The Pennsylvania gazette — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-01-10 00:00:00, page 6

allegiance ; and me mill most readily concur in granting^ to
the persons so commfyoned fab further powers as may heft
tend to promote ana effectuate your Majeflfs falutar, mea
sures.
" Permit us. Sir, to offer our grateful acknowledgments
to your Majesty, for the full and explicit communication
cbich your Majefy has been pleased to make to us, and at
the fame time to express the jufl sense we entertain of the
numerous blessings we enjoy, flowing from the source of
never-ceafng attention with which your Majesty is occupiea
for the fafety and bappinefs of all your people ; and we beg
leave to assure your Majesty, that we participate the fame
desire which animates your royal breafl, and feel no other
wijb than to re-efablifo order and tranquility through the
federal parts of your dominions, upon the basts of a clefe
connection with, and confitutional dependance upon, Great-
Britain." „
To which his Majesty was pleased to return the following
molt gracious Answer.
" My Lords,
I RECEIVE with the most sensible fatisfa&ron this
Address, so fully expressive of your duty and loyalty
to me. Nothing can be more acceptable than the assu
rances you give of y6ur utmof tfupport to enable me to
re-ehabliih order and tranquility throughout all my do
minions, and I shall most heartily concur with any mea
iures that may tend to so salutary a purpose.
FRIDAY, October 27.
A report was made from the Committee appointed to
draw up an Address to his Majesty, that the Committee
bad drawn up an Address, whi^h was read.
Revived, That the said Address be presented to his
Majesty by the whole House.
Ordered, That such Members as are of the Privy Coun
cil do wait on his Majesty to know when he will be at
tended therewith.
A motion being made for re-committing the Address,
a great debate ensued, in which most of the principal
speakers on both tides took a very warm part. Particular
objection was made to the following clause ; " We thank
" fully acknowledge the gracious considerations which
" induced your Majesty to take this step," (meaning the
introduction of his electoral troops into the garrisons of
Gibraltar and Port-Mahon) The gentlemen in opposition
considered this clause as a full approbation of the mea
sure ; whilst the friends of Administration insisted it wag
no more than a compliment to his Majesty's goed Inten
tions, and left the measure itfelf a matter of future deli
beration. Mr. W—burrie and Mr. D--ning had a long
conversation upon the different interpretations of the
clause.
Mr. C---wall acknowledged that there had been mil
management somewhere , • but whether by the Parliament
in not granting a fufficient force ; by the Ministry in not
properly applying the forces granted ; or by the officers
who had the command of them, in not exercising them
effectually, he would not then assert, but probably might
one day afford matter for enquiry in that House. How
ever, he could not avoid faying thus much in favour of
Administration, that a minister in this country, though
he may fee much farther into future events than the
rest of his countrymen, cannot take any great step with
out having the Cry of the people with him ; had Govern
ment demanded 40,000 men the last session to fend to
America, the people would have tnought them mad, but
row that the people were with them, he did not doubt
of fuccefi. He censured those Members very severely,
vwa hi voced last session with Adaw I 'fration, and ex
pressed themfeives very differently in this debate: He
alluded particularly to Mr. Ch. Fox, who, he said, as
wJI as himfclf, had been raffed to very important offices
in the state at too early an age.
Mr. Fox, in reply, protested that he had been deceived
by the Minifrry; he had been taught to believe that go
vernment lad so many friends in America, that the ap
pearance of a few regiments there would give them fecu
tity in avowing themfeives, secure obedience to our laws,
and ensure peace ; that upon this principle he had voted
for fending over the forces last session ; peace was his ob
ject in that meafurc, but now that the Minister declared
Dimfelf for war, he could not but object to his proceed
ings.
The Lord Advocate of Scotland said, it would be ri
diculous in Adminiftra : on to recede at present, or to
listen to conciliatory menfures, whilst America was mak
ing so effectual a resistance ; that all Europe would fay,
we had felt our inability to egorce our rights, and there
fore were glad to accommodate matters upon any terms;
thrt when we had regained and re-eftabliihed our autho
rity there, he would be happy to join in any plan for the
better and more happy government of that part of the
Empire. He said it was not uncommon for Great-Britain
to be unfuccefsful in the beginning, and victorious in the
progress and conclusion of her wars, and that he was
not at all dismayed by the gloomy pictures which some
gentlemen were pleased to draw of our perilous and de
plorable situation.
Mr. Th--loe insisted that decency demanded that we
should return his Majesty thanks for the considerations
which induced him to take the step, though we might
afterwards condemn the measure. Suaviter in modo, fed
fortiter in re, should ever be a maxim in British minds;
he declared that it was his opinion that the Bill of Rights
did not forbid the introduction of foreign troops into our
territories abroad; that it only mentioned this kingdom;
that consequently he could no more fee any illegality, than
he could danger, in the measure.
Sir William W-ke insisted, that the Bill of Rights was
only declaratory of rights existing prior to that a&, that
therefore the people were not to confine their claims to
the literal terms of it, but to recur to the great principles
upon which that declaration was founded.
Mr. D —ning argued upon the fame grounds.
Governor Johnftone arraigned the conduct of Ad
ministration pretty severely; he declared that he was
certain the Hanoverian soldiers could not be tried by
martial law for any offences; that if they should be
tried, they would have an action in Great-Britain a
gainst their officers, and that if any of them should
be put to death, in consequence of the sentence of a
Court Martial, those who gave the sentence would be
guilty of murder according to our laws ; he infilled,
that our garrisons abroad were, in the true sense of
the word, a part es this kingdom, and he was against
the clause as a dangerous precedent.
Mr. Grenville very pathetically deplored the state
of our national affairs, and was convinced, he said,
that nothing but misfortunes could be the conse
quence. Let Administration, fays he, call the Pope
from Rome, the Mufti from Constantinople, the High
Priest from the Synagogue, to their aid, let them put
the assassinating knife into the hands of slaves, and
teach them to butcher their masters, yet still the event
must be ruinous to this nation. Suppose America
conquered, its towns destroyed, its fields laid waste,
we must keep up a large standing army to support
our triumph; but can we make them in such a state
raise money fufficient to pay for their own chains ?
Can we make them build up their Mattered cities by
force ?
Mr. F—land, though he confeffed his dislike to
the employing foreign mercenaries, without the con
sent of Parliament, declared his objection to the re
commitment of the Address: He did not wish to im
pede the measures of Government at so critical a
time, but he wished the minister had called the Par
liament together last summer, rather than take that
step without their concurrence, however necessary the
step might have been ; he was sorry, he said, that so
little advantage had been made of the grants made
last sessions for the purpose of enforcing American o
bedience, and threw out some severe remarks upon
that indolence of temper, and dislike to business, which
seemed inherent in the character of the minister; and
to this disposition he attributed the little success of
what he ventured to call our summer's campaign in
America; however, he sweetened this dose of censure
with a great many compliments on the vast abilities
and amiable disposition of the noble Lord.
This called up Lord North, who, after some dif
ference about order, observed, that he would not
have permitted so much in his desire to be heard, had
not something, which had fallen from the gentleman
who spoke last, demanded a reply, which might not
come so well at another time. He was greatly obliged
to the gentleman, he said, for that candor and bold
ness with which he had treated his character. He
was not displeased to hear his faults from whatever
motive they might be suggested ; sometimes, as in
the present instance, they were suggested by candid,
and sometimes by malicious ones. 1 hose who sug
gested them from the firft cause he thanked and es
teemed; those who displayed them from the latter
principle he despised. He confeffed that indolence of
temper which Mr. F--land had noticed, and that dis
like to business, but declared that he was forced into
the post he now held ; that stormy and tempestuous
as the ocean is, through which he has to steer, he
would never of his own accord abandon it till the
storm had subsided ; he acknowledged he had been
deceived in events, but that he had adopted his mea
sures last sessions to the then state of affairs, not ima
gining that all America would have armed in the
cause. It was easy, he said, to fee what has happen
ed, but who could have forefeen that things would
happen so ? Administration had proceeded upon the
information they had received ; if gentlemen were in
possession of better information, why did they not
communicate it ? He said, that when he adopted the
necessary plan of fending Hanoverians to our garri
sons, he had not a doubt of the legality of the mea
sure ; that if it should be found that he was mistaken
in this point, though the matter itfelf should be ap
proved, any danger which might be dreaded from the
precedent might be prevented by a bill of indemnity ;
that the necessity of taking such a step was clear, from
the danger of confiding solely in our militia for the
internal defence of the nation, however brave they
might be; and if he had waited for the meeting of
Parliament, our troops in Gibraltar and Port Mahon
could not be brought over time enough to have ad
mitted of an early and vigorous exertion of our forces
against the rebels. Io call the Parliament in summer
would, he said, have been exceedingly disagreeable
and burthenfome to the nation, and many instances
could not be found in our history of a Parliament
called so early as the present. He had, he said, as
great a veneration for liberty as any man in that
House ; and he hoped the Americans were too brave
and worthy of their glorious ancestors, to hesitate a
moment in their choice between slavery or wag be
tween ignominy or death; but in the present instance
there was no question of fiavery. Their friends have
said, that they only wished to be put on the fame
footing on which they were in 1763. He asserted
that Administration wifoed for no more, and he could
not believe that America, without money, without
trade, without resources, could continue to prefer a
ruinous and lading war with the incensed power of
Great-Britain, to the blessings of liberty and peace
in a happy dependance on her. He spoke very pa
thetically of the integrity of his heart, and of the
happiness which he hoped to derive in the last mo
ments of his life, from the testimony of his own
conscience, and concluded with a beautiful descrip
tion of the envied, splendid wreichednefs of his mi
nisterial Nation.
Col. B--re, in a very ludicrous manner, observed,
that the noble Lord could very calmly bear to hear
his faults announced from some quarters; that his
Lordship stood the attacks of a certain northern dialed!
with a very good grace, and he was instantly shot
dead with the brogue ; and what was acknowledged to
be extremely candid on one fide of the House, was
downright malice from another; he kisses the rod in
some hands, and is exceedingly docile, but is very
fore when the lash is taken by some others. The rea
son, he said, which induced all America to take arms
sooner than the noble Lord had fxpefted, was to op
pose a common enemy; the circumstance put him in
mind of a speech made by Marshal Scomberg to the
British troops as they were crossing the river Boyne in
Ireland, a le devoir mes infans, voila vos ennemis ! At
length the House was re-called to the question by Sir
George Y-ng, who proposed an amendment, which
being out of order was not put; after some alterca
tion, the question before them was put, and the
House divided, when the numbers were 176 to 72.
Lord North then moved for " leave to bring in a
bill to empower his Majesty to call out the militia
when a rebellion appeared in any part of his domi
nions," which was carried, and the House rose im
mediately (about a quarter after one this morning)
and adjourned till Monday.
This day, at 2 o'clock, the Address of the Hon.
House of Commons was presented to his Majesty at
St. james's.
This morning Stephen Sayre, Esq; by virtue of a
Habeas Corpus granted by Lord Mansfield, was tar
ried from the Tower to Lord Mansfield's house, where
his case was argued, when his Lordship was pleased
to difeharge him on bail, himfelf in 500 1. penalty,
and two sureties in 250 I. each.
And in order that the said Assemblies, Conventions,
Committees or Councils of Safety, may be enabled with
greater ease and facility to carry this resolution into exe
cution, Refolded, That they be authorifed to call to their
aid whatever Continental troops, stationed in or near their
refpedive colonies, may be conveniently spared from
their more immediate duty ; and the commanding officers
of such troops are hereby directed to afford the'faid As
semblies, Conventions, Committees or Councils of Safe
ty, all such assistance in executing this resolution as they
may require, and which, confident with the good of the
service, may be supplied.
Refolded, That all detachments of Continefftal troops,
which may be ordered on the business in the aforegoing
resolution mentioned, be, while so employed, under the
direction and controul of the Assemblies, Conventions,
Committees, or Councils of Safety aforefaid.
Refolded, That it be recommeided to all the United
Colonies to aid each other (@n re jued from their respec
tive Assemblies, Conventions, Committees or Councils
of Safety, and County Committees) on every emergency,
and to cultivate, cherilh and inc. case the present happy
and necessary union, by a continual interchange of mu
tual good offices.
And whereas the execrable barbarity with which this
unhappy war has been conducted on the part of our ene
mies, such as burning our defencelefs towns and villages,
exposing their inhabitants, without regard to sex or age,
to all the miseries which loss of property, the rigour of
the season, and inhuman devastation can inflift, exciting
domestic infurrndions and murders, bribing the savages
to desolate our frontiers, and casting such of us, as the
fortune of war has put into their power, into goals, there
to languish in irons and in want ; compelling the inhabi
tants of Boston, in violation cf the treaty, to remain
confined within the town, exposed to the insolence of the
soldiery, and other enormities at the mention of which
decency and humanity will for ever blush, may justly pro
voke the inhabitants of these Colonies to retaliation,
Refolded, That it be recommended to them to continue
mindful, that humanity ought to distinguish the brave,
that cruelty should find no admission among a free people,
and to take care that no page in the annals of America be
stained by a recital of any aftion which justice or chriftia
nity may condemn, and to rest assured that whenever
retaliation may be necessary or tend to their security, this
Congress will undertake the disagreeable talk.
Refolded, That the Affemblic , Conventions, or Com
mittees or Councils of Safety be requested forthwith to
transmit to this Congress copies of ail the petitions, me
morials and remonstrances, which have been by their re
fpedtive colonies presented to the Throne, or either House
of Parliament, since the year 1772, and that they also in
form this Congress whether ary and what answers were
given to them. Extras from the Minutes,
CHARLES 1 HOMSON, Secretary.
PHILADELPHIA.
In CONGRESS, January 2, 1776.
WHEREAS it has been represented to this Congress,
that divers honest and well meaning, but uninformed
people in these colonies, have, by the art and address of
miniiterial agents, been deceived and drawn into errone
ous opinions refpeding the American cause, and the pro
bable issue of the present contest:
Refolded, That it be recommended to the different
Committees, and other friends to American liberty in
the said colonies, to treat all such persons with kindness
and attention, to confider them as the inhabitants of a
country determined to be free, and to view their errors
as proceeding rather from want of information than want
of virtue or public spirit, to explain to them the origin,
nature and extent of the present controversy, to acquaint
them with the fate of the numerous petitions presented
to his Majesty, as well by Assemblies as by Congresses,
for reconciliation and redress of grievances, and that the
last from this Congress humbly requeftfog the signal fa
vour of being heard, like all the others, has proved un
fuccefsful; to unfold to them the various arts of admini
stration to ensnare and enslave us, and the manner in which
we have been cruelly driven to defend by arms those very
rights, liberties and estates, which we and our forefathers
had so long enjoyed unmolested in the reigns of his pre
sent Majesty's predecessors. And it is hereby recommend
ed to all Conventions and Assemblies in these colonies
liberally to distribute among the people the proceedings
of this and the former Congress, the late speeches of the
great patriots in both Houses of Parliament relative to
American grievances, and such othr pamphlets and pa
pers as tend to ellucidate the merits of the American
cause. The Congress being fully peffuaded that the more
our right to the enjoyment of our ancient liberties and
privileges is examined, the more just and necessary our
present opposition to ministerial tyranny will appear.
And with refped to all such unworthy Americans as,
regardless of their duty to their Creator, their country,
and their posterity, have taken part with our oppressors,
and influenced by the hope or possession of ignominious
rewards, strive to recommend themfeives to the bounty
of administration by misrepresenting and traducing the
condud and principles of the friends of American liberty,
and opposing every measure formed for its prefervatiou
and security, Resolved, That it be recommended to the
different Assemblies, Conventions, and Committees or
Councils of Safety in the United Colonies, by the most
speedy and effectual measures to fruftrate the mifehievous
machinations, and restrain the wicked practices of these
men. And it is the opinion of this Congress that they
ought to be disarmed, and the more danger®us among
them either kept in fafe custody, or bound with fufficient
sureties to their good behaviour.
Philadelphia: Printed br HALL and Sellers.