Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1774-08-29 00:00:00, page 5

^<,^4^°*% HE important, the long expeft.
^ /'t s e ' crisis is at length arrived.
™:g ~ ,America must submit to receive
^ty^ '^« ''" ' a '"°' chains of Slavery, or
^ TC^= ' % have recourse to the last expeli
a ""' " e '" e very impolitic
CT a Q s s eem f rarne d by thole who
really wish for an open rupture, not with the Bos
tonians only, but with the inhabitants of all the
Eoglifh colonies: They are all equally concerned,
all must be enslaved, or join in this common cause.
—The three bills lately parted have been fuffici
.ently exposed.
It is not easy to determine by what motives the
saba" were influenced on this occasion: If they
were only delirous of bringing the Bostonians to a
proper sense of their duty (as Lord lago terms it)
could not this be effected by means that would not
have alienated the affections of every other colony
from the mother country? or, at least, that would
not have obliged the other colonies to join with
them in their own defence? But I am apt to think
that those measures flow from another spring; I
believe the real motive has not been fathomed by
the public at large, nor perhaps by many who ap
pear to be very active instruments in this business.
The present real Minister is the foie contriver
of every part of it. It is well remembered, that
at the last peace he frequently declared we had
over-conquered ourselves, that we had too many
colonies, and therefore it would not be any injury
to this nation to give up some of them to the
French: Now, perhaps, out of his very great
kindness to us, his Lordship has adopted these ex
traordinary measures to get rid of the remainder
of our colonies; and really he could not have hit
on more efßaual ones. The nominal Minister
is much toojhort-fgbted to difeover the real senti
ments of his domineering master; nor perhaps
does he much desire it, his only aim being to fill bis
pokets.
Every good Englishman must tremble to think
of what may be the probable consequence of these
measures. Suppose, for a moment, the ministry
have their hearts desire ; suppose the colonies take
up arms, and are entirely defeated, the greatest
part of them (lain, and the rest brought in chains
to England, (hall we receive any benefit from this?
Surely no ! Where shall we then find vent for our
manufactures? How are our tradesmen and arti
ficers to be employed ! — Fhefe are thoughts that
seldom occupy any part of the attention of our wife
Ministers ; but even they may probably repent of
their rash proceedings, if the greater part of the
inhabitants of this kingdom, unable to procure
bread for themselves and families, should be re
duced to the miserable alternative of starving in
the midst of plenty, or having recourse to the firft
law of nature, felf-prefervation.—May that time
never come !—A time in which the innocent must
fuffer in common with the guilty ! in which none
can be exempted from the general confufion !—
Were the authors of the general misery the only
fufferers, it would be well; but at such a time the
innocent fuller almost equally with the guilty.
Such then may probably be the ba^y issue of
these well concerted measures, should a lucky turn
put our American fellow fubjeds into the power
of our excellent rulers; but let us remember, that
“ The race is not always to the fwift, nor the
battle to the frong.” Spirit, constancy, and cou
rage, have often been too hard for superior num
bers; and perhaps, when circumstances are rightly
considered, and properly compared, we shall not
appear to be much Superior to the brave Colouifts;
nue are divided, they are firmly united; we have a
long distance to fend our troops, and proper ne
cessaries ; they are at home, and perhaps as well
provided with ail necessary accoutrements as their
adversaries; their troops will always engage with
alacrity, and fight with resolution, inspired with
courage by the goodness of their cause, and con
vinced by experience that no mercy can be expected
from us; and, above all, animated by a sincere
regard for their civil and religious rights, spring
from a truly confeientious principle, they will be
Grangers to fear, and resolve (as Britons ought)
to conquer or die! while, on the other hand, our
men, strangers to the place, sickened by a long,
perhaps dangerous voyage, and a climate to which
most of them are strangers; fighting only for pay,
not actuated by principle ; and (if Englishmen)
confeious that they are employed only to deprive
a part of their fellow fubje^s of freeodm, and not
against a rival nation; this difference, I fay, ap
pears very obvious, and brings the Colonists on
much nearer equality with ourselves than we may
at firft view imagine.—Besides this, if we confider
that Ireland may probably take the alarm (for it
is probable that administration have resolved, if
their plot against America succeeds, to fall next
on Ireland) and, influenced by indignity and re
venge for the many injuries she has lately received,
take this opportunity of paying us in our own coin,
the consequence may be fatal, and we too late re
pent of having thrown off the Parent, and avert
ing the Master : then we shall too late reproach
ourselves for not being warned by the example
before our eyes, of Holland throwing off the tyran
ny of Spain.
Thus, whether we look to Viclory or Defeat, in
this unjust struggle, no pleating profpeft appears ;
nothing but deftrudion to our trade, and ruin to
©ur m^pufadurers.
The time, perhaps, is not far distant, when it
may be dangerous to speak or write our real sen
timents; when we may be commanded to look
on the Americans as Rebels and Traitors. —For my
own part, I readily acknowledge, I cannot wish
even my native country success in an unjust cause;
though Englishmen, and standing on English ground,
ought we not to confider how far our cause is just?
Suppose Providence had cast our lot in Pruflia,
POSTSCRIPT to the Pennsylvania Packet. No. 149.
From the St. James's Chronicle of June it.
could we then have wished our King, or rather
tyrant, success in his unjust attack on Poland, to
which country he had no legal claim, and from
whole unfortunate Prince he had not received any
real cause of complaint ? Honour, Judice, and Re
ligion, equally forbid it: And can nv, who glory
in the name of Englishmen, who think freedom the
greatest blessing we can enjoy on earth; can we
condemn our injured; oppressed fellow subjects
for averting the natural rights of Englishmen?
Far be such a thought from us !—Whatever be
the consequence of these oppressive measures, let
us always keep in mind the primary cause, and not,
by an over-fondnefs for our native country, con
demn in our fellow fubjefts what (were we in their
circumstances) we certainly ought, and I hope
Jhould, do ourselves. For my own part, I freely
declare, I shall ever wish them all the success the
justice of their cause deserves; and if virtue, con
stancy, and courage, can ensure success, I doubt
not but they will obtain it.
THERE surely was never such a barefaced
attempt against the success of the Protestant
religion, since the time of James the second, as
the present Quebec bill; none, I am certain, which
could have the fame pernicious tendency. I shall
instance one which you may depend on as a fad.
The Society for the propagation of Christian
knowledge established here, had resolved to fend
miffonaries, wth a fufficient number of catechists,
to Canada; but it is feared they must now lay aside
that truly laudable design, as it would be flying
in the faee of an aft of Parliament of the 14th'
year of George the third. They are likewise afraid
this aft may be extended to our other Colonies,
in which event our missionaries already there, will
be obliged to return home. It is supposed that
Lord Boreas' next step (since he has fecuted the
consent of a British Parliament for the encourage
ment of Popery) will be to establish an inquisition,
and the payment of Peter-pence to the See of Rome
here at home.—Well done, Guile ford's son— 0!
where are ye? How small your crimes, ye detest
ed race of Stuarts !
Edinburgh, June 9. A Protestant.
L OND O N, jW tB.
TH E order of the day was read for the
amendments made to the Quebec bill to be
taken into consideration; the fame were accord
ingly read by the clerk, and the quettion being
put for the House to agree to the amendments,
Lord Chatham rose up and entered fully upon the
fubjedof the bill; laid it would involve a great
country in a thousand difficulties, andin the word
of despotism, and put the whole people under arbi
trary power; that it was a mold cruel, oppressive,
and odious measure, tearing up judice and every
good principle by the roots; that by abolishing the
trial by jury, he supposed the framers of the bill
thought that mode of proceeding, together with
the habeas corpus, meer moon-shine, whilst every
true Englishman was ready to lay down his life
sooner than lose these two bulwarks of his perso
nal security and property. The merely fuppoling
that the Canadians would not be able to feel the
good effects oflaw and freedom, bec^ufe they had
been used to arbitrary power, was an idea as ridi
culous as falfe. He laid the bill eftablilhed a des
potic government in that country, to which the
royal proclamation of 1763 promised the protection
of the English laws: Here the noble Lord read
part of the proclamation, and then entered fully
on the council and power verted in the Governors,
the whole mode of which, he said, was tyrannical
and despotic: He was likewise very particular on
the bad consequences that would attend the great
extension of that province, that the whole of the
bill appeared to him to be deftrudive of that li
berty which ought to be the ground work of every
conllitution : Ten thousand objections, he was
confident, might be made to the bill, but the ex
tinction of the mode of trial above-mentioned, was
a very alarming circumstance, and he would pro
nounce him a bold man who proposed such a plan.
When his Lordship came to the religious part of
the bill, he directed his difeourfe to the Bench of
Billiops, telling them that as by the bill the Catho
lic religion was made the eftablihed religion of
that vast continent, it was impartible they could
be Glcnt on the occasion. He cabled the bill a
child of inordinate power, and desired and asked
if any of that Bench would hold it out for
baptifni; he touched again upon the unlimited
power of the Governor, in appointing all the mem
bers, and who might be made up of Roman Ca
tholics only. His Lordillip then laid, that for
those and other reasons, he gave his hearty nega
tive to the bill. Lord Dartmouth then Ipoke a
short time by way of answer, as did Lord Lyttle
ton. The quertion was again put, and the House
divided, contents 25, not contents 7.
It is said, that the part which occasioned the
strongest debate, was a new clause inferred in the
Lower House, which repeals so much of the fa
mous reformation statute of the firft of Elizabeth,
as relates to the oaths of supremacy, and substi
tuting a mere common oath of allegiance in its
place.
Additional particulars of Lord Chatham's
speech in the House of Peers:
“ His Lordliip Rated, with great force, many
objections to the clause giving to the French Ca
nadians so advantageous a part of the fisheries of
cod on the Labradore coast, to the great prejudice
of the English fifhermen on the banks of New
foudland; considering the said fisheries of Labra
dore as a nursery of French 'Canadian seamen, to
man, in case of a French war, any squadrons of
France in those fcas. This experienced and truly
To the Printer of tbe St. James's Chronicle.
S I R,
/l fain Citizen.
Protestant statesman exposed, with unanfw@rable
force, the train of fatal mifehiefs attending the es
tablishment of Popery and arbitrary power in that
vast and fertile region now annexed to the govern
ment of Quebec, and capable of containing (if ful
ly peopled) not less than thirty millions of fouls.
His whole speech breathed nothing but the love of
his country, the true principles of the reformation,
and of the glorious revolution ; deducing the whole
series of laws from the supremacy firft revindicat
ed under Henry the Eighth down to this day, as
fundamentals con ftituting a clear compact that all
eftabliihments by law are to be protestant; which
compadought not to be altered, but by the consent
of the collective body of the people. He further
maintained unanswered, that the dangerous inno
vations of this bill were at variance with all the
fafe-guards and barriers against the return of Po
pery and of Popifh influence, so wifely provided
against by all the oaths of office and of trust from
the constable up to the members of both Houses,
and even to the Sovereign in his coronation oath.
He pathetically expre fied his fears that it might
Rake the affections and confidence of his Majelty's
Protestant fubje&s in England and Ireland ; and
finally lose the hearts of all his Majesty's Ameri
can fubjeds."
June 23. Yeftcrday the Lord Mayor, Alder
men Crosby, Lewes, and-Plomer, the Recorder,
upwards of 150 of the Common Council, and
City Officers, went from Guildhall to St. James's
(Alderman Sawbridge joined them in the way)
in order to present an address and petition to his
Majesty, previous to his going to the House, re
lative to the bill for the government of Quebec.
They arrived at St. James's a quarter before one.
A little before two the Lord Chamberlain waited
on tbe Lord Mayor with a message from the King,
which he had committed to writing, to prevent
any miflake, and he read the following paper:
“ As your petition relates to a bill agreed on
by the two Houles of Parliament, of which his
Majesty cannot take public notice, until it is pre
sented for his Royal assent in Parliament, I am
commanded by the King to inform you, that you
are not to expert an answer."
The Lord Mayor immediately sent the Remem
brancer to present his duty to the King, and in
form his Majesty, that they waited to present an
address, agreeable to his Majesty's order, which
in a little time was complied with ; when no other
answer was given.
Tbe following is a copy of tbe City Address:
" To the KIN G's most Excellent Majesty.
" The humble address and petition of the Lord
Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the city of
London, in Common Council aflembled.
“ Most Gracious Sovereign,
" XA/E' y our Majesty's most dutiful and loy-
VV al fubje^s, the Lord Mayor, Aldermen,
and Commons of the city of London, in Common
Council assembled, are exceedingly alarmed that
a bill has pafled your two Houses of Parliament,
intituled, " An ad for making more effectual pro
v fion for the government of the province of Que
bec, in North America," which we apprehend to
be entirely fubveiliie of the great fundamental
principles of the constitution of the British monar
chy, as well as of the authority of various solemn
a&s of the legislature.
“ We beg leave to observe thatthe Engliffi law,
and that wonderful effort of human wildom, the
trial by Jury, are not admitted by this bill in any
civil cases, and the French law of Canada is im
posed on all the inhabitants of that extensive pro
vince, by which both the perlons and properties
of very many of your Majesty's fubje&s are ren
dered insecure and precarious.
" We humbly conceive that this bill, if puffed
intoa law, will be contrary, not only to the cem
paA entered into with the numerous settlers of the
reformed religion, who were invited into the said
province, under the sacred promise cfenjoying the
benefit of the laws of your realm of England, but
likewise repugnant to your royal proclamation of
the 7th of October, 1763, for the speedy fettling
the said new government.
“ That confident with thepublic faith, pledged
by the said proclamation, your Majesty cannot ered
and conflitute Courts of Judicature and Public
Judice, for the hearing and determining all cases,
as well civil as criminal, within the said province,
but as near as may be agreeable to the laws of
England? nor can any laws, statutes, or ordinan
ces, for the public peace, welfare, and good go
vernment of the said province, be made, constitut
ed, or ordained, but according to the laws of this
realm.
" That the Roman Catholic religion, which is
known to be idolatrous and bloody, is eftabli'hed
by this bill, and no legal provision is made for the
free exercise of our reformed faith, nor the secu
rity ofour Protestant fellow-fubjeas of the Church
of England in the true worship of Almighty God,
according to their consciences.
“ That your Majesty's illustrious family was
called to the throne of these kingdoms, in conse
quence of the exclusion of the Roman Catholic
ancient branch ofthe Stuart Line, under the ex
press stipulation, that they should profefs the Pro
tertant religion, and according to the oath, esta
blished by the function of Parliament in the firft
year of the reign bf our great deliverer King Wil
liam the Third, your Majesty, at your coronation,
fJemnly swore that you would, to the utmost of
your power, maintain the laws of G )d, the true
profusion of the Gospel, and the Protestant re
formed religion, ertablifhed by law.
“ "Ihat, although the term of imprisonment of
the fubjedl is limited to three months, the power of
fining is left indefinite and unrestrained, by which
the total ruin of the party may be effe^ed by an
enormous and excessive fine.
My Lords and Gentlemeh,
IH A V E observed, with the utmort fatisfaaion;
the many eminent proofs you have given of
your zealous and prudent attention to the public
service, during the course of this very interesting
session of Parliament.
The necessity of providing some efe&ual remedy
for the great and manifold mifehiefs, both public
and private, arising from the impaired state of the
gold coin, induced me. at the opening of the ses
sion, to recommend that important object to your
consideration: In the several measures you have
taken for the redress of those evils, you have fuf
ficiently manifefted, as well your regard to the ge
neral credit, and commercial interests of the king
dom, as to the immediate case and accommodation
of my people.
The very peculiar circumstances of ernbarrart
ment in which the province of Quebec was in
volved, had rendered the proper adjurtment and
regulation of the government thereof, a matter of
no small difficulty. The bill which you prepared
for that purpose, and to which I have now given
my assent, is founded on the dearest principles of
justice and humanity; and will;' I doubt not, have
the bert effects in quieting tbe minds and promo
ting the happiness of my Canadian fubje&s.
I have long seen, with concern, a dangerous
spirit of resistance to my government, and to the
execution of the laws, prevailing in the province
of Massachusetts- Bay, in New-England. It pro
ceeded, at length, to such an extremity, as to
render your immediate interpofitibn indifpenfibly
necessary; and you have, accordingly made pro
vision as well for the frippreffion of the present
disorders, as for the prevention of the like in fu
ture. The temper and firmnefs, with which you
have conduced youtfelves in this important busi
ness, and the general concurrence with which the
resolution of maintaining the authority ofthe laws,
in every part of my dominions, hath been adopted
and supported, cannot fail of giving the greatest
weight to the measures which have been the result
of your deliberations. Nothing that depends on
me shall be wanting to render them effectual. It
is my most anxious desire to fee my deluded fut
jeds in that part of the world returning to a sense
of their duty, acquiescing in thatjuft subordination
to the authority, and maintaining that due regard
to the commercial interests of this country, which
must ever be inseparably connected with their own
real prosperity and advantage.
Nothing material has happened since your meet
irtg, with refect to the war between Rullia and
the Porte; and it is with pleasure I can inform
you, that the very friendly aflurances which I
continue to receive from the neighbouring powers,
give me the fbongeft reason to believe, that they
have the fame good dispositions as myfelf, to pre
serve the tranquility of the rest of Europe.
Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
I thank you for the supplies, which you have
so chearfully giveri ; and I fee with.great fatisfac
tion, that, notwithstanding the ample grants you
have made for the several establishments, and the
compensation which has been so properly provided
for the holders of deficient gold coin, °vou have
been able to make a further progress in the re
duction of the national debt.
My Lords and Gentlemen,
I have nothing to recommend to you, but that
you would carry iato'your refpeclive Counties, the
fame affectionate attachment to my perlon and go
vernment, and the fame zeal for the maintenance
of the public welfare, which havediftinguiffied all
your proceedings in this session of Parliament.
His Majesty's speech being ended: the Lord
Chancellor, having received directions from his
Majesty, said:
My Lords and Gentlemen,
It is his MajefL's roval will and pleasure, that
this Parliament be prorogued to Thuridav, tbe
fourth day of Angurt next, to he th here hoiden;
and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to
Thutfday, the fourth day of August nevi.
" That the whole Legislative powetof the pro
vince is verted in persons to be folcly appointed
by your Majesty, and removable at your pleasure,
which we apprehend to be repugnant to the lead
ing principles of this free constitution, by which
alone your Majesty now holds, or legally can hold,
the imperial crown of these realms.
“ That the said bill was brought into Parlia,
mer.t very late in the present session, and after the
greater number of the members ofthe two Houses
were retired into the country, so that it cannot
fairly be presumed to be the sense of those parts of
the Legislature.
" Your petitioners therefore most humbly sup
plicate your Majesty, as the guardian ofthe laws,
liberties, and religion of your people, and the great
bulwark of the Protestant faith, that you will not
give your royal assent to the said bill. And your
petitioners, as in duty bound, will evet pray."
Some of the populace behaved very rudely,
when his Majesty was parting from St. James's to
the House of Peers, by biffing; arid crying out,
" No Popery,—no French government,—&c."
Yerterday his Majesty, attended by the Duke of
Ancafter and Lord Bruce, went to the House of
Peers, in the usual Rate, and gate the royal afTent
to the following bills, viz. the finking fund bill ; the
lottery bill; the bill for making more effedual pro
vision for the government ofthe province ofQuebec;
the bill for laying fevefal additional duties on liquors
imported into the province of Quebec; the bill for
regulating and ascertaining the weights to be made
use of in the weighing gold and silver coin ; the bill
for applying a sum of money for re-coining the
deficient gold coin ; the expiring law bill ; the in
solvent debtors bill; and two private bills. After
which his Majesty made the following most gra
cious speech to both Houses of Parliament :