The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1782-10-09 00:00:00, page 2

Earl Shelburne declares for American independ
ence. At the beginning of the fellions his Jordfhip
declared, that whenever America was independent,
the fun of England would set—His lordfliip has
been converted from his old political system, as
Copernicus was from the Ptolemac—He now fees
that the world goes round the fun, not that the fun
goes round the world; and though the fun of Eng
land may set with American independence, yet he
looks to fee her rife again in all her pristine glory
from the weft— I'he excuse given for his lordihip's
change of opinion is not unlike that of the mock
doctor in the farce, who, being contradicted by his
patient for asserting, that the heart lay at the right,
and tire liver on the left fide, affiired him, that the
system of the human body had been totally reversed
by order of the college of physicians.
Is there not a strange contradiction in the oration
of the present premier ? He condemns the stile of
despondency, though the language of truth ; when
at the fame time he asserts, that he has placed him
felf at the helm when "the fun ofEngland is about
to set."
Notwithstanding all the parade made about the
arrangement of the present minidry, every one
knows that it is meant for nothing more than just
to fill up the gap till the new momler feels himfelf
bold enough to'introduce the members of lord
Morth's administration, which are meant to be
brought in by degrees.
ihe present fair faced firft lord of the treasury,
and his motly groupe, are a precious set to make
peace with america, the earl of Shelburne having
more than once pronounced the man a traitor, who
would wish the independence of that country, and
Mr. Dunning (who is now lord Afhburton) having
declared in his place in the house of comowns, that
he would impeach the minider who would dare to
move such a thing !
July 13. Authentick letters from Ireland menti
on, that the people there ar^very where diffatis
fied with the resignation of Mr. Fox, and unable
to hear even the name of Shelburne !
they make to consist of 28 fail of the line, and 21
smaller vessels.
July 12. Yesterday at 11 o'clock, an express
arrived at the admiralty from Portsmouth, with the
alarming information that the combined fleet was
under fail, and actually coming up the channel; in
confequen.ce of which a council was immediately
summoned, in order to confider the necessary mea
sures to be taken on the occasion.
The above intelligence was received from a most
refpedable quarter, but at too late an hour for us to
make any enquiry into the particulars of the ex
press.
We are sorry there does not appear the most
distant hope of a reconciliation with America, un
less we firlt either acknowledge their independency,
or withdraw our fleet and army. The messenger sent
to Congress by General Carleton, had been treated
with great coolness, and a refufal to enter upon any
treaty, unlels the above preliminaries were agreed
to. This was their fixed determination.
When the combined fleet failed from Cadiz, it
confided of 28 fail of the line Spanish, and five
French, making 33 fail of the lir ; there were at
Brest with la Motte Picquet, ten fail of the line;
so that their squadron mull be 43 fail of the line,
instead of 37, as has been mentioned.
Extras of a letter from Plymouth, July 9.
" Yesterday pal Ted by this port to the westward,
If lord Howe does not get out of the channel
very speedily (and the wind is at present very much
against him ; especially as with a force so inferior
to the enemy, he dare not extend his squadron, for
fear of disaster) the loss of great part of our Jamaica
and Leeward island fleets, is reduced almost to a
certainty; as the French well know the dependence
placed on them for sailors to man our ships of war,
and therefore have a double view in intercepting
them.
The duke of Grafton has certainly refufed a very
considerable appointment under the present butter
fly minister !
The independence of America, alluded to by Mr.
Fox and that of the present premier are widely dif
ferent: the latter infills on the sovereignty of the
crown; while the former was for making America
an independent foveteignty, the only terms on which
they will treat.
The debate in the house of commons on Tuesday
last, is universally admitted to have been the most
important ever heard, as it not only involved in it
the cause of Mr. Fox's resignation, and the great
question of American independence, but completely
unfolded the fyttem upon which the present Quix
otte miniftet is to ad
Ihe lat? changes in administration hold out the
profpe& :of a most formidable apportion in rhe en
fning sessions of parliament. Various are the rea
sons afligned for the resignation of the la°e secretary
or date; but as the renouncing of emolument is
the strongest criterion that man can give of his in
tegrity, it is but just to impute the resignation of
Mr. Fox to principle.
Defpatches were yesterday received, brought by
the Antelope packet, at the office of the Southern
Secretary, from General Sir Guy Carleton, at New
l ork. I hey bring the important information, that
he had received a decisive reply from congress, upon
the fubjeft of the proposals which had been sub
mitted to them from this country ; the purport of
which is as follows: That they absolutely refufe to
treat with this country, even upon the acknowledge
ment of their Independence as the basis of it; that
they confider Independence as a blessing already
in their own possession ; that they will not therefore
submit to receive it from any other quarter as a
boon; that they can at this time enter into no treaty
with Great-Britain in which France is not concern
ed; and that every application for a future nego
ciation must be conveyed through their medium.
I he above defpatches operate as a c< mplete de
monstration, that the diftin&ion which took place
in the cabinet between Mr. fox, and his insidious
colleague was by no means a shade, as it was hu
muroudy represented; for had the opinion of the
late Secretary been adopted, all hostilities must have
ceased at once with America, whereas from the
weak principle of making Independence only, the
foundation of a treaty, a concession which it appears
the Americans totally reject, the one or the other
of these effects must follow, that we must permit
them to aflame to themselves what we would not
give, and to preclude the ooflibility of friendship
with them, 01 make our way into their amity and
good graces, through the difgraceful medium of
franco, our old and natural enemy.
I here was something very Significant in the look
of Mr. Fox on Tuesday last in the House of Com
mons, when he whilpered over the table to Gene
ral Conway the few words fence of peace as the
condition of American independence. I his circum
stance admits of a most fair comment; and evident
ly points out, that it was upon this ground that a
contrariety of opinion had obtained in the Cabinet,
is it reasonable to suppose that a great people, such
as the Americans, who have vindicated their privi
leges as citizens of the world, as eredors of a great
empire, are so destitute of every distinctive idea of
their own immunities, eftablilhed by the Magna
Charta of nature, and supported by the sword, will
barter the firft rights of humanity, or except of them
upon file from a nation which ought to aft upon
more liberal sentiments, and to acknowledge Inde
pendency to be the birth-right of nations?—Such
juggling tricks may succeed in the twilight, but can
not have effect when the fun of freedom has arisen,
with a bright though early radiance, to illuminate
the great empire.
Lord John Cavendish, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Burke,
after having yesterday in the House of Commons
severally given the lie direct to what fell from the
new Premier the other day in the House of Lords,
July 15. The present moment may justly be
considered as an awful crisis, that ought to excite
the most publick Applications to Providence, to ex
tend its protection to this isle of liberty.
Yesterday morning an express arrived in tovAi
from Plymouth, with advice, that an express boat
had come there from the grand fleet under lord
Howe, which then consisted of 24 fail of the line.
The combined fleet was at that time 24 leagues
N. E. ofFUfhantand the English fleet off the Lizard,
'half seas over. she foremoft ships of both fleets
were then within fight of each other.
A confirmation of the above intelligence was
yesterday afternoon received at Lloyd's, and with
this addition, that the French were fleering for the
I exel, and lord Howe actually in pursuit of them,
endeavouring if poihble, to give them battle before
they formed their intended junction with the Dutch
fleet.
the grand fleet under the command of Ford Howe,
arid were joined from hence by his majesty's Clip
Suffolk, and the Egmont will follow in a few days.
The Crocodile in the found."
July 16. It is confidently whispered about, that
previous to Mr Fox's resignation of the fcals, the
present firft lord of tire treasury took great pains to
persuade him to continue in oilice, and even went
so far as to allure him, that he Ihould have his own
measures, and that his (lord S's) condud should be
the reverse of what it had been since he came into
administration.
findhed the fusion in a very solemn manner, by fix#
ing an indelible stigma 011 the character ofthe latter:
for the law of God and man concur in affirming^
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every
truth shall be established.
The firft symptom of peace with America that
has attended the earl of Shelburne's administration,
was tile appearance of One Arnold, at the levee,
where he had not ventured to Ihew his face since the
appointment of the marquis of Rockingham to be at
the head of the treasury.
The capture of the Bahama islands form another
article of the catalogue of our territorial losses, and
is another unhappy consequence of the late system.
Nothing has arrived from Gibraltar ; and on the Con
tinent it is implicitly believed, that Admiral Hughes
has been defeated ; and that Hyder Ali has obtained
a victory.
The taking part of the vcffcls bound for Newfound
land, Halifax, Quebec and New-York, evidently de-#
monftrates, how absurd is the cursed war we have
declared against Holland. If Sir John Lockart Ross
had not been obliged to watch the motions of the
enemy in the Textl, our grand fleet defined for
the channel would have failed a long time since,
and prevented that disaster, which is to be attributed
to that imprudence which has weakened our forces,
by augmenting the numberof our European enemies.
Short as the administration of the marquis of
Rockingham was, it must always form a brilliant
point in the dark pages ofthe history of the present
times; the freedom of Parliament having been ex
tended by the expulsion of contractors from the
Houle of Commons, and the freedom of election,
by incapacitating revenue officers from voting for
reprefeii Natives.
I'he mildness of the weather proves extremely for
tunate to the minifterid prints, as they are not only
obliged to whitewash the new millifter, but aifo
blacken the friend of the people.
The present Minister may net be inaptly compar
ed to a certain mercer, who advertises his new
falhioncd silks for summer wear !
SPRINGFIEL D, September 24.
By a gentleman of character, from the State ol
New-York, we are told, that an officer of Delaney's
corps lately made an effort to desert with 30 men,
from his Britiih Majesty's service, and with design
to bring off Delaney himfelf; hoping by thcle means
to obtain the pardon of his countrymen, and it ad
miflible, to enter into the service ofthe United States
but was detected in the attempt, and with fevera
others immediately sent to the provost in irons.
Extract from the Registers of the Council of State
r J 'HE king having been informed, that some per-
A sons abuse the facility granted by the XlVth
article of the Arret of his council, of the 27th o'
August, 1778, concerning prize-goods, by {hipping
under fail, or in foreign countries, goods of English
manufacture, and importing them as prize-goods to
the nations in alliance with his majesty. The king
has judged necessary to explain his intentions. Be
ing willing to provide against this abuse, and having
heard the repoit of the fieur Joly de Fleury, coun
cellor of date in ordinary, and of. the council 0
finance, 7 HE KING BEING PRESENT*)}
COUNCIL, has ordered, and orders, that the good.'
denominated in the said XlVth article of the regu
lation of the 27th of August, 1778, and which can
only be adjudged under the condition of their bein/
sent back to foreign countries, flrall not be allowec
to be shipped from the ports of his kingdom, with
out being accompanied by the extract ofthe verba
process of sale made by the admiralty or the inten
dant or or donnateur of the marine, duly certi
fieri by the greffier, or by the comptroller of th
marine, and attested by the receiver and comptrolle
of the farm-office, who conformably to th
XVlllth article of the fame arret, shall be obligee
to mention that the goods have really been take:
from the entrepot or general deposit- an
shipped on the vessel which they shall design. Hi
majesty forbids the clerks ofthe adjudicataire 0
his farms, under the penalty of losing their office, 0
a greater one if necessary, to fuff'er any part of th
goods in question to be exported, unless the forma
lities have before been gone through.
PHILADELPHI A Odober 1.
OFFICE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
September 30, 1782.
Translation of an arret of his most chrif
tian majesty's council of Rate, prescribing the for
malities to be observed in the Dipping of prize
goods out of the ports of his kingdom.
Done in the council of state, HIS MA
JESTY BEING PRESENT, holde
at Versailles May the 4th, 1782.
Signed, LA CROIX CASTRIES
OCTOBER 5.
Wednesday morning a gentleman arrived in tow
Published. by order of congress.