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1 :

32X

E R

ADDRESSED TO TH E

ABBE RAYNAL

ON THE

Affairs of North- America.

X N WHICH

The Miftakes in the Abbe's Account

OF THE

REVOLUTION OF AMERICA

ARE CORRECTED AND CLEARED UP.

if]

By THOMAS PAINE, M. A.

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, AND AUTHOR OF
A TRACT, ENTITLED ** COMMON SENSE."

PHILADELPHIA, PRINTED:

LONDON, REPRINTED,
For C. DILLY, ik the Poultry,

M.DCC.LXXXII.

, .. . t

INTRODUCTION.

LONDON tranflation of an original work In
French, by the Abbe Raynal, which treats of
the Revolution of North America, having been
Reprinted In Philadelphia and other parts of the continent,
and as the diftance at which the Abbe is placed from the
American theatre of war and politics, has occafioned him
to miflake feveral fails, or, mifconceive the caufes or
principles by which they were produced j the following
tradl, therefore, is publilhed with a view to redlify them,
and prevent even accidental errors intermixing with hifto^.
xy^ under the fandlion of time and filence.

The editor of the London edition has entitled it, '* The
Revolution of America, by the Abbe Raynal," and the
American printers have followed the example. But I
have underftood, and I believe my information juft, that
the piece, whicli is more properly refleilions on the re-
volution, was unfairly purloined from the printer which
ithe Abbe employed, or from the manufcript copy, and is
only part of a larger work then in the prefs, or preparing
for it. The perfon who procured it appears to have been
hn Englifliman, and though in an advertifement prefixt
to the London edition, he has endeavoured to glofs over
the embezzlement with profeflions of patriotifm, and to

foften

[ vi ]

foftrn it with high encomiums on the author, yet the
aelicn, in any view, in which it can be placed, is illi-
beral ajid unpardonable.

((

In the courfe of his tr.ivels," fays he, " the tranflator
happily fucceeded in obtaining a copy of this exquifite
little piece, which has not yet made its appearance from
any prcfs. He publifhes a French edition, in favour of
thofe who will feel its eloquent reafoning more forcibly
its native languas-c, at the fame time with the tol-

lowing tv;inflaJ;ion of it ^ jn wnich he has been defirpus,
j^erhaps in vain, that all the warmth, the grace, the
ftrength, the dignity of the original, faould not be loft.
** And he flatters hiinfelf, that the indulgence of the illu-
ftricus hiftorian will not be wanting to a man, who,
of his own motion, has taken the liberty to give this
compofition to the public, only from a ftrong perfua-
fion, that its momentous argument will be ufeful, in
a critical cpnjun6|^irc, to that country M'hich he loves
with an ardour, that can be exceeded only by the
nobler flame, which burns in the bofom of the philan-
thropic author, for the freedom and happiiipfs of all the
countries upon earth."

cc
cc
<c

cc
cc
cc

This plaufibility of fettirg ofF a difhonourable a£tion,
may pafs for" patriotifm and found principles with thofe
who do not enter into its demerits, and whofe intereft is
not injured nor their happinefs affeiSted thereby. But it
is more than probable, notwithflanding the declarations
it contains, that the copy was obtained for the fake of
profiting by the fale of a new and popular work, and that
the profeiTions are but a garb to the fraud.

It may with propriety be remarked, that in all countries
where literature is prote6led, and it never can flourifti
where it is not, the works of an author are his legal pro-
perty ; and to treat letters in any other light than this, is
to banilh them from the country or ftrangle therh in the
birth.— ——The embezzlement from the Abbe Raynal,
was, it is true, committed by one country upon another,
and therefore fhews no defeat in the laws of either. But
it is ncverthelefs a breach of civil manners and literary
juflicej neither can it be any apology, that becaufe th6

7 countries

f vii .1

:t the
8 ilU-

iflator
quilite
E from
cur of
srcibly
he fol-
ifirpus,
:e, the
be loft.
be illu-
, who,
ive this
perfua-
;ful, in
^e loves
by the
philan-
f all the

; aftion,
th thofe
itereft is

But it
arations

"ake of
and that

ountries
flourifli
gal pro-
this, is
in the
Raynal,
another,
|er. But
I literary
caufe th6
countries

countries are at war, literature ftiall be entitled to depre-
dation *.

But the foreftalling the Abbe's publication by London
editions, both in French and Englifli, and thereby not
only defrauding him and throwing an expenfive puolica-
tion on his hands by anticipating the fale, are only the
fmaller injuries which fuch conduct may occafion. A
man's opinions, whether written or in thought, are his
own until he pleafes to publifh them himfelf ; and it is
-J, adding cruelty to injuftice, to make him the author of

^ what future refle(9:ion, or better information, might occa-

. fion him to fupprefs or amend. There are declarations and

I, fentiments in the Abbe's piece, which, for my own part,

I did not expedl to find, and fuch as himfelf, on a re-
vifal, might have feen occafion to change ; but the anti-
cipated piracy effeftually prevented him the opportunity,
and precipitated him into difficulties, which, had it not
been for fuch ungenerous fraud, might not have hap-
pened.

This mode of making an author appear before his time,
will appear ftill more ungenerous, when we confider how
exceedingly few men there are in any country, who can
at once, and without the aid of reflection and revifal,
combine warm paffions with a cool temper, and the full
expanfion of imagination with the natural and neceflary
gravity of judgment, fo as to be rightly balanced within

themfelves,

* Thejiate of literature in America mujl one day heco^n-: a
fuhjeil of legijlative confider ation. Hitherto it hath been a ;.v/--
interejled volunteer in the fer vice of the revolution^ and no mufi
thought of profits : hit when peace fjall give time and oppor-
tunity for Jiudy, the country will deprive itfclfofthe honour and
fervice of letters and the improvemettt offcience, unlefs fuffcient
laws are made to prevetit depredations on literary property. —
'^- It is well worth remarking, that Rujfniy who but a few years
ago, was fcarcely known in Europe, owes a large Jh are of her
prefent grectnefs to the clofe attention Jhe has paid, and the wife
encouragement fije has given, to every branch of fcience and

i learning ; and ive have almoft the fame injlancs in France, in

^ the reign of Lewis the XIV*

I viii ]

themfelves, and to make a reader feci, fancy, and under-
ftandjuftly at the fame time. To call three powers of
the mind into adion at once, in a manner that neither
fhall interrupt, and that each fhall aid and vigorate the
other, is a talent very rarely poilefled.

It often happens that the weight of an argument is loft
by the wit of fetting it off j or the judgment difordered
by an intemperate irritation of the paffions : yet a certain
degree of animation muft be felt by the writer, and raifed
in the reader, in order to intereft the attention ; and a fuf-
Jicient fcope given to the imagination, to enable it to ere— '
ate in the mind a fight of the perfons, charafters and cir-t
cumftances of the fubjedl j for without thefe the judgment
will feel little or no excitement to office, and its determi-
nations will be cold, fluggilh, and imperfeft. But if either
or both of the two former are raifed too high, or heated
too much, the judgment will be joftled from its feat, and
the whole matter, however important in itfelf, will di-
minifti into a pantomime of the mind, in which we create
images that promote no other purpofe than amufement.

The Abbe's writings bear evident marks of that ex-
tenfion and rapidnefs of thinking, and quicknefs of fenfa-
tion which of all others require rcvifal, and the more
particularly fo, when applied to the living charadlers of
nations or individuals in a ftate of war. The leaft mif-
information or raifconception leads to fome wrong con-
clufion, and an error believed becomes the progenitor of
others.— And as the Abbe has fufFered fome mconvenien-
cies in France, by miftating certain circumftances of the
war, and the charadlers of the parties therein, it becomes
fome apology for him, that thofe errors were precipitated
into the world by the avarice of an ungenerous enemy.

•J

LETTER

( under-
wers of
neither
rate the

f 1 J

at is loft

fordered

certain

nd railed

nd a fuf-

t to cre--^

and cir-t

udgnient

determi-

t if either

or heated

feat, and

will di-

we create

:ment.

that ex-
1 of fenfa-
the more
rafters of
lead mif*
rong con-
igenitor of
onvenien-
:es of the
t becomes
recipitated
snemy.

E R

ADDRESSED TO THE

ABBE R A Y N A L

ON THE AFFAIRS OF

NORTH*AMERICA,

TTER

TO an author of fuch diflinguifhed reputation A9
the Abbe Raynal, it might very well become me
to apologize for the prefent undertaking; but as to be
right is the firft wifh of philofophy, and the firft principle
of hiftory> he will, I prefume, accept from me a declara-
tion of my motives, which are thofe of doing juftice, in.
preference to any complimental apology, I might other-
wife make.— The Abbe, in the courfe of his work, has,
in fom« inftances^ extolled without a reafon, and wounded
without a caufe. He has given fame where it was not
defervcd, and withheld it where it was juftly due ; and
appears to be fo frequently in and out of temper with

B his

I ?;

t « J

his fubjc£ls ind parties, that few or none of them are dc*
cifively and uniformly marked.

It is yet too foon to write thehiftory of the revolution,
and whoever attempts it precipitately, will unavoidably
miftake charadlers and circumflances, and involve himfclf
in error and difficulty. Things like men are feldom un-
derftood rightly at firft fight. But the Abbe is wrong
even in the foundation of his work ; that is, he has mif-
conceived and miftated the caufes which produced the
rupture between England and her then colonies, and
which led on, ftep by flep, unftudied and uncontrived on
the part of America, to a revolution, which has engaged
the attention, and affected the intereft, of Europe.

To prove this, I (hall bring forward a paflTage, which,
though placed towards the latter part of the Abbe's work,
is more intimately conne6led with the beginning; and in
■which, fpeaking of the original caufe of the difpute, he
declares himfelf in the following manner—

*' None," fays he, " of thofe energetic caufes, which
** have proiluced fo many revolutions upon the globe,
** exillcd in North-America. Neither religion nor laws
*' had there been outraged. The blood of martyrs or
" patriots had not there dreamed from fcafFolds. Morals
** had not there been infulted. Manners, cuftoms, ha-
** bits, no obje«5l dear to nations, had there been the fport
" of ridicule. Arbitrary power had not there torn any
inhabitant from the arms of his family and his friends,
to drag him to a dreary dungeon. Public order had
not been there inverted. The principles of adminiftra-
tion had not been changed there i and the maxims of

govern-

((

r 3 J

*^ government had there always remained the fame.

•* The whole queftion was reduced to the knowing
whether the mother country had, or had not a right
to lay, dircdly or indiredly, a flight tax upon the

** colonies."

((

On this extraordinary paflage, it may not be impro-
per, in general terms, to remark, that none can feel like
thofe who fufFer j and that for a man to be a competent
.*; judge of the provrocative, or as the Abbe ftiles them,

I the energetic caufes of the revolution, he muft have re-

J fided in America. ^

The Abbe in faying that the feveral particulars he has
enumerated, did not exid in America, and neglecting to
point out the particular period, in which he means they
did not exift, reduces thereby his declaration to a nullity,
by taking away all meaning from the pafl'age.

They did not exift in 1763, and they all exifted be-
fore 1776 ; confequently as there was a time when they
did noty and another when they did exift, the t'vne when
conftitutes the eflence of the faft, and not to give it, is
to withhold the only evidence, which proves the declara-
tion right or wrong, and on which it muft ftand or fall.
But the declaration, as it now appears, unaccomp mied
by time, has an efFed in holding out to the world, that
there was no real caufe for the revolution, becaufe it der
nies the exiftence of all thofe caufes, which are fuppofed
to be ju^ifiable, and which the Abbe ftiles energetic.

I CONFESS myfelf exceedingly at alofs to find out the
time to which the Abbe alludes j becaufe, in another part
of the work, in fpeaking of the ftamp ad, which was

B 2 pafied

-I !

t 4 J

pafled in 1764, he ftiles it " An ufurpation of the Ame-o
ricans moji precious and f acred rights" Confcquently he
here admits the moft energetic of all caufes, that is, an
pfurpation of their maji precious and f acred rights, to have
exifted in America twelve years before the declaration
of independence, and ten years before the breaking out
of hoftilities. — The time, therefore, in which the para-
graph is true, muft be antecedent to the flamp aft, but
as at that time there was no revolution nor any idea of
pne, it confequently applies without a meaning j and as
it cannot, on the Abbe's own principle, be applied to
any time after the ftamp aft, it is therefore a wandering
folitary paragraph connefted with nothing and at va-
riance with every thing.

The ftamp aft, it is true, was repealed in two years
after it was pafled, but it was immediately followed by
pne of infinitely more mifchievous magnitude, I mean
the declaratory aft, which aflerted the right, as it was
lliled, of the Brit|fh Parliament, " to bind Jmerica in all
iafes whatjoever*'

If then the flamp aft was an ufurpation of the Ame-
ricans moft precious and facred rights, the declaratory
aft left them no right at all ; and contained the full
grown feeds of the moft defpotic government ever exer-
cifed in the world. It placed America not only in the
loweft, but in the bafeft ftate of vaflalagej becaufe it
demanded an unconditional fubmiflion in every thing,
or as the aft exprefles it, in all ccfes whatfoever : And
what renders this aft the mere oftcnfivc, is, that it ap-
pears to have been pafled as an aft of mercy j truly then
it may be faid, that the tender mercies of the wicked are
crneL

Ail

.ill

T 5 1

All the original charters from the Crown of Eng-
land, under the faith of which, the adventurers from
the old woild fettled in the new, were by this adt dif-
placed from their foundations j becaufe, contrary to the
nature of them, which was that of a compad, they were
now made fubjedl to repeal or alteration at the mere will
of one party only. The whole condition pf America
was thus put mto the hands of the Parliament or the
Miniftry, without leaving to her the leaft right in any
cafe whatfoever.

Ail

There is no defpotifm to which this iniquitous law
did not extend ; and though it might have been conve-
nient in the execution of it, to have confulted manners
and habits, the principle of the adt made all tyranny
legal. It ftopt nowhere. It went to every thing. It
took in with it the whole life of a man, or, if I may fo
exprefs it, an eternity of circumftances. It is the na-
ture of law to require obedience, but this demanded fer-
vitudej and the condition of an American, under the
operation of it, was not that of a fubje6l, but a vafial.
Tyranny has often been eftabliflied without law, and
fometimes againji it, but the hiftory of mankind does
not produce another inftance, in which it has been efta-
blilhed by law. It is an audacious outrage upon civil
government, and cannot be too much expofed, in order
to be fufficiently detefted.

Neither could i: be faid after this, that the lesifla-
ture of that country any longer made laws for this, but
that it gave out commands ; for wherein differed an a6l
ofParliamentconftruded on this principle, and operat-
ing in this manner, over an unreprefented people, from
the orders of a military eftablifliment ?

The

[ 6 ]

[

The Parliament of England, with refytd: to Ame-
rica, was not feptennial but perpetual. It appeared to
the latter a body always in being. Its eledion or its
expiration were to her the fame as if its members fuc-
ceeded by inheritance, or went out by death, or lived
for ever, or were appointed to it as a matter of office.
Therefore, for the people of England to have any jiiit
conception of the mind of America, refpc<^ing this ex-
traordinary a6l, they muft fuppofe all election and ex-
piration in that country to ceafc for ever, and the pre-
fent Parliament, its heirs, &c. to be perpetual j in this
cafe, I aflc, what would the moft clamorous of them
think, were an z6k to be paflld, declaring the right of
fuch a Parliament to bind them in all cafes whatfoever ?
For this word whatfoever would go as effedlually to
their Magna Charta, Bill of Rights, 'Trial by Juries, &c.
as it went to the charters and forms of government in
America.

I AM perfuaded, that the Gentleman to whom I ad-
drefs thefe remarics, will not, after the paffing this a£t,
fay, '* That the principles of adminiftration had not been
** changed in America, and that the maxims of govern-
** mcnt had there been always the fame.*' For here is,
in principle, a total overthrow of the whole j and not a
fubverfion only, but an annihilation of the foundation
of liberty, and abfolute domination eftablifhed in its
ftead.

The Abbe likewife dates the cafe exceedingly wrong
and injurioufly, when he fays, *' that the whole queftion
** was reduced to the knowing: whether the mother
•* country had, or had not, a right to lay, directly or in-
** diredlly, a flight tax upon the colonicSt" — This was

c
I

r'l

r 7 ]

not the whole of the queftion j neither was the quantity of
the tax the obje£i;, either to the Miniftry or to the Ame-
ricans. It was the principle, of which the tax made
but a part, and the quantity ftill lefs, that formed the
ground on which America oppofed.

The tax on tea, which is the tax here alluded to,
was neither more or lefs than an experiment to eftablifli
the pradice of the declaratory law upon ; modelled into
the more fafliionable nhrafe of the univerfal futremacy of
Parliament, i'or until this time, the declaratory law
had lain dormant, and the framers of it had contented
themfelves with barely declaring an opinion.

Therefore the whole queftion with America, in tre
opening of the difpute, was. Shall we be bound in all
cafes whatfocver by the Britifli parliament, or fhall we
not ? For fubmillion to the tea or tax a£i implied an
acknowledgment of the declaratory a6l, or, in other
words, of the univerfal fupremacy of Parliament, which,
as they never intended to do, it was neceffary they
fhould oppofe it, in its firft ftage of execution.

It is probable, the Abbe has been led into this mif-
take by perufing detached pieces in fome of the Ameri-
can news-papers j for, in a cafe where all were inte-
refted, every one had a right to give his opinion j and
there v/ere many who, with the beft intentions, did not
•hufe the beft, nor indeed the true ground, to defend
their caufe upon. They felt themfelves right by a ge-
neral impulfe, without being able to feparate, analyze,
and arrange the parts.

I AM fomewhat unwilling to examine too minutely into

the

[ 8 ]

the whole of this extraordinary pafl*age of the Ab-e, left
I (hould appear to treat it with feverity otherwife I could
(how that not a fingle declaration is juftly founded : For
inftance, the reviving an obfolete z6t of the reign of Hen-
ry the eighth, and fitting it to the Americans, by autho-
rity of which they were to be feized and brought from
America to England, and there imprifoiied and tried for
any fuppofed offences, was, in the worft fenfe of the
words, to tear them, by the arbitrary power of Parliament y
from the arms of their families and friends, and drag them
not only to dreary but difiant dungeons. Yet this aft was
contrived feme years before the breakingout of hoftilities.
And again, though the blood of martyrs and patriots had
not ftreamed on the fcaffolds, it ftreamed in the ftreets,
in the maflacre of the inhabitants of Bofton, by the Bri-
tifh foldicry in the year 1770.

Had the Abbe faid that the caufes which produced the
revolution in Americawereoriginally <://^r^«/from thofc
which produced revolutions in other parts of the globe,
he had been right. Here the value and quality of liberty,
the nature of government, and the dignity of man, were
knov/n and underftood, and the attachment of the Ame-
ricans to thefe principles produced the revolution as a
natural and almoft unavoidable confequence. They had
no particular family to fet up or pull down. Nothing of
porfonality Vt^as incorporated with their caufe. They
ftarted even-handed with each other, and went no fafter
into the feveral ftages of it, than they were driven by the
unrelenting and imperious condu6i: of Britain. Nay, in
the laft aft, the declaration of independence, they had
nearly been too late ; for had it not been declared at the
exaft time it was, I fee no period in their afEiiirs fince, in

which

'it

[ 9 ]

which it Could have been declared with the fame gffc^^
and probably not at all.

But the objedk being formed before the r-verfe of for-
tune took place, that is, before the operations of the
gloomy campaign of 1776, their honor, their intereft,
their every thing called loudly on them to maintain it 5
and that glow of thought and energy of heart, which
even a diftant profpeft of independence infpires, gave
confidence to their hopes and refolution to their con-
duft, which a ftate of dependence could never have
reached. They looked forward to happier days and fcenes
of reft, and qualified thcbardfhips of the campaign by con-
templating the eftabliihment of their new born fyftem.

If on the other hand, we take a review of what part
Britain has adled, we iliall find every thing which ought
to make a nation blufli. The moft vulgar abufe, accom-
panied by that fpecies of haughtinefs, which diftin-
guifhes the hero of a mob from the character of a gentle-
man ; it was equally as much from her manners as from
her injuftice that fhe loft the colonies. By the latter
ihe provoked their principles, by the former ihe wore out
their temper; and it ought to be held out as an example
to the world, to (how, how necelTary it is to conduit the
bufinefs of government with civility. In fhort, other
revolutions may have originated in caprice or generated
in ambition ; but here, the moft unofi^ending humility
was tortured into rage, and the infancy of exiftence
made to weep.

A UNION fo extenfive, continued and determined, fuf-
fering with patience and never in defpair, could not have
l^een produced by common caufes. It muft befomething

j^C capable

[ 10 ]

capable of reaching the whole foul of man and arming h
with perpetual energy. In vain is it to look for prece-
dents among the revolutions of former ages, to find out,
by comparifon, the caufes of this. The fpring, the pro-
grefs, the obje£l, the confequences, nay, the men, their
habits of thinking, and all the circumftances of the
country are different. Thofe of other nations are, in
general, little more than the hiftory of their quarrels.
They are marked by no important character in the annals
of events ; mixi^ .n the mafs of general matters they oc-
cupy but a common pa^e ; and while the chief of the
fuccefsful partizans fleptinto power, the plundered mul-
titude fat down and forrowed. Few, very few of them
are accompanied with reformation, either in government
or manners J many of them with the moft confummate
profligacy. Triumph oh the one fide and mifery on the
other were the only events. Pains, puniHiments, tor-
ture, and death were made the bufinefs of mankind,
until companion, the fairefl: alTociate of the heart, was
driven from its place, and the eye, accuftomed to conti-
nual cruelty, could behold it without offence.

But as the principles of the prefent revolution dif-
fered from thofe which preceded it, fo likcwife has the
condmSt of America both in government and war.
Neither the foul finger of difgrace nor the bloody
hand of vengeance has hitherto put a blot upon her
fame. Her vidlories have received luftrefrom a great-
nefs of lenity ; and her Jaws been permitted to flumber,
v.hi're they might juftly have awakened to punifh.'
War, fo much the trade of the world, has here been only
the bufinefs of hecefTity ; and when the neceifity (hall
ccafe, her very cncnjies muft confefs, that as Ihc drew

... . tha

1 ,

the fword in her juft defence, flie ufed it without cruelty,
and fheathed it without revenge.

As it is not my defign to extend thefe remarks to a
hiftory, I {hall now take my leave of this paffage of the
Abbe, with an obfervation, which until fomething un-
folds itfclf to convince me otherwife, I cannot avoid be-
lieving to be true ;— which is, that it was the fixt de-
termination of the Britiih cabinet to quarrel with Ame-
rica at all events.

. They (the members who compofe the cabinet) had
no doubt of fuccefs, if they could once bring it to the
iflue of a battle ; and they expelled from a conqucft,
what they could neither propofe with decency, nor hope
for by negociation. The charters and conftitutions of
the colonies were become to them matters of offence,
and their rapid progrefs in property and population were
difguftingly beheld as the growing and natural means of
independence. They faw no way to retain them long
but by reducing them in time. A conqueft would at
once have made them both lords and landlords; and
put them in pofleffion both of the revenue and the rental*
The whole trouble of government would have ccafed
in a vi(Sl:ory, and a final end been put to remonftrance
and debate. The experience of the ftamp adt had taught
them how to quarrel with the advantages of cover and
convenience, and they had nothing to do but to renew
the fcene, and put coi^tention into motion. They
hoped for a rebellion, and they made one. They ex-
pe(Sled a declaration, of independence, and they were not
difappointed. But after this, they looked for viftory,
and they obtained a defeat.

C 2 If

-'A

I> i

i
■A

I 12 ]

If this be taken as the generating caufe of the conteft,
then is every part of the condudl of the Britifh Miniftry
confiftent from the commencement of the difpute, until
the figning the treaty of Paris, after which, conqueft
becoming doubtful, they retreated to negociation, and
were again defeated.

- Tho' the Abbe pofleffes and difplays great powers of
genius, and is a mailer of ftile and language, he feems
not to pay equal attention to the office of an hiflorian.
His fadls are coldly and carelefsly ftated. They neither
inform the reader nor intereft him. Many of them are
erroneous, and moll: of them defective and obfcure. It
is undoubtedly both an ornament and a ufeful addition to
hiftory to accompany it with maxims and reflecSlions.
They afford likewifc an agreeable change to the ftile and
a more diverfified manner of expreffion j but it is abfo-
lutely neceffary that the root from whence they fpring,
or the foundations on which they are raifed, fhould be
well attended to, which in this work they are not. The
Abbe haftens through his narrations as if he was glad
to get from them, that he may enter the more copious
field of eloquence and imagination.

The aftions of Trenton and Princeton in New-
Jcrfey, in December 1776, and January following, on
which the fate of America ftood for a while trembling
on the point of fufpence, and from which the moft im-
portant confequences followed, are comprifed within a
fmgle paragraph faintly conceived, and barren of cba-
jra«5ler, circumftance and defcription.

♦* On the 25th of December," fays the Abbe, " they

<« (the

[ IJ ]

•* (the Americans) croffed the Delaware, and fell acei"
** dentally upon Trenton, which was occupied by fifteen
** hundred of the twelve thoufand HefHans, fold in fo
'* bafe a manner by their avaricious mafter, to the King
*' of Great Britain. This corps was majfacred, taken,
•* ordifperfed. Eight days after, three Englifli regiments
** were in like manner driven from Princeton, but after
** having better fupported their reputation than the fo-
reign troops in their pay,

»»

This is all the account which is given of thefe moft
interefting events. The Abbe has preceded them by two
or three pages on the military operations of both armies,
from the time of General Howe arriving before New-
York from Halifax, and the vaft reinforcements of Bri-
tifh and foreign troops with Lord Howe from England.
But in thefe, there is fomuch miftake, and fo many omif-
fions, that, to fet them right, muft be the bufinefs of hif-
tory and not of a letter. The aftion of Long-Ifland is
but barely hinted at, and the operations at the White
Plains wholly omitted : as are likewife the attack and lofs
of fort Wafhington, with a garrifon of about two thou*
iand five hundred men, and the precipitate evacuation of
Fort Lee, in confequence thereof; which lofles were in
a great meafure the caufe of the retreat through the Jer-
fies to the Delaware, a diflance of about ninety miles.
Neither is the manner of the retreat defcribed, which,
from the feafon of the year, the nature of the country,
the nearnefs of the two armies, (fometimes within fight
and (hot of each other for fuch a length of way) the rear
of the one employed in pulling down bridges, and the

van of the other in building them up, muft neceffari
accompanied with many interefting circumftances.

ly be

" 111

■,v.

, i

ill:

; 1

I. f
I

[Hi

It was a period of diflrefTes. A crifts rather of danger
tihan of hope. There is no defcription can do it judice ;
^nd even the actors in it, looking back upon the fcene,
are furprifed how they got through ; and at a lofs to
account for thofe powers of the mind and fprings of ani-
ijfiation, by which they withftood the fqrce of accumu-
lated misfortune.

It was expelled, that the time for which the army was
inlifted, would carry the campaign fofar into the winter,
that the feverity of the feafon, and the confequcnt condi-
tion of the roads, would prevent any material operation
of the enemy, until the new army could be raifed for the
next year. And I mention it, as a matter worthy of atten-
tion, by all future hiflorians, that the movements of the
American army, until the attack upon the Heflian poll
at Trenton, the 26th of December, are to be confidercd
as operating to effed: no other principal purpofe than
de]ay, and to wear away the campaign under all the dif^
advantages of an unequal force, with as little misfortunq
as poiTible.

< )

But the lofs of the garrifon at fortWafliington on tho
l6th of November, and the expiration of the time of a,
confiderable part of the army, fo early as the 30th of the
iame month, and which were to be followed by almoft
daily expirations afterwards, made retreat the only final
expedient. To thcfecircumftances may be added the for-
lorn and deflitute condition of the few that remained j for
the garrifon of Fort Lee, which compofed almoft thq
whole of the retreat, had been obliged to abandon it fo
inftantaneoufly, that every article of ftores and baggage
was left behind, and in thisdeftitute condition, without
t^pt or blanket, and without any other utenhls to drefs
1 their

t 'J 1

their provifion, than what they procured by the way,
they performed a march of about ninety miles, and had
the addrefs and management to prolong it to the fpace
of nineteen days.

By this unexpe^ed or rathenlnthought of turn of af-
fairs, the country was in an inftant furprifed into con-
fufion, and found an enemy within its bowels, without
an army to oppofe him. There were no fuccours to be
had, but from the free-will offering of the inhabitants*
All was choice, and every man reafoned for himfelf.

It was in this fituation of affairs, equally calculated
to confound or to infpire, that the gentleman, the mer*
chant, the farmer, the tradefman, and the labourer mu<*
tually turned from all the conveniencies of home, to
perform the duties of private foldiers, and undergo the
feverities of a winter campaign. The delay, fo judici-*
aufly contrived on the retreat, afforded time for the vo-*
lunteer reinforcements to join General Walhington on
the Delaware.

The Abbe is likewife wrong in faying, that the Ame«
rican army fell accidentally on Trenton. It was the very
object for which General Wafliington crofTed the Dela-<
ware in the dead of the night and in the midfl: of fnow^
ftorms, and ice; and which he immediately recroffed
with his prifoners, as foon as he had accomplifhed his
purpofe. Neither was the intended enterprife a fecret
to the enemy, information having been fent of it by
letter, from a Britilh Officer at Princeton, to Colonel
Rolle, who commanded the Hefllans at Trenton, which
letter was afterwards found by the Americans. Never-
thelefs the poft was completely furprifed. A fmall cir*

cumftatice,

f «6 ]

cumftance, which had the appearance of miftake on the
part of the Americans, led to a more capital and real
miftake on the part of Rolle«

The cafe was this. A detachment of twenty or thirty
Americans had heen fent acrofs the river from a poft, a
few miles above, by an Officer unacquainted with the
Intended attack ; thefe were met by a body of Heifians
on the night, to which the information pointed, which
was Chriftmas night, and repulfed. Nothing further
appearing, and the Heifians, miftaking this for the ad-
vanced party, fuppofed the enterprifedifconcerted, which
at that time was not began, and under this idea, re-
turned to their quarters; fo that, what might have raifed
an alarm, and brought the Americans into an ambufcade,
ferved to take nff the force of an information, and pro-
mote the fuccefs of the enterprife. Soon after day-light
General Wafhington entered the town, and after a little
oppofition, made himfelf mafter of it, with upwards of
nine hundred prifoners*

This combination of equivocal circumftances, falling
within what the Abbe ftiles *' the wide empire of chance i**
would have afforded a fine field for thought, and I wifh,
for the fake of that elegance of refle£Uon he is fo capable
of ufmg, that he had known it. . . .; j

But the a^ion at Princeton was accompanied by a ftill
greater embarrafiment of matters, and followed by more
extraordinary confequences. The Americans, by a hap-
py iiroke of generalihip, in this inftance, not only de-
ranged and defeated all the plans of the Britiih, in the
intended moment of execution, but drew from their poile
the enemy they were not able to drive^ and obliged them

[ '7 ]

to clofc the campaign. As the c'ucumflancc is a curlofity
in war, and not well untlcrilood in Europe, I fliall, &•>
concifely as I can, relate the principal parts; they may
fcrve to prevent future hillorians from error, and recover
f'rom forgetfuinefs a fcene of magnificent to* tituJe.

Immediately after the furprize of the Hc/Ilans at
Trenton, General Wafhington rccrofl'cd the Delaware,
which at this place is about three quarters of a mile over,
and.reaflumed his former port on the Pcnnfylvania fide,
Trenton remained unoccupied, and the enemy were ported
at Princeton, twelve miles diftant, on the road towards
New- York. The weather was now growing very fevere,
and as there were very few houfes near the fliorc where
General Wafhington had taken his ftation, the greatcft
part of his army remained out in the woods and fields.
Thefe, with fome other circumftances, induced the re-
crofling the Delaware and taking poireflion of Trenton,
It was undoubtedly a bold adventure, and carried with
it the appearance of defiance, cfpecially when we con-
fider the panic flruck condition of the enemy on the lofs
of the HciTian poft* But in order to give a juft idea of
the affair, it is necefliiry I Ihould dcfcribe the place.

iH f

■n

Trenton is fituated on a rifing ground, about three
quarters of a mile difliant fiom the Delaware, on the
caftern or Jerfcy fide j and is cut into two divifions by a
fmall creek or rivulet, fufncient to turn a mill which is
on it, after which it empties itfelf at nearly right angles
into the Delaware. The upper divifion which is to the
north eaft, contains about feventy or eighty houfes, and
the lower about forty or fifty. The ground on each fide
this creek, and on which the houfes are, is Ukcwife rifing,
and the two divifions prcfent an agreeable profpcd to

'■'f

•''•J I

each

■mK I

¥'■ I

[ 1« ]

each other, with the creek between, on which there is a
fmall flone bridge of one arch.

! I

ScAPCELY had General Wafliington taken poft here,
and before the feveral parties of militia, out on detach-
ments, or on their way, could be collefted, than the
Britifh, leaving behind them a ftrong garrifon at Prince-
ton, marched fuddenly and entered Trenton at the up-
per or north eaft quarter. A party of the Americans
fkirmifhed with the advanced party of the Britilh, to
afford time for removing the ftores and baggage, and
withdrawing over the bridge.

In a little time the Britifli had pbfleflion of one half of
the town. General Wafliington of the other, and the
creek only feparated the two armies. Nothing could be
a more critical fituation than this, and if ever the fate of
America depended on the event of a day, it was now.
The Delaware was filling faft with large fheets of driv-
ing ice and was impaflable, fo that no retreat into Penn-
fylvania could be efFe6ted, neither is it poflible, in the
face of an enemy, to pafs a river of fuch extent. The
roads were broken and rugged with the froft, and the
main road was occupied by the enemy.

About four o'clock a party of tl. Pritifli approached
the bridge, with a defign to gain it, out were rcpulfcd.
They made no more attempts, though the creek itfelf is
paffable any where between the bridge and the Delaware.
It runs in a rugged natural made ditch, over which a
perfon may pafs with little difficulty, the ftream being
rapid and (liallow. Evening was now coming on, and
the Britifli, believing they had all the advantages they
could wifli for, and that they rould ufe them when they

pleafed.

If!'

[ 19 3

pleafed, difcontinued all further operations, and held
themfelves prepared to make the attack next morning.

But the next morning produced a fcene, as elegant as
it was unexpected. The Britifh were under arms and
ready to march to adlion, when one of their light-horfe
from Princeton came furioufly down the ftreet, with an
account, that General Wafhington had that morning
attacked and carried the Britifh pofl at that place, and
was proceeding on to feize the magazine at Brunfwick ;
on which the Britifh, who were then on the point of
making an alTault on the evacuated camp of the Ameri-
cans, wheeled about, and in a fit of condernation
marched for Princeton.

.i'M

This retreat is one of thofe extraordinary circum-
ftances, that in future ages may probably pafs for fable.
For it will with difficulty be believed, that two armies,
on which fuch important confequences depended, fhould
be crouded into fo fmall a fpace as Trenton, and that
the one, on the eve of an engagement, when every ear is
fuppofed to be open, and every watchfulnefs employed,
fhould move completely from the ground, with all its
ftores, baggage, and artillery, unknown and even unfuf-
pe6tcd by the other. And fo entirely were the Britifh
deceived, that when they heard the report of the cannon
and fmall arms at Princeton, they fuppofed it to be
thunder, though in the depth of winter.

Gener Ai, Wafhington9 the better to cover and difguife
his retreat from Trenton, had ordered a line of fires to be
lighted up in front of his camp. Thefe not only ferved
to give an appearance of going to reil, and continuing

D a that

■4^

ilii

[ 20 ]

that deception, but they efFet^ually concealed from the
Britifh whatever was a£ling behind them, for flame cati
no more be feen through than a vvall, and in this fitua-
tion, it may with fome propriety be faid, they became a
pillar of fire to the one army, and a pillar of a cloud to
the other : after this, by a circuitous march of about
eighteen miles, the Americans reached Princeton early
in the morning.

The nurnber of prifoners taken were between two and
three hundred, with which General Wafliington imme-
diately fet ofF. The van of the Britifli army from Tren-
ton entered Princeton about an hour after the Americans
had left it, who continuing their march for the remainder
oftheday, arrived in the evening at a convenient fituation,
wide of the main road to Brunfwick, and about fixteen
miles diftant from Princeton. — But fo wearied and ex-
haufted were they, with the continual and unabated fer-
vice and fatigue of two days and a night, from adion to
aftion, without flielter and almoft without refrefhment,
that the bare and frozen ground, with no other covering
than the fky, became to them a place of comfortable reft.
By thcfe two events, and with but little comparative force
to accomplifh them, the A mericans clofed with advantages
a campaign, which, but a few days before, threatened the
country with deftru6lion. The Britifh army, apprehenfive
for the fafety of their magazines at Brunfwick, eighteen
rniles diftant, marched immediately for that place, where
they arrived late in the evening, and from which they
made no attempts to move, for nearly five months.

Having thus ftated the principal outlines of thefe two
moft interefting adlions, I (hall now quit them, to put the

Abbe

[ 21 J

Abbe right in his miftated account of the debt and paper
money of Americaj wherein, fpeaking of thefe matters,
he fays, ^

** These ideal riches were reje£led. The more the
** multiplication of them was urged by want, the greater
•* did their depreciation grow. The Congrefs was indig-
*' nant at the affronts given to its money, and declared
** all thofe to be traitors to their country who fhould not
^* receive it as they would have received gold itfelf.

■ ]* L

\, ■ Mil

■ 'M

•* D D not this body know, that prepofleffions are no
more to be controled than feeling's are ? Did it not
perceive, that in the prefent crifis every rational maa
would be afraid of expofmg his fortune ? Did it not
fee, that at the beginning of a republic it permitted to
itfelf the exercife of fuch afts of defpotifm as are un-
known even in the countries which are moulded to,
and become familiar with, fervitude and oppreflion ?
Could it pretend that it did not punifti z want of con-
fidence with the pains which would have been fcarcely
merited by revolt and treafon ? Of all this was the
Congrefs well aware. But it had no choice of means.
Its defpifed and defpicable fcraps of paper were acSlu-
ally thirty times below their original value, when more
of them were ordered to be made. On the 1 3th of
September, 1779, there was of this paper money,
amongft the public, to the amount of ;^. 35,544, 155.
The ftate owed moreover ^^•8,385, 356, without reck-
oning the particular debts of fmgle provinces.'*

In the above recited paflages the Abbe fpeaks as if the
United States had contraded a debt of upwards of forty

millionc

[ 12 ]

millions pounds ftcrling, befides the debts of individual
States. After which, fpeaking of foreign trade with
America, he fays, that"thofe countries in Europe, which
** are truly commercial ones, knowing that North-Ame-
*' rica had been reduced to contra<3: debts at the epoch
«' of even her greateft profperity, wifely thought, that,
** in her prefent diftrefs, fhe would be able to pay but
*' very little, for what might be carried to her,"

H i'

I i^NOW it muft be extremely difficult to make foreign-
ers underftand the nature and circumftances of our paper
money, becaufe there are natives, who do not underftand
it themfelves. But with us its fate is now determined.
Common confent has configned it to reft with that kind
of regard, which the long fervice of inanimate things
infenfibly obtains from mankind. Every ilone in the
bridge, that has carried us over, feems to have a claim
upon our efteem. But this was a corner ftone, and its
ufefulnefs cannot be forgotten. There is fomething in
a grateful mind, which extends itfelf even to things that
can neither be benefited by regard, nor fufFer by nc-
gledl ; — But fo it is ; and almoft every man is fenfiblc
of the cffed:.

But to return. The paper money, though iflued from
Congrefs under the name of dollars, did not come from
that body always ac that value. Thofe which were if-
fued the firft year, were equal to gold and filver. The
fecond year lefs, the third ftill lefs, and fo on, for nearly
the fpace of five years ; at the end of which, I imagine,
that the whole value, at which Congrefs might pay away
the feveral emiffions, taking them together, was about
ten or twelve millions pounds fterling, ,

a Now

Now as it would have taken ten or twelve millions
fterlirtg of taxes, to carry on the war for five years, and,
as while this money was iffuing and likewife depreci*
ating down to nothing, there wefe none, or few valuable
taxes paid ; confequently the event to the public was the
fame, whether they funk ten or twelve millions of ex-
pended money, by depreciation, or paid ten or twelve
millions by taxation ; for as they did not do both, and
chofe to do one, the matter, in a general view, was in*
different. And therefore, what the Abbe fuppofes to be
a debt, has now no exiftence; it having been paid, by
every body confenting, to reduce at his own expence,
from the value of the bills continually paffing among
themfelves, a fum, equal to nearly what the expence of
the war was for five years.

Again. The paper money having now ceafed, and
the depreciation with it, and gold and filver fupplied its
place, the war will now be carried on by taxation, which
will draw from the public a confiderable lefs fum than
what the depreciation drew; but as while they pay the
former, they do not fufFer the latter, and as when they
fufFered the latter, they did not pay the former, the
thing will be nearly equal, with this moral advantage,
that taxation occafions frugality and thought, and de-
preciation produced diflipation and careleiTnefs.

And again. If a man's portion of taxes comes to lefs
than what he loft by the depreciation, it proves the al-
teration is in his favor. If it comes to more, and he is
juftly afleffed, it (hows that he did not fuftain his propsr
(hare of depreciation, becaufe the one was as opcratively
his tax as the other.

I !

IS i'^

in ■'

I H ]

It is true, that it never was intended, neither was it
forefeen, that the debt contained in the paper currency
(hould fink itfelf in this manner ^ but as by the voluntary
condu£t of all and of every one it has arrived at this fate,
the debt is paid by thofe who owed it. Perhaps nothing
was ever fo univerfally the a6t of a country as this.
Government had no hand in it. Every man depreciated
his own money by his own confent, for fuch was the ef*
fe£t, which the raifing the nominal value of goods pro-
duced. But as by fuch redudion he fuftained a lofs equal
to what he muft have paid to fmk it by taxation, therefore
the line of juftice is to ronfider his lofs by the deprecia-
tion as his tax for that time, and not to tax him when
the war is over, to make that money good in any other
perfons hands, which became nothing in his own.

Again. The paper currency was iflued for the exprefs
purpofe of carrying on the war. It has performed that
fervice, without any other material charge to the public,
while it lafted. But to fuppofe, asfome did, that, at the
end of the war, it was to grow into gold or filver, or
become equal thereto, was to fuppofe that we were to get
two hundred millions of dollars by going to war^ in-
ftead oi paying the coft of carrying it on.

But if any thing in the fituation of America, as to her
currency or her circumftances, yet remains not underftood,
then let it be remembered, that this war is the public's
•war J the people's war ; the country's war. It is their
independence that is to be fupported j their property that
is to be fecured ; their country that is to be faved. Here,
government, the army, and the people, are mutually
and reciprocally one. In other wars, kings may lofe their

thrones

r 25 J

thrones, and their dominions j but here, the lofs muft
fall on the majejiy of the multitude^ and the property they
are contending to fave. Every man being fenfible of
this, he goes to the field, or pays his portion of the
charge, as the fovercign of his own pofTeffions j and
when he is conquered a monarch falls.

i. %

I -J

The remark, which the Abbe in the conclufion of
the paflage has made, refpcdling America contracting
debts in the time of her profperity (by which he means,
before the breaking out of hoftilities) ferves to fhow,
though he has not made the application, the very great
commercial difFcrence between a dependent and an inde-
pendent country. In a ftate of dependence, and with a
fettered commerce, though with all the advantages of
peace, her trade could not balance itfelf, and Ihe an-
nuallv run into debt. But now, in a ftate of independ-
ence, though involved in war, ihe requires no credit >
her fbrcs arc full of merchandize, and gold and filver
are become the currency of the country. How thefe
thintrs have eftubliflied themfelves it is difficult to ac-
count for : But they are fa<5ts, and fa^Sls are more power-
ful than ari^uments.

As it is probable this letter will undergo a republi-
cation in Europe, the remarks here thrown together
will ferve to fhow the extreme folly of Britain, in reft-
ing her hopes of fuccefs on the extinction of our paper
currency. The expectation is at once fo childifli and
forlorn, that it places her in the laughable condition of
a famiflied lion watching for prey at a fpider's web.

From this account of the currency, the Abbe pro-
ceeds to ftate the condition of America in the winter

E I777»

.it I

ilk

[ 26 ]

1777, and the Tprlng following j and clofes his obfcr-
vations with mentioning the treaty of alliance, which
was figned in France, and the propofitions of the Bri-
tifli Miniflry, which were rejefted in America. But
in the manner in which the Abbe has arranged his fails,
there is a very material error, that not only he, but other
European hiflorians have fallen into; none of them
having affigned the true caufe why the Briti/h propofals
were rejeded, and all of them have affigned a wrong
one.

In the winter 1777, and fpring following, Congrefs
were aflembled at York-town in Pennfylvania, the Bri-
ti(h were in pofleffion of Philadelphia, and General
Waihington with the army were encamped in huts at
the Valley-Forge, twenty-five miles diflant therefrom.
To all who can remember, it was a feafon of hardfliip,
but not of defpair ; and the Abbe, fpeaking of this pe-
riod and its inconveniences, fays,

*' A multitude of privations, added to fo many other
*' misfortunes, might make the Americans regret their
*' former tranquillity, and incline them to an accommo-
*' dation with England. In vain had the people been
•' bound to the new government by the facrednefs of
*' oaths and the influence of religion. In vain had en-
•• deavours been ufed to convince them, that it was im-
*' poffible to treat fafely with a country in which one
•' parliament might overturn what fhould have been
*' eftabliflied by another. In vain had they been
•* threatened with the eternal refentment of an exaf-
*' perated and vindidlive enemy. It was poffible that
" thefe diftant troubles might not be balanced by the
" weight of prefent evils.

«« So

[ 27 ]

** So thought the Britifli miniftry when they fent to
** the New World public agents, authorized to offer
*' every thing except independence to thefe very Ame-
'* ricans, from whom they had two years before exa(5led
" an unconditional fubmiflion. It is not improbable,
'* but that by this plan of conciliation, a few months
*' fooner, fome effed might have been produced. But
** at the period at which it was propofed by the Court
" of London, it was rejedled with difdain, becaufe this
*' meafure appeared but as an argument of fear and
*' weaknefs. The people were already re-affured. The
Congrefs, the Generals, the troops, the bold and
flcilful men, in each colony had pofleffed themfelves
of the authority J everything had recovered its firft
fpirit. This was the effeSf of a treaty of friendjhip and
commerce between the United States and the Court ofVer-
*' failles^ figned the 6th of February 1778.'*

«c

■ V.

On this paffage of the Abbe's I cannot help remark-
ing, that, to unite time with circumflance, is a material
nicety in hiftory ; the want of which frequently throws
it into endlefs confufion and miflake, occafions a total
feparation between caufes and confequences, and con-
neds them with others they are not immediately, and
fometimes not at all, related to.

The Abbe, in faying that the offers of the Britifh
Miniftry *' were rejected with difdain," is right, as to
thefa^, but wrong as to the time ; and this error in the
time, has occafioned him to be miflaken in the caufe.

The figning the treaty of Paris the 6th of February,
1778, could have noeiFe^ on the mind or politics of

£ 2 America

•'i I

C 28 J

Amrrica until it was hicivn In /Imcricei ; and thereforp,
when the Abbe lays, that the rcjcdion of the Britifli of-
ftrs was in ccnfcqucncc of the allinncc, he muft mean,
that it was in conrccjuencc cif the alliance being hioxi-n in
America ; which was not the cafe : And by t!iis miftake
he not only takes from her tlie reputation, which her
unihakcn fortitude in that trvine iituation defcrvcs, but
is iikcvvifc led very injuriouily to fuppofe, that had (he
vet kr.ozcn of the treaty, the ori'ers would probably have
been accepted ; whereas flie knew nothing of the treaty
at the time of the rejection, and confequently did not
rejcd them on that ground.

The propofitions or offers above mentioned were
•contained in two bills brought into the Britiih Parlia-
ment by Lord North on the 17th of February 1778,
Thofe bills were hurried through both Houfes with un-
ufual hafte, and before they had gone through all the
curtomary forms of Parliament, copies of them were fent
over to Lord Howe and General Howe, then in Phila-
delphia, who were likewife CommifHoners. Genci ,1
Howe ordered them to be printed in Philadelphia, and
fent copies of them by a flap; to General Wafhington,
to be forwarded to Congrefs at York-Town, where they
arrived the 21ft of April 1778. Thus much :'or the ar-
rival of the bills in America.

CoxGRESs, as is their ufual mode, appointed a com-
mittee from their own body, to examine them and re-
port thereon. The report was brought in the next day
(the twenty-fecond) was read, and unanimoullv agreed
to, entered on their journals, and publifhed for the infor-
nution of the country. Now this report rauft be the re-
jection

t 29 ]

jeclion to which the Abbe alludes, bccaufe Congrcfs gave;
no other formal opinion on thofe bills and propofitions :
And on a fubfequent application from the Britifli Com-
miflioners, dated the 27th of May, and received at
York-Tow^n the 6th of June, Conjrefs immediately re-
ferred them for an anfv/cr to their printed rcfolves of the
22d of April. Thus much for the rejeilion of the offers.

On the 2d of May, that is, eleven days after the
above rejc£lion was made, the treaty between the United
States and France arrived at York Town ; and until this
moment Congrefs had not the leaft notice or idea, that
fuch a meafure was in any train of execution. But left
this declaration of mine fliould pafs only for alTertion, I
Ihnli fupport it by proof, for it is material to the charac-
ter and principle of the revolution to fhow, that no con-
dition of America, llnce the declaration of independence,
however trying and fevere, ever operated to produce the
moftdiflant idea of yielding it up either by force, dif-
trefs, artifice or pcrfuafion. And this proof is the more
necefiary, becaufe it was the fyftem of the Britifii mi-
niftry at this time, as well as before and fince, to hold
out to the European powers that America was unfixt in
her refolutions and policy; hoping by this artifice to
leflen her reputation in Europe, and weaken the confi-
dence which thofe powers, or any of them, might be
inclined to place in her.

At the time thcfe matters were tranfa<Sling, I was
fecretary in the foreign department of Congrefs. All the
political letters from the American CommiiTioners refled
in my hands, and all that were officially written went
from my office j and fo far from Congrefs knowing any

thing

r 30 ]

thing of tlic fignlng the treaty, at the time they rejcdci
ti\c Britifh ofters, they haJ not received a line of infor-
mation from their Commiflioners at Paris on any fub-
jccl wh;*tevcr for upwards of a twelvemonth. Probably
the lofs of the port of Philadelphia and the navigation
of the Delaware, together with the danger of the feas,
covered at this time with Britifh cruizers, contributed
to the difappointment.

One packet, it is true, arrived at York- Town in Ja-
nuary preceding, which was about three months before
the arrival of the treaty ; but, ftrange as it may appear,
every letter had been taken out, before it was put on
board the veflei Avhich brought it from France, and
blank white paper put in their Head.

Having thus ftated the time when the propofals from
the Britifli Commiflioners werefirft received, and likewife
the time when the treaty of alliance arrived, and (hewn
that the rcjecStion of the former was eleven days prior to
the arrival of the latter, and without the leaft knowledge
of fuch circumftance having taken place or being about
to take place ; the rcjedlion, therefore, mufl, and ought
to be attributed to the fixt unvaried fentiments of Ame-
rica refpedling the enemy flie is at war with, and her de-
termination to fupporther independence to the laftpoflibie
effort, and not to any new circumftance in her favour,
which at that time fhe did not and could not know of.

Besides, there is a vigour of determination and fpirit
of defiance ''n the language of the rejedion, (which I here
fubjoin) which derive their greatefl glory by appearing
before the treaty was known ; for that, which is bravery
in diftrefs becomes infult in profperity : And the treaty
5 placed

I 31 ]

placed America on fuch a ftrong foundiulon, that hml
(he then known it, the anfwer which flie gave, would
have appeared rather as an air of tiiuniph, than as the
glowing fercnity of fortitude.

Upon the whc c, the Abbe appears to have entirely
miftaken the matter ; for inftead of attributing the re-
je<Slion of the propofitions to our knowledge of the treaty
of alliance ; he (hould have attributed the origin of them
in the Britifh cabinet, to their knowledge of that event.
And then the reafon why they were hurried over to Ame-
rica in the ftate of bills, that is, before tiicy were pafled
into a<Sls, is eafily accounted for, which is, that they
might have the chance of reaching America before any
knowledge of the treaty (hould arrive, which they were
lucky enough to do, and there met the fate they fo
richly merited. That thefe bills were brought into the
Briti(h Parliament after the treaty with France was
figned, is proved from the dates : The treaty being on
the 6th, and the bills the 17th of February. And that
the figning the treaty was known in Parliament, when
the bills were brought in, is likewife proved by a ipeech
of Mr. Charles Fox, on the faid 17th of P'ebruary, who,
in reply to Lord North, informed the Houfe of the
treaty being figned, and challenged the Minifter's know-
ledge of the fame fad. *}

TuorcH

*)In congress, April 22d, 1778.

• ^ I ^HE Committee to whom was referred the General's
X. letter of the 1 8th, containing a certain printed paoer
fent from Philadelphia, purporting to be the draught of a Bill
for declaring the intentions of the Parliament of Great Britain,
as to the exerci/e of what they are pleafed to term theirr/|rA/ of
impofing taxes within thefe United States ; and alio the
draught of a Bill to enable the King of Great Britain to ap-
point CommiiTioners, with powers to treat) confult, and agree

upon

. '11

f 3* 3

I',

Though I am not furprifed to fee the Abb^niiftakea
In matters of hiftory, adled at fo great a dilhuicc from his

fphcre

upon the mcano cf quieting certain diforders within the faid
States, beg leave to obferv.,

** That the faid paper being induflrioufly circulated by
emiflaries of the enemy, in a partial and fecret manner, the
fame ought to be forthwith printed for the public information.

•• The Committee cannot afcertain whether the contents of
the faid paper have been framed in Philadelphia or in Great
Britain, much lefs whether the fame are rcaily ar.d truly in-
tended to be brought into the Parliament of that kingdom, or
whether the faid Parliament will confer thereon the ufuj.1 fo-
lemnities of their lav/s. But are inclined to believe this v/ill
happen, for the following reafons :

" lit. Because their General hath made divers feeble ef-
forts to fet on foot feme kind of treaty during the laft winter,
though, either from a miftaken idea of his own dignity and
importance, the want of information, or fome other caufe, he-
hath not made application to thofe who are invelled with a
proper authority.

*' 2dly. Ef CAUSE they fuppofe that the fallacious idea of
a ceflation of hoftllities will render thefe States remifs in their
preparations for war.

*' 3dly. BtCAUSE believing the Americans wearied with
war, they fuppofe we will accede to their terms for the fake
of peace.

*• 4ihly. Because they fuppofe that our negociations may
be fubjeft to a like corrupt iofiuence with their debates.

'• jthly. Because they exped from this ftep the fame ef-
fedi they did from what one of their minifters thought proper
to call his conciliatoty motion^ viz. that it will prevent foreign
powers from giving aid to thefe States ; that it will lead their
own fubjefts to continue a little longer the prefent war ; and
jhat it will detach fome weak men in America from the caufe
of freedom and virtue.

** 6thly. Because their King, from his own flievuing, hath
reafon to apprehend that his fleets and armie?, inllead of be-
ing employed againlt the territories of thefe States, will be
necvfiiiry for the defence of his own don'.inions. And

*' 7thly. Because the impradicability of fubjugating this
country being every day nic re and more manifell, it Is their
interellto extricate thf ."<ifelvei from the war upon any terms.

'• Thk Committee beg leave further to obferve. That, upon
a fuppcliiicn the maiters contained in the faid paper will really

f 33 3

fphereoflmmedlateobfervatic'B, yetl am hiore than fur-*
prifed to find him wrong, (or at leaft what appears fo to

me)

■ ■'

^into the Britifh Statute Book, they fcrve to Ihevv, in a clear
point of view, the weaknefs and wickednefs of the enemy.

*' Their Weakness,

•* ift. Because they formerly declared, not only that they
had a right to bind the inhabitants of thefe States in all cafes
whatfoever, but alfo that the faid inhabitants fhould abfolutely
and unconditionally fubmit to the exercife of that right. And
this fubmifiion they have endeavoured to exadt by the fword.
Receding from this claim, therefore, under thcprefent circum-
flances, (hews their inability to enforce it*

/* zdly. Because their Prince hath heretofore rejefted the
humbleil petitions of the Reprefentatives of America, praying
lobe confidered as fubjefts, and protcfted in the enjoyment of
peace, liberty and fafety ; and hath waged a mod cruel war
againft them, and employed the favages to butcher innocent
women and children. But nOw the fame Prince pretends to
treat with thofe very Reprefentatives, and grant to the arms of
America what he refufed to \itx prayers.

" sdly* Because they have uniformly laboured to conquer
this continent, rejecting every idea of accommodation propofed
to them, from a confidence in their own ilrength. Wherefore
it is evident, from the change in their mode of attack, that
they have loft this confidence. And

*' 4thly. Because thecondant language, fpoken not only
by their Minifters, but by the moll public and authentic a6h of
the nation, hath been, that it is incompatible with their dig-
nity to treat with the Americans while they have arms in their
hands. Notwithllanding which, an ofier is now about to be
made for treaty.

•* The Wickedkess and Insincerity of the enemy ap-
pear from the following confiderations:

** ift. Either the Bills now to be paffed contain a direft
or indireft cefiion of a part of their former claims, or they do
not. If they do, then it is acknowledged that they have fa-
crificed many brave men in an unjuft quarrel. If they do not,
then they are calculated to deceive America into terms, to
which neither argument before the war, nor force fince, could
procure her afient.

•• adly. The firft of thcfe Bills appears, from the title, ta.
be a declaration of the intentions of the Sritifh Parliament con-
cerning the exercife of the right of impofing taxes within thefe
States. Wherefore, IhoulU thefe States treat under the faid

F Bill,

i«

■■ i

t;t lii! !

[ 34 ]

me) in the well enlightened field of philofophical re-
fle(5tion. Here the materials are his own ; created by him-
felfj and the error, therefore, is an a6t of the mind.

Hitherto

Bill, they would indireQly acknowledge that right, to obtain
which acknowledgment the prefent war hath been avowedly
undertaken and profecuted on the part of Great Britain.

•* 3diy. Should fuch pretended right be fo acquiefced in,
then, of confequence, the fame might be exercifed whenever
the Dritifli Parliament Ihould find themfelves in a different tern-
per and di/pofttion \ fince it muft depend upon thcfe, and fuch
like contingencies, how i<sx men will a£l according .0 their
termer intentions.

*• 4thly. The faid firftBill, in the body thereof, containeth
no new matter, but is precifely the fame with the motion be-
fore-mentioned, and liable to all the objedlions which layagainfl
the faid motion, excepting the following particular, viz. that^
the motion a£lual taxation was to be fufpendcd, fo long as Ame-
rica ihould give as much as the faid Parliament might think
proper : Whereas by the propofed Bill, it is to be fufpended,
as long as future Parliaments continue of the fame mind with
the prefent.

** 5thly. From the fecond Bill it appears, that the Britlfh
King may, if he pleafes, appoint CommilTioners to treat and
agree with thofe, whom they pleafe, about a variety of things
therein mentioned. But fuch treaties and agreements are to be
of no validity without the concurrence of the faid Parliament,
except fo far as they relate to iht/ufpenjion of hoftilitips and of
certain of their ads, the granting of pardons, and the appoint-
ing of Governors to thefe fovereign, free and independent
States. Wherefore, the faid Parliament have referred to thcrn-
felves, in exprefs ijuards, the power of fetting afide any fuch
treaty, and taking the advantage of any circumftances which
may arife to fubjeit this continent to their ufurpations.

*' 6thly. The faid Bill, by holding forth a tender of par-
don, implies a criminality in ourjuUifiable refiilance, and con-
fequently, to treat under it would be an implied acknowledg-
ment, that the inhabitants cf thefe States were, what Britain
has declared them to be. Relets,

*' ythly. The inhabitants of thefe States being claimed by
them as fubjeds, they may infer, from the nature of the nego-
ciation now pretended to be fet on foot, that the faid inhabitants
wcidd of rig.it be afterwards bound by fuch l.'iws as they fliould
make Wherefore any agreement entered into on fuch nego-
ciation might at any future time be repealed. And

Sthly. Because the faiu Bill purports, that the Commif-

fionets,

[ 35 ]

Hitherto my remarks have been confined to circum-
fl^nres i the order in which they arofe, and the events

fioners therein mentioned may treat with private individuals ;
a meafure highly derogatory to the dignity of national cha-
rader.

*' From all which it appears evident to your Committee,
that the faid Bills are intended to operate upon the hopes and
fears of the goou people of thefe States, fo as to create divifions
amonj; them, and a dcfedlion from the common caufe, now by
the blefnng of Divine Providence drawing near to a favourable
iffue. That they are the fequel of that infidious plan, which,
from the days of the Stamp-a£l down to the prefent time, hath
involved this country in contention and bloodflied. And that,
as in other cafes fo in this, although circumftances may force
them at times to recede from their unjuftifiable claims, there
can be no doubt but they will as heretofore, upon the firft fa-
vourable occafion, again difplay that lull of domination, which
hath rent in twain the mighty empire of Britain.

*' Upon the whole matter, the Committee beg leave to re-
port it as their opinion. That as the Americans united in this
arduous contell upon principles of common interell, for the de-
fence of common rights and privileges, which union hath been
cemented by common calamities and by mutual good oflices and
afFeftion, fo the great caufe for which they contend, and in
which all mankind are interefted, mull derive its fuccefs from
the continuance of that union. Wherefore any man or body
of men, who fhould prefume to make any feparate or partial
convention or agreement with Commiffioners under the crown
of Great Britain, or any of them, ought to be confidered and
treated as open and avowed enemies of thefe United States.

** And further your Committee bcgleave to report it as their
opinion, That thefe United States cannot, with propriety, hold
any conference or treaty with any Commiflioners on the part of
Great Britain, unlefs they (hall, as a preliminary thereto, either
withdraw their fleets and armies, or elfe, in pofitive and ex-
prcfs terms, acknowledge the Independence of the faid States.

** And inafmuch as it appears to be the defign of the ene-
mies of thefe Stales to lull them into a fatal fecurity — to the
end that they may a£l with a becoming weight and importance,
it is the opinion of your Committee, That the feveral State? be
called upon to ufe the moll ftrenuous exertions to have their
rcfpedivc quotas of continental troops in the field as foon as
poflible, and that all the militia of the faid States be held in
readinefs, to ad as occafion may require."

F 2 they

[ 36 ]

)i '

they produced. In thefe, my information being better
than the Abbe's,, my tafk was eafy. How I may fucceed
in controverting matters of fentiment and opinion, with
one whom years, experience, and long eftabliflied repu-
tation have placed in a fuperior line, I am lefs confident
in ; but as they fall within the fcope of my obferyations
it would be improper to pafs them over.

kh i

From this part of the Abbe's work to the latter end,
I find feveral expreffions, which appear to me to ftart,
with a cynical complexion, from the path of liberal
thinking, or at leaft they are fo involved as to lofe many
of the beauties which diftinguifli other parts of the per-,
formance.

The foUoiving is the anfwer of Congrefs to the fecond appli"
cation of the CoftimiJJioners :

York-Tonvn, yune df 1778.
SIR,

I HAVE had the honor of laying your letter of the 3d in-
ftantt with the a£ls of the Britiih Parliament which came
inclofed, before Congrefs ; and I am inilru£led to acquaint
you, Sir, that they have already exprefTed their fentiments
upon bills, not eiTcntially different from thofe a£ts, in a pub-
lication of the zzd of April laft.

*' Be aiTured, Sir, when the King of Great Britain ihall be
feriouily difpof^d to put an end to the unprovoked and cruel
war waged againil thefe United States, Congrefs will readily
attend to fuch terms of peace, as may confiit with the honor
of independent nations, theintereil of their conftituents, an4
the fccred regard they mean to pay to treaties. I have th^
hopor 10 \ie, Sir,

7'our tnoji ohedientt and

mojl humble fervent,

HenryLaureks,
FrefidtntofCongref:'
His Excellency,
$ir Henry Clinton, K. B, Philad,

Ths

[ 37 1

The Abbe having brought his work to the period
when the treaty of alliance between France and the
United States commenced, proceeds to make fome re-
marks thereon.

*' In Ihort," fays he, ** philofophy, whofe firft fenti-

5' mentis the defire to fee all governments juft and all

*' people happy, in cafting her eyes upon this alliance of

** a monarchy, with a people, who are defending their

*' liberty, is curious to know its motive. She fees, at onc£f

*' too clearly-, that the happinefs of mankind has no part

«« in it,"

Whatever train of thinking or of temper the Abbe
plight be in, when he penned this expreffion, matters
not. They will neither qualify the fentiment, nor add
to its dcfe£l. If right, it needs no apology; if wrong,
\t merits no excufe. It is fent into the world as an opi-
nion of philofophy, and may be examined without regard
to the author.

It feems to be a defedl, conneded with ingenuity, that
it often employs itfelf more in matters of curiofity, than
yfefulnefs. Man muft be the priyy counfellor of fate, or
fomething is not right. He muft know the fprings, the
whys and wherefores of every thing, or he fits downun-
fatisfied. Whether this be a crime, or only a caprice of
humanity, I am not enquiring into. I fhall take thot
paifage as I find it, and place my objedlions againft it.

It is not fo properly the motives which produced the al-
liance, as the confequences which are to he produced from itf
that mark out the Held of philofophical refle(E):ion. In the
one we only penetrate into the barren cave of fecrecy,

where

1^' r

t 38 ]

where little can be known, and every thing maybe mif-
conceived j in the other, the mind is prefented with a
wide extended profpe6l of vegetative good, and fees a
thoufaml bleflin^s budding into exiftence.

But the exprefllon, even within the compafs of the
Abbe's meaning, fets out with an error, becaufe it is
made to declare that, which no man has authority to
declare. Who can fay that the happinefs of mankind
made no part of the motives which produced the alliance?
To be able to declare this, a man muft be pofreHed of the
mind of all the parties concerned, and know that their
motives were fomething elfe.

In proportion as the independence of America became
contemplated and underft /od, the local advantages of It
to the immediate a6lors, and the numerous benefits it pro-
mifcd to mankind, appeared to be every day encreafing ;
and we faw not a temporary good for the prefent race on-
ly, but a continueJ ,ood to all pofterity; thefe motives,
therefore, added to thofe which preceded them, became
the motives on the part of America, which led her to pro-
pofc ajid agree to the treaty of alliance, as the beft ef-
tcdual method of extending; and fecuring happinefs j and
therefore, with refpcflto us, the Abbe is wrong.

France, on the other hand, was fituated very diffe-
rently to America. She was not acted upon by necelTity
to feck a friend, and therefore her motive in becoming
one, has the ftrongeft evidence of being good, and that
which is fo, muft have fome happinefs for its object.
With regard to herfelf, fhe fav/ a train of conveniences
worthy her attention. By leflening the power of an
enemy, whom, at the Kimc time, (he fought neither to

dcftroy

t 39 ]

deftroy nor diftrefs, flic gained an advantage without
doing an evil, and created to herfelf a new friend by af-
{bciating with a country in misfortune. The fprings
of thought that lead to adions of this kind, however
political they may be, are neverthelefs naturally bene-
ficent ; for in all caufes, good or bad, it is neceflary there
fhould be a fitnefs in the mind, to enable it to a£l; in
character with the obje£l : Therefore as a bad caufe
cannot be profecuted with a good motive, fo neither can
a good caufe be long fupported by a bad one, and as no
man a£ts without a motive, therefore in the prefent in-,
(lance, as they cannot be bad, they muft be admitted to
be good. But the Abbe fcts out upon fuch an extended
fcale, that he overlooks the degrees by which it is mea-
fured, and rejects the beginning of good, becaufe the end
comes not at once. , ,

It is true that bad motives may in fome degree be
brought to fupport a good caufe or profecute a good ob-
ject J but it never continues long, which is not tlie cafe
with France j for either the objed will reform the mind,
or the mind corrupt the objc£t, or elfe not being able,
cither way, to get into unifon, they v/ill feparatc in dif-
guft : And this natural, though unpeiccived progrefs of
aflbciation or contention between the mind and the ob-
ject, is the fecret caufe of fidelity or defedt^ion. Every
object a man purfues, is, for the time, a kind of miftrcfs
to his mind: if both are good or bad, the union is na-
tural i but if they are in reverfe, and neither can feduce
nor yet reform the other, the oppofition grows into dif-
like and a feparaiion follows.

When the caufe of America firft: made her appearance

on the ftage of the univerfe, there were many, who, in

7 the

[ 40 ]

ii I !

the ftile of adventurers and fortune-hunters, weredang<^
ling in her train, and making their court to her with
every profeflion of honour and attachment. They
vrere loud in her praife and oilentatious in her fervice.
Every place echoed with their ardour or their anger, and
they feemed like men in love. But, alas, they were for-
tune-hunters. Their expe6lations were excited, but
their minds were unimprefTed ; and finding her not to
their purpofe, nor themfelves reformed by her influence,
they ceafed their fuit, and in fome inftances deferted and
betrayed her.

There were others, who at firft beheld her with in-
difference, and unacquainted with her chara«Ster were
cautious of her company. They treated her as one,
who, under the fair name of liberty, might conceal the
hideous figure of anarchy, or the gloomy monfter of ty-
ranny. They knew not what ihe was. If fair, (he was .
fair indeed. But ftill (he was fufpe6led, and though
born among us appeared to be a flranger.

AcciDEKT with fome, and curiofity with others,
brought on a diftant acquaintance. They ventured to
look at her. They felt an inclination to (peak to her.
One intimacy led to another, till the fufpicion wore
away and a change of fentiment fiole gradually upon the
mind ; and having no felf-interefl to ferve, no paflion of
difhonour to gratify, they became enamoured of her in-'
nocence, and unaltered by misfortune or uninHamed by
fuccefs, fliared with fidelity in the varieties of ^er fate.

This declaration of the Abbe's, refpe£iing motives,
has led me unintendedly into a train of metaphyfical rea-
foningj but there was no other avenue by which it could

«.■

h
Y

[ 41 ]

(o properly be appronched, To place prefumption
againfl: prefumption, afTortion againft aflertion, is a
mode of oppofition that has no efFeft ; and therefore the
more eligible method was, to fhew that the declarat on
does not correfpcnd with the natural progr^fs of the
mind and the infiuence it has upon our conJu^St. — I
ihall now quit this part, and proceed to what I have
before ftated, namely, that it is not fo properly the mo-
tives which produced the alliance, as the confequences
to be produced from it, that mark out the field of phi-
lofophical reflection.

It is an obfervation I have already made in fome for-
mer publication, that the circle of civilization is yet in-
complete. A mutuality of wants have formed the indi-
viduals of each country into a kind of national fociety ;
and here the progrefs of civilization has ftopt. For it is
cafy to fee, that nations with regard to each other (not-
withftanding the ideal civil law which every one explain,
as it fuits him) are like individuals in a ftate of natures
They are regulated by no fixt principle, governed by no
compulfive law, and each does independently what it
pleafes, or what it can.

Were it pofllble we could have known the world
when in a ftate of barbarifm, we might have concluded,
that it never could be brought into the order we now fte
it. The untamed mind was ther\ as hard, if not harder,
to work upon in its individual ftate, than the national
jmind is in its prefent one. Yet we have feen the ac-
complifliment of the one, why then fliould we doubt
that of the other I

■■•I

There is a greater fitnefg in mankind to extend and

G com^^ete

'?■'

I 4» 3

complete the civilization of nations with each other at
this day, than there was to begin it with the unconnec-
ted individuals at firft ; in the fame manner that it is
ibmewhat caficr to put together the materials of a ma-
chine after they are formed, than it was to form them
from original matter The prefent condition of the
world differing fo exceedingly from what it formerly
wae, has given a new caft to the mind of man, more
than what he appears to be fenfible of. The want of
the individual, which firft produced the idea of fociety,
are now augmented into the wants of the nation, and bo
is obliged to feek from another country what before hq
fought from the next perfon.

Letters, the tongue of the world, have in fome
meafure brought all mankind acquainted, and, by an
extenfion of their ufes, are every day promoting fome
new ffiendfliip. Through tjiem diftant nations become
capable of converfation, and lofmg by degrees the awk-
wardnefs of ftrangers, and the morofenefs of fufpicion,
they learn to know and underftand each other. Science,
the partifan of no country, but the beneficent patronefs
of all, has liberally opened a temple where all may meet.
Her influence on the mind, like the fun on the chilled
earth, has long been preparing it for higher cultivation
and further improvement. The philofopher of one
country fees not an enemy in the philofopher of an-
other : He takes his feat in the temple of fcience, an4
aiks not who fits befide him.

This was not the condition of the barbarian world.
Then the wants of man were few, and the objed^s within
his reach. While he could acquire thefe, he lived in a

ftatc

t 43 I

ftate of individual independence, the confequence of
which was, there were as many nations as perfons, each
contending with the other, to fecure fomethlng which
he had, or to obtain fomething which he had not. The
world had then no bufinefs to follow, no fludies to ex-
ercife the mind. Their time was divided between floth
and fatigue. Hunting and war were their chief occu-
pations ; ilecp and food their principal enjoyments.

Now it is othcrwife. A change in the mode of life
has made it necefTary to lie bufy -, and man Hnds a
thoufand things to do now which before he did not.
Inftead of placing his ideas of greatnefs in the rude
atchievements of the favage, he (ludies arts, fcience,
agriculture, and commerce", the refinements of the gen-
tleman, the principles of fociety, and the knowledge of
the philofopher.

There are many things which in themfelves are mo-
rally neither good nor bad, but they are productive of
confcquenoes, v/hich are ftrongly marked v/:th one or
ether of thefe characters. Thus commerce, though in
itfelf a moral nullity, has had a confiderable influence in
tempering the human mind. It was the want of objects
in the ancient world, which occafvoried in them fuch a
fude and perpetual turn for war. Their time hung on
their hands without the means of employment. The
indolence they lived in afforded leifure for mifchief, and
being all idle at once, and equal in their circumftances,
they were eafily provoked or induced to aftioh.

. But the introdu\Stion of cotnnierce furnifhed the world
with objects, which, in their extent, reach every man,
and give him fomething to think about and foirtething

G 2f to

tlli

r 44 ]

to do ; by thcfc his attention is mechanically drawn
from the purfuits, which a ftate of indolence and an un-
employed mind occafioned, and he trades with the fame
countries which former ages, tempted by their produc-
tions, and too indolent to purchafe them, would have
gone to war with.

Thus, as I have already obferved, the condition of
the world being materially changed by the influence of
fcience and commerce, it is put into a fitnefs not only
to admit of, but to defire, an extenfion of civilization.
The principal and almoft only remaining enemy it now
has to encounter, \s, prejudice ; for it is evidently the in-
tereft of mankind to agree, and make the beft of life.
The world has undergone its divifions of empire, the fe-
veral boundaries of which are known and fettled. The
idea of conquering countries, like the Greeks and Ro-
mans, docs not now exift ; and experience has exploded
th*e notion of going to war for the fake of profit. In
ihort, the objeds for war are exceedingly diminiflied,
and there is now left fcarcely any thing to quarrel
about, but what arifes from that demon of fociety, pre-
judice, and the confcquent fullcnnefs and untraitable-
nefs of the temper.

There is fomething exceedirrgJy curious in the con-
ftitution and operation of prejudice. It has the iingular
ability of accommodating itfelf to all thepoffible varieties
of the human mind. Some paffions and vices are but
thinly fcattered among mankind, and find only here and
there a fitnefs of reception. But prejudice, like the fpider,
makes every where its home. It has neither tafte nor choice
of place, and aU that it requires is room. There is fcarcely
a fituation, except fire or water, in which a fpider will not
live. Soj let the mind be as naked as the walls of an empty

and

t 45 ]

and forfaken tenement, gloomy as a dungeon, or ofna*
mcnted with the richeft abilities of thinking, let it be hot,
cold, dark or light, lonely or inhabited, ftill prejudice,
if undifturbed, will fill it with cobwebs, and live, like
the fpider, where there feems nothing to live on. If the
one prepares her food by poifoning it to her palate and
her ufe, the other docs the kame j and as feveral of our
palfions arc ftrongly charactered by the animal world,
prejudice may be denominated the fpider of the mind.

Perhaps no two events ever united fo intimately and
forceably to combat and expel prejudice, as the Revolu-
tion of America and the Alliance with France. Their
cfFeiSls are felt, and their influence already extends as well
to the old world as the new. Our ftilc and manner of
thinking have undergone a revolution, more cxtraordi-
nary than the political revolution of the country. We
fee with other eyes j we hear with other ears j and
think with other thoughts, than thofe we formerly ufed.
We can look back on our own prejudices, as if they had
been the prejudices of other people. We now fee and
know they were prejudices and nothing elfe, and relieved'
from their fhackles enjoy a freedom of mind, we felt not
before. It was not all the argument, however powerful,
nor all the reafoning, however elegant, that could have
produced this change, fo neceflary to the extenfion of
the mind, and the cordiality of the world, without the
two circumilances of the Revolution and the Alliance*

Had America dropt quietly from Britain, no material
change, in fentiment, had taken place. The fame no-
tions, prejudices, and conceits, would have governed in
both countries, as governed them before, and ftill th«

flaves

I'lM'

. r 46 J

flaves of error and education, they would have travelled
on in the beaten track of vulgar and habitual thinking.
But brought about by the means it has been, both with
regard to ourfelves, to France, and to England, everjr
Corner of the mind is fwept of its cobwebs, poifon, and
duft, and made fit for the reception of generous hap-
pinefst

Perhaps there never was an Alliance on a broader
bafis, than that between America and France, and the
progrcfs of it is worth attending to. The countries had
been enemies, not properly of themfelves, but through
the medium of England. They, originally, had nc quar-
rel with each other, nor any caule for one, but what
arofe from the intereft of England and her arming America
againft France. At the fame time, the Americans at a
diftance from, and unacquainted with the world, and
tutored in all the prejudices which governed thole who
governed them« eon:eived it their duty to a6t as they were
taught. In doing this, they expended their fubftance to
make conquefts, not for themfelves but for their mafters^
who in returh treated them as ilaves.

A LONG fucceflion of infolent feverity, and the fepara-
tion finally occafioned by the commencement of hoflilities
at Lexington, on the 19th of April, 1775, naturally pro-
duced a new difpofition of thinking. As the mind clofed
itfelftowardt England, it opened itfelf towards the wOrld,
and our prejudices like our oppreilions underwent, thoug'h
lefs obferved, a mental examination ; until we found thef
former as inconfiftent with reafon and benevolence, as the
latter were repugnant to our civil and political rights.

VfftiLt <ve were thus advancing by degrees into the'
wide field of extended humanity, the alliance witlt

France

»-ii

r 47 i

France was concluded. An alliance not formed for the
mere purpofe of a day, but on juft »nd generous grounds,
and with equal and mutual advantages ; and the eafy
affectionate manner in which the parties have fince
communicated, has made it an alliance not of courts
only but of countries. There is now an union of mind
as well as of intereft j and our hearts as well as our
profperity call on us to fupport it.

The people of England not having experienced this
change, had likewife no idea of it. They were hugging
to their bofoms the fame prejudices we were trampling
beneath our feet ; and they expelled to keep a hold upon
America, by that narrownefs of thinking, which Ameri-
ca difdained. What they were proud of, we defpifed j and
this is a principal caufe why all their negociations, con-
ftrufted on this ground, have failed. We are now really
another people, and cannot again go back to ignorance
and prejudice. The mind «nce enlightened cannot again
become dark. There is no poflibility, neither is there
any term to exprefs the fuppofition by, of the mind,
unknowing any thing it already knows; and therefore
all attempts on the part of England, fitted to the former
habit of America, and on the expectation of their apply-
ing now, will be like perfuading a feeing man to become
blind, and a fenfible one to turn an idiot The firft of
which is unnatural, and the other impoifible.

As to the remark which the Abbe makes of the one

country being a monarchy and the other a republic, it

can have no effential meaning. Forms of government

have nothing to do with treaties. The former are the in-

% terpal

li !

I !'

r 4» 3

tcrnal police of the countries fcvcrally j the latter, their
external police jointly : and fo long as each performs its
part, v:e have no more right or buHnefs to know how the
one or the other concludes its domcftic affairs, than we
Jiave to enquire into the private concerns of a family.

|,>ih

But bad the Abbe refle£led for a moment, he would
have feen, that co'irts or the governing powers of al]
countries, be their forms what they may, are relatively
|-epublics with each other. It is the firft and true prin-
ciple of allianeing. Antiquity may n.tve given pre-
cedence, and power will naturally create importance,
but their equal right is never difputed. It may likewife
be worthy of remarking, that a monarchical country can
fuffer nothing in its popular happinefs by allying with 4
republican one i and republican governments have ne-
ver been deftroyed by their external conne<Slions, but by
fome internal convulfion or contrivance. France has
been in aUiance with the republic of Swiflerland for
more than two hundred years, and ftill Swiflerland re-
tains her original form as entire as iffhe had allied with
a republic like herfelf j therefore this remark of the
Abbe goes to nothing. — Befides, it is beft thct mankin4
(hould mix. There is ever fomething to learn, either
of manners or principle; and it is by a free communi-
cation, without regard to domeftic matters, that friend-
fliip is to be extended, and prejudice deftroyed all over
the world.

ilf

But notwithftanding the Abbe*s high profeflions in
favour of liberty, he appears fometimes to forget hi mfelf,
or that his theory is rather the child of his fancy than of
his judgment; For in almoft the fame inftant that he

cenfures

i'iitt

t 49 ]

Cetlfures the alliance as not originally or Tufliciently cal-
culated for the happinefs of mankind, he, by a figure of
implication, accufes France for having aded fo generouf-
ly and unrefervedly in concluding it. ** Why did they,
** (fays he, meaning the Court of France) tie themfelves
" down by an inconfiderate treaty to conditions with the
•' Congrefs, which they might themfelves have held in
•' dependence by ample and regular fupplies.'

When an author undertakes to treat of public hap-
pinefs, he ought to be certain that he does not miftake
palTIon for right, nor imagination for principle. Prin-
ciple, like truth, needs no contrivance. It will ever tell
its own tale, and tell it the fxme way. But where this
is not the cafe, every page muft be watched, recollected,
and compared, like an invented {lory.

I AM fiMT '•-d at this paflage of the Abbe. It means
nothing or "^ ans ill; and in any cafe it fhews the
great difrerence between fpeculative and pra£lical know-
ledge. A treaty according to the Abbe's language would
have neither duration nor af&<Slion ; it might have laft-
ed to the end of the war, and then expired with it. — But
France, by acting in a ftile fuperior to the little politics
ef narrow thinking, has eftablilhed a generous fame and
won the love of a country (he was before a ftranger to.
She had to treat with a people who thought as nature
taught them ; and, on her own part, (he wifely faw,
there was no prefent advantage to be obtained by unequal
terms, which could balance the more lading ones that
might flow from a kind and generous beginning.

From this part the Abbe advances into the fecret tranf-
a£lions of the two Cabinets of Verfailles and Madrid

H refpedting

r:>ik

?.r

[ 50 ]

refpe^ling the Independence of America j through which
I mean not to follow him. It is a circumftance fufE-
ciently fir iking without being commented on, that the
former union of America with Britain produced a power,
which inherhands, wasbeconiingdangerous totheworld :
And there is no improbability in fuppofing, that had the
latter known as much of the ftrength of the former, be-
fore ihe began the quarrel as fhe has known fince, that
inflead of attempting to reduce her to unconditional fub-
miffion, (he would have propofed to her the conqueft of
Mexico. But from the countries feparately Spain has
nothing to apprehend, though from their union flie ha4
more to fear than any other power in Europe.

• The part which I {hall more particularly conHne my-
felf to, is that wherein the Abbe takes an opportunity of
complimenting the Britifh Miniftry with high encomi-
ums of admiration, on their rejecting the offered media-
tion of the court of Madrid, in 1779.

It xnufl be remembered that before Spain joined
France in the war, fhe undertook the office of a media-
tor and made propofals to the Britifli King and Miniflry
fo exceedingly favorable to their interefl, that had they
been- accepted, would have become inconvenient, if not
inadmiffible, to America. Thefe propofals were never-
thelefs rejected by the Britifh cabinet ; on which the
Abbe fays,—

** It is in fuch a circumflance as this ; it is in the time
** when noble pride elevates the foul fuperior to all terror;
*• when nothing is feen more dreadful than the fhame of
** receiving the law, and when there is no doubt or hefi-
" tation which to chufe, between ruin and dilhonour;
I " it

[ 51 ]

" it is then, that the greatnefs of a nation is difplayed.
*' I acknowledge however that men, accuftomed to judge
*' of things by the event, call great and perilous refolu-
*' tions, heroifm or madnefs, according to the good or
*' bad fuccefs with which they have been attended. If
** then, I fhould be afked, what is the name which fhall
** in years to come be given to the firmnefs, which was
*' in this moment exhibited by the Englifh, I (hall an*
'* fwer that I do not know. But that which it deferves
*' I know. I y .ow that the annals of the world hold
*' out to us but rarely, the auguft and majeftic fpec-'
'* tacle of a nation, which chufes rather to renounce it$
** duration than its glory."

In this paragraph the conception is lofty and the ex-
preffion elegant ; but the colouring is too high for the
original, and the likenefs fails through an excefs of
graces. To fit the powers of thinking and the turn of
language to the fubje<^, fo as to bring out a clear con-
clufion that fhall hit the point in queftion and nothing
elfe, is the true criterion of writing. But the greater part
of the Abbe's writings (if he will pardon me the remark)
appear to me uncentral and burthened with variety. They
reprefent a beautiful wildernefs without paths ; in which
the eye is diverted by every thing, without being parti"
cularly directed to any thin;^ ; and in which it is agreea-
ble to be loft, and difficult to find the way out.

Before I offer any other remark on the fplrit and
compofition of the above pafTage, I inall compare it with
the circumflance it alludes to.

The circumflance then does not defcrve the cnco-
flfiium. The reje<^ion was not prompted by her fortitude,

li 2 but

:;J-i

" :l

1 1^

[ 52 ]

but her vanity. She did not view it as a cafe of defpair
or even of extreme danger, and confequently the deter-
mination to renounce her duration rather than her glory,
cannot apply to the condition of her mind. She had
then high expectations of fubjugating America, and had
no other naval force againft her than France ; neither
was fl certain that rejeiling the mediation of Spain
would combine that power with France. New media-
tions might arife more favorable than thofe Ihe had re-
fufed. But if they fliould not, and Spaia fiiould join,
fhe fiill faw that it would only bring out her naval force
againft France and Spain, which was not wanted and
could not be employed againft America, and habits of
thinking had taught her to believe herfelf fuperior to
both.

.iiiii

But in any cafe to which the confequence might point,
there was nothing to imprefs her with the idea of renounc-
ing her duration. It is not the policy of Europe to fuffer
the extinction of any power, but only to lop off or prevent
its dangerous encreafe. She was likewife freed by fituu-
tion from the internal and immediate horrors of invafion ;
was rolling in difiipation and looking for conquefts j and
tho* fhe fufFered nothing but the expence of war, (he ftill
had a greedy eye to magnificent reimburfement.

But if the Abbe is delighted with high and ftriking
fintyularities of charadtcr, he might, in America, have
found ample field for encomium. Here was a people, who
could not know Vv^hat part the world would take for, or
againft them ; and who were«venturing on an untried
fcheme, in oppofition to a power, againft which more
formidable nations had failed. They had every thing to
Jcarn but the principles which fupported them, and every

thing

[ 53 ]

thing to procure that was neceffary for their defence.
They have at times feen themfelves as low as diftrefs could
make them, without fliewing the leaft ftagger in their
fortitude ; and been raifed again by the moft unexpeded
events, without difcovering an unmanly difcompofure of
joy. Tohefitate or to defpair are conditions equally un-
known in America. Her mind was prepared for every
thing i becaufe her original and final rcfolution of fuc-
ceeding or periftiing included all poflible circumftances.

The rejc6lion of the Britifh propofitions in the year
1778, circumftanced as America was at that time, is a
far greater inftance of unfhaken fortitude than the refufal
of the Spanifli mediation by the Court of London : And
other hiftorians,befides the Abbe, ftruck with the vaftnefs
of her conduit therein, have, like himfelf, attributed it to
a circumftance which was then unknown, the alliance
with France. Their error fhews their idea of its crcat-
nefsj becaufe, in order to account for it, they have fought
a caufe fuited to its magnitude, without knowing that
the caufe exifted in the principles of the country. *)

*) Extract from ^^ ji Jhort review of the prefent reign" in

England.
Page 45. in the New Jnnual Regijicr for the year 1780.

" CT'HE Cotnmijfionersy who, in co7ifquence of Lord North* s
" -^ conciliatory bills, went over to America , to propofe terms
" of peace to the colonies, were wholly unfuccefsful. The con~
^'' cejjions which formerly ivould have been received with the
*' utmoji gratitude, were rcje^cd zvith difdai7i. Noiv was
*' the time of American pride and haughtinefs . It is probable^
*' however, that it was not pride and haughtinefs alone that
" dilated the Refoluiions of Congrefs, but a diftrnfl of the
^^ fmcerity of the offers of Britain, a determination not to give
" up their independence, and, above all, the engage-

** MENTS INTO WHICH THEY HAD ENTERED BY
" THEIR J.ATE TREATY WITH FkANQE."

But

■' '

[ 54 J

But this palfionate encomium of the Abbe is defcrvcd-
ly fubjc«Sl to moral and philcfophical objedtions. It is
the eiFuflon of wild thinking, and has a tendency to
prevent that humanity of refledlion which the criminal
conduft of Britain enjoins on her as a duty. — It is a
laudanum to courtly iniquity. — It keeps in intoxicated
fleep the confcience of a nation j and more mifchief is
efFeded by wrapping up guilt in fplendid excufe, than
by directly patronizing it.

Britain is now the only country which holds the
world in difturbance and war; and inftead of paying
compliments to the excefs of her crimes, the Abbe would
have appeared much more in character, had he put to
her, or to her monarch, this ferious queftion—

Are there not mi feries enough in the world, toodiHi-
cult to be encountered and too pointed to be borne,
without ftudying to enlarge the lift and arming it with
new deftrudlion ? Is life fo very long, that it is neceffary,
nay even a duty, to fhake the fand and haften out the
period of duration ? Is the path fo elegantly fmooth, fo
decked on every fide and carpeted with joys, that wretch-
ednefs is wanted to enrich it as a foil ? Go aflc thine
aching heart when forrow from a thoufand caufes wound
it, go afk thy fickened felf when every medicine fails,
whether this be the cafe or not ?

in.

Quitting my remarks on this head, I proceed to
another, in which the Abbe has let loofe a vein of ilI->
nature, and, what is ftill worfe, of injuftice.

After cavilling at the treaty, he goes op to characterize

the

[ 55 ]

the feveral parties combined in the war — ** Is it poi&ble,"
fays the Abbe, " that a ftrid): union (hould long fubflft
** amongft confederates of charadlers fo oppofite as the
** hafty, light, difdainful Frenchman, thejealous, haugh*
•' ty, fly, flow, circumfpedlive Spaniard, and the Ame-
" rican, who is fecretly fnatching looks at the mother
" country^ and would rejoice, were they compatible with
'< his independence, at the difafters of his allies."

To draw foolifli portraits of each other, is a mode of
attack and reprifal, which the greater part of mankind are
fond of indulging. The ferious philofopher ihould be
above it, more efpecially in cafes from which no poflible
good can arife, and mifchief may, and where no received
provocation can palliate the offence. — The Abbe might
have invented a difference of chara<Sler for every country
in the world, and they in return might find others for him,
till in the war of wit all real charafter is loft. The plea-
fan try of one nation or the gravity of another may, by a
little penciling, be diflorted into whimfical features, and
the painter become as much laughed at as the painting.

But why did not the Abbe look a little deeper and
bring forth the excellencies of the feveral parties ? Why
did he not dwell with pleafure on that greatnefs of cha-
rader, that fuperiority of heart, which has marked the
conduct of France in her conquefls, and which has
forced an acknowledcrment even from Britain ?

There is one line, at leafl, (and many others might
be difcovered) in^hich the confederates unite, which is,
that of a rival eminence in their treatment of their ene-
mies. Spain, in her conqueil of A^inorca and the Bahama

iflands

lij

ll^;!!!.

1 «

iff".

P.j

t i6 1

iflands confirms this remark. America has been invariable
in her lenity from the beginning of the war, notwith-
ftanding the high provocations (he has experienced ? It i»
England only who has been infolent and cruel.

But why muft America be charged with a crime un*
deferved by her condud^, more fo by her principles, and
vrhich, if a fa£^, would be fatal to her honour ? I mean
that of want of attachment to her allies, or rejoicing in
their difafters. She, it is true, has been affiduous in
ihewing to the world that fhe was not the aggreffor to-
wards England, that the quarrel was not of her feeking,
or, at that time, even of her wifhing. But to draw in-
ferences from her candour, and even from her j uftifica-
tion, to ilab her chara6ler by, and I fee nothing elfe
from which they can be fuppofed to be drawn, is unkind
and unjuft.

Does her rejection of the Britifh propofitions in 1778,
before (he knew of any alliance with France, correfpond
with the Abbe's defcription of her mind ? does a fingle
inftance of her condufl fince that time juftify it ? — But
there is a ftill better evidence to apply to, which is, that
of all the mails, which atdiiFerent times have been way-
laid on the road, in divers parts of America, and taken
and carried into New- York, and from which the moft
fccret and confidential private letters, as well as thofe
from authority, have been publilhed, not one of them,
I repeat it, not a fingle one of them, gives countenance
to fuch a charge.

This is not a country where men are under govern-
ment reftraint in fpeaking 3 and if there is any kind of

reftruiftt,

[ S7 1

reftraint, it arifcs from a fear of popular refcntment.
Now, if nothing in her private or public correfpondence
favours fuch a fuggeftion, and if the general difpolition
of the country is fuch as to make it unfafe for a man to
fliew an appearance of joy at any difafter to her ally, on
what grounds, I afk, can the accufation ft-ind. What
company the Abbe may have kep*; in France, we cannot
know i but this we know, that the account he gives
does not apply to America,

Had the Abbe been in America at the time the news
arrived of the difafter of the fleet under Count dc GrafTc,
in the Weft-Indies, he would have feen his vaft miftake.
Neither do I remember any inftance, except the lois of
Charleftown, in which the public mind fufiFered more
fevere and pungent concern, or underwent more agita-
tions of hope and apprehenfion as to the truth or falfe-
hood of the report. Had the lofs been all our own it
could not have had a deeper effect, yet it was not one
of thefe cafes which reached to the independence of
America,

In the geographical account which the Abbe gives cif
the Thirteen States, he is fo exceedingly erroneous, that
to attempt a particular refutation, would exceed the li-
mits I have prefcribed to myfelf. And as it is a matter
neither political, hiftorical, nor fcntimental, and which
can always be contradi<5ted by the extent and natural
circumftances of the country, I (hall pat's it over j with
this additional remark, that I never yet faw an Eiiropeaii
defcription of America that was true, neither can any
perfon gain a juft idea of it, but by coming to it,

Though I have already extended this letter beyond

I .. what

11 «

[ 58 ]

tirhat I at firft propofed, I am, neverthelefs, obliged to
omit many obfcrvations, I originally defigned to have
m^de. I vvifli there had been no occafion for making
any. But the wrong ideas which the Abbe's work had
a tendency to excite, and the prejudicial impreflions they
might make, muil be an apology for my remarks, and
the freedom with which they are done.

'' ,»

I OBSERVE the Abbe has made a fort of epitome of a
confiderable part of the pamphlet Common Senfe^ and in-
troduced it in that form into his publication. But there
are other places where the Abbe has borrowed freely
from the fame pamphlet without acknowledging it The
difference between focicty and government, with which
the patnphlet opens, is taken from it, and in fome ex-
preflions almoft literally, into the Abbe's work, as if ori-
ginally his own i and through the whole of the Abbe's
remarks on this head, the idea in Common .'^enfe is fo
clofely copied and purfued, that the difference is only
in words, and in the arrangement of the thoughts, and

pot in the thoughts themfelves*.

But

* Common Sense.

** Some writers have fo
confounded fociety with go-
vernment, as to leave little or
no diftinftion between them ;
whereas, they are not only
•iifFerent, but have different
origins."

** SocFETY is produced by
our wants and governments by
our wickednefsj the former
promotes our happinefs prji-
ti-vely, by uniting our affec-
tions, the latter nega/i'vely, by
irellraining our vices."

Abbe Raynal.
** Care mull be taken not
to confound together fociety
with government. That they
may be known dilHnftly, their
origin fhould be confidercd.'*

** Society originates In
the wants of men, government
in their vices. Society tends
always to good ; government
ought always lo tend to the
reprcffing of evil."

[ 59 1

ive

ng
lad

But as it is time I fhould come to a conclufion of my
letter, I ftiall forbear all further oblcrvations on the

Abbe's

In the foUsiving paragraphs there is lefs lihenefi in the Ian-
gnagc, but the ideas in the one are evidently copied from
the other.

Common Sense.
*• In order to gain a clear
and jutt idea of the defign and
end of government, let us fup-
pofe a imall number of per-
fons, meeting in fome feque-
llered pait of the earth uncon-
nected with the reil; thty will
then reprefent the peopling of
any country or of the world.
In this ilate of natural liberty,
fociety will be our firft thought.
A thoufand motives will excite
them thereto. The ftrengih
bf one man i!> fo unequal to
his wants, and his mind lo un-
fitted for perpetual folitude,
that he is foon obliged to feek
alTiHance of another, who, in
his turn, requires the fame.
Four or five united would be
able to raife a tolerable dwell-
ing in the midft of a wilder-
nefs ; but one man might' la
bour out the common period
cf life, without accompliftuni;
any thing j when he had felled
Jiis timber, he could not re-
move it, nor ereft it after it
was removed; hunger, in the
mean time would urge him
from his work, and every dif-
ferent want call him a diff^^rt- nt
way. Difeafe, nay even inif-
fortune, would be death ; for
though neither might be im-
mediately mortal, yet either
of them would difable him

from

Abbe Raynal.
'* Man, thrown, as it were,
by chance upon the globe,
furrounded by all the evils of
nature, obliged continually to
defend and protect his life
againlt the ftorms and tempefls
of the air, againft the ii jnda-
tions of water, againll f'le fire
of vulcanoes, againft tiie in-
temperance of frigid and torrid
zones, againft the fterility of
the earth, which refufes him
aliment, or its baneful fecun-
dity, which makes poifon
fpringup beneath his f>.ct;
in Ihort, againll the claws and
teeth of favage bealts, who
difpute with him his habita-
tion and his prey, and, at-
tacking his perfon, feem re-
folved to render themfelveJ
rulers of this globe, cf which
he thinks himfeif to be the
mallfjr: Man, in this ftate,
;.lone and abandoned to him-
feif, could do nothing for his
p'cfervation. It v : iKceflary,
therefore, thathv. ■' .;id unice
hiniieif, and airi;ciate with his
like, in order CO brin;; together
their itrer j.iV. .ind intel:i:jence
in com T.. a :lcck. It is b'.' this
union t]»at he has tiiumpKed
ever fo many evils, tiiUt he
has falhioned this globe to his
ufc, reilrained the river:, fub-
jiigaicd the leas, inCurod his
I 2 fub-

[ 6o ]

Abbe*s work, and take a concife view of the ftate of
public affairs, fince the time in which that performance
was publilhed.

A MIND habited to a£lions of meannefs and injuftice^
commits them without reflexion, or with a very partial
one; for on what other ground than this, can we account
for the declaration of war againft the Dutch. To gain
an idea of the politics which adluated the Britiih Mini-
Ary to this meafure, we muft enter into the opinion
which they, and the Englifh in general, had formed of
the temper of the Dutch nation ; and from thence infer
what their expedation of the confequences would be.

It i'

fli'

Common Sense.
from living, and reduce him
to a fiate in which he might
rather be faid to perifh than to
die. — Thus neceflity, like a
gravitating power, would form
our newly arrived emigrants
into fociety, the reciprocal
bleiTings of which, would fu-
perfede and render the obliga*
tions of law and government
unnecefTary, while they re»-
mained perfeftly juft to each
other. But as nothing but
heaven is impregnable to vice,
it will unavoidably happen,
that in proportion as they fur-
mount the Aril difficulties of
emigration, which bound them
together in a common caufei
they will begin to relax in
th^ir duty and attachment to
each other, and this remi/Tnefs
will point out the necefiity of
eflablifhing fome form of go->
vernment to fupply the defeat
of moral virtue."

Abbe Raynal.
fubfiRence, conquered a part
of the animals in obliging
them to ferve him, and driven
others far from his empire, to
the depth of deferts or of
woods, where their number
diminifhes from age to age.
What a man alone would not
have been able to cfFefl, men
have executed in concert; and
altogether they preferve their
work. Such is the origin,
fuch the advantages, and the
end of fociety.— Government
owes its birth to the neceffity
of preventing and reprefling
the injuries which the afToci-
ated individuals had to fear
from one another. It is the
centinel who watches, in or-
der that the common labours
be not difturbed."

CoULO

[61]

Could they have Imagined that Holland would have
fcrloufly made a common caufe with France, Spain, and
America, the Britifh Miniftry would never have dared to
provoke them. It would have been a madnefs in politics
to have done fo j unlefs their views were to haften on a
period of fuch emphatic diftrefs, as ihould juftify the con-
ceflions which they faw they muft one day or other make
to the world, and for which they wanted an apology to
themfelves. — There is a temper in fome men which feeks
a pretence for fubmiflion. Like a (hip difabled ina<^ion
and unfitted to continue it, it waits the approach of a flil
larger one toftrike to, and feels relief at the opportunity.
Whether this is greatnefs or littlenefs of mind, I am not
enquiring into. I fhould fuppofe it to be the latter, be-
caufe it proceeds from the want of knowing how to bear
misfortune in its original flate.

But the fubfequent condu(Stof the Britifh cabinet has
fliewn that this was not their plan of politics, and confe-
quently their motives mufl be fought for in another line.

The truth is, that the Britifh had formed a very hum-
ble opinion of the Dutch nation. They looked on them
as a people who would fubmit to any thing ; that they
might infult them as they liked, plunder them as they
pleafed, and ftlll the Dutch dared not to be provoked.

If this be taken as the opinion of the Britifh cabinet,
the meafure is eafily accounted for; becaufe it goes on
the fuppofition, that when, by a declaration of hoftilitles,
they had robbed the Dutch of fome millions flerling, (and
to rob them was popular) they could make peace with
them again whenever they pleafcu, and on almoft any
iCims the Britifli Miniftry fhould propofe. And no fooncr

was

! I

(

I'i <i

C e* ]

was the plundering committed, than the accommodation
was fet on foot, and failed.

When once the mind lofcs the fenfe of its own digni-
ty, it lofesjlikewife, the ability of judging of it in another*
And the American war has thrown Britain into fuch a
variety of abfurd fituations, that, arguing from herfelf,
Ihe fees not in what condu£l national dignity confifts in
other countries. From Holland fhe expe(Si:ed duplicity
and fubmiflion, and this miftalce arofe from her having
afted, in a number of inftances during the prefent war,
the fame charadter herfelf.

To be allied to, orconnc£led with Britain, feems to be
an unfafeand impolitic fituation. Holland and America
are inftances of the reality of this remark. Make thofc
countries the allies of France or Spain, and Britain will
court them with civility, and treat them with refpedt ;
make them her own allies, and fhe will infult and plun-
der them. In the fiift cafe, (lie feels fome apprehenfions
at offending them, becaufe they have fupport at hand ;
in the latter, thofe apprehenfions do not exift. Such,
however, has hitherto been her conduct;.

Another meafure which has taken place fincc the
publication of the Abbe's work, and likewife fince the
time of my beginning this let'cr, is the change in the
Britifh miniftry. What line tiie new cabinet will pur-
fue refpefting America, is at this time unknown j neither
is it very material, uilefs they are ferioufly difpofcd to a
general and honourable peace.

Repeated experience has fhewn, not only the im-
practicability of conquering America, but the ftill higher
impofUbility of conquering her mind, or recalling her back

to-

I ^l ]

to her former condition of thinking, SIncethe commence-
ment of the war, which is now approaching to eight years,
thoufands and tens of thoufands have advanced, and are
daily advancing into the f rft ftagc of manhood, who
knov/ nothino: of Britain but as a barbarous enemy, and
to whom the independence of America appears as much
the natural and eftabliftied government of the country, as
that of England does to an Englifliman. And on the
other hand, thoufands of the aged, who had Britifh ideas,
have dropped, and are daily dropping, from the flage of
bufinefs and life. The natural progrefs of generation and
decay operates every hour to the difadvantage of Britain,
Time and death, hard enemies to contend with,fightcon-
ftantly againC: her intereft ; ar.d the bills of mortality, in
every part of Amcrioa, are the thermometers of her decline.
The children in the ftreets are from their cradle bred to
confider her as their only foe. They hear of her cruel-
ties ; of their fathers, uncles, and kindred killed j they
fee the remains of burnt and deftroyed houfes, and the
common tradition of the fchool they go to, tells them,
thofe things were done by the Britijh,

These are circumftances which the mere Englifh ftatc
politician, who confiders man only in a ftatc of manhood,
docs not attend to. He gets entangled with parties co-
eval or equal with himfelf at home, and thinks not how
faft the riling generation in America is growing beyond
his knowledge of them, or they of him. In a fcv/ years all
perfonal remembrance will be lolt, and who is King or
Minifter in England, will be little known and fcarcely
enquired after.

The new Britilh adminiftration is compofcd of pcrfons
who have ever been againfl the war, and who have con-

2 Itantly

1 *

ill

r «4 ]

ftantly reprobated all the violent meafures of the former
one. They confidered the American war as deftruftive
to themfelves, and oppofed it on that ground. But what
are thefe things to America ? She has nothing to do with
Englifh parties. The ins and the outs are nothing to her.
It is the whole country fhe is at war with, or muft be at
peace with.

"Were every Minifter in England a Chatham, it would
now weigh little or nothing in the fcale of American
politics. Death has preferved to the memory of this
ftatefman, that fame, which he, by living, would have
loft. His plans and opinions, towards the latter part of
his life, would have been attended with as many evil con-
fequences, and as much reprobated here, as thofe of Lord
North ; and, confidering him a wife man, they abound
with inconfiftencies amounting to abfurdities.

It has apparently been the fault of many in the late
minority, to fuppofe, that America would agree to certain
terms with them, were they in place, which (he would
not ever liften to from the then adminiftration. This
idea can anfwer no other purpofe than to prolong the war ;
and Britain may, at theexpence of many more millions,
Jearn the fatality of fuch miftakes. If the new miniftry
wifely avoid thishopelefs policy, they will prove themfelves
better pilots, and wifer men, than they are conceived to
be J for it is every day expcdcd to fee their baric ftriicc
upon fome hidden rock and go to pieces.

But there is a line in which they may be great. A
more brilliant opening needs not to prefent itfelf ; and
it is fuch a one, as true magnanimity would improve,
and humanity rejoice in.

r 65 J

A toTAL reformation is wanted in England. She
wants an expanded mind, — an heart which embraces the
univerfe. Inftead of fhutting herfelf up in an ifland,
and quarrelling with the world, (he would derive more
lading happinefs, and acquire more real riches, by gene-*
roufly mixing with it, and bravely faying, I am the ene-
my of none. It is not now a time for little contri-*
vances, or artful politics. The European world is too
experienced to be impofed upon, and America too wifa
to be duped. It muft be fomething new and mafterly
that muft fucceed. The idea of feducing America from
her independence, or corrupting her from her allfance,
is a thought too little for a great mind, and impofTible
for any honeft one, to attempt. Whenever politics are
applied to debauch mankind from their integrity, and
diffolvc the virtues of human nature, they become de-
teftable } and to be a ftatcfman upon this plan, is to be
a commiiHoncd villain. He who aims at it, leaves a va-
cancy in his character, which may be filled up with th(?
worft of epithets.

If the difpofition of England fliould be fuch, as not
to agree to a general and honourable peace, and that the
war muft, at all events, continue longer, I cannot help
wiftiing, that the alliances which America has or may
enter into, may become the only objctSls of *-he war. She
wants an opportunity of ftiewing to the world, that fhe
holds her honor as dear and facred as her independence,
and that fhe will in no fituation forfaice thofe^ whom no
negociations could induce to forfake her. Peace to
every reflective mind is a defirable object; but that peace
which is accompanied with a ruined chara»^ler, becomes
a crime to the feducer, and a curfe upon the feduced.

But where is the in^po.T»bility, or even the great dif-

K ficulty,

ilr

;ft

[ 66 J

iiculty, of England forming d fjitnufliip with France
and Spain, and making it a national virtue to renounce
for ever thofe prejudiced inveteracies it has been her cuf-
tomto cherifh ; and which, while they fervc to fink her
with. an encreafing enormity of debt, by involving her in
fruitlefs wars, become likewife the bane of her rcpofc,
and the deftruction of her manners ? We had once the
fetters that flie has now, but experience has (hewn us
the miftakc, and thinking juftly has fet us right.

The true idea of a great nation is that which extends
and promotes the principles of univsrfal focicty. Whofe
mind rifes above the atmofpheres of local thoughts, and
confiders mankind, of whatever nation or profeffion they
may be, as the work of one Creator. The rage for con-
queft has had its fafhion, and its day. Why may not
the amiable virtues have the fame ? The Alexanders
and Caefars of antiquity, have left behind them their
monuments of deftrudion, and are remembered with
hatred j while thefe more exalted characters, who firft
taught fociety and fcicnce, are bleft with the gratitude
of every age and country. Of more ufe was one philo-
Ibpher, though a heathen, to the world, than all the hea-
then conquerors that ever exifted.

Should the prefent revolution be diftinguifhed by
opening a new fyftem of extended civilization, it will
receive from heaven the higheft evidence of approbation ;
and as this is a fubjedt to which the Abbe's powers are
fo eminently fuited, I recommend it to his attention,
with the afte£tion of a friend, and the ardour of a uni-
vcrfal citizen.

\.t

POSTSCRIPT.

SINCE cIoiinjT the fnrcgoinr', letter, fomc intimations,
refpedtinsr a oi^ncral peace, have made their way to
America. On what authority or foundation they fl.;nd,
or how near or remote fuch an. event mny be, arc cir-
cumftances I am not enquiring into. But as tho fub-
je6l muft fooner or later become a matter of ferious at-
tention, it may not be improper, even at this early pe-
riod, candidly to invciligatc f jme points that arc con-
nected with it, or lead towards it. •>

^ /

The independence of America Is at this moment as
firmly eftablifhed as that of any other country in a ftatc
of war. It is not length of time, but power, that gives
liability. Na^ns at war know nothing of each other
on the fcorc of antiquity. It is their prefent and imme-
diate ftrength, together \ylth their connexions, that
muft fupport them. To which wc may add, that a right
which originated to-day, is as much a right, as if it had
the fan6lion of a thoufand years i and therefore the in-
dependence and prefent governments of America are in
no more danger of being fubverted, becaufe they are mo-
dern, than that of England is fccure, becaufe il is an-
cient.

The politics of Britain, fo far as they rcfpe£led Ame-
rica, were originally conceived in idiotifm, and adted in
madnefs. There is not a ftep which bears the fmalleft
trace of rationality. Li her management of the war,
fhehas laboured to be wrct(h(\% and itu'iievi to be hated ;
and in all her former :M<.p:. ".Jons for accommodation,

K J. ihc

i 63 ]

fhe has difcovcred a total ignorance of mankind, and of
thofe natural and unalterable fenfations by which they
arc fo generally governed. How (he may conduct her-
felf in the prefent or futuie bufinefs of ncgociating a
peace, is yet to be proved.

He is a weak politician who does not underftand hu-
man nature, and penetrate into the efFc£t which mea-
fures of government will have upon the mind. All the
mifcarriages of Britain have arifen from this defe<Sl. The
former Miniftry a<Sled as if they fuppofed mankind to be
•without a mind 'y and the prefent Miniftry, as if America
was without a memory. The one muft have fuppofed we
were incapable of feeling ; and the other, that we could
not remember injuries.

There is likewife another line in which politicians
miftake, which is that of not rightly calculating, or ra-
ther of misjudging, the confcquence which any given
circumftance will produce. Nothing is more frequent,
as well in common as in political life, than to hear
people complain, that fuch or fuch means produced an
event diredtly contrary to their intentions. But thq
fault lies in their not judging rightly what the event
would be ; for the means produced only its proper andi
natural confequence.

It is very probable, that in a treaty for peace, Britain
will contend for fpme poft or other in North America ;
perhaps Canada or Halifax, or both : and I infer this
from the known deficiency of her politics, which have
ever yet made ufe of means, whofe natural event was
againft both her intereft and her expectation. But the
5 queftion

[ 69 ]

^ucftion with her ought to be, Whether it is worth her
while to hold them, and what will be the confequence.

Respecting Canada, one or other of the two follow-
ing will take place, viz. If Canada fhould people, it will
revolt ; and if it do not people, it will not be worth the
cxpence of holding. And the fame may be faid of Ha-
lifax, and the country round it. But Canada never will
people ; neither is there any occafion for contrivances on
one fide or the other, for nature alone will do the whole.

Britain may put hcrfclf to great cxpenccs in fend-
ing fettlers to Canada ; but the defccndants of thofe fet-
tlers will be Americans, as other defcendants have been
before them. They will look round and fee the neigh-
bouring States fovereign and free, refpeftcd abroad and
trading at large with the world; and the natural love
of liberty, the advantages of commerce, the blcflings of
independence and of a happier climate, and a richer foil,
will draw them fouthward, and the effect will be, that
Britain will fuftuin the cxpcncc, and America reap the
advantage.

One would think that the experience which Britain
has had of America, would entirely ficken her of all
thoughts of continental colonization ; and any part which
(he might retain, will only become to her a field of jea-
loufy and thorns, of debate and contention, for ever
ftruggling for privileges, and meditating revolt. She may
form new fettlements, but they will be for us j they will
become part of the United States of America ; and that
againft all her contrivances to prevent it, or without any
endeavours of ours to promote it. In the firft place, fhe
cannot draw from them a revenue until they are able

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' [ 70 ]

to pay one, and when they arc T/, rhoy will be above
fubjcdion. Men Toon become aitachccl to the foil they
liv^o upon, ai.d incoi-poratcJ with ihc profperity of the
place ; and it fiKnifics but little what opinions they
come over with, for time, intcreft, and new connections
will render them obsolete, and the next generation
know nothing of them.

Were Butain truly wife ftie would lay hold of the
prefent opportunity to difentangle hcrfclf from all conti-
nental embarralTmcnts in North-America, and that not
only to avoid future broils and troubles, but to fave ex-
pences. For to fpcak explicitly on the matter, I would
not, were I an European power, have Canada, under the
conditions that Britain muft retain it, could it be given
to mc. It is one of thofe kind of dominions that is,
and ever will be, a conftant chur^c upon any foreign
holder.

As to Halifax, it will become ufelefs to England after
the prefent war, and the lofs of the United States. A
harbour, when the dominion is gone, for the purpofe of
which only it was wanted, can be attended only with ex-
pence. There are, I doubt not, thoufands of people in
England, who fuppofc, that thofe places are a profit to
the nation, whereas they are direftly the contrary, and
inflead of producing any revenue, a confiderable part of
the revenue of England is annually drawn off, to fup«
port the expence of holding them.

Gibraltar Is another inftance of national ill policy.
A poft which in time of peace is not wanted, and in time
of war is of no ufe, muft at all times be ufelefs. Inftead

„

7«

of affording proteiTtion to a navy, it requires the aid of
one to maintain it. And to fiippofc that (Jibraltar com-
mands the Mediterranean, or the pais into i:, or the trade
of it, is to fuppofc a dctc<51ed falfliood ; becaufc though
Britain holds the poll, fhc has loii the other three, and
every benefit (he expelled from it. And to' fay that all
this happens becaufc it is beficged by land and water,
is to, fay nothing, for this will always be the cafe in
time of war, while France and Spain keep up fuperior
fleets, and Britain holds the place. — So that, though as
an impenetrable inacccfllblc rock it may be held by the
one, it is always in the power of the other to render it
ufelefs and exceffively chargeable.

I (hould fuppofe that one of the principal obje6ls of
Spain in befiegingit, is to fhow to Britain, that though
jfhc may not take it, (he can command it, that is, fhe can
Ihut it up, and prevent its being ufcd as a harbour,
though not a garrifon. — But the fhort way to reduce
(jibraltar, is, to attack the Britifti fleet; for Gibraltar
is as dependent on a fleet for fupport, as a bird is on its
wing for food, and when wounded there it ilarves.

There is another circumftance which the people of
England have not only not attended to, but fecm to be
utterly ignorant of, and that is, the difi^erence between
permanent power, and accidental power, con fidercd in a
national fcnfe.

Bv pcrmanrnt pow^er, I mean, a natural inherent and
pcrp;.ti5ai ability in a nation, which though always in
bein^;, m?y not be always in action, or not alv*'ays ad-
vantagoouily directed 3 and by accidental power, I mean,

a fortunate

C 7== J

a fortunate or accidental difpofition or excrcifc of na-
tional ftrcngth, in whole or in part.

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!•'■

There undoubtedly was a time when any one Euro-
pean nation, with only eight or ten (hips of war, equal
to the prefent fhips of the line, could have carried terror
to all others, who had not began to build a navy, how-
ever great their natural ability might be for that pur-
pofc ; But this can be confidered only as accidental,
and not as a flandard to compare permanent power by,
and could lail no longer than until thofe powers built
as many or more fhips than the former. After this a
larger fleet was neceflary, in order to be fuperier j and
a IHll larger would again fuperfode it. And thus man-
kind have gone on building fleet upon fleet, as occafioa
or fituation dictated. And this reduces it to an ori^i-
nal queftion, which is : Which power can build and
man the largeft number of fhips ? The natural anfwer
to which, is. That power which has the largeft revenue
and the greateft number of inhabitants, provided its fi-
tuation of coaft affords fufHcicnt conveniencies.

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France being a nation on the continent of Europe,
and Britain an iiland in its neighbourhood, each of them
derived different ideas from their different fituations. The
inhabitants of Britain could carry on no foreign trade,
nor ftir from the fpot they dwelt upon, without the af-
fiftance of (hipping ; but this was not the cafe with
France. The idea therefore of a navy did not arife to
France from the fame original and immediate neceflity
which produced it to England. But the queftion is, that
when both of them turn their attention, and employ theif
revenues the fame way, which can be fuperior I

Ths

[ 73 1

The anhual revenue of France is nearly double that
of England, and her number of inhabitants more th-.uj
twice as many. Each of them has the fame Icncrth ol"
coaft on the channel, bcfidts which, France has fcvcral
hundred miles extent on the bay of Bifcay, and an open-
ing on the Mediterranean : and every day proves, that
pradice and excrcifc make failors, as well as foluicrs,
in one country as well as another.

If then Britain can maintain an hundred Hiips of the
line, France can as well fupport an hundred and fifty^
becaufe her revenues and her population arc as equal to
the one as thofe of England are to the other. And the
only rcafon why {he has not done it, is becaufe (he has
not till very lately attended to it. But when flic fees,
as (he now fees, that a navy is the firft engine of power,
fhe can eafily accompliih it. " •

England very falfely, and ruinoufly for herfelf. In-
fers, that becaufe fne had the adv;uitao;e of France, while
France had the fmaller navy, that for that rcafon it is
always to be fo. Whereas it may be clearly fecn, that
the ftrength of France has never yet been tried on a
navy, and that fhe is able to be as fupcrior to England
in the extent of a navy, as flic is in the extent of her re-
venues and her population. And Enjiland may lament
the day, when, by h.r infolence and irjuftice, file pro-
voked in France a maritime difpoiition.

It is in the power of the combined ^cets to coiquer
every ifland in the Wcil Indies, an<l reduce all the JJri-
tifli navy in tnofj places. For were France ard Spain
to fend their whole naval force in Europe to thofs

L iilands,

ll;'. T H

ii'i

ff.

[ 7+ ]

iflands, it would not be in the power of Britain to follow
them with an equal force. She would ftill be twenty or
thirty (hips inferior, were ftje to fend every veflel flic
had, and in the mran t," ic all the foreign trade qf Eng-
land would lay cxpofed to the Dutch.

It is a maxim, which, I am pcrfuaJed, will ever hold
good, and more cfpeciaily in naval operations, that a
great power ougrit never to move in detachments, if it
can poflibly be avoided ; buc to go with its whole force
to fome important object, the reduction of which ftiall
have a dccifiye eftt6l upon the war. Had the whoh: of
^hc French and Spanifia fleets in Europe come lad fpring
to the Weft Indies, every ifland had been their own,
Rodney their prifoner, and his fleet their prize. From
the United States the combined fleets can be fii^>plied
with provifions, without the nepefuty of drawing them
from Europe, which is not the cafe with Enu^land.

Accident has thrown fome advantages in the way of
England, which, from the inferiority of her navy, (he
had not a right to expecSl:. For though ftie has been
obliged to fly before the combined fleets, yet Rodney has
twice had the fortune to fall in with detached fqua-
drons, to which he was fuperior in numbers : The firft
cff Cape St. Vincent, where he had nearly two to one,
and the othv^r in the Weft Indies, where he had a ma-
jority of fix fhips. Vidlorics of this kind almoft pro-
duce themfelvcs. They are won without honor, and
fuftered without difgracc : And are afcribable to the
chj.nce of meeting, not to the fuperiority of fighting.
For the fame Admiral, under whom they were obtained,
was unable, in three former enoag-emcnts, to make the
3 leai^

[ 75 ]

leaft impreflion en a fleet confifting of ai equal number
of fhips with his own, and compounded for the events
by declining the adlions *.

To conclude, if it may be faid that Britain has nu-
merous enemies, it likewife proves that fhe has given
numerous offences. Infolence is fure to provoke hatred,
whether in a nation or an individual. The want of
manners in the Eritifh court may be feen even in, its
birth-days and new-years Odes, which arc calculated to
infatuate the vulgar, and difguft the man of refinement ;
And her former overbearing rudenefs, and infufferable
injuftice on the feas, have made every commercial na-
tion her foe. Her flf^ts were employed as engines of
prey ; and a(Sled on the furface of the deep the charac-r
ter which the (hark does beneath it. — On the coiner
hand, the Combined Po\ -^rs are taking a popular part,
and will render their reputation immortal, by eftablifli-
ing the perfedl freedom of the ocean, to which all coun-
tries have a right, and are intcrcfted in accomplifhing.
The fea is the world's highway j and he who arrogates
a prerogative over it, tranfgreffes the right, and juftly
brings on himfelf the chaftifement, of nations.

Perhaps it might be of fome fervice to the future
tranquillity of mankind, were an article introduced into
the next general peace, that no one nation fliould, in
time of peace, exceed a certain number of fhips of war.
Somethingof this kind feemsnecelTaryi for according to the

* See the accounts^ either Englijh or French ^ of three ac'
tions in the IVtJi Indies^ bttwtfn Count de Guichen and Ad*
tniral Rodney y in 1780.

prefent

■Ix-

[ 76 ]

prefent fafliion, half the world will get upon the water#
and th; tu appears no end to the extent to which navies
may be carried. Another rcafon is, that navies add no-
thing to the mannc.s or moraia of a people. The fequef*
tercd life which attends the fervlce, prevents the oppor-
tunities of fociety, and is too apt to occadon a coarfeu'^rs
of ideas and language, and that more in (hips of warthaii
in commercial employ; bccaufe in the latter they mix
mor'c with the world, and arc nearer related to it. I men-
tion this remark as a general one ; and not applied to
any one country more than another*

BkiTAlfJ has how had the trial of above fevcri years,
tvlth an expence of nearly an hundred million pounds
fterling ; and every month in which (he delays to con-
clude a peace, cofts her another million fterling, over
nnd above her ordinary expehces 6f government, which
are a million more; fo that hei' tota? monthly expence is
two million pounds fterling, which is equal to the whole
yearly expence of America, all charges included. Judge
then who is beft able to continue iti

^ii.

She has likewife many atonehients t6 make to an in-
jured world, as well in one quarter as another. And in-
ftead of purfuing that temper of arrogance, v^rhich fcrVes
only to ftnk her in the eftcem, and entail on her the dif-»
like, of all nations, fhc will do well to reform her man-*
ners, retrench her expences, live peaceably W'th hci'
neighbours, and think of war no more* ' ' -

Philadelphia, Auguft 2i> 1782.

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