The Pennsylvania gazette — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-07-31 00:00:00, page 2

The House began to debate oh this fiibject about half
pill four, which continued till nbie, without calling in a
witness. The debates were e^peßed to Jah long, and that
the Gentlemen of the Cp tom-hou'e would be ordered to
attend again this day.
As the gallery doors were locked, and no person what
ever admitted, all we can fay ; s, that notwithstanding the
flagrancy cf this aft, it is not to be expected from the
complexion cf the members, that fitch designing and de
tectable practices fli^uld meet with an adequate punish
ment.
W ILLIAMSBURG, July 19.
From Hampton we learn, that advice was brought
there from the Eastern Shore of a tender, mounting two
carriage and twelve swivel guns, being drove ashore in a
squall of wind, $ or 6 days ago, with 18 pirates on
board, among them Mr. James Parker, late of Norfolk,
Merchant, who immediately surrendered themselves to
a party of our troops, and begged for quarters. A boat
from another tender, her cenfort, attempted to cut her
out from the creek whare she was secured ; but our peo
ple, perceiving their defigr, lay in ambush for them,
and, when n ; gh enough, rijthed into the water and fired
upon them,killing five of the crew, it was supposed, as
three we)e cen to fill over-board, and two to drop down
in the boat, Upon which the pirates tacked about, and
towed, fafter than they came, to their tender.
Benjamin Woodward, against whom an information
was lodged for attemping to counterfeit the paper cur
rency of the American States, was brought to town last
Wednesday, wi'h four other persons, fafpefted to be ac
eompl:ces, and lodged in the public goal. They were
taken in Pittfylvariia county, with types and other im
plements to carry on their wicked and definitive scheme.
Lord Dunmore's pestilential fleet was seen last Sunday
morning at the mouth of Patowmack.
We hear the Delaware Indians have killed and scalped
one man on our frontiers. The Shawanefe have ifent in
four hostages, agreeable to a treaty fettled with them some
time ago.
The folio-whig 0 a particular accord of the attack and rout
of Lord Dunmofe, with bispiratical from Gwyn's
[fond.
WE got to the island on Monday the Bth, and next
morning, at 8 o'clock, began a furious attack
upon the enemy's Dipping, camp aid fortifications, from
In a morning paper it was lately said, that Lord Town
fimnd had expressed his delire of commanding in America,
but that he was thought to be rather of too impetuous a
temper for that department. General Gage has been call
ed too lenient; Government wants a medium between
both extremes, cbnfcqtle'ritly. a General who (hall do no
thing at all, if he meets not with much applause, hath at
Itaft very little to 'ear.
Extra, of a letter from Portfmoutb, May 2.
“ Lad night came into this town, Sir Hugh Pallifer,
Commissioner of the Navy. Arrived the Industry, Ber
ham, from Waterford, with provisions, and several tran
sports from London, bound to Plymouth. The guards
that came to this place are all on board the transports,
and the transports with the Hessian troops on board are
all dropped down to St. Helen's, in company with the
men of war, which, with frigates and transports, make a
fleet of about 100 fail. They how only wait for a fair
wind."
The charge made by the Lord Mayor agafnß Lord
North and the Lords of the Admiralty, for licensing (hips
to trade to any part of America, is no le's than the breach
of an aT of Parliament; it is in its nature a very impor
tant and a rery ferions charge ; it is a breach of the laws
in the most glaring and audacious manner ; it is encou.-
raging the most illicit practices, under a most violent,
abandoned, and daring contempt of the constitution of
this country, and the three great branches of the legisla
ture.
^ 2 vetyel arrived at New-Port (ibode-tdand) from ^t.
Croix, ewe have the folioiuinß intelligence, viz.
L ONDO N, May 4 .
HOUSE or COMMONS.
Tee following. is the Me,"age from his Majeft, to the House es
O mmons, delivered by Lord North on Thursday.
GEORGE
IT'S Mjetty, relying on the experience, zeal and af
_ I fedinh of his faithful Commons, and configuring
that, during the prefect tropes in North America,
emergencies may arise, which may be of the utmost im
portance, and be attended with the most dangerous con
fequeuc.s, if proper means should not be immediately
applied to prevent or defeat them, is desirous that this
Hoi.de wid'enable him to defray any extraordinary ex
pences incurred, or to' be incurred, on account of mili
tary Service's for ths yeah one thohfand feren hundred
and feventydix, and as the exigencies of affairs may re
quire.—And his Majelty having judged it expedient to
iffie his proclamation, in pursuance of an adt of parlia
wer.t, palled in the fourteenth year of his reign, for
calling in the remainder < f the deficient gold coin, doubts
not but that his faithfl Commons will enable him to
make good the charges which (hall be incurred in this
service, and which cannot at this time be afeertained.
G. R."
Never was England in filch a situation as the pfefcnt,
as Lhe following anecdote, which may be depended up
on, doth certify: There is not a fix pounder fit for ser
vice in this kingdom, and very few of any other weight.
Now if 40,00 c >French or Spaniards should land on our
coaft —how could wg repel them ?
However, to remedy this as faft as possible, the Board
of Ordnance have ordered Verbruggen, the founder at
Woolwich, to get ready with ail possible dispatch another
Soring machine, in which case he will be able to Supply
government with what number of guns they please. Lora
Town fend is amazingly active in the Ration of matter
general—vifits Woolwich almost every week —and care
fully infeeds the minuted circumstance.
Extrafl of a letter from Spithead, May 2.
" Tt is expected we shall fail to-morrow for Boston,
tinder the command of Commodore William Hotham,
who is to hoist his broad pendant on board of the PreT
tm, aSO gun Ihip. The fh.ips which go under his com
mand are, the Jersey hofpifal ship: the Emerald of 32
guns; the Brune, of 32 guns; the Strombolo fire ship,
the Carcase bomb, and all the transports which are rea
dy. There are upwards of one hundred fail of trans
ports now here, all of which have foreign troops on
board. We have on board five small c;afks, and 30 chests
of Spailifh dollars, amounting to 35,000!. for paying the
marine troops at Boston."
Upon an average, the thipsof war now equipping for
America have not more than fix seamen to ninety others
in their complements.
Lord Howe is invested with unlimited military powers,
w^ich, it is said, he positively demanded, previous to bis
accepting the chief command of the King's forces in
America.
General Lewis then ordered 2CO men, under Colonel
M'Clanahan, to land in the island, which was performed
as expeditiously as our small vessels would admit of. On
our arrival, we found the enemy had evacuated the place
with the greatest precipitation, and were struck with
horror at the number ot dead bodies, in a Rate of pu
trefi&icn, strewed all the way from their battery to
Cherry Point, about two miles in length, without a iho
vel full of earth upon them; others galping f@r life ; and
some had crawled to the water's edge, who could only
make known their distress by beckoning to ns. By the
small-pox, and other malignant disorders which have
raged on beard the fleet for many months past, it is clear
they have loft, lince their arrival at Gwyn's Island, near
500 fouls. I myfeif counted 130 graves (or rather holes,
loosely coveted over with earth) close together, many of
them large enough t@ held a corporal's guard. One in
the middle was neatly done up with turf, and is suppos
ed to contain the remains of the late Lord of Gofport.
Many were bur^t alive in brulh huts, which, in their
confufion, had got on fire. In snort, such a feene of
misery, dihrefs and cruelty, my eyes never beheld; for
which the authors, one may reasonably conclude, ne
ver can make attonement in this world.
The enemy left behind them, in their battery, a double
fortified nine -pounder, great part of their baggage, with
several tents and marquees, besides the three tenders,
with their cannon, small arms, &c. also the anchors and
cables of the Dunmore, Otter, and many others, to the
amount, it is supposed, of 12 or 15001. On their leaving
the island, they burnt some valuable vessels, which had
got aground. Mr. John Grymes's effects on the island
have fallen into our hands, consisting of 35 negroes,
horses, cattle and furniture.
Major Byrd, 011 the approach of our canoes to the
idaqd, was huddled into a cart, in a very sick and low
condition, it is said, and carried down to Cherry Point,
where he embarked. The fecoud (hot the Dunmore re
ceived, cut her boatswain in two, and wounded two or
three others; and she had fcarceiy recovered from the
shock when a nine pounder from the lower battery en
tered her quarter, and beat in a large timber, from the
splinters of which Lord Dunmore got wounded in the
legs, and had ail his valuable china smashed about hia ears.
It is said his Lordship was exceedingly alarmed, and roar
ed out, Good God, that ever Ifould come to this ! We
had our information from one of his people that came
ashore after the engagement, who was taken by our
scouts; he likewise said, that many were killed in the
fleet, which had fullained some thousand pounds worth of
damage. The Fowey and Roebuck were the lowermost
fllips, besides which there were ico and odd large fail of
vessels, who took their departure on Thursday afternoon,
and are supposed to have gone into Potowmack.
In thisaifiir we loft not a man but poor Capt. Arundel,
who was killed by the curding of a mortar of his own
invention, although the General, and all the officers,
were against his firing it. His zeal for the service lolt him
his life."
PORTSMOUTH, (Nevi-Hampfire) fitly 13.
Wednesday last was brought into Falmouth, by Cap
tain Crabtree, a sloop from Annapolis, bound to Halifax,
taken off the Grand Paflage, loader with lumber, hand
spikes, butter, cheele, potatoes, &c.
B O ST O N, sub 18.
Last Saturday arrived at Salem from Guadaloupe,
the schooner Polly, David M'Cleod, master, who has
brought one hundred calks of powder, about seventy or
eighty small arms, a number of carriage,and fivivel guns,
a quantity of brimhone, foot, flints, &c.
Yesterday morning, a fifth 13 inch mortar was found
off the end of the Hon. John Hancock, Etqr's. wharff.
two batteries, one of five fix and nine pounders, the
other mounting two 18 pounders. What forces the
enemy had were encamped on a point of the bland, nearly
opposite to our five gun battery, covered by a battery of
four embrasures, and a breastwork of considerable ex-
tent. Besides this, t^cy had two other batteries, and a
stockade tort, higher up the haveh, where- efeops were
Rationed to prevent our landing. In the haven were
three tenders, one a flo>p (the Lady Charlotte) mounting
fix carriage guns, a fchooncr of two carriage guns, fix
swivels, and a cohorn, and a pilot boat, badly armed;
who had orders from Capt. Hammond, of the Roebuck,
to prevent our boats palling over to the island, and to
annoy the rebels by every means in their power.
General Lewis announced his orders for attacking the
enemy by putting a match to the firft gun, an 18 pounder,
himfelf; and the Dunmore being then neared to us, at
the distance ofonly 4 or 500 yards, the (hot puffed through
her hull, and did considerable damage. Our five gun
battery likewise began playing on the fleet, the enemy's
camp and works; and the fire soon became so hot, that
the Dunmore was obliged to cut her cables and haul off,
after receiving ten fliot, some of which raked her fore
and aft. The Otterday tiekt to het, and it was expected
would have taken her birth; but the firft fliot we gate
her took place, supposed between wind and water, as the
immediately dipped her cable likewise, and hauled out on
a careen, without firing a gun. By this time all the fleet,
any way near shore, began to flip their cables, in the ut
most confuhon; and had the wind set in with a flood tide,
we niuft have taken great numbers es them. Our 18
pounders did great execution from the upper battery,
which raked the whole fleet; and Capt. Denny, who
commanded the oilier battery, soon silenced the enemy
at the point, knocking down several tents, which put
their camp into great confufion. At half after 9 the fi
ring ceased, which was renewed again at 12 with double
vigour, from both batteries; and nothing prevented our
pushing to the island, during the cannonade, but the
want of vessels.
The General, being determined to cross next day, gave
orders for all the small craft to be collected together from
the neighbouring creek that night, and two brass field
pieces, fix-pounders, to be carried to a place called Lower
Windmill Point, to attack the tenders that lay there, and
facilitate our crossing. Accordingly, in the morning,
Capt. Harrison, who had the direction of those field
pieces, began playing upon the tenders, which he galled
10 much, that the schooner ran up a iinall creek which
made into the island, where the crew abandoned her,
and the sloop got aground in reach of our cannon; upon
which the General ordered Capt. Smith, of the 7th re
giment, with his company, to man the canoes and board
her, which was done with alacrity. However, before
our men came up with her, the crew got into their boat
and puflied for the island; but Capt. Smith, very pru
dently palling the tender, pursued them so close, that,
before they could reach the ihore, he exchanged a few
fliot with them, and took part of them prisoners. The
enemy's lookouts, perceiving cur men close upon the
lower part of the island, cried out, the fbirtmen are com
ing, and Tampered off. The pilot-boat made no resist
ance.
_ By Mr. Stone we learn, that the day before he left St.
Peters, a French wan of war arrived there from France,
who informed, that the Spaniards had declared war
against Portugal:
P ROVIDENC E, July 20.
A Gentleman from No. IV. informs, that a missionary
arrived there a few days since from the Indian country,
and brought advice, that the Chiefs of the Six Nations,
in a grand council, had determined to call in all their
young men immediately, and to remain neuter during
the present conflict between Great-Britain and the Ame
rican States.
N EWP Q R T, July 22.
Yesterday arrived here, from a cruise of about a month,
the brig Andrew Doria, Capt. Biddle, who about ten
days before took the Ihip Nathaniel and Elizabeth, Capt.
Hoar, from Jamaica to London, loaded with 300 hog
sheads of sugar, ico bogheads of rum, &c. Capt. Phi
lip Brown, of this place, was put in prize-master, and
ordered to the firft port he could make. Capt. Biddle
saw two frigates under an easy fail near Biock-ifland
yesterday morning.
Yesterday, in the afternoon, Lieut. Calcott of the Mer
lin Ihip of war (which lay a little without the harbour)
came in a barge with a flag to this town; the General
Assembly being then fitting, he was conduced to the
State-boufe, where he delivered a letter to his Honour
Governor Cooke, from Richard Viscount Howe.
N E W-Y O R K, July 25.
'LAft Lord's day a great many ihot were heard in this
city from Bergen point. The occasion was this: A barge
from the fleet, full of men, landed on the point, but
were opposed and driven off with precipitation by our
troops; a smart fire ensued from a tender for a consider
able time, without doing any injury. By two deserters
we are informed, that a Captain and two privates were
killed on board their barge.
We hear from New-jersey and ConnedHcut, that a
great part of the men being absent on military service,
and the time of harvest coming on, the women, aflifted
by the elderly men, whole age rendered them unfit for
the army, have so effectually exerted themselves, that
they have generally got in the harvest completely, the
laudable example being set by the ladies of the firft cha
racter in each place. And we are credibly informed,
that many of them have declared, that they will take the
' ar ??.?« bufiuGfs upon themselves, so long as the rights
and liberties of their country require the presence of their
funs, husbands, and lovers in the field.
Extraa of a letter from an Officer at Fort George, to h's
friend, an Officer in Henu-Tork, fitly 14, 1776.
“ I never knewthe fatigues of a campaign till I arrived
in Canada. The most ibockmg feenes that ever appeared
in a camp were constantly exhibited to view. ' When
General bullivan arrived in Canada the army was torn in
pieces by fickmefs and other unaccountable occurrences. —
A whole regiment was not to be found together.—gene
ral Sullivan, with his usual activity and akrtnefs, collected
together a debilitated and dispirited army; tried the
strength of the enemy, who were at leffl four to our one,
and performed one of the most remarkable retreats that
ever was known. —No person who was not present can
conceive a tenth part ®f the difficulties attending it ; —the
enemy at our heels, 3000 of our men tick of the small
pox, those who were most healthy like to many walking
apparitions.— All our baggage, stores and artillery to be.
removed, officers as well as men all employed in hauling
, cannon, &c. Our batteaus loaded were all removed up
the Rapids fix miles, one hundred of them were towed
up by our poor wearied men, up to their aim-pits in wa
ter. This was performed in one day and an half; our
sick and baggage all fafely landed at St. John's, and from
thence at Crown Point, with the loss of three cannon
only, which were poor ones. All this was accomplifhe^
thro the amazing exertions of General Sullivan, who
performed what appeared to be almeft impossible to have
been dene by mortal man ! He is now on his way to
New-York."
The men of war that lately went up the North River
lie in Haverftraw-Bay. Their tenders cruise about, and
last Saturday one of them went near the fort, upon which
our people fired a thirty-two pounder at her, which went
through her quarter, when she tacked about and stood
down the river. Some time after, they landed a party ox
their men at Pock's kill, set fire to a wheat field, and
burnt the house of Mr. John Lilly. A number of the
militia were soon collected, who attacked and killed seven
of them, without any loss on our fide.
7#b 29. The fourth man in the counties of King's,
Queen's, and Suffo k, on Long-Bland, and Westchester,
Dutchefs, Orange and Ulster, were last week ordered to
hold themselves in readiness to march at a moment's
warning; indeed many of them are gone to their pro
per stations already.
An old gentleman, between 60 and 70, now does duty
in the militia near Newark, in New-Jersey, is the father
cf about 15 children now alive, 9 of which are in the
continental army, from captains to privates.
The whaling hoop Gilbert and John, Capt. Jagger,
belonging to the company, returned here last Monday
from a 12 months voyage, but narrowly escaped being
taken ^ft Bitek-ifland by two frigates: he is last from
Guadaloupe, where he fold his cargo of about 250 bar
rels of oyl, there took in molasses, and has now on
board 12,000 gallons, and 30 hoglheads in another veffei
that failed in company with him bound to the eastward.
Several cannon were fired last Thursday afternoon,
from our battery at Amboy, at a number of boats fron :
Staten-Island, bound to Sandy-Hook, supposed to join
part of the ministerial fleet lying there; this brought on
a cannonade from the encampment of the regulars near
Billop s point, on the island, which continued very hot
on both iides for near an hour: the boats got clear, but
litany of the regulars were Ren to fall, and several car
ried off, supposed to be wounded. On our fide a foidier,
belonging to one of the Philadelphia Battalions, was
killed, and one wounded; a horse in a carriage had his
head foot off in the street, and some damage was done
the houses.
, The small-pox is now so brief in and about Boston,
that there is no less than 10,000 persons in and near that
place down with that disorder; to prevent the ipreading
of which no more news-papers will be printed there -or
some time; but the post has favoured us with the loliow
ing agreeable advices ---
That a ship from Ireland, with 1700 barrels of pork,
400 firkins of butter, ico calks of oats, and ico calks of
oatme; 1, was taken and carried into Boston last week.
A letter of marine bum Salem took a floep and Ihip
Loro Jamaica; the hoop loaded with dry goods and fal^
It is reported tbd Cqt. Jermfon in the Yankey pri
v?teer, who sent into tins port .wo vak. wic prices, on
his paflage home, the pifoners rose and overcome the
privateer, confmed hijn and his crew in irons, and car
ried them into Halifax.