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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/15279-8.txt b/15279-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a23da0 --- /dev/null +++ b/15279-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2800 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, on +the Affairs of North America, in Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up, 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.org + + +Title: A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, on the Affairs of North America, in Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Release Date: March 7, 2005 [EBook #15279] +[Last updated September 14, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE ABBE RAYNAL, + +ON THE + +_AFFAIRS OF NORTH AMERICA_; + +IN WHICH THE MISTAKES IN THE ABBE's ACCOUNT + +OF THE + +_REVOLUTION of AMREICA_ [_sic_] + +ARE CORRECTED AND CLEARED UP. + + * * * * * + +BY THOMAS PAINE, + +SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO CONGRESS, DURING THE AMERICAN WAR, +AND AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE, AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN. + + * * * * * + +_LONDON_: + +PRINTED FOR J. RIDGEWAY, NO. 1, YORK-STREET, ST. JAMES'S SQUARE. + +M,DCC,XII. [_sic_, actually 1792] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +A London translation of an original work in French, by the Abbe +Raynal, which treats of the Revolution of North America, having been +reprinted in Philadelphia and other parts of the continent, and as the +distance at which the Abbe is placed from the American theatre of war +and politics, has occasioned him to mistake several facts, or +misconceive the causes or principles by which they were produced; the +following tract, therefore, is published with a view to rectify them, +and prevent even accidental errors intermixing with history, under the +sanction of time and silence. + +The Editor of the London edition has entitled it, "The Revolution of +America, by the Abbe Raynal," and the American printers have followed +the example. But I have understood, and I believe my information just, +that the piece, which is more properly reflections on the revolution, +was unfairly purloined from the printer which the Abbe employed, or +from the manuscript copy, and is only part of a larger work then in +the press, or preparing for it. The person who procured it appears to +have been an Englishman; and though, in an advertisement prefixt to +the London edition, he has endeavoured to gloss over the embezzlement +with professions of patriotism, and to soften it with high encomiums +on the author, yet the action, in any view in which it can be placed, +is illiberal and unpardonable. + +"In the course of his travels," says he, "the translator happily +succeeded in obtaining a copy of this exquisite little piece, which +has not yet made its appearance from any press. He publishes a French +edition, in favour of those who will feel its eloquent reasoning more +forcibly in its native language, at the same time with the following +translation of it; in which he has been desirous, perhaps in vain, +that all the warmth, the grace, the strength, the dignity of the +original should not be lost. And he flatters himself, that the +indulgence of the illustrious historian will not be wanting to a man, +who, of his own motion, has taken the liberty to give this composition +to the public, only from a strong persuasion, that this momentous +argument will be useful, in a critical conjecture, to that country +which he loves with an ardour that can be exceeded only by the nobler +flame which burns in the bosom of the philanthropic author, for the +freedom and happiness of all the countries upon earth." + +This plausibility of setting off a dishonourable action, may pass for +patriotism and sound principles with those who do not enter into its +demerits, and whose interest is not injured, nor their happiness +affected thereby. But it is more than probable, notwithstanding the +declarations it contains, that the copy was obtained for the sake of +profiting by the sale of a new and popular work, and that the +professions are but a garb to the fraud. + +It may with propriety be remarked, that in all countries where +literature is protected, and it never can flourish where it is not, +the works of an author are his legal property; and to treat letters in +any other light than this, is to banish them from the country, or +strangle them in the birth.--The embezzlement from the Abbe Raynal +was, it is true, committed by one country upon another, and therefore +shews no defect in the laws of either. But it is nevertheless a breach +of civil manners and literary justice; neither can it be any apology, +that because the countries are at war, literature shall be entitled +to depredation.[1] + +But the forestalling the Abbe's publication by London editions, both +in French and English, and thereby not only defrauding him, and +throwing an expensive publication on his hands, by anticipating the +sale, are only the smaller injuries which such conduct may occasion. A +man's opinions, whether written or in thought, are his own until he +pleases to publish them himself; and it is adding cruelty to injustice +to make him the author of what future reflection or better information +might occasion him to suppress or amend. There are declarations and +sentiments in the Abbe's piece, which, for my own part, I did not +expect to find, and such as himself, on a revisal, might have seen +occasion to change, but the anticipated piracy effectually prevented +him the opportunity, and precipitated him into difficulties, which, +had it not been for such ungenerous fraud, might not have happened. + +This mode of making an author appear before his time, will appear +still more ungenerous, when we consider how exceedingly few men there +are in any country who can at once, and without the aid of reflection +and revisal, combine warm passions with a cool temper, and the full +expansion of imagination with the natural and necessary gravity of +judgment, so as to be rightly balanced within themselves, and to make +a reader feel, and understand justly at the same time. To call three +powers of the mind into action at once, in a manner that neither shall +interrupt, and that each shall aid and vigorate the other, is a talent +very rarely possessed. + +It often happens, that the weight of an argument is lost by the wit of +setting it off, or the judgment disordered by an intemperate +irritation of the passions: yet a certain degree of animation must be +felt by the writer, and raised in the reader, in order to interest the +attention; and a sufficient scope given to the imagination, to enable +it to create in the mind a sight of the persons, characters, and +circumstances of the subject; for without these, the judgment will +feel little or no excitement to office, and its determinations will be +cold, sluggish, and imperfect. But if either or both of the two former +are raised too high, or heated too much, the judgment will be jostled +from his seat, and the whole matter, however important in itself, will +diminish into a pantomime of the mind, in which we create images that +promote no other purpose than amusement. + +The Abbe's writings bear evident marks of that extension and rapidness +of thinking and quickness of sensation which of all others require +revisal, and the more particularly so when applied to the living +characters of nations or individuals in a state of war. The least +misinformation or misconception leads to some wrong conclusion and an +error believed becomes the progenitor of others. And as the Abbe has +suffered some inconveniences in France, by mistating certain +circumstances of the war and the characters of the parties therein, it +becomes some apology for him, that those errors were precipitated into +the world by the avarice of an ungenerous enemy. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] The state of literature in America must one day become a subject +of legislative consideration. Hitherto it hath been a disinterested +volunteer in the service of the revolution, and no man thought of +profits: but when peace shall give time and opportunity for study, the +country will deprive itself of the honour and service of letters and +the improvement of science, unless sufficient laws are made to prevent +depredations on literary property. It is well worth remarking that +Russia, who but a few years ago was scarcely known in Europe, owes a +large share of her present greatness to the close attention she has +paid, and the wise encouragement she has given to science and +learning, and we have almost the same instance in France, in the reign +of Lewis XIV. + + + + +LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE ABBE RAYNAL + + +To an author of such distinguished reputation as the Abbe Raynal, it +might very well become me to apologize for the present undertaking; +but as _to be right_ is the first wish of philosophy, and the first +principle of history, he will, I presume, accept from me a declaration +of my motives, which are those of doing justice, in preference to any +complimental apology, I might otherwise make. The Abbe, in the course +of his work, has, in some instances extolled, without a reason, and +wounded without a cause. He has given fame where it was not deserved, +and withheld it where it was justly due; and appears to be so +frequently in and out of temper with his subjects and parties, that +few or none of them are decisively and uniformly marked. + +It is yet too soon to write the history of the revolution; and whoever +attempts it precipitately, will unavoidably mistake characters and +circumstances, and involve himself in error and difficulty. Things +like men are seldom understood rightly at first sight. But the Abbe is +wrong even in the foundation of his work; that is, he has misconceived +and misstated the causes which produced the rupture between England +and her then colonies, and which led on, step by step, unstudied and +uncontrived on the part of America, to a revolution, which has engaged +the attention, and affected the interest of Europe. + +To prove this, I shall bring forward a passage, which, though placed +towards the latter part of the Abbe's work, is more intimately +connected with the beginning: and in which, speaking of the original +cause of the dispute, he declares himself in the following manner-- + +"None," says he, "of those energetic causes, which have produced so +many revolutions upon the globe, existed in North-America. Neither +religion nor laws had there been outraged. The blood of martyrs or +patriots had not there streamed from scaffolds. Morals had not there +been insulted. Manners, customs, habits, no object dear to nations, +had there been the sport of ridicule. Arbitrary power had not there +torn any inhabitant from the arms of his family and friends, to drag +him to a dreary dungeon. Public order had not been there inverted. The +principles of administration had not been changed there; and the +maxims of government had there always remained the same. The whole +question was reduced to the knowing whether the mother country had, +or, had not a right to lay, directly or indirectly, a slight tax upon +the colonies." + +On this extraordinary passage, it may not be improper, in general +terms, to remark, that none can feel like those who suffer; and that +for a man to be a competent judge of the provocative, or, as the Abbe +styles them, the energetic causes of the revolution, he must have +resided in America. + +The Abbe, in saying that the several particulars he has enumerated did +not exist in America, and neglecting to point out the particular +period in which the means they did not exist, reduces thereby his +declaration to a nullity, by taking away all meaning from the passage. + +They did not exist in 1763, and they all existed before 1776; +consequently as there was a time when they did _not_, and another when +they _did_ exist, the _time when_ constitutes the essence of the fact; +and not to give it, is to withhold the only evidence which proves the +declaration right or wrong, and on which it must stand or fall. But +the declaration as it now appears, unaccompanied by time, has an +effect in holding out to the world, that there was no real cause for +the revolution, because it denied the existence of all those causes +which are supposed to be justifiable, and which the Abbe styles +energetic. + +I confess myself exceedingly at a loss to find out the time to which +the Abbe alludes; because, in another part of the work, in speaking of +the stamp act, which was passed in 1764, he styles it "An _usurpation_ +of the Americans' _most precious and sacred rights_." Consequently he +here admits the most energetic of all causes, that is, _an usurpation +of their most precious and sacred rights_, to have existed in America +twelve years before the declaration of independence, and ten years +before the breaking out of hostilities. The time, therefore, in which +the paragraph is true, must be antecedent to the stamp act, but as at +that time there was no revolution, nor any idea of one, it +consequently applies without a meaning; and as it cannot, on the +Abbe's own principle, be applied to any time _after_ the stamp act, it +is therefore a wandering, solitary paragraph connected with nothing, +and at variance with every thing. + +The stamp act, it is true, was repealed two years after it was passed; +but it was immediately followed by one of infinitely more mischievous +magnitude, I mean the declaratory act, which asserted the right, as it +was styled, of the British Parliament, "_to bind America in all cases +whatsoever_." + +If then, the stamp act was an usurpation of the Americans' most +precious and sacred rights, the declaratory Act left them no rights at +all; and contained the full grown seeds of the most despotic +government ever exercised in the world. It placed America not only in +the lowest, but in the basest state of vassalage; because it demanded +an unconditional submission in everything, or, as the act expressed +it, _in all cases whatsoever_: and what renders this act the more +offensive, is, that it appears to have been passed as an act of mercy; +truly then may it be said, that _the tender mercies of the wicked are +cruel_. + +All the original charters from the Crown of England, under the faith +of which, the adventurers from the old world settled in the new, were +by this act displaced from their foundations; because, contrary to the +nature of them, which was that of a compact, they were now made +subject to repeal or alteration at the mere will of one party only. +The whole condition of America was thus put into the hands of the +Parliament or the Ministry, without leaving to her the least right in +any case whatsoever. + +There is no despotism to which this iniquitous law did not extend; and +though it might have been convenient in the execution of it, to have +consulted manners and habits, the principle of the act made all +tyranny legal. It stopt no where. It went to everything. It took in +with it the whole life of a man, or, if I may so express it, an +eternity of circumstances. It is the nature of law to require +obedience, but this demanded servitude; and the condition of an +American, under the operation of it, was not that of a subject, but a +vassal. Tyranny has often been established _without_ law, and +sometimes _against_ it, but the history of mankind does not produce +another instance, in which it has been established _by_ law. It is an +audacious outrage upon civil government, and cannot be too much +exposed, in order to be sufficiently detested. + +Neither could it be said after this, that the legislature of that +country any longer made laws for this, but that it gave out commands; +for wherein differed an act of Parliament constructed on this +principle, and operating in this manner, over an unrepresented people, +from the orders of a military establishment? + +The Parliament of England, with respect to America, was not septennial +but _perpetual_. It appeared to the latter a body always in being. Its +election or expiration were to her the same, as if its members +succeeded by inheritance, or went out by death, or lived for ever, or +were appointed to it as a matter of office. Therefore, for the people +of England to have any just conception of the mind of America, +respecting this extraordinary act, they must suppose all election and +expiration in that country to cease forever, and the present +Parliament, its heirs, &c., to be perpetual; in this case, I ask, what +would the most clamorous of them think, were an act to be passed, +declaring the right of _such a Parliament_ to bind _them_ in all cases +whatsoever? For this word _whatsoever_ would go as effectually to +their _Magna Charta, Bill of Rights, trial by Juries_, &c. as it went +to the charters and forms of government in America. + +I am persuaded, that the Gentleman to whom I address these remarks +will not, after the passing of this act, say, "That the _principles_ +of administration had not been _changed_ in America, and that the +maxims of government had there been _always the same_." For here is, +in principle, a total overthrow of the whole; and not a subversion +only, but an annihilation of the foundation of liberty and absolute +dominion established in its stead. + +The Abbe likewise states the case exceedingly wrong and injuriously, +when he says, "that _the whole_ question was reduced to the +knowing whether the mother country had, or had not, a right to lay, +directly or indirectly, a _slight_ tax upon the colonies." This was +_not the whole_ of the question; neither was the _quantity_ of the tax +the object, either to the Ministry, or to the Americans. It was the +principle, of which the tax made but a part, and the quantity still +less, that formed the ground on which America opposed. + +The tax on tea, which is the tax here alluded to, was neither more or +less than an experiment to establish the practice of a declaratory law +upon; modelled into the more fashionable phrase _of the universal +supremacy of Parliament_. For until this time the declaratory law had +lain dormant, and the framers of it had contented themselves with +barely declaring an opinion. + +Therefore the _whole_ question with America, in the opening of the +dispute, was, Shall we be bound in all cases whatsoever by the British +Parliament, or shall we not? For submission to the tea or tax act, +implied an acknowledgment of the declaratory act, or, in other words, +of the universal supremacy of Parliament, which as they never intended +to do, it was necessary they should oppose it, in its first stage of +execution. + +It is probable, the Abbe has been led into this mistake by perusing +detached pieces in some of the American newspapers; for, in a case +where all were interested, everyone had a right to give his opinion; +and there were many who, with the best intentions, did not chuse the +best, nor indeed the true ground, to defend their cause upon. They +felt themselves right by a general impulse, without being able to +separate, analyze, and arrange the parts. + +I am somewhat unwilling to examine too minutely into the whole of this +extraordinary passage of the Abbe, lest I should appear to treat it +with severity; otherwise I could shew, that not a single declaration +is justly founded; for instance, the reviving an obsolete act of the +reign of Henry the Eighth, and fitting it to the Americans, by +authority of which they were to be seized and brought from America to +England, and there imprisoned and tried for any supposed offenses, +was, in the worse sense of the words, _to tear them by the arbitrary +power of Parliament, from the arms of their families and friends, and +drag them not only to dreary but distant dungeons_. Yet this act was +contrived some years before the breaking out of hostilities. And +again, though the blood of martyrs and patriots had not streamed on +the scaffolds, it streamed in the streets, in the massacre of the +inhabitants of Boston, by the British soldiery in the year 1770. + +Had the Abbe said that the causes which produced the revolution in +America were originally _different_ from those which produced +revolutions in other parts of the globe, he had been right. Here the +value and quality of liberty, the nature of government, and the +dignity of man, were known and understood, and the attachment of the +Americans to these principles produced the revolution, as a natural +and almost unavoidable consequence. They had no particular family to +set up or pull down. Nothing of personality was incorporated with +their cause. They started even-handed with each other, and went no +faster into the several stages of it, than they were driven by the +unrelenting and imperious conduct of Britain. Nay, in the last act, +the declaration of independence, they had nearly been too late; for +had it not been declared at the exact time it was, I saw no period in +their affairs since, in which it could have been declared with the +same effect, and probably not at all. + +But the object being formed before the reverse of fortune took place, +that is, before the operations of the gloomy campaign of 1776, their +honour, their interest, their everything, called loudly on them to +maintain it; and that glow of thought and energy of heart, which even +distant prospect of independence inspires, gave confidence to their +hopes, and resolution to their conduct, which a state of dependence +could never have reached. They looked forward to happier days and +scenes of rest, and qualified the hardships of the campaign by +contemplating the establishment of their new-born system. + +If, on the other hand, we take a review of what part great Britain has +acted, we shall find every thing which ought to make a nation blush. +The most vulgar abuse, accompanied by that species of haughtiness +which distinguishes the hero of a mob from the character of a +gentleman; it was equally as much from her manners as from her +injustice that she lost the colonies. By the latter she provoked their +principles, by the former she wore out their temper; and it ought to +be held out as an example to the world, to shew how necessary it is to +conduct the business of government with civility. In short, other +revolutions may have originated in caprice, or generated in ambition, +but here, the most unoffending humility was tortured into rage, and +the infancy of existence made to weep. + +A union so extensive, continued and determined, suffering with +patience, and never in despair, could not have been produced by common +causes. It must be something capable of reaching the whole soul of man +and arming it with perpetual energy. In vain it is to look for +precedents among the revolutions of former ages, to find out, by +comparison, the causes of this. The spring, the progress, the object, +the consequences, nay the men, their habits of thinking, and all the +circumstances of the country, are different. Those of other nations +are, in general, little more than the history of their quarrels. They +are marked by no important character in the annals of events; mixt in +the mass of general matters, they occupy but a common page; and while +the chief of the successful partizans stept into power, the plundered +multitude sat down and sorrowed. Few, very few of them are accompanied +with reformation, either in government or manners; many of them with +the most consummate profligacy.--Triumph on the one side, and misery +on the other, were the only events. Pains, punishments, torture, and +death, were made the business of mankind, until compassion, the +fairest associate of the heart, was driven from its place; and the +eye, accustomed to continual cruelty, could behold it without offence. + +But as the principles of the present resolution differed from those +which preceded it, so likewise has the conduct of America, both in +government and war. Neither the foul finger of disgrace, nor the +bloody hand of vengeance has hitherto put a blot upon her fame. Her +victories have received lustre from a greatness of lenity; and her +laws been permitted to slumber, where they might justly have awakened +to punish. War, so much the trade of the world, has here been only the +business of necessity; and when the necessity shall cease, her very +enemies must confess, that as she drew the sword in her just defence, +she used it without cruelty, and sheathed it without revenge. + +As it is not my design to extend these remarks to a history, I shall +now take my leave of this passage of the Abbe, with an observation, +which, until something unfolds itself to convince me otherwise, I +cannot avoid believing to be true;--which is, that it was the fixt +determination of the British Cabinet to quarrel with America at all +events. + +They (the members who compose the cabinet) had no doubt of success, if +they could once bring it to the issue of a battle; and they expected +from a conquest, what they could neither propose with decency, nor +hope for by negociation. The charters and constitutions of the +colonies were become to them matters of offence, and their rapid +progress in property and population were disgustingly beheld as the +growing and natural means of independence. They saw no way to retain +them long but by reducing them time. A conquest would at once have +made them both lords and landlords, and put them in the possession +both of the revenue and the rental. The whole trouble of government +would have ceased in a victory, and a final end put to remonstrance +and debate. The experience of the stamp act had taught them how to +quarrel with the advantages of cover and convenience, and they had +nothing to do but to renew the scene, and put contention into motion. +They hoped for a rebellion, and they made one. They expected a +declaration of independence, and they were not disappointed. But after +this, they looked for victory, and obtained a defeat. + +If this be taken as the generating cause of the contest, then is every +part of the conduct of the British ministry consistent, from the +commencement of the dispute, until the signing the treaty of Paris, +after which, conquest becoming doubtful, they retreated to +negociation, and were again defeated. + +Though the Abbe possesses and displays great powers of genius, and is +a master of style and language, he seems not to pay equal attention to +the office of an historian. His facts are coldly and carelessly +stated. They neither inform the reader, nor interest him. Many of them +are erroneous, and most of them defective and obscure. It is +undoubtedly both an ornament, and a useful addition to history, to +accompany it with maxims and reflections. They afford likewise an +agreeable change to the style, and a more diversified manner of +expression; but it is absolutely necessary that the root from whence +they spring, or the foundations on which they are raised, should be +well attended to, which in this work they are not. The Abbe hastens +through his narrations, as if he was glad to get from them, that he +may enter the more copious field of eloquence and imagination. + +The actions of Trenton and Princeton, in New Jersey, in December 1776, +and January following, on which the fate of America stood for a while +trembling on the point of suspence, and from which the most important +consequences followed, are comprised within a single paragraph, +faintly conceived, and barren of character, circumstance and +description. + +"On the 25th of December," says the Abbe, "they (the Americans) +crossed the Delaware, and fell _accidentally_ upon Trenton, which was +occupied by fifteen hundred of the twelve thousand Hessians, sold in +so base a manner by their avaricious master, to the King of Great +Britain. This corps was _massacred_, taken, or dispersed. Eight days +after, three English regiments were in like manner driven from +Princeton; but after having better supported their reputation than the +foreign troops in their pay." + +This is all the account which is given of these most interesting +events. The Abbe has preceded them by two or three pages, on the +military operations of both armies, from the time of General Howe +arriving before New York from Halifax, and the vast reinforcements of +British and foreign troops with Lord Howe from England. But in these +there is so much mistake, and so many omissions, that to set them +right, must be the business of history, and not of a letter. The +action of Long Island is but barely hinted at; and the operations at +the White Plains wholly omitted: as are likewise the attack and loss +of Fort Washington, with a garrison of about two thousand five hundred +men, and the precipitate evacuation of Fort Lee, in consequence +thereof; which losses were in a great measure the cause of the retreat +through the Jersies to the Delaware, a distance of about ninety miles. +Neither is the manner of the retreat described, which, from the season +of the year, the nature of the country, the nearness of the two armies +(sometimes within sight and shot of each other for such a length of +way), the rear of the one employed in pulling down bridges, and the +van of the other in building them up, must necessarily be accompanied +with many interesting circumstances. + +It was a period of distresses. A crisis rather of danger than of +hope, there is no description can do it justice; and even the actors +in it, looking back upon the scene, are surprised how they got +through; and at a loss to account for those powers of the mind and +springs of animation, by which they withstood the force of accumulated +misfortune. + +It was expected, that the time for which the army was enlisted, would +carry the campaign so far into the winter, that the severity of the +season, and the consequent condition of the roads, would prevent any +material operation of the enemy, until the new army could be raised +for the next year. And I mention it, as a matter worthy of attention +by all future historians, that the movements of the American army, +until the attack upon the Hessian post at Trenton, the 26th of +December, are to be considered as operating to effect no other +principal purpose than delay, and to wear away the campaign under all +the disadvantages of an unequal force, with as little misfortune as +possible. + +But the loss of the garrison at Fort Washington, on the 16th of +November, and the expiration of the time of a considerable part of the +army, so early as the 30th of the same month, and which were to be +followed by almost daily expirations afterwards, made retreat the only +final expedient. To these circumstances may be added the forlorn and +destitute condition of the few that remained; for the garrison at Fort +Lee, which composed almost the whole of the retreat, had been obliged +to abandon it so instantaneously, that every article of stores and +baggage was left behind, and in this destitute condition, without tent +or blanket, and without any other utensils to dress their provision +than what they procured by the way, they performed a march of about +ninety miles, and had the address and management to prolong it to the +space of nineteen days. + +By this unexpected, or rather unthought of turn of affairs, the +country was in an instant surprised into confusion, and found an enemy +within its bowels, without any army to oppose him. There were no +succours to be had, but from the free-will offering of the +inhabitants. All was choice, and every man reasoned for himself. + +It was in this situation of affairs, equally calculated to confound or +to inspire, that the gentleman, the merchant, the farmer, the +tradesman and the labourer, mutually turned out from all the +conveniencies of home, to perform the duties of private soldiers, and +undergo the severities of a winter campaign. The delay, so judiciously +contrived on the retreat, afforded time for the volunteer +reinforcements to join General Washington on the Delaware. + +The Abbe is likewise wrong in saying, that the American army fell +_accidentally_ on Trenton. It was the very object for which General +Washington crossed the Delaware in the dead of night, in the midst of +snow, storms, and ice: and which he immediately re-crossed with his +prisoners, as soon as he had accomplished his purpose. Neither was the +intended enterprise a secret to the enemy, imformation [_sic_] having +been sent of it by letter, from a British Officer at Princeton, to +Colonel Rolle, who commanded the Hessians at Trenton, which letter was +afterwards found by the Americans. Nevertheless the post was +completely surprised. A small circumstance, which had the appearance +of mistake on the part of the Americans, led to a more capital and +real mistake on the part of Rolle. + +The case was this: A detachment of twenty or thirty Americans had been +sent across the river from a post a few miles above, by an officer +unacquainted with the intended attack; these were met by a body of +Hessians on the night, to which the information pointed, which was +Christmas night, and repulsed. Nothing further appearing, and the +Hessians mistaking this for the advanced party, supposed the +enterprize disconcerted, which at that time was not begun, and under +this idea returned to their quarters; so that, what might have raised +an alarm, and brought the Americans into an ambuscade, served to take +off the force of an information, and promote the success of the +enterprise. Soon after day-light General Washington entered the town, +and after a little opposition made himself master of it, with upwards +of nine hundred prisoners. + +This combination of equivocal circumstances, falling within what the +Abbe styles, "_the wide empire of chance_," would have afforded a fine +field for thought; and I wish, for the sake of that elegance of +reflection he is so capable of using, that he had known it. + +But the action of Princeton was accompanied by a still greater +embarrassment of matters, and followed by more extraordinary +consequences. The Americans, by a happy stroke of generalship, in this +instance, not only deranged and defeated all the plans of the British, +in the intended moment of execution, but drew from their posts the +enemy they were not able to drive, and obliged them to close the +campaign. As the circumstance is a curiosity in war, and not well +understood in Europe, I shall, as concisely as I can, relate the +principal parts; they may serve to prevent future historians from +error, and recover from forgetfulness a scene of magnificent +fortitude. + +Immediately after the surprise of the Hessians at Trenton, General +Washington re-crossed the Delaware, which at this place is about three +quarters of a mile over, and re-assumed his former post on the +Pennsylvania side. Trenton remained unoccupied, and the enemy were +posted at Princeton, twelve miles distant, on the road toward +New-York. The weather was now growing very severe, and as there were +very few houses near the shore where General Washington had taken his +station, the greatest part of his army remained out in the woods and +fields. These, with some other circumstances, induced the re-crossing +the Delaware and taking possession of Trenton. It was undoubtedly a +bold adventure, and carried with it the appearance of defiance, +especially when we consider the panic-struck condition of the enemy on +the loss of the Hessian post. But in order to give a just idea of the +affair, it is necessary that I should describe the place. + +Trenton is situated on a rising ground, about three quarters of a mile +distant from the Delaware, on the eastern or Jersey side; and is cut +into two divisions by a small creek or rivulet, sufficient to turn a +mill which is on it, after which it empties itself at nearly right +angles into the Delaware. The upper division, which is that to the +north-east, contains about seventy or eighty houses, and the lower +about forty of fifty. The ground on each side this creek, and on which +the houses are, is likewise rising, and the two divisions present an +agreeable prospect to each other, with the creek between, on which +there is a small stone bridge of one arch. + +Scarcely had General Washington taken post here, and before the +several parties of militia, out on detachments, or on their way, could +be collected, than the British, leaving behind them a strong garrison +at Princeton, marched suddenly and entered Trenton at the upper or +north-east quarter. A party of the Americans skirmished with the +advanced party of the British, to afford time for removing the stores +and baggage, and withdrawing over the bridge. + +In a little time the British had possession of one half of the town, +General Washington of the other; and the creek only separated the two +armies. Nothing could be a more critical situation than this, and if +ever the fate of America depended upon the event of a day, it was now. +The Delaware was filling fast with large sheets of driving ice, and +was impassable, so that no retreat into Pennsylvania could be +effected, neither is it possible, in the face of an enemy, to pass a +river of such extent. The roads were broken and rugged with the frost, +and the main road was occupied by the enemy. + +About four o'clock a party of the British approached the bridge, with +a design to gain it, but were repulsed. They made no more attempts, +though the creek itself is passable anywhere between the bridge and +the Delaware. It runs in a rugged, natural-made ditch, over which a +person may pass with little difficulty, the stream being rapid and +shallow. Evening was now coming on, and the British, believing they +had all the advantages they could wish for, and that they could use +them when they pleased, discontinued all further operations, and held +themselves prepared to make the attack next morning. + +But the next morning produced a scene as elegant as it was unexpected. +The British were under arms and ready to march to action, when one of +their light-horse from Princeton came furiously down the street, with +an account that General Washington had that morning attacked and +carried the British post at that place, and was proceeding on to seize +the magazine at Brunswick; on which the British, who were then on the +point of making an assault on the evacuated camp of the Americans, +wheeled about, and in a fit of consternation marched for Princeton. + +This retreat is one of those extraordinary circumstances, that in +future ages may probably pass for fable. For it will with difficulty +be believed that two armies, on which such important consequences +depended, should be crouded into so small a space as Trenton; and that +the one, on the eve of an engagement, when every ear is supposed to be +open, and every watchfulness employed, should move completely from the +ground, with all its stores, baggage and artillery, unknown and even +unsuspected by the other. And so entirely were the British deceived, +that when they heard the report of the cannon and small arms at +Princeton, they supposed it to be thunder, though in the depth of +winter. + +General Washington, the better to cover and disguise his retreat from +Trenton, had ordered a line of fires to be lighted up in front of his +camp. These not only served to give an appearance of going to rest, +and continuing that deception, but they effectually concealed from the +British whatever was acting behind them, for flame can no more be seen +through than a wall, and in his situation, it may with some propriety +be said, they came a pillar of fire to the one army, and a pillar of a +cloud to the other: after this, by a circuitous march of about +eighteen miles, the Americans reached Princeton early in the morning. + +The number of prisoners taken were between two and three hundred, with +which General Washington immediately set off. The van of the British +army from Trenton, entered Princeton about an hour after the Americans +had left it, who, continuing their march for the remainder of the day, +arrived in the evening at a convenient situation, wide of the main +road to Brunswick, and about sixteen miles distant from Princeton. But +so wearied and exhausted were they, with the continual and unabated +service and fatigue of two days and a night, from action to action, +without shelter and almost without refreshment, that the bare and +frozen ground, with no other covering than the sky, became to them a +place of comfortable rest. By these two events, and with but little +comparitive force to accomplish them, the Americans closed with +advantages a campaign, which but a few days before threatened the +country with destruction. The British army, apprehensive for the +safety of their magazines at Brunswick, eighteen miles distant, +marched immediately for that place, where they arrived late in the +evening, and from which they made no attempts to move for nearly five +months. + +Having thus stated the principal outlines of these two most +interesting actions, I shall now quit them, to put the Abbe right in +his misstated account of the debt and paper money of America, wherein, +speaking of these matters, he says, + +"These ideal riches were rejected. The more the multiplication of them +was urged by want, the greater did their appreciation grow. The +Congress was indignant at the affronts given to its money, and +declared all those to be traitors to their country, who should not +receive it as they would have received gold itself. + +"Did not this body know, that possessions are no more to be controuled +than feelings are? Did it not perceive, that in the present crisis, +every rational man would be afraid of exposing his fortune? Did it not +see, that in the beginning of a Republic it permitted to itself the +exercise of such acts of despotism as are unknown even in the +countries which are moulded to, and become familiar with servitude and +oppression? Could it pretend that it did not punish a want of +confidence with the pains which would have been scarcely merited by +revolt and treason? Of all this was the Congress well aware. But it +had no choice of means. Its despised and despicable scraps of paper +were actually thirty times below their original value, when more of +them were ordered to be made. On the 13th of September 1779, there was +of this paper money, amongst the public, to the amount of +£.35,544,155. The State owed moreover £.8,305,356, without reckoning +the particular debts of single Provinces." + +In the above-recited passages, the Abbe speaks as if the United States +had contracted a debt of upwards of forty million pounds sterling, +besides the debts of individual States. After which, speaking of +foreign trade with America, he says, that "those countries in Europe, +which are truly commercial ones, knowing that North America had been +reduced to contract debts at the epoch even of her greatest +prosperity, wisely thought, that in her present distress, she would be +able to pay but very little, for what might be carried to her." + +I know it must be extremely difficult to make foreigners understand +the nature and circumstances of our paper money, because there are +natives who do not understand it themselves. But with us its fate is +now determined. Common consent has consigned it to rest with that kind +of regard which the long service of inanimate things insensibly +obtains from mankind. Every stone in the bridge, that has carried us +over, seems to have a claim upon our esteem. But this was a +corner-stone, and its usefulness cannot be forgotten. There is +something in a grateful mind, which extends itself even to things that +can neither be benefited by regard, nor suffer by neglect: But so it +is; and almost every man is sensible of the effect. + +But to return. The paper money, though issued from Congress under the +name of dollars, did not come from that body always at that value. +Those which were issued the first year, were equal to gold and silver. +The second year less; the third still less; and so on, for nearly the +space of five years; at the end of which, I imagine, that the whole +value at which Congress might pay away the several emissions, taking +them together, was about ten or twelve millions pounds sterling. + +Now, as it would have taken ten or twelve millions sterling of taxes, +to carry on the war for five years, and, as while this money was +issuing and likewise depreciating down to nothing, there were none, or +very few valuable taxes paid; consequently the event to the public was +the same, whether they sunk ten or twelve millions of expended money, +by depreciation, or paid ten or twelve millions by taxation; for as +they did not do both, and chose to do one, the matter, in a general +view, was indifferent. And therefore, what the Abbe supposes to be a +debt, has now no existence; it having been paid, by every body +consenting to reduce it, at his own expence, from the value of the +bills continually passing among themselves, a sum, equal to nearly +what the expence of the war was for five years. + +Again.--The paper money having now ceased, and the depreciation with +it, and gold and silver supplied its place, the war will now be +carried on by taxation, which will draw from the public a considerable +less sum than what the depreciation drew; but as, while they pay the +former, they do not suffer the latter, and as, when they suffered the +latter, they did not pay the former, the thing will be nearly equal, +with this moral advantage, that taxation occasions frugality and +thought, and depreciation produced dissipation and carelessness. + +And again.--If a man's portion of taxes comes to less than what he +lost by the depreciation, it proves the alteration is in his favour. +If it comes to more, and he is justly assessed, it shews that he did +not sustain his proper share of depreciation, because the one was as +operatively his tax as the other. + +It is true, that it never was intended, neither was it foreseen, that +the debt contained in the paper currency should sink itself in this +manner; but as by the voluntary conduct of all and of everyone it has +arrived at this fate, the debt is paid by those who owed it. Perhaps +nothing was ever so much the act of a country as this. Government had +no hand in it. Every man depreciated his own money by his own consent, +for such was the effect which the raising of the nominal value of +goods produced. But as by such reduction he sustained a loss equal to +what he must have paid to sink it by taxation; therefore the line of +justice is to consider his loss by the depreciation as his tax for +that time, and not to tax him when the war is over, to make that money +good in any other person's hands, which became nothing in his own. + +Again.--The paper currency was issued for the express purpose of +carrying on the war. It has performed that service, without any other +material change to the public, while it lasted. But to suppose, as +some did, that at the end of the war, it was to grow into gold and +silver, or become equal thereto, was to suppose that we were to _get_ +two hundred millions of dollars by _going to war_, instead of _paying_ +the cost of carrying it on. + +But if any thing in the situation of America, as to her currency or +her circumstances, yet remains not understood, then let it be +remembered, that this war is the public's war; the people's war; the +country's war. It is _their_ independence that is to be supported; +_their_ property that is to be secured; _their_ country that is to be +saved. Here, government, the army, and the people, are mutually and +reciprocally one. In other wars, kings may lose their thrones and +their dominions; but here, the loss must fall on the _majesty of the +multitude_, and the property they are contending to save. Every man +being sensible of this, he goes to the field, or pays his portion of +the charge as the sovereign of his own possessions; and when he is +conquered, a monarch falls. + +The remark which the Abbe, in the conclusion of the passage, has made +respecting America contracting debts in the time of her prosperity (by +which he means, before the breaking out of hostilities), serves to +shew, though he has not yet made the application, the very great +commercial difference between a dependant and an independent country. +In a state of dependence, and with a fettered commerce, though with +all the advantages of peace, her trade could not balance herself, and +she annually run into debt. But now, in a state of independence, +though involved in war, she requires no credit; her stores are full of +merchandise, and gold and silver are become the currency of the +country. How these things have established themselves, it is difficult +to account for: but they are facts, and facts are more powerful than +arguments. + +As it is probable this letter will undergo a republication in Europe, +the remarks here thrown together will serve to show the extreme folly +of Britain, in resting her hopes of success on the extinction of our +paper currency. The expectation is at once so childish and forlorn, +that it places her in the laughable condition of a famished lion +watching for prey at a spider's web. + +From this account of the currency, the Abbe proceeds to state the +condition of America in the winter of 1777, and the spring following; +and closes his observations with mentioning the treaty of alliance, +which was signed in France, and the propositions of the British +ministry, which were rejected in America. But in the manner in which +the Abbe has arranged his facts, there is a very material error, that +not only he, but other European historians, have fallen into: none of +them having assigned the true cause why the British proposals were +rejected, and all of them have assigned a wrong one. + +In the winter of 1777, and spring following, Congress were assembled +at York-Town, in Pennsylvania, the British were in possession of +Philadelphia, and General Washington with the army were encamped in +huts at the Valley-Forge, twenty-five miles distant therefrom. To all +who can remember, it was a season of hardship, but not of despair; and +the Abbe, speaking of this period and its inconveniences, says, + +"A multitude of privations, added to so many other misfortunes, might +make the Americans regret their former tranquillity, and incline them +to an accommodation with England. In vain had the people been bound to +the new Government by the sacredness of oaths, and the influence of +religion. In vain had endeavors been used to convince them, that it +was impossible to treat safely with a country in which one parliament +might overturn what should have been established by another. In vain +had they been threatened with the eternal resentment of an exasperated +and vindictive enemy. It was possible that these distant troubles +might not be balanced by the weight of present evils. + +"So thought the British ministry when they sent to the New World +public agents authorized to offer every thing except independence to +these very Americans, from whom they had two years before exacted an +unconditional submission. It is not improbable, but that by this plan +of conciliation, a few months sooner, some effect might have been +produced. But at the period at which it was proposed by the Court of +London, it was rejected with disdain, because this measure appeared +but as an argument of fear and weakness. The people were already +re-assured. The Congress, the Generals, the troops, the bold and +skilful men in each colony, had possessed themselves of the authority; +every thing had recovered its first spirit. _This was the effect of a +treaty of friendship and commerce between the United States and the +Court of Versailles, signed the 8th of February, 1778._" + +On this passage of the Abbe's I cannot help remarking, that, to unite +time with circumstance, is a material nicety in history; the want of +which frequently throws it into endless confusion and mistake, +occasions a total separation between causes and consequences, and +connects them with others they are not immediately, and sometimes not +at all, related to. + +The Abbe, in saying that the offers of the British ministry "were +rejected with disdain," is _right_ as to the _fact_, but _wrong_ as to +the _time_; and this error in the time, has occasioned him to be +mistaken in the cause. + +The signing the treaty of Paris the 6th of February, 1778, could have +no effect on the mind or politics of America, until it was _known in +America_; and therefore, when the Abbe says, that the rejection of the +British offers was in consequence of the alliance, he must mean, that +it was in consequence of the alliance _being known_ in America; which +was not the case: and by this mistake he not only takes from her the +reputation, which her unshaken fortitude in that trying situation +deserves, but is likewise led very injuriously to suppose that had she +_not known_ of the treaty, the offers would probably have been +accepted; whereas she knew nothing of the treaty at the time of the +rejection, and consequently did not reject them on that ground. + +The propositions or offers above-mentioned, were contained in two +bills brought into the British Parliament by Lord North, on the 17th +of February, 1778. Those bills were hurried through both houses with +unusual haste; and before they had gone through all the customary +forms of Parliament, copies of them were sent over to Lord Howe and +General Howe, then in Philadelphia, who were likewise Commissioners. +General Howe ordered them to be printed in Philadelphia, and sent +copies of them by a flag to General Washington, to be forwarded to +Congress at York-Town, where they arrived the 21st of April, 1778. +Thus much for the arrival of the bills in America. + +Congress, as is their usual mode, appointed a committee from their own +body, to examine them, and report thereon. The report was brought in +the next day (the twenty-second,) was read, and unanimously agreed to, +entered on their journals, and published for the information of the +country. Now this report must be the rejection to which the Abbe +alludes, because Congress gave no other formal opinion on those bills +and propositions: and on a subsequent application from the British +Commissioners, dated the 27th of May, and received at York-Town the +6th of June, Congress immediately referred them for an answer, to +their printed resolves of the 22d of April.--Thus much for the +rejection of the offers. + +On the 2d of May, that is, eleven days after the above rejection was +made, the treaty between the United States and France arrived at +York-Town; and until this moment Congress had not the least notice or +idea, that such a measure was in any train of execution. But lest this +declaration of mine should pass only for assertion, I shall support it +by proof, for it is material to the character and principle of the +revolution to shew, that no condition of America, since the +declaration of independence, however trying and severe, ever operated +to produce the most distant idea of yielding it up either by force, +distress, artifice, or persuasion. And this proof is the more +necessary, because it was the system of the British ministry at this +time, as well as before and since, to hold out to the European powers +that America was unfixt in her resolutions and policy; hoping by this +artifice to lessen her reputation in Europe, and weaken the confidence +which those powers, or any of them, might be inclined to place in her. + +At the time these matters were transacting, I was Secretary to the +Foreign Department of Congress. All the political letters from the +American Commissioners rested in my hands, and all that were +officially written went from my office; and so far from Congress +knowing anything of the signing the treaty, at the time they rejected +the British offers, they had not received a line of information from +their Commissioners at Paris on any subject whatever for upwards of a +twelvemonth. Probably the loss of the port of Philadelphia, and the +navigation of the Delaware, together with the danger of the seas, +covered at this time with British cruizers, contributed to the +disappointment. + +One packet, it is true, arrived at York-Town in January preceding, +which was about three months before the arrival of the treaty; but, +strange as it may appear, every letter had been taken out, before it +was put on board the vessel which brought it from France, and blank +white paper put in their stead. + +Having thus stated the time when the proposals from the British +Commissioners were first received, and likewise the time when the +treaty of alliance arrived, and shewn that the rejection of the former +was eleven days prior to the arrival of the latter, and without the +least knowledge of such circumstance having taken place, or being +about to take place; the rejection, therefore, must, and ought to be +attributed to the fixt, unvaried sentiments of America respecting the +enemy she is at war with, and her determination to support her +independence to the last possible effort, and not to any new +circumstance in her favour, which at that time she did not, and could +not, know of. + +Besides, there is a vigor of determination and spirit of defiance in +the language of the rejection (which I here subjoin), which derive +their greatest glory by appearing before the treaty was known; for +that, which is bravery in distress, becomes insult in prosperity: And +the treaty placed America on such a strong foundation, that had she +then known it, the answer which she gave would have appeared rather as +an air of triumph, than as the glowing serenity of fortitude. + +Upon the whole, the Abbe appears to have entirely mistaken the matter; +for instead of attributing the rejection of the propositions to our +knowledge of the treaty of alliance; he should have attributed the +origin of them in the British cabinet, to their knowledge of that +event. And then the reason why they were hurried over to America in +the state of bills, that is, before they were passed into acts, is +easily accounted for, which is that they might have the chance of +reaching America before any knowledge of the treaty should arrive, +which they were lucky enough to do, and there met the fate they so +richly merited. That these bills were brought into the British +Parliament after the treaty with France was signed, is proved from the +dates: the treaty being on the 6th and the bills the 17th of February. +And that the signing the treaty was known in Parliament, when the +bills were brought in, is likewise proved by a speech of Mr. Charles +Fox, on the said 17th of February, who, in reply to Lord North, +informed the House of the treaty being signed, and challenged the +Minister's knowledge of the same fact. + + +In CONGRESS, April 22d, 1778. + +"The Committee to whom was referred the General's Letter of the 18th, +containing a certain printed paper sent from Philadelphia, purporting +to be the draught of a Bill for declaring the _intentions_ of the +Parliament of Great Britain, as to the _exercise_ of what they are +pleased to term their _right_ of imposing taxes within these United +States; and also the draft of a Bill to enable the King of +Great-Britain to appoint Commissioners, with powers to treat, consult, +and agree upon the means of quieting certain disorders within the said +States, beg leave to observe, + +"That the said paper being industriously circulated by emissaries of +the enemy, in a partial and secret manner, the same ought to be +forthwith printed for the public information. + +"The Committee cannot ascertain whether the contents of the said paper +have been framed in Philadelphia or in Great Britain, much less +whether the same are really and truly intended to be brought into the +Parliament of that kingdom, or whether the said Parliament will confer +thereon the usual solemnities of their laws. But are inclined to +believe this will happen, for the following reasons: + +"1st. Because their General hath made divers feeble efforts to set on +foot some kind of treaty during the last winter, though either from a +mistaken idea of his own dignity and importance, the want of +information, or some other cause, he hath not made application to +those who are invested with a proper authority. + +"2dly. Because they suppose that the fallacious idea of a cessation of +hostilities will render these States remiss in their preparations for +war. + +"3dly. Because believing the Americans wearied with war, they suppose +we will accede to the terms for the sake of peace. + +"4thly. Because they suppose that our negotiations may be subject to a +like corrupt influence with their debates. + +"5thly. Because they expect from this step the same effects they did +from what one of their ministers thought proper to call his +_conciliatory motion_, viz. that it will prevent foreign powers from +giving aid to these States; that it will lead their own subjects to +continue a little longer the present war; and that it will detach some +weak men in America from the cause of freedom and virtue. + +"6thly. Because their King, from his own shewing hath reason to +apprehend that his fleets and armies, instead of being employed +against the territories of these States, will be necessary for the +defence of his own dominions. And, + +"7thly. Because the impracticability of subjugating this country, +being every day more and more manifest, it is their interest to +extricate themselves from the war upon any terms. + +"The Committee beg leave further to observe, That, upon a supposition, +the matters contained in the said paper will really go into the +British Statute Book, they serve to shew, in a clear point of view, +the weakness and wickedness of the enemy. + +"THEIR WEAKNESS, + +"1st. Because they formerly declared, not only that they had a right +to bind the inhabitants of these States in all cases whatsoever, but +also that the said inhabitants should _absolutely_ and +_unconditionally_ submit to the exercise of that right. And this +submission they have endeavored to exact by the sword. Receding from +this claim, therefore, under the present circumstances, shews their +inability to enforce it. + +"2dly. Because their Prince had heretofore rejected the humblest +petitions of the Representatives of America, praying to be considered +as subjects, and protected in the enjoyment of peace, liberty, and +safety; and hath waged a most cruel war against them, and employed the +savages to butcher innocent women and children. But now the same +Prince pretends to treat with those very Representatives, and grant +to the _arms_ of America what he refused to her _prayers_. + +"3dly. Because they have uniformly laboured to conquer this Continent, +rejecting every idea of accommodation proposed to them, from a +confidence in their own strength. Wherefore it is evident, from the +change in their mode of attack, that they have lost this confidence. +And, + +"4thly. Because the constant language, spoken not only by their +Ministers, but by the most public and authentic acts of the nation, +hath been, that it is incompatible with their dignity to treat with +the Americans while they have arms in their hands. Notwithstanding +which, an offer is now about to be made for treaty. + +"The wickedness and insincerity of the enemy appear from the following +considerations: + +"1st. Either the _Bills_ now to be passed contain a direct or indirect +cession of a part of their former claims, or they do not. If they do, +then it is acknowledged that they have sacrificed many brave men in an +unjust quarrel. If they do not, then they are calculated to deceive +America into terms, to which neither argument before the war, nor +force since, could procure her assent. + +"2dly. The first of these _Bills_ appears, from the title, to be a +declaration of the _intentions_ of the British Parliament concerning +the exercise of the _right of imposing taxes_ within these States. +Wherefore, should these States treat under the said Bill, they would +indirectly acknowledge that right, to obtain which acknowledgment the +present war has been avowedly undertaken and prosecuted, on the part +of Great Britain. + +"3dly. Should such pretended right be so acquiesced in, then of +consequence the same might be exercised whenever the British +Parliament should find themselves in a different _temper_ and +_disposition_; since it must depend upon those, and such like +contingencies, how far men will act according to their former +_intentions_. + +"4thly. The said first Bill, in the body thereof, containeth no new +matter, but is precisely the same with the motion before mentioned, +and liable to all the objections which lay against the said motion, +excepting the following particular, viz. that _by the motion_, actual +taxation was to be suspended, so long as America should give as much +as the said Parliament might think proper: whereas, _by the proposed +Bill_, it is to be suspended as long as future Parliaments continue of +the same mind with the present. + +"5thly. From the second Bill it appears, that the British King may, if +he pleases, appoint Commissioners to _treat_ and _agree_ with those, +whom they please, about a variety of things therein mentioned. But +such treaties and agreements are to be of no validity without the +concurrence of the said Parliament, except so far as they relate to +the suspension of hostilities, and of certain of their acts, the +granting of pardons, and the appointment of Governors to these +sovereign, free, and independent States. Wherefore, the said +Parliament have reserved to themselves, in _express words_, the power +of setting aside any such treaty, and taking the advantages of any +circumstances which may arise to subject this Continent to their +usurpations. + +"6thly, The said Bill, by holding forth a tender of pardon, implies a +criminality in our justifiable resistance, and consequently, to treat +under it, would be an implied acknowledgment, that the inhabitants of +these States were, what Britain had declared them to be, _Rebels_. + +"7thly. The inhabitants of these States being claimed by them as +subjects, they may infer, from the nature of the negotiation now +pretended to be set on foot, that the said inhabitants would of right +be afterwards bound by such laws as they should make. Wherefore, any +agreement entered into on such negociation might at any future time be +repealed. And, + +"8thly. Because the said Bill purports, that the Commissioners therein +mentioned may treat with private individuals; a measure highly +derogatory to the dignity of the national character. + +"From all which it appears evident to your Committee, that the said +Bills are intended to operate upon the hopes and fears of the good +people of these States, so as to create divisions among them, and a +defection from the common cause, now by the blessing of Divine +Providence drawing near to a favourable issue. That they are the +sequel of that insidious plan, which from the days of the Stamp-act +down to the present time, hath involved this country in contention and +bloodshed. And that, as in other cases so in this, although +circumstances may force them at times to recede from the unjustifiable +claims, there can be no doubt but they will as heretofore, upon the +first favourable occasion, again display that lust of domination, +which hath rent in twain the mighty empire of Britain. + +"Upon the whole matter, the Committee beg leave to report it as their +opinion, that as the Americans united in this arduous contest upon +principles of common interest, for the defence of common rights and +privileges, which union hath been cemented by common calamities, and +by mutual good offices and and [_sic_] affection, so the great cause +for which they contend, and in which all mankind are interested, must +derive its success from the continuance of that union. Wherefore any +man or body of men, who should presume to make any seperate or partial +convention or agreement with Commissioners under the Crown of Great +Britain, or any of them, ought to be considered and treated as open +and avowed enemies of these United States. + +"And further your Committee beg leave to report it as their opinion, +That these united States cannot, with propriety, hold any conference +or treaty with _any_ Commissioners on the part of Great Britain, +unless they shall, as a preliminary thereto, either withdraw their +fleets and admirals, or else, in positive and express terms, +acknowledge the Independence of the said States. + +"And inasmuch as it appears to be the design of the enemies of these +States to lull them into a fatal security--to the end that they may +act with a, becoming weight and importance, it is the opinion of your +Committee That the several States be called upon to use the most +strenuous exertions to have their respective quotas of continental +troops in the field as soon as possible, and that all the militia of +the said States be held in readiness, to act as occasion may require." + + +_The following is the answer of Congress to the second application of +the Commissioners._ + + SIR, + + _York-Town, June 6, 1778._ + + "I HAVE had the honour of laying your letter of the 3d instant, + with the acts of the British Parliament which came inclosed, + before Congress; and I am instructed to acquaint you, Sir, that + they have already expressed their sentiments upon bills, not + essentially different from those acts, in a publication of the + 22d of April last. + + "Be assured, Sir, when the King of Great Britain shall be + seriously disposed to put an end to the unprovoked and cruel war + waged against these United States, Congress will readily attend + to such terms of peace, as may consist with the honour of + independent nations, the interest of their constituents, and the + sacred regard they mean to pay to treaties. I have the honour to + be, Sir, + + _Your most obedient, and + most humble servant_, + HENRY LAURENS, + _President of Congress_." + + _His Excellency, + Sir Henry Clinton, K.B., Philad_. + +Though I am not surprised to see the Abbe mistaken in matters of +history, acted at so great a distance from his sphere of immediate +observation, yet I am more than surprised to find him wrong, (or at +least what appears so to me) in the well-enlightened field of +philosophical reflection. Here the materials are his own; created by +himself; and the error, therefore, is an act of the mind. Hitherto my +remarks have been confined to circumstances: the order in which they +arose, and the events they produced. In these, my information being +better than the Abbe's, my task was easy. How I may succeed in +controverting matters of sentiment and opinion, with one whom years, +experience, and long established reputation have placed in a superior +line, I am less confident in; but as they fall within the scope of my +observations, it would be improper to pass them over. + +From this part of the Abbe's work to the latter end, I find several +expressions which appear to me to start, with a cynical complexion, +from the path of liberal thinking, or at least they are so involved as +to lose many of the beauties which distinguish other parts of the +performance. + +The Abbe having brought his work to the period when the treaty of +alliance between France and the United States commenced, proceeds to +make some remarks thereon. + +"In short," says he, "philosophy, whose first sentiment is the desire +to see all governments just, and all people happy, in casting her eyes +upon this alliance of a monarchy, with a people who are defending +their liberty, _is curious to know its motive. She sees at once too +clearly, that the happiness of mankind has no part in it_." + +Whatever train of thinking or of temper the Abbe might be in, when he +penned this expression, matters not. They will neither qualify the +sentiment, nor add to its defect. If right, it needs no apology; if +wrong, it merits no excuse. It is sent to the world as an opinion of +philosophy, and may be examined without regard to the author. + +It seems to be a defect, connected with ingenuity, that it often +employs itself more in matters of curiosity than usefulness. Man must +be the privy councillor of fate, or something is not right. He must +know the springs, the whys, and wherefores of every thing, or he sits +down unsatisfied. Whether this be a crime, or only a caprice of +humanity, I am not enquiring into. I shall take the passage as I find +it, and place my objections against it. + +It is not so properly the _motives_ which _produced_ the alliance, as +the _consequences_ which are to be _produced from it_, that mark out +the field of philosophical reflection. In the one we only penetrate +into the barren cave of secrecy, where little can be known, and every +thing may be misconceived; in the other, the mind is presented with a +wide extended prospect, of vegetative good, and sees a thousand +blessings budding into existence. + +But the expression, even within the compass of the Abbe's meaning, +sets out with an error, because it is made to declare that, which no +man has authority to declare. Who can say that the happiness of +mankind made _no part of the motives_ which produced the alliance? To +be able to declare this, a man must be possessed of the mind of all +the parties concerned, and know that their motives were something +else. + +In proportion as the independence of America became contemplated and +understood, the local advantages of it to the immediate actors, and +the numerous benefits it promised to mankind, appear to be every day +encreasing, and we saw not a temporary good for the present race only, +but a continued good to all posterity; these motives, therefore, added +to those which preceded them, became the motives, on the part of +America, which led her to propose and agree to the treaty of alliance, +as the best effectual method of extending and securing happiness; and +therefore, with respect to us, the Abbe is wrong. + +France, on the other hand, was situated very differently to America. +She was not acted upon by necessity to seek a friend, and therefore +her motive in becoming one, has the strongest evidence of being good, +and that which is so, must have some happiness for its object. With +regard to herself she saw a train of conveniencies worthy her +attention. By lessening the power of an enemy, whom, at the same +time, she sought neither to destroy nor distress, she gained an +advantage without doing an evil, and created to herself a new friend +by associating with a country in misfortune. The springs of thought +that lead to actions of this kind, however political they may be, are +nevertheless naturally beneficent; for in all causes, good or bad, it +is necessary there should be a fitness in the mind, to enable it to +act in character with the object: Therefore, as a bad cause cannot be +prosecuted with a good motive, so neither can a good cause be long +supported by a bad one, as no man acts without a motive; therefore, in +the present instance, as they cannot be bad, they must be admitted to +be good. But the Abbe sets out upon such an extended scale, that he +overlooks the degrees by which it is measured, and rejects the +beginning of good, because the end comes not at once. + +It is true that bad motives may in some degree be brought to support a +good cause or prosecute a good object; but it never continues long, +which is not the case with France; for either the object will reform +the mind, or the mind corrupt the object, or else not being able, +either way, to get into unison, they will separate in disgust: And +this natural, though unperceived progress of association or contention +between the mind and the object, is the secret cause of fidelity or +defection. Every object a man pursues is, for the time, a kind of +mistress to his mind: if both are good or bad, the union is natural; +but if they are in reverse, and neither can seduce nor yet reform the +other, the opposition grows into dislike, and a separation follows. + +When the cause of America first made her appearance on the stage of +the universe, there were many who, in the style of adventurers and +fortune-hunters, were dangling in her train, and making their court to +her with every profession of honour and attachment. They were loud in +her praise, and ostentatious in her service. Every place echoed with +their ardour or their anger, and they seemed like men in love.--But, +alas, they were fortune-hunters. Their expectations were excited, but +their minds were unimpressed; and finding her not to the purpose, nor +themselves reformed by her influence, they ceased their suit, and in +some instances deserted and betrayed her. + +There were others, who at first beheld her with indifference, and +unacquainted with her character, were cautious of her company. They +treated her as one, who, under the fair name of liberty, might conceal +the hideous figure of anarchy, or the gloomy monster of tyranny. They +knew not what she was. If fair, she was fair indeed. But still she was +suspected, and though born among us, appeared to be a stranger. + +Accident, with some, and curiosity with others, brought on a distant +acquaintance. They ventured to look at her. They felt an inclination +to speak to her. One intimacy led to another, till the suspicion wore +away, and a change of sentiment stole gradually upon the mind; and +having no self-interest to serve, no passion of dishonour to gratify, +they became enamoured of her innocence, and unaltered by misfortune or +uninflamed by success, shared with fidelity in the varieties of her +fate. + +This declaration of the Abbe's, respecting motives, has led me +unintendedly into a train of metaphysical reasoning; but there was no +other avenue by which it could so properly be approached. To place +presumption against presumption, assertion against assertion, is a +mode of opposition that has no effect; and therefore the more eligible +method was, to shew that the declaration does not correspond with the +natural progress of the mind, and the influence it has upon our +conduct.--I shall now quit this part, and proceed to what I have +before stated, namely, that it is not so properly the motives which +produced the alliance, as the consequences to be produced from it, +that mark out the field of philosophical reflections. + +It is an observation I have already made in some former publication, +that the circle of civilization is yet incomplete. A mutuality of +wants have formed the individuals of each country into a kind of +national society, and here the progress of civilization has stopt. +For it is easy to see, that nations with regard to each other +(notwithstanding the ideal civil law, which every one explains as it +suits him) are like individuals in a state of nature. They are +regulated by no fixt principle, governed by no compulsive law, and +each does independently what it pleases, or what it can. + +Were it possible we could have known the world when in a state of +barbarism, we might have concluded, that it never could be brought +into the order we now see it. The untamed mind was then as hard, if +not harder to work upon in its individual state, than the national +mind is in its present one. Yet we have seen the accomplishment of the +one, why then should we doubt that of the other? + +There is a greater fitness in mankind to extend and complete the +civilization of nations with each other at this day, than there was to +begin it with the unconnected individuals at first; in the same manner +that it is somewhat easier to put together the materials of a machine +after they are formed, than it was to form them from original matter. +The present condition of the world, differing so exceedingly from what +it formerly was, has given a new cast to the mind of man, more than +what he appears to be sensible of. The wants of the individual, which +first produced the idea of society, are now augmented into the wants +of the nation, and he is obliged to seek from another country what +before he sought from the next person. + +Letters, the tongue of the world, have in some measure brought all +mankind acquainted, and, by an extension of their uses, are every day +promoting some new friendship. Through them distant nations became +capable of conversation, and losing by degrees the awkwardness of +strangers, and the moroseness of suspicion, they learn to know and +understand each other. Science, the partizan of no country, but the +beneficent patroness of all, has liberally opened a temple where all +may meet. Her influence on the mind, like the sun on the chilled +earth, has long been preparing it for higher cultivation and further +improvement. The philosopher of one country sees not an enemy in the +philosopher of another: he takes his seat in the temple of science, +and asks not who sits beside him. + +This was not the condition of the barbarian world. Then the wants of +man were few, and the objects within his reach. While he could acquire +these, he lived in a state of individual independence; the consequence +of which was, there were as many nations as persons, each contending +with the other, to secure something which he had, or to obtain +something which he had not. The world had then no business to follow, +no studies to exercise the mind. Their time was divided between sloth +and fatigue. Hunting and war were their chief occupations; sleep and +food their principal enjoyments. + +Now it is otherwise. A change in the mode of life has made it +necessary to be busy; and man finds a thousand things to do now which +before he did not. Instead of placing his ideas of greatness in the +rude achievements of the savage, he studies arts, science, +agriculture, and commerce, the refinements of the gentleman, the +principles of society, and the knowledge of the philosopher. + +There are many things which in themselves are morally neither good nor +bad, but they are productive of consequences, which are strongly +marked with one or other of these characters. Thus commerce, though in +itself a moral nullity, has had a considerable influence in tempering +the human mind. It was the want of objects in the ancient world, which +occasioned in them such a rude and perpetual turn for war. Their time +hung upon their hands without the means of employment. The indolence +they lived in afforded leisure for mischief, and being all idle at +once, and equal in their circumstances, they were easily provoked or +induced to action. + +But the introduction of commerce furnished the world with objects, +which in their extent, reach every man, and give him something to +think about and something to do; by these his attention his [_sic_] +mechanically drawn from the pursuits which a state of indolence and an +unemployed mind occasioned, and he trades with the same countries, +which former ages, tempted by their productions, and too indolent to +purchase them, would have gone to war with. + +Thus, as I have already observed, the condition of the world being +materially changed by the influence of science and commerce, it is put +into a fitness not only to admit of, but to desire an extension of +civilization. The principal and almost only remaining enemy it now has +to encounter, is _prejudice_; for it is evidently the interest of +mankind to agree and make the best of life. The world has undergone +its divisions of empire, the several boundaries of which are known and +settled. The idea of conquering countries, like the Greeks and Romans, +does not now exist; and experience has exploded the notion of going to +war for the sake of profit. In short, the objects for war are +exceedingly diminished, and there is now left scarcely any thing to +quarrel about, but what arises from that demon of society, prejudice, +and the consequent sullenness and untractableness of the temper. + +There is something exceedingly curious in the constitution and +operation of prejudice. It has the singular ability of accommodating +itself to all the possible varieties of the human mind. Some passions +and vices are but thinly scattered among mankind, and find only here +and there a fitness of reception. But prejudice, like the spider, +makes every where its home. It has neither taste nor choice of place, +and all that it requires is room. There is scarcely a situation, +except fire or water, in which a spider will not live. So, let the +mind be as naked as the walls of an empty and forsaken tenement, +gloomy as a dungeon, or ornamented with the richest abilities of +thinking; let it be hot, cold, dark, or light, lonely or inhabited, +still prejudice, if undisturbed, will fill it with cobwebs, and live, +like the spider, where there seems nothing to live on. If the one +prepares her food by poisoning it to her palate and her use, the other +does the same; and as several of our passions are strongly charactered +by the animal world, prejudice may be denominated the spider of the +mind. + +Perhaps no two events ever united so intimately and forceably to +combat and expel prejudice, as the Revolution of America, and the +Alliance with France. Their effects are felt, and their influence +already extends as well to the old world as the new. Our style and +manner of thinking have undergone a revolution, more extraordinary +than the political revolution of the country. We see with other eyes; +we hear with other ears; and think with other thoughts, than those we +formerly used. We can look back on our own prejudices, as if they had +been the prejudices of other people. We now see and know they were +prejudices, and nothing else; and relieved from their shackles, enjoy +a freedom of mind we felt not before. It was not all the argument, +however powerful, nor all the reasoning, however elegant, that could +have produced this change, so necessary to the extension of the mind +and the cordiality of the world, without the two circumstances of the +Revolution and the Alliance. + +Had America dropt quietly from Britain, no material change in +sentiment had taken place. The same notions, prejudices, and conceits, +would have governed in both countries, as governed them before; and, +still the slaves of error and education, they would have travelled on +in the beaten tract of vulgar and habitual thinking. But brought about +by the means it has been, both with regard to ourselves, to France, +and to England, every corner of the mind is swept of its cobwebs, +poison, and dust, and made fit for the reception of general happiness. + +Perhaps there never was an alliance on a broader basis, than that +between America and France, and the progress of it is worth attending +to. The countries had been enemies, not properly of themselves, but +through the medium of England. They, originally, had no quarrel with +each other, nor any cause for one, but what arose from the interest of +England, and her arming America against France. At the same time, the +Americans, at a distance from and unacquainted with the world, and +tutored in all the prejudices which governed those who governed them, +conceived it their duty to act as they were taught. In doing this +they expended their substance to make conquests, not for themselves, +but for their masters, who in return, treated them as slaves. + +A long succession of insolent severity, and the separation finally +occasioned by the commencement of hostilities at Lexington, on the +19th of April, 1775, naturally produced a new disposition of thinking. +As the mind closed itself towards England, it opened itself toward the +world; and our prejudices, like our oppressions, underwent, though +less observed, a mental examination; until we found the former as +inconsistent with reason and benevolence, as the latter were repugnant +to our civil and political rights. + +While we were thus advancing by degrees into the wide field of +extended humanity, the alliance with France was concluded; an alliance +not formed for the mere purpose of a day, but on just and generous +grounds, and with equal and mutual advantages; and the easy +affectionate manner in which the parties have since communicated, has +made it an alliance, not of courts only, but of countries. There is +now an union of mind as well as of interest; and our hearts as well as +our prosperity, call on us to support it. + +The people of England not having experienced this change, had likewise +no ideas of it, they were hugging to their bosoms the same prejudices +we were trampling beneath our feet; and they expected to keep a hold +upon America, by that narrowness of thinking which America disdained. +What they were proud of, we despised: and this is a principal cause +why all their negotiations, constructed on this ground, have failed. +We are now really another people, and cannot again go back to +ignorance and prejudice. The mind once enlightened cannot again become +dark. There is no possibility, neither is there any term to express +the supposition by, of the mind unknowing any thing it already knows; +and therefore all attempts on the part of England, fitted to the +former habit of America, and on the expectation of their applying now, +will be like persuading a seeing man to become blind, and a sensible +one to turn an idiot. The first of which is unnatural and the other +impossible. + +As to the remark which the Abbe makes on the one country being a +monarchy and the other a republic, it can have no essential meaning. +Forms of government have nothing to do with treaties. The former are +the internal police of the countries severally; the latter their +external police jointly: and so long as each performs its part, we +have no more right or business to know how the one or the other +conducts its domestic affairs, than we have to inquire into the +private concerns of a family. + +But had the Abbe reflected for a moment, he would have seen that +courts, or the governing powers of all countries, be their forms what +they may, are relatively republics with each other. It is the first +and true principle of alliancing. Antiquity may have given precedence, +and power will naturally create importance, but their equal right is +never disputed. It may likewise be worthy of remarking, that a +monarchical country can suffer nothing in its popular happiness by an +alliance with a republican one; and republican governments have never +been destroyed by their external connections, but by some internal +convulsion or contrivance. France has been in alliance with the +republic of Switzerland for more than two hundred years, and still +Switzerland retains her original form as entire as if she had allied +with a republic like herself; therefore this remark of the Abbe should +go for nothing.--Besides, it is best mankind should mix. There is ever +something to learn, either of manners or principle; and it is by a +free communication, without regard to domestic matters, that +friendship is to be extended, and prejudice destroyed all over the +world. + +But notwithstanding the Abbe's high professions in favour of liberty, +he appears sometimes to forget himself, or that his theory is rather +the child of his fancy than of his judgment: for in almost the same +instant that he censures the alliance, as not originally or +sufficiently calculated for the happiness of mankind, he, by a figure +of implication, accuses France for having acted so generously and +unreservedly in concluding it. "Why did they (says he, meaning the +Court of France) tie themselves down by an inconsiderate treaty to +conditions with the Congress, which they might themselves have held in +dependence by ample and regular supplies." + +When an author undertakes to treat of public happiness, he ought to be +certain that he does not mistake passion for right, nor imagination +for principle. Principle, like truth, needs no contrivance. It will +ever tell its own tale, and tell it the same way. But where this is +not the case, every page must be watched, recollected, and compared +like an invented story. + +I am surprised at this passage of the Abbe. It means nothing or it +means ill; and in any case it shows the great difference between +speculative and practical knowledge. A treaty according to the Abbe's +language would have neither duration nor affection; it might have +lasted to the end of the war, and then expired with it.--But France, +by acting in a style superior to the little politics of narrow +thinking, has established a generous fame, and won the love of a +country she was before a stranger to. She had to treat with a people +who thought as nature taught them; and, on her own part, she wisely +saw there was no present advantage to be obtained by unequal terms, +which could balance the more lasting ones that might flow from a kind +and generous beginning. + +From this part the Abbe advances into the secret transactions of the +two Cabinets of Versailles and Madrid, respecting the independence of +America, through which I mean not to follow him. It is a circumstance +sufficiently striking, without being commented on, that the former +union of America with Britain, produced a power, which, in her hands, +had was becoming dangerous to the world: and there is no improbability +in supposing, that had the latter known as much of the strength of +former, before she began the quarrel, as she has known since, that +instead of attempting to reduce her to unconditional submission, would +have proposed to her the conquest of Mexico. But from the countries +separately, Spain has nothing to apprehend, though from their union, +she had more to fear than any other power in Europe. + +The part which I shall more particularly confine myself to, is that, +wherein the Abbe takes an opportunity of complimenting the British +Ministry with high encomiums of admiration, on their rejecting the +offered mediation of the Court of Madrid, in 1779. + +It must be remembered, that before Spain joined France in the War, she +undertook the office of a mediator, and made proposals to the British +King and Ministry so exceedingly favourable to their interest, that +had they been accepted, would have become inconvenient, if not +inadmissible to America. These proposals were nevertheless rejected by +the British Cabinet: on which the Abbe says,-- + +"It is in such a circumstance as this, it is in the time when noble +pride elevates the soul superior to all terror; when nothing is seen +more dreadful than the shame of receiving the law, and when there is +no doubt or hesitation which to chuse, between ruin and dishonour; it +is then, that the greatness of a nation is displayed. I acknowledge, +however, that men accustomed to judge of things by the event, call +great and perilous resolutions, heroism or madness, according to the +good or bad success with which they have been attended. If then I +should be asked, what is the name which shall in years to come be +given to the firmness, which was in this moment exhibited by the +English, I shall answer, that I do not know. But that which it +deserves I know. I know that the annals of the world hold out to us +but rarely the august and majestic spectacle of a nation, which chuses +rather to renounce its duration than its glory." + +In this paragraph the conception is lofty, and the expression elegant; +but the colouring is too high for the original, and the likeness fails +through an excess of graces. To fit the powers of thinking and the +turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion +that shall hit the point in question, and nothing else, is the true +criterion of writing. But the greater part of the Abbe's writings (if +he will pardon me the remark) appear to me uncentral and burthened +with variety. They represent a beautiful wilderness without paths; in +which the eye is diverted by every thing, without being particularly +directed to any thing: and in which it is agreeable to be lost, and +difficult to find the way out. + +Before I offer any other remark oh the spirit and composition of the +above passage, I shall compare it with the circumstance it alludes to. + +The circumstance, then, does not deserve the encomium. The rejection +was not prompted by her fortitude but her vanity. She did not view it +as a case of despair or even of extreme danger, and consequently the +determination to renounce her duration rather than her glory, cannot +apply to the condition of her mind. She had then high expectations of +subjugating America, and had no other naval force against her than +France; neither was she certain that rejecting the mediation of Spain +would combine that power with France. New mediations might arise more +favourable than those she had refused. But if they should not, and +Spain should join, she still saw that it would only bring out her +naval force against France and Spain, which was wanted and could not +be employed against America, and habits of thinking had taught her to +believe herself superior to both. + +But in any case to which the consequence might point, there was +nothing to impress her with the idea of renouncing her duration. It is +not the policy of Europe to suffer the extinction of any power, but +only to lop off, or prevent its dangerous encrease. She was likewise +freed by situation from the internal and immediate horrors of +invasion; was rolling in dissipation, and looking for conquests; and +though she suffered nothing but the expense of war, she still had a +greedy eye to magnificent reimbursement. + +But if the Abbe is delighted with high and striking singularities of +character he might, in America, have found ample field for encomium. +Here was a people, who could not know what part the world would take +for, or against them; and who were venturing on an untried scheme, in +opposition to a power, against which more formidable nations had +failed. They had every thing to learn but the principles which +supported them, and every thing to procure that was necessary for +their defense. They have at times seen themselves as low as distress +could make them, without showing the least stagger in their fortitude; +and been raised again by the most unexpected events, without +discovering an unmanly discomposure of joy. To hesitate or to despair +are conditions equally unknown in America. Her mind was prepared for +every thing; because her original and final resolution of succeeding +or perishing included all possible circumstances. + +The rejection of the British propositions in the year 1778, +circumstanced as America was at that time, is a far greater instance +of unshaken fortitude than the refusal of the Spanish mediation by the +Court of London: and other historians, besides the Abbe, struck with +the vastness of her conduct therein, have, like himself, attributed it +to a circumstance which was then unknown, the alliance with France. +Their error shows their idea of its greatness; because, in order to +account for it, they have sought a cause suited to its magnitude, +without knowing that the cause existed in the principles of the +country.[2] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] Extract from, "_A short Review of the present Reign_," in England. +_Page 45, in the New Annual Register for the year 1780_. + + "_THE Commissioners, who, in consequence of Lord North's + conciliatory bills, went over to America, to propose terms of + peace to the colonies, were wholly unsuccessful. The concessions + which formerly would have been received with the utmost + gratitude, were rejected with disdain. Now was the time of + American pride and haughtiness. It is probable, however, that it + was not pride and haughtiness alone that dictated the + Resolutions of Congress, but a distrust of the sincerity of the + offers of Britain, a determination not to give up their + independence, and_ ABOVE ALL, THE ENGAGEMENTS INTO WHICH _I_ + HAD ENTERED BY THEIR LATE TREATY WITH FRANCE." + + +But this passionate encomium of the Abbe is deservedly subject to +moral and philosophical objections. It is the effusion of wild +thinking, and has a tendency to prevent that humanity of reflection +which the criminal conduct of Britain enjoins on her as a duty.--It is +a laudanum to courtly iniquity.--It keeps in intoxicated sleep the +conscience of a nation; and more mischief is effected by wrapping up +guilt in splendid excuse, than by directly patronizing it. + +Britain is now the only country which holds the world in disturbance +and war; and instead of paying compliments to the excess of her +crimes, the Abbe would have appeared much more in character, had he +put to her, or to her monarch, this serious question-- + +Are there not miseries enough in the world, too difficult to be +encountered and too pointed to be borne, without studying to enlarge +the list and arming it with new destruction? Is life so very long, +that it is necessary, nay even a duty, to shake the sand, and hasten +out the period of duration? Is the path so elegantly smooth, so decked +on every side, and carpeted with joys, that wretchedness is wanting to +enrich it as a soil? Go ask thine aching heart, when sorrow from a +thousand causes wounds it, go, ask thy sickened self when every +medicine fails, whether this be the case or not? + +Quitting my remarks on this head, I proceed to another, in which the +Abbe has let loose a vein of ill-nature, and, what is still worse, of +injustice. + +After caviling at the treaty, he goes on to characterize the several +parties combined in the war.--"Is it possible," says the Abbe, "that a +strict union should long subsist amongst confederates of characters so +opposite as the hasty, light, disdainful Frenchman, the jealous, +haughty, sly, slow, circumspect Spaniard, and the American, who is +secretly snatching looks at the mother country, and would rejoice, +were they compatible with his independence, at the disasters of his +allies?" + +To draw foolish portraits of each other, is a mode of attack and +reprisal, which the greater part of mankind are fond of indulging. The +serious philosopher should be above it, more especially in cases from +which no possible good can arise, and mischief may, and where no +received provocation can palliate the offense.--The Abbe might have +invented a difference of character for every country in the world, and +they in return might find others for him, till in the war of wit all +real character is lost. The pleasantry of one nation or the gravity of +another may, by a little penciling, be distorted into whimsical +features, and the painter becomes so much laughed at as the painting. + +But why did not the Abbe look a little deeper, and bring forth the +excellencies of the several parties? Why did he not dwell with +pleasure on that greatness of character, that superiority of heart, +which has marked the conduct of France in her conquests, and which has +forced an acknowledgment even from Britain. + +There is one line, at least (and many others might be discovered), in +which the confederates unite; which is, that of a rival eminence in +their treatment of their enemies. Spain, in her conquest of Minorca +and the Bahama Islands, confirms this remark. America has been +invariable in her lenity from the beginning of the war, +notwithstanding the high provocations she has experienced? It is +England only who has been insolent and cruel. + +But why must America be charged with a crime undeserved by her +conduct, more so by her principles, and which, if a fact, would be +fatal to her honour? I mean the want of attachment to her allies, or +rejoicing in their disasters. She, it is true, has been assiduous in +showing to the world that she was not the aggressor toward England; +and that the quarrel was not of her seeking, or, at that time, even of +her wishing. But to draw inferences from her justification, to stab +her character by, and I see nothing else from which they can be +supposed to be drawn, is unkind and unjust. + +Does her rejection of the British propositions in 1778, before she +knew of any alliance with France, correspond with the Abbe's +description of her mind? Does a single instance of her conduct since +that time justify it?--But there is a still better evidence to apply +to, which is, that of all the mails which at different times have been +way-laid on the road, in divers parts of America, and taken and +carried into New-York, and from which the most secret and confidential +private letters, as well as those from authority, have been published, +not one of them, I repeat it, not a single one of them, gives +countenance to such a charge. + +This is not a country where men are under government restraint in +speaking; and if there is any kind of restraint, it arises from a fear +of popular resentment. Now, if nothing in her private or public +correspondence favours such a suggestion, and if the general +disposition of the country is such as to make it unsafe for a man to +shew an appearance of joy at any disaster to her ally; on what +grounds, I ask, can the accusation stand? What company the Abbe may +have kept in France, we cannot know; but this we know, that the +account he gives does not apply to America. + +Had the Abbe been in America at the time the news arrived of the +disaster of the fleet under Count de Grasse, in the West-Indies, he +would have seen his vast mistake. Neither do I remember any instance, +except the loss of Charlestown, in which the public mind suffered more +severe and pungent concern, or underwent more agitations of hope and +apprehension, as to the truth or falsehood of the report. Had the loss +been all our own, it could not have had a deeper effect; yet it was +not one of those cases which reached to the independence of America. + +In the geographical account which the Abbe gives of the Thirteen +States, he is so exceedingly erroneous, that to attempt a particular +refutation, would exceed the limits I have prescribed to myself. And +as it is a matter neither political, historical, nor sentimental, and +which can always be contradicted by the extent and natural +circumstances of the country, I shall pass it over; with this +additional remark, that I never yet saw an European description of +America that was true, neither can any person gain a just idea of it, +but by coming to it. + +Though I have already extended this letter beyond what I at first +proposed, I am, nevertheless, obliged to omit many observations I +originally designed to have made. I wish there had been no occasion +for making any. But the wrong ideas which the Abbe's work had a +tendency to excite, and the prejudicial impressions they might make, +must be an apology for my remarks, and the freedom with which they are +made. + +I observe the Abbe has made a sort of epitome of a considerable part +of the pamphlet Common Sense, and introduced it in that form into his +publication. But there are other places where the Abbe has borrowed +freely from the said pamphlet without acknowledging it. The difference +between society and government, with which the pamphlet opens, is +taken from it, and in some expressions almost literally, into the +Abbe's work, as if originally his own; and through the whole of the +Abbe's remarks on this head, the idea in Common Sense is so closely +copied and pursued, that the difference is only in words, and in the +arrangement of the thoughts, and not in the thoughts themselves.[3] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] + + COMMON SENSE. ABBE RAYNAL. +"Some writers have so confounded "Care must be taken not to confound +society With government, as to leave together society with government. +little or no distinction between them; That they may be known distinctly, +whereas they are not only different, their origin should be considered. +but have different origins. + +"Society is produced by our wants, "Society originates in the wants of +and governments by our wickedness; men, government in their vices. +the former promotes our happiness Society tends always to good; government +_positively_, by uniting our affections; ought always to tend to the +the latter _negatively_, by restraining repressing of evil." +our vices." + +_In the following paragraphs there is less likeness in the language, but +the ideas in the one are evidently copied from the other_. + +"In order to gain a clear and just "Man, thrown, as it were by +idea of the design and end of government, chance upon the globe, surrounded +let us suppose a small number by all the evils of nature, obliged +of persons, meeting in some frequented continually to defend and protect his +part of the earth, unconnected life against the storms and tempests +with the rest; they will then represent of the air, against the inundations of +the peopling of any country or water, against the fire of volcanoes, +of the world. In this state of natural against the intemperance of frigid +liberty, society will be our first and torrid zones, against the sterility +thought. A thousand motives will of the earth which, refuses him aliment, +excite them thereto. The strength of or its baneful fecundity, which +one man is so unequal to his wants, makes poison spring up beneath his +and his mind so unfitted for perpetual feet; in short against the claws and +solitude, that he is soon obliged to teeth of savage beasts, who dispute +seek assistance of another, who, in with him his habitation and his prey, +his turn, requires the same. Four or and attacking his person, seem resolved +five united would be able to raise to render themselves rulers of +a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a this globe, of which he thinks himself +wilderness; but _one_ man might to be the master. Man, in this +labour out the common period of life, state, alone and abandoned to himself, +without accomplishing any thing; could do nothing for his preservation. +when he has felled his timber, he It was necessary, therefore, +could not remove it, nor erect it after that he should unite himself, and associate +it was removed; hunger, in the with his like, in order to +mean time would, urge him from his bring together their strength and intelligence +work, and every different want call in common stock. It is +him a different way. Disease, nay by this union that he has triumphed +even misfortune would be death; over so many evils, that he has +for though neither might be immediately fashioned this globe to his use, restrained +mortal, yet either of them the rivers, subjugated the +would disable him from living, and seas, insured his subsistence, conquered +reduce him to a state in which he apart of the animals in obliging +might rather be said to perish than to them to serve him, and driven others +die.--Thus necessity, like a gravitating far from his empire, to the depths of +power, would form our newly deserts or of woods, where their +arrived emigrants into society, the number diminishes from age to age. +reciprocal benefits of which would What a man alone would not have +supersede and render the obligations been able to effect, men have executed +of law and government unnecessary, in concert; and altogether they +while they remained perfectly just preserve their work.--Such is the +to each other. But as nothing but origin, such the advantages, and the +heaven is impregnable to vice, it will end of society.--Government owes +unavoidably happen, that in proportion its birth to the necessity of preventing +as they surmount the first and repressing the injuries which +difficulties of emigration which bound the associated individuals had to fear +them together in a common cause, from one another. It is the sentinel +they will begin to relax in their duty who watches, in order that the common +and attachment to each other, and this labourers be not disturbed." +remissness will point out the necessity +of establishing some form of +moral virtue." + + +But as it is time that I should come to the end of my letter, I shall +forbear all further observations on the Abbe's work, and take a +concise view of the state of public affairs, since the time in which +that performance was published. + +A mind habituated to actions of meanness and injustice, commits them +without reflection, or with a very partial one; for on what other +ground than this, can we account for the declaration of war against +the Dutch? To gain an idea of the politics which actuated the British +Ministry to this measure, we must enter into the opinion which they, +and the English in general, had formed of the temper of the Dutch +nation; and from thence infer what their expectation of the +consequences would be. + +Could they have imagined that Holland would have seriously made a +common cause with France, Spain and America, the British Ministry +would never have dared to provoke them. It would have been a madness +in politics to have done so; unless their views were to hasten on a +period of such emphatic distress, as should justify the concessions +which they saw they must one day or other make to the world, and for +which they wanted an apology to themselves.--There is a temper in some +men which seeks a pretense for submission. Like a ship disabled in +action, and unfitted to continue it, it waits the approach of a still +larger one to strike to, and feels relief at the opportunity. Whether +this is greatness or littleness of mind, I am not enquiring into. I +should suppose it to be the latter, because it proceeds from the want +of knowing how to bear misfortune in its original state. + +But the subsequent conduct of the British cabinet has shown that this +was not their plan of politics, and consequently their motives must be +sought for in another line. + +The truth is, that the British had formed a very humble opinion of the +Dutch nation. They looked on them as a people who would submit to any +thing; that they might insult them as they liked, plunder them as they +pleased, and still the Dutch dared not to be provoked. + +If this be taken as the opinion of the British cabinet, the measure +is easily accounted for, because it goes on the supposition, that +when, by a declaration of hostilities, they had robbed the Dutch of +some millions sterling (and to rob them was popular), they could make +peace with them again whenever they pleased, and on almost any terms +the British ministry should propose. And no sooner was the plundering +committed, than the accommodation was set on foot, and failed. + +When once the mind loses the sense of its own dignity, it loses, +likewise, the ability of judging of it in another. And the American +war has thrown Britain into such a variety of absurd situations, that, +arguing from herself, she sees not in what conduct national dignity +consists in other countries. From Holland she expected duplicity and +submission, and this mistake from her having acted, in a number of +instances during the present war, the same character herself. + +To be allied to, or connected with Britain, seems to be an unsafe and +impolitic situation. Holland and America are instances of the reality +of this remark. Make those countries the allies of France or Spain, +and Britain will court them with civility and treat them with respect; +make them her own allies, and she will insult and plunder them. In the +first case, she feels some apprehensions at offending them, because +they have support at hand; in the latter, those apprehensions do not +exist. Such, however, has hitherto been her conduct. + +Another measure which has taken place since the publication of the +Abbe's work, and likewise since the time of my beginning this letter, +is the change in the British Ministry. What line the new cabinet will +pursue respecting America, is at this time unknown; neither is it very +material, unless they are seriously disposed to a general and +honourable peace. + +Repeated experience has shown, not only the impracticability of +conquering America, but the still higher impossibility of conquering +her mind, or recalling her back to her former condition of thinking. +Since the commencement of the war, which is now approaching to eight +years, thousands and tens of thousands have advanced, and are daily +advancing into the first state of manhood, who know nothing of Britain +but as a barbarous enemy, and to whom the independence of America +appears as much the natural and established government of the country, +as that of England does to an Englishman. And on the other hand, +thousands of the aged, who had British ideas, have dropped and are +daily dropping, from the stage of business and life.--The natural +progress of generation and decay operates every hour to the +disadvantage of Britain. Time and death, hard enemies to contend with, +fight constantly against her interest; and the bills of mortality, in +every part of America, are the thermometers of her decline. The +children in the streets are from their cradle bred to consider her as +their only foe. They hear of her cruelties; of their fathers, uncles, +and kindred killed; they see the remains of burned and destroyed +houses, and the common tradition of the school they go to, tells them, +_those things were done by the British._ + +These are circumstances which the mere English state politician, who +considers man only in a state of manhood, does not attend to. He gets +entangled with parties coeval or equal with himself at home, and +thinks not how fast the rising generation in America is growing beyond +his knowledge of them, or they of him. In a few years all personal +remembrance will be lost, and who is king or minister in England, will +be but little known and scarcely inquired after. + +The new British administration is composed of persons who have ever +been against the war, and who have constantly reprobated all the +violent measures of the former one. They considered the American war +as destructive to themselves, and opposed it on that ground. But what +are these things to America? She has nothing to do with English +parties. The ins and the outs are nothing to her. It is the whole +country she is at war with, or must be at peace with. + +Were every minister in England a _Chatham_, it would now weigh little +or nothing in the scale of American politics. Death has preserved to +the memory of this statesman _that fame_, which he by living, would +have lost. His plans and opinions, towards the latter part of his +life, would have been attended with as many evil consequences, and as +much reprobated here, as those of Lord North; and considering him a +wise man, they abound with inconsistencies amounting to absurdities. + +It has apparently been the fault of many in the late minority, to +suppose that America would agree to certain terms with them, were they +in place, which she would not ever listen to, from the then +administration. This idea can answer no other purpose than to prolong +the war; and Britain may, at the expense of many more millions, learn +the fatality of such mistakes. If the new ministry wisely avoid this +hopeless policy, they will prove themselves better pilots and wiser +men than they are conceived to be; for it is every day expected to see +their bark strike upon some hidden rock, and go to pieces. + +But there is a line in which they may be great. A more brilliant +opening needs not to present itself; and it is such an one as true +magnanimity would improve, and humanity rejoice in. + +A total reformation is wanted in England. She wants an expanded +mind,--an heart which embraces the universe. Instead of shutting +herself up in an island, and quarreling with the world, she would +derive more lasting happiness, and acquire more real riches by +generously mixing with it, and bravely saying, I am the enemy of none. +It is not now the time for little contrivances, or artful politics. +The European world is too experienced to be imposed upon, and America +too wise to be duped. It must be something new and masterly that must +succeed. The idea of seducing America from her independence, or of +corrupting her from her alliance is a thought too little for a great +mind, and impossible for any honest one, to attempt. When ever +politics are applied to debauch mankind from their integrity, and +dissolve the virtues of human nature, they become detestables and to +be a statesman on this plan, is to be a commissioned villain. He who +aims at it, leaves a vacancy in his character, which may be filled up +with the worst of epithets. + +If the disposition of England should be such, as not to agree to a +general and honourable peace, and the war must at all events, continue +longer, I cannot help wishing that the alliances which America has or +may enter into, may become the only objects of the war. She wants an +opportunity of shewing to the world that she holds her honour as dear +and sacred as her independence, and that she will in no situation +forsake those, whom no negotiations could induce to forsake her. +Peace, to every reflective mind is a desirable object; but that peace +which is accompanied with a ruined character, becomes a crime to the +seducer, and a curse upon the seduced. + +But where is the impossibility or even the great difficulty of England +forming a friendship with France and Spain, and making it a national +virtue to renounce for ever those prejudiced inveteracies it has been +her custom to cherish; and which, while they serve to sink her with an +increasing enormity of debt, by involving her in fruitless wars, +become likewise the bane of her repose, and the destruction of her +manners. We had once the fetters that she has now, but experience has +shewn us the mistake, and thinking justly, has set us right. + +The true idea of a great nation is that, which extends and promotes +the principles of universal society. Whose mind rises above the +Atmospheres of local thoughts, and considers mankind, of whatever +nation or profession they may be, as the work of one Creator. The rage +for conquest has had its fashion, and its day. Why may not the amiable +virtues have the same? The Alexanders and Cæsars of antiquity have +left behind them their monuments of destruction, and are remembered +with hatred; while those more exalted characters, who first taught +society and science, are blessed with the gratitude of every age and +country. Of more use was one philosopher, though a heathen, to the +world, than all the heathen conquerors that ever existed. + +Should the present revolution be distinguished by opening a new system +of extended civilization, it will receive from heaven the highest +evidence of approbation; and as this is a subject to which the Abbe's +powers are so eminently suited, I recommend it to his attention, with +the affection of a friend, and the ardour of a universal citizen. + + * * * * * + + + + +POSTSCRIPT + + +Since closing the foregoing letter some intimations respecting a +general peace, have made their way to America. On what authority or +foundation they stand, or how near or remote such an event may be, are +circumstances I am not enquiring into. But as the subject must sooner +or later, become a matter of serious attention, it may not be +improper, even at this early period, candidly to investigate some +points that are connected with it, or lead towards it. + +The independence of America is at this moment as firmly established as +that of any other country in a state of war. It is not length of time, +but power that gives stability. Nations at war know nothing of each +other on the score of antiquity. It is their present and immediate +strength, together with their connections, that must support them. To +which we may add, that a right which originated to-day, is as much a +right, as if it had the sanction of a thousand years; and therefore +the independence and present government of America are in no more +danger of being subverted, because they are modern, than that of +England is secure, because it is ancient. + +The politics of Britain, so far as respected America, were originally +conceived in idiotism, and acted in madness. There is not a step which +bears the smallest trace of rationality. In her management of the war, +she has laboured to be wretched, and studied to be hated; and in all +her former propositions for accommodation, she has discovered a total +ignorance of mankind, and of those natural and unalterable sensations +by which they are so generally governed. How she may conduct herself +in the present or future business of negotiating a peace is yet to be +proved. + +He is a weak politician who does not understand human nature, and +penetrate into the effect which measures of government will have upon +the mind. All the miscarriages of Britain have arisen from this +defect. The former Ministry acted as if they supposed mankind to be +_without a mind_; and the present Ministry, as if America was _without +a memory_. The one must have supposed we were incapable of feeling; +and the other that we could not remember injuries. + +There is likewise another line in which politicians mistake, which is +that of not rightly calculating, or rather of misjudging, the +consequence which any given circumstance will produce. Nothing is more +frequent, as well in common as in political life, than to hear people +complain, that such or such means produced an event directly contrary +to their intentions. But the fault lies in their not judging rightly +what the event would be; for the means produced only its proper and +natural consequence. + +It is very probable, that in a treaty of peace, Britain will contend +for some post or other in North America, perhaps Canada or Halifax, or +both; and I infer this from the known deficiency of her politics, +which have ever yet made use of means, whose natural event was against +both her interest and her expectation. But the question with her ought +to be, Whether it is worth her while to hold them, and what will be +the consequence? + +Respecting Canada, one or other of the two following will take place, +viz. If Canada should people, it will revolt, and if it do not people, +it will not be worth the expense of holding. And the same may be said +of Halifax; and the country round it. But Canada _never will_ people; +neither is there any occasion for contrivances on one side or the +other, for nature alone will do the whole. + +Britain may put herself to great expenses in sending settlers to +Canada; but the descendants of those settlers will be Americans, as +other descendants have been before them. They will look round and see +the neighbouring States sovereign and free, respected abroad, and +trading at large with the world; and the natural love of liberty, the +advantages of commerce, the blessings of independence and of a happier +climate, and a richer soil, will draw them southward; and the effect +will be, that Britain will sustain the expense, and America reap the +advantage. + +One would think that the experience which Britain has had of America, +would entirely sicken her of all thoughts of continental colonization, +and any part she might retain will only become to her a field of +jealousy and thorns, of debate and contention, forever struggling for +privileges, and meditating revolt. She may form new settlements, but +they will be for us; they will become part of the United States of +America; and that against all her contrivances to prevent it, or +without any endeavors of ours to promote it. In the first place she +cannot draw from them a revenue, until they are able to pay one, and +when they are so, they will be above subjection. Men soon become +attached to the soil they live upon, and incorporated with the +prosperity of the place; and it signifies but little what opinions +they come over with, for time, interest, and new connections, will +render them obsolete, and the next generations know nothing of them. + +Were Britain truly wise, she would lay hold of the present opportunity +to disentangle herself from all continental embarrassments in North +America, and that not only to avoid future broils and troubles, but to +save expenses. For to speak explicitly on the matter, I would not, +were I an European power, have Canada, under the conditions that +Britain must retain it, could it be given to me. It is one of those +kind of dominions that is, and ever will be, a constant charge upon +any foreign holder. + +As to Halifax, it will become useless to England after the present +war, and the loss of the United States. A harbour, when the dominion +is gone, for the purpose of which only it was wanted, can be attended +only with expense. There are, I doubt not, thousands of people in +England, who suppose, that these places are a profit to the nation, +whereas they are directly the contrary, and instead of producing any +revenue, a considerable part of the revenue of England is annually +drawn off, to support the expense of holding them. + +Gibraltar is another instance of national ill-policy. A post which in +time of peace is not wanted, and in time of war is of no use, must at +all times be useless. Instead of affording protection to a navy, it +requires the aid of one to maintain it. To suppose that Gibraltar +commands the Mediterranean, or the pass into it, or the trade of it, +is to suppose a detected falsehood; because though Britain holds the +post, she has lost the other three, and every benefit she expected +from it. And to say that all this happens because it is besieged by +land and water, is to say nothing, for this will always be the case in +time of war, while France and Spain keep up superior fleets, and +Britain holds the place.--So that, though, as an impenetrable +inaccessible rock, it may be held by the one, it is always in the +power of the other to render it useless and excessively chargeable. + +I should suppose that one of the principal objects of Spain in +besieging it, is to show to Britain, that though she may not take it, +she can command it, that is, she can shut it up, and prevent its being +used as a harbour, though not as a garrison.--But the short way to +reduce Gibraltar is to attack the British fleet; for Gibraltar is as +dependent on a fleet for support, as a bird is on its wing for food, +and when wounded there it starves. + +There is another circumstance which the people of England have not +only not attended to, but seem to be utterly ignorant of, and that is, +the difference between permanent power and accidental power, +considered in a national sense. + +By permanent power, I mean, a natural inherent, and perpetual ability +in a nation, which though always in being, may not be always in +action, or not always advantageously directed; and by accidental +power, I mean, a fortunate or accidental disposition or exercise of +national strength, in whole or in part. + +There undoubtedly was a time when any one European nation, with only +eight or ten ships of war, equal to the present ships of the line, +could have carried terror to all others, who had not begun to build a +navy, however great their natural ability might be for that purpose: +but this can be considered only as accidental, and not as a standard +to compare permanent power by, and could last no longer than until +those powers built as many or more ships than the former. After this a +larger fleet was necessary, in order to be superior; and a still +larger would again supersede it. And thus mankind have gone on +building fleet upon fleet, as occasion or situation dictated. And this +reduces it to an original question, which is: Which power can build +and man the largest number of ships? The natural answer to which is, +That power which has the largest revenue and the greatest number of +inhabitants, provided its situation of coast affords sufficient +conveniencies. + +France being a nation on the continent of Europe, and Britain an +island in its neighbourhood, each of them derived different ideas from +their different situations. The inhabitants of Britain could carry on +no foreign trade, nor stir from the spot they dwelt upon, without the +assistance of shipping; but this was not the case with France. The +idea therefore of a navy did not arise to France from the same +original and immediate necessity which produced to England. But the +question is, that when both of them turn their attention, and employ +their revenues the same way, which can be superior? + +The annual revenue of France is nearly double that of England, and her +number of inhabitants nearly twice as many. Each of them has the same +length of ground on the Channel; besides which, France has several +hundred miles extent on the Bay of Biscay, and an opening on the +Mediterranean: and every day proves that practice and exercise make +sailors, as well as soldiers, in one country as well as another. + +If then Britain can maintain a hundred ships of the line, France can +as well support a hundred and fifty, because her revenue and her +population are as equal to the one as those of England are to the +other. And the only reason why she has not done it is because she has +not till very lately attended to it. But when she sees, as she now +sees, that a navy is the first engine of power, she can easily +accomplish it. + +England very falsely, and ruinously for herself, infers, that because +she had the advantage of France, while France had the smaller navy, +that for that reason it is always to be so. Whereas it may be clearly +seen that the strength of France has never yet been tried on a navy, +and that she is able to be as superior to England in the extent of a +navy, as she is in the extent of her revenues and her population. And +England may lament the day, when, by her insolence and injustice, she +provoked in France a maritime disposition. + +It is in the power of the combined fleets to conquer every island in +the West Indies, and reduce all the British Navy in those places. For +were France and Spain to send their whole naval force in Europe to +those islands, it would not be in the power of Britain to follow them +with an equal force. She would still be twenty or thirty ships +inferior, were she to send every vessel she had; and in the meantime +all the foreign trade of England would lay exposed to the Dutch. + +It is a maxim which, I am persuaded, will ever hold good, and more +especially in naval operations, that a great power ought never to move +in detachments, if it can possibly be avoided; but to go with its +whole force to some important object, the reduction of which shall +have a decisive effect upon the war. Had the whole of the French and +Spanish fleets in Europe come last spring to the West Indies, every +island had been their own, Rodney their prisoner, and his fleet their +prize. From the United States the combined fleets can be supplied with +provisions, without the necessity of drawing them from Europe, which +is not the case with England. + +Accident has thrown some advantages in the way of England, which, from +the inferiority of her navy, she had not a right to expect. For though +she had been obliged to fly before the combined fleets, yet Rodney has +twice had the fortune to fall in with detached squadrons, to which he +was superior in numbers: The first off Cape St. Vincent, where he had +nearly two to one, and the other in the West Indies, where he had a +majority of six ships. Victories of this kind almost produce +themselves. They are won without honour, and suffered without +disgrace; and are ascribable to the chance of meeting, not to the +superiority of fighting: For the same Admiral, under whom they were +obtained, was unable, in three former engagements, to make the least +impression on a fleet consisting of an equal number of ships with his +own, and compounded for the events by declining the actions.[4] + +To conclude: if it may be said that Britain has numerous enemies, it +likewise proves that she has given numerous offenses. Insolence is +sure to provoke hatred, whether in a nation or an individual. That +want of manners in the British Court may be seen even in its +birth-days and new-years odes, which are calculated to infatuate the +vulgar, and disgust the man of refinement; and her former overbearing +rudeness, and insufferable injustice on the seas, have made every +commercial nation her foe. Her fleets were employed as engines of +prey; and acted on the surface of the deep the character which the +shark does beneath it.--On the other hand, the Combined Powers are +taking a popular part, and will render their reputation immortal, by +establishing the perfect freedom of the ocean, to which all countries +have a right, and are interested in accomplishing. The sea is the +world's highway; and he who arrogates a prerogative over it +transgresses the right, and justly brings on himself the chastisement +of nations. + +Perhaps it might be of some service to the future tranquillity of +mankind, were an article were introduced into the next general peace, +that no one nation should, in time of peace, exceed a certain number +of ships of war. Something of this kind seems necessary; for, +according to the present fashion, half of the world will get upon the +water, and there appears to be no end to the extent to which navies +may be carried. Another reason is that navies add nothing to the +manners or morals of a people. The sequestered life which attends the +service, prevents the opportunities of society, and is too apt to +occasion a coarseness of ideas and of language, and that more in ships +of war than in the commercial employ; because in the latter they mix +more with the world, and are nearer related to it. I mention this +remark as a general one, and not applied to anyone country more than +to another. + +Britain has now had the trial of above seven years, with an expense of +nearly a hundred million pounds sterling; and every month in which she +delays to conclude a peace, costs her another million sterling, over +and above her ordinary expenses of government, which are a million +more; so that her total _monthly_ expense is two million pounds +sterling, which is equal to the whole _yearly_ expenses of America, +all charges included. Judge then who is best able to continue it. + +She has likewise many atonements to make to an injured world, as well +in one quarter as in another. And instead of pursuing that temper of +arrogance, which serves only to sink her in the esteem, and entail on +her the dislike, of all nations, she would do well to reform her +manners, and retrench her expenses, live peaceably with he neighbours, +and think of war no more. + +_Philadelphia, August 21, 1782._ + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] _See the accounts, either English or French, of the actions in the +West-Indies between Count de Guichen and Admiral Rodney, in 1780._ + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, +on the Affairs of North America, in Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up, by Thomas Paine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE *** + +***** This file should be named 15279-8.txt or 15279-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/2/7/15279/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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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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 + + +Title: A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, on the Affairs of North America, in Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Release Date: March 7, 2005 [EBook #15279] +[Last updated September 14, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +</pre> + + <h1>A<br /> + LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE ABBE RAYNAL,</h1> + + <h3>ON THE</h3> + + <h2><i>AFFAIRS OF NORTH AMERICA</i>;</h2> + + <h3>IN WHICH THE MISTAKES IN THE ABBE's ACCOUNT<br /> + OF THE<br /> + <i>REVOLUTION of AMREICA</i> [<i>sic</i>]<br /> + <br /> + ARE CORRECTED AND CLEARED UP.</h3> + <hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + <h2>BY THOMAS PAINE,</h2> + + <h4>SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO CONGRESS, DURING THE + AMERICAN WAR, AND AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE, AND THE RIGHTS OF + MAN.</h4> + <hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + <h4><i>LONDON</i>:<br /> + PRINTED FOR J. RIDGEWAY, NO. 1, YORK-STREET, ST.<br /> + JAMES'S SQUARE.<br /> + <br /> + M,DCC,XII. [<i>sic</i>, actually 1792]</h4> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + <!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + + <p><a href="#INTRODUCTION"><b>INTRODUCTION</b></a><br /> + <br /> + <a href="#LETTER_ADDRESSED_TO_THE_ABBE_RAYNAL"><b>A LETTER + ADDRESSED TO THE ABBE RAYNAL</b></a><br /> + <br /> + <a href="#POSTSCRIPT"><b>POSTSCRIPT</b></a></p> + <!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + <h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id= + "INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + <p>A London translation of an original work in French, by the + Abbe Raynal, which treats of the Revolution of North America, + having been reprinted in Philadelphia and other parts of the + continent, and as the distance at which the Abbe is placed from + the American theatre of war and politics, has occasioned him to + mistake several facts, or misconceive the causes or principles by + which they were produced; the following tract, therefore, is + published with a view to rectify them, and prevent even + accidental errors intermixing with history, under the sanction of + time and silence.</p> + + <p>The Editor of the London edition has entitled it, "The + Revolution of America, by the Abbe Raynal," and the American + printers have followed the example. But I have understood, and I + believe my information just, that the piece, which is more + properly reflections on the revolution, was unfairly purloined + from the printer which the Abbe employed, or from the manuscript + copy, and is only part of a larger work then in the press, or + preparing for it. The person who procured it appears to have been + an Englishman; and though, in an advertisement prefixt to the + London edition, he has endeavoured to gloss over the embezzlement + with professions of patriotism, and to soften it with high + encomiums on the author, yet the action, in any view in which it + can be placed, is illiberal and unpardonable.</p> + + <p>"In the course of his travels," says he, "the translator + happily succeeded in obtaining a copy of this exquisite little + piece, which has not yet made its appearance from any press. He + publishes a French edition, in favour of those who will feel its + eloquent reasoning more forcibly in its native language, at the + same time with the following translation of it; in which he has + been desirous, perhaps in vain, that all the warmth, the grace, + the strength, the dignity of the original should not be lost. And + he flatters himself, that the indulgence of the illustrious + historian will not be wanting to a man, who, of his own motion, + has taken the liberty to give this composition to the public, + only from a strong persuasion, that this momentous argument will + be useful, in a critical conjecture, to that country which he + loves with an ardour that can be exceeded only by the nobler + flame which burns in the bosom of the philanthropic author, for + the freedom and happiness of all the countries upon earth."</p> + + <p>This plausibility of setting off a dishonourable action, may + pass for patriotism and sound principles with those who do not + enter into its demerits, and whose interest is not injured, nor + their happiness affected thereby. But it is more than probable, + notwithstanding the declarations it contains, that the copy was + obtained for the sake of profiting by the sale of a new and + popular work, and that the professions are but a garb to the + fraud.</p> + + <p>It may with propriety be remarked, that in all countries where + literature is protected, and it never can flourish where it is + not, the works of an author are his legal property; and to treat + letters in any other light than this, is to banish them from the + country, or strangle them in the birth.—The embezzlement + from the Abbe Raynal was, it is true, committed by one country + upon another, and therefore shews no defect in the laws of + either. But it is nevertheless a breach of civil manners and + literary justice; neither can it be any apology, that because the + countries are at war, literature shall be entitled to + depredation.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + + <p>But the forestalling the Abbe's publication by London + editions, both in French and English, and thereby not only + defrauding him, and throwing an expensive publication on his + hands, by anticipating the sale, are only the smaller injuries + which such conduct may occasion. A man's opinions, whether + written or in thought, are his own until he pleases to publish + them himself; and it is adding cruelty to injustice to make him + the author of what future reflection or better information might + occasion him to suppress or amend. There are declarations and + sentiments in the Abbe's piece, which, for my own part, I did not + expect to find, and such as himself, on a revisal, might have + seen occasion to change, but the anticipated piracy effectually + prevented him the opportunity, and precipitated him into + difficulties, which, had it not been for such ungenerous fraud, + might not have happened.</p> + + <p>This mode of making an author appear before his time, will + appear still more ungenerous, when we consider how exceedingly + few men there are in any country who can at once, and without the + aid of reflection and revisal, combine warm passions with a cool + temper, and the full expansion of imagination with the natural + and necessary gravity of judgment, so as to be rightly balanced + within themselves, and to make a reader feel, and understand + justly at the same time. To call three powers of the mind into + action at once, in a manner that neither shall interrupt, and + that each shall aid and vigorate the other, is a talent very + rarely possessed.</p> + + <p>It often happens, that the weight of an argument is lost by + the wit of setting it off, or the judgment disordered by an + intemperate irritation of the passions: yet a certain degree of + animation must be felt by the writer, and raised in the reader, + in order to interest the attention; and a sufficient scope given + to the imagination, to enable it to create in the mind a sight of + the persons, characters, and circumstances of the subject; for + without these, the judgment will feel little or no excitement to + office, and its determinations will be cold, sluggish, and + imperfect. But if either or both of the two former are raised too + high, or heated too much, the judgment will be jostled from his + seat, and the whole matter, however important in itself, will + diminish into a pantomime of the mind, in which we create images + that promote no other purpose than amusement.</p> + + <p>The Abbe's writings bear evident marks of that extension and + rapidness of thinking and quickness of sensation which of all + others require revisal, and the more particularly so when applied + to the living characters of nations or individuals in a state of + war. The least misinformation or misconception leads to some + wrong conclusion and an error believed becomes the progenitor of + others. And as the Abbe has suffered some inconveniences in + France, by mistating certain circumstances of the war and the + characters of the parties therein, it becomes some apology for + him, that those errors were precipitated into the world by the + avarice of an ungenerous enemy.</p> + + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The state + of literature in America must one day become a subject of + legislative consideration. Hitherto it hath been a + disinterested volunteer in the service of the revolution, and + no man thought of profits: but when peace shall give time and + opportunity for study, the country will deprive itself of the + honour and service of letters and the improvement of science, + unless sufficient laws are made to prevent depredations on + literary property. It is well worth remarking that Russia, + who but a few years ago was scarcely known in Europe, owes a + large share of her present greatness to the close attention + she has paid, and the wise encouragement she has given to + science and learning, and we have almost the same instance in + France, in the reign of Lewis XIV.</p> + </div> + </div> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + <h2><a name="LETTER_ADDRESSED_TO_THE_ABBE_RAYNAL" id= + "LETTER_ADDRESSED_TO_THE_ABBE_RAYNAL"></a>A LETTER ADDRESSED TO + THE ABBE RAYNAL</h2> + + <p>To an author of such distinguished reputation as the Abbe + Raynal, it might very well become me to apologize for the present + undertaking; but as <i>to be right</i> is the first wish of + philosophy, and the first principle of history, he will, I + presume, accept from me a declaration of my motives, which are + those of doing justice, in preference to any complimental + apology, I might otherwise make. The Abbe, in the course of his + work, has, in some instances extolled, without a reason, and + wounded without a cause. He has given fame where it was not + deserved, and withheld it where it was justly due; and appears to + be so frequently in and out of temper with his subjects and + parties, that few or none of them are decisively and uniformly + marked.</p> + + <p>It is yet too soon to write the history of the revolution; and + whoever attempts it precipitately, will unavoidably mistake + characters and circumstances, and involve himself in error and + difficulty. Things like men are seldom understood rightly at + first sight. But the Abbe is wrong even in the foundation of his + work; that is, he has misconceived and misstated the causes which + produced the rupture between England and her then colonies, and + which led on, step by step, unstudied and uncontrived on the part + of America, to a revolution, which has engaged the attention, and + affected the interest of Europe.</p> + + <p>To prove this, I shall bring forward a passage, which, though + placed towards the latter part of the Abbe's work, is more + intimately connected with the beginning: and in which, speaking + of the original cause of the dispute, he declares himself in the + following manner—</p> + + <p>"None," says he, "of those energetic causes, which have + produced so many revolutions upon the globe, existed in + North-America. Neither religion nor laws had there been outraged. + The blood of martyrs or patriots had not there streamed from + scaffolds. Morals had not there been insulted. Manners, customs, + habits, no object dear to nations, had there been the sport of + ridicule. Arbitrary power had not there torn any inhabitant from + the arms of his family and friends, to drag him to a dreary + dungeon. Public order had not been there inverted. The principles + of administration had not been changed there; and the maxims of + government had there always remained the same. The whole question + was reduced to the knowing whether the mother country had, or, + had not a right to lay, directly or indirectly, a slight tax upon + the colonies."</p> + + <p>On this extraordinary passage, it may not be improper, in + general terms, to remark, that none can feel like those who + suffer; and that for a man to be a competent judge of the + provocative, or, as the Abbe styles them, the energetic causes of + the revolution, he must have resided in America.</p> + + <p>The Abbe, in saying that the several particulars he has + enumerated did not exist in America, and neglecting to point out + the particular period in which the means they did not exist, + reduces thereby his declaration to a nullity, by taking away all + meaning from the passage.</p> + + <p>They did not exist in 1763, and they all existed before 1776; + consequently as there was a time when they did <i>not</i>, and + another when they <i>did</i> exist, the <i>time when</i> + constitutes the essence of the fact; and not to give it, is to + withhold the only evidence which proves the declaration right or + wrong, and on which it must stand or fall. But the declaration as + it now appears, unaccompanied by time, has an effect in holding + out to the world, that there was no real cause for the + revolution, because it denied the existence of all those causes + which are supposed to be justifiable, and which the Abbe styles + energetic.</p> + + <p>I confess myself exceedingly at a loss to find out the time to + which the Abbe alludes; because, in another part of the work, in + speaking of the stamp act, which was passed in 1764, he styles it + "An <i>usurpation</i> of the Americans' <i>most precious and + sacred rights</i>." Consequently he here admits the most + energetic of all causes, that is, <i>an usurpation of their most + precious and sacred rights</i>, to have existed in America twelve + years before the declaration of independence, and ten years + before the breaking out of hostilities. The time, therefore, in + which the paragraph is true, must be antecedent to the stamp act, + but as at that time there was no revolution, nor any idea of one, + it consequently applies without a meaning; and as it cannot, on + the Abbe's own principle, be applied to any time <i>after</i> the + stamp act, it is therefore a wandering, solitary paragraph + connected with nothing, and at variance with every thing.</p> + + <p>The stamp act, it is true, was repealed two years after it was + passed; but it was immediately followed by one of infinitely more + mischievous magnitude, I mean the declaratory act, which asserted + the right, as it was styled, of the British Parliament, "<i>to + bind America in all cases whatsoever</i>."</p> + + <p>If then, the stamp act was an usurpation of the Americans' + most precious and sacred rights, the declaratory Act left them no + rights at all; and contained the full grown seeds of the most + despotic government ever exercised in the world. It placed + America not only in the lowest, but in the basest state of + vassalage; because it demanded an unconditional submission in + everything, or, as the act expressed it, <i>in all cases + whatsoever</i>: and what renders this act the more offensive, is, + that it appears to have been passed as an act of mercy; truly + then may it be said, that <i>the tender mercies of the wicked are + cruel</i>.</p> + + <p>All the original charters from the Crown of England, under the + faith of which, the adventurers from the old world settled in the + new, were by this act displaced from their foundations; because, + contrary to the nature of them, which was that of a compact, they + were now made subject to repeal or alteration at the mere will of + one party only. The whole condition of America was thus put into + the hands of the Parliament or the Ministry, without leaving to + her the least right in any case whatsoever.</p> + + <p>There is no despotism to which this iniquitous law did not + extend; and though it might have been convenient in the execution + of it, to have consulted manners and habits, the principle of the + act made all tyranny legal. It stopt no where. It went to + everything. It took in with it the whole life of a man, or, if I + may so express it, an eternity of circumstances. It is the nature + of law to require obedience, but this demanded servitude; and the + condition of an American, under the operation of it, was not that + of a subject, but a vassal. Tyranny has often been established + <i>without</i> law, and sometimes <i>against</i> it, but the + history of mankind does not produce another instance, in which it + has been established <i>by</i> law. It is an audacious outrage + upon civil government, and cannot be too much exposed, in order + to be sufficiently detested.</p> + + <p>Neither could it be said after this, that the legislature of + that country any longer made laws for this, but that it gave out + commands; for wherein differed an act of Parliament constructed + on this principle, and operating in this manner, over an + unrepresented people, from the orders of a military + establishment?</p> + + <p>The Parliament of England, with respect to America, was not + septennial but <i>perpetual</i>. It appeared to the latter a body + always in being. Its election or expiration were to her the same, + as if its members succeeded by inheritance, or went out by death, + or lived for ever, or were appointed to it as a matter of office. + Therefore, for the people of England to have any just conception + of the mind of America, respecting this extraordinary act, they + must suppose all election and expiration in that country to cease + forever, and the present Parliament, its heirs, &c., to be + perpetual; in this case, I ask, what would the most clamorous of + them think, were an act to be passed, declaring the right of + <i>such a Parliament</i> to bind <i>them</i> in all cases + whatsoever? For this word <i>whatsoever</i> would go as + effectually to their <i>Magna Charta, Bill of Rights, trial by + Juries</i>, &c. as it went to the charters and forms of + government in America.</p> + + <p>I am persuaded, that the Gentleman to whom I address these + remarks will not, after the passing of this act, say, "That the + <i>principles</i> of administration had not been <i>changed</i> + in America, and that the maxims of government had there been + <i>always the same</i>." For here is, in principle, a total + overthrow of the whole; and not a subversion only, but an + annihilation of the foundation of liberty and absolute dominion + established in its stead.</p> + + <p>The Abbe likewise states the case exceedingly wrong and + injuriously, when he says, "that <i>the whole</i> question + was reduced to the knowing whether the mother country had, or had + not, a right to lay, directly or indirectly, a <i>slight</i> tax + upon the colonies." This was <i>not the whole</i> of the + question; neither was the <i>quantity</i> of the tax the object, + either to the Ministry, or to the Americans. It was the + principle, of which the tax made but a part, and the quantity + still less, that formed the ground on which America opposed.</p> + + <p>The tax on tea, which is the tax here alluded to, was neither + more or less than an experiment to establish the practice of a + declaratory law upon; modelled into the more fashionable phrase + <i>of the universal supremacy of Parliament</i>. For until this + time the declaratory law had lain dormant, and the framers of it + had contented themselves with barely declaring an opinion.</p> + + <p>Therefore the <i>whole</i> question with America, in the + opening of the dispute, was, Shall we be bound in all cases + whatsoever by the British Parliament, or shall we not? For + submission to the tea or tax act, implied an acknowledgment of + the declaratory act, or, in other words, of the universal + supremacy of Parliament, which as they never intended to do, it + was necessary they should oppose it, in its first stage of + execution.</p> + + <p>It is probable, the Abbe has been led into this mistake by + perusing detached pieces in some of the American newspapers; for, + in a case where all were interested, everyone had a right to give + his opinion; and there were many who, with the best intentions, + did not chuse the best, nor indeed the true ground, to defend + their cause upon. They felt themselves right by a general + impulse, without being able to separate, analyze, and arrange the + parts.</p> + + <p>I am somewhat unwilling to examine too minutely into the whole + of this extraordinary passage of the Abbe, lest I should appear + to treat it with severity; otherwise I could shew, that not a + single declaration is justly founded; for instance, the reviving + an obsolete act of the reign of Henry the Eighth, and fitting it + to the Americans, by authority of which they were to be seized + and brought from America to England, and there imprisoned and + tried for any supposed offenses, was, in the worse sense of the + words, <i>to tear them by the arbitrary power of Parliament, from + the arms of their families and friends, and drag them not only to + dreary but distant dungeons</i>. Yet this act was contrived some + years before the breaking out of hostilities. And again, though + the blood of martyrs and patriots had not streamed on the + scaffolds, it streamed in the streets, in the massacre of the + inhabitants of Boston, by the British soldiery in the year + 1770.</p> + + <p>Had the Abbe said that the causes which produced the + revolution in America were originally <i>different</i> from those + which produced revolutions in other parts of the globe, he had + been right. Here the value and quality of liberty, the nature of + government, and the dignity of man, were known and understood, + and the attachment of the Americans to these principles produced + the revolution, as a natural and almost unavoidable consequence. + They had no particular family to set up or pull down. Nothing of + personality was incorporated with their cause. They started + even-handed with each other, and went no faster into the several + stages of it, than they were driven by the unrelenting and + imperious conduct of Britain. Nay, in the last act, the + declaration of independence, they had nearly been too late; for + had it not been declared at the exact time it was, I saw no + period in their affairs since, in which it could have been + declared with the same effect, and probably not at all.</p> + + <p>But the object being formed before the reverse of fortune took + place, that is, before the operations of the gloomy campaign of + 1776, their honour, their interest, their everything, called + loudly on them to maintain it; and that glow of thought and + energy of heart, which even distant prospect of independence + inspires, gave confidence to their hopes, and resolution to their + conduct, which a state of dependence could never have reached. + They looked forward to happier days and scenes of rest, and + qualified the hardships of the campaign by contemplating the + establishment of their new-born system.</p> + + <p>If, on the other hand, we take a review of what part great + Britain has acted, we shall find every thing which ought to make + a nation blush. The most vulgar abuse, accompanied by that + species of haughtiness which distinguishes the hero of a mob from + the character of a gentleman; it was equally as much from her + manners as from her injustice that she lost the colonies. By the + latter she provoked their principles, by the former she wore out + their temper; and it ought to be held out as an example to the + world, to shew how necessary it is to conduct the business of + government with civility. In short, other revolutions may have + originated in caprice, or generated in ambition, but here, the + most unoffending humility was tortured into rage, and the infancy + of existence made to weep.</p> + + <p>A union so extensive, continued and determined, suffering with + patience, and never in despair, could not have been produced by + common causes. It must be something capable of reaching the whole + soul of man and arming it with perpetual energy. In vain it is to + look for precedents among the revolutions of former ages, to find + out, by comparison, the causes of this. The spring, the progress, + the object, the consequences, nay the men, their habits of + thinking, and all the circumstances of the country, are + different. Those of other nations are, in general, little more + than the history of their quarrels. They are marked by no + important character in the annals of events; mixt in the mass of + general matters, they occupy but a common page; and while the + chief of the successful partizans stept into power, the plundered + multitude sat down and sorrowed. Few, very few of them are + accompanied with reformation, either in government or manners; + many of them with the most consummate profligacy.—Triumph + on the one side, and misery on the other, were the only events. + Pains, punishments, torture, and death, were made the business of + mankind, until compassion, the fairest associate of the heart, + was driven from its place; and the eye, accustomed to continual + cruelty, could behold it without offence.</p> + + <p>But as the principles of the present resolution differed from + those which preceded it, so likewise has the conduct of America, + both in government and war. Neither the foul finger of disgrace, + nor the bloody hand of vengeance has hitherto put a blot upon her + fame. Her victories have received lustre from a greatness of + lenity; and her laws been permitted to slumber, where they might + justly have awakened to punish. War, so much the trade of the + world, has here been only the business of necessity; and when the + necessity shall cease, her very enemies must confess, that as she + drew the sword in her just defence, she used it without cruelty, + and sheathed it without revenge.</p> + + <p>As it is not my design to extend these remarks to a history, I + shall now take my leave of this passage of the Abbe, with an + observation, which, until something unfolds itself to convince me + otherwise, I cannot avoid believing to be true;—which is, + that it was the fixt determination of the British Cabinet to + quarrel with America at all events.</p> + + <p>They (the members who compose the cabinet) had no doubt of + success, if they could once bring it to the issue of a battle; + and they expected from a conquest, what they could neither + propose with decency, nor hope for by negociation. The charters + and constitutions of the colonies were become to them matters of + offence, and their rapid progress in property and population were + disgustingly beheld as the growing and natural means of + independence. They saw no way to retain them long but by reducing + them time. A conquest would at once have made them both lords and + landlords, and put them in the possession both of the revenue and + the rental. The whole trouble of government would have ceased in + a victory, and a final end put to remonstrance and debate. The + experience of the stamp act had taught them how to quarrel with + the advantages of cover and convenience, and they had nothing to + do but to renew the scene, and put contention into motion. They + hoped for a rebellion, and they made one. They expected a + declaration of independence, and they were not disappointed. But + after this, they looked for victory, and obtained a defeat.</p> + + <p>If this be taken as the generating cause of the contest, then + is every part of the conduct of the British ministry consistent, + from the commencement of the dispute, until the signing the + treaty of Paris, after which, conquest becoming doubtful, they + retreated to negociation, and were again defeated.</p> + + <p>Though the Abbe possesses and displays great powers of genius, + and is a master of style and language, he seems not to pay equal + attention to the office of an historian. His facts are coldly and + carelessly stated. They neither inform the reader, nor interest + him. Many of them are erroneous, and most of them defective and + obscure. It is undoubtedly both an ornament, and a useful + addition to history, to accompany it with maxims and reflections. + They afford likewise an agreeable change to the style, and a more + diversified manner of expression; but it is absolutely necessary + that the root from whence they spring, or the foundations on + which they are raised, should be well attended to, which in this + work they are not. The Abbe hastens through his narrations, as if + he was glad to get from them, that he may enter the more copious + field of eloquence and imagination.</p> + + <p>The actions of Trenton and Princeton, in New Jersey, in + December 1776, and January following, on which the fate of + America stood for a while trembling on the point of suspence, and + from which the most important consequences followed, are + comprised within a single paragraph, faintly conceived, and + barren of character, circumstance and description.</p> + + <p>"On the 25th of December," says the Abbe, "they (the + Americans) crossed the Delaware, and fell <i>accidentally</i> + upon Trenton, which was occupied by fifteen hundred of the twelve + thousand Hessians, sold in so base a manner by their avaricious + master, to the King of Great Britain. This corps was + <i>massacred</i>, taken, or dispersed. Eight days after, three + English regiments were in like manner driven from Princeton; but + after having better supported their reputation than the foreign + troops in their pay."</p> + + <p>This is all the account which is given of these most + interesting events. The Abbe has preceded them by two or three + pages, on the military operations of both armies, from the time + of General Howe arriving before New York from Halifax, and the + vast reinforcements of British and foreign troops with Lord Howe + from England. But in these there is so much mistake, and so many + omissions, that to set them right, must be the business of + history, and not of a letter. The action of Long Island is but + barely hinted at; and the operations at the White Plains wholly + omitted: as are likewise the attack and loss of Fort Washington, + with a garrison of about two thousand five hundred men, and the + precipitate evacuation of Fort Lee, in consequence thereof; which + losses were in a great measure the cause of the retreat through + the Jersies to the Delaware, a distance of about ninety miles. + Neither is the manner of the retreat described, which, from the + season of the year, the nature of the country, the nearness of + the two armies (sometimes within sight and shot of each other for + such a length of way), the rear of the one employed in pulling + down bridges, and the van of the other in building them up, must + necessarily be accompanied with many interesting + circumstances.</p> + + <p>It was a period of distresses. A crisis rather of danger than + of hope, there is no description can do it justice; and even the + actors in it, looking back upon the scene, are surprised how they + got through; and at a loss to account for those powers of the + mind and springs of animation, by which they withstood the force + of accumulated misfortune.</p> + + <p>It was expected, that the time for which the army was + enlisted, would carry the campaign so far into the winter, that + the severity of the season, and the consequent condition of the + roads, would prevent any material operation of the enemy, until + the new army could be raised for the next year. And I mention it, + as a matter worthy of attention by all future historians, that + the movements of the American army, until the attack upon the + Hessian post at Trenton, the 26th of December, are to be + considered as operating to effect no other principal purpose than + delay, and to wear away the campaign under all the disadvantages + of an unequal force, with as little misfortune as possible.</p> + + <p>But the loss of the garrison at Fort Washington, on the 16th + of November, and the expiration of the time of a considerable + part of the army, so early as the 30th of the same month, and + which were to be followed by almost daily expirations afterwards, + made retreat the only final expedient. To these circumstances may + be added the forlorn and destitute condition of the few that + remained; for the garrison at Fort Lee, which composed almost the + whole of the retreat, had been obliged to abandon it so + instantaneously, that every article of stores and baggage was + left behind, and in this destitute condition, without tent or + blanket, and without any other utensils to dress their provision + than what they procured by the way, they performed a march of + about ninety miles, and had the address and management to prolong + it to the space of nineteen days.</p> + + <p>By this unexpected, or rather unthought of turn of affairs, + the country was in an instant surprised into confusion, and found + an enemy within its bowels, without any army to oppose him. There + were no succours to be had, but from the free-will offering of + the inhabitants. All was choice, and every man reasoned for + himself.</p> + + <p>It was in this situation of affairs, equally calculated to + confound or to inspire, that the gentleman, the merchant, the + farmer, the tradesman and the labourer, mutually turned out from + all the conveniencies of home, to perform the duties of private + soldiers, and undergo the severities of a winter campaign. The + delay, so judiciously contrived on the retreat, afforded time for + the volunteer reinforcements to join General Washington on the + Delaware.</p> + + <p>The Abbe is likewise wrong in saying, that the American army + fell <i>accidentally</i> on Trenton. It was the very object for + which General Washington crossed the Delaware in the dead of + night, in the midst of snow, storms, and ice: and which he + immediately re-crossed with his prisoners, as soon as he had + accomplished his purpose. Neither was the intended enterprise a + secret to the enemy, imformation [<i>sic</i>] having been sent of + it by letter, from a British Officer at Princeton, to Colonel + Rolle, who commanded the Hessians at Trenton, which letter was + afterwards found by the Americans. Nevertheless the post was + completely surprised. A small circumstance, which had the + appearance of mistake on the part of the Americans, led to a more + capital and real mistake on the part of Rolle.</p> + + <p>The case was this: A detachment of twenty or thirty Americans + had been sent across the river from a post a few miles above, by + an officer unacquainted with the intended attack; these were met + by a body of Hessians on the night, to which the information + pointed, which was Christmas night, and repulsed. Nothing further + appearing, and the Hessians mistaking this for the advanced + party, supposed the enterprize disconcerted, which at that time + was not begun, and under this idea returned to their quarters; so + that, what might have raised an alarm, and brought the Americans + into an ambuscade, served to take off the force of an + information, and promote the success of the enterprise. Soon + after day-light General Washington entered the town, and after a + little opposition made himself master of it, with upwards of nine + hundred prisoners.</p> + + <p>This combination of equivocal circumstances, falling within + what the Abbe styles, "<i>the wide empire of chance</i>," would + have afforded a fine field for thought; and I wish, for the sake + of that elegance of reflection he is so capable of using, that he + had known it.</p> + + <p>But the action of Princeton was accompanied by a still greater + embarrassment of matters, and followed by more extraordinary + consequences. The Americans, by a happy stroke of generalship, in + this instance, not only deranged and defeated all the plans of + the British, in the intended moment of execution, but drew from + their posts the enemy they were not able to drive, and obliged + them to close the campaign. As the circumstance is a curiosity in + war, and not well understood in Europe, I shall, as concisely as + I can, relate the principal parts; they may serve to prevent + future historians from error, and recover from forgetfulness a + scene of magnificent fortitude.</p> + + <p>Immediately after the surprise of the Hessians at Trenton, + General Washington re-crossed the Delaware, which at this place + is about three quarters of a mile over, and re-assumed his former + post on the Pennsylvania side. Trenton remained unoccupied, and + the enemy were posted at Princeton, twelve miles distant, on the + road toward New-York. The weather was now growing very severe, + and as there were very few houses near the shore where General + Washington had taken his station, the greatest part of his army + remained out in the woods and fields. These, with some other + circumstances, induced the re-crossing the Delaware and taking + possession of Trenton. It was undoubtedly a bold adventure, and + carried with it the appearance of defiance, especially when we + consider the panic-struck condition of the enemy on the loss of + the Hessian post. But in order to give a just idea of the affair, + it is necessary that I should describe the place.</p> + + <p>Trenton is situated on a rising ground, about three quarters + of a mile distant from the Delaware, on the eastern or Jersey + side; and is cut into two divisions by a small creek or rivulet, + sufficient to turn a mill which is on it, after which it empties + itself at nearly right angles into the Delaware. The upper + division, which is that to the north-east, contains about seventy + or eighty houses, and the lower about forty of fifty. The ground + on each side this creek, and on which the houses are, is likewise + rising, and the two divisions present an agreeable prospect to + each other, with the creek between, on which there is a small + stone bridge of one arch.</p> + + <p>Scarcely had General Washington taken post here, and before + the several parties of militia, out on detachments, or on their + way, could be collected, than the British, leaving behind them a + strong garrison at Princeton, marched suddenly and entered + Trenton at the upper or north-east quarter. A party of the + Americans skirmished with the advanced party of the British, to + afford time for removing the stores and baggage, and withdrawing + over the bridge.</p> + + <p>In a little time the British had possession of one half of the + town, General Washington of the other; and the creek only + separated the two armies. Nothing could be a more critical + situation than this, and if ever the fate of America depended + upon the event of a day, it was now. The Delaware was filling + fast with large sheets of driving ice, and was impassable, so + that no retreat into Pennsylvania could be effected, neither is + it possible, in the face of an enemy, to pass a river of such + extent. The roads were broken and rugged with the frost, and the + main road was occupied by the enemy.</p> + + <p>About four o'clock a party of the British approached the + bridge, with a design to gain it, but were repulsed. They made no + more attempts, though the creek itself is passable anywhere + between the bridge and the Delaware. It runs in a rugged, + natural-made ditch, over which a person may pass with little + difficulty, the stream being rapid and shallow. Evening was now + coming on, and the British, believing they had all the advantages + they could wish for, and that they could use them when they + pleased, discontinued all further operations, and held themselves + prepared to make the attack next morning.</p> + + <p>But the next morning produced a scene as elegant as it was + unexpected. The British were under arms and ready to march to + action, when one of their light-horse from Princeton came + furiously down the street, with an account that General + Washington had that morning attacked and carried the British post + at that place, and was proceeding on to seize the magazine at + Brunswick; on which the British, who were then on the point of + making an assault on the evacuated camp of the Americans, wheeled + about, and in a fit of consternation marched for Princeton.</p> + + <p>This retreat is one of those extraordinary circumstances, that + in future ages may probably pass for fable. For it will with + difficulty be believed that two armies, on which such important + consequences depended, should be crouded into so small a space as + Trenton; and that the one, on the eve of an engagement, when + every ear is supposed to be open, and every watchfulness + employed, should move completely from the ground, with all its + stores, baggage and artillery, unknown and even unsuspected by + the other. And so entirely were the British deceived, that when + they heard the report of the cannon and small arms at Princeton, + they supposed it to be thunder, though in the depth of + winter.</p> + + <p>General Washington, the better to cover and disguise his + retreat from Trenton, had ordered a line of fires to be lighted + up in front of his camp. These not only served to give an + appearance of going to rest, and continuing that deception, but + they effectually concealed from the British whatever was acting + behind them, for flame can no more be seen through than a wall, + and in his situation, it may with some propriety be said, they + came a pillar of fire to the one army, and a pillar of a cloud to + the other: after this, by a circuitous march of about eighteen + miles, the Americans reached Princeton early in the morning.</p> + + <p>The number of prisoners taken were between two and three + hundred, with which General Washington immediately set off. The + van of the British army from Trenton, entered Princeton about an + hour after the Americans had left it, who, continuing their march + for the remainder of the day, arrived in the evening at a + convenient situation, wide of the main road to Brunswick, and + about sixteen miles distant from Princeton. But so wearied and + exhausted were they, with the continual and unabated service and + fatigue of two days and a night, from action to action, without + shelter and almost without refreshment, that the bare and frozen + ground, with no other covering than the sky, became to them a + place of comfortable rest. By these two events, and with but + little comparitive force to accomplish them, the Americans closed + with advantages a campaign, which but a few days before + threatened the country with destruction. The British army, + apprehensive for the safety of their magazines at Brunswick, + eighteen miles distant, marched immediately for that place, where + they arrived late in the evening, and from which they made no + attempts to move for nearly five months.</p> + + <p>Having thus stated the principal outlines of these two most + interesting actions, I shall now quit them, to put the Abbe right + in his misstated account of the debt and paper money of America, + wherein, speaking of these matters, he says,</p> + + <p>"These ideal riches were rejected. The more the multiplication + of them was urged by want, the greater did their appreciation + grow. The Congress was indignant at the affronts given to its + money, and declared all those to be traitors to their country, + who should not receive it as they would have received gold + itself.</p> + + <p>"Did not this body know, that possessions are no more to be + controuled than feelings are? Did it not perceive, that in the + present crisis, every rational man would be afraid of exposing + his fortune? Did it not see, that in the beginning of a Republic + it permitted to itself the exercise of such acts of despotism as + are unknown even in the countries which are moulded to, and + become familiar with servitude and oppression? Could it pretend + that it did not punish a want of confidence with the pains which + would have been scarcely merited by revolt and treason? Of all + this was the Congress well aware. But it had no choice of means. + Its despised and despicable scraps of paper were actually thirty + times below their original value, when more of them were ordered + to be made. On the 13th of September 1779, there was of this + paper money, amongst the public, to the amount of + £.35,544,155. The State owed moreover £.8,305,356, + without reckoning the particular debts of single Provinces."</p> + + <p>In the above-recited passages, the Abbe speaks as if the + United States had contracted a debt of upwards of forty million + pounds sterling, besides the debts of individual States. After + which, speaking of foreign trade with America, he says, that + "those countries in Europe, which are truly commercial ones, + knowing that North America had been reduced to contract debts at + the epoch even of her greatest prosperity, wisely thought, that + in her present distress, she would be able to pay but very + little, for what might be carried to her."</p> + + <p>I know it must be extremely difficult to make foreigners + understand the nature and circumstances of our paper money, + because there are natives who do not understand it themselves. + But with us its fate is now determined. Common consent has + consigned it to rest with that kind of regard which the long + service of inanimate things insensibly obtains from mankind. + Every stone in the bridge, that has carried us over, seems to + have a claim upon our esteem. But this was a corner-stone, and + its usefulness cannot be forgotten. There is something in a + grateful mind, which extends itself even to things that can + neither be benefited by regard, nor suffer by neglect: But so it + is; and almost every man is sensible of the effect.</p> + + <p>But to return. The paper money, though issued from Congress + under the name of dollars, did not come from that body always at + that value. Those which were issued the first year, were equal to + gold and silver. The second year less; the third still less; and + so on, for nearly the space of five years; at the end of which, I + imagine, that the whole value at which Congress might pay away + the several emissions, taking them together, was about ten or + twelve millions pounds sterling.</p> + + <p>Now, as it would have taken ten or twelve millions sterling of + taxes, to carry on the war for five years, and, as while this + money was issuing and likewise depreciating down to nothing, + there were none, or very few valuable taxes paid; consequently + the event to the public was the same, whether they sunk ten or + twelve millions of expended money, by depreciation, or paid ten + or twelve millions by taxation; for as they did not do both, and + chose to do one, the matter, in a general view, was indifferent. + And therefore, what the Abbe supposes to be a debt, has now no + existence; it having been paid, by every body consenting to + reduce it, at his own expence, from the value of the bills + continually passing among themselves, a sum, equal to nearly what + the expence of the war was for five years.</p> + + <p>Again.—The paper money having now ceased, and the + depreciation with it, and gold and silver supplied its place, the + war will now be carried on by taxation, which will draw from the + public a considerable less sum than what the depreciation drew; + but as, while they pay the former, they do not suffer the latter, + and as, when they suffered the latter, they did not pay the + former, the thing will be nearly equal, with this moral + advantage, that taxation occasions frugality and thought, and + depreciation produced dissipation and carelessness.</p> + + <p>And again.—If a man's portion of taxes comes to less + than what he lost by the depreciation, it proves the alteration + is in his favour. If it comes to more, and he is justly assessed, + it shews that he did not sustain his proper share of + depreciation, because the one was as operatively his tax as the + other.</p> + + <p>It is true, that it never was intended, neither was it + foreseen, that the debt contained in the paper currency should + sink itself in this manner; but as by the voluntary conduct of + all and of everyone it has arrived at this fate, the debt is paid + by those who owed it. Perhaps nothing was ever so much the act of + a country as this. Government had no hand in it. Every man + depreciated his own money by his own consent, for such was the + effect which the raising of the nominal value of goods produced. + But as by such reduction he sustained a loss equal to what he + must have paid to sink it by taxation; therefore the line of + justice is to consider his loss by the depreciation as his tax + for that time, and not to tax him when the war is over, to make + that money good in any other person's hands, which became nothing + in his own.</p> + + <p>Again.—The paper currency was issued for the express + purpose of carrying on the war. It has performed that service, + without any other material change to the public, while it lasted. + But to suppose, as some did, that at the end of the war, it was + to grow into gold and silver, or become equal thereto, was to + suppose that we were to <i>get</i> two hundred millions of + dollars by <i>going to war</i>, instead of <i>paying</i> the cost + of carrying it on.</p> + + <p>But if any thing in the situation of America, as to her + currency or her circumstances, yet remains not understood, then + let it be remembered, that this war is the public's war; the + people's war; the country's war. It is <i>their</i> independence + that is to be supported; <i>their</i> property that is to be + secured; <i>their</i> country that is to be saved. Here, + government, the army, and the people, are mutually and + reciprocally one. In other wars, kings may lose their thrones and + their dominions; but here, the loss must fall on the <i>majesty + of the multitude</i>, and the property they are contending to + save. Every man being sensible of this, he goes to the field, or + pays his portion of the charge as the sovereign of his own + possessions; and when he is conquered, a monarch falls.</p> + + <p>The remark which the Abbe, in the conclusion of the passage, + has made respecting America contracting debts in the time of her + prosperity (by which he means, before the breaking out of + hostilities), serves to shew, though he has not yet made the + application, the very great commercial difference between a + dependant and an independent country. In a state of dependence, + and with a fettered commerce, though with all the advantages of + peace, her trade could not balance herself, and she annually run + into debt. But now, in a state of independence, though involved + in war, she requires no credit; her stores are full of + merchandise, and gold and silver are become the currency of the + country. How these things have established themselves, it is + difficult to account for: but they are facts, and facts are more + powerful than arguments.</p> + + <p>As it is probable this letter will undergo a republication in + Europe, the remarks here thrown together will serve to show the + extreme folly of Britain, in resting her hopes of success on the + extinction of our paper currency. The expectation is at once so + childish and forlorn, that it places her in the laughable + condition of a famished lion watching for prey at a spider's + web.</p> + + <p>From this account of the currency, the Abbe proceeds to state + the condition of America in the winter of 1777, and the spring + following; and closes his observations with mentioning the treaty + of alliance, which was signed in France, and the propositions of + the British ministry, which were rejected in America. But in the + manner in which the Abbe has arranged his facts, there is a very + material error, that not only he, but other European historians, + have fallen into: none of them having assigned the true cause why + the British proposals were rejected, and all of them have + assigned a wrong one.</p> + + <p>In the winter of 1777, and spring following, Congress were + assembled at York-Town, in Pennsylvania, the British were in + possession of Philadelphia, and General Washington with the army + were encamped in huts at the Valley-Forge, twenty-five miles + distant therefrom. To all who can remember, it was a season of + hardship, but not of despair; and the Abbe, speaking of this + period and its inconveniences, says,</p> + + <p>"A multitude of privations, added to so many other + misfortunes, might make the Americans regret their former + tranquillity, and incline them to an accommodation with England. + In vain had the people been bound to the new Government by the + sacredness of oaths, and the influence of religion. In vain had + endeavors been used to convince them, that it was impossible to + treat safely with a country in which one parliament might + overturn what should have been established by another. In vain + had they been threatened with the eternal resentment of an + exasperated and vindictive enemy. It was possible that these + distant troubles might not be balanced by the weight of present + evils.</p> + + <p>"So thought the British ministry when they sent to the New + World public agents authorized to offer every thing except + independence to these very Americans, from whom they had two + years before exacted an unconditional submission. It is not + improbable, but that by this plan of conciliation, a few months + sooner, some effect might have been produced. But at the period + at which it was proposed by the Court of London, it was rejected + with disdain, because this measure appeared but as an argument of + fear and weakness. The people were already re-assured. The + Congress, the Generals, the troops, the bold and skilful men in + each colony, had possessed themselves of the authority; every + thing had recovered its first spirit. <i>This was the effect of a + treaty of friendship and commerce between the United States and + the Court of Versailles, signed the 8th of February, + 1778.</i>"</p> + + <p>On this passage of the Abbe's I cannot help remarking, that, + to unite time with circumstance, is a material nicety in history; + the want of which frequently throws it into endless confusion and + mistake, occasions a total separation between causes and + consequences, and connects them with others they are not + immediately, and sometimes not at all, related to.</p> + + <p>The Abbe, in saying that the offers of the British ministry + "were rejected with disdain," is <i>right</i> as to the + <i>fact</i>, but <i>wrong</i> as to the <i>time</i>; and this + error in the time, has occasioned him to be mistaken in the + cause.</p> + + <p>The signing the treaty of Paris the 6th of February, 1778, + could have no effect on the mind or politics of America, until it + was <i>known in America</i>; and therefore, when the Abbe says, + that the rejection of the British offers was in consequence of + the alliance, he must mean, that it was in consequence of the + alliance <i>being known</i> in America; which was not the case: + and by this mistake he not only takes from her the reputation, + which her unshaken fortitude in that trying situation deserves, + but is likewise led very injuriously to suppose that had she + <i>not known</i> of the treaty, the offers would probably have + been accepted; whereas she knew nothing of the treaty at the time + of the rejection, and consequently did not reject them on that + ground.</p> + + <p>The propositions or offers above-mentioned, were contained in + two bills brought into the British Parliament by Lord North, on + the 17th of February, 1778. Those bills were hurried through both + houses with unusual haste; and before they had gone through all + the customary forms of Parliament, copies of them were sent over + to Lord Howe and General Howe, then in Philadelphia, who were + likewise Commissioners. General Howe ordered them to be printed + in Philadelphia, and sent copies of them by a flag to General + Washington, to be forwarded to Congress at York-Town, where they + arrived the 21st of April, 1778. Thus much for the arrival of the + bills in America.</p> + + <p>Congress, as is their usual mode, appointed a committee from + their own body, to examine them, and report thereon. The report + was brought in the next day (the twenty-second,) was read, and + unanimously agreed to, entered on their journals, and published + for the information of the country. Now this report must be the + rejection to which the Abbe alludes, because Congress gave no + other formal opinion on those bills and propositions: and on a + subsequent application from the British Commissioners, dated the + 27th of May, and received at York-Town the 6th of June, Congress + immediately referred them for an answer, to their printed + resolves of the 22d of April.—Thus much for the rejection + of the offers.</p> + + <p>On the 2d of May, that is, eleven days after the above + rejection was made, the treaty between the United States and + France arrived at York-Town; and until this moment Congress had + not the least notice or idea, that such a measure was in any + train of execution. But lest this declaration of mine should pass + only for assertion, I shall support it by proof, for it is + material to the character and principle of the revolution to + shew, that no condition of America, since the declaration of + independence, however trying and severe, ever operated to produce + the most distant idea of yielding it up either by force, + distress, artifice, or persuasion. And this proof is the more + necessary, because it was the system of the British ministry at + this time, as well as before and since, to hold out to the + European powers that America was unfixt in her resolutions and + policy; hoping by this artifice to lessen her reputation in + Europe, and weaken the confidence which those powers, or any of + them, might be inclined to place in her.</p> + + <p>At the time these matters were transacting, I was Secretary to + the Foreign Department of Congress. All the political letters + from the American Commissioners rested in my hands, and all that + were officially written went from my office; and so far from + Congress knowing anything of the signing the treaty, at the time + they rejected the British offers, they had not received a line of + information from their Commissioners at Paris on any subject + whatever for upwards of a twelvemonth. Probably the loss of the + port of Philadelphia, and the navigation of the Delaware, + together with the danger of the seas, covered at this time with + British cruizers, contributed to the disappointment.</p> + + <p>One packet, it is true, arrived at York-Town in January + preceding, which was about three months before the arrival of the + treaty; but, strange as it may appear, every letter had been + taken out, before it was put on board the vessel which brought it + from France, and blank white paper put in their stead.</p> + + <p>Having thus stated the time when the proposals from the + British Commissioners were first received, and likewise the time + when the treaty of alliance arrived, and shewn that the rejection + of the former was eleven days prior to the arrival of the latter, + and without the least knowledge of such circumstance having taken + place, or being about to take place; the rejection, therefore, + must, and ought to be attributed to the fixt, unvaried sentiments + of America respecting the enemy she is at war with, and her + determination to support her independence to the last possible + effort, and not to any new circumstance in her favour, which at + that time she did not, and could not, know of.</p> + + <p>Besides, there is a vigor of determination and spirit of + defiance in the language of the rejection (which I here subjoin), + which derive their greatest glory by appearing before the treaty + was known; for that, which is bravery in distress, becomes insult + in prosperity: And the treaty placed America on such a strong + foundation, that had she then known it, the answer which she gave + would have appeared rather as an air of triumph, than as the + glowing serenity of fortitude.</p> + + <p>Upon the whole, the Abbe appears to have entirely mistaken the + matter; for instead of attributing the rejection of the + propositions to our knowledge of the treaty of alliance; he + should have attributed the origin of them in the British cabinet, + to their knowledge of that event. And then the reason why they + were hurried over to America in the state of bills, that is, + before they were passed into acts, is easily accounted for, which + is that they might have the chance of reaching America before any + knowledge of the treaty should arrive, which they were lucky + enough to do, and there met the fate they so richly merited. That + these bills were brought into the British Parliament after the + treaty with France was signed, is proved from the dates: the + treaty being on the 6th and the bills the 17th of February. And + that the signing the treaty was known in Parliament, when the + bills were brought in, is likewise proved by a speech of Mr. + Charles Fox, on the said 17th of February, who, in reply to Lord + North, informed the House of the treaty being signed, and + challenged the Minister's knowledge of the same fact.</p> + + <p>In CONGRESS, April 22d, 1778.</p> + + <p>"The Committee to whom was referred the General's Letter of + the 18th, containing a certain printed paper sent from + Philadelphia, purporting to be the draught of a Bill for + declaring the <i>intentions</i> of the Parliament of Great + Britain, as to the <i>exercise</i> of what they are pleased to + term their <i>right</i> of imposing taxes within these United + States; and also the draft of a Bill to enable the King of + Great-Britain to appoint Commissioners, with powers to treat, + consult, and agree upon the means of quieting certain disorders + within the said States, beg leave to observe,</p> + + <p>"That the said paper being industriously circulated by + emissaries of the enemy, in a partial and secret manner, the same + ought to be forthwith printed for the public information.</p> + + <p>"The Committee cannot ascertain whether the contents of the + said paper have been framed in Philadelphia or in Great Britain, + much less whether the same are really and truly intended to be + brought into the Parliament of that kingdom, or whether the said + Parliament will confer thereon the usual solemnities of their + laws. But are inclined to believe this will happen, for the + following reasons:</p> + + <p>"1st. Because their General hath made divers feeble efforts to + set on foot some kind of treaty during the last winter, though + either from a mistaken idea of his own dignity and importance, + the want of information, or some other cause, he hath not made + application to those who are invested with a proper + authority.</p> + + <p>"2dly. Because they suppose that the fallacious idea of a + cessation of hostilities will render these States remiss in their + preparations for war.</p> + + <p>"3dly. Because believing the Americans wearied with war, they + suppose we will accede to the terms for the sake of peace.</p> + + <p>"4thly. Because they suppose that our negotiations may be + subject to a like corrupt influence with their debates.</p> + + <p>"5thly. Because they expect from this step the same effects + they did from what one of their ministers thought proper to call + his <i>conciliatory motion</i>, viz. that it will prevent foreign + powers from giving aid to these States; that it will lead their + own subjects to continue a little longer the present war; and + that it will detach some weak men in America from the cause of + freedom and virtue.</p> + + <p>"6thly. Because their King, from his own shewing hath reason + to apprehend that his fleets and armies, instead of being + employed against the territories of these States, will be + necessary for the defence of his own dominions. And,</p> + + <p>"7thly. Because the impracticability of subjugating this + country, being every day more and more manifest, it is their + interest to extricate themselves from the war upon any terms.</p> + + <p>"The Committee beg leave further to observe, That, upon a + supposition, the matters contained in the said paper will really + go into the British Statute Book, they serve to shew, in a clear + point of view, the weakness and wickedness of the enemy.</p> + + <p>"THEIR WEAKNESS,</p> + + <p>"1st. Because they formerly declared, not only that they had a + right to bind the inhabitants of these States in all cases + whatsoever, but also that the said inhabitants should + <i>absolutely</i> and <i>unconditionally</i> submit to the + exercise of that right. And this submission they have endeavored + to exact by the sword. Receding from this claim, therefore, under + the present circumstances, shews their inability to enforce + it.</p> + + <p>"2dly. Because their Prince had heretofore rejected the + humblest petitions of the Representatives of America, praying to + be considered as subjects, and protected in the enjoyment of + peace, liberty, and safety; and hath waged a most cruel war + against them, and employed the savages to butcher innocent women + and children. But now the same Prince pretends to treat with + those very Representatives, and grant to the <i>arms</i> of + America what he refused to her <i>prayers</i>.</p> + + <p>"3dly. Because they have uniformly laboured to conquer this + Continent, rejecting every idea of accommodation proposed to + them, from a confidence in their own strength. Wherefore it is + evident, from the change in their mode of attack, that they have + lost this confidence. And,</p> + + <p>"4thly. Because the constant language, spoken not only by + their Ministers, but by the most public and authentic acts of the + nation, hath been, that it is incompatible with their dignity to + treat with the Americans while they have arms in their hands. + Notwithstanding which, an offer is now about to be made for + treaty.</p> + + <p>"The wickedness and insincerity of the enemy appear from the + following considerations:</p> + + <p>"1st. Either the <i>Bills</i> now to be passed contain a + direct or indirect cession of a part of their former claims, or + they do not. If they do, then it is acknowledged that they have + sacrificed many brave men in an unjust quarrel. If they do not, + then they are calculated to deceive America into terms, to which + neither argument before the war, nor force since, could procure + her assent.</p> + + <p>"2dly. The first of these <i>Bills</i> appears, from the + title, to be a declaration of the <i>intentions</i> of the + British Parliament concerning the exercise of the <i>right of + imposing taxes</i> within these States. Wherefore, should these + States treat under the said Bill, they would indirectly + acknowledge that right, to obtain which acknowledgment the + present war has been avowedly undertaken and prosecuted, on the + part of Great Britain.</p> + + <p>"3dly. Should such pretended right be so acquiesced in, then + of consequence the same might be exercised whenever the British + Parliament should find themselves in a different <i>temper</i> + and <i>disposition</i>; since it must depend upon those, and such + like contingencies, how far men will act according to their + former <i>intentions</i>.</p> + + <p>"4thly. The said first Bill, in the body thereof, containeth + no new matter, but is precisely the same with the motion before + mentioned, and liable to all the objections which lay against the + said motion, excepting the following particular, viz. that <i>by + the motion</i>, actual taxation was to be suspended, so long as + America should give as much as the said Parliament might think + proper: whereas, <i>by the proposed Bill</i>, it is to be + suspended as long as future Parliaments continue of the same mind + with the present.</p> + + <p>"5thly. From the second Bill it appears, that the British King + may, if he pleases, appoint Commissioners to <i>treat</i> and + <i>agree</i> with those, whom they please, about a variety of + things therein mentioned. But such treaties and agreements are to + be of no validity without the concurrence of the said Parliament, + except so far as they relate to the suspension of hostilities, + and of certain of their acts, the granting of pardons, and the + appointment of Governors to these sovereign, free, and + independent States. Wherefore, the said Parliament have reserved + to themselves, in <i>express words</i>, the power of setting + aside any such treaty, and taking the advantages of any + circumstances which may arise to subject this Continent to their + usurpations.</p> + + <p>"6thly, The said Bill, by holding forth a tender of pardon, + implies a criminality in our justifiable resistance, and + consequently, to treat under it, would be an implied + acknowledgment, that the inhabitants of these States were, what + Britain had declared them to be, <i>Rebels</i>.</p> + + <p>"7thly. The inhabitants of these States being claimed by them + as subjects, they may infer, from the nature of the negotiation + now pretended to be set on foot, that the said inhabitants would + of right be afterwards bound by such laws as they should make. + Wherefore, any agreement entered into on such negociation might + at any future time be repealed. And,</p> + + <p>"8thly. Because the said Bill purports, that the Commissioners + therein mentioned may treat with private individuals; a measure + highly derogatory to the dignity of the national character.</p> + + <p>"From all which it appears evident to your Committee, that the + said Bills are intended to operate upon the hopes and fears of + the good people of these States, so as to create divisions among + them, and a defection from the common cause, now by the blessing + of Divine Providence drawing near to a favourable issue. That + they are the sequel of that insidious plan, which from the days + of the Stamp-act down to the present time, hath involved this + country in contention and bloodshed. And that, as in other cases + so in this, although circumstances may force them at times to + recede from the unjustifiable claims, there can be no doubt but + they will as heretofore, upon the first favourable occasion, + again display that lust of domination, which hath rent in twain + the mighty empire of Britain.</p> + + <p>"Upon the whole matter, the Committee beg leave to report it + as their opinion, that as the Americans united in this arduous + contest upon principles of common interest, for the defence of + common rights and privileges, which union hath been cemented by + common calamities, and by mutual good offices and and + [<i>sic</i>] affection, so the great cause for which they + contend, and in which all mankind are interested, must derive its + success from the continuance of that union. Wherefore any man or + body of men, who should presume to make any seperate or partial + convention or agreement with Commissioners under the Crown of + Great Britain, or any of them, ought to be considered and treated + as open and avowed enemies of these United States.</p> + + <p>"And further your Committee beg leave to report it as their + opinion, That these united States cannot, with propriety, hold + any conference or treaty with <i>any</i> Commissioners on the + part of Great Britain, unless they shall, as a preliminary + thereto, either withdraw their fleets and admirals, or else, in + positive and express terms, acknowledge the Independence of the + said States.</p> + + <p>"And inasmuch as it appears to be the design of the enemies of + these States to lull them into a fatal security—to the end + that they may act with a, becoming weight and importance, it is + the opinion of your Committee That the several States be called + upon to use the most strenuous exertions to have their respective + quotas of continental troops in the field as soon as possible, + and that all the militia of the said States be held in readiness, + to act as occasion may require."</p> + + <p><i>The following is the answer of Congress to the second + application of the Commissioners.</i></p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>SIR,</p> + + <p><i>York-Town, June 6, 1778.</i></p> + + <p>"I HAVE had the honour of laying your letter of the 3d + instant, with the acts of the British Parliament which came + inclosed, before Congress; and I am instructed to acquaint you, + Sir, that they have already expressed their sentiments upon + bills, not essentially different from those acts, in a + publication of the 22d of April last.</p> + + <p>"Be assured, Sir, when the King of Great Britain shall be + seriously disposed to put an end to the unprovoked and cruel + war waged against these United States, Congress will readily + attend to such terms of peace, as may consist with the honour + of independent nations, the interest of their constituents, and + the sacred regard they mean to pay to treaties. I have the + honour to be, Sir,</p> + + <p><i>Your most obedient, and<br /> + most humble servant</i>,<br /> + HENRY LAURENS,<br /> + <i>President of Congress</i>."<br /> + <br /> + <i>His Excellency,<br /> + Sir Henry Clinton, K.B., Philad</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Though I am not surprised to see the Abbe mistaken in matters + of history, acted at so great a distance from his sphere of + immediate observation, yet I am more than surprised to find him + wrong, (or at least what appears so to me) in the + well-enlightened field of philosophical reflection. Here the + materials are his own; created by himself; and the error, + therefore, is an act of the mind. Hitherto my remarks have been + confined to circumstances: the order in which they arose, and the + events they produced. In these, my information being better than + the Abbe's, my task was easy. How I may succeed in controverting + matters of sentiment and opinion, with one whom years, + experience, and long established reputation have placed in a + superior line, I am less confident in; but as they fall within + the scope of my observations, it would be improper to pass them + over.</p> + + <p>From this part of the Abbe's work to the latter end, I find + several expressions which appear to me to start, with a cynical + complexion, from the path of liberal thinking, or at least they + are so involved as to lose many of the beauties which distinguish + other parts of the performance.</p> + + <p>The Abbe having brought his work to the period when the treaty + of alliance between France and the United States commenced, + proceeds to make some remarks thereon.</p> + + <p>"In short," says he, "philosophy, whose first sentiment is the + desire to see all governments just, and all people happy, in + casting her eyes upon this alliance of a monarchy, with a people + who are defending their liberty, <i>is curious to know its + motive. She sees at once too clearly, that the happiness of + mankind has no part in it</i>."</p> + + <p>Whatever train of thinking or of temper the Abbe might be in, + when he penned this expression, matters not. They will neither + qualify the sentiment, nor add to its defect. If right, it needs + no apology; if wrong, it merits no excuse. It is sent to the + world as an opinion of philosophy, and may be examined without + regard to the author.</p> + + <p>It seems to be a defect, connected with ingenuity, that it + often employs itself more in matters of curiosity than + usefulness. Man must be the privy councillor of fate, or + something is not right. He must know the springs, the whys, and + wherefores of every thing, or he sits down unsatisfied. Whether + this be a crime, or only a caprice of humanity, I am not + enquiring into. I shall take the passage as I find it, and place + my objections against it.</p> + + <p>It is not so properly the <i>motives</i> which <i>produced</i> + the alliance, as the <i>consequences</i> which are to be + <i>produced from it</i>, that mark out the field of philosophical + reflection. In the one we only penetrate into the barren cave of + secrecy, where little can be known, and every thing may be + misconceived; in the other, the mind is presented with a wide + extended prospect, of vegetative good, and sees a thousand + blessings budding into existence.</p> + + <p>But the expression, even within the compass of the Abbe's + meaning, sets out with an error, because it is made to declare + that, which no man has authority to declare. Who can say that the + happiness of mankind made <i>no part of the motives</i> which + produced the alliance? To be able to declare this, a man must be + possessed of the mind of all the parties concerned, and know that + their motives were something else.</p> + + <p>In proportion as the independence of America became + contemplated and understood, the local advantages of it to the + immediate actors, and the numerous benefits it promised to + mankind, appear to be every day encreasing, and we saw not a + temporary good for the present race only, but a continued good to + all posterity; these motives, therefore, added to those which + preceded them, became the motives, on the part of America, which + led her to propose and agree to the treaty of alliance, as the + best effectual method of extending and securing happiness; and + therefore, with respect to us, the Abbe is wrong.</p> + + <p>France, on the other hand, was situated very differently to + America. She was not acted upon by necessity to seek a friend, + and therefore her motive in becoming one, has the strongest + evidence of being good, and that which is so, must have some + happiness for its object. With regard to herself she saw a train + of conveniencies worthy her attention. By lessening the power of + an enemy, whom, at the same time, she sought neither to destroy + nor distress, she gained an advantage without doing an evil, and + created to herself a new friend by associating with a country in + misfortune. The springs of thought that lead to actions of this + kind, however political they may be, are nevertheless naturally + beneficent; for in all causes, good or bad, it is necessary there + should be a fitness in the mind, to enable it to act in character + with the object: Therefore, as a bad cause cannot be prosecuted + with a good motive, so neither can a good cause be long supported + by a bad one, as no man acts without a motive; therefore, in the + present instance, as they cannot be bad, they must be admitted to + be good. But the Abbe sets out upon such an extended scale, that + he overlooks the degrees by which it is measured, and rejects the + beginning of good, because the end comes not at once.</p> + + <p>It is true that bad motives may in some degree be brought to + support a good cause or prosecute a good object; but it never + continues long, which is not the case with France; for either the + object will reform the mind, or the mind corrupt the object, or + else not being able, either way, to get into unison, they will + separate in disgust: And this natural, though unperceived + progress of association or contention between the mind and the + object, is the secret cause of fidelity or defection. Every + object a man pursues is, for the time, a kind of mistress to his + mind: if both are good or bad, the union is natural; but if they + are in reverse, and neither can seduce nor yet reform the other, + the opposition grows into dislike, and a separation follows.</p> + + <p>When the cause of America first made her appearance on the + stage of the universe, there were many who, in the style of + adventurers and fortune-hunters, were dangling in her train, and + making their court to her with every profession of honour and + attachment. They were loud in her praise, and ostentatious in her + service. Every place echoed with their ardour or their anger, and + they seemed like men in love.—But, alas, they were + fortune-hunters. Their expectations were excited, but their minds + were unimpressed; and finding her not to the purpose, nor + themselves reformed by her influence, they ceased their suit, and + in some instances deserted and betrayed her.</p> + + <p>There were others, who at first beheld her with indifference, + and unacquainted with her character, were cautious of her + company. They treated her as one, who, under the fair name of + liberty, might conceal the hideous figure of anarchy, or the + gloomy monster of tyranny. They knew not what she was. If fair, + she was fair indeed. But still she was suspected, and though born + among us, appeared to be a stranger.</p> + + <p>Accident, with some, and curiosity with others, brought on a + distant acquaintance. They ventured to look at her. They felt an + inclination to speak to her. One intimacy led to another, till + the suspicion wore away, and a change of sentiment stole + gradually upon the mind; and having no self-interest to serve, no + passion of dishonour to gratify, they became enamoured of her + innocence, and unaltered by misfortune or uninflamed by success, + shared with fidelity in the varieties of her fate.</p> + + <p>This declaration of the Abbe's, respecting motives, has led me + unintendedly into a train of metaphysical reasoning; but there + was no other avenue by which it could so properly be approached. + To place presumption against presumption, assertion against + assertion, is a mode of opposition that has no effect; and + therefore the more eligible method was, to shew that the + declaration does not correspond with the natural progress of the + mind, and the influence it has upon our conduct.—I shall + now quit this part, and proceed to what I have before stated, + namely, that it is not so properly the motives which produced the + alliance, as the consequences to be produced from it, that mark + out the field of philosophical reflections.</p> + + <p>It is an observation I have already made in some former + publication, that the circle of civilization is yet incomplete. A + mutuality of wants have formed the individuals of each country + into a kind of national society, and here the progress of + civilization has stopt. For it is easy to see, that nations with + regard to each other (notwithstanding the ideal civil law, which + every one explains as it suits him) are like individuals in a + state of nature. They are regulated by no fixt principle, + governed by no compulsive law, and each does independently what + it pleases, or what it can.</p> + + <p>Were it possible we could have known the world when in a state + of barbarism, we might have concluded, that it never could be + brought into the order we now see it. The untamed mind was then + as hard, if not harder to work upon in its individual state, than + the national mind is in its present one. Yet we have seen the + accomplishment of the one, why then should we doubt that of the + other?</p> + + <p>There is a greater fitness in mankind to extend and complete + the civilization of nations with each other at this day, than + there was to begin it with the unconnected individuals at first; + in the same manner that it is somewhat easier to put together the + materials of a machine after they are formed, than it was to form + them from original matter. The present condition of the world, + differing so exceedingly from what it formerly was, has given a + new cast to the mind of man, more than what he appears to be + sensible of. The wants of the individual, which first produced + the idea of society, are now augmented into the wants of the + nation, and he is obliged to seek from another country what + before he sought from the next person.</p> + + <p>Letters, the tongue of the world, have in some measure brought + all mankind acquainted, and, by an extension of their uses, are + every day promoting some new friendship. Through them distant + nations became capable of conversation, and losing by degrees the + awkwardness of strangers, and the moroseness of suspicion, they + learn to know and understand each other. Science, the partizan of + no country, but the beneficent patroness of all, has liberally + opened a temple where all may meet. Her influence on the mind, + like the sun on the chilled earth, has long been preparing it for + higher cultivation and further improvement. The philosopher of + one country sees not an enemy in the philosopher of another: he + takes his seat in the temple of science, and asks not who sits + beside him.</p> + + <p>This was not the condition of the barbarian world. Then the + wants of man were few, and the objects within his reach. While he + could acquire these, he lived in a state of individual + independence; the consequence of which was, there were as many + nations as persons, each contending with the other, to secure + something which he had, or to obtain something which he had not. + The world had then no business to follow, no studies to exercise + the mind. Their time was divided between sloth and fatigue. + Hunting and war were their chief occupations; sleep and food + their principal enjoyments.</p> + + <p>Now it is otherwise. A change in the mode of life has made it + necessary to be busy; and man finds a thousand things to do now + which before he did not. Instead of placing his ideas of + greatness in the rude achievements of the savage, he studies + arts, science, agriculture, and commerce, the refinements of the + gentleman, the principles of society, and the knowledge of the + philosopher.</p> + + <p>There are many things which in themselves are morally neither + good nor bad, but they are productive of consequences, which are + strongly marked with one or other of these characters. Thus + commerce, though in itself a moral nullity, has had a + considerable influence in tempering the human mind. It was the + want of objects in the ancient world, which occasioned in them + such a rude and perpetual turn for war. Their time hung upon + their hands without the means of employment. The indolence they + lived in afforded leisure for mischief, and being all idle at + once, and equal in their circumstances, they were easily provoked + or induced to action.</p> + + <p>But the introduction of commerce furnished the world with + objects, which in their extent, reach every man, and give him + something to think about and something to do; by these his + attention his [<i>sic</i>] mechanically drawn from the pursuits + which a state of indolence and an unemployed mind occasioned, and + he trades with the same countries, which former ages, tempted by + their productions, and too indolent to purchase them, would have + gone to war with.</p> + + <p>Thus, as I have already observed, the condition of the world + being materially changed by the influence of science and + commerce, it is put into a fitness not only to admit of, but to + desire an extension of civilization. The principal and almost + only remaining enemy it now has to encounter, is + <i>prejudice</i>; for it is evidently the interest of mankind to + agree and make the best of life. The world has undergone its + divisions of empire, the several boundaries of which are known + and settled. The idea of conquering countries, like the Greeks + and Romans, does not now exist; and experience has exploded the + notion of going to war for the sake of profit. In short, the + objects for war are exceedingly diminished, and there is now left + scarcely any thing to quarrel about, but what arises from that + demon of society, prejudice, and the consequent sullenness and + untractableness of the temper.</p> + + <p>There is something exceedingly curious in the constitution and + operation of prejudice. It has the singular ability of + accommodating itself to all the possible varieties of the human + mind. Some passions and vices are but thinly scattered among + mankind, and find only here and there a fitness of reception. But + prejudice, like the spider, makes every where its home. It has + neither taste nor choice of place, and all that it requires is + room. There is scarcely a situation, except fire or water, in + which a spider will not live. So, let the mind be as naked as the + walls of an empty and forsaken tenement, gloomy as a dungeon, or + ornamented with the richest abilities of thinking; let it be hot, + cold, dark, or light, lonely or inhabited, still prejudice, if + undisturbed, will fill it with cobwebs, and live, like the + spider, where there seems nothing to live on. If the one prepares + her food by poisoning it to her palate and her use, the other + does the same; and as several of our passions are strongly + charactered by the animal world, prejudice may be denominated the + spider of the mind.</p> + + <p>Perhaps no two events ever united so intimately and forceably + to combat and expel prejudice, as the Revolution of America, and + the Alliance with France. Their effects are felt, and their + influence already extends as well to the old world as the new. + Our style and manner of thinking have undergone a revolution, + more extraordinary than the political revolution of the country. + We see with other eyes; we hear with other ears; and think with + other thoughts, than those we formerly used. We can look back on + our own prejudices, as if they had been the prejudices of other + people. We now see and know they were prejudices, and nothing + else; and relieved from their shackles, enjoy a freedom of mind + we felt not before. It was not all the argument, however + powerful, nor all the reasoning, however elegant, that could have + produced this change, so necessary to the extension of the mind + and the cordiality of the world, without the two circumstances of + the Revolution and the Alliance.</p> + + <p>Had America dropt quietly from Britain, no material change in + sentiment had taken place. The same notions, prejudices, and + conceits, would have governed in both countries, as governed them + before; and, still the slaves of error and education, they would + have travelled on in the beaten tract of vulgar and habitual + thinking. But brought about by the means it has been, both with + regard to ourselves, to France, and to England, every corner of + the mind is swept of its cobwebs, poison, and dust, and made fit + for the reception of general happiness.</p> + + <p>Perhaps there never was an alliance on a broader basis, than + that between America and France, and the progress of it is worth + attending to. The countries had been enemies, not properly of + themselves, but through the medium of England. They, originally, + had no quarrel with each other, nor any cause for one, but what + arose from the interest of England, and her arming America + against France. At the same time, the Americans, at a distance + from and unacquainted with the world, and tutored in all the + prejudices which governed those who governed them, conceived it + their duty to act as they were taught. In doing this they + expended their substance to make conquests, not for themselves, + but for their masters, who in return, treated them as slaves.</p> + + <p>A long succession of insolent severity, and the separation + finally occasioned by the commencement of hostilities at + Lexington, on the 19th of April, 1775, naturally produced a new + disposition of thinking. As the mind closed itself towards + England, it opened itself toward the world; and our prejudices, + like our oppressions, underwent, though less observed, a mental + examination; until we found the former as inconsistent with + reason and benevolence, as the latter were repugnant to our civil + and political rights.</p> + + <p>While we were thus advancing by degrees into the wide field of + extended humanity, the alliance with France was concluded; an + alliance not formed for the mere purpose of a day, but on just + and generous grounds, and with equal and mutual advantages; and + the easy affectionate manner in which the parties have since + communicated, has made it an alliance, not of courts only, but of + countries. There is now an union of mind as well as of interest; + and our hearts as well as our prosperity, call on us to support + it.</p> + + <p>The people of England not having experienced this change, had + likewise no ideas of it, they were hugging to their bosoms the + same prejudices we were trampling beneath our feet; and they + expected to keep a hold upon America, by that narrowness of + thinking which America disdained. What they were proud of, we + despised: and this is a principal cause why all their + negotiations, constructed on this ground, have failed. We are now + really another people, and cannot again go back to ignorance and + prejudice. The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark. + There is no possibility, neither is there any term to express the + supposition by, of the mind unknowing any thing it already knows; + and therefore all attempts on the part of England, fitted to the + former habit of America, and on the expectation of their applying + now, will be like persuading a seeing man to become blind, and a + sensible one to turn an idiot. The first of which is unnatural + and the other impossible.</p> + + <p>As to the remark which the Abbe makes on the one country being + a monarchy and the other a republic, it can have no essential + meaning. Forms of government have nothing to do with treaties. + The former are the internal police of the countries severally; + the latter their external police jointly: and so long as each + performs its part, we have no more right or business to know how + the one or the other conducts its domestic affairs, than we have + to inquire into the private concerns of a family.</p> + + <p>But had the Abbe reflected for a moment, he would have seen + that courts, or the governing powers of all countries, be their + forms what they may, are relatively republics with each other. It + is the first and true principle of alliancing. Antiquity may have + given precedence, and power will naturally create importance, but + their equal right is never disputed. It may likewise be worthy of + remarking, that a monarchical country can suffer nothing in its + popular happiness by an alliance with a republican one; and + republican governments have never been destroyed by their + external connections, but by some internal convulsion or + contrivance. France has been in alliance with the republic of + Switzerland for more than two hundred years, and still + Switzerland retains her original form as entire as if she had + allied with a republic like herself; therefore this remark of the + Abbe should go for nothing.—Besides, it is best mankind + should mix. There is ever something to learn, either of manners + or principle; and it is by a free communication, without regard + to domestic matters, that friendship is to be extended, and + prejudice destroyed all over the world.</p> + + <p>But notwithstanding the Abbe's high professions in favour of + liberty, he appears sometimes to forget himself, or that his + theory is rather the child of his fancy than of his judgment: for + in almost the same instant that he censures the alliance, as not + originally or sufficiently calculated for the happiness of + mankind, he, by a figure of implication, accuses France for + having acted so generously and unreservedly in concluding it. + "Why did they (says he, meaning the Court of France) tie + themselves down by an inconsiderate treaty to conditions with the + Congress, which they might themselves have held in dependence by + ample and regular supplies."</p> + + <p>When an author undertakes to treat of public happiness, he + ought to be certain that he does not mistake passion for right, + nor imagination for principle. Principle, like truth, needs no + contrivance. It will ever tell its own tale, and tell it the same + way. But where this is not the case, every page must be watched, + recollected, and compared like an invented story.</p> + + <p>I am surprised at this passage of the Abbe. It means nothing + or it means ill; and in any case it shows the great difference + between speculative and practical knowledge. A treaty according + to the Abbe's language would have neither duration nor affection; + it might have lasted to the end of the war, and then expired with + it.—But France, by acting in a style superior to the little + politics of narrow thinking, has established a generous fame, and + won the love of a country she was before a stranger to. She had + to treat with a people who thought as nature taught them; and, on + her own part, she wisely saw there was no present advantage to be + obtained by unequal terms, which could balance the more lasting + ones that might flow from a kind and generous beginning.</p> + + <p>From this part the Abbe advances into the secret transactions + of the two Cabinets of Versailles and Madrid, respecting the + independence of America, through which I mean not to follow him. + It is a circumstance sufficiently striking, without being + commented on, that the former union of America with Britain, + produced a power, which, in her hands, had was becoming dangerous + to the world: and there is no improbability in supposing, that + had the latter known as much of the strength of former, before + she began the quarrel, as she has known since, that instead of + attempting to reduce her to unconditional submission, would have + proposed to her the conquest of Mexico. But from the countries + separately, Spain has nothing to apprehend, though from their + union, she had more to fear than any other power in Europe.</p> + + <p>The part which I shall more particularly confine myself to, is + that, wherein the Abbe takes an opportunity of complimenting the + British Ministry with high encomiums of admiration, on their + rejecting the offered mediation of the Court of Madrid, in + 1779.</p> + + <p>It must be remembered, that before Spain joined France in the + War, she undertook the office of a mediator, and made proposals + to the British King and Ministry so exceedingly favourable to + their interest, that had they been accepted, would have become + inconvenient, if not inadmissible to America. These proposals + were nevertheless rejected by the British Cabinet: on which the + Abbe says,—</p> + + <p>"It is in such a circumstance as this, it is in the time when + noble pride elevates the soul superior to all terror; when + nothing is seen more dreadful than the shame of receiving the + law, and when there is no doubt or hesitation which to chuse, + between ruin and dishonour; it is then, that the greatness of a + nation is displayed. I acknowledge, however, that men accustomed + to judge of things by the event, call great and perilous + resolutions, heroism or madness, according to the good or bad + success with which they have been attended. If then I should be + asked, what is the name which shall in years to come be given to + the firmness, which was in this moment exhibited by the English, + I shall answer, that I do not know. But that which it deserves I + know. I know that the annals of the world hold out to us but + rarely the august and majestic spectacle of a nation, which + chuses rather to renounce its duration than its glory."</p> + + <p>In this paragraph the conception is lofty, and the expression + elegant; but the colouring is too high for the original, and the + likeness fails through an excess of graces. To fit the powers of + thinking and the turn of language to the subject, so as to bring + out a clear conclusion that shall hit the point in question, and + nothing else, is the true criterion of writing. But the greater + part of the Abbe's writings (if he will pardon me the remark) + appear to me uncentral and burthened with variety. They represent + a beautiful wilderness without paths; in which the eye is + diverted by every thing, without being particularly directed to + any thing: and in which it is agreeable to be lost, and difficult + to find the way out.</p> + + <p>Before I offer any other remark oh the spirit and composition + of the above passage, I shall compare it with the circumstance it + alludes to.</p> + + <p>The circumstance, then, does not deserve the encomium. The + rejection was not prompted by her fortitude but her vanity. She + did not view it as a case of despair or even of extreme danger, + and consequently the determination to renounce her duration + rather than her glory, cannot apply to the condition of her mind. + She had then high expectations of subjugating America, and had no + other naval force against her than France; neither was she + certain that rejecting the mediation of Spain would combine that + power with France. New mediations might arise more favourable + than those she had refused. But if they should not, and Spain + should join, she still saw that it would only bring out her naval + force against France and Spain, which was wanted and could not be + employed against America, and habits of thinking had taught her + to believe herself superior to both.</p> + + <p>But in any case to which the consequence might point, there + was nothing to impress her with the idea of renouncing her + duration. It is not the policy of Europe to suffer the extinction + of any power, but only to lop off, or prevent its dangerous + encrease. She was likewise freed by situation from the internal + and immediate horrors of invasion; was rolling in dissipation, + and looking for conquests; and though she suffered nothing but + the expense of war, she still had a greedy eye to magnificent + reimbursement.</p> + + <p>But if the Abbe is delighted with high and striking + singularities of character he might, in America, have found ample + field for encomium. Here was a people, who could not know what + part the world would take for, or against them; and who were + venturing on an untried scheme, in opposition to a power, against + which more formidable nations had failed. They had every thing to + learn but the principles which supported them, and every thing to + procure that was necessary for their defense. They have at times + seen themselves as low as distress could make them, without + showing the least stagger in their fortitude; and been raised + again by the most unexpected events, without discovering an + unmanly discomposure of joy. To hesitate or to despair are + conditions equally unknown in America. Her mind was prepared for + every thing; because her original and final resolution of + succeeding or perishing included all possible circumstances.</p> + + <p>The rejection of the British propositions in the year 1778, + circumstanced as America was at that time, is a far greater + instance of unshaken fortitude than the refusal of the Spanish + mediation by the Court of London: and other historians, besides + the Abbe, struck with the vastness of her conduct therein, have, + like himself, attributed it to a circumstance which was then + unknown, the alliance with France. Their error shows their idea + of its greatness; because, in order to account for it, they have + sought a cause suited to its magnitude, without knowing that the + cause existed in the principles of the country.<a name= + "FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" + class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Extract + from, "<i>A short Review of the present Reign</i>," in + England. <i>Page 45, in the New Annual Register for the year + 1780</i>.</p> + + <p>"<i>THE Commissioners, who, in consequence of Lord North's + conciliatory bills, went over to America, to propose terms of + peace to the colonies, were wholly unsuccessful. The + concessions which formerly would have been received with the + utmost gratitude, were rejected with disdain. Now was the + time of American pride and haughtiness. It is probable, + however, that it was not pride and haughtiness alone that + dictated the Resolutions of Congress, but a distrust of the + sincerity of the offers of Britain, a determination not to + give up their independence, and</i> <span class="smcap">above all, the + engagements into which <i>I</i> had entered by their late + treaty with France</span>."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>But this passionate encomium of the Abbe is deservedly subject + to moral and philosophical objections. It is the effusion of wild + thinking, and has a tendency to prevent that humanity of + reflection which the criminal conduct of Britain enjoins on her + as a duty.—It is a laudanum to courtly iniquity.—It + keeps in intoxicated sleep the conscience of a nation; and more + mischief is effected by wrapping up guilt in splendid excuse, + than by directly patronizing it.</p> + + <p>Britain is now the only country which holds the world in + disturbance and war; and instead of paying compliments to the + excess of her crimes, the Abbe would have appeared much more in + character, had he put to her, or to her monarch, this serious + question—</p> + + <p>Are there not miseries enough in the world, too difficult to + be encountered and too pointed to be borne, without studying to + enlarge the list and arming it with new destruction? Is life so + very long, that it is necessary, nay even a duty, to shake the + sand, and hasten out the period of duration? Is the path so + elegantly smooth, so decked on every side, and carpeted with + joys, that wretchedness is wanting to enrich it as a soil? Go ask + thine aching heart, when sorrow from a thousand causes wounds it, + go, ask thy sickened self when every medicine fails, whether this + be the case or not?</p> + + <p>Quitting my remarks on this head, I proceed to another, in + which the Abbe has let loose a vein of ill-nature, and, what is + still worse, of injustice.</p> + + <p>After caviling at the treaty, he goes on to characterize the + several parties combined in the war.—"Is it possible," says + the Abbe, "that a strict union should long subsist amongst + confederates of characters so opposite as the hasty, light, + disdainful Frenchman, the jealous, haughty, sly, slow, + circumspect Spaniard, and the American, who is secretly snatching + looks at the mother country, and would rejoice, were they + compatible with his independence, at the disasters of his + allies?"</p> + + <p>To draw foolish portraits of each other, is a mode of attack + and reprisal, which the greater part of mankind are fond of + indulging. The serious philosopher should be above it, more + especially in cases from which no possible good can arise, and + mischief may, and where no received provocation can palliate the + offense.—The Abbe might have invented a difference of + character for every country in the world, and they in return + might find others for him, till in the war of wit all real + character is lost. The pleasantry of one nation or the gravity of + another may, by a little penciling, be distorted into whimsical + features, and the painter becomes so much laughed at as the + painting.</p> + + <p>But why did not the Abbe look a little deeper, and bring forth + the excellencies of the several parties? Why did he not dwell + with pleasure on that greatness of character, that superiority of + heart, which has marked the conduct of France in her conquests, + and which has forced an acknowledgment even from Britain.</p> + + <p>There is one line, at least (and many others might be + discovered), in which the confederates unite; which is, that of a + rival eminence in their treatment of their enemies. Spain, in her + conquest of Minorca and the Bahama Islands, confirms this remark. + America has been invariable in her lenity from the beginning of + the war, notwithstanding the high provocations she has + experienced? It is England only who has been insolent and + cruel.</p> + + <p>But why must America be charged with a crime undeserved by her + conduct, more so by her principles, and which, if a fact, would + be fatal to her honour? I mean the want of attachment to her + allies, or rejoicing in their disasters. She, it is true, has + been assiduous in showing to the world that she was not the + aggressor toward England; and that the quarrel was not of her + seeking, or, at that time, even of her wishing. But to draw + inferences from her justification, to stab her character by, and + I see nothing else from which they can be supposed to be drawn, + is unkind and unjust.</p> + + <p>Does her rejection of the British propositions in 1778, before + she knew of any alliance with France, correspond with the Abbe's + description of her mind? Does a single instance of her conduct + since that time justify it?—But there is a still better + evidence to apply to, which is, that of all the mails which at + different times have been way-laid on the road, in divers parts + of America, and taken and carried into New-York, and from which + the most secret and confidential private letters, as well as + those from authority, have been published, not one of them, I + repeat it, not a single one of them, gives countenance to such a + charge.</p> + + <p>This is not a country where men are under government restraint + in speaking; and if there is any kind of restraint, it arises + from a fear of popular resentment. Now, if nothing in her private + or public correspondence favours such a suggestion, and if the + general disposition of the country is such as to make it unsafe + for a man to shew an appearance of joy at any disaster to her + ally; on what grounds, I ask, can the accusation stand? What + company the Abbe may have kept in France, we cannot know; but + this we know, that the account he gives does not apply to + America.</p> + + <p>Had the Abbe been in America at the time the news arrived of + the disaster of the fleet under Count de Grasse, in the + West-Indies, he would have seen his vast mistake. Neither do I + remember any instance, except the loss of Charlestown, in which + the public mind suffered more severe and pungent concern, or + underwent more agitations of hope and apprehension, as to the + truth or falsehood of the report. Had the loss been all our own, + it could not have had a deeper effect; yet it was not one of + those cases which reached to the independence of America.</p> + + <p>In the geographical account which the Abbe gives of the + Thirteen States, he is so exceedingly erroneous, that to attempt + a particular refutation, would exceed the limits I have + prescribed to myself. And as it is a matter neither political, + historical, nor sentimental, and which can always be contradicted + by the extent and natural circumstances of the country, I shall + pass it over; with this additional remark, that I never yet saw + an European description of America that was true, neither can any + person gain a just idea of it, but by coming to it.</p> + + <p>Though I have already extended this letter beyond what I at + first proposed, I am, nevertheless, obliged to omit many + observations I originally designed to have made. I wish there had + been no occasion for making any. But the wrong ideas which the + Abbe's work had a tendency to excite, and the prejudicial + impressions they might make, must be an apology for my remarks, + and the freedom with which they are made.</p> + + <p>I observe the Abbe has made a sort of epitome of a + considerable part of the pamphlet Common Sense, and introduced it + in that form into his publication. But there are other places + where the Abbe has borrowed freely from the said pamphlet without + acknowledging it. The difference between society and government, + with which the pamphlet opens, is taken from it, and in some + expressions almost literally, into the Abbe's work, as if + originally his own; and through the whole of the Abbe's remarks + on this head, the idea in Common Sense is so closely copied and + pursued, that the difference is only in words, and in the + arrangement of the thoughts, and not in the thoughts + themselves.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a></p> + + <table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" id="Common_Sense" summary="Common Sense & Abbe Raynal" + title="Common Sense & Abbe Raynal"> + <tr> + <th>COMMON SENSE.</th> + + <th>ABBE RAYNAL.</th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td valign="top">"Some writers have so confounded<br /> + society With government, as to leave<br /> + little or no distinction between them;<br /> + whereas they are not only different,<br /> + but have different origins.</td> + + <td valign="top">"Care must be taken not to + confound<br /> + together society with government.<br /> + That they may be known distinctly,<br /> + their origin should be considered.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td valign="top">"Society is produced by our wants,<br /> + and governments by our wickedness;<br /> + the former promotes our happiness<br /> + <i>positively</i>, by uniting our affections;<br /> + the latter <i>negatively</i>, by restraining<br /> + our vices."</td> + + <td valign="top">"Society originates in the wants + of<br /> + men, government in their vices.<br /> + Society tends always to good; government<br /> + ought always to tend to the<br /> + repressing of evil."</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="2"><i>In the following paragraphs there is + less likeness in the language, but the ideas in the one + are evidently copied from the other</i>.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td valign="top">"In order to gain a clear and just<br /> + idea of the design and end of government,<br /> + let us suppose a small number<br /> + of persons, meeting in some frequented<br /> + part of the earth, unconnected<br /> + with the rest; they will then represent<br /> + the peopling of any country or<br /> + of the world. In this state of natural<br /> + liberty, society will be our first<br /> + thought. A thousand motives will<br /> + excite them thereto. The strength of<br /> + one man is so unequal to his wants,<br /> + and his mind so unfitted for perpetual<br /> + solitude, that he is soon obliged to<br /> + seek assistance of another, who, in<br /> + his turn, requires the same. Four or<br /> + five united would be able to raise<br /> + a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a<br /> + wilderness; but <i>one</i> man might<br /> + labour out the common period of life,<br /> + without accomplishing any thing;<br /> + when he has felled his timber, he<br /> + could not remove it, nor erect it after<br /> + it was removed; hunger, in the<br /> + mean time would, urge him from his<br /> + work, and every different want call<br /> + him a different way. Disease, nay<br /> + even misfortune would be death;<br /> + for though neither might be immediately<br /> + mortal, yet either of them<br /> + would disable him from living, and<br /> + reduce him to a state in which he<br /> + might rather be said to perish than to<br /> + die.—Thus necessity, like a gravitating<br /> + power, would form our newly<br /> + arrived emigrants into society, the<br /> + reciprocal benefits of which would<br /> + supersede and render the obligations<br /> + of law and government unnecessary,<br /> + while they remained perfectly just<br /> + to each other. But as nothing but<br /> + heaven is impregnable to vice, it will<br /> + unavoidably happen, that in proportion<br /> + as they surmount the first<br /> + difficulties of emigration which bound<br /> + them together in a common cause,<br /> + they will begin to relax in their duty<br /> + and attachment to each other, and this<br /> + remissness will point out the necessity<br /> + of establishing some form of<br /> + moral virtue."</td> + + <td valign="top">"Man, thrown, as it were by<br /> + chance upon the globe, surrounded<br /> + by all the evils of nature, obliged<br /> + continually to defend and protect his<br /> + life against the storms and tempests<br /> + of the air, against the inundations of<br /> + water, against the fire of volcanoes,<br /> + against the intemperance of frigid<br /> + and torrid zones, against the sterility<br /> + of the earth which, refuses him aliment,<br /> + or its baneful fecundity, which<br /> + makes poison spring up beneath his<br /> + feet; in short against the claws and<br /> + teeth of savage beasts, who dispute<br /> + with him his habitation and his prey,<br /> + and attacking his person, seem resolved<br /> + to render themselves rulers of<br /> + this globe, of which he thinks himself<br /> + to be the master. Man, in this<br /> + state, alone and abandoned to himself,<br /> + could do nothing for his preservation.<br /> + It was necessary, therefore,<br /> + that he should unite himself, and associate<br /> + with his like, in order to<br /> + bring together their strength and intelligence<br /> + in common stock. It is<br /> + by this union that he has triumphed<br /> + over so many evils, that he has<br /> + fashioned this globe to his use, restrained<br /> + the rivers, subjugated the<br /> + seas, insured his subsistence, conquered<br /> + apart of the animals in obliging<br /> + them to serve him, and driven others<br /> + far from his empire, to the depths of<br /> + deserts or of woods, where their<br /> + number diminishes from age to age.<br /> + What a man alone would not have<br /> + been able to effect, men have executed<br /> + in concert; and altogether they<br /> + preserve their work.—Such is the<br /> + origin, such the advantages, and the<br /> + end of society.—Government owes<br /> + its birth to the necessity of preventing<br /> + and repressing the injuries which<br /> + the associated individuals had to fear<br /> + from one another. It is the sentinel<br /> + who watches, in order that the common<br /> + labourers be not disturbed."</td> + </tr> + </table> + </div> + </div> + + <p>But as it is time that I should come to the end of my letter, + I shall forbear all further observations on the Abbe's work, and + take a concise view of the state of public affairs, since the + time in which that performance was published.</p> + + <p>A mind habituated to actions of meanness and injustice, + commits them without reflection, or with a very partial one; for + on what other ground than this, can we account for the + declaration of war against the Dutch? To gain an idea of the + politics which actuated the British Ministry to this measure, we + must enter into the opinion which they, and the English in + general, had formed of the temper of the Dutch nation; and from + thence infer what their expectation of the consequences would + be.</p> + + <p>Could they have imagined that Holland would have seriously + made a common cause with France, Spain and America, the British + Ministry would never have dared to provoke them. It would have + been a madness in politics to have done so; unless their views + were to hasten on a period of such emphatic distress, as should + justify the concessions which they saw they must one day or other + make to the world, and for which they wanted an apology to + themselves.—There is a temper in some men which seeks a + pretense for submission. Like a ship disabled in action, and + unfitted to continue it, it waits the approach of a still larger + one to strike to, and feels relief at the opportunity. Whether + this is greatness or littleness of mind, I am not enquiring into. + I should suppose it to be the latter, because it proceeds from + the want of knowing how to bear misfortune in its original + state.</p> + + <p>But the subsequent conduct of the British cabinet has shown + that this was not their plan of politics, and consequently their + motives must be sought for in another line.</p> + + <p>The truth is, that the British had formed a very humble + opinion of the Dutch nation. They looked on them as a people who + would submit to any thing; that they might insult them as they + liked, plunder them as they pleased, and still the Dutch dared + not to be provoked.</p> + + <p>If this be taken as the opinion of the British cabinet, the + measure is easily accounted for, because it goes on the + supposition, that when, by a declaration of hostilities, they had + robbed the Dutch of some millions sterling (and to rob them was + popular), they could make peace with them again whenever they + pleased, and on almost any terms the British ministry should + propose. And no sooner was the plundering committed, than the + accommodation was set on foot, and failed.</p> + + <p>When once the mind loses the sense of its own dignity, it + loses, likewise, the ability of judging of it in another. And the + American war has thrown Britain into such a variety of absurd + situations, that, arguing from herself, she sees not in what + conduct national dignity consists in other countries. From + Holland she expected duplicity and submission, and this mistake + from her having acted, in a number of instances during the + present war, the same character herself.</p> + + <p>To be allied to, or connected with Britain, seems to be an + unsafe and impolitic situation. Holland and America are instances + of the reality of this remark. Make those countries the allies of + France or Spain, and Britain will court them with civility and + treat them with respect; make them her own allies, and she will + insult and plunder them. In the first case, she feels some + apprehensions at offending them, because they have support at + hand; in the latter, those apprehensions do not exist. Such, + however, has hitherto been her conduct.</p> + + <p>Another measure which has taken place since the publication of + the Abbe's work, and likewise since the time of my beginning this + letter, is the change in the British Ministry. What line the new + cabinet will pursue respecting America, is at this time unknown; + neither is it very material, unless they are seriously disposed + to a general and honourable peace.</p> + + <p>Repeated experience has shown, not only the impracticability + of conquering America, but the still higher impossibility of + conquering her mind, or recalling her back to her former + condition of thinking. Since the commencement of the war, which + is now approaching to eight years, thousands and tens of + thousands have advanced, and are daily advancing into the first + state of manhood, who know nothing of Britain but as a barbarous + enemy, and to whom the independence of America appears as much + the natural and established government of the country, as that of + England does to an Englishman. And on the other hand, thousands + of the aged, who had British ideas, have dropped and are daily + dropping, from the stage of business and life.—The natural + progress of generation and decay operates every hour to the + disadvantage of Britain. Time and death, hard enemies to contend + with, fight constantly against her interest; and the bills of + mortality, in every part of America, are the thermometers of her + decline. The children in the streets are from their cradle bred + to consider her as their only foe. They hear of her cruelties; of + their fathers, uncles, and kindred killed; they see the remains + of burned and destroyed houses, and the common tradition of the + school they go to, tells them, <i>those things were done by the + British.</i></p> + + <p>These are circumstances which the mere English state + politician, who considers man only in a state of manhood, does + not attend to. He gets entangled with parties coeval or equal + with himself at home, and thinks not how fast the rising + generation in America is growing beyond his knowledge of them, or + they of him. In a few years all personal remembrance will be + lost, and who is king or minister in England, will be but little + known and scarcely inquired after.</p> + + <p>The new British administration is composed of persons who have + ever been against the war, and who have constantly reprobated all + the violent measures of the former one. They considered the + American war as destructive to themselves, and opposed it on that + ground. But what are these things to America? She has nothing to + do with English parties. The ins and the outs are nothing to her. + It is the whole country she is at war with, or must be at peace + with.</p> + + <p>Were every minister in England a <i>Chatham</i>, it would now + weigh little or nothing in the scale of American politics. Death + has preserved to the memory of this statesman <i>that fame</i>, + which he by living, would have lost. His plans and opinions, + towards the latter part of his life, would have been attended + with as many evil consequences, and as much reprobated here, as + those of Lord North; and considering him a wise man, they abound + with inconsistencies amounting to absurdities.</p> + + <p>It has apparently been the fault of many in the late minority, + to suppose that America would agree to certain terms with them, + were they in place, which she would not ever listen to, from the + then administration. This idea can answer no other purpose than + to prolong the war; and Britain may, at the expense of many more + millions, learn the fatality of such mistakes. If the new + ministry wisely avoid this hopeless policy, they will prove + themselves better pilots and wiser men than they are conceived to + be; for it is every day expected to see their bark strike upon + some hidden rock, and go to pieces.</p> + + <p>But there is a line in which they may be great. A more + brilliant opening needs not to present itself; and it is such an + one as true magnanimity would improve, and humanity rejoice + in.</p> + + <p>A total reformation is wanted in England. She wants an + expanded mind,—an heart which embraces the universe. + Instead of shutting herself up in an island, and quarreling with + the world, she would derive more lasting happiness, and acquire + more real riches by generously mixing with it, and bravely + saying, I am the enemy of none. It is not now the time for little + contrivances, or artful politics. The European world is too + experienced to be imposed upon, and America too wise to be duped. + It must be something new and masterly that must succeed. The idea + of seducing America from her independence, or of corrupting her + from her alliance is a thought too little for a great mind, and + impossible for any honest one, to attempt. When ever politics are + applied to debauch mankind from their integrity, and dissolve the + virtues of human nature, they become detestables and to be a + statesman on this plan, is to be a commissioned villain. He who + aims at it, leaves a vacancy in his character, which may be + filled up with the worst of epithets.</p> + + <p>If the disposition of England should be such, as not to agree + to a general and honourable peace, and the war must at all + events, continue longer, I cannot help wishing that the alliances + which America has or may enter into, may become the only objects + of the war. She wants an opportunity of shewing to the world that + she holds her honour as dear and sacred as her independence, and + that she will in no situation forsake those, whom no negotiations + could induce to forsake her. Peace, to every reflective mind is a + desirable object; but that peace which is accompanied with a + ruined character, becomes a crime to the seducer, and a curse + upon the seduced.</p> + + <p>But where is the impossibility or even the great difficulty of + England forming a friendship with France and Spain, and making it + a national virtue to renounce for ever those prejudiced + inveteracies it has been her custom to cherish; and which, while + they serve to sink her with an increasing enormity of debt, by + involving her in fruitless wars, become likewise the bane of her + repose, and the destruction of her manners. We had once the + fetters that she has now, but experience has shewn us the + mistake, and thinking justly, has set us right.</p> + + <p>The true idea of a great nation is that, which extends and + promotes the principles of universal society. Whose mind rises + above the Atmospheres of local thoughts, and considers mankind, + of whatever nation or profession they may be, as the work of one + Creator. The rage for conquest has had its fashion, and its day. + Why may not the amiable virtues have the same? The Alexanders and + Cæsars of antiquity have left behind them their monuments + of destruction, and are remembered with hatred; while those more + exalted characters, who first taught society and science, are + blessed with the gratitude of every age and country. Of more use + was one philosopher, though a heathen, to the world, than all the + heathen conquerors that ever existed.</p> + + <p>Should the present revolution be distinguished by opening a + new system of extended civilization, it will receive from heaven + the highest evidence of approbation; and as this is a subject to + which the Abbe's powers are so eminently suited, I recommend it + to his attention, with the affection of a friend, and the ardour + of a universal citizen.</p> + <hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + <h2><a name="POSTSCRIPT" id="POSTSCRIPT"></a>POSTSCRIPT</h2> + + <p>Since closing the foregoing letter some intimations respecting + a general peace, have made their way to America. On what + authority or foundation they stand, or how near or remote such an + event may be, are circumstances I am not enquiring into. But as + the subject must sooner or later, become a matter of serious + attention, it may not be improper, even at this early period, + candidly to investigate some points that are connected with it, + or lead towards it.</p> + + <p>The independence of America is at this moment as firmly + established as that of any other country in a state of war. It is + not length of time, but power that gives stability. Nations at + war know nothing of each other on the score of antiquity. It is + their present and immediate strength, together with their + connections, that must support them. To which we may add, that a + right which originated to-day, is as much a right, as if it had + the sanction of a thousand years; and therefore the independence + and present government of America are in no more danger of being + subverted, because they are modern, than that of England is + secure, because it is ancient.</p> + + <p>The politics of Britain, so far as respected America, were + originally conceived in idiotism, and acted in madness. There is + not a step which bears the smallest trace of rationality. In her + management of the war, she has laboured to be wretched, and + studied to be hated; and in all her former propositions for + accommodation, she has discovered a total ignorance of mankind, + and of those natural and unalterable sensations by which they are + so generally governed. How she may conduct herself in the present + or future business of negotiating a peace is yet to be + proved.</p> + + <p>He is a weak politician who does not understand human nature, + and penetrate into the effect which measures of government will + have upon the mind. All the miscarriages of Britain have arisen + from this defect. The former Ministry acted as if they supposed + mankind to be <i>without a mind</i>; and the present Ministry, as + if America was <i>without a memory</i>. The one must have + supposed we were incapable of feeling; and the other that we + could not remember injuries.</p> + + <p>There is likewise another line in which politicians mistake, + which is that of not rightly calculating, or rather of + misjudging, the consequence which any given circumstance will + produce. Nothing is more frequent, as well in common as in + political life, than to hear people complain, that such or such + means produced an event directly contrary to their intentions. + But the fault lies in their not judging rightly what the event + would be; for the means produced only its proper and natural + consequence.</p> + + <p>It is very probable, that in a treaty of peace, Britain will + contend for some post or other in North America, perhaps Canada + or Halifax, or both; and I infer this from the known deficiency + of her politics, which have ever yet made use of means, whose + natural event was against both her interest and her expectation. + But the question with her ought to be, Whether it is worth her + while to hold them, and what will be the consequence?</p> + + <p>Respecting Canada, one or other of the two following will take + place, viz. If Canada should people, it will revolt, and if it do + not people, it will not be worth the expense of holding. And the + same may be said of Halifax; and the country round it. But Canada + <i>never will</i> people; neither is there any occasion for + contrivances on one side or the other, for nature alone will do + the whole.</p> + + <p>Britain may put herself to great expenses in sending settlers + to Canada; but the descendants of those settlers will be + Americans, as other descendants have been before them. They will + look round and see the neighbouring States sovereign and free, + respected abroad, and trading at large with the world; and the + natural love of liberty, the advantages of commerce, the + blessings of independence and of a happier climate, and a richer + soil, will draw them southward; and the effect will be, that + Britain will sustain the expense, and America reap the + advantage.</p> + + <p>One would think that the experience which Britain has had of + America, would entirely sicken her of all thoughts of continental + colonization, and any part she might retain will only become to + her a field of jealousy and thorns, of debate and contention, + forever struggling for privileges, and meditating revolt. She may + form new settlements, but they will be for us; they will become + part of the United States of America; and that against all her + contrivances to prevent it, or without any endeavors of ours to + promote it. In the first place she cannot draw from them a + revenue, until they are able to pay one, and when they are so, + they will be above subjection. Men soon become attached to the + soil they live upon, and incorporated with the prosperity of the + place; and it signifies but little what opinions they come over + with, for time, interest, and new connections, will render them + obsolete, and the next generations know nothing of them.</p> + + <p>Were Britain truly wise, she would lay hold of the present + opportunity to disentangle herself from all continental + embarrassments in North America, and that not only to avoid + future broils and troubles, but to save expenses. For to speak + explicitly on the matter, I would not, were I an European power, + have Canada, under the conditions that Britain must retain it, + could it be given to me. It is one of those kind of dominions + that is, and ever will be, a constant charge upon any foreign + holder.</p> + + <p>As to Halifax, it will become useless to England after the + present war, and the loss of the United States. A harbour, when + the dominion is gone, for the purpose of which only it was + wanted, can be attended only with expense. There are, I doubt + not, thousands of people in England, who suppose, that these + places are a profit to the nation, whereas they are directly the + contrary, and instead of producing any revenue, a considerable + part of the revenue of England is annually drawn off, to support + the expense of holding them.</p> + + <p>Gibraltar is another instance of national ill-policy. A post + which in time of peace is not wanted, and in time of war is of no + use, must at all times be useless. Instead of affording + protection to a navy, it requires the aid of one to maintain it. + To suppose that Gibraltar commands the Mediterranean, or the pass + into it, or the trade of it, is to suppose a detected falsehood; + because though Britain holds the post, she has lost the other + three, and every benefit she expected from it. And to say that + all this happens because it is besieged by land and water, is to + say nothing, for this will always be the case in time of war, + while France and Spain keep up superior fleets, and Britain holds + the place.—So that, though, as an impenetrable inaccessible + rock, it may be held by the one, it is always in the power of the + other to render it useless and excessively chargeable.</p> + + <p>I should suppose that one of the principal objects of Spain in + besieging it, is to show to Britain, that though she may not take + it, she can command it, that is, she can shut it up, and prevent + its being used as a harbour, though not as a garrison.—But + the short way to reduce Gibraltar is to attack the British fleet; + for Gibraltar is as dependent on a fleet for support, as a bird + is on its wing for food, and when wounded there it starves.</p> + + <p>There is another circumstance which the people of England have + not only not attended to, but seem to be utterly ignorant of, and + that is, the difference between permanent power and accidental + power, considered in a national sense.</p> + + <p>By permanent power, I mean, a natural inherent, and perpetual + ability in a nation, which though always in being, may not be + always in action, or not always advantageously directed; and by + accidental power, I mean, a fortunate or accidental disposition + or exercise of national strength, in whole or in part.</p> + + <p>There undoubtedly was a time when any one European nation, + with only eight or ten ships of war, equal to the present ships + of the line, could have carried terror to all others, who had not + begun to build a navy, however great their natural ability might + be for that purpose: but this can be considered only as + accidental, and not as a standard to compare permanent power by, + and could last no longer than until those powers built as many or + more ships than the former. After this a larger fleet was + necessary, in order to be superior; and a still larger would + again supersede it. And thus mankind have gone on building fleet + upon fleet, as occasion or situation dictated. And this reduces + it to an original question, which is: Which power can build and + man the largest number of ships? The natural answer to which is, + That power which has the largest revenue and the greatest number + of inhabitants, provided its situation of coast affords + sufficient conveniencies.</p> + + <p>France being a nation on the continent of Europe, and Britain + an island in its neighbourhood, each of them derived different + ideas from their different situations. The inhabitants of Britain + could carry on no foreign trade, nor stir from the spot they + dwelt upon, without the assistance of shipping; but this was not + the case with France. The idea therefore of a navy did not arise + to France from the same original and immediate necessity which + produced to England. But the question is, that when both of them + turn their attention, and employ their revenues the same way, + which can be superior?</p> + + <p>The annual revenue of France is nearly double that of England, + and her number of inhabitants nearly twice as many. Each of them + has the same length of ground on the Channel; besides which, + France has several hundred miles extent on the Bay of Biscay, and + an opening on the Mediterranean: and every day proves that + practice and exercise make sailors, as well as soldiers, in one + country as well as another.</p> + + <p>If then Britain can maintain a hundred ships of the line, + France can as well support a hundred and fifty, because her + revenue and her population are as equal to the one as those of + England are to the other. And the only reason why she has not + done it is because she has not till very lately attended to it. + But when she sees, as she now sees, that a navy is the first + engine of power, she can easily accomplish it.</p> + + <p>England very falsely, and ruinously for herself, infers, that + because she had the advantage of France, while France had the + smaller navy, that for that reason it is always to be so. Whereas + it may be clearly seen that the strength of France has never yet + been tried on a navy, and that she is able to be as superior to + England in the extent of a navy, as she is in the extent of her + revenues and her population. And England may lament the day, + when, by her insolence and injustice, she provoked in France a + maritime disposition.</p> + + <p>It is in the power of the combined fleets to conquer every + island in the West Indies, and reduce all the British Navy in + those places. For were France and Spain to send their whole naval + force in Europe to those islands, it would not be in the power of + Britain to follow them with an equal force. She would still be + twenty or thirty ships inferior, were she to send every vessel + she had; and in the meantime all the foreign trade of England + would lay exposed to the Dutch.</p> + + <p>It is a maxim which, I am persuaded, will ever hold good, and + more especially in naval operations, that a great power ought + never to move in detachments, if it can possibly be avoided; but + to go with its whole force to some important object, the + reduction of which shall have a decisive effect upon the war. Had + the whole of the French and Spanish fleets in Europe come last + spring to the West Indies, every island had been their own, + Rodney their prisoner, and his fleet their prize. From the United + States the combined fleets can be supplied with provisions, + without the necessity of drawing them from Europe, which is not + the case with England.</p> + + <p>Accident has thrown some advantages in the way of England, + which, from the inferiority of her navy, she had not a right to + expect. For though she had been obliged to fly before the + combined fleets, yet Rodney has twice had the fortune to fall in + with detached squadrons, to which he was superior in numbers: The + first off Cape St. Vincent, where he had nearly two to one, and + the other in the West Indies, where he had a majority of six + ships. Victories of this kind almost produce themselves. They are + won without honour, and suffered without disgrace; and are + ascribable to the chance of meeting, not to the superiority of + fighting: For the same Admiral, under whom they were obtained, + was unable, in three former engagements, to make the least + impression on a fleet consisting of an equal number of ships with + his own, and compounded for the events by declining the + actions.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + + <p>To conclude: if it may be said that Britain has numerous + enemies, it likewise proves that she has given numerous offenses. + Insolence is sure to provoke hatred, whether in a nation or an + individual. That want of manners in the British Court may be seen + even in its birth-days and new-years odes, which are calculated + to infatuate the vulgar, and disgust the man of refinement; and + her former overbearing rudeness, and insufferable injustice on + the seas, have made every commercial nation her foe. Her fleets + were employed as engines of prey; and acted on the surface of the + deep the character which the shark does beneath it.—On the + other hand, the Combined Powers are taking a popular part, and + will render their reputation immortal, by establishing the + perfect freedom of the ocean, to which all countries have a + right, and are interested in accomplishing. The sea is the + world's highway; and he who arrogates a prerogative over it + transgresses the right, and justly brings on himself the + chastisement of nations.</p> + + <p>Perhaps it might be of some service to the future tranquillity + of mankind, were an article were introduced into the next general + peace, that no one nation should, in time of peace, exceed a + certain number of ships of war. Something of this kind seems + necessary; for, according to the present fashion, half of the + world will get upon the water, and there appears to be no end to + the extent to which navies may be carried. Another reason is that + navies add nothing to the manners or morals of a people. The + sequestered life which attends the service, prevents the + opportunities of society, and is too apt to occasion a coarseness + of ideas and of language, and that more in ships of war than in + the commercial employ; because in the latter they mix more with + the world, and are nearer related to it. I mention this remark as + a general one, and not applied to anyone country more than to + another.</p> + + <p>Britain has now had the trial of above seven years, with an + expense of nearly a hundred million pounds sterling; and every + month in which she delays to conclude a peace, costs her another + million sterling, over and above her ordinary expenses of + government, which are a million more; so that her total + <i>monthly</i> expense is two million pounds sterling, which is + equal to the whole <i>yearly</i> expenses of America, all charges + included. Judge then who is best able to continue it.</p> + + <p>She has likewise many atonements to make to an injured world, + as well in one quarter as in another. And instead of pursuing + that temper of arrogance, which serves only to sink her in the + esteem, and entail on her the dislike, of all nations, she would + do well to reform her manners, and retrench her expenses, live + peaceably with he neighbours, and think of war no more.</p> + + <p><i>Philadelphia, August 21, 1782.</i></p> + + <div class="footnotes"> + <h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>See the + accounts, either English or French, of the actions in the + West-Indies between Count de Guichen and Admiral Rodney, in + 1780.</i></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><br />THE END</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, +on the Affairs of North America, in Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up, by Thomas Paine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE *** + +***** This file should be named 15279-h.htm or 15279-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/2/7/15279/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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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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 + + +Title: A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, on the Affairs of North America, in Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Release Date: March 7, 2005 [EBook #15279] +[Last updated September 14, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE ABBE RAYNAL, + +ON THE + +_AFFAIRS OF NORTH AMERICA_; + +IN WHICH THE MISTAKES IN THE ABBE's ACCOUNT + +OF THE + +_REVOLUTION of AMREICA_ [_sic_] + +ARE CORRECTED AND CLEARED UP. + + * * * * * + +BY THOMAS PAINE, + +SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO CONGRESS, DURING THE AMERICAN WAR, +AND AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE, AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN. + + * * * * * + +_LONDON_: + +PRINTED FOR J. RIDGEWAY, NO. 1, YORK-STREET, ST. JAMES'S SQUARE. + +M,DCC,XII. [_sic_, actually 1792] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +A London translation of an original work in French, by the Abbe +Raynal, which treats of the Revolution of North America, having been +reprinted in Philadelphia and other parts of the continent, and as the +distance at which the Abbe is placed from the American theatre of war +and politics, has occasioned him to mistake several facts, or +misconceive the causes or principles by which they were produced; the +following tract, therefore, is published with a view to rectify them, +and prevent even accidental errors intermixing with history, under the +sanction of time and silence. + +The Editor of the London edition has entitled it, "The Revolution of +America, by the Abbe Raynal," and the American printers have followed +the example. But I have understood, and I believe my information just, +that the piece, which is more properly reflections on the revolution, +was unfairly purloined from the printer which the Abbe employed, or +from the manuscript copy, and is only part of a larger work then in +the press, or preparing for it. The person who procured it appears to +have been an Englishman; and though, in an advertisement prefixt to +the London edition, he has endeavoured to gloss over the embezzlement +with professions of patriotism, and to soften it with high encomiums +on the author, yet the action, in any view in which it can be placed, +is illiberal and unpardonable. + +"In the course of his travels," says he, "the translator happily +succeeded in obtaining a copy of this exquisite little piece, which +has not yet made its appearance from any press. He publishes a French +edition, in favour of those who will feel its eloquent reasoning more +forcibly in its native language, at the same time with the following +translation of it; in which he has been desirous, perhaps in vain, +that all the warmth, the grace, the strength, the dignity of the +original should not be lost. And he flatters himself, that the +indulgence of the illustrious historian will not be wanting to a man, +who, of his own motion, has taken the liberty to give this composition +to the public, only from a strong persuasion, that this momentous +argument will be useful, in a critical conjecture, to that country +which he loves with an ardour that can be exceeded only by the nobler +flame which burns in the bosom of the philanthropic author, for the +freedom and happiness of all the countries upon earth." + +This plausibility of setting off a dishonourable action, may pass for +patriotism and sound principles with those who do not enter into its +demerits, and whose interest is not injured, nor their happiness +affected thereby. But it is more than probable, notwithstanding the +declarations it contains, that the copy was obtained for the sake of +profiting by the sale of a new and popular work, and that the +professions are but a garb to the fraud. + +It may with propriety be remarked, that in all countries where +literature is protected, and it never can flourish where it is not, +the works of an author are his legal property; and to treat letters in +any other light than this, is to banish them from the country, or +strangle them in the birth.--The embezzlement from the Abbe Raynal +was, it is true, committed by one country upon another, and therefore +shews no defect in the laws of either. But it is nevertheless a breach +of civil manners and literary justice; neither can it be any apology, +that because the countries are at war, literature shall be entitled +to depredation.[1] + +But the forestalling the Abbe's publication by London editions, both +in French and English, and thereby not only defrauding him, and +throwing an expensive publication on his hands, by anticipating the +sale, are only the smaller injuries which such conduct may occasion. A +man's opinions, whether written or in thought, are his own until he +pleases to publish them himself; and it is adding cruelty to injustice +to make him the author of what future reflection or better information +might occasion him to suppress or amend. There are declarations and +sentiments in the Abbe's piece, which, for my own part, I did not +expect to find, and such as himself, on a revisal, might have seen +occasion to change, but the anticipated piracy effectually prevented +him the opportunity, and precipitated him into difficulties, which, +had it not been for such ungenerous fraud, might not have happened. + +This mode of making an author appear before his time, will appear +still more ungenerous, when we consider how exceedingly few men there +are in any country who can at once, and without the aid of reflection +and revisal, combine warm passions with a cool temper, and the full +expansion of imagination with the natural and necessary gravity of +judgment, so as to be rightly balanced within themselves, and to make +a reader feel, and understand justly at the same time. To call three +powers of the mind into action at once, in a manner that neither shall +interrupt, and that each shall aid and vigorate the other, is a talent +very rarely possessed. + +It often happens, that the weight of an argument is lost by the wit of +setting it off, or the judgment disordered by an intemperate +irritation of the passions: yet a certain degree of animation must be +felt by the writer, and raised in the reader, in order to interest the +attention; and a sufficient scope given to the imagination, to enable +it to create in the mind a sight of the persons, characters, and +circumstances of the subject; for without these, the judgment will +feel little or no excitement to office, and its determinations will be +cold, sluggish, and imperfect. But if either or both of the two former +are raised too high, or heated too much, the judgment will be jostled +from his seat, and the whole matter, however important in itself, will +diminish into a pantomime of the mind, in which we create images that +promote no other purpose than amusement. + +The Abbe's writings bear evident marks of that extension and rapidness +of thinking and quickness of sensation which of all others require +revisal, and the more particularly so when applied to the living +characters of nations or individuals in a state of war. The least +misinformation or misconception leads to some wrong conclusion and an +error believed becomes the progenitor of others. And as the Abbe has +suffered some inconveniences in France, by mistating certain +circumstances of the war and the characters of the parties therein, it +becomes some apology for him, that those errors were precipitated into +the world by the avarice of an ungenerous enemy. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] The state of literature in America must one day become a subject +of legislative consideration. Hitherto it hath been a disinterested +volunteer in the service of the revolution, and no man thought of +profits: but when peace shall give time and opportunity for study, the +country will deprive itself of the honour and service of letters and +the improvement of science, unless sufficient laws are made to prevent +depredations on literary property. It is well worth remarking that +Russia, who but a few years ago was scarcely known in Europe, owes a +large share of her present greatness to the close attention she has +paid, and the wise encouragement she has given to science and +learning, and we have almost the same instance in France, in the reign +of Lewis XIV. + + + + +LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE ABBE RAYNAL + + +To an author of such distinguished reputation as the Abbe Raynal, it +might very well become me to apologize for the present undertaking; +but as _to be right_ is the first wish of philosophy, and the first +principle of history, he will, I presume, accept from me a declaration +of my motives, which are those of doing justice, in preference to any +complimental apology, I might otherwise make. The Abbe, in the course +of his work, has, in some instances extolled, without a reason, and +wounded without a cause. He has given fame where it was not deserved, +and withheld it where it was justly due; and appears to be so +frequently in and out of temper with his subjects and parties, that +few or none of them are decisively and uniformly marked. + +It is yet too soon to write the history of the revolution; and whoever +attempts it precipitately, will unavoidably mistake characters and +circumstances, and involve himself in error and difficulty. Things +like men are seldom understood rightly at first sight. But the Abbe is +wrong even in the foundation of his work; that is, he has misconceived +and misstated the causes which produced the rupture between England +and her then colonies, and which led on, step by step, unstudied and +uncontrived on the part of America, to a revolution, which has engaged +the attention, and affected the interest of Europe. + +To prove this, I shall bring forward a passage, which, though placed +towards the latter part of the Abbe's work, is more intimately +connected with the beginning: and in which, speaking of the original +cause of the dispute, he declares himself in the following manner-- + +"None," says he, "of those energetic causes, which have produced so +many revolutions upon the globe, existed in North-America. Neither +religion nor laws had there been outraged. The blood of martyrs or +patriots had not there streamed from scaffolds. Morals had not there +been insulted. Manners, customs, habits, no object dear to nations, +had there been the sport of ridicule. Arbitrary power had not there +torn any inhabitant from the arms of his family and friends, to drag +him to a dreary dungeon. Public order had not been there inverted. The +principles of administration had not been changed there; and the +maxims of government had there always remained the same. The whole +question was reduced to the knowing whether the mother country had, +or, had not a right to lay, directly or indirectly, a slight tax upon +the colonies." + +On this extraordinary passage, it may not be improper, in general +terms, to remark, that none can feel like those who suffer; and that +for a man to be a competent judge of the provocative, or, as the Abbe +styles them, the energetic causes of the revolution, he must have +resided in America. + +The Abbe, in saying that the several particulars he has enumerated did +not exist in America, and neglecting to point out the particular +period in which the means they did not exist, reduces thereby his +declaration to a nullity, by taking away all meaning from the passage. + +They did not exist in 1763, and they all existed before 1776; +consequently as there was a time when they did _not_, and another when +they _did_ exist, the _time when_ constitutes the essence of the fact; +and not to give it, is to withhold the only evidence which proves the +declaration right or wrong, and on which it must stand or fall. But +the declaration as it now appears, unaccompanied by time, has an +effect in holding out to the world, that there was no real cause for +the revolution, because it denied the existence of all those causes +which are supposed to be justifiable, and which the Abbe styles +energetic. + +I confess myself exceedingly at a loss to find out the time to which +the Abbe alludes; because, in another part of the work, in speaking of +the stamp act, which was passed in 1764, he styles it "An _usurpation_ +of the Americans' _most precious and sacred rights_." Consequently he +here admits the most energetic of all causes, that is, _an usurpation +of their most precious and sacred rights_, to have existed in America +twelve years before the declaration of independence, and ten years +before the breaking out of hostilities. The time, therefore, in which +the paragraph is true, must be antecedent to the stamp act, but as at +that time there was no revolution, nor any idea of one, it +consequently applies without a meaning; and as it cannot, on the +Abbe's own principle, be applied to any time _after_ the stamp act, it +is therefore a wandering, solitary paragraph connected with nothing, +and at variance with every thing. + +The stamp act, it is true, was repealed two years after it was passed; +but it was immediately followed by one of infinitely more mischievous +magnitude, I mean the declaratory act, which asserted the right, as it +was styled, of the British Parliament, "_to bind America in all cases +whatsoever_." + +If then, the stamp act was an usurpation of the Americans' most +precious and sacred rights, the declaratory Act left them no rights at +all; and contained the full grown seeds of the most despotic +government ever exercised in the world. It placed America not only in +the lowest, but in the basest state of vassalage; because it demanded +an unconditional submission in everything, or, as the act expressed +it, _in all cases whatsoever_: and what renders this act the more +offensive, is, that it appears to have been passed as an act of mercy; +truly then may it be said, that _the tender mercies of the wicked are +cruel_. + +All the original charters from the Crown of England, under the faith +of which, the adventurers from the old world settled in the new, were +by this act displaced from their foundations; because, contrary to the +nature of them, which was that of a compact, they were now made +subject to repeal or alteration at the mere will of one party only. +The whole condition of America was thus put into the hands of the +Parliament or the Ministry, without leaving to her the least right in +any case whatsoever. + +There is no despotism to which this iniquitous law did not extend; and +though it might have been convenient in the execution of it, to have +consulted manners and habits, the principle of the act made all +tyranny legal. It stopt no where. It went to everything. It took in +with it the whole life of a man, or, if I may so express it, an +eternity of circumstances. It is the nature of law to require +obedience, but this demanded servitude; and the condition of an +American, under the operation of it, was not that of a subject, but a +vassal. Tyranny has often been established _without_ law, and +sometimes _against_ it, but the history of mankind does not produce +another instance, in which it has been established _by_ law. It is an +audacious outrage upon civil government, and cannot be too much +exposed, in order to be sufficiently detested. + +Neither could it be said after this, that the legislature of that +country any longer made laws for this, but that it gave out commands; +for wherein differed an act of Parliament constructed on this +principle, and operating in this manner, over an unrepresented people, +from the orders of a military establishment? + +The Parliament of England, with respect to America, was not septennial +but _perpetual_. It appeared to the latter a body always in being. Its +election or expiration were to her the same, as if its members +succeeded by inheritance, or went out by death, or lived for ever, or +were appointed to it as a matter of office. Therefore, for the people +of England to have any just conception of the mind of America, +respecting this extraordinary act, they must suppose all election and +expiration in that country to cease forever, and the present +Parliament, its heirs, &c., to be perpetual; in this case, I ask, what +would the most clamorous of them think, were an act to be passed, +declaring the right of _such a Parliament_ to bind _them_ in all cases +whatsoever? For this word _whatsoever_ would go as effectually to +their _Magna Charta, Bill of Rights, trial by Juries_, &c. as it went +to the charters and forms of government in America. + +I am persuaded, that the Gentleman to whom I address these remarks +will not, after the passing of this act, say, "That the _principles_ +of administration had not been _changed_ in America, and that the +maxims of government had there been _always the same_." For here is, +in principle, a total overthrow of the whole; and not a subversion +only, but an annihilation of the foundation of liberty and absolute +dominion established in its stead. + +The Abbe likewise states the case exceedingly wrong and injuriously, +when he says, "that _the whole_ question was reduced to the +knowing whether the mother country had, or had not, a right to lay, +directly or indirectly, a _slight_ tax upon the colonies." This was +_not the whole_ of the question; neither was the _quantity_ of the tax +the object, either to the Ministry, or to the Americans. It was the +principle, of which the tax made but a part, and the quantity still +less, that formed the ground on which America opposed. + +The tax on tea, which is the tax here alluded to, was neither more or +less than an experiment to establish the practice of a declaratory law +upon; modelled into the more fashionable phrase _of the universal +supremacy of Parliament_. For until this time the declaratory law had +lain dormant, and the framers of it had contented themselves with +barely declaring an opinion. + +Therefore the _whole_ question with America, in the opening of the +dispute, was, Shall we be bound in all cases whatsoever by the British +Parliament, or shall we not? For submission to the tea or tax act, +implied an acknowledgment of the declaratory act, or, in other words, +of the universal supremacy of Parliament, which as they never intended +to do, it was necessary they should oppose it, in its first stage of +execution. + +It is probable, the Abbe has been led into this mistake by perusing +detached pieces in some of the American newspapers; for, in a case +where all were interested, everyone had a right to give his opinion; +and there were many who, with the best intentions, did not chuse the +best, nor indeed the true ground, to defend their cause upon. They +felt themselves right by a general impulse, without being able to +separate, analyze, and arrange the parts. + +I am somewhat unwilling to examine too minutely into the whole of this +extraordinary passage of the Abbe, lest I should appear to treat it +with severity; otherwise I could shew, that not a single declaration +is justly founded; for instance, the reviving an obsolete act of the +reign of Henry the Eighth, and fitting it to the Americans, by +authority of which they were to be seized and brought from America to +England, and there imprisoned and tried for any supposed offenses, +was, in the worse sense of the words, _to tear them by the arbitrary +power of Parliament, from the arms of their families and friends, and +drag them not only to dreary but distant dungeons_. Yet this act was +contrived some years before the breaking out of hostilities. And +again, though the blood of martyrs and patriots had not streamed on +the scaffolds, it streamed in the streets, in the massacre of the +inhabitants of Boston, by the British soldiery in the year 1770. + +Had the Abbe said that the causes which produced the revolution in +America were originally _different_ from those which produced +revolutions in other parts of the globe, he had been right. Here the +value and quality of liberty, the nature of government, and the +dignity of man, were known and understood, and the attachment of the +Americans to these principles produced the revolution, as a natural +and almost unavoidable consequence. They had no particular family to +set up or pull down. Nothing of personality was incorporated with +their cause. They started even-handed with each other, and went no +faster into the several stages of it, than they were driven by the +unrelenting and imperious conduct of Britain. Nay, in the last act, +the declaration of independence, they had nearly been too late; for +had it not been declared at the exact time it was, I saw no period in +their affairs since, in which it could have been declared with the +same effect, and probably not at all. + +But the object being formed before the reverse of fortune took place, +that is, before the operations of the gloomy campaign of 1776, their +honour, their interest, their everything, called loudly on them to +maintain it; and that glow of thought and energy of heart, which even +distant prospect of independence inspires, gave confidence to their +hopes, and resolution to their conduct, which a state of dependence +could never have reached. They looked forward to happier days and +scenes of rest, and qualified the hardships of the campaign by +contemplating the establishment of their new-born system. + +If, on the other hand, we take a review of what part great Britain has +acted, we shall find every thing which ought to make a nation blush. +The most vulgar abuse, accompanied by that species of haughtiness +which distinguishes the hero of a mob from the character of a +gentleman; it was equally as much from her manners as from her +injustice that she lost the colonies. By the latter she provoked their +principles, by the former she wore out their temper; and it ought to +be held out as an example to the world, to shew how necessary it is to +conduct the business of government with civility. In short, other +revolutions may have originated in caprice, or generated in ambition, +but here, the most unoffending humility was tortured into rage, and +the infancy of existence made to weep. + +A union so extensive, continued and determined, suffering with +patience, and never in despair, could not have been produced by common +causes. It must be something capable of reaching the whole soul of man +and arming it with perpetual energy. In vain it is to look for +precedents among the revolutions of former ages, to find out, by +comparison, the causes of this. The spring, the progress, the object, +the consequences, nay the men, their habits of thinking, and all the +circumstances of the country, are different. Those of other nations +are, in general, little more than the history of their quarrels. They +are marked by no important character in the annals of events; mixt in +the mass of general matters, they occupy but a common page; and while +the chief of the successful partizans stept into power, the plundered +multitude sat down and sorrowed. Few, very few of them are accompanied +with reformation, either in government or manners; many of them with +the most consummate profligacy.--Triumph on the one side, and misery +on the other, were the only events. Pains, punishments, torture, and +death, were made the business of mankind, until compassion, the +fairest associate of the heart, was driven from its place; and the +eye, accustomed to continual cruelty, could behold it without offence. + +But as the principles of the present resolution differed from those +which preceded it, so likewise has the conduct of America, both in +government and war. Neither the foul finger of disgrace, nor the +bloody hand of vengeance has hitherto put a blot upon her fame. Her +victories have received lustre from a greatness of lenity; and her +laws been permitted to slumber, where they might justly have awakened +to punish. War, so much the trade of the world, has here been only the +business of necessity; and when the necessity shall cease, her very +enemies must confess, that as she drew the sword in her just defence, +she used it without cruelty, and sheathed it without revenge. + +As it is not my design to extend these remarks to a history, I shall +now take my leave of this passage of the Abbe, with an observation, +which, until something unfolds itself to convince me otherwise, I +cannot avoid believing to be true;--which is, that it was the fixt +determination of the British Cabinet to quarrel with America at all +events. + +They (the members who compose the cabinet) had no doubt of success, if +they could once bring it to the issue of a battle; and they expected +from a conquest, what they could neither propose with decency, nor +hope for by negociation. The charters and constitutions of the +colonies were become to them matters of offence, and their rapid +progress in property and population were disgustingly beheld as the +growing and natural means of independence. They saw no way to retain +them long but by reducing them time. A conquest would at once have +made them both lords and landlords, and put them in the possession +both of the revenue and the rental. The whole trouble of government +would have ceased in a victory, and a final end put to remonstrance +and debate. The experience of the stamp act had taught them how to +quarrel with the advantages of cover and convenience, and they had +nothing to do but to renew the scene, and put contention into motion. +They hoped for a rebellion, and they made one. They expected a +declaration of independence, and they were not disappointed. But after +this, they looked for victory, and obtained a defeat. + +If this be taken as the generating cause of the contest, then is every +part of the conduct of the British ministry consistent, from the +commencement of the dispute, until the signing the treaty of Paris, +after which, conquest becoming doubtful, they retreated to +negociation, and were again defeated. + +Though the Abbe possesses and displays great powers of genius, and is +a master of style and language, he seems not to pay equal attention to +the office of an historian. His facts are coldly and carelessly +stated. They neither inform the reader, nor interest him. Many of them +are erroneous, and most of them defective and obscure. It is +undoubtedly both an ornament, and a useful addition to history, to +accompany it with maxims and reflections. They afford likewise an +agreeable change to the style, and a more diversified manner of +expression; but it is absolutely necessary that the root from whence +they spring, or the foundations on which they are raised, should be +well attended to, which in this work they are not. The Abbe hastens +through his narrations, as if he was glad to get from them, that he +may enter the more copious field of eloquence and imagination. + +The actions of Trenton and Princeton, in New Jersey, in December 1776, +and January following, on which the fate of America stood for a while +trembling on the point of suspence, and from which the most important +consequences followed, are comprised within a single paragraph, +faintly conceived, and barren of character, circumstance and +description. + +"On the 25th of December," says the Abbe, "they (the Americans) +crossed the Delaware, and fell _accidentally_ upon Trenton, which was +occupied by fifteen hundred of the twelve thousand Hessians, sold in +so base a manner by their avaricious master, to the King of Great +Britain. This corps was _massacred_, taken, or dispersed. Eight days +after, three English regiments were in like manner driven from +Princeton; but after having better supported their reputation than the +foreign troops in their pay." + +This is all the account which is given of these most interesting +events. The Abbe has preceded them by two or three pages, on the +military operations of both armies, from the time of General Howe +arriving before New York from Halifax, and the vast reinforcements of +British and foreign troops with Lord Howe from England. But in these +there is so much mistake, and so many omissions, that to set them +right, must be the business of history, and not of a letter. The +action of Long Island is but barely hinted at; and the operations at +the White Plains wholly omitted: as are likewise the attack and loss +of Fort Washington, with a garrison of about two thousand five hundred +men, and the precipitate evacuation of Fort Lee, in consequence +thereof; which losses were in a great measure the cause of the retreat +through the Jersies to the Delaware, a distance of about ninety miles. +Neither is the manner of the retreat described, which, from the season +of the year, the nature of the country, the nearness of the two armies +(sometimes within sight and shot of each other for such a length of +way), the rear of the one employed in pulling down bridges, and the +van of the other in building them up, must necessarily be accompanied +with many interesting circumstances. + +It was a period of distresses. A crisis rather of danger than of +hope, there is no description can do it justice; and even the actors +in it, looking back upon the scene, are surprised how they got +through; and at a loss to account for those powers of the mind and +springs of animation, by which they withstood the force of accumulated +misfortune. + +It was expected, that the time for which the army was enlisted, would +carry the campaign so far into the winter, that the severity of the +season, and the consequent condition of the roads, would prevent any +material operation of the enemy, until the new army could be raised +for the next year. And I mention it, as a matter worthy of attention +by all future historians, that the movements of the American army, +until the attack upon the Hessian post at Trenton, the 26th of +December, are to be considered as operating to effect no other +principal purpose than delay, and to wear away the campaign under all +the disadvantages of an unequal force, with as little misfortune as +possible. + +But the loss of the garrison at Fort Washington, on the 16th of +November, and the expiration of the time of a considerable part of the +army, so early as the 30th of the same month, and which were to be +followed by almost daily expirations afterwards, made retreat the only +final expedient. To these circumstances may be added the forlorn and +destitute condition of the few that remained; for the garrison at Fort +Lee, which composed almost the whole of the retreat, had been obliged +to abandon it so instantaneously, that every article of stores and +baggage was left behind, and in this destitute condition, without tent +or blanket, and without any other utensils to dress their provision +than what they procured by the way, they performed a march of about +ninety miles, and had the address and management to prolong it to the +space of nineteen days. + +By this unexpected, or rather unthought of turn of affairs, the +country was in an instant surprised into confusion, and found an enemy +within its bowels, without any army to oppose him. There were no +succours to be had, but from the free-will offering of the +inhabitants. All was choice, and every man reasoned for himself. + +It was in this situation of affairs, equally calculated to confound or +to inspire, that the gentleman, the merchant, the farmer, the +tradesman and the labourer, mutually turned out from all the +conveniencies of home, to perform the duties of private soldiers, and +undergo the severities of a winter campaign. The delay, so judiciously +contrived on the retreat, afforded time for the volunteer +reinforcements to join General Washington on the Delaware. + +The Abbe is likewise wrong in saying, that the American army fell +_accidentally_ on Trenton. It was the very object for which General +Washington crossed the Delaware in the dead of night, in the midst of +snow, storms, and ice: and which he immediately re-crossed with his +prisoners, as soon as he had accomplished his purpose. Neither was the +intended enterprise a secret to the enemy, imformation [_sic_] having +been sent of it by letter, from a British Officer at Princeton, to +Colonel Rolle, who commanded the Hessians at Trenton, which letter was +afterwards found by the Americans. Nevertheless the post was +completely surprised. A small circumstance, which had the appearance +of mistake on the part of the Americans, led to a more capital and +real mistake on the part of Rolle. + +The case was this: A detachment of twenty or thirty Americans had been +sent across the river from a post a few miles above, by an officer +unacquainted with the intended attack; these were met by a body of +Hessians on the night, to which the information pointed, which was +Christmas night, and repulsed. Nothing further appearing, and the +Hessians mistaking this for the advanced party, supposed the +enterprize disconcerted, which at that time was not begun, and under +this idea returned to their quarters; so that, what might have raised +an alarm, and brought the Americans into an ambuscade, served to take +off the force of an information, and promote the success of the +enterprise. Soon after day-light General Washington entered the town, +and after a little opposition made himself master of it, with upwards +of nine hundred prisoners. + +This combination of equivocal circumstances, falling within what the +Abbe styles, "_the wide empire of chance_," would have afforded a fine +field for thought; and I wish, for the sake of that elegance of +reflection he is so capable of using, that he had known it. + +But the action of Princeton was accompanied by a still greater +embarrassment of matters, and followed by more extraordinary +consequences. The Americans, by a happy stroke of generalship, in this +instance, not only deranged and defeated all the plans of the British, +in the intended moment of execution, but drew from their posts the +enemy they were not able to drive, and obliged them to close the +campaign. As the circumstance is a curiosity in war, and not well +understood in Europe, I shall, as concisely as I can, relate the +principal parts; they may serve to prevent future historians from +error, and recover from forgetfulness a scene of magnificent +fortitude. + +Immediately after the surprise of the Hessians at Trenton, General +Washington re-crossed the Delaware, which at this place is about three +quarters of a mile over, and re-assumed his former post on the +Pennsylvania side. Trenton remained unoccupied, and the enemy were +posted at Princeton, twelve miles distant, on the road toward +New-York. The weather was now growing very severe, and as there were +very few houses near the shore where General Washington had taken his +station, the greatest part of his army remained out in the woods and +fields. These, with some other circumstances, induced the re-crossing +the Delaware and taking possession of Trenton. It was undoubtedly a +bold adventure, and carried with it the appearance of defiance, +especially when we consider the panic-struck condition of the enemy on +the loss of the Hessian post. But in order to give a just idea of the +affair, it is necessary that I should describe the place. + +Trenton is situated on a rising ground, about three quarters of a mile +distant from the Delaware, on the eastern or Jersey side; and is cut +into two divisions by a small creek or rivulet, sufficient to turn a +mill which is on it, after which it empties itself at nearly right +angles into the Delaware. The upper division, which is that to the +north-east, contains about seventy or eighty houses, and the lower +about forty of fifty. The ground on each side this creek, and on which +the houses are, is likewise rising, and the two divisions present an +agreeable prospect to each other, with the creek between, on which +there is a small stone bridge of one arch. + +Scarcely had General Washington taken post here, and before the +several parties of militia, out on detachments, or on their way, could +be collected, than the British, leaving behind them a strong garrison +at Princeton, marched suddenly and entered Trenton at the upper or +north-east quarter. A party of the Americans skirmished with the +advanced party of the British, to afford time for removing the stores +and baggage, and withdrawing over the bridge. + +In a little time the British had possession of one half of the town, +General Washington of the other; and the creek only separated the two +armies. Nothing could be a more critical situation than this, and if +ever the fate of America depended upon the event of a day, it was now. +The Delaware was filling fast with large sheets of driving ice, and +was impassable, so that no retreat into Pennsylvania could be +effected, neither is it possible, in the face of an enemy, to pass a +river of such extent. The roads were broken and rugged with the frost, +and the main road was occupied by the enemy. + +About four o'clock a party of the British approached the bridge, with +a design to gain it, but were repulsed. They made no more attempts, +though the creek itself is passable anywhere between the bridge and +the Delaware. It runs in a rugged, natural-made ditch, over which a +person may pass with little difficulty, the stream being rapid and +shallow. Evening was now coming on, and the British, believing they +had all the advantages they could wish for, and that they could use +them when they pleased, discontinued all further operations, and held +themselves prepared to make the attack next morning. + +But the next morning produced a scene as elegant as it was unexpected. +The British were under arms and ready to march to action, when one of +their light-horse from Princeton came furiously down the street, with +an account that General Washington had that morning attacked and +carried the British post at that place, and was proceeding on to seize +the magazine at Brunswick; on which the British, who were then on the +point of making an assault on the evacuated camp of the Americans, +wheeled about, and in a fit of consternation marched for Princeton. + +This retreat is one of those extraordinary circumstances, that in +future ages may probably pass for fable. For it will with difficulty +be believed that two armies, on which such important consequences +depended, should be crouded into so small a space as Trenton; and that +the one, on the eve of an engagement, when every ear is supposed to be +open, and every watchfulness employed, should move completely from the +ground, with all its stores, baggage and artillery, unknown and even +unsuspected by the other. And so entirely were the British deceived, +that when they heard the report of the cannon and small arms at +Princeton, they supposed it to be thunder, though in the depth of +winter. + +General Washington, the better to cover and disguise his retreat from +Trenton, had ordered a line of fires to be lighted up in front of his +camp. These not only served to give an appearance of going to rest, +and continuing that deception, but they effectually concealed from the +British whatever was acting behind them, for flame can no more be seen +through than a wall, and in his situation, it may with some propriety +be said, they came a pillar of fire to the one army, and a pillar of a +cloud to the other: after this, by a circuitous march of about +eighteen miles, the Americans reached Princeton early in the morning. + +The number of prisoners taken were between two and three hundred, with +which General Washington immediately set off. The van of the British +army from Trenton, entered Princeton about an hour after the Americans +had left it, who, continuing their march for the remainder of the day, +arrived in the evening at a convenient situation, wide of the main +road to Brunswick, and about sixteen miles distant from Princeton. But +so wearied and exhausted were they, with the continual and unabated +service and fatigue of two days and a night, from action to action, +without shelter and almost without refreshment, that the bare and +frozen ground, with no other covering than the sky, became to them a +place of comfortable rest. By these two events, and with but little +comparitive force to accomplish them, the Americans closed with +advantages a campaign, which but a few days before threatened the +country with destruction. The British army, apprehensive for the +safety of their magazines at Brunswick, eighteen miles distant, +marched immediately for that place, where they arrived late in the +evening, and from which they made no attempts to move for nearly five +months. + +Having thus stated the principal outlines of these two most +interesting actions, I shall now quit them, to put the Abbe right in +his misstated account of the debt and paper money of America, wherein, +speaking of these matters, he says, + +"These ideal riches were rejected. The more the multiplication of them +was urged by want, the greater did their appreciation grow. The +Congress was indignant at the affronts given to its money, and +declared all those to be traitors to their country, who should not +receive it as they would have received gold itself. + +"Did not this body know, that possessions are no more to be controuled +than feelings are? Did it not perceive, that in the present crisis, +every rational man would be afraid of exposing his fortune? Did it not +see, that in the beginning of a Republic it permitted to itself the +exercise of such acts of despotism as are unknown even in the +countries which are moulded to, and become familiar with servitude and +oppression? Could it pretend that it did not punish a want of +confidence with the pains which would have been scarcely merited by +revolt and treason? Of all this was the Congress well aware. But it +had no choice of means. Its despised and despicable scraps of paper +were actually thirty times below their original value, when more of +them were ordered to be made. On the 13th of September 1779, there was +of this paper money, amongst the public, to the amount of +L.35,544,155. The State owed moreover L.8,305,356, without reckoning +the particular debts of single Provinces." + +In the above-recited passages, the Abbe speaks as if the United States +had contracted a debt of upwards of forty million pounds sterling, +besides the debts of individual States. After which, speaking of +foreign trade with America, he says, that "those countries in Europe, +which are truly commercial ones, knowing that North America had been +reduced to contract debts at the epoch even of her greatest +prosperity, wisely thought, that in her present distress, she would be +able to pay but very little, for what might be carried to her." + +I know it must be extremely difficult to make foreigners understand +the nature and circumstances of our paper money, because there are +natives who do not understand it themselves. But with us its fate is +now determined. Common consent has consigned it to rest with that kind +of regard which the long service of inanimate things insensibly +obtains from mankind. Every stone in the bridge, that has carried us +over, seems to have a claim upon our esteem. But this was a +corner-stone, and its usefulness cannot be forgotten. There is +something in a grateful mind, which extends itself even to things that +can neither be benefited by regard, nor suffer by neglect: But so it +is; and almost every man is sensible of the effect. + +But to return. The paper money, though issued from Congress under the +name of dollars, did not come from that body always at that value. +Those which were issued the first year, were equal to gold and silver. +The second year less; the third still less; and so on, for nearly the +space of five years; at the end of which, I imagine, that the whole +value at which Congress might pay away the several emissions, taking +them together, was about ten or twelve millions pounds sterling. + +Now, as it would have taken ten or twelve millions sterling of taxes, +to carry on the war for five years, and, as while this money was +issuing and likewise depreciating down to nothing, there were none, or +very few valuable taxes paid; consequently the event to the public was +the same, whether they sunk ten or twelve millions of expended money, +by depreciation, or paid ten or twelve millions by taxation; for as +they did not do both, and chose to do one, the matter, in a general +view, was indifferent. And therefore, what the Abbe supposes to be a +debt, has now no existence; it having been paid, by every body +consenting to reduce it, at his own expence, from the value of the +bills continually passing among themselves, a sum, equal to nearly +what the expence of the war was for five years. + +Again.--The paper money having now ceased, and the depreciation with +it, and gold and silver supplied its place, the war will now be +carried on by taxation, which will draw from the public a considerable +less sum than what the depreciation drew; but as, while they pay the +former, they do not suffer the latter, and as, when they suffered the +latter, they did not pay the former, the thing will be nearly equal, +with this moral advantage, that taxation occasions frugality and +thought, and depreciation produced dissipation and carelessness. + +And again.--If a man's portion of taxes comes to less than what he +lost by the depreciation, it proves the alteration is in his favour. +If it comes to more, and he is justly assessed, it shews that he did +not sustain his proper share of depreciation, because the one was as +operatively his tax as the other. + +It is true, that it never was intended, neither was it foreseen, that +the debt contained in the paper currency should sink itself in this +manner; but as by the voluntary conduct of all and of everyone it has +arrived at this fate, the debt is paid by those who owed it. Perhaps +nothing was ever so much the act of a country as this. Government had +no hand in it. Every man depreciated his own money by his own consent, +for such was the effect which the raising of the nominal value of +goods produced. But as by such reduction he sustained a loss equal to +what he must have paid to sink it by taxation; therefore the line of +justice is to consider his loss by the depreciation as his tax for +that time, and not to tax him when the war is over, to make that money +good in any other person's hands, which became nothing in his own. + +Again.--The paper currency was issued for the express purpose of +carrying on the war. It has performed that service, without any other +material change to the public, while it lasted. But to suppose, as +some did, that at the end of the war, it was to grow into gold and +silver, or become equal thereto, was to suppose that we were to _get_ +two hundred millions of dollars by _going to war_, instead of _paying_ +the cost of carrying it on. + +But if any thing in the situation of America, as to her currency or +her circumstances, yet remains not understood, then let it be +remembered, that this war is the public's war; the people's war; the +country's war. It is _their_ independence that is to be supported; +_their_ property that is to be secured; _their_ country that is to be +saved. Here, government, the army, and the people, are mutually and +reciprocally one. In other wars, kings may lose their thrones and +their dominions; but here, the loss must fall on the _majesty of the +multitude_, and the property they are contending to save. Every man +being sensible of this, he goes to the field, or pays his portion of +the charge as the sovereign of his own possessions; and when he is +conquered, a monarch falls. + +The remark which the Abbe, in the conclusion of the passage, has made +respecting America contracting debts in the time of her prosperity (by +which he means, before the breaking out of hostilities), serves to +shew, though he has not yet made the application, the very great +commercial difference between a dependant and an independent country. +In a state of dependence, and with a fettered commerce, though with +all the advantages of peace, her trade could not balance herself, and +she annually run into debt. But now, in a state of independence, +though involved in war, she requires no credit; her stores are full of +merchandise, and gold and silver are become the currency of the +country. How these things have established themselves, it is difficult +to account for: but they are facts, and facts are more powerful than +arguments. + +As it is probable this letter will undergo a republication in Europe, +the remarks here thrown together will serve to show the extreme folly +of Britain, in resting her hopes of success on the extinction of our +paper currency. The expectation is at once so childish and forlorn, +that it places her in the laughable condition of a famished lion +watching for prey at a spider's web. + +From this account of the currency, the Abbe proceeds to state the +condition of America in the winter of 1777, and the spring following; +and closes his observations with mentioning the treaty of alliance, +which was signed in France, and the propositions of the British +ministry, which were rejected in America. But in the manner in which +the Abbe has arranged his facts, there is a very material error, that +not only he, but other European historians, have fallen into: none of +them having assigned the true cause why the British proposals were +rejected, and all of them have assigned a wrong one. + +In the winter of 1777, and spring following, Congress were assembled +at York-Town, in Pennsylvania, the British were in possession of +Philadelphia, and General Washington with the army were encamped in +huts at the Valley-Forge, twenty-five miles distant therefrom. To all +who can remember, it was a season of hardship, but not of despair; and +the Abbe, speaking of this period and its inconveniences, says, + +"A multitude of privations, added to so many other misfortunes, might +make the Americans regret their former tranquillity, and incline them +to an accommodation with England. In vain had the people been bound to +the new Government by the sacredness of oaths, and the influence of +religion. In vain had endeavors been used to convince them, that it +was impossible to treat safely with a country in which one parliament +might overturn what should have been established by another. In vain +had they been threatened with the eternal resentment of an exasperated +and vindictive enemy. It was possible that these distant troubles +might not be balanced by the weight of present evils. + +"So thought the British ministry when they sent to the New World +public agents authorized to offer every thing except independence to +these very Americans, from whom they had two years before exacted an +unconditional submission. It is not improbable, but that by this plan +of conciliation, a few months sooner, some effect might have been +produced. But at the period at which it was proposed by the Court of +London, it was rejected with disdain, because this measure appeared +but as an argument of fear and weakness. The people were already +re-assured. The Congress, the Generals, the troops, the bold and +skilful men in each colony, had possessed themselves of the authority; +every thing had recovered its first spirit. _This was the effect of a +treaty of friendship and commerce between the United States and the +Court of Versailles, signed the 8th of February, 1778._" + +On this passage of the Abbe's I cannot help remarking, that, to unite +time with circumstance, is a material nicety in history; the want of +which frequently throws it into endless confusion and mistake, +occasions a total separation between causes and consequences, and +connects them with others they are not immediately, and sometimes not +at all, related to. + +The Abbe, in saying that the offers of the British ministry "were +rejected with disdain," is _right_ as to the _fact_, but _wrong_ as to +the _time_; and this error in the time, has occasioned him to be +mistaken in the cause. + +The signing the treaty of Paris the 6th of February, 1778, could have +no effect on the mind or politics of America, until it was _known in +America_; and therefore, when the Abbe says, that the rejection of the +British offers was in consequence of the alliance, he must mean, that +it was in consequence of the alliance _being known_ in America; which +was not the case: and by this mistake he not only takes from her the +reputation, which her unshaken fortitude in that trying situation +deserves, but is likewise led very injuriously to suppose that had she +_not known_ of the treaty, the offers would probably have been +accepted; whereas she knew nothing of the treaty at the time of the +rejection, and consequently did not reject them on that ground. + +The propositions or offers above-mentioned, were contained in two +bills brought into the British Parliament by Lord North, on the 17th +of February, 1778. Those bills were hurried through both houses with +unusual haste; and before they had gone through all the customary +forms of Parliament, copies of them were sent over to Lord Howe and +General Howe, then in Philadelphia, who were likewise Commissioners. +General Howe ordered them to be printed in Philadelphia, and sent +copies of them by a flag to General Washington, to be forwarded to +Congress at York-Town, where they arrived the 21st of April, 1778. +Thus much for the arrival of the bills in America. + +Congress, as is their usual mode, appointed a committee from their own +body, to examine them, and report thereon. The report was brought in +the next day (the twenty-second,) was read, and unanimously agreed to, +entered on their journals, and published for the information of the +country. Now this report must be the rejection to which the Abbe +alludes, because Congress gave no other formal opinion on those bills +and propositions: and on a subsequent application from the British +Commissioners, dated the 27th of May, and received at York-Town the +6th of June, Congress immediately referred them for an answer, to +their printed resolves of the 22d of April.--Thus much for the +rejection of the offers. + +On the 2d of May, that is, eleven days after the above rejection was +made, the treaty between the United States and France arrived at +York-Town; and until this moment Congress had not the least notice or +idea, that such a measure was in any train of execution. But lest this +declaration of mine should pass only for assertion, I shall support it +by proof, for it is material to the character and principle of the +revolution to shew, that no condition of America, since the +declaration of independence, however trying and severe, ever operated +to produce the most distant idea of yielding it up either by force, +distress, artifice, or persuasion. And this proof is the more +necessary, because it was the system of the British ministry at this +time, as well as before and since, to hold out to the European powers +that America was unfixt in her resolutions and policy; hoping by this +artifice to lessen her reputation in Europe, and weaken the confidence +which those powers, or any of them, might be inclined to place in her. + +At the time these matters were transacting, I was Secretary to the +Foreign Department of Congress. All the political letters from the +American Commissioners rested in my hands, and all that were +officially written went from my office; and so far from Congress +knowing anything of the signing the treaty, at the time they rejected +the British offers, they had not received a line of information from +their Commissioners at Paris on any subject whatever for upwards of a +twelvemonth. Probably the loss of the port of Philadelphia, and the +navigation of the Delaware, together with the danger of the seas, +covered at this time with British cruizers, contributed to the +disappointment. + +One packet, it is true, arrived at York-Town in January preceding, +which was about three months before the arrival of the treaty; but, +strange as it may appear, every letter had been taken out, before it +was put on board the vessel which brought it from France, and blank +white paper put in their stead. + +Having thus stated the time when the proposals from the British +Commissioners were first received, and likewise the time when the +treaty of alliance arrived, and shewn that the rejection of the former +was eleven days prior to the arrival of the latter, and without the +least knowledge of such circumstance having taken place, or being +about to take place; the rejection, therefore, must, and ought to be +attributed to the fixt, unvaried sentiments of America respecting the +enemy she is at war with, and her determination to support her +independence to the last possible effort, and not to any new +circumstance in her favour, which at that time she did not, and could +not, know of. + +Besides, there is a vigor of determination and spirit of defiance in +the language of the rejection (which I here subjoin), which derive +their greatest glory by appearing before the treaty was known; for +that, which is bravery in distress, becomes insult in prosperity: And +the treaty placed America on such a strong foundation, that had she +then known it, the answer which she gave would have appeared rather as +an air of triumph, than as the glowing serenity of fortitude. + +Upon the whole, the Abbe appears to have entirely mistaken the matter; +for instead of attributing the rejection of the propositions to our +knowledge of the treaty of alliance; he should have attributed the +origin of them in the British cabinet, to their knowledge of that +event. And then the reason why they were hurried over to America in +the state of bills, that is, before they were passed into acts, is +easily accounted for, which is that they might have the chance of +reaching America before any knowledge of the treaty should arrive, +which they were lucky enough to do, and there met the fate they so +richly merited. That these bills were brought into the British +Parliament after the treaty with France was signed, is proved from the +dates: the treaty being on the 6th and the bills the 17th of February. +And that the signing the treaty was known in Parliament, when the +bills were brought in, is likewise proved by a speech of Mr. Charles +Fox, on the said 17th of February, who, in reply to Lord North, +informed the House of the treaty being signed, and challenged the +Minister's knowledge of the same fact. + + +In CONGRESS, April 22d, 1778. + +"The Committee to whom was referred the General's Letter of the 18th, +containing a certain printed paper sent from Philadelphia, purporting +to be the draught of a Bill for declaring the _intentions_ of the +Parliament of Great Britain, as to the _exercise_ of what they are +pleased to term their _right_ of imposing taxes within these United +States; and also the draft of a Bill to enable the King of +Great-Britain to appoint Commissioners, with powers to treat, consult, +and agree upon the means of quieting certain disorders within the said +States, beg leave to observe, + +"That the said paper being industriously circulated by emissaries of +the enemy, in a partial and secret manner, the same ought to be +forthwith printed for the public information. + +"The Committee cannot ascertain whether the contents of the said paper +have been framed in Philadelphia or in Great Britain, much less +whether the same are really and truly intended to be brought into the +Parliament of that kingdom, or whether the said Parliament will confer +thereon the usual solemnities of their laws. But are inclined to +believe this will happen, for the following reasons: + +"1st. Because their General hath made divers feeble efforts to set on +foot some kind of treaty during the last winter, though either from a +mistaken idea of his own dignity and importance, the want of +information, or some other cause, he hath not made application to +those who are invested with a proper authority. + +"2dly. Because they suppose that the fallacious idea of a cessation of +hostilities will render these States remiss in their preparations for +war. + +"3dly. Because believing the Americans wearied with war, they suppose +we will accede to the terms for the sake of peace. + +"4thly. Because they suppose that our negotiations may be subject to a +like corrupt influence with their debates. + +"5thly. Because they expect from this step the same effects they did +from what one of their ministers thought proper to call his +_conciliatory motion_, viz. that it will prevent foreign powers from +giving aid to these States; that it will lead their own subjects to +continue a little longer the present war; and that it will detach some +weak men in America from the cause of freedom and virtue. + +"6thly. Because their King, from his own shewing hath reason to +apprehend that his fleets and armies, instead of being employed +against the territories of these States, will be necessary for the +defence of his own dominions. And, + +"7thly. Because the impracticability of subjugating this country, +being every day more and more manifest, it is their interest to +extricate themselves from the war upon any terms. + +"The Committee beg leave further to observe, That, upon a supposition, +the matters contained in the said paper will really go into the +British Statute Book, they serve to shew, in a clear point of view, +the weakness and wickedness of the enemy. + +"THEIR WEAKNESS, + +"1st. Because they formerly declared, not only that they had a right +to bind the inhabitants of these States in all cases whatsoever, but +also that the said inhabitants should _absolutely_ and +_unconditionally_ submit to the exercise of that right. And this +submission they have endeavored to exact by the sword. Receding from +this claim, therefore, under the present circumstances, shews their +inability to enforce it. + +"2dly. Because their Prince had heretofore rejected the humblest +petitions of the Representatives of America, praying to be considered +as subjects, and protected in the enjoyment of peace, liberty, and +safety; and hath waged a most cruel war against them, and employed the +savages to butcher innocent women and children. But now the same +Prince pretends to treat with those very Representatives, and grant +to the _arms_ of America what he refused to her _prayers_. + +"3dly. Because they have uniformly laboured to conquer this Continent, +rejecting every idea of accommodation proposed to them, from a +confidence in their own strength. Wherefore it is evident, from the +change in their mode of attack, that they have lost this confidence. +And, + +"4thly. Because the constant language, spoken not only by their +Ministers, but by the most public and authentic acts of the nation, +hath been, that it is incompatible with their dignity to treat with +the Americans while they have arms in their hands. Notwithstanding +which, an offer is now about to be made for treaty. + +"The wickedness and insincerity of the enemy appear from the following +considerations: + +"1st. Either the _Bills_ now to be passed contain a direct or indirect +cession of a part of their former claims, or they do not. If they do, +then it is acknowledged that they have sacrificed many brave men in an +unjust quarrel. If they do not, then they are calculated to deceive +America into terms, to which neither argument before the war, nor +force since, could procure her assent. + +"2dly. The first of these _Bills_ appears, from the title, to be a +declaration of the _intentions_ of the British Parliament concerning +the exercise of the _right of imposing taxes_ within these States. +Wherefore, should these States treat under the said Bill, they would +indirectly acknowledge that right, to obtain which acknowledgment the +present war has been avowedly undertaken and prosecuted, on the part +of Great Britain. + +"3dly. Should such pretended right be so acquiesced in, then of +consequence the same might be exercised whenever the British +Parliament should find themselves in a different _temper_ and +_disposition_; since it must depend upon those, and such like +contingencies, how far men will act according to their former +_intentions_. + +"4thly. The said first Bill, in the body thereof, containeth no new +matter, but is precisely the same with the motion before mentioned, +and liable to all the objections which lay against the said motion, +excepting the following particular, viz. that _by the motion_, actual +taxation was to be suspended, so long as America should give as much +as the said Parliament might think proper: whereas, _by the proposed +Bill_, it is to be suspended as long as future Parliaments continue of +the same mind with the present. + +"5thly. From the second Bill it appears, that the British King may, if +he pleases, appoint Commissioners to _treat_ and _agree_ with those, +whom they please, about a variety of things therein mentioned. But +such treaties and agreements are to be of no validity without the +concurrence of the said Parliament, except so far as they relate to +the suspension of hostilities, and of certain of their acts, the +granting of pardons, and the appointment of Governors to these +sovereign, free, and independent States. Wherefore, the said +Parliament have reserved to themselves, in _express words_, the power +of setting aside any such treaty, and taking the advantages of any +circumstances which may arise to subject this Continent to their +usurpations. + +"6thly, The said Bill, by holding forth a tender of pardon, implies a +criminality in our justifiable resistance, and consequently, to treat +under it, would be an implied acknowledgment, that the inhabitants of +these States were, what Britain had declared them to be, _Rebels_. + +"7thly. The inhabitants of these States being claimed by them as +subjects, they may infer, from the nature of the negotiation now +pretended to be set on foot, that the said inhabitants would of right +be afterwards bound by such laws as they should make. Wherefore, any +agreement entered into on such negociation might at any future time be +repealed. And, + +"8thly. Because the said Bill purports, that the Commissioners therein +mentioned may treat with private individuals; a measure highly +derogatory to the dignity of the national character. + +"From all which it appears evident to your Committee, that the said +Bills are intended to operate upon the hopes and fears of the good +people of these States, so as to create divisions among them, and a +defection from the common cause, now by the blessing of Divine +Providence drawing near to a favourable issue. That they are the +sequel of that insidious plan, which from the days of the Stamp-act +down to the present time, hath involved this country in contention and +bloodshed. And that, as in other cases so in this, although +circumstances may force them at times to recede from the unjustifiable +claims, there can be no doubt but they will as heretofore, upon the +first favourable occasion, again display that lust of domination, +which hath rent in twain the mighty empire of Britain. + +"Upon the whole matter, the Committee beg leave to report it as their +opinion, that as the Americans united in this arduous contest upon +principles of common interest, for the defence of common rights and +privileges, which union hath been cemented by common calamities, and +by mutual good offices and and [_sic_] affection, so the great cause +for which they contend, and in which all mankind are interested, must +derive its success from the continuance of that union. Wherefore any +man or body of men, who should presume to make any seperate or partial +convention or agreement with Commissioners under the Crown of Great +Britain, or any of them, ought to be considered and treated as open +and avowed enemies of these United States. + +"And further your Committee beg leave to report it as their opinion, +That these united States cannot, with propriety, hold any conference +or treaty with _any_ Commissioners on the part of Great Britain, +unless they shall, as a preliminary thereto, either withdraw their +fleets and admirals, or else, in positive and express terms, +acknowledge the Independence of the said States. + +"And inasmuch as it appears to be the design of the enemies of these +States to lull them into a fatal security--to the end that they may +act with a, becoming weight and importance, it is the opinion of your +Committee That the several States be called upon to use the most +strenuous exertions to have their respective quotas of continental +troops in the field as soon as possible, and that all the militia of +the said States be held in readiness, to act as occasion may require." + + +_The following is the answer of Congress to the second application of +the Commissioners._ + + SIR, + + _York-Town, June 6, 1778._ + + "I HAVE had the honour of laying your letter of the 3d instant, + with the acts of the British Parliament which came inclosed, + before Congress; and I am instructed to acquaint you, Sir, that + they have already expressed their sentiments upon bills, not + essentially different from those acts, in a publication of the + 22d of April last. + + "Be assured, Sir, when the King of Great Britain shall be + seriously disposed to put an end to the unprovoked and cruel war + waged against these United States, Congress will readily attend + to such terms of peace, as may consist with the honour of + independent nations, the interest of their constituents, and the + sacred regard they mean to pay to treaties. I have the honour to + be, Sir, + + _Your most obedient, and + most humble servant_, + HENRY LAURENS, + _President of Congress_." + + _His Excellency, + Sir Henry Clinton, K.B., Philad_. + +Though I am not surprised to see the Abbe mistaken in matters of +history, acted at so great a distance from his sphere of immediate +observation, yet I am more than surprised to find him wrong, (or at +least what appears so to me) in the well-enlightened field of +philosophical reflection. Here the materials are his own; created by +himself; and the error, therefore, is an act of the mind. Hitherto my +remarks have been confined to circumstances: the order in which they +arose, and the events they produced. In these, my information being +better than the Abbe's, my task was easy. How I may succeed in +controverting matters of sentiment and opinion, with one whom years, +experience, and long established reputation have placed in a superior +line, I am less confident in; but as they fall within the scope of my +observations, it would be improper to pass them over. + +From this part of the Abbe's work to the latter end, I find several +expressions which appear to me to start, with a cynical complexion, +from the path of liberal thinking, or at least they are so involved as +to lose many of the beauties which distinguish other parts of the +performance. + +The Abbe having brought his work to the period when the treaty of +alliance between France and the United States commenced, proceeds to +make some remarks thereon. + +"In short," says he, "philosophy, whose first sentiment is the desire +to see all governments just, and all people happy, in casting her eyes +upon this alliance of a monarchy, with a people who are defending +their liberty, _is curious to know its motive. She sees at once too +clearly, that the happiness of mankind has no part in it_." + +Whatever train of thinking or of temper the Abbe might be in, when he +penned this expression, matters not. They will neither qualify the +sentiment, nor add to its defect. If right, it needs no apology; if +wrong, it merits no excuse. It is sent to the world as an opinion of +philosophy, and may be examined without regard to the author. + +It seems to be a defect, connected with ingenuity, that it often +employs itself more in matters of curiosity than usefulness. Man must +be the privy councillor of fate, or something is not right. He must +know the springs, the whys, and wherefores of every thing, or he sits +down unsatisfied. Whether this be a crime, or only a caprice of +humanity, I am not enquiring into. I shall take the passage as I find +it, and place my objections against it. + +It is not so properly the _motives_ which _produced_ the alliance, as +the _consequences_ which are to be _produced from it_, that mark out +the field of philosophical reflection. In the one we only penetrate +into the barren cave of secrecy, where little can be known, and every +thing may be misconceived; in the other, the mind is presented with a +wide extended prospect, of vegetative good, and sees a thousand +blessings budding into existence. + +But the expression, even within the compass of the Abbe's meaning, +sets out with an error, because it is made to declare that, which no +man has authority to declare. Who can say that the happiness of +mankind made _no part of the motives_ which produced the alliance? To +be able to declare this, a man must be possessed of the mind of all +the parties concerned, and know that their motives were something +else. + +In proportion as the independence of America became contemplated and +understood, the local advantages of it to the immediate actors, and +the numerous benefits it promised to mankind, appear to be every day +encreasing, and we saw not a temporary good for the present race only, +but a continued good to all posterity; these motives, therefore, added +to those which preceded them, became the motives, on the part of +America, which led her to propose and agree to the treaty of alliance, +as the best effectual method of extending and securing happiness; and +therefore, with respect to us, the Abbe is wrong. + +France, on the other hand, was situated very differently to America. +She was not acted upon by necessity to seek a friend, and therefore +her motive in becoming one, has the strongest evidence of being good, +and that which is so, must have some happiness for its object. With +regard to herself she saw a train of conveniencies worthy her +attention. By lessening the power of an enemy, whom, at the same +time, she sought neither to destroy nor distress, she gained an +advantage without doing an evil, and created to herself a new friend +by associating with a country in misfortune. The springs of thought +that lead to actions of this kind, however political they may be, are +nevertheless naturally beneficent; for in all causes, good or bad, it +is necessary there should be a fitness in the mind, to enable it to +act in character with the object: Therefore, as a bad cause cannot be +prosecuted with a good motive, so neither can a good cause be long +supported by a bad one, as no man acts without a motive; therefore, in +the present instance, as they cannot be bad, they must be admitted to +be good. But the Abbe sets out upon such an extended scale, that he +overlooks the degrees by which it is measured, and rejects the +beginning of good, because the end comes not at once. + +It is true that bad motives may in some degree be brought to support a +good cause or prosecute a good object; but it never continues long, +which is not the case with France; for either the object will reform +the mind, or the mind corrupt the object, or else not being able, +either way, to get into unison, they will separate in disgust: And +this natural, though unperceived progress of association or contention +between the mind and the object, is the secret cause of fidelity or +defection. Every object a man pursues is, for the time, a kind of +mistress to his mind: if both are good or bad, the union is natural; +but if they are in reverse, and neither can seduce nor yet reform the +other, the opposition grows into dislike, and a separation follows. + +When the cause of America first made her appearance on the stage of +the universe, there were many who, in the style of adventurers and +fortune-hunters, were dangling in her train, and making their court to +her with every profession of honour and attachment. They were loud in +her praise, and ostentatious in her service. Every place echoed with +their ardour or their anger, and they seemed like men in love.--But, +alas, they were fortune-hunters. Their expectations were excited, but +their minds were unimpressed; and finding her not to the purpose, nor +themselves reformed by her influence, they ceased their suit, and in +some instances deserted and betrayed her. + +There were others, who at first beheld her with indifference, and +unacquainted with her character, were cautious of her company. They +treated her as one, who, under the fair name of liberty, might conceal +the hideous figure of anarchy, or the gloomy monster of tyranny. They +knew not what she was. If fair, she was fair indeed. But still she was +suspected, and though born among us, appeared to be a stranger. + +Accident, with some, and curiosity with others, brought on a distant +acquaintance. They ventured to look at her. They felt an inclination +to speak to her. One intimacy led to another, till the suspicion wore +away, and a change of sentiment stole gradually upon the mind; and +having no self-interest to serve, no passion of dishonour to gratify, +they became enamoured of her innocence, and unaltered by misfortune or +uninflamed by success, shared with fidelity in the varieties of her +fate. + +This declaration of the Abbe's, respecting motives, has led me +unintendedly into a train of metaphysical reasoning; but there was no +other avenue by which it could so properly be approached. To place +presumption against presumption, assertion against assertion, is a +mode of opposition that has no effect; and therefore the more eligible +method was, to shew that the declaration does not correspond with the +natural progress of the mind, and the influence it has upon our +conduct.--I shall now quit this part, and proceed to what I have +before stated, namely, that it is not so properly the motives which +produced the alliance, as the consequences to be produced from it, +that mark out the field of philosophical reflections. + +It is an observation I have already made in some former publication, +that the circle of civilization is yet incomplete. A mutuality of +wants have formed the individuals of each country into a kind of +national society, and here the progress of civilization has stopt. +For it is easy to see, that nations with regard to each other +(notwithstanding the ideal civil law, which every one explains as it +suits him) are like individuals in a state of nature. They are +regulated by no fixt principle, governed by no compulsive law, and +each does independently what it pleases, or what it can. + +Were it possible we could have known the world when in a state of +barbarism, we might have concluded, that it never could be brought +into the order we now see it. The untamed mind was then as hard, if +not harder to work upon in its individual state, than the national +mind is in its present one. Yet we have seen the accomplishment of the +one, why then should we doubt that of the other? + +There is a greater fitness in mankind to extend and complete the +civilization of nations with each other at this day, than there was to +begin it with the unconnected individuals at first; in the same manner +that it is somewhat easier to put together the materials of a machine +after they are formed, than it was to form them from original matter. +The present condition of the world, differing so exceedingly from what +it formerly was, has given a new cast to the mind of man, more than +what he appears to be sensible of. The wants of the individual, which +first produced the idea of society, are now augmented into the wants +of the nation, and he is obliged to seek from another country what +before he sought from the next person. + +Letters, the tongue of the world, have in some measure brought all +mankind acquainted, and, by an extension of their uses, are every day +promoting some new friendship. Through them distant nations became +capable of conversation, and losing by degrees the awkwardness of +strangers, and the moroseness of suspicion, they learn to know and +understand each other. Science, the partizan of no country, but the +beneficent patroness of all, has liberally opened a temple where all +may meet. Her influence on the mind, like the sun on the chilled +earth, has long been preparing it for higher cultivation and further +improvement. The philosopher of one country sees not an enemy in the +philosopher of another: he takes his seat in the temple of science, +and asks not who sits beside him. + +This was not the condition of the barbarian world. Then the wants of +man were few, and the objects within his reach. While he could acquire +these, he lived in a state of individual independence; the consequence +of which was, there were as many nations as persons, each contending +with the other, to secure something which he had, or to obtain +something which he had not. The world had then no business to follow, +no studies to exercise the mind. Their time was divided between sloth +and fatigue. Hunting and war were their chief occupations; sleep and +food their principal enjoyments. + +Now it is otherwise. A change in the mode of life has made it +necessary to be busy; and man finds a thousand things to do now which +before he did not. Instead of placing his ideas of greatness in the +rude achievements of the savage, he studies arts, science, +agriculture, and commerce, the refinements of the gentleman, the +principles of society, and the knowledge of the philosopher. + +There are many things which in themselves are morally neither good nor +bad, but they are productive of consequences, which are strongly +marked with one or other of these characters. Thus commerce, though in +itself a moral nullity, has had a considerable influence in tempering +the human mind. It was the want of objects in the ancient world, which +occasioned in them such a rude and perpetual turn for war. Their time +hung upon their hands without the means of employment. The indolence +they lived in afforded leisure for mischief, and being all idle at +once, and equal in their circumstances, they were easily provoked or +induced to action. + +But the introduction of commerce furnished the world with objects, +which in their extent, reach every man, and give him something to +think about and something to do; by these his attention his [_sic_] +mechanically drawn from the pursuits which a state of indolence and an +unemployed mind occasioned, and he trades with the same countries, +which former ages, tempted by their productions, and too indolent to +purchase them, would have gone to war with. + +Thus, as I have already observed, the condition of the world being +materially changed by the influence of science and commerce, it is put +into a fitness not only to admit of, but to desire an extension of +civilization. The principal and almost only remaining enemy it now has +to encounter, is _prejudice_; for it is evidently the interest of +mankind to agree and make the best of life. The world has undergone +its divisions of empire, the several boundaries of which are known and +settled. The idea of conquering countries, like the Greeks and Romans, +does not now exist; and experience has exploded the notion of going to +war for the sake of profit. In short, the objects for war are +exceedingly diminished, and there is now left scarcely any thing to +quarrel about, but what arises from that demon of society, prejudice, +and the consequent sullenness and untractableness of the temper. + +There is something exceedingly curious in the constitution and +operation of prejudice. It has the singular ability of accommodating +itself to all the possible varieties of the human mind. Some passions +and vices are but thinly scattered among mankind, and find only here +and there a fitness of reception. But prejudice, like the spider, +makes every where its home. It has neither taste nor choice of place, +and all that it requires is room. There is scarcely a situation, +except fire or water, in which a spider will not live. So, let the +mind be as naked as the walls of an empty and forsaken tenement, +gloomy as a dungeon, or ornamented with the richest abilities of +thinking; let it be hot, cold, dark, or light, lonely or inhabited, +still prejudice, if undisturbed, will fill it with cobwebs, and live, +like the spider, where there seems nothing to live on. If the one +prepares her food by poisoning it to her palate and her use, the other +does the same; and as several of our passions are strongly charactered +by the animal world, prejudice may be denominated the spider of the +mind. + +Perhaps no two events ever united so intimately and forceably to +combat and expel prejudice, as the Revolution of America, and the +Alliance with France. Their effects are felt, and their influence +already extends as well to the old world as the new. Our style and +manner of thinking have undergone a revolution, more extraordinary +than the political revolution of the country. We see with other eyes; +we hear with other ears; and think with other thoughts, than those we +formerly used. We can look back on our own prejudices, as if they had +been the prejudices of other people. We now see and know they were +prejudices, and nothing else; and relieved from their shackles, enjoy +a freedom of mind we felt not before. It was not all the argument, +however powerful, nor all the reasoning, however elegant, that could +have produced this change, so necessary to the extension of the mind +and the cordiality of the world, without the two circumstances of the +Revolution and the Alliance. + +Had America dropt quietly from Britain, no material change in +sentiment had taken place. The same notions, prejudices, and conceits, +would have governed in both countries, as governed them before; and, +still the slaves of error and education, they would have travelled on +in the beaten tract of vulgar and habitual thinking. But brought about +by the means it has been, both with regard to ourselves, to France, +and to England, every corner of the mind is swept of its cobwebs, +poison, and dust, and made fit for the reception of general happiness. + +Perhaps there never was an alliance on a broader basis, than that +between America and France, and the progress of it is worth attending +to. The countries had been enemies, not properly of themselves, but +through the medium of England. They, originally, had no quarrel with +each other, nor any cause for one, but what arose from the interest of +England, and her arming America against France. At the same time, the +Americans, at a distance from and unacquainted with the world, and +tutored in all the prejudices which governed those who governed them, +conceived it their duty to act as they were taught. In doing this +they expended their substance to make conquests, not for themselves, +but for their masters, who in return, treated them as slaves. + +A long succession of insolent severity, and the separation finally +occasioned by the commencement of hostilities at Lexington, on the +19th of April, 1775, naturally produced a new disposition of thinking. +As the mind closed itself towards England, it opened itself toward the +world; and our prejudices, like our oppressions, underwent, though +less observed, a mental examination; until we found the former as +inconsistent with reason and benevolence, as the latter were repugnant +to our civil and political rights. + +While we were thus advancing by degrees into the wide field of +extended humanity, the alliance with France was concluded; an alliance +not formed for the mere purpose of a day, but on just and generous +grounds, and with equal and mutual advantages; and the easy +affectionate manner in which the parties have since communicated, has +made it an alliance, not of courts only, but of countries. There is +now an union of mind as well as of interest; and our hearts as well as +our prosperity, call on us to support it. + +The people of England not having experienced this change, had likewise +no ideas of it, they were hugging to their bosoms the same prejudices +we were trampling beneath our feet; and they expected to keep a hold +upon America, by that narrowness of thinking which America disdained. +What they were proud of, we despised: and this is a principal cause +why all their negotiations, constructed on this ground, have failed. +We are now really another people, and cannot again go back to +ignorance and prejudice. The mind once enlightened cannot again become +dark. There is no possibility, neither is there any term to express +the supposition by, of the mind unknowing any thing it already knows; +and therefore all attempts on the part of England, fitted to the +former habit of America, and on the expectation of their applying now, +will be like persuading a seeing man to become blind, and a sensible +one to turn an idiot. The first of which is unnatural and the other +impossible. + +As to the remark which the Abbe makes on the one country being a +monarchy and the other a republic, it can have no essential meaning. +Forms of government have nothing to do with treaties. The former are +the internal police of the countries severally; the latter their +external police jointly: and so long as each performs its part, we +have no more right or business to know how the one or the other +conducts its domestic affairs, than we have to inquire into the +private concerns of a family. + +But had the Abbe reflected for a moment, he would have seen that +courts, or the governing powers of all countries, be their forms what +they may, are relatively republics with each other. It is the first +and true principle of alliancing. Antiquity may have given precedence, +and power will naturally create importance, but their equal right is +never disputed. It may likewise be worthy of remarking, that a +monarchical country can suffer nothing in its popular happiness by an +alliance with a republican one; and republican governments have never +been destroyed by their external connections, but by some internal +convulsion or contrivance. France has been in alliance with the +republic of Switzerland for more than two hundred years, and still +Switzerland retains her original form as entire as if she had allied +with a republic like herself; therefore this remark of the Abbe should +go for nothing.--Besides, it is best mankind should mix. There is ever +something to learn, either of manners or principle; and it is by a +free communication, without regard to domestic matters, that +friendship is to be extended, and prejudice destroyed all over the +world. + +But notwithstanding the Abbe's high professions in favour of liberty, +he appears sometimes to forget himself, or that his theory is rather +the child of his fancy than of his judgment: for in almost the same +instant that he censures the alliance, as not originally or +sufficiently calculated for the happiness of mankind, he, by a figure +of implication, accuses France for having acted so generously and +unreservedly in concluding it. "Why did they (says he, meaning the +Court of France) tie themselves down by an inconsiderate treaty to +conditions with the Congress, which they might themselves have held in +dependence by ample and regular supplies." + +When an author undertakes to treat of public happiness, he ought to be +certain that he does not mistake passion for right, nor imagination +for principle. Principle, like truth, needs no contrivance. It will +ever tell its own tale, and tell it the same way. But where this is +not the case, every page must be watched, recollected, and compared +like an invented story. + +I am surprised at this passage of the Abbe. It means nothing or it +means ill; and in any case it shows the great difference between +speculative and practical knowledge. A treaty according to the Abbe's +language would have neither duration nor affection; it might have +lasted to the end of the war, and then expired with it.--But France, +by acting in a style superior to the little politics of narrow +thinking, has established a generous fame, and won the love of a +country she was before a stranger to. She had to treat with a people +who thought as nature taught them; and, on her own part, she wisely +saw there was no present advantage to be obtained by unequal terms, +which could balance the more lasting ones that might flow from a kind +and generous beginning. + +From this part the Abbe advances into the secret transactions of the +two Cabinets of Versailles and Madrid, respecting the independence of +America, through which I mean not to follow him. It is a circumstance +sufficiently striking, without being commented on, that the former +union of America with Britain, produced a power, which, in her hands, +had was becoming dangerous to the world: and there is no improbability +in supposing, that had the latter known as much of the strength of +former, before she began the quarrel, as she has known since, that +instead of attempting to reduce her to unconditional submission, would +have proposed to her the conquest of Mexico. But from the countries +separately, Spain has nothing to apprehend, though from their union, +she had more to fear than any other power in Europe. + +The part which I shall more particularly confine myself to, is that, +wherein the Abbe takes an opportunity of complimenting the British +Ministry with high encomiums of admiration, on their rejecting the +offered mediation of the Court of Madrid, in 1779. + +It must be remembered, that before Spain joined France in the War, she +undertook the office of a mediator, and made proposals to the British +King and Ministry so exceedingly favourable to their interest, that +had they been accepted, would have become inconvenient, if not +inadmissible to America. These proposals were nevertheless rejected by +the British Cabinet: on which the Abbe says,-- + +"It is in such a circumstance as this, it is in the time when noble +pride elevates the soul superior to all terror; when nothing is seen +more dreadful than the shame of receiving the law, and when there is +no doubt or hesitation which to chuse, between ruin and dishonour; it +is then, that the greatness of a nation is displayed. I acknowledge, +however, that men accustomed to judge of things by the event, call +great and perilous resolutions, heroism or madness, according to the +good or bad success with which they have been attended. If then I +should be asked, what is the name which shall in years to come be +given to the firmness, which was in this moment exhibited by the +English, I shall answer, that I do not know. But that which it +deserves I know. I know that the annals of the world hold out to us +but rarely the august and majestic spectacle of a nation, which chuses +rather to renounce its duration than its glory." + +In this paragraph the conception is lofty, and the expression elegant; +but the colouring is too high for the original, and the likeness fails +through an excess of graces. To fit the powers of thinking and the +turn of language to the subject, so as to bring out a clear conclusion +that shall hit the point in question, and nothing else, is the true +criterion of writing. But the greater part of the Abbe's writings (if +he will pardon me the remark) appear to me uncentral and burthened +with variety. They represent a beautiful wilderness without paths; in +which the eye is diverted by every thing, without being particularly +directed to any thing: and in which it is agreeable to be lost, and +difficult to find the way out. + +Before I offer any other remark oh the spirit and composition of the +above passage, I shall compare it with the circumstance it alludes to. + +The circumstance, then, does not deserve the encomium. The rejection +was not prompted by her fortitude but her vanity. She did not view it +as a case of despair or even of extreme danger, and consequently the +determination to renounce her duration rather than her glory, cannot +apply to the condition of her mind. She had then high expectations of +subjugating America, and had no other naval force against her than +France; neither was she certain that rejecting the mediation of Spain +would combine that power with France. New mediations might arise more +favourable than those she had refused. But if they should not, and +Spain should join, she still saw that it would only bring out her +naval force against France and Spain, which was wanted and could not +be employed against America, and habits of thinking had taught her to +believe herself superior to both. + +But in any case to which the consequence might point, there was +nothing to impress her with the idea of renouncing her duration. It is +not the policy of Europe to suffer the extinction of any power, but +only to lop off, or prevent its dangerous encrease. She was likewise +freed by situation from the internal and immediate horrors of +invasion; was rolling in dissipation, and looking for conquests; and +though she suffered nothing but the expense of war, she still had a +greedy eye to magnificent reimbursement. + +But if the Abbe is delighted with high and striking singularities of +character he might, in America, have found ample field for encomium. +Here was a people, who could not know what part the world would take +for, or against them; and who were venturing on an untried scheme, in +opposition to a power, against which more formidable nations had +failed. They had every thing to learn but the principles which +supported them, and every thing to procure that was necessary for +their defense. They have at times seen themselves as low as distress +could make them, without showing the least stagger in their fortitude; +and been raised again by the most unexpected events, without +discovering an unmanly discomposure of joy. To hesitate or to despair +are conditions equally unknown in America. Her mind was prepared for +every thing; because her original and final resolution of succeeding +or perishing included all possible circumstances. + +The rejection of the British propositions in the year 1778, +circumstanced as America was at that time, is a far greater instance +of unshaken fortitude than the refusal of the Spanish mediation by the +Court of London: and other historians, besides the Abbe, struck with +the vastness of her conduct therein, have, like himself, attributed it +to a circumstance which was then unknown, the alliance with France. +Their error shows their idea of its greatness; because, in order to +account for it, they have sought a cause suited to its magnitude, +without knowing that the cause existed in the principles of the +country.[2] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] Extract from, "_A short Review of the present Reign_," in England. +_Page 45, in the New Annual Register for the year 1780_. + + "_THE Commissioners, who, in consequence of Lord North's + conciliatory bills, went over to America, to propose terms of + peace to the colonies, were wholly unsuccessful. The concessions + which formerly would have been received with the utmost + gratitude, were rejected with disdain. Now was the time of + American pride and haughtiness. It is probable, however, that it + was not pride and haughtiness alone that dictated the + Resolutions of Congress, but a distrust of the sincerity of the + offers of Britain, a determination not to give up their + independence, and_ ABOVE ALL, THE ENGAGEMENTS INTO WHICH _I_ + HAD ENTERED BY THEIR LATE TREATY WITH FRANCE." + + +But this passionate encomium of the Abbe is deservedly subject to +moral and philosophical objections. It is the effusion of wild +thinking, and has a tendency to prevent that humanity of reflection +which the criminal conduct of Britain enjoins on her as a duty.--It is +a laudanum to courtly iniquity.--It keeps in intoxicated sleep the +conscience of a nation; and more mischief is effected by wrapping up +guilt in splendid excuse, than by directly patronizing it. + +Britain is now the only country which holds the world in disturbance +and war; and instead of paying compliments to the excess of her +crimes, the Abbe would have appeared much more in character, had he +put to her, or to her monarch, this serious question-- + +Are there not miseries enough in the world, too difficult to be +encountered and too pointed to be borne, without studying to enlarge +the list and arming it with new destruction? Is life so very long, +that it is necessary, nay even a duty, to shake the sand, and hasten +out the period of duration? Is the path so elegantly smooth, so decked +on every side, and carpeted with joys, that wretchedness is wanting to +enrich it as a soil? Go ask thine aching heart, when sorrow from a +thousand causes wounds it, go, ask thy sickened self when every +medicine fails, whether this be the case or not? + +Quitting my remarks on this head, I proceed to another, in which the +Abbe has let loose a vein of ill-nature, and, what is still worse, of +injustice. + +After caviling at the treaty, he goes on to characterize the several +parties combined in the war.--"Is it possible," says the Abbe, "that a +strict union should long subsist amongst confederates of characters so +opposite as the hasty, light, disdainful Frenchman, the jealous, +haughty, sly, slow, circumspect Spaniard, and the American, who is +secretly snatching looks at the mother country, and would rejoice, +were they compatible with his independence, at the disasters of his +allies?" + +To draw foolish portraits of each other, is a mode of attack and +reprisal, which the greater part of mankind are fond of indulging. The +serious philosopher should be above it, more especially in cases from +which no possible good can arise, and mischief may, and where no +received provocation can palliate the offense.--The Abbe might have +invented a difference of character for every country in the world, and +they in return might find others for him, till in the war of wit all +real character is lost. The pleasantry of one nation or the gravity of +another may, by a little penciling, be distorted into whimsical +features, and the painter becomes so much laughed at as the painting. + +But why did not the Abbe look a little deeper, and bring forth the +excellencies of the several parties? Why did he not dwell with +pleasure on that greatness of character, that superiority of heart, +which has marked the conduct of France in her conquests, and which has +forced an acknowledgment even from Britain. + +There is one line, at least (and many others might be discovered), in +which the confederates unite; which is, that of a rival eminence in +their treatment of their enemies. Spain, in her conquest of Minorca +and the Bahama Islands, confirms this remark. America has been +invariable in her lenity from the beginning of the war, +notwithstanding the high provocations she has experienced? It is +England only who has been insolent and cruel. + +But why must America be charged with a crime undeserved by her +conduct, more so by her principles, and which, if a fact, would be +fatal to her honour? I mean the want of attachment to her allies, or +rejoicing in their disasters. She, it is true, has been assiduous in +showing to the world that she was not the aggressor toward England; +and that the quarrel was not of her seeking, or, at that time, even of +her wishing. But to draw inferences from her justification, to stab +her character by, and I see nothing else from which they can be +supposed to be drawn, is unkind and unjust. + +Does her rejection of the British propositions in 1778, before she +knew of any alliance with France, correspond with the Abbe's +description of her mind? Does a single instance of her conduct since +that time justify it?--But there is a still better evidence to apply +to, which is, that of all the mails which at different times have been +way-laid on the road, in divers parts of America, and taken and +carried into New-York, and from which the most secret and confidential +private letters, as well as those from authority, have been published, +not one of them, I repeat it, not a single one of them, gives +countenance to such a charge. + +This is not a country where men are under government restraint in +speaking; and if there is any kind of restraint, it arises from a fear +of popular resentment. Now, if nothing in her private or public +correspondence favours such a suggestion, and if the general +disposition of the country is such as to make it unsafe for a man to +shew an appearance of joy at any disaster to her ally; on what +grounds, I ask, can the accusation stand? What company the Abbe may +have kept in France, we cannot know; but this we know, that the +account he gives does not apply to America. + +Had the Abbe been in America at the time the news arrived of the +disaster of the fleet under Count de Grasse, in the West-Indies, he +would have seen his vast mistake. Neither do I remember any instance, +except the loss of Charlestown, in which the public mind suffered more +severe and pungent concern, or underwent more agitations of hope and +apprehension, as to the truth or falsehood of the report. Had the loss +been all our own, it could not have had a deeper effect; yet it was +not one of those cases which reached to the independence of America. + +In the geographical account which the Abbe gives of the Thirteen +States, he is so exceedingly erroneous, that to attempt a particular +refutation, would exceed the limits I have prescribed to myself. And +as it is a matter neither political, historical, nor sentimental, and +which can always be contradicted by the extent and natural +circumstances of the country, I shall pass it over; with this +additional remark, that I never yet saw an European description of +America that was true, neither can any person gain a just idea of it, +but by coming to it. + +Though I have already extended this letter beyond what I at first +proposed, I am, nevertheless, obliged to omit many observations I +originally designed to have made. I wish there had been no occasion +for making any. But the wrong ideas which the Abbe's work had a +tendency to excite, and the prejudicial impressions they might make, +must be an apology for my remarks, and the freedom with which they are +made. + +I observe the Abbe has made a sort of epitome of a considerable part +of the pamphlet Common Sense, and introduced it in that form into his +publication. But there are other places where the Abbe has borrowed +freely from the said pamphlet without acknowledging it. The difference +between society and government, with which the pamphlet opens, is +taken from it, and in some expressions almost literally, into the +Abbe's work, as if originally his own; and through the whole of the +Abbe's remarks on this head, the idea in Common Sense is so closely +copied and pursued, that the difference is only in words, and in the +arrangement of the thoughts, and not in the thoughts themselves.[3] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[3] + + COMMON SENSE. ABBE RAYNAL. +"Some writers have so confounded "Care must be taken not to confound +society With government, as to leave together society with government. +little or no distinction between them; That they may be known distinctly, +whereas they are not only different, their origin should be considered. +but have different origins. + +"Society is produced by our wants, "Society originates in the wants of +and governments by our wickedness; men, government in their vices. +the former promotes our happiness Society tends always to good; government +_positively_, by uniting our affections; ought always to tend to the +the latter _negatively_, by restraining repressing of evil." +our vices." + +_In the following paragraphs there is less likeness in the language, but +the ideas in the one are evidently copied from the other_. + +"In order to gain a clear and just "Man, thrown, as it were by +idea of the design and end of government, chance upon the globe, surrounded +let us suppose a small number by all the evils of nature, obliged +of persons, meeting in some frequented continually to defend and protect his +part of the earth, unconnected life against the storms and tempests +with the rest; they will then represent of the air, against the inundations of +the peopling of any country or water, against the fire of volcanoes, +of the world. In this state of natural against the intemperance of frigid +liberty, society will be our first and torrid zones, against the sterility +thought. A thousand motives will of the earth which, refuses him aliment, +excite them thereto. The strength of or its baneful fecundity, which +one man is so unequal to his wants, makes poison spring up beneath his +and his mind so unfitted for perpetual feet; in short against the claws and +solitude, that he is soon obliged to teeth of savage beasts, who dispute +seek assistance of another, who, in with him his habitation and his prey, +his turn, requires the same. Four or and attacking his person, seem resolved +five united would be able to raise to render themselves rulers of +a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a this globe, of which he thinks himself +wilderness; but _one_ man might to be the master. Man, in this +labour out the common period of life, state, alone and abandoned to himself, +without accomplishing any thing; could do nothing for his preservation. +when he has felled his timber, he It was necessary, therefore, +could not remove it, nor erect it after that he should unite himself, and associate +it was removed; hunger, in the with his like, in order to +mean time would, urge him from his bring together their strength and intelligence +work, and every different want call in common stock. It is +him a different way. Disease, nay by this union that he has triumphed +even misfortune would be death; over so many evils, that he has +for though neither might be immediately fashioned this globe to his use, restrained +mortal, yet either of them the rivers, subjugated the +would disable him from living, and seas, insured his subsistence, conquered +reduce him to a state in which he apart of the animals in obliging +might rather be said to perish than to them to serve him, and driven others +die.--Thus necessity, like a gravitating far from his empire, to the depths of +power, would form our newly deserts or of woods, where their +arrived emigrants into society, the number diminishes from age to age. +reciprocal benefits of which would What a man alone would not have +supersede and render the obligations been able to effect, men have executed +of law and government unnecessary, in concert; and altogether they +while they remained perfectly just preserve their work.--Such is the +to each other. But as nothing but origin, such the advantages, and the +heaven is impregnable to vice, it will end of society.--Government owes +unavoidably happen, that in proportion its birth to the necessity of preventing +as they surmount the first and repressing the injuries which +difficulties of emigration which bound the associated individuals had to fear +them together in a common cause, from one another. It is the sentinel +they will begin to relax in their duty who watches, in order that the common +and attachment to each other, and this labourers be not disturbed." +remissness will point out the necessity +of establishing some form of +moral virtue." + + +But as it is time that I should come to the end of my letter, I shall +forbear all further observations on the Abbe's work, and take a +concise view of the state of public affairs, since the time in which +that performance was published. + +A mind habituated to actions of meanness and injustice, commits them +without reflection, or with a very partial one; for on what other +ground than this, can we account for the declaration of war against +the Dutch? To gain an idea of the politics which actuated the British +Ministry to this measure, we must enter into the opinion which they, +and the English in general, had formed of the temper of the Dutch +nation; and from thence infer what their expectation of the +consequences would be. + +Could they have imagined that Holland would have seriously made a +common cause with France, Spain and America, the British Ministry +would never have dared to provoke them. It would have been a madness +in politics to have done so; unless their views were to hasten on a +period of such emphatic distress, as should justify the concessions +which they saw they must one day or other make to the world, and for +which they wanted an apology to themselves.--There is a temper in some +men which seeks a pretense for submission. Like a ship disabled in +action, and unfitted to continue it, it waits the approach of a still +larger one to strike to, and feels relief at the opportunity. Whether +this is greatness or littleness of mind, I am not enquiring into. I +should suppose it to be the latter, because it proceeds from the want +of knowing how to bear misfortune in its original state. + +But the subsequent conduct of the British cabinet has shown that this +was not their plan of politics, and consequently their motives must be +sought for in another line. + +The truth is, that the British had formed a very humble opinion of the +Dutch nation. They looked on them as a people who would submit to any +thing; that they might insult them as they liked, plunder them as they +pleased, and still the Dutch dared not to be provoked. + +If this be taken as the opinion of the British cabinet, the measure +is easily accounted for, because it goes on the supposition, that +when, by a declaration of hostilities, they had robbed the Dutch of +some millions sterling (and to rob them was popular), they could make +peace with them again whenever they pleased, and on almost any terms +the British ministry should propose. And no sooner was the plundering +committed, than the accommodation was set on foot, and failed. + +When once the mind loses the sense of its own dignity, it loses, +likewise, the ability of judging of it in another. And the American +war has thrown Britain into such a variety of absurd situations, that, +arguing from herself, she sees not in what conduct national dignity +consists in other countries. From Holland she expected duplicity and +submission, and this mistake from her having acted, in a number of +instances during the present war, the same character herself. + +To be allied to, or connected with Britain, seems to be an unsafe and +impolitic situation. Holland and America are instances of the reality +of this remark. Make those countries the allies of France or Spain, +and Britain will court them with civility and treat them with respect; +make them her own allies, and she will insult and plunder them. In the +first case, she feels some apprehensions at offending them, because +they have support at hand; in the latter, those apprehensions do not +exist. Such, however, has hitherto been her conduct. + +Another measure which has taken place since the publication of the +Abbe's work, and likewise since the time of my beginning this letter, +is the change in the British Ministry. What line the new cabinet will +pursue respecting America, is at this time unknown; neither is it very +material, unless they are seriously disposed to a general and +honourable peace. + +Repeated experience has shown, not only the impracticability of +conquering America, but the still higher impossibility of conquering +her mind, or recalling her back to her former condition of thinking. +Since the commencement of the war, which is now approaching to eight +years, thousands and tens of thousands have advanced, and are daily +advancing into the first state of manhood, who know nothing of Britain +but as a barbarous enemy, and to whom the independence of America +appears as much the natural and established government of the country, +as that of England does to an Englishman. And on the other hand, +thousands of the aged, who had British ideas, have dropped and are +daily dropping, from the stage of business and life.--The natural +progress of generation and decay operates every hour to the +disadvantage of Britain. Time and death, hard enemies to contend with, +fight constantly against her interest; and the bills of mortality, in +every part of America, are the thermometers of her decline. The +children in the streets are from their cradle bred to consider her as +their only foe. They hear of her cruelties; of their fathers, uncles, +and kindred killed; they see the remains of burned and destroyed +houses, and the common tradition of the school they go to, tells them, +_those things were done by the British._ + +These are circumstances which the mere English state politician, who +considers man only in a state of manhood, does not attend to. He gets +entangled with parties coeval or equal with himself at home, and +thinks not how fast the rising generation in America is growing beyond +his knowledge of them, or they of him. In a few years all personal +remembrance will be lost, and who is king or minister in England, will +be but little known and scarcely inquired after. + +The new British administration is composed of persons who have ever +been against the war, and who have constantly reprobated all the +violent measures of the former one. They considered the American war +as destructive to themselves, and opposed it on that ground. But what +are these things to America? She has nothing to do with English +parties. The ins and the outs are nothing to her. It is the whole +country she is at war with, or must be at peace with. + +Were every minister in England a _Chatham_, it would now weigh little +or nothing in the scale of American politics. Death has preserved to +the memory of this statesman _that fame_, which he by living, would +have lost. His plans and opinions, towards the latter part of his +life, would have been attended with as many evil consequences, and as +much reprobated here, as those of Lord North; and considering him a +wise man, they abound with inconsistencies amounting to absurdities. + +It has apparently been the fault of many in the late minority, to +suppose that America would agree to certain terms with them, were they +in place, which she would not ever listen to, from the then +administration. This idea can answer no other purpose than to prolong +the war; and Britain may, at the expense of many more millions, learn +the fatality of such mistakes. If the new ministry wisely avoid this +hopeless policy, they will prove themselves better pilots and wiser +men than they are conceived to be; for it is every day expected to see +their bark strike upon some hidden rock, and go to pieces. + +But there is a line in which they may be great. A more brilliant +opening needs not to present itself; and it is such an one as true +magnanimity would improve, and humanity rejoice in. + +A total reformation is wanted in England. She wants an expanded +mind,--an heart which embraces the universe. Instead of shutting +herself up in an island, and quarreling with the world, she would +derive more lasting happiness, and acquire more real riches by +generously mixing with it, and bravely saying, I am the enemy of none. +It is not now the time for little contrivances, or artful politics. +The European world is too experienced to be imposed upon, and America +too wise to be duped. It must be something new and masterly that must +succeed. The idea of seducing America from her independence, or of +corrupting her from her alliance is a thought too little for a great +mind, and impossible for any honest one, to attempt. When ever +politics are applied to debauch mankind from their integrity, and +dissolve the virtues of human nature, they become detestables and to +be a statesman on this plan, is to be a commissioned villain. He who +aims at it, leaves a vacancy in his character, which may be filled up +with the worst of epithets. + +If the disposition of England should be such, as not to agree to a +general and honourable peace, and the war must at all events, continue +longer, I cannot help wishing that the alliances which America has or +may enter into, may become the only objects of the war. She wants an +opportunity of shewing to the world that she holds her honour as dear +and sacred as her independence, and that she will in no situation +forsake those, whom no negotiations could induce to forsake her. +Peace, to every reflective mind is a desirable object; but that peace +which is accompanied with a ruined character, becomes a crime to the +seducer, and a curse upon the seduced. + +But where is the impossibility or even the great difficulty of England +forming a friendship with France and Spain, and making it a national +virtue to renounce for ever those prejudiced inveteracies it has been +her custom to cherish; and which, while they serve to sink her with an +increasing enormity of debt, by involving her in fruitless wars, +become likewise the bane of her repose, and the destruction of her +manners. We had once the fetters that she has now, but experience has +shewn us the mistake, and thinking justly, has set us right. + +The true idea of a great nation is that, which extends and promotes +the principles of universal society. Whose mind rises above the +Atmospheres of local thoughts, and considers mankind, of whatever +nation or profession they may be, as the work of one Creator. The rage +for conquest has had its fashion, and its day. Why may not the amiable +virtues have the same? The Alexanders and Caesars of antiquity have +left behind them their monuments of destruction, and are remembered +with hatred; while those more exalted characters, who first taught +society and science, are blessed with the gratitude of every age and +country. Of more use was one philosopher, though a heathen, to the +world, than all the heathen conquerors that ever existed. + +Should the present revolution be distinguished by opening a new system +of extended civilization, it will receive from heaven the highest +evidence of approbation; and as this is a subject to which the Abbe's +powers are so eminently suited, I recommend it to his attention, with +the affection of a friend, and the ardour of a universal citizen. + + * * * * * + + + + +POSTSCRIPT + + +Since closing the foregoing letter some intimations respecting a +general peace, have made their way to America. On what authority or +foundation they stand, or how near or remote such an event may be, are +circumstances I am not enquiring into. But as the subject must sooner +or later, become a matter of serious attention, it may not be +improper, even at this early period, candidly to investigate some +points that are connected with it, or lead towards it. + +The independence of America is at this moment as firmly established as +that of any other country in a state of war. It is not length of time, +but power that gives stability. Nations at war know nothing of each +other on the score of antiquity. It is their present and immediate +strength, together with their connections, that must support them. To +which we may add, that a right which originated to-day, is as much a +right, as if it had the sanction of a thousand years; and therefore +the independence and present government of America are in no more +danger of being subverted, because they are modern, than that of +England is secure, because it is ancient. + +The politics of Britain, so far as respected America, were originally +conceived in idiotism, and acted in madness. There is not a step which +bears the smallest trace of rationality. In her management of the war, +she has laboured to be wretched, and studied to be hated; and in all +her former propositions for accommodation, she has discovered a total +ignorance of mankind, and of those natural and unalterable sensations +by which they are so generally governed. How she may conduct herself +in the present or future business of negotiating a peace is yet to be +proved. + +He is a weak politician who does not understand human nature, and +penetrate into the effect which measures of government will have upon +the mind. All the miscarriages of Britain have arisen from this +defect. The former Ministry acted as if they supposed mankind to be +_without a mind_; and the present Ministry, as if America was _without +a memory_. The one must have supposed we were incapable of feeling; +and the other that we could not remember injuries. + +There is likewise another line in which politicians mistake, which is +that of not rightly calculating, or rather of misjudging, the +consequence which any given circumstance will produce. Nothing is more +frequent, as well in common as in political life, than to hear people +complain, that such or such means produced an event directly contrary +to their intentions. But the fault lies in their not judging rightly +what the event would be; for the means produced only its proper and +natural consequence. + +It is very probable, that in a treaty of peace, Britain will contend +for some post or other in North America, perhaps Canada or Halifax, or +both; and I infer this from the known deficiency of her politics, +which have ever yet made use of means, whose natural event was against +both her interest and her expectation. But the question with her ought +to be, Whether it is worth her while to hold them, and what will be +the consequence? + +Respecting Canada, one or other of the two following will take place, +viz. If Canada should people, it will revolt, and if it do not people, +it will not be worth the expense of holding. And the same may be said +of Halifax; and the country round it. But Canada _never will_ people; +neither is there any occasion for contrivances on one side or the +other, for nature alone will do the whole. + +Britain may put herself to great expenses in sending settlers to +Canada; but the descendants of those settlers will be Americans, as +other descendants have been before them. They will look round and see +the neighbouring States sovereign and free, respected abroad, and +trading at large with the world; and the natural love of liberty, the +advantages of commerce, the blessings of independence and of a happier +climate, and a richer soil, will draw them southward; and the effect +will be, that Britain will sustain the expense, and America reap the +advantage. + +One would think that the experience which Britain has had of America, +would entirely sicken her of all thoughts of continental colonization, +and any part she might retain will only become to her a field of +jealousy and thorns, of debate and contention, forever struggling for +privileges, and meditating revolt. She may form new settlements, but +they will be for us; they will become part of the United States of +America; and that against all her contrivances to prevent it, or +without any endeavors of ours to promote it. In the first place she +cannot draw from them a revenue, until they are able to pay one, and +when they are so, they will be above subjection. Men soon become +attached to the soil they live upon, and incorporated with the +prosperity of the place; and it signifies but little what opinions +they come over with, for time, interest, and new connections, will +render them obsolete, and the next generations know nothing of them. + +Were Britain truly wise, she would lay hold of the present opportunity +to disentangle herself from all continental embarrassments in North +America, and that not only to avoid future broils and troubles, but to +save expenses. For to speak explicitly on the matter, I would not, +were I an European power, have Canada, under the conditions that +Britain must retain it, could it be given to me. It is one of those +kind of dominions that is, and ever will be, a constant charge upon +any foreign holder. + +As to Halifax, it will become useless to England after the present +war, and the loss of the United States. A harbour, when the dominion +is gone, for the purpose of which only it was wanted, can be attended +only with expense. There are, I doubt not, thousands of people in +England, who suppose, that these places are a profit to the nation, +whereas they are directly the contrary, and instead of producing any +revenue, a considerable part of the revenue of England is annually +drawn off, to support the expense of holding them. + +Gibraltar is another instance of national ill-policy. A post which in +time of peace is not wanted, and in time of war is of no use, must at +all times be useless. Instead of affording protection to a navy, it +requires the aid of one to maintain it. To suppose that Gibraltar +commands the Mediterranean, or the pass into it, or the trade of it, +is to suppose a detected falsehood; because though Britain holds the +post, she has lost the other three, and every benefit she expected +from it. And to say that all this happens because it is besieged by +land and water, is to say nothing, for this will always be the case in +time of war, while France and Spain keep up superior fleets, and +Britain holds the place.--So that, though, as an impenetrable +inaccessible rock, it may be held by the one, it is always in the +power of the other to render it useless and excessively chargeable. + +I should suppose that one of the principal objects of Spain in +besieging it, is to show to Britain, that though she may not take it, +she can command it, that is, she can shut it up, and prevent its being +used as a harbour, though not as a garrison.--But the short way to +reduce Gibraltar is to attack the British fleet; for Gibraltar is as +dependent on a fleet for support, as a bird is on its wing for food, +and when wounded there it starves. + +There is another circumstance which the people of England have not +only not attended to, but seem to be utterly ignorant of, and that is, +the difference between permanent power and accidental power, +considered in a national sense. + +By permanent power, I mean, a natural inherent, and perpetual ability +in a nation, which though always in being, may not be always in +action, or not always advantageously directed; and by accidental +power, I mean, a fortunate or accidental disposition or exercise of +national strength, in whole or in part. + +There undoubtedly was a time when any one European nation, with only +eight or ten ships of war, equal to the present ships of the line, +could have carried terror to all others, who had not begun to build a +navy, however great their natural ability might be for that purpose: +but this can be considered only as accidental, and not as a standard +to compare permanent power by, and could last no longer than until +those powers built as many or more ships than the former. After this a +larger fleet was necessary, in order to be superior; and a still +larger would again supersede it. And thus mankind have gone on +building fleet upon fleet, as occasion or situation dictated. And this +reduces it to an original question, which is: Which power can build +and man the largest number of ships? The natural answer to which is, +That power which has the largest revenue and the greatest number of +inhabitants, provided its situation of coast affords sufficient +conveniencies. + +France being a nation on the continent of Europe, and Britain an +island in its neighbourhood, each of them derived different ideas from +their different situations. The inhabitants of Britain could carry on +no foreign trade, nor stir from the spot they dwelt upon, without the +assistance of shipping; but this was not the case with France. The +idea therefore of a navy did not arise to France from the same +original and immediate necessity which produced to England. But the +question is, that when both of them turn their attention, and employ +their revenues the same way, which can be superior? + +The annual revenue of France is nearly double that of England, and her +number of inhabitants nearly twice as many. Each of them has the same +length of ground on the Channel; besides which, France has several +hundred miles extent on the Bay of Biscay, and an opening on the +Mediterranean: and every day proves that practice and exercise make +sailors, as well as soldiers, in one country as well as another. + +If then Britain can maintain a hundred ships of the line, France can +as well support a hundred and fifty, because her revenue and her +population are as equal to the one as those of England are to the +other. And the only reason why she has not done it is because she has +not till very lately attended to it. But when she sees, as she now +sees, that a navy is the first engine of power, she can easily +accomplish it. + +England very falsely, and ruinously for herself, infers, that because +she had the advantage of France, while France had the smaller navy, +that for that reason it is always to be so. Whereas it may be clearly +seen that the strength of France has never yet been tried on a navy, +and that she is able to be as superior to England in the extent of a +navy, as she is in the extent of her revenues and her population. And +England may lament the day, when, by her insolence and injustice, she +provoked in France a maritime disposition. + +It is in the power of the combined fleets to conquer every island in +the West Indies, and reduce all the British Navy in those places. For +were France and Spain to send their whole naval force in Europe to +those islands, it would not be in the power of Britain to follow them +with an equal force. She would still be twenty or thirty ships +inferior, were she to send every vessel she had; and in the meantime +all the foreign trade of England would lay exposed to the Dutch. + +It is a maxim which, I am persuaded, will ever hold good, and more +especially in naval operations, that a great power ought never to move +in detachments, if it can possibly be avoided; but to go with its +whole force to some important object, the reduction of which shall +have a decisive effect upon the war. Had the whole of the French and +Spanish fleets in Europe come last spring to the West Indies, every +island had been their own, Rodney their prisoner, and his fleet their +prize. From the United States the combined fleets can be supplied with +provisions, without the necessity of drawing them from Europe, which +is not the case with England. + +Accident has thrown some advantages in the way of England, which, from +the inferiority of her navy, she had not a right to expect. For though +she had been obliged to fly before the combined fleets, yet Rodney has +twice had the fortune to fall in with detached squadrons, to which he +was superior in numbers: The first off Cape St. Vincent, where he had +nearly two to one, and the other in the West Indies, where he had a +majority of six ships. Victories of this kind almost produce +themselves. They are won without honour, and suffered without +disgrace; and are ascribable to the chance of meeting, not to the +superiority of fighting: For the same Admiral, under whom they were +obtained, was unable, in three former engagements, to make the least +impression on a fleet consisting of an equal number of ships with his +own, and compounded for the events by declining the actions.[4] + +To conclude: if it may be said that Britain has numerous enemies, it +likewise proves that she has given numerous offenses. Insolence is +sure to provoke hatred, whether in a nation or an individual. That +want of manners in the British Court may be seen even in its +birth-days and new-years odes, which are calculated to infatuate the +vulgar, and disgust the man of refinement; and her former overbearing +rudeness, and insufferable injustice on the seas, have made every +commercial nation her foe. Her fleets were employed as engines of +prey; and acted on the surface of the deep the character which the +shark does beneath it.--On the other hand, the Combined Powers are +taking a popular part, and will render their reputation immortal, by +establishing the perfect freedom of the ocean, to which all countries +have a right, and are interested in accomplishing. The sea is the +world's highway; and he who arrogates a prerogative over it +transgresses the right, and justly brings on himself the chastisement +of nations. + +Perhaps it might be of some service to the future tranquillity of +mankind, were an article were introduced into the next general peace, +that no one nation should, in time of peace, exceed a certain number +of ships of war. Something of this kind seems necessary; for, +according to the present fashion, half of the world will get upon the +water, and there appears to be no end to the extent to which navies +may be carried. Another reason is that navies add nothing to the +manners or morals of a people. The sequestered life which attends the +service, prevents the opportunities of society, and is too apt to +occasion a coarseness of ideas and of language, and that more in ships +of war than in the commercial employ; because in the latter they mix +more with the world, and are nearer related to it. I mention this +remark as a general one, and not applied to anyone country more than +to another. + +Britain has now had the trial of above seven years, with an expense of +nearly a hundred million pounds sterling; and every month in which she +delays to conclude a peace, costs her another million sterling, over +and above her ordinary expenses of government, which are a million +more; so that her total _monthly_ expense is two million pounds +sterling, which is equal to the whole _yearly_ expenses of America, +all charges included. Judge then who is best able to continue it. + +She has likewise many atonements to make to an injured world, as well +in one quarter as in another. And instead of pursuing that temper of +arrogance, which serves only to sink her in the esteem, and entail on +her the dislike, of all nations, she would do well to reform her +manners, and retrench her expenses, live peaceably with he neighbours, +and think of war no more. + +_Philadelphia, August 21, 1782._ + +FOOTNOTE: + +[4] _See the accounts, either English or French, of the actions in the +West-Indies between Count de Guichen and Admiral Rodney, in 1780._ + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal, +on the Affairs of North America, in Which the Mistakes in the Abbe's Account of the Revolution of America Are Corrected and Cleared Up, by Thomas Paine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE *** + +***** This file should be named 15279.txt or 15279.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/2/7/15279/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions 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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