The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg [Va.], 1778-11-27 00:00:00, page 1

'NOVEMBER 27, 1778. T H E NUMBER 1443.
?VIRGINIA GAZETTE.
EJ Freedom of the Prej} is one of the great Bul'warks of Liberty, and can nez er be restrained but by dq/patic Gavernmtm.
WIctLLIAMSBURG: PRINTBD BY DIXON AND HUNTER.
' !
THE C R ] S ! S. No. VI.
To the Earl of CARLZSLE, General CLINTON, and WlLLIAM
E DE'N, Esq; British rammish'ouefl, at Nt-w York.
llERE is :- dignity in the warm passion: of a whig which is never to,'
be found in the cold mulace of :: tory. In the one nature is only*'
heated; in the other she is -'\ _ 4. The inflant ssc . . ' __ . ,si sict, .
. in hll [30'4 ssL ct.,_*' _ si sisi'sst '.: ss '
venonr -- - ss :" tsi "
'difiinction will, [believe, apply in all cases, and luit as well the mendian of
si=England as Anterica. _ _ ,
' A: I presume your proclamauon Will undergo the stnctures of other pens, !
- sihall confine my remarka to only a few parts thereof. All that you have said
hii ht have been compn'fed in half the compass. It is tedious and unmeaning,
, an only : repetition of your fotmer follies, with here and there an off-rnfive aggra
s vation. Your cargo of pardons will have no market. It is unfashl-snable to look
at them. Even speculation is at an end. They are become a perfect ding, and
* mqvaya calculnzed for the climate. _
ct In the caurle of your proclamation you say, " the pollcy, as well at the borrow
" luce qurta! Britain, have thus far checked the extremes of war, when they
" tended to dishssesn a peOple [till considered as our fellow subjects, and to desolate
i " a country shortly to become again a source of mutual advantage." What vnu
man by " the lmimlam of Great Britain" ]! to me inconceivable. .To put a
, plain queltion, do you consider nourfelvet men or Devils? For until the point in
settled, no determinate sense can be ]put upon the expression. You have already
equalled, and in many instances exce led, the savagee of either lndiee; and if you
have yet a cruelty in store, you must have im orted it, unmixed with every human
material, from the original Hanhouse of He .
To the interposition of Providence, and her blessing: on our endeavours, and
not to British benmlmt, are we indebted for the short chain that limits your
tava !. Remember you do not. at this time, command a foot of land on the
contment of Ameriea. Staten ltland, Yorlt Ifland, a [mall part of Long Illand,
and Rhode lsland, eircttmscribe your power. and end those you hold at the expsi-nce
(ap
_ of the West Indies. To avoid a det'eat, and prevent a desertion of your troops,
\ 'you have taken up your quarters in holet and comen of inacceflible security; and
' 'In order to conceal what every one can conceive, you now endeavour to imr-ose
your weaknesl upon he for an act of mercy. lf you think to succeed by such
shadow dovioel. yonssargpgt infanta in theyolitipal world; you have the A B C
of sin em et to learn, and are wholly ignorant of-the people you hue to con
endwit . ike men in : (late of intoxieation. on forget that the relt us the
world have eye., and that the same Kupidity which ooneealt you from yourselvee
17
si**< --_\
e: et you to their satire and contempt.
; he paragraph ] have quoted [lande at an introduction totlte following: " But
'" when that country (Anterica) professea the unnatural destgn not only of elh-ang
" ing herself from us, but of mongaging herself and her sesourees to out enemies,
" the whole contest it changed, and the question ie, how far Great Britair. may,
" by every mean: in her power, deltroy or render uselesl a connexion contrivesid
! " for her ruin and the aggrandizement of France. Under such circumstances,
" the law: of self-preservation must direct the conduct of Brinin, and if the Bri
*' tish eoloniee are to become an acceslion to France, will direct her to render
" that acceflion of an little avail at flible to her enemy."
! consider you in thi- declaration ike madmcn biting in the hour of death. ]!
contain: likewise a fraudnlent meanness; for, in order to jullify a barbarous cen
clusion, you luve advanced a false position. The treat we have formed with
France is open, noble, and generous. it is true policy fittindcd on found philo
so by, and neither :: surrender or mongage, as you would scandaloully insmuate.
I eve seen every articie, and speak from positive knowledge. In France we have
found an affffsitionate friend and : faithful ally; from Britam nothing but tyranny,
cruelty, and infidelity.
But the happiness is, that the mischief ou threaten it not in your power to
execnte, and it it were, the punishment wou d return upon you in a tenfold degree.
The humanit of Ameriea hath hitherto restrained her from act; of retaliation,
and the affc ion she retains for many individual; in England. who have fed,
(clothed, and comforted her prisonere, had, to the gresent day, warded off her
resentment, and operated at : screen to the whole. ut even these consideration:
_*, must cease when national object: interfere and oppose them. Repeated aggrava
j " tions will provoke a retort, and poiiey justify the measure. We mean now to
take you seriously up upon your own ground and principle, and at you do so shall
ou be done by.
You ought to know, gentlemen, that England and Scotland are far more ex
sed to inctndiary desolation than America, in her present state, can possibl he.
me occupy a country with but few towne, and whose riches consilh in in and
' annual produce. The two last can suffer but little, and thftt only within a very
' limited compass: ln Britain it is othrrwise. Her wealth lies chiefiy in cities and
large town:, the repolitories of manufaEtures, and fleet: of merchantmen._ There
is nota nobleman's country seat but may be laid in ashes by a single person.
Your own may probably contribute to the proof. In (host, there is no evil which
cannot be returned when you come to incendiary mischief. The ships in the
Thames may certainly he as easily set on fire as the temporary bridge was a few
year. ago; yet of that affair no dxl'covery was ever made; and the loss you would
sustain by such an event, executed at a proper season, is infinitely greater than any
you can inflifl. The East lndia house and bank neither are nor can be secure
from this sort of delirubtitm, and, a< Doctor Price justly observes, a fire at the
_latter would bnnki'upt the nation. it has never been the cuitom of France and
ss England, when nt wsir, to make those havocs on each other, because the ease with
L- which they could retaiiu'sie rendered it as impolitic as if each had destroyed hit own.
But think nor, gc-micmcn, that our diiiauce secures you, or our invention faile
m. Wc can much entisir accomplish such a point than any nation in Europe. We
talk the szimu languzscte, dress in the sasne habit, and appear with the same manner:
as younclvcs. We czm pass from one part of England to another unsuspected;
!nauy of us are as well acquainted with the country as you are; and should you
am oliticly hl'cvo'csic our oil], you will most assuredly lament the effects of it.
Mil'chicis of lhib kind sequlre no army to execute them. The meant art obvious
and the optw-tnnitiez nng tarhhi '. ] ho'ssi up a {Varninct piece to your sense]. if
yon !: eve ::zzy let':, an ! " (a lite u-ctl-npD prsssssse Meatus? aczzmitml toym "." lent!
not With the rancour of" an t-nelsiny, but Wi'h th: earneiiness of a friend, on th'
deltzdctl people of Engisimf, lett l'th'sun your Liun-Jerc and theirs they sink beneath
- evil: contrived for us. ass
— sine who lives in '- giass house, says the Sfanish proverb, should mer _.ss ?
_ ss (si ' _ . _ss *
ofaecsioum will fall. There are many other modes of reta iation, w ieh, ' .
several reasons, ! choose not to mention; but be ashmd of this, that the instant
you put a threst into execution a co-ctznter hie w will follow it. lsyou open!)
fess yourselves savages, it is high time we snmld treat you as such; and if notssti;
but distress can recover you to reason, to punilh will become an office of charity.
While your fleet lay ]alt wmter in the Delaware ! offered my service to theP, n
s'h'auia Navy Band, then at Trenton, as one who would make a ss 'th
t em, or any four or five gentlemen, on an expedition down the river to set , dy
in and though it Was nut then accepted, nor the thing perjsmnll} attempted; it it
more than probable that yctsi-r own folly will p:ovokc a much heavies siroke in some
mote vulnerahle part. Say not when the mischief is done that you had not warn
ing, and remember that we" do not begin it, but mean to repay it. Thus much
for vour savage and impolitic threatening.
ln another part of your proclamation you say, " but if the honour: ofa militaty
" life are become the object of the Americane, let them seek those honours under
" the banner: of thle rigb/jul Swenigu, and in fighting the hattlea of the united
" British empire, againttourlate mutualandualuraimmiu." Surely! The union
of absurdity with madness was never marked in more distinguishable lines than
those. Your rigbqsul So-vertigu, as you call him, may do well enough for you,
wh'o dare not enquire ls.!0 the humble capacities of the man; but we, who eRimate
person; and things by their reai worth,. cannot suffer our judgments to be impokd
upon, and unless it in your will to see him exposed, it ought to be our endeavour
to keep him out of tight. The iess you have to say about him t e better. We
have done fwillz bin, and that ought to be answer enough. You have been often
told so; ltrauge that the answer Saint be so often repeated. You go a-beggjng
with your King as with : brat, or wzth snme unshieable commodity you mflnd
of; and though every body tell! you no, na, ltitl you kef'p hawking him about.
But there it one that will have him in a little time, and :: we have no inclination
to disappoint you of a cuttomer, we shall bid nothing for him.
The impetttnent foe]? of the para-ayh I have just quoted degems_y '.
notice than to belaugh at and thrown by, but the principle on whldffiffl
is deteltable. We an imiud tofubun't to :: now who ba: attempted by way ately ss
to desire) it:, and tajoiu him in making war again;]? France, w/J i: dread} a wet
cgatqfl ba: for our support. Can Bettlam, m concert with Lucifer, form I m
mad and devihlh request? Were it penible that a people could link into, such
apostacy, they would deserve to be swept from the earth like the inhabitanteof
Sodom and Gomorrah. The propofition is an universal affront to the ratss-k-ahich
man hold: in the creation, an mdignity to him who placed him there; it (muse.
him made up without a l'park of honour, and under no obligation to God or mill.
What son of men or chtittians mutt'you suppose the Americans to be, who,
after seeing their most humble petitioni iniultingly rejected, the most grievous lm
passed to distress them in every quarter, an_undeclarcd war let loose it on them,
andJudianc and negroee invsittd to the (laughter; who, after seein their kindred
murdered, thoir fellow citizena starved to death in prisons, and eir house- and
property destroyed and burned; who, after the most serious appeale to Heaven,
the molt solemn" abfnration by oath of all government connexion with you, and
the molt heart-felt pledges and protesiation of faith to each other; and who, asta
solicitin the friendship and entering into alliance with other nations, should at
last breai through all these obligations, civil and divine, by complying with your
horrid and infernal proposal? Ought we ever after to be considered as a &
the human raee? Or ought we not rather to be blotted from the shciety o tun
kind, and become a speaacle of misery to the world? But there in somethi in
eorru tion, which , like :: jaundiced eye, transfert the colour of itself to the object
it let: : upon, and sees every thing [tained and impure; for unless you were capa
ble of such conduct yourselves you could never have supposed such : character in
us. The offer fixes your infamy. lt exhibits you as a nation without faith, with
whom oaths and treatiee are considered as trifies, and the breakin them at the
breaking of a bubble. Regard to decency or to rank might have taug t you better,
or pride inspired you, though virtue could not. There is not lest : step in the
degradation of character to which you can now descend; you have put Your foot
on the ground floor, and the key of the dungeon is turned upon you.
That the imitation may want nothing of being a complete monster, you have
thought proper to finish it with an asscrtion which has no foundation either infict
or philosophy; and as Mr. Fergusnn, your Secretary, is a man of letters, 'and
has made civil society his tiudy, and published a treatise on that subject, I addresl
this part to him. 7 7 7
ln the close of the pamgrapli which ] last quoted anee is Riled the " mare! ct '
entry" of England, aid, by way of lugging us into the same strange idea, sheil
likewise siiied the " late mutual and natural enemy" of both countriel. I deny
that she ever was the natural enem of either, and thzt there doe: not nisi il nl
ture such : principle. The expression i; an unnzenning harbnrism, and wholly
unpizilosophical when applied to beings otsi_the same speciez, let theif nnk to the
creation be what it may. We have a pertcst idea of a natural enemy when it
think of the Devil, because the enmity is perpetual. unalterabke, and unnbemble;
it admit: of neither peace, truce, or treaty ; consequently the warsm in eternal,
and therefore it is natural. But man with man cannot strange in the same o
tition. Their quarrels nre accidentul and equivocally ctured. They become
friends or enemies at the change of temper or the cast cf interest inelinee them.
The Creator of man did not cunflitnte him the naturalenemy of eld: other. He
his not made any one order of heings so. Even wolvee my quarrel. flill the
herd together. " any two nations are lb then must all nation: be so. otherwise ]!
is not nature, but custom, end the offence frequently origimm with the lecuser. ct
England is as truly the natural enemy of France as France it of Englud, lad
' General Clintou': letter to Cexgrqst.