The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1779-05-08 00:00:00, page 2

From the LONDON GENERAL ADVERTISER.
To the EDITO R,
BIR,,
THE falfehoods invented by Adminiftrat on, to fop
port their tottering credit, in this Country, are pro
pagated with as much impudence by their hirelings, as
they are received with credulity by the people. Every
wind wafts in some information, for the spaniels of the
Ministry to mouth, and run up and down with; and not
a tide beats upon our shores, wh ; ch does not come colour
ed with the blood of slaughtered rebels.
The hour of delusion is ahnoft pafl. Though there is a
fund of culfibility in this nation, yet such daily and hour
ly draughts upon it mud exhaust the largest. Lies will
grow stale, and the knaves, who govern by them, odious.
The people will curse their own stupidity, and take venge
ance on the impostors, who have so long milled their fate,
and abused their confidence, to the disgrace of common
sense, and the ruin of those interests, which are mod va^
luable to the public,'
lam confident; Sir, the train of mischances, which
crowd upon the conclusion of this civil war, will awaken
that popular resentment, against our governors, which the
iniquity and injustice of Ibe principle upon which it was be
gun could not flir up at its firft commencement. The de
feats of our Generalswill rouze us, when the profligacy
of our Ministers could not ; and we shall lose all patience,
when we fee the blood that is shed, and the treasure that is
expended, ^profitably, in America, though we looked
tamely on, whilst Scotch assassins and English parricides
were butcheries our constitution in England. The final
period of British patience approaches. We must drive
these domestic spoilers from the land, or its fruits will no
longer fuflain the sons of Freedom. They who now hold,
must relinquish the reins, or we must overturn the car;
they must depart (if they are fuffered) in peace from
amongst us, or we must copy the affertors of Freedom be
yond the Atlantic, or fink (for we have no alternative)
into an abjed servility, and become despicable, even to
Frenchmen.
The Ministry know this ; and therefore that truth
which would exasperate us, and destroy them, is industri
ously withheld. For this purpose Gazettes are garbled—
falfehoods invented—fftions paid for, and propagated
, disgraces palliated—defeats concealed—runners enriched
and the people amused with vain and unsubstantial
monkeries.,
If the aftors in this farce are not ashamed of the parts
they perform, will the people fit out the entertainment,
and be deluded over and over with the fame dull, unvari
ed, immoral absurdities? It is not probable. Their eyes
will at length open, and fee the real Rate of things pre
army (for the fup,ort of which the nation is beggared)
parading,innocently at the heels of a lascivious conductor,
and awed by the equal strength and superior conduct of
its adversary ;—another entrusted to a young Knight Er
rant, fainting through inhospitable and immeasurable de
farts, thinned by famine, and deflated by the fword—
the Ministers, whilst th'ir thousands on one fide are idle
in their tents, and on the other are gasping in the field,
adopt mt; the policy of Indians in battle, employing bar
barians to raise an out cry, and fling dust into the air,
that their yells may drown the groans of the expiring,
that the bloody fpeftacle of fields covered with Daughter,
may be concealed, behind a cloud, from the eyes of the
people. JULIAN.
From the LONDON GENERAL ADVERTISER.
To the E DITO R,
SIR,
NO man refolds the profeffional fltill and bravery of
Admiral Keppel more than myfe'f. But in his late
reb ff, he was upon the wrong tack. A Whig fights auk
warily, and with a bad grace for the Junto, although
again ft France. With what spirit of propriety could Eng
lish seamen attack the Friends o Liberty, and the faviours
of our American Whig Brethren ? The contest is unaattir
al—the French superiority, in one quarrel, has been in
the ju^ice of their' cause. Nor will conquest flatter even
English arms, when used for bad wafers, or bad purposes.
France is innocent; file is meritorious in the fight of Hea
ven for the part the has taken against the tyranny arid am
bition of her neighbours. She has fuccoured oppressed
virtue flying to her for aid. She has preserved liberty
upon the earth from the fell crush of Britain. She is
rewarded with a part of that friendship which ice frned,
with a part of that commerce which we wantonly thrnv
azv'ay ; and for this cause a Whig-Admiral, a K ppel, a
dopting the principles of thecommon enem, ofAmerica and
England, seconds the rage and defperadon of a secret gang
of black assassins, assassins of their country's glory, wealth
and freedom, and tie word traitors to their deluded So
vereign ! Was this the spirit or the principle of Whiggifm ?
Was it worthy offhe Keppels to strike at the freedom of
America througl the unomuding sides of France ? Was it
just, was it honourable to punilh the innocent,for the crimes
of .the guilty ? Instead ofdefeat and condign punishment,
to give indemnity, triumph, and establishment to the ex
ecrable Junto ? Shall the tide of nation d resentment rising
high to overwhelm its only enemies at horny be artfully di
verted against a foreign power ? And Ihall our honest and
gallant Whig Commanders, the Friends of Liberty and their
country, become the dupes of their Shallow artifice, and
the instruments of their salvation r—ls this be the policy
and the virtue of the Whigs, no wonder their enemies have
themin derision. If they are to be thus honored with the
forlorn hope of despotism; to recover the lad game of power
--and to be,uttered even in the office! no wonder they
are equally loft in the refpe& and confidence ofthe people !
IfScotca Jacobites, and their Tory friends nd instruments,
may flatter and mislead the Crown into the most arbitra
ry proceedings, may plunge the nation in the foie pursuit
of despotic plans, into every distress and danger. And when
the spirit of felf defence, the storm of popular indignation
begins to arise, so necessary at certain periods t® cleanse
the political horizon from the putrid breath of Courts, and
the pestilential blafls of corruption, If this storm directed
by the Angels of our fafety, popular, leaders and com
manders, is to blow over the heads of the offenders, and
spend itfelf in fruitlefs efforts against France.--^r^o ma,
plot, and Traitors may aid them ivitb impunity I A French
war is their never failing asylum, their pors in the storm,
and what have they to fear when Whig Admirals stoop tp
their pilots?
r A cqns^tent WHIG.
friable LONDON PAPER.
To HIM whom it most concerns.
HO W lodg fliall we bemoan thy estrangement frbm
the friends of the Revolution, and the pr^teftant
succession?
Would thy enemies weep over thy follies ? Would any
but friends remind thee of thy danger?
Incredible as it seem„ and almost impossible, that thou
ftiouldeft prefer the bloodied ard mod bitter foes to thine
house, and treat with contumely the zealous defenders of
thy family's rights; yet it is not lets true from the im
probability.
Unhappily, these neglects oblige us to remind thee, that
the throne is the pure gift of the people, and thou the firft
fervaat ofthe state
It is not from God, nor hereditary right, nor have yoti
ay real power, but to do good, all government being in
flituted for general benefit only.
Why therefore have we groaned under the abuse of tb^
power? Why have thy Mimiiers scandalized thy name,
by fads hateful and dppreffive?
Can it be for thy glory to difmem'er the empire > or
national advantage, to cut through the vessels of circulation
between thy people? Is it net incumbent on thee, to leave
the empire entire to thy son ? Can it be national advan
tage to murder, burn, and destroy the inhabitants and
their dwellings, in the remote parts cf the empire?
If then haft been deceived, be a man, own it, and de
liver up the deceivers ; acknowledge past mifearriages ia
future amendment.
Had these sanguinary adpifers been fufficiently ki*own
do thee, it would have been impossible their Councils could
have so virulently influenced thee against thine own inte
rest, and thy staunch friends. Had not thy tender unin
formed part of life been entrusted to thy most cruel foe,
who poisoning the source, has contaminated all the flreams
issuing from it, thy reign had not been embittered, this
empire not diminiflied, our national glory uritarnifhed,
raor we, as a people, lessened in the eyes of the surround
ing nations, and become a feoff to all.
What are they who arrogantly call tbemfelves thy friends?
The sons of those in arms in 1715, and themselves in 174 c,
who,, despairing to succeed by arnss, haveemployed deceit
and artifice. Haft thou forgotten the histories of those
times ? We are sure thou haft forgotten those, who sustain
ed your grandfather on his feat, and secured thine.
Had wisdom presided, or fuceufs been intended, would
such egregious blunders have been continued ? Had net
thy rum been designed by those secret traitors, would such
measures have been adopted ! Can the lability of thy
reign, the general welfare, or any thing worthy, arise
from disunion, diffenticn and irritating the minds of the
one part against another part cf the people?
Cm murders, devastations and cruelty, multiplied, con
ciliate the minds of an enraged people ? Yet all these have
been ordered by thy friends. Could thy most bitter ene
my have done worfc?
These varied wanton exertions have net been retorted !
and though, beyond all expeHabon, fuccefshil in arms,
have overcome thy troops more nobly in their extended hu
manity, than thevalour of the field.
Kings are but men, fubjeft to error, and always deceiv
ed, as truth is concealed from them. Let Majesty conde
feend to conviction ; deliver up the traitors who have pur
posely led him affray. Then the blsffings of thy people
will repay thy condefeenfien, and thy memory may (as
Henry the IVth of France is to this day) be remembered,
when thy remains are blended with their general com
posite.,
Be not offended with these affectionate effufions; be as
sured sone but thy well wishers will warn thee ; and though
we are beneath thy resentment, are above a recompence ;
the created would be to have the King restored to his
people. THOUSANDS.
From the VIRGINIA GAZETTE.
Mr. Printer,
III AVE waited to fee feme ftriftures on Mr. Carter
Braxton's letter inserted in your paper of the 19th of
March, efpeciaily as that gentleman had expectations of
them ; but as none such have yet appeared, and Mr.
Braxton, from the silence of his countrymen, may be led
to believe that his conduct is not disapproved of, which
may perhaps be some disadvantage to him, I muff request,
as he requires, that I may have it proved to me that four's
is a free press by inserting this piece with the whole of Mr.
Braxton's letters published in the New- York Gazette,
without mutilation. For I have observed Mr. Braxton
has omitted to publish in your paper part of a letter to
Mess. Clifford and Tyffett, and the whole of one to Mess.
Campbell, Beale and company, dated January 12, 1779.*
He may plead in excuse, that be did not know the letter
was published, but he surely can have no excuse for omit
ting part of the other; however the world will be very
apt to conclude there was design in both omissions, since
Mr. Braxton knew such letters were taken in the Willis,
and he will be charged with want of candour in conceal
ing any part, especially as they are highly exceptionable ;
nor do I think he can easily acquit himfelf to the gentle
men whom he procured to examine and certify the ex
trafts to be literally extracted and copied, from the charge
of deceiving them.
Mr. Braxton, after introducing the fubjeCt, and paving
the way for his exculpation, acknowledges that in the firft
part of his letter of the 26th of December, 1778, he had
written with great freedom, and some degree of acrimony,
upom the treaty with France, but would be excused for so
doing as it was a confidential letter to a gentleman in
France, who he fays was a friend to America, and one
who would make no ill ufeof it. I would gladly know
how Mr. Braxton came to be so well acquainted with the
political character of Mr. Ross? He acknowledges, at
ieaft tacitly, that he had no personal knowledge of him.
Could he suppose his being long a resident in Philadelphia
(where there are great abundance of Tories) and well ac
quainted with mercantile business, made him a good Whig,
and friend to America? If this was to be the criterion of
Whiggifm, we might conclude e very Scotch factor who
had resided any length of time in this commonwealth was
* fbe public are to be informed that the additional extraffs
of Mr. Braxton's letters publifted in the la, Gazette i»ere
not furnished the Printer by that gentleman, but by another
^without bis knowledge, It is judged necefor, to give this
bint left there fbould be some misconception, for as it now
Jiandy, i; js doubtful nytabpr Mr. Braxton did notfarm,; it.
a friend to America, the contrary of which we have ex
perienced to be the faft But suppose Mr. Ross to be this
friend to America, and that he would make no ill use of
this confidential letter, Mr. Braxton, and his warmefl
friends, cannot but admit he was very imprudent, to fay
no worse, in trusting such high charged accounts of our
distresses and approaching ruin to bis most intimate friend,
where the chance of mis arriage was so great; for if this
letter should fall into the enemies hands, he must have
been certain an ill use would be made of it, as the event
has proved, especially as Mr. Braxton was an eminent
merchant, and had been employed in offices of very high
trust in the Uni+d States. But there is something more
than imprudence in writing this letter; there is, as he
fays, a degree of acrimony in it, I fay a very great degree
of rancour, not only against our good allies the French,
but also against that refpt&able Body the Congress, not
with flanding he declares he had no intention of reflecting
on them. Is it not a very great reflection upon Congress
to fay, they would delay Mr. Deane's trial format, months ~
but on account of Mr. Lte, who had requeued the public
would form no opinion on his conduct until his answer
could appear, and Mr.' Deane's trial in Congress take
place, which, perhaps, fays Mr. Braxton, noiv on that
account will immediately be done. What heavier cen
sure can be passed on a great and refp:Ctable body than
charging them with a delay of justice on the one hand,
and being governed in their opinions by one man, on
the other ? I mean not to enter into a diSquifition of the
merits or demerits of Mr. Deane, or any other gentleman.
He is before a proper tribunal, and I do suppose in due
time we Shall be enabled to form an opinion ufhim ; until
that body have passed their judgment, I think it would
be unfair to determine any was. We are too apt to form,
opinions on bearing one fide of the qu^fiion. I with Mr*
Braxton had followed the rule of auds alteram partem.
In,the gentleman's letter to Clifford and Company, I
would be glad to be informed why he left put the two or
three last Sentences, viz. “ With reSpeCt to our future
' trade, in cafeof peace, there is not a doubt but your
" nation and Great-Britain would partake of three
" fourths of it. For although we are relu&antly, and I fear
" imprudently tied to France, during the war, yet that
“ being ovef, the people will break through every retain
" or punctilio to return so England for the goods they
" formerly purchased, after which they long and pine
“ every day in the year. I have delayed thus long in this
" letter the mention of some papers sent to you by Mr.
" Thomas Webb, of Curacoa, which are of the utmost
“ consequence tb Mr. Motri's and felf, directed to Mr.
« Richard Corbin, of London. lam exceeding anxious
“ for their welfare, and with to be informed of their fate.".
Did Mr. Braxton conceive this part of his letter ought to
be concealed from the public eye? Surely he bad better
have been candid, and given us the whole with his expla
nations, for the pu lie will most afftiredly conclude that
it was not in his power to have excused himfelf for affert
jng that we were reludantly drawn into a connexion with
France, and they will determine it bad policy to induce a
belief that, we bate the French, and will break through
every restraint and punctilio, so Soon as peace is restored.
Can there be any propriety d endeavouring to fix a stig
ma on the national honour ®f the United States ? I fear
too that the public will be apt to conclude, from Mr.
Braxton's omitting the claule receding his letter to Mr.
Corbin, and'ais great anxiety for the welfare of that let
ter, that there is something more an; it than he would wil
lingly have known, and that they will conned it with, and
make it part of, bis plan for carrying on an illicit trade
with Gre ^-Britain: And this brings me to the letter to
Mess. Campbell, Beale, and Company, totally omitted by
Mr. Braxton, on which letter I must now beg leave to
make some observations.
After taking notice of the diff rent prices tobacco^
bear in Amflerdam and the Dutch islands, and expressing
his wonder that the Dutch do not force a trade with us,
and declaring his intention to cany on such a trade, as it
appeared to him evidently a good plan, he goes on and
fays, " If this scheme is rendered nugatory, fay whether
“ another is not practicable; cannot goods," fays he,
“ be sent from England to Antigua, there received and
" sent on to Euftatia, from thence either flipped here, or
“ not, as was advifeable? Is any man in Antigua to be
“ got worthy of confidence to negotiate such business ?"
Here then is a scheme proposed in direct violation of th,
laws of this commonwealth and of nations.- A corres
pondence is to be kept up with @ur enemies, and a consi
derable trade carried on with them during the war.
Weuld not this be adjudged treason by our laws ? I think
it borders upon it; and yet we fee a gentleman who was
lately a Member of Congress proposing this nefarious plan.
I think there is abundant reason to believe that those let
ters Mr. Braxton was so anxious about contained part of
this feheme. They were very interesting to him and Mr.
Morris in partnership, I suppose. The public have now
at one view the whole of this extraordinary correspondence,
and may judge fully of it, and Mr. Braxton @ay have
an opportunity of explaining his conduct ; but let me tell
him it can avail him nothing to fay he wrote other letters
to those gentlemen less obnoxious. If he had wrote fifty
it would not excuse him for this griev@us offence against
his country. A VIRGINIAN.
{For Mr. Braxton's letter fee the Pennsylvania Packet
of April %.]
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