Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1774-04-18 00:00:00, page 3

Tea. On her arrival at Philadelphia, the inhabi
tants informed the Captain that they would not fuf
fer him either to land or enter his cargo at the
Custom-House.,
It is said that the tea thrown into the Sea at
Boston is valued at iß,oool. at is. 6d. per pound.
The whole sent to America is said to be worth
about 300,000!. which is returning home,not be
ing fuffered to be landed.
Extras of a letter from an Englif? gentleman at
Copenhagen, Dec. 14.
" By some of the English new-papers which
have lately fallen into my hands, I find that you,
in England, think that the King of Denmark is
in a state of imbecility ; be that as it will, how
ever if he is so, his fubeds are happy, and his
actions every day prove that his mind is less
tainted than the minds of any neighbouring Prin
ces. He has lately struck out a number of pen
sions which were burthenfome to his people, and
has found a scheme himfelf to lessen Several hea
vy taxes very much. Are these actions that de
note a weak mind ? If they are I should not be
sorry to hear that was in a state of
imbecility; you would perhaps then be happier
than you are.-—The firft opportunity that offers, I
intend writing again."
Extract of a letter from the Hague, fan. 21.
" One of the two commissaries who went over
to England last year to fettle the differences which
prevailed between the Dutch and English African
Companies refpeding their trade on the coast of
Guinea, is returned home, and according to his
report all their negociations have proved fruitlefs.
It is however said, that this matter will be renewed
under the direction of Sir Joseph Yorke, who it
is hoped will be able to bring it to a happy con
clusion.
" The lift letters from Paris advise, that the
'Sieur Briguet de Beauregard, a notary, who fold
his post in the year 1771 for a very large sum of
money, has lately disappeared. having failed for
near 2,000,000 livres. These letters add, that
the Abbe de la Ville has lately been made diredor
general of foreign affairs, which many people
look upon as a fore-runner to his being appointed
Minister of State for foreign affairs, which the
Duke d'Aiguillon, it is said, will quit, and take
the post of Minister for the department of war,"
Jan. 29. We are told that a gentleman of the
turf (C. B. Esq.) laid a wager of one thousand
guineas, play or pay, that he finds a person who
shall fink a veiTel of forty tons burthen in 100
feet water, with a man in the veiTel, who shall
remain in her twelve hours under water ; after
which time he is to cause the vessel to come above
water, with the man in it alive and well, and all
pipes of whatsoever conftrudion communicating
with the free air are barred.—The betts are fix to
four it will be done, to any amount.
A bill for regulating the number of apprentices
to be taken by several trades will be brought in
this session.
The Providence, Wilkinson, with the Nancy,
Jackson, from Jamaica, and the Norfolk, from
Virginia, are all fafe arrived at Liverpool.
On Thursday, Jan. 20, the House of Com
mons of Ireland met according to the last adjourn
ment. The bill for the loan of 265,000!. by life
annuities, with benefit of furvivorlhip, and the
stamp-bill being come over from England, Mr.
Malone presented them to the House; they were
severally read the firft time, and severally order
ed to receive a second reading next day.
When the question was put for the second read
ing of the stamp-bill, Mr. Redmond Morres rose
up, and spoke as follows:
“ Mr. Speaker, as I had not the honour of a
feat in this House when the bill now before you
went through it, I had not a more early opportu
nity than the present of mentioning the objections
I have against it; I hope therefore you will in
dulge me to relate them at this time. I do not
intend at present to enlarge upon them, but I shall
take the opportunity to speak fully on each, when
this bill shall be committed, on a third reading
of it.
" I think, Sir, this bill very improper to pass
into, a law ; firft, as it will be a very great load
on all law proceedings, and thereby a great hin
drance and difeouragement of every man who
shall have occasion to sue for or maintain his right;
fccondly, it will be, I fear, a moral stab to the li
berty of the press, which ought always to be held
lacred in a free country; and lastly, it will add
greatly to the influence of administration, as it
leaves therein the disposal of a great number of
offices. For these reasons, I shall in due time
give all the opposition in my power to this bill;
and hope that a full consideration of these points
will influence gentlemen to lejed it totally."
Dr. Clement moved for a committee to compare
the returned bills with the tranfmifTes ; which
motion was seconded by Mr. Redmond Morres,
and a committee was appointed.
The next day, Friday Jan. 21, the annuity and
stamp-bills were read a second time, and ordered
to be committed to next day, to committees of the
whole House ; then the House adjourned.
Yesterday morning the Sheriffs of London and
Middlesex sent an order to John Wilkes, Esq;
to attend his feat in Parliament, pursuant to an
order from the Speaker.
Yesterday died, in Maddox-street, the Rev.
Dr. Tryon, brother to Governor Tryon, of
New-York, and also to Miss Tryon, one of the
maids of honour to the Queen.
Jan. 31. A short time since, Dr. Benjamin
Franklin, Agenttothe House of Assembly ofNew-
England, presented a petition from the Houle of
Assembly to the King, assuring his Majesty, that
the people of New-England had no confidence in
their Governor; that they considered him as an
enemy to the province; that the breach between
them and him was so open and avowed, and the
enmity between them so declared and positive, the
public bufineis of the province was thereby so es
sentially injured and impeded, that it was necessary
for the public service, as well as their happiness,
to remove him; and concluded with a request to
remove him from that government. The King
gave no answer to the petition; and it was imagined
no notice would be taken ofit; but upon reconsi
dering the matter, it was thought most prudent to
refer it to the privy council. Administration
were thus obliged to take it up; a fort of mock
trial was resolved upon, that the truth of the al
legations might be affededly enquired into; and
upon which some judgment was to be formed,
and reported to the King. The enquiry cameon
last Saturday, before the privy council. Dr.
Franklin attended according to order; and the
Attorney and Solicitor-General being, by order
of Administration, council for Governor Hutchin
fom, Dr. Franklin was allowed council likewise.
He had Mr. Serjeant Glynn, and Mr. Dunning.
The matter turned chiefly upon the extraordinary
letters (which have been published) of the Governor
and Lieutenant-Governor to the late Mr. Whately.
It was sometime doubted whether copies of them
could be admitted as evidence; but it being im
poflible to obtain the originals, they being before
the House of Assembly, the copies were at length
admitted. The event of the enquiry is not yet
made public.— The fate of America, and in that,
of Gieat-Britain, depends upon the advice, or
rather report, which the privy council shall make
to the King upon this occasion. The situation of
affairs in America is become more truly alarming
than ever. The union throughout that continent,
to reject the tea, while it is fubje& to a duty to
be paid there, shews that the Ministers, or rather
the cabinet junto, in whom only the King thinks
proper to confide, are as cordially despised in
America, as they are detested in England.
On Saturday last the privy-council met to hear
the arguments for and against the petition of the
Assembly ofßofton, (which was some time since
presented by their Agent Dr. Franklin) “ pray
ing that his Majesty would be pleased to remove
the Governor, &c." Serjeant Glynn, and Mr.
Dunning were council for the petition, and urged
very strongly the expediency and necessity of
granting the prayer of it. Mr. Solicitor General
was employed on the other fide, and instead of
answering the learned arguments of his brethren,
or refuting the allegations of the petition, con
tented himfelf with pronouncing a most severe
Phillipic on the celebrated American Philosopher,
in which he loaded him with all the licensed scur
rility of the bar, and decked his harrangue with
the choicest flowers of Billingsgate. The Do&or
seemed to receive the thunder of his eloquence
with philosophic tranquility, and sovereign con
tempt, whilst the approving smiles of those at the
board clearly shewed that the coarsest language can
be grateful to the politest ears.
The King of Prussia in one of his epistles calls
Dr. Franklin " ce nouveau Promet hee." Our
correspondent fays, that he could not help wishing
(while the Solicitor General was pouring forth his
tide of scurrility) that the American Prometheus
could have called fire from Heaven to blast the
unmannered railer.
The faithful services of Dr. Benjamin Franklin
to his American constituents, have been most gra
ciously requited, by the Ministers taking from him
the office of Post-Master General of North-Ame
rica, which he held jointly with John Foxcroft,
Esq; who is to remain sole Post-Master General
of that department; and a bill in chancery is or
dered to be commenced against the Do&or, to
compel a confeffion from whence he derived the
letters to Mr. Whately, that have occasioned the
late unhappy diftradions between Governor Hut
chinson, the late Lieut. Governor Oliver, the
Honourable the Council, and the House of Repre
sentatives ofthe Massachusetts Bay.
The thips destined for America, are ordered to
be completely manned, victualled, and out at Spit
head by the 4th of March.
Feb. I. By letters from France we are informed,
that the Trench troops are ordered to March to
wards the Rhine, to secure all the French terri
tories along that river from the hostilities intended
by the Imperial troops, in regaining and adding
them to the present Emperor of Germany's domi
nions.
Advice is received of some new troubles in the
city of Danzick, on account of the new demands
made by his Prussian Majesty, which the burghers
are resolved not to comply with.
Extrafl of a letter from an officer at New-Tork, to
his friend in London, Nov. I.
" All America is in a flame on account of the
Tea-Exportation. The New-Yorkers as well as
the Bostonians and Philadelphians, are, it seems,
determined that no Tea' shall be landed. They
have published a paper in numbers called the
Alarm. It begins firft with “ Dear Countrymen,"
and then goes on exhorting them to open their
eyes, and like Sons of Liberty throw off all con
nection with the tyrant their Mother Country.
They have on this occasion raised a company of
artillery, and every day almost are pradifing at a
target. Their independant companies are out at
exercise every day. The minds of the lower peo
ple are inflamed by the examples of some of their
principals. They swear that they will burn every
fllip that comes in; but I believe our fix and
twelve pounders, with the Royal Welsh Fuzi
liers, will prevent any thing of that kind."
Extras of another Letter from New-York, Dec. 1.
" All is in confufion about the Tea (hips, and
the governor has now declared that he expels a
ship with 400 chests of Tea. The artillery have
orders to make up ball cartridges, as have the
troops. Yesterday orders were given for all sol
diers to keep good flints in their firelocks, and
every officer and soldier as soon as any riot is in
the town (if there ) to repair directly to the bar
racks, and acquaint the commanding officer of it.
General Haldiman has got two cohorn# before
his house, and the governor a stronger guard.
The Swan sloop of war is gone down to the Wa
tering place to wait for the flrip to bring her up,
as they have threatened all the pilots to bring
them to Liberty Tree if they conduct the ship up.
Thus affairs stand at present."
The affairs of America at present occupy the
whole attention of the administration; and it is
agreed on all hands to be now the most important
business that has come under consideration since
the accession of the present King.
the clerks in the Plantation Office are ex
tremely busy at this time in regulating and ad
justing the American accounts for the infpe&ion
of Parliament.
His Majesty having likewise given orders for
laying before the Lords of the Council an account
of the exports to America since the conclusion of
the late peace.
An order es court is daily expected in France
for re-establishing the Irish and other regiments
broke there at the last conclusion of peace.
The Duke of Gloucester, Lord Camden, and
Lord Shelburne, attended at the House of Peers
yesterday.
Extrafl of a letter from Geneva, fan. 18.
“ Letters from Turin inform us, since the
chiefs of the Canton of Bern refufed the sum that
has been offered for le Pays de Vaud, his Majesty
is resolved to employ force to recover that pro
vince which has been poffefTed by his ancestors.
The Switzers are very much altered by an un
lucky contagion, viz. luxury. They cannot re
ceive any help from their neighbours, by reason
of the particular circumstances, wherein they are
now ; so it is easy to guess, that the above measure
will soon take place."
Yesterday De Grey, Esq; son of Lord
Chief Justice De Grey, ele&ed member for Ware
ham, in the room of Whitfhed Keen, Esq; who
has been elected for Luggerfhall, took his feat in
the House of Commons.
Feb. 3. The last letters from Burton Pynfent,
in Somerfetfhire, mention, that the Earl of Cha
tham was then in perfe& health there; so that the
report of his Lordship's death is without founda
tion.
A person who was commander of a trading
vessel that belonged to Jamaica, but lately arrived
from Spain, gives the following account of the
usage of the Spaniards to the Englishmen, whom
they have impriloned under pretence of their car
rying on an illegal trade. He fays, that three
years and four months ago, being out upon a
trading voyage and in want of water, he put into
the Havannah for some, where his vessel was
seized, and he and his men loaded with irons and
thrown into prison, where he met with many more
of his countrymen. He fays he was kept there
two years, during which time there was no other
meat allowed for the English prisoners but bul
locks liver and lights; at the end of two years
40 of them were released from the prison, and
the rest condemned to slavery: From the Havan
nah they were carried in irons to Cadiz, where
they were again put into prison, and kept one
year more, but at better allowances and better
usage, because the Consul there sent them provi
sions; and last November he procured their dis
charge, after three years imprisonment, and rob
bed of all their property.
Letters from the frontiers of Turkey mention,
that the Ruffians, in their two attempts against
Siliftria and Varna, have not loft less than 15,000
of their best troops; to which may be added
their own cannon and ammunition, as well as that
which they had, in some a&ioos, taken from the
Turks.
SI R. (C O P Y.)
IN obedience to a letter from the Right Ho
nourable Sir Fletcher Norton, Knight, Speak
er of the House of Commons, we hereby summon
you to attend your service in Parliament on Tues
day the fifteenth day of February next. We have
the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient
Jan. 28, 1774. Humble Servants,
STEPHEN SAYRE,?
WILLIAM LEE, $
To John Wilkes, Esq; one of the
Knights of the Shire for the
County of Middlesex.
(C O P Y.)
Prince's Court, near Storey's Gate,
Weflminfler, Jan. 29, 1774.
Gentlemen,
I HAVE the letter, which you did me the ho
nour of writing to me yesterday, in pursuance
of the orders your received from the Right Honour
able Sir Fletcher Norton, Knight, Speaker of the
House of Commons, requiring you to summon all
the members in your jurifdi<ftion to attend their
service in Parliament on Tuesday the fifteenth day
of February next.
Conscious of the clearest right to a feat in the
Great Council of the Nation, given me by the
free choice of my noble friends, the freeholders
of Middlesex, I have always been ready to attend
their service in Parliament. On that day I will
certainly make my personal appearance at the
House of Commons, and again demand, as one
of the representatives of this county, to be sworn
in, and admitted to the exercise of those powers,
long usurped by a gentleman, whose sole title is
founded in a desperate ad of enormous Wicked
ness, perpetrated without remorse by a most aban
doned majority, against the folem-n trust reposed
in them by the people.
Before the period of their political dissolution,
which to the great joy of all good men approaches
very faft, I should be happy to find that a true
sense of their deep guilt produced in these hitherto
hardened sinners a due compunction. They will
then not only render justice to the nation at large,
but provide an effectual security against so atrocious
and alarming a precedent, as that gross violation
of the right of election. May the wisdom and
justice of Parliament embrace the opportunity
which you, gentlemen, have afforded of reconsi
dering and amending the former proceedings, and
establish a firm and solid barrier for the future
against every inroad of courtly or ministerial des
potism, both for ourselves and our posterity!
I am, with great regard, Gentlemen,
Your very humble Servant,
JOHN WILKES.
To Stephen Sayre and William
Lee, Enquires, Sheriffs ofthe
Count, of Middlesex.
Last night the clerks in Lord Rochford's office
continued doing business till near twelve o'clock,
from which it is imagined some very particular
affairs are on the carpet.
Feb. 4. A correspondent reading a paragraph
'in our paper refpeding an intention of seizing the
Committe-Men of Boston, fending them over here,
and trying them on the ad of 35th of Henry the
Eighth, fays that not only himfelf, but every free
Briton will Coincide in opinion with the writer,
viz. that such a measure is most consistent with
the genius of our court, chiefly because it is evi
dently repugnant to the spirit of the constitution,
every idea of British liberty, and a palpable af
front not only to common sense, but to the prin
ciples of the revolution, to try men by an obsolete
ad made in an arbitrary reign, arid it is as ap
parent an absurdity in civil matters, as it would
in spiritual concerns to revive upon us Protestants
the bloody fire and fagot laws of that inglorious
period.
Extraft of a letter from the Hague, Jan. 28.
" A public paper of the continent contains the
following paragraph :—We are informed, by pret
ty good authority, that another extraordinary
treaty of alliance is just in agitation between the
Courts of Berlin and Peterfburgh ; that the house
of Austria has just concluded a private treaty with
Sardinia; that the 15,000 men, who were of late
raised in Bavaria, are taken in pay by France;
and that the Prussian, as well as the Austrian and
French troops, are all in readinels, and expert
daily orders to march.
“ Great complaints have of late been made to
the States General from our colonies of Curaffoa,
St. Euftatia, Efquebo, and Demerari, concern
ing the desertion of their Negroes, who break
loose every day in vast numbers, and fly to the
Spaniards, who protean them as volunteers ; and
to remove that evil, the states sent a memorial to
Count Recktern, our Ambassador at Madrid, to
present it to his most Catholic Majesty, in which
they express their wishes that a regulation may
be made for that purpose, which is so detrimental
to our colonies"
By a ship just arrived in the river, we learn,
that the Bostonians, Philadelphians, and inhabi
tants of New-York, were in an open state of re
bellion, when she failed from Boston; and that the
Governor had sent off an express for more troops
to join the Welsh Fuzileers, who were almoftcon
ftantly under arms, and greatly fatigued with such
harassing an.d disagreeable duty.
An account is received from Madeira ,~of the ar
rival at tnat port of a brigantine, Capt. Wornell,
belonging to Ireland, who in her passage to that
place from the Streights was taken by an Algerine
for not having a Mediterranean pass ; the Algerine
took four of the brigantine's crew, and put nine
or ten Moors on board, but five Englishmen, who
were left in the vessel, overcame them, and brought
them into the above port.
This morning it was reported upon Change, that
advice was received from PeterJburgh, that the Em
press of Russia was not only dethroned, but also im
prisoned, in the fame place where her unfortunate
buJband loft his life.
H letter from Vienna fays, " The advices ofthe
Ruffians having been obliged to relinquish all their
acquftions on the other fde ofthe Danube, are pof
tively authentic; General d'Ungern, who has just
arrived here from the Ruffian arm, has confirmed
them; and Baron Stackeldery, the Ruffian Minister,
has given public notice at court, that Marshal Ro
manzow's army has returned into Moldavia, and
has requested permission to lay up provifons, fores,
borfes, tc. in the hereditary dominions for its use?
Among the many illiberal reproaches made
use of by the Solicitor General against Dr. Fran
klin, which were far upon the Greek ?ncde , (as
the scouts of office boast of) that they highly
partook ofthe Athenian Billingsgate; he spoke
of his being a man of letters with great contempt,
by punningl, faying he was so far a man of let
ters, that he was h mo trium literarum (a term of
reproach used by Plautus to the worst of charac
ters) ; said he ought to be expelled the Royal
Society, of which the Dodor is a Member, and
ignorantly as wantonly compared his conduct
to that of Zanga in Dr Young's Revenge,
which he concluded by observing was in favour
of the African Prince, who was by much the ho
nester man.-— There is no part, man so violent as
an apostate.
We hear that Mr. Wedderburne, by the late
exertion of his oratorical powers, has shewn go
vernment to what lengths he is willing to serve
them, that nothing less than the seals are
talked of as a recompence for so industrious
a servant.
One of the vacant blue ribbands is like
wise talked of for Governor Hutchinson, as
the proper reward for the man who, in the
court phrase, it is said, has faced ever, dan
ger Jor the service of bis country.
Feb. 5. So vaftl'y, beyond all conception, have
our American colonies encreafed within the last
twenty years, that a gentleman lately arrived from
thence, who had the best means of information,
and was at the greatest pains to obtain an account
of their numbers as accurate as poflible, assures us,
that there is no less than two hundred and forty
thousand men on the militia roll of the seven nor
thern provinces.
We hear the scheme of the Americans is to give
land to every soldier that is sent over against them,
whether from England, Scotland, or Ireland; by
which means we shall furnifh them with a fufficient
force to beat ourselves.
Yesterday General Gage, Commander in Chief
of his Majesty's forces in North-America, was at
Court, and had a long confetrence with his Ma
jesty. The General will soon go again in that Ra
tion.
Upon examination ofa certain Agent at a cer
tain Board, a great law officer called the Agent
Homo trium literarum fur est. Ihe Agent bore
this terrible accusation without the least emotion.
Upon which the orator was provoked to make use
of the most bitter sarcasms. It is thought that
the prudence of the Agent prevented such a return
to the lawyer's attack as might have been ex
pe&ed.
Feb. 7. The place lately held by Dr Frank
lin, of Postmaster in America, from which his
Majesty was pleased to dismiss him on Saturday
last, is given to Mr. J. Garnier.