The Virginia Gazette

The Merchants of London having appointed a Meeting, in order to prepare a
Petition to Parliament, for providing some effectual Means to prevent the
most infamous Depredations on the Properties of Merchants suffering by Shipwreck;
we presume the following Letter will not be unacceptable to our
Readers, altho' it is some Time since it first appear'd in Public.

Extract of a Letter from Cornwall:

Last Thursday, about Noon, in a violent Storm at S.W. a Brigantine
from London for Penzance, with a valuable Cargo, was driven ashore,
near Loe in this County. The Men unhappily took to their Boat too soon,
and perish'd every Soul in a few Minutes. The Surveyor of the Customs,
and Assistant Officers endeavoured to secure the Cargo and Materials
of the Ship for the Claimant's. But the Townsmen (their Townsmen and
Neighbours) whom they would have appointed as a Guard to keep off the
Country from the Wreck, and who would have been well rewarded for
their Trouble, thought it more gainful to rob for themselves than to save
for the Proprietors. They entered into an iniquitous Conspiracy, and with
other Villains secreted a good Quantity of valuable Effects: The Shore
was soon crowded with a Multitude of People from the Towns, Villages,
and Parishes adjacent, and every one laid violent Hands on whatever he
could meet with. The Officers dared not, without manifest Danger of
their Lives, make any Opposition to these tumultuous and outrageous Proceedings;
more especially, as spirituous Liquors were Part of the Cargo.
It is a pity that the Country Gentry do not exert themselves on these Occasions.
Their Presence, Reproof, and Menaces, would carry some Weight.

I was a melancholy Spectator of this dismal Scene. But I held my
Tongue and spoke nothing. I refrained even from good Words: But it was
Pain to me. My Heart was hot within me. To dissuade, would be vain;
to sybraid, would provoke; to threaten, would be dangerous. I know
not which was greater, my Grief, or my Indignation; Grief --- to see a
fine Vessel, richly freighted, dashed against Rocks, and my Fellow Mortals
plunged by the merciless Waves into sudden, untimely, and perhaps unprepared
Death; Indignation --- to behold my Fellow-Christians (if they
may be called Christians) express in their Countenances a ghastly Joy at
this woful Calamity, and all on the Spoil, like hungry Tigers on their Prey,
with brutal Violence and insatiate Greediness. Men and Women ran eagerly
to plunder, and carried off, not only on their Shoulders, but surprising!
hardn'd Villainy! even on Drays and Horses, the
Goods and Materials, as unconcerned and bold, as if they had bought
them at a Price. Even Children were proud to stagger under the Burden
of a Famed Board. So corrupt are they trained by their wicked Parents
(bad Education!) into the Art and Science of Thievery and Pillage,
and their tender Minds infused with the Love of Plunder! I cannot but
think, that the brutal Behaviour of the meaner sort of our People is in a
good Measure owing to the pernicious Practice of Smuggling. They are
accustomed to Night Work, so habituated to a Defiance of Authority, and
Contempt of the Laws, and generally more or less inflamed with spirituous
Liquors, than they are ever ready to perpetrate any Villainy, that their
violent Temper or Love of Lucre shall prompt them to.

I cannot forbear mentioning one Thing I observed, which gave
me much Concern. Some reputable Farmers and Tradesmen, in other
Respects of inoffensive Behaviour, and in totally Circumstances as to be
above the Temptations to which the poorer Sort are exposed, were as active
in the Plunder, and as greedy for the Spoil, as the most notorious
Rogues in the Country. Such Persons must be at the Bottom of very
bad Principles, or of very little Reflection. If this Paper shall happen to
Fall into the Way of any of these Men, let me beg them for one Moment
to lay their Hands on their Hearts, and judge, whether they have done
as they would be done unto, whether, if their Barns and Granaries
were unthatch'd by a Storm, or their Dwelling Houses or Store Rooms on
Fire, they would think it just and right, that their Neighbours, instead of
Help in their Distresses, should carry off their Household Goods, Corn,
&c. for their own Use. And, if they cannot but condemn such a Deed
as detestably iniquitous and unchristian in others, let them remember, that
They are the Men.

The amazing Insensibility and unsympathizing Hearts of some Sailors
and Seamen must not escape unnoticed and uncensured. They, who go
down to the Sea in Ships, and occupy their Business in great Waters,
should of all Men in the World be the last to engage in such inhuman Actions;
tho' none were more busy on this melancholy Occasion. But let me
remind them, that the Ways of Providence are just and righteous. And
let them beware, lest the Divine Judgments repay their Iniquities in Kind.

I cannot conclude without humbly begging Leave to address myself, in
all dutiful Submission, to the Right Hon. the Lords and Commons in Parliament
assembled, on this Occasion. Since there seems to be a Deficiency,
either in the Laws in this Case made and provided, or in the Execution of
them. I humbly beg, with the utmost Ardor of Importunity, that the Legislature
would in their great Wisdom and Goodness take these violent and
outrageous Doings into Consideration, and make the Laws more effectual
to prevent these ravenous Depredations -- to secure the Properties of
Merchants suffering by Shipwreck -- and to protect and support the
Civil Magistrates, and Officers of the Revenue, in the Discharge of their
Duty. And I most heartily desire that the honourable Merchants of the
City of London would, for the Benefit and Security of Trade and Navigation,
forward and strengthen my Petition.

A
CLERGYMAN.