ROBERT ERNEST COWAN
 
 THE 
 
 POLITICAL FUGITIVE: 
 
 BEING A 
 
 BRIEF DISQUISITION 
 
 INTO THE 
 
 MODERN SYSTEM OF BRITISH POLITICS ; 
 
 AND THE UNPARALLELED RIGOR OF 
 
 POLITICAL PERSECUTION: 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 SEVERAL MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
 
 ABUSES AND CORRUPTIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 WRITTEN DURING A VOYAGE FROM LONDON TO NEW-YORK. 
 
 BY JOHN BUTLER, 
 
 AUTHOR OF SEVERAL POLITICAL TRACTS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 WHERE THERE IS NO KING, THERE IS LIBERTY. 
 " WHERE THLRE IS LIBERTY, THAT s MY COUNTRY." 
 
 RESOLV D TO SEE COLUMBIA S SHORE, 
 I LEFT BRITANNIA S INJUR D ISLE : 
 DESPOTIC LAWS I DREAD NO MORE, 
 
 NOR SHALL MY PEN YOUR HEART BEGUILE. 
 
 NEW- YORK M.DCC.XCIV. 
 
 -PRINTED BY THOMAS GREENLEAF, FOR THE AUTHOR,
 
 To GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 NOTHING can be more gratifying to 
 me, than the pleafure of dedicating a 
 portion of my labors to a character of your 
 eminence, dirtinguimed as you are in the 
 political world by an uniformity of your 
 patriotic reftitude, and a faithful difchargc 
 of thofe important duties to which you have 
 been called by the voice of a free people 
 the impartial fyflem of the American go 
 vernment, and the equitable frame of her le- 
 gillation, are fuch as puts cenfure to defi 
 ance, and the moil infidious defpot to filence. 
 
 CO 
 
 I am neither addicled to adulation or ful- 
 5 fom flattery, yet I cannot but exult, with a 
 g joy of unaffected purity, on the numerous 
 ^ bleflings refulting to the American States, 
 g under the fmiles of your aufpices. 
 
 C9 
 
 t_ 
 
 Being early initiated into thofe principles, 
 In which you have fo eminently fignalized 
 the valor and virtue of a true republican, 
 I rejoice atthepriviledge of laying this efTay 
 at your feet, as an oblation offered upon the 
 altar of liberty and equality. 
 
 Pofterity will look back with veneration 
 on the name of Wafkington, as the fecondary
 
 IV 
 
 iburce from which republican liberty deriv 
 ed its energy. We know of few nations 
 which have not experienced their revoluti 
 ons, and changes of government, by the 
 fate of war. May the wifdom of your coun- 
 fel ftimulate the united Americans to pre- 
 ferve, inviolate, that freedom they now en 
 joy ; and may they long continue to parti 
 cipate in the bleflings of mutual laws, re 
 ciprocal government, and impartial legiila- 
 tion, which arethedazling lyrnbols of liber 
 ty and freedom. 
 
 Convinced that liberty is no exemption 
 from labor or induftry, but is a powerful in 
 centive to both fo in all free nations there 
 muft be hewers of wood and drawers of wa 
 ter ; and it appears the efTential duty of the 
 whole community of republicans, to unite 
 their efforts in ere6lin the plain, but mag- 
 
 r JT r 6 i- r b 
 
 nmcient edifice ot equality, as a monument 
 facred to Liberty and the freedom of conscience. 
 
 Thefe are the fentiments of a fugitive 
 who has emigrated from the fevere rigor of 
 political persecution, to avoid the crufhing 
 power of haughty rulers, under whofe def- 
 potifm the thunder of anarchy roars from 
 pole to pole. Storms and tempefts (hock 
 the affrighted villager. The rapacity of 
 kings and courtiers fhed alike their fedition 
 and their defolation : They plunge their fa-
 
 V 
 
 brcs into die blood of innocence. Contending 
 for power, they transform liberty into ila ve 
 ry ; and, by their intrigue and fubtlety, in 
 veigle their fubjecls into vaifalage. 
 
 To fee Europe tranquilized by a fpeedy 
 adoption of thofe principles which infpire 
 men with the facred love of liberty to fee 
 the fabre of defpotifm arreiled from the 
 hands of tyrants to fee thrones leveled 
 with the earth s fmooth furface and to fee 
 liberty reign paramount, is the fervent pray 
 er of 
 
 A devoted Advocate for the 
 Caufe of Liberty, 
 JOHN BUTLER. 
 
 New-York, Sept. 14, 1793.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HOWEVER powerful the influence of va 
 nity may operate upon the human mind, it 
 has neither dazied my hopes, nor flattered my 
 expectation, that ever England will honor this 
 publication with a fecond edition. The princi 
 ples upon which it is written, are too pure and 
 independent to be patronized by courtiers, or 
 encouraged by the abettors of defpotifm. Its 
 contents would rather fubjeft me to the vindic 
 tive virulence of ariflocracy, than ingratiate me 
 in the favor of princes. I am, however, of opi 
 nion, that were it crammed with fulfome par.yge- 
 rics on the king of England and his minifters, or 
 fwelled with idle encomiums upon the Britifh 
 conftitution and government, though executed 
 in the mod vulgar ftyle, it would be gracioufly 
 received as a valuable teftimony of honor and 
 loyalty, and my labour would be rewarded with 
 either a penfion or a finccure. But as I ever hold 
 facred the principles of immaculate truth, con 
 vinced that, to that oracle alone every individual 
 fhould facrifice the produfclion of his abilities, 
 I never felt the leaft propenfity to apoftatife prin 
 ciple to the advancement of a pecuniary intereft, 
 or to gratify characters who never had the gene- 
 rofity to reward merit at their own expence. The 
 moft wretched productions that ever teemed from 
 a prefs, or difgraced a nation profeffing to be 
 free, have recently appeared in England, under 
 the fanclion of government, ftuck up on churches, 
 (tables, barn doors, and turn-pike gates, in the
 
 Vll 
 
 form of a king s proclamation, with treafon, cri 
 minality, and profecutions, annexed to the guil 
 ty and obftinate fubjcft, who fhould dare to re- 
 piv. Thefe were viewed with filent reluclance by 
 a number of able patriots who were wearied out 
 in advocating the caufe of liberty. Their phi- 
 lanthropy were rewarded with criminal profecu 
 tions, their virtues branded with ignominy and dif- 
 grace, and themfelves and families hurled into the 
 mod inextricable fcenes of wretchednefs and ruin. 
 Human patience is nearly arrived at its laft ftage ; 
 the mind of man can no longer endure fuffoca- 
 tion ; the chains of defpotifm muft foon be 
 broken, and man rnuft neceflarily inherit his na 
 tive freedom. 
 
 Terrified at the rapid ftrides of growing tyran 
 ny, which rears its monftrous creft in England, I 
 became fearful of my own perfonalfafety, and being 
 unwilling to offend the haughty powers that rule 
 with defpotic fway (though perfectly difgulled at 
 their barbarous fyftems of innovating policy) I 
 refolved to leave my country to her defperate 
 fate, and flee to the protection of republican pa- 
 triotifm. 
 
 On my migration from England, I had not the 
 molt diftant intention of writing a book of any 
 kind, until fome time after my landing in Ame 
 rica ; but finding myfelf exceedingly awkward 
 without fome kind of amufement, and being 
 willing to occupy the dull hours of a tedious 
 Voyage to fome purpofe, I repaired to my birth, 
 and refolved on felefting a few fcattered thoughts, 
 with a view of committing them to the prei s on