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fiances, refulfced more from a want of energy'
in the Continental government, than a defi
ciency of means in the particular fta|C3,; that
the iuefijcacy of the wan£ ,
of an adequate authority in the
cr, from Mpartiai compliance with the requi- j
fftions of Congress in some of the fiates, and
from a failure of punctuality in others, while
they tended to damp the zeal of those who
were more willing te exert thetnfelves, serv
ed alfo* to accumulate the expences of the
war, and to firuftrate the belt concerted plans ;
*nd thatthe difeouragement occ'afioii'ed by the
complicated difficulties and embarrassments,
ir. which our affairs were by this means in
volved, would have long ago produced the
dissolution of any army less patient, less vir
tuous, and less than that I had
the honor to command.—But while I men
tion those things which are notorious fads 4
as the defers of our federal conftitutian, par
ticularly in the prosecution of a war, I beg
it may be underfiood, that as I have ever
taken a pleasure in gratefully acknowledging
the assistance and fttpport I have derived from
•very clals of citizens ; so lhall I always be
happy to do justice to the unparalleled exer
tions of the individual fiates, on many inre
refting occasions.
I have thus freely disclosed what I wiflied
to make known before I furremJered up my
public trust to those who committed it to me;
the talk is now accomplished ; I now bid adieu
to your Excellency, as the Chief Magifirate
of Vour state; at the fame time, I bid a lart
farewell to the cares of office, and all the
employments of public life.
It remains, then, to be my final and only
request, that your Excellency will communi
cate these sentiments to your Legillature, at
their next meeting; and that they may be
considered as the legacy of one who has ar
dently wished, on all occasions, to be ufefui
to his country, and who, even in the fiiade
of retirement, will not fail to implore the
divine benedidion upon ifi
I now make it my earned prayer, that God
would have you, and the state over which you
preside, in his holy protedion ; that he would
incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate
a spirit of fhbordination and obedience to go
vernment j to entertain a brotherly affection
and love for one .another, for their fellow-ci
tizens of the United States at large; and,
particularly for their brethren who have served
in .the field ; and, finally, that he would ntoff
graciously be pfeafed to difpole us all to do
juftice,’to love mercy, and to demean our
selves with that charity, humility, and pacific
temper of mind, which were the charaderi
ftics of the Divine Author of our blessed re
ligion ; without an Rumble imitation of whose
in these things, we can never#hope
to be a happy nation. ’ ' •
I have the honor to be, with much efteetn
and refped,.
Sir,
Your Excellency’s most obedient,
and most humble Servant,
. G. WASHINGTON.
ilis Excellency Benjamin Harri/on, Efq*
Governor of tbo State of Virginia,
O N D ON, March 18.
BY the last mail from France intelligence
was received (the authenticity as well
as the probability of which, however, is doubt
ed, that the French Court had received an
overland efprefs from India, with the im
portant advice, that in the beginning of De
cember last, on the arrival of the accounts
sent from England of a likelihood of a rupture
with France, the Governor of Madras took
dadden possession of Pondicherry.
It is further said, that authentic intelligence
has been received by administration, that Sir
Archibald Camp!.ell took Pondicherry three
days after the arrival o£the courier, who ear
ned the di [patches announcing the probability
of a war with France. How the French Ca
binet may rehffi this, we pretend not to fay ;
of the fad there is no doubt.
The Fiench are, from undoubted authori
ty fitting out a fleet of fix Jail of the line to
c, "* u/e the Mediterranean, the eufuing fum
mor. They are all ready to fail. This ju
te igenre has given alarm to administration,
w avc determined to be guarded against
any attempts in that quarter. It is likewise
•
>. strongly conje&ured that feme French men of
war arc about to fail for the Weft-Indies.
By private letters received onTuefday from
Flandere, we are informed that the famous
Blanchard is dead, and what is very extraor
, dinary, he died in bis bed.
We can airert, on pretty good authority,
that Mr. Haftings' trial will be farther poft
p«ned, Ihortly after the Court next meets
The lawyers in his imereti, have decided,
'that this it a very good tfay of making a 4e
f£nce'.
No day has yet appeared for taking into
confiderarion the petitions against the slave
trade ; the Livtrp3sf peoplehave a committee
now iff towji to conduct the couteft on their
part, 'fhd debates, it is supposed, will rather
be animated and pathetic, as etie&ua!, as po
licy is the opposing argument, and which is
the defendant cf fiavery both at home and
abroad. The argument, however', may be
briefly resolved into one plain quetiion—Are
any motives of policy fufficient to jutiify the
purchafc of our fellow creatures, and the use
of them a3 flares.? When that is autwered,
the debate is at an end;
Ever since Ivfr Pitt’s India Bill went over,
difeontent has been general in Calcutta. Lord
Cornwallis is apprehensive of an inlurreftion,
in conleqtience of the unpopularity of that bill;
and he finds that the company’* troops are not
a little infedetl withfhe geucral diflatisfadion.
Hehce he thought it neccflary to require a le
inforcement of the King’s troopsi
Robbery and house. breaking are arrived jo
an enormous pitch at Baris; a Angular cir
cumftancehappeiied not long fmce in the house
of a tiadefman in that city. Some thieves
ha<f cut a hole in the fliop door, large enough
to pass the arm of a man, so as to be able to
open the bolts. A person who Jay in the
tiiop, having watched their operation, quickly
provided himfelf with a tirong cord, and ve
' ry dexterously wound it so securely about?’the
wrist of the man who made the attempt, that
he could not draw it bark. The accomplices
on the out fide finding it impoflible to relieve
their companion, and allured that they must
bedifeovered if they left him in that fituatioh,
immediately cut Off the wretch’s head, threw
it into the river, and eleaped. The guard
palling by soon after, and finding the headless
tiuuk at the door, ordered it to be opened >
the fli'>pman not knowing what had pafled on
the outside, replied laughing,' that their com
rade might opeu it, for that his hand was
close to the bok. The guard then explaining
themfclves, the door was opened, and the
body earned to the bone-house.
Two of his Sicilian Majefly’s gallies, be
ing on a ciuize off Magadore, on\lie coaftof
Algiers, puifued and took a pirate of twenty
gun., and one hundred men, who had come
* of port ihat very morning.—The prize
■%s fentto Naples; and whilst the vetfel was
lving at the mole, under a guard of three
hundred a young nobleman then
bathing was seized with a cramp, and imme
diately funk*i» the presence of numbers, who
attempted notfihig for his relief. A Moor,
who happened to fetj this unfortuuate accident
from the gunwale of tf^pri ze, intiamly jump
ed into the water, fwanfc towards the place
wheie the nobleman went‘dbwn, and in his rife
caught him iu h.s arms, tie&a handkerchief
round his flioulder?, one encPtof which he
fatiened to- his own, and thus CTSjbarratied,
brought him fafe on lliors. Thefdrowned
person soon recovered, and was carried home
in his father’s carriage, which waited on the
bank. The Marquis de Palucchi, whose fun
was thus preserved by a Barbarian, would not
be outdone in generality. He immediately
went to the palace, and being introduced by
General Atton, an Engliih gentleman in the
King s service, fell on his knees, and begged
the liberty of the gallant Moor Your re
quest, replied his Majesty, is both reaLnabie
and humane; the Moor is your’s, and you
may dilpofe of him as you please. The re
mainder of the crew are mine, and perpetual
Haves by, the laws of war; but thef are free
fiom this moment. Ten righteous persons
would have saved Sodom from the wrath of
the Almighty ; and (hall not one gallant and
virtuous man, who has ritked his life for h:s
euemy, and refeued* fellow-citizen from im
minent death, merit eije pardon of a lew
companions from an earthly monarch ? Next
d jjL an order was publilhed for rcleafmg the
vdffel, which tailed for Algieis, amidst the
acclamations of the populace; aud byway
3 thanks saluted the palace with twtnty-fivA
and the city with twelve guns.
NEW-YORK, Jpril n .
ThtC HA RG E of bis Honor Chief Just ie/t
Morris, delivered to the Grand Jury, loft
IVtdnejday , at the City Hail .
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,
ALL offences committed within this city
and county, from treasons to trespasses, are the
objects of your enquiry ; and the Iheriff’s ca
lender will furnift you with those offenders
that are in custody, and their offences. The
late public tumults in this city, require yous
immediate and vigilant attention : Common
leport ascribes their rife to-fomevery indecent
aud impious plunder of dead bodies frona
then gtaves in the several church yards. If
tbii report is founded on truth, which un
doubtedly it is, you will readily account for
tin; releutmem that has seized tU minds of the
remaining relatives of such deceased persons.
* It is an apology for many indiferetions; but
gentlemen, our laws aie competent topunilh
any degree of guilt, an d a Vigilant and mi
nute enquiry by so refpedable a Grand Jury,
cannot tail to fix the offence upon the real of
tenders, that they may be brought to justice,
the laws of our country fatibfied, and the
minds of our good citizens quieted, in the
tuiiefl confidence that the allies of their rela
111C3 rest in peace in their graves.
Permit me, gentlemen, to press this bufi
nels upon you, and to beg it may be the firlk
bulineis you attend to, the peace and good or
der of the city being of the uiinoft importance
to evei;y good citizen.
I have the fulleti confidence, gentlemen,
that when the public are fatisfied that you
have undertaken thebufinefs, and that a care
ful and attentive examination will by you be
mauc > uneahneis will cease, and order will
he reitored.
When this Is gone through, it becomes
your cuty, gentlemen, to enquire into the late
not; and though it may be palliated in the
nrit stages of it, yet after every search waa
made to the withes of the people, the
attack upon the gaol, and the inlults offered
to the Magistrates, were altogether inexcu
table, and in their teudency threaten the very
tub vex lion cf Government*. You will there
ioie make it an object of your attention and
. : examination With tbefe observations, and
a feitett reliance on your vigorous exertions*
i dumifs you.
It is hoped that out houeft countrymen who
feei the nurdens of the present day, or com
plain of want of bulinefs, will apply them-,
leives with assiduity, to agriculture/ In Z
ciem times, Kings laid their feepters proftrato
. .° n earth > and tUf ned the tufted sod
Could we divest our minds of trifling views
■° f traA and condne ourselves to tillage and
manufacturing, we lhould at once become a
potent, great and independent people.
But uis in vain to will, for plenty or wealth,
while we difdam to guide the plough, and
lafeiy call the peafaut’s noble uAcf lervile and
meaui
How firange are ,h e viciffondes of life!
A gentleman from Sangate, in Vermont, in
forms us, that the famous Gen. Shays, (so
called) fronr the oommand of an army, is
now at that place, reduced to the humble em
ployment of making brooms for a livelihood.
AUGUST A, June 14.
Extraa of a le: terJr cm a gentleman in North -
C arohna to bis jnend in this town, dated
The Spanilh Ambaflador has presented
Congreis with a Memorial on Indian Affairs,
and fays << If the Georgians do not treat hi!
Mallei s friends, the Indians, with more ju
stice and humanity, bis Catholic Majesty will
- think himfelf obliged to interpose on their
behalf.” This I believe may be depended
on.”
From the Kentuckey Gazette of Jpril 4.
It is with the most- sensible concern we an
nounce to the public, the capture of three
boats on the Ohio, near the Big Miami, by
the savages. Familiarized as we have been
for ievcral weeks past, to murder and robbe
ry, at almost every point of our frontiers,
the fynipathy of all ranks has been excited
in au extraordinary degree by this deeply af
fecting catastrophe. Among tire paffengera
iu ihclc bbatSj i; w ith great 1 egret we men-