes. In Worcefier and the weflern counties,
thev are holding conventions for public fafety, and
flopping the courts of jufiice. Two gentlemen, mem
bers of the Worcefier convention, are now here on a
visit to the commander in chief, on purpose to know
what the country may exped from him, and what he
wishes from them.
LONDO N, Sept. 12.
To the P ÜBLI C.
miniver's duty to tell his sovereign the truth. He
should lose no time in fairly ftating,that nothing is to be
expefld by this country from any thing that may have
happened in America.
We had an action with the rebel barges, on the
30th of November, and captured the galley Frot&r.
In this affair the barge Lady's Revenge was so much
mattered, that upon conditions agreed on with my
captains, that they would pay the firft cost, we rook
charge ofthe galley Protestor. This day we captured
a schooner laden with corn, and fend her with this ac
count to your hands. The Protestor was boarded by
the captains Kidd, Perry and Young; she mounted
one ig pounder in the bow, two 18 pound carronades
Every man of any observation in the political world
muff long have seen, that when Great Britain should
leave the people of America to themselves, they would
of Course divide on some great national points, which
they would then be at leisure to attend to. This is now
exactly the case. As we can no longer carry on the
war against them, the people of America have begun
to pot the finifhjng hand to that form of government,
whicn th-y hitherto have only been able to sketch out.
They have differed, perhaps, on some of the leading
features of that constitution, which will excite the ad
miration of future ages; but that this has any concern
with the interest of the British empire, or can in the
leaf? favour the designs we have flill lurking against A
merica, is 'OO gross for any man of reason, and fit only
to be belched forth by the Morning Post in the hour of
difpair amd desperation.
Last Saturday was sent in here a schooner loaded
with corn, from Virginia, prize to fix armed barges,
belonging to this port. These barge,, on Saturday,
the 30th ultimo, fell in with and attacked, in Chefa
peak-bay, fix armed gallics and barges, and a schoon
er, which had been fitted out by the rebels to protest
their trade in that bay ; when, after an obflinate en
gagement, they took the galley Protedor, which car
ried three eighteen pounders, one fix pounder, a num
ber of swivels and ninety men. The Proteaor was
commanded by the rebel commodore Whaley, who,
with his captain and twenty-four of bis crew, were
killed in the action, and thirty seven of them were
wounded, many of them mort lly r The loss sustain
ed by the New-York barges, was about twenty men
killed or wounded, among the former is captain Fling,
of the Viftory, and among the latter are captain
Young, of the Ranger, and captain Kidd, of the Kid
napper. Among the prisoners taken in the Protestor
galley are, a colonel of the rebel militia, a continen
tal captain and a lieutenant. Soon after the a&ion,
the rebels on fllore sent off a boat with a flag of truce
to the viHors, requeuing that the wounded rebels
should be delivered up to them, which was agreed to,
on their consenting to receive the wounded loyalifis
also, and promising not to confider them as prisoners,
but to lodge and attend them in the best manner un
til they recovered, and then lend them to this city.
The above is copied from messieurs Robertson and
Co's paper of yesterday, since which we have extrad
ed the following from captain Adams's letter, dated
the 8 h of December.
N 8 W-Y O R K, December 14.
01 Wednesday arrived a brig in twenty-two days
from St. Kitt's ; by her we have advice, that two days
before the left that island a gentleman, whose veracity
was reled upon, arrived there from Antigua, and
brought intelligence, that a frigate or sloop of war had
arrived at : t. Lucia, with difpitches from lord Howe,
giving an account of his lordship's arrival at Gibral
tar. on the 4th of oaober last, with thirty-seven fail
of the line, five fifty gun ships, some frigates, and a
bout two hundred transports, dore ships and victual
lers, which had efraually relieved that garrison.
A Gazette extraordinary was published at St. Lu
cia, on the receipt of lord Howe's dispatches, and the
gentleman who brought the news to St. Kitts, declar
ed that he had read it : it contained a detail of the o
perations of the besieged and besiegers from the i2th of
September last. The fad disasters which happened to
the land and sea armaments of France and Spain, em
ployed before Gibraltar, on the 13th of that month,
we have already given the befi accounts we could ob
tain. We have now the pleasure to learn through the
before-mentioned channel, that, on the 2d of ORober
last, the combined army, who had been melancholy
fpeHators of the deßruflion of their floating batteries
and gun-boats, on which their most sanguine hopes of
reducing the place were founded, hearing of the near
approach of lord Howe's fleet,and that their own boast
ed armada had shrunk into Cadiz to avoid falling in
", way, made a desperate effort to storm the Bri'ifh
lines : the attacks of the assailants were exceedingly
fpir'ted, and, although reputed on the 2d, they re
nted them on the 3d, when, convinced of their ina
bility to make any impression they finally retired, leav
ing about four thousand men, the flower of the French
and SpAnifh armies, dead upon the isthmus which con
neßs the peninsula of Gibraltar to the main.
Lord Howe, upon his arrival in the bay of Gibral
tar. took a large Spanish floating battery, mounted
with brass cannon, which carried balls of 68 pound.
It was a 64 cut down.
It is said that among the slain, found before the lines
of Gibraltar, after the late assault, were a number of
Spanilh grandees, and French noblesse.
The French fleet which lately arrived in the Weft-
Indies, we are informed, confided of four fail of the
line and the fame number of frigates, having transports
under their convoy with 4000 troops on board. Two
fail of the line, three frigates, and 1500 troops were
deflined for Martinique, and two fail of the line, one
frigate, aid 2,300 troops for Cape Francois.
to Wrdnefday was sent in here the rebel privateer
brig Scamm^i, belonging to Boston, prize to feme of
his maj^dy'f ships
His majefiy's copper-bottomed sloop of war Drake,
with dispatches from Quebec, arrived here on Wed
nesday.
Dec. 18. A schooner was yesterday brought to
Sandy Hook, prize to the schooner, formerly called
the Cooper's Revenge, owned by Mr. Thomas Myng,
of this city.
The complexion of the French letters received on
Saturday, are such as place it beyond a doubt, that
the court are more than ever inclined to peace, since
their late letters from the Bast Indies, and the ill fuc
c-fs ofthe Spaniards at Gibraltar. As our court are
now in the moo^ for pece, it is probable they will not
,et an opportunity flip of puttig an end to a war, the
complexion of which changes very visibly in favour of
England
• " rd C°, wa "is is appointed to the chief command
in the Eatt-Indies.
The Comte d'Artois, brother to the French king, ar
rived ar Paris from the siege of Gibraltar about the
iith of October.
Sir Edward Hughes was preparing to depart on an
important expedition, supposed against the Dutch East-
India settlements.
T be r^l ce , ° f three per cent - confols flock, on the
17th of October was 58 and an eighth.
By authcotic letters received on Saturday from India
we arp informed, that Hyder Ally, at length tired of
tne various defeats and repulses his legions have met
with, and finding his interest declining with the coun
try powers, has made overtures of peace, which it is
said will le acceded to by the East India company.
The lMe good news from India has entirely dispelled
every doub^ previously entertained for our Asiatic set
tlements by the proprietors of India flock, and the na
tion ia general.
0&. 15 ft is generally understood at the weft end
of the town, that the loan for the ensuing year will be
proposed to the public soon after the meeting of par
liament, and that the sirs l payment will be made early
in the month of January.
The Dutch, who treated the court of London so
haughtily a very short time aco, have been obliged to
mal< e 'he most abjed concessions to the Danes; and
are ftiil finking more and more in their language by
every courier that is di'patched to Copenhagen.
The Paribus express great astonishment at the ideas
of peace, with which all the English papers are crowd
ed, especially as they have no opinion that any negu
in the waifl, a 6 in the flern and two swivels ; she had
72 men, 50 of which were killed and 13 wounded ;
captain Kidd fends his compliments; he has had a
great many men killed and wounded.
The schooner, prize to the privateer barges, which
arrived here on Saturday, left Chefapeak-bay last Sun
day fe'nnight, at which time the barges had effe&u
ally cleared the bay, by chafing all the rebel craft in
to the rivers, and were cruizing to intercept a fleet
of rebel merchantmen expeOed from the Weft-Indies.
They had received advice from the shore, that the
wounded men which they landed are recovering, and
that they are treated with the greatest kindness, care
and attention, by the rebels.
Last night arrived the ship Virginia, captain Stan
ton Hazard, with the ship Rennet, captain Bell, of 20
nine pounders on one deck, and 80 men, bound front
Port I Orient for Philadelphia, seven weeks out, and
failed in company with the Congress and another ves
sel ; she was taken on the 7 th infiant in lat. hove
to for adion, waiting for the Virginia, who engaged,
laid her on board and carried her in 20 minutes.
The Virginia loft 15 killed and wounded -the Ren.
net had 11 killed on deck, and 23 wounded. She is a
flout ship, about 400 tons, and likely to prove a fide
acquisition. Great credit has been gained on this occa
sion by captain Hazard,
• 'a".:'^'^'^ '^ paper was ^ one to prefs)ar
rived the Roebuck packet, captain Richards! He left
Falmouth the 3d or 4 th of November, from feme
particula'rs Pape " "'' '""^ ""^ the foll °"vi^
We are informed, lord Howe's dispatches to govern
ment were dated the lo th or nth of Odober, h^e
not been fortunate enough to obtain a printed cony nf
t h T J r"° me the f °"° wi ^ ^ neral dmil^ay
be depended on: y
On the appearance of the British fleet, the combined
left Algefiras-bay, and each fide formed a line of bat
tle, but before a general a&ion could be commenced
a violent gale of wind arose, which occasioned great
confufion, the French and Spaniards ran foul of each
other ; lord Howe took advantage of the derangement,
drove seven of rhe ir ships on shore, including one of
their admirals : 'tis added, that the above seven fail
a deftroy ed- The enemy were drove by the
British fleet up the Mediterranean. Lord Howe'< fleet
rode cut the gale with no damage.
LONDON
Odober 12. It was yesterday confidently reported,
t7dvi c „ ere received from Paris, dated on Sun!
day last, which positively assert, that the siege of Gib
raltar was raffed Tins important intelligence was re
-2° Thursday evening, by a nobleman at the
weft end of the town.
,°^ ^ The Medway is arrived with four East-In
dia ships under her convoy.
The Mediator man of war , has taken and brought
Bre'ft Plym ° uth> three lar ^ e fl °re ships intended for
The nobleman allu ed to in the foregoing para
graph, is the right hon. the earl of Shelburne! '
So confident Was the due de Crillon of taking Gib
raltar, in confluence of the grand attack by sea and
land, that in the last summons he sent general Elliot
surrender, he warned him ; that if his resistance
should be obflmate, he could not possibly answer for
"° fi 7 ° fh " fo^i-r',^hofe fury he was afraid
he should not be able to retrain, if they were driven
to the ne ,ffity of Forming ; the general, however,
was inflexi>le, and Crillon'stone is somewhat lowered
since the 13th of September.
1 : as fai , d L y; fierda y> wis h great confidence, that
lord Keppel had resigned his office as firfl lord of the
admiralty, and that a commiffon had passed the great
seal, appointing lord Howe his successor. It was fur
ther said, that lord Keppel was to officiate until the
return of lord Howe from Gibraltar.
, 3 ' Y efl , erda y morning some letters were re
ceived from Ireland, which contain an account of the
trinfports there having nearly finifhed their lading of
provisions would fail for America as soon as the con
voy is ready.