The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg [Va.], 1779-03-12 00:00:00, page 1

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LIARCsiH 12, 1779.
T fl' ): NUMBER 5.
siVIRGINIA iGAZ-ETTE
With tlze fltsishgst sidDVlCES EOREIGsiN and-siDOMEssSTICK.
WlLLIAMSBURG: Printed by JOHp) ctDlctXON and THOMAS'NLCOLSON. '
(3- ALL Persons may be supplied with this
PAPER at Ten DollanzYear, and havi {in.vek'rlszuenu (of a'moderate Length) inserted
_ for Ten slzil/iug: the nnt VVeck, and Servn
.A'bi/ling: each Week ascer.-----—----Pkmipm Wonyc done at this Office in the NDATEST Manner, wnh Care and predhion.
siL ssO ' N D O " Nsi
11 10 U 5 15 0F\ L 0 It, 5, "MoNDAY, . Dnc. 14.
HF. committee received and read ; first time, the bill for relicfofsi
captors bringin and landing Frenchprizesinto this kingdom." ss
Also, 1hc bil for allovth'ng farther time for the d'rawpa'cu
on the experthmssMm ,
Pasi'cd, the malt am"! tax :, and the Ameriean high treason bill.
0 15 5 E OF C 0 M M O N s, SA'rvn-nn', Dsc. u.
CAME to the following resolutions on the supply : That :,joomool.
-be granted to his Blajesty to pay off exchequer ball; made sout in phr
(nature of au'act lali sessions, for raising a certain sum, by leans or
exchcquer bills; that x.ooo,oool. be granted to his Majelty' to pay off
the like sum borrowed last sesstons on excpequer bills, to be reported on
hrlonda . . , s —
; 'siOrched, that there be laid before this House an account of the number
ss - of Papisis, who have taken the oaths to hit Majesty, in consormity to
the act of last selsions. '- ' ss . si ' si
) M 0 N D A Y. Dscznnu 14. .
Several estimates of accounts of troops were presepted, ai were the
accuunrs relativc to Spanish'amd Portugal coin for the use of the army. ,
Ordercd, that they do lie on the table. "
When the House had formed itself into :. Committee of Suppdy, Mr.
]enkinsun claimed their indulgence, while he should attempt to officiate '
, for the noble Lord at the head of the wr'r departmsi-nt, to whose abilities
si he paid the highest com 'limente. He then produced the army estimates '
for the establishment o the year 1779, which be moved should conlist of
160.ooo men, a number exceeding that of the present year by x4.,ooo,
- He proposed plans for recruiting the regiments, by havin two companie:
to each, which were to be A kind of corps de rcserize, 'si'om whence the
b'attaiions might be reinsorced: This mode to take place immediately in
all the regiments," except those under the convention of Saratoga; in .
themsi when they should he set at liberty. , He had not the least duubz,
but he' should be able to raise as many men as would be sufficient to make
up the efiablishment for the ensuing year, as the recruiting service had
been attended with amazing success, more men having been recruited last
year, than during any of the three former; for in elew'len months only,
from last October, there had been raised, including the new corps,
bet_wc'en z'z pnd :3.q*oo men. ss
Enumerating then the British forces in America, in the Eahnd Wd
siItfd-iee, the navy, Ere. he boalted that we had full goo,ooo inch in our
pay; :: force sureriour to any now on foot in any country _m Europe,
and exceeded on y by that which wan maintained by France in the well
bciiliant part of Lotuo XIVth'e reign. . _ _
General Burgoyne could not represe the anguish _he felt at the (light
thrown on his army at Button, by eacepting the regtmenu that cotnpd'e
it out of the proposed regulation; Upwards of 30 officer: belongmgto
._ that corpuwere then in town, some having been exchanged, and other:
released under the treaty, they were in a capacity of serving their countz;
if Administration did not tie their hands byshutting them out from
common lot of the rest of their brother officers. The soldien at Bolton
deserve the most grateful treatment from their country; for however cri
minal their General might have been, they had done every thing that
could be performed hy men; the had fought more than once, and were
reduced to the sad talk of sul'sen ering, only when they were opposed by
an army of six times, their number; for at the time that it was reported in
En land, that he had u,ooo regulate under his command, he had not
hid]? that number; and when he capitulated. he was at the head of only
3500 effective men, and was attacked by an army of [7000 ltrong.
He assented to the augmentationsi, because we should want all the men
we could raise; but he would not conssi nt that any should be sent to Ame
sica to continue the war, which he deciared, taught and corrected by
experience, he believed could never be terminated with success on our side.
,He should' be hapKy to hearvthat Sir Henry Clinton was to continue in
the command of : e army; but as it was reported that he was returning
home, fonnot having been properly r'einforced, it was proper to know
before we voted an army for America, who was the person to command it; .
and also who was to have the direction of the war, at under the present
American Secrelsiary no success was to be expected. He then mentioned
the private lette which Lord George Germaine had laid before the House,
mid which it was said, had flipped into the bag without the knowledge
of hit Lordship; and wished sincerely that the whole of his private certes
pondenee were laid before the House, that a fair enquiry might take place
into his conduct, and that of the noble Lord.
Mr. ]enkinsou declared, that he had not the least intention of throwing
aflight on the army at Bolton; his onl motive for leaving the regimentl
out of the regulation until they shall have been released, was, that the
publick money which would come to their share for raising recruits, might
not be raised at that time, when it must remain useless in the hands of the
paymasier-general, as no recruit: could he sent to them in their present
htuation. _
. ssss :z
Lord George Germaine was. sorry that sithe Hon. Generctz'sisi constant
digression from the business befcre the house; to m- own "personal gon
seeme, made it necehhry son hun to uouhle the comtnittee upm : shbjea:
;sifm'ejgn to' the question on sithe table. V\ hen the papeisis iezative to the
I northern expsi-dilion l-ad been laid upon the table, he t'eullytzid not know
_ t the letter called bythe lion. Generz) : tisivate letter, had been amoi g
A MM'hF' . ' "I ct ss ct
-prtrbably—oud -
' not have laid it aside, as he tei med it an infimmu-t more of a publickthan
a private nature, and tfthe House that ght proper to have the whole' of
the correipondence brought h-si'forc 'hssm, hsi- should not have the least
Objection. With legend to the pensun wh- was to havectthe command in
America, he knew of no o'ner than Sir Henry Clinton; not had that
officer desired to be reealled in du'gun; on the contrary, in his lust lettssr,
in which he asked leave to return, he said his aid de camp would extsihln
.sihi's motive, which was, that he wished to date his id as of the futwe con
duct ofthe was in person ; end that if leave'might he granted him to come
to Ell land, he would he ready to set to hts army in 11 week after he
'shouldghave confined wish Adminiflra on. With regard to his continu
lnce'ittofflcess the very mument he could learn that the House wished to
see him'retire, -he would la ' down is employ ments with pleasure; and
if the Hon. Geneval esi—uld n-j a pl sure in sceinp him rf-sign, he should
certainly have that pleasure. if the army now in Ameriea should be ordered
to nbmdon it. As to reinfurcemente which Gzlttkmen apprehend were
to he sent to Ameriel. he kniw of none;. none were ordued tor that
service, except the recwitt, which were to fill up the vacancies of the
"guments. " ,
Mr. s. Townshend lamented the destruction of 'our tude, and the ruin
of our manusabtures, which alone made the recrfiiting s- rvice so success
ful; an i deplored the misfonunet of this country, whose rulers knew so
little how to m mage the affairs of the realm, that with :- force of zoofooo
mcn, not to be equalled in any modem'fl'ate in Europe, they had rotbeen
eble to bring to a happy'conclusion, : war in whzch we had been eTtit
tending only with the British coloniee. "
Lord Adam Gordon approved the new plan for fisiling up. the different
regimenu; but wished to learn how Ministen intended to raise theeuen;
the mode of raising- the new leviessi had been uttended with very great ex
pense and inconvenience to the Gentlemen concerned; mssd though it was
a very pleasing eircumfiance to have an army of 160,ooo men, yet hewu
afraid it me on paper alosine we should find them; for the country hid
been so drained, that it would, in his' opihi'on,*beet prefentfviey .
difficult matter to raise the addition] _!+,000. ss_ . si
Mr. Fox inveighed against the plan of ursuinz the {a in'Ahefict,
where,, he believed, we should never be :: lsse-to e ect : lhppresion of the
rebellion there was Zertain btality in the Am'erican wet, which cor
resp'onde with that of rxee against Greece. Lord North, he cdmpared
to the'Minilter of that Prince, who, "sivindieatingsihimself, si " t'have .
slid} I ttssomised to huild a bridge over the Hellespont: I but t it; "!
promisecrto sail throu h mount Athes; I sailed through it; ] promised
to supply your atm'ssy w th 1]! necefl'aries; I performed my proupse; 'and '
yet the whole army of near two millions of men, mouldered away;
erfia was firiyped of in inhabitants, and it: resoureee exhautted; and
Greece, nonvtthltanding', maintained its independence. 'I he army in
America'wae : weight on the ngtio'n, as it could do nothing there for the
publick good, where the people were so fitm in supyort of the new govern
ment; but, is the troops wereto be withdrawn, and sent upon ln ex
peditionsi against some pgrt of the dominions of France, their bsilowp would
then tell, end we should reap important advantages from theu- operation,'
even towards the reduction of America, which he con-tended, was not to
be conquered but in Frznee. He next charged Adminishatiun w1th ha-tng
sown divisions in the fleet, by brin ing a proseeution zgainlsit a man they
ss knew to be innocent; on 1 charge t (: most fl'ivolous and unjustj he pro
tested : ainst the idea, that ebandoning the war _in Ameuca, andssac
know] ging the independence of the eolonies, were one and the same
thin : In hie opinion, they were two distinct ideas; and the amty
mig t be withdraw, even ,with : view of destroymg, by operattom in
Another country, that very independence which could not be shaken m
America.
Govemour ]olmsione widely dissered from Mr. Fox; for, he could find
'no diffirence between withdrawing the amy, and acknowledging (he
independence of Ajnericn', the consequences of such a siep could not but
be obvious to every Gentleman; Nova Scotia must be lnzcked, New
foundlmd invaded, Florid: over run, and Camda become subject
to the Congress. The West Indies could b'e of no _use to us, ct- -
the tude from the iflands being obligd to ass through the gulf of Ne")?
rida, for fear of the French at Ca Telle : Mole, the Gibnaltsir of the
West lndieojnufi be exposed to cfi medcan primma, if we had no
port or fleettlme to protect it. Another mson for not " dmm! th:
arm wan, that the new Govemours of Americz, si si _ _ {in lppku
henZon of The English, would turn their minsids w _ pinning,
their yemment, which at resent is in : tonerin br, w
woul be bold to say, that th
' e affection of the peop : hud' si si
wemcd from Congrcss, from the moment that body had sssi