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M'
.■■■"■ «
sc
f
MEMORIAL
ADDRESiS.En TQ THE
^
SOVEREIGNS of AMERICA.
[ Price 25. 6 J. ]
l:'
^i i
.»»,
MEMORIAL
ADDRESSED TO
THE SOVEREIGNS
O F
AMERICA,
By T. P O W N A L L,
iiATB Governor, CAPTAiW-GENERAL, Vice-
Admiral, &c. OF THE Provinces, now
STATES, Massachusetts-Bay and South-
Carolina ; AND Lieutenant-Governor
OF New-Jersey.
To make Principles or Fundamentals, belongs not to Man,
to Nations, nor to Human Laws: to build upon fucb
Principles or Fundamentals, as are apparently laid by GOD
in the inevitable NeceiFity or Law of Nature, is that which
truly appertains to Man, to Nations, to Human Laws :
to malcc any other Fundamentals, and then to build upoa
them, is to build Caftles in the Air.
Harrington" t Political Aphorifmt, No. 85.
LONDON;
Printed for J. Debrett, (Succeflbr toMr. Almon,)
Oppofite Burlington-Houfe, Piccadilly,
MDCCLXJC;2i:2II.
i J
t • { . .
ACVtRTISEMENT-
/^ i '^tlE following Paper fiatei
JJ \arid explains the Syftem of
the New World in America ; the
natural Liberty of the Individual
fettled there ; the Frame into
which the Communities of indivi-
duals (prior to all confideratiori of
Pblitical Society) naturally fbrrh
themfelves* By thefc principles it
lead^ to the difcuffion of the nature
of their States and their political
Freedom ; of the nature of the
Confederation and General Govern-
ment ; and from herice the Spirit
and Temper of Polity, which may
hereafter form the Reafon of State^
or Syfteni of Adminiftration in the
afKlrrs of that Empire, are fketched
B
. A^
( H )
As the feveral matters which
range under this general Subject are
intimately interwoven with the Ef-
fence^ and deeply intereft the Exijl-
ence of this Sovereign Empire, they
ought to be apparent to, and to
be underftood by, every Citizen of
America, who has a fliare in the
bufinefs of his Country : this Me-
morial, therefore, is addrefled to the
Sovereigns of America. It is,
moreover, publiflied to the Citi-
zens at large, as " fFhat concerns
" All^ fioutd be confidered of by
Aur
A pradical knowledge of the
matters contained in this Paper,
efpecially of thofe points which
refped the new Syjlem of a New
World ; a knowledge of the Con-
Jlitution of the General Govern-
ment, and of the ground and
move-
( «i )
movements of the American AJ--
miniflration^ is indifpenfably neccf-
fary to every Statefman in Europe,
who may have Connexions and
Habits of bufinefs with this New
Empire : this Paper is therefore
published to Europe at large.
It is not written for the Read-
ing, nor calculated to the Reafon-
ing of Britifh Politicians : it is
drawn by a Scale below fuch Sub-
limity: its honie-fpun reafonings
will be unintelligible to BritiOi
Statefmen. A few Cppies, how-
ever, are referved for the inferior
clafs of Readers and Reafoners
who will underftand the Memo-
rialift.
If He could flatter himfelf that
the Statefmeix and Politiqians of
Qreat-Britain would defqend fronx
( iv )
tliieir Superior Regions, and con-
defcend to caft an Eye, or rather a
Thought, on fuch a trifling Paper
of fuch an unexperienced Theorift
as the Memorialift ; He has only to
caution them z^-aind paic^mg their
politics with the only remnant-
rag of their folly that flicks to
their backs, viz. an Idea that an
Unioisi with America^ or fome part
of itf is praSiicable and pglitic. This
fTopo{itiony framed into a meafure^
is the ofily one left to compleat,
beyond red'^mption, the Ruin of
this Country,
A ME-
M E M O R I A I,
,_■: ADDRESSED JO THE
SOVEREIGNS of AMERICA.
HAVING prefumed to addrcfs to the
Sovereigns of Europe a Me-
piorial, ftating,
ift. The Combination of Events, as
they ftood in fa<^ and operation be-
tween the Old and New Worlds,
between Europe and Anr*erica:
2dly, Marking the train of confequences
which muft have been the EfFed of
this combination, and which is in
part arifen into Event by the Efta-
^lifhmen^ of the Sovwieignty of the
American States :
( 6 )
3dly, and laftly, Suggeiling what that
fplrit of Policy, and marking what
that Una of Copdud^ ought to be,
with which the advancing State of
things fhould be met :
Permit me now to addrefs this Memorial
to You SoVEREIQNS OF AMERICA. I
ftall not addrefs you with the Court-titlc$
of Gothic Europe, nor with thofe of fer-
vile Afia, I will neither addrefs your
Sublimity or Majefty, your Grace or Ho-
linefs, your Eminence or Highmightineft,
your Excellence or Honours. What are
Titles, where Things thcmfelvcs arc
known and underftood } Whftt Title did
the Republick of Rome take ? The State
was known to be Sovereign, and the Ci-
tizens to be Free, What could add
to this Glory? ♦ Therefore, UNiTEUi
States
^ If it were nect^iiry for the American States to,
<3k<^ * Stage-name la the Diplomatic Djcpma of
Politics i to affume for their Title of Adtirefs
lir>mc noun Jubjiantive exps«^e ^f t^ft Hp^rit and
ViEtue which is fuppofed peculiarly to refide in^
them ',
( ^ )
States and Citizens of Am&rica,
I addrefs You^ as You are ; I do it under
every fenfe and fentiment of Reverence to
Your Sovereign Station; and under a
confcious fenfe of the diftance of my own
private one. .And yet, from the relation
which I, have fbrtnerly borne to the States^
both when f I ferved them under their
comnaand^
them i i would addrefs myC'lf to Their Frjse-
AoMii. Thh w Wtt t>ecMliar gift of H«aven ; this
is the Spirit of their Caufe and Eflablifhment. fie
tills their Uotiaefs, their Grace, their Excellence,
their Hdnour : be this their Polity^ and they will
eftablifli dvfc Ma^efty of the American Union, and
wiit rife into hi^ and mighty States.
t The firft Public CommiSion that this Memo-
riaiift held, the firft of his honours^, an honour which
lie eftcems ad highly as any that he hath ever fince
enjoyed, was that of being Commiflioner fent from
the Province, now the State Maflachufett's-Bay,
to negotiate an Union of the Forces of Pennfylva-
nia, Nevf-Jerfey, and New- York, with the Forces
of New-England, in an expedition againft Crown-
l*rtnt, la which negotiation he fucoeeded, and which
expedition gave the firft turn to the fate of the War
of 175-5. He began his courfe by learning to fervc
them, and he afterwards fo commanded as to obtain
the apprtekbation of thofe where he governed, and the
♦iWrtourstbte teftimohy they bore him. Afterwards,
in the privsflc "ftntiwi to which he was config;ned in
his
(?)
coftirhand, and after when I ccnimaridedl
*— I addrefs Yoii in the confcioiifnefs of
foriiething above J a Subjed, in that of
a Citizen. I addrefs you not only as
SovEREiGM States, eftablifhed and ac-^
knowledgcd 5 1 congratulate You as Free
States, as founded on and built up in the
Principles of Political Freedomi I con-
gratulate Human Nature that it hath
pleafed God to eftablifh an Afylum to.
which Men of all Nations who wifh for
his native land, he invariably endeavoured to ferve
the Caufe of Freedom and Peace ; he had the means
and took the occafion to become an efficient fpringy
though not permitted to be the fnjirument of Peace.
Born in that part of his Nation which inhabits
Great-Britain, but having been employed as a Pc!i-
tical agent only within that part which pofleifes
America, heefteems himfelf, politically fpcaking, a
Citizen of America, though by bifth a Suhjeif of
Great-Britain.
% I derive my diftinition from the Romans : I
adopf the precedent from the Commiffi.;ners Pleni-
potentiary of America. The Romans fay, Non, in
regno Pop-lum Rom. fed in Libertate ejjje: dnd the
Commiffix-iers, with the moft exad precifion, mark,
in the provifioaal Treaty vith Great-Britain, the
charaiSeriltic of thofe who are in regno., and of thofe
who are in tihertatey by this expreffion, the ** Sub-
jt£fs oi the one, and the Citiwm of the other."
and
( 9 )
and deferve Freedom may fly, and uncier
which they may find Refuge. In the
contemplation of this wi(h, and. in the
view of this general happinefs to man-
kind, depending on your eftablirb^jent, I
prefume toaddrefs this Memorial to You.
Accept with gracious interpretation and
condefcenfion my Apology. I fetl that
it would be an impertinent aHumption,
nay, that it would be ridiculous, were I
to prefume to advife the States in the
courfe and practice of Government. The
free Citii^ens of America, whofe pradice
from their youth is in the bufinefs of their
Townihip, of their County, of their
Country ; whofe difcipline and ;^whole
education, whofe charuder, is in conflaiit
training to the knowledge and exercife of
Government and its powers -, will in their
reafoning prove more reafonable, in their
a<^ions more efficient, and in their politi-
cal conduift wiferand more au fait in the
affairs of their new world than tiie fir(^
Statefmen of Europe, who have a<^cd oa
C thQ
( 10 )
the ftage of the old one, A free Citizen,
participant of the Sovereignty of his State,
vrho learns and is pradtifed in rotation
of offices, both to ferve and to command,
feels by habit in his mind, as he doth in
his animal fi-ame, almofl mechanically,
and without adverting to the r lafon at the
time, the meafure and the moven^ent
v/hich every furrounding circumn;ance
calls for. The charaifter, thus acquired,
creates in the reafoning Agent the felf*
confcious feel of its natural energy : as
the habits of exercife in the body give to
the moving Agent the animal feej of felf*-
poife. In taking, however, a new Aation,
in fta^^iing amidft new and unexperienced
relations, the Agent feels the center of his
animal poife removed ; he feels fbme-
what that did not make part of his for-
mer fclf-confcioufncfs ; he is, for a time,
as it were, on a conftrained Balance of
Mind and Body. In this fituation ha
£nds and feels, that not old habits, but
l^ew exertions of difcernment ; a fpirit of
inveftiga-
Sp
po
CO
im
the
ins
CO
( I» )
Inveftigation and iridu<ftion ; an analyfing
Spirit applied to new matter, not a com^
poQiiding judgment oh the old, mud
come forth and ad:. Under circunbdances
import^nt^ in (ituations pregnant like
thefe, the American Politician and Statef^
noan, whofe training and practice is in a
tourfe of experiments, as in the new phi-
lofophy, will not refufe to hear any ad-
vice which is fuggefted, will not rejedt
the offers of any fervice^ though he nei-
ther calls for the one nor wants the other;
Making his experiences in every lincof rea-
fonihg,' in that of others as Well as his own,
he will frame and found his own refolu*
tions on his own reafons fo informed.
The Scite and Circnmftances into which
your Affairs were brought in the year
1 776 : and your felf-confcioufnefs prom pt-
ihg you to find that you were not InjaSi
what political eflabHihments had made
you by iaw, a Branch of a family, fubjedt
ta and dependent on another Branch of the
foftifr iMtXy as y<air Sovereigns j but thai
e z y6i3i
<c
It
( " )
you were what nature had wrought yoii
up to, equal brothers of the fame family:
feeling yourfelves driven by neceffity to
a feparation " from the political Bands
*' which had hitherto connected you. You
*' found it ncceilary to alTume, amongft
' the Powers of the earth, that Separate
and Equal Station to which the laws of
* Nature and of Nature's God intitled
you : and therefore Declared, that the
" United Colonies of Britons in America,
** were and of right ought to be. Free
" and Independent States."
This, like all other revolutions of Na-
tions, hath been contcfted by arms. Sweet
Love changifig its nature turns to bitterejl
hate ; fevere therefore and deftrudive has
been the war of Brethren. The appeal
was to Heaven : and the fuccefs of your
Caufe is a proof in fad, that the vigour of
natural principles muft always in the end
prove impregnable and irrefiftible to mere
force, however fupported : That a Syftem
meaiurr;s founded in the nature of
things.
of
( 13 )
thingSj and aftuated by the direft rule of
Common Scnfe, muft always rife fuperior
to and overtop all eftablifhments found-
ed in the devices of Men, and built up
in all the Art and Myflery of Politics :
That a Confcious Spirit, Which fuch cir-
cumflances infpire, will bear up againfl
and finally bear dbwn all artificial cou-
rage of Military PoWcr, hoWfoever train-
ed and ftrengthened : That a Caufe fo
founded, fo animated, fo condudted, will
predominate and be ed^bliOted. It hath
been the decided Will of God, that this
your Caufe (hould prevail, and that your
Independence and Sovereignty fhould be
acknowledged by the Sovereign^ of the
earth, now your equals.
As I recommended in my Memorial to
the Sovereigns of Europe j fo in this now
addreffed to the * Majesty of the
People
• This exprefllon, which the Memorialift wiH have
frequent occafion to repeat, isjuftiHed in the prece-
dent of the forms ufed in expreffing the Sovereignty
of the Roman People, as ufed in fome of their
Treaties j
{ '4 )
p£Qi*LE cf Ameriica, the whole argu-
ment recommends to their confideration,
I. What the precife change of their
Syftem is. 2. What may be the general
confequenccs of fuch change. 3. With
what fpirit^ and by what condudl the ad"
vancing ftate of tbt ^s (hould be met.
The ihvefligation of thefe points can be
purfued only by that felf-colledted frame
of mind within yourfelves^ combined
with a plain and fober love of Truths
which will confider well of what fpirit
you are-y which will ftate Perfons and
Things as they really exiji-, and will, in
the right Spirit of Sovereigns of a State
founded in Political Freedom, treat them
as being what they are,
. The moment that you became, dejure
by the Law of Nations, acknowledged in-
dependent and Sovereign, equal to other
- - i Sovereigns
Treaties ; Majeftatem Populi Rom. comitef cort-
fcrvent : and as a common form in their a^s ii(
Government; Fit Senates Confultum, ut Im^tt'u
um PopuiiRom.Majcftafqjconiiprvaretur. Cittr.pfg
Rabirif,
( '5 )
Sovereigns of the earth, and having no re?
ference but to yourfelves, was the moment
of your greateft difficulty and danger.
I have, with an anxious zeal for the liber-
ties of mankind, confidered thefe difficul-
ties and this danger ; and it will be one
purpofe of this Memorial, to flate them,
firft as they refpeft the exiftence, next as
they refpedt the Gonftitution of this So-
vereign.
This moment will (how whether the
States and Citizens of America are Capable
of eftabliHiing and of permanently main-
taining this independent Sovereignty j are
capable of actuating in truth and fadt
this fpirit of political Freedom, firft, as it
derives from yourfelvcs; fecondly, as it
may depend upon your Leaders; and laft-
ly, aa this fpirit and this eftablifliment
may be affedted by thofe Foreign Powers
with whom as neighbours, with whom as
puarantees, with whom as friends by alli-
ances, this Exiftence ftands connected.
It l^ath pleafed God to eflablifti your
Sovereignty
,( '6 )
Sovereignty by the force of arm&i it hath
plea,(94 him to fix, tibe rigb^ of your
equ^l Aatipn with .^h^ Sovereigns of the
earth in the rights of Treaty, and that
your Empire fliouW be acknowledged by
the Law of Natipns : He hath, however,
fo wrought, according to the ufual difpen-
fations of his providence, that you muft
work out your own falvation. It you are
not in your Principles^ in your Spirit, ia
the State of your Qonfederaikn, in the
Conjlitution of your General Government,
in the Powers of your IJniort^ a.^ yet ripe
for Political Freedom and formed fo?
Empire i * your Liberty is imnxature,
your Sovereignty is premature. The firfl}
danger is, if you miftake your Spirit, if you
negledt to build on your real foundation,
as it is laid in Nature, or if you ra^ife a fu-;
perflrudlurenot confonant to it. Examine^
therefore,
* Ncqne ambigitur quin Brutus, qui tantum
gloriae, Superbo exafto Rege, meruit ; ppifimoi
publico id fa«Surus fuerir, fi libertatib ijjnmatur»
cupidinq priorum Regum s^licui^egnurn extorfiflet.
( '7 )
therefore, of what Spirit you are : Search
thoroughly and lurvey the Ground that is
the foundation of your General Conrti-
tution, and, attending foberly in reafon,
and not in the partial unequal movements
of paflion, diftinguifli the operations of
Polity which arife by the energy of natu-
ral principles, from thofe which are forced
on by art, and confhained by violence
againft: Nature* Follow thofe principles
in the order of your Superftrudure : and
when the great Machine of Government
is formed, aduatc it by the Spirit of Free-
dom as it lies in Truth. Feel, as one (oul,
the concentered Vigour of Sovereign Impe-
Hum : feel the felf-poize of your natural
Station, the Center and balance of your
Force ; the courfe ^nd range of your orga-
nifed energy ; the Spring of A<flivity in
your political perfon : and you will fincf
it no difficult matter to ftand firm on the
Bafis of your Sovereignty : You will expe-
rience but little obftrudlion, at leafl: fuch
as IS of little cdrfcquence to the cxercife
( 18 )
and admlniftration of your Imperiuhi,
You will feel the meanwhile the ex-
panding powers of your Liberties and
Freedom come forward, by a natural vita-
lity, into Fruit, the fruits of Peace, Plen-
ty, and the folid permanent happinels of
Being.
Thefe are not words of courfe, this is
not mere harangue : thofe who knew the
States and Citizens of America, as it was
my duty to do, and as I did, faw, not from
an ex pofl faSfo view of the EfFedt as it
is now decided J but in the operation of
the Caufes working to this certain q^qC^^
and pronounced, not in vague and general
' terms of harangue, but in defined fpecific
declarations of leading Fads, that Ye were
ripe for Political Freedom j that the foun-
dation of a great Empire was laid j and
that it would arife into Eftablijfhment.
And thus this your Memoriahft, in his
Memorial addrefled to the Sovereigns of
Europe, ftated you.
That you have united, at the rifque of
every
( '9 )
every thing which forois the happinefs
and cxiflcnce of Man, to oppofe the
Meafures and Provincial Qovernment of
your late Sovereign : that you have perfe^
vered in your refiftance to the emancipat-
ing of Yourfelvcs from all regal Power ;
that you have taken the Government into
your own hands:* that you have conduded
it with fqch fpirit through To many diflii?
culties and dangers in war, and in treaties,
is no unequivocal demonflration to ali
mankind, that the fpirit of freedom and
a right fenfe of Government dwells in
the Citizens of America. If, when
thefe Citlzeni come to the forming of the
political eftablifhment of their General
Government, an uniform Idea of Self-efti-
piation (each aiming to be that, and
j?iO more, than he really is, and all treating
* Noiv inopiae /Erarii, non vis hoftium, non^
adverfa res ingentein eorum aoimumfubegit, quiii,
quod virtute ceperant, fimul cum animo retineient.
Atq; ea magis fortibus conciliis quam bonis prrcliis
patrata funt. Sallu/iiusiic fcribit de ortu ct ^vrofjrelTu,
Rom. Iroperii,
P %
eaq!
( 20 )
each other invariably as what he is in hiy
individuality) actuates the People j if a
temper that equaHzes every participant of
the Community in the rank and order in
which he is a Member of the State,
H(5tuates the body of the People ; if a
jealous guard over the rights, property,
livs, and fecurity of the People, inter-
woven v/ith a confcious Reverence for
the Honour of Governnv:nt ; if a heart-
felt duty, udive in ihe fupport of Go-
vernment, combined with a prompt and
adive fpirit of refinance to every thiii^
which would obftrud or abate its opera-
tions, forms the charader of the Ameri-
cans : if this fpirit animating the body of
the people, adluates their leaders ; the
State, bottomed on the real and adual
foundation as it lies in the Community,
will be built up in its Conftitution con-
form-able to it j* and the Power of the
Govern-
* The reafons why the American Empire will
flut be liable to th;; iiiviiion of iiuercfh, and to
the
{ 2« )
Government and the Spirit of the People
will confpire in the Adaiiniftration of it.
This power and Spirit fo combined per-
vades the whole in its reafoning part, and
gives fpring to the whole in every adt of
Government. It equally exifts m the
paflive virtue of Obedience, as in the
adive duty of Command. Liberty will
feel the confcious fenfe of confidence and
uniform obedience ; and Government,
governing by the lead of the People, will
command irreliftibly. There can be no
contention for, nor acqulfition of, unequal
Domination in Men ; but the Contefl
will be (fo it was at Rome in her happier
days) who fhall beft promote the interefl
and honour of the State in ferving, or
beft exert it in governing. On the con-
trary, where there is a reludance in the
Inuividual, ariling partly from a want of
entire afiurance in himfelf and his poli-
tical fituation, and partly from a jealoqfy
the ruinous contefls which took place in Rome,
will be given by the Memorialid in that part
yfhkH cynPu'crs the Conftitution.
{ «2 )
of thofe in other iituations, to e(labli(h
fuch pow€r as is necefTary to render the
State AN Aqent ; where there is a re*
fjliance to the command of all above,
' and adefire of Domination over all below;
where there is an impatience oppofing it-
felf reciprocally to all command on one
hand, and to all check and rtftraint of
power on the other j where that temper
operates in the People, or actuates their
Leaders, and is miftaken for the Spirit of
Liberty : either the State is not founded
on the true bafis of the People ; or is not
built up in its conftitution according to
the Frame of the Community j or there
does not refide the true and genuire fpirit
of Liberty in the Community, operat-
ing to Political freedom in the State.
Let the Citizens of America therefore
enter ferioufly and in earneft with them-
\ felves into the enquiry : Whether they
£nd within their Community a Spirit of
Attrai^ion operating, as an internal prin-
ciplcj^ to Union i^ or whether their Com-
munitjr
( *3 )
tnumty iias been comprefled into its pre-
fent Confederation only by an external
caufe, and will remain fo comprefled fo
long as, and only fo long as, that power
(ball adl upon them from without. Thofe
who, at the time of tb? commencement
of thefe events, knew the charader of
that People, and watched their condud,
knew that the vigour of natural Principles
drew them to refifl: the unnatural violence
0^ Provmcial Government. This Vigour
of natural Principles gave Unity, Wifdom,
and perfevering firmnefs to their Councilsj
and the ardour of the Spirit of Liberty
gave ftrength to their o^n arms, and
rendered them impregnable to thofe of
the Enemy. If, examining the temper
and fpirit of the people, and theCondud of
their Leaders, they find that the fame
principles continue now to operate frcm.
an internal attradion when all external
jcompreflive caufes are removed ; if the
fame fpirit of liberty continues to a(fl, m
^ perfe^ reciprocity of thofe rights, which
each
( H )
each individual, according to the frame
of the community, is entitled to ; if the
Collective Spirit of thefe Sources has a
diredt tendency to form into political free-
dom, to vi^hich all are ready to facrifice j
the Citizens of America may be confi-
dent that their Liberty is Mature. They
may and will eftablifh the Sovereignty of
their States, and the United General Go-
vernment as Independent and in Freedom.
The train of events, extraordinary as
they have been, hath eftablifhed their Im-
periu?n, and by the Law of Nations they
are acknowledged to be, de jure as well as
defa5l0f Sovereigns. A fecond line of
conlideration, therefore, parallel to 'the
former, leads to the enquiry, What the
genuine Spirit of Sovereignty is, and whe-
ther it exifts as a political Pinciplc in the
Community, is combined with the Con-
llitution as a Vital principle of the State,
and aduates the adminiftration of the ge-
ral Government.
If the fpirit of Liberty, in a people
founded^
( 25 )
founded as a ftate in political freedom,
and built up in a Superftru6ture conio-
nant to the actual frame of the con*-
munity, infpires that people with a fenfe
of its own fecurity in that foundation, and
therefore animates it with that confidenre
which fuch principles give : that People
will feel, that, as They at large are repre-
fented by their elected Delegates, fo is the
Majefty of the People reprefented by, and
refides in, the Sovereignty, which they
have eftabliihed. They will repofe them-
felves in this as their Palladium ; and will,
as Participants and Conflituents of the
State, truft and give full Confidence to the
Supreme Oflicer or Officers, whether per-
manent or changing in rotation, who ad-
minifters and executes that Office, whofe
Honour, Dignity, Power, and * Ampli-
tude,
• This word Amplitudo, as ufeJ by the Ro-
mans, is included under the general Idea Ma-
jest as, and means pretty nearly the fame, or fotne-
thing fimilnr to our Knglifti word Prerogative. As
that word has been applied to a Monarchy, I have
, £ adopced
( 26 )
tudc, is the Reprefentative of this Ma-
jefly.
The Word Sovereign is a Gothic Feu-
dal term j it precifely meant the Supreme
Command paramount over all other fubor-
dinate Commands, where thofe com-
mands, however, were fovereign within
their own jurirdidion. It is Super-reg-
num inter regna minora. I hope, where-
ever in this Memorial I ufe this Term, to
be underflood according to the ftrid defi-
nition of the word MajcftaSy ufcd by the
Roman State, as the collective idea under
which are included and refide the Jura^
Imperia, Fafces, Dignitas, Pote/las et Am*
plitudo Populi Americani, Under this
adopted in this Tract the term which the Romans
ufed under a Popular Government, meaning a Ful-
nefi of Power, which fliould not, in all cafes, be de-
fined ; and is bcft held without definition, lb as to
exert itl'elf in all cafes pro Salute Populi \ but which
is yet effcdually limited wheie that people, think-
ing it hath unneceffarily adopted, or in its exertions
exceeded that Lex Suprema^ interpofes to check it.
Majeftas eit Amplitudo &, Dignitas Civitatis. C/V. de
Orat. 113. Majeftatem miiuiit qui AnipJitudinem
Civitatis detrimento afficit, Cic. ad Heren,
Idee^
( 27 )
Idea, and under this definition of Sove-
reignty> the Memorial proceeds to enquire
whether there doth adtually exift in Ame-
rica that Majejiy of the People under
which, and within which, the rights and
liberties, the power and prerogative, the
honour and dignity of the Stages and Ci-
tizens are colledtivcly concentered : and
^whether this is actually fo eftablified as
to be the ejicient Government.
If a right Senfe of this Spirit of Sove-
reignty, thus eftabliflied in, and com-
bined with, political freedom, pervades
the feeling of the people ; is confcious that
the colle^ed information and reafon of
the whole concenters in this Majefly;
that the combined Force of the whole
fprings from this Center of Power and
adtiv'ty 5 this fenfe will dwell in the opi-
nion of the people with all that efteem
for the wifdom of the Impenum, that ref-
pedl to its Authority, that veneration of
its Honour and Dignity, and that Confen-
fus ohedientium under its power, which
£ 2 alone
( 28 )
alone forms the principle of the Sove-
reignty (I had rather fay) the Mjjclty of
the People as free Citizens. Oji this pr'n-
ciple they will eftablilh this M.jeily with
fuch powers as are neceflary to give it ef-
ficiency i for not to feel that thcv may
venture to give full Icope and ctlKiciit
powers to it, is to doubt of tiie lounda-
tion of their own Freedom, is to with-
hold the real eflabli(hment, vvl 'ie they
fet up an Idol with which to Mock t'lem-
felves. They will rather give it luch
Amplitude of power as may enable it,
in all cafes, not defined and not definable,
to fecure and promote the Salus FopulL
Sovereigns as they are, and are declared
to be by the Sovereigns of the Earth their
EqualSjif they do not form one general Ef-
ficient Impcrium as the Political Center of
the Union, as Reprcfentative of the Ma-
jefty of the whole Sovereign Confedera-
tion ; as the executive fpring of felf-mo-
tlon and Force in the State; the Liberty,
Independence, and Sovereignty ' of the
feveral
( 29 )
feveral States will prove exadly fuch as
T. Q^ Fianiinius, by order of the Roman
Senate, affeded to reftore and to give to
the States of Greece ; or fuch as the po-
licy of the fame Senate direded Paulus
iEmilius to form the four Free and Inde-
pendent Pemocracies of Macedonia upon
— fo independent as to have no alliance of
Polity, or intercommunion of Trade v^^ith
each other. This Memorial will not enter
into the detail of this adduced example :
for if the reading of the Hiftory is not
fufficient to awaken a jealous fenfe of this
Situation, Reafon will but more tire and
deaden that Senfe. All, therefore, that
will be here done is to recommend to the
ferious contemplation of the American
States, to compare in thofe examples the
meafures taken, and the events which
fucceeded, to their own iituation, in an
anxious looking to future events. This
is faid in excefs of caution : but One may
hope that it is totally unneceffary. If
the Memorialift js not miftaken in his
idfa
( 30 )
idea of the free People of America, Hb
ihould rather think they will cloath it
with fuch Honours and Dignity, that its
Authority rather than its power may be
fcen, and be willingly fubmitted to : but
they will yet arm it with fuch Powers as
Ihall maintain the Imperium, and bear
down all unconftitutional recoil againfl
it.
If this genuine Spirit pervades the cha-
racter of the People, thofe amongft them,
whom the Senfe and Opinion of the People
deftine to be Rulers, will be trained to
the character of Sovereigns, and, when
adually cloathed with the Majefty of the
People, will feel a confcioufnefs, not of
the pride of their own perfon, but of the
Honour and Dignity of the People.
Under this confcious fenfe they will, as
the Confuls of Rome did, a<5t the Cha-
radler of Sovereigns irr a higher tone of
dignity than Kings and Princes, whofe
confcious feel of Majefty is centered in
their own narrow Selves. They will aft
with
( 3' )
With lefs pride, but more commanding
afcendcncy j with lefs violence, but with
greater effcd ; with lefs Craft, but with
more Wifdom ; with Truth, Honour,
and the real Spirit of Majefty,
If this Spirit of Sovereignty does not
reiide in the People j if, through dckO:
of this, the State is not formed to adl as
a Sovereign with all the Majefty of the
People ; this New Sovereign may, like
a Mcteo: in its rapid trajedtory, blaze in
the Heavens, and aftonifh the Earth for
a time, but will not be found in any
uniform revolving orbit, nor become
eftabliftied as a permanent Syftem.
Oftendent terris hunc tantum, Fata neq; ultra
£fle finent.
On the contrary, if they find within the
Community the Sclf-fpring of Govern-
ment ; if they are confcious that they
have formed their Imperiuvt in this Spirit,
and not in the Spirit of Domination ; if
they have eftabliftied their Government,
as in political Freedom, fo in Amplitude
6f
( 3^ )
of Majerty, the Spirit of Hcav:n will
anfwer their call, and infpire their caufe.
** T have become^' it faith, ** n gloriom
*' d'uuicni to the remnant of the People :
" I. ylri/e^ afcend thy high Jeat : 2.
«* Ckath fhxfelf ivith thy power : 3. Lift
up on high thy Standard to the Natio?2s,'*
Ellablifli your Sovereign Government j
Cloatii it with the Majefty of the People ;
and claim, infift on, and maintain, in all
its amplitude, the honour and dignity of
this Sovereign Majefty with all the Sove-
reigns of the Earth.
Having examined the nature of the
Spirit of Liberty, the nature of the Spirit
ef Sovereignty, as forming, when com-
bined in the natural principles ot a People,
the Ejjniee oteiiicient Govcrnu'vent found-
ed in freedom, — this Memorial proceeds
to the examination of thofe relative
matters which may, both internally and
externally, aftedl the Exiftence of that
Free and Independent Sovereign.
A newly - ellabliilicd State viewed
under
( 33 )
under the circumftances of its Birth, and
with reference to thofe relations amongll
which it muft, in its iirfl years, take its
courfe, will be feen to Aand in the fame
predicament at its firft cftablidiment, as
Man, the Individual, doth at his birth.
Cicero, in treating of the bed polTible
Republic, takes his ground of reafoning
from this reR'rence : " Homo tion ut a
Matre^ fed a Novcrcd Nutiird cditus eft
in 'vihJffi ; corpore niido & jnigili <^ in^
fr/nO'y ammo autem anxio ad mohJtiaSy
humiU ad timores^ molli ad lalores, projio
ad libidines^ in quo tumen incji tanquani
obrtitus quideni divinus ignis inginii &
mentis"
It hath not, however, been P^ with the
American States at this their coming forth.
They have been in their infancy nurtured
and prote(5tcd by nature as by a mother,
between whom and her children there has
been the pureft reciprocation of maternal
affedlion and filial Piety, until evil coun-
cils brokv^ the tie. Under this relation
F thefe
( 34 )
thefe States arofe to manhood : all, there-
fore, which Cicero refers to in his ahafion
to the birth or firft eftablifhment of a
Republic, de cor pore nudo & fragili & /«-
frmo ; d(' ajiimo anxio ad molcftias^ humili
ad ti mores, molli ad tabor es; all that he
refers to as to the wants, defeats, infirmi-
ties, and weakneffes, of Infancy, doth not
apply, either in mind or body, to thofe
States adult in manhood, before they took
their ftation of Independence. * ** I'hey
*' are already hardened into Republics**
They are come forth in full maturity of
age. It is however at an age prona ad
libidines.
As man in his youth lives under a per-
petual conflict of his paffions j fo have all
States, fo will the States of America, at
their fir<i emancipation to liberty, feel, in
the effervetcent temper of their youth, the
fame tumults in the bofom of the Stete :
• This ij an cxpreflion of the Earl of Clarendon
in the MS. drauiiht of hi^. plan for fending Com-
miflioners to America in 16O4.
thev
;.■*
I'M
( 35 )
* they cannot therefore too carefully watch
over their hearts, that, while they think
that they are cultivating the faci cd Love
of Liberty, they may not become inflam-
ed with the libidinous paffion of Licence,
They muft in their zeal for the interell:
of the ftate, in their exertions of their
conftitutional (hare of power in the go-
vernment, in their natural and not inufe-
ful difFerings of opinion upon men and
meafures, keep a conftant check over the
ardour of young impreffions 5 otherwife
that which ftiould be the natural (I had
almoft faid the mechanical )motion of their
agency, will break out in the conflidis of
u
* What is here fa Id of the Libi dines adoUfcentts
Civitatis is not the refinement of Theo;y and in-
experience, but the repeated lelTon of the greateft
and moft experienced Statefinen : and in the very
manner in which I have here given the caution
againft thofe political lihidine'.^ Cicero gives the
like caution in his fixth book de Repub. Graves
enim doniinae cogltationum libidincs, infinita
quaedam cogant atq; imperant, quae quia expleri
atqi fatiari nulio motJo poffunt, ad onme facinus
impellunt cos qui illccebris fuis inceiiduntur.
F2
parties
{■.
( 36 )
parties and fadlions, perpetually tending
to eftdblid) die iiUcrefrs and domination
of men. Rt here quaji materies omnium
malorum femper fuere. The lead of Ame-
rica wjl^, by combinations ot military fub-
ordination, tend in a dired: line to the
delpotifm of One j oi , by civil intrigues,
and* the corruption ot the purfe, converge
in oblique lines to the Tyranny of the
Few ; or, by the energy of entcrprizing
ambition, be wrouc>;ht into a difcordant
and repulfive (late, which will break all
order and dillolve all fyftcm. Had this
been the cafe in Rome-, Diffipatce ^faith
Livv''* Rt'^y nondum adultce^ difcordid fo-
renty qiias jvoit iranquida moderatio impe-
riiy coque nutiicndo perduxitt ut bonam fru-
gcui Libert ath^ tnaturis jam viribus^ jerre
foffejit. May the fame Itnfe of Liberty
and Governn;tnt in the People, the fame
tranquilla inodcratk imperii in their Lead-
er?, warrn and animate the Spirit of Ame-
rica ! And may that fpirit, ardent yet
inoderatedj that Government, though
adlive.
( 37 )
adive, yet not violent -, bring forth the
fruits of Empire founded in political
Freedom, for the protection, peace, and
happinefs, of mankind, in one portion at
lead of this Earth.
This Memorial hath ftated and ex-
plained the operation of the internal felf^
working Principle, as the firft caufe of
union in Community, which by one com-
mon energy of univerfal attradlion creates
(as in nature by natural principles) one
common center, to which the feveral
energies of each and all tend and confpire.
If human nature, and a community of
human beings, could be found perfedl as
to reafon, truth, and wifdom ; not to be
perverted by paflions j not to be feduced
and corrupted by vicious affedions; this
attractive principle would alone be effici-
ent to the End of union in Government.
Th;?. !s not the cafe ; God hath therefore
b c' deafed to fuperadd another caufe,
arifijjg from the very defeats and depra-
vations of man;, which operates from
with-
( 38 )
without. This comprefTes men agaiml
their repulfivc fears and jealoufies of caci*
other, againft the repellant temper which
frauds, diflentions, violence, and attempts
at domination, raife amongft them, by a
flill Wronger compul five power into clofer
contadt, and mutual alliance for common
defence. It is happy for a State, efpeci-
ally for a newly-eftabli(hed State, when
this ey'-ernal caufe continues to a6l ; and
ads to KJ ^ id the lame end in aid of the
internal prh.ciple.
It is, on the other hand, an unfortu-
nate and dangerous crifis to young and
rifing States, if the external compreffive
caule, which hath been found ufeful to
a State, by rendering internal peace and
union necelfary, and hath been in that
line of efficiency applied as part of the
political Syftem, ceafes to adt. While
the Perfians meditated or made invafions
upon Greece, the fcveral ftates adhered
zealoufly and mofl carefully to their con-
federacy 5 but in lefs than fifty years
after
( 39 )
after Xerxes was defeated and driven from
Greece, the repellant fpirit began to (how
itfelf in the flrife of unequal intereft, and
in attempts of fome to create a Domina-
tion over the reft; and iflued in the
Peloponneflian war, to the total devafta-
tion of the Country, and almoft to the
deftrudion of the States. In like man-
ner, while neighbour nations of Italy,
hoftile to Rome, acPed upon the State of
that City as this compreflive caufe from
without, the wifdom of its Statefmen
applied the efFe(5t to the reftraining and
bounding the repellant principle of Dif-
cord within. Thefe were at length remo-
ved either by conqueft or alliances ; yet
Carthage, the rival of Rome, and upon
the Sea the afcendent power, reftrained
the Condudl of the Citizens of Rome to
the neceffity of keeping the fame guard
upon the fpirit of Diflention. Sed quuni*
Carthago t amula Imperii Romanif ab ftirpe
interiitf Cundla maria I'errceq-y patehant ;
Forfuna favire & mifcere omnia ccepit.
I
( 40 )
^i lahoreSy periculaf duhias atq-, afperai
res facile toler aver ant ^ lis otium divitice,
optandce aliis^ oneri mifericeq-, fuere^ Igitur
primb pecunice^ dein imperii cupido crevif^
&c. In like manner, now that the //«-
perium of Great Britain refin, s no longer
within the Empire of the United States ;
now that the Britifh Nation is removed
from within the Dominion of thofe States;
now that the States dwell almoft alone
on their great Continent, and are abfo-
lutely the Alcendent Power there ; if the
XxMtfpirit cj liberty y as above defcribed,
and tlic genui?ie fpirit of Government^
does not ad b/the iiiterr ittradlive prin-
ciple of Union flrongly and permanently
in proportion as the external comprefling
caufe of confederation is removed, the
Americans will experience the fame Fate
and Fortune, and be driven, by the
fame miferies, to the fame ruinous diftrefs
which the States of Greece and the
city of Rome had wretched experience of.
It is, however, peculiarly happy for
( 4« )
the American States, whatever be the force
and temper of this internal principle with
them ; that an external compreflive caufe
is not wholly taken off. When they
confider the difficulties which they will
have to render t^e line of Frontiers be-
tween their Empire and the Britifh Pro-
vinces in America a line of Peace ; when
they experience in fad: and pradlice the
difficulties of preferving it as fiich j
when they (peculate upon the almoft
numbeilefs, and, at prefent, namelefs,
fources of difpute and contention, which
may break out between them and Spain j
when, in the cool hours of unimpaffioned
refledion, they begin to be apprized of
the danger o{ their very * Alliances ; they
will fee that this compreffive caufe does
not ceafe to a<5t. Every friend to their
peace, liberty, and happinefs, muft hope
that they will fo fee it, that their Statef-
♦ Guaranties have a right to interpofc, a»<l
Hjay aflumc a right of becoming Jrbitrtrs,
o
Dien,
( 4^ )
rj*.en may attend to improve the effeds of
Itr operation, and to profit of this bitter
it (aving providence. If they improve
the feelings vi^hich the States will from
lime to time experience of danger to the
intereft of the General Imperhan from
external force, lo as to work the impref-
Hon, which fears of that external power
creates, to a permanent habit of union and
confederation, as a principle of their
Empire, never to be remitted, diminished,
or departed from for a moment, "* thefe
States will derive internal Union and
Stability to their Government from thofe
very dangers, or the fears of thofe dan-
gers, which threaten it. If, on the other
* This was the invariable Policy of the Patri-
cians and Senate in the early days of Rome. Si-
milcm annunn priori Confules habent. Seditiofa
initia hello dtinde externo tranquilla. Ea res
ipaturam jam fcditinnem ac prope erumpentem
repreffit. Uv. 1. ii. § 63 & 64. Bono fuifle Ro-
panis adventum eorum conllabat ; orientcmq;
^am fcditionem inter Pat res ^ Pleben^ metu t^tn
|)ropinqui belli compfeitam. Lib. vii. ^12.
hand.
( 4J )
hand, it Hiould unfortunately become the
fyftem of their Politics, that, divided into
parties, each afcendant party of the time
fliould, by reference to, and the interpo-
fition of, thofe external powers, aim to
ftrengthen their own intereft, the ftate
may retain its fovereign Station j but
their own Rulers will fcarcely be the So-
vereigns : the Reafon of State will be no
longer its own reafon -, and its Liberty
will, even while it feems to adl in all its
forms, be bound down by the predeftina-
tion of External Powers. The feveral
States, or feveral Parties in the States, in-
ftead of coalefcing by one uniform gene-
ral attradion to the common center, will
become like the blood of life in a fever,
clotted into partial difeafed coagulations
of faftion, having the mofl: violent repul-
lion amongft each other. This Memo-
rial will not enter into this topic further
than to recommend to the Citizens of
America, not only to read, but to com-
pare, with what may be their own even-
G % tual
( 44 )
tual cafe, the effed: of this fort of refer-
ence, as it (hewed itfelf amongft the States
of Italy during the time that Rome and
Carthage were Rival Powers in that
country. * Unus velut morbm invaferat
omnes Italia Chit at es^ iit Pkbs ab Opti-
matibus diffentirent : Senatus Romanis
faveat ; Plebs ad Pcejios rem traherent*
'\ The fame malady feized the States of
Greece. Fadlious within themfelves, the
Minor Party had reference to foreign in-
tereft, and fought to flrengthen each their
own Fadtion by the aid of the enemies of
their Government. They applied firft to
the Perfian Grand Monarch ; in the next
period, to Athens and Lacedasmon al-
ternately, as the Arillocratic or Demo-
cratic Faction prevailed. This alfo well
deferves the confideration of the United
States of America, as to the point of re-
ference which future parties amongft them
may make to foreign aid, to French or
Britiih Power.
^ivy.
t Thucydidcs.
This
{ 45 )
This Memorial might here enlarge on
this topic of foreign politics, as they may
train between Great Britain and the Uni-
ted States : it would be a needlefs pre-
fumption, fo far as refpeds the American
Statcfman j and would not, I am fure, as
nothing of the kind ever yet has been,
be of any ufe to BritiQi Statefmen. It
might enlarge on this fubjedt as it refpeds
the States with reference to their inter-
courfe with Spain -, their Alliance with
France ; their Treaties with the United
Belgic States and * other powers : but,
perhaps, the Statefmen of America, under
the impreflions and predile<5lions of their
newly-formed friendihips, may think the
eventual State of things, which it would
defcribe, to be vifioiiary and en I' air, and
may hold the coniiderations thereupon,
which it would recommend, as the mere
I 1
* The Memorial will mention in another place
Indian Policies, as they refptd this new Empire of
America.
theoretic
r ^4
C 46 )
theoretic eflays of an unemployed and in-
experienced man. This Memorial, there-
fore, will only repeat what the Memorial
addrefled to the Sovereigns of Europe
{lated as a maxim (rather a fundamental
Principle) of American Politics : *• That
*' as Nature hath feparated her from Eu-
** rope, and hath eftablifhed her alone
** (as a Sovereign) on a great Continent,
" far removf ! from the Old world and all
" its embroiled interefts, * that it is con-
** trary to the nature of her exiftence, and
'• confequently to her intereft, that flic
fliould have any connexions of Politics
with Europe other than merely com-
*'mercialj that (he fliould be a Free
** Port to all Europe at large, and in
" reciprocity claim a Free Market in
" Europe 5 and that flie ftiould have no
*• commercial treaties with any European
*• Power partial to fuch power and ex-
** clufive to others ; but that flic fliould
«(
C(
* Common Scnfe,
!* g»vtf
( 47 )
f* give and enjoy a free Navigation and
" an open trade with all.**
Fundamental Principles fimilar to thefe,
although they may not have been able
to prevent her from forming fome con-
nexions, fome alliances, may yet, if a
fyftem of Politics is founded on them as
decided maxims of State, and invariably
and uniformly purfued, prcferve her from
the entanglements in which fhe might be
otherwjfe involved, and guard her againft:
the dangers which the confequences of
thofe connexions may lead to. Although
a bold and daring, or a lucky flroke, may
fucceed for the hour or the feafon, or in
the tranfient fmallaffairsof Individuals; yet
nothing but Syjiem, as it arifes from the
nature of the State, ivill be efficient to any
permanent purpofc ; to an Empire no-
thing but fyftem, even in the line of de-
fence, will guard a State againft, and repel
the attacks of Fortune. The moft daring
Fortitude, the mpft adlive courage, un-
lefs it hath fuch foundation, would be-
come
1.;/ .
( 48 )
come folly and madnefs, and only ruin a
State with more eclat. There is fome-
thing in Fortune which mixes itfdf in ail
Human affairs, and which perplexes and
obilru^ts, it it does not actually com-
mand, Events. Fortune, although genc»
rally confidered as an operation of chance,
is not, and cannot be, any thing elfe but
the ordinary courfe of natural and human
events. It is a Combination arifing from
remote or hidden caufes, from circum-
ftances unobferved, from influences not
underftood, from innumerable and imper-
ceptible tiiimitue^ which yet, combiner',
are caufes equal to every effed that is
produced. Thefe remote, hidden, and
imperceptible caufes are not, and indeed
karce ever can be, confidered by men :
the effeds, therefore, are in Event before
the caufes are feen, if they are cvir iten
afterward. Forlunc, therefore^ (as men
ufually cxprefs themfelves,) mixes itfelf
in all human affairs, and generally
commands. The acuteft forefighf, the
firmef^
:
{ 49 )
firmeft fplrit, if ading and exerted only on
the occafion, can neither guard againft nor
refift its Force.
Quid Quifq; vitet, nunquam Homini fatis
Cautum eft in horas.
No temporary reafoning, no temporizing
State -craft, applied only to occafiom, can
either be aware of or prevent her ftrokes;
nor will the mofl inexhauftible fund of
refource, or tiie moft habile application
of remedy, relieve men under the mala-
dies which ihe brings upon their affairs,
Syftem alone, as it founds itfelf on the
nature of things, and the nature of man,
eftablifhed in fa£t and truth, and uni-
formly purfued with fpirit, can be ade-
quate to the adminiftration of the affairs
of a State. A Syftem of this fpirit and
temper in the Rulers will, if there is a
fpirit in the People ccrrelpondent to it,
command Fortune. In this fpiril of fyf-
tem, and not in a fuppofed predeflined
Fate, did the Fortune of the Roman Re-
J)ublic confift.
Hinc omne Principlum, hue refer Exitum.
H A line
( so )
A line of conduft drawn amidft the na-
ture of things, and according to the nature
of man as conneded with them, is, in
Politics, what the moral habit of harmo-
nized temper, aduated by uniform Rca-
fon, is .in man. A Syflem, even the
wifeft, may, as all human affairs are lia-
ble to the effeds of external things, be
flruck by the attacks of Fortune, may
not be invulnerable to her ftrokes j but
if it be fuch as this Memorial dates that
it (hould be, "E^Jotf els aiei, and not in
horas^ they will flrike it fearlefsj they
will ftrike a bread thoroughly prepared
to bear up againd, and finally to repel its
efFed. Such a Syflem, in the great and
arduous affairs of men, flows through the
ever-varying feries of Events, like a large
and copious river through the varying
regions of the earth. Its Greatnefs is not
affeded by fmall accidents or incidental
chances. The floods of the mountains
may pour down in torrents that fhall dif-
turb and foul its waters for a feafon, but
it holds its courfe, and as it flows, purg-.
ing
11
t
( 5' )
ing oiF all noxious mixture, clears again
to the original punty of its clement : the
fcorching drought of heaven may draw off
much of its waters, but the abundance
of its original and internal fource is fupe-
rior to fuch external diminution j and it
ftill holds on its courfe, in one uniform
tenor, equal to all the purpofes for which
it flows :— it may be precipitated into
rapidity in one part of its ftream, it may
be checked in another; it may be drawn
winding through this vale, or forced to
make a circuit round that mountain i
but its general Courfe flows uniform to
itfelf, conform to the nature of the coun-
try it pafles through, and maintains that
general diredion which its Iffue bears to
its Source, The conclufion upor the
whole is, that, if the New Sovereign Ke-
public of America hath the right confci-
ous fenfe of natural liberty and political
Freedom j if it is animated with, and ac-
tuated by, the genuine ISpirit of efficient
Sovereignty -, if it hath had the wifdom
io harmonize itfelf within according to
( 52 )
this Spirit, and to form a grounded and
permanent Syjiem towards All without ;
fecured againft itfelt, armed againll the
Strokes of fortune, and guarded againfl:
the mah'gnity of Man j it is eftablirhed as
Nature herlclf, and will Command : one
may not only wifh, but as of Nature
herfelf one may pronounce
ESTO PERPETUA.
The Memorial having ftated what
fee Tied necrffary to the confidtration of
the Eflence, Exiftence, Efficiency, and
aflured Permanency of a Republic newly
emerging to Independence and eftablilhed
in Sovereignty j it now proceeds to con-
iider matters of Conftitution. The Me-
niorialiil: feels that it would be imperti-
nence towards an American Citizen, and
fenows that it would be ufclefs and ineffec-
tual to an European Statefman, to enter
into the difculTion of tlie particular Con-
flitution of each individual State. The
Citizens perfedlly know their own Bufi-
jiefs ; and all the force of reafon and ex-
perience combined will never make the
( S3 )
the perverted head of an European, efpe^
cially a British Statefman, comprehend the
Spirit of them. Thtfe conftitutions are
what have wrought the States to Free-
dom, Independence, and Sovereignty.
They are the heft that can be at prefent ;
and (hould there be any thing which in
future times and circumftances might re-
quire a chrnge, there is in thefe States, as
in the animal oeconomy, a healing prin^
cipk which will work * itfelf right.
This Memorial will therefore proceed
to confider, in general, as they lie in Na-
ture, the grounds on which the General
Cpnftderation and Sovereignty ftand ; and
the principles by which its Strud:ure and
Conflitution muft take its Form, be that
Form whatfoever it may hereafter be.
The principles by which the Syflem of
America is animated and actuated, arife
from the adtual and unconftrained nature
* The operation of this is actually provided for
in fevcral of ihe Conftitutions of the States, by the
cftablilhmvnt of a Cenfus, and other means.
{ 54 )
of Things, and from the unperverted, un-
oppreiTed nature of Man. They are not
fuch Principles as the Political Syftem of
this Of that State permits to be called Li*
berty. The Liberty ot the People of A-
merica is not merely that (hare of Power,
which an Ariftocracy permits the People
to amufe themfelves with, and which
they are taught to call Liberty. It is not
that Dominci'lion with which the People
govern in a Democracy, and therefore
call Liberty, h is not that fliare of Do-
mination which a political Monarch
throws into the hands of the People, in
order to ally their power to his Force, by
which to govern the Ariftocracy. The
genuine Liberty on which America is
founded is totally and intircly a New Syf-
tem of Things and Men, which treats all
as what they adlually are, efteeming nothing
the true End and perfed Good of Policy,
but that Effcifl which produces, as equali-
ty of Rights, fo equal Liberty, univerfal
Peac^, and unobftrudted intercommuni-
on of happinefs in Human Society.
Every
( ss )
Every Inhabitant of America is, defaSlo
as well as de jure, equal, in his eflential
infeparable rights of the individual, to any
other Individual j is, in thefe rights, in-
dependent of any power that any other
can aflume over him, over his labour or
his property: This is a Principle in a<ft and
deed, and not a mere fpeculative Theorem.
He is his own mafter both in his reafon-
ing and acting; fo far as refpeds the indi-
vidual, he is at perfed liberty to apply his
power as he likes, to labour in any line,
and to poflefs and ufe his property as his
own. His property is free from any tenure
or condition that may clog, obftrud, or
divert the fruits of that labour which he
hath mixt with it.
There are not in America any Baro-
nial or Manerial Dominations of the lelTer
but more cruel tyrants. There are not
in this Land of Liberty any Feudal, any
Perfonal fervices, which may be claimed
by a Landlord from the Landholder,
whether Prince, Baron, Ckrgy, or Body
Corporate : There are no Fee-farm Rents
or
( 56 )
ar Tythes to oe paid ; there are no defli-
nations, either of the Refidence or Labouf"
of the Landworker or Mechanic, which in
the Old World are affumed as refinements
of Polity: neither as a Labourer, nor as
a Landworker, does the American ever
find himfelf eroded upon by any ofthofe
felf-obftrudlive Policies, which have been
the bane to Induftry, and blafted tht
fruits of labour in Europe. He meets;
nothing which reprefles him back, or ex-
cludes him from rifing to that natural
importance in the Community, which
his ingenuity in his manual labour, or his
improvements in his landed Property,
mufl of courfe, unobftru<5ted, give him.
The power which derives from property
in America arifes in proportion to the
adivity which is mixt with it hy the pof-
fefTori and in the hands of thofe who do
thus aduate it, it aflumes its weight, and
relative place, towards the common
Center, fo as to render this adtive Pro-
prietor every day a more important Ci-
tizen.
There
As?)
There is another Right of the Indivl-
duai, which the perplext and mixt po-
licy of Europe has broken in upon, and
which yet no civil Polity can have cog-
nizance of ; and fetms to have, as no
right, fo no pretence to interfere in ;
that is, where government afTumes a re-
gulating direction over the natural affec-
tions of the Sexes. In America, Love
and Liberty go hand in hand ; and each
individual forms thofe connexions which
nature and the heart point out. Mar-
riage there is a Civil Contrad, which is con-
tradted, remains obligatory, or is difTolubie,
JLift as any other Civil Contrad: is. This
Memorialifl: knows of * no civil adl of
State in America which hath ordained any
thing to the contrary. The Americans do
not as is done in the Mother Country, Firfl
ilate in their Theology, that Marriage is
* The Memorial does not enter here into any
of thofe ideas which thofe marriages that ufe the
forms of the Church of Englaiul or of Rome
iiiay take up.
I m
[ 58 ]
no Sacramcnty and then continue it in
their law and their Police, as an AB of
God, which no Executive human Pow-
er can difannul. Marriage in America
is formed diredly to anfwer the two great
ends for which the two Sexes come to-
gether, Private perfonal happinefs, and
the propagation of the Species j both
which ends are really anfwercd in the
fulled and to the moil perfed effect.
Every Wife there is herfelf a fortune j
and the Children are riches to the pa-
rents.
The Right of private confcience in
matters of Religion is one of thofe rights
which are effential to the individual, and
which he cannot alienate or even abate.
This is a matter of which Government
can have no cognizance, in which it can
have no right to interfere: and yet, in the
Old World, this internal impreffion of
the mind of the Individual^ as though it
were an overt of the Citizen^ hath been
treated as an Objedl in which Go-
vernment
( 59 )
vcrnment is fuppofed to be mod: deeply
interefted. On the contrary, the Syftem
of the New "W.»id confiders Religion as
an internal a(ft of the Mind towards
God, by which Man endeavours to raife
up to himfelf the moil: perfedl notion he
can of the Supreme Being, and of his at-
tributes, in order to form his Conduct in
moral conformity thereto ; alfo as an act
of the mind, by which the internal Man
addreffes himfelf in prayer and praife to
God, in that way which he thinks moil
fuitablc to the Divine Being, and the
moil eiHcacious to the obtaining of what
he prefumes to afk in prayer. This
Right therefore exiils in America, invi-
olate, and in perfed liberty.
Another and eiTential part of the inde-
pendent political freedom which the A-
merican Syilem enjoys is — that it is, as a
State, in no wife under the Superintenc*-
ency of any Ecclefiaftical Imperium in
any ihape whatfoever; that it knows no
fuch Solecifm as that of the fame indivi-
I 2 dual
( 6o )
dual Citizens be'ng the component parts
of two dirtindl communities formed un-
der two diJlinB mperia, — There is no
mixture of any fuch materials at its
foundation j there is no fuch Frame in
any part of its Strudure.
The Inhabitants of the Old World,
both thofe who lived under the falfe Re-
ligion, as thofe alfo who dwelt under the
inanifeftalion of the True, had univerfal-
ly their Civil Polity dire(5ted in its con-
fciente by the fuperintendence and guid-
ance of a Body of Men fuppofed to be
endued with more than human wif-
dom, and who feemed to have the power
of reward and puniihment beyond the
extent of human power. With the An-
cients, before the time of the Manifefla*
tion of the True Religion, Religion was
neither more nor lefs than a State-En-
gine, framed and worked, under the di-
redVion of the Chief Magiftrate, by the
hands and management of the leading
Statefmen, to the purpofes of the State.
It
( 6i )
It was a Creature of the State. The
Chriftian- Religion, a Reh'gion of Spirit
and Truth, whofe Kingdom was not of
this world, whofe end and objed: was in
another and future State (for which this
life is a preparatory training), was totally
abftradted from all Politics, from all Ad-
miniftration and Government of the
things of this world ; and had no other
concern therein, but to render unto Caifar
thofe things which are Cxiar*s, and to
be obedient to the higher Powers : yet
fo it hath happened (I fuppofe the divine
Teachers of this religion found it necef-
fary), that, when they eflablifhed their
Syflem, as an outward vifible form, they
formed an intermediate temporal Com-
munity and Imperium^ both ecclefiafti-
cal and civil, in and over the things and
Perfons of this world : and, feeling
themfelves as an independent difcinct
Body politic, alTumed either an ajcendant
fuperintendence over the Civil Com-
munity^ or put themfelves in the predi-
cament
( 62 )
cament of having formed, on original
compact, an alliance between the Church
and the State. The State of Europe (it
may be faid, of the whole Roman Em-
pire) at the firft origin of Civil Govern-
ments under the Conquerors of that
Empire, was fuch as naturally gave birth
and fcope to this Sy{lem= The com-
manding paramount powers of the
Great, and the feveral imperia of the
lefTer Commanders, who had over-
ran and held in Subjedion all Europe,
were merely Military. The idea of Go-
vern'iient, other than that: of military di-
fcipline within their Camps, Canton-
ments, and the Pods of their refpcdive
armies, entered not into their Syllem.
Thefe People had no idea of civil go-
vernment as necefl'ary to be co-extenfive
with the predominant military Imperium,
They confidered all civil polity as mere
matter of oeconomy in a family, clan, or
horde j as mere fubordinate arrangement
of the community of any people or nationj
which the body could beft fettle for itfelf,
and
( 63 )
and be befl anfwerable for. Of what
form this was, or how adminiftered, was
matter of indifference to thefe Comman-
ders. This civil line and field, therefore,
was opened to all Inftitutors of Politics,
who could acquire afcendency fufficient to
cftablifh themfelves under the aufpices of
the military.
At this period the Human Species in
Europe, howfoever trained and difciplined
to, howfoever exercifed and expert in war,
could, as to political civilization, fcarce be
faid to have emerged out of their Savage
State. The MifTionaries of Rome were
fent out amongft thefe, to teach them the
arts of fecial life, to civilife them, and to
convert them to the Chriftian Religion,
Thefe Miflionaries (I mean fome of the
firft) had defervedly great merit with
them, and acquired thereby an almoft
abfolute afcendency over them : they be-
came their Farmers, Mechanics, Artifts,
th'iir lawyers, their judges, heir Law-
givers, their guides, and the dired:ors of
their opinions and confciences. Whatever
Polities,
I
( 64 )
Polities, therefore, grew up amidft thefe
thus firft civilized Europeans, were inter-
woven at the root,and grew up interbranch-
ing with eccleliiflical Government, fo as
not to be fepa-rable from it. The lands
and property of the eccleiiaflical fociety
(however obtained) came forward into
improvemtnt and fixed property, co-eval
(if not in a leading line) v.ith the proper-
ty of the Civil Body, and, as it were, al-
lied and Mj'eimixtd with it. In the Eu-
ropean Stales, thtrciure, the Ecclefiafiical
Rights^ Property, Polity, and Imperium^
became, fiom the earliCil periods of Civi-
lization, an elleiitial, inlcparable part of
tlie Conftitution. Whatever may be the
abftrad trut.i in civil Pollrj, taken ^
-priori in its original principi .s \ whatever
may be the opir/ion of men in theft, days;
the fatft and invariable precedent is, that
in Europe the ecclefiaftical Imperium
or * Church is an indefcafible part of
the
* *' The C]erc;y of England have a Zeal for the
*' Church of Eijoland \ but they have a greater Zeal
*»for
( 6s )
the State. And every loyal fubjed of
thefe States will be> at leafl ought to be,
a zealous maintainer of this United or al-
lied eftablifhment of Church and State,
It is not fo with the Americans, and
the fyftem of America. They were not
thus civilized by ccclefiaftical Miffionaries.
No Church power was their fofter Pa-
rent. The Original Conftituents. of thefe
States were in a perfect ftate of Civili-
zation, in perfect independence and free-
dom, at the eftablifhment of their Civil
Polity. An ecclcfiaflical Body, as a fepa-
rate Community from the Civil Commu-
nity, and yet formed of the fame indivi-
duals, would have appeared to them as a
Chimera. The Syftem in which Ame-
rican Polity is built up ftands independent,
and is freefrom thofe hcterogeneoub mix-
** for the Church of Chrift : there are Few of them,
*' I hope, who fcruple profeflinfr a Wifh, that the
" pure banner of the (ioj'pel may, if neeit (hall fo
*' require, be difplayed triumphant on the ruin^i of
«« every Church Eftabli(hment in Chriftcndoin,"
—A Letter from the Lord Bifliop of Landatf, to
hia Grace the Archbifhop of Canterbury, p. 3.
K
turcs.
( 66 )
tures, which always more or lefs * ob-
flruded each other, and which drew into
crcok'^inefs and obliquities the free and
natural Energy of Both. The Americans
have no one Form of ecclefiaftical fyftem,
or Church eftablifhed as the Religion of
the State-, they have no landed clergy ; no
Church Revenue derived by a transfer
of the ilavifli Tax of Tythes from the
State to the Church : their lands were ne-
ver Agri Deciananni. They do not apply
Religion, as was the cafe in the falfe reli-
gion, as an engine of State ; but confider-
ing it as what it is, they make the pro-
per diftindlion which its divine Author
made : they give unto God the things
which are God's ; and unto Cjefar [/. e. the
Civil State] the things which are Csfar's.
In this they have no part to take, but to
* The purity of Religion equally fufFered by this
worldly alliance of the Daughter of God with the
Child and Creature of Man ; as Civil Government
hath done by the Conftraints with which this high-
jpirited Dame on eaith hath bound the energy of its
Freedom.
follow
( 67 )
follow God and Nature in the dired right
line of Truth.
The Syftem of the American Commu-
nity lies in Nature : from natural caufes
there is now, has been, and moft likely will
continue to be, a general equality, not only
in the Perfons, but in the power of the
landed Property of the Inhabitants. This
Bafis of the fuperftrudure is uniform and
level ; the Res Populi, the aBtiated Rights
and Inter efts of the People, is every where
equally attended to,and is in all points com-
ing forward (if I may fo exprefs myfelf)
in parallel lines into operation. This equal
level of adting powers and aduated pro-
perty, lying thus in Nature, becomes, by
the vigour of natural principles, the Bafis
of a Free Republic. This is the grand
Defideratum of all the ancient Legiflators
and Inftitutors of Republics. They faw
the neceflity that there was of an exadt
conformity between the Conflitution of
the State, and the Species of Individuals,
the form of the community, and nature
K 2 qf
( 68 )
of the hafn on which fuch State muft be
founded. No fuch Bads was there found
in nature ; they therefore tried a thoufand
different projeds to form luch in Art.
They forced Nature, Not finding the
natural fituation of men to be what it was
neceflary to the Syflcm of their PoHty it
fliould be, they endeavoured to make it
what it never could be, but urwier force
and violence done to nature. They de-
flroyed or perverted all Perlbnal Liberty,,
in order to force into efhblilbment Poli-
ticul Freedom. While Men were taught
by pride, and by a profpe(fl of Domina-
tion over others, to call The State Free,
they found themfelves cut off from, and
from the ufe of, many of the eilential in-
alienable rights of the Individual, which
form his h.ippinefs as well as freedom. So
far from finding themfelves free, they felt
themfelves mere machines. All this was
done and fuffeied, to obtain (which yet
they never could obtain) that natural
cqui\l level Bafis on which Ye, Ameri-
can
( 69 )
can Citizens, (land -, on which Ye, Uni-
ted States of America, are built up, in a
manner that combines the perfedl poffef-
iion of the rights of the Individual, Per-
fonai liberty, and Political Freedom.
Here, United States and Ci-
tizens OF America! look back on
the peculiar blefTings, on the fpecial fa-
vours, on the fingular happinefs, in which
Providence hath been pleafed to eftablifti
your Syftem j to which he hath feemed to
feledt you, as a chofen people, in a New
World, feparate and removed far from
the regions and wretched Politics of the
Old one, Confider this well, not only in
the confcious feel of the happinefs which
you yourfelves enjoy, and which it is
your Duty to deliver unabated over to
your Children ; but in the fincere fenfe of
gratitude which Heaven demands of you.
Manifeil this in the conducft and Admi-
niftration of your Sovereign Powers,
while you eftablifh, as conftitutional
maxims in practice, thofe Truths which
form
( 7° )
form the principles of your Syftem.—
Serendi Su?it Mores,~-\ do not here
mean a new cultivation : for the Man-
ners and Spirit of the Americans have
been, uniformly, what juft fuch a ftate,
fuch a Syftem of Things would infpire ;
and their political Charadler, juft that ha-
bit of Condadl which is conform to it :
a charader, which looks to rights of per-
fed freedom as the fir ft objed; and end of
man as a Citizen ; that eftimates all men
as equals ; and is no refpedter of perfons,
but according to their place in thofe or-
ders and fubordinations which the State
gives, and which therefore refpeds the of-
fice, not the man : a character that knows
how to eftimate the Majefty of the Peo-
ple, and the Imperium of the State; and
honours and obeys it for real confcience
fake ; a character by which each indivi-
dual confiders himfelf as a * Participant
with his fellow Citizens, and a Commu-
* Ad participandum alium aballo, communicant
dumqi inter omiies. Cicero dc Leg. Lib. i. § ii.
nicant
( 71 )
nicant in the Whole ; and therefore feels,
as a rdf-confcious feel, an unafFedled,
inartificial, natural Love for his Country,
combined with a prompt and ardent zeal
for its Service. It is this fpirit and this
Character, which hath wrought You up
to the independent Free Sovereigns which
you now are. When, therefore, this
Memorial prefumes to advance this pro-
pofition, Serendifunt Mores^ it means that
the fame Culture of Political CharaBer
be regularly continued ; that the fame
Senfe of Your Syftem, the Same Spirit of
Liberty, the fame manners may remain
unabated, unaltered, undepraved, to form
and animate the fame Character ^ for on
Cuiloms and manners, more than on
Laws and Imperium, depends the fate,
the fortune, and the exiftence of a State.
And may this, many ages yet to come,
not only be faid of You, but be true,
which Ennius faid of Rome :
• Moribus antiquis Res ftat Romana, Virifq;
• It is impoflible that the import of the truth
and wifdom of this propofuion can be too ftrongly
imprefled
( 72 )
That, thus founded in Nature, and thus
built up in Truth, Your States fhould
arife to Independence and Sovereignty in
the very fpirit of Political Freedom j that,
under a fyflem fo entirely nevyr upon
impreflcd on the mind of a free Citizen of America;
and left the quotation of it above fhould not make
a fufficient impreflion, I cannot but here infert — Ci-
cero's Commentary on it. — Quem quidcm lUe [Jin-
nius] verfum, ve! brevitate vel veritate, tanquam ex
oraculo mihi quodam efle effatus videtur. Nam
neqjViri, nifi ita morata Civitas fuiflet, neq; Mores,
nifi hi Viri prxfuiiTent, aut fundare, aut tarn diu
tenere potuifTent tantam,& tam longe lateq imperan-
tem Rempub. Itaq; ante noftram memoriam, Si mos
ipfe patrius praeftantes Viros adhiH Sat, & veterem
morem ac majorum Knftituta retinc ut excellentes
Viri. Noftra vera aetas cum rempublicam ficut pic-
turam accipiflet egregiam, fed jam evanefcentem ve-
tuftate, non modo earn coloribus iifdem, quibus fue-
rat.. renovare neglexit, fed ne id quidem curavit, ut
formam falcem ejus, & extrema tanquam lineamenta
fervaret. Quid enim manet ex antiquis moribus,
quibus ille dixit Rem ftare Romanam ? Qiios ita ob-
livione obfoletos videmus, ut non modo no.i colan-
tur, fed etiam ignorantur. Num de Viris quid di-
cam ? Mores enim ipfi interierunt Virorum pcnuria.
Cujus tanti Mali non modo reddenda Ratio .,obis,
fed etiam tanquam Reis capitis quodanmudo di-
cenda caufa eft. Noftris enim Vitiis, non cafu ali-
quo, Rempublicam verbis retinemus, reapfa vero
jampridem amifimus. Ciceronis de Repub. Lib. v.
Fragm.
Earth,
( 73 )
Earth, your improvement (hould conti-
nually fo expand; that your population
fliould fo increafe and multiply; that a
Civilizing activity, beyond vi^hat Europe,
could ever know, fliould animate and ac-
tuate your progreflion ; that your com-
mercial and Naval power fliould be found
adive in almoft every quarter of the Globe;
that your Military power fliould be equal
to the defence, and your political wifdom
adequate to the eflabliflmient of your So-
vereignty, is and was but a natural Confe-
quence in the ordinary train of Caufes and
EfFedls. It was due and juft to you thus
to ftate You to the Sovereigns of Europe ;
and there was no advice fo good could be
given to them, as the Stating of thisfitn-
pie FaBt fo little under flood in the Old
World. The Memorial addrefllid to thefe
Sovereigns ftated it without refer ve or dif-
guife. This truth was at firft treated as
unintelligible fpeculation. It was unfa-
fliiionable ; it was negleded where it was
not rejeifted, but in general it was rejtdcd
as inadmiffiblc : by degrees it entered into
L the
( 74 )
the rcafonlng of many an individual j and
when it was in various tranflations expand-
ed in Europe, it was found infenfibly to
have mixed itfelf with the fentiments of
many a Statefman, and at length reached
the ear and penetrated the heart of fome
Sovereigns — laftly, thofe of the Minifters
and Sovereign of Great-Britain, This
truth, which had been for fome years con-
fidered as a Propofition not to be liftened
to, not to be fuffered to be mentioned j for
the enouncing of which (although *in the
line of his duty) the Author was called, by
the Wife Men of the Briti(h Cabinet, a
Wild Matiy unfit to be employed 5 yet
this Truth became, in about a year and
a half, demonftration not to be refifted,
and an univerfal idea of Europe. Magna
eft vis veritatis, & pravaluit. Great- Bri-
tain reaped the fruits of the wifdom of its
minifters j and Truth and Right were efta-
blirtied in peace,
* In his Speeches in Parliament, on December s,
1777, and March 17, 1783, wherein he recom-
mended the making a Foederal Treaty with America.
This
( 11 )
This Memorial will now proceed to
ftate the Syftem of America fo far as re-
lates to the formation and conftitution of
the General Government of the Confede-
rated Sovereignty of America. * " Nequc
** prorfus difiidere debeo, quin poflim de
*' hac re fortafle, non imperite nee in-
" utiliter diffcrere ; utpote qui longa -f*
** experientia edodus, & per tot munerum
♦ Bacon de augmentis Scientiarum. Lib. iii. Cap. 8.
t Efpecially in this point of Policy, the grounds
and reafons, the ways and means, of Union and
Confederation between States, fuch as the Free
ones of America.
This Memorialift was at the Congrefs at Albany
in I754> and cognizant both of the meafures and
the reafons of the meafures adopted there.
He, as a Commiflioner from the Province, now
the State Maflachuflett'sbay, in 1755, negotiated
with New- York, New-Jerfey, and Pennfylvania, the
Confederated expedition, in union with New Eng-
land, againft Crown Point ; and Succeeded.
And, laktiy, when he was Governor of MafTa-
chufett's-bay, he formed, in 1758, a Plan of an
Union of the Provinces, Colonies, and Plantations,
of New-England, for their mutual Proted^ion and
Defence agamft the Common Enemy, which was
adtually concerted and fettled by Commiflioners
from MaflachuflTetc's-bay, and the Commiflioners
of the Colony of Connecticut, convened at Bolton :
L 2 to
C(
«c
( 76 )
• ?c honorum gradus ad ampliiUmum
[Colonianim] Mdgiflratum eve«5lus fu-
crim, tundcmq; magiftratum per annos
*' qucfdam gefferim."
The Memorial hath explained in what
manner and by what principles the Syftem
ot Amcr'ca ftands on the natural bads of
a Rep!i.blic. The delciibing how it is
built up in its Frame in conformity to this
foundation, is coming to the point oiCoft-
ftitiition.
The People at large in the multitude
ai" in a natural incapacity of excrcifing
their Reafoning powers j and very incon-
veniently fi':uated and circutnftanced to
give by every Individual their Judgment
and Refult. There is no regular way of
coDefting the wifdom and fenfe of the
People as a Community, but by fome
delegated n prefentation, to fuch numbers
as may be in a capacity of Reafoning and
to vhich the Province New-IIamp(h're, the Co-
lony RhoJe-lfland, aiul Pinvidence Plantation,
were invited to accede. The change of Men
and Mtafurc in the Military C'^mmand in Ameri-
ca which took place that year, rendered this mea-
furc unncceiiary, and it was laid afide.
Debate i
( 77 )
Debate ; * and no means (fome caics ex-
cepted) of colleding the fenfe of the
whole, but by delegation of power to a
part to give the diflent or confent for the
whole. If the People, as in America, are
in the full and perfect ufe and enjoyment
of their equal Liberty, they will, as in the
ordinary procefs of their operations, form
their own adlual Reprefensition ; they
will naturally find out where the wifdom
of the Community lies, and will delegate
their power of reafon and debate to that
part. They will find out almoft me-
chanically to whom and in what man-
ner they may delegate the power of giving
their Diflent or Confent, and of convert-
ing the Wifdom of the State into the Law
of the Land.
This is the A5tual State of America.
The Uoiverfal fenfe of th". ^eople is col-
lected, and operates in Debate and Refuit
on the univerfal intereft of the People,
♦ A Popular Afltmbly, rightly ordered, brings
I'p every one in hi: turn to give the Refuit of
the whole People. Hurrin^tons Syftem of Politics.
>, V. 24.
• This
( 78 )
This is the exiftence by nature, and in
fadl of a republic, Refpitblica eft Res Po-
fuli. Populus autem non omnis CcEtus
multitudinis, ltd Coeius juris conknfu,
& utilitatis coinmunione fotiatus.
Exadiy as tlie feveral feparate States
are formed on this Syltem and by thelb
principles, fo is the general Confederatioa
by the ^llabliiLnicat and Conditution of
its Government. The Reaion of the
^*^hole is dclegattd to, and the Wifdom of
the whole is concentered ii\ the Congrefs.
And this Inilitution arifes from thofe prin»
ciples, and by thofe operations, which ac-
tuate a Free Republic : The Liberty of
the People, manifefted by the fcnk of the
whole^ coincides, co-operates, and exifts
in it. Neither the opinions of afliiming
Leaders, nor the intrigues of caballing
Fadions, will be found there, or at lead
will not furvive a moment. The Senfe
of the whole is what muft predominate,
actuate, and govern throughout^ in all opi-
nions, in all meafures of e.^ed: and per-
manency. In Great Biitain, where the
Members
t*>
( 79 )
Members of Parliament do not come to-
gether as reprefenting the Senfe and rea-
foning of the People at large ; they muft
have fome time to form their own opinion.
A certain leading Judgment does this for
them J and as often as this leading judg-
ment changes its opinion, thefe Mem-
bers, or a majority of them, will be found
to have changed their opinion in all cx-
treams of contraries. This inftability hath,
and will ever attend them, although
members of a permanent Body ; while
the Congrefs, an annual inftitution, con-
lifling of many new Members at every
re-eledtion, hath in its opinions, its refo-
lutions and meaOjres, manifefted a degree
of united firmnefs, a continued uniformity
in opinion, and unalterable perfeverance
in a Svftem of wife and effedive mea-
fares. The true and real reafon of this
is, that this Syftem was the decided, de-
termined opinion of the Body of the
People, whom thole Members of Con-
grefs really reprefented* Experience has
confirmed what Wifdom faw before, that
there
1
. 1
( 80 )
there could not be a meafure more furely
grounded than this Inftitution by which
the Confederation ads in Congrefs. If it
be viewed arifing from the adtual State of
things and Men, and by the natural ener-
gy thereof, it will be feen that there could
not be a meafure more judicioufly, more
politically conflituted, to aduate the rea-
fon, to coUeft the Wifdom of the Union,
and to bring it forward into ad:ion.
Tlicre cannot b- a flronger proof of the
Temper, Prudence, and afTured confi-
dence, which the People have in the
foundation of their Liberties, than the en-
trufting ill delegation the great and ex-
tenfive Powers with which they have in-
verted Congrefs j nor can there be in any
Rulers a greater Merit with the People,
than the Spirited yet cautious, the Libe-
ral yet guarded Ufe that thefe Members
of Congrefo have made of them.
The ordinary mode of adminiftration
into which General Councils diftribute
themfelves, is, by the Members divid-
ing themfelves in fevcral Chambers or
Boards,
( 8i )
Boards, according to the feveral branches
of bufinefs to be done, and erecting theTe
into feparate Offices. The Deputies of the
States of the Belgic United Provinces form-
ed themfelves into three Councils j the
Council called the States-General, the
Council of State, and the Chamber of
Accounts. The Command of the Army
and Navy, which might have divided them
into two more departments, were veiled
in the Counts or Stadtholder of each
Province, as Captain General and Ad-
miral. Thefe Offices always have either
too little or too much power, and are,
in the one extreme, inefficient to the pur-
pofe of adminirtrative power ; or, m the
other, form dangerous precedents againd
the equal balance of power in the Confti-
tution of a Republic j or create diftra(5l;ion
oppolition, and interfering obilrudicn, in
the Commiffions and other delegated
powers which ad under each department.
The Adminiftration of the bufinefs of the
Government of Great- Britain by fuch
Boards, gives daily proof of this. The
Prudence, Experience, and Wifdom of
M Congrefs^
( S2 )
CongTefs, have avoided tlie forming of any
fuch OtHces, Boards, or Chambers : They
froiJi time to time appoint inch Com-
mitce% with fiich power?, as the emer-
gent cafe may require j or fuch flaiiding
Comniittces as a permanent courle of Af-
fairs in any one line may render neceflary,
vvhlcli Committees, while they continue,
m:iv apply to Congreis from time to time
lor fuch further powers as may become
jieceJlary. This application will give Con-
grels a proper opportunity of revifing tlie
bulincfs, and of confidcring, whether they
will grant further powers, or whether tlie
bulincfs doth not become of fuch Import-
Jince as that they rtiould take it into their
own cognizance and management. This
is a m,uch wiilr mode of cafting tlie bu-
fmefs of an Adminiftration of a Repub-
lic. It is, indeed, a hne of condud that
k peculiar to, and diftinguilhes the wif-
dom of, Congrefs.
The Metnoriaiifl: takes now the liberty
which, as a Citizen o( the World, he feels
]>€ hxUh in him» that of ;;iving his opinion
even
IIS
at
rty
ion
fen
C "3 )
even Vv'hcrc he prefumes to doubt upon
any incafure of Congrefs. By the fifth
fl'cltion of the tinhth Article of the Con-
fcdcnition, ** the States aHcmbled in Con-
'' grefs (hall have authority to appoint a
*' C'.}niniittee of the Staterfoyf/ hi ibe re-
** ccfs rf Congrefs*' Experience is derived
from comparing one nicafure and its con-
ieqiienccs with anatlier, that being firailar
may have fimilar confequeiices. *' The
*' States General" (faith Sir William Tem-
ple, in his Treatife on the Conftitution of
the Bclgic Union) ** ufed to be convoked
*' by the Council of State ; but the Pro-
** vinces and their Delegates, growing
" jealous of that power, perhaps from a
** mifullr of it, formed an Ordinary Council
** allied tbc iStatcs General, which is only
** a reprcjcntation of the States General,
*' though always called by that name. The •
•* Real Whole Body of the States General
*' ne'-jer fits-, this fo called fits continually."
Compare this Cafe to that of the Ccnu
mittee of States fitting in the Recejs of
Congrefs. Does it not feem, from this ex-
ample, if rightly underftood and rightly
M 2 applied.
Tf f
( 84 )
applied, that fome caution is neceflary, left
the Committee of the States fitting in the
recejs of Congrefs, the reprefentative of a
reprefentation, fliould in ordinary fuper-
fede Congrefs ? And docs not the occa-
fion of appointing fuch a Committee arife
from a defedt, namely, tliat of providing for
the Adminiftrative part of Government ?
The obfervation, which the Memorial
is led next to make, requires much apo-
logy ; and is made with all deference to
the wifdom of Congrefs; and the Mcmo-
rialift confides in the candour of the Sove-
reigns of America, that they will not be
offended, if he aflumes in this point no
more liberty than he did in his addrefs to
the Sovereigns of Europe. The Memo-
rialift, perfuaded of the truth of his opi-
nion on the matter, as he conceives it to
lie, and yet differing fo diredtly from a de-
cided opinion and meifure of Congrefs,
fears that he does not rightly or perfedly
underftand the cafe. Coliedting, however,
his ideas from the Act of Confederation,
he cannot but think, that fuflicient and
adequate provifion is not made for the
Repre-
ife
( 85 )
Reprefentlng of the Majesty of the
People, the Sovereignty of the
United States ; nor for the efficient
Adminiftration of the intereft; and powers
of the Confederation as a General Govern-
ment. From fome lingering doubt of
themfclves, from fome excefs of diflrufl
in men, from fome defeft in that alTured
confidence, which a People, founded in
political freedom, and built up to Sove-
reignty, ought to have in their Syflem,
they fcem (at leaft fo it appears to the
Memorial id) to have been afraid to efla-
biirti a Supreme Magiflracy, to give efi'edl
to, and to carry into execution, in a con-
tinued courfe of Adminiftration, the re-
folves, orders, and meafures of Congrefs.
And yet thfir whole fyftem, the forms of
bufinefs, the procedure of the operations
of the rcfpedive States, and the circum-
ftances in which the American people at
large found themfclves at the time of the
late Revolution, led as naturally to fome
fuch eftablifliment j as the byflem and
Circumflances of the Roman People,
when
'J :
v t i
i
( 86 )
when they drove out their King, and abo-
liflied perfonal Domination, led to the
eftablifhing of the Adminiftrative, Execu-
tive Magidracy in annual Confuls.
Previous to the reafoning in which the
Memorial now proceeds to recommend
the mixture of Monarchical Jorms of of-
fice in the Adminiftrative branch of Ma-
gillracy, it may be proper to avow and de-
clare the Memorialift's opinion of Govern-
ment by a Monarch, claiming any perfo-
nal right of Impcriiim over the State and
People as his Dominion in property j it
is a proper caution ; that he may not be
miftaken, or even fufpeded, when his
ideas and words go only to that mo-
narchical Magiftra»'e,who merely as an of-
ficial temporary refponfible Officer admi-
nilkrs, in rotation, the Res Popiili, the
Commonwealth j as though he had a drift,
by a fuppofitious meafurCjto lay the ground
for the Rciloration of Monarchy. The
Words of Mr. Harrington will beft ex-
prefsit: "- I could never be perfuaded,
*' but that it was more happy for a people
** to be difpofcd of by a number of per-
fon
((
( 8/ )
Tons jointly intercfted and concerned
** with them, than to be numbered as the
*' Herd and inheritance of One, to whole
** lufl: and madnefs they were abfolutely
" fubjed : and that any Man, even of the
** weakefl reafon and generoliiy, would
** not rather chufe for his habitation that
" Spot of Earth, where there was accefs
** to Honour by Virtue, and where no
** Worth could be .excluded, rather than
*' that where all advancement fhould pro-
** ceed from the Will of one fcarcely hear-
" ing and feeing with his own organs,
*' and gained for the mofl part by means
" lewd nnd indiredlj and ail this in the
** end to amount to nothing elfe than a
** more Iplendid and dangerous flavery."
Although this be the op*,iion of the Me-
morialitt, the Memorial ^ ill not prefume
to proceed ;n its opinions, bur unJer the
reafoning of that genuine Patriot and de-
cided Republican, Brptus, as contained
iii the advice which he p'ave to the Ro-
man People at the Crifis o(^ their revolu-
tion from Monarchy to a Commonwealth.
** The
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'^
kS •
( 88 )
" The firfl effential bufinels" * (faith
this Great Man) ** is to fet ourrdves .
** quite clear and rid of the Monarch, fo
** as to leave no doubts, no hopes, fo as
*' to rifque no danger of our falling back .
" to that Syftem of Tyranny in perfonal .,
" domination. This fteo fecured : , we .
** (hall at our eafe and leifure be Free to ,
" make fuch alterations and correction in
** the Office, as may be found fafeft and ,
** bed for the future adminiftration of „
" our Republic ; by a Magiftracy of a
** different inftitution, executing the ne- ,,
** ceflary powers of this Branch of Go-
•* vernment, altered, correded, limited, ,
*' controuled, and refponfible at the i^x- .,
** piration of their temporary If?iperiu?n.
** The evils which were derived upon
*' us from the Monarch, as holding and .
*' exercifing his power as of perfonal
" rights muft be immediately and radi-,
** cally taken away and removed ; and
•* the office muft be guarded againfl all ,
* Diomf. Haljcarn, Lib. iv.
'•it*J-i
poffibility
f
( 89 )
** poflibility of relapfe into Tyraiihy for
" the future. The Office itfelf (hould be
** abridged in its duration, and limited
** in Its powers, in all reference to per*
** fond prerogative 5 in every circfetiii-
•* fiance and thing which may give the
** itooft didant occafion to continued or
" Ftrfonal Government. Tlie Officer
" Of Officers, who (hall be thought the
" ptopcr ones to adminilkr this Office,
•' fhould not rcfain, even in idea or name,
*' the leaft trace of Government refiding
*' in their pcrfohs, but in the Office :
'* and that they are only the Adminijira^
** tors of a Governtnent direSied by the
" Senate f and that they aSl by the advice
" thereof y and und''r the authority of the
^^ fame. The Magiftrate or Magiftrates
^^ ^ould be eledted, and that only for a
** year^ in fucceffive rotation of Perfons.
" He then declares his decided Opinion,
»* that it (hould not be entruftcd to, nor
•* be permitted to be executed by One
'* Pcrfon, but by Two, having equal
J* concurrent Powers and Jurifdi(ftion.
'■'.•.!■
N
(C
The
i... ..!
t€
n
\
( 9° )
*• The Government, thus bipartite, will
** be a check apon itfelf ; and each Offi-
** cer muft a<3: cautioufly with reference
** to his Colleague. There will, by this
divifion of the Magi ft racy, be created
' an emulation for the obtaining the good
opinion of the People, if not in both,
'* in one at leaft, in proportion as the
•* other by his condud is lofing it.
" Laftly, and above all, the delegated
** Power which is committed to the
•• Officer or Officers who are to adminif-
*' ter and execute this Office, fhould be
" limited in time. As there is nothing fo
ftrongly prompts, teaches, and tempts a
Man to annex power to himfeif perfo-
•* nally, and to enterprife the extent of it j
** nothing which renders the Attempt fo
fafe, and perhaps at length fo necef-
fary, as diftant and incertain refponfi-
bility, as the being unlimited in the
** duration of the time for which he
" holds his power : So, on the other
*• hand, nothing fo truly and efFedlually
** forms the republican charader of the
" Officer
tt
<(
<c
«
«
( 9» )
** Officer chofcn to govern, as that he
" fhould in his perfon, and in turn of ro-«
*' tation, obey as well as command j that
** his delegated powers fhould expire as
*' foon, and at as fliort a period, as is con-
*' fiftent with efficient Governmentj and
** that, at the end of his adminiftration,
** he fhould as of courfe be refponfiblc,
** and anfwer to the People for it. Thefe
** matters thus conftituted and eftablifh-
" cd, you will not only be guarded again fl
" all perfonal Domination, againft the
** evils ariling or deriving from a Mo-
** narch; but you may, on the other hand,
** freely ufe, exercife, and enjoy, all thofe
<* advantages arifing from the prompt,
** efficient, and continued adminiftration
" of the Executive Branch through Mc^
•• narchical forms, combined with the
•* Ariftocratic and the Controul of the
** Popular Branches in the fame Com-
<* monwealth. Confidering thefe mat-
*< ters, and that the forms of your pro-
** ccedings in bufmefs have been of this
y* fort, I fhould doubt whether your pra-
: ^riy- N JJ ^ ** dencc
t ' I
( 92 )
i' dencc vi^ould at pre&ot make s^y f\x¥^
** ther alteration in your Conftitutjon *."
To this the Memorial adjqiqs the coin-
ciding opinion of one of thf trueft Patriots
and firfl Republican Statefmen of tht
World of bufinefs. -f* Cicero fays, Ref"
fit'lflic(i efi Res Populi-" Statup ^e optime
conjiituiam Rempublicam gu^ ex triffus
generibusillis, Jiegali^ Optimo, & Pofithri,
confufa efi modice, Alfo the opinion of a
fiecided Englifh Republican, Mr, Hi^r^
rington-—^* A Commonwealth cpnfifts of
!' a Senate propofing, a people rcfplving,
** and the magifiracy executing y whereby
?' partaking of the Ariftocracy in the Se-?
f * nate, of the Democracy jn the People,
* The Memorial here give?, in a free tranflation,
the Sum and purpoit, rather than the clofe tenor,
eif this Speech j rather than copying the manner, i(
gives the fpirit of this wife counlel of Brutus, on
which the Koman Republic, at its firll great revolu-^
tion war cftabliflied. The E^litor did think of put-
ting the Speech itfelf in the original, in the margin ;
^ut, pn fecond thoughts, decided that it was mere
^rifling to fill two or three pages with Greek to nq
purpofe, Thp learned reader, if he ifecls himfe|f in-
tercfte(^, lyijlrefer to it. ;•« ~ '■
+ ^ragwnt Qiftrms de Rc^ub. ^-ib, i^.
*!an4
V'
( 93 )
Hand of Monarchy in the Magiftrafy, if;
' " IS complete. Now, there being no other
^< Comnoonwealth but (his in I^tt or Na-
^^ ture, it is no wonder that the Ancient?
*f held this only to be good,'*
/ After thefe authorities, the Memor}^
alift prefumes to o^er, with all huniility
and deference, his own reafpping, ap-
plied to the prefent State of the Ameri-
can Confederation. It feems to this Me-
morialift, that, to infure to itfelf effici-
ency and permanency s to affure all other
Powers, which can have any negotiation
or alliances with it, / its having full
powers and authorities, net only to treat
and to conclude, but to carry into adual
efFed: whatever it binds itfelf to in
Treaty; the general Confederation, the
general Government, wants fomething to
infure in all cafes the Confenfus Obcdien-
V t:um of all the States, to thofc meafures,the
., carrying of which into execution depends
qn the diftind Sovereignty of each State,
The Congrcfs ^et at Albany, felt the
fau[>e difficulty, and found that in pra^-
tice
( 9+ )
ticc this fame defedl might occur. What
they as Commiflioners of fubordinate de-
pefident Provinces adopted, might fuic
them as fobjed: to a Superior paramount
Government, but can by no means be
even talked of in the c*fe of independent
Sovereigns. In conft^quencc, however,
of the Independence arid Sovereignty of
ciich State, fome thing hath appeared as
Wanting. What that fomething (hould
be, the Memorialift does not prefume,
even in his own mind, to form an idea
of, much lefs to write or fpeak of. If,
dtt any occafion, the Delegates of any par-
ticular State, being in a Minority on any
Qucftion,the State who fent thofc Delegates '
fliould think, that Cungrefs had exceeded '
the Powers with which it is inverted, or
had miftaken and not adled conform •
to them, and fhould therefore withhold
the confenfus ohedientiitm ; Political logic '
will never be wanting to give fcope to '
ftich evil. If there are no fuch Symp- '
tmnS through which Congrefe meets with
di%ultieSi if what this Memorialrft hath, •
( 95 )
fceen led to fear, and through excefs of
anxiety hath prefumed to mention as an
-Objcd of fear, is unfounded, he begs par-
don, and confides alone in the Spirit of
liberality, which animates Congrefs, for
.forgivenefs. If any fuch Symptoms have,
however latent, been felt ; the caution,
although it may be, as Demofthenes faid
to the Citizens of Athens, neither pru-
dent nor pertinent in me to mention, is,
neverthelefs, always neceffary for Tou,
United States and Citizens, to
take to your bofoms, • . . .
The Articles of Confederation mark,
that ther« are many Matters refpe^Sting
the general Intereft of the States, and
their Bufinefs, which muft be referred to
Congrefs : the Deliberation, the deciding
opinions and Refolutions upon thofe mat-r
ters, and the originating of Meafures to
be taken thereupon, muft certainly be
trufted to Congrefs, and cannot any where
elfe be fo truly and fafely trufted. Con-
grefs, however, feems to be formed on
. ihe Idea of a Senate to debate, or of a
, , ; CouncU
I*
( 96 )
Council to advife ; and there feems to be
(at lead it fo feems to this Memorialift)
a hecejjity of a diftin^ Branch 0/ MagU
Jiracyfor Adminifirdtkn : an office exe-
cuted by feme officer or officers that
£hall be refponfible to the States at larg^.
If the fame Body whofe Refult forms
tie Reafon of State ^ and hath full poWer
and authority to decide and refolve what
is right to be done in the General Govern*-
thent, is to adminiiler this reafon of
State, and to execute the meafure decided
on ; there can be no refponfibility : and
fhould even, in future depravations of
men, liich caf^s arrive, that a Majority of
fome future Congrefs (hould be devoted
to the fentiments of fome foreign Court,
The Unitei) States may be injured
within the year of that Congrefs, without
remedy: whereas, were two Confiik
(Protedors, Stadtholders, Prefidents, or
officers by any other Title) annually eled-
6d, who (hould adminifler and execute
(under the Authority and by the advice of
Congrefs) the General Buiinefs of the
tJNITEly
( 97 )
t/NiTED States, and limited In thelf
power thus only to ad^, fo as that any Ad,
not thus authorifed and advifcd, (hould
be null and void refpedrng the States, and
Criminal rcfpeding the Ading Magi-
ilrates ; the Conftderation could not be
betrayed. And if, in order to manifell:
the Authority and Legality of thefe Eye*
cuting Adminiftering Officers, it fliould be
a ncceffary accompaniment, that every
Ad (hould be counterfigncd by the Secre-
tary of Congrefs j no Pcrfons or States
whom h might concern could be deceiv-
ed. Thefe Magiftratcs, to prevent any
collufion between them and a corrupt
majority of Congrefs, ought to be held
refponfible to the States at large, fbr exe*
cuting any meafures, even though advifed
by Congrefs, if fuch meafures were
fundamentally contrary to the ConAi-
tution, o^ diredly injurious Ret Populi^
or did in any mode betray the intereft of
th6 States to foreign powers : and at the
fame time thefe Magiftratcs, that in fair
jtfftice they might be able to ad clear of
O blame
>f
■;-■•!
>
C(
C(
( 98 )
blame under this Refponfibillty, ought to
have a power, if they faw Caufe, jointly
or feparately, of fufpending their Adking,
until they could refer the matter of Doubt
to the Several States refpedively. " As
the hand of the Magiftrate vi^ould be,
by this Inflitution, the Adminiftrator of
•* the Reajon of State and the Exccu-
•* tor of the Law ; fo the head of that
** Magiftrate ought to be anfwerable to
" the People that his condudl is directed
** by that reafon of State, and his execu-
" tion conform to that Law *." Such a
Magiftrate will be in a natural incapacity
of doing wrong himfelf, and will be from
prudence and Self-fufety an efficient check
over any vtry dangerous errors or mif-
chicvous Intrigues of Congrefs. The
Memorialift does not here prefume to
Speak of the Extent or Limitation of the
Powers which ftiould be vefted in fuch
Magiftrates ; he will only fay, as an un-
controvertible truth, that they ftiould be
fiiGh as are efficient to Adminiftration and
Execution,
* Mr. Harrington.
Ir'CT .*■■
»
( 99 1
Execution. If they are not, the Inftltu-
tion is a Mockery : and if the Unmted
States and Citizens of America
hefitatc to delegate fuch to an annual
elective fucceffion of Magiftrates in rota-
tion, they have not within thcmfelves a
real grounded aflurance in the founda-
tion of their own Syftem ; they are not
perfectly confirmed and fatisfied in the
confcioufncfs of their Political Free-
dom.
The Wifdom and Authority of the
Congrefs is the concentration of the rea-
fon and powers of the feveral States ; aa
is, in like manner, each State the con-
centration of the reafon and powers of
its refpedive Citizens. The Sovereignty
and Imperium of the Magiftracy in each
State, is the concentring Reprefentativc
of the Majcfty of the People of that
State. There feems (at leaft to the ap-
prehenfion of this Memorialift) to be
wanting, in the General Government of
the Confederation, a like concentred Re-
^yefcntative of the Majefty of the People
z ^^
irA ,
f'
•1
i:^;|
1^
'
H
U
( 100 )
at large, and of the General Sovprcignty
pf the United Srates.
As Man confiflg of Pody as well w
mind i lo, in all matters with which his
political exigence is (Conne(f]ted, there
muft be an adlual office externally and
materially exifting, as the re/idence of Ma-
jefty and Sovereignty in perjonal Ex'jlence^
with which the Majefty and boyercignty
of other States may treat and act.
Jf, according to experience derived
from the Wifdom and Fortune of Rome,
The United States fhould he of opi-
nion to inftitute fuch an office, the refi-
dence of Majefty and Sovereignty^ and to
Create two equal Magiftrates with con-
current jurifdidion, as above defcribed,
fo ad nninifter and execute thefe concen-
tred Powers 5 they will, as that State
did, cloath this officer or officers with
all the enfigns pf Majefty, and aU thp
outward marks of Executive power |
with all the honours and dignities that
iliould attei^d and adorn the actual Rc-
prefentative
!t}P
( lOI )
prefentative of the Majefty of the Pcoplej
fo that its authority may be feen and
felt, a3 well as its powers obeyed, within
the General Government. They will fo
hold out the flafF, and fet up on high the
Standard of their Sovereignty to all Nations,
that its equal State may iland acl^nowledgedy
that its Fecial tights, its war eftablifhment,
the Rank of its Staff, and of its OfRcers,
may be, by decided acknowledgment of
Nations, known and avowed j that the
Refpedt due to its flag^ the Authority of
its PafTes, Letters of Mark, and the Rank
of its Fleets and Seamen, may be fettled
as of pommon and reciprocal right ; that
the fever al orders of Citizens, in this New
Republican State, may have, in perfe<ft
reciprocity, relative place and precedence
amongft the refpeSfive orders of fubjeSfs
in the feveral States of Europe 3 that its
Commerce may, in its operations and in-
terefts, enjoy full and perfect liberty, fuch
as it gives.
AH ^he Forms of Office, all proceed-
ing? in tiufinefs, all the modes of Admi-
niftration^
A
i
A
i
( 102 )
fiifiration, all the ads of Government in
the refpedtive States, when they were
Provinces and Colonies, were Monarchi-
cal, Moft of the States have preferved
the fame Forms in their refpedlive New-
ef>abli(hed Sovereign Conftitutions j nor
ar« they lefs Commonwealths or Repub-
lics for taking this mixed form ; but, as
hath been faid above, fo much the more
firmly founded in Cuftoms, Nature, and
Truth. How, then, will the General
Government be the lefs a Republic for
taking the like form, or why lefs to be
trufted with it ? May the Memorialilt,
therefore, venture to fay, United
States and Citizens of America,
confider and treat yourfelves as *what you
are-, and adt upon your Syftem as being
ischat it is : and know tbat it is that beft
of all confl:'"^uted Republics, that, in
which the Monarchical, AriRocratic, and
Popular Fcrms, are all combined in con-
cert with each other.
If any doubts, fear?, orje:iIoufie€, of the
fcftoration of the Monarch, agit-ate the
niin^s^
ih
( I03 )
ininds of the States and Citizens ; the ap-
pointment of this new-reformed office,
framed and interwoven into the Conftitu-
tion of the Commonwealth, with powers
that efficiently and to ail purpofes fulfil
and execute all the duties of the Monarchy
willj as it did at Rome, efFedlually for
ever ftifle every thought and wiffi that
could look to fuch Reftoration, and ex-
clude all poffibility of any fuch event
taking place. Had the people of Eng-
land, after the death of Charles the Firfl,
and the exile of the reft of the Royal
Family, been in a capacity of taking up
the precedent of Rome, and appointed an
annual Magiftracy — a Protestor — or two
Confuls, to execute the office of Protec-
tor or King, there never would have been
a Reftoration. But the Nation, finding
no regular, eonftitutional, Adminiftrative
Power ; but, inftead thereof, feeling the
arbitrary power of every afcendant Fac-
tion, did, under one common fympathy,
and unanimoufly, (if that expreffion can
be faid of an a6t where no concert or
• • " common
nl
h
( 104 >
common confent was taken,) revblt from
the Government in Poffeflion, and recoil
back into Monarchy, and to the Mo-^
narch. -
The only thing which can ever, in
America, create a danger of falling back
to the imagination or deiire of a Mo*
narch, will be the leaving of the General
Government defcdive, fin^ Magiftraiu Of
Imperio in the Executive Adminiilrativei
Branch, li there be not a fixed perma-
nent office, that may be the center of in-^
formation ; the Repertory and Record of
the concentred wifdom of the People,
of the Reafon of State ; that may be thte
conflant, uniform, never-cedfing fpring of
adtion in the adminiftrationr and manage*
ment of the general Intereft^ the general
government of the United Stages >
this Government muft ^ times be at a
fland, its powers fufpended, and always
liable to be inefficient. This defideratuM
will lead uncafy, un fettled, rcftlcfs minds^
to other defiderata ; and if this chain df
reafoning, or of adopting opinions^ onde
( J05 )
takes place with a people, who (liall fay
to what it may or may not train ? More
is to be apprehended from the deficiency
of this Branch of Government, than it is
poffible (hould derive from any eftabliflt«*
ment of fuch a Magiftracy, and fuch an-
nual refponfible Magiftrates, as this Me-
morial prefumes to recommend. The
Conditution of Rome was ruined by the
advantages taken in various meafures from
the want of a proper eledive Aflembly,
reprefentative of the People ; and the
creation of an -f unlimited Maglftfate, to
aduate their fa^ions. If any thing could
have faved this Conflitution, thje Office
of Conful would have faved it.
All that is here faid, refers to the Eda-
blifhment of the Empire, as to Peace and
Polity : the Con^rcfs, with a General and
Commander in Chief of thfi Army, was
fufficicnt for U^ar — * Sed in pofterumfir*
manda Refpublica, non armis modo^ neg; ad*
"verfum Hoftes,fedy quod multo majuSf muU
ibp ajyerius eji^ bonis Pads artibus.
The Memorial here clofcs what it hath
f The Tfibunfe.
* Salluf( ad Caikrem.
P pre-
■i:
i
( io6 )
prefumcd to advance upon the nwttcr of
Conftitution ; and quoting an opinion of
Mr. Hume, namely, ** That Legiflators
•* ought not to truft the future Govcrn-
*• ment of a State to Chance, but ought
** to provide a Syftem of Laws to regu-
•* late the Adminiftration of public af-
*' fairs to the lateft Pofterity," will hope
that what it hath recommended will
riiake a ferious impreflion on the minds of
the Americans in the true fcnfe of this
wife and interefting advice.
The Spirit of a right Adminiftration
muft be formed and take its fpring from
the various parts of the Syflem of the
Community and State j from the form
. and order in which the Individuals with-
in the community, and the Citizens with-
in the State, lie and are diftributed. An
Adminiftration of Government follow-
ing thefe principles, will diftinguifti the
effential unalienable rights of the Indi-
vidual, both internal, and thofe which,
being external, are communicable, and
are melted down into the Communion.
It will take care that that full right and
;i
( lo? ) .
poflcffio43, tha^ free enjoyment of proper-
ty, vfhkh the Individual is entitled toj
that thofe laws of nature which even the
eftablifhmcnt of Civil Polity does i^ot in-
terfere in, and which, ther-efore, .remain
in the right of the Individual, are not
clogged, abated, or ohftrudted, by any of
thofe perverted conditions which the Go-
vernments of the OU World have too ge-
njerally adopted, . '
The Spirit of the; American will, as
. it hath done, continue to provide for a
full, e(jual,unobftrudted, adequate Repre-
sentation, actuating both Debate and
Rcfult, by which the wifdom of the Ge-
neral Comnaunity may be concentred ;
by which the Scnfe, both in cpnfent and
diflent^ of the whole, may be regularly
GoUcdtcd. It will always provide, as it
. hath done, for an uniform equable rota-
• tion of Obedience and Command. —
•V Ntque fiilum iis prafcribendus eft Impe-
randi, fed etiam Civibus obtemperandi Mo^
. du^» Nam et qui bsn^ imperat, paruerit
aJigua-ndet. neceje eft ; et qui modejt} paref,
^deiiaiur, qui aiiquando imperety dignus
P 2.
e e.
m
( 'o8 )
eje, ltaq\ oportet ut eum^ qui pant, J^e-
rare fe aliqm tempore imperaturum j et il-
ium, gut imperat, cogitare Arevi tempore
fibi ejje parendumy Cicerp dc I/Cgibus,
Lib, iii. § 2.
This mcafurc of location of Office,
and refponfibility at the going out of Of-
fice, is of the eflcnce of a real Republic.
T he State arifing from, and being built
up in, that Spirit of genuine Liberty,
which animates the New World, not in
the partial political one of the Old World,
which hath a thoufand diftin^^ns and
cxclufions of Nations, Provinces, even
Colours of the human Species \ the
United States and Citizens of
America, whofc Syftfm is founded on
a Law of Nations that coincides with the
Law of Nature^ will find it juft and right,
true in politics, to inflitute fome mode,
by which the Slaves, whom Providence
hath fuffcred to come under their domi-
nation, may work out, by proper means
and in fuitablc time, their Liberty 5 by
incans which may not injure the proper-
ty of the Maftcf-owncrs, ani which may
'/
( 109 )
fender the Slaves better and more zet*
lous fervants, while their Slavery rc«
mains, Thefe unhappy People, enacrg-
ing to liberty, under certain limitations,,
will become, what the American com-
munity moft wants, a beneficial Supply
of Labourers, Farmers upon rent, Me-
chanics and Manufa^urers. Perhaps,
in order to throw them into thefe clalTes,
as well as for other reafons, it may be
thought one of the proper limitations, to
C3£<Side the coloured Liberti from a ca-
pacity of having or holding any landed
Property, other than as Tenants. The
Memorialift has his ideas as to the means
of carrying this meafure into execution.
If the States (hould difapprove the mea-
fure itfelf, the mention of them would
become improper. If it fhould pleafe
God to put it into their hearts, to rea-
fon, that, while they feel their obliga-
tions to his Providence for eftablifhment
of their own liberty, they ought to think
it a duty required of them to open and
extend thisblcfling ta their fellow crea-
turesi
^ ':•'■
[ no ]
lures i they would be mailers of much better
ways and means than the MemcmliA
could AiggefV, each State adopting by
their own legislature £uch as were foited
to theif refpedtive peculiar circumftances.
As the United St ates in the New
World have no landed Qcrg}', no Church
EftahliJJment^ as the Religion of the
State or the General Government; and as
this is a matter {o foreign and incom-
prchenfiblc to common Politicians of the
Old World i more than ordinary ;atten-
ticn becomes due to the grounds of
the Sandlion cf Oaths. It will be wife
to review the Inllittttioosby which Oaths
are applied to the interior proceedings
cf Government ; it will be neoctflary that
ForcigR powers fliould ti«derftand the
Grounds of thefe Sandlions, both di-
vine and human, by which the obliga-
tion of oaths in America $ands bound
and devoted.
.Although the Modes of Faiili, and
Fafhions of Ceremonies in the Religion-
4^(Ame^ica^ are left a$ i^difFerent and
irrelevant*.
( 1" )
irrelevant, either to the true Effence of
Religion, or to the Conftitution of the
State ; yet there is no Country or Re-
gion on the Earth, where a real fincere
confcientious fenfe of the divine truths
rcfpeding the Supreme Being, and the
difpenfations of his providence here, and
in a future State of Rewards and punifli-
ments, are in Spirit and truth fo generally
imprcfled on the mind and Charader of
the Inhabitants 5 and the States, each
within its own jurifdidlion, do require of
every Citizen, * upon the fame Prin-
ciples
• It may not be amifs to give an inftancc or
two of thi^; firft, as it was conceived hy thofe
States of tjie Old World who were under the dark-
nefs of the Falfe Religion ; and, next, of the ge-
reral manner in which the American States take up
this neceflary claim on their Citizens. — Si igitur hoc*
a principto perfuafum CivibuSy Dominos ejfe omnium
rcurn ac moderator es Dees : taq\ qua gerantur ear urn
geri ditioney ac numiney eofdemq optime de getters ho-
tninum mereri : et S^ualii quijq\ fity quid agaty quid
in fe admittaty qua mentey qua pietate colut religionHy
intueriy plorumq; etim piorum habere rationem. • —
Utiles ejj'e autem optniones hasy quls ne^ety cum intel-
ligat quam multa jirmentur jurejurando j ^avta
Salut'is Jint Fcederum religiones j quam multos divlm
jhppiicii metus a fcelere revocarity quamq; fundla fit
Soci£ta$
( i'2 )
ciples that all other States have done,
fome open tedimony and overt ^ 1 of his
religious chara^cr. There is, therefore^
the fame grounds of the Sanation of an
oath in the mind aid confcience of man
towards God, in America, as in any other
Country ; and, indeed, ground more af-
furedly to be reded upon, where the re-
ligion, being that of the mind and heart, is
free in Spirit and Truth, than where it is
made
Sffcietas avium inter ip/os, Diis immoftalibus inttr-'
pofttis turn Judicibus turn Tiffiibus.^^Cicero de RepUb.
L. ii. § 7.
See next how the States of America take up this
idea, and make it one of the fundamentals of theif
Syftem. I will take my inftance from the State
MaiTachufett's bay ; which fhows, thftU althouch
that Commonwealth admits no Churcr eftablifh-,
ment, yet it confiders Religion as the fuikdamehtaf
principle of a State.— — ** It is riaht, as well as the
Duty of all Men in Society, publicly afid at ftated
feafons to worihip the Supreme Beine.— — As /A#
happinefs of a people, znd the good $rder and prefervation
of the Civil Government, eflJJntially depend upon
riety. Religion, and Morality i and as thefe cannot
be generally diflufed through a Community, but
by the Inftitution of the Public Worfliip of God,
and of public inftruditions in piety. Religion, and'
morality ; therefore, to promote their happinefs,;
and to fecure the good' order and prefervation of
their Governmenc, the People of this Coinmon-
v^eakh'
( >'3 )
friade up of externals forced by feflaWifTi-
tnent into pradice, which becomes little
better than either mechanical habit, or
hypocrify. Again j where Men accul-
tom themfelves to ufe in common convef-
fation the forms of oaths by appeals to God
for the truth of their Condiidt or of their
. . afie-
Wcalth have a ri^ht to invcd their Legiflature v/Ith
power to authoriCe and rtcpiire, and the Legiflature
(hall, trom time to time, autlioriie and require, the
feveral Towns, PariOic?, IVfcinds, and other Ho-
dies politic, or relljrious iS'ciecies, to make luitable
provifion, at their own cxpcncc, for the iwftitution
of the public worfhip of God, and for the fnpporc
and maintenance of public Proteflant Teachers of
Piety, Religion, and Morality, in all cafes wher&
fuch provifion fhall not be niaJc voluntarily,'
* And the People have a right to ('and do) invert
their Legiflature with authoiity to enjoin upon AU
the Subjetfts an attendance upon the inftrucSlions of
public 1 eachers as aforefaid, at; ftated times and fea-
ibns, if there- be any on whofe inflrudlions they caa
confcientioufly and conveniently attend.'
•Provided, notwithftandingjthat the feveralTowns,
Parifrii, Precin6ls,andother Bodies politic, or reli-
gious Societies, (hall at all times have the exclufive
right of cleding their public teachers, and of con-
tra(%ng with them for their fupport and mainte-
nance.'
* And all monies paid by the Subject to the fupport
of public Wcrlhip, and of the public teachings
aforefaid, fh all, if he C.that is, any Individi^l, or
in n,' '■ . ■ Q_, number
i
'(*.■
i\
[
( IH )
affevtratlons ; or where, in the like pro-
fane habit, they do, as it were by a kind
of voiive ordcaJy call down upon them-
felves the vengeance and the curfes which
God is fuppofed to pour down on the
headsof the perjured : in fuch countries^
and with fuch habits and charadters, there
will no* be that religious Senfe of the fo-
lemn Sandion of an oath, as in America,
v/here this profane habit hath not yet per-
vaded the general manners of the people*
An Oath is, as Cicero * defines it, jif-
Jirmatio religiofay Dbo tejie. This being
number of Individuals] requires it, be uniformly
applied to the fupport of the public Teacher or
Teachers of hi? own religious Sedl or denomination,
provided there he any on whofe inftrucftiono he at-
tends i otherwife it may be paid towards the fupport
c/f the Teacher or Teachers of the Parilh or Precinct
in which the faid i.ionies are raifed.*
*And every Denomination ofChriftians, demean-
ing themfclves peaceably, and as good /ubjefts of
the Commonwealth, fliali be equally under the pro*
teition nf the Law ; and no fubordination of any
one feet to another fliall ever be eftablifhed by Law.
— This inftitution, mutatis mutandis, will fuit the
religious part of every ftate in America,
» DeOff. Lib.iii. §19.
( "5 )
fo (blemn an appeal to religion as ouglit
not to be pernaitted to be violated without
the temporal refcntment of Civil Society -,
all States have annexed fevere temporal
pains and penalties to this daring breach
of faith, pledged under the vi^itneffing
Eye and Sandion of Heaven. The Sanc-
tions of an Oath are by thefe means of
two kinds: Perjurii poena Divina Exitiumj
Humana Dedecus. Cicero de Leg. Lib,
ii. § 9.
If there is not in a People a confcien-
tious habitual fenfe of the foperintending
Providence of the Supreme Being, the
poena J^hiiMy with the Man or Men
who wan^ this Senfe of duty towards God,
will become a mockery and an enfnaring
falfe pretence to confidence ; and the
adding a^i oath, under this callous State of
confcience, mui^ operate as fuch a fnare,
without infuring truth or right. Nay, even
forther ; vi^here iSe proper fenfe of re-
ligion remains, if the divine Sanftion oC
Qaths is appl'cd in trivial cafes, or toa
Qa prefumptupqlt]^
( I'fi )
prefumptuoufly recurred to in matters of
doubtful temptation, or even made too
common on more fer ious occafions — or is
tendered as a form of courfe in the ordi-
nary occurrences of bufmefs, — it will be-
come prophanedf firft negleded, and
finally contemned. This Error hath been
invariably fallen into by all the Govern-
nients of the Old World, hath invariably
produced the fame evil, hath been felt in
all, complained of, but never redrefled.
It is a common and repeated remark
with Hiftofiuns, when they compare the
corruptions of later with the puritv of for-
mer times, to mark this lof^ of the Divine
3andlion of oaths. * I^ivy, fpeaking of
a tranfadion, wherein ;he Tribunes aim-
ed, by a cafuiftical diftindion, to abfolve
the people from their oaths, fays, Sednon-
dum bxC, qu(2 nunc tenet Scecula, neglir
gentia Deiim 'venerate nee interpretando
fibiy ^^ifj\ jusjurandum & Leges aptas
fadehai^ fed Juos polius mores ad ea ac-
* Lib. ill. ^ 30.
commodate
t ■"
of
( i'7 )
commodate The Memorial here recurring
to its leading propofition. That, as the A-
mericans are founded on, and built up in,
quite a new Syjiem in a New World, by
themfelves, are not only at 'iberty, but, in
the natural courfe of their operations,
piuft: be led to take their meafures from
nature and truth, and not from prejudged
precedents ; whatever inftitutions they
form on any new matter or occafion will
be original ; on this pofition, the Memo-
rialifl: vehtures to proceed in the following
reafoning. As the fandions of an oath
are of two kinds, if the oalh is tendered
and taken under one only of thefe fanc-
tions, the P^na, as Cicero dcfcribes it,
will have a very different reference to the
avenging juftice of Heaven, or to tht pains
and penalties of the Civil Power. The
American Legiflators may, perhaps, makr
ingthis diftindion, be led to feparatt' thefe
two very different forts of Oaths i the
Oath taken under the Civil Sandion and
Penalties only, from that in which the P;-
V vine
{ "8 )
vine and Human Sandions are combined.
Art oath taken and made, not invoking
the prefence and atteftation of God, but
in prefence of and pledged to the Civil
Magiftrate only, under all the pains and
penalties of perjury, and, under the Sanc-
tion of thofe penalties, in cafe of perjury,
of being rendered incapable of giving tef-
tip.iony, of doing any adt, or enjoying any
fight, privilege, or thing, which requires
the intervention of an Oath, may be Suffi-
cient bond of faith in all ordinary cafes,
in all Forenfic or Commerical tranfac*
tions. T'he Oath of the higher and more
folcmn Jorm, where God is invoked as a
witnefs, wherein he is appealed to as a
Juuge, and as the diredt avenger of p:r-
iury J this folemn Oath, in which the Dir
vine SandiCii hath alfo the temporal hu-
man Sandion combined with it, rtiould
be feferved folely to the moft important
occalions of the State, either in its Fecial
and Foederal tranfadions with Foreign
Kati^ne 3 or whcxje, within their own &yf-
I*
( "9 )
tern, the Majefty of the People j the So-
vereignty of the State ; the vitality of the
Coilftitution 5 or the life of man is con-
cerned. In the tender and taking of this
oath of the higher and folemn fandtion,
every ceremony, every folemnity, fhc 'd
be ufed that can tend to imprefs a right
Senfe of the Sacred Sandlions under
which it is taken.
An inftitution of this kind, planned and
formed by the v^^ifdom of the AfTemblies
of the States, with all the provifions, dif-
tindtions, and limitations, which they will
beft know how to apply, would avoid all
thofe evils arifing from the defed: or cor^
ruption of the divine fandion of oaths;
would prcferve more facred that fandion j
and maintain its operative effed on the
minds of own longer than any State of
the Old World hath been able ever yet to
do.
This Memorial doth not prefume to re-
view the cftablilhment of the Military
P^irt of the States ; nor the form under
whjcli
( 120 )
Which the Continental Army was conftK
tuted : if it did, it could be only to fay,
that nothing could be better calculated,
nothing more wifely grounded, fo as to
harrafs the people as little as pofUble, and
yet always to be in practical promptitude^
and efficiency, to execute the very fervicc
for which it was called forth.
It declines, alfo, faying any thing on the
Naval Department, as that fubjedt fcems
to the Memorialift to require the difcuf-
fion of a previous queftion, of great im-
port either way, and a matter of deep po-
licy, of which the Memorialift is not com-
petent to judge ; namely, whether that
Force fl^ould be brought forward into force
equal to the capabilities of the Empire,
all at once^ by one great united effort ; or
be let to grow by a natural fucceflive pro-
greflion in the ordinary train of affairs ?
There are one or two points which lie
not, indeed, fo much in matter of Admi-
niflration, as in the procedure of executive
Juftice.
Thftf
.' The firft is the new mode by whjch
the States and the 'General Government
niuft define and clufs th^ Crime of Trca-
fon, and Offences againfl; the Majijtas and
the Salus Pcpuli, and the Spverei-f^nty of
the State. 1 he Governments of the lat-
ter periods of the Old World beii^g Feu-
dal, and there bei
idea of
Sovereign-
ty but of that which was Perfonal, the
Crime of Treafon was confined to overt
a<5ts committed againft this Perfonal So-
vereign ; but in the new Syftem and Con-
ftitution of the United States, the
objedt is the Statt^ not the Pcrfon. This
Crime muft be defcribed, defined, and
claflcd under its feveral degrees of crimi-
nality, according to this latter Idea. Here
the Wifdom of Congrefs and of the States
cannot ^£1 too much upon caution, can-
not too attentively, too anxioully, apply
that caution, to guard itfelf againft the
errors into which the Romans were be-
trayed, and which, under this law of
lafa Majeftas^ gave fcope to the moft
cruel engine of Tyranny.
% Thcrer
m
Vi
it -.
'0:
f if
t,'. si
( 122 )
There are not, nor ever were, in Ame-
rica, any of thofe Foreft-laws, if Laws
they can be called, which were the mere
denunciations of Tyranny and Domina-
tion ', Regulations that ruined the poor
fubjeds of the Monarchs of Europe, in
order to infure the prefcrvation of their
beafts of the Chace. This tyranny be-
came intolerable every where j in Britain
it was wrenched out of the hands of the
Monaich. If the fuppreffion of this
domination had been made under the
genuine Spuit of Liberty, the mifchief
would have ended here j but a hundred
heads of petty Tyrants fprung out of the
neck of this Hydra principle. A Syflem
of Game- Laws became eftabli(hcd in the
hands of lelTer, but more mifchievous Ty-
rants j and in their hands became fnares
round the necks, and as whips of fcor-
pions over the backs of the lefler inhabi-
tants of the land, the unqualified Yeoman-
ry and Tenantry : but the Spirit of Ame-
rica revolts againft fuch bafenefs j the very
air will not permit it 5 what is ff^iid by
Nature
^.,„.U there Gan>etl every ind^^^^^^^^^^
«ho is free h nature. There are u«v
rofccuretoeachknd.hoMer,thequ.et
. .f Ki. hnd a'-ainft real trefpafs
enjoyment of ^ '-'';;^^ ^„ g,„,./„,.
1 T triift never will, dare w
which being, as the ^^"1 ^
Governments of the W . .^^
fuchashethmkstheSyftemandPrm.p^
f .he New World will reform, he wm
of the INew j^,^j
policy, not relevant to the en ^
Live jaftice. and cor^aro^^^^^^^^
of the advantages wn.ch th ^^
, fnppoled to derive .no- ^;S^^^.
I . +"rnrYi every n^Q^^**^" ^ .^
°" ' oto'vthedebt^isapunilh-
'^'^'rrXnodiftinaionbetweea
'""•Sv'Se-isfortune. which may.
R 2.
; .1
( 12+ )
have occafioned the debt. The glaring in-
juflice of this punirtiment hath led to two
remedial Laws, the Statutes of Bankruptcy
and Statutes of Infolvency, which are
fources of endlcfs frauds. The locking-
up the debtor from all means of Labour or
Employment, is robbing the community
of the profit of that labour or employment
•which might be produced, and is making
the Debtor a burthen to his Creditor and to
the public. If any fraud or other crimi-
nality appears amongft the caufes of the
debt ; or Jf it hath been occafioned by an
undue courfe of living above the circum-
ftances of the debtor j corre<5t the vicious
follies, punifh the Fraud. But taking
the Debtor, fimply as a debtor, pity his
misfortune ; do juftice, neverthelefs, to
the Creditor. Inftead of ihutting the man
up from all means of maintenance, * in-
'■■•'•'■ deiit
• This Indenting of a Servant for a number of years,
three, four, or fe veil, as the Luropeans do apprert-
ticcs', is a pra6\ice of every day : wh.ere New-comq/s
into the Country, — I'omc pollefling large funis, in-
v.v , . . . . dent
( 125 )
c^ent him to his Creditor or Creditor^
as a bond fervant ; or where misfortune
and not criminality, put him in fome or
other way by which fome profit may be
drawn from him. If he cannot labour in
one way, he may be employed in ano-
ther ; for when obliged to it he will be-
come ufeful in fome way or other. If his
mode of labour or Rapacity for employ-
ment Ije not of immediate- ufe to his cre-
ditor, that creditor can fell his time to
fome other perfon, to whom it may be-
come fo ', the Creditor will thus, in part,
be reimburfed -, the profit (how fmall is
not here the conlideration") will not be lofl
to the Community ; and the dread of be-
ing reduced to this fervile ftate will be a
greater terror to debtors becoming fo by
fraud and criminality, than any confine-
ment in any jail whatfoever.
The Americans will excufe the Me-
morialiil., if he mentions one matter more ^
dent themfelves as Servants for three or four years,
in order to learn the bufmefs of the Country before
tlicv fettle in its Land^.
which
{
( 126 )
,Mch is. a caution againft their fair,ng
itTthlt' faife police of the Old W.^
which hatW .runaded .l,e i>ands of La-
Lr. and put fetters c. the aa..J.o^^th^^
Human B=ins-,wWch hath «xedhm to
one Spot, and. as it were, to a vegctab e
Iclii n, whom Nature meant ihould
rr locomotive, feeking h.s means o^
Uboar and employ where he could beft
Lofit of his powers and capac.t.c . He
^ c ,his as 1 e;uard againft thc.r in-
;:;:r;w;hi:fLcou!fe of Labour,
• ^ee empioyment of S-W, e>th. b/
duea resulating and F"h.b.tory laws
by partial privileges, on on han^ -
checks on the other j or by any i
r al privileges, which is a bounty
, iaienefs and deftroys all competition ,
: y 00 irn bounties, which put every
£t-rS:C-A^-cans
•European, who hasfcent^^^^^^
all thefe errors in police, n
( 127 )
there is no fuch Spirit of Police in Ame-
rica, and he thinks he may hope there
never will be.
Having thus difcufTed the Effence of
the New Syftem in the New World j the
genuine Spirit of Liberty which animates
it J the Spirit of Sovereignty that aduates
it } the equal temper of a community of
Equals which gives equable and uniform
motion to it : having examined thofe re-
lative matters which may, both internally
and externally, affedt the exiftence of this
independent Sovereign; thofe points more
particularly which are neceffary to give it
Efficiency^ and to aflure its Permanency :
Having, by a concurrent analyfis of its
actual Situation with the P-inciples of the
Syftem, fhewn how the Conftitution is
is founded on nature, and built up in
Truth i having explained (according to
the manner in which the Memorialift rea-
fons) how fome new and original inftitu-
tions of Policy ought to arife out of it :
having marked what ought to be, and
whai
( i'^ )
ivhat will be, the Reafon of State ^ thi
Spirit oj Adminiflration of fuch a free
Sovereign, lb founded and (b built up :
The Memorial will now venture, in the
words of the Prophet », for this Prophet
was as true a Patriot, as deep a Po'itician;
as he was a found Divine, to fay to the
Sovereign Government of America,
le Arife; ascend thy Lofty Seat«
2. Be cloathed with thy Strength*
3. Lift up on high a Standard to the
Nations.
Adluate your Sovereignty: exercife the
powers and Duties of your Throne. Let
the Supream Magiflrate or Magiftrates
be vifibiy ckathed with the Majefty of
the People j and feen to b'i armed with
the efficient po^vers of Adminiftration •
and conftantly attended with the rewards
and Punifliments of executive Jiiftice.
The Magiftrate vii' Magiftrates fliould not
only have all thofe powers, but be cloathed
• If-iah.
•Wh
'd
( 129 )
Ijnith tbeniy as with a Robe of StaU^
TheFafcesor other Infignia Juris etMajeP
tatis Imperii Qioulo precede this Magiftracy
in fome vifible form, whenever he or they
come forth in tlie forms of office. Thefe
arc csprciTed by the Infigr\a and Fafcet
which the Romans fixt in ttendance oa
the CoNsuts, after they hau abolifhed the
pomp and parade of their King.
It is not fufficient that the Unitki^
States feel that they are Sovereign ; it
Is not fufficient that the fehfc of this is
univerfaliy felt in America 5 it is not fuffi-
dent that they are confcioiis to thenifelves
that the PunSlum Saliens, the Source and
Spring of the Adivity of this Sovcreigri
power, is within ilxit Syrfcm : until ihe/
lift up on bigh a Stdfidard to the Nations^
It will remain ds an ab(lra<!^ idea, as a
Theory in the World at large. This
Sovereign muft come forwatd amongft the
Nation"., as afi adiv: Ejcifting Agent, a
Perfosial Being, (landing on the fame
ground as all other Perfonai Sovereigns.
s iti
i 1
( >3o )
its Powers, Commiflions, Officers Givil
and Military ; its claims to, and its exer-
cife of, the tlights of the Law of Nations,
mud have their full and free fcope la adt
and deed : wherever they come forward,
their Standard and FJag, the Enlign of
the Majefly of their Sovereignty, muft be
ereded, and its rights and privileges efla-
bliihed amongfl the Nations of the Earth;
it muft be acknowledged j refpe^ed ; and,
in all cafes whatfoever, treated as what it
is, the Adual Signal of a Sovereign Em-
pire.
The Supream • Magiftrate of this con*-
federate State when placed on the Throne
of Empire, will become animated, and
feel himfelf a<5tuated by a fenfc of Sove*
reign power ; of his being the adminifler-
ing Officer of a Free People j and the
People, confcious that they are niutuall/
* I here ufe- the word Magiftrate Ktngularly, as
meaning Magiftracy, inftead of repeatedly ufiiig
the exprefTion Magiftrate or Ma^iftraics.
^ Par-
it
|er-
ns»
adt
rd,
of
be
a-
th;
nd,
t it
( 13' )
Participants, and in common Conftituent-
Members, of this Soverr ignty, will feel a
reciprocal fenfe of the Duty of Obedience.
The Popular Branch of a State, the
People, are always found attached to thetr
ancient Government ; the Allegiance is fo
worn into habit, as to create a bome-^fenfe
of its being I'fjeir own Government : thrs
is an artificial confcience, an acquired
opinion, a fecondary principle. But when
a People feeh, that this Government is of
their own eftablifhrnent and Structure;
that the Magiftrate adminiftering is of
their own creation ; and that each one of
themfelvcs is capable in rotation of becom*-
ing that Magiftrate -, they feel diredly,
primarily, on the fad:, that this Govern-
ment is their own Imperium, and the
Duty of Obedience operates as by a fenfb
>£ Nature. ' ■
I'Sc Supream Magiftrate of this Re-»
pub.fo will feel, that the Community
meant that the Sovereignty (hould be
Efficient ; and that He is cntrufted* by the
3 9. ConfidenQQ
( 132 )
Confidence of the People fo to actuate i^.
He will aflume to his Charadter this con-
fidence. He will haye the confcioufnefs
of knowing that He is the aduating fpirilt
of the concentred Vitality of the State i
and that His firft and diredl du^y is the
preferyatjon thereof in all its fundions,
Jicalth, and efficiency. He ought to fear
nothing fo much as the doing or fuffering
any thing ti : > ly hurt the Salus Reipub,
that may dimin.ii or abate the Majefty of
the People. It is not fufHcient that his
pffice and Charad^er have refpeiSk annexed
to thetp J but He ought to acquire an
^fqendency that will command refpc^.
He ought to be cloathed with the palpable
yifible Authority and Power of the Impe^
riutn. He ought to (land above the level
of Equality ; He ought, wherever he i§
fcep, to imprefs a fenfe and an idea of
Supefiority and Eminence j He ought to,
be looked up to as the fhield of the Good,
and as the a^med avenging hand of Eyi|,
The People ought to fee, (and, if the
■^ conftitution
( 133 )
jEonftitution of the State be conform tQ
the Syftem of the Community, they will
fee,) that, as all pplitical information
centers in this office ; as the Wifdom of
the State is concentred there ; fo the
A<^ivity of the State fprings from it.
Thus Seated on the Throne of Empire*
the Supreme Magiftratc of a State formed
of a Free People, wh^re the intereft of the
Rulers and of the People coincide, or ra-
ther are the fame; the People and the
Rulers cannot have two different views of
things ; the P^ulers can have no Intereft,
no Wifh, to reprefent or to treat things
different from what they are. In a State
fo conflituted and fo arranged in its admi-
niftration, there cannot be even a tempta-
tion to deceive on the part of the Rulers;
there cannot be any ground to fufped: fuch
on the part of the People. It is only
when the Government is built up contrary
to the fundamental Syflem of the Com-^
jnunity, or, being perverted, becomes fo^
that
'..U
!Ii
( 154 )
that deceit, corruption, or violence, ca^
becdnie a meafure of State Policy. In a
J-eal Republic, which is Res Populi^ the
Prbcrflion of its conftitution, and the
tourfe of its adlions, arife from ivature
and Truth -, all Deception, all Corrupt in-
fluence, all Violence, is dircdtly contrary
to the true principles of politics. With*-
diit Truth and Juftice, a Republic cannot
te adminiftered or governed. The Su-
pream Magiftrate of fuch a free State, muft,
from the nature of his information, fee
things as they lie in Nature, "-^d will of
Courfe found his Meafures m Truth.
Truth is not only ^ virtue, but is Wif-
dom ; and, in a government of a real Re-
public, fuch as the Empire of America, is
the only Genuine Policy. It creates trufl?,
fends Union and Confidence. And, laftly,
an Adminiftration actuated by fuch prirk^
tiples and maxims, finds k(elf Qkathm
'^itk Sir&ng^h^ the unik€d ftrength of thfc
'U
%
( '35 )
People *. Where there is a right knpw^
lejdge in a Supream Magiflrate of the
Duty of adminiftering a Republic, tjbajt
Magiftratc will be above all wretched
King-craft and Canning. Such Is only
ncceffary to falfe Power, to half fpirjt,
and half fenfe. The Magi (Irate who ,a6ts
with real power, and underftands his own
iitaation and duty, will treat Perfons and
Things m what they fire : he knows ex-
aAly the line and takes- it, and difceri^s of
^ourfe the crooked one, only to avoid it.
Truth has but one plain road to take ; it
is open, apd is the beA Policy. As it
♦ This is rtot vHlonj fiich as the Statefmen of
Eprope, who are wife in their Generation of Cor.-
ruption, may call it ; it is Faft. And the Memo-
riajill feels a confcious pride that He dareappeal to the
State Maflachufett's-bay, for an Example, in a pe-
riod wherein the Rulers and the People had but one
View of thin^, butone Jinp of C»ndu6ti whereia,
more real Exertions were made for the Public Ser-
vice, than in any other Period, wherein the People
^« biEcn attempted to be ruled by the Art of Gor
vtrning^ by deception, by corrupt influence, by
iriolence.
4o.tl?
1 1
( 136 )
0th itfelf co*i^mand Nature; it will lead
A. I jpuo'-r tc command to the utmofl cx-
r^it of ii. Capacities and Powers.
That Spirit of Uniform Juftice, quee
nee funiendo irritat anitnum immanent ;
nee omnia pratermittendo^ licentid, Cives
detenores reddity is infcparably allied to
this of Truth.
The Spirit of Magnanimity, that Spirit
which never ceafes to feel that it is adting
the part of a Sovereign 6ver ai Free Peo-
ple, who Governs by Authority within
the State, and holds up his head with an
afcendant addrefs amongfl his Equals^'
other Sovereigns of the Earth, is another
conftituent part of this character,
A temper of invariable univerfal Bene-
volence, which circumfcribcs all the reft,-
and binds the Charadter into perfedt Syf-
tern, is the crown of thefe (I will call
them) political virtues.
Being thus planted in a New Syftem iti
a New Country 5 growing up under fuch
prin*
( m )
principles of Truth and Nature; efta-
blidied in fuch a Conftitution of Govern-
ment ; having in fo fhort a period been
brought forward to Independence, and be-
come Sovereigns acknowledged fo by the
Sovereigns of Europe ; all this coming
into Event by Something beyond the or-
dinary courfe of Events in human affairs,
The United States and Citizens
OF America may fay, ** // is the Lord's
** doings^** But let them remember, that
enjoying a Syftem of police that gives
adivity to their powers ; that inhabiting a
New World, a land of plenty and liberty ;
a country which hath fo many fources of
enjoyments which it offers to the Old
World — let them remember the obliga-
tions which Heaven hath thus laid on
them, and the returns which this Good-*
ncfs reclaims of them j that They refpedt
the rights and liberties of Mankind j that
by a free commerce they diffufe to the
World at large the furplus portion of thefe
T good
!.'i
I v.
[ 138 ]
good things which they mufl be continu-
ally creating in their own Wofld j that
they confider themfelves as the means in
the hands of Providence, of extending the
Civilization of human Society -, and the
Teachers, by their example, of thofe Po-
litical Truths, which are meant, not to
enllave, but to render men more free and
happy under Government. — If they take
up this Charadler within themfelves, and
hold out its operations and effeft to the
Old World, they will become a Nation to
whom all Nations will come 5 a Power
whom all the Powers of Europe will
court to Civil and Commercial Alliances j
a People to whom the Remnants of all
ruined People will fly, whom all the op-
preffed and injured of every nation will
feek to for refuge. ^The riches of the
Sea will pour in upon than ; the wealth
$f Nations muft flow in upon them ; and
|hey mufl: be a populous and Rich People.
That all thisj United States and
CiTI-
( ^39 )
Citizens of America, may tend to your
own real Good, Peace, and Liberty j that
all this may prove the natural means, un-
der the bleflings of Heaven, of General
Liberty, Peace, and Happinefs to Man-
kind, as the utmoft that Human Nature
here on earth can look to, is the ardent
wifti and anxious prayer of Your Memo-
rlalifl
T..POWNALL.
FINIS,
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