Transcript for: The Virginia Gazette
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MAY 26, 1768.
NUMBER 888
The Virginia Gazette.
With the latest ADVICES, FOREIGN and DOMESTICK
In Civitate Libera Linguam Mentemque Liberas Esse Debere.—–Suet. in Tib. S. 28.
Printed by ALEX PURDIE, and JOHN DIXON, at the POST OFFICE.
MONACO, February 13.
By the treaty of peace with Corsica, it is said that the Genoese are to acknowledge that island to be free and independent; that the Corsicans are to evacuate Capraja, in favour of the Genoese; and that the port of Bonifacio is to be in a possession of the Corsicans, on condition of their making an annual payment to Genoa of 30,000 livres.
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LONDON, March 1.
From Leghorn we hear that seven of the Grand Duke of Tuscany’s gallies are fitting out there, which are to be well manned, in order to go on an expedition against te Barbary corsairs in the Mediterranean.
They write from the Hague that a triple alliance, offensive and defensive, is not forming in the North, between the Courts of Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia.
It is talked that two regiments of foot, on te Irish establishment, are soon to be embarked for North America.
Marc 5. When the post left Marseilles three Dutch transports were preparing to fail for Corsica, to bring ome the French auxiliary troops.
We are informed that some very interesting advices have been received this week from North America.
March 8. They write from Warsaw that the Marshal of the Confederacy of Grodno is retired to Rome, where he had taken the habit of a Monk, and is actualy preaching to the people on the affairs of Poland, exhorting them to undertake a croisade in defence of the Catholick religion in that kingdom.
His Majesty hath appointed William Young, Esq; to be Lieutenant Governour of Dominica.
March 10. Letters from Madrid advise that the Jesuits were carried off from Peru with the same precautions as those of the same order were from the other states of his Catholick Majesty, and that there were found in their college of Quito some interesting papers concerning the revolt which happened at Madrid on Palm Sunday in 1766.
A letter from Lancashire says: “To such a degree has faction raged ere that had all the ships in the adjoining river been men of war, and had bombarded the town, the windows and doors of every house, of both parties, could not possibly appear in a more ruinous and shattered state. But at Preston the scene is still much worse, wehre last week and unthinking mob (computed at 3000) entirely demolished and levelled several good and genteel houses, together with the Popish chapel. In other places, they have broke to pieces all sorts of household furniture; whereby great numbers of people in that neat beautiful town are not only reduced to the last extremity, but also several have lost their lives, and others are dangerously wounded and maimed in opposing them. Such are the dire effects of the present mode of election. On the whole, it is very difficult to guess which party in Lancaster will, at the General Election, prove victorious. At present they seem nearly on a par.”
They write from Petersburg that several ships of war are now building in ports of Ruffia for the French service, where also great quantities of naval stores have been bought up to be shipped for Brest and Rochefort.
They write from Venice that a private treaty has for some time been negotiating between the Republick and the States of Corisca.
They write from Leghorn that the States of Corsica having refused to enter into a treaty of peace with the Algerine, several corsairs have lately been fitted out, by order of the Dey, to cruise on the coasts of that island.
We hear from Edinburgh that great disturbances have happened in different parts of the kingdom on account of electioneering.
We are informed that the contest for Members to represent the city of London wil be the greatest that has been known for many years.
We hear that 200 l. were lately given, at a certain borough, in the west for 12 pair of leather breeches, and that 150 guineas were disdainfully refused for a groaning cheese.
March 12. A correspondent writes: “The condidtions of Mr. Wilke’s pardon, mentioned in the daily papers, are not true; for no proposal were made, or restraints aid upon him, further than a strict compliance with his own voluntary promises.” Our correspondent adds: “Toug Mr. Wilkes may have been too incautious in some of his writings, I firmly believe that such incaustion arose merely from zeal for the honour and service of his country, and that few in this kingdom possess a larger share of real genuine patriotism tan Mr. Wilkes.”
The bets run high at the west end of the town that Mr. Wilkes will be returned one of the Members for the city of London.
The following is a copy of one of Mr. Wilke’s hand bills.
To the Worthy LIVERYMEN of the city of LONDON.
Gentlemen, and fellow citizens,
In deference to the opinion of some very respectable friends, I presume to offer myself a candidate for my native city of London at the ensuing General Election The approbation you have been pleased, on several occasions, to express of my conduct, induced me to hope that the address I have now the honour of making to you will not be unfavourably received.
The chief merit with you, Gentlemen, I know to be a sacred love of liberty, and of those generous principles which at first grave, and have since secured, to this nation, the great charter of freedom. I will yield to none of my countrymen in this noble zeal, which has always characterized Englishmen. I may appeal to my whole conduct, both in and out of Parliament, for the demonstration that such principles are deeply rooted in my heart, and that I have steadily pursued the interests of my country, without regard to te powerful enemies I created, or the maifest dangers in which I must hence necessarily be involved, and that I have fulfiled the duties of a good subject.
The two important questions of publick liberty, respecting General Warrants and theSeizure of Papers, may perhaps place me among those who have deserved well of mankind, by an undaunted formness, perseverance, and probity. These are the virtues which your ancestors never failed to exert in the same national cause of liberty, and the world wil see renewed in their descendents on every great call of freedom and our country.
The nature and dignity of the trust, Gentlemen, which I know solicit, strike me very forcibly. I feel the warmest zeal for your interests, and affection for your service. I am conscious how unequal my abilities are, yet fidelity and integrity shall in some measure compensate that deficiency; and I will endeavour, through life, to merit the continuance of your approbation, the most precious reward to which I aspire. If I am honoured with so near a relation to you, it will be my ambition to be useful to dedicate myself to your service, and to discharge with spirit and affiduity the various and important duties of teh distinguished station in which I may be placed by the favour of you, Gentlemen, the Livery of London. I am with the utmost respect, Gentlemen, your most faithful and obedient humble servant,
John Wilkes.
London,
March 10, 1768.
The wife of a soldier in the guards having purchased a bed of a broker in Drury lane, in carrying it home on her head thought she felt something hard in it, and upon opening the seam to see what it was found 42 guineas and wo Queen Anne’s crown pieces.
The college of physicians at Paris have declared against inoculation, 32 voices against 23.
A quarrel having arisen between a celebrated Gentlemen in the literary world and one of his acquaintance, the latter heroically, and no less laconically, concludes a letter to the first, on the subject of their dispute, wit, “I have a life at your service, if you dare to take it.” To which the former replies, ending his epistle thus: “You say you have a life at my service, if I dare to take it; I must confess to you that I dare not take it; I tank my God I have not the courage to take it; but though I own I am afraid to deprive you of your life, yet, Sir, permit me to assure you that I am equally thankful to the Almighty Being for mercifully bestowing on me sufficient resolution, if attacked to defend my own.” It had the effect; it brought the madman back again to reason, friends intervened, and the affair was compromised.
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BOSTON, May 2.
The late Speaker of the House of Representatives has received a very genteel letter from the Speaker of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, in answer to the circular letter of the House written in the last session of our General Assembly, which got to Williamsburg in good time, as their Assembly was to fit in a few days. Their principles of liberty, it is said, are so well established, and the tendency of the late acts of Parliament imposing duties and taxes on the colonies are so manifest, as to leave no doubt but they will approve of the measures taken, and readily concur in the plan proposed, for the support of their constitutional rights. Their noble, timely, and spirited resolutions, in the year 1765, so satisfactory to the people of America, afford abundant reason for us ever to respect that province, and to speak of them in the same terms in which the Honourable Gentlemen is pleased so politely to mention this, “as a very vigilant and stedfast guardians of American rights.”
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NEW YORK, April 28.
Extract of a late letter from London.
“You may tell it publickly, from good authority, that our Gracious Sovereign is no way offended at the economy of the Americans, is much pleased that they should provide for themselves, and that no part of his subjects should be oppressed by other parts. No act of Parliament suppresses your Paper Money; but you are to be relieved by having a Bank, as they have in Ireland and Scotland. All due attention will be paid to any petition from the people by the Minister for the American department, and I hope it will not be in the power of a few to oppress and injure the whole. There has been strange confusion about Paper Currency: Some have petitioned for, others against it; and an American Gentleman, lately examined before the Lords of Trade, positively spoke against it.”
Extract of a letter from Montreal, April 16.
“Last Monday night, about 11 o’clock, a fire broke out in one of the upper streets, about the middle of this town, occasioned by a lighted candle being carried into the stable of Mons. Gaiffon. The flames took their course from near St. Lawrence’s gate, and went through the Provost’s, Mr. Grozier’s, Jacob’s, and the Black Sisters nunnery, raging with such violence that in about two hours upwards of 80 houses were consumed, and 107 families dislodged; and it was thought, had it not been for the Chateau, which was slated, and by that means stopped the fury of the flames, the whole town would have been consumed. The loss is not yet known, but I imagine it will amount to near 25,000 l. sterling.”
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PHILADELPHIA, May 5.
By Capt. Noble, from Glasgow, we have advice that the brig Peggy, Capt. Spier, was to sail from thence for this place about the latter end of April, with whom are coming passengers the Rev. Mr. Wotherspoon, President of the New Jersey college, and his family. Capt. Noble sailed from Glasgow the 3d of March, in company with the Anne, Howie, and Thistle, Kennedy, for Virginia.
Extract of a letter from London, Feb. 13.
“The Administration is now likely to remain settled for some considerable time. The Duke of Grafton is the cement of the whole; and though he hath neither many family connections, nor, what is still more necessary to one in his station, many Parliamentary ones, he possesses much of the publick esteem and confidence; and all acquiesce in his continuing to take te leade, which is somewhat singular, as he is yet a very young man.
“Immense sums are daily given to secure seats in Parliament, and it is reckoned tat not fewer than 30 or 40 Nabobs will get into the House this ensuing election; men who, in the East, by rapine and plunder, in most cases attended with the most shocking instances of barbarity, have suddenly acquired immense wealth. Such you will, perhaps, think not the most proper guardians of our constitution and liberties.
“The bill for continuing the restraint of East India dividends to 10 per cent for one year longer, is now past both Houses, though not without opposition. Mr. Dowdeswell, in the Commons, proposed, with a view to protract the matter, to refer te examination of the Company’s affairs to a select committee, but Lord North showed so clearly the expediency of the bill, and the absurdity of appealing to a committee, in a point wherein the House itself had already decided that the motion was dropped without a division. Indeed every disinterested honest man must see the propriety of this restraint, especially those who know and consider the precarious tenour upon which they hold their territorial revenues, which are collected by a metod that varies very little from military execution, and in which service our army there are employed in the field near 9 months in the year. Add to this the difficulty of investing these revenues (for they cannot be remitted in specie) and of converting their commodities into money, when the European markets are so glutted. Lord Clive hath of late been extremely ill, and set out about 3 weeks ago for Nice, as the only chance he has of prolonging his life.
“Last Monday I heard Lord North open the budget, which he did to the general satisfaction. It is needless to give the particulars, but there are to be no new taxes this year. We lesson the national debt a trifle, and borrow, by a loan, and a lottery, 1,900,000 l. at three per cent. He assured us tat we were, in general, in a very prosperous condition; that the present peace was like to be lasting; but that if contrary to all expectation, a fresh war should best condition possible, to exert ourselves with glory in the prosecution of it. Mr. Grenville, as usual, endeavoured to find fault, but to no purpose. His speech was unanimated and confused, and was plainly dictated by discontent and disappointment, though he affected to say he reckoned it an honour to be out of place; an honour, however, I dare say, e would wish very soon to be stripped of. In all his speeches, he never fails to bring in North America: In this he observed that after all the expense we had incurred during the late war, in ridding them of their enemies the French, the protection of the conquests we had made there cost us annually 500,000 l. a sum which; in our exhausted state, with such a load of debt, we were by no means able to bear.
“I see te commotions in Boston, and other places, are not yet wholly subsided, and that some over zealous patriots endeavour to keep up the ball of contention, by prompting the people to make publick resolutions against wearing our more expensive manufactures; resolutions in themselves by no means blameable, nor of real importance to the Mother Country, if they are not in a situation to pay for them. But why all this bustle about it, a just at this juncture, and just after the total repeal of te Stamp Act? I will freely give you my opinion, which is that nothing is to be apprehended from all this, for that the growing state of the colonies, both as to numbers of people and the extent of their settlements, will afford an ample field for the consumption of all the manufactures we can spare them (let them encourage manufactures among themselves as much as they would please) for a long period to come; and as to their allegiance, which some are apprehensive about here, that is secured by their natural connexion with and strong attachment to this country, as well as by their want of our protection, without which they are not in a condition to defend themselves against their and our common enemies. Am I, or am I not, mistaken?”
Extract of another letter from London, March 12.
“The Parliament was dissolved yesterday, and every body is engaged in electioneering, both in town and country. Wilkes is returned once more, and having obtained his pardon, as they say, and I am apt to believe, by the interest of the Duke of Northumberland, that he might not interfere with his son Lord Percy’s election for Westminster, is now a candidate for the city of London, and the cry of Wiles and Liberty is beginning to be re-echoed in our streets. I cannot tink he will by any means succeed, yet it is impossible to say what the majority of the Liverymen may accomplish.
“Bating the unavoidable bustle, occasioned by the elections, we are in a state of perfect tranquillity. No talk of the least change in the Ministry, or any material alteration of any kind, or in any department whatever. Lord Chatham remains in statu quo.
“The King’s speech, you see, is a very good one. I heard him deliver it, which he did, as he always does, with great propriety. He is much and deservedly beloved, for surely tere is not an honester or better natured man in his dominions; and, if some factious spirits do not interfere, I have no doubt but every thing will go on very smoothly. The great object is the reduction of the publick debt, and the encouragement of every branch of commerce, upon which the national credit wholly depends. I think things seem also to be somewhat composed in America. I cannot say what people, who take a partial view of either side of the Atlantick, may imagine; but this I am certain of that our prosperity and security depend upon our union, our firm and lasting union, let who will say to the contrary.
“Before next packet fails the elections will be mostly over. Much money will be expended, much riot will prevail, but there is no help for it: It is, in some measure, the unavoidable consequence of our liberty, which will every now and then run into licentiousness. But still, take us for all in all, we are the happiest nation this world ever contained; and I trust in Providence that though our publick affairs may now and then wear an unpromising aspect, and unworthy men may sometimes force themselves into power, yet I hope, before matters come to extremity, the nation will come to their senses, and not suffer a fabrick, the work of ages, and the envy of the rest of the world, to be materially injured. In this hope I for my own part remain, and am very happy.”
Extract of a letter from a Gentleman in London to another in this city, February 25.
“You will doubtless be informed, long before the receipt of this, of Lord Hillborough being appointed Secretary of State for America. The office is not likely to cintue long, and (from the present appearance) will be of little use to Great Britain at…”