The New-Hampshire gazette and historical chronicle (Portsmouth, N.H.), 1775-07-04 00:00:00

THE New-Hampshire AND HISTORICAL CONTAINING the Freest ADVICES
Vol. XIX. GAZETTE, CHRONICLE, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.
TUESDAY JULY 4, 1775.
No. 976 { Weeks since this Paper was first publish'd }
A famous and grand Speech!
From a London Paper of March 18, 1775. Lord CAMDEN's Speech against committing the Fife-Bill.
RISE, my Lords, on the present Occasion to offer my Sentiments on this Bill, because I cannot be silent when an Affair of such Magnitude is before us, and conducted in a Manner which I fear leads to the greatest Evils; and because, my Lords, I shall not trouble your Lordships on this Subject in any other Stage of the Bill. I oppose the noble Lord's Motion to commit the Bill, because I think it a Measure cruel, impracticable and unnecessary, and if I prove to your Lordships these three Qualities in the Bill, I think you will agree with me that it ought to be rejected. That the Bill is tyrannical and cruel can scarcely be doubted when we consider the Effect it must have if ever it is carried into Execution; this, my Lords, will be no other than actually starving a considerable Part of the four Provinces of New-England; it appeared by the Evidence yesterday at your Bar that those Provinces do not raise nearly Provisions sufficient for their Support; and give me Leave to observe that my own Intelligence drawn from Quarters of which I cannot entertain a Doubt, proves to me the same Fact. A great and essential Part of the Subsistence of those provinces, my Lords, is Fish; they cannot live without it; you starve them if this Bill is executed. Is this a Punishment proportioned to the Guilt? if it is proportioned then I will allow it to be no Cruelty.----- Let us consider this Matter.
A Mob at Boston destroyed the Cargo of a Tea-Ship, and did it in a Manner highly outrageous and deserving of Punishment.----- What did you inflict? At one Stroke you shut up the Port, that is, you ruined the whole Town, involved the Innocent and the Guilty in one common Destruction; this might perhaps have been defended had an Attempt been made to separate them: You made no Requisitions to have the Offenders delivered up, you despised having a Colour for your Proceedings; you insisted your Punishment without the Party being heard or allowed to speak a Syllable in his Defence: Well, did you rest here? No; by the same Bill you made the Punishment eternal, if it should so please the King; you threw out of your own Hands the Power to pardon when the Offence was done away. Immediately on the Neck of this Bill comes another to overturn all the Charters, Privileges, and Immunities of the Province, all the Officers of Justice, the Council and Judges chosen by the Crown & removable at Pleasure; you packed their Juries by bene placito Sheriffs, and you dragged Criminals from America to England for Trial: If an Englishman kills an American he is tried in England for Man-Slaughter: if an American kills an Englishman he is brought here without the Possibility of bringing Witnesses to prove his Innocence, and he dies for Murder. Now, my Lords, consider within yourselves, that Spirit of Resistance which these cruel, tyrannical and abominable Acts, tearing up all Ideas of Justice by the very Root; what must the Effect have been? Why, convincing the People that they were not to have Property or Privilege, or Rights, but at your Will and Pleasure. They do not submit--to punish their Resistance you now bring forth this new Monster of Iniquity, and we are told by a noble Lord (Lord Castlereagh) that it cannot be cruel, because if they do not persist in Obstinacy they will not suffer. But my Lords, we have been the Aggressors; we punished the Riot of a Mob in a Manner that set all Justice and Humanity at Defiance: If you break a Pickpocket alive upon the Wheel, and cut the Throat of his Father, Mother, and Relations, he is not the Aggressor for stealing your Handkerchief;-----your Inhumanity wipes out the very Idea of his Crime, and you are yourself the Criminal. Now, therefore, to tell us that this Bill which is to starve the whole Province, (for starve they must if they obey it) is not cruel because they may submit, after so many Reasons you have given them for the Contrary, is a Mockery of common Sense. It is cruel, it is inhuman, it is no Punishment, but a capricious Tyranny.
How, my Lords, can any Man be so wild as to suppose that if you lay whatever Oppressions you please upon the Americans, yet that they are never to have any Idea of resisting them. My Lords, I shall take a much stronger Case and affirm that absolute, as a Legislature must be in all common Cases, yet is no Power under Heaven so great as to include the Power of acting tyrannically.--- King, Lords and Commons, omnipotent as they are, are but the political Creatures of the People. They were, like all Governments, instituted for the good of the People, and if the Powers delegated for that Purpose, instead of being used in their Protection are exerted in their Destruction, there is and must be a Power in the great Body of the People to appeal-----to Heaven-----or their Swords. Not, my Lords, in doubtful Cases, but in those of great and fearful Extremities. If the two Houses of Parliament were to make a Tender to the King of the Liberties of his People, where, my Lords, is the Man that will say, the Act is legal and binding on the Nation;----- and I am stating a Case that happened almost within Memory in Denmark. My Lords, I am speaking the Language of Humanity and of the Constitution, and the Men who tell you Lordships that you have or can have a Power superior to THAT OF DOING GOOD, speak a Language equally contrary to Reason and the Law. But I know not how it is, a Doctrine very contrary to that of Resistance grows wonderfully fashionable, and I am sorry to say it finds a Way into many Papers and Pamphlets wherein it ought never to have appeared;-----I find it in a new one, I know not who wrote it, Taxation no Tyranny such Doctrines ought to be received with all the Caution and Suspicion which the Love of Freedom can dictate. When I insist on a contrary Idea I speak that Language, my Lords, which seated the present Family on the Throne,-----to which we owe our Liberty-----and which was the Soul of the Revolution. I speak the Language of the great Mr. Locke-----a Language never yet questioned by a Friend of his Country or a Reverer of the Rights of Humanity.
Next, my Lords, let us examine if it is more practicable than humane.
As far as the Operation of your Navy goes you are irresistible; certain it is you are able to cut off much of the Trade of the Americans, and to prohibit their Fishery; my Lords, will they submit in Consequence, and bow their Neck to the Yoke which you are ready to lay on them; will America at once acknowledge your supreme Power in all Cases whatsoever, and admit your Power to tax to what Extent, when, where, & for what Purpose you please; No, my Lords. America never will submit to this; and then we are to enquire if this System of Coercion is practicable. You are now drawing the Sword; this Bill will call it what you will, is War; and the Moment it reaches America, she must either resist your whole Principle and Demands, or she is enslaved. It remains for us to enquire whether she cannot do without her Trade & Fishery; and whether you can conquer her by Land; and when you have made your Conquest, preserve it. My Lords, those who tell you that this Bill will at once bring America to submit, seem to forget, that when you have cut off her Trade, she can turn herself entirely to Agriculture, and the Cultivation of her Soil:-----doing this, 'tis certain, taking the Continent thro' she raises far more at present against you
than is sufficient for her Consumption; she has, all Things considered, perhaps more than any other Country in the World, the Necessaries of Life entirely within herself; she will, nay she now is, and when I make the Assertion I know it to be Fact, she is now cutting off all superfluous Consumption, and confining herself to her own Manufactures as much as possible, which are encouraged by every Means that can be tho't of. As to your carrying on a Land War in a Country of 1500 Miles Extent, Two-thirds of which are Woods, and inhabited by Three Millions of People, armed with one Mind against you, I assert it to be a visionary Prospect. Administration means it not; it is impossible; you may send more Men to General Gage to entrench him in greater Security, or to save his Honour perhaps, but as to enabling him to conquer the Colonies, it is a Speculation too idle to deserve a serious Reply.
Here, my Lords, I know it may be said I am proving too much: If America is so powerful that we cannot conquer her, we cannot govern her, and therefore she may as well be independent: But, my Lords, what I have said is applicable to our Cause being an unjust one, against which all America is united: Was the Scheme of independence to arise originally there, and she was to quarrel with us upon that View, she would be, instead of an united, a divided People; Justice would be on our Side, and three-fourths of the Americans themselves would be with us. The public Wisdom of this Country demanded that we should retard the natural Progress of American Independence---Parliament has taken the contrary System, and has accelerated it.
My Lords, I have shown that America may subsist without her Trade; without this Country. Turn your Eyes towards Home, and ask if this Country can subsist without America? Where is the Wealth to come from that is to enable you to conquer the Colonies, and then preserve that Conquest, after the richest and most luxurious Sources of your Wealth are dried up? Where are the Men, the Armies, the Pay, and those thousand Demands which will multiply every Moment with your Inability to answer them? And I may add, without deviating from Probability, a Rupture with France and Spain on your Hands. Will the House look forward to such a situation, and then tell me it is wise, prudent, or expedient to pass an act, a declaration of War, which is to introduce us to a situation so far, to say the least, so doubtful as this?-----Will this Country, this rich, refined, civilized, profligate Country, then be in a state superior to that of America? Will she have Reason to rejoice that the present Measures were executed to conduct her to that situation?
Now, my Lords, permit me to enquire, whether, in the light of necessity, the present bill can demand a more favourable Attention than on those of humanity and practicability? To this Point I shall say little: That it is not necessary, I shall boldly assert, because another plan might have been adopted, which would infinitely better have answered all the purposes it is possible should flow from this. A great Man, my Lords, not present, ( Lord Chatham ) the greatest man perhaps this or any country has produced;-----to whom this country owes her prosperity, her glory, and, I will add all that pride of conquest with which she is now invested.-----That man, my Lords, whom not one among you, when he delivers his sentiments, but recognizes his authority, by offering neither contradiction nor reply.-----That man, whose genius, age, and experience demand the tribute of attention at least, offered you a plan for healing these unhappy differences, and you scarce allowed it to be two Hours in the House,-----Erase that passage from your journals, it stands there a disgrace to your proceedings. That plan would have made this bill unnecessary.
Upon the whole, my Lords, I esteem the Bill cruel, impracticable, and unnecessary; and I am therefore explicitly against the Commitment.
By the Lord Hyde Packet, in five Weeks from Falmouth, arrived at New-York, we have the following Advices.
L O N D O N, April 8. ON Thursday next Parliament will adjourn for the Holidays to the 26th. After which the King's Debts are to be paid, & the Budget to be opened.---Also a Vote of Credit of one Million, to be given to support the Civil War in America.
April 18. A Squadron of Men of War, all completely manned, with six Months Provisions on board, are ordered to be constantly at Spithead during the Summer, to sail on the shortest Notice, wherever Occasion may require.
Assistance to the Americans is rising from a new Quarter; the following Information may be depended upon.-----A Ship sailed from Stettin last Month, loaded with small Fire-Arms, Gun-Powder, Ball and accoutrements, thirty Field-Pieces of a light Construction, and eight General Officers who have served long in Germany; three of them are Messrs. Roheweila, Leosant, and Gurgenstein : The Arms and ammunition are actually paid for by an American Agent at Berlin, who went thither from Paris, but what the Footing is upon which the Officers go is only conjectured; they are Lutherans, and certainly do not go upon the mere Hope of Preferment. This must be a Scheme of the Prussian Monarch's, for discontenting the Court of London, with whom he is upon the worst Terms.
It was last Year reported that Sir Jeffrey Amherst had said, that with 5000 English Regulars he would engage to march from one End to the other of the Continent of North-America. This being spoken of publicly in a Coffee House in North-America, Col. Washington, who was present, declared, that with only 1000 Virginians he would engage to stop Sir Jeffrey Amherst's March.-----It is the Fashion at St. James's to despise the Americans, to call them Cowards, Patroons, &c. and the Resolution seems to be taken to put their Courage to the Proof. The very able, spirited, and prudent Conduct of this gallant Officer when he covered and preserved the Remains of the English Army, after one of their Defeats last War in North-America has endeared him to every brave Man, and stamped him with the Name of being an able Officer.
May 5. On Wednesday Evening, between Eight and Nine o'Clock General George Boscawen was seized at his House in York-Street, St. James's Square, with a fit of Coughing, which broke one of his Blood Vessels, and in about half an Hour after he expired in great Agonies.
May 6. Yesterday a Messenger arrived at Lord Dartmouth's Office from America, with an Express from General Gage, which was laid before his Majesty at St. James's.
PHILADELPHIA, June 14. In CONGRESS, May 26, 1775.
To the OPPRESSED INHABITANTS OF CANADA. FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN. ALARMED by the Designs of an Arbitrary Ministry, to extinguish the Rights and Liberties of all America, a Sense of common Danger conspired with the Dictates of Humanity, in urging us to call your Attention by a late Address to this very important Object.
Since the Conclusion of the last War, we have been happy in considering you as fellow Sufferers:-----but as we were both ex-
tinguished, by the Bounty of an indulgent Creator, to Freedom, & being both devoted by the cruel Edicts of a despotic Administration to common Ruin, we perceived the Fate of the Protestant and Catholic Colonies to be strongly linked together, and therefore invited you to join with us in resolving to be free, & in rejecting with disdain the Fetters of Slavery, however artfully polished.
We most sincerely condole with you on the Arrival of that Day, in the Course of which the Sun could not shine on a single Freeman in all your extensive Dominion. Be assured that your unmerited Degradation has engaged the most unfeigned Pity of your Sister Colonies: And we flatter ourselves you will not, by tamely bearing the Yoke, suffer that Pity to be supplanted by Contempt.
When hardy Attempts are made to deprive Men of Rights bestowed by the Almighty, when Avenues are cut through the most solemn Compacts, for the Admission of Despotism; when the plighted Faith of Government ceases to give Security to loyal and dutiful Subjects; and when the insidious Stratagems and Manoeuvres of Peace become more terrible than the most sanguine Operations of War, it is high Time for them to assert those Rights, and with honest Indignation oppose the Torrent of Oppression rushing in upon them.
By the Introduction of your present Form of Government, or rather Form of Tyranny, you and your Wives and your Children are made Slaves. You have nothing that you can call your own, and all the Fruits of your Labour and Industry may be taken from you, whenever an avaricious Governor and a rapacious Council may incline to demand them. You are liable by their Edicts, to be transported into foreign Countries to fight Battles in which you have no Interest, and to spill your Blood in Conflicts, from which neither Honor or Emolument can be derived: Nay the Enjoyment of your very Religion, on the present System depends on a Legislature, in which you have no Share, and over which you have no Controul, and your Priests are exposed to Expulsion, Banishment, and ruin, whenever their Wealth and Possessions furnish sufficient Temptation. They cannot be sure that a virtuous Prince will always fill the Throne, and should a wicked or a careless King concur with a wicked Ministry, in extracting the Treasure & Strength of your Country, it is impossible to conceive to what Variety and to what Extremes of Wretchedness you may, under the present Establishment be reduced.-----We are informed you have already been called upon to waste your Lives in a Contest with us. Should you, by a Compliance in this Instance, assent to your new Establishment, and a War break out with France, your Wealth and your Sons may be sent to perish in Expeditions against their Islands in the West-Indies.
It cannot be presumed that these Considerations will have no Weight with you, or that you are so lost to all Sense of Honour. We can never believe that the present Race of Canadians are so degenerated as to possess neither the Spirit, the Gallantry, or the Courage of their Ancestors. You certainly will not permit the Infamy and Disgrace of Pusillanimity to rest on your own Heads, and the Consequences of it on your Children forever.
We, for our Parts, are determined to live free or not at all, and are resolved that Posterity shall never reproach us with having bro't Slaves into the World.
Permit us again to repeat, that we are your Friends, not your Enemies, and be not imposed upon by those who may endeavour to create Animosities. The taking the Fort and military Stores at Ticonderoga and Crown-Point, & the armed Vessels on the Lake, was dictated by the great Law of Self-Preservation. They were intended to annoy us, and cut off that friendly Intercourse & Communication which has hitherto subsisted between you and us.-----We hope it has given you no Uneasiness, and you may rely on our Assurances that these Colonies will pursue no Measures whatever, but such as Friendship and a Regard for our mutual Safety and Interest may suggest.
As our Concern for your Welfare entitles us to your Friendship, we presume you will not by doing us Injury, reduce us to the disagreeable necessity of treating you as Enemies.
We yet entertain Hopes of your uniting with us in the Defence of our common Liberty, and there is yet Reason to believe, that should we join in imploring the Attention of our Sovereign to the unmerited and unparalleled Oppressions of his American Subjects, he will at length be undeceived, and forbid a licentious Ministry any longer to riot in the Ruins of the Rights of Mankind.
A true Copy from the Minutes, CHARLES THOMPSON Secretary.
In PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, Watertown, June 28, 1775. WHEREAS a former Congress of this Colony, ordered their Receiver General to issue Notes & Bills upon the Credit of this Colony, for the Payment and supply of their Army and other necessary Expences of this Colony.-----And whereas divers others of the Sister Colonies have issued Notes or Bills for the Payment of their respective Forces, and it is necessary that the Notes and Bills of this and the Sister Colonies should have free Currency.-----
Therefore RESOLVED; that the Notes and Bills of the Colony of Rhode-Island, at and after the Rate of six Shillings and nine Pence an Ounce for Silver, and the Bills and Notes of this and all the other Colonies, excepting Nova-Scotia and Canada, at and after the Rate of six Shillings and Eight Pence an Ounce for Silver, shall be taken and received, and accounted a good and sufficient Tender for the Payment of all Debts and the Damages that may arise upon the Non-Performance of any Promise, and also be received into the public Treasury of this Colony without any Discount or Allowance whatsoever.
And if any Person whatsoever shall refuse to take any of the Notes or Bills of the Colonies aforementioned, at the Rates before expressed, for any Debt, or in Satisfaction for the Damage sustained by reason of the Non-Performance of any Promise, or shall ask, demand, or receive, any Discount, Gratuity or Premium, for receiving any of the Bills or Notes aforementioned, he or she so offending shall be deemed an Enemy to the Country. And the several Committees of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety, in their respective Towns, are required to return the Names of all Persons who shall contravene this Resolve, to this, or some future Congress or House of Representatives that they may take Order thereon as to them shall seem meet.
By Order of Congress, JAMES WARREN, President. A true Copy, Attest. SAMUEL FREEMAN, Secretary.
NEW-YORK, June 19, 1775.
Friday last the Mercury Frigate, Capt. McCarthy, arrived at Sandy Hook, in 14 Days from Boston: He was dispatched from thence by General Gage to order whatever Troops might arrive here from England or Ireland, for Boston; and last Wednesday he luckily fell in with a Transport from Cork with Part of the 44th Regiment bound into this Place; but the soon flood to the Eastward, and Capt. McCarthy now waits at the Hook to give the like Orders to the Rest of the Fleet that may arrive here.

Continental Fast the 20th July.
PHILADELPHIA. CONGRESS, June 12, 1775.
be great Governor of the World, by his supreme and universal Providence, not only conducts the Course of Nature with unerring Wisdom and Rectitude, but frequently influences the Minds of Men to serve his wise and gracious Purposes of his providential Government; and it being at all Times our indispensable Duty devoutly to acknowledge his superintending Providence, especially in Times of impending Danger, and public Calamity, to reverence and adore his immutable Justice, as well as to implore his merciful Interposition for our Deliverance:
This Congress therefore, considering the present critical, alarming, and calamitous State of these Colonies, do earnestly recommend, that THURSDAY, the 20th Day of July next, be observed by the Inhabitants of all the English Colonies on this Continent, as a Day of public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, that we may with united Hearts and Voices unfeignedly confess and deplore our many Sins, and offer up our joint Supplications to the all wise, omnipotent, and merciful Dispenser of all Events, humbly beseeching him to forgive our Iniquities, to remove our present Calamities, to avert those desolating Judgments with which we are threatened, and to bless our righteous Sovereign King GEORGE the Third, and inspire him with Wisdom to discern and pursue the true Interest of all his Subjects, that a speedy End may be put to the civil Discord between Great Britain and the American Colonies, without further Effusion of Blood, and that the British nation may be influenced to regard the Things that belong to her Peace, before they are hid from her Eyes; that these Colonies may be ever under the Care and Protection of a kind Providence, and be prospered in all their Interests; that the Divine Blessing may descend and rest upon all our civil Rulers, and upon the Representatives of the People in their several Assemblies and Conventions, that they may be directed to wise and effectual Measures for preserving the Union, and securing the just Rights and Privileges of the Colonies; that Virtue and true Religion may revive and flourish throughout our Land; and that America may soon behold a gracious Interposition of Heaven for the Redress of her many Grievances, the Restoration of her invaded Rights, a Reconciliation with the Parent State, on Terms constitutional and honourable to both; and that her civil and religious Privileges may be secured to the latest Posterity: And it is recommended to Christians of all Denominations to assemble for public Worship, and to obtain from Service Labour and Recreations on said Day.
By Order of the Congress, JOHN HANCOCK, President. CHARLES THOMPSON, Secretary.
A true Copy,
CAMBRIDGE, June 29, 1775.
THE Hon. JAMES WARREN, Esq; is chosen President of the Provincial Congress, in the Room of the late Major General WARREN, slain in Battle.
On Saturday the 17th June 1775 fell in Battle, In the American Army, Major-General JOSEPH WARREN, A Gentleman worthy that Office, to which, the Day before, by the free Votes of his Countrymen, He was honorably elected. As a Friend to Britain, he wished the mutual Happiness of her and America: And conscious their Interests were inseparable, He strenuously opposed the unjust Claims of a venal Parliament, Who attempted to ruin the latter, by depriving them of their Rights secured by CHARTER. Twice, to crowded Audiences, He wail'd the Fate of those massacred March 5th, 1770; and twice, Received the Thanks of his Fellow-Citizens therefor. To enumerate his Virtues would be a Subject worthy of an abler Pen. Sufficient for us, we add, He by them has laid the Foundation of a Fame that shall not be impaired by the Tooth of Time. Over his Grave his mourning Countrymen may justly say, Here lies the Body of a worthy Man, Whose Name shall live and fill the World with Wonder, Although his Ashes scarcely fill an Urn. His Virtues shall remain when we have left the Stage: His Praises shall be spoke for many an Age to come.
Since the Battle of the 17th Instant, a considerable Body of the Army have been employed in fortifying Prospect Hill, Winter-Hill, and other Eminences near Charlestown. The former, which is a very fine Situation, and in full View of the Enemy on Bunker's Hill, is said to be now rendered almost impregnable. The Lines on Winter Hill are carrying on with great Vigour, and it is proposed, we are informed, to extend them to those on Prospect-Hill. Similar Works are carrying on at Roxbury: Breast-works, within about half a Mile of the Enemy's Lines, have been thrown up across the main Street in that Town. On a very high Hill, a little Distance from the Meeting-House, is erecting a strong Fortification within Cannon Shot of Boston. The above Works have been contrived to prevent any Excursions the Enemy might attempt to make into the Country, previous to nearer Approaches that may be made for rescuing that unfortunate Capital out of the Hands of its present unjust, tyrannical Invaders.
One of our Indians, a few Evenings ago, killed two of the Enemy's Centries, and wounded a third. Captain Jenkins is arrived at Nantucket from London, with whom came Passenger, Mr. William Palfrey. A Paper of the 6th of May, the latest we have received, contains the following Intelligence, viz. It is certain, that the Spaniards are arming for WAR. And it is certain that our Want of Sailors is such, that even our Guardships are 50 Men deficient in Complement. The Spanish Ministry, on being questioned on Account of the late Armaments, have declined, it is said, to give an explicit Answer; and reply generally, that their Master is resolved to suit his Armaments, both by Sea and Land, according to the present Posture of Affairs in Europe. We are assured that the first Act of Hostility in America will be begun by Government, as there are particular Orders to secure the Delegates. It may be depended on that the Spaniards have at this Time at Cadiz, Carthagena, and Barcelona, above 50 Men of War ready for Sea at a Day's Warning. General Washington and Lee are daily expected in this Town from the Southward.
Writs are issued (agreeable to the Recommendation of the Continental Congress) for calling a General Assembly, to convene at Watertown upon Wednesday the 19th Day of July next. A Man of Reputation, whose Name is King, was in Boston at the Time of the Battle on the 17th Instant: Having a Permit from Admiral Greaves to catch Fish for the Town of Boston, he took the Opportunity to make his Escape to Marblehead, and arrived there the 21st Instant. He informs, that from Sunset, on the Day of the Battle, until next Morning, wounded Regulars were brought over in Boats, to the Amount of at least 500; that 30 of them died before they arrived at the Hospital; that 84 Officers were killed and wounded, 3 of which were Field Officers; and that the whole of the killed & wounded amounted to 13 or 1400.
Various other Accounts confirm Mr. King's Intelligence, and give us great Reason to conclude that the Havoc among the ministerial Troops was very considerable. The Loss on our Side is not yet ascertained; but at the most is supposed to be from 150 to 200 killed and wounded. Major General WARREN, late President of the Provincial Congress, is among the Slain. Col. PARKER of Chelmsford, and 27 Privates from different Towns, are Prisoners in Boston Goal.
The Provincial Congress at New York, have ordered, that Inculation for the Small Pox be suspended within the Colony, 'till the 1st of December next.
WATERTOWN, June 24.
A Letter from Machias was this Day laid before the Provincial Congress, containing Advices, that in Consequence of an Application to that Place from Ichabod & Stephen Jones of Boston and Casco-Bay, for Lumber to supply the Navy and Army, the last mentioned Person was arrested by the Inhabitants, and put under Guard, while the other had made his Escape in the Woods: That the Captain of a Tender sent to protect two Sloops which the Traitors aforesaid intended to have loaded, put Springs to his Cables, and threatened to burn the Town unless the Prisoners were released: That an Engagement between the People on Shore and the Crew on board the Tender took Place, and the latter were obliged to put to Sea. The Inhabitants immediately manned the Sloops, and arming themselves with Fire Arms, Swords, Axes and Spears, came up with the Tender, and engaged her the 2d Time: an obstinate Resistance was made, but that the Tender was obliged to yield: That the Captain of the Tender was mortally wounded, and died the next Morning; five of the Crew were wounded, and one Marine killed; two of our Men were killed, & 5 wounded.
Mr. Robert Avery, of Norwich in Connecticut, who was a Prisoner on Board the Tender, was unhappily killed. WILLIAMSBURGH, (in Virginia) June 10. In the night of Saturday the 3d instant some young Men got into the public Magazine in this City, intending to furnish themselves with Arms, but were presently after surprised by the Report of a Gun, which was so artfully placed (said to be contrived by L-d D---) that upon touching a string which was in their way, it went off, and wounded three persons, but not mortally; one of them is terribly hurt by several small balls that entered his arm and shoulder; another, by the loss of two fingers of his right hand, rendered incapable of following his profession for subsistence; the other wounded very slightly. There were two guns prepared for this horrid purpose, one of which was brought out next morning and found to be double charged. On Monday a Committee from the Hon. House of Burgess to examine the state of the Magazine, who have placed a guard over it, till measures shall be concerted for its better security.
PORTSMOUTH, July 4.
A Letter from one of the West-India Islands, to a Gentleman in Newbury Port, has the following Paragraph. A Vessel in 30 Days from England, informs us, That there has been the largest MOB in London, that ever was known, who surrounded the Parliament House, and demanded an immediate Repeal of all the American Acts, or they would pull down the House, on which Lord North looked out of the Window, and said, if they would disperse, no more Troops should embark, till they heard from Boston again.
It is much to be wished that this may prove true, but it is a little doubted, as there has not been hardly Time for them to hear of the Lexington Battle, and for us to receive an Answer, as last Sunday was but ten Weeks since our Express sail'd from Marblehead. An Answer to the following Question in the Rule of Three is required. If it takes General GAGE twelve Months, with all the Regiments and Ships of War, sent him for that Purpose, to conquer and burn from Boston to Bunker's Hill, I demand how long, and how many more Regiments and Ships, it will require to burn and conquer all America?
IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, Exeter, June 28th, 1775.
WHEREAS some few Soldiers in the Service of this Colony, in the American Army, have already, or may desert the said Service—It is therefore Recommended to the several and respective Committees, in the several Towns, Parishes and Precincts in this Colony, to take up & secure all such Deserters , and convey them safely to their proper Officers at Head Quarters. And that the Charges of taking and conveying be paid out of such Deserters Wages .— And that all such Soldiers as are absent from Duty, on Furlough, shall immediately on coming Home, repair to such Committee, and shew them or some of them their said Furlough, or otherwise such Soldier shall be deemed a Deserter , & be dealt with accordingly.
And whereas sundry Thefts and Robberies are supposed to be committed by some ill disposed Persons, on the Goods and Chattles of other Persons, it is therefore recommended to the said several and Respective Committees diligently to inspect into all such Thefts and Robberies , and to take & secure all such Persons within their respective Precincts, as shall be found to have any such stolen Goods and Chattles, and to punish such Persons according to the Nature and Degree of their Offence, & to secure such Goods and Chattles for the right Owner, and any Person having such suspected Goods or Chattles in their Possession, who will not give to such Committee (when requested) a satisfactory Account how they gained the Property or Possession thereof, such Person or Persons shall be deemed delinquent, and punished by such Committee accordingly.
And it is further recommended to all such Towns, Districts and Precincts in this Colony, as have not already chosen such Committee, that they forthwith choose and appoint such Committee in their respective Precincts, for the Peace and good Order of the People.
MATTHEW HORTON, President.
NEW-YORK, June 22:
Governor Tryon, in the Ship Juliana, was at Dial 1. the 2d of May, and two Ships for Philadelphia, and 'twas supposed they would sail about the 6th of the same Month.
Extract of a Letter from London, April 25th 1775.
"A steady Friend to America called upon me this Afternoon, to acquaint me with the following Intelligence, communicated by — this day, which you may rely upon as a fact. The — said that Administration on Friday received Advices from General Gage, to the 18th of March, where he acknowledges the Receipt of the King's Order to apprehend Messrs. Cushing, Adams, Hancock, &c. and send them over to England to be tried; but that the second Orders, which were to hang them in Boston, he said the General had not then received. The General expressed his Fears on the Occasion, and in Hopes of their being reversed he should delay the Execution a while longer; because he must, if the Orders were so filled, come to an Engagement,—the Event of which, he had every Reason to apprehend would be fatal to himself, and the King's Troops; as the Massachusetts Government had at least 15,000 Men, ready trained for the Onset,—and besides, had every public and private Road occupied by the Militia, so as to prevent his marching into the Country, and which were at the same Time ready to facilitate any Attempt against the Army: On which unwelcome Situation he earnestly wished for a Reinforcement, if that disagreeable Order must be effected. The General also wrote that the Standard was hoisted by the People at Salem, and Multitudes flocked to it, which would not be the Case should the royal Standard be erected—added, that he now believed America would carry their Point—That many of the Administration were of the same Mind, and sincerely wished they had pursued more gentle Measures with the Colonies.—He said Lord North was evidently uneasy, and that Government dreaded the News by the April Packet—that they suppressed this Intelligence from General Gage, because of the instant Effect it would have on the stocks. He acknowledged the Nation was ready for a Revolution, if any enterprising Genius would step forth, and which would be the Case, if Blood was ever drawn in America. He batters Hutchinson, and says Administration charges him with duplicity, in telling them they ought to have been more active, and that they would have made the Massachusetts submit. To others, that Administration had gone much further than he advised: Be this as it may, he added that the King consults him, places a Confidence in what he says, and has actually fixed his Salary at 2000l. per Annum for Life, which had much chagrined some of the Administration, who ardently wished him given up, as a Sacrifice to both Countries. My Intelligence is, if this Letter should be published, that Name might be omitted as the Information was confidential. I shall only add, that my Country may be free if she will; and that she may have the Virtue to play the Man, is the Aspiration of Sir, your most obedient Servant"
Extract of a Letter from St. John's, Newfoundland. May 30th 1775, to his Friend in this City.
"Here we are starving for Bread and Flour, and no Hopes of Redress,----- and the Ports in America being shut up, we are at a Loss what to do."
A Gentleman that came in the Coach from Philadelphia, last Saturday Evening, informs us, That a Letter had been just received there from Virginia, acquainting them, That his Excellency Lord Dunmore, with all his Family had retired on Board a Man of War in Consequence of some Guns that were fixed in such a Position in the Provincial Magazine there, that as soon as the Door was opened several went off, and wounded three Men. Yesterday, we hear General Haldiman, who, it is reported, is re-called to England, arrived here from Boston, and is on Board the Asia Man of War in this Harbour.
We hear there are Letters in Town advising that Col. Johnson having been suspected of endeavouring to stir up the Indians against the Colonies had incurred the Resentment of the People near him, and that fearing the Effects of it he had retired into the Indian Country.
The following Resolutions are reported to have passed in the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, viz. immediately to strike a continental Currency of two Millions of Dollars. To raise 15,000 more Men, 5000 of whom to be stationed at New-York. That Col. Washington was appointed Commander in chief of the American Forces, and was going to Boston with 1000 Rifle men.
Oliver Brewster,
RESPECTFULLY begs Leave to acquaint his Friends and the Public,— that he has taken the SHOP, formerly occupied by Mr. WILLIAM APPLETON Bookseller, in Queen-Street, directly opposite Mr. JACOB SHEAFE, jr. where he has for Sale, a great Variety of Summer Goods, at the lowest reduced Prices for Cash only.
The following was wrote the Day before the first Engagement. To the AMERICANS.
YE Heirs of Freedom! glorious is your Cause, Your ALL, your charter'd Liberty and Laws, Are now at Stake—then let the noble Fires Which warm'd the Bosoms of your godlike Sires, Now fill your Souls with an Heroic Flame, To shield your Rights, and gain immortal Fame! Great LIBERTY! inspire each Freeborn Mind With Ardour in the Cause of Human Kind, The Cause of Heav'n the great Concern of Earth--- The Cause of all who ever shall have Birth, From this bright Hour, through Ages as they roll, Who live from the World's Centre to the Pole--- AMERICANS! let Man to Man be join'd In Freedom's Cause, and Courage feel each Mind To meet the Tyrants, and their hostile Band Drive from the Crimson'd Field--- and sweep the Land O'er ev'ry Wretch who hath his Country sold, For empty Honour, or for sordid Gold, Who would destroy the Freedom of the Brave That his mean Self might live a pension'd Slave.----- DEATH, dress in Horror, meets the guilty Great, And makes them tremble on the Throne of State; Not to the Brave, the Just, the Good, the Wise, Death is their Passport to the blissful Skies. April 18, 1775. CAT