The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal. [volume], April 07, 1774, Image 2

About The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal. [volume] (Boston [Mass.]) 1772-1775

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Lonpon, January 26.
Cvncife Summary of I' rid ay’s PROCEED
INGS in toe HOUSE Of COMMONS.
AT three quarters past three o’* lock, the
Speaker took the Chair, when Lord Bar
ing cn In ought in the ellimates tor the army
iu.d Sir Charles Cooke the ellimates for the
Ordnance.
Mr. Grieve then acquainted the houie, that
this day he lhould bring in the fame bill he
did last year, “ not to remove the poor from
pariiht.s unull they become chargeable. Ihe
Speaker then left the chair, and the whole
houie went into a committee of supplies, Sir
Charles Whitworth in the chair.
Mr. Buller made the following motion,
That it is the opinion of this committee, that
20,000 seamen, including 435+ n,ar ‘ l,^ rs »
will be necefiary for the service of the prelent
year.” Mr. Buller then said, that he was sorry
that it was really necefiary for so great a num
ber this year, but that next year a much ftnal
ler number would be fufficient, as the fleet ut
the East Indies were returning home, which
confided of fix Ihips.
Mr. Sawbridge said, that every year we were
told the expence of the preceeding year would
be less, but he had remarked this year was the
fame as the lad ; that the number of seamen
were double whatufed to be kept in time of
peace ; that lad war, when we were at the height
of glory, when we were the terror of our ene
mies.we ftopt fhort,andmade a disadvantageous
peace, and had ever since supported that peace
with a war edablilhmcnt.
Lord North said, that we were not to regu
late our condutt by any former peace; that a
chief reaion of the annual expence had been
owing to supporting a fleet in the Eall ladies,
where provilions were much dearer than any
where elfr, but the eftablilhment now could not
be called a war edablilhmcnt, at at the conclu
sion of the lad war, 16,000 seamen were
thought a proper eftablilhment, in time of
peace, for the fafety of the nation, but that he
hoped next year 17,000 instead of 20,000,
would be found fufticient,as the fleet b) chriit
mas next would arrive from the East Indies,
when there would be a deduction of 3000 lea
men ; that he was sorry that the nature of af
fairs occaiionedlb great fupplies,but a chief rea
son why fomuch money had been expended,was
owing to the great quantity of timber that had
been delivered into the dock-yards ; that by
Christmas next their compliment would be
compleated, and they would have a fufficient
stock for three years,we should have then only
to keep that stock up, which would not require
so large a sum ; that at the time of the cent ral
alarm in 1771, our fleet was in a terrible con
dition, the repairing of which had been very
expensive, but he nattered himfelf it was now
in so refpeftable a date, that it might be kept
in repair for a trifle, and that no member
would think the money which had been ex
pended, was misapplied.
Mr.Dowdefwell faid,he hoped he should not
be looked on as an enemy to the navy, when
he coincided with the Honourable Gentleman
[Mr. Sawbridge] in faying, that he thought
the eflahlilhment was too much in time of
profound Peace ; and, as his Majefly had been
pleased to tell them how pacific other powers
were,he saw no reason why the number should
be more than at the conclusion ©f lad war,
when 16,000 were thought fufficient : But* as
the Noble Lord had told them what a terrible
fcite the navy was in at the alarm in 1771*
he begged to know how the enormous supplies
that had been granted for the navy had beet
appropriated, from the year 1763,10 1771,
that in eight years they should fuller the fleet
*0 be in so terrible a condition ; that certainly
they had been cither too moded in their de
mands, or, if they had demanded fufficient,
had misapplied the money, and in either case
biameable.
Lord North replied, he was net obliged to
answer how the money had been applied du
ring the eight years the Honourable Gentle
man had mentioned, as he was only three years
out of the eight in adminillration yet he would
take upon him to fay, that the navy being lb
bad was owing to the hurry.fhips were built in
at the dole ot the lad wax, many of which
were built of green timber, and, though never
used, had rotted in seven years, when they
Ihpuld have laded fifteen ; that another reason
why he was in hope# the supplies for the next
vear woi kl not amount so high as the present
was, that the Ihips contracted for, in the mer
chants yards in 1771 would be all launched
this year, and then our own yards would be
able to supply as fall as we should want, which
would allow, that the money which had been
expended wa» not merely to repair, but to
restore the navy.
Mr. Poultney said, as the Noble Lord had
declared, that wiien the Eail-Indiafleet arrived,
there would be a reduction of 3000 learned,
he hoped they would be dife barged from the
17,000; and that next year 14,000 would be
thought fufficient.
Mr. Dempfter made a short fpecch, nearly
the fame as Mr. Poultney.
Lord North replied, he could not promise it
lhould be reduced lower than 17,000 and if
they were capable of that he thought it was do
inp a great deal.
\K-Ir. T. Townlhend said, that it might be
thought trifling in him to contend for a Angle
t. on land, but he ihouM begiad some gentleman
'*f tne navy would inform him the reason why
17,000 mull be maintained, when, by the
noble lord’s account, 16,000 was thought fulfi
cientat the'conclufion of the late war.
Mr. Dowdtfwell said, mat he lelt town last
yeai two or three days beiore the* feitions ended,
but reading the King’s speech in the couiur) ,he
was furpnzed at the following words, “ I
am glad to find you have in some measure been
able to reduce the national debt.”" He laid he
did not recollect that any of the 3 per cents,
or other funds, had been paid off, or that any
of the navy bills had been difeharged ? the only
thing he knew of was i,00,0001. exchequer
tills paid off, but i,800,0001. more he uiider
ftoodwere borrowed; that if any thing had
been paid off, it was more than he recollefted ;
that though the land tax was a Ihilling in the
pound more than in any former peace, it did
not raile a supply of more than two millions
clear of all deductions, which expence was an
nually laid out on the navy, so that if che flame
of war should break out we should be in a bad
Hate to defend ourselves, as all the land tax was
expended on the navy only, and our credit was
lower then ever, as appeared by the funds, for
in Mr. Grenville’s time, 3 per cents, were 97,
and now thev are but 86, so that if any saving
could be made it was highly neceflaiy.
Lord North replied, he agreed with the ho
nourable gentleman,thßtcvtry saving that could
be made was highly necefiary ; that what the
hon. gentleman had said in regard to none
of the funds being paid of was true, but he was
wrong in the exchequer bills, as i,800,0001.
were paid off, and only one million borrowed,
so there was a saving of 800,0001, 300,0001.
of which had been applied to the navy,
and the remaining 500,000!. to the difeharge
of the debt, which he thought was fufficient to
juftify the words in hisMajelty’s lpeech. I hat
in answer to the honourable gentleman, (Mr.
Townsend) why 17,000 men mould be employ
ed when 16,000 were thought fufficient, he
imagined the following reasons would explain,
that during the Turkilh war the merchants trad
ing there had defi ed leave to have two frigates
to protest their trade : that it was true one of
them had been recalled, but affairs were so des
perate in that quarter, that it was feared it
mull be sent again. That lalt year two (loops
were lent to Falkland’s-islands, but now there
was but one. That though the honourable
gentleman (Mr. Dowdefwell) had said we were
not in a condition to go to war, he would ven
ture to fay, that we never had a more refpeftable
fleet than at present; That we had now seventy
Ihips of the liue in good repair ; and the twelve
that would soon be launched from the merchants
yards, would make them eighty-two, a number
that we never had before ; that some gentle
men, perhaps, would fay a greater number than
wc had occasion for ; but lhould a war break
out, we lhould require peat strength, as we
lhould have to combat two of the mod formid
able powers, France and Spain, and that at
tempting tdfave a trifle by 1000 men we might
lole more than we lhould be able to recover.
The motion was then read, that it is the opin
ion of this committee, that 20,000 seamen, &c.
and afterwards, that it is the opinion of this
committee, that a sum of money, not exceeding
41. per man per month, be granted for the pur
pose of the navy for the present year.
The order of the day was then reid, and the
house broke up at a quarter pall four o’clock,
and adjourned ’till this day.
i 1 ■■ ■ —
• Here that part of hii Majesty’s speech to the Com
mons, at the coaditfion of last feifion, was read.
For the MASSACHUSETTS SPY.
To the PUBLIC.
IT seems by the resentment (hewn by a
number of people that assembled at my
house on the 28th of March, when I was gone
a journey in the country, that I have done some
thing that caused their resentment, and I know
not what it lhould be except my bringing some
tea from Albany, sometime last winter which I
then supposed would not have offended any
body, as it paid no duty in America; but since
I find it has, I would inform the public that I
am sorry that I have offended them, and am
determined not to offend in the like manner for
the future ; for it is well known that I have
been as much set against the dutiedtea as any
perfonwhatever. ISAAC JONES.
It tjlon, April 6, 1774*
Canccaux, Halifax , 1 %tb March, 1774.
Mr. Thomas,
HAVING fan in your paper a general charge of em
bezzlement of {tores, against one or more of the
King'. Ships nr vadcls, Rationed about Cafto-Biy last Cum
mer ; and whereas the Canccaux ha. been employed therea
bout* sot these two year* past, and we the offiwrs who have
the charge of all such stores as mentioned, we, in order to
dear her of the imputation, think proper to publish the af
fidavit herewith, which we request you will infat in your
paper. We are, Sir, your most obedient, humble Tenants,
WILLIAM BRAY,
HARGOOD SNOOK.
Halifax, Province of Nova-Scotia.
Bdbre William Nesiitt, Efcj, one of hi* Majefty'*
Justices of the Peace fur the Piovinc* of Nova-Scoria.
WHEREAS there appears in tbt public papers a ge
nera/ charge of imbesi*Unt.nt against the Officers
of tat or more of bis Majqftys Ships or vcj/tls, stationed in
lie taster n part of Aeui-England last summer, and nitwit b
ftanding fa. b anonymous ftaaders do not deserve tbe least
attention, yet we ff'iHiam Bray and Hargosd Snoot, btatf
wain end Carpenter of lie Majesty s armed ) hip Canceanx,
think it a duty incumbent on us, net criy for our own repu.
ration, and tbe officers and company brlmglrg to tbe fame
/hip. but also for tbe fjtisfaftmn of the pubir. Do Joiomn/y
swearf wear upon tbe holy Evangeift, that no ft-rts of ary .red
wbatforuer that Lame been received info our ciargr for that
fAp, have ever bt:n . inverted or apt tied but to her use and
tbe Cruijer belongin' to her, <mpieycd upon tie general survey
of tbt Rot turn aiftriHs of Acrtb-Amcrua.
WILLIAM BRAY,
HARGOOD SNOOK,
Strarjt before me rte i*tb of Mar.b, 1774,
WILLIAM NESBII'T, J.Feac'.
SATURDAY, April 2.
B O. S T O N. 4
Wc have the following intelligence from a.
Vincents, viz. that in November last an armed
schooner, under Spanilh colours, was cruifmg
on the coast of that lfland, with an intent, as
was fuppoied, to deal negroes ; but !>cing pur
sued irom Prince’s Bay, by a Hoop which croud
ed all the fail lhe could, and with a frelhbreeze,
stood to the S. W; the schooner lying becalm
ed under the land, was taken. Her boat,
which had come afliOre under pretence of get
ting water, with three of her hands were left
alhore, and were afterwards apprehended and
committed to goal. There were fix negroes
on board the Pirate; who Were stolen.
MOND AY, April 4
BOSTON.
Wedncfday last the Governor issued a
proclamation for diflolving the General
Aflembly of this province.
The Ihip Haley, Capt. Scot, from this
port, arrived at Gravefend the 20th of
January.
Extrail of a letter from Baltimore , dated
March 18, 1774.
“ Captain Lawrence, in the Jenny and
Polly, in four weeks from London, ac
quaints us, that the news of the deftru&ion
of the tea at Boston was arrived there be
fore he failed, and fays, instead of their be
ing exasperated, they much applauded the
noble spirit of the Americans, and were re
solved to let the East-India company get
the matter fettled in the best manner they
can.”
Newport, March 28. Wc are allured
that the New-Yorkers are determined in
their resolutions of fending back the tea
(hip without fuffering an ounce to be land
ed. Said (hip had been thirty-one days
out from Antigua, when the latest accounts
came away from New-York : So that we
expect, in a few days, to give our readers,
a very few excepted, an agreeable account
of the fourth ACT of a play called the
adventures of two thousand chells of India
TEA; the third AC I having been be
gun, but unluckily left half finifticd, by
some of the actors having forgot their parts.
TUESDAY, April c.
BOSTON.
We hear from Cambridge that a person
having been confined there a long time in
goal, for debt, at the expence of onq Sa
muel Carter, of Woburn, who on Thurs
day last paid the goaler ten dollars more,
declaring his intention of keeping him in
for life ; a company, supposed, about se
venty or eighty in number, in the Indian
habit, waited on Mr. Carter in the evening,
and after breaking his windows and show
ing some other marks of their dislike of his
conduct, obliged him to walk with them
to Cambridge, about seven miles, sign an
iuftrument to release the man from confine
ment, and give him thecafti he had a short
time before deposited in the hands of the
goaler, to bear his cxpenccs home, as the
man belonged to a neighbouring town :—
The affair being thus fettled, three cheers
were given, and the parlies returned from
whence they came.
Norwich, March 31. By a gentleman
from New-York, we learn that on Monday
the 21st instant, a report prevailed in said
town, that Mr. Henry White, of tha; city,
merchant, to whom the cargo of the so
long expected tea ship is conligned, had
received a letter from Captain Lockyer,
who commands her, dated at Antigua the
15th of February last, the purport of which
is, that said Lockyer having heard of the
proceedings of the people at Boston and
Philadelphia, and the resolutions of the
New-Yorkers ; with regard to the tea (hip
ped for America by the East-India compa
ny ; has determined, that upon his arrival
at Sandy-Hook he will anchor the vessel
and proceed up to the city in his boat ; he
requests that Mr. White will provide the
necessary supplies of stores and provisions
for him, as, if the people will not fuffer
the tea to‘be landed, he intends immediate
ly to fail for England. He desires that
these his resolutions may be communicated
to the public, that he may not be exposed,
upon his arrival in New-York, to person
al insults.
SOUTH-CAROL IN A.
In the UPPER HOUSE of ASSEMBLY.
Friday, tbe 18 tb day of March, 1774.
ORDERED, That the Report of the com
mittee to confider of the petition lately
presented to his Majelty by Charles Garth,
Esq; agent for this province, his letter to the
committee of correspondence dated December
27th, 1773, and the several laws by which he
was appointed and continued agent tor this
province, as agreed to by this Houie, be printed
and made publitk.
JAMES SIMPSON, Cleric.
The Committee Report ,
THAT Mr. Garth, in concert with Mr.
Chambeslayae, a lolmtor, retained by M r .
Garth; drew *.;p the ptticion referred to yen.,
co .iiiiiuec, and fubmntti i*. to Mr. Dunning,
council retained lilawiie by Mr. Girth ; and
t:.at therein diey find a charge agare.it the Pre
fideiit of thL Houie, wlucii charge contains
an ungcncoiis infuination, upon a prin.ipk a
once unparliamentary and unconfti.utional. It
is as follows.
The Jullius having granteda writ ofLalre-*
corpus, for the body ofT Powell to be brought
before them, the next day at nine o’clo.k,
“ Rawlins Lowndes, out of decency and refpcU
to your Majelty’scouucil, immediately acquain
ted your Majclly’s Attorney-Genetalihercwi.il,
as prdidtnt of the laid council ; but your
Majelty’s Attorney-General, initcad of availing
himlelf of iuch notice, by attending to endea H
vour to support the legality of the council’s
commitment before die laid justices, contented
himlelf with fending word he could not attend,
and acquainting your Majelly’s Council with
ftuh mejfage and answer, as appears by the jour
nals of the said council.”
Your committee apprehend that it is ungen
erous ; because, although the offices of preft
dent and Attorney-General are clearly diftindt,
independent and unconnected, yet the said No
tice being sent to a gentleman as president of
the council, out of decency and refpcCt to the
said Council, an absurd insinuation is made to
the King that the fame gentieman was wanting
in his duty as Attorney-General in not appear
ing in support ofthe commitment, in confluence
of notice sent to him , only, as president cf the
Council. *
Tnat the above charge con tain s'an unparlia
mentary insinuation to his Majesty ; that the
Attorney-General was wanting m his duty,
which could nut iilv- b-en the case unless it
was granted that hr» Majelty’s Attorney-Gene
ral of England is bound, ex-officio, to attend
the court of King’s bench, or any other judica
ture, to support a commitment by either houie
of parliament, without diredlions from such
house ; and the charge is further unparliamen
tary, because, if the president, the Attorney-
GencraLorany other person had appeared be
fore the said justices, without drder from the
upper house of aflembly, to support the legality
of the said commitment, such person would
have been guilty of a breach of the privilege
ofchc house, feeing that, according to the con
stitution of parliament, each house of aflembly
is the only judge of its own privilege and right
of commitment. Points long lakl down as
law, by all the judges in England. And the
charge is likewise unconstitutional, even upon
Mr. Garth’s own principle : for, supposing
the upper-house only a privy council, your
committee are of opinion,the Attomey-General
is not bound, ex-officio, to support the legality’
of a commitment, even under their authority ;
and when the King’s privy council have com
mitted, we apprehend, that Mr. Garth is not
able to find an instance where die Attorney-
General of England, ex-officio, supported the
legality of such a commitment, neither has the
president of the council any power to perform
any public aft relating to the council, without
their special direftion.
That whereas the upper house of aflembly
having resolved that T. Powell was difeharged
by the said justices upon the avowed principle
that his Majesty’s Council were not a branch
of the legislature and an upper house of aft'em
bly, Mr. Garth has in his petition denied the
faft, and appealed to the judgments pronounced
by the justices, as entered upon the journals of
thecommons house the eighth day of September
last, notwithstanding the laid judgments contain
the following paflages :
“ The law of parliament therefore being a
part of the law of che land, the commitment*
in consequence thereof, by either house, are not
prohibited by Magna Charta, and the judges
do row invariably, so far as has fallen within
my knowledge, remand the prisoner back to
the place of his confinement, without affording
him any relief, either by bail or other wife.
** The law of the land not giving tbe council
tbe leaf colour of right to commit for breach of
privilege or, what they call, contempt of thoir
house, they mull found their claim upon the
and praftice of the house of lords in Eng-
Then, having pointed out that the lords are
a permanent body, Mr. Lowndes proceeds,
they (the council) hold their office and all the
appendnges to it at will, and therefore want
that mes ejfential requisite of independency, to con-
Jiitute them a branch of tbe legtjlature, cr in ary
rcfpcCl to afjimilatt them to tbe lord’s. The com
mitment therefore in my opinion is to be consid
ered merely at a commitment of tbe Privy Council,
and in that case has no other authority than if
done by a private magistrate.”
Mr. Powell, in drawing a diftinftion between
the house of lords and the Council fays, « not
to mention more than is necefiary for our pre
sent purpose, I lhall only observe, that the lords
hold their feats by hereditary right; these gen- ’
tlemen are merely temporary Tenrants o f the
crown, fubjeft to suspension or difraiflioa at its
plcafure. How far therefore they the council
as an upper house, under the defeription already
(ziven, have a right in point of privilege to com
mit a fellow fubjeft to dose impri! eminent in
such wife as to prevent his relief under the law*,
of the land, particularly habeas corpus abr, is tbe
qurfion now before hj.(* Then having rec:t-\*
a pan of the act, Mr. Powell procreL ; “ ,U<;
lam clearly of ** opinion, .hai wc car.u*.
legally refufe the pnfouer ti»e lv.net: cfih
habeas corpus aft, and his cnia gratenc un
dcric.” _ . .
That your te:& . itreeareef cr, ua r.s.