Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1775-02-13 00:00:00, page 5

POSTSCRIPT to the Pemifyhania Packer. No. 173.
Ryavefelfromfalmouthwhich arrived at Marblehead
on Wednesday theist infi. we have the following Advi
ces.
LONDO N, December 13.
HOUSE ^COMMONS, December 13.
THIS day, immediately after the refolutionsofthe Com
mittee of supply of Monday were reported and agreed
to, Mr. Rose Fuller moved for leave to bring in a bill to
prevent the inconveniences arising in large counties to the
freeholders, from being too far distant from the place
where the poll for members to serve in parliament is usu
ally taken, and to appoint others less remote for the
above purpose, which was agreed to.
Lord John Cavendish then rose, and begged leave to
state to the House the conduft of administration in one or
two points, particularly receding the naval establishment
for the ensuing year. He observed, that there were 4000
seamen voted the present, less than the preceding year,
notwithstanding the speech from the throne announced the
very critical and alarming situation of affairs in America.
This was a condu& he could by no means reconcile ; for
taking the speech to have been framed upon right infor
mation, as calling for measures of a spirited nature, what
fort of correspondence there was between the contents of
the speech and the naval establishment, was more than
he could possibly discover. But were he to declare his
sentiments, he feared it would be found to he a mere mi
nisterial trick. A forming estimates in the firft instance,
that were never intended to be adhered to, or rather de
signed as mere waste paper, and afterwards furprize and
drive the House into grants of a very improper and bur
densome nature. Such being his suspicions, for his part,
he said, he could not face his constituents without prc
vioufly knowing what he must tell them, both in relation
to further burthens, and what was involved in such an
inquiry, if compulsive measures were really intended to be
pursued towards the Americans; for to talk of enforcing
the ads upon a reduced establishment, either naval or mi
litary, was a fort of language fit to be held only to chil
dren.
Lord Beauchamp said, that the noble Lord who spoke
last had communicated to him that morning his intenti
ons of moving something on the fubjed matter of the pre
sent conversation ; that he had accordingly apprized the
noble Lord who presides at the Treasury therewith ; and,
that his Lordship had authorized him to acquaint the
House, that he had no information whatever to lay before
it, nor measures to propose receding America. He was
therefore of opinion, that as the noble Lord was indis
posed and absent, it would be better, particularly as there
was a very thin House, to suspend all further solicitude,
till his Lordfllip should have .u oppunuaity of fully ex
plaining the motives of his conduct in person.
Mr. Cornwall next rose, and endeavoured to apologize
for the ministers conduct. He insisted, that the piefent
was not a proper time to enter into any difeuffion relative
to Ame. an affairs; that the naval reduction, he pre
sumed, was founded on good and substantial reasons ;
that, however, the motives which gave birth to them,
might vary with the circumstances ; and, that when the
question concerning Great-Britain and the colonies came
in a parliamentary way before the House, every member
would then be fully at liberty to deliver his sentiments,
and maintain his opinions.
Mr. Burke answered the gentleman on the treasury
bench in a very masterly manner, and was extremely se
vere on the condud of administration. Among a variety
of other things, he compared the House of Commons to
a dead senseless mass, which had neither sense, foul, or
activity, but as it derived them from the minister. If
his Lordship chufes to tell them ore day, that America
is in a state little short of actual rebellion, it is all very
well; if in a few days after he acquaints them at second
hand, that he had no information whatever to authorize
such an assertion, who can doubt his candour and his ve
racity ? Both assertions still remain uncontradided, and I
all must be silence. We despise the Parliament, who are
our only proper and constitutional councellors ; but when
we have blundered and ruined our affairs, perhaps beyond
a possibility of redress, then we will come to Parliament
to do what ?—to remedy what is incurable, and to reco
ver what can nerer be regained.
Sir William Mayne, in a short speech, condemned the
very extraordinary condud of those in power, in with
holding from the House the necessary information, or at
least the best they had; and laying his hand on his breast,
solemnly protested he would never have voted for the
address without the proposed amendment, had he ima
gined they meant to refufe the necessary explanations on
which the speech was supposed to be founded.
Dec. 14. The House went into a committee on ways
and means, came to the following resolutions:
That the duties on malt, mum, cyder, and perry, be
continued for 1775.
That three (hillings in the pound land tax be laid on all
lands, tenements, &c. for 1775.
Mr. Burke, according to order, presented a bill for
permitting the importation of Indian corn into Great-
Britain on paying a duty of one penny per quarter, when
barley is allowed to be imported on paying a duty of two
pence per quarter.
House of Commons, December 16.
The House was this day remarkably full, considering
the occasion, upwards of 300 members being present,
including those io the gallery. Mr. Cooper presented
rhe malt-bill, which was read and ordered to a commit
tee. Mr. Burke took the chair, in a committee on the
Indian corn bill, which, with the amendments, was or
dered to be reported on Monday.
Ordered, that the House be called over on Wednesday
theist of February next.
The order of the day was now called for the House to
go into a committee of supply; and Sir Charles Whit
worth having taken the chair of the committee, Lord
Barrington moved that 17,542 effective men be employed
for the land service, for the year 1775.
Mr. R. Fuller rose and said, he had no motion to make,
but he would be glad to know from the noble Lord at
the head of the treasury, if he had any information to
lay before the House, or any measures to propose reced
ing America ; because if he had not, he thought it the
duty of Parliament to interpose and call for papers, and
proceed on such information however defective, as well
as they could. He added, that he looked upon the mea
sures adopted by the last Parliament impolitic and im
pra&icable; and that they could never have been pru
dently or effectually put into execution.
Lord North confeffed the very great consequence and
importance of the fubjeft, the honourable member now
mentioned ; said, it would require the utmost diligence
and attention, as a matter of the greatest magnitude ever
debated, within those walls. He could not, he said,
entirely acquiesce in the condemnation of mcafure hastily,
which had been taken up and adopted on such weighty
motives; and at the time it was impossible to foretel pre
cisely how they might answer, but the shortness of the
time and other circumstances considered, they fliould have
a fair trial before they were reprobated ; and that the
wisdom and policy of them could be only finally known
in the event. He concluded, by assuring the House, that
he had information to lay before it shortly after the holi
days ; and that he would so far adopt his bon. friend's
ideas behind him, (Mr. Fuller) ns to propose to appoint
a committee for taking the affairs of America into con
federation.
Mr. Cruger, as a young Member, gave his opinion on
the state of the Colonies with great becoming diffidence ;
and was heard with a considerable deal of attention. He
recommended conciliatory measures; but rather went a
little out of his way to compliment the Minister.
Lord North, on the whole, was plausible, sententious,
and affe^ed great moderation. Governor Johnftone,
having alluded to something his Lordship had said on a
former occasion, relative to Great-Britain never receding
or relaxing, till America was at her feet ; his Lordship
observed that it was hardly fair to quote what a man had
said seven years before, and what he had explained on the
spot before/he left the House; this explanation then, and
now was, he said, that by being at the feet of Great-Bri
tain, he meant obedience to the Mother Country. Such
as if they thought themselves aggrieved to apply by peti
tions and dutiful remonstrances to the Parliament or the
Throne. He said he thought it the duty of every Mem
ber, as well in the House as out of it, to interpret what
might fall in the heat of debate, or warm difeuffion, in
the manner it was explained by the Speaker: That if it
had been thus candidly dealt with, the author of alate
pamphlet, written in America, could never have asserted,
that he infilled that Britain fliould never recede, till the
laws and liberties of America were at her feet. For as
he never meant the one, so he never said the other. And
he wished, that on the present occasion, he should be un
derstood according to his present explanation and no other.
Mr. Haley was fcr making the Americans contribute
to the general defence of the empire, by way of requisi
tion, and read in his place one or two of the Resolutions
entered into by the Continental Congrefe, to (hew their
willingness to comply with such a measure.
The question was at length put on Lord Barrington's
motion, and agreed to; as were the others in courle,
providing for the whole of the military establishments.
London, Dec. 17. Were the people of America once
clearly quit of their prejudices, or rather their affection
to this country, how evidently must it appear to be their
interest to trade with France, who take their coin, fi(h,
ftaves, ho@ps, and every kind of produce, and in return
give them cheap clothing, either for winter or fumraer,
together with wine, oil, fruit, &c. &c.
The Provincial Congress, at Boston, have resolved,
that the militia should be raised, and that arms and amu
nition be provided, where wanted ; and that the inhabi
tants perfect themselves in the milatry skill.
From a LONDON PAPER.
On the present fate of America.
TH E resistance which the whole continent of North-
America has with one hand and voice fliewn to the
measures pursued last sessions, in relation to MafTachufetts
Bay, must have convinced administration at lead, that
fettling the Colonies will be a work of more time, and
greater extent, than was at firft imagined: To prove this,
we have nothing to suppose but a continuation of the pre
sent conduct of America, till this country finds itfelf in
volved in a war with France and Spain : What will
then be the consequence of such a dispute? To suppose
that an army is to garrison Boston, and a fleet to block
up the port, with the flame of difeord and fury blazing
through two thousand miles of country at a time when the
whole empire will feel the sharp necellity of unlimitted
union to repel common enemies; To suppose this is too
gross, we must therefore imagine a more probable event,
which will be a general confufion in Court and Parliament;
the authors of all these ill judged American measures dy
ing from their defence, and Bulking behind the feene of
a new oppofitiop; other men coming to the hiilm, and
from the necessities of the times thinking themselves obli
ged to Imooth every thing with the most expeditious ma
nagement, in granting the Americans enough to fatisfy
them. This will, beyond doubt, be the turn of our
American politics; and I thall venture to assert, that it:
must be attended with almost as many inconveniencies as
the very contrary conduct; since it must infallibly end in
the establishment of American liberty. It will be a con
duct not adopted through choice and reflection, but laid
hold on as the only refuge in a florin; it will be a con
duct of expedients; a (hitting weak policy, utterly desti
tute of efficiency and vigour: I am not condemning the
men who may fall into this management, as I am persua
ded they will feel the necellity of such measures; but I
would be understood to through the condemnation of these
American ads into anew light—that ofa necessary failure
in the successors of those who have framed them. All we
have to hope for is, the crisis of the whole coming before
a war breaks out. This may happen, if the Colonies, in
their struggles for political and civil liberty, are destitute
of all judgement, policy and diferetion; but if they con
duct themselves with that temper, spirit, firmnefs, and
vigour, which seem to have animated the belt men among
them in the prefect disputes; if they watch their oppor
tunities ; if they are lax when oppofuion cannot avail them,
and spirited when vigour can command success; if they
keep foreign enemies at a distance, and yet render them
the supports of their independence; if they conduce them
selves upon these principles, they will infallibly find them
lelyes an independent country. CRI TO.
From the S t. JAMES's CHRONICLE.
TH ER E cannot be a worse symptom for a country
than parties being carried so high that a moderate
man is treated as a public enemy. The symptom is the
worse in this country, because totally repugnant to the
spirit of our conftitntion, which is a mixed government.
It is neither an absolute monarchy, nor a republic," but
has sagely blended magiftratic power with the freedom of
the people.
I take the present unfortunate and lamented quarrel
between the mother country and the colonies, to have
flowed from each having departed from the true spirit of
a mixed government. The colonies growing opulent,
removed at a distance from the feat of government, and
yet being treated by government with a haughtin fs that
must be feared the lels it can be immediately enforced,
have imbibed notions of independance that loolen the
bands of connexion between them and their parent.' Cn
the other hand, it cannot be denied but there is a party,
I had rather call it a faction, in this country who are de
sirous of increasing the power of the crown beyond what
the laws and the system of the revolution allow, and who
have received the dangerous dodrine of prerogative; a
dodrine that will always fheck a free country, when made
a contradiftinflion to the privileges of the fubjed. These
claims, both of them deftruftive of the principles of a
mixed monarchy, have almost brought on a civil war
between Great-Britain and North-America, which, if not
prevented, must end fatally for both, and may even light
up a war in our bowels, as well as in the remoter mem
bers, because the standard of prerogative can never be
hoisted at home without dividing the nation; and thus
while there is an union of principle in the colonies, the
North Americans will have a large and increasing partv
among ourselves. The question of taxation will be loft
in the heat of controversy and arms, and the administra
tion, who set out on a principle of increasing the revenue,
will seem to intend imposing arbitrary power by military
force. In the mean time commerce, the vital principle
of our greatness, will be destroyed; and both monarchic
men and republicans would do well to rest 6t on the dan
ger of pushing their different views to a decfrnn. It the
Americans prevail, with how many difficulties must they
ft ru gg' e before their total independance can be obtained ;
with how many more before it can be maintained ! Ifthe
friends of high prerogative succeed, to how narrow limits
will the power of the crown be reduced! These inlands
depopulated and impoverished, and boundless tracts in
America will constitute the miserable empire. Which is
more powerful, a Sovereign of a limited commercial mo
narchy, giving temperate laws to North-America and the
Eaft-lndies, and arbiter of Europe, or an Emperor of
those little islands, the nominal despot of enslaved Ame
rica, receiving imperious laws from France and Spain, per
haps from Austria and Prussia, while Hanover is surety
for Great-Britain's fubmiflion.
I confefs that my whole hypothesis is built on thefup
pofition of commerce being ruined, whether we conquer
the Americans, or they establish their independence. It is
the doftrine of saving our trade that I wish to enforce, and
that I would impress both on the administration and the
colonists. They, if they take up arms, will fee their
opulent cities reduced to allies, their trade obftrufted,
their lands laid waste, and poverty succeed to wealth
andeafe: But, alas! those cities are ours, that trade is
ours, those lands lire ours, those diftrefled merchants now
enrich us. Shall we for the fake of obstinately exading
a trifling revenue, cut off for fifty or an hundred years f)
immenle a source of wealth and grandeur as the trade with
America? Oris it the nature of trade to revive from its
ruins ? Are lands enriched by fire and sword, as fields by
burning ftubhle? When trade is checked, does it not im
mediately seek other channels ? And will it quit the new
at the command of ads of Parliament?
What is the corollary from these arguments ? Is it nor,
that too obflinate purfutt of the vain name of tovereigntv
will deftrey the lubftance? Have the glories of toe H.e