The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1782-04-09 00:00:00, page 2

Mr. FOX congratulated the minister upon the choice
he bad made of them, observing that nothing more was
necessary to determine them to undertake such a ridi
culous talk, than inexperience and ignorance, of both
which they had given the plainef lproofs. Still had
they confined themselves to the business which had been
particularly recommended them, viz. the juftification
of the miniflry, we should have said, that they did their
business; they served tl eir makers ; but to forget them
selves so far, as to caff ofteufive refhaions upon that
part of the members who have preferred the service
of their fellow.citizens to that of the murderers of the
confutation, is an arrogance that neither youth nor
inexperience is able to excuse: these gentlemen affeft
to present the speech to us as the speech of the king:
but happily for England it is not the speech of the
king; it is the speech of the ministers: a king who
could be really capable of making such a speech, would
be a cruel monarch, whole hardened heart is infehfible
to his own misfortunes; no I repeat it, this is not the
speech of the king; and I am provoked, the whole
house ought to be provoked at this further inflance
of the audacity of minister, in putting this speech
in the mouth of their forereign ; in making him fay
publicly to his people, that in proportion as the war
in which he is engaged, is unfortunate, difhonourable,
and distant from peace; he will encreafe the taxes till all
his revenues shall be exhauftedl This is not the lan
guage of a prince in whom we are fond to contemplate,
all the virtues which form the ornament of the throne.
It is the language of traitors who have ruined us, and
who have left us but the hope of feeing them one day
expiate on the fcaffold the enormity of their crimes.
This day I hope is not distant.
A learned lord (the lord advocate of Scotland) fmi!-
ed at this expression, which appeared to him a little
extravagant. “ Ido know not" continued Mr. Fox,
" if I, in the warmth of difeourfe, may not have ex
ceeded propriety, but, in speaking of the fcaffold, I
am sure I have not. Does the noble lord think mini
flers hove not injured their country fufficiently for to
require an example of the fcaffold? Have they not ru
ined our affairs in America? Have they not rendered
us ridiculous and contemptible in the eyes of the
whole world? Have they not loft the Weft Indies?
Are they in a situation of affording the fmallefl faccour
to Gibraltar and Fort St Philip ? Have they not anni-
IT^ed our commerce? Have they not been the cause
of our Icofing the dominion of the sea? I ask, what
then remains to complete our ruin, or for them to do
in order to merit the fcaffold? If the noble lord thinks
it is not time to bring administration to the fcaffold,
let him tell us when it will be time, and what he ima
gines they can do worse than they have done for to me
rh more compleatly this recompence of their fatal deeds?
Our navy is too weak, fays one, for to proted the ope
rations of our army ; we have not, fays another, fuf
ficient land forces to carry on an offtenfive war: Very
Well I it is the very thing we, this fide of the house, have
been representing to them, without ceasing, for five
years. They have been told it a tboufand times; I
myelf have told them a hundred times, " you are not
in a situation to carry on this war. " What have they
conflaptly answered ? that it was necessary to proceed,
that is to fay, to throw themselves head foremoft down
the precipice that we warned them of! Here is one,
who, with five thousand men, undertook to run over
America, from one end to the other, in triumph. Howe
is another who was to answer with his head for the
fuperjority of our fleets, in declaring, emphatically,
in the face of the nation, that a lord of admiralty
who should negled to keep up a navy superior to our
enemies, at ail times, would merit the fcaffold. Is it
then very extraordinary that I talk of fending, to-day,
the remitter to the fcaffold, since I do but confirm, in
the name of the people, the sentence that he bimfelf
has pronounced ! Let him then, together with his col
leagues, be led there; let the noble lord smile, but let
the people hear me ; it is the peoples voice that lex
press htere. I swear I will listen to nothing, I will
relinquish nothing, I will not relax in any thing, till I
: have seen those who have ruined their country brought
to the fcaffold." ' 6
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES, November 27
THE crouds of people were so great tumultuous in
the lobby, to-day that the person's who commonly
attend totake down the fp&thet of the members, from
whom we ufoslly derive our information , eiher cou d
not get in, or were turned out ; so that it is but from
parts here Mid there procured, that we have it in our
power to give any account of this day's very interesting
debates: we however will venture to give a general
idea of them-
It appears, that as soon as the fpe&ker had finished
reading the king's speech, Mr. PERCIVAL rose, to
propose an address of thanks' ,we know that these mo
tions are always introduced by a speech, more or less
eloquent and able, according to the address and abili-..
ties of the speaker.
We may fay of Mr. Percival, if the eloquence of his
lips was not conspicuous, that of his eyes were; for
fixing them in the most pointed manner, upon the feats
on which the minority fat, he lamented bitterly the
foduflfy that a certain class of citizens took to throw
others into conflernatiop and difpair; reproaching a
certain class in terms not very equivocal, of a design,
as apparent as guilty, of encouraging the enemies of
Great-Britain, by difeouraging her defenders, such
was his eloquence ;4uc^ his address. After having thus
fixed the attention of all upon the minority, to whom,
these very moderate reproaches were directed, " thank
God," cried Mr. Percival, " 1 am very sure that what
I have Did does not concern any person who hears me."
Ilt Hnifhed by exhorting the house to unanimity.
Mr. ORD bounded the motion, and spoke also a
great deal about unanimity, effecting that unanimity
alone was fufficient to destroy the dangerous combi
nations of the enemies of Great-Br tain. It is to be
obfervtd, that Messrs. Percival and Ord are new mem
bers.
Mr. Fox finished by proposing an amendment.
1 0 N D 0 N.
From the Martinico Gazette, of February 28.
A summary of the expedition of St. Chriftophers.
THE fleet of the king, commanded by the count de
Graffe, let fail from the bay of Fort Royal the
26th of December, 1781. The land army composed
of 6000 men, under the orders of the marquis de
Bouille, was embarked in ships of the line, frigates and
transports, as also the provisions, artillery and other
warlike stores. The firfl object of this armament was
. Barbadoes, where the English squadron of 17 ships of
the line was repairing: The plan concerted between
our generals was to blockade the enemy by sea, while
our batteries of mortars and cannon of red hot shot,
established 011 shore, might oblige them to weigh an-.
chor in presence of a naval force much superior to their
own. We tried in vain during a number of days to
beat up the channel of St. Lucy. In these attempts
the British-Lion transport, which was charged with
the greatest part of our artillery, fell to leeward, was
difmafted, and obliged to put in at St. Euftatia, un
der convoy of the Cato, a ship of the line, which
never left her. The difficulty of getting up the chan
nel, and thelofs of this most valuable ship from the
convoy, laid the fleet under the necessity of regaining
the bay of Fort-Royal, where it anchored on the 3d of
January^
Deprived of the greatest part of our artillery, which
it was impossibly to bring back to windward without
loosing a considerable time, our generals abandoned
the projed of Barbadoes, and turned their views to
wards St. Cnriflophers, where the British-Lion might
easily be brought.
The Armament set fail from Fort-Royal in the
morning of the sth of January, and did not till the
11th, arrive before Basseterre. It was found that the
enemy had abandoned their batteries on the coatl, and
retired to the fortrefs of Brimstone-Hill, distant about
5 leagues from Basseterre.—The debarkation of our
troops was made the fame night: They were assem
bled in the parade of the town, and formed into four
divisions. At nineo'clock the army began its march
to invert Brimstone-Hill. The division under the or
ders of the marquis Duchilleau on the right, took port
at Sandy-Point ; that which was commanded by count
de Dillon, ported itfelf on the left of the former ; the
division of the marquis de St. Simony which had on it's
right that of the Viscount de Damas, formed the left
of the investment. The marquis de Bouille, on the
12th, established his head-quarters at Sandy-Point,
where he was desirous of forming an attack indepen
dently on that which the Marquis de St. Simon was
to direct on the fide of Old Road. On the 13th the
transports with provisions and warlike stores anchored,
some at Sandy-Point, and others in Old-Road. The
flute Britilh-Lion, which carried the greater part of
our warlike stores, Unhappily split upon the rocks be
low Sandy-Point, in the night between the 12th and
14th. M. D'Albert de Rions, and Chev. de Mediae,
who had escorted the transport, came to the fuccour
of the flute with an a&ivit, that merits the greatest
eulogiums; and it was owing to their patriotic zeal
that the principal pieces of our artillery were drawn
from the bottom of the sea, while the general sent to
our islands in order to replace what was loft.
The English began their fire on the 15th towards
Sandy-Point, and directed to that quarter most of their
heavy artillery, to prevent the fuccovrs which our
troops might afford it. The division under the orders
of the marquis Duchilleau, which was lodged in the
burrough of Sandy-Point, retired in good order, and
was obliged to encamp on the heights. The 16th the
enemy burnt a part of the burrough, and the planta
tions nearert to Brimstone-Hill. On that night the
trenches were opened for the intended attack from
Sandy-Point by three hundred workmen. At the fame
time a battery, was formed for fix mortars of 12 inches,
and an obufier, which was soon augmented with three
mortars of 8 and 9 inches, and another battery for
eight cannon of 12 and 18. The fame was done on the
Old-Road at the attack of the marquis de St. Simon,
where a battery was erected of 7 mortars of 12 and 8
inches, which began to play the 19th. Another bat
, tery of two mortars and two obufiers was railed the
22d, against that part of Brimstone-Hill which looks
towards the mountain. On the 23d, at 10 in the morn
ing, a bomb thrown by the enemy, on the trenches
commanded by the marquis de St. Simon, set fire to
some powder and fifty loaded bombs, which killed and
wounded 23 men, almost all belonging to the train.
The battery of mortars at Sandy-P mt opened the
24th in the evening. On the fame chy finals were
made for the appearance of the English fleet from An
tigua. The fleet commanded by the count de Graffe,
at anchor off Basseterre, came to fail to engage the e
nemy. The adion took place on the %'th; in the
morning, and did not prevent admiral Hood, who
kept the wind, from anchoring at Salt-Ponds, in ae
fenfive order, notwitftanding two f^cceffive attacks
from the count de Graife on the 26th. From this time
the French fleet kept constantly turning before that of
the English.
On the 28th the English landed at Salt-Ponds a bo
dy of troops , composed of the 28th and 69th regiments,
and some companies of the grenadiers and chaffeufs of
of the 13th, making in all about 1300 men. Tins
corps was to have been reinforced by 400 marines who
were embarked in boats. The count de Flechin who
commanded infthe town of Baffetterre, attacked this
corps with a company of grenadiers and chaffeurs of
the regiment of Agenois, a company ofchaffeurs of the
regiment of Touraine, another of the volunteers of
Bouille, and a detachment of the regiment of Dillon,
amounting in all to near 400 men. This commander
as able as intrepid, had left in the town and on the
road the grenadiers of Touraine, and 50 men of Dil
lon's, with a design to fuppoft and favour his retreat.
The adionwas very warm for an hour and an half:
'Tis impossible to paint the ardor and firmnefs with
which our troops attacked the enemy : They several
times made the English column give way; but another
red column which was marching to surround the troops
of the count de Flechin, obliged him to close the acti
on and retire. We ought not to omit, that am
munition failing our brave soldiers, they had re
‘ course to the cartridges of the killed and wounded,
with that cool blood which charafterifes true valor.
We loft in this action about 80 men killed, or badly
wounded, among which were 6 officers, and almost all
of the regiment of Agenois. As soon as the marquis
de Bouille had advice of the debarkation, he left hia
head quarters, collected a body of 2000 men at Old-
Road, and marched in the night for Baffetterre,where
he immediately made every disposition to surround the
English; but when he arrived at the port they had oc
cupied, they were already returned to their boats,
and their rear guard having gained a rock which pro
jefted into the sea, affeaed a re-embarkation under
the fire of their frigates.
In the night of the 29th, the enemy's frigates came
under Brimstone-Hill with armed boats, with a design
to thrown in some fuccours, which that retreat appear
ed not a little to want ; but the boats were difeovered
by one of our advanced posts, and obliged to retire
with some loss. The fame day we plainly perceived
that the English fleet, drawn up before Sait Ponds,
was too far distant from the land to be incommoded
by any mortar or cannon batteries that we could ered
on the shore. The commander of Brimstone-Hill was
informed on the 30th, of the retreat of the troops
that had landed the 28th to fuccour him, arid he was
at the fame time summoned to surrender.—The 31st
and the following days of the siege, we took from the
English eight cannon of 24's, some mortars, obufiers,
bombs and ball, which were found deposited at the
foot of a hill : our troops made this rich capture af
ter having attacked and driven their advanced ports:
we also burned a magazine of provisions and other ef
feds which could not be removed.
The island of St. Chriftophers, situate in 17 degrees
30 min. lat. is computed about 25 leagues in circum
ference. It was difeovered in 1493, by Christopher
Columbus,whofe name it still bears, and it became the
cradle of the English and French colonies in the new
world. Itis well known that the two rival nations
landed there on the fame day,in 1625, and that it was
the theatre of their bloody quarrels till the treaty of
Utrecht assured the possession of this colony to Great-
Britain. The frefhuefs and wh.o|efog;enef sos the aifr,
the fertility of the foil, and the particular care of the
inhabitants to give a pteafing and rural afpeft to their
houses, render St. Chriftophers a delightful abode.
It has in its center a chain of high barren mountains,
from whence many small rivers spring, that water and
fertilize every part of fhlß colony. It furniihed, the
last year to the mother country, 20,000 hogsheads of
sugar and 10,000 hogsheads of rum ; this 'produce is
its principal wealth : its Working negroes are compu
ted to be 30,000. All the hope of the English for the
defence of St. Chriftophers, was founded in the re
treat called Brimstone-Hill, where nature had formed
an inaccessible post, to which art had added new difficul
ties, unsurmountable to an enemy less sagacious, less
active, and less persevering than our general. Nevis
and Monferrat; which have shared the fate of St.
Our cannon battery at Sandy-Point not being fuf
ficient to silence the English battery, which was fu
p^rior to our's, the Cato, a ship of the line, anchored
off Sandy-Point, at the request of the marquis de
Bouille to thecount de Graffe, and landed there, the
3d of February, her heavy artillery. The count de
Frammond, commander of this, 'fhip, shewed on the
occasion a zeal above all our eulogiums: lie employed
his connonniefs and sailors in this service with the ut
most earnestness ; and hi? activity was well seconded
by that of his ftate-maior. Our general began imme
diately,4o raise new batteries; that already formed
was enlarged to 12 guns, two or 18 and ten of 24,
which began to play on the 10th with much success.
Two other batteries, one of eight and the other of
four, opened on the 12th, with the fame advantage
upon the works which defended the only passage thro'
which we could climb up the rock ; which were so de
moli,fhed as to become accessible almost in every part.
The eight cannon which had been taken from theene
my, were also placed against the front of Brimstone-
Hill, within reach of the battery of mortars and obu
fiers; these pieces appeared to give great uneasiness
to the besieged. The marquis de Bouille had already
made every disposition for a general assault on the
night of the 13th, in which the marquis Duchilleau
was to have commanded 'he grenadiers and chaffeurs;
but on the 12th, at fix in the evening, the enemy ask
ed to capitulate: the provisory capitulation for St.
Chriftophers and Nevis, was signed that night; it was
concluded on the 13th, at eight in the morrimg. A
detachment of grenadiers and chaffeurs took possessi
on of the breach. At ten in the morning the garrison,
composed of 750 regular troops and 300 militia, eva
cuated Brimstone Hill, and came out through the
breach with the honours of war.—They laid down
their arms arid surrendered themselves prisoners of
war, after having defiled before our army.
The troops employed in the expedition of St.
Chriftophers, had already distinguished themselves
upon many occafians : they compleated their glory at
the siege of Brimstone-Hill. It would be necessary to
point out every corps, and to name every soldier in
each of them, to do perfect justice to our brave coun-.
trymen. Activity, vigilance, indefatigable conflancy
valour, proved in every danger; in a word, all the
military virtues which charaderife the French soldi
ery, when well commanded,animated our troops from
the commencement of the siege to its happy conclusi
on. We owe this success particularly to the example
of bur superior officers, and in general to the good
conduct of all our officers, who never failed to give
mining proofs of their zeal for the service of the king
and glory of his arms.
But what tribute can we offer to our general ? His
military accomrhfhments blazed in all their luftre.at
the siege of St. Chriftophers, and there is not a single
article of the capitulation that does not mark the
goodness of his heart. We translate with pleasure
the the expressions of the journal of St. Chriftophers,
a simple and just picture of the sentiments of the con
quered colony: '' The continual attention, fays the
journal, the humanity and indulgence with which
we have been treated by thd marquis de Bouille, and
in general by all the French officers, merit our warm
est acknowledgments."