The Pennsylvania ledger, or, The Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, & New-Jersey weekly advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-01-13 00:00:00, page 1

" THE present situation of America, and
ray constant desire to have your advice, con
currence, and assistance on every important
occasion, have determined me to call you thus
early together.
" Those who have long too fuccefsfully lai
boured to inflame my people in America by
gross misrepresentations; and toinfufe into their
minds a system of opinions repugnant to the
true conftitption of the colonies, and to their
subordinate relation to Great-Britain, now
openly avow their revolt, hostility, and rebel
lion. They have raised troops, and are col
lecting a naval force; they have seized the pub
lic revenue, and assumed to themselves legisla
tive, executive, and judicial powers, which
they already exercise in the most arbitrary man
ner, over the persons and properties of their
fellow fubje&s: And although many of these
unhappy people may still retain their loyalty,
and may be too wife not to fee the fatal conse
quence of this usurpation, and wish to resist it,
yet the torrent of violence has been strong
enough to compel their acquiescence till a Suffi
cient force shall appear to Support them.
WEEKLY
^ Philadelphia: Printed by James Humphreys, junr. in Front-freet, at the Corner of Black
h,°jfe Alley: -Where Essays Articles of News, Advertisements. &c. are gratefully received and impartially inferred And
Where Subscriptions are taken in for this Paper, at Ten Shillings per Year.
Philadelphia January 6, 1776.
THE SUBSCRIBERS, Printers of the
Pennsylvania Mercury, &c. being disabl
ed further to prosecute the publishing that News
paper by an unfortunate accident of FIRE, which
on the last day of the year consumed the Printing
office, together with their whole stock of Paper,
Types, Press, &c. —They therefore take this me
thod of returning their unfeigned thanks to those
Gentlemen who were pleased to encourage the un
dertaking, by commencing Subscribers, and take
the liberty to requft they will be so kind as to pay
up their fubferiptions (in proportion to the time
of fubferibing) for the nine months the publication
continued, which will at this time particularly
oblige Their humble servants,
ENOCH STORY,
DANIEL HUMPHREYS.
%.%%-%*-%**-*•% %^%s
From the General Evening Post, of October 28, 1775$
we have the following Advices, viz.
LONDON, October 28.
YESTERDAY, about noon, his Majesty
went from the Queen's Palace to St.
James's, attended only by two footmen behind
his coach. About ten minutes before two his
Majesty got into the state coach, attended by
the Duke of Ancafter and Lord Bruce, and
proceeded to the House of Peers, where being
fated on the Throne and a message having been
sent to the Commons, requiring their attend
ance, lais Majesty opened the present session of
Parliament with the following SPEECH:
'' My Lords and Gentlemen,
This Day was Publifoed, and is now felling, by
ROBERT BELL in Third freet, (Price Two
Shillings. )
COMMON S ENSE;
Addressed to the INHABITANTS
of AMERICA,
On the following Interesting Subjects.
I. f\F the Origin and Design of Government
in general, with concise Remarks on the
English Constitution.
11. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession.
111. Thoughts on the present State of American
Affairs.
IV. Of the present Ability of America, with
some Mifcellancous Reflections.
Man knows no Mafler save creating Heaven,
Or these whom choice and common good ordain.
Thomson.
PENNSYLVANIA
January 13, 1776.
Or the Virginia, Maryland,
SATURDAY,
'' The authors and promoters of this despe
rate conspiracy have, in the conduct of it, de
rived great advantage from the difference of
our intentions and theirs. They meant only
to amuse by vague expressions of attachment to
the Parent State, and the strongest protestati
ons of loyalty to me, whilst they were prepar
ing for a general revolt. On our part, though
it was declared in the last session that a rebellion
existed within the province of the Massachu
setts Bay; yet even that province we wished ra
ther to reclaim than to subdue. The resoluti
ons of Parliament breathed a spirit of modera
tion and forbearance; conciliatory propositions
accompanied the measures taken to enforce au
thority ; and the coercive acts were adapted to
cases of criminal combinations amongst fubje&s
not then in arms. I have a&ed with the fame
temper; anxious to prevent, if it had been
poflible, the effufion of the blood of my sub
jects; and the calamities which are inseparable
from a state of war; still hoping that my peo
ple in America would have discerned the traite
rous views of their leaders, and have been
convinced, that to be a subject of Great-Britain,
with all its consequences, is to be the freeft
member of any civil Society in the known
world.-
" I have also the fatisfaction to inform you,
that I have received the most friendly offers of
foreign assistance ; and if I shall make any
treaties in consequence thereof, they shall be
laid before you. And I have in testimony of
my affection for my people, who can have no
cause in which I am not equally interested, sent
to the garrisons of Gibralter and Port Mahon
a part of my Electoral troops, in order that a
larger number of the established forces ip this
kingdom may be applied to the maintenance of
its authority ; and the national militia, planned
and regulated with equal regard to the rights,
fafety, and protection of my crown and people,
may give a farther extent and activity to our
military operations.
" When the unhappy and deluded multi
tude, against whom this force will be directed,
shall become sensible of their error, I shall be
ready to receive the milled with tenderness and
mercy ! and in order to prevent the inconveni
encies which may arile from the great distance
of their situation, and to remove as soon as
" The rebellious war now levied is become
more general, and is manifeftly carried on for
the purpose of establishing an independent em
pire. I need not dwell upon the fatal effects
of the success of such a plan. The obje& is
too important, the spirit of the British nation
too high, the resources with which God hath
blessed her too numerbus, to give up so many
Colonies which ihe has planted with great in
dustry, nursed with great tenderness, encoura
ged with many commercial advantages, and
protected and defended at much expence of
blood and treasure.
" It is now become the part of wisdom, and
(in its effects) of clemency, to put a speedy end
to these disorders by the most decisive exertions.
For this purpose, I have increased my naval
eftablifhmcnt, and greatly augmented my land
forces; but in such a manner as may be the
least burthenfome to my kingdoms.
THE
ADVERTISER.
L E D G E R:
Pennsylvania, & New-Jersey
possible the calamities which they fuffer, I shall
give authority to certain persons upon the spot
to grant general or particular pardons and in
demnities, in such manner, and to such persons
as they shall think fit, and to receive the submi
ssion of any Province or Colony which shall be
disposed to return to its allegiance. It may be
also proper to authorife the persons so commi
ssioned to restore such Province or Colony, so
returning to its allegiance, to the free exercise
of its trade and Commerce, and to the fame
protection and security as if such Province or
Colony had never revolted.
Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
I have ordered the proper estimates for
the ensuing year to be laid before you; and I
rely on your affection to me, and your resoluti
on to maintain the just rights of this country,
for such supplies as the present circumstances of'
our affairs require. Among the many una
voidable ill consequences of this rebellion, none
aliens me more sensibly than the extraordinary
burthen which it must create' to my faithful fub
jeds.
'' My Lords and Gentlemen,
" I have fully opened to you my views and
intentions. The constant employment of my
thoughts, and the most earnest wishes of my
heai t, tend wholly to the fafety and happiness
of all my people, and to the re-ftablifhment of
order and tranquility through the several parts
of my dominions, in a close connexion and
constitutional dependance. You fee the ten
dency of the present disorders, and I have ha
ted to you the measures which I mean to pur
sue for suppressing them. Whatever remains
to be done, that may farther contribute to this
end, I commit to your wisdom. And I am
happy to add, that, as well from the affur
anccs I have received, as from the general ap^
peai ance of affairs in Europe, I fee no proba-'
bility that the measures which you may adopt
will be interrupted by disputes withany foreign
power."
As soon as his Majesty's Speech had been read in
the Upper Assembly by the Lord Chancellor and
Cleik of that Hon. Assembly, Lord Townsend role
up, and in a very manly and masterly manner went
fully into tne unhappy disputes betwixt Ame
rica and this country; at the conclusion of which
he moved an humble Address to his Majesty for his
most gracious Speech. His Lordship was seconded
by Lord Dudley. The Marquis of Rockingham
was the next who poke; he differed greatly in opi
nion fiom the two firit mentioned Lords, and at the
end of his ipcech proposed an amendment to the Ad
drels, which brought on a very interesting and long
debate, in which the following Right Hon. Members
aflihed with the three above, Lord Rochford, Lord
Coventry, the Duke of Grafton, Lord Sandwich,
Lord Lyttelton, the Bishop of Peterborough, Lord
Dartmouth, Lord Effingham, Lord Grosvenor, the
Duke of Manchetter, Lord Gower, the Duke of
Richmond, Lord Shelburne, Lord Warwich, and
Lord f errers; after which the question was pot for
agreeing to the amendment, and the house divided,
when the numbers were as follow; Not Contents
69, Proxies ii; Contents 29, Proxies none.
The House again divided upon the Address as
originally moved for ; Contents 66, Proxies 10;
Not Contents 33.
The Home broke up about eleven o'clock, and
adjourned till next day.
The argument in the House of Peers turned en
tirely on American affairs. The Lords in A—f.-n
candidly owned they had been mifinformed lad r ,
and that their measures wove coaßquentlyfouaucd
January 13, 1776.
Numb. LI.