Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1777-02-04 00:00:00, page 1

VOL. VI. , NUMB. 273.
D U N L A P's ' Q
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ili^iiil^
° R I THE
GENERAL tffISADVERTISER.
Bv His Excellency
GEORGE WASHINGTO N, Esquire,
General and Commander in Chief of all tie forces of tie
United States of America,
P R. O CLA MA T I O N.
W’HERE AS fever^l persons, inhabitants of the
United States of America, influenced by inimi
cal motives, intimidated by the threats of the enemy, or
deluded by a proclamation 'Rued the 30th of November
latt, by Lord and General Howe, tiled the KingTCom
nuffiores for granting pardons, &c. (now at open war
and invading these States) have been so loft to the intertit
and welfare of their country, as to repair to the enemy,
sign a declaration of fidelity, and, in some instances, have
been compelled totake oaths of allegiance, and to engage
not to take up arms, or ercourage others so to do,
against the King of Great-Britain. And whereas it has
become neceftary to distinguish between the Friends of
America and those of Great Britain, inhabitants of these
States, and that evry man who receives a pioudton
from and is a fubje& of any State (not being confeienti*
oufly fcrupulons againit bearing aims) should ft^nd rea
dy to defend the fame against every bcftile invaficn, I
do therefore, in behalf of the United States, by virtue
of the powers committed to me by Congress, hereby
itrialy command and require every person, having lub
fcribed such declarat on, taken such oaths, and accepted
prote&ion and certificates from Lord or General Howe,
or any person anting under their authority, forthwith to
repair to Head-Quarters, or to the quarters of the near
est General Officer of the Continental army, or miluia
(until farther provision can be made by the civil autho
rity) and there deliver up such proteaions, certificates,
and passports, and take the oath of allegiance to the Uni
ted States of America. Nevertheless, hereby granting
full liberty to all such as prefer the interest and prott&icn
of Great Britain to the freedom and happiness of their
country, forthwith to withdraw themselves and families
within the enemies lines. And Ido hereby declare that
all and every person, who may neglect or refufe to com
ply with this order, within thirty days from the date
hereof, will be deemed adherents to the King of Great-
Britain, and 'treated as common enemies of the Ameri
can States.
Given at Head-Quarters, Morris-Town, fan. 25, 1777.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
By bis Excellency's Command,
Robert H. Harrison, Secretary.
By His Excellency
WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, Esquire,
Governor, Captain General and Commander in Chief in
and over tbe State of New- , erfey, and territories there
unto belonging, Chancellor and ordinary in the fame,
A PROCLAMATION.
WHEREAS the Honourable the Cor^refs, by
their reflation of the eleventh day of D cember
la&, reciting, thatwhereas the just war into which the
United State, of America have been forced by Great-
Britain, is likely to be Bill continued by the fame vio
lence and injustice which have hitherto animated the ene
mies of American freedom ; and that it becomes all pub
lic bodies, as well as private persons, to reverence the
providence of God, and look up to him as the supreme
disposer of all events, and the arbiter of tbe fate of nati
ons ; did therefore recommend to all the States, to ap^
point as soon as possible a day of solemn fatting and hu
miliation, to implore of Almighty God the forgiveaefs of
the many fins prevaiing among all ranks, and to beg the
countenance and assistance of his providence in the pro
secution of thia just and necessary war ; and did alto, in
the mo* earnest manner, recommend to all the Members
of the United States, and particularly to the officers civil
and military under them, the exercise of repentance and
reformation ; leaving it to each State to issue out procla
mations fixing the day that appears most proper tor their
several bounds : I have therefore thought fit, by and
with the advice of the Council of this Sate, in order to
carry the said resolution into effect, to appoint Thursday
the sixth day of March next to be observed as a day of
solemn fafting, humiliation and prayer, for the purpo
ses before mentioned; of which all the inhabitants of
this Sate are hereby required to take notice.
Given under my ba-nd this feventeentb da, of January,
in the,ear of our Lord One Tboufund Seven Hundred
and Seventy seven.
WILLIAM LIVINGSTON.
By his Excellency's command,
Wm. Livingston, Jun. D. Sec.
GOD save the PEOPLE.
*s•s+# gg+p+Q-Qg*## 4*+4§§
Just publijhed anted be fold by
J OH N D UN L A P,
In Market-street, Philadelphia,
Father A BRAHAM's
POCKET ALMANACK
For tbe Year 1777.
Containing, besides the usual Agronomical Calculations,
a variety of ufctul Litts and Tables,
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1777
The AMERICAN CRISIS. No. 11.
By the Author of COMMON SENSE.
^Continued from car loft]
To Lord H O W E.
ICO ME now more particularly to your proclamation
of the 30th of November last. Had yougained anentire
conquaft over all the aimls of America, and then put
forth a proclamation, offering (what you call) mercy,
your conduct would have had feme specious Ihuw of hu
manity, but to creep by furprize into a province, and
there endeavour to terrify and deduce the inhabitants
from their just allegiance to the rest by promises, which
you neither meant nor were able to fulfil, is both cruel
and unmanly : Cruel in its effe&s; because, unless you
can keep all the ground you have marched ove, how are
you, in the words of your proclamation, to ircure to your
proselytes “ the enjoyment of their property ?" Whatare
to become either of your new adopted fubje&s, or your old
friends the To ies, in Burlington, Bordentown, Trenton,
Mountholly, and many other places,, where you proudly
lorded it for a few days, and then Bed with tl>e precipita
tion of a pursued thief? What, I fay, are to become of
those wretches ? What art to become of those a ho*went,
over to you from this citv and State ? What more c^n
you fay to them than " Shift for yourselves ?" Or what
more cin they hope for than to wander like vagabon s
over the face of the earth ? You may now tell them to take
their leave of America, and all that once was theirs. Re
commend them, for confutation, to your mallet's court ;
there perhaps they may make a fhift to live on the scraps
of some dangling parafke, and choose companions #mong
thousand like themkives. A traitor is the fouleft fiend
on earth !
In a political sense we ought to thank you for thus be
queathing elates to the Continent ; we shall soon, at this
rate, be able to carry on a war without expence, and
grow rich by the ill policy of Lord Howe, and the gene
rous defection of the Tories. Hui you set your foot in
to this city, you would have bellowed estates upon us
which we never thought of, by bringing so th traitors
we were unwilling to fuipeft. ,But these men, you will
fay, " are bis Majeffs moftfaithfulfubjefls ;" let that ho
nour then be all their fortune, and let his Majeity take
them to him&ifi
I am now thoroughly disgusted with them; they live
in ungrateful ease, and tend their whole m nds to mif
chief. It seems as if God had given them over to a spi
rit of infidelity, and that they are open to codviaion in
no other line but that of punishment. It is time to have
done with tarring, feathering, carting, and taking secu
rities for their future good behaviour ; every sensible man
must feel a confeious Ihame at feeing a poor fellow hawk
ed for a show about the streets, wnen it is known that
he is only the tool of some principal villain, biaffed into
his offtnee by the force of falfe reasoning, or brined there
to through fad neceffi y. We dishonour curfelvebby At
tacking such trifling char;&er„ while greater ©nes are
fuffered to escape ; bis our duty to find them dw, arad
their proper punishment would be to exile them from the
Continent forever. The circle of them is not so great
as some imagine ; the influence of a few have tainted
many who are not naturally corrupt. A continual cir
culation of lies among those who are not much in the
way of hearing them contradicted, will in time pass for
truth ; and the erime lies not in the believer but the in
ventor. lam not for declaring war against every man
that appears not so warm as mylelf: Difference of consti
tution, temper, habit of speaking and many other things
will go a great way in fixing the outward character of a
nran, yet simple honesty may remain at bottom. Some
men have naturally a military turn, and can brave hard
fliips and the risk of life with a chearful face; others
have not, no slavery appears to them so great as the fa
tigue of arms, and no terror so powerful as that of per
ional dagger :'What can we fay ? We cannot alter na
ture, neither ought we to punish the son because Zhe
father begot him in a cowardly mood. However, I be-
Leve molt men have more courage than they know of,
and that a little at firft is enough to begin with. I knew
the time when I thought that the whittling of a cannon
ball would have frightened me almost to death ; but I
have since tried it, and find I can stand it with as little
diScompofure, and (I believe) with a much eater con
science than your Lordflhip. The fame dread would re
turn to me again were I in your situation, for my solemn
belief of your cause is, that it is hellish and damnable,
and under that conviction every thinking man's heart
must fail him.
From a concern that a good cause Should be difhonour
ed by the least disunion among us, I said in my former
paper, No. i. “ That should the enemy now be expelled,
“ I wdh, with all the sincerity of a Chriltian, that the
“ names of Whig and Tory might never more be men
“ tinned ;".but there is a knot of men among us of such
a venemous cast that they will not admit even one's good
wishes to a& in their favour. Inttead of rejoicing that
Heaven had, as it were, providentially preserved this
city from plunder and deftrudion, by delivering so great
•a part of the enemy into our hands with so little effufion
of blood, they ftubbwnly affe&ed to difbJieve it till
* I have ever been careful of charging offences upots
whole fecteties of men, but as the paper referred to is pus
forth by an unknown set of men, who claim to themfelve^
tbe right of representing the whole ; and nubile tbe whole
society of Quakers admit its validity b, a silent acknowledg
ment, it is impoffble that an, diflinflion car. be made by tbe
public \ and tbe more so because tbe New-York paper, of
tbe \otb of December, printed by permission of our enemies,
fays that " the Quakers begin to speak openly of their
" attachment to the Britilh constitution." We are cer
tain that we have man, friends among them, and wifo to
know them.
f As some people ma, doubt tbe truth of such wanton de
ftrußion, I think it necessary to inform, that one of thefeo
ple called Quakers, who lives at Trenton, gave me this in
formation at the boufe of Mr. Michael Hutct.infpn (one of
the fame profefon) who lives near to Trenton jerry, on the
Penn,Tu&ria fide ; Mr, Hutebinfon bring prefect.
within an hour, nay half an hour, of the prisoners ar
riving : And the Quakers put forth a testimony, dated
the 20th of December, signed '' fohn Pemberton" de
daring their attachment to the Bririfh government.*
These men are continually harping on the great fin of
our bearing arms, but the K ; ng of Britain may lay watt^
the world in blood and famine, and they, poer fallen
fouls, have nothing to lav.
In f>me future paper I intend to diftingoit between:
the different kind of perfens who h ve been denominated
Tories- , for th a I am clear in, iha: all are not so wh)
have been called so, nor alt men Waigs who were once
thought so ; and as I mean not to conceal the n*me of
any true friend when there shall be occ^fon to m^ntrot*
him, neither will I that of an enemy who ought to be
known, let his rank, station or rel gion be what it may.
Much pains have been token by some to set your Lord
(hip's private character in an amiable light, but as it has
chiefly, been done by men who know nothing about you,,
and who are no ways remarkable for their attachment to
us, we have no just authority for believing it. George
the Third was imposed upon us bv the fame arts, but
Time, at length, bars done him justice, and th^ bine
fate may probably attend your Lorcfhip. Your avowed
purpose here is to kill, conquer, plunder, pardon and
enclave ; and the ravages of yo^r army through tbe Jer
leys have been marked with as much barbarism as ifyoa
had openly profeffed ymr fell the prince of ruffians ; not
even the appearance of humanity has been preferred ei
ther on the march or the retreat of your troops; no ge
neral order, that I could ever learn, has ever been issued
to prevent or even forbid your troops from robberv
wherever they came, and the only instance of justice, if
it can he called such, which has distinguished you for im
partiality, is, that you treated and plundered all alike ;
what could not be carried away have been destroyed,
and mahogany furniture have been deliberately laid ora
the fire for fuel, rather than the men should be fatigued
with cutting wood.f There was a time when the Whigs
confided much in your supposed candour, and the Tories
relied themselves on your favour ; the experiments have
now been made, and failed ; and every town, nay every
cottage, in the jerseys, where your arms have been, is'u
testimony against you. How you may rest under this
facrifice of character I know not, but this I know, that
you sleep and rife with the daily curses of thousands upora
you; perhaps the misery which the Tories have fuffered
by your proffered mercy may give them some claim to
their country's pity, and be in the end th© best favour
you could (how them.
In a folio general order book belonging to Col. RoW'si
battalion, taken at Trenton, and now in the poffeffiom
of the Council of Safety for this State, the following bar
barous order is frequently repeated, “ His Excellency tbe
c< Commander in Chief orders, that ail inhabitants
“ which shall be found <witb areas, not having an officer
" with them, shall be immediately taken and hung up." -
Haw many you may thus have privately facrificed we
know not, and the account can only be fettled in another
world. Your treatment of prisoners, in order to diftrefe
them to enlist into your infernal service, is not to be
equalled by any instance in Europe. Yet this is the hu
mane Lord Howe and his brother, whom the Tories and
their three quaiter kindred the Quakers, or some of them
at least, have been holding up for patterns of justice and
mercy !
A bad cause will ever be supported by bad means ants
bad men, and whoever will be at the pains of examining
ftri&ly into thing, will find that one and the feme spirit
of oppreflion and impiety, more or left, governs through
your whole party in both countries : Not many days ago
I accidentally fell in company with a person of this city,
noted for espousing your cause, and on my remarking to
him, “ that it appeared clear to me, by the late provi
dential turn of affairs, that God Almighty was visibly
®n our fide," he replied, " We care nothing for that,
you may have HIM, and welcome; if we have but
enough qf the devil on our fide we shall do." However
carelefsiy this might be spoken matters not, 'tis ftdl the
inferable principle that directs all your conduct, and
will at last most assuredly deceive and ruin you.
( To be continued. )