The New-York gazette, and the weekly Mercury — New-York [N.Y.], 1777-04-28 00:00:00, page 1

Knight of the Mod Honorable Order of the
Bath, one of His Majesty's Commissio
ners for restoring Peace to the Colonies,
General and Commander in Chief of
all his Majesty's Forces within the Colo
nies lying on the Atlantic Ocean, from
Nova Scotia to West Florida, inclufiye,
&c. &c. &c.
PROCLAMATION.
WHEREAS it has been represented to
me that many of His Majesty's
European and American Subjects
are compelled by Force, or otherwise
induced, to bear Arms in Opposition to the
Re-^ftablifhment of the constitutional Autho
rity of Government in America, and are
discouraged from returning to their Allegiance
by ill-founded Doubts of the Reception such
Tender of their Duty may meet with : I
thEREFOREP Eclaßh, and do hereby
promise and engage, That all Persons bearing
Arms as aforefaid, who Shall surrender them
selves to any Officer commanding any Part of
His Majesty's Forces, on, or before the
first Day of May next, Shall be entitled to
Pardon for all Offences heretofore committed
^gainft His Crown and Dignity, and their
Estates and Effects be Secured from Seizure,
Forfeiture, or Confifeation.—That every
non-commissioned Officer and private Man
who Shall come in with his Arms, Shall also re
ceive the full Value for them.— I hat theAm e
rican born ^ubjeds Shall be permitted to enter
into any of the Provincial Corp r -in His Ma
jesty's Service, or 10 return Home, ?s they
think fit, —And that the British and Irish
born Subjects Shabl cither be taken into His
Majesty's Service, or conveyed to the Place
of their Nativity, at their own Option.
GIVEN under my Hand, at Head
Quarters in New-York, this 15th Day
of March, 1777.
W. HOWE.
By His Excellency's Command,
Robert Mackenzie, Sec'ry.
By His Excellency
Sir WILLIAM HOWE,
Knight of the most Honorable Order of the
Bath, one of His Majesty's CommiHioners
for restoring Peace to the Colonies, General
and Commander in Chief of all His Maje
sty's Forces within the Colonies lying on
the Atlantic Ocean, from Nova-Scotia to
Well-Florida, inclusive, &c. &c. &c.
PROCLAMATION.
WHEREAS a plentiful Supply of
Vegetables, and of frefh Provisi
ons of all Kinds, will greatly tend
to the Pref rvation of the Health
of His Majesty's Troops and others; and the
raising large Quantities of Hay, and other
Forage, will very much conduce to Kis Ma
jesty's Service, as well as be of general Use :
In Order therefore to give all due Enc. urage
ment to all His Majesty's liege Subjects, so
that they may cheerfully exert themselves in
railing such Supplies, under a full Assurance
of enjoying all possible Protection in so doing,
J have thought fit to issue this Proclamation,
Triply charging and commanding, that no
Person or Persons-whomsoever, under any
%iour or Pretence whatsoever, presume to
trefpefs upon any Inclofure belonging to any
other Ferfon or Perlons, or to take or carry
away any Produce from the Owner or Owners
thereof, or to break down, destroy, or in any
Manner injure any Inclofure or Fences what
fcever, now flanging, or hereafter to be created,
as they will answer for the fame at their Peril.
And to the End that this Proclamation may be
more ftri&ly observed, I do hereby further
charge, require, and command all Officers,
Soldiers, and others, to seize and deliver over
to any Officer commanding any Part of His
Majefy's Forces, or to the Provost Marshal,
ail Such Perrons as they ffiall find acting in Dif
cbedience hereto, in order that fach Offenders
may be brought to condign Punishment for the
fame ; thereby declaring that any Negled
herein ffiall be copfidered and punished as a
Breach of Orders. And [ do further charge
and require the commanding Officers of any
£* His Majesty's Forces, and Pruvoft Martha!,
Monday, April 28, 1777.
NE W-Y ORK
A ND
W E E KL Y
ASSIZE of BREAD. Flour at gos. per Cent.
A White Loaf of the fineft FLOUR, to weigh
3 lb. 40Z. for 14. Coppers, and in the fame
Proportion for Loaves of a idffer Weight.
Published January 10, 1777.
By hisEXCELLENCY
Sir WILLIAM HOWE,
Containing tbe catlieff Voices
0- Printed by HUGH GAINE, at the BIBLE and CROWN, in HANOVER-SQUARE.
Monday, 39 Mln. after 1
Tuesday, 25 Min. after 2
Wednesday, 21 Min.after 3
Thursday, 26 Min. after 4
from Time to Time to receive into Cuflody all
such Offenders as shall be brought to them as
aforefaid, and duly to make Report thereof.
Given under my Hand at Head Quarters,
in New-York, the Twentieth Day of
March, 1777.
W. HOWE.
By His Excellency's Command,
Robert Mackenzie, Sec'ry.
Bv H's EXCELLENCY
Sir WILLIAM HOWE,
Knight of the M: ft Honorable Order of the Bath,
one of His Maj^ty's Comnwffioners for reflating
Peace to the Colonies, General and Commander
in Chief of all His Majesty's Forces within the
Colonies bing on the Abantic Ocean, from Nova
Scotia to Well Florida, inclusive, &c. &c. &c.
PROCLAMATION.
WHEREAS for the more Speedy and efLaual
Suppression of the unnatural Rebellion lub
fifting in North-America, it has been thought proper
to levy a Number of Provincial Troops, thereby
affording to his Majesty's faithful and well-dis
posed Subjects, Inhabitants of the Colonies, an Op
portunity to co-operate in relieving Theuf Ives from
rhe Miseries attendant onAnarch) and Tyranny, and
in itCoring the B;eflings of Peace and Order vith jult
and lawful Goveininent; As a Reward for the
Promptitude and Zeal wherewith his Majesty's
faithful Subjects nave entered into the Co^ps now
raising, and as a further Enc uragement to it.ers to
f t llow their laudable Example, I do hereby, inCon
fequence of Authority to Me given by his Majesty
promife,and engage, That all Persons who have, or"
do hereafter, inlift into any of the said Provincial
Corps, to serve for two Years, or during the present
War in North-Adieriea, and shall continue faithfully
to serve in any<<f thefaidCorps agreeable to such their
Engagements, shall, after being reduced or disbanded,
obtain, according to their refpTtive Stations, Grants
of the following Quantities of vacant Lands in the
Colonics wherein their Corps have been or Shall be
' railed, er in such other Colony as his Majesty fliall
think fit.
Every Non-commissioned Officer 200 Acres,
Every private Soldier, 50 do.
The fame to be granted to such of the said Non
commissioned Officers and Soldiers as fell peifonally
'apply for the 1 me, by the Governor of the tef^
pe& ve Colonies, without Fee or Reward, fubje& at
the Expiration of Ten Years to the feme Quit-Rents
as other Lands are fubj<& to in the Province within
which they fhdl be granted, and fubj<& to the fame
Conditi ns of Cultivation and Improvement.
GIVEN under my Hand, at Head Quarters,
in New-Ymk, the 21st Day of April, 1777.
W. HOWE.
By His Excellency's Command,
Robert Mackenzie, Sec'ry.
m^recra^^^
By the Ship Patty, Cap. Marquis, in 44
Days from Glasgow, woe have ihe following
Advices, viz,
A L-G IE R S, Dec. 22.
SINCE the 29th of last June to this day,
the corsairs of this regency have
brought in here sixteen Spanish prizes
and one Neapolitan. The Spanish Snips
were mostly laden vnth provisions for the ar
mament of Cadiz, except one vessel from Alon
femas in Barbary, defined for Malaga, having
on bard a governor ad interim for that place,
a captain of engineers, a chaplain, and 40
men, part belonging to the crew, and the rest
palfengers.
^ afazv, Feb. 8. Letters from Riga adv.ife,
that the number of troops under the command
of Prince Proforowlki in Crimea, already a
mounted to 50,000 men, and that inch ar
rangements were making in the different go
vernments of Ruffin, that if the Porte did not
soon conform to the articles of the treaty of
peace, She might exped that next spring there
would be a numerous army on the frontiers of
Turkey to compel her thereto.
Cologn, Feb^ 21. They write from Franco
nia, that the Margrave of Brandenbourg,
Anfpach, and Bareith, has agreed to furnish
Great Britain with 4000 men, to serve in
America. Authentic letters from Saabia an
nounce, that the Duke of Wirtemberg does not
refufe to grant also a body of 4000 men, but
the trea y to be concluded for that purpose is
yet at a distance ; for it is pretended, that the
States of the Duchy of Wirteraberg oppose
the raising of recruits in that country, where
there are actually only.acoo men on foot.
Leaden, Feb. 24. We have just received ad
vice from Constantinople, of the Perhan army
being defeated, and the blockade of Bagdat
being railed.
HIGH-WATER atNEW-YORK, this Week.
THE
Friday, 3 Min. after 5
Saturday, 56 Min. after 5
Sunday, 48 Min. after 6
Moon's L. ^ar. the 30th.
LONDO N,
Feb. 8. On Tuesday in the House of Com
mons, Lord North got up and said, That
having a matter of importance to communi
cate to the house, he could-wish their attention
for a few minutes ; —it was upon a business
which ought not to come detailed before so,
thin a house, but there would be Several Rages
of the business which would give opportunity
for ample difeuffions—the thing was this ; —
there have been during the present, war in
America many prisoners made, who were in
the a&ual commission of the crime of high
treason ;---and, there have been persons, and
are at present many guilty of that crime, who
cannot be apprehended without bail being al
lowed. It has been customary upon similar
occasions of rebellion, or danger of invasion
from abroad, to enable the King to seize fuf
pefted persons. I would not be thought to
hint at any neceflity of trusting ministers at
present with such a power il lgeneral. Indeed
the times are different ; we are very far from
having any rebellion at home; and as to an
invasion, we have not the least profpectof it ;
for these rcafons, it is not meant to a4k the
full power usual upon former occasions of re
bellion. But as the law stands, it is not im
possible at present, officially to apprehend the
most fufpe&ed person. Another circumflance
is, the persons made prisoners from the rebels,
and also in the act of piracy, on the high seas,
at present can be legally confined only to the
common goals, which would be entirely im
pradicable. It is necetfary for the crown to
have a power of confining them like other pri
soners of war. These and some other matters
should be attended to in the bill I purpose mo
ving—which is, " That leave be given to
bring in a bill, to enable his Majesty to appre
hend and secure all persons guilty of, or fuf
peAed to be guilty of high treason, in Ame
rica, or of the crime of piracy @n the high
seas—Leave was granted accordingly. -
The above bill will suspend the habeas cor
pus a& in cases of Suspicion or information on
oath of high treason in North-America, or
at sea, as it was in England during the rebel
lion of 1745.
A letter from Dominica, dated Dec. 13,
1776, to a merchant in the city, fays, " The
American privateers have ventured amorgft
the islands, one of them being at Martinique
when Dr. N was there in a flag of truce,
flipt out in the night after him, and took him
in the channel. The captain of the privateer
landed the Dodor and his brother at an out
bay at Martinique, who repaired to the gene
ral, and made a formal complaint, which was
so well received, that the general ordered the
agent for the Congress to pay them immedi
ately for their vessel, Laves, &c. or he would
flop every American that was in the iiland.
Another of these freebooters took Several En
glish vessels near Guadaloupe, and Sent them
into the ports of that island, all of which the
captains rah femed.except one. This coming
to the ears of the general, he ordered the pri
vateer not only to give up every vessel and
cargo, but to pay back the ransom money,
and at his peril to presume interrupting any
Englilh vessel in the neighbourhood of that
island for the future."
Two American vessels, with about 2000
barrels of Hour on board, belonging to Phi
ladelphia for Bourdeaux, are taken off the
Bermuda islands, and Sent to the Weft-Indies.
The additional troops for which the treaty
was signed last December with the Prince of
Hesse, consist entirely of foot, and no general
officers.
It is also said in the above agreement, such
savings have been made that their troops will
not colt so much by a fourth as those already
in our Service.
The Bristol Gazette received yesterday, dated
Feb. 6, fays, " The following are the parti
culars refpedting the painter, otherwise Hill,
who was committed to Odiam goal, for break
ing into a linen-draper's lhop at Calne, in
Wiltshire, and stealing Several things of value ;
and also strongly fufpe&ed to be the person
who set fire to the dock-yaril at Portsmouth,
and the shipping and houses in the city. He
was pursued from Calne to Hook, which is a
circuit of about 60 miles across the country ;
and when tak^n, there were fourth on him
feyeral of the articles which he had stolen
from Calne, also a rilol loaded with fliot, a
powder-horn, feme lhet in a bag, a pifcl
Wheat per Bushel, 9s. N od,
Flour, 303. od.
Brown Bread, 255. od.
W-ft-ludia Rum, Bs. od.
New-England do. ss. od.
[No. 133:.]
GA ZETTE:
T H E
MERCUR Y.
PRICE CURRENT, in NEW-YORK.
Mufeovado Su~ar, sl. 10s.
Single refin'd ditto, is. 9 L
Mobiles, 3,. 6d.
Beef per Barrel, 90s. od.
Pork, , 51. 10s.
foreign ano Don^R^.
tinder-box full of tinder c Several matches, a
bottle of Spirits of turpentine, and a larpe
gimblet ; also about 28s. in his breeches pock
ets, and on a second Search, fix guineas and
17s 6d. were found in the sleeve of his coat.
On hi being apprehended for the above crime,
and answering to the description of the man
who let Portsmouth deck on fire, and also to
the person who was Seen in this city about the
time of the fire here, Several persons went
from hence to prove the identity of his per
son. A woman and a boy where lie lodged,
and also a gunsmith of whom he bought the
pistols, knew him to be the person who had
been in this city fume time previous to the
fire, and the former fays, that he was em
ployed in making combustible makers and
touch-paper like to that found in Mr. Mor
gap's warehouse, whilil at his lodgings. Th&e
weie also persons from Portsmouth to* fee him
in gaol, who likewise fay he was the man that
was seen in the \ard on the day the fire hap-,
period there, and was fufpe&ed of committing
the crime. He bought two pistols of the above
gunsmith, one of which Sound loaded with
Riot near the house where he committed the
robbery. He is abeut 30 years of age, by his
dialed Supposed to be a Scotchman, though he
refused to acknowledge where he came from,
and lays only he is a native of Europe, and
perfifled in his innecency refpedirg the above
robbery, as also of his ever being in Brißol,
till confroted b, different persons who knew
him. He appears to be a Ihrewd fellow, and
it seems to be the general opinion that he was
really concerned in Setting fire to the dock
yard at Portsmouth, and the Dipping and
houses in this city. The most probable rea
son that can be assigned for his Setting fire to
the vessels and houses in this city is, that he
might throw the inhabitants into confufion,
'and then embrace the opportunity to get a
good booty of plunder : but being disappoin
ted of his diabolical designs, by the vigilance
of the magistrates and principal inhabitants,
it is fupppfed he decamped into the country,
where 10 Supply his present necefiities, be
broke into the Ihop and Calne, and Hole mus
lins, ribbons, &c. to the amount of 50 I. a
°considerable part of which he had disposed of
in his way to Hook, which accounts for the
money that was found upon him."
Yesterday at the,public office in Bow-street,
James Hill, otherwise John the Painter, was
brought up, and went through a second exa
mination before Sir John Fielding, and Seve
ral Lords of the Admiralty, relative to the
late fire at Portsmouth. Mrs. Boxley, an in
habitant at Portsmouth, being fivorn, deposed,
that about the firit of December last, the pri
soner, came and took a lodging in a three-pair
of-ftairs room in her house; that during his
being there, She had often Smelt a very disa
greeable (mall of gunpowder, &c. that on
Friday the 6th of December, the fumes of
some combußibles were so amazingly strong,
that she thought the house was on fire, on
which She ran up hairs, and on entering the
prisoner's apartment, She found it in a cloud
of finoke, and he fitting at the end of the bed
with a lighted candle in his hand ; a tin cart
nifter in which were Several final! holes, and
many papers of materials, as She supposed he
was making use of, lay on a table by him ;
that fheEung open the window, in order to
difebarge the smoke, and desired him to quit
her house immediately, which he did, taking
all his implements along with him ; that the
next morning She heard that a fire had hap
pened in the rope-house in his Majesty's dock
yard, and a cannister was found which con
tained the combustible matter; on which She
went and Saw the cannister, which She said to
the best of her knowledge was the fame Hie
saw the day before in the prisoner's room.
Mir. Golden, a painter in Litchfield, swore to
his person, with whom he worked in the
Summer, and that he was called John the
Painter. The Prisoner very strongly denied
having any knowledge of the two witrieffes,
and behaved in a very undaunted manner
during his examination. He was ordered for
a further examination on Monday.
Extrad of a Letter from Plymouth, Feb. 4.
“ The Apollo Frigate and two others in
our dock yard, are fitting for Sea with all
expedition, on account cf the demand for
small Trips.
“ They talk of fitting up Storehouse pri-
Son (used as such last year) for the Americans
who nuy be taken and brought in hete."
Fine Salt, yes. od
Coarse Salt, Bs. od
Indian Corn per Bu. 6s. 6d /
Coffee, is. gd
Chocolate, 265. per Do.