The Pennsylvania ledger, or, The Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, & New-Jersey weekly advertiser — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-11-02 00:00:00, page 1

PENNSYLVANIA LEDGER:
^ Philadelphia: Printed by James Humphreys, junr. in Front-street, at the Corner of Black
korfe 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.
Philadelphia, October 29, 1776.
THE Publishers of the fcveral weekly NEWS
PAPERS in this City, are under the disa
greeable Necessity of informing their Subscribers,
that the extraordinary Advance in the Price of Pa
per, and other Materials in the Printing Business,
has obliged them to mife the Price to FIFTEEN
SHILLINGS per Annum; and they hope their
Cuftomefs will not take it amiss to find that Price
charged from and after the First Day of January
next.—Those who should not incline to have the
Papers sent after that Time, are desired to call and
difeharge their Arrears; such as do not, we shall
conclude they agree to the advanced Price, and
shall continue to fend them accordingly.—Persons
fubferibing for the Papers after this Date to be
Charged Fifteen Shillings per Annum, and to
pay 7s 6d Entrance.
HALLand SELLERS.
Wm. andTHOMAS BRADFORD.
JOHN DUNLAP.
JAMES HUMPHREYS, junr.
Port of Philadelphia, 7 y o ^ whom it may concern.
Pennfy fania, )
NOTICE is hereby given, that a Court of Ad
miralty will be held at the State-house, in the
city of Philadelphia, on Thursday the fourteenth day
of November next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon of
the fame day, then and there to try the truth of the
faCts alledged in the bill of fames Campbell (who as
•well, &c.) against the foop or vefel called the
MODESTY, lately commanded by Peter Grubby,
burthen about thirty tons, with her taele, apparelfur
niture and cargo, to the end and intent that the ow
ner or owners of the said jibop, her cargo, Ac. or any
per Jon concerned therein, may appear and few cause
if any they have, why the fame Jhould not be condemn
ed according to the prayer of the said bill.
October 23. By order of the Judge,
ANDREW ROBESON, Register.
cfafcfocfcc^^ *c^x^xfafa^^
A DIALOGUE betwceen Orator Puff and'
Peter Easy, on the proposed Plan or Frame of
Government. (Continued from our lafl)
Orator. YK7 lIY, Peter, I regard thee as a good
YY natured well meaning man, and
therefore I esteem and confide in thee. I will give
thee an insight into all the imperial secrets of our
bright men, my great friends: tho thou haft pick'd
up some odd notions from the Congress, Montefauieu,
and Corner . Politicians. Now my friend,
I come to the grand, finishing, crowning stroke of
our new Plan of Government. lam swallowed up
in wonder and delight in contemplating it.
“ Oh that I had an hundred thonfand tongues,
“ A throat of brass and Adamantine Lungs
to celebrate it as it deserves. Thou must guess sure
ly that I mean the "Council of Censors," that is
to be eleded in the year 1783, and so from time to
time with power to fend for persons papers and re
cords, to pass Censures, to order impeachments, re
commend the repealing of laws enaded contrary to the
Constitution, and to call a Convention to meet with
in two years afterwards for amending, explaining
or adding to the articles of the Constitution."
there's a sublime thought for thee Peter. What
State on this Continent has any thing in its Condi-
WAS LOST, on Saturday last, in Third or
Arch-Street, between Cherry alley and
Front street, A LETTER directed to Mrs. Eliza
beth Stewart, with a sum of money inclofed. Who
ever has found the fame and will bring it to BEN
JAMIN RITTENHOUSE at the gun lock factory
in Thiid-ftreet, shall be very handsomely rewarded.
To the ]FREEMEN of the city and County of
Philadelphia.
Gentlemen.
BEING encouraged by many friends, I intend
to stand a candidate for the SHERIFF'S OF
FICE at the ensuing election. Should I so far meet
your approbation as to be returned, the favour shall
be greatfully acknowledged, and, to the best of my
ability, the duty faithfully executed by the public's
devoted friend, and humble servant,
* THOMAS HALE.
November 2, 1776.
WEEKLY ADVERTISE R.
Or the Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New-Jersey
SA T UR DAY, November 2, 1776.
tution like this Institution? not one of them. It
is all our own, Yet this bright thought was bor
rowed, as I am informed by a great triend, from
one of the simples things in the world, and with
which almost every child in Philadelphia is well ac
quainted. My friend fays, the moment he saw it,
as he was walking on the commons, and meditating
on the important and oppressive business entrusted
to him by his countrymen, it struck into his mind,
that if the new plan of government could be made
to resemble that machine, all things would go well.
Peter. What machine?
Orator. A Kite, a Kite, Peter; Our consti
tution as new framed may truly be called a Kite.
It rises above earthly things and almost out of hu
man fight. It is suspended between Heaven and
earth— I could almost fay it seems like something
celestial. The States of America look up at it,
as people do at a kite with a lanthorn. fattened to if,
and fay “ what flrange meteor is that?" a foolifh
fellow who thinks himfelf witty, said, about a
fortnight ago, the Convention had been a long time
flying their kite. He did not know how near he was
to the truth. But what is a Kite, however well
made Peter, without a long tail to it, to regulate
its motions? The Council of Censors" is the tail to
our political Kite. Let the Kite twitch and jirk,
and jump, and wabble, and rife, and fall, as much
as it pleases, that long tail will at length bring all
its irregularities into order.
Peter. Why neighbour, Puff, dost thou really
expea any advantage can arise from this " Coun
cil of Censors?"
Orator. Yes, Ido most solemnly believe it will
keep our State fleady, exadly as a kite's tail does a
kite. Indeed, if my friend, who, great as he is, is
always humble and familiar in his ideas and expres
sions, had not preferred the similitude of a kite, I
think our frame might be called a Comet in the po
litical world, and the " Council of Cenlors" the
tail to it. For as I think I have heard, that some
Philosophers fuppdfe? that Comets of fiery streams
that attend them renovate things by bringing new
supplies, or by dissipating what might be injurious,
so the blazing tail of our government will every
now and then whisk it away rapidly among our
legislative, executive, and judicial, which 1 will call
the planetary, system of Pennsylvania, purge oft all
noxious humours, and, as the 47th lection fays,
“ preserve the fieedom of this Commonwealth for
ever."
the setting of the Council of Censors, to amend,
explain and #dd to the articles of the constitution,
if there appears to the Council an absolute ne
cessity of amending, .explaining or adding." (fee
the last fedion of the Frame) Surely this is depart
ing, neighbour, from the idea of Simplicity thou,
haft praised so much; or if I allow the Frame to
be very simple, as that is thy favourite expression,
yet it must be in my own fenle of the term; for I
am certain it is the most complicated, perplext, in
confident, and confufed Frame on this continent.
Here is a Convention, whole continuance of power
is not limited in the frame, to be called, in order to
do, what an Assembly with the consent of the peo
ple might have done; and by this means, we shall
run the rifle of feeing very pernicious controversies
between the Assembly and Convention one dri
ving to support laws already eftablifoed, and the
other druggling to overthrow them. So, instead of
having two or more branches of the Legislature to
" check" and "temper" one another in the progress
of bufnejs, according to the sentiments of the Con
gress and Montesquieu, the only method ever in
vented for preserving harmony, prudence and jus
tice in a State, we are to have this Tail to our con
stitution, to jirk us into order by “ Censures,
Impeachments, Recommendations, Conventions,
Peter. Well, I must declare, the " Council of
Censors" appears to me grossly absurd, and likely
to add to the confufion of our'aftairs, already too
much confufed. They, may “ pass public cenjures"
without a trial; they may " order impeach
ments," that is, they may order the Legislature to
impeach the Legislature, or the Council to hear an
impeachment against the Council: T hey may " alio
call a Convention to meet within two years after
THE
Amending, Explaining, and Adding." I have heard
wife men fay, " an ounce of prevention is better
than a pound of cure." I wish thy bright friends
had been of that opinion. Besides, as the power of
these “ Censors" is to continue “ one year and no
longer," it will be impossible for them, in that time,
to form any full, just and exa& judgment on the
vast variety of business of the nine preceeding years,
which they are to enquire into, even if they should
totally give up all attention to their private affairs.
They are to "enquire ( the last fe&ion fays) whe
ther the Constitution has been preserved inviolate
in every part; and whether the legislative and exe
cutive branches of government have performed
their duty as guardians of the people, or assumed to
themselves or exercised other or greater powers, than
they are entitled to by the constitution: They are
also to enquire, whether the public taxes have been
J"A'y l^id and collected in all parts of this Common
wealth; in what manner the public monies ' have
been dijpofed of, and whether the laws have been
duly executed." These " Censors" must be more
than mortals, if in one years time they can obtain
a perfed knowledge of the immense variety of falls
they are enjoined to enquire into, as to be able to
form an accurate judgment upon them, in order to
pass Censures, order Impeachments, etc. &c. not to
mention the intimate acquaintance they must have
in the constitution and in the whole body of Laws
in order to determine, whether they have been
" duly executed." It is manifeft, that the Conven
tion themselves were of opinion, that they had
formed a Frame of Government for us, that would
be uncommonly fubje& to faults and blunders from
their inventing this new fangled "Council of Cen
sors," which has nothing resembling it on this whole
continent, nor in the world I believe: and so they
have given these monftfous powers to it, that ne
ver can be justly executed, and therefore must be
executed absurdly and dangerously. And yet they
pretend, that they have laid more checks on the Le
gislative powers than any other State. First, they
lay, "their doors are to be open." So they are in.
other States, and so they ought to be: But that is
not thought a fufficient security in those States.
Howmany of the people of aState can croud into one'
houle afid Hand to observe how all affairs are going.
Secondly. They fay "they are to be annually
elective." So the representatives are in other States.
Lhirdly. 1 heyday, " they are to be excluded at the
end of four years;" But they may do a great deal
of mifehief in that time, or in much less time, and
before their constituents know, or fufped they are
doing it. I hey are to be sovereigns; and a few
rash, ill judged measures, or even one such may be
ruinous. Their ads will not only relate to our in
ternal affairs, but to all our Connections with
the other States of America, and \xw\\ foreign pow
ers. These are of vast moment, and cannot be de
termined upon with too much deliberation. Besides,
all the members will not be excluded at the fame
time; good ones may go out, and Jeave the Worst
in. fourthly. Ihey fay, ".the members of As
sembly are excluded from the executive powers."
So they are in other States; but that is not the lad
here, lor the Frame secures a large snare directly to
them, and indiredly gives them an undue influence
over the whole executive, and over the whole judici
al too. Fifthly, they fay, "the members are to
be fubjed to bad laws themselves if they make such."
So they are i'n' other States; but that will be small
comfort to the people of Pennsylvania. They wilh
the Government to be so conftuuted, that they may
stand as good a chance as the other States do, that
they (hall have no bad laws. Sixthly. They fay,
" that all bijis of a public nature are to be printed
for confederation before they are passed, and except
on occajions of sudden necefity, are not to be palled
into laws untill the following session, so that the
people may judge of them, and give inftrudions
upon them." This is a very strange way of making
Laws indeed. After the people have chosen persons
to make Laws for them, to save themselves ' the
trouble, the people, however inconvenient it may
be for them, are to deliberate upon every Law, vo
meet together, confit with their neighbours,, and
draw up infractions —lnhead of saving trouble to
Numb. XCnt