The New-Jersey journal — Chatham, N.J., 1782-09-11 00:00:00, page 2

^ard in it. Vpbn opening toe team to fee what it
was, found 42 guineas and two queen Anne's crown
pieces.
&.tra& of a letter from a gentleman at Thorpe in
Yorkihire, to his friend in London, dated Februa
ry,ll'
" However incredible the following particulars
'may appear, you may be assured of the veracity of
them : about a year since, an old man of this place,
aged 91 years, was married to a woman of 83, by
whom he had achild born on the 29th of lalt month,
which is likely to-live, as the mother went her full
time."
Administration at prefect are making great exerti
ons in procuring intelligence, for no less than
116 0001. were paid last week at the treasury, for se
cret Service money, to the two Secretaries offices.
July It, It was this morning whispered in the
most polite and intelligent circles, that disagreeable
news had been received from the Continent, relative
to our affairs in the Taft-Indies. It is said that the
mews, which came by the last mai^ from Ho^and,
^otwichftanding its round about way of being to;d, is
in part, true ; and, there is reason to be apprehen
henfive for Sir Edward Hughes in the Superb man
of war, of 74 guns.
To the Editor of the Westminster Magazine.
^ESSAY on HUMAN VANITY.
Honours are Men's religion. Power their Laius ;
Their thoughts Confufon, and their wealth their Cause.
S I R,
VANITY is so natural to the heart of man. andfo
feebly are the wijefl of us guarded against it,
that I almost dread the thought of taking up the pen to
censure the -world in general nubile nature, reason, and
experience seem to admonijh me to correct my own er
rors before 1 presume to preach reformation to others.
If nue mix in the circle of a large company, where all
are speakers and aftors nue Jhall not perhaps find one
who quill not fancy be perceives Jometbng amtfs in the
conversation, conduit, or behaviour of ever, one but
"himfelf; and yet it is not impossible, nay, it is frequent-
I, the case, that the very person who is so fond of cen
tring others is himfelf the private ridicule of the qubole
company. Such are the imperfections of human nature!
Such the confned limits of our ideas ! Yet, fenjibie as I
am of all this, 1 cannat forbear troubling you with
some general refections on the conduit of mankind in
their secular purfaits.,
When I fee meh whom Fortune has enabled to be
happy, making themjelves miserable in the pufuit of
honours and empty titles; or griping and opprefing
tbofe with whom they have connections, in order to add
one mite more to their riches; 1 cannot but with Solo
mon confider it as a vanity. Will honours or titles
case the excruciating pangs of aft of the gout ? Or
will accumulated riches give activity to those limbs
which the age f grey hairs bas fiffened and contract
ed?
Ihe inordinate tbirf of fuperfuous riches carries with
it many evils in its train : , ealoufy, which is the can^
her of the foul, and which makes us confder every one
difhmef but ourselves ; Envy, which hurries us on to
imagine that the happiness, fortune, and prosperity of
another diminish our own ; Pride, which will not fuf
fer us to refed that we are alt mortal, and that, like
the meaneJi wretch, wefball at last have but an equal
portion of earth; Revenge, which facrifees truth,
reason, and justice, to power, obflinacy, and falfe am
bition; which permits no repose to its votaries, and
which renders the bosom that harbours it, like the
troubled waves of the ocean when agitated by boister
ous blafs, bewildered and confufed.
Permit me, Sir, to quittbefe superior beings of the crea
tion, and view mankind in the humbler class. I fear the
tbirft of power and ambition is a vice as often found
in the bosom of the pauper, as in that of the rich man.
Human Nature is perhaps more on the level, and more
confident in its operations, than we are generally apt to
imagine The glare of that title, Patriot, often con
ceals from our view tnefalfe heart, through which fa
cretly circulates the boiling fluid that generatesjealoufy
and envy, and which gives birth to a desire to flip
plant others, not to do better than they, but to enjoy the
honours and emoluments they pofefs. 'I be wretch, who
once acted in the most mean andfervile condition, who
exclaimed against the oppressions of the great, and be
vailed the degeneracy of the human heart, has bimfelf,
when Fortune has Jhifted the scene proved to be the ve
ry tyrant. Tbefe are not arguments founded merely on
imagination, force ever, one who looks at all around
him ms fee them daily confirmed by that unerring
guide — Experience.
In the early ages of the world, when mankind lived
n perfect harmony with each other, and acknowledged
Superior but their parent, Envy and Jealousy were
unheard of and unknown; but no footer had Ambition
found a feat in the human heart, than adventurous in
dividuals ploughed the dangerous main to explore new
regions. Hence arose those baneful words (baneful at
leaf to society) Trade and Commerce. From that
moment Sincerity gradually loft ground, and Self inter
est ufarped her sacred feat: parents, brethren, and fa
mily connexions, were all given up to that tyrant, In
ters, which now seems to prevail over every thing,
and is religiouJly conftiered as the firfl article in the
creed oj every commercial individual.
In what region Jhall we Jeek for that happy man,
Who fill pursues the track which nature has pointed
out ? Wemuf not expe& to find him in Courts or Pala
ces, in populous or trading cities, or even in large coun
try toWns, where the luxury of the metropolis has found
admittance : We mus look for him only in the village.
While the anxious merchant is all day thinking, and
dreams at night when seeping, of the hafy increase of
bis riches-^While the ambitious courtier is contriving
schemes to raise bis own grandeur and power on the ru
ins of the reputation of another—while these, add a
thousand other disconsolate inhabitants of populous cities
are farving emidf plenty, are miserable amidst afflu
ence, the bumble and undufribus ploughman enjoys all
the blessings of nature, and pays tbe jincere tribute of a
grateful heart to the beneficent Author of his happiness
and contentment.
Contentment ! thiu parent of Felicity! thou faith
ful companion of Hope ! if thou fouldef take thy abode
in my bosom, in vain may Fortune wreck me on inbo-
f pitable Jho?es. --While I poflefs thee, I /ball not envy
the great and powerful, but rather pity the Crown and
the Scepter — Poffyk of thee, my mind Will ever be
serene and peaceful, and my consultjuf,feady, and u
reform ; and when Nature Jhall call me to my awful
home, I Jhall quit this Being, clear of the horrors of a
guilty confeience ; and in fall hope of fometbing grea
ter be? aefter. DIOGENES.
COMICAL ANECDOTE.
AS a news hawker, t brisk jolly lad, was lately
traversing the ftrecis of Philadelphia, with a
bundle of newspapers under his arm, roaring out as
usual, —" Bloody news I—bloody news ! " —he was
met by a Jack Tar, neir the Coffee house, driving
farioufly in a dne horfechair, who, without warning
or ceremony, in the twinkling of an eye ran diredly
over this retailer offangainary intelligence, and bruis
ed him in such a manner as to render both his news
and himfelf literally bloody, from one end to the other.
Several gentlemen, who were witnesses to the adion,
and seriously vexed to fee the hawker ill used, flop
ped the sailor in his career, and were about to cha
stise him for his careeffnefs and inhumanity, when
the fellow turning about and exhibiting a phiz so sin
gularly ridiculous, asto banish every idea of resent
ment, that might have risen in the ipeaators, bawled
out, —“ D'ye fee, gentlemen, d—m his eyes, he hol
lowed bloody news and had none, ——now he may
cry bloody news, 'till his heart akes, and ne'er tell a
word of a lie neither !"
An Anecdote Worth, the celebrated Dr. FRANKLIN,
ri' l H E morning after Wedderburne, now Lord
Chief Justice of England, had in his never to
be forgotten Pbtippic before the privy council, treat
ed the venerable Do&or with such unbounded feurri
lity and abuse, a particular friend now in this coun
try (accompanied by Monsieur Garnies des affairs of
France) called upon the Dodor at his house in Haven
street, and asked him why he did not chastise Wed
derburne immediately upon his coming out of the
council chamber? The Doctor with his usual calm
ness and philosophy replied, “ because it was not
worth while. The puppy is not game. What lig
nifies kicking the cur that barks at the door? His
mafler that employed him Jhall Juffer for it !"
From the Westminster Magazine,
AN ORIENTAL AP OI,OG UE.
A Blind man having contrasted a violent passion
for a certain female, married her contrary to the
advice of all his friends, who told him, that she was
exceedingly ugly.—A celebrated physician, at length,
undertook to restore him to fight.—The blind man,
however, despised his assistance. —" If I should reco
ver my fight," said he, " I fhopld be deprived of the
" love I bear to my wife—a love which renders me
“ happy." —" Man of God !" replied the physician,
" tell me which is of most consequence to a rational
“ being, the attainment of happiness, or the attain
" ment of truth ?"
THE MODERATE AMBITTON.
JAM ambitious of happiness, and I believe it impof
fble to enjoy it without that prime blessing, a few
butfaithfulfriends, Iwife rather to befnfibh ;fa
feientife ; rather the chriflian than the pWofoph^ b
I would have a house neat and commodious; afortune
moderate, but ensured ; just employment eriodgb to pre
vent indolence ; just leijure enough to prevent too much
employ; no ma/ter, and but few jervants ; neither
lawsuit nor title; neither envy not avarice. Health
is my idol; but I would rather owe it to tempers
ance, tranquility and exercise, than to Phijicians. I
would bate tbofe only who merit hatred, and love these
only who merit love For this world, it is tranfifor,,
and I would glide through it with jerenity, For the
next, it is eternal; and therein alone Jbould my confi
dence be placed. EDWIN.
HALIFAX, August 23
Tuesday arrived here, in nine weeks from Torbay,
a fleet of upwards of 50 fail, of tranfpo ts, ftortfhips,
victuallers, &c. under Convoy of his Majtfly's ship
Renown, of 50 guns, Capt. Henry.--Brigadier Ge
neral Brown, Major Campbell, and a number of
other officers have arrived here with the troops, in
their way to New-York.
BOSTO N, august 29.
On Wednesday the 21st inst. his Excellency the
Marquis d'e Vaudfeuil, Commander in Chief of the
squadron of his Most Chriffian Majesty, now in this
harbour, with the officers of the fleet, of every rank.
General Chaifie and his suit, and a great number of
French and American gentlemen of dillinaion, par
took of a public dinner in Faneuil-Hall. at the invi
tation of his Excellency the Governor, and the Ho
nourable the Council, of this Commonwealth.
The Marquis afad the officers that accompanied
him, in coming up to town, were fauted by a drf
charge of cannon from the Castle, and on their ap
proach to the place of landing, by the cannon of
Fort Hill. They were received by the Governor
and Council, at the State House, in the Senate C ham
ber, from whence the whole most refptdable com
pany proceeded to the Hall, through a croud of spec
tators, curious to fee so many nobitmen and gentle
men of the nation with which we aie so ciofely allied,
and which has so freely offered its richett blood in
our common cause.
Upon their arrival at the Hall, they were again
saluted by a difeharge of field pieces cor veniently dis
posed for that purpose. More than 25b persons fat
down together in that commodious room: The en
tertainment was elegant ; ano n<thirg could exceed
the mutual expression of iefpe&, frienefhip and plea
sure upon this occasion, the joy cf which was evi
dently diffufed thro' the whole town.
After dinner the United States of America, and
their representatives in Congress, th King, the
Q^een, and the Dauphin of France, perpetuity to the
alliance between France and America, and a number
of other toasts in the true spirit of the revolution, and
warmly expressive of the public friendship, were giv
en, and accompanied with the difeharge of cannon,
SALEM, AUGUST 22
Yesterday morning a third cartel from England ar
rived at Marblehead. She failed from Falmouth on
the 7th ult. and has brought in 116 Americans, late
ly confined in Mill prison.
A gentleman cf this town, who came in the cartel,
informs, that the combined fleet of France and Spain,
amounting to 46 fail of the line, were at sea, and
had captured twenty two fail of a fleet of merchants
men bound to Newfoundland ; four fail only, with
the convoy, efcapedt That Britain had recalled her
squadron from the North Sea, in order to increase
her Channel fleet, which, in the whole, would amount
to no more than „ fail, while, with the expected ad
dition of 15 or 16 fail of Dutch mtn of war, ready
for sea, the combined naval armament of our friends
and allies would consist of upwards of sixty fail of
capital ships: That this great force was intended to
command the British Channel (in the chops of which
the French and Spanish ships wee arrived) not only
with a vi w of distressing the enemy's trade, but more
particularly for the purpose of in e cepting any fuc
cours which might be sent out for the relief of Gib
raltar, which important fortrefs, it was supposed m
England, was nearly reduced by the Sp niards.
We find no intelligence, in the latest paper received
from England, Efficiently authentic to induce a be
lief that a peace is near at hand, though it ap
pears, by several paragraphs of the latest dates,
that the negotiation for accomplifhirg fodefita
ble an event, continued to be carried on at Pa-/
ris.—The idea of a general pt ace was so little enter
tained in England, that the gentleman above menti
oned, heard no conversation upon the fubjed, nor
indeed did he learn that any regociation was upon
the carpet at the time of his failing ; but he observed
that the people chenfhed the ddulive hop§ of a fep^
rate peace with America,