1776 Common Sense · Founding Made Plain

1COMMON SENSE;

2addressed to the

3INHABITANTS

4of

5AMERICA,

6On the following interesting

7SUBJECTS

8 Of the Origin and Design of Government in general,

9 with concise Remarks on the English Constitution.

10 Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession

11 Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs

12 Of the present Ability of America,

13 with some miscellaneous Reflections

14A new edition,

15 with several additions in the body of the work.

16To which is added an appendix;

17 together with an address to the people called Quakers.

18Man knows no Master save creating Heaven

19 Or those whom choice and common good ordain.

20Thomson.

21PHILADELPHIA

22Printed and sold by W. & T. Bradford, February 14, 1776.

23MDCCLXXVI

24INTRODUCTION.

25Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages,

26 are not yet sufficiently fashionable

27 to procure them general favor;

28a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong,

29 gives it a superficial appearance of being right,

30 and raises at first a formidable outcry

31 in defense of custom.

32But the tumult soon subsides.

33Time makes more converts than reason.

34As a long and violent abuse

35 of power, is generally the Means

36 of calling the right of it in question

37 (and in Matters too which might never have been

38 thought of, had not the Sufferers been

39 aggravated into the inquiry)

40 and as the King

41 of England hath undertaken

42 in his own Right,

43 to support the Parliament

44 in what he calls Theirs, and as the good

45 people of this country are grievously

46 oppressed by the combination, they have an

47 undoubted privilege

48 to inquire

49 into the pretensions

50 of both, and equally

51 to reject the usurpation of either.

52In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided

53 every thing

54 which is personal among ourselves.

55Compliments as well as censure

56 to individuals make no part thereof.

57The wise, and the worthy, need not the triumph

58 of a pamphlet;

59 and those

60 whose sentiments are injudicious, or unfriendly, will

61 cease of themselves unless too much pains are

62 bestowed upon their conversion.

63The cause

64 of America is

65 in a great measure the cause of all mankind.

66Many circumstances hath, and will arise,

67 which are not local, but universal, and through

68 which the principles

69 of all Lovers

70 of Mankind are affected, and in the Event of

71 which, their Affections are interested.

72The laying a Country desolate

73 with Fire and Sword, declaring War

74 against the natural rights

75 of all Mankind, and extirpating the Defenders

76 thereof from the Face

77 of the Earth, is the Concern

78 of every Man to

79 whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of

80 which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the

81AUTHOR

82P.S. The Publication

83 of this new Edition hath been delayed,

84 with a View of taking notice

85 (had it been necessary)

86 of any Attempt

87 to refute the Doctrine

88 of Independance: As no Answer hath yet

89 appeared, it is now presumed that none

90 will, the Time needful

91 for getting such a Performance ready for

92 the Public being considerably past.

93Who the Author

94 of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary

95 to the Public, as the Object

96 for Attention is the Doctrine itself, not the

97 Man.

98Yet it may not be unnecessary to say,

99 That he is unconnected

100 with any Party, and

101 under no sort

102 of Influence public or private, but the

103 influence of reason and principle.

104Philadelphia, February 14, 1776

105OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN

106 OF GOVERNMENT

107 IN GENERAL,

108 WITH CONCISE REMARKS

109 ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.

110Some writers have so confounded society

111 with government, as

112 to leave little or no distinction between them;

113 whereas they are not only different, but have different

114 origins.

115Society is produced

116 by our wants, and government by our wickedness;

117 the former promotes our happiness positively

118 by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by

119 restraining our vices.

120The one encourages intercourse, the other creates

121 distinctions.

122The first a patron, the last a punisher.

123Society in every state is a blessing, but government even

124 in its best state is but a necessary evil;

125 in its worst state an intolerable one;

126 for when we suffer, or are exposed

127 to the same miseries by a government,

128 which we might expect

129 in a country

130 without government, our calamity is heightened

131 by reflecting that we furnish the means by

132 which we suffer.

133Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence;

134 the palaces

135 of kings are built

136 on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.

137For were the impulses

138 of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed,

139 man would need no other lawgiver;

140 but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to

141 surrender up a part

142 of his property

143 to furnish means

144 for the protection of the rest;

145 and this he is induced to do by the same prudence

146 which in every other case advises him

147 out of two evils to choose the least.

148Wherefore, security being the true design and end of

149 government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form

150 thereof appears most likely

151 to ensure it

152 to us,

153 with the least expence and greatest

154 benefit, is preferable to all others.

155In order

156 to gain a clear and just idea

157 of the design and end

158 of government, let us suppose a small number of

159 persons settled

160 in some sequestered part

161 of the earth, unconnected

162 with the rest, they will then represent the

163 first peopling

164 of any country, or of the world.

165In this state

166 of natural liberty, society will be their first

167 thought.

168A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength

169 of one man is so unequal

170 to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for

171 perpetual solitude,

172 that he is soon obliged

173 to seek assistance and relief of another,

174 who in his turn requires the same.

175Four or five united would be able

176 to raise a tolerable dwelling

177 in the midst

178 of a wilderness, but one man might labour out

179 of the common period

180 of life without accomplishing any thing;

181 when he had felled his timber he could not remove it,

182 nor erect it after it was removed;

183 hunger in the mean time would urge him

184 from his work, and every different want call him a

185 different way.

186Disease, nay even misfortune would be death,

187 for though neither might be mortal, yet either would

188 disable him

189 from living, and reduce him to a state in

190 which he might rather be said to perish than to die.

191Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form

192 our newly arrived emigrants

193 into society, the reciprocal blessings of

194 which, would supersede, and render the obligations of

195 law and government unnecessary while they remained

196 perfectly just to each other;

197 but as nothing but heaven is impregnable

198 to vice, it will unavoidably happen,

199 that in proportion as they surmount the first

200 difficulties of emigration,

201 which bound them together

202 in a common cause, they will begin

203 to relax

204 in their duty and attachment to each other;

205 and this remissness, will point

206 out the necessity,

207 of establishing some form

208 of government

209 to supply the defect of moral virtue.

210Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under

211 the branches of

212 which, the whole colony may assemble

213 to deliberate on public matters.

214It is more than probable that their first laws will have

215 the title only

216 of Regulations, and be enforced

217 by no other penalty than public disesteem.

218In this first parliament every man,

219 by natural right, will have a seat.

220But as the colony increases, the public concerns will

221 increase likewise, and the distance at

222 which the members may be separated, will render it too

223 inconvenient for all

224 of them

225 to meet

226 on every occasion as

227 at first, when their number was small,

228 their habitations

229 near, and the public concerns few and

230 trifling.

231This will point

232 out the convenience

233 of their consenting

234 to leave the legislative part

235 to be managed

236 by a select number chosen

237 from the whole body,

238 who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake

239 which those

240 who appointed them, and

241 who will act

242 in the same manner as the whole body would act were

243 they present.

244If the colony continue increasing, it will become necessary

245 to augment the number

246 of the representatives, and that the interest of

247 every part

248 of the colony may be attended

249 to, it will be found best

250 to divide the whole

251 into convenient parts, each part sending

252 its proper number;

253 and that the elected might never form

254 to themselves an interest separate

255 from the electors, prudence will point

256 out the propriety

257 of having elections often;

258 because as the elected might

259 by that means return and mix again

260 with the general body

261 of the electors

262 in a few months, their fidelity

263 to the public will be secured

264 by the prudent reflexion

265 of not making a rod for themselves.

266And as this frequent interchange will establish a common

267 interest with every part

268 of the community, they will mutually and naturally

269 support each other, and on this

270 (not on the unmeaning name of king)

271 depends the strength

272 of government, and the happiness of the governed.

273Here then is the origin and rise of government;

274 namely, a mode rendered necessary

275 by the inability

276 of moral virtue to govern the world;

277 here too is the design and end

278 of government, viz. freedom and security.

279And however our eyes may be dazzled

280 with show, or our ears deceived by sound;

281 however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest

282 darken our understanding, the simple voice of

283 nature and of reason will say, it is right.

284I draw my idea

285 of the form of government from a principle in nature,

286 which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple

287 any thing is, the less liable it is

288 to be disordered;

289 and the easier repaired when disordered;

290 and with this maxim

291 in view, I offer a few remarks

292 on the so much boasted constitution of England.

293That it was noble for the dark and slavish times in

294 which it was erected, is granted.

295When the world was

296 over run

297 with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a

298 glorious rescue.

299But that it is imperfect, subject

300 to convulsions, and incapable

301 of producing what it seems

302 to promise, is easily demonstrated.

303Absolute governments

304 (tho' the disgrace of human nature)

305 have this advantage with them,

306 that they are simple;

307 if the people suffer, they know the head from

308 which their suffering springs, know likewise the

309 remedy, and are not bewildered

310 by a variety of causes and cures.

311But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex,

312 that the nation may suffer

313 for years together

314 without being able to discover in

315 which part the fault lies, some will say

316 in one and some

317 in another, and every political physician will

318 advise a different medicine.

319I know it is difficult

320 to get

321 over local or long standing prejudices, yet if we

322 will suffer ourselves

323 to examine the component parts

324 of the English constitution, we shall find

325 them to be the base remains

326 of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with

327 some new republican materials.

328First.--The remains

329 of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king.

330Secondly.--The remains

331 of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers.

332Thirdly.--The new republican materials,

333 in the persons of the commons, on

334 whose virtue depends the freedom of England.

335The two first,

336 by being hereditary, are independent of the people;

337 wherefore in a constitutional sense they contribute

338 nothing towards the freedom of the state.

339To say that the constitution

340 of England is a union

341 of three powers reciprocally checking each other,

342 is farcical, either the words have no meaning,

343 or they are flat contradictions.

344To say that the commons is a check

345 upon the king, presupposes two things:

346First.--That the king is not

347 to be trusted

348 without being looked after, or in other words,

349 that a thirst

350 for absolute power is the natural disease of

351 monarchy.

352Secondly.--That the commons,

353 by being appointed

354 for that purpose, are either wiser or more worthy

355 of confidence than the crown.

356But as the same constitution

357 which gives the commons a power

358 to check the king

359 by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards

360 the king a power

361 to check the commons,

362 by empowering him

363 to reject their other bills;

364 it again supposes that the king is wiser than those

365 whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him.

366A mere absurdity!

367There is something exceedingly ridiculous

368 in the composition of monarchy;

369 it first excludes a man

370 from the means

371 of information, yet empowers him

372 to act

373 in cases where the highest judgment is

374 required.

375The state

376 of a king shuts him

377 from the world, yet the business

378 of a king requires him to know it thoroughly;

379 wherefore the different parts,

380 by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other,

381 prove the whole character

382 to be absurd and useless.

383Some writers have explained the English constitution thus;

384 the king, say they, is one, the people another;

385 the peers are an house in behalf of the king;

386 the commons in behalf of the people;

387 but this hath all the distinctions

388 of a house divided against itself;

389 and though the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet

390 when examined they appear idle and ambiguous;

391 and it will always happen,

392 that the nicest construction that words are capable of,

393 when applied to the description of some thing

394 which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible

395 to be

396 within the compass

397 of description, will be words

398 of sound only, and though they may amuse

399 the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for

400 this explanation includes a previous

401 question, viz. How came the king by a power

402 which the people are afraid

403 to trust, and always obliged to check?

404Such a power could not be the gift

405 of a wise people, neither can any power,

406 which needs checking, be from God;

407 yet the provision,

408 which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to

409 exist.

410But the provision is unequal to the task;

411 the means either cannot or will not accomplish the end,

412 and the whole affair is a felo de se;

413 for as the greater weight will always carry

414 up the less, and as all the wheels

415 of a machine are put

416 in motion by one, it only remains to know

417 which power

418 in the constitution has the most weight,

419 for that will govern;

420 and though the others, or a part

421 of them, may clog, or, as the phrase is, check the

422 rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they

423 cannot stop it, their endeavors will be

424 ineffectual;

425 the first moving power will

426 at last have its way, and what it wants

427 in speed is supplied by time.

428That the crown is this overbearing part

429 in the English constitution needs not be mentioned, and

430 that it derives its whole consequence merely from

431 being the giver

432 of places and pensions is self-evident,

433 wherefore, though we have been wise enough

434 to shut and lock a door

435 against absolute monarchy, we

436 at the same time have been foolish enough

437 to put the crown in possession of the key.

438The prejudice

439 of Englishmen,

440 in favour

441 of their own government

442 by king, lords and commons, arises as much

443 or more from national pride than reason.

444Individuals are undoubtedly safer

445 in England than

446 in some other countries, but the will

447 of the king is as much the law

448 of the land

449 in Britain as

450 in France, with this difference,

451 that instead

452 of proceeding directly

453 from his mouth, it is handed

454 to the people

455 under the more formidable shape

456 of an act of parliament.

457For the fate

458 of Charles the first, hath only made kings more

459 subtle--not more just.

460Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in

461 favour of modes and forms, the plain truth is,

462 that it is wholly owing

463 to the constitution

464 of the people, and not

465 to the constitution

466 of the government that the crown is not as

467 oppressive in England as in Turkey.

468An inquiry

469 into the constitutional errors

470 in the English form

471 of government is

472 at this time highly necessary,

473 for as we are never

474 in a proper condition

475 of doing justice

476 to others, while we continue

477 under the influence

478 of some leading partiality, so neither are

479 we capable

480 of doing it

481 to ourselves while we remain fettered by

482 any obstinate prejudice.

483And as a man,

484 who is attached

485 to a prostitute, is unfitted

486 to choose or judge

487 of a wife, so any prepossession

488 in favour

489 of a rotten constitution

490 of government will disable us from

491 discerning a good one.

492OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION.

493Mankind being originally equals

494 in the order

495 of creation, the equality could only be destroyed

496 by some subsequent circumstance;

497 the distinctions

498 of rich, and poor, may

499 in a great measure be accounted

500 for, and that

501 without having recourse

502 to the harsh ill sounding names of

503 oppression and avarice.

504Oppression is often the consequence, but seldom or never

505 the means of riches;

506 and though avarice will preserve a man

507 from being necessitously poor, it generally makes

508 him too timorous to be wealthy.

509But there is another and greater distinction for

510 which no truly natural or religious reason can be

511 assigned, and that is, the distinction

512 of men into kings and subjects.

513Male and female are the distinctions

514 of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven;

515 but how a race

516 of men came

517 into the world so exalted

518 above the rest, and distinguished like some

519 new species, is worth enquiring

520 into, and whether they are the means of

521 happiness or of misery to mankind.

522In the early ages

523 of the world, according

524 to the scripture chronology, there were no kings;

525 the consequence of

526 which was there were no wars;

527 it is the pride of kings

528 which throw mankind into confusion.

529Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace

530 for this last century than any

531 of the monarchial governments in Europe.

532Antiquity favors the same remark;

533 for the quiet and rural lives

534 of the first patriarchs hath a happy something in

535 them,

536 which vanishes away when we come

537 to the history of Jewish royalty.

538Government by kings was first introduced

539 into the world by the Heathens, from

540 whom the children of Israel copied the custom.

541It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on

542 foot for the promotion of idolatry.

543The Heathens paid divine honors

544 to their deceased kings, and the christian world hath

545 improved on the plan

546 by doing the same to their living ones.

547How impious is the title

548 of sacred majesty applied to a worm,

549 who in the midst

550 of his splendor is crumbling into dust!

551As the exalting one man so greatly

552 above the rest cannot be justified

553 on the equal rights

554 of nature, so neither can it be defended

555 on the authority of scripture;

556 for the will

557 of the Almighty, as declared

558 by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly

559 disapproves of government by kings.

560All anti-monarchical parts

561 of scripture have been very smoothly glossed

562 over in monarchical governments, but they

563 undoubtedly merit the attention of countries

564 which have their governments yet to form.

565"Render unto Cæsar the things

566 which are Cæsar's" is the scripture doctrine

567 of courts, yet it is no support

568 of monarchical government,

569 for the Jews

570 at that time were

571 without a king, and

572 in a state of vassalage to the Romans.

573Near three thousand years passed away

574 from the Mosaic account

575 of the creation, till the Jews

576 under a national delusion requested a king.

577Till then their form of government

578 (except in extraordinary cases, where the Almighty

579 interposed)

580 was a kind

581 of republic administred

582 by a judge and the elders of the tribes.

583Kings they had none, and it was held sinful

584 to acknowledge any being

585 under that title but the Lord of Hosts.

586And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage

587 which is paid

588 to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder,

589 that the Almighty ever jealous

590 of his honor, should disapprove

591 of a form of government

592 which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven.

593Monarchy is ranked

594 in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for

595 which a curse in reserve is denounced against them.

596The history of that transaction is worth attending to.

597The children

598 of Israel being oppressed

599 by the Midianites, Gideon marched

600 against them

601 with a small army, and victory, thro' the

602 divine interposition, decided

603 in his favour.

604The Jews elate

605 with success, and attributing it

606 to the generalship

607 of Gideon, proposed making him a king, saying,

608 Rule thou

609 over us, thou and thy son and thy son's

610 son.

611Here was temptation in its fullest extent;

612 not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon

613 in the piety

614 of his soul replied, I will not rule

615 over you, neither shall my son rule over

616 you.

617The Lord shall rule over you.

618Words need not be more explicit;

619 Gideon doth not decline the honor, but denieth their

620 right to give it;

621 neither doth he compliment them

622 with invented declarations

623 of his thanks, but

624 in the positive stile

625 of a prophet charges them

626 with disaffection

627 to their proper Sovereign, the King of

628 heaven.

629About one hundred and thirty years

630 after this, they fell again into the same error.

631The hankering

632 which the Jews had

633 for the idolatrous customs

634 of the Heathens, is something exceedingly

635 unaccountable;

636 but so it was,

637 that laying hold

638 of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons,

639 who were entrusted

640 with some secular concerns, they came

641 in an abrupt and clamorous manner

642 to Samuel, saying, Behold thou art old, and

643 thy sons walk not

644 in thy ways, now make us a king

645 to judge us like all other nations.

646And here we cannot but observe that their motives were bad,

647 viz. that they might be like

648 unto other nations, i.e. the Heathens, whereas

649 their true glory laid

650 in being as much unlike them as possible.

651But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a

652 king to judge us;

653 and Samuel prayed

654 unto the Lord, and the Lord said

655 unto Samuel, Hearken

656 unto the voice

657 of the people

658 in all that they say

659 unto thee,

660 for they have not rejected thee, but they

661 have rejected me,

662 THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM.

663According to all the works

664 which they have done

665 since the day that I brought them

666 up out of Egypt, even unto this day;

667 wherewith they have forsaken me and served other Gods;

668 so do they also unto thee.

669Now therefore hearken

670 unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly

671 unto them and shew them the manner

672 of the king that shall reign

673 over them, i.e. not

674 of any particular king, but the general

675 manner of the kings of the earth,

676 whom Israel was so eagerly copying after.

677And notwithstanding the great distance

678 of time and difference

679 of manners, the character is still in fashion.

680And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people,

681 that asked of him a king.

682And he said, This shall be the manner

683 of the king that shall reign over you;

684 he will take your sons and appoint them

685 for himself,

686 for his chariots, and

687 to be his horsemen, and some shall run

688 before his chariots

689 (this description agrees

690 with the present mode of impressing men)

691 and he will appoint him captains

692 over thousands and captains

693 over fifties, and will set them

694 to ear his ground and

695 to reap his harvest, and

696 to make his instruments

697 of war, and instruments of his chariots;

698 and he will take your daughters

699 to be confectionaries, and

700 to be cooks and to be bakers

701 (this describes the expence and luxury as well as

702 the oppression of kings)

703 and he will take your fields and your olive yards, even

704 the best of them, and give them to his servants;

705 and he will take the tenth

706 of your feed, and

707 of your vineyards, and give them

708 to his officers and to his servants

709 (by which we see that bribery, corruption and

710 favoritism are the standing vices of kings)

711 and he will take the tenth

712 of your men servants, and your maid servants, and

713 your goodliest young men and your asses, and

714 put them to his work;

715 and he will take the tenth

716 of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants, and ye

717 shall cry out in that day because of your king

718 which ye shall have chosen, and the Lord will not hear

719 you in that day.

720This accounts for the continuation of monarchy;

721 neither do the characters of the few good kings

722 which have lived

723 since, either sanctify the title, or blot

724 out the sinfulness of the origin;

725 the high encomium given

726 of David takes no notice

727 of him officially as a king, but only as a man

728 after God's own heart.

729Nevertheless the People refused

730 to obey the voice

731 of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will have a

732 king over us,

733 that we may be like all the nations, and that our king

734 may judge us, and go

735 out before us, and fight our battles.

736Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose;

737 he set

738 before them their ingratitude, but all would not

739 avail;

740 and seeing them fully bent

741 on their folly, he cried

742 out, I will call

743 unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder

744 and rain

745 (which then was a punishment, being

746 in the time of wheat harvest)

747 that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is

748 great

749 which ye have done

750 in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king.

751So Samuel called

752 unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that

753 day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and

754 Samuel.

755And all the people said

756 unto Samuel, Pray

757 for thy servants

758 unto the Lord thy God that we die not,

759 for we have added

760 unto our sins this evil, to ask a king.

761These portions of scripture are direct and positive.

762They admit of no equivocal construction.

763That the Almighty hath here entered his protest against

764 monarchical government is true, or the scripture is

765 false.

766And a man hath good reason

767 to believe that there is as much

768 of king-craft, as priest-craft,

769 in withholding the scripture

770 from the public in Popish countries.

771For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government.

772To the evil

773 of monarchy we have added that

774 of hereditary succession;

775 and as the first is a degradation and lessening of

776 ourselves, so the second, claimed as a matter of

777 right, is an insult and an imposition on

778 posterity.

779For all men being originally equals, no one

780 by birth could have a right

781 to set

782 up his own family

783 in perpetual preference

784 to all others

785 for ever, and though himself might deserve

786 some decent degree

787 of honors

788 of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants

789 might be far too unworthy to inherit them.

790One of the strongest natural proofs

791 of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is,

792 that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so

793 frequently turn it

794 into ridicule

795 by giving mankind an ass for a lion.

796Secondly, as no man

797 at first could possess any other public honors than

798 were bestowed

799 upon him, so the givers

800 of those honors could have no power

801 to give away the right

802 of posterity, and though they might say "We

803 choose you

804 for our head," they could not, without

805 manifest injustice

806 to their children, say "that your children

807 and your children's children shall reign

808 over ours

809 for ever." Because such an unwise, unjust,

810 unnatural compact might (perhaps)

811 in the next succession put them

812 under the government of a rogue or a fool.

813Most wise men,

814 in their private sentiments, have ever treated

815 hereditary right with contempt;

816 yet it is one of those evils,

817 which when once established is not easily removed;

818 many submit

819 from fear, others

820 from superstition, and the more powerful part

821 shares with the king the plunder

822 of the rest.

823This is supposing the present race

824 of kings in the world to have had an honorable origin;

825 whereas it is more than probable,

826 that could we take

827 off the dark covering

828 of antiquity, and trace them

829 to their first rise,

830 that we should find the first

831 of them nothing better than the principal ruffian

832 of some restless gang,

833 whose savage manners or pre-eminence

834 in subtility obtained him the title

835 of chief among plunderers; and

836 who by increasing

837 in power, and extending his depredations, over-awed

838 the quiet and defenceless

839 to purchase their safety

840 by frequent contributions.

841Yet his electors could have no idea

842 of giving hereditary right

843 to his descendants, because such a perpetual

844 exclusion of themselves was incompatible with

845 the free and unrestrained principles they

846 professed to live by.

847Wherefore, hereditary succession

848 in the early ages

849 of monarchy could not take place as a matter of

850 claim, but as something casual or complimental;

851 but as few or no records were extant

852 in those days, and traditional history stuffed with

853 fables, it was very easy,

854 after the lapse

855 of a few generations,

856 to trump

857 up some superstitious tale, conveniently

858 timed, Mahomet like,

859 to cram hereditary right down the throats

860 of the vulgar.

861Perhaps the disorders

862 which threatened, or seemed

863 to threaten,

864 on the decease

865 of a leader and the choice of a new one

866 (for elections

867 among ruffians could not be very orderly)

868 induced many at first to favor hereditary pretensions;

869 by

870 which means it happened, as it hath happened since,

871 that what

872 at first was submitted

873 to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as

874 a right.

875England, since the conquest, hath known some few good

876 monarchs, but groaned beneath a much larger number of

877 bad ones;

878 yet no man

879 in his senses can say that their claim under

880 William the Conqueror is a very honorable one.

881A French bastard landing

882 with an armed banditti, and establishing himself king

883 of England

884 against the consent

885 of the natives, is

886 in plain terms a very paltry rascally

887 original.--It certainly hath no divinity in

888 it.

889However, it is needless

890 to spend much time

891 in exposing the folly of hereditary right;

892 if there are any so weak as

893 to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the

894 ass and lion, and welcome.

895I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb their

896 devotion.

897Yet I should be glad

898 to ask how they suppose kings came at first?

899The question admits but

900 of three answers, viz. either

901 by lot, by election, or by usurpation.

902If the first king was taken

903 by lot, it establishes a precedent for the next,

904 which excludes hereditary succession.

905Saul was

906 by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither

907 does it appear

908 from that transaction there was any intention

909 it ever should.

910If the first king of any country was by election,

911 that likewise establishes a precedent for the next;

912 for to say,

913 that the right

914 of all future generations is taken away,

915 by the act

916 of the first electors,

917 in their choice not only

918 of a king, but

919 of a family

920 of kings

921 for ever, hath no parrallel

922 in or

923 out of scripture but the doctrine of

924 original sin,

925 which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam;

926 and from such comparison, and it will admit

927 of no other, hereditary succession can derive no

928 glory.

929For as

930 in Adam all sinned, and as

931 in the first electors all men obeyed;

932 as in the one all mankind were subjected

933 to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty;

934 as our innocence was lost

935 in the first, and our authority in the last;

936 and as both disable us

937 from reassuming some former state and privilege, it

938 unanswerably follows that original sin and

939 hereditary succession are parellels.

940Dishonorable rank!

941Inglorious connexion!

942Yet the most subtile sophist cannot produce a juster

943 simile.

944As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it;

945 and that William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact

946 not to be contradicted.

947The plain truth is,

948 that the antiquity

949 of English monarchy will not bear looking into.

950But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of

951 hereditary succession

952 which concerns mankind.

953Did it ensure a race

954 of good and wise men it would have the seal

955 of divine authority, but as it opens a door

956 to the foolish, the wicked, and the improper,

957 it hath in it the nature of oppression. Men

958 who look

959 upon themselves born

960 to reign, and others

961 to obey, soon grow insolent;

962 selected from the rest

963 of mankind their minds are early poisoned by

964 importance;

965 and the world they act

966 in differs so materially from the world at large,

967 that they have but little opportunity

968 of knowing its true interests, and when they

969 succeed to the government are frequently the

970 most ignorant and unfit

971 of any throughout the dominions.

972Another evil

973 which attends hereditary succession is,

974 that the throne is subject

975 to be possessed by a minor at any age; all

976 which time the regency, acting

977 under the cover

978 of a king, have every opportunity and

979 inducement to betray their trust.

980The same national misfortune happens, when a king worn out

981 with age and infirmity, enters the last stage

982 of human weakness.

983In both these cases the public becomes a prey

984 to every miscreant,

985 who can tamper successfully

986 with the follies either of age or infancy.

987The most plausible plea,

988 which hath ever been offered

989 in favour of hereditary succession, is,

990 that it preserves a nation from civil wars;

991 and were this true, it would be weighty;

992 whereas, it is the most barefaced falsity ever imposed

993 upon mankind.

994The whole history of England disowns the fact.

995Thirty kings and two minors have reigned

996 in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in

997 which time there have been

998 (including the Revolution)

999 no less than eight civil wars and nineteen rebellions.

1000Wherefore instead

1001 of making

1002 for peace, it makes

1003 against it, and destroys the very foundation it

1004 seems to stand on.

1005The contest

1006 for monarchy and succession,

1007 between the houses

1008 of York and Lancaster, laid England

1009 in a scene of blood for many years.

1010Twelve pitched battles,

1011 besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought between

1012 Henry and Edward.

1013Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward,

1014 who in his turn was prisoner to Henry.

1015And so uncertain is the fate

1016 of war and the temper

1017 of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are

1018 the ground of a quarrel,

1019 that Henry was taken

1020 in triumph

1021 from a prison

1022 to a palace, and Edward obliged

1023 to fly from a palace to a foreign land;

1024 yet, as sudden transitions

1025 of temper are seldom lasting, Henry

1026 in his turn was driven

1027 from the throne, and Edward recalled to

1028 succeed him.

1029The parliament always following the strongest side.

1030This contest began

1031 in the reign

1032 of Henry the Sixth, and was not entirely

1033 extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in

1034 whom the families were united.

1035Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489.

1036In short, monarchy and succession have laid

1037 (not this or that kingdom only)

1038 but the world

1039 in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of government

1040 which the word

1041 of God bears testimony

1042 against, and blood will attend it.

1043If we inquire

1044 into the business

1045 of a king, we shall find that

1046 in some countries they have none;

1047 and after sauntering away their lives

1048 without pleasure

1049 to themselves or advantage

1050 to the nation, withdraw

1051 from the scene, and leave their successors

1052 to tread the same idle round.

1053In absolute monarchies the whole weight

1054 of business, civil and military, lies on the king;

1055 the children

1056 of Israel

1057 in their request

1058 for a king, urged this plea "that he may

1059 judge us, and go

1060 out before us and fight our battles." But

1061 in countries where he is neither a judge

1062 nor a general, as

1063 in England, a man would be puzzled

1064 to know what is his business.

1065The nearer any government approaches

1066 to a republic the less business there is for a king.

1067It is somewhat difficult

1068 to find a proper name for the government of England.

1069Sir William Meredith calls it a republic;

1070 but in its present state it is unworthy

1071 of the name, because the corrupt influence

1072 of the crown,

1073 by having all the places

1074 in its disposal, hath so effectually

1075 swallowed up the power, and eaten

1076 out the virtue of the house of commons

1077 (the republican part in the constitution)

1078 that the government

1079 of England is nearly as monarchical as that of

1080 France or Spain.

1081Men fall out with names without understanding them.

1082For it is the republican and not the monarchical part of

1083 the constitution of England

1084 which Englishmen glory

1085 in, viz. the liberty

1086 of choosing a house

1087 of commons

1088 from out

1089 of their own body--and it is easy

1090 to see that when republican virtue fails,

1091 slavery ensues.

1092Why is the constitution

1093 of England sickly, but because monarchy hath poisoned

1094 the republic, the crown hath engrossed the commons?

1095In England a king hath little more

1096 to do than to make war and give away places;

1097 which in plain terms, is

1098 to impoverish the nation and set it together

1099 by the ears.

1100A pretty business indeed

1101 for a man

1102 to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a

1103 year for, and worshipped into the bargain!

1104Of more worth is one honest man

1105 to society and

1106 in the sight

1107 of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever

1108 lived.

1109THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

1110In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple

1111 facts, plain arguments, and common sense;

1112 and have no other preliminaries

1113 to settle

1114 with the reader, than that he will divest

1115 himself of prejudice and prepossession, and

1116 suffer his reason and his feelings to

1117 determine for themselves;

1118 that he will put

1119 on, or rather that he will not put

1120 off, the true character

1121 of a man, and generously enlarge his views

1122 beyond the present day.

1123Volumes have been written

1124 on the subject

1125 of the struggle between England and America.

1126Men of all ranks have embarked

1127 in the controversy,

1128 from different motives, and with various designs;

1129 but all have been ineffectual, and the period

1130 of debate is closed.

1131Arms, as the last resource, decide the contest;

1132 the appeal was the choice

1133 of the king, and the continent hath accepted the

1134 challenge.

1135It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham

1136 (who tho' an able minister was not

1137 without his faults)

1138 that on his being attacked

1139 in the house of commons, on the score,

1140 that his measures were only

1141 of a temporary kind, replied "they will last my

1142 time." Should a thought so fatal and unmanly

1143 possess the colonies

1144 in the present contest, the name of

1145 ancestors will be remembered

1146 by future generations with detestation.

1147The sun never shined

1148 on a cause

1149 of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair

1150 of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom,

1151 but of a continent--of

1152 at least one eighth part

1153 of the habitable globe. 'Tis not the

1154 concern of a day, a year, or an age;

1155 posterity are virtually involved

1156 in the contest, and will be more or less affected,

1157 even to the end

1158 of time, by the proceedings now.

1159Now is the seed time of continental union, faith and honor.

1160The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with

1161 the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak;

1162 the wound will enlarge

1163 with the tree, and posterity read it

1164 in full grown characters.

1165By referring the matter

1166 from argument

1167 to arms, a new æra for politics is struck;

1168 a new method of thinking hath arisen.

1169All plans, proposals, &c. prior

1170 to the nineteenth

1171 of April, i.e.

1172 to the commencement

1173 of hostilities, are like the almanacks of

1174 the last year;

1175 which, though proper then, are superseded and useless

1176 now.

1177Whatever was advanced

1178 by the advocates

1179 on either side

1180 of the question then, terminated

1181 in one and the same point, viz. a union

1182 with Great-Britain;

1183 the only difference

1184 between the parties was the method of effecting it;

1185 the one proposing force, the other friendship;

1186 but it hath so far happened that the first hath failed,

1187 and the second hath withdrawn her influence.

1188As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation,

1189 which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and

1190 left us as we were, it is but right,

1191 that we should examine the contrary side

1192 of the argument, and inquire

1193 into some of the many material injuries

1194 which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain,

1195 by being connected

1196 with, and dependant on Great-Britain.

1197To examine that connexion and dependance,

1198 on the principles

1199 of nature and common sense,

1200 to see what we have

1201 to trust

1202 to, if separated, and what we are to

1203 expect, if dependant.

1204I have heard it asserted by some,

1205 that as America hath flourished

1206 under her former connexion with Great-Britain,

1207 that the same connexion is necessary

1208 towards her future happiness, and will always have

1209 the same effect.

1210Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument.

1211We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon

1212 milk,

1213 that it is never

1214 to have meat, or that the first twenty years

1215 of our lives is

1216 to become a precedent for the next twenty.

1217But even this is admitting more than is true,

1218 for I answer roundly,

1219 that America would have flourished as much, and

1220 probably much more, had no European power had any

1221 thing to do with her.

1222The commerce, by

1223 which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of

1224 life, and will always have a market while eating is

1225 the custom of Europe.

1226But she has protected us, say some.

1227That she has engrossed us is true, and defended the

1228 continent at our expence as well as her own is

1229 admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from

1230 the same motive, viz. the sake

1231 of trade and dominion.

1232Alas, we have been long led away

1233 by ancient prejudices, and made large sacrifices to

1234 superstition.

1235We have boasted the protection

1236 of Great-Britain, without considering,

1237 that her motive was interest not attachment;

1238 that she did not protect us

1239 from our enemies

1240 on our account, but

1241 from her enemies

1242 on her own account, from those

1243 who had no quarrel with us on any other account, and

1244 who will always be our enemies on the same account.

1245Let Britain wave her pretensions

1246 to the continent, or the continent throw

1247 off the dependance, and we should be

1248 at peace

1249 with France and Spain were they

1250 at war with Britain.

1251The miseries

1252 of Hanover last war ought

1253 to warn us against connexions.

1254It has lately been asserted in parliament,

1255 that the colonies have no relation

1256 to each other but

1257 through the parent country, i.e. that

1258 Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so

1259 on for the rest, are sister colonies

1260 by the way of England;

1261 this is certainly a very round-about way

1262 of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and

1263 only true way

1264 of proving enemyship, if I may so call it.

1265France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be our

1266 enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of

1267 Great-Britain.

1268But Britain is the parent country, say some.

1269Then the more shame upon her conduct.

1270Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war

1271 upon their families;

1272 wherefore the assertion, if true, turns

1273 to her reproach;

1274 but it happens not

1275 to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase

1276 parent or mother country hath been jesuitically

1277 adopted by the king and his parasites, with

1278 a low papistical design

1279 of gaining an unfair bias

1280 on the credulous weakness of our minds.

1281Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America.

1282This new world hath been the asylum

1283 for the persecuted lovers

1284 of civil and religious liberty

1285 from every part of Europe.

1286Hither have they fled, not

1287 from the tender embraces

1288 of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster;

1289 and it is so far true of England,

1290 that the same tyranny

1291 which drove the first emigrants

1292 from home, pursues their descendants still.

1293In this extensive quarter

1294 of the globe, we forget the narrow limits

1295 of three hundred and sixty miles

1296 (the extent of England)

1297 and carry our friendship on a larger scale;

1298 we claim brotherhood

1299 with every European christian, and triumph

1300 in the generosity of the sentiment.

1301It is pleasant

1302 to observe

1303 by what regular gradations we surmount the force of

1304 local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance

1305 with the world.

1306A man born

1307 in any town

1308 in England divided

1309 into parishes, will naturally associate most

1310 with his fellow parishioners

1311 (because their interests

1312 in many cases will be common)

1313 and distinguish him by the name of neighbour;

1314 if he meet him but a few miles

1315 from home, he drops the narrow idea

1316 of a street, and salutes him

1317 by the name of townsman;

1318 if he travel

1319 out of the county, and meet him

1320 in any other, he forgets the minor divisions of

1321 street and town, and calls him countryman,

1322 i.e. county-man;

1323 but if

1324 in their foreign excursions they should associate

1325 in France or any other part

1326 of Europe, their local remembrance would be

1327 enlarged into that of Englishmen.

1328And by a just parity

1329 of reasoning, all Europeans meeting

1330 in America, or any other quarter

1331 of the globe, are countrymen;

1332 for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared

1333 with the whole, stand

1334 in the same places on the larger scale,

1335 which the divisions

1336 of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones;

1337 distinctions too limited for continental minds.

1338Not one third

1339 of the inhabitants, even

1340 of this province, are of English descent.

1341Wherefore I reprobate the phrase

1342 of parent or mother country applied

1343 to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow

1344 and ungenerous.

1345But admitting,

1346 that we were all

1347 of English descent, what does it amount to?

1348Nothing.

1349Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes every other

1350 name and title: And

1351 to say that reconciliation is our duty, is truly

1352 farcical.

1353The first king of England, of the present line

1354 (William the Conqueror)

1355 was a Frenchman, and half the Peers

1356 of England are descendants from the same country;

1357 therefore, by the same method

1358 of reasoning, England ought

1359 to be governed by France.

1360Much hath been said

1361 of the united strength of Britain and the colonies,

1362 that in conjunction they might bid defiance

1363 to the world.

1364But this is mere presumption;

1365 the fate

1366 of war is uncertain, neither do the expressions

1367 mean any thing;

1368 for this continent would never suffer itself

1369 to be drained

1370 of inhabitants,

1371 to support the British arms

1372 in either Asia, Africa, or Europe.

1373Besides what have we

1374 to do with setting the world at defiance?

1375Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended

1376 to, will secure us the peace and friendship

1377 of all Europe;

1378 because, it is the interest

1379 of all Europe to have America a free port.

1380Her trade will always be a protection, and her barrenness

1381 of gold and silver secure her from invaders.

1382I challenge the warmest advocate

1383 for reconciliation,

1384 to shew, a single advantage that this continent can

1385 reap, by being connected with Great Britain.

1386I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived.

1387Our corn will fetch its price

1388 in any market

1389 in Europe, and our imported goods must be paid for

1390 buy them where we will.

1391But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain

1392 by that connection, are without number;

1393 and our duty

1394 to mankind

1395 at large, as well as

1396 to ourselves, instruct us

1397 to renounce the alliance: Because, any

1398 submission to, or dependance on

1399 Great-Britain, tends directly

1400 to involve this continent

1401 in European wars and quarrels;

1402 and sets us at variance with nations,

1403 who would otherwise seek our friendship, and against

1404 whom, we have neither anger nor complaint.

1405As Europe is our market

1406 for trade, we ought

1407 to form no partial connection with any part of it.

1408It is the true interest

1409 of America to steer clear of European contentions,

1410 which she never can do, while

1411 by her dependence

1412 on Britain, she is made the make-weight

1413 in the scale of British politics.

1414Europe is too thickly planted

1415 with kingdoms

1416 to be long

1417 at peace, and whenever a war breaks

1418 out between England and any foreign power,

1419 the trade

1420 of America goes

1421 to ruin, because

1422 of her connection with Britain.

1423The next war may not turn

1424 out like the last, and should it not, the advocates for

1425 reconciliation now will be wishing

1426 for separation then, because, neutrality in

1427 that case, would be a safer convoy than a

1428 man of war.

1429Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation.

1430The blood

1431 of the slain, the weeping voice

1432 of nature cries, 'Tis time to part.

1433Even the distance at

1434 which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is

1435 a strong and natural proof,

1436 that the authority

1437 of the one,

1438 over the other, was never the design of Heaven.

1439The time likewise at

1440 which the continent was discovered, adds weight

1441 to the argument, and the manner in

1442 which it was peopled encreases the force of it.

1443The reformation was preceded

1444 by the discovery

1445 of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to

1446 open a sanctuary

1447 to the persecuted

1448 in future years, when home should afford

1449 neither friendship nor safety.

1450The authority

1451 of Great-Britain

1452 over this continent, is a form of government,

1453 which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious

1454 mind can draw no true pleasure

1455 by looking forward,

1456 under the painful and positive conviction,

1457 that what he calls "the present constitution" is merely

1458 temporary.

1459As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that this

1460 government is not sufficiently lasting

1461 to ensure any thing

1462 which we may bequeath

1463 to posterity: And

1464 by a plain method

1465 of argument, as we are running the next

1466 generation into debt, we ought

1467 to do the work

1468 of it, otherwise we use them meanly and

1469 pitifully.

1470In order

1471 to discover the line

1472 of our duty rightly, we should take our children in

1473 our hand, and fix our station a few years

1474 farther into life;

1475 that eminence will present a prospect,

1476 which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from

1477 our sight.

1478Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence,

1479 yet I am inclined to believe,

1480 that all those

1481 who espouse the doctrine

1482 of reconciliation, may be included

1483 within the following descriptions.

1484Interested men,

1485 who are not to be trusted;

1486 weak men,

1487 who cannot see;

1488 prejudiced men,

1489 who will not see;

1490 and a certain set of moderate men,

1491 who think better

1492 of the European world than it deserves;

1493 and this last class,

1494 by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of

1495 more calamities

1496 to this continent, than all the other

1497 three.

1498It is the good fortune

1499 of many to live distant from the scene of sorrow;

1500 the evil is not sufficient brought

1501 to their doors

1502 to make them feel the precariousness with

1503 which all American property is possessed.

1504But let our imaginations transport us

1505 for a few moments to Boston,

1506 that seat

1507 of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct

1508 us for ever to renounce a power in

1509 whom we can have no trust.

1510The inhabitants of that unfortunate city,

1511 who but a few months ago were

1512 in ease and affluence, have now, no other

1513 alternative than

1514 to stay and starve, or turn out to beg.

1515Endangered by the fire

1516 of their friends if they continue

1517 within the city, and plundered

1518 by the soldiery if they leave it.

1519In their present condition they are prisoners

1520 without the hope

1521 of redemption, and

1522 in a general attack

1523 for their relief, they would be exposed to

1524 the fury of both armies.

1525Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly

1526 over the offences

1527 of Britain, and, still hoping

1528 for the best, are apt

1529 to call

1530 out, "Come, come, we shall be friends

1531 again, for all this." But examine the

1532 passions and feelings

1533 of mankind, Bring the doctrine of

1534 reconciliation to the touchstone

1535 of nature, and then tell me, whether you

1536 can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully

1537 serve the power that hath carried fire and

1538 sword into your land?

1539If you cannot do all these, then are you only deceiving

1540 yourselves, and

1541 by your delay bringing ruin upon posterity.

1542Your future connection with Britain,

1543 whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced

1544 and unnatural, and being formed only

1545 on the plan

1546 of present convenience, will

1547 in a little time fall

1548 into a relapse more wretched than the

1549 first.

1550But if you say, you can still pass the violations over,

1551 then I ask, Hath your house been burnt?

1552Hath your property been destroyed before your face?

1553Are your wife and children destitute

1554 of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on?

1555Have you lost a parent or a child

1556 by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched

1557 survivor?

1558If you have not, then are you not a judge of those

1559 who have.

1560But if you have, and still can shake hands

1561 with the murderers, then are you unworthy

1562 of the name

1563 of husband, father, friend, or lover, and

1564 whatever may be your rank or title

1565 in life, you have the heart

1566 of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.

1567This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying

1568 them by those feelings and affections

1569 which nature justifies, and without

1570 which, we should be incapable

1571 of discharging the social duties

1572 of life, or enjoying the felicities of it.

1573I mean not

1574 to exhibit horror

1575 for the purpose

1576 of provoking revenge, but

1577 to awaken us

1578 from fatal and unmanly slumbers,

1579 that we may pursue determinately some fixed object.

1580It is not

1581 in the power

1582 of Britain or

1583 of Europe

1584 to conquer America, if she do not conquer

1585 herself by delay and timidity.

1586The present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but

1587 if lost or neglected, the whole continent will partake

1588 of the misfortune;

1589 and there is no punishment

1590 which that man will not deserve, be he

1591 who, or what, or where he will,

1592 that may be the means

1593 of sacrificing a season so precious and useful.

1594It is repugnant

1595 to reason,

1596 to the universal order

1597 of things

1598 to all examples

1599 from former ages, to suppose,

1600 that this continent can longer remain subject

1601 to any external power.

1602The most sanguine in Britain does not think so.

1603The utmost stretch

1604 of human wisdom cannot,

1605 at this time, compass a plan short of separation,

1606 which can promise the continent even a year's security.

1607Reconciliation is now a fallacious dream.

1608Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot supply

1609 her place.

1610For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true

1611 reconcilement grow where wounds

1612 of deadly hate have pierced so deep."

1613Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual.

1614Our prayers have been rejected with disdain;

1615 and only tended to convince us,

1616 that nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in

1617 Kings more than repeated petitioning--and nothing

1618 hath contributed more than that very measure to

1619 make the Kings

1620 of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and

1621 Sweden.

1622Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do,

1623 for God's sake, let us come

1624 to a final separation, and not leave the next

1625 generation to be cutting throats,

1626 under the violated unmeaning names of

1627 parent and child.

1628To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and

1629 visionary, we thought so

1630 at the repeal

1631 of the stamp-act, yet a year or two undeceived

1632 us;

1633 as well may we suppose that nations,

1634 which have been once defeated, will never renew the

1635 quarrel.

1636As to government matters, it is not

1637 in the power

1638 of Britain

1639 to do this continent justice: The business of

1640 it will soon be too weighty, and intricate,

1641 to be managed

1642 with any tolerable degree

1643 of convenience,

1644 by a power, so distant

1645 from us, and so very ignorant of us;

1646 for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us.

1647To be always running three or four thousand miles

1648 with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months

1649 for an answer,

1650 which when obtained requires five or six more to

1651 explain it

1652 in, will

1653 in a few years be looked

1654 upon as folly and childishness--There was a

1655 time when it was proper, and there is a

1656 proper time for it to cease.

1657Small islands not capable

1658 of protecting themselves, are the proper objects for

1659 kingdoms to take under their care;

1660 but there is something very absurd,

1661 in supposing a continent

1662 to be perpetually governed by an island.

1663In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than

1664 its primary planet, and as England and America, with

1665 respect to each other, reverses the common order of

1666 nature, it is evident they belong

1667 to different systems: England

1668 to Europe, America to itself.

1669I am not induced

1670 by motives

1671 of pride, party, or resentment

1672 to espouse the doctrine

1673 of separation and independance;

1674 I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded

1675 that it is the true interest

1676 of this continent to be so;

1677 that every thing short of that is mere patchwork,

1678 that it can afford no lasting felicity,--that it is

1679 leaving the sword

1680 to our children, and shrinking back

1681 at a time, when, a little more, a little

1682 farther, would have rendered this continent

1683 the glory of the earth.

1684As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination

1685 towards a compromise, we may be assured that no terms

1686 can be obtained worthy the acceptance

1687 of the continent, or any ways equal

1688 to the expence

1689 of blood and treasure we have been already

1690 put to.

1691The object, contended

1692 for, ought always

1693 to bear some just proportion to the expence.

1694The removal

1695 of North, or the whole detestable junto, is a matter

1696 unworthy the millions we have expended.

1697A temporary stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience,

1698 which would have sufficiently ballanced the repeal of

1699 all the acts complained

1700 of, had such repeals been obtained;

1701 but if the whole continent must take

1702 up arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is

1703 scarcely worth our while

1704 to fight

1705 against a contemptible ministry only.

1706Dearly, dearly, do we pay

1707 for the repeal

1708 of the acts, if that is all we fight for;

1709 for in a just estimation, it is as great a folly

1710 to pay a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land.

1711As I have always considered the independancy

1712 of this continent, as an event,

1713 which sooner or later must arrive, so

1714 from the late rapid progress

1715 of the continent

1716 to maturity, the event could not be far

1717 off.

1718Wherefore, on the breaking

1719 out of hostilities, it was not worth the while

1720 to have disputed a matter,

1721 which time would have finally redressed, unless we

1722 meant to be in earnest;

1723 otherwise, it is like wasting an estate

1724 on a suit

1725 at law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant,

1726 whose lease is just expiring.

1727No man was a warmer wisher

1728 for reconciliation than myself,

1729 before the fatal nineteenth

1730 of April 1775, but the moment the event

1731 of that day was made known, I rejected the

1732 hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of

1733 England for ever;

1734 and disdain the wretch,

1735 that with the pretended title

1736 of father

1737 of his people can unfeelingly hear

1738 of their slaughter, and composedly sleep

1739 with their blood upon his soul.

1740But admitting that matters were now made

1741 up, what would be the event?

1742I answer, the ruin of the continent.

1743And that for several reasons.

1744First.

1745The powers

1746 of governing still remaining

1747 in the hands

1748 of the king, he will have a negative

1749 over the whole legislation

1750 of this continent.

1751And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to

1752 liberty, and discovered such a thirst

1753 for arbitrary power;

1754 is he, or is he not, a proper man

1755 to say

1756 to these colonies, "You shall make no laws but

1757 what I please." And is there any inhabitant

1758 in America so ignorant, as not to know,

1759 that according

1760 to what is called the present constitution,

1761 that this continent can make no laws but what the king

1762 gives leave to;

1763 and is there any man so unwise, as not to see, that

1764 (considering what has happened)

1765 he will suffer no law

1766 to be made here, but such as suit his purpose.

1767We may be as effectually enslaved

1768 by the want

1769 of laws

1770 in America, as

1771 by submitting

1772 to laws made for us in England.

1773After matters are made up

1774 (as it is called)

1775 can there be any doubt, but the whole power

1776 of the crown will be exerted,

1777 to keep this continent as low and humble as

1778 possible?

1779Instead of going forward we shall go backward, or be

1780 perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously

1781 petitioning.--We are already greater than the king

1782 wishes us

1783 to be, and will he not hereafter endeavour

1784 to make us less?

1785To bring the matter to one point.

1786Is the power

1787 who is jealous

1788 of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us?

1789Whoever says No

1790 to this question is an independant,

1791 for independancy means no more, than, whether we

1792 shall make our own laws, or whether the king,

1793 the greatest enemy this continent hath, or

1794 can have, shall tell us "there shall be no

1795 laws but such as I like."

1796But the king you will say has a negative in England;

1797 the people there can make no laws without his consent.

1798In point

1799 of right and good order, there is something very

1800 ridiculous,

1801 that a youth of twenty-one

1802 (which hath often happened)

1803 shall say

1804 to several millions

1805 of people, older and wiser than himself, I

1806 forbid this or that act of yours to be law.

1807But in this place I decline this sort

1808 of reply, though I will never cease

1809 to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer,

1810 that England being the King's residence, and America

1811 not so, makes quite another case.

1812The king's negative here is ten times more dangerous and

1813 fatal than it can be

1814 in England,

1815 for there he will scarcely refuse his consent

1816 to a bill

1817 for putting England

1818 into as strong a state

1819 of defence as possible, and

1820 in America he would never suffer such a

1821 bill to be passed.

1822America is only a secondary object

1823 in the system

1824 of British politics, England consults the good of

1825 this country, no farther than it answers her

1826 own purpose.

1827Wherefore, her own interest leads her

1828 to suppress the growth of ours in every case

1829 which doth not promote her advantage, or

1830 in the least interferes with it.

1831A pretty state we should soon be

1832 in under such a second-hand government, considering

1833 what has happened!

1834Men do not change

1835 from enemies

1836 to friends

1837 by the alteration

1838 of a name: And

1839 in order

1840 to shew that reconciliation now is a

1841 dangerous doctrine, I affirm,

1842 that it would be policy

1843 in the king

1844 at this time,

1845 to repeal the acts

1846 for the sake

1847 of reinstating himself

1848 in the government of the provinces;

1849 in order,

1850 that he may accomplish

1851 by craft and subtilty,

1852 in the long run, what he cannot do

1853 by force and violence in the short one.

1854Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related.

1855Secondly.

1856That as even the best terms,

1857 which we can expect

1858 to obtain, can amount

1859 to no more than a temporary expedient, or a

1860 kind of government by guardianship,

1861 which can last no longer than till the colonies come of

1862 age, so the general face and state

1863 of things,

1864 in the interim, will be unsettled and

1865 unpromising.

1866Emigrants of property will not choose to come to a country

1867 whose form of government hangs but by a thread, and

1868 who is every day tottering

1869 on the brink of commotion and disturbance;

1870 and numbers

1871 of the present inhabitants would lay hold

1872 of the interval,

1873 to dispense

1874 of their effects, and quit the continent.

1875But the most powerful of all arguments, is,

1876 that nothing but independance, i.e. a continental form

1877 of government, can keep the peace

1878 of the continent and preserve it inviolate from

1879 civil wars.

1880I dread the event

1881 of a reconciliation

1882 with Britain now, as it is more than probable,

1883 that it will be followed

1884 by a revolt somewhere or other, the consequences of

1885 which may be far more fatal than all the malice of

1886 Britain.

1887Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity;

1888 (thousands more will probably suffer the same fate)

1889 Those men have other feelings than us

1890 who have nothing suffered.

1891All they now possess is liberty, what they

1892 before enjoyed is sacrificed

1893 to its service, and having nothing more

1894 to lose, they disdain submission.

1895Besides, the general temper

1896 of the colonies,

1897 towards a British government, will be like that of

1898 a youth,

1899 who is nearly out of his time;

1900 they will care very little about her.

1901And a government

1902 which cannot preserve the peace, is no government at

1903 all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing;

1904 and pray what is it that Britain can do,

1905 whose power will be wholly

1906 on paper, should a civil tumult break

1907 out the very day after reconciliation?

1908I have heard some men say, many of

1909 whom I believe spoke without thinking,

1910 that they dreaded an independance, fearing that it

1911 would produce civil wars.

1912It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct,

1913 and that is the case here;

1914 for there are ten times more

1915 to dread

1916 from a patched

1917 up connexion than from independance.

1918I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest,

1919 that were I driven

1920 from house and home, my property destroyed, and my

1921 circumstances ruined,

1922 that as man, sensible

1923 of injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of

1924 reconciliation, or consider myself bound

1925 thereby.

1926The colonies have manifested such a spirit

1927 of good order and obedience

1928 to continental government, as is sufficient

1929 to make every reasonable person easy and happy

1930 on that head.

1931No man can assign the least pretence

1932 for his fears,

1933 on any other grounds, than such as are truly

1934 childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony

1935 will be striving

1936 for superiority over another.

1937Where there are no distinctions there can be no

1938 superiority, perfect equality affords no temptation.

1939The republics of Europe are all

1940 (and we may say always)

1941 in peace.

1942Holland and Swisserland are

1943 without wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical

1944 governments, it is true, are never long at rest;

1945 the crown itself is a temptation

1946 to enterprizing ruffians at home;

1947 and that degree

1948 of pride and insolence ever attendant

1949 on regal authority, swells

1950 into a rupture

1951 with foreign powers,

1952 in instances, where a republican

1953 government, by being formed

1954 on more natural principles, would negociate

1955 the mistake.

1956If there is any true cause

1957 of fear respecting independance, it is because no plan

1958 is yet laid down.

1959Men do not see their way

1960 out-- Wherefore, as an opening

1961 into that business, I offer the following hints;

1962 at the same time modestly affirming,

1963 that I have no other opinion

1964 of them myself, than that they may be the means of

1965 giving rise to something better.

1966Could the straggling thoughts

1967 of individuals be collected, they would frequently form

1968 materials for wise and able men

1969 to improve into useful matter.

1970Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only.

1971The representation more equal.

1972Their business wholly domestic, and subject

1973 to the authority of a Continental Congress.

1974Let each colony be divided

1975 into six, eight, or ten, convenient districts, each

1976 district to send a proper number

1977 of delegates

1978 to Congress, so that each colony send at

1979 least thirty.

1980The whole number in Congress will be at least 390.

1981Each Congress

1982 to sit and

1983 to choose a president by the following method.

1984When the delegates are met, let a colony be taken

1985 from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after

1986 which, let the whole Congress choose

1987 (by ballot)

1988 a president from out of the delegates of that province.

1989In the next Congress, let a colony be taken

1990 by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from

1991 which the president was taken

1992 in the former Congress, and so proceeding

1993 on till the whole thirteen shall have had their

1994 proper rotation.

1995And in order that nothing may pass

1996 into a law but what is satisfactorily just, not less

1997 than three fifths

1998 of the Congress

1999 to be called a majority.--He that will

2000 promote discord,

2001 under a government so equally formed as

2002 this, would have joined Lucifer

2003 in his revolt.

2004But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from

2005 whom, or

2006 in what manner, this business must first arise, and

2007 as it seems most agreeable and consistent that

2008 it should come

2009 from some intermediate body

2010 between the governed and the governors,

2011 that is,

2012 between the Congress and the people, let a

2013 Continental Conference be held,

2014 in the following manner, and

2015 for the following purpose.

2016A committee

2017 of twenty-six members

2018 of Congress, viz. two for each colony.

2019Two members

2020 from each House of Assembly, or Provincial Convention;

2021 and five representatives

2022 of the people

2023 at large,

2024 to be chosen

2025 in the capital city or town

2026 of each province,

2027 for, and

2028 in behalf

2029 of the whole province,

2030 by as many qualified voters as shall think

2031 proper to attend

2032 from all parts

2033 of the province for that purpose;

2034 or, if more convenient, the representatives may be

2035 chosen in two or three

2036 of the most populous parts thereof.

2037In this conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two

2038 grand principles of business, knowledge and power.

2039The members

2040 of Congress, Assemblies, or Conventions,

2041 by having had experience

2042 in national concerns, will be able and useful

2043 counsellors, and the whole, being impowered

2044 by the people, will have a truly legal

2045 authority.

2046The conferring members being met, let their business be to

2047 frame a Continental Charter, or Charter

2048 of the United Colonies;

2049 (answering to what is called the Magna Charta of

2050 England)

2051 fixing the number and manner

2052 of choosing members

2053 of Congress, members

2054 of Assembly,

2055 with their date

2056 of sitting, and drawing the line of

2057 business and jurisdiction between them:

2058 (Always remembering, that our strength is

2059 continental, not provincial:)

2060 Securing freedom and property

2061 to all men, and

2062 above all things, the free exercise of

2063 religion, according

2064 to the dictates of conscience;

2065 with such other matter as is necessary

2066 for a charter to contain.

2067Immediately after

2068 which, the said Conference to dissolve, and the bodies

2069 which shall be chosen comformable

2070 to the said charter,

2071 to be the legislators and governors

2072 of this continent for the time being:

2073 Whose peace and happiness, may God preserve, Amen.

2074Should any body

2075 of men be hereafter delegated

2076 for this or some similar purpose, I offer them the

2077 following extracts

2078 from that wise observer

2079 on governments Dragonetti.

2080"The science" says he

2081 "of the politician consists

2082 in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom.

2083Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages,

2084 who should discover a mode

2085 of government that contained the greatest sum of

2086 individual happiness,

2087 with the least national expense.

2088Dragonetti on virtue and rewards."

2089But where says some is the King of America?

2090I'll tell you Friend, he reigns

2091 above, and doth not make havoc

2092 of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain.

2093Yet that we may not appear

2094 to be defective even

2095 in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart

2096 for proclaiming the charter;

2097 let it be brought forth placed

2098 on the divine law, the word of God;

2099 let a crown be placed thereon, by

2100 which the world may know,

2101 that so far as we approve of monarchy,

2102 that in America the law is king.

2103For as

2104 in absolute governments the King is law, so

2105 in free countries the law ought to be King;

2106 and there ought to be no other.

2107But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown

2108 at the conclusion

2109 of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among

2110 the people

2111 whose right it is.

2112A government

2113 of our own is our natural right: And when a man

2114 seriously reflects

2115 on the precariousness

2116 of human affairs, he will become convinced,

2117 that it is infinitely wiser and safer,

2118 to form a constitution

2119 of our own

2120 in a cool deliberate manner, while we have

2121 it in our power, than

2122 to trust such an interesting event

2123 to time and chance.

2124If we omit it now, some Massanello ¹ may hereafter arise,

2125 who laying hold

2126 of popular disquietudes, may collect together the

2127 desperate and the discontented, and

2128 by assuming

2129 to themselves the powers

2130 of government, may sweep away the liberties

2131 of the continent like a deluge.

2132Should the government

2133 of America return again

2134 into the hands

2135 of Britain, the tottering situation

2136 of things, will be a temptation

2137 for some desperate adventurer

2138 to try his fortune;

2139 and in such a case, what relief can Britain give?

2140Ere she could hear the news, the fatal business might be

2141 done;

2142 and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons under

2143 the oppression of the Conqueror.

2144Ye that oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do;

2145 ye are opening a door

2146 to eternal tyranny,

2147 by keeping vacant the seat of government.

2148There are thousands, and tens of thousands,

2149 who would think it glorious

2150 to expel from the continent,

2151 that barbarous and hellish power,

2152 which hath stirred

2153 up the Indians and Negroes

2154 to destroy us, the cruelty hath a double guilt,

2155 it is dealing brutally

2156 by us, and treacherously by them.

2157¹ Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of

2158 Naples,

2159 who after spiriting

2160 up his countrymen

2161 in the public market place,

2162 against the oppressions

2163 of the Spaniards, to

2164 whom the place was then subject, prompted them to

2165 revolt, and in the space of a day became king.

2166To talk of friendship with those in

2167 whom our reason forbids us

2168 to have faith, and our affections wounded

2169 through a thousand pores instruct us

2170 to detest, is madness and folly.

2171Every day wears

2172 out the little remains

2173 of kindred

2174 between us and them, and can there be any

2175 reason to hope,

2176 that as the relationship expires, the affection will

2177 increase, or that we shall agree better, when we

2178 have ten times more and greater concerns to

2179 quarrel over than ever?

2180Ye that tell us

2181 of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore

2182 to us the time that is past?

2183Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence?

2184Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America.

2185The last cord now is broken, the people

2186 of England are presenting addresses against us.

2187There are injuries

2188 which nature cannot forgive;

2189 she would cease to be nature if she did.

2190As well can the lover forgive the ravisher

2191 of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders

2192 of Britain.

2193The Almighty hath implanted

2194 in us these unextinguishable feelings

2195 for good and wise purposes.

2196They are the guardians of his image in our hearts.

2197They distinguish us from the herd of common animals.

2198The social compact would dissolve, and justice be

2199 extirpated the earth, or have only a casual existence

2200 were we callous to the touches of affection.

2201The robber, and the murderer, would often escape

2202 unpunished, did not the injuries

2203 which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.

2204O ye that love mankind!

2205Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant,

2206 stand forth!

2207Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression.

2208Freedom hath been hunted round the globe.

2209Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her--Europe regards

2210 her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning

2211 to depart.

2212O! receive the fugitive, and prepare

2213 in time an asylum for mankind.

2214OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA,

2215 WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS.

2216I have never met with a man, either in England or America,

2217 who hath not confessed his opinion,

2218 that a separation

2219 between the countries, would take place one time or

2220 other: And there is no instance, in

2221 which we have shewn less judgment, than

2222 in endeavouring

2223 to describe, what we call, the ripeness or

2224 fitness of the Continent for independance.

2225As all men allow the measure, and vary only

2226 in their opinion

2227 of the time, let us,

2228 in order

2229 to remove mistakes, take a general survey

2230 of things, and endeavour, if possible, to

2231 find out the very time.

2232But we need not go far, the inquiry ceases

2233 at once, for, the time hath found us.

2234The general concurrence, the glorious union

2235 of all things prove the fact.

2236It is not in numbers, but in unity,

2237 that our great strength lies;

2238 yet our present numbers are sufficient

2239 to repel the force of all the world.

2240The Continent hath,

2241 at this time, the largest body

2242 of armed and disciplined men

2243 of any power under Heaven;

2244 and is just arrived at that pitch of strength, in

2245 which no single colony is able

2246 to support itself, and the whole, when united, can

2247 accomplish the matter, and either more, or,

2248 less than this, might be fatal

2249 in its effects.

2250Our land force is already sufficient, and as

2251 to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible,

2252 that Britain would never suffer an American man

2253 of war

2254 to be built, while the continent remained in

2255 her hands.

2256Wherefore, we should be no forwarder an hundred years hence

2257 in that branch, than we are now;

2258 but the truth is, we should be less so, because the

2259 timber of the country is every day diminishing, and

2260 that,

2261 which will remain

2262 at last, will be far off and difficult to procure.

2263Were the continent crowded

2264 with inhabitants, her sufferings

2265 under the present circumstances would be

2266 intolerable.

2267The more sea port towns we had, the more should we have

2268 both to defend and to lose.

2269Our present numbers are so happily proportioned

2270 to our wants,

2271 that no man need be idle.

2272The diminution

2273 of trade affords an army, and the necessities

2274 of an army create a new trade.

2275Debts we have none;

2276 and whatever we may contract

2277 on this account will serve as a glorious memento of

2278 our virtue.

2279Can we but leave posterity

2280 with a settled form

2281 of government, an independant constitution

2282 of its own, the purchase

2283 at any price will be cheap.

2284But to expend millions

2285 for the sake

2286 of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing

2287 the present ministry only, is unworthy the

2288 charge, and is using posterity

2289 with the utmost cruelty;

2290 because it is leaving them the great work

2291 to do, and a debt upon their backs, from

2292 which they derive no advantage.

2293Such a thought is unworthy a man

2294 of honor, and is the true characteristic

2295 of a narrow heart and a pedling politician.

2296The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the

2297 work be but accomplished.

2298No nation ought to be without a debt.

2299A national debt is a national bond;

2300 and when it bears no interest, is

2301 in no case a grievance.

2302Britain is oppressed

2303 with a debt

2304 of upwards

2305 of one hundred and forty millions sterling, for

2306 which she pays upwards of four millions interest.

2307And as a compensation for her debt, she has a large navy;

2308 America is without a debt, and without a navy;

2309 yet for the twentieth part

2310 of the English national debt, could have a navy as

2311 large again.

2312The navy

2313 of England is not worth,

2314 at this time, more than three millions and an half

2315 sterling.

2316The first and second editions

2317 of this pamphlet were published

2318 without the following calculations,

2319 which are now given as a proof that the above

2320 estimation of the navy is just.

2321See Entic's naval history, intro. page 56.

2322The charge

2323 of building a ship

2324 of each rate, and furnishing her

2325 with masts, yards, sails and rigging, together

2326 with a proportion

2327 of eight months boatswain's and carpenter's

2328 sea-stores, as calculated

2329 by Mr. Burchett, Secretary to the navy.

2330£ [pounds sterling]

2331For a ship of 100 guns = 35,553

233290 = 29,886

233380 = 23,638

233470 = 17,785

233560 = 14,197

233650 = 10,606

233740 = 7,558

233830 = 5,846

233920 = 3,710

2340And from hence it is easy

2341 to sum

2342 up the value, or cost rather,

2343 of the whole British navy,

2344 which in the year 1757, when it was

2345 at its greatest glory consisted

2346 of the following ships and guns:

2347Ships. Guns. Cost of one. Cost of all.

2348Cost in £ [pounds sterling]

23496 100 35,553 213,318

235012 90 29,886 358,632

235112 80 23,638 283,656

235243 70 17,785 764,755

235335 60 14,197 496,895

235440 50 10,606 424,240

235545 40 7,558 340,110

235658 20 3,710 215,180

235785 Sloops, bombs

2358and fireships, one

2359with another, at } 2,000 170,000 ------------

2360Cost 3,266,786

2361Remains for Guns 233,214 ------------ 3,500,000

2362No country

2363 on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally

2364 capable of raising a fleet as America.

2365Tar, timber, iron, and cordage are her natural produce.

2366We need go abroad for nothing.

2367Whereas the Dutch,

2368 who make large profits

2369 by hiring

2370 out their ships

2371 of war

2372 to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are

2373 obliged to import most

2374 of the materials they use.

2375We ought

2376 to view the building a fleet as an article

2377 of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of

2378 this country.

2379It is the best money we can lay out.

2380A navy when finished is worth more than it cost.

2381And is that nice point in national policy, in

2382 which commerce and protection are united.

2383Let us build;

2384 if we want them not, we can sell;

2385 and by that means replace our paper currency

2386 with ready gold and silver.

2387In point

2388 of manning a fleet, people

2389 in general run into great errors;

2390 it is not necessary that one fourth part should be

2391 sailors.

2392The Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest

2393 engagement of any ship last war, yet had not twenty

2394 sailors on board, though her complement

2395 of men was upwards of two hundred.

2396A few able and social sailors will soon instruct a

2397 sufficient number

2398 of active landmen in the common work of a ship.

2399Wherefore, we never can be more capable

2400 to begin

2401 on maritime matters than now, while our timber is

2402 standing, our fisheries blocked

2403 up, and our sailors and shipwrights

2404 out of employ.

2405Men of war,

2406 of seventy and eighty guns were built forty years ago

2407 in New-England, and why not the same now?

2408Ship-building is America's greatest pride, and in

2409 which, she will in time excel the whole world.

2410The great empires

2411 of the east are mostly inland, and consequently

2412 excluded from the possibility of rivalling her.

2413Africa is in a state of barbarism;

2414 and no power

2415 in Europe, hath either such an extent

2416 of coast, or such an internal supply of

2417 materials.

2418Where nature hath given the one, she has withheld the

2419 other;

2420 to America only hath she been liberal of both.

2421The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out from the sea;

2422 wherefore, her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and

2423 cordage are only articles of commerce.

2424In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet?

2425We are not the little people now,

2426 which we were sixty years ago;

2427 at that time we might have trusted our property

2428 in the streets, or fields rather;

2429 and slept securely

2430 without locks or bolts to our doors or windows.

2431The case now is altered, and our methods

2432 of defence, ought

2433 to improve with our increase of property.

2434A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have come

2435 up the Delaware, and laid the city

2436 of Philadelphia

2437 under instant contribution,

2438 for what sum he pleased;

2439 and the same might have happened to other places.

2440Nay, any daring fellow,

2441 in a brig

2442 of fourteen or sixteen guns, might have robbed the

2443 whole Continent, and carried

2444 off half a million of money.

2445These are circumstances

2446 which demand our attention, and point

2447 out the necessity of naval protection.

2448Some, perhaps, will say,

2449 that after we have made it

2450 up with Britain, she will protect us.

2451Can we be so unwise as to mean,

2452 that she shall keep a navy

2453 in our harbours for that purpose?

2454Common sense will tell us,

2455 that the power

2456 which hath endeavoured

2457 to subdue us, is

2458 of all others, the most improper to defend us.

2459Conquest may be effected under the pretence of friendship;

2460 and ourselves,

2461 after a long and brave resistance, be

2462 at last cheated into slavery.

2463And if her ships are not

2464 to be admitted

2465 into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to

2466 protect us?

2467A navy three or four thousand miles

2468 off can be

2469 of little use, and

2470 on sudden emergencies, none at all.

2471Wherefore, if we must hereafter protect ourselves, why not

2472 do it for ourselves?

2473Why do it for another?

2474The English list

2475 of ships

2476 of war, is long and formidable, but not a tenth

2477 part of them are

2478 at any one time fit

2479 for service, numbers of them not in being;

2480 yet their names are pompously continued

2481 in the list, if only a plank be left

2482 of the ship: and not a fifth part,

2483 of such as are fit

2484 for service, can be spared

2485 on any one station at one time.

2486The East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other

2487 parts over

2488 which Britain extends her claim, make large demands

2489 upon her navy.

2490From a mixture

2491 of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a

2492 false notion respecting the navy

2493 of England, and have talked as if we should

2494 have the whole

2495 of it

2496 to encounter

2497 at once, and for that reason, supposed,

2498 that we must have one as large;

2499 which not being instantly practicable, have been made

2500 use of

2501 by a set

2502 of disguised Tories

2503 to discourage our beginning thereon.

2504Nothing can be farther from truth than this;

2505 for if America had only a twentieth part

2506 of the naval force

2507 of Britain, she would be

2508 by far an over match for her;

2509 because, as we neither have, nor claim any foreign

2510 dominion, our whole force would be employed

2511 on our own coast, where we should,

2512 in the long run, have two

2513 to one the advantage of those

2514 who had three or four thousand miles

2515 to sail

2516 over, before they could attack us, and the same

2517 distance to return

2518 in order to refit and recruit.

2519And although Britain

2520 by her fleet, hath a check

2521 over our trade

2522 to Europe, we have as large a one

2523 over her trade to the West-Indies,

2524 which, by laying

2525 in the neighbourhood

2526 of the Continent, is entirely at its mercy.

2527Some method might be fallen

2528 on to keep

2529 up a naval force

2530 in time

2531 of peace, if we should not judge it

2532 necessary to support a constant navy.

2533If premiums were

2534 to be given

2535 to merchants,

2536 to build and employ

2537 in their service ships mounted

2538 with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty guns,

2539 (the premiums

2540 to be

2541 in proportion

2542 to the loss of bulk to the merchants)

2543 fifty or sixty

2544 of those ships,

2545 with a few guardships

2546 on constant duty, would keep

2547 up a sufficient navy, and that without

2548 burdening ourselves

2549 with the evil so loudly complained

2550 of in England,

2551 of suffering their fleet,

2552 in time

2553 of peace to lie rotting in the docks.

2554To unite the sinews

2555 of commerce and defense is sound policy;

2556 for when our strength and our riches play

2557 into each other's hand, we need fear no external

2558 enemy.

2559In almost every article of defense we abound.

2560Hemp flourishes even

2561 to rankness, so that we need not want cordage.

2562Our iron is superior to that of other countries.

2563Our small arms equal to any in the world.

2564Cannon we can cast at pleasure.

2565Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every day producing.

2566Our knowledge is hourly improving.

2567Resolution is our inherent character, and courage hath

2568 never yet forsaken us.

2569Wherefore, what is it that we want?

2570Why is it that we hesitate?

2571From Britain we can expect nothing but ruin.

2572If she is once admitted

2573 to the government

2574 of America again, this Continent will not be worth

2575 living in.

2576Jealousies will be always arising;

2577 insurrections will be constantly happening; and

2578 who will go forth to quell them?

2579Who will venture his life

2580 to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience?

2581The difference

2582 between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some

2583 unlocated lands, shews the insignificance

2584 of a British government, and fully proves,

2585 that nothing but Continental authority can regulate

2586 Continental matters.

2587Another reason why the present time is preferable

2588 to all others, is,

2589 that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is

2590 yet unoccupied,

2591 which instead

2592 of being lavished

2593 by the king

2594 on his worthless dependants, may be

2595 hereafter applied, not only

2596 to the discharge

2597 of the present debt, but

2598 to the constant support of government.

2599No nation under heaven hath such an advantage as this.

2600The infant state

2601 of the Colonies, as it is called, so far

2602 from being

2603 against, is an argument

2604 in favour of independance.

2605We are sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might

2606 be less united.

2607It is a matter worthy of observation,

2608 that the more a country is peopled, the smaller their

2609 armies are.

2610In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the moderns:

2611 and the reason is evident.

2612For trade being the consequence

2613 of population, men become too much absorbed thereby to

2614 attend to anything else.

2615Commerce diminishes the spirit, both

2616 of patriotism and military defence.

2617And history sufficiently informs us,

2618 that the bravest achievements were always accomplished

2619 in the non-age of a nation.

2620With the increase

2621 of commerce, England hath lost its spirit.

2622The city

2623 of London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to

2624 continued insults with the patience of a coward.

2625The more men have

2626 to lose, the less willing are they to venture.

2627The rich are

2628 in general slaves

2629 to fear, and submit

2630 to courtly power

2631 with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel.

2632Youth is the seed time

2633 of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals.

2634It might be difficult, if not impossible,

2635 to form the Continent

2636 into one government half a century hence.

2637The vast variety

2638 of interests, occasioned

2639 by an increase

2640 of trade and population, would create

2641 confusion.

2642Colony would be against colony.

2643Each being able might scorn each other's assistance: and

2644 while the proud and foolish gloried

2645 in their little distinctions, the wise would

2646 lament,

2647 that the union had not been formed before.

2648Wherefore, the present time is the true time for

2649 establishing it.

2650The intimacy

2651 which is contracted in infancy, and the friendship

2652 which is formed

2653 in misfortune, are,

2654 of all others, the most lasting and

2655 unalterable.

2656Our present union is marked

2657 with both these characters: we are young and we have

2658 been distressed;

2659 but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and fixes

2660 a memorable area for posterity to glory in.

2661The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time,

2662 which never happens

2663 to a nation but once, viz. the time

2664 of forming itself into a government.

2665Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and

2666 by that means have been compelled

2667 to receive laws

2668 from their conquerors, instead

2669 of making laws for themselves.

2670First, they had a king, and then a form of government;

2671 whereas, the articles or charter

2672 of government, should be formed first, and men

2673 delegated to execute them afterward: but from

2674 the errors

2675 of other nations, let us learn wisdom, and

2676 lay hold

2677 of the present opportunity--To begin

2678 government at the right end.

2679When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them

2680 law at the point of the sword;

2681 and until we consent,

2682 that the seat

2683 of government,

2684 in America, be legally and authoritatively

2685 occupied, we shall be

2686 in danger

2687 of having it filled

2688 by some fortunate ruffian,

2689 who may treat us

2690 in the same manner, and then, where will be our

2691 freedom? where our property?

2692As to religion, I hold it

2693 to be the indispensable duty

2694 of all government,

2695 to protect all conscientious professors

2696 thereof, and I know of no other business

2697 which government hath to do therewith.

2698Let a man throw aside that narrowness of soul,

2699 that selfishness of principle,

2700 which the niggards

2701 of all professions are so unwilling

2702 to part

2703 with, and he will be

2704 at once delivered

2705 of his fears on that head.

2706Suspicion is the companion

2707 of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.

2708For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe,

2709 that it is the will of the Almighty,

2710 that there should be diversity

2711 of religious opinions

2712 among us: It affords a larger field

2713 for our Christian kindness.

2714Were we all

2715 of one way

2716 of thinking, our religious dispositions would want

2717 matter for probation;

2718 and on this liberal principle, I look

2719 on the various denominations

2720 among us,

2721 to be like children

2722 of the same family, differing only,

2723 in what is called, their Christian names.

2724In page forty, I threw

2725 out a few thoughts

2726 on the propriety of a Continental Charter,

2727 (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans)

2728 and in this place, I take the liberty

2729 of re-mentioning the subject, by observing,

2730 that a charter is

2731 to be understood as a bond of solemn obligation,

2732 which the whole enters

2733 into, to support the right

2734 of every separate part, whether

2735 of religion, personal freedom, or property.

2736A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends.

2737In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity

2738 of a large and equal representation;

2739 and there is no political matter

2740 which more deserves our attention.

2741A small number

2742 of electors, or a small number

2743 of representatives, are equally dangerous.

2744But if the number

2745 of the representatives be not only small, but unequal,

2746 the danger is increased.

2747As an instance of this, I mention the following;

2748 when the Associators petition was

2749 before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania;

2750 twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks

2751 county members, being eight, voted

2752 against it, and had seven

2753 of the Chester members done the same, this

2754 whole province had been governed

2755 by two counties only, and this danger it is

2756 always exposed to.

2757The unwarrantable stretch likewise,

2758 which that house made

2759 in their last sitting,

2760 to gain an undue authority

2761 over the delegates

2762 of that province, ought

2763 to warn the people

2764 at large, how they trust power

2765 out of their own hands.

2766A set of instructions for the Delegates were put together,

2767 which in point

2768 of sense and business would have dishonoured a

2769 schoolboy, and

2770 after being approved

2771 by a few, a very few

2772 without doors, were carried

2773 into the House, and there passed

2774 in behalf of the whole colony;

2775 whereas, did the whole colony know,

2776 with what ill-will that House hath entered

2777 on some necessary public measures, they would

2778 not hesitate a moment

2779 to think them unworthy of such a trust.

2780Immediate necessity makes many things convenient,

2781 which if continued would grow into oppressions.

2782Expedience and right are different things.

2783When the calamities

2784 of America required a consultation, there was no method

2785 so ready, or

2786 at that time so proper, as

2787 to appoint persons

2788 from the several Houses

2789 of Assembly for that purpose;

2790 and the wisdom with

2791 which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent

2792 from ruin.

2793But as it is more than probable that we shall never be

2794 without a Congress, every well wisher

2795 to good order, must own,

2796 that the mode

2797 for choosing members

2798 of that body, deserves consideration.

2799And I put it as a question to those,

2800 who make a study

2801 of mankind, whether representation and election is

2802 not too great a power

2803 for one and the same body

2804 of men to possess?

2805When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember,

2806 that virtue is not hereditary.

2807It is

2808 from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims,

2809 and are frequently surprised

2810 into reason by their mistakes.

2811Mr. Cornwall

2812 (one of the Lords of the Treasury)

2813 treated the petition

2814 of the New-York Assembly

2815 with contempt, because that House, he said,

2816 consisted but of twenty-six members,

2817 which trifling number, he argued, could not with

2818 decency be put for the whole.

2819We thank him for his involuntary honesty. ¹

2820¹ Those

2821 who would fully understand

2822 of what great consequence a large and equal

2823 representation is

2824 to a state, should read Burgh's political

2825 disquisitions.

2826To Conclude, however strange it may appear

2827 to some, or however unwilling they may be

2828 to think so, matters not, but many strong and

2829 striking reasons may be given, to shew,

2830 that nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as

2831 an open and determined declaration for

2832 independance.

2833Some of

2834 which are,

2835First.--It is the custom

2836 of nations, when any two are

2837 at war,

2838 for some other powers, not engaged

2839 in the quarrel,

2840 to step

2841 in as mediators, and bring

2842 about the preliminaries

2843 of a peace: but while America calls herself

2844 the Subject

2845 of Great-Britain, no power, however well

2846 disposed she may be, can offer her

2847 mediation.

2848Wherefore, in our present state we may quarrel on for ever.

2849Secondly.--It is unreasonable to suppose,

2850 that France or Spain will give us any kind of

2851 assistance, if we mean only,

2852 to make use

2853 of that assistance

2854 for the purpose

2855 of repairing the breach, and strengthening

2856 the connection between Britain and America;

2857 because, those powers would be sufferers

2858 by the consequences.

2859Thirdly.--While we profess ourselves the subjects of

2860 Britain, we must,

2861 in the eye

2862 of foreign nations, be considered as rebels.

2863The precedent is somewhat dangerous

2864 to their peace,

2865 for men to be in arms under the name of subjects;

2866 we, on the spot, can solve the paradox: but

2867 to unite resistance and subjection, requires an

2868 idea much too refined for common understanding.

2869Fourthly.--Were a manifesto

2870 to be published, and despatched

2871 to foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we

2872 have endured, and the peaceable methods we have

2873 ineffectually used for redress;

2874 declaring, at the same time,

2875 that not being able, any longer,

2876 to live happily or safely

2877 under the cruel disposition

2878 of the British court, we had been driven to

2879 the necessity

2880 of breaking off all connections with her;

2881 at the same time, assuring all such courts

2882 of our peaceable disposition

2883 towards them, and

2884 of our desire

2885 of entering

2886 into trade

2887 with them: Such a memorial would produce

2888 more good effects

2889 to this Continent, than if a ship were

2890 freighted with petitions to Britain.

2891Under our present denomination

2892 of British subjects, we can neither be received nor

2893 heard abroad: The custom

2894 of all courts is

2895 against us, and will be so,

2896 until, by an independance, we take rank

2897 with other nations.

2898These proceedings may

2899 at first appear strange and difficult;

2900 but, like all other steps

2901 which we have already passed

2902 over, will

2903 in a little time become familiar and agreeable;

2904 and, until an independance is declared, the Continent

2905 will feel itself like a man

2906 who continues putting

2907 off some unpleasant business

2908 from day

2909 to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to

2910 set about it, wishes it

2911 over, and is continually haunted

2912 with the thoughts of its necessity.

2913APPENDIX.

2914Since the publication

2915 of the first edition

2916 of this pamphlet, or rather, on the same day on

2917 which it came

2918 out, the King's Speech made its appearance

2919 in this city.

2920Had the spirit

2921 of prophecy directed the birth

2922 of this production, it could not have brought it

2923 forth, at a more seasonable juncture, or a more

2924 necessary time.

2925The bloody mindedness

2926 of the one, shew the necessity

2927 of pursuing the doctrine of the other.

2928Men read by way of revenge.

2929And the Speech, instead

2930 of terrifying, prepared a way

2931 for the manly principles of Independance.

2932Ceremony, and even, silence,

2933 from whatever motive they may arise, have a hurtful

2934 tendency, when they give the least degree of

2935 countenance to base and wicked performances;

2936 wherefore, if this maxim be admitted, it naturally

2937 follows,

2938 that the King's Speech, as being a piece

2939 of finished villainy, deserved, and still deserves,

2940 a general execration both

2941 by the Congress and the people.

2942Yet, as the domestic tranquillity

2943 of a nation, depends greatly,

2944 on the chastity

2945 of what may properly be called national

2946 manners, it is often better,

2947 to pass some things

2948 over in silent disdain, than

2949 to make use

2950 of such new methods

2951 of dislike, as might introduce the least

2952 innovation, on that guardian

2953 of our peace and safety.

2954And, perhaps, it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy,

2955 that the King's Speech, hath not,

2956 before now, suffered a public execution.

2957The Speech if it may be called one, is nothing better than

2958 a wilful audacious libel

2959 against the truth, the common good, and the

2960 existence of mankind;

2961 and is a formal and pompous method

2962 of offering

2963 up human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants.

2964But this general massacre

2965 of mankind, is one

2966 of the privileges, and the certain consequence of

2967 Kings;

2968 for as nature knows them not, they know not her, and

2969 although they are beings

2970 of our own creating, they know not us, and are

2971 become the gods of their creators.

2972The Speech hath one good quality,

2973 which is,

2974 that it is not calculated

2975 to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be

2976 deceived by it.

2977Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it.

2978It leaves us

2979 at no loss: And every line convinces, even

2980 in the moment of reading,

2981 that He,

2982 who hunts the woods

2983 for prey, the naked and untutored Indian, is less a

2984 Savage than the King of Britain.

2985Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father

2986 of a whining jesuitical piece, fallaciously called,

2987 "The Address

2988 of the people

2989 of England

2990 to the inhabitants

2991 of America," hath, perhaps,

2992 from a vain supposition,

2993 that the people here were

2994 to be frightened

2995 at the pomp and description of a king, given,

2996 (though very unwisely on his part)

2997 the real character

2998 of the present one: "But" says this writer, "if you

2999 are inclined

3000 to pay compliments to an administration,

3001 which we do not complain of,"

3002 (meaning the Marquis

3003 of Rockingham's at the repeal of the Stamp Act)

3004 "it is very unfair

3005 in you to withhold them from that prince, by

3006 whose nod alone they were permitted

3007 to do any thing." This is toryism with a witness!

3008Here is idolatry even without a mask: And he

3009 who can calmly hear, and digest such doctrine, hath

3010 forfeited his claim

3011 to rationality--an apostate

3012 from the order of manhood;

3013 and ought to be considered--as one,

3014 who hath not only given

3015 up the proper dignity

3016 of man, but sunk himself beneath the rank of

3017 animals, and contemptibly crawls through

3018 the world like a worm.

3019However, it matters very little now, what the king of

3020 England either says or does;

3021 he hath wickedly broken

3022 through every moral and human obligation, trampled

3023 nature and conscience beneath his feet;

3024 and by a steady and constitutional spirit

3025 of insolence and cruelty, procured

3026 for himself an universal hatred.

3027It is now the interest of America to provide for herself.

3028She hath already a large and young family,

3029 whom it is more her duty

3030 to take care

3031 of, than

3032 to be granting away her property, to

3033 support a power

3034 who is become a reproach

3035 to the names of men and christians--Ye,

3036 whose office it is

3037 to watch

3038 over the morals

3039 of a nation,

3040 of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are

3041 of, as well as ye,

3042 who are more immediately the guardians

3043 of the public liberty, if ye wish

3044 to preserve your native country uncontaminated

3045 by European corruption, ye must

3046 in secret wish a separation--But leaving

3047 the moral part

3048 to private reflection, I shall chiefly

3049 confine my farther remarks

3050 to the following heads.

3051First.

3052That it is the interest

3053 of America to be separated from Britain.

3054Secondly.

3055Which is the easiest and most practicable plan,

3056 reconciliation or independance?

3057 with some occasional remarks.

3058In support

3059 of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce

3060 the opinion

3061 of some

3062 of the ablest and most experienced men on

3063 this continent; and

3064 whose sentiments,

3065 on that head, are not yet publicly known.

3066It is

3067 in reality a self-evident position:

3068 For no nation

3069 in a state

3070 of foreign dependance, limited

3071 in its commerce, and cramped and fettered

3072 in its legislative powers, can ever arrive

3073 at any material eminence.

3074America doth not yet know what opulence is;

3075 and although the progress

3076 which she hath made stands unparalleled

3077 in the history

3078 of other nations, it is but childhood, compared

3079 with what she would be capable

3080 of arriving

3081 at, had she, as she ought

3082 to have, the legislative powers

3083 in her own hands.

3084England is,

3085 at this time, proudly coveting what would do her no

3086 good, were she to accomplish it;

3087 and the Continent hesitating on a matter,

3088 which will be her final ruin if neglected.

3089It is the commerce and not the conquest of America, by

3090 which England is

3091 to be benefited, and that would

3092 in a great measure continue, were the countries

3093 as independant

3094 of each other as France and Spain;

3095 because in many articles, neither can go

3096 to a better market.

3097But it is the independance

3098 of this country of Britain or any other,

3099 which is now the main and only object worthy of

3100 contention, and

3101 which, like all other truths discovered

3102 by necessity, will appear clearer and stronger

3103 every day.

3104First.

3105Because it will come to that one time or other.

3106Secondly.

3107Because, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to

3108 accomplish.

3109I have frequently amused myself both

3110 in public and private companies,

3111 with silently remarking, the specious errors of

3112 those

3113 who speak without reflecting.

3114And among the many

3115 which I have heard, the following seems the most

3116 general, viz. that had this rupture happened forty

3117 or fifty years hence, instead

3118 of now, the Continent would have been more

3119 able to have shaken off the dependance. To

3120 which I reply,

3121 that our military ability,

3122 at this time, arises

3123 from the experience gained in the last war, and

3124 which in forty or fifty years time, would have been

3125 totally extinct.

3126The Continent, would not,

3127 by that time, have had a General, or even a military

3128 officer left;

3129 and we, or those

3130 who may succeed us, would have been as ignorant of

3131 martial matters as the ancient Indians: And this

3132 single position, closely attended

3133 to, will unanswerably prove,

3134 that the present time is preferable to all others.

3135The argument turns thus--

3136 at the conclusion

3137 of the last war, we had experience, but wanted

3138 numbers;

3139 and forty or fifty years hence, we should have numbers,

3140 without experience;

3141 wherefore, the proper point

3142 of time, must be some particular point

3143 between the two extremes, in

3144 which a sufficiency

3145 of the former remains, and a proper increase

3146 of the latter is obtained: And that point of

3147 time is the present time.

3148The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not

3149 properly come

3150 under the head I first set out with, and to

3151 which I again return by the following position, viz.

3152Should affairs be patched

3153 up with Britain, and she

3154 to remain the governing and sovereign power of

3155 America,

3156 (which, as matters are now circumstanced, is giving

3157 up the point intirely)

3158 we shall deprive ourselves

3159 of the very means

3160 of sinking the debt we have, or may contract.

3161The value of the back lands

3162 which some

3163 of the provinces are clandestinely deprived

3164 of, by the unjust extention

3165 of the limits

3166 of Canada, valued only

3167 at five pounds sterling

3168 per hundred acres, amount

3169 to upwards

3170 of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania

3171 currency;

3172 and the quit-rents

3173 at one penny sterling

3174 per acre, to two millions yearly.

3175It is

3176 by the sale

3177 of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without

3178 burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved

3179 thereon, will always lessen, and

3180 in time, will wholly support the yearly

3181 expence of government.

3182It matters not how long the debt is

3183 in paying, so that the lands when sold be applied to

3184 the discharge of it, and for the execution of

3185 which, the Congress

3186 for the time being, will be the continental

3187 trustees.

3188I proceed now to the second head, viz.

3189 Which is the easiest and most practicable plan,

3190 reconciliation or independance;

3191 with some occasional remarks.

3192He

3193 who takes nature

3194 for his guide is not easily beaten

3195 out of his argument, and

3196 on that ground, I answer generally--That

3197 independance being a single simple line,

3198 contained within ourselves;

3199 and reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and

3200 complicated, and in

3201 which, a treacherous capricious court is

3202 to interfere, gives the answer without a doubt.

3203The present state of America is truly alarming to every man

3204 who is capable of reflexion.

3205Without law,

3206 without government,

3207 without any other mode

3208 of power than what is founded

3209 on, and granted by courtesy.

3210Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment,

3211 which is nevertheless subject to change, and

3212 which every secret enemy is endeavouring to dissolve.

3213Our present condition, is, Legislation without law;

3214 wisdom without a plan;

3215 constitution without a name;

3216 and, what is strangely astonishing, perfect

3217 Independance contending for dependance.

3218The instance is without a precedent;

3219 the case never existed before; and

3220 who can tell what may be the event?

3221The property

3222 of no man is secure

3223 in the present unbraced system of things.

3224The mind

3225 of the multitude is left

3226 at random, and seeing no fixed object

3227 before them, they pursue such as fancy or

3228 opinion starts.

3229Nothing is criminal;

3230 there is no such thing as treason;

3231 wherefore, every one thinks himself

3232 at liberty to act as he pleases.

3233The Tories dared not have assembled offensively, had they

3234 known that their lives,

3235 by that act, were forfeited

3236 to the laws of the state.

3237A line

3238 of distinction should be drawn,

3239 between, English soldiers taken

3240 in battle, and inhabitants

3241 of America taken in arms.

3242The first are prisoners, but the latter traitors.

3243The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head.

3244Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness

3245 in some of our proceedings

3246 which gives encouragement to dissensions.

3247The Continental Belt is too loosely buckled.

3248And if something is not done

3249 in time, it will be too late

3250 to do any thing, and we shall fall into a state, in

3251 which, neither Reconciliation nor Independance will be

3252 practicable.

3253The king and his worthless adherents are got

3254 at their old game

3255 of dividing the Continent, and there are not

3256 wanting among us, Printers,

3257 who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods.

3258The artful and hypocritical letter

3259 which appeared a few months ago

3260 in two

3261 of the New-York papers, and likewise

3262 in two others, is an evidence that there

3263 are men

3264 who want either judgment or honesty.

3265It is easy getting

3266 into holes and corners and talking

3267 of reconciliation: But do such men seriously

3268 consider, how difficult the task is, and how

3269 dangerous it may prove, should the

3270 Continent divide thereon.

3271Do they take

3272 within their view, all the various orders of men

3273 whose situation and circumstances, as well as their

3274 own, are to be considered therein.

3275Do they put themselves in the place of the sufferer

3276 whose all is already gone, and of the soldier,

3277 who hath quitted all for the defence of his country.

3278If their ill judged moderation be suited

3279 to their own private situations only, regardless of

3280 others, the event will convince them,

3281 that "they are reckoning without their Host."

3282Put us, say some,

3283 on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To

3284 which I answer, the request is not now

3285 in the power

3286 of Britain

3287 to comply

3288 with, neither will she propose it;

3289 but if it were, and even should be granted, I ask, as a

3290 reasonable question,

3291 By what means is such a corrupt and faithless

3292 court to be kept to its engagements?

3293Another parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter

3294 repeal the obligation,

3295 on the pretence,

3296 of its being violently obtained, or unwisely

3297 granted;

3298 and in that case, Where is our redress?--No going to

3299 law with nations;

3300 cannon are the barristers of Crowns;

3301 and the sword, not

3302 of justice, but of war, decides the suit.

3303To be on the footing of sixty-three, it is not sufficient,

3304 that the laws only be put on the same state, but,

3305 that our circumstances, likewise, be put

3306 on the same state;

3307 Our burnt and destroyed towns repaired or built

3308 up, our private losses made good, our public debts

3309 (contracted for defence) discharged;

3310 otherwise, we shall be millions worse than we were at

3311 that enviable period.

3312Such a request, had it been complied

3313 with a year ago, would have won the heart and soul of

3314 the Continent--but now it is too late, "The Rubicon

3315 is passed."

3316Besides, the taking

3317 up arms, merely

3318 to enforce the repeal

3319 of a pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by

3320 the divine law, and as repugnant

3321 to human feelings, as the taking

3322 up arms to enforce obedience thereto.

3323The object, on either side, doth not justify the means;

3324 for the lives

3325 of men are too valuable

3326 to be cast away on such trifles.

3327It is the violence

3328 which is done and threatened to our persons;

3329 the destruction of our property by an armed force;

3330 the invasion of our country by fire and sword,

3331 which conscientiously qualifies the use

3332 of arms: And the instant, in

3333 which such a mode

3334 of defence became necessary, all subjection to

3335 Britain ought to have ceased;

3336 and the independancy

3337 of America, should have been considered, as dating

3338 its æra

3339 from, and published

3340 by, the first musket that was fired against

3341 her.

3342This line is a line of consistency;

3343 neither drawn by caprice, nor extended by ambition;

3344 but produced by a chain of events, of

3345 which the colonies were not the authors.

3346I shall conclude these remarks,

3347 with the following timely and well intended hints.

3348We ought to reflect,

3349 that there are three different ways, by

3350 which an independancy may hereafter be effected;

3351 and that one

3352 of those three, will one day or other, be the fate

3353 of America, viz.

3354 By the legal voice

3355 of the people in Congress;

3356 by a military power;

3357 or by a mob: It may not always happen that our soldiers

3358 are citizens, and the multitude a body of

3359 reasonable men;

3360 virtue, as I have already remarked, is not hereditary,

3361 neither is it perpetual.

3362Should an independancy be brought

3363 about by the first

3364 of those means, we have every opportunity and every

3365 encouragement before us,

3366 to form the noblest purest constitution on

3367 the face of the earth.

3368We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

3369A situation, similar

3370 to the present, hath not happened

3371 since the days of Noah until now.

3372The birthday

3373 of a new world is

3374 at hand, and a race

3375 of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe

3376 contains, are

3377 to receive their portion

3378 of freedom from the event of a few months.

3379The Reflexion is awful--and

3380 in this point

3381 of view, How trifling, how ridiculous, do the

3382 little, paltry cavellings,

3383 of a few weak or interested men appear,

3384 when weighed

3385 against the business of a world.

3386Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting

3387 period, and an Independance be hereafter effected by

3388 any other means, we must charge the consequence to

3389 ourselves, or to those rather,

3390 whose narrow and prejudiced souls, are habitually

3391 opposing the measure,

3392 without either inquiring or reflecting.

3393There are reasons to be given in support of Independance,

3394 which men should rather privately think

3395 of, than be publicly told of.

3396We ought not now

3397 to be debating whether we shall be independant or not,

3398 but, anxious

3399 to accomplish it

3400 on a firm, secure, and honorable basis, and

3401 uneasy rather that it is not yet began

3402 upon.

3403Every day convinces us of its necessity.

3404Even the Tories

3405 (if such beings yet remain among us)

3406 should, of all men, be the most solicitous

3407 to promote it;

3408 for, as the appointment

3409 of committees

3410 at first, protected them

3411 from popular rage, so, a wise and well

3412 established form

3413 of government, will be the only certain

3414 means of continuing it securely to them.

3415Wherefore, if they have not virtue enough

3416 to be Whigs, they ought

3417 to have prudence enough to wish for Independance.

3418In short, Independance is the only Bond that can tye and

3419 keep us together.

3420We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally

3421 shut against the schemes

3422 of an intriguing, as well, as a cruel enemy.

3423We shall then too, be

3424 on a proper footing, to treat with Britain;

3425 for there is reason to conclude,

3426 that the pride

3427 of that court, will be less hurt

3428 by treating

3429 with the American states

3430 for terms of peace, than with those,

3431 whom she denominates, "rebellious subjects,"

3432 for terms of accommodation.

3433It is our delaying it that encourages her

3434 to hope

3435 for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to

3436 prolong the war.

3437As we have,

3438 without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade

3439 to obtain a redress

3440 of our grievances, let us now try the

3441 alternative, by independantly redressing

3442 them ourselves, and then offering

3443 to open the trade.

3444The mercantile and reasonable part

3445 in England, will be still with us;

3446 because, peace

3447 with trade, is preferable to war without it.

3448And if this offer be not accepted, other courts may be

3449 applied to.

3450On these grounds I rest the matter.

3451And as no offer hath yet been made

3452 to refute the doctrine contained

3453 in the former editions

3454 of this pamphlet, it is a negative proof,

3455 that either the doctrine cannot be refuted, or,

3456 that the party

3457 in favour of it are too numerous to be opposed.

3458Wherefore, instead

3459 of gazing

3460 at each other

3461 with suspicious or doubtful curiosity;

3462 let each

3463 of us, hold

3464 out to his neighbour the hearty hand of

3465 friendship, and unite in drawing a line,

3466 which, like an act

3467 of oblivion shall bury

3468 in forgetfulness every former dissension.

3469Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct;

3470 and let none other be heard

3471 among us, than those

3472 of a good citizen, an open and resolute friend,

3473 and a virtuous supporter

3474 of the rights

3475 of mankind and

3476 of the FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF

3477 AMERICA.

3478To the Representatives

3479 of the Religious Society

3480 of the People called Quakers, or

3481 to so many

3482 of them as were concerned

3483 in publishing the late piece, entitled "The

3484 Ancient Testimony and Principles

3485 of the People called Quakers renewed, with

3486 Respect to the King and Government, and

3487 touching the Commotions now prevailing in

3488 these and other parts

3489 of America addressed

3490 to the People in General."

3491The Writer of this, is one of those few,

3492 who never dishonours religion either

3493 by ridiculing, or cavilling

3494 at any denomination whatsoever.

3495To God, and not

3496 to man, are all men accountable

3497 on the score of religion.

3498Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed

3499 to you as a religious, but as a political body,

3500 dabbling in matters,

3501 which the professed Quietude

3502 of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with.

3503As you have,

3504 without a proper authority

3505 for so doing, put yourselves

3506 in the place

3507 of the whole body

3508 of the Quakers, so, the writer

3509 of this,

3510 in order

3511 to be

3512 on an equal rank

3513 with yourselves, is

3514 under the necessity,

3515 of putting himself

3516 in the place of all those,

3517 who, approve the very writings and principles, against

3518 which your testimony is directed: And he hath chosen

3519 this singular situation, in order,

3520 that you might discover

3521 in him that presumption of character

3522 which you cannot see in yourselves.

3523For neither he nor you can have any claim or title to

3524 Political Representation.

3525When men have departed

3526 from the right way, it is no wonder that they stumble

3527 and fall.

3528And it is evident from the manner in

3529 which ye have managed your testimony,

3530 that politics,

3531 (as a religious body of men)

3532 is not your proper Walk;

3533 for however well adapted it might appear

3534 to you, it is, nevertheless, a jumble

3535 of good and bad put unwisely together, and the

3536 conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural

3537 and unjust.

3538The two first pages,

3539 (and the whole doth not make four)

3540 we give you credit

3541 for, and expect the same civility

3542 from you, because the love and desire

3543 of peace is not confined

3544 to Quakerism, it is the natural, as well

3545 the religious wish

3546 of all denominations of men.

3547And on this ground, as men labouring

3548 to establish an Independant Constitution

3549 of our own, do we exceed all others

3550 in our hope, end, and aim.

3551Our plan is peace for ever.

3552We are tired

3553 of contention

3554 with Britain, and can see no real end

3555 to it but in a final separation.

3556We act consistently, because

3557 for the sake

3558 of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace,

3559 do we bear the evils and burthens

3560 of the present day.

3561We are endeavoring, and will steadily continue to

3562 endeavour, to separate and dissolve a connexion

3563 which hath already filled our land with blood; and

3564 which, while the name

3565 of it remains, will be the fatal cause

3566 of future mischiefs to both countries.

3567We fight neither for revenge nor conquest;

3568 neither from pride nor passion;

3569 we are not insulting the world

3570 with our fleets and armies, nor ravaging the globe

3571 for plunder.

3572Beneath the shade of our own vines are we attacked;

3573 in our own houses, and

3574 on our own lands, is the violence committed against

3575 us.

3576We view our enemies

3577 in the character

3578 of Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no

3579 defence for ourselves

3580 in the civil law, are obliged

3581 to punish them

3582 by the military one, and apply the sword,

3583 in the very case, where you have before

3584 now, applied the halter--Perhaps we feel

3585 for the ruined and insulted sufferers in

3586 all and every part

3587 of the continent,

3588 with a degree of tenderness

3589 which hath not yet made its way

3590 into some of your bosoms.

3591But be ye sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground of

3592 your Testimony.

3593Call not coldness of soul, religion;

3594 nor put the Bigot in the place of the Christian.

3595O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles.

3596If the bearing arms be sinful, the first going

3597 to war must be more so,

3598 by all the difference

3599 between wilful attack and unavoidable defence.

3600Wherefore, if ye really preach

3601 from conscience, and mean not

3602 to make a political hobby-horse

3603 of your religion, convince the world thereof,

3604 by proclaiming your doctrine

3605 to our enemies,

3606 for they likewise bear arms.

3607Give us proof

3608 of your sincerity

3609 by publishing it

3610 at St. James's,

3611 to the commanders

3612 in chief

3613 at Boston, to the Admirals and Captains

3614 who are piratically ravaging our coasts, and

3615 to all the murdering miscreants

3616 who are acting in authority under him

3617 whom ye profess to serve.

3618Had ye the honest soul

3619 of Barclay ¹ ye would preach repentance to your king;

3620 Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and warn him

3621 of eternal ruin.

3622Ye would not spend your partial invectives

3623 against the injured and the insulted only, but, like

3624 faithful ministers, would cry aloud and spare none.

3625Say not that ye are persecuted, neither endeavour

3626 to make us the authors of that reproach,

3627 which, ye are bringing upon yourselves;

3628 for we testify unto all men,

3629 that we do not complain

3630 against you because ye are Quakers, but because ye

3631 pretend to be and are not Quakers.

3632¹"Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity;

3633 thou knowest what it is

3634 to be banished thy native country,

3635 to be over-ruled as well as

3636 to rule, and set upon the throne;

3637 and being oppressed thou hast reason

3638 to know how hateful the oppressor is both

3639 to God and man: If

3640 after all these warnings and

3641 advertisements, thou dost not turn

3642 unto the Lord

3643 with all thy heart, but forget him

3644 who remembered thee

3645 in thy distress, and give

3646 up thyself

3647 to follow lust and vanity, surely great

3648 will be thy condemnation.--Against

3649 which snare, as well as the temptation of those

3650 who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee

3651 to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy

3652 will be,

3653 to apply thyself to that light of Christ

3654 which shineth in thy conscience, and

3655 which neither can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer

3656 thee to be at ease in thy sins."

3657--Barclay's address to Charles II.

3658Alas! it seems

3659 by the particular tendency

3660 of some part

3661 of your testimony, and other parts

3662 of your conduct, as if, all sin was reduced

3663 to, and comprehended

3664 in, the act

3665 of bearing arms, and that

3666 by the people only.

3667Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for conscience;

3668 because, the general tenor

3669 of your actions wants uniformity: And it is

3670 exceedingly difficult

3671 to us

3672 to give credit

3673 to many of your pretended scruples;

3674 because, we see them made by the same men,

3675 who, in the very instant that they are exclaiming

3676 against the mammon

3677 of this world, are nevertheless, hunting after

3678 it with a step as steady as Time, and an

3679 appetite as keen as Death.

3680The quotation

3681 which ye have made

3682 from Proverbs, in the third page of your testimony,

3683 that, "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh

3684 even his enemies to be at peace with him";

3685 is very unwisely chosen on your part;

3686 because, it amounts to a proof,

3687 that the king's ways

3688 (whom ye are desirous of supporting)

3689 do not please the Lord, otherwise, his reign would be

3690 in peace.

3691I now proceed

3692 to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for

3693 which all the foregoing seems only an introduction,

3694 viz.

3695"It hath ever been our judgment and principle,

3696 since we were called

3697 to profess the light

3698 of Christ Jesus, manifested

3699 in our consciences unto this day,

3700 that the setting

3701 up and putting down kings and governments, is God's

3702 peculiar prerogative;

3703 for causes best known

3704 to himself: And that it is not our business

3705 to have any hand or contrivance therein;

3706 nor to be busy bodies

3707 above our station, much less

3708 to plot and contrive the ruin, or overturn of

3709 any of them, but

3710 to pray

3711 for the king, and safety

3712 of our nation, and good

3713 of all men: That we may live a peaceable

3714 and quiet life,

3715 in all godliness and honesty;

3716 under the government

3717 which God is pleased

3718 to set

3719 over us."--If these are really your principles

3720 why do ye not abide by them?

3721Why do ye not leave that,

3722 which ye call God's Work, to be managed by himself?

3723These very principles instruct you

3724 to wait

3725 with patience and humility,

3726 for the event

3727 of all public measures, and

3728 to receive that event as the divine will

3729 towards you.

3730Wherefore, what occasion is there

3731 for your political testimony if you fully believe what

3732 it contains: And the very publishing it proves,

3733 that either, ye do not believe what ye profess, or have

3734 not virtue enough to practise what ye believe.

3735The principles

3736 of Quakerism have a direct tendency

3737 to make a man the quiet and inoffensive subject of

3738 any, and every government

3739 which is set over him.

3740And if the setting

3741 up and putting down

3742 of kings and governments is God's peculiar

3743 prerogative, he most certainly will not be

3744 robbed thereof by us;

3745 wherefore, the principle itself leads you

3746 to approve of every thing,

3747 which ever happened, or may happen

3748 to kings as being his work.

3749Oliver Cromwell thanks you.

3750Charles, then, died not by the hands of man;

3751 and should the present Proud Imitator

3752 of him, come

3753 to the same untimely end, the writers and

3754 publishers of the Testimony, are bound, by

3755 the doctrine it contains,

3756 to applaud the fact.

3757Kings are not taken away

3758 by miracles, neither are changes

3759 in governments brought

3760 about by any other means than such as are

3761 common and human;

3762 and such as we are now using.

3763Even the dispersion

3764 of the Jews, though foretold

3765 by our Saviour, was effected by arms.

3766Wherefore, as ye refuse

3767 to be the means

3768 on one side, ye ought not

3769 to be meddlers on the other;

3770 but to wait the issue in silence;

3771 and unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove,

3772 that the Almighty

3773 who hath created and placed this new world,

3774 at the greatest distance it could possibly stand,

3775 east and west,

3776 from every part

3777 of the old, doth, nevertheless, disapprove

3778 of its being independant

3779 of the corrupt and abandoned court of

3780 Britain, unless I say, ye can shew this,

3781 how can ye

3782 on the ground

3783 of your principles, justify the exciting

3784 and stirring

3785 up the people "firmly

3786 to unite

3787 in the abhorrence

3788 of all such writings, and measures, as

3789 evidence a desire and design

3790 to break

3791 off the happy connexion we have hitherto

3792 enjoyed, with the kingdom

3793 of Great-Britain, and our just and

3794 necessary subordination

3795 to the king, and those

3796 who are lawfully placed

3797 in authority

3798 under him." What a slap

3799 of the face is here! the men,

3800 who in the very paragraph

3801 before, have quietly and passively resigned

3802 up the ordering, altering, and disposal of

3803 kings and governments,

3804 into the hands

3805 of God, are now, recalling their

3806 principles, and putting

3807 in for a share of the business.

3808Is it possible,

3809 that the conclusion,

3810 which is here justly quoted, can any ways follow from

3811 the doctrine laid down?

3812The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen;

3813 the absurdity too great not to be laughed at;

3814 and such as could only have been made by those,

3815 whose understandings were darkened

3816 by the narrow and crabby spirit

3817 of a despairing political party;

3818 for ye are not

3819 to be considered as the whole body

3820 of the Quakers but only as a factional and

3821 fractional part thereof.

3822Here ends the examination of your testimony;

3823 (which I call

3824 upon no man

3825 to abhor, as ye have done, but only

3826 to read and judge of fairly;) to

3827 which I subjoin the following remark;

3828 "That the setting

3829 up and putting down

3830 of kings," most certainly mean, the making him

3831 a king,

3832 who is yet not so, and the making him no king

3833 who is already one.

3834And pray what hath this to do in the present case?

3835We neither mean

3836 to set

3837 up nor

3838 to put down, neither

3839 to make nor

3840 to unmake, but

3841 to have nothing to do with them.

3842Wherefore, your testimony

3843 in whatever light it is viewed serves only

3844 to dishonor your judgement, and

3845 for many other reasons had better have been let

3846 alone than published.

3847First, Because it tends

3848 to the decrease and reproach

3849 of all religion whatever, and is

3850 of the utmost danger

3851 to society,

3852 to make it a party in political disputes.

3853Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of

3854 whom disavow the publishing political testimonies, as

3855 being concerned therein and approvers thereof.

3856Thirdly, Because it hath a tendency

3857 to undo that continental harmony and friendship

3858 which yourselves

3859 by your late liberal and charitable donations hath

3860 lent a hand to establish;

3861 and the preservation of

3862 which is of the utmost consequence to us all.

3863And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell.

3864Sincerely wishing,

3865 that as men and christians, ye may always fully and

3866 uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious

3867 right;

3868 and be,

3869 in your turn, the means of securing it to others;

3870 but that the example

3871 which ye have unwisely set,

3872 of mingling religion

3873 with politics, may be disavowed and reprobated

3874 by every inhabitant of America.

3875F I N I S.