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Friends and Countrymen, WE have feen the three AddrefTes of your Congrefs, the firft of which is direded to us, the I ext to you, and the lafl to his Majefty. And wc wifh we v.ould add that we had not feen their Addrefs to the French Inhabitants of Que- bec ; becaufe it flatters them, provided they adopt the proje6ls of the Congrefs, with the proteftioii of a religion, which the Congrefs in their Addrefs to us, fay, is f'*aught with " Impiety, Bigotry, *' Pcrlecution, Murder, and Rebellion," and there- fore complain of Parliament for protefting ; and becaufe it propofes a foclal compad: with a peo- ple, whofe genius and government the Congrefs, B in ( 2 ) in their addreffes to you and us, reprefent as in- compatible with freedom. But the views intended to be compafled by the laft of thefe papers wc impute to thofc who framed it, and not to you. For to men generous and open as you arc, the integrity of whofe intentions we believe corre- fponds to our own, wc will not permit ourfclves to impute infidious views or infidious arts. We give you a generous credit becaufe wc e^ttd it from you. In our turn, we addrefs you, not as Foes ; not as Communities which would league yourfelvcs with Frenchmen againft us; not as Individuals who would conceal the hatred which you have, or ftab under pretence of the love which you have not ; but as our Friends and our Countrymen. God forbid thefc endearing appellations fliould ever be ex- changed for thofe of Enemy and Traitor : for the flame of liberty which burns in our breads we re- vere in yours : your fervices in the late wars, with the oblivion of which you reproach us, we remem- ber well: your induftry, your virtue and your piety we honour, becaufe we believe that thofe who ftand in awe of the eftimation of their own minds, and fear their God, will ieldom go far in a wrong path. We wifli we could forget, as eafily as we forgive, the two modes, by which your Congrei's propofes to difappoint the wifhes of Britain for the good of ^America j ( 3 > America ; .he one threatens War, the other a Suf- penfion of Trade. We mean not to infult you ; we wi(h not to offend you ; we know threats would be thrown out in vain to you ; they cxafpe- rate inftead of intimidating the free. But we owe to you, to ourfelves, to our holy religion, and to that fyftem of glory and liberty, involved in the united power of the Britifh empire, and to be dif- folved alone by the diflblution of its parts, and which we wilh to lad till time fhail be no more ; to give you our thoughts upon thofe two modes of oppofition with freedom and with truth. So may Heaven deal kinc'ly with us and our pofterity in the hour of need, as we mean kindnefs, and not unkindnefs to you and your pofterity, in what we are now to fay to you on thefe heads. We fpeak firft of the firft of them, to wir, the Projedt of a warlike Oppofition on your part againfl: us ; becaufe we will not conceal from you, it is the moft alarming to us, becaufe it ought to be fo to you, and yet is not. No people fituated as you are, can hope for fuccefs in war, unlefs they are pofleffcd of four things before they engage in it : fortified Towns to fecure the perfons of their people, and intercept the incurfions and advance of their enemies ; a difciplined Army to defend their lands ; a Navy to protedt their feas and rivers; and not only a great annual Revenue, but the capa- city of funding it, fo as by borrowing prefent ca- pitals on the credit of future interefts, to throw B 2 the (. 4 ) the abilities of feveral years into one. And this laft article is perhaps, in modern times, of more im- portance than all the others put together ; becaufe in modern times the fuccefs of war depends more on the longell purfe than on the longeft fword. Now you have not a fingle walled Town, nor a fingle difciplined Regiment, nor a fingle Ship of War, nor a fingle Fund on which monied men would lend you a month's expence of an armament ; and your annual Revenue is fo fmali, as hardly to de- ferve the name of one. You are EngliQimen. We appeal to that good fenfe which diftinguiflies Englifhmen. Lay caufes and efFedls, circutn- ftances and their confeqnences together. Can you hope for Succefs in fuch a war ? Succefs do we fay ! Your Deftrudlion is inevi- table. No country and people were ever fo pecu- liarly ill-fituated and circumllanced for -^ war with us, as you are at this inllant. You are to encoun- ter, after the very career of vidory, that dreadful period which, inflaming military men with the re- membrance of late glories and confidence of future fuccefs, raifes the vidors above themfelves, a vete- ran Army, lately come from carrying Conquefl: wherever it carried Colours, and a veteran Navy, lately come from fweeping the feas of all enemies, in all quarters of the globe; and to meafure your trifling revenue, not more flian feventy-flve thou- fand pounas a year, againfl: that of a nation, which has a finking fund of between two and three mil- lions ( 5 ) lions a year, and which, in the lad war, was able to expend Seventeen Millions in one year. Your Towns arc built all to the edge of deep water, fo as to be within reach not only of cannon-(hot but even of piftollhot. Your Country-houfes and Eftates lie generally on the banks of deep rivers. The molt valuable part of your Fortunes in the Southern Provinces, is compofed of flaves ready to rebel againft their maimers, or run away from them bn the appearance of an enemy. Your Coafts, by the large inlets of bays and rivers, are eadly com- manded. To give only one example, two twenty- gun fhips ftationed at the Capes of Virginia, where the fea is not more than two or three leagues over, and another in Albemarle Sound, with two or three armed floops to attend them, could lock up altogether the very befl: part of North-Carolina, and the whole of two of your noblefl: provinces, Virginia and Maryland, that is, acoaftofSix Hun- dred Miles in excent. A War with Britain mufi: expofe you to calamities from which even Demons would turn their eyes. The molt fingular fpec- tacle to be found inalltherecordsofhiftory might, in the fpace of one little fummer, or half a fummer, be exhibited in America. For in that Ihort fpace of time, in a country above two thoufand miles in extent, enriched with the beauties of art and of nature, and inhabited by a virtuous, polifhed, and free people, every Town, without the exception of one, might be reduced to alhes, by our fliips of war; all your Country-houfes and Eftates ravaged, no: ^. ■if: ( 6 ) not by the flow advances of armies, but by the rapid courfcs of the barges of thofe fliips -, or thofe Towns and Eftates if not deftroyed, laid at leaft \}S)d£iAhe moft grievous contributions ; your Slaves l^ft, or become ycur mafters ; yourfelves fled for protedion from them to the woods, or to hide you from youi* own fliame ; your Trade annihilated ; and your Veflels ahi Seamen captives in the ports of that enemy whofe rage you had provoked. Your Demagogues, now fo bold when there is no dsijnger, would then be the firft io fly from its approach; for the Valiant are modell, but the Reftlefs and Noify are always timid, — Your Spi- rit alone would be left to you : that Spirit which, judging of you by ourfelvcs, we know we cannot Conquer but by Friendfhip. Do you trufl: to Foreign Aids in fuch a confliifl ? Wc doubt not you would get them. Your and our felicity is the envy of all nations. Slaves al- ways hate the Free. Many nations will rejoice to difturb that felicity. Sad aids ! where every vic- tory of your Allies wouid remind you over whom k was gained, and remove fliill further and further from your eyes, that fweet equality, that high fl:a- tion of Englifti liberty, which you and we alone, of all human kmd, once poflcfled. Will thefe Auxiliaries conquer for you and not for themfelves ? Will the Inquifition of Spain make a Protefl:ant caufe independent? Will the Defpotifm of France cflablifliaNew Empire of Liberty, after having been • flopped li I1 ( 7 ) flopped in her career to Univerfal Monarchy, by an Old one ? Your Pofterity will blefs the memory of thofe Anceftors who fled from native tyrants, but curfc the memory of thofe who fubjedled thein to foreign ones. In the profped of fuch a ftruggle, do you feel nothing for our diftrefs ? in being obliged to pu- nifli thofe whom we pity, to crulh that Spirit, in which, amidft all its errors, we recognife our own ; and to counteract the ways of Providence, in rearing future Empires of Freemen, in future ages, pleafmg to itfclf. Unhappy we! Ungenerous you ! You abufe that tendernefs which you know we cannot throw off for you. We dwell on the repetition of the fentiment, that we feel for you, as Nurferies of Freemen, in which God and Nature are interefted, and for which to God and Nature we are refponfible. We will not attempt to harden ourfelves againft a Remorfe which we know would follow our fuccefles againft you. You need not, till a cruel extremity comes upon us, fear the fword of your Parent Country uplifted againft you. Perhaps, even then it would drop from our hands bedewed with our tears, not with your blood. The Mean amongft you know this our weaknefs, and infult it ; but from the Generous we will cxpedt a more generous return. With refpedtto the Commercial Proje(5l of Op- pofition, which ccnfifts in the refolution not to » export ( 8 ) fcxpof t or ifnport, propofed by your Congrefs, and perhaps, though not yet Ipoke out by the members of it, in refblutions not to pay the millions due by America to the Britifh merchants, which would be the confequence of the other, if the other could take effeft ; you may think that by theie means yoii may force the Mercantile Intereft to defert the Caufc of their Country, — flrip us of our Trade and Manufadures, — reduce our Weft India Iflands to mifery from the want of f rovifions,andof a market for the produce of their eftates,— and by the flop- page of the ufual Public Taxes to pay the intereft of the public debts, bring a Public Bankruptcy up- on Britain. Be not deceived in the firft of thefe profpefls. AmidfttheDifgraceof Civil Diffenfion preferve ftill National Honour, otherwife Vengeance, private as well as public, will overtake you. The Merchant whom you defraud of one part of his fortune, will not complain of being obliged to lay out another part to recover it ^ and too furely in the end you will repay his lofles with ufury. Inftead of mak- ing him defert the Caufe of his Country, the viola- tion of faith will only attach him the more firmly to it. Reft not yonropinions on the frivoloufnefs of public Petitions or Addrefles prefented by bodies of merchants. Richard Cromwell was prefTed in fix- teen hundred addrefles, to take that government upon him, which a few months after his Addr«flers tpok from him. Innumerab!: Addrefles were prefentei ( $ ) prcfentcd to James the Second, in favour of that difpenfing power, which the men who prefented them, foon after converted into a Reafon for de- throning him. If you wifli to know the fenti- ments of one of thofe mercantile Petitioners, go to his compting-hoLife, or dining-table : he will tell you he figned a Petition for you, becaufe his neighbour did it, or to hurt a minifter, or to ap- pear of importance in his bufinefs, or to keep rioters in America from plundering his effedls, or to prevent other people from becoming more po- pular in bufinefs there than himfelf. But afk him if he is fmcere, he will laugh at your credulity ; and he will have reafon : for do you think he is to prefer you to himfelf, or bear favour to thofe who would turn the ftreams of Trade from his door, and difperfe them among all neighbouring na- tions ? . But your deception will be ftill more fatal in the fecond of the profpeds which the refolutions pro- pofed by your Congrefs may open to you, namely the downfal of the trade and manufadlures of England. There are two elTential differences be- tween your fuuation and ours in the quarrel of children, which your Congrefs would draw both of us into. The firft elTential difference is, that you have no market, or hardly any market for your commodities except Britain or her dominions ; but the world is our market. Whilft our merchants have large (locks and larger credit, our people much induftry and more ingenuity, and while C mankind ( lO ) mankind have wants natural or artificial to be fup- plied, our merchants will not want commiflions, our fliips cargoes, or our manufa6turers employ- ment. The channels of trade will be changed, but they will not be dried up. The other eflential dif- ference is, that every ftoppage of your trade will be a lofs to you ; but in many articles, and thefe the moll material, the lofs will fall not upon us but upon others. For example, if you fait not your ufual quantity of filh and other provifions, becaufe you will not fend them to our Weft Indies or to England, you will not indeed have occafion for the quantity of fait which has been ufually im- ported into America -, but the lofs will fall on other countries ; for we fend you no fait. If your fouthern provinces will not take Ofnaburghs from Britain for the clothing of their (laves, nine-tenths of the lofs will fall not on us, but on Germany j for we are accuftomedtofend you only a trifling quantity of our own making. We repeat it again, we wifh not to offend, we mean not to threaten ; but fince we have mentioned thefe two articles, we muftletyou know that an Ad of Parliament which (hould pro- hibit the importation of them, and of one other article, to wit molafies, into America, would de- flate your provinces without the aid of armies or navies — if you receive no Ofnaburghs, the mod valuable part of the ilock on your eftates in the fouthern Provinces, your flaves, muft wafte away by difeafes— if you receive no fait, the moft valu- able part of your wealth in the northern, and even in fomeof your fouthern provin.ces, your herds and ( n ) fifh, will be of little more ufe than to cover your dunghils. Your poor would fufFer from the want of fait provifions on which they chiefly live -, and we doubt, accuftomed to the ufe of fait as Euro- peans are, whether either rich or poor could live without fait, more than without water — If you re- ceive not molafles, the circulation of the greateft branch of your internal commerce and manufac- tures mud flop, from the North to the South and from the South to theNor'-h; and yet the lofsof the molafles trade to you would be no lofs to our Weft India iflands, becaufe it is well known to yourfelves, that nine-tenths of the molafles which you confume, are French and not Englith. When the effedls of the powers which we have to become your executioners would be fo fatal unto you, do you imagine that we can believe that you will execute yourfelves ? Communities, as well as in- dividuals, have indeed fometimes their periods of frenzy. During fuch periods you may, by the fl:op- page of trade, do much mifchief to us, and we to you. But the mifchief which you can do to us is finite, that which we can do to you is infinite. The third confequence of the refoliitions pro- pofed by your Congrefs, namely, the miferies to be inflidled by means of them upon our Wefl: India iflands, would recoil with double force upon your- felves. Your Congrefs have got you enemies enough, do not fl:rive to multiply them. You de- pend more on thofe iflands, than they do upon C 2 . you. ( 12 ) you. Without them you would be without even a market for the mod lucrative part of the produce of your eftates, your provifions and lumber. Men do not break glafs windows with guineas. The vafl balance on your trade to thofe Iflands (hows what you would fufFer in the lofs of it. If you hope, upon the breach of trade with us and our dominions, to get fait, ofnaburghs and molafles from other countries, or their plantations, your hopes will be in vain. Do you think that our planters or we would fit quietly down, and fee the fylcem of the navigation laws violated, to injure them and defraud us ? We have hiiherto con- nived at the pilfering fmuggling of thieves, but we fhould then chafcife the fmuggling of robbers like the other adions of robbers. We have had indulgences for you in the hours of friendfhip; do you think we fhould continue them in thofe of defiance ? If the lad and greateil of all the four calamities which your congrefs forefees in imagination, namely a national bankruptcy, fiiould fall upon us, where would be your gain ? Have you or your relations no fortunes in our funds to fufFcr by their ruin. If our revenues and credit fhould fall to the ground, who would defend you, as we did in the former wars, againft France and Spain ? Who defend you, againft the deluges perhaps of more northern na- tions, who might pour upon the diftant provinces of England, when (he was unable to defend them, ( 13 ) US thsir anceftors did upon thofe of Imperial Rome ? The languifhing provinces of Rome looked up in ▼ain for help to a languilhing head -, that head could give them none : for weakened by the dif- obedience and dii'affeflion of the provinces, flie flood in need of protedion for herfelf. ! Inftead then of liftening to projeds of war, or of fufpenfion of commerce, aflert your own reafon in your own caufe, and truft it not to the paflions of others. We do not wonder, that with the vaft Atlantic Ocean between you and us, to prevent a mutual communicat'on of fentiments, mutual mif- apprehenfions of the fentiments of each other ihould have arlfen. When great interefts are at ftake, and thofe who are engaged in them are free, and therefore high-minded, jealoufies, points of pride, mifunderftandings, are inevitable for a time. But when each party is in the right in fame things, and neither in the wrong in all, thefe, and the ef- feds of them, laftonly for a time ; the cloud paflcs away, and the fun (hines forth again, Let us examine the fubjecls of difference between US. You complain of us, becaufe in a declaratory ftatute Parliament aflerted a right to bind you by its regulations in all cafes whatever j and we complain of you, bccaufe you affert that Parliament has no right to bind you in any cafe whatever. But it was you who (irft let up the laft of thelc pretenfions, and you ( 14 ) you forced Parliament, in order to provide againft encroachments, until I'mits were conltitutionally fettled, to meet it with the firft. Bu^. claims fo widely worded are words, and no more. In the votes of your Afiemblies, and the declaratory words of our ftatute, they (land only as records that there have been unhappy differences between England and her Colonies : for furely you mean not by your afler- tion to preclude Parliament from the pov/er of dif-. abling you to ruin England, nor we in ours to give It a power of ruining America. There was a time when our anceftors leemed to differ as much about the terms rejijlance and mn-refiftance relatively to the rights of the fubjedt, as their pofterity do now. upon the terms fupremacy and independejtce re- latively to the rights of Great Britain and Ame- rica. Yet they ii: reality could only differ about the degree of provocation which juftified refiftance, and we in reality can only differ about the extent to which the exercife of the claims of the two coun- tries may be carried. The Revolution, with the explanations it led to, difcover*;d to them, that they agreed upon the degree of the one -, and the prefcnc emergency, with the explanations to which it fhould lead, may perhaps difcover to us, that iv6 agree upon the other. If, indeed, under the objeftion to the fupremacy of Britain, you mean to deny to the executive part of our conftitution, to the King, the power of ap- pointing thofe officers of revenue, law, and go- vernment, whom he has been accuftomcd to ap- point. ( »5 ) point, of putting a negative upon the bills of your Aflcmblies, of fending forces for the proteftion of his fubjedls and dominions, with the other ufual powers of the crown -, if you mean to deny to the judicial part of our conftitution, the right of a fu- preme court of judicature in England, to receive appeals from your courts of juftice ; if you mean to deny to the legiflative part of onr conftitution, to the Parliament, tVe power to regulate your com- merce for the mutual benefit of both countries; we ihall indeed flake the fate of the Britifh Empire on the conteft ; not for our own interefts alone, but for yours and thofe of human kind : for if you arc permitted to throw off thefe badges of lupremacy,as madmen may call them, you are that inflant inde- pendent ftates : you will form yourfelves into inde- pendent principalities, republics, and we fear anar- chies. A new political fyftem will arife, not in Europe alone, but in the World. Foreign nations will intrigue in your afiemblies : you will engage in wars with them, with us, and with your fitter provinces. This is not all. In governments formed fuddenly, and which therv*ifore muft be imperfed, you will fall into diflenfions among yourfelves*, fo that all the miferies of foreign, of civil, and of domeftic war, will be accumulated on your heads. We wilh that your Congrcfs, which is fo learned in the principles of the great Mon- tefquieu, were equally learned in the condition of the Greek dates, during the Peloponnefian war, a condition exadly fimilar to what yours would be, a^ defcribed by the great Thucydides. The indi- viduals I ( 1« ) Yiduals of it would there learn, that thofe dema- gogues who, from rcftjcfrncfs of temper, or am- bition of making thcmiclves conf" ' uous above others, plunged their countries into c '•ders and calamities, were often the firll to fall by the hands of their countrymen^ But if you mean, under the objection to the fu* prcmacy of Great Britain, to deny her the exercife of the power of impofing taxes upon you without the confentof your AfTcmblies, the exemption you contend for dcferves a very different attention. If you claim it as a matter of right derived from authority, we muft refufe you ; bccaiife no charter, except one of one province, gives it to you, and long pradiice and many ilatutes have jtaken it from you ; and becaufe tlie pofition, that there can be no taxation where there is no reprefentation, is a jingle of words, in v/hicl», in point of reafoning, the conclufion does not follow from the premifes, and which is difproved., in point of fadt, by many inftances of men who have been taxed, though not reprefented, in this kingdom. If you aflert it under the claim of equitable confideration, we muft alfo refufe you 5 becaufe you are bound to fupport that ftate which protefts you ; becaufe other na- tions extend their revenues as they extend their dominions ; becaufe the taxes impofed upon you were to have been applied within your own pro- vinces, and for your own fafetics, and not for ours ; and becaufe your abilities even to fhare our bur- thens are unc^ueflionable, feeing, that when eight millions milllbns of us pay ten millions of taxes, which amounts to twenty- five fhillings on each perfon^ three millions of you pay only fevcnty-five thou- fand pounds, orfixpcncc on, each perlbn 5 and this rn a country where a labouring man gets three times the wages that he does in England, and yet may live on half the expence. When you tell us you are unable to pay taxes, pardon us for once in this Addrefs, if we tell you that we do not believe you. •k— But if you appeal to the rights of human nature, and the great interefts of fociety, we bow to thofe your facred protedlors. We can find no line be- tween the ufe and abufe of taxing you without the eonfent of your own AfTcmblies. We revere the Prince on the throne, and know our liberties to be fafe in his hands *, but we cannot be certain of a fucceflion of royal virtue in all ages to ( ome ; and we can anticipate occafions when a Prince may even by means of Parliament, venture to do things which he would not have ventured upon by him- fclf 5 as Tiberius by his fenates did what Nero dared not to do by his guards. In fuch a cafe, though charters, pradlice, ftatutes, and even equi- table confideration, warrant us to retain the exercife of the power of taxation over you, we defire to throw it from us, as unworchy of you to be fubje Monopoly of thofe articles to you, at their expence ; who complained not of reftraints v;hich they (hared with their Mother Country for your good. Our own Merchants are fubjed to duties on the im-^ portation of foreign commodities, but it is you who draw them back j fo that they pay a tax, and you receive a premium in this exchange of commodi- ties. If we lately impofed a trifling tax upon you to be fpent among yourfelves, we have taxed our- felves to an hundred times the value of it to pay Bounties to you. Thefe Bounties hurt our re- *'enue not only in the lofs of the money paid out, but by flopping the importation from other na-» tions of the articles on which they are granted, and confcquendy the taxes which would have been paid on thofe articles. In fome inftances wc hurt both our revenue and our trade to ferve you. Thus in the prefent reign the duties were taken off American whale fins, by which thofe duties wer^ loft to government, and the intereft of the Britifti whale-fifhing facrificed to that of Amirica. N^y, it is notorious, that Mr. Grenville intended to have lakcii the bounties pff th? Britifh whale-filhing aU togetheri ( 21 ) together, in order to fecure the fupcriofity of the whale-filhing to you, although the Britilh whalc- fifliery produces 300,000!. a year, and maintains 300ofeamen, and a great number of Ihipwrights and other artificers. The only thing chat flopped the projedl was, the diforders which arofe in America ; for thefe led men naturally to refleft how impru- dent it would be, to confer favours which were re- paid with ingratitude, or perhaps looked upon as indignities. But we yield to thofe monopolies, rcftraints, taxes, and preferences, becaufe we know they are neceflary to fatten the vail chain of commerce which is thrown acrofs the Atlantic between Ame- rica and England.— ycrc no ftatutes before the reign of his prefent Majefty, which impofed taxes on any part of the American dominions. Thofe who tell you there were none, know full well there were many. Your anceftors complainedof Ibme of them, as all men do of all taxes^ but they never difputed the power of Parliament to impofe thcni *. The laft war was begun for the fake of Englifli America. It was terminated by a fccurity gained for it at the Peace, which imagination itfelf could not have hoped for. England was loaded with an immenfe public debt, contracted in this great American caufe. By the Peace a new fyftem was created in America; and an empire fet in motion, which it was obvious could not be fupported with- out a regular Revenue. At this period Mr. Gren- ville became the Minifter of England, not fo much perhaps from the choice of Government, as from the force of Oppofition, which obliged another Minifter to give way to him. Mr. Grenville's life of labour had been fpent in attention to the fi- nances of thcBritifh Empire -, thofe finances, which, next to the enjoyment of libeny, do above all • 25 Cha. II. cap, 7. 7 & 8 W. & M. cap. 22. 9 Ann. €'ip, 10. 1 Ceo. I. cap. 12. 6 Geo. 11. cap. 13. and oihers.^ 5 Other ( 29 ) other things give the fuperiority to Britain above all other nations. At fuch a period, had fuch a Miniller propofed to make America liable for that part of the public debt of England, which had been contracted in defending her, it would be un- generous to his memory, to impute his doing fo, to adefign ofenflaving America, in order to enflavc his own Country; that country, inc care of whofc rights employed even his lateft hours. But he car- ried not his views fo far as to fubjedt America to a fhare of the burden even of that debt, and much lefs of the other debts of England. He only pre- vailed upon Parliament, in the fourth year of the King, to impofe Taxes upon fundry foreign com- modities imported into America, the produce of which taxes was to be fpent in the Colonies, and confined to the fervice of the Colonies ; and thefc taxes were external ones, that is to fay. Port-duties, which every one might avoid, by not importing the goods on which they were laid, or not buy- ing them when imported. No American com- plained of this at the time as an impofition of flavery. You paid the taxes as your anceftors had done other necelTary ones. If in impofing thefe taxes he erred in jpinion concerning a matter of right, you erred againlt it too -, for you called it not in queftion. If error was venial in you, why was it criminal in him ? It is hard that you Ihould new convert into a fcheme to enflave you, what you then deemed confident with your freedom. In -■I I ^1 1 i 4 ? 1 - ( 30 ) ' In the fucceeding year, the fame Mini(ler, on the fame principles of giving fecurity to a new and grow- ing Empire, the machine of which could not even iland, and much lefs move without revenues to fupport it, prevailed upon Parliament to pafs the Stamp Adl# The produce of the duties was by the A6t to be fpent in the Colonies, and applied folely to their fervice. America clamoured againft this laft A61. Thefe clamours originated among the Lawyers there, whom the tax chiefly aflfcdcd j and they were taken up in England by the oppofers of the Minifter^ two claffes of men, the iirft of whom, by their profefllon, have always the abilities, and thb other, in the purfait pf their ambition, the intereft to diffeminate cla- mour. But in thefe clamours, extenfive as they afterwards became^ though flowing from Nature, and kept up by Art, no American made an objec- tion to the right of England to impofe external duties upon America, You called for the repeal of the Stamp A6): which impofed internal duties % but you did not aflc the repeal of the Port-duties which had the year before been laid upon you. Lord Rockingham's Adminiftration, which rofe on the ruin of Mr. Grenvilie's, repealed the Stamp A61 ; but did not repeal the Ad which had im- pofed the Port- duties. We do not pry with a jaundiced eye into the motives of thdt Adminiftra- lion Bl ( 3' ) tion for the firfl of thofe meafures -, we impute theiB to the bcft motives •, becaufc we believe th»t there are in a party of which his Lordi]ii|) is th« leader, men of Spanilh honour and Roman virtue; although we mult tell you, that you deceive your- felves grofsJy, when you look up to perlbns as th« only aflcrtors of American liberty, who took off only one of what you call your Chains, but left the other faft on your necks. But if you incline to pay compliments to an Adminiftration which wc do not complain of, it is rather unfair in you to re* fufe them to that Prince, by whofe nod alone they were permitted to do any thing. If there has been a fyftcm in the prefent reign to enflave you, the repeal even of one of thofe two ftatutes affords an inftance that it was not very fyftematically pur* fued. Soon after this repeal. Lord Rockingham's Ad* miniftration got an Ad of Parliament paffed, which declared the Supremacy of Parliament over Ame* rica, in all cafes wbatfoever. You cannot convert this Statute into a link of the chain which you think is intendjed to enthral you, when you reflet that it was forged by thofe whom your Congrefs and yourfelves look upon as the great affertors of your liberty. As you had not hitherto claimed a right of ex- emption from the power of Parliament to impofe external ( 32 ) external taxes upon you, Miniftcrs could not chink of rights which yourfclvcs had never dreamed of. In the Miniftry which fucceedcd to that of Lord Rockingham, an A6t of Parliament was pafled in the feventh year of the King, which laid Porr-du- ties in America upon fomc other objefts of com- merce than thofe which were contained in Mi% Grcnvillc's firfl Adl of the fourth of the King. This Adt was fo little a link in the chain of fyftcm againft you, thuv all thofe who were then the King's Minifters have fince denied in full Parliament all concern in the fabric of itj and they are entitled to credit, becaufe they are now engaged in different parties, and each would lay ' the blame on his neighbour, if he could with any truth. It was at the time notorious to all, that the projeft of the A6t was the wor c of a fingle perfon, Mr. Townfend, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, in matters of Trade and Finance, is well known to have con- fulted more with Merchants and Financiers thart with Minifters, becaufe he thought every man knew his own bulinefs beft ; and in whofe great talents Parliament put too implicit a confidence ii) paffing the Aft. America again clamoured ; and then for the firft time objefted to the power of external taxa- tion in Parliament. But fhe went further, and darted many new prctenfions which we wifh not to repeat, and among others the extravagant dodtrines that ( 33 ) tliat flic was not bound by the Navigation Laws, and that (he was even independent of Parliament altogether. Thefc clamours were well-founded in pare ; for all the taxes in the Statute, except that upon Tea, had been laid uponBritifh manufadlurcs, which confequently had already paid many taxes in Britain, fo that the Statute loaded you both with your tax and ours. Adminiftration and Parlia- ment therefore liflened with fenfe and juftice to your complaints, and redrefled them, by repealing thofc parts of the Aft which had impofed that double tax. But it was imprCj^jcr, in point of com- mon prudence, to repeal that part of it which im- pofed a trifling tax upon Tea ; becaufe, by afking that repeal, at the very time when you were not afking the repeal of the many Port-duties impofed by Mr. Grenville's firft A6i of the fourth of the King, you Ihewed that you infifted on this trifle as a matter of mere pride ; as a mark of your exaltation- and of our humiliation j which it was impoflTible for England to fubmit to, while the great queftions of independence and fupremacy were yet unad- jufted, however compatible they might feem when with temper and reafon they (hould come to be difcufled. If Mr. Townfend's A6t was a link in the fyftem of this reign to enflave you, the repeal of it aflfords another inftance that it was not very fyftematically purfued. F Your 'ii 111, ( 34 ) Your Congrcfs complains of a Statute which, during the Duke of Grafton's Adminiflration, fuf- pended the Afiembly of New York as a continua- tion of the fyftem of tyranny. We will appeal to your candour againft their want of it. Parliament bed pafled a Statute which made necefiai'y regula- tion:> for the quarters and provifions of the King's foldiers in America; regulations to which we, who are as fond of liberty as you are, pay obedience in Britain, becaule we think that men who fubmit to lofe part of their own freedom for a time, in order to enfure it to their countrymen for ever, are entitled to all the fenfibility which we can fhew to them. But thefe regulations were entirely infringed by an A61 of the Aflembly of New- York. If that AfTembly took upon itfelf to repeal one Ad of Par- liament, they might have repealed many others,; and the fubjedl who obeyed the legiflature of the one country, muft have been a rebel in the eyes of the other. Thefe confequences led diredly, un- avoidably, and rapidly to a civil war between the inhabitants of New York and the people of Eng- land. There was no way to ftop the courfe of fuch an AlTcmbly. but to fufpend its movements alto- gether, until it (hould agree to remedy the mif- chiefs it had done. The cffedl anfwered the defign. The A.Tembly recovered the good-humour of £n- glifhmen to Engliilimen, and the people their AfTembly, Can a law which conferred the com- mon rights of humanity upon the companions of your (. 35 ) your hazards and glories, who conquered with you and for you, be called a violation of the rights of Human Nature againft you ? Can another which prevented a civil war be reproached with want of >riercy ? When mens minds are irritated, every thing is the fource of difcontent. Many of the Traders in America had long complained of the diftance of the JLpndon Cuftom-houfe, which upon difputes with revenue officers, made applications for redrefs expenfive and tedious. Smuggling had gone ber yond all bounds in America, from the want of a Board of Cuftoms to keep a ftrid eye over the con- dud of their officers. A Board of Cuftoms was upon thefe accounts by A6t of Parliament fettled at Bofton in the feventh year of the King. But that eftablilliment, which the fair Trader had long de- fired, and the Smuggler alone had reafon to dread, has been converted, in the reprefentations of your Congrefs, into a badge of your flavery. As long as we did not eftabliffi a Board of Cuftoms in Ame- rica, we were blamed for negledling you. When we fend it, we are charged with infulting you. If Boards of Revenue be badges of flavery, no nation that has wealth is free. Should we recall the pre- fent Board of Cuftoms, your pofterity might tell our pofterity, that a Board of Cuftoms over the trade of America, at three thoufand miles diftance from her, was one of the moft ignominious badges F 2 of Bi ( 36 ) of her flavcry. It is certainly for the interefi: of the fupremacy of England to place the refidence of all the controuling powers, in England, in order to keep her Colonies, even by the forms of office, in rennembrance of their dependence ; and it is not difficult in the royal governments, to lodge in the Governor of every Province, with a few of his council, all the powers of a Board of Cuftoms over the frauds of trade, and all its terrors over the frauds of officers. And therefore pardon us if we fufpeft, fhould any great commercial arrange- ment ever be the fubjedl of amicable difcuffion be- tween you and us, that the infpedionof the trade of America committed to a Cuftom-houfe refiding in England, is one of the lad favours which the fair trader in America would apply for. But'" in defcribing the powers of this Board of Cuftoms, your Congrefs ought not to have faid in their Addrefles to ^hcir fovereign, and you, that *' the Commiffioners of it are impowered to break open and enter houfes without the authority of any civil magiftrate, founded on legal informa- ♦< tion." We are certain that the Board of Cuf- toms in America has no fuch power by law. We cannot think that their fuperiors here would dire6b them to affume it againft law. We do not believe they exercife it. But if we are miftaken, point out the offenders. The vengeance of an injured Public will overtake them. But till you point out u cc ^1 1": :l II ( 37 ) out thefe, lay not the offence obliquely upon others who you know muft be guiltlefs. Your Congrefs complains of the ftatutes pafled during former adminiftrations of the prefent reign, to regulate the Admiralty and Vice-ad-* miralty courts of America, which, they fay, ex- tend the jurifdidlion of thofe courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive you of a trial by jury, au- thorife the judges certificate to indemnify the pro- fecutor in revenue queftions from damages, re- quire oppreffive fecurity from the claimant of z Seizure before he Ihall be allowed to defend his property, and provide falaries and fees for the judges from the effe(5ts to be condemned by them- felves. ^ This bundle is large, and muft be feparated. If thefe be intolerable hardlhips, your anceftors fliared in fome, and we fhare in more of them, without complaining. Before the date of thofe ftatutes, each, or almoft each Province, had its own Admiralty-court: but thefe had fo little dignity, and from their local connexions were fo much liable to be fwayed either by the officer or the fmuggler, that they were the continual fubjed of complaint to both. The Americans complained too of the circumftance, that the falaries of the Judges of thofe Courts arofe I' ( 38 ) arofc from the fines and forfeitures impofed by themfelves. Laftly, they complained that a Court of Appeal in England was too diftant from Ame- rica. To relieve their complaints, four great Vice- admiralty Courts were, in confequence of the ftatutes in queftion, eredted in different ftations in Ame- rica. Judges were appointed to them of known abilities and charader. Large faiaries were fettled upon the Judges to make them independent. Thefe faiaries were paid not from the fines and for- feitures, but in the common way*, and to fave the trouble and expence of appealing to England, a power of receiving appeals was lodged in thefe Courts. Thofe are the offences which, in the inftitucion of the new courts, have been commit- ted. Your Congrefs complains then of the favours granted to the intreaties of their own country- men. If you think that thefe Courts are too diftant from each other, they cap, by the eredlion of more, be caufed to approach. The impropriety in the original Provincial Admiralty Courts, of the Judges receiving their faiaries from the fi;ies, can be removed* s ■ « With regard again to the mode of trial with- out a jury in thofe Courts, in revenue queftions, it has fubfifted in America fince the ftatute in ;he 2 2d and 23d of Charles the Second, which cftablifhed it. Your anceftors fubmitted to it, be- fs^ufe they favoured the fair trader, and did not jj defire ( 39 ) defire to fee an opening given for the trial of i fmuggling cargo by a jury of fmugglers. With all the ftrength of this mode of trial. Government has found it weak to fupport the fair trader / the punifhmentof the illicit one; and we cannot con- fent to have it abolilhed, till we fee another equally efficient fubftituted in its room. Permit us to remind you, that the far greatefu part of revenue queftions in this country, that is, moft of the Ex- cife ones, are not tried by jury at all. Permit us alfo to remind you, that in Ireland, offences againft the Revenue of Cuftoms are tried by the fummarj Excife laws, and not by Jury ; and fo fenfible are the Irifh of the neccfiity of doing fo, that Parlia- mentary Oppofitions, violent as they are in that country, never complain ^it. They know and ac- knowledge, that as long as Cuflom.-houfe caufes were tried by Juries, ihe illicit trader was continually acquitted to the ruin of the fair one. When you wi(h for impartial juftice, we wifii for no more ; and therefore, if you defire the trial by jury in revenue queftions, you muft take along with it a court of Exchequer in which that jury is to aft, and by which to be controlled, as we do in England. When you complain of the latitude given in the Admiralty Courts to try in one place a feizure made in another, you complain of the Laws of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in all of which, a feizure pi;' ^ ( 40 ) d fclznre made in one country can be tried r another, and brought from the extremity of the kingdom to be tried in the capital. When the Judge in America gives a certificate of the probable caufe of feizure, to proted the profecutor from damages, he does no more than the Judge in England is, by many Ads of Parliament, entitled to do. When the claimant of a feizure is obliged in America to find fecurity before he profecutcs his claim, he does no more than the claimant in England by A6t of Parlia- ment is obliged to do. It is unfair to impute the laft of thefe regulations to the prefent reign -, for it took place by Adt of Parliament in a former reign, to wit, in that of King George the Firft* When your Congrefs attempts to inflame you by the enumeration of fuch particulars, they ought to have told you, that the freeft people upon earth fubmit to them, becaufe they find them all too little to encourage thofe who trade fairly, at the expence of thofe who do not* .' ■ v Perhaps, with a greater femblance of jufticc, but not with the folidity of it, your Congrefs complains of the refolutions of the two houfes of Parliament, which about fix years ago gave force to the old laws of Henry the VIII. by declaring that treafons and mifprifions of treafon committed in America, might be tried in England. In thefe refolutions, ried i of the When catc of •a: the more r Adls aimanc ;curity ► more Parlia- ite the »; for brmer Firft. ou by jhtto earth too the (lice, Krcfs of orce fing tted lefc 5ns, C 41 ) j«folutions, there was furely .10 novelty or ftretch in law to reach you. The Scotch rebels were tried for their treafons, not in the kingdom in which their crime was committed : the SufTex fmnsslers DO were tried for their treafons, not in the county in which their crime was committed. The murderers of Mr. Park, Governour of the Leeward Iflands, in the beginning of this century, were tried for their treafon, not in the quarter of the globe in which the crime was committed; for he was murdered in the Weft Indies, and they were tried in London; and tried too under the authority of that very a6t of Henry the Eighth, whigh your Congrefs would make you believe had now for the firft time been revived to opprcfs you. A fim'lar rule of law is univerfal among ail modern nations which have colonies, and was fo among all ancient ones. It is founded on the great intereft? of fociety, which make it neceflary, that in crimes which affed the .exiftence of the ftate, the arm of the ftate fhould be felt to the very extremity of her dominions. It is founded even upon a tendernefs to the crimi- nal and to juries ; for death inflifted by his friends is the more painful to him -, and the neceflity upon friends to inflidl it, if they break not their oath, is the more humilianng to them. Had the Duke of Monmouth's adherents been brought to their trials in London, even before JefFerys, the cfFeds of them ^ould neither have been fo unpopular nor fo bloody, G . as I ' ( 4t ) as when they were permitted to rage in coandesob^ noxious, fubdued, and where every Juryman thought he threw guilt off himfelf by laying it on his neigh- bour. The rule of law declared by the Houfes b univerfal through every other part of the British dominions, in Europe^ Afia, and Africa. Where is the Statute, the Charter, the Ad of Ailembly, or the Pradice, which exempted America from it ? If none fuch is to be found, why is England ac* cufed of making a (tretch when (he made none ? She declared the validity of her old laws : it would be well for her fone that modern whtmfies were not liilened to in their place. : ■ Mi \ ' t A Court of Commiffion and Inquiry in Rhode- Iftand was the confequencc of thofe rcfolutions. This Court wanted not objcfls. There are among you who know that you efcaped its juftice by its mercy, while you complain of its violence. Go- trcrnment often throws a veil over fecrets which the indifcretion of individuals would iincover. It holds proofs in its hands, but publifhes them not. King William was furrounded aU his life- time in Holland and in England with trcafbns which he knew of. He contented himfelf with difappointing them, but fearcely ever (feed blood. We alk you two queftions. Have no violences againft Government been Icen in America fince the inftitution of that commifllon ? Has any man been i imprifoned. mmmmx"- ( 43 ) imprifbncd, fined, or executed in confcquencc of a commiffion, which in the hands of feme of your former Princes would have caufcd all America to tremble? That Court was the creature of policy and mercy. It was fcnt to deter men from the commiflion of crimes by the fear of punifhment^ but not to punifh. It was only a Court of Inquiry^ not of Trial, and the violences \, *ch were its ob- jeds, becaufe imputable to paflion and miftakcs ia Opinion, have fmce been forgiven. Yet even thefe refolutions of the Houfes of Par* liament on the mof): important of all fubjeds^ however fup ported by the authority of other na- tions, and apparently necefTary in our own, may be alfo the fubjed: of fortunate regulation between us. If you will bring with you the fan'ie wiliingnefs to punifh rebellion juftly, which we fliall bring with us not to punifli the mere pidlure of it un- juftly, we cannot well differ. Afraid of treafon laws as we are, in a nation which admits in fomc extreme cafes of the lawfulnefs of refiltance, you know us little, if you think that we will forge chains for you, which may be transferred from you to ourielves. There remains yet one other Statute of former admimftrations to be nientioned. Several of your Affemblies had pafTed atls and votes, making the paper currency of the Province a legal tender in G Z payment h i If ( 44 ) |5ayment of debt, although that currency was irf many places not one-fifth in valuf; of the money which the creditor had advanced : And thcfe votes and ads were procured by the influence of thofc who had an intereft to gain by t. fraud which equally cheated the American inhabi!:ants and the Britifh merchant. Parliament, with Englifli ho- nefty and Englifh honour, pafled an adt, which, by declaring fuch tenders of payment to be void in law, removed difgrace from the tranfadiona of your private bufinefs. Was this an infringement of American liberty ? It has been called fp. Let God and your own confcienccs determine between us if it was. While your minds were not yet recovered from the falfe alarms, which had been fpread on account of thofe ftatutes and refolutions, the bankruptcy of the Eaft India Company happened; an event which gave room for the Minifter who fuccecded to thofe we have mentioned, in the mutual con- nexion of interefts on which the profperity of the Britifh Empire hangs, to relieve the diftrefles of that Company, and at the fame time to make compenfation to you for all the wrongs you ima- gined you had fufFered •, and this by an ad of indul- gence to both. He embraced the occafion, and fuccecded in perfuading Parliament to give a draw- back of the greateft part of the Britifh duties upon f eas whicn Ihould be imported into Americ^. ThQ ( 45 ) The Eaft Indies and Arnc'-ica (as a Member of the Houfe of Commons, who is no enemy to America, once eloquently expreflcdhimfelf,) are the two wings on which the eagle of Britifli commerce foars to the fkics. By this indulgence a great market was open- ed for the Company's Teas, with which the Compa- ny was at that time over-ftockcdj a power was given to the fair trader of America to beat the French, Dutch, and Danidi fmuggler out of the field ; and the inhabitant of America was furnilhed with Teas from England at a cheaper rate than they were furnilhed to ourfelves ; becaiife we paid a tax, but he drew it back. We believe there were few per- fons in England, who did not believe at the time that the expedient was a wife, and would be a fortunate one. How that favour has been received, what pafled when thefe Teas were imported to Bofton, we wilh we could not remember, Holland and Switzer- land, as well as France and Sp^in, would have called it rebellion. But we only called it tumult iand infurredipn. But to prevent thefe from fwel- Jing into rebellion, proviHonary laws were requir- ed ; and thefe your Congrefs has converted like- wife into imaginary links of an imaginary chain to enflave you 5 let us fee with what juftice. We begin with the regulations which affcv^ed the town of Bofton. One lull* II r J M liil 'ill I \4 ( 4^ ) One furc mark of tyranny is to drive thq fubjcfts to dcfpair, that, under the pretence of punifhing the effcdks of that defpair, (he may get the power of dripping them for ever of the power of re- fiftance. Did Parliament a6l in this manner to the people of Bofton ? What were the great pu- nifhmcnts inBidted, by the atrocity of which the people of that town were to be driven to draw down greater upon themfelves ? Two. The Cuftom-houfe was removed. The Trade of the Town was fufpended. Was a Cuftom-houfe in fafety in a place where the Commifl^loners had been obliged to take refuge in the King's ihips ? Was the Trade of England fafe in a place where the property of one of her greateft Companies was deftroyed in the face of day ? — Tyranny is alfo to be known by the duration of the marks of her violence. For how many ages was the punilhment inBided on Bofton to laft ? Until tho^ who had committed the outrage ftiouid have the honour and honefty to repair it ; that is to fay, not for an hour, if the people of Bofton had refledled that true pride confifts in making reparation for inju^ ries, not in committing and perfifting in them. That is furely an cafy punifhmcnt from which the Criminal may efcape by only doing his duty* Parliament left an open door for reconciliation. If the people of Bofton would not enter, who has been in the fault ? The 'he ( 47 ) The next provifionary Statute complained of, is that which enabled thofe who (houki be engaged in the fupprcflion of Tumults in Maflachufct's Bay, to clainn a trial in England, if they were quef. tioncd for having done their duty. Thofe who kill in England after the Mob Ad is read, are en* titled to an acquittal : but all that the Statute in quedion did, was to entitle thofe who were equally entitled to protection, to a trial in their own coun- try. This was a law not of policy but necefllty . for was it proper that thofe who afferted the au- thority of the laws in America, fliould be tried by the very perfons who denied the validity of thofe laws and the authority of the Magiftrates who fupported thena ? Was it juft to expofe the Lives and Honours of men to the mercy of Juries who declared that they looked upon theoi as Enemies ? The law which knocks at every man's breaft, with- out his going to a law-book to look for it, cries aloud : " Let not the accufcd party fuffer by him •* who has an intcreft or a paffion to condemn •* him." This law is called in inflammatory lan- guage, an Amnefty for the murderers of Ame- rica. Yet it reached only a limited diftridl in tvhich there were infurre tion, that faireft flower of cultivated humanity, (as a Member of the Houfe of Commons well exprefled it,) to Englifh fubjeds. It injured nobody. And we hope it pleafed our God, though it pleafed no> your Congrefs. We marvel much, how that Con- grefs has omitted to fend one Addrefs to the inha- Ditants of Bengal, to rife in rebellion againd us, becaulc we have not conferred upon them all the honours of Englifh liberty, which they are not afking ; and another to their fellow-fubjeds in England, to reproach them for permitting the Gentoo religion to exifl: in that part of their do- minions. We wifli alfo, for the fake of private honour, which your Congrefs ought not to have loft fight of, even in the caufe of the Public, that they had not deceived you, by converting a Statute paft in the time of theprefent Adminiftration, for the fe- curity of your and our bulwarks, his Majefty's (hips and dock-yards, into a battery erected and levelled againft American liberties. A Ihorttimc before this Statute was paffcd, a great national ca- ' lamity ' ( 53 ) lamity by a fire, which was fufpeded to be wilful, at Portfmouth, called for a new law with new pe- nalties to prevent fuch difafters for the future. Capital punifhmcnt was inflidled by the Statute *in qucftion, upon thofe who fhould wilfully fet on fire the King's Ihips or dock-yards. Nobody was thinking of America at the time. England, or ra- ther Portfmouth and the other naval arfenals, en- gaged alone the attention of the Public. But the Statute in common form and common policy was made to extend over all the dominions of Britajn ; arid the crime, like all other great crimes, was made punifhable in Britain, although not committed within it. We afk you. If you can in your confciences believe, that this Statu o was a contrivance framed on purpofe to opprefs you ? And if you cannot, we afk you. What you muft think of thofe men who would make you believe that it was ? From this review of the proceedings of Parlia- ment relative to America, fince the fourth of the King down to this day, we fubmit to the candour of American breafts, whether your Congrefs were in the right, in common charity, to convey an idea from the Gulph of St. Lawrence to the Mouth of the Mifllfippi, that there had been a fyftem formed and purfued in the prefent reign, to rob all Ame- rica of all her liberties. Our own defence from fo foul an afpcrfion we have not mingled, in review- ing thefe proceedings, with the intercHs of this or that ' ■( ! 1^ fl ! ( 54 ) that party, of this or that miniftcr ; intercfts, with all the little politics and little pods depending on them, which we hold mighty cheap in comparifoa of our own great interefts in the queftion that fub- lids between you and us, and not as they fancy, triflers a; they are, between them and e&ch other. We wifh your Congrefs had obferved the fame condudt, and not difgraced, with the dale party firokes of this country, the great interefts of their own. They would not in that cafe have paid compliments to a Minifter, who once faid in full Parliament, that he would not permit even the hob-nail of a horfe*s (hoe tp be made in America, at the expence of another Minifter, who never bad it in his power to do you either good or evil, ex- cept by a peace, which might have railed America to the ikies, had not too many of her own fons pulled her down again. r li Perhaps your Congrefs may think it wife to mingle the interefts of America with thofe of party in this country, from a notion that you will be made fharers in the rewards of party vidlories, to which you contributed. But they are millaken. Thofe who raife the whirlwind may not direft the ftorm. There are only three ways in this country by which any party can obtain that power at which every party aims; the favour of the Crown, the favour of Parliament, or the favour of the People. Do you think thofe men have a claim IS; ( 55 ) claim t6 the favour of the Crown, who, in the difputes between you and us, have endeavoured to pay compliments to the King's peribnal power at the expence of his authority, and to mark his reign with the lofs of dominions, which with (o much glory he extended? Can they expedl the ^ileem and confidence of Parliament who have called in queftion its rights, denied its powers over its own Provinces, and who affert, that a Houie of Reprefentatives in America, in concurrence with the King, can do what the Houfes of Lords and Com- tnon^ in concurrence with him cannot do P Can they hope to pleafc the People of England, who are purfuing meafures which may lead to a civil war between England and her Colonies ? But even in their victory, where would be your gain ? Whoever trufts to the gratitude of party, truils to a fupport which, like a reed, • has failed under all who ever refted upon it. Many of thofe who now make ufe of! you as a weapon of party, to force themfelves into power, would, as foon as they were in it, let you fall to the ground. We have a right to warn you of thcfe things, be- caufe we have feen oppofitiotts in this reign ani- mate on'' part of the United Kingdoms againft another j the People of England, the ancient fup- porters of Parliament, againft Parliament; and the City of London, the ancient fupportcrs of the Houfeof Commons, againft the Houfe of Commons. It ) i ( S6 ) It is yoiir own fault, if, with fuch examples be- fore your eyes, you permit America to be tilted againft England, to gratify the ambition, or even the virtue, of any fct of men upon earth. In the fuccefles which you wi(h for, others will gain ; but it is you who will be the lofers : for the whole hiftory of Englifli party Ihcws, that the men who trampled moll on the Crown in the fervice of the People, trampled mod on the People when in the fervice of the Crown j it being natural for them, in prefent obfequioufnefs, to hope for the oblivion of paft provocations, and to go further than their neighbours in one way, bccaufe they had gone too far in the other. We need not call the example of Lord Strafford to your remembrance. There; are men now living, who raifed themfelvcs to power by inveighing againft continental connexions, and then half ruined their country to fupport them. — Truft not then to the flender and broken reed of party 5 truft to your country •, that country which has too often been deceived, but never deceives. Inftead of being the tools of particular members of party, fbow them that they have been no more' than your tools. Take the good which they have helped to procure for you, but avoid the mifchiefs into which they would bring you. While this Addrefs was printing, an ev-:nt has happened, which may convince you who are your real friends or foes in this country. A fortnight ago. ( 57 ) ago, th€ Houfes of Lords and Commons in Addrcfles to the Throne, exprcfTed their fentimcnts of the rebellious ftate of too many of your Provinces, but withal their wiflies, to receive advances on your part to paciPiCation, whenever they fliould be made in a conftitutional manner. Thofe who call themfelves your friends in Parliament oppofed even the laft part of the Addrefs, becaufe they faid it was deluding you with the idea of an accommo- dation which was not intended to be granted. But in order to carry that part of the Addrefs into execution, and to convert the words of it into the meaiures which had been the objects of thofe words, a refolution was within thefe few days pro- pofed in the Houle of Commons, and adopted, which fhould exprefs the intention of the Houfe to levy no paft, and impofe no future duties as long as you fhould yourfelves contribute to the expence to be incurred for your own public fervice. By this refolution, the danger fo long dreaded by you, that Taxes in America would be converted into a revenue for Britain, is removed. The re- fobtion, indeed, referves a power in Parliament of impofing duties for the regulation of trade-, a power which is abfolutely neceflary to be exerted, for the interefts of trade itfelf •, but then, to pre- vent the abufe of this power, the produce of thefe duties is to go, not to the account of Great Bri- tain, but to the exoneration of the provifion made by the Colony for its own fervice. It is in your I own 1- ■ i '. [ i 1 •i 1 1 ', : < i 1 > : \ 1 ( 58 ) own povircr to make the fecurity a America com-^ pletc in all its parts-, for if you dc7ir^. i hat the quota to be furniihed by you, for yom fervice, (hall not be arbitrary, but rife and fail with the quantum of the land-tax, or of fome of the great known taxes of England taken in cumulo •, we do not think that your defire in that refpedt would be refufed j and then it would be impofllble for us to tax you without taxing ourfelves at the fame time, and in the fame proportion. We will give praife where praife is due. The Minifter who propofcd this Refolution could not fail to fee two dangers to himfclf in the meafure. The firft was, to differ from fuch friends as might think that higher meafures ought to be pnrfued; and the next was, to be expofed to the charge of having varied his mea- fures J a charge to which every man who accom- modates his condufl to circumftances, inftead of pretending to infallibility, mull be expofed to, yet iViU an humiliating one even to the bell man adopting even the beft meafure. But in the caufe of his country he regarded nothing but his country. Some part of the line of accommoda- tion propofed in the Refolution was firft traced by yourfelves, and often repeated. It had been adopted, and often prefTcd for by ihofe who call themfelves your friends in Parliament. The Minifter who moved for it had therefore rea- fon to hope, that when he met them on their own ground, and granted their own dcfires, they 3 V would s\ ( 59 ) would in your and their Country's caufe, have forgot their animofity to him, and all thofc little objedls of Party, the purfuit of which is falfely called Ambition. Did they upon this occafioh meetthat Minifter half-way in the generous ftruggic who Ihould do you mod good, or avert from yott moft evil ? No ! they threw behind them all your intcrefts. They attended to thof- of their own Party alone, which they think are more concerned in defeating a Minifter, than faving a Nation, They refufed for you that favour which yourfelves had folicited ; oppofed that meafure which them- felves had adopted; and did what they could to perpetuate dilTentions in which themfelves might be gainers. They were fo blinded by the habit of oppofition, and the triumph of fpying even imaginary inconfiftency in the Minifter whom they oppofed, that they did not perceive how miferabljr they muft fink in your efteem for facrificing your advantages to their own weaknelTes. — Ate ibefe your friends ? — Were thofe your enemies? — If the contraft between the condud of the one and of the other does not open your eyes, you muft be blind as moles, or with your own wills Ihut them againft the fun. But there are men among yourfelves againft whom you ought to be equally on youjr guard. It is hard, that the charge of our intending to enQave 1 .1 H ( ouths nncei them- linted ' him, h the ons of rcum- e pre- t men r ever ion of [Tiiniih :d that try or hewed at the fion of le fob- : cafily J been id that z yoor o your and if nonths :o your :,^.^ja. i2ji,p