The Pennsylvania ledger, or, The Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, & New-Jersey weekly advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-10-26 00:00:00, page 1

PENNSYLVANIA LEDGER:
^, Philadelphia: Printed by James Humphreys, junr. in Front-street, at the Corner of Black
horfe Alley:—Where Essays, Articles of News, Advertisements, &c. are gratefully received and impartially inserted. And
Where Subferiptions are taken in for this Paper, at Ten Shillings per Year.
RAN-AWAY from the subscriber the 9th inst.
an Apprentice n^med DAVID GLA F, about
1^ years of age, a smart active lad, short fair hair;
had on a brown coat, leather breeches, is gone off
with a servant boy of Doctor William Smith, about
the fame age. It is likely they are gone or will try
,0 get on board some of our armed vefels. All
Matters of vessels and others are forbid to harbour,
conceal, or carry off said Apprentice at their peril;
and whoever apprehends or lecpres said apprentice
so that his matter may have him again fliall have
TWENTY SHIL LINGS reward for their
trouble. JACOB MAYER
Peruquier in Chefnut-Street.
Fort?f Pbjadelpbia, ) -p o a n w h om j t may concern,.
rennfylvania, 11. )
NOTICE is hereby given that a Court of
Admiralty will be held at the State-house, in
the city of Philadelphia, on Monday, the eleventh
day of November next, at ten o'clock in the fore
noon of the fame day, then and there, to try the
truth of the fads alledged in the bill of John Bald
•win, (who as well, &e.) against the Ship or Vessel
called the Leghorn Galley, burthen about 150 tons,
with her Tackle, Apparel, Furniture and Cargo,
lately commanded by Alexander M'Daniel. To the
end and intent, that the Owner or Owners of the
DROPPED or Stolen the 15th inst. a SILVER
WATCH, Makers name Charles Gilefpy,
Dublin, N°. 1059, with a Steel Cnain and a Cor
nelian Seal in a gold swivel carriage. J. C. on a
cypher, on one fide, and a coat of arms on the
other, with a swan and chain for the crest. SIX
DOLLAR S reward will be given by the Printer
hereof for the Watch and Seal, and if stolen, FIVE
POUNDS for the Thief. * OGober 17.
said ship and her cargo, may appear and shew cause,
if any they have, why the fame should not be con
demn'd according to the said Bill.
Oft. 16. By Order of the fudge.
«[ ANDREW ROBESON, Register.
e^^^^*^* 4 ^'*^'*^*^^' 9 *^'*.^'fr^fe^
11 DIALOGUE between Orator Purr and
Peter Easy, on the proposed Plan or Frame of
Government.
(Continued from our las)
Peter, Solus.
THIS brisk thing of wind, because some of the
leading men in Convention admit him to
their private Conferences about public affairs, be
gins to think himfelf a very great Statesman, and
because I am a quiet man, who have not medled in
public affairs, he takes it for granted, that I am a
fool, who can swallow with pleasure all the raw
notions of him. and his great men. He therefore is
continually and very rudely sometimes undertaking
to 'infruff and "illuminate." me as he phrases
it, with,his “imperial Jecrets." he almost makes me
angry,' but I am more inclined to pity him for he
is so ravished by the condefeenfion of his great
friends, and by his opinion of their vast genius, that
he does absolutely and seriously believe in all the
absurdities he has thrown out to me about that
darling Idea of our Convention Leaders " Jimpli
cit)," which indeed is the very word they have used
in Convention and before the Convention met, and
by which as if it where an enchantment, they have
blinded many worthy men, and have led our poor
diftraded State of Pennflvania into such a wild
Goose Chafe, that she is become the ridicule and
amazement of America. My neighbour Puff, ne
ver fuppofes.this to be oweing to weakness or wick
edness in our Leaders, but to the stupidity of all
the rest of the world, who are jealous and envious
because his political hero's have hit upon the grand
mystery of Jimplicity, which others have miffed. As
to his fimilics aud allusions, I am convinc'd, he has
heard his great friends explain their political noti
ons in that way, from what I have heard fomelpf
them fay: And this is the more credible, because
there is nothing more wild and absurd in fappofing
October 26, 1776.
A Few Sets of
Lord Chefterfield's Letters
May be had of the PRINTER.
WEEKLY ADVERTISE R.
Or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New-Jersey
S A T U R DAY, October 26, 1776.
the Frame of Government to have been form'd in
immitation of the mod common game§ and plays,
than there is in the very Constituent parts of the
Frame itfelf.——Oh here he comes again.
Orator. Peter, when I left thee, we were talk
ing of property. I have heard some people fay,
that feverai gentlemen who have a considerable in
fluence on our public affairs were men of ImaH
-property and learning. These are the proper men
Peter, to be trulled with power and the manage
ment of our Rights and Liberties. Their having
little or no learning, and little or no fortune are
the strongest recommendations I know of in their
favour. I am afraid of men of property and
learning, we fee what devilish Frames of govern
ment they have made in the other States on this
Continent. Men of no property are free from em
barrassments ; and men of no learning are free from
prejudices. Give me plain nature for politicians,
especially in the grand work of eftablifliing a New
Government and a New Religion in a great
State for all ages to come. Let not the artificers
of such mighty buildings be encumbered with that
curled dedroyer of cquallity called property, nor
perplexed by that vile warper of the understanding
call'd learning. Then we ihall have clear bold
strokes in politics. None of your dull dreaming no
tions and motions, drawn foriooth from prudence
and experiences, and therefore call'd Cautions. A
pretty word, truly, for Statesmen in such a tempest
as rages now. Between you and me, my friend
Peter, I will venture to predidl, that this war will
never be brought to a fuccefsful conclusion, until
we have fewer men of property and learning in the
Continental Congress. I will give thee a
proof of what I say—speaking of Government in
one of their addresses to the Canadians, they affcrt,
that the Jeveral powers being separated and dis
tributed into several band? for checks upon
one another, is the only effectual mode ever in
vented by the wit of man to promote their freedom
and prosperity." ' ridiculous Idea. One may lay of
them as Fejius did of Paul.- —" Too much learning
hath made them mad." Our wiser Convention go
ing on a more natural and Jimple Plan, hath treated
that foolifh notion of "checks." with proper con
tempt by utterly rejecting it from our Frame of go
vernment and by making the whole Legislative
Executive and Judicial powers depend fagh
and abjolutely on one body, to wit, the House of
Afembly. This one body will lay what taxes it
pleases, levy them at it pleases, apply them as it
pleases, without “ check" or controul —and in
like manner make any other law it pleases, exe
cute such law as it pleases and in the courts 0,
juflice have every cause civil or criminal determined
as it pleases. When the whole Stage is thus depen
dant on one body, how vast mult be the power and
influence of our Leaders? it they can carry their
questions by,a majority of aJingle vote, Pqnnfylvani
a "is LAID AT THEIR FEET."
Peter, Will not these Leaders then be feared,
especially by those who happen to offend them, as
they will have it in their power by iufaming the As
sembly, to take what vengeance they please.
Orator. To be sure: Let their enemies trem
ble and take care of themselves.
Peter. But doff thou not recoiled what the ce
lebrated Montesquieu fays in his " spirit of Laws?
“ The political Liberty of the fubjefl is a tr^nqui
" lit, of mind ariJing from the opinion each person
" has of his safety. In order to have this liberty,
" it is requiJit& the government be so conflicted, as
" one man need not be afraid of another :"
cc Again, he fays, " when the Legislative and
cc executive powers are united in the fame per Jon
" or in the same body of Blagiftrates there can
c ‘ be no Liberty; becau/e apprehenfons may arise
" leaf the fame monarch or senATEfcould enact
" TYRANNICAL laws to EXECUTE them in a TY
" RANNICAL MANNER. Again, THERE ISNOLI
- BERTY, if the power of judging be not Jeparated
" from the legislative and executive powers
" THERE WOULD BE AN END OF EVERY THING,
“ were the fame man or the same body, whether
" of the nobles or of the people, to exercise those
" three powers, that cf enacting laws, that of Etc
THE
" TOUTING the public reflations and that of jUDG
" ING the crimes or differences of individuals." Now,
thou haft shewn neighbour Puff, beyond all
doubt, that tho' there is in our new Frame of Go
vernment a semblance of these three powers, be
ing, "separated," yet in fad and at bottom, an
entire influence and controul over all three is vested
in the Afrmbly alone: so, that I think the words of
the honorable Continental Congress are as ftridly
and litterally applicable to our Frame of govern
ment leaving out the word “ minister" at the con
clusion, and inserting “ Assembly, " as they were to
the detedable Statute enacting a Frame of Govern
ment for Canada, on which occasion they were used.
The words are these, part of which thou haft al
ready quoted <' here is indeed an appearance
of the feverai powers being separated and difributed
into different bands for checks one upon another, the
only effeflual mode ever invented by the wit of men,
to promote their freedom and property. But, you will
find it, to uJe an expreflion of holy writ, " a whited
febulchre," and the legifative, executive, and judg
ing powers are all moved by the nods of " an AJJem
bly."-
Orator. And so they ought to be. Montesquieu !
Who was he? a Frenchman ; and what could he fay
upon government, that could give any information
to a flrong natural genius, undebauch'd by the jar
gon and sophistry of learning? I know the Conti
nental Congress have prais'd him very highly; and
Lord Chatham and other great men have prais'd
them very highly. He said, “ that for solidity and
" reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of con
" clufion, under such a complication of different
“ circumstances, no nation or body of men could
“ Hand in reference to the General Congress at
“ Philadelphia." Strong words indeed—but lam
a freeman, and will judge for myfelf. 1 have as
high an opinion of our Convention as be has of the
Congress; and as those two bodies differ so widely
about government, I think, the Convention is in
the right. As to Montesquieu, I will set against him
the opinion of a writer, who I am certain is as great
a genius, though I have never been able to ditcover
who he is. I mean the author of an excellent little
pamphlet called “ Four Letters on interesting fub
jeds," which was published before the meeting of
the Convention, and appears plainly to have been
intended to reconcile men's minds to the fmple
Frame of Government we now have. That gentle
.man in his fourth letter fays " The forms of
government are numerous, and perhaps the sim
plest is the best. The notion of checking by
having different houses, has but little weight in it,
when enquired into; and in all cases it tends to em
barrass and prolong business; btfides, what fort of
checking is it, that one house is to receive from
another ? Or which is the Jioufe that is mod to be
trusted to? They may fall out about /^r„ij -and /re
cedents, and check one another's honor and tem
pers, and thereby produce petulances and ill will,
which a morefmple form of government would have
prevented." Again he fays “ Government is
generally distinguished into three parts, Executive,
Legislative, and Judicial; " But this is more,a dif
tih&on of words than things." Read them letters,
Peter, and whatever opinion thou may'ft entertain
of the author's sentiments, I am pretty sure, thou
wilt acknowledge him to be an ingenious man, and
an able writer. The Congress and Montesquieu cer
tainly have not " enquired into" these matters as
they ought to have done. One Houle to rule the
whole State is certainly the thing, " when enquired
into."
Peter. But one house may be " divided against
itfelf," and we are told that then it “ cannot stand;"
so that we have all the inconveniencies arising from
a “ distribution of power into different hands, with
out the advantages."
Orator. Where all the powers are vested in one
House, the Leaders have nothing to do when tired
of a debate, but to call for the question. That fet
tles the matter at once. That's Lord North's way:
And we should learn wisdom even from our enemies.
The majority is always in the right or supposed in
the State to be so Let rhe minority grumble A
(See the hffj
Numb. XCII