Dunlap's Pennsylvania packet , The general advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1774-07-25 00:00:00, page 4

The crimes with which I charge you are
so attrocious in their nature, and so danger
ous in their execution, that posterity will
scarcely believe they were committed. Even
those of trie present day, who do not imme
diately fuffer by your iniq cities, will be apt
to fufpedt my colouring, and suppose I have
drawn your picture from imagination. But
it is no less true than adonifhiDg, that the
found nions of the constitution of this coun
try were destroyed—that a military govern
ment was introduced—and that the people
were i educed to poverty and slavery by the ma
chinations of a man who had filled the inferior
offices of government with probity ^ —ofa man,
whom extenfivekno A ledge deprives ofthe poor
excufeofignorance—ofa man, whofemiftaken
fellow citizens generously gave him credit for
every virtue, of which he possessed only the ap
pearance—of a man nurtured in the lap of li
berty—of an American! Other despots have,
like you, ruined the countries overwhich they
piefided; but few, like you, were indebted
to those countries for their very exigence,
end every other ability to destroy them. We
have yet however to thank heaven, that al
though America has given birth to such a
monger, {he refufed him any asylum when
be had compleated his crimes and ler ruin.
In what corner of the world will guilt like
yours find rest ? You may fly, Sir, as far as
you can—you may hide your devoted head
where even the name of your native country is
unknown, or where her fufterings are de
spised : But you cannot elude, you cannot
silence the monitor, which Heaven, in mercy
to mankind, has placed in the bosom of eve
ry wretch, however hardened in guilt. The
horror of your foul will deform your brow,
and like the fli,ma of another C A 1 N mark
you as the miserable outcast of humanity and
virtue. Amidst the venal applauses of your
dependants—amidft the splendor of a court—
amidft the approving smiles ofa Minifter—
amidft the favours of your Sovereign—while
perhaps you are kneeling to kiss the hand,
which you, and servants like you, have aim
ed to crimson with the blood often thousand
loyal futjeas, conscience will thunder in
jour ears—America !— I'hut single word
will " put all the pomp to flight." Pale,
trembling, and appalled with conscious guilt,
you will then find how inadequate every ex
ternal object is to the fatisfadtion of having
used the generous confidence of an unfufpecl
ing people—not to deprive them of their
birthrights—but to secure them in the en
joyment of the common blessings of humah
ity.
Retire, Sir, ifyou dare converse with your
felf, and leave it to younger men to corp
pleat, or to honester men to prevent the de
ilruaion you have so fuccefsfully begun. You
may yet have leisure for repentance : But you
must not lose time— the Brit':,) nation will not
kng be deceived —the violated rights of man
kind must be attoned for—the public justice
of your country will demand a facrifice, and
you will be the victim, if despair does not de
privefucceeding traitors of the benefit of your
example on thefcaffold. You havebeen heap
ing up wrath against the day of retribution,
and 1 trust not an atom cf your hoard will be
loft, left your punishment should not be as
signal as your guilt..
MARCUS BRUTUS.
Jane 22, 1774.
I7rcte on the Plain Dealer's attack on the
Political Reflector.
r-r\ H I S man's a Plain Dealer, and means
no deceit,
So honest a mortal fare never can cheat;
h mixec and foyfy'ies — like gamesters at put,
But wifeiy resigns it, to others to cut.
P HILADELPHIA: Printed by JOHN DUNLAP, at the Newest Printing-Office in Market-Street, where
Subferiptions at Ten Shillings per Annum, Advertisements, &c. are thankfully received for this Paper.
To G^r^r HUT CHINSO N,
S 1 R,
f 1 U A RDED as you may imagine your
% fclf from tie reproaches of an injured
country, you will find, if this letter reaches
you, that America is not deflitute of lons,
who, untainted b/your principles, indignant
ly blush at your crimes, it is a small fatis
iadion for the miseries you have brought up
on us to call you to a fhoit recrofpett of ,our
life. If ambitit n has not rendered you cal
lous, with what remoife mull vou look back
to the time, when, in the full enjoyment of
the etteem and attention oi your country, you
trod uncorrupted in the paths of virtue! The
cries of the widow and the orphan—the cur
ses of the poor —the execrations of a people
did not then disturb your rest. Honored with
tne grateful applause of thousands, you might
have failed down the ftrrfam of life, without
one angry cloud to shade the splendor of your
fitting fun : But how have you deformedthe
profpedt ! The confidence of your fellow ci
tizens put it in your power to betray them to
slavery and ruin—vou seized t^e opportunity,
and proud of a triumph over the rights whicn
the honesty of your forefathers deemed la
cred, you have dared to advise an ABRIDG
MENT OF THE LIBERTIES OF YOUR COUN
TRY. If success in deftruHion can afford you
fatisfaaion, behold the wretches you have
made, and enjoy a pleasure congenial to your
foul.
To bis Excellency General G A G E, Governor of die
colony oj the Massachusetts-Bay.
SIR,
roHE trull reposed in you is of the most (acred
1 and important nature. You are appointed, at
a very critical time, to the government of a wife
and discerning people, in their defeent Briti,,—
inheriting the virtues of their anceflors, —in their
temper grave and generous, —acquainted v.ith our
conflitution, its laws, Settlements, dependences, and
interests, — alwaysfaithful to the Crown, when con
fident uith their duty 10 their country, —religious to
a degree of enthusiasm, —easy in their fortunes, —
lovers of mankind, —more careful to preserve than
to aggrandize themselves, —making virtue the foun
dation of theirJriend/bip, and merit the title to their
favour, —orelei vei s of the freedom of others, as well
as of their own, — moderate in their pleafures,—
watchful over the conch & of their rulers, —not fer
tile, nor imperious,—keen in their resentments, —of
tried, approved courage, and bold in the glorious
cause of liberty. You are appointed to this depart
ment at a period, when a fabtle, bigbfpirited and
tyrannic Adminifration hath promulgated a despotic
and bloody code of laws for the government of the
BritiJb Colonies in America. It is your province to
fee those laws executed in a populous, martial, and
l >yal Colony, tingled out the firit victim of Parlia
mentary vengeance. You may be a soldier of cou
rage, undismayed amidst the greatest dangers, of an
invention fruitful in resources, and of a military
genius equal to the Duke of Alva*, the favourite of
Philip the Second, King of Spain. For these rea
sons you may be deemed a proper instrument in the
hand of tyranny, to enftave a colony of Freemen.
But your filiation is as delicate and hazardous as the
duties incumbent on you are weighty and arduous.
Retire therefore, from the hurry of the day, and
the buttle oflife! Recolle& ycurfelf! Confider you
are not at the head of a servile Camp! You now
preside over men, Englishmen, who were born free,
and are resolved to die free. The military economy
is as different from the political, as slavery is from
liberty. Arbitrary decrees, dictated by an imperi
ous General, from the cannon's mouth, must be
obeyed by the enlisted soldier, or death ensues.
The Commander's mill is his law. He who is ho
nored with the government of a free state, is bound
to govern, not by extemporary decrees, but by efta
blijhed funding laws, promulgated, and known to the
people,— not by a dependent, f obsequious, subaltern
officer, but by reverend, (age and upright judges,
who are to be guided by those laws in their decisi
ons, —and he is bound to employ the force of the com
munity at home, not in dragooning them into an obe
dience to illegal proclamations, and tyrannical edifis,
but in the execution of laws ccmfitutionally prescrib
ed, or abroad to prevent or redress foreign injuries,
and to secure the community from inroads and in
vasion. And all this to be directed to no other end,
but the peace, fafety, and public good of the governed.
" The proclamation for discouraging cer
tain illegal combinations," lately issued out by your
Excellency, gave rile to this letter. Unplaced, un
penfioned, and have to no man, I think myfelf at
full liberty, in a country where to write freely, and
to speak boldly in the sacred cause of truth and the
constitution, is the privilege of a British American,
to address a few reflexions to a servant of the peo
ple, on a fubjeft with &hich our rights are connect
ed : And be assured, Sir, as I held in the most love
reign contempt the mean arts of a creeping, cringing
cottier, so in this or any other letter your political
mifoebaviour induces me to write you, I Ihall not
forget the native dignity of an independent Ameri
can, and condefeend to insinuate myfelf into your
grace or favour by a complaisant, subtle, and refined
language. Ido not intend to load you with a profufion
of encomiums, nor turn over the page ofhiftory, af
ter the manner of a mean spirited fyeophant, to find
an illufriousfatefman and soldier, to paint you out in
their lovely features. No : the language in which
I write is the language of the heart. It is the lan
guage of truth, and truth, like gold, will be received
by wife and honest men, even if it fliould not pals
current in your Excellency's court and camp.
There have been lately, and now are in the Maf
fachufefts Bay some pick-thank caterpillars, prede
cessors to your Excellency, who, either to ingratiate
themselves with a corrupt Ministry, or to do mif
chief to a people whom they malign, or perhaps
both, have represented the good people of that colo
ny as in a state of open rebellion. Those represen
tations were made in the most secret and perfidious
manner, and mixed with some dissembled expreffi
qns of refpeX for those whom they were about to
ruin ; as " that they are heartily grieved that a
“ people, among whom they were born and bred, and
“ from whom they had received the greatest fa
" vours, Should so misbehave and forget themselves
" as to be guilty of treason and rebellion. Never
" thelefs so it is, and they are distressed that they
“ fhculd be forced to be the messengers of tidings
" so much to their difadvantage."|
Well, those men have told their story, and the se
cret bolt is shot; and, alas, this viperous piece of
villiany has been attended with the most cursed con
sequences to our misrepresented countrymen. Their
capita! port is ihut up ; their chartered rights are ra
vished from them ; jhips of war swarm in their har
bours ; troops encamp around their dwellings ; an
unlettered soldier, without genius or capacity for go
vernment, ignorant of the constitution and the com
mercial interest of Great-Britain, is put in autho
rity over them, to govern with unlimited fway,—
poverty stares them in the face, and slavery, worse
than poverty, is their doom unless they fhamefully
submit. Oh Liberty ! oh my Country ! But wife
men cannot be deceived; they will not be lulled
into bondage, or terrified into chains, they are ever
awake for the public good, and the glorious cause
in which they are engaged, inspires them with an
intrepidity unknown to the abettors of tyranny.
Perhaps your Excellency will ask, " Were not
" the representations of my predecessors the truth,
" and may not truth be lawfully spoken? If they
" were the truth, then your countrymen brought
" all these fufferings on themselves." Very good;
be itib. But yet give me leave to ask a few questi
ons. May not the truth be reported with as mali
cious a defgn as the greatest falfhood ever hatched
in Hell ? Is it not a fin ofas black a dye, in the eye
of God, to tell a truth from malice, as to contrive
and tell a downright lye? I would allo ask, whether
your predecessors who told this truth, would have
been as ready to tell it, had it made for the advan
tage of my countrymen, as much as for their preju-
* He bad been Governor General ofthe Netherlands
no less than five yeais, during which time be had
(as be used to glory) caused above eighteen thousand
perfns to be executed.
History of Holland, v. 1, p. 26.
f See Locke on Government, page 265.
1 See Governor Hutebinfon's Letters, and Lieut.
Cover nor Oliver's Letters, lately printed tn Beflon.
dice ? and would they be willing that every thing
fnould be told and published, which is true of them
selves? 1 believe the answer to these interrogatories
would appear but very lame and imperfe&.
But since truth is a thing which seldom dwells in
the mouths and difeourfes of informers, we will sup
pose this accusation of rebellion against my coun
trymen to be really falfe. Ann that either as to the
very matter of it, there being absolutely no such
thing ever a&ed, nor even thought of; cr at lealt,
in refpeX of some portion and circumstance of the
narration ; some little thing being added, over and
above the true state ofthe matter, or something be
ing concealed that should have been mentioned ;
either of which may make such an alteration in the
case, that, z^fwhich is one way innocent and allow
able, the other way becomes impious, vile and cri
minal. It is in such reports, as it is in numbers,
the addition or detraction but of one unit, makes
it another number.
But whether the representations of your predeces
sors were true or falfe, the condition of my accused
countrymen is miserable. For if they be true, ail
opportunities of deprecating their offence, and of re
conciling themselves to the Mother Country wert
cut off, and taken out of their hands, and in the mean
time the accusation lay fettering in the minds of
those to whom it was delivered, waiting only for an
occasion suddenly to attack or ruin the poor accus
ed, who knew not of the cloud which bung over
them, nor of the snare that was spread under them ;
but were dejiroyed before they were aware, without
any remedy or escape.
But if those representations were falfe, as un
doubtedly they were, why then my innocent coun
trymen unheard, untried, and bereaved of all power
to acquit themselves, and to confute their accusers,
were concluded against, and condemned, their sentence
was passed, their ruin sealed, and they were blown
up before they understood that there was so much
as any crime, accusation, or accuser of them. And is
not this an horrid and barbarous deed, and a perver
sion of the very designs of society and government ?
For to what purpose do men unite into societies and
form governments for their preservation, if the mif
chiefs they fufler under them are greater than those
that attend them in a state of despotism and open
hostility ?
Certainly it is a grievance to that common justice
which presides over mankind, to fee a brave, a vir
tuous, and loyal people, fall by the misrepresentati
ons and base arts of such fyeophants and felfifh go
vernors as your Excellency's predeceffors,—men,
that if but one third part of mankind were like
them, neither God nor man would think the world
worth preservation. And yet such are the men that
overthrow virtue, disappoint merit, and render the
rewards of the good and the vicious accidental and
promifeuous, and in a word, are the pefs and ver
min that difturty and infeft society. A vine or a
rose tree may as well flourifh when there is a secret
worm lurking and gnawing at the root of them, as
the peace of that country thrive, which hath such
concealed plagues wrapt up in its heart and bowels.
But, neither are my injured countrymen the only
persons who are abused by the misrepresentations of
your predecessors, but even they who by such mif
repreientations were brought to injure them. For
is it not the worst of injuries, that such wretches
should make great men the instruments of their vil
lainy, and the prosecutors of their malice ? deceiv
ing and cheating them with falfe persuasions, in or
der to induce them to commit base or cruel aXions.
It is like the making of a man drunk, and then
causing him to sign a deed for the passing away his
estate. In (hort, it is a daring encroachment, and an
intolerable injury. We have seen how much Inch
persons and practices interrupt the peace of socie
ties ; but yet we are to know that the burden of this
charge is not so wholly to lie upon the framers and
carriers of such misrepresentations, but that some
is to rest upon those also who are ready to hear
them. For as there is a parity of guilt between the
thief and the receiver, so there seems to be the like
between the teller and hearer of malicious informa
tions, and that for very good reasons. For who
would knock where he delpaired of entrance ? Or
what husbandman would cast his feed but into an
open and a prepared furrow ? So it is most certain
that :ll tongues would be idle, if ill ears were not
open. And therefore it was an apposite faying of
one of the ancients, that both the teller and the
hearer of falfe Tories ought equally to be hanged,
one by the tongue, the other by the ears -, and were
every one of them so treated, I suppose no body
would be so fond of those many milchiefs brought
by such persons upon the peace of the world, as to
be concerned to cut them down, unless perhaps, by
cutting off the forementioned parts, by which they
bung.
But when there is a conspiracy and an agreement
on both sides, and one ill-nature tells a tale, and
another ill-nature thanks him for it ; and so encou
rages him in the wicked practice, by shewing a rea
diness to hear his story, and to do the intended mif
chief; fo'that the ball is kept up, by being tossed
from one hand to the other : Let not that country,
who are blessed with such persons in it, expe& that
the winter fun will ripen their summer fruits, or
the breath of the NORT H-wind preserve their
biffms. No, they will find that the blalts of conten
tion will blow and whittle about their ears, and a
form arise which thall endanger their tranquility to
an utter jbipwreck, without any poilibility of being
appeased, but by throwing such wretches and rene
gadees from God and good-nature overboard.
Such practices have rendered your predecessors
odious, and they will render your Excellency as odi
ous ifyou copy after their examples. Be persuad
ed, Sir, not to adopt their politics. Do not widen
the breach between the parent State and its colonies !
Do not sow facb grudges, and kindle such heart-burn
ings between them, as will one day break forth, and
flame, to the consumption of both. Permit me to
recommend to you MODE R A TIO N. It is
true, of all virtues necessary to statesmen, this is the
molt difficult to pra&ife, especially in the midrt
of unlimited favour, and civil broils. But as justice
is the Support of government, so moderation, and
equity is the very beauty and ornament of justice
itfelf. And what is all virtue but a moderation
of excesses ? a mean that keeps the balance of the
foul even, neither buffering it to rife too high on one
fide, nor to fall too low on the other. Let, there
fore, jour moderation be known unto admen, and in
stead of dividing and keeping at variance countries,
the preservation of whole laws and commerce de
pends on their union, 1 beseech you, I conjure you,
by every thing that is dear and sacred, that you en
deavour to compefe, to heal, and to bind up the bleed
ing wounds of your country.
In tendernels to a young politician, and in hope
of your amendment, I forbear to publish the stric
tures I made on your proclamation soon after my
perusal of it. It is your firft political fn. I (ball,
therefore, at present let you off gently, and only
observe in the word# of the sage and reverend Judge
Blackflone §---" Proclamations have then a Lindin?
" force when they are grounded upon and enforce the
" laws cf the realm. For, though the making of
" laws is entirely the work of adiftimft part, the le
" giflative branch, of the sovereign power, yet the
" manner, time a^d circumstances of putting those
“ laws in execution muff frequently be left to the
“ diferetion of the executive magistrate. And
'' therefore his constitutions or edi&s concerning
<'thefe points, which we call proclamations, are
" binding upon the fubjedl, where they do net either
'' contradia the old laws, or tend to efablifk new ones;
" but only enforce the execution of such laws as are al^
“ read, in being, in such manner as the King fall
'' judge neceffay. Thus the established law is, that
" the King may prohibit any cf his fubjefts from.
“ leaving the realm : A proclamation therefore,
“ forbidding this in general for three weeks, b,
<c laying an embargo upon all (hipping in time of
" war, will be equally binding as an a& of Parlia
" ment, because founded upon a prior law. But a
6< proclamation to lay an embargo in time of peace
" upon all vessels laden with wheat (though in the
" time of public scarcity) being contrary to law, and
''particularly to statute 22 Car. 2, c. 13, the ad
" vifers of such a proclamation, and all persons
" anting under it, found it necessary to be indem
“ nifieci by a special a& of Parliament • Geo. 3, c. 7.
" A Proclamation for disarming Papists, is allo
" binding, being only in execution of what the Legif
" lature has frft or dained • . But a proclamation for
" allowing aims to Papists, or for disarming any
" Protestant fubje&s, will not bind, because the frfl
" would be to assume a difpenfng power, the latter a
" legislative one, to the vest ng us either of which in
“ any Jingle person the LAWS OF ENGLAND
“ ARE ABSOLUTELY STRANGERS."
From this authority it evidently appeal s your Ex
cellency's proclamation is illegal. The people
knowing this will deem it the feeble effort of a we. k
Governor. This will naturally expose you to con
tempt and the public sport. Some will look down
upon you not with scorn but pity. Others will fay,
ignorance indeed, so far as it may be resolved into
natural inability, is, as to men at least, incurable,
and consequently not the object of scorn, but pit,^
but, in a Governor, it cannot be without the con
jun&ion of the bigbrf impudence. For who bid fucli
an one aspire to govern ? A blind man fitting in a
chimney corner, is pardonable enough, but fitting at
the helm, he is intolerable. If men will be igno
rant and illiterate, let them be so in private, and
not set their defects in a high place, to make them
vifkle and conspicuous. I am,
Your Excellency's most obedient
humble servant,
Boson, July 5, 1774. PEPPERELL.
§ if Blackflone's Commentaries, page 271, American
edition.
Baltimore, Jul, 12, 1774.
WHEREAS an advertisement appear
ed in the Pennsylvania Packer, of the 4th
instant, signed THOMAS EWIN G, de
siring all persons to take notice, that the partner
fllip of Thomas Ewing and Walter Hall, un
der the firm of Ewing and Hall, dissolved theist of
June lall: And as said advertisement was inserted
without my knowledge or consent, I think proper
to inform the public, that the fame is falfe ; for by
our articles, our co-partnership cannot be diflblved
under three months notice in writing, without mu
tual consent, under the penalty of ten thousand
guineas.
On the 3d of June last, I gave said Ewing notice
in writing, that I would in three months from that
time dissolve said partnership, and verbally told him
in the presence of two or thiee gentlemen, that pro
vided he would fettle, and pay the balance due me
on the Company's books, I would consent to dis
solve said partnership immediately, which he has
not yet complied with; and I call on laid EWINC
to comply with the award given from under the
hands of two refpe&ahle merchants of this place,
indifferently chosen arbitrators by us, under bond
of ten thousand guineas penalty, which hitherto
the said Ewing has refund to perform, and left
himfelf open to the law.
WALTER HALL.
TO BE SOLD BY
THOMAS LAK E,
In Second-street, near the New- Market, for cash,
pEST SAIL CLOTH, from No. 1 to
8, fail twine; aquantity of bout Jamaica spi
rit, tierces of sugar, coffee in tierces and barrels ;
a few Jamaica hides ; mahogany in plank and boards,
and a large quantity of mahogany flabs, logwood,
&c.
C^cil County, Mayland, July ii, 1774.
TO BE SO L D,
At Public Vendue, by Benjamin Young, Esq ;
assignee of George Rock, at Mr. Empfon Bird's,
at North-East, in Ca^cii County, c:i .Thursday
the nth day of Augurt next, between two and
fix o'clock in the evening,
AW ELL situated MIL L, lately rebuilt, on
navigable water, where wheat mav be brought
ata small expence f: oin any part of Cheffepeak B^y ;
Also, a plating or tilting forge, the only one now
in the province, and is capable of reducing bar iron
or Reel into several shapes, tending the nearest way
towards manufa&orii^; together with 20 acres of
Mill Land: Likewile, 50 acres of Patent Wood
Land. About a mile distant from the mill is a good
filing ground, a large dweliing-houfe and bake
house, a liable and good garden, &c. Three
months credit will be given for nearly 5001. Peeling,
that sum being due on mortgage, the remainder oc
the purchase money may remain in the pmrhafer'%
hands, he paying interest, and giving rtafonabl;
Maryland security.
BENJAMIN YOUNG.
The noted T AVER N, the sign of the Rising
Sun, commonly called the Red lloufe, about h%
miles from Baltimore Town, on the main road
to Philadelphia, is now in every trfpdt neatly
fitted up and kept by
DUNCAN CA^MICHAEI,
WII 0 flatters himlelf, as he is determined to
be always furnifhed with all kinds of liquors
ol the belt quality, and tea and codec of the belt
kind, with good tables and Oats for hones, that all
ladies and gentlemen, who Ihall pk^e to divert
tbemfehes with tiding lb far, vih be pirated with
their entertainment; and he begs leave to aliwG
the generous public, that he vill continue with an
unremitted alfidoity to maintain their good opinion
of him, and ihall be ever obliged to all who may
favor liim with their cuflom.