Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1777-03-18 00:00:00, page 2

To PHOCION ^HAMPDEN.
SIR S,
IT Has hitherto been the misfortune of that virtuous
part of the community who have associated for the
defence of the liberties of this State against our com
mon enemies, to tee every attempt made to procure the
interposition of public bodies in their favour defeated
by the artifices of designing men. Memorials and re
monstrances were presented to the former assembly, but
they could never be prevailed on to form any effectual
plan for putting all on that equal footing which the
common danger and common interests of the whole
public required. The Convention, which confided
chiefly of men who had themselves been witnesses of
the great pains and expence the associators had been at
in qualifying and equipping themselves for the defence
of their country, and the chearfulnels with which they
turned out to face the enemy in th? midst of harvest,
made an ordinance in their favour, and though the fines
therein imposed oA non associators were high, yet eve
ry one who considers the advao ages they reaper by
remaining quietly at home and pursuing their interests
whilst their neighbours wee in the field, will find that
the ordinance of Convention did not rate the Cervices
of the associators too high. This, however, was let
aside; the non associator once more triumphed in the
advantages he had gained, and ridiculed the patriotic
exertions by which his property was protested from the
ravages ofthe enemy; and the militia feeing little chance
of having justice done them, were in general ex remely
dilTansfied and dispirited. But when the near approach
of the enemy threatened this city and Rate more imme
diacy, they, animated with a love of their country
and gecerofity of foul which will do them immortal
honour, hazarded their lives once more in the most in
element eafon of the year, and in all ptobability, un
der divne providence, were the^means of farog/his
country from ruin. They bore the most incredible fa
tigue of a winter's campaign with true bravery and for
titude, Hill hoping that the time would come when
ethers would be obliged to contribute in their turn to
the falvatmn of their country, and their expectations
wire in a fair way of being fu filled. A militia law,
Svhich pulp all upon an equal footing, is nearly corn
pleated by the House of Assembly, and if this takes
place, those who by one means or other have hitherto
screened them 'elves from every toil, hardship and dan
ger to which theiaflhciauhs were exposed, are to ex
ped no further indulgence. In this conjuncture cut
steps a Phocion in Messrs. Bradfords paper of the 12th
inst. and a Hampden in the Evening Post of the 13th,
and cordially invite you to throw all aside.
By the artful and hypocritical honduX of some whose
behaviour Since that time does them little honour, or
rather has forfeited the esteem their country once en
tertained if them, many truly good men and Sincere
friends to their country werejaft 'a+linduced to coun
tenance the or jeX you seem felicitous to revive. Some
then law painly where i tended, and vigorously onpefed
it. The consequence was, that when the Assembly
met things were in Such c< nfefion, that it evidently ap
pealed that nothing but an immediate compromi'e of
the parties could 'eve us. Ruin flared us.in the face,
all authority was t an end, and we were left a prey
to the approach g enemy. The parties in assembly
perceiving this, c me 0 an agreement which dees them
the greatest honour, and Shews that however they
might differ in some particular points, they were all
animated with an ardent love of their con ry, and, a
zealous attachment to the cau'e, which the most
gloomy profyeXs could not abate. Ah' these who were
intent on keeping up (he division withdrew immediate
ly a'ter the parties had come to ah agreement, and
never appeared in the 'Joule afterwards, though they
gave pun&ud and conßant attendance before.
Having failed in this attempt, a so mal attack is made
upon the Honorable House of Assembly, and by the
mode of it, it wotfd appear, that the author was once
a member of that body. Be that as it mav, it is re
plete with rahhoods which may hereafter be laid before
the pub ic, that they may perceive how unworthily the
assembly is treated by him, and what final! credit is
due to his affeniors
The season faft approaches wherein it is expeXed,
tl^t the enemy will again make bis approaches, and,a
fecund corfuhon excised at this time may do him much
Service. Ti is seems to be the thing aimed at. The
gentlemen, who last fall publicly renounced all con
nexions with a certain party, and privately solicited
their affiance. can tell how far iuch tumults and con
fufions excited at this time will feive their purposes.
They who then met in a rocm north of High rtrect,
under ci vert of the night, to fix the plan, and who
spoke one language to the people and another in secret,
have double's had a second meeting, and finding no
scheme berer than the old one revived, they begin to
pulli it a' Second time, to effeX which they open their
operations by traducing the assembly. Is it not 10,
Phocion ?
The Tories in a neighbouring Rate were then either
in the secret, or law plainly to what the manoeuvre
tended; for I am credibly informed that many of them
began at that time to talk very boldly who before were
silent. And Phocion has not quite forgotton the effeXs
it produced in this city, and how the Ready, prudent
and Spirited conduct of the Assembly and Council of
Safety defeated their expectations.
HERE are particular periods both in public
L and domestic life, in which, the excellence of
witdom confißs in a due government of the temper:
Without this; zeal degenerates into rage, and affection
into bitterness. And to necessary is this qualification,
in every Rage of life, that a perlon had better be a n< -
vice with a und of temper than a wife man without it.
The temper is that particular firing in the heart, on
which the 'ar greater part of our happiness or misery
is tuned. 'Tis capable of being set to any mafic rough
or smooth, and when drained to it's highest pitch, will
command the whole man.
I am led to these reflexions by observing a paper sign
ed Phocion in the Pennsylvania Journal, and another
Signed Hampden in the Evening Post; who the papers
came from 1 mean not to enquire into: Ifeither of them
be from a man whom I have ever thought or called a
friend, I spare him out of pity to myfelf; if from an
enemy, I spare him from a regard to the public peace.
Were I disposed to answer either I have enough to fay;
but as I feel some concern at torturing a friend into a
blush on one hand; so on the other, I am unwilling to
take off the attention of the public from real objeXs by
calling up their anger against a Shadow.
Just at the time the Convention tirft met I went to
camp, and continued there till a few days before
Christmas. I held no correspondence with either par
ty, for, or against, the present constitution. I had no
hand in forming any part of it, nor knew any thing of
it's contents till I saw it published. ,Mr acquaintance,
at this time, lies with perlons on both sides the questi
on. Those that are in or those that pre out are alike to
me, as to any dependance I have, or mean to have, on
either. Thus Gtuated and circumstanced my perf^nal
attachments are equally balanced, and all that affeXs
me on the matter, is, that a little squabbling fyirit
Many laws at that time became immediately and in
difpenfibly necessary for the support of the cause, feme
of which were earnestly recommended by Cop.grefs,
and others high in office. The printing presses were
removed, the country posts quit riding, and the news
papers flopped. In this exigence the constituents of
the assembly could not be consulted, nor the laws de
layed with Safety to the Rate. Even the well-affixed
citizens were gene ally out of the way, or otherwise
engaged. These concomitant circumstances will jufti
fy the proceedings of assembly with every friend to his
country. The continental currency is supported, a
militia law made, putting all on an equal footing, courts
of justice are opening, and our affairs begin to wear a
favourable afpeX. Throw all these aside and return
to confiafion, is the advice of Phocion and his colleague
Hampden. Why so, good Sirs ?—Becaufe, then, the
Tories will triumph once more ; justice will not be
done to the Whigs; the associators will again be dis
appointed, and tired with expiation throw downtbeir
arms with disgust, and probably never be prevailed on
again to take them up in defence of their country ;
Pennsylvania will be given up to the ravages of the
enemy, and Howe may once mors make his approach
es with profpeXs of (uccefs, and traitors to the cause
will go unpunished. These are some of the hopeful
consequences of the scheme to which Phocion and
Hampden most affectionately invite their countrymen.
—Let not the strength of the Rate be collected in a le
gal manner ; let not the laws against foreftalling and
oppression, nor those against treason, take place ; let
the militia be offended and the continental currency
left to fhift for itfelf, and we are undone. I fiocerely
trust in Ged, that the friends of their country will ne
ver be acceflary to their own deftruXion, nor imposed
upon hereafter by the artifices of men, who, knowing
that on the eflabhfbing the courts of justice, and col
leXing our strength by a regular militia law depended'
our salvation, and that the omitting of these will prove
our ruin, seem bent to throw us into anarchy and con
fufion.
Remember, my countrymen, that there are men
amongst us whose fuper'ative vanity will not fuffer them
to approve of any measure they were not consulted in ;
that there are tome whose ambition and thiift of power
can Never be gratified in a government they have no
chance of direXing ; and others whose intolerable pride
will scarcely permit them to acknowledge you of the
fame Ipecies with themselves. We e they sincerely at
tached to the cause, and willing to promote the peace
and happiness of their country, how easy would it be
for them to propose that the freemen of each county
should inftruX their representatives in assembly to lay
their hills before the Council for their advice and
amendments' which could be done without any confu
fion, and would be exa&ly what they pretend to aim
at. But believe me, my countrymen, they have" no
thing less at heart; beware, then, not to a imposed
on by the flaming harangues dilated by the dilapp int
ed ambrion of a Phocion or Hampden. The honest
Germans they expeX to dope, by repr^fenting by their
emissaries to those who come in to market, that their
butter and eggs are to be taken from them, unless they
felt at such prices as the citizens thad please to allow
them. But I doubt not their good fen'e will (hew them
the absurdity of the thing, and make them detett and
defpile those who attempt thus to dupe them.
DE WI T.
To the PEOP L E.
should at this ill chosen time creep in red extinguf&
every thing that is civil or generous among us.—
The mind of man is not fufficiently capacious to attend
to every thing at once, and while it fuffers itfelf to be
eaten up by narrow prejudices or fretted by personal
politics, it will have neither relish nor appetite for pub
lic virtues; In proportion as we are engrptfed by one
ObjeX, we abate in our ardor for another; and a mart
may as well talk of loving a wife and a miftref^, at one
time, with equal felicity, as ofjangling with his neigh
bours and yet joining with them in public defence. It
matters not how we express ourselves, or how we would
be believed ; the thing cannot be; for the one will be
the rival of the other io spite of all the assertions we can
make, or the resolutions we can form. The condition
of this State the latter end of last year Was deplorable;
Society had taken its departure; every man's hand
seemed against his brother; and all this, for the want
of that happy ingredient in life, good temper. The evil
was more exxenfive than the authors apprehended. It
reached the minds of men in other States, for who
could hear it and not be affected ? Scarce a day puffed
but some disagreeable information arrived at camp, and
as the dependence of the army, at that time, was on
the support they expeXed to receive from the country,
it had frequently very unfavourable effeXs both on their
hopes and their fortitude.
I flhall sum up my opinion of the matter in a very
few words, for the case, as it appears to me, stands
thus. In May last, the Congress recommended a dis
solution of all the old governments and the forming
new Ones' on the authority of the people. This State
adopted the measure, and chose a Convention for that
express purpose. It could not be every man's lot to be
elected; and a little spirit of revenge and refentmert
seized very early on those who supposed themselves dis
appointed, for I have ever been of opinion, and still
am, that the whole matter is more personal than poli
tical. The people had an 'undoubted right to chbofe
whom they pleased, and thole whom they chose had *
delegated power to form a conftiturion. We „mft be
gin somewhere, otherwise we (hall never be right. If
we rej^and break through every thing merely because
it don't, in some points, please us, and that only upon
speculation, what right have we to suppose that cabers
will afterwards ' submit to what don't please them. The
very example is more dangerous than any evil it is in
tended to cure. Ft is cutting the bonds of all society in
funder, and facrificing every kind of faith and obliga
tion to pride, passion, prejudice and party. It will be
much easier to overturn a second constitution than the
firft, because the precedent will be before us. The
fall of the third will be easier still, and so on, till all
kind of security and dependence be obliterated from
among us. It wants but little reflection to fee those
things, and before we raise the devil we ought to con
fider whether we can lay him again.
That the p-efent conftiturion has errors and defers
is not to be doubled; It would be Grange indeed if it
had not: But that it has some excellencies likewise,
that will be the pride of ages to come, is equally true ;
and that it has nothing immediately dangerous in it,
is as true. In (hort, 'tis Sufficiently right to begin
with, and I carnet think men serious in the present
mighty cut-cry of tyranny, chains and slavery. Had
the Convention formed it otherwise, with the fame
mode of amending or altering it, in a regu'ar manner
at Rated periods, I Should have thought it my duty
to Support and give it a fair trial, purely for the fake
of discovering uhat cught to be retained, reformed or
rejeXed.'
I am as fond of my own liberty, and as strongly
attached to public liberty, as any man living, but [
confefs that I cannot be made to fee danger at present;
and my intention is to give all the support in my
power to the prefect constitution, till the enemy be
driven from the country. [ cannot help conceiving
it an excels of error and ill judgment to be wrangling
about conßiitrion, till we know whe her we Shall
have one of our own forming, or whether the enemy
Shall form one for us. We difluib the peace of other
States as well as of our own, because the appearance
of an evil, at this time, is as dangerous as a real one
at another time. I have kept clear of all argument
for or against the constitution, yet I have my opinion
as well as others; but were the government more de
fective than what the objeXors would have it to be, I
would, nevertheless, Support it in the present state of
things, and thank God 1 had it to support. I c^n fee
no end but weakness, confufion, and ill blood that can
possibly arise from the proposal thrown out by Hamp
den. It is like recommending death as a cure for a
disease; a remedy which few are fond of, and as few,
I hope, have any opinion of the other.
Far be it from me to support an error knowing or
believing it to be so ; and in order to discover what is
right or wrong in the constitution, so far as a fair and
candid inyeftigation can go, I wid, in any future pe
riod, when called upon, take the matter up with any
gentleman in Pennsylvania. I have given my name
to the printer, and have a right to expect that whoever
accepts the offer, will do the fame. I may probably be
as free in censuring some defers or omissions, as he
may others, but this I can assure him, that I have no
objeX in view but the restoration of order, nor any
point co carry inconsistent with the public good.
COMMON SENSE.