The New-Hampshire gazette and historical chronicle (Portsmouth, N.H.), 1775-07-25 00:00:00

THE New-Hampshire AND HISTORICAL CONTAINING the FRESHEST ADVICES
VOL. XIX. GAZETTE, CHRONICLE, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.
TUESDAY JULY 25, 1775.
No. 979 | Weeks since this Paper was first publish'd.
A Genuine COPY of General LEE's Letter to General BURGOYNE, upon his Arrival in Boston. [General LEE served in Portugal under Gen. BURGOYNE last War.]
Philadelphia, June 7th, 1775.
MY DEAR SIR,
WE have had twenty different Accounts of your Arrival at Boston, which have been regularly contradicted the next Morning; but as I now find it certain that you are arrived, I shall not delay a single Instant addressing myself to you. It is a Duty I owe to the Friendship I have long and sincerely cherished for you; a Friendship to which you have the strongest Claims from the first Moments of our Acquaintance. There is no Man from whom I have received so many Testimonies of Esteem and Affection; --- there is no Man whose Esteem and Affection, could, in my Opinion, have done me greater Honour. I entreat and conjure you therefore, my dear Sir, to impute these Lines not to a petulant Itch of Scribbling, but to the most unfeigned Solicitude for the future Tranquility of your Mind, and for your Reputation. I sincerely lament the Infatuation of the Times, when Men of such a Stamp as Mr. Burgoyne and Mr. Howe can be seduced into so impious and nefarious a Service by the Artifice of a wicked and insidious Court and Cabinet. You, Sir, must be sensible that these Epithets are not unjustly severe. You have yourself experienced the Wickedness and Treachery of this Court and Cabinet. You cannot but recollect their Manoeuvres in your own select Committee, and the Treatment yourself as President received from these abandoned Men. You cannot but recollect the black Business of St. Vincente, by an Opposition to which you acquired the highest and most deserved Honour. I shall not trouble you with my Opinion of the Right of taxing America without her own Consent, as I am afraid, from what I have seen of your Speeches, that you have already formed your Creed upon this Article; but I will boldly affirm, had this Right been established by a thousand Statutes, had America admitted it from Time immemorial, it would be the Duty of every good Englishman to exert his utmost to divest Parliament of this Right, as it must inevitably work the Subversion of the whole Empire. The Malady under which the State labours, is indisputably derived from the inadequate Representation of the Subject, and the vast pecuniary Influence of the Crown. To add to this pecuniary Influence and Incompetency of Representation is to inure and precipitate our Destruction. To wish any Addition can scarcely enter the Heart of a Citizen who has the least Spark of public Virtue, and who is at the same Time capable of seeing Consequences the most immediate. I appeal, Sir, to your own Conscience, to your Experience and Knowledge of our Court and Parliament; and I request you to lay your Hand upon your Heart, and then answer with your usual Integrity and Frankness, whether on the Supposition America should be subject enough to submit to the Terms imposed, you think a single Guinea raised upon her would be applied to the Purpose (as it is ostentatiously held out to deceive the People at Home) of easing the Mother Country? Or whether you are not convinced that the whole they could extract would be applied solely to heap up still further the enormous Fund for Corruption which the Crown already possesses, and of which a most diabolical Use is made. On these Principles I say, Sir, every good Englishman, abstracted of all Regard for America, must oppose her being taxed by the British Parliament; for my own Part I am convinced that no Argument (not totally abhorrent from the Spirit of Liberty and the British Constitution) can be produced in Support of this Right. But it would be impertinent to trouble you upon a Subject which has been so amply, and, in my Opinion, so fully discussed. I find by a Speech given as yours in the public Papers, that it was by the King's positive Command you embarked in this Service. I am somewhat pleased that it is not an Office of your own seeking, though, at the same Time, I must confess that it is very alarming to every virtuous Citizen, when he sees Men of Sense and Integrity, (because of a certain Profession) lay it down as a Rule implicitly to obey the Mandates of a Court be they ever so flagitious. It furnishes, in my Opinion, the best Arguments for the total Reduction of the Army. But I am running into a tedious Essay, whereas I ought to confine myself to the main Design and Purpose of this Letter, which is to guard you and your Colleagues from those Prejudices which the same Miscreants, who have infatuated General Gage, and still surround him will labour to instill into you against a brave, loyal, and most deserving People. The Avenues of Truth will be shut up to you. I assert, Sir, that even General Gage will deceive you as he has deceived himself: I do not think he will do it designedly. I do not think him capable, but his Mind is so totally poisoned, and his Understanding so totally blinded by the Society of Fools and Knaves, that he no longer is capable of discerning Facts as manifest as the Noon Day Sun. I assert, Sir, that he is ignorant, that he has from the Beginning been confirmately ignorant of the Principles, Temper, Disposition, and Force of the Colonies. I assert, Sir, that his Letters to the Ministry, at least such as the Public have seen, are one continued Tissue of Misrepresentation, Injustice, and tortured Inferences from misstated Facts. I affirm, Sir, that he has taken no Pains to inform himself of the Truth; that he has never conversed with a Man who has had the Courage or Honesty to tell him the Truth.
I am apprehensive that you and your Colleagues may fall into the same Trap, and it is the Apprehension that you may be inconsiderately hurried by the Vigour and Activity you possess, into Measures which may be fatal to many innocent Individuals, may hereafter wound your own Feelings, and which cannot possibly serve the Cause of those who sent you, that has prompted me to address these Lines to you. I most devoutly wish, that your Industry, Valour, and military Talents, may be reserved for a more honorable and virtuous Service against the natural Enemies of your Country, (to whom our Court are so basely complacent) and not to be wasted in ineffectual Attempts to reduce to the wretchedest State of Servitude, the most meritorious Part of your Fellow-Subjects. I say, Sir, that any Attempts to accomplish this Purpose must be ineffectual. You cannot possibly succeed. No Man is better acquainted with the State of this Continent than myself. I have ran thro' almost the whole Colonies, from the North to the South, and from the South to the North. I have conversed with all Orders of Men, from the first-esteemed Gentlemen to the lowest Planters and Farmers, and can assure you that the same Spirit animates the whole. Not less than an hundred & 50 Thousand Gentlemen, Yeomen and Farmers, are now in Arms, determined to preserve their LIBERTIES or perish. As to the Idea that the Americans are deficient in Courage, it is too ridiculous and glaringly false to deserve a serious Refutation. I never could conceive upon what this Notion was founded. I served several Campaigns in America last War, and cannot recollect a single Instance of ill Behaviour in the Provincials, where the Regulars acquitted themselves well. Indeed we well remember some Instances of the reverse, particularly where the late Colonel Grant, (he who lately
pledged himself for the general Cowardice of America) ran away with a large Body of his own Regiment, and was saved from Destruction by the Valour of a few Virginians. Such preposterous Arguments are only proper for the Rigby's and Sandwich's, from whose Mouths never issued, & to whose Breasts, Truth & Decency are utter Strangers. You will much oblige me in communicating this Letter to General Howe, to whom I could wish it should be considered in some Measure addressed, as well as to yourself. Mr. Howe is a Man for whom I have ever had the highest Love and Reverence. I have honoured him for his own Connections, but above all for his admirable Talents and good Qualities. I have courted his Acquaintance and Friendship, not only as a Pleasure, but as an Ornament: I flattered myself that I had obtained it. Occasion GOD is it possible that Mr. Howe should be prevailed upon to accept of such an Office: I have read of him, to whose Memory the much injured People of Boston erected a Monument, should be employed as one of the Instruments of their Destruction; But the Fashion of the Times it seems is such, as renders it impossible that he should avoid it. The Commands of our most gracious Sovereign, are to cancel all moral Obligations, to sanctify every Action, even those that the Satrap of an Eastern Despot would start at. I shall now beg leave to say a few Words with respect to myself and the Part I act. I was bred up from my Infancy in the highest Veneration for the Liberties of Mankind in general. What I have seen of Courts and Princes convinces me, that Power cannot be lodged in worse Hands than in theirs; and of all Courts I am persuaded that ours is the most corrupt and hostile to the Rights of Humanity. I am convinced that a regular Plan has been laid (indeed every Art since the present Accession, evinces it) to abolish even the Shadow of Liberty from among us. It was not the Demolition of the TEA, it was not any other particular Act of the Bostonians, or of the other Provinces which constituted their Crimes. But it is the noble Spirit of LIBERTY manifestly pervading the whole Continent, which has rendered them the Objects of Ministerial and Royal Vengeance. Had they been notoriously of another Disposition, had they been homines ad servitutinem paratos , they might have made as free with the Property of the East India Company as the felonious North with himself, with Impunity. But the Lords of St. James's and their Mercenaries of St. Stephen's well know, that as long as the free Spirit of this great Continent remains unsubdued, the Progress they can make in their Scheme of universal Despotism, will be but trifling. Hence it is that they wage inextinguishable War against AMERICA. In short, this is the last Asylum of persecuted LIBERTY. Here should the Machinations and Fury of her Enemies prevail that bright Goddess must fly off from the Face of the Earth, and leave not a Trace behind. These, Sir, are my Principles; this is my Persuasion, and consequently I am determined to act. I have now Sir, only to entreat, that whatever Measures you pursue, whether those which your real Friends (myself amongst them) would wish, or unfortunately those which our accursed Miscreants shall dictate, you will still believe me to be personally, with the greatest Sincerity and Affection, Your's, &c. C. LEE.
***** A Copy of General BURGOYNE's Answer to General LEE, dated July 8th, 1775.
DEAR SIR,
WHEN we were last together in Service, I should not have thought it within the Vicissitudes of human Affairs, that we should meet at any Time, or in any Sense, as Foes. The Letter you have honoured me with, and my own Feelings, combine to prove we are still far from being personally such.
I claim no Merit from the Attentions you so kindly remember in the early Periods of our Acquaintance, but as they manifested how much it was my Pride to be known for your Friend; nor have I departed from the Duties of that Character, when, I will not scruple to say, it has been almost general Offence to maintain it: I mean since the violent Part you have taken in the Commotions of the Colonies.
It would exceed the Limits & the Propriety of our present Correspondence to argue at full the great Cause in which we are engaged. But anxious to preserve a consistent and ingenious Character, and jealous I confess of having the Part I sustain imputed to such Motives as you intimate, I will state to you as concisely as I can the Principles upon which, not voluntarily, but most conscientiously I undertook it.
I have, like you, entertained from Infancy a Veneration for public Liberty. I have likewise regarded the British Constitution as the best Safeguard of that Blessing to be found in the History of Mankind.
The vital Principle of the Constitution, in which it moves & has its Being, is the Supremacy of the King in Parliament --- a compound, indefinite, indefeasible Power, coeval with the Origin of the Empire and co-extensive over all its Parts.
I am no Stranger to the Doctrines of Mr. Locke, and other of the best Advocates for the Rights of Mankind, upon the Compact always implied between the governing and governed, and the Right of Resistance in the Letter when the Compact shall be so violated as to leave no other Means of Redress. I look with Reverence almost amounting to Idolatry upon those immortal Whigs who adopted and applied such Doctrines during Part of the Reign of Charles the 1st, and in that of James II.
Should Corruption pervade the three Estates of the Realm so as to pervert the great Ends for which they were instituted, & make the Power vested in them for the good of the whole People operate, like an Abuse of the Prerogative of the Crown, to general Oppression, I am ready to acknowledge that the same Doctrine of Resistance applies as forcibly against the Abuse of the collective Body of Power, as against those of the Crown or either of the other component Branches separately: Still always understood that no other Means of Redress can be obtain'd: --- A Case I contend much more difficult to suppose when it relates to the whole than when it relates to Parts.
But in all Cases that have existed or can be conceived, I hold that Resistance, to be justifiable, must be directed against the Usurpation or undue exercise of Power, and that it is most criminal when directed against any Power itself inherent in the Constitution.
And here you will immediately discern why I drew a Line in the Allusion I made above to the Reign of Charles I. Towards the Close of it the true Principle of Resistance was changed and a new System of Government projected accordingly. The Patriots previous to the long Parliament and during great part of it, as well as the glorious Revolutionists of 1688, resisted to vindicate & restore the Constitution; the Republicans resisted to subvert it.
Now Sir, lay your Hand upon your Heart, as you have enjoined me to do on mine, and tell me to which of these Purposes do the Proceedings of America tend?
Is it the Weight of Taxes imposed, and the Impossibility of Relief after a due Representation of her Burthen, that has induced her to take ARMS? Or is it a Denial of the Right of British Legislation to impose them and consequently a Struggle for total
Independency? For the Idea of Power that can tax externally, and not internally, and all the Sophistry that attends it, tho' it may catch the Weakness & the Prejudice of the Multitude in a Speech or Pamphlet, it is too preposterous to weigh seriously with a Man of your Understanding; and I am Confident you will admit the Case to be fairly put. Is it then from a Relief of Taxes, or from the Control of Parliament 'in all Cases whatsoever' we are in War? If for the former, the Quarrel is at an End --- there is not a Man of Sense and Information in America who does not know it is in the Power of the Colonies to put an End to the Exercise of Taxation immediately, and forever, I boldly assert it because Sense and Information will also suggest to every Man, that it can never be the Interest of Britain, after her late Experience to make another Trial.
But if it be on other Grounds, and it is intended to wrest from Great Britain a Look of Power, and to perpetuate a Chain, by which the Empire notes a Mandate; think it not a mere professional Ardour; think it not a Prejudice against a Part of our Fellow Subjects, that induces Men of Integrity, and among such you have done me the Honor to class me, to act with Vigour; but be assured it is a Conviction that the whole of our political System depends upon the Preservation of its great and essential Parts distinctly, and no Part is so great and essential as supremacy of Legislation --- It is a Conviction, that as a King of England never appears in so glorious a Light as when he employs the Executive Powers of the State to maintain the Laws, so in the present Exertions of that Power, his Majesty is particularly entitled to our Zeal and grateful Obedience not only as Soldiers but as Citizens.
These Principles, depend upon it, actuate the Army and Fleet throughout: And let me at the same Time add, there are few, if any Gentlemen among us who would have drawn his Sword in the Cause of Slavery.
But why do I bind myself to the Navy and Army? The Sentiments I have touched are those of the great Bulk of the Nation. I appeal to the landed Men who have so long borne Burthens for America; I appeal to those trading Towns who are Sufferers by the Dispute and the City of London at the Head of them, notwithstanding the Petitions and Remonstrances which the Arts of Party and Faction have extorted from some Individuals; and last, because least in your Favour, I appeal to the Majorities in the Houses of Parliament upon American Questions this Session. The most licentious News-Writers want Assurance to call these Majorities Ministerial; much less will you give them that Name when you impartially examine the Characters that compose them --- Men of the most independent Principles and Fortunes, and many of them professedly in opposition to the Court in the general Line of their Conduct.
Among other Supporters of British Rights against American Claims, I will not speak positively, but I firmly believe, I may name the Man of whose Integrity you have the highest Opinion, and whose Friendship is nearest your Heart --- I mean Lord Thonet, from whom my Aid de Camp has a Letter for you, and also one from Sir Charles Davers: I do not include them, because the Writers, little imagining how difficult your Conduct would render our Intercourse, desired they might be delivered to your own Hands.
For this Purpose as well as to renew "the Rights of Fellowship," I wish to see you; and above all, I should find an Interview happy if it should induce such Explanations as might tend in their Consequence to Peace. I feel in common with all around me, for the unhappy Bulk of this Country; they foresee not the Distress that is impending over them. I know Great Britain is ready to open her Arms upon the first Overture of Accommodation; I know she is equally resolute to maintain her original Rights; and if the War proceeds, your one Hundred and fifty Thousand Men will not be a Match for her Power.
The Place I would propose for our Meeting is the House upon Boston Neck, just within our Advanced Centuries, called Brown's House. I will obtain Authority to give my Parole of Honour for your safe Return. I shall expect the same on your Part that no Insult be offered to me. If this Plan is agreeable to you, name your Day and Hour. At all Events, accept a sincere Return of the Assurances with which you honour me, and believe me in all personal Considerations, affectionately yours.
P. S. I obeyed your Commands to Generals Howe and Clinton. I also communicated your Letter and my Answer to Lord Percy. They all join me in Compliments, and authorise me to assure you they do the same in Principles.
***** A Copy of General LEE's Letter, declining the Interview proposed by General BURGOYNE.
Cambridge, Head-Quarters, July 11.
GENERAL LEE's Compliments to General BURGOYNE. --- I would be extremely happy in the Interview so kindly proposed. But as he perceives that General BURGOYNE, has already made up his Mind on this great Subject; and as it is impossible that he [Gen. LEE] should ever alter his Opinion, he is apprehensive that the Interview might create those Jealousies and Suspicions, so natural to a People struggling in the dearest of all Causes, that of their Liberty, Property, Wives, Children, and their future Generation. He must therefore, defer the Happiness of embracing a Man whom he most sincerely loves until the Subversion of the present tyrannical Ministry and System, which he is persuaded must be in a few Months, as he knows Great Britain cannot stand the Contest. He begs General BURGOYNE will send the Letters which his Aid de Camp has for him. If Gardiner is his Aid de Camp, he desires his Love to him.
***** WORCESTER, July 19.
Extract of a Letter from Philadelphia, July 6.
Several Gentlemen in this City have Letters from London, of about the Middle of May; they generally agree that all Petitions, Remonstrances, &c. will be to no Purpose: The Congress, however, have determined to petition the King once more, under this Idea, that if it should be rejected, those moderate People who now keep back, will, when they find no Hopes but in the Success of a War, most heartily unite with us in prosecuting it effectually. Another Address to the People of England is also determined upon; it is proposed to send these by RICHARD PENN, Esq; the late Governor of this Province, who sails the latter End of this Week; this Gentleman is a sincere Friend to his Country, a Man of good Sense and Firmness, determined to speak with the same Freedom in England which he uses here. Some Measures have been taken for getting a Supply of Powder, others are in contemplation, and the Powder-Mills are going in Virginia, this Province and New-York; in the first mentioned Province a Mill makes 100 Weight per Week, from Salt-Petre and Sulpher of their own Manufacture, and it is expected much larger Quantities will soon be made."

PORTSMOUTH, July 25, 1775. Saturday se'nnight the Governor adjourned the General-Assembly to the 28th of September next, have previously sent the following Message to the House, and received their Answer.
MESSAGE from his EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR to the General-Assembly. Mr. Speaker, and
Gentlemen of the Assembly.
I FIND by your Votes of the 13th of last Month, that you have taken upon you to exclude, three return'd Members, called by the King's Writ, from Sitting and Voting in the House of Assembly, thereby depriving the Electors of their Priviledge, & a whole County of any Representation in the Legislature; You must be sensible that I cannot, consistent with my Duty, pass by a Measure so essentially infringing on his Majesty's Prerogative and the Rights of the People, and I do therefore recommend to you to rescind the Vote for excluding the said three Members from the House, that they may be entirely free to take their Seats without Interruption according to the constant Usage heretofore practiced.
J. WENTWORTH.
Fort William and Mary, New-Hampshire, July, 14th 1775.
The following ANSWER was sent by the House of ASSEMBLY to the foregoing MESSAGE.
May it please your EXCELLENCY,
IN Answer to your EXCELLENCY's Message of this Day, wherein you desire that this House would rescind their Vote of the 13th of last Month, respecting their Dismissal of the three Members for the County of Grafton, who were call'd by the King's Writ only, without an Act of Government for that Purpose;— We are sorry to find that your Excellency should intimate that our dismissing said Members was depriving the Electors of their Priviledge, as we did not apprehend that any one Person in the English Empire could have had such an Idea; and trust that the good People of the County of Grafton will not think that we have deprived them of any part of their Rights or Priviledges by our dismissing the said Members, as it is very notorious that this and former Houses of Assembly have long wished that this Province might be more generally represented in a constitutional Way; and have long endeavoured that an Act of Government might be passed, enabling the Governors to issue Writs to such Town, to send Members, as might be provided for in said Act, (as is the Case in the other Governments on this Continent) but have not been able to have such an Act established, for what Reasons your Excellency may know better than we do; As the Council are appointed for this Province by the Crown, we think it not only a cruel, but an arbitrary Stretch of Prerogative for your Excellency to issue Writs to such Towns as you think proper to send Representatives, without the Concurrence of the other Branches of the Legislature therein, for by that Means the Representatives as well as the Council would in Effect be chosen by the Crown. We cannot think that such an Attempt was ever made in any other Government within the English Dominions.
Upon the whole, this House have determined unanimously, (as they look upon it their undoubted Right and Priviledge to regulate themselves) not to rescind their said Vote.
We would also inform your Excellency, that we have been expecting that you would order the Treasurer's Accounts to be laid before the House agreeable to your Promise, that we might be thereby enabled to proceed in the ordinary Business of the Government;— but we are sorry to find that your Excellency has order'd the Treasurer, not to lay them before the House, as he informs us.— We hope you will direct, that we may be furnished therewith as soon as possible, as you must be sensible, that it is not only very expensive, but very disagreeable to us to be from our respective Places of Abode at this Season of the Year.
Province of New-Hampshire. In the House of Representatives, July 14, 1775. Voted, That the foregoing be presented to his Excellency in Answer to his Message to the House of this Day.
J. WENTWORTH, Speaker.
NEW HAVEN, July 12.
Last Saturday Afternoon, a Cruiser Sloop of War, said to be the Lively, having chased and fired several Shot at an inward bound Vessel, belonging to Connecticut River, she was boarded by two or three armed Boats, from the Man of War, (having run aground on Saybrook Bar) who after a short Examination left her. The Report of the Guns having alarmed the Inhabitants, a Number of them assembled on the Shore armed, and exchanged some random Shot with the Boats.
Warrantee and Quitclaim Deeds, Justice Writs, Shipping Papers, Bail Bonds, &c Sold at the Printing Office.
Let this be published in all the PUBLIC PRINTS; It is requested by very many People, that all the Committees throughout the Continent do take down the Names of any Person or Persons who shall depreciate the Credit of, or refuse to receive the circulating Paper Currency of any Colony in Payment of Debts, Goods, Wares or Merchandizes, and make return of such Persons Names upon Oath to the Congress of such Colony, whose money may be so refused; that they may take Measures accordingly. VOX POPULI.
The Subscriber, for some Time past, have entertained a favourable Opinion on the Part of Government, and looked upon the Opposition made by the People of America in some Respects wrong; but having carefully and impartially enquired into the Matter, & having considered the barbarous Cruelties of the British Troops, am now fully satisfied, that the Opposition made by my Countrymen is just and right: In Confirmation of my sincerity, and in the Defence of the Rights and Privileges of this Country, am willing to risk my Life and Fortune if Need require. I also look upon all Taxation without Representation, illegal & unconstitutional, therefore oppressive & tyrannical. And as the late Acts of Parliament imposed on the Americans are such, I hold them unconstitutional & oppressive, supposing them made on the intriguing Plans of some subtle and aspiring Men, whose principal Aim is to enslave AMERICA.
Now being convinced that my former sentiments had a Tendency to injure the Rights and Privileges of this Country, and having spoke some Words that appears inimical to the Cause, ask Forgiveness of all those who are offended; and promise that my future Conduct shall be such as shall give them no just Cause of Complaint, hoping they will behave themselves towards me in future as to one who they esteem not unfriendly to the Rights and Privileges of this Country. JOHN SMITH.
Stratford Prison, July 6, 1775.
CAMBRIDGE, July 21.
Last Saturday, the several Regiments quartered in this Town being assembled upon the Parade, the Rev. Dr. Langdon, President of the College, read to them "A Declaration by the Representatives of the united Colonies of North-America, now met in General Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their taking up Arms." It was received with great Applause, and the Approbation of the Army, with that of a great Number of other People, was immediately announced by three Huzzas. His Excellency the General, with several other General Officers, &c. were present on the Occasion.
A Gentleman has favoured us with the following Account of the Declaration being read upon Prospect-Hill.
Last Tuesday Morning, according to Orders issued the Day before, by Major-General Putnam, all the Continental Troops under his immediate Command assembled on Prospect Hill, when the Declaration of the Continental Congress was read, after which an animated and pathetic Address to the Army was made by the Rev. Mr. Leonard, Chaplain to General Putnam's Regiment and succeeded by a pertinent Prayer; when General Putnam gave the Signal, and the whole Army shouted their loud Amen by three Cheers; immediately upon which a Cannon was fired from the Fort, and the Standard lately sent to General Putnam was exhibited flourishing in the Air, bearing on one Side this Motto, AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN— and on the other side, QUI TRANSTULIT SUSTINET. The whole was conducted with the utmost Decency, good Order, and Regularity, and to the universal Acceptance of all present.—And the Philistines on Bunker's Hill heard the Shout of the Israelites, and being very fearful, paraded themselves in Battle Array.
Capt. John Derby, who sailed from Salem for London a few Days after the Battle of Lexington, returned last Tuesday, and the same Day came to Head Quarters in this Place. Very little Intelligence has yet transpired—we only learn, that the News of the Commencement of the American War threw the People in England, especially the City of London, into great Consternation, and occasioned a considerable Fall of the Stocks: that the Ministry (knowing nothing of the Battle till they saw it published in the London Papers) advertised, in the Gazette, that they had received no Account of any Action, and pretended to believe that there had been none: That the Parliament was prorogued two Days before Capt. Derby arrived, but it was said would be immediately called together again: That, when he left London, which was about the 1st of June, no Account of Hostilities had been received by the Ministry from General Gage, notwithstanding the Vessel he dispatched failed four Days before Capt. Derby: That our Friends increased in Number; and that many who had remained neutral in the Dispute, began to express themselves warmly in our Favour: That we, however, have no reason to expect any Mercy from the Ministry, who seem determined to pursue their Measures (long since concerted) for ruining the whole British Empire.
Capt. Derby brought a few London Papers, some as late as the first of June, but we have not been able to obtain a Sight of them. We are informed they contain very little News, and scarce any Remarks on American Affairs.
On the 5th Inst. the Members of the New-York Military Club gave an elegant Entertainment, in the City of New-York, to General Woolster, and the Officers of the Connecticut Forces;—at which the following Toasts, among others, were drank, viz:—May the Disgrace of the Rebels against the Constitution, be as conspicuous as that of the Rebels against the House of Hanover.—The immortal Memory of HAMPDEN, SIDNEY, WARREN, and every Patriot who bled in Defence of Liberty.—May the Enemies of America be turned into Salt-Petre, and go off in hot Blasts.—Death and Jack Boots, before Dishonour and Wooden Shoes.—THE GLORIOUS NINETEENTH OF APRIL when the brave Americans convinced General Gage and the Friends of Tyranny, that they dare fight, and conquer also.
PHILADELPHIA, July 5, 1775.
Extract of a Letter from an American Gentleman at Paris, dated May 2, 1775, to his Friend here.
"I find the French are extremely attentive to our American Politics, and to a Man strongly in favour of us. Whether mostly from ill will to Britain, or Friendship to the Colonies, may be Matter of doubt; but they profess it to be upon a Principle of Humanity, and a Regard to the natural Rights of Mankind. They say that the Americans will be either reared or detested by all Europe, according to their Conduct at the approaching Crisis; they will have no middle Character; for in Proportion as their Virtues and Perseverance will render them a glorious, their same Submission will make them a despicable People."
July 10. We are informed that the People called Quakers, at a Meeting in this City a few Days since, have agreed to recommend it to their Brethren, in their several Meetings in this Province and New Jersey, to promote Subscriptions to raise Money for the Relief of the necessities of all Religious Denominations, who are reduced to Losses and Distress, in this Time of public Calamity, to be distributed among them by a Committee of their Brethren in New England, and a Committee appointed for the same purpose here.
IN CONGRESS, July 14th, 1775. RESOLVED, That the two Acts passed in the first Session of the present Parliament, the one intitled, "An Act to restrain the Trade and Commerce of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, and the Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations in North America, to Great Britain, Ireland and the British Islands in the West Indies, and to prohibit
such Provinces and Colonies from carrying on any Fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland, or other Places therein mentioned, under certain Conditions and Limitations;" the other intitled, "An Act to restrain the Trade and Commerce of the Colonies of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina, to Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Islands in the West Indies, under certain Conditions and Limitations;" are unconstitutional, oppressive and cruel, and that the Commercial Opposition of these Colonies, to certain Acts enacted in the association of the last Congress, ought to be made against these until they are repealed.
A true Copy from the Minutes. CHARLES THOMPSON, Sec'y.
NEW YORK, July 13.
The Mercury Packet, Captain Dillon, sailed last Sunday with the Mail for Falmouth:—In the above Vessel went Passengers, Major General Haldiman, Major Hutchison, Captain Brahms, William Stark, Esq; of London; Merchant, and Mr. Edward Smith, with his Family.
Capt. White in the Brig Granada Packet arrived at Philadelphia, advises that 12,000 Spanish Troops had sailed from Barcelona for Alicante, to join the grand Fleet from Cadiz, which Fleet be met within the Straights of Cape de Gat, consisting of about 700 Sail. It was said by most of the English at Barcelona, that it was designed for Gibraltar.
The People of Virginia and some other American Colonies, continue to be much embarrassed between their respect to the ancient Form of Government, and Officers which according to those Forms were appointed to the Administration of Public Affairs; and their Regard to their own Freedom, and the most important Rights and Privileges of Human Nature, which it has long been the avowed Business of these Forms, and Officers, to take away and abolish. Instead of trying and punishing these Officers, as Traitors against the Constitution, the most horrid of all Traitors, the respect shown them, and the Attempts made to reconcile natural Inconsistencies, are truly ridiculous, at the same Time, that they obstruct and have the most pernicious effect on public Affairs.
Lord Dunmore still continues to injure and insult the People of Virginia, with Impunity.
Cash given for good POT-ASH, By JAMES M'MASTER, at his Store in Portsmouth, on Spring Hill, who has for Sale a small Assortment of English GOODS.
Richard Wibird Penhallow.
(Has upon Hand) for Sale, at his Warehouse on long Wharf, the following Articles for Cash only, viz.
A few Belts of Russia Duck, 24 d , 30 d , and 40 d Deck Nails, 4d, 10d, and 20d Ditto, Sheet Lead, best of London Pewter, Role Bristles, Houslin and Marlin, Handfaws, Bellewes, Stock Locks, &c. &c.
Whereas Priscilla Butler,
my WIFE, has Eloped from my Business for some Time past, and having carried away from me a Note of Hand, and some Orders in Writing, &c. I do hereby forbid any Person to accept of the aforesaid Papers, or any Payments made in Reference of them by my Creditors. Likewise I forbid any Person crediting my Wife on my Account as I will not pay any Debts by her contracted. James Butler.
Barrington, July 17th, 1775.
ISAAC WILLIAMS,
BEGS Leave to acquaint the Publick, that he has removed with his Family from Portsmouth to Exeter, where he intends his future Residence, and to carry on his Business of Peruke making in all its Branches:
He returns his grateful Acknowledgments to his former Friends and Customers for all their Favours to him, and begs the Continuance of them, together with their Recommendation to others, which he will do his utmost to merit by a constant Attendance at his Shop in Exeter, near the Town House. He further begs Leave to recommend the Continuance of the Publick's Favour to his late Partner, Mr. William Stanwood. Exeter, July 10th, 1775.
Williams and Stanwood,
HEREBY acquaint their Friends and Customers, that their Partnership is dissolved by mutual Consent; and all Accounts open with them, are desired to be settled up to the 5th of July inst. with Mr. William Stanwood, at their late Shop in Portsmouth, where constant Attendance will be given for that Purpose, as well as to oblige such Gentlemen as will be pleased to favour the said Stanwood with their Custom in Peruke making in all its Branches.
Portsmouth, July 7th, 1775.
John Greenleaf,
TAYLOR from BOSTON,
TAKES this Method to acquaint the Public, that he carries on the Taylor's Business in all its Branches in the neatest Manner, and on reasonable Terms, at his Shop in the pav'd Street, directly opposite to JOHN PICKERING, Esq;—Those Gentlemen who please to favour him with their Commands, may depend on being serv'd with Fidelity and Dispatch, and the smallest Favours gratefully acknowledged by their most humble Servant.
Last Thursday a Detachment from the North-American Army, burnt Boston Light House.