The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1778-08-12 00:00:00, page 1

From the Pennsylvania Packet.
To their Excellencies Lord Carlifle, William Eden, Sir
Henry Clinton., and George Johnftone, Enquires,
Commtfioners, &c. &c.
Gentlemen,
ALTHOUGH personally a stranger to
each of you, yet having the honour
and happiness of being an individual of
that number, to whom you propofc an
appeal in your dispute with our Ho
norable Congress, I claim your atten
" tion while I write with decency.
A knowledge of fafts may be absolutely necessary
to your appealing with propriety, and forming a
judgment of the success of your appeal when made.
You are come to this country on a serious and im
portant errand to propose terms of accommoda
tion and re-union with the crown and kingdom of
Great-Britain, a kingdom once dear to every Ame
rican as his own soul —a people with whom we were
once nearly allied, and with whom we thought our
selves happy in making up one entire family. I think
myfelf no ways chargeable with vanity, when I fay,
that Great-Britain had not within her extensive do
minions, a more loyal and affectionate people than
those of North-America. To this people and to this
country you are come, and have made the firft over
tures of peace and reconciliation. Previous to the
confidcration of the terms, the ieverai fads that have
taken place since our difficulties arose, as well as our
present situation on each fide of the queftipn, should
be fully known and clearly stated.
It is agreed, that at a certain period, the Ameri
can colonies, considering themfelvcs as part of the
great whole, or rather as children of one common
father, but in a minority, submitted to the authority
of Great-Britain with a filial obedience, unparalleled
in the history of mankind. In tnis state, we thought
of nothing but labouring for her . welfare. anilh^-
produce oialfbur toil was eonftanJy exported to
that little island of Britain, in such manner as it was
her policy to direCt and her interest to receive ; In re
turn, we imported on her own terms such things on
ly as it was her interest to fena us, and that to the
exclusion of all other trading nations
Every other advantage that could be reasonably de
sired was yielded; even the appointment of two
branches of our legislature, and the final determina
tion of all civil causes whatever —we paid her taxes
by the purchase of her goods, and fought her battles
by her fide, in which we had little or no interest. By
adopting her luxuries, our consumption of her ma
nufactures and other merchandize amounted in the
year 1773 to near three millions sterling.
In this situation, the unbounded avarice of her Mi
nisters led them to venture the endangering of the
peace of the unfufyeding colonies, in order to cncreafe
their emoluments, by Irawing a substantial and per
manent revenue from them. For this end a variety of
,Arrangements were made, charters altered, govern
ments new modelled, legislatures suspended, trade
retrained, fifheries prohibited, and the more effectu
ally to enforce these measures, a standing army was
posted amongst us, and our harbours filled with ships
of war. To remove these evils, the most humble pe
titions, the inoft dutiful remonstrances, proceeded
from almost every separate Afiembly on the continent
to the throne of our common father, and to our bre
thren on the other fide of the Atlantic, as represented
in Parliament. But it was laid these Assemblies were
but partial representatives of the people, they were
not joined by the other branches of the legislatures,
(the creatures of the crown) and therefore could not
be heard. To these fuccecded the joint petitions of
the numerous inhabitants of Thirteen United Colo
nies, actually and specially represented in a General
Congrcls. This, it was said, was an unconstitutional
body, not known in law, and therefore they ought
not to be heard. Thus 'he most decent recapitulati
on of their rights, added to the melt dutiful and
.earned petitions of upwards of two millions of loyal
prostrate fubjeCts, only to be heard, a privilege due
to the meanest vassal, were laid at the foot of the
throne in vain, while all the forebodings of the dread
ed consequences of their rejection, were treated with
equal scorn and contempt. —In this unhappy predi
cament, while in the very aft of surrounding the
throne with our complaints, and rending the heavens
with our cries, the British Ministry, depending on
the weakness of this distressed country, and that by
driving her to despair, they might draw a new source
of riches from her forfeitures, add insult to injury,
and not fat^fied with ' rejecting our petitions un
" heard, pensioning our judges, garbling our juries,
" confronting the free debates of our Assemblies, and
" Gonfifeating %r charters, grown idl by feudist
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. hl
WEDNESDAY, August 12, 1778.
orders to drench the sword in the innocent blood of
a suppliant people. " The firft shedding of civil blood
'' was thus wantonly precipitated by Ministerial or
" ders, even before any pretended plan of conciliati
" on could be proposed," but a spirited and reason
able opposition on the part of the colonies, soon con
vinced her enemies that the would not fuffcr with
indignant lilence. Notwithstanding all this, like chil
dren who reluctantly resent (though justly provoked)
a parent's ill-timed severity, yet desirous to return
to an ancient and deep-rooted affection, we again re
peat our importunate cries to be heard, that thereby
the impending storm being averted, returning peace
might again bless this once happy land, " as a proof
" of the sincerity of our desires of peace, we alledge,
" that we have not called in the rivals of their gran
" dear" to our aid, notwithstanding the ill treatment
we had received and the necessity of our affairs.
The answer was, the exultation of the Minister at
our unaffected humility, and a vain parade ''that it
" was with fatisfaCtion, that his Majesty had receiv
" ed friendly offers of foreign affiftance,'' and the echo
cf the British Parliament " that they would chearfully
" enable his Majesty to avail himfelf of the offer."
That very offer we with filial affection rejected, the
British nation, with an unrelenting barbarity, and in
violation of their constitution, chearfully enable his
Majelty (already obstinate in spite of experience) to
accept to his fwifter destruction
The dye was caft—foreign alliances were formed, and
German slaves were hired, at an enormous price, to
deluge a land of liberty in loyal blood.
Many of your unhappy nation, astonished at the
diabolical plan, left no argument unsupported, nor
any mealure unehayed, to open the eyes of your
blind, deluded nation, and to induce them by a time
ly reconciliation and pru^tiaiacknowledgments, to
tread back the ground on which vhy LwU ro Ummge#
oufly advanced.—Propofols for peace and amity were
urged with such exertions of the powers of reasoning
and eloquence, that one would have thought, like
Orpheus of old, they would have moved the very
stones to an assent.—What is the event? to use the
words of one of those worthies, who yet kept alive
the dying embers of expiring liberty: " The noble
" Lord of the American department has uniformly
" and invariably declared upon principle, that a total
" and unconditional fubmiliion, an entire surrender
" of their property and their charters, were with
" him, the indispensable preliminaries of any treaty
" of peace," and that the Minister " would not in
" the least degree recede from their terms of uncon
" ditional fubmiflion, to be enforced by the sword."
To confirm this doctrine, thousands of troops,
both foreign and domestic, are year after year trans
ported to our peaceful Ihores, to carry into execu
tion the nefarious design. Our coast is lined with
ships of war and our harbours are filled with these
ministers of vengeance.
In this situation what shall a reasonable people do ?
a people reduced to the lowest ebb, without arms,
without ammunition, without soldiers, ships or mo
ney, unskilled in the art of war, and averse to the
shedding of a brother's blood, flying before a pow
erful enemy and destitute of resources of every kind,
except that of a determined spirit to live or die in
freedom. The answer is plainly juftified by our ene
mies in our necessities, cur petitions might with ex
pected success have been transferred from the throne
of our infatuated Prince, to that of his rival in gran
deur and power, but our thoughtless minds Hill ho
vering around their antient support, unwilling to quit
their native hold, with broken arms in one hand and
humble petitions in the other, we repeat our cry for
mercy, but still in vain ; At length spurned from the
royal pretence by a foiemn aft of the nation, cast out
from the common protection and thereby all obliga
tions to our antient allegiance formally and legally
dissolved, we awake from our lethargy, and riling
superior to every difficulty, summon up all our native
strength, and in one desperate and determined exer
tion, cast off the ponderous load and declare ourselves
Free and Independent. {The rubicon being thus past,
we arc courted by foreign nations, arms are put into
our hands, resources for carrying on, firft a defenfive,
then an offenfive war, are opening on every fide, our
troops benefiting by experience, and bravely sur
mounting all the evils of hunger, nakedness, heat and
cold, firlt defend themselves, and then daringly at
tack the common enemy. Foreign treaties and alli
ances are formed and forming, and the firft fruits be
gin to appear. To crown all, Heaven on whom alone
we finally rely, appears on our fide, the very elements
£ in cw favour, aid flow? iu sow every quarter.
^oj Deus vult perdere prius dementat.
THE
those very stores provided at a large expence for our
deftruCtion, are wafted by the apparent hand of Pro
vidence to our camps— even the inf del fees and adores.
Thus the scale is turned, and we have our day of
prosperity—but in order to judge rightly between us,
fuller me to draw your attention to a flight view of the
conduit of your leaders, when we were in their power
and they in the zenith of their glory ; while success
crowned their arms, and victory wreathed her short
lived laurels for their brows; when judging from
their observations on slaves, they thought us crushed
to rife no more. Imperious and haughty in a day of
prosperity, holding in utter contempt our prowefe
in arms, and defpding men who could fuffcr.jo much
for that phantom liberty, totally unlik^wbat we once
revered as a British soldier, they, ^tonly coirfume
our defenceless towns with unhappy
fubjeCts of their power, though breathing the noble&
principles of human nature ; though fighting in a
cause that does honour to the name of a soldier, are
robbed, despoiled of their houses, furniture, and every
domestic comfort, are tantalized, mocked, cursed and
abused in the vilest manner ; cast into dungeons, ruin
ed buildings, and airy turrets , fuffocated in the holds
of prison ships ; hungry, naked, and helpless ; with
out fire in the coldest seasons, even to dress the wretch
ed pittance that the voracious underling had spared
from his cruel and covetous grasp ; capitulations dis
regarded; plighted faith broken; solemn prontifes
despised, and threatnings, with severities of every
kind, uted to intimidate and frighten to abjeCt fub
miflion. Nay, even the savages of the wildcrnefs are
called in to perfect the bloody system. The noble,
and more than Roman firmnefs, shewn by many or
even the lowest order of freemen on these occasions,
would have prevented a repetition with generous
minds ; but according to the present pi'ofpeCt of suc
cess, so was the unrelenting cruelty of these sons of
Britain—To be sent as slaves to the Bast-Indies, was
*» V. I^6 4- raniterate «A..A nf IWr flaming ven
geance.
Even the innocent peasant and substantial yeoman,
perhaps in the very ad of teftifying their peaceable dis
positions, became victims to their infatiate fury.
Women and children have not been spared. Nor was
age any protection. Old men, dragged from afflu
ence and comfortable habitations, have been cast in
to filthy gaols with the very refufe of mankind, and
there remained unheard, without the least charge
being brought against them, and many worthy citi
zens have perished, for speaking perhaps an unguard
ed expression, relative to one of these mighty con
querors. Prisoners of war, who used to be treated
with some degree of clemency, have not been enti
tled to the common rights of humanity ; hear twe
thousand have perished by the savage cruelty and bar
barous hands of Britons. Hunger, thirst, nakedness,
cold, cudgels, and even poiion itfelf, haie been the
instruments of deftruttion. The cries of these un
happy men are yet afeending to that throne, where
they will mofl certainly be heard, and when heard,
recorded with indelible characters in the high cham
cer, of Heaven.
These, Gentlemen, are a few faCts on which you
may depend; a few of the many facts (not related
from memory, but from authentic records*) pre
served as memorials for posterity, and which will ere
long appear in full evidence for our juftification, a#
well as for the shame and reproach of our enemies.
It was necessary that you should be acquainted with
them. Under thed^ep and lasting impression of these
fads, you come with your pompous commission of
peace to a people, yet fore with the galls of the yoke
and the lathes of the whip. And what is it that you
now ask ? Great-Britain being suddenly alarmed to.
find that we are roused to action, and are in a frtua
tion of repelling force by force, she is now willing
to be at peace with uu upon what she calls " honour
" able terms," that is, a return to that very depen
dency which has been the source of all our miseries,
and that at the expence of those very means, which
are now likely to deliver us from her cruelties ; well
knowing, that if we deceive our generous ally in the
present instance, the British ministry may soon play
the fame game over again, as France once disappoint
ed will not easily be imposed upon a second time.
But, Gentlemen, as you profefs to be candid on
this occalion, fuffer me for a moment to accede to
* A Gentleman in town Las favoured the Printer
with a copy of a petition from a number of our sea pri
soners on board a prfon-fbip in New-fork harbour,
where they have fuffered incredible miseries fi &m naked
ness, hunger, and hardships of every kind—Clsatbs were
provided for these unhappy men lift fall, but the, were
^otMered to be sent tin board? iu Gonfe%uen« of orders
[Numb. 36.]