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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmis en commencant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'Hiustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la derniire image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ► sign'fie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifle "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre film4s A des taux de r6duction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul ciichA, il est film6 A partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithodo. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ! I W ,f > -j^^^a^/' C THOUGHTS O N T HE ^ ORIGIN and NATURE i O F '&•'"•'■ ■' V > 00 V E RNM ENT: Occafioned by? The late Difputes between Goat Britau* aaci^r American CoLONiEiii Written in th? Year 1766* f JPur popuks dat jura* viCTOB^M velentes L O N DO N; Printed for T. Becket an4 P* A. oB HoNDTi % the Strand. MDCCLXIX. ^■gTTTwuBpr^wwp n THOUGHTS \ -^ n ^ O N GOVERNMENT. I ! THE queftion which his been for fome time agitated. Whether the kgiflathe power of Great Britain has a right to tax its American colonies^ is of all qucftions the mod important that was ever debated in this country. Tbofe who compare it to that which was difcuffed at the Revolution, do not fufficietit juftice to its importance 5 for it is not concerning the forms of our con- ftitution, or the (hare which this or that man> or this or that family, (hould have in the fupreme government j but whether there (hould be any fupreme government at all, and whether this, which is now a great and independent ftate, (hould, all at once, fall from its greatnefs, and perhaps ceafe to be reckoned a;nong{l the lead. A 2 ' But w s\ 4r Thought '/ r r But although I mean in the following {beets to defend the rights of government, and to (hew the Americans, and thofe of this country who encourage them, the un- reafonablenefs of their late claims and pre- tenfions, yet I do not mean to become ad- vocate for thofe now entrufted with the ad- miniftration of government; nor for thofe to whom they fucceeded in that important tafk. On the contrary, I cannot help conlidering thofe claims, and the indecent manner in which they have been urged, as fomething very much to their difadvantage. Govern- ment cannot to fo great a degree ceafe to be refpedted, without raifing a juft fufpicion of its having, fome how or other, ceafed to be refpedkable: and, to apply to political virtue what has been faid by a lady of great wit, with regard to the virtue of her own fex, we muft be allowed Jn part to doubt Utitjiate that has heen tried ; They come too near who come to be denied *. ♦ §W Podflcy's Collc6lion> vol. i. Whatever r ON Government, g "Whatever may have given encouragement to fuch an attack, I am heartily forry for it : but the attack being now made, it becomes the duty of every man who wifhes well to this flourifliing empire, the profperity, the very exiftence of which depend upon the union of all its parts under one head, to repel the attack by all the means which law, juf- tice^ and good fenfe authorife. I doubt not but this my attempt to dif"- cover what is true and what is ufcful, how- ever weak and infufficient, will be generally acceptable. I do not exped it will be uni- verfally fo. There is no calamity which can be fuppofed to befall any country, except that of being totally fwallowed up by an earthquake, which m^y not be advantageous, and poffibly defirable to fome of the indivi- duals in it, CiEs,AR, whofe pride and am. bition were fo unbounded as to make bini profefs that he would rather be the firft man in a miferable village than be the fecond in Rome, would not, in all probability, havo A 3 faupled M i. ^ T K en V a n r 9 fcrupled to have adopted fuch meafurcs a^ might hsve reduced that noble city to an equality with the moft miferablc village, rather than fuffer any man in it to be his luperior. ' ' ». > i^ /* c To fuch I do not mean tor addrcfs any part of this paper. I know that any attempt to reafon men out of their paHions and fup- pofed intereft, is but fo much ink thrown away. I only write for thofc, who, with- out ambition or rcicntment, fufFcr thcm- felves to be enflamcd by the ambitioii and refcntmcnt of others j and are made, by falfe reafoning, the promoters ©f intcrefts the very reverfe of their own. ^ The great difficulty attending this Ameri- can controverfy is, that the question changea Bpon us from day to day ^ and what would be a compleat anfwer one week, by the next is nothing at all to the purpofe. Were the difpute betwixt England and Ame- rica to ilazid upon the fame ground that it did / 1 O^ GOVBRI^MENT; 7 4id on Xh^ 14th pf January * before two o'clpck} were &he colonids fllU to argue frpm the validity of their charters, and of the advantages refulting to them from thence * the laws of England might have been ap- pealed to, and the conditution of England fi^ight h^ve been invefligatedi in the praCf- tice of parliaments, from Magna Cart^ down to this day : but when adts of p^rliar* mcnt are openly derided, aqd the authority of ^he fqpreme Icgiflaturc branded with the odipu? appellation of Jorce, we mq called wpon to go fpmewhat deeper in pur reafoq- ing» and to inquire, in what thi$ legiflativc authority itfelf k founded. • The firft day of the laft feflion of parliament, when Mr. Pitt came unexpededly to London, and, in a debate upon the words of an addrefs to his Majefty, took occafion to d(sc)are, as his opinion, thai the ftamf duty hid upon tht Amfricam the year before mas uncmjii" futipnal and illegal^ having been impofed without their ewH cenfent : an opinion, hpwever, th^t was not altogether new, it having appeared before in fevcral American pamphlets. A 4 ; i But ' v« 8 Thoughts , '^' But before I endeavour to eftablifli any thing of my own, it is ncceflary to take notice of a principle frequently laid down xipon this and former occafions, as a furc foundation for political reafoning ; and that is, ^hat all men in their natural Jiate are free and independent : but if we are to judge of the nature of man, as we do of the nature of other exiftences, by experience, there can be no foundation more unfound. No hiftory A the paft, no obfervation pf the prefent time, can be brought to coun- tenance fuch a natural ftate \ nor were men ever known to exift in it, except for a few minutes, like fifties out of the water, in great agonies, terror and convulfions. This principle of equal right to liberty, which can hardly be feparated from that of tn equal right to property, has never been actually acknowledged by any but the very loweft clafs of men 5 who have been eafily perfuaded to embrace fo flattering a dodrinc fiom the mouth of a Wat Tyler or Jack O N G O V E R N M E U T. 9 Jack Cade, and in confcquence of it, for it leads to nothing elfe, have cut the throats and feizcd the goods of their mafters. ' * " ' ' * The pofition, however, being eftablifhed, this farther has been added to it, that all the rights of government are derived from a vo^ iuntary focial contract ^ by which each man gives upi as it were into a common Jiocky a fmall portion of this natural liberty^ in order to form a fovereign power for the protc5lian of the whoky and of every individual. But unfortunately, as no fuch ftate of indepen- dence was ever known to exift, no fuch vo- luntary contradt was ever known to be en- tered into ; fo that if the legality of go- vernment depended upon it, it follows, that there never exifted a legal government in any part of the globe. Such are the idle dreams of metaphy- iicians, uncountenanccd by fad and expe- rience ; and the more dangerous that, like other dreams, they carry, upon certain occa- IT I' (i 10 ; T H o ir G H T $ occafions, fomc confufcd rcfemblancc pf reality. ' ' ? < ;. ? ■' -■ The rights of government are built upon fomething much more certain and perma- nent than any voluntary human contrad, real or imaginary j for they are built upon the vveaknefs and neceffities of mankind. The natural weakness of man in a solitary state, prompts him to fly for protection to whpeveh js able to afford it, that |s to some - \ ONE MORS POWERFUL, THAN HlMSELfj WHILE THE MORE POWERFUL §TAND|NG KQ^AX^LY IN NEEP OF HIS SERVICp,, READILY RECEIVES IT IN RETURN FOR ; THE PROTECTION HE GIVES. ThIs IS the true nature of that contract, which pervades every part of the focial world, and which is - to be feen at all timcs^ in evj?ry empire, republic, city and family, or indeed where- ever two or three are met together. From this is derived all the relations of maft^r and f^rvgnt, patron and client, king and fubje whofe wlll> from the necef- fity of things, muft be allowed the mcafurc of its own rights^ and of thofe of its fubjcds. . I /' Is there then no bounds, no (lay to this " abfoluie power ? Has it a right to do ** what it pleafes ? Has it a right to do ** wrong?" — No certainly j for that would be admitting an abfurdity^ a right of doing what ought never to be done. Wc muft diftinguifti betwixt a right (jusj and <. , right \ ■» ■:!i I >■■ 'S m 16 T H O if G H T S v right (redfum) which, from a poverty in the Englifli language have often added cmbar- raiTment to this fubjedt. No adt of power can turn what is wrong into what is right. But right and wrong cannot decide them- , felves ; they are the objeds of human judg- ment, and muA be decided by fome body or other : and let what rules foever be laid down for the better decifion, the rules and the fubjed will at laft become matter of opinion. But private opinion cannot poflibly be admitted j for, all being equally entitled, no man would fufFer what he called his rights to be decided by any other private opi- nion than his own. This is, however, the ftate of man in thofe dreadful moments, . when the bonds of rule, order and fociety are diffolved 5 a ftate of war and confufion, which fome writers have been fo fenfelefs as to call a fiate of nature ^ while it is only a ftate of diftemper and mifery. ^ The end and intention of government is to prevent private opinion from ever taking c> placo O N C O V E R N M E N T. 1^ pkce, except in matters of private concern, All the duties which one man owes to an- other, or which each man owes to the , whole, muft be marked out and decided by fome tribunal to which all men muft equally fubmitj and which, having judged, can make its judgments efFc6lual; without which there can be no decifion. After this it is needlefs to fay that the right of making and executing all laws, the right of clearing all doubts about the lives, properties and privi-* leges of all the members of the fociety, muft be vefted abfolutely in the Supreme govern- ing power, and that from it there can be no appeal. A law without a penalty is na more than an advice 5 and a penalty with-* out a power to inflidl it would be ridicu- lous : and this is fo confonant to common fenfe and common language, that there is probably no language in the world in which to prevail and to give law are not fynonomous* In all focieties which are made up of more than two individuals, there are two forts of B - laws. , ^.. ill. '.II iw Hm \ \ i8 T H O U G H T s . .» laws. One of thefe is .what is framed as a rule for deciding the claims of the indivi- duals of the fociety, and their duty both ^ with refped: to one another, and to the ftate, in matters of private right. This may be called the civil law, and is generally, and with great propriety t.«;legated to inferior judgec vy the Supreme power ever ready at hand to fupport their decifions, except where, they admit of an appeal to itfelf. The other, which may be called the law ofgo* ' vernment or fuprema lex, is that by which all pretenlions of right between governor and goveri ed, in matters of government, are tried. With regard to this law, the ruleing and the ruled are exadlly in the flate of a fo- ciety made up of two (ingle perfons : the law cannot be exadly defined ; nor can the execution of it be delegated to the difcretion of any body. What concerns the fafefy of the whole can never be committed to the ar- bitration of any of the fubordinate parts -, fo that in all difputes betwixt the governing and , the governed, concerning the limitsof authority ^ 8 . ^ ^ ^^ and ^. 'i. '\ . M G O V E R N M E N T. t ^ and obedience, the governing part muft, of neceflity, be both judge and party. ^-^^-7 •► To enquire whether this may not be at- tended with great inconveniencies and op* preflion, would be extremely ufelefs. The enquiry is cut fliort, by barely affirming^ that it was always fo, that it cannot be other- wife, and that thofe who are defiious of partaking the advantages arlfing from law and government muft accept of them upon thofe terms, fince upon no other can they be obtained. .f:vb.,i ii .f'-n .r /* Are there then no natural rights of man- •* kind independent of the defpotic will of ** their rulers ?" There certainly are a great many fuch rights ; rights eftabliflied by the laws of God and nature, of equal authority with the rights of government, which ex- tend no farther than to the framing of fuch laws for particular focieties, as are, in refpecfl of the laws of nature, to be confidered only as 6ye laws : and if the terms I have ufed feem to intimate any thing to the contrary. B 2 It \ i i6 w Thoughts'' it is full time that thofe terms were ex- plained. When I fpeak oi fervice due at the will of the mafter, I dcfire to be under- flood of fuch fcrvice only as> according to the common fenfe, and univerfal pra(flice of every age and country, one man in fociety may IawA%ly receive at the hands of an- other: and when I fpeak of the uncon- troulable right in the ruler of making and executing laws, I would be underftood to mean fuch laws only as are not repugnant to the laws of nature. A man by becoming an obedient fubjedt does not ceafe to be a man, and as fuch has certainly rights which no human power can infringe without com- mitting an adt of lawlefs tyranny and op- preflion 1 The difficulty lies in diftinguifli- ing thofe conftant, univerfal, and indefea-, lible rights of the fpecies, from the ever fludluating rights of the individuals, of which alone I have been hitherto treating ; and it were to be wiflied, that amongft the many who now write about thefe rights, there were fome one or other who would give \: .--JUr himfclf s / If!" onGovernment. 21 himfelf the trouble of telling us what he imagines them to be. To give a detail of them might perhaps be tedious, but not ta fubjedt rayfelf to the fame refledlion, I will venture to give one general rule, formed upon the reciprocal obligations of protedion and fervice, and fupported by experience and obfervatlon upon the adtual condudl and fentiments of men, by which the rights of government may be, with refpefb to the na- tural rights of mankind, in great meafure, limited and defined, a ■'"■ v ? ■ j i : ::t Whatever act of power is exerted, againstthe subject manifestly not necessary, or not tending to the sup^ PORT OR safety OF GOVERNMENT, THAT ISTO THE PROTECTION OF THE WHOLE, IS, BY THE LAWS OF GoD AND NATURE,^ DECLARED ILLEGAL, AND A BREACH OF THE NATURAL COMPACT BETWEEN THE RULER AND THE RULED. MilHonS of treafure may be fquandered away, thoufands of lives may be facrificed, to very little pur- pofe, in one morning's battle ; and yet the ill. ii i '^i B 3 bond fV^ \ \ 22 Thoughts bond between ruler and fubjedt continue firm and unbroken ; while the fmalleft injury done by Government to the meaneft peafant, ■where no neceiTity of (late can be rationally alledged, is fufficient to throw the whole into confufion. - • * ""l^' The Almighty feems to have faid to every ruler or body of rulers upon inverting them with their authority, Take and preserve Tins POWER, WHICH THE PEACE AND HAPPINESS OF MANKIND REQJUIRE TO BE ENTRUSTED WITH SOME BODYOROTHERj AND TAKE CARE TO USE IT IN SUCH MANNER AS fie quid . detrimenti capiat refptiblica, for it is for that end, and FOR THAT ALONE, THAT YOU ARE ENTRUSTED WITH IT. ThE TASK I IMPOSE IS DIFFICULT, AND FROM WEAKNESS OF UNDERSTANDING, OR VI- OLENCE OF PASSION, YOU WILL COMMIT" MANY ERRORS IN THE PERFORMANCE OF IT: BUT GO ON BOLDLY, BE NOT DISCOURAGED, FOR NONE OF THOSE ERRORS SHALL BE IMPUT|:D TO YOU AS CRIMES, onGovernment. 23 I IF YOU CAN FORGIVE YOURSELi', ALL MEN SHALL FORGIVE YOU. BuT BEWARE HOW YOU SUFFER THIS POWER, BY V/HICH ALONE YOU CAN PROTECT YOURSELF OR MY PEOPLE, TO BE DIMINISHED; AND BEWARE OF EMPLOYING IT FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE BUT THAT OF SUPPORT- ING YOURSELF AND PRESERVING ORDER; FOR ALL SUCH TRANSGRESSIONS WILL BE ACCOUNTED AS CRIMES, AND WILL BE PUNISHED IN YOU AS YOU WOULD PUNISH THE LOWEST CRIMINAL. . ' , ,f^^.- From ail inattention to thefe great com- mands havearifen all the diforders and revo- lutions in government with which hiftory acquaints us : for inftance, » <■ , The ravifhing of men's wives and daugh- ters was never fuppofed neceflary for the fupport of Government J and therefore pro- duced the downfall of the regal and decem- viral governments of ancient Rome. .. ,.w,;i., The putting a father under the cruel nc- ceflity of (liooting at an apple upon his fon's head, could never be fuppofed neceflary for B 4 .v^'V''"-'-'- ^^® \ \ 24 Thoughts^ the fupport of government, and therefore this piece of wanton infolence put an end to the Auftrian rule in Switzerland. ^ The forcing men, under fevere penalties, to profefs this or that fpeculative opinion in matters of eternal falvation, contrary to what they believe true, could never be fuppofed by any but ideots, neceflary for the fupport of government i and we all know what the fcolifh attempt occafioned to the Spanifli ; dominion in the Low Countries, and to the regal authority of the Stewarts in Great Britain. ■■ '■^''^^^" - ' "■-"^' ■- •■■• ^''^--'^ ■- ' Do you afk who has a right to judge what ads of power are againft nature, and what are not ? I anfwer, no body. The immediate impulfe of every man*s feelings flands in the ftead of all judgment in fuch cafes ) and when the paflions of men are all raifed by one motive, and all pointed to one end, they require no leader to give them • unity of mind and uniformity of condud j^ - while thofe whofe proper office it is to wield the fwgrd in defence of government, f / * ■ * partaking : / • ~ O N G V E R N M E N T. 25 partaking of the common feelings, either defert their employers, or, Ly a dubious and feeble afliftance, ferve to render their ruin more compleat. , i 4 But, of all the tranfgreflions or negleds of nature's laws, none have been^fo fatal to rulers as that breach of the original compa6:, in being unwilling or unable to give that protect ion t to which the duty of obedience mud be ever fubfequent or fecondary. In forming that focial compavt, which is the foundation of all my reafoning, the" 'pro- pofal is not. If you will be obedient I mil be fowerjull, for that would be too abfurd to deferve any notice ; but it is, If you are powerfull I in II be obedient', and this being the order of the conditions, the firll: not being forthcoming, the fecond becomes void and null of itfelf. For in the whole Code of nature there is no law more diftinclly expreiTed thsn this: .. •-, .% Ne liceat facere id quod guts vitiabit agendo Public a lex horninum nature! que continet hoc fas TJt tematveiius infcitia debiliiaSfus*, * Perfius (»v, 5, . Which f i 1,1 11 ''A 1 i 'M I f-'^^ ■'■ % lr6 Thoughts Which means, when applied to government, that THEY ONLY HAVE, BY NATURE, A RIGHT TO RULE WHO ARE (^ALIFIED FOR IT, it being high treafon againft nature for the weak to pretend to govern the ftrong, the foolifh the wife, the ignorant the fkilful, the fearful the bold, or the poor the rich. To retain the rights of government, without the powers from whence thofe lights were originally derived, is the greatefl: of crimes againft fociety j and which, fociety and its divine guardian never fail to punifti, according to the degree of the offence, that is, according to the inconveniencies and dangers to which fociety is expofed by fuch JnefFeiftual pretenfions. Such are the laws which will ever fuper- fede all laws of human contrivance, and which being broken, by any ruler or rulers, the original compa(fl is diflblved, and no farther allegiance due. But what have thofe laws of nature to do with the prefent controverfy ON Government. . ^y controverfy between the Britifli govern- ment and its fubjedts of America ? The original compaB, it is faid, has been broken. When ? By what means ? Whofe afs has been flolcii, whofe wife has been ravifhed, whofe confcience has been con- flrained, by ad of parliament ? What pro- tedlion has been required from the legiflature of Great Britain, that has not been willingly and manfully afforded ? None. We are taxed, fay the Americans, contrary to right y for we are taxed without our own confent. Were they fairly to tell us upon what they found this pretended right, of laying burthens upon themfelves according to their own pleafure and conveniency, it would be no hard talk to combat it ; but when we ! ive got faft hold of what we fuppofe the main argument, and are ready to fqueeze it to death, it immediately flips like an eel through our fingers. It is, at one time, by the law of nature » When you afk them to quote the page, or fhew them fome law of nature \vhich fpeaks the very reverfe, it is then by the Hi I 'II I ii 28 Thoughts tbe conjlltution of Britain, There when they are {hewn that the folemn declarations of the legiflature, and the conftant pradtice, wherever it was neceflary, fpeak againft them, they declare themfelves againft all thofe folemn' declarations and pradlices, tell- ing us, T^hat what has been done, ifwrongfuU ly dsm^ confera no right to repeat it, and back again they go to their laws of nature, or to the flimfy hypothefis of fome fcholaftic wri- ter to new-model nature and the conftitu- tion of England, fo as to make them more favourable to their pretenfions. For my part I know of no human authority to which I dare appeal, except to adts of Parliament ; and, if they could bs admitted, there would be foon an end of the controverfy 5 as the prefent parliament has as unqueftionable an authority as any of the former parlia- ments J and the Stamp Adt itfelf of as much authority as any former a£t which could be quoted t.o authorife it. ^ v It being therefore, ufelefs to deduce any argument ON Government*. 2^ argument from an authority, the difclaim- ing of which furnifhes the very queftion in debate, I will return once more to my gene- ral plan, and enquire what is the true nature of levying taxes, and whether it differs, as has been often aflerted by the Americans, from the other rights of legillation. To take up this in a plain, eafy, and re- gular way, let us return to the point from whence we fet out. In a (late confifting of one individual ruler, and one individual fub- jedl, like that of Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday, the fervice of one of thefe in return for the protecftion of the other, can be only perfonal ; and the mode, as well as the quantity, of this fervice muft be left, as has been (hewn before, to the dif- cretion of the fuperior; whofc will muft ferve for all the different forts of law, either with regard to public or private rights, vv^hich the nature of that (imple fociety cnn pofTibly admit. But, in a numerous fociety, it would be extremely inconvenient, not to fay abfurd, that all the fubjedts fliould be ^er- fonally employed in the public fervice -, as iuch' ^ I -I w 3<^ Thoughts fuch employment muft neceflarlly hinder them from providing for their own fupport. Nor is fuch a generality of perfonal fervice any more needful than it is poflible ; as a very few of a numerous community are fuf- ficient to do all that is required for^he de- fence and protedlion of the whole. But as all are equally liable, and the letting the whole labour fall upon a few, would be unjuft and ruinous, it became necefTary that each man in the community fliould contri- bute a certain portion of the produdl of his t5rivate induftry, for the maintenance of thofe, who being occupied in fulfilling the general obligation, of ferving or aflifting the protedling power, have not fufficient leifure to provide fubfiftance for themfelves. In {hort, a TAX, in whatever mode it may ap- pear, is but another word for service j and as that enters effentially into the very Bein<» of government; whatever concerns the appointing, regulating, or rendering it efFedlual, becomes the moft important part of legillation; and which, from the nature of ON Government. 3« of things, no inferior pa.t of adminiftra- tion, much Icfs the fubjeds, have the leaft right to meddle with, except under the fu- preme authority. Were the fupreme au- thority to refign this power of the purfe in- to the hands of any other part of the fociety, fuch a refignation would amount to an ab- dication of the government ; and that part which became inverted with the power of levying money, would be, iffo faSfo^ fu - preme. Thefe I give as fundamental prin- ciples of government, and do not defire theni to be admitted if they are not found to be in fadt univerddly true. Point me out but one (ingle inftance of a flate where a right was acknowledged in any, but the fu- preme power, of impofing or with-holding taxes, and I fliall immediately give up all that is contained in thefe reafonings as falfe; they being entirely grounded upon a princi- ple that does not admit of fuch a poilibi- lity. What then becomes of the notion, ^lat people ought not to be taxed but by their oum caifent \ i ', Mi % ^ •>w^ 32 Thoughts 'M'ilV confent f I cannot tell j let tliofe look to the propofition who advance it. I can only fay that any fet of people who are maAers of their own purfes, are mafters of their own fervices, they are their own maflers, and fubjedt to no body. If ever fuch people had engaged themfelves in a compad of fervice and protection, fuch compadl fubfifts for them no longer ; they are perfedlly inde- pendent, and any verbal acknowledgement of fuperiority from them, after the adiual acknowledgement is thus withdrawn, is no better than a piece of mockery. In (hort, from thofe who are really fubjtdls fuch con- fent never was nor ever can be afked. It will be faid that the people of England confent to their own taxation by their reprefentatives. But this is nothing but a vulgar mifappre- henfion ; the confent of the people being no m^re required in England, upon fuch cccafions, than it is in Turkey : and, in- deed, if the principles of Government which I have laid down as general, are not equally true, and equally, /;; fact, admitted in England \7Jl9i^ ON GoVERMMfiNf. 33 fengland and in Turkey, I (hall no longer acknowledge them as principles. The fole difference is that the fupreme power happens to be differently conflituted in thofe two different flates, but when conflituted, it equally affumes the right of impofing taxes upon the people without their confent. The people of England, or certain claffes of then), have a right by eledion to conflitute the third part of the legiflative power for feven years 3 and it would make no differ- ence in my argument if they conflituted the whole for that term : but from the day of eledion, the people have no more fhare in the legiflation than thofe of Turkey, and the firings of their purfes are equally refign- ed into the hands of their rulers. It may be perhaps faid, that if thefd members of parliament abufe the confidence that is put in them, the people may at the end of feven years cledl others in the?** flead. But this does not in the leafl ^ffedt the prefent que- ftion, which is not what is to happen after C the li n f w ^ 34 •THouferti's the fupretne legiflative pbwer is difTohed i but what happens while it adually fubfifls. When a parliament is diflblved, the people mud proceed to the elcdion either of the fame or other Members -, but whoever they ele"!; ^* , >,. ■-• •■■ ■' * njs , " * By feveral circumftances to be learnt from arf* cient records, it appears that fending or being fent to parliament was reckoned, if not a burthen, at leaft a .'-,,■ priviledge ON Government. 45 This adt was very wifely intended to give a ftabjlity to the conftitution, which, by a ... conftant priviledge very little worth the contefting with thofe who thought fit to claim it. For this reafon the law Vas for foipe ages yery loofe and uncertain, as wel with regard to the number of the reprefentatives^ as with regard to the number and quality of their eledlors, while a variety of other privileges, which now appear to us of much lefs confequence, were moft jealoufly guarded by exprefs ftatutes. There is no room to doubt but that the conftituents of the Great Council or parliament were originally no other than the king's immediate vaffals ; but after the fmaller fort of them came to be reprefented by a few perfons elected at meetings called by the fheiifFin the county town, others who held their lands, by free tenures, under other Lords, and who had been ufed to attend the county-courts upon other oecafions, were, by de- grees, under the common title of freeholders, jumbled amongft the King's tenants in the ele6lion of the county member. Nor would probably this growing abufe have been attended to, even in the reign of Henry the VI. as parliamenteering was ftill an un- profitable trade, had it not been produ(5tive of thofe j^angerous tumults related in the above preamble, ,' • " ■ ■ ■■ .• j^ '"1'" |i VSl I ml'} m 44 TriottdHTs conftant increafe of the conftituents, was gradually changing^ but unhappily by fup- poling a (lability in* the value of money, it produced an effedt i}ie very reverfe of what was intended. By the moft moderate cal- culation, a piece of land which was then worth two pounds per annum, would be now worth twenty, fo that there is a poflibility In Scotland, where the laws and cclitution, formed anciently upon the model of thofe c -^Ingland, have not undergone the fame changes, the King's te- nants in capite are alone capable of electing, or being cle6led, Kjiights of the fhires. They, though few in number, are the only perfons reprefented in par- liament j and by u peculiar attention of the law of Scotland to their qualifications, they are, in great raeafure, the fame clafs of men, who, by the ancient conftitutions both of England and Scotland, were alone entitled to be confulted in any ail of legiflation. liftimating the prefent rents of Scotland at only the double of their ancient valuation in the Exchequer rolls; one eledor of a county member muft hold, by a royal charter, as grca,. a quantity of land as would qualify thirty-three voters in England, upon a like uccaHon. ON Government. 45 of there being now ten legal voters for a knight of the (hire for one that there was in the time of Henry the VI. But although thefe are legal voters by the letter of the '^w, they are not fo by the fpirit of the an- cient conflitution, which plainly intended to lop off nine out of ten of them ; and confe- quently no argument can be drawn from their prefent multiplicity, with regard to the neceffity of all freeholders being reprefented. 11 's . I ' I pafe over the labourers, the farmers, and even the copy-holders of land, who have no vote in chufing thofe who impofc taxes upon them ; I pafs over the many in- habitants, even of thofe towns which fend members, who have no vote in chufing thofe members, or in chufing thofe who chufe them, and haflen to examine what is called a virtual reprefentation, by which all thofe notorious deficiencies in the real one .are to be patched up. It I mu •tfr' \i\ Vi: divided amongfl: the freeholders, thejf' become by that means the virtual reprefen^ tatives of all thofe who live upon thefe lands J and by that virtual reprefentation^ have a right of giving laws to the whole, and to wHfich the whole, by a fort of tacit or virtual compa5iy give their confent. If this is a principle of government, it will be true in every application of it, and if it is not found true in every application, I would advife thofe who ufe it to lay it afide as a principle, and to look out for fomething elfe that will better bear this neceflary tefV^ The freeholders, as ordered to be fum*- moned to parliament by King John's Magna Carta, were, it fcenfis, the virtual repre^ fentativcs of every man in the kingdom. We do not know precifely what their num* ber was, and the knowledge is certainly not at all neceflary for verifying the principle of virtual reprejhitation^ which will be equally true, whether their number be greater fmall. 8 They \vt ■. • •vt ON Government. ♦r They were poflibly at that time two or three thoufand. Suppofe they had been only fcven hundred, as in the 20ih year of the Conqueror, or fuppofe them feventy,or if peradventure they had been only feven, then thefe feven mud be acknowledged to be the virtual reprefenta- tives of the whole What fignifies fo much higling : let us come to the matter at once, and fuppofe all the lands held by one free- holder ; as is adually the cafe in Turkey. Then is the Grand Signor 'virtual repre- fentative of all the people of Turkey, their Univerfal knight of the Ihire, and, in a moft parliamentary manner, levies what taxes he pleafes upon them, by their own confent, 1 would not here be thought to mean any refledtion upon the Grand Signor or his rights } I am not, thank God, fo great a bi- got to the form of government under which I was born and bred, as to look upon any other form with contempt or abhorrence. Far from it. While that great prince exer- €ifcs his rights for the order, peace, and bappinefs of his* people, he is the good and faithful ^S:d l!J \ . !i ' mr m 48 Thoughts faithful fcrvant of the truly fovereign power, and merits the refpedt of all men, whether they receive any benefit from his fuperin- tendency or not. What I find ridiculous in this procefs, and what would never enter into the head of the moft fenfelefs Muflul- man, is, that he fhould enjoy thefe extend- ed rights over his people by the unintelli- gible and ufelcfs fidion of being their vir^ tual reprefentative, I have taken a great deal of pains to (heW that the notion of people confenting to their own taxation is contraiy to the nature of < government, and unfupported by any fadt* I have been at pains to ihew that the notion of the legiflative power adling by virtue of reprefentation, is no principle in the Britifh conflitution \ and I have finifhed by {hewing that the words virtual reprefentation, either mean nothing at all, or mean a great deal more than thofe who ufe them would be - willing to admit i and yet, after all my pains, • ., :■# ■ ' ^7 " •mm;!!!. luiPPlMljui ., I okGoVERNMENT. 49 hiy American antagonifts are as much out of my reach as before. ^ , . The truth is, that having heard them fb often repeat that they were Englifhmen, entitled to all the rights of Engliflimen, fo as to be taxed, like Engliflimen, hy their own confent : I was mifled to believe that they wanted to be reprefented, like other Engliflimen, in the Britifli parliament. But upon a clofer examination, I find they have no fuch meaning. Each Atr.erican colony, fay they, has a parliament of its own, though we have hitherto called them only ajjemblies : each has its houfe of Commons chofen by the people and which has alone the right of raijing mo- ney from them 3 each has its council or houfe of peers ; and each has its King, to wit, his Majejiy King George the III. who, as he cannot preftde info many parliaments at once, is reprefented in each by his Excellency the Governor. We did not ^ fay th^y, fail the wide Atlantic Ocean, to leave the free conjlitution of England behind us ; no, we carried it alof?g with us, and D If'here li ;(1 *j|i! JO Thoughts There cannot be imagined a queftion more important for the fafcty and happinefs of mankind in general, than that which is the fubjeift of thefe (heets, and yet there is perhaps no queftion, the folution of which requires lefs learning and fubtlety, nor any, which is more within the compafs of a plain and found underftanding. The principles upon which it is to be difcufTed are univer- fal, comprehend ve, and applicable to every poflible cafe ; and every oppofition to them is immediately reducible to a falfity in point of fadl, or an abfurdity in point of reafon- ing. If there is found any difficulty in ap- plying them to the prefent cafe of America, It arifes only from this, that the Americans are either not able or not willing to tell us with any degree of firmnefs and confiftency, what they are, and what they would be at. One moment they defire no more than what belongs to every Britifh fubjedt ; the next they refufe to be taxed like other Briti(h fobjeds, and each colony requires a parlia- ment of its own. At one time they acknowledge omGovernment.' 51 ack no wlcdge their fubjedion to Great Britain : iind almoft in the ^ame breath, endeavour to prove that each petty colony has a right to be her equal. One monient they bar all confidcrations of force from being ad- mitted in deciding the rights of fovereigns and fubjefls^ and the fiext endeavour to eftablifh what they call their rights by i Variety of outrages, fuch as were never im- puted to any eftablifhed government of the mod arbitrary kind. Atone time a Ame- rican claims the rights of an Englifhman j if thefe are not fufflcient, he drops themj and claims the rights of an Irishman i and,- when thofe do not fully anfwer his purpofe, be experts to be put upon the footing of a Hanoverian. To fiipport, by turns, this variety of con - tradi£bory pretenfions, a variety of principles no lefs contradid©ry, are by turns produc- ed. Firfl they try to found the extraordi- nary privileges they claim upon birth-right', but when they are {hewn that by birth they had no ri^ht to defert their native country, D 2 they i ~i y-'i^- ;! ' '- J2 TnoucttTfe they drop the birth- right, and bring forth their charters. When they are fhewn that thefe charters are no other than what are given to every common corporation and trading company, they then ceafe to be char- ters, and become all at once compadls. At one time it is the love of liberty that made them take (belter in thofe diftant climes, from the tyranny of prerogative ; yet when we afk them with whom they made thofe compaSfs juft mentioned ; they tell us, with a King James or a King Charles. How njufl the gieat fhades of Alger noon Sidney and John Lock exclaim, how muft they rage in iheir independent man- fions, to hear that there fhould be Englijh^ men who pretend to read and adaiire their writings, and yet underhand them fo little s»s to own that they had entered into a com^ paB, or a? thefe patriots would call it, a con/piracji with a King, in order to obtain a difpenfation from the laws of the land^ and the authority of parliament ! The onGovernment. 53 The afTertion that thefe charters are not charters, but PaBa couventa, is brim-full of abfurdity. For, pafling over the manifeft illegality already hinted, of one part of the f''»vereign power difpenfing with the autho- Tity of >hc whole ; th<* whole fovereign power could noi, by the nature of things, enter into any indefealQble compadt of that fort. Nor is this more to be confidered as matter of reafoning than as matter of lan- guage. Sovereignty admits of no degrees, it is always Jupreme, and to level it, is, in effedt, to deftroy it j I mean with regard to thofe who fuffer it to be levelled : for, as to fovcreignty itfelf, it is unfufceptible of de- ftrudion ; and, like the fun, only fets in one place, that it njay rife, with full fplen^ dour, in another. Pa5fa convcnta cannot, with any propriety, fubfift, but amongfl: parties independent of one another ;. nor ?.re they then of much fignificance, unlefs there be, at the fame time, fome defpotick power provided, for explaining any difficulty that might arife concerning the feveral conditions P 3 of i-'! !ii ri rr^ .1 1 1 III: 54 Thpvghts of the agreement, and for enforcing the ob« fervance of theni. Without fuch an effec^ tual arbitrator, a covenant between two in- dependent powers, is no other than a Treaty, which is no longer to be relied on than iwhile it fuits with the conveniency of both the parties to obferve it. In cafe of any mifunderilanding, there lies no appeal but to the God of battles, whofe decifion only fufpends the fuit till a future term, when the party that was caft may find the means of entering a new adion. But enough of th^fe ab(lra£^ion$. Onp good example of a real covenant between .'■;,■ f In the year 171 q. t ,ii of ON Government. 57 of the Union, which, they faid, parliament had no right to infringe, it being upon thofe PaSia conventa that the authority of the Britifh parliament itfelf was cftabliflied j and that they being broken, the original compaSi was difTolved. In anfwer to this it had been faid; that nothing was meant againft the Union or its articles, but that it was appre- hended the tax propofed was entirely within the fpirit and intention of thofe articles ; and whether it was or was not, could only be determined by the majority of both houfes with his Majefty's concurrence. It was accordingly voted a legal as well as expedi- ent mode of taxation. " * -' But many of the people in Scotland judg- ing in this matter very differently from their rulers; declared the tax to be illegal, and fwore they never would confent to the pay- ment of it ; never conlidering that their pre- tenfions to infallibility were no better found- ed than thofe of the Britiih parliament, and that their pretenfions to authority were much worfe. Nor did they content themfelves ''^ with I ; !j "i .1 m \ \ Ll; 58 . T H O U G H t S with this verbal denunciation, but when the officers attempted to levy the tax, they put therA to flight with blows and infulting lan- guage i at the fame time pulling down the houfes, deftroying the furniture, andthreat- ning the lives of fuch of their countrymen as had concurred in paffing the Ad. What would our American friends have advifed government to do in this cafe ? To repeal the A that the Americans have preferred the word Colony^ for the fake of affuming along with it a degree! of independency, which from the words plantation or provincei could not be fo eafily derived; The plain truth is^ thai thofe countries^ let them be called plantations, fettlementiy colonies, or by what other name they will, are, from their nature and fituation, only fubordinate parts in the empire of Britain^. r^ - -"s-'— • ■•■ ■• aind ON Government. 63 and fuch they would ncceflarily continue, though perhaps in a much lower degree, under fome other powerful European ftate, in cafe their more fafe and honourable tie, with what they are ftill pleafed to call, their Mother Country y fhould happen to be diffolved. I (hall therefore conclude with faying, that the feparation of Great Britain from her American appertinencies would be deftruc- tive of the profperity and liberty of both. If fo, it fesms to follow that till fuch time as New England is ftrong enough to protedt Old England, and the feat of the Britifli empire is transferred from London to Bofton, there is an abfolute neceflity that 'he right of giving law to America, fhould continue to be veiled in Great Britain. That it is the intereft of Great Britain to prote(a and che- rifli her American provinces inftead of op- preffing them, is an undeniable truth > an^ it is, perhaps, no lefs true, that fome farther attention, and fome farther means of j communication. ! -; 1 I