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 •0O0OOOC<XX>O0<XXXXXXXXX>C>0< 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Inhabitants of America. 
 
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 [Price I f.J 
 
T 
 
THE 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 People of Great -Britain 
 
 TO THB 
 
 Inhabitants of America. 
 
 / 
 
 I* O N D O N: 
 
 '«NT.B FOR T. CAD^xr, ,« XHB JTRANl,. 
 
 M Dec LXX7, 
 
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THE 
 
 AD DRESS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Peqple of Great - Britain 
 
 T O T H E 
 
 Inhabitants of America. 
 
 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<ft 
 to, and of us to poflefs. We will not degrade you, 
 becaufe in your exaltation our own is involved -, wc 
 defire only to be fecured that you will yourfelves 
 makp provifion for your own fafety and defence. If 
 this has not been done Iboner, the fault was your 
 
 D 
 
 own 
 
( I8 ) 
 
 own. You conneded your claim of not being 
 taxed with fo many other claims, that it became 
 impofliblc for us to make the conccflTion which we 
 wiihed, from the danger of its being made a pre- 
 cedent for extorting other conccfllons, to which we 
 could not yield without doing a mifchief even to 
 thofe who claimed them. 
 
 It has been the fortune, perhaps the peculiar 
 one of Britain, that from apparent mifchicfs real 
 good has arifen ; and convulfions, terrifying at Hrd:, 
 have only paved the way for preventing their re- 
 turn. From the late differences it is the fault of 
 us both if we do not derive future agreement. 
 That agreement is beft to be infured by fome great 
 aft of (late, which, on the principles of mutual de- 
 pendence, Ihall form a fyftem of common intereft 
 and happinefs, and remove, as far as human wif- 
 dom can look forward, the probability of future 
 differences. Whether your AlTemblics fhall, in a 
 conftitutional way, make the firft advance to Parlia- 
 ment to cffedtuate that meafure, or Parliament (hall 
 make the firft advance to you, by fending a Parlia- 
 mentary commifTion to America, is immaterial : 
 the firft honour will belong to the party which (hall 
 firft fcorn pundilio in fo noble a caufe. 
 
 When the other fubjefls of difpute, unconnc6led 
 with that of taxation, come to be canvafled by 
 thofe who ihall be authorized to give and receive 
 fuggtftions for removing them, they will find, per- 
 haps 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 haps with furprifc, of how little confcqucncc the 
 difputed points are, and how eafy to be adjulted. 
 
 Of thcfe there feem to be chiefly three. 
 
 The firft of thrtn arifes from the Veftraints 
 laid by the regulations of Parliament upon your 
 trade and manufafture for the advantage of 
 ours. But are not we laid under fimilar rc- 
 ftraints in thefe refpefts for the advantage of 
 yours ? For you we fubmit to monopolies ; for 
 you lay reftraints on our trade ; for you we are 
 taxed ; and for you impofe fimilar hardfhips upon 
 other parts of our dominions. We (hall only fc- 
 iedl a few inftances out of many. The landed man 
 is prohibited from raifing Tobacco at home, and 
 the merchant difabled to import it with advantage 
 from abroad, in order to give a monopoly of the 
 commodity^ to you, and at their expence i for the 
 one could raife, and the other import Tobacco, at 
 a much cheaper price than they get it from you. 
 We give vaft Bounties on the importation of your 
 Flax, Hemp, Timber, and Naval Stores, to the 
 detriment of thofe who raife them at home, to 
 whom we give none. Our Merchants are reftraincd 
 by prohibitions, or duties equivalent to prohibi- 
 tions, from importing Rice, Indigo, and many 
 other articles of the produce of your Eftates, in 
 order to give you a Monopoly of tliofe articles, 
 although they could bring them much cheaper 
 from other nations. We give a bounty upon the 
 
 D 2 importatioa 
 
u 
 
 ( 20 ) ^ 
 
 importation of Indigo, and continue it upon ex* 
 portation, by which accumulated favour, we firft 
 give you a premium to import, and then enable 
 you, by the advantage of a double market, to raife 
 the price upon us afterwards. Our Weft- India 
 Iflands were reftrained from taking provifions or 
 timber from other countries, in order to fecure n> 
 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.— <Thofe reftraints are not pecu- 
 liar to you in dealing with us, nor to us in dealing 
 with you. We impofe them on ourfelves in deal- 
 ing with ourfelves : for example, the whole landed 
 intereft, and that of every inhabitant who wears a 
 fuit of clothes, is facrificed to the mercantile and 
 jTianufadluring Interefts, in the regulations of Par- 
 liament concerning Wool i for the landlord cannoc 
 export the wool of his fhecp, nor the inhabitant 
 import the woollen cloths of other countries, though 
 the one could fell his wool to foreigners much 
 dearer than to thofc who have thus got a monopoly 
 of it, and the other buy clcth much cheaper from 
 them than from his countrymen. — In fome of thofe 
 regulations which afFed ourfelves only. Parliament 
 fometimes commits miflakes •, but they are reme- 
 
 4i^4 ^ fpon 4s felt; and pointed out. Perhaps in 
 
 fome 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 fomc of thofe regulations which afFcdl you rela- 
 tively to us, or us relatively to you, miftakes in 
 commercial principles have alfo been committed 5 
 in fome inftances you are perhaps reflrained too 
 much, and in others too little : but in the great 
 Ad of State which we allude to, thefe miftakes can 
 by commercial principles be corrected. For it is 
 your and our folid fecurity, that your Afiemblies 
 and our Parliaments cannot injure thofe whom they 
 reprefent without hurting themfelves, nor injure 
 you without hurting us, nor us without hurting 
 you. It will not be difficult for Merchants on 
 both fides to fuggeft favours which we ought 
 not to refufe to you, and limitations which you 
 ought not to refufe to us. And we pray for fomc 
 great and liberal commercial arrangement, which 
 may remain a monument to future ages, that 
 though there was once, there was but once, the 
 appearance of a quarrel between Great Britain and 
 her Colonies, 
 
 The next ground of your complaints, in point 
 ef confequence, is, that the King and Parliament 
 interfere in other objeds of your internal Legifla- 
 tion, new model your Affemblies, and alter your 
 Charters. 
 
 Here again it will be your own fault, if in adjuft- 
 ing the terms of the Ad: of State we have men- 
 tioned, order fliall not arife out of diforder, and a 
 
 great 
 
( 23 ') 
 
 great judicial and legiflativc arrangement accom- 
 pany a commercial one. — In Virginia the Juftices 
 of the Peace and your Governor and Council are 
 your only Judges. The former fit only once a 
 month ; from them there lies an appeal to the 
 Governor and Council, formed into a Court of 
 Judicature, which fits only in April and October, 
 and only twenty days at each time, and which it 
 is not unknown to us, is at this day in arrears above 
 fix years in its law bufinefs. It is no affront to 
 cither of thefe bodies of men to fay, that however 
 upright or able they may be, they can know littfe 
 of law. In the infant Hate of your ^ociety this 
 adminiftration of Juftice was perhaps the bell; 
 but is not applicable to a (late of fociety, in which 
 the modifications of the adions of mankind, and 
 confequently of rights and delinquencies founded on 
 thefe, are infinite in extent. This impotent (late 
 of law has given room not only for the prefentdif- 
 orders in Virginia, but for their appearing greater 
 than they are; for the Juftices dare not officiate 
 at all, even although they were willing -, and the 
 Mob are turned the Governors inftead of the Go- 
 verned. It has been fo in every country fince this 
 world began, in which dignity, independence, 
 power, and even fplendor has not been thrown 
 around the feats of Juftice, to ftrike with awe the 
 imaginations of the meaneft, and with the neceflity 
 of obedience even the higheft. A fimilar imper- 
 fedion in the ftate of Law and Police pervades, 
 
 we 
 
 i\ 
 
t 24 ) 
 
 trt arc afraid, many of your other P/Oviilccs.' In 
 few of them are your Judges for life, or fupportcd 
 by appointments which can give even rank to 
 their offices; the inevitable confequencc of 
 which cannot fail to be, that they muft be the 
 Slaves either of thofe who appoint them, or of the 
 Mob, inftead of the Mafters of both. Thefe are 
 the very rocks on which the Grecian Republics 
 were fhipwrecked ; for the fpirits of Free Men 
 are high, and therefore mutinous, and are to be 
 kept from diforder only by the laws. But where 
 the Adminiftration of thefe is weak, there is no fe- 
 curity for the Property, Perfon, or Honour of any 
 one. ' In lamenting this defect in the condition of 
 your fociety we plead the caufe of Human Nature* 
 not our own. You of inferior orders need the 
 protection of independent and powerful Courts of 
 Juftice to defend you againft the high ; and you of 
 fuperior ftations need it to defend you againft the 
 low* Both of you beft know how far it is fafc 
 and honourable to depend upon Jurisconfults of 
 the Tar-and-Feather order. You have tried the 
 experin-ent, and fmarted by it. — You will be told 
 we mean to enflave you by law. We fcorn to 
 anfwer the infinuation. It is our pride as Britons 
 to be flaves to the law, but free in every thing 
 elfe. If you fufpedt us, appoint your own Judges^ 
 pay them your own falaries, or Ihare the appoint- 
 ment and payment ^yith the Crown. To us thefe 
 points arc immaterial, but let your Judges be for 
 
 life. 
 
( ^5 ) 
 life, with incomes fuited to their ftations ; and in 
 their independence your own will be fecured. 
 
 On this head it is your intereft more than ours, 
 to corre<5l all errors in the Conftitutions of your 
 General Affemblies, and of your Charters. Moft 
 of your Conftitutions were formed by accident, 
 not by fore-thought. Some of your Charters 
 hardly deferve the name. If we are in the wrong 
 in thinking fo, let them ftand as they are. But if 
 we are in the righ:, corredl them like men. Com- 
 mon fenfe will (hew you, without our doing it, that 
 they (hould be modelled by the rules of common 
 fenfe. The beft of Princes will contribute his part, 
 and Parliament theirs, to comply with your dcfires 
 for every alteration which can lead to Juftice, Order, 
 and your own Intereft; and we the people of 
 England will applaud them when they do. 
 
 When you fhall thus have obtained a regular 
 Adminiftration of Law, Police, and Government 
 amongft you, we fhall not be afraid of your hold- 
 ing your Eftates and Trade, and we the Debts 
 due to us out of both, by the uncertain tenure of 
 Chance, or of Democratical Anarchy, which is 
 worfe than Chance -<, and we fhall have little occa- 
 fion to interfere in your Internal, Judicial, or Le- 
 gidative Arrangements. The great rule, which 
 you do not difpute, that your laws are not to be 
 incompatible with the law of England, and that 
 
 £ the 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 the Crown has or ought to have a negative upon 
 the Bills of your AfTemblics, in the fame way that 
 it has upon ;he Bills of our Lords and Commons, 
 will fecure us fufHciently againft Innovations. 
 
 The only remaining general fubjedl of conteft, 
 lb far as we can fee, is the power of the Crown to 
 fend troops amongll you without confent of your 
 Affemblies. Perhaps even this delicate point 
 might be adjufted. For you have as much an in- 
 tereft to be defended, as we have to defend you. 
 On your part it might be yielded, that a certain 
 number of Britilh forces ftiould be fupported in 
 America without confent of the Affemblies, and 
 on ours, that no more fhould be fent except in 
 times of War or actual Rebellion. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 If thefc great commercial, judicial, legiflative, 
 a;id military arrangements were agreed upon, we 
 might leave the provifion for them to yourfelves 5 
 or at leafl be contented with a ftanding revenue 
 to be now afcertained between your Affemblies and 
 Parliament. For though we give up the difgrace- 
 ful and odious privilege of taxing you, you cannot 
 be ignorant that you muft eftablifh revenues, a$ all 
 other countries do, to fupport your eftablifhments. 
 
 The deluded amongft you think that we affume 
 airs of fuperiority over you even where they arc 
 needlefs. Far from it; every honour pf this 
 
 dountry 
 
( 27 ) 
 Country is open to you. We (hould even be hap- 
 py to fee you aflc the eftablilhment of a Nobility, 
 and of ranks among yourfelves, that your fpirits 
 might not only be inflamed by the love of Liberty, 
 but exalted by the love of Family. The whole 
 hiftory of mankind prcfents not a ftate of fociety, 
 notwithllanding all the imperfedions it is charged 
 with, fo fraught with liberty, fafety, wealth, and ho- 
 nour, as that of England is. Approach to it, fly not 
 from it. All human kind envy it. Rejed not, 
 you, what others pray for from Heaven. 
 
 With fuch fentiments of kindnefs in our breads 
 towards you, and we hope in yours towards us, we 
 cannot, in the reign of the moft virtuous of Princes, 
 hear without thedeepeft concern, a charge made in 
 iheAddreflesof yourCongrefs, that a fyftem has 
 been formed and purfued in the reign of that- 
 Prince, to enflave you by means of Parliament ; and 
 we wi(h it had not besn added, as a previous 
 ftep to enflave us. 
 
 To vindicate the proceedings of Parliament 
 where they ought not to be blamed, and to point 
 out where perhaps they may without difliculty be 
 amended, is the beft way to expofe the fallacy of 
 that charge, and at the fame time to (hew you how 
 eafy it is to remove luch remaining fubjedts of dif- 
 ference between us, as have not yet been taken no- 
 tice of in this Addrefs. 
 
 E a It 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 It is a cruel miflakc for you, ninety-nine of an 
 hundred of whom muft be unacquainted with ihc 
 hiftory of laws, to Lw* made beheve, that there >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<flions, and was to laft only 
 for a necelTary and limited time. Was the Ame- 
 rican profccutor afraid that the offender might 
 cfcape from the want of evidence againilhim at three 
 thoufand miles diftance? The Statute relieved him 
 of hii fears : for it provided that the witn^^iTes 
 
 whom 
 
U .i 
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 whom he called fliould attend to prbve his charge. 
 Did the witnefs complain of the hardfhip of his 
 attendance, even in aid of the mod: fublime of 
 human virtues, Juftice r The Statute provided that 
 his charges fhould be born at the public expence. 
 In every provifion of the Ad, the timorous hand 
 of freedom is to be feen, which trembles even in 
 faving a community, lefi: i( ihould jinjure an in- 
 dividual. 
 
 
 I 
 
 But our Miniftcrs know that true wifdom lies 
 not in obftinacv, they pretend not to infallibility ; 
 if they do, they will be no favourites of ours ; and 
 it is in your own power to prevent their aflcing 
 from Parliament the contir'iance of a Statufe which 
 was fo necefTary, but withal fo unpopular. By a 
 great judicial and legillative arrangement let a regu- 
 lar adminiftration of Law, Police, and Government 
 be eftabliflied, among you, worthy of yourfelvcs, 
 and this fubjeft of conteft will die of itfelf ; for wc 
 Jhall exped thf. fame juftice in your Courts, which 
 you well know you are fure of in ours. We told 
 you, we would give you a generous credit, becaufe 
 we expelled to receive it from you in return : as a 
 proof of our doing fo, we are confcious of no fears 
 that you would abufe our confidence, although in 
 .cafes of tumults, we fhould, inftead of bringing the 
 prifoners to England, leave the trial to Committees 
 of your own Aflemblies, in which wc believe, and 
 believe firmly, thatfentiments of honour would pre- 
 vail over thofc of party in ingenuous minds. If it 
 
 did 
 
 t ^■ 
 
 t :!*■ 
 
 ¥'d \ 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 fJid not, we fhould not complain of acquittals, even 
 though founded in prejudice, and the power of the 
 Crown to pardon would fave thofe whom the in- 
 juftice of party had condemned. 
 
 The next of the late Statutes complained of is, 
 that which altered the Charter of Maffachufett's 
 Bay, fo far as to give the nomination of the Council 
 to theKing,infteadofleaving itwiththeHoufeofRe- 
 prefentatives. The great Affertor of our Liberties 
 King William, even without Ad: of Parliament, 
 or legal procefs, refumed the Governments of. 
 Pennfylvania and Maryland into his own hands, 
 becaufe thofe who poffeflcd them had broke the 
 conditions on which they were granted, by violat- 
 ing the laws, though not in fo great a degree as 
 the people of Mairachcfett's Bay have done. 
 George the Firft, in the fame fituation did the 
 fame thing, with i-egard to the Government of 
 South-Carolina *. Qiieen Anne, without Afb of 
 Parliament or legal procefs, took the command of 
 the Coneflicut and Rhode-Ifland militias from the 
 Governors of thofe Provinces, in whom their Char* 
 ters had placed it, and gave the command of the 
 one to the Governor of New- York, and of the other 
 to the Governor of Maflachufetts-Bay ; becaufe it 
 was deemed dangerous and impolitic to commit; 
 the power of the fword to the fame hand which 
 held that of Government in a Province. The 
 
 • The evidence of thcfe rcfumptions is foon to be publiihcd. 
 
 H Statute 
 
i» 
 
 ,s 
 
 r 
 
 ■ i • 
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 Statute you complain of did not revoke the Char- 
 ter of Maflachufett's Bay; it only brought its con- 
 ftitution to refcmble that of England more nearly 
 than it did. The moft perfcd idea of Government 
 that ever was framed is that of a King, a Houfe 
 of Lords, or Great Council, which owes its ho- 
 nours to the King, and a Houfe of Reprefentatives, 
 tjvho owe their honours to the People. But in the 
 Conftltution of Maflachufett's Bay there were only 
 two orders, to wit, that of Goverrtor, and of tht 
 Houfe of Reprefentatives ; feeing the intermediate 
 order, to wit, the Council, was chofen by the Houfe 
 of Reprefentatives, and was therefore no more 
 than one of its Committwes : with this advantage 
 on the part of the Hou(e of Reprefentatives againft 
 the executive power, that that Committee had all 
 the weight and powers which fhould have apper- 
 tained to the intermediate order. The difordered 
 State of the Province called aloud for a Conftitu- 
 tlon, which in this Country is the great fecurity 
 of Order. But this approach to the perfection of 
 Liberty your Congrefs calls Slavery. The altera- 
 tion was indeed not temporary but perpetual, bc- 
 caufe it was obvious that without fome fuch altera- 
 tion, a perpetuity of tranquillity could not be 
 infured. If you think that the office of Counfcllor 
 Ihould be for life, inftead of depending upon the 
 pleafure of the Crown, perhaps we agree with 
 you : had you hereditary ranks, we could not differ 
 at all. Inftead of pulling down, raife up. Sug- 
 
 geft 
 
 rfO 
 
( 51 ) 
 
 geft ^hat you want, to make your various Confti- 
 coitions perfedt. Your wifhcs will not be rcfufed 
 you, if they arc what they fhould be. The dif- 
 pute about the alteration of the Conilitution of 
 one Colony would be buried in oblivion, if at 
 your own dcfirc, and with your own confent, 
 all bad things were taken from all of them, and all 
 good things put into them. 
 
 The laft provifionary law of the fame Minifler, 
 which you complain of, is that which provides for 
 the quartering of the troops. This law, not of 
 policy but neceffity, and without which the troops 
 would be no better, in times of diforder and dan- 
 ger, than Statues, was to laft only a few months, 
 that is, while diforder and danger called for it. 
 The Romans, who of all nations watched the moil 
 to preferve the liberties of the low and the dignities, 
 of the great, gave up often, by chufing a diftator 
 in times of danger, all the honours of both for a 
 while, that they might enjoy them for ever. 
 Their Senates, which were rather Aflemblies of 
 Gods than of Men, went further; for in times of 
 civil commotion, they gave powers even to their 
 Confuls, Ne quid detrimenti refpuhlica capiat, 
 Mark thefe great ftrokes of great policy; and 
 then alk your own minds, whether a permiffion .to 
 Englilh troops, ading in the caufe of their Coun- 
 try, to fleep under cover, inftead of the open air, 
 be a violation of American liberty ? 
 
 H 2 
 
 Wc 
 
i ■ 
 
 
 Iff 
 
 ii 
 
 1 1 
 
 J' 
 
 fc'/)fc 
 
 ( 52 ) 
 
 Wc wifti wc had no occafion to mention your 
 complaints of the Statute which adjuided the li- 
 mits and the government of the Province of Qiie- 
 bec. It affeded not your boundaries, for it con- 
 tains a claufe that it (hall not affed the boundary of 
 any other Colony. It gave the enjoyment of 
 French Laws to French Men, who declared that 
 they could not live without them. It gave toler> 
 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 
 
 ( <o ) 
 
 tnilave yMi, fhoold come oftcncft from the mouths 
 of thofc Lawyers who, in your Southtrn Province! 
 at Icafly have long made you flavts to them* 
 lelves. There is fcarce one of us acquainted 
 with an American, who has not been told by him, 
 chat there is no region on earth in which the 
 people arc fo much opppeflcd by the extortions of 
 Lawyers, as in many parts of America; a circum- 
 f^ance as unfortunate for us as for you in the pre- 
 fent difputes, becaufc w(? are to i xped, that men 
 who gain by uncertainty and disorder, will for ever 
 oppofe every attempt to a regular adminiftratlon of 
 law, police, and government, which muft diminifh 
 their own importance ; and it is not to be hoped that 
 they fliould fpare either the Mother-Country or 
 h6r Colonies as communities, who never ihewed 
 mercy to the Individuals of either. 
 
 Having (hewn you in this Addrcfs, that the 
 projects of your Congrefs for war or fufpenfion of 
 trade would recoil on yourfelves ; that all the fub- 
 je£ls of difference between you^ and us are eafily 
 feconcileable ; that His Majefty's reign has been 
 falfely accufed of a fyflem tocnQave you; and that 
 tnany of your pretended friends may prove your 
 worft enemies; we pray that you may truft to your 
 own i»eafoh on the topics of this Addrefs ; and if , 
 you do, we fhall hope, before a very few months 
 run round, to hear that Peace is leflored to yoOr 
 Minds, and Order to your Provinces. 
 
 \v^. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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