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Las diagrammas suivants illustrant la mAthoda. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 N O F R E - U N I o N BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN U'l AND HER COLONIES. «ifenib,le yifttmeft: cui, com ad occafum ab ortu folia omnia domita armis parerent, domi otium, atque d-viti*. que prima mortale. putant. alBuerent} fuere ?amen di>;a. qui feque. remque publicam obftinatii animis perditum irent. Nam Temper in cintate, qaiboi ope. null. funt. bonii mtident. maloa extoUunti Vetera odere. nova ex- optant, odio fuarumrerum mutari omnU ftudent} turb« atque fed.tion.bu. fine cura aluntur, quoniam egefta. facile liabetarfinedamno. Saiust. .n-. L O K D O N, PmHTio FOR J. MURRAY, N» 3,, FiLHET-SrwiT, ■ ■/- MDCCLXXVlir. ■•**^' ■X! .,;>- . • i V muni *.» iJ I .f i ^ <> * I V'-' .n-.',> i.^ii; ' tui,,^ ; M-i;;t>-;) tj-N<>.v fc^'iMa mtr^i>>-'rh^ .■'■■) .,.-.:^.^:.> ,'. '. r KV T O THE GENTLEMEN, THE COMMITTEE FOR DECEIVING SUBSCRIPTIONS, FOR THE SOLDIERS WOUNDED IN AMERICA; INHOPESOF Its contributing fomething towards carrying on the Benevolent Purpofe of their conftitution. The Profits, ariCng from the publicaUon of the following Eflay, Are refpcOfully offered by, Their moft obedient. Humble fenrant. The AUTHOR. '-i u. '; ^/ly S^^j>t^^, ::,'.',) J .t 1 ....... V •• r ■• -^ • • ! ■'■ ; ; . t> ■- I r-' » r : •» •• If '• '■" ' V.' . ij i.H'i^' V. .»•* i • > >ii<> ^•t ^1/; ' ^*"~ ADVERTISEMENT. THE ouftlines of th6 following Plan are tak^n frodi a inahufcript on tlie improfement of the fugar-coloriies, which tht author has had in hand thefe t6n years. It b^s been extra^6ci ahd fitted for a tempo- fary publication, in hopes of its contribut- ing foiliething io elucidate tfie rights of Britain, dtkttcd and betrayed as Ctit is, by too many of her ung^^tefuT fons. It wa» preparedi iii another form, for publication^ two years a;g6. H&iiilr it (iappehedf to be ftrafigted iti iht birth, is hot here nc- cefTary t6 ht told ; but fftat it has gained foAethirtg r?i mettif6d and fubrfancc by the as an inhabitant of the colonies, led him, before he had the pleafure of peruling their writings, to confider the fubjedt in a par- ticular point of view, which, he finds, in- tcferes not with their feveral plans, and yet, he hopes, may carry fome convidHon with it, and be found adapted to ibme particular underftandings. He has made the bed ufe in his power of the great intercourfe be- tween North America and the place of his abode; and he hopes this circumflance has enabled him to draw fome leading fea- tures of the Americans, more accurately than can ealily be done on the o;her iide of the Atlantic. ^ The partizans of America draw all their flrength in argument from a perverdon of words, and, with the magic of a few po- pular .11 ( vli ) pular phrafes, would fain annihilate rcafon^ duty, gratitude, and obedience, This has induced the author to be at pains to analyfe thcfe mighty engines of rebellion, oud cun-^ fine each to its due ufe. How immenle, for exampJe, are the powers of the words Tax- ation and Reprefentation ; the Taxation of America by a Briti(h Parliament, on pro- nouncing them, fwells into a monger of tyranny and oppreflion. Call but America a part of the British flatc, and fay, the parliament poflcfTcs the legiflarive powers of the ftatc, and the taxation of America is reduced to a fimple attribute of the fo- vereignty. The man, who fuppofes taxes to be gifts, will contend for the neceffity of their being voluntary ; let him confider them as the price of protedion, he will pay them as he would an honed debt. He who views the fovereign as the enemy or rival of the people, will grudge every penny that is raifed for the public expences ; let him confider taxes as intended to carry on ihe refpublica, or national intered, he ac- quiefces in them as neceffary to promote private benefit. He vvho thinks obedience voluntary, will contend for perfonal repre- fentation ; he, who has difcovered its im- A 4 pra to improve her colonies, (h? obliges herfelf t^ buy fuch articles only from them. America readily takes the benefii; of the redrifStiqas which operate in her favour ; but puts in 2 ^^^ ( ix ) the caveat of privilege, or natural right, againd being reftridted in her turn i as if the purpofe of fociety were to render in- ofFc^ual general improvement. She would trade to all the world, would take the pro- tection of our fleets, claim exemption from taxes either to liquidate her debts or fup- port her e(labli(hment, would have no reftraint on fmuggling ; while Britain fup- ports her government, pays her debts, and riiins herfelf by giving America a mono- poly of trade. Is all this jufl, is natural liberty or perfonal fccurity egnccrned in the. difpute; yet take thcfe and a few fuch words aWay, and the fubje^ will not bear even the form of an argument. By this perverfion of words a conftant jealoufy is kept up between thcfovcreign and the people ; which will ever keep the ftate from the full exertion of its ftrength. Go- vernment is held up as a diftindt and hate- ful combination, infidioufly watcbing for an opportunity to attack the privileges of the people. Where, as in Britain, a nwn is one day a legiflator and the next a pri- vate citizen, there is a common intereft between the fovereign and people ; and it may be defined the government of all by the Ui I ( X ) the adminidration of a few. *In fuch a community, the affairs of the whole are agitated in every meafure of government, and every man has virtually a voice as well as an interefl in it. The fovcreign may be defined to be the people in their adive ca- pacity, the people is the fovercign in the colledtive fenfe. The fovercign tranfadts his own, not the affairs of ar enemy or rival ; he is fubjed to the miflakes of human nature, but cannot injure the people at large without hurting himfelf. It is of confequence to combat fuch no- tions as thefe, becaufe there is in the king- dom an indudrious fet, who, afTuming the name of a popular party, and appropriat- ing thefe and fuch phrafes to their dark defigns, have impofed on too many well meaning people, and gone no inconfiderablc length in undermining the foundations of our conflitution. According to them, every man is at liberty to form his little party, nay his individual felf, into a feparate in- dependent flate, and bid defiance to all the claims and rights of fociety. Religion, law, virtue, as far as they refpecSl the ftate, are, with thefe people, idle words. Every man has an inherent right not only to 6 frame. J* ( x! ) frame, according to his own extravagant fancy, but to broach among his neigh- bours, his own tenets of religion, his own code of laws, his own maxims of condud; and it matters not, (hould they contradi(fl; the will of the Deity, natural or revealed, fhould they oppofe the laws of his country, infringe the rights, or deftroy the cha- racter, of his neighbour. So much do thefe notions prevail, fo fatally do they fall in with the depraved humours of the age, that the friend of virtue and his coun* try would rather be vindicated for going out of his way, than excufed for neglc(5l- ing an opportunity to attack them. Reli- gion, virtue, and the conftitution, at this time call loudly frr the help of every honeft man, to fupport them, and deliver them down to profperity un{horn of their nghts. And it is the duty of every friend of his country to watch over the condudt of a fadlion, which, under the pretence of freedom, and of vindicating the natural rights of mankind, are daily publifhing invedives and libels againft the laws and religion of the (late *. . . ■ If * In the flrnggle In the reign nf Charles I. the oppo- fition was iwailtf up of men ot itricl lives, who enter- tained M ( «ii ) If an account is required of the freedom with which he has mentioned oppofition, the i 1 !i |;l i I ^i* tained proper notions of the dignity of man, and aimed at elbblifhing the equal rule of law. The beads of the iXiodern diflenters, who pretend to fucceed thefti in their religious and political tenets, comprehend within their pile, every atheiftical profligate, every enemy to decen- cy, religion, and law. l hv,y afFcft to exalt the indivi- dual at the expence of the community, and are for de- iiroying all order, that each man may reign the momrcH ol himfelf. Hence their oppofitfon to authority, their abhorrence of every idea, which confidefs (he community as one, co-K)perating to a particular purpofe, bound to- gether by one common intereft. Yet while they pretend to exalt the individual, and f«t him above reflraint, in order to make him a fit inftrum^nt ior their o^^n ambi- tion, they degrade him in his nature andexpeftations. That great book-maker, Prieftley, ha^ annihilated the foul, and reduced the whole man to d\x^ of the earth. Common fenfe is no longer a guide in human life, and exigence in a future (late mnft fuppofe a new creation. All the tender taes of family, relatioas* and cduntry mud, according to him be fought for in excremental flimulus. Price ihews himfelf a traitor againft fociety, virtue, and religion in every line ; yet could find people to circulate fourteen editions of the dull poifon in three months. Another tells you, that though he himfelf be a found Calvinift, yet reafon is to be found only on the fide of infidelity. And a fourth tells his p^ pie that they need not confider marriage as any longer binding, than they can love one another. A fifth frames a liturgy that may be addrefled to Jupiter or Jehovah. In ihort to wriggle themfelves into notice, that in time they may be en- abled to overthrow the conflitution in church and ftate^ they abandon the precifenefs of their fe£l, and favour that fpiritof £picurianifm,licentioufnefs, and diflfipation, which is the chara£leriitic of the age j and they only want ( atiii ) iht author might content himfelf with an« fwering, that their treatment is more mild than that which their adverfaries receive from them. Men of fuch extraordinary fentiment as they, who can weep for their vou^try while contriving its ruin, may bo %ble to give difFerent names to things $ but; wheo their country is ftroggling for exift- ence, tofpread divition anvong her fens, and weaken the hands of thofe engaged in her caufe, in conamon apprchcnfion, cannoc easily be ieparatcd from treafon. When a contemptible rebellion broke out in Scot- land, unfupported by intereft, contradicted by febtiment, did all parties think it need- want thft left ^, and a for other defences^ which thtar piety of our ancedors has erected ahout the conilitu-^ tion, done away, to begin the glorious work of anarchy. "With tW*. view, they arc infenfibly tniitauating them- felves: into oi^ corporaiions, and while they pretend to> cbnfider them in th? hands of n1ir^:f*■ / as the rotten part of xhc coafttution, they V€ trying to make them in their owAhaqd^ the indriunents of our ruin. N«verhad honeft ine,n fuch caufe to be alarmed for the conCequcncesof evil principhss in the ftate, as at this period. Vice is, muft ever b«, inj^piousi t<» public pnofperity ; but if it be ackoQW-' kdge4for fi^ch, there is left room for reformatioo to en* ter ; when principles are onct corrupted, nothing but ruin can foJlcrnr. And this min to every thing thas' re/peiSls: virtue, li}Jerty, ^pd iaw muft be the neceflary. conftfquence of embracing the principles of thcfe would bf phijofopfaers. fa ^, i ri I'! ( xiv ) ful to unite with vigour and zeal to enable government to crufh it in the bud ; and, at prefent, when we are ftruggling for all the fruits of all the wars we have carried on» and the debts we have contradted, fince the Revolution, (hall we have a party among us, who encourage and Simulate our adverfaries in their oppofition, and yet pretend to be the bed friends of their country ? Let us fuppofe, that miniftry and parlia- ment were both originally as wrong as an American congrefs, affifted by the rhetoric of Burke, can paint them ; and let us fup- pofe, what perhaps may be the cafe, that not more than ten men, in America, had originally the deiign of uHng that ill-beha- viour as an indrument to promote an irre- concilable rupture between the countries : yet America, by efpouHng the caufe of the intriguing demagogues, and aiming their oppofition againd the fupremacy and com* merce of the mother-country, has now con- firmed it to be a national quarrel with Bri- tain. And can Britons be injured in their country, and ftand by unconcerned, or take the part of her foes ; and yet pretend to ho- nefty or patriotifm ? Nothing but th^ lenity of a govcrnmeut, againft the tyranny of . . which i>H ( XV ) which they affe<5t to exclaim, and which, on every oc(:afion, they abufc, could have encouraged To many, as have engaged in thefe treafonable pradices againd their country. The prefent difpute can never be ended to the advantage of either party, unlefs Bri- tain /hall prefcribe the terms. To point out the propriety of gcnerofity in thefe terms is one great defign of the following effay. The nobleft feelings of a conqueror are, when he refolves to adopt the vanqui(hed into li* berty and freedom. This laft atchievement perhaps was wanting to complete the glory of Britain J to afford an opportunity of an- nulling all the little colony- fyftems, and extending thafindifcriminating fupremacy of law, which takes place in Albion alone. v> ^ '.■ .',\.>.J CON- CONTENTS. 1 jiii Hi ' \ ' 1 ill , ' i! Hi !; i ' m Intro Julian • - - Page i '" C H A P. r. Cff Supremacy - - - - ^ CHAP. II. ,:•: Of Reprefentation " - " 34 C H A P. III. OfibeReJjpubticat or NatiomU Intereji ^^ CHAP. IV. Of Taxation - - -» - 65 C H A P. v.- Taxation further confidered - - 76 CHAP. VI. RefeSiions arifing from the Principles efiablijbed abave .... ^ ;, CHAP. VII. \ Strictures on the prefent Management of the Colonies - - - 14^ CHAP. VIII. ^Prefent Colony Syjlem improved • 153 CHAP. IX. General Plan for the Government of the Colonies • - - 16S • C H A P. X. ^ ' General Plan continued and concluded 1 88 INTRO- i \- INTRODUCTION. OU R defign is to propofc a plan for improving the union between Great Britain and her colonies, and fixing it on the firm foundation of mutual intereS . and utility. As the fubjed is of univerfal concern, it demands the ferlous attention of all i as it is offered to the public, with the beft ddfign, it claims, as its right, in- dulgence and candour, . . , ^ -,. . . ■ ... »?.*«-', .,^ In the prbfecution 6f oUr plan, we fhall have occafion to call in to our aid the con- troul of the Britifh parliament ; and fhall be obliged to arm it with a difcretionary power of government, including taxation, B through* I'' i I'^i M I ■, i I < 1 ( I aM il;' i ' I M 1 M ill 1^ ( 2 ) throughout the whole dominions of the flate. Twenty years ago, it would have been unnecefTary to have agitated fuch a qucftion, fince every independent ftate or kingdom muft ever include the fuppofition of a fovereign, and a fovereign rr'ift ever include the fuppofition of a pow .r, extending to ("very proper, every necef- fary adt, of gcvcrnment; and fince, in the Britifh dominions, we have no other power to difpute this privilege with the British parliament. But, within this period, we have made fuch furprifing advances in the fcience of politics, as to have now plainly difcoveVed, that no man is to be further boun i by law, or give /arthef, aiOiftance to his country, than it {hall at any time pleafe himfelf : or, iccord- ingto this new dodirine, every man is, or fhould be, his own legiflator; and Ihould, or ought, to determine, by himfelf, or his deputy appointed, or inftruded, for that particular purpofe, whether he fhall con- tribute any thing,, or nothing, to his own protection. And though the man owes to'his country, the diftin(5lion of rank, the;. benefit of education, the feCurity of 9 ^ 'f :ll,H' ill ( 3 ) his pofleflions, and the protedlion of his perfon; yet all thefe obligations form no claim upon him, either of gratitude or duty. He may fufFer his neighbours and countrymen to expend their property, and wear themfelves out in the common de- fence, while he continues to enjoy the fecurity, which they have purchafed fot him, without putting himfclf to trouble or expence. And, whenever he pleafeth» he may fteal himfelf and his property away, from his country, and the common (lock 5 it is a theft, which carries no imputation of guilt with it. .' This is a do(flrine deftru(Stivc of all order and improvement, in every cafe, wherein there is a (ingle di(renting voice, wherein there is a (ingle difcontented individual, that is, in every poHible cafe, wherein the public good can be agitated. For can we feign a propofal, to v/hich felf-intereft, or caprice, or ambition, cannot, nay will not, be oppofed. And as all our purpofed im- provements overleap the narrow fyilems of prejudice, and the contracted mounds* within which felfi(hnefs lies entrenched, aiming at public good, and holding out - B 2 general 1 i M If i il l.t u. > I I!' I ' ( 4 ) general advantage, it will be neceflary to demoIiHi this new-fangled plan of fociety, if fociety it can be called, which fets up the opinion, whim, ambition, and felfidi- nefs of individuals^ againfl public intereft and public welfare ; and (hew that every community, to attain the perfection of po- litical happinefs, mud have a power within itfelf of turning the induftry, and calling' out the help of every member, to objects of public importance.* * I underftand by law, the fecurity of the membert of the community, in life, liberty, and property ; by police, the turning, by the influence of punifliment or reward, the indullry of the Individual to public benefit. Were a plough invented, which (hould enable the farmer to do as much work with one horfe, as in common is done with two, can any man fay, that the farmer's liberty would be infringed, by obliging him to make ufe of fuch a plough, even under a fevere penalty. An individual, as fuch, is not an obje£lof law or police ; it is as he is a member helping to compofe the commu- nity, receiving from, and conferring benefits on it. In this view, every part of his conduft, by which the community may be negatively or pofitively afFe£led, is an objed of public regulation. See it in another light, the individual is put into a flate of cafe, fecurity, and enjoyment, by the varioufly diredted efforts of thoufands and ten thoufands of his fellow -citizens; if there be not a power in the community to diredl;, in return, his induiilry and condu£^, to their benefit and advan- tage, a power to cut off from the hive fuch an expen- five lazy drone, fhould at leaft be fuppofed. Though, fihi ( 5 ) Though, from local clrcumflances, the fugar colonics, of the improvement of which, it was our original defign more particularly to treat, have not been able, equally with the northern colonies, to make the para- mount power of the Britifh parliament at prefent a fubjedt of hollile difculTion, yet too many in them favour oppoHtion, and wi(hfu)ly look forward as to ^ dedreable objedt, to an independency, which they can- not defcribe, of which they have forqied no notion. This has appeared too plain in the condudt of Jamaica and Barbadoe.s and in that ill-timed interpofition of the Weft- Indian planters with parliament, for favour to America, when they Should all have been employed in taking meafures againd thofe barbarous refolutions of the American congref«, which aimed at ftarving them by famine, and againd a renewal of that difadvantageous intercourfe with America, which has done more hurt to the fugar colonies, than all other caufes taken to- gether. The prefent objedt, therefore, will not carry us out of our original plan. It, indeed, fo intimately refpedts the ge- neral welfare of the empire, as to deferve B 3 V to '^ I I ir; '.J ( 6 ) to have every poflible light caft upon it; for, on the mutual conneiflion and iupporc of the feveral mcmbdrs* depends the pro- fpcrity of the ftate. There is indeed a pitiful j<*aloufy of the honour and profpe- rity of Britain, which runs, at prcfent, through all her dependencies, Ireland not excepted; though honour and interefl: fliould, at leaft, make this kingdor*'* con- fider herfelf as a Britifli ifle; and true po- licy, whenever (he is hearkened to, will complete the incorporation. They know not well what they wifli to have, only, that the fovereign date might receive fome daggering blow; and they might change their condition for fome date, unthought of, and as yet not experienced by them. It requires a generofity of fentiment, not to be found in every breafl, to enable a man to look up for the welfare of his own little circle, in the profperity and grandeur of the head of the empire. Nor is every man fufficiently capable of refiedtion to difcover, that the internal refources, ex- tent, and compadnefs, of Britain, may enable her to fuftain a (hock, which ihall crumble her didautt appendages 4 ^^^^ ( 7 ) inio ruin. The man, therefore, wlio caufes the colonics to fee their own happinefs, in the profperity of the mother country, has efFedled a good purpofc. In the difcuflion of this fubjc CHAP. I, Of Supremacy, T N every independent ftate, or empire, made up of feveral feparate or dif- tant provinces, each claiming, originally, equal privileges, of neceffity there muft be fuppofed a fixed feat of goverment, and a fovereign fuperintending legiflativc authority. Even where the union fuppofes the feveral provinces to continue on an equal footing, in order to introduce uni- formity and vigour into g07ernment, with- out which the fafety and welfare of the whole muft continually be brought into danger, the moft powerful or the mod a(Stive, or the moll: convenient province will be obliged to uks the lead, ar-d in many 'I 1 I ) ;•! i . ■ li i pi 'i I n\'i I-',' W ( «o ) many cafes muft affume fovereign authority, to which, expediency, or fear, will procure a ready fubmiffion from the other co-eflates. This pofition is found to be fo univerfally true in fad, that even in the confined ter- ritories of the United Dutch Provinces, and of the Helvetic body, the province of Hol- land in the one, and the canton of Berne, in the other, almoft univerfally take the lead, and give their own turn to the deliberations of their refpedtive unions. It is not necefTary to enquire, how this fuperior influence arifes, at firft, among equals, nor whether it has been tacitly permitted, or regularly yielded up by the others, or only boldly claimed, and im- pudently maintained by fuperior force, or managed by private intereft and intrigue. It is fufficient, if there be a neceffity for its exiftence, from whatever original it may fpring, and if the union of the feveral parts of the flate depends upon its exigence. It was a ilruggle for this firfl place in the republic, between the Athenians and Spar- tans, which laid the foundation of the ruin of ancient Greece. It was the want of a leader among the Etrufcan flates, which ( •• ) gave the barbarous Romans a fuperiority over that free, vvarHke people *. The truth of the above maxim is well worth the fcrious confideration of our fiery American patriots. They (hould refle<^, whether in (baking off their juft, I had almoft faid their moral, dependence on Britain, they had hopes to advance their particular province to the head of the new union J or, if they mull adl a fubordinatc part, whether they are more likely to enjoy political happinefs under the influence of Britain, placed at a diftance from them, and regarding them all equally, or of a neighbouring colony, filled with all the little prejudices of a rival, proud of her priority, anxious to extend her influence, rapacious to fcize for her own needy fons, every vacant pofl, every office of profit. They * This neceflity of a. leader, to carry on any common purpofe, is apparent in every fociety, nay in every little club. Nothing is more frequent, even in our cavilling oppofition in the lower houfe, than calling upon the minifter ot the day for his plan of puolic bulinefs, as a duty incumbent upon, and expe£led from him. And, indeed, after all that has been faid about popular govern- ments, a numerous body is capable only of accepting or rejedling the plans and propofals of one or a few. It cannot poflibly begin, nay hardly with propriety reduce into form, any bulinefs of confequence^ its real capacity is reflri^ed almoft to a Cmple fiat. would r-r r ii;. : t in ; .('is ■ I i; ■ ■ 'i; 4'-' i ( i« ) yr'ould do well to confider likewife, whether the province of New England, which al? ready claims precedence, and from her numbers, their poverty and want of em- ployment, feems beft calculated to maintain it, has thofe generops attributes, and that liberality of fentiment, which men would wi(h to fipd in their rulers. Too probably, in their anxious hade to didblve the tye, which has raifed them to their prefent daring, they are forging their own chains, under a fet of unfeeling tyrants among themfelves, who, under a pretended pa- triotifm of refolution, ftifle eyery fentiment of compaflion and humanity; and, who could have puQied themfelyes in^o notice, only in times of lawlefs confuGon. Some- thing of this leading management, in the deputies of the northern colonies, has al- ready tranfpired in the deliberations of that free and auguft body the Congrefs, parti- cularly where they propofe that the number of delegates, fent from each province to congrefs, (hould be in proportion to the population of each *• Now> • In Europe, every ftatf has acquired its prefent compaftnefs, fecurity, ^nd poorer of exertion, By ab- forbing w ( '3 ) Now, if the idea of a leading province^ or paramount power, in fomc certain de- gree, mufl be fuppofed even in the federal union of otherwife coequal ftates, how much more eflential muft it be efteemedf when the ftate, under confidcration, is compofed of a mother country, her colonies and conquered provinces, as is the cafe of Britain, her colonies in America, Ire- land, and Canada. A conquered province^ as fuch, mufl have a dependence on its conqueror, till it be incorporated. Colonies are fettled at the expcnce, by the authority, and under protedion of the parent ftate. In their infancy, thsy muft of neceflity be dependent. And can we fix on a period, in their improved condition, when, with propriety they may take the lead, and pre- fcribe for their founders. For we have the \ow. y. forbing all thofe little appanages and fovereigntles, inta which, in the feudal times, they were fevcrally divided, and which were conflant fources of war and defolation. The friends of America feem to abhor nothing fo much as this unity of government, and want to plunge us again into all the inconveniences, jealoufies, and horrors of war's, that they may have a field for the exercife of the favage powers of their nature, in every little corner of tV : ftate i each in his petty village Urutting the leader and fovereign. laid r: -y I 'I . I,;,., ( H ) laid it down as a maxim, that there mu(t be a fovcrcign in »he empire *. .: :• One hackneyed argument, in favour of our colonics, is, that they were fettled without any expence to Britain. This is a moil fcandaloufly falfe afTertion; for it is well Known, that nearly forty millions have been expended in America, which, whether properly or improperly expended, have been expended, becaufe we had co- lonics, and believed we had fellow-fubjcdls there. Farther, their own confident cham- pion -f* has aflured us, that America was i ■ , ' c: :-. : ■ con- * In anfA-er to lord North's cdnciliatory plan, thtf congrefs refolved, '* that the colonies of America are aititled to the fole and exclufive privilege of giving and granting t'leir own money, that this involves a right of deliberating, whether they will make any gift, for what purpofcs it fliall be made, (mark, reader, the purpofe of a gift, and whether that can be gift which has a purpofe) and what fhali be its amount." But in their articles of C9nfederacy, the congrefs is to impofe on each of thefe lupreme ftates, a certain fum, to be laifed indeed in their own way, but to be ready by fuch a day as the Congrefs (hall appoint, under pain, one may fuppofe, of military execution. Alas, America! thou has fool i(hly dropped the fubftance, to fnatch at the fliadovv, of liberty. t If this man had meant the ruin of his country, front the beginning, he could not have embraced a more cf- feftual line of condu£V, than that which has marked eve; period of his political progrefs. Firft, he gained ih rifidencc of his people, by railing againll conti- nenta] ( '5 ) conqaered in Germany, 'vhlch war, we know, coft fome fixty millions more. Bc- fides, our merchants have conftantly had a capital of five millions, in current accounts, in that country *. But we will for a mo- ment nental conneflions. Under this fanclion, he plunged the nation ten thoufand tim?s deeper into continental meafures, than any other minifter could have dared to have done. But the people fat down contented with the unmeaning phrafe of " America conquered in Ger- many." If America was conquered, it mnft be for fome local or national purpofej and what more natural confequence, than for the colonies to help to fupport their own eftablifhment, and affift the mother country, in lefTening theimmenfe load of debt contradted on their account. No, fays the Champion to his country, ** though I have had addrefs enough, to bring you to the brink of bankruptcy in the ambitious quarrel of the colonies, yet (hall they not contribute a fingle penny to fave you from ruin. Sink, hated country, that gavr me birtlv and repofed confidence on me, into the pit my ingratitude has dug for you.'' • Much has been faid of the honefty of the Ameri- cans, in paying off their debts, in this country, even after all other correfpondence was broken off with them. The following is the fa£l refpefting Glafgow; As foon as the prefent difputes became alarming, but be- fore the Americans had taken a decided part, the Glaf- gow clerks and agents in America fet themfelves heartily to coUefl in their debts, and wind up their affairs ; and by accepting tobacco, giving every poffible indulgence, and ufing fome fineffe, they did recover fome confider- able (hare of the fums due. At this time, the Ameri- cans were eager to provide againft npn-impoitation, and bartered all their tobacco, at an eafy price, for other good?. n '!! ,. ( >6 ) inent allow the fa '■ V ' ill ( i8 ) from their conncdllon with Great Britain, and which Aill farther edablifhes the claim of the mother-country to the fovcreignty of them. I. An abfurd monopoly, of the market of Great Britain, and her fugar- colonies, for many articles that might be gotten at an eafier rate from foreigners, or be produced in our own lands, particularly of lumber, rice, tobacco, indigo, hemp« &c. 2. Immenfe bounties, not only paid them for articles of their own growth, but alfo for the like articles fmuggled in from foreigners; of which, let French indigo ftand as an example : taxes, |o pay thefe bounties, are raifed on the pinched manu- fadturer and farmer of Britain, while they themfclves difdain to contribute the fmalleft fhare. 3. The various fiftieries of the North feas and vafl Atlantic, vindicated for them by the blood and treafure of Britain, and protedcd by her fleets *. 4. A trade with each other (except a nominai prohi- bition of hats, and a few other articles,) and with our conquered province Canada j the Penfylvanians particularly importing ' • It Is a fa£t well known, that our fifhing towns have gradually gone to decay, as the fiilicries cf the northcn provinces have iucfcafed. ffom ffom ( '9 ) from Quebec vaft quantities of wheat, which they manufacture into flour, bread, and (larch, and fell to Britain, her fugar- colonies, and foreigners. 5. Almod a mo- nopoly of the Weft-Indian trade, not only for lumber, but many utenfils and planta- tion (lores, and even provifions, which, more eafily and cheaply, might be procured from Britain, and, with little additional expence, be tranfported in our fugar (hips* which often fail to' the Weft-indies in ballaft, if the Briti(h farmer had the fup- plying of thp market fecured to him fo as to induce him to allot more land to the culture of grain. 6. A trade with the Spani(h main in America, which nfiakes z Jltde circle between them and the Dutch, and from wh)!ch Britain reaps no profit, though the vindication of it, for the grate- ful Americans, coft her fome fifty millions in the war of 1739. 7. An almoft open trade with the French fugar-colonies, for fugar, molaffes, and other French commo- dities, and every article of luxury, not only in exchange for their own lumber and pro- vifions, but for all the money they can drain from our own fugar- colonies, while they, in thefe, refufe to take a fingle C 2 article 1} 20 ) i !!■; I ill 1 'fl!'i!i :(;;(: article in exchange for tlieir goods j but infifl: on having money returned for the whole, except, at times, which fuit them, a propurtion of rum at their own price *. 8. A like trade with the Dutch and DaniHi colonics, carried on with money drained from our fugar-colonies, in every fpecies of European and Eaft-Indian goods. 9. A fmuggling trade carried on by their whalers and other adventurers, with the fcveral homeward Ead-India-men, at Afcenfion t*: i.:..;' •.. '• "^.^i '^ i • \ '«'-' »• •• •• '^ • Take the method of car.ying on this trade at Cape Nichola Mole in Hifpaniola. An American veffel, and you may fee feventy together in the harbour, fells all her cargo there to a fmall part. With this part, and indigo, coifee, filk, and other French commodities, leceived in payment of what flic has fold, (he runs down to Jamaica, enters there at the cuflom houfc, as t/ immediately from America, lands her coffee and in- digo, which immediately become Britilh produce, and fells her other trafHc, gets money in return, clears out for America, as if loaded with Jamaica produce, returns to Hifpaniola, lays out the money for French produce and otner goods, and proceeds to America with her Jamaica clearance, of which however flic makes no u(e, imlefs dete£led in fmuggling. Generally the veiTcl makes three fuch trips in a year ; and the mafter thinks it an ill voyage, in which he clears not upwards of 5.C0I. fterling, on his own private venture. — The author has been afi'ured by an American concerned in the triiJe, that America traded at Point Pelre Gouda- loupe lor ^0,000 1. fterling per annurri, bcfides the feveral American commodities allowed to be imported there. ', ■ ' Iflands, ( 2' ) Idands, and fotr.ctimcs as far as the limits of the Eaft- Indies *. lo. A kind of free trade to a very great extent to Sweden for tea; to Madeira, the Canaries, up tlic Mediterranean, to Spain, Portugal, France, for every article which the feveral countries furnifh, in return for their fiih and ('rain. I I. A monopoly of the introdudtion, into our fugar-colonies, of Portugal gold, fweat- cd in Philadelphia -)-, to buy bills on London, and to be drawn away again, by others, to carry to the French, Dutch, and Danidi colonies, i 2. A privilege of fup- plying themfelvcs, when it fuits their con- vcniency, with fugar and rum, in our own iflands, without paying any other duty than the king's private duty of 4^ per cent. • Some years ago, one of their fmugglers made a confiderable purchale of goods at Afcenfion Ifland, and gave the captain bills upon fome feigned correfpondent in London. The bills were protefted and fent out to America to be recovered. The agent, whom the cap- tain employed, was dcHred to advife his conflitucnt to fit down quietly with the lofs; othenvifc, they would inform the Directors of his fmuggling goods at Af- cenfion. ''• .i - *• t It is not an uncommon thing, to fend pieces of gold to the Weft-Fndies, mulcted of a fifth part of their weight. There their agens procure heavy pieces to fend to America, in exchange for light pieces brought thence. C 3 13. An w h : I i' % ( 22 ) 13. An immenfe trade to Africa, carried on by the medium of rum, made from French molaffes. 4. A privilege of tax- ing, under the name of foreign duty, the Weft-Indian and British trader, that comes among them; this in Bofton amounted, in rum not configned to a townfman, to about 2v per cent. 15. A rronopoly of Imuggling in every branch, and every ar- ticle of trade, and a claim of evading every duty or cuftom laid on for the regulation of trade *. 1 6. A confiderable fharc of the fugar-carrying trade from our iflands, purloined from the Briti(h (hips -j-. 1 7. In- ternal peace purchafed for them by Britain, with cxpenfivc yearlj prefcnts made to the Indians. 18. An unburthened, untaxed ihare in every gainful branch of the Britifli trade. 19. The full rights of denizons of '•! ',: '.'M * In a converfatlon on the fubje£t, it was ihrewdly aiked by one wsli acquainted with America, whether any in comnnny had heard of an a£l of an American Aflembly againd fmuggling. Nay, when that Macbia- velian fcheme of Cutting up the ports was liril in agita* tion, the fmugglers publicly claimed an exemption 1 becaufe, faid they, our trade contradicts th? laws of the mother country. t This is fo gainful, that a fmall velTel c?n afford to give a prem'um of an hundred guineas tc a merchant, who has intereit to procure a lading for her. Great ^ ( 23 ) Great Britain, whenever they pleafe to fo" journ '^r fettle there. 20. The lovcrcignty of America purchafed for them by Britain, at the moderate cxpencc of an hundred millions. Thefe are tolerably ftrong ties, and one may think, that they were not over-rated, when fuppofed capable of balancing a duty of three -pence per pound, on, perhaps a tenth part of the tea imported into Ame- rica *. We may alfo from hence fee, what little trade is left for Britain to c^jrry on with America, that this laft can carry on as advantageoufly with any foreign flatc. Nor will the man who allows due weight to the foregoing conliderations, place an entire credit in Glover's bloated account of the importance of the American trade, as laid before the Houfe of Commons. And this wiH appear more plainly, when we have con fidered, that Britain, by the real demand which flie has for the rtaplc commodities of America, and the mono- poly of her market, which, perhaps, fhe has abfurdly granted to it, and the fuperior price, which, from her opulence, (he is * The quantity of tea fmuggled in from St.Eufbtiut alone is imroeofe. C 4 able ( H ) able to afFord, in almoil all the articles, in which America trades with her, is the Jaigefl and bell: market, to which the Americans can fail. And we may con- clude, that the monopoly of the British market is more profitable to America, than all the advantages are to Britain, which Ihe reaps from the commerce *. There- fore, when mention is made of the im- portance of the American trade, let the utility of the Britifli trade to America be- alfo taken into account. Thus (liall we be able to explain that boaft of America, with which our ears are dinned, when (he v»rants to look big, that though, in num- ber, not a flfth part of the empire ; yet her fliare cf its trade is full a third. If we take into account,, that the Britifli merchants have conftantly out, in Ameri- can debts, full five millions, we fhall be apt to confider America as little more than ifl * Tlv'<; appears clearly from the little effefl, which the toial flop put to the American trade, has had on the commerce of Great . -itain. Nor can there be a doubt entertained, that the burdens occafioned to Britain by her cnnne6lion with America ex- ceeded, by many degrees, the advantage of her trade, if indeed the trade itftlf, by means of bounties, draw- backs, and monopoly, were not alfo a burden. ' « ■*" ( 25 ) the agent of Britain in commerce, with this unlucky pccuHarity, that the agent appropriates all the credit and profits of the commer:, and' leaves all the expence, both ordinary and extraordinary of the bu- (inefs, to be borne by the employer. And wc may moft fafcly affirm, that a lefs ex- tent of foreign trade, wherein no, or only ihort, credit is given, would be much more advantageous to Britain, than a com- merce thus c^">:^ged with precarious debts and long c..V( -V/e {hall here obfervc, in oppolition to the complaints made of Britifli oppreffion, that every man ac- quainted wirh the American trade, at the time when thefe troubles began, will ac- knowledge, that ** the reftridions, laid on it by parliament, were merely nominal; that it was impoflible for America to have extended her trade, without increafing her capital, or producin' .i^:w ftaplc commo- dities ; that every ' i li^rious American was fully employed, c\ ry branch of com- merce occupied, every trading port, foreign and domeftic, filled with their (hips, ev. ry town thriving, wealth fiovving in, gran- deur increafing with hafty flrides, taxes un- i I'll 1 .: ■■ ! " ' i 'i ■1 Ml ( a6 ) unknown, impofts evaded * ,'* while Britain unfupported> unafillled, by this ungrate* ful ♦ The cxprcfllons comprehended under the " '* were almoft literally ufcd to the author, by a man inti- mately acquainted with the trade and circumftances of America, and attached by intered to their caufe. Yet there are meni who favour the Americans, as fuppofing them a virtuous, injured people. Ihat they arc an in- jured or cpprcfled peopU", their fudden rile, univerfal profperity, and extcnfive commerc ^ iW contradift. If they be a virtuous people, it wouic ' ght to fliew what grounds their friends have for alci. ng virtue to them. Ignorance In the country, and !5nIvL"if;il fmug- gling in the towns, mufl: keep them Iroin attaining any high degree of virtue, nay, even taint their minds witn every thing that is tricking and bafe. That America contains men of honour and candour I readily admit ; but who will affirm fuch to be the active or oitenfible men at prefent. I have made every poHible enquiry, of all whom I have met with, who have travelled that country; and I think I may fay, with hardly a (ingle exception, that, fpeaking generally of thofe who put themfelves foiward in the prefent difputc, they have diefcribed them as a cruel, felfifii, tricking, ungenerous, hypocritical fet -, and i venture to affirm, that thofe among them, who anfwer a different delcription, will generally be found to be friends of peace, order, and Great Britain. In the northern colonies, tht- bads of their educarion is fmuggling, conceit, and a hypocri- tical pretenfion to purity in religion, and an inbred abhorrente of the laws and conftitution of Britain. Whatever is open, manly, or gcneroup, is by no means the common praation of America to Britain, and of confcquence, Sk right in the Britilh government to cxcrcifc every adt of fovereignty, in thcfc provincesi in particular. When a people, or province, have once acknowledged, or impofcd on itfelf, a fovc- reign, it has, by that ad*, agreed to fubmit to his injundions. The whole ftream of biftory is in favour of this pofition. The Greeks didingullhed not between a king and a tyrant. Samuel, fpeaking of the power and office of a king, never fuggeds perhaps they take their polifh in our inns of court, theif own fage tutors and directors. Whence* I pray, CUI come that reverence for parents, that ftri£t:ne& ot man- ners, that regard for mankind, \vhich fliould mark the patriot: either not educated at all; or, as iathefouthern colonies, brought up in the exercife of the mod igno* rant, capricious tyranny over the flaves; or, in laying the foundations ot tricking, felfifhneis, and hypocrisy in the north } or brought up in the word and nnoft aiban* doned manner of (according them) that fink of low vice and infamous corruption, Britain. If virtue be a pre- vailing feature in the chara^ler of fuch Americans, they muft thank heaven for a good natural difpofition, not tl^eii- mjiders or their education, for the poiiefiion. I to ;i; ai' liiti V r ( 28 ) to the Ifraclltes, then met to chufe one, the precaution of limiting his authority, but dckfibes him, as of neceflity, an ar- bitrary tyrant. This idea of uncontroul- able power in the fovercign, and the fove- reignty being ufually lodged in a finglc perfon, has led our own writers in favour of kingly government, to afcribe that power to the king, which with us is lodged only with king and parliament. And though this difcretionaay power exifts, and muft ever be lodged, where it is, yet wc are as well fecured againft the bad effeds as human affairs are capable of being. An effential part of the legiflature, as we fhall hereafter confider, is temporary, and chofen from among the people. Whatever laws they ena(fl, to affedt the rights of the peo- ple, muft include themfclves. Their obe- dierc'-*, as citizens, is determined by their refolutions as legiflators. And, though the cafe of America, by its not poflefling an immediate ihare in the legillaturc, may fecm to differ from this, yet the connec- tions of commerce are fo ftrong, America, by reafon of its debt to Britain, being, properly fpeaking, only its agent, and it is fo impofliblc to injure America by improper tax- u ( 29 ) taxation, without hurting Britain and themfclves, that it differs more in appear- ance than reality; and even this feeming difference is eafily taken away, by allowing them a reprefcntaiion, if indeed they would accept of it *. . . . .- In general, we will afHrm, that this fovcreign power, for which we contend, to anfwer the purpofcs of univerfal pro- tedlion, improvement and fafety, mud be irrefiftible and without controul. In every corner of the empire; that the privileges of each particular province mud be fubordi- natc to the interefl of the whole j and that this fovereign power mu ft, of neceflity, be judge of the juftlce and propriety of every parti- cular claim. The pofUble abufe of this power takes not from the neceffity of its exiftence. — To fuppofe a number of diftrnft * It is a juft obfervation made by Dr. Roebuck, con- cerning the taxation of America by Parliament. — The prefcnt group of patriots, who oppofe this taxation, ia a proportion, which they allow to be reafonable, will not, in themfelvcs, pretend to any extraordinary attain- ments in virtue or public fpirit, nor can ^hey fay, they are afraid, that that fpscies of patriotifm, in which they deal, is likely to be extin^uiOied with them. Iffucha powerful loud party can be raifed in liritain, againft a reafonable and low taxation, what clamour and oppofitlon would arife, againd the fmallef); attempt to impofe an immoderate heavy tax on America ? - , • til li. t it ii, l!;l I III li;:- -kA: I I 1'' ■ *l ( 30 ) provinces, whic^ \V. fiter together, make one whole. h'«ing ne united intereft, clain ing each for itfelf, without appeal, privileges and exemptions, which interfere with each other, and are deftrudlive of the common good, may found well in a decla- mation, but will be found to be pernicious to every degree of police, and the very bane of liberty, that obje(a of fentiment, fo much applauded, and often fo little under* ftood, by many of thofe, who have the word moft frequently in their mouths; yet having made this conceflion, in favour of authority, we muH: add, that circum- fpedtive prudence and equal judice {hould ever guide the reins. Where there is a natural or acquired foperiority, as exifls in Britain over tier foreign poffefCons, th,e fubordinate pro- vinces may be coniidered in three different points of management.-^Firft, as inferior appendages, through want of power to re* iift, obliged to fubmit to all the impofi- tions of their fovereign, who prefcribet himfelf no other rule, than his own fenti- ment, or fenfe of propriety, and intercft, in governing and taxing them. To this particular mode of managenaent, may be referred ¥ ' * ( 3' ) referred fomc of the late regulations re- fpedting Canada, and the many re(hi(Stiv6 a(5ts which bind Ireland. . Secondly, they may be coniidered each, as companies, or focicties of fellow-citi- zens, employed in raifing particular ftaple commodities for the market of the parent i^ate, and, as thus ufefuUy employed, fa- voured in every thing, which refpeds their proper il:aple, and, as having a iubordinato intereft only, reftrided in whatever may interfere with the (laple of the other pro- vinces, or the trade of the prote^tng Aate« In this point of view may the fugar and tobacco-colonies be confidered. They are both encouraged by confining the con- fumption of thefe articles in the empire to their productions; and the fugar-colonics are, and even Britain is, reftrained in fa-« vour of the tobacco-colonies, by being for- bidden to meddle with the culture of to- bacco to their prejudice. Both arereAridled by having their immediate trade confined within the empire. Thirdly, the head of the empire may communicate its privileges^ and tegiOative powers to any of or all the other provinces, by incorporating them with itfelf, andgiving ; .;r them \l h m liiij;: I mi. I, mi '4 flii W ! 1 . \ ( 32 ) them the full rights of citizens. Even in this cafe, the feat of government, and weight of legiflative power, at leaft in re- fpedt of each feparate incorporated pro- vince, mud ftill be confidered as continu- ing with the parent country; the other provinces being fufficiently fecured, in an f^qual treatment, by the abolition of all partial diftinftions, privileges, and hard- fliips, by the univerfal and undiftinguifh- ing operation and extenfion of all privileges on the one hand, of all imports and bur- dens on the other, particularly, by the general tenour, expreflion and comprehen- iion, of all ftatutes, impofitions or taxes; fo that they bind the legiflative body equally with the people. To this point may be referred the incorporation of Scot- land by the union. • - • • - » - I (hall obferve here, that whenever fub- ordinate provinces (hew a reluiflance to an incorporation with the fovereign ftate, which is the higheft privilege that can be conferred upon them, it is a (hrewd fign, that, in their (late of fubordination, they enjoy, or think they enjoy, exemptions and privileges, incompatible with the ge- neral good. This we may fuppofe to have been ( 33 ) been formerly ilie cafe of the Ifle of Man. Ireland H^ews a relu(ftance to an incorpora- tion, from an apprchenlion of the British taxes, without confideripg that while flie rc- fufes thiscqualcommLnication of privileges, (he vindicates Britain for retraining her, in that exertion of her natural advantages,* which muft turn to the hurt of that parti- cular country, which has the weight of protedion to fupport. America has ever ipurned at the thoughts of incorporation, on pretence indeed of its impradlicability; but really, becaufc it already enjoyed, as we have fairly made out, in [he Hate of its trade, all the advantages of incorpo- ration, while the whole burden of pro- tedlion was confined to Britain. We have mentioned the lovereign, and the fove- reign or parent ftate, indifcriminately, becaufe the one can only have power and influence through the other. , CHAP. ( 34 ) ij: •A i,' 'I ■!i CHAP. II. Of RefrefcntatioH. IT IS a hacknied argument with the internal enemies of the prefent confti* tution of Great Britain^ that, to enjoy liberty, every man mud have his (hare, either by himfelf or his agent, i* his own government. Yet this principle, carried its full length, is both abfurd and im- pra^icable. The extent, ambition^ and ftrength of furrounding ftates, render it neceflfary for every independ^jnt fociety to be in greatncfs and power of exertion in proportion to its neighbours, to enable it to defend itfelf againfl foreign attacks. The numbers neceffary for fecuring this purpofe, and the various ages and different fexes, of which a community is compofed, make a general aiTembly of citizens, or even a general election of rcprefentatives, abfolutely impracticable. And were it pra and bind; itfelf only, but the whole empire, not only thofe who oppofed the election, but alio thofe, who could not have, and were forbidden to give a voice in the elec- tion. Here then we have the very cafe of America. It is a part of the (late, but it has no voice in chuling reprefentatives, nor do any fit in parliament, holding their right from it. Muft parliament then fufpend Its authority over America, for this want of reprefentation ? Muft America oppofe the power of parliament, becaufe not rc- pre- I! !SI i!*, (!; ( 42 ) prefcnted by name in it. Parliament is not thus at liberty to trifle with the e;:er- cifc of that authority, with which, for the good of the whole, it has been entruded; nor do the focial ties, and the duty arifing from protcdlion received, leave America thus at liberty to explain away its fubordi- nation. With the fame juftice might every individual in Britain, who has no vote, and every voter, who found himfelf, at the clofe of the poll, in the minority, refufe obedience to the legiflature. While parliament, by the forms of the conflitu* tion, is entrufled with the fovereign power of the ftate, while America makes a part of it, parliament has a power of binding America in every objetfl of legiflation. Farther, the commons forbid peers to meddle in the eledion of reprefentativesj and, in the houfe of lords, except in the cafe of the Scotch peerage, a peer does not reprefent another; but if we may be al- lowed the expreffion, he reprefents himfelf. A nobleman during his minority, a peerefs in her own right, during her whole life, cannot, then, in any fenfe, be faid to be reprefenied, or have a vote. They fit not in the houfc of l6rds, they cannot be fup- ' I pofed (> i ( 43 ) pofcd to be reprefentcd in the cihcr houle, in the clcdtion of which their order is for- bidden to take any part.— What remedy then have they againft the tyranny of par- Jiament.— Only that parliament, being a reprcfentation of the whole empire, and binding itfelf equally with the mafs of the people, thefe unreprefented perfons have the famej fecurity as thofe who elect, or thofe who fit in parliament. But — - enough of this language of futility. From the remark, that the foundation of liberty confifls in the univerfal influence of law, appears the jullice of that aflcrtion, that nicety is not necefifary in afiigning to each diftridt its proportion in the legiflature. Could a fingle man be found, of know* ledge and integrity fufficicnt for the pur- pofe, he might be fafcly left to chufe, out of the mafs of the people, a competent number of men^ having a common intered with the people, to make lav^rs, and im- pofe taxes on the whole empire. It is this common interefl, this common tie between parliament and people, that conftitutes the fecurity of the whole, not the quality, not the numbers of the dehors. And how- ever defireable it might be otberwife, it would ^■;| V. M'ihM: { 44 ) would be a m?.ttcr of diilicuU execution to deprive of ihcir right ph.cc.;, which have long pofleflcd the privilege of clcdin;; rcprefenia- tivcs. Nothing ind'jed fuoulu do it, but a convi(f\ioii of having made an improper ufe of it, either in felling their votes, or chufing unfit perfons. Accordingly, the people of Middlefex forfeited their right of eleding a certain part of the rcprefcntative body, ivhen they chofe a profligate, blafpheming bankrupt *; the other cafe needs not be *r ■■•. ; ,:::.': ■j;^ '■^'■:' . '-■ •■ ■:'' ' ' ^ : men- ♦ Much has this man been celebrated for his oppoG- tion to general warrants. Thefe were an engine of ftate, perhaps hardly played off improperly once in a reign, and feldom againfl a worthy member of the community. And rating the advantage at its highed value, it is a fmall benefit to put in the balance againfl that mean, pitiful, narrow-minded jealoufy, which in the ncquidtion of it, he raifed in one part of the king- dom againft the other. But before any extraordinary merit is allowed to him, I would fain know from his friends, in what eafier way, after miniftry deemed him too contemptible to gain over to their party, he could have contrived, to have revelled nine or ten years in luxury, and wallowed in claret, burgundy, and cham- paign, elegant purpofes, which nobody now doubts were at the bottom of his patriotifm. — He was fuffici- ently acquainted with the conditution of his country, juft to enable him to fkim, from oppofition and fools, the cream of treafon, without plunging into its inextricable abyfs} and had he in himfelf been defi- cient, there were Glynns and Homes enough to teach him, how far he might, with fafety, dare to infult his .. • . country, ( 45 ) mentioned, it happens every day.— But if every place, not rcprefentcd, were allowed to eled in the ufual proportion, the reprc- fentative body muft become too numerous, and either dtgenerate into a mob, headed by two or three ambitious demagogues, op, in this age of luxury, being disjointed, and fclfiOi, would require too much public money, under the mafli of oppofition, to induce them to do the public buiinefs. For the wages, formerly paid to reprefent- atives by their conflituents, are now af- figned in places and penHons, upon the public trealury. This is not the age for a man to ferve his country freely. And, in the prefent ftate of the reprefentative body, and with the prefent numbers of which it i: country. Now that the robe of patrlotifm has lofl its glofs, an! is become too fcanty to conceal the he has left himfelf nothing better to attempt, than to dizen hifnfelf out anew with a mountebank's garb, and by empiricilm make another attempt on the pockets of the corporation- He is bleifed with peculiar traits for fliining in this charad^er; I doubt not of its being the fphere for which nature intended him. The legif- lator, \who could circulate a begging fubrcription for a book not in exiftence, can furcly puff off and veud a quack pill. If fuch obfervations be efteemed too ludi- crous for a ferious compofition, let thofe aaf-.ver to the ceiifure, whofe countenance has made fuch a character •an objedt of hiftory. confifts. ; 1 i f ' til' I «"T Doify chanLhl '^ P'^ • ^°' 'hat »hat cfafton h ' Z, ,"1 '''P°"'""''e for. ^^- and agai„ft;^^;t;crT::r'" Claims aeainft «],« , '"^^ ex- Pa but really with the hopes of keeping the reigning family under their tutelage, and fo holding their enemies at their mercy, the riot adt and feptennial bill pafled by whig influence,^ And the firft ■: i. i ■ !! ! I' I ■fi. ! ' ' ' * , 1 1, , • ( 48 ) firft of the family accordingly was madtfi in thc'r hands, fuch an inftrument of cru- chy, opprcflion, and unequal rule, as to have it faid of him, that he was not king of Britain, but of the Whigs.— Farther, they affirmed, that the fucceflion would never be fecure, till the nation was dipped a certain confounded degree in debt.— With the impudence of the ftrumpet in the Proverbs, they now exclaim againft thefc very clogs, which their party has fixed upon the country, aj, if they never had originated with them; and becaufe we have got a king who is ambitious of being at the head of his people, they care not much ifjhc was fent packing: with the reft of their grievances. Septennial p^Hia- ments, in particular, are now as ncceffary to enable government to provide for the infatiable third of the whigs after places and penfions, and to check the mobbifh fpirit which they have raifed, as they were at fird to guard againft the plots of the Jacobites *.— That government was infti- tuted 'If' • It is painful to a generous mind to oppofe a fcnti- ment, that but pretends to favour liberty. Yet let the fincerefl friend of his country fit down ferioufly. and reckon ii.ili; ( 49 ) tutcd for the good of the people is a maxim* which I hold equally facred with the pured: Whig ; and for which* while he contented himfelf with bawling, I would fight.—- But I muft forget what hiftory rcli«tc9, not to abhor their contradted, intriguing, per- recVon over the certain confcquences of annual parlia- ments, in this age. Refpc^^ing; foreign affairs, an in- ilability of government, refpe^ting police, irrefolutionv till the pulfe of the houfe t>e felt. An ignorance o£ public bufinefs; the fefiion confumed in wrangling about forms and elections; bribery, at the expence of the people, extended, and anm.ally renewed, among a yearly new fet of candidates for corruption, (the old having retired with the fpoils of their country) to pro- cure a majority of felfifh men to do the public budnefs. The bed and moft capable candidates, tired out with the annual capricioufneis and corruption of their ele£lor8» withdrawing themfelves f<'oiu public buHnefs, and leav- ing the field to the moft vOTupt and worthlefs among their competitors. Parliament, inftead of having a cha- ' radter of its own, and adding with a confcious dignity, betraying its fear of a new eleftion, againft a better judgment dire£ied by popular clamour, influenced by Grub-ftreet ftarvelings, or the more dangerous fecrec enemies of the ftate, with their cabaliftic words of Whig, , Liberty, People. To the further chagrin of the fine-fpun notions of liberty, we might here remark, that one of the moft decent, independent, and reputable aflemblies in the Weft-Indies, is that of Antigua, which, in oppofition .' to the! others, that are generally annual, continues during the reign of the monarch, unlefs the governor diiTolve it fooner. The police of that ifland greatly excels moft of their neighbours, and it looks much more like a polifhed fqciety. £ fecuting ¥^ 1l }■ W I „ '1' 'tt '\'\ 1:' ( 50 ) fecuting fpirit, or forgive their encroach- znents on the con(litution„ and the crael ncceffity, which their condud impofes on government, to continue them on the na- tion. In principle, I profefs myfelf a whig, and I r^m not fuch a blind admirer of pre- fent things, as not to obferve many defedls in the conflltution. Bat I am for im- proviisg, not deftroying it ; for keeping what we 'tiave already got, and trying to poliHi it more; not for throwing all down, and trufling to, fomething worfe than chance, prefent prevailing profligacy for a nobler (trufture. And many of thefQ wi(hed-for improvements would, I think, confifl: in corredti. ^ back thofe abufes, which the vvhigs, for their party-purpofes, have introduced into the fyilem. Modern whigifm to one, who underilands it, is a term of r.^proach and contempt. Every profligate bankrupt, every difappointed, wouid-bc ftatwfman, every debauched li- bertine in morality, every ^theifc in reli- gion, every founder of a n-w fed, every enen>y to the edabliOied religion of His country, every blockhead, who cannot fuc- reed in the common courfe of his profeffion, ^ ; :. wl every « ( 51 ) every turbulent fellow, who cannot fall lower, and hopes to advance hitnfelf on the ruin of his country, runs into the party, as kennel-water into the common fewer. The hiftory of oppofition, and its places and pensions, fince the Revolution, would be a curious work; to fet down the fpeech of a noify patriot, his humble acceptance of a penfion or place^ and his placid drudgery in earning his wages. I have a more real edecm for ? man, who profe^Tcs himfelf a general friend of adminiftration, without pretending to hold any particular political principles, than for the moft de- fperate patriot, who ever folic ited or ac- cepted a place, and then promoted mea- fures that he had pretended to condemn, till the day on which adminiilration came up to his price.— This we (ball coniider as a fufficient vindication of the prefent feeming incompietfi reprcfentation of the em{are> and as a much deferved cenfure of the prefent infamous pretended patriots, who, hoping to gain a name among the /.nemies of their country, have encouraged the prefent unnatural refinance in Americai and made their country contend, no€ foe £ a repu« |5 ' i m ;! 1 ^1 ■ II : I' I ( 52 ) reputation or power, but for independency, for exigence *. "■ ■■ ; , "• . In , ». . - • . . . .1.1. » * What confummate effrontery muft the Rockingham party at prefent exhibit, while weakening the hands of government to carry on meafures, which perhaps were not neccflary, till they themfelves had procured a parlia- mentary fan£^ion to them ? How can they free them- felves from the charge of originally betraying their country, cither through villany or weakneft? How vin- dicate themfelves at prefent, for their obflinate perfe- verance to maintain and oppofe the felf-fame meafure. The friends of America think they fufficiently vindi- cate their treafon, in wiihing the ruin of their country, by faying adminiflration and minillers are corrupt, and that it is better to live under the mod arbitrary govern- ment, than in a country which pretends to be free, while thofe who m: nage affairs are capable of corrupt practices. For when afked, if they have fufFered by the corruption of their governors, they readily anfwer, .** no ; but if It may happen, it is the fame as if already pail. The fate of a country in fuch a fituation, deferves not to be accompanied with a iighj let it fall under the riOng genius of America." Was America that conftel- lation of virtuous heroes, which it is falfly fuppofed to be ; were the purpofes of fociety better fecured there than in Britain ; even was it a necelTary confequence of the ufual progrefs of human affairs, that fuch pur- pofes would in time be better fecured, fomething might be fuggeded in excufe for a treafon, that aims at the dif- honour and ruin of their country. But furely, viewed in the mofl malicious light, Britain is a country of perfeft virtue and liberty, compared with the prefent or (.probable ftate of America. The bads of Britain's con- ilitution is laid in religion, liberty, and law, and, not- withftanding all the cavilling of oppofition, is infenfibly improving towards perfedion } while that of America is , ■■ ■ > laid In ( 53 ) In conformity with the rcafonfng above, it has been well obferved, that our An)e« rican laid in profligacy, Atheifm, ingratitude, and oppreffion ; ' and mud naturally end in abfoTute tyranny, or that worfl of governments, a contemptible oppreffive oligarchy. And will any man burn down a (lately Gothic palace, becaufe he cannot reduce all its parts under certain rules of archite£lure, to live in a dirty hovel that (lands in a fwamp before it ? Mud I, becaufe I cannot im- mediately model government to my mind, and yet I but fancy, and do not feel, its imperfedions, mu(l I turn myfelf out of fociety, nay draw down the lofty pillars of law on which it is ere£led, to herd without compa£l, with lawlefs mobs, robbers, aiTalfins, fmug- glers, and out-laws? That our conftitution may be improved, none is fo hardy as to deny ; that it is, fuch as it is, in a thoufand degrees preferable to our new-fangled American forms, is not even difputed; nor that it muft be long before the citizen there, if he ever, can acquire the like fecurity. Why then, muft I, in favour of fuch mi(hapen monders of governments, dedroy that which is already the boad of human difcre- tion, in hopes that a fet of atheidical profligate bank- rupts (for fuch I affirm the leading men in congrefs to be) fhall eredl a nobler fabric ? — Suppofe a perfect con- ftitution denoted by lOO. If the prefent, or probable conditution of America be equal to lo, then in the fame proportion is the conditution of Britain equal to 60. Becaufe I cannot attain the perfection of 100, (hall I give up that of 60, which is gradually advancing to it, to grafp at that of 10, which is infenfily diminifli- ing towards nothing? If their fentiment be fo very nice, that they cannot favour their country, becaufe of her imperfections; for the fake of decency, let them not take the part of ten times greater profligates agalnft her. If your father, in a fit of paflion or drunkenefs, had flruck a notorious villain, in the a£t of picking his £ 3 pocket. 1 1 I I I-'- r: ji: 1-^ 'm" ( 54 ) rican colonies rre a part of that comhui- nity, of which the Britifb arliament is the acknowleged fovcreign or head ; that the colonics, when they arrive in Britain, enjoy all the local privileges, which are affixed, as much hy necedity as origination, to the mother-country. They are deni- 2ons, maj^purchafe lands, eled reprefenta* tives, and be reprefentatives themfelves, in the fupreme legiflature. In purfuit of their own private intereft, they emigrate, and of necedity thefe privileges, annexed to their abode in Britain, are fufpended, till they, or their poflerity, return to claim them, in that place where only they can be enjoyed. If during an election for re- prefentatives in a particular county, an elcdor goes into another county, either on bufinefs or pleafure, he as effe^ually pocket, would you fuflPer him to be murdered by foch an one, becaufe in your opinion he bad a^d too haftily, and ihould only have called the watch to fecure the thief? But the author would recomnnend to thefe men of fentiment, to nuke a vifit to thefe faints, heroes, philoibphers, and patriots of America, and after only three months attentive ftudy of them, they (hall pre- fcribe to him, what he is to believe concerning them. Several have gone to America, cnrfing the Brittfti arms out of their love of liberty, and have come back, drink- ing confufioYi to Wafliingtoo, Out of their hatred of villainy aud oppreffion* fufpcnds ( 55 ) ftifpendt his right of ele^ion, as if he had crofTed the Atlantic in a voyage to fiodon. But is the public buHnefs to be alfo fuf- pended, is the houfe of commons to be declared illegal^ and the man to refufe obedience to the laws which it may en* Si&, or payment of the taxes which it may impofe, becaufe he did not cxercife his legal right of ele^ion. In this cafe» the abfurdity of pleading an exemption from the power of parliament is glaring: extend the comparifon to all the real or iiditious millions of America, the plea is equally trifling and inconcluHve. CHAP. III. Of iff e RfJ^M'ca, or National Liferefi, WE have made out the neceflfary ex- igence of a difcretionary fovereign power, in every independent (late. We have (hewn, that by means of a reprefenta- tive body, taken into the fovereignty, from the mafs of the people, and after a certain period returning into it again; this fove- reign power is framed confident with li- berty, nay is the only method, yet found E 4. out. i ; I I; • i : if! li 1,: iii i i«' '^ '.ill i Itp, j\ m J'lllii an :;ii ( 56 ) Cut, by which freedom, and all Its privi- leges, can be effedlually fecured. Wc arc now to afcertain the duty and office of a fovercign, in a well regulated Aate. — - Firll, it is the duty of a fovcreign, to fe- cure to the people, by proper laws, the internal purpofes of fociety, good manners, and the peaceable enjoyment of property, liberty, and life. Secondly, to provide againfV, and defend them from, foreign attacks. To carry on thefe purpofes* which, of neceffity, include expence, go- vernment mufl frame a refpublica, natio- nal intereft, or common (lock, by means of imports, levied upon the people, to be governed and defended, and difpofed of» lb as to efFe(^ the purpofes intended by them. Connected with thefe purpofes of government, is the art of finding employ- ment for the people. In a populous long- fettled country, agriculture is not fufHcient to employ the whole people. Trade and manufadtures muH: be called in, to fet them at work, and maintain them. Thefe re- quire foreign markets to vend them, and thefe again draw after them Aore-houfes, and emporiums, to lodge them; forts, foldiersy and navies, to protect and fecure them. ( S7 ) them. All thefe naturally fall under the management and direction of the fovereign» or, in particular indances, to companies or focieties, holding under the fovereign, and accountable to him. The Carthagi- nians carried this plan of police probably farther than any other ancient (late, and their colonies feem to have refembled nearly thofe of modern Europe. The Athenians alfo, during the (hort period of their grandeur, extended their commercial connections, and conquers, for the fake of trade, every where around them. But modern Europe has pufhed the plan to a furprifmg length. Afia, Africa, and Ame- rica are filled with her colonies and em- poriums, and the trade of thefe quarters is managed, and the feveral countries in them governed, by mandates ifluing^ from the frozen North. This refpublica appears more evident in the conditution of Britain, than of any other (late. The fovereign power is fo much blended with, or abforbed, in other Aates, in the perfon of the fupreme execu- tive magiftrate, that the national intereil: and the king's claims cannot ea(ily be fe- parated in imagination. The glory of the grand i \j' ■M;.:"i I ha 1;, ;; . i ^IHi*LiiM inWiiB li ( 58 ) grtnd monarquc is, in France, the only fhnfe ofed to iignify the pubh'c good. In Britain, a particular portion of the im- pofts is affigned, to the fupreme magidrate, for the expences of his family, and the or- dinary civil eftabli(hment; and all the other public revenues are fubjedted to the con- troul of the legiflative body at large, and appropriated for carrying on the national intereft. The nation, by the forms of the con- flitution, has afligned the management of its intereft, its powers of legiflation, tax- ation, and government, to certain orders and individuals, taken from among them- felves, afTembled in parliament. In con- fequence of having* the management of public affairs conunitted to them, by the people, padiament declares certain fums of money to be neceiTary for the public fer- viee; or that it is proper to check, "by im- pofts, fome difadvantageous, or to encou- rage, by bounties, fome valuable, branch of trade; and that fuch and fuch particular methods are the befl and eafieft, that can he taken, for raifing the fums aoiong the people, who, properly fpeaking, are the parties JntiSreAed in the matter, and will •' • •.. reap ii ' i ( 59 ) reap the benefit of the meaiiire. Thus th» people contribute to taxes, as a trading company doei^ to carry on a joint-intcrell. It mull be confefledt that parliament did not foon begin to entertain exten- five or proper notions of its being the ma- nager and guardian of the nation's intereft or patrimony, or enter fooh upon any fixed plan for improving or extending it. And, in truth, it has, as yet, made little pro- grefs in the intricate police of this depart- ment. But it has, from time to time, adled in this character. Wales was long annexed to the crown, before it was incor- porated with the nation. The local cuf- toms and immunities of our feveral palati- nates continue in force, only from an inat- tention to the perfe^on of our internal police; for if they be of a general nature, why are they not extended over the nation ? If they be exclnfive, wherein lies the reafon of the preCerence? Charles the firft had ^ fome notion of thi^ refpublica, when, aim- ing at ietting ujp pirerogative againft the conditutution, he, as far as his charter could, detached the colony of Maryland from the nation. Penn underftood it, when with the oppofite view of attaching his - '6 colony n 111 If j*y: 1'^' §!! ij .I'l ■ ■ I { 60 ) colony to the nation, he got infertcd into his charter the refervation of parliamentary taxation alone. The demolition of Tangier, and the fale of Dunkirk, could not bive taken place in the manner they did, had' parliament underflood its office. Jamaica was confidered very early as belonging to the Aate. Gibraltar and Minorca were both conquered for commerce, that is for the people; and the peace of 1763 carried this idea entirely through. The fettle- inent of Georgia, Halifax, and the Flori- das, was on the fame principle. The feveral old American colonies, though many of them were at firft fettled with different views, have been gradually reduced to this plan, that is, have been made appendages to the kingdom, rather than the crown, of Britain. And the prefent flruggle, on the fide of America, fet out with holding forth a pretence of reducing them back again to a dependence on the crown, in- ftead of improving their dependence on parliament, till an opportunity fhould offer of fhaking off dependence on both to- gether *. ■•:?> ';v-,.-j -..iJ I ■■* ■■■■.:- : ^ ■'■■ ■ * Refpe£llng the prefent dlfpuic, the inhabitants of America may be dividtd into the foUowji g parties. About i ' 'A ( 6i ) ' It Is to be remarked, that while the colo^ nlfls contend for exemption from pari i amen- .11 t » > ^ J t; About ten or twelve fenfible intelligent demagogues* who can glofs over their defigns with an appearance of patriotifm, who know the method of managing mobs, and how, by lies, forgeries, and pofleflion of the prefs, to make and keep them up to be the indrumcnts of their vioJenceand malice, againft all hefitating moderate people": thefe are a fet of as athcifticai, unprincipled, bankrupt profligates, as ever met together in one place; men in whom virtue cannot raife a bluih, nor religion interpofe a check, in the perpetration of the vileft crimes. A time of rapine and confufion is the only period for men of fuch talents ; in fcenes of noife and combuftion, they rife to the top like fcum in a boiling pot. A fecond fet are, a few men of better fortune and equal abilities, who fcorning to be out-done by fuch pretenders in the appearance of their love to their coun- try, and laying in a better claim for the honours and diitin( blood~«nd treafure. If they claim pri- vileges thus purchafed by Britain, it (hould be with the burdens that attend them; — -> they mud contribute to the expencea, which have procured, and which fupport them. If they be feparate Aates, then are they in the (ituation of Hanover, neither entitled to the privileges, nor fubje^ to the burdens of Britain. But indeed, we ibldom hear of feparate dates, befides themfelves, which* from their fird fettlement, have had all their Civil edablifliments fupported by an« other dates without any thing in return* but a few unmeaning datutes and redrio tions, to be found only on paper.— It is but too true, that, in refpe(^ of the colo- nies, parliament, as yet, has exercifed its power over the national intered, only in improving them at the expence of Britain. And, notwithdanding the condant din of the commerce of Britain, its thriving only by America, and the bold adertion, that the ;1 m ( 64 ) the trad, of this laft is fuperior to every mode of taxatiou, it may w'lih truth be affirmed, that to have fufFered America, as (he has for many years pa(l, to continue to interfere in every proHtable branch of trade^ but for a few years more, would have ruined the trade of Britain; and it would be much better to (hake her Oil' en- tirely, thrm to fuffer her to continue to fatten thus on the fpoils of Britain, and infult her benefactor. We fliould not then nourish a whole continent of fmugglers, nor fupport them with our money in the deftrui^ive trade; we fhould not encourage fuch rivals with the monopoly of our market, nor burden ourfelves with enor- mous bounties for their improvement, nor fupport heavy civil eftabli(hments for our enemies, nor, in their quarrel, endanger our own bankruptcy and ruin. * .- rf . r, CHAP. L ( '5 ) C H IV. Of taxation. F R0?4 the principles here laid dowpj ly appc )f t )ovver or taxation to be an attribute of Ibverc am ars ignty, or nn eflential part of that nianagement of the public good, which, in every flats, is, and la b( itted to the foveri com mi hands. And VvC may now axlirm, that taxation has no other connexion with re- prcfcntation, than as this may chance lo conflitute a branch of the fupreme leglfla- ture. There may be, there are, fovereign powers, conflituted without a reprefenta- tive branch ; but no f jvereign power can exifl without a claim to taxation. Neither internal police can be carried on, nor pri- vate luxury be checked, nor public induf^ry be direded, nor public enemies be oppofed, iior public faith he preferved, without a power in the fovereign to appropriate for thefe ends a due proportion of private pro- perty. Yet taxation and rcprcfentatioii have been ^o much jumbled together by interefl: F and I ( 66 ) and fa€lion, as to make it now a matter of difficulty to feparate them. This is one of thoi'c vulgar errors, which wt take up without examination, maintain without ar- gument, and follow without knowledge, the coiTibuftion, j-aifed about which, our poflerity will hardly be able to credit, even while they continue to fmart under its baneful effects. Had it been affirmed, that every fovereign power, compatible with freedom, fuppofed a temporary branch of legiflature, taken from and returning into the mafs of the people, the aflertion would have been intelligible, and, as far at hiftory and experience teach, agreeable to the truth of things; but to allow the adlual exiftence of a fovereign, and permit him the exercife of other: ads of fovereignty, and deny his power of taxation, is flark nonfeiife, though a thoufand patriots (hould haraiigue to prove it, though ten thoufand Americans (liould die in its vindication. Taxes are raifed upon the bulk of the people, who cannot be aflenibled to give their afTent but by their agents. Even fuppcfing agent?, if, as is generally the cafe, they be not unanimous, a man may be taxed againfl his own confent and the con- It., I ( 67 Confent of his ag- .it; fo that reprefentatlon adds little certainty to the univcrrility of confent.— The word tajf, though fiinple in its meaning, when applied to the people, has as many different fignifications, as the purpofes are, for which it is impofed. I. Suppofc a fovcreign, and a fubordinatc flate, and that protedion., with great care, trouble, and expence, i»as taken eifeCt ; is the protedor to humble himfelf before his charge, and fay, it has co(l me fo much to defend you, and I find myfelf very dif- agreeably involved in debt on your account, if you pleafe, you may repay me the ex- pence j or will he make a pofitive de- inand, and afcertain his own claim. Sup- pofe this fubordinatc province a part of the fovereign or prote<5ting ftate, fubjed to its laws, and enjoying its immunities^ does gratitude for its prefervation, does a fenfe of the expenfivs generofity of its protestor, annihilate the protcdlor's acknowledged power in this particular of taxation ? 2. A tax may be a benevolence, granted to the chief maglftrate, for the private purpofes of his family, or beftowed on fome man of merit for fon^e fignal fervice performed to the public. A marriage portion for th« F 2 ki.ig's ( <;5 ) king's daughter may be confidered ag an iiiftancc of the firll:, though, properly fpcaking, flie is the child of the kingdom, to be endowed 3t the public expence; the penfion, fettled on admiral Hawke'; family, may jc confidered as an inflance of the fecond. This cafe of a benevolence, which we fee can happen but feldom, and is of a very particular kind, has, for the purpofes of fedition, been extended by Price to every pofllble cafe of taxa'ion. But even here the only queftion, that could come before the people, is, whether fuch grants come within the ordinary power of their agents, aflembled in parliament. And the man, who denies that, needs not be an- fwered, but when we anfwer a fool accord- ing to his folly. 3. The people may be charged with a tax, in return for fome favour granted, or fome private claim given up by the crown, which I here diftinguifli from the fovereign, on the fuppofition, that the fundamental conflitution allows fuch claim in the crown, which change of circumftances has rendered the exercife of inconvenient for the people. Such a tax immediately becomes the right of the crown, without account. Of this fort was the PI ( 69 ) the recompcnce, which Charles II. had for the abolition of the court of wards, and part of which he was, I beheve, per- mitted, to ft^ttle on his b^flard"^. And the right of parliament to make fnch a bar- gain, we may leave to be difcuffed with the preceding queftion. 4. A tax may have the future improvement or ornament of the Hate in view, as in the cftabhfli- ment of a new manufa(flure, the pnrchafe of a mufeum> or the creding of a palpce. — !n all thefe cafes, we fee in the fove- reign, or agents of the people, or parlia- ment, great occafion for an attention to the equity, the generofity, and propriety of the ad^ion, on the one fide, ai»J of the ability and intereft of tlie people en the other. Em we can fuppoil^ no poflible abufc of this po\ver» which can jr.l^ify the people in any other oppo..:lon, than that of fvfufing their fuff ages, on a future ek^ion, to fuch la\^iih rcprefcntatlves, or as the cafe mav b:, fuch nifj^rardlv aLients; ror is there gvQ-i reafon to fear extravag-mce, while the agents themfclv. ^ contribute to the taxes, which they impofe, 5, A tax may be wanted to pqy debts incurred in the fcrvlce of the public. In this cafe, F 3 par- I ,•«: Jt ( 70 ) parliament is only an arbitrator between the people and their creditors, and inilead of being obliged to aflc the content of the people, for making fuch payment, mud be confidered as cloathed with power to enforce payment. 6. Taxes are neceflary to carry on the internal police of the coun- try; for a power of impofing fuch is underftood in a power to regulate and carry on the affairs of the ilate. 7. Taxes muft be railed to carry oh a war, to levy an army, and equip a fleet. The only quedlon, that occurs here, is, whether the fovereign, impofing the tax, be allowed, by the conllitution, the exercife of thefe receilary attributes of fovereignty? and, if the anfwer be, as it mufl: be, in the affirm ativc, there can be no room left for con fulling, or procuring the approbation of the people. On the other hand, though we would not havc public bufincfs, in the mean time, fland Hill, nor the facred bond of allegiance broken, becaufc of the imperfedion, we nfiirm it to be a defire- able improvement in the conftitution, that for the more certain knowledge of, and more equal dccifion in, public matters, the eleded part of that body, in which the ( 7« ) the fovercignty of the ftate vifibly rcfts, fhould, if poffible, be colle<5ted andchofen, from each particular didriri. of the empire, for which it is to ad. In all the cafes of taxation, which we have mentioned, every individual is, either in honour, or propriety, or juftice, con- cerned in the claim; and it is the interefl and bufinefs of every private perfon, as a member of the flatc, which is agitared in them. Thofe perfons, then, and they alone, who have a power to decree or incur thefe expcnces, have a power to im- pofe taxes to anfwer them. And could wc fuppofe fuch a power lodged in any other body, than the fupreme legifliiture of the empire, that body would alfo have the power of levying taxes, that is, of declaring what particular fum each individ lal owes to the public creditors, or public cxpences. — - The Commiffioners, who, at'ter the peace of 1763, fettled the German ciatms, and declared a certain fum to be due from the nation, properly fpeaking, laid a tax ttpon the public, for raifing that fum, and left only to parliament the mode of payment. For, in afcertaining the juftice ^ the claim, they impofed the tax; unlefs F 4 we I '[%\ i I %' I: i^RK'" U^^^BB € ( 7(5 ) own civil enablifliments, the tax was meant to procure for tliat country a parti- cular advantage; and it could not liave been afHrme:?, that it already paid its due proportion of the general taxes. — With thefc exceptions, every tax bill (liould be expreilcd in general terms, which would give it an univerfal operation, and cut ofF all caufe of murmuring, by including alike the Icgiilative bcJy, and the moft diftant corner and nieanell member of the ftate. And in this cafe, reprefentation, that champion of taxation, might, at Icaft, for this purpofe, be dropped as unnecefTary and uftlefs. For every part of the empire, and every member of the ilate, would be equally treated witii thofe, who actually voted for the impofl. „, 5- ..,. ** Vf -*/ ^■%n , , . Ta^atiofi further conjidtrcd. «%. ij. i£..'- HIS pofuion of taxation's fuppofing reprcR^nt^tion, has arifen from the vulgar error of every tax being a gift from the people to the crown. An opinioa which has been confirmed by the form n'tm- •'t*- con- :^:j- 'i. ( n ) continued to be ufod, by the king^, in giving aflent to the tax bill. While the maintenance of the king's family, and his foreign wars with France and Scotland, which generally were oftenfive, having the aggrandizement of the crown chieliy in view, with which the people had little national concern, were the chief objefls of taxation, there might be fome rsafoa for calling a tax a free gift, which,* as it fhould come freely from the giver, {o doth it immediately become the property, of the receiver, to be fpent or managed as he pleafeth. But fince the king has had a certain fum, allotted for the ordinary ex* penccs of his family and government, and iince every other impoft, as belonging to the refpublica, is now appropriated by parliament, for particular public purpofes, as plainly appears in our account of taxi- ation, the name of gift cannot, with pro- priety, be applied to taxes. A gift m^y now be a groper name for a benevoleiicp granted to their monarch, by the ckfgy or otlicr fubjedls of France, becaufe they have no donditutional power in the {late* and can have no immediate intered in the ufe to which the money may be put. - .'^" -••-., •■ \' ■ V".^ ■ ' ■- '■' When . !i» »i. \ t ( 78 ) When the fubjed of taxation is thu§ viewed in the light of a national concern* the notion of a gift can have no place. The fovereign or parliament tranfadts ihc whole matter, as a neccflary part of govern* xnent, for the people, at large ; and the people acquiefce in it, in obedience to the conflitution^ from the juftice and neceillty of the thing, and a perfuaGon, that fuch expences are wanted to carry 6n the public, that is their own bufinefs.— To apply this to tl^iC Americans, they admit fo far a common intered between Britain and them* felvcs, as to put in, we fee, for a (hare of almoft every profitable branch of her trade, leaving taxes and lofles to herfelf ; and they lately acknowledged parliament to have fo far a power of regulating their foreign trade, as they cannot prevent by fmug- gling; and during war, they gracioufly allow it to be fo far their fovereign, as to fufFer it to protef); them with its fleets and armies, at a mofl enormous ruinous ex- pence. If they mean any thing, let them fay how this can be done without a power of taxation. Or let them conceive an interefl common between America and ? ^^m- Britain, Vi, L ( 79 ) Britain, without a power of impofing taxes equally on both, cxifting fomcwherc. The founduels of a principle of rcafon- ing is bc'ft found out, by carrying it its full length, and obferving its operation. A tax is a gift, and mud be bedowed freely by the donor^ or his agent em- powered by him. By the fame rule, it becomes the full property of him, who receives it, ano^ the donor has no right to enguij'e into the ufe he makes of it. The very idea, of enquiring into the ufe of money paid to another, fuppofcs it to have been given for the benefit and intered of him who pays it If there be a tingle pcrfon unreprefented, a tingle man, who voted again d the fuccefsful candidate, or a tingle reprefentative, who oppofed the im- port, who yet contributes each to the tax, then that tax, in refpedt of all fuch, is no gift but a burden, impofed by their go- vernors or rulers, on a certain part of the people, without or againd their confent* To contider taxes as a gift, renders void the nobleft privilege of parliament, a right of enquiring into, and controuling, the management of public money, which can only be proper, on the fuppotition of its having i .1 II ■ : i u. h I i ( 80 ) •«*> fiaving been raifed for national purpofcs'^ or to carry on the refpublica. Further, ^ gift can be with-held without a crime; but he who keeps back the proportion, which he owes to the common ftock, fubjeds himfclf to a forfeiture, and, in the cafe of the public, is guilty of a crime, little (hort of treafon. Let us fuppofc a real connexion between taxation and reprefentation, and that repre- fentatibn is not fo compL^te in the Britifli empire as it ought to be; muft a neceffary defenfive war be fufpended, the encourage- ment of an ufeful manufuiflure be negledled, the public creditors be ftarved, and the public debtors not called to an accountj till that improvement takes place? Mufl: Hot that fupreme power, which now is acknowledged to cxiH:, tranfadt this necef- fary budnefs, till the nation (hall gradually advance to that defired flate of perfection? Among the Romans, ne quid detrimenti ref-- fubVica capiat was a maxim paramount to every law. Their dictators did not turn over law books, to look for rules to diredt their conduct; but drew, from their own good fenfe, remedies to heal the diforders of the ftate. A didatorial power, however ■ ■ " , •■ - ' full ■■^WT^^ ■ I i (, 8i ) full of danger^ is ncccfTary, nay is eiTcntial, and actually takes place, in every (late, i And where can we lodge ic more fafely, than with our parliament, fuch as it is. Cheder and Durham paid taxes before they were reprefentcd, nor in their peti- tions did they fay, they ought not to pay taxes, but, as they paid tax^s, that they ought to be reprefented. Let the fame application be ufed in the prefent difpute ; and if the privilege be refufed, then will America have caufe to complain. A legif- lative body, that has the pubh'c good in view, will be defirous of drawing informa- tion from every province, and that in- formation will come mod conflitutionally from reprefentatives, admitted, from each, to (hare with the fovereign in all the rights of legiflation. Our parliaments cannot be much celebrated for their abilities and fkill in framing ftatutes; but their fincere in- clination towards public improvement can- not be doubted. Hence the princely re- wards ofifered for ufeful difcoveries, hence our multiplied new laws for improving trade and police, hence the almod annual amendments in our feveral Hatutes, as foon as any defeat is found in their conftitution. Surely fuch a well-meaning fovereign can ' G call 'jji <: w \\\ !l i !:tt. i tJ ( 8* ) call forth the fpirit of rebellion only by its lenity, and nothing but the fafhionable doc- trine, that every turbulent man, and every feditious diftrid, have a right to put their own interpretation on the laws, and define the degree of obedience, which they owe to them, could have raifed the difpute to its prefent dangerous height. ••-'■'■ -».-«,. The only (hadowof argument, ufed by the Americans, againft taxation by the Britiih parliament, is that ** fuch taxes abfolutely lighten the burdens of, inftead of being borne by, thofe who impofe them, that they have nocheck upon their extravagance, that they, who thus take a penny from them, may take all they poffefs; and that they, fweet jealous fouls! in their enthufiafm for liberty, cannot endure the thoughts of even the bare pofiibility of fuch an event."—- It is publicly affirmed, that the king himfelf is in a plot, with lord Bute, to bring in the pretender, and every melancholic, dif- appointed, pretended whig counterfeits the belief of it. And certainly another man could aot have been found in the nation equally able as his Majedy, to bring fuch at fcheme to bear; and it is alfo certain that it is not impoHible for parliament to pafs an adfc to flit the nofc^ of every man ir4 the nation. ■'''■' .; :,^ • ', What ■ ! n It a at ( 83 ) What fecurlty have we againd thefe events; not the mathematical impodibiluy of them* but their abfurdity and improbability. Parliament may, it is allowed, abufe the authority, which it pofreiTes over America; and fo may, and (o have, and Co Aill to do, more likely are, its own afTemblies ; and the power of parliament, before this, has been folicited and called in to relieve them from and corredt the abufe. But if Ame- rica be really a part of the empire, the fpecimen, which it has had of parlia- mentary taxation, in the duty upon tea» is an indulgence not an impod, feeing the mother-country, in the 'fame article, is more highly taxed. And whatever has been really the cafe, it is yet to be proved, that Britain ought to favour America, at her own expence. In judice, therefore, America (hould have podponed refidance» till a(ftual oppreflion had judified it. For if fear is to vindicate retidance, ambition will never wane a pretence for rebellion, nor turbulent men a plea for fedition and tumult. But farther, parliament is allowed to be the jud fovereign of Britain, and America was lately acknowledged to be a part of the Britifh empire. Can America then be * . G 2 in* ( 84 ) . f IV injured by ads of the Britiili legiflature* and Britain not fuffer in the imprudent tranfaftion ? When it makes for their purpofe, the poor oppren!ed Americans can fay with a hozti, that a third part of the trade of Britain arifes from their indudry } and we know indeed that Britain had a debt of • five millions due to her in that continent, which has fet that induflry, whatever it is, ^ in motion : a part this,, by the bye, of . their apparent property, and (lock in trade belonging to Britain, probably greatly ex- ceeding the fortunes of all their aflembly- . men, and therefore fecuring an attention to their intered, in the BritiHi legiflature, equally with that of Britain herfelf. We know alfo, that the trade of Britain is fet- tered and retrained by impods, which have been laid on it, to fupport the quarrel . of, and pay bounties (o, America. Now, we know that America, at its higheft cal- culation, exceeds not, in number of people, the fifth, mod probably not the (ixth, part of the whole Britiih empire*. If it then ;;- •",r'"""^v:-^ , ^. . carries^ * In the edimate of the population of America, publiflied by the congrefs, which makes the whole amount to about three millions, South Carolina is fet down at 232,000, without di(lingui(hing freemen from flares. A gentleman, of fenfibility and penetration in ( 85 ) carries on one third part of the trade, it muft of confequence be the mofl opulent part, and therefore bed able to bear taxes. Every tax then, which America can eafily bear, or even endure, without being re- duced below the prefent languifhing Aate of Britain, (he ought to pay, feeing it is on:y wanted to reduce her own debts, and in her fubordinate ftate, whatever may be really the cafe, (he can have no good title td be put in a better condition than the mother-country, which languiOies under the efforts made in her caufe. — If parlia- ment, injudiciouOy, lay impofitions, which leflen the trade of America, and thereby put it out of her power to pay her debts to Britain, it does an injury to that country^ of which it is allowed to be the proper fovereign and protedlor. Yet this is a cafe, which we are not to foppofe, or expert, to happens nor is there any remedy, (hould in office in that province, aiTured the author, that by 9 very accurate calculation, it had been difcovered, that file free inhabitants, of both texts and of all ages, did rot exceed 70,00c. Taking this for their real number, pnd fuppofing their 88 battalions, of which South Caro- lina is to raife fix, to be allotted in proportion to their pumbers, the free inhabitancy of the thirteen provincfe^, of both fcxes and all ages, will be within a milHop. IKl. 3 it > !' -■''>' . j"\ C 86 ) t it happen, but war, which diiTolves go- vernment all together. ^^r^t.^Ax That there would be a propriety in ad- mitting reprefentatives from America, into parliament, for information concerning the flate and ability of their condituents, and for colliding more equally the fenfe of the feveral parts of the empire, I readily ac- knowlege ♦. Nor, if it were properly propofcd, is it probable, that parliament either could or would refufe to admit fuch into their confultations. Though there want not other pretences, nothing hinders it, but that jealoufy in the Aniericans, of every thing which feems to tye them to, or reminds them of their dependence on the mother-country. Hence that conflant oppofition to the introduiflion of bi{faops, that neceiTary part pf the enfabli(hmcnt of * The notion that every plac^ is entitled to a fljare in the legiflature, in proportion to its opulence, is fprmed upon the fuppoOtion, that each will be upon the catch to take advantage of the other. But in this cafe, in what manner (hall we fecure the lefs opulent parts ? and yet Ufe, liberty, and property, is as dear in them, as in the greatefl; and moh wealthy. Let us confider rather the ftate as one than many, and then all that we fliall ezpe£^ from particular reprefentatives, will be in- formation concerning the condition of their conftituents, and th.at can be done by two or three, better than by a thoufand. 6 -•- ': '''t'%y'Z/''''\-.^ the t •>.v>*.. p I - ' ( 8; ) the Engli(h church. Hence that condanit averfion to every hint refpe^ing incorpo- ration. Hence that pittful police, in making and keeping their judges dependent for their maintenance, on the annual ca<* prtcious grants of a popular aflembly* To well exemplified in the cafe of Oliver Hence the virtue and patriot! fm, which they place in an open oppofition to all revenue laws, even thofe, which, ever fince their fird fettlement, have been made for the purpofe of diredting their commerce *. ' i: . >Vi^r!. -i .^-*^s*,■ If ' ♦ This difpofition for independency will be conHdered alFterwards ; in the mean time, we offer the folloiring anecdotes towards a proof of it. A gentleman, who after a fettltment of -many years in New England returned to Britain in 1756, fpe^ing of the country to his brother, thus addrefled him, *' Brother, you and I may not perhaps live to fee the period ; but take my word, in a few years it will be in- dependent of Britain ; arid were my poor voice heard, I would advife the fending out of Duke William to be their forereign, and emancipate them at once." A Britifli officer, walking with his friend over the plains of Abraham, two days after the battle which de- cided the fate of Canada, exclaimed, " This was indeed a noble a^ion ; but remember, my friend, I tell you, it was the worft day, that ever Old England faw." His friend remembers this, and applies the prophecy to the prcfent hazardous difpute. Nay, even before the troops went that year into winter quarters, they were infulted by the New England people, and were told, *' Now our back-fettlements are fccured, wefhallfoon 'Il -.(»^^w ( 88 ) If parliament fliould adopt the meafure of American rcprefentatives,* and the plan y^y'Ln:iy^jj.'e .•-t;>t iT??;i'*V>i',^ e-- •1 ^■'' ^ be independent of you. — During that very winter, at New York, in a large company of army officers, Livingdon, and other great men of the province* the convcrfatlon turned upon the expences of the war, and the propriety of America's contributing fomething towards them. Some one fuggefted an exa6i requifition of quit-rents. Livingfton, who holds the grant of a Avhoie county, clapping his hand to his (word, replied, ** not while he could weild that weapon fhould England gel it, but with his heart's blood." And the noble fcntimerit was ecchoed by all the Americans prcfcnt. If it be nfked, how came Adminiftration to continue ignorant of the defigns of the Americans, when there were fo many officers acquainted with their bafenefs, to fet them right, we fhall anfwer, that it was then the fafliion with people in power to defpife all information frjom that quarter, as the tales of prejudice. Franklin had wriggled or elc£l:rified himfelf fo much into public opinion, that miniders faw only through the mid which he had conjured up before them. Braddreet, after his expedition in 1764 again!!; the Indians, m\ > 1.:^' ;s^K*h.;G,->-W A p. VI. -::i jf^nt ReficBions arijing from the Principles ejiablijhed above. ^' • BY the late tyrannical encroachments on the continent of Europe, liberty is now confined in a manner, within the limits of the Britilh empire. The liberty, the profperity, the independence of Britain ( 91 ) and her colonies, are bound op with their mutual connexion and dep^dence. Nor can Britain give up her claim of fovereignty* nor the colonies break through their de« pendence, but at the hazard of every valu- able privilege of focicty. Whenever Britain is Ceparated (irom the colonics* fuch is her condition of debt and taxation incurred oa their account, that without fotne great change in the commercial worid and hec own manners, (he muil fall from her prc- fent didinguifhcd rank among the nations, perhaps into a dependence on fome power- ful neighbour*: a confideration, that might give even a flern American patriot a paufe of fyropathy. Whenever her colonics be- • Th« only remedy in this cafe is a voluntary bank- ruptcy. Her agent or fa£lor, America, according to Glover, is gone off with all her wealth ; and ihe can maice no other payment to her ct editors, hut the offer of orders on America, if indeed this b(l have honefty to accept or pay them. It would no doubt be hard upon the puhlic creditors to lofe their money ; and to fave the fiate, by this method, thoufands mu(l be ruined. But there is alfo a hardfliip in paying, to thofe, debts and intercft for a purchafe, by whofe machinations that has ceafed to be property, on the faith of which the debt was incurred. And ferioufly, the Dutch, which have fupported America in her fcneme of independence, and every monied man in Britain, who favours her caufe, (hould be fent to America, for the payment of their money in the public fuo^s. '^ come i, . 1 ( 9» ) come independent, they will harrafs each other out with continual wars» till the fmalleft and mofl luxurious be fwallowed up by the mof): populous and lead wealthy. While under the protection of Britain, their internal taxes will continue to be trifling and light. Before tl\efe troubles, their amount was eftiaiated to be under 1 60,000 1. per annum, throughout the whole continent; a fum which will go a ihort way to equip thofe navies, and arm thofe battalions, of which already, in their nafcent (late of independence, they begin to boafl. When each a£ts for itfelf, or a fubordinate part to a neighbouring colony, the expences of the fmalleil will fooa greatly exceed that fum. Nothing has more contributed to infpire the felf'fufHcient notions, or infufed into them opinions more incompatible with their union to the parent ilate, than the condant aiTertions of fpeculative political writers, that liberty will take up her lad afylum With them. Many among them, friends to the unalienable rights of human nature, have been drawn in by defigning men, from this belief, to take an adtive part in the prefent unnatural conted. Yet ?nrj i a «. i ( 93 ) it is well known, that luxury, and even an effeminacy, incompatible with a dif- interefted exertion of free principles, are much farther advanced in America, than in many countries of Europe, or even in far the greatefl part of Britain in particular, fo as to make British corruption and Ame- rican virtue nearly on a par; of which we need no other proof than their own boaded enormous imports, extending to every ar- ticle of luxury and finery. After all their cry of liberty, I queftion if felfifli luxury and difliniftion have left, in any province, virtue and public fpirit fufHcient to ere to carry their orders into execution. All the American writers make not the lead doubt but America will dart up a mighty people, and a large empire, as foon as they Oiall have (haken off their de- pendency on Britain. In fancying this, they make no allowance for their fevcral motely conftitutions, various manners, in- terfering ftaples, old grudges, only lulled afleep for a time, by their fpke to Britain. Nor think they of the numbers, intrigue, ambition, and poverty of the northern co« lonies, and the ^narrow perfecuting fpirit, that prevails among them, nor of the dc- fencelefs inviting (icuation of the fouthera provinces ,..5+ . '^fLf Nor reckon they upon the lofs • When the merchants of Philadelphia were delibe- rating what part to take, upon the dellru£tion of the tea, an inhabitant, a gentleman of chafa£ter, obferved to them the abfurdity of their being mifled a fecood time, by the people of Bofton, after their unfair condu£l;, upon ths non-importation ocoafioned by the (lamp a£t, when the merchants of that town, who pretended to be moft eager for violent meafures, continued privately ttf im- port vatl quantities of all goods, while they, who were only drawn by their pretended example into the fefolu* tion, a£lually fufpended their trade. He aiPired them, they meant to repeat the fame farce ; for to his knowlege, lately, mentioning the day, a (hip had arrived at Bofton with ( 95 ) lofs of the gainful monopoly of the Britidi market, and the many advantage- ous branches of trade, and encuuraging bounties, and long and extenfive credit, which will fall to the ground, with their dependence on the mother-country; while their armies, navies, and civil employments are multiplied, and only their taxes and paper currency incrcafed in the like proportion. It needed not furprife the obferving phi* lofopher, if that continent, left to itfclf, gradually funk back into a {late of InHgni- ficancy, little differing from its fituation two centuries ago *. , , . f^ with near two hundred chefts of tea, for one of their leading patriots. They anfwered, though they were loath to doubt intelligence, noted for its accuracy, and a veracity, which flood among them unimpeached, yet he might be miftaken, the people of Bofton could not be fuch villains. The gentleman was filent, but im- mediately wrote to a particular correfpondent in Bolton, and by the return of the pod, had an authenticated ac- count of feventeen hundred chefb imported there, to make a gain of the non-importation. This account was laid before the merchants. They flared ; and tranf- mitted it to New York. The merchants there remon- ftrated with thofe in Boflon. Adams called a meeting, and told them, they would lofe the fouthern colonies, unlefs they facrificed the tea ; and in a fit of gloomy re- luctant patriotifm, they formed the refolution. it was thrown into the Tea. • Much has been faid about the innocence and vir- tue of the Americans, and of there being hardly ever any '^i »M V ■• y 1 I ( 96 ) It muH: be confcfTed, the immedlafc origin of the prefent difpute, put on the ^» ; r't4 appcar- any public executions in their provinces, as a circum- ftsknce from which to conclude their future grandeur. The truth is, their paucity of executions arifes not fr' 'n . a fcarcity of crime.';, but want of energy in the mag. tracy. All acqu'i«inted with the country agree, that to hang a notorious villain is the mofl: dlfTicult thing in life. But can fentiment or virtue prevail in a country, in which barbarity, to every man among them, who was not niad for rebellion, bas taken every horrid (hape, and the mod Clocking cruelties and murders have been encouraged in their mobs, and applauded by news- paper publications ? ' A few years ago, a man of fortune and education went from the Weft-Indies, to look out for a retreat for his family in America. He came back, faid he liked the country exceedingly; but he could not truft his family in places, where the la^^s had no power, where crimes, deilru£live to fociety, iuffered no puniOiment. — About twenty years ago, fome failors carried ofF 3 veffel from St. Uhriflopher, and fold her at Rhode Ifland, without any title. The owner putfued, difcovered, and profecuted them to conviction. The Rhode Ifland mob affembled on this alarming occalion of banging men for pyracy, and refolved, that to prevent it from growing into a cuflom, it was neeefTary to execute the lex talionis on the profecutor. While they were laying ;their plan, the man luckily received a hint of it, and barely got off in time to avoid giving an example to all men, not to meddle with crimes agreeable to the people. About the year 1770, in November, after winter had fet in, a veiTel loaded with contraband goods was feized by the colIe£lor at Cape May. She got off in the night, and run up to Philadelphia. In a f?w days after, the coUedor's fon, a youth about eighteen years old. ( 97 ) appearance of a naked, inconfideratc, un- meaning exertion of authority, the pre- tended purpofe of which, as we (hall here- after (hew, might have been attained in a lefs oiFcniive, and much more efFei^ual old, was obfervcd at Philadelphia. It was immediately concluded, he had come up about the fmuggler. He was feafched for, dragged out into the (Ireet, ilripped naked, and a rope puffed round his arms, drawn (o tight, as foon to break them both. He was then tarred and feathered, and drawn by the rope through the prin- cipal (Ireets; and, when thought to be expiring, was thrown into a dock full of mud. But recollefling that he would be too foon ftifled, he was taken into a boat, ferried over into the Jerfey fiMe, and left to his fate on the frofly bank. Next morning, he was found (lifF in a neighbiDurlng copfe. The inquifition remains yet to be taken. The Moravians at Bethlehem in Penfylvania have been called upon to alTociate in the rebellion, and ab- jure the king and government of Great Britain. Both thefe (leps, they have pofitively refufed to take. On this, they have been confined within a certain diflance of their homes, on pain of being treated as fpies, zf^d a tax has been levied upon them of feven pounds per poll, per anni^im, by two half yearly payments. On their firfl: refufal to pay this enormous tax, cotnmFfTaries and a party of foldiers wei e fent to exa£l it ; they then col- le£^ed the money, and laid it out before the commif- faries on a table, with this proteflation, ** We declare that you have no right to demand this money, that we are not obliged to pay it ; but we are in your power, and cannot oppofe the injuftice, which forces thus our property from us." The general hofpltal of the army '. ha$ been alfo fixed among them, in which it is ufual to have fixty men to bury in a week, t ,:if'ii».K > rv-j t H -.'VT., tni! M i^l way. Pi h \i - i! I ')' I. I ( 98 ) way. But the improper, precipitate, and criminal manner, in which it has been oppofcd, has thrown a veil over the origi-* nal umbrage, if any, indeed, were given. And it is not judging harfhiy of the colo- nids, from their conduct, to fay, that, if this opportunity of difputation had not happened, they would have made an opportunity rather than have kept quiet. America, like a young eagle, is now trying her wings, and attempting her flight, longing for the day, that fliall emancipate her from a parent's care, in turn to fearch for that ambitious rule, which in her parent is fo painful to her, which in turn (hall bring debt and ruin on her alfo. Why elfe take the prc- fent opportunity of holding up, as intoler- able grievances, regulations in trade, to which they had formerly fubmitted? why blame in the pradlice, what they have al- lowed in the principle * ? In refpedt of the prefent difpute, if no other caufe of emulation exiilcd between the parties, were the merits on both fides more . * This is to be particularljr feen in thatcontroul over their foreign trade, which, in their various contradidlory refolutions, as it fuited their prefent purpofe of frighten- ing or cajoling, they would, and they would not, aUow to the firitifli parliament. . * equally '4 -. ( 99 ; equally balanced, it furcly would not require the ikill of a Daniel, to determine between an over indulgent parent, and an hitherto (ickly pampered brat, the party, that (hould yield the point. Happy will they both be, if foreigners fuffer them to decide the quedion, without inter- meddling in the conted. Britain has flruggled through many dangerous attacks, and rifen (Irengthened and improved from blows, that threatened to crufh her into ruin. Why may we not hope, that the prefent important contefl will alfo add to the (Irength and perfedlion of our conflitu- tion P And this might well happen to be the cafe, did parliament embrace the pre- fent opportunity of enquiring into the real ftate of America, regulating her trade, re- fuming fuch branches as are adapted for her own, or the ufe of her legitimate children in the fugar-colonies, confining the induftry of America to the perfection of our own (laples, and the general good of the empire, obliging her to contribute her due (hare of the public expences, and fixing upon a proper comprehenfive plan of colony-legiflation. i,„ Ha In i 1 Jd .1" I . •i i •J 4 ;4' r- .>' !' I if ■■' i| I ^i u ( 100 ) In the prefcnt difpute, every advocate for tlie^colonies rejoices in the expedation, that France will join America, and that both together, they will be an over-match for their native country, Britain, and lay her bleeding at their feet. That amor patriae which exalted every peafant, Greek and Roman, into an hero, is defpifed as mean- ncfs of fentiment, by the knight-errants for American independency. Their pa- iriotifm confifls in widiing, and, to the utmoil of their power, procuring the ruin of their country; and were its proud cities on fire, they could Aand like Nero, and fiddle over the conflagration *. And all .... - y . ' this * It is beyond a doubt, that t!ie people of Boilon were repeatedly prefled in letters from their friends in London, to contrive by every method to dedroy the tea, as the circumitance on which all their hopes depended. With this view, the town committee obliged the (hip inafter, under the fevered threats, to bring the ihip above the callle i becaufe they knew (he could not again pafs it, tijl cleared out at the cuftemhoufe. The go- vernor's refufal to let her pafs without a clearance was received, in a numerous towq meeting, with fliouts of joy; and immediately they fet about the deftruQion. The news of the flcirmifli at Lexington was received in sU their towns with every demonftration of joy; and while with Home they pretended to lament, what they were pleafed to calHhe murder of their countrymen, (and yet, what put them iu arms, but a defign to mur- ■I ( loi ) this horror offcntiment is to be vindicated, by barely faying, that they only wait for their country's ruin, to go over to her enemies^ and participate in their con- 'IM'.V/ der others, the foldicrs ?) they congratulated each other on the happy event. And as the day, on which they attacked captain Prefton, is yearly celebrated, to hold in remembrance their firft conrage'to rcfift, fo the 19th of April is folcmnly fet apart, at the day of their mauu- miflion from what they call UrltiHi flavery. While Gage, on his arrival in the province, was proceeding through the ftreets of Boflon, to take the oaths of government, t!ie propriety of (hooting him out of a window was ferioufly debated ; and it was with great diffieulty, that the demngogues could reftrain the my of their indrumems, from thus precipitating their immature fchemes. Some time after the attack of Bunker's Hill, a viGtant at Wafhington's camp was lamenting the diftreifed fitu- ation of things, and wifhing fome plan might be em- braced for healing the differences, that they might again fee better times. A captain Brown, who vcas prefent, and' who looked forward I fuppofe to a truncheon, look him up fhort, faying the times were then very good,- he never defired to fee better Wafhington, at tabk, gave for a toaft a fpeedy ac- coftimodation of matters. Putnam, when it came to hifi turn) cave a briik and lalting war« Wafhington exprelTed ^me difgufl: at the horrid fentiment, and de- -firedtiali explanation. The old brewer replied, putting - -hk hand- •t6' his fword, he had thrice girdeo on that - ll-ufly weapon to his fide, and he never had fared better ; in'his life, than while he wore it. i .10 Lee- commanded at Charles-Town, when news came of the battle of Long Ifland. He fpent the evening at "^ ii Ifentleman's houfe, into which he frequently Invited . ' i I . . . H 2 him- ' i i'. a I iV h "'t^ .1. Lin ( 102 ) - .A '•; ,;. , ._ * r % queAs *, As if protedion and tlic benefits of fociety, drew no claims after them; a^ if a man might (lab his parent, and joia with robbers in dividing his fpoil after- wards. Thefe opinions are delivered by worthy fenfible men with fuch energy, and, on hearing, flrike me with fuch ab- horrence, as often to make me wi(h I could be an American but for one half hour, that I might judge of the fatisfadtion, which I ihould feel in the imagined triumphs cf France and America over my country, ?.nd of the pleafure arifing from a contemplation on the ruin of my friends, my family, my concerns* the land of my nativity •f-. But U .,-.l'- himfelf, while his houfhold were left to (hift for them- fcives ail over the town ; after fitting for fome tir.ie mufing, he ftartcd up with iuefe words, ** Well, (hould we not fuccced in arms, I have only to write an hiilory of the American war, and any bookfeller in London will give me ten thoufand guineas for it." ♦ Oppofition rejoice at every check the king's troops meet with in America ; and the killing or mangling of a foldier, by a cowardly rebel, iiUs them with a favage kind of pleafure. Wi^cn the king heard of the numbers of rebels AiQed in the morafs at Long Ifland, he com- paffionately obferved, " thefe men have wives, have parents, who are rendered unhappy by their death, Would to heaven they had efcaped, and got fafe home to comfort them" t Take the following as an example of what may he called an enthufiafm in villany. Captain Payne, iince aid ( 103 ) But we will for once, as is the pretence with thefe people for uttering fuch fenti- ments aid de camp to General Howe, in the beginning of thefe troubles, was quartered in wooden barracks at New York. In that humane polifhed city, every night, after dark, a number of mulket fhot was fired into the captain's room, as if plainly aimed at him, one of which flruck down the candle by which he was reading} fo that, like fome of our old tyrants, he was obliged to fhift his chamber every night, privately. Further. In April 1776, at the rendezvous of American traders at Point Petre Guadaloupe, was a veflel belong- ing to George Rome, the man who has been made famous, by the treachery of that American Zang^, or rather Jago Franklin, in being betrayed to the rcfent- ment of the mob, by the publifliins of his private letters* L. which he had dared to comphin, that the courts in Rhode Iflaud denied to give judgment in favour of Englifh creditors. The American patriots, at Point Petre, judging that an £ngli(hman, a publifher of, and fufferer by, American corruption, ought to have no Chare in their fmuggling trade with the Fiench, in- formed the French governor, that Rome's veflel had fpermaceti candles on board; a thing they might at random have guefTed at, l)ecaurc rhey all dealt in the fame article. On this intormation, the veflel and cargo were confifcatcd and fold ; and the vefltl has been finte bought and fitted out, by a merchant in Dominica, to carry rum to the coait of Africa. The fame Franklin, about 175*}, vifited Scotland, and among other places there, wen^ to view the old abbey of Scoon. After fatisfying his euriofity, he re- marked, cLpping his Ciceroni on the (houlder, " Here, you tell rne were your kings crowned ; you or I, per- haps both, may live to fee the Jay, when it (hall be faid of St. James's, here did our kings dwell." The deftru£lion of one family, even thou^^h royal, would H 4 give Ml m i m Ill -i I ( 104 ) . ments of horror, fuppofe a revolution nc- cefl'ary in the flate, at this prefent period; that parliament and our governors arc fo corrupt, and the efTentials of the conftitu- tion fo greatly infringed, that it is requifitc» even at the rilk of foreign conqucft, to bring back things to their fird principles. What nation more free and virtuous (hall we be incorporated with? Whom have we, at prefent, among ourfelves, fit to take the lead in this neceffary reformation ? Every friend of the prefent government inuft of neceflity be paffcd by. Shall we then apply to that blafphemkig profli- gate, who was the lucky inflrument in procuring a conditutional deciHon in ge- neral warrants.— I am fo nice in my poli- tical tafle, that I would have every man, who fets up for a reformer, and reforma- give fuch a comprehenfive genius little remorfe. But had he reflected that a flruggle, which could pull a family from the throne, mufl; ruin thoufands, and con« Yulfe the nation to its center, and perhaps after all open the way only to anarchy among the peoj^e, or lawlefs tyranny in the family of fome upflart baftard Franklin, he might, if he had any human feelings remaining, perhaps have felt a (hock as penetrating as from an elec- trified paper kite. His converfations concerning Ame- rican independency, while on that vi(it, are ftill re- jjKmbered iii the North. tion i jc- le- |c- n ( »05 ) tion is the profefled defign- of tbefc pre- tended whigs, or bofom enemies of their country, to be able to bear the ftrideft fcrutiny into his private life, motives, and converfation * ; and fo fcrupulous an. I, in this refpedt, that even the inflexible ' has loft fomeihing in my efteem, fince I have been informed, he prefers the charader of Keeper to that of Hufband. Certain it is, in Athens, the man, who did not give to his country the pledges of wife and family was deemed unworthy of any office of credit or honour, even in their army or navy. Why fhould it not be fo ordered in Britain ? If then, I muft be fubjed to profligacy and corruption, let me be fubje6t to that, which is already in pof* * It is curious to obferve, what partial views the fentimental friends of America take of things. Wafh- ington, for example, (hall be applauded as an hero, for attempting to lave to a man a three-penny duty upon an article of luxury; and on condition that he does this, he may defert his wife, to whom he owes his fortune, and ^mufe himfelf with the fedu£lion of other women, making them criminal and wretched, and their families contemptible, he is fliil the greateft and heft of patriots. Yet what notions of liberty or virtue can that man en- tertain, who tramples on the dearefl rights of fociety, as they refpe£^ individuals ? and how lame muft that conflitution be, which is contrived by a debauchee or prdfligate. / . ..^. ^ - ; ., !' » ' .-.■ feflion ■ t I il hi' t! in Hi *?1 f'i IS:: 5*; 3. ( io6 ) feflion of authority in the ftatc— A new tyrant, ftruggling for power, muft fix himfelf by violence. One for whofe power length of time pleads prefcription, becomes fatiated with afts of tyranny, and is con- tent if things go on without innovation.— The Romans could afTairinate Caefar; but had they virtue to reap the fruits of the bold atchievement ? or, did they advance their condition by it ? Yet they had, but where (hall we find a Brutus, to take the lead in this glorious race of liberty ? To come at once to the point : I would rather fubmit my life, liberty, and pro- perty, in the moft diftant province of the empire, to the difpofal of the Briti{h par- liament, which is in pofl"eflion of the only fovereign authority in the ftate, corrupt and miniderially led, as it is fuppofed to be, than to the mod virtuous popular af- fembly, at this time exiting in the colo- nies, or to the pureft convention, that could be made up out of thofe, who are in oppofition to government. — The proper plan for thofe, who really wifh well to freedom, and the progrefs of the conilitu- tion, which, it mufl be allowed, is in fe- yeral eflential points deficient^ is qot, in this ( «07 ) this age of univerfal profligacy and felfidi- nels, to precipitate matters; for that, in taking away one evil, would deliver us bound to a greater mifchicf; but to go on, by iheir own challity of manners, their convcrfation, and writings, gradually to open, and prepare the minds of the people fur the reception of that undiftinguiftiing operation of law, in which alone true poli- tical fieedoin is to be found j and how- ever corrupt and biaffed parliaments, in the eye of prejudice and difappointment, may fcem ^o be J yet the leffening of their own privileges in matters ci" debt, and their late improvement of the law of eledions, give us room to hope, that every other neceflary improvement may gradually in time take place, without any dangerous convuKive ilruggle in the ftate ; if oppofition would but adt on generous grounds, and referve themielves for, and perfeverc only in things of public advantage*, i ;ij );ri ■: ' « • ' :':;;•' Nothing . ,"t.jj >' t •;•= JO ;kj, . r * If it be obje£fced, that the profligacy and villany of the leading men in congrefs ought to be noobje£lion to the caufe in which they are engaged, becaufe too many of our own great men have alfo little charader to fpare i I anfwer, I plead not for fuch cither on the one or the other iide of the Atlantic* fiut fuppofing our great A ! ;'i: 1 8 i I w !it: ( '°8 ), Nothing is fo common among the partl- zans of America, as to vindicate their horrid fentiments, by conning over the words Tyranny and Oppreffion of govern- ment J as if like mifery was never before felt, and lord North, and one or two more, flood ready to fwallow up law and privilege at a gulp. — America is now the freeft country ^n the world. Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and lives to his own defire. In ifhort, the prc- fent times there, ^re the golden age of Hefperia renewed; and fome future hifto- rian will celebrate them, as a glimpfe of that political happinefs, which wretched mortals are hardly bleded with once in a century. The congrefs, like a fenate of gods, (I pray they may not, like them, turn out to be pimps, cheats, anci thieves,] only publiih their opinion, and it is im- great men to be as vile ^s our immaculate cppofition think fit to paint them, thank hneaven, though they may have the temporary direftion of our affairs, yet they had not like thefe, at prefent in America, the framing of our con^itution. That, ftrong and buoyant by its nature, and fpun4ed in virtue and religion, can eafily free itfelf from every accidental Jdain, contra£)ted from an unhallowed touch i ;w)\\]c the conil|tution, novir rifing in America, muft effentiaily partjjke of every worttjlefs attribute of thofe who fra>me it. plicitly i fl '(109 ) plicltty complied with. Yet a friend of Britain might veniare a comparifon be- tween that land of opprcffion and this free country *,- ■ ' •■ -":-^ ' We ion ;:5 of its Ifily rom llefs tly * The rebels, to Tiiduce the Germans fettled among them to join in their vcafon, bid tliem recoUe£): their fituation in Germany. We were, faid they, ' at the will ,of our nobles and landlords, and were taxed even beyond the utmofl efforts of induflry. In this manner, it' is ,anfwered, intends Britain to treat you here. This had its cffeft for ' fbme time ; at laft, a little experience taught them to reply.. ** We! have feen nothing of that yet i but under Britain's rule We were eafy, and grfew rich. Since the cbtigrefs havici made th^mfclvesmafters, we muft become foldiersagainft Oi^r willj we muft tx- change bur commodities for wafte paper. ' Every fellow, calling, himfelf an American foldier, comes in, makes free with our hbiifes, our vifluals and drink, our wives and daughters ; and if his excefs' be reproved, afks us, if he be not fighting for our liberty. If a man," through principle, or bodily infirmity, or to fave his bufinefs for the maintenance of his family, feems loath to become a foldier, he mu(i pay four (hillings in the pound of his grofs income, and tWenty (hillings per month befides, . to maintain vagrants, calling themfelves the continental army." To ibis rethoh{trance, the cry is returned, a ' tory, a traiterous, tory. He is tarred, feathered, and pilloried, his houfe is plundered, he dies of the ill treatrhent, and hi^ /amily is ruined.--^This is American liberty. , , The American prilbners, taken on the lakes, were bid to, go peaceably to their feveral homes. They en- treated the BritiOi dfficers to fuffer'them to continue liiider their protcflion ; they would try, they faid, to find employment in Cariada; they would faithfully f«rve an the royal fleet or army. If they returned into parts under I It' m k! ( I'o ) We will not take into account the fum- mary proceeding of their mobs, tarring and feathering, googing of eyes, and pull- ing down or burning of houfcs. And we will pafs over their judicial confifcation of property, condemnation to the mines, and the other mild methods of the fame kind, ufed by the Americans, to convince their under the influence of the congrefs, they mud be vile flaves to the vileft of mafters, they (hould again be forced into rebellion by every aft of cruelty and oppref- fion, that could be exercifed by defigning villains in power over fober citizens. Zubly, though one of the prime movers of fedition, yet hefitated at independency, declared againft it, and on its taking place, left the congrefs and went home. He had not been long fettled, till h. was taken up, and put under an arreft by a military order, without any crime afTigned, or period fixed to his imprifonment. Of their manner of carrying on war, take the follow- ing example. Captain Whitcomb fallied out with five men from a rebel advanced poft in Canada, to befet the road leading to the royal camp. He ordered each man to feparate and take a particular tree, with ftri£t injunc- tions to fire on none but officers} becaufe fays he their cloaths and watches only are worth the troublt\. He himfelf fell in with colonel Gordon, and (hot him through the back} but as the colonel did not immediately fall, he had not the fatisfaAion of carrying off the fpolia opima. But can we defire greater proof of their horrid malice to the country of their origin, than their finking and burning fuch helplefs unarmed trading veflels, as they cannot carry off, and thereby reducing the innocent people concerned in them to poverty and want. ,^ advcr- ki. ( i:i ) advcrfaries of the juftice of iheir caufe. We will juft take the indulgent cafe of Chridie, begun with deliberation, carried on with cool method and folemnity, while all the human feelings were excited by a fcene of ficknefs and domeQic diilrefs, and when refentment had been difarmed by mild fubmidion and modeH; apology ; and we will contraft it with the cafe of that prince of patriots, the late lord mayor. ChriAie writes a decent confidential let« ter to a relation, in a manner that CX' prefTes fully the candour of the times. It is intercepted : no perfon is found named in it, nor indeed any party defcribed, in a manner that an honeH; mode^ man would apply to himfcif or his friends. No other crime is alledged; yet he is put under an arrefl> while confined by ficknefs. Under pretence of fecuring him, his houfe is filled with armed men; and, by a refinement in tyranny, he is made to pay his guards libe* rally for watching him. By a folemn dc- cifion, he, as a friend to order, under the the name of fine, is made to contribute largely to the caufe of fedition ; and in af- fecting to moderate the punifhment of his crime into banifhment, they contrive to ex- , A ' pungc t \ s E< ,; f' .t;i II 1;! II f ill! f " IW ■ ( 112 ) punge the numerous debts which they owed him, fpoil him of his property, and drive him from his butinefs. In the other cafe, a diilipated profligate defrauds an hofpital, cheats his banicer, 'ruins his tradefmen, deferts his wife, in- Tults the legiilature, affronts his king, and blafphemes his God. — Were decency in repute, fuch a fellow would be defpifed and abhorred : had the laws any authority, or vigour, they would have fpewed him OQt ; did the king harbour the refentment afcribed to him, and had he fuch power, he would long ago have fuffered.— What has happened ? A noble peer, as it is faid, has let ^himfelf fo far down, as to cloathe the frau- dulent bankrupt with a fham qualification ' for a feat in parliament, that his impudence may have a full field for exertion, and that '-' he may utter his obfcenity before the na- ' tion. The cobler fnatches the loaf from his family, nay deprives himfelf of his be- loved porter, that this idol of the crowd '•may wallow in eleemofinary, r^evelling, uTid debauchery. He becomes the chief mngTilrate of the capital, confers and takes 'away, as he plea(eth, honours and charac- ters from his fellow-patriots and hclp- '8 mates es ( 113 ) mates in the glorious caufe of anarchy. The members of the legiflature muft re- ceive into their number the very infolent blafphemer, whom they had expelled as unworthy, and when they fpeak of him, mud mention him by the name of the right honourable member. The king, libelled and infulted by him, addreiTes him by the title of well-beloved, and mud receive him with complaifance, as often as he pleafeth to appear before him, to prefent affronting libels upon his government, and pretended grievances, from the fcum of the people, which he himfelf has fird fuggeded to them. . Allthis I blame not ; in one fenfe, I am proud of it. It {hews that government is mild, and the conditution free. But can tyranny be confident with it? Needs there any othe: proof than this comparifon, that Britain enjoys liberty, that America is plunging herfelf deep in flavcry? Power is bed preferved by the arts, by which it has been originally gained. A government, like that, which is riHng in America, founded in falfhood *, and cemented with violence, mud be fecured by opprellion. But * To the many inftances, which have already been pub'lilhed, of the total flop put to the ciiQuhtion of truth I in * I'- t I ( "4 ) But the Infatuation in favour of the op- pofjiion in Anicrica to the juft rights of parliament, is fo blended with blind preju- dice and fclBdi ambition, as to reCid equally the force of argument, and the contempt of ridicule. Afk any of thefc friends of America, what purpofe they have in view, when they cxprcfs their joy at the fucccfs of the rebels? Ihe profpedl of a French war, the defeat of the military, the fcalp> ing and googing of the foldiers, the perfe* cution and ruin of the friends of govern- ment, and all the defultory cruelty of their mobs, v/ithout blufliing, they anfwcr, it in America, by prcventrng all private correfpondencc, :^nd reflraining the prefs, as if the people were not to be trufted wWh the real ftate of things, or the knowledge of fafts, nnJ only a few were to think and a£l for them, we vil! add the following: Whvjn general Waterbury was taken prifoner on the lakes, he expreffed his great furprize at the a£live bra- very of the Britifh Teamen ; for, fays he, we were pofi- tively aflured and believed, that none, below the degree of an ofTicer, would make the lead degree of refidancc againft us. Drayton, the prefent chief judge of Carolina was ori- ginally a candldnte for court favour, and only became a patriot, by being difappointed of promotion. This man, in a folemn charge to the grand fury, upwards of two months after the battle of Long Iflaud, rouncily 'af- firms that the king's troops were worfted :here. Nor is a fingle item circulated at Charles-Town, but what is favourable to the rebel caufe. XK se IS ( "i ) -• is all to promote the glorious cauA; of li- berty. Afk them, if America can cxpedt from the deliberations of a few recreant ambitious lawyers, pimps, cheats, and atheids, a code of more equal laws than they may enjoy by the Britifh conftitution ? They entertain not the lead doubt of it. Repeat the queflion ; and afk, what poli-* tical fecurity, what mutual faith, can be cxpedted in their new governments, where religion, as it refpedls the (late, is abolished, the moral attributes of the Deity palTed over, and the whole deliberative, execu*' tive, and judicial powers thrown into the hands of one particular body * P It is the perfection of focial freedom, and focial happinefs. Obferve to them the probable confequences of a foreign war, in the pre- fent (late of our finances ; they exult in the hope of thus bringing Britain to the beck of America. Alk, how they can lend their wi(hes and opinions to a caufe, which aims at the rui^ of their country ? Let their country be ruined, fo America vindicate independence. Doth not the allegiance due to that eftablifhed government of their '. - ■ .,■ •■ >" •; . , 'i ♦ For all thefc, fee the new conftitution framed for Penfylvania. , I 2 country, Bii ( "6 ) country^ which maintains and proteds then); raife at times fome qual^ps, *to difturb their enthufiaflic rant for oppo- sition J they owe no allegiance to a govern- ment which they diOike, or, it is the mi- nifter only, whom they oppofe. Bid them^ among all the oftenfible men of the nation, chufe a minider more favourable to the views of rebellion ; there is Chatham. You have then forgotten the ftory of his hob-nails; aye, but he is a great man. What will vindicate the fubjed, for taking arms againd the laws ; taxation exercifed in the loweft degree,, and mildeft: manner, provided one fays he is afraid of what may follow. Mud king and parliament confult isvery little colony, on the makjng of war, eflabliihing a manufadure, or granting a bounty ; they may of themfelves do all this ; but no colony (hall Ls obliged to contribute to the expence, unlefs it phafeth. Do you reply, that the welfare and even being of the empire may thus be brought into danger, unlefs a controlling power, in fuch cafes, be lodged fomewhere ; be it fq, rather than Taxation (lalk abroac\ without his 'fquirc, Reprefentation. Aik them, whether their families and concerns lcl..,^ run ( 117 ) run not Tome ri/k in the (I'.ock ? What are th feeli :reft. Amc- private rica viiftorious ? Will they mend their condition, by getting America inftead of Britain for their miftrefs; the congrefs, inftead of parliament, for their fovcreign ? They believe not, but ilill they can com- fort themfelves in the advancement of America. In fhort, America i? to be in- dependent, whether reafon permits it or not *. There is a magic in the words :i'.: y. Repre- ■M-;sv ■9 in * This is from the vain hope of feeing America be- come immediately an empire, that for grandeur and extent, (hall throw contempt on the fomiich celebrated Orbis Fkomanus. But that America, leparated from Britain, will ever deferve the name of empire, is far from my expedlation. TheBritifli money brought into it, by hit vtSiTf the Britifli government, though defec- tive in it, the Britifli commodities, five millions lent them to carry on their trade, a ruinous monopoly of the Britifli market, a trade extending over the whole world, under proteftion of the Britifli flag, an univerfal evafion pf cuftoms and imports, all gave a luftre and brilliancy to the continent, which has funk down with the con- nexion frr>m which it i rofe. Kvery branch of tradCj even the fale of their pyratical prizes, is againft them; their good friends, the Dutch and French, impofe on them what prices they p'eafe, and give fuch as they think fit. TTieir filvcr and gold have been exchanged for powJer and balL Impofitions, cruel, partial, and unheard of in other flates, have already clipped the wings of liberty and wealth, probably never again to grow. it ( i'8 ) •I. Reprercntatioh and Taxation joined toge- ther, and in the phrafe, «* every man is his At It is true« like the Romans, whom they afre£l to ' nutate, an4 hope to e^cel, they have begun their em- pire in robljery and theft; but where (hall we find among them the Roman contlnency, parfimony, cou- rage, and love of their country ? Their new goveri?- ment is founded on ingratitude to Britain, and mutual perfeciition ; Uome owed nothing to a parent ftate, and %vithin itfelf was a family of brothers. Rome, after its WiJy, was remarkable lor piety and devotion } they, «t their very o'uifet- have difcarde^ all national religion, and dripped their Deity of every attribute, which can merit reverence or <.vorftiip. Rome, in its government, had powers, v/hich checked each other, and long pre- fervt^d the freedom of the people; they have thrown all the deliberative, judicial, and executive powers of gb- Virnment, into the hands of one body, which rauft ever he rulcu by one or two demagogues, who will con- sult the dictates of ambition, ofiener than thofc of liberty. The prefent exports of Amer.ca in grain, which is her chief (laple, arifes equally from an inattention, which is daily knening in turope, for that neceflary of life, and the circumftance of America b-Ing in that ftate of population, which enables her to cultivate her foil, while iho has no manufa£lurers to feed. She can add little to her prefent exportation, becaufe almoft every fcr'". fpot, and flie has many that are not fo, is now in full cultivation ; and we may affirm, tbat.all the corn fields within the thirteen provinces, are not capable of maintaining above ten millions of people. Suppofe her population fo far advanced, and her timber, which is her next ftaple article, cut down : inftcad of exporting, file muft import corn, if indeed (lie has any thing to pay for it ; or lathcr fhe will keep her population within her ability tc maintain it. ^ut a great proportion of her prefect ( "9 ) hh own leglflator," that makes up every defedt. And if they would acknowledge this enchantment in their attachment to the '■aufe of rebellion, and not pretend to give a reafon for it, nothing could be faid. They are obje<5ls of compallion. In a ftill higher concern, men love darknefs rather than light; and is it to be vi'ondered, if they prefer licentioufnefs, anarchy, and flavery, to legal freedom f Ne^^r {before did fentiment run fo wide of ' ■' i->n fenfe. Some, indeed, will in general, allow that colonies, which have been nourished, protected, and favoured by the parent (late, arc not at liberty to prefent exportation Is rice, produce J by the labour of flaves, an unhealthy employment, requiring conftant fup- plies of foreign inhabitants. And not taking this into ac- count, the life of man in America is fliortcr than iti Europe. On what grounds then could that firebrand Franklin have gone, when fancying America, in lefs than a century, .vnuld contain an hundred millions of people? Does p , ,u'":t n, in any place, keen pace with calculations; c I« * oi i made for times of longe\ity and fimplicity, vrhe./ 'I ^rc was no difeaie, no fermcnicd or fpirituous liquor^ no loathibme diAcmper that at- tacked nature in her fit ft (lamina, no liixuiy to toni ne to himfelf the care of the individual, no opprcflivc mafler to damp the very wifli for pofterity. T his we fay, without making allowance for thofe internal fqua|j- bles, quarrels, divifions, and emulations, of which American faints are as capable as orher men. I 4 ' fliake kai I W ' I '< 11 3 i B3 ( lao ) ihake off their dependence, jul'^ when it fuits their purpofes $ but then a trifling tax upon tea, with the dreadful confequences, which vapouri(h melancholy or intriguing ambition can deduce from it, is good and fufficient caufe for convulfing both countries to their foundations; and if the ruin of one or both follow, the fecret influence in the cabinet is alone to blame. If it be ob- ferved, that almoft all the n'-efent flaming friends of America, in op^ on, have ai^ed, at different times, undet this fup- pofed influence, and againfl the agitated rights of America, and therefore ought to be defplfcd for their mcannefs, and abhorred for their want of principle; prefent oppo- iition, like the crown, fills up all flaws, abfolves all crimes, can change a cheat into a patriot, a coward into an hero, — — 's private rcfentment exalt into public virtue, the timidity of — — -i into love of his country, over popi(h bi(hop throw a veil; and even Burke's declaratory bill wrap in oblivion. , Let us fuppofe a ikilful feaman, em- barked on board a (hip, in which he has coniiderable property. He fees, or pre* tends to fee, an heavy florm brewing, bids the %i . ( 121 ) the maftcr or pilot take notice of itj and points to a fafe harbour to leeward, with which he is acquainted, and which he affures them, they may reach in good time. He intreats, he begs, he protefts, in vain; the mafter is determined to keep the fca, and gives orders to make fail accordingly. Here the cale is ftateJ as ftrongly for op- pofition, as they could wifh; they are men of property, they are fidlful ftatefnien, they mean only the welfare of their coun- try; and the miniftry is foolidi and head- Arong. — The dorm comes on, the mafter . is alarmed, his orders are contradictory and . confufed, the danger grows extreme. If our ikilful feaman had the mind of our op- pofition, he would go about with a fliarp knife» and flily cut the tiller rope and {landing rigging, that the fhip might drive at once on (Iiore, and be diftnaded and wrecked. Far from this, he is the moft adlive perfon on board, gives the advice of a pilot, and does the work of a failor, goes about, examines the rigging, fets up the flays, makes fail to get round the neareft head-land, that (he may have room to drive, till the florm abate. Similar (hould be the condud of even the grcateft enemy to t; ( 122 ) to the meafures of adminidration ; and it will be the conduft of every good man, in a ftruggle, in which Britain contends with fons of ingratitude, for every thing valuable or honourable. ' Nothing is more common with the friends of America, than to allow in argu- ment, that the northern colonies, in par- ticular, have a fpice of turbulence and dif- obedience in their compofition; and in- deed, fince the prefent troubles began, they have given fuch difgufting fpecimcns of a difpofiiion at the fame time time tur- bulent and cowardly, that, in the middle colonies, it is common among the people to vvifli, that there might be a wall as high as heaven, to feparate them from fuch un- principled boafters. But, fay their friends, though their defigns be apparent enough, ihcugh their condudt has been precipitate and unwarrantable; yet even the pretence of liberty has fomething noble in it ; Britain has taken improper fteps to corrcft their ill humours, and that white-waflics all their preceding ill condud:, and makes them good and loyal fubje tllatorSf need not» it is true, call in the help of barba- rians ; yet one of their fird eflays in rebellion, was an attennpt to bribe the Indians to aflafSnate their fuper- intendants or agents ^ and, as appears in the minutes of the congrefs, they endtavoured to gain them over to th?ir party, long before adminiftration believed there would be any occaHon for their help. And it is well known, that the rebels boafted of having numbers of them in their camp at Boflon, in the middle ok 1775* "Five of them, who had ferved there, were taken after- wards in the fight on lake Champlain. April jQth, a ferjeant and three foldiers of the 47th were fcalped at Lexington. Early in 1776, feveral marines belonging to, a floop of war were fcalped in Georgia. Whether thefe things were done by favage Indians, or favage provincials, will not much change the complexion of the ftory. Some time about the beginning of 1 776, the Mora- vian converts among the Indians were folicited by the congrefs agents, to take up the hatchet againfl the king of Great Britain. This their deputies in their name pofitively refufed, and requeued the agents to deliver the following melTage from the Indian women to the American women: When we were heathens, we con- fecrated our fons to the god of war; now that ue are become Chriftians, we confecrate them to the prince of peace; we would recommend to you to follow the ex- ample." '■'■'-■: " :".^.'i On the other hand, in July 1776, a party frorh the rebel camp were furprifed on the Illinois by the Indians. They made towards their boat. The Indians called ta then> to furrender ; they fliould receive no ill treatment, ■ c . but ( 127 ) claration of war, which affirms that tht pofleflion of Canada was, by the miniftry, infifled on, to enable them to enflave America by (latutable tyranny ; unlefs we except what their writers for independency affirm, that they were dragged into the laft war by their connexion with Britain *.— They but be carried prifoners to the Britifti camp. In their attempt to get ofF, the Indians killed and fcalped Hx of them, and carried their trophies to Carleton. He feverely reprimanded them, and forbid thepra Sons of America reft quiet here. Britannia blufh, Burgoyne let fall a tear. , ; And tremble Europe's fons with favage race ; Death and revenge await you with difgrace." , When our army feized the poft afterwards, the foldiers were requefted not to deftroy this. They anfwered they were too well acquainted with rebel falfhood to re- gard or refent their bluftering rant. And now the n»- numenr (lands uninjured in Britifli quarters ; while the king's Itatue has been ignominioufly thrown down and melted intomuiket balls inthepolifhed city of New York. * Let a man read, in America's addrefs to Britain, the horrid defciiption of Popery, and compare it with the !i^ .i 11 Si ( '28 ) Tlicy affccl to forget, that a difputc be- tween them, and the Canadians alone, oc cafioncd the quaricl between the two mo- ther flates; and that the pofTcflion of Ca- nada, purchafed for them by Britain with immenfe treafures, and the ceflion of fugar colonics, perhaps of more immediate profit to Britain than all America taken together, have in them enabled thofe to contend for empire with the mod wealthy oJ warlike people of the world, who could not before defend themfelves from a few ragan^uHin French Indian traders, adliled by a fmall part of the refufc of the French army. It is well known that for thirty years back, perhips more, it has been a common fpeech in America, Give us once pofTefnon of Canada, and Britain may then Before thefe troubles began, a French writer could obferve, that Britain (houM have left Canada in the hands of France, to be a drain for her jnen and money, and a check upon the turbulent colonies of New England. Nor can a reflecting man the fair words which are given to Papifts in the ad- drefs to Canada ; and he will have no bad rule by which to judge of their candour, veracity, and caufe cf com- plaint. doubt, • ( 129 ) doubt, but that if Canada had continued fubjedt to France, our colonies would now have been indudriouily and peaceably em- ployed in incrcafing their own and the wealth of their mother country, inftead of Araining and cracking every nerve of their young and tender frame in a fruitlefs drug- gie for dominion : a ftrtrggle, which may indeed hurt their protedtor ; but to them- fclves will affuredly lofe every valuable purpofe of fociety, liberty, fecurity and wealth.—- Otherwife it is a ftruggle worthy of a people, who fay they have no king or fuperior on this (ide heaven (but the King of he? \ in their new forms of govern- ' ment .. .^ have difclaimed); that ruin and reconciliaaon are nearly related ; that they, .virtuous peoplef and favoured of heaven as < tthey are, ought to defpife and dread a con- ' ne^ion with corrupt devoted Britain. Such, L »tat leaft, is the language held forth to them - f by their ambitious leaders. r:-!' It is worthy of being remarked here, ^ IS that in the laft war, undertaken for them, dAihey fupplied the French fugar colonies n:^ with provifions, enabled them to fet out fwarms of privateers, which yearly captur- ed near half a million Britifh property, and '^i. J : ii if f "S \ ii' K )ppofe i -» ¥ "i oppofc various powerful armaments fcnt againft them ; when they would have been ahiioft obliged to furrender at difcretion, but for the Icandalous flags of truce fcnt from America, and the aflirtance given thence through the medium of the Dutch .. and Danes. To vindicate Britain in the aflual exer- ,' cife of ths right of taxation^ in impoiing ;, the ftarop duty, which is the pretended r foundation of the prefcnt difputcs, I (hall here relate what has been told mc by one, who believes, he gave adminiftration the firfl hint of the tax — Some time after _ Britain, in the peace of 1763, had facrificed 4 many of her valuable conquefts in every quarter of the globe, to procure fecurity to - America, by the poffeflion of Canada, a perfon, in office, obferved in company, .' where this gentleman was, the immenfe . load of debt, which Britain had incurred in the contefl j and the heavy pea^e efla- t blifhmcnt, which fhe vviiS obliged to keep J up, when every branch of trade, and every article of confumption, except that, which America, the chief gainer, dealt in, were . already loaded with taxes, more than they ,; were well able to bear : that this being the fituation ,( '3' ) fituation of Britain, America* now fecured at fuch an eXpence, and increafing fafl in trade and wealth, ought to take from BrU tain upon hcrfelf, at lead the burden of her own eftablifliment : that adminiftration (remark that Taxation had not then receiv- ed, from herald Chatham, his roat of arms, Reprefentation) had in view an ap- plication to parliament, to lay a tax upon America for fuch a reafonable purpolc ; but that they were then at a lofs to point out a mode of taxation, eafy in the execu- tion, fufficient for the purpofe, and little burdenfomc to the country which wsls to raifeit* ^''-'' ''' ' ' ^'^■'-- '- This gentlen'ian, being a native of Ame- rica obferved in reply, that about ij^S- the province of the MalTachuflets, having a fum of money to raife^ by tax, to pay fome public debt, laid a ftamp duty upon all conveyances, and other papers, refricdt- ing property, which no body felt, or com- • In any other but American aflemblies, and con- grefles, the Impudence and falftiood would be fatal, which aihrm that the Qamp duty was the firfl tax, that parliament ever attempted to lay upon them ; though it be proved to a demonflration, that from the firft fet- tlement of America it has been a conftant objeft both of parliamentary taxa'^ion and kgiflation. K 2 * plained it ( '3* ) plained againft, and which, in a few years, having paid off the debt, was repealed. Soon after this Granville propofed the ftamp duty ; and having in vain waited to fee if the Americans would propofe any aliernative, procufcd the paffingof the adt. Oppofition alone could find flavery in the defign, and treachery alone contrive to bring the authority of parliament into con- tempt, by procuring the repeal of it. In the mean time, men, acquainted with the fituation of the colonies, would rejoice to . fee a ftamp duty enaded, which, by a pro- per index in each office, might authenti- cate deeds, and prevent forgery. . , . Yet the partial impofition of taxes on America, and the fteps neceflary to enforce it, which rebellion obliged government to take, have all been conflrued into adls of . wanton oppreffion and tyranny over the mod fandlified, virtuous, and loyal citizens on the earth. Their refufing to pay their debts *, their hunting their creditors with mobs, ^ V. • In that c>*lcbratcd pamphlet, called Common Scnfe» firft pul)lifhed at Fhiladc'nhia Nov. 1775, which is the political ftandard of the 1 »ds of America, from which thry Irarn to echo the jorruption of Britain, and the maichlefs valour of America, there is the following re- markable [. ■ ■■ w 1^1 ich the re- ible { 133 ) mobs, abuHng and beating them, their de- Aru^ion of the property of thttir fellow- fubjcdts, their turning over to the fury of the inob every adivc friend of government, their difarming the troops^ feizing the public ftores, (hutting the courts of juftice, their mutinous remonftrances, embodying their militia, collecting ammunition, open oppo- fition to every adt of parliament, which they affected to didike; all which, and much more, preceded the firfl languid at- tempts of government to recover order and law among them, are pafTcd over, as if they had contributed nothing to provoke or force Britain into aftion. Nay, though with a filly parade of folemnity, they had proclaimed war againfl Britain, fix months before that adt pafled, which cuts off their commerce, and which indeed was only a counter part of their own refolution of non-= importation and exportation, though they markable fentcncr-. to which it will be difficult to aflix any meatring, beHdes a hint for confifcating 'he debts and property of the Britifh merchants in Amcri 'a. The fentence neither connects itfdf with what gocb before or follows after; and for that caufe appeal s more like a hint thrown out, to work its own way among the people. — ** There are rcafons to be given, in fupport of inde- pendence, which men ihould rather privately think oft jbitn. be publicly told of." K 7 '■" had I ' ■' 1 i ( «34 ) had firft ere(^ed a mock court of admiralty, to vindicate their pirates in feizing on the property of the Ilatej yet that llatute is a moft villainous act of tyranny, and would bear out the oppreflcd, peaceable, and vir- tuous Americans, if tliey fold themfclves to France, and Airrtd ur hell, to help them to ruin tyrannical, barbarous Britain. If a traiterous mafler of a tranfport betrays his truft, orat;eacherous pilot leads aBritiih {liip into a rebel port, if a coward, fculk- ing behiiid a wall, gflafllnates a foldier, it is all heroifm and bravery. But if one of their army of the Lord falls, in an attack upon the king's troops, it is foul murder; it is robbery for men, flarving in the midft of plenty, to fupply their neceffity in an enemy's country. In Ithort, fain wculd they appropriate to themfelves all the vil- lany, cruelty, and opprefllon of the blacked combination, and fcarce leave to their ad- yerfaries the liberty of complaining of thp cfFedls of thefe diabolical qualities *. -'«'-■- •. ""-'- "-. ■' "■-' "" By • Too longhaS abufed relijilon been made anfwerablc for all the dark plots of fuperftition, for all the violence of cnthufiafm, againft the rights and feelings of human nature. Every aft of oppreflion, every murder, and afTaflination, committed by thefe pretenders to her cha- ra^er, h&TC been placed tp her account j and every villany (^35) By thus attempting to fix the imputation of opprefllon and cruelty upon Britain, tilcir vlllany and crime, which have laid humanity bleeding at her feet, have been afcribed to her influence. Large is the (hare of -this abufe afcribed to her miniflers, and they have been held up to the abhorrence of their fellow- citizens, as if the reparation and inftitution of them, in fociety, were but anothername for the mifery, fufierinj;, a.nd llavery of mankind -, nor can a modern book or pamphlet be compofed, without a lamentable digrtflion on the tyranny of prieftcraft. It is high time for the next vaiuablepofllflion of man- kind, liberty, to come in for its (hareofcenfure. The prefent theatre of confufion, America, filled and adlu- ated, it is faid, with the mod exalted fentiments of liberty, and the natural equality of mankind, is exhibit- ing fuch numerous fcenes of horror, opprelHou, in- human murders, and unrelenting cruelty, in every pof- Hble drefs, thatonc* might almoft fancy, the inhabitants of that continent had become to each other infernal monflers, without feeling, without companion, with- out one drop of the milk of humani;ty, to tell their origin from, or vindicate their claim to, human nature- Shocking have been the fcenes afcribed to priuds and religion ; but (hocking as they have been, the fcenes, which patriots and liberty have, in a (hort period, pro- duced in America, need not decline the horrid conteft for fuperior baibarity. We may therefore exptft, that patriots and liberty fhall at lall become terms of reproach, and juflle prieils and religion from their long eflabiiihed llatinn of abufe. Analogy ceit;iinly requires it. Religion is no longer a bugbear; prielt is become a term of con- tempt; and both, by one daring ftroke oi politict', have been annihilated in the new American empire of liberty. Since Wilkes and patriot have meant the fame, liberty has raifed a fermentation, even among the dregs of the people, and is now the only word of incantatjon, that K 4 can f I r 1 ii i' B vt I I ( «36 ) their defign is to make the deluded people believe themfelvcs forced thereby into in- dependency. But the man mull be igno- rant of the hiftory of the northern colonics, who knows not, that their leading men have had the idea of independency con- ilantly before them for many years pad. Their religious tenets, their political indi- tutions, their common converfation, the can roufe this age to a£tion, the only quarry worthy of the fatyrifl or politician, the only libboleth to mark a party, or ciiftinguifli a faction. And k is proper, to mark the obfervation in time, that, as, unhappily for the virtue of mankind, has happened in the cafe of re- ligion, we may not fufFcr ourfelves to be ridiculed or abufed out of the fubflance of liberty; becaufe ah im- poftor, in her form, is now perpetrating every horrid a£l of cruelty in America, and forcing the heart of bene* volence and humanity to deny all acquaintance with, and knowledge of, fuch an hell-born fury. Why fhould the immaculate charafters of Burke, Barre, and Bull, and the reft of that band, which grace the prefent age, why fhould their noble tenets, which look fo fleadfaftly towards the rights, the honour, and interefls of their country, be ever confounded in one common cenfure, with the perfons and opinions of fuch men as the Bccket9 jmd Lauds of other times ? — The author was always at a lofs what to think of Burke's eloquence, till he read a . firing of infipid definitions, entitled his Sublime and Beautiful. It flruck him like a certain undetermined noife, of which neither the quarter whence it came, nor the tendency, could be eafily afcertained. But in that celebrated book, we are told that eloquence is a combination of fplendid founding nolhings, incapable of meaning or difcrimination. :>*• ;?^ . '' * very very terms ufed by them, to exprcfs every thing relating to their province, have long or rather conftantly tended this way. But the man mud (hut his eyes» who ever fmce the ceflion of Canada, cannot difcern the progrefs of their ambition. To pafs over every other circumflance, let them declare, what they think the men of fioflon meant, in 1768, when, in an infolent invc(ftive publiQied againft government, they exhort the people of the province, carefully to provide themfelves with arms ai^d ammu- nition^ for that they underdood,, fome people entertained fome apprehenfion of a war with France. - . '< ^? ..it ^• • v. Ever fince the outrages of the northern provinces became a fubjedl of ferious con- iideration, the author, judging from the whole tenour of their condu(ft, the natural and conftant progrefs of fuch difputes, the imbecillity of adminidration, and the daring treacherous conduct of oppolition, which encouraged them, has conflantly affirmed, that intriguing men among them, who either had little to lofe, or preferred a pre- carious ambition to the quiet enjoyment of their property, would continue to pu(h things to extremity, with a view of fctting up ■J, J'l; ■% \b 1'^ fc1 ( 138 ) up for themfelves. And accordingly their plan for a confederacy was prepared early in 1775* and the articles, wherein they alFedtcd to look towards a reconciliation, were clogged with demands, fuch as the cxpences of their rebellion, and the rebuild- ing of Charles-Town, to which they knew Great Britain would never fubmit *.— It has been his fixed opinion, that let Britain yield every conteftcd claim, and give up every difputcd point, ftill new de- • * The patriots in oppnfition are conftantly bawling out, withdraw your troops from America, repeal the cfifagreeable ftatutcs, and be reconciled to that peaceable people. Yet, if they know any thing of the defign^ and wiQies of the leading men in America, they mufl: know that they abhor every thing that looks towards quiet. They are not yet mounted high enough in the car of ambition ; nor are their mobs yet tired of the cfFefts of their enthufiafm. Chatham's plan was as much reprobated and ridiculed as North's, in America; nay, it was faid of him, that his notions of liberty were futile and contrafled. The head of another band of patriots is faid to pay immenfe fums for intelligence. Let him declare, if in all his communications there be a fingle article in favour of reconciliation. The leaders of America with to draw out the prefent war into a length fufficiv.nt to train them up for their fancied em- pire. In fhort, the advice of oppofition for peace is juft as wife, as it would be to exhort a man, to fufter his hands to be tied behind his back, as the rcadieft and befl way to get the better of a little ungrateful fpitcful imp, who, without provocation, had fallen on him, and continued to aflault him. • ''.; '' ^ -- -'^ ••' ' ' s-- ■ «' ' mands ( 139 ) iT^andS'WOuld be m;ide upon her indulgence, fi\\\ new objedlions would bcJ'ormcd againft her rights. And on this account, he has earneil:]y wlfl^ed, that Britain had been JaviHi, and even mean, in her conce^rion?; becaufe he is pcrfiiadcd, they would not have contented America in her enthu/iartic purfuit after independency and empire; but fuch a conduct would have effedually feparated the well-meaning in cppofition, from thole traitors, vA\o, had they but their rage againft thofe in office fatiated, and their private ambition indulged, care not if their country be ruined in the ftrug- gle, who, in concert with the ambitious demagogues in America, jufl let as much of their plan appear to the vulgar, as will keep the flame alive, and draw both coun- tries on infenfibly into ruin *. '- Could c^nnim 'Xi * I diftlnguifh in oppofition betwixt the well-meaning and faftiouti. By faftious, 1 underfland all having pcr- ifonal diflike to the king or the minifters, and all who want to confound affairs, in hopes, that the perplexity attending fuch a fituation may induce the crown to foli- cit their affiitance. Thefe men would exult to fee their . country fall under the managenier.t cf their rivals ; nor value they what deftruclicn overtakes her, if they them- felves can only fcramble up to the top of the ruin, and find their enemies overwhelmed under them, if their ,^il-omened conjectures turn out falfe in the ilTue, like . Jonas it * -I '' \ u. \ I! !■ . ?■:■ M i . ( HO ) Could a proper umpire be found to di- vide between America and Britain, t6 each ' . ; their , - ■•■■■■''■'.■■'; ■* "■'■■'t *5 ' r* Jonas they fret, and are ready to call providence to an account for not executing their malice on their country. Nine months have elapfed fince the time fett in the lower houfe, by a certain fimplc-fighted Peer, for the crc£lion of the French ftandard v.ithin fight of its walU. And will any doubt, that his military flcill would will- ingly have CO operated to bring the event about, or that he curfes not the inactivity of the French, for failing to fulfil his prophefy. That fame hero, enquiring intq the condu£l of Arnold's fleet on the Lakes, hung his head, when told, that the whole fquadron could not make an impreflfion on one fmall Britifh fchooner; but imme- diately brightened up, and faid there were hopes, when it was added, that they pointed their guns tolerably. Such men deferve no quarter, and have no claim tu bf treated with delicacy. But it is alio true, that men of learning, fentiment, and penetration, amiable in their manners, and unde* figning in their condu£l, are to be found in every quarter of the empire, warm favourers of America, i^hefe men have formed in idea a perfed^ion of govern- ment, for which Britain and her appendages are. not yet fit. A£lo of parliament and meafures of adminiftration may, no doubt, be found militating with thefe refined notions; and fo fully do they pofl'efs thefe men, that they are apt to execrate every ftep, though never fo ne- cefTary, that agrees not exa(Stly with them ; and being ignorant of the people, who are the obje£ls of thefe ob- noxious meafures, they believe of their merit according to their own candour. Improper meafures and unfuc- cefsful wars are incident to the bcfl conducted flates *, a nation muft fit down contented under the efFcAs of them ; but for a (late to have the moft amiable of its members, men on whom it could moft depend in a day of trial, take the part of her deadly foes againft her. ( «4' ) their proper fliare of the public debts, fj that America might take upon her own funds the fatisfadtion of particular creditors ; Britain, agreeably to dodtor Tucker's ex- hortation, might cheerfully give up the dependency of America, and would be a gainer by the bargain. Then might (he fufFer her ungrateful children there, with- out repining, without envy, to make the moft of their fituation. Or as the Dutch are fo ihdudrious in ailitling to raife this independent empire in America, fuppufe we only affigned their money in the funds, to the Americans for payment; and threw befides into the fcale our fovcreignty over America in full right. The Briti(h ifles, including Ireland, but once equally incor- . porated, and free of the burdens contraded ^in the caufe of America, are yet capable of maintaining their rank, and iitting at the head of Europe, were America, in refpe ' fi I I;'-' 6' , I . • [. I: is alarming and mournful indeed, and almod cuts oW ' the hopes of rerovery. — To regMti fuch men to their r,-^ country, is a glorious purpofe. ——The author boaAs of it, as his chief view iu the prefent work, and (hall cftecm himfelf happy if he attains it. ^ ..u.r lapfed ( '4* ) l^pfcd into that ftate of poverty and barba- r'^Cm, in which Britain originally found it. If what is here written, refpeding the fubordination of America be rcckoncci worthy of animadvcrfion, I doubt not to hear of the mournful effeds of miniflcrial influence and arbitrary power, exercifed among that virtuous people. To this I fliall reply, that this complaint from op- pofition, from men, who would themfclvcs be miniders if they could, ought to have fmall weight. That a minifler is neccflary to carry on the public bufinefs, and necef- fary that he (hould have an influence in it, even when it refpe(3s fearful America. If he does wrong, while any public virtue is left among us, he may uc b'-^ught to an account. When virtue is once entirely loft, the choice of our miniftcr or our tyrant is matter of fmall importance. Even in this cafe, of one thing I am certain, that while Britain and Ireland and the co- lonies continue united, no tyranny or arbi- trary government can eredt its head, that may be compared either with the burden of a foreign yoke, or the opprefllon of the ariftocracies or tyrannies, under which the empire, on its diflblution, muft of neceflity be •f-'3.i ( 143 ) be crumbled. That Britain and her co- lonies may continue united and free is the neared wifh of my heart; but that Britain and her colonies may continue united on any terms and in any {late» I wi(h more carneftly, than any thing, which the moft fanguine expccftation can reafonably form as confequent on their feparation. I, 'f vi C Vi*! %- H A P. VII. StriSiures on the prefent Management of the Colonies, 'n ' \\ , I ' H TH E fupremaCy of Britain, over her coIoni'*s, without adding liberty, privileges, or fecurity to the colonics, has been more injured by that mock (hadow of her conftitution, which has been eftablini- ed among them, than by every other cir- Cumflance. Mankind is more ruled by names, than man knows or is willing to allow. — The benefit is inconceivable, which the Americans have reaped in the prefent difpute, only from afTuming the name of Whig, and arbitrarily impofing that of Tory on the friends of Great Britain. And yet there are an hundred "* names. it:' i m - S? S I: (( 144 ) names* that would have equally well fuited both parties ; nor is there any thing in the definition of the two terms, that fhould give the one fo much the advantage oVer the other. A tory is an cafy flow animal, rot apt to be alarmed for his country, till hi thinks himfelf in danger, and then hd can buftle with the beft. A whig hates power in every other hand but his own. He affcdts to be tremblingly alive to every thing rerpe<5tiiig the public. Every exer- tion of authority not originating with his party, is tyranny, accurfed. The conillta- tion is a piece of foft wax, to be, from time to time,, {haped and moulded accord- ing 10 the changeable views of the party. An alteration, made to favour them> is no . longer to be retained, than while it anfwers thai end. Mobs are excellent avengers of liberiys when they are not ih power ; but mufi be cruQied, by riot adts, with more than Afiaticdcfpotifm, when they hold the reins. A whig excels in chemiflry ; for he can draw the nioft Jreadful cOnfe- quences from the txj,<^xi f?>mple occurrence, and from a lap dog can extraforbed into the public, and the pretenHons of the colony as to be found only in the common good. Accordingly whenever parlia- ment has leifure to difcufs the privileges of the corpo- ration of London, their oppofition, under pretence of Vprivilege, in 1777, to man the fleet, which has been deemed neceflary for public prote^ion, muft be deter- inined into a ciime hardly ihort of treafon, and work a more juft forfeiture of charter, than has yet happened : io the courfe of our hiftory. :;ro and> 'I; :;: If i -^ ( '54 ) and, in matters of trade particularly, (hould have no effecSl, till it lias undergone a criti- cal exaqiination in parliament, and has been found compatible with the general intereft of the empire. Selfifh diftindtions, perfonal privileges, and local reilridions, are equally odious to liberty and commerce. Let evrry local hardOiip, in the profec^tion of the plan, he abrogated, every ufcful meafure extended throughi)ut the empire, that equal law may prevail, and embrace every member of our free ftaje. There lies a weighty objedion again ft this alteration:, the introdudtion of this new mode of governing the colonies, will throw much new bufinefs into the hands of the miniftry and parliament, which their prefent forms are but ill adapted to accele- rate, and bring to ifTue; and for which the latter, particularly^ could not podibly find time,' without drawing their attention from thofe great national objeds of dogs and partridges, which coipe under their cogni- zance every feffion. There is, therefore, danger, left parliament negledt the internal ceconomy of the colonies, or want leifure to attend ferioufly and in time to their in- tereft.— To this I arfwer, that one of the A deli'' ! 1 1\ J- (. '55 ) jdcUbcratlve branches of the Icgiflaturc, draws all its fplendour and didinftion from this hereditary right of legiflation; that the members of the other arc chofen, in con- fequence of their own folicitation. Both, therefore, hold th^ir places with the burden of doing their duty. But indeed, the whole might be made eafy, and to fall in with the prefent liillenhefs in public bud- * nefs, by the appointment of proper com- mittees, and admitting, as we have pro- pofcd, delegates from the colonies, who will naturally become members of the committees, and puQi forward th^^ bufinefs of their rcfpcdlive colonics. ~ Agreeably to this plan of the fuperln- tending care of parliament, let every a£l: of provincial legidation go through the pre- fent colony forms. Let all the arguments, for and again d any new regulation, or abolition of the old, be fairly Aated in writing, for the information of parliament, by the confent of the managers on both fides of the queflion, in the colony legif- lature. For the decifion of the majority, efpecially, as often happens in our colonies, when blindly led by that moft ihamelefs of all tyrants, a defigning demagogue, muftnot always II t I ( 156 ) h always be confidcrcd cither as the fcnfc of the community, or the cdi(fl of truth. If it be a matter of immediate ncccflity, let the decifion of the majority take place for a certain time in the colony, till it can be brought before parliament. Let the fane* tion of parliament be neceflary for every regulation refpcdting trade, and every per- petual provincial law. It is full time to ^uard againfl the abfurdity, impropriety, and injury of different oppofite jarring Icgiflafures in the ftate. To profecute the idea, let tlie affemblies, in each pr'ovipce, affifted by their beft lawyers, review the whole colony ads, and ftate each with the arguments for and agaiiift it, for the in- fpedion and determination of parliatnent, or at lead a committee of it, the colony agents, cr reprefefitatives in parliament, managing the debates, artd carrying the bills through the nccefTiry forms. All provincial ;'cgu- latioiw flibuld be rendered as fimpie as pof- fible, and as univerfally uniform as their va-rioufs cirCumftances will permit. " Perhaps I may be told, that colony agents anfwer the purpofe of reprefenta- tives, and that the privy council, which puts the lafl hand to colony afls, may be ■ . - . con- ( '57 ) tonCdered as a committee of parliament, which, equally with our fchcmc, anfwers the defign of bringing colony regulations before parliament. I lliall only reply, that I have heard of agents, who have been ufeful, and of others, who have nested as partizans of a fadion; that in general, they coniider the intercds of their little fpots, as fet in oppofition to the good of the em- pire; whereas rcprefentativcs, deliberating in parliament, mud extend their views to the whole ftat€; that the privy council can only generally approve or difapprove of anaft, but cannot favour a right mino- rity, or help forward an ufeful regulation. ' Parliament then mud put the lafl hand to the police of the colonies. ' " We have laid down the mode, in which we wi(h, the colony fyftem were improved, we come next to the objedt, about which it muft be exercifed.— Imports are the great engli^e of modern policy ; and fince, in fome (hape or other, they are neceflary in the colonies, and Britain has hitherto exercifed a kind of joint legiflative authority with the colony aflemblles, let us enquire, how both may be moft advantagcoufiy managed, fo as to fall in with the claims 7 and ■1 i m ( «S8 ) jind wants of the enading fovercign, and ihe privileges and prejudices of the fub- ordinnte contributing colony. Or, the fuppofition of America and Bri- tain continuing united, it was agreed on by ail parties, to leave, in general, to Britain, the regulation of the foreign trade of her colonies, though the particular ex- crcife of this right, cfpecially in the tax upon Madeira wine, has been cenfjred in her b" her wifer children, and made one of the catalogue of their intolerable griev- ances. It is indeed furprifing in fuch con- fummate confiitent politicians as the con- grefs, who can, in a line, decide the rights of fove reign and people, and cut afunder the gordian knot of authority and obedience, how they have gone backwards and forwards in their magifterial decisions, conceruing Britain's power over their fo- reign trade. Firft, (he ought to enjoy, of right, a general controul over their tranf- adtions with foreigners. Then comes out a decifion, declaring her to have no right to intermeddle with their trade in foreign wine, or indeed, to keep them from going to the moft convenient market. Again, in their votes, (he was complimented with the ( 159 ) the regulation of foreign trade. L?tcly (he is become tyrannical, oppreflive, and arbitrary, for not leaving them entirely to heir own management and government, foon as they were plcafed to defire it *. ■;■-• • ■ ■■' '■■;'" ' But It is curious to remark the jealoufy of the Ameri- .. of the power of parliament, as if that which was t.ic fecurity of one part of the Britifh dominions could be th-s ruin of another. If they be Britons, and when it fuits their purpofes, they are exceedingly apt to claim all the privileges of Britont?, ihtn their fecurity is founded in the fovereign influence of parliament. If they be not Britons, let them aflumc a name, cicfine their relation to the Britifh (late, and open the pita, by which, as aliens, they attribute to themfelves the privi- leges and rights of Britifh denizens. But they would rather, that their privilegcti and police (hould depend on thofe ignorant, felfiih, interelted, combinations among thenacives, ycleped afTcmblies, phantoms of le- giflatures, than on the foverei;;fn parliament of the flate, which can have no biafs, unlcfs, if we rnay be allowed the exprefTion, for general improvement. This preju- dice may be natural enough for an affembly-man, but is folly and madnefs in the mafs of the people. It is well known, that, in laws of general import, fuch a lilllefT- nefs prevails in affemblies, as prevent them from being ever brought to conclufion, that oppofite factions each obftruft improvements that originate from their adver- farieSj and fnatch at every pitifui advantage to get their own little fchemes to bear ; that if any thing of public benefit pafTes, ihefe legiflators by chance muff be bribed with fomc exemption, or Ibme partial privilege refpe^l- ing their facred perfons, and that no regulation can be pufhed through, which comprehends their order. In a particular colony, which is now brought to the brink of ruin for want of a well regulated court of Chan- cery. .1 % I mmm ( 160 ) 1 But keeping to the general allowed right, we may affirm, that all impofitions on * ■s|i;1 eery, they have been hammering ten years at a law, without: coming to a deciGon, though the king's repre- fcntative be particularly inftru£led to co-operate with them, and frequently importunes them to proceed. In a certain colony^ lately, a militia bill could not be paff- ed, though deemed eifentially wanting, without ex- empting a branch of thelegiflature from all diity. In a town lately deftroved by fire, and believed to dc done by incendiaries with a d^fign to rob, it was propofed to eftabli(h, by a colony a£l, a nightly watch. It could not pafs, without excepting, from the burden, the ftore- houfes belonging to members of aflembly, though thefe were moil expo^d to accidental and intentional depfe- dations. But what need to multiply inflances, «»hen we confider the preference given to the fmuggler over the fair trader, the impunity with which all forts of crimes are committed, th: ough their ill fupportcd impotent po- lice. In fhort, *< every man his own legiilator" is a fat? founding phrafe; but whenever it is reduced topra£lice in a thin colony or fmall ifland, it is only a name for faction, intrigue.) felixflinefs, partiality, difputation. In this cafe, the interefl; of the individual, who legiflates^ is an objed that bears a confiderable proportion to the whole, and a good law, properly fp^^aking, impofe$ fome burden on, or takes fomething from the individuaU to he repaid him only with the whole community Iv A public benefit; but man, in common, is not apt to la- crifice his particular concerns to the benefit of his neigh- bour, or give up a private right or claim to be reimburf- ed by public utility. In a large (late, as Britait), a law can hardly be feigneil, that (hall fenfibly afFeft tVz pri- vate interefl of a number of reprefeniatives confiderable enough to be heard. In fuch an affembly, the membcs will therefore fet icmfelves coolly to the tnlk of legifla- tion, and, in geti:r'al, determine impartially, as in mat* tcr ( i6' ) on til' foreign trade of the colonies, in which I include their intercourfc with each other, muft be enacted in Britain, as the connc(fling head of the empire, and be le- vied in the colonies at the place of impor- tation or confumption. But as one great defign of thefe taxes is the regulation of trade, in order to make them fit eafier on the colonies, let them be laid in a manner fimilar to the like imports in Britain; or, rather let them, as v;e have before recom- mended, take efFed: in the colonics, only in confequence of their general ufe and de- fcription, and let them be thrown into a fund for fupporting the naval force, and commercial garrifons of the empire. We will fhew the reafonablenefs of this by ex- ample. tcrs not immediately afFe£ling themfelves. Even here, wc have an exception in the Ariftocratical oppreflive fpirit of our game laws, the drift of which may be con- fidered as a kind of party bribe, to get the country gen- tlemen to forward public bufinefs, in which they are apt to fancy themfelves little concerned. And though we can fay nothing in its favour, yet would to heaven, a majority to do the kingdom's bufinefs, had never co(t the ppoplea bribe of greater value. To conclude, the colo lies will never make the proper advances in police and government, while each legiflates in dernier rcfort for itfelf. M The mm im ( "62 ) The Americans are perhaps more con- cerned in the prefervation of Gibraltar and Minorca^ than Britain herfelf ; and as their trade, up the Mediterranean, and to the fouth of Europe, goes n a circle between them and foreigners, in which, by means of fmuggling and cunning, Britain has little fliare, they cannot pretend to fay, that their trade is an equivalent for their protection. The like may be affirmed of their fisheries, ar»d the greateft part of their trade to Africa and the Weft Indies, where the countenance of our forts and fquadrons, in a trade generally detrimental to Britain, and even in moft articles, except lumber, unneceffary to our fugar-iflands, procures them a freedom and fecurity equal with our own traders. Here then lies a proper field for taxation, in which the permiffion and protedion of trade may fairly ftand in place of reprefentation. Let all other colony taxes, even thofe for the fupport of their own civil eftablifh- ments be annihilated. Let an equivalent be laid upon their produce or ftaple, when imported into Britain, or the place of its confumption, if within the empire, or if for foreign demand, at the port of expor- 1 tation. tiitioA.' Let the mother-country take uport herfelf the whole civil and ecclenaftical cftabliftiments of the feveral colonies, and the payment of all falaries. Draughts for faUries and contingent expences (hould be made upon the Exchequer, and they (hould be received there as ready money, in part of the payment of the duties laid upoa the ftaple of the colony. By this contrivance, no money needed go out of the treafury, for the fupport of government in the colo- nies, the courfe of exchange between Britaia and her colonies, at prefent fluduating and difadvantageous, would be fixed at the pro- per medium; the mother-country would acquire a new and ncceffary influence over her children; thev would be connedcd to her by a new bond of intereft, and be relieved from an inconvenient internal burden *.-— 4a another view,, the colonies receive % 4hfP^^^ ^^^ following arrangement haJ taken place liilll|^!1^ear$ago. Commerce is faid to be the bed bond hy which to connccv America with Britain. Suppofe it. that commerce mufl be regulated by fome authority, and it mu(t exclude fmuggling. With this view, let the external, or foreign trade, be confined to certain ports, and be carried on in vefl'els of a certain dcfcription. The ports might be Halifax, Quebec, Rhode lllant', New York, a port iii ih*^ Delaware, near the Capes, ac- M. 2 cellible r-5 mam If; 15 ( 164 ) receive in Britain the price of their flaple* and there it is eafiefl to pay their taxes ceffiblc to our (hipping, another limilarly fituated in Cheafapeak Bay, one in South Carolina, one in Geor- gia, St. Augultine. VefTels employed in the external trade (hould be brigantines, fnows, and (hips; in the coafling trade, floops and fchooners. Security {hould be given for each for their employment in a fair trade» which fhould be forfeited, on conviiiion of having fmuggled. Quebec, Ticonderoga, and one or two other places to the fouthward, among the back fettle- meiits, {hould have refpedable garrifons, and always have twelve months provifions and fuel in (lore. Rhode , Ifland fhould be garrifoned, as a {Ration for the fquadron. New York (hould be the principal place of arms. Small citadels (hould be ere£led at all the above-mentioned ports i the Americans, who are fo good at throwing up trenches, will foon complete them.— — Thefe checks are not to be confidered as badges of flavery ; but as a protei^ion of the fobcr, againit the mad part of the community: nor need they hinder individuals from en- joying the fullefl: fecurity in their perfons and pro- y'tf-^y. in the We{l: Indies, every ifland {hould have a free port, for the exchange of American produce with foreign colonics, ^ut it {hould be confifcation of {hip and cargo, and forfeiture of fecuritvt for Americans to trade immediately with the Dutch, i)ani{h, French, or Spa- nidi colonies j the reafon of this reftrlftion will here- after appear. Foreigners {liould be allowed to traffic in ca{h, cattle, hides, Indian corn, ufeful woods, cocoa, Mulcovado fugar, molafles ; in (hort, with every raw material, the produce of America. For the accommo- datloQ of Hifpaniola, Tortuga or Turks Ifland {hould be appropriated, and made a free port. By this regu- lation, our fugar- iflaiuts would no longer be facriflced to the contraband trade^ carried on between America and the fore.'gn colonies. , and -( 16S. ) and public expences. We will make this plain by an example. The old C^rlLbee Iflands pay an internal tax of 4^ per cent on all their produce, except cotton, to the king's privy purfe, and about one in two hundred, of their chief daple, fugar, to the miniders of the •ftablifhed church, both together making about five per cent. Jamaica and mofl of the ceded iflands pay not the king's tax ; and the few eccIeHaflical eflabli(liments among them are too trifling to be brought into account, though they are all more able to pay both than the old Caribbee Iflands. Jamaica, in particular, has or may have, very great private advantages, in its trade with the Spanifh fcttlements, which thefe iflands, that pay this tax, enjoy not*. The largenefs and certainty of its market, make the price of all commodities more equal and certain there than in fmall iflands, in which the arrival of an extra- ordinary lading will reduce the value of a necefTary article fo much, as to difcouragc * This trade has been for fome time pad in the hands of the Americans j bu'. for this, and the reafon given in the preceding note, it (hould be confined to Jamaica. M 3 the ■i m i P ( i66 ). the dealers in it, and perhaps occafion aU mod a famine in it, in a few months after- wards. And the ceded idands have not yet raifed the price of their cane-larids to the extravagant height to which they have reached in the old iflands, where, in fome cafes, upwards of 250 1. fterling have been given by the acre 5 and they poffefs a rich- nefs and frefhnefs of foil, which makes their produce bear a much greater pro- portion to the value of their flock than in the old iOands. There is, therefore, no good reafon to be given, why the whole ftiould not be put upon an equal footing in refped of taxes, when we confj^er them as children deferving equal favours from, and owing equal allegiance to the parent ftate. But fuch of them as have been conquered by the arms of Bri- tain, or fettled by her public treafure, have fomething by way of debt or recom- pence to repay, rather than a claim to par- ticular exemptions. Let then both thefe taxes, in the Ca- ribbee iflands, be abolifhed, and let an equivalent tax of fivw in the hundred, which jn fugar may be eftimated at twenty pence for every hundred pounds of fugar at the king's ( .6; ) king's beam in Britain, added to the pre- fent duty of fix fliillings and four pence, be laid upon the produce of all the fugar iflands. Out of this the king might have a liberal equivalent for his tax, the minif- ters might draw their falary from the Ex- chequer, a confiderable revenue would be left to the difpofal of parliament ; the old Caribbee iflands, which, in truth, are un- able to bear any new impofition, would have an inconvenient tax changed into one they would not be fenfible of; and though it would be a new burden to Jamaica and the ceded iflands, yet thefe would ftill be on an equal footing with the reft, and in frefhnefs of foil and conveniency of fitua- tion, would ftill enjoy advantages above them*. . ' ' . •■ • ■ ., . CHAP. • There is only one objeftion to this alteration, which is, that mofl; plantations have ufuaily a ceitain proportion of fugar, of an inferior quality, which ferve well enough for the payment of the king's duty. But as this inferiority generally arifes fronr. deHgn in fome, and inattention in others, the taking away this mode of paying the duty, would roake planters more careful iii manufacturing thefugar, and probably mend the quality of the whole. The fuppofition of our fugar colonies coming under the dominion of independent America, is a frequent topic of converfation among Wed Indian planters, ind is favoured very abfurdly by too many of them. For their meditation, I will enumerate all the feveral ad- M 4 vantages } ( 168 ) CHAP. IX. uv General Plan for the Government of the Colonies, WE have vindicated the fovereign authority of the Britifli parliament over the whole empire j we have (hewn that the colonics may not only he confider- ; cd vantages that will accrue to fugar planters from that event. t) '■ Firft. As foon as thefe new high and mighties are fixed in the fovereignty of the Weft Indian colonies, proclamation will be ifTued for every proprietor to return to hia plantation, or to fix his abode in fome of the thirteen ftatcs, that the profits of their plantations may be fpent within the new' empire. We (hall have no more fugar planters, in this land of luxury, giving um- brage to nobility. Next, a fevcre inquifition >^1 be made into all fums of money due in Britain by the fugar colonies, which perhaps may mount to fix millions fter- ling. Thefe will be cla'med by the congrefs treafury to liquidate their debts, and, no doubt, Weft Indian in- tereft will be required, till the principal be paid by in- ftallments. The congrefs fpics boaft of knowing every man's chara£ler in the Weft Indies. Every friend of Britain, who has prq3erty there, will be declared ma- lignant, and his pofieflions will be granted to fome bankrupt licnry, Adams, or Hancock. The Americans have always preferred a trade with the French colonies to exchange with ours. It was con- trrband, and the French ftnple being of a worfe quality, came more within their ability to purchafe it. When- ever ( 169 ) ed as a part of that empire ; but as help- ing to conflitute that refpublica or na- tional intered, which it is the duty of par- liament to regulate and manage. We have fhewn that taxation cannot be fepa- rated in idea from fovereignty, that the gloomy dread of fovereignty is reduced to nothing, by introducing into it, as a;i el- fential part, a temporary reprefentation, chofen from the mafs of the people, and ever the Britifh mi.\z. "s (hut up from our fugar colo- nies, fugar and ru*^ ' - nil fu)' fifty per cent; a com- fortabl* expedarjcn r: ^en, that f .d the prefent high prices inadequate ij their demands. Governments will be multiplied in eveiy ifland, to provide for fome worth- lefs colonel or general, and agreeably to the mode of all difbnt appendages to popular ftates, the governor will be arbitrary and the people will be opprefTed. As MefTrs. of America will then be the rivals of their pre,- ut firm ally of France ; and as their pofTcfnons will interfere, and here wilt be no other places, that cnn giv 'hem a pretence for keeping up an ^rmy, the iilands v \\l be filled with foldiers, to be m .attained and paid by their fubjefts the fugar planters. While the v:iluc of lugar and rumwill bediminilhed one h^If, the prefent cuf« toms and excife will be continued at their full value; and often will the poor planter be twitted with bis for- mer luxury, when he petitions to have the impcft re- duced. Then will they remember with bi/ter regret, the mild rule, and happy times of Britain, when their ftaple was encouraged and themfelvrs free j and could the fuflPering be confined to men Vo have fooIi(hly favoured the unnatural rebellion, fhcrr muft be fomc- thing very peculiar in the cafe of ^a.r who (hould be fouud an object of pity. 6 returning i' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 11.25 m 125 K ■^1^ 22 [If I4i '^ ^ ll£ 12.0 I 1.8 U II 1.6 i" — "A o> <^ ^2 >> Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WiST MAIN STRIEf WEBSTIR,N.Y. MSSO (716)172-4303 TV '*h O^ ► .<^. ^ ^''.v^ ; ^ •*'V-*-'^ ,% z ^ ■•\' tl ( '70 ) returning among them, to fubmit to the laws which they themfelves have enadcd ; that our prcfent fyflem of colony govern- ment is efTentially deficient $ and how it . might be improved on the prcfent founda- - tion. But if we return to the threefold view, which we have given of colonies or fubordinate provinces, we Hiall there be- hold a fyftem of government gradually un- folding itfelf, and adapting itfelf to each, iaccording to their various circum (lances* < This we now propofe to confider. - In favour of Britain's exercifing her right as fovereign, in taxing her colonies, "whether fettled in peace or acquired in war, confidered in the firft point of view as in- /erior appendages merely, we will not he- litate to affert, that a very large (hare, and even the moft burdenfome part of her pub- lic debt, ought to be placed to the account of her colonies. I mean, this debt has not only been contradled in their quarrel, but thilt th^y have reaped, and are now enjoying the benefit of the expence. tThereforc, even fetting afide the authority of the fuperior or parent flate, the colonies, out of juflicc, ought to contribute, to the utmofl of their power, to lighten the bur- den. ■,« '. / . den, which they have laid on their pa- rents or guardians (boulders. Butjudice, and far lefs gratitude, is not an attribute to be afcribed to communities. ' * If, as fome of her ungenerous children fay, (he had only her own profit in view, when (he run into thefe expences, then, furely, agreeable to their pofition, when (he incurred them, (he believed (he was c(labli(hing a claim for re-payment. And therefore (he has a right of turning to her own profit, among them, that expence which (he laid out with fuch a view, and of obliging them to pay for a pr6te£tion, of which they embraced, with anxiety, the benefit ; and if a thanklefs province refufes fuch re-payment, (he is vindicated for be- ing at further expence to afifert her claim, and forcing them to make the whole good, who gave occafion for the burden. Hence it clearly follows, that though a tax laid upon them, with this view of reimburfing the expence of tl: nr protedion, may be both burdenfome and impolitic, it cannot be deemed illegal in this refpe<^, till the debt contracted be repaid. The very no* tion of accepting protedion on this ac- l^nowledged conQderation of re-payment, ^ (up- ■V. \ 1 i I ( 172 ) ^ * fuppofeth a power in the proted):or of pre- fcribiDs: the mode. The colonids, there- fore, tike nciliiflg by this fuggeAion of in- gratitude. N In every view, therefore, of expediency, of judice, of obligation, and authority, Britain pofTeOfes a power of taxing her co- lonies i and till an umpire be chofen be- tween them, her own difcretion, and at- tention to the general good, can alone pre- fcribe the mode and meafure of the tax. This difcretionary power may be confider- ed as an hard(hip ; but it is an hard(hip incident to the beft human conftitution* '.There can be no medium between a power in the fovereign to enforce obedience, and a power in the fubje^t to refufe obedience. And we may leave to the warmed friend of liberty, to fay, whether the bulk of man- kind be fufhciently difintereiled and im- proved in the prefent age, and fo tho- roughly under the guidance of reafon, as to be permitted to prefcribe, each man for himfelf, his own condudi: in fociety, that is, to do only what is right in his own eyes, or to be wholly without government, i Further, in all communities founded up- on law, and of fuch only do we treat, the ■r / ■ -—-^ .-.Y--;, - ., ;-- life. :^>^- ' ^ \ , ■i 'n-* ,' -l ^ ^ K y'^.:::y .-, r 173 ) • , -■■ • life, the liberty, the property of the indi- vidual are to be conlidercd, indeed, as facred, unlefs when crimes forfeit them, or the public fervice demands them of any one» in common with others. Thefe perfonal privileges emigrate to the colony with the citizen, thefe perfonal privileges cleave im- mediately to the foreigner, when permitted to fettle within the limits of the colony or ilate. But whether colonics {hall be al- lowed to trade to fuch and fuch places, or raife fuch and fuch manufadiures, without contributing a (hare of their gains to carry on the public good, are matters to be de- termined by the general intered and con- veniency of the ftate. Colcmies may be confidered as farms belonging to the mother country or parent {^.ate; and like farms are fubjevhofe hands are the management and pro-^ tedion of the whole, for the benefit of both* We may indeed carry on the analogy Aill further. Often is the landlord obliged to launch out into expences, contract debts> and involve his affairs, to maintain the port and intercfl of the family, to fupport a fheriffalty or fome other chargeable public office, to oppofe fome competition of a ri-^ val family, while the younger brother or farmer keeps fnug, contracted in himfelf^ improving his own affairs, watching over the neceffities of his landlord, making ad" vantage of them, and an occafion of flriking profitable leafes and contrafts.'-^The ea^- iiefl, the bed: fituation for individuals, not bitten by the tarantula of ambition, which requires for its cure the drums and horror of war, is to be member of a community, fubordinate to, yet participating in, the pri- leges of a free ftate. Every privilege va- luable to a private man is enjoyed, without the fervices and burdens, which in the fo- vereign ilate mufl maintain and fupport i! f •^ %..* .-^■ r them. : . 1 ' 1 ,1 »■ *' v> ( ^7S ) them *. This was actually the cafe of America. While Britain fufFcrcd all the lofles • Yet it 5s to be remarked, that this (late of cafe and fecurity, in a fubordinate condition, is in a manner pe- culiar to the Britifh empire. In almofl: every other cafe» the more free the mafter, the more piteous is the condi- tion of the fubjed : nor is there a fingle cafe in hidory to indulge the analogy or encourage the extenfion of the comparifon to the conqueds of other dates. Of this let the Canaanites under the Jews, the Roman, even the Athenian provinces, though dignified with the title of allies, let, at this day, the Chinefe under the Dutch at Batavia, (land melancholic examples. This noble at- tribute of the Britilh date arifes from that participation of the conftitution, which extends with the fovereignty; and it is only checked by the introJud^ion of thofe little colony legiflatures, which come between the coloni(U and the full illumination of the Briti(h parliament. - As there are many in our fugar colonies, who un- gratefully take the part of America againd their mother country, and capricioufly wifli to be detached from this ]a(t, and coime£l:ed with the other, fince their natural fituation muft ever keep them in a ftate of dependence, it would be right in them to coniider, what conflitutiou can they participate of, as appendages to America. All the variety of police, except the felf-poifed conflitution of Britain, takes place in that continent, from unba- ^ lanced republicanifm m the North to groflell flavery in the South. Which of thefe {hall be taVen for the mo- del of their fubordinate i(l«nd9 or provinces .? Or will they not, like the Dutch, and every other lordly ftate, generous Britain excepted, monopolifts of liberty, efta- blifh in them a military govemmetit, and fubjugate them to the arbitrary mandates of feme daiing profligate or creeping mifer, who has had intereft enough in con- grcfs to be allowed to go and fatten on their fpoils.Norcan they expedt to continue to be equally well I'upplied with * neccITaricg '» f- . . ■f'' A. W ( '76 ) lofTcs and inconveniencies of war, this en- joyed all the fplendor and advantages of conqueft. While the Britifh labourer was obliged to divide his loaf with the foldier that protected him» or rather his fellow-ci- tizens in America, the American was raifing an exorbitant price on that foldier for the necefTaries that fupported him. War car- ried money out of Britain ; war brought money into Amerka. The Britifh failor, juil landed from a tedious voyage, (liff with rheumatifm and fcurvy, moil hurry away« perhaps without fainting his wife and chil- dren, prefTed on board a (hip ctf war, to fight the enemies of America, while Ame- rican failors are fupplying thofc very ene- mies with necefTaries and flores to carry on the contefl. The Britifh foldier fhall wear out his conflitution and empty his veins, and maim and disfigure his body in iSli' ill' ceflaries from their new mafters as from their old, nor to have equ^I credit or indulgence from them ; nor that they will give up their prefent gainful trade with the foreign fugar colonies, to grant them a great price for their fugar and rum ; and yet a fmalt fenfible decreafe of the prefent prices of fugar would ruin great numbers in our fugar colonies. Yet though they u:em confcious of all this, ftill the deftru^ive novelty has charms for too many. the -♦ i ^77 ) the quarrel of America ; and America, loll- ing in the eafe and plenty for which he has, fought, (hall deny even (helterand a refting place to her protedor *. Britain — but indignation abhors and rejeds the debafing humiliating pi^ure. — We return. Though the fovereign authority muft poffefs the power of regulating the occo- nomy of, and impofing taxes on, every province, whether reprefented or not, that enjoys its prote(5tior ; yet all taxes are not equally proper or convenient for collection and payment; and doubtlefs the diflance of a province from the feat of power will draw after it circumflances^ which mufl be $>. * Nothing more clearly (hews that all the pretended Iriends of America in Britain a£l upon fa£lious prin- ciples, than the noife they have made about the pirates confined at Portlinouth and Plymouth. Though the Board of Admiralty and Commifliorers of Sick and Hurt condefcended to convince them that every aflertion made in the Houfe of Peers refpefting their ill-treatment was abfolutely falfe, and though their committee ac- knowledged before both Boards that they had been mil- informed } yet they allow the foul blot of cruelty to refi' on adminiflration and their country, on purpofe ro keep the minds of the people inflamed in the caufe of piracy and rebellion ; while our prifoners in America are ' fufFering every hardfhip, and expofed to every tempta- tion of taking arms againfl their country. Such 19 the generoHty of America and her abettors in every pol&ble cafe either of protection or oppofition. N attended' \ \ m i \\ ^1 III I-. i / f^ ( '78 ) attended to in the impofition of taxes. In partic^ular, internal taxes, laid on in a didant province, not fully incorporated, will neither be eafily levied, nor go far in recruiting the Exchequer. As the mandate' comes from a diflance, to thofe who pay it, it appears a tribute invidious and bur- denfome $ as an hofl of revenue officers muft colled); it, they will intercept, in its way to the treafury, the greateft part of it, for their maintenance. If any tax of this fort be necefTary, a certain fum mufl be afcertained in manner of a land or poll tax. Further, colony internal taxes are like im- pofls upon raw materials, which operate as clog upon every feparate procefs, and brings the thing to the confumer high-priced and ii -finifliQd. Colony taxes check ttie pro- fecution and improvement of their feveral Haples i apd as it were cruCh indudry in the bud. If the policy of the mother-country will consider her colonics in this firft fubor- di^ate light of being fubjedt to be taxed at will, as if they were conquered provinces, 0ie may effedt the impolitic buHnefs in a much better, more peaceable, and more >ffedliial way than by bands of revenue officers. I 4 It 4 ( m ) ii i^ It IS a general maxim in trade to dfl-* courage the exportation of manufadurca and (laple commodities, prepared for the immediate ufe of the confumer, by giving back the duties, payable on importation ot* home confumption *.—— Nothing more is necelTary for laying a tax upon the colonies^ but to forbid them to be fupplied with merchandize from any quarter, except the morher-country, and to allow no draw- back upon the exportation of commodities to them. Thus every thing will come to them faddled with the inland or confump- tion duty of Britain, which furely may fatisfy a minifter, the moH: anxious for taxing. •— To favour the exporter, and make the burden fall on the confumer, the .duties {hould not be made payable till eighteen months after the (hipping of the ^oods ; and a large difcount Ihould be al- lowed for prompt-payment. — To purfuc' this particular mode of taxing, let all (la- tues refpcding drawbacks be immediately * A lace^\rrlter inGnuates pretty plainly, that, in order to get the drawback, goods are entered for ex* portatton, ilut never go abroad ; aud he propofes to have all goods intended iot a foreign market, lodged aC once in public warehoufes, without any duty, till they be exported. • N 2 rc- ■7 » \ ( 'So ) rf pcalcd. If it be thought proper to cn- courngc the exportation of any particular^ manufa^lure or commodity by a draw-' back, let the indulgence be particular and temporary, that it may be confidered as a favour, and that the legiflaturc may re-, gulatc it quietly as circumftanccs may arife. , There is one favourable light, in which the colonics may view this mode of taxa- , tion. That of the.fovereign power, with- out being fubjedt to private pafiions, or local prejudices, checking, by its regula-*' tions in trade, the growth of luxury among them, and giving their whole confumption a turn of general utility and mutual advan- tage. In this view, I hilvc always con- fidered the prefent fubje(fl of difpute, tea, as a moft unlucky article for the virtuous Americans, in which to fliew their tem- perance and frugality. An ill-natured man would be apt to fay, they had fallen out with their parent and protedor, for re- training them in the confumption of a moft ufelefs, infignificant, expenfive arti- cle of luxury ; but in truth, it has only extended their ufual trade, for the fame article, with the Dutch iOands of Curafoa i and St. Euftatius. In this view of regu- ^ latirig , ...:■•■ I ' '' ,, »r ... . .... ■4 \' ^ I. ( tSi ) lating the trade, and dlre£llng the con- fumption, of the empire, this power over the drawbacic might be exerted to great advantage; and there would not be occa- sion to fend, on its account, a fingle reve- nue officer over the Atlantic The drawback, difcrectly relaxed or rtraitcned, would exe- cute the bufinefs without noife or expence. . But to trud generally to it would be a narrow plan of policy, deferving little ap- probation.— In the prefent age, every in- dependent flate aims at buying few, and felling many things: or by encouraging their own produdtions and manufa(ftures, and checking the importation of foreign articlesof their confumption, they try to have as little dependence as poflible on foreign flate for the feveral articles of theirconfump- tion. We cannot prevent foreigners from en- deavouring to attain this independence, and fooner or later, our exports, beiides thofc to our own colonies, will dwindle toaninfigni- ficant quantity, except nerhaps tin, and fuch other articles as are peculiar to us, and which, for reciprocal advantage, can be exchanged for the barter of any particular country. For this reafon, itisour intereftr to encourage confumption in our own co^f: , N Q lonies. »--. .. -V \ ( ,82 ) lonies, not by reflraining edids, but by fending tc them every thing cheap and well fini(hed, that they may keep each to the produdtion of their proper ilaple, and not be tempted, through neceflity or ill vfage, to interfere with the intered of the mother-country, by fetting up manufac- tures, and fupplying themfelves and others with their own productions, in their fi- nifhed date. And this Aill fuppofes, as ^bove, a difcriminating power in the mother-country over the draw-bac|c. The cheapnefs and eafinefs of procuring oiir manufadtures, and the increaiing demand for them in our multiplying colonies, will give fuch full employment to our people, that re- venues will flow into the treafury, ^nd fup- J)ly the public expenccs, far beyond the amount of any peddling tax or trifling draw-back. -^m^^f-^ And this brings us to the fecond view of our colonies, in which we confider thcni as fellow-citizens, employed about one or more ftaple commodities, for their own profit, and the eafe and advantage of the empire. And in this cafe, internal tax- ation will be found, for the mod part* as unnecefl^ry as it is impradicable. }f, as ( '83 ) of ncccflity (he muft, the parent- cduntry alTumes the regulation of the foreign com- merce of her colonies, and of their inter- courfc with each other; if ihe can, in con- fequencc of this regulation, dircd their ftaple commodities into the channel of her own trade; if (lie can conftitute herfclf the manufadlurer and carrier of all merchan- dize, produced or ufed in the colonies; if (he continues the center of their luxury, the feat of their retirement, and ftandard of their tafte, what can they pofTefs or en- joy, of which (he comes not in for much the largeft (hare. v -» : ' ' *' We arc indeed of opinion, that this is far from being the cafe of America at pre- fcnt.—- It enjoys many lucrative branches of trade, which have no dependence on, or termination in Britain. Nay, it carries on many branches of trade, to the imme- diate injury of Britain, and her truly valu- able colonies, the fugar-iflands; and the monopoly of her marker, which, in many articles, (he has abfurdly granted America, is a very elTential difadvantage to her. And it is therefore furpriiing, that our i*eferit American founders of eitipires, who already look down with difdain on the grandeur of mm . ■ ■■ N 4^"-"' "■ ' •'-"■ '"• ihc . '■..-> ,N ( '84 ) the Grecian and Roman empires, have not confidered, that by cutting off their country from Britain, they have not only fhut up their bell market, but in their future exalted Hate, w'lW be found to have thereby deprived themfelves of a mod con- venient European emporium. Perhaps they hcj^e to reap both thefe advantages from France, whh which thty are fo defirous of being connected. Certain it is, th^t intelligent Frenchmen look forw^ard to the independency of America, for an open trade between the countries. France, they fay, has a great real demand for America^n commodities, and (he can fupply America with every thing {he wants, in return, better and cheaper, (though this may be doubted,) than it is in the power of Britain to do. When it is replied to fuch men, that grain, which is the chief article that France wauts from America, can he no longer f neceffary importation, than till France underftands her true intcreft, in refpcft of this ftaff of life, which every community ought to poflefs within itfelf ; that, on the fuppofition, (doubtful indeed, and diftant it is) of America's ilourifhing ' in its independent Aate, France mud th<;n hold tdT ^ '-^l ( '85 ) bold her fugar colonies, valuable and im- portant to her as they are, at the will of an American congrefs, who, actuated by no fentiment but ambition, influenced by no motive of juftice, and (hcltered by their numbers from cenfurc or blame, will fancy that patriotifm to their country, obliges them to be violent, rapacious, and trea- cherous to the whole world befidcsj ihcfc new friends of liberty acknowledge the truth of the obfervation, and allow that all European dates, on the fuppofition of Ame- rican grandeur, may expedt to be robbed of their American pofleffions *.— To rc- ''' r;;C ^. - ..turn; : • ^-^ . • Theconduft of France and affo of Spain, in ilie prefent difpute between Great Britain and America, is furprifingly abfurd and impolitic. Though Britain, agreeably to her Quixotic character, which is to he conftantly taking up other people's quarrels, aflumes the yrhole burden ofthe prefent war, and a6ls folely againft America, which is afliiled under-hand by all Europe befides, yet the war is properly of Europe againft Ame- rica. Tne prefent rebellion had hardly burft out, when American patriots had in idea over-rin all the European fugar- colonies and South America, and reckoned upon the African and £a(l> Indian trade as their own. And that they are capable of every villany, which they can commit with impunity, appears in the depredations com> mitted by them on the Portugal trade j becaufe that country would not z£t againll an ally, to which it owes its independency. This, is fuch a fpecimcn of what Europe may expert, that it ought to roufc every maii- time ( i86 ) turn ; parliament mud end 'ivour to make the views and trade of America fubmit to the general good of the empire. The cafe of the fiigar- colonies differs greatly from that of America. Few pro- prietors continue to live in them, who H time ftate, as one man, to crufh the robbers before they acquire flrength. Reckoning on impunity, by reafon of their diflance from Europe, and their rulers as a nu- merous, fugitive body, having no perfonal character to fupport, and gloffing over every public a£k of fraud and injuftice, with a pretence of patriotifm, no European {late can have any dependence on an alliance ivith them, for any longer time than it fuits them. The French fu gar- colonies, Spaniih and Portuguefe Ame- rica, will all be confidered and claimed as manors hold- ing of the congrefs, to be forfeited whenever it (hall fuit them to allume the poirefTion. Aud this is fo ob* vious a confequence, that I am half perfuaded, if Bri- tain (hewed any inclination to allow of their dependency, both France and Spain would offer her their a(fiftance, to fubdue thefe would-be tyrants of the new world. If Britain could fecure her fugar>co)onies and (ifheries, (he might refign the rebel provinces with chcerfulnefs. Their trade, as foreigners, would be ihore gainful to her, than as provinces clogged with civil and military cftablithments and enormous private credit. Btit as the fate of the fugar- colonies and (ifheries is boutrdup with the fate of the continent of America, -"ve rauft ftroggle for the command of this, if we wifh to retain them. But it would be prudent in adminiflratidn, to enter into a treaty with France, Spain, and Portugal, to guarantee each other's American pofi*efIions againft thefe upflarte, and oblige thefe (lates, at leaft, to call home their officers and (hut up their ports, and confifcate rebel property. V •*■' .U .£. think ( «87 ) think themfdves able to remove to Britain; and there parliament may fleece them, as it pleafeth. But the men, who live on their own plantations, are in general Co involved in their circumdances, and are kept to fuch fpare diet, by the fugar-fadlors their cre- ditors, that far from being able to pay new taxes, they are not always able to im« prove, or make the mod of their planta- tions, for the public good. In fhort, every impod on the fugar-colonies would IciTen g more convenient tax in Britain. ■ ''"^'''' This idea, which fuppofes the colonies employed and encouraged by the mother- country, in raiting fUple commodities, and furnishing raw materials to be manufaflured and improved by the mother-country, is the moft advantageous fiiuation of any, for the empire, confidered as one whole. Luxury and refinement are hereby confined to the feat of government, while induftry and application pervade the mod diflaat provinces of the date. And it is the inte- red of the fovereign power, or rather its ■duty, as the equal guardian of all, to take \ every moderate equal meafure, ''^ keep things in this condition. As the benefit ' . ' ♦ of (( »88 ) of the members is beft found in the general advantage, the colonies will find their in- tcreft in purfuing each their proper ftaplc commodities, and in aiming at fecurity and opulence, in contributing to public profperity. As luxury is the proper objedt of taxation, and the parent-country the feat of luxury, taxes will be in a manner confined to the parent-ftate, and to the mutual intercourfe and foreign trade per- mitted to the colonies ; while thefe, in other refpedls, are l^ft free and unfettered^ to fupply the demands of luxury, and raife a fund for the public revenues. Happy would it be for Britain and her colonies, could they view each other in this light of mutual utility, and mutual dependence. CHAP. X. I'l-: General Plan continued and concluded. IN the natural progrefs of human atfairs, the growing colonics cannot all con- tinue to find employment in producing the ftaple of the country, and in many cafes» the natural produd'.ons of the colony will ,^.K =^-r-. -f , inter- 1 - <:' ( iS9 ) "■ I ■ I interfere with thofeof the mother-country. In the cafe of the advanced ftate of the colony, the only remedy is, to draw off the fuperfluous numbers into new fettle- ments ; or to encourage them to remove with their acquilitions to the feat of empire and luxury. The firft method has lately taken place in the fugar-colonies, by the fettlement of the ceded iOands; and had there been no fuch drain, Britain is long likely to contain charms fufficient to drav/ to her every opulent fugar-planter. There is therefore no probability, that the fugar- colonies will ever interfere with the inte- reft of the other members of the ftatc, or that they will have any demand on the mother-country, but for protedtion againft foreign enemies, and encouragement in the culture of their ftaplc. There are, indeed, few branches of trade, for which they are adapted. The following, which are now in the hands of the Americans, are the only branches within my knowlegc ; and if the mother- country could not occupy them, they would be much more advantageoufly placed for ^ her, with the fugar-colonies, than where they are; feeing, whatever thefc acquire RI^: \ i ( '90 ) f is added to the (lock of Britain at U(l« i In their prcfcnt ftate, they arc loft to Bri- i tain ; and, though acquired or protected .» by her arms, go only to ftrengthen her un- ? thankful rival, America.-— The firft branch ■} is that which we have remarked to be car- i ried on between America nd the Spanish f main, which ferves for a medium to tht Americans in their trade to the Dutch ^^ ifland of Curafoa for European and Eaft- i? Indian goods. This would naturally fall ii to the (hare of Jamaica, and then would^ x be wholly carried on with British commo- u dities, and become a new branch of trader to her. The fecond is the whale fifhery, for oil and fpermaceti, carried on through the whole extent of the Atlantic, by fmall floops, which go even to the borders of the Eaftern Ocean, and cover the Carib- bean Sea and Gulph of Mexico. This might bt more conveniently carried on from the fugar-iflands : Barbadoes, in par^ ticular, could fupply thoufands of men, that now, for want of employment, can hardly exift. The third is their trade to Africa for an inferior afTortment of Haves,' carried on at prcfcnt . ^ ( 191 ) prefcnt with rum made in New England from French molaOTes ; but which might be carried on to greater advantage from our own fugar-iilands ; and would be to them a new market for their rum.— To all thefe we may add, that the fugar iflands are capable of producing indigo, cotton, and tobacco, fufficient to fupply the demand of Britain, without afFei^ing the fugar-tradc. Much has been faid, and more appre- hended, concerning the dependence of the fugar-colonics on America. Before the prefent difputes began, they had impru- dently Icffened their connedion with Bri- tain, and extended it with America. Hence the didrefs and inconveniency to them from the prefcnt interruption of this commerce. Except beans, f^lit peafe, the greateft part of their oats, a fmall quantity of bifcuit, and barley for game cocks, all thoir grain came from America, in the articles of flour, Indian corn, In- dian meal, rice, rye flour, bifcuit, ftarch, and a few oats. America alfo fupplies them with horfes, cattle, horfc-harnefs, waggons, chaifes, tea-kettles, foap, hats^ (lockings, and the like ; and all their lum- ber . ( <92 ) V ber comes from thence. This article i> either fo bad, or ill-managed, that build- ings run up with it, often within ten ycnrs need to be rebuilt. Shingles arc often removed within fcven years. The Americans carry away rum when it fuits them, a little fugar to help them to fmug- gle in their French fugars, from Jamaica fome molalTes, and for the balance ca(b to fupply themfclves with dry goods, fu- gar, and molafTes, at the Dutch and French iflands. v The trade for provisions was in its in-* fancy about 1750. Before that time, and even fo late as 1760, the fugar-iflands pro- duced a great proportion of their own pro- viHons in Indian corn or maize, yams, pota- toes, and various kinds of peafe J and what was wanting was chiefly ordered from Britain from ihe fugar -fidor, and required no cafh. Since that time, the fugar planters, in their avarice for fugar, have -leglejlted to raife country provifions j and they are now at the mercy of any ambiti- ous demagogue for their daily bread, whenever he fhall be pleafed to foment a quarrtl in America againft Britain. ^^ - vw ir:???; A ; X: , ' • In 1 !3 ' '*•- t •■ In this fituation the ftigar-inands have been obliged to fuppcrt a trade both with America and Britain. But could Britain fupply all their wants, and find a market for their rum, the American trade might be dropt as unneceiTary and unprofitable. Though the ftores wanted for the planta- tions equal in bulk the Aaple which they produce, fo that the Britifh (hips, which carry away thislafl, might well bring the firfl; yet, as the (lores come chiefly from one place, while the fugars are carried to another, thefe fhips often come out in bal- - lafl, frequently but half loaded, and the planter mufl necefTarily pay for the dead unnecefTary freight. To fave frfcight, and guard againfl the climate, flour and meal (hould be fent out from Britain* packed in puncheons of one hundred and twenty- eight gallons each, which might be after- wards fent back filled with rum. Thus every (hip would come and go full, and thus be able to bring things at an eafy freight, without unnecefTary packages or cafes. ' The number of inhabitants in all our fugar-iflands is abotit half a million, of which, about one in fix is free. Making ja njwsKH O ;w/.,«' allow- >^W/. f «' ' . ■ -. '. 'r>. ( '94 ) allowance for the nutritious roots and fruits of the country, four bufiicls of im- ported grain for each inhabitant, will be equal to the whole confumption, includ- ing that of horfcs, and other live 'lock, and poultry. It i^ to be remarked alfo, that little fine flour is wanted, the chief de- mand being i*or beans, pcafe, rye, barley, oats, oaimeal, and an inferior kind of flour. The whole quantity of imported grain, ufed in the fugar-colonies, is within two millions of budicls, which will grow on an hundred thoufand acres of ordinary land. Surely Britain can cafily add fuch a number of acres to thofe already in cul- ture, as will make her prefent exportation equal to that quantity, in order to pre- ferve and attach to herfelf fuch valuable colonies *. And certainly the Britifh far- mer * Properly fpeaking, all lands belong to the commu- nity, but arc allotted to individuals to be worked for public benefit. This is well enudgh cxprefTed in our conftitution, by fuppofing all landed property to hayc. originated from the crown, nnd to return to it again when the heirs of the la(l pod'enbr cannot be found. The man then who would purchafc, or otherwife procure for himfcif, a lai-gc territory, and lay it wafte, driving ofF the inhat>itant$, and grubbing up the trees, would be guilty of treafon agaiiid the community. All are in- jured, who either ufed to draw, or might have drawn, fultenancc from it; the public flock is annihilated, and ;-i. ( '95 ) mer can ptoduce it as cheap as the Ame- rican. And were the trade properly re- . gulaled, and the public income letTened, and the communitr has a right to feizeit, and parcel it out anew, fo as to make it ufeful to fociety. This aiTertion, 1 allow, con-^ tradi^ts the common opinion of that free ufe, vrhich every individual is fuppofed to have a right to enjoy over his property. But. if allowed to refer to fird principle!, we will not be afraid to maintain it. With what viev/ doth a colony firfl fettle in a neiv territory — in order ta draw a maintenance from it. The various offices of fo- ciety, the various talents of its members, neceflarily divide the citizens into various employments, fiut all i-equire food, and that muft be drawn from the foil ; and in allotting the foil to iridividuaH^ a tacit compact it implied of producing on it, that which it is capable of fupplying, to feed, clothe, and lodge thofe who are btnerwife employed. The ftate of agriculture is there- fore an important obje£l of police } and among all the committees of parliament, none would be of more uti- lity or confeqtience than one to take cognizance of it. Commiflioners (hould be appointed in every county to examine into the (late of agriculture, and deliver in to the county members an annual report, to be digefted, for the whole kingdom in parliament ; they (hould have r. power of impoHng fines on the negligent, and grant- ing premiums to the induftrious. Thus the Quantity of grain, produced in every year, might be afcertained, and exportation, and the diftilleries, might be regulated with. the greateft exa£):nefsi and even the extent o^ land, to be employed /early in the growth of grain, might be prefcribed. — To complete the plan, a fund ihoUld be fbrmed, and granaries ere£led to buy up and lodge grain whenever it fell below a given price. Whenever this is attended to, the fugar-colonies will not be under the neceflity of crouching to America for food. Suchi indeed, is the progrefs of agriculture in Britain, ' ? * . O 2 that , ,<•■( I - .-» »■ •. -'^ ( 196 ) gulated, the freight might be Jowcr than Irom America, the fliips having a full frieght outwards and homewards. Further, the ufual exportation of grain from Britain, exceeds all the extraordi- nary demand that will be made on Britain by the fugar- colonies ; why may not then this exportation be turned to this new inaricet ? Or fuppofe the diftilleries flopped, and the confumption of rum encouraged in Britain by leffening the duty. Here is both a market for rum, a fupply of grain for the Weft Indies, and the quantity of grain for exportation alfo increafed ; an ar- ticle, in which no country can exceed, if it can Bnd a market abroad, in (hort, Bri<- tain, by only ufing a little prudent mo- therly attention, may fupply the fugar- iflands with grain at a more equal mode- rate price than America has done ; and it is a branch of trade which (he ought par- ticularly to keep in her own hands, as well that in order to keep it from falling back, the legiflature will foot! be obliged to give every encouragement for the exportation of grain. The Weft Indian market may be eafily fecured : but it is too contrafted ^o anfwer any great purpofe. An ufeful barter might be opened with the northern crowns of grain for timber. Grain too cheap threatens as mnch danger to the comnxui^tjr a* fcarcity itfdf. ,i,"- '.i.,/l ' ' "r' ■" ' ■■; ■•:-. ■*' .-j'.^- •..^ ,. ^- : ''■'■. r-wtk ;J» '\ ( »97 ) to bind the colonies to herfcIF, as for the encouragementof her own agriculture. To the Aigar-colonies it would be a favour ; for inilead of paying for a great p?rt of their neceflaries with ca(h, they would re- ceive them from that country which taket off their ftaplc. - Indeed, it is the opinion of many expe- rienced planters, and feniible men, that the change of crops, occafioned by the plant- ing of country provifions, was, with a proper fallow, more favourable to the fer- tility of the foil, than the prefcnt method of confining its produce entirely to the fu- gar-cane*. It is certain that now, when nothing ^A.^- -—.*.. T:: • The following is the ufaal abfurd method of raifing country provifions. A field, in which the fugar cane has been jurt cut down, is, for example, filled imme- diately with yams. As fooii as they are dwg in, it is planted again ',vJth the fugar cane. Thus the fame field w kept from forty months to four years in conflant cul • ture, almoft without the leafl fallow or reit ; ami, itl the hurry, the field is planted out of its ufual feafon. Need a man be fu oiifed if he find the land injured ; and yet fo friendly in general is change of crops to the foi!^ that it remains yet a difputcd poiru, whether yams hurt the futtre crops of cane. But furely the return of a nu-* tritious root, whii,lj continues in the grourid eij;ht months, and is often in value forty pounds iletling per r*'jre, may very well be allowed to go for a crop, and procure a proper rd\ for the land. But the truth is, our O 3 plan« . ( iqS ) nothing is required from the foil but the cane, though there be twice the attention paid to the drefTing of the land, which was paid fifteen years sgo, yet the crops are by no means anfvvprable, while the ordinary ^xpences of the plantation are almod doubled. We have propofed throwing the North American flave>trade into the hands of the fugar-colonies, as a new market for their rum, and ultimately profitable to Britain through them, inftead of being divided as it is between France and America. The Britifli (hips, in the flave-trade, generally return to Britain in ballad. Suppofe a quantity of rum, fufficient to fupply the African market, were manufactured in our iflands to imitate the New England fiery fpiri^j the ilave«(hips might Carry it home^ lodge it in the King's warehoufes, and add it to their afTortment when they fit out for Africa. The duty paid on it (hould be only fome trifle to afccrtain the quantity pfed in that branch of trade, and pay for the ftorage of it. Already has the flop .;*: plantations are too fmall in extent, and the demands made on them by luxury too prcfling to fuffer the voice pfocconomy to bi? beard. 4 ... / ' ^ put ( 199 ) put to the dinniation of French aioIalTes in New England, encouraged fcvcral mer- chants in the fugar-iflands to fit out vefTels with rum for the coaft of Africa. We might add here, that A "rica might fupply the fugar iflands with cattle and mules, and a better kind of rice than that from Carolina. We have fome trade with Africa for all thefe articles, and it might be cafily incrcafcd. We have now only to provide lumber. ^'2fc^r "^ I will fuppofe ungrateful America en- tirely cut off from the Britiih empire. A more convenient and eafy trade might be opened with the Dutch colonies in Guiana, in South America, for much better lum- ber of all forts than comes now from North America. Jamaica, and our new iflands, afford many ufeful woods, particularly hard wood, pods, ilaves, and (hingles, which laft, well fmoothed and prepared, woula laft on the roof of an houfe a century. Suppofing we had no (nedium to give in barter to the Dutch for their lumber, ex- cept bills on London, it would not, per- haps amount to one third of that of which we are ufually drained by America. But ^e (hould receive the lumber in payment O 4 for ^*' ( 200 ) for tbe flaves bought from us by the butch for the French and Spanifli markets ; unlefs we« at lad, have good (cnk enough to make our feveral iflands free port3, fox that and many other gainful purpofes, which might eaiily be pointed out. In*^ deed, were the Spaniards allowed a free trade with our iflands for their filver, to- bacco, cocoa, cattle, dying wood, tim- ber, maize, &;c. and did Britain fufHci'* ently fupply us with grain, and open a market for our,rum, we might then pre- fcribe to North America what intcrcourfe we chofe to have with her. But the pi- tiful police of giving her a monopoly of bur trade, (alraoft to the exclufion of Bri* tain) while (he trades to all the world be* lides, and juft feeds our market with the refufcs of her commodities, fo as puts :be conditions in her own. power, ilands in the way of found r?afon.^ .; :'^\ ir^^^ ,*f»j^i V""If any difficulty remained in fupplying the iflands with lumber, it might be pror cured from, the northern crowns. Or, , fuppbfe a few licenfed large (hips, be- longing to them, for which fecurity ba^ been given in London, were allowed to import lutnber into the fugar- colonies, and ( 201 ) carry back fugar to Britain, they being obliged to export, to their own country, grain, or other Britifh commodities, to the amount of the value of their lumber and freight. Indeed the Danes and Swedes . fail their Hiips fo cheaply, th2t they could almoft afford to give away their lumber for a full lading of fugar and rum on freight, as the Americans themfelves fometimes do. In evidence of the propriety of the propo- fal here fuggefled, lumber has been broughc from the bottom of the Baltic, carried round to (!}lafgow, and landed there, at a little more than half the price of American ]umb.er. I proceed to the third view of the colonies. ' • • When, from any caufe, the number of the colonics becomes fo great, that the colleding of raw materials, and raifiiig of ftaple commodities, adapted to the coun« trjT, cannot employ the inhabitants thereof, and they can neither be draughted off, or perfuaded to retire, then will they natu- rally endeavour to commence manufadtu- rers, and interfere with the carrying and other trade of the mother country. The firfl femedy which offers itfelf for this evil ( \ 202 ) ovil is> by rcflrainin^ cdids to check every effort which will affcdl the mother coun- try ; turning the induflry of the colonics to objcdls, no matter whether well or ill adapted to their climate and foil, compa- tible with the intercft of the fovercign ftate. But this mode, though often prac- tifed with little remorfe, unlefs when in- tended as a puniOiment for ill behaviour^ is unmotherly,' impolitic, illiberal. The political bond in every flate fhould be mu- tual utility. But this is overlooked and contradicted, where any member of the ftate, however fmall and in Significant it be, is facrificed to the intereft or advantage of another part. *■;'-•. '^^-f^Ai Whenever the mother country and her colonies find themfelves in this fituation, and wi{h to continue in the fame political union, the whole preceding commercial fyftem mud undergo an entire change, and a very (imple maxim would regulate the the whole anew. With a refervation of the feat of empire, and a parental influence to the mother country, agreeable to the reafoning with which we fet out, confider the empire as one whole, and with regard ( »L,-ih fl!«^frr\%otX;'> 293 ) -m f. x\ to taxation* each province as producing one commodity and confuming another : pr, extend thp privileges and taxes of the mother country over the whole empire alike. Every article, imported into any colony, (hould pay the hmt tax it would pay in Britain, with, pcihaps, an excep- tion in favour of materials neceHTary for carrying on the particular (laple of the co- lony, as quicklime in the manufacture of fugar. Every article exported from any colony* or from Britain, fhould pay that tax, and it only, which is laid upon mer- chandize intended for a foreign market. I mean, the only duty laid upon exportation fhould be that which the encouragement of foreign confumption will allow of. When the exportation is from one pari of the em- pire to another, the duty, at the port of delivery* can always have refpedt to that )vhich ha$ already been paid, under the name of foreign duty, at the ihipping port. This would aboliCi the neceflity of cuftom- houfe bonds, and introduce fimplicity into the intricate buHnefs of that department; r^i If moderate duties upon the exports and imports of the empire, (hould be found in- . fuffi. ^\ ( 204 ) fufficlcnt to anfwer the exigencies of the Aate, the next defirable method of laying on imports would be by way of excife. This is indeed a word of a bad found j but unlefs when a tax is a premium for a par- ticular indulgence, as in the cafe of beer fold, were internal taxes fufpended, till they could each be levied on theconfumer, the very introdudlion of this mode of taxa» • tion would operate, in rcfpedt of the peo- ple, as the abolition of an heavy tax, iri refpe»'>i-ir4'^ M iVtl k \ lii'/f. Opportunity to get nch, h?is a right to fhare in his riches, A tax upon ncccflarics is cropping wealth in the bud. Let induftry ripen, and then reap it freely. There is only one outlet of luxury which (hould not be taxed, the paflion for turning bullion into utcnfils or plate. The exportation of coin has been univerfally condemned as in^politic and deflrudtive. Yet it may be doubted, whether a pradlice be, in fadtj, fo bad, which brings in, into a country, things neceflary or ufeful, in exchange for a metal, which itfelf is only ufeful, in the moment in which it be- comes the meafure or barter for other things ; a pra(5tice, which keeps down the nominal price of labour, and of every ufc* ful article, by leflcning and keeping mode- rate the quantity of that metal, by which they aie eftimatcd. But to fall in with the common prejudices, and alfo provide a fund for private and public necedity, and to keep down the price of labour and nc- ' ceflaries, let the people be encouraged to icflen the quantity of circulating coini by turning it into plate. The want of circu* lating coin, fo frequently lamentcdr anU ■'"-^'yi :-'--■ ..■: - which -I ( «6. ) ivhich perhaps, by this encouragement^ may be fuppofed to be increafed, is more owing to the inconvenient (ize, and value of the pieces in circulation, than to the real fcarcity of money. But to render this fcheme efFc(flual, no paper fliould be al- lowed in circulation, except for ca{h adtu* ally in bank. Thus all local privileges, harddiips, and taxes, would be done away; every province Ivould pufli on its natural advantages for the general benefit. Scotland would at- tend to its fiHieries, and improve its linen, litigland would multiply its grain, and polifh its manufactures. Ireland would ilock its paftures, and extend its fi(heries i(S the banks of Newfoundland. Public bur.'iens would be equally borne ; common advantages would be equally fhared. The iwbolc cemented by the bands of trade and policy, would acquire a ftrength and con- fiftency, of which, in our pfefent dif- cordant ftate, wc are incapable of forming an opinion England has more than dou- bled the exertion of her ftrength, by the incorporation of Scotland; how much pore would her energy increafe, yvere Ire- ( 207 ) land and the colonies adopted into one equal fyftem of laws and commerce. For as England is the undoubted, though the reludlantly allowed, head, fo would flie reap the greated profit, from this exten* fion of freedom and commercial advantages. And as the tide of commerce flows natu- rally towards the capital, that city would mod fenfibly feel the benefit of the regu- lation. '*« *' This incorporation, or communication of privileges and rights, is that plan of equal liberty and equal law, which gene- rous freedom would extend to all htr children, and which, for the improvement and (lability of the Britiiti empire, it were to be W7(hed the manners of the prefent age were prepared to receive. And which, could example perfuade us, we (hould embrace. It was the abfurd reludtance, which the Athenians had, even to com- municate to individuals the rights of citi- ' zens, which made their once fplendid ma* ' ritime empire of fo (hort a duration. It ' was the readinefs, with which the Romans ' incorporated their conqucfts, that gave {la- bility, extenfion, apd Arength to their fovereignty. " In u ( 208 ) In this general plan, we have not re« peaced what we have already propofcd» concerning the admilTion of American reprefentatives into parliament ; becaufe, though fuch a meafure would no doubt fall in with the common prejudices, re- fpedling reprefcntation, and might, in it- felf, be a proper and jud meafure, though we think the meafure highly pradlicable, and the prefcnt the feafon for enadting it»* yet, in the plan, which we have propofed for the government of the colonies, by the impartial extensions of privileges and bur- dens, It is in no refpedfc necelTary for the purpofes of freedom or fecurity, while our legidature already contains an efiential branch taken, for a period from, and re* turning after a period, again into the mafs of the people. It is remarkable, that the Greeks, whofe love of freedom cannot be difputed, had fo little notion of the neceliity of reprefentation, in that very extenlive light for which our American patriots contend, that, though they thought them- felves capable of managing in their own perfons, in their afTemblies, the ordinary affairs of the community; yet when any I . - .v'tviolent Hi X ( 209 ) Violent diiorder or confufion had crept in among them, they were acciidomed to re- Ggn their legiflative powers into the hands of fome fingte citizen, whofe jfkill and candour they held in eftimation, reckon- ing themrelves fecure in the reflexion, that when he made laws for themf he bound himfeliTi his family, and friends. With all due deference to the fages of antiquity, the iciriti(h parliament, to the great emolu- ment of the colonies, has been accuftomed to exefcife a power of like kind with the Grecian legiflators, over them; and fuch are the prejudices, intrigues, and little* narrow, exclufive fchemes, prevailing a- ihong the colonies, thai parliament will continue under the neceflify of claily exer- cifing tills authority. Why may it not then, under proper regulations, at once aiTume the power of ordinary legiflation for them ? Did they nOt grafp at the (hadow, while, in fetting up for themfelves^, they fpurn at the fubftance of freedom, they would fblicit parliament to take upon it this taiL In truth, the prefent tyes between Great Britain, its legiOature, and America, pro- t: ( 210 ) perly drawn out iQto adtion* are A]fficient> in our fydem, to fecure every valuable pur- * pofe of focicty, which the la(t can claiui or defire. In faying this> I forbid all rer ference to the gloomy inexperienced fears of fufpicion, and the dread of «^hat parlia- ment, poflibly, may do, ^eflru€tive of the rights of 4^inerica; becaufe there js nothing more vague* more fitly, more uncertain, yet more -unanswerable than fuch fuggef- tions. The friends of America pUce the height of political fccuritv in every man's being his own legiflator; t{^at Is, in the dilTolution of all the claims of fqciety. But fuppofe every fingle perfon erefted into fo many individual dates, without even the * « * • » ■ ■ * • > • mutual attraftion of Fpicurus's atoms, for attraction would produce mutual depen- dence; what, in a melancholic difguded mind, (hall prcfcrve this kingdoni of / from fuicide or felf-deftrudtion : or* 1j» >his a government for \yhich Englifhmen are particularly adiiotcd ? We know this cafe happens every day ; the other, par]ia-< rncntary opprcflioh, remains yet a non- entity in the regions of difcoivtetit* To conclude, if our plan of incorpora- tion* and equal taxation* ^ould take place, • the the union between Britain and her co'oniet would be Arengthened, the energy of go- vernment would be felt in the moft diflant provinces i and the whole co-operating to one point of equal liberty and equal law, would flourish, invincible by any any force. Thus would Britain, enriched by, and pro- teding «her colonies, lit as the revered, watchful, invigorating head of the empire, "^ the center of commerce, and q^sisn of ft $he nations. ^ . ' v ; " , ^ i. » S.W, F i N I S. ^ c > , **< Hi