The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1779-11-27 00:00:00, page 2

LONDO N, Auguftil.
Advice is received, that His Majesty's Cutter the Ajax,
has taken a French privateer of 14 guns, off Gerrans Bay,
near Falmouth, and carried her into the above port.
They write from Madeira that an English frigate has
had an engagement with a 1 rge French ftlip of force near
that place, which was maintained with determined obstina
cy by each party, till at length the latter, which was near
est the fliore, drove on a ledge of rocks, where the was to
tally defiroyed. The Captain, Surgeon, and 195 persons
perilhed on board her. The others were with much diffi
culty saved by the frigate. It blew a frelh wind all the ac
tion, and there was a great swell of the sea.
August 31. The troops ordered from the camp at
Warky Common into Sussex, are to cross the river at
Tilbury to Gravefend in the flat boats, which are kept
ready there for the purpose of transporting the army across
the Thames.
Extract of a letter from Gibralter, July 25, brought by
a Swedish man of war, the Mars, which feat it on fliore
as file passed thro' the Downs.
“ We have just received advice here that an English
fllip, about 150 tons burthen, had been cast on fliore on
the coast of Barbary,near Tangiers ; that when fha wasdif
covered, the was lying on her beam ends, and three sea
men on the wreck, who were got fafe to land alive, but
two of them died a few hours after their arrival. The sur
vivor said, that the was bound up the Mediterranean,
bur in a squall of wind, by carrying 100 much fail, over
fet, and that this wasfo fuddeo, that the Captain and all the
rest of the hands were washed overboard, except himfelf
and the two others found 011 the wreck, who had contri
ved to get in the mn chains, where they had remained
above a fortnight, during which time, oh a fine day, one
of them, by a rope, got down into the cabbin, and found
there some bifeuir, cheese, butter and wine, on which they
had subsisted, at a very small allowance, as neither of
them would go down again for more, the hazard of perish
ing bepg so great. They had all tyed themselves to the
chain fates, to prevent their being washed over board,
apd one of them always watched while the others slept.
They had two days of exceeding bad weather, by which
they fuffered exceedingly, as they were continually washed
by the sea, and sadly bruised by the waves beating against
the fllip ; and he supposed the two men who died on their
getting on fliore, was owing to the hurt they received.
The Moors behaved exceedingly well to the surviving sea
man; and as soon as he was able to travel, he intended to
come over to this place. No mention is made of the name
of the fliip"
Sept. 2. Yesterday Gen. Burgoyne's regiment of light
dragoons, being recruited to their full complement of men,
relieved Gen. Elliot's regiment at St. James's, which are
marched on camp duty.
Extract of ale ter from Capt John Hastie, of the priva
teer Hiwke belonging to Clyne, to one of the Owners,
dated St. Micheal's, one of the Western-Islands, Ju
ly 13.
"The nth of June I had an engagement with two French
privateers, one a flop the other a brigantine, for half an
hour, when they cheered cff. The next afteroon we fed
in with them again, and fought three hours; they fat fail
and put about. Oar rigging, &c. being a little hurt, and
three men wounded, I did not think proper to proceed af
ter them. We are employed in (crabbing .the Hawke's
tides, and plugging up the fl^ot holes we received in the hull.
They were all nine pound (hot. The brigantine mounted
24 nine and fix pounder*; the ihip mounted 16 nines and
fixes. I have been informed by the English C&nful, that
there was a fleet of 130 fllips to fail from Martinique the
middle of June lad ; I intend to proceed to the Westward,
to endeavour to fall in with them. Our carronades were
of great service in the engagement. We sent our 10 and
12 pounders, carronades, through both sides of the bri
gantine. This we were informed of by a vessel we^ boar
ded, and which they laid (poke with the fame day."
F 5, H E Stot' of Pennsylvania, owes its wealth to the
fl city of Philadelphia. The city owes its pre-eminence
in size, beauty and populousness, entirely toits commerce.
The commerce of the city though r firam^d 'ey the arbi
tary edidsof Great Britain, flourished for near a cen'ury,
under the proteftionof domeflit laws.—Ware-ho^fes were
as secure and sacred as Callies, and the merchant knew no
fear, bu of an enemy in war, and of the casualties of toe
Ocean in times of pea^e. lt,s owing to the extent, and
security of our commerce, together with the perfection of
that part of our government, which was lodged in the
hands of tkepecple, that foreigners preferred Pennsylva
nia to the other States. It was our commerce chiefly that
railed the value of our lands at leafl 25 per cent higher
than any other lands on the Continent-1 pity the igno
rance, and pardon the delusions of those people, who in
flead of ascribing tie high price of goods and the low va
lue of our money, to the delays and mistakes of our ru
lers, atcribe them to the av rice of our merchants. We
owe the present flattering situation of our country, chiefly
to the enterprizing (piri', the patience, the fortitude, and
the ingenuity of that mod refpedable body of men. Let
us hear what the able Raynal, the firfl Statesman and
die ablest writer in Europe, fays upon the fubjed of Com
merce, and the character of a Merchant, and then
Compare it with the opinions of those Politicians who ac
cuse commerce of being “ ruinous to our States ' 'and
who charafterife merchants as " Bloodsuckers," as “ Pests
of Society," and as “ Vultures praying upon the vitals
of their country."
« It is a mod pleasing and noble fight (fays the Abbe)
to behold all Europe peopled with laborious nations, who
are perpetually failing round the globe, in order to culti
vate and render it fit for mankind ; to fee them animate by
the enlivening breath of industry, all the regenerating pow
ers of nature; seek the abyss of the Ocean, and in the
bowels of rocks, for new means of fubfiftance, or new en
joymente ; Air and raise up the earth with all the mechanic
powers invented by genius; eflablifli between the two
Hemispheres, by the happy improvements in theart cfna
vigation, a communication of flying bridges, as it were,
that re-unite one Continent to the other; pursue all the
tracks of the fun, overcome its annial barriers, and pass
from the tropics to the poles upon the wings of the wind ;
For the PENNSYLVANIA PACKET.
in a word, to fee them upon all the streams of population
and pleasure, in order to pour them upon the face of the
earth through a thousand channels. It \is then, perhaps,
that the Dvinity contemplates his work with fatisfaftion,
and does not repent himfelf of having made man."
" Such is the image of Commerce, let us now admire
the genius of the Merchant. The fame understanding that
Newton had to calculate the motion of the stars, he exerts
in tracing the progress of the commercial people that ferti
lize the earth. His problems are the more difficult to re
solve, as the circum fiances of them are not taken from the
immutable laws of nature, as the fy flems of the geometri
cians are ; but depend upon the caprices of men, and the
uncertainty of a tueufand events. That accurate spirit of
combination that Cromwell and Richelieu mus shave had,
the one to destroy, the other to establish despotic govern
ment, the merchant also possesses and carries it further:
for he takes in both worlds at one view, and direßs his
operations upon an infinite variety of relative considerati
ons, which it is seldom given to toe ftateman, or even to
the philosopher, to comprehend and estimate. Nothing
must escape him ; he must forefee the influence of the fea
font, upon the plenty, scarcity, and the quality of pro
visions, upon the departure ®r returns of his ships ; the in
fluence of political affairs upon those of commerce: the
changes which war or peace must necessarily occasion in
the prices and demands for merchandise, in the quantity
and choice of provisions, in the (late of the cities and ports
of the whole world ; he must know the consequences that
an alliance of the two Northern Nations may have under
the torid zone ; the progress, either towards aggrandize
ment or decay, of the several trading companies, the effeß
that the fall of any European power in India, may have
over Africa and America; the flagnation that may be
produced in certain countries, by the blocking up of some
of the channels of indufly ; the reciprocal connection there
is between most branches of trade, and the mutual assistance
they lend by the temporary injuries they seem to inflict
upon each other; he must know the proper time to begin,
and when to flop in every new undertaking; in a word, he
must be acquainted with the art ofmaking all other nations
tributary to ills own, and of encreafing his own fortune by
encreafing the prosperity of his country; or rather he
must know how to enrich himfelfby extending the gene
ral prosperity of mankind. Such are toe objects that the
profeffion ofthe merchant engages him to attend to."•
PHILADELPHI A.
In GENERAL ASSEMBLY, November 16, 1779.
The Bill entitled, " An Ad for veiling the public real
estates n the Commonwealth," was read a second time,
and being debated by paragraphs, was ordered to be tran
scribed, and published for consideration.
Extraß from the Minutes,
THOMAS PAINE,
Clerk of General Assembly.
An ACT for veiling the State-house in the city of Phila
delphia ; the house in High-fireet in the Did city, ap
propriated to the use of the President of the Supreme E
xecutive Council; the Provjnce-lfland, and Great Mud-
Island; the Military Barracks in the Northern Liber
ties of the City of Philadelphia, and in the northern part
of the borough of Lancaster, the public Store-house and
the Magazine for securing gun-powder, in the said bo
rough ; tile several Court houfis; Goals, Prisons and
Work-houses of the counties of this State ; and al! other
real eflate, belonging to the public; in The Common
wealth.
WHEREAS on account of the difficulty of securing,
in a proper manner, the real estate of the public in
the late Province, now State of Pennsylvania, the fame
was veiled in feoffees, or trustees, or in bodies politic and
corporate: AND WHEREAS the persons infeoffed of
the fame, may have, in some cases, all died; and it may
be difficult to afeertain'the person to whom the eflate so
veiled, hath defeended, if suits in the law ihould be neces
sary for the conservation of the said real eflate : For reme
dy whereof, and to place the fame on a uniform, convenient
and permanent footing,
Be it enaded by the Representatives of the Freemen of
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly
met, and by the authority of the fame, That the State
house in the city of Philadelphia, together with the adjoin
ing lot and piece of ground, thereunto appertaining, boun
ded by Chefaut-ftuet on the north; Fifth-ftreet from the
river Delaware, on the east; Sixth-street from the said
river, on the weft ; and Walnut-flreet, on the south, as the
fame are now veiled in Joseph Fox, Samuel Rhoads and
Edward Penington, and the house and lofts, situate on
High-ilreet, Minor-ftreetandSixth-flreet in the said city,
late the eflate of Joseph Galloway, Esq ; appropriated
and appointed for the use of the President of the Supreme
Executive Council, by an Aft, intitled " An Aft for
veiling the house and lotts therein described, in Trus
tees, for the use of the President of the Supreme
Executive Council of this State, for the time being," pas
sed on the 18th day of March last; and the Island, called
the Province-Island, situate on the south fide of the mouth
of the river Schuylkill, adjoining to the river Delaware,
within the township of Kiagfeffiog and county of Philadel
phia, and heretofore known by the name of Filler's Island,
containing about three hundred and forty-two acres, as
the fame was held in trull by Joseph Harvey, Thomas
Tatnel, Joseph Trotter, James Morris, and Oswald Peale;
and afterwards conveyed by the said Joseph Trotter, the
survivor of the said Trustees, to Joseph Fox, Samuel
Rhoads, Joseph Galloway, John Baynton, Edward Pen
ington, Charles Humphries, and Michael Hillegas. And
the Island in the River Delaware, named Great Mud Is
land, or Deepwater-Ifland, situate southward of the Pro
vince-Bland, as the fame was held by Joseph Galloway,
and by him fold for a fortrefs to the public, who paid
him the full consideration thereof, but had no transfer of
the said Island raade by said Joseph Galloway ; yet by his
attainder it is became the eflate of the public. The Mi
litary Barracks, situate between Second and Third- fl reets,
continued into the Northern Liberties of the city of Phi
ladelphia, together with the lotts and pieces of land there
unto belonging and appertaining, as the fame were purcha
sed of Anthony Wilkinson, and John Jennings and wife,
for the purpose of erecting the said Barracks, at the cost
of the said late Province now State of Pennsylvania, and
The Bill for removing the Courts of Justice, in Chefier
County to a more central part of the said County, publifli
ed for consideration by the former House of Affembly,and
by them recommended to this House, together with sun
dry petitions for and against the said Bill ; whereupon
Resolved, That this House will on the third Wednesday
after their next meeting, hear the parties interested, and if
any persons have any objeflion, they are to appear
on said day, and shew cause why the said Bill Ihould not
pass into a law.
as the fame are now vested in Joseph Fox. And the Mi
litary Barracks in the north part of the borough of Lan
caster, in the county of Lancafler, together with the
lott of land, thereunto appertaining. The public Store
house situate on the western fide, and near the north
ern end of Qieen-flreet, in the said borough. And
the Magazine for the securing of gun-powder, in the said
borough, lying eaflward of the said Store house.
And the new Goal and Work house of the county and
city of Philadelphia, on Walnut flreet and Sixth- flreet,
in the city of Philadelphia, as the fame is now veiled in the
Commissioners of the city and county of Philadelphia,
and their successors, who held the fame as a body politic
and corporate, for that purpose. Ana all and finguiar the
Court-houses, Goals, Prisons, and Work houses, toge
ther with the lotts of land whereon they severally fland,
or which are appurtenant to them, of and in the several
counties of this State, as they now are, or heretofore have
been vested in any Feoffees or Trustees, or in any bodies
politic andcorporate, for the several use of the said counties
refpedively. And also all other real eflate ft the good
people of this Commonwealth, or of any county thereof,
in their public and collective capacity belonging ; or t®
the use or interest for them veiled or conveyed, (hall be,
and hereby are veiled in the Commonwealth ; freed, and
difeharged, and absolutely acquitted, exempted and exo
nerated of and from and against al! claims and demands of
the said feoffees or trustees, or bodies politic arid corpo
rate, or of the survivors and survivor of such feoffees and
trustees, and every of them, and of the heirs of such sur
vivors and survivor for ever ; fubjeft, however, to the se
veral uses, intents, trusts, difpefitions, and direction, for
which the fame have been heretofore refpedively appoint
ed and Ihqftd, and to none other. Saving and always
reserving frevery person and persons, bodies politic hnd
corporate, his and their heirs, fucct,ffors, other than the
said feoffees or trustees, all such eflate, right, title and
intereil, of, in, to and out of the premises, veiled in trwft
as aforefaid, as they, every or any of them had before the
passing of this Aft, or could or might have had or en
joyed, in case this A& had not been made or passed.
Provided always, That nothing in this Aft shall extend
to veil in the Commonwealth, the Old Temporary Prison,
situate on the eastern fide ofthe main Crofs-fireet, in the
town of Bedford ; nor to veil in the Com-mon wealth, the
Old Goal and Workhouse, nor the land thereunto apper
taining, fronting on the south fide of High-street, and
extending along Third-street from Delaware, in the city
of Philadelphia, as the fame was holden by Joshua Car
penter, in trust, for the use of the city and county of Phi
ladelphia : But it is hereby enabled by the authority afore
faid, That the Supreme Executive Council may and dial#
fell a °d convey the fame to the private use of the purcha
ser, by deed or deeds, under the Great Seal, signed by
the President or Vice President of the said Council, for
the foie benefit and advantage, notwithflanding, of the
said city and county
And provided also, That Representatives of the Free
men of this Commonwealth, in General Affrmbly met,
{hall and may, from time to time by their vote, appoint
Trustees, to take upon them the care and management of
the,lfland called the Province Island together with its ap
purtenan es, and to receive the rents, issues and profits
thereof, and to account for the fame, and to make leases ;
in like manner and under like re ft ridions,as the feoffees or
trustees of the said Island, heretofore veiled with the
eflate thereof might or could do.
And be it further enabled by the authority aforefaid,
That so much of an Aft of Assembly of the late Province
of Pennsylvania, intitled “An Aft for veiling the Pro
vince-Bland, and the buildings thereon erefkd, and to
be erefled, in Trustees; for providing an Hospital for
such sick passengers as shall be imported into this Province,
and to prevent the spreading of infectious distempers,"
passed on the third day of February, which was in the
year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and forty
three ; and so much of another Aft of Assembly, of the
said late Province, intitled " An Aft for veiling thv State
house and other public buildings, with the lotts of ground
whereon the fame are erected, together with other lotts,
situate in the city of Philadelphia, in Trustees, for the
uses therein particularly mentioned," passed on the twen
tieth of February, which was in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and thirty-fix ; and so much of
another Aft of Assembly of said fate Province, intitled
“ An Aft for ereding a new goal, workhouse, and house
es correction, in the city of Philadelphia," passed on the
twenty sixth day of February, which was in the year of
our Lord One thousand seven hundred and seventy- three;
and so much of another AR of Assembly, of the said late
Province intitled '^An Aft to enable Jeremiah Longham,
William Biles, Joseph Kirkbride, jun. Thornes Watson,
praftitioner in physic, and Abraham Chapman, to build a
newCourt-houfe and prison, in the county of Bucks," pas
sed on the Twentieth day of March, A. D. One thousand
seven hundred and twenty, five; and so much of the se
veral Afts of Assembly of the said late Province, by
which the Counties of Lancaster, York, Cumberland,
Berks, Northampton, Bedford, Northumberland and
Weftmoreland, were erected and eflablifhed; and so
much sos an AR of Assembly of this Commonwealth, in
titled “ An Aft for veiling the house and lotts therein de
scribed in Trustees, for the use of the President of the Su
preme Executive Council of this State, for the tifne being,
passed on the eighteenth day of March last; and of any
other Aft of Assembly, which is hereby altered or suppli
ed by, or is repugnant to the provisions and directions of
this Aft, is hereby repealed and made void.
In GENERAL ASSEMBLY, November 23, 1779.
Extract from the Minutes,
THOMAS PAINE,
Clerk of the General Assembly.