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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/147-0.txt b/147-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21fedc4 --- /dev/null +++ b/147-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2279 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 147 *** + +COMMON SENSE; + +addressed to the + +INHABITANTS + +of + +AMERICA, + +On the following interesting + +SUBJECTS + + Of the Origin and Design of Government in general, + with concise Remarks on the English Constitution. + Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession + Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs + Of the present Ability of America, with some + miscellaneous Reflections + +A new edition, with several additions in the body of the work. To +which is added an appendix; together with an address to the people +called Quakers. + +Man knows no Master save creating Heaven +Or those whom choice and common good ordain. + +Thomson. + +PHILADELPHIA + +Printed and sold by W. & T. Bradford, February 14, 1776. + +MDCCLXXVI + + + +Common Sense +By Thomas Paine + + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet +sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit +of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of +being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of +custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than +reason. + +As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of +calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might +never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated +into the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his +own Right, to support the Parliament in what he calls Theirs, and as +the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the +combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the +pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either. + +In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every +thing which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as +censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the +worthy, need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose +sentiments are injudicious, or unfriendly, will cease of themselves +unless too much pains are bestowed upon their conversion. + +The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. +Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but +universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind +are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are +interested. The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, +declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and +extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the +Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; +of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the + +AUTHOR + +P.S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, with a +View of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any Attempt to +refute the Doctrine of Independance: As no Answer hath yet appeared, +it is now presumed that none will, the Time needful for getting such +a Performance ready for the Public being considerably past. + +Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the +Public, as the Object for Attention is the Doctrine itself, not the +Man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected +with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, +but the influence of reason and principle. + +Philadelphia, February 14, 1776 + + + +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL, +WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. + +Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave +little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only +different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our +wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our +happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter +negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, +the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a +punisher. + +Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its +best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an +intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same +miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without +government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish +the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge +of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of +the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, +uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; +but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a +part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; +and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every +other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. +Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it +unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely +to ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is +preferable to all others. + +In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of +government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some +sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will +then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. +In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first +thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength +of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for +perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and +relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five +united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a +wilderness, but one man might labour out of the common period of +life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber +he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in +the mean time would urge him from his work, and every different want +call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be +death, for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable +him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather +be said to perish than to die. + +Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly +arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, +would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government +unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as +nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably +happen, that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties +of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they +will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and +this remissness, will point out the necessity, of establishing some +form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue. + +Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the +branches of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on +public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will +have the title only of Regulations, and be enforced by no other +penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man, +by natural right, will have a seat. + +But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase +likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, +will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every +occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations +near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out +the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to +be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are +supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those who +appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole +body would act were they present. If the colony continue increasing, +it will become necessary to augment the number of the +representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony +may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into +convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the +elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the +electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections +often; because as the elected might by that means return and mix +again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their +fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflexion of +not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange +will establish a common interest with every part of the community, +they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this +(not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of +government, and the happiness of the governed. + +Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode +rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the +world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom +and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our +ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or +interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of +reason will say, it is right. + +I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, +which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, +the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when +disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on +the so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for +the dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When +the world was over run with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a +glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, +and incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily +demonstrated. + +Absolute governments (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this +advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, +they know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise +the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. +But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the +nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover +in which part the fault lies, some will say in one and some in +another, and every political physician will advise a different +medicine. + +I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, +yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of +the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains +of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican +materials. + +First.--The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king. + +Secondly.--The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of +the peers. + +Thirdly.--The new republican materials, in the persons of the +commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England. + +The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; +wherefore in a constitutional sense they contribute nothing towards +the freedom of the state. + +To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers +reciprocally checking each other, is farcical, either the words have +no meaning, or they are flat contradictions. + +To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two +things: + +First.--That the king is not to be trusted without being looked +after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the +natural disease of monarchy. + +Secondly.--That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose, +are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown. + +But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to +check the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the +king a power to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their +other bills; it again supposes that the king is wiser than those +whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity! + +There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of +monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet +empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. +The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a +king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different +parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the +whole character to be absurd and useless. + +Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the king, +say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in +behalf of the king; the commons in behalf of the people; but this +hath all the distinctions of a house divided against itself; and +though the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined +they appear idle and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the +nicest construction that words are capable of, when applied to the +description of some thing which either cannot exist, or is too +incomprehensible to be within the compass of description, will be +words of sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot +inform the mind, for this explanation includes a previous question, +viz. How came the king by a power which the people are afraid to +trust, and always obliged to check? Such a power could not be the +gift of a wise people, neither can any power, which needs checking, +be from God; yet the provision, which the constitution makes, +supposes such a power to exist. + +But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or +will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; +for as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all +the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to +know which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that +will govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, +as the phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as +they cannot stop it, their endeavors will be ineffectual; the first +moving power will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed +is supplied by time. + +That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution +needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence +merely from being the giver of places and pensions is self-evident, +wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door +against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish +enough to put the crown in possession of the key. + +The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of their own government by +king, lords and commons, arises as much or more from national pride +than reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in +some other countries, but the will of the king is as much the law of +the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead +of proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people +under the more formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the +fate of Charles the first, hath only made kings more subtle--not +more just. + +Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour +of modes and forms, the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to +the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the +government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in +Turkey. + +An inquiry into the constitutional errors in the English form of +government is at this time highly necessary, for as we are never in +a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue +under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we +capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any +obstinate prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, +is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in +favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from +discerning a good one. + + + +OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION. + +Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the +equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; +the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be +accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh ill +sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the +consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though +avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it +generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy. + +But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly +natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the +distinction of men into kings and subjects. Male and female are the +distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but +how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and +distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and +whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind. + +In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture +chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there +were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into +confusion. Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this +last century than any of the monarchial governments in Europe. +Antiquity favors the same remark; for the quiet and rural lives of +the first patriarchs hath a happy something in them, which vanishes +away when we come to the history of Jewish royalty. + +Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the +Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was +the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the +promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their +deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by +doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of +sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor +is crumbling into dust! + +As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be +justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be +defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, +as declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves +of government by kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have +been very smoothly glossed over in monarchical governments, but they +undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their +governments yet to form. "Render unto Cæsar the things which are +Cæsar's" is the scripture doctrine of courts, yet it is no support +of monarchical government, for the Jews at that time were without a +king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans. + +Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the +creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. +Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, +where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administred by +a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it +was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the +Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous +homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder, +that the Almighty ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of a +form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of +heaven. + +Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for +which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of +that transaction is worth attending to. + +The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon +marched against them with a small army, and victory, thro' the +divine interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews elate with +success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed +making him a king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son and +thy son's son. Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a +kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his +soul replied, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule +over you. The Lord shall rule over you. Words need not be more +explicit; Gideon doth not decline the honor, but denieth their right +to give it; neither doth he compliment them with invented +declarations of his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet +charges them with disaffection to their proper Sovereign, the King +of heaven. + +About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into +the same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous +customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but +so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons, +who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an +abrupt and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, Behold thou art old, +and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us +like all other nations. And here we cannot but observe that their +motives were bad, viz. that they might be like unto other nations, +i.e. the Heathens, whereas their true glory laid in being as much +unlike them as possible. But the thing displeased Samuel when they +said, Give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, +and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people +in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but +they have rejected me, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. According +to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought +them up out of Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith they have +forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto thee. Now +therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto +them and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them, +i.e. not of any particular king, but the general manner of the kings +of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And +notwithstanding the great distance of time and difference of manners, +the character is still in fashion. And Samuel told all the words of +the Lord unto the people, that asked of him a king. And he said, +This shall be the manner of the king that shall reign over you; he +will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, +and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots (this +description agrees with the present mode of impressing men) and he +will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties, +and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest, and to +make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots; and he +will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks and +to be bakers (this describes the expence and luxury as well as the +oppression of kings) and he will take your fields and your olive +yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants; and he +will take the tenth of your feed, and of your vineyards, and give +them to his officers and to his servants (by which we see that +bribery, corruption and favoritism are the standing vices of kings) +and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your maid +servants, and your goodliest young men and your asses, and put them +to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall +be his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of your +king which ye shall have chosen, and the Lord will not hear you in +that day. This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; neither do +the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, either +sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the +high encomium given of David takes no notice of him officially as a +king, but only as a man after God's own heart. Nevertheless the +People refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but +we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations, +and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our +battles. Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; he +set before them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and +seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, I will call +unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain (which then was a +punishment, being in the time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive +and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the +sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the +Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the +people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said +unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die +not, for we have added unto our sins this evil, to ask a king. These +portions of scripture are direct and positive. They admit of no +equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his +protest against monarchical government is true, or the scripture is +false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much +of king-craft, as priest-craft, in withholding the scripture from +the public in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is +the Popery of government. + +To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; +and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the +second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition +on posterity. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth +could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference +to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve some decent +degree of honors of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants might be +far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural +proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature +disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into +ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion. + +Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors +than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could +have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they +might say "We choose you for our head," they could not, without +manifest injustice to their children, say "that your children and +your children's children shall reign over ours for ever." Because +such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the +next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. +Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated +hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which +when once established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, +others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the +king the plunder of the rest. + +This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had +an honorable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we +take off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their +first rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better +than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage +manners or pre-eminence in subtility obtained him the title of chief +among plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his +depredations, over-awed the quiet and defenceless to purchase their +safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no +idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a +perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and +unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, +hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take +place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complimental; +but as few or no records were extant in those days, and traditional +history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a +few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently +timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of +the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to +threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one +(for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced +many at first to favor hereditary pretensions; by which means it +happened, as it hath happened since, that what at first was +submitted to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right. + +England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but +groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his +senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a +very honorable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, +and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the +natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original.--It +certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend +much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are +any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass +and lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor +disturb their devotion. + +Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? +The question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by +election, or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it +establishes a precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary +succession. Saul was by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, +neither does it appear from that transaction there was any intention +it ever should. If the first king of any country was by election, +that likewise establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that +the right of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the +first electors, in their choice not only of a king, but of a family +of kings for ever, hath no parrallel in or out of scripture but the +doctrine of original sin, which supposes the free will of all men +lost in Adam; and from such comparison, and it will admit of no +other, hereditary succession can derive no glory. For as in Adam all +sinned, and as in the first electors all men obeyed; as in the one +all mankind were subjected to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; +as our innocence was lost in the first, and our authority in the +last; and as both disable us from reassuming some former state and +privilege, it unanswerably follows that original sin and hereditary +succession are parellels. Dishonorable rank! Inglorious connexion! +Yet the most subtile sophist cannot produce a juster simile. + +As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that +William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be +contradicted. The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English +monarchy will not bear looking into. + +But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary +succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and +wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens +a door to the foolish, the wicked, and the improper, it hath in it +the nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, +and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of +mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world +they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they +have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when +they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and +unfit of any throughout the dominions. + +Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne +is subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the +regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity +and inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune +happens, when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the +last stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes +a prey to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the +follies either of age or infancy. + +The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of +hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil +wars; and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the +most barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history +of England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have +reigned in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time +there have been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil +wars and nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, +it makes against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to +stand on. + +The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York +and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. +Twelve pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought +between Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in +his turn was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war +and the temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are +the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a +prison to a palace, and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a +foreign land; yet, as sudden transitions of temper are seldom +lasting, Henry in his turn was driven from the throne, and Edward +recalled to succeed him. The parliament always following the +strongest side. + +This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not +entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families +were united. Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489. + +In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that +kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of +government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood +will attend it. + +If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in +some countries they have none; and after sauntering away their lives +without pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw +from the scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle +round. In absolute monarchies the whole weight of business, civil +and military, lies on the king; the children of Israel in their +request for a king, urged this plea "that he may judge us, and go +out before us and fight our battles." But in countries where he is +neither a judge nor a general, as in England, a man would be puzzled +to know what is his business. + +The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business +there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name +for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a +republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, +because the corrupt influence of the crown, by having all the places +in its disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and +eaten out the virtue of the house of commons (the republican part in +the constitution) that the government of England is nearly as +monarchical as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names +without understanding them. For it is the republican and not the +monarchical part of the constitution of England which Englishmen +glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing a house of commons from out +of their own body--and it is easy to see that when republican virtue +fails, slavery ensues. Why is the constitution of England sickly, +but because monarchy hath poisoned the republic, the crown hath +engrossed the commons? + +In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give +away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and +set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to +be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and +worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to +society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that +ever lived. + + + +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS. + +In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain +arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to +settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of +prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings +to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he +will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously +enlarge his views beyond the present day. + +Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between +England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the +controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but +all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, +as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice +of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. + +It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho' an able +minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in +the house of commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a +temporary kind, replied "they will last my time." Should a thought +so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, +the name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with +detestation. + +The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the +affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a +continent--of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis +not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually +involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to +the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of +continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be +like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a +young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read +it in full grown characters. + +By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new æra for +politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, +proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April, i.e. to the +commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last year; +which, though proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever +was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then, +terminated in one and the same point, viz. a union with Great- +Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method of +effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it +hath so far happened that the first hath failed, and the second hath +withdrawn her influence. + +As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, +like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it +is but right, that we should examine the contrary side of the +argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which +these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected +with, and dependant on Great-Britain. To examine that connexion and +dependance, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see +what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, +if dependant. + +I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished +under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same +connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always +have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind +of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived +upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty +years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But +even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that +America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had +no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by +which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and +will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe. + +But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is +true, and defended the continent at our expence as well as her own +is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, +viz. the sake of trade and dominion. + +Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made +large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of +Great-Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest not +attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies on our +account, but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had +no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our +enemies on the same account. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the +continent, or the continent throw off the dependance, and we should +be at peace with France and Spain were they at war with Britain. The +miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connexions. + +It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no +relation to each other but through the parent country, i.e. that +Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister +colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about +way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way +of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never +were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as Americans, but as our +being the subjects of Great-Britain. + +But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame +upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages +make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, +turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly +so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically +adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design +of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. +Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new +world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and +religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, +not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of +the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny +which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants +still. + +In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits +of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry +our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every +European christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. + +It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the +force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the +world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will +naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their +interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the +name of neighbour; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he +drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of +townsman; if he travel out of the county, and meet him in any other, +he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls him +countryman, i.e. county-man; but if in their foreign excursions they +should associate in France or any other part of Europe, their local +remembrance would be enlarged into that of Englishmen. And by a just +parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America, or any other +quarter of the globe, are countrymen; for England, Holland, Germany, +or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in the same places on +the larger scale, which the divisions of street, town, and county do +on the smaller ones; distinctions too limited for continental minds. +Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of +English descent. Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or +mother country applied to England only, as being false, selfish, +narrow and ungenerous. + +But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it +amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes +every other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our +duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present +line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of +England are descendants from the same country; therefore, by the +same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. + +Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the +colonies, that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. +But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither +do the expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never +suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British +arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe. + +Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our +plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the +peace and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of +all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a +protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from +invaders. + +I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a +single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected +with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage +is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, +and our imported goods must be paid for buy them where we will. + +But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, +are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to +ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any +submission to, or dependance on Great-Britain, tends directly to +involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at +variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and +against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our +market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any +part of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of +European contentions, which she never can do, while by her +dependence on Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of +British politics. + +Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and +whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the +trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with +Britain. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it +not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for +separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer +convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right or natural +pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of +nature cries, 'Tis time to part. Even the distance at which the +Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural +proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, was never the +design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was +discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it +was peopled encreases the force of it. The reformation was preceded +by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to +open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should +afford neither friendship nor safety. + +The authority of Great-Britain over this continent, is a form of +government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious +mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful +and positive conviction, that what he calls "the present +constitution" is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, +knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure +any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method +of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we +ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and +pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we +should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few +years farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, +which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight. + +Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am +inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of +reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. +Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see; +prejudiced men, who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, +who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this +last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more +calamities to this continent, than all the other three. + +It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of +sorrow; the evil is not sufficient brought to their doors to make +them feel the precariousness with which all American property is +possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments +to Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and +instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no +trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few +months ago were in ease and affluence, have now, no other +alternative than to stay and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered +by the fire of their friends if they continue within the city, and +plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present +condition they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in +a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed to the fury +of both armies. + +Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of +Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "Come, +come, we shall be friends again, for all this." But examine the +passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of +reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, +whether you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the +power that hath carried fire and sword into your land? If you cannot +do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your +delay bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with +Britain, whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced and +unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, +will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the +first. But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then +I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed +before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to +lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by +their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you +have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you +have, and still can shake hands with the murderers, then are you +unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and +whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a +coward, and the spirit of a sycophant. + +This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by +those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without +which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of +life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror +for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal +and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed +object. It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer +America, if she do not conquer herself by delay and timidity. The +present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or +neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; and +there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who, +or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a +season so precious and useful. + +It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things to all +examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can +longer remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in +Britain does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, +at this time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise +the continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is now a +fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot +supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true +reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so +deep." + +Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have +been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that +nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than +repeated petitioning--and nothing hath contributed more than that +very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark +and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's +sake, let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next +generation to be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names +of parent and child. + +To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we +thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two +undeceived us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been +once defeated, will never renew the quarrel. + +As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do +this continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, +and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of +convenience, by a power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of +us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be +always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a +petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when +obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few +years be looked upon as folly and childishness--There was a time +when it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease. + +Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper +objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is +something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually +governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite +larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with +respect to each other, reverses the common order of nature, it is +evident they belong to different systems: England to Europe, America +to itself. + +I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to +espouse the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly, +positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true +interest of this continent to be so; that every thing short of that +is mere patchwork, that it can afford no lasting felicity,--that it +is leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time, +when, a little more, a little farther, would have rendered this +continent the glory of the earth. + +As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a +compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy +the acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expence of +blood and treasure we have been already put to. + +The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion +to the expence. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, +is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary +stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience, which would have +sufficiently ballanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had +such repeals been obtained; but if the whole continent must take up +arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while +to fight against a contemptible ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we +pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for in +a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a Bunker-hill price +for law, as for land. As I have always considered the independancy +of this continent, as an event, which sooner or later must arrive, +so from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, the +event could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of +hostilities, it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter, +which time would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in +earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a suit at law, +to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just expiring. +No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before +the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the event of that +day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh +of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended +title of father of his people can unfeelingly hear of their +slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. + +But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? +I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. + +First. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the +king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this +continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to +liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or +is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "You shall make no +laws but what I please." And is there any inhabitant in America so +ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the +present constitution, that this continent can make no laws but what +the king gives leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to +see, that (considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to +be made here, but such as suit his purpose. We may be as effectually +enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws +made for us in England. After matters are made up (as it is called) +can there be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be +exerted, to keep this continent as low and humble as possible? +Instead of going forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually +quarrelling or ridiculously petitioning.--We are already greater +than the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavour +to make us less? To bring the matter to one point. Is the power who +is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever +says No to this question is an independant, for independancy means +no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, or whether the +king, the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall +tell us "there shall be no laws but such as I like." + +But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people +there can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and +good order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of +twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions +of people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act +of yours to be law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, +though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only +answer, that England being the King's residence, and America not so, +makes quite another case. The king's negative here is ten times more +dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for there he will +scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as +strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he would never +suffer such a bill to be passed. + +America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics, +England consults the good of this country, no farther than it +answers her own purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to +suppress the growth of ours in every case which doth not promote her +advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we +should soon be in under such a second-hand government, considering +what has happened! Men do not change from enemies to friends by the +alteration of a name: And in order to shew that reconciliation now +is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, that it would be policy in the +king at this time, to repeal the acts for the sake of reinstating +himself in the government of the provinces; in order, that he may +accomplish by craft and subtilty, in the long run, what he cannot do +by force and violence in the short one. Reconciliation and ruin are +nearly related. + +Secondly. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to obtain, +can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of +government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the +colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in +the interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of +property will not choose to come to a country whose form of +government hangs but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on +the brink of commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present +inhabitants would lay hold of the interval, to dispense of their +effects, and quit the continent. + +But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but +independance, i.e. a continental form of government, can keep the +peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I +dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more +than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or +other, the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the +malice of Britain. + +Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more +will probably suffer the same fate) Those men have other feelings +than us who have nothing suffered. All they now possess is liberty, +what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having +nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general +temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like +that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very +little about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace, +is no government at all, and in that case we pay our money for +nothing; and pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will +be wholly on paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day +after reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I +believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independance, +fearing that it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our +first thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here; for +there are ten times more to dread from a patched up connexion than +from independance. I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest, +that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and +my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of injuries, I could +never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself +bound thereby. + +The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and +obedience to continental government, as is sufficient to make every +reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the +least pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are +truly childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving +for superiority over another. + +Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect +equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and +we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are without +wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are +never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprizing +ruffians at home; and that degree of pride and insolence ever +attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign +powers, in instances, where a republican government, by being formed +on more natural principles, would negociate the mistake. + +If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it is +because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out-- +Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following +hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other +opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving +rise to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of +individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for +wise and able men to improve into useful matter. + +Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The +representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and +subject to the authority of a Continental Congress. + +Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient +districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to +Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number +in Congress will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose +a president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let +a colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after +which, let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from +out of the delegates of that province. In the next Congress, let a +colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from +which the president was taken in the former Congress, and so +proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper +rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is +satisfactorily just, not less than three fifths of the Congress to +be called a majority.--He that will promote discord, under a +government so equally formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in +his revolt. + +But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, +this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and +consistent that it should come from some intermediate body between +the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and +the people, let a Continental Conference be held, in the following +manner, and for the following purpose. + +A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each +colony. Two members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial +Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be +chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for, and in +behalf of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall +think proper to attend from all parts of the province for that +purpose; or, if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen +in two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this +conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles +of business, knowledge and power. The members of Congress, +Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national +concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being +impowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority. + +The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a +Continental Charter, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering +to what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and +manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with +their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and +jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is +continental, not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all +men, and above all things, the free exercise of religion, according +to the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is +necessary for a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the +said Conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen +comformable to the said charter, to be the legislators and governors +of this continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness, may +God preserve, Amen. + +Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some +similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise +observer on governments Dragonetti. "The science" says he "of the +politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and +freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should +discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of +individual happiness, with the least national expense. + +Dragonetti on virtue and rewards." + +But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he +reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal +Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in +earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the +charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word +of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, +that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is +king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free +countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. +But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the +conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the +people whose right it is. + +A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man +seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will +become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a +constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have +it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and +chance. If we omit it now, some Massanello ¹ may hereafter arise, +who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the +desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the +powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent +like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into +the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a +temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in +such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the +news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like +the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that +oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a +door to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. +There are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it +glorious to expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish +power, which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us, +the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and +treacherously by them. + +¹ Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who +after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, +against the oppressions of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then +subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became +king. + +To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to +have faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores +instruct us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the +little remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any +reason to hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will +increase, or that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more +and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever? + +Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us +the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former +innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last +cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses +against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she +would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive +the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders +of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable +feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his +image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common +animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be +extirpated the earth, or have only a casual existence were we +callous to the touches of affection. The robber, and the murderer, +would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our +tempers sustain, provoke us into justice. + +O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, +but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun +with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and +Africa, have long expelled her--Europe regards her like a stranger, +and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the +fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind. + + + +OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA, +WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS. + +I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath +not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries, +would take place one time or other: And there is no instance, in +which we have shewn less judgment, than in endeavouring to describe, +what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for +independance. + +As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the +time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of +things, and endeavour, if possible, to find out the very time. But +we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the time hath +found us. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things +prove the fact. + +It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; +yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the +world. The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed +and disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived +at that pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to +support itself, and the whole, when united, can accomplish the +matter, and either more, or, less than this, might be fatal in its +effects. Our land force is already sufficient, and as to naval +affairs, we cannot be insensible, that Britain would never suffer an +American man of war to be built, while the continent remained in her +hands. Wherefore, we should be no forwarder an hundred years hence +in that branch, than we are now; but the truth is, we should be less +so, because the timber of the country is every day diminishing, and +that, which will remain at last, will be far off and difficult to +procure. + +Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under +the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more sea port +towns we had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. +Our present numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that +no man need be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and +the necessities of an army create a new trade. + +Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account +will serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave +posterity with a settled form of government, an independant +constitution of its own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. +But to expend millions for the sake of getting a few vile acts +repealed, and routing the present ministry only, is unworthy the +charge, and is using posterity with the utmost cruelty; because it +is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs, +from which they derive no advantage. Such a thought is unworthy a +man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a +pedling politician. + +The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be +but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national +debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no +case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one +hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of +four millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has +a large navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for +the twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy +as large again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more +than three millions and an half sterling. + +The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published +without the following calculations, which are now given as a proof +that the above estimation of the navy is just. See Entic's naval +history, intro. page 56. + +The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with +masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight +months boatswain's and carpenter's sea-stores, as calculated by Mr. +Burchett, Secretary to the navy. + + £ + [pounds + sterling] +For a ship of 100 guns = 35,553 + 90 = 29,886 + 80 = 23,638 + 70 = 17,785 + 60 = 14,197 + 50 = 10,606 + 40 = 7,558 + 30 = 5,846 + 20 = 3,710 + +And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of +the whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was at its +greatest glory consisted of the following ships and guns: + +Ships. Guns. Cost of one. Cost of all. + Cost in £ [pounds sterling] + 6 100 35,553 213,318 + 12 90 29,886 358,632 + 12 80 23,638 283,656 + 43 70 17,785 764,755 + 35 60 14,197 496,895 + 40 50 10,606 424,240 + 45 40 7,558 340,110 + 58 20 3,710 215,180 + 85 Sloops, bombs + and fireships, one + with another, at } 2,000 170,000 + ------------ +Cost 3,266,786 +Remains for Guns 233,214 + ------------ + 3,500,000 + +No country on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally +capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and +cordage are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. +Whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships +of war to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most +of the materials they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as +an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this +country. It is the best money we can lay out. A navy when finished +is worth more than it cost. And is that nice point in national +policy, in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build; +if we want them not, we can sell; and by that means replace our +paper currency with ready gold and silver. + +In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; +it is not necessary that one fourth part should be sailors. The +Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of +any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her +complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social +sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in +the common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable +to begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing, +our fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of +employ. Men of war, of seventy and eighty guns were built forty +years ago in New-England, and why not the same now? Ship-building is +America's greatest pride, and in which, she will in time excel the +whole world. The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and +consequently excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa +is in a state of barbarism; and no power in Europe, hath either such +an extent of coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where +nature hath given the one, she has withheld the other; to America +only hath she been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is +almost shut out from the sea; wherefore, her boundless forests, her +tar, iron, and cordage are only articles of commerce. + +In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the +little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we +might have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather; +and slept securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. +The case now is altered, and our methods of defence, ought to +improve with our increase of property. A common pirate, twelve +months ago, might have come up the Delaware, and laid the city of +Philadelphia under instant contribution, for what sum he pleased; +and the same might have happened to other places. Nay, any daring +fellow, in a brig of fourteen or sixteen guns, might have robbed the +whole Continent, and carried off half a million of money. These are +circumstances which demand our attention, and point out the +necessity of naval protection. + +Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, +she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall +keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? Common sense will tell +us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all +others, the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected +under the pretence of friendship; and ourselves, after a long and +brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships +are not to be admitted into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to +protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little +use, and on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must +hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? Why do it +for another? + +The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not a +tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of +them not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the +list, if only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part, of +such as are fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one +time. The East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other +parts over which Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon +her navy. From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have +contracted a false notion respecting the navy of England, and have +talked as if we should have the whole of it to encounter at once, +and for that reason, supposed, that we must have one as large; which +not being instantly practicable, have been made use of by a set of +disguised Tories to discourage our beginning thereon. Nothing can be +farther from truth than this; for if America had only a twentieth +part of the naval force of Britain, she would be by far an over +match for her; because, as we neither have, nor claim any foreign +dominion, our whole force would be employed on our own coast, where +we should, in the long run, have two to one the advantage of those +who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, before they could +attack us, and the same distance to return in order to refit and +recruit. And although Britain by her fleet, hath a check over our +trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the West- +Indies, which, by laying in the neighbourhood of the Continent, is +entirely at its mercy. + +Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of +peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant +navy. If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ +in their service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty +guns, (the premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the +merchants) fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on +constant duty, would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without +burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in England, +of suffering their fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the +docks. To unite the sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy; +for when our strength and our riches play into each other's hand, we +need fear no external enemy. + +In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even +to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior +to that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. +Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every +day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our +inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. +Wherefore, what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From +Britain we can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to +the government of America again, this Continent will not be worth +living in. Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be +constantly happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will +venture his life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? +The difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some +unlocated lands, shews the insignificance of a British government, +and fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can +regulate Continental matters. + +Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, +that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet +unoccupied, which instead of being lavished by the king on his +worthless dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the +discharge of the present debt, but to the constant support of +government. No nation under heaven hath such an advantage as this. + +The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being +against, is an argument in favour of independance. We are +sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. +It is a matter worthy of observation, that the more a country is +peopled, the smaller their armies are. In military numbers, the +ancients far exceeded the moderns: and the reason is evident. For +trade being the consequence of population, men become too much +absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the +spirit, both of patriotism and military defence. And history +sufficiently informs us, that the bravest achievements were always +accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With the increase of +commerce, England hath lost its spirit. The city of London, +notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with the +patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing +are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and +submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel. + +Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in +individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the +Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety +of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, +would create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being +able might scorn each other's assistance: and while the proud and +foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament, +that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the present +time is the true time for establishing it. The intimacy which is +contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed in +misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable. +Our present union is marked with both these characters: we are young +and we have been distressed; but our concord hath withstood our +troubles, and fixes a memorable area for posterity to glory in. + +The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never +happens to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a +government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that +means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, +instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and +then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of +government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute +them afterward: but from the errors of other nations, let us learn +wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity--To begin government +at the right end. + +When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the +point of the sword; and until we consent, that the seat of +government, in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we +shall be in danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, +who may treat us in the same manner, and then, where will be our +freedom? where our property? + +As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all +government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I +know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let +a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of +principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to +part with, and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. +Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good +society. For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is +the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity of +religious opinions among us: It affords a larger field for our +Christian kindness. Were we all of one way of thinking, our +religious dispositions would want matter for probation; and on this +liberal principle, I look on the various denominations among us, to +be like children of the same family, differing only, in what is +called, their Christian names. + +In page forty, I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a +Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) +and in this place, I take the liberty of re-mentioning the subject, +by observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn +obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of +every separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or +property. A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends. + +In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and +equal representation; and there is no political matter which more +deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small +number of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number +of the representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is +increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the +Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of +Pennsylvania; twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks +county members, being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the +Chester members done the same, this whole province had been governed +by two counties only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The +unwarrantable stretch likewise, which that house made in their last +sitting, to gain an undue authority over the delegates of that +province, ought to warn the people at large, how they trust power +out of their own hands. A set of instructions for the Delegates were +put together, which in point of sense and business would have +dishonoured a schoolboy, and after being approved by a few, a very +few without doors, were carried into the House, and there passed in +behalf of the whole colony; whereas, did the whole colony know, with +what ill-will that House hath entered on some necessary public +measures, they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of +such a trust. + +Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued +would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different +things. When the calamities of America required a consultation, +there was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to +appoint persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose; +and the wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this +continent from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall +never be without a Congress, every well wisher to good order, must +own, that the mode for choosing members of that body, deserves +consideration. And I put it as a question to those, who make a study +of mankind, whether representation and election is not too great a +power for one and the same body of men to possess? When we are +planning for posterity, we ought to remember, that virtue is not +hereditary. + +It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are +frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall +(one of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New- +York Assembly with contempt, because that House, he said, consisted +but of twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could +not with decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his +involuntary honesty. ¹ + +¹ Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large +and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh's +political disquisitions. + +To Conclude, however strange it may appear to some, or however +unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and +striking reasons may be given, to shew, that nothing can settle our +affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for +independance. Some of which are, + +First.--It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, for +some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as +mediators, and bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while +America calls herself the Subject of Great-Britain, no power, +however well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, +in our present state we may quarrel on for ever. + +Secondly.--It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or Spain will +give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only, to make use of that +assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and +strengthening the connection between Britain and America; because, +those powers would be sufferers by the consequences. + +Thirdly.--While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we +must, in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The +precedent is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men to be in +arms under the name of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the +paradox: but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea +much too refined for common understanding. + +Fourthly.--Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to +foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the +peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring, +at the same time, that not being able, any longer, to live happily +or safely under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had +been driven to the necessity of breaking off all connections with +her; at the same time, assuring all such courts of our peaceable +disposition towards them, and of our desire of entering into trade +with them: Such a memorial would produce more good effects to this +Continent, than if a ship were freighted with petitions to Britain. + +Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither +be received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, +and will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other +nations. + +These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, +like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a +little time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an +independance is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man +who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, +yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, +and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. + + + +APPENDIX. + +Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or +rather, on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech made +its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the +birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth, at a +more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. The bloody +mindedness of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing the doctrine +of the other. Men read by way of revenge. And the Speech, instead of +terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of Independance. + +Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise, +have a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of +countenance to base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this +maxim be admitted, it naturally follows, that the King's Speech, as +being a piece of finished villainy, deserved, and still deserves, a +general execration both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the +domestic tranquillity of a nation, depends greatly, on the chastity +of what may properly be called national manners, it is often better, +to pass some things over in silent disdain, than to make use of such +new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least innovation, on +that guardian of our peace and safety. And, perhaps, it is chiefly +owing to this prudent delicacy, that the King's Speech, hath not, +before now, suffered a public execution. The Speech if it may be +called one, is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel against +the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind; and is a +formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the +pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind, is one of +the privileges, and the certain consequence of Kings; for as nature +knows them not, they know not her, and although they are beings of +our own creating, they know not us, and are become the gods of their +creators. The Speech hath one good quality, which is, that it is not +calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be deceived +by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It leaves us +at no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of reading, +that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored +Indian, is less a Savage than the King of Britain. + +Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical +piece, fallaciously called, "The Address of the people of England to +the inhabitants of America," hath, perhaps, from a vain supposition, +that the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and +description of a king, given, (though very unwisely on his part) the +real character of the present one: "But" says this writer, "if you +are inclined to pay compliments to an administration, which we do +not complain of," (meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the repeal +of the Stamp Act) "it is very unfair in you to withhold them from +that prince, by whose nod alone they were permitted to do any +thing." This is toryism with a witness! Here is idolatry even +without a mask: And he who can calmly hear, and digest such doctrine, +hath forfeited his claim to rationality--an apostate from the order +of manhood; and ought to be considered--as one, who hath not only +given up the proper dignity of man, but sunk himself beneath the +rank of animals, and contemptibly crawls through the world like a +worm. + +However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either +says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human +obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by +a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, +procured for himself an universal hatred. It is now the interest of +America to provide for herself. She hath already a large and young +family, whom it is more her duty to take care of, than to be +granting away her property, to support a power who is become a +reproach to the names of men and christians--Ye, whose office it is +to watch over the morals of a nation, of whatsoever sect or +denomination ye are of, as well as ye, who are more immediately the +guardians of the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native +country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret +wish a separation--But leaving the moral part to private reflection, +I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads. + +First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from +Britain. + +Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, +reconciliation or independance? with some occasional remarks. + +In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the +opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this +continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly +known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a +state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped +and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any +material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and +although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the +history of other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what +she would be capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, +the legislative powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, +proudly coveting what would do her no good, were she to accomplish +it; and the Continent hesitating on a matter, which will be her +final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce and not the conquest of +America, by which England is to be benefited, and that would in a +great measure continue, were the countries as independant of each +other as France and Spain; because in many articles, neither can go +to a better market. But it is the independance of this country of +Britain or any other, which is now the main and only object worthy +of contention, and which, like all other truths discovered by +necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every day. + +First. Because it will come to that one time or other. + +Secondly. Because, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to +accomplish. + +I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, +with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak +without reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the +following seems the most general, viz. that had this rupture +happened forty or fifty years hence, instead of now, the Continent +would have been more able to have shaken off the dependance. To +which I reply, that our military ability, at this time, arises from +the experience gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty +years time, would have been totally extinct. The Continent, would +not, by that time, have had a General, or even a military officer +left; and we, or those who may succeed us, would have been as +ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians: And this single +position, closely attended to, will unanswerably prove, that the +present time is preferable to all others. The argument turns thus-- +at the conclusion of the last war, we had experience, but wanted +numbers; and forty or fifty years hence, we should have numbers, +without experience; wherefore, the proper point of time, must be +some particular point between the two extremes, in which a +sufficiency of the former remains, and a proper increase of the +latter is obtained: And that point of time is the present time. + +The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come +under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by +the following position, viz. + +Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the +governing and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now +circumstanced, is giving up the point intirely) we shall deprive +ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may +contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces +are clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extention of the limits +of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, +amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency; +and the quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions +yearly. + +It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without +burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always +lessen, and in time, will wholly support the yearly expence of +government. It matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that +the lands when sold be applied to the discharge of it, and for the +execution of which, the Congress for the time being, will be the +continental trustees. + +I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest and most +practicable plan, reconciliation or independance; with some +occasional remarks. + +He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his +argument, and on that ground, I answer generally--That independance +being a single simple line, contained within ourselves; and +reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and +in which, a treacherous capricious court is to interfere, gives the +answer without a doubt. + +The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is +capable of reflexion. Without law, without government, without any +other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy. +Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which is +nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret enemy is +endeavouring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, Legislation +without law; wisdom without a plan; constitution without a name; and, +what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independance contending for +dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never +existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property +of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The +mind of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object +before them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is +criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one +thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dared not +have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that +act, were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction +should be drawn, between, English soldiers taken in battle, and +inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but +the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his +head. + +Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of +our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The +Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not +done in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall +into a state, in which, neither Reconciliation nor Independance will +be practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at +their old game of dividing the Continent, and there are not wanting +among us, Printers, who will be busy in spreading specious +falsehoods. The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few +months ago in two of the New-York papers, and likewise in two others, +is an evidence that there are men who want either judgment or +honesty. + +It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of +reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult +the task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent +divide thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various +orders of men whose situation and circumstances, as well as their +own, are to be considered therein. Do they put themselves in the +place of the sufferer whose all is already gone, and of the soldier, +who hath quitted all for the defence of his country. If their ill +judged moderation be suited to their own private situations only, +regardless of others, the event will convince them, that "they are +reckoning without their Host." + +Put us, say some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which +I answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply +with, neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should +be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a +corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another +parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the +obligation, on the pretence, of its being violently obtained, or +unwisely granted; and in that case, Where is our redress?--No going +to law with nations; cannon are the barristers of Crowns; and the +sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit. To be on the +footing of sixty-three, it is not sufficient, that the laws only be +put on the same state, but, that our circumstances, likewise, be put +on the same state; Our burnt and destroyed towns repaired or built +up, our private losses made good, our public debts (contracted for +defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall be millions worse than we +were at that enviable period. Such a request, had it been complied +with a year ago, would have won the heart and soul of the Continent- +-but now it is too late, "The Rubicon is passed." + +Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a +pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as +repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce +obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the +means; for the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such +trifles. It is the violence which is done and threatened to our +persons; the destruction of our property by an armed force; the +invasion of our country by fire and sword, which conscientiously +qualifies the use of arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of +defence became necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have +ceased; and the independancy of America, should have been considered, +as dating its æra from, and published by, the first musket that was +fired against her. This line is a line of consistency; neither drawn +by caprice, nor extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of +events, of which the colonies were not the authors. + +I shall conclude these remarks, with the following timely and well +intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are three different +ways, by which an independancy may hereafter be effected; and that +one of those three, will one day or other, be the fate of America, +viz. By the legal voice of the people in Congress; by a military +power; or by a mob: It may not always happen that our soldiers are +citizens, and the multitude a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I +have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. +Should an independancy be brought about by the first of those means, +we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form +the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it +in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to +the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The +birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as +numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of +freedom from the event of a few months. The Reflexion is awful--and +in this point of view, How trifling, how ridiculous, do the little, +paltry cavellings, of a few weak or interested men appear, when +weighed against the business of a world. + +Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and an +Independance be hereafter effected by any other means, we must +charge the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose +narrow and prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure, +without either inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be +given in support of Independance, which men should rather privately +think of, than be publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating +whether we shall be independant or not, but, anxious to accomplish +it on a firm, secure, and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it +is not yet began upon. Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even +the Tories (if such beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, +be the most solicitous to promote it; for, as the appointment of +committees at first, protected them from popular rage, so, a wise +and well established form of government, will be the only certain +means of continuing it securely to them. Wherefore, if they have not +virtue enough to be Whigs, they ought to have prudence enough to +wish for Independance. + +In short, Independance is the only Bond that can tye and keep us +together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally +shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well, as a cruel enemy. +We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with Britain; +for there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, will +be less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace, +than with those, whom she denominates, "rebellious subjects," for +terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her to +hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the +war. As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our +trade to obtain a redress of our grievances, let us now try the +alternative, by independantly redressing them ourselves, and then +offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part in +England, will be still with us; because, peace with trade, is +preferable to war without it. And if this offer be not accepted, +other courts may be applied to. + +On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been +made to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this +pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be +refuted, or, that the party in favour of it are too numerous to be +opposed. Wherefore, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious +or doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold out to his neighbour the +hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like +an act of oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every former +dissension. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none +other be heard among us, than those of a good citizen, an open and +resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind +and of the FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA. + +To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called +Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the +late piece, entitled "The Ancient Testimony and Principles of the +People called Quakers renewed, with Respect to the King and +Government, and touching the Commotions now prevailing in these and +other parts of America addressed to the People in General." + +The Writer of this, is one of those few, who never dishonours +religion either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination +whatsoever. To God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the +score of religion. Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly +addressed to you as a religious, but as a political body, dabbling +in matters, which the professed Quietude of your Principles instruct +you not to meddle with. + +As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves +in the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of +this, in order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the +necessity, of putting himself in the place of all those, who, +approve the very writings and principles, against which your +testimony is directed: And he hath chosen this singular situation, +in order, that you might discover in him that presumption of +character which you cannot see in yourselves. For neither he nor you +can have any claim or title to Political Representation. + +When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they +stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have +managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) +is not your proper Walk; for however well adapted it might appear to +you, it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely +together, and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and +unjust. + +The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you +credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love +and desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural, +as well the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this +ground, as men labouring to establish an Independant Constitution of +our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. Our plan +is peace for ever. We are tired of contention with Britain, and can +see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act consistently, +because for the sake of introducing an endless and uninterrupted +peace, do we bear the evils and burthens of the present day. We are +endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavour, to separate +and dissolve a connexion which hath already filled our land with +blood; and which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal +cause of future mischiefs to both countries. + +We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor +passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, +nor ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own +vines are we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is +the violence committed against us. We view our enemies in the +character of Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence for +ourselves in the civil law, are obliged to punish them by the +military one, and apply the sword, in the very case, where you have +before now, applied the halter--Perhaps we feel for the ruined and +insulted sufferers in all and every part of the continent, with a +degree of tenderness which hath not yet made its way into some of +your bosoms. But be ye sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground +of your Testimony. Call not coldness of soul, religion; nor put the +Bigot in the place of the Christian. + +O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the +bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by +all the difference between wilful attack and unavoidable defence. +Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make +a political hobby-horse of your religion, convince the world thereof, +by proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, for they likewise bear +arms. Give us proof of your sincerity by publishing it at St. +James's, to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the Admirals and +Captains who are piratically ravaging our coasts, and to all the +murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under him whom ye +profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul of Barclay ¹ ye would +preach repentance to your king; Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his +sins, and warn him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your partial +invectives against the injured and the insulted only, but, like +faithful ministers, would cry aloud and spare none. Say not that ye +are persecuted, neither endeavour to make us the authors of that +reproach, which, ye are bringing upon yourselves; for we testify +unto all men, that we do not complain against you because ye are +Quakers, but because ye pretend to be and are not Quakers. + +¹"Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it +is to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to +rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason +to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after +all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the +Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy +distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely +great will be thy condemnation.--Against which snare, as well as the +temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, +the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to +that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience, and which +neither can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in +thy sins." + +--Barclay's address to Charles II. + +Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your +testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was +reduced to, and comprehended in, the act of bearing arms, and that +by the people only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for +conscience; because, the general tenor of your actions wants +uniformity: And it is exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to +many of your pretended scruples; because, we see them made by the +same men, who, in the very instant that they are exclaiming against +the mammon of this world, are nevertheless, hunting after it with a +step as steady as Time, and an appetite as keen as Death. + +The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of +your testimony, that, "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh +even his enemies to be at peace with him"; is very unwisely chosen +on your part; because, it amounts to a proof, that the king's ways +(whom ye are desirous of supporting) do not please the Lord, +otherwise, his reign would be in peace. + +I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for +which all the foregoing seems only an introduction, viz. + +"It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called +to profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences +unto this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and +governments, is God's peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to +himself: And that it is not our business to have any hand or +contrivance therein; nor to be busy bodies above our station, much +less to plot and contrive the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but +to pray for the king, and safety of our nation, and good of all men: +That we may live a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness and +honesty; under the government which God is pleased to set over us."- +-If these are really your principles why do ye not abide by them? +Why do ye not leave that, which ye call God's Work, to be managed by +himself? These very principles instruct you to wait with patience +and humility, for the event of all public measures, and to receive +that event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore, what occasion +is there for your political testimony if you fully believe what it +contains: And the very publishing it proves, that either, ye do not +believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practise what +ye believe. + +The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the +quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government which is +set over him. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and +governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will +not be robbed thereof by us; wherefore, the principle itself leads +you to approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to +kings as being his work. Oliver Cromwell thanks you. Charles, then, +died not by the hands of man; and should the present Proud Imitator +of him, come to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of +the Testimony, are bound, by the doctrine it contains, to applaud +the fact. Kings are not taken away by miracles, neither are changes +in governments brought about by any other means than such as are +common and human; and such as we are now using. Even the dispersion +of the Jews, though foretold by our Saviour, was effected by arms. +Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, ye ought not to +be meddlers on the other; but to wait the issue in silence; and +unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove, that the Almighty +who hath created and placed this new world, at the greatest distance +it could possibly stand, east and west, from every part of the old, +doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being independant of the +corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless I say, ye can shew +this, how can ye on the ground of your principles, justify the +exciting and stirring up the people "firmly to unite in the +abhorrence of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire +and design to break off the happy connexion we have hitherto enjoyed, +with the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just and necessary +subordination to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in +authority under him." What a slap of the face is here! the men, who +in the very paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up +the ordering, altering, and disposal of kings and governments, into +the hands of God, are now, recalling their principles, and putting +in for a share of the business. Is it possible, that the conclusion, +which is here justly quoted, can any ways follow from the doctrine +laid down? The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen; the +absurdity too great not to be laughed at; and such as could only +have been made by those, whose understandings were darkened by the +narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political party; for ye are +not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers but only as a +factional and fractional part thereof. + +Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no +man to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;) +to which I subjoin the following remark; "That the setting up and +putting down of kings," most certainly mean, the making him a king, +who is yet not so, and the making him no king who is already one. +And pray what hath this to do in the present case? We neither mean +to set up nor to put down, neither to make nor to unmake, but to +have nothing to do with them. Wherefore, your testimony in whatever +light it is viewed serves only to dishonor your judgement, and for +many other reasons had better have been let alone than published. + +First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion +whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society, to make it a party +in political disputes. + +Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow +the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and +approvers thereof. + +Thirdly, Because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony +and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable +donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of +which is of the utmost consequence to us all. + +And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely +wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always fully and +uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in +your turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example +which ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may +be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America. + + + +F I N I S. + + + + +On Common Sense + +"No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, in +perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple +and unassuming language." + +Thomas Jefferson + +"A pamphlet called 'Commonsense' makes a great noise. One of the +vilest things that ever was published to the world. Full of false +representations, lies, calumny, and treason, whose principles are to +subvert all Kingly Governments and erect an Independent Republic." + +Nicholas Cresswell + +"I dreaded the effect so popular a pamphlet might have among the +people, and determined to do all in my Power to counteract the +effect of it." + +John Adams + +"Its effects were sudden and extensive upon the American mind. It +was read by public men." + +Dr. Benjamin Rush + +"Have you read the pamphlet Common Sense? I never saw such a +masterful performance.... In short, I own myself convinced, by the +arguments, of the necessity of separation." + +General Charles Lee + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + +This production of the Bradford edition of Common Sense retains the +original characteristics of the document--the author's use of +capitalization (large and small), spelling, and italics. + +The page numbers of this version of the book were my invention, for +ease in reading the HTML document. The page numbers can more +accurately be called paragraph numbers. They match the paragraph +numbers in the edited text of 'Common Sense' from the National +Humanities Center. + +In one case, the text refers to page forty (see our Page 130). We +provided a link to the appropriate part of our document but retained +the page number specified by Paine. Our page numbers are not carried +over to the Kindle, E-PUB, and text documents produced by Project +Gutenberg. + +The section "On Common Sense," containing quotes about Common Sense, +have been added by this transcriber. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 147 *** diff --git a/147-h/147-h.htm b/147-h/147-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8472dd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/147-h/147-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3223 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { color:black; + background:white; + margin-right:10%; + margin-left:10%; + font-size:medium; + font-family:"Times New Roman", serif; + text-align:justify; } + +h1 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } +h2 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; + font-size:medium;} +a { text-decoration:none;} +ol { list-style-type:upper-roman; margin-left:5%; } +p { text-indent:4%; } +ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} +blockquote {font-size: 97%; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.smcap { font-variant:small-caps;} +.center { text-align:center; } +.large {font-size:large;} +.xl {font-size:x-large;} +.right { text-align:right; } +.bold {font-weight:bold;} +.italic {font-style:italic;} +.neat-left-margin {margin-left:2.5em;} +.pagenum { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: gray; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + /* To remove the page-numbers, use the hidden visibilty feature */ + /* visibility:hidden; */ + border: 1px solid silver; padding: 1px 2px; + font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;} +hr.break { width:20%;} +hr { width:95%;} +p.noindent { text-indent:0; } + +p.footnote { font-size:small; + text-indent:0; + margin-left:0; + margin-right:0; } + +p.quotation {text-align:right; text-indent:0; font-style:italic;} + +p.finis { text-align:center; + text-indent:0; + margin-left:0; + margin-right:0; } + +div.boilerplate { margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em;} + div.boilerplate p { text-indent:0em; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em;} + + + +div.footer { text-indent:0; text-align:justify; + font-size:80%; padding-left:10%; padding-right:10%;} + + + + + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 147 ***</div> + +<h1> +COMMON SENSE; +</h1> + +<p class="noindent center"> + <span class="smcap">addressed to the</span> +</p> + +<p class="noindent center xl"> + INHABITANTS +</p> + +<p class="noindent center"> + <span class="smcap">of</span> +</p> + +<p class="noindent center xl"> + AMERICA, +</p> + +<p class="noindent center"> + On the following interesting +<br /> +</p> + + +<div> +<a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a> +<h2> +SUBJECTS +</h2> +</div> + + +<ol> +<li><a href="#origin"> +Of the Origin and Design of Government in general,<br /> +with concise Remarks on the English Constitution. +</a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#monarchy"> +Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession +</a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#thoughts"> +Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs +</a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#ability"> +Of the present Ability of America, with some<br /> +miscellaneous Reflections +</a> +</li> +</ol> + +<hr /> +<p> +A new edition, with several additions in the body +of the work. To which is added an +<span class="smcap"><a href="#appendix">appendix</a></span>; +together with an <a href="#quakers">address to the people +called Quakers</a>. +</p> +<hr /> + +<p class="noindent" style="margin-left:10%;"> +<span style="margin-left:-1em;">Man knows no Master save creating <span class="smcap">Heaven</span></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left:-1em;">Or those whom choice and common good ordain.</span> +</p> +<p class="right smcap"> + Thomson. +</p> +<hr /> +<hr /> +<p class="noindent center large"> + PHILADELPHIA +</p> +<p class="noindent center"> + Printed and sold by W. & T. Bradford, February 14, 1776. +</p> +<hr class="break" /> +<p class="noindent center large"> + MDCCLXXVI +</p> +<p> + <br /> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<h1>Common Sense</h1> +<h2>By Thomas Paine</h2> +<p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<a name="intro" id="intro"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents">INTRODUCTION.</a> +</h2> +</div> +<p> +<span class="smcap">Perhaps</span> the sentiments contained in the +following pages, are not <em>yet</em> sufficiently fashionable to +procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing +<em>wrong</em>, gives it a superficial appearance of being +<em>right</em>, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense +of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts +than reason. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span> +As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling +the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have +been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the +inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his <em>own Right</em>, +to support the Parliament in what he calls <em>Theirs</em>, and as the good +people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, +they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of +both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> +In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every thing +which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to +individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the worthy, need not +the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious, +or unfriendly, will cease of themselves unless too much pains are +bestowed upon their conversion. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> +The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. +Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but +universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind +are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are +interested. The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, +declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and +extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the +Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of +which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the +</p> + +<p class="right">AUTHOR +</p> + +<p> +P.S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, with a +View of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any Attempt to refute +the Doctrine of Independance: As no Answer hath yet appeared, it is now +presumed that none will, the Time needful for getting such a +Performance ready for the Public being considerably past. +</p> + +<p> +Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the +Public, as the Object for Attention is the <em>Doctrine itself</em>, not the +<em>Man</em>. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with +any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the +influence of reason and principle. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<i>Philadelphia, February 14, 1776</i> +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<a name="origin" id="origin"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents"> +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL,<br /> +WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Some</span> writers have so confounded society +with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; +whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. +Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; +the former promotes our happiness <em>positively</em> by uniting +our affections, the latter <em>negatively</em> by restraining our +vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates +distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> +Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best +state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; +for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries <em>by a +government</em>, which we might expect in a country <em>without +government</em>, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we +furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the +badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of +the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, +uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; +but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a +part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; +and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other +case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. <em>Wherefore</em>, +security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably +follows that whatever <em>form</em> thereof appears most likely to +ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is +preferable to all others. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> +In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of +government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some +sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will +then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In +this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A +thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is +so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual +solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of +another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would +be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but +<em>one</em> man might labour out of the common period of life without +accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not +remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time +would urge him from his work, and every different want call him a +different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death, for though +neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and +reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than +to die. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> +Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly +arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, +would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government +unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as +nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen, +that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of +emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will +begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and this +remissness, will point out the necessity, of establishing some form of +government to supply the defect of moral virtue. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> +Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches +of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public +matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the +title only of <span class="smcap">Regulations</span>, and be enforced by +no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every +man, by natural right, will have a seat. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> +But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase +likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will +render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as +at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the +public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience +of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a +select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the +same concerns at stake which those who appointed them, and who will act +in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If +the colony continue increasing, it will become necessary to augment +the number of the representatives, and that the interest of every part +of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the +whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and +that the <em>elected</em> might never form to themselves an interest +separate from the <em>electors</em>, prudence will point out the +propriety of having elections often; because as the <em>elected</em> +might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the +<em>electors</em> in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be +secured by the prudent reflexion of not making a rod for themselves. +And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with +every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support +each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning name of king) depends +the <em>strength of government, and the happiness of the governed.</em> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> +Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered +necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here +too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security. +And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by +sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our +understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is +right. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> +I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, +which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the +less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when +disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on the +so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for the +dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When the +world was over run with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a +glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and +incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily demonstrated. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> +Absolute governments (tho’ the disgrace of human nature) have this +advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they +know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise the +remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But +the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation +may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which +part the fault lies, some will say in one and some in another, and +every political physician will advise a different medicine. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> +I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, +yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the +English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two +ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican materials. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> +<em>First.</em>—The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of +the king. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> +<em>Secondly.</em>—The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the +persons of the peers. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> +<em>Thirdly.</em>—The new republican materials, in the persons of +the commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England. +</p> + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> +The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; +wherefore in a <em>constitutional sense</em> they contribute nothing +towards the freedom of the state. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> +To say that the constitution of England is a <em>union</em> of three +powers reciprocally <em>checking</em> each other, is farcical, either +the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> +To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two +things: +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> +<em>First.</em>—That the king is not to be trusted without +being looked after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute +power is the natural disease of monarchy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> +<em>Secondly.</em>—That the commons, by being appointed for +that purpose, are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than +the crown. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> +But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check +the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the king a power +to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it +again supposes that the king is wiser than those whom it has already +supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity! +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> +There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of +monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet +empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. +The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a +king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, +by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole +character to be absurd and useless. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> +Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the king, +say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in behalf +of the king; the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all the +distinctions of a house divided against itself; and though the +expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined they appear idle +and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction +that words are capable of, when applied to the description of some +thing which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be +within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and +though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this +explanation includes a previous question, viz. <em>How came the king +by a power which the people are afraid to trust, and always obliged to +check?</em> Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither +can any power, <em>which needs checking</em>, be from God; yet the +provision, which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to exist. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> +But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or +will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; for +as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all the +wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know +which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that will +govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the +phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they cannot +stop it, their endeavors will be ineffectual; the first moving power +will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed is supplied by +time. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> +That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution +needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence +merely from being the giver of places and pensions is self-evident, +wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door +against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish +enough to put the crown in possession of the key. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> +The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of their own government by king, +lords and commons, arises as much or more from national pride than +reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some +other countries, but the <em>will</em> of the king is as much the +<em>law</em> of the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, +that instead of proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the +people under the more formidable shape of an act of parliament. For +the fate of Charles the first, hath only made kings more +subtle—not more just. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> +Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour of +modes and forms, the plain truth is, that <em>it is wholly owing to the +constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the +government</em> that the crown is not as oppressive in England as +in Turkey. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> +An inquiry into the <em>constitutional errors</em> in the English form +of government is at this time highly necessary, for as we are never in a +proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under +the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of +doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate +prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted +to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten +constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one. +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<a name="monarchy"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents">OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Mankind</span> being originally equals in the order +of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent +circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure +be accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh ill +sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the +<em>consequence</em>, but seldom or never the <em>means</em> of riches; +and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, +it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> +But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly +natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the +distinction of men into <span class="smcap">kings</span> and +<span class="smcap">subjects</span>. Male and female are the +distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but +how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and +distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and +whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> +In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, +there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; +it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland +without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any +of the monarchial governments in Europe. Antiquity favors the same +remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath a +happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to the +history of Jewish royalty. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> +Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the +Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was +the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the +promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their +deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by +doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of +sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is +crumbling into dust! +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> +As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified +on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the +authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by +Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by +kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have been very smoothly +glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the +attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. +“<i>Render unto Cæsar the things which are +Cæsar’s</i>” is the scripture doctrine of courts, +yet it is no support of monarchical government, for the Jews at that +time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> +Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the +creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. +Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, +where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administred by +a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it +was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the +Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous +homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder, +that the Almighty ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of +a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative +of heaven. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> +Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for +which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of +that transaction is worth attending to. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> +The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon +marched against them with a small army, and victory, thro’ +the divine interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews elate +with success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, +proposed making him a king, saying, <em>Rule thou over us, thou +and thy son and thy son’s son.</em> Here was temptation in +its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one, +but Gideon in the piety of his soul replied, <em>I will not rule +over you, neither shall my son rule over you.</em> +<span class="smcap">The Lord shall rule over you.</span> +Words need not be more explicit; Gideon doth not +<em>decline</em> the honor, but denieth their right to give it; +neither doth he compliment them with invented declarations of his +thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet charges them with +disaffection to their proper Sovereign, the King of heaven. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> +About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into the +same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous +customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but so +it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel’s two sons, who +were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt and +clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, <i>Behold thou art old, and thy +sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us like all +other nations.</i> And here we cannot but observe that their motives +were bad, viz. that they might be <em>like</em> unto other nations, i.e. +the Heathens, whereas their true glory laid in being as much <em>unlike</em> +them as possible. <em>But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, +Give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord +said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they +say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected +me</em>, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. +<i>According to all the works which they have done since the day that I +brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith they have +forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto thee. Now therefore +hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto them and shew +them the manner of the king that shall reign over them, i.e.</i> +not of any particular king, but the general manner of the kings of the +earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And notwithstanding +the great distance of time and difference of manners, the character is +still in fashion. <i>And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the +people, that asked of him a king. And he said, This shall be the manner +of the king that shall reign over you; he will take your sons and +appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, +and some shall run before his chariots</i> (this description agrees +with the present mode of impressing men) <i>and he will appoint him +captains over thousands and captains over fifties, and will set them +to ear his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments +of war, and instruments of his chariots; and he will take your daughters +to be confectionaries, and to be cooks and to be bakers</i> (this describes +the expence and luxury as well as the oppression of kings) <i>and he will +take your fields and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them +to his servants; and he will take the tenth of your feed, and of your +vineyards, and give them to his officers and to his servants</i> (by which +we see that bribery, corruption and favoritism are the standing vices +of kings) <i>and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your +maid servants, and your goodliest young men and your asses, and put them +to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be +his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which +ye shall have chosen,</i> <span class="smcap">and the Lord will not hear +you in that day</span>. This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; +neither do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, +either sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the +high encomium given of David takes no notice of him <em>officially as a +king</em>, but only as a <em>man</em> after God’s own heart. +<i>Nevertheless the People refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they +said, Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the +nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our +battles.</i> Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; +he set before them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and seeing +them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, <i>I will call unto the Lord, +and he shall send thunder and rain</i> (which then was a punishment, +being in the time of wheat harvest) <i>that ye may perceive and see that +your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord,</i> +<span class="smcap">in asking you a king</span>. <i>So Samuel called +unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the +people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said unto +Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for</i> +<span class="smcap">we have added unto our sins this evil, to ask a +king.</span> These portions of scripture are direct and positive. They +admit of no equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his +protest against monarchical government is true, or the scripture is +false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much of +king-craft, as priest-craft, in withholding the scripture from the public +in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of +government. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> +To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; +and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the +second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition on +posterity. For all men being originally equals, no <em>one</em> by +<em>birth</em> could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual +preference to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve +<em>some</em> decent degree of honors of his cotemporaries, yet his +descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the +strongest <em>natural</em> proofs of the folly of hereditary right +in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so +frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an +<em>ass for a lion</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> +Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors +than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could have +no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they might +say “We choose you for <em>our</em> head,” they could not, +without manifest injustice to their children, say “that your +children and your children’s children shall reign over <em>ours</em> +for ever.” Because such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might +(perhaps) in the next succession put them under the government of a +rogue or a fool. Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever +treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, +which when once established is not easily removed; many submit from +fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with +the king the plunder of the rest. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> +This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an +honorable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we take +off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their first +rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better than the +principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or +pre-eminence in subtility obtained him the title of chief among +plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his +depredations, over-awed the quiet and defenceless to purchase their +safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no +idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a +perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and +unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, +hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take +place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complimental; +but as few or no records were extant in those days, and traditional +history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a +few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently +timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of +the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to +threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one +(for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced +many at first to favor hereditary pretensions; by which means it +happened, as it hath happened since, that what at first was submitted +to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> +England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but +groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his +senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very +honorable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and +establishing himself king of England against the consent of the +natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original.—It +certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend +much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are any +so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass and +lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb +their devotion. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> +Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? The +question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by election, +or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it establishes a +precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was +by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither does it appear +from that transaction there was any intention it ever should. If +the first king of any country was by election, that likewise +establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that the <i>right</i> +of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the first +electors, in their choice not only of a king, but of a family of kings +for ever, hath no parrallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of +original sin, which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam; and from +such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary succession +can derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, and as in the first +electors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind were subjected to +Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our innocence was lost in +the first, and our authority in the last; and as both disable us from +reassuming some former state and privilege, it unanswerably follows +that original sin and hereditary succession are parellels. +Dishonorable rank! Inglorious connexion! Yet the most subtile sophist +cannot produce a juster simile. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> +As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that +William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be contradicted. +The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English monarchy will not +bear looking into. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> +But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary +succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and +wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a +door to the <em>foolish</em>, the <em>wicked</em>, and the +<em>improper</em>, it hath in it the nature of oppression. Men who +look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow +insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early +poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially +from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing +its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently +the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> +Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne is +subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the +regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity and +inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune +happens, when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the last +stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes a prey +to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the follies either +of age or infancy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> +The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of +hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars; +and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the most +barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history of +England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned in +that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time there have +been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil wars and +nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, it makes +against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand on. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> +The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York and +Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. Twelve +pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought between +Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in his turn +was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war and the +temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are the ground of +a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison to a palace, +and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign land; yet, as +sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry in his turn was +driven from the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed him. The +parliament always following the strongest side. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> +This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not +entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were +united. Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> +In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom +only) but the world in blood and ashes. ’Tis a form of government +which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> +If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in some +countries they have none; and after sauntering away their lives without +pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw from the +scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle round. In +absolute monarchies the whole weight of business, civil and military, +lies on the king; the children of Israel in their request for a king, +urged this plea “that he may judge us, and go out before us and fight +our battles.” But in countries where he is neither a judge nor a +general, as in England, a man would be puzzled to know what <em>is</em> +his business. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> +The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business +there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name +for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a +republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, because +the corrupt influence of the crown, by having all the places in its +disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and eaten out the +virtue of the house of commons (the republican part in the +constitution) that the government of England is nearly as monarchical +as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names without +understanding them. For it is the republican and not the monarchical +part of the constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the +liberty of choosing a house of commons from out of their own body—and +it is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues. +Why is the constitution of England sickly, but because monarchy hath +poisoned the republic, the crown hath engrossed the commons? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> +In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away +places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it +together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed +eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the +bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight +of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> +<a name="thoughts"></a> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents"> +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">In</span> the following pages I offer nothing more +than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other +preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself +of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings +to determine for themselves; that he will put <em>on</em>, or rather that +he will not put <em>off</em>, the true character of a man, and generously +enlarge his views beyond the present day. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> +Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between +England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the +controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all +have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as +the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of +the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> +It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho’ an able minister +was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in the house of +commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a temporary kind, +replied “<i>they will last my time.</i>” Should a thought so fatal +and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, the name of +ancestors will be remembered by future generations with detestation. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> +The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ’Tis not the affair +of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent—of +at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. ’Tis not the concern +of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the +contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by +the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental union, faith +and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with +the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound will +enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> +By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new æra for politics +is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, +&c. prior to the nineteenth of April, <i>i.e.</i> to the commencement +of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last year; which, though +proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by +the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one +and the same point, viz. a union with Great-Britain; the only +difference between the parties was the method of effecting it; the one +proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened that +the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> +As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like +an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but +right, that we should examine the contrary side of the argument, and +inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies +sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with, and +dependant on Great-Britain. To examine that connexion and dependance, +on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to +trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> +I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under +her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same connexion is +necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same +effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We +may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it +is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is +to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting +more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have +flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had +any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched +herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market +while eating is the custom of Europe. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> +But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is true, +and defended the continent at our expence as well as her own is +admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz. +the sake of trade and dominion. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> +Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made large +sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of +Great-Britain, without considering, that her motive was <em>interest</em> +not <em>attachment</em>; that she did not protect us from <em>our enemies</em> +on <em>our account</em>, but from <em>her enemies</em> on <em>her own +account</em>, from those who had no quarrel with us on any <em>other +account</em>, and who will always be our enemies on the <em>same +account</em>. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the continent, or the +continent throw off the dependance, and we should be at peace with France +and Spain were they at war with Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war +ought to warn us against connexions. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> +It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no +relation to each other but through the parent country, <i>i.e.</i> that +Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister +colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about +way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way of +proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never were, +nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as <em>Americans</em>, but as our +being the <em>subjects of Great-Britain</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> +But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon +her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make +war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her +reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the +phrase <em>parent</em> or <em>mother country</em> hath been jesuitically +adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of +gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, +and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath +been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty +from <em>every part</em> of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the +tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and +it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first +emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> +In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits of +three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our +friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every European +christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> +It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the +force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the +world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will +naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their +interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name +of <em>neighbour</em>; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he +drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of +<em>townsman</em>; if he travel out of the county, and meet him in +any other, he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls +him <em>countryman</em>, i.e. <em>county-man</em>; but if in their +foreign excursions they should associate in France or any other part of +<em>Europe</em>, their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of +<em>Englishmen</em>. And by a just parity of reasoning, +all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, +are <em>countrymen</em>; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when +compared with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, +which the divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones; +distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one third of the +inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore +I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England +only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> +But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it amount +to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes every +other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our duty, is +truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present line +(William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of England +are descendants from the same country; therefore, by the same method of +reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> +Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies, +that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. But this is +mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do the +expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never suffer +itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British arms in +either Asia, Africa, or Europe. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> +Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our +plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace +and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of all Europe +to have America a <em>free port</em>. Her trade will always be a +protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> +I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a single +advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great +Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived. +Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported +goods must be paid for buy them where we will. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> +But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, are +without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to +ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any +submission to, or dependance on Great-Britain, tends directly to +involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at +variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and +against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our +market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part +of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of European +contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependence on +Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> +Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and +whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the +trade of America goes to ruin, <em>because of her connection with +Britain</em>. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should +it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for +separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer +convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right or natural pleads +for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature +cries, <span class="smcap">’Tis time to part</span>. Even the +distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a +strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, +was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the +continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and +the manner in which it was peopled encreases the force of it. The +reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the +Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in +future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> +The authority of Great-Britain over this continent, is a form of +government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious mind +can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and +positive conviction, that what he calls “the present constitution” +is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that +<em>this government</em> is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any +thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of +argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to +do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In +order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our +children in our hand, and fix our station a few years farther into +life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few present fears +and prejudices conceal from our sight. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> +Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am +inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of +reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. +Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who <em>cannot</em> +see; prejudiced men, who <em>will not</em> see; and a certain set of +moderate men, who think better of the European world than it deserves; +and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause +of more calamities to this continent, than all the other three. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> +It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of +sorrow; the evil is not sufficient brought to <em>their</em> doors to +make <em>them</em> feel the precariousness with which all American +property is possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a +few moments to Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, +and instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. +The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few months ago were +in ease and affluence, have now, no other alternative than to stay and +starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their friends if +they continue within the city, and plundered by the soldiery if they +leave it. In their present condition they are prisoners without the hope +of redemption, and in a general attack for their relief, they would be +exposed to the fury of both armies. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> +Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of +Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, “<i>Come, +come, we shall be friends again, for all this.</i>” But examine the +passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of reconciliation +to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you can +hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried +fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are +you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon +posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither +love nor honour, will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on +the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a +relapse more wretched than the first. But if you say, you can still +pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath +your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and +children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you +lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and +wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those +who have. But if you have, and still can shake hands with the +murderers, then are you unworthy of the name of husband, father, +friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you +have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> +This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those +feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without which, we +should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or +enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for the +purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly +slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object. It is +not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she do +not conquer herself by <em>delay</em> and <em>timidity</em>. The +present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or +neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; and +there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who, or +what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a season +so precious and useful. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> +It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things to all +examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer +remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain +does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this +time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise the +continent even a year’s security. Reconciliation is <em>now</em> +a fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot +supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, “never can true +reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep.” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> +Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have +been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that +nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than +repeated petitioning—and nothing hath contributed more than +that very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness +Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, +for God’s sake, let us come to a final separation, and not +leave the next generation to be cutting throats, under the violated +unmeaning names of parent and child. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> +To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we +thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two undeceived +us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been once defeated, +will never renew the quarrel. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> +As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do this +continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, and +intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of convenience, by a +power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if they +cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be always running three +or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five +months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to +explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and +childishness—There was a time when it was proper, and there is a +proper time for it to cease. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> +Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper +objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something +very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an +island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its +primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each other, +reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to +different systems: England to Europe, America to itself. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> +I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to espouse +the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly, positively, +and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest of this +continent to be so; that every thing short of <em>that</em> is mere +patchwork, that it can afford no lasting felicity,—that it is +leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time, when, +a little more, a little farther, would have rendered this continent +the glory of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> +As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a +compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the +acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expence of blood +and treasure we have been already put to. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> +The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion to +the expence. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, is a +matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of +trade, was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently ballanced the +repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained; +but if the whole continent must take up arms, if every man must be a +soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a contemptible +ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, +if that is all we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a +folly to pay a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land. As I have +always considered the independancy of this continent, as an event, +which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of +the continent to maturity, the event could not be far off. Wherefore, +on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth the while to have +disputed a matter, which time would have finally redressed, unless we +meant to be in earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a +suit at law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is +just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than +myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the +event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen +tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with +the pretended title of <span class="smcap">father of his people</span> +can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with +their blood upon his soul. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> +But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? +I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> +<em>First</em>. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands +of the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this +continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to +liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or is +he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, “<em>You shall make no +laws but what I please.</em>” And is there any inhabitant in America +so ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the +<em>present constitution</em>, that this continent can make no laws but +what the king gives leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to +see, that (considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to be +made here, but such as suit <em>his</em> purpose. We may be as +effectually enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to +laws made for us in England. After matters are made up (as it is called) +can there be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be exerted, +to keep this continent as low and humble as possible? Instead of going +forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously +petitioning.—We are already greater than the king wishes us to be, +and will he not hereafter endeavour to make us less? To bring the +matter to one point. Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a +proper power to govern us? Whoever says <em>No</em> to this question is +an <em>independant</em>, for independancy means no more, than, whether +we shall make our own laws, or whether the king, the greatest enemy this +continent hath, or can have, shall tell us “<em>there shall be no laws +but such as I like.</em>” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> +But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people there +can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and good +order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of twenty-one +(which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people, +older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be +law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, though I will +never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer, that +England being the King’s residence, and America not so, makes +quite another case. The king’s negative <em>here</em> is ten times +more dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for <em>there</em> +he will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England +into as strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he +would never suffer such a bill to be passed. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> +America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics, +England consults the good of <em>this</em> country, no farther than it +answers her <em>own</em> purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads +her to suppress the growth of <em>ours</em> in every case which doth +not promote her advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A +pretty state we should soon be in under such a second-hand government, +considering what has happened! Men do not change from enemies to +friends by the alteration of a name: And in order to shew that +reconciliation <em>now</em> is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, <em>that +it would be policy in the king at this time, to repeal the acts for +the sake of reinstating himself in the government of the provinces;</em> +in order, that <span class="smcap">he may accomplish by craft and +subtilty, in the long run, what he cannot do by force and violence in +the short one.</span> Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> +<em>Secondly</em>. That as even the best terms, which we can expect +to obtain, can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of +government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the +colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the +interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property will +not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs but by a +thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of commotion and +disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants would lay hold of +the interval, to dispense of their effects, and quit the continent. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> +But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but +independance, i.e. a continental form of government, can keep the +peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I +dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more +than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or other, +the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of +Britain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> +Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more will +probably suffer the same fate) Those men have other feelings than us +who have nothing suffered. All they <em>now</em> possess is liberty, +what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having +nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general +temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like that +of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very little +about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace, is no +government at all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing; and +pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on +paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day after reconciliation? +I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, +that they dreaded an independance, fearing that it would produce civil +wars. It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and +that is the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a +patched up connexion than from independance. I make the sufferers case +my own, and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property +destroyed, and my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of +injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or +consider myself bound thereby. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> +The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience +to continental government, as is sufficient to make every reasonable +person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least +pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are truly +childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving for +superiority over another. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> +Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect +equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and +we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are without wars, +foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never +long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprizing ruffians +at <em>home</em>; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant +on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers, in +instances, where a republican government, by being formed on more natural +principles, would negociate the mistake. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> +If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it is +because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way +out—Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the +following hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other +opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise +to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be +collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men +to improve into useful matter. +</p> + +<hr class="break" /> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> +Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The +representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and subject +to the authority of a Continental Congress. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> +Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient +districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to +Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number +in Congress will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose a +president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a +colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after which, +let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from out of the +delegates of <em>that</em> province. In the next Congress, let a colony +be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from which the +president was taken in the former Congress, and so proceeding on till +the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation. And in order +that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily just, not +less than three fifths of the Congress to be called a majority.—He +that will promote discord, under a government so equally formed as +this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> +But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, this +business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and +consistent that it should come from some intermediate body between the +governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and the +people, let a <span class="smcap">Continental Conference</span> be held, +in the following manner, and for the following purpose. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> +A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each +colony. Two members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial +Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be +chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for, and in behalf +of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall think +proper to attend from all parts of the province for that purpose; or, +if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen in two or three +of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference, thus +assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business, +<em>knowledge</em> and <em>power</em>. The members of Congress, +Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national +concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being +impowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> +The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a +<span class="smcap">Continental Charter</span>, or Charter of the United +Colonies; (answering to what is called the Magna Charta of England) +fixing the number and manner of choosing members of Congress, members +of Assembly, with their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business +and jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our strength +is continental, not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all +men, and above all things, the free exercise of religion, according to +the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for +a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the said Conference to +dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen comformable to the said +charter, to be the legislators and governors of this continent for the +time being: Whose peace and happiness, may God preserve, Amen. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> +Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar +purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise observer on +governments <em>Dragonetti</em>. “The science” says he +“of the politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness +and freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should +discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of +individual happiness, with the least national expense. +</p> + +<p class="quotation"> + Dragonetti on virtue and rewards.” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> +But where says some is the King of America? I’ll tell you Friend, +he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal +Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in +earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the +charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of +God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that +so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America <span class="smcap">the +law is king</span>. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so +in free countries the law <em>ought</em> to be King; and there ought to +be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown +at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the +people whose right it is. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> +A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously +reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become +convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a +constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it +in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and +chance. If we omit it now, some Massanello ¹ may hereafter arise, +who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the +desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the +powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent +like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into the +hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a +temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in +such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the +news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like +the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that +oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door +to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. There +are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to +expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish power, which hath +stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us, the cruelty hath a +double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them. +</p> + +<div class="footer"> +<p class="noindent"> +¹ Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who after +spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, against the +oppressions of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject, +prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became king. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> +To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have +faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores instruct us +to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the little +remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any reason to +hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will increase, or +that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more and greater +concerns to quarrel over than ever? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> +Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the +time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? +Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is +broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. +There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be +nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his +mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The +Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good +and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. +They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social +compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, or have +only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. +The robber, and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not +the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> +O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but +the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with +oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and +Africa, have long expelled her—Europe regards her like a stranger, and +England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and +prepare in time an asylum for mankind. +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<a name="ability"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents"> +OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA,<br /> +WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">I have</span> never met with a man, either in +England or America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation +between the countries, would take place one time or other: And there is +no instance, in which we have shewn less judgment, than in endeavouring +to describe, what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for +independance. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> +As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the +time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of +things, and endeavour, if possible, to find out the <em>very</em> time. +But we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the <em>time +hath found us</em>. The general concurrence, the glorious union of +all things prove the fact. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> +It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet +our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world. +The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and +disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that +pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself, +and the whole, when united, can accomplish the matter, and either more, +or, less than this, might be fatal in its effects. Our land force is +already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible, +that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built, +while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no +forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch, than we are now; but +the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the country +is every day diminishing, and that, which will remain at last, will be +far off and difficult to procure. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> +Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under the +present circumstances would be intolerable. The more sea port towns we +had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. Our present +numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be +idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the necessities of +an army create a new trade. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> +Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account will +serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity +with a settled form of government, an independant constitution of its +own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions +for the sake of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing the +present ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity +with the utmost cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to +do, and a debt upon their backs, from which they derive no advantage. +Such a thought is unworthy a man of honor, and is the true +characteristic of a narrow heart and a pedling politician. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> +The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be +but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national +debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a +grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one hundred +and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of four +millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has a large +navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for the +twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy as large +again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more than three +millions and an half sterling. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> +The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without +the following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the +above estimation of the navy is just. <em>See Entic’s naval +history, intro.</em> page 56. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> +The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with +masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight +months boatswain’s and carpenter’s sea-stores, as +calculated by Mr. Burchett, Secretary to the navy. +</p> + + + +<table summary="Table1" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> +<tbody> + <tr style="font-size:small;"> + <th></th> + <th></th> + <th></th> + <th></th> + <th class="center">£<br /> + <span style="font-size:x-small">[pounds <br /> + sterling]</span></th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>For a ship of</td> + <td>100</td> + <td>guns</td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">35,553</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:right">90</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">29,886</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">80</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">23,638</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">70</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">17,785</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">60</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">14,197</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">50</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">10,606</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">40</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">7,558</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">30</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">5,846</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">20</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">3,710</td> + </tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> +And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of the +whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was at its greatest +glory consisted of the following ships and guns: +</p> + +<table summary="Table2" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> +<tbody> + <tr style="font-size:small;"> + <th>Ships.</th> + <th class="right">Guns.</th> + <th></th> + <th>Cost of one.</th> + <th>Cost of all.</th> + </tr> + <tr style="font-size:x-small;"> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td colspan="2">Cost in £ [pounds sterling]</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">6</td> + <td class="right">100</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">35,553</td> + <td class="right">213,318</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">12</td> + <td class="right">90</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">29,886</td> + <td class="right">358,632</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">12</td> + <td class="right">80</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">23,638</td> + <td class="right">283,656</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">43</td> + <td class="right">70</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">17,785</td> + <td class="right">764,755</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">35</td> + <td class="right">60</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">14,197</td> + <td class="right">496,895</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">40</td> + <td class="right">50</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">10,606</td> + <td class="right">424,240</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">45</td> + <td class="right">40</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">7,558</td> + <td class="right">340,110</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">58</td> + <td class="right">20</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">3,710</td> + <td class="right">215,180</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">85</td> + <td class="right" style="font-size:x-small; width:100px;">Sloops, bombs<br /> + and fireships, one<br /> + with another, at</td> + <td><span style="font-size:xx-large;">}</span></td> + <td class="right">2,000</td> + <td class="right">170,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td>------------</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" style="font-size:small;">Cost</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">3,266,786</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" style="font-size:small;">Remains for Guns</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">233,214</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td>------------</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">3,500,000</td> + </tr> +</tbody> +</table> + + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> +No country on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally +capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage +are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas the +Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the +Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of the materials +they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of +commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country. It is the +best money we can lay out. A navy when finished is worth more than it +cost. And is that nice point in national policy, in which commerce and +protection are united. Let us build; if we want them not, we can sell; +and by that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> +In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; +it is not necessary that one fourth part should be sailors. The +Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of any +ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her +complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social +sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in the +common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable to +begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing, our +fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ. +Men of war, of seventy and eighty guns were built forty years ago in +New-England, and why not the same now? Ship-building is America’s +greatest pride, and in which, she will in time excel the whole world. +The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and consequently +excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa is in a state +of barbarism; and no power in Europe, hath either such an extent of +coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where nature hath +given the one, she has withheld the other; to America only hath she +been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out +from the sea; wherefore, her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and +cordage are only articles of commerce. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> +In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the +little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we might +have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather; and slept +securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. The case now +is altered, and our methods of defence, ought to improve with our +increase of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have +come up the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia under instant +contribution, for what sum he pleased; and the same might have happened +to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig of fourteen or +sixteen guns, might have robbed the whole Continent, and carried off +half a million of money. These are circumstances which demand our +attention, and point out the necessity of naval protection. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> +Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, +she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall +keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? Common sense will tell +us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all +others, the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected under +the pretence of friendship; and ourselves, after a long and brave +resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships are not +to be admitted into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to protect +us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little use, and +on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must hereafter +protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? Why do it for another? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> +The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not a +tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of them +not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the list, if +only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part, of such as are +fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one time. The +East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts over which +Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her navy. From a +mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a false notion +respecting the navy of England, and have talked as if we should have +the whole of it to encounter at once, and for that reason, supposed, +that we must have one as large; which not being instantly practicable, +have been made use of by a set of disguised Tories to discourage our +beginning thereon. Nothing can be farther from truth than this; for if +America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, she +would be by far an over match for her; because, as we neither have, nor +claim any foreign dominion, our whole force would be employed on our +own coast, where we should, in the long run, have two to one the +advantage of those who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, +before they could attack us, and the same distance to return in order +to refit and recruit. And although Britain by her fleet, hath a check +over our trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the +West-Indies, which, by laying in the neighbourhood of the Continent, +is entirely at its mercy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> +Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of +peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy. +If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ in their +service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty guns, (the +premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchants) +fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on constant duty, +would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without burdening ourselves +with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their +fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks. To unite the +sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy; for when our strength +and our riches play into each other’s hand, we need fear no external +enemy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> +In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even to +rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to +that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. +Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every +day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our +inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore, +what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we +can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government +of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in. +Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be constantly +happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his +life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The +difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some +unlocated lands, shews the insignificance of a British government, and +fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can regulate +Continental matters. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> +Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, +that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied, +which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless +dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the discharge of the +present debt, but to the constant support of government. No nation +under heaven hath such an advantage as this. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> +The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being +against, is an argument in favour of independance. We are sufficiently +numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. It is a matter +worthy of observation, that the more a country is peopled, the smaller +their armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the +moderns: and the reason is evident. For trade being the consequence of +population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything +else. Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military +defence. And history sufficiently informs us, that the bravest +achievements were always accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With +the increase of commerce, England hath lost its spirit. The city of +London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with +the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing +are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and +submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> +Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in +individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the +Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety +of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would +create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being able +might scorn each other’s assistance: and while the proud and +foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament, +that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the <em>present +time</em> is the <em>true time</em> for establishing it. The intimacy +which is contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed in +misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable. Our +present union is marked with both these characters: we are young and we +have been distressed; but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and +fixes a memorable area for posterity to glory in. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> +The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never happens +to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a +government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that +means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, +instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and +then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of +government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute them +afterward: but from the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom, +and lay hold of the present opportunity—<em>To begin government +at the right end</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> +When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the +point of the sword; and until we consent, that the seat of government, +in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in +danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who may treat us +in the same manner, and then, where will be our freedom? where our +property? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> +As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of +all government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I +know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let a +man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, +which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, +and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is +the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For +myself, I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is the will of the +Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opinions among +us: It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. Were we all +of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter +for probation; and on this liberal principle, I look on the various +denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, +differing only, in what is called, their Christian names. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> +In <a href="#Page_101"> +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: the link corresponds to the page number in this edition."> +page forty</ins></a>, +I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a +Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) and +in this place, I take the liberty of re-mentioning the subject, by +observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn +obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of every +separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or property. A +firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> +In a <a href="#Page_97"> +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: the link corresponds to the page number in this edition."> +former page</ins></a> + I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and +equal representation; and there is no political matter which more +deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small number +of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number of the +representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is +increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the +Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania; +twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks county members, +being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the Chester members +done the same, this whole province had been governed by two counties +only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The unwarrantable +stretch likewise, which that house made in their last sitting, to gain +an undue authority over the delegates of that province, ought to warn +the people at large, how they trust power out of their own hands. A +set of instructions for the Delegates were put together, which in point +of sense and business would have dishonoured a schoolboy, and after +being approved by a <em>few</em>, a <em>very few</em> without doors, +were carried into the House, and there passed <em>in behalf of the +whole colony</em>; whereas, did the whole colony know, with what +ill-will that House hath entered on some necessary public measures, +they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of such a trust. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> +Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued +would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different +things. When the calamities of America required a consultation, there +was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint +persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose; and the +wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent +from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall never be +without a <span class="smcap">Congress</span>, every well wisher to +good order, must own, that the mode for choosing members of that body, +deserves consideration. And I put it as a question to those, who make +a study of mankind, whether <em>representation and election</em> is +not too great a power for one and the same body of men to possess? +When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember, that virtue +is not hereditary. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> +It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are +frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall (one +of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New-York +Assembly with contempt, because <em>that</em> House, he said, consisted +but of twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could not with +decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his involuntary +honesty. ¹ +</p> + +<div class="footer"> +<p class="noindent"> +¹ Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large +and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh’s +political disquisitions. +</p> +</div> + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> +<span class="smcap">To Conclude</span>, however strange it may appear +to some, or however unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, +but many strong and striking reasons may be given, to shew, that +nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as an open and +determined declaration for independance. Some of which are, +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> +<em>First</em>.—It is the custom of nations, when any two are +at war, for some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in +as mediators, and bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while +America calls herself the Subject of Great-Britain, no power, however +well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, in our +present state we may quarrel on for ever. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> +<em>Secondly</em>.—It is unreasonable to suppose, that France +or Spain will give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only, to +make use of that assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, +and strengthening the connection between Britain and America; because, +those powers would be sufferers by the consequences. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> +<em>Thirdly</em>.—While we profess ourselves the subjects of +Britain, we must, in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. +The precedent is somewhat dangerous to <em>their peace</em>, for men to +be in arms under the name of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the +paradox: but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea much +too refined for common understanding. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> +<em>Fourthly</em>.—Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched +to foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the +peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring, at +the same time, that not being able, any longer, to live happily or safely +under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had been driven to the +necessity of breaking off all connections with her; at the same time, +assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition towards them, and +of our desire of entering into trade with them: Such a memorial would +produce more good effects to this Continent, than if a ship were +freighted with petitions to Britain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> +Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither be +received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, and +will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other nations. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> +These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, like +all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little +time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an independance is +declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues +putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must +be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually +haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. +</p> + +<hr class="break" /> + + + +<div> +<br /><br /><br /> +<a name="appendix"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents">APPENDIX.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Since</span> the publication of the first edition +of this pamphlet, or rather, on the same day on which it came out, +the King’s Speech made its appearance in this city. Had the +spirit of prophecy directed the birth of this production, it could not +have brought it forth, at a more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary +time. The bloody mindedness of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing +the doctrine of the other. Men read by way of revenge. And the Speech, +instead of terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of +Independance. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> +Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise, have +a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of countenance to +base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this maxim be admitted, it +naturally follows, that the King’s Speech, as being a piece of +finished villainy, deserved, and still deserves, a general execration +both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the domestic tranquillity +of a nation, depends greatly, on the <em>chastity</em> of what may +properly be called <span class="smcap">national manners</span>, it is +often better, to pass some things over in silent disdain, than to make +use of such new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least +innovation, on that guardian of our peace and safety. And, perhaps, +it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy, that the King’s +Speech, hath not, before now, suffered a public execution. The Speech +if it may be called one, is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel +against the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind; and is +a formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the pride +of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind, is one of the privileges, +and the certain consequence of Kings; for as nature knows them <em>not</em>, +they know <em>not her</em>, and although they are beings of our <em>own</em> +creating, they know not <em>us</em>, and are become the gods of their +creators. The Speech hath one good quality, which is, that it +is not calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be +deceived by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It +leaves us at no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of +reading, that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored +Indian, is less a Savage than the King of Britain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> +Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical piece, +fallaciously called, “<em>The Address of the people of</em> +<span class="smcap">England</span> <em>to the inhabitants of</em> +<span class="smcap">America</span>,” hath, perhaps, from a vain +supposition, that the people <em>here</em> were to be frightened at +the pomp and description of a king, given, (though very unwisely on +his part) the real character of the present one: “But” +says this writer, “if you are inclined to pay compliments to an +administration, which we do not complain of,” +(meaning the Marquis of Rockingham’s at the repeal of the Stamp Act) +“it is very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince, +<em>by whose</em> <span class="smcap">nod alone</span> <em>they +were permitted to do any thing</em>.” This is toryism with +a witness! Here is idolatry even without a mask: And he who can calmly +hear, and digest such doctrine, hath forfeited his claim to +rationality—an apostate from the order of manhood; and ought to +be considered—as one, who hath not only given up the proper +dignity of man, but sunk himself beneath the rank of animals, and +contemptibly crawls through the world like a worm. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> +However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either +says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human +obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by a +steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, procured for +himself an universal hatred. It is <em>now</em> the interest of +America to provide for herself. She hath already a large and young +family, whom it is more her duty to take care of, than to be granting +away her property, to support a power who is become a reproach to the +names of men and christians—<span class="smcap">Ye</span>, +whose office it is to watch over the morals of a nation, of whatsoever +sect or denomination ye are of, as well as ye, who are more immediately +the guardians of the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native +country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret wish a +separation—But leaving the moral part to private reflection, I +shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> +First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from Britain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> +Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, +<span class="smcap">reconciliation</span> or +<span class="smcap">independance</span>? with some occasional remarks. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> +In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the +opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this +continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly +known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a +state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped and +fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any material +eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and although the +progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the history of +other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what she would be +capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, the legislative +powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, proudly coveting +what would do her no good, were she to accomplish it; and the Continent +hesitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin if neglected. It +is the commerce and not the conquest of America, by which England is to +be benefited, and that would in a great measure continue, were the +countries as independant of each other as France and Spain; because in +many articles, neither can go to a better market. But it is the +independance of this country of Britain or any other, which is now the +main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like all other +truths discovered by necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every +day. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> +First. Because it will come to that one time or other. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> +Secondly. Because, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to +accomplish. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> +I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, +with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak without +reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the following seems +the most general, viz. that had this rupture happened forty or fifty +years hence, instead of <em>now</em>, the Continent would have been +more able to have shaken off the dependance. To which I reply, that +our military ability, <em>at this time</em>, arises from the experience +gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty years time, would +have been totally extinct. The Continent, would not, by that time, +have had a General, or even a military officer left; and we, or those +who may succeed us, would have been as ignorant of martial matters as +the ancient Indians: And this single position, closely attended to, +will unanswerably prove, that the present time is preferable to all +others. The argument turns thus—at the conclusion of the last +war, we had experience, but wanted numbers; and forty or fifty years +hence, we should have numbers, without experience; wherefore, the +proper point of time, must be some particular point between the two +extremes, in which a sufficiency of the former remains, and a proper +increase of the latter is obtained: And that point of time is the +present time. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> +The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come +under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by the +following position, viz. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> +Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the +governing and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now +circumstanced, is giving up the point intirely) we shall deprive +ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may +contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces are +clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extention of the limits of +Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amount +to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency; and the +quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions yearly. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> +It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without +burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always lessen, +and in time, will wholly support the yearly expence of government. It +matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that the lands when sold +be applied to the discharge of it, and for the execution of which, the +Congress for the time being, will be the continental trustees. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> +I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest and most +practicable plan, <span class="smcap">reconciliation</span> or +<span class="smcap">independance</span>; with some occasional +remarks. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> +He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his +argument, and on that ground, I answer <em>generally—That</em> +<span class="smcap">independance</span> <em>being a</em> +<span class="smcap">single simple line</span>, <em>contained within +ourselves; and reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and +complicated, and in which, a treacherous capricious court is to +interfere, gives the answer without a doubt.</em> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> +The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is +capable of reflexion. Without law, without government, without any +other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy. +Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which, is +nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret enemy is +endeavouring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, Legislation +without law; wisdom without a plan; constitution without a name; and, +what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independance contending for +dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never +existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property +of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The mind +of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object before +them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is +criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one +thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dared not +have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that +act, were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction +should be drawn, between, English soldiers taken in battle, and +inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the +latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> +Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of +our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The +Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not done +in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall into a +state, in which, neither <em>Reconciliation</em> nor <em>Independance</em> +will be practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at +their old game of dividing the Continent, and there are not wanting +among us, Printers, who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods. +The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in two +of the New-York papers, and likewise in two others, is an evidence that +there are men who want either judgment or honesty. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> +It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of +reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult the +task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent divide +thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various orders of men +whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own, are to be +considered therein. Do they put themselves in the place of the +sufferer whose <em>all</em> is <em>already</em> gone, and of the +soldier, who hath quitted <em>all</em> for the defence of his country. +If their ill judged moderation be suited to their own private situations +<em>only</em>, regardless of others, the event will convince them, that +“they are reckoning without their Host.” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> +Put us, say some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which I +answer, the request is not <em>now</em> in the power of Britain to +comply with, neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should +be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a +corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another +parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the obligation, +on the pretence, of its being violently obtained, or unwisely granted; +and in that case, Where is our redress?—No going to law with nations; +cannon are the barristers of Crowns; and the sword, not of justice, but +of war, decides the suit. To be on the footing of sixty-three, it is +not sufficient, that the laws only be put on the same state, but, that +our circumstances, likewise, be put on the same state; Our burnt and +destroyed towns repaired or built up, our private losses made good, our +public debts (contracted for defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall +be millions worse than we were at that enviable period. Such a +request, had it been complied with a year ago, would have won the heart +and soul of the Continent—but now it is too late, “The +Rubicon is passed.” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> +Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a +pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as +repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce obedience +thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the means; for +the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. It +is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons; the +destruction of our property by an armed force; the invasion of our +country by fire and sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of +arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of defence became +necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have ceased; and the +independancy of America, should have been considered, as dating its +æra from, and published by, <em>the first musket that was +fired against her</em>. This line is a line of consistency; neither +drawn by caprice, nor extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of +events, of which the colonies were not the authors. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> +I shall conclude these remarks, with the following timely and well +intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are three different +ways, by which an independancy may hereafter be effected; and that +<em>one</em> of those <em>three</em>, will one day or other, be the +fate of America, viz. By the legal voice of the people in Congress; +by a military power; or by a mob: It may not always happen that our +soldiers are citizens, and the multitude a body of reasonable men; +virtue, as I have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it +perpetual. Should an independancy be brought about by the first of +those means, we have every opportunity and every encouragement before +us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. +We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, +similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until +now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, +perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion +of freedom from the event of a few months. The Reflexion is +awful—and in this point of view, How trifling, how ridiculous, +do the little, paltry cavellings, of a few weak or interested men +appear, when weighed against the business of a world. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> +Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and an +Independance be hereafter effected by any other means, we must charge +the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose narrow and +prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure, without either +inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be given in support of +Independance, which men should rather privately think of, than be +publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating whether we shall be +independant or not, but, anxious to accomplish it on a firm, secure, +and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it is not yet began upon. +Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories (if such +beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, be the most solicitous +to promote it; for, as the appointment of committees at first, +protected them from popular rage, so, a wise and well established form +of government, will be the only certain means of continuing it securely +to them. <em>Wherefore</em>, if they have not virtue enough to be +<span class="smcap">Whigs</span>, they ought to have prudence enough +to wish for Independance. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span> +In short, Independance is the only <span class="smcap">Bond</span> that +can tye and keep us together. We shall then see our object, and our ears +will be legally shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well, as a +cruel enemy. We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with +Britain; for there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, +will be less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace, +than with those, whom she denominates, “rebellious subjects,” +for terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her +to hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. +As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to +obtain a redress of our grievances, let us <em>now</em> try the +alternative, by <em>independantly</em> redressing them ourselves, and +then offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part +in England, will be still with us; because, peace <em>with</em> trade, +is preferable to war <em>without</em> it. And if this offer be not +accepted, other courts may be applied to. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> +On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been made +to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this +pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be +refuted, or, that the party in favour of it are too numerous to be +opposed. <span class="smcap">Wherefore</span>, instead of gazing at +each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold +out to his neighbour the hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing +a line, which, like an act of oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every +former dissension. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let +none other be heard among us, than those of <em>a good citizen, an open +and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the</em> +<span class="smcap">rights</span> <em>of</em> +<span class="smcap">mankind</span> <em>and of the</em> FREE AND +INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA. +</p> + +<hr class="break" /> +<div> +<a name="quakers"></a> +</div> + + + +<p style="margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em;"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> +<em>To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called +Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the late +piece, entitled</em> “<span class="smcap">The Ancient Testimony +and Principles</span> of the People called <span class="smcap">Quakers</span> +renewed, with Respect to the <span class="smcap">King</span> and +<span class="smcap">Government</span>, and touching the +<span class="smcap">Commotions</span> now prevailing in these and other +parts of <span class="smcap">America</span> addressed to the +<span class="smcap">People in General</span>.” +</p> + +<hr class="break" /> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> +The Writer of this, is one of those few, who never dishonours religion +either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever. To +God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of religion. +Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to you as a +religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which the +professed Quietude of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> +As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in +the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of this, in +order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity, +of putting himself in the place of all those, who, approve the very +writings and principles, against which your testimony is directed: +And he hath chosen this singular situation, in order, that you might +discover in him that presumption of character which you cannot see in +yourselves. For neither he nor you can have any claim or title to +<em>Political Representation</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> +When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they +stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have +managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) is +not your proper Walk; for however well adapted it might appear to you, +it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely together, +and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and unjust. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> +The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you +credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love and +desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural, as +well the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this +ground, as men labouring to establish an Independant Constitution of +our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. <em>Our +plan is peace for ever.</em> We are tired of contention with Britain, +and can see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act +consistently, because for the sake of introducing an endless and +uninterrupted peace, do we bear the evils and burthens of the present +day. We are endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavour, to +separate and dissolve a connexion which hath already filled our land +with blood; and which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal +cause of future mischiefs to both countries. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> +We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor +passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, nor +ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines are +we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the violence +committed against us. We view our enemies in the character of +Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves in +the civil law, are obliged to punish them by the military one, and +apply the sword, in the very case, where you have before now, applied +the halter—Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted sufferers in +all and every part of the continent, with a degree of tenderness which +hath not yet made its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye sure +that ye mistake not the cause and ground of your Testimony. Call not +coldness of soul, religion; nor put the <em>Bigot</em> in the place +of the <em>Christian</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> +O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the +bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by all +the difference between wilful attack and unavoidable defence. +Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make a +political hobby-horse of your religion, convince the world thereof, by +proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, <em>for they likewise bear</em> +<span class="smcap">arms</span>. Give us proof of your sincerity by +publishing it at St. James’s, to the commanders in chief at Boston, +to the Admirals and Captains who are piratically ravaging our coasts, +and to all the murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under +<span class="smcap">him</span> whom ye profess to serve. Had ye the +honest soul of <em>Barclay</em> ¹ ye would preach repentance to +<em>your</em> king; Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and warn +him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your partial invectives against +the injured and the insulted only, but, like faithful ministers, would +cry aloud and <em>spare none</em>. Say not that ye are persecuted, +neither endeavour to make us the authors of that reproach, which, ye are +bringing upon yourselves; for we testify unto all men, that we do not +complain against you because ye are <em>Quakers</em>, but because ye +pretend to <em>be</em> and are <span class="smcap">not</span> Quakers. +</p> + +<div class="footer"> +<p style="margin:1em; text-indent:-1em;"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> +¹“Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what +it is to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to +rule, and set upon the throne; and being <em>oppressed</em> thou hast +reason to know how <em>hateful</em> the <em>oppressor</em> is both to +God and man: If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost +not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered +thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, +surely great will be thy condemnation.—Against which snare, as +well as the temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee +to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself +to that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience, and which neither +can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins.” +</p> +<p class="quotation"> +—Barclay’s address to Charles II. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> +Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your +testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was reduced +to, and comprehended in, <em>the act of bearing arms</em>, and that +by the <em>people</em> only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party +for conscience; because, the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity: +And it is exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to many of your +pretended scruples; because, we see them made by the same men, who, in +the very instant that they are exclaiming against the mammon of this +world, are nevertheless, hunting after it with a step as steady as Time, +and an appetite as keen as Death. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> +The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of +your testimony, that, “when a man’s ways please the Lord, +he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him”; is very +unwisely chosen on your part; because, it amounts to a proof, that +the king’s ways (whom ye are desirous of supporting) do <em>not</em> +please the Lord, otherwise, his reign would be in peace. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> +I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for which +all the foregoing seems only an introduction, viz. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> +“It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called to +profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences unto +this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and governments, +is God’s peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to himself: And +that it is not our business to have any hand or contrivance therein; +nor to be busy bodies above our station, much less to plot and contrive +the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but to pray for the king, and +safety of our nation, and good of all men: That we may live a peaceable +and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty; <em>under the government +which God is pleased to set over us.</em>”—If these are +<em>really</em> your principles why do ye not abide by them? Why do ye +not leave that, which ye call God’s Work, to be managed by himself? +These very principles instruct you to wait with patience and humility, +for the event of all public measures, and to receive <em>that event</em> +as the divine will towards you. <em>Wherefore</em>, what occasion is +there for your <em>political testimony</em> if you fully believe what +it contains: And the very publishing it proves, that either, ye do not +believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practise what ye +believe. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> +The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the +quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government <em>which +is set over him</em>. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and +governments is God’s peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not +be robbed thereof by us; wherefore, the principle itself leads you to +approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to kings as +being his work. <span class="smcap">Oliver Cromwell</span> thanks you. +<span class="smcap">Charles</span>, then, died not by the hands of man; +and should the present Proud Imitator of him, come to the same untimely +end, the writers and publishers of the Testimony, are bound, by the +doctrine it contains, to applaud the fact. Kings are not taken away by +miracles, neither are changes in governments brought about by any other +means than such as are common and human; and such as we are now using. +Even the dispersion of the Jews, though foretold by our Saviour, was +effected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, +ye ought not to be meddlers on the other; but to wait the issue in +silence; and unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove, that +the Almighty who hath created and placed this <em>new</em> world, +at the greatest distance it could possibly stand, east and west, from +every part of the old, doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being +independant of the corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless I +say, ye can shew this, how can ye on the ground of your principles, +justify the exciting and stirring up the people “firmly to unite in the +<em>abhorrence</em> of all such <em>writings</em>, and <em>measures</em>, +as evidence a desire and design to break off the <em>happy</em> connexion +we have hitherto enjoyed, with the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just +and necessary subordination to the king, and those who are lawfully placed +in authority under him.” What a slap of the face is here! the men, who +in the very paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up the +ordering, altering, and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands +of God, are now, recalling their principles, and putting in for a share +of the business. Is it possible, that the conclusion, which is here justly +quoted, can any ways follow from the doctrine laid down? The inconsistency +is too glaring not to be seen; the absurdity too great not to be laughed at; +and such as could only have been made by those, whose understandings +were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political +party; for ye are not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers +but only as a factional and fractional part thereof. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> +Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no man +to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;) to +which I subjoin the following remark; “That the setting up and putting +down of kings,” most certainly mean, the making him a king, who is yet +not so, and the making him no king who is already one. And pray what +hath this to do in the present case? We neither mean to <em>set up</em> +nor to <em>put down</em>, neither to <em>make</em> nor to <em>unmake</em>, +but to have nothing to <em>do</em> with them. Wherefore, your testimony +in whatever light it is viewed serves only to dishonor your judgement, and +for many other reasons had better have been let alone than published. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> +First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion +whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society, to make it a party in +political disputes. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> +Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow +the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and +approvers thereof. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> +Thirdly, Because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony +and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable +donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of which, +is of the utmost consequence to us all. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> +And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely +wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always fully and +uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in your +turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example which ye +have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, <em>may be +disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of</em> +<span class="smcap">America</span>. +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<p class="finis"> +F I N I S. +</p> +<hr /> + +<div> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> +<br /><br /><br /> +<h2><a href="#Contents">On Common Sense</a></h2> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, + in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple + and unassuming language.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>Thomas Jefferson</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “A pamphlet called ‘Commonsense’ makes a great noise. + One of the vilest things that ever was published to the world. Full of + false representations, lies, calumny, and treason, whose principles are + to subvert all Kingly Governments and erect an Independent + Republic.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>Nicholas Cresswell</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “I dreaded the effect so popular a pamphlet might have + among the people, and determined to do all in my Power to counteract + the effect of it.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>John Adams</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “Its effects were sudden and extensive upon the American mind. + It was read by public men.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>Dr. Benjamin Rush</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “Have you read the pamphlet <i>Common Sense</i>? I never saw such a + masterful performance.… In short, I own myself convinced, by the + arguments, of the necessity of separation.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>General Charles Lee</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + + + +<div> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> +<br /><br /><br /> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents">Transcriber's Notes</a></h2> +</div> + + +<p> +This production of the Bradford edition of Common Sense retains the +original characteristics of the document—the author's use of +capitalization (large and small), spelling, and italics. +</p> + +<p> +The page numbers of this version of the book were my invention, for +ease in reading the HTML document. The page numbers can more accurately +be called paragraph numbers. They match the paragraph numbers in +the edited text of ‘Common Sense’ from the National +Humanities Center. +</p> + +<p> +In one case, the text refers to page forty (see our +<a href="#Page_130">Page 130</a>). We provided a link to the appropriate +part of our document but retained the page number specified by Paine. +Our page numbers are not carried over to the Kindle, E-PUB, and text +documents produced by Project Gutenberg. +</p> + +<p> +The section "On Common Sense," containing quotes about Common Sense, +have been added by this transcriber. +</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 147 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/147-h/images/cover.jpg b/147-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..092e981 --- /dev/null +++ b/147-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac60c36 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #147 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/147) diff --git a/old/147-0.txt b/old/147-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7719de0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/147-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2655 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Common Sense + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Release Date: July 4th, 1994 [eBook #147] +[Most recently updated: August 10, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: John Campbell. HTML version by Al Haines. Modified by Robert Homa. + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMON SENSE *** + + + + +COMMON SENSE; + +addressed to the + +INHABITANTS + +of + +AMERICA, + +On the following interesting + +SUBJECTS + + Of the Origin and Design of Government in general, + with concise Remarks on the English Constitution. + Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession + Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs + Of the present Ability of America, with some + miscellaneous Reflections + +A new edition, with several additions in the body of the work. To +which is added an appendix; together with an address to the people +called Quakers. + +Man knows no Master save creating Heaven +Or those whom choice and common good ordain. + +Thomson. + +PHILADELPHIA + +Printed and sold by W. & T. Bradford, February 14, 1776. + +MDCCLXXVI + + + +Common Sense +By Thomas Paine + + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet +sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit +of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of +being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of +custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than +reason. + +As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of +calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might +never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated +into the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his +own Right, to support the Parliament in what he calls Theirs, and as +the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the +combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the +pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either. + +In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every +thing which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as +censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the +worthy, need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose +sentiments are injudicious, or unfriendly, will cease of themselves +unless too much pains are bestowed upon their conversion. + +The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. +Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but +universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind +are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are +interested. The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, +declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and +extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the +Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; +of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the + +AUTHOR + +P.S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, with a +View of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any Attempt to +refute the Doctrine of Independance: As no Answer hath yet appeared, +it is now presumed that none will, the Time needful for getting such +a Performance ready for the Public being considerably past. + +Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the +Public, as the Object for Attention is the Doctrine itself, not the +Man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected +with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, +but the influence of reason and principle. + +Philadelphia, February 14, 1776 + + + +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL, +WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. + +Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave +little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only +different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our +wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our +happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter +negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, +the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a +punisher. + +Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its +best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an +intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same +miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without +government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish +the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge +of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of +the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, +uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; +but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a +part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; +and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every +other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. +Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it +unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely +to ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is +preferable to all others. + +In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of +government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some +sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will +then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. +In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first +thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength +of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for +perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and +relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five +united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a +wilderness, but one man might labour out of the common period of +life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber +he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in +the mean time would urge him from his work, and every different want +call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be +death, for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable +him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather +be said to perish than to die. + +Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly +arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, +would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government +unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as +nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably +happen, that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties +of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they +will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and +this remissness, will point out the necessity, of establishing some +form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue. + +Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the +branches of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on +public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will +have the title only of Regulations, and be enforced by no other +penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man, +by natural right, will have a seat. + +But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase +likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, +will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every +occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations +near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out +the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to +be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are +supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those who +appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole +body would act were they present. If the colony continue increasing, +it will become necessary to augment the number of the +representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony +may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into +convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the +elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the +electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections +often; because as the elected might by that means return and mix +again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their +fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflexion of +not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange +will establish a common interest with every part of the community, +they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this +(not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of +government, and the happiness of the governed. + +Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode +rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the +world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom +and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our +ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or +interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of +reason will say, it is right. + +I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, +which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, +the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when +disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on +the so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for +the dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When +the world was over run with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a +glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, +and incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily +demonstrated. + +Absolute governments (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this +advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, +they know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise +the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. +But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the +nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover +in which part the fault lies, some will say in one and some in +another, and every political physician will advise a different +medicine. + +I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, +yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of +the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains +of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican +materials. + +First.--The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king. + +Secondly.--The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of +the peers. + +Thirdly.--The new republican materials, in the persons of the +commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England. + +The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; +wherefore in a constitutional sense they contribute nothing towards +the freedom of the state. + +To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers +reciprocally checking each other, is farcical, either the words have +no meaning, or they are flat contradictions. + +To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two +things: + +First.--That the king is not to be trusted without being looked +after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the +natural disease of monarchy. + +Secondly.--That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose, +are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown. + +But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to +check the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the +king a power to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their +other bills; it again supposes that the king is wiser than those +whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity! + +There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of +monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet +empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. +The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a +king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different +parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the +whole character to be absurd and useless. + +Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the king, +say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in +behalf of the king; the commons in behalf of the people; but this +hath all the distinctions of a house divided against itself; and +though the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined +they appear idle and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the +nicest construction that words are capable of, when applied to the +description of some thing which either cannot exist, or is too +incomprehensible to be within the compass of description, will be +words of sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot +inform the mind, for this explanation includes a previous question, +viz. How came the king by a power which the people are afraid to +trust, and always obliged to check? Such a power could not be the +gift of a wise people, neither can any power, which needs checking, +be from God; yet the provision, which the constitution makes, +supposes such a power to exist. + +But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or +will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; +for as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all +the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to +know which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that +will govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, +as the phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as +they cannot stop it, their endeavors will be ineffectual; the first +moving power will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed +is supplied by time. + +That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution +needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence +merely from being the giver of places and pensions is self-evident, +wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door +against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish +enough to put the crown in possession of the key. + +The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of their own government by +king, lords and commons, arises as much or more from national pride +than reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in +some other countries, but the will of the king is as much the law of +the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead +of proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people +under the more formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the +fate of Charles the first, hath only made kings more subtle--not +more just. + +Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour +of modes and forms, the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to +the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the +government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in +Turkey. + +An inquiry into the constitutional errors in the English form of +government is at this time highly necessary, for as we are never in +a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue +under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we +capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any +obstinate prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, +is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in +favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from +discerning a good one. + + + +OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION. + +Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the +equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; +the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be +accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh ill +sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the +consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though +avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it +generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy. + +But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly +natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the +distinction of men into kings and subjects. Male and female are the +distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but +how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and +distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and +whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind. + +In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture +chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there +were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into +confusion. Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this +last century than any of the monarchial governments in Europe. +Antiquity favors the same remark; for the quiet and rural lives of +the first patriarchs hath a happy something in them, which vanishes +away when we come to the history of Jewish royalty. + +Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the +Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was +the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the +promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their +deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by +doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of +sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor +is crumbling into dust! + +As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be +justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be +defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, +as declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves +of government by kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have +been very smoothly glossed over in monarchical governments, but they +undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their +governments yet to form. "Render unto Cæsar the things which are +Cæsar's" is the scripture doctrine of courts, yet it is no support +of monarchical government, for the Jews at that time were without a +king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans. + +Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the +creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. +Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, +where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administred by +a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it +was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the +Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous +homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder, +that the Almighty ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of a +form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of +heaven. + +Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for +which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of +that transaction is worth attending to. + +The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon +marched against them with a small army, and victory, thro' the +divine interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews elate with +success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed +making him a king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son and +thy son's son. Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a +kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his +soul replied, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule +over you. The Lord shall rule over you. Words need not be more +explicit; Gideon doth not decline the honor, but denieth their right +to give it; neither doth he compliment them with invented +declarations of his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet +charges them with disaffection to their proper Sovereign, the King +of heaven. + +About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into +the same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous +customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but +so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons, +who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an +abrupt and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, Behold thou art old, +and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us +like all other nations. And here we cannot but observe that their +motives were bad, viz. that they might be like unto other nations, +i.e. the Heathens, whereas their true glory laid in being as much +unlike them as possible. But the thing displeased Samuel when they +said, Give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, +and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people +in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but +they have rejected me, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. According +to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought +them up out of Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith they have +forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto thee. Now +therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto +them and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them, +i.e. not of any particular king, but the general manner of the kings +of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And +notwithstanding the great distance of time and difference of manners, +the character is still in fashion. And Samuel told all the words of +the Lord unto the people, that asked of him a king. And he said, +This shall be the manner of the king that shall reign over you; he +will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, +and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots (this +description agrees with the present mode of impressing men) and he +will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties, +and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest, and to +make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots; and he +will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks and +to be bakers (this describes the expence and luxury as well as the +oppression of kings) and he will take your fields and your olive +yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants; and he +will take the tenth of your feed, and of your vineyards, and give +them to his officers and to his servants (by which we see that +bribery, corruption and favoritism are the standing vices of kings) +and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your maid +servants, and your goodliest young men and your asses, and put them +to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall +be his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of your +king which ye shall have chosen, and the Lord will not hear you in +that day. This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; neither do +the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, either +sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the +high encomium given of David takes no notice of him officially as a +king, but only as a man after God's own heart. Nevertheless the +People refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but +we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations, +and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our +battles. Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; he +set before them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and +seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, I will call +unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain (which then was a +punishment, being in the time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive +and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the +sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the +Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the +people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said +unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die +not, for we have added unto our sins this evil, to ask a king. These +portions of scripture are direct and positive. They admit of no +equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his +protest against monarchical government is true, or the scripture is +false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much +of king-craft, as priest-craft, in withholding the scripture from +the public in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is +the Popery of government. + +To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; +and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the +second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition +on posterity. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth +could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference +to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve some decent +degree of honors of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants might be +far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural +proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature +disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into +ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion. + +Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors +than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could +have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they +might say "We choose you for our head," they could not, without +manifest injustice to their children, say "that your children and +your children's children shall reign over ours for ever." Because +such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the +next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. +Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated +hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which +when once established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, +others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the +king the plunder of the rest. + +This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had +an honorable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we +take off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their +first rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better +than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage +manners or pre-eminence in subtility obtained him the title of chief +among plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his +depredations, over-awed the quiet and defenceless to purchase their +safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no +idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a +perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and +unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, +hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take +place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complimental; +but as few or no records were extant in those days, and traditional +history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a +few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently +timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of +the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to +threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one +(for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced +many at first to favor hereditary pretensions; by which means it +happened, as it hath happened since, that what at first was +submitted to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right. + +England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but +groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his +senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a +very honorable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, +and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the +natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original.--It +certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend +much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are +any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass +and lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor +disturb their devotion. + +Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? +The question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by +election, or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it +establishes a precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary +succession. Saul was by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, +neither does it appear from that transaction there was any intention +it ever should. If the first king of any country was by election, +that likewise establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that +the right of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the +first electors, in their choice not only of a king, but of a family +of kings for ever, hath no parrallel in or out of scripture but the +doctrine of original sin, which supposes the free will of all men +lost in Adam; and from such comparison, and it will admit of no +other, hereditary succession can derive no glory. For as in Adam all +sinned, and as in the first electors all men obeyed; as in the one +all mankind were subjected to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; +as our innocence was lost in the first, and our authority in the +last; and as both disable us from reassuming some former state and +privilege, it unanswerably follows that original sin and hereditary +succession are parellels. Dishonorable rank! Inglorious connexion! +Yet the most subtile sophist cannot produce a juster simile. + +As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that +William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be +contradicted. The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English +monarchy will not bear looking into. + +But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary +succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and +wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens +a door to the foolish, the wicked, and the improper, it hath in it +the nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, +and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of +mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world +they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they +have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when +they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and +unfit of any throughout the dominions. + +Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne +is subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the +regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity +and inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune +happens, when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the +last stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes +a prey to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the +follies either of age or infancy. + +The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of +hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil +wars; and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the +most barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history +of England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have +reigned in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time +there have been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil +wars and nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, +it makes against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to +stand on. + +The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York +and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. +Twelve pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought +between Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in +his turn was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war +and the temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are +the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a +prison to a palace, and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a +foreign land; yet, as sudden transitions of temper are seldom +lasting, Henry in his turn was driven from the throne, and Edward +recalled to succeed him. The parliament always following the +strongest side. + +This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not +entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families +were united. Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489. + +In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that +kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of +government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood +will attend it. + +If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in +some countries they have none; and after sauntering away their lives +without pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw +from the scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle +round. In absolute monarchies the whole weight of business, civil +and military, lies on the king; the children of Israel in their +request for a king, urged this plea "that he may judge us, and go +out before us and fight our battles." But in countries where he is +neither a judge nor a general, as in England, a man would be puzzled +to know what is his business. + +The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business +there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name +for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a +republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, +because the corrupt influence of the crown, by having all the places +in its disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and +eaten out the virtue of the house of commons (the republican part in +the constitution) that the government of England is nearly as +monarchical as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names +without understanding them. For it is the republican and not the +monarchical part of the constitution of England which Englishmen +glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing a house of commons from out +of their own body--and it is easy to see that when republican virtue +fails, slavery ensues. Why is the constitution of England sickly, +but because monarchy hath poisoned the republic, the crown hath +engrossed the commons? + +In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give +away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and +set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to +be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and +worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to +society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that +ever lived. + + + +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS. + +In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain +arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to +settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of +prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings +to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he +will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously +enlarge his views beyond the present day. + +Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between +England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the +controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but +all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, +as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice +of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. + +It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho' an able +minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in +the house of commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a +temporary kind, replied "they will last my time." Should a thought +so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, +the name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with +detestation. + +The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the +affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a +continent--of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis +not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually +involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to +the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of +continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be +like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a +young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read +it in full grown characters. + +By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new æra for +politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, +proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April, i.e. to the +commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last year; +which, though proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever +was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then, +terminated in one and the same point, viz. a union with Great- +Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method of +effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it +hath so far happened that the first hath failed, and the second hath +withdrawn her influence. + +As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, +like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it +is but right, that we should examine the contrary side of the +argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which +these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected +with, and dependant on Great-Britain. To examine that connexion and +dependance, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see +what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, +if dependant. + +I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished +under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same +connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always +have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind +of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived +upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty +years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But +even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that +America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had +no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by +which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and +will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe. + +But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is +true, and defended the continent at our expence as well as her own +is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, +viz. the sake of trade and dominion. + +Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made +large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of +Great-Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest not +attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies on our +account, but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had +no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our +enemies on the same account. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the +continent, or the continent throw off the dependance, and we should +be at peace with France and Spain were they at war with Britain. The +miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connexions. + +It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no +relation to each other but through the parent country, i.e. that +Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister +colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about +way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way +of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never +were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as Americans, but as our +being the subjects of Great-Britain. + +But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame +upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages +make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, +turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly +so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically +adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design +of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. +Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new +world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and +religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, +not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of +the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny +which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants +still. + +In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits +of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry +our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every +European christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. + +It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the +force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the +world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will +naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their +interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the +name of neighbour; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he +drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of +townsman; if he travel out of the county, and meet him in any other, +he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls him +countryman, i.e. county-man; but if in their foreign excursions they +should associate in France or any other part of Europe, their local +remembrance would be enlarged into that of Englishmen. And by a just +parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America, or any other +quarter of the globe, are countrymen; for England, Holland, Germany, +or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in the same places on +the larger scale, which the divisions of street, town, and county do +on the smaller ones; distinctions too limited for continental minds. +Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of +English descent. Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or +mother country applied to England only, as being false, selfish, +narrow and ungenerous. + +But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it +amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes +every other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our +duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present +line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of +England are descendants from the same country; therefore, by the +same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. + +Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the +colonies, that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. +But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither +do the expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never +suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British +arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe. + +Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our +plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the +peace and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of +all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a +protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from +invaders. + +I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a +single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected +with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage +is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, +and our imported goods must be paid for buy them where we will. + +But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, +are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to +ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any +submission to, or dependance on Great-Britain, tends directly to +involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at +variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and +against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our +market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any +part of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of +European contentions, which she never can do, while by her +dependence on Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of +British politics. + +Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and +whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the +trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with +Britain. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it +not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for +separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer +convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right or natural +pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of +nature cries, 'Tis time to part. Even the distance at which the +Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural +proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, was never the +design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was +discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it +was peopled encreases the force of it. The reformation was preceded +by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to +open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should +afford neither friendship nor safety. + +The authority of Great-Britain over this continent, is a form of +government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious +mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful +and positive conviction, that what he calls "the present +constitution" is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, +knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure +any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method +of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we +ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and +pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we +should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few +years farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, +which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight. + +Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am +inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of +reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. +Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see; +prejudiced men, who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, +who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this +last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more +calamities to this continent, than all the other three. + +It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of +sorrow; the evil is not sufficient brought to their doors to make +them feel the precariousness with which all American property is +possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments +to Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and +instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no +trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few +months ago were in ease and affluence, have now, no other +alternative than to stay and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered +by the fire of their friends if they continue within the city, and +plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present +condition they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in +a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed to the fury +of both armies. + +Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of +Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "Come, +come, we shall be friends again, for all this." But examine the +passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of +reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, +whether you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the +power that hath carried fire and sword into your land? If you cannot +do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your +delay bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with +Britain, whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced and +unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, +will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the +first. But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then +I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed +before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to +lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by +their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you +have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you +have, and still can shake hands with the murderers, then are you +unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and +whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a +coward, and the spirit of a sycophant. + +This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by +those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without +which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of +life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror +for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal +and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed +object. It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer +America, if she do not conquer herself by delay and timidity. The +present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or +neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; and +there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who, +or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a +season so precious and useful. + +It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things to all +examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can +longer remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in +Britain does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, +at this time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise +the continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is now a +fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot +supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true +reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so +deep." + +Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have +been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that +nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than +repeated petitioning--and nothing hath contributed more than that +very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark +and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's +sake, let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next +generation to be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names +of parent and child. + +To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we +thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two +undeceived us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been +once defeated, will never renew the quarrel. + +As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do +this continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, +and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of +convenience, by a power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of +us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be +always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a +petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when +obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few +years be looked upon as folly and childishness--There was a time +when it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease. + +Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper +objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is +something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually +governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite +larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with +respect to each other, reverses the common order of nature, it is +evident they belong to different systems: England to Europe, America +to itself. + +I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to +espouse the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly, +positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true +interest of this continent to be so; that every thing short of that +is mere patchwork, that it can afford no lasting felicity,--that it +is leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time, +when, a little more, a little farther, would have rendered this +continent the glory of the earth. + +As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a +compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy +the acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expence of +blood and treasure we have been already put to. + +The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion +to the expence. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, +is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary +stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience, which would have +sufficiently ballanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had +such repeals been obtained; but if the whole continent must take up +arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while +to fight against a contemptible ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we +pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for in +a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a Bunker-hill price +for law, as for land. As I have always considered the independancy +of this continent, as an event, which sooner or later must arrive, +so from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, the +event could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of +hostilities, it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter, +which time would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in +earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a suit at law, +to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just expiring. +No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before +the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the event of that +day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh +of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended +title of father of his people can unfeelingly hear of their +slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. + +But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? +I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. + +First. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the +king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this +continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to +liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or +is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "You shall make no +laws but what I please." And is there any inhabitant in America so +ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the +present constitution, that this continent can make no laws but what +the king gives leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to +see, that (considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to +be made here, but such as suit his purpose. We may be as effectually +enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws +made for us in England. After matters are made up (as it is called) +can there be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be +exerted, to keep this continent as low and humble as possible? +Instead of going forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually +quarrelling or ridiculously petitioning.--We are already greater +than the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavour +to make us less? To bring the matter to one point. Is the power who +is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever +says No to this question is an independant, for independancy means +no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, or whether the +king, the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall +tell us "there shall be no laws but such as I like." + +But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people +there can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and +good order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of +twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions +of people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act +of yours to be law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, +though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only +answer, that England being the King's residence, and America not so, +makes quite another case. The king's negative here is ten times more +dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for there he will +scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as +strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he would never +suffer such a bill to be passed. + +America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics, +England consults the good of this country, no farther than it +answers her own purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to +suppress the growth of ours in every case which doth not promote her +advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we +should soon be in under such a second-hand government, considering +what has happened! Men do not change from enemies to friends by the +alteration of a name: And in order to shew that reconciliation now +is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, that it would be policy in the +king at this time, to repeal the acts for the sake of reinstating +himself in the government of the provinces; in order, that he may +accomplish by craft and subtilty, in the long run, what he cannot do +by force and violence in the short one. Reconciliation and ruin are +nearly related. + +Secondly. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to obtain, +can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of +government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the +colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in +the interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of +property will not choose to come to a country whose form of +government hangs but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on +the brink of commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present +inhabitants would lay hold of the interval, to dispense of their +effects, and quit the continent. + +But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but +independance, i.e. a continental form of government, can keep the +peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I +dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more +than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or +other, the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the +malice of Britain. + +Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more +will probably suffer the same fate) Those men have other feelings +than us who have nothing suffered. All they now possess is liberty, +what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having +nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general +temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like +that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very +little about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace, +is no government at all, and in that case we pay our money for +nothing; and pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will +be wholly on paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day +after reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I +believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independance, +fearing that it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our +first thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here; for +there are ten times more to dread from a patched up connexion than +from independance. I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest, +that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and +my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of injuries, I could +never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself +bound thereby. + +The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and +obedience to continental government, as is sufficient to make every +reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the +least pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are +truly childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving +for superiority over another. + +Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect +equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and +we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are without +wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are +never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprizing +ruffians at home; and that degree of pride and insolence ever +attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign +powers, in instances, where a republican government, by being formed +on more natural principles, would negociate the mistake. + +If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it is +because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out-- +Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following +hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other +opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving +rise to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of +individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for +wise and able men to improve into useful matter. + +Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The +representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and +subject to the authority of a Continental Congress. + +Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient +districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to +Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number +in Congress will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose +a president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let +a colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after +which, let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from +out of the delegates of that province. In the next Congress, let a +colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from +which the president was taken in the former Congress, and so +proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper +rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is +satisfactorily just, not less than three fifths of the Congress to +be called a majority.--He that will promote discord, under a +government so equally formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in +his revolt. + +But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, +this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and +consistent that it should come from some intermediate body between +the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and +the people, let a Continental Conference be held, in the following +manner, and for the following purpose. + +A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each +colony. Two members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial +Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be +chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for, and in +behalf of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall +think proper to attend from all parts of the province for that +purpose; or, if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen +in two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this +conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles +of business, knowledge and power. The members of Congress, +Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national +concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being +impowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority. + +The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a +Continental Charter, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering +to what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and +manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with +their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and +jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is +continental, not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all +men, and above all things, the free exercise of religion, according +to the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is +necessary for a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the +said Conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen +comformable to the said charter, to be the legislators and governors +of this continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness, may +God preserve, Amen. + +Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some +similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise +observer on governments Dragonetti. "The science" says he "of the +politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and +freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should +discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of +individual happiness, with the least national expense. + +Dragonetti on virtue and rewards." + +But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he +reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal +Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in +earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the +charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word +of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, +that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is +king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free +countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other. +But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the +conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the +people whose right it is. + +A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man +seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will +become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a +constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have +it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and +chance. If we omit it now, some Massanello ¹ may hereafter arise, +who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the +desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the +powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent +like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into +the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a +temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in +such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the +news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like +the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that +oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a +door to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. +There are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it +glorious to expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish +power, which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us, +the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and +treacherously by them. + +¹ Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who +after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, +against the oppressions of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then +subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became +king. + +To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to +have faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores +instruct us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the +little remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any +reason to hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will +increase, or that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more +and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever? + +Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us +the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former +innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last +cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses +against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she +would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive +the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders +of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable +feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his +image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common +animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be +extirpated the earth, or have only a casual existence were we +callous to the touches of affection. The robber, and the murderer, +would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our +tempers sustain, provoke us into justice. + +O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, +but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun +with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and +Africa, have long expelled her--Europe regards her like a stranger, +and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the +fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind. + + + +OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA, +WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS. + +I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath +not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries, +would take place one time or other: And there is no instance, in +which we have shewn less judgment, than in endeavouring to describe, +what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for +independance. + +As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the +time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of +things, and endeavour, if possible, to find out the very time. But +we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the time hath +found us. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things +prove the fact. + +It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; +yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the +world. The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed +and disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived +at that pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to +support itself, and the whole, when united, can accomplish the +matter, and either more, or, less than this, might be fatal in its +effects. Our land force is already sufficient, and as to naval +affairs, we cannot be insensible, that Britain would never suffer an +American man of war to be built, while the continent remained in her +hands. Wherefore, we should be no forwarder an hundred years hence +in that branch, than we are now; but the truth is, we should be less +so, because the timber of the country is every day diminishing, and +that, which will remain at last, will be far off and difficult to +procure. + +Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under +the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more sea port +towns we had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. +Our present numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that +no man need be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and +the necessities of an army create a new trade. + +Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account +will serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave +posterity with a settled form of government, an independant +constitution of its own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. +But to expend millions for the sake of getting a few vile acts +repealed, and routing the present ministry only, is unworthy the +charge, and is using posterity with the utmost cruelty; because it +is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs, +from which they derive no advantage. Such a thought is unworthy a +man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a +pedling politician. + +The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be +but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national +debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no +case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one +hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of +four millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has +a large navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for +the twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy +as large again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more +than three millions and an half sterling. + +The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published +without the following calculations, which are now given as a proof +that the above estimation of the navy is just. See Entic's naval +history, intro. page 56. + +The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with +masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight +months boatswain's and carpenter's sea-stores, as calculated by Mr. +Burchett, Secretary to the navy. + + £ + [pounds + sterling] +For a ship of 100 guns = 35,553 + 90 = 29,886 + 80 = 23,638 + 70 = 17,785 + 60 = 14,197 + 50 = 10,606 + 40 = 7,558 + 30 = 5,846 + 20 = 3,710 + +And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of +the whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was at its +greatest glory consisted of the following ships and guns: + +Ships. Guns. Cost of one. Cost of all. + Cost in £ [pounds sterling] + 6 100 35,553 213,318 + 12 90 29,886 358,632 + 12 80 23,638 283,656 + 43 70 17,785 764,755 + 35 60 14,197 496,895 + 40 50 10,606 424,240 + 45 40 7,558 340,110 + 58 20 3,710 215,180 + 85 Sloops, bombs + and fireships, one + with another, at } 2,000 170,000 + ------------ +Cost 3,266,786 +Remains for Guns 233,214 + ------------ + 3,500,000 + +No country on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally +capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and +cordage are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. +Whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships +of war to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most +of the materials they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as +an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this +country. It is the best money we can lay out. A navy when finished +is worth more than it cost. And is that nice point in national +policy, in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build; +if we want them not, we can sell; and by that means replace our +paper currency with ready gold and silver. + +In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; +it is not necessary that one fourth part should be sailors. The +Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of +any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her +complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social +sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in +the common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable +to begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing, +our fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of +employ. Men of war, of seventy and eighty guns were built forty +years ago in New-England, and why not the same now? Ship-building is +America's greatest pride, and in which, she will in time excel the +whole world. The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and +consequently excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa +is in a state of barbarism; and no power in Europe, hath either such +an extent of coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where +nature hath given the one, she has withheld the other; to America +only hath she been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is +almost shut out from the sea; wherefore, her boundless forests, her +tar, iron, and cordage are only articles of commerce. + +In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the +little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we +might have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather; +and slept securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. +The case now is altered, and our methods of defence, ought to +improve with our increase of property. A common pirate, twelve +months ago, might have come up the Delaware, and laid the city of +Philadelphia under instant contribution, for what sum he pleased; +and the same might have happened to other places. Nay, any daring +fellow, in a brig of fourteen or sixteen guns, might have robbed the +whole Continent, and carried off half a million of money. These are +circumstances which demand our attention, and point out the +necessity of naval protection. + +Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, +she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall +keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? Common sense will tell +us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all +others, the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected +under the pretence of friendship; and ourselves, after a long and +brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships +are not to be admitted into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to +protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little +use, and on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must +hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? Why do it +for another? + +The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not a +tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of +them not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the +list, if only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part, of +such as are fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one +time. The East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other +parts over which Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon +her navy. From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have +contracted a false notion respecting the navy of England, and have +talked as if we should have the whole of it to encounter at once, +and for that reason, supposed, that we must have one as large; which +not being instantly practicable, have been made use of by a set of +disguised Tories to discourage our beginning thereon. Nothing can be +farther from truth than this; for if America had only a twentieth +part of the naval force of Britain, she would be by far an over +match for her; because, as we neither have, nor claim any foreign +dominion, our whole force would be employed on our own coast, where +we should, in the long run, have two to one the advantage of those +who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, before they could +attack us, and the same distance to return in order to refit and +recruit. And although Britain by her fleet, hath a check over our +trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the West- +Indies, which, by laying in the neighbourhood of the Continent, is +entirely at its mercy. + +Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of +peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant +navy. If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ +in their service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty +guns, (the premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the +merchants) fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on +constant duty, would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without +burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in England, +of suffering their fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the +docks. To unite the sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy; +for when our strength and our riches play into each other's hand, we +need fear no external enemy. + +In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even +to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior +to that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. +Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every +day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our +inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. +Wherefore, what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From +Britain we can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to +the government of America again, this Continent will not be worth +living in. Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be +constantly happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will +venture his life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? +The difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some +unlocated lands, shews the insignificance of a British government, +and fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can +regulate Continental matters. + +Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, +that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet +unoccupied, which instead of being lavished by the king on his +worthless dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the +discharge of the present debt, but to the constant support of +government. No nation under heaven hath such an advantage as this. + +The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being +against, is an argument in favour of independance. We are +sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. +It is a matter worthy of observation, that the more a country is +peopled, the smaller their armies are. In military numbers, the +ancients far exceeded the moderns: and the reason is evident. For +trade being the consequence of population, men become too much +absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the +spirit, both of patriotism and military defence. And history +sufficiently informs us, that the bravest achievements were always +accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With the increase of +commerce, England hath lost its spirit. The city of London, +notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with the +patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing +are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and +submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel. + +Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in +individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the +Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety +of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, +would create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being +able might scorn each other's assistance: and while the proud and +foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament, +that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the present +time is the true time for establishing it. The intimacy which is +contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed in +misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable. +Our present union is marked with both these characters: we are young +and we have been distressed; but our concord hath withstood our +troubles, and fixes a memorable area for posterity to glory in. + +The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never +happens to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a +government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that +means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, +instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and +then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of +government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute +them afterward: but from the errors of other nations, let us learn +wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity--To begin government +at the right end. + +When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the +point of the sword; and until we consent, that the seat of +government, in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we +shall be in danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, +who may treat us in the same manner, and then, where will be our +freedom? where our property? + +As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all +government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I +know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let +a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of +principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to +part with, and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. +Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good +society. For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is +the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity of +religious opinions among us: It affords a larger field for our +Christian kindness. Were we all of one way of thinking, our +religious dispositions would want matter for probation; and on this +liberal principle, I look on the various denominations among us, to +be like children of the same family, differing only, in what is +called, their Christian names. + +In page forty, I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a +Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) +and in this place, I take the liberty of re-mentioning the subject, +by observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn +obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of +every separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or +property. A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends. + +In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and +equal representation; and there is no political matter which more +deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small +number of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number +of the representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is +increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the +Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of +Pennsylvania; twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks +county members, being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the +Chester members done the same, this whole province had been governed +by two counties only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The +unwarrantable stretch likewise, which that house made in their last +sitting, to gain an undue authority over the delegates of that +province, ought to warn the people at large, how they trust power +out of their own hands. A set of instructions for the Delegates were +put together, which in point of sense and business would have +dishonoured a schoolboy, and after being approved by a few, a very +few without doors, were carried into the House, and there passed in +behalf of the whole colony; whereas, did the whole colony know, with +what ill-will that House hath entered on some necessary public +measures, they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of +such a trust. + +Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued +would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different +things. When the calamities of America required a consultation, +there was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to +appoint persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose; +and the wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this +continent from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall +never be without a Congress, every well wisher to good order, must +own, that the mode for choosing members of that body, deserves +consideration. And I put it as a question to those, who make a study +of mankind, whether representation and election is not too great a +power for one and the same body of men to possess? When we are +planning for posterity, we ought to remember, that virtue is not +hereditary. + +It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are +frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall +(one of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New- +York Assembly with contempt, because that House, he said, consisted +but of twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could +not with decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his +involuntary honesty. ¹ + +¹ Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large +and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh's +political disquisitions. + +To Conclude, however strange it may appear to some, or however +unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and +striking reasons may be given, to shew, that nothing can settle our +affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for +independance. Some of which are, + +First.--It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, for +some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as +mediators, and bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while +America calls herself the Subject of Great-Britain, no power, +however well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, +in our present state we may quarrel on for ever. + +Secondly.--It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or Spain will +give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only, to make use of that +assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and +strengthening the connection between Britain and America; because, +those powers would be sufferers by the consequences. + +Thirdly.--While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we +must, in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The +precedent is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men to be in +arms under the name of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the +paradox: but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea +much too refined for common understanding. + +Fourthly.--Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to +foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the +peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring, +at the same time, that not being able, any longer, to live happily +or safely under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had +been driven to the necessity of breaking off all connections with +her; at the same time, assuring all such courts of our peaceable +disposition towards them, and of our desire of entering into trade +with them: Such a memorial would produce more good effects to this +Continent, than if a ship were freighted with petitions to Britain. + +Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither +be received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, +and will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other +nations. + +These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, +like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a +little time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an +independance is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man +who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, +yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, +and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. + + + +APPENDIX. + +Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or +rather, on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech made +its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the +birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth, at a +more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. The bloody +mindedness of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing the doctrine +of the other. Men read by way of revenge. And the Speech, instead of +terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of Independance. + +Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise, +have a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of +countenance to base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this +maxim be admitted, it naturally follows, that the King's Speech, as +being a piece of finished villainy, deserved, and still deserves, a +general execration both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the +domestic tranquillity of a nation, depends greatly, on the chastity +of what may properly be called national manners, it is often better, +to pass some things over in silent disdain, than to make use of such +new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least innovation, on +that guardian of our peace and safety. And, perhaps, it is chiefly +owing to this prudent delicacy, that the King's Speech, hath not, +before now, suffered a public execution. The Speech if it may be +called one, is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel against +the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind; and is a +formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the +pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind, is one of +the privileges, and the certain consequence of Kings; for as nature +knows them not, they know not her, and although they are beings of +our own creating, they know not us, and are become the gods of their +creators. The Speech hath one good quality, which is, that it is not +calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be deceived +by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It leaves us +at no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of reading, +that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored +Indian, is less a Savage than the King of Britain. + +Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical +piece, fallaciously called, "The Address of the people of England to +the inhabitants of America," hath, perhaps, from a vain supposition, +that the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and +description of a king, given, (though very unwisely on his part) the +real character of the present one: "But" says this writer, "if you +are inclined to pay compliments to an administration, which we do +not complain of," (meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the repeal +of the Stamp Act) "it is very unfair in you to withhold them from +that prince, by whose nod alone they were permitted to do any +thing." This is toryism with a witness! Here is idolatry even +without a mask: And he who can calmly hear, and digest such doctrine, +hath forfeited his claim to rationality--an apostate from the order +of manhood; and ought to be considered--as one, who hath not only +given up the proper dignity of man, but sunk himself beneath the +rank of animals, and contemptibly crawls through the world like a +worm. + +However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either +says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human +obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by +a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, +procured for himself an universal hatred. It is now the interest of +America to provide for herself. She hath already a large and young +family, whom it is more her duty to take care of, than to be +granting away her property, to support a power who is become a +reproach to the names of men and christians--Ye, whose office it is +to watch over the morals of a nation, of whatsoever sect or +denomination ye are of, as well as ye, who are more immediately the +guardians of the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native +country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret +wish a separation--But leaving the moral part to private reflection, +I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads. + +First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from +Britain. + +Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, +reconciliation or independance? with some occasional remarks. + +In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the +opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this +continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly +known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a +state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped +and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any +material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and +although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the +history of other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what +she would be capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, +the legislative powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, +proudly coveting what would do her no good, were she to accomplish +it; and the Continent hesitating on a matter, which will be her +final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce and not the conquest of +America, by which England is to be benefited, and that would in a +great measure continue, were the countries as independant of each +other as France and Spain; because in many articles, neither can go +to a better market. But it is the independance of this country of +Britain or any other, which is now the main and only object worthy +of contention, and which, like all other truths discovered by +necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every day. + +First. Because it will come to that one time or other. + +Secondly. Because, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to +accomplish. + +I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, +with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak +without reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the +following seems the most general, viz. that had this rupture +happened forty or fifty years hence, instead of now, the Continent +would have been more able to have shaken off the dependance. To +which I reply, that our military ability, at this time, arises from +the experience gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty +years time, would have been totally extinct. The Continent, would +not, by that time, have had a General, or even a military officer +left; and we, or those who may succeed us, would have been as +ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians: And this single +position, closely attended to, will unanswerably prove, that the +present time is preferable to all others. The argument turns thus-- +at the conclusion of the last war, we had experience, but wanted +numbers; and forty or fifty years hence, we should have numbers, +without experience; wherefore, the proper point of time, must be +some particular point between the two extremes, in which a +sufficiency of the former remains, and a proper increase of the +latter is obtained: And that point of time is the present time. + +The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come +under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by +the following position, viz. + +Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the +governing and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now +circumstanced, is giving up the point intirely) we shall deprive +ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may +contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces +are clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extention of the limits +of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, +amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency; +and the quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions +yearly. + +It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without +burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always +lessen, and in time, will wholly support the yearly expence of +government. It matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that +the lands when sold be applied to the discharge of it, and for the +execution of which, the Congress for the time being, will be the +continental trustees. + +I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest and most +practicable plan, reconciliation or independance; with some +occasional remarks. + +He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his +argument, and on that ground, I answer generally--That independance +being a single simple line, contained within ourselves; and +reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and +in which, a treacherous capricious court is to interfere, gives the +answer without a doubt. + +The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is +capable of reflexion. Without law, without government, without any +other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy. +Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which is +nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret enemy is +endeavouring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, Legislation +without law; wisdom without a plan; constitution without a name; and, +what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independance contending for +dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never +existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property +of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The +mind of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object +before them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is +criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one +thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dared not +have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that +act, were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction +should be drawn, between, English soldiers taken in battle, and +inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but +the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his +head. + +Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of +our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The +Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not +done in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall +into a state, in which, neither Reconciliation nor Independance will +be practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at +their old game of dividing the Continent, and there are not wanting +among us, Printers, who will be busy in spreading specious +falsehoods. The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few +months ago in two of the New-York papers, and likewise in two others, +is an evidence that there are men who want either judgment or +honesty. + +It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of +reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult +the task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent +divide thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various +orders of men whose situation and circumstances, as well as their +own, are to be considered therein. Do they put themselves in the +place of the sufferer whose all is already gone, and of the soldier, +who hath quitted all for the defence of his country. If their ill +judged moderation be suited to their own private situations only, +regardless of others, the event will convince them, that "they are +reckoning without their Host." + +Put us, say some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which +I answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply +with, neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should +be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a +corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another +parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the +obligation, on the pretence, of its being violently obtained, or +unwisely granted; and in that case, Where is our redress?--No going +to law with nations; cannon are the barristers of Crowns; and the +sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit. To be on the +footing of sixty-three, it is not sufficient, that the laws only be +put on the same state, but, that our circumstances, likewise, be put +on the same state; Our burnt and destroyed towns repaired or built +up, our private losses made good, our public debts (contracted for +defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall be millions worse than we +were at that enviable period. Such a request, had it been complied +with a year ago, would have won the heart and soul of the Continent- +-but now it is too late, "The Rubicon is passed." + +Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a +pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as +repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce +obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the +means; for the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such +trifles. It is the violence which is done and threatened to our +persons; the destruction of our property by an armed force; the +invasion of our country by fire and sword, which conscientiously +qualifies the use of arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of +defence became necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have +ceased; and the independancy of America, should have been considered, +as dating its æra from, and published by, the first musket that was +fired against her. This line is a line of consistency; neither drawn +by caprice, nor extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of +events, of which the colonies were not the authors. + +I shall conclude these remarks, with the following timely and well +intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are three different +ways, by which an independancy may hereafter be effected; and that +one of those three, will one day or other, be the fate of America, +viz. By the legal voice of the people in Congress; by a military +power; or by a mob: It may not always happen that our soldiers are +citizens, and the multitude a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I +have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. +Should an independancy be brought about by the first of those means, +we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form +the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it +in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to +the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The +birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as +numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of +freedom from the event of a few months. The Reflexion is awful--and +in this point of view, How trifling, how ridiculous, do the little, +paltry cavellings, of a few weak or interested men appear, when +weighed against the business of a world. + +Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and an +Independance be hereafter effected by any other means, we must +charge the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose +narrow and prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure, +without either inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be +given in support of Independance, which men should rather privately +think of, than be publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating +whether we shall be independant or not, but, anxious to accomplish +it on a firm, secure, and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it +is not yet began upon. Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even +the Tories (if such beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, +be the most solicitous to promote it; for, as the appointment of +committees at first, protected them from popular rage, so, a wise +and well established form of government, will be the only certain +means of continuing it securely to them. Wherefore, if they have not +virtue enough to be Whigs, they ought to have prudence enough to +wish for Independance. + +In short, Independance is the only Bond that can tye and keep us +together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally +shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well, as a cruel enemy. +We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with Britain; +for there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, will +be less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace, +than with those, whom she denominates, "rebellious subjects," for +terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her to +hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the +war. As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our +trade to obtain a redress of our grievances, let us now try the +alternative, by independantly redressing them ourselves, and then +offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part in +England, will be still with us; because, peace with trade, is +preferable to war without it. And if this offer be not accepted, +other courts may be applied to. + +On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been +made to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this +pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be +refuted, or, that the party in favour of it are too numerous to be +opposed. Wherefore, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious +or doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold out to his neighbour the +hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like +an act of oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every former +dissension. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none +other be heard among us, than those of a good citizen, an open and +resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind +and of the FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA. + +To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called +Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the +late piece, entitled "The Ancient Testimony and Principles of the +People called Quakers renewed, with Respect to the King and +Government, and touching the Commotions now prevailing in these and +other parts of America addressed to the People in General." + +The Writer of this, is one of those few, who never dishonours +religion either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination +whatsoever. To God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the +score of religion. Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly +addressed to you as a religious, but as a political body, dabbling +in matters, which the professed Quietude of your Principles instruct +you not to meddle with. + +As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves +in the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of +this, in order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the +necessity, of putting himself in the place of all those, who, +approve the very writings and principles, against which your +testimony is directed: And he hath chosen this singular situation, +in order, that you might discover in him that presumption of +character which you cannot see in yourselves. For neither he nor you +can have any claim or title to Political Representation. + +When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they +stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have +managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) +is not your proper Walk; for however well adapted it might appear to +you, it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely +together, and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and +unjust. + +The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you +credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love +and desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural, +as well the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this +ground, as men labouring to establish an Independant Constitution of +our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. Our plan +is peace for ever. We are tired of contention with Britain, and can +see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act consistently, +because for the sake of introducing an endless and uninterrupted +peace, do we bear the evils and burthens of the present day. We are +endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavour, to separate +and dissolve a connexion which hath already filled our land with +blood; and which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal +cause of future mischiefs to both countries. + +We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor +passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, +nor ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own +vines are we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is +the violence committed against us. We view our enemies in the +character of Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence for +ourselves in the civil law, are obliged to punish them by the +military one, and apply the sword, in the very case, where you have +before now, applied the halter--Perhaps we feel for the ruined and +insulted sufferers in all and every part of the continent, with a +degree of tenderness which hath not yet made its way into some of +your bosoms. But be ye sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground +of your Testimony. Call not coldness of soul, religion; nor put the +Bigot in the place of the Christian. + +O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the +bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by +all the difference between wilful attack and unavoidable defence. +Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make +a political hobby-horse of your religion, convince the world thereof, +by proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, for they likewise bear +arms. Give us proof of your sincerity by publishing it at St. +James's, to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the Admirals and +Captains who are piratically ravaging our coasts, and to all the +murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under him whom ye +profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul of Barclay ¹ ye would +preach repentance to your king; Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his +sins, and warn him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your partial +invectives against the injured and the insulted only, but, like +faithful ministers, would cry aloud and spare none. Say not that ye +are persecuted, neither endeavour to make us the authors of that +reproach, which, ye are bringing upon yourselves; for we testify +unto all men, that we do not complain against you because ye are +Quakers, but because ye pretend to be and are not Quakers. + +¹"Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it +is to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to +rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason +to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after +all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the +Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy +distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely +great will be thy condemnation.--Against which snare, as well as the +temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, +the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to +that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience, and which +neither can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in +thy sins." + +--Barclay's address to Charles II. + +Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your +testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was +reduced to, and comprehended in, the act of bearing arms, and that +by the people only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for +conscience; because, the general tenor of your actions wants +uniformity: And it is exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to +many of your pretended scruples; because, we see them made by the +same men, who, in the very instant that they are exclaiming against +the mammon of this world, are nevertheless, hunting after it with a +step as steady as Time, and an appetite as keen as Death. + +The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of +your testimony, that, "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh +even his enemies to be at peace with him"; is very unwisely chosen +on your part; because, it amounts to a proof, that the king's ways +(whom ye are desirous of supporting) do not please the Lord, +otherwise, his reign would be in peace. + +I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for +which all the foregoing seems only an introduction, viz. + +"It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called +to profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences +unto this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and +governments, is God's peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to +himself: And that it is not our business to have any hand or +contrivance therein; nor to be busy bodies above our station, much +less to plot and contrive the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but +to pray for the king, and safety of our nation, and good of all men: +That we may live a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness and +honesty; under the government which God is pleased to set over us."- +-If these are really your principles why do ye not abide by them? +Why do ye not leave that, which ye call God's Work, to be managed by +himself? These very principles instruct you to wait with patience +and humility, for the event of all public measures, and to receive +that event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore, what occasion +is there for your political testimony if you fully believe what it +contains: And the very publishing it proves, that either, ye do not +believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practise what +ye believe. + +The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the +quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government which is +set over him. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and +governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will +not be robbed thereof by us; wherefore, the principle itself leads +you to approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to +kings as being his work. Oliver Cromwell thanks you. Charles, then, +died not by the hands of man; and should the present Proud Imitator +of him, come to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of +the Testimony, are bound, by the doctrine it contains, to applaud +the fact. Kings are not taken away by miracles, neither are changes +in governments brought about by any other means than such as are +common and human; and such as we are now using. Even the dispersion +of the Jews, though foretold by our Saviour, was effected by arms. +Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, ye ought not to +be meddlers on the other; but to wait the issue in silence; and +unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove, that the Almighty +who hath created and placed this new world, at the greatest distance +it could possibly stand, east and west, from every part of the old, +doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being independant of the +corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless I say, ye can shew +this, how can ye on the ground of your principles, justify the +exciting and stirring up the people "firmly to unite in the +abhorrence of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire +and design to break off the happy connexion we have hitherto enjoyed, +with the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just and necessary +subordination to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in +authority under him." What a slap of the face is here! the men, who +in the very paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up +the ordering, altering, and disposal of kings and governments, into +the hands of God, are now, recalling their principles, and putting +in for a share of the business. Is it possible, that the conclusion, +which is here justly quoted, can any ways follow from the doctrine +laid down? The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen; the +absurdity too great not to be laughed at; and such as could only +have been made by those, whose understandings were darkened by the +narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political party; for ye are +not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers but only as a +factional and fractional part thereof. + +Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no +man to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;) +to which I subjoin the following remark; "That the setting up and +putting down of kings," most certainly mean, the making him a king, +who is yet not so, and the making him no king who is already one. +And pray what hath this to do in the present case? We neither mean +to set up nor to put down, neither to make nor to unmake, but to +have nothing to do with them. Wherefore, your testimony in whatever +light it is viewed serves only to dishonor your judgement, and for +many other reasons had better have been let alone than published. + +First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion +whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society, to make it a party +in political disputes. + +Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow +the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and +approvers thereof. + +Thirdly, Because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony +and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable +donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of +which is of the utmost consequence to us all. + +And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely +wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always fully and +uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in +your turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example +which ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may +be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America. + + + +F I N I S. + + + + +On Common Sense + +"No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, in +perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple +and unassuming language." + +Thomas Jefferson + +"A pamphlet called 'Commonsense' makes a great noise. One of the +vilest things that ever was published to the world. Full of false +representations, lies, calumny, and treason, whose principles are to +subvert all Kingly Governments and erect an Independent Republic." + +Nicholas Cresswell + +"I dreaded the effect so popular a pamphlet might have among the +people, and determined to do all in my Power to counteract the +effect of it." + +John Adams + +"Its effects were sudden and extensive upon the American mind. It +was read by public men." + +Dr. Benjamin Rush + +"Have you read the pamphlet Common Sense? I never saw such a +masterful performance.... In short, I own myself convinced, by the +arguments, of the necessity of separation." + +General Charles Lee + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + +This production of the Bradford edition of Common Sense retains the +original characteristics of the document--the author's use of +capitalization (large and small), spelling, and italics. + +The page numbers of this version of the book were my invention, for +ease in reading the HTML document. The page numbers can more +accurately be called paragraph numbers. They match the paragraph +numbers in the edited text of 'Common Sense' from the National +Humanities Center. + +In one case, the text refers to page forty (see our Page 130). We +provided a link to the appropriate part of our document but retained +the page number specified by Paine. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Common Sense</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Thomas Paine</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 4th, 1994 [eBook #147]<br /> +[Most recently updated: August 10, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Campbell. HTML version by Al Haines. Modified by Robert Homa.</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMON SENSE ***</div> + +<h1> +COMMON SENSE; +</h1> + +<p class="noindent center"> + <span class="smcap">addressed to the</span> +</p> + +<p class="noindent center xl"> + INHABITANTS +</p> + +<p class="noindent center"> + <span class="smcap">of</span> +</p> + +<p class="noindent center xl"> + AMERICA, +</p> + +<p class="noindent center"> + On the following interesting +<br /> +</p> + + +<div> +<a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a> +<h2> +SUBJECTS +</h2> +</div> + + +<ol> +<li><a href="#origin"> +Of the Origin and Design of Government in general,<br /> +with concise Remarks on the English Constitution. +</a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#monarchy"> +Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession +</a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#thoughts"> +Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs +</a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#ability"> +Of the present Ability of America, with some<br /> +miscellaneous Reflections +</a> +</li> +</ol> + +<hr /> +<p> +A new edition, with several additions in the body +of the work. To which is added an +<span class="smcap"><a href="#appendix">appendix</a></span>; +together with an <a href="#quakers">address to the people +called Quakers</a>. +</p> +<hr /> + +<p class="noindent" style="margin-left:10%;"> +<span style="margin-left:-1em;">Man knows no Master save creating <span class="smcap">Heaven</span></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left:-1em;">Or those whom choice and common good ordain.</span> +</p> +<p class="right smcap"> + Thomson. +</p> +<hr /> +<hr /> +<p class="noindent center large"> + PHILADELPHIA +</p> +<p class="noindent center"> + Printed and sold by W. & T. Bradford, February 14, 1776. +</p> +<hr class="break" /> +<p class="noindent center large"> + MDCCLXXVI +</p> +<p> + <br /> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +<br /> +</p> + +<h1>Common Sense</h1> +<h2>By Thomas Paine</h2> +<p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<a name="intro" id="intro"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">1</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents">INTRODUCTION.</a> +</h2> +</div> +<p> +<span class="smcap">Perhaps</span> the sentiments contained in the +following pages, are not <em>yet</em> sufficiently fashionable to +procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing +<em>wrong</em>, gives it a superficial appearance of being +<em>right</em>, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense +of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts +than reason. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">2</a></span> +As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling +the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have +been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the +inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his <em>own Right</em>, +to support the Parliament in what he calls <em>Theirs</em>, and as the good +people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, +they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of +both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> +In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every thing +which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to +individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the worthy, need not +the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious, +or unfriendly, will cease of themselves unless too much pains are +bestowed upon their conversion. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> +The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. +Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but +universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind +are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are +interested. The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, +declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and +extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the +Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of +which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the +</p> + +<p class="right">AUTHOR +</p> + +<p> +P.S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, with a +View of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any Attempt to refute +the Doctrine of Independance: As no Answer hath yet appeared, it is now +presumed that none will, the Time needful for getting such a +Performance ready for the Public being considerably past. +</p> + +<p> +Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the +Public, as the Object for Attention is the <em>Doctrine itself</em>, not the +<em>Man</em>. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with +any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the +influence of reason and principle. +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<i>Philadelphia, February 14, 1776</i> +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<a name="origin" id="origin"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents"> +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL,<br /> +WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Some</span> writers have so confounded society +with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; +whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. +Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; +the former promotes our happiness <em>positively</em> by uniting +our affections, the latter <em>negatively</em> by restraining our +vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates +distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> +Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best +state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; +for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries <em>by a +government</em>, which we might expect in a country <em>without +government</em>, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we +furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the +badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of +the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, +uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; +but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a +part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; +and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other +case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. <em>Wherefore</em>, +security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably +follows that whatever <em>form</em> thereof appears most likely to +ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is +preferable to all others. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> +In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of +government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some +sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will +then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In +this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A +thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is +so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual +solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of +another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would +be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but +<em>one</em> man might labour out of the common period of life without +accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not +remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time +would urge him from his work, and every different want call him a +different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death, for though +neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and +reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than +to die. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> +Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly +arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, +would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government +unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as +nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen, +that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of +emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will +begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and this +remissness, will point out the necessity, of establishing some form of +government to supply the defect of moral virtue. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> +Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches +of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public +matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the +title only of <span class="smcap">Regulations</span>, and be enforced by +no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every +man, by natural right, will have a seat. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> +But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase +likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will +render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as +at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the +public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience +of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a +select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the +same concerns at stake which those who appointed them, and who will act +in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If +the colony continue increasing, it will become necessary to augment +the number of the representatives, and that the interest of every part +of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the +whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and +that the <em>elected</em> might never form to themselves an interest +separate from the <em>electors</em>, prudence will point out the +propriety of having elections often; because as the <em>elected</em> +might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the +<em>electors</em> in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be +secured by the prudent reflexion of not making a rod for themselves. +And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with +every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support +each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning name of king) depends +the <em>strength of government, and the happiness of the governed.</em> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span> +Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered +necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here +too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security. +And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by +sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our +understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is +right. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> +I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, +which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the +less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when +disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on the +so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for the +dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When the +world was over run with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a +glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and +incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily demonstrated. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> +Absolute governments (tho’ the disgrace of human nature) have this +advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they +know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise the +remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But +the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation +may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which +part the fault lies, some will say in one and some in another, and +every political physician will advise a different medicine. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span> +I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, +yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the +English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two +ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican materials. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> +<em>First.</em>—The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of +the king. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> +<em>Secondly.</em>—The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the +persons of the peers. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> +<em>Thirdly.</em>—The new republican materials, in the persons of +the commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England. +</p> + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span> +The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; +wherefore in a <em>constitutional sense</em> they contribute nothing +towards the freedom of the state. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> +To say that the constitution of England is a <em>union</em> of three +powers reciprocally <em>checking</em> each other, is farcical, either +the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> +To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two +things: +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> +<em>First.</em>—That the king is not to be trusted without +being looked after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute +power is the natural disease of monarchy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span> +<em>Secondly.</em>—That the commons, by being appointed for +that purpose, are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than +the crown. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> +But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check +the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the king a power +to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it +again supposes that the king is wiser than those whom it has already +supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity! +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span> +There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of +monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet +empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. +The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a +king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, +by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole +character to be absurd and useless. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span> +Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the king, +say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in behalf +of the king; the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all the +distinctions of a house divided against itself; and though the +expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined they appear idle +and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction +that words are capable of, when applied to the description of some +thing which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be +within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and +though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this +explanation includes a previous question, viz. <em>How came the king +by a power which the people are afraid to trust, and always obliged to +check?</em> Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither +can any power, <em>which needs checking</em>, be from God; yet the +provision, which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to exist. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> +But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or +will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; for +as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all the +wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know +which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that will +govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the +phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they cannot +stop it, their endeavors will be ineffectual; the first moving power +will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed is supplied by +time. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> +That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution +needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence +merely from being the giver of places and pensions is self-evident, +wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door +against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish +enough to put the crown in possession of the key. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> +The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of their own government by king, +lords and commons, arises as much or more from national pride than +reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some +other countries, but the <em>will</em> of the king is as much the +<em>law</em> of the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, +that instead of proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the +people under the more formidable shape of an act of parliament. For +the fate of Charles the first, hath only made kings more +subtle—not more just. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> +Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour of +modes and forms, the plain truth is, that <em>it is wholly owing to the +constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the +government</em> that the crown is not as oppressive in England as +in Turkey. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> +An inquiry into the <em>constitutional errors</em> in the English form +of government is at this time highly necessary, for as we are never in a +proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under +the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of +doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate +prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted +to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten +constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one. +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<a name="monarchy"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents">OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Mankind</span> being originally equals in the order +of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent +circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure +be accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh ill +sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the +<em>consequence</em>, but seldom or never the <em>means</em> of riches; +and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, +it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span> +But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly +natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the +distinction of men into <span class="smcap">kings</span> and +<span class="smcap">subjects</span>. Male and female are the +distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but +how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and +distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and +whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> +In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, +there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; +it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland +without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any +of the monarchial governments in Europe. Antiquity favors the same +remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath a +happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to the +history of Jewish royalty. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> +Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the +Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was +the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the +promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their +deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by +doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of +sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is +crumbling into dust! +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> +As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified +on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the +authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by +Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by +kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have been very smoothly +glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the +attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. +“<i>Render unto Cæsar the things which are +Cæsar’s</i>” is the scripture doctrine of courts, +yet it is no support of monarchical government, for the Jews at that +time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span> +Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the +creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. +Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, +where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administred by +a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it +was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the +Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous +homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder, +that the Almighty ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of +a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative +of heaven. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> +Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for +which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of +that transaction is worth attending to. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> +The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon +marched against them with a small army, and victory, thro’ +the divine interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews elate +with success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, +proposed making him a king, saying, <em>Rule thou over us, thou +and thy son and thy son’s son.</em> Here was temptation in +its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one, +but Gideon in the piety of his soul replied, <em>I will not rule +over you, neither shall my son rule over you.</em> +<span class="smcap">The Lord shall rule over you.</span> +Words need not be more explicit; Gideon doth not +<em>decline</em> the honor, but denieth their right to give it; +neither doth he compliment them with invented declarations of his +thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet charges them with +disaffection to their proper Sovereign, the King of heaven. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> +About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into the +same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous +customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but so +it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel’s two sons, who +were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt and +clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, <i>Behold thou art old, and thy +sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us like all +other nations.</i> And here we cannot but observe that their motives +were bad, viz. that they might be <em>like</em> unto other nations, i.e. +the Heathens, whereas their true glory laid in being as much <em>unlike</em> +them as possible. <em>But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, +Give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord +said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they +say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected +me</em>, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. +<i>According to all the works which they have done since the day that I +brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith they have +forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto thee. Now therefore +hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto them and shew +them the manner of the king that shall reign over them, i.e.</i> +not of any particular king, but the general manner of the kings of the +earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And notwithstanding +the great distance of time and difference of manners, the character is +still in fashion. <i>And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the +people, that asked of him a king. And he said, This shall be the manner +of the king that shall reign over you; he will take your sons and +appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, +and some shall run before his chariots</i> (this description agrees +with the present mode of impressing men) <i>and he will appoint him +captains over thousands and captains over fifties, and will set them +to ear his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments +of war, and instruments of his chariots; and he will take your daughters +to be confectionaries, and to be cooks and to be bakers</i> (this describes +the expence and luxury as well as the oppression of kings) <i>and he will +take your fields and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them +to his servants; and he will take the tenth of your feed, and of your +vineyards, and give them to his officers and to his servants</i> (by which +we see that bribery, corruption and favoritism are the standing vices +of kings) <i>and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your +maid servants, and your goodliest young men and your asses, and put them +to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be +his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which +ye shall have chosen,</i> <span class="smcap">and the Lord will not hear +you in that day</span>. This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; +neither do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, +either sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the +high encomium given of David takes no notice of him <em>officially as a +king</em>, but only as a <em>man</em> after God’s own heart. +<i>Nevertheless the People refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they +said, Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the +nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our +battles.</i> Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; +he set before them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and seeing +them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, <i>I will call unto the Lord, +and he shall send thunder and rain</i> (which then was a punishment, +being in the time of wheat harvest) <i>that ye may perceive and see that +your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the Lord,</i> +<span class="smcap">in asking you a king</span>. <i>So Samuel called +unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the +people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said unto +Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for</i> +<span class="smcap">we have added unto our sins this evil, to ask a +king.</span> These portions of scripture are direct and positive. They +admit of no equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his +protest against monarchical government is true, or the scripture is +false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much of +king-craft, as priest-craft, in withholding the scripture from the public +in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of +government. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> +To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; +and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the +second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition on +posterity. For all men being originally equals, no <em>one</em> by +<em>birth</em> could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual +preference to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve +<em>some</em> decent degree of honors of his cotemporaries, yet his +descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the +strongest <em>natural</em> proofs of the folly of hereditary right +in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so +frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an +<em>ass for a lion</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span> +Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors +than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could have +no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they might +say “We choose you for <em>our</em> head,” they could not, +without manifest injustice to their children, say “that your +children and your children’s children shall reign over <em>ours</em> +for ever.” Because such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might +(perhaps) in the next succession put them under the government of a +rogue or a fool. Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever +treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, +which when once established is not easily removed; many submit from +fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with +the king the plunder of the rest. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> +This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an +honorable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we take +off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their first +rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better than the +principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or +pre-eminence in subtility obtained him the title of chief among +plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his +depredations, over-awed the quiet and defenceless to purchase their +safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no +idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a +perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and +unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, +hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take +place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complimental; +but as few or no records were extant in those days, and traditional +history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a +few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently +timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of +the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to +threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one +(for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced +many at first to favor hereditary pretensions; by which means it +happened, as it hath happened since, that what at first was submitted +to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span> +England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but +groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his +senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very +honorable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and +establishing himself king of England against the consent of the +natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original.—It +certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend +much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are any +so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass and +lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb +their devotion. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> +Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? The +question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by election, +or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it establishes a +precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was +by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither does it appear +from that transaction there was any intention it ever should. If +the first king of any country was by election, that likewise +establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that the <i>right</i> +of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the first +electors, in their choice not only of a king, but of a family of kings +for ever, hath no parrallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of +original sin, which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam; and from +such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary succession +can derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, and as in the first +electors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind were subjected to +Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our innocence was lost in +the first, and our authority in the last; and as both disable us from +reassuming some former state and privilege, it unanswerably follows +that original sin and hereditary succession are parellels. +Dishonorable rank! Inglorious connexion! Yet the most subtile sophist +cannot produce a juster simile. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span> +As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that +William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be contradicted. +The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English monarchy will not +bear looking into. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> +But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary +succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and +wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a +door to the <em>foolish</em>, the <em>wicked</em>, and the +<em>improper</em>, it hath in it the nature of oppression. Men who +look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow +insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early +poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially +from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing +its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently +the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> +Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne is +subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the +regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity and +inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune +happens, when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the last +stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes a prey +to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the follies either +of age or infancy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> +The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of +hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars; +and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the most +barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history of +England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned in +that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time there have +been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil wars and +nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, it makes +against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand on. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> +The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York and +Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. Twelve +pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought between +Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in his turn +was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war and the +temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are the ground of +a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison to a palace, +and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign land; yet, as +sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry in his turn was +driven from the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed him. The +parliament always following the strongest side. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> +This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not +entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were +united. Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> +In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom +only) but the world in blood and ashes. ’Tis a form of government +which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> +If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in some +countries they have none; and after sauntering away their lives without +pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw from the +scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle round. In +absolute monarchies the whole weight of business, civil and military, +lies on the king; the children of Israel in their request for a king, +urged this plea “that he may judge us, and go out before us and fight +our battles.” But in countries where he is neither a judge nor a +general, as in England, a man would be puzzled to know what <em>is</em> +his business. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> +The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business +there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name +for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a +republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, because +the corrupt influence of the crown, by having all the places in its +disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and eaten out the +virtue of the house of commons (the republican part in the +constitution) that the government of England is nearly as monarchical +as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names without +understanding them. For it is the republican and not the monarchical +part of the constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the +liberty of choosing a house of commons from out of their own body—and +it is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues. +Why is the constitution of England sickly, but because monarchy hath +poisoned the republic, the crown hath engrossed the commons? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> +In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away +places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it +together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed +eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the +bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight +of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> +<a name="thoughts"></a> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents"> +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">In</span> the following pages I offer nothing more +than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other +preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself +of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings +to determine for themselves; that he will put <em>on</em>, or rather that +he will not put <em>off</em>, the true character of a man, and generously +enlarge his views beyond the present day. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> +Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between +England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the +controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all +have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as +the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice of +the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> +It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho’ an able minister +was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in the house of +commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a temporary kind, +replied “<i>they will last my time.</i>” Should a thought so fatal +and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest, the name of +ancestors will be remembered by future generations with detestation. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span> +The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ’Tis not the affair +of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent—of +at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. ’Tis not the concern +of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the +contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by +the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of continental union, faith +and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with +the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound will +enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> +By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new æra for politics +is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, +&c. prior to the nineteenth of April, <i>i.e.</i> to the commencement +of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last year; which, though +proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by +the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one +and the same point, viz. a union with Great-Britain; the only +difference between the parties was the method of effecting it; the one +proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened that +the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> +As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which, like +an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but +right, that we should examine the contrary side of the argument, and +inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies +sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with, and +dependant on Great-Britain. To examine that connexion and dependance, +on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to +trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> +I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under +her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same connexion is +necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same +effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We +may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it +is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is +to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting +more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have +flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had +any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched +herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market +while eating is the custom of Europe. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> +But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is true, +and defended the continent at our expence as well as her own is +admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz. +the sake of trade and dominion. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> +Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made large +sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of +Great-Britain, without considering, that her motive was <em>interest</em> +not <em>attachment</em>; that she did not protect us from <em>our enemies</em> +on <em>our account</em>, but from <em>her enemies</em> on <em>her own +account</em>, from those who had no quarrel with us on any <em>other +account</em>, and who will always be our enemies on the <em>same +account</em>. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the continent, or the +continent throw off the dependance, and we should be at peace with France +and Spain were they at war with Britain. The miseries of Hanover last war +ought to warn us against connexions. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span> +It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no +relation to each other but through the parent country, <i>i.e.</i> that +Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister +colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about +way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way of +proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never were, +nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as <em>Americans</em>, but as our +being the <em>subjects of Great-Britain</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span> +But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon +her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make +war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her +reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the +phrase <em>parent</em> or <em>mother country</em> hath been jesuitically +adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of +gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, +and not England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath +been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty +from <em>every part</em> of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the +tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and +it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first +emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> +In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits of +three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our +friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every European +christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> +It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the +force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the +world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will +naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their +interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name +of <em>neighbour</em>; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he +drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of +<em>townsman</em>; if he travel out of the county, and meet him in +any other, he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls +him <em>countryman</em>, i.e. <em>county-man</em>; but if in their +foreign excursions they should associate in France or any other part of +<em>Europe</em>, their local remembrance would be enlarged into that of +<em>Englishmen</em>. And by a just parity of reasoning, +all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, +are <em>countrymen</em>; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when +compared with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, +which the divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones; +distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one third of the +inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore +I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England +only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> +But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it amount +to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes every +other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our duty, is +truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present line +(William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of England +are descendants from the same country; therefore, by the same method of +reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> +Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies, +that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. But this is +mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do the +expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never suffer +itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British arms in +either Asia, Africa, or Europe. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> +Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our +plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace +and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of all Europe +to have America a <em>free port</em>. Her trade will always be a +protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> +I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a single +advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great +Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived. +Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported +goods must be paid for buy them where we will. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> +But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, are +without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to +ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any +submission to, or dependance on Great-Britain, tends directly to +involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at +variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and +against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our +market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part +of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of European +contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependence on +Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> +Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and +whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the +trade of America goes to ruin, <em>because of her connection with +Britain</em>. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should +it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for +separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer +convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right or natural pleads +for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature +cries, <span class="smcap">’Tis time to part</span>. Even the +distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, is a +strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, +was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the +continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and +the manner in which it was peopled encreases the force of it. The +reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the +Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in +future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> +The authority of Great-Britain over this continent, is a form of +government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious mind +can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and +positive conviction, that what he calls “the present constitution” +is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that +<em>this government</em> is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any +thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of +argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we ought to +do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In +order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we should take our +children in our hand, and fix our station a few years farther into +life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few present fears +and prejudices conceal from our sight. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> +Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am +inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of +reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. +Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who <em>cannot</em> +see; prejudiced men, who <em>will not</em> see; and a certain set of +moderate men, who think better of the European world than it deserves; +and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause +of more calamities to this continent, than all the other three. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span> +It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of +sorrow; the evil is not sufficient brought to <em>their</em> doors to +make <em>them</em> feel the precariousness with which all American +property is possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a +few moments to Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, +and instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. +The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few months ago were +in ease and affluence, have now, no other alternative than to stay and +starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered by the fire of their friends if +they continue within the city, and plundered by the soldiery if they +leave it. In their present condition they are prisoners without the hope +of redemption, and in a general attack for their relief, they would be +exposed to the fury of both armies. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> +Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of +Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, “<i>Come, +come, we shall be friends again, for all this.</i>” But examine the +passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of reconciliation +to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you can +hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried +fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are +you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon +posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither +love nor honour, will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on +the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a +relapse more wretched than the first. But if you say, you can still +pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath +your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and +children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you +lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and +wretched survivor? If you have not, then are you not a judge of those +who have. But if you have, and still can shake hands with the +murderers, then are you unworthy of the name of husband, father, +friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you +have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> +This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those +feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without which, we +should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or +enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for the +purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly +slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object. It is +not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she do +not conquer herself by <em>delay</em> and <em>timidity</em>. The +present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or +neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; and +there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who, or +what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a season +so precious and useful. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span> +It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things to all +examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer +remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain +does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this +time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise the +continent even a year’s security. Reconciliation is <em>now</em> +a fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot +supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, “never can true +reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep.” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> +Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have +been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that +nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than +repeated petitioning—and nothing hath contributed more than +that very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness +Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, +for God’s sake, let us come to a final separation, and not +leave the next generation to be cutting throats, under the violated +unmeaning names of parent and child. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> +To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we +thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two undeceived +us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been once defeated, +will never renew the quarrel. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> +As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do this +continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, and +intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of convenience, by a +power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if they +cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be always running three +or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five +months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to +explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and +childishness—There was a time when it was proper, and there is a +proper time for it to cease. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> +Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper +objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something +very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an +island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its +primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each other, +reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to +different systems: England to Europe, America to itself. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> +I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to espouse +the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly, positively, +and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest of this +continent to be so; that every thing short of <em>that</em> is mere +patchwork, that it can afford no lasting felicity,—that it is +leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time, when, +a little more, a little farther, would have rendered this continent +the glory of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> +As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a +compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the +acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expence of blood +and treasure we have been already put to. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> +The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion to +the expence. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, is a +matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of +trade, was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently ballanced the +repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained; +but if the whole continent must take up arms, if every man must be a +soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a contemptible +ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, +if that is all we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a +folly to pay a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land. As I have +always considered the independancy of this continent, as an event, +which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of +the continent to maturity, the event could not be far off. Wherefore, +on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth the while to have +disputed a matter, which time would have finally redressed, unless we +meant to be in earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a +suit at law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is +just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than +myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the +event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen +tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with +the pretended title of <span class="smcap">father of his people</span> +can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with +their blood upon his soul. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> +But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? +I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> +<em>First</em>. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands +of the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this +continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to +liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or is +he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, “<em>You shall make no +laws but what I please.</em>” And is there any inhabitant in America +so ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the +<em>present constitution</em>, that this continent can make no laws but +what the king gives leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to +see, that (considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to be +made here, but such as suit <em>his</em> purpose. We may be as +effectually enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to +laws made for us in England. After matters are made up (as it is called) +can there be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be exerted, +to keep this continent as low and humble as possible? Instead of going +forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously +petitioning.—We are already greater than the king wishes us to be, +and will he not hereafter endeavour to make us less? To bring the +matter to one point. Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a +proper power to govern us? Whoever says <em>No</em> to this question is +an <em>independant</em>, for independancy means no more, than, whether +we shall make our own laws, or whether the king, the greatest enemy this +continent hath, or can have, shall tell us “<em>there shall be no laws +but such as I like.</em>” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> +But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people there +can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and good +order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of twenty-one +(which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people, +older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be +law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, though I will +never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer, that +England being the King’s residence, and America not so, makes +quite another case. The king’s negative <em>here</em> is ten times +more dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for <em>there</em> +he will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England +into as strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he +would never suffer such a bill to be passed. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> +America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics, +England consults the good of <em>this</em> country, no farther than it +answers her <em>own</em> purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads +her to suppress the growth of <em>ours</em> in every case which doth +not promote her advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A +pretty state we should soon be in under such a second-hand government, +considering what has happened! Men do not change from enemies to +friends by the alteration of a name: And in order to shew that +reconciliation <em>now</em> is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, <em>that +it would be policy in the king at this time, to repeal the acts for +the sake of reinstating himself in the government of the provinces;</em> +in order, that <span class="smcap">he may accomplish by craft and +subtilty, in the long run, what he cannot do by force and violence in +the short one.</span> Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span> +<em>Secondly</em>. That as even the best terms, which we can expect +to obtain, can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of +government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the +colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the +interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property will +not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs but by a +thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of commotion and +disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants would lay hold of +the interval, to dispense of their effects, and quit the continent. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> +But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but +independance, i.e. a continental form of government, can keep the +peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I +dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more +than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or other, +the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of +Britain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span> +Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more will +probably suffer the same fate) Those men have other feelings than us +who have nothing suffered. All they <em>now</em> possess is liberty, +what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having +nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general +temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like that +of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very little +about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace, is no +government at all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing; and +pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on +paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day after reconciliation? +I have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, +that they dreaded an independance, fearing that it would produce civil +wars. It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and +that is the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a +patched up connexion than from independance. I make the sufferers case +my own, and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property +destroyed, and my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of +injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or +consider myself bound thereby. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> +The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience +to continental government, as is sufficient to make every reasonable +person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least +pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are truly +childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving for +superiority over another. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> +Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect +equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and +we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are without wars, +foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never +long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprizing ruffians +at <em>home</em>; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant +on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers, in +instances, where a republican government, by being formed on more natural +principles, would negociate the mistake. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> +If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it is +because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way +out—Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the +following hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other +opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise +to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be +collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men +to improve into useful matter. +</p> + +<hr class="break" /> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> +Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The +representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and subject +to the authority of a Continental Congress. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> +Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient +districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to +Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number +in Congress will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose a +president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a +colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after which, +let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from out of the +delegates of <em>that</em> province. In the next Congress, let a colony +be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from which the +president was taken in the former Congress, and so proceeding on till +the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation. And in order +that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily just, not +less than three fifths of the Congress to be called a majority.—He +that will promote discord, under a government so equally formed as +this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span> +But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, this +business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and +consistent that it should come from some intermediate body between the +governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and the +people, let a <span class="smcap">Continental Conference</span> be held, +in the following manner, and for the following purpose. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> +A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each +colony. Two members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial +Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be +chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for, and in behalf +of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall think +proper to attend from all parts of the province for that purpose; or, +if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen in two or three +of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference, thus +assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business, +<em>knowledge</em> and <em>power</em>. The members of Congress, +Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national +concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being +impowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> +The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a +<span class="smcap">Continental Charter</span>, or Charter of the United +Colonies; (answering to what is called the Magna Charta of England) +fixing the number and manner of choosing members of Congress, members +of Assembly, with their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business +and jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our strength +is continental, not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all +men, and above all things, the free exercise of religion, according to +the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for +a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the said Conference to +dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen comformable to the said +charter, to be the legislators and governors of this continent for the +time being: Whose peace and happiness, may God preserve, Amen. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> +Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar +purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise observer on +governments <em>Dragonetti</em>. “The science” says he +“of the politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness +and freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should +discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of +individual happiness, with the least national expense. +</p> + +<p class="quotation"> + Dragonetti on virtue and rewards.” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> +But where says some is the King of America? I’ll tell you Friend, +he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal +Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in +earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the +charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of +God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that +so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America <span class="smcap">the +law is king</span>. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so +in free countries the law <em>ought</em> to be King; and there ought to +be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown +at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the +people whose right it is. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> +A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously +reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become +convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a +constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it +in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and +chance. If we omit it now, some Massanello ¹ may hereafter arise, +who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the +desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the +powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent +like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into the +hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a +temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in +such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the +news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like +the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that +oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door +to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. There +are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to +expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish power, which hath +stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us, the cruelty hath a +double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them. +</p> + +<div class="footer"> +<p class="noindent"> +¹ Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who after +spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place, against the +oppressions of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject, +prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became king. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> +To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have +faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores instruct us +to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the little +remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any reason to +hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will increase, or +that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more and greater +concerns to quarrel over than ever? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> +Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the +time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? +Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is +broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. +There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be +nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his +mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The +Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good +and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. +They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social +compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, or have +only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. +The robber, and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not +the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> +O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but +the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with +oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and +Africa, have long expelled her—Europe regards her like a stranger, and +England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and +prepare in time an asylum for mankind. +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<div> +<a name="ability"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents"> +OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA,<br /> +WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">I have</span> never met with a man, either in +England or America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation +between the countries, would take place one time or other: And there is +no instance, in which we have shewn less judgment, than in endeavouring +to describe, what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for +independance. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> +As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the +time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of +things, and endeavour, if possible, to find out the <em>very</em> time. +But we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the <em>time +hath found us</em>. The general concurrence, the glorious union of +all things prove the fact. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> +It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet +our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world. +The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and +disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that +pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself, +and the whole, when united, can accomplish the matter, and either more, +or, less than this, might be fatal in its effects. Our land force is +already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible, +that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built, +while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no +forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch, than we are now; but +the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the country +is every day diminishing, and that, which will remain at last, will be +far off and difficult to procure. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> +Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under the +present circumstances would be intolerable. The more sea port towns we +had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. Our present +numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be +idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the necessities of +an army create a new trade. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> +Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account will +serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity +with a settled form of government, an independant constitution of its +own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions +for the sake of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing the +present ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity +with the utmost cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to +do, and a debt upon their backs, from which they derive no advantage. +Such a thought is unworthy a man of honor, and is the true +characteristic of a narrow heart and a pedling politician. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> +The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be +but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national +debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a +grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one hundred +and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of four +millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has a large +navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for the +twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy as large +again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more than three +millions and an half sterling. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> +The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without +the following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the +above estimation of the navy is just. <em>See Entic’s naval +history, intro.</em> page 56. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> +The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with +masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight +months boatswain’s and carpenter’s sea-stores, as +calculated by Mr. Burchett, Secretary to the navy. +</p> + + + +<table summary="Table1" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> +<tbody> + <tr style="font-size:small;"> + <th></th> + <th></th> + <th></th> + <th></th> + <th class="center">£<br /> + <span style="font-size:x-small">[pounds <br /> + sterling]</span></th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>For a ship of</td> + <td>100</td> + <td>guns</td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">35,553</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:right">90</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">29,886</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">80</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">23,638</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">70</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">17,785</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">60</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">14,197</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">50</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">10,606</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">40</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">7,558</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">30</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">5,846</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="right">20</td> + <td></td> + <td style="text-align:center; width:40px;">=</td> + <td class="right">3,710</td> + </tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> +And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of the +whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was at its greatest +glory consisted of the following ships and guns: +</p> + +<table summary="Table2" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> +<tbody> + <tr style="font-size:small;"> + <th>Ships.</th> + <th class="right">Guns.</th> + <th></th> + <th>Cost of one.</th> + <th>Cost of all.</th> + </tr> + <tr style="font-size:x-small;"> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td colspan="2">Cost in £ [pounds sterling]</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">6</td> + <td class="right">100</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">35,553</td> + <td class="right">213,318</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">12</td> + <td class="right">90</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">29,886</td> + <td class="right">358,632</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">12</td> + <td class="right">80</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">23,638</td> + <td class="right">283,656</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">43</td> + <td class="right">70</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">17,785</td> + <td class="right">764,755</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">35</td> + <td class="right">60</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">14,197</td> + <td class="right">496,895</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">40</td> + <td class="right">50</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">10,606</td> + <td class="right">424,240</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">45</td> + <td class="right">40</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">7,558</td> + <td class="right">340,110</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">58</td> + <td class="right">20</td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">3,710</td> + <td class="right">215,180</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">85</td> + <td class="right" style="font-size:x-small; width:100px;">Sloops, bombs<br /> + and fireships, one<br /> + with another, at</td> + <td><span style="font-size:xx-large;">}</span></td> + <td class="right">2,000</td> + <td class="right">170,000</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td>------------</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" style="font-size:small;">Cost</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">3,266,786</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" style="font-size:small;">Remains for Guns</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">233,214</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td>------------</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td class="right">3,500,000</td> + </tr> +</tbody> +</table> + + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> +No country on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally +capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage +are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas the +Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the +Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of the materials +they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of +commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country. It is the +best money we can lay out. A navy when finished is worth more than it +cost. And is that nice point in national policy, in which commerce and +protection are united. Let us build; if we want them not, we can sell; +and by that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> +In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; +it is not necessary that one fourth part should be sailors. The +Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of any +ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her +complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social +sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in the +common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable to +begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing, our +fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ. +Men of war, of seventy and eighty guns were built forty years ago in +New-England, and why not the same now? Ship-building is America’s +greatest pride, and in which, she will in time excel the whole world. +The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and consequently +excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa is in a state +of barbarism; and no power in Europe, hath either such an extent of +coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where nature hath +given the one, she has withheld the other; to America only hath she +been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out +from the sea; wherefore, her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and +cordage are only articles of commerce. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> +In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the +little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we might +have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather; and slept +securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. The case now +is altered, and our methods of defence, ought to improve with our +increase of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have +come up the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia under instant +contribution, for what sum he pleased; and the same might have happened +to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig of fourteen or +sixteen guns, might have robbed the whole Continent, and carried off +half a million of money. These are circumstances which demand our +attention, and point out the necessity of naval protection. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> +Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, +she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall +keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? Common sense will tell +us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all +others, the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected under +the pretence of friendship; and ourselves, after a long and brave +resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships are not +to be admitted into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to protect +us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little use, and +on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must hereafter +protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? Why do it for another? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> +The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not a +tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of them +not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the list, if +only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part, of such as are +fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one time. The +East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts over which +Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her navy. From a +mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a false notion +respecting the navy of England, and have talked as if we should have +the whole of it to encounter at once, and for that reason, supposed, +that we must have one as large; which not being instantly practicable, +have been made use of by a set of disguised Tories to discourage our +beginning thereon. Nothing can be farther from truth than this; for if +America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, she +would be by far an over match for her; because, as we neither have, nor +claim any foreign dominion, our whole force would be employed on our +own coast, where we should, in the long run, have two to one the +advantage of those who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, +before they could attack us, and the same distance to return in order +to refit and recruit. And although Britain by her fleet, hath a check +over our trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the +West-Indies, which, by laying in the neighbourhood of the Continent, +is entirely at its mercy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> +Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of +peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy. +If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ in their +service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty guns, (the +premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchants) +fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on constant duty, +would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without burdening ourselves +with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their +fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks. To unite the +sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy; for when our strength +and our riches play into each other’s hand, we need fear no external +enemy. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> +In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even to +rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to +that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. +Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every +day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our +inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore, +what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we +can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government +of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in. +Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be constantly +happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his +life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The +difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some +unlocated lands, shews the insignificance of a British government, and +fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can regulate +Continental matters. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> +Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, +that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied, +which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless +dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the discharge of the +present debt, but to the constant support of government. No nation +under heaven hath such an advantage as this. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> +The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being +against, is an argument in favour of independance. We are sufficiently +numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. It is a matter +worthy of observation, that the more a country is peopled, the smaller +their armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the +moderns: and the reason is evident. For trade being the consequence of +population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything +else. Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military +defence. And history sufficiently informs us, that the bravest +achievements were always accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With +the increase of commerce, England hath lost its spirit. The city of +London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with +the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing +are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and +submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> +Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in +individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the +Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety +of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would +create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being able +might scorn each other’s assistance: and while the proud and +foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament, +that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the <em>present +time</em> is the <em>true time</em> for establishing it. The intimacy +which is contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed in +misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable. Our +present union is marked with both these characters: we are young and we +have been distressed; but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and +fixes a memorable area for posterity to glory in. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> +The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never happens +to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a +government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that +means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, +instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and +then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of +government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute them +afterward: but from the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom, +and lay hold of the present opportunity—<em>To begin government +at the right end</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> +When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the +point of the sword; and until we consent, that the seat of government, +in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in +danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who may treat us +in the same manner, and then, where will be our freedom? where our +property? +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> +As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of +all government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I +know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let a +man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, +which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, +and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is +the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For +myself, I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is the will of the +Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opinions among +us: It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. Were we all +of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter +for probation; and on this liberal principle, I look on the various +denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, +differing only, in what is called, their Christian names. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> +In <a href="#Page_101"> +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: the link corresponds to the page number in this edition."> +page forty</ins></a>, +I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a +Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) and +in this place, I take the liberty of re-mentioning the subject, by +observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn +obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of every +separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or property. A +firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> +In a <a href="#Page_97"> +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: the link corresponds to the page number in this edition."> +former page</ins></a> + I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and +equal representation; and there is no political matter which more +deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small number +of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number of the +representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is +increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the +Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania; +twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks county members, +being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the Chester members +done the same, this whole province had been governed by two counties +only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The unwarrantable +stretch likewise, which that house made in their last sitting, to gain +an undue authority over the delegates of that province, ought to warn +the people at large, how they trust power out of their own hands. A +set of instructions for the Delegates were put together, which in point +of sense and business would have dishonoured a schoolboy, and after +being approved by a <em>few</em>, a <em>very few</em> without doors, +were carried into the House, and there passed <em>in behalf of the +whole colony</em>; whereas, did the whole colony know, with what +ill-will that House hath entered on some necessary public measures, +they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of such a trust. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> +Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued +would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different +things. When the calamities of America required a consultation, there +was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint +persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose; and the +wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent +from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall never be +without a <span class="smcap">Congress</span>, every well wisher to +good order, must own, that the mode for choosing members of that body, +deserves consideration. And I put it as a question to those, who make +a study of mankind, whether <em>representation and election</em> is +not too great a power for one and the same body of men to possess? +When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember, that virtue +is not hereditary. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> +It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are +frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall (one +of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New-York +Assembly with contempt, because <em>that</em> House, he said, consisted +but of twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could not with +decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his involuntary +honesty. ¹ +</p> + +<div class="footer"> +<p class="noindent"> +¹ Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large +and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh’s +political disquisitions. +</p> +</div> + + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> +<span class="smcap">To Conclude</span>, however strange it may appear +to some, or however unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, +but many strong and striking reasons may be given, to shew, that +nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously as an open and +determined declaration for independance. Some of which are, +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> +<em>First</em>.—It is the custom of nations, when any two are +at war, for some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in +as mediators, and bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while +America calls herself the Subject of Great-Britain, no power, however +well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, in our +present state we may quarrel on for ever. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> +<em>Secondly</em>.—It is unreasonable to suppose, that France +or Spain will give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only, to +make use of that assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, +and strengthening the connection between Britain and America; because, +those powers would be sufferers by the consequences. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> +<em>Thirdly</em>.—While we profess ourselves the subjects of +Britain, we must, in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. +The precedent is somewhat dangerous to <em>their peace</em>, for men to +be in arms under the name of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the +paradox: but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea much +too refined for common understanding. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> +<em>Fourthly</em>.—Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched +to foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the +peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring, at +the same time, that not being able, any longer, to live happily or safely +under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had been driven to the +necessity of breaking off all connections with her; at the same time, +assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition towards them, and +of our desire of entering into trade with them: Such a memorial would +produce more good effects to this Continent, than if a ship were +freighted with petitions to Britain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> +Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither be +received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, and +will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other nations. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> +These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, like +all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little +time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an independance is +declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues +putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must +be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually +haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. +</p> + +<hr class="break" /> + + + +<div> +<br /><br /><br /> +<a name="appendix"></a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents">APPENDIX.</a> +</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap">Since</span> the publication of the first edition +of this pamphlet, or rather, on the same day on which it came out, +the King’s Speech made its appearance in this city. Had the +spirit of prophecy directed the birth of this production, it could not +have brought it forth, at a more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary +time. The bloody mindedness of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing +the doctrine of the other. Men read by way of revenge. And the Speech, +instead of terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of +Independance. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> +Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise, have +a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of countenance to +base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this maxim be admitted, it +naturally follows, that the King’s Speech, as being a piece of +finished villainy, deserved, and still deserves, a general execration +both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the domestic tranquillity +of a nation, depends greatly, on the <em>chastity</em> of what may +properly be called <span class="smcap">national manners</span>, it is +often better, to pass some things over in silent disdain, than to make +use of such new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least +innovation, on that guardian of our peace and safety. And, perhaps, +it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy, that the King’s +Speech, hath not, before now, suffered a public execution. The Speech +if it may be called one, is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel +against the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind; and is +a formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the pride +of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind, is one of the privileges, +and the certain consequence of Kings; for as nature knows them <em>not</em>, +they know <em>not her</em>, and although they are beings of our <em>own</em> +creating, they know not <em>us</em>, and are become the gods of their +creators. The Speech hath one good quality, which is, that it +is not calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be +deceived by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It +leaves us at no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of +reading, that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored +Indian, is less a Savage than the King of Britain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> +Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical piece, +fallaciously called, “<em>The Address of the people of</em> +<span class="smcap">England</span> <em>to the inhabitants of</em> +<span class="smcap">America</span>,” hath, perhaps, from a vain +supposition, that the people <em>here</em> were to be frightened at +the pomp and description of a king, given, (though very unwisely on +his part) the real character of the present one: “But” +says this writer, “if you are inclined to pay compliments to an +administration, which we do not complain of,” +(meaning the Marquis of Rockingham’s at the repeal of the Stamp Act) +“it is very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince, +<em>by whose</em> <span class="smcap">nod alone</span> <em>they +were permitted to do any thing</em>.” This is toryism with +a witness! Here is idolatry even without a mask: And he who can calmly +hear, and digest such doctrine, hath forfeited his claim to +rationality—an apostate from the order of manhood; and ought to +be considered—as one, who hath not only given up the proper +dignity of man, but sunk himself beneath the rank of animals, and +contemptibly crawls through the world like a worm. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> +However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either +says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human +obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by a +steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, procured for +himself an universal hatred. It is <em>now</em> the interest of +America to provide for herself. She hath already a large and young +family, whom it is more her duty to take care of, than to be granting +away her property, to support a power who is become a reproach to the +names of men and christians—<span class="smcap">Ye</span>, +whose office it is to watch over the morals of a nation, of whatsoever +sect or denomination ye are of, as well as ye, who are more immediately +the guardians of the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native +country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret wish a +separation—But leaving the moral part to private reflection, I +shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> +First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from Britain. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> +Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, +<span class="smcap">reconciliation</span> or +<span class="smcap">independance</span>? with some occasional remarks. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> +In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the +opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this +continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly +known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a +state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped and +fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any material +eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and although the +progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the history of +other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what she would be +capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, the legislative +powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, proudly coveting +what would do her no good, were she to accomplish it; and the Continent +hesitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin if neglected. It +is the commerce and not the conquest of America, by which England is to +be benefited, and that would in a great measure continue, were the +countries as independant of each other as France and Spain; because in +many articles, neither can go to a better market. But it is the +independance of this country of Britain or any other, which is now the +main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like all other +truths discovered by necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every +day. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> +First. Because it will come to that one time or other. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> +Secondly. Because, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to +accomplish. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> +I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, +with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak without +reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the following seems +the most general, viz. that had this rupture happened forty or fifty +years hence, instead of <em>now</em>, the Continent would have been +more able to have shaken off the dependance. To which I reply, that +our military ability, <em>at this time</em>, arises from the experience +gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty years time, would +have been totally extinct. The Continent, would not, by that time, +have had a General, or even a military officer left; and we, or those +who may succeed us, would have been as ignorant of martial matters as +the ancient Indians: And this single position, closely attended to, +will unanswerably prove, that the present time is preferable to all +others. The argument turns thus—at the conclusion of the last +war, we had experience, but wanted numbers; and forty or fifty years +hence, we should have numbers, without experience; wherefore, the +proper point of time, must be some particular point between the two +extremes, in which a sufficiency of the former remains, and a proper +increase of the latter is obtained: And that point of time is the +present time. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> +The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come +under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by the +following position, viz. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> +Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the +governing and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now +circumstanced, is giving up the point intirely) we shall deprive +ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may +contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces are +clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extention of the limits of +Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amount +to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency; and the +quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions yearly. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> +It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without +burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always lessen, +and in time, will wholly support the yearly expence of government. It +matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that the lands when sold +be applied to the discharge of it, and for the execution of which, the +Congress for the time being, will be the continental trustees. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> +I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest and most +practicable plan, <span class="smcap">reconciliation</span> or +<span class="smcap">independance</span>; with some occasional +remarks. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> +He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his +argument, and on that ground, I answer <em>generally—That</em> +<span class="smcap">independance</span> <em>being a</em> +<span class="smcap">single simple line</span>, <em>contained within +ourselves; and reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and +complicated, and in which, a treacherous capricious court is to +interfere, gives the answer without a doubt.</em> +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> +The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is +capable of reflexion. Without law, without government, without any +other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy. +Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which, is +nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret enemy is +endeavouring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, Legislation +without law; wisdom without a plan; constitution without a name; and, +what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independance contending for +dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never +existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property +of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The mind +of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object before +them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is +criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one +thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dared not +have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that +act, were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction +should be drawn, between, English soldiers taken in battle, and +inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the +latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> +Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of +our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The +Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not done +in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall into a +state, in which, neither <em>Reconciliation</em> nor <em>Independance</em> +will be practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at +their old game of dividing the Continent, and there are not wanting +among us, Printers, who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods. +The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in two +of the New-York papers, and likewise in two others, is an evidence that +there are men who want either judgment or honesty. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> +It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of +reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult the +task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent divide +thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various orders of men +whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own, are to be +considered therein. Do they put themselves in the place of the +sufferer whose <em>all</em> is <em>already</em> gone, and of the +soldier, who hath quitted <em>all</em> for the defence of his country. +If their ill judged moderation be suited to their own private situations +<em>only</em>, regardless of others, the event will convince them, that +“they are reckoning without their Host.” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> +Put us, say some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which I +answer, the request is not <em>now</em> in the power of Britain to +comply with, neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should +be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a +corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another +parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the obligation, +on the pretence, of its being violently obtained, or unwisely granted; +and in that case, Where is our redress?—No going to law with nations; +cannon are the barristers of Crowns; and the sword, not of justice, but +of war, decides the suit. To be on the footing of sixty-three, it is +not sufficient, that the laws only be put on the same state, but, that +our circumstances, likewise, be put on the same state; Our burnt and +destroyed towns repaired or built up, our private losses made good, our +public debts (contracted for defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall +be millions worse than we were at that enviable period. Such a +request, had it been complied with a year ago, would have won the heart +and soul of the Continent—but now it is too late, “The +Rubicon is passed.” +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> +Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a +pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as +repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce obedience +thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the means; for +the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. It +is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons; the +destruction of our property by an armed force; the invasion of our +country by fire and sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of +arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of defence became +necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have ceased; and the +independancy of America, should have been considered, as dating its +æra from, and published by, <em>the first musket that was +fired against her</em>. This line is a line of consistency; neither +drawn by caprice, nor extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of +events, of which the colonies were not the authors. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> +I shall conclude these remarks, with the following timely and well +intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are three different +ways, by which an independancy may hereafter be effected; and that +<em>one</em> of those <em>three</em>, will one day or other, be the +fate of America, viz. By the legal voice of the people in Congress; +by a military power; or by a mob: It may not always happen that our +soldiers are citizens, and the multitude a body of reasonable men; +virtue, as I have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it +perpetual. Should an independancy be brought about by the first of +those means, we have every opportunity and every encouragement before +us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. +We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, +similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until +now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, +perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion +of freedom from the event of a few months. The Reflexion is +awful—and in this point of view, How trifling, how ridiculous, +do the little, paltry cavellings, of a few weak or interested men +appear, when weighed against the business of a world. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> +Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and an +Independance be hereafter effected by any other means, we must charge +the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose narrow and +prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure, without either +inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be given in support of +Independance, which men should rather privately think of, than be +publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating whether we shall be +independant or not, but, anxious to accomplish it on a firm, secure, +and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it is not yet began upon. +Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories (if such +beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, be the most solicitous +to promote it; for, as the appointment of committees at first, +protected them from popular rage, so, a wise and well established form +of government, will be the only certain means of continuing it securely +to them. <em>Wherefore</em>, if they have not virtue enough to be +<span class="smcap">Whigs</span>, they ought to have prudence enough +to wish for Independance. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span> +In short, Independance is the only <span class="smcap">Bond</span> that +can tye and keep us together. We shall then see our object, and our ears +will be legally shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well, as a +cruel enemy. We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with +Britain; for there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, +will be less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace, +than with those, whom she denominates, “rebellious subjects,” +for terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her +to hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. +As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to +obtain a redress of our grievances, let us <em>now</em> try the +alternative, by <em>independantly</em> redressing them ourselves, and +then offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part +in England, will be still with us; because, peace <em>with</em> trade, +is preferable to war <em>without</em> it. And if this offer be not +accepted, other courts may be applied to. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> +On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been made +to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this +pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be +refuted, or, that the party in favour of it are too numerous to be +opposed. <span class="smcap">Wherefore</span>, instead of gazing at +each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold +out to his neighbour the hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing +a line, which, like an act of oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every +former dissension. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let +none other be heard among us, than those of <em>a good citizen, an open +and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the</em> +<span class="smcap">rights</span> <em>of</em> +<span class="smcap">mankind</span> <em>and of the</em> FREE AND +INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA. +</p> + +<hr class="break" /> +<div> +<a name="quakers"></a> +</div> + + + +<p style="margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em;"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> +<em>To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called +Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the late +piece, entitled</em> “<span class="smcap">The Ancient Testimony +and Principles</span> of the People called <span class="smcap">Quakers</span> +renewed, with Respect to the <span class="smcap">King</span> and +<span class="smcap">Government</span>, and touching the +<span class="smcap">Commotions</span> now prevailing in these and other +parts of <span class="smcap">America</span> addressed to the +<span class="smcap">People in General</span>.” +</p> + +<hr class="break" /> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> +The Writer of this, is one of those few, who never dishonours religion +either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever. To +God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of religion. +Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to you as a +religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which the +professed Quietude of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> +As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in +the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of this, in +order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity, +of putting himself in the place of all those, who, approve the very +writings and principles, against which your testimony is directed: +And he hath chosen this singular situation, in order, that you might +discover in him that presumption of character which you cannot see in +yourselves. For neither he nor you can have any claim or title to +<em>Political Representation</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> +When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they +stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have +managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) is +not your proper Walk; for however well adapted it might appear to you, +it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely together, +and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and unjust. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> +The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you +credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love and +desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural, as +well the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this +ground, as men labouring to establish an Independant Constitution of +our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. <em>Our +plan is peace for ever.</em> We are tired of contention with Britain, +and can see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act +consistently, because for the sake of introducing an endless and +uninterrupted peace, do we bear the evils and burthens of the present +day. We are endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavour, to +separate and dissolve a connexion which hath already filled our land +with blood; and which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal +cause of future mischiefs to both countries. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> +We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor +passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, nor +ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines are +we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the violence +committed against us. We view our enemies in the character of +Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves in +the civil law, are obliged to punish them by the military one, and +apply the sword, in the very case, where you have before now, applied +the halter—Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted sufferers in +all and every part of the continent, with a degree of tenderness which +hath not yet made its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye sure +that ye mistake not the cause and ground of your Testimony. Call not +coldness of soul, religion; nor put the <em>Bigot</em> in the place +of the <em>Christian</em>. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> +O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the +bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by all +the difference between wilful attack and unavoidable defence. +Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make a +political hobby-horse of your religion, convince the world thereof, by +proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, <em>for they likewise bear</em> +<span class="smcap">arms</span>. Give us proof of your sincerity by +publishing it at St. James’s, to the commanders in chief at Boston, +to the Admirals and Captains who are piratically ravaging our coasts, +and to all the murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under +<span class="smcap">him</span> whom ye profess to serve. Had ye the +honest soul of <em>Barclay</em> ¹ ye would preach repentance to +<em>your</em> king; Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and warn +him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your partial invectives against +the injured and the insulted only, but, like faithful ministers, would +cry aloud and <em>spare none</em>. Say not that ye are persecuted, +neither endeavour to make us the authors of that reproach, which, ye are +bringing upon yourselves; for we testify unto all men, that we do not +complain against you because ye are <em>Quakers</em>, but because ye +pretend to <em>be</em> and are <span class="smcap">not</span> Quakers. +</p> + +<div class="footer"> +<p style="margin:1em; text-indent:-1em;"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> +¹“Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what +it is to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to +rule, and set upon the throne; and being <em>oppressed</em> thou hast +reason to know how <em>hateful</em> the <em>oppressor</em> is both to +God and man: If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost +not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered +thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, +surely great will be thy condemnation.—Against which snare, as +well as the temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee +to evil, the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself +to that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience, and which neither +can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins.” +</p> +<p class="quotation"> +—Barclay’s address to Charles II. +</p> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> +Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your +testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was reduced +to, and comprehended in, <em>the act of bearing arms</em>, and that +by the <em>people</em> only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party +for conscience; because, the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity: +And it is exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to many of your +pretended scruples; because, we see them made by the same men, who, in +the very instant that they are exclaiming against the mammon of this +world, are nevertheless, hunting after it with a step as steady as Time, +and an appetite as keen as Death. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> +The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of +your testimony, that, “when a man’s ways please the Lord, +he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him”; is very +unwisely chosen on your part; because, it amounts to a proof, that +the king’s ways (whom ye are desirous of supporting) do <em>not</em> +please the Lord, otherwise, his reign would be in peace. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> +I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for which +all the foregoing seems only an introduction, viz. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> +“It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called to +profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences unto +this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and governments, +is God’s peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to himself: And +that it is not our business to have any hand or contrivance therein; +nor to be busy bodies above our station, much less to plot and contrive +the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but to pray for the king, and +safety of our nation, and good of all men: That we may live a peaceable +and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty; <em>under the government +which God is pleased to set over us.</em>”—If these are +<em>really</em> your principles why do ye not abide by them? Why do ye +not leave that, which ye call God’s Work, to be managed by himself? +These very principles instruct you to wait with patience and humility, +for the event of all public measures, and to receive <em>that event</em> +as the divine will towards you. <em>Wherefore</em>, what occasion is +there for your <em>political testimony</em> if you fully believe what +it contains: And the very publishing it proves, that either, ye do not +believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practise what ye +believe. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> +The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the +quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government <em>which +is set over him</em>. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and +governments is God’s peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not +be robbed thereof by us; wherefore, the principle itself leads you to +approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to kings as +being his work. <span class="smcap">Oliver Cromwell</span> thanks you. +<span class="smcap">Charles</span>, then, died not by the hands of man; +and should the present Proud Imitator of him, come to the same untimely +end, the writers and publishers of the Testimony, are bound, by the +doctrine it contains, to applaud the fact. Kings are not taken away by +miracles, neither are changes in governments brought about by any other +means than such as are common and human; and such as we are now using. +Even the dispersion of the Jews, though foretold by our Saviour, was +effected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, +ye ought not to be meddlers on the other; but to wait the issue in +silence; and unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove, that +the Almighty who hath created and placed this <em>new</em> world, +at the greatest distance it could possibly stand, east and west, from +every part of the old, doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being +independant of the corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless I +say, ye can shew this, how can ye on the ground of your principles, +justify the exciting and stirring up the people “firmly to unite in the +<em>abhorrence</em> of all such <em>writings</em>, and <em>measures</em>, +as evidence a desire and design to break off the <em>happy</em> connexion +we have hitherto enjoyed, with the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just +and necessary subordination to the king, and those who are lawfully placed +in authority under him.” What a slap of the face is here! the men, who +in the very paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up the +ordering, altering, and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands +of God, are now, recalling their principles, and putting in for a share +of the business. Is it possible, that the conclusion, which is here justly +quoted, can any ways follow from the doctrine laid down? The inconsistency +is too glaring not to be seen; the absurdity too great not to be laughed at; +and such as could only have been made by those, whose understandings +were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political +party; for ye are not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers +but only as a factional and fractional part thereof. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> +Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no man +to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;) to +which I subjoin the following remark; “That the setting up and putting +down of kings,” most certainly mean, the making him a king, who is yet +not so, and the making him no king who is already one. And pray what +hath this to do in the present case? We neither mean to <em>set up</em> +nor to <em>put down</em>, neither to <em>make</em> nor to <em>unmake</em>, +but to have nothing to <em>do</em> with them. Wherefore, your testimony +in whatever light it is viewed serves only to dishonor your judgement, and +for many other reasons had better have been let alone than published. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> +First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion +whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society, to make it a party in +political disputes. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> +Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow +the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and +approvers thereof. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> +Thirdly, Because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony +and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable +donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of which, +is of the utmost consequence to us all. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> +And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely +wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always fully and +uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in your +turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example which ye +have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, <em>may be +disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of</em> +<span class="smcap">America</span>. +<br /><br /><br /> +</p> + + + +<p class="finis"> +F I N I S. +</p> +<hr /> + +<div> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> +<br /><br /><br /> +<h2><a href="#Contents">On Common Sense</a></h2> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, + in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple + and unassuming language.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>Thomas Jefferson</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “A pamphlet called ‘Commonsense’ makes a great noise. + One of the vilest things that ever was published to the world. Full of + false representations, lies, calumny, and treason, whose principles are + to subvert all Kingly Governments and erect an Independent + Republic.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>Nicholas Cresswell</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “I dreaded the effect so popular a pamphlet might have + among the people, and determined to do all in my Power to counteract + the effect of it.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>John Adams</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “Its effects were sudden and extensive upon the American mind. + It was read by public men.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>Dr. Benjamin Rush</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + +<blockquote> +<p class="noindent"> + “Have you read the pamphlet <i>Common Sense</i>? I never saw such a + masterful performance.… In short, I own myself convinced, by the + arguments, of the necessity of separation.” +</p> +<p class="right noindent"> + <em>General Charles Lee</em> +</p> +</blockquote> + + + +<div> +<br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> +<br /><br /><br /> +<h2> +<a href="#Contents">Transcriber's Notes</a></h2> +</div> + + +<p> +This production of the Bradford edition of Common Sense retains the +original characteristics of the document—the author's use of +capitalization (large and small), spelling, and italics. +</p> + +<p> +The page numbers of this version of the book were my invention, for +ease in reading the HTML document. The page numbers can more accurately +be called paragraph numbers. They match the paragraph numbers in +the edited text of ‘Common Sense’ from the National +Humanities Center. +</p> + +<p> +In one case, the text refers to page forty (see our +<a href="#Page_130">Page 130</a>). We provided a link to the appropriate +part of our document but retained the page number specified by Paine. +Our page numbers are not carried over to the Kindle, E-PUB, and text +documents produced by Project Gutenberg. +</p> + +<p> +The section "On Common Sense," containing quotes about Common Sense, +have been added by this transcriber. +</p> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMON SENSE ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/old/147-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/147-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..092e981 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/147-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/old/old/2008-06-09-147-0.zip b/old/old/2008-06-09-147-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9227877 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/2008-06-09-147-0.zip diff --git a/old/old/2008-06-09-147-h.zip b/old/old/2008-06-09-147-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a4b994 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/2008-06-09-147-h.zip diff --git a/old/old/20141018-147-h.htm b/old/old/20141018-147-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6511b73 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/20141018-147-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3038 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: medium; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +PRE { font-family: "Courier New", serif; + font-size: 10pt; } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.quote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: Common Sense + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Release Date: June 9, 2008 [EBook #147] +[Last updated: October 18, 2014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMON SENSE *** + + + + +Produced by John Campbell. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +<I>COMMON SENSE</I> +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Thomas Paine +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#intro"> +INTRODUCTION +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#origin"> +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL,<BR> +WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#monarchy"> +OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#thoughts"> +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#ability"> +OF THE PRESENT <I>ABILITY</I> OF <I>AMERICA</I>, WITH SOME<BR> +MISCELLANEOUS <I>REFLECTIONS</I> +</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +<A HREF="#appendix"> +APPENDIX +</A> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="intro"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTION +</H3> + +<P> +Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET +sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit +of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of +being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of +custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than +reason. +</P> + +<P> +As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling +the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have +been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the +inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his OWN RIGHT, +to support the Parliament in what he calls THEIRS, and as the good +people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, +they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of +both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either. +</P> + +<P> +In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every thing +which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to +individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the worthy, need not +the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious, +or unfriendly, will cease of themselves unless too much pains are +bestowed upon their conversion. +</P> + +<P> +The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. +Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but +universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind +are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are +interested. The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, +declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and +extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the +Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of +which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the AUTHOR. +</P> + +<P> +P.S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, with a +View of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any Attempt to refute +the Doctrine of Independance: As no Answer hath yet appeared, it is now +presumed that none will, the Time needful for getting such a +Performance ready for the Public being considerably past. +</P> + +<P> +Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the +Public, as the Object for Attention is the DOCTRINE ITSELF, not the +MAN. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with +any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the +influence of reason and principle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Philadelphia, February 14, 1776 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="origin"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL,<BR> +WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION +</H3> + +<P> +Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave +little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only +different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our +wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our +happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY +by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other +creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher. +</P> + +<P> +Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best +state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; +for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A +GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our +calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which +we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the +palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For +were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly +obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, +he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish +means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by +the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two +evils to choose the least. WHEREFORE, security being the true design +and end of government, it unanswerably follows, that whatever FORM +thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense +and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. +</P> + +<P> +In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of +government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some +sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will +then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In +this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A +thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is +so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual +solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of +another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would +be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but +one man might labour out of the common period of life without +accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not +remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time +would urge him from his work, and every different want call him a +different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death, for though +neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and +reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than +to die. +</P> + +<P> +Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly +arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, +would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government +unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as +nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen, +that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of +emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will +begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and this +remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form of +government to supply the defect of moral virtue. +</P> + +<P> +Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches +of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public +matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the +title only of REGULATIONS, and be enforced by no other penalty than +public disesteem. In this first parliament every man, by natural +right, will have a seat. +</P> + +<P> +But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase +likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will +render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as +at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the +public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience +of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a +select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the +same concerns at stake which those who appointed them, and who will act +in the same manner as the whole body would act, were they present. If +the colony continues increasing, it will become necessary to augment +the number of the representatives, and that the interest of every part +of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the +whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and +that the ELECTED might never form to themselves an interest separate +from the ELECTORS, prudence will point out the propriety of having +elections often; because as the ELECTED might by that means return and +mix again with the general body of the ELECTORS in a few months, their +fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not +making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will +establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will +mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the +unmeaning name of king) depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE +HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED. +</P> + +<P> +Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered +necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here +too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security. +And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by +sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our +understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is +right. +</P> + +<P> +I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, +which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the +less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when +disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on the +so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for the +dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When the +world was overrun with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a +glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and +incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily demonstrated. +</P> + +<P> +Absolute governments (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this +advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they +know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise the +remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But +the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation +may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which +part the fault lies; some will say in one and some in another, and +every political physician will advise a different medicine. +</P> + +<P> +I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, +yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the +English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two +ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican materials. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +FIRST - The remains of monarchial tyranny in the person of the king. +</P> + +<P> +SECONDLY - The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the +peers. +</P> + +<P> +THIRDLY - The new republican materials in the persons of the +commons,on whose virtue depends the freedom of England. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; +wherefore in a CONSTITUTIONAL SENSE they contribute nothing towards the +freedom of the state. +</P> + +<P> +To say that the constitution of England is a UNION of three powers +reciprocally CHECKING each other, is farcical, either the words have no +meaning, or they are flat contradictions. +</P> + +<P> +To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two +things: +</P> + +<P> +FIRST - That the king is not to be trusted without being looked after, +or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural +disease of monarchy. +</P> + +<P> +SECONDLY - That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose, are +either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown. +</P> + +<P> +But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check +the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the king a power +to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it +again supposes that the king is wiser than those whom it has already +supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity! +</P> + +<P> +There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of +monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet +empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. +The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a +king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, +by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole +character to be absurd and useless. +</P> + +<P> +Some writers have explained the English constitution thus: The king, +say they, is one, the people another; the peers are a house in behalf +of the king, the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all the +distinctions of a house divided against itself; and though the +expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined, they appear idle +and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction +that words are capable of, when applied to the description of some +thing which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be +within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and +though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this +explanation includes a previous question, viz. HOW CAME THE KING BY A +POWER WHICH THE PEOPLE ARE AFRAID TO TRUST, AND ALWAYS OBLIGED TO +CHECK? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither +can any power, WHICH NEEDS CHECKING, be from God; yet the provision, +which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to exist. +</P> + +<P> +But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or +will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; for +as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all the +wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know +which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that will +govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the +phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they cannot +stop it, their endeavours will be ineffectual; the first moving power +will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed, is supplied by +time. +</P> + +<P> +That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution, +needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence +merely from being the giver of places and pensions, is self-evident, +wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door +against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish enough +to put the crown in possession of the key. +</P> + +<P> +The prejudice of Englishmen in favour of their own government by king, +lords, and commons, arises as much or more from national pride than +reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some +other countries, but the WILL of the king is as much the LAW of the +land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead of +proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people under +the more formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the fate of +Charles the First hath only made kings more subtle—not more just. +</P> + +<P> +Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour of +modes and forms, the plain truth is, that IT IS WHOLLY OWING TO THE +CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE, AND NOT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE +GOVERNMENT, that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey. +</P> + +<P> +An inquiry into the CONSTITUTIONAL ERRORS in the English form of +government is at this time highly necessary; for as we are never in a +proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under +the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of +doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate +prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted +to choose or judge a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten +constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="monarchy"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION +</H3> + +<P> +Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality +could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the +distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be accounted +for, and that without having recourse to the harsh, ill-sounding names +of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the CONSEQUENCE, but +seldom or never the MEANS of riches; and though avarice will preserve a +man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous +to be wealthy. +</P> + +<P> +But there is another and greater distinction, for which no truly +natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the +distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the +distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but +how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and +distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and +whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind. +</P> + +<P> +In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, +there were no kings; the consequence of which was, there were no wars; +it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland +without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any +of the monarchial governments in Europe. Antiquity favours the same +remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath a +happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to the +history of Jewish royalty. +</P> + +<P> +Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the +Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was +the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the +promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honours to their +deceased kings, and the Christian world hath improved on the plan, by +doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of +sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is +crumbling into dust! +</P> + +<P> +As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified +on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the +authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by +Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by +kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have been very smoothly +glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the +attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. +RENDER UNTO CAESAR THE THINGS WHICH ARE CAESAR'S is the scripture +doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of monarchical government, for +the Jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage +to the Romans. +</P> + +<P> +Now three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the +creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. +Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, +where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administered by a +judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was +held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lord of +Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage +which is paid to the persons of kings, he need not wonder that the +Almighty, ever jealous of his honour, should disapprove of a form of +government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven. +</P> + +<P> +Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for +which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of +that transaction is worth attending to. +</P> + +<P> +The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon +marched against them with a small army, and victory, through the divine +interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews, elate with success, +and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed making him a +king, saying, RULE THOU OVER US, THOU AND THY SON AND THY SON'S SON. +Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but an +hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his soul replied, I WILL NOT +RULE OVER YOU, NEITHER SHALL MY SON RULE OVER YOU <I>THE LORD SHALL RULE +OVER YOU.</I> Words need not be more explicit; Gideon doth not decline the +honour, but denieth their right to give it; neither doth he compliment +them with invented declarations of his thanks, but in the positive +style of a prophet charges them with disaffection to their proper +Sovereign, the King of heaven. +</P> + +<P> +About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into the +same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous +customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but so +it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons, who +were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt and +clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, BEHOLD THOU ART OLD, AND THY SONS +WALK NOT IN THY WAYS, NOW MAKE US A KING TO JUDGE US, LIKE ALL OTHER +NATIONS. And here we cannot but observe that their motives were bad, +viz. that they might be LIKE unto other nations, i.e. the Heathens, +whereas their true glory laid in being as much UNLIKE them as possible. +BUT THE THING DISPLEASED SAMUEL WHEN THEY SAID, GIVE US A KING TO JUDGE +US; AND SAMUEL PRAYED UNTO THE LORD, AND THE LORD SAID UNTO SAMUEL, +HEARKEN UNTO THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IN ALL THAT THEY SAY UNTO THEE, +FOR THEY HAVE NOT REJECTED THEE, BUT THEY HAVE REJECTED ME, <I>THAT I +SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM.</I> ACCORDING TO ALL THE WORKS WHICH THEY +HAVE SINCE THE DAY THAT I BROUGHT THEM UP OUT OF EGYPT, EVEN UNTO THIS +DAY; WHEREWITH THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME AND SERVED OTHER GODS; SO DO THEY +ALSO UNTO THEE. NOW THEREFORE HEARKEN UNTO THEIR VOICE, HOWBEIT, +PROTEST SOLEMNLY UNTO THEM AND SHEW THEM THE MANNER OF THE KING THAT +SHALL REIGN OVER THEM, I.E. not of any particular king, but the +general manner of the kings of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly +copying after. And notwithstanding the great distance of time and +difference of manners, the character is still in fashion. AND SAMUEL +TOLD ALL THE WORDS OF THE LORD UNTO THE PEOPLE, THAT ASKED OF HIM A +KING. AND HE SAID, THIS SHALL BE THE MANNER OF THE KING THAT SHALL +REIGN OVER YOU; HE WILL TAKE YOUR SONS AND APPOINT THEM FOR HIMSELF, +FOR HIS CHARIOTS, AND TO BE HIS HORSEMAN, AND SOME SHALL RUN BEFORE HIS +CHARIOTS (this description agrees with the present mode of impressing +men) AND HE WILL APPOINT HIM CAPTAINS OVER THOUSANDS AND CAPTAINS OVER +FIFTIES, AND WILL SET THEM TO EAR HIS GROUND AND REAP HIS HARVEST, AND +TO MAKE HIS INSTRUMENTS OF WAR, AND INSTRUMENTS OF HIS CHARIOTS; AND HE +WILL TAKE YOUR DAUGHTERS TO BE CONFECTIONARIES, AND TO BE COOKS AND TO +BE BAKERS (this describes the expense and luxury as well as the +oppression of kings) AND HE WILL TAKE YOUR FIELDS AND YOUR OLIVE YARDS, +EVEN THE BEST OF THEM, AND GIVE THEM TO HIS SERVANTS; AND HE WILL TAKE +THE TENTH OF YOUR SEED, AND OF YOUR VINEYARDS, AND GIVE THEM TO HIS +OFFICERS AND TO HIS SERVANTS (by which we see that bribery, corruption, +and favouritism are the standing vices of kings) AND HE WILL TAKE THE +TENTH OF YOUR MEN SERVANTS, AND YOUR MAID SERVANTS, AND YOUR GOODLIEST +YOUNG MEN AND YOUR ASSES, AND PUT THEM TO HIS WORK; AND HE WILL TAKE +THE TENTH OF YOUR SHEEP, AND YE SHALL BE HIS SERVANTS, AND YE SHALL CRY +OUT IN THAT DAY BECAUSE OF YOUR KING WHICH YE SHALL HAVE CHOSEN, <I>AND +THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY.</I> This accounts for the +continuation of monarchy; neither do the characters of the few good +kings which have lived since, either sanctify the title, or blot out +the sinfulness of the origin; the high encomium given of David takes no +notice of him OFFICIALLY AS A KING, but only as a MAN after God's own +heart. NEVERTHELESS THE PEOPLE REFUSED TO OBEY THE VOICE OF SAMUEL, +AND THEY SAID, NAY, BUT WE WILL HAVE A KING OVER US, THAT WE MAY BE +LIKE ALL THE NATIONS, AND THAT OUR KING MAY JUDGE US, AND GO OUT BEFORE +US, AND FIGHT OUR BATTLES. Samuel continued to reason with them, but +to no purpose; he set before them their ingratitude, but all would not +avail; and seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, I WILL +CALL UNTO THE LORD, AND HE SHALL SEND THUNDER AND RAIN (which then was +a punishment, being in the time of wheat harvest) THAT YE MAY PERCEIVE +AND SEE THAT YOUR WICKEDNESS IS GREAT WHICH YE HAVE DONE IN THE SIGHT +OF THE LORD, AND THE LORD SENT THUNDER AND RAIN THAT DAY, AND ALL THE +PEOPLE GREATLY FEARED THE LORD AND SAMUEL. AND ALL THE PEOPLE SAID +UNTO SAMUEL, PRAY FOR THY SERVANTS UNTO THE LORD THY GOD THAT WE DIE +NOT, FOR <I>WE HAVE ADDED UNTO OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK A KING.</I> These +portions of scripture are direct and positive. They admit of no +equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his +protest against monarchical government, is true, or the scripture is +false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much of +kingcraft, as priestcraft, in withholding the scripture from the public +in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of +government. +</P> + +<P> +To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; +and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the +second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition on +posterity. For all men being originally equals, no ONE by BIRTH could +have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all +others for ever, and though himself might deserve SOME decent degree of +honours of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too +unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest NATURAL proofs of the +folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, +otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving +mankind an ASS FOR A LION. +</P> + +<P> +Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honours +than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honours could have +no power to give away the right of posterity. And though they might +say, "We choose you for OUR head," they could not, without manifest +injustice to their children, say, "that your children and your +children's children shall reign over OURS for ever." Because such an +unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next +succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Most +wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary +right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which when once +established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, others from +superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the +plunder of the rest. +</P> + +<P> +This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an +honourable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we take +off the dark covering of antiquities, and trace them to their first +rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better than the +principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or +preeminence in subtlety obtained the title of chief among plunderers; +and who by increasing in power, and extending his depredations, +overawed the quiet and defenseless to purchase their safety by frequent +contributions. Yet his electors could have no idea of giving +hereditary right to his descendants, because such a perpetual exclusion +of themselves was incompatible with the free and unrestrained +principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, hereditary succession +in the early ages of monarchy could not take place as a matter of +claim, but as something casual or complemental; but as few or no +records were extant in those days, and traditional history stuffed +with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a few generations, to +trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently timed, Mahomet like, to +cram hereditary right down the throats of the vulgar. Perhaps the +disorders which threatened, or seemed to threaten, on the decease of a +leader and the choice of a new one (for elections among ruffians could +not be very orderly) induced many at first to favour hereditary +pretensions; by which means it happened, as it hath happened since, +that what at first was submitted to as a convenience, was afterwards +claimed as a right. +</P> + +<P> +England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but +groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his +senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very +honourable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and +establishing himself king of England against the consent of the +natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It +certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend +much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are any +so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass and +lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb +their devotion. +</P> + +<P> +Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? The +question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by election, +or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it establishes a +precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was +by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither does it appear +from that transaction there was any intention it ever should be. If +the first king of any country was by election, that likewise +establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that the RIGHT of all +future generations is taken away, by the act of the first electors, in +their choice not only of a king, but of a family of kings for ever, +hath no parallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of original +sin, which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam; and from +such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary succession +can derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, and as in the first +electors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind were subjected to +Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our innocence was lost in +the first, and our authority in the last; and as both disable us from +reassuming some former state and privilege, it unanswerably follows +that original sin and hereditary succession are parallels. +Dishonourable rank! Inglorious connection! Yet the most subtle sophist +cannot produce a juster simile. +</P> + +<P> +As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that +William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be contradicted. +The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English monarchy will not +bear looking into. +</P> + +<P> +But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary +succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and +wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a +door to the FOOLISH, the WICKED, and the IMPROPER, it hath in it the +nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and +others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind +their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in +differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but +little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed +to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any +throughout the dominions. +</P> + +<P> +Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne is +subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the +regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity and +inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune +happens, when a king, worn out with age and infirmity, enters the last +stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes a prey +to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the follies either +of age or infancy. +</P> + +<P> +The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of +hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars; +and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the most +barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history of +England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned in +that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time there have +been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil wars and +nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, it makes +against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand on. +</P> + +<P> +The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York and +Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. Twelve +pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought between +Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in his turn +was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war and the +temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are the ground of +a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison to a palace, +and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign land; yet, as +sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry in his turn was +driven from the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed him. The +parliament always following the strongest side. +</P> + +<P> +This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not +entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were +united. Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489. +</P> + +<P> +In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom +only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of government +which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it. +</P> + +<P> +If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in some +countries they have none; and after sauntering away their lives without +pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw from the +scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle ground. In +absolute monarchies the whole weight of business, civil and military, +lies on the king; the children of Israel in their request for a king, +urged this plea "that he may judge us, and go out before us and fight +our battles." But in countries where he is neither a judge nor a +general, as in England, a man would be puzzled to know what IS his +business. +</P> + +<P> +The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business +there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name +for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a +republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, because +the corrupt influence of the crown, by having all the places in its +disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and eaten out the +virtue of the house of commons (the republican part in the +constitution) that the government of England is nearly as monarchical +as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names without +understanding them. For it is the republican and not the monarchical +part of the constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the +liberty of choosing an house of commons from out of their own body—and +it is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues. +Why is the constitution of England sickly, but because monarchy hath +poisoned the republic, the crown hath engrossed the commons? +</P> + +<P> +In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away +places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it +together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed +eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the +bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight +of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="thoughts"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS +</H3> + +<P> +In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain +arguments, and common sense; and have no other Preliminaries to settle +with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and +prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for +themselves; that he will put ON, or rather that he will not put OFF the +true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the +present day. +</P> + +<P> +Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between +England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the +controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all +have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as +the last resource, decide this contest; the appeal was the choice of +the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. +</P> + +<P> +It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho' an able minister +was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in the house of +commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a temporary kind, +replied "THEY WILL LAST MY TIME." Should a thought so fatal and unmanly +possess the colonies in the present contest, the name of ancestors will +be remembered by future generations with detestation. +</P> + +<P> +The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair +of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent—of +at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis not the concern +of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the +contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by +the proceedings now. Now is the seed-time of continental union, faith +and honour. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with +the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound will +enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters. +</P> + +<P> +By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new aera for politics +is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, +&c. prior to the nineteenth of April, i. e. to the commencement of +hostilities, are like the almanacs of the last year; which, though +proper then are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by +the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one +and the same point. viz. a union with Great-Britain: the only +difference between the parties was the method of effecting it; the one +proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened that +the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence. +</P> + +<P> +As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation which, like +an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but +right, that we should examine the contrary side of the argument, and +inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies +sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with, and +dependent on Great Britain: To examine that connection and dependence, +on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to +trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant. +</P> + +<P> +I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under +her former connection with Great Britain that the same connection is +necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same +effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We +may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk that it +is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is +to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting +more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have +flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had +any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched +herself, are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market +while eating is the custom of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is true, +and defended the continent at our expense as well as her own is +admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz. +the sake of trade and dominion. +</P> + +<P> +Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made large +sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great +Britain, without considering, that her motive was INTEREST not +ATTACHMENT; that she did not protect us from OUR ENEMIES on OUR +ACCOUNT, but from HER ENEMIES on HER OWN ACCOUNT, from those who had no +quarrel with us on any OTHER ACCOUNT, and who will always be our +enemies on the SAME ACCOUNT. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the +continent, or the continent throw off the dependence, and we should be +at peace with France and Spain were they at war with Britain. The +miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connections. +</P> + +<P> +It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no +relation to each other but through the parent country, i. e. that +Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister +colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about +way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way of +proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never were, +nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as AMERICANS, but as our being the +subjects of GREAT BRITAIN. +</P> + +<P> +But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon +her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make +war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her +reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so and the +phrase PARENT or MOTHER COUNTRY hath been jesuitically adopted by the +king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an +unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not +England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been +the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty +from EVERY PART of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender +embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is +so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first +emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still. +</P> + +<P> +In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits of +three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our +friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every European +Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. +</P> + +<P> +It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the +force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the +world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will +naturally associate most with his fellow-parishioners (because their +interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name +of NEIGHBOUR; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops the +narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of TOWNSMAN; if he +travel out of the county, and meet him in any other, he forgets the +minor divisions of street and town, and calls him COUNTRYMAN, i. e. +COUNTRYMAN; but if in their foreign excursions they should associate in +France or any other part of EUROPE, their local remembrance would be +enlarged into that of ENGLISHMEN. And by a just parity of reasoning, +all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, +are COUNTRYMEN; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared +with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, which the +divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones; +distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one third of the +inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore +I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England +only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous. +</P> + +<P> +But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it amount +to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes every +other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our duty, is +truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present line +(William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of England +are descendants from the same country; therefore, by the same method of +reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. +</P> + +<P> +Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies, +that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. But this is +mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do the +expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never suffer +itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British arms in +either Asia, Africa, or Europe. +</P> + +<P> +Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our +plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace +and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of all Europe +to have America a FREE PORT. Her trade will always be a protection, +and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders. +</P> + +<P> +I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a single +advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great +Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived. +Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported +goods must be paid for, buy them where we will. +</P> + +<P> +But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, are +without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to +ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any +submission to, or dependence on Great Britain, tends directly to +involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at +variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and +against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our +market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part +of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of European +contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependence on +Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics. +</P> + +<P> +Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and +whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the +trade of America goes to ruin, BECAUSE OF HER CONNECTION WITH ENGLAND. +The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, the +advocates for reconciliation now, will be wishing for separation then, +because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a man of +war. Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The +blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'TIS TIME TO +PART. Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and +America, is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, +over the other, was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at +which the continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and +the manner in which it was peopled increases the force of it. The +reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the +Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the Persecuted in +future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety. +</P> + +<P> +The authority of Great Britain over this continent, is a form of +government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious mind +can draw no true pleasure by looking forward under the painful and +positive conviction, that what he calls "the present constitution" is +merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that THIS +GOVERNMENT is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we may +bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of argument, as we are +running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, +otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the +line of our duty rightly, we should take our children in our hand, and +fix our station a few years farther into life; that eminence will +present a prospect, which a few present fears and prejudices conceal +from our sight. +</P> + +<P> +Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, yet I am +inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of +reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. +Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who CANNOT see; +prejudiced men, who WILL NOT see; and a certain set of moderate men, +who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this last +class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more +calamities to this continent, than all the other three. +</P> + +<P> +It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of +sorrow; the evil is not sufficient brought to their doors to make THEM +feel the precariousness with which all American property is possessed. +But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments to Boston, that +seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct us for ever to +renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. The inhabitants of that +unfortunate city, who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, +have now, no other alternative than to stay and starve, or turn and +beg. Endangered by the fire of their friends if they continue within +the city, and plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their +present condition they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, +and in a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed to the +fury of both armies. +</P> + +<P> +Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses of +Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "COME, +COME, WE SHALL BE FRIENDS AGAIN, FOR ALL THIS." But examine the +passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of reconciliation +to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you can +hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried +fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are +you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon +posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither +love nor honor will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on +the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a +relapse more wretched than the first. But if you say, you can still +pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath +your property been destroyed before your face! Are your wife and +children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you +lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and +wretched survivor! If you have not, then are you not a judge of those +who have. But if you have, and still can shake hands with the +murderers, then are you unworthy of the name of husband, father, +friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you +have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant. +</P> + +<P> +This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those +feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without which, we +should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or +enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for the +purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly +slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object. It is +not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she do +not conquer herself by DELAY and TIMIDITY. The present winter is worth +an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected, the whole +continent will partake of the misfortune; and there is no punishment +which that man will not deserve, be he who, or what, or where he will, +that may be the means of sacrificing a season so precious and useful. +</P> + +<P> +It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all +examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer +remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain +does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this +time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise the +continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is NOW a fallacious +dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, and Art cannot supply her +place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true reconcilement +grow, where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep." +</P> + +<P> +Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have +been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that +nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than +repeated petitioning—and nothing hath contributed more than that very +measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and +Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's sake, +let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation to +be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names of parent and +child. +</P> + +<P> +To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we +thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two undeceived +us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been once defeated, +will never renew the quarrel. +</P> + +<P> +As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do this +continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, and +intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of convenience, by a +power so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if they +cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be always running three +or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five +months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to +explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and +childishness—There was a time when it was proper, and there is a +proper time for it to cease. +</P> + +<P> +Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper +objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something +very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an +island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its +primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each other, +reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to +different systems; England to Europe, America to itself. +</P> + +<P> +I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to espouse +the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly, positively, +and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest of this +continent to be so; that every thing short of THAT is mere patchwork, +that it can afford no lasting felicity, —that it is leaving the sword +to our children, and shrinking back at a time, when, a little more, a +little farther, would have rendered this continent the glory of the +earth. +</P> + +<P> +As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a +compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the +acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expense of blood +and treasure we have been already put to. +</P> + +<P> +The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion to +the expense. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, is a +matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of +trade, was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently balanced the +repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained; +but if the whole continent must take up arms, if every man must be a +soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a contemptible +ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, +if that is all we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a +folly to pay a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land. As I have +always considered the independancy of this continent, as an event, +which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of +the continent to maturity, the event could not be far off. Wherefore, +on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth while to have +disputed a matter, which time would have finally redressed, unless we +meant to be in earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a +suit at law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is +just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than +myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the +event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen +tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with +the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE can unfeelingly hear of +their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. +</P> + +<P> +But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? +I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. +</P> + +<P> +FIRST. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the +king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this +continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to +liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or is +he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "YOU SHALL MAKE NO LAWS +BUT WHAT I PLEASE." And is there any inhabitant in America so ignorant +as not to know, that according to what is called the PRESENT +CONSTITUTION, that this continent can make no laws but what the king +gives leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to see, that +(considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to be made here, +but such as suit HIS purpose. We may be as effectually enslaved by the +want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws made for us in +England. After matters are made up (as it is called) can there be any +doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be exerted, to keep this +continent as low and humble as possible? Instead of going forward we +shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously +petitioning. —WE are already greater than the king wishes us to be, +and will he not hereafter endeavour to make us less? To bring the +matter to one point. Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a +proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question, is an +INDEPENDANT, for independancy means no more, than, whether we shall +make our own laws, or whether the king, the greatest enemy this +continent hath, or can have, shall tell us "THERE SHALL BE NO LAWS BUT +SUCH AS I LIKE." +</P> + +<P> +But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people there +can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and good +order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of twenty-one +(which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people, +older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be +law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, though I will +never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer, that +England being the King's residence, and America not so, makes quite +another case. The king's negative HERE is ten times more dangerous and +fatal than it can be in England, for THERE he will scarcely refuse his +consent to a bill for putting England into as strong a state of defense +as possible, and in America he would never suffer such a bill to be +passed. +</P> + +<P> +America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics, +England consults the good of THIS country, no farther than it answers +her OWN purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to suppress the +growth of OURS in every case which doth not promote her advantage, or +in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we should soon be in +under such a secondhand government, considering what has happened! Men +do not change from enemies to friends by the alteration of a name: And +in order to shew that reconciliation now is a dangerous doctrine, I +affirm, THAT IT WOULD BE POLICY IN THE KING AT THIS TIME, TO REPEAL THE +ACTS FOR THE SAKE OF REINSTATING HIMSELF IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE +PROVINCES; in order, that HE MAY ACCOMPLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTLETY, IN +THE LONG RUN, WHAT HE CANNOT DO BY FORCE AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE. +Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related. +</P> + +<P> +SECONDLY. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to obtain, +can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of +government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the +colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the +interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property will +not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs but by a +thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of commotion and +disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants would lay hold of +the interval, to dispense of their effects, and quit the continent. +</P> + +<P> +But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but +independence, i.e. a continental form of government, can keep the +peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I +dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more +than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or other, +the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of +Britain. +</P> + +<P> +Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more will +probably suffer the same fate.) Those men have other feelings than us +who have nothing suffered. All they NOW possess is liberty, what they +before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing more to +lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general temper of the +colonies, towards a British government, will be like that of a youth, +who is nearly out of his time; they will care very little about her. +And a government which cannot preserve the peace, is no government at +all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing; and pray what is it +that Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on paper, should a +civil tumult break out the very day after reconciliation! I have heard +some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they +dreaded an independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars. It +is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and that is +the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a patched up +connection than from independence. I make the sufferers case my own, +and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property +destroyed, and my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of +injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or +consider myself bound thereby. +</P> + +<P> +The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience +to continental government, as is sufficient to make every reasonable +person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least +pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are truly +childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving for +superiority over another. +</P> + +<P> +Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect +equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and +we may say always) in peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars, +foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never +long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprising ruffians +at HOME; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant on regal +authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers, in instances, +where a republican government, by being formed on more natural +principles, would negotiate the mistake. +</P> + +<P> +If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence, it is +because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out— +Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following +hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other +opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise +to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be +collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men +to improve into useful matter. +</P> + +<P> +LET the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The +representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and subject +to the authority of a Continental Congress. +</P> + +<P> +Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient +districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to +Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number +in Congress will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose a +president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a +colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after which, +let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from out of the +delegates of that province. In the next Congress, let a colony be +taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from which the +president was taken in the former Congress, and so proceeding on till +the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation. And in order +that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily just not +less than three fifths of the Congress to be called a majority— He +that will promote discord, under a government so equally formed as +this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt. +</P> + +<P> +But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, this +business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and +consistent, that it should come from some intermediate body between the +governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and the +people. Let a CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE be held, in the following manner, +and for the following purpose. +</P> + +<P> +A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each +colony. Two Members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial +Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be +chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for and in behalf +of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall think +proper to attend from all parts of the province for that purpose; or, +if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen in two or three +of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference, thus +assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business +KNOWLEDGE and POWER. The members of Congress, Assemblies, or +Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be +able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being empowered by the +people, will have a truly legal authority. +</P> + +<P> +The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a +CONTINENTAL CHARTER, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering to +what is called the Magna Carta of England) fixing the number and manner +of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with their date +of sitting, and drawing the line of business and jurisdiction between +them: (Always remembering, that our strength is continental, not +provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all men, and above all +things, the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of +conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for a charter to +contain. Immediately after which, the said Conference to dissolve, and +the bodies which shall be chosen comformable to the said charter, to be +the legislators and governors of this continent for the time being: +Whose peace and happiness may God preserve, Amen. +</P> + +<P> +Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar +purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise observer on +governments DRAGONETTI. "The science" says he "of the politician +consists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. Those men +would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of +government that contained the greatest sum of individual happiness, +with the least national expense."[1] +</P> + +<P> +But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you. Friend, +he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal +Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in +earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the +charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of +God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that +so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For +as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the +law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill +use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the +ceremony, be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it +is. +</P> + +<P> +A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously +reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become +convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a +constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it +in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and +chance. If we omit it now, some[2] Massanello may hereafter arise, +who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the +desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the +powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent +like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into the +hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things will be a +temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in +such a case, that relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the +news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like +the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that +oppose independence now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door +to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. There +are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to +expel from the continent that barbarous and hellish power, which hath +stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us; the cruelty hath a +double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them. +</P> + +<P> +To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have +faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores instruct us +to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the little +remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any reason to +hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will increase, or +that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more and greater +concerns to quarrel over than ever? +</P> + +<P> +Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the +time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? +Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is +broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. +There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be +nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his +mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The +Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good +and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. +They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social +compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, or have +only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. +The robber, and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not +the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice. +</P> + +<P> +O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but +the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with +oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and +Africa, have long expelled her—Europe regards her like a stranger, and +England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and +prepare in time an asylum for mankind. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="ability"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OF THE PRESENT <I>ABILITY</I> OF <I>AMERICA</I>,<BR> +WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS <I>REFLECTIONS</I> +</H3> + +<P> +I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not +confessed his opinion that a separation between the countries, would +take place one time or other: And there is no instance, in which we +have shewn less judgement, than in endeavouring to describe, what we +call the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independence. +</P> + +<P> +As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the +time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of +things, and endeavour, if possible, to find out the VERY time. But we +need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the TIME HATH FOUND +US. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things prove +the fact. +</P> + +<P> +It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet +our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world. +The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and +disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that +pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself, +and the whole, when united, can accomplish the matter, and either more, +or, less than this, might be fatal in its effects. Our land force is +already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible, +that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built, +while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no +forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch, than we are now; but +the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the country +is every day diminishing, and that, which will remain at last, will be +far off and difficult to procure. +</P> + +<P> +Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under the +present circumstances would be intolerable. The more seaport towns we +had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. Our present +numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be +idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the necessities of +an army create a new trade. +</P> + +<P> +Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account will +serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity +with a settled form of government, an independent constitution of its +own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions +for the sake of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing the +present ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity +with the utmost cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to +do, and a debt upon their backs, from which they derive no advantage. +Such a thought is unworthy of a man of honor, and is the true +characteristic of a narrow heart and a peddling politician. +</P> + +<P> +The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard, if the work be +but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national +debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a +grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one hundred +and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of four +millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has a large +navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for the +twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy as large +again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more than three +millions and an half sterling. +</P> + +<P> +The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without +the following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the +above estimation of the navy is just.[3] +</P> + +<P> +The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with +masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight +months boatswain's and carpenter's seastores, as calculated by Mr. +Burchett, Secretary to the navy. +</P> + +<PRE> + pounds Sterling + For a ship of a 100 guns - 35,553 + 90 - - 29,886 + 80 - - 23,638 + 70 - - 17,795 + 60 - - 14,197 + 50 - - 10,606 + 40 - - 7,558 + 30 - - 5,846 + 20 - - 3,710 +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P> +And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of the +whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was at its greatest +glory consisted of the following ships and guns: +</P> + +<BR> + +<PRE> + Ships. Guns. Cost of one. Cost of all + 6 - 100 - 35,553 - 213,318 + 12 - 90 - 29,886 - 358,632 + 12 - 80 - 23,638 - 283,656 + 43 - 70 - 17,785 - 764,755 + 35 - 60 - 14,197 - 496,895 + 40 - 50 - 10,606 - 424,240 + 45 - 40 - 7,558 - 340,110 + 58 - 20 - 3,710 - 215,180 +</PRE> + +<PRE> + 85 Sloops, bombs, + and fireships, one 2,000 170,000 + with another, --------- + Cost 3,266,786 + Remains for guns, ---------- 233,214 + --------- + 3,500,000 +</PRE> + +<BR> + +<P> +No country on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally +capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage +are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas the +Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the +Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of their materials +they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of +commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country. It is the +best money we can lay out. A navy when finished is worth more than it +cost. And is that nice point in national policy, in which commerce and +protection are united. Let us build; if we want them not, we can sell; +and by that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver. +</P> + +<P> +In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; +it is not necessary that one fourth part should he sailors. The +Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of any +ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her +complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social +sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in the +common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable to +begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing, our +fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ. +Men of war of seventy and eighty guns were built forty years ago in +New-England, and why not the same now? Ship-building is America's +greatest pride, and in which she will in time excel the whole world. +The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and consequently +excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa is in a state +of barbarism; and no power in Europe hath either such an extent of +coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where nature hath +given the one, she has withheld the other; to America only hath she +been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out +from the sea: wherefore, her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and +cordage are only articles of commerce. +</P> + +<P> +In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the +little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we might +have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather; and slept +securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. The case now +is altered, and our methods of defense ought to improve with our +increase of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have +come up the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia under instant +contribution, for what sum he pleased; and the same might have happened +to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig of fourteen or +sixteen guns might have robbed the whole continent, and carried off +half a million of money. These are circumstances which demand our +attention, and point out the necessity of naval protection. +</P> + +<P> +Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, +she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall +keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? Common sense will tell +us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all +others the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected under +the pretence of friendship; and ourselves after a long and brave +resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships are not +to be admitted into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to protect +us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little use, and +on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must hereafter +protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? +</P> + +<P> +The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not a +tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of them +not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the list, if +only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part of such as are +fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one time. The +East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts over which +Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her navy. From a +mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a false notion +respecting the navy of England, and have talked as if we should have +the whole of it to encounter at once, and for that reason, supposed, +that we must have one as large; which not being instantly practicable, +have been made use of by a set of disguised Tories to discourage our +beginning thereon. Nothing can be farther from truth than this; for if +America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, she +would be by far an overmatch for her; because, as we neither have, nor +claim any foreign dominion, our whole force would be employed on our +own coast, where we should, in the long run, have two to one the +advantage of those who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, +before they could attack us, and the same distance to return in order +to refit and recruit. And although Britain, by her fleet, hath a check +over our trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the +West Indies, which, by laying in the neighbourhood of the continent, is +entirely at its mercy. +</P> + +<P> +Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of +peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy. +If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ in their +service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty guns, (the +premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchants) +fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on constant duty, +would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without burdening ourselves +with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their +fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks. To unite the +sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy; for when our strength +and our riches play into each other's hand, we need fear no external +enemy. +</P> + +<P> +In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even to +rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to +that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. +Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every +day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our +inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore, +what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we +can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government +of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in. +Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be constantly +happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his +life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The +difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some +unlocated lands, shews the insignificance of a British government, and +fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can regulate +Continental matters. +</P> + +<P> +Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, +that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied, +which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless +dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the discharge of the +present debt, but to the constant support of government. No nation +under heaven hath such an advantage at this. +</P> + +<P> +The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being +against, is an argument in favour of independance. We are sufficiently +numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. It is a matter +worthy of observation, that the more a country is peopled, the smaller +their armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the +moderns: and the reason is evident. For trade being the consequence of +population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything +else. Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military +defence. And history sufficiently informs us, that the bravest +achievements were always accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With +the increase of commerce, England hath lost its spirit. The city of +London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with +the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing +are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and +submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel. +</P> + +<P> +Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in +individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the +Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety +of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would +create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being able +might scorn each other's assistance: and while the proud and foolish +gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament, that the +union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the PRESENT TIME is the +TRUE TIME for establishing it. The intimacy which is contracted in +infancy, and the friendship which is formed in misfortune, are, of all +others, the most lasting and unalterable. Our present union is marked +with both these characters: we are young and we have been distressed; +but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and fixes a memorable area +for posterity to glory in. +</P> + +<P> +The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never happens +to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a +government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that +means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, +instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and +then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of +government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute them +afterward but from the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom, +and lay hold of the present opportunity —TO BEGIN GOVERNMENT AT THE +RIGHT END. +</P> + +<P> +When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the +point of the sword; and until we consent, that the seat of government, +in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in +danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who may treat us +in the same manner, and then, where will be our freedom? where our +property? As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of +all government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I +know of no other business which government hath to do therewith, Let a +man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, +which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, +and he will be at delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is +the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For +myself, I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is the will of the +Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opinions among +us: It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. Were we all +of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter +for probation; and on this liberal principle, I look on the various +denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, +differing only, in what is called, their Christian names. +</P> + +<P> +In page forty, I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a +Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) and +in this place, I take the liberty of rementioning the subject, by +observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn +obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of every +separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or property. A +firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends. +</P> + +<P> +In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and +equal representation; and there is no political matter which more +deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small number +of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number of the +representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is +increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the +Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania; +twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks county members, +being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the Chester members +done the same, this whole province had been governed by two counties +only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The unwarrantable +stretch likewise, which that house made in their last sitting, to gain +an undue authority over the delegates of that province, ought to warn +the people at large, how they trust power out of their own hands. A +set of instructions for the Delegates were put together, which in point +of sense and business would have dishonoured a schoolboy, and after +being approved by a FEW, a VERY FEW without doors, were carried into +the House, and there passed IN BEHALF OF THE WHOLE COLONY; whereas, did +the whole colony know, with what ill-will that House hath entered on +some necessary public measures, they would not hesitate a moment to +think them unworthy of such a trust. +</P> + +<P> +Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued +would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different +things. When the calamities of America required a consultation, there +was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint +persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose; and the +wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent +from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall never be +without a CONGRESS, every well wisher to good order, must own, that the +mode for choosing members of that body, deserves consideration. And I +put it as a question to those, who make a study of mankind, whether +representation and election is not too great a power for one and the +same body of men to possess? When we are planning for posterity, we +ought to remember, that virtue is not hereditary. +</P> + +<P> +It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are +frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes, Mr. Cornwall (one +of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New-York +Assembly with contempt, because THAT House, he said, consisted but of +twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could not with +decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his involuntary +honesty.[4] +</P> + +<P> +TO CONCLUDE, however strange it may appear to some, or however +unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and +striking reasons may be given, to shew, that nothing can settle our +affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for +independance. Some of which are, +</P> + +<P> +FIRST. - It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, for some +other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as mediators, and +bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while America calls +herself the Subject of Great Britain, no power, however well disposed +she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, in our present state +we may quarrel on for ever. +</P> + +<P> +SECONDLY. - It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or Spain will +give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only, to make use of that +assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and strengthening +the connection between Britain and America; because, those powers would +be sufferers by the consequences. +</P> + +<P> +THIRDLY. - While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must, +in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The precedent +is somewhat dangerous to THEIR PEACE, for men to be in arms under the +name of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the paradox: but to unite +resistance and subjection, requires an idea much too refined for common +understanding. +</P> + +<P> +FOURTHLY. - Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to foreign +courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the peaceable +methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring, at the same +time, that not being able, any longer, to live happily or safely under +the cruel disposition of the British court, we had been driven to the +necessity of breaking off all connections with her; at the same time, +assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition towards them, and +of our desire of entering into trade with them: Such a memorial would +produce more good effects to this Continent, than if a ship were +freighted with petitions to Britain. +</P> + +<P> +Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither be +received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, and +will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other nations. +</P> + +<P> +These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, like +all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little +time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an independance is +declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues +putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must +be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually +haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="appendix"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +APPENDIX +</H3> + +<P> +Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or rather, +on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech made its +appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the birth +of this production, it could not have brought it forth, at a more +seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. The bloody mindedness +of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing the doctrine of the other. +Men read by way of revenge. And the Speech, instead of terrifying, +prepared a way for the manly principles of Independance. +</P> + +<P> +Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise, have +a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of countenance to +base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this maxim be admitted, it +naturally follows, that the King's Speech, as being a piece of finished +villany, deserved, and still deserves, a general execration both by the +Congress and the people. Yet, as the domestic tranquillity of a +nation, depends greatly, on the CHASTITY of what may properly be called +NATIONAL MANNERS, it is often better, to pass some things over in +silent disdain, than to make use of such new methods of dislike, as +might introduce the least innovation, on that guardian of our peace and +safety. And, perhaps, it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy, +that the King's Speech, hath not, before now, suffered a public +execution. The Speech if it may be called one, is nothing better than +a wilful audacious libel against the truth, the common good, and the +existence of mankind; and is a formal and pompous method of offering up +human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of +mankind is one of the privileges, and the certain consequence of Kings; +for as nature knows them NOT, they know NOT HER, and although they are +beings of our OWN creating, they know not US, and are become the gods +of their creators. The Speech hath one good quality, which is, that it +is not calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be +deceived by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It +leaves us at no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of +reading, that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored +Indian, is less a Savage than the King of Britain. +</P> + +<P> +Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical piece, +fallaciously called, "THE ADDRESS OF THE PEOPLE OF <I>ENGLAND</I> TO THE +INHABITANTS OF <I>AMERICA</I>," hath, perhaps, from a vain supposition, that +the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and description of a +king, given, (though very unwisely on his part) the real character of +the present one: "But" says this writer, "if you are inclined to pay +compliments to an administration, which we do not complain of," +(meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the repeal of the Stamp Act) +"it is very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince by WHOSE +<I>NOD ALONE</I> THEY WERE PERMITTED TO DO ANY THING." This is toryism with +a witness! Here is idolatry even without a mask: And he who can calmly +hear, and digest such doctrine, hath forfeited his claim to rationality +an apostate from the order of manhood; and ought to be considered as +one, who hath not only given up the proper dignity of man, but sunk +himself beneath the rank of animals, and contemptibly crawl through the +world like a worm. +</P> + +<P> +However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either +says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human +obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by a +steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, procured for +himself an universal hatred. It is NOW the interest of America to +provide for herself. She hath already a large and young family, whom +it is more her duty to take care of, than to be granting away her +property, to support a power who is become a reproach to the names of +men and christians—YE, whose office it is to watch over the morals of +a nation, of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are of, as well as ye, +who, are more immediately the guardians of the public liberty, if ye +wish to preserve your native country uncontaminated by European +corruption, ye must in secret wish a separation—But leaving the moral +part to private reflection, I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks +to the following heads. +</P> + +<P> +First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from Britain. +</P> + +<P> +Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, +RECONCILIATION OR INDEPENDANCE? With some occasional remarks. +</P> + +<P> +In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the +opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this +continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly +known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a +state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped and +fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any material +eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and although the +progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the history of +other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what she would be +capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, the legislative +powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, proudly coveting +what would do her no good, were she to accomplish it; and the Continent +hesitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin if neglected. It +is the commerce and not the conquest of America, by which England is to +be benefited, and that would in a great measure continue, were the +countries as independant of each other as France and Spain; because in +many articles, neither can go to a better market. But it is the +independance of this country of Britain or any other, which is now the +main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like all other +truths discovered by necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every +day. +</P> + +<P> +First. Because it will come to that one time or other. +</P> + +<P> +Secondly. Because, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to +accomplish. +</P> + +<P> +I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, +with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak without +reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the following seems +the most general, viz. that had this rupture happened forty or fifty +years hence, instead of NOW, the Continent would have been more able to +have shaken off the dependance. To which I reply, that our military +ability, AT THIS TIME, arises from the experience gained in the last +war, and which in forty or fifty years time, would have been totally +extinct. The Continent, would not, by that time, have had a General, +or even a military officer left; and we, or those who may succeed us, +would have been as ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians: +And this single position, closely attended to, will unanswerably prove, +that the present time is preferable to all others. The argument turns +thus—at the conclusion of the last war, we had experience, but wanted +numbers; and forty or fifty years hence, we should have numbers, +without experience; wherefore, the proper point of time, must be some +particular point between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of +the former remains, and a proper increase of the latter is obtained: +And that point of time is the present time. +</P> + +<P> +The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come +under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by the +following position, viz. +</P> + +<P> +Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the +governing and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now +circumstanced, is giving up the point entirely) we shall deprive +ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may +contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces are +clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extension of the limits of +Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amount +to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency; and the +quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions yearly. +</P> + +<P> +It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without +burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always lessen, +and in time, will wholly support the yearly expence of government. It +matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that the lands when sold +be applied to the discharge of it, and for the execution of which, the +Congress for the time being, will be the continental trustees. +</P> + +<P> +I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest and most +practicable plan, RECONCILIATION or INDEPENDANCE; With some occasional +remarks. +</P> + +<P> +He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his +argument, and on that ground, I answer GENERALLY—THAT <I>INDEPENDANCE</I> +BEING A <I>SINGLE SIMPLE LINE,</I> CONTAINED WITHIN OURSELVES; AND +RECONCILIATION, A MATTER EXCEEDINGLY PERPLEXED AND COMPLICATED, AND IN +WHICH, A TREACHEROUS CAPRICIOUS COURT IS TO INTERFERE, GIVES THE ANSWER +WITHOUT A DOUBT. +</P> + +<P> +The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is +capable of reflexion. Without law, without government, without any +other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy. +Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which, is +nevertheless subject to change, and which, every secret enemy is +endeavouring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, Legislation +without law; wisdom without a plan; a constitution without a name; and, +what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independance contending for +dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never +existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property +of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The mind +of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object before +them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is +criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one +thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dared not +have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that +act, were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction +should be drawn, between, English soldiers taken in battle, and +inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the +latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head. +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of +our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The +Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not done +in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall into a +state, in which, neither RECONCILIATION nor INDEPENDANCE will be +practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at their old +game of dividing the Continent, and there are not wanting among us, +Printers, who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods. The +artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in two +of the New York papers, and likewise in two others, is an evidence that +there are men who want either judgment or honesty. +</P> + +<P> +It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of +reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult the +task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent divide +thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various orders of men +whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own, are to be +considered therein. Do they put themselves in the place of the +sufferer whose ALL is ALREADY gone, and of the soldier, who hath +quitted ALL for the defence of his country. If their ill judged +moderation be suited to their own private situations only, regardless +of others, the event will convince them, that "they are reckoning +without their Host." +</P> + +<P> +Put us, says some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which I +answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply with, +neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should be +granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a +corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another +parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the obligation, +on the pretense, of its being violently obtained, or unwisely granted; +and in that case, Where is our redress?—No going to law with nations; +cannon are the barristers of Crowns; and the sword, not of justice, but +of war, decides the suit. To be on the footing of sixty-three, it is +not sufficient, that the laws only be put on the same state, but, that +our circumstances, likewise, be put on the same state; Our burnt and +destroyed towns repaired or built up, our private losses made good, our +public debts (contracted for defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall +be millions worse than we were at that enviable period. Such a +request, had it been complied with a year ago, would have won the heart +and soul of the Continent—but now it is too late, "The Rubicon is +passed." +</P> + +<P> +Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a +pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as +repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce obedience +thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the means; for +the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. It +is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons; the +destruction of our property by an armed force; the invasion of our +country by fire and sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of +arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of defence became +necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have ceased; and the +independancy of America, should have been considered, as dating its +aera from, and published by, THE FIRST MUSKET THAT WAS FIRED AGAINST +HER. This line is a line of consistency; neither drawn by caprice, nor +extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of events, of which the +colonies were not the authors. +</P> + +<P> +I shall conclude these remarks with the following timely and well +intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are three different +ways by which an independancy may hereafter be effected; and that ONE +of those THREE, will one day or other, be the fate of America, viz. By +the legal voice of the people in Congress; by a military power; or by a +mob—It may not always happen that OUR soldiers are citizens, and the +multitude a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I have already remarked, +is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. Should an independancy be +brought about by the first of those means, we have every opportunity +and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest +constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to +begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath +not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new +world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe +contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a +few months. The Reflexion is awful—and in this point of view, How +trifling, how ridiculous, do the little, paltry cavillings, of a few +weak or interested men appear, when weighed against the business of a +world. +</P> + +<P> +Should we neglect the present favourable and inviting period, and an +Independance be hereafter effected by any other means, we must charge +the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose narrow and +prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure, without either +inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be given in support of +Independance, which men should rather privately think of, than be +publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating whether we shall be +independant or not, but, anxious to accomplish it on a firm, secure, +and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it is not yet began upon. +Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories (if such +beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, be the most solicitous +to promote it; for, as the appointment of committees at first, +protected them from popular rage, so, a wise and well established form +of government, will be the only certain means of continuing it securely +to them. WHEREFORE, if they have not virtue enough to be WHIGS, they +ought to have prudence enough to wish for Independance. +</P> + +<P> +In short, Independance is the only BOND that can tye and keep us +together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally +shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well, as a cruel enemy. +We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with Britain; for +there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, will be less +hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace, than with +those, whom she denominates, "rebellious subjects," for terms of +accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her to hope for +conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As we +have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to obtain a +redress of our grievances, let us now try the alternative, by +independantly redressing them ourselves, and then offering to open the +trade. The mercantile and reasonable part in England, will be still +with us; because, peace with trade, is preferable to war without it. +And if this offer be not accepted, other courts may be applied to. +</P> + +<P> +On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been made +to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this +pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be +refuted, or, that the party in favour of it are too numerous to be +opposed. WHEREFORE, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or +doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold out to his neighbour the +hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like an +act of oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissension. +Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none other be heard +among us, than those of A GOOD CITIZEN, AN OPEN AND RESOLUTE FRIEND, +AND A VIRTUOUS SUPPORTER OF THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND AND OF THE <I>FREE AND +INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA</I>. +</P> + +<P> +To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called +Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the late +piece, entitled "THE ANCIENT TESTIMONY and PRINCIPLES of the People +called QUAKERS renewed, with Respect to the KING and GOVERNMENT, and +touching the COMMOTIONS now prevailing in these and other parts of +AMERICA addressed to the PEOPLE IN GENERAL." +</P> + +<P> +The Writer of this, is one of those few, who never dishonours religion +either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever. To +God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of religion. +Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to you as a +religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which the +professed Quietude of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with. +As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in +the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of this, in +order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity, +of putting himself in the place of all those, who, approve the very +writings and principles, against which, your testimony is directed: +And he hath chosen this singular situation, in order, that you might +discover in him that presumption of character which you cannot see in +yourselves. For neither he nor you can have any claim or title to +POLITICAL REPRESENTATION. +</P> + +<P> +When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they +stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have +managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) is +not your proper Walk; for however well adapted it might appear to you, +it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely together, +and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and unjust. +</P> + +<P> +The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you +credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love and +desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural, as +well the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this +ground, as men labouring to establish an Independant Constitution of +our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. OUR PLAN +IS PEACE FOR EVER. We are tired of contention with Britain, and can +see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act consistently, +because for the sake of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace, +do we bear the evils and burthens of the present day. We are +endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavour, to separate and +dissolve a connexion which hath already filled our land with blood; and +which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal cause of future +mischiefs to both countries. +</P> + +<P> +We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor +passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, nor +ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines are +we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the violence +committed against us. We view our enemies in the character of +Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves in +the civil law, are obliged to punish them by the military one, and +apply the sword, in the very case, where you have before now, applied +the halter— Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted sufferers in +all and every part of the continent, with a degree of tenderness which +hath not yet made its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye sure +that ye mistake not the cause and ground of your Testimony. Call not +coldness of soul, religion; nor put the BIGOT in the place of the +CHRISTIAN. +</P> + +<P> +O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the +bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by all +the difference between wilful attack, and unavoidable defence. +Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make a +political hobbyhorse of your religion convince the world thereof, by +proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, FOR THEY LIKEWISE BEAR +<I>ARMS</I>. Give us proof of your sincerity by publishing it at St. +James's, to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the Admirals and +Captains who are piratically ravaging our coasts, and to all the +murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under HIM whom ye +profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul of BARCLAY ye would preach +repentance to YOUR king; Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and +warn him of eternal ruin.[5] Ye would not spend your partial invectives +against the injured and the insulted only, but, like faithful +ministers, would cry aloud and SPARE NONE. Say not that ye are +persecuted, neither endeavour to make us the authors of that reproach, +which, ye are bringing upon yourselves; for we testify unto all men, +that we do not complain against you because ye are Quakers, but because +ye pretend to be and are NOT Quakers. +</P> + +<P> +Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your +testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was reduced +to, and comprehended in, THE ACT OF BEARING ARMS, and that by the +people only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for conscience; +because, the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity—And it is +exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to many of your pretended +scruples; because, we see them made by the same men, who, in the very +instant that they are exclaiming against the mammon of this world, are +nevertheless, hunting after it with a step as steady as Time, and an +appetite as keen as Death. +</P> + +<P> +The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of +your testimony, that, "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh +even his enemies to be at peace with him"; is very unwisely chosen on +your part; because, it amounts to a proof, that the king's ways (whom +ye are desirous of supporting) do NOT please the Lord, otherwise, his +reign would be in peace. +</P> + +<P> +I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for which +all the foregoing seems only an introduction viz. +</P> + +<P> +"It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called to +profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences unto +this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and governments, +is God's peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to himself: And +that it is not our business to have any hand or contrivance therein; +nor to be busy bodies above our station, much less to plot and contrive +the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but to pray for the king, and +safety of our nation, and good of all men—That we may live a peaceable +and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty; UNDER THE GOVERNMENT +WHICH GOD IS PLEASED TO SET OVER US"—If these are REALLY your +principles why do ye not abide by them? Why do ye not leave that, +which ye call God's Work, to be managed by himself? These very +principles instruct you to wait with patience and humility, for the +event of all public measures, and to receive that event as the divine +will towards you. Wherefore, what occasion is there for your POLITICAL +TESTIMONY if you fully believe what it contains? And the very +publishing it proves, that either, ye do not believe what ye profess, +or have not virtue enough to practise what ye believe. +</P> + +<P> +The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the +quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government WHICH IS SET +OVER HIM. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and +governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not +be robbed thereof by us: wherefore, the principle itself leads you to +approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to kings as +being his work. OLIVER CROMWELL thanks you. CHARLES, then, died not +by the hands of man; and should the present Proud Imitator of him, come +to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of the Testimony, +are bound, by the doctrine it contains, to applaud the fact. Kings are +not taken away by miracles, neither are changes in governments brought +about by any other means than such as are common and human; and such as +we are now using. Even the dispersion of the Jews, though foretold by +our Saviour, was effected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the +means on one side, ye ought not to be meddlers on the other; but to +wait the issue in silence; and unless ye can produce divine authority, +to prove, that the Almighty who hath created and placed this new world, +at the greatest distance it could possibly stand, east and west, from +every part of the old, doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being +independent of the corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless I +say, ye can shew this, how can ye on the ground of your principles, +justify the exciting and stirring up the people "firmly to unite in the +abhorrence of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire and +design to break off the happy connexion we have hitherto enjoyed, with +the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just and necessary subordination +to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in authority under him." +What a slap of the face is here! the men, who in the very paragraph +before, have quietly and passively resigned up the ordering, altering, +and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands of God, are now, +recalling their principles, and putting in for a share of the business. +Is it possible, that the conclusion, which is here justly quoted, can +any ways follow from the doctrine laid down? The inconsistency is too +glaring not to be seen; the absurdity too great not to be laughed at; +and such as could only have been made by those, whose understandings +were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political +party; for ye are not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers +but only as a factional and fractional part thereof. +</P> + +<P> +Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no man +to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;) to +which I subjoin the following remark; "That the setting up and putting +down of kings," most certainly mean, the making him a king, who is yet +not so, and the making him no king who is already one. And pray what +hath this to do in the present case? We neither mean to set up nor to +pull down, neither to make nor to unmake, but to have nothing to do +with them. Wherefore, your testimony in whatever light it is viewed +serves only to dishonor your judgement, and for many other reasons had +better have been let alone than published. +</P> + +<P> +First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion +whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society to make it a party in +political disputes. +</P> + +<P> +Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow +the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and +approvers thereof. +</P> + +<P> +Thirdly, because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony +and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable +donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of which, +is of the utmost consequence to us all. +</P> + +<P> +And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely +wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always fully and +uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in your +turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example which ye +have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, MAY BE DISAVOWED +AND REPROBATED BY EVERY INHABITANT OF <I>AMERICA</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[1] Dragonetti on virtue and rewards. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[2] Thomas Anello otherwise Massanello a fisherman of Naples, who after +spiriting up his countrymen in the public marketplace, against the +oppressions of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject +prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became king. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[3] See Entic's naval history, intro. page 56. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[4] Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large +and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh's political +disquisitions. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[5] "Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it +is to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to +rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason to +know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after all +these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord +with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, +and give up thyself to fallow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy +condemnation.— Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those +who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent +and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to that light of Christ +which shineth in thy conscience, and which neither can, nor will +flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins."—Barclay's +address to Charles II. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +F I N I S. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMON SENSE *** + +***** This file should be named 147-h.htm or 147-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/147/ + +Produced by John Campbell. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net + + +Title: Common Sense + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Release Date: June 9, 2008 [EBook #147] +[Last updated: October 18, 2014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMON SENSE *** + + + + +Produced by John Campbell. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +_COMMON SENSE_ + + +by + +Thomas Paine + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION + +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL, + WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION + +OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION + +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS + +OF THE PRESENT _ABILITY_ OF _AMERICA_, WITH SOME + MISCELLANEOUS _REFLECTIONS_ + +APPENDIX + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not YET +sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit +of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of +being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of +custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than +reason. + +As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling +the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have +been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the +inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his OWN RIGHT, +to support the Parliament in what he calls THEIRS, and as the good +people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, +they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of +both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either. + +In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every thing +which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to +individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the worthy, need not +the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious, +or unfriendly, will cease of themselves unless too much pains are +bestowed upon their conversion. + +The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. +Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but +universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind +are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are +interested. The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, +declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and +extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the +Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of +which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the AUTHOR. + +P.S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, with a +View of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any Attempt to refute +the Doctrine of Independance: As no Answer hath yet appeared, it is now +presumed that none will, the Time needful for getting such a +Performance ready for the Public being considerably past. + +Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the +Public, as the Object for Attention is the DOCTRINE ITSELF, not the +MAN. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with +any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private, but the +influence of reason and principle. + +Philadelphia, February 14, 1776 + + + + +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL, + WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION + + +Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave +little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only +different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our +wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our +happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY +by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other +creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a punisher. + +Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best +state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; +for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A +GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our +calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which +we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the +palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For +were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly +obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, +he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish +means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by +the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two +evils to choose the least. WHEREFORE, security being the true design +and end of government, it unanswerably follows, that whatever FORM +thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense +and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. + +In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of +government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some +sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will +then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. In +this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. A +thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man is +so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual +solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of +another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would +be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, but +one man might labour out of the common period of life without +accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not +remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time +would urge him from his work, and every different want call him a +different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death, for though +neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and +reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than +to die. + +Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly +arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, +would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government +unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as +nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably happen, +that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of +emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they will +begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and this +remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form of +government to supply the defect of moral virtue. + +Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches +of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public +matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the +title only of REGULATIONS, and be enforced by no other penalty than +public disesteem. In this first parliament every man, by natural +right, will have a seat. + +But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase +likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will +render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as +at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the +public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience +of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a +select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the +same concerns at stake which those who appointed them, and who will act +in the same manner as the whole body would act, were they present. If +the colony continues increasing, it will become necessary to augment +the number of the representatives, and that the interest of every part +of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the +whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and +that the ELECTED might never form to themselves an interest separate +from the ELECTORS, prudence will point out the propriety of having +elections often; because as the ELECTED might by that means return and +mix again with the general body of the ELECTORS in a few months, their +fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not +making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will +establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will +mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the +unmeaning name of king) depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE +HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED. + +Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered +necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here +too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security. +And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by +sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our +understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is +right. + +I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, +which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, the +less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when +disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on the +so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for the +dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When the +world was overrun with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a +glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, and +incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily demonstrated. + +Absolute governments (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this +advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, they +know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise the +remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But +the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the nation +may suffer for years together without being able to discover in which +part the fault lies; some will say in one and some in another, and +every political physician will advise a different medicine. + +I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, +yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the +English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two +ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican materials. + + +FIRST - The remains of monarchial tyranny in the person of the king. +SECONDLY - The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the +peers. THIRDLY - The new republican materials in the persons of the +commons, + on whose virtue depends the freedom of England. + + +The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; +wherefore in a CONSTITUTIONAL SENSE they contribute nothing towards the +freedom of the state. + +To say that the constitution of England is a UNION of three powers +reciprocally CHECKING each other, is farcical, either the words have no +meaning, or they are flat contradictions. + +To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two +things: + +FIRST - That the king is not to be trusted without being looked after, +or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural +disease of monarchy. + +SECONDLY - That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose, are +either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown. + +But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check +the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the king a power +to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; it +again supposes that the king is wiser than those whom it has already +supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity! + +There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of +monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet +empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. +The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a +king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, +by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole +character to be absurd and useless. + +Some writers have explained the English constitution thus: The king, +say they, is one, the people another; the peers are a house in behalf +of the king, the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all the +distinctions of a house divided against itself; and though the +expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined, they appear idle +and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction +that words are capable of, when applied to the description of some +thing which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be +within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and +though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this +explanation includes a previous question, viz. HOW CAME THE KING BY A +POWER WHICH THE PEOPLE ARE AFRAID TO TRUST, AND ALWAYS OBLIGED TO +CHECK? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither +can any power, WHICH NEEDS CHECKING, be from God; yet the provision, +which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to exist. + +But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or +will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; for +as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all the +wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know +which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that will +govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the +phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they cannot +stop it, their endeavours will be ineffectual; the first moving power +will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed, is supplied by +time. + +That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution, +needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence +merely from being the giver of places and pensions, is self-evident, +wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door +against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish enough +to put the crown in possession of the key. + +The prejudice of Englishmen in favour of their own government by king, +lords, and commons, arises as much or more from national pride than +reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some +other countries, but the WILL of the king is as much the LAW of the +land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead of +proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people under +the more formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the fate of +Charles the First hath only made kings more subtle--not more just. + +Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour of +modes and forms, the plain truth is, that IT IS WHOLLY OWING TO THE +CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE, AND NOT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE +GOVERNMENT, that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey. + +An inquiry into the CONSTITUTIONAL ERRORS in the English form of +government is at this time highly necessary; for as we are never in a +proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under +the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of +doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate +prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted +to choose or judge a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten +constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one. + + + + +OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION + + +Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality +could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the +distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be accounted +for, and that without having recourse to the harsh, ill-sounding names +of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the CONSEQUENCE, but +seldom or never the MEANS of riches; and though avarice will preserve a +man from being necessitously poor, it generally makes him too timorous +to be wealthy. + +But there is another and greater distinction, for which no truly +natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the +distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the +distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but +how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and +distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and +whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind. + +In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, +there were no kings; the consequence of which was, there were no wars; +it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland +without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any +of the monarchial governments in Europe. Antiquity favours the same +remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath a +happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to the +history of Jewish royalty. + +Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the +Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was +the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the +promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honours to their +deceased kings, and the Christian world hath improved on the plan, by +doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of +sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is +crumbling into dust! + +As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified +on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the +authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by +Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by +kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have been very smoothly +glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the +attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. +RENDER UNTO CAESAR THE THINGS WHICH ARE CAESAR'S is the scripture +doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of monarchical government, for +the Jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage +to the Romans. + +Now three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the +creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. +Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, +where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administered by a +judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was +held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lord of +Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage +which is paid to the persons of kings, he need not wonder that the +Almighty, ever jealous of his honour, should disapprove of a form of +government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven. + +Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for +which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of +that transaction is worth attending to. + +The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon +marched against them with a small army, and victory, through the divine +interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews, elate with success, +and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed making him a +king, saying, RULE THOU OVER US, THOU AND THY SON AND THY SON'S SON. +Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but an +hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his soul replied, I WILL NOT +RULE OVER YOU, NEITHER SHALL MY SON RULE OVER YOU _THE LORD SHALL RULE +OVER YOU._ Words need not be more explicit; Gideon doth not decline the +honour, but denieth their right to give it; neither doth he compliment +them with invented declarations of his thanks, but in the positive +style of a prophet charges them with disaffection to their proper +Sovereign, the King of heaven. + +About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into the +same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous +customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but so +it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons, who +were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt and +clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, BEHOLD THOU ART OLD, AND THY SONS +WALK NOT IN THY WAYS, NOW MAKE US A KING TO JUDGE US, LIKE ALL OTHER +NATIONS. And here we cannot but observe that their motives were bad, +viz. that they might be LIKE unto other nations, i.e. the Heathens, +whereas their true glory laid in being as much UNLIKE them as possible. +BUT THE THING DISPLEASED SAMUEL WHEN THEY SAID, GIVE US A KING TO JUDGE +US; AND SAMUEL PRAYED UNTO THE LORD, AND THE LORD SAID UNTO SAMUEL, +HEARKEN UNTO THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IN ALL THAT THEY SAY UNTO THEE, +FOR THEY HAVE NOT REJECTED THEE, BUT THEY HAVE REJECTED ME, _THAT I +SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM._ ACCORDING TO ALL THE WORKS WHICH THEY +HAVE SINCE THE DAY THAT I BROUGHT THEM UP OUT OF EGYPT, EVEN UNTO THIS +DAY; WHEREWITH THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME AND SERVED OTHER GODS; SO DO THEY +ALSO UNTO THEE. NOW THEREFORE HEARKEN UNTO THEIR VOICE, HOWBEIT, +PROTEST SOLEMNLY UNTO THEM AND SHEW THEM THE MANNER OF THE KING THAT +SHALL REIGN OVER THEM, I.E. not of any particular king, but the +general manner of the kings of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly +copying after. And notwithstanding the great distance of time and +difference of manners, the character is still in fashion. AND SAMUEL +TOLD ALL THE WORDS OF THE LORD UNTO THE PEOPLE, THAT ASKED OF HIM A +KING. AND HE SAID, THIS SHALL BE THE MANNER OF THE KING THAT SHALL +REIGN OVER YOU; HE WILL TAKE YOUR SONS AND APPOINT THEM FOR HIMSELF, +FOR HIS CHARIOTS, AND TO BE HIS HORSEMAN, AND SOME SHALL RUN BEFORE HIS +CHARIOTS (this description agrees with the present mode of impressing +men) AND HE WILL APPOINT HIM CAPTAINS OVER THOUSANDS AND CAPTAINS OVER +FIFTIES, AND WILL SET THEM TO EAR HIS GROUND AND REAP HIS HARVEST, AND +TO MAKE HIS INSTRUMENTS OF WAR, AND INSTRUMENTS OF HIS CHARIOTS; AND HE +WILL TAKE YOUR DAUGHTERS TO BE CONFECTIONARIES, AND TO BE COOKS AND TO +BE BAKERS (this describes the expense and luxury as well as the +oppression of kings) AND HE WILL TAKE YOUR FIELDS AND YOUR OLIVE YARDS, +EVEN THE BEST OF THEM, AND GIVE THEM TO HIS SERVANTS; AND HE WILL TAKE +THE TENTH OF YOUR SEED, AND OF YOUR VINEYARDS, AND GIVE THEM TO HIS +OFFICERS AND TO HIS SERVANTS (by which we see that bribery, corruption, +and favouritism are the standing vices of kings) AND HE WILL TAKE THE +TENTH OF YOUR MEN SERVANTS, AND YOUR MAID SERVANTS, AND YOUR GOODLIEST +YOUNG MEN AND YOUR ASSES, AND PUT THEM TO HIS WORK; AND HE WILL TAKE +THE TENTH OF YOUR SHEEP, AND YE SHALL BE HIS SERVANTS, AND YE SHALL CRY +OUT IN THAT DAY BECAUSE OF YOUR KING WHICH YE SHALL HAVE CHOSEN, _AND +THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY._ This accounts for the +continuation of monarchy; neither do the characters of the few good +kings which have lived since, either sanctify the title, or blot out +the sinfulness of the origin; the high encomium given of David takes no +notice of him OFFICIALLY AS A KING, but only as a MAN after God's own +heart. NEVERTHELESS THE PEOPLE REFUSED TO OBEY THE VOICE OF SAMUEL, +AND THEY SAID, NAY, BUT WE WILL HAVE A KING OVER US, THAT WE MAY BE +LIKE ALL THE NATIONS, AND THAT OUR KING MAY JUDGE US, AND GO OUT BEFORE +US, AND FIGHT OUR BATTLES. Samuel continued to reason with them, but +to no purpose; he set before them their ingratitude, but all would not +avail; and seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, I WILL +CALL UNTO THE LORD, AND HE SHALL SEND THUNDER AND RAIN (which then was +a punishment, being in the time of wheat harvest) THAT YE MAY PERCEIVE +AND SEE THAT YOUR WICKEDNESS IS GREAT WHICH YE HAVE DONE IN THE SIGHT +OF THE LORD, AND THE LORD SENT THUNDER AND RAIN THAT DAY, AND ALL THE +PEOPLE GREATLY FEARED THE LORD AND SAMUEL. AND ALL THE PEOPLE SAID +UNTO SAMUEL, PRAY FOR THY SERVANTS UNTO THE LORD THY GOD THAT WE DIE +NOT, FOR _WE HAVE ADDED UNTO OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK A KING._ These +portions of scripture are direct and positive. They admit of no +equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his +protest against monarchical government, is true, or the scripture is +false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much of +kingcraft, as priestcraft, in withholding the scripture from the public +in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of +government. + +To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; +and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the +second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition on +posterity. For all men being originally equals, no ONE by BIRTH could +have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all +others for ever, and though himself might deserve SOME decent degree of +honours of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too +unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest NATURAL proofs of the +folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, +otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving +mankind an ASS FOR A LION. + +Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honours +than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honours could have +no power to give away the right of posterity. And though they might +say, "We choose you for OUR head," they could not, without manifest +injustice to their children, say, "that your children and your +children's children shall reign over OURS for ever." Because such an +unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next +succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Most +wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated hereditary +right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which when once +established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, others from +superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the +plunder of the rest. + +This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an +honourable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we take +off the dark covering of antiquities, and trace them to their first +rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better than the +principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or +preeminence in subtlety obtained the title of chief among plunderers; +and who by increasing in power, and extending his depredations, +overawed the quiet and defenseless to purchase their safety by frequent +contributions. Yet his electors could have no idea of giving +hereditary right to his descendants, because such a perpetual exclusion +of themselves was incompatible with the free and unrestrained +principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, hereditary succession +in the early ages of monarchy could not take place as a matter of +claim, but as something casual or complemental; but as few or no +records were extant in those days, and traditional history stuffed +with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a few generations, to +trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently timed, Mahomet like, to +cram hereditary right down the throats of the vulgar. Perhaps the +disorders which threatened, or seemed to threaten, on the decease of a +leader and the choice of a new one (for elections among ruffians could +not be very orderly) induced many at first to favour hereditary +pretensions; by which means it happened, as it hath happened since, +that what at first was submitted to as a convenience, was afterwards +claimed as a right. + +England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but +groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his +senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very +honourable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and +establishing himself king of England against the consent of the +natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It +certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend +much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are any +so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass and +lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb +their devotion. + +Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? The +question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by election, +or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it establishes a +precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was +by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither does it appear +from that transaction there was any intention it ever should be. If +the first king of any country was by election, that likewise +establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that the RIGHT of all +future generations is taken away, by the act of the first electors, in +their choice not only of a king, but of a family of kings for ever, +hath no parallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of original +sin, which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam; and from +such comparison, and it will admit of no other, hereditary succession +can derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, and as in the first +electors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind were subjected to +Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our innocence was lost in +the first, and our authority in the last; and as both disable us from +reassuming some former state and privilege, it unanswerably follows +that original sin and hereditary succession are parallels. +Dishonourable rank! Inglorious connection! Yet the most subtle sophist +cannot produce a juster simile. + +As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that +William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be contradicted. +The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English monarchy will not +bear looking into. + +But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary +succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and +wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a +door to the FOOLISH, the WICKED, and the IMPROPER, it hath in it the +nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and +others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind +their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in +differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but +little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed +to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any +throughout the dominions. + +Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne is +subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the +regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity and +inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune +happens, when a king, worn out with age and infirmity, enters the last +stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes a prey +to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the follies either +of age or infancy. + +The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of +hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars; +and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the most +barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history of +England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned in +that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time there have +been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil wars and +nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, it makes +against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand on. + +The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York and +Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. Twelve +pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought between +Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in his turn +was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war and the +temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are the ground of +a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison to a palace, +and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign land; yet, as +sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry in his turn was +driven from the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed him. The +parliament always following the strongest side. + +This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not +entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were +united. Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489. + +In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom +only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of government +which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it. + +If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in some +countries they have none; and after sauntering away their lives without +pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw from the +scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle ground. In +absolute monarchies the whole weight of business, civil and military, +lies on the king; the children of Israel in their request for a king, +urged this plea "that he may judge us, and go out before us and fight +our battles." But in countries where he is neither a judge nor a +general, as in England, a man would be puzzled to know what IS his +business. + +The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business +there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name +for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a +republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, because +the corrupt influence of the crown, by having all the places in its +disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and eaten out the +virtue of the house of commons (the republican part in the +constitution) that the government of England is nearly as monarchical +as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names without +understanding them. For it is the republican and not the monarchical +part of the constitution of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the +liberty of choosing an house of commons from out of their own body--and +it is easy to see that when republican virtue fails, slavery ensues. +Why is the constitution of England sickly, but because monarchy hath +poisoned the republic, the crown hath engrossed the commons? + +In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away +places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and set it +together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed +eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the +bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight +of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived. + + + + +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS + + +In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain +arguments, and common sense; and have no other Preliminaries to settle +with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and +prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for +themselves; that he will put ON, or rather that he will not put OFF the +true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the +present day. + +Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between +England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the +controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but all +have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as +the last resource, decide this contest; the appeal was the choice of +the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge. + +It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho' an able minister +was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in the house of +commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a temporary kind, +replied "THEY WILL LAST MY TIME." Should a thought so fatal and unmanly +possess the colonies in the present contest, the name of ancestors will +be remembered by future generations with detestation. + +The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the affair +of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent--of +at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis not the concern +of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the +contest, and will be more or less affected, even to the end of time, by +the proceedings now. Now is the seed-time of continental union, faith +and honour. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with +the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound will +enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters. + +By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new aera for politics +is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans, proposals, +&c. prior to the nineteenth of April, i. e. to the commencement of +hostilities, are like the almanacs of the last year; which, though +proper then are superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by +the advocates on either side of the question then, terminated in one +and the same point. viz. a union with Great-Britain: the only +difference between the parties was the method of effecting it; the one +proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far happened that +the first hath failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence. + +As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation which, like +an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it is but +right, that we should examine the contrary side of the argument, and +inquire into some of the many material injuries which these colonies +sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with, and +dependent on Great Britain: To examine that connection and dependence, +on the principles of nature and common sense, to see what we have to +trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant. + +I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under +her former connection with Great Britain that the same connection is +necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same +effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We +may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk that it +is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is +to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting +more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have +flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had +any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched +herself, are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market +while eating is the custom of Europe. + +But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is true, +and defended the continent at our expense as well as her own is +admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz. +the sake of trade and dominion. + +Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made large +sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of Great +Britain, without considering, that her motive was INTEREST not +ATTACHMENT; that she did not protect us from OUR ENEMIES on OUR +ACCOUNT, but from HER ENEMIES on HER OWN ACCOUNT, from those who had no +quarrel with us on any OTHER ACCOUNT, and who will always be our +enemies on the SAME ACCOUNT. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the +continent, or the continent throw off the dependence, and we should be +at peace with France and Spain were they at war with Britain. The +miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connections. + +It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no +relation to each other but through the parent country, i. e. that +Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister +colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about +way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way of +proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never were, +nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as AMERICANS, but as our being the +subjects of GREAT BRITAIN. + +But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon +her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make +war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her +reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so and the +phrase PARENT or MOTHER COUNTRY hath been jesuitically adopted by the +king and his parasites, with a low papistical design of gaining an +unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not +England, is the parent country of America. This new world hath been +the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty +from EVERY PART of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender +embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it is +so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first +emigrants from home, pursues their descendants still. + +In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits of +three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our +friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every European +Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. + +It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the +force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the +world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will +naturally associate most with his fellow-parishioners (because their +interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name +of NEIGHBOUR; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops the +narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of TOWNSMAN; if he +travel out of the county, and meet him in any other, he forgets the +minor divisions of street and town, and calls him COUNTRYMAN, i. e. +COUNTRYMAN; but if in their foreign excursions they should associate in +France or any other part of EUROPE, their local remembrance would be +enlarged into that of ENGLISHMEN. And by a just parity of reasoning, +all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, +are COUNTRYMEN; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared +with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, which the +divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones; +distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one third of the +inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. Wherefore +I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England +only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous. + +But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it amount +to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes every +other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our duty, is +truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present line +(William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of England +are descendants from the same country; therefore, by the same method of +reasoning, England ought to be governed by France. + +Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies, +that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. But this is +mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do the +expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never suffer +itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British arms in +either Asia, Africa, or Europe. + +Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our +plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the peace +and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of all Europe +to have America a FREE PORT. Her trade will always be a protection, +and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from invaders. + +I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a single +advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected with Great +Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage is derived. +Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our imported +goods must be paid for, buy them where we will. + +But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, are +without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to +ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any +submission to, or dependence on Great Britain, tends directly to +involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at +variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and +against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our +market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part +of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of European +contentions, which she never can do, while by her dependence on +Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics. + +Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and +whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the +trade of America goes to ruin, BECAUSE OF HER CONNECTION WITH ENGLAND. +The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, the +advocates for reconciliation now, will be wishing for separation then, +because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a man of +war. Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The +blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'TIS TIME TO +PART. Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and +America, is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, +over the other, was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at +which the continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and +the manner in which it was peopled increases the force of it. The +reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the +Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the Persecuted in +future years, when home should afford neither friendship nor safety. + +The authority of Great Britain over this continent, is a form of +government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious mind +can draw no true pleasure by looking forward under the painful and +positive conviction, that what he calls "the present constitution" is +merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy, knowing that THIS +GOVERNMENT is not sufficiently lasting to ensure any thing which we may +bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method of argument, as we are +running the next generation into debt, we ought to do the work of it, +otherwise we use them meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the +line of our duty rightly, we should take our children in our hand, and +fix our station a few years farther into life; that eminence will +present a prospect, which a few present fears and prejudices conceal +from our sight. + +Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, yet I am +inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of +reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. +Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who CANNOT see; +prejudiced men, who WILL NOT see; and a certain set of moderate men, +who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this last +class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more +calamities to this continent, than all the other three. + +It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of +sorrow; the evil is not sufficient brought to their doors to make THEM +feel the precariousness with which all American property is possessed. +But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments to Boston, that +seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct us for ever to +renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. The inhabitants of that +unfortunate city, who but a few months ago were in ease and affluence, +have now, no other alternative than to stay and starve, or turn and +beg. Endangered by the fire of their friends if they continue within +the city, and plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their +present condition they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, +and in a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed to the +fury of both armies. + +Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses of +Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "COME, +COME, WE SHALL BE FRIENDS AGAIN, FOR ALL THIS." But examine the +passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of reconciliation +to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me, whether you can +hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the power that hath carried +fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, then are +you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay bringing ruin upon +posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom you can neither +love nor honor will be forced and unnatural, and being formed only on +the plan of present convenience, will in a little time fall into a +relapse more wretched than the first. But if you say, you can still +pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath +your property been destroyed before your face! Are your wife and +children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you +lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and +wretched survivor! If you have not, then are you not a judge of those +who have. But if you have, and still can shake hands with the +murderers, then are you unworthy of the name of husband, father, +friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you +have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant. + +This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those +feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without which, we +should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or +enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for the +purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly +slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object. It is +not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she do +not conquer herself by DELAY and TIMIDITY. The present winter is worth +an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected, the whole +continent will partake of the misfortune; and there is no punishment +which that man will not deserve, be he who, or what, or where he will, +that may be the means of sacrificing a season so precious and useful. + +It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, to all +examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can longer +remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in Britain +does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this +time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise the +continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is NOW a fallacious +dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, and Art cannot supply her +place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true reconcilement +grow, where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep." + +Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have +been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that +nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than +repeated petitioning--and nothing hath contributed more than that very +measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark and +Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's sake, +let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next generation to +be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names of parent and +child. + +To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we +thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two undeceived +us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been once defeated, +will never renew the quarrel. + +As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do this +continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty, and +intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of convenience, by a +power so distant from us, and so very ignorant of us; for if they +cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be always running three +or four thousand miles with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five +months for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more to +explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly and +childishness--There was a time when it was proper, and there is a +proper time for it to cease. + +Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper +objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something +very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an +island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its +primary planet, and as England and America, with respect to each other, +reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to +different systems; England to Europe, America to itself. + +I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to espouse +the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly, positively, +and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true interest of this +continent to be so; that every thing short of THAT is mere patchwork, +that it can afford no lasting felicity, --that it is leaving the sword +to our children, and shrinking back at a time, when, a little more, a +little farther, would have rendered this continent the glory of the +earth. + +As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a +compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy the +acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expense of blood +and treasure we have been already put to. + +The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion to +the expense. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, is a +matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage of +trade, was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently balanced the +repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained; +but if the whole continent must take up arms, if every man must be a +soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a contemptible +ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, +if that is all we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a +folly to pay a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land. As I have +always considered the independancy of this continent, as an event, +which sooner or later must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of +the continent to maturity, the event could not be far off. Wherefore, +on the breaking out of hostilities, it was not worth while to have +disputed a matter, which time would have finally redressed, unless we +meant to be in earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a +suit at law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is +just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than +myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the +event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen +tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with +the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE can unfeelingly hear of +their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. + +But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? +I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. + +FIRST. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the +king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this +continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to +liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or is +he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "YOU SHALL MAKE NO LAWS +BUT WHAT I PLEASE." And is there any inhabitant in America so ignorant +as not to know, that according to what is called the PRESENT +CONSTITUTION, that this continent can make no laws but what the king +gives leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to see, that +(considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to be made here, +but such as suit HIS purpose. We may be as effectually enslaved by the +want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws made for us in +England. After matters are made up (as it is called) can there be any +doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be exerted, to keep this +continent as low and humble as possible? Instead of going forward we +shall go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously +petitioning. --WE are already greater than the king wishes us to be, +and will he not hereafter endeavour to make us less? To bring the +matter to one point. Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a +proper power to govern us? Whoever says No to this question, is an +INDEPENDANT, for independancy means no more, than, whether we shall +make our own laws, or whether the king, the greatest enemy this +continent hath, or can have, shall tell us "THERE SHALL BE NO LAWS BUT +SUCH AS I LIKE." + +But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people there +can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and good +order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of twenty-one +(which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people, +older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be +law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply, though I will +never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer, that +England being the King's residence, and America not so, makes quite +another case. The king's negative HERE is ten times more dangerous and +fatal than it can be in England, for THERE he will scarcely refuse his +consent to a bill for putting England into as strong a state of defense +as possible, and in America he would never suffer such a bill to be +passed. + +America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics, +England consults the good of THIS country, no farther than it answers +her OWN purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to suppress the +growth of OURS in every case which doth not promote her advantage, or +in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we should soon be in +under such a secondhand government, considering what has happened! Men +do not change from enemies to friends by the alteration of a name: And +in order to shew that reconciliation now is a dangerous doctrine, I +affirm, THAT IT WOULD BE POLICY IN THE KING AT THIS TIME, TO REPEAL THE +ACTS FOR THE SAKE OF REINSTATING HIMSELF IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE +PROVINCES; in order, that HE MAY ACCOMPLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTLETY, IN +THE LONG RUN, WHAT HE CANNOT DO BY FORCE AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE. +Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related. + +SECONDLY. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to obtain, +can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of +government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the +colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in the +interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of property will +not choose to come to a country whose form of government hangs but by a +thread, and who is every day tottering on the brink of commotion and +disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants would lay hold of +the interval, to dispense of their effects, and quit the continent. + +But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but +independence, i.e. a continental form of government, can keep the +peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I +dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more +than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or other, +the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of +Britain. + +Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more will +probably suffer the same fate.) Those men have other feelings than us +who have nothing suffered. All they NOW possess is liberty, what they +before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing more to +lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general temper of the +colonies, towards a British government, will be like that of a youth, +who is nearly out of his time; they will care very little about her. +And a government which cannot preserve the peace, is no government at +all, and in that case we pay our money for nothing; and pray what is it +that Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on paper, should a +civil tumult break out the very day after reconciliation! I have heard +some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they +dreaded an independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars. It +is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and that is +the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a patched up +connection than from independence. I make the sufferers case my own, +and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property +destroyed, and my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of +injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or +consider myself bound thereby. + +The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience +to continental government, as is sufficient to make every reasonable +person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least +pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are truly +childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving for +superiority over another. + +Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect +equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and +we may say always) in peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars, +foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are never +long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprising ruffians +at HOME; and that degree of pride and insolence ever attendant on regal +authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers, in instances, +where a republican government, by being formed on more natural +principles, would negotiate the mistake. + +If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence, it is +because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out-- +Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following +hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other +opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise +to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals be +collected, they would frequently form materials for wise and able men +to improve into useful matter. + +LET the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The +representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and subject +to the authority of a Continental Congress. + +Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient +districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to +Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number +in Congress will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose a +president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a +colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after which, +let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from out of the +delegates of that province. In the next Congress, let a colony be +taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from which the +president was taken in the former Congress, and so proceeding on till +the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation. And in order +that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily just not +less than three fifths of the Congress to be called a majority-- He +that will promote discord, under a government so equally formed as +this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt. + +But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, this +business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and +consistent, that it should come from some intermediate body between the +governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and the +people. Let a CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE be held, in the following manner, +and for the following purpose. + +A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each +colony. Two Members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial +Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be +chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for and in behalf +of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall think +proper to attend from all parts of the province for that purpose; or, +if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen in two or three +of the most populous parts thereof. In this conference, thus +assembled, will be united, the two grand principles of business +KNOWLEDGE and POWER. The members of Congress, Assemblies, or +Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be +able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being empowered by the +people, will have a truly legal authority. + +The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a +CONTINENTAL CHARTER, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering to +what is called the Magna Carta of England) fixing the number and manner +of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with their date +of sitting, and drawing the line of business and jurisdiction between +them: (Always remembering, that our strength is continental, not +provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all men, and above all +things, the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of +conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for a charter to +contain. Immediately after which, the said Conference to dissolve, and +the bodies which shall be chosen comformable to the said charter, to be +the legislators and governors of this continent for the time being: +Whose peace and happiness may God preserve, Amen. + +Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some similar +purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise observer on +governments DRAGONETTI. "The science" says he "of the politician +consists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. Those men +would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of +government that contained the greatest sum of individual happiness, +with the least national expense."[1] + +But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you. Friend, +he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal +Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in +earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the +charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word of +God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that +so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America THE LAW IS KING. For +as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the +law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill +use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the +ceremony, be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it +is. + +A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously +reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become +convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a +constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it +in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and +chance. If we omit it now, some[2] Massanello may hereafter arise, +who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the +desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the +powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent +like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into the +hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things will be a +temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in +such a case, that relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the +news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like +the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that +oppose independence now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door +to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government. There +are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious to +expel from the continent that barbarous and hellish power, which hath +stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us; the cruelty hath a +double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and treacherously by them. + +To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to have +faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores instruct us +to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the little +remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any reason to +hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will increase, or +that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more and greater +concerns to quarrel over than ever? + +Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the +time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? +Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord now is +broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. +There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be +nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his +mistress, as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The +Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good +and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. +They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. The social +compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, or have +only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. +The robber, and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not +the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice. + +O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but +the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with +oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and +Africa, have long expelled her--Europe regards her like a stranger, and +England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and +prepare in time an asylum for mankind. + + + + +OF THE PRESENT _ABILITY_ OF _AMERICA_, WITH SOME + MISCELLANEOUS _REFLECTIONS_ + + +I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not +confessed his opinion that a separation between the countries, would +take place one time or other: And there is no instance, in which we +have shewn less judgement, than in endeavouring to describe, what we +call the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independence. + +As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the +time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of +things, and endeavour, if possible, to find out the VERY time. But we +need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the TIME HATH FOUND +US. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things prove +the fact. + +It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; yet +our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world. +The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and +disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that +pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself, +and the whole, when united, can accomplish the matter, and either more, +or, less than this, might be fatal in its effects. Our land force is +already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible, +that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built, +while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no +forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch, than we are now; but +the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the country +is every day diminishing, and that, which will remain at last, will be +far off and difficult to procure. + +Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under the +present circumstances would be intolerable. The more seaport towns we +had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. Our present +numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be +idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and the necessities of +an army create a new trade. + +Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account will +serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity +with a settled form of government, an independent constitution of its +own, the purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions +for the sake of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing the +present ministry only, is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity +with the utmost cruelty; because it is leaving them the great work to +do, and a debt upon their backs, from which they derive no advantage. +Such a thought is unworthy of a man of honor, and is the true +characteristic of a narrow heart and a peddling politician. + +The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard, if the work be +but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national +debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no case a +grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one hundred +and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of four +millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has a large +navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for the +twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy as large +again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more than three +millions and an half sterling. + +The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without +the following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the +above estimation of the navy is just.[3] + +The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with +masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight +months boatswain's and carpenter's seastores, as calculated by Mr. +Burchett, Secretary to the navy. + + pounds Sterling + For a ship of a 100 guns - 35,553 + 90 - - 29,886 + 80 - - 23,638 + 70 - - 17,795 + 60 - - 14,197 + 50 - - 10,606 + 40 - - 7,558 + 30 - - 5,846 + 20 - - 3,710 + + +And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of the +whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was at its greatest +glory consisted of the following ships and guns: + + + Ships. Guns. Cost of one. Cost of all + 6 - 100 - 35,553 - 213,318 + 12 - 90 - 29,886 - 358,632 + 12 - 80 - 23,638 - 283,656 + 43 - 70 - 17,785 - 764,755 + 35 - 60 - 14,197 - 496,895 + 40 - 50 - 10,606 - 424,240 + 45 - 40 - 7,558 - 340,110 + 58 - 20 - 3,710 - 215,180 + + 85 Sloops, bombs, + and fireships, one 2,000 170,000 + with another, _________ + Cost 3,266,786 + Remains for guns, _________ 233,214 + _________ + 3,500,000 + + +No country on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally +capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage +are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas the +Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the +Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of their materials +they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of +commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this country. It is the +best money we can lay out. A navy when finished is worth more than it +cost. And is that nice point in national policy, in which commerce and +protection are united. Let us build; if we want them not, we can sell; +and by that means replace our paper currency with ready gold and silver. + +In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; +it is not necessary that one fourth part should he sailors. The +Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of any +ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her +complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social +sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in the +common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable to +begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing, our +fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ. +Men of war of seventy and eighty guns were built forty years ago in +New-England, and why not the same now? Ship-building is America's +greatest pride, and in which she will in time excel the whole world. +The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and consequently +excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa is in a state +of barbarism; and no power in Europe hath either such an extent of +coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where nature hath +given the one, she has withheld the other; to America only hath she +been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is almost shut out +from the sea: wherefore, her boundless forests, her tar, iron, and +cordage are only articles of commerce. + +In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the +little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we might +have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather; and slept +securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. The case now +is altered, and our methods of defense ought to improve with our +increase of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have +come up the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia under instant +contribution, for what sum he pleased; and the same might have happened +to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig of fourteen or +sixteen guns might have robbed the whole continent, and carried off +half a million of money. These are circumstances which demand our +attention, and point out the necessity of naval protection. + +Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, +she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall +keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? Common sense will tell +us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all +others the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected under +the pretence of friendship; and ourselves after a long and brave +resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships are not +to be admitted into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to protect +us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little use, and +on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must hereafter +protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? + +The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not a +tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of them +not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the list, if +only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part of such as are +fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one time. The +East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts over which +Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her navy. From a +mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a false notion +respecting the navy of England, and have talked as if we should have +the whole of it to encounter at once, and for that reason, supposed, +that we must have one as large; which not being instantly practicable, +have been made use of by a set of disguised Tories to discourage our +beginning thereon. Nothing can be farther from truth than this; for if +America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, she +would be by far an overmatch for her; because, as we neither have, nor +claim any foreign dominion, our whole force would be employed on our +own coast, where we should, in the long run, have two to one the +advantage of those who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, +before they could attack us, and the same distance to return in order +to refit and recruit. And although Britain, by her fleet, hath a check +over our trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the +West Indies, which, by laying in the neighbourhood of the continent, is +entirely at its mercy. + +Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of +peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy. +If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ in their +service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty guns, (the +premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchants) +fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on constant duty, +would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without burdening ourselves +with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their +fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks. To unite the +sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy; for when our strength +and our riches play into each other's hand, we need fear no external +enemy. + +In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even to +rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior to +that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. +Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every +day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our +inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore, +what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we +can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government +of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in. +Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be constantly +happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his +life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The +difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some +unlocated lands, shews the insignificance of a British government, and +fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can regulate +Continental matters. + +Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, +that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied, +which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless +dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the discharge of the +present debt, but to the constant support of government. No nation +under heaven hath such an advantage at this. + +The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being +against, is an argument in favour of independance. We are sufficiently +numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. It is a matter +worthy of observation, that the more a country is peopled, the smaller +their armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the +moderns: and the reason is evident. For trade being the consequence of +population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything +else. Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military +defence. And history sufficiently informs us, that the bravest +achievements were always accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With +the increase of commerce, England hath lost its spirit. The city of +London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with +the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing +are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and +submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel. + +Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in +individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the +Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety +of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would +create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being able +might scorn each other's assistance: and while the proud and foolish +gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament, that the +union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the PRESENT TIME is the +TRUE TIME for establishing it. The intimacy which is contracted in +infancy, and the friendship which is formed in misfortune, are, of all +others, the most lasting and unalterable. Our present union is marked +with both these characters: we are young and we have been distressed; +but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and fixes a memorable area +for posterity to glory in. + +The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never happens +to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a +government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that +means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, +instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and +then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of +government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute them +afterward but from the errors of other nations, let us learn wisdom, +and lay hold of the present opportunity --TO BEGIN GOVERNMENT AT THE +RIGHT END. + +When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the +point of the sword; and until we consent, that the seat of government, +in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in +danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who may treat us +in the same manner, and then, where will be our freedom? where our +property? As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of +all government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I +know of no other business which government hath to do therewith, Let a +man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, +which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, +and he will be at delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is +the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For +myself, I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is the will of the +Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opinions among +us: It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. Were we all +of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter +for probation; and on this liberal principle, I look on the various +denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, +differing only, in what is called, their Christian names. + +In page forty, I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a +Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) and +in this place, I take the liberty of rementioning the subject, by +observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn +obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of every +separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or property. A +firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends. + +In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and +equal representation; and there is no political matter which more +deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small number +of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number of the +representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is +increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the +Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania; +twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks county members, +being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the Chester members +done the same, this whole province had been governed by two counties +only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The unwarrantable +stretch likewise, which that house made in their last sitting, to gain +an undue authority over the delegates of that province, ought to warn +the people at large, how they trust power out of their own hands. A +set of instructions for the Delegates were put together, which in point +of sense and business would have dishonoured a schoolboy, and after +being approved by a FEW, a VERY FEW without doors, were carried into +the House, and there passed IN BEHALF OF THE WHOLE COLONY; whereas, did +the whole colony know, with what ill-will that House hath entered on +some necessary public measures, they would not hesitate a moment to +think them unworthy of such a trust. + +Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued +would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different +things. When the calamities of America required a consultation, there +was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint +persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose; and the +wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent +from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall never be +without a CONGRESS, every well wisher to good order, must own, that the +mode for choosing members of that body, deserves consideration. And I +put it as a question to those, who make a study of mankind, whether +representation and election is not too great a power for one and the +same body of men to possess? When we are planning for posterity, we +ought to remember, that virtue is not hereditary. + +It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are +frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes, Mr. Cornwall (one +of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New-York +Assembly with contempt, because THAT House, he said, consisted but of +twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could not with +decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his involuntary +honesty.[4] + +TO CONCLUDE, however strange it may appear to some, or however +unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and +striking reasons may be given, to shew, that nothing can settle our +affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for +independance. Some of which are, + +FIRST. - It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, for some +other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as mediators, and +bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while America calls +herself the Subject of Great Britain, no power, however well disposed +she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, in our present state +we may quarrel on for ever. + +SECONDLY. - It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or Spain will +give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only, to make use of that +assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and strengthening +the connection between Britain and America; because, those powers would +be sufferers by the consequences. + +THIRDLY. - While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must, +in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The precedent +is somewhat dangerous to THEIR PEACE, for men to be in arms under the +name of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the paradox: but to unite +resistance and subjection, requires an idea much too refined for common +understanding. + +FOURTHLY. - Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to foreign +courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the peaceable +methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring, at the same +time, that not being able, any longer, to live happily or safely under +the cruel disposition of the British court, we had been driven to the +necessity of breaking off all connections with her; at the same time, +assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition towards them, and +of our desire of entering into trade with them: Such a memorial would +produce more good effects to this Continent, than if a ship were +freighted with petitions to Britain. + +Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither be +received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, and +will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other nations. + +These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, like +all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little +time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an independance is +declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues +putting off some unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must +be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over, and is continually +haunted with the thoughts of its necessity. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or rather, +on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech made its +appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the birth +of this production, it could not have brought it forth, at a more +seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. The bloody mindedness +of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing the doctrine of the other. +Men read by way of revenge. And the Speech, instead of terrifying, +prepared a way for the manly principles of Independance. + +Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise, have +a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of countenance to +base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this maxim be admitted, it +naturally follows, that the King's Speech, as being a piece of finished +villany, deserved, and still deserves, a general execration both by the +Congress and the people. Yet, as the domestic tranquillity of a +nation, depends greatly, on the CHASTITY of what may properly be called +NATIONAL MANNERS, it is often better, to pass some things over in +silent disdain, than to make use of such new methods of dislike, as +might introduce the least innovation, on that guardian of our peace and +safety. And, perhaps, it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy, +that the King's Speech, hath not, before now, suffered a public +execution. The Speech if it may be called one, is nothing better than +a wilful audacious libel against the truth, the common good, and the +existence of mankind; and is a formal and pompous method of offering up +human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of +mankind is one of the privileges, and the certain consequence of Kings; +for as nature knows them NOT, they know NOT HER, and although they are +beings of our OWN creating, they know not US, and are become the gods +of their creators. The Speech hath one good quality, which is, that it +is not calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be +deceived by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It +leaves us at no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of +reading, that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored +Indian, is less a Savage than the King of Britain. + +Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical piece, +fallaciously called, "THE ADDRESS OF THE PEOPLE OF _ENGLAND_ TO THE +INHABITANTS OF _AMERICA_," hath, perhaps, from a vain supposition, that +the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and description of a +king, given, (though very unwisely on his part) the real character of +the present one: "But" says this writer, "if you are inclined to pay +compliments to an administration, which we do not complain of," +(meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the repeal of the Stamp Act) +"it is very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince by WHOSE +_NOD ALONE_ THEY WERE PERMITTED TO DO ANY THING." This is toryism with +a witness! Here is idolatry even without a mask: And he who can calmly +hear, and digest such doctrine, hath forfeited his claim to rationality +an apostate from the order of manhood; and ought to be considered as +one, who hath not only given up the proper dignity of man, but sunk +himself beneath the rank of animals, and contemptibly crawl through the +world like a worm. + +However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either +says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human +obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by a +steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty, procured for +himself an universal hatred. It is NOW the interest of America to +provide for herself. She hath already a large and young family, whom +it is more her duty to take care of, than to be granting away her +property, to support a power who is become a reproach to the names of +men and christians--YE, whose office it is to watch over the morals of +a nation, of whatsoever sect or denomination ye are of, as well as ye, +who, are more immediately the guardians of the public liberty, if ye +wish to preserve your native country uncontaminated by European +corruption, ye must in secret wish a separation--But leaving the moral +part to private reflection, I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks +to the following heads. + +First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from Britain. + +Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, +RECONCILIATION OR INDEPENDANCE? With some occasional remarks. + +In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the +opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this +continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly +known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a +state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped and +fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any material +eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and although the +progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the history of +other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what she would be +capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have, the legislative +powers in her own hands. England is, at this time, proudly coveting +what would do her no good, were she to accomplish it; and the Continent +hesitating on a matter, which will be her final ruin if neglected. It +is the commerce and not the conquest of America, by which England is to +be benefited, and that would in a great measure continue, were the +countries as independant of each other as France and Spain; because in +many articles, neither can go to a better market. But it is the +independance of this country of Britain or any other, which is now the +main and only object worthy of contention, and which, like all other +truths discovered by necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every +day. + +First. Because it will come to that one time or other. + +Secondly. Because, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to +accomplish. + +I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies, +with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak without +reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the following seems +the most general, viz. that had this rupture happened forty or fifty +years hence, instead of NOW, the Continent would have been more able to +have shaken off the dependance. To which I reply, that our military +ability, AT THIS TIME, arises from the experience gained in the last +war, and which in forty or fifty years time, would have been totally +extinct. The Continent, would not, by that time, have had a General, +or even a military officer left; and we, or those who may succeed us, +would have been as ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians: +And this single position, closely attended to, will unanswerably prove, +that the present time is preferable to all others. The argument turns +thus--at the conclusion of the last war, we had experience, but wanted +numbers; and forty or fifty years hence, we should have numbers, +without experience; wherefore, the proper point of time, must be some +particular point between the two extremes, in which a sufficiency of +the former remains, and a proper increase of the latter is obtained: +And that point of time is the present time. + +The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come +under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by the +following position, viz. + +Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the +governing and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now +circumstanced, is giving up the point entirely) we shall deprive +ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may +contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces are +clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extension of the limits of +Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, amount +to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency; and the +quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions yearly. + +It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without +burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always lessen, +and in time, will wholly support the yearly expence of government. It +matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that the lands when sold +be applied to the discharge of it, and for the execution of which, the +Congress for the time being, will be the continental trustees. + +I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest and most +practicable plan, RECONCILIATION or INDEPENDANCE; With some occasional +remarks. + +He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his +argument, and on that ground, I answer GENERALLY--THAT _INDEPENDANCE_ +BEING A _SINGLE SIMPLE LINE,_ CONTAINED WITHIN OURSELVES; AND +RECONCILIATION, A MATTER EXCEEDINGLY PERPLEXED AND COMPLICATED, AND IN +WHICH, A TREACHEROUS CAPRICIOUS COURT IS TO INTERFERE, GIVES THE ANSWER +WITHOUT A DOUBT. + +The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is +capable of reflexion. Without law, without government, without any +other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy. +Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which, is +nevertheless subject to change, and which, every secret enemy is +endeavouring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, Legislation +without law; wisdom without a plan; a constitution without a name; and, +what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independance contending for +dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never +existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property +of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The mind +of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object before +them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is +criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one +thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dared not +have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that +act, were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction +should be drawn, between, English soldiers taken in battle, and +inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but the +latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head. + +Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of +our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The +Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not done +in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall into a +state, in which, neither RECONCILIATION nor INDEPENDANCE will be +practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at their old +game of dividing the Continent, and there are not wanting among us, +Printers, who will be busy in spreading specious falsehoods. The +artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few months ago in two +of the New York papers, and likewise in two others, is an evidence that +there are men who want either judgment or honesty. + +It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of +reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult the +task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent divide +thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various orders of men +whose situation and circumstances, as well as their own, are to be +considered therein. Do they put themselves in the place of the +sufferer whose ALL is ALREADY gone, and of the soldier, who hath +quitted ALL for the defence of his country. If their ill judged +moderation be suited to their own private situations only, regardless +of others, the event will convince them, that "they are reckoning +without their Host." + +Put us, says some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which I +answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply with, +neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should be +granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a +corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another +parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the obligation, +on the pretense, of its being violently obtained, or unwisely granted; +and in that case, Where is our redress?--No going to law with nations; +cannon are the barristers of Crowns; and the sword, not of justice, but +of war, decides the suit. To be on the footing of sixty-three, it is +not sufficient, that the laws only be put on the same state, but, that +our circumstances, likewise, be put on the same state; Our burnt and +destroyed towns repaired or built up, our private losses made good, our +public debts (contracted for defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall +be millions worse than we were at that enviable period. Such a +request, had it been complied with a year ago, would have won the heart +and soul of the Continent--but now it is too late, "The Rubicon is +passed." + +Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a +pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as +repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce obedience +thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the means; for +the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such trifles. It +is the violence which is done and threatened to our persons; the +destruction of our property by an armed force; the invasion of our +country by fire and sword, which conscientiously qualifies the use of +arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of defence became +necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have ceased; and the +independancy of America, should have been considered, as dating its +aera from, and published by, THE FIRST MUSKET THAT WAS FIRED AGAINST +HER. This line is a line of consistency; neither drawn by caprice, nor +extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of events, of which the +colonies were not the authors. + +I shall conclude these remarks with the following timely and well +intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are three different +ways by which an independancy may hereafter be effected; and that ONE +of those THREE, will one day or other, be the fate of America, viz. By +the legal voice of the people in Congress; by a military power; or by a +mob--It may not always happen that OUR soldiers are citizens, and the +multitude a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I have already remarked, +is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. Should an independancy be +brought about by the first of those means, we have every opportunity +and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest +constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to +begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath +not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new +world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe +contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a +few months. The Reflexion is awful--and in this point of view, How +trifling, how ridiculous, do the little, paltry cavillings, of a few +weak or interested men appear, when weighed against the business of a +world. + +Should we neglect the present favourable and inviting period, and an +Independance be hereafter effected by any other means, we must charge +the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose narrow and +prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure, without either +inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be given in support of +Independance, which men should rather privately think of, than be +publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating whether we shall be +independant or not, but, anxious to accomplish it on a firm, secure, +and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it is not yet began upon. +Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories (if such +beings yet remain among us) should, of all men, be the most solicitous +to promote it; for, as the appointment of committees at first, +protected them from popular rage, so, a wise and well established form +of government, will be the only certain means of continuing it securely +to them. WHEREFORE, if they have not virtue enough to be WHIGS, they +ought to have prudence enough to wish for Independance. + +In short, Independance is the only BOND that can tye and keep us +together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally +shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well, as a cruel enemy. +We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with Britain; for +there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, will be less +hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace, than with +those, whom she denominates, "rebellious subjects," for terms of +accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her to hope for +conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As we +have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our trade to obtain a +redress of our grievances, let us now try the alternative, by +independantly redressing them ourselves, and then offering to open the +trade. The mercantile and reasonable part in England, will be still +with us; because, peace with trade, is preferable to war without it. +And if this offer be not accepted, other courts may be applied to. + +On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been made +to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this +pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be +refuted, or, that the party in favour of it are too numerous to be +opposed. WHEREFORE, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious or +doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold out to his neighbour the +hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like an +act of oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissension. +Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none other be heard +among us, than those of A GOOD CITIZEN, AN OPEN AND RESOLUTE FRIEND, +AND A VIRTUOUS SUPPORTER OF THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND AND OF THE _FREE AND +INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA_. + +To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called +Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the late +piece, entitled "THE ANCIENT TESTIMONY and PRINCIPLES of the People +called QUAKERS renewed, with Respect to the KING and GOVERNMENT, and +touching the COMMOTIONS now prevailing in these and other parts of +AMERICA addressed to the PEOPLE IN GENERAL." + +The Writer of this, is one of those few, who never dishonours religion +either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever. To +God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of religion. +Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to you as a +religious, but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which the +professed Quietude of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with. +As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in +the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of this, in +order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the necessity, +of putting himself in the place of all those, who, approve the very +writings and principles, against which, your testimony is directed: +And he hath chosen this singular situation, in order, that you might +discover in him that presumption of character which you cannot see in +yourselves. For neither he nor you can have any claim or title to +POLITICAL REPRESENTATION. + +When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they +stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have +managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) is +not your proper Walk; for however well adapted it might appear to you, +it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely together, +and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and unjust. + +The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you +credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love and +desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural, as +well the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this +ground, as men labouring to establish an Independant Constitution of +our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. OUR PLAN +IS PEACE FOR EVER. We are tired of contention with Britain, and can +see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act consistently, +because for the sake of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace, +do we bear the evils and burthens of the present day. We are +endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavour, to separate and +dissolve a connexion which hath already filled our land with blood; and +which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal cause of future +mischiefs to both countries. + +We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor +passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, nor +ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines are +we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the violence +committed against us. We view our enemies in the character of +Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves in +the civil law, are obliged to punish them by the military one, and +apply the sword, in the very case, where you have before now, applied +the halter-- Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted sufferers in +all and every part of the continent, with a degree of tenderness which +hath not yet made its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye sure +that ye mistake not the cause and ground of your Testimony. Call not +coldness of soul, religion; nor put the BIGOT in the place of the +CHRISTIAN. + +O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the +bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by all +the difference between wilful attack, and unavoidable defence. +Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make a +political hobbyhorse of your religion convince the world thereof, by +proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, FOR THEY LIKEWISE BEAR +_ARMS_. Give us proof of your sincerity by publishing it at St. +James's, to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the Admirals and +Captains who are piratically ravaging our coasts, and to all the +murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under HIM whom ye +profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul of BARCLAY ye would preach +repentance to YOUR king; Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and +warn him of eternal ruin.[5] Ye would not spend your partial invectives +against the injured and the insulted only, but, like faithful +ministers, would cry aloud and SPARE NONE. Say not that ye are +persecuted, neither endeavour to make us the authors of that reproach, +which, ye are bringing upon yourselves; for we testify unto all men, +that we do not complain against you because ye are Quakers, but because +ye pretend to be and are NOT Quakers. + +Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your +testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was reduced +to, and comprehended in, THE ACT OF BEARING ARMS, and that by the +people only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for conscience; +because, the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity--And it is +exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to many of your pretended +scruples; because, we see them made by the same men, who, in the very +instant that they are exclaiming against the mammon of this world, are +nevertheless, hunting after it with a step as steady as Time, and an +appetite as keen as Death. + +The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of +your testimony, that, "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh +even his enemies to be at peace with him"; is very unwisely chosen on +your part; because, it amounts to a proof, that the king's ways (whom +ye are desirous of supporting) do NOT please the Lord, otherwise, his +reign would be in peace. + +I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for which +all the foregoing seems only an introduction viz. + +"It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called to +profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences unto +this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and governments, +is God's peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to himself: And +that it is not our business to have any hand or contrivance therein; +nor to be busy bodies above our station, much less to plot and contrive +the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but to pray for the king, and +safety of our nation, and good of all men--That we may live a peaceable +and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty; UNDER THE GOVERNMENT +WHICH GOD IS PLEASED TO SET OVER US"--If these are REALLY your +principles why do ye not abide by them? Why do ye not leave that, +which ye call God's Work, to be managed by himself? These very +principles instruct you to wait with patience and humility, for the +event of all public measures, and to receive that event as the divine +will towards you. Wherefore, what occasion is there for your POLITICAL +TESTIMONY if you fully believe what it contains? And the very +publishing it proves, that either, ye do not believe what ye profess, +or have not virtue enough to practise what ye believe. + +The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the +quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government WHICH IS SET +OVER HIM. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and +governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will not +be robbed thereof by us: wherefore, the principle itself leads you to +approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to kings as +being his work. OLIVER CROMWELL thanks you. CHARLES, then, died not +by the hands of man; and should the present Proud Imitator of him, come +to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of the Testimony, +are bound, by the doctrine it contains, to applaud the fact. Kings are +not taken away by miracles, neither are changes in governments brought +about by any other means than such as are common and human; and such as +we are now using. Even the dispersion of the Jews, though foretold by +our Saviour, was effected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the +means on one side, ye ought not to be meddlers on the other; but to +wait the issue in silence; and unless ye can produce divine authority, +to prove, that the Almighty who hath created and placed this new world, +at the greatest distance it could possibly stand, east and west, from +every part of the old, doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being +independent of the corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless I +say, ye can shew this, how can ye on the ground of your principles, +justify the exciting and stirring up the people "firmly to unite in the +abhorrence of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire and +design to break off the happy connexion we have hitherto enjoyed, with +the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just and necessary subordination +to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in authority under him." +What a slap of the face is here! the men, who in the very paragraph +before, have quietly and passively resigned up the ordering, altering, +and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands of God, are now, +recalling their principles, and putting in for a share of the business. +Is it possible, that the conclusion, which is here justly quoted, can +any ways follow from the doctrine laid down? The inconsistency is too +glaring not to be seen; the absurdity too great not to be laughed at; +and such as could only have been made by those, whose understandings +were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political +party; for ye are not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers +but only as a factional and fractional part thereof. + +Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no man +to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;) to +which I subjoin the following remark; "That the setting up and putting +down of kings," most certainly mean, the making him a king, who is yet +not so, and the making him no king who is already one. And pray what +hath this to do in the present case? We neither mean to set up nor to +pull down, neither to make nor to unmake, but to have nothing to do +with them. Wherefore, your testimony in whatever light it is viewed +serves only to dishonor your judgement, and for many other reasons had +better have been let alone than published. + +First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion +whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society to make it a party in +political disputes. + +Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow +the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and +approvers thereof. + +Thirdly, because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony +and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable +donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of which, +is of the utmost consequence to us all. + +And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely +wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always fully and +uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in your +turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example which ye +have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, MAY BE DISAVOWED +AND REPROBATED BY EVERY INHABITANT OF _AMERICA._ + + + +[1] Dragonetti on virtue and rewards. + +[2] Thomas Anello otherwise Massanello a fisherman of Naples, who after +spiriting up his countrymen in the public marketplace, against the +oppressions of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then subject +prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became king. + +[3] See Entic's naval history, intro. page 56. + +[4] Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large +and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh's political +disquisitions. + +[5] "Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it +is to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to +rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason to +know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after all +these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord +with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, +and give up thyself to fallow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy +condemnation.-- Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those +who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent +and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to that light of Christ +which shineth in thy conscience, and which neither can, nor will +flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins."--Barclay's +address to Charles II. + + + + +F I N I S. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Common Sense, by Thomas Paine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMON SENSE *** + +***** This file should be named 147.txt or 147.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/147/ + +Produced by John Campbell. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + +Entered by John Campbell CAMPBJW@WKUVX1.BITNET + + +PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT OF _COMMON SENSE_ BY THOMAS PAINE +Mr. Paine's footnotes are contained within brackets [ ] within the text. + +As this is my first attempt at Etext transcription, I welcome +all comments and suggestions - I trust there shall be many! +I had an especially difficult time keeping margins even as +the word processor I started with could not handle such a large +file and the program I changed to was one I had not used before +so there were some quirks I had not expected. Most of the text +in all caps was in italics in the version of the book I used. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + + +Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, +are not YET sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; +a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial +appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry +in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. +Time makes more converts than reason. + +As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means +of calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too which +might never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated +into the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken +in his OWN RIGHT, to support the Parliament in what he calls THEIRS, +and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed +by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into +the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either. + +In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every +thing which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as +censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the worthy, +need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments +are injudicious, or unfriendly, will cease of themselves unless +too much pains are bestowed upon their conversion. + +The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. +Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, +and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind are affected, +and in the Event of which, their Affections are interested. +The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War +against the natural rights of all Mankind, and extirpating +the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the Concern +of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; +of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the AUTHOR. + +P.S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, +with a View of taking notice (had it been necessary) +of any Attempt to refute the Doctrine of Independance: +As no Answer hath yet appeared, it is now presumed that none will, +the Time needful for getting such a Performance ready for the Public +being considerably past. + +Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the Public, +as the Object for Attention is the DOCTRINE ITSELF, not the MAN. Yet it may +not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected with any Party, and under no +sort of Influence public or private, but the influence of reason and principle. + +Philadelphia, February 14, 1776 + + + + +OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL. +WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION + + + +Some writers have so confounded society with government, +as to leave little or no distinction between them; +whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. +Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; +the former promotes our POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, +the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one +encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. +The first a patron, the last a punisher. + +Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best +state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; +for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, +which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity +is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. +Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings +are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses +of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need +no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary +to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection +of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every +other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least. WHEREFORE, +security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows, +that whatever FORM thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, +with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. + +In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of +government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some +sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will +then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world. +In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first thought. +A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength of one man +is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual +solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of +another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would +be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness, +but one man might labour out of the common period of life without +accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber he could not +remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in the mean time +would urge him from his work, and every different want call him +a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be death, +for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him +from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might +rather be said to perish than to die. + +Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly +arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which, +would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government +unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; +but as nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will +unavoidably happen, that in proportion as they surmount the first +difficulties of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, +they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; +and this remissness will point out the necessity of establishing +some form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue. + +Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the branches +of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. +It is more than probable that their first laws will have the title only +of REGULATIONS, and be enforced by no other penalty than public disesteem. +In this first parliament every man, by natural right, will have a seat. + +But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase +likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, +will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on +every occasion as at first, when their number was small, +their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. +This will point out the convenience of their consenting to leave +the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen +from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns +at stake which those who appointed them, and who will act in the +same manner as the whole body would act, were they present. +If the colony continues increasing, it will become necessary +to augment the number of the representatives, and that the interest +of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found +best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending +its proper number; and that the ELECTED might never form to themselves +an interest separate from the ELECTORS, prudence will point out +the propriety of having elections often; because as the ELECTED +might by that means return and mix again with the general body +of the ELECTORS in a few months, their fidelity to the public +will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod +for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish +a common interest with every part of the community, they will +mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on +the unmeaning name of king) depends the STRENGTH OF GOVERNMENT, +AND THE HAPPINESS OF THE GOVERNED. + +Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered +necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; +here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom and security. +And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by sound; +however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, +the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right. + +I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature, +which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is, +the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired +when disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks +on the so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble +for the dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. +When the world was overrun with tyranny the least remove therefrom +was a glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions, +and incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily demonstrated. + +Absolute governments (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this +advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer, +they know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise +the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. +But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, +that the nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover +in which part the fault lies; some will say in one and some in another, +and every political physician will advise a different medicine. + +I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices, +yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of the +English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains of two +ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican materials. + + +FIRST - The remains of monarchial tyranny in the person of the king. +SECONDLY - The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers. +THIRDLY - The new republican materials in the persons of the commons, + on whose virtue depends the freedom of England. + + +The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people; +wherefore in a CONSTITUTIONAL SENSE they contribute nothing towards +the freedom of the state. + +To say that the constitution of England is a UNION of three powers +reciprocally CHECKING each other, is farcical, either the words have +no meaning, or they are flat contradictions. + +To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two things: + +FIRST - That the king is not to be trusted without being looked after, +or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the natural +disease of monarchy. + +SECONDLY - That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose, +are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown. + +But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to check +the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the king a power +to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their other bills; +it again supposes that the king is wiser than those whom it has already +supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity! + +There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of monarchy; +it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him +to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king +shuts him from the world, yet the business of a king requires him to know +it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, by unnaturally opposing +and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless. + +Some writers have explained the English constitution thus: The king, +say they, is one, the people another; the peers are a house in behalf +of the king, the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all +the distinctions of a house divided against itself; and though +the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined, +they appear idle and ambiguous; and it will always happen, +that the nicest construction that words are capable of, +when applied to the description of some thing which either +cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be within +the compass of description, will be words of sound only, +and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, +for this explanation includes a previous question, viz. +HOW CAME THE KING BY A POWER WHICH THE PEOPLE ARE AFRAID TO TRUST, +AND ALWAYS OBLIGED TO CHECK? Such a power could not be the gift +of a wise people, neither can any power, WHICH NEEDS CHECKING, +be from God; yet the provision, which the constitution makes, +supposes such a power to exist. + +But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot +or will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se; +for as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all +the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to know +which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that will govern; +and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or, as the phrase is, +check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as they cannot stop it, +their endeavours will be ineffectual; the first moving power will +at last have its way, and what it wants in speed, is supplied by time. + +That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution, +needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence +merely from being the giver of places and pensions, is self-evident, +wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door +against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish +enough to put the crown in possession of the key. + +The prejudice of Englishmen in favour of their own government by king, +lords, and commons, arises as much or more from national pride than reason. +Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in some other countries, +but the WILL of the king is as much the LAW of the land in Britain +as in France, with this difference, that instead of proceeding directly +from his mouth, it is handed to the people under the more formidable shape +of an act of parliament. For the fate of Charles the First hath only made +kings more subtle--not more just. + +Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice +in favour of modes and forms, the plain truth is, that +IT IS WHOLLY OWING TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE, +AND NOT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT, +that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey. + +An inquiry into the CONSTITUTIONAL ERRORS in the English form +of government is at this time highly necessary; for as we are never +in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under +the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of +doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice. +And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose +or judge a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution +of government will disable us from discerning a good one. + + + + +OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION + + + +Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality +could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance; the distinctions +of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be accounted for, and that without +having recourse to the harsh, ill-sounding names of oppression and avarice. +Oppression is often the CONSEQUENCE, but seldom or never the MEANS of riches; +and though avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, +it generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy. + +But there is another and greater distinction, for which no truly natural +or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the distinction of men +into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, +good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into +the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, +is worth inquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness +or of misery to mankind. + +In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, +there were no kings; the consequence of which was, there were no wars; +it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland +without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any +of the monarchial governments in Europe. Antiquity favours the same +remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath +a happy something in them, which vanishes away when we come to the +history of Jewish royalty. + +Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the +Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. +It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot +for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honours +to their deceased kings, and the Christian world hath improved +on the plan, by doing the same to their living ones. How impious +is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst +of his splendor is crumbling into dust! + +As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified +on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the +authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared +by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government +by kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have been very smoothly +glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the +attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. +RENDER UNTO CAESAR THE THINGS WHICH ARE CAESAR'S is the scripture +doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of monarchical government, +for the Jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage +to the Romans. + +Now three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the +creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. +Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases, +where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administered +by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, +and it was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title +but the Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous +homage which is paid to the persons of kings, he need not wonder that +the Almighty, ever jealous of his honour, should disapprove of a form +of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven. + +Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, +for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. +The history of that transaction is worth attending to. + +The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon +marched against them with a small army, and victory, through the +divine interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews, elate with +success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, +proposed making him a king, saying, RULE THOU OVER US, THOU AND THY +SON AND THY SON'S SON. Here was temptation in its fullest extent; +not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon +in the piety of his soul replied, I WILL NOT RULE OVER YOU, +NEITHER SHALL MY SON RULE OVER YOU _THE LORD SHALL RULE OVER YOU._ +Words need not be more explicit; Gideon doth not decline the honour, +but denieth their right to give it; neither doth he compliment them +with invented declarations of his thanks, but in the positive style +of a prophet charges them with disaffection to their proper Sovereign, +the King of heaven. + +About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into +the same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous +customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but +so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons, +who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an abrupt +and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, BEHOLD THOU ART OLD, AND THY +SONS WALK NOT IN THY WAYS, NOW MAKE US A KING TO JUDGE US, LIKE ALL +OTHER NATIONS. And here we cannot but observe that their motives +were bad, viz. that they might be LIKE unto other nations, i.e. the +Heathens, whereas their true glory laid in being as much UNLIKE them +as possible. BUT THE THING DISPLEASED SAMUEL WHEN THEY SAID, GIVE US +A KING TO JUDGE US; AND SAMUEL PRAYED UNTO THE LORD, AND THE LORD +SAID UNTO SAMUEL, HEARKEN UNTO THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE IN ALL THAT +THEY SAY UNTO THEE, FOR THEY HAVE NOT REJECTED THEE, BUT THEY HAVE +REJECTED ME, _THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM._ ACCORDING TO +ALL THE WORKS WHICH THEY HAVE SINCE THE DAY THAT I BROUGHT THEM +UP OUT OF EGYPT, EVEN UNTO THIS DAY; WHEREWITH THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME +AND SERVED OTHER GODS; SO DO THEY ALSO UNTO THEE. NOW THEREFORE HEARKEN +UNTO THEIR VOICE, HOWBEIT, PROTEST SOLEMNLY UNTO THEM AND SHEW THEM +THE MANNER OF THE KING THAT SHALL REIGN OVER THEM, I.E. not of any +particular king, but the general manner of the kings of the earth, +whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And notwithstanding the +great distance of time and difference of manners, the character is +still in fashion. AND SAMUEL TOLD ALL THE WORDS OF THE LORD UNTO +THE PEOPLE, THAT ASKED OF HIM A KING. AND HE SAID, THIS SHALL BE +THE MANNER OF THE KING THAT SHALL REIGN OVER YOU; HE WILL TAKE YOUR +SONS AND APPOINT THEM FOR HIMSELF, FOR HIS CHARIOTS, AND TO BE HIS +HORSEMAN, AND SOME SHALL RUN BEFORE HIS CHARIOTS (this description +agrees with the present mode of impressing men) AND HE WILL APPOINT +HIM CAPTAINS OVER THOUSANDS AND CAPTAINS OVER FIFTIES, AND WILL SET THEM +TO EAR HIS GROUND AND REAP HIS HARVEST, AND TO MAKE HIS INSTRUMENTS OF WAR, +AND INSTRUMENTS OF HIS CHARIOTS; AND HE WILL TAKE YOUR DAUGHTERS +TO BE CONFECTIONARIES, AND TO BE COOKS AND TO BE BAKERS +(this describes the expense and luxury as well as the oppression +of kings) AND HE WILL TAKE YOUR FIELDS AND YOUR OLIVE YARDS, +EVEN THE BEST OF THEM, AND GIVE THEM TO HIS SERVANTS; +AND HE WILL TAKE THE TENTH OF YOUR SEED, AND OF YOUR VINEYARDS, +AND GIVE THEM TO HIS OFFICERS AND TO HIS SERVANTS +(by which we see that bribery, corruption, and favouritism +are the standing vices of kings) AND HE WILL TAKE THE TENTH +OF YOUR MEN SERVANTS, AND YOUR MAID SERVANTS, AND YOUR +GOODLIEST YOUNG MEN AND YOUR ASSES, AND PUT THEM TO HIS WORK; +AND HE WILL TAKE THE TENTH OF YOUR SHEEP, AND YE SHALL BE HIS SERVANTS, +AND YE SHALL CRY OUT IN THAT DAY BECAUSE OF YOUR KING WHICH YE SHALL HAVE +CHOSEN, _AND THE LORD WILL NOT HEAR YOU IN THAT DAY._ +This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; +neither do the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, +either sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; +the high encomium given of David takes no notice of him +OFFICIALLY AS A KING, but only as a MAN after God's own heart. +NEVERTHELESS THE PEOPLE REFUSED TO OBEY THE VOICE OF SAMUEL, +AND THEY SAID, NAY, BUT WE WILL HAVE A KING OVER US, +THAT WE MAY BE LIKE ALL THE NATIONS, AND THAT OUR KING MAY JUDGE US, +AND GO OUT BEFORE US, AND FIGHT OUR BATTLES. +Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; he set before +them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and seeing them fully +bent on their folly, he cried out, I WILL CALL UNTO THE LORD, +AND HE SHALL SEND THUNDER AND RAIN (which then was a punishment, +being in the time of wheat harvest) THAT YE MAY PERCEIVE AND SEE +THAT YOUR WICKEDNESS IS GREAT WHICH YE HAVE DONE IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD, +AND THE LORD SENT THUNDER AND RAIN THAT DAY, AND ALL THE PEOPLE GREATLY +FEARED THE LORD AND SAMUEL. AND ALL THE PEOPLE SAID UNTO SAMUEL, +PRAY FOR THY SERVANTS UNTO THE LORD THY GOD THAT WE DIE NOT, +FOR _WE HAVE ADDED UNTO OUR SINS THIS EVIL, TO ASK A KING._ +These portions of scripture are direct and positive. +They admit of no equivocal construction. That the Almighty +hath here entered his protest against monarchical government, +is true, or the scripture is false. And a man hath good reason +to believe that there is as much of kingcraft, as priestcraft, +in withholding the scripture from the public in Popish countries. +For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government. + +To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession; +and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, +so the second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult +and an imposition on posterity. For all men being originally equals, +no ONE by BIRTH could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual +preference to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve SOME +decent degree of honours of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might +be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest NATURAL proofs +of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, +otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by +giving mankind an ASS FOR A LION. + +Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honours +than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honours could have +no power to give away the right of posterity. And though they might +say, "We choose you for OUR head," they could not, without manifest +injustice to their children, say, "that your children and your +children's children shall reign over OURS for ever." Because such +an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next +succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. +Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated +hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, +which when once established is not easily removed; +many submit from fear, others from superstition, +and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest. + +This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had an +honourable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we take +off the dark covering of antiquities, and trace them to their first rise, +that we should find the first of them nothing better than the +principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners +or preeminence in subtlety obtained the title of chief among plunderers; +and who by increasing in power, and extending his depredations, +overawed the quiet and defenseless to purchase their safety +by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no idea +of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a perpetual +exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and unrestrained +principles they professed to live by. Wherefore, hereditary succession +in the early ages of monarchy could not take place as a matter of claim, +but as something casual or complemental; but as few or no records were +extant in those days, and traditional history stuffed with fables, +it was very easy, after the lapse of a few generations, to trump up some +superstitious tale, conveniently timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary +right down the throats of the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, +or seemed to threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one +(for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced many +at first to favour hereditary pretensions; by which means it happened, as it +hath happened since, that what at first was submitted to as a convenience, +was afterwards claimed as a right. + +England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, +but groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his +senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a very +honourable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and +establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, +is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. It certainly hath no +divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend much time in exposing +the folly of hereditary right; if there are any so weak as to believe it, +let them promiscuously worship the ass and lion, and welcome. +I shall neither copy their humility, nor disturb their devotion. + +Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first? The +question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by election, +or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it establishes a +precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary succession. Saul was +by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary, neither does it appear +from that transaction there was any intention it ever should be. If the +first king of any country was by election, that likewise establishes a +precedent for the next; for to say, that the RIGHT of all future +generations is taken away, by the act of the first electors, +in their choice not only of a king, but of a family of kings for ever, +hath no parallel in or out of scripture but the doctrine of original sin, +which supposes the free will of all men lost in Adam; +and from such comparison, and it will admit of no other, +hereditary succession can derive no glory. For as in Adam all sinned, +and as in the first electors all men obeyed; as in the one all mankind +were subjected to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty; as our innocence +was lost in the first, and our authority in the last; and as both disable +us from reassuming some former state and privilege, it unanswerably +follows that original sin and hereditary succession are parallels. +Dishonourable rank! Inglorious connection! Yet the most subtle sophist +cannot produce a juster simile. + +As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that +William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be contradicted. +The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English monarchy will not +bear looking into. + +But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary succession +which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and wise men +it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens a door +to the FOOLISH, the WICKED, and the IMPROPER, it hath in it the nature +of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign, +and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest +of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; +and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, +that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, +and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant +and unfit of any throughout the dominions. + +Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne +is subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time +the regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity +and inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune happens, +when a king, worn out with age and infirmity, enters the last stage +of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes a prey +to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the follies +either of age or infancy. + +The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of +hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil wars; +and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the most +barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history of +England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have reigned +in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time there +have been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil wars +and nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace, it +makes against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to stand on. + +The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York +and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years. +Twelve pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought between +Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in his turn +was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war and the +temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are the ground +of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a prison to a palace, +and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a foreign land; yet, +as sudden transitions of temper are seldom lasting, Henry in his turn +was driven from the throne, and Edward recalled to succeed him. +The parliament always following the strongest side. + +This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not entirely +extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families were united. +Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489. + +In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom only) +but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of government which the word +of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it. + +If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in some +countries they have none; and after sauntering away their lives +without pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, +withdraw from the scene, and leave their successors to tread +the same idle ground. In absolute monarchies the whole weight of business, +civil and military, lies on the king; the children of Israel in their +request for a king, urged this plea "that he may judge us, and go out +before us and fight our battles." But in countries where he is neither +a judge nor a general, as in England, a man would be puzzled to know +what IS his business. + +The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business +there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name +for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a republic; +but in its present state it is unworthy of the name, because the corrupt +influence of the crown, by having all the places in its disposal, +hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and eaten out the virtue +of the house of commons (the republican part in the constitution) +that the government of England is nearly as monarchical as that of France +or Spain. Men fall out with names without understanding them. +For it is the republican and not the monarchical part of the constitution +of England which Englishmen glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing an house +of commons from out of their own body--and it is easy to see that when +republican virtue fails, slavery ensues. Why is the constitution +of England sickly, but because monarchy hath poisoned the republic, +the crown hath engrossed the commons? + +In England a king hath little more to do than to make war +and give away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish +the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed +for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, +and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man +to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians +that ever lived. + + + + +THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS + + + +In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, +plain arguments, and common sense; and have no other Preliminaries +to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice +and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine +for themselves; that he will put ON, or rather that he will not put OFF +the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond +the present day. + +Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between +England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the controversy, +from different motives, and with various designs; but all have been +ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as the last +resource, decide this contest; the appeal was the choice of the king, +and the continent hath accepted the challenge. + +It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho' an +able minister was not without his faults) that on his being +attacked in the house of commons, on the score, that his measures +were only of a temporary kind, replied "THEY WILL LAST MY TIME." +Should a thought so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies +in the present contest, the name of ancestors will be remembered +by future generations with detestation. + +The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not +the affair of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom, but of +a continent--of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. +'Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are +virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less +affected, even to the end of time, by the proceedings now. +Now is the seed-time of continental union, faith and honour. +The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point +of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound will enlarge +with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters. + +By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new aera +for politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. +All plans, proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April, +i. e. to the commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacs +of the last year; which, though proper then are superseded +and useless now. Whatever was advanced by the advocates on +either side of the question then, terminated in one and the +same point. viz. a union with Great-Britain: the only difference +between the parties was the method of effecting it; the one +proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath so far +happened that the first hath failed, and the second hath +withdrawn her influence. + +As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation which, +like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, +it is but right, that we should examine the contrary side +of the argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries +which these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, +by being connected with, and dependent on Great Britain: +To examine that connection and dependence, on the principles +of nature and common sense, to see what we have to trust to, +if separated, and what we are to expect, if dependant. + +I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath +flourished under her former connection with Great Britain +that the same connection is necessary towards her future +happiness, and will always have the same effect. +Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. +We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk +that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years +of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. +But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, +that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, +had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, +by which she hath enriched herself, are the necessaries of life, +and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe. + +But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed +us is true, and defended the continent at our expense as well +as her own is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey +from the same motive, viz. the sake of trade and dominion. + +Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, +and made large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted +the protection of Great Britain, without considering, +that her motive was INTEREST not ATTACHMENT; that she +did not protect us from OUR ENEMIES on OUR ACCOUNT, +but from HER ENEMIES on HER OWN ACCOUNT, from those +who had no quarrel with us on any OTHER ACCOUNT, +and who will always be our enemies on the SAME ACCOUNT. +Let Britain wave her pretensions to the continent, +or the continent throw off the dependence, and we should +be at peace with France and Spain were they at war with Britain. +The miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connections. + +It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies +have no relation to each other but through the parent country, +i. e. that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, +are sister colonies by the way of England; this is certainly +a very round-about way of proving relationship, but it is the +nearest and only true way of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. +France and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies +as AMERICANS, but as our being the subjects of GREAT BRITAIN. + +But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame +upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, +nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, +if true, turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, +or only partly so and the phrase PARENT or MOTHER COUNTRY +hath been jesuitically adopted by the king and his parasites, +with a low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias +on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, +is the parent country of America. This new world hath been the asylum +for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from EVERY PART +of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but +from the cruelty of the monster; and it is so far true of England, +that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, +pursues their descendants still. + +In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits +of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) +and carry our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood +with every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment. + +It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations +we surmount the force of local prejudice, as we enlarge +our acquaintance with the world. A man born in any town +in England divided into parishes, will naturally associate most +with his fellow-parishioners (because their interests in many +cases will be common) and distinguish him by the name of NEIGHBOUR; +if he meet him but a few miles from home, he drops the narrow idea +of a street, and salutes him by the name of TOWNSMAN; if he travel out +of the county, and meet him in any other, he forgets the minor divisions +of street and town, and calls him COUNTRYMAN, i. e. COUNTRYMAN; +but if in their foreign excursions they should associate in France +or any other part of EUROPE, their local remembrance would be enlarged +into that of ENGLISHMEN. And by a just parity of reasoning, +all Europeans meeting in America, or any other quarter of the globe, +are COUNTRYMEN; for England, Holland, Germany, or Sweden, when compared +with the whole, stand in the same places on the larger scale, +which the divisions of street, town, and county do on the smaller ones; +distinctions too limited for continental minds. Not one third of +the inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent. +Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied +to England only, as being false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous. + +But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does +it amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, +extinguishes every other name and title: And to say that +reconciliation is our duty, is truly farcical. The first +king of England, of the present line (William the Conqueror) +was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of England are descendants +from the same country; therefore, by the same method of reasoning, +England ought to be governed by France. + +Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the colonies, +that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world. But this +is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do +the expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never suffer +itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British arms +in either Asia, Africa, or Europe. + +Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? +Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us +the peace and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the +interest of all Europe to have America a FREE PORT. Her trade +will always be a protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver +secure her from invaders. + +I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, +a single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected +with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage +is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe, +and our imported goods must be paid for, buy them where we will. + +But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection, +are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, +as well as to ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: +Because, any submission to, or dependence on Great Britain, +tends directly to involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; +and sets us at variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, +and against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our market +for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any part of it. +It is the true interest of America to steer clear of European contentions, +which she never can do, while by her dependence on Britain, +she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics. + +Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, +and whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, +the trade of America goes to ruin, BECAUSE OF HER CONNECTION WITH ENGLAND. +The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, +the advocates for reconciliation now, will be wishing for separation then, +because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a man of war. +Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood +of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'TIS TIME TO PART. +Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America, +is a strong and natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, +was never the design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent +was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it +was peopled increases the force of it. The reformation was preceded +by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant +to open a sanctuary to the Persecuted in future years, +when home should afford neither friendship nor safety. + +The authority of Great Britain over this continent, +is a form of government, which sooner or later must have an end: +And a serious mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward +under the painful and positive conviction, that what he calls +"the present constitution" is merely temporary. As parents, +we can have no joy, knowing that THIS GOVERNMENT is not sufficiently +lasting to ensure any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: +And by a plain method of argument, as we are running the next generation +into debt, we ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly +and pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, +we should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few years +farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect, which a few +present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight. + +Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offense, +yet I am inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine +of reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions. +Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who CANNOT see; +prejudiced men, who WILL NOT see; and a certain set of moderate men, +who think better of the European world than it deserves; +and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be +the cause of more calamities to this continent, than all the other three. + +It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of sorrow; +the evil is not sufficient brought to their doors to make THEM +feel the precariousness with which all American property is possessed. +But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments to Boston, +that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct us +for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no trust. +The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few months ago +were in ease and affluence, have now, no other alternative than +to stay and starve, or turn and beg. Endangered by the fire +of their friends if they continue within the city, and plundered +by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present condition +they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in +a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed +to the fury of both armies. + +Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offenses +of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, +"COME, COME, WE SHALL BE FRIENDS AGAIN, FOR ALL THIS." +But examine the passions and feelings of mankind, +Bring the doctrine of reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, +and then tell me, whether you can hereafter love, honor, +and faithfully serve the power that hath carried +fire and sword into your land? If you cannot do all these, +then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your delay +bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with Britain, +whom you can neither love nor honor will be forced and unnatural, +and being formed only on the plan of present convenience, +will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the first. +But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, +Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before +your face! Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, +or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, +and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor! If you have not, +then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you have, +and still can shake hands with the murderers, then are you unworthy +of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever +may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward, +and the spirit of a sycophant. + +This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying +them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies, +and without which, we should be incapable of discharging +the social duties of life, or enjoying the felicities of it. +I mean not to exhibit horror for the purpose of provoking revenge, +but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, that we +may pursue determinately some fixed object. It is not in the +power of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she do +not conquer herself by DELAY and TIMIDITY. The present winter +is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or neglected, +the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; +and there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, +be he who, or what, or where he will, that may be the means +of sacrificing a season so precious and useful. + +It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things, +to all examples from former ages, to suppose, that this +continent can longer remain subject to any external power. +The most sanguine in Britain does not think so. The utmost +stretch of human wisdom cannot, at this time, compass a plan +short of separation, which can promise the continent even +a year's security. Reconciliation is NOW a fallacious dream. +Nature hath deserted the connection, and Art cannot supply +her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true +reconcilement grow, where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep." + +Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers +have been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, +that nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings +more than repeated petitioning--and nothing hath contributed +more than that very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: +Witness Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, +for God's sake, let us come to a final separation, and not leave +the next generation to be cutting throats, under the violated +unmeaning names of parent and child. + +To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, +we thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year +or two undeceived us; as well may we suppose that nations, +which have been once defeated, will never renew the quarrel. + +As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain +to do this continent justice: The business of it will soon +be too weighty, and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable +degree of convenience, by a power so distant from us, and so +very ignorant of us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot +govern us. To be always running three or four thousand miles +with a tale or a petition, waiting four or five months +for an answer, which when obtained requires five or six more +to explain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly +and childishness--There was a time when it was proper, +and there is a proper time for it to cease. + +Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, +are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; +but there is something very absurd, in supposing a continent +to be perpetually governed by an island. In no instance hath +nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet, +and as England and America, with respect to each other, +reverses the common order of nature, it is evident they belong +to different systems; England to Europe, America to itself. + +I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment +to espouse the doctrine of separation and independance; +I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded +that it is the true interest of this continent to be so; +that every thing short of THAT is mere patchwork, +that it can afford no lasting felicity, +--that it is leaving the sword to our children, +and shrinking back at a time, when, a little more, +a little farther, would have rendered this continent +the glory of the earth. + +As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards +a compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained +worthy the acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal +to the expense of blood and treasure we have been already put to. + +The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion +to the expense. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto, +is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary stoppage +of trade, was an inconvenience, which would have sufficiently balanced +the repeal of all the acts complained of, had such repeals been obtained; +but if the whole continent must take up arms, if every man must be a soldier, +it is scarcely worth our while to fight against a contemptible ministry only. +Dearly, dearly, do we pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all +we fight for; for in a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay +a Bunker-hill price for law, as for land. As I have always considered +the independancy of this continent, as an event, which sooner or later +must arrive, so from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, +the event could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of hostilities, +it was not worth while to have disputed a matter, which time would have +finally redressed, unless we meant to be in earnest; otherwise, it is like +wasting an estate on a suit at law, to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, +whose lease is just expiring. No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation +than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment +the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, +sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, +that with the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE can unfeelingly hear +of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul. + +But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event? +I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons. + +FIRST. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands +of the king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation +of this continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an +inveterate enemy to liberty, and discovered such a thirst +for arbitrary power; is he, or is he not, a proper man to say to +these colonies, "YOU SHALL MAKE NO LAWS BUT WHAT I PLEASE." +And is there any inhabitant in America so ignorant as not to know, +that according to what is called the PRESENT CONSTITUTION, +that this continent can make no laws but what the king gives leave to; +and is there any man so unwise, as not to see, that (considering what +has happened) he will suffer no law to be made here, but such as suit +HIS purpose. We may be as effectually enslaved by the want +of laws in America, as by submitting to laws made for us in England. +After matters are made up (as it is called) can there be any doubt, +but the whole power of the crown will be exerted, to keep this continent +as low and humble as possible? Instead of going forward we shall +go backward, or be perpetually quarrelling or ridiculously petitioning. +--WE are already greater than the king wishes us to be, and will he not +hereafter endeavour to make us less? To bring the matter to one point. +Is the power who is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? +Whoever says No to this question, is an INDEPENDANT, for independancy +means no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, +or whether the king, the greatest enemy this continent hath, +or can have, shall tell us "THERE SHALL BE NO LAWS BUT SUCH AS I LIKE." + +But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people there +can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and good order, +there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of twenty-one +(which hath often happened) shall say to several millions of people, +older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act of yours to be law. +But in this place I decline this sort of reply, though I will never cease +to expose the absurdity of it, and only answer, that England being the King's +residence, and America not so, makes quite another case. The king's negative +HERE is ten times more dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, +for THERE he will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England +into as strong a state of defense as possible, and in America he would never +suffer such a bill to be passed. + +America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics, +England consults the good of THIS country, no farther than it answers +her OWN purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to suppress +the growth of OURS in every case which doth not promote her advantage, +or in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we should soon be in +under such a secondhand government, considering what has happened! +Men do not change from enemies to friends by the alteration of a name: +And in order to shew that reconciliation now is a dangerous doctrine, +I affirm, THAT IT WOULD BE POLICY IN THE KING AT THIS TIME, TO REPEAL +THE ACTS FOR THE SAKE OF REINSTATING HIMSELF IN THE GOVERNMENT +OF THE PROVINCES; in order, that HE MAY ACCOMPLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTLETY, +IN THE LONG RUN, WHAT HE CANNOT DO BY FORCE AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE. +Reconciliation and ruin are nearly related. + +SECONDLY. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to obtain, +can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of government +by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the colonies come of age, +so the general face and state of things, in the interim, will be unsettled +and unpromising. Emigrants of property will not choose to come to a country +whose form of government hangs but by a thread, and who is every day tottering +on the brink of commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present +inhabitants would lay hold of the interval, to dispense of their effects, +and quit the continent. + +But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but independence, +i.e. a continental form of government, can keep the peace of the continent +and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I dread the event of a +reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more than probable, +that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or other, the consequences +of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of Britain. + +Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more will +probably suffer the same fate.) Those men have other feelings than us who +have nothing suffered. All they NOW possess is liberty, what they before +enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing more to lose, +they disdain submission. Besides, the general temper of the colonies, +towards a British government, will be like that of a youth, +who is nearly out of his time; they will care very little about her. +And a government which cannot preserve the peace, is no government at all, +and in that case we pay our money for nothing; and pray what is it that +Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on paper, should a civil +tumult break out the very day after reconciliation! I have heard +some men say, many of whom I believe spoke without thinking, that they +dreaded an independence, fearing that it would produce civil wars. +It is but seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and that +is the case here; for there are ten times more to dread from a patched up +connection than from independence. I make the sufferers case my own, +and I protest, that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, +and my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of injuries, I could never +relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself bound thereby. + +The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and obedience +to continental government, as is sufficient to make every reasonable +person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the least pretence +for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are truly childish +and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving for superiority +over another. + +Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, +perfect equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe +are all (and we may say always) in peace. Holland and Switzerland +are without wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, +it is true, are never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation +to enterprising ruffians at HOME; and that degree of pride and insolence +ever attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign powers, +in instances, where a republican government, by being formed on more +natural principles, would negotiate the mistake. + +If there is any true cause of fear respecting independence, +it is because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out-- +Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following hints; +at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other opinion +of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving rise to +something better. Could the straggling thoughts of individuals +be collected, they would frequently form materials for wise +and able men to improve into useful matter. + +LET the assemblies be annual, with a President only. +The representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, +and subject to the authority of a Continental Congress. + +Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient districts, +each district to send a proper number of delegates to Congress, +so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number in Congress +will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose a president +by the following method. When the delegates are met, let a colony be taken +from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after which, let the whole Congress +choose (by ballot) a president from out of the delegates of that province. +In the next Congress, let a colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting +that colony from which the president was taken in the former Congress, and so +proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper rotation. +And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is satisfactorily +just not less than three fifths of the Congress to be called a majority-- +He that will promote discord, under a government so equally formed as this, +would have joined Lucifer in his revolt. + +But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner, +this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable +and consistent, that it should come from some intermediate body +between the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress +and the people. Let a CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE be held, in the following +manner, and for the following purpose. + +A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each colony. +Two Members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial Convention; +and five representatives of the people at large, to be chosen in the capital +city or town of each province, for and in behalf of the whole province, +by as many qualified voters as shall think proper to attend from +all parts of the province for that purpose; or, if more convenient, +the representatives may be chosen in two or three of the most populous +parts thereof. In this conference, thus assembled, will be united, +the two grand principles of business KNOWLEDGE and POWER. The members +of Congress, Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in +national concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole, +being empowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority. + +The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame +a CONTINENTAL CHARTER, or Charter of the United Colonies; +(answering to what is called the Magna Carta of England) fixing +the number and manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, +with their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and jurisdiction +between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is continental, +not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all men, and above +all things, the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates +of conscience; with such other matter as is necessary for a charter +to contain. Immediately after which, the said Conference to dissolve, +and the bodies which shall be chosen comformable to the said charter, +to be the legislators and governors of this continent for the time being: +Whose peace and happiness may God preserve, Amen. + +Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this +or some similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts +from that wise observer on governments DRAGONETTI. +"The science" says he "of the politician consists +in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. +Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, +who should discover a mode of government that contained +the greatest sum of individual happiness, with the least +national expense." [Dragonetti on virtue and rewards] + +But where, says some, is the King of America? I'll tell you. +Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind +like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear +to be defective even in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly +set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth +placed on the divine law, the word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, +by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, +that in America THE LAW IS KING. For as in absolute governments +the King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King; +and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should +afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony, +be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is. + +A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously +reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, +that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution +of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, +than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance. +If we omit it now, some [Thomas Anello otherwise Massanello +a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen +in the public marketplace, against the oppressions of the Spaniards, +to whom the place was then subject prompted them to revolt, +and in the space of a day became king.] Massanello may hereafter arise, +who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the desperate +and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the powers of government, +may sweep away the liberties of the continent like a deluge. Should the +government of America return again into the hands of Britain, the tottering +situation of things will be a temptation for some desperate adventurer +to try his fortune; and in such a case, that relief can Britain give? +Ere she could hear the news, the fatal business might be done; +and ourselves suffering like the wretched Britons under +the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that oppose independence now, +ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a door to eternal tyranny, +by keeping vacant the seat of government. There are thousands, +and tens of thousands, who would think it glorious +to expel from the continent that barbarous and hellish power, +which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us; +the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, +and treacherously by them. + +To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us +to have faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores +instruct us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out +the little remains of kindred between us and them, and can there +be any reason to hope, that as the relationship expires, +the affection will increase, or that we shall agree better, +when we have ten times more and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever? + +Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us the +time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former innocence? +Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last cord +now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses against us. +There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be nature +if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, +as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The Almighty hath +implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. +They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us +from the herd of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, +and justice be extirpated the earth, or have only a casual existence +were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber, and the murderer, +would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain, +provoke us into justice. + +O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, +but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with +oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, +have long expelled her--Europe regards her like a stranger, and England +hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare +in time an asylum for mankind. + + + + +OF THE PRESENT _ABILITY_ OF _AMERICA_, WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS _REFLECTIONS_ + + + +I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath not +confessed his opinion that a separation between the countries, +would take place one time or other: And there is no instance, in which we +have shewn less judgement, than in endeavouring to describe, what we call +the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for independence. + +As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the time, +let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of things, +and endeavour, if possible, to find out the VERY time. But we need not +go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the TIME HATH FOUND US. +The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things prove the fact. + +It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies; +yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the world. +The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed and +disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived at that +pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to support itself, +and the whole, when united, can accomplish the matter, and either more, +or, less than this, might be fatal in its effects. Our land force is +already sufficient, and as to naval affairs, we cannot be insensible, +that Britain would never suffer an American man of war to be built, +while the continent remained in her hands. Wherefore, we should be no +forwarder an hundred years hence in that branch, than we are now; +but the truth is, we should be less so, because the timber of the country +is every day diminishing, and that, which will remain at last, +will be far off and difficult to procure. + +Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under +the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more seaport towns +we had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose. Our present +numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that no man need be idle. +The diminution of trade affords an army, and the necessities of an army +create a new trade. + +Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account will +serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave posterity +with a settled form of government, an independent constitution of its own, +the purchase at any price will be cheap. But to expend millions for the sake +of getting a few vile acts repealed, and routing the present ministry only, +is unworthy the charge, and is using posterity with the utmost cruelty; +because it is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs, +from which they derive no advantage. Such a thought is unworthy +of a man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart +and a peddling politician. + +The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard, if the work +be but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. +A national debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, +is in no case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards +of one hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards +of four millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, +she has a large navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; +yet for the twentieth part of the English national debt, +could have a navy as large again. The navy of England is not worth, +at this time, more than three millions and an half sterling. + +The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published without +the following calculations, which are now given as a proof that the +above estimation of the navy is just. +[See Entic's naval history, intro. page 56.] + +The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with masts, +yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight months +boatswain's and carpenter's seastores, as calculated by Mr. Burchett, +Secretary to the navy. + + [pounds Sterling] + For a ship of a 100 guns - 35,553 + 90 - - 29,886 + 80 - - 23,638 + 70 - - 17,795 + 60 - - 14,197 + 50 - - 10,606 + 40 - - 7,558 + 30 - - 5,846 + 20 - - 3,710 + + +And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of +the whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was +at its greatest glory consisted of the following ships and guns: + + + Ships. Guns. Cost of one. Cost of all + 6 - 100 - 35,553 - 213,318 + 12 - 90 - 29,886 - 358,632 + 12 - 80 - 23,638 - 283,656 + 43 - 70 - 17,785 - 764,755 + 35 - 60 - 14,197 - 496,895 + 40 - 50 - 10,606 - 424,240 + 45 - 40 - 7,558 - 340,110 + 58 - 20 - 3,710 - 215,180 + + 85 Sloops, bombs, + and fireships, one 2,000 170,000 + with another, _________ + Cost 3,266,786 + Remains for guns, _________ 233,214 + _________ + 3,500,000 + + +No country on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally capable +of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and cordage are her +natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing. Whereas the Dutch, +who make large profits by hiring out their ships of war to the Spaniards +and Portuguese, are obliged to import most of their materials they use. +We ought to view the building a fleet as an article of commerce, it being +the natural manufactory of this country. It is the best money we can lay out. +A navy when finished is worth more than it cost. And is that nice point +in national policy, in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build; +if we want them not, we can sell; and by that means replace our paper currency +with ready gold and silver. + +In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors; +it is not necessary that one fourth part should he sailors. +The Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement +of any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, +though her complement of men was upwards of two hundred. +A few able and social sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number +of active landmen in the common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never +can be more capable to begin on maritime matters than now, +while our timber is standing, our fisheries blocked up, +and our sailors and shipwrights out of employ. Men of war of seventy +and eighty guns were built forty years ago in New-England, +and why not the same now? Ship-building is America's greatest pride, +and in which she will in time excel the whole world. +The great empires of the east are mostly inland, +and consequently excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. +Africa is in a state of barbarism; and no power in Europe hath either +such an extent of coast, or such an internal supply of materials. +Where nature hath given the one, she has withheld the other; +to America only hath she been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia +is almost shut out from the sea: wherefore, her boundless forests, her tar, +iron, and cordage are only articles of commerce. + +In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the +little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we might +have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather; and slept +securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows. The case now +is altered, and our methods of defense ought to improve with our increase +of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have come up +the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia under instant contribution, +for what sum he pleased; and the same might have happened to other places. +Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig of fourteen or sixteen guns might have +robbed the whole continent, and carried off half a million of money. +These are circumstances which demand our attention, and point out +the necessity of naval protection. + +Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain, +she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, +that she shall keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? +Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavoured +to subdue us, is of all others the most improper to defend us. +Conquest may be effected under the pretence of friendship; +and ourselves after a long and brave resistance, be at last cheated +into slavery. And if her ships are not to be admitted into our harbours, +I would ask, how is she to protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles +off can be of little use, and on sudden emergencies, none at all. +Wherefore, if we must hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? + +The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not +a tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of them +not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the list, +if only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part of such as are +fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one time. +The East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts +over which Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her navy. +From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a false +notion respecting the navy of England, and have talked as if we should +have the whole of it to encounter at once, and for that reason, supposed, +that we must have one as large; which not being instantly practicable, +have been made use of by a set of disguised Tories to discourage +our beginning thereon. Nothing can be farther from truth than this; +for if America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, +she would be by far an overmatch for her; because, as we neither have, +nor claim any foreign dominion, our whole force would be employed on +our own coast, where we should, in the long run, have two to one the advantage +of those who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, +before they could attack us, and the same distance to return +in order to refit and recruit. And although Britain, by her fleet, +hath a check over our trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade +to the West Indies, which, by laying in the neighbourhood of the continent, +is entirely at its mercy. + +Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of peace, +if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant navy. +If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ in their +service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty guns, +(the premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the merchants) +fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on constant duty, +would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without burdening ourselves +with the evil so loudly complained of in England, of suffering their fleet, +in time of peace to lie rotting in the docks. To unite the sinews +of commerce and defense is sound policy; for when our strength +and our riches play into each other's hand, we need fear no external enemy. + +In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even +to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior +to that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world. +Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every +day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our +inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us. Wherefore, +what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From Britain we can +expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to the government +of America again, this Continent will not be worth living in. +Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be constantly happening; +and who will go forth to quell them? Who will venture his life to reduce his +own countrymen to a foreign obedience? The difference between Pennsylvania +and Connecticut, respecting some unlocated lands, shews the insignificance +of a British government, and fully proves, that nothing but Continental +authority can regulate Continental matters. + +Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, +that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied, +which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless dependants, +may be hereafter applied, not only to the discharge of the present debt, +but to the constant support of government. No nation under heaven hath +such an advantage at this. + +The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far +from being against, is an argument in favour of independance. +We are sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. +It is a matter worthy of observation, that the more a country is peopled, +the smaller their armies are. In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded +the modems: and the reason is evident. For trade being the consequence +of population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to +anything else. Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism +and military defence. And history sufficiently informs us, that the +bravest achievements were always accomplished in the non-age of a nation. +With the increase of commerce, England hath lost its spirit. The city +of London, notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults +with the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing +are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit +to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel. + +Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals. +It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the Continent into one +government half a century hence. The vast variety of interests, +occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would create confusion. +Colony would be against colony. Each being able might scorn each other's +assistance: and while the proud and foolish gloried in their little +distinctions, the wise would lament, that the union had not been formed before. +Wherefore, the PRESENT TIME is the TRUE TIME for establishing it. +The intimacy which is contracted in infancy, and the friendship which +is formed in misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable. +Our present union is marked with both these characters: we are young +and we have been distressed; but our concord hath withstood our troubles, +and fixes a memorable area for posterity to glory in. + +The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never happens +to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a government. +Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that means have been +compelled to receive laws from their conquerors, instead of making laws +for themselves. First, they had a king, and then a form of government; +whereas, the articles or charter of government, should be formed first, +and men delegated to execute them afterward but from the errors of other +nations, let us learn wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity +--TO BEGIN GOVERNMENT AT THE RIGHT END. + +When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the +point of the sword; and until we consent, that the seat of government, +in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we shall be in +danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian, who may treat us +in the same manner, and then, where will be our freedom? where our property? +As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all government, +to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other +business which government hath to do therewith, Let a man throw aside +that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, which the niggards +of all professions are so unwilling to part with, and he will be at delivered +of his fears on that head. Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, +and the bane of all good society. For myself, I fully and conscientiously +believe, that it is the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity +of religious opinions among us: It affords a larger field for our Christian +kindness. Were we all of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions +would want matter for probation; and on this liberal principle, I look +on the various denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, +differing only, in what is called, their Christian names. + +In page forty, I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a +Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans) +and in this place, I take the liberty of rementioning the subject, +by observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond +of solemn obligation, which the whole enters into, +to support the right of every separate part, +whether of religion, personal freedom, or property. +A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends. + +In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large +and equal representation; and there is no political matter +which more deserves our attention. A small number of electors, +or a small number of representatives, are equally dangerous. +But if the number of the representatives be not only small, +but unequal, the danger is increased. As an instance of this, +I mention the following; when the Associators petition was before +the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania; twenty-eight members only were present, +all the Bucks county members, being eight, voted against it, +and had seven of the Chester members done the same, this whole province had +been governed by two counties only, and this danger it is always exposed to. +The unwarrantable stretch likewise, which that house made +in their last sitting, to gain an undue authority over the delegates +of that province, ought to warn the people at large, how they trust power +out of their own hands. A set of instructions for the Delegates +were put together, which in point of sense and business would have +dishonoured a schoolboy, and after being approved by a FEW, a VERY FEW +without doors, were carried into the House, and there passed +IN BEHALF OF THE WHOLE COLONY; whereas, did the whole colony know, +with what ill-will that House hath entered on some necessary public measures, +they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of such a trust. + +Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued +would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different things. +When the calamities of America required a consultation, there was no +method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to appoint persons from +the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose; and the wisdom with +which they have proceeded hath preserved this continent from ruin. +But as it is more than probable that we shall never be without a +CONGRESS, every well wisher to good order, must own, that the mode +for choosing members of that body, deserves consideration. And I put it +as a question to those, who make a study of mankind, whether representation +and election is not too great a power for one and the same body of men +to possess? When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember, +that virtue is not hereditary. + +It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are +frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes, Mr. Cornwall +(one of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New-York +Assembly with contempt, because THAT House, he said, consisted but +of twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could not +with decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his involuntary honesty. +[Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large and equal +representation is to a state, should read Burgh's political disquisitions.] + + +TO CONCLUDE, however strange it may appear to some, or however unwilling +they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and striking reasons +may be given, to shew, that nothing can settle our affairs so expeditiously +as an open and determined declaration for independance. Some of which are, + +FIRST. -- It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, +for some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as mediators, +and bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while America calls +herself the Subject of Great Britain, no power, however well disposed +she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore, in our present state +we may quarrel on for ever. + +SECONDLY. -- It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or Spain will +give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only, to make use of that +assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and strengthening +the connection between Britain and America; because, those powers would +be sufferers by the consequences. + +THIRDLY. -- While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we must, +in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The precedent +is somewhat dangerous to THEIR PEACE, for men to be in arms under the name +of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the paradox: but to unite resistance +and subjection, requires an idea much too refined for common understanding. + +FOURTHLY. -- Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched +to foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, +and the peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress; +declaring, at the same time, that not being able, any longer, +to live happily or safely under the cruel disposition of the British court, +we had been driven to the necessity of breaking off all connections with her; +at the same time, assuring all such courts of our peaceable disposition +towards them, and of our desire of entering into trade with them: +Such a memorial would produce more good effects to this Continent, +than if a ship were freighted with petitions to Britain. + +Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither +be received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us, +and will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other nations. + +These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but, +like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a little time +become familiar and agreeable; and, until an independance is declared, +the Continent will feel itself like a man who continues putting off some +unpleasant business from day to day, yet knows it must be done, hates to +set about it, wishes it over, and is continually haunted with +the thoughts of its necessity. + + + + + APPENDIX + + + +Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, +or rather, on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech +made its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed +the birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth, +at a more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. +The bloody mindedness of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing +the doctrine of the other. Men read by way of revenge. +And the Speech, instead of terrifying, prepared a way +for the manly principles of Independance. + +Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they +may arise, have a hurtful tendency, when they give the least +degree of countenance to base and wicked performances; +wherefore, if this maxim be admitted, it naturally follows, +that the King's Speech, as being a piece of finished villany, +deserved, and still deserves, a general execration both by the +Congress and the people. Yet, as the domestic tranquillity of +a nation, depends greatly, on the CHASTITY of what may properly +be called NATIONAL MANNERS, it is often better, to pass +some things over in silent disdain, than to make use of such +new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least innovation, +on that guardian of our peace and safety. And, perhaps, +it is chiefly owing to this prudent delicacy, that the King's +Speech, hath not, before now, suffered a public execution. +The Speech if it may be called one, is nothing better than +a wilful audacious libel against the truth, the common good, +and the existence of mankind; and is a formal and pompous +method of offering up human sacrifices to the pride of tyrants. +But this general massacre of mankind. is one of the privileges, +and the certain consequence of Kings; for as nature knows them NOT, +they know NOT HER, and although they are beings of our OWN creating, +they know not US, and are become the gods of their creators. +The Speech hath one good quality, which is, that it is not calculated +to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be deceived by it. +Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It leaves us at no loss: +And every line convinces, even in the moment of reading, that He, +who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored Indian, +is less a Savage than the King of Britain. + +Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical piece, +fallaciously called, "THE ADDRESS OF THE PEOPLE OF _ENGLAND_ +TO THE INHABITANTS OF _AMERICA_," hath, perhaps, from a vain supposition, +that the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and description +of a king, given, (though very unwisely on his part) the real character +of the present one: "But" says this writer, "if you are inclined to pay +compliments to an administration, which we do not complain of," +(meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the repeal of the Stamp Act) +"it is very unfair in you to withhold them from that prince +by WHOSE _NOD ALONE_ THEY WERE PERMITTED TO DO ANY THING." +This is toryism with a witness! Here is idolatry even without a mask: +And he who can calmly hear, and digest such doctrine, +hath forfeited his claim to rationality an apostate +from the order of manhood; and ought to be considered as one, +who hath not only given up the proper dignity of man, +but sunk himself beneath the rank of animals, +and contemptibly crawl through the world like a worm. + +However, it matters very little now, what the king of England +either says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every +moral and human obligation, trampled nature and conscience +beneath his feet; and by a steady and constitutional spirit +of insolence and cruelty, procured for himself an universal +hatred. It is NOW the interest of America to provide for herself. +She hath already a large and young family, whom it is more her +duty to take care of, than to be granting away her property, +to support a power who is become a reproach to the names +of men and christians--YE, whose office it is to watch over +the morals of a nation, of whatsoever sect or denomination +ye are of, as well as ye, who, are more immediately the guardians +of the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native country +uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret wish +a separation--But leaving the moral part to private reflection, +I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads. + +First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from Britain. + +Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan, +RECONCILIATION OR INDEPENDANCE? With some occasional remarks. + +In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, +produce the opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men +on this continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet +publicly known. It is in reality a self-evident position: +For no nation in a state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, +and cramped and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive +at any material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; +and although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled +in the history of other nations, it is but childhood, +compared with what she would be capable of arriving at, +had she, as she ought to have, the legislative powers in her own hands. +England is, at this time, proudly coveting what would do her no good, +were she to accomplish it; and the Continent hesitating on a matter, +which will be her final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce +and not the conquest of America, by which England is to be benefited, +and that would in a great measure continue, were the countries +as independant of each other as France and Spain; because in many articles, +neither can go to a better market. But it is the independance of this country +of Britain or any other, which is now the main and only object worthy +of contention, and which, like all other truths discovered by necessity, +will appear clearer and stronger every day. + +First. Because it will come to that one time or other. + +Secondly. Because, the longer it is delayed the harder +it will be to accomplish. + +I have frequently amused myself both in public and private +companies, with silently remarking, the specious errors +of those who speak without reflecting. And among the many +which I have heard, the following seems the most general, viz. +that had this rupture happened forty or fifty years hence, +instead of NOW, the Continent would have been more able +to have shaken off the dependance. To which I reply, that our +military ability, AT THIS TIME, arises from the experience +gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty years time, +would have been totally extinct. The Continent, would not, +by that time, have had a General, or even a military officer left; +and we, or those who may succeed us, would have been as ignorant +of martial matters as the ancient Indians: And this single position, +closely attended to, will unanswerably prove, that the present time +is preferable to all others. The argument turns thus--at the conclusion +of the last war, we had experience, but wanted numbers; +and forty or fifty years hence, we should have numbers, +without experience; wherefore, the proper point of time, +must be some particular point between the two extremes, +in which a sufficiency of the former remains, and a proper +increase of the latter is obtained: And that point of time +is the present time. + +The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly +come under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return +by the following position, viz. + +Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the governing +and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now circumstanced, +is giving up the point entirely) we shall deprive ourselves of the very means +of sinking the debt we have, or may contract. The value of the back lands +which some of the provinces are clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust +extension of the limits of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling +per hundred acres, amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, +Pennsylvania currency; and the quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, +to two millions yearly. + +It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, +without burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, +will always lessen, and in time, will wholly support the yearly +expence of government. It matters not how long the debt is in +paying, so that the lands when sold be applied to the discharge +of it, and for the execution of which, the Congress for the time +being, will be the continental trustees. + +I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest +and most practicable plan, RECONCILIATION or INDEPENDANCE; +With some occasional remarks. + +He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his argument, +and on that ground, I answer GENERALLY--THAT _INDEPENDANCE_ +BEING A _SINGLE SIMPLE LINE,_ CONTAINED WITHIN OURSELVES; +AND RECONCILIATION, A MATTER EXCEEDINGLY PERPLEXED AND COMPLICATED, +AND IN WHICH, A TREACHEROUS CAPRICIOUS COURT IS TO INTERFERE, +GIVES THE ANSWER WITHOUT A DOUBT. + +The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is +capable of reflexion. Without law, without government, without any +other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy. +Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which, +is nevertheless subject to change, and which, every secret enemy is +endeavouring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, Legislation +without law; wisdom without a plan; a constitution without a name; +and, what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independance contending +for dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never +existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property +of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The mind +of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object before +them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is criminal; +there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one thinks himself +at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dared not have assembled +offensively, had they known that their lives, by that act, were forfeited +to the laws of the state. A line of distinction should be drawn, between, +English soldiers taken in battle, and inhabitants of America taken in arms. +The first are prisoners, but the latter traitors. +The one forfeits his liberty, the other his head. + +Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some +of our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. +The Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something +is not done in time, it will be too late to do any thing, +and we shall fall into a state, in which, neither RECONCILIATION +nor INDEPENDANCE will be practicable. The king and his worthless +adherents are got at their old game of dividing the Continent, +and there are not wanting among us, Printers, who will be busy +in spreading specious falsehoods. The artful and hypocritical letter +which appeared a few months ago in two of the New York papers, +and likewise in two others, is an evidence that there are men +who want either judgment or honesty. + +It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of reconciliation: +But do such men seriously consider, how difficult the task is, and how +dangerous it may prove, should the Continent divide thereon. Do they +take within their view, all the various orders of men whose situation +and circumstances, as well as their own, are to be considered therein. +Do they put themselves in the place of the sufferer whose ALL +is ALREADY gone, and of the soldier, who hath quitted ALL for the defence +of his country. If their ill judged moderation be suited to their own +private situations only, regardless of others, the event will convince them, +that "they are reckoning without their Host." + +Put us, says some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: +To which I answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain +to comply with, neither will she propose it; but if it were, +and even should be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, +By what means is such a corrupt and faithless court to be kept +to its engagements? Another parliament, nay, even the present, +may hereafter repeal the obligation, on the pretense, +of its being violently obtained, or unwisely granted; +and in that case, Where is our redress?--No going to law +with nations; cannon are the barristers of Crowns; +and the sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit. +To be on the footing of sixty-three, it is not sufficient, +that the laws only be put on the same state, but, that our circumstances, +likewise, be put on the same state; Our burnt and destroyed towns repaired +or built up, our private losses made good, our public debts +(contracted for defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall be millions +worse than we were at that enviable period. Such a request, +had it been complied with a year ago, would have won the heart +and soul of the Continent--but now it is too late, "The Rubicon is passed." + +Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal +of a pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, +and as repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms +to enforce obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not +justify the means; for the lives of men are too valuable +to be cast away on such trifles. It is the violence which is done +and threatened to our persons; the destruction of our property +by an armed force; the invasion of our country by fire and sword, +which conscientiously qualifies the use of arms: And the instant, in which +such a mode of defence became necessary, all subjection to Britain ought +to have ceased; and the independancy of America, should have been considered, +as dating its aera from, and published by, THE FIRST MUSKET THAT WAS FIRED +AGAINST HER. This line is a line of consistency; neither drawn by caprice, +nor extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of events, +of which the colonies were not the authors. + +I shall conclude these remarks with the following timely +and well intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are +three different ways by which an independancy may hereafter +be effected; and that ONE of those THREE, will one day or other, +be the fate of America, viz. By the legal voice of the people +in Congress; by a military power; or by a mob--It may not always +happen that OUR soldiers are citizens, and the multitude +a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I have already remarked, +is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual. Should an independancy +be brought about by the first of those means, we have every +opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the +noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have +it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, +similar to the present, hath not happened since the days +of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, +and a race of men, perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, +are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months. +The Reflexion is awful--and in this point of view, How trifling, +how ridiculous, do the little, paltry cavillings, of a few weak +or interested men appear, when weighed against the business of a world. + +Should we neglect the present favourable and inviting period, +and an Independance be hereafter effected by any other means, +we must charge the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, +whose narrow and prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure, +without either inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be given +in support of Independance, which men should rather privately think of, +than be publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating whether +we shall be independant or not, but, anxious to accomplish it on a firm, +secure, and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it is not yet began upon. +Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even the Tories (if such beings +yet remain among us) should, of all men, be the most solicitous to promote it; +for, as the appointment of committees at first, protected them from +popular rage, so, a wise and well established form of government, +will be the only certain means of continuing it securely to them. +WHEREFORE, if they have not virtue enough to be WHIGS, +they ought to have prudence enough to wish for Independance. + +In short, Independance is the only BOND that can tye and keep +us together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will +be legally shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well, +as a cruel enemy. We shall then too, be on a proper footing, +to treat with Britain; for there is reason to conclude, +that the pride of that court, will be less hurt by treating +with the American states for terms of peace, than with those, +whom she denominates, "rebellious subjects," for terms of accommodation. +It is our delaying it that encourages her to hope for conquest, and our +backwardness tends only to prolong the war. As we have, without any good +effect therefrom, withheld our trade to obtain a redress of our grievances, +let us now try the alternative, by independantly redressing them ourselves, +and then offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part +in England, will be still with us; because, peace with trade, is preferable +to war without it. And if this offer be not accepted, other courts +may be applied to. + +On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath +yet been made to refute the doctrine contained in the former +editions of this pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either +the doctrine cannot be refuted, or, that the party in favour +of it are too numerous to be opposed. WHEREFORE, instead +of gazing at each other with suspicious or doubtful curiosity; +let each of us, hold out to his neighbour the hearty hand of +friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like an act of +oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissension. +Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none other +be heard among us, than those of A GOOD CITIZEN, +AN OPEN AND RESOLUTE FRIEND, AND A VIRTUOUS SUPPORTER +OF THE RIGHTS OF MANKIND AND OF THE _FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA_. + +To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called Quakers, +or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the late piece, +entitled "THE ANCIENT TESTIMONY and PRINCIPLES of the People called QUAKERS +renewed, with Respect to the KING and GOVERNMENT, and touching the COMMOTIONS +now prevailing in these and other parts of AMERICA addressed to the +PEOPLE IN GENERAL." + +The Writer of this, is one of those few, who never dishonours religion +either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever. +To God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of religion. +Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly addressed to you as a religious, +but as a political body, dabbling in matters, which the professed Quietude +of your Principles instruct you not to meddle with. As you have, without +a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves in the place of the whole body +of the Quakers, so, the writer of this, in order to be on an equal rank +with yourselves, is under the necessity, of putting himself in the place +of all those, who, approve the very writings and principles, against which, +your testimony is directed: And he hath chosen this singular situation, +in order, that you might discover in him that presumption of character +which you cannot see in yourselves. For neither he nor you can have any +claim or title to POLITICAL REPRESENTATION. + +When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they +stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have +managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men) +is not your proper Walk; for however well adapted it might appear to you, +it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely together, +and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and unjust. + +The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you +credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love +and desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural, +as well the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this ground, +as men labouring to establish an Independant Constitution of our own, do we +exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. OUR PLAN IS PEACE FOR EVER. +We are tired of contention with Britain, and can see no real end to it +but in a final separation. We act consistently, because for the sake +of introducing an endless and uninterrupted peace, do we bear the evils +and burthens of the present day. We are endeavoring, and will steadily +continue to endeavour, to separate and dissolve a connexion which hath +already filled our land with blood; and which, while the name of it +remains, will be the fatal cause of future mischiefs to both countries. + +We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor +passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies, nor +ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own vines are +we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is the violence +committed against us. We view our enemies in the character of Highwaymen +and Housebreakers, and having no defence for ourselves in the civil law, +are obliged to punish them by the military one, and apply the sword, +in the very case, where you have before now, applied the halter-- +Perhaps we feel for the ruined and insulted sufferers in all and every +part of the continent, with a degree of tenderness which hath not yet +made its way into some of your bosoms. But be ye sure that ye mistake not +the cause and ground of your Testimony. Call not coldness of soul, religion; +nor put the BIGOT in the place of the CHRISTIAN. + +O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the +bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, +by all the difference between wilful attack, and unavoidable defence. +Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make +a political hobbyhorse of your religion convince the world thereof, +by proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, FOR THEY LIKEWISE BEAR _ARMS_. +Give us proof of your sincerity by publishing it at St. James's, +to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the Admirals and Captains +who are piratically ravaging our coasts, and to all the murdering +miscreants who are acting in authority under HIM whom ye profess to serve. +Had ye the honest soul of BARCLAY ye would preach repentance to YOUR king; +Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his sins, and warn him of eternal ruin. +["Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is +to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to rule, +and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason to know +how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after all these warnings +and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, +but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give up thyself +to fallow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy condemnation.-- +Against which snare, as well as the temptation of those who may +or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil, the most excellent and prevalent +remedy will be, to apply thyself to that light of Christ which shineth +in thy conscience, and which neither can, nor will flatter thee, +nor suffer thee to be at ease in thy sins."--Barclay's address to Charles II.] +Ye would not spend your partial invectives against the injured +and the insulted only, but, like faithful ministers, would cry aloud +and SPARE NONE. Say not that ye are persecuted, neither endeavour to make +us the authors of that reproach, which, ye are bringing upon yourselves; +for we testify unto all men, that we do not complain against you because +ye are Quakers, but because ye pretend to be and are NOT Quakers. + +Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your testimony, +and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was reduced to, +and comprehended in, THE ACT OF BEARING ARMS, and that by the people only. +Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for conscience; because, +the general tenor of your actions wants uniformity--And it is exceedingly +difficult to us to give credit to many of your pretended scruples; +because, we see them made by the same men, who, in the very instant +that they are exclaiming against the mammon of this world, are nevertheless, +hunting after it with a step as steady as Time, and an appetite as keen +as Death. + +The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page +of your testimony, that, "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh +even his enemies to be at peace with him"; is very unwisely chosen +on your part; because, it amounts to a proof, that the king's ways +(whom ye are desirous of supporting) do NOT please the Lord, otherwise, +his reign would be in peace. + +I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for which +all the foregoing seems only an introduction viz. + +"It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called to +profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences unto +this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and governments, +is God's peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to himself: +And that it is not our business to have any hand or contrivance therein; +nor to be busy bodies above our station, much less to plot and contrive +the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but to pray for the king, and safety +of our nation, and good of all men--That we may live a peaceable and +quiet life, in all godliness and honesty; UNDER THE GOVERNMENT WHICH GOD +IS PLEASED TO SET OVER US"--If these are REALLY your principles why +do ye not abide by them? Why do ye not leave that, which ye call +God's Work, to be managed by himself? These very principles instruct +you to wait with patience and humility, for the event of all public measures, +and to receive that event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore, +what occasion is there for your POLITICAL TESTIMONY if you fully believe +what it contains? And the very publishing it proves, that either, +ye do not believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practise +what ye believe. + +The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man +the quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government +WHICH IS SET OVER HIM. And if the setting up and putting down of kings +and governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly +will not be robbed thereof by us: wherefore, the principle itself leads +you to approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to kings +as being his work. OLIVER CROMWELL thanks you. CHARLES, then, died not +by the hands of man; and should the present Proud Imitator of him, +come to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of the Testimony, +are bound, by the doctrine it contains, to applaud the fact. Kings are not +taken away by miracles, neither are changes in governments brought about +by any other means than such as are common and human; and such as we are +now using. Even the dispersion of the Jews, though foretold by our Saviour, +was effected by arms. Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, +ye ought not to be meddlers on the other; but to wait the issue in silence; +and unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove, that the Almighty +who hath created and placed this new world, at the greatest distance +it could possibly stand, east and west, from every part of the old, +doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being independent of the corrupt +and abandoned court of Britain, unless I say, ye can shew this, +how can ye on the ground of your principles, justify the exciting +and stirring up the people "firmly to unite in the abhorrence +of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire and design +to break off the happy connexion we have hitherto enjoyed, +with the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just and necessary subordination +to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in authority under him." +What a slap of the face is here! the men, who in the very paragraph before, +have quietly and passively resigned up the ordering, altering, +and disposal of kings and governments, into the hands of God, are now, +recalling their principles, and putting in for a share of the business. +Is it possible, that the conclusion, which is here justly quoted, +can any ways follow from the doctrine laid down? The inconsistency +is too glaring not to be seen; the absurdity too great not to be laughed at; +and such as could only have been made by those, whose understandings +were darkened by the narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political party; +for ye are not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers +but only as a factional and fractional part thereof. + +Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no man +to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;) +to which I subjoin the following remark; "That the setting up and putting +down of kings," most certainly mean, the making him a king, who is yet +not so, and the making him no king who is already one. And pray what hath +this to do in the present case? We neither mean to set up nor to pull down, +neither to make nor to unmake, but to have nothing to do with them. +Wherefore, your testimony in whatever light it is viewed serves only +to dishonor your judgement, and for many other reasons had better +have been let alone than published. + +First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach +of all religion whatever, and is of the utmost danger +to society to make it a party in political disputes. + +Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow +the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein +and approvers thereof. + +Thirdly, because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony +and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable +donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of which, +is of the utmost consequence to us all. + +And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. +Sincerely wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always +fully and uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; +and be, in your turn, the means of securing it to others; +but that the example which ye have unwisely set, +of mingling religion with politics, MAY BE DISAVOWED +AND REPROBATED BY EVERY INHABITANT OF _AMERICA._ + +F I N I S. + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Common Sense, by Tom Paine +July 4th, 1994 + diff --git a/old/old/comsn10.zip b/old/old/comsn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8073077 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/comsn10.zip |
