The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1779-04-06 00:00:00, page 2

HOUSE op LORDS, ^^;;, D.-c. 14.
^fIHE committee received and read a firft time,
Q the bill for relief of captors bringing and land
ing French prizes into this kingdom. Also, the bill
for allowing farther time for the drawback on the
exportation of muslins callico, coffee, &c.
Faffed, the malt and tax bills, and the American
high-treason bill.
HOUSE of COMMONS Saturday, Dec. 12.
CAME to the following reflations on the sup
ply: That 3,500,0 0!. be granted to his Majesty
to pay off exchequer bills made out in pursuance of
an a& last sessions, for taifiaga certain sum by loans
or exchequer bills ; that 1,000,000 1. be granted to
his Majesty to pay off the like sum borrowed last ses
sions on exchequer bills, to be reported on Monday.
Ordered, That there be hid before this House an
account of the number of Papins, who have taken
the oaths to his Majesty, in conformity to the a& of
last sessions.
MONDAY, December 14.
Several estimates of accounts of troops were pre
fented, as were the accounts relative to Spanish and
Portugal coin for the use of the army.
Ordered That they do lie on the table.
When the House had formed itfelf into aCommit
tee of Supply, Mr. Jenkinfon claimed their indul
gence,while he should attempt to officiate for the noble
Lord at the head of the war department, to whole
abilities he paid the highest compliments. He then
produced the array estimates for the year 1779> which
he moved should consist of 16 000 men, a number
exceeding that of the present year be 14,000. He
proposed plans for recruiting the regiments, by hav
ing two companies to each, which were to be a kind
of corps de reserve, from whence the battalions might
be reinforced : This mode to take place immediate
ly in all the regiments, except those under the con
vention of Saratoga ; in them, when they should be
set at liberty. He had not the least doubt, but he
should beable to raise as many men as would be fuf
ficient to make up the establishment for the ensuing
year, as the recruiting service had been attended
with amazing success, more men having been recruit
ed last year, then during any of the three former ;
for in eleven months only, from last O&ober, there
had been raised, including the new corps, between
22 and 23,000 men.
Enumerating then the British forces in America,
In the East and Weft Indies, the navy, &c. he boated
that we had full 300,000 mem in our pay ; a force
superior to any now on foot in any country in Europe,
and exceeded only by that which was maintained
by France in the most brillant part of Louis XlVth's
General Burgoyne could not express the angutfh
he felt at the flight thrown on his army at Boston, by
excepting the regiments that compose it out of
the proposed regulation ; Upwards of thirty officers
belonging to that corps were then in town, some hav
ing been exchanged, and others released under the
treaty, they were in a capacity of serving their coun
try, if administration did not tie their hands by shut
ting them out from the common lot of the refttof their
brother officers. The soldiers at Boston deserve the
most grateful treatment from their country ; for how
ever criminal their General might have been, they
had done every thing that could be performed by
men ; they had fought more than once, and were
reduced to the fad talk of surrendering, only when
they were opposed by an army of fix times their
number ; for at the time that it was reported in
England, that hehad 12 000 regulars under his com
mand he had not half that number; and when he
capitulated, he was at the head of only 5300 ef
fective men, and was attacked by an army of 17,000
flrong.,
He assented to the augmentaion, because we should
want all the men we could raise ; but he would not
consent that any should be feat to America to con
tinue the war which he declared, taught and cor
re&ed by experience, he believed could never be
terminated with success on our fide. He ffiauld be
happy to hear that Sir Henry Clinton was to con
tinue in the command of the army; but as it was
reported that he was returning home, for not hav
ing been properly reinforced, it was proper to know
before we vo f ed an army for America, who was the
person to command it; and also who was to have
the direction of the war. ts tinder th, present Ameri
can Secretary no success was to be expected. He
then mentioned the private letter which Lord George
Germaine had laid before the House, and which it
was said, had flipped into the bag without the know
ledge of his Lordship; and wished fincerdy that the
whole ofhis private correspondence were laid before
the House, that a fair enquiry may take place into
his condu&, and that of the noble Lord.'
Mr. Jenkinfon declared, that he had not the leaf!
indention of throwing a flight on the arm,-it Boston ;
j ------ ^ ^ ._._^
gu.ation untill they shall have been leleafcd, was,
that the public money which would cqme to their
share for railing recruits, might not be raised at that
time, when it must remain useless in the hands of the
paymaster general, as no recruits could be font to
them in their present fixation!
Lord George Germaine was ferry that the Hon.
General's conftantrdigreffion from the business be
fore the House, to his own personal concerns made
it necessary for him to trouble the committee upon a
fubjed foreign to the question on the table, When
the papers relative to the northern expedition had
been laid upon the table, he really did not know
that the letter called by the Hon. General a private
letter, had been among them ; and yet he would fay
that if he had known it, he probably would not have
laid it aside. as he deemed it an instrument more of
a public than a private nature, and if the House
thought proper to have the whole of the correspon
dence brought before them, he should not have the
least objeOron. With regard to the person who was
to have the command in America, he knew of no o
ther than Sir Henry Clinton; nor had that officer de
filed to be recalled in difguff; on the contrary, in his
last letter in which he asked leave to return, he said
his aid de camp would explain his motive, which
was; that he wished to state his ideas of the future
condu& of the war in person; and that if leave might
be granted himto come to England he would be
ready to return to his army in a week after he should
have conferred with adminiftraticn. With regard
to his continuance in office, the veiy moment he
could learn that the House wished to fee him retire,
he would lay down his employments with pleasure;
and if the Hon. General could find a pleasure in fee
ing him resign, he should certainly have that pleasure
if the army now in America should be ordered to a
bandon it. As to reinforcements which Gentle
men apprehend were to be sent to America, he knew
of none, none were ordered for that service, except,
the recruits, which were to fill up the vacancies of
the regiments.
Mr. T. Townshend lamented the deftru&ion of
our trade, and the ruin of our manufe&urep, which
alone made the recruiting service so fuccefaful; and
deplored the misfortunes of this country, avhofe ru
lers knew so little how to manage the affairs of the
realm, that with a force of 300,000 men, not to be
equalled in any modern State in Europe, they had
not been able to bring to a happy conclusion, a war
in which we had been contending only with the Bri
tish colonies.
Lord Adam Gordon approved the new plan for
filling up the different regiments; but wished to learn
how Ministers intended to raise the men; the mode
of railing the new levies had been attended with ve
ry great expence and inconvenience to :he Gentlemen
.Concerned; and though it was a very pleasing cir
cumflance to have an army of 160,000 men, yet he
was afraid it was on paper alone we should find
them; for the country had been so drained, that it
would, in his opinion, be at present a very difficult
matter to raise the additional 14,000.
Mr. Fox inveighed against the, plan of purfuin^
the war in America, where, he believed, we should
never be able to effe& a suppression of the rebellion ;
there was a certain fatality in the American war,
which corresponded with that of Xerxes against
Greece. Lord North, he compared to the Minister
of that Prince, \lho, vindicating himfelf, might have
said, I promised to build a bridge over the Hellespont:
I built it; I promised to fail through mount Athos:
I failed through it; I promised to (apply your army
with all necessaries: I performed ray promise; and
yet the whole army of near two millions of men, moul
dered away; Persia was stripped of its inhabitants,
and its resources exhaufled; and Greece, notwith
flanding, maintained its independence. The army
in America was a weight on the nation, as it could
do nothing there for the public good, where the peo
ple were so firm in support of the new government;
but, if the troops were to be withdrawn, and sent
upon an expedition against some part of the dominions
of France; their blows would then tell, and we
should reap important advantages from their operati
on even towards the reduction of America, which
he contended, was net to be conquered but in France.
He next charged Adrainiftration with having sown
divisions in the fleet, by bringing a prosecution a
gainst a man they knew to be innocent, on a charge
the most frivolous and unjust, he protested against
the idea, that abandoning the war in America, and
acknowledging the independence of the colonies,
were one and the fame thing: In his opinion, they
were two diftinft ideas; and the army might be with
drawn, even with a view of destroying, by operati
ons in another country, that very independence
which could not be shaken in America,
Governor Johnftoi; widely differed from Mr.
Fox ; for, he could find no difference between with
drawing the army, and acknowledging the inda
rte.. ttta ..t te . ...,. V .Afo, -.. v ^^^l.^^toV w., v , .wot 4 at^
could not but be obvious to every geuthmiv;. No
va Scotia must be attacked, Newfoundland invaded,
Florida overrun, and Canada become fubjeq to tb;
Congress. The Weft- Ipdes could be of no use to
us, as the trade from the fluids being obliged to p a s s
through the gulf of Florida for far of the French at
Cape Nichola Mole, the Gibraltar of<he Wed I idles
must be exposed to the American privateer if we
had no portor fleet there to protect it. Another fa.
son for not withdrawing the army was, th%t the new
Governors of America, freed from an apprel.es am
of the Eigldh would turn their minds tow^rd^
ftrengthenmg their governments which at present is
in a.lettering fitustion; for, he would be bold to fay,
that theaffeaian of the people had been greatly wean
ed from Congress, from the moment tLt body had
akered the firm of their new cenftitution. The ab
juration oath imposed on all eie^o^- m the colonies,
was Sketching a prerogative which the people had
never imparted or fan&ified; and so great was the
difeontent in the province cf Pennsylvania, that out
of 32 ooq ele&ors which had voted for the firft
Congress, only 600 and odd had taken tie abjurati
on oath, to qualify them tu vote for another Congrefb.
In the provinces of New England, the Whip and-
Tories were nearly equal in the provincial meeting;
that the Whig had only a mtjora'y of two. As to
an invasion 01 France, the gentlemen then in tie
house, who had been on the expedition against St.
Cac, could best judge of the probability of success ia
such an undertaking.
Many other Gentlemen fpok§
$ The motion on the estimates, except in some par
ticulars relating to the militia, we*e then carried
without a division: The rest were deleted till Wed
nesday,
Dutchess County,
Rumbout PrecinA, March 29, 1,79.
GOL. HUGHES; late D. QM. G-.fo hav
ing applied, in Odober last, for a sum of mo
ney, which was then, from the returns made him by
his assistants and others, thought fufficieut to fettle
the accounts due from the late Q_M. General's de
partment; previous to the ad March 1778, under
his direaion. But, received not half the sum be
drew for, which is the principal reason that the.
debts, so long finch contrasted by him and his assis
tants are yet unpaid. However, be isnow direct
ed by the Hon. Major-General M Mln, late Q. M.
General, to call for all the accounts against him, or
his assistants ; also such as are for forage, (exclusive
cf those contracted by Col. WillianT Duer, or his
affiants) for which certificates (on the vouchers ap-
PV'^^ j u " t) will be given, in order that an exaft
edinate of the amount may be made (this being a
mode enjoined by the late Q_M G.neral on all his
deputies) and a fufficient sum procured at once, to
discharge the at rear age, ofhisc ffice as soon ar poffitle.
As a number of public creditors, who have de
mands against the late department live at a diftanc?,
two months will be allowed from the die hereof,
to bring; in their accounts to his office, at M Gyf
bert Schencks fix miles from the F.ffi Kill on the
upper road to Poughkeepsie; to Col. Andrew Tay
lor, Newburgh; to Major K,irs, at Hwerftraw ;
to Major Wood, at Danbury ; -to Major Tucker, at
Mr. John Clapp's Kingftreet. The accounts fcr
forage, from January 1, 1777, to 2d March 1778,
are to be p efented to Col. Andrew Boftw ek, D. C.
General of forage, at his office in Fish Kill, fcr the
fame purpose.
As soon as the money is received, the public will
be adverti fed of its arrival, a^d facilitated, by every
possible means, in receiving their refpeaive balance'.
, If disputable, an exa& tranfeript will be taken
and forwarded; with proper observations, to the
agent of the late Quarter Master General'^ depart
ment, fcr the consideration of Congress, or those
that they may appoint. 41
"POST^F FIC E~HARTFORD. ~
'T'" " Subscriber informs every person concern'd
without exception, that for the future he fh^li
quit charging po^age, by way of accounts.
Therefore those who neglect fending money, by
their servants or others will cerait.iy have their
lexers detained.
THOMAS HILLDRUP.
PoA Mato fcr Ha^f. rd.
MADE AND
By S 4 MUELBUEI„
Goldsmith end Jeweller, opppofite the Town House
Middle-own;
GOLD Neck Laces, Earrings fct in Gold, SiW
ver Shoe Buckles of aii kinds X :e and Stock
ditto. Gold and Silver Broar 31 Table Spoons, Tea
do. Silver Buttons, Silver Thimbles for Ladiea, &c.
——Country Produce. Hard Money, or the P&p&
Currency, will be taken in Pay for the above
Articles.