On Sunday night, at 8 P. M., the Committee of Observation returned from the Hook. They inform us, that the sailors of the tea ship, being unwilling to proceed with her to London, made a raft of spars and boards, in order to quit the ship with the tide of flood, but were observed by the Captain, and being aided by the Committee, who offered their assistance to him, they desisted from their project.
That on Sunday, at 10 A. M., the ship and the sloop, with the Committee, weighed their anchors and stood to sea; and at 2 P. M. the pilot boat and the Committee's sloop left her at the distance of three leagues from the Hook.
With Captain Lockyer, in the ship Nancy, went passenger Captain James Chambers.
Many persons still suspecting that Captain James Chambers continues privately in this city, they may be assured that he sailed out of the Hook, for London, on Sunday last, on board the Nancy, Captain Lockyer, who afforded him a very hospitable and gentlemanly reception; and whose whole behaviour, during his stay in this city, proved him to be a sensible, discreet, and a very well bred man.*
PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL.
MEMORANDUM. 16th March, 1774.
The Governor this day received the following letter from Lord Dunmore, Governor of virginia, by express, in answer to his Honor's letter of the 31st of January:
Williamsburg, 3d March, 1774.
SIR: I have been favoured with your letter of the 31st January, 1774, and duplicate of the same, the occasion of which having been the appointment of certain officers by me in a remote district of the county of Augusta, in this Colony, which includes Pittsburg, which having been done, as is always my rule, with the advice of his Majesty's Council, I could not, till I had an opportunity of laying your letter before them, return you an answer, and it is not till now that I am enabled so to do. From the opinion, therefore, of his Majesty's Council of this Colony, I must inform you, that although the calculations on which you rely in the plan accompanying your letter, may possibly be found exact, yet they can by no means be considered, by us, as the observation, on which they were founded, was
*In the same Paper, enclosed by Lieutenant Governor COLDEN to the Earl of DARTMOUTH, in the preceding Letter, was this additional notice of the same transaction
Mr. RIVINGTON: You declare your paper is impartial; as such please to insert the following particulars relative to the idle paragraphs in Mr. Gaines's Gazette of last Monday,
What is the Committee of Observation? By whom were they appointed, and what authority had they to order Captain Chambers, or any body else, to attend them at Mr. Francis's, or any other place whatsoever? Who says, and upon what authority does he say, that the sense of the city was asked, relatively, either to the sending away Captain Lockyer, or the destruction of the tea on board the London? Has not every London Captain brought tea under the same circumstances? And, if so what were the Apostates that informed against the unfortunate man, who was threatened with death for obeying the laws of his country? Who were the persons of reputation that were placed below to keep tally, saving ONE, who acted according to honour and principle? Let us know their names, or else we will dispute their pretensions. What did they get by conducting Captain Lockyer in public through the crowd, but a mortifying disgust in finding he would not even pull oft his hat to the insulting huzzas of ALL the people? ALL, indeed! when I am persuaded that not one twentieth part joined in such outrage: though "the greatest number were collected at and near the Coffee House, that ever was known in this city". Marvellous indeed, and utterly beyond belief! Much like the narrative in the introduction to this noble and authentic history, wherein the historian informs us that the Nancy's. "maintopmast was sprung and the ship thrown on her beam-ends;" or when he says, the tea on board the London was cast into the river without doing any damage to the ship or CARGO. This, too, was undoubtedly effected to the joy of all the friends of liberty and human nature.
But, Mr. Printer, to end the matter for the present. Who says that ALL the bells were rung on this solemn occasion? when it is asserted that several did not ring at all; and that several others did not ring but by means of fellows breaking into churches where they had no business, and for which they ought, and every good man hopes, so far as I know, that they will be prosecuted according to law.
I wish the Printers of public Chronicles would be cautious of disgracing their papers by publishing party relations. While they adhere to matters of fact, 'tis all well; but when they expand their columns to either patriot or ministerial minions, without any known evidence—nay, contrary to the truth of fact—they must not, they cannot, they shall not hope to escape the animadversions of a lover of Constitutional liberty, but a sworn foe to Coblers and Tailors, so long as they take upon their everlasting and unmeasurable shoulders, the power of directing the loyal and sensible inhabitants of the city and Province of New York
NEW YORK, May 5.
NEW YORK, May 12, 1774.
To the Printer of the New York Gazetteer.
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