The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1778-01-14 00:00:00, page 4

SIR, fanuary 7, 1778.
HAVING received a letter under your signature,
dated the 4th instant, which I have some reason
to think you intended for me, I fit down to anfiver
your inquiries concerning certain officers in the service
of todr king taken on Stafen-Ifland, and one Browne
who call's himfelf a deputy commissary ; and also re
fpedting one Iliff and"anoth< r prisoner, (I suppose you
must mean John Mee, he having ihared the fate you
mention) who have been hanged.„
Bofkirk, Earl and Hammel, who are, I presume,
the officers intended, with the said Browne, were
sent to me by General Dickinson as prisoners taken
on Staten-Uland. Finding them all to be subjects
of thH state, and to have committed treason against
it, the council of fafety committed them to Trenton
gaol. At the fame time I acquainted Gen. Wa
shington, that if he chose to treat the three firft who
were British officers, as prisoners of war, I doubted
not the,council of fafety would be fatisfied. General
Washington has since informed me that he intends
to confider them as such ; and they are therefore at
his service, whenever the commissary of prisoners
shall direct concerning them. Browne I am told
committed several robberies in this state before he
took fan&uary on Staten-Idand, and I should scarcely
imagine that he has expiated the guilt of his former
crimes by committing the greater one of joining the
enemies of his country. However, if General Wa
shington chooses to confider him also as a prisoner of
war, I shall not interpose in the matter.
Iliff was executed after a trial by a jury, for en
listing our fubjeds, himfelf being one, as recruits in
the British army, and he was apprehended on his
way with them to Staten-Island. Had he never been
fubjedt to this state, he wouldhave forfeited his life
as a spy. Mee was one of his company, and had
also procured our fubjeßs to enljft in the service of
the enemy.
If these tranfadions, Sir, should induce you to coun
tenance greater severities towards our people, whom
the fortune of war has thrown into your power, than
they have already fuffered, you will pardon me for
thinking that you go farther out of your way to find
palliatives for inhumanity, than necessity seems to
require ; and if this be the cry of murder to which
you allude as having reached your ears, I sincerely
pity your ears for being so frequently aflaulted with
cries of murder much more audible, because much less
distant, I mean the cries of your prisoners who are
constantly periflring in the gaols of New-York (the
coolest and most deliberate kind of murder) from
the rigorous manner of their treatment.
l am, with all due refpeft,
your most humble servant,
WILLIAM LIVINGSTON.
James Robertson, Esq. &c. &c. &c.
P. S. You have diftinguiflied me by a title which
I have neither authority ncr ambition to assume,
I know of no man, Sir, who bears sway in this state.
Letter from Major-General ROBERTSON to
His Excellency Governor LIVINGSTON.
SIR, New-York, January 4, 1778.
I AM interrupted in my daily attempts to foften
the calamities of prisoners, and reconcile their case
with our security, by a general cry of resentment,
arising from an information
That officers in the king's service taken on the
27th of November, and Mr. John Brown, a deputy
commissary, are to be tried in Jersey for high-trea
son; and that Mr. Iliff and another prisoner have
been hanged.
Though I am neither authbrifed to threaten or to
sooth, my with to prevent an increase of horrors,
will juffify my using the liberty of an old acquaint
ance, to desire your interpolition to put an end to,
or prevent measures which, if pursued on one fide,
would tend to prevent every adt of humanity on the
other, and render every person who exercises this
to the king's enemies, odious to his friends.
I need not point out to you all the cruel conse
quences of such a procedure. lam hopeful you'll
prevent them, and excuse this trouble from, Sir,
Your obedient humble fervent
JAMES ROBERTSON.
N. B. At the moment that the cry of murder
reached my ears, I was signing orders, that Fell's
request to have the liberty of the city, and Colonel
Reynold to be set free on his parole, should be
complyl with. I have not recalled the order, be
cause though the evidence be strong, I can't believe it
possible, a measure so cruel and impolitick, could be
adopted where you bear sway.
To William Livingston, Esq. &c. &c.
BURLINGTON: Printed by Isaac Collins. All Persons may be supplied with this Gazette at Twenty-fa Shillings
per Annum. Advertisements of a moderate Length are inserted for Seven Shillings and Six-pence each the firft v/eek, and
Two Shillings and Six-pence for every Continuance ; and long Ones in Proportion.
Governor LiVINGSTON's Answer.
To the Printer of the New-Jersey Gazette.
. SIR,
WH OEVER confiders the importance of edu
cation in apolitical light, will readily acknow
ledge it worthy the greatest encouragement from the
public. The superior advantages derived to the com
munity from men of letters, in the various offices of
government, and especially in the character of legis
lators and magistrates, to what are to be expected
from those who have negleded the cultivation of their
minds, are too numerous to be recounted. Imprefs
,ed with a deep sense of the happy effects of literature
upon civil society, the wisest lawgivers have ever been
studious to promote and encourage it. For this pur
pose, they have founded seminaries, endowed col
leges, pensioned men of eminent erudition, and ex
plored even foreign nations for the ablest profeffors
in every science.
Of the advantages that have already redounded to
this State from the college of New-Jersey, many of
the gentlemen who have' been there graduated, and
since preferred to different offices, have afforded us
abundant and striking proofs. We cannot, therefore,
compare the late flourifhing figure of that institution,
(in which the means of education were perhaps not
inferior to those in the most celebrated universities in
Europe) with its present deplorable condition, with
out lamenting the change; and feeling ourselves
deeply affected for the interests of posterity. Nor
can it be expelled, that parents will put their chil
dren to college, while they are fubjeded, in the
course of their studies, to be called out in the mili
tia ; which not only endangers their morals, but must
of necessity obftruA their progress in learning. And
indeed to oblige matriculates to perform military
duty, is a thing so unexampled, that there is per
haps not an instance of it in history. They are, I
believe, universally excused from war; and for that
reason not treated as men bearing arms, when their
country is invaded by an enemy.
Considering, therefore, the unspeakable importance
of a liberal education to civil society, the impoffibi
lify of obtaining it under its present embarrassments,
and how highly it becomes the legislative body of a
free people to encourage the liberal arts, (which na
turally inspire the most exalted love of our country)
and by that means nurture for the succeeding age, a
race of sages and patriots to carry to full perfection,
that iliuftridus fabric of liberty, the foundation of
which has been laid by the present.— Considering
these things, I fay, I flatter myfelf that our superiors
will not, for the comparatively trifling service which
the Collegians are capable of rendering the public in
the capacity of soldiers, continue the present embar
go upon the feat of the muses; nor compel the arts
and sciences, against which none ought to wage war,
to war against any. And should I be disappointed
in my expectations, the disappointment will be great
ly alleviated by the pleafihg reflection of having dis
charged my duty, in endeavouring to encourage the
advancement of learning; which, next to religion,
deserves the most serious attention ofrthe guardians
of the people.
v C A T O.
TO THE PUBLIC.
ANY person that has for sale beef, pork, flour,
wheat, and potatoes, will find a purchaser in
William Crifpin, Commissary to the State fleet of
Pennsylvania, at Trenton. t f
Twenty-fourth of the 12th month, 1777.
TWENTY-FOUR DOLLARS
R E WA R D.
WAS STOLEN out of the subscribers stable,
on the 23d of this instant at night, in Not
tingham township, Burlington county, a dun roan
HORSE, fifteen hands high, four years old next
spring, a natural trotter and carries well. And also
on the fame night, was stolen out of the stable of
John Weatherill, in the township and county afore
faid, a bay MARE, three years old next spring, about
fourteen hands high, with a small star in her fore
head. Whoever takes up the laid horses and returns
them to the subscribers, and secures the thief or
thieves in any gaol, shall have the above reward, or
EIGHT DOLLARS for either of the horses, paid
by either of the subscribers.
ISAIAH ROBINS.
4w* JOHN WEATHERILL.
It is our peculiar felicity, and our superiority over
the tyrannical system we have difearded, that we are
not swayed by men —In New-Jersey, Sir, the laws
alone bear sway.
S U G A R,
SHOEMAKERS TOOLS, HALTERS,
PLOUGH-LINES, BED-LACINGS,
GUN FLINTS and BUCK SHOT,
With a general assortment of
FISHING TACKLE;
ALSO
HE ELS and LAST S,
SOLD BY
EDWARD POL E,
Oppofte the Lower Market, Burlington. 4^ *
Extraordinary Wages,
And an exemption from serving in the militia :
AND dill higher wag^s, without such exemption,
will be given to a few choice wood-cutters and
labourers, to be employed at the independent falt
works, about eighteen miles southward of the forks
of Little-Egg-Harbour, and two miles northward of
Abfequean river.
Apply at the said works to
3 _NATHANIEL PETTIT,
WAS L O S T,
The firft of January 1778, between Trenton and
Croffwicks,
A RED MOROCCO POCKET-BOOK, con
taining between eighteen and twenty dollars,
ten States lottery tickets, No. 916, 917, 918, 931 ,
932, 942, 943, 5518, 549^ 5499, and sundry other
papers which will be of 110 use to any but the owner.
Whoever hath found the fame, and will bring it to
the Printer of this paper, shall have the money for
their trouble.
L AMP, TANNE R S,
AND
SPERMACETI OI L,
To be fold by
T H O MAS BUDD, Jun.
At Julia-Town, in Burlington County, New-Jersey.
WANTED IMMEDIATELY,'
TE N or fifteen gallons of good old LINSEED
OIL. Any person having such a quantity for
sale, may hear of a purchaser by conveying a line to
the printer hereof.
December 19, 1777.
TO BE SOL D,
A QUANTITY of Spanish made SUGAR; ih
hogsheads, barrels, or smaller quantity, by
WILLIAM MONTGOMERY, near Allen-Town.
W A, N T E
A quantity of good clean
LAMPBLA C K.
Any person having it for sale, is requested to inform
the printer hereof.
A GOOD PRICE AND READY MONEY,
Is given by the Printer hereof, for
CLEAN LINEN RAGS,
AND*
HOGS BRISTLE S.
Mountholly, fan. 8, 1778.
WILLIAM CHE W,
At the house formerly occupied by the Rev. Mu
Brainard, near the Friends new meeting-boufe, it
Mountholly, hath now for sale on reasonable terms,
AL ARGE assortment of white threads by the
pound, quarter, ounce, or skein ; sewing silks of
all colours ; black silk flockings and breeches pieces;
men's and women's white cotton and silk stockings ;
silk ferrets and ribbons; worded and silk knee gar
ters of all colours; mohair, silk and hair, and scars
twist ; silk day-laces ; silk Damascus and Loretto's ;
black hat-band crape ; India nankeens ; white cord
ed dimitty; men's damped jacket shapes; child
ren's thread and worded hose; men's and parsons
gloves; a few fine sewing needles; fhagreen tea
fpbon cases ; gold hat buttons and looping ; likewise
tea, coffee, sugar, molasses, pepper, cinnamon, al
fpice, &c. &c. 3 w
bo n I )and PAIN;
Have for sale, at their STORE in Morristown,
SUGAR, coffee, chocolate, pepper, alfpice, indigo,
fnuff, cloves, mace, cinnamon, nutmegs, hand
kerchiefs, pins, spelling-books, primers, a quantity
of bohea tea, dec! plate, handsaws, a few pieces of
Dutch linen, &c. &c.
3^*