The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1778-11-17 00:00:00, page 1

JUST PUBLISHED,
And to be Sold by WATSON and GOODWIN,
and by the different POST-RIDERS from this
Office
By the Thousand, Groc-e, Hundred, Dozen, er
single one,
THE
Connecticut ALMANACK,
For the YEAR of our LORD
1 7 7 9- „
And from the Creation of the World, ,7281—
Being the Third after Bissextile or Leap Year.
Composed by the PROFESSOR er MATHE
MATICS. In Yale College
'The CRISI S,
NUMBER VI.
To the Earl of CARLISLE General CLIN
TON, and WILLIAM eben, % Bri
tish Commissioners, at New York.
THERE is a dignity in the warm pa^oris of
awhig, which is never to be found in the
c6ld malice of a tory. Tn the one, nature is only
heated --in the other fie is peifoned. The inflant
the former has it in his power to ppniffi, he feels a
disposition to forgive ; but the canine venom of the
latter knows no relief but revenge. This general
distinction will, I believe, apply in all cases, and
suit as well the meridian of England as America.
As I presume yout last proclamation will undergo
the llrißures of other pens, I Shall confine my re
marks to onlya few parts thereof. All that you
have said might have been comprised in half thecom
ref? It is tedious and Unmeaning, and only a re-
Betition of yeur former follies, with here at d there
an offenfive aggravation. Your cargo of pardons will
have no marker- It is unfaffi enable to look at them --
Even (peculation is at an end; They are become a
peffeA drug, and ^ wav calculated for the climate
In thecourfe of yob proclamation you fay, "The
policy as well as o.e benevolence of Great-
Britain, have thus far checked the extreams of
war, when they ended to difirefs a people flill con
fidefed as their fellow fub,e&s. and to defoliate a
country Shortly to become again a fouree of mutual
advantage." What yon mean by " the benevo
lence of G eat Britain '' is to me inconceivable. To
put a p'ain question : Do you confide ycurfelves
men or devils ? For until this point is fettled, no
determinate fenfecan be put upon the expression.
You have already equalled, and in many instances
excelled^ the lavages of either Indies ; and if you
have yet a cruelty in Pere, you must have imported
" . unmixed with every human material, .stem the
original wase-houfe of hell.
To the interposition of Providence and her blef
fegs on our endeavours, and act to British bene
volence, are we indebted for the Short chain that
limits your ravages. Remember yen do not, at
&s time, command a foot of land on the Continent
of America. Staten Island, York-Inland, a small
pirt of Long Island, and Rhode Island, circumscribe
your power; and even those you hold at the eXpence
of the Weft-Indies. To avoid a defeat and prevent
a desertion of your troops, you have taken up your
quarters in holes and corners of inaccessible Security;
and in order to conceal what every one can conceive,
you now endeavour to impose year weakness upon
as for an act of mercy. If you think to succeed by
such shadowy devices, you are but infants in the po
litical world ; jfou havetl c A, B C, pfftratagem yet
to learn; and are wholly ignorant of the people you
have to contend with. Like men in a state ofintgxi-
Cation, you forget that the rest of the world have eyes,
and that the fame flup'dity which conceals you from
yourselves, exposes you to their Satire and contempt.
Th: paragraph I have quoted, Bands as an intro
duction to the following, " But when that country
(America) prefects the unnatural design, not only of
eflranging herfelf from us. but of mortgaging herfelf
and her resources to our enemies, the whole contest
TUESDAY, November 17, 17,78. THE [Number 721.
CONNECTICUT COURANT,
AND THE
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCES.
HARTFORD: Printed by W ATSON and GOODWI N, near the Great Bridge.
is changed; and the queflion is, how far Great Bri
tan may, by every means in her power, destroy or
render uf;lefs ; a connexion contrived for her ruin,
and the aggrandizement of France. Under such cir e
cumitances, the laws of felf preservation must dire&
the conduct of Britain,and if the British Colonies are
to become an accession to France, will direct her to
render that accession of as little avail as possible to
her enemy."
I confider you ih this declaration, like rriadmen
biting in the hour of death. It contains likewise a
fraudulent meanness ; for, in order to justify a bar
barous conclusion, you have advanced a 'a ? fe pofici
on. The treaty we have formed with Fraure is
open, noble and generous. It is true policy, found
ed on found philosophy, thd btfther a forrader or
mortgage, as you would fc^ndalo <fly infinna e. I
have seen every article, and speak from p fiive
knowledge. In France we Ia e found an uff &i
onate friend, a faithful ally from Britain, re ting
but tyranny, cruelty and infidel :;.
But the bappiuefs is. that the mifrh^e you
threaten, is not in your p wer to exec '> ; and if it
were the punishment would return upon you in a
tenfold degree. The humanity of America hath
hitherto Retrained her from a&s of retaliation, and
the affection She retains for many individuals in
England who have fed, cioatbed. and comforted
her prisoners, has, to the p,efent day. warded off
her resentment, and perated as a fereen to the whole.
But even these considerations must cease, when na
tional objects interfere and oppose them. Repeated
aggravations will piovofe a retort, and policy juftify
the measure. We mean now to ake you seriously
up upon your own ground and principle, and as you
do, so Shall you be done by.
You blight to know, gcntk:nx;% shat England mad
Scotland, are far more exposed th incendiary deso
lation than America, in her present state, can possibly
be. We occupy a country with but few towns,
and whose riches confits in land and annual , pro
duce. The two lift can Suffer but little, and that
only within a very limitted compass. In Britain it
is otherwise. Her wealth lies chiefly in cities and
large towns, the repositories of manufactures and
fleets of merchantmen. --There is not a Nobleman's
country-feat but may be laid in allies by a single
perlon. Your own may probably contribute to the
proof; In Short, there if no evil which cannot be
returned when you come tb incendiary mifcluef.---
The Ships in the Thames, may certainly be as
easily set on fire, as the temporary bridge was a few
years ago ; yet of that affair no difeevery was ever
made; and the loss you would faftain by such an
event, executed at a proper season, is infinitely
greater than any you can infli&. The East India
House, and the Bank, neither are, nor can be secure
from this fort of deftru&ion, and, as Dr. Price just
ly observes, a fire at the latter would bankrupt the
nation; It has never been the custom of France and
England, when at war, to make those havocks on
each other, because the case with which they could
retaliate, rendered it as impolitic as if each had de
flroyed his own.
But think not, gentlemen, that our distance secures
you, or our invention fails us. We can mu.h eafcr
accomplish such a point than any nation in Europe.
We talk the fame language, dress in the fame habit,
and appear with the fame manners as you felv&
We can pass frem one part of England to another
unfufpe&ed; many of us are as well acquainted
With tke country as you are, and Should you impo
liticly provoke our will, you will mod affurcdlv la
merit the effects of it. Mifehiefs of this kind squire
no army to execute them. The means are obvious,
and the opportunities unguardable. I hold up a
warning piece to your senses, if you have any left,
and “ to the unhappy people likewise, whofeaff&rs
are committed to you *." I call not with the rancour
of an enemy, but with the earnefinefs of a friend, on
the deluded people of England, left between your
. * General Clinton's letter to Congress.
blunders and theirs, -they fink beneath the evils con
trived for us.
'' He who lives in a glafi-Boule, fays the Spa
niffi proverb Should never begin throw Ag Stones."
This, gentlemen is ex c%y your case and you must
be the moil ignorant of mankind or sip, fe n so;
not to fee on wheh fide the balance of accout ts will
fall. There are many oth^r modes of retaliation,
which, for feverai batons, I tucofe not to mention.
But be allured of this, t' at he in\a: yon put a
threat Ml execution, a Counter blow wll follow it.
If you openly prof fs you Selves tav - , it is high
time we Should treat you as .fitch and f nothin? but
didrefs can ret ov. you to reason to pußiffi will be
tetne an ffice ol charity;,
While you 11 :atUy iaflwither in the Delaware,
I flared myle vice .* : the Ten -filvania Navy Bvj
tin, at Tich on a- one w' 0 wow'd ma eap rry
Wih them, 0 apy -cdr or hve -en l-men on an ex
pedhyon down ,: river to let fire to it and though
it uas ret then accept'd, 0- the thin p'rfcna'ly
acemp cd, st is met^ probable tha: your wa
folly w II provoke a much more vulnerable part.
Syno' W en th nnfe es is done, tl a # y'ukad
net wanting and remember that we don® be in +,
but mean 0 repay it. Thus much for your savage
and in.politic iKteatep;
In anofher part of your proclamation you fa%
" But if the hen urs of a military life are becorne
the object of the Americans, let them Seek those ho
nours under the banners \A their rightful Sovereign,
and in fighting the battles of t! e united British em
pire, against our fate mutual and natural enemies?'
Surely! The union of absurdity with madrefs was
never marked in more distinguishable lines than
those. Your rightful Sovereign, as you call h ; m,
may do well enough for you, who dare net enquire
into the humble capacities of the man ; but we who
estimate persons and things by their real worth can
not fuffer our judgments to be so imposed upon:
and, urilefs it is your will to fee h m expefed. it
ought to be your endeavour to keep him cut of fights
The left you have to fay about him the better. We
have done with him, and that ought to be anfwur
enough. You have been often told so, strange ! that
the aafwer must be so often repeated. You go a
begging w#h your King as with a brat, or with
feme unsaleable commodity you whe tired of; and
and though every body tells rio, no, still yew keep
hawking him about. Bet there is one that wil have
him in a little tirae and as we haVe no inchparion
to disappoint you of a cudealer; we bid nothing
for him.
The impertinent fol', of the paragraph I hsvej ft
. quoted, deserves no ot her notice than to be bu.c ed
at and thrown by, but the principle on which it is
founded is detectable. Weare invi ed io fubhrit to
a man who has attempted by eve ; y'cr city odelroy
us, and to join Juki in makm war a, ainft France!
-Who is already at war a^al ftp m tor our foppert;
Cm Bedlam in concert wit Luc let form a more
mad and deviliffi -eq rest ? Were it possible r people
could fink iratoLcli apvvacy they v.< od deserve to
be fwepr from the earth like tire i abrants of So
dom and Gomorrah; The propofribn is an univer
sal affront to the rank w° ch ma« old in the crea
tion, .and indignity to h?m who placed Irta therr d
Jr flippy fesiim made up w thou a fpfik of honour,
and unde; n, obl'gaticri to Ged or man. _
Wh« for of men or thr.foan Thrift you foppofe
the Americans to be. who after seen? their most
Tumble petitions intuiting], rejeAed ; he most gric-
Vousbws puffed to diflrtfs them in (Very quarter;
an undeclared War let loose upon them, and Indians
and N^roer invited to the Slaughter : Who, after
feeing their kmdred murdered, their fellow citizens
Starved to death in prisons, and thei r houses and
property dedroyed and burred: Who. after the n.ft
serious appeals to heaven ; the mottfolemn abju-ati
on by oath of all government conne&d with you,
and the most heart-felt pledges and proteftauon of
faith fc each other ; and who, after Soliciting the
friendship, and entering into alliances wi<h other