terable predilection in favor of the British nation and government, whom may God long protect and preserve, if, in consequence thereof, we thus humbly implore that your majesty, and the parliament, would be graciously pleased, in the tenderness of our fears, and in pity to our distresses, to solicit, by your ambassadors at the courts of foreign sovereigns, the aid of such powerful and good allies, as to your majesty and parliament, in your great wisdom and discretion, may seem meet. Or if such a measure should in any manner be thought incompatible with the dignity and interest of our sovereign and the nation, we most humbly and ardently supplicate and entreat, that, by deputies or ambassadors, nominated and appointed by your majesty's suffering American loyalists, they may be permitted to solicit and obtain from other nations that interference, aid and alliance, which, by the blessing of Almighty God, may, in the last fatal and ultimate extreme, save and deliver us, his majesty's American loyalists, who, we maintain, in every one of the colonies, compose a great majority of the inhabitants, and those too the first in point of opulence and consequence, from the ruinous system of congressional independence and republican tyranny, detesting rebellion as we do, and preferring a subjection to any power in Europe, to the mortifying debasement of a state of slavery, and a life of insult, under the tyranny of congressional usurpation. and distresses, we can entertain no doubts but | to our most gracious sovereign, or of our unalthat Great Britain will prevent the ruin of her American friends, at every risk short of certain destruction to herself. But if compelled, by adversity of misfortune, from the wicked and perfidious combinations and designs of numerous and powerful enemies abroad, and more criminal and dangerous enemies at home, an idea should be formed by Great Britain of relinquishing her American colonies to the usurpation of congress, we thus solemnly call | God to witness, that we think the colonies can never be so happy or so free as in a constitutional connection with, and dependence on Great Britain; convinced, as we are, that to be a British subject, with all its consequences, is to be the happiest and freest member of any civil society in the known world-we, therefore, in justice to our members, in duty to ourselves, and in fidelity to our posterity, must not, cannot refrain from making this public declaration and appeal to the faithful subjects of every government, and the compassionate sovereign of every people, in every nation and kingdom | of the world, that our principles are the principles of the virtuous and free; that our sufferings are the sufferings of unprotected loyalty, and persecuted fidelity; that our cause is the cause of legal and constitutional government, throughout the world; that, opposed by principles of republicanism, and convinced, from recent observation, that brutal violence, merciless severity, relentless cruelty, and discretionary outrages are the distinguished traits and ruling principles of the present system of congressional republicanism, our aversion is unconquerable, irreconcilable. — That we are HISTORY OF JOHN BULL'S CHILDREN. attached to monarchical government, from past and happy experience-by duty, and by choice. That, to oppose insurrections, and to listen to the requests of people so circumstanced as we are, is the common interest of all mankind in civil society. That to support our rights, is to support the rights of every subject of legal government; and that to afford us relief, is at once the duty and security of every prince and sovereign on earth. Our appeal, therefore, is just; and our claim to aid and assistance is extensive and universal. But if, reflecting on the uncertain events of war, and sinking under the gloomy prospect of public affairs, from the divisions and contests unhappily existing in the great councils of the nation, any apprehensions should have been excited in our breasts with respect to the issue of the American war, we humbly hope it cannot, even by the most illiberal, be imputed to us as an abatement of our unshaken loyalty [We find the following in the "Maryland Gazette," of August, 1776, into which it was copied from the "London Chronicle." Those who have read the history of the "Foresters," will easily take up the idea, that the design of one of those articles may have been copied from the other. We have followed the copy, as it was printed at the time. It will amuse those who know enough of history to understand it, and perhaps provoke some to read that they may understand.] I, sir Humphry Polesworth, who formerly gave the world a true and faithful account of John Bull, and of his mother, and sister, and wives, and his servants, now write the history of his children, and how they were got, and how they were educated, and what befel them. Courteous reader, if thou hast any curiosity to know these things, read the following chapters and learn. self, and his children nothing; how he made choice of fair George, the gentle shepherd, for his house steward, because he could tell, without the book, that two and three made five, and had the multiplication table by heart. Chap. I. Of seven natural children, which | of his exploits, and said he had done all himJohn Bull had in his younger days by Doll Secretary, his mother's maid; namely, three boys, John, jun. or Master Jacky, Yorky, and Jerry; four girls, Penelope, Mary, Virgey, and Caroline. How the old lady would suffer no bastards in her family; and how the poor infants were turned adrift on the fish ponds as soon as born; how they landed on the western shore, and were there nursed by a wild bear, all under the green wood tree. Chap. II. How John disowned them, and left them to get over the children's disorders the best way they could, without paying a farthing for nurses, or apothecary bills; and how, as soon as they had cut their eye teeth, and were able to walk alone, John claimed them for his own. Chap. III. How Master Jacky turned fisherman and ship-carpenter; Yorky and Jerry drove a great trade; Miss Penny dealt in flour, called the Maid of the Mill, and never courtseyed to any body: How Mary and Virgey set up a snuff-shop, and Caroline turned dry-salter, and sold indigo; how they all flourished exceedingly, and laid out every penny they earned in their father's warehouse. Chap. IV. Of two children more, which John had afterwards in lawful wedlock, viz., a boy which he called Georgey, after his great patron, and a girl, which he called Peg, after his sister Margaret; how he crammed them with sugarplums, and how they remained sickly, ricketty brats at this day. Chap. V. How young Master Baboon, old Louis' only son, fell in love with Miss Virgey; and how he came behind with intent to ravish her; how she squealed and alarmed her dad. Chap. VI. How John called for his stick and his barge, and crossed the pond to save his daughter's virtue; how young Louis gave him a confounded rap on his fingers, and drove him back, and then at his daughter again. Chap. VII. How her brother Jack came to her assistance, and threw young Louis on his back; how old Louis Baboon flew to help his son, and carried lord Strutt along with him; how John Bull returned and mustered all his children at his back, and to it they went. Chap. VIII. How they had a long tustle; how John's children saved their old dad from a broken head, and helped to seize young Louis and tie him; how the old folks agreed to leave young Louis in custody, and drink friends themselves; and how John made his children pay a share of the reckoning without giving them any of the drink. Chap. IX. How John in his cups bragged Chap. X. The whole stewardship of fair George; how he neglected to protest Louis | Baboon's note of hand on the day of payment, released lord Strutt from a mortgage on his manor of Eastland; how he took an aversion to cider, and would allow none to be drank in his family; how he rummaged every man's chest for pen, ink, and paper, and obliged those he catched writing to stand a-top of the table, with a wooden neckcloth under their chin, while he counted sixty times sixty: and how this is called the gentle shepherd's benefit of clergy unto this day. Chap. XI. How fair George took an antipathy to John's children, because he said they put nothing into the box at Christmas; and when they came to pay their shop accounts, they brought in their money at the back door; how he advised John to brand them on the far buttock, as they do stray cattle, that he might know them to be his own. Chap. XII. How John's children rode restiff, and swore they would not have the broad R. stampt on their b-ck s-des: how John, in heating the irons, burnt his own fingers most d-ly; how all his neighbors laughed, and fair George could not find him a plaster. Chap. XIII. How John, in a passion, kicked fair George down stairs, and rung up other servants; how they advised him to consult his wife; and how Mrs. Bull bid him let his children alone; that, tho' born in sin, they were his own flesh and blood, and needed no stamp to shew it; how John took her advice, and let the irons cool again; and how some suspected if John's fingers had not smarted, he would not have complied so soon. Chap. XIV. A dialogue on education, between fair George and lame Will; how Will proved it to be both cruel and impolitic to pinch children till they cry, and then pinch them for crying; and how George answered and said nothing. Chap. XV. How John, by means of his new servants, became beloved of his children, and respected by his neighbors; how he obliged Louis Baboon to beat down the wall of Ecclesdown castle, because it overlooked his pond, and harbored sea-gulls to gobble up his fish; how he made him also pay up his note of hand, and how lord Strutt But, Mr. Printer, I have given you enough to judge of the general plan of this history. | the English nation; George III. was not Pray let me have your opinion as to the publi- obeyed. In vain the states of Holland encation. My notion at present is, to send it treated the United States of America the parabroad in six-penny numbers, and engage the don of the unhappy Asgill. The gibbet, country carriers to take it down; it may pass erected in front of his prison, did not cease to for political an hundred miles from town. offer to his eyes those dreadful preparatives more awful than death itself. In these circumstances, and almost reduced to despair, the mother of the unfortunate victim bethought herself that the minister of a king armed against her own nation might succeed in obtaining that which was refused to her king. Madame Asgill wrote to the count de Vergennes a letter, the eloquence of which, independent of oratorical forms, is that of all people and all languages, because it derives its power from the first and noblest sentiment of our nature. CASE OF ASGILL, AN OFFICER IN THE ENGLISH GUARDS, CONDEMNED TO DEATH BY THE AMERICANS IN REPRISAL FOR THE EXECUTION BY THE BRITISH, OF CAPT. HUDDY. - The following narrative and letters we have copied from the correspondence of baron Grimm. The baron was led to notice it from its being made the ground-work of a French tragedy called Abdir, by Sauvigny, represented at Paris in January, 1789. -Bost. Dai. Adv. You can well remember the general interest which sir ·Asgill inspired, a young officer in the English guards, who was made prisoner and condemned to death by the Americans in reprisal for the death of captain Huddy, who was hanged by order of capt. Lippincott. The public prints all over Europe resounded with the unhappy catastrophe, which for eight months impended over the life of this young officer. The extreme grief of his mother, the sort of delirium which clouded the mind of his sister, at hearing the dreadful fate which menaced the life of her brother, interested every feeling mind in the fate of that unfortunate family. The general curiosity in regard to the events of the war, yielded, if I may say so, to the interest which young Asgill inspired, and the first question asked of all vessels that arrived from any port in North America, was always an enquiry into the fate of that young It is known that Asgill was thrice conducted to the foot of the gibbet, and that thrice general Washington, who could not bring himself to commit this crime of policy without a great struggle, suspended his punishment: his humanity and justice made him hope that the English general would deliver over to him the author of the crime which Asgill was condemned to expiate. Clinton, either ill advised, or insensible to the fate of the young Asgill, persisted in refusing to deliver up the barbarous Lippincott. In vain the king of England, at whose feet this unfortunate family fell down, had given orders to surrender up to the Americans the author of a crime which dishonored man. The two memorials which are subjoined merit being preserved as historical monuments. LETTER FROM LADY ASGILL TO THE COMPTE DE VERGENNES. "Sir-If the politeness of the French court will permit a stranger to address it, it cannot be doubted but that she who unites in herself, all the more delicate sensations with which an individual can be penetrated, will be received favorably by a nobleman, who reflects honor not only on his nation, but on human nature. The object on which I implore your assistance is too heart-rending to be dwelt upon; most probably the public report of it has already reached you; this relieves me from the burden of so mournful a duty. My son, my only son, dear to me as he is brave, amiable as he is beloved, only nineteen years of age, a prisoner of war, in consequence of the capitulation of York Town, is at present confined in America as an object of reprisal. Shall the innocent suffer the fate of the guilty? Figure to yourself, sir, the situation of a family in these circumstances. Surrounded, as I am, with objects of distress, bowed down by fear and grief, words are wanting to express what I feel, and to paint such a scene of misery; my husband, given over by his physicians some hours before the arrival of this news, not in a situation to be informed of it; my daughter, attacked by a fever accompanied by delirium, speaking of her brother in tones of distress, and without an interval of reason unless it be to listen to some circumstance which may console her heart. Let your sensibility, sir, paint to you my profound, my inexpressible misery, and plead in my favor; a word from you, like a voice from heaven, would liberate us from desolation, from the last degree of misfortune. I know how far general Washington reveres your character. | produce their effect before the dreadful and last tribunal, where I indulge the hope that we shall both appear together; you to receive the recompense of your virtues; myself, that of my sufferings. I will raise my voice before that imposing tribunal. I will call for those regis Tell him only that you wish my son restored to liberty, and he will restore him to his desponding family; he will restore him to happiness. The virtue and courage of my son will justify this act of clemency. His honor, sir, led him to America; he was born to abundance, to in-ters, in which your humanity will be found dependence, and to the happiest prospects. Permit me once more to intreat the interference of your high influence in favor of innocence, and in the cause of justice and humanity. Despatch, sir, a letter from France to general Washington, and favor me with a copy of it that it may be transmitted from hence. I feel the whole weight of the liberty taken in presenting this request. But I feel confident, whether granted or not, that you will pity the distress by which it is suggested; your humanity will drop a tear upon my fault and blot it out forever. It was to this letter that young Asgill owed his life and liberty. His mother was informed almost at the same instant, that the minister of the king of France had written to general Washington to procure the pardon of her son, and that his request had been granted. If any thing can convey an idea of the mournful sentiments to which this parent was a prey during eight months, it is that sentiment which her gratitude inspires in the letter addressed to the count de Vergennes, on hearing she owed the restoration of her son to his interference; the greatest talents never produced any thing more noble or equally affecting. SECOND LETTER OF LADY ASGILL ΤΟ recorded. I will pray that blessings may be showered on your head, upon him who, availing himself of the noblest privilege received from God, a privilege no other than divine, has changed misery into happiness, has withdrawn the sword from the innocent head, and restored the worthiest of sons to the most tender and unfortunate of mothers. "Condescend, sir, to accept the just tribute of gratitude due to your virtuous sentiments. Preserve this tribute, and may it go down to your posterity as a testimony of your sublime and exemplary beneficence to a stranger, whose nation was at war with our own, but whose tender affections had not been destroyed by war. May this tribute bear testimony to my gratitude long after the hand that expresses it, with the heart, which at this moment vibrates with the vivacity of grateful sentiments, shall be reduced to dust; it shall bear out to offer you all the respect and all the gratitude with which it is penetrated. THERESA Asgill." CONFESSION OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, For- The following is copied from the American Apollo. No. 7, Friday, February 17, 1792, vol. I. printed at Boston, by Belknap and Young, State street, (a weekly paper in form of a pamphlet.) "The life, confession, and last dying words of captain William Cunningham, formerly British provost marshal, in the city of New York, who was executed in London, the roth of August, 1791. Condescend, sir, to accept this feeble effort “I, William Cunningham, was born in Dubof my gratitude. It has been laid at the feetlin barracks, in the year 1738. My father was of the Almighty; and believe me, it has been presented with the same sincerity to you, sir, and to your illustrious sovereign; by their august and salutary intervention, as by your own, a son is restored to me, to whom my life was attached. I have the sweet assurance, that my vows for my protectors are heard by heaven, to whom they are ardently offered. Yes, sir, they will trumpeter to the Blue dragoons, and at the age of 8 years I was placed with an officer as his servant, in which position I continued until I was 16, and being a great proficient in horsemanship, was taken as an assistant to the riding master of the troop, and in the year 1761, was made sergeant of dragoons; but the peace coming the year following, I was disbanded. "I beg the prayers of all good Christians, and also pardon and forgiveness of God for the many horrid murders I have been accessory to. WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM." Being bred to no profession, I took up with a | the upper barracks, and hung without cerewoman who kept a gin shop in a blind alley, mony, and there buried by the black pioneer near the Coal Quay; but the house being of the provost. searched for stolen goods, and my doxy taken At the end of the war I returned to Engto Newgate, I thought it most prudent to de- land with the army, and settled in Wales, as camp; accordingly set off for the North, and being a cheaper place of living than in any of arrived at Drogheda, where, in a few months the populous cities, but being at length perafter, I married the daughter of an exciseman, suaded to go to London, I entered so warmly by whom I had three sons. into the dissipations of that capital, that I soon "About the year 1772, we removed to New-found my circumstances much embarrassed. ry, where I commenced the profession of a To relieve which, I mortgaged my half pay to scowbanker, which is that of enticing the me- an army agent, but that being soon expended, I chanics and country people to ship themselves forged a draft for three hundred pounds sterfor America, on promises of great advantage, ling on the board of ordnance, but being deand then artfully getting an indenture upon tected in presenting it for acceptance, I was them; in consequence of which, on their arrival apprehended, tried and convicted, and for that in America, they are sold or obliged to serve a offence am here to suffer an ignominious death. term of years for their passage. I embarked at Newry in the ship Needham for New York, and arrived at that port the fourth day of August, 1774, with some indented servants I kidnapped in Ireland, but were liberated in New York, on account of the bad usage they received from me during the passage. In that city I used the profession of breaking horses, and teaching ladies and gentlemen to ride, but rendering myself obnoxious to the citizens in their infant struggles for freedom, I was obliged London, Nov. 1776.—The great number of to fly on board the Asia man of war, and from captures raised the insurance on vessels homethence to Boston, where my own opposition toward bound, from the West Indies, to twentythe measures pursued by the Americans in support of their right was the first thing that recommended me to the notice of gen. Gage; and when the war commenced, I was appointed provost marshal to the royal army, which placed me in a situation to wreak my vengeance on the Americans. I shudder to think of the murders I have been accessory to, both with and without orders from government, especially while in New York, during which time there were more than two thousand prisoners starved in the different churches by stopping the rations, which I sold. "There were also two hundred and seventyfive American prisoners and obnoxious persons executed, out of all which number there were only about one dozen public executions, which chiefly consisted of British and Hessian deserters. The mode for private executions was thus conducted ;-A guard was dispatched from the provost, about half after 12 at night, to the Barrack street, and the neighborhood of the upper barracks, to order the people to shut their window shutters and put out their lights, forbidding them at the same time to presume to look out of their windows and doors, on pain of death; after which, the unfortunate prisoners were conducted, gagged, just behind ADVANCE OF INSURANCE IN LONDON, NOVEMBER, 1776. INSURANCE. three per cent. The losses upon the West India trade, amount, at this time, to sixty-six per cent, viz: Insurance, Fall in price of rum and sugars, owing One fourth of ships taken, WASHINGTON IN SEARCH OF A PEN-KNIFE. 1. 23 II 25 7 7.66 |