The New-Hampshire gazette and historical chronicle (Portsmouth, N.H.), 1775-11-02 00:00:00

THE New-Hampshire AND HISTORICAL CONTAINING the Frefreshest ADVICES
THURSDAY Nov. 2, 1775.
Vol. XX. GAZETTE, CHRONICLE, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.
No. 992 { Weeks since this Paper was first publish'd. }
PORTSMOUTH, Novem. 2. The late Destruction of the Town of Falmouth, Casco Bay, by the Canceaux Ship of War, Capt. Mowett, with four other armed Vessels, gave an Alarm to this Town...
Last Sunday fe'night the worthy and indefatigable General SULLIVAN, and other Officers of Note came to Town, and have put our Fortifications in the best Posture of Defence...
The Printing Press is removed to Greenland, about Six Miles from Portsmouth at the House of Mr. Samuel Pickering's, near Mr. Folsom's Tavern...
Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in London to his Friend in this Town dated London August 8, 1775.
My dear Sir, I trust our American Cause is just; happy would it have been could the Dispute been accommodated without the Effusion of Blood; but it was not God's Will it should be...
CAMBRIDGE, October 26. LAST Tuesday fe'night, about two Hours before Night, arrived before the Town of Falmouth, Casco-Bay, from Boston, the Canceaux Ship of War, Capt. Mowett...
gad, a Committee to go on Board the Canceaux, where Mowett read his Orders to them, which were, in Substance, that as a Rebellion now existed in the American Colonies...
The following is what Capt. Mowett sent the People of Falmouth soon after his arrival before that Town.
Canceaux, Falmouth, October 16th, 1775. AFTER so many premeditated Attacks on the legal prerogative of the best of Sovereigns...
The Officer who will deliver this Letter, I expect to return immediately unopposed. I am, &c. H. MOWETT.
NORWICH, October 23. The following is an Extract of a Journal kept by Mr. Daniel Safford, who left St. John's on the 7th Instant.
Sept. 28. Intelligence is received that Colonel Allen, with about 80 men had engaged a body of 200 of the enemy, about two miles from Mt. Royal...
Sept. 29. The enemy fired a few shot this morning, and about 9 o'clock at night a smart fire began on both sides, which continued till ten.
Oct. 1st, 2d, and 3d. The enemy fired a few shot.
Oct. 4. A party of the French, who act in concert with our army began an entrenchment on the east side of the Lake...
Oct. 5. No material occurrence.
Oct. 6. In the night we threw 6 bomb shells into St. John's, and had 31 in return, without doing any damage.
Oct. 7. The enemy were playing their cannon on our troops this morning, when I came away.
Mr. Safford informs, that it is generally believed Col. Allen is alive. That the account of the armed Schooner being taken, is without foundation...
HARTFORD, Octo. 23. Extract of a Letter from an Officer at St. John's, dated Octo. 23.
On the 16th of September we left the Isle aux Noix, in order to lay siege to St. John's; we had before sent a party of 100 to Chambly...
Allen with a party hath since had a battle near Montreal, & is taken a prisoner with 14 more. We have shut up St. John's, and expect soon to be in possession of that place.
Our intelligence from St. John's is as late as the 10th instant, when our Army were bombarding that place, and it was expected the enemy would soon surrender.
TEN DOLLARS REWARD.
RUN away from the Subscriber, on the 19th of October last, a Negro Boy named CATO, about eighteen Years old, five Feet and a Half high...
Hampton October 21, 1775.
N.B. 'Tis likely he will change his Name, perhaps call himself Elisha Bartlett, as he has said that was his Name with one of his Masters...
RUNAWAY
from the Subscriber a Negro MAN named Peter Long, about six Feet high, takes good English—Had on when he went away, a light colour'd homespun Coat...
RANAWAY
from his Master Gould French of Epping, a Negro Man named Oliver. He had on when he went away, a dark colour'd homespun Coat with red Lining...
SIX DOLLARS REWARD.
STRAYED or stolen from the Subscriber, a MARE five Years old, of a dark Chestnut Colour, with a black Maine and Tail, and a Star in her Forehead...
N.B. It is supposed he that took the Mare left the Horse. Epping Oct. 12, 1775.
STRAYED or stolen
from me the Subscriber, the 10th of this Month, a black Horse, about 14 Hands high, with a White Strip in his Face, Running Down over his Left Nefril...

L O N D O N.
The SPEECH of the Right Honourable the EARL OF CHATHAM, in the HOUSE OF LORDS, January 20, 1775; on a Motion for an ADDRESS to his MAJESTY, to give immediate Orders for removing his Troops from BOSTON, forthwith, in order to quiet the Minds and take away the Apprehensions of his good SUBJECTS in AMERICA.
AFTER more than six Weeks possession of the Papers now before you, on a Subject so momentous, at a Time when the Fate of this Nation hangs on every Hour; the Ministry have at length condescended to submit to the Consideration of this house Intelligence from America, with which your Lordships and the Public have been long and fully acquainted.
The Measures of last Year, my Lords, which have produced the present alarming State of America, were founded upon Misrepresentation--they were violent, precipitate and vindictive. The Nation was told, that it was only a Faction in Boston, which opposed all lawful Government; that an unwarrantable Injury had been done to private Property, for which the Justice of Parliament was called upon, to order Reparation;--the least Appearance of Firmness would awe the Americans into Submission, and upon only passing the Rubicon, we should be fine clade victor. That the People might choose their Representatives under the Impression of those Misrepresentations, the Parliament was precipitately dissolved. Thus the Nation was to be rendered instrumental in executing the Vengeance of Administration on that injured, unhappy, traduced People.
But now, my Lords, we find, that instead of suppressing the Opposition of the Faction at Boston, these Measures have spread it over the whole Continent. They have united that whole people, by the most indissoluble of all Bands--intolerable Wrongs.--The just Retribution, is an indiscriminate unmerciful Proscription of the Innocent with the Guilty, unheard and untried. The bloodless Victory, is an impotent General with his dispossessed Army, trusting solely to the Pick-Ax and the Spade, for Security against the just Indignation of an injured and insulted People.
My Lords, I am happy that a Relaxation of my Infirmities permits me to seize this earliest Opportunity of offering my poor Advice to save this unhappy Country, at this Moment tottering to its Ruin. But as I have not the Honor of access to his Majesty, I will endeavour to transmit to him, through the constitutional Channel of the House, my Ideas on American Business, to rescue him from the Misadvice of his present Ministers. I congratulate your Lordships that that Business is at last entered upon, by the noble Lord's (Lord Dartmouth) laying the Papers before you. As I suppose your Lordships are too well apprised of their Contents, I hope I am not premature in submitting to you my present Motion (reads the Motion) I wish, my Lords, not to lose a Day in this urgent pressing Crisis: An Hour now lost in allaying the Ferment in America, may produce Years of Calamity; but for my own Part, I will not desert for a Moment the Conduct of this mighty Business from the first to the last, unless called to my Bed by the Extremity of Sickness; I will give it unremitting Attention:--I will knock at the Door of this sleeping, or confounded Ministry, and will rouse them to a Sense of their important Danger.--When I state the Importance of the Colonies to this Country, and the Magnitude of Danger hanging over this Country from the present Plan of Misadministration practised against them, I desire not to be understood to argue for a Reciprocity of Indulgence between England and America: I contend not for Indulgence, but Justice, to America: and I shall ever contend that the Americans justly owe Obedience to us in a limited Degree; they owe Obedience to our Ordinances of Trade and Navigation; but let the Line be skilfully drawn between the Objects of those Ordinances, & their private, internal Property: Let the Sacredness of their Property remain inviolate; let it be taxable only by their own Consent, given in their provincial Assemblies, else it will cease to be property: As to the metaphysical Refinements, attempting to shew that the Americans are equally free from Obedience to commercial Restraints, as from Taxation for Revenue, as being unrepresented here, I pronounce them futile, frivolous and groundless--Property is in its Nature single as an Atom. It is indivisible, can belong to one only, and cannot be touched but by his Consent. The Law that attempts to alter this Disposal of it, annihilates it.
When I urge this Measure of recalling the Troops from Boston, I urge it on this pressing Principle--that it is necessarily preparatory to the Restoration of your Peace, and the Re-establishment of your Prosperity. It will then appear that you are disposed to treat amicably and equitably, and to consider, revise and repeal, if it should be found necessary, as I affirm it will, those violent Acts and Declarations which have disseminated Confusion throughout your Empire. Resistance to your Acts was as necessary as it was just; and your in Declarations of the Omnipotence of Parliament, and your imperious Doctrines of the Necessity of Submission, will be found equally impotent to convince or enslave your fellow Subjects in America, who feel that Tyranny, whether ambitioned by an individual part of the Legislature, or by the Bodies which compose, is equally intolerable to British Principles.
As to the Means of enforcing this Thralldom, they are found to be as ridiculous and weak in Practice, as they are unjust in Principle. Indeed I cannot but feel with the most anxious Sensibility for the Situation of General Gage and the Troops under his Command; thinking him, as I do, a Man of Humanity and Understanding, and entertaining, as I ever shall, the highest Respect, the warmest Love, for the British Troops. Their Situation is truly worthy, pent up and pining in inglorious Inactivity. They are an Army of Impotence. You may call them an Army of Safety, or of Guard; but they are in Truth an Army of Impotence and Contempt--& to render the Folly equal to the Disgrace, they are an Army of Imitation. I do not mean to censure the Inactivity of the Troops. It is a prudent and necessary Inaction. But it is a miserable Condition, where Disgrace is Prudence; and where it is necessary to be contemptible. This Tameness, however disgraceful, ought not to be blamed, as I am surprized to hear is done by the Ministers. The first Drop of Blood, shed in a civil and unnatural War, would be an immedicabile Vulnus . It would entail Hatred and Contention between the two People, from Generation to Generation. Woe be to him who sheds the first--the unexpiable--Drop of Blood in an impious War, with a People contending, in the great Cause of public Liberty. I will tell you plainly, my Lords, no Son of Mine, nor any over whom I have Influence, shall ever draw his Sword upon his fellow Subjects.
I therefore urge and conjure your Lordships immediately to adopt this conciliatory Measure. I will pledge myself for its immediately producing conciliatory Effects, from its being well timed. But if you delay, till your vain Hope of triumphantly dictating the Terms shall be accomplished--you delay forever. And even admitting that this Hope, which in Truth is desperate, should be accomplished, what will you gain by a victorious Imposition of Amity? You will be untrusted and unthanked. Adopt then the Grace, while you have the Opportunity of Reconciliation, or at least prepare the Way; allay the Ferment prevailing in America, by removing the obnoxious hostile Cause; obnoxious and unforceable, for their Merit can only be Inaction. "Non dimicemus
ad vincemus." Their Victory can never be by Execution. Their Force would be most disproportionately exerted, against a brave, generous and united People; with Arms in their Hands, and Courage in their Hearts, three Millions of People, the genuine Descendants of a valiant and pious Ancestry, driven to these Deserts by the narrow Maxims of a superstitious Tyranny. And is the Spirit of tyrannous Persecution never to be appeased? Are the brave Sons of those brave Forefathers to inherit their Sufferings, as they have inherited their Virtues? Are they to sustain the Inflictions of the most oppressive and unexampled Severity, beyond the Accounts of History, or the Description of Poetry? "Rba-damantibus habet durissima regna, Castigatque. Auditque." --So says the wisest Statesman and Politician. But the Bostonians have been condemned unheard. The indiscriminating Hand of Vengeance has lumped together Innocent and Guilty: With all the Formalities of Hostility, has blocked up the Town, and reduced to Beggary and Famine 30,000 Inhabitants.
But his Majesty is advised that the Union of America cannot last: Ministers have more Eyes than 1, and should have more Ears; but from all the Information I have been able to procure, I can pronounce it a Union solid, permanent and effectual. Ministers may satisfy themselves, and delude the Public with the Reports of what they call commercial Bodies in America. They are not Commercial, they are your Packer and Factors; they live upon nothing, for I call Commission nothing; I mean the ministerial Authority for their American Intelligence, the Runners of Government, who are paid for their Intelligence. But these are not the Men, nor this the Influence to be considered in America, when we estimate the Firmness of their Union. Even to extend the Question, and to take in the really mercantile Circle, will be totally inadequate to the Consideration. Trade indeed increases the Wealth and Glory of a Country; but in real Strength & Stamina are to be looked for among the Cultivators of the Land. In their Simplicity of Life is found the Simplicity of Virtue, the Integrity and Courage of Freedom. Those true genuine Sons of the Earth are Invincible; and they surround and hem in the Mercantile Bodies; even if those Bodies, which Supposition I totally Disclaim, could be supposed Disaffected to the cause of Liberty. Of this general Spirit existing in the American Nation, for so I wish to distinguish the Real and Genuine Americans from the Pseudo-Trade-ers I have described: Of this Spirit of Independence Animating the Nation of America, I have the most Authentic Information. It is not new among them; it is & ever has been their established Principle, their confirmed Persuasion; It is their Nature and their Doctrine. I Remember some Years ago, when the Repeal of the Stamp-Act was in Agitation, Convexing in a Friendly Confidence with a Person of Undoubted Respect & Authenticity on this Subject; and he assured, me, with a Certainty which his Judgment and Opportunity gave him, that these were the Prevalent and steady Principles of America; that you might destroy their Towns, and cut them off from the Superfluities, perhaps the Conveniences of Life, but that they were prepared to Dispute your Power, and would not Lament their Loss, whilst they had, what, my Lords?--Their Wits and Liberty. The Name of my Authority, if I am called upon, will Authenticate the Opinion I beg to beg.
If Illegal Violence have been, as it is said Committed in America, prepare the Way, open a Door of Possibility, for Acknowledgement, and Satisfaction; but proceed not to such Coercion, such Proscription: Cease your Indiscriminate Inflictions; amerce not Thirty Thousand, Oppress not Three Millions, for the Faults of Forty or Fifty: Such Severity of Injustice must for ever render Incurable the Wounds you have already given your Colonies; you Irritate them to Unappeasable Rancour. What though you March from Town to Town, and from Province to Province? Though you should be able to force a Temporary and local Submission, which I only suppose, not admit, how shall you be able to secure the Obedience of the Country you leave Behind you in your Progress? To Grasp the Dominions at 1800 Miles of Continent, Populous in Valour, Liberty and Resistance? This Resistance to your Arbitrary System of Taxation might have been foreseen; it was Obvious from the Nature of Things and of Mankind; & above all, from the Whig Spirit Flourishing in that Country. The Spirit which now Resists your Taxation in America, is the same which formerly Opposed, and with Success Opposed Loans, Benevolences, and Ship-Money, in England--the same Spirit which called all England on its Legs, and by the Bill of Rights Vindicated the English Constitution--the same Spirit which Established the great fundamental and essential Maxim of your Liberties, that no Subject shall be taxed, but by his own Consent. If your Lordships will turn to the Politics of those Times, you will see the Attempts of the Lords to Poison this Inestimable Benefit of the Bill, by an Infidious Proviso: You will see their Attempts Defeated, in their Conference with the Commons, by the Decisive Arguments of the Ascendants & Maintainers of our Liberty: You will see the Thin, Inconclusive and Fallacious Stuff of those Enemies to Freedom, Contrasted with the Sound & Solid Reasoning of Serjeant Glanville & the rest, those Great & Learned Men who Adorned and Enlightened this Country, & placed Her Security on the Summit of Justice and Freedom. And whilst I am on my Legs, and thus do Justice to the Memory of those great Men, I must also justify the Merit of the Living, by declaring my firm and fixed Opinion, that such a Man exists this Day. [Looking towards Lord Camden.] This glorious Spirit of Whiggism animates three Millions in America, who prefer Poverty with Liberty, to golden Chains and sordid Affluence; and who will die in Defence of their Rights, as Men--as Freemen. What shall oppose this Spirit? Aided by the congenial Flame glowing in the Breast of every Whig in England, to the Amount, I hope, of at least double the American Numbers! Ireland they have to a Man. In that Country, joined as it is with the Cause of the Colonies, and placed at their Head, the Distinction I contend for, is and must be observed. This Country superintends & controls their Trade & Navigation; but they tax themselves, and this Distinction between external and internal Control, is sacred & unformountable; it is involved in the abstract Nature of Things. Property is private, individual, absolute. Trade is an extended and complicated Consideration; it reaches as far as Ships can sail, or Winds can blow. It is a great and various Machine.--To regulate the numberless Movements of its several Parts, and combine them into Effect for the Good of the whole, requires the superintending Wisdom and Energy of the supreme Power in the Empire. But this supreme Power has no Effect towards internal Taxation,--for it does not exist in that Relation. There is no such Thing, no such Idea in this Constitution, as a premie Power operating upon Property.
Let this Distinction then remain forever ascertained: Taxation is theirs, commercial Regulation is ours. As an American, I would recognize to England her supreme Right of regulating Commerce and Navigation: As an Englishman by Birth & Principle, I recognize to the Americans their supreme, unalienable Right in their Property; a Right which they are justified in the Defence of, to the last Extremity. To maintain this Principle is the common Cause of the Whigs on the other Side of the Atlantic, and on this, it is Liberty, to Liberty engaged, that they will defend themselves, their Families and their Country. In this great Cause they are immovably allied. It is the Alliance of GOD and Nature--immutable, eternal, fixed as the Firmament of Heaven! To such united Force, what Force shall be opposed! What, my Lords, a few Regiments in America, and 17 or 18000 Men at Home! The Idea is too ridiculous to take up a Moment of your Lordships Time
nor can such a national principled Union be resisted by the Trial of Office or ministerial Manteuvres. Laying Papers on your Table, or counting Notes on a Division, will not avert or postpone the Hour of Danger. It must arrive, my Lords, unless these fatal Acts are done away; it must arrive in all its Horrors: And then their boastful Ministers, in Spite of all their Confidence and all their Marceuvres, shall be forced to hide their Heads. But it is not repealing this Act of Parliament, or that Act of Parliament,--it is not repealing a Piece of Parchment, that can restore America to your Bosom. You must repeal her Fears & her Resentments, & you may then hope for her Love and Gratitude. But now insulted with an armed Force posted in Boston, irritated with an hostile Array before her eyes, her Concessions, if you could force them, would be suspicious and insecure: They will be, prato animae : They will not be the sound, honorable Pactions of Freemen; they will be the Dictates of Fear, and the Extortions of Force.
But it is more than evident that you cannot force them, principled and united as they are, to your unworthy Terms of Submission. It is impossible. And when I hear General Gage censured for Inactivity, I must retort with Indignation on those whose intemperate Measures and improvident Councils have betrayed him into his present Situation. His Situation reminds me, my Lords, of the Answer of a French General in the Civil Wars of France, Monsieur Turenne, I think. The Queen said to him with some Peevishness, I observe that you were often very near the Prince during the Campaign, why did you not take him? The Marechal replied with great Coolness, ---J'avois grand peur. qui Monsieur le Prince ne me pris,---I was very much afraid the Prince would take me.
When your Lordships look at the Papers transmitted us from America, when you consider their Decency, Firmness & Wisdom, you cannot but respect their Cause, and wish to make it your own, for my self I must declare and avow, that in all my reading & observation, and it has been my favourite Study--I have read Thucydides, and have studied & admired the Master States of the World,--that for Solidity and Reasoning, Force of Sagacity, and Wisdom of Conclusion, under such a Complication of different Circumstances, no Nation or Body of Men can stand in Preference to the General CONGRESS at Philadelphia.--- I trust it is obvious to your Lordships, that all Attempts to impede Servitude on such Men, to establish Despotism over such a mighty continental Nation--must be vain,--must be fatal.--- We shall be forced ultimately to retract whilst we can, not when we must. I say we must necessarily undo these violent and oppressive Acts:---They must be repealed---you will repeal them: I pledge myself for it you will in the End repeal them: I stake my Reputation on it: I will consent to be taken for an Idiot if they are not finally repealed.---Avoid then this humiliating disgraceful Necessity.---With a Dignity becoming your exalted Situation, make the first Advances to Concord, to Peace and Happiness, for that is your true Dignity, to act with Prudence and with Justice. That you should first concede, is obvious from sound and rational Policy. Concession comes with better Grace and more salutary Effect from the superior Power. It reconciles Superiority of Power, with the Feelings of Men; and establishes solid Confidence in the Foundation of Affection and Gratitude. So thought the wisest Poet, and perhaps the wisest Man in political Sagacity, the Friend of Mæcenas, and the Eulogist of Augustus. To him, the adopted Son and Successor of the first Cæsar, to him, the Master of the World, he wisely urged this Conduct of Prudence and Dignity:
Quoque prior, &c. VIRGIL.
Every Motive therefore of Justice and of Policy, of Dignity & of Prudence, urges you to allay the Ferment in America, by a removal of your Troops from Boston, by a repeal of your Acts of Parliament, & by Demonstration of amicable Dispositions towards your Colonies. On the other Hand, every Danger, and every hazard, impend to deter you from Perseverance in your present ruinous Measures: Foreign War hanging over your Heads by a slight and brittle Thread: France and Spain watching your Conduct, and waiting for the Maturity of your Errors; with a vigilant Eye to America and the Temper of your Colonies, more than to their own Concerns, be they what they may.
To conclude, my Lords, if the Ministers thus persevere in misadvising and misleading the King, I will not say that they can alienate his Subjects from his Crown, but I will affirm that they will make the Crown not worth his wearing; I shall not say that the King is betrayed, but I will pronounce that the Kingdom is undone.
N E W - Y O R K, October 19.
Copy of a Letter from Governor TRYON, to Whitehead Hicks, Esq; Mayor of this city.
“FROM undoubted authority from the city of Philadelphia, the Continental Congress have recommended it to the Provincial Congress, to seize or take up the Officers of this government, and particularly myself by name: I am therefore to desire you would inform the corporation, and the citizens of this city, I place my security here in their protection, that when that confidence is withdrawn, by seizure of my person, the commander of his Majesty's ships of war in the harbour will demand that the inhabitants deliver me on board the fleet, and on refusal enforce the demand with their whole power; therefore, anxious to prevent, if possible, so great a calamity to this city, as well as in consequence to myself, I am ready, should the voice of the citizens be unfavourable to my staying among them, immediately to embark on board the Asia, requesting that the citizens will defeat every attempt that may be made to hinder my removal with my domesticks and effects, should that be their wish; since I returned to this province, with every honourable intention to serve them, consistent with my bounden duty to my Sovereign.”
We are informed that several gentlemen in Ulster country, have lately received letters, (one of which is from an officer of note, dated the 4th Instant,) from our camp near St. John's, all which letters agree that Capt. Prescott, the commanding officer at St. John's had sent out a flag to Gen. Montgomery, offering to surrender the fort, on being allowed to march out with the honours of war, & artillery; but that the General had returned for answer, that the possession of the ground was not his principal object, and that he could not capitulate on any terms but their surrendering as prisoners of war.
The letters also mention, 4 or 500 Canadians had joined our Army, that great numbers of others were employed in providing necessaries for it, and that the people in general appeared very friendly, and ready to promote one design.
We have heard from several credible persons, that their was no truth in the report which was current last week, that Col. Allen & his party, or any of them, had been taken prisoners, in Canada.
By accounts, dated the fourth of October, we are informed, that General Montgomery was carrying on his approaches towards Fort St. John's with the utmost vigour; and that the officers and men bear the severities of that climate with great firmness & fortitude.
Yesterday morning died at his lodgings in this city, Michael Cressop, Esq; of the colony of Virginia, and first captain in the corps of Riflemen, a Gentleman of great reputation as a soldier, & highly esteemed as a Citizen: His remains will be interred to morrow evening with the honours of war; attended by all the military of this city.
It was with great Difficulty a News Paper was published this Week, amidst the general Confusion in Portsmouth.