The New-York gazette, and the weekly Mercury — New-York [N.Y.], 1777-03-10 00:00:00, page 2

(if they are not removed from thence) or ra
ther to the Council at Boston, for the Deed
of Gift or Conveyance, signed, sealed-and
executed; for both these Parties profefs to
have it among them. I own, I have never
seen this Curiosity ; and when I have asked
for it, they have constantly. Ihewn me an old
Royal Charter granted by a King of this
World, or have talked to me in such a Strain
of metaphyficai Abstruseness, as my poor
Head cannot remember.—However, 'tis a
Scripture Phrase, used by the antient People
of God; and, as we are his modern People,
this Phrase, as well as t^ Inheritance, de
feends to us of Right, We are at present the
People of Israel; and when we crossed over
the Atlantic, which 1 am sure is a greater
Stretch than through or over the Red Sea,
we began to expel, not the Canaanites and
the Hittites indeed, but Men far worse than
they. We cut the Throats [f the Indians,
for trespassing upon our holy Land. They
pleaded indeed the Right of Nature and their
Inheritance from Time immemorial ; but we
shewed them, according to the Phrase of our
Convention, that it was an " inheritance
which God had given us ;" that *hey had
been all the while only thieviffi Usurpers;
and that they might think it l a Matter of
great Grace, that we fuffered them to enjoy
it so long. When they did not underhand
this divine Logic, we only turned them out
of this World into another, because they did
not underhand it. We backed our Argu
ments with Proof, like thorough Polemics,
and gave them the last Reason as well as the
firft ; and therefore all our Conduft muit
- needs be reasonable from Beginning to End.—
What Reader can be so dull as not to fee the
Strength and Justice ofour divine Claim to this
Country ? Wecame out of the modern House
of Bondage, Great Britain, we travelled from
beyond the great Sea, we ousted the Inhabitants
of the Wilderness , and who then is Lordowr
us ? We never received any thing from Great
Britain, (though we might rightly have plun
dered her, as the Jews did the Egyptians)
but the Power of making Laws, together
with People, and Money, Knd Proteaion-, and
a lew Trifles of that kind : and for these we
always made her a full Satisfaction by our
most florid Profeffions cf Attachment and Re
gard. This was a fufficient Return for us to
make, who had the Jus divinum of all things
on our Side, which nobody has the authority
to explain but the Elders of Boston, or their
Deputies in cur religious Convention. As
an instance of our Power in this Refpe&, you
must know, gentle Reader, that all the Com
mands of God himfelf, though positive to the
rest of the World, are only conditional at most
to us. Thus, when God fays, Thou Jhalt do
no Murder ; applied to the World, the Com
mandment means, " Thou shalt do no. Mu
rder---to the Men of Boston ;" but when it refers
to each of us and to our Conduct, it is to be
read, " Thou fnalt do no Murder---unless it
please thee." In our Practice, Killing is no
Murder; but in the Practice of all other Men
towards us, their very Thought to kill, is
Murder itfelf in the AbUradt. This is the
Difference between divine arid human Right,
which if Puffendorff had but justly compre
hended, he would have given quite a new
Turn to his idle Book, de officio hominis et civis.
Give us the Commandments, with the afore
faid suspending Clause, empowering us ad li
bitum to break them ; and 1 will prove, that
we are not only the belt Civilians but the
most religious People in the World. For
what is a Text without an Interpretation, or
rather without our own Interpretation ; or what,
is a Law good for indeed, unless we can make
it, and break it, and make it again, like the
wife Men of Connecticut, for ourselves ?---This
is good Common Senje, Reader, of the newest
Edition, and after the Plan of that most
charming and convincing Performance so cal
led, lately published by a very honest Man at
Philadelphia; to whom for the most modern
Improvements upon the Christian Religion
and Politics, I must at present refer You.
" By our vigorous Efforts, and by the
" Goodness of divine Providence, those cruel
'' Invaders were driven from our Country in
" the lad Campaign."----The Dunce of a
Copyist has placed Providence lafl, as though
it aided ip Subordination to our Vigor, which
the pious Convention could not mean. Ego
ct Rex meus did not become even Cardinal
Wolsey. However, Reader, here is one
Comfort for us; We and Providence (if-it
must be so) are allied again, notwithstanding
our Sins. But this Alliance seems net very
binding, for our Convention presently com
plain again, That We and Providence (par
don the Expression) did the Business only by
Halves ; The Enemies are returned, because-
with something like an Address to the People
of Ireland, inviting them to take up Arms
against their Kingin our Behalf. I remember
too, that 1 laid upon the Occaficn, that the
Petition, having this Address connected with
it, was no mere dutiful or humble, than the
taking a Mu':by One Hand, and driving a
Blow at his Head with the other, would be
handsome or civil. But, Thank God, we Pa
triots are such Favorites of Heaven, that all
things are profitable to us, even our very
Sins; while all the Actions of our Enemies,
however right they may seem in feme Men's
Eyes, are intended, not for their own Good,
but for ours only. This is comfortable Doc
trine for us; for, let the Wind blow from
which Point it may, we are lure cf getting
fafe into Harbor.
" Being bouhd by the flrongeft Obligations
" to defend the Inheritance which God hath
66 given us." — l — Does any Man doubt, whe
ther God hath given us this Land ? We may
refer him to our Convention at the Fi^-Kfls
I Fromtbe LonDON GAz eTT E, Nov. 5.
Admiralty-Office,^^. 5.
;WTis thedirc&ion of my LordsCommillioners
iX of the Admiralty, That such of the Lieu
} tenants of his Majeity'sNavy as are now unem-
I ployed, and have not already transmitted to this
loffice the name (f the places of their abode, do
Iforthwith1 forthwith transmit the fame, that they may be
Ifont1 font to when hrs Majelty's service may require
I their attendance--: And it is their Lordlhigs
Ifarther direction, That all such Lieutenants
j unemployed as are unable to serve, do immedi
-lat ly transmit to me, for their Lordships infor-
I mation, the particular circumdanccs of their
inability.
Ph. Stephens.
From the London Papers, Nov. g.
I Rome, oa. 11. The Duke and Duchess of
§Gloucester are preparing to set out for Naples,
I in order to pass a few days in viewing the curi
!ofities of that place.
I Leghorn, oa. 11. Sir John Dick, who refi-
Ided her& as Consul General of his Britannick
; Majesty for the seas of Tufeany, before Ais
I departure from this country, gave a proof of his
I usual generosity, by ordering a large sum of
I money to be didribdted among the poor, ,^r-
I ticularly to imprisoned debtors.
L O N D O N, November 5.
I Capt. Balfour was pfrefented to the King by
I Lord George Germaine, and had the honour
ofa long conference, in which he explained to
his Majesty the operations of the army and navy
-at the taking of New-York
The Shark sloop of war has brought into St.
Kitt's a large snip from Port au Prince, which
;lire took under Spaniih Colours; she is laden
with cieathing cheiliy, and has behdes, about
fire tons of gunpowder, and 2000 mufquets,
She was bound to Salem I he cruizers on that
Nation have been exceedingly fortunate, one
Ifloop dftengans havinglharednear 100 herling
each man.
The full quantity of gold coin of deficient
weight'amounts to i6,645&71. which is full
four times over what the political arithmetici
ans allowed to be in the King's coin. Toe
fiber coinage will come on next year.
Extract of a let^from Lieut, Havetjon, of the
27th regiment, dated on board the Pearl frigate at
I Quebec, /lug. 14.1776, to Capt, Evans, of
I the 28th regiment, now in Somefefbire.
I " About three days ago 1 had the plcafure of
I feeing Mr. Finlay ofMqntreal, who told me
I your brother's family Rill retides at Roponteeny,
and notwithstanding the interruption the band
of marauders, headed by Montgomery, hasgi
ven them, your brother's loyalty to his King
and Country was not lurpafßd by-any one man
in Canada. He took an active part againh the
insurgents, was made prifony at Montreal,
loaded with irons, and in that condition march
ed through several streets to the main guard,
not being fuffered to get into a cabriole, though
several gentlemen offered their carriages to
relieve him from the misery he wa- -in, which
you may judge was not little, when I tell you
that the blood from his ancle ran down into his
Ihoes.
" When our fleet arrived at Quebec in the
spring, he was removed, with other prisoners,
to a place between Albany and New-York,
where he remains kill in irons, and confined
with five others in a dungeon. Things must
take a different turn in America Ihortly. The
armed vessels and batteux for the lakes are get
ting ready with the utmoll expedition, and
will be completed by the latter end of Septem
ber. The Suburbs of Quebec are all in ruins,
but the City is greatly improved, since you
have been here. The damagedone to this pro
vince, is very great exclusive ofa debt of
17,0001. which they have left unpaid; they
broke open the merchants storehouses with
fledge hammers, plundered where they could,
and were at the fame time endeavouring to
persuade the inhabitants that they came to make
them a free people. I am now just going to
join my regiment at New-York."
Capt. Fletcher, of the Clayton, who arrived
at Liverpool from Jamaica, saw in lat. 41, long.
54, a brig bearing from him E. the wind then
at S. W. by South, she flood for the Clayton,
with her larboard tacks on board, on which
Capt. Fletcher imagined her to be a privateer,
and immediately thought ofa flratagem to keep
" Peace we had not yet deferred ;" for " we
" ascribed that to our own Prowess, whicli
" was only to be attributed to the great Guar
" dian of the Innocent." Here is another Dif
fficulty which puzzles me. I cannot, for my
Life, comprehend, how God, who is here styled
the Guardian of the- Innocent, can have any
thing to do with us, or with any Propriety
can be called our Guardian; when we have
juk before acknowledged ourselves Guilty of
" many fhanrcful Vices ;" and so guilty; as
instead of " deserving Peace ;" to merit the
Scourge of Heaven. I won't rank this among
the Dubia e^udngeltca, though there is'fo much
about Divinity in it: I will rather leave -it
to my Reader to think of some Name.
The n£xt Paragraph expresses great Heat
against all Pardons. I was almost Fool enough
at hrft to think, from our grievous and peni
tent Confeffion of Sin and Guilt, that Par
dons were the very things we wanted ; and
that as Lin cent People have nothing to do with
them, such Guilty Folks as ourselves could never
be fate without them. However, as it was only
a Flourish by the way; by the way, let it
pass.: A Comment upon Reason or Fact can
not lay hold of it.
By Way of Conclusion to this Letter, 1
must own, that I find this Business of export
ing but dry Work, through the Queerhefs of
my Materials; but, however, 1 will put on
my Spectacles again in a Day or two, and rub
•through the Matter as well as 1 can.
INTEGER.
By an armed. Brig that arrived here fate our loft
from St. Croix, we have the. following.
{ From the St. CHRISTOPHER'S GAZETTE.
IDoctor David Zubly's defence before the
I Congress's Chief justice, John Glen, of
I the province of Georgia.
TAM to thank your honour for your readily
l granting me my Habeas Corpus; this is
the firft, and mod essential of all our liberties,
[ a palladium to all the rest, which must stand
or fall as this is taken away or Supported ; it
I is the tert by which we may know theregard
I any government may have to liberty; and as
] every officer acts in support, or deftruftion of
1 it, lie is either the friend to law and liberty,
$ or the tool of oppression and arbitrary power,
p On your decision depends your own liberty,
(and the liberty of every man in this province.
§ Compared with the importance of this pri
[ vilege, all she rights that America now con
l tends and pleads for, are mere paltry trifles.
I It can never be worth any man's while to
Struggle against oppreflion in any one inllance,
if to be taken up aud confined at the mere
will of another, is the only alternative in the
conflict: And 1 nluft beg leave to aver it, that
[ no ad of power is more dangerous and irrtd-
Ilerable. than that which deprives a man of
lhis liberty, without any previous charge al
§ lodged upon oath agaiuft him. The power
I that thus wantonly may deprive me of my li
} berty, with the very fame facility, and indeed
Ijuftice, may also deprive me of my life. Whe
; ther the good people of this province ought,
: or are bound to submit to this, is the question
§ now before you, and that it is, I conceive, a
[ very happy circumitance to niyfclf and the
whole province.
ORDER S.
I ™V °° " e requeued and commanded, im
mediately on the receipt hereof, to take
into custody the several perlons named ih the
lift hereunto annexed, and upon your taking
^ and confining such persons, you are to report
§ the fame to the Commander in Chief, or one
of the field officers, of the firft battalion of
{foot militia in Savannah.
i Alexander M'Gowin, Francis Knowles,
j,Edward Telfair, the Rev. Dr. Zulby, John
;E. Randall, John Englis.
§By order of the commander in chief,
j T Ross, anting Maj. of ift bat. of militia.
The paper, may it please your honour, in
I confeguence of which 1 now stand as a prC
I foner before you, begins the alarming word
! written on the top, and large letters-- Orders.
I It was right to place this word in the mbit
jcmfpicuous l ; ght, for whenever government
I by orders begin, government by law is at an
I end ; in this fingte word I think I fee the utter
loverthrow of our whole government and con-
Idilution; general warrants appeared illegal
!and nardfhips; but, however, they were
Warrants, and not Orders, and executed
by civil, not by military officers ; but in Eng
land, of whose oppressive power we complain,
they colt some of the firft men in the nation
very dear, and were fol^mnly declared illegal ;
but I dare f-v an instance is not yet found in
the Britiffi annals of a free man being seized
and confined contrary to the protection of
civil law, by military orders ; the law, I
humbly apprehend knows no such terms, and
l am sorry that America, now struggling for
liberty, should be frft guilty of the practice.
I blush for the precedent, andtremble for the
consequence of it to this country, that such a
practice has taken rife. In an instant from go
vernment by law and the blessings of the conlti
tution we are reduced under military power,
the very fliadow and formality of our former
government is fled ; presuming, we cannot be
conquered by any other power, we have made
a coinpleat conquest for ourselves. A colonel
commanded a major, and an anting major
commanded a captain ; to take and confine
who? why at lead one of his men under his
immediate command; no, a freeman unim
peached, and for ought appears unfufpeded,
without any crime alledged, or suspicion even
pretended.---! A M like a criminal publickly
dragged thro' the streets by an officer, and a
file of men, not carried before any civil magi
strate or even committed to a public jail, but
that we might feel the whole weight of military
power, kept under military guard without
any hopes of hearing or release. The order
bids me be a prisoner; because it bids me so,
it does not give me hope of a hearing or dis
charge: The very fame law finds no place in
an aft which above all others ought to be ac
cording to law, was omitted, tho' upon recol
lection I must own, that whenever govern
ment is carried on only by ORDERS, the
his course, bawled up the ports, and let the
people put their heads through, having firft
fixed pieces of white paper on their hats to re
present the muzzles of guns, and by this scheme
the Clayton appeared like a zo gun ihip, and
had the desired effect; the brig came within
a mile and a half, and then bore away to the
northward, with all the fail she could carry.
Capt. Fletcher law no other vessel like a priva
teer. '
Extract of a letter from Liverpool, Oa. 26.
" In a letter which was brought by one of
our Jamaica men, which arrived this week, I
have an account that two days before this letter
was wrote, there arrived in Montego Bay his
Majesty's sloop of war the Pomona, with twe
American prizes; the one a large ship of 700
tons, mounting 22 guns, bound from Cape
Francois to Boston with bale goods. She has
on board 12,000 pairof shoes, and several me
dicine chests, which the provincials are greatly
in want of. The other a brig, with flour and
lumber, bound to Guadaloupe. These two
make 23 prizes which this vessel lias taken since
the commencement of this unhappy war."
term law becomes unnecessary, the very men
tion of it may be dangerous,---! beg leave fur
ther to remark, that by the paper which
dooms me to confinement, there is no autho
rity alleged whatever, it cannot be done in the
name, or by the authority under which your
honour now sets on the bench, I cannot con
ceive that the good people of this province
are yet so bereft of their senses, as to give up
their lives, liberties, and properties to mili
tary power.
Now, may it please your honour, the or
ders are not returnable to any civil, nor yet
to the supreme magistrate, but to ri military
officer. I know indeed his Excellency's name
is mentioned, but then it is as commander in
chief; and it is immediately added, to one of
the field officers °f the foot battalion of mili
tia at Savannah, from which it most evidently
follows -that the firft battalion, &c. are now
our lords and makers, and that we can all
be deprived of our liberties whenever the co
lonel shall fee fit to issue an order for that
purpose to a major, a major to a captain, and
for ought appears to me from the orders, We
mull all lay in confinement without bail or
onainprife, and from my ownexperience, may
add, without bread and water, until the offi
cers of their own accord, either to HANG
or RELEASE us, as much without judge
or jury, as they have confined us without
even the mention of law or justice; an un
happy situation truly: but what every man is
exposed to, if we pay be confined by mere
orders, and have no chance for a trial, hear
ing, or justice, but from the very man by
whose arbitrary ORDER S we were put in.
confinement.
I do not mean to take up your honour's
time to remark on all the nullities and absur
dities Which I think I can fee in these pro
ceedings, but surely it must appear alarming
in the very highest degree, to be taken up
without even a pretence, or complaint, or
colour of suspicion Your honour will doubt
less think it right to take up the matter as
it n w lies before you, and the only thing
that can warrant my confinement must be the
ORDER under which I was taken up and
confined.
Do these 0 RDERS charge me with any
crime, or even suspicion / No, all they fay
is, you are to take into custody the several
persons annexed in the lift ; many a perfoa
has been taken up on an unjust and frivolous
pretence, but however weak and frivolous a
pretence may be, it is paying some refpeft
unto justice and decency at lead to make use
of some. But 1 hope I do not exceed tha
bounds of a moderate and just defence, when
grounding my felf on the terror of the ORDER,
I fay ! have been deprived of my liberty
;without any pretence to law, without the least
I regard to the rights of a freeman, or any co
-Ilour of justice ---I am not versed in law books
or law cases, but I hepe I may be permitted
I to cite one which fee-ms. to me in point, it
was in the last year of Feftus, governor of
Judea, and it is to be found in Acts com-
Imonly called, The Adts of the Apostles.
" It seemed to me an unreasonable thing to
fend a prisoner and not withal lignify the
' cause alledged against him." ACTS xxv. 27.
An unhappy omen that we tarnifli our en
deavours for liberty witlr such evidence among
ourselves as a heathen thought unreasonable,
as .may possibly cause enemies to fay that we
do not struggle for liberty, but only contend
for lawless power, as may induce by-standers
to believe that we do not abhor oppression,
but only contend who Rail be the inltiument.
BASSETERRE, (St. Kitts) Jan. 4.
A report has prevailed for some days,that there has
been the greatest «®mmotions iu Philadelphia, owing
to the congress having committed to prison Mr.
Diykenfen and two,or three others of their own mem
bers, on suspicion of their holding corrcfponder.ee
with Lord Howe. Dr. Zubly, a mmber of the
provincial cengrefs for Georgia, on a similar lufpici
on, has aifa been committed to prison, but having
been brought by habeas corpus before the chief jus
tice, and making the foregoing defence, he was
liberated.
The following it the Copy ofa Proceeding by a Commit
tee of Bofion, agamft Mr. Thomas Amory and
others, about two Months ago; by which our Coun
trymen may fee, as well as by the above Case of
D. Zubly, that our present Rulers, in proJirating
all Law and Government, never meant to eflablife
any other Liberty, than the Liberty of perpetrating
their own tyrannical Villainies upon the whole Con
tinent.
Tothe Honourable the Justices of the Court
of Enquiry.
fIpHE committee, &c. tor the town of Beflon, in
& obedience to a late resolve of the great and general
court, represent to the said justices, and give them to tin
derftand, that John Timmens, James Perkins, Thomas
Amory, Ralph Inman, Daniel Hubbard, Nathaniel Cary,
(and others in the information mentioned) all of Boston,
merchants, appear to us to be inimical to the rights and
privileges of the united states of America : They have
aided, affixed, abetted, and comforted the enemies of laid
States of America, in their attempts to enslave then!;,
and have, by a writing under their hands, in the highest
terms approved of the conduct of the perfidious General
Gage, after he had infultcd, abused, plundered, 'and mur
dered many of the good and peaceable inhabitants of this
then colony. From these resigns, and from their frequent
meetings, we apprehend their being fuffered to go at larye,
more especially at this truly important crisis, will be
incompatible with the peace of the town, and dangerous
to the publick fafety.
We therefore suggest to your honours confiderrtion, the
necessity of their being apprehended, disarmed, and com
mitted or rusticated, or laid under such other or further
reftriaions as to your honours may appear fitting ame
pre per.
order of the Committee,
JOHN BROWN..
A true Copy. Attd. Thom. Edwards, Clk.
The Judgment, vs. Thomas Amory.
UPON due examination of the witnesses and other
attendant circumstances, and having heard the de
fence of th: said Thomas Amery, after mature confide