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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 .f*- lBa» umi ^'Q'g^^^'g^'Q^a^ ^ Taxation no Tyranny. l9O»{9O«0O»^i »9G«08ae9Gj(^^ fiitt» tt, a.] m^^'':0^^^- w^m^. *h. r*ir <\ ir 1^ atlY I :•• ■ <)?lf ■ E0iS«K j*^'^;ftf i :;s.a^ ■■'^■M?* ^ ' ■■■ J*' ^#> '-<>^^'*<^rMviKs'MK^M(MV»«''M'^ t^**' : f»- '\ X.' ». 1>,^ .^^ / - 4i' 'W ■?/;.■- i iCrllZl 38146 Taxation no Tyranny; AN ANSWER TO THE RESOLUTIONS and ADDRESS OF THE AMERICAN CONGRES& •/ ■ i^:- -^^f^'A t mmm^ LONDON, r r rXlNTEP FOR T. CADELI, IN THE STRAND. ,«' -^ '.' \. *■': \ t • y Y i.iiii^ X -^ ^ M u a VI o J if ih ive 3!; r v- ,i.!zca3 .Y.:::jo' a'iTl^i«t ; „ v;^;-....^-^,"'.:'.. T AX ATI O N mw NQ TYRANNY. ...0 ^^^^«fci^4;,,,tfeaft, .'j-j f" ( » IN all the parts of humap knbwle^ge^ ■whether terminating- in fcience mere- ^^\* ly ipeculative, or pperating upon Jife private or civil, are admitted fonve fundamental, principles, or con^nioh ax- ioms, which being generally deceived are little doubted, and being little doubted have been rarely proved. Of thefe gratuitous and acknowledged truths it is often the fate to become left evident by endeavours to explain them, however neceflary fuch cfndeavours m&f be made by the mifapprehenfions of ab-^ furdity, or the fophiftries of intereft. It is difficult to prove the principles of fcience, becaufe notions ^nnot always be ^ -.■.-■...., i^ ., B'"* --'■*■■•"■** ■'V---"t--' found .' If ■ f '- ;■ -.1'- ■,,■■•'■■ 4^: ( -2 ) found more intelligible than thofe which are queftioned. It is difficult to prove the principles of pradice, becaufe they have for the moil part not been difco* vered by invefligation, but obtruded by experience, and the demonftrdtor will find, after an operofe deduction, that he has been trying to make that feen which can be only felt. ■*« •x*S- Of this kind is the pofition, that the fuprcme poiver of every community has the right of requiring from all its fuh-* jeSls fuch contributions as are necejfary to the public fafety or public profperity^ which was confidered by all mankind as compridng the primary and eiTential condition of all political fociety, till it became difputed by thofe zealots of anar- chy, who have denied to the parliament of Britain the right of taxing the Ame- rican colonies. .1 » In favour of this exemption of the Americans from the authority of their 1 . lawful » _ • ■'■'^- ■'■■■' ( 3 ) ' - ■■' lawful fovereign, and the dominion of their mother-country, very loud clamours have been raifed, and many wild afTer- tions advanced, which by fuch as bor- row their opinions from the reigning fafhion have been admitted as argu- ments; and what is ftrange, though their tendency is to leflen Englifli ho- nour, and Englifh power, have been heard by £ngliih-men with a wiih to find them true. Padion has in its firfl vio- lence controlled intereft, as the eddy for a while runs againft the dream. ^ ' To be prejudiced is always to be weak; yet there are prejudices fo near to laudable, that they have been often praifed, and ar^ always pardoned. To love their country has been confidered as virtue in men, whofe love could not be otherwife than blind, becaufe their preference was made without a compa- rifon ; but it never has been my fortune to find, either in ancient or modern wri- ters, any honourable mention of thofe, B 2 who I ■ ( 4 ) ■ wlio have with equal blindnefs hated ; their country. .'•^;^ .-......;;.,. These antipatriotlc prejudioes arq the abortions of Folly impregnated by Fadtion, which being produced againft the ftanding order of Nature, have not ' ftrength fufficient for long life. They are born only to fcreaqi and perifh, and leave thofe to contempt or deteftation, whofe kindnefs was employed to nurfe . them into mifchief. 1 1 in ':J.^v•- To perplex the opinion of the Publick many artifices have been ufed, which, as ufually happens when falfehood is to be maintained by fraud, lofe their force by counterading one another. I, The nation is fometimes to be molli- fied by a tender tale of men, who fled from tyranny to rocks and defarts, an^ is perfuaded to lofe all claims of juftice, and all fenfe of dignity, in compalfion for a harmlefs people, who having' worked ■ , f hated • : ' ( s ) ' ivorked hard for bread in a wild coun- try, and obtained by the flow progreflion of manual induftry the accommodations of life, are now invaded by unprecedent- ed oppreflion, and plundered of their properties by the harpies of taxation. ; ' ' .- ■ - ^- y ^", . ■-. . ... ■;• /^ We are told how their induftry is ob- (lru£ted by unnatural reftraints, and their trade confined by rigorous prohibitions ; how they are forbidden to enjoy the pro- ducts of their own foil, to manufacture the materials which Nature fpreads be- fore them, or to carry their own goods to the neareft market ; and furely the generofity of Englifh virtue will never' heap new weight upon thofe that are already overladen, will never delight in that dominion, which cannot be exer- cifed but by cruelty and outrage. But while we are melting in filent forrow, and in the tranfports of delici- ous pity, dropping both the fword and balance from our bauds, another friend of ( 6 ) of the Americans thinks it better to awaken another paflion, and tries to alarm our intereft, or excite our venera- tion, by accounts of their greatnefs and their opulence, of the fertility of their land, and the fplendour of their towns. We then begin to confider the queflion ^ith more evennefs of mind, are ready to conclude that thofe reftri£tions are not very oppreffive which have been found confident with this fpeedy growth of profperity, and begin to think it reafon- able that they, who thus flourifh under the protedion of our government, ihould contribute fomething towards its ex- pence. But we are then told that the Ameri- cans, however wealthy, cannot be taxed ; that they are the defcendants of men who left all for liberty, and that they have conftantly preferved the principles and flubbornnefs of their progenitors; that they are too obftinate for perfuafion, and too powerful for coi:(lraint; that they will -• »« ./'^- :;;,,tt/7 r. ■■'■ -'-^^■- will laugh at argument, and defeat vio* lence ; that the continent of North Ame« rica contains three millioiis, not of men merely, but of Whigs, of Whigs fierce for liberty* and difdainful of dominion ; that they multiply with the fecundity of their own rattle-fnakes, fo that every quarter of a century doubles their num* bcrs. ..^ -...--,. -, ....}.^,,i,, ' Men accuftomed to think themfelves mailers do not love to be threatened. This talk is, I hope, commonly thrown away, or raifes paflions different from thofe which it intended to excite. In* flead of terrifying the Englifh hearer to tame acquiefcence, it difpofes him to haflen the experiment of bending obfti- hacy before it is become yet more obdu* rate, and convinces him that it is necef- fary to attack a nation thus prolific while ^ we may yet hope to prevail. When ne is told through what extent of territory we mufi travel to fubdue them, he re-* collets how far, a few years ago, we travelled If I \- ■ (8 ) travelled in their defence. When it 19 urged that they will ihoot up fike, the Hydra,, he naturally confiders how th^ Hydra was deficoyed. yi'io iM. ^^iiiijia Nothing dqeds & trader like ihe in«» terniption of his profits. A coi^mercial peoplei however magnanimous, fhrinks at; the thought of declining traffick, and 34;^ unfavourable balance. The efFe£t of this tferiiour has beef^ tried. We have been ftunned with the importance, of our Ame- rican commerce, and heard of nijerch^nts with, warehouies that are nevej; to b^ emptied, and Qf\n)£^nufa r I »... ! M . ( 9 ) • .;. . only tan enfure its continuancd. There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community that have no care bu^ for themfelvesj and whofe care for themfelves reaches little farther* than impatience of immediate pain, and cagernefs for the neareft good. The blind are faid to feel with pecQliar nicety* They who look but little into futurity, have perhaps the quickeft fenfation of the prefent. A merchant's defire is not of glory, but of gain; not of publick wealth, but of private emolument; he is therefore rarely to be confulted about war and peace, or any defigns of wide extent and diftant confequence. '**' '^ '.' 1 |! Yet this, like other general chara<^erS» will fometimes fail. The traders of Bir^ mingham have refcued themfelves from all imputation of narrow felfilhnefs by a manly recommendation to Parliament of the rights and dignity of their native country. To \ - I ( »« ) ' To thefe men I do not intend to afcribe an abfurd and enthufiaflick contempt of intereft, but to give them the rational and juft praife of diftinguifliing real from feeming good, of being able to fee through the cloud of interpofmg diffi- culties, to the lading and folid happinefs of vidory and fettlement. - - :. ' >•. . '■ 1 -,; Lest all thefe topicks of perfuaHon fhould fail, the great adtor of patriotifm tas tried another, in which terrour and pity are happily combined, not without a proper fuperaddition of that admiration which later ages have brought into the drama. The heroes of Bollon, he tells us, if the Stamp AO: had not been re- pealed, would have left their town, their port, and their trade, have refigned the fplendour of opulence, and quitted the delights of neighbourhood, to difperfe thjemfelves over the country, where they would till the ground, and fiih in the rivers, and range the mountains, and Be free. These -(•/. • 1 . ( II ) These furely are brave words. If the mere found of freedom can operate thus powerfully, let no man hereafter doubt the ftory of the Pied Piper. The removal of the people of Bojion into the country feems even to the Congrefs not only dif- ficult in its execution, but important in its ' confequences. The difficulty of execution is beft known to the Boftonians them- felves ; the confequence, alas ! will only be, that they will leave good houfes to wifer men. -.^^^ Yet before they quit the comforts of a warm home for the founding fome- thing which they think better, he can- not be thought their enemy who advifes them to confider well whether they fhall find it. By turning fifhermen or hunters, woodmen or fhepherds, they may become wild, but it is not fo eafy to conceive them free ; for who can be more a (lave than he that is driven by force from the comforts of life, is compelled to leave his houfe to a cafual comer, and whatever C 2 he .^. t I ( 12 ) ' he does, or wherever he wanders, findd every moment fome new teftimony of his own fubjedlion ? If the choice of evil is freedom, the felon in the gallies has his option of labour or of ftripes. The Boftonian may quit his houfe to ilarve in the fields ; his dog may refufe to fet,and fmart under the la(h, and they may then congratulate each other upon the fmiles of liberty, profufe ijuitk blifs^ ({n4 pregmnt ivitkdeligbt^ ;•' ^v.*^ ^:i To treat fuch deiigns as ferious, would be to think too contemptuoufly of Bof- tonian underftandings. The artifice in-^ deed is not new: the blufterer who threatened in vain to deftroy his oppo* pent, has fometimes obtained his end, by making it believed that he would hang himfelf. ■> ..^ ,; . But terrours and pity are not the only means by which the taxation of the Americans is oppofed. There are thofe "whP prpfefs to ufe them v qly as auxiU'- 2 .' ariea m W 1 t i ( IS ) aries to reafon and juftice, who tell U9 that to rax the colonies is ufurpation and oppreffion, an invafion of natural and legal rights, and a violation of thofe principles which fupport the conftitutioa of Englifh government. ^ m- ,■>•'' This queftion is of great importance. That the Americans are able to bear taxation is indubitable ; that their refu- fal may be over-ruled* is highly proba- ble : but power is no fufficient evidence of truth. Let us examine our own claim, and the objections of the recu- fanta, with caution proportioned to the event of the decifion, which muft con- vidt one part of robbery, or the other of rebellion. J; v^ A tax is a payment exaded by au- thority from part of the community for the benefit of the whole. From whom, and in what proportion fuch payment fhall be required, and to what ufes it ihallbe applied, thofe only are to judge ^ V ( 14 ) to whom government is intruded. In the Britifh dominion taxes are appor- tioned, levied, and appropriated by the ftates aflfembled in parliament. ., ^ ,-» . j>' 1 \ k. 'U .■V,;„, Of every empire all the fubordinate communities are liable to taxation, be- caufe they all fhare the benefits of go- vernment, and therefore ought all to furniXh their proportion of the expence. ■t*. i' , This the Americans have never open- ly denied. That it is their duty to pay the coft of their own fafety they feem to admit; nor do they refufe their contri- bution to the exigencies, whatever they may be, of the Bf itiih empire ; but they make this participation of the public burden a duty of very uncertain extent, and imperfed: obligation, a duty tem- porary, occafional and eledive, of which they referve to themfelves the right of fettling the degree, the time, and the duration, of judging when it may be re- quired, and when it has been performed. They I I ( '5 ) . They allow to the fupreme power nothing more than the liberty of notify- ing to them its demands or its neceflities. Of this notification they profefs to think for themfelves, how far it (hall influence their counfels, and of the neceflities al- leged, how far they (hall endeavour to relieve them. They afTume the exclu- five power of fettling not only the mode, but the quantity of this payment. They are ready to co-operate with all the other dominions of the King ; but they will co-operate by no means which they do not like, and at no greater charge than they are willing to bear. This claim, wild as it may feem, this claim, which fuppofes dominion without authority, and fubjedls without fubordi- nation, has found among the libertines of policy many clamorous and hardy vindi- cators. The laws of Nature, the rights of humanity, the faith of charters, the danger of liberty, the encroachments of ufurpation, have been thundered in our ears. { i6 ) ' cars, fometimes by interefted fadion, and fometimes by honeft ftupidity. It 18 faid by Fontenelle, that if twenty* philofophers (hall refolutely deny that the prefence of the fun makes the day, he will not defpair but whole nations may adopt the opinion. So many poli- tical dogmatifts have denied to the Mo- ther Country the power of taxing the Colonies, and have enforced tlieir denial with fo much violence of outcry, that their fed is already very numerous, and the publick voice fufpends its decifion. In moral and political queftions the conteft between intereft and juftice has been often tedious and often fierce, but perhaps it never happened before that juftice found much oppofition with inte- reft on her fide. For the fatisfadion of this inquiry, it is neceflary to confider how a Colony is conftituted, what are the terms of migra- tion 1 ' • t'C -d faaion, and that if twenty 'y deny that kes the day, 'hole nations > many poli- ^ to the Mo- taxing the their denial 3utcry, that nerous, and ' decifion. •f -^ » ; t eftions the juftice has fierce, but >cfore that withinte- iquiry, it Colony is ^f migra*. tiort »«>» ardiaated by Nature, or fettkd bv Of two modes of migration the hif to7 of mankind inform, us. and fo flj -Ican,etdiW,oftwo;„;;:'^^^ IN countries wherp llfi. .. " ' ' lulled »„^ I- '»« was yet unad- C ""'' P°''"=y unformed, it fometimes ofdi2r 'f^°"'« ^'"dental preflurf^ itronrif;r:;:r--^ ■ broke off from ,i reft an. T"'' greater or fma^Ier f^r ' ut ^'"^^''' '-.putthemt^^Setht"'^'"^; of fome favourite of fo«;'°r^.\^ orwithniif #1, ^ *urcune, and with ««*8ov;rt:;f"'°^^''"-°-'^- beft^r ^ . ''°"'^«' went out to fee what OOxVS ' )(■ I.I ( i8 ) ' f ' Sons of cnterprilc like thcfo who com^ mitted to their own fwords their hopes and their lives, when they left their country, became another nation, with defigns, and profpe^ts, and interefts, of their own. They looked back no more to their for- mer home; they expcftedno help from thofe whom they had left behind : if they conquered, they conquered for them- felves; if they were deftroyed, they were not by any other power either lamented or revenged. , , ■■'■ rt C ». ' < > Wf Wl' .)til Of this kind feem to have been all the ' migiaiions of the old world, whether hif- torical or fabulous, and of this kind were . the eruptions of thofe nations which from the North invaded the Roman em- pire, and filled Europe with new foVe<- Ml '%*■?'.: '•. ',',' ■ . ;;;■ / ^ i n > leignttes. Bu T when, by the gradual admiffion of wifer laws and gentler manners, fociety became more eompaded and better regu- lated, it was fouad that the power of every ' T I I I , ( '9 ) every people confided in union, producc4 by one common intereft, and operating in joint efforts and confident counfeU. ' a- From this time Independence per- ceptibly wafled away. No part of the nation was permitted to a(ft for itfelf. All now had the fame enemies and the fame friends ; the Government protected indi- viduals, and individuals were requires to refer their defigns to the profperity of the Government. .. >. .. .. ., By this principle it is, that flates are formed and confolidated. Every man is taught to confider his own happinefs as combined with the publick profperity, and to think himfelf great and powerful, in proportion to the greatnefs and power of his Governors. - '•* '^ .^v*j i7i^'t<.-'y' Had the Weflern continent been dif- covered between the fourth and tenth century, when all the Northern world was in motion ; and had navigation been T> z '"'' ' '•'■•'" at ( 20 ) at that time fufficiently advanced to make {b long a pafTage eafily practicable, there is little reafon for doubting but the intu- mefcence of nations would have found its vent, like all other expanfive violence, vrhere there was leaft refiftance ; and that Huns and Vandals, inflead of fighting their way to the South of Europe, would have gone by thoufands and by myriads under their feveral chiefs to take ^oKcC- fion of regions fmiling with pleafure and waving with fertility, from which the na- ked inhabitants were unable to repel them. Every expedition would in thofedays pf laxity have produced a diftind and in- dependent flate. The Scandinavian he- roes might have divided the country a- mong them, and have fpread the feudal lubdivifion of regality from Hudfon's Bay to the Pacifick Ocean. ■ ' ■■ ''■,'■- But Columbus came five or fix hun* dred years too late for the candidates of fox-ereignty. When he formed his pro- \ \. ^ , I «• ( 21 ) jcft of dlfcovefy, the fluduations of milU' tary turbulence had fubfided, and Europe began to regain a fettled form, by efta- blifhed government and regular fubor- dination. No man could any longer credt himfelf into a chieftain, and lead out his fellow^fubjefts by his own autho- rity to plunder or to war. He that com- mitted any adl of hoftility by land or fea, without the commiffion of fome ac- knowledged fovereign, was confidered by all mankind as a robber or a pirate, names which were now of little credit, and of which therefore no man was ambitious. 1 ^ ' : . Columbus in a reqioter time would have found his way to fome difcontented Lord, or fome younger brother of a petty Sovereign, who vould ha''3 taken fire at his propofal, and have quickly kindled with equal heat a troop of followers; they would have built (hips, or have feized them, and have wandered with Jiim at all adventures as far as they could keep i \ ! , . { 23 ) ■:■, keep hope in their company. But the age being now pad of vagrant excurlion and fortuitous hoAility, he was under the neceflity of travelling from court to court, fcorned and repulfed as a wild projedor, an idle promifer of kingdoms in the clouds : nor has any part of the world yet had reafon to rejoice that he found al lall reception and employment. In the fame year, in a year hitherto difaftrous to mankind, by the Portuguefe was difcovered the paff-.ge of the Indies, and by the Spaniards the coaft of Ame- rica. The nations of Europe were fired with boundlefs expectation, and the dif- coverers purfuing their enterprife, made conquefts in both hemifpheres of wide extent. But the adventurers were contented with plunder; though they took gold and filver to themfelves, they i'eized iflands and kingdoms in the name of their Sovereigns. When a new region was gained, a governour was appointed by that power which had given the com- 8 miffion ircrs were (33 ) » liiiflion to the conqueror; nor have 1 met with any European bMt Stukeley of London, that formed a defign of ex- alting himfelf in the newly found coun- tries to independent dominion. ^ •?.v jy-vn**w J -^ i'l il,;';«> if «J.. ■ To fecure a conqueft, it was always neceifary to plant a colony, and terri- tories thus occupied and fettled were rightly confidered as mere extenfions or procefTes of empire ; as ramifications .through which the circulation of one publick intereft communicated with the original fource of dominion, and which were kept flouri(hing and fprcadiug by the radical vigour of the Mother-country. The Colonies of England differ no otherwifc from thofe of other nations, than as the Englilh conflitution differs from theirs. All Government is ulti- mately and efTentially abfolute, but fub- ordinatc focieties may Have more immu- nities, or individuals greatier liberty, as the operations of Government are difPer- ently conduced. An Engliftiman in the y ( H ) ' ' ' the common courfe of lif6 and adlon feels no reftraint. An Eoglifh Colony has very liberal powers of regulating its own manners and adjufting its own affairs. But an Englifh individual may by the fupreme authority he deprived of liberty, and a Colony divefted of its powers, for reafons of .which that autho- rity is the only judge, j.. . - ^«. ^ 4^.» w ■ *, - ^ ? -^ ^:;s*5:i: fii l.-i^uuiivj ^iJJi;,;./t In fovereignty there are no gradations. There may be limited royalty, there may be limited confulfhip ; but there can be no limited government. There muft in every fociety be feme power or other from which there is no appeal, which admits no reftridions, which pervades the whole mafs of the community, regu- lates and adjufts all fuboidination, enads laws or repeals them, ere(Sts or annuls judicatures, extends or contracts privi- leges, exempt itfelf from queftion or control, and bounded only by ^hylical neceflity. KL By \ l.V U '■ Ov this exception, which by a head not fully impregnated with politicks is not eafily comprehended, it is alleged as an unanfwerablc reafon, that the Co- lonies fend no reprefentatives to the Houfe of Commons. ■\ ... ij ... . . ..^ ^.,, .j^^^^^ V It Is, fay the Aiherican advocates, the natural diilin^ion of a freeman, and the legal privilege of an Engliihman, that he is able to call his pofTeffions his own, that he can fit fecure in the en- joyment of inheritance or acquifition, that his houfe is fortified by the law» and that nothing can be taken from him but ' by Jiis own confent. This confent is given for every man by his reprefehta- tive in parliament. The Americans uin- repvefented ( 3* ) reprefontcd cannot confent to Englifli taxations, as a corporation, and they will not conient as individuals^ Of this argument, it has been ob-« ferved by more than one, that its force extends equally to all other laws, that a freeman is not to be expofcd to punt(h- ment) or be called to any onerous fer-^ vice but by his own confent. The con- grefs has extracted a pofition from the fanciful MontefquieUy that in a free Jlate every man being a free agent ought to be concerned in his own government. What- ever is true of taxation is true of every other law, that he who is bound by it^ without his confent, is not free, for he is not concerned in his own governmentw He that denies the Englifh Parliament the right of taxation, denies it likcwife the right of making any other laws civil or criminal, yet this power over the Co- lonies was never yet difputed by then>- felves. They have always admitted ila- tutea f 33 ) tut68 for the puhifhment of offences^ and for the redrcfs or prevention of incon^ venicncies j and the reception of any , law draws after it by a chain which cannot be broken, the unwelcome ne- ceiOty of fubmitting to taxation. t That a free man is governed by himfelf, or by laws to which he has confented) is a pofition of mighty found) but every man that utters it9 with what- ever confidence, and everv man that hears it, with whatever acquiefcence, if confent be fuppofed to imply the pow^ir of r ufufal, feels it to be falfe. We virtually and im- plicitly allow the inftitutions of any Go- vernment of which we enjoy the benefit, and folicit the protection. In wide extend- -ed dominions, though power has beeudif- fufed with the moft even hand, yet a very fmall part of the people are either primarily or fecondarily confulted in Le- giflation. The bufinefs of the Publick muft be done by delegation. The choice of delegates is made by a fele£t number, F i and \ ( 34 ) and thofe who are nor eledors fland idle and helplefs fpedtators of the common- weal, ivholly unconcerned ivith the go- 'uernment of themfelves, ,^ ■ .,. Of Eledtors ihe hap Is but little belter. They are often far from unanimity in their., choice, and where the numbers approach to equality, almolt half muft be governed not only without, but againft their choice. ■ "^•''l-rr^'-l ^i:^.^t■«, How any man can have confented to Inftitutions eftablifl^ed in diftant ages, it will be difficult to explain. In the moft favourite refidence of liberty, the con- fent of individuals is merely paffive, a tacit admiffion in every community of the terms which that community grants and requirf^s. As all are born the fub- jeds of fome ftate or other, we may be faid to have been all born confenting to, fome fyftem of Government. Other confent than this, the cond'tion of civil life does not allow. It is the unmean- . ( 35 ) ing clamour of the pedants of policy,' the delirious dream of republican fana- ^ ticifiil. :r*'yH But hear, ye fons and daughters of liberty, the founds which the winds ar« wafting from che Weftern Coctinent. The Americans are telling one another, what, if we may jud • *■.»■»■ *•* «-* While this refolution ftands alone, the Americans are irzt from Angularity of opinion ; their wit has not yet betray- ed them to herefy. While they fpeak as the naked fons of Nature, they claim but what is claimed by other men., and have witheld nothing but what all with- hold. They are here upon firm ground, i . i F 2 behind ( ■ { 3<5 ) behind entrenchments which never can be forced, •.';. 'i--! "^^v^*:./" 'v ...■■• -.v;.i^-f, -- I . Hum AMITY is very uniform. Thcf Americans have this refemblance to Europeans, that they do not always know when they are we!!. They foon quit the fortrefs that could neither have been mined by fophiftry, nor battered by declamation. 1 heir next refolution declares, that their ancejiorsy ivho frji fettled the Colonies, were, at the time of their emigration from the Mother-country^ entitled to all the rights f liberties^ and im- munities of free and natural^bornfubjeiis nx'ithin the realm of England, This likewife is true; but when this is granted, their boaft of original rights is at an end; they are no longer in a Stf.te of Nature. Thefe lords of them- felves, thefe kings of Me, thefe demi- gods of independence, fink down to Co- lonifts, governed by a Charter. If their ancestors were fubjei^ts, they acknow- i . a ledged \- . ( 37 ) ledged a Sovereign ; if they liad a right to Englifli privileges, they were account-. *^ able to Englifh laws, and what mull grieve the Lover of Liberty to difcover, had ceded to the King and Parliament, whether the right or not, at lead the power, of difpofing, ivithout their con-* Jenty of their lives^ liberties, and pro-* perties. It therefore is required of them to prove, that the Parliament ever ceded to them a difpenfation from that obe- dience, which they owe as natural-born fubjeds, or any degree of independence or immunity not enjoyed by other Eng- liflimen. , ' . «:,.., ' They fay, That by fuch emigration th:/ by no means forfeited, furren- dc x^; or loft any of thofe rights ; but that laej were^ and their defcendcnts now are^ entitled to the e^ercife and en^ joyment of all fuch of them as their local and other circumjlances enable them to exercife and mjoy. 1^- i - ^ . 1 "'I ,• ■ < »', .•<' ..P :'J'.^ That \ ( 38 ) . • That they who form a fcttlcmcnt by a lawful Charter, having committed no crime, forfeit no privileges, will be ; readily confeffed; but what they do not forfeit by any judicial fentence, they may lofe by natural efFeds. As man ".an be ^Mt in one place at once, he can- not hav^ t advantages of multiplied . refidence. K^ that will enjoy the bright-, nefs of funihine, muft quit the coolnefs of the fliade. He who goes voluntarily to America, cannot complain of lofing what he leaves in Europe. He perhaps had a right to vote for a knight or bur- gefs : by crofling the Atlantick he has not nullified his right ; for he has made its exertion no longer poiTible, By his own choice he has left a country where he had a vote and little property, for another, where he has great property, but no vote. But as this preference was deliberate and unconftrained, he is ftill, concerned in the government of himjelf ,' he has reduced himfelf from a voter to • one of the innumerable multitude that have ( 39 ) 7' as ill, » ,o at re have no vote. He lias truly ceded his right, but he ftili is governed by his own confent ; becaufe he has conlcntcd to throw his atom of intereft into the general mafs of the community. Of the confequences of his own adt he has no caufe to complain ; he has chofen, or intended to chufe, the greater good ; he is reprefented, as himfelf defired, in the general reprelentation. ^^vj-x ^ nv >'^*.n '. -x But the privileges of an American fcorn the limits of place ; they are part of himfelf, and cannot be loft by de-' parture from his country ; they float in the air, or glide under the ocean. OoRiii amara fuam non intermifceat und^m. A Planter, wherever he fettles, is not only a freeman, but a legiflator, ubi im^ per at or, ibi Roma, As the Englijh Co- lonijls are not reprefented in the Britijh Parliament^ they are entitled to a free ' aiid ( 40 ) okd cxcluftve pQwer of legijlation in their Jiveral legijlatures^ in all cafes qf^ Tax^ ation and inUnial polity yfubjc^t only to the 7iL'giitive of the Sovereign^ infuch manner as has been heretofore vfed and accuflom* t^f\ We cheerfully conjent to the opera* tion of fucb adh of the Britiffj Parlia^ mait as are bona fide refrained to the regulation of our external commerce*^ excluding every idea of Taxation^ mter" nal or external^ for raifing . evenue on the fubjeils of America nvuhout their confent^ •^•!;r;j -: ,:jp,;u j-* -? ••t;.?* :S.v-,^j-iS' Their reafon for this claim is, that tie foundation of Englifh Liberty ^ and of all Goventfnentj is a right in the People to participate in their Legiflative Council, They inherit, they fay, from their anceftorsy the right ivhich their ancejlors profeffedy of enjoying all the privileges of Englifhmen, That they inherit the right of their anccltors is allowed ; but they can inherit no more. Their ancef- tors tofe left t countiiy where the reprefen«^ tatives of the people were clcded by men particularly qualified, and where .hofe who wanted qualifications, or who did not ufe them, were bound by the de- cifions of men whom they had not de- puted. '1.. . • r ■vff:i The colonics are the defcendants of men, who either had no votes in elec* tions, or who voluntarily refigned them for fomething, in their opinion, of more cAimation : they have therefore exadly what their anceflors left them, not i a vote in making laws, or in condituting legiOatore, but the happinefs of being protected by law, and the duty of obeying it. ;;■■■". ...'■" .•' /'''■ -:'' . ■fi r^:-^* What their anceftocs did not carry with them, neither they nor their de- fcendants have fince acquired. They have not, by abandoning their part in one legidature, obtained the power of confli*- tuting another, exclufive and indepen- G dent, ( 4* !> (lent, any more than the multitudes, yrho are now debarred from voting, have a right to ere^ a feparate Parliament for themfelves. I* Mpn are wrong for want of fenfey but they are wrong by halves for. want of fpirit. Since the Americans have dif- covered that they can make a Parlia- ment,, whence comes it that they do not think themfelves equally empowered to make a King ? If they are fubjedts, whofe government is conftituted by a charter, they can form no body of inde- pendent legiflature. If their rights arc inherent and underived, they may by their own fufFrages encircle with a dia-r dem the brows of Mr. Cufhing. .^i { I) It is farther declared by the Gongrefs of Philadelphia, that his majejiy^s Colonics are entitled to all the privileges and im* tnunities granted and confirmed to them by Royal Charters^ or fecured to them by their fever al codes of provincial laws, I ' The ( 43 ) ^., The 6rft claufe of this refolution is eafily underftood) and will be readily •' admitted. To all the privileges which a Charter can convey, they are by a Royal Charter evidently entitled. The fecond claufe is of greater difHculty ; , for how can a provincial law fecure pri- vileges or immunities to a province? . Provincial laws may grant to certaia individuals of the province the enjoy- ment of gainfuU or an immunity from onerous offices ; they may operate upon (he people to whom they relate ; but no province can confer provincial privileges on itfelf. They may have a right to all which the King has given them ; but it is a conceit of the other hemifphere, that men have a right to all which they have given to themfelves. qt,:, f A corporation is confidered in law as an individual, and can no more ex-* ^end its own immunities, than a man can by his own choice aflume dignities or titles. o; Ga , i * * Th« ( 44 ) * The Lcgiflature of a Colony, let not the comparifon be too much difdained, 18 only the veftry of a larger parifli^ which may lay a cefs on the inhabi- tants, and enforce the payment; but can extend no influence beyond its own diftri^, muft modify its particular re« gulations by the general law, and what* ever may be its internal expences, is ftill liable to Taxes laid by fuperior authority. , , ; r • The Charters given to diflPerent pro-' vinces are different, and no general right can be extraded from them. The Charter of Penfylvania, where this Con- grefs of anarchy has been impudently held contains a claufe admitting in ex-^ prefs terms Taxation by the Parlia<> ment. If in the other Charters no fuch re- ferve is made, it mufl: have been omitted as not neceffary, becaufe it is implied in the nature of fubordinate government. They who are fubjed to laws, arc liable to Taxes. If any fuch immunity had '•^-^ ; - - b^ea ( 45 ^ ^ been grantedi it is ftill revocable by the Le3^ature9 ^nd ought to be revoked aa contrary to the publick good, which ia in every Charter ultimately intended, .j '^ Suppose it true that any fuch cx- cmptidn is contained in the Charter of Maryland, it can be pleaded only by the Marylanders. It is of no ufe iot any other province, and with regard even to them, muft have been confider^ as one of the grants in which the Xing' has been deceived, and annulled as mif- chievous to the Publick, by facrificing to one little fettlement th general intereft of the Empire; as infringing the fyftem of dominion, and violating the compad of Government; But Dr. Tucker has (hewn that even this Charter promifes no exemption from Parliamentary Taxes, 'i \ k *^ f .r kMrj-ir-ik <. "--i^j** > In the controverfy agitated about the begnning of this century, whether the £ngii{h laws could bind Ireland, Dave-"' nanti who defended againft Molyneux •,.-•:.:. the ( 46 ) the clalnls of England, confidered it as neceflary to prove not^'ing more, than that the prefent Iriih might be deemed a Colony. ■«>; !^' 4/^;;,. ., , . > . .1- «u The neceflary connexion of rcpre- fentatives with Taxes, feems to have funk deep into many of thofe mindsi that admit founds vvithout their meaning* t '' ' ■ . ' ' ' ' • Our nation is reprefented in Parlia- ment by an aflembly as numerous as can well confifl vrith order and difpatch, chofen by perfons fo differently qualified in different places, that the mode of choice feems to be, for the mod party formed by chance, and fettled by cuftom. Of individuals far the greater part have no vote, and of the voters few have any perfonal knowledge of him to whom they entruft their liberty and fortune* . Yet this reprefentation has the whole effed expected or defired; that ©f fpreading fo wide the care of general intereftt ' ( 47 ) , iatereft, and the participation of pub<4 lick counfeUf that the intereil or cor» ruption' of particular men can feldom operate with much injury to the Publick. For this reafon many populous and ppulent towns neither enjoy nor defire particular reprefentatives : they are in- cluded in the general fcheme of pub-^ lick adminiftration, and cannot fufFer but with the reft of the Enipire. •^ •**'•:' •1 ;\\ It is urged that the Americans have not the fame fecurity, and that a British Legiflature may wanton with their pro* perty ; yet if it be true, that their wealth is our wealth, and that their ruin will be our ruin, the Parliament has the fame intereft in attending to them, as to any other part of the nation. The reafon why we place any confidence in our re-^ prefentatives is, that they muft fhare in the good or evil which their counfels (hall produce. Their fhare is indeed com- fnonly confequential and remote; but it C \ -rJ.y^ pV. f ^ ) It is not often poflible that any imme-* diate advantage can be extended ta fuch numbers as may prevail againft it. We are therefore as fecure againft intentional depravations of Government as human wifdom can make us, and upon thisfe- curity the Americans may venture to rc- pofe. ,.._-- .:?*'l- ' ■ . .^ ^ 'rf w-fe^v^^J *^ It 13 faid by the Old Member who has written an Appeal againft the Tax, that the produce of American labour is /pent in Britijh tnanufaBures, the balance of trade is greatly againfi tbem ; whatever yxm take direElly in Taxes, it in effeSl taken from your own commerce. If the mmjler feize: the money with which the American fhould pay his debts and come ta market^ the merchant cannot expeH him as a cufiomcr^ mr can the debts al' ready contra^ed be paid. — Suppofe we obtain from America a million inftead of vne hundred thoufand pounds i it would be fupplying one perfonal e.'^igence by the future ruin ffour commerce. . - '^m ( 49 ) ^ All this is true; but the old Member feems not to perceive* that if his bre- thren of the Legiflature know this as vreW as himfelf, the Americans are in no danger of oppreflion, (ince by men commonly provident they muft be fo taxed, as that we may not lofe one way what we gaip another. The fame old Member has difcovered, that the judges formerly thought it ille- gal to tax Ireland, and declares that no caies can be more alike than thofe of Ireland and America ; yet the judges whom he quotes have mentioned a dif- ference. Ireland, they fay, hath a Par* liament of its own. When any Colony has an independent Parliament, acknow- ledged by the Parliament of Britain, the Cdfss will differ lefs. Yet by the 6 Geo. I. chap .5. the Ads of the Britifh Parliament bind Ireland. ^ ^ It- is urged that when Wales, Dur* ham, and Chefter were divefted of their H particular "«.. P ^ r,. ^ .- . ~ j ^ , lP6 tfefe from whom fomething had becti taken, fomething in return might properly be given. To the Americans their Cliarters are left as they were, except that of which their fcdition has deprived Ihcm. If they were to be reprefentcd in Parliament, fomething would be granted, though nothing is withdrawn. » The inhabitants of Chcfler, Durham> and Wales, were invited to exchange their peculiar inftitutions for the power of voting, which they wanted befor,e. .The Americans have voluntarily refign*- ed the power of voting to live in diftanc and feparatc governments, and what they have voluntarily quitted, they have no right to claim. r muft always be remembered that tliey are reprcfeated by the fame virtual repre- A t^ ■ , m > ( 51 ) • • reprefcntation as the greater part of EngUilimen ; and that if hy change q( place they have lefs iharc iu the LcgU flature than is proportioned to their opulence, they hy their removal gained that opulence, and had originally and have now their choice of a vote at home, or riches at a diftancc. ' • - * ^^^'V' ) - We arc told, what appears to the oJi tjliaf we have either no right, or the iolc righjt of taxing the Colonics. The meaning is, that if we can tax them, they can- not tax themfclvcs ; and that if they ^ m tax themfclves, we cannot tax them. We anfwer with very little hcfitation, that for tflie general ufc of the Kmpiuc we have the folc right of taxing tliem. If tlicy have contributed any thing in their own aflemblies, what they contri- buted was not paid, but given ; it was not a tax or tribtvtc, but a prefcnt. Yet they have the natural and legal Ha power u^ i power of levying money on themfelves for provincial purpofes, of providing for their own expence, at their own difcre- tion. Let not this be thought new or ftmnge ; it is the ftate of every parifli in the kingdom. -^ '^ i^^fmi: :; The friends of the Americans are of different opinions. Some think that be- ing unreprefented they ought to tax themfelves, and others that they ought to have repreferitatives in the Britilh Par- liament. '' . ''' - - ^'^'Opi--: .iV^ li \\ i i If they are to tax themfelves, what power is to remain in the fupreme Le- giflature ? That they muft fettle their own mode of levying their money is fuppofed. May the Britifh Parliament tell them how much they fliall contribute ? If the fum may be prefcrlbed, they will return few thanks for the power of raif- ing it ; if they are at liberty to grant . or to deny, they are no longer fubje^s* If \ ( 53 ) ^ If they are to be reprefented, what number of thefe weftern orators are to be admitted. This 1 fuppofe the parlia- ment muft fettle ; yet if men have a na- tural and unalienable right to be repre- fented, who fhall determine the number of their delegates ? Let us however fup- pofe them to fend twenty-three, half as many as the kingdom of Scotland, what will this reprefentation avail them ? To pay taxes will be Hill a grievance. The love of money will not be lefTenedi nor the power of getting it increi^fed, -^^'^ *^^ i". Whither will this necisffityof repro*- fentation drive us ? Is every petty fet- tlement to be out of the reach of govern- ment, till it has fent a fenator to Par- liament ; or may two or a greater nu^n- ber be forced to unite in a fingle depu- tation ? What at laft is the difference, between him that is taxed by compulfion without reprefentation, and him that is reprefented by compulfion ia order to be taxed f ' For \ { S4 ) For many reigns the Houfe of Com- mons was in a flate of fiuduation : new burgefles were added from time to time» without any reafon now to be difcovered ; but the number has been £xed for more than a century and a half, and the king's power of increafing it has been queftioned. It will hardly be thought fit to new mo- del the conilitution in favour of the planters, who, as they grow rich, may buy eflates in England, and without any innovation* ^fFedually reprefent their native colonies. . .• _ „^ , ■ r ' - "','" * ,1 ' ' ' The friends of the Americans indeed afk for them what they do not afk for themfelves. This ineflimable right of reprefentation they have never folicited. They mean not to exchange folid mo- ney for fuch airy honour. They fay, and fay willingly, that they cannot con- veniently be reprefented ; becaufe their in- ference is, that they cannot be taxed. They «re too remote to ihare the general |;o- vernment, -.# ( 55 ) Vernmenty and therefore claim the pri- vilege of governing* themfclve$. Of the principles contained in the re<^ folutions of the Congrefs, however wild, indefinite, and obfcure, (\'ch has been the influence upon American under- ilanding» that from New-England to South-Carolina there is formed a gene- ral combination of all the Province againft their Mother-country. The madnefs of independence has fpread from Colony to Colony, till order is loft and government defpifed, and all it filled with mifrule, uproar, violence, and conniiion. To be quiet is difafFec- ' tion, to be loyal is treafon. , ,.*^j • The Congrefs of Philadelphia, an af- fembly convened by its own authority, and as a feditious conventicle punifh- -able by lav7, has promulgated a decla- ration, in compliance with which the communication between Britain and the greateft ( 56 ) greatcft part of North America is now fufpended. They ceafed to admit the importation of Englifh goods in Decem- ber I774> and determine to permit the exportation of their own no longer than to November 1775. / .^ ^ This might feem enough, bul: they have done more. They have declared, that they (hall treat all as enemies who do not concur with them in difafFedtion and perverfenefs, and that they will trade with none that (hall trade with Britain. They threaten to ftigmatize in their Gazette thofe who ihall confume the products or merchandife of their Mo- ther-country, and are now fearching fufpe^ed houfes for prohibited goods. : These hoftile declarations they pro- fefs themfelves ready to maintain by force. They have armed the militia il i: of ( 57 ) of their provinces and feized the publick ilores of ammunition. They are there- fore no longer fubjedts, fmce they refufe the laws of their Sovereign, and in de- fence of that refufal are making open preparations for war. Being now in their own -opinion free Hates, they are not only raifing armies, but forming alliances, not only haflen- ing tQ rebel themfelves, but feduclng their neighbours to rebellion. They have publiflicd an addrefs to the inhabi- tants of Quebec, in which difcontent and refHlance are openly incited, and with very refpedful mention of fhe fagacity of Frenchmen^ invite them to fend de- puties to the CoHgrefs of Philadelphia, to that feat of Virtue and Veracity, whence the people of England are told, that to eftablifti popery, a religion fraught nvith fanguinary and impious tenets^ even in Quebec, a country of which the inhabitants are papifts, is fo contrary to the conftitu/on, that it cannot be iaw- .1 fully . .' . -( 58 ) fully done by the legiflature itfelf, where it is made one of the articles of their aflbciation, to deprive the conquer'id French of their religious eftablifhment ; and whence the French of Quebec are, at the fame time, flattered into fedi- tion, by profeflions of expecting Jrom the liberality of fentiment, dijlingui/h- tng their nation^ that difference of religion ivill not prejudice them againfl a hearty atnityy becaufe the tranfcendent nature of freedom elevates all ivho unite in the catife above fuch low-minded infirmities. , "* , Quebec, however, is at a great dif- tance. They have aimed a flroke from which they may hope for greater and more fpeedy mifchief. They have tried to in- fe£l the people of England with the con- tagion of difloyalty. Their credit is happily not fuch as gives them influ- ence proportionate to their malice. When they talk of their pretended im- munities guar r ant ied by the plighted faith of Government^ and the mofl folemn compadls ■'i ■I ( 59 ) ' compass ivith Englijh Sovereigns^ we think ourfelvA at liberty to inquire when the faith was plighted and the compa£fc . made ; and when we can only find that King James and King Charles the Firfl: promifed the fettlers in MafTachufet's Bay, now famous by the appellation of Boflonians, exemption from taxes for feven years, we infer with Mr. Mauduit, that by this folemn company they were, after the expiration of the ilipulated term, Hable to taxation. ' ; » :• v ^ , When they apply to our compaflion, by telling us, that they are to be carried from their own country to be tried for certain offences, we are not fo r^i.dy to pity themi as to advife them not to of«* fend. Wtile they are innocent they are lafe. - ■ '•■■^ ' ■'. - ' .: ■ '■,:,-''.■ When they tell of laws made exprefsly for their punilhment, we anfwer, that tumults and fedition were always punifli- able, and that the new law prefcribes only the mode of execution. I 3 When ( 60 ) i When it is faid that the whole town of Bodon is diftreiTed for a mifdemea* nour of afewi we wonder at their fhame-* lefTnefs ; for we know that the town of Boflon, and all the afTociated provinces, are now in rebellion to defend or juftify the criminals. •:»''(• :'• '<'f^ ^ >'tfj': f c If frauds in the impofts of Bofton are tried by commifTion without a jury, they are tried here in the fame mode ; and why fhould the Boflonians expe^ from us more tendernefs for them than for ourfelves ? ^r»^ T' t ■#» If they are condemned unheard, it is becaufe there is no need of a trial. The crime is manifefl and notorious. All trial is the inveftigation of fomething doubtful. An Italian philofopher ob- ferves, that uo man defires to hear what he has already feen. If their aflemblies have been fuddenly diflblved, what was the reafon ? Their deliberations ( 6i ) V delibeu^lons were inde".ent, and their in- tentions feditious. The power of difTo- ../ lution is granted and refcrved for fuch times of turbulence. Their bed friends, have been lately foliciting the King to. diffolve his Parliament, to do what they h fo loudly complain of fuffering. ;• That the fame vengeance involves the innocent and guilty is an evil to be lamented) but human caution cannot prevent it, nor human power always rtdrefs it. To bring mifery on thofe wiio have not deferved it, is part of the aggregated guilt of rebellion. • That governours have been fome- times given them only that a great man might get eafe from importunity, and that they have had judges not always of the deeped learning, or the pureft inte- grity, we have no great rcafon to doubt, becaufe fuch misfortunes happen to our- felves. Whoever is governed will fome- times be governed ill, even when he is moil concerned in hie own government. That wmmimmmmm mmm ■\ ( 62 ) *' That improper officers or magiftrates are fent, is the crime or folly of thofe that fent them. When incapacity is dif- covered, it ought to be removed j if corruption is detected, it ought to be punilhed. No government could fubfift for a day, if fmgle errors could juftify defedion. One of their complaints is not fuch as can claim much commiferation from the fofteft bofom. They tell us, that we have changed our condud, and that a tax is now laid by F rliamont on thofe which were never iaxed by Parliament before. To this we think it may be cafily an- fwered, that the longer they have been fpared, the better they can pay. , ; It is certainly not much their intereft to repreient innovation as criminal or invidious; for they have introduced into the hillory of mankind a new mode of difaffedion, and have given, I be- lieve, the firft example of a profcrip- tion / ' I ( 63 ) tion publiftied by a Colony againft the Mother-country. . , , . ^ ,«..v^. To whr.t is urged of new powers granted to the Courts of Admiralty, or the extenfion of authority conferred on the judges, it may be anfwered in a few words, that they have themfelves made fach regulations neceffary ; that they are eftabliflit J for the prevention of greater evils ; at the fame time, it muft be ob- ferved, that thefe powers have not been extended (ince the rebellion in America* ^;^:;,t, One mode of perfuafion their inge- nuity has fuggefted, which it may per- haps be lefs eafy to refift. That we may not look with indifference on the American conteft, or imagine that the ftruggle is for -•, claim, which, however decided, is of fmall importance and re- mote confequence, the Philadelphian Congrefs has taken care to inform us, that they are refifting the demands of Parliament, as well for our fakes as their own. 5 Their . V > ■ ( 64 ) Their keennefs of perfpicacity has enabled them to purfire confequences to a great diilance ; to fee through clouds impervious to the dimncfs of European fight ; and to find, I know not how, that when they are taxed, we ihall be enflaved. That flavery is a miferable ftate we have been often told, and doubtlefs many a Briton will tremble to find it fo near . as in America ; but how it will be brought hither, the Congrefs muft in- form us. The queflion might diflrefs a common underflanding ; but the flatef- men of the other hen^ifphere can eafily refolve it. Our minifler8> they fay, are our enemies, &nd if they JhouU carry the point of topcation^ may ivith the fame army enjlave us. It may hejaidy ive "will not pay them; but remember, fay the weftcrn fages, the taxes J torn America^ and we may add the men, and particu- larly the Roman Catholics of this vaji continent will then be in the power of your enemies. Nor have you any reafon to to eitp(£lt that after making flavss of us, many of us will refufe to a/Jift in reducing you to the fame abje^ flate. ■- 1> I . •i; These are / dreadful menaces; but fufpeding that they have not much the found of probability, the Congrefs pro- ceeds : Do not treat this as chimerical. Know that in left than half a century the quit^rents refitved to the crown from the numberlefs grants of this vqft conti^ nent will pour large flreams of wealth into the royal coffers. If to this be added the power of taxing America at pleafurey > ■un'U ,ymA ^i .::',,» ^^:,-_rr All this is very dreadful ; but amidft the terror that (hakes my frame, I can- not forbear to wifh that fome iluice wer« opened for thefe flreams of treafure. I fhould gladly fee America return half of what England has expended in her ' - K defence ; i^V..'U'Ji."Y ■;f n^ ( 66 ) -.V*^ r?:|.:-' defence J and of the ilream that ^wll^ow Jo largely in lefs than hajf a century^ I* hope a fmall riM at leail may be fouad. to qpench the third of the prefent gene- ration , which feemft to thiak itfelf in more danger of wanting monej than qf lofing liberty./ ^'^^ (V^^'^"^^^i'^<^'- Mi^oi^ iV>'.\''«"^-'"v: - f Vt luv ?-M '■■\:yv- ^ It is difficult to judge with what in- tention fuch airy burlls of malevoljsace are vented : if fuch writers hope to ^ ceive, let ud rather repel them wjtht fcorn, than refute them by dil^utation. ti. ■ '.■"»*>: i> 't.'iNiV t,,' \In this lafl; terrifick paragraph sxt two poiitions that* if our feafs do not overpower our rdl«£tion4 may enable us to fupport life a little lopger. We are told by thefe croakers of calain)ity» not only that oar prefent minifters defign to enflave us, but that the faiBe malignity of purpofe is to defcend through all their fucceilpr^, and thatt^^^ wealth to be poured i»to Stlglaqd.by the Padolus of Amecica will, whenever it ■■■ f 67 ) it comes, be emplayed to purchafe the fomaios of liberty. ^ V) nplf Ty^f /■ f'WO ; Op thofe who now condud the na- ttOtisl; affairs we may, without much arrogance, prefume to know more than ^mfelves, and of thofe who fhall fuc- ceed them, whether minifter or king, not to know , lefs. ' ^r<^:}f^ r tn u si^ttt j ' ^m iHt other pofition is, that the Croivn, if this laudable oppofition ihould not be fuccefsfnl/ 'ZJt/iT/ have the power of taxing jimerica at pUafure. Surely they think rather too meanly of our appreheniions, when they fuppbfe us not to know what they well know themfelves, that they are taxed, like all other Britifh fubje£l:s, by Parliament ; and that the Crown has not by the new impofts, whether right or wrong, obtained any additional power over their pofTeflions. ^ rv:: via^i' at i j It were a curious, hut an idle fpecu- latloa to inquire, what efFed thefe die- ;\.i K 2 tators ( 68 ) tators of ieditioii exped from the dif- perfion of their letter among us. If they believe their own complaints of hardfhip, and really dread the danger which they defcribe, they will naturally hope to communicate their own per- ceptions to their fellow-fubje^8» But probably in America, as in other place*:;, the chiefs are incendiaries, that hope to rob in the tumults cf a conflagration, and to(s brands among a rabble paflively combuftible. ^ Thofe who wrote the Ad- drefs, though they have fhown no great extent or profundity of mind, are yet probably wifer than to believe it: but they have been taught by fome mailer of mifchief, how to put in motion the engine of political eledlricity ; to attra£fc by the founds of Liberty and Property, to repel by thofe of Popery and Slavery ; and to give the great ftroke by the name ofBofton. .inom\:^io\u'jmvj4o - When fubordinate communities op- pofe the decrees of the general legiila-> »r L m^ ( 69 ) ture with defiance thus audadous, and, maiigoity thus acrinxpiuous, nothing;, remains but to conquer or to yield; to ' allow their claim of independencet or to reduce them by forc^ to fubmiil^n and all^giance.^,^,^ ,j.^^ ^Mldu^ > ^ TO I'i ^;^ might be hoped, that no EngUlJin man could be found, whom the mena(;e8 of our ;q\yn Colonifts, juft refcucd from the French, would npt move to indig-^ nation, like that of the Scythians, who, returning from war, found themfelves excluded from their own boufcs by their, '.That corporations conftttuted by favour, and exifting by fufE^rance, ihould dare to prohibit commi^r^ with their • native country, and thn^aten individuals- by infamy, and focieties with at leaf); . fufpenfion of amity, for d&ring to be more obedient'to government than themr felves, is a degree of infolence, which QOt only deferves to be puniihed, but of which 1. nittded by the order of lifb, and thte If) ^ YsT there h«vc rlftn tip, in thefiicfe of the publick, men who, by whatever corruptions or whatever infatuation, HA"^ und^rtalnm to diefend the Ameri- ciMid, endeavour to fhelter them froih xtlftntment, and propofe recbhcili^tioti' without /iibMiffioft. ^ ^'^'^'^''^ :"''' ' > ' 1 ' :di 9 ill -notuft ' 'hi pdMckl difta(^9 are n^turallyeoti^' ti^ous, let it be fbppofed for a moment that Gornwal, feized with the Phlla**- delphian frenzy, may refolve to feparate il^lf'ftom iMS genehil fy^^m of the £i%liiK cotiftHutk)n, atid judge of ita own rights ih ittown paHtament. A Gbngrel^ miglit then meet itTruro> and' addr^fd theiWhe^eountiei ih a ftylc not imlike the towage of the American' {n^trtoti, V / ,v. ( 71 • *« FrlcAdi and Feliow-fubjeftst iit^' ^» W E the delegates of the feveral tovmt and pariihes of Gornwalt afTembled to deliberate upon our own (late and* that of oui: conftituents, having, after ferious debate and calm confideratlon, fettled '' the fchen^e of our future condud, hol(f it neceffary to declare in this publide^: manncri the refolutions which we think' ourfelvcs entitled to forni by the inimu* table laws of Nature, and th^ uhatieqable rights of reafonable JBeings, and into' wblch we h^ve been at laft compelled by grievances ^nd oppreffioasy Iqng eft- dured by us in patient filence, not be<^ ' caufe we did not feel, or could not re*' - move them, but becaufe we were un« willing to give difturbance to a fettled government, and hoped that otherf would in time find like ourfclves their' true intereft and their original powcMf- and ^11 co-operate to univerfal happineft* -i/ ■*. \ ■ ' • • ■■■ ; ■ ■> * . ... . ** SuT fmce havinglong ifidu1g6d 'the pleaHng expectation, we Hnd general dif- content, ( 72 ) content! not likely to increafet or not likely to end in genernl defedion, we refolve to eredt alone the ftandard of li- berty. - ** Know thcn% that you are no longer to confider Cornwall as an Englilh countyt vifited by Englilh judgesi re- ceiving law from an EngliP "Parliament, or included in any general taxation of the kingdom 1 but as a (late diftinft, and independent, governed by its owq inftitutionsi adminiftered by its own ma- giftrates, and exempt from any tax or tribute but fuch as we (hall impofp upon ourfelves. . kJ ■ ')["<■> ^..4 SW U Uk'i *' We are the acknowledged defcen- gants of the earUeft inhabitants of Britain, of men, who, before the time of hiftory, took poiidlion of the ifland defolate and ^raile, and therefore open to the firft oc- cupants. Of this defcent, our language is a fufficiem proof, which, not quite ( 73 ) a century ago, was dilTcrcut from yours. » • V //' I. " Such arc the Corninimcii ; but wlio arc you ? who but tlic unauthorifcd and luwlefs children of intruders, invaders^ and opprcflTors ? who but the tranrmittcrs of wrong, the inheritors of robbery ? In claiming independence we claim but little. We might require you to depart from a land which you poircfa by ufurp- ation, and to rcHore all that you have taken from us. . * •'Independe NCE is the gift of Nature, beflowed impartially on all her Tons ; no man is born the mafter of another. Every Cornilhman is i freeman, for we have never rcfigned the rights of huma- nity ; and he only can be thought free, who is not governed but by his own confcnt. ' • . / - .»• . »,' ■ !'5 " You may urge that the prcfent fyftcm of government has defccndcd through L many ( 74 ) many age8» and that we have a larger part in the reprefentation of the king- doni) than any other county. • . ... *' All this is truei but it is neither co- gent nor perfuafive. We look to the priginal of things. Our union with the English counties was either compelled by force, or fettled by compa^. " That which was made by violence* may by violence be broken. If we were treated as a conquered people* our rights might be obfcured, but could never be extinguifhed. The fword can give no- thing but power* which a iharper (word can take away. _] " If our union was by compad, whom could the compact bind but thofe that concurred in the ftipulations ? We gave our anceftors no commiflion to fettle the terms of future exiftence. They might be cowards that were frighted, or block- heads that were cheated ; but whatever they I IS ) they werct they could contract only for themfelvcs. What they could eftablifli, we can anouL ,7 1 " Against our prefeutformofgoyern-* ment it (hall ftand in the place of all argument, that we do not like it. While we are governed as we do not like, where is our liberty ? We do not like taxes, we will therefore not be taxed ; we do not like your laws, and will not obey them. ** The taxes laid by our reprefentativet are laid,, you tell us, by our own con- fent : but we will no longer confent to be reprefented. Our number of legiflators was originally a burthen impofed upon us by Englifh tyranny, and ought then to have been refufed : if it be now con-* fidered as a difproportionate advantage, there can be no reafon for complaining that we refign if, " We fhall therefore form a Senate of our own, under a Prefident whom the La ' King mm ( 76 ) King fhall nominate, but whofe autho- rity we will limit, by adjufting his falary to his merit. We will not withhold oitr (hare of contribution to tha ncceffary cxpence of lawful government, but we will decide for vourfelves what fhare we ihall pay, what expence is neceflary, and what government is lawful. ^ « ^^ ' ** Till the authority of our council is acknowledged, and we are proclaimed independent and unaccountable, we will, after the tenth day of September, keep our Tin in our own hands : you can be fupplied from no other place, and muft therefore comply at laft, or be poifoned with the copper of your own kitchens, • , !'■<■■.*•- '.;r (( Ip any Cornifliman fhall rcfufe his name to this juft and laudable aflbciation, he fhall be tumbled from St. Michael's Mount, or buried alive in a tin-mine ; and if any emifTary fhall be found fe- ducing Cornifhmen to their former flale, he fhall be fmearcd with tar, and rolled - - m { n ) m feathers, and chafed with dogs out of our dominions. From the CJornilh Congrefs at Truro." Of this memorial what could be faid but that it was written in jeft, or wriuen by a madman ? . Yet I know not whether the warmeft admirers of Pcnnfylvanian eloquence can find any argument in the Addreifes of the Congrefs, that is not with greater ftrcngth urged by the Cor- niftiman. The argument of the irregular troops of controverfy, (tripped of its colours, and turned out naked to the view, is no more than this. Liberty is the birthright of man, and where obedience is com- pelled, there is no liberty. The anfwer is equally fimple. Government is necef- fary to man, and where obedience is not compelled, there is no government. . . If the fubjecl refufes to obey, it is the duty of authcrity to ufe compulfion. So- ciety ( 78 ) ciety cannot fubfiD: Imt by feme power; firft of making laws, and then of en^ forcing them. To one of the threats hifled out hj the Gongrefs, I haTe put nothing (hiiUar ihto the Corniih proclaoiation ; hee&ufe it is too fooHfh for bulFdxmery, and too wild for madnefs. If we do not withhold our King and bis Parliament from taxing them, they will crofs the Atlantick and cnflave us. , . * - - .»,;«, T ■ ■• J t .*4. How they will come they have not told us: perhaps they will take wing, and light iipon our coafts. When the cranes thus begin to flutter, it is time for pygmies to keep their eyes about them. The Great Orator obferves, that they will be very fit, after they have been taxed, to impofe chains upon us. If they are fo fit as their friend defcribes them, and fo willing as they defcribe themfelves, let us increafc qur army, and double our militia. It \ 1^79 ) It fau been of date a very general pra6tiGe to talk of flavery among thofe who are fetting at defiance every pow^r that keeps the world in order. If the learned author of the R^^ioMs on Le' . ( 8o ) . but of yielding or conquering, of refign- ing our dbminion, or maintaining it by ( . « ^; * *f v? I "Jf ih force. ,-" "v- ■■ .-^-»i -■ ^' • From force many endeavours have been ufed, either to difluade, or to deter vs. Sometimes the merit of the Ame- ricans is exalted, and fometimes their fufFerings are aggravated. We are told of their contributions to the laft war, a war incited by their outcries, and continued for their protedion, a war by which none but themfelves were gainers. All that they can boaft is, that they did fomething for themfelves, and did not wholly Hand inadive, while the Tons of Britain were fighting in their caufe. '-' 1p we jannot admire, we are called to pity them ; to pity thofe that fhew no regard to their mother country ; have obeyed no l^w which they could violate ; have imparted no good which they could withold ; have entered into aflbciations of fraud to rob their creditors ; and into : ■ 5 - com- ( ei ) (0ombiiiadbliB to tdifkefs alt wh6 depend^ td 'On their Y^oihimerce. We are r^ proichied wkh the cruelty of (hutting one porti where every port is fhut a^ainft ue; We are cenftired as tyrannical for liindlering thofe from fiihing, who have condemned our merchants to bankruptcy and our manufa£ku: ers to hunger. t; Others perfuade us to give them more liberty, to take off reftraints, and relax authority ; and tell us what happy coniJR|uences will arife from forbearance: How their afFe<3ioii8 will be conciliated, and into what difFuhoos of beneficence their gratittitk will luiiuriate. They will kjvc zrssesT friends, they will reve- rence tkrir protedors. They will throw thenifclvLiJ^io our arms, and lay their prope*t^ at our feet. They will buy from no otiker what we can fell them ; they will fell to no other wtiat we wifh to buy. That any obligations fhould over- power their attention to profit, we have i M known ■ ( 8a ) known them long enough not to expe£i;. It is not to be expeded from a more lir beral people. With what kindnefs they repay benefits, they are now ihewing us, who, as foon as we have delivered them from France, are defying and profcrib? ingus. . „ ^ ^ But if we will permit them to tax themfelves, they will give us more than we require. If we proclaim them inde- pendent, they will during pleafure pay us a fubfidy. The conteft is not now for money, but for power. The queftion is not how much we fliall collect, but by what authority the colledion fhall be made. ' "' : • 'j .-•.- i ' Jrv Those who find that th^ American? cannot be (hewn in any form that may raife love or pity, drefs them in habiliment of terrour, and try tp make us think them formidable. The Boftonians can call into the field ninety thoufand i^en. While we conquer all before us, new ener mies Vt' ■ :• ■&■; - - '( 83 ) "■ ilhies Will riie up behind, and our Watle vriW be always to begin. If we take pof- feflion of the towns, the Colonics will retire into the inland regions, and the gain of vidory will be only empty houfes and a wide extent of wade and defola- tion. If we fubdue them for the prefent, they will univerfally revolt in the next war, and refign us without pity to fub- jc^tion and deftrudion, ''^^.'^■ To all this it may be anfwered, that between lofing America and refigning it, there is no great difference ; that it is not very reafonable to jump into the fea, be- caufe the (hip is leaky. All thofe evib may befal us, but we need not hafteo them. . - ; ' :' "z . *• i The Dean of Gloucefter has propofed, and feems to prbpofe it ferioufly, that we fhould at once releafe our claims, de- clare them mailers of themfelves, and whittle them down the wind. His opv» nion is, that our gain from them will be '..V M 2 •: the ^^■wm It (84 ) ',] ^ iam^, i^od encourage them now and then to plunder a Plantation. Security and lei- f4re are the parents of fedition. -WHiiE thefe different opinions ate agitated, it feems to be determined by the Legillature, that force (hall be tried. Men of the pen have feldom any great 6 fkill ■■ V C^ . •.v.»'k { H ) Ml ift eoh^ering ki^gdbms, Ibut tfiejf have ftrong incKnation to give advice, t cannot' forbear to wifh, that this coioi-* motion may end without bIoodihed» aiid that the rebels may be fubdued by tet-* rour rather than by viofence ; and there- fore recommend fuch a force as may take aways not only the power, but the hope of refiftance^^ and by conquering^ without a ba.ttl^; fave many, from thai . I^ theij: obftinacy oontinuea without adual hpftilities, it may perhaps be moU^ lified. by turning out the foldiers to ftee quarters, forbidding any perfonal crujelty^ or hurt. It has been propofed, that, the flaves fhould be fet frce, an ad whichi furely the lovers of liberty cannot but commend. If they are furnifhed with^ fire arms for defence,, and utenfils for ^ufbandry, and fettled in fome fimple. form of government within the coun- try, they may be more grateful and l^oneft than their mailers. Far Far be it from any Englifliman td tiiirft for the blood of his fellow-fubjeds* Thofe who moft deferve our refentment are unhappily at left diftance. The Americans, when the Stamp Ad was iirft propofed, undoubtedly difliked it, as every nation diflikes an impoft ; but they had no thought of refifling it, till they were encouraged and incited by Eu- ropean intelligence from men whom they thought their friends, but who werd friends only to themfelves. On the original contrivers of mifchief let an infulted nation pour out its ven*' geance. With whatever defign they have inflamed this pernicious conteft, they are themfelves equally deteftable. If they wifh fuccefs to the Colonies, they are traitors to this country ; if they wifh their defeat, they are traitors at once to America and England. To them and them only mufl be imputed the iur* terruption of commerce, and the miferies of war, the forrow of thofe that fhall be rumed ( 8? ) ruined, aqd the blood of thofip that (hall fall. Since the Americans have made 4t neceflary to fubdue them, may they be fubdued with the lead injury ^loQible %o their perfons and their pofTeflions . When they are reduced to obedience, may that o*' .'jince be fecured by ftridter laws and pbUp:ations. iU ':f'^il MWf Nothing can be more noxious to fociety than that erroneous clemency, which, when a rebellica is f^ippreffed, exads n forfeiture an^^ eftablifhes no fecurities, but leaves the ebels in their former ftate. Who would not try the experiment which promifes aavancage without expence ? If rebels once obtain a vidfcory, their wiflitj are accom- plifhed ; if they are defeated, they fuffer little, perhaps lefs than their conquerors j however ofter ilsy play the game, the chance is alwr/s in their favour. In ^he mean time, tiiey are growing rich c»iU by IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) fe (./ , may be mddetie4 is ftatl a|>peftj^ Ifidl comiODdioiis Co tike Mother-country. Thug th% privil&g^ei^ which are found by ei^perie&ce Ikble t will , be t^ken away» and thofe ^ho xloW bellow 9ii patriots^ blu&tt a$ foldier^, and ' domineer as kgi^tor^i t^ill fink intd Miet i!a8rchanti and filtoC planters, peac^libly diligefit, a^id fe^ cui^ly rich* , ^%'i*^<^-^ .- » , I ' *"^ t « • jr^ ■ . ■ * ■ ^ But there ti 6ht writer, add perhqiv mahf whd do n6t wHt