The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1778-01-28 00:00:00, page 1

tant contents.
You are perfectly acquainted with the part I have
taken in the present unhappy contest. I was indeed
among the firft to bear my public testimony against
having any recourse to threats, or even indulging a
thought of an armed opposition. But the torrent
soon became too strong for my feeble efforts to resist.
I wished to follow my countrymen as far only as
virtue and the righteousness of their cause would
permit me. Iwas, however; prevailed upon among
the rest of my clerical brethren, to gratify the
pressing desires of my fellow citizens by preaching
a sermon to one of the city battalions. Iwas pressed
to publish this sermon, and reluctantly consented.
Fr^m a personal attachment of near twenty years
standing, and an high refped for your character in
private as well as public life, I took the liberty of de
dicating it to you. I had your affectionate thanks for
my performance in a letter, wherein you expressed
in the most delicate and obliging terms your regard
for me, and your withes for a 'continuance of my
friendfnip and approbation of your conduct.
Farther than this I intended not to proceed. My
sermon speaks for,itfelf, and utterly disclaims the idea
of independency. My sentiments were well known
to my friends; I communicated them without re
feree to many refpedable members of Congress, who
expressed a warm approbation of them. I persisted
in^fng the public prayers fcr my Sovereign and the
royal family to the very last moment, tho' threaten
ed with insult from the violence of a party.
On the declaration of independency, I called my
vestry, and solemnly put the queltion to'them, whe
ther they thought it best for the peace and welfare
of the congregations to shut up the churches, or to
continue the service, without using the petitions for
the royal family. This was the fad alternative. I
concluded to abide by their decisions, as I could not
have time to consult my spiritual superiors in Eng
land; They deemed it most expedient, under such
critical circumstances, to keep open the churches,
that the congregations might not be dispersed, which
we had great reason to apprehend.
A very few days after the fatal declaration of in
dependency, I received a letter from Mr. Hancock,
lent by express to Germantown, where my family
were for the summer season, acquainting me, that I
was appointed Chaplain to the Congress, and de
sired to attend at nine D'clock the next morning.
Smprifed and distressed Dy an event I was not pre
pared to expert, obliged to give an immediate an
swer without the opportunity of consulting my friends,
I rashly accepted the appointment. I could have but
one motive for taking this step. I thought the church
es in danger, and hoped by these means to be in
strumental in preventing those evils, I had so much
cause to apprehend. I can, however, with truth de
clare, that I then looked upon independency rather
as an expedient, and an hazardous one indeed, thrown
out in terrorem, in order to procure some favourable
terms, than as a measure that was seriously to be
persisted in at ah events. My sudden change of con
duct will clearly evince this to have been my idea of
the matter.
From the Pennsylvania Ledger of December 17, 1777 t
printed by % Humphreys, jun. in Philadelphia.
SI R,
IF this letter should happen to find you in coun
cil or in the field, before you read another
sentence I beg you to take the firft opportuni
ty of retiring, and weighing well its impor-
Upon the return of the Committee of Congress ap
pointed to confer- with Lord Howe, I soon difeo
vered their real intentions. The different accounts,
which each 'member of the committee gave of this
conference, the time they took to make up the mat
ter for the public view, and the amazing disagree
ment betwixt the newspaper account and the relati
on I myfelf had from the mouth of one of the com
mittee, convinced me, that there mult have been
some unfair and ungenerous procedure. Their de
termination to treat on no other ground than that
of independency, which put it out of his Lordship's
power to mention any terms at all, was a fufficient
proof to me, that independency was the idol whicli
they had long wished to set up, and that, rather
than facrifice this, they would deluge their country
in blood.
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. I.]
Philadelphia, October 8, 1777.
WEDNESDAY, January 28, <778.
From this moment I determined upon my resig
nation; and, in the beginning of October 1776, sent
it in form to Mr.' Hancock, after having officiated
only two months and three weeks : And from that
time, as far as my fafety would permit, I have been'
uniformly opposed to all their measures. This cir
cumstantial account of my conduct I think due to
the friendfhip you. were so obliging as to express for
me, and I hope will be fufficient to juftify any seem
ing inconsistencies in the part I have acted.
And now, my dear Sir, fuffer me, in the language
of truth and real affection, to address myfelf to you.
All the world must be convinced, that you engaged
in the service of your country, from motives per
fectly disinterested. You rjfqued every thing that
was dear to you. You abandoned all thole sweets
of domestic life, of which your affluent fortune gave
you an uninterrupted enjoyment. But had you?
could you have had the lead idea of matters being
carried to such a dangerous extremity, as they are
now ? Your most intimate friends, at that time, Ihud
dered at the thought of a separation from the mother
country ; and I took it for granted, that your senti
ments coincided with theirs. What have been the
consequences of this rath and violent measure? A
degeneracy of representation, confulion of councils,
blunders without number. The ihoft refpeCtable
characters have withdrawn themfeives, and are suc
ceeded by a great majority of illiberal and violent
menc
Are the dregs of a congress then, still to influence
a mind like yours! These are not the men whom you
engaged to serve. These are not the men that Ame
rica has chosen to represent her now. Molt of them
elected by a little low faction, and the few gentlemen
that are among them, now well known to be upon
the balance, and looking up to your hand alone to
move the beam. It is you, Sir, and you alone, that
support the present Congress. Of this you mult be
fully sensible. Long before they left Philadelphia,
their dignity and consequence was gone. What must
they be now, since their precipitate retreat? I write
with freedom, but without invective. I know these
things to be true; and I write to one whose own
observation must have convinced him, that they
are so.
Take an impartial view of the present Congress.
What can you expect from them ? Your feelings mult
be greatly hurt by the representation from your na
tive province. You have no longer a Randolph, a
Bland, or a Braxton —men whose names will ever be
revered, whose demands never role above the firft
ground on which they set out; and whose truly ge
nerous and virtuous sentiments, I have frequently
heard with rapture from their own lips. Omy dear
Sir! what a fad coatraft ! Characters now present
themselves, whose minds can never mingle with your
own. Your Harrison alone remains, and he dilguft
ed with his unworthy associates.
As to those of my own province, some of them are
so obfeure, that their very names have never met
my ears before, and others have only been distin
guished for the weakness. of their underftandiugs and
the violence of their tempers. One alone I except
from the general charge; a man of virtue, dragged
reluctantly into their measures, and restrained by
some falfe ideas of honour from retracting, after hav
ing gone too far. You cannot be at a iofs to dis
cover whose name answers to this character.
From the New-England provinces can you find one,
that as a gentleman you could wish to associate with,
unless the foft and mild address of Mr. Hancock can
atone for his want of every other qualification neces
sary for the Ration he fills; "bankrupts, attornies,
and men of desperate fortune, are his colleagues.
Maryland no longer fends a Tilghman and a pro
testant Carroll. Carolina has loft her Lynch, and
the elder Middleton has retired.
After this view of Congress, turn to your army.
All the world know that its very exigence depends
upon you ; that your death or captivity disperses it
in a moment, and that there is not a man on that
fide of the question in America capable of Succeeding
you. As to the army itfelf, what have you to ex
pert from them ? Have they not frequently abandon
ed even yourfelf in the hour of extremity? Have
you, can you have the lead confidence in a set of
undisciplined men and officers, many of whom have
been taken from the lowest of the people, without
principle, without courage. Take away those that
THE
surround your person, and how very few are there,
that you can ask to fit at your table ?
Turn to your little navy. Of that little, what is
left? Of the Delaware fleet, part are taken, the rest
must soon surrender. Of those in the other pro
vinces, some are taken, one or two at sea, and the
others lying unmanned and unrigged in their harbours.
And now, where are your resources ? Oh my dear
Sir! How sadly have you been abused by a faction
void of truth, and void of tenderness to you and
your country ? They have amused you with hopes
of a declaration of war on the part of France. Believe
me, from the best authority, it was a fidlion from,
the firft. Early in the year 1776, a French gentle
man was introduced to me, with whom I became
intimately acquainted. His business, to all appear
ance, was to speculate in the mercantile way. But
I believe it will be known, that in his own country,
he moved in a higher sphere. He saw your camp.
He became acquainted with all your military prepa-.
rations. He was introduced to Congress, and en
gaged with them in a commercial contract. In the
course of our intimacy, he has frequently told me,
that he hoped the Americans would never think of
independency. He gave me his reasons, " Indepen
dency, said he, can never be supported, unless France
should declare war against England. I well know
the Rate of her finances. Years to come will not
put them in a situation to venture upon a breach
with England. At this moment, there are two par
ties at the court of Versailles, one enlisted under the
Duke of Choifeul, the other under Count Maurepas.
Choifeul ha's no chance of succeeding—he is violent
for war. Maurepas must get the better —he is for
ceconomy and peace." This was his information,
which I mentioned to several members of Congress.
They treated it as a fable; depending intirely on
the intelligence from Dr. Franklin. The truth of
the matter is this: Dr Franklin built upon the suc
cess of Choifeul. Upon his arrival in France, he
found him out of place, his counsels reprobated,
and his party dwindled to an infignificant faction.
This you may depend upon to be the true state of
the court of France. And farther, by a vast number
of letters, found on board prizes taken by the King's
ships, it appears, that all commerce with the mer
chants of France, through whom alone the supplies
have been conveyed, will soon be at an end, the let
ters being full of complaints of no remittances from
America, and many individuals having greatly fuf
fered on that account.
From your friends in England you have nothing to
expert, their numbers are diminished to a cypher;
the spirit of the whole nation is in full activity against
you. A few founding names among the nobility,
though perpetually rung in your ears, are said to be
without chamber, without influence. Disappointed
ambition, I am told, has made them desperate ; and
that they only wish to make the deluded Americans
instruments of their revenge. All orders and ranks
of men in Great-Britain are now unanimous, and
determined to rifque their all in the contest. Trade
and manufactures are found to flourish, and new
channels are continually opening, that will perhaps
more than supply the loss of the old.
In a word, your harbours are blocked up, your
cities fall one after another; fortrefs after fortrefs,
battle after battle is loft. A British army, after hav
ing passed almost unmolested thro' a vast extent of
country, have possessed themfeives with ease of the
capital of America. How unequal the contest how !
How fruitlefs the expence of blood !
Under so many discouraging circumstances, can
virtue, can honour, can the love of your country,
prompt you to persevere ? Humanity itfelf (and fare
i am, humanity is no Granger to your breast) calls
upon you to desist. Your army must perish for want
of common neceffafics, or thousands of innocent fa
milies must perish to support them. Where-ever the,
encamp, the country must be impoverished. Where
ever they march, the troops of Britain will pursue,
and must complete the devastation, which America,
herfelf had begun.
Perhaps it may be said, that it is " better to die
than to be Haves." This indeed is afplendid maxim
in theory, and perhaps in some instances may be
found experimentally true. But where there is the
least probability of an happy accommodation, surely
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