The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1780-05-30 00:00:00, page 2

Cj:£@*lfc, Bert eh\t to erab^rk with ten tho^nd
men, on board the ttofpor:s, which iw: b n ^
ready at Saady Hook to take them on b.md for the
fouthwaid. Colonel Innis, and other efficers. came
to town yesterday, who were passengers in the fleet,
which are all ccme up fafe to Cork, to the amount
of one hundred fail.
On Saturday lad four Gentlemen of the Common
Council waited upon the Lord Mayor, at the Man
lion hloufe, with a rcqaifnion, that he will be pleat
cd to dire& a Common Council to be summoned for
the purpose cf co operating with the feverai counties
of the kingdom, in a measure so necessary in this
time of difirefi, as a reform in the public expendi
ture. It was Signed by fix Aldermen and abcut
thirty Commoners ; when his Lndfhip informed
them, '• he fhiuld order a Common Council to be
famwoned fur Tuesday the loh inflant."
' Feb. 3. Yesterday the inhabitants of # Weftmin-
Ber, to the number of 4COO, met in Wefimmfler-
Hall, putfuant to public advertisement, to aerec on
a petition to Parliament, to eontioul the fh.meful
wafle cf the public money, &c,
LONDO N, April 8.
HOUSE cf COMMONS, Thursday April 6.
BEING the day appointed for ticHcufe tore
solve irf.lf into a Committee for the purpose cf
taking into confiderrtion the various petitions which
had been presented from different counties, ci ies,
&c. Eveul Petitions were brought in and thole
,rum the town of Dirby, the counties cf Kent,
Nottingham, Cambridge and Suffolk were fpekea
to by th,.members of the laid counties, &c.
Lord Frederick Cavendish in preface <0 the Der
by petition, opened its merits and stated the view
of the fubferibes. He war happened by Mt. Cuke,
who in a very candid speech, declared himfelf an
advocate for the right of petitioning, bat owned he
did not admire the plan which had been followed in
feme places', of joining committees of correspon
dence and affectation to the bufintfs cf preferring a
petition to parliament. He thought that idea in
confeEaat with the freedom of debate in that House,
which he had ever considered as the bast; of the li
berties of the people at large At the fame time
that he said this, he was free to own that he felt the
grievances complained of in the Derby petition in uni
on with bis constituents and hoped the house would
proceed eff^aually to administer redress.
Lord Edward Bentinck presented the Nottingham
petition, and declared that it was signed by 3500
perfonl. Sir Richard Sutton in reply said, that the
petition lad been handed about the county from
houf: to house •,that it had been endeavored to pro
cure an ample number of fabferibers to it in a very
extraordinary manner ; that at Retford and New
ark, and other popular places, scarcely one in tan
who had been applied to, had signed it ; and that
it was right to inform the house that the petition did
not assume the tide of the petition of the nobility,
gentry, clergy and freeholders, but that it was open
to the subscription cf all manner of persons, the vo
ters he Rated to be about 4500 and the subscribers
only 3500 which considered under the ciicumftan
ces he had mentioned, was a very small number, not
ihore than icoo were freeholders. He said he
thought it right to state this to the hmfe not with
any view to insinuate a prejudicial cpinion cf the
fjbferibers to the petition ; they were doubtless ve
ry refpe&able : but it appeared to his mind proper
for him to fh:w whom the petition came frem.
The Hon. Mr. Marlham, who brought in the
Kent petition, fpeke strongly in is commendation,
and fiaed it to be Signed by upwards cf 3000 per
sons. Considering the great extent of coati, whieh
almost Surrounded the county, and occasioned it to
be lined with revenue officers, he thought this a
Rroog proof of the great impassion the public grie
vances had made on the minds of his constituents,
and a matter which ought peculiarly to recommend
them to the notice of parliament. After expatiating
on this and other parts, ha moved that the Petition
be brought up.
He was Seconded by another Kentifti Member,
who said a few words in confirmation of Mr. Mar
fham's argument.
As soon as the Petition was read and referred to
the consideration of the Committee, M w . Marfham
rote again and produced another Petition, which he
(aid had been proposed by feveraj gentlemen of his
county, who thought there was occasion to petition
Parliament for a tedrefs of grievances, but who con
fi Jered Committees of Affectation and Correfpodance
as matters cfa very alarming nature, and likely to
produce consequences fatal to the freedom of F^li
atalntary debate, and dangerous to the conflitution.'
Sir Horace Mann thanked the Hon. Gentleman
for thejuftice he had done hub, and the other gen
thaen of his county, concerned In the present P-c
titiou, Kt avowed himfelf & author and proposer
S r John Hynde Cotton gave a description of the
Meeting, which placed the affcmbly in no very
refpe&able light. H; declared it was held on a
market day. Tha. he did not fee one face in twen
ty that he bad ever seen before, though no Member
was better acquainted with bis constituents. That
the country folks, rag, tag, and bobrail, attended,
and converted the Meeting into a downright mcb.
That the Petition could not be deemed a Meeting of
the Gentry &c. of the county, but a Meeting of the
Cambridge Rabble. That/d far from b^h^ de erred
or frightened from tha rudenehfes and opp fition
made to him and his worthy colleague at the Meet
ing; if his health woJd permit him, he certainly
would stand for the county at the inxt ele&on and
ffi ould not entertain the least doub: cf carry in, it.
Sir Charles Bunbury p:tfeatsd the S ffjih Petiti
on, and declared, he cold fay with hit Hon. friend
who bad led the way, and piefented the Petition of
York, that in the many years he had the honour to
represent the county of SaffJk. he bad never felt so
much pain in the difeharge of hit Parliamentary du
ty, as ia being obliged to present to that House a
Petition from his patient and long faffering confii
tuents, complaining cf grievances which loudly call
en for the immediate attrition of that H,ufe. He
said he would take upon him to assert that no per
fjns had fabfcribed the Petition but freeholders,
and that, considering how lately the Meeting of the
county war held it was signed by a more refpea&ble
number of persons than any one Petition that had
been presented.
(To be continued.)
PHILADELPHIA, May 17.
Extracts cf several letters from a Gentleman of good
information, in E trope.
“ Feb. 15. Seventeen ftiipi cf the line have
failed for the Weft I idea, under Mons. d^Gnehen;
five or fix more are to follow in addition to ten or
twelve already there.
6 The Englilh are to borrow twelve millions,
this year, and, it is said the Loan is fi led up.
They have thrown a fop to Ireland, but have not
appealed her rage They give out exa&lyfuch threats
as they did last year and every other year, of terri
ble p epilations. It is perfectly well known how
these menaces have been accompl shed. They will
not be more fully executed this year than the last."
" Feb. 19. The art of making and spreading
falfe news, to answer political parpofes is not ,ecu
liar to G est Britain : but yet fbe seems to possess
this art, and the talentof giving to her fi&ions the
colour of probability, beyond other nations,; at
least sh: fams to have more ficcefs in making her
impottures believed, than any other. L is her an
nual practice in the winter to fabricate and export
large quantities of this merchandize to all parts of
Europe and America, and she finds more cuftomets
to take them off her hands than fheought, confide?
inr how illicit the trade is. Tais winter her emis
saries have been more assiduous than ever in propa
gating reports- that they have entered into new
engagements with ftveral Principallitie# in Germany,
by which they have hired fgven thousand men for
the ferviee of the next campaign in America-- That
by compromfin% w th I eland they shall be able to
take advantage even cf the military affec ations in
th^t kingdom, od draw from thencealarge number
Sir Sampfou G deon fid, he thought it incum
bent on him to tell the H ruse, that he went down
to Cambridge with a design to fubfaibe the Peri ion,
and to offir bis Services in preferring it, but that he
was obliged to fotegu his fi.f i intention, in confe
quence of finding tie reflations cf the nesting
loaded with a refaction for the appointment of
Committees of Corirfpondenct and Affect ion. The
reason why shofe Committees appeared to him as
objectionable waa rimthey ffrtck hm very f ctb!y,
as amounting to a menace to Parliament, and a fit
ter on the freedom of debate in that House. Hehad
fia ed this ohj<&ion a the Mee ing,
Mr. Wilkes contachaed Sir Saunpfon in relation
to the matter of fa&, declaring that he and hi# col
league had both objt&cd, not merely to Committees
cf Affociaticn and Corafpeudence, but to the right
of petitioning itfeif.
cf it, dud declared that Commit ets cf Affiliation
and Corfefpondeucc had always brack h ni as they
had struck ether gentlemen inthat House, to b? u~s
confluutional, and derogatory to the honour ci Par
liament, tending to letter the freedom o f debase, and
thence to do away one of the fi.ft and rcuft etfenti&l
righ s and p.ivilcgcs cf the House of Commons.
Mr. Molyneux p.efented the Petition from Cam
bridge, declaring a to have been resolved on by so
numerotis a meeting, that the place they firt t^ilem
bled in was not large enough to contain them, and
that they were obliged to adjourn to the be^ine
hou fe.
of regular , troops for the f^v^e in America, d<pcn}
ing on the volunteer militia, oi affociatets for the
defence of 'he country -That they have made a
treaty with R hia, whereby that power has engaged
to furn sh them twelve fh # ps of the line ana twenty
thousand troops, as feme fay, and twenty fhipi of
the line and twelve thenfand troops according to
others. This alliance, they fay too, is of the more
conftqmice on account of feme connexion between
Rjffu and Denmark, who it is insinuated will fol
low Raffia into the war; and Derma k they add has
fwy five ships cf the line, not manned it is
true, but Earbud they fay, can man them.
*' Thtfe tales one would think, are so extrava
gant a^dahfard, that they would not find a believer
in the world, yet thete are persons who believe
them in all nations cf Europe, and there is no doubt
but the fame ''% will be fang in America, and ma
ny will bhe# to it. There if nothing farther fiem
the truth. They willfind the tftmoft d fficulty to
draw fim Germany troops enough to repair the
breaches tn tie German troops made in America
left y^r. The famewith regard to Inland. And
as >0 wha: it said of Russia; there i, not even a co
lour of uuhin it. T^reisno reason to think D.n
m^k is disposed to iffiM G eat-Brifain, but on the
contrary, that sh: has ^rmed to defend herfelf at fta
agaioltG eat Britain; but if it were otherwise, to
what puip $ fe would het ships of the line be unman
ed, when Great Britain cutout man the flip of the
hut sh: already ha;
" Admiral R dnry is supposed to be gone to the
Weft Indies. The Etyilh ^vc derived fucha fitfh
of spirits from th©r late fbceeffes, wh ch are mostly
however of the negative k'nd, that they talk in a
very high style. Two r flr&ions they cannot bear ;
one is that of lofiug the durn nation of the Colonies,
hecanftthey !o k upon this domination as ind fpen
fi de to tte support of their naval superiority ; the
osefj# that of leaving France ard Spain, or either
of them, in poss ffion efa powerful fleet at the ter,
ruination of the war. Their maxim is to make them
reives terrible at sea to all nations, ^nd they are con
v need that if they h^ve America independent, aid
France and Spain powerful sea, they will never a
gatn be terrible to any maritime power "
" Feb 20. We nt informed, that tke Engl sh
minihiy not lens fi ce, made & formal aprl cation
by their AmbafLaor to the Emp?eft wf Rufha, for a
body of troops andammi.& of ships; but that the
application was oppefed in council with great fpiri‘,
and rcjeßed with great unanimity. The harmony
be;w^e^ Vv failles and Pitc.fburg continues fi*m
and per£&."
Fib 25. From the current cf the gazettes, it is
obvious to iemark, of what wonderful efficacy in
pulling down tyranny, a Committee of coirtfpon
dence is likely to be. Ireland has don^ great thin s
by means of i: ; England is attempting great things
with it, after the example of the Americans, who
firft hu§ht its us. : yet all does not seem to produce
the proper gratitude in the minds of the English to
wards their benefactors. However, the glory cf
the invention is ar certainly orrs, as thet of cleri
cal rods, Hadley 's q adraat, or inoculation for the
small Pjx."
' Feb. 27. Parties in England ate working upto
a crifi;. Tin petitions cf the counties, their ru
inerona Committee; of Corvefpondence, their hints
cf affiliations, have most certainly alarmed the Kng
and his Ministers to a great degree- -to such a de^ ree,
that for some time their conduct was equivocal, giv
ing hopes at times to the people that the crown
would favour the drfi.cd reformation in th^ expendi
ture of money. But upon the news of Admiral
Rodney'# feccefa they grew bolder, and determined
to exert all the authority of the Crown to fopp^fa
the meetings cf the people. Accordingly the cry
cf faction, sedition and rebellion was set up in Par
liament by the majority, and the Kin^ wae advised
to dismiss those Lieutenants of counties who had
favoured the meetings of the people : Advice which
he has certainly taken..-. This measure is decisive,
and must either difcuurage and foppref* these meet
ings, petitions, csrrtfpondences and affectations al
together, or it will give there pester force.
The late d-fpera'eftep of the English in seizing
the Dutch fh:ps has made a „eat change in the
minds of the peepee there, and <f the government
too; in favour of Ambries. Even the Prince de
clares that he has be^n deceived by the English, and
that he will promote unlimited convoys."
^LL persons having any demasde on the estate of
Mr. Daniel Breon, late of Williarnftown, de
ceased, are d^fired to exhibit their accounts for set
tlement. All persons indebted to the efiate are de^
fi.ed to make fptedv payment *0
TIMOTHY HOLMIRD, Admiaiftrator.
May fy, 1780.