The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1781-09-18 00:00:00, page 1

On the north fide of South street, in the Cuy of Phi
ladelphia, betwixt Water- ftr^ct and the River Dela
ware, viz.
No. I. A Brick Tenement, 20
feet front on Sunth-ftre^t, and extending in depth,
north and south, 27 fret: This Building has never
been complexly figpfhed, the lower part being occu
pied as a Store; it is three ftcrics high; in the third
story there is a very convenient and elegant Balcony :
This Building with the Y rd is now let for 75 pounds
per annum ; the Tenant's Time will expire on the 28th
of October next: This Lot is bounded, east by land of
Charles Miller, north by Thomas Lake's estate, weft
by the next herein described Lot, and south by South-
Street.
No. 2. A vacant Lot, 15 feet front on
South-street, and 27 feet in depth ; bounded, east by
the last described Lot, north by Thomas Lake's estate;
weft by Edward Evans's Lot, and south by South
ftreet.
The Conditions or Sale will be, One-third of the
Purchase Money to be paid at 'he Time of Sale ; One
third in three Months after, and the refining One
third in nine Months, with Interest, and giving Secu
rh,il required. , September 11.
The Subfcritrr informs the
PUBLIC in general, and his FRIENDS in particular,
That he again keeps
Horfcs at Livery,
At his STABLES, cn the ^^ fide of Seventh Arret,
near Market- Free; (which have been occupied by the
United Slates, fleet the latter end cf December, 1776,
and called the Continental S abler) loch Gentlemen
as choose to fend their Horses may be assured that Jus
tice will be done them, bv
Aug. 2% JACOB HILTZHEIMER,
Eight Dollars Reward.
STRAYED or stolen, on the ztd of Augnft, out of
the parture of Mr. Charles Ddworth, near Bir
mingham meeting boufe, in Cheffer county, a bay
HORSE, between 13 2nd 14 hands high, tight years
old, a natural trotter; has a black mane and tail, with
a bur in his forehead, his near hind foot white to the
firft joint, branded with an S and far cn the near
buttock, (hod all round. Whoever t:k*s up laid-her e
and thief, if stolen, ihall have eight dodos reward or
four dollars for the horse, paid by CHARLES DIL
WORTH at Dilworths town, or GEORGE GIN
THER, in Philadelphia.
"Vo BE To TD,
Situated in the Town of Lebanon, L^n^flr County,
A new two story Stone House,
50 feet by 4.0, lout rooms on a Rod:, ^bh a go. d Sta
ble convenient to the house : A Imad S one HOUSE
and BARN, with ; w large LO PS near die center of
the :owc: Th re 10 Acre LO f'S, within a quarter of
a mile ; and a PLAN CATION, containing 180 acres,
20 of which i$ civ;ted, about one*mile from the town.
Alla, To be Sold, at Cornwall Furnace,
A NUMBER OF
Negroe Wenches and Children,
MARLS and COLTS, and 3 Quantity cf SALT
PANS, 6 feet by 3, and 11 inches deep; Any Person
iociining to Purc^fe may know the Terms, by ap
plying to CURI'IS GRUhB, at Cornwall Furnace.
Public Lots of this City,
For the redemption of the Bills of Credit
of this fta'e, dated April the 29th, „80, will be held
at the Ceffee-hcufe, on THURSDAY, th? zoth o' Sep
tember instant, at TE N o'clock in t^e forenoon. A
Plan of the Lots may be seen at the Coffee boule, and
at the Surveyor General's Office. The conditions the
fame as the last Giles. Augvht „.
The Twentieth infant, September; at SIX o'Cl^ck in
the Evening, Wi.ihe xoo^d t, SALE, by PUBLIC
AUCf lON, at the CuKe-Haufe, tie foLewing de
scribed—
Tenement and Lots of Ground,
On ^HURSDAT,
TUESDAY, SEP TE MBER 18, 178^
THE
s^@^^^@
O R, THE
GENERAL ADVERTISER.
VOL. X.l
A further SALE of the
Published every TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY.- —Price Six-Pence.
S I &
IN obedience to your order cf March 23d, I re
paired to Charleftown, and attended ' at lieutenant
colonel Balfour's, for the purpose of explaining the
nature of a correspondence which I had held with Mr.
Kean of Port Royal*.
Captain Barry, his secretary, informed me that a
court of officers had been ordered to investigate the
matter, and that I must attend thereon. I was much
surprised at the mode of enquiry pointed out, and ex
pressed my sentiments accordingly ; concluding with a
desire that colonel Balfour would fuffer me to fee him,
as I was certain I could explain the whole occurrence
to his fatisfaaion, without the mediation of a court.
This request was peremptorily objected to, and captain
Barry demanded in a very importunate manner a spe
cific answer, whether I would appear before the
court of officers, ordered to assemble on this occasion.
I reflected, as no other means of enquiry were left open
to me but this court, that I should gratify my ene
mies in a most essential point and with the mod signal
advantage, had I continued to refufe the explanation
in the way it was demanded of me. They might have
represented that confeious of an intentional criminality
in the correspondence alluded to, I had purposely avoid
ed the enquiry, not daring to submit my conduct to
the view of mankind, and that J preferred laying un
der the suspicion only of being guilty, rather than con
firm it by my own examination. The natural confer
quences would have been, that I should have been con
veyed to some place of confinement, and under the fe
vered interdictions have been precluded all mode of
explanation and appeal. This conduct I forefaw would
have contributed to the pregnant suspicions of man
kind and to my own condemnation. The subsequent
part of their conduct towards me, evinces the proprie
ty of my behaviour upon this occasion and th® justice
of this reflection. To remove, therefore, a calumny
of the most illiberal kind, I was compelled to listen to
their proposals of a court, sensible that nothing crimi
nal could be alledged against me supported by falls.
Captain Barry laid before the court a letter written
by M'r. Kean at Beaufort to me.
There are few sentences, which, even in the cooler
hours of reason, considered abdradedly and unsup
ported by the^general tenor of the fubjeft, may not
be perverted, and which may not admit of several
modes of conftru^ion. In the present precarious mo
ments which awaken suspicion and tend to create jea
lousies and dißrufls; the fears of an enemy may be
alarmed by the most trifling incidents. Several para
graphs of this letter were pointed out as obnoxious,
and which required an explanation. The most natu
ral as well as the most immediate and ready answers
were given to ever exceptionable part, but neverthe
less ,words were deprived of their intrinsic meaning,
and a ferfe impel d upon the different paragraphs fo
reign to the intention of the writer. For instance, the
word amusement was said to mean infokmati
on, and the Latin word nugae, which literally and
pr 'perly frgnies trifles, was forced to assume the mean
ing of'FOLLY. This -suspicion I deemed excusable in
people who had tbemfelves given such recent and no
torious proofs, that they deemed themselves bound by
no engagements, in infringing the articles of a most
sacred capitulation. They could not but be of opini
on, that their conduct not only merited, but would
have jubified any mode of retaliation. It is more than
profable tha men devoidof the finer feelingsof honor,
would fufpefl a recrimination of injuries from a per
fen whom they bad also previously and per finally in
juried. Such apprehensions are natural to tee weak,
Philadelphia, Sept. 13, 1781.
To the PRINTER.
S I R,
THE publication of the following letter, written
by lieutenant-colonel Grimke,* to the command
ing officer of the American prisoners at Haddrel's- Point,
in South-Carolina; (and by him sent to leutenant colo
nel Balfour, commandant of Charleftown) will place
British candour and generosity in a true point of view,
and will serve as a new precedent in judging on paroles,
I am, fir, your most obedient servant,
JOHN KEAN.
* Lieutenant- colonel Grimke, major H.be Shim,
and Mr. Kean, were m be prisoners by the surrender
of Charlestown - ,the two former, being continental of
ficers, were paroled to HaddrePs Point ; the latter was
paroled to Beaufort on Port-Royal Island, about fe
vemy miles from Charleftown, but in possession of the
British, The corr^oondence exifled equally among
them. Major He * sham was ordered to Charleftown
at thefame time as colonel Grimke, went through the
fame examination and the fame confinement : therefore
the observations are equally applicable to both.
the base, and the guilty, for they are incapable, from
an irrecoverable baseness of heart, to conceive a foul
equal to the fuffering of injuries imposed on it, and to
a forbearance of its just resentment at the fame mo
ment. To remove, therefore, these plausible jealou
sies, I candidly proposed to the court, that they would
permit me to write to Mr. Kean, whom I would re
quest to transmit immediately the necessary papers to
me, and that they would defer the consideration of
this matter until I could procure them. They were
absolutely necessary for their information and also for
my defence and. aquittal. They were absolutely ne
feffary for an elucidation of the fubjeft
^' So sudden and pnexpefled a proposal gave the alarm
of the concioufnefs of my own innoeency, ard of the
certainty of my acquittal; but this reasonable, this
equitable demand was not liflened to by the court.
I am yet in doubt to resolve, whether this ne^l-ft
proceeded from the native propensity of the court or
from the dictatorial mandate which was now delivered
to them by captain Barry, and which he said pro
ceeded from colonel Balfour. Captain Barry told the
court that the contents es the letters were by no means
an objed of their consideration, that it was wholly
out of their province to judge of the criminality of
the expressions, and that be the fubjeft ever so inno^
cent, the f C talone of having corresponded, constitut
ed the guilt. He added that Mr. Kean's letter fuffi
ciently indicated that he was an enemy to tie king,
and that my parole provided, that no correspondence
or intercourse should be held with his enemies, t I
was astonished at this new doctrine and the uncandid
interpretation, which was put upon the parole. I ob=
served how inequitable it was to adopt a literal con
ftru&ion of the parole, and to aftume a forced appli
cation for the terms of Mr. Kean's letter. That my
conception of the sense of the parole was very diffe
rent ; I was indeed bound not to communicate any
intelligence to an enemy of the king of Great Britain,
but it did not appear to prelude my writing to ^
friend, who was a prisoner on parole, and within the
enemy's lines as well as myfelf. Eefides the correfpon
dance was perfedly innocent, and did no injury to the
cause against which we were engaged. I had not endea
voured to confirm Mr. Kean so the principles which
he had adopted. If I had mistaken the parole and had!
been too liberal in my conftrudion of it, that the in
tention ought to be weighed by the court. Supposing
it possible that the interpretation given to the parole
by captain Barry, should be thought the usual and
received one, I muff then confefs that I had been guil
ty of a breach of it; but as it was without design,
and without criminality, it could be deemed but an
indiferetion, and consequently venial. In the course
of this conference you will be pleased to observe that
Mr. Barry changed his ground; he strenuously en
deavoured to establish the criminality of the corref
pond^nce, by pointing out such passages as would
bear a double meaning. But after I had offered to pro
duce the papers, he concluded with assuring the court
that it was not necessary to confider whether theexpreffi
ons were criminal or not, but only whether a correspond
ence existed, for in that alone the guilt lay. Upon this de
claration, this positive command of co'onel Balfour
and the letters alone of Mr. Kean, was founded the
sentence of the Court; although I observe that these
proceedings! positively declare an acknowledgment
of a breach of parole, and that they pronounced their
sentence upon that confeffion, without making any
mention whatever of the doubts which had arisen in
my breast, concerning the propriety of their interpre
tation or the conditionality of the acknowledgment.
I made application to captain Block * for a copy
of the proceedings of the court, which was refufed
me. I must confefs my oneafinefs at this refuf 1, ap
prehending some ommiffions, and that in so delicate a
fabjea, the text might be attended with a variety/ of
conftruaions; it ought therefore to have been as full
as possible, and the instances of misinterpretation then
before me, pointed out the neceffiry. Since you die
me the honor of the perusal of the proceedings of the
court, fam ferry to fay I find my suspicions confirmed.
+ According to this extraordinary doctrine of cap
tain Brnry, every gentleman on parole at Haddrel's*
Point, who wrote a note or spoke to his brother priso
ners, was guilty of a breach of it. The only difference
was the diflance, which could not possibly constitute
the crime.
I The proceeding alluded to were those of the board
of officers, furnilh d the comm tiding officer of toe
American prifontrs,m which they found colonel Grim
ke and rtY for Haberftam guilty of a breach of parole
on toeir own confeflion, without mentioning any of
their doubts, or the condition of the acknowledg
ment.
4 This gentleman aded as judge advocate ontlie trial.
[NUMB. 783.