The Virginia Gazette. Number 466, April 13, 1775
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The
VIRGINIA GAZETTE,
April 13, 1775.No. 466.
OPEN TO ALL PARTIES, BUT INFLUENCED BY NONE.
PRINTED BY JOHN PINKNEY.
ADVERTISEMENTS are inserted in this GAZETTE for 3s. the first Week, and 2s. each Week after. The price of the PAPER 12s6 per annum,
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An GRATION, delivered March 6, 1775, at the request of the INHABITANTS
of the town of BOSTON, to commemorate the BLOODY TRAGEDY of
the 5th of March, 1770. By doctor JOSEPH WARREN.
Tante molis erat, Romanan, condere gentem. VIRGIL.
MY EVER HONOURED FELLOW CITIZENS,
IT is not without the most humiliating conviction of my want of ability
that I now appear before you, but the sense I have of the obligation I am
under to obey the calls of my country at all times, together with an ani-
mating recollection of your indulgence exhibited upon so many occasions,
has induced me once more, undeserving as I am, to throw myself upon
that candour which looks with kindness on the feeblest efforts of an
honest mind.
You will not now expect the elegance, the learning, the fire, the enrapturing
strains of eloquence, which charmed you when a LOVEL, a CHURCH, or an
HANCOCK spoke; but you will permit me to say, that with a sincerity equal to
theirs, I mourn over my bleeding country; with them I weep at her distress,
and with them deeply resent the many injuries she has received from the hands
of cruel and unreasonable men.
That personal freedom is the natural right of every man, and that property,
or an exclusive right to dispose of what he has honestly acquired by his own labour,
necessarily arises therefrom, are truths which common sense has placed beyond
the reach of contradiction; and no man, or body of men, can, without being
guilty of flagrant injustice, claim a right to dispose of the persons or acquisitions
of any other man, or body of men, unless it can be proved that such a right has
arisen from some compact between the parties, in which it has been explicitly
and freely granted.
If I may be indulged in taking a retrospective view of the first settlement of
our country, it will be easy to determine with what degree of justice the late
parliament of Great Britain have assumed the power of giving away that property
which the Americans have earned by their labour.
Our fathers having nobly resolved never to wear the yoke of despotism, and
seeing the European world, through indolence and cowardice, falling a prey to
tyranny, bravely threw themselves upon the bosom of the ocean, determined to
find a place in which they might enjoy their freedom, or perish in the glorious
attempt. Approving Heaven beheld the favourite ark dancing upon the waves,
and graciously preserved it until the chosen families were brought in safety to
these western regions. They found the land swarming with savages, who
threatened death with every kind of torture; but savages, and death with tor-
ture, were far less terrible than slavery. Nothing was so much the object of their
abhorrence as a tyrant’s power; they knew that it was more safe to dwell with
man, in his most unpolished state, than in a country where arbitrary power pre-
vails. Even anarchy itself, that bugbear, held up by the tools of power (though
truly to be deprecated) is infinitely less dangerous to mankind thanarbitrary go-
vernment. Anarchy can be but of short duration; for when men are at liberty to
pursue that course which is most conducive to their own happiness, they will soon
come into it; and from the rudest state of nature, order and good government
must soon arise. But tyranny, when once established, entails its curse om a nation
to the latest period of time, unless some daring genius, inspired by Heaven, shall,
unappalled by danger, bravely form and execute the arduous design of restoring
liberty and life to his enslaved, murdered country.
The tools of power to every age have racked their inventions to justify the
FEW in sporting with the happiness of the MANY and, having found their
sophistry too weak to hold mankind in bondage, have impiously dared to force
religion, the daughter of the King of Heaven, to become a prostitute in the service
of Hell, They taught that princes, honoured with the name of christians, might
bid defiance to the founder of their faith, might pillage pagan countries, and
deluge them with blood, only because they boasted themselves to be the disciples
of that teacher who strictly charged his followers to
do to others as they would that
others should do unto them,
This country having been discovered by an English subject, in the year 1620,
was (according to the system which the blind superstition of those times supported)
deemed the property of the crown of England. Our ancestors, when they re-
solved to quit their native soil, obtained from king James a grant of certain lands
in North America. This they probably did to finance the cavils of their enemies,
for it cannot be doubted but they dispised the pretended right which he claimed
thereto. Certain it is that he might, with equal propriety and justice, have
made them a grant of the planet Jupiter; and their subsequent conduct plainly
shews that they were too well acquainted with humanity, and the principles of
natural equity, to suppose that the grant gave them any right to take possession,
they therefore entered into a treaty with the natives, and bought from them the
lands. Nor have I yet obtained any information that our ancestors ever pleaded
or that the narrative every regarded, the grant from the English crown; the business
was transacted by the parities in the same independent manner that it would have
been had neither of them ever known, or heard of, the island of Great Britain.
Having become the honest proprietors of the soil, they immediately applied
themselves to the cultivation of it, and the soon beheld the virgin earth teeming
with richest fruits; a grateful recompence for their unwearied toil. The fields
began to wave with ripening harvests, and the late barren wilderness was seen to
blossom like the rose. The savage natives saw with wonder the delightful change,
and quickly formed a scheme to obtain that, by fraud or force, which nature
meant as the reward of industry alone. But the illustrious emigrants soon con-
vnced the rude invaders that they were not less ready to take the field for battle
than for labour, and the insidious foe was driven from their borders as often as he
ventured to disturb them. The crown of England looked with indifference on
the contest; our ancestors were left alone to combat with the natives. Nor is
there any reason to believe that it ever was intended by the one party, or expected
by the other, that the grantor should defend and maintain the grantees in the
peaceable possession of the lands named in the patents. And it appears plainly,
from the history of these times, that neither the prince nor the people of
England thought themselves much interested in the matter; they had not then
any idea of a thousandth part of those advantages which they since have; and
we are most heartily willing they should still continue to reap from us.
But when, at an infinite expence of toil and blood, this wide extended conti-
nent had been cultivated and defended when the hardy adventurers justly expected
that they and their descendants should peaceably have enjoyed the harvest of those
fields which they had sown, and the fruit of those vineyards which they had
planted, this country was then thought worthy the attention of the British
ministry, and the only justifiable, and only successful means, of rendering the
colonies serviceable to Britain were adopted. By an intercourse of friendly
offices, the two countries became so united in affection, that they thought not
of any distinct or separate interests; they found both countries flourishing and
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happy. Britain saw her commerce extended, and her wealth encreased, her
lands raised to an immense value, her fleets riding triumphant on the ocean, the
terror of her arms spreading to every quarter of the globe. The colonist found
himself free, and thought himself secure; he dwelt under his own vine, and
under his own fig tree, and had none to make him afraid; he knew indeed that by
purchasing the manufactures of Great Britain he contributed to its greatness; he
knew that all the wealth that his labour produced centered in Greta Britain; but
that, far from exciting his envy, filled him with the highest pleasure; that
thought supported him in all his toils. When the business of the day was past,
he solaced himself with the contemplation, or perhaps entertained his listening
family with the recital of some great, some glorious transaction, which shines
conspicuous in the history of Britain, or perhaps his elevated fancy led him to
foretell, with a kind of enthusiastic confidence, the glory, power, and duration
of an empire, which should extend from one end of the earth to the other; he
saw, or thought he saw, the British nation risen to a pitch of grandeur which
cast a veil over the Roman glory; and ravished with the praeview, boasted a
race of British kings, whose names should echo through those realms where
Cyrus, Alexander, and the Caesars, were unknown; princes for whom millions
of grateful subjects, redeemed from slavery and pagan ignorance, should, with
thankful tongues, offer up their prayers and praises to that transcendently great
and beneficent Being, by whom kings reign, and princes decree justice.
These pleasing connections might have continued, these delightsome prospects
might have been every day extended, and even the reveries of the most warm
imagination might have been realized; but, unhappily for us, unhappily for
Britain, the madness of an avaricious minister of state has drawn a sable curtain
over the charming scene, and in its stead has brought upon the stage discord,
envy, hatred, and revenge, with civil war close in the rear!
Some daemon, in an evil hour, suggested to a short-sighted financier the hate-
ful project of transferring the whole property of the king’s subjects in America
to his subjects in Britain. The claim of the British parliament to tax the co-
lonies can never be supported but by such a TRANSFER; for the right of
the house of commons of Great Britain to originate any tax, or to grant money,
is altogether derived from their being elected by the people of Great Britain to
act for them, and the people of Great Britain to cannot confer on their represent-
tatives a right to give or grant any thing which they themselves have not a right
to give or grant personally. Therefore it follows, that if the members chosen
by the people of Great Britain to represent them in parliament have, by virtue
of their being so chosen, any right to give or grant American property, or to
lay any tax upon the lands or persons of the colonists, it is because the lands and
people in the colonies are, bona fide, owned by, and justly belong to, the people
of Great Britain. But (as has been before observed) every man has a natural
right to personal freedom, consequently a right to enjoy what is acquired by his
own labour; and as it is evident that the property in this country has been ac-
quired by our own labour; it is the duty of the people of Great Britain to pro-
duce some compact in which we have explicitly given up to them a right to dis-
pose of our person or property. Until this is done, every attempt of theirs, or
of those whom they have deputed to act for them, to give or grant any part of
our property is directly repugnant to every principle of reason and natural justice.
But I may boldly say that such a compact never existed, no, not even in ima-
gination. Nevertheless, the representatives of a nation long famed for justice,
and the exercise of every noble virtue, have been prevailed on to adopt the fatal
scheme; and although the dreadful consequences of this wicked policy have al-
ready shaken the empire to its center, yet still it is persisted in, regardless of the
voice of reason, deaf to the prayers and supplications, and unaffected with the
flowing tears of suffering millions, the British ministry still hug the darling idol,
and every rolling year affords fresh Instances of the absurd devotion with which
they worship it. Alas! how has the folly, the distraction of the British councils,
blasted our swelling hopes, and spread a gloom over the western hemisphere!
the hears of Britons and Americans which lately felt the generous glow of
mutual confidence and love, now burn with jealousy and rage; though but of
yesterday I recollect (deeply affected at the ill boding change) the happy hours
that past whilst Britain and Americans rejoiced in the prosperity and greatness of
each other. Heaven grant those halcyon days may soon return! But now the
Briton, too, often looks on the American with an envious eye, taught to con-
sider his just plea for the enjoyment of his earnings as the effect of pride and
stubborn opposition to the parent country; whilst the American beholds the
Briton as the ruffian, ready <em<first to take away his property, and next, what is
dearer to every virtuous man, the liberty of his country,
When the measures of administration had disgusted the colonies to the highest
degree, and the people of Great Britain had by artifices and falsehood been irritated
against America, an army was sent over to enforce submission to certain acts of
the British parliament, which reason scorned to countenance, and which place-
men and pensioners were found unable to support.
Martial law, and the government of a well regulated city, are so entirely
different, that it has always been considered as improper to quarter troops in
populous cities, as frequent disputes must necessarily arise between the citizens
and the soldier, even if no previous animosities subsist; and it is farther certain,
from a consideration of the nature of mankind, as well as from constant expe-
rience, that standing armies always endanger the liberty of the subject. But
when the people, on the one part, considered the army as sent to enslave them,
and the army, on the other, were taught to look on the people as in a state of
rebellion, it was jut just to fear the most disagreeable consequences. Our fears,
we have seen, were but too well grounded,
The many injuries offered to the town I pass over in silence. I cannot now
mark out the path which led to that unequalled scene of horror, the sad re-
membrance of which takes the full possession of my soul. The sanguinary
theater again opens itself to view; the baleful images of terror croud around
me; and discontented ghosts, with hollow groans, appear to solemnize the
anniversary of the FIFTH OF MARCH.
Approach we then the melancholy walk of death! Hither let me call the gay
companion, here let him drop a farewell tear upon that body which so late he
saw vigorous and warm with social mirth! Hither let me lead the tender mother,
to weep over her beloved son! Come, widowed mourner, here satiate thy grief.
Behold thy murdered husband gasping on the ground! And, to complete the
pompous shew of wretchedness, bring in each hand thy infant children to bewail
their father’s fate. Take heed, ye orphan babies, lest, whilst your streaming eyes
are fixed upon the ghastly corpse, your feet slide on the stones bespattered with your
father’s brains.* Enough! This tragedy need not be heightened by an infant
*After Mr. Gray had been shot through the body, and had fallen dead on the
ground, a bayonet was pushed through his skull; part of the bone being broken, his
brains fell out upon the pavement.
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weltering in the blood of him that gave it birth. Nature, reluctant, shrinks
already from the view, and the chilled blood rolls slowly backward to its fountain.
We wildly stare about, and with amazement ask, who spread this ruin round us?
What wretch has dared to deface the image of his God? Has haughty France,
or cruel Spain, sent forth her myrmidons? Has the grim savage rushed again
from the far distant wilderness? Or does some fiend, fierce from the depth of
Hell, with all the rancorous malice which the apostate damned can feel, twang
her destructive bow, and hurl her deadly arrows at our breast? No; none
of these; but, how astonishing! It is the hand of Britain that inflicts the
wound; the arms of George, our rightful king, have been employed to shed
that blood which freely would have flown at his command, when justice, or the
honour of his crown, had called his subjects to the field.
But pity, grief, astonishment, with all the softer movements of the soul, must
now give way to stronger passions. Say, fellow citizens, what dreadful thought
now swells your heaving bosoms? You fly to arms; sharp indignation flashes from
each eye; revenge gnashes her iron teeth; death grins an hideous smile, secure
to drench his greedy jaws in human gore; whilst hovering furies darken all the
air.
But stop, my bold adventurous countrymen, stain not your weapons with the
blood of Britons; attend to reason’s voice; humanity puts in her claim, and
sues to be again admitted to her wonted seat, the bosom of the brave. Revenge
is far beneath the noble mind. Many, perhaps, compelled to rank among the
vile assassins, do, from their inmost souls, detest the barbarous action. The
winged death, shot from our arms, may chance to pierce some breast that bleeds
already for your injured country.
The storm subsides; a solemn pause ensues; you spare upon condition they
depart. They go; they quit your city; they no more shall give offence. Thus
closes the important drama.
And could it have been conceived that we again should have seen a British army
in our land, sent to enforce obedience to acts of parliament, destructive of our
liberty? But the royal ear, far distant from this western world, has been assaulted
by the tongue of slander; and villains, traitorous alike to king and country, have
prevailed upon a gracious prince to clothe his countenance with wrath, and to
erect the hostile banner against a people ever affectionate and loyal to him, and
his illustrious predecessors of the house of Hanover. Our streets are again filled
with armed men, our harbour is crouded with ships of war; but these cannot
intimidate us; our liberty must be preserved; it is far dearer than life; we hold
it even dear as our allegiance; we must defend it against the attacks of friends
as well as enemies; we cannot suffer even Britons to ravish it from us.
No longer could we reflect with generous pride on the heroic actions of our
American forefathers, no longer boast our origin from that far famed island,
whose warlike sons have so often drawn their well tried swords to save her from
the ravages of tyranny, could we but for a moment entertain the thought of
giving up our liberty. The man who meanly will submit to wear a shackle con-
temns the noblest gift of Heaver, and impiously affronts the God that made him
free.
It was a maxim of the Roman people, which eminently conduced to the great-
ness of that state, never to despair of the commonwealth. The maxim may
prove as salutary to us now as it did to them. Short-sighted mortals see not the
numerous links of small and great events, which form the chain on which the
fate of kings and nations is suspended. Ease and prosperity (though pleasing for
a day) have often sunk a people into effeminacy and sloth. Hardships and dangers
(though we forever strive to shun them) have frequently called forth such virtues
as have commanded the applause and reverence of an admiring world. Our
country loudly calls you to be circumspect, vigilant, active, and brave. Perhaps
(all gracious Heaven avert it) perhaps the power or Britain, a nation great in war,
by some malignant influence, may be employed to enslave you; but let not even
this discourage you. Her arms, it is true, have filled the world with terror;
her troops have reaped the laurels of the field; her fleets have rode triumphant
on the sea; and when or where did you, my countrymen, depart inglorious
from the field of fight? + You, took, can shew the trophies of our forefathers
victories and your own; can name the fortresses and battles you have won; and
many of you count the honourable scars of wounds received, whilst fighting for
your king and country.
Where justice is the standard; Heaves is the warrior’s shield; but conscious
guilt unnerves the arm that lifts the sword against the innocent. Britain, united
with these colonies by commerce and affection, by interest and blood, may mock
the threats of France and Spain; may be the seat of universal empire. But
should America, either by force, or those more dangerous engines, luxury and
corruption, ever be brought into a state of vassalage, Britain must lose her free-
dom also. No longer shall she sit the empress of the sea; her ships no more shall
waft her thunders over the wide ocean; the wreath shall wither on her temples;
her weakened arm shall be unable to defend her coasts; and she at last must bow
her venerable head to some proud foreigner’s despotic rule.
But if from past events we may venture to form a judgment, of the future,
we justly may expect that the devices of our enemies will but increase the triumphs
of our country. I must indulge a hope that Britain’s liberty, as well as our’s,
will eventually be preserved by the virtue of America.
The attempt of the British parliament to raise a revenue from America, and
our denial of their right to do it, have excited an almost universal enquiry into the
rights of mankind in general, and of British subjects in particular; the necessary
result of which must be such a liberality of sentiment, and such a jealousy of those
in power, as will, better than an adamantine wall, secure us against the future
approaches of despotism.
The malice of the Boston port bill has been defeated in a very considerable de-
gree, by giving you and opportunity of deserving, and our brethren in this and our
sister colonies an opportunity of bestowing, those benefactions which have de-
lighted your friends, and astonished your enemies, not only in America, but in
Europe also; and what is more valuable still, the sympathetic feelings for a bro-
ther in distress, and the grateful emotions excited int eh breast of him who finds
relief, must forever endear each to the other, and form those indissoluble bonds
of friendship and affection, on which the preservation of our rights so evidently
depends.
The mutilation of our charter has made every colony jealous for its own; for
this, if once submitted to by us, would set on float the property and govern-
ment of every British settlement upon the continent. If charters are not deemed
sacred, how miserably precarious every thing founded upon them?
+ The patience with which this people have borne the repeated injuries which have
been heaped upon them, and their unwillingness to take any sanguinary measures, has
very injudiciously been ascribed to cowardice, by persons both here and in Great Britain.
I most heartily wish that an opinion so erroneous in itself, and so fatal in its consequences,
might be utterly removed before it be too late, and I think nothing farther necessary to
convince every intelligent man that the conduct of this people is owing to the tender
regard which they have for their fellow men, and an utter an utter abhorrence to the shed-
ding of human blood, than a little attention to their general temper and disposition
discovered when they cannot be supposed to be under ab apprehension of danger to
themselves. I will only mention the universal detestation which they shew to every act
of cruelty, by whom, and upon whomsoever committed, the mild spirit of their laws,
the very few crimes to which capital penalties are annexed, and the very great back-
wardness which both courts and juries discover, in condemning persons charged with
capital crimes. But if any should think this observation not to the purpose, I readily
appeal to those gentlemen of the army who have been in the camp, or in the field,
with the Americans.
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Even sending troops to put these acts in execution is not without advan-
tages to us. The exactness and beauty of their discipline inspire our youth with
ardour in the pursuit of military knowledge. Charles the invincible taught Peter
the great/em> the art of war. The battle of Pultowa convinced Charles of the profi
ciency Peter had made.
Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are nume-
rous and powerful, but we have many friends determined to be FREE, and
Heaven and earth will aid the RESOLUTION. On you depend the fortunes
of America; you are to decide the important question, on which rest the happi-
ness and liberty of millions yet unborn; act worthy of yourselves; the faulter-
ing tongue of hoary age calls on you to support your country. The lisping in-
fant raises its suppliant hands, imploring defence against the monster slavery.
Your fathers look from their celestial seats with smiling approbation on their sons,
who boldly stand forth in the cause of virtue; but sternly frown upon the inhu-
man miscreant, who, to secure the loaves and fishes to himself, would breed a
serpent to destroy his children.
But pardon me, my fellow citizens, I know you want not zeal or fortitude.
You will maintain your rights, or perish in the generous struggle. However dif-
ficult the combat, you never will decline it when freedom is the prize. An in-
dependence on Great Britain is not our aim. No, our wish is, that Britain and
the colonies may, like the oak and ivy, grow and increase in strength together.
But whilst the infatuated plan of making one part of the empire slaves to the
other is persisted in, the interest and safely of Britain, as well as the colonies,
require that the wise measures recommended by the honourable the continental
congress be steadily pursued; whereby the unnatural contest, between a parent
honoured, and a child beloved, may probably be brought to such a lasting basis. But if
these pacific measured are ineffectual, and it appears that the only way to safety
is through fields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces from your foes,
but will undauntedly press forward, until tyranny is trodden under foot, and you
have fixed your adored Goddess LIBERTY, fast by a BRUNSWICK’s side, on
the American throne.
sacrificed wealth and ease, who have despised the pomp and shew of tinselled
calls of luxury and mirth, who have forsaken the down pillow, to keep your
vigils by the midnight lamp, for the salvation of your invaded country, that you
might break the fowler’s snare, and disappoint the vulture of his prey, you then
will reap that harvest of renown of applause. Even the children of your most inve-
terate enemies, ashamed to tell from whom they sprang, while they in secret
curse their stupid, cruel parents, shall join the general voice of gratitude to those
who broke the fetters which their fathers forged.
Having redeemed your country, and secured the blessing to future generations,
who, fired by your example, shall emulate your virtues, and learn from you the
Heavenly art of making millions happy, with heart-felt joy, with transports all
your own, you cry, THE GLORIOUS WORK IS DONE, then drop
the mantle to some young ELISHA, and take your seats with kindred spirits
in your native skies.
MR. PINKNEY, A WORD IN YOUR EAR.
LET foolish RIGDUM laugh or cry,
And mighty CENSOR vend a lie,
An honest heart will yield a joy
Which those who want it can’t destroy.
A BOY.
MR. PINKNEY,
DISGUSTING to every candid reader, and painful to a mind possessed
of any sensibility, must be the talk to return an answer to that profusion
of illiberal abuse with which Mr. Bland, under the signature of Lectium Iri, has
vainly thought to entertain the public in your last week’s paper; I shall therefore
pass over, with the contemptuous silence it deserves, the greatest part of that
extraordinary performance, but hope your readers will excuse me should I attempt
briefly to obviate some few of those malignant and unjust insinuations which he
has wantonly thrown out against me. This I am the rather incited to do, be-
cause the remembrance of an old disagreeable contest with Mr. Henley may induce
some to give easy credit to any suggestions of my now taking a part against him.
Give me leave then, through your paper, to assure that gentlemen in particular,
and the public in general, that all personal animosities and resentments, if ever
entertained in my breast, have long since subsided, and that I have not written
myself, or been aiding or assisting in the composition of a single line relative to
him, since the commencement of his late dispute with the treasurer. In opp-
sition to Mr. Bland’s suggestions, I must also farther affirm, that I have never
aided or advised any person to write any piece whatsoever inserted in the papers.
As to the piece signed Rilly Ragatelle, Mr. B. is pleased to affirm, that I denied
what I knew to be a fact, meaning that I had denied being the author of it, but
in this, he must give me leave to say, he is mistaken; I have never denied or
affirmed any thing about it, nor do I yet see any necessity why I should; it is
purely an anonymous criticism on an anonymous piece, and upon a re-perusal I
find it contains nothing of personal or party abuse, nothing illiberal or injurious
to the character of any person, nothing but what seems naturally to have arisen
from the subject treated of; if the author has failed in his attempt to expose the
inconsistencies of a piece, which Mr. Bland believes to contain none, surely he
might have said and proved this without descending to personalities, sure it be-
came him less than any man to return an answer full of rancour and abuse, after
having expressed such an abhorrence of that mode of contest as to threaten to
withdraw his subscription from any paper that should ever in future be stained
with it. To call a man a dunce, a puppy, or an ape, because he writes ill, are
inferences that had always better be left for the readers to draw, who will judge
for themselves, and are seldom in these things disposed to take the word of an
irritable antagonist. How far, then, Mr. B on this occasion, has acted consist-
tently with the character of a gentleman and a clergyman, is left to the impartial
public to determine. That the cool hour of sober reflection may soon arrive,
when, divested of intemperate warmth, he shall himself also be able to examine
his conduct by this standard, is the sincere wish of, Mr. Pinkney, your very
humble servant, J. BRACKEN.
An ANSWER to the EPIGRAM on LECTUM.
IF those, who have no more concern
Than Lectum, Ma’a,m, in this debate,
Are mad in meddling, we may learn
The true condition of your pate. L.
LONDON, January 19.
IT is a determined point not to repeal any of the acts against America, but to proceed
to vigorous measures.
It is certain that six men of war, with two regiments on board, are going to
America.
All the officers belonging to the regiments in America are ordered to join their respect-
tive corps without delay.
The report yesterday morning was, that bills of attainder are to be passed against the
Bostonians,
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It is said that a petition from the American merchants will be presented to-morrow to
the house of commons.
Circular letters are said to be sent to the members of the house of commons to give their
attendance on the first of next month in the said house on some important affairs.
At a meeting of the West India merchants yesterday at the London tavern, Mr.
Beeson Long took the chair: The business of the meeting was opened by Mr. Rose Ful-
ler, who concluded with making a motion for the petition. This motion was opposed,
first by Mr. Wellet, on the strength of a letter from New York, from the contents of
which it was inferred that a petition would be altogether unnecessary. But this letter
appearing to have been written by a young gentleman, who, at the time of writing,
had been only five days resident on the continent, and if it contained any thing worthy
notice, it could be only the sentiments of a creature of government on the other side of
the water, the same was voted as of no consequence. Mr. Aitkenson next spoke against
the petition, as improper, and being meant to recommend to the consideration of parlia-
ment what parliament would certain themselves; but this argument being very
ably refuted afterwards, and some little alteration made in the form of the petition, the
motion was then put, and carried by a very considerable majority.
Some cannon belonging to the nay have been seized at Newport, in Rhode Island,
and drawn to Providence, in the said island, by the inhabitants. The admiral,
fearing this would happen, sent the Roseman of war for them; but the answer of the
people was, “we have taken them away to prevent their falling into the hands of our
enemies, and we shall use them in defence of ourselves and our neighbours.”
This morning colonel Prescot, lately arrived from Boston, in New England, had
the honour of a conference, at the queen’s palace; he was attended by the eal of
Dartmouth.
The Somerset man of war, that sailed from home with the Asia and Boyne for Bos-
ton, has not been yet heard of since she parted company in the Offing.<.p>
Letters from Toulon advise, that two men of war of the line, and three frigates,
with troops on board, are ordered to sail from that port for the West Indies with all
expedition.
Yesterday a messenger arrived with some dispatches from sir Jospeh Yorke, at the
Hague, which were send to his majesty at the queen’s palace: And this morning
Count Welderen had a conference with his majesty and lord Rochford, on the subject of
the above dispatches.
Yesterday there was a very numerous and splendid court at St. James’s, on account
of its being appointed for keeping her majesty’s birth-day; their royal highnesses the prince
of Wales, the bishop of Osnaburgh, prince William Henry, prince Edward, a great
number of nobility, and all foreign ministers were present. The court did not break up
till past five o’clock; at night there was a ball.
The Speedwell, Clark, from Maryland, is arrived in Bristol, after throwing
overboard 120- bushels of wheat, and 80 barrels of flour,
The 31st ult. a large ship, burthen 300 tons, called the Martin, of and for
London, from Virginia, John Clark master, laden with 463 hogsheads of tobac-
co, and 10,000 staves and handpikes, struck on a ridge of rocks near Lenoy
Point, in Freshwater West Bay, to the eastward of Milfordhaven, and stranded.
The ship and cargo are entirely lost, except a few hogsheads of tobacco, which
are wet by the salt water, and a quantity of staves, sand some of the rigging and
pieces of the ship. The captain, mate, and eight men perished; seven men
were saved by the ship’s long boat, and conducted to a Stackpole court, the seat of
John Campbell, esquire, where proper care was taken of them .<./p>
January 20. This day at two o’clock lord Chatham having come down to
the house of lords, the greatest part of the commons immediately attended, and
the croud was so great before three that the doors were shut. The American
papers, exactly correspondent to those laid before the commons the preceding
day, being presented, lord Chatham made a speech which took up one hour and
a quarter in the delivery, highly arraigning the conduct of administration respect-
ing the colonies. He concluded his speech with moving that the troops now
stationed at Boston might be withdrawn.
A debate now ensued, which continued till after 8 o’clock, in which the
lords Suffolk, Lyttleton, Shelburne, Camden, Rochford, Rockingham, Gower,
Townshend, Weymouth, and his grace the duke of Richmond bore a part;
when the question being put, the members were declared as follows: For the
question 18; against it 77, including the proxies.
The house of peers is adjourned till Monday next.
Lord Mansfield was not at the house of commons yesterday.
They write from France that great preparations are making there to take the
most early advantage of the cod fishery on the banks of Newfoundland. The
merchants have applied for four large frigates more to protect their fishing ships,
which were immediately granted by the court, who are pleased with the progress
made in that fishery.
A few days ago died, at Birminghan, Mr. JOHN BASKERVILLE,
a very eminent printer.
Extract of a letter from Koningsburg, dated January 2.
”They write from Moldavia that 10,000 Turks are in full march to take
possession of Choczim, which has been restored to them by the Russians, accord-
ing to the late treaty of peace. It is said the Austrians form pretentions on that
fortress; so that we are impatient to know whether the Turks will let them
have it or not.”
January 26. Upon lord Chatham’s motion for a petition to the king for re-
moving the troops from Boston, lords Gower, Weymouth, and Rochford avow-
ed the settled intentions of government of compelling the Americans to the im-
mediate obedience of the legislature of the mother country.
A petition form the traders and manufacturers of Birmingham has been pre-
sented, praying that the legislative authority of the mother country over America
may be enforced,
Yesterday morning, tobacco of all kinds was raised two pence in the pound,
in consequence of the expected non-importation from America.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, January 24.
A petition from the merchants, traders, and other persons, of the city of
London, was presented by alderman Hayley, and petitions from the tradesmen
and merchants of Bristol were presented by Mr. Burke and Mr. Cruger, and
they moved that the same might be referred to <the committee appointed to take
into consideration the paper presented by lord North, by his majesty’s command
on Thursday last. To which an objection was made by William Meredith,
as that committee was appointed to take into consideration American papers only.
Upon which a debate ensued, and a division followed, 197 to 81 for committing
the papers to a committee appointed for the purpose.
GLASGOW, January 26.
Extract of a letter from London, dated January 20.
THIS day the house of commons met, pursuant to the last adjournment: the speaker
took the chair about two o’clock, when lord Barrington presented the list of the
captains widows; after which lord North presented to the house several bundles of
American papers, the title or which being read, they appeared to be extracts of letters
from the governors of the different provinces of Massachusetts Bay, New York, Penn-
sylvania, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, &c. to the earl of Dartmouth, and his
answers, their dates were from April, to the 15th of December, 1774. As soon as
the titles were read, Mr. Burke arose, and observed, that as no mention was made
of any letters from Maryland, he should be glad to know whether the deficiency of in-
telligence from that province proceeded from a want of correspondence, or from any po-
litical motive, and whether those papers were all the intelligence received from America.
Column 2
Lord North answered, by declaring that he had brought the papers in a bag, and that
he had not examined them, neither did he know whether there were any from Mary-
land or not; that if there were any, they should most assuredly be laid before the house.
As to the other papers, containing all the intelligence from America, he would not un-
dertake to say, as those he had then brought with him were only extracts of the facts
contained in the original letters; that the authors opinions were not mentioned, it having
been frequently found that the private opinions of people, being made public, had
been attended with bad consequences, therefore his majesty’s servants had determined for
the future never to mention the private opinion of any person.
Mr. Burke replied, that in some cases it might be proper to keep secret the private
opinion of a person, yet in so critical and alarming an affair as that of the Americans,
the opinion of a man in power on the spot must be of great service; he therefore was of
opinion that the whole of the information received from America ought to be laid before
the house, and not extracts of particular letters, such as suited the minister’s purpose.
Lord North then moved, that the said papers might lay on the table for inspection,
and that Thursday next be appointed for the whole house to go into a committee to consider
of the same, which was agreed to. There were yesterday upwards of 200 members
present.
”This day the house of lords met. Lord Dartmouth presented to the house several
American papers.
”The right honourable the earl of Chatham arose, and made a motion to ad-
dress his majesty for a repeal of all the American acts passed last sessions as the
only means left to save us from impeding ruin. His lordship spoke many hours,
and in a most elegant and pathetic manner lamented the distresses now brought
upon this country, by the tyrannical and arbitrary proceedings against America.
His lordship fully displayed that strength of argument and vigour of genius, which
shone forth so eminently in the great Mr. Pitt. The house was left sitting up-
on lord Chatham’s motion, and like to sit late.”
WILLIAMSBURG.
BY the last prints from England we find that the proceedings of the general
congress have had a strange effect upon the minds of the people in that
quarter. Some esteem and applaud them as a production of a most masterly na-
ture; whilst others, swayed by the influence of the ministerial party, and their
votaries, declare them not even worthy of notice; that the sentiments contained
therein spring merely from a distempered imagination, and that they are nought
but the effusions of wild, intolerable enthusiasm. But our wonder, on this account,
must immediately cease when we consider that America is not yet without her
enemies, who now reside within her territories; enemies, who notwithstanding they
are wholly and entirely dependent on her for subsistence, that would pleasingly aid,
if we may judge from their conduct, in showering every misery upon this unhappy
country. In the last English paper that we have received are the following para-
graphs, from some of those pious and deserving advocates, who unfortunately re-
side in Boston, for the meek andgentle measures of administration; they are term-
ed authentic, and are addressed to persons of great consequence in England. “The
residence of the general congress at Philadelphia has entirely debauched the minds
of the people of that place, who were heretofore the last to make objection to
any measure of government, but are now as violent as any other of the colonies.
I am informed by a gentleman, in whom I can confide, that ever resolution
of the congress will be strictly adhered to. No place on the continent has shwen
so great an inclination to disobey the dictates of the general congress as New
York.
The Provincial congress thought it prudent to decamp after the arrival
of the Scarborough and Asia, and are removed to Worcester from Cambridge.
The proceedings have been kept so close that nothing has transpired but what
they have put in the papers themselves.
“Associations are forming in several towns in the country by the well think-
ing and better sort of people for their defence, who have been, till now, obliged
to do just as the rabble dictated, very contrary to their own sentiment.
Our good general has his hands full; you are not unacquainted with the
people he has to deal with. If they are suffered to go on, adieu to all happiness
in this; but surely the lion will be roused at last. Notwithstanding their boasted
numbers, a determined frown will even make them tremble.”
Captain Lulk of the Spiers, in eight weeks from Galsgow, is arrived in
James river. He informs that the Bowman, Taylor, got home in 28 days
passage.
Died, at Hampton, Mr. JAMES BALFOUR; he was deemed an honest,
worthy gentleman.
We could not possibly insert any new advertisements this week; but they
shall most assuredly be properly regarded in our next.
We hope our customers will excuse us for giving them a paper of so small a
size as the present. It will not long be the case; for in a few weeks we expect
to receive a fresh importation, of the usual size, from Philadelphia.
THE freeholders of York county are desired to meet at the courthouse on
Tuesday the 25th instant(April) to elect delegates to represent them the
ensuing year.
DEAR MR. PINKNEY,
IF you consider the fondness of a parent for his children, thought ever so home-
ly, you will certainly indulge me with one opportunity of defending three of
my criticisms against the barbarous assaults of that cruel enemy Lectum, especi-
ally when I promise you not to be very tedious.
He attacks what I have said, on the word emotion, with too arguments. The
first is, that when the mind is affected, the body participates, as he calls it, of
that affection, and therefore, emotions are purely muscular. Yhis, surely is to
confound the object with the image in the mirror, the cause with the effect, or
the workman with the instrument. It is as much as to say that, because the
signs of thought and consciousness may be discovered in the movements of a count-
terpane, therefore thought and consciousness may be attributed to the muscles,
without giving them any deeper origin.
His second argument is taken from this line, ”these rocks and oaks that such
emotion felt.” If emotion, in this instance, be not applied to the mind, because
rocks and oaks have no minds, then neither is it applied to muscles because rocks
and oaks have no muscles. But this gentleman will do well to explain how rocks
and oaks can feel emotions, if they be not supposed to have minds, as well as mus-
cles. The truth is, that in the figurative stile, when inanimate beings, when
rocks and oaks are said to feel emotions, when fields are said to laugh and sing,
and trees to wonder; or when abstract ideas are made to agree and discourse, they
are all spoken of as if they had minds as well as muscles; and no wonder, since
they are brought upon the stage, not under their own, but a borrowed character.
If he wants farther satisfaction concerning the distinction between emotion and
motion, there is a chapter on each in lord Kames, with one on the external
signs of emotions and passions , to whom I refer him. If he thinks this too much
trouble, he may, perhaps, be convinced of his mistake by reading in Johnson
the line following that he has quoted,
He says I deceived him in sending him to the barber to gain conviction that
two blockheads are better than one, and yet he proves the contrary; for, accord-
to his own account he must have acquired, by consulting the barber, what I
promised him. Observe, that by consulting the barber, he discovered that log-
gerheads and blockheads are very different things. Since then he could not have
made so useful a discovery without laying his head to the barber’s, he must be
convinced that two blockheads are better than one. And this conviction must
have arisen from his consulting the barber. Q. E. D.
Page 4
Column 1
He reproaches me with an inconsistency in supposing him to be both angry and
funny in the same piece. Now if he will reflect upon his first composition, and
can be made sensible of what he does when he writes, he will find that he has,
in some parts of this composition, made use of the language of rancour, and in
others of the language of merriment, and therefore the inconsistency, if any
there be, is his own. But for a proof that other minds, as well as his, may be
actuated at the same time, even by opposite passions, I refer him to Spencer on
mixed passions, to the conversation between old Shandy and Obediah on the un-
expected incident of a mare’s foaling a long eared colt, to death, as described by
Milton, when he grinned horribly a ghastly smile, to Gray’s representation of
school-boys out of bounds;
Still as they run they look behind,
They hear a voice in every wind,
And snatch a fearful joy,
and to a thousand other philosophers, poets, and historians.
I beg my most profound respects to Censor; I cannot indeed make him out to
be consistent with himself, in pronouncing me to be mistaken in my talents as
a critic, and in allowing, at the same time, both that I may shine in my own
eyes, and that in so doing I accomplish all that I aspired to, or expected from
my talents as a critic. But I think him perfectly right in every thing he ad-
vances, except in this single point wherein I myself am concerned; and in this
I am not very positive, since an author of such eminent penetration may possibly
be very accurate, though I am not able to comprehend him. If all the writers
whom he has censured will allow as much as I have done, he will certainly be
satisfied, as far as he can receive satisfaction from a full proof of his superiority
to such writers. I by no means desire to enter the lists with so respectable a per-
son; I vie not with him in discernment. So far from being willing to make
any opposition to him, I heartily wish him success in his grave and truly com-
mendable attempt to extinguish the dull constellation by his matchless lustre;
I heartily wish him success, I say, even at the expence, if it were any of my
being accounted the dimmest star in the whole collection. B. B.
MR. PINKNEY,
HOW remote from truth, in ascertaining the author of Rigdumsunnidos,
your testy correspondent CENSOR is! I swear it is enough to sicken Mo-
mus himself to hear of such impertinent curiosity, and palpable folly. However,
I must not laugh, it seems. I therefore beseech you, Madam Gravity, to take
the charge of my risible muscles, as I am about to address myself to Mr. CEN-
SOR; the solemn, didactic, admonishing Mr. CENSOR.
But first of all, Mr. Pinkney, let me ask you if you ever came across a species
of modesty so endearing as that which it appears Mr. CENSOR is endowed with?
Like a dear, unassuming creature, he has determined the excitements of all the
readers of the piece signed Rigdumsunnidos by those spontaneous ones of his own.
For he says, “the author of Rigdum seems to be the only person whose risible
faculties are excited at the performance.” This is not clear, by the bye. Do
not I know that a reader of your’s., nay an author of your’s, the facetious Lectum
Iri, rendered it the tribute of a laugh? A circumstance which at this moment
keeps me from sinking under the heavy censures of this modern successor to the
elder Cato.
Another specimen of CENSOR’S very exemplary modesty is his boasted know-
ledge of Rigdum’s intentions in publishing his piece which, like an omnificent
CENSOR, he will not allow to be those which most people suppose, Do you know
Rigdum, Mr. CENSOR? Did he inform you of his real views in committing his
piece to the press: But pardon me, most learned, benevolent CENSOR, you know
every thing; that all pervading eye can see things, I suppose, which must still re-
main veiled to others.
Would you suppose, Mr. Pinkney, that this eighth wonder of the world, this
solemn, argumentative writer, when he issued out his critique on those unfortu-
nate pieces which set his gall a boiling, fell into a sort of inconsistency? It is
even so. Hear it Lyne and McCarty, CENSOR is not infallible; for this second
Julius Scaliger speaks of the piece signed Rigdumsunnidos, like Palas (food
for your criticism) sprung from his parent’s brain without the assistance of ano-
ther living creature. That beautiful and chaste picture, where the brilliancy of
a certain genius is represented as begetting on the pleasantry, &c. the satiric Rigdum-
sunnidos must therefore fall to the ground; as it has nothing to lean on but the
rotten props of your imagination; and though the story has received the stamp
of your excellent wit, to give it currency, yet it wants the fiat of truth to take
off that baseness which must forever accompany it.*
Censures, when they have no truth to rest upon, bear a most striking resem-
blance to calumny; but who can suspect this CENSOR GENERAL of VIRGINIA
of that Hell-born vice ?
I thank your compositor for having contributed towards the birth of that re-
markable scintillation of wit which appears in the first line of CENSOR’S per-
formance, and which, irradiating the whole, bespeaks the most settled attention
of his readers. Though, some would say that none but cynical, snarling curs, could
imagine that I intended, in my first witty sally, to make use of the word visible
where CENSOR found it, yet as it has begot such a severe piece of satire, I am
very happy at the typographical mistake.
Poor Ragatella! how much you are to be pitied! And could not your piece,
with all its impartiality, escape the fangs of this fury of a CENSOR? But you
are no critic Rilly, that’s pos. CENSOR has said it; and what he says is fate.
For is he not the mouth of the learned and benevolent, as he very modestly takes
care to insinuate?
As for you, Mr. Lectum Iri, I hope you will pay no sort of attention to the
strictures of this most redoubtable CENSOR, and that you will make frequent
trips from that ultramundane habitation of your’s amongst us. For my part, I
have conceived a vast esteem for you, an esteem founded on the important service
you have rendered me, and many more of Mr. Pinkney’s readers, by adding so
amply to their fund of entertainment. What signifies the remarks of your four
sour dogs, like CENSOR, Mr. Pinkney? Give me always the dulce with the utile, sir;
give me Mr. LYNE with Mr. CENSOR.
Notwithstanding the authoritative tone of Mr. CENSOR, I can assure you,
sir, that the public derives the greatest entertainment from the free manner you
at present adopt in the management of your press. CENSOR indeed, in his fa-
mous admonition, is unwarily led to confess it; for he observes (when with his
usual modesty he elects himself prolocutor for the public) that you still have given
universal satisfaction; a compliment of most singular magnitude, Mr. Pinkney,
when we remember it comes from this crabbed author. It corresponds most
charmingly, too, with the first sentence of his performance, where he represents
your entertaining paper as a “vehicle for slander, and uninteresting ridicule.”
Surely this learned critic must sometimes be pleased with slanderous stories, or
was it for the sake of wit that he gave into such gross contradictions?
”To laugh were want of sense, and want of grace,
”And to be grave exceeds all power of face.”
How unfortunate it is that this satirist, by the ebullitions of his critical rage,
hath broke in upon the wonted lucubrations of our celebrated tribe of authors.
*The public will judge of Mr. CENSOR’S benevolence in dragging two ladies
before it, when I declare, upon my honour, there is not the smallest shadow of truth or
authority for such a conjecture. By the same species of evidence (that is, his own
groundless suspicion) Mr. CENSOR has hinted at a third person. A charming correc-
tor of our manners indeed!
Column 2
I protest I am afraid Mr. McCarty will be induced to cease hostilities with the
Scotch, and turn his pen against this unmannerly CENSOR, who has loaded him
with abuse that he could find no where but amongst his female namesakes, mem-
bers of the British fishery. Though it would dimmish any entertainment exceed-
ingly if my friend Charles should put a final termination to the war with the
Scotchmen, yet I own I shall be glad if he will take notice of this same Billings-
gate rhetorician, who, with unheard of effrontery, has termed him ascurrilous,
petulant patriot. Attend, Mr. McCarty, you are termed a petulant patriot, run-
ning over with vile scurrility.
- - - - - - - - “Ye Gods above,
“Who sit around the starry throne of Jove,”
How could you permit CENSOR to lift his unhallowed pen against the lau
relled Mr. Lyne? At him, Georgy; at him, though sweet Heliconian. A poe-
taster! O ye powers of harmony! Lynea poetaster ! racks and torments! wheels
and death! is Lyne a poetaster? Sooner shall I suspect the ingenuous Mr. CENS-
OR of building his censures on lies than the immortal Mr. Lyne of being a
poetaster! Adieu, Mr. Pinkney.
RIGDUMFUNNIDOS.
MR. PINKNEY,
BY printing the piece beneath you will oblige more than one of your
CONSTANT READERS.
THE PROVIDENT FAMILY. AN EPIGRAM.
ONE bottom leaves the crew to dip,
WHOM two would keep afloat;
This seamen know who quit the ship
For safety in a boat.
When on life’s sea, ourselves to save,
If we our best may do;
Why not provide to cut the wave,
With ship and long-boat too?
N. B. We place our dependence, strictly speaking on two ships, namely,
the t……….ship, and the c……….ship. But since one of them is mighty
small, in comparison with the other, and is also a vessel of a different construc-
tion, we take the liberty to call it our long-boat; which in the way of allusion,
we hope is allowable. To no honour or distinction do we so much aspire as to that
of being esteemed, O PUBLIC INTEREST! They truest servants,
THE DOUBLE ASSOCIATORS.
FRESH GARDEN SEEDS, &c.
To BE SOLD FOR CASH
AT JOHN CARTER’S STORE, IN WILLIAMSBURG.
CHARLTON”S early pease, golden hotspur pease, Nichol’s early pease,
dwarf marrowfat pease, egg pease, Leadman’s pease, short sugar pease,
Spanish morotto pease, very fine split pease, Windsor beans, and long pod beans,
white dwarf kidney beans, silver skin onion, orange carrots, rape and canary,
white mustard, white turnip, spinach, curled parsley and cresses, best cauliflower,
early Yorkshire cabbage, battersey cabbage, green savory ditto, red cabbage,
solid celery and dwarf celenack, round turnip radish, scarlet radish, salmon radish,
white coss, ciletia and imperial lettuce, white curled endive, preserved ginger,
orange peel and chips, white and coloured comfits, barely sugar, sugar’d almonds,
sugar’d barberries, best mangoes, pickled walnuts and samphire, capers, olives,
anchovies, figs, almonds in shells, hartshorn shavings, coffee, chocolate, Durham,
mustard, Prussian blue, vermillion, amber, Dutch pink, ground verdigrease,
linseed oil, barbers oil, mace, cloves, pepper, allspice, fig blue, powder blue,
starch, Hardham’s rappee snuff, number 9, iron and wooden coffee mills, best
white chapel and square pointed needles, womens, girls, and childrens stays,
white lustring, white sarsnet, black mode and black persians, black sattin,
crimson and white flowered sattins, blue, green, orange, and dove coloured
wide persians, pink, blue, green, and white, half-yard persians, white, black,
and crimson sattin cloaks, fine and coarse linens, lawns, and fine cambricks,
muslins, checked linens, bed ticken and bed ticks, a variety of womens, girls,
and mens gloves, fine and coarse mens hats, green silk umbrellas, weeding hoes,
and garden spades, &c.
N. B. All those whose accounts have been long standing are desired imme-
diately to give bond to the said Carter, or else writs shall be ordered out against
them without further notice.
WILLIAM COSBY,
WHEELWRIGHT,
BEGS leave to inform his friends and customers that he has not been able
to carry on his business to his satisfaction, owing to a tedious spell of
sickness, for these twelve months, but is now quite recovered, and hopes a con-
tinuance of their favours, as he is determined every thing in his way shall be
done in the best manner. He repairs carriages of all sorts, and furnishes the
different branches with iron work.
WILLIAMSBURG, April 5, 1775.
BEING appointed to collect the debts due to the estate of the late Mrs.
CLEMENTINA RIND, deceased, I desire all those indebted, whose con-
veniencey it may not suit to be here at the next meeting of the merchants, to be
so obliging as to send the money by some merchant, or other person, who will
attend at that time, and a proper account and receipt shall be returned by the
same hand to them, by their humble servant. JACOB BRUCE.
N. B. The amount of Mrs. RIND”S paper, from the first to her death,
is thirteen shillings and six pence.
THE members of the LOYAL COMPANY, or their representatives, are
desired to meet at Hanover courthouse about noon, on the 24th day of April,
next, and if any of the parties cannot attend, they are desired to write to me,
empowering those that do meet to act for them. Given under my hand, March
29, 1775,
2ꞗ THOMAS WALKER, agent.
YORICK,
IN full health and vigour, covers this season at the usual price and place.
Country produce will be received at market price, if delivered before the
mares are taken away, of which good care shall be taken, but no insurance for
escapes, by the public’s obedient, humble servant,
MOUNT AIRY)March 28, 1775.) JOHN WHELDON.
COMMITTED to the gaol of Middlesex two negro men, JAMES and
TONY: James is about 5 feet or 6 inches high, and Tony is about 5
feet 4 inches high. They say they came from Granville county, in North Caro-
lna, and belong to Mr. John Gordon, in Northumberland. The owner is desired
to prove his property, pay charges, and take them away.
3 JOHN CRAINE.
COMMITTED to the gaol of ESSEX a servant man, who says his name is
O’BRIEN ROZE, who, when taken up, said he belonged to one Cun-
ningham, but now he says he belongs to John Berrie, of Culpeper county. He is a
short, thick, well set fellow; his left leg sore. The owner is desired to come
and take him away, and pay charges. 3 JAMES EMERSON, gaoler.
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