The Freeman's Journal or The North-American Intelligencer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 7

brttJ thofc under the crown only, fhould be refponfi. ble.t ban to give power where there is no will. In 1775, when lord North prefented to the houfe the Con ciliutory bill, he declared explicitly at feveral "time, that he would never, depart from it. Neverthelefs, this fame lord has' come to the houfe himfelf in 1778.. and there propofed a bill which Ihould be fent to lord Carlifle, and the other commiffioners in America, to make an offer to the Americans of their taxing themfelves.

As to a peace with that country, I do not think that it can be obtained this year, nor th next, nor fe ven years bence, nor even ig fifty, if the prefent fyt fem continues. The noble hrd dare not make peace he has allured this houfe, that' he would bring Americans to their knees, and he has not yet had undour enough to confefs that he was miflaken. Mr. Fox drew a picture of the different and contradictory filiations in which miniflry are. When the war with America, broke out, what was their argument Shall we give up the trade with America No, they could not think ofthat, the trade is too precious to loble but when it waslofl, the miniflers changed their I 1 1 1 iuiic, dii'j uicn, was oniy lor taxation tney lougnt.

Very foon. however both trade and taxation was abandoned, and then; the whole difpute turned on the independence of America, which they told us, we could not give up 011 any pretext known; after all this, we muft yet grant them independence. Mr. Fox fighed, to.thiuk that the war rriufl be continued, that the poor mud be fruflsated in the means of fupporting themfelves by their induftry, and the rich deprived of eafe and pleafore of life. In fliort, he look'd up o.i every tax impofed in cohfequence of the war, as a robbery made the public.

He finifhed his long and warm fptech, by obferving, that the war with America would never SniCi whim the prefbr fyflem was continued. Bur the moment in which that fyflem changed, good to both countries would refult from that change. l'i a word, he declared, that this war was fo unjuffin its principles and abfurd in the purfuit, that it mu.l be. ruinous in its confeouences. aricfrrinfennpiitlu mnnU vote, that the quefiion might be taken agaiii into con lideration.

a mr. ujrney.s morion wjs rejected the nth ol this month, Fox, who had announced ons' pretty fimilar, made another fprtih, of which we lhall give the fubflancr it. may be Lck'd upon a a commentary on lord Cornwall's letters, aixJ a continuation 6f the Erfl of 'his u'ar. WHEN Mr Ha ley's mcfion.was rejected, fjys he, by a plurality of votes, the objection which decided its fate, relied on the fuppofition, that on the moment inv: which' that great que'liou was agitated, it was prubibly decided in America, by a compleat victory over the rebels lord George Germaine declared pofitively, (hat the victory was fignal, dccifiVe, and that hecrcpettcd the pjrticuhrs therefore determined that war fliould be continued, to which that victory mufl put a fpeedy period. Thefe expefted particulars are arrived, they are depoiited in an authentic paf er even in the court gizette i Let us take view of if, we have the courage, if we can up port the frightful view of accumulated difappointment, of fruitlefs malfacres, impotent valour and perfever ance at the laft gafp I dare not1 fay, that this pretend eJ Guilford victory carries In its forrowful confe q'uenres every mark of the moft decilive defeat, not to fayjJire" difgraceand flume, I dare not fav the hrav Cornwallis fled.

He would die with grief, was he ever to learn that this houfe. refouncfid with that word con fecrated todifgrace No, that bra ve officer did not Hie he conquered he planted the royal flnndnrd on the field of battle, But if he had been vanquiflied, what wcrfe could poffibly have happened him than what has? He did not run, but he found himfelf under the dreadful and mortifying neceffity of "retiring with fome precipitation hitlory does not furnifhany exairple that I know of, where a conqueror, in the moment of victory has been obliged turn bis back to the to give up all the sd images which he owe to, his bravery and food conduct. Lord Cornwallis was rpfprvM for the misfortune of fumifliiiig tint example to pof terity? he did hot fly, but in fine, if he had been va quiflied what would he havedone? He would havequit the field of battle, ind approached the fea fhore precipitately, where he might expert find an afylum and fome fuccours that is precifely what he has done his victorious army abandotied the field of battle he renounced every ulterior object of his expedition, and retired in hale to the fea fide, to put himfelf under the protection of our fleet I But lord Cornwallis did not flie he conquered he planted the king's flandard the field of battle: it is himfelf who informs us of all thefe ctrcum f.ances: he fays he has jufl gained a fignal victory, but by the word lignal he does not mean profitable or de cifive that officer, as judicious as brave, does not confine bimfelf to a barren relation of the affair at Guilford pi UPS us At a fnmnlmf uiom nf his iivii VI 1110 Jl i 4 tron paft, prefent and to come in laying before our eyes a plan of the expedition with which he was charged he invites us to examine it, and calculate the mafs of advantages or difappointments which probably might or fliould refult from it. His great object was to penetrate into North Carolina, there to protect the uiivi tu.tii uii ujjwriuui'jr ur riling in favour of government; he does not fay who gave him reafon to hope (it i. eafy to fee thatfuch information, piuficome from the miniflry) that he fhould find in that province legion of loyalifis ready to draw themfelves up under his colours, but he gives us ta under iland that he had hopes of it.

I reckoned, fays he, on numerous friends, but I found only timid friends, and tebels whofe hatred i inveterate; two hundred unfortunate men had either more courage or more lin cerity, they ventured to unite with us, endeavoured to join, with us, they were intercepted, cut in piece, and roaflacred in cold blood It is evident that when the minifler affured us, when the dangerous deferters aflured U9 at the bar of the houfe that we had, efpeci ally in the fouthem provinces, nine tenths of the inhabitants for us, the minifler was deceived, the defert. ers deceived us. What do we fee in the other parts of the picture which lord Cornwallis prefent to us? an enu reration of numberlefs obflacles which we have been told an hundred times exifls in every part of Ame rica, and which are invincible they do not arife from the difpofition of the minds of the people only, they exift ill ihings inanimated, ad much as in minds the highefl exalted by the love of liberty and independence; a river, a wood) a rock, a marih, a hill, a ravine at every ftep bravery finds a hew op bofition, prudencd finds new gulphs, victory itfelf finds a new precipice from all thefe obflacles united, arifes the moft dreadful' of all. Famine flies after flops her in the rapid courfe, flamps the pallid feal on thefrontof thevanquilher, apd forcing him to a re trogade march (6 fefk bread elfewhere, gives him the appearance of being defeated in the midft of the moft glorious purfuit Where were thofe friends, whofe (olid afliflance was prbmifed to the conqueror of Guilford If they were too timid to appear with arms in their hands, they might at leafl have offered to their war riors, to their deliverers, a part of their fubfiflance They coujd not have been in a Mate of want, for general' Green, with an army more numerous than ours, found means. to fubfifl amongft them.

Not a morfel of bread, nor a fack of flour; our good friends the roy alifls kept every thing for themfelves and for their in veterate enemy the rebels. Lord Cornwallis fays, that in the midft of their excellent friends, hU troopa wanted bread during two days. Arid men'dare, for fo mi ny years, infift that fuch a war fliould be kept up and they are not yet tired of repeating it 1 Let us examine quickly the curious arguments which have been from tiie commencement of this deflf uctive fyflem produced for the fujJport of it. Let follow the chain 6f in confiflencies and abfurditic, in thecourfa of five or fix feffious, haveferved as lafis to the resolutions of both hoofes. In the firfl inftance th.it America fhewed he refiflance by darks of a reflected firmnefs, they faid flie would, not dare to refill: It is fufficient to oppofe firmnefs to her obfiinacy a few regnlir troops lor thefe undifciplined colonies without 3rms It iflftirficient that this uatractable continent preceives in the metropolis, a ferious infdrition of adopting coercive meafures towards them.

They tryed the experiment a handful of rrrn were fent, who could not undertake any thing the next fiep was forefeen becaufe it was natural, they embarked 1 more confiderable force, and in taking thefe hoflile meafures, negociation' was" J10lnp'eed finejwprds bayonets, cannon, equally ineffeclual the noble lord in the American department, promhed us to bring the rebels to unconditional fubmiflioii that promife is to fulfil: they fent offgeneril Gage, telling him, you will be warrior or negociator as occafion lhall require; the forces which they gave him at the fame time, were infufficient for the purpose, and too much to regain confidence Gage was as unfortunate in negociation as he was in pitch'd battles The new fninilter undertook itHe would have a more active general, he chofe general Hjwe he tried his forces but was repel'd, (hut up in Boflon, and in fhort; obliged to evacuate that place This try them with thofeprovinces; they faid that it was a mrer ritfrfery of rebels, the mofl intractable of the whole, and the to be taken into hand. That thofe of the middle were not fo obfiinate, that nine tenths of their inhabitants were loyaj fubject3, attached Mo the country, and we muff begin there our beit friends had thertfore the preference, wria the affair in queftion was, to cut people's throats; they did not feemfatisfied with tha predilection, they were found to be as rebellious as thofe to the northward, and Ibwe' could not beat them they harrafs'd him with fo much perfeverance, that having forced him to fhut himfelf up in NewYcrkr they never fuffer'd him to take an inch of ground in that province where his fuccelfor is to this day confind! to the fame limits; they took Rhode Ifland, but what did they do with this conqueft That is a quefiion we muft afk M. de Rochambeau i Difgufled with the middle colonies as we were with the northern, there wa nothing left but to try thofe to the fouthward with fixed bayonets, and the point of the fword, no converts are made, the major part of the inhabitants of Georgia and South Carolina were not bro't back to their allegiance, but part of them were fubjuga ted, they took poffeffion of the two Caroli nas, in the laft of which they formed the project of fubjugating North Carolina alfo, by the afliftance of the numerous friends which we have there they made tht atteropt, they penetrate with difficulties, with infinite loffes into that province; lord Cornwallis, thera plants the king's flandard, gains a fignal victory, and is afterwards quite aftoniflied to find himfelf furround ed by tiimid friends, or by iuveterare rebels to fee his troops in want of bread, of every thing neceffary for their prefervation, and forced to give up every object of his expedition from the general plan of the campaign, he goes to find broad on the fea fide, where he hopes to draw from our fleet, the fuccour and protection which he ftand in need of. He abandons the theatre of his glory, leaves all hi3 pofls behind him, as well as the brave men to whom he had entrufled their defeace, to the mercy of the enemy. In a word he does not but he difappeai 5 in the very moment of victory I And they talk of fiill continuing the war, of purfuing a con; quefl, the impoffibility of which is raanifefied in proportion to the eiForts which are made in that purfuit Let us frankly acknowlege that America never will be conquered by the force of arms, let us confefs once fcr all that it is lofl to us.

Terrible truth. Alas! I hae foretold it an hundred times an hundred times I had the fecret fatisfaction to find that my predictions were not inerFectual, and mjr arguments carried conviction to the mind of every member that heard me to day again I enjoy the fame triumph, I fee clearly that I perfuade every member thinks as I do, I will not except the noble lord in blue riband, I will not even except the other noble lord, who prefides at the American department: but if they do not agree, all is lofl, the majority which fupports them will never agree to it. But ihey will afk me, when they agree to all this, to what doe my motion tend Will you pretend to fay that becaufe the Americans cannot be reduced as eafily as we imagined, we muft acknowledge their independence, and purchafe peace at that prjee? To that I anfwer, that it would be purchafing it cheap, as I look upon America as loft: I will not, however, motion I fliall juft confine myfelf to a propofal, that the Houfej in a committee, make a ferious enquiry re fpecting the war with America and if, by the refult of that enquiry, it ihould appear evident to this Honfe, that the war i impracticable, that it is absolutely without any object, that it cruelly torments England, then I fliall propofe, That there be prefented to his Majefty an humble addrefs, order to fupplicate his Majefty foioflrua his miniflers, that henceforth they aW meafures towards America, than thofc Uad to the eftabliftiraent 0f peace betwean tha nentandGreat rn "a lflcoau. My propofitioo differs eiTentially from What made by colonel Hartley, theobjeit of whichwa co fined togive to miniflry a power which was not fecSS jd by their w.U tlut of making peace. Mine fe' It on tem, ai a duty, independent of their will iVs tentions." wr After a long debate, the quefiion being put tji' appeared 99 for it, and 172 againftit.

ere Philadelphia, Sept. 29. By a perfon who left Williamfbu'rg about the 20th inO we are informed, that lord Cornwallis had evacuate Gloucefler, and. only occupie at prefent the Boft.f Vork thathe had fortified the place with fuch m3 rials as.be could collect, and had banifhed 3conegrn, from ihe it was fuppofeeffor want of prSviJ oni to fupport therri. We expert the moft iritereftinJ erWices trom that quarter, as his excellency general Wafliington with the land forces was vvithn three rrnV.

of York feven days ago. By a letter, dated Woodbridg Sept. zS, we learr that the Bntifli army, faid to confift of between and 6ooo men were encamped Staten Ifland, with a freat nuriiber of light waggon, boats, 4 c. indicating tome fudderi movement, not improbably toward thucity as pi uuder and conflagration are doubtlefs their main objects. Whatever they mean, it it certainly ouf duty to meet them as near as poffible to to their own CrounJ' LONDON June 7, 1781.

Our coafling trade is fo diflreffed by our numeroui and increafing enemie that a project has been lately ftt 0.1 foot by the miniftry, and levels are now taking for digging canals throughout the kingdom of a fize fu ficient to carry veflels from 60 to 70 tuns burden. It ii hoped the Spanifh, French, Dutch, and American vateers will not have the impudence to cruize on thefe canals when finithed for if have of the fea, they may furely claim fome right to frtih ter in the, heart of their kingdom "Anecdote. At thebreaking out of the prefenrw with the French, and their joining the Americans, Sr Jofeph Yorke meeting the French ambiffador at the Hague, cenfured his court for interfering in ihe dif" pute, and taking fo ungenerous a part von hav' been guilty of adilhonourable art, fays he, that is unpardonable, no lefs than that of debauching ourdiugh ter." forry," replies the French arobaffador, that your excellency fhould put fuch a fevere con flrurtion on the matter (he made the firfl and abfolutely threw herfelf into our arms but rather than forfeit your friendlhip, if mitrimonv willm' any atonement, we are ready to art honourably and marry her." I. A Letter from Mr. R.

Smith, comrmfHoner of the la'e chamber of accounts, addreffed to Dortori Morgan and Rufti. The Citizen's Reply to the Con flitutiouifl, Ice. in our next but! the MILITIA, now being under marching orders, it is we fliall publifli on next Wednefday. The Printer and all his Workmen, are ordered to march forthwith. PUBLIC NOTICE is hereby given, To the FREEMEN of the City and County of PHILADEL I A.

THAT a GENERAL ELECTION is to be held for the city and county aforefaid at Philadelphia, Germantown and Jacob Wentz's, on Tuefday the uinta day of October next the eleition to be opaned bet ween the hours of ten o'clock in the morning and two o'clock in the afternoon, at which places the electors of the city and county are to ch'ife Two perfons forfheriffs, Two for coroner, and one commiffioner. The county to elect one councellor, and nine rcjit fentatives in general aflembly. And the city of Philadelphia five reprefentatives in aflembly, two commiflioners for the uretts and twq wardens. rvna tne conuaoies or tne city ana couoty are re quired to hold elections in their refpertive wards and townfhips on Saturday the fixth day of Ortober next, to elert townlhip and vard afleflbrs and infpeitors, to attend in their refpertive diftrirtsat the faid general elertion which infpertors when met, are tochoofefor each diflrirt three tit perfons for judges of left ion." WILLIAM WILL, Sheriff. September tt, rSr.

ALL perions inUebied to the Univerlity on account of rent, payable in Specie or Wheat, are hereby notified, that unlefs the amount of the faid rents be mid to rh fnhfrrilvr. nn rr before the firfc day of October next, they will be pro ceeded againfc as the law directs. ARCHIBALD GAMBLE Philadelphia, Sept. 7, 1781. THE Subfcriber informs his friends in particular, and the public in general, that he has opened a coa venient LIVERY STABLE, the fecohd door above Arch Street, on the eaft fide of Fifth Street, for the pur pofa of accomodating gentlemen in the way of keeping p.s, on the moft reafonable rates.

Helikewife hires out HORSES and CHAIRS, He flatters himfelf tbofe gentlemen who may pleafe to favour him with their cuitom, fliall have no caufe of complaint, as he means to give his whole attention, ana make it his ftudy to conduct it in the beft manner poffible. The public's moft obedient humble fervant, WILLIAM DAVIDSON. Philadelphia, July 17, 1781. N. B.

A Number of HORSES, for fale. Enquire as above. 1 A XT vv n. xi 1 lj is, An Middle aged woman who would undertake the cooking and care of a kitchen in a tavern. Enquire of the printer.

None need apply but fuch as can be well recommended ctf.