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LETTER
ADDRESSED TO THE
ABBE RAYNAL,
BY THE
AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE,
LETTER
ADDRESSED TO THE
ABBE RAYNAL*
ON THE
AFFAIRS of North- America*
IN WHICH
The Miftakes in the Abbe's Account
OF THE
REVOLUTION OF AMERICA
ARE CORRECTED AND CLEARED UP.
BY THOMAS PAINE, M. A.
of theUniverfity ofPennfylvania, and Author of the Pamphlet
and other Publications, entitled, "COMMON SENSE."
PHILADELPHIA:
^Printed by MELCHIOR STEINER, in Race-ftreet,
near Third- ftreet.
Sold by ROBERT AIT KEN, Bookfeller, in Market-
flreet, three Doors above the Coffee-Houfe.
M,DCC,LXXXII.
St.
INTRODUCTION.
AL O N D O N tranflation of an original work in
French, by the Abbe Raynal, which treats of
the Revolution of North-America, having been
reprinted in Philadelphia and other parts of the continent,
and as the diftance at which the Abbe is placed from the
American theatre of war and politics, has occafioned him
to miftake feveral fa<5fo, or, mifconceive the caufes or
principles by which they were produced ; the following
tract, therefore, is publifhed with a view to rectify them,
and prevent even accidental errors intermixing with hifto-
ry, under the fandion of time and filence.
THE editor of the Londofi edition has entitled it, "7 be
Revolution of America ^ by the ABBE RAYNAL," and the
American printers have followed the example. But I
have underftood, and I believe my information juft, that
the piece, which is more properly reflections on the re-
volution, was unfairly purloined from the printer which
tl Abbe employed, or from the manufcript copy, and is
only part of a larger work then in the prefs, or preparing
' i-k Per(011 Wh P rocured it: appears to have been,
an knghihman, and though in an advertifement prefixt
to the London edition, he has endeavoured to glofs over
the embezzlement with profefiions o patriotifm, and to
A foften
[ K J
foften it with high encomiums on the author, yet the
action, in any view, in which it can be placed, is illi-
beral and unpardonable.
" IN thecourfe of his travels," fays he, " the tranflator
" happily fucceeded in obtaining a copy of this exquifite
6C little piece, which has not yet made its appearance from
<c any prefs. He publifhes a French edition, in favour of
<c thofc who will feel its eloquent reafoning more forcibly
" in its native language, at the fame time with the fol-
<c lowing tranflation of it; in which he has been defirous,
" perhaps in vain, that all the warmth, the grace, the
<e ftrength, the dignity of the original, fhould not be loft.
" And he flatters himfelf, that the indulgence of the illu-
" ftrious hiftorian will not be wanting to a man, who,
" of his own motion, has taken the liberty to give this
<e compofition to the public, only from a ftrong perfua-
<c fion, that its momentous argument will be ufefuJ, in
<c a critical conjuncture, to that country which he loves
" with an ardour, that can be exceeded only by the
" nobler flame, which burns in the bofom of the philan-
" thropic author, for the freedom and happinefs of all
<c the countries upon earth."
THIS plaufibility of fetting off a difhonor'able action,
may pafs for patriotifm and found principles with thofe
who do not enter into its demerits, and whofe intereft is
not injured nor their happinefs affected thereby. But it
is more than probable, notwithftanding the declarations
'it contains, that the copy was obtained for the fake of
profiting by the fale of a new and popular work, and that
the profeffions are but a garb to the fraud.
IT may with propriety be remarked, that in all countries
where literature is protected, and it never can flourifli
where it is not, the works of an author are his legal pro-
perty ; and to treat letters in any other light than this, is
to banifh them from the country or iirangle them in the
birth. The embezzlement from the Abbe Raynal,
was, it is true, committed by one country upon another,
and therefore (hows no defecl: in the laws of either. But
it is neverthelefs a breach of civil manners and literary
juftice; neither can it be any apology 2 that becaufe the
countries
countries are at war, literature {hall be entitled to depre-
dation. *
BUT the foreftalling the Abbe's publication by London
editions, both in French and Englifh, and thereby hot
only defrauding him and throwing an expenfive publica-
tion on his hands by anticipating the fale, are only the
fmaller injuries which fuch condu6t may occafion. A
man's opinions, whether written or in thought, are his
own until he pleafes to publifh them himfelf j and it is
adding cruelty to injuftice, to make him the author of
what future reflection,' or better information, might occa-
fion him to fupprefs or amend. There are declarations and
fentiments in the Abbe's piece, which, for my own part,
I did not expect to find, and fuch as himfelf, on a re-
vifal, might have feen occafion to change ; but the anti-
cipated piracy effectually prevented him the opportunity,
and precipitated him into difficulties, which, had it not
been for fuch ungenerous fraud, might hot have hap-
pened.
/
THIS mode of making an author appearbefore his time,
will appear ftill more ungenerous, when we confider how
exceedingly few men there are in any country, who can
at once, and without the aid of reflection and revifal,
combine warm paffions with a cool temper, and the full
expanfion of imagination with the natural and neceflary
gravity of judgment, fo as to be rightly balanced within
themfelves, and to make a reader feel, fancy, and under-
ftand juftly at the fame time. To call three powers of
A 2 the
* 'The ft ate of literature in America muft one day become a
fubjeft of legijlative confederation. Hitherto it hath been a dif-
interejled volunteer in the fervice of the revolution, and no man
thought of profits : but when peace Jhall give time and oppor-
tunity for ftudy , the country will deprive itfelfofthe honor and
fervice of letters and the improvement offcience, unlefs fufficient
laws are made to prevent depredations on literary property.
It is well worth remarking, that RuJ/ia, who but a few years
ago, was jcarcely known in Europe, owes a large foa^e of her
prefent greatnefs to the 'clofe attention Jhe has paid, and the wife
encouragement Jhe has given, to every branch of fcience and
learning ; and we have almojl the fame inftance in France , in
the reign of Lewis the
I iv 3
the mind into aion at once, in a manner that neither
{hall interrupt, and that each fhall aid and vigorate the
other, is a talent very rarely pollefled.
IT often happens that the weight of an argument is loft
by the wit of letting it off; or the judgment difordered
by an intemperate irritation of the pafiions : yet a certain
degree of animation muft be felt by the writer, and raifed
in the reader, in order to intereft the attention ; and a fuf-
ficient fcope given to the imagination, to enable it to cre-
ate in the mind a fight of the perfons, characters and cir-
cumftances of the fubjecl: ; for without thefe the judgment
will feel little or no excitement to office, and its determi-
nations will be cold, (luggifh, and imperfect. But if either
or both of the two former are raifed too high, or heated
to much, the judgment will bejoftled from its feat, and
the whole master, however important in itfelf, will di-
minifh into a pantomime of the mind, in which we create
images that promote no other purpofe than amufement.
THE Abbe's writings bear evident marks of that ex-
tenfion and rapidnefs of thinking and quicknefs of fenfa-
tion, which of all others require revifal, and the more
particularly fo, when applied to the living characters of
nations or individuals in a ftate of war. The leafi mif-
information or milconception leads to fome wrong con-
el ufion, and an error believed becomes the progenitor of
others. And as the Abbe has fuffered fome inconvenien-
cies in France by miftating certain circumftances of the
war, and the characters of the parties therein, it becomes
fome apology for him that thofe errors were precipitated
into the world by the avarice of an ungenerous enemy.
LETTER
LETTER
ADDRESSED TO THE
ABBE RAYNAL
ON THE AFFAIRS OF
NORTH-AMERICA,
TO an author x>f fuch diftinguiflied reputation as
the Abbe Raynal, it might very well become me
to apologize for the prefent undertaking ; but as to be right
is the firft wifli of philofophy, and the firft principle of
hiftory, he will, I prefume, accept from me a declaration
of my motives, which are thofe of doing juftice, in pre-
ference to any complimental apology, L might otherwife
make. ----The Abbe, in the courfe of his work, has, in.
fome inftances, extolled without a reafon, and wounded
without a caufe. He has given fame where it was not
deferved, and withheld it where it was juftly due ; and
appears to be fo frequently in and out of temper with
his
,
his fubje&s and parties, that few or none of them are
decifively and uniformly marked.
IT is yet too foon to write thehiftory of the revolution,
and whoever attempts it precipitately, will unavoidably
miftake characters and circumftances, and involve himfelf
in error and difficulty. Things like nien are feldom under-
ftood rightly at firft fight. But the Abbe is wrong even in
the foundation of his work ; that is, he has mifconceived and
miftated the caufes which produced the rupture between
England and her then colonies, and which led on, ftep
by y ftep, unftudied and uncontrived on the part of Ameri-
ca, to a revolution, which has engaged the attention, and
affe&ed the intereft, of Europe.
To prove this, I fliall bring forward a pafTage, which,
though placed towards the latter part of the Abbe's work,
is more intimately connected with the beginning; and in
which, fpeaking of the original caufe of the difpute, he
declares himfelf in the following manner
" NONE," fays he, " of thofe energetic caufes, which
" have produced fo many revolutions upon the globe,
" exifted in North-America. Neither religion nor laws
" had there been outraged. The blood of martyrs or
" patriots had not there dreamed from fcaffblds. Morals
" had not there been infulted. Manners, cuftoms, ha-
" bits, no object dear to nations, had there been the fport
<c of ridicule. Arbitrary power had not there torn any
<c inhabitant from the arms of his family and his friends,
" to drag him to a dreary dungeon. Public order had
" not been there inverted. The principles of adminiftra-
" tion had not been changed there j and the maxims of
" govern-
[ 7 ]
" government had there always remained the fame. The
" whole queftion was reduced to the knowing whether
" the mother country had, or had not a right to lay, di-
" re&ly or indirectly, a flight tax upon the colonies."
ON this extraordinary paflage, it may not be improper,
in general terms, to remark, that none can feel like thofe
who fuffer j and that for a man to be a competent judge
of the provocative, or as the Abbe ftiles them, the ener-
getic caufes of the revolution, he muft have refided in
America.
THE Abbe in faying that the feveral particulars he has
enumerated, did not exift in America, and neglecting to
point out the particular period, in which he means they
did not exift, reduces thereby his declaration to a nullity,
by taking away all meaning from the paflage.
THEY did not exiffe in 1763, and they all exifted be-
fore 1776; confequently as there was a time when they
did not, and another, when they did exift, the time when
conftitutes the eflence of the fa&, and not to give it, is
to withhold the only evidence, which proves the declara-
tion right or wrong, and on which it muft (land or fall.
But the declaration, as it now appears, unaccompanied
by time, has an effect in holding out to the world, that
there was no real caufe for the revolution, becaufe it
denies the exiftenceof all thofe caufes, which are fuppofed
to be juftifiable and which the Abbe ftiles energetic'.
* \
. I confefs myfelf exceedingly at a lofs to find out the
time to which the Abbe alludes ; becaufe, in another part
of the work, in fpeaking of the ftamp aft, which was
pafled
[ 8 ]
pafled in 1764, he ftiles it " An ufurpation of the Ame-
ricans moft precious and facred rights." Confequently he
here admits the moft energetic of all caufes, that is, an
ufurpation of their moft precious and facred rights^ to have
exifted in America twelve years before the declaration of
independence, and ten years before the breaking out of
hoftilities. The time, therefore, in which the paragraph
is true, muft be antecedent to the ftamp aft, but as at
that time there was no revolution nor any idea of one, it
confequently applies without a meaning ; and as it can-
not, on the Abbe's own principle, be applied to any time
after the ftamp aft, it is therefore a wandering folitary
paragraph connected with nothing and at variance with
every thing.
THE ftamp aft, it is true, was repealed in two years
after it was pafled, but it was immediately followed by
one of infinitely more mifchievous magnitude, I mean the
declaratory aft, which aflerted the right, as it was ftiled,
of the Britifh Parliament, "to bind America in all cafes
whatfoever"
IF then the ftamp aft was an ufurpation of the Ameri-
cans moft precious and facred rights, the declaratory aft
left them no right at all ; and contained the full grown
feeds of the moft defpotic government ever exercifed in
the world. It placed America not only in the loweft,
but in the bafeft ftate of vaflalage ; becaufe it demanded
an unconditional fubmiflion in every thing, or as the aft
exprefles it, in all cafes whatfoever : And what renders this
aft the more offenfive, is, that it appears to have been
pafled as an aft of mercy ; truly then may it be faid, that
the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
ALL
[ 9 1
ALL the original charters from the Crown of England,
under the faith of which, the adventurers from the old
world fettled in the new, were by this aft difplaced
from their foundations j becaufe, contrary to the nature
of them, which was that of a compact, they were now
made fubjecl to repeal or alteration at the meer will of
one party only. The whole condition of America was
thus put into the hands of the Parliament or the'Miniftry,
without leaving to her the leaft right in any cafe what-
Ibever.
THERE is no defpotifm to which this iniquitous law
did not extend ; and tho' it might have been convenient
in the execution of it, to have confulted manners and
habits, the principle of the act made all tyranny legal.
It ftopt nowhere. It went to every thing. It took in
with it the whole life of a man, or, if I may fo exprefs it,
an eternity of circumftances. It is the nature of law to
require obedience, but this demanded fervitude ; and the
condition of an American, under the operation of it, was
not that of a fubjecl, but a vafTal. Tyranny has often
been eftablifhed without law and fometimes again/I it, but
the hiftory of mankind docs not produce another inftance,
in which it has been eftablifhed by law. It is an audaci-
ous outrage upon civil government, and cannot be too
much expofed, in order to be fufficiently detefted.
NEITHER could it be faid after this, that the legiflature
of that country any longer made laws for this, but that
it gave out commands; for wherein differed an acl: of
Parliament conftru&ed on this principle, and operating in
this manner, over an unreprefented people, from the or-
ders of a military eftablifhment.
B THE
THE Parliament of England, with refpedl to America,
was not feptennial but perpetual. It appeared to the latter
a body always in being. Its eledlion or its expiration
were to her the fame as if its members fucceeded by inheri-
tance, or went out by death, or lived for ever, or were ap-
pointed to it as a matter of office. Therefore, for the people
of England to have any juft conception of the mind of
America, refpecYmg this extraordinary acl, they muft
fuppofe all election and expiration in that country to ceafe
for ever, and the prefent Parliament, its heirs, &c. to be
perpetual ; in this cafe, I afk, what would the moft cla-
morous of them think, were an acl to be pafled, declar-
ing the right of fuch a Parliament to bind them in all
cafes whatfoever ? For this word whatfoever would go as
effectually to their Magna Charta, Bill of Rights, Trial by
Juries, &c. as it went to the charters and forms of go-
vernment in America.
4
I am perfuaded, that the Gentleman to whom I addrefs
thefs remarks, will not, after the palling this acl:, fay,
" That the principles of administration had not been
" changed in America, and that the maxims of govern-
" ment had there been always the fame" For here is, in
principle, a total overthrow of the whole ; and not
a fubverfion only, but an annihilation of the foundation
of liberty, and abfolute domination eftablifhed in its
Head.
THE Abbe likewife ftates the cafe exceedingly wrong
and injurioufly, when he fays,- " that the whole queftion
" was reduced to the knowing whether the mother coun-
" try had, or had not, a right to lay, diredlly or indi-
a flight tax upon the colonies." This was
not
[ 3
not the whole of the queftion ; neither was the quantity of
the tax the object, either to the Miniftry or to the Ame-
ricans. It was the principle, of which the tax made but
a part, and the quantity ftill lefs, that formed the ground
on which America oppofed.
THE tax on tea, which is the tax here alluded to, was nei-
ther more or lefs than an experiment to eftablifh the prac-
tice of the declaratory law upon ; modelled into the more
famionable phrafe of the univerfal fupremacy of Parliament.
For until this time the declaratory law had lain dormant,
and the framers of it had contented themfelves with barely
declaring an opinion.
THEREFORE the whole queftion with America, in the
opening of the difpute, was, fhall we be bound in all
cafes whatfoever by the Britifh parliament, or fhall we
not ? For fubmiflion to the tea or tax aft implied an ac-
knowledgment of the declaratory at, or, in other words,
of the univerfal fupremicy of Parliament, which, as they
never intended to do, it was neceflary they fhould oppofe
it, in its firft ftage of execution.
IT is probable, the Abbe has been led into this miftake
by perufing detached pieces in fome of the American News-
Papers ; for in a cafe, where all were interefted, every one
had a right to give his opinion ; and there were many,
who with the bed intentions, did not chufe the beft, nor
indeed the true ground, to defend their caufe upon. They
felt themfelves right by a general impulfe, without being
able to feparate, analyze, and arrange the parts.
I am fomewhat unwilling to examine too minutely into
B 2 the
[ J
the whole of this extraordinary pafTage of the Abbe, left
I (hould appear to treat it with fcverity ; etherwife I could
fhow that not a finglc declaration is juftly founded : For
inftance, the reviving an oblblcte ad of the reign of Hen-
ry the eighth, and fitting it to the Americans, by authority
of which they were to be feized arid brought from America
to England, and there imprifoned and tried for any fup-
pofed offences, was, in the woi ft fenfe of the words, to tear
them, by the arbitrary power of Parliament^ from the arms of
their families and fr tends , and drag them not only to dreary
but diftant dungeons. Yet this acl: was contrived fome
years before the breaking out of hoftilities. And again,
though the blood of martyrs and patriots had not ftreamed
on the fcaffolds, it ftreamed in the ftreets, in the maffacre
of the inhabitants of Bofton, by the Britifh foldiery in
the year 1770.
HAD the Abbe faid that the caufes which produced the
revolution in America were originally different from thofe
which produced revolutions in other parts of the globe,
he had been right. Here the value and quality of liberty,
the nature of government, and the dignity of man, were
known and underftood, and the attachment of the Ame-
ricans to thefe principles produced the revolution as a
natural and almoft unavoidable confequence. They had
no particular family to fet up or pull down. Nothing of
perfonality was incorporated with their caufe. They
ftarted even-handed with each other, and went no fafter
into the feveral ftages of it, than they were driven by the
unrelenting and imperious conduct of Britain. Nay, in
the laft acl, the declaration of independence, they had
nearly been too late ; for had it not been declared at the
cxal time it was, I fee no period in their affairs fmce, in
which
I '3 ]
which it could, have been declared with the fame effect,
and probably not at all.
BUT the object being formed before the reverfe of for-
tune took place, that is, before the operations or" the
gloomy campaign of 1776, their honor, their intereft, their
every thing called loudly on them to maintain it; and that
glow of thought and energy of heart, which even a diftant
profpect of independence infpires, gave confidence to their
hopes and resolution to their conduct, which a ftate of de-
pendence could never have reached. They looked forward to
happier days and fcenes of reft, and qualified the hardfhips
of the campaign by contemplating the eftablifhment of
their new born fyftem.
IF on the other hand we take a review of what part
Britain has acted, we ihall find every thing which ought
to make a nation blufh. The moft vulgar abufe, accom-
panied by that fpecies of haughtinefs, which diftinguifhes
the hero of a mob from the character of a gentleman ; it
was equally as much from her manners as from her in-
juftice that {he loft the colonies. By the latter (he provoked
their principles , by the former fhe wore out their temper;
and it ought to be held out as an example to the world,
to fhow, how neceflary it is to conduct the bufinefs of
government with civility. In fliort, other revolutions
may have originated in caprice or generated in ambition ;
but here, the moft unoffending humility was tortured into
rage, and the infancy of exiftence made to weep.
A union fo extenfive, continued and determined, fuffer-
ing with patience and never in defpair, could not have
been produced by common caufes. It muft be fomething
capable
[ '4 ]
capable of reaching the whole foul of man and arming it
with perpetual energy. In vain is it to look for prece-
dents among the revolutions of former ages, to find out,
by comparifon, the caufes of this. The fpring, the pro-
grefs, the object, the confequences, nay, the men, their
habits of thinking, and all the circumftances of the coun-
try are different. Thofe of other nations are, in general,
little more than the hiftory of their quarrels. They are
marked by no important character in the annals of events;
mixt in the mafs of general matters they occupy but a
common page ; and while the chief of the fuccefsful par-
tizans ftept into power, the plundered multitude fat down
and forrowed. Few, very few of them are accompanied
with reformation, either in government or manners;
many of them with the moft confummate profligacy.
Triumph on the one fide and mifery on the other were
the only events. Pains, punifhments, torture, and death
were made the bufmefs of mankind, until companion, the
faireft aflbciate of the heart, was driven from its place, and
the eye, accuftomed to continual cruelty, could behold it
/ without offence.
BUT as the principles of the prefent revolution differed
from thofe which preceded it, fo likewife has the conduct
of America both in government and war. Neither the
foul finger of difgrace nor the bloody hand of vengeance
has hitherto put a blot upon her fame. Her victories have
received luftre from a greatnefs of lenity ; and her laws
been permitted to flumber, where they might juftly have
awakened to puni{h. War, fo much the trade of the
world, has here been only the bufmefs of neceffity; and
when the neceflity {hall ceafe, her very enemies muft con-
fefs,
[ '5 3
fefs, that as fhe drew the fword in her juft defence, fhe
ufed it without cruelty and fheathed it without revenge,
As it is no"t my defign to extend thefe remarks to a hi-
ftory, I (hall now take my leave of this paflage of the
Abbe, with an obfervation, which until fomething un-
folds itfelf to convince me otherwife, I cannot avoid be-
lieving to be true j which is, that it was the fixt deter-
mination of the Britifh cabinet to quarrel with America
at all events.
THEY (the members who compofe the cabinet) had
no doubt of fuccefs, if they could once bring it to the
ifTue of a battle; and they expecled from a conqueft,
what they could neither propofe with decency, nor hope
for by negociation. The charters and conftitutions of
the colonies were become to them matters of offence,
and their rapid progrefs in property and population were
difguftingly beheld as the growing and natural means of
independence. They faw no way to retain them long
but by reducing them in time. A conqueft would at once
have made them both lords and landlords; and put them
in pofleiTion both of the revenue and the rental. The
whole trouble of government would have ceafed in a vic-
tory, and a final end been put to remonftrance and debate.
The experience of the ftamp at had taught them how to
quarrel with the advantages of cover and convenience,
and they had nothing to do but to renew the fcene, and
put contention into motion. They hoped for a rebellion,
and they made one. They expected a declaration of in-
cjependence, and they were not difappointed. But after
this, they looked for victory, and they obtained a defeat.
IF
[ i6 ]
IF this be taken as the generating caufe of the contell,
then is every part of the conduct of the Britifh Miniftry
confiftent from the commencement of the difpute, until
the figning the treaty of Paris, after which, conqueft be-
coming doubtful, they retreated to negociation, and were
again defeated.
THO' the Abbe poflcfTes and difplays great powers of
genius, and is a mafter of ftile and language, he feems
not to pay equal attention to the office of an hiftorian.
His facts are coldly and carelefsly dated. They neither
inform the reader nor intereft him. Many of them are
erroneous, and moft of them defective and obfcure. It
is undoubtedly both an ornament and a ufeful addition to
hiftory to accompany it with maxims and reflections.
They afford likewife an agreeable change to the ftile and
a more diversified manner of expreffion ; but it is abfo-
lutely neceflary that the root from whence they fpring,
or the foundations on which they are raifed, fhould be
well attended to, which in this work they are not. The
Abbe haftens through his narrations as if he was glad to
get from them, that he may enter the more copious field
of eloquence and imagination.
THE actions of Trenton and Princeton in New-
Jerfey, in December 1776, and January following, on
which the fate of America ftood for a while trembling on
the point of fufpence, and from which the moft important
confequences followed, are comprifed within a fingle
paragraph faintly conceived, and barren pf character, cir-
cumftance and difcription.
"ON the 25th of December," fays the Abbe, "they
(the
[ '7 ]
4C (the Americans) crofled the Delaware, and fell acd
c< dentally upon Trenton, which was occupied by fifteen
" hundred of the twelve thoufand Heffians, fold in fo
<c bafe a manner by their avaricious mafter, to the King
<c of Great Britain. This corps was maffa-cred^ taken,
<c or difperfed. Eight days after, three Englifh regiments
" were in like manner driven from Princeton, but after
* c having better fupported their reputation than the foreign
" troops in their pay."
THIS is all the account which is given of thefe moft
interefting events. The Abbe has preceded them by two
or three pages on the military operations of both armies,
from the time of General Howe arriving before New-
York from Hallifax, and the vaft reinforcements of Britifh
and foreign troops with Lord Howe from England. But
in thefe, there is fo much miftake, and fo many omif-
fions, that, to fet them right, muft be the bufmefs of hi-
ftory and not of a letter. The action of Long-Ifland is
but barely hinted at, and the operations at the White
Plains wholly omitted : as are likewife the attack and lofs
of fort Wafhington, with a garrifon of about two thoufand
five hundred men, and the precipitate evacuation of Fort
<Lee, in confcquence thereof; which lofles were in a great
meafure the caufe of the retreat through the Jerfies to the
Delaware, a diftance of about ninety miles. Neither is
the manner of the retreat defcribed, which, from the feafon
of the year, the nature of the country, the nearnefs of the
two armies, (fometimes within fight and (hot of each
other for fuch a length of way) the rear of the one em-
ployed in pulling down bridges, and the van of the other
in building them up, muft neceflarily be accompanied with
many interefting circumftances.
C IT
IT was a period of diftrefles. A crifis rather of danger
than of hope. There is no defcription can do it juftice ;
and even the adtois in it, looking back upon the fcene,
are furprifed how they got through ; and at a lofs to
account for thofe powers of the mind and fprings of ani-
mation, by which they withftood the force of accumu-
lated misfortune.
IT was expected, that the time for which the army was
inlifted, would carry the campaign fo far into the winter,
that the feverity of the feafon, and the confequent condi-
tion of the roads, would prevent any material operation
of the enemy, until the new army could be raifed for the
next year. And I mention it, as a matter worthy of atten-
tion, by all future hiftorians, that the movements of the
American army, until the attack upon the Heflian poft
at Trenton, the 26th of December, are to be confidered as
operating to effect no other principal purpofe than delay,
and to wear away the campaign under all the difadvantages
of an unequal force, with as little misfortune as poffible.
BUT the lofs of the garrifon at fort Wafhington on the
i6th of November, and the expiration of the time of a
confiderable part of the army, fo early as the 3Oth of the
fame month, and which were to be followed by almoft
daily expirations afterwards, made retreat the only final
expedient. To thefe circumftances may be added the for-
lorn and deftitute condition of the few that remained ; for
the garrifon of Fort Lee,nvhich compofed almoft the whole
of the retreat, had been obliged to abandon it fo inftan-
taneoufly, that every article of ftores and baggage was
left behind, and in this deftitute condition, without tent
or blanket, and without any other utenfils to drefs their
provifion,
t 19 ]
provifion than what they procured by the way, they per-
formed a march of about ninety miles, and had the addrefs
and management to prolong it to the fpace of nineteen days.
BY this unexpected or rather unthoughtof turn of af-
fairs, the country w,as in an inftant furprifed into confu-
fion, and found an enemy within its bowels, without an
army to oppofe him. There were no fuccours to be had,
but from the free-will offering of the inhabitants. All was
choice and every man reafoned for himfelf.
IT was in this fituation of affairs, equally calculated
to confound or to infpire, that the gentleman, the mer-
chant, the farmer, the tradefman and the labourer mu-
tually turned from all the conveniencies of home, to per-
form the duties of private foldiers and undergo the feveri-
ties of a winter campaign. The delay, fo judicioufly
contrived on the retreat, afforded time for the volunteer
reinforcements to join General Wafhington on the De-
laware.
THE Abbe is likewife wrong in faying, that the Ame-
rican army fell accidentally on Trenton. It was the very
object for which General Wamington croffed the Dela-
ware in the dead of the night and in the midfl of fnow,
ftorms, and ice ; and which he immediately recroffed with
his prifoners, as foon as he had accomplifhed his purpofe.
Neither was the intended enterprife sffecret to the enemy,
information having been fent of it by letter, from a Bri-
tifti Officer at Princeton to Colonel Rolle, who com-
manded the Heffians at Trenton, which letter was after-
wards found by the Americans. Neverthelefs the pod
was completely furprifed. A fmall circumftance, which
C 2 had
[ 20 ]
had the appearance of miftake on the part of the Ameri-
cans, led to a more capital and real miftake on the part
ofRolle.
THE cafe was this. A detachment of twenty or thirty
Americans had been fent acrofs the river from a poft, a few
miles above, by an Officer unacquainted with the intended
attack ; thefe were met by a body of Heflians on the night,
to which the information pointed, which was Chriftmas
night, and repulfed. Nothing further appearing, and the
Heflians, miftaking this for the advanced party, fuppofed
the enterprife difconcerted, which at that time was not
began, and under this idea, returned to their quarters ; fo
that, what might have raifed an alarm, and brought the
Americans into an ambufcade, ferved to take off the force
of an information and promote the fuccefs of the enter-
prife. Soon after day light General Wafhington entered
the town, and after a little oppofition, made himfelf mafter
of it, with upwards of nine hundred prifoners.
THIS combination of equivocal circumftances, falling
within what the Abbe ftiles " the wide empire of chance"
would have afforded a fine field for thought, and I wifh,
for the fake of that elegance of reflection he is fo capable
of ufing, that he had known it.
BUT the action at Princeton was accompanied by a flill
greater embarafment\>f matters, and followed by more
extraordinary confequences. The Americans, by a hap-
py ftroke of generalfhip, in this inftance, not only de-
ranged and defeated all the plans of the Britifh, in the
intended moment of execution, but drew from their pofts
the enemy they were not able to drive, and obliged them
to
to clofe the campaign. As the circumftance is a curiofity
in war and not well underftood in Europe, I ftiall, as con-
cifely as I can, relate the principal parts ; they may ferve
to prevent future hiftorians from error, and recover from
forgetful nefs a fcene of magnificent fortitude.
IMMEDIATELY after the furprize of the Heflians at
Trenton, General Wafhington recrofled the Delaware,
which at this place is about three quarters of a mile over,
and reaffumed his former poft on the Pennfylvania fide.
Trenton remained unoccupied, and the enemy were pofted
at Princeton, twelve miles diftant, on the road towards
New- York. The weather was now growing very fevere,
and as there were very few houfes near the fhore where
General Waftiington had taken his ftation, the greateft
part of his army remained out in the woods and fields.
Thefe, with fome other circumftances, induced the recrofs-
ing the Delaware and taking pofieffion of Trenton. It
was undoubtedly a bold adventure, and carried with it the
appearance of defiance, efpecially when we confider the
panic ftruck condition of the enemy on the lofs of the
Heflian poft. But in order to give a juft idea of the afrair,
it is neceflary, I fhould defcribe the place.
TRENTON is fituated on a rifing ground, about three
quarters of a mile diftant from the Delaware, on the
eaftern or Jerfey fide - 9 and is cut into two divifions by a
fmall creek or rivulet, fufficient to turn a mill which is
on it, after which it empties itfelf at nearly right angles
into the Delaware. The upper divifion which is to the north
eaft, contains about feventy or eighty houfes, and the lower
about forty or fifty. The ground on each fide this creek,
and on which the houfes are, is likewife rifing, and the
two
[ 22 ]
two divifions prefent an agreeable profpeft to each other,
with the creek between, on which there is a fmall ftone
bridge of one arch.
SCARCELY had General Wafhington taken poft here,
and before the feveral parties of militia, out on detach-
ments, or on their way, could be collected, than the Britifh,
leaving behind them aftrong garrifon at Princeton, marched
Suddenly and entered Trenton at the upper or north eaft
quarter. A party of the Americans fkirmifhed with the
advanced party of the Britifh, to afford time for removing
the (tores and baggage, and withdrawing over the bridge.
IN a little time the Britifh had pofieflion of one half of
the town, General Wamington of the other, and the
creek only feparated the two armies. Nothing could be
a more critical fituation than this, and if ever the fate of
America depended on the event of a day, it was now.
The Delaware was filling faft with large fheets of driving
ice and was impaflable, fo that no retreat into Pennfyl-
vania could be effected, neither is it poflible, in the face
of an enemy, to pafs a river of fuch extent. The roads
were broken and rugged with the froft, and the main road
was occupied by the enemy.
/
ABOUT four o'clock a party of the Britifh approached
the bridge, with a defign to gain it, but were repulfed.
They made no more attempts, though the creek itfelf is pafs-
able any where between the bridge and the Delaware. It
runs in a rugged natural made ditch, over which a perfon
may pafs with little difficulty, the ftream being rapid and
(hallow. Evening was now coming on, and the Britifh,
believing they had all the advantages they could wifh for,
and
F *3 ]
and that they could ufe them when they pleafed, difcon-
tinued all further operations, and held themfelves prepared
to make the attack next morning.
i
BUT the next morning produced a fcene, as elegant as
it was unexpected. The Britifli were under arms and
ready to march to action, when one of their light-horfe
from Princeton came furioufly down the ftreet, with an
account, that General Wafhington had that morning at-
tacked and carried the Britifh poft at that place, and was
proceeding on to feize the magazine at Brunfwick ; on
which the Britim, who were then on the point pf making an
aflault on the evacuated camp of the Americans, wheeled
about, and in a fit of confirmation marched for Princeton.
'f HIS retreat is one of thofe extraordinary circum-
ftances, that in future ages may probably pafs for fable.
For it will with difficulty be believed, that two armies, on
which fuch important confequences depended, mould be
crouded into fo fmall a fpace as Trenton, and that the
one, on the eve of an engagement, when every ear is fup-
pofed to be open, and every watchfulnefs employed, mould
move completely from the ground, with.all its ftores, bag-
gage, and artillery, unknown and even unfufpe&ed by
the other. And fo entirely were the Britiih deceived, that
when they heard the report of the cannon and fmall arms
at Princeton, they fuppofed it to be thunder, though in
the depth of winter.
General Wafhington, the better to cover and difguife
his retreat from Trenton, had ordered a line of fires to be
lighted up in front of his camp. Thefe not only ferved
to give an appearance of going to reft, and continuing
that
[ 24 ]
that deception, but they effectually concealed from the
Britifh whatever was acting behind them, for flame can
no more be feen through than a wall, and in this fituation,
it may with fome propriety be faid, they became a
pillar of fire to the one army, and a pillar of a cloud
to the other : after this, by a circuitous march of about
' eighteen miles, the Americans reached Princeton early in
the morning,
THE number of prifohers taken were between two and
three hundred, with which General Wafhington imme-
diately fet off. The van of the Britifh army from Tren-
ton entered Princeton about an hour after the Americans
had left it, who continuing their march for the remainder
of the day, arrived in the evening at a convenient fituation,
wide of the main road to Brunfwick, and about fixteen
miles diftant from Princeton. But fo wearied and ex-
haufted were they, with the continual arid unabated fervice
and fatigue of two days and a night, from action to action,
without flicker and almofl without refreftiment, that the
bare and frozen ground, with no other covering than the
iky, became to them a place of comfortable reft. By
thefe two events, 'and with but little comparative force to
accomplish them, the Americans clofed with advantages
a campaign, which, but a few days before, threatened the
country with deftrudtion. The Britifh army, apprehenfive
for the fafety of their magazines at Brunfwick, eighteen
miles diftant, marched immediately for that place, where
they arrived late in the evening, and from which they
made no attempts to move, for nearly five months,
HAVING thus ftated the principal outlines of thefe two
imoft intereiling actions, I (hall now quit them, to put the
Abbe
[ 25 3
Abbe right in his miftated account of the debt and paper
money of America, wherein, fpeaking of thefe matters,
he fays,
" Thefe ideal riches were rejected. The more the
" multiplication of them was urged by want, the greater
" did their depreciation grow. The Congrefs was indig-
* 6 nant at the affronts given to its money, and declared all
** thofe to be traitors to their country who fhould not re-
" ceive it as they would have received gold itfelf.
e< DID not this body know, that prepoflfeffions are no
" more to be controled than feelings are ? Did it not per-
" ceive, that in the prefent crifis every rational man would
" be afraid of expofing his fortune ? Did it not fee, that
" at the beginning of a republic it permitted to itfelf the
" exercife of fuch acts of defpotifm as are unknown even
" in the countries which are moulded to, and become fa-
<c miliar with, fervitude and oppreflion ? Could it pretend
" that it did not punifh a want of confidence with the
<c pains which would have been fcarcely merited by revolt
" and treafon ? Of all this was the Congrefs well aware.
" But it had no choice of means. Its defpifed and defpi-
" cable fcraps of paper were actually thirty times below
" their original value, when more of them were ordered
" to be made. On the 1 3th of September, 1779, there
" was of this paper money, amongft the public, to the
<c amount of 35, 544., 155. The ftate owed moreover
" ^3^5'35^ without reckoning the particular debts of
" fingle provinces."
IN the above recited paffages the Abbe fpeaks as if the
United States had contracted a debt of upwards of forty
D millions
millions pounds flerling, befides the debts of individual
States. After which, fpeaking of foreign trade with Ame-
rica, he fays, that " thole countries in Earope, which arc
" truly commercial ones, knowing that North-America
" had been reduced to contract debts at the epoch of even
" her greateft profpcrity, wifely thought, that, in her pre-
" fent diftrefs, fhe would be able to pay but very little,
" for what might be carried to her."
I know it muft be extremely difficult to make forergn-
crs underftand the nature and circumftances of our paper
money, becaufe there are natives, who do not underftand
.it themfelves. But with us its fate is now determined.
Common confent has configned it to reft with that kind
of regard, which the long fervice of inanimate things in-
fenfibly obtains from mankind. Every ftone in the bridge,
that has carried us over, feems to have a claim upon our
efteem. But this was a corner ftone, and its ufefulnefs
cannot be forgotten. There is fomething in a grateful
mind, which extents itfelf even to things that can neither
be benefited by regard, nor fufTer by neglect ; But fo it
is 3 and almoft every man is fenfible of the effect.
BUT to return. The paper money, though ifTued from
Congrefs under the name of dollars, did not come from
that body always at that value. Thofe which were if-
fued the firft year, were equal to gold and filver. The
fecond year lefs, the thfrd ftill lefs, and fo on, for nearly
the fpace of five years j at the end of which, I imagine,
that the whole value, at which Congrefs might pay away
the feveral emiflions, taking them together, was about
ten or twelve millions pounds fterling.
Now
Now as it would have taken ten or twelve millions
fterling of taxes, to carry on the war for five years, and,
as while this money was iffuing and likewife depreciating;
down to nothing, there were none, or few valuable taxes
paid ; confequently the event to the public was the fame,
whether they funk ten or twelve millions of expended mo-
ney, by depreciation, or paid ten or twelve millions by
taxation ; for as they did not do both, and chofe to do
one, the matter which, in a general view, was indifferent.
And therefore, what the Abbe fuppofes to be a debt, has
now no exiftence; it having been paid, by every body
eonfenting, to reduce at his own expence, from the value
of the bills continually paffing among themfelves, a fum,
equal to nearly what the expence of .the war was for five
years.
AGAIN. The paper money having now ceafed, and
the depreciation with it, and gold and filver fupplied its
place, the war will now be carried on by taxation, which
will draw from the public a confiderable lefs fum than
what the depreciation drew ; but as while they pay the
former, they do not fuffer the latter, and as when they
fuffered the latter, they did not pay the former, the
thing will be nearly equal, with this moral advantage, that
taxation occafions frugality and thought, and depreciation
produced diffipation and carelefihefs,
AND again. If a man's portion of taxes comes to lefs
than what he loft by the depreciation, it proves the alter-
ation is in his favor. If it comes to more, and he is juft-
ly aflefled, it mows that he did not fuftain his proper fhare
of depreciation, becaufe the one was as operatively his tax
as the other.
D 2 IT
[ 28 ]
IT is true, that it never was intended, neither was it fore-
feen, that the debt contained in the paper currency mould
fink itfelf in this manner ; but as by the voluntary con-
duel: of all and of every one it has arrived at this fate, the
debt is paid by thofe who owed it. Perhaps nothing was
ever fo univerfally the adl; of a country as this. Govern-
ment had no hand in it. Every man depreciated his own
money by his own confent, for fuch was the effecl:, which
the raifmg the nominal value of goods produced. But as
by fuch reduction he fuftained a lofs equal to what he
muft have paid to fink it by taxation, therefore the line
of juftice is to confider his lofs by the depreciation as his
tax for that time, and not to tax him when the war is
over, to make that money good in any other perfons
hands, which became nothing in his own.
AGAIN. The paper currency was iflued for the exprefg
purpofe of carrying on the war. It has performed that
fervice, without any other material charge to the public,
while it lafted. But to fuppofe, as fome did, that, at the
end of the war, it was to grow into gold or filver, or
become equal thereto, was to fuppofe that we were to
get two hundred millions of dollars by going to war, in-
ftead of paying the coft of carrying it on.
BUT if any thing in the fituation of America, as to her
currency or her circumftances, yet remains not underftood,
then let it be remembered, that this war is the public's
war ; the people's war ; the country's war. It is their
independence that is to be fupported ; their property that
is to be fecured ; their country that is to be faved. Here,
government, the army, and the people, are mutually
and reciprocally one. In other wars, kings may lofe their
thrones
thrones, and their dominions ; but here, the lofs muft fall
on the majefty of the multitude, and the property they are
contending to fave. Every man being fenfible of this, he
goes to the field, or pays his portion of the charge, as the
fovereign of his own pofTeffions ; and when he is con-
quered a monarch falls.
THE remark, which the Abbe in the conclufion of the
paflage has made, refpe&ing America contracting debts
in the time of her profperity, (by which he means, be-
fore the breaking out of hoftilitiesj ferves to fhow, though
he has not made the application, the very great commer-
cial difference between a dependent and an independent
country. In a ftate of dependence, and with a fettered com-
merce, though with all the advantages of peace, her trade
could not balance itfelf, and fhe annually run into debt.
But now, in a ftate of independence, though involved in
war, fhe requires no credit ; her ftores are full of mer-
chandize, and gold and filver are become the currency of
the country. How thefe things have eftablifhed themfelves
are difficult to account for: But they are fads, and fa6U
are more powerful than arguments.
As it is probable this letter will undergo a republica-
tion in Europe, the remarks here thrown together will
ferve to (how the extreme folly of Britain in refting her
hopes of fuccefs on the extinction of our paper currency.
The expectation is at once fo childifh and forlorn, that
it places her in the laughable condition of a famifhed lion
watching for prey at a fpider's web.
FROM this account of the currency, the Abbe proceeds
to ftate the condition of America in the winter 1777, and
the
[ 30 ]
the fpring follbwing; and clofes his obfcrvations with
mentioning the treaty of alliance, which was figned in
France, and the proportions of the Britifh Miniftry,
which were rejected in America. But in the manner in
which the Abbe has arranged his facts, there is a very
material error, that not only he, but other European
hiftorians have fallen into ; none of them having afligned
the true caufe why the BritHh propofals were rejected,
and all of them have afligned a wrong one,
IN the winter 1777, and fpring following, Congrefs
were aflembled at York-town in Pennfylvania, the Bri-
tifh were in pofleffioni of Philadelphia, and General
Waftiington with the army were encamped in huts at the
Valley-Forge, twenty-five miles diftant therefrom. To
all, who can remember, it was a feafon of hardfhip, but
not ofdefpair; and the Abbe, fpeaking of this period and
its inconveniences, fays,
" A multitude of privations, added to fo many other
c< misfortunes, might make the Americans regret their
" former tranquility, and incline them to an accommo-
" dation with England. In vain had the people been
" bound to the new government by the facrednefs of oaths
c< and the influence of religion. In vain had endeavours
" been ufed to convince them that it was impofiible to
" treat fafely with a country, in which one parliament
" might overturn, what fhould have been eftablimed by
" another. In vain had they been threatened with the
c< eternal refentment of an exafperated and vindictive ene-
" my. It was poilible that thefe diftant troubles might
" not be balance^ by the weight of prefent evils.
c SQ
C 3-i ]
<* So thought the British miniftry, when they fent to
u the New World public agents, authorized to offer eve-
se ry thing except independence to thefe very Americans,
<c from whom they had two years before exacted an un-
<c conditional fubmiffion. It is not improbable, but that
" by this plan of conciliation, a few months fooner, fome
" effecT: might have been produced. But at the period,
<e at which it was propofed by the Court of London, it
*< was rejected with difdain, becaufe this meafu re appeared
* c but as an argument of fear and weaknefs. The people
* c were already re-affured. The Congrefs, the Gene-
" rals, the troops, the bold and fkilful men, in each
<c colony had poflefled themfelves of the authority ; every
" thing had recovered its firft fpirit. This was the effett
" of a treaty of friend/hip and commerce between the United
" States and the Court of Fer failles y ftgned the 6th of ' Fe-
" bruary, 1778.
ON this paflage of the Abbe's I cannot help remark-
ing, that, to unite time with circumftance, is a material
nicety in hiftory; the want of which frequently throws
it into endlefs confufion and miftake, occasions a total
feparation between caufes and confequences, and connects
them with others they are not immediately, and fome-
times not at all, related to.
THE Abbe, in faying that the offers of the Britifh
Miniftry "were rejected With difdain," is right, as to
the faft) but wrong as to the time ; and this error in the
time, has occafioned him to be miftaken in the caufe.
THE figning the treaty of Paris the 6th of February,
1778, could have no effect on the mind or politics of
America,
C 32 ]
America until it was known in America ; and therefore,
when the Abbe fays, that the reje&ion of the Britifh of-
fers was in confequence of the alliance, he mu ft mean,
that it was in confequence of the alliance being known in
America ; which was not the cafe : And by this miftake
he not only takes from her the reputation, which her un-
fhaken fortitude in that trying fituation deferves, but is
Hkewife led very injurioufly to fuppofe, that had flie not
known of the treaty, the offers would probably have been
accepted ; whereas fhe knew nothing of the treaty at
the time of the rejection, and confequently did not re-
ject them on that ground.
THE propofitions or offers above mentioned were
contained in two bills brought into the Britifh Parlia-
ment by Lord North on the iyth of February, 1778.
Thofe bills were hurried thro' both Houfes with unufual
hafte, and before they had gone thro* all the cuftomary
forms of Parliament, copies of them were fent over to
Lord Howe and General Howe, then in Philadelphia,
who were likewife Commiffioners. General Howe or-
dered them to be printed in Philadelphia, and fent copies
of them by a flag to General Wafhington, to be for-
warded to Congrefs at Yorktown, where they arrived the
2ift of April, 1778. Thus much for the arrival of the
bills in America.
CONGRESS, as is their ufual mode, appointed a com-
mittee from their own body, to examine them and report
thereon. The report was brought in the next day (the
twenty-fecond) was read, and unanimoufly agreed to,
entered on. their journals, and publiftied for the informa-
tion of the country. Now this report muft be the re-
jection
[ 33 J
tion to which the Abbe alludes, becaufe Congrefs gave
no other formal opinion on thofe bills and proportions :
And on a fubfequent application from the Britifh Com-
miflioners, dated the ayth of May, and received at York-
Town the 6th of June, Congrefs immediately referred
them for an anfwer to their printed refolves of the 22d of
April. Thus much for the rejection of the offers.
ON the 2d of May, that is, eleven days after the
above rejection was made, the treaty between the United
States and France arrived at Yorktown ; and until this
moment Congrefs had not the leaft notice or idea, that
fuch a meafure was in any train of execution. But left
this declaration of mine mould pafs only foi aflertion,
I mall fupport it by proof, for it is material to the charac-
ter and principle of the revolution to mow, that no con-
dition of America, fince the declaration of independence,
however trying and fevere, ever operated to produce the
moft diftant idea of yielding it up either by force, diftrefs,
artifice or perfuafion. And this proof is the more necef-
fary, becaufe it was the fyftem of the Britim Miniftry at
this time, as well as before and fmce, to hold out to the
European powers that America was unfixt in her refo-
lutions and policy ; hoping by this artifice to leflen her
reputation in Europe, and weaken the confidence which
thofe powers or any of them might be inclined to place
in her.
AT the time thefe matters were tranfacling, I was
fecretary in the foreign department of Congrefs. All the
political letters from the American Commiflioners refted in
my hands, and all that were officially written went from
my office $ and fo far from Congrefs knowing any thing
E of
[ 34 ]
of the figning the treaty, at the time they rejected the
Britifh offers, they had not received a line of information
from their Commiffioners at Paris on any fubjecl: whatever
for upwards of a twelve month. Probably the lofs of the
port of Philadelphia and the navigation of the Delaware,
together with the danger of the feas, covered at this time
with Britifh cruizers, contributed to the difappointment.
ONE packet, it is true, arrived at York-town in Ja-
nuary preceding, which was about three months before
the arrival of the treaty ; but, ftrange as it may appear,
every letter had been taken out, before it was put on
board the veflel which brought it from France, and blank
white paper put in their ftead.
HAVING thus ftated the time when the propofals from
the Britifh Commiflioners were firft received, and likewife
the time when the treaty of alliance arrived, and fhewn
that the rejeaion of the former was eleven days prior to
the arrival of the latter, and without the leaft knowledge
of fuch circumftance having taken place or being about
to take place ; the rejection, therefore, muft, and ought
to be attributed to the fixt unvaried fentiments of Ameri-
ca refpecting the enemy fhe is at war with, and her de-
termination to fupport her independence to the laft pofiible
effort, and not to any new circumftance in her favour,
which at that time fhe did not and could not know of.
BESIDES, there is a vigour of determination and fpirit of
defiance in the language of the rejection, (which I here fub-
join) which derive their greateft glory by appearing before
the treaty was known ; for that, which is bravery in diftrefs
becomes infult in profperity : And the treaty placed America
on
C 35 3
on fuch a flrong foundation, that had fhe then known it,
the anfwer which (he gave, would have appeared rather as
an air of triumph, than as the glowing ferenity of forti-
tude.
UPON the whole, the Abbe appears to have entirely
miftaken the matter ; for inftead of attributing the re-
je<5Hon of the propofitions to our knowledge of the treaty
of alliance ; he fhould have attributed the origin of them
in the Britifh cabinet, to their knowledge of that event.
And then the reafon why they were hurried over to Ame-
merica in the ftate of bills, that is, before they were pafled
into as, is eafily accounted for, which is, that they
might have the chance of reaching America before any
knowledge of the treaty fhould arrive, which they were
lucky enough to do, and there met the fate they fo richly
merited. That thefe bills were brought into the Britifh Par-
liament after the treaty with France was figned, is proved
from the dates: The treaty being on the 6th, and the bills
the 1 7th of February. And that the figning the treaty was
known in Parliament, when the bills were brought in, is
likewife proved by a fpeech of Mr. Charles Fox, on the
faid 1 7th of February, who, in reply to Lord North, in-
formed the Houfe of the treaty being figned, and chal-
lenged the Minifter's knowledge of the fame fact. *)
E 2 THOUGH
) I N CONGRESS, April 22d, 1778.
Committee to whom was referred the General's
letter of the i8th, containing a certain printed paper
fent from Philadelphia, purporting to be the draught of a Bill
for declaring the intenfiom of the Parliament of Great-Britain,
as to the exerdfe of what they are pleafed to term their ri%ht of
impofing taxes within thefe United States ; and alfo the draught
of a Bill to enable the King of Great- Britain to appoint Com-
[ 36 ]
I
THOUGH I am not furprifed to fee the Abbe miftaken
in matters of hiftory, afted at fo great a diftance from his
fphere
mifiioners, with powers to treat, confult and agree upon the
means of quieting certain diforders within the faid States, beg
leave to obferve,
"THAT the faid paper being induftrioufly circulated by
cmifTaries of the enemy, in a partial and fecret manner, the
fame ought to be forthwith printed for the public information.
" THE Committee cannot afcertain whether the contents of
the faid paper have been framed in Philadelphia, or in Great-
Britain, much lefs whether the fame are really and truly intended
to be brought into the Parliament of that kingdom, or whether
the faid Parliament will confer thereon the ufual folemnities of
their laws. But are inclined to believe this will happen, for
the following reafons :
*' ift. BECAUSE their General hath made divers feeble ef-
forts to fet on foot fome kind of treaty during the laft winter,
though, either from a miftaken idea of his own dignity and im-
portance, the want of information, or fome other caufe, he hath
not made application to thofe who are in veiled with a proper "
authority.
*' 2dly. BECAUSE they fuppofe that the fallacious idea of a
reflation of hoftilities will render thefe States remifs in their
preparations for war.
^dly. BECAUSE believing the Americans wearied with war,
they fuppofe we will accede to their terms for the fake of peace.
/).thly. BECAUSE they fuppofe that ouf negociations may be
fubjecl to a like corrupt influence with their debates.
" $thly. BECAUSE they expect from this ftep the fame effecls
they did from what one of their minifters thought proper to call
his conciliatory motion, viz. that it will prevent foreign powers
from giving aid to thefe States ; that it will lead their own fub-
jedls to continue a little longer the prefent war ; and that it will
detach fome weak men in America from the caufe of freedom
and virtue.
" 6thly. BECAUSE their King, from his own mewing, hath
reafon to apprehend that his fleets and armies, inttead of being
employed againft the territories of thefe States, will be necefla-
ry for the defence of his own dominions. And
" ythly. BECAUSE the impracticability of fubjugating this
country being every day more and more manifeft, it is their
intereft to extricate themfelves from the war upon any terms.
" THE Committee beg leave further to obferve, That, upon
a fuppofition the matters contained in the faid paper will really
[ 37 ]
fphere of immediate obfervation, yet I am more than fur-
prifed to find him wroag, (or at leaft what appears fo to
me)
go into the Britifh Statute Book, they ferve to (hew, in a clear
point of view, the weaknefs and wicked nefs of the enemy.
"THEIR WEAKNESS,,
" i ft. BECAUSE they formerly declared, not only that they
had a right to bind the inhabitants of thefe States in all cafes
whatfoever, but alfo that the faid inhabitants mould abjolutely
and unconditionally fubmit to the exercife of that right. And
this fubmiflion they have endeavoured to exaft by the fword.
Receding from this claim, therefore, under the prefent circum-
itances, mews their inability to enforce it.
" 2dly. BECAUSE their Prince hath heretofore rejedled the
humbleft petitions of the Reprefentatives of America, praying
to be confidered as fubjecls, and protected in the enjoyment of
peace, liberty and fafety ; and hath waged a moil cruel war
againit them, and -employed the favages to butcher innocent
women and children. But now the fame Prince pretends to
treat with thofe very Reprefentatives, and grant to the arms of
America what he refufed to her prayers.
" 3dly. BECAUSE they have uniformly laboured to conquer
this continent, rejecting every idea of accomodation propofed to
them, from a confidence in their own ftrength. Wherefore it
is evident, from the change in their mode of attack, that they
have loft this confidence. And
* c ij.thly. BECAUSE the conftant language, fpoken not only
by their Minifters, but by the moft public and authentic ats of
the nation, hath been, that it is incompatible with their dig-
nity to treat with the Americans while they have arms in their
hands. Notwithftanding which, an offer is now about to be
made for treaty.
" THE WICKEDNESS and INSINCERITY of the enemy ap-
pear from the following coniiderations :
" i ft. EITHE R the Bills now to be paffed contain a dicedt or
indirect ceflion of a part of their former claims, or they do not.
If they do, then it is acknowledged that they have Sacrificed
many brave men in an unjuft quarrel. If they do not, then
they are calculated to deceive America into terms, to which
neither argument before the war, nor force fince, could procure
her aflent.
" zdly. THE firft of thefe Bills appears, from the title, to
be a declaration of the intentions of the Britim Parliament con-
cerning the exercife of the right of impojing taxes within thefe
States, Wherefore, mould thefe States treat under the faid
[ 38 ]
me) in the well enlightened field of philofophical re-
flection. Here the materials are his own ; created by him-
felf -, and the error therefore, is an a& of the mind.
HITHERTO
Bill, they would indireftly acknowledge that right, to obtain
which acknowledgment the prefent war hath been avowedly
undertaken and profecuted on the part of Great- Britain.
" 3diy. SHOULD fuch pretended right be fo acquiefced in,
then, of confequence, the fame might be exercifed whenever
the Britim Parliament mould find themfelves in a different tem-
per and difpofition ; fince it muft depend upon thofe, and fuch
like contingencies, how far men will act according to their
former intentions.
4thly. THE faid firft Bill, in the body thereof, containeth
no new matter, but is precifely the fame with the motion be-
fore-mentioned, and liable to all the objections which lay againft
the faid motion, excepting the following particular, viz. that by
the motion actual taxation was to be fufpended> fo long as Ame-
rica mould give as much as the faid Parliament might think pro-
per: Whereas, by the propofed Bill, it is to be fufpended, as long
as future Parliaments continue of the fame mind with the prefent.
" 5thly. FROM the fecond Bill it appears, that the Britim
King may, if he pleafes, appoint Commiffioners to treat and
agree with thofe, whom they pleafe, about a variety of things
therein mentioned. But fuch treaties and agreements are to be
of no validity without the concurrence of the faid Parliament,
except fo far as they relate to thefu/pen/ton of hoftilities, and of
certain of their acts, the granting of pardons, and the appoint-
ing of Governors to thefe fovereign, free and indepentend
States. Wherefore, the faid Parliament have referved to them-
felves, in exprefs words, the power of fetting afide any fuch
treaty, and taking the advantage of any circumftances which
may arife to fubject this continent to their ufurpations.
"6thly. THE faid Bill, by holding forth a tender of par-
don, implies a criminality in our juftifiable refinance, and con -
fequently, to treat under it would be an implied acknowledg-
ment, that the inhabitants of thefe States were, what Britain
has declared them to be, Rebels.
" 7thly. THE inhabitants of thefe States being claimed by
them as fubjects, they may. infer, from the nature of the nego-
ciation now pretended to be fet on foot, that the faid inhabitants
would of right be afterwards bound by fuch laws as they mould
make. Wherefore any agreement entered into on fuch nego-
ciation might at any future time be repealed. And
Sthiy. BECAUSE the faid Bill purports, that the Commjf-
[ 39 ]
HITHERTO my remarks have been confined to circum-
ftances; the order in which they arofe, and the events
they
fioners therein mentioned may treat with private individuals ; a
meafure highly derogatory to the dignity of national character.
" FROM all which it appears evident to your Committee,
that the faid Bills are intended to operate upon the hopes and
fears of the good people of thefe States, fo as to create diviiions
among them, and a defection from the common caufe, now by
the blefling of Divine Providence drawing near to a favourable
iflue. That they are the fequel of that infidious plan, which,
from the days of the Stamp-act down to the prefent time, hath
involved this country in contention and bloodfhed. And that,
as in other cafes fo in this, although circumftances may force
them at times to recede from their unjuftifiable claims, there
can be no doubt but they will as heretofore, upon the firft favour-
able occafion, again difplay that luft of domination, which hath
rent in twain the mighty empire of Britain.
" UPON the whole matter, the Committee beg leave to re-
port it as their opinion, that as the Americans united in this
arduous conteft upon principles of common intereft, for the de-
fence of common rights and privileges, which union hath been
cemented by common calamities and by mutual good offices and
affection, fo the great caufe for which they contend, and in
which all mankind are interefted, muft derive its fuccefs from
the continuance of that union. Wherefore any man or body of
men, who mould prefume to make any feparate or partial con-
vention or agreement with Commiflioners under the crown of
Great-Britain, or any of them, ought to be confidered and treat-
ed as open and avowed enemies of thefe United States.
" And further your Committee beg leave to report it as their
opinion, That thefe United States cannot, with propriety, hold
any conference or treaty with any Commiflioners on the part of
Great-Britain, unlefs they mail, as a preliminary thereto, either
withdraw their fleets and armies, or elfe, in pofitive and exprefs
terms, acknowledge the Independence of the faid States.
"AND inafmuch as it appears to be the defign of the ene-
mies of thefe States to lull them into a fatal fecurity to the end
that they may act with a becoming weight and importance, it
is the opinion of your Committee, that the feveral States be
called upon to ufe the moft ilrenuous exertions to have their re-
fpective quotas of continental troops in the field as foon as pof-
fible, and that all the militia of the faid States be held in rea-
dinefs, to aft as occafion may require."
[ 40 ]
they produced. In thefe, my information being better
than the Abbe's, my talk was eafy. How I may fucceed
in controverting matters of fentiment and opinion, with
one whom years, experience, and long eftablifhed repu-
tation have placed in a fuperior line, I am lefs confident
in ; but as they fall within the fcope of my obfervations
it would be improper to pafs them over.
FROM this part of the Abbe's work to the latter end,
I find feveral expreflions, which appear to me to ftart,
with a cynical complexion, from the path of liberal think-
ing, or at leaft they are fo involved as to lofe many of the
beauties which diftinguifti other parts of the performance.
THE Abbe having brought his work to the period
when
The following is the an/wer of Congrefs to the fecond applica-
tion to the CommiJJioners :
Turk-Town, June 6, 1778.
SIR,
IH A V E had the honor of laying your letter of the 3d in-
ftant, with the acts of the Britiih Parliament . which came
inclofed, before Congrefs; and I am inflruded to acquaint you,
Sir, that they have already exprefled their fentiments upon bills,
not effetitially different from thofe acts, in a publication of the
22d of April lad.
"Be aflured, Sir, when the King of Great-Britain fhall be
ferioufly dtfpofed to put an end to the unprovoked and cruel
war waged againft thefe United States, Congrefs will readily
attend to fuch terms of peace, as may confifl with the honor of
independent nations, the intereft of their con foments, and the
facred regard they mean to pay to treaties. I have the honor to
be, Sir,
&Qur tnoft obedient^ and
\ moji bumble fervant,
HENRY L A u R E N s,
Prefedent of Congrejs. 1 "
His Excellency
St'r Henry Clinton, AT, B. Philad.
t 4' ]
when the treaty of alliance between France and the
United States commenced, proceeds to make fome remarks
thereon.
" In fhort," fays he, " philofophy, whofe firft fenti-
" ment is the defire to fee all governments juft and all
< people happy, in cafting her eyes upon this alliance of
cc a monarchy, with a people, who are defending their
" liberty, is curious to know its motive. She fees, at once,
" too clearly , that the happinefs of mankind has no part in it"
WHATEVER train of thinking or of temper the Abbe
might be in, when he penned this expreffion, matters not.
They will neither qualify the fentiment, nor add to its de-
fect. If right, it needs no apology ; if wrong, it merits
no excufe. It is fent into the world as an opinion of
philofophy, and may be examined without regard to the
author.
IT feems to be a defect, connected with ingenuity, that
it often employs itfelf more in matters of curiofity, than
ufefulnefs. Man muft be the privy counfellor of fate, or
fomething is not right. He muft know the fprings, the
whys and wherefores of every thing, or he fits down unfa-
tisfied. Whether this be a crime, or only a caprice of hu-
manity, I am not enquiring into. I mail take the paflage
as I find it, and place my objections againft it.
IT is not fo properly the motives which produced the al-
liance, as the confequences which are to be produced from //,
that mark out the field of philofophical reflection. In the
one we only penetrate into the barren cave of fecrecy,
where little can be known, and every thing may be mif-
F conceived 5
[ .42 ]
conceived ; in the other, the mind is prefented with a wide
extended profpet of vagetative good, and fees a thoufand
bleffings budding into exiftence.
BUT the expreflion, even within the compafs of the
Abbe's meaning, fets out with an error, becaufe it is made
to declare that, which no man has authority to declare.
Who can fay that the happinefs of mankind made no part
of the motives which produced the alliance ? To be able to
declare this, a man muft be poflefled of the mind of all
the parties concerned, and know that their motives were
fomething elfe.
IN proportion as the independence of America became
contemplated and underftood, the local advantages of it to
the immediate a&ors, and the numerous benefits it pro-
mifed to mankind, appeared to be every day encreafmg ;
and we faw not a temporary good for the prefent race on-
ly, but a continued good to all pofterity $ thefe motives,
therefore, added to thofe which preceded them, became the
motives on the part of America, which led her to propofe
and agree to the treaty of alliance, as the beft effectual
method of extending and fecuring happinefs; and there-
fore, with refpet to us, the Abbe is wrong.
FRANCE, on the other hand, was fituated very differently
to America. She was not a&ed upon by neceffity to feek
a friend, and therefore her motive in becoming one, has
the ftrongeft evidence of being good, and that which is fo,
muft have fome happinefs for its obje&. With regard to
herfelf, fhe faw a train of conveniences worthy her atten-
tion. i>y leflening the power of an enemy, whom, at
the fame time, fhe fought neither to defiroy nor diftrefs,.
(he
[ 43 ]
fhe gained an advantage without doing an evil, and created
to herfelf a new friend by aflbciating with a country in
misfortune. The fprings of thought that lead to actions
of this kind, however political they may be, are never-
thelefs naturally beneficient ; for in all caufes, good or
bad, it is neceflary there fhould be a fitnefs in the mind,
to enable it to aft in character with the object : Therefore
as a bad caufe cannot be profecuted with a good motive,
fo neither can a good caufe be long fupported by a bad
one, and as no man acts without a motive, therefore in
the prefent inftance, as they cannot be bad, they muft be
admitted to be good. But the Abbe fets out upon fuch
an extended fcale, that he overlooks the degrees by which
it is meafured, and rejects the beginning of good, becaufe
the end comes not at once.
IT is true that bad motives may in fome degree be
brought to fupport a good caufe or profecute a good object;
but it never continues long, which is not the cafe with
France ; for either the 'object will reform the mind, or
the mind corrupt the object, or elfe not being able, either
way, to get into unifon, they will feparate in difguft :
And this natural, though unperceived progrefs of aflbcia-
tion or contention between the mind and the object, is the
fecret caufe of fidelity or defection. Every object a man
purfues, is, for the time, a kind of miftrefs to his mind :
if both are good or bad, the union is natural ; but if they
are in reverfe, and neither can feduce nor yet reform the
other, the oppofition grows into diflike and a feparation
follows.
WHEN the caufe of America firft made her appearance
on the ftage of the univerfe, there were many, who, in
F'a the
[ 44 ]
the ftile of adventurers and fortune hunters, were dangling
in her train, and making their court to her with every
profeflion of honour and attachment. They were loud in
her praife and oftentatious in her fervice. Every place
echoed with their ardour or their anger, and they feemed
like men in love. But, alas, they were fortune hunters.
Their expectations were excited, but their minds were
unimprefied ; and finding her not to their purpofe, nor
themfelves reformed by her influence, th?y ceafed their
fuit, and in fome inftances deferted and betrayed her.
THERE were others, who at firft beheld her with in-
difference, and unacquainted with her character were cau-
tious of her company. They treated her as one, who,
under the fair name of liberty, might conceal the hideous
figure of anarchy, or the gloomy monfter of tyranny.
They knew not what fhe was. If fair, fhe was fair in-
deed. But ftill fhe was fufpeted, and though born among
us appeared to be a ftranger.
ACCIDENT with fome, and curiofity with others,
brought on a diftant acquaintance. They ventured to
look at her. They felt an inclination to fpeak to her.
One intimacy led to another, till the fufpicion wore away
and a change of fentiment ftole gradually upon the mind ;
and having no felf intereft to ferve, no paffion of difhonour
to gratify, they became enamoured of her innocence, and
unaltered by misfortune or uninflamed by fuccefs, fhared
with fidelity in the varieties of her fate.
THIS declaration of the Abbe's, refpecling motives,
has led me unintendedly into a train of metaphyfical rea-
foning ; but there was no other avenue by which it could
fo
[ 45 1
fo properly be approached. To place prefumption againft
preemption, aflertion againft aflertion, is a mode of op-
pofition that has no effect ; and therefore the more
eligible method was to ftiew, that the declaration does
not correfpond with the natural progrefs of the mind and
the influence it has upon our conduit.- I ihall now quit
this part and proceed to what I have before ftated, namely,
that it is not fo properly the motives which produced the
alliance, as the confequences to be produced from it, that
mark out the field of philofophical reflection.
IT is an obfervation I have already made in fome for-
mer publication, that the cir.cle of civilization is yet in-
complete. A mutuality of wants have formed the indi-
viduals of each country into a kind of national fociety,
and here the progrefs of civilization has ftopt. For it is
eafy to fee, that nations with regard to each other (not-
withftanding the ideal civil law which every one explains
as it fuits him) are like individuals in a ftate of nature.
They are regulated by no fixt principle, governed by no
compulfive law, and each does independently what it
pleafes or what it can.
WERE it poffible we could have known the world
when in a ftate of barbarifm, we might have concluded
that it never could be brought into the order we now fee
it. The untamed mind was then as hard, if not harder,
to work upon in its individual ftate, than the national
mind is in its prefent one. Yet we have feen the accom-
plifhment of the one, why then fhould we doubt that
of the other.
THERE is a greater fitnefs in mankind to extend and
compleat
[ 46 ]
compleat the civilization of nations with each other at
this day, than there was to begin it with the uncon-
nected individuals at firft; in the fame manner that it is
fomewhat eafier to put together the materials of a machine
after they are formed, than it was to form them fiom ori-
ginal matter. The prefent condition of the world dif-
fering fo exceedingly from what it formerly was, has
given a new caft to the mind of man, more than what he
appears to be fenfible of. The want of the individual,
which firft produced the idea of fociety, are now aug-
mented into the wants of the nation, and he is obliged
to feek from another country what before he fought from
the next perfon.
LETTERS, the tongue of the world, have in fome mea-
fure brought all mankind acquainted, and by an exten-
fion of their ufes are every day promoting fome new
friendfhip. Through them diftant nations become ca-
pable of converfation, and lofing by degrees the awk-
wardnefs of ftrangers, and the morofenefs of fufpicion,
they learn to know and underftand each other. Science,
the partifan of no country, but the ' beneficient patro-
nefs of all, has liberally opened a temple where all may
meet. Her influence on the mind, like the fun on the
chilled earth, has long been preparing it for higher cul-
tivation and further improvement. The philofopher of
one country fees not an enemy in the philofopher of an-
other : He takes his feat in the temple of fcience and afks
not who fits befide him.
THIS was not the condition of the barbarian world.
Then the wants of man were few and the objects within
his reach. While he could acquire thefe, he lived in a
flat*
[ 47 1
ftate of individual independence, the confequence of
which was, there' were as many nations as perfons, each
contending with the other, to fecure fomething which he
had, or to obtain fomething which he had not. The
world had then no bufmefs to follow, no ftudies to exer-
cife the mind. Their time was divided between floth and
fatigue. Hunting and war were their chief occupations ;
fleep and food their principal enjoyments.
Now it is otherwife. A change in the mode of life
has made it neceffary to be bufy j and man finds a thou-
fand things to do now which before he did not. Inftead
of placing his ideas of greatnefs in. the rude achievements
of the v favage, he ftudies arts, fcience, agriculture and
commerce, the refinements of the gentleman, the prin-
cipals of fociety and the knowledge of the philofopher.
THERE are many things which in themfelves are mo-
rally neither good nor bad, but they are productive of
confequences, which are ftrongly marked with one or
other of thefe characters. Thus commerce, though in
itfelf a moral nullity, has had a confiderable influence in
tempering the human mind. It was the want of objects
in the ancient world, which occafioned in them fuch a
rude and perpetual turn for war. Their _time hung on
their hands without the means of employment. The in-
dolence they lived in afforded leafure for mifchief, and
being all idle at once, and equal in their circumftances,
they were eafily provoked or induced to action.
BUT the introduction of commerce f urn ifhed the world
with objects, which, in their extent, reach every man
and give him fomething to think about and fomething to
do;
[ 48 ]
do 3 by thefe his attention is mechanically drawn from the
purfuits, which a itate of indolence and an unemployed
mind occafioned, and he trades with the fame countries,
which former ages, tempted by their productions, and too
indolent to purchafe them, would have gone to war. with.
THUS, as I have already obferved, the condition of the
world being materially changed by the, influence of fcience
and commerce, it is put into a fitnefs not only to admit
of, but to defire, an extenfion of civilization. The prin-
cipal and almoft only remaining enemy it now has to en-
counter, is prejudice-, for it is evidently the intereft of
mankind to agree and make the beft of life. The world
has undergone its divifions of empire, the feveral bounda-
ries of which are known and fettled. The idea of con-
quering countries like the Greeks and Romans does not
now exift ; and experience has exploded the notion of
going, to war for the fake of profit. In fhort, the objects
for war are exceedingly diminiftied, and there is now left
fcarcely any thing to quarrel about, but what arifes from,
that demon of fociety, prejudice, and the confequent fullen-
nefs and untra&ablenefs of the temper.
THERE is fomething exceedingly curious in the confti-
tution and operation of prejudice. It has the fingular
ability of accomodating itfelf to all the poffible varieties of
the human mind. Some paffions and vices are but thinly
fcattered among mankind, and find only here and there a
fitnefs of reception. But prejudice like the fpider makes
every where its home. It has neither tafte nor choice of
place, and all that it requires is room. There is fcarcely
a fituation, except fire or water, in which a fpjder will not
live. So let the mind be as naked, as the walls of an empty
and
[ 49 ]
and forfaken tenement, gloomy as a dungeon, or orna-
mented with the richeft abilities of thinking, let it be hot,
cold, dark or light, lonely or inhabited, ftill prejudice,
if undifturbed, will fill it with cobwebs, arid live, like
the fpider, where there feems nothing to live on. If the
one prepares her food by poifoning it to her palate and
her ufe, the other does the fame ; and as feveral of our
pafiions are ftrongly charactered by the animal world, pre-
judice may be denominated the fpider of the mind.
PERHAPS no two events ever united fo intimately and
forceably to combat and expel prejudice, as the Revolu-
tion of America and the Alliance with France. Their
effects are felt, and their influence already extends as well
to the old world as the new. Our ftile and manner of
thinking have undergone a revolution, more extraordinary
than the political revolution of the country. We fee with
other eyes ; we hear with other ears ; and think with other
thoughts, than thofe we formerly ufed. We can look
back on our own prejudices, as if they had been the pre-
judices of other people. We now fee and know they
were prejudices and nothing elfe, and relieved from their
(hackles enjoy a freedom of mind, we felt not before. It
was not all the argument, however powerful, nor all the
reafoning, however elegant, that could have produced
this change, fo neceflary to the extenfion of the mind,
and the cordiality of the world, without the two circum^
fiances of the Revolution and the Alliance.
HAD America dropt quietly from Britain, no material
change, in fentiment, had taken place. The fame notions,
prejudices, and conceits, would have governed in both
countries, as governed them before, and ftill the flaves of
G error
C 5 ]
error and education, they would 'have travelled on in the
beaten track of vulgar and habitual thinking. But brought
about by the means it has been, both with regard to our-
felves, to France, and to England, every corner of the
mind is fwept of its cobwebs, poifon, and duft, and made
fit for the reception of generous happinefs,
PER.HAPS there never was an Alliance on a broader
bafis, than that between America and France, and the
progrefs of it is worth attending to. The countries had
been enemies, not properly of themfclves, but through
the medium of England. They, originally, had no quar-
rel with each other, nor any caufe for one, but what arofe
from the intereft of England and her arming America
againft France. At the fame time, the Americans at a
diftance from, and unacquainted with the world, and
tutored in all the prejudices which governed thofe who
governed them, conceived it their duty to adl: as they were
taught. In doing this, they expended their fubftance to
make conquefts, not for themfelves but for their makers,
who in return treated them as ilaves.
A long fucceflion of infolent feverity, and the feparaticn
finally occafioned by the commencement of hoftilities at
Lexington, on the igth of April, 1775, naturally pro-
duced a new difpofition of thinking. As the mind clofed
itielf towards England, it opened itfelf towards the world,
and our prejudices like our oppreffions underwent, though
lefs obferved, a mental examination ; until we found the
former as inconfiftent with reafon and benevolence, as the
latter were repugnant to our civil and political rights.
WHILE we were thus advancing by degrees into the
wide field of extended humanity, the alliance with France
was
[ 5' 1
was concluded. An alliance not formed for the meer
purpofe of a day, but on juft and generous grounds, and
with equal and mutual advantages $ and the eafy affection-
ate manner in which the parties have fince communi-
cated, has made it an alliance not of courts only but of
countries. There is now an union of mind as well as of
intereft ; and our hearts as well as our profperity call on
us to fupport it.
THE people of England not having experienced this
change, had likewife no idea of it. They were hugging
to their bofoms the fame prejudices we were trampling
beneath our feet ; and they expected to keep a hold upon
America, by that narrownefs of thinking, which Ameri-
ca difdained. What they were proud of, we difpifed ; and
this is a principal caufe why all their negociations, con-
ftru&ed on this ground, have failed. We are now really
another people, and cannot again go back to ignorance
and prejudice. The mind once enlightened cannot again
become dark. There is no poffibility, neither is there
any term to exprefs the fuppofition by, of the mind,
knowing any thing it already knows - t and therefore all
attempts on the part of England, fitted to the former habit
of America, and on the expectation of their applying now,
will be like perfuading a feeing man to become blind, and
a fenfible one to turn an idiot. The firft of which is un-
natural, and the other impoffible.
As to the remark which the Abbe makes of the one
country being a monarchy and the other a republic, it
can have no efTential meaning. Forms of government
have nothing to do with treaties. The former are the in-
G 2 ternal
[ 52 ]
ternal police of the countries feverally ; the latter, their
external police jointly : and fo long as each performs its
part, we have no more right or bufmefs to know how the
one or the other conducts its domeftic affairs, than we
have to inquire into the private concerns of a family.
BUT had the Abbe reflected for a moment, he would
have feen, that courts or the governing powers of all
countries, be their forms what they may, are relatively
republics with each other. It is the firft and true prin-
ciple of alliancing. Antiquity may have given precedence,
and power will naturally create importance, but their equal
right is never diiputed. It may likewife be worthy of re-
marking, that a monarchical country can fuffer nothing in
its popular happinefs by allying with a republican one ;
and republican governments have never been deftroyed by
their external connections, but by fome internal convul-
fion or contrivance. France has been in alliance with the
republic of SwifTerland for more than two hundred years,
and flill Swiffcrland retains her original form as entire as
if fhe had allied with a republic like herfelf; therefore
thh remark of the Abbe goes to nothing. Befides, it is
b?ft that .mankind mould mix. There is ever fomething
to learn, either of manners or principle ; and it is by a
free communication, without regard to domeftic matters,
that friendfliip is to be extended, and prejudice deftroyed
all over the world.
BUT notwithftanding the Abbe's high profeffions in
favor of liberty, he appears fometimes to forget himfelf,
or that his theory is rather the child of his fancy than of
his judgement : For in almoft the fame inftant that he
cenfures
[ 53 ]
cenfures the alliance as not originally or fufficiently cal-
culated for the happinefs of mankind, he, by a figure of
implication, accufes France for having adted fo generouf-
]y and unrefervedly in concluding it. "Why did they,
" (fays he, meaning the Court of France) tie themfelves
" down by an inconfiderate treaty to conditions with the
" Congrefs, which they might themfelves have held in
*' dependence by ample and regular fupplies."
WHEN an author untertakes to treat of public happi-
nefs, he ought to be certain that he does not miftake paf-
fion for right, nor imagination for principle. Principle,
Jike truth, needs no contrivance. It will ever tell its
own tale, and tell it the fame way. But where this is not
the cafe, every page muft be watched, recollected, and
compared, like an invented ftory.
I am furprifed at this pafTage of the Abbe. It means
nothing or it means ill ; and in any cafe it fhews the
great difference between fpeculative and practical know-
ledge. A treaty according to the Abbe's language would
have neither duration nor anv&ion ; it might have
lafted to the end of the war, and then expired with it.
But France, by a&ing in a ftile fuperior to the little po-
litics of narrow thinking, has eftabliflied a generous fame
and won the love of a country fhe was before a ftranger
to. She had to treat with a people who thought as nature
taught them; and, on her own part, 1 fhe wifely faw,
there was no prefent advantage to be obtained by unequal
terms, which could balance the more lafting ones that
might flow from a kind and generous beginning.
FROM this part the Abbe advances into the fecret tranf-
a&ions of the two Cabinets of Verfailles and Madrid re-
fpecling
[ 54 J
fpefting the independence of America; through whick
I mean not to follow him. It is a circumftance fuffici-
cntly ftriking without being commented on, that the for-
mer union of America with Britain produced a power,
which in her hands, was becoming dangerous to the world:
And there is no improbability in fuppofing, that had the
latter known as much of the ftrength of the former, be-
fore (he began the quarrel as fhe has known fince, that
inftead of attempting to reduce her to unconditional fub-
miflion, (he would have propofed to her the conqueft of
Mexico. But from the countries feparately Spain has
nothing to apprehend, though from their union fhe had
more to fear than any other power in Europe.
THE part which I fhall more particularly confine my-
felf to, is that wherein the Abbe takes an opportunity of
complimenting the Britifh Miniftry with high encomiums
of admiration, on their rejecting the offered mediation of
' the court of Madrid, in 1779.
IT muft be remembered that before Spain joined France
in the war, fhe undertook trje office of a mediator and
made propofals to the Britifh King arid Miniftry fo ex-
ceedingly favorable to their intereft, that had they been
accepted, would have become inconvenient, if not inad-
miflible, to America. Thefe propofals were neverthelefs
rejected by the Britifh cabinet; on which the Abbe fays,
< It is in fuch a circumftance as this ; it is in the time
" when noble pride elevates the foul fuperior to all terror;
cc when nothing is feen more dreadful than the fhame of
*' receiving the law, and when there is no doubt or hefi-
" tation which to chufe, between ruin and difhonour,-
" it
[ 55 ]
" it is then, that the gfcatnefs of a nation is difplayed.
*' I acknowledge however that men, accuftomed to judge
" of things by the event, call great and perilous refolu-
" tions, heroifm or madnefs, according to the good or
" bad fuccefs with which they have been attended. If
" then, I fhould be afked, what is the name which (hall
*' in years to come be given to the firmnefs, which was
" in this moment exhibited by the Englifh, I {hall anfwer
" that I do not know. But that which it deferves I know.
" I know that the annals of the world hold out to us but
* 6 rarely, the auguft and majeftic fpe&acle of a natioq,
u which chufes rather to renounce its duration than its
" glory."
IN this paragraph the conception is lofty and the ex-
preflion elegant ; but the colouring is too high for the
original, and the likenefs fails through an excefs of graces.
To fit the powers of thinking and the turn of language
to the fubje&, fo as to bring out a clear conclufion that
fhall hit the^point in queftion and nothing elfe, is the true
criterion of writing. But the greater part of the Abbe's
writings (if he will pardon me the remark) appear to me
uncentral and burthened with variety. They reprefent a
beautiful wildernefs without paths ; in which the eye is
diverted by every thing, without being particularly directed
to any thing; and in which it is agreeable to be loft, and
difficult to find the way out.
BEFORE I offer any other remark on the' fpirit and
compofition of the above paflage, I fhall compare it with
the circumftance it alludes to.
THE circumftance then docs not deferve the enco-
mium. The rejection was not prompted Jby her fortitude
but
[ 56 ]
but her vanity. She did not view it as a cafe of defpair or
even of extreme danger, and confequently the determina-
tion to renounce her duration rather than her glory, can-
not apply to the condition of her mind. She had then
high expectations of fubjugating America, and had no
other naval force again ft her than France ; neither was fhe
certain that rejecting the mediation of Spain would com-
bine that power with France. New mediations might
arife more favorable than thofe fhe had refufed. But if
they fhould not, and Spain fhould join, fhe ftill faw that
it would only bring out her naval force againft France and
Spain, which was not wanted and could not be employed
againft America, and habits of thinking had taught her to
believe herfelf fupfrior to both.
BUT in any cafe to which the confequence might point,
there was nothing to imprefs her with the idea of renounc-
ing her duration. It is not the policy of Europe to fufFer
the extinction of any power, but only to lop off or prevent
its dangerous encreafe. She was like wife freed by fitua-
tion from the internal and immediate horrors of invafion ;
was rolling in diflipation and looking for conquefts ; and
tho' fhe fufflred nothing but the expence of war, fhe ftill
had a greedy eye to magnificient reimburfement.
BUT if the Abbe is delighted with high and ftriking
fmgularities of character, he might, in America, have
.found ample field for encomium. Here was a people, who
could not know what part the world would take for, or
againft them ; and who were venturing on an untried
fcheme. in oppofuion to a power, againft which more
fornrdab'e nations had failed. They had every thing to
leain but the principles which fupported them, and every
thing
[ 57 ]
thing to procure that was neceflary for their defence.
They have at times feen themfelves as low as diftrefs could
make them, without fhowing the leaft ftagger in their
fortitude ; and been raifed again by the moil unexpected
events, without difcovering an unmanly difcompofure of
joy. To hefitate or to defpair are conditions equally un-
known in America. Her mind was prepared for every
thing ; becaufe her original and final refolution of fucceed-
ing or periming included all poflible circumftances.
THE rejection of the Britifh propofitions in the year
1778, circumftanced as America was at that time, is a
far greater inftance of unfhaken fortitude than the refufal
of the Spanifh mediation by the Court of London : And
other hiftorians, befides the Abbe, ftruck with the vaftnefs
of her conduct therein, have, like himfelf, attributed it to
a circumftance, which was then unknown, the alliance
with France. Their error fhews their idea of its great-
nefs ; becaufe, in order to account for it, they have fought
a caufe fuited to its magnitude, without knowing that the
caufe exifted in the principles of the country. *)
*) Extract from " A Jhort review oftbeprefent reign" in
England.
Page 45. in the New Annual Re gift er for the year 1780.
" n^HE Commijffioners, who, in confequence of Lord North* s
conciliatory bills, went over to America, to propose terms
" of peace to the colonies , were wholly unfuccefeful. 4 he con-
<c cejfjions which formerly would have been received with the
" utmojl gratitude, were rejected with difdain. Now was
" the time of American pride and haughtinefs. It is probable,
*' however, that it was not pride and haughtinefs alone that
<c diflated the Refolutlons of Congrefs, but a diftruft of the
* c fmcerity of the offers of Britain, a determination not to give
<c up their independence, and, ABOVE ALL, THE ENGAGE-
" MENTS INTO WHICH THEY HAD ENTERED BY
" THEIR LATE TREATY WITH FRANCE." *
H BUT
[ 58 ]
BUT this paflionate encomium of the Abbe is deferved-
ly fifbjed to moral and philofophical objections. It is the
effufion of wild thinking, and has a tendency to prevent
that humanity of reflection which the criminal conduct of
Britain enjoins on her as a 'duty. It is a laudanum to
courtly iniquity. It keeps in intoxicated fleep the con-
fcience of a nation ; and more mifchief is effected by
wrapping up guilt in fplendid excufe, than by directly
patronizing it,
BRITAIN is now the only country which holds the
world in difturbance and war ; and inftead of paying com-
pliments to the excefs of her crimes, the Abbe would have
appeared much more in character, had he put to her, or
to her monarch, this ferious queftion
ARE there not miferies enough in the world, too diffi-
cult to be encountered and too pointed to be borne, with-
out ftudying to enlarge the lift and arming it with new
deftruction ? Is life fo very long, that it is neceflary, nay
even a duty, to fhake the fand and haften out the period
of duration ? Is the path fo elegantly fmooth, fo decked
on every fide and carpeted with joys, that wretchednefs is
wanted to enrich it as a foil ? Go afk thine aching heart
when forrow from a thoufand caufes wound it, go afk thy
fickened felf when every medicine fails, whether this
be the cafe or not ? ,
QUITTING my remarks on this head, I proceed to
another, in which the Abbe has let loofe a vein of ill
nature, and, what is flill worfe, ofinjuftiee.
AFTER cavilling at the treaty, he goes on to characterize
the
[ 59 ]
the feveral parties combined in the war " Is it poflible,"
fays the Abbe, " that a ftri& union (hould long fubfift
<c amongft confederates of characters fo oppofite as the
" hafty, light, diftainful Frenchman, the jealous, haugh-
" ty, fly, flow, circumfpe&ive Spaniard, and the Ame-
" rican, who is fecretly fnatching looks at the mother
<c country, and would rejoice, were they compatible with
** his independence, at the difafters of his allies."
To draw foolifh portraits of each other, is a mode of
attack and reprifal, which the greater part of mankind are
fond of indulging. The ferious philofopher fhould be
above it, more efpecially in cafes from which no poffible
good can arife, and mifchief may, and where no received
provocation can palliate the offence. The Abbe might
have invented a difference of character for every country
in the world, and they in return might find others for him,
till in the war of wit all real character is loft. The plea-
fantry of one nation or the gravity of another may, by a
little penciling, be diftorted into whimfical features, and
the painter become as much laughed at as the painting;
BUT why did not the Abbe look a little deeper and
bring forth the excellencies of the feveral parties. Why
did he not dwell with pleafure on that greatnefs of cha-
racter, that fuperiority of heart, which has marked the
-condudt of France in her conquefts, and which has forced
an acknowledgment even from Britain.
THERE is one line, at leaft, (and many others might
be difcovered) in which the confederates unite, which is,
that of a rival eminence in their treatment of their ene-
mies. Spaiq, in her conqueft of Minorca and the Bahama
H 2 i (lands
[ 60 ]
iflands confirms this remark. America has been invariable
in her lenity from the beginning of the war, notwith-
ftanding the high provocations (he has experienced. It is
England only who has been infolent and cruel,
BUT why muft America be charged with a crime unde-
ferved by her conduct, more fo by her principles, and
which, if a fa6r., would be fatal to her honor. I mean
that of want of attachment to her allies, or rejoicing in
their difafters. She, it is true, has been afliduous in
ihewing to the world that fhe was not the aggreflbr to-
wards England, that the quarrel was not of her feeking,
or, at that time, even of her wifhing. But to draw in-
ferences from her candour, and even from her jufti-
fication, to flab her character by, and I fee nothing elfe
from which they can be fuppofed to be drawn, is unkind
and unjuft.
DOES her rejeHon of the Britifh propofitions in 1779,
before fhe knew of any alliance with France, correfpond
with the Abbe's defcription of her mind ? does a fmgle in-
ftance of her conduct fmce that time juftify it? But
there is a ftill better evidence to apply to, which is, that
of all the mails, which at different times have been way
laid on the road, in divers parts of America, and taken
and carried into New- York, and from which the moft
fecret and confidential private letters, as well as thofe
from authority, have been publifhed, not one of them, I
repeat it, not a fmgle one of them, gives countenance to
fuch a charge.
THIS is not a country where men are under govern-
ment reftraint in fpeaking ; and if there is any kind of
reftraint
[ 6i ]
reftraint, it arifes from a fear of popular refentment,
Now, if nothing in her private or public correfpondence
favours fuch a fuggeftion, and if the general difpofition of
the country is fuch as to make it unfafe for a man to (hew
an appearance of joy at any difafter to her ally, on what
grounds, I afk, can the accufation ftand. What com-
7 '
pany the Abbe may have kept in France, we cannot know ;
but this we know, that the account he gives does not ap-
ply to America.
HAD the Abbe been in America at the time the news
arrived of the difafter of the fleet under Count de Grade,
in the Weft-Indies, he would have feen his vaft miftake.
Neither do I remember any inftance, except the lofs of
Charleftown, in which the public mind fuffered more fe-
vere and pungent concern, or underwent more agitations
of hope and apprehenfion as to the truth or fallhood of the
report. Had the lofs been all our own it could not have
had a deeper effect, yet it was not one of thefe cafes
which reached to the independence of America.
IN the geographical account which the Abbe gives of
the Thirteen States, he is fo exceedingly erroneous, that
to attempt a particular refutation, would exceed the limits
I have prefcribed to myfelf. And as it is a matter neither
political, hiftorical, nor fentimental, and which can al-
waysvbe contradicted by the extent and natural circum-
ftances of the country, I fhall pafs it over ; with this ad-
ditional remark, that I never yet faw an European defcrip-
tion of America that was true, neither can any perfon gain
a juft idea of it, but by coming to it.
THOUGH I have already extended this Jetter beyond
what
what I at firft propofed, I am, neverthelefs, obliged to
omit many obfervations, I originally defigned to have
made. I wifh there hau been no occafiou for making
any. But the wrong ideas which the Abbe's work had a
tendency to excite, and the prejudicial impreflions they
might make, muft be an apology for my remarks, and the
freedom with which they are done.
I obferve the Abbe has made a fort of epitome of a con-
fiderable part of the pamphlet Common Senfe> and intro-
duced it in that form into his publication. But there are
other places where the Abbe has borrowed freely from
the fame pamphlet without acknowledging it. The dif-
ference between fociety and government, with which the
pamphlet opens, is taken from it, and in fome ex-
preflions almoft literally, into the Abbe's work as if ori-
ginally his own ; and through the whole of the Abbe's
remarks on this head, the idea in Common Senfe is fo
clofely copied and purfued, that the difference is only in
words, and in the arrangement of the thoughts, and not
in the thoughts themfelves. *
BUT
* COMMON SENSE. ABBE RAYNAL.
" Some writers have fo con- " Care muft be taken not
founded fociety with govern- to confound together fociety
ment, as to leave little or no with government. That they
diftin&ion betwe'en them ; may be known diftin&ly, their
whereas, they are not only dif- origin fhould be confidered"
rerent, but have different ori-
gins." ,
"Society is produced by our ef Society originates in the
wants and governments by our wants of men, government in
wickednefs ; the former pro- their vices. Society tends al-
motes our happinefs po/iti<vely, ways to good ; government
by uniting our affections, the ought always to tend to the
latter negatively, by retraining repreffing of evil.'*
our vices."
BUT as it is time I fhould come to a conclufion of my
letter, I (hall forbear all further obfervations on the Abbe's
work,
In the following paragraphs there is lefs likenefs in the lan-
guage , but the ideas in the one are evidently copied from
the other.
COMMON SENSE.
" In order to gain a clear
and juil idea of the defign and
end of government, let us fup-
pofe a fmall number of per-
fons, meeting in fome feque-
ftered part of the earth uncon-
nected with the reft ; they will
then reprefent the peopling of
any country or of the world.
In this ftate of natural liberty,
fociety will be our firft thought.
A thoufand motives will excite
them thereto. The ftrength
of one man is fo unequal to
his wants, and his mind fo un-
fitted for perpetual folitude,
that he is foon obliged to feek
afliftance of another, who, in
his turn, requires the fame.
Four or five united would be
able to raife a tolerable dwell-
ing in the midft of a wilder-
nefs ; but one man might la-
bour out the common period
of life, without accomplishing
any thing j when he had felled
his timber, he could not re-
move it, nor erect it after it
was removed ; hunger, in the
mean time would urge him
from his work, and every dif-
ferent want call him a different
way. Difeafe, nay even mif-
fortune, would be death ; for
though' neither might be im-
mediately mortal, yet either
of them would difable him
ABBE RAYNAL.
" Man, thrown, as it were,
by chance upon the globe,
furrounded by all the evils of
nature, obliged continually to
defend and protect his life
againfl the ftorms and tempefts
of the air, againft the inunda-
tions of water, againft the fire
of vulcanoes, againft the in-
temperance of frigid and torrid
zones, againft the fterrility of
the earth which refufes him
ailment, or its baneful fecun-
dity, which makes poifon
fpring up beneath his feet ;
in fhort, againft the claws and
teeth of favage beafts, who
difpute with him his habita-
tion and his prey, and, at-
tacking his perfort, feem re-
folved to render themfelves
rulers of this globe, of which
he thinks 'himfelf to be the
m after : Man, in this ftate,
alone and abandoned to him-
felf, could do nothing for his
prefervation. It was neceffary,
therefore, that he mould unite
himfelf, and aflbciate with his
like, in order to bring together
their ftrength and intelligence
in common ftock. It is by this
union that he 1 has triumphed
over fo many evils, that he
has famioned this globe to his
ufe, reftrained the rivers, fub-
jugated the feas, infured his
[ 64 ]
Work, and take a concife view of the ftate of public affairs^
fince the time in which that performance was pubh'fhed.
i
A mind habited to actions of meannefs and injuftice,
commits them without reflection, or with a very partial
one ; for on what other ground than this, can we account
for the declaration of war againft the Dutch. To gain
an idea of the politics which actuated the Britifh Miniftry
to this meafure, we muft enter into the opinion which
they, and the Englifh in general, had formed of the temper
of the Dutch nation ; and from' thence infer what their
expectation of the confequences would be.
COULD
COMMON SENSE.
from living, and reduce him
to a ftate in which he might
rather be faid to perifh than to
die. Thus neceffity, like a
gravitating power, would form
our newly arrived emigrants
into fociety, the reciprocal
bleflings of which, would fu-
percede and render the obliga-
tions of law and government
unneceflary, while they re-
mained perfectly juft to each
other. But as nothing but
heaven is impregnable to vice,
it will unavoidably happen,
that in proportion as they fur-
mount the firft difficulties of
emigration, which bound them
together in a common caufe,
they will begin to relax in
their duty and attachment to
each other, and this remirThefs
will point out the neceffity of
eftablifhing fome form of go-
vernment to fupply the deleft
of moral virtue."
ABBE RAYNAL.
fubfiftence, conquered a part
of the animals in obliging
them to ferve him, and driven
others far from his empire, to
the depth of deferts or of
woods, where their number
diminimes from age to age.
What a man alone would not
have been able to effect, men
have executed in concert ; and
altogether they preferve their
work. Such is the origin,
fuch the advantages, and the
end of fociety. Government
owes its birth to the neceffity
of preventing and repreffing
the injuries which the aflbci-
ated individuals had to fear
from one another. It is the
centinel who watches, in order
that the common labours be
not difturbed."
[ 65 ]
COULD they have imagined that Holland would have
ferioufly made a common caufe with France, Spain, and
America, the Britifh Miniftry would nevdr have dared to
provoke them. It would have been a madnefs in politics
to have done fo ; unlefs their views were to haften on a
period of fuch emphatic diftrefs, as fhould juftify the con-
ceffions which they faw they muft one day or other make
to ^the world, and for which they wanted an apology to
themfelves. -There is a temper in fome men which feeks
a pretence for fubmiflion. Like a (hip difabled in action,
and unfited to continue it, it waits the approach of a ftill
larger one to ftrike to, and feels relief at the opportunity.
Whether this is greatnefs or littlenefs of mind, I am not
enquiring into. I fhould fuppofe it to be the latter, be-
caufe it proceeds from the want "bf knowing how to bear
misfortune in its original ftate.
BUT the fubfequent conduct of the Britifli cabinet has
fhewn that this was not their plan of politics, and con-
fequently their motives muft be fought for in another line.
THE truth is, that the Britifh had formed a very
humble opinion of the Dutch nation. They looked on
them as a people who would fubmit to any thing ; thaj:
they might infult them as they liked, plunder them as they
pleafed, and ftill the Dutch dared not to be provoked.
IF this be taken as the opinion of the Britifh cabinet,
the meafure is eafily accounted for ; becaufe it goes on
the fuppofition, that when, by a declaration of hoftilities,
they had robbed the Dutch of fome millions fterling, (and
to rob them was popular) they could make peace with
them again whenever they pleafed, and on almoft any
terms the Britifh Miniftry fhould propofe. And no fooner
k was
[ 66 ]
was the plundering committed, than the accomodation was
fet on foot, and failed.
WHEN once the mind lofes the fenfe of its own digni-
ty, it lofes, likewife, the ability of judging of it in another.
And the American war has thrown Britain into fuch a
variety of abfurd fituations, that, arguing from herfelf,
fhe fees not in what conduct national dignity confifts in
other countries. From Holland (he expected duplicity
and fubmiilion, and this miftake arofe from her having
acted, in a number of inftances during the prefent war,
the fame character herfelf.
To be allied to, or connected with Britain, feems to be
an unfafe and impolitic fituation. Holland and America arc
inftances of the reality of this remark. Make thofe coun-
tries the allies of France or Spain, and Britain will court
them with civility, and treat them with refpect ; make
them her own allies, and (he will infult and plunder them.
In the firft cafe, (he feels fome apprehenfions at offending
them, becaufe they have Support at hand j in the latter,
thofe apprehenfions do not exift. Such, however, has
hitherto been her conduct.
ANOTHER meafure which has taken place fmce the
publication of the Abbe's work, and likewife fmce the
time. of my beginning this letter, is the change in the
Britifh miniftry. What line the new cabinet will pur-
fue refpecting America, is at this time unknown ; neither
is it very material, unlefs, they are ferioufly difpofed to a
general' and honorable peace.
REPEATED experience has Ihevvn, not only the im-
practicability of conquering America, but the ftill higher
impoflibility of conquering her mind, or recalling her back
to
to her former condition of thinking. Since the commence-
ment of the war, which is now approaching to eight years,
thoufands and tens of thoufands have advanced, and are
daily advancing into the firft ftage of manhood, who,
know nothing of Britain but as a barbarous enemy, and
to whom the independence of America appears as much
the natural and eftablifhed government of the country, as
that of England does to an Englishman. And on the
other hand, thoufands of the aged, who had Britifh ideas,
have dropped, and are daily dropping, from the ftage of
bufmefs and life. The natural progrefs of generation and
decay operates every hour to the difadvantage of Britain.
Time and death, hard enemies to contend with, fight con-
ftantly againft her intereft j and the bills of mortality, in
every part of America, are the thermometers of her decline.
The children in the ftreets are from their cradle bred to
confider her as their only foe. They hear of her cruel-
ties; of their fathers, uncles, and kindred killed ; they
fee the remains of burnt and deftroyed houfes, and the
common tradition of the fchool they go to, tells them,
tbofe things were done by the Britijh.
THESE are circumftances which the mere Englifti ftate
politician, who confiders man only in a ftate of manhood,
does not attend to. He gets entangled with parties co-
eval or equal with himfelf at home, and thinks not how
faft the rifing generation in America is growing beyond
his knowledge of them, or they of him. In a few years all
perfonal remembrance will be loft, and who is King or
Minifter in England, will be little known and fcarcely
enquired after.
THE new Britifli adminiftration is compofed of perfons
who have ever been againft the war, and who have con-
ftantly reprobated all the violent meafures of the former
I 2 one.
[ 68 ]
one. They confidered the American war as deftru&ive
to themfelves, and oppofed it on that ground. But what
are thefe things to America ? She has nothing to do with
Englifh parties. The ins and the outs are nothing to her.
It is the whole country fhe is at war with, or muft be at
peace with,
WERE every Minifter in England a Chatham^ it would
now weigh little or nothing in the fcale of American
politics. Death has preferved to the memory of this
ftatefman, that fame, which he, by living, would have
loft. His plans and opinions, towards the latter part of
his life, would have been attended with as many evil con-
fequences, and as much reprobated here, as thofe of Lord
North ; and, confidering him a wife man, they abound
with inconfiftences amounting to abfurdities.
IT has apparently been the fault of many in the late
minority, to fuppofe, that America would agree to certain
terms with them, were they in place, which fhe would
not ever Men to from the then Adminiftration. This
idea can anfvver no other purpofe than to prolong the war;
and Britain may, at the expence of many more millions,
learn the fatality of fuch miftakes. If the new miniftry
wifely avoid this hopelefs policy, they will prove themfelves
better pilots, and wifer men, than they are conceived to
be j for it is every day expected to fee their bark flrikc
upon fome hidden rock and go to pieces,
BUT there is a line in which they may be great. A more
brilliant opening needs not to prefent itfelf \ and it is
fuch a one, as true magnanimity would improve, and
humanity rejoice in.
A total reformation is wanted in England. She wants
an expanded mind, an heart which embraces the univerfe.
Inftead of {hutting herfelf up in an ifland, and quarrelling
with the world, (he wouM derive more lading happinefs,
and acquire more real riches, by generoufly mixing with
it, and bravely faying, I am the enemy of none. It is
not now a time for little contrivances or artful politics.
The European world is too experienced to be impofed
upon, and America too wife to be duped. It muft be
fomething new and mafterly that muft fucceed. The idea
of feducing America from her independence, or corrupting
her from her alliance, is a thought too little for a great
mind, and impoffiblc for any honeft one, to attempt.
Whenever politics are applied to debauch mankind from
their integrity, and diffolve the virtues of human nature,
they become deteftable; and to be a ftatefman upon this
plan, is to be acommiffioned villain. He who aims at it,
leaves a vacancy in his character, which may be filled up
with the worft of epithets.
IF the difpofition of England (hould be fuch, as not to
agree to a general and honorable peace, and that the war
niuft, at all events, continue longer, I cannot help
wifhing, that the alliances which America has or may en-
ter into, may become the only objects of the war. She
wants an opportunity of {hewing to the world, that {he
holds her honor as dear and facred as her independence,
and that {he will in no fituation forfake thofe, whom
no negociations could induce to forfake her. Peace to
every reflective mind, is a defirable object ; but that peace
which is accompanied with a ruined character, becomes a
crime to the feducer, and a curfe upon the feduced.
BUT where is the impoffibility or eveathe great difficul-
ty
[ 70 ]
ty of England forming a friendfhip with France and Spain,
and making it a national virtue to renounce for ever thofe
prejudiced inveteracies it has been her cuftom to cherifh ;
and which, while they ferve to fink her with an encreafmg
enormity of debt, by involving her in fruitlefs wars, be-
come likewife the bane of her repofe, and the deftru&ion
of her manners. We had once the fetters that fhe has now,
but experience has (hewn us the miftake, and thinking
juftly has fet us right.
THE true idea of a great nation is that which extends
and promotes the principles of univerfal fociety. Whofe
mind rifes above the atmofpheres of local thoughts, and
confiders mankind, of whatever nation or profeflion they
may be, as the work of one Creator. The rage for con-
queft has had its fafhion, and its day. Why may not the
amiable virtues have the fame ? The Alexanders and
Caefars of antiquity have left behind them their monu-
ments of deftru&ion, and are remembered with hatred;
while thefe more exalted characters, who firfr. taught fo-
ciety and fcience, are bleft with the gratitude of every age
and country. Of more ufe was one philofopher, though
a heathen, to the world, than all the heathen conquerors
that ever exifred.
SHOULD the prefent revolution be deftinguifhed by
opening a new fyflem of extended civilization, it will re-
ceive from heaven the higheft evidence of approbation ; and
as this is a fubjedl: to which the Abbe's powers are fo emi-
nently fuited, I recommend it to his attention, with the af-
fection of a friend, and the ardour of a univerfal citizen,
POSTSCRIPT.
SINCE clofing the foregoing letter, fome intima-
tions, refpecting a general peace, have made their
way to America. On what authority or foundation
they ftand, or how near or remote fuch an event may be,
are circumftances I am not inquiring into. But as the
fubject muft fooner or later become a matter of ferious
attention, it may not be improper, even at this early pe-
riod, candidly to investigate fome points that are connected
with it, or lead towards it.
THE independence of America is at this moment as
firmly eftablifhed as that of any other country in a ftate
of war. It is not length of time, but power that gives
{lability. Nations at war know nothing of each other on
the fcore of antiquity. It is their prefent and immediate
ftrength, together with their connections, that muft fup-
port them. To which we may add, that a right which
originated to-day, is as much a right, as if it had the
fanction of a thoufand years ; and therefore the indepen-
dence and prefent governments of America are in no more
danger of being fubverted, becaufe they are modern, than
that of England is fecure, becaufe it is ancient.
THE politics of Britain, fo far as they refpected Ame-
rica, were originally conceived in idiotifm, and acted in
madnefs. There is not a ftep which bears the fmalleft
trace of rationality. In her management of the war, ihe
has laboured to be wretched, and ftudied to be hated ; and
in all her former proportions for accomodation, fhe has
difcovered a total ignorance of mankind, and of thofe na-
tural and unalterable fenfations by which they are fo ge-
nerally governed. How fhe may conduct herfelf in the
prefent or future bufmefs of negociating a peace, is yet to
be proved.
He is a weak politician who does not underftand human
nature, and penetrate into the effect which meafures of
government will have upon the mind. All the mifcar-
riages of Britain have arifen from this defect. The former
Miniftry acted as if they fuppofed mankind to be without
a mind\ and the prefent Miniftry, as if America was with-
out a memory. The one muft have fuppofed we were in-
capable of feeling ; and the other, that we could not re-
member injuries.
K THERE
C 72 ]
THERE is likewife another line in which politicians
miftake, which is that of not rightly calculating, or rather
of misjudging, the confequence which any given circum-
ihmce will produce. Nothing is more frequent, as well in
common as in political life, than to hear people complain,
that fuch or fuch means produced an event direclly con-
trary to their intentions. But the fault lies in their not
judging rightly, what the event would be ; for the means
produced only its proper and natural confequence.
IT is very probable, that in a treaty for peace, Britain
will contend for fome poft or other in North-America ;
perhaps Canada or Halifax, or both : And I infer this
from the known deficiency of her politics, which have
ever yet made ufe of means, whofe natural event was
againft both her intereft and her expectation. But the
queftion with her ought to be, whether it is worth her
while to hold them, and what will be the confequence.
RESPECTING Canada, one or other of the two follow-
ing will take place, viz. If Canada fhould people, it will
revolt; and if it do not people, it will not be worth the
expence of holding. And the fame may be faid of Hali-
fax, and the country round it. But Canada never will
people ; neither is there any occafion for contrivances on
one fide or the other, for nature alone will do the whole.
BRITAIN may put herfelf to great expences in fending
fettlers to Canada ; but the descendants of thofe fettlers
will be Americans, as other defendants have been before
them. They will look round and fee the neighbouring
States fovereign and free, refpe&ed abroad and trading at
large with the world ; and the natural love of liberty, the
advantages of. commerce, the bleffings of independence
and of a happier climate, and a richer foil, will draw them
fouthward, and the effect: will be that Britain will fuftain
the expence, and America reap the advantage.
ONE would think that the experience which Britain
has had of America, would entirely ficken her of all
thoughts of continental colonization ; ^and any part which,
fhe might retain, will only become to her a field of jea-
loufy and thorns, of debate and contention, for ever
ftruggling for privileges, and meditating revolt. She may
form new fettlements, but they will be for us ; they will
become part of the United States of America; and that
againft all her contrivances to prevent it, or without any
endeavours of ours to promote it. In the firft place (he
cannot
[ 73 ]
cannot draw from them a revenue, until they are able
to pay one, and when they are fo, they will be above fub-
jediion. Men foon become attached to the foil they live
upon, and incorporated with the profperity of the place;
and it fignifies but little what opinions they come over
with, for time, intereft, and new connections will render
them obfolete, and the next generation know nothing of
them.
WERE Britain truly wife fhe would lay hold of the
prefent opportunity to difentangle herfelf from all conti-
nental embaraffrnents in North-America, and that not
only to avoid future broils and troubles, but to fave ex-
pences. For to fpeak explicitly on the matter, I would
not, were I an European power, have Canada, under the
conditions chat Britain muft retain it, could it be given
to me. It is one of thofe kind of dominions that is,
and ever will be, a conftant charge upon any foreign
holder.
As to Halifax, it will become ufelefs to England after
the prefent war, and the lofs of the United States. A
harbour, when the dominion is gone, for the purpofe of
which only it was wanted, can be attended only with ex-
pence. There are, I doubt not, thoufands of people in
England, who fuppofe, that thofe places are a profit to
the nation, whereas they are directly the contrary, and
inftead of producing any revenue, a confiderable part of
the revenue of England is annually drawn off, to fupport
the expence of holding them.
GIBRALTAR is another inftance of national ill policy.
A poft which in time of peace is not wanted, and in time
of war is of no ufe, muft at all times be ufelefs. Inftead
of affording protection to a navy, it requires the aid of
one to maintain it. And to fuppofe that Gibraltar com-
mands the Mediterranean, or the pafs into it, or the trade
of it, is to fuppofe a detected falfhood ; becaufe though
Britain holds the poft, {he has loft the other three, an
every benefit fhe expe<5ted from it. And to fay that aJf
this happens becaufe it is befieged by land and water,
is to fay nothing, for this will always be the cafe in
time of war, while France and Spain keep up fuperior
fleets, and Britain holds the place. -So that, though as
an impenetrable inacceffible rock it may be held by the
one, it is always in the power of the other to render it
ufelefs and exceflively chargeable.
K 2 I ihouM
[ 74 ]
I mould fuppofe that one of the principal obje&s of
Spain in befieging it, is to {how to Britain, that though
{he may not take it, (he can command it, that is, {he can
fliut it up, and prevent its being ufed as a harbour, though
not a garrifbn. -But the fhort way to reduce Gibraltar,
is, to attack the Britifh fleet ; for Gibraltar is as dependent
on a fleet for fupport, as a bird is on its wing for food,
and when wounded there it ftarves.
There is another circumftance which the people of
England have not only not attended to, but feem to be
utterly ignorant of, and that is, the difference between
permanent power, and accidental power, confidered in a
national fenfe.
By permanent power, I mean, a natural inherent and
perpetual ability in a nation, which though always in
being, may not be always in action, or not always ad-
vantageoufly directed ; and by accidental power, I mean,
a fortunate or accidental difpofition or exercife of national
ftrength, in whole or in part.
THERJ; undoubtedly was a time when any one Euro-
pean nation, with only eight or ten (hips of war, equal to
the prefent {hips of the 1 ine, could have carried terror to all
others, who had not began to build a navy, however great
their natural ability might be for that purpofe : But this
can be confidered only as accidental, and not as a ftandard
to compare permanent power by, and could laft no longer
than until thofe powers built as many or more {hips than
the former. After this a larger fleet was neceffary, in
order to be fuperior ; and a ftill larger would again
fuperfede it. And thus mankind have gone on building
fleet upon fleet, as occafion or fituation dictated. And
this reduces it to an original queftion, which is: Which
power can build and man the largeft number of {hips ?
The natural anfwer to which, is, That power which has
the largeft revenue and the greateft number of inhabitants,
provided its fituation of coaft affords fufficient conve-
niencies.
FRANCE beins; a nation on the continent of Europe,
and i>ritain an ifland in its neighbourhood, each of them
derived different ideas from their different fituations. The
inhabitants of Britain could carry on no foreign trade,
nor ftir from the fpot they dwelt upon, without the af-
fiftance of {hipping ; but this was not the cafe with
France. The idea therefore of a navy did not arife to
France
[ 75 ]
France from the fame original and immediate neceflity
which produced it to England. But the queftion is, that
when both of them turn their attention, and employ their
revenues the fame way, which can be fuperior ?
THE annual revenue of France is nearly double that of
England, and her number of inhabitants more than twice
as many. Each of them has the fame length of coaft on
the channel, befides which, France has feveral hundred
miles extent on the bay of Hifcay, and an opening on
the Mediterranean : And every day proves that practice
and exercife make failors as well as foldiers in one country
as well as another.
IF then Britain can maintain an hundred (hips of the
Jine, France can as well fupport an hundred and fifty,
becaufe her revenues and her population are as equal to
the one, as thole of England are to the other. And the
only reafon why (he has not done it, is becaufe fhe has
not till very lately attented to it. But when fhe fees, as
fhe now fees, that a navy is the firft engine of power, fhe
can eafily accomplifh it.
ENGLAND very falfely, and ruinouflyfor herfelf, infer,
that becaufe fhe had the advantage of France, while
France had the fmaller navy, that for that reafon it is al-
ways to be fo. Whereas it may be clearly feen, that the
flrength of France has never yet been tried on a navy, and
that The is able to be as fuperior to England in the extent
of a navy, as fhe is in the extent of her revenues and her
population. Arid England may lament the day, when, by
her mfolence and injuftice, fhe provoked in France a ma-
ritime difpofition.
IT is in the power of the combined fleets to conquer
every ifland in the Weft-Indies, and reduce all the Britifh
navy in thofe places. For were France and Spain to fend
their whole naval force in Europe to thofe iflands, it
would not be in the power of Britain to follow them with
an equal force. She would flill be twenty or thirty fhips
inferior, were fhe to fend every veflel fhe had, and in the
mean time all the foreign trade of England would lay
expofed to the Dutch.
IT is a maxim, which, I am perfuaded, will ever hold
good, and more efpecially in naval operations, that a
great power ought never to move in detachments, if it can
poffibly be avoided. But to go with its whole force to
fome important object:, the reduction of which fhall have
a decifive effect upon the war. Had the whole of the
French and Spanifh fleets in Europe come laft fpring to
the Weft-Indiec, every ifland had been their own, Rod-
ivy their prifoner, and his fleet their prize. From the
United States the combined fleets can be fupplied with
provifions, without the neceffity of drawing them from
Europe, which is not the cafe with England.
ACCIDENT has thrown fome advantages in the way of
England, which, from the inferiority of her navy, {he
had not a right to expect. For though {he has been
obliged to fly before the combined fleets, yet Rodney has
twice had the fortune to fall in with detached fquadrons,
to which he was fuperior in numbers : The firft off Cape
St. Vincent, where he had nearly two to one, and the
other in the Weft-Indies, where he had a majority of fix
fhips. Victories of this kind almoft produce themfelves.
They are won without honor, and fuffered without dif^
grace : And are afcribable to the chance of meeting, not
to the fuperiority of fighting. For the fame Admiral,
under whom they were obtained, was unable, in three
former engagements, to make the lead impreffion on a
fleet confuting of an equal number of (hips with his own,
and compounded for the events by declining the actions.*
To conclude, if it may be faid that Britain has
numerous enemies, it likewife proves that fhe has given-
numerous offences. Infolence is fure to provoke hatred^
whether in a nation or an individual. The want of man-
ners in the Britim Court may be feen even in ks birth-
days and new-years Odes* which are calculated to infatuate
the vulgar, and difguft the man of refinement : And her
former overbearing rudencfs, and infufFerable injuftice on
the feas, have made every Commercial nation her foe. Her
fleets were employed as engines of prey ; and acted on the
furface of the deep the character which the {hark <does
beneath it. On the other hand, the Combined Powers
-are taking a popular part, and will render their reputa-
tion immortal, by eftabliftiing the perfect freedom of the
ocean, to which all countries have a right, and are inter-
efted in accomplishing. The fea is th; world's highway ;
and he who arrogates a prerogative over it, tranfgrefles
~the
*See the accounts, either EngUJh or French, of three aftiom
in the Weft-Indies, between Count de Guichen and Admiral
Rodney^ in 1780.
[ 77 1
the right, and juftly brings on himfelf the chaftifement,
of nations.
PERHAPS it might be of fome fervice to the future
tranquility of mankind, were an article introduced into
the next general peace, that no one nation fhould, in time
of peace, exceed a certain number of (hips of war. Some-
thing of this kind feems neceflary ; for according to the
prefent fafhion, half the world will get upon the water,
and there appears no end to the extent to which navies
may be carried. Another reafon is, that navies add no-
thing to the manners or morals of a people. The fequef-
tered life which attends the fervice, prevents the oppor-
tunities of fociety, and is too apt to occafion a coarfenefs
of ideas and language, and that more in fhips of war than
in commercial employ; becaufe in the latter they mix more
with the world, and are nearer related to it. I mention
this remark as a general one ; and not applied to any one
country more than to another.
BRITAIN has now had the trial of above feven years,
with an expence of nearly an hundred million pounds
fterling ; and every month in which fhe delays to conclude
a peace, cofts her another million fterling, over and above
her ordinary expences of government, which are a million
more; fo that her total monthly expence is two million
pounds fterling, which is equal to the whole yearly ex-
pence of America, all charges included. Judge then who
is beft able to continue it.
SHE has likewife many atonements to make to an in-
jured world, as well in one quarter as another. And in-
ftead of purfuing that.temper of arrogance, which ferves
only to (ink her in the efteem, and entail on her thediflike,
of all nations, {he would do well to reform her manners,
retrench her expences, live peaceably with her neighbours,
and think of war no more.
Philadelphia, Auguft 21, 1782.
ERRATA.
Page 47, line 15, for principals read principles
Page 60, line 17, for 1779 read 1778.
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