The New-Jersey journal — Chatham, N.J., 1782-03-20 00:00:00, page 2

CT^a to himfelf. The noble Marquis had thought
proper to give him a meaning, which he had never
entertained § and to impute words to him that had
mot come out of his mouth. He had again and
again explained his declaration relative to the na
vy which this country ought to have; a declarati
on that he made in the course of a speech. in a for
mer debate, that took place four or five years ago.
That declaration had been much misunderstood,
and, of course, much misrepresented. It had been
repeatedly miftated in that house ; it had been mif
tated in the other house, and it had been midated
without doors, and that in various ways, just as the
perfoas who had adverted to it had found it molt
convenient for their purpose. What he meant at
the time he had often explained ; but io accuftom
cd to misrepresentation, and so determined not to
do him justice, were those who had once miilated
his expression, that they dill persisted in denying him
a knowledge of his own meaning, and of his own
ideas, at the time that the famous words were sup
posed to have been uttered, and would continue to
impute words to him which never were in his mouth
^t alh What he said, and what he meant to fay,
was this, " That it ought ever to be an object with
government to keep the navy of Great Britain on as
refpedtable a footing as possible, and to make it
equal in Europe to the navy of the House of Bour
bon, whenever it could be done." This was his
meaning at the time, it was dill his opinion. He
had held it uniformly, and had often given it as his
ad vice. There were circumstances, however, which
might happen, and make th it impracticable; which
was in i.felf extremely wife. In the present war
there had occurred time, when large de achments
Were proper ; again, the e had been other times,
when it was more prudent, and better policy, to
keep the bulk of our naval force at home. He
th ught it, therefore, extremely unfairto be pinned
down to a loose expression, made in a former de
bate, and which, even if correctly dated, was so ge
neral, that it must be liable to exception, as every
oth r general maxim was. Having argued this
very fully, his Lordship said, he thought the rea
soning of the n ble Marquis, refpeding Admiral
K mpenfelt's recent affair, rather uncandid. Tho'
the event had not turned out so fortunate as some
peffons sanguine willies might have led them to ex
ped, yet finely it had been far from unfuccefsful.
The admiral had taken from 15 to 20 transports,
laden with dores, ammunition, brass ordnance and
troops. Was such a capture of no consequence ?
The admiralty had that day received notice of the
fate arrival of one very large transport, with between
400 and 560 troops on board, in Milford Haven.
And he knew of another fltip coming in, on board
of which were upwards of 200 French troops. As
to the entire number of troops taken, he could not
speak correflly, till further accounts arrived, but
he ihould suppose they amounted to a thousand,
which, together with the ordnance, Hores, and am
inun tim, made i-, in his mind, a very important
circumstance, and such as ought to be so considered,
notwithstanding that the sanguine wishes of many
were in some tort disappointed. For his part, no
man in the kingdom would have rejoiced more
heartily than he should have done, had the success
been greater; but such as it was, he thought it of
great importance, and that the whole manoeuvre of
Admiral Kempenfeit did him the highest honour,
and shewed that he was, what every man in the na
vy had long believed him to be, an officer of great
skill, great courage, and great judgment. His
Lordffiip particularly dwelt on the intrepidity and
good conduct of Admiral Kempenfeit, in the de
sign and execution of that manoeuvre, by which he
separated one part of the French convoy from the
other; and said he was confident, that had the
French only been one or two Chips superior, Admi
ral Kempnf.lt would have given a very good ac
count of the whole squadron, as well as of the trans
ports under it's convoy. With regard to the French
having nineteen Chips to our twelve, he said, from
information he had received, he was persuaded that
over-night they had no more than thirteen or four
teen fail, and thatthey were reinforced in the night
by five heavy drips—had that circumstance not oc
cured, he had not a doubt but our success would
have been m ire cornpleat. He hoped, therefore,
no blame would be imputed to Admiral Kempen
feit, or to any other officer. He was fore the coun
try was greatly indebted to the skill of the Admiral,
and to the bravery of those who served under him.
After more argument on that and other points, re
lative to the admiralty and the navy, his Lordship
concluded with giving his consent that the Land-
Tax bill be read a third time.
The Marquis of Rockingham rose, and excul
pated himfelf from imputing the fmalkft degree of
blame to Admiral Kempenfeit, but censured the
admiralty io the fevered terms.
Lord Sandwich rose again, and complained of
the unfair treatment he experienced, by the mifie
prefentation of his words, and endeavoured to Ihow
that the admiralty had done every thing for the de
fence of the country, and the annoyance of the ene
my, that was practicable.
Lord Chedworth declared the noble Marquis de
served the thanks of his country, for having made
the motion.
The Question Was then put by the Lord Chan
cellor, that the words “ now read" stand part of
the motion. It was carried without a division, and
the bill was read a third time.
SUPPLIES granted for 1„2.
That 49,455 effective men, commissioned and
non commissioned officers, including 4 175 invalids;
be employed for land service for 1782.
That 1,242,8351. be granted for defraying the
charge of maintaining the said men.
1,315,5 2 3k f° r maintaining the forces in the
plantations, Minorca, Gibraltar, North- America,
Nova-Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Weft Indies,
including Africa.
56)280!. for the pay of one regiment of light
dragons, and seven battalions of foot, for the East-
India service.
677,4971. for defraying the charges of the em
bodied militiaand fencibles in North-Britain.
10,549 b for defraying the charges of cloathing
for the embodied militia in South-Britain.
438401. for the pay of Generals and General
Staff Officers.
43660 L for defraying the charge of 1559 troops
of the Margrave of Brandenburgh Anfpach, in the
pay of Great Britain, pursuant to treaty.
23.815!. for defraying the charge of 903 troops
of the Prince of Anhalt Zerbft,in British pay, pur
suant to treaty.
55,4691, for the charge of provisions for foreign
troops in North-America—British pay.
15,499!. to make good the deficiency of sums
voted for the troops of the Prince of Hesse Caffel in
British pay, being a charge of an augmentation to
said troops, from 6th April 1,81, to 24th of De
cember following.
3,2821. to make good the deficiency for sums
voted for the troops of Anfpach in British pay, be
ing a ch rge of an augmentation to the said troops,
from 2d March, 1781, (0 24th December following.
4.9421. to make good the deficiency or sums
voted for the troops of Anhalt; in British pay, being
the charge of an augmentation to the said troops,
from he 18th April, 1781, to 24th December fol
lowing.
27,6831. for defraying the charge of artillery for
the foreign troops, pursuant to treaty.
11,329'. for defraying the charge of a regiment
of light dragoons, and two ditto of foo& from 24th
September, 1782, to 24th December following.
56,074 b for defraying the charge of five Hano
verian battalions of foot in Gibraltar and Minorca,
and for provisions for three battalions of the said
troops at Gibraltar.
367,2031 fordefraying the chargeof 13,472 men,
troops of the Landgrave of Hesse Caffel, in British
pay, pursuant to treaty.
61,1081. for defrayingthe charge of 2 094 troops
of Hanau, in British pay, pursuant to treaty
17 498 b for defraying the charge of a regiment
of foot troops of the Prince of Waldeck, in British
pay, pursuant to treaty.
93 9471. for defraying the charge of 4300 troops
of the Prince of Brunswick, in British pay.
To the Right Honourable Charles Wolfran Corn
wall, Speaker, and the Honourable the House of
Commons, the representation and prayer of Hen
ry Laur,ns, a native of South Carolina, some
time recognized by the British Corrmiffione's in
America, by the style and title of his Excellency
Henry Laurens, President of Congress, now a
close prifuner in the Tower of London,
Most refpe&fully fheweth,
TH AT your Representer, for many years, at
the peril of his life and fortune, evidently la
boured to preserve and ftrergthen the ancient
friendfhip between Great Britain and the Colonies ;
and that in no instance he ever excited, on either
fide, the diffentions which separated them.
That the commencement of the prelent war was
a fubjed of great grief to him, in as much as he
forefaw and foretold, in letters now extant, the di
stresses which both countries experience at this day.
That in the rife and progress of the present war,
he ex ended every ad of kindness in his power to
persons called Loyalists and QuietiPs, as well as to
Extract of a letter from Kentucky, dated December
6, 1781,
“ It is but lately that the fate of Col Loughrie and
his corps of Pennsylvanians, who were to co duty
to the westward under the command of Gen Carke,
has been publicity known. The rendezvous of the
brigade was appointed to be at Weeling. Colonel
Loughrie, whose regiment was compoLd of fine
rifle-met), happened to be fomehing in the rear, but
dispatched a meflenger to the General, info ming him
of his fitvation and ftrengih, at the lame time requeft^
ing, that in case he could not wait until he came up,
to leave him a supply of provisions. The General
pushed forward, leaving a few men with the provisi
ons for the Pennsylvanians, and orders so them to
follow to the mouth of the Miame: Loughrie fol
lowed, but the General went on to the Fabs. During
General Clarke's flay at Fort Pitt, the enemy at De
troit got intelligence of his preparations and designs;
they detached a force of about 600, mostly Indians,
in order to make a dive fion in th< Kentucky country,
and, if practicable, to intercept the General coming
down the Ohio. This force reached the mouth of
the Miame time enough to give a fatal blow to the
unfortunate Loughrie and his men, »ho when they
came to the appoinred place of overtaking the other
regiment, unfufpe&ingly landed, and were lo n fura
rounded by theenemy, and the whole party, amount
ing to 14.0 men. were eithe killed or madep rfoners.
The particulars of his mortifying difafler we have
from prisoners that lately made their escape from the
Indians."
March 2. Major Fauntleroy, of the 4th regiment
of light dragoons, who left the louth n army about
three weeks ago, arrived in town this week with dis
patches from General Greene to his Excel ency the
Governor and Genera! Con: Rcchamb^u.
The above gentleman informs, that theenemy had
evacuated John's Island, about fix miles from Charles
town, and Bill maintain their poll at the Qyarter
houfe ; that General Greene's head quarters was at
Pon Pon, about 30 miles from Charlellown ; that
the advance of his army, con manded by Colonels
Laurens and Lee, was at Dorchester, about 15 miles
from the enemy; and that the army was in good
health and high spirits,
General Way ne, with about 700 mer, has marched
within 7 miles of Savanna, at a p'ace called Chero
kee-Hill, and the enemy, it is said, have about 700
men at Savanna, chief part of which are militia
The General Assembly of South-Carolina have
confifeated all British property in that State, and are
British prisoners of war, very ample proofs of which
he can produce. „,
That he was captured upon the American coast,
'firft landed upon American ground, where he law
ex hanges of British and American prisoners in 4
course of negotiation : and that fu h exchanges
arid enlargements upon parole, are mutually and
daily pradifed in America,
That he was committed to the Tower on the 6th
of October, 1780, being then dangerufly ill ; that
in the mean time he has, in many refpeCls, particu
larly by being deprived with " ry little exception)
of the visits and confutations of his children, and
other relations arid friends, fiffered under a degree
of rigour almost, if not altogether, unexampled in
modern British hillory.
That from long confinement, and the want of
proper exercise, and other obvious causes, his bodi
ly heal b is greatly impaired, aha that he is now in
a languilhing date;
And therefore, your Representer humbly pray#
your honours will condeftend to take his case into
consideration ; and, under prop r conditions and
reflridions, grant him enlargement; or such other
relief, as to the wifdem and benignity of your ho
nours fhali seem fitting. Henry Laurens.
Tower of London, Dec. 1, 1781.
F I SH-K I L L, March 14.
On the morning of the gd instant, Major Wood
bridge, of the zeConneditut regiment/ommancing
on the lines, and Captain Honeywell of the Bate
horse, having formed a plan to attack the corps of
Delancey at Morriffana, conduced the enter prise
with so much fecrefy and addrefs', as completely to
surprise theenemy in their quarters aht.l after sun
rise, when our horse rushed upon their cantonment,
killed several on the spot, wounded and left several
others, destroyed a number of arms. &c. and brought
off a subaltern and twenty men prisoners, with
twelve horses. We had two men killed and three
or four wounded ; among the latter was the brave
Mr. Dyckman, who has fir.ee died of his wounds.
The prisoners were brought to this place on Satur
day last.
RICHMOND, February 23.