The Virginia gazette (Williamsburg [Va.]), 1771-10-03 00:00:00

VIRGINIA GAZETTE.
With the frehest ADVICES,
FOREIGN and DOMESTICK.
IN CIVITATE LIBERA LINGUAM MENTEMQUE
LIBERAS ESSE DEBERE. Suet. in Tib. S. 28.
Printed by ALEX. PURDIE, and JOHN DIXON, at the POST OFFICE.
To Mess. PURDIE & DIXON.
HOWEVER some Gentlemen may have framed their Opinions as to the Modes of doing Justice, it is, nevertheless, certain that where there is not an Equality endeavoured at no Sort of Justice can, with any Propriety, be said to be done. That seems to be a Maxim which has so long prevailed in every Community, not despotically governed, that I cannot conceive how it has been ever overlooked by any One not disposed to do Injustice, or who is not quite indifferent whether Justice is done or not. It naturally then becomes a Matter of Inquiry, as well as of great Astonishment, as to the late Establishment of Equity by the Mode of an evident Inequality. We find that the Compensation intended for the Losses occasioned by the late Fresh has been distinguished, in its Valuation of the Tobacco lost; namely, that on James River is to be compensated for at twenty Shillings the Hundred Weight, and that on Rappahannock at eighteen Shillings. I shall not, in my Observations, attempt any particular Objection as to either of the Prices, notwithstanding I am persuaded that even eighteen Shillings will be found to be more than the general real Value of the Commodity from any Part of the Country; because, although there is an Injustice done to the Publick in giving more than the real Value lost, which I shall presently show they could only be obliged to compensate for, yet where the whole Weight of the Injustice is born by the whole Community it is not of so crying a Nature as it is where it evidently falls only on a few Individuals, in Comparison. Therefore, I shall accommodate my Inquiry as to the Difference established in the Relief given; in doing of which I shall first introduce a plain leading Question, that my Arguments may proceed with Clearness.
Are there more good or better Planters of Tobacco on James River than there are on Rappahannock, apart from that natural Excess always to be presumed where more People are engaged in Cropping, which is certainly the Case on James River?
I call this a leading Question, because the Answer to it either in the affirmative or negative must justify or condemn, in Part, the Distinction made in the Compensation. Therefore let us consider the Question in the common and most sensible Mode of Reasoning, which every Man is acquainted with, in Order to come at the clear Solution of it. That there are larger Crops per Share made on James River than on Rappahannock I readily grant, and also that larger Crops per Share might be well tended than are attempted on Rappahannock, even where the Proprietors of Slaves over-act (as it is characterized) their Humanity and Tenderness to them in allowing reasonable Times for their eating and sleeping. But when we consider that the Proficiency of a Planter as to his Skill (which the Goodness of the Commodity alone ought to respect) is best discovered by the Cleanliness, Neatness, Colour, Scent, and Substance of his Tobacco, we shall find that the Largeness of his Crop tended is very seldom so great a Proof of the presumptive Goodness of it as a smaller Quantity tended; for where Lands are known to be Something too fresh for either Grass or Weeds to grow on them, the Eye generally (extravagant in many more Things than the Diameter of its appertaining Belly) tempted by such a presumptive Certainty of much less Work, extends its Views even beyond the common Possibility of either the Labour or Care necessary in the Management of a Crop of Tobacco, by which Means it often happens that large Fields go without any other Labour bestowed upon them than the breaking up the Ground, planting it, and perhaps topping the Plants almost in their full Growth. Some Fields shall be seen in full Bloom twice in the Year at least; once with Suckers from every Joint, as it is called, and very commonly with Seconds turned out, seldom topped till long enough to house. Such rare Particularities in Cropping would demonstrate Nothing in Favour of a Rappahannock Planter, unless to be lazy and lawless are the proper Characteristics of a good One. But am I not mistaken when the prodigious Richness of the Soil may possibly dictate the Necessity of such a Management, to carry off the over Luxuriance of the Juices, lest the Leaves of the Plants should thereby become too thick and waxy, which we all know are very depreciating Circumstances in the Commodity at the Market of Consumption, especially with the phlegmatick Glands of an Irish Chewer; or possibly such thick Stuff will not bear liquoring so well, for the Manufacturers to speculate upon with Respect to the Home Duty bonded, as a more chaffy Commodity would do in Order to clear off their Bonds at Exportation, as to Weight, but not as to the Quantity. However, Irony aside, is not the Goodness of every consumable Commodity best known to the Makers from the Accounts of those who sell it to the Manufacturers for Consumption? Should we then go to the cleanly Counting Houses of the Merchants for a true Solution to this leading Question, I am persuaded we shall generally find that the moderate Crops on Rappahannock do greatly exceed, in their neat Proceeds, those, that are much larger, on James River; as a certain Consequence of that Care and Labour which common Sense has before suggested may be rather presumed in tending a small Crop than in managing a large One. And to be sure, if we take in the surprising Circumstance of less Freight being paid for Tobacco from James River till a very few Years ago, by at least forty Shillings a Tun, than from Rappahannock, there cannot want any farther Proof of the Rappahannock Tobacco being full as valuable, at least, at the Market of Consumption, as the James River. From what has preceded, then, it seems both rational and clear that if either the Capacity of the Planter or the Goodness of the Commodity had been really in Contemplation when that Distinction in Compensation took Place, the Rappahannock Planter could never have been so injuriously disgraced in his Commodity. Disgraced indeed! when a Commodity never before looked upon to be more than equal in Value (if that) is preferred to it at least ten per Cent. Is it not then a great Pity they had not a better Proof of it now than their own Declaration, in that very arbitrary Mode which a certain august House lately took of proving their Right to tax America? A Mode only to be contradicted by a solemn Denial on the Part of poor America, and in this particular Case equally to be denied by the poor Rappahannock Men, upon every Principle of TRUTH and JUSTICE. But I do suppose the Corruption of a Majority, every Where, will continue to act under the Weightiness of their own Declarations. As to the Injuriousness of such a Disgrace, behold a Legislature undertaking to depreciate the Staple made by (perhaps) one Third of their Community, whom they certainly equally represent in a British Constitution; and say, he that can, what Method is there to remove such an unnatural Stigma! It is not long ago that we have seen it was too condescending in Parliaments to confess that their Errors could have any other Foundation than Inexpediency, that to acknowledge mistaken Principles would be to own their Ignorance of what they had been doing, their having no Right to do it, and in Fact condemning their great Partiality to themselves. Witnesses that odious Monument (the Repeal of the Stamp Act) of parliamentary Injustice. Since then there is no satisfactory Method of removing such a Disgrace, what can be more injurious? For, to reason with every just Presumption, what can prevent the fatal Consequences that such a Declaration may be attended with from all those various Arts very conversant in a Trade too much already in the Power of Iniquity, especially when under the Countenance of so noble a Sentence passed upon the Rappahannock Commodity, and one so faithfully registered, both in the Journals and the Act of Assembly? Again (for such an Injury ought never to be out of View) who is it that shall, without the greatest Caution imaginable, dare to set such a most curious Step in Legislation forth, adorned with that prodigious Ingenuity which (as Moliere says in a very precious Ridicule) it endures of every Thing, that could make it any Thing but, what it really is, a most —? Indeed I confess I dare not, although not subject to much Intimidation. Truth and Justice,
like Liberty and Property, are so Twin-born in their very Natures that whenever one of them is made sick by legal Auto ity the other must pine and languish under, the same heavy Stroke. How wisely then was that pathetic Form introduced into our Churches, which teaches Congregations in publick Worship, during the Consultations of every Legislature within the British Empire, to pray "that Truth and Justice may be established among them for all Generations!" For since Equality is now compelled to give up ten per Cent. of its Title to Equity, how long, may I ask, can we expect that Truth can maintain its divine Influence in such an A — y?
Till this never to be forgotten Period, whenever it became necessary to set a publick Value on our Staple the Justice of the Day always rated it upon an equal Plan; every Twopenny Act was twopenny every Where, whether on James River or on Rappahannock. And when Prudence first discovered the only Method by which some governing private Interests would permit the Regulation of those excessive Fees established in the Fee Bill, as it is called, the several Officers of the Law, &c. comprehended in that Act, were all subjected to the same Option (as to the Tobacco Price) of the Payers of their Fees, all over the Country. Every Sort of Injury sustained in publick Warehouses, or otherwise, relievable by a publick Compensation, received that Compensation, without any Distinction as to one River's, one County's, or even one Man's Property being of more or less Value than another's; evidently because that every dear bought Inspecting Law certainly promised Nothing to much to reconcile the wounded Soul of the poor Planter to it, as that of making the publick Value of the Commodity equal within the Colony. Nay every Country Proportion ever settled in Assembly before was always calculated as to the several Balances due to the several Counties, without the least Increase or Diminution of the Quantum of those Balances; agreeable to any pretended Valuation made from Purchasers, on one River or in one County, as being either more or less in Value than another. To be sure, then, if the Rappahannock Staple is really as it is declared now, of ten per Cent. less in Value than the James River Staple is, it must be extremely necessary for all the above Acts, and Modes of acting, to be somehow altered or new modelled, that the Augustness of that Body may no longer be stained by so evident a Repetition of prodigious Injustice to those concerned, by Means of those Modes and Acts, according to the express Terms of this recorded Compensation. Lastly, to close with this Point in Argument, that Consistency may at least stand as a Representative of Justice, if the Rappahannock Hoghead is really worth ten per Cent. less than the James River Hoghead, what would not the Justice of those Mariners or Owners of Vessels before mentioned, in the Freight from James River to Great Britain, have dictated in the Tax laid for the Redemption of the Paper Emission, that is to discharge this distinguished Compensation? Certainly the Hoghead declared of ten per Cent. less Value ought no more to be taxed equally with the Hoghead of ten per Cent. greater Value than the low priced Commodity at the Market of Consumption, at that Time, ought to have paid an equal Freight with the high priced Commodity; which I have before asserted it did not pay, and dare, upon the real Truth of the Fact, to repeat it. But in this Distinction, connected with the Tax to redeem, it seems as if Consistency was only a Representative of Injustice; because if the Distinction can be supported by any Plea of Justice whatever, the Tax laid to redeem, by the very same Plea, must needs be unjust, if there is either Sense or Meaning in Words.
Let me now come a little closer with my Questions, having, as I am confident, cleared up the leading Point, that there is neither a better Staple made, nor better Planters to make it, on James River, than there is made, and are to make it, on Rappahannock.
What could be the real Motive to compel the Rappahannock Man to pay the James River Planter ten Pounds for his lost Hoghead of Tobacco, at the same Time that the James River Man is not obliged to pay the Rappahannock Planter more than nine Pounds for his lost Hoghead, which is the real Case, reduced to its short and distinct View, supposing each Hoghead lost to contain one Thousand Pounds of Tobacco?
This seems to be a deep Question indeed, and I could wish, for the Sake of a candid and clear Answer, it could have been less pregnant. However, Report, which seldom blushes at the Curtains that it draws over foul Actions, has been ingenious enough to spread Something of a Screen before every disagreeable Thought, but of so gauzy a Texture as to discover through it every ill shaped Feature, with much of that dirty Ground on which this Colour of Excuse is laid. That says the general Price given by the Merchants and Purchasers on James River was twenty Shillings the Hundred, and it was but eighteen Shillings on Rappahannock. Before I engage this Excuse, to show how vague and futile it must be in this particular Case, let me clear the Way of much Chicanery that seems to lie in it, by asking of those who so readily espoused this mercantile Scheme, of settling the real Value of any Commodity, so as to give it any Sanction at all, especially that of Justice, in being governed by it; I desire, I say, to ask some one or other of them to tell the World in what Author, or History, are we to learn that the Traders to or in any Community ever desired to themselves the Respect confessedly shown to them, in perhaps every Country, from any known Practice of Justice or Equity among them, in any one Instance of all their multifarious Modes of Dealing? Nay, does not all the World acknowledge them but as necessary Evils? Communities certainly cannot exist well without such Traders; and therefore we see, in almost every Country, that their iniquitous Customs are generally not only overlooked, but indulged, and even Laws made in their Favour, against the most known and most essential Principles of Justice and Equity, so widely does the Lex mercatoria differ from the Jus commune. Such then is the Excuse that I am to encounter, in Support of a mere Corner Stone in Equity, that of its just Equality. Before I point out the Chicanery governing in the Price set by Merchants upon any Commodity, and indeed from thence deduce the Treacherousness in the adopting such a Method for the Direction of a Legislature, I choose first to weigh the Reason in those Scales which every Reader can lift, and discover the Standard which they lead to. To give then this Rule the only Blush of Justice that it can have is to make a Supposition impossible, in the Nature of Things, to be true; namely, that all the Tobacco lost was actually in the Hands of Purchasers before the Fresh happened. And even, in such a Case, we must consider the Loss, unconnected with the only Obligation on the Publick to compensate, as a Loss only. I say then it might appear, to great Weakness indeed, to be just that he who lost twenty Shillings ought not to be paid less, and on the contrary he who lost but eighteen Shillings ought not to be paid more; but even then, at the same Time, the Obligation on the Publick must be concluded only to make every Man whole, as it is called. However, let us consider this twenty Shillings and eighteen Shillings combined, as they really are, with the Expectations of gaining by the Purchases made. Now to reason on the only Obligation on the Publick to compensate, namely, the real Value lost, we ought to put the Expectations of Profit by those Purchases quite out of the Question; for who can suppose that the Publick could be engaged for any Thing of so precarious a Nature as Trade is! Such a Reasoner might as well hold a Man bound that any particular Individual in an Army should neither be killed or wounded in Battle. As then the real Value lost was the only Thing that the Publick could be engaged for, and that purely because it had obliged the Commodity into such a Hazard, to be sure the Prices given by any One for the Commodity should have been no Rule to settle the real Value at the Market of Consumption by. This, then, was the true and only Complexion that the Matter ought to have appeared with. The Distinction taken between a Man's private expected Gain, compounded with what he really loses, and the real Value of the Thing lost, cannot, I hope, be looked upon as a Distinction without a Difference; otherwise I would ask what adequate Compensation can be made to any
Number of Sufferers according to the Prices given, always compounded with the Expectations of Gain, because Nothing is more variable than the Prices for the same Commodity, even at one and the same Time. Therefore I shall insist on this Distinction, as a Thing that will properly apply itself through the whole Argument. It is so certain, from what I have said, that it may be collected what I mean by the real Value, that I will not start any Question about that, nor where it is to be come at, but will go on to suppose that if Application had been made to the Accounts of those who felt it to the Manufacturers for the Consumption, I am persuaded that the Publick, in their Compensation, could not have proceeded with more Justice with Respect to their own Characters, and also as to every Individual concerned, without those odious Brands of Distinction set by publick Authority, which I much dread will produce a double bad Effect even on the general Goodness of the Commodity; for, if I mistake not, it has long been a Subject of proverbial Language that the Man who has his Name up will lie a-bed and hollow, whilst he who has got an ill Name, like the Dog, had better be hanged, both of which Sayings flow no very presumptive good Effect on the future Conduct of either the One or the other. Again, as I cannot avoid introducing another prodigious Evil that will be effected to the Country, should publick Authority continue to show their Resolutions to destroy the Equality in the publick Value of the Commodity, which was the evident, and (as such) the only good Purpose intended by the Inspecting Law, when it took away that invaluable Privilege which every Man had of selling his Commodity at his own Door, without any Expense or Risk whatsoever, and this at the Option of the Purchaser, or his Receiver only, without any other bad Chance than that of his Receiver; I say I hope shall be excused in asking, though a little irregularly in this Place, what greater Curse could attend any Community than that of having its Staple Property (under much Expense and Trouble) subjected to the Determination whether it shall be destroyed or not of those who, as human Creatures may be, and sometimes really are, under the Influence of private Resentment, and of Men too who, from a long Continuance in Office (however necessary) must have found out every secret Mode of Revenge, as well as of Profit to themselves; yes, and such secret Modes that frequently defy all the wily Operations of Law. I hope I need not here bring my Facts upon the known Cord of Truth in Proof of this Point, but every Man must assent to the Weight of the Argument. However, I will corroborate it by a similar Sentiment drawn from that Bill, but a little While ago prepared by the House for the Council's Assent, which endeavoured to restrain the Crasiness acquired by the long Continuance of the under Sheriffs in their Offices. But how small a Gnat must the Artifices of under Sheriffs appear, when compared with this prodigious Camel in affecting Injury to the Community, the INSPECTORS? The under Sheriffs can only injure by their secret Modes of Exorbitancy, and even in them but when Property is lodged in their Hands by some Process or Judgment in Law; but Inspectors may have a Fire ready, as the Minister of their Revenge, to destroy the Whole of a Man's Labour, because they have it necessarily brought to them for their Stamp, which alone can make it current. Therefore I say if the Continuance in Office long can be presumed to be productive of Evil in an under Sheriff, with only the slender Powers with which he is invested, to be sure the greater Power of the Inspectors must produce the greater Injury. Certainly, then, neither the Wisdom which projected that Inspection Law, nor that which passed it, could have entailed it upon the Community, had it been possible, at the Time, for them to have imagined that great Purpose of the Law, the making the Staple equal in its publick Value, would have been so soon forgotten. For, in the Name of Wonder, what other Good does this Law produce to the Country? Is the making the whole Trade readily acquainted with either the Largeness or the Shortness of the Crop an Advantage to the Colony? I am persuaded that a Trade greatly expert in the Arts of Speculation hardly thanks to itself. Does the making the Commodity nominally only better produce any Advantage, when the whole Trade are ready to tell you that the most indifferent Sort is as good as the best, in their Course of Dealing? It indeed effects a very serviceable Currency, as it were, wisely contrived by the Law to redeem itself annually. But is not the Equality in the publick Value of the Commodity the very Basis of this? Remove that Equality by your Modes of Distinction, and then see how soon divers Contracts, &c. in Tobacco, will follow the Wisdom of the Legislature. And cannot the serious Reasoner foresee in such a Measure the Drawings of civil Discord? I hope I shall not be asked what I mean by entailing such a Curse as that Law on the Community, when it is but temporary, as I have proved the Nature of the Sense that must arise, if the only possible good Purpose is taken from it, for I would not willingly point out the Entail in its Effect, although I might hint that a Majority that can sacrifice Uniformity in the Publick to their private Interest will not be very ready to give up the Advantages they only do receive from that Law, in the publick Warehouses that are now established, because of their Distance in Settlement from Navigation, notwithstanding the old Method of good Rotting Houses would very well answer that Convenience; but they must prefer the Security of the Publick against Loss, because, as a Majority, they know how well they can pay themselves. Let me now proceed with my Argument as to the real Value of the Commodity lost, which the Publick was only engaged for. Notwithstanding every Body is obliged to consent to this, nay notwithstanding they are ready to own that the expected Profit of either Labour or Purchase must center in its Calculation in that real Value, yet no One seems to allow that it can be easily known; and from thence a pretty common Objection arises, as to the Difficulty in obtaining it. I readily confess it would have required a greater Expense of Time than a few Days Session; but certainly reputable Committees, or Commissioners, might have been appointed, and even empowered, as they have been in almost every complicated Case, to have done that Business with great Precision; and to be sure, from the Certainty of an honourable Reward, as well as Gratitude for their respectful Attention to the publick Disposal of near thirty Thousand Pounds, they would easily have overcome such Difficulties, started from mere Inattention to what every Day happens in almost every Conversation, for we all know that he who has had a-mind (for many Years) to be impertinently inquisitive into other Peoples private Affairs has had full Opportunity of being well acquainted with even their Accounts current, as well as Sales, by Means of those Agents in the Country to almost every House in the Trade at home, who have commonly Lists sent them in from their Principals (if some of them do not even make them out here) perhaps for the Sake of a little Puff, to accommodate some particular Interest to the House they are engaged for; a Mode no Doubt unwarrantable, because many a Peter thereby undergoes a Pillage for the Sake of some favourite Pauls. To go a little farther with this Objection, observe what judicious Verdicts our Juries, in Cases nearly similar, generally bring in, where the real Value of the Thing sued for is adjusted, not according to what this or that Evidence had sold for, or would have given, but according to the known general real Value of the Thing; wisely considering that the Motives for purchasing do often exceed the remedial Intentions of Justice, which can only propose an equitable Relief for a real Loss. In one Word more, could not these adjusting Judges themselves, from their own Accounts of the general Run at the Market of Consumption, have settled this Matter equally and equitably? I understand they were cautious to select the Commissioners, to settle the Accounts of the Tobacco lost, from among Gentlemen who were not Sufferers by the Fresh. How much more brilliant would such a Virtue have shown had the real Value been equally the Object of their Concern with the Quantum! Publick Frugality not long ago distinguished itself in knocking down a few convenient Warehouses to the People, made unhappy in their Situation by the Inspecting Law; because those Convenience, in Times of very short Crops, had become burdensome to the

which, by a few small annual Deficiencies in their Treasury Book; but in a Concern of near thirty Thousand Pounds, the only Method that could be found to raise the Sum was to adopt the Modes of those always industrious in speculating Arts, as I shall presently show. Does not such a Ground, then, suggest also the Colour of the speculating Sufferers, in the Excuse before given? When the Person who advocates the trite Saying, in every inconsiderate Month, That every Thing is really worth what it will sell for, or will fetch , shall prove, to the Satisfaction of Justice, that it can be the real Value of the Thing, I shall pay him the Compliment of discovering that the Experience of the Truth of such a Saying can only be founded on private Callidity, or the pressing Necessities of others; which can as little denote the real Value of the Thing as old Richard's Horse (if I mistake not the Name) did the real Value of the Kingdom that he offered for One.
Again, it is objected that although the Difficulty of coming at the real Value of the Commodity lost might have been easily overcome, yet the Urgency in this particular Case required a greater Despatch; otherwise many Bills of Exchange, engaged for the Payment of the Tobacco purchased and lost, would have been protested. Who can restrain from laughing aloud when he hears of a new Duty (Urgency) being added to the Partheon, not barely to oppose Justice, but in Pact to destroy it; for to be sure, with such an Adoration to her Shrine in the Temple in which it is now erected, a very short Cut may be taken with Justice ever so little complicated with Difficulty. Urgency might be a commendable Motive, on many Accounts, for a Call for an early Consideration of the Loss; but I hardly think the Situation of those very respectable Companies who either would not or could not pay their Bills upon the Certainty of a publick Compensation, before demonstrated in many Instances, ought to have been of the least Weight in such an early Call. And to be sure it deserved not any Sort of hurrying in the Consultations necessary upon so valuable a Point as the prudent adjusting a Sum of thirty Thousand Pounds equitably among the Sufferers. Therefore, however noisily it may have rendered itself of a dignified Approbation, I am so satisfied of its not being recommended, could the Publick have been properly advertised of the Mode intended, that I much question whether any serious Wellwisher to his Country can say that this Medus agendi is deserving of either Honor or Gratitude in the Remembrance of it. Perhaps, as a present Sufferer, a James River Planter may be inclined to chuckle out a few Compliments on the Occasion. But let him beware of this Urgency; the Time may come when he will be inclined to think it was a Thing done in two great a Hurry, though now his own real Advantage may have blinded him. The proper Questions to have urged those Urgers of this Urgency with was certainly a clear Declaration how soon their Purchases would have neated their expected Returns, had no Fresh have happened, as they had the Market of Consumption to carry the Commodity to; as, to be sure, to have repaid them their real Value lost, in the Time they could have gained it, was all that could, with any Colour of Justice, be required of the Publick; then to have pressed them, as to what those Returns generally amounted to, upon the Foot of their Sales in other Years. I will never look upon that as a boldness in the Investigation of Truth and Justice which can be clearly demonstrated, therefore I will say that I am satisfied (reserving the Proof until the Thing is denied) that five Pounds Sterling upon every Thousand Pounds Virginia Weight purchased is the general calculated Profit upon the whole Trade; and in Order to obtain this, clear of Expenses , they first better , then re-better , and occasionally sur-better the first Cost of their Goods, in Order to raise a Cash Account, to be ready to emulate each other in the Prices they give for the Tobacco they want: So that, although they nominally gave eight Pounds six Shillings and eightpence Sterling for this Thousand Weight (which is their twenty Shillings Cash reduced to Sterling by our present Exchange) they only returned to the Planter a Part of that Cash which they had before raised upon him by their Goods, sold to him with all the several Modes of advancing. Thus do they support their first calculated Profit of five Pounds, upon an Average, of each Hoghead, as before. Does not, then, the Urgency of being governed by this Cash Price, in the Compensation given, begin now to stink? To be sure, by Means of this Compensation, they become greatly enabled to put into their Principals Pockets, if they are really honest, a much larger Sum (by the Money paid for the Tobacco, clear of every Expense) than ever entered into their Expectations from their Trade, upon their first Penny advanced, when they engaged in it. Men may talk as they please, but, with such a prodigious Gain, they must with that two Holes , instead of one, had been made through those Mountains to let the South Seas in upon us every Year, until we have Nothing left to repay their pretended real Losses with; for to be sure it will be equal to a South Sea Profit, without the Time spent, or Danger of the Voyage encountered. And as to the James River Planters, if they really got twenty Shillings, not raised by Goods made raisd as before, a few more such Freches would overlay their Lands with Gold, instead of Stones ; but I much question whether they were quite so lucky as they fancy themselves, in this Business of mercantile Speculation. I cannot help here hinting at a very cheap Piece of Persian fold by one of them at four Pounds five Shillings Currency, and that at a nominal seventy five per Cent. on the first Cost. It immediately directed me, in Order to convince the poor deceived Man, to send for three Pieces of the same Silks in; and thirty five Shillings Sterling purchased each of them, with this Remark in the Shop Note, "a little dear, because the Purchase not made in Time," so that more sold at two Shillings and Sixpence would have been a very cheap one Hundred and fifty per Cent. I am not inclined to joke with Planters, because generally their Labour is pure Honesty; but they will excuse my taking a little Pains to show them how much like the old Game of Croft I win, and Pile you lose , this Distinction made is in the Price paid for the two Holes of Hogheads, and that lost on Rappahannock, that is, according to the Rule of legislative Proportion . Let us suppose an Account stated between a James River Planter and a Rappahannock Man. Both of them are engaged equally to make up each others Losses in Tobacco, and let both lose one Hundred Hogheads. The Commodity is, in a Hurry, forborne valued on the Side of the James River Man, at twenty Shillings the Hundred; so that, at a Thousand Weight each Hoghead, he is to receive one Thousand Pounds, which the Rappahannock Man is to repay him. On the contrary, the James River Man, at the same random Rate of settling, is to repay the Rappahannock Man but nine Pounds his Hoghead; that is, nine Hundred Pounds. Now who gains by this? I will only venture to pronounce that the Rappahannock Man loses a Hundred Pounds. By such a Species of Equity, to be sure he must be ruined with a very few more Freches, or at least thrown into the Gazette Disorder, that terrible Malady, in which the Principal of the Family, for a While, looks very well in the Face, whilst those dependent on him are starving within Doors; a Disorder best known (like the Lues Venerea ) to that Part of the World most afflicted with it, and may go by that Name, as the other does.
Although when Justice to the Individuals of a Community is the Subject there is seldom much Need of Apology for being free, in Arguments founded on Facts, yet as there may want some Concession to be made for not bringing the Modes of some Gentlemen as forward in the Debate as they might probably with them to be, I shall ask Pardon of the worthy Trader for only hinting before what I now intend to advance in Support of the Point which I am handling; namely, the Badness of the Complexion of the Excuse given for settling the Prices of the Commodity lost by the Fresh, by their Cash Price twenty Shillings on James River, and but eighteen Shillings on Rappahannock. I shall first glance at their Theory of Gain, or hidden Doctrine called Speculation in Trade, which is sometimes, though not always, contradictory of their open Practice; in doing of which, as it must suit my Subject, I shall just point out some Reasons, which will operate as natural and fair Motives in their advancing the Prices of Things, in Order to show that, even in their fair Methods of speculating, no Argument can arise, without a Bluff, to justify the adopting the Price they gave, as the real Value of the Commodity lost, which the Publick ought alone to have been answerable for, and therefore far from being a fair Excuse for the Distinction made in the Compensation settled. Every Trader naturally resorts to those Places where most of the Commodity he chooses to deal in is to be purchased. A Number of Traders, it must be allowed, beget an Emulation in Trade, which certainly raises the Price on the Commodity to be purchased; and this, from the natural Enmity, or rather Rivalry, in Mankind. On the contrary, where but a small Quantity of a Commodity is to be purchased, by being the Resort of but a few Traders, from a natural Propensity also to Gain, those few combining Traders can, and at any Time do, keep down the Price of that Commodity, especially if Cash, the vital Fluid, as I may call it, of the Community, is scarce or slow in its Circulation; which, if it mislaid, was, now is, and for a great While to come will be , the real State of the Cafe on Rappahannock. And therefore the Prices given on either of those Rivers could have no Kind of Relation to the real Value of the Commodity; for that real Value was the Thing hidden , upon which the several Traders speculated, that they might reach it by their open Practice, without Loss to themselves or Principals. Again (for there are other Motives that may be looked upon with the Countenance of Fairness in this Art of Speculation ) Despatch many Times balances an advanced Price, and often does more. A Quickness in turning the first Penny has Experience on its side in the Advantages gained, by raising the Price of a Commodity to go often to the original Market with it. Those who sell their Goods dear, must know their Profits made, can well admit of giving fifteen or twenty per Cent. more in a Purchase immediately, to trade as upon. Now however fair any of those Modes may be, I am persuaded
that no other common Sense would ever think of adopting one of them to prove the real Value of the Commodity in Purchase by. Let us now search thinner Mysteries of Trade, to see if the Ground on which this Excuse is laid can receive any Benefit from any Beauty in the Colour contained in them, any more than it does from those less mysterious Arts. It is never seen how often monied Men, that come to the Courts to purchase Tobacco, are made sick, as it is called, by the Market's being raised upon them, if they purchase at all? Yet, I have often seen it, and the poor Planter, quite ignorant of the Trap laid for him, if he gives into it, by the Merchants in his Neighbourhood with whom he generally deals; for whatever they give him more, to prevent the monied Purchaser, is as certainly taken back in his Winter's Wants as he is alive. I will not suppose that the sudden Fall of the Market for Tobacco in the Country a very few Years ago, occasioned by the Merchants themselves, for some known very equitable Purpose of their own, can be entirely forgotten by every Body, especially not by the Merchants themselves, who sold more of the Commodity a great Deal than they had or could command, and were obliged to buy in by the Time agreed for, at a very great Advance more than they sold for, or to suffer by the Penalties of their Bonds in contracting, or by large Compositions made. It is never seen, when a Trader has complied with his Quota to be sent to Market, that he assuredly buys in publickly a few Hogheads more at an advanced Price, in Order to sell out his Surplusage acquired in Trade at the same Price, though as privately as he can ? Has it never been practiced by particular Friends to the Merchants, who get a good Price themselves , in Order to encourage other poor deluded Planters to deal with the Merchant at the low Price publicly offered, because those Friends had dealt with them? Did no One ever see an Eastern Shore Man refuse twelvepence the Bushel for his whole Load of Oats, at a River's Mouth, and fell them out at or near the Falls at eightpence? If they have, I can assure them I have also seen a Merchant refuse a Ship's Load of Tobacco at a very moderate Price convenient to his Ship, but something dearer than what he wanted to lower the Trade to; when the same Person, truly wise in his speculating Mode of depressing his adjacent Market, has gone to another River and paid a larger Penny for Tobacco, by more than all the Charges of Demurrage and fetching it. This may be called a deep Speculation, but it nevertheless turned out a good One to the same Owners, by keeping the contiguous Market down. Are there not frequently some Arrivals so sudden, and unexpected, that have occasioned good Prices to be given as suddenly? Lastly, although I could fill Quires with these secret Schemes in Trade, let me ask even the Leader of this Rule for compensating, into that Majority which adopted it, if he chooses to own himself, if he has forgotten the violent Effort not long ago made in Assembly to sink that prodigious Convenience to Thousands of the poor Planters, Page's Warehouse , in Favour of another Inspection to be erected at Newcastle? How full the Committee Room was of evidencing Captains and Merchants against the Navigation up to Page's from Newcastle! Some of them depositing, upon Oath, that they had rather fetch Tobacco from Bermuda Hundred, on James River, high up, than from Page's to West Point, on York River both of them, and not many Miles from each other; Merchants depositing their having refused to give so much by two Shillings and Sixpence the Hundred for Tobacco at Page's , on Account of the Navigation, as they would do at Meriwether's, the Inspection then at or near Newcastle. But how did this turn out? To be sure the Absurdity in the Captains, that had rather load at eight Shillings a Hoghead (the then Price from Bermuda Hundred to West Point) than at five Shillings, the Price of a Hoghead from Page's to West Point, demonstrated both the Truth and Weight of what they had deposed. And, most unfortunately for the little mercantile Hero that led on that Attempt, two or three Hogheads of his own returning, in a tolerable Purchase, as to Quantity, that very Year, made their Appearance; for in Verity, under his own Hand , he had picked those very Hogheads out, and sent them to the Proprietor, because they had been passed at Meriwether's, and not at Page's .
Thus ended many a full mouthed Clamour. But now, to put on the Ram Head on this Instance in Speculation, that it may occasionally drive against this wonderful Reason given for the Difference settled in Compensation, environed as it is with a prodigious Wall of Inconsistency , let us suppose that before the Contest was settled in Assembly both Page's and Meriwether's Warehouses had been destroyed, quite full of Tobacco, by some One of all the various Methods of Destruction. What, by the Rule of Merchants Prices, would the Determination have been as to the Compensation due to the Sufferers? The Point in Reprehension must needs be greatly illumined by the Answer; and if it should be given by any One of the Majority, it must shine the brighter: For should they say they should have regarded the Distinction deposed, the Mentality of the Transaction would clothe itself in as reputable an absurdity . But should they say, as the Distinction in Price alleged was proved to be a mere Artifice, they should have compensated equally, then verily Robora percussis, Pedus quoque Robora sunt . For certainly it would be deserting their own Excuse, given in the present Point, by substituting one as vague for so doing; the Chicanery of which Excuse could have been as evidently proved in the present Cafe as it was proved in the Cafe of Page's Warehouse , could any Part of the injured Community have had but a Thought communicated of the Method that would have been pursued in Compensation, if the above plain Reasoning, from common Sense, could have made such a Proof necessary. But it seems as if the Thing was to be done in a Hurry, that the Mode might not be objected to; for I beg Leave to say that Nobody could know it but those who planned it, from any Proclamation given of that Meeting. We all knew, or rather heard, that there was to be a Compensation consulted; and as is natural, from former Precedents, it was impossible that any One not made acquainted with the new Method to be taken could have dreamed of any Thing but an equal Compensation of the real Value lost to all the Sufferers. I hope now that Nothing farther can be wanting to show how unhappily this Mode of settling the real Value in the Compensation was adopted, from the general Prices given by the Merchants who purchased Tobacco, either on James River or Rappahannock; but perhaps my Faculties are rather too much fixed, by Age, to see Things in those agreeable Lights wished for. No Sufferer, I grant, as a Sufferer, has lost any Thing in his real Injury sustained, excepting those whose Crops are above the common Run of Purchase Tobacco (unfortunately never adequately relivable in any publick Compensation, for many Reasons) but as an Individual of the Publick, who have to be sure agreed to pay much more than they ought to any Sufferer; and certain I am the Trade have gained vastly more than they ever could have expected, and really much at the Expense of the Character of the Rappahannock Man as a Planter, which is an Injury of a very affecting Nature, because it is very likely he will annually feel it; for even the Houses of the Principals at home seem to be very glad of every Opportunity of executing indifferent Sales, when they are made by them of the Commodity, and to be sure their Factors here will not be a Whit behind them in what they give for their Tobacco, with such a publick declared Difference.
However, to make the Design of my writing this more effectual, namely, that of preventing for the future such unnatural Distinctions in our Staple, I must now go on and show of what a strange Complexion the Partiality that made this Distinction was: Gentlemen, no Doubt, fond of declaring the Superiority of their own Commodity to that made on other Rivers, were glad of the Opportunity of colouring over what they were intent upon, by the Prices given by the Merchants as before; but as this Colour could only extend to their inspected Commodity, they were obliged to consider that if they did not preserve, in some Sort, a Distinction in the uninspected Tobacco lost, it might argue that the Superiority declared had only lain in the extraordinary Excellency of their Inspectors above others, therefore they chose rather to improve upon the Absurdity they had been guilty of than show any Consciousness of their Error committed. Accordingly, we find they give the uninspected Tobacco lost on James River the same Compensation which they had given the inspected Commodity on Rappahannock; which, in Spite of every possible Refinement in either Language or Reason, is really valuing the Dung of James River equal to the found Commodity of Rappahannock: For unless they can prove that no Tobacco was ever refused, or laid by to be picked, at their Warehouses, the Deduction is as clear as Words can make it. They may urge that they have allowed twopence for the Dung of Rappahannock. I readily grant that it is a prodigious Price for Dung any where; but still it does not deface the Deduction of their declaring the Dung of James River equal to the found Commodity of Rappahannock, unless they can, at the same Time, prove the Absurdity that it was all Dung in Rappahannock, notwithstanding the Inspectors had passed it, which I believe will meet with the same Difficulty in its Proof as that of never having any Tobacco refused, or laid by to be picked as Trash, un-found, or unmercantable on James River, all of them but so many cleanly different Appellations for Dung . I speak of this particular Difficulty in Proof because it was those very Planters that first introduced those Artists called Pickers to the Warehouses; and when they found they had got to the Denomination of Pickpockets , they then established them by a legal Institution, that they might keep them under some Control. And I might confirm this Difficulty in such a Proof by the printed Report of one of their own Committees since this prodigious twife Distinction made, which shows that out of a Hundred and seven Hogheads of the uninspected Tobacco saved after the Fresh two Hogheads of them had before been laid by to be picked. I do expect that some Gentlemen will affect to be huffed at so home a Charge; but I believe a serious Reader of so clear a Truth will think they had better be ashamed of such a barefaced Conduct, and
endeavour to make a Reparation for the Injury intended by every Mode that an injured Justice can devise. Before I conclude I must premise that if you, Gentlemen, shall not think me too long for your Gazette, I shall be obliged to you, for it is my Desire that every Body should read it, which perhaps would not be the Case if it was printed in any other Form; because I declare, that, let me turn the Measure of the Compensation settled in whatever View I can, I cannot see it in any other possible Light than what I have argued against it in, and I am afraid there is no other Light in which it can be fairly put. Some may imagine me an old Fool in what I have written; if so, I think they have now a fair Invitation to prove me One. But perhaps such an Attempt had better be deferred to some future Day of universal Corruption, because I hardly think that in the present Hour of but a partial Corruption, Folly can easily be imputed to either the Old or the Young for endeavouring to convince the Dispensers of Compensations to a suffering People that the Principles of Equity were in their Beginning coeval with that Fiat which first willed Mankind into Being; and therefore that they ought to be pursued according to their original and unadulterated Standard, and not to be hunted for on Dung-hills , as Men do for Mushrooms, those realists , and at best but ephemeral Things. SARINE HALL, July 1771. LANDON CARTER.
BOSTON, September 5. LAST Week arrived in this Town Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Wright, who between the Years of thirty and forty engaged in the Formation of Figures in Wax Work, which they readily brought to such Perfection as has amazed Spectators of all Ranks in the respective Capitals where they have been exhibited. The Figures they have brought here show the Return of the prodigal Son, the celebrated Mr. Whitefield, and the beloved Farmer of Philadelphia. Gentlemen acquainted with those admired Performances confess their Obligations to the Skill and Industry of those Ladies, for reviving the former from the Grave, and presenting his numberless Friends in Boston with the living Image of John Dickinson, Esquire. The following droll Affair happened in this Town last Week. A Porter was conveying a large Chest in a Wheelbarrow through a Street at the south Part of the Town, when several Boys discovered the Finger of a human Person through the Key Hole. They immediately asked the Porter what he had got in the Chest; but he refused satisfying them, bidding them be gone. However, the Boys still continued importuning him, and hallooing there was a Woman in the Chest, &c. whereupon, the Porter attempting to drive them away, one unlucky Rogue with a Penknife cut a Cord which was loosely tied about the Chest, and lifted up the Lid, where, behold! a young Woman of the Town "lay as snug as a Thief in a Mill!"
WILLIAMSBURG, October 3. To the Right Honourable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, his Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same: The ADDRESS of the MAYOR, RECORDER, ALDERMEN, and COMMON COUNCIL of the City of Williamsburg.
MY LORD, WE his Majesty's loyal and dutiful Subjects, the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of Williamsburg, in Common Hall assembled, congratulate your Excellency upon your Arrival at the Seat of your Government. With Gratitude we acknowledge his Majesty's paternal Care in directing the Governors in Chief of this Colony to reside among us, and in appointing a Person of your Abilities, Liberty, and Eminence, to preside over us. The Death of the worthy and truly excellent Lord BOTETOURT was justly deplored by all sincere Lovers of this Country. The unwearied Attention to every Duty of his exalted Station, the Easiness of Access to his Person, afforded to Men of every Class, his ardent Wishes and continual Endeavours to reconcile the unhappy Differences subsisting between Great Britain and her Colonies, and his unremitting Study to promote the Prosperity of the People immediately committed to his Charge, in whose Happiness he seemed to think his own involved, endeared him to the present Age, and will transmit his Name to Posterity. But we flatter ourselves with the Prospect that this Loss, great as it is, will be amply supplied by your Lordship, of whose Abilities and Inclinations to advance the Good of this Country, the Choice of our gracious Sovereign, as well as the Experience of a neighbouring Province, have given us a well grounded Assurance. This City, my Lord, hath ever found a Patron in the Governor of the Colony, and we presume to hope for a Continuance of the same Advantage from your Excellency. Permit us to assure you that we will cheerfully contribute what may be in our Power to render your Residence amongst us agreeable.
To which his Excellency was pleased to return the following ANSWER. GENTLEMEN, YOUR warm Sentiments of Affection to my late worthy Predecessor, and the Justice you do to his Memory, give me the most favourable Impressions of your Candour and Sincerity, and make your Congratulations on my Arrival to reside among you highly grateful to me. Diffidence of my own Abilities was one Reason which I had for declining to assume the Government of a Colony that had been conducted by such superior Talents. However, I shall studiously endeavour to follow the excellent Example of him whose Death you so justly deplore; and thereby hope, in some Measure, to lessen the Severity of your Loss: And I shall always be happy to contribute to the Advantage of this City, as well as to give every Countenance to its Magistrates and Inhabitants. DUNMORE.
To his Excellency the Right Honourable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, his Majesty's Lieutenant, Governor General and Commander in Chief of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same.
May it please your Excellency, WE, the President and Professors of William and Mary College, humbly beg Leave to approach your Lordship with our hearty Congratulations upon your Lordship's safe and happy Arrival at this your Government.
Though, from Motives of honest Gratitude, we cannot but sincerely lament the heavy Loss which the Colony in general, and our College in particular, sustained by the premature Death of your Excellency's Predecessor, our great MECOENAS, Lord BOTETOURT, yet are we deeply sensible of this Instance of his Majesty's paternal Care extended to this his Dominion, and felicitate ourselves upon the reasonable and well grounded Hope of finding that Loss repaired by the Appointment of a Person of your Lordship's Dignity, Talents, and Accomplishments.
We consider, with the utmost Pleasure, that a Nobleman whom a Prince of his Majesty's Piety and Wisdom hath so long and so particularly delighted to honour; who hath, even in a critical Season, administered the Government of New York with Judgment and Applause; who was willing to sacrifice all Considerations of pecuniary Emoluments to the Service of that Province over which he was first commissioned to rule; and when, at last, it was thought most expedient for his Sovereign's Interests that he should be removed to this his most ancient Colony of Virginia, was accompanied, upon his Departure, with all the genuine Testimonies of Esteem, Affection, and Concern; it is, my Lord, with the utmost Pleasure we consider that such a Nobleman must be One who will think it neither beneath his Dignity, nor foreign to the Functions of Government, to countenance, support, and encourage a Seminary (however small) founded for the wise and wholesome Purposes of sound Learning and religious Education.
Influenced by this Persuasion, and fully convinced that the future Good of Society depends on the training up of Youth in the Principles of Religion, Liberty, and Loyalty, we accordingly presume to crave your Lordship's Protection and Patronage of the College of William and Mary.
We, on our Parts, beg Leave to assure your Excellency that our Endeavours shall not be wanting to render the young Persons intrusted to our Care religious without Superstition or Enthusiasm, true Sons of Liberty without Licentiousness, and virtuous without Ostentation. May your Excellency live many Years to preside over a grateful Country, and see the Youth educated under your Auspices prove useful Members of Society in their respective Stations; some as just and prudent Magistrates and Legislators, others as peaceable and social Neighbours, all as a virtuous, loyal, free, and consequently a glorious and happy People.
HIS EXCELLENCY'S Answer. GENTLEMEN, I Thank you for your Congratulations on my Arrival in this Government. The just Sense which you express of the heavy Loss that this Colony in general, and your College in particular, has sustained by the Death of my Predecessor, Lord BOTETOURT, whose distinguished Qualities, and eminent Virtues, rendered him so fit a Patron to a Nursery of Learning, cannot but

make me the more solicitous also to defer the Effect of so grateful a Community; and though I must acknowledge the Divine Hand of Providence in New York, from the sincere Affection I had conceived, and ever shall retain, for a Province the People whereof had manifested so ardent an Inclination to make my Administration easy to me, and my Residence among them agreeable, I shall, nevertheless, exert my utmost Abilities to conciliate the Affection of the Colony which I now have the Honour to preside over. And as the sound Principles which you inculcate into the Youth entrusted to your Care cannot fail to diffuse the happiest Influences on this Country, you may be assured of my warmest Protection and Favour.
DUNMORE.
On Tuesday last his Excellency the Governor was entertained at the Raleigh by the Gentlemen of our Corporation, who likewise invited some Strangers who happened to be in Town, and a Number of the Inhabitants. After Dinner many loyal Toasts were drank, and the Afternoon was spent in Mirth and Sociability, very much to the Satisfaction of the numerous Company.
[MARRIAGES.] September 19th, JOHN SPOTSWOOD, Esquire, of Spotsylvania, to Miss SALLY ROWLEE, youngest Daughter of Mr. John Rowzee, of Essex County; whose many Friends heartily concurred to the Union, because their Characters are amiable, and promise the more lasting Felicity in the conjugal State.
Last Thursday, Mr. ROBERT TAYLOR, of Norfolk, to Miss SALLY BARRAUD, eldest Daughter of Mr. Daniel Barraud, Merchant in that Place.
This Evening, JOHN CARTER, Esquire, of King George, to Miss PHILADELPHIA CLAIRBORNE, youngest Daughter of Philip Whitehead Claiborne, Esquire, of King William County.
[DEATHS.] Doctor JOHN DALGLEISH, of Norfolk; whose numerous Friends will long remember him for his sweet and social Disposition, and the Publick in general regret the Loss of an honest Man, as well as a skillful Physician, which Protection he adorned with the Virtues of Communicativeness, Humanity, Benevolence, and Industry.
Mr. GEORGE ELLIS, Merchant, of Richmond Town, at Norfolk. He was a sensible and sprightly Companion, a sincere and generous Friend, fair and candid in his Dealings, and, in short, universally beloved and respected.
Mr. THOMAS AITCHISON, of Portsmouth, formerly an eminent Merchant in this Country.
Mr. HARRY ROBINSON, of King William, Attorney at Law; a discreet, industrious, and fair Practitioner, and a Gentleman much respected by all his Acquaintances.
Mr. JOHN KIDD, of Philadelphia, Merchant, at Norfolk.
Next Week will be published THE VIRGINIA ALMANACK for the Year 1772, containing (besides what is usual) Father Abraham's Advice to a Number of People assembled at an Auction of Merchant Goods, who complained of the Hardness of the Times; humorous Observations for each Month; a Collection of approved Receipts, for the Cure of different Disorders; a Method of restoring to Life Persons thought drowned, or any other Manner suffocated; with infallible Remedies for the Bite of a mad Dog, or any other Animal; and a Variety of other Matter, both useful and entertaining.
Advertisements.
MILNER's, September 26, 1771.
ABOUT three o'Clock this Morning I had the Misfortune to lose a Dwelling-house that was building for me at this Place, which, either by Accident or Design, was set on Fire and entirely consumed. As I suspect some malicious Wretch to be the Perpetrator of this Villainy, I hereby offer a Reward of FIFTY POUNDS STERLING for the detecting and bringing to Justice such a Pest to Society.
ANTHONY WARWICK.
NORFOLK, October 1, 1771.
I HAVE a Quantity of choice high Land HONDURAS MOHOGANY, as good as the best Jamaica, to dispose of on reasonable Terms.
WILLIAM CHISHOLM.
BEDFORD, New London, September 18, 1771.
I THINK it necessary to inform the Publick that I practise the LAW in the Counties of Botetourt, Pittsylvania, Bedford, and Amherst. Those who choose to favour me with their Business may depend on having it transacted with Care and Punctuality, and a Remittance made to the General Courts; from which Place any Commands will be forwarded to me by Mr. Peter Lyons, Bartholomew Dandridge, or Philip Whitehead Claiborne. I likewise make known my being appointed Escheator of the Counties of Amherst, Louisa, and Albemarle, in the Room of Bartholomew Dandridge, Esquire.
JOHN AYLETT.
SEPTEMBER 24, 1771.
THERE was imported this Summer, for the Subscriber, in the Lyon, Captain Goffey, a CASK of NAILS marked T A in a Piece, No. 4, which has never come to Hand, nor have I been informed where it was landed. If any Person can give Intelligence thereof to me, or Mr. Edmund Pendleton, in Caroline, they will oblige
ANNE TAYLOR.
THIS is to give Notice to James, Robert, and Thomas Moore, who reside on the south Side of James River, either in Surry or Brunswick Counties, that Mary Ashcroft, Widow of Ashcroft, who lived near Diefson Bridge, in New Kent County, is lately dead, and has left behind her some Effects, which may be of Service to her Heir, if he or she can be discovered. The said Effects are now in the Possession of a Person who lived and cohabited with her some Time before her Decease, and will soon be made away with by him, if not timely claimed. For further Intelligence inquire at the Post Office.
WANTED immediately,
A YOUNG MAN qualified for an ASSISTANT in a STORE, and who understands BOOK-KEEPING. Such a One, well recommended, may hear of good Encouragement by applying to Mr. RIND, Priester in Williamsburg.
WILLIAMSBURG, October 2, 1771.
THE Subscriber will give good Wages, and Accommodations, to two or three Journeyman BRICKLAYERS, for the remaining Part of the Season, to work upon the Hospital building in this City. Plenty of Bricks and Lime is ready, so that there will be no Delay.
SAMUEL SPURR.
WILLIAMSBURG, October 3, 1771.
I BEG Leave to acquaint the Publick that I have opened TAVERN in the House, behind the Capitol, lately occupied by Mrs. Vobe; where those Gentlemen who please to favour me with their Custom may depend upon genteel Accommodations, and the very best Entertainment. I shall reserve Rooms for the Gentlemen who formerly lodged with me.
CHRISTIANA CAMPBELL.
To be SOLD to the highest Bidder, the second Monday in November, if fair, otherwise next fair Day,
SIX hundred and Seventy two Acres of LAND lying in Dinwiddie County. It is well timbered with Oak, Hickory, and Pine, but has no Improvements. It lies about fifteen Miles from Petersburg, five Miles from the Courthouse, and is very convenient to Church and Mills. The Time of Payment will be agreed on at the Day of Sale.
HENRY HINTON.
N. B. I will attend at the Courthouse the Day before the Sale.
IMPORTED from London, in the Matty, Captain Fox, and to be SOLD by the Subscriber in Port Royal, a choice Pair of FRENCH MILLSTONES, three Feet eight Inches Diameter.
ROBERT GILCHRIST.
WILLIAMSBURG, October 1, 1771.
PURSUANT to a late Act of the General Assembly, which hath received the Royal Assent, we propose to sell to the highest Bidders, on Thursday the 31st Instant, at four o'Clock in the Afternoon, before Mr. Scatell's Door, in this City, the DWELLING-HOUSE, OUTHOUSES, GARDEN, and PASTURE, where Colonel Philip Johnson formerly lived, now in the Tenure of Mr. Richard Hunt Singleton; also the Remainder of the same Tract of LAND adjoining the City of Williamsburg, with two LOTS on Francis Street, between the Lots of Mr. Walter and Doctor Pastur; the Whole to be disposed of together, or in Parcels, as may best suit the Purchasers.
At the same Time will be sold a Tract of LAND called Tarty's Neck, containing about six Hundred Acres, more or less, very convenient to the City of Williamsburg, whereon are all necessary Houses for Copping. Two Years Credit will be allowed the Purchasers, upon their giving Bonds, with approved Security, payable with Interest from the Date.
PEYTON RANDOLPH, RO. C. NICHOLAS, LEWIS BURWELL, PHILIP W. CLAIBORNE, } Trustees.
To be SOLD by the Trustees of BENJAMIN GRYMES, Esquire, on Monday the 25th of November, if fair, otherwise the next fair Day, and continue till all is sold, at Benjamin Johnson's Orainary in Fredericksburg,
ABOUT two Hundred fine healthy SLAVES belonging to the Estate of the said Grymes, but very few Old Ones amongst them; there are several good Furnace Men, Forgemen, Colliers, Carters, and Watermen, about sixty Draught Horses, and some good Oxen, with Gear belonging to them; also several Waggons and Carts, a very good Brig between ninety and a Hundred Tuns, and a Schooner of the same Burthen, both but a few Months from the Carpenter's Hands, whose Name is George Hill, and lives in Fredericksburg. He can inform any Gentleman who inclines to purchase what they are. About fifteen of the Slaves will be sold for ready Money, with some of the Horses, and Credit allowed for the rest of the Estate until the 25th of October 1772, the Purchasers giving Bond and Security to the Trustees, who will attend the Sale, and make them an undoubted Title. Merchants Notes will be taken as Security, five per Cent. Discount will be allowed for ready Money, and all Bonds that are not discharged at the Time they become due to bear Interest from the Day of Sale.
ANTHONY THORNTON, Junior, Agent to the Trustees.
NANSEMOND, SEPTEMBER 23, 1771.
RUN away from the Subscriber, on the 3rd Instant, two Country born Negro Fellows, viz. TOM, of a yellow Complexion, about five Feet nine or ten Inches high, much marked with the Whip, and is supposed to be thirty six Years of Age. He had with him, when he went away, an Osnaburg Shirt and Breeches, Felt Hat, and a new Dutch Blanket. DICK, a black Fellow about twenty six Years of Age, five Feet nine Inches high, has a Scar on his Head, and is dressed like the other. They carried off a Pettiauger with a white Bottom, her Inside painted red, and a blue Streak. As I purchased them lately in Dorset County, Maryland, I imagine they will endeavour to make for that Province. Whoever apprehends the said Slaves, and brings them to me at Milner's Warehouse, or secures them so as I get them again, shall have THREE POUNDS Reward if taken in the Colony, and if out of it FIVE POUNDS.
ARCHIBALD BUCHANAN.
RUN away from the Subscriber, in New Kent County, on Friday the 13th of September, a MULATTO Servant Man, about twenty one Years old, and is my Servant till thirty one Years. I am informed he passes for a Freeman. His Dress is a Cotton Jacket and brown Linen Shirt, Rolls Trousers, Drab Breeches, and an old Felt Hat. I believe he is about Queen's Creek, or near Williamsburg. Any Person that will bring the said Servant to me shall have TWENTY SHILLINGS Reward.
RICHARD TIMBERLAKE.
** All Masters of Vessels are forewarned from carrying him out of the Colony.
RUN away from the Subscriber, on Saturday the 14th of last Month, a likely Negro Fellow named NED, about six Feet high, well made, between twenty five and twenty six Years of Age, has a Scar on the left Side of his Mouth, and stammers much when surprised. He had on the common Clothing of labouring Negroes, but it is probable may have carried off others with him. Whoever brings him to me at Osborne's, in Chesterfield County, shall have TWENTY SHILLINGS Reward if taken in the said County, and FORTY SHILLINGS if taken in any other, and all reasonable Charges allowed. The said Negro is outlawed.
JOHN FORSE.
STOLEN from the Subscriber, at Cabin Point, on the 22nd Instant (September) a dark coloured HORSE about fourteen Hands high, dockt, but not branded, remarkable for a long slow Walk, goes very ill, but excellent in Harness. Whoever delivers him to me shall have TWENTY SHILLINGS Reward, and on Conviction of the Thief FIVE POUNDS.
THOMAS HOLT.
STRAYED, or STOLEN, from Captain George Weedon's Pasture, in Fredericksburg, a bay MARE about thirteen Hands high, about eight Years old, has a Switch Tail with some gray Hairs in it, a long Mane, a blaze Face, and trots and canters. Whoever delivers her to Captain Weedon, or to Mr. Scatell in Williamsburg, shall be rewarded for their Trouble.
WE hereby give Notice to Nathaniel W. Dandridge, Esquire, and his Creditors, to meet at Hanover Town, on Saturday the 12th of October, when we will render an Account of our Transactions, and make Dividends, agreeable to the Deed of Trust made to us by the said Dandridge in Behalf of his Creditors.
JOHN WAYLES. WILLIAM MACON. ROBERT ANDERSON. JOHN JOHNSON.
SEPTEMBER 20, 1771.
HAVING resigned the Charge of the Store kept by me in Charlotte County, on Account of Messrs. Buckanans, Haffie, and Company, I desire all who have Accounts with me may speedily settle them, by Bond, or otherwise. The Business will be carried on hereafter, as usual, under the Direction of Mr. John Lindsay.
WILLIAM JAMESON.
** I have for Sale a Tract of LAND, which lies on the south Side of Dan River, in Roan County, North Carolina, containing six Hundred Acres, and is esteemed exceeding rich. For Terms apply to me in Charlotte County.
WILLIAMSBURG, September 24, 1771.
AS I have purchased the House in the Market Square lately occupied by Mr. Thomas Craig, to which I am making considerable Additions and Improvements, for the Purpose of KEEPING TAVERN, this is to acquaint my Friends, and the Publick in general, that the House will be ready for their Reception by the Beginning of the ensuing General Court, where they may depend upon meeting with the best Entertainment and Accommodations from
Their humble Servant, GABRIEL MAUPIN.
** My Shop will likewise be moved to the above Place, where the SADDLERY and HARNESS MAKING Business will be carried on in all its Branches. Those who please to employ me may be assured of being furnished with neat and substantial Work, at short Notice, and on reasonable Terms.
THE Creditors of B. Grymes are requested by his Trustees to meet at the Daphne, in Williamsburg, on the 20th of October, at six o'Clock in the Evening, to agree on a Plan for making the most of the Estate; as Providence has so directed that the Estate must be broke up.
HOBY HOLE, September 12, 1771.
THE Subscriber intends for Scotland the first Opportunity. HUGH M'KENZIE.
AS it proved inconvenient for the Subscribers to attend Dinwiddie Court in June last, agreeable to their Advertisement for disposing of certain Lands belonging to the Estate of Mr. Thomas Williams, deceased, we do hereby give Notice that Attendance will be given for the Sale thereof at the said Court, in October, if fair, otherwise at the Court following.
FRANCIS EPES, THOMAS WILLIAMS, } Executors.
PETERSBURG, September 14, 1771.
ALL Persons who have any Demands upon the Estate of Mr. Samuel Gordon, late of Blandford, Merchant, are requested to make the same known as soon as possible. And whereas the said Mr. Gordon did, in his Lifetime, sell Tracts and Lots of Land wherein Mrs. Gordon was entitled to her Dower, which Right she may not as yet have relinquished to the Purchasers, I am desired by the said Mrs. Gordon, and the Heir at Law, Mr. Alexander Gordon, to request such Persons as have not yet had complete Titles made them to apply to me; as they are desirous to fulfil, with Honour, the Engagements of the said Decedent, and for which Purpose I am properly empowered.
I must beg the Favour of those who are indebted to Mr. Gordon's Estate to be speedy in making Payment, as they experienced very great Indulgence in his Lifetime. I shall also be much obliged to those Gentlemen who had Business of Mr. Gordon's in their Hands, which may be unsettled at this Time, to let me know the State of the same; as Mr. Gordon's Connections in Business were very extensive and various, and there is a Necessity for a speedy Settlement.
JERMAN BAKER.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1771.
THE Subscriber intends for Great Britain immediately after the ensuing General Court.
JOHN SNODGRASS.
STRAYED or stolen from York Town, on the 18th of this Instant (September) a bay HORSE about fourteen Hands and a Half high, between five and six Years old, has a hanging Mane and long Bob Tail, black Legs, paces slow, trots and gallops well, and branded on the near Buttock resembling a Halfmoon. Whoever conveys the said Horse to me, at York, shall have TWENTY SHILLINGS Reward.
JOHN GINTER.
YORK County, September 26, 1771.
THIS is to forewarn all Persons from hunting, with Guns or Dogs, on the Plantation of Major Robert Shields in York Hampton Parish, King's Creek, at their Peril.
JAMES HOLLOWAY.
For SALE,
THE following Tracts of LAND. Fourteen Hundred and four Acres in Halifax County, North Carolina, on which are some Improvements. Eleven Hundred and twenty Acres in Granville County, lying on the Virginia Line, and on both Sides of Natchez Creek, commonly known by the Name of Smith's Land; the Improvements on it are small, consequently is not much worth, has a fine Soil, and is exceeding good for Tobacco, Corn, or Wheat, as the Growth of the Trees and Shrubs thereon will show, is eighty Miles from Petersburg, and remarkably healthy. The Time of Payment will be made agreeable to the Purchaser. For Terms apply to Mr. William Hendrie in Halifax County, North Carolina, Mr. William Beattie in Petersburg, or the Subscriber in Nansemond.
JAMES DUNLOP.
N. B. Mr. Hendrie will show the Land in Halifax County.
To be SOLD, by Virtue of a Decree of Chesterfield Court, to the highest Bidder, upon the Premises, on the 15th of October,
A TRACT of LAND in the said County, formerly belonging to John Smith, containing about a Hundred and fifty Acres, lying about six Miles from Rocky Ridge Warehouse. Six Months Credit will be allowed the Purchaser, on giving Bond and Security to
JAMES LYLE.
RUN away from the Plantations of Mr. Brett Randolph, in Cumberland County, on the 8th of this Instant (September) a Virginia born Negro named CHARLES, about five Feet five Inches high, of a yellowish Complexion, walks quick and upright, has lost an upper fore Tooth, from the right Side, a small Piece cut out of one Ear, and is much marked on his back with whipping. He ran away on the 1st of January last, and was committed to the Jail of Alexandria, out of which he escaped in June, afterwards to Fredericksburg Jail for Felony, and was brought home on the 2d Instant. As I expect he will endeavour to pass for a Freeman, and attempt to get on Board a Vessel, all Masters are hereby forewarned from harbouring him. Whoever will deliver the said Negro to Mr. Charles Rice, on the aforesaid Plantation, or to me in Warwick, Chesterfield County, shall have FORTY SHILLINGS Reward, besides what the Law allows; and if taken out of the Colony, FIVE POUNDS. He is outlawed.
BERNARD MARKHAM.
RUN away from the Subscriber's Plantation in King George County, about two Miles above Leeds Town, some Time about the first of June last, a Convict Servant Boy named TIMOTHY DRURY, about sixteen or seventeen Years of Age, though few would imagine him to be so old by his Size, being but small. He is very arch and smart, and will give as pertinent Answers to any Questions asked him as most Men. He is dressed suitable to the Season, but do not remember any particular Marks that he had. Whoever delivers the said Boy to the Overseer on the Plantation, or to me in Fredericksburg, shall be handsomely rewarded for their Trouble.
WILLIAM TRIPLET.
To the CLERGY of the Church of England in VIRGINIA.
GENTLEMEN, WITH the Approbation of the Committee appointed last Convention, I desire a Convention of the Clergy, at William & Mary College, on Wednesday the 16th of October, when, at this critical Juncture, Matters of very great Importance (to the Clergy only) will be laid before you. It is probable that before that Time another Cause of meeting will arise, and which it will be our Duty to attend. I am, respectively,
SUSSEX, } Gentlemen, your affectionate Brother, Sept. 6, 1771. } And very humble Servant, WILLIAM WILLIE.
This, I hope, will be deemed due and proper Notice.
HANOVER Town, September 11, 1771.
A YOUNG Man that understands BOOK-KEEPING, writes a good Hand, and can come well recommended, will meet with Encouragement by applying to
BURNLEY & BRAIKENRIDGE.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1771.
I HEREBY forewarn all Persons from hauling the Seine, or hunting, on my Plantation at Newport News, in Warwick and Elizabeth City Counties, as I have received much Injury therefrom.
WILLIAM DIGGES, Junior.
LAST Week, in this Gazette, I advertised Cumberland to be leased for a Term of Years; but it being now out of my Power to comply with that Advertisement, I think it my Duty to acquaint the Publick thereof. Mr. Richard Allen, Junior, of whom I purchased the Place, has since refused to make me a Deed for the Land, or to deliver it at the Time appointed, notwithstanding we made a positive Bargain, and called upon Evidence to hear it. Mr. Allen, I suppose, has thought it most prudent to falsify his Word, and to lay aside what small Share of Honour he was possessed of, rather than comply with his Bargain. Any future Bargain that I make with Mr. Allen shall be on Record, and have only to ask Pardon of the Publick for having annulled it with a flat Advertisement.
JOHN HOOMES.

POETS CORNER.
A REQUEST to the DIVINE BEING. By a Lady.
THOU great and sacred Lord of all, Of Life the only Spring; Creator of unnumber'd Worlds, Immensely glorious King!
HIS Majesty's Postmaster General having (for the better facilitating of Correspondence between Great Britain and America) been pleased to add a fifth Packet Boat to the Station between Falmouth and New York, Notice is hereby given that the Mail, for the future, will be closed, at the Post Office in New York, at twelve of the Clock at Night, on the first Tuesday in every Month, and despatched by a Packet, the next Day, for Falmouth.
IT is requested (for the last Time) that those who have Demands against the Estate of the late Mr. Walter Boyd will immediately send them to Joshua Poythress in Blandford, that Provision may be made for Payment; and it is hoped those that are indebted to the said Estate will make immediate Payment, that we may be the better enabled to discharge the Debts.
WILLIAMSBURG, September 19, 1771. I SHALL be very much obliged to those who are indebted to me to be punctual in the Discharge of their Accounts by the 25th of October ensuing, as I expect to be called upon at that Time for what I owe. JOHN CONNELLY.
NORFOLK, September 12, 1771. ABSCONDED from my Service, for some Time, a Negro named TOM, who is a very likely tall black Fellow, and has been used to the Sea. I understand that he intended for Williamsburg, and to lay Claim to his Freedom, to which he has been encouraged by some People in this Place. He was born in the Island of Bermuda, in my Mother in Law's Family, and given to my Wife when a Child; his Mother is now alive, a Slave, and I never before heard that he either had or pretended to Liberty. In Bermuda Owners of Vessels generally man them with their Slaves, and it is very customary, in War Time, to procure Passes for them as Freemen, in Case they should be taken by the Enemy. Very likely this Fellow of mine (who went to Sea from that Island when a Boy) may have had one of those Passes given to him by his then Master, or has got Possession of one that belonged to some other Negro. Whoever delivers the said Slave to me shall have TWENTY SHILLINGS Reward, besides what the Law allows. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL.
IMPORTED in the Molly, Captain Younghusband, and in the last Ships from London, and to be SOLD by JOHN LEWIS, at his Store near the Post Office, in Williamsburg, on the very lowest Terms, by Wholesale or Retail.
A CHOICE Assortment of EUROPEAN GOODS suitable for the Season, among which are the following Articles, namely, six Quarter Cloths of all Colours, blue and green Half Thick, Shrewsbury Plains, Welch and Kendall Cottons, blue, green, and Torrington Rugs, Dutch Blankets, Fearnoughts, Yarn and Plaid Stockings, German Osnabrugs, Hempen Rolls, Irish Linens, Mens, Womens, Boys, and Girls Leather Shoes and Pumps, Womens and Girls Calimanco Shoes and Pumps, Womens Silk Hats and Bonnets of all Sorts, Nails of all Sorts, single and double refined Sugar, Pepper, raw and white Ginger, Saltpetre, Saddlery of all Sorts, Mucovado Sugar, Rum by the Hoghead, Quarter Cask, or Gallon, and almost every other useful Article.
FREDERICKSBURG, September 10, 1771. I HAVE an indented Servant to dispose of who is a good HOUSE JOINER, and has about four Years to serve. His Fondness of Liquor, and the many Temptations to Debauchery in this Town, render him quite unfit for me, although I believe he will make a good Servant to any Country Gentleman. JAMES MERCER.
CHARLES CITY, September 10, 1771. ALL Persons that have Demands against the Estate of Mr. Littlebury Hardyman, deceased, are desired to make them known to William Acuff, Esquire, or to Mr. John Tyler at the Indian Fields, in this County, that the speediest Method may be taken to satisfy them without the Expense of Lawsuits, which the Executors hope may not be the Case, when they assure the Creditors that no Affidavit shall be wanting on their Parts, and that the Debts due to the Estate, they believe, are more than sufficient to discharge every just Demand.
AS John Verell, Attorney at Law in Sussex County, has gone through his Administration of the Estate of Mr. William Moore, late of the said County, deceased, and has rendered an Account thereof to the Court of that County, which has been examined and approved of, and ordered to be recorded, by which a Balance remains justly due to the Administrator of thirty four Pounds one Shilling and Sixpence Halfpenny, this farther publick Notice thereof is given in Order that if any Person or Persons have any Objection to his said Account they may, in his Absence, in his Practice in North Carolina, to which Province he has some Thought of removing next Spring, lay them before, or otherwise make them known to, Colonel Augustine Claiborne of the said County, some Time between this and the 25th of January next; otherwise it will be deemed that all Persons interested are satisfied with the same, and thereby the said Administrator discharged, as having acted up to his Duty, and the Laws of the Country in the Premises.
A SCHOOLMASTER of a good Character, well qualified to teach English, Writing, and Arithmetick, who opens a School near the upper Church, in Highfield Parish, New Kent County, will meet with great Encourage from the Inhabitants in that Neighbourhood.
To be SOLD at the INDIAN FIELDS, in Charles City, on Tuesday the 8th of October, A NUMBER of full blooded HORSES, MARES, and COLTS, belonging to the Estate of Littlebury Hardyman, deceased, among which are the following running Horses, namely. PARTNER, seven Years old, remarkable for his Speed and Bottom; STARLOCK, a Javos Colt, runs the Quarter extremely swift, and is supposed to be within twenty Weight of riding any Horse in the Colony; a fine young Mare by the high blooded imported Horse Aristotel, equal to any the two Hears. With these will be sold the Half of ARISTOTLE, a beautiful Horse, near sixteen Hands high, and remarkable for getting the best Carriage and riding Nags. Many of the Colts were got by Mark Anthony. Also, on the same Day, will be sold part of the Stock of SHEEP and CATTLE. The Terms will be known on the Day of Sale, and Bond, with approved Security, will be required by the Executors.
To be SOLD on the Premises, either at private or publick Sale, on Tuesday the 15th of October, THREE Hundred and twenty five Acres of LAND, late the Property of George Ragland, deceased, situate near Ragland's Ferry, in the County of Northampton, North Carolina. It is very good for Corn, Wheat, or Tobacco, has all convenient Houses necessary for a Plantation, Land cleared sufficient to work five Hands, and good Apple and Peach Orchards. At the same Time will be sold, to the highest Bidders, all the personal Estate of the said Ragland, consisting of Household Furniture of every Kind, Stocks of Cattle, Hogs, and Sheep, and all the Plantation Utensils. Twelve Months Credit will be allowed, on giving Bond with approved Security. All Persons who have any Demands against the said Estate are desired to make them known by the Day of Sale, that Provision may be made for discharging the same; and those indebted thereto are requested to make as speedy Payments as possible, that the Executors may be enabled to settle the said Estate with the utmost Despatch. WILLIAM RAGLAND, JOHN VEAL, Executors.
NORFOLK, September 11, 1771. I INTEND for England early in the Spring, and request all those who have any open Accounts on my Books to settle them. Bonds, or Cash, will be required from all indebted, and Payment made to those who have Balances in their Favour. I expect all Persons concerned will pay due Regard to this Advertisement, as all Accounts unsettled, after the first Day of January next, will be put in Suit. My Business here, after that Time, will be transacted by William Marfo and Richard Marshall. JOHN GREENWOOD.
To be SOLD, any Time betwixt this and October Court, for ready Money, SUNDRY fine PRINTS done by Mr. Fry, and some ELECTION PIECES by Hogarth, the Property of a Gentleman gone to England. They may be seen at any Time on applying to BENJAMIN BUCKTROUT. N. B. Sundry neat PAPER HANGINGS to be sold. Rooms neatly papered on reasonable Terms.
STOLEN out of the Subscriber's Lot, on the 21st of August, a bright bay MARE about thirteen Hands high, with a roached Mane and Switch Tail, three white Feet, branded on the near Shoulder I B, and was formerly the Property of Mr. John Banks of James City. TEN SHILLINGS Reward will be given on Delivery of the Mare to me in Williamsburg, and FIVE POUNDS on Conviction of the Thief. WILLIAM COSBY.
TAKEN up by the Subscriber, at Burwell's Ferry, a light coloured gray MARE, a little fleabitten, with a hanging Mane and Switch Tail, about four Feet and an Inch high, trots and gallops, and branded on the near Buttock H E. Posted, and appraised to five Pounds. SAMUEL COKE.
TAKEN up in Amelia County, near the Mouth of Deep Creek, a bright bay MARE, about three Years old, neither dockt or branded, has a few white Hairs in her Forehead, and is four Feet five or six Inches high. Posted, and appraised to seven Pounds. ABRAHAM GREEN.
TAKEN up in Albermarle County, on the north Fork of James River, a bay HORSE, about four Feet eight or nine Inches high, with a hanging Mane and Switch Tail, shod before, branded on the near Buttock G, and on the Shoulder I, a Star in his Forehead, a Saddle Spot on each Side of his Back, and trots. Posted, and appraised to ten Pounds. BENJAMIN MARTIN.
TAKEN up in Surry County, a Mou/e coloured HORSE, about seven Years old, near four Feet eight Inches high, branded on the near Buttock something like the Letter H. Posted, and appraised to six Pounds. JOSEPH CHEATHAM.
MECKLENBURG, September 1, 1771. RUN away from the Subscriber, this Day, an Apprentice Lad named EDWARD WILSON, a clear Mulatto, a Carpenter and Joiner by Trade. He is about eighteen Years of Age, about five Feet seven Inches high, has long black Hair, tied behind, much inclined to curl, has a Scar on the Top of his right Foot, which he got by the Stroke of an Adze, and as he walks his Ankle cracks remarkably. He had on when he went away a short Bath Coating Coat, a Sky blue Duroy Waistcoat, and Osnabrug Breeches; and he carried with him two Check, two brown Sheetings, and one white Shirt, also a Pair of Check and a Pair of Osnabrug Trousers, with a brown Holland Waistcoat. Whoever delivers the said Apprentice to me, within two Miles of Mr. Lewis Parban's Store, shall have FORTY SHILLINGS Reward, besides what the Law allows. PHILIP MALLORY. He is supposed to be gone towards Hampton.
Now in the Press, and speedily will be published, by JOHN DUNLAP, at the newest Printing Office in Market Street, PHILADELPHIA, and will be delivered to the Subscribers agreeable to the original Proposals, Price (bound) five Shillings Pennsylvania Currency, printed on a fine Paper, and an elegant Type.
ALL THE POETICAL Writings, and some other Pieces, OF THE Reverend NATHANIEL EVANS, A.M. Late Missionary in Gloucester County, New Jersey, and Chaplain to the Right Honourable Lord Viscount Kilmorey, of the Kingdom of Ireland. N. B. As the List of Subscribers will be committed to the Press in a few Weeks, it is hoped that all those who are desirous of encouraging this Publication, and who may not yet have subscribed, will send their Names, without Loss of Time, to the Printer of this Paper. The SUBSCRIBERS shall have their Books printed on a fine writing Paper.
For SALE, or to be RENTED for a Term of Years, and entered upon immediately. THE capital Prize drawn in the Honourable William Byrd's Lottery, consisting of a DOUBLE FORGE and valuable GRISTMILL, with two Acres and a Half of LAND adjoining; also two Thousand Acres of exceeding good LAND, the farthest part of which is not more than three Miles from the Works. The Land, &c. will be sold, or rented, with or without the Forge and Mill, and laid off in small Parcels to suit Purchasers. Long Credit (if required) will be allowed for greatest Part of the Money, Bond with approved Security being given. I would have no Objection to dispose of one Moiety of the Whole, or the Stream with or without the Land, to a suitable Partner. It is capable of great Improvement, being situated in the Heart of a fine Wheat Country; and, at a small Expense, the Forge may be converted into a good Merchant Mill, which would manufacture a Hundred Thousand Bushels in a Season, besides the Advantage arising from the Gristmill, which is worth, at least, two Hundred Pounds a Year. The Terms will be made agreeable; and the Land and Works may be viewed, at any Time, by applying to Mr. Richard Crump, Merchant at Rocky Ridge. HENRY MORSE. The UTENSILS, and OLD IRON, belonging to the Forge, will be sold on reasonable Terms.
VIRGINIA, sc. At a GENERAL COURT held at the Capitol, April 27, 1771. John Barnes, and Thomas How Ridge, Merchants, and Plaintiffs, against John Croftie, William Croftie, James Kirk, Jonathan Hall, and George Gilpin, Defendants, In Chancery. THE Defendants John and William Croftie being beyond Sea, and not having entered their Appearance according to the Rule of this Court, on the Motion of the Plaintiffs, by their Counsel, it is ordered that the other Defendants, who have Effects of the said John and William Croftie in their Hands, as is suggested, do not pay, convey away, or secrete such Effects, until the farther Order or Decree of this Court concerning the same; but that they deliver up such Effects, or so much thereof as will be of Value sufficient to satisfy the Demand of the Plaintiffs, unto the said Plaintiffs, upon their giving Security to the Clerk of this Court for the Return of such Effects, in such Manner, and to such Person, as the Court shall hereafter adjudge. And it is farther ordered that the said Defendants (John and William Croftie) do appear on the first Day of the next Court, to answer the Bill of the Plaintiffs; and that a Copy of this Order be, within fifteen Days, inserted in the VIRGINIA GAZETTE, for two Months successively, and published on some Lord's Day, immediately after divine Service, in the Church of the Parish of Truro, in the County of Fairfax; and be also posted up at the Front Door of the Capitol, in the City of Williamsburg. BEN: WALLER.
RUN away from the Subscriber, in Lancaster, on the 24th of December last, a Negro Man named WILL, about five Feet eight or nine Inches high, between thirty and forty Years of Age, but looks older than what he really is. He has been at Work in Norfolk for some Time past, and went by the Name of William Moore, as a Freeman. He is a very good Hoster and Gardener; and what may detect him sooner, he is very fond of Liquor, and when drunk very quarrelsome and saucy. Whoever will secure him in any Jail, and give me Intelligence so that I may get him again, shall have FIVE POUNDS, and if brought to me FIFTEEN POUNDS, paid on the Delivery of the Negro. JOHN WORMELEY.
To be SOLD to the highest Bidder, upon the Premises, on the 25th Day of October next, A TRACT of LAND in Dinwiddie County, on the Branches of Namaxacat Creek, near Hutchings's Ordinary, about twenty Miles from Petersburg, containing eight Hundred and forty four Acres. There are about fifty or sixty Acres of it cleared, with a new Quarter, Overseer's House, Tobacco House, and some Apple and Peach Trees. The Time of Payment of the Purchase Money to be agreed on at the Day of Sale. Any Person wanting to purchase may see the Land by applying to the Overseer, on the Place. JOSIAH TATEM.
AS I intend to remove up the Country next Fall, I would sell my Plantation in King & Queen County, which consists of six Hundred and fifty five Acres of LAND, pleasantly situated on Mattapony River, about six Miles above West Point, and has on it a very good neat convenient Brick House with two large Rooms, two Closets, and a Passage on a Floor, with good Cellars under it, two very pleasant Porticoes, one above and the other below Stairs, neatly finished, with Banisters and India Work, a very convenient Storehouse sixty Feet long, with two Floors and a Cellar, and all other Outhouses necessary, Garden, &c. in good Order. The Land is good for Corn, and with Manure will produce fine Tobacco. There is also belonging to the above mentioned Tract one Hundred Acres of Marsh, lying opposite, on the other Side the River, which is very convenient for getting Hay, &c. Any Person inclined to purchase may be shown the same, and know the Terms, by applying to JOHN MEREDITH. Who has also for Sale another Plantation in King & Queen County, just below West Point, known by the Name of Gough's Point, containing two Hundred Acres, adjoining the Land of Mr. Samuel Meredith, on which is a good Deal of Marsh that with little Expense might be made a valuable Meadow. The Land is well timbered, but no Improvements on it. I have also three LOTS in West Point for Sale, whereon is a neat little Dwellinghouse with two Rooms on a Floor, and an old Kitchen. The above mentioned Land will be sold together, or in separate Tracts, as may best suit the Purchasers.
CHARLESTOWN, South Carolina, April 11, 1771. THE St. CECILIA SOCIETY give Notice, that they will engage with, and give suitable Encouragement to, MUSICIANS properly qualified to perform at their CONCERT, provided they apply on or before the first Day of October next. The Performers they are in Want of are, a first and second Violin, two Hautboys, and a Bassoon, whom they are willing to agree with for one, two, or three Years. JOHN GORDON, President. THOMAS LN. SMITH, Vice President.
To be SOLD, A VALUABLE Tract of LAND, containing five Thousand five Hundred and fifty seven Acres, in Ward's Fork, Charlotte County, which is in fine Order for Cropping, having all convenient Houses, Barns, Negro Quarters, &c. and under good Fence. It will be sold in Lots, or laid off in the old Survey. Also for Sale, eleven Hundred and twenty Acres on Buck Mountain. Long Credit will be given, if required. For Terms apply to BENJAMIN WALLER, JOHN WAYLES, RICHARD HANSON, Attorneys for John Lidderdale, Esquire.
To be SOLD, on long Credit, the three following Tracts of LAND, viz. ONE Tract containing four Hundred Acres, lying in Spotsylvania County, on the Head of Bluff Run, about eighteen Miles from Fredericksburg. One other Tract lying in Amherst County, on Owen's Creek, containing four Hundred Acres; it is well timbered, and a good Soil for Tobacco and Indian Corn. One Tract lying in Pittsylvania County, on Sycamore Creek, near Captain Benjamin Clement's, containing two Hundred Acres; this is likewise good Tobacco Land. Any Person inclined to purchase either of the above Tracts of Land may know the Terms by applying to Mr. Charles Irving, Merchant in Albermarle County, or to the Subscriber in Richmond Town. The above Lands are the Property of John Loving, Senior, of Amherst County, but made over by a Deed of Trust to the Subscriber. Two Years Credit, or longer if required, will be given, on Bond and approved Security. WILLIAM MITCHELL.
ALL Persons may be supplied with this PAPER at 12s. 6d. a Year, and have ADVERTISEMENTS (of a moderate Length) inserted in it for 3s. the first Week, and 2s. each Week after. All Sorts of PRINTING WORK done at this Office in the neatest Manner. with Care and Expedition.