The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1784-08-23 00:00:00, page 1

To the Printer of the New-Jersey Gazette.
SI R,
STRANGE it is, that a man who is ever ob
truding his advice upon others, should not be
able in his turn to take the salutary counsel of
Scipio, to write not at all. For consider
ing his talents for composition by the specimen of his
advertisement, and the great probability there was of
his making the matter worse and worse, the longer he
continued his publications, all the world agreed that
it was the most wholesome and friendly admonition
that could be given. But instead of governing him
felf accordingly, the publick is again pestered with his
elaborate fubterfuges to elude a fair trial. For those
very exparte affidavits, by which he hath already im
posed upon a former aflembly, are now ushered into
this breathing world, with the like ungenerous design
of milleading the people. He well knows that they
are no evidence, for he has been a judge under our
constitution, as well as a humble servant to General
Howe, and a liege fubjed to king George after hav
ing sworn allegiance to the state. But if they mere
legal proof, to what do they amount ? Do they prove
that the money loft was all the publick money of
which he was poffeffed?—No. That it was not loft
through his neglect, or by deliberate design? —No.
That he had not Secured the better half of it to his
own use, before the pretended accident ?—No. That
he could not easier have crossed the Delaware and
been perfectly fafe, than to have fetched such a cir
cuitous route as he did before he threw himfelf at the
feet of the British General, who, 1 dare fay, was not
the less complaisant to him for wandering with the
money from Dan to Beerfheba, until it fell so cle
verly and so slyly into the enemy's hands ?—No. In
short, there never was a more impudent attempt to
elude the justice of the country, than thus to prejudice
the people in his favour by publishing expatte affida
vits, before the state has had an opportunity to pro
duce their evidence against him. Does he mean to
have the cause tried in the news-papers? or by some
tory jury in the swamp? If I could really persuade
myfelf that our Legislature would refufe their consti
tuents their undoubted right of a legal prosecution
against him, anc that the cause must be finally deter
mined by a paper war, I should aflame a very differ
ent manner of writing. I have hitherto never asserted
that he is guilty, because I want not to pre-judge the
cause, but to have him tried by an impartial jury of
his country. But if the good people of this state can
not obtain that manifeft piece of justice, and the af
fair must be decided by the world at large, I shall
also take affidavits, I shall differ his affidavits. I
shall adduce law. I shall sum up evidence. I shall
disprove the falfehood of his going into the enemy's
lines on account of the indisposition of his family,
which, with notable impudence, and all the solemnity
of oath and eyebrow, hath been so frequently asserted.
I shall prove that he was determined to take a pro
tection before the enemy entered Trenton ; and, in
one word, I shall draw him in his true colours. But
this, my dear countrymen, besides the disagreeable
ness of the talk, would not produce the cash. It
would not alleviate your taxes. It would not judi
cially convict this man of mal-pradtice in his office;
nor prove him upon record an apostate and turn-coat.
I want a fair trial; and I am told that some of his
best friends are so sensible of the absolute necessity of
such a trial, to vindicate his character, if he be really
innocent, that they threaten to desert him, unless he
calls for it himfelf.
To these ridiculous depositions Mr. Advertiser has
been pleased to subjoin the titles of several acts of
Assembly, for the relief of certain publick officers,
refpe&ing the loss of certain sums of publick money,
of which they had been refpeCtively robbed or plun
dered. He has indeed shewn the modesty not to draw
any express inference from those acts, or explicitly to
apply them to his own case. He knew that there
was not the remotest relation or affinity between them.
And yet the more artfully to draw his less observant
readers into this error, he fays in the introduction to
his paper, that they are almofl similar cases. Almost
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. VII.]
TRENTON: Printed by ISAAC COLLIN S, Printer to the State.
MON DA Y, August 23, 1784.
fmilar! and what is that? Is not a cat almost si
milar to a king, since each of them has one nose, two
eyes, two ears, and are generally both of them ani
mals of prey? Almost fonilar is not, I presume,
qui^e similar ; and things not quite fmilar, I also
presume, may properly be called dissimilar. Thus
the similarity of his case, to those he has quoted,
amounts to this, that it is very different from them ;
or, if you will, about as much like them as an egg is
to an elephant, or a renegade to a faithful whig. —
This will appear evident upon the least reflexion. In
the instances he has collected, the Legislature aCted
wifely and honourably in relieving those officers. It was
fully proved to both houses that they had been plun
dered or robbed, by publick enemies or intestine
burglers.—That they took as much care of the pub
lick money as they did of their own.—That they kept
it where it ought to be kept, in their houses ; and in
the securest part of those houses—and that they did
not cart it about the country (as a felon condemned
to be whipped in every diftrift of a county) to allure
the enemy after it. Neither did it appear that one of
them went into the enemy's lines under pretence of
his family's being lick, when it was in perfect health.
Thus while they justly obtained laws for their indem
nification, he has not been able to procure more than
the vote of one branch of the Legislature in his fa
vour, the other loudly calling for a legal trial, with
the whole state wondering at its being thus long de
layed; and whence it is that Mr. Tucker should be
the only man in New-Jersey who is not amenable to
the law.
His extracts from the journals of the Assembly ra
ther militate against him, as he thereby appears in
debted to the state by his own shewing in the sum of
£. 5818 16 3, and are only published by him for the
fake of introducing, with the better grace, those dar
ling affidavits, which he knows would, in a court of
justice, avail him nothing. But since he hath set me
the example of entertaining the publick by re-print
ing extracts from those journals relating to himfelf, I
hope to be indulged in the liberty of concluding this
paper with a short extract from the minutes of Coun
cil, and a longer one from the journals of Assembly,
the firft of which, how this non-argumentative logi
cian could, as an honest man, suppress, upon the pre
sent occasion, while he profeffes to give his fellow-ci
tizens a candid state of his case, as it Hands upon the
journals of the Legislature, is best known to him
felf.
" The Council having taken into confederation the
report of Mr. Caldwell, from the committee appoint
ed the 13th December, 1780, for the purpose of fet
tling the accounts of Mr. Tucker, late treasurer of
the provincial Congress ; and having deliberated on
the evidence produced by Mr. Tucker in support of
the last charge in his account, as Rated in the jour
nals of the Assembly of the 17th of February, 1777,
" Refolded, That this house do disagree to the said
last charge, as Rated in said Mr. Tucker's account.
" Resolved therefore, That the Attorney-General
of this Rate be directed to recover the said balance of
Five Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighteen Pounds
Sixteen Shillings and Three-pence, or such part
thereof as may appear to be due from the said Mr.
Tucker, and to pay the fame into the hands of the
treasurer of this Rate for the time being."
The following extraCt is only intended to Ihew that
this gentleman is an old finner in the business of ac
cusing and persecuting others, when himfelf is the
criminal; though had it not been for his surreptiti
ously concluding his piece with four lines from a ce
lebrated poet, without giving the least credit to the
author, I should really have hoped that he had quit
ted another branch of his quondam business, consider
ing with what a rubber he met at his firft fitting out.
See Barne's cases de latrociniis clam & fecrcte, title
Portefeuille. —Lib. H. fol. 133.
Friday, November 3, 1769.
" Resolved nemine contradicente, That the said
Samuel Tucker hath charged fees in his account
against the plaintiff, Thomas Prior, junior, not al
lowed by law.
" Resolved, That he hath taken poundage on
THE
£• B °s J 5 "v when he recovered only £. 130 for
'^ plaintiff; therefore he hath overcharged the plain
''"£• 8 8 10, and £. 1 5 for advertising and at
tending not allowed by law."
Saturday, November 4, 1769.
" The house resuming the consideration of the mat
ter heard and referred yeftefday, Mr. Tucker desired
leave to withdraw during the determination thereon;
and he withdrew accordingly. Whereupon, after
some time spent therein,
Resolved, That it is the opinion of this house,
that the taking of fees by any fheriff or other officer
of this government, other than those that are allowed
by the laws of this province, is illegal, a high mis
demeanor, andra very great grievance.
Refolded, That it is the opinion of this house,
that the said Samuel Tucker hath taken excefae and
illegal fees, and that the fame is oppressive, and a
very great grievance."
I liis was the result of a prosecution he set on foot
(to render himfelf popular) against the lawyers, for
charging exorbitant fees, of which not one of them
was convicted, if you except about a half-crown ar
ticle in the case of Mr. Legrange, who, like himfelf,
joined the enemy in the late war. But how he came
off himfelf as fheriff of Hunterdon refpeCting his own
extortions, the above proceedings shew. Once more,
friend Tucker, write not at all, but account legally
to your country.
S C I P I O.
§^^§^^§ x ^§§e§^ft§§£^
Foreign Intelligence.'
P AR I S, May 25.
IT is said, that the duke de Choifeul is to go im^
mediately for London. His business is concern
ing a treaty of commerce between the Engiilh and
French merchants. The one are to encourage agri
culture and manufactories, and the other to export
the merchandize which is the production of the French
manufactories. 1 hefe mercantile plans suit the genius
of both nations, the one being naturally commercial,
and the other excellently situated for agriculture and
mechanicks.
L O N D O N, June 5 —8.
The Dutch patriots, or those that assume that name,
are playing the fame game with the Prince es Orange
which the Coalition party endeavoured lately to car
ry on with our sovereign; and French intrigues are
said to be there, as they certainly were here, the en
gines of those seditious practices. We wilh, for the
good of mankind, the factions in Holland may meet
with the fame complete overthrow as those in this
country. The Stadtholder has a good example be
fore him; and if he observes the fame Ready and pru
dent conduct, there can be little doubt of his obtain
ing soon an equal triumph over his enemies.
There was a great deal of asperity and personal al
tercation in the debate of Thursday morning; parti
cularly between lord Mulgrave and Mr. Sheridan
and also between the fame noble lord and Mr. Fox.
His lordihip gave Mr. Sheridan the curious name of
non exigent Secretary. Having also applied the ex
pression offuffling tricks to the proceedings of the
opposition, Mr. Fox got up and charged him with the
most indecent and ungentlemanly conduct; for which
he was called to order by almost the whole house.
Mr. Fox was upon his legs at least twenty times, and
could not keep his temper for a quarter of an hour
together.
Lord Maitland made inadvertently a laughable
avowal of the designs of his party. He said his in
tentions were not only to delay publick business ; tho'
he did not mention what the other motives were.
Mr. Atkinson, secretary to Hood and Wray's
committee, went through an examination of above
seven hours ; he answered most of the interrogatories
put to him with infinite promptitude and fpirir.
Lord Mahon proposed a question to the evidence,
that might be truly laid to be a damning one to the
complaints of Mr. Fox, viz. Whether Mr. Fox him
felf had not declared, when he was behind the other
[Numb. 328.]