The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1780-07-26 00:00:00, page 1

I FIND that some notice has been taken in your
paper of the barbarous murder of Mrs. Cald
well, near Elizabeth-Town, by the British sol
diers. This is not the firft nor a lingular in
flance of their brutality ; yet from several circumstan
ces it is no wonder that it drew the attention of the
public: She was an amiable woman —the wife of a
clergyman—the mother of nine young children —and
in her disposition one of the most meek and inoffenlive
persons in the country. The murder was committed
not only without immediate provocation, but by a piece
of deliberate and refined malice ; it was projected and
executed to be revenged on the hulband for espousing
the cause of his country : I add, that the malice was
pure as well as refined, for there war no policy in the
measure at all. Had they carried his wile off a pri
loner and kept her in their hands, it might have been
expeded that this would prove a restraint upon his
activity against them, but to put her to death was an
aft of unmixed malignity, for all the effect it could
be supposed to have was to kindle resentment in his
breast. I hope however it will not be in one bread
only that this resentment will be kindled, but that
the whole country, holding in detestation this lavage
barbarity, will exert themselves with unremitted vi
gour to expel the murderers from our coast. Some
times, as Montefquicu observes, a tingle instance of
cruelty that is somewhat remarkable lets fire to the
indignation of a people which had been long ripen
ing, tho' silently, under repeated ads of opprellion.
Thus Lucretia's misfortune occasioned the expulsion
of the Tarquins from Rome, and the still more me
lancholy fate of Virginia, killed by her own father to
lave her from the luff of Appius one of the Decemvirs,
occasioned the deposition of that whole body of ty
rants. These were both ladies; and it would seem
that among a brave and free people virtue and honor
are kindled into a fiercer rage by an injury done to
one of the weaker sex than to a man, be the circum
stances in other refpedts ever so firiking..
I am for my own part, Mr. Printer, a theoretical
or speculative whig ; that is to fay, I embraced that
cause more from principle than from pallion ; more
from a deliberate judgment on the rights of mankind
and the future benefit to the public in general that
must arise from independence, than from any oppref-
Son I had myfelf fuffered before, or any good J ex
pected to receive after the fuccefsful issue ofthe con
test : Therefore I have been accustomed to make many
general, political, and moral observations on the state
and conduct ofthe quarrel from time to time. Among
others, as soon as I clearly perceived that the public
mind was on the fide of liberty, that the great body
of the people, as General Burgoyne exprelies it, was
ewith the Congress in principle and in zeal, J concluded
that whatever vicissitudes there might be in the mili
tary operations, the final settlement must be in favour
of America. The nature of things is on her lide. All
who have extensive views of the course of human af
fairs, and the causes of political revolutions, mult be
of that opinion. Accordingly it is laid that'thc cele
brated historian, Dr. Robertson, obleryed very early
to some ofthe great men in office, that if they did not
suppress this rebellion the firlt year, they never would
be able to effect it.
The final success of America then appeared to me
to be certain, whatever menfures her enemies had
pursued ; but by the peculiar order of Divine Provi
dence Lord North, or whoever had the lupreme di
t^dion of affairs in England, in every llep they took
contributed to afeertain, promote, and accelerate the
Separation. We have now done talking and writing
about the Ads of Parliament passed at the firlt ap
.pearance of American resistance, but posterity will
wonder at them in two rtfpeds: £. At the cruelty ;
and, 2. At the ill policy that appears m them.
I. They will wonder that a body of men represent
ing a great nation should be found io unfeeling and
barbarous as to pal's what the people here very justly
called the murder ad. This ad ordained even before
the separation, that persons charged with murdering
Americans, then their fubjeds, should not be tried in
that country, but brought over to England, that is
to fay, as every body understood it, fliould not be
punished but rewarded. Who did not perceive at
one glance that a candid trial in such cases was not
to be expeded, and indeed that in most cases of the
kind any trial at all was wholly impossible. Could
this barbarity be exceeded ? Yes : It was exceeded by
that ad which ordered Americans taken at sea, to be
turned before the mast, and.obliged to kill their rela
tions and friends. Some of the English writers have
told us that they had a right to put us all to death,
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
To the Printer of the New-Jersey Gazette.
SI R,
[Vol. IV.]
WEDNESDAY, July 26, 1780.
2. It will also be matter of wonder in future times
that they should imagine barbarity was the Way either
to reconcile or to subdue a numerous and brave peo
ple, inhabiting so extensive and so dittant a country.
Piobably somebody will fay with aßonifbment, If there
were no politicians, were there also no philosophers
in England at that time ? Was there nobody that un
derstood human nature ? Was there nobody acquaint
ed with the hiflory of their own or other countries ?
Did persecution ever extinguiih a religious fed ? or
did cruelty ever cflabhih a lecure and permanent au
thority ? Suffer me to put my countrymen in mind of
what happened in the close ofthe year 1776. When
General Waihingtou's army melted away almost to
nothing by the expiration of the times of the soldiers
enlistments, the English army over ran a great part of
New-Jersey, and took up their polls in a line from
Hudson's to Delaware river. From the suddenness
of the irruption the people were confounded, and as
was natural enough, their own country being poffc ff
ed by the enemy, there were not wanting many who
thought the cause was hopeless. If in these circum
stances the Englilh had behaved with gcntlenefs or
with justice ; if they had protested every person in
his property, and made no enquiry what part any
man had foi merly acted, it teems probable to me that
most of those who could not remove their property
and effeds, would have remained very queit for that
fealon. Jam far from thinking that this would have
gained their cause itfelf, yet would it have made their
interest stronger by much in the country than ever it
has been since. But happily for the general good,
they were vain enough to think that, as some ofthem
expressed it, the whole affair would be over in two
or three weeks, and therefore began to aft as con
querors, giving us a fair earned ot what they would
do if ever they should be really so. They opprefled
the country in general by the most arbitrary orders
and exactions, and treated every friend of liberty
with intuit, injustice, and cruelty, as may be seen in
the publication by Congress at that time from the
most authentic testimonies. If any expostulated, some
ol the proud underlings who traiteroufiy assisted in
plundering and peeling their neighbours would fay,
Remember your former conduct, —whigs must expect
to fuller, —} on was out a tory-hunting but the other
day.
What was the consequence ? The body of the peo
ple no longer able to bear to fee their effects plunder
ed by two or three marauding soldiers, sometimes by
a fingie horseman, twenty miles from their quarters,
betook themieives to arms ; and the militia, with
very little assistance from the continental army, drove
them from ail their other polts, and confined them to
Brunswick and Amboy. This resolution was taken
and began to be executed even before the taking of
the Heflians at Trenton, and the battle of Princeton.
These happy and glorious events providentially oc
curring, gave great spirit to the country, and brought
the efforts of the voluntary insurgents under the di
rection of the Commander in Chief. But I must al
ways attribute the extraordinay efforts of the New-
Jersey militia ever since that time, which have been
confeffed and applauded by every state on the conti
nent, in a great measure to the barbarity of the Eng
lish while they poffclted a great part of their countiy.
I would not willingly derogate from the valour of my
countrymen, which was spoken of with so much ho
nour last war, but I am confident none of them will
deny that a just indignation against falfe-hearted trai
ters and unfeeling ravagers added ftrengtb to their
arm, and made their exertions at once more vigorous
and more virtuous. What was the reason that when
General Washington called for the militia in Novem
and therefore to inflid this punishment which was
less than death ; on which I fhail only fay, what hearts
must these persons have who do not perceive that this
was fifty times worse than any death they could in
did. Acts of cruelty in the field committed by single
ruffians vanish in a manner entirely in the eye of tea
fon when compared with ads of a numerous assem
bly, which are intended to have a general and perpe
tual operation, which must be thrice gravely read be
fore they are passed, and then deliberately assented
to, i. e. approved and enforced by a mofl gracious so
vereign. Well, is there any thing still worse than
this, or more wonderful behind? Yes: That in the
King's speeches from the throne, and in the pream
bles to the Ads of Parliament you will find them ex
tolling their own lenity even when every ad they pas
sed filled this whole continent with resentment and
horror. Posterity will wonder at all this, but cir
cumstanced as we are we have no reason to be fur
prized that mercenary soldiers should breathe the
spirit of him who employs them, or execute the cruel
purposes of the Parliament which pays them.
THE
ber 1776, to assist in flopping the enemy's inroad into
the country the time was thought too Ihort, and no
thing effectual was done ? But when he called for as
sistance in the June following, to hinder them from
penetrating the country a second time, within twenty
four hours after firing the beacons there assembled at
Princeton alone upwards of 5000 men. We owed that
to Gen. Howe's possessing Princeton twenty-fix days
in December, 1776 ; and many may remember it was
usual to fay in the spring, 1777, that where Congress
had made one whig, Gen. Howe had made ten.
The mention of that gentleman's name leads me to
introduce a fad which has always appeared to me the
most complete and undeniable proof, and indeed su
perior to every other of the vindictive and implacable
spirit by which our enemies are actuated. We are
assured, and 1 believe upon good evidence, that Gen.
Howe is now in disgrace at the Court of Britain, and
one of the charges against him is his too great lenity
in his treatment of the Americans. Hear, Oye in
habitants of New-Jersey, will you not do juliice even
to an enemy, and vindicate him from so groundless
an afperlion ? Let your empty houses and plundered
country tell the lenity of General Howe—let the pri
sons of New-York, and the vast numbers starved with
hunger or fuffocabed with stench, tell the lenity of
General Howe—let the ghastly fpedres who by ami
racle efeaped death in their hands, and passed through
this country after their exchange, tell the lenity of
General Howe. I speak of things universally known
and therefore shall not enlarge. But what must be
the hearts of that King and Ministry who were not
fatisfied with the horrible carnage.
I intended to have concluded this letter by a cool
and critical examination of an assertion of several of
the writers in Rivington's and other New-York pa
pers; for the King of Great-Britain has officers who
can write as well as fight, perhaps better. The as
sertion I mean is, That humanity is the charaderif
tick of the English nation. But having already taken
up too much room in your paper, I defer it to an
other opportunity.
From a BOSTON PAPER of JULY 3.
Copy of a letter from Mortfieur De la Touche, Com
mander of his Most Chrifian Majeflfs frigate the
Hermoine, to Capt. Hanker, ts the British frigate
the Iris.
On board the French frigate, L'Her-
S I R, moine, June 22.
J READ both with furprize and indignation the ac
count of the action which took place between us
the 7th instant, publiflied in the New-York paper of
hi icth. I cannot imagine that a commander of his
Britannic Majesty's frigate is so loft to the dignity of
Lis own character, and so destitute of truth (the
foundation of all military virtue) as to have reccurfe
to the vilest imposture, to perluade the world he had
an advantage over an enemy, which he himfelf knows
he never gained.
I flatter myfelf that Rivington, the Printer, has,
on this occasion, indulged his natural propensity of
perverting fads and publishing falfhood instead of
truth ; should this be the case, the assertion deserves
only contempt; but I exped from your justice, and
from your honour, a contradiction of so falfe an ac
count as that of my pretended flight, and the appear
ance of an American frigate at the end of the com
bat, otherwise you must be considered as the author.
In the account I have transmitted to my Court of
this engagement, I did justice to the manner in which
you met me; I confefs it was in such away as merits
my elteem, and I fliould be exceeding sorry to be o
bligcd to change my opinion, which I must do, if
you do not render that justice which is my due.
I intended to attack you, Sir, from the firft mo
ment I difeovered you, and bore down on you for
that purpose: You appeared to me to possess the fame
sentiments, as you met me half way. Your conduct,
both before and during the action, was that of a man
worthy of the command with which you are entrust
ed; but you impose on the world, if you assert that
I fled from you ; and you have very little knowledge
of me, if you imagine that I ihall ever be branded
with the shame of dying from an enemy of equal force.
Your shot having damaged my rigging as much as I
am convinced the hull of your ship fuffered from my
fire, it was out of my power togain the windward to
renew the action ; you could bear down on me for
that purpose whenever you pleased, as your fails and
rigging were in a situation vastly superior to mine.—
When I perceived you hauled your wind, I attribut
ed your retreat to th'e number of men you had loft ;
of which I am persuaded by the slackness of your fire.
And am, Sir, &c.
ARISTIDES.
[Numb. 135.]