The Virginia gazette (Williamsburg, Va.), 1773-02-18 00:00:00

VIRGINIA
GAZETTE.
Open to ALL PARTIES.
but influenced by NONE.
LANEVILLE, February 8, 1773.
THE sheriffs who have been so long in arrear to his Majesty's revenue of quitrents are once more called upon, in this public manner, to settle their accounts with the Auditor, and pay their respective balances into the Receiver's office by the 25th of April next. My instructions on this head are positive and peremptory, and I shall be obliged, in consequence of them, strictly to enforce the law against every sheriff who fails in his duty, and neglects to make due payment.
RICHARD CORBIN, D. R. G.
From the POLITICAL REGISTER for November last.
TO THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Esto perpetua.
Father Paul Sarpi.
Fellow countrymen and subjects,
IT has often occurred to me, and indeed has been frequently matter of surprize and concern to observe, that the greatest part of those who write or talk of political subjects seem to have lost sight of the British constitution. Should a foreigner, who knew our language, but was a stranger to our form of government, listen to our political debates, as they are managed in conversation, in the prints, in essays, and other periodical publications (though many of them excellent in their kind, and the productions of sensible and penetrating men) he would, and must, conclude that in this country all depends constitutionally upon the abilities and integrity of a set of people called Ministers , or great officers of state. When he observed the animosities of one party in favour of, and another against, a Grafton and a North, he would naturally conclude that the constitution of this country threw all the power of the empire into the hands of a Grand Vizir, and his slavish, crouching, fawning crew. When he heard one set regretting the Pelhamian, and another the Rockingham Ministry, he would take it for granted nothing is of the least consequence but the Ministry, and would suppose that the British constitution is absolute power in the hands of a too often aspiring treacherous junto. But how great would be his surprize when he was told that a Ministry is not even a part of the constitution, any more than Jack Ketch? Pardon the supposed meanness of the comparison. I do not intend it should run on all fours. I only introduce it to hint that that efficacious state officer is necessary to the administration of government, and that is all that can be said for a Ministry. Ministers can be nothing more than so many delegates from the Sovereign, who finds it impossible to govern a wide extended dominion in propria persona . Their importance is too much heightened if they are considered as any thing above assistants to their Royal Master, by their counsel and abilities in the weight of government. When they are employed in the interest of the King and people, which is but one and the same, though different, I am aware, from the doctrines of the present day, they are then respectable characters, whether they are Nobles, or whether they are Plebeians. But when they insolently snatch the reins of office from the supreme power, and endeavour to precipitate a kingdom into anarchy and confusion, they are then, according to the laws of reason, equity, and common sense, amenable, justly amenable, at the bar of the discerning public, who will (in spite of all their endeavour to restrain the glorious freedom of speaking and writing) scrutinize their conduct, detect their low and sinister views, expose their ambition, and drag forth their crimes against a gracious Sovereign and his people, whose mutual weal they are bound by their oaths of office to consult, to deserved execrations. I wish I had not cause to say that such too much has been the state of administration in the present reign; and though I am far from joining with the unthinking mob, in every expression of abuse and slander, which I would ever detest; though I am far from thinking with some that the Ministry are, at this very moment, plotting the total destruction of the greatest masterpiece of policy in the world, yet, if impartiality is suffered to speak, I must be indulged with saying that these servants have turned masters; that they have usurped powers to which they have no claim; that all their errors they have thrown on him who graciously employed them; that they have made him commit actions, and speak sentiments, which his benevolent heart perhaps would never have suggested; and finally, that they have been the sole causes of that
present melancholy alienation which subsists between a British King and a people whose affection and fidelity to the Hanover succession (notwithstanding accidental and temporary tumults of the populace, which must naturally arise on particular occasions in free states) is indubitably firm and unshaken, let Tories and Jacobites insinuate as they please. Hasten that desirable reunion, great Ruler of the world! If any will be so bold as to rise up, and term the aforesaid allegations the hue and cry of faction, I hope such will forgive me if I tell them it is with me beyond a doubt they have effectually put out their eyes, and are resolutely determined to be blind. It is a shocking perversion of this constitution to suppose that Ministers are principals when only instruments. Do not imagine that our Ministers are necessarily our seigniors because the days have been, and still are, when they are suffered so to be. The proper system of government established here is the joint authority of King, Lords, and Commons: But it shall never be said, without reprehension, that these instruments, dependents, and often servile tools, are our lords, and our masters. Let an enslaved foreigner bow with submission, and tremble with fear, at the arbitrary acts and mandates of creatures like these, because he must. We, in this happier spot, often bid them defiance, and tell them, in the face of the sun, to know themselves. We should be (whatever is the case) no more governed by them than our laws should be made, to resume the comparison, by a common hangman. Yet every thing would, in these days, lead our stranger into this view of the British constitution. It has been to several beyond measure surprizing, that where so many heads were lately laid together (and some of them, I verily believe, without a compliment, more formed for government than the present set in office) to make out a roll of grievances, and solicit redress, it should not have occurred to them, especially as hints to that purpose were given them by wise and impartial men, that whereas the spirit of party was likely to occasion disputes and cavils about the particular grievances they should specify, it had been best to specify no particular grievances of present times, without roundly declaring the radix of all, and to have laid the weight of our complaints upon the infinitely important, and absolutely undeniable, grievance of all times, viz. the subversion of the constitution by the annihilation of King, Lords, and Commons, and the monopoly of all power by Ministers; that whereas the exclusion of one Ministry, and the reception of another, certainly would not (if we may believe experience) produce any material redress of grievances, the right way of proceeding would be to request not the exclusion of a particular set of men, but the restoration of the constitution. Were the constitution restored to its importance, and all court influence destroyed by the establishment of short Parliaments, and adequate representation, and a place bill, would not every one of the grievances, mentioned in the late rejected petitions, be of course annihilated? Certain it is, this is the only probable method of annihilating them. As long as creatures, called Ministers of State, remain invested with such extraordinary powers, so long will the most nervous petitions be fruitless; so long will our grievances remain unredressed. To recollect the most important:
1st, Where would be the arbitrary power of Ministers if our House of Commons were in a state of total independence on the court?
2d, Where would then be warrants, interrogatories, attachments, and such-like unconstitutional proceedings in cases of libel? Libelling would be no more; for what occasion would there be then of libelling Ministers, when an independent House of Commons held a much more formidable rod over them than the bitterest libel?
3d, What would a free people have then to fear from that plague of nations, a standing army? The very men who now compose the regular troops would be made a part of the national militia; and a militia could never be an object of dread, because the men who compose it continue among the people, and have the same liberty, and the same principles of liberty, with the rest, and yet would answer all the ends of repelling an invasion, and of keeping the peace within the kingdom, more effectually than an army of slaves.
4th, There would then be no Macquirks to murder electors, because there would be no motive to put candidates on contesting elections when bribery was impracticable, when the members could sit only one
year, and whatever they voted this year for the Ministry might be unvoted the next; and when no place-men of any rank, kind, or degree, could enter within walls, that should be sacred to freedom.
5th, The complaint of improper persons in the commission of the peace would of course be greatly lessened (if not totally removed) because a House of Commons that feared to be dependent on, or to have their services purchased by, a Minister from the public treasure, would be a considerable check on mal-administration, even among the inferior officers in the kingdom.
6th, Threats and promises, for the sake of influencing the Commons of Great Britain, would be absurd; because it would be, by the supposition, impossible to procure success, all connection between them and the court being cut off.
7th, If the Commons refused to be the dupes of a Premier there would be no rejection of fairly elected members, nor soiling in artificial ones, as in the never to be forgotten instance of Wilkes and Luttrell, which will ever remain in the annals of this kingdom an act of the highest injustice to the elected, and the greatest contempt to the electors; I say no such barefaced preference as this would take place, because the court could not even hope to gain any one point with a House of Commons absolutely detached from all court influence, and therefore it would be a matter of total indifference to the court whether John or Henry was the sitting member.
8th, No paymaster, no treasurer, no receiver, would dare to delay settling his accounts, were he certain of being obnoxious to an House of Commons no way interested to protect him. Such an house would not procure a venal majority to stifle the enquiry, or to conceal the villainy, but would, without fear of ministerial menace, demand his appearance at their awful bar; in case of failure, they would impeach him of treason against the public, and make him, though he may think himself at the very summit of independence, and affect to laugh at their vengeance, tremble for his fate.
9th, No man, or set of men, would presume to misapply the public treasure, with the certainty of being called to a severe account by a House whose interest was the same with that of the public, and who, by the shortness of their period of power, could not protect offenders, even if they were so disposed, longer than one year.
10th, Our commerce and colonies would remain in a state of tranquility and security, when there were no court tools to be provided for out of an income raised by arbitrary and unjust taxes, extorted under fear of military execution, from an unheard and unrepresented people; as in the case of the Americans, who have been driven to an excess of rage by the thoughtless and impolitic conduct of the Ministry.
Again, were the House of Commons of this uncorrupted cast, our English Bastille would no more be honoured with good and faithful Magistrates; but traitors and rebels would croud in various apartments. An undaunted Crosby, a respectable Oliver, would no more be apprehensive of interruption in the performance of their duty and the fulfilment of their oaths, for such a house would be of the same complexion with themselves. Their actions, their speeches, they would not fear should be scrutinized to the bottom. An amiable Sovereign would no more be advised to reject petitions the most dutiful and loyal, from a grateful and affectionate people; since then the representatives would harmonize and concur with the represented. They would be essentially the same, though different in point of form. But now their views, their interests, their plans of operation, are diametrically opposite.
Lastly, had we but a house crouded with men of unbiaffed sentiments, the father of his people would no more be persuaded, in the unsuspecting frankness of his nature, to return answers of disgust and resentment to a city, which would be up in arms in his defence, in times of danger. These are the chief heads of grievances, lately insisted on in our petitions, but constantly cavilled at by the court writers and addressers, as frivolous, seditious, and factious. Now, is it not evident that, to avoid the cavils of the court tools and addressers, the sure way was to have insisted principally on the great and undoubted grievance of the subversion of the constitution by long Parliaments, an inadequate and partially elected representation, and a house filled with placemen, pensioners, and military officers? Such is the present

House. Corruption has so far spread itself, that but a few healthy, untainted members are left; but if these cease to make the noble stand they have done, and are at last infected with the general contagion, then, Britons! what have you left? I fear, I fear the British senate, once the Palladium of British liberty, will be swallowed up in the yawning gulph of absolute and unlimited monarchy. May that fatal period never arrive! Certain, beyond contradiction, it is, that on an uncorrupted House of Commons our every hope depends. If the gangrene becomes universal the body politic dies, never to rise more. Should any be disposed to regard the above apprehensions as the mere whims of the closet, or the product of a creature passed his grand climacteric, I would have them only think of Sweden in slavery, and believe it probable. The existence of the present House of Commons, its ruinous tendency, and its inconsistency with our glorious constitution, are what I think no man, who reasons right, will offer to deny. Nor can any person pretend that the restoration of the independency of the House of Commons is not the certain and only means of redressing the above, and all other grievances; nay, it is evident that if the people were certain of the dissolution of all connection between the court and the House of Commons, they must give over complaining, and opposition (which a courtier always ignorantly terms factious) must cease, because there would be little or nothing to complain of, when there is not even a suspicion of court influence in Parliament. And at the removal of a corrupt Ministry, and the establishment of an uncorrupt (if experience gives us any encouragement to hope for the least advantage from a change, which at present it does not) could at most only secure us better times during the period of their continuing in power; the restoration of the constitution would, on the contrary, afford us the prospect of internal and lasting happiness, till the people were pleased to suffer another subversion to take place. To petition, that one Ministry may be removed, and another introduced to power, as if on that single circumstance all depended, what is it but giving up the importance of the British plan, which, thank God, rests not on Ministers, but on the broad and solid basis of King, Lords, and Commons, and wants only restoration to its proper spirit and intent, to render us, in spite of state policy and machination, by the favour of a guardian deity, internally secure against all evils. However sanguine my wishes and yours for these Halcyon days, I confess my expectations of their arrival are but few; when I look through the nation, and see corruption making such dreadful strides, and the prerogatives of the Crown so manifestly encroaching. Among the many instances of this alarming fact that might be mentioned, let me recal to your remembrance the infamous Royal marriage bill, the project of designing statesmen, the spawn of monarchy, and the bane of princely virtue; an act in itself so absurd, so unjust, so repugnant to the rights of nature, so subversive of laws divine and human, so tyrannical in its form, and so pregnant with dangerous consequences in some remote period, that the Minister, Ministers, or Cabinet, which planned it, and the Houses who passed it, merit the highest censure. But glad am I at my heart that such things as these have been justly objected to by the dissentient Peers, who, to their honour be it spoken, have left on the journals of their House one of the most sensible and spirited protests that ever was penned for posterity to applaud their zeal, and acquit them of a scandalous concurrence. Every friend to liberty (a sound melodious in England, though represented by some as nothing more than popular insinuating declamation) owes them, and the Commons, who indefatigably opposed it, their best thanks for the reasons, arguments, and the eloquence, that they used in that memorable debate.
It is not yet too late to rectify the errors we have committed. The Majesty of the people of England! Thus did a famous speaker in that House, of which mention has just been made, introduce his speech, when its existence was in danger. Without any the least intention to derogate from the dignity of my rightful Sovereign, which I could with might be ever preserved from the usurpations of artful and ambitious men, I would adopt the same expressive and animating stile. The Majesty of the people of England! Recollect your own importance, and rouse. Relinquish all less important matters, and in earnest fix your minds, bend your every aim, to the establishment of the noblest of constitutions! This work of ages is beginning to tumble! Why should you be (to use the words of a great writer on a more serious theme) always striking at the branches when the root is in danger? Why should you be always aiming at the rivulets, and never attack the fountain? Act as if you had the cause at heart indeed; let the amor patriæ be deeply engraven on your breasts; let men of rank and opulence apply themselves to this great object; let such who scorn on principle to receive any of the wages of iniquity take the lead in their respective spheres of influence; let them begin the work; let them blow the trumpet, not of sedition and rebellion, but disinterested zeal, and call to action. By a discouragement, a constant discouragement of tumultuous combinations, convince your enemies that your aim is not to dethrone your Sovereign, whose
throne, may it be established in righteousness! or overturn the state, and then run mad upon the ruins of the kingdom, but that your single eye is to the re-establishment of King, Lords, and Commons, in their respective prerogatives. Let petitions for this purpose be decently and dutifully presented by men who appear to have the warmest regard for their country, and who are unplaced, unpenioned, and who promise to continue so. Let the unanimity be such as shall prove beyond contradiction that the sense of the nation actually is, what it ought to be, viz. that for the safety of the state it is absolutely necessary immediately to establish short Parliaments, adequate representation, and a place bill. If these important matters can be accomplished, my hopes of a golden age, yet to come, will revive; but if the English nation has not spirit to attempt, and resolution to prosecute, the plan; if sunk in sensuality, and enervated by pleasure and dissipation, it will forge its own chains; if it will sleep on the precipice of ruin; if it presumes on its riches, its commerce, its learning, its arts, its navy, and its peace; if it vaunts itself on the pre-eminence it holds among the nations of the earth, it can be alarmed by no considerations, then I shall live and despair; then I shall expect the day will come when the envy of the world will be no more. I with not to inflame, but to encourage. I am not moved by disaffection, nor irritated by disappointment. These are my serious thoughts, whether I am connected with patriots, or courtiers. In retirement, or the busy world, I cannot in this respect, Proteus like, be continually changing my views. It stands on the pages of impartial history, that all the empires of antiquity fell by corruption; nor can Omnipotence itself, without the intervention of a miracle, I will add, fearless of the imputation of presumption, prevent the FALL of BRITAIN!
PHILO PATRIA.
NEWPORT (Rhode Island) January 11. LAST Thursday a considerable bunch of full blown pansies was gathered in the garden of Mr. Caleb Earl, of this town; which flowers were produced merely by the mildness of the season, without any assistance of art more than is commonly used in all open gardens, and are still to be seen at this printing office: In the same garden have been gathered, within a few days, fine cabbage sprouts, marigolds, and dandelions, full blown; in another garden in town, we hear there are green peas near four inches high; and, in short, by accounts from every quarter of the town and country, the whole vegetable world seems just ready to start forth, dressed in all the charms of blooming May.
Last Tuesday between 11 and 12 o'clock, A. M. Captain Robert Keeler, of his Majesty's ship Mercury, accompanied by a number of officers belonging to the navy, proceeded to the court house in this town, in two ranks, carrying with them his Majesty's commission, appointing the Honourable Joseph Wanton, the Honourable Daniel Horsmanden, the Honourable Frederick Smyth, the Honourable Peter Oliver, and the Honourable Robert Auchmuty, commissioners, to enquire into, and report unto his Majesty, a full and true account of all the circumstances relative to the attacking, plundering, and burning, his Majesty's schooner the Gaspée; and to the assembling, arming, training, and leading on the people concerned therein, and to the concerting and preparing the said attack, and of all other insults or obstructions, which have been given to Lieutenant Duddington, and to his Majesty's service in general in the colony of Rhode Island, &c. and being in the council chamber, waited until the arrival of the commissioners, when the commission was publicly delivered and proclaimed in presence of a great number of persons; after which James Brenton and James Clarke, Esquires, were appointed secretaries; and the court have set every day since for the dispatch of business.
The Judge Commissioners have published the following advertisement.
Colony of Rhode Island, &c. Newport, January 6, 1773
The public are hereby informed that the Honourable the commissioners, appointed by a commission under the great seal of Great Britain, for enquiring into the circumstances of attacking, plundering, and burning, his Majesty's ship the Gaspée, under the command of Lieutenant William Duddington, on the 10th of June last, and to the assembling, arming, and leading on the persons who made the said attack, and to the concerting and preparing the same, are now convened, and continue to set every day, Sundays excepted, at the Colony House, in Newport: Wherefore all persons who can give information to the said commissioners relative to the attacking, plundering, and burning, his Majesty's said schooner, and to the assembling, arming, and leading on the persons who made the said attack, and to the concerting and preparing the same, are requested forthwith to give information thereof to said commissioners at the above mentioned place.
By order of the commissioners.
J. BRENTON, JAMES CLARKE, secretaries. NEW LONDON, January 15.
We are informed that about a fortnight ago a vessel from St. Eustatia was seized at Newport by the
Captain of a man of war, for having six sets of cups and saucers on board. But upon application to the Honourable Board of Commissioners at Boston, they thought proper to release the vessel.
WILLIAMSBURG, February 18.
The TRAVELLER.
NUMBER I.
Justitia versatur in hominum societate tuenda, tri-buendoque suum cuique, et rerum contractarum fide.
CICERO DE OFF:
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF DUNMORE, &c. &c. &c.
My Lord,
AS the immediate representative of his Majesty in this colony, I flatter myself there is no impropriety in addressing your Lordship whenever the liberty of the subject is infringed by a partial administration of justice, or an unwarranted exertion of authority. For when those laws which are the pillars of society are subverted by the very persons entrusted with their support, it becomes the duty of every well disposed member of it to appeal to the Supreme Magistrate to prevent the impending ruin. Of so important a nature is the due administration of justice, my Lord, that no state could long resist those impetuous shocks which the want of it must occasion, since anarchy would take place of all order and government, and the injured, when barred of legal redress, have recourse to the most violent measures to avenge their wrongs. The tyrannical administration of a NERO, or CALIGULA, would be more tolerable than a state governed by no laws, or (which is nearly the same) in which the laws of the land are over-ruled by the caprice of every subordinate Magistrate. For the people, instead of a single oppressor, like the wretched sons of Poland, would be subject to the persecutions of an host of tyrants. Such, my Lord, must infallibly be the lot of that country in which the choice of Magistrates, properly qualified to discharge their respective offices, is not sufficiently attended to. Oppression there will fix its standard, and compel the inhabitants to wear the yoke imposed by despotic ignorance, or arbitrary corruption. In vain may the sons of freedom vaunt their excellent constitution if the fundamentals of it may be shaken with impunity by a Magistrate under the sanction of his office. A Justice of the Peace, my Lord, as his very name denotes, is set over the people as the conservator of the public tranquility, and the guardian of their rights and privileges. Need I mention, then, that such a man should be chosen from among the people not for his possessions, but his integrity? Not for his interest, but his abilities? For it is of the utmost importance, my Lord, that those who are entrusted with the discharge of any office should be thoroughly acquainted with the duties of it; but when the office of a superior Judge is blended with the former, as it is in this colony, the choice of these Magistrates should ever be considered of the greatest moment. Not only the properties of the people, but their lives are dependent on their judgments. For, my Lord, however custom, or the laws of a country, might authorize a different opinion, I must yet consider those unhappy wretches, who are doomed to perpetual slavery, as no inconsiderable part of the people, and entitled to every act of humanity and justice. How unfortunate, then, must they be whose temporal existence perhaps depends on the determination of an illiterate Judge? On the contrary, what miseries must attend that state where vice may go unpunished for want of Magistrates, sufficiently versed in the laws, to inflict the penalties they prescribe, or even to determine the nature of the offence against them. Yet, my Lord, these inconveniences are inevitable where Judges are indiscriminately appointed, without any regard to their abilities, or their principles. For in vain may the injured demand redress at a tribunal where the laws are little known, or disregarded. Far be it from me to suppose that frequent instances of perversion of justice, through the partiality or unskillfulness of the Magistrates, occur in this colony. But, my Lord, though a transient person, I have observed that even this land of liberty, which hath so often withstood the encroaching power of a British Parliament, is not exempt from a species of licenced oppressors. Nor is this observation merely chimerical, but deduced from a notorious fact, a narrative of which will prove the justice or futility of it. In December a warehouse of a * merchant at Beaufort was broke open in the night, and robbed of goods to a considerable amount. It may not be amiss (in order to set the determination of the Judges in the clearest point of view) to observe that it was utterly uninhabited, and detached from any other house belonging to the proprietor of it. A Negro was taken up on suspicion: He confessed the fact, and impeached several others, in whose possession many of the goods were found; and, by their information, others were recovered. After examination before a Justice of the Peace, they were delivered into the custody of the sheriff, to be
* Mr. John Richards.

committed to prison. But, my Lord, a Justice of the Peace (the master of one of the Negroes) in defiance of those laws, in conformity to which he was sworn to act, rescued his slave as the sheriff was performing the duty of his office. His great soul suggested to him that though the Sovereign on the throne is not exempt from obedience to the laws, yet he was beyond their reach. But let him tremble when he hears that by this violation of them he has incurred the offence of which the party rescued was afterwards convicted. Nor will his shameful excuse of ignorance , nor the specious one that he intended to produce his Negro before the court, avail him. For by the laws of this colony he could not have bailed him; consequently he could not take him without giving any security. My Lord, I do not barely assert that the Negro was not bailable. I have the authority of an act of Assembly, which declares, "That every slave committing such offence as by law is punishable with death, or loss of member, shall forthwith be committed to the common gaol of the county wherein such offence shall be done. " And that the present offence was of that nature appears from the same law, which enacts, "That if any Negro, Mulatto, or Indian, shall be convicted of feloniously breaking and entering any house in the night time, and taking from thence any goods or chattels to the value of twenty shillings, they shall suffer death without benefit of clergy." My Lord, I have recited this law, not only as a confirmation of what I advanced, but in order to throw a stronger light on the determination of the court. But the rescue was productive of greater mischiefs than might at first occur. The Negro might probably have discovered more of the goods had he been committed to prison; but when he was released he was at liberty to fall on other methods of concealment, by which means it is likely the merchant was prevented from recovering the greater part of his lost effects.
I must now beg leave to take a view of the proceedings at the trial. On the day appointed the Gentleman brought his Negro to court, swearing, in the presence of divers persons, that he should not be hanged, for he would not take two hundred pounds for him. This declaration, my Lord, was made by a Judge invested, as I have said before, with authority to determine on the lives and properties of his fellow subjects. What can be a more evident demonstration of tyrannical oppression than such an overt declaration? What man is secure in his liberty or possessions when justice is so totally disregarded, nay, set to open defiance? Yet this person, my Lord, was not only suffered to make such declarations, but permitted, in contempt of the court, in violation of all the rules of decorum, to interrupt, contradict, and abuse, the evidence, during his examination, in the grossest terms. Well, indeed, might he infringe the rules of decorum who had so openly broken the fundamental laws of the realm with impunity. From the Negro's evidence, with other concurring circumstances, it was clearly proved that he, in conjunction with the prisoners at the bar, had feloniously broken and entered the store in the night time, and had stolen out of it goods to a considerable amount, more than is required by the law to make the offence capital. As Jurors, the Gentlemen found the fact: As Judges, some of them were at a loss whether to define it burglary , or felony . Yet, my Lord, the least acquaintance with those laws, of which, ex officio , they are the oracles, would have readily pointed out the difference. After a long debate the offence was properly adjudged felony . Why then was not that sentence passed which the laws I have recited prescribe? Perhaps, my Lord, the Gentlemen were aware that should they pronounce sentence of death, their colleague, who had committed the rescue, might, on a prosecution, incur the like. If that was the motive, I cannot sufficiently applaud the method they embraced to ward off so foul a disgrace as that must inevitably have thrown upon their honourable Board. One of these Gentlemen delivered it as his opinion, in a most pathetic speech, that "as the affair was of so intricate a nature as not to admit of a determination whether the offence was capital or not, he thought it better to err on the side of mercy." This was embraced by another, who added, in confirmation of it, that ten guilty persons had better escape than one innocent man be punished . The maxim I allow to be a good one: But nought but blind partiality could have suggested the application of it. Thus, my Lord, the criminals were dismissed, with a gentle rebuke, without even the slightest corporal punishment. Well might the Roman Censor have exclaimed, O tempora! O mores! had such corrupt Judges presided in the forum. But such irregular, I had almost said unjust, proceedings are not uncommon in Essex court. Yet I cannot conclude without doing justice to three of the five Gentlemen, whose upright and impartial behaviour afforded examples worthy of imitation. But as the law requires the concurrence of four Judges to convict, their opinions were of little avail.
I leave to your Lordship's own reflections the ill consequences which must inevitably attend a total disregard to the municipal, and particularly the penal laws, the end of which is to afford an asylum to the injured, to redress their grievances, and to restrain and punish vice whenever it is detected. When these
objects of the laws are not attended to, the liberty of the subject is more dangerously wounded than by any act of sovereignty or despotism; and as laws are most effectually enforced by the penalties they inflict, so to neglect inflicting those penalties is the most effectual method of destroying the very end of their creation; that is, the happiness of society.
As this address was dictated by the regard to justice only, without any prejudice against, or in favour of, any of the parties, to all whom I am an utter stranger, I shall make no apology, my Lord, for this appeal to your judgment on an affair of real importance to the well being of society. Your Lordship's regard to the subject's liberty will inform you that it is proper, and the love of justice will, I doubt not, suggest to you the most effectual method of preventing future oppressions of a similar nature. I am,
With the utmost respect,
My LORD,
Your Lordship's most humble servant,
A TRAVELLER.
Doctor GRAHAM, so well known for his peculiar abilities in curing the diseases of the EYES and EARS, is, we hear, expected in this city about the middle of April next.
Died Mr. WILLIAM PRENTIS, of this city.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mattaponi, Feb. 10, 1773. THE copartnership of Miller and Heslop being dissolved, all persons indebted are requested to make immediate payment. Those that cannot, and expect any indulgence, are desired to give their notes or bonds, that no disputes may hereafter arise; those that fail, suits will be commenced against them without respect of persons. The debts due the copartnership are now entirely the property of the subscriber, who has empowered Mr. David Blair , of Fredericksburg , to collect the debts. I intend for Great Britain immediately after the April General Court . All persons indebted to me, on my own private account, are desired to make speedy payment, to prevent trouble; and those who have any demands against me, or Miller and Heslop , are desired to make them known immediately, that they may be settled.
JOHN MILLER.
On Wednesday the 24th of this instant (February) if fair, if otherwise, the next fair day, will be SOLD, by the decree of Gloucester court, at the courthouse of the said county,
TWENTY FIVE LIKELY NEGROES.
Six months credit will be allowed, the purchasers giving bond and good security.—Also will be SOLD, at the same time and place, TWENTY more likely NEGROES, for ready money, or short credit.
BEN: SHACKELFORD, S. Sheriff.
KING & QUEEN, January 28, 1773. I INTEND to leave the colony very soon. EDWARD WYATT.
HARDY COUNCIL, of Isle of Wight county, by deed, dated the 22d day of April , 1730, sold unto Richard Wooton , and Lucy his wife, during their natural lives, and after their decease to William Wooton , five hundred acres of LAND, situate in the county aforesaid, near Kingsale swamp: Two hundred acres of said land, by several conveyances, have been in my possession, and those from whom I claim, ever since the date of the above mentioned deed, which, through some neglect, hath not been recorded, and the witnesses thereto are now dead; and as I am informed that one Joshua Council pretends a claim to the said land, I therefore give the public notice, that he may not impose on any person in the sale of the said two hundred acres, as I am in the quiet possession of the same, and am determined to keep it till some person can produce a better title.
BENJAMIN BAKER.
AT a General Court, held at the Capitol the 15th day of April 1765, I obtained a decree of a bond against Thomas Stokes , senior, for three hundred pounds, which bond the said Stokes refused to deliver up to Mr. Thomas Whiting , Gentleman, at the time of settlement: This is therefore to forewarn all clerks, sheriffs, and others, from issuing out or executing any writ for the recovery of the said bond.
BANISTER ROWE.
RUN away from Eltham , on Sunday the 10th of January , a light Mulatto fellow named OTHO , about 5 feet 9 inches high, freckled in the face, has light grey eyes, and brown hair, which he wears tied behind, his skin under his clothes is very white, and had on, when he went away, a blue cloth waistcoat, and a coat of the same, with a red velvet cape. I expect he will endeavour to pass for a white man. All masters of vessels are forewarned from harbouring or carrying the said slave off at their peril. I will give FIVE POUNDS to any person who will deliver him to me, or secure him in any gaol, and give notice thereof.
BURWELL BASSETT.
TAKEN up, in King William , a pied cow, with a crop and two slits in the right ear, and a swallowfork in the left. Posted, and appraised to 1l. 15s.
THOMAS REDD.
RUN away from Mr. James Hunter's , opposite Fredericksburg , on his way to Frederick , a Negro man named JACK DISMAL , a black slim made fellow, about 5 feet 10 inches high, has thick lips, and is a cunning, artful fellow. It is supposed he went down Rappahannock in some vessel, in order to get to James river . Whoever secures the said Negro, so that I get him again, shall have FORTY SHILLINGS, or FIVE POUNDS if delivered to William Herndon , my overseer, in Frederick county .
ROBERT BURWELL.
By his EXCELLENCY the Right Honourable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, his Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the colony and dominions of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same:
A PROCLAMATION.
VIRGINIA, to wit.
WHEREAS the GENERAL ASSEMBLY stands prorogued to the first Thursday in May next, but it is judged expedient that the said Assembly should meet sooner, in order to deliberate on a matter I have to lay before them of great moment to the welfare of this colony; I have therefore thought fit, by and with the consent and advice of his Majesty's Council, by this proclamation, in his Majesty's name, to appoint Thursday the fourth day of March next for that purpose; at which time the attendance of the General Assembly is accordingly required at the capitol in the city of Williamsburg.
Given under my hand and the seal of the colony, at Williamsburg aforesaid, this 6th day of February, 1773, and in the thirteenth year of his Majesty's reign.
DUNMORE.
GOD SAVE THE KING.
TREASURY OFFICE, February 8, 1773.
WITHIN these few days I have seen a FIVE POUND BILL dated in 1771, the only one that has fallen into my hands, in which the bars or white lines enclosing the letter T are exactly at the same distance from each other as in the true bill of the same date; but the lines which form the other two columns on each side of the T are much nearer each other in the forged than in the good bills. The T in this bill does not stand square, but inclines pretty much to the left hand. I have also seen several bills of 1771 which seem to be impressed on the same sort of paper as was used for the forged bills dated in 1769; the bars or white lines running from the tops to the bottoms of these bills are nearly at the same distance from each other as in the counterfeits of 1769, all much wider than those of the true bills. As these appear fresh from the press, it is hoped many of them have not yet been thrown into circulation; but I think it necessary to give the public the earliest caution.
RO. C. NICHOLAS, Treasurer.
THURSDAY, December 4, 1766.
On a motion made,
ORDERED, That the clerks of the several county courts in this colony do transmit to the clerk of this House, in the first part of every meeting of the General Assembly, a list of the titheables in their counties, containing the names of such titheables; and that they transmit also, at the same time, a list of the public charges of their respective counties.
Ordered, That the clerk of this House do cause the same to be published in the Virginia Gazette .
By the House of Burgess.
G. WYTHE, Cl. H. B.
PURSUANT to an order of the Honourable the General Court, we shall attend at the house of Captain George Weedon in Fredericksburg , on Monday the 15th of March next, to state and report any demand that shall be laid before us against John Campbell , Esquire, of Newport , of which all his creditors are to take notice, and attend with proper proofs to ascertain their demands.
FIELING, LEWIS, CHARLES DICK, JOSEPH JONES, JOHN LEWIS.
TAKEN up, on John's creek , in Botetourt , a roan mare about 13 hands 3 inches high, 11 years old, has a small star in her forehead, a natural pacer, and branded on the near shoulder IC. Posted, and appraised to 9l.
EDWARD CARVIN.

To be LET, to the lowest bidder, on the first Monday in March next, at Mr. Abraham Cowley's, in Richmond town, Henrico county,
THE building of an addition to the CHURCH in the said town, forty by twenty four feet, with galleries on both sides and one end; a plan of which will be that day produced, and the time of payment made known to the undertaker, who must give bond and security for the performance of the said work.
THE CHURCHWARDENS.
RICHMOND town, February 9, 1773.
WILLIAM HENDERSON, in his advertisement of the 1st instant, informs the public that the noted William Cuninghame and company, of Glasgow, will not look on any transactions of mine on their account, since the 1st day of November last, as binding on them; In justice to myself, I think it necessary to acquaint the public that, on giving up the charge of the store kept by me at this place on said Cuninghame and company's account to him, it was agreed between Mr. James Robison, of Falmouth, and me, in Henderson's presence, that my intention should not be made public till it was convenient for him to leave Cabin Point; and from the 1st of November last I have carried on the business according to his directions, and made no contracts with any person on account of said Cuninghame and company but what he is in the knowledge of. I can account for this conduct of Mr. Henderson's in no other way than as a pretence for not paying off some of my engagements, prior to the 1st of November, at the last meeting of the merchants. If in consequence of any instructions he may have received from his employers he has inserted this advertisement, I presume he has taken this uncommon method to ingratiate himself with these worthy Gentlemen, and may, on that account, be excusable. If not, he has betrayed a degree of malice equal to his ignorance.
ANDREW CHALMER.
CABIN POINT, February 1, 1773
AS the store formerly kept at Richmond town by Mr. Andrew Chalmer, for Messieurs William Cuninghame, and company, of Glasgow, has been under my management since the 1st of November last, I think it necessary to give this public information that the said concern will not think themselves obliged, from that time, to answer any contract or engagement entered into by Mr. Chalmer, as manager for the company at that place.
WILLIAM HENDERSON.
I INTEND to sell the following tracts of LAND, in Cumberland county, to wit, the land whereon I now live, which contains about 1500 acres, on which is a good dwellinghouse, and all convenient outhouses, in good repair; also a peach orchard which contains about 8000 fine young trees of the best fruit, an apple orchard which contains about 250 fine young trees, and almost every other kind of fruit trees in a flourishing state. On the said plantation is sowed about 60 acres of land in timothy; there is likewise a well accustomed grist mill on a constant stream. Also a tract about three miles below the former, which lies near the courthouse, and contains about 900 acres, on which is an apple orchard, convenient houses for cropping, and about 100 acres of as good meadow land as any in the colony, which may be overflowed in a few hours by a stream that runs through it; about six acres of said land is sowed in timothy. Likewise about 600 acres, lying on both sides of Willis's, of which there are about 200 acres of low grounds, a good apple orchard, and all convenient houses for cropping. Also 200 acres on Muddy creek, with a plantation thereon. The above lands, except the last mentioned, lie as well, and is as suitable for the culture of corn, tobacco, and wheat, as any in this part of the country. I have also for sale, on Dan river, near Dix's ferry, about 1500 acres. For terms apply to
JOHN MAYO.
To be SOLD, at public auction, on the premises, on Thursday the 25th of February,
A TRACT of LAND, pleasantly situated on Mattapony river, in King & Queen county, containing about 650 acres, whereon is a genteel two story brick house, and convenient outhouses, all of brick, and in good repair; also a large warehouse, 60 by 24, with a brick cellar the length of the house, and within 30 yards of a wharf, where vessels of a hundred tons may load. One half the purchase money to be paid on the 25th of October next, and the other half on the 25th of April, 1774, the purchasers giving bond, with approved security, to
JOHN MEREDITH.
** There are, belonging to the above mentioned tract of land, 100 acres of marsh, on the other side the river, which will be sold with the land. Likewise, at the same time and place, will be sold, on twelve months credit, all my stock of horses, cattle, hogs, &c. with a considerable quantity of household and kitchen furniture.
J. M.
I WILL sell twelve or fifteen hundred acres of rich LAND on each side of Fish Pond creek, in the lower end of Buckingham, whereon are all necessary houses for cropping; also the CORN, FODDER, and STOCK on the said land, and six valuable Virginia born SLAVES. If my debtors had not unjustly kept me out of considerable sums of money for a long time I should have had no occasion to have sold land or Negroes to have paid my debts. Land that I sold eleven years ago I am not yet paid for, and a cargo of goods I entrusted a notorious villain with several years ago, I have not received forty pounds from him, and he refuses to let me see the books to copy them, or to settle with me.
ANTHONY WINSTON.
** The land shall be laid off in parcels if not sold soon.
NANSEMOND, February 2, 1773.
WANTED IMMEDIATELY, UPON CHARTER, FOR PORT GLASGOW, VESSEL of about 400 hogheads. For terms apply to
JOHN HAMILTON, and company.
TAKEN up, in Prince George, a large black horse, appears to be very old, has been much worked, paces slow, branded I on the near buttock, has a short sprig tail and a divided mane. Posted, and appraised to 3l. 5s. WILLIAM ANDERSON.
TAKEN up, in Augusta, a bright bay mare, about 5 years old, 13 hands high, has a blaze in her forehead, paces and trots, but neither docked nor branded. Posted, and appraised to 4l. 5s. JAMES TRIMBLE.
THOMAS GLASS,
GOLDSMITH AND JEWELLER, BEGS leave to inform his friends in particular, and the public in general, that he carries on his business as usual, at his shop in Hanover town; but having experienced the inconvenience of giving credit, is determined for the future to deal for ready money only. He returns thanks to his friends for past favours, and assures them that they may depend on having their orders executed, and at the lowest prices.
On the first day of April next will be exposed to sale, for ready money,
THE well known TAVERN sometimes called Baylis's, sometimes Farrow's, at present Reno's ordinary, situate in the center of Prince William, eight miles from Dumfries, where all back roads terminate, and I believe more tobacco passeth by this door in one year than is made in the whole county in the same time, which renders it an excellent place either for tavern keeping, or a back store, with all convenient houses for either of those purposes, a well of good water, and about 400 acres of land. Also another tract of land, adjoining the aforesaid, containing about 250 acres, with a large dwellinghouse thereon in good repair, orchards, gardens, &c. and is in tolerable good order either for farming or cropping, the whole surrounded perhaps with as good a range for cattle of all kinds as is on this side the Blue Ridge. The whole will be sold together, or in parts, as may best suit the purchasers; and by application to the subscriber, four miles from the premises, any person may be shewn the land, and plats thereof, according to an accurate survey.
CORNELIUS KINCHELOE.
STRAYED, or stolen, from the upper part of King George, a large black mare, with some of her feet white, a sprig tail, a star in her forehead, and a sore back when she went away, but no brand that I remember. Whoever takes up the said mare, and will contrive her to the subscriber, living near Boyd's Hole, in Stafford county, shall have TWENTY SHILLINGS reward.
LAWRENCE WASHINGTON.
PETERSBURG, December 28, 1772.
SOME time ago Mr. John Ashton advertised some Negroes for sale, as part of the estate of Mr. John Monro, deceased, since which I am informed a considerable number of them belong to the estate of Col. Andrew Monro, deceased, this is to give notice to all persons that the whole estate of the said Andrew Monro, consisting of several tracts of land, forty Negroes, and their encrease, flocks of cattle, &c. is all mortgaged to Sir Lyonel Lyde, Baronet, of London, for a very considerable sum, which is recorded in the General Court, and as any purchaser can have no right to any part of the mortgaged effects till this debt is discharged, I have taken this method to inform the public, that no person may be deceived in making a purchase of any part of the mortgaged effects.
RICHARD HANSON,
Attorney for Sir LYONEL LYDE, Baronet.
** All persons indebted to Sir LYONEL LYDE, Baronet, and company, are desired to make immediate payment; and as great indulgence has been given, suits will be brought against all those who do not discharge their accounts at the next April General Court.
STRAYED, or stolen, out of my pasture, the 11th of January, a sorrel mare near 14 hands high, with a blaze face, some saddle spots, her hind legs white up to her knees, and a white spot on each flank, paces slow, has a half roached mane, and switch tail, trots hard, is long bodied, and branded Z, but scarcely perceivable. Whoever brings the said mare to me shall receive TWENTY SHILLINGS, besides a reasonable allowance if taken up above 50 miles from my house, near Littlepage's bridge, Caroline county; or if stolen, I will give FIVE POUNDS on conviction of the thief.
DUNCAN GRAHAM.
HANOVER town, January 1, 1773.
I HEREBY give notice that against the 1st of March next the business now under my management will be put into the hands of Mr. John Davis, who has full power to settle and collect the debts due to Messrs. Murdoch, Donalds, and company, contracted at the stores kept at Boswell's by Mr. William Donald, and at this place by me. As many people have hitherto put off the settlement of their accounts, they cannot expect longer indulgence, unless their debts are ascertained; for which purpose I will give constant attendance here till the 1st of March, except the time of the merchants meeting in Williamsburg, and some of the adjoining county court days, which can be no inconvenience to those who come to settle, as Mr. Davis, who is thoroughly acquainted with the business, will then attend. The debts due to Messrs. Andrew Cochran, Robert Donald, and company, will be collected by Mr. Richard Morris, as formerly.
JOHN JOHNSON.
NORFOLK, January 5, 1773.
WHEREAS the partnership of Bolden, Lawrence, and company, expired on the 1st of this instant, this is therefore to request all persons indebted to them to pay off their accounts immediately, or settle their balances by bond, and those to whom they are indebted are desired to apply, and receive payment. The business of the house will be continued, and carried on to its usual extent, by
JOHN LAWRENCE, and company.
TEN DOLLARS REWARD.
RUN away from the subscriber, living in Westmoreland, the 12th of August, an Irish convict servant man named MATTHEW THARP, by trade a gardener, about 5 feet 5 inches high, well made, much pitted with the smallpox, has short dark hair, but generally wears a dark wig over it clubbed; had on, and took with him, a pair of leather breeches, light coloured cloth coat, old striped jacket, several white and oznabrig shirts, one check ditto, an old brown holland coat, striped holland trowsers much stained, shoes and stockings of many sorts, a hat almost new, with a band and buckle. This fellow was convicted last June Oyer Court was a twelvemonth for horsestealing. Any person that will secure him in any of his Majesty's gaols, so that I get him, shall receive the above reward. JOSEPH PEIRCE.
N. B. I have reason to believe he has taken a half blooded bay mare, as I cannot find her; she is about 14 hands high, and without a brand.
COMMITTED to the gaol of Accomack a runaway slave, about 21 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches high, very likely, and has a scar over his left eye, at his first commitment said he belonged to Mr. Otto Ball on James river, but now says he belongs to Mr. Morgan Sabb in Charlestown, South Carolina, and formerly was the property of Mr. Cornelius Duvick of Maryland, and was sold by Capt. Benjamin Hammond to the said Sabb, and that his own name is ABNER; had with him, when taken up, two oznabrig shirts, and one pair of trowsers. He says he has been from his master two or three years, and has followed the water ever since. The owner, on proving his property, and paying charges, may have him of ISAAC DUNTON, Sheriff.
RUN away from the subscriber, at Petersburg, about the middle of September last, a very likely Negro man named PHIL, about 20 years of age, of a yellowish complexion, about 5 feet 9 inches high, and proportionably made, he is a native of Africa, but speaks broken English, having been some years in the West Indies, and has lost two joints off two of his fingers on his right hand; had on an oznabrig shirt, an old Virginia cloth waistcoat, with a new Negro cotton jacket over it, and a pair of old check trowsers. As he has been used to the sea, he will probably endeavour to get on board some ship, and make his escape out of the colony; all masters of vessels are therefore forewarned from harbouring or carrying him off, at their peril. I will give THREE POUNDS reward to any person who will deliver said slave to me, or to Mr. Hugh McMeikin at Portsmouth, and FORTY SHILLINGS to secure him in any gaol, and give notice thereof.
THOMAS GORDON,
WILLIAMSBURG: Printed by WILLIAM RIND, at the NEW PRINTING OFFICE, on the Main Street. All Persons may be supplied with this GAZETTE at 12/6 per Year. ADVERTISEMENTS of a moderate Length are inserted for 3/ the first Week, and 2/ each Time after; and long ones in Proportion.