The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1782-06-25 00:00:00, page 1

LONDO N.
House of Com fe o n s,
Tuesday, February 19.
TH E Secretary at War moved the order of
the day for a committee on the mutiny
Mr. Burke wished the business delayed, co
pies could be procured of some papers relative to
Gen. Arnold ; but the Speaker said he had spok
en too late, as tl motion for the order of the
day had been made, and no other could be pro
posed till that was disposed of. On this the
house resolved itfelf into a committee, Mr. Ord
in the chair.
The Secretary at war informed them, that he
had a clause to insert, which was indeed an inno
vation in the bill ; but of such a nature that he
trusted the committee could have no objection
to it Shamefully flying before the enemy, or
Shamefully surrendering up a post, were crimes
punishable with death, in every part of the King's
dominions, except in Great-Britain, and the
islands of jersey, Guernfey,Sark and Man; now
as it could be no less criminal to fly before the ene
my, or fhamefully surrender a post, in any of
these places than in another ; so it would be pro
per, in his opinion, to inflia the fame punish
ment on delinquents of this description, as if the
scene of their cowardice or treachery had been
in any other part of the world. He moved
therefore that a clause to that pn.pofe be inserted
in the bill.
Mr. Burke called upon the new Secretary of
state to inform the house, who was to command
the army in America ; and how the war in that
country was to be carried on ? He took occasion
to mention Gen. Arnold ; bu\ while he paid the
tribute due to the gallantry and spirit of that of
ficer, he condemned administration for having
given him a military employment, and placed
him, who had betrayed his trull in 0e instance,
at the head of a part of the British army ; which
measure mighttend to depress the sentiments of
true honor in the breasts of our officers.
Mr. Ellis was Surprised, that being so young
a member, he Should be called upon, the firft day
he took his feat, to.fpeak on fubje&s of the last
importance, for which he muit be totally un
prepared. He was not less furprized at the lan
guage of the hon. member refpe&ing Gen. Ar
nold ; for though Ue gave that officer due praise
for his military virtues, his suggestions tended to
check returning loyalty in the breads of hisMa
jelly's American fubje&s; and though such lan
guage as the hon. member held might become a
member of the Congress, it could not be deemed
proper in a member of the British parliament.
General Conway paid many handsome com
pliments to the spirit of enterprize and courage
which Gen. Arnold had manifefted; adding,
that it did not appear, when he endeavoured to
surrender Weft-Point into our hands, that he in
tended to give up the troops he commanded to
Daughter : He admitted that what Gen. Arnold
bad done for us merited reward ; but he could
not think that these rewards should be military ;
they ought, in his opinion, to have been of a pe
cuniary nature. As to the clause proposed by
the Secretary at war, he should not have any ob
jedion to it,'as cowardice, and the surrendering
a poll in Jersey, or Engl: nd, ought to be deemed
as criminal as if they were committed in any
other quarter.
Mr. Fox decanted on the conduct of ministers
in employing Gen. Arnold in a military line,
His courage and enterprise h© allowed were un-
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WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER.
HARYFORD : Printed by H UDSON and GOODWIN, near the Great Bridge.
TUESDA Y, June 25, 1782.
The Secretary at war moved,by way of amend
ment, that the limitation should not bar the trial
of any officer who should be in the hands of the
enemy for three years, either through his own
desire, or the obflinacy of the enemy, provided
he be brought to trial within twelve months af
ter bis release.
This amendment not meeting the approbation
of the committee, Mr. Dunning, the Attorney
and Sollicitor-General, Mr. Fox and General
Conway, all wished the motion to be withdrawn.
General Burgoyne on this consented to with
draw his clause, and the amendment proposed
fell of course to the ground.
Mr. Burke then spoke again of Gen. Arnold—
faid he was a brave and gallant oihcer ; but that
the breach of his trull at Wefl-Point was not the
bright part of his character. This he might ven
ture to fay, either as a member of Congress, or a
British senator He had no obje&ion that Gen.
Arnold should be rewarded in a pecuniary way ;
that he should have his name on that lift which
the house could never fee; but he could not ap
prove his rife in the military line. As a mem
ber of parliament, he might perhaps wish that
Charles' Thomson, Secretary to the Congress,
might betray the secrets of the Congress, and be
rewarded for it ; but would never consent that
such a man should be a Secretary of State in Eng
land, or have it in his power to betray secrets :
The fame principle held good in the case of Gen.
Arnold.",
The committee went through the remainder
of the bill, and the house being resumed, Lord
Lewifham moved, that the second reading of the
Burmingham navigation bill be put off to this
day f'nnight. A division ensued, when there
appeared,
Ayes, - - 47
Noes, - - 45
Adjourned.
Feb. 22i I'he appointment of Gen Carleton to
the chief command in America, fecms a mea
sure of the fameextraordinary nature as continu
ing Sir George Rodney at the head ofthe VL ft-
India fleet. Both these gentleman have had op
portunities of diftinguifhirg themselves andferv
ing their country—but what have they done ?
It would puzzle their warmcll advocates toaffign
any good aeafon for employing either of them a
second time. One is almof ltempted to think
from many strange things that have happened,
After this difeourfe the clause was admitted
without any oppofitibn. But when the chair
man got as far in reading the bill as the clause
which limits the time of bringing an officer to
trial by court-martial to three years after the com
mission of his real or supposed crime s General
Burgoyne complained, that according to that
clause he could not now be brought to a court
martial, as three years had elapsed firice the con
vention of Saratoga ; but as nothing was near
er his heart than to have a trial, he proposed a
clause by which he might be excepted from the
limitation.
questionable,but as honofwasth'e main-spring of
every free government, so it might be attended
with the molt dangerous consequences if any
thing should be done or countenanced by go
vernment, which should tend to ftifle the hrft
principles of it. The appointment of Gen. Ar
nold to a command in our army might produce
such confequenc.es, therefore those who had
raised him in a military line had taken a flep that
might ftifle all sensations of honor in the breasts
of our officers.
Thursday the Weftminßer committee met at
the King's Arms, Palace Yard.—ln the course
ofthe day several members expressed some doubts
of the sincerity of the new adminiflation, on
which Charles Turner (than whom an honester
manora better friend to the corftitution does not
exiff) with a bluntness peculiar to himfelf, said,
" What the devil, would any man in hig senses be
jealous of his wife before he had gone to bed to
heron the wedding night ? Give the new mini-
Iters fair play, and if they don't acquit them
selves like well wishers to their country, I'll be
the firft to leave of supporting them, and turn
their accuser !"
The Gazette of last night is entirely silent
refpe&ing the above melancholy accounts.
The following is an extraft taken from a let
ter dated at Portsmouth 4th of Feb.---" A spirit
of mutiny has gone forth, and all the ships at
Spithead are infested with it. The crew of the
Inflexible refufed to unmoor the ship until their
wages were paid, although by a& of Parliament
they had none due. Three Captains were dis
patched to Spithead, to harangue the insurgents,
and they were insulted- Lord Longford, who is
no less amiable in private life than he is in pub
lic, went of with Sir Richard Bickerton, and ha
ranged them, but in vain.
that there has been all along a fettled conspiracy
even in the cabinet itfelf, to eftablith American
Independence. Poor Old England, what haft
thou done to be thus deserted and betrayed !
The secret views of government with refpe&:
to America, are now made evident beyond all
doubt. Their choice of a new commander in
chief for that Country, explains their sentiments
better than a thousand manifeftioes. How can
we believe they mean to do any thing effeaual,
when they fend out a man whom they formerly
deemed inadequate to a far inferior command /
It is impossible ! They' had, therefore; much
better give up America at once, than lavifhaway
the blood and treasure of this country, by such
ridiculous and hopeless modes of continuing the
war.
General Freytag, who has greatly distinguish
ed himfelf by his assiduity, refpe&ing the em
barkation of the foreign troops,has had fomecon
ferrences with General Arnold, whose whole
time is at present employed in military adjust
ments of future operations in America.
Mrs. Arnold, like the Queen, dresses with
great taste, yet with the molt perfe& neatness,
When flie had the honor of being preferred to
her Majesty, the head-drefles of the Queen and
fubje& were so much alike that one would have
imagined that they had both just come from the
fame frifeur.
March 6. The last French mail proved the
veichle of some ofthe moll alarming information
which ever was received through the medium of
one fingte conveyance in this or any other coun
try. It contains the intelligence of the loss of
no less than four British islands, which if the
information be true, have surrendered to the
arms of France. The firft in this melancholy
inventory is Minorca, of which mention ismadot
in yesterday's papers.
The second and third islands, said to be cap
tured in the last Paris Gazette, are those of De
merara and Ifiequebo, which were so sanguinely
described by Sir George Rodney on his original
capture of them, at the time he took St. Eufta
tius. The fourth and last island, which is re
presented to have undergone a similar fate, is St.
Kitts.
(Nt. 909.)