THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Cominodore Byron McCandless
 
 C 
 
 FOUR TRACTS, 
 
 On POLITICAL and COMMERCIAL 
 
 SUBJECTS, 

 
 FOUR TRACTS, 
 
 w 
 
 O K 
 
 POLITICAL and COMMERCIAL 
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 The THIRD EDITION. 
 
 BY JO SI AH TUCKER, D. D. 
 
 DEAN OF G I/O C E S T E R. 
 
 GLOCESTER: 
 PRINTED BY R. RAIKES; 
 
 AND SOLD BT 
 
 T. CADELL, IN THE STRAND, LONDON. 
 
 / -T . 
 M.DCC.LXXVI.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 TRACT I. A Solution of the important 
 Quejlion, Whether a poor Country, where 
 raw Materials and Provifions are cheap, 
 and Wages low, can fupplant the Tirade 
 of a rich manufacturing Country ', where 
 raw Materials and Proviftons are dear, 
 and the Price of Labour high. With a 
 Pojlfcript obviating Objections. 
 
 TRACT II. The Cafe of going to War for 
 the Sake of Trade, conjidered in a new 
 Light - y being the Fragment of a greater 
 Work. 
 
 TRACT III. A Letter from a Merchant 
 in London, to his Nephew in America, 
 concerning the late and prefent Diftur- 
 bances in the Colonies. 
 
 TRACT IV. The true Interejl of Great- 
 Britainj/ forth in Regard to the Colonies; 
 and the only Means of living in Peace and 
 Harmony with them.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HE firft of thefe Pieces was 
 never printed before, and is 
 now publifhed as a Kind of 
 Introduction to thofe that fol- 
 low, or as a Sort of Balis on which the 
 fucceeding Arguments are chiefly founded. 
 The Piece itfelf arofe from a Correfpon- 
 dence in the Year 1758, with a Gentle- 
 man of North-Britain, eminently diftin- 
 guifhed in the Republic of Letters. 
 Though I cannot boaft that I had the 
 Honour of making the Gentleman a de- 
 clared Convert, yet I can fay, and prove 
 likewiie, that in his Publications fmce our 
 Correfpondence, he has wrote, and rea- 
 foned, as if he was a Convert. 
 
 A 4 THE
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 THE iecond Tract was firft publifhed 
 in the Year 1763, juft after the Conclu- 
 fion of the War. At that Juncture the 
 Mob and the News-Writers were fo en- 
 raged at the Thoughts of Peace, that the 
 Pamphlet lay neglected above a Year in 
 the Hands of the Publimer, and had very 
 few Readers. But the Approbation which 
 it has fince met with, efpecially from Abroad, 
 where Premiums have been inftituted for 
 Differtations on a like Plan, induce me 
 to hope that Prejudices begin to wear off, 
 and that it hath a better Chance now than 
 it had before of being read with Candour, 
 arid attended to with Impartiality. . In- 
 deed it was neceilary for me to publifh it 
 in this Collection, becaufe of the Ufe 
 which will be made of the fame Train of 
 Arguments in the fourth of thefe Tracts,, 
 when we come to mew the true Interefts 
 of Great-Britain with refpect to the Co- 
 lonies, and the only Means of living 
 with them on Terms of Harmony and 
 Friendship. 
 
 ONE Thing more I have to fay on this 
 Head: The Fad: fets forth, that it is a 
 
 Fragment
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 Fragment of a greater Work. This 
 Work was undertaken at the Defire of 
 Dr. HAYTER, then Lord Bifhop of 
 Norwich, and Preceptor to the Prince of 
 Wales ; his prefent Majefty. His Lord- 
 hip's Defign was to put into the Hands 
 of his Royal Pupil fuch a Treatife as 
 would convey both clear and comprehen- 
 five Ideas on the Subject of National Com- 
 merce, freed from the narrow Conceptions 
 of ignorant, or the finifter Views of crafty 
 and defigning Men; and my honoured 
 Friend, and revered Diocefan, the late 
 Lord Bimop of Eriftol, Dr. CONYBEARE* 
 was pleafed to recommend me, as a Perfon 
 not altogether unqualified to write on fuch 
 a Subject. I therefore entered upon the 
 Work with all imaginable Alacrity, and 
 intended to intitule my Performance, The 
 Elements of Commerce, and 'Theory of Taxes* 
 But I had not made a great Progrefs, be- 
 fore I difcovered that fuch a Work was by 
 no Means proper to be meltered under the 
 Protection of a Royal Perfonage, on ac- 
 count of the many Jealoufies to which it 
 was liable, and the Cavils which might be 
 raifed againft it. In fact, I foon found that 
 
 there
 
 x PREFACE. 
 
 there was fcarcely a Step I could take, 
 "but would bring to Light fome glaring 
 Abfurdity, which Length of Time had 
 rendered facred, and which the Multitude 
 would have been taught to contend for, as 
 if their All was at Stake: Scarce a Propofal 
 could I make for introducing a free, ge- 
 nerous, and impartial Syftem of national 
 Commerce, but it had fuch Numbers of 
 popular Errors to combat, as would have 
 excited loud Clamours, and fierce Op- 
 pofrtion ; and, therefore, as the Herd of 
 Mock-Patriots are ever on the Watch to 
 feize on all Opportunities of inflaming the 
 Populace by Mifrepreientations, and falfe 
 Alarms ; and as the People are too apt to 
 fwallow every idle Tale of this Sort, I 
 determined to give no Occaiion to thofe 
 who continually feek Occaiion. In mort, 
 as I perceived I could not ferve my Prince, 
 by a liberal and unreflrained Difcuffion of 
 the Points relative to thefe Matters, I 
 deemed it the better Part to decline 
 , the Undertaking, rather than do any 
 Thing under the Sanction of his Pa- 
 tronage, which might cUfTerve him in 
 the Eyes of others : For thefe Reafons* 
 
 I
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 I laid the Scheme afide j and if ever I 
 mould refume, and complete it, the Work 
 mall appear without any Patronage, Pro- 
 tection, or Dedication whatever. 
 
 THE third Tract is, A Letter from a 
 Merchant in London to his Nephew in 
 America, This was firft printed in the Year 
 1766, towards the Clofe of the Debate 
 about the Stamp Act; and the Cha- 
 racter which it aflumes, is not altogether 
 fictitious : For an elderly Gentleman', 
 long verfed in the North- American 
 Trade, and perfectly acquainted with 
 all the Wiles there practifed both dur- 
 ing Peace, and in Time of War, 
 and who had Relations fettled in that 
 Part of the World, defired me to write 
 on this Subject, and to give the Treatife 
 that Turn of Expreffion, and Air of 
 Authority, which would not be unbecom- 
 ing an old Man to his dependent Re- 
 lation. He furnimed me with fome cu- 
 rious Materials, and remarkable Anec- 
 dotes, concerning the Smuggling Trade 
 which the Americans carried on with 
 
 the
 
 P R E F A C E. 
 
 the French and Spaniards during the Heat 
 of the War, even to the fupplying them, 
 -with Ships, and naval and military Stores, 
 for deftroying the Trade and Shipping of 
 the Mother Country, and even in De- 
 ftance of Mr. Secretary PITT'S circular 
 Letter to the Governors of the Provinces, 
 forbidding fuch an infamous Trafic, and 
 traiterous Correfpondence. But if I was 
 obliged to the old Gentleman in thefe Re- 
 ipe&s, my Argument was a Sufferer by 
 liim in another : For tho' he admitted, that 
 the Colonies were grown ungovernable; 
 tho' he himfelf declared, from his own 
 Experience, that we gave a better Price 
 for their Iron, Hemp, Flax- Seed, Skins* 
 Furs, Lumber, and moft other Articles, 
 than they could find in any other Part of 
 Europe; and that thefe Colonifts took 
 nothing fcarcely from us in, Return, but 
 what it was their Intereft to buy, even 
 fuppofing them as independent of Greats 
 'Britain, as the States of Holland, or any 
 other People; and tho' he evidently faw, 
 that the longer the Connection fubfifted 
 Between the Colonies and the Mother- 
 Country,
 
 PREFACE. xiti 
 
 Country, the more heavy would the Bur-* 
 
 dens grow upon the latter, and the greater 
 
 would be the Opportunities for the artful 
 
 and defigning Men of both Countries ^t<> 
 
 irritate and inflame the giddy, unthinking 
 
 Populace; tho' he admitted, I fay, and 
 
 allowed all thefe Premifes, he could not 
 
 come at the Conclufion : For he ftar-tled 
 
 as much at the Idea of a Separation, as if 
 
 he had feen a Spectre ! And the Notion of 
 
 parting with the Colonies entirely, and 
 
 then making Leagues of Friendihip with 
 
 them as with fo many independent States, 
 
 was too enlarged an Idea for a Mind wholly 
 
 occupied within the narrow Circle of 
 
 Trade, and a Stranger to the Revolution's 
 
 of States and Empires, thoroughly to 
 
 comprehend, much lefs to dig'eft. In 
 
 Confequence of this, 'I *was 'obliged, als 
 
 the Reader will fee towards the Conclti- 
 
 fion, to give the Argument fiich "a Tarn, 
 
 as expreiTed rather a cafual Threat to 
 
 feparate, than a fettled Project of doing it. 
 
 Now, to fupply this Defect, or ra- 
 ther to make the Conclufioa to cor- 
 
 refpond
 
 xiv PREFACE. 
 refpond with the Prcmifes, I have add- 
 ed a fourth Tract, wherein I attempt 
 to mew what is the true Intereft of 
 Great- Britain in regard to the Colonies; 
 and to explain the only Means of 
 living with them on Terms of mutual 
 Satisfaction and Friendship. Referring 
 therefore the Reader to the Trad: it- 
 felf, 1 mall only fay at prefent, that 
 the more we familiarize ourfelves to 
 the Idea of a Separation, the lefs fur- 
 prized, and the more prepared we mall 
 be whenever that Event mall happen; 
 for that it will and muft happen one 
 Day or other, is the Opinion of almovV 
 every Man, unlefs indeed we except 
 the extraordinary Notion of the cele^ 
 brated Dr. FRANKLIN, and of a few 
 other exotic Patriots and Politicians, 
 who are pleafed to think, that the 
 Seat of Government ought to be tran- 
 ferred from hence to America ; in Con- 
 fequence of which Tranflation, this 
 little Spot will necerTarily become a 
 Province of that vaft and- mighty Em- 
 pire. Surely every home-born Englijh- 
 
 man
 
 PREFACE. xv 
 man will readily prefer a Separation, even 
 a fpeedy Separation, to fuch an Union 
 as this ; and yet, alas ! the Time is ap- 
 proaching, when there can be no other 
 Alternative. 
 
 FOUR
 
 FOUR TRACTS, 
 
 On POLITICAL and COMMERCIAL 
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 TRACT L "I 
 
 The great Queftion refohed, Whether a rich 
 Country can Jland a ^Competition with a 
 poor Country (of equal natural Advan~ 
 tages) in raifing of Provifions, and Cheap" 
 nefs of Manufactures ? With fuitable 
 Inferences and Deductions* 
 
 |T has been a Notion univerfally 
 received, That Trade and Ma- 
 nufactures, if left at full Liber- 
 /y, will always defcend from a 
 richer to a poorer State; fome- 
 what in the fame Manner as a Stream of Water 
 falls from higher to lower Grounds; or as 
 B a
 
 i8 POLITICAL Aflo COMMERCIAL 
 
 a Current of Air nifties from a heavier to a 
 lighter Part of the Atmofphere, in order to re- 
 ftore the Equilibrium. It is likewife inferred, 
 very confidently with this firft Principle, that 
 when, the poor Country, iri Procefs of Time, 
 and by this Influx of Trade and Manufactures, 
 is become relatively richer, the Courfe of Traffic 
 will turn again : So that by attending to this 
 Change, you may dilcover the comparative 
 Riches or Poverty of each particular Place of 
 Country. 
 
 THE Reafons ufually afiigned for this Migra- 
 tion, or rather Circulation of Induftry and Com- 
 merce, afe the following, viz. In rich Countries, 
 where Money is Plenty, a greater Quantity 
 thereof is given for all the Articles of Food, 
 Raiment, and Dwelling: Whereas in poor 
 Countries, where Money is fcarce, a lefler 
 Quantity of it is made to ferve in procuring the 
 like Necefiaries of Life, and in paying the 
 Wages of the Shepherd, the Plowman, the 
 Artificer, and Manufacturer. The Inference 
 from all which is, that Provifions are raifed, and 
 Goods manufactured much cheaper in poor 
 Countries than iri rich ones ; and therefore every 
 poor Country, if a near Neighbour to a rich 
 one, and if there is an eafy and commodious 
 Communication between them, muft unavoida- 
 bly get the Trade from it, were Trade to be 
 left at Liberty to take its natural Courfe. Nor 
 will this Increafe of Agriculture and Manufac- 
 tures
 
 SUBJECTS. 19 
 
 tures, whereby the richer Country is drained, 
 and the poorer proportionably enriched, be 
 Hopped or prevented, 'till Things are brought 
 to a perfect Level, or the Tide of Wealth be- 
 gins to turn the other Way. 
 
 Now, according to this Train of Reafoning, 
 one alarming and obvious Confequence mud ne- 
 ceflarily follow, viz. That the Provifions and 
 Manufactures of a rich Country could never 
 find a Vent in a poor one, on Account of the 
 higher Value, or dearer Price let upon them : 
 Whereas thofe of a poor Country would always 
 find a Vent in a rich one, becaufe they would 
 be afforded the cheapeft at the common Market. 
 THIS being the Cafe, can it be denied, thac 
 every poor Country is the natural and unavoid- 
 able Enemy of a rich one-, efpecially if it mould 
 happen to be adjoining to it ? And are not we 
 Ifure beforehand, that it will never ceafe from 
 draining it of its Trade and Commerce, Induftry 
 and Manufactures, 'till it has reduced it, at leaft 
 ib far as to be on a Level and Equality with 
 itfelf ? Therefore the rich Country, if it regards 
 its own Intereft, is obliged by a Kind of Self- 
 defence to make War upon the poor one, and 
 to endeavour to extirpate all its Inhabitants, in 
 order to maintain itfelf mjlatu quo y or to prevent 
 the fatal Confequences of lofing its preient In- 
 fluence, Trade and Riches. For little lefs than 
 a total Extirpation can be fufEcient to guard 
 B 2 againft
 
 2O POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 againft the Evils to be feared from this dange- 
 rous Rival, while it is fufFered to exiff. 
 
 BUT is this indeed the Cafe? One would 
 not willingly run counter to the fettled Notions 
 of Mankind -, and yet one ought not to make 
 a Sacrifice of Truth to mere Numbers, and the 
 Authority of Opinion ; especially if it fhould 
 appear that thefe are Truths of great Moment 
 to the Welfare of Society. Therefore, with 
 a becoming Deference, may it not here be 
 'aflced, - Can you fuppofe that Divine Provi- 
 dence has really conftituted the Order of Things 
 in fuch a Sort, as to make the Rule of national 
 Self-Prefervation to be inconfiftent with the fun- 
 damental Principle of univerfal Benevolence, 
 and the doing as we would be done by ? For 
 rny Part, I muft confefs, I never could conceive 
 that an all- wife, juft, and benevolent Being 
 would contrive one Part of his Plan to be fo 
 contradictory to the other, as here fuppofed , 
 that is, would lay us under one Obligation as to 
 Morals, and another as to Trade j or, in fhort, 
 make that to be our D/y, which is not, upon 
 the whole, and generally fpeaking (even with- 
 out the Confideration of a future State) our 
 Infer eft like wife. 
 
 THEREFORE I conclude a priori, that there 
 muft be fome Flaw or other in the preceding 
 Arguments, pJaufible as they feem, and great 
 as they are upon the Foot of human Authority. 
 
 For
 
 SUBJECTS. at 
 
 For though the Appearance of Things at firft 
 Sight makes for this ConcluCon, viz. " That 
 " poor Countries muft injevitably draw away the 
 " Trade from rich ones, and confequently itn- 
 " poverim them," the Fact itfelf CANNOT BE so. 
 But leaving all Arguments of this Sort, as be- 
 ing perhaps too metaphyfical for common Ufe, 
 let us have Recaurfe to others, wherein we may 
 be affifted by daily Experience and Obfervation. 
 
 SUPPOSE therefore England and Scotland to be 
 two contiguous, independant Kingdoms, equal 
 in Size, Situation, and all natural Advantages.; 
 fuppofe likewife, that the Numbers of People 
 in both were nearly equal; but that England 
 had acquired TWENTY MILLIONS of current 
 Specie, and Scotland had only a tenth Part of 
 that Sum, viz. Two MILLIONS: The Queftion 
 now is, Whether England will be able to .fup- 
 portitfelf in itsfuperior Influence, Wealth, and 
 Credit-? Or be continually on the Decline in 
 Trade and Manufactures, 'till it is funk into a 
 Parity with Scotland; fo that the current Specie 
 of both Nations will be brought to be juft the; 
 fame, viz. Eleven Millions each. 
 
 Now, to refolve this Qiieftion in a fatisfaclory 
 Manner, a previous Enquiry mould be fet on 
 Foot, viz. How came England to acquire this 
 great Surplus of Wealth ? And by what Means 
 was it accumulated ? --- If in the Way qf Idlenefs, 
 it certainly cannot retain it long j and England 
 B will
 
 22 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 will again become poor;-- perhaps fo poor as 
 to be little better than Hungary or Poland: But 
 if by a Courfe of regular and umverfal Induftry, 
 the fame Means, which obtained the Wealth at 
 firft, will, if purfuedy certainly preferve it, and 
 even add thereto : So that England need not 
 entertain any Jealoufy againft the Improvements 
 and Manufactures of Scotland; and on the 
 other Hand, Scotland without hurting England^ 
 will likewife increafe in Trade, and be benefited 
 both by its Example, and its Riches. 
 
 BUT as thefe are only general AfTertions, let 
 us now endeavour to fupport them by an In- 
 duction of particular Cafes. 
 
 CASE I. 
 
 ENGLAND has acquired 20,000,000!. of 
 Specie in the Way of National fdlene/s, 
 viz. Either by Difcoveries of very rich Mines 
 of Gold and Silver,---or by fuccefsful Priva- 
 teering and making Captures of Plate Ships, 
 or by the Trade of Jewels, and vending 
 them to foreign Nations for vaft Sums of 
 Money,- -or, in fhort, by any other conceivable 
 Method, wherein (univerfal Induftry and Ap- 
 plication being out of the Queftion) very few 
 Hands were employed in getting this Mafs of 
 Wealth (and they only by Fits and Starts, not 
 
 conftantly)
 
 SUBJECTS. 23 
 
 constantly)-- -and fewer ftill arcfuppofcd to re- 
 tain what is gotten. 
 
 ACCORDING to this State of the Cafe, itfeems 
 evidently to follow, That the Provifions and 
 Manufactures of fuch a Country would bear a 
 moil enormous Price, while this Flufh of Money 
 lafted -, and that for the two following Reafons : 
 i ft. A People enriched by fuch improper 
 Means as thefe, would not know the real Value 
 of Money, but would give any Price that was 
 afked , their fuperior Folly and Extravagance 
 being the only Evidence which they could pro- 
 duce of their fuperior Riches. 2dly. At the 
 fame Time that Provifions and Manufactures 
 would bear fuch an excefiive Price, the Quan- 
 tity thereof raifed or made within the Kingdom 
 would be lefs than ever -, inaimuch as the 
 Cart, and the Plow, the Anvil, the Wheel, and 
 the Loom, would certainly be laid afide for 
 thefe quicker and eafier Arts of getting rich, 
 and becoming fine Gentlemen and Ladies ; be- 
 caufe all Perfons, whether male or female, would 
 endeavour to put themfelves in Fortune's Way, 
 and hope to catch as much as they couiu of 
 this golden Shower. Hence the Number of 
 Coaches, Poft-Chaifes, and all other Vehicles* 
 of I'leafure, would prodigioufly increafe ; while 
 the uiual Sets of Farmer's Carts and Waggons 
 proportionally drcreafed : The Sons of lower 
 Tradefmen and Labourers would be converted 
 B 4 into
 
 24 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 into fpruce, powdered Footmen , and " that 
 robuft Breed, which ufed to ftipply the Calls 
 for laborious Occupations, and common Manu- 
 factures, would turn off to commence Barbers 
 and Hair-DrefTers, Dancing-Matters, Players, 
 Fidlers, Pimps, and Gamefters. As to the Fe- 
 male Sex, it is no difficult Matter to forefee, what 
 would be the Fate of the younger, the more 
 fprightly, and pleafmg Part among them. In 
 fhort, the whok People would take a new Turn-, 
 and while Agriculture, and the ordinary me- 
 chanic Trades became fhamefully neglected, 
 the Profeffions which fubfift by procuring 
 Amufements and Diverfions, and exhibiting 
 Allurements and Temptations, would be amaz- 
 ingly increafed,-- and indeed for a Time en- 
 riched , fo that from being a Nation of Bees 
 producing Honey, they would become a Nation 
 of Drones to eat it up. In fuch a Cafe certain 
 it is, that their induftrious Neighbours would 
 foon drain them of this Quantity of Specie, 
 and not only drain them, fo far as to reduce 
 them to a Level with the poor Country, but 
 alfo fink them into the k>weft State of abject 
 Poverty. Perhaps indeed ibme few of the In- 
 habitants, being naturally Mifers, and forefeeing 
 the general Poverty that was coming upon the 
 Country, would make the more ample Provi- 
 fion for themfelves i and, by feeding the Vices, 
 'and admimftering to the Follies and Extrava- 
 gances
 
 SUBJECTS. * 5 
 
 gances of others, would amafs and engrofs 
 great Eftates. Therefore when fuch a Nation 
 came to awake out of this gilded Dream, it 
 would find itfelf to be much in the fame Cir- 
 cumftances of pretended Wealth, but real Po- 
 verty, as the Spaniards and Portuguefe are at 
 prefent. Nay, when their Mines, or their former 
 Refources of Gold and Silver, came to fail them, 
 they would really be in a much worfe; and 
 their Condition would then approach the neareft 
 of any Thing we can now conceive, to that of 
 Baron and Vaflal in Poland and Hungary -, or to. 
 Planter and Slave in the Weft Indies. 
 
 ACCORDING to this Syftem of Reafoning, the 
 Expedition in the late * Spani/h War againft 
 Carthagena mud have been ill-judged in every 
 Particular ; for if the End in View had been 
 only to open a Market for Briti/h Manufactures, 
 this End was anfwered, as far as an hoftile 
 Method could have anfwered a commercial End, 
 by taking the Forts at the Mouth of the Haven, 
 and therefore the Attempt ought not to have 
 been pufhed any farther : But if the Defign 
 was to deftroy the Fortifications round Cartha- 
 gena, and to give up the Town to the Plunder 
 of the Soldiers, and then to have deferted, or 
 to have reftored it to its former Owners at the 
 Conclufion of the War (for furely it would have 
 
 * The Reader is defired (o bear in Mind, that this Traft 
 was written in the Year 1748, juft after the Spanish War. 
 
 been
 
 26 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 been the very Height of Madneis in us to have 
 been at the Expence of keeping it)-- this was 
 an End by no Means worthy of national At- 
 tention, and not at all adequate to the Blood 
 and Treafure it muft have coft,- -even tho' the 
 Project had fucceeded. But if the real Plan was 
 to open a Way to the Spanijk Mines by taking 
 the Port or Entrance into them, and fo to get 
 rich all at once without Trade or Induftry, 
 this Scheme would have been the mod fatal and 
 deiiruclive of any, had not Providence kindly 
 interpofed by defeating it. For if we had been 
 victorious, and had vanquifiied the Spaniards , as 
 they formerly vanquifhed the Indian Inhabitants, 
 our Fate and Punifhment would have been by 
 this Time fimilar to theirs , Pride elated with 
 imaginary Wealth, and abje6l Poverty without 
 Resource. 
 
 HENCE likewife we may difccrn the Weak- 
 nefs-of one Argument (indeed the only popular 
 one) fomet<imes infifted on with more Warmth 
 than Judgment in Favour of a general Natura- 
 lisation, viz. That it would induce fuch rich 
 Foreigners as are not engaged in any Trade or 
 Bufmefs, and confequently would not interfere 
 wjth any of the Natives, to come and fpend 
 their Fortunes in this Land of Liberty. [What 
 is truly to be hoped from a general Naturaliza- 
 tion, is, that it would induce induftrious and in- 
 genious Foreigners, Men who have their For- 
 es o 
 
 tunes
 
 SUBJECTS. 27 
 
 tunes yet to make, to come, and enrich the 
 
 : 
 
 Country at the fame Time that they are en- 
 riching thefelves by their fuperior Induftry, 
 Ingenuity, and other good Qualities.] For as 
 to idle Foreigners, living on the Income of their 
 great Eftates, pray, of what national Advan- 
 tage would they be to us ? What, I fay, even 
 fuppofmg we could perfuade all the wealthy 
 Foreigners of this Clafs throughout the World 
 to come and refide in England? The real Fact 
 is, that no other Confequences could enfue, 
 but that this Nation, inftead of being chiefly 
 compofed of fubftantial Yeomen, and Farmers, 
 creditable Manufacturers, and opulent Mer- 
 chants, would then become a Nation of Gentle- 
 men and Ladies on the one Side, and of Foot-" 
 men and Grooms, Ladies' Women, and Laun- 
 dreflcs, and fuch like Dependants, on the other. 
 In fhort we have Proofs enough already of this 
 Matter, now before our Eyes, and in our own- 
 Kingdom, if we will but make the proper Ufe 
 of them. For Example, the Towns of ;>- 
 mingham, Leeds, Halifax, Manchejter, &V. &c. 
 being inhabited in a Manner altogether by 
 Tradefmen and Manufacturers, are fp,me of 
 the richeft and moft flouriming in the King-, 
 dom : Whereas the City of 'Fork, and inch 
 other Places as feem to be more particularly 
 fet apart for the Refidence of Perfons who
 
 a8 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 upon their Fortunes, are not without evident 
 
 * 
 
 Marks of Poverty and Decay. 
 
 HENCE alfo we come to the true Reafon, why 
 the City of Edinburgh, contrary to the Fears 
 and ApprehenCons of its Inhabitants, has 
 thriven and fiourifhed more fince the Union 
 than it did before, viz. It has loft the Refi- 
 dence of the Court and Parliament, and has got 
 in its Stead, Commerce and Manufactures ; 
 that is, it has exchanged Idlenefs for Indullry : 
 And were the Court and Parliament of Ireland 
 to leave Dublin by Virtue of an Union with 
 Great-Britain, the fame good Confequences 
 would certainly follow. 
 
 * .- , 
 
 CASE II. 
 
 ' 
 
 ENGLAND has acquired TWENTY MIL- ' 
 LIONS of Specie in the Way of general 
 Indujlry, viz. By exciting the Ingenuity and 
 Activity of its People, and giving them a free 
 Scope without any Excluiion, Confinement, or 
 Monopoly ; by annexing Burdens to Celi- 
 bacy, and Honours and Privileges to the 
 married State ; by constituting fuch Laws, as 
 diffule the Weakh of the Parents more equally 
 among the Children, than the prefent Laws of 
 Europe generally do-;' by modelling the Taxes 
 jn fueh a Manner, that all Things hurtful to 
 
 the
 
 SUBJECTS. 29 
 
 . .-~r 
 jEhe Publick Good mall be rendered proportion-. 
 
 ably dear, and placed beyond the Reach of the 
 Multitude; whereas fuch Things as are necefFury* 
 or ufefuf, (hall be proportionably encouraged ; 
 and, in fbort, by every other conceivable Me- 
 thod, whereby the Drones of Society may be 
 converted into Bees, and the Bees be prevented 
 from degenerating back into Drones. 
 
 THEREFORE, as we are to fuppofe, that by 
 fuch Means as thefe, the South-Britons have ac- 
 cumulated 20,000,000!. in Specie, while the 
 North Britons have no more than 2,000,000!.; 
 The Queftion now is, Which of thefe two Na- 
 tions can afford to raife Provifions, and fell 
 their Manufactures on the cheapeft Terms ? 
 " Suppofing that both did their utmoft to rival 
 " one another, and that Trade and Manufac- 
 ** tures were left at Liberty to take their own 
 *' Courfe, according as Cheapnefs or Intereft 
 " directed them." 
 
 Now, on the Side of the poorer Nation, it is 
 alledged, That feeing it hath much lefs Mo- 
 ney, and yet is equal in Size, Situation, and 
 other natural Advantages, equal alib in Num- 
 bers of People, and thofe equally willing to be 
 diligent and induftrious ; it cannot be but that 
 fuch a Country mu-ft have a manifeft Advantage 
 over the rich one in Point of its parfimonious 
 "Way of Living, low Wages, and confequently 
 edieap Manufactures. 
 
 Or
 
 30 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 ON the contrary, the rich Country hath the 
 following Advantages which will more than 
 counter-ballance any Difadvantage that may 
 arife from the foregoing Articles, viz. 
 
 ift. As the richer Country hath acquired its 
 fuperior Wealth by a general Application, and 
 long Habits of Induftry, it is therefore in ac- 
 tual PofTeflion of an eftablimed Trade and 
 Credit, large Correfpondences, experienced 
 Agents and Factors, commodious Shops, Work- 
 Houfes, Magazines, &c. alfo a great Variety of 
 the beft Tools and Implements in the various 
 Kinds of Manufactures, and Engines for 
 Abridging Labour;- add to thefe good Roads, 
 Canals, and other artificial Communications ; 
 Quays, Docks, Wharfs, and Piers i Numbers 
 of Ships, good Pilots, and trained Sailors : 
 And in refpecl: to Hufbandry and Agriculture, 
 it is likewife in PofTeflion of good Enclofures, 
 Drains, Waterings, artificial Grafies, great 
 Stocks, and confequently the greater Plenty of 
 Manures , alfo a great Variety of Plows, Har- 
 rows, &c. fuitcd to the different Soils ; and in 
 Ihort of every other fuperior Method of Huf- 
 bandry arifing from long Experience, various 
 and expenfive Trials. Whereas the poor Coun- 
 try has, for the moft Part, all thefe Things to 
 feek after and procure.- Therefore what the 
 Poet obferved to be true in a private Senfe, is 
 true alfo in a public and commercial one, viz. 
 
 Hand
 
 SUBJECTS. 31 
 
 Hand facile emtr$unt^ quorum virtiitibus objlat 
 Res angufta domi 
 
 2dly. THE richer Country is not only in Pof- 
 feflion of the Things already made and fettled, 
 but alfo of fuperior Skill and Knowledge (ac- 
 quired by long Habit and Experience) for in- 
 venting and making of more. The Importance 
 of this will appear thft greater, when we confider 
 that no Man can pretend to fet Bounds to the 
 Progrefs that may yet be made both in Agricul- 
 ture and Manufactures , for who can take upon 
 him to affirm, that our Children cannot as far ex- 
 ceed us as we have exceeded our Gothic Forefa- 
 thers ? And is it not much more natural and rea- 
 fonable to fuppofe, that we are rather at the Be- 
 ginning only, and juft got within the Threfhold, 
 than that we are arrived at the ne plus ultra of 
 nfeful Difcoveries ? Now, if fo, the poorer 
 Country, however willing to learn, cannot be 
 fuppofed to be capable of making the fame Pn>- 
 grefs in Learning with the Rich, for want of 
 equal Means of Inftruction, equally good Mo- 
 dels and Examples , and therefore, tho* both 
 may be improving every Day, yet the prafcical 
 Knowledge of the poorer in Agriculture and 
 Manufactures will always be found to keep at a 
 refpectful Diftance behind that of the richer 
 Country. 
 
 3 dly.
 
 32 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 3dly. THE richer Country is not only mom 
 knowing^ but is alfo more able than the other to 
 make further Improvements, by laying out large 
 Sums of Money in the Profecution of the in- 
 tended Plan. Whereas the poor Country has 
 here again the Mortification to find, that the 
 Res angufta domi is in many Cafes an infuperable 
 Bar to its Rife and Advancement : And this 
 Circumftance deferves the more Regard as it is 
 a known Fad and trite Obfervatipn, that very 
 few great and extenfive Projects were ever 
 brought to bear at firfl fetting out j and that a 
 vaft deal of Money muft be funk, and many 
 Years be elapfed, before they are capable of 
 making any Returns. In fhort, the Inhabitants 
 of a poor Country, who, according to the vulgar 
 Phrafe, generally live from Hand to Mouth, 
 dare not make fuch coftly Experiments, or em- 
 bark in fuch expenfive and long-winded Un- 
 dertakings, as the Inhabitants of a rich Country- 
 can attempt, and execute with Eafe. 
 
 4thly. THE higher Wages of the rich Coun- 
 try, and the greater Scope and Encouragement 
 given for the Exertion of Genius, Induftry, and 
 Ambition, will naturally determine a great many 
 Men of Spirit and Enterprise to forfake their 
 own poor Country, and fettle in the richer j fo 
 that the one will always drain the other of 
 the Flower of its Inhabitants : Whereas there 
 are not the fame Temptations for the beft 
 
 Hands
 
 SUBJECTS. 11 
 
 Hands and Artiftsof a rich Country to forfake 
 the bed Pay, and fettle in a poor one. 
 Though for Argument's Sake, it was al- . 
 
 CD O 
 
 lowed at the Beginning, that the Numbers of 
 People in thefe two adjoining Scares were juft 
 equal, yet certain it is, that the Thing itfelf 
 could never have fo happened, ---the richer 
 Country being always endowed with the attrac- 
 tive Quality of the Loadftone, and the poor one 
 with the repelling : And therefore, feeing that 
 the poorer Country muft neceffarily be the leaft 
 peopled (if there is a free Intercourfe between 
 them) the Coniequence would be, that in feverai 
 Diftri&s, and in many Initances, it would be 
 impofiibie for certain Trades even to fubfift ; 
 becaufe the Scarcity and Poverty of the Inha- 
 bitants would not afford a fufficient Number of 
 Cuftomers to frequent the Shop, or to take off 
 the Goods of the Manufacturer 
 
 5thly. IN the richer Country, where the De- 
 mancis are great and conftanr, every Manufac- 
 ture that requires various Procefies, and is com- 
 poled of different Parts, is accordingly divided 
 and fubdivided into feparate and diftinct 
 Branches , whereby each Perfon becomes more 
 expert, and alfomore expeditious in the parti- 
 cular Part afiigned him. Whereas in a poor 
 Country, the fame Perion is obliged by Necef- 
 fity, and for the Sake of gmin^ a bare Sub- 
 fiftence, to undertake fuch different Branches, 
 C as
 
 34 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 as prevent him from excelling, or being 
 expedkiows in any. In fuch a Cafe, Is it 
 not much cheaper to give 2s. 6d. a Day in the 
 rich Country to the nimble and adroit Artift, 
 than it is to give only.6d. in the poor one, to 
 the tedious, aukward Bungler ? 
 
 6thly As the richer Country has the greater 
 Number of rival Tradefmen, and thofe more 
 quick and dexterous, the Goods of fuch a 
 Country have not only the Advantages arifing 
 from Quicknefs and Dexterity, but alfo will be 
 afforded much the cheaper on Account of the 
 Emulation of fo many Rivals and Competitors. 
 Whereas in a poor Country, it is very eafy for 
 one rich, over-grown Tradefman to monopolize 
 the whole Trade to himfelf, and confequently 
 to fet his own Price upon the Goods, as he 
 knows that there are none who dare contend with 
 him in Point of Fortune -,-or, what is full as bad, 
 the like Confequences will follow where the 
 Numbers of the Wealthy are fo few, that they 
 can combine together whenever they will, to 
 prey upon the Public. 
 
 7thly. and laftly. IN the rich Country, the 
 Superiority of the Capital-, and the low In* 
 tereft of Money, will infure the vending of all 
 Goods on the cheapeft Terms ; becaufe a Man 
 of 2000!. Capital can certainly afford to give 
 the beft Wages to the beft Workmen, and yet. 
 be abk to fell the Produce or Manufacture of 
 
 fuch
 
 SUBJECTS. 35 
 
 fuch Workmen at a much cheaper Rate than he 
 who has only a Capital of 200!. For if the one 
 gets only icl. per Cent, per Ann. for his Mo- 
 ney, that will bring him an Income of 200!. 
 a Year , a Sum very fufficient to live with Cre- 
 dit and Reputation in the Rank of a Tradei'man^ 
 and confiderably more than double to whai he 
 would have received in the Way of common 
 Intereft, even if lent at 4!. and a Half per 
 Cent. Whereas, the other with his poor Capital 
 of 200!. mult get a Profit of at leaft iol. per 
 Cent, in order to have an Income juft above 
 the Degree of a common Journeyman. Noc 
 to mention, that Men of fuperior Capitals will 
 always command the Market in buying the raw 
 Materials at the beft H^nd ; and command it 
 alfo in another View, viz. by being able to give 
 longer Credit to their Dealers and Cuftomers. 
 So much as to the reasoning Part of this Sub- 
 ject : Let us now examine how fland the Facts. 
 
 AND here it muft be premiied, that were a 
 greater Quantity of Specie to enhance the Price 
 of Provifions and Manufactures in the Manner 
 ufually fuppofed, the Confequence would be, 
 that all Goods whatever would be fo much the 
 dearer in a rich Country, compared with a poor 
 one, as there had been different Sets of PC ople 
 employed, and greater Wages paid in making 
 them. For the Argument proceeds thus, The 
 more Labour, the more Wages ; the more 
 C 2 Wages,
 
 36 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Wages, the more Money , the more Money- 
 paid for making them, the dearer the Good^ 
 muft come to Market : And yet the Fa6l itfelf 
 is quite the Reverfe of this feemingly juft Con- 
 clufion. For it may be laid down as a general 
 Proportion, which very feldom fails, Thatoferofe 
 or complicated Manufactures are cheapeft in rich. 
 Countries; and raw Materials in poor ones : 
 And therefore in Proportion as any Commodity 
 approaches to one, or other of thefe Extremes^ 
 in that Proportion it will be found to he cheaper, 
 or dearer in a rich, or a poor Country. 
 
 THE railing of Corn, for Inftance, employs 
 a confiderable Number of Hands, has various 
 Procefies, takes up a great deal of Time, and is 
 attended with great Expence. If fo, pray, 
 Where is Corn the cheapelt ? Why, Corn is 
 raifed as cheap in England as in Scotland^ if not 
 cheaper. Moreover, tho' Wages are very high 
 in Hertfordfliire, as being in the Neighbourhood 
 of London^ and the Lands dear, and far from 
 being naturally good > yet the Price of good 
 Wheat is certainly as cheap in Hertfordflrire as 
 in Wales, and fometimes much cheaper ; tho' 
 the Wages in Wales are low, the Rents eafy, and 
 the Lands in many Places fufficiently rich and 
 fertile, and the Land-Tax extremely light. 
 
 THE raifing Garden-Stuff, and all Sorts of 
 Produce fit for the Kitchen is another Inftance ; 
 for this likewife is an expenfive and operofe 
 
 Affair,
 
 SUBJECTS. 37 
 
 Affair, requiring great Skill and Judgment. 
 
 But the Price of Garden Stuff is prodigioufly 
 
 funk to what it was in former Times ; and I 
 
 much Queftion, whether any Town of Note in 
 
 Scotland can now vie with the common Markets 
 
 of London in that Refpeft. Certain it is, that 
 
 -formerly, viz. about 100 Years agQ, a Cabbage 
 
 would have coft^d in London^ when London was 
 
 not near fo rich as it is now, which at prefent 
 
 .may be bought for a Halfpenny. And were 
 
 you to proceed on, to Colliflowers, Afparagus, 
 
 Broccoli, Melons, Cucumbers, and all Sorts of 
 
 .the choicer Wall Fruits, you would find the 
 
 Difproportion ftil I greater. But waving fuch 
 
 .Exotics, evtn the common Articles of Peafe and 
 
 Beans, Sallads, Onions, Carrots, Parfneps, and 
 
 Turneps, are confiderably cheaper than ever 
 
 they were known to be in former Times ; tho* 
 
 .the Rent of Garden Grounds, and Wages of 
 
 Journeymen Gardeners, are a great deal higher. 
 
 ,ON the contrary, the railing. both of fmall 
 
 and large Cattle is a more fimple Affair, and 
 
 rdoth not employ near fo -many Hands as the 
 
 railing of Corn pr Garden-Stuff: Therefore 
 
 .you will find that fmall and large Cattle are 
 
 much cheaper in poor Countries than in rich 
 
 ones j and that the Produce of fuch Cattle, for 
 
 the fame Reafon, viz. Milk, Wool, and Hair, 
 
 alfo the Flefh, Skins, Horns, and Hides, are 
 
 Cheaper likewife. As to Milk, this being made 
 
 C 3 into
 
 38 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 into Butter or Cheefe by a fhort and fingle Pro- 
 cefs, and rhe Intervention of only one Female 
 Servant, is indeed cheaper in the poorer Country : 
 But were Butter and Cheefe to have required a 
 more intricate Opt- ration, and to have taken up 
 as much Time, and employed as many Hands 
 in the manufacturing of them, as Wool, or 
 Leather, it might be greatly queftioned whether 
 the richer Country would not have produced 
 Butter and Cheefe at a cheaper Rate than the 
 poor one. And what countenances the Sufpi- 
 cion is, that in the Cafe of Wool, Hair, Horns, 
 and Hides, when manufactured into Cloth, Hair 
 Cloths, Hornery-Ware, and Leather, the richer 
 Country hath genera4Jy the Advantage: Indeed, 
 if there are fome Exceptions, they are extremely 
 few. And it is an indifputable Fact at this Day, 
 that there are more Woollen Cloths, Stuffs, 
 Serges, &V. more Horn Combs, Ink-Horns, 
 Powder- Flafks, Lanthorns, &c. more Leather 
 for Shoes and Boots, fentby the Manufacturers 
 of England into Scotland^ than by thofe of Scot- 
 la Win to England. 
 
 WOOD, or Timber, is another Inftance in 
 Point : For Timber may be reckoned to be in a 
 great Degree the fpontaneous Production of Na- 
 ture, and therefore Timber is always cheapeft in 
 a poor Country. But what fhall we fay of 
 fuch Manufactures, of which Timber is only 
 the raw Material ? Are they cheaper alfo ? 
 
 This,
 
 SUBJECTS. 39 
 
 This, I am fure, is much to be doubted , efpe- 
 cially in thofe Instances where the Manufacture 
 is to pafs through feveral Hands, before it is 
 .completed. Nay, were you to go into a Cabi- 
 net-Maker's Shop in London^ and enquire even 
 for common Articles, you would not find that 
 the fame Articles of equal Neatnefs and Good- 
 nefs could be bought in Scotland much cheaper, 
 if fo cheap. Moreover, as to Shipbuilding, 
 than which nothing creates fo great a Confump- 
 tion of Timber, Pray, how much cheaper is a 
 Ship of any Burthen, viz. 3 or 400 Tons, built 
 at Leith or Glafgow, than in the Yards bor^er- 
 ing on the River Thames ? And are not Ships 
 buiJt at Sardam, in Holland^ where theNecefia- 
 ries of Life, and Wages cannot be cheap, and 
 where not a Stick of Timber grows, are not 
 they built as cheap there as in moft Countries 
 -whatever, even fuch Countries which have the 
 jaw Materials juft at their Doors ? 
 
 THE like Obfervations might be made to 
 extend tp the building of large and fumptuous 
 Houfes, and purchafing all the Furniture proper 
 for them ; and to almoft every other Article, 
 where many Hands, much Labour and Ex- 
 pence, great Skill and Ingenuity, and a Variety 
 of different Trades are required before the Thing 
 in Queftion is completely finifhed. For in all 
 thefe Cafes, the rich, induftrious Country has a 
 manifefl Advantage over the poor one. London, 
 C 4 tho*
 
 4O POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL.' 
 
 tho' the deareft Place in the Kingdom to live at, 
 is by far the cheapeft for purchafing Houfhold 
 Goods. 
 
 AFTER fo much hath been faid on the Sub- 
 ject, it would be needlefs to have Recourfe to 
 the Branch of Metals for further llluftrations, 
 were it not that there is fomething fo very ftrik- 
 ing in their Cafe, that it ought not to be omitted. 
 Iron Ore, for Example, is dug in Lanca/hire, 
 and frequently fent by Sea Carriage into the 
 County of Jrgyle, there to be fmelted, oh Ac- 
 count of the great Plenty and Cheapnefs of 
 Wood and Charcoal Now, when it is thus 
 brought into Pigs and Bars, the great Queftion 
 is, What becomes of it ? Do you find that any 
 confiderable Quantity remains in Scotland? Or 
 is the far greater Part brought back again, in 
 Order to be fent into the manufacturing Coun- 
 ties of England ? - The latter is indiiputably the 
 Cafe, notwithftanding the Expence of Re car- 
 riage; notwithftanding alfo, that the Colliers 
 in Scotland could fupply as much Coal as evea 
 about Birmingham, or Sheffield^ were Coal the 
 only Article that was wanted. But for all that, 
 Sheffield and Birmingham are in Pofleffion of the 
 Trade ; and will ever keep it, unlefs it be their 
 own Faults. 
 
 THE Cafe of Sweden is ftill more extraordinary 
 (and furely Sweden is a Country poor enough) 
 for the Swedijh Iron pays a large Duty to the 
 
 Swedi/h
 
 SUBJECTS. 41 
 
 Swedijh Government before Exportation; it is 
 then burdened with Freight into England; it 
 pays a heavy Duty upon being landed here; 
 is then carried partly by Water, and partly by 
 Land, into the manufacturing Counties ; is 
 there fabricated, -re- carried again to the Sea- 
 Side,-- -there fhipped off, for Sweden^ pays a 
 very heavy Duty, as Englijh Manufactures ; 
 and yet, almoft every Article of fuch Manufac- 
 tures, ar, hath pafled thro* two, three, or more 
 Stages, before it was completed, is afforded fo 
 cheap at the Market of Stockholm, that the 
 Swedes have loft Money in every Attempt they 
 have made to rival them. 
 
 JUDGE now, therefore, what little Caufe there 
 is to fear that a poor Country can ever rival a 
 rich one in the more operoie, complicated, and 
 expenlive Branches of a Manufacture : Judge 
 alfo, whether a rich Country can ever lofe its 
 Trade, while it retains its Induftry ; and confe- 
 quently how abfurd muft every Project be for 
 fecunng or encreafing this Trade, which doth 
 not tend to (ecure, or encreale the Diligence 
 'and Frugality of the People. 
 
 A War, whether crowned with Victory, or 
 branded with Defeats, can never prevent another 
 Nation from being more induftrious than you 
 are-, and if they are more induitrious, they will 
 fell cheaper , and confequently your former 
 Cuftomers will forfake your Shop, and go to 
 
 theirs ;
 
 42 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 theirs; tho' you covered the Ocean with Fleets, 
 and the Land with Armies: In fhort, the 
 Soldier may lay Wafte, the Privateer, whether, 
 fuccefsful or unfuccefsful, will make Poor ; but 
 it is the eternal Law of Providence, that The 
 Hand of the Diligent alone can make Rich. 
 
 THIS being the Cafe, it evidently follows, 
 that as no trading Nation can ever be ruined 
 but by itfelf, fo more particularly the Improve- 
 ments and Manufactures of Scotland can never 
 be a Detriment to England \ unlefs the Englifli 
 do voluntarily decline their Induftry, and be- 
 come profligate in their Morals. Indeed when 
 this comes to pafs, it is of little Confequence 
 by what Name that Nation is called, which runs 
 . away with their Trade ; for fome Country or 
 other necefTarily muft. Whereas, were the 
 Englifli to reform their Manners, and encreafe 
 their Induftry, the very Largenefs of their Ca- 
 pitals, and their Vicinity to Scotland, might 
 enable the Englifli to allift the Scotch in various 
 Ways, without prejudicing themfelves, viz. By 
 lending them Money at moderate Intereft, by 
 embarking in Partnerlhip with them in fuch 
 Undertakings as require large Stocks and long 
 Credits, by fupplying them with Models and 
 Inftructors, exciting their Emulation, and di- 
 recting their Operations with that Judgment 
 and good Order which are only learnt by Ufe 
 and Experience. 
 
 NAY,
 
 SUBJECTS. 43 
 
 NAY, to pafs from Particulars to Generals, 
 we may lay it down as an univerfal Rule, fubject 
 to very few Exceptions, that as an induftrious 
 Nation can never be hurt by the increafing In- 
 duftry of its Neighbours ; and as it is fo wifely- 
 contrived by Divine Providence, that all People 
 ihould have a ftrong Biafs towards the Produce 
 and Manufactures of or hers ; fo it follows, 
 that when this Biafs is put under proper Regu- 
 lations , the refpecTiive Induftry of Nation and 
 Nation enables them to be fo much the better 
 Cuftomers, to improve in a friendly Intercourfe, 
 and to be a mutual Benefit to each other. A 
 private Shopkeeper would certainly wifh that 
 his Cuftomers did improve in their Circum- 
 ftances, rather than go behind hand , becaufe 
 every fuch Improvement would probably re- 
 dound to his Advantage. Where then can be 
 the Wifdom in the public Shopkeeper, a trading 
 People, to endeavour to make the neighbouring 
 States and Nations, that are his Cuftomers, fo 
 very poor as not to be able to trade with him ? 
 
 THE Conclufion of the whole is this : Heaps 
 of Gold and Silver are not the true Riches of a 
 Nation : Gold and Silver got in the Ways of 
 Idlenefs are its certain Ruin , it is Wealth in 
 Appearance but Poverty in Reality : Gold and 
 Silver got by Induftry, and fpent in Idlenefs, 
 will prove to be Deftrudion likewife: Hut 
 GoM and Silver acquired by general Induitry, 
 
 and
 
 44 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 and uft-d with Sobriety, and according to good 
 Morals, will promote dill greater Induftry, and 
 go on, for any Thing that appears to the con- 
 trary, ftill accumulating; fo that every Aug- 
 mentation of fuch Money is a Proof of a pre- 
 ceding Increafe of Induftry : Whereas an Aug- 
 mentation of Money by fuch Means as decreafe 
 Induftry, is a national Curfe---not a Blefling, 
 And therefore, tho' the Accounts of fuch a Na- 
 tion may look fair to the Eyes of a Merchant 
 or Tradefman, who (keeping their own Books 
 by Pounds, Shillings, and Pence) fuppofe, that 
 all muft be right, when they fee at the Foot of 
 the Account, a large Balance of Pounds, Shil- 
 lings, and Pence, in the Nation's Favour ; yet 
 the able Statefman, and judicious Patriot, who 
 are to keep the public Accounts by quite diffe^ 
 rent Columns, by Men, Women, and Children 
 employed, or not employed, will regard this 
 Tumour of Wealth as a dangerous Diieafe, not 
 as a natural and healthy Growth. In one Word, 
 the only pofiible Means of preventing a Rival 
 Nation from running away with your Trade, 
 is to prevent your own People from being 
 more idle and vicious than they are ; and by 
 infpiring them with the contrary good Qua- 
 lities : So that the only War, which can be at- 
 tended with Succefs in that Refpeft, is a War 
 againft Vice and Idlenefs ; a War, whofe Forces 
 muft confift of---not Fleets and Armies,--but 
 * fucb
 
 SUBJECTS. 45 
 
 fuch judicious Taxes and wife Regulations, as 
 fhall turn the PafTion of private Self-Love into 
 the Channel of public Good. Indeed Fleets 
 and Armies may be necefiary, where the 
 Merchant and Manufacturer are in Danger of 
 
 O 
 
 being robbed or plundered in carrying their 
 Goods to Market -, but Fleets and Armies can 
 never render thofe Goods the cheaper-, and 
 confequently cannot poffibly encreafe the Num- 
 ber of their Cuftomers ; fuppofing fuch Cuf- 
 tomers have the Liberty of trading wherever 
 they pleafe, and to the beft Advantage. But if 
 you mould continue tliefe Armaments, in order 
 to flop up the Ports of other Nations, and de- 
 prive them of the Benefit of a free Trade, what 
 will be the Confequence of this wife Manoeuvre ? 
 Plainly this ;--- That while you are getting One 
 Shilling, you are fpending Ten , while you are 
 employing a few in a Courfe of regular Induftry, 
 you are fupporting Thoufands in Habits of Idle*, 
 nefs, and at the fame Time involving the Na- 
 tion in fuch immenfe Expences as muft, if'per- 
 fifted in, inevitably prove its' Ruin. Grant, 
 therefore, that during a War, a War crowned 
 with uninterrupted Succefs (for no other can 
 avail) grant, I fay, that in fome Articles you 
 enjoy an Increafe of Trade, at what Expence 
 is this Increafe obtained, and how long is it to 
 laft ? Moreover, that Conlequences will arife 
 when the War is at an End, and other Ports 
 
 arc
 
 46 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 are open ? (for furely it cannot be intended that 
 a trading Nation is to fight for ever,) and when 
 Peace is made, what new Duties, what addi- 
 tional Taxes are to be impofed for defraying 
 both Principal and Intereft of the Charges of 
 fuch a War ?-- How are they to be levied ? 
 "Who is to bear them ? And will you by this 
 Means be better -able to render your Goods 
 cheaper at a foreign Market than heretofore ? 
 A plain Anfwer to thefe Queftions would un- 
 ravel the whole Matter, and bring Mankind to 
 a right Ufc of their Senfes. 
 
 POST-
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 [HE only Set of Objections, as far 
 as they have come to my Know- 
 ledge, which have been hitherto 
 made to the Principles and Rea- 
 fonings laid down and illuftrated 
 in the foregoing Treatife, are the following : 
 
 i ft. THAT according to this Hypothefis, 
 Improvements, Induftry, and Riches, may be 
 advanced and increafed ad infinitum , which is 
 a Petition too extravagant to be admitted. 
 
 2dly. THAT in Confequence of this accumu- 
 lating Scheme, one Nation might cngrofs the 
 Trade of the whole World, and beggar every 
 other State or Kingdom ; which Opinion is not 
 only contradicted by Fad and Experience, but 
 is alfo contrary to my own Syftem of Com- 
 merce, wherein I ftrongly declare againft Mo- 
 nopoly and Exclufion of every Kind. 
 
 3 dly.
 
 48 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 3dly. THAT tho* a poor Country cannot 
 immediately and at once rival a rich one in 
 its Trade and Manufactures, yet it may do 
 it by Degrees, beginning firft with the coarfer 
 and lefs complicated Kinds, and then ad- 
 vancing Step by Step to others more com- 
 pounded, operofe, and coftly ; 'till at length it 
 hath reached that Summit of Art, Induftry, and 
 Riches, from which the rich Country hath lately 
 fallen, and from whence alfo this upftart Ad- 
 ventiKer muft recede in its Turn. And to 
 ftrengthen this Reafoning it may be obferved, 
 
 4thly. " That all human Things have the 
 " Seeds of Decay within themfclves :- Great 
 " Empires, great Cities, great Commerce, all of 
 *' them receive a Cheque, not from accidental 
 *' Events, but from necefiary Principles." 
 
 THUS Hand the Objections of that acute Phi- 
 lofopher, and celebrated Writer, who honoured 
 the above Treatife with his ingenious Re- 
 ma! ks. Let us now therefore attend to the 
 Force of each of thefe Objections with that 
 Care and Impartiality which the Caufe of Truth 
 deferves ; and with that RefpecT: alfo, which is 
 due to a Perfon of Eminence in the Republic 
 of Letters. 
 
 AND i ft. I muft beg Leave to obferve, that 
 the Gentleman has, in Part at leaft, miftakert 
 my Meaning, where I fay, towards the Clofe 
 of the Treatife, " That Gold and Silver ac^ 
 
 " qufred
 
 S U B J E C T S. 49 
 
 (" quired by general Induftry, and ufed with 
 c Sobriety, and according to good Morals, will 
 " promote (lill greater Induftry, and go on, for 
 " any Thing that appears to the contrary, ftill 
 " accumulating:" I fay he has miftaken my 
 Meaning, if he imagined, that I roundly and 
 pofitively there afferted, that the Progrefs miift 
 be, adinfinitum: For 'I did not intend to aflert 
 any fuch Thing, and one Reafon, among others, 
 which restrained me, was the Confederation 
 that I am not Metaphyfician enough to compre- 
 hend what INFINITY really means. Therefore 
 what I undertake to maintain, is this, That 
 fuch a Progreflion, as is here defcribed, may be 
 ib far carried on, as evidently to prove, that no 
 Man can pofitively define, when or where it muft 
 neceffarily flop : No Man can fet Bounds to Im- 
 provements even in Imagination : and therefore, 
 'till the ne plus ultra of all Advancements in 
 Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures, in Agricul- 
 ture, Trade, and Navigation, &c. &c. is cleanly 
 
 demonftrated (a -Thing which I prefume no one 
 -will be in Hafte to attempt) we may ftill be al- 
 lowed to aflert, that the richer- manufacturing 
 Nation will maintain its-'Superiority over the 
 poorer one, notwithstanding this latter may be 
 
 likewife advancing towards Perfection. This 
 being the Caufe it follows. 
 
 2dly. THAT my Hypothefis is fo far from 
 
 fuppofing- that one Nation may engrofs the 
 
 D Trade
 
 50 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Trade of the whole World, and beggar all the 
 reft, that it remains juft the contrary : Becaufe 
 it follows, from my Syftem, that every Nation, 
 poor as well as rich, may improve their Condi- 
 tion if they pleafe. The poorer Nation for 
 Example, may adopt the good Police,- -the 
 Abolition of Monopolies and exclufive Com- 
 panies, and feveral ufeful Regulations of its 
 richer neighbouring State : All thefe it may 
 adopt without Expen.ce, at the fame Time that 
 it may avoid their Errors or Miftakes ; for 
 Errors there will be, more or lefs, in all human 
 Inftitutions. Moreover, tho' the poorer Nation 
 cannot rival the Manufactures of a richer one 
 at a third Place, or in a foreign Market, where 
 the Goods and Merchandize of both are fup- 
 pofed to be admifiibie on the fome Footing, yet 
 it may, and ought, by Means of judicious 
 Taxes, to difcourage the too great or exceflive 
 Confumption of alien Manufactures, and efpe- 
 cially Liquors, within its own Territories ; and 
 as this likewife may be done without Expence^ 
 nay, to the great Advantage of the Revenue, 
 it therefore follows, that the poorer Nation 
 may get forwards in many Refpetfts without 
 being obftruded by the rich one. To which 
 Confideration we mould not forget to add, 
 that there are certain local Advantages refult- 
 ing either from the Climate, the Soil, the Pro- 
 ductions, the Situation, or even the natural 
 
 Turn
 
 S U B J E C T S. -51 
 
 Turn and peculiar Genius of one People pre- 
 ferably to thofe oF another, which no Nation 
 : can deprive another. of, unlefs by Violence and 
 Conqueft ; gpd therefore, thefe being out of 
 the Quefti<5n, the neceflary Confequence is, that 
 -the poor Country is left at Liberty to cultivate 
 all thefe natural and local Advantages, as far as 
 it can. Nay, I obferve further, that the very 
 fuperior Riches of a neighbouring State may 
 contribute greatly to the carrying of fuch a Plan 
 into Execution : And here I do not mean 
 merely to fay, that the Manufacturers and Mer- 
 chant Adventurers of the poorer Country may 
 avail themfelves of the Wealth of a richer by 
 borrowing Money, at a low Intereft, to be em- 
 ployed in Trade ; tho' by the bye, that is no 
 fmall Benefit : But what I lay the chief Strefs 
 on at prefent is, that a rich Neighbour is more 
 likely to become a good Cuftomer than a poor one:* 
 and confequently, that the Traders of the poorer 
 Country will find a better Market, and a more 
 -general Demand for their peculiar Productions, 
 whether of Art or Nature, by Means of the 
 fuperior Wealth and great Confumptions of 
 their richer Neighbours, than they could pof- 
 fibly have had, were the latter equally poor with 
 ..themfelves. Moreover, vice verfa, I affirm on 
 the other Hand, that even the rich Country will 
 be benefited in its Turn, by this Acceflion of 
 Wealth flowing into the poor one. For when 
 D 2 the
 
 52 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 the Inhabitants of a poorer Country feel them- 
 felves enabled, there is no Doubt to be made, but 
 that they will become alfo proportionably wil- 
 ling to purchafe fome of the more commodious 
 or more fumptuous Furniture, and elegant Ma- 
 nufactures, of thofe Perfons, who are actually 
 their beft Cuftom'ers, as well as richer Neigh- 
 bours. Indeed, to fay the Truth, thefe Things 
 are no other than the ufeful Confequences, and 
 almoft necefTary Effects of natural Caufes: And 
 furely that Man muft have been a very great 
 Stranger to what pafies in the World, who can~ 
 riotdifcern thefe daily Rotations of Commercial 
 Induilry. 
 
 BUT there is one Circumftance.more, relative 
 to this Subject, which being not fo obvious to 
 common Obfervers, feems therefore to require 
 a particular Explanation. The Circurnftance is 
 this, That the very fame Country may be re- 
 latively both richer and poorer than another at 
 the very fame Time, if confidered in different 
 Points of View ; and confequently, that all the 
 oppofite and feemingly contradictory Aflertions 
 concerning both the Cheapnels and Dearnefs 
 of Manufactures, may be found to correfpond 
 with Truth and Matters of Fact. Thus, for Ex- 
 ample, England is undoubtedly richer either than 
 Scotland or Ireland, in regard to mod Branches 
 of Trade and Manufactures ; and therefore it 
 fells thole Manufactures much cheaper than 
 
 they
 
 SUBJECTS. 53 
 
 they can be fabricated in either of thofe Coun- 
 tries. But neverthelefs, both Scotland and Ire- 
 land are richer, than England in refpect to one 
 particular Point , for both thcfe Countries have 
 got the Start of England w'th refpect to the Linen 
 Manufacture, by more than Half a Century \ and 
 in Confeqnence thereof, their Capitals are larger, 
 their Machinery is better, and their Correfpon- 
 dences are become more extenfive , fo that in 
 fhort, almoft every Thing relative to the Linen, 
 Manufacture in thofe Countries is conducted 
 with more Adroitnefs. and managed to greater 
 Advantage than in England. Hence therefore 
 it is eafily to be accounted for, how it comes to 
 pafs that the Scotch and Irijli can fell their 
 Linens, and more efpecially their fine Linens, 
 confiderably cheaper than the Engli/fi Linen, 
 Manufacturer is able to do. Nay, by Way 
 of urengthening the general Argument, I 
 would obferve further, that tho' the Modes of 
 Living are more expenfive, tho' the daily Wages,, 
 and Rents of Houfes and Lands, and the Prices 
 of Provifions, are at leaft doubled^ if not trebled, 
 in the manufacturing Parts of Scotland and 
 Ireland^ to what they were about 60 or 70 Years 
 ago, yet the prefent Linens are both better and 
 cheaper than the former, in a very confiderable, 
 Degree , fo that THE Scotland and Ireland of the 
 Year 1763, if compared with THE Scotland or 
 Ireland of 1 700, are as ftrong an Inftance, and 
 D 3 as
 
 54 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 as convincing a Proof, as canpofilbly bedefirecf 
 of the Truth of thefe Pofitions : And hence 
 alfo we may obferve, that the Riches of England 
 in many Branches, and the Riches of Scotland 
 and Ireland in fame Branches, are mutually af- 
 fiftant to, and reciprocally advantageous to each 
 other: For by mutually confuming and wear- 
 ing each other's Manufactures, the Englifli* 
 Scotch^ and Irifli, become the better and the 
 greater Cuftomers to each other. 
 
 THE }d Objection needs not a Reply fo long 
 and laboured at the fecond : For when the Gen- 
 tleman propofed, that the poorer Country fhould 
 firft begin with the coarfer and more fimple Ma- 
 nufactures, and then proceed Step by Step to 
 others more operofe, complicated, and expen- 
 five, 'till at lad it had fupplanted the rich one 
 in all its Trade and Manufactures, he unfortu- 
 nately forgot, that in Proportion as his poorer 
 Country made a Progrefs in thefe Things, in the 
 fame Proportion^ or nearly the fame, would the 
 Price of Labour, of Provifions, and of raw Ma- 
 terials, advance likewife; fo that all thefe ima- 
 ginary advantages would vanifli away like a 
 Dream, when they were moft wanted, and when 
 he moft depended on their Affiftance. In fact, 
 his not paying due Attention to this Circum- 
 ftance was probably the very Thing which led 
 him and others into fo many Errors on this 
 Head. But as he had one Objection more to of- 
 
 fer >:
 
 SUBJECTS. 55 
 
 fer, let us fee whether the Weight of that will 
 make up for the Deficiency of the others. 
 
 Now his 4th Objection, or rather his Obfer- 
 vation is, " That all human Things have the 
 " Seeds of Decay within themfelves : Great 
 " Empires, great Cities, great Commerce, all 
 " of them receive a Check, not from accidental 
 " Events, but from necefiary Principles." From 
 all which it is implied, that the richer Nation 
 cannot maintain its Superiority over a poorer 
 one ; becaufe when it comes to a certain Period, 
 it muft neceflarily fall to Decay, I fay, this 
 muft be the Inference intended, otherwife the 
 Obfervation is not applicable, and has nothing 
 to do with the prefent Subject. 
 
 HERE therefore, as the Ideas and Terms 
 made ufe of, are borrowed from the State of 
 natural Bodies, and from thence metaphorically 
 transferred to political Conftitutions, one Thing 
 is taken for granted in this Argument, to which 
 I cannot readily afient. It is taken for granted, 
 that as all Animals, by having the Seeds of De- 
 cay within themfelves, muft die fooner or later, 
 therefore political or commercial Inftitutions 
 are fubject to the like Fate, and on the fame 
 Principles. Now this remains to be proved ; 
 for the Parallel doth not hold in all Refpects ; 
 and tho' it be true that the Body Politic may 
 come to an End, as well as the Body Natural, 
 there is no phyfical Neceffity that it muft. A Set 
 D 4 ' of
 
 56 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 of Rules and Regulations may be formed for 
 the diflributing Property, the lecuring and dif- 
 fufing Induftry, the preventing the prefent 
 Shocking Vices of Electioneering, and in gene- 
 ral, for the correcting moil, if not ail of thofe 
 Evils, which great Riches, Excefs of Liberty, 
 and Length of Time, are too apt to introduce. 
 I fayfuch a Set of Rules and Regulations may 
 be formed; againft the Admifiion of which into 
 our Code of Laws, there cannot be the lead 
 Pretence of a Phyfical ImpoJJibility. In one 
 Word, the Conftitution of the Body Natural 
 isfo framed, that after a certain length of Time, 
 no Remedy in Nature can reftore it to its prif- 
 tine Health and Vigour , for at laft old Age 
 will neceffarily deftroy it, if nothing elfe fhall put 
 a Period to it iboner : But the Dileafes of the 
 Body Politic are not abfolutely incurable \ becaufe 
 Care and Caution, and proper Remedies, judi- 
 ciouQy and honeftly applied, will produce thofe' 
 Effects in one Cafe, which it would be impoflible- 
 for them to produce in the other. 
 
 TRACT
 
 II. 
 
 
 TRACT 
 
 The CASE of going to War. 
 
 BEING 
 
 The FRAGMENT of a greater Work. 
 
 CHAP. III. Prevention of Wars. 
 
 I D the Difficulty in this Argument 
 confift in the Dubioufnefs of the Fact, 
 ' Whether Wars were destructive to 
 * Mankind, or not,' that Difficulty- 
 would not long fubfift , for, if ocular Demon - 
 ftration can be allowed to be Proof, it is but too 
 manifeft, That both the conquering, and con- 
 quered Countries, are prodigious Lofers by 
 them. But, alas! in this Cafe the Difficulty 
 lies not in the Obfcurity of the Proof, but in 
 
 the
 
 58 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 the Feeblenefs of the Attempt to difluade Men 
 from a Practice they have been long accuftomed 
 to confidtr in a very different Light from that 
 in which it will be here fet forth : And fuch is 
 the Inveteracy of bad Habits, fuch the bewitch- 
 ing, tho' empty Sounds of Conqueft and Glory, 
 that there remains only the bare PoJJibility of 
 Hopes of Succefs in thefe Endeavours ; for as 
 to all the Degrees of Probability, they are cer- 
 tainly on the contrary Side. 
 
 HOWEVER, as the Nature of my Argument 
 leads me to fet forth the feveral Means of ren- 
 dering a Country populous, certainly the Pre- 
 vention of Wars, as one of the moft capital 
 Means, cannot be omitted : r- nd therefore I 
 muft confider myfelf in this Cafe as People do 
 when they commence Adventurers in a Lottery; 
 where, though there are perhaps almoft an in- 
 finite Number of Chances againft any fingle 
 Adventurer, yet every Individual cherimes the 
 flattering Expectation, that he fhall be the happy 
 Man to whofe Share the great Prize will fall. 
 Now, if a Conduct, grounded on fo much Im- 
 probability, can eicape the Cenfure of general 
 Redicule, it is to be hoped, that my Folly, for 
 fuch I acknowledge it, may efcape likewife ; at 
 leaft, as it is of fo innocent and harmlefs a Na- 
 ture, let me be allowed to petition, that mine 
 may be efteemed lefs irrational than that mili- 
 tary and political Folly which confifts in feeking 
 
 for
 
 SUBJECTS. 5^ 
 
 for Empire by Means of Defolation, and for 
 national Riches by introducing univerfal Poverty 
 and Want. 
 
 IN ancient Times, Men went to War without 
 much Ceremony or Pretence : It was thought 
 Reafon good enough to juftify the Deed, if one 
 Man liked what another Man had; and War 
 and Robbery were the honourable Profeffions : 
 Nothing was adjudged difhonourable but the 
 Arts of Peace and Induftry. This is Herodotus'* 
 Account of the Manner of living of the Bar* 
 barians of 'Thrace , and this, with very fmall 
 Alterations, might ferve to characterife all other 
 Barbarians, either of ancient or modern Times. 
 
 BUT at prefent, we, who chufe to call our- 
 &lves civilized Nations, generally affedl a more 
 ceremonious Parade, and many Pretences. 
 Complaints are firft made of Tome Injury re- 
 ceived, fome Right violated, fome Incroach- 
 rnent, Detention, or Ufurpation ; and none will 
 acknowledge themfelves to be the AggrefTors 5 
 nay, a folemn Appeal is made to Heaven for 
 the Truth of each Aflertion; and the final- 
 Avenger of the OpprefTed and Searcher of all 
 Hearts, is called upon to maintain the righteous 
 Caufe, and to punifh the wrong Doer. Thus 
 it is with both Parties ; and while neither of 
 them will own their true Motives, perhaps it is 
 apparent to all the World, that, on one Side, 
 if not on both, a Thirft of Glory, a Luft of 
 
 Do-
 
 60 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Dominion, the Cabals of Starefmen, or the 
 ravenous Appetites of Individuals for Power 
 or Plunder, for Wealth without Indurtry, and 
 Greatneis without Merit, were the only real and 
 genuine Springs of Action. 
 
 Now the Aims of Princes in thefe Wars are" 
 partly the fame with, and partly different from, 
 thofe of their Subjects : As far as Renown is 
 concerned, their Views are alike, for Heroifm 
 is the Wim and Envy of all Mankind; and to 
 be a Nation of Heroes, under the Conduit of 
 an heroic Leader, is regarded, both by Prince 
 and People, as the Summit of all earthly Hap- 
 pinefs. It is really aitoniming to think with 
 what Applaufe and Eclat the Memoirs of fuch 
 inhuman Monfters are tranfmitted down, in all 
 the Pomp of Prole and Verfe, to diftant Gene- 
 rations : Nay, let a Prince but feed his Subjects 
 with the empty Diet of military Fame, it mat- 
 ters not what he does befides, in regard to them- 
 felves as well as others ; for the Lives and Li- 
 berties, and every Thing that can render So- 
 ciety a Blefling, are willingly offered up as a 
 Sacrifice to this Idol, GLORY. And were the 
 Fa6t to be examined into, you would find, 
 perhaps without a fingle Exception, that the 
 greateft Conquerors abroad, have proved the 
 heavieft Tyrants at Home. However, as Vic- 
 tory, like Charity, covereth a Multitude of Sins, 
 thus it comes to pafs, that reafenable Beings 
 
 wfli
 
 SUBJECTS. 61 
 
 will be content to be Slaves themfelves, pro- 
 vided they may enflave others ; and while the 
 People can look up to the glorious Hero on the 
 Throne, rhey will be dazzled with the Splendor 
 that furrounds him, and forget the Deeds of the 
 Opprefibr. 
 
 Now, from this View of Things, one would 
 be tempted to imagine, that a Practice fo uni- 
 yerfally prevailing, was found in the Courfe 
 and Conftitution of Nature. One would be 
 tempted to fuppofe, that Mankind were created 
 on Purpofe to be engaged in deftructive Wars, 
 and to worry and devour one another. " Per- 
 " haps the Earth would be overftocked with 
 " Numbers were it not for fuch Evacuations, 
 " falutary upon the Whole, and neceflary for the 
 . Good of the Remainder. Perhaps, likewife, 
 ; " there may be fome Truth in what is vulgarly 
 '.' given out, that one Nation cannot thrive but 
 *. c by the Downfall, and one People cannot grow 
 ." rich but by the impoverifhing, of its Neigh- 
 * bours." 
 
 AND yet, when we examine into this Affair, 
 neither Reafon, nor Experience will give the 
 kaft Countenance to this Suppofition. The 
 Reafon of the Thing we will confider now, and 
 referve the Fact 'till by and by. Here then, if 
 Principles of Reafon are to be our Guide, one 
 would think, that a Being overflowing with. 
 Benevolence, and not limited in Power, might 
 
 have
 
 have made a much better Pro vifion for his Crea- 
 tures, than what is here fuggefted : Certainly 
 he might have rendered their ieveral Interefts 
 lefs repugnant to each other ; or rather, he 
 might have caufed them all to fpring from one 
 common Center, or to unite in one common 
 Bafis. And we are confirmed in this Train of 
 Reafoning, when we reflect, that even the Be- 
 nevolence and Power of human Governments, 
 narrow and imperfect as they are, do actually 
 provide for the Safety and Welfare of their re- 
 fpective Subjects by this very Method of ao 
 Union and Coalition of feparate Interefts. 
 Thus for Example, the Inhabitants of one 
 County, or of one City, have not fo much as an 
 Idea, that they are, and muft be, according to 
 the unalterable Courfe of Things, the conftitu- 
 tional Foes of thofe of another County or City 
 under the fame Government : Nor do we at all 
 conceive that this or that particular Town, or 
 Diftrict, cannot grow rich, or profper, 'till the 
 Diftricts, or Towns around it are reduced to 
 Poverty, or made a dreary Wafte. On the con- 
 trary we naturally conclude, and juftly too, 
 that their Interefts are infeparable from our 
 own : And were their numbers to be dimi- 
 nimed, or their Circumftances altered from Af- 
 fluence to Want, we ourfelves, in the Rotation 
 of Things, mould foon feel the bad Effects of 
 fuch a Chance. If, therefore, this is the Cafe, 
 
 with
 
 SUBJECTS. 63 
 
 with refpect to human Governments; and if 
 they, notwithstanding all their Faults and Fail- 
 ings, can regulate Matters fo much for the 
 better; how then comes it to pafs, that we 
 Jhould afcribe fo much Imperfection, fuch 
 Want of Benevolence, fuch Partiality, nay fuch 
 premeditated Mifchief to that great and equal 
 Government, which prelideth over all ? Is it 
 do you think, that the Almighty God cannot go- 
 vern two large Diftricts, France and England for 
 Example, as well, and as wifely, as you can go- 
 vern two fmall ones ? Or is it, that he hath fo 
 egregioufly blundered in his firft framing the 
 Conftitution of Things as to render thofe Ex- 
 ploits, called Wars, neceflary for the Good of 
 
 i 
 
 the Whole under his Adminiflration, which you 
 would juftly confider to be a Difgrace to yours, 
 and feverely puni(h as an Outrage ? Surely no: 
 And we cannot without Blafphemy, afcribe 
 that Conduct to the beft of Beings, which is 
 almoft too bad to be fuppofed of the worft : 
 Surely it is much more confonant to the Dictates 
 of unbiafTed Reafon to believe, that our com- 
 mon Parent and wniverfal Lord regards all his 
 Children and Subjects with an Eye of equal 
 Tendernefs and Good-will j and to be firmly 
 perfuaded, that in his Plan of Government 
 the political Intereft of Nations cannot be re- 
 pugnant to thofe moral Duties of Humanity and 
 Love which he has fo univerfally prefcribed. 
 
 So
 
 <>4 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 So much as to the Reafon of the Thing : Let 
 us now. confidcr the Fact, and be determined by 
 'Experience. Princes expect to get by fuccefs- 
 ful Wars, and Series of Conquefts, either more 
 Territory, or more Subjects, or a more ample 
 Revenue , or perhaps, which is generally the 
 Cafe, they expect to obtain all three. Now, in 
 regard to Territory, if mere Superficies were 
 the Thing to be aimed at, it muft be allowed, 
 that a Country of a Million of fquare Miles 
 is more in Quantity than one of Half that Ex- 
 tent. But if Countries are not to be valued by 
 Acres, but by the Cultivation and the Produce 
 of thofe Acres, then it follows, that ten Acres 
 may be better than a thouland, or perhaps ten 
 thoufand ; and Bifhop Berkley's Query may 
 come in here very apropos, May not a 
 " Man be the Proprietor of twenty Miles fquare 
 " in North America, and yet be in Want of a 
 " Dinner ?" 
 
 As to Numbers of Subjects, furely War and 
 'Conqueft are not the moft likely Means for at- 
 taining this End; and a Scheme, which confifts 
 in the Deftruction of the Human Species, 
 is a very ftrange one indeed to be pro- 
 pofed for their Increafe and Multiplication : 
 Nay, granting that Numbers of Subjects might 
 be Acquired, together with the AccefTion of Ter- 
 ritory, flill thefe new Subjects would add no 
 real Strength to the State ; becaufe new Acqni-- 
 
 fitions
 
 SUBJECTS. 65 
 
 fitions would require more numerous Defences, 
 and becaufea People fcattered over an immenfe 
 Tract of Country are, in fa<5t, much weaker 
 than half their Number acting in Concert to- 
 gether, and able by their Vicinity to fuccoiir 
 one another. 
 
 MOREOVER, as to the Affair of the Revenue, 
 and the Produce of Taxes, the fame* Arguments 
 conclude equally ftrong in this Cafe as in the 
 former : And the indifputable Fa6l is, that an 
 ill-peopled Country, tho' large and extenfive, 
 neither produces fo great a Revenue as a fmali 
 one well cultivated and populous , nor, if it did, 
 would the net Produce of fuch a Revenue be 
 equal to that of the other, becaufe it is, in a Man- 
 ner, fwallowed up in Governments, Guards, and 
 Garrifons, in Salaries and Penfions, and all the 
 confuming Perquifites and Expences attendant 
 or diftant Provinces. 
 
 IN reference to the Views of the People as 
 far as fuch Views coincide with thofe of the 
 Prince, fo far they have been corifidered al- 
 ready : But, feeing thattheThirftof inordinate 
 Riches in private Subjects, which pufhes them 
 on to wifli fo vehemently for War, has fomething 
 in it diitinft from the Avarice of Princes, lee 
 us now examine, whether this Trade of War is 
 a likely Method to make a People rich, and let 
 us confider every Plea that can be offered. 
 ' Surely, fay thele Men, to return Home laden 
 E with
 
 66 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 " with the Spoils of wealthy Nations is a. come 
 " pendious Way of getting Wealth ; furely 
 " we cannot be deceived in io plain a Cafe: For 
 " we fee that what has been gathering together 
 " and accumulating for Years, and perhaps for 
 " Ages, thus becomes our own at onc.e , and 
 " more might be acquired by a happy Victory 
 " within the Compafs of a Day, perhaps of an 
 " Hour, than we could otherwife promife to 
 " ourfelves by the tedious Puriuits of Induftry 
 " through the whole Courfe of a long laborious 
 " Life." 
 
 Now,, in order to treat with this People in 
 their own Way, I would not awake them out 
 of their prefent golden Dream ; I would there- 
 fore fuppofe, that they might fucceed to their 
 Heart's Defire, though there is a Chance at lead 
 of being difappointed, and of meeting with 
 Captivity inftead of Conquefl ; I will wave like- 
 wife all Confiderations drawn from the intoxi- 
 cating Nature of Riches, when fo rapidly got, 
 and improperly acquired : I will alfo grant, that 
 great Stores of Gold and Silver, of Jewels* 
 Diamonds, and precious Stones, may be brought 
 Home ; and that the Treafu-res of the Univerfe 
 may, if you pleafe, be made to circulate within 
 the Limits of our own little Country : And if 
 this were not enough, I would flill grant more, 
 did 1 really know what more could be wiflied 
 for or expected. 
 
 THE
 
 SUBJECTS. 67 
 
 THE Soldier of Fortune, being thus made rich, 
 fits down to enjoy the Fruits of his Conqueft, 
 and to gratify his Wifhes after fo much Fatigue 
 and Toil : But alas ! he prefently finds, that 
 in Proportion as this heroic Spirit and Thirfl 
 for Glory have diffufed themfelves among his 
 Countrymen, in the fame Proportion the Spirit 
 of Induftry hath funk and died awa> ; every 
 Necefiary, and every Comfort and Elegance of 
 Life are grown dearer than before, becauie there 
 are fewer Hands, and lefs Inclination to pro- 
 duce them ; at the fame Time his own Defires, 
 and artificial Wants, inftead of being lelfened, 
 are greatly multiplied ; for of what Ufe are 
 Riches to him unlefs enjoyed ? Thus therefore 
 it comes to pafs, that his Heaps of Treafure are 
 like the Snow in Summer, continually melting 
 away ; fo that the Land of Heroes foon becomes 
 the Country of Beggars. His Riches, it is true, 
 rufhed in upon him like a Flood ; but, as he 
 had no Means of retaining them, every Article 
 he wanted or wifhed for, drained away his 
 Stores like the Holes in a Sieve, 'till the 
 Bottom became quite dry : In fhort, in this Si- 
 tuatiqn the Sums, which are daily and hourly 
 iflliing OIK, are not to be replaced but by 4 new 
 War, and a new Series of Victories j and thefe 
 new Wars and new Victories do all enhance the 
 former Evils ; fo that the relative Poverty of 
 the Inhabitants of this warlike Country becomes 
 E-2 fo
 
 68 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 fo much the greater, in Proportion to their Suc- 
 cefs in the very Means ihiftakenly propofed for 
 enriching them. 
 
 A FEW indeed, excited by the ftrong Inftinct 
 of an avaricious Temper, may gather and 
 fcrape up what the many are fquandering away-, 
 and fo the Impoveriftiment of the Community 
 may become the Enrichment of the Individual, 
 But it is utterly impoflible, that thc^great^Ma- 
 jority_of any Country can grow wealthy by that 
 Courfe of Life which renders them both very 
 extravagant, and very idle. 
 
 To' illuftrate this Train of Reafoning, let us 
 have recourfe to Facts : But let the Facts be 
 fuch as my Opponents in this Argument would 
 wifh of all others to have produced on this Oc- 
 cafion : And as the Example of the' Romans is 
 eternally quoted, from the Pamphleteer in the 
 Garret, to the Patriot in the Senate, as extremely 
 worthy of the Imitation of Britons, let their 
 Example decide the Dispute. " The brave Ro- 
 " mans ! That glorious ! That godlike People? 
 ' The Conquerors of the World ! Who made 
 " the mod: haughty Nations to lubmit ! Who 
 " put the Wealthieft under Tribute, and 
 " brought all the Riches of the Univerfe to 
 " centre in the Imperial City of Rcme!" 
 
 Now this People, at the Beginning of their 
 State, had a Territory not fo large as one of 
 our middling Counties, and neither healthy, 
 
 nor
 
 SUBJECTS. 69 
 
 mor fertile in its Nature , yet, by Means of Fru- 
 gality and Induftry, and under the Influence 
 of Agrarian Laws (which allotted from two to 
 fix, or eight, or perhaps ten Acres of Land to 
 each Family) they not only procured a com- 
 fortable SubGftence, but alib were enabled to 
 carry on their petty Wars without Burden to 
 the State, or pay to the Troops , each Hu- 
 bandman or little Freeholder ferving gratis, and 
 providing his own Gloaths and Arms during the 
 ihort Time that was necefiary for him to be ab- 
 fent from his Cottage and Family on fuch Expe- 
 ditions. 
 
 BUT when their Neighbours were all fubdued, 
 and the Seat of War removed to more diftanc 
 Countries, it became impoflible for them to 
 draw their Subfiftence from their own Farms ; 
 or in other Words, to ferve gratis any longer ; 
 and therefore they were under a Neceffity to 
 accept of Pay. Moreover, as they could fel- 
 dom vifit their little Eftates, thefe Farms were 
 unavoidably neglected, and confequently were 
 foon difpofed of to engrofling Purchafers : And 
 thus it came to pafs, that the Lands about Rome, 
 in Spite of the Agrarian Laws, and of the feveral 
 Revivals of thofe Laws, were monopolized 
 into a few Hands by Dint of their very 
 Conquefts and Succefies : And thus alfo 
 'the Spirit of Induftry began to decline, in 
 .Proportion as the military Genius gained 
 E 3 the
 
 70 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 the Afcendant*. A Proof of this we have in 
 Livy? even fo far back as the Time of their 
 laft King Tarquinius Superbus : For one of the 
 Complaints brought againft that Prince was 
 couched in the following Terms, That, having 
 employed his Soldiers in making Drains and 
 Com n on Sewers " they thought it an high 
 " Difgrace to Warriors to be treated as Me- 
 <c chanics, and that the Conquerors of the 
 " neighbouring Nations fhould be degraded 
 " in.u Stone-cutters and Mafons," though thefe 
 Works were not the Monuments of unmeaning 
 Folly, or the Works of Oltentation, but evi- 
 dently calculated for the Health of the Citizens 
 and the Convenience of the Public. Had he 
 led forth thefe indignant Heroes to the Extirpa- 
 tion of fome neighbouring State, they would not 
 h .ve coniidered that as a Dimonour to their 
 Character. 
 
 * T. Liv. lib. i. Romanes homines, vi&ores omnium 
 circa populorum, opifices ac lapicidas pro bellatoribus 
 fadtos. Thus reafoned the People of Rome, as foon as ever 
 they began to be famous in the Character of Bellatores and 
 Viaore'f. And, as this Vanity is natural to Mankind, have 
 not the Friends of Commerce too much Caufe to fear that 
 our Opifices and Lapicidas, now turned into ViSores omnium 
 circa Populorum, will reafon after the fame Manner ? And 
 yet the Remans were not fo mad as to fight for Trade ; they 
 fought only for Conqueft and Dominion, which may be ac- 
 quired by fighting : But to fight for the Sake of procuring 
 Trade, is' a Species of Madnefs referved only for Britons ! 
 j ' ''.*,'. '" : .-'' 
 
 Bur
 
 S U B J E C T S. N 71 
 
 BUT to proceed : The Genius of Rome being 
 ^formed for War, the Remans pufhed their Con- 
 quefts over Nations ftill more remote : But alasl 
 the QuiriteS) the Body of the People, were fo 
 far- from reaping any Advantage fronvthefe new 
 Triumps, that they generally found themfelves 
 <o be poorer at the End of their moft glorious 
 Wars than before they begun them. At the 
 Clofe ot each fuccelsful War it was cuftomary 
 -to divide a Part of the Lands of the vanquished 
 among the veteran Soldiers, and to grant them 
 a Difmifilon in order to cultivate their new Ac- 
 quificions. But fuch Eftates being ftill more 
 diftant from the City, became in fact fo much 
 .the lefs valuable , and the new Proprietor had 
 lefs Inclination than ever to forfake the Capital, 
 and to banifh himfelf to thefe diftant Provinces. 
 [For here let it be noted, that Rome was become 
 by this Time the Theatre of Pleafure, as well as 
 :the Seat of Empire ; where all who wifhed to 
 a<5b a Part on the Stage of Ambition, Popularity, 
 -or Politics v all who wanted to be engaged in 
 Scenes of Debauchery, or Intrigues of State j 
 all, in fhort, who had any Thing to fpend, or 
 any Thing to expect, made Rome their Ren- 
 dezvous, and, reCrted thither as to a common 
 Mart.] This being the Cafe, it is not at all fur- 
 .priling, that thefe late Acquifitions were de- 
 ferted and fold for a very Trifle ; nor that the 
 Mafs of the Roman People were fo immerfed 
 4 in
 
 72 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 in Debt, as we find by their own Hiftorians, when, 
 we refledt, that their military Life indifpofed 
 them for Agriculture or Manufactures, and that 
 their Notions of Conqueft and of Glory ren- 
 dered them extravagrnt, prodigal, and vain. 
 
 HOWEVER, in this Manner they went on, con- 
 tinuing to extend their Victories and their Tri- 
 umphs , and, after the Triumph, fubfifting for 
 a while by the Sale of the Lands above-men- 
 tioned, or by their Shares in the Divifion of the 
 Booty : But when thefe were fpent, as they 
 quickly were, then they funk into a more 
 wretched State of Poverty than before, eagerly 
 wifhing for a new War as the only Means.of re- 
 pairing their defperate Fortunes, and clamour- 
 ing againfr every Perfon that would dare to ap- 
 pear as an Advocate for Peace : And thus they 
 encreafed their Sufferings, inftead of removing 
 them. 
 
 AT laft they fubdued the World, as far as it 
 was known at that Time, or thought worth fub- 
 doing -, and then both the Tribute, and the 
 Pki; icier of the Univerfe were imported into 
 Rome; then, therefore, the Bulk of the Inha- 
 bitants of that City muft have been exceedingly 
 wealthy, had Wealth confided in Heaps of Gold 
 and Silver-, and then likewile, if ever, the Blef- 
 lings <-t Victory mult have been felt had it been 
 capable of producing any. But alas ! whatever 
 
 Riches
 
 SUBJECTS. 73 
 
 Riches a few Grandees, the Leaders of Armies, 
 the Governors of Provinces, the Minions of the 
 Populace, or the Harpies of Oppreffion might 
 have amafied together, the great Majority of 
 the People were poor and miferable beyond Ex- _ 
 preffion ; and while the . vain Wretches were * 
 ftrutting with Pride, and elated with Infolence, 
 as the Mafters of the World^ they had no other 
 Means of fubfifting, when Peace was made, 
 and their Prize-Money fpent, than to receive 
 a Kind of Alms in Corn from the public Grana- 
 ries, or to carry about their Bread Bafkets, and 
 beg from Door to Door. Moreover, fuch 
 among them as had chanced to have a Piece of 
 Land left unmortgaged, or fomething valuable 
 to pledge, found to their Sorrow,' that the In- 
 tereft of Money (being hardly ever lefs than 
 twelve per Cent, and frequently more) would 
 foon eat up their little Subftance, and reduce 
 them to an Equality with the reft of their illuf- 
 trious Brother Beggars. Nay, fo extremely low 
 was the Credit of thefe Mafters of the World, 
 that they were trufted with the Payment of 
 their Intereft no longer than from Month to- 
 Month-, -than which there cannot be a more 
 glaring Proof, both of the abject Poverty, and 
 of the cheating Difpofitions of thefe heroic Ci- 
 tizens of Imperial Rome. 
 
 Now this being the undoubted Fact, every 
 humane and benevolent Man, far from confider- 
 
 ing
 
 74 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL. 
 
 ing thefe People as Objects worthy of Imitation, 
 will look upon them, with a juft Abhorrence 
 and Indignation , and every wife State, con- 
 fulting the Good of the Whole, will take Warn- 
 ing by their fatal Example, and ftifle, as much 
 as poffible, the very Beginnings of fuch a Roman 
 Spirit in its Subjects. 
 
 THE Cafe of the ancient Romans having thus 
 been confidered at large, lefs may be requifite 
 as to what is to follow. And therefore fuffice 
 it to obferve, that the Wars of Europe for thefe 
 two hundred Years laft paft, by the Confeffion 
 of all Parties, have really ended in the Advan- 
 tage of none, but the manifeft Detriment of 
 all : Suffice it farther to remark, that had each 
 of the contending Powers employed their Sub- 
 jects in cultivating and improving fuch Lands as 
 were clear of all difputed Titles, inftead of aim- 
 ing at more extended PofTeffions, they had con- 
 fulted both their own and their People's Great- 
 nefs much more efficacioufly, than by all the 
 Victories of a C^far, or an Alexander. 
 
 UPON the Whole, therefore, it is evident to 
 a Demonstration, that nothing can refult from 
 tuch Syftems as thefe, however fpecious and 
 plaufible in Appearance, but Difappointment, 
 Want, and Beggary. For the great Laws of 
 Providence, and the Courfe of Nature, are not 
 to be reverfed or counter- acted by the feeble 
 Efforts of wayward Man ; nor will the Rules 
 
 of
 
 SUBJECTS. 75 
 
 of found Politics ever bear a Separation from 
 thofe of true and genuine Morality. Not to 
 mention, that the Victors themfelves will ex- 
 perience it to their Cofts fooner or later, that in 
 vanquifhing others, they are only preparing a 
 more magnificent Tomb for their own Inter- 
 ment. /> 
 
 IN fhort, the good Providence of God hath, 
 as it were, taken peculiar Pains to preclude 
 Mankind from having any plaufible Pretence 
 for purfuing either this, or any other Scheme 
 of Depopulation. And the Traces of fuch pre- 
 venting Endeavours, if I may fo fpeak, are per- 
 fectly legible both in the natural, and in the 
 moral World. 
 
 IN the natural World, our bountiful Creator 
 hath formed different Soils, and appointed dif- 
 ferent Climates , whereby the Inhabitants of 
 different Countries may fupply each other with 
 their refpective Fruits and Products ; fo that by 
 exciting a reciprocal Induftry, they may carry 
 on an Intercourfe mutually beneficial, and uni- 
 verially benevolent. 
 
 NAV more, even where there is no remarka- 
 ble Difference of Soil, or of Climates, we find 
 a great Difference of Talents ; and if I may 
 be allowed the Expreftion, a wonderful Variety 
 of Strata in the human Mind. Thus, for Ex- 
 ample, the Alteration of Latitude between 
 Norwich and Manchefter, and the Variation of 
 
 Soil
 
 j6 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Soil are not worth naming ; moreover, the Ma- 
 terials made Ufe of in both Places, Wool, Flax, 
 and Silk, are juft the fame ; yet fo different are 
 the Productions of their refpedtive Looms, that 
 Countries, which are Thoufands of Miles apart, 
 'could hardly exhibit a greater Contrail. Now, 
 had Norwich and Manchefter been the Capitals 
 of two neighbouring Kingdoms, inftead of Love 
 and Union, we fhould have heard of nothing 
 but Jealoulies and Wars -, each would have 
 prognofticated, that the flourifhing State of the 
 one portended the Downfall of the other ; each 
 would have had their refpective Complaints, 
 uttered in the moft doleful Accents, concerning 
 their own Lofs of Trade, and of the formidable 
 Progrefs of their Rivals ; and, if the relpedive 
 Governments were in any Degree popular, each 
 would have had a Set N of Patriots and Orators 
 clofing their; inflammatory Harangues with a 
 delenda eft Carthago. " We muft deflroy our 
 " Rivals, our Competitors, and commercial 
 " Enemies, or be deftroyed by them ; for 
 <c our Interefts are oppofite, and can never 
 * c coincide." And yet, notwithftanding all 
 thefe canting Phrafes, it is as clear as the Me- 
 ridian Sun, that in Cafe thefe Cities had be- 
 longed to different Kingdoms (France and Eng- 
 land for Example) there would then have 
 been no more Need for either of them to have 
 gone to War than there is at prefent. In fhort, 
 
 if
 
 SUBJECTS. 77 
 
 if Mankind would but open their Eyes, they 
 might plainly fee, that there is no one Argu- 
 ment for inducing different Nations to fight for 
 the Sake of Trade, but which would equally 
 oblige every County, Town, Village, nay, and 
 every Shop among ourfelves, to be engaged in 
 civil and inteftine- Wars for the fame End : Nor; 
 on the contrary, is there any Motive of Intereft 
 or Advantage that can be urged for reftraining 
 the Parts of the fame Government from thefe 
 unnatural and foolifh Contefts, but which would 
 conclude equally ftrong againft feparate and in- 
 dependant Nations making War with each other 
 on the like Pretext. 
 
 MOREOVER, the Inftinft * of Curiofity, and 
 the Thirft of Novelty, which are fo univerfally 
 implanted in human Nature, whereby various 
 Nations and different People fo ardently wifh to 
 be Cuftomers to each other, is another Proof, 
 that the curious Manufactures of one Nation will 
 never want a Vent among the richer Inhabitants 
 
 Indeed this Inftinft, like all other Inftinfts and Pafllons, 
 out to be put under proper Regulations, otherwife it may 
 do more Hurt than Good. But this Neceflity of due Re- 
 gulation is no more an Objection againft the good Tendency 
 of the Inflinft itlclf, th .n the Rules of Temperance 2nd 
 Sobriety are Objections againft Kating and Drinking in a 
 moderate and reafonable Degree. The Inftinft itlelf is 
 certainly good ; but may be mifapplied : And what may 
 not ? The po/.tical Regulations it fhould be under, will be 
 mentioned elfewhcre. 
 
 Of
 
 78 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 of another, provided thry are reufonably cheap 
 and good ; io that the richer one Nation is, the 
 more it has to fpare, and the more it will cer- 
 tainly lay out on the Produce and Manufac- 
 tures of its ingenious Neighbour. Do you 
 object to this ? Do you envy the Wealth, or 
 i repine at the Proiperitv of the Nations around 
 you ? If you do, confider what is the Confe- 
 quence, viz that you wifh to keep a Shop, but 
 hope to have only Beggars for your Cuftomers. 
 LASTLY, the good Providence of God has 
 further ordained, that a Multiplication of In- 
 habitants in every Country mould be the beft 
 Means of procuring Fertility to the Ground, 
 and of Knowledge and Ability to the Tiller of 
 it : Hence it follows, that an Increafe of Num- 
 bers, far from being a Reafon for going to War 
 in order to thin them, or for fending them out 
 to People in remote Defarts, operates both as' 
 an exciting Caufe to the Hufbandman to increafe 
 his Quantity, in Proportion to the Demand at 
 Market ; and alfo enables him to raife more 
 plentiful Crops, by the Variety and Plenty of 
 thofe rich Manures, which the Concourfe of 
 People, their i lories, Cattle, &c. sfc. produce: 
 And it is remarkable, that very populous Coun- 
 tries are much lefs fubjedt to Dearth or Famines 
 than any other. So much as to thofe Stores of 
 Providence, which are 1-aid up in the natural 
 World, and gracioufly intended for the Uie of 
 Mankind. As
 
 SUBJECTS. 79 
 
 As to the moral and political World, Pro- 
 vidence has fo ordained, that every Nation 
 may increafe in Frugality and Induftry, and 
 confequently in Riches*, if they pleale , be- 
 cauie it has given a Power to every Nation 
 to make good Laws, and wife Regulations, 
 for their internal Government; And none can 
 juftly blame them on this Account. Should, 
 for Example, the Poles, or the Tartars grow 
 weary of their prefent wretched Syftems, and 
 refolve upon a better Conftitution ; fnould they 
 prefer Employment to Sloth, Liberty to Slavery, 
 and Trade and Manufactures to Theft and Rob- 
 bery ; 
 
 * The Wealth of this Nation that amazing Wealth, 
 which has been fo profufely fquandercd away in the two lalt ; 
 general and devouring Wars, is principally owing to the \ 
 wife Regulations of that able Minifter, Sir ROBERT -' 
 WALPOLE. Juftice to his Character and Gratitude to his 
 Memory, demand this Tribute of Acknowledgement to be 
 paid him when dead, which was mamefully denied him 
 while alive. Sed opinionum commenta delet dies ! And the 
 Time is now come when his very Adverfaries frankly con- 
 fefs, That this Plan of Commerce was manly and rational ; 
 that his Endeavours to prevent an infatuated People from 
 quarrelling with their belt Cuftomers, were truly patriotical ; 
 and that his very Crimes were more owing to the Extremities 
 to which he was driven by his implacable Enemies, than 
 to any Malignity of his own. When he came into Admi- 
 niftration, he found the Englijh Book of Rates almoft as bad 
 as any in Europe ; but he left it the very beft. And were 
 you to compare what he did for promoting general Trade, 
 (and much more he would have done, hr.d it not been for 
 
 the
 
 8o POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 bery ;' mould they gtv.e all pofilble Freedom and 
 Encouragement to industrious Artificers, and lay 
 heavy Difcouragements on Idlenefs and Vice, by 
 Means of judicious Taxes; and laftly, mould 
 they root out all Notions of beggarly Pride, and 
 of the Glory of making maroding Incurfions ; 
 what a mighty, what a happy Change would 
 foon appear in the Face of thofe Countries ! 
 And what could then be faid to be waiting in or- 
 der to render fuch Nations truly rich and 
 great? 
 
 PERHAPS Tome neighbouring State (entertain- 
 ing a foolifh Jealoufy) would take the Alarm, 
 that their Trade was in Danger. But if they at- 
 
 the Madnefs of fome, and the wickednefs of others) were 
 you but to compare what he ja&ually did, with what has 
 been done either before or fmce, in this, or any other 
 Country, not forgetting the SULLY'S, the COLBERTS, 
 and the FLEURYS of France, you would find that he ihone 
 as much above all other Minifters, as England hath exceed- 
 ed the reit of the World in her late enormous Expences. 
 
 The Author is in no Pain for what he has advanced on 
 this Head. Truth unbought, unpenfioned, and impar- 
 tial Truth, is his only Motive: Indeed, what other Motive 
 can any Man have for fpeaking well of a dead Minifter 
 Nay, he will further add, That tho' the Minifter was nei- 
 ther complimented by Corporations, nor huzza'd by Mobs; 
 yet as long as the 8th of GEORGE I. Cap. 15. (fee the Sta- 
 tute Book) fhall remain among the Laws of this Realm, fo 
 long will thefe Commercial Regulations be regarded by the 
 thinking and confiderate Part of Mankind, as doing more 
 true Honour, than all the Gold Boxes, or honorary Freedoms 
 that could have been beftowed. 
 
 tempted
 
 SUBJECTS. 81 
 
 tempted to invade fuch a Kingdom, they would 
 find to their Coft, that an induftrious State, 
 abounding with People and with Riches, having 
 its Magazines well ftored, its- frontier Towns* 
 well fortified, the Garrifons duly paid, and the 
 whole Country full of Villages and Enclofures; 
 I fay, they would feel to their Coft, that fuch a 
 State is the ftrongeft of all others, and the moft 
 
 * As a Confirmation of the above, it may be obferved; 
 that this very Country of Great-Britain is become much 
 more capable of Defence ag,.inft a foreign Invafion, than 
 it is ufed to be ; and that the numberlefs Enclofures, new 
 Canals, and artificial Navigations, which are now forming 
 almoft every Day, render it a Kind of Fortrcfs from one 
 End to the other. For while a few Regiments were ported 
 in Villages, or behind Hedges, or to line the Banks of Ri- 
 vers and Canals; and while a few Light Horfe were em- 
 ployed in harraffing both the Front and Rear of the Enemy, 
 in falling on his Convoys, deftroying his Magazines, and 
 keeping him in a perpetual Alarm; his Progrefs would be 
 fb retarded, and his Forces fo weakened, at the fame Time 
 that our own would be encreafing in Strength and Numbers, 
 as would oblige him to retire without Danger to us, but 
 with great Shame and Lofs to himfelf. Had HAROLD ufed 
 the fame Precaution againlt the Duke of Normandy, inftead 
 of coming to a decifive Engagement with him on his land- 
 ing, the latter muft have returned inglorioufly, perhaps 
 With not a fourth Part of his Troops ; if indeed he could 
 have returned at all, after he had penetrated a great Way 
 into the Country far from the Resources of his Shipping, 
 Provifions, and Supplies. An Invafion of this Country is 
 certainly a pojjible Thing, notwithing all our Fleets, and all 
 the Vigilance of their Commanders. But the Invader 
 would not have the leaft Chance of conquering the Country, 
 utilcfi the headftrong Impatience of the Englijb to come to 
 Blows, fhould give him an Opportunity of bringing the Af- 
 fair to ont detifi<vt Battle, 
 
 F difficult
 
 82 
 
 difficult to be fubdued : Not to mention that 
 other Potentates would naturally rife up for its 
 Defence and Prefervation j becaufe, indeed, it 
 would be their Intereft that fuch a State as this 
 fliould not be fwallowed up by another, and be- 
 caufe they themfelves might have many Things 
 to hope from it, and nothing to fear. 
 
 BUT is this Spell, this Witchcraft, of the 
 Jealoufy of Trade never to be diflblved ? And 
 are there no Hopes that Mankind will recover 
 their Senfes as to thefe Things ? For of a\\ 
 Abfurdities, that of going to War for the Sake 
 of getting Trade is the mod abfurd ; and 
 nothing in Nature can be fo extravagantly fool- 
 ifh. Perhaps you cannot digeft this , you don't 
 believe it: I grant, therefore, that you fub- 
 due your Rival by Force of Arms : Will 
 that Circumftance render your Goods cheaper 
 at Market than they were before ? And if it 
 will not, nay if it tends to render them much 
 dearer, what have you got by fuch a Victory ? 
 1 afk further, What will be the Conduct of 
 foreign Nations when your Goods are brought 
 to their Markets ? They will never enquire, 
 whether you were victorious or not ; but 
 only, whether you will fell cheaper, or at leaft 
 as cheap as others ? Try and fee, whether 
 any Perfons, or any Nations, ever yet pro- 
 ceeded upon any other Plan ; and if they 
 
 never did, and never can be fuppofed to do fo, 
 
 *>- "* , , ........ ^^.T 7 - 
 
 then 
 fL /** t f * ' * 
 
 >-^ - . 
 
 

 
 SUB J E C T S. $3 
 
 then it is evident to a Demonftration, that Trade 
 
 will always follow Cheapnefs, and not Conqueft. 
 
 "Nay, confider how it is with yourfelves at Home: 
 
 Do Heroes and Bruifers get more Cuftomers to 
 
 their Shops, becaufe they are Heroes and 
 
 -Bruifers ? Or, would not you yourfelf rather 
 
 deal with a feeble Perfon, who will ufe you well, 
 
 than with a Brother-Hero, fhould he demand a 
 
 ^higher Price ? 
 
 Now all thefe Facts are fo -very notorious, 
 that none can dilpute the Truth of them. And 
 throughout the Hiftories of all Countries, and 
 of all Ages, there is not a fingle Example to 
 <the contrary. Judge, therefore, from what has 
 been laid, whether any one Advantage can be 
 obtained to Society, even by the mod fuccefsful 
 Wars, that may not be incomparably greater, . 
 and more cafily procured, by the Ars of Peace. 
 
 As to thofe who are always clamouring for 
 War, and founding the Alarm to Battle, let 
 : iis confider who they are, and what are their 
 Motives-, and then it will be no difficult Matter 
 rto determine .concerning the Deference that 
 ought to be ,.paid to their Opinions, and the 
 Merit of their patriotic .Zeal. 
 
 i. THE rft on .the Lift here in Britain (for 
 different Countries have different Sorts of 
 Firebrands) I fay the firft here in Britain is 
 the Mock-Patriot , and furious Anti Courtier : 
 Jie, good Man, always begins with Schemes 
 
 F2 Of
 
 84 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 of Oeconomy, and is a zealous Promoter of 
 national Frugality*. He loudly declaims 
 againft even a fmall, annual, parliamentary 
 Army, both on Account of its Kxpence, and 
 its Danger ; and pretends to be ftruck with a 
 Panic at every Red-Coat that he lees. By per- 
 fevering in thefe laudable Endeavours, and by 
 fowing the Seeds of Jealoufy and Diftruft among 
 the Ignorant and Unwary, he prevents fuch a 
 Number of Forces, by Sea and Land, from 
 being kept up, as are prudently necefiary for 
 the common Safety of the Kingdom : This is 
 one Step gained. In the next Place, after hav- 
 ing thrown out fuch a tempting Bait for Fo- 
 reigners to catch at, on any trifling Affront he 
 is all on Fire , his Breaft beats high with the 
 Love of his Country, and his Soul breaths 
 Vengeance againft the Foes of Britain : Every 
 popular Topic, and every inflammatory Ha- 
 rangue is immediately put into Rehearfal; and, 
 O LIBERTY ! O MY COUNTRY ! is the continual 
 Theme. The Fire then fpreads ; the Souls of 
 
 . * All the Speeches and all the Pamphlets poured forth 
 a^ainft Standing Annies during the Adminiltration of Sir 
 ROBERT WALPOLE, were levelled at a Number of Troops 
 fo fmall that their higheft Compliment did not exceed 
 20,000 Men. Yet thefe were reprefented as very formida- 
 ble to the Constitution by their Numbers; and more for- 
 midable ftill by that vaft Acceffion of Power, which accrued 
 to the Crown from the Difpofal of fuch a Multitude of 
 Places. How are the Times altered fin.ce ! 
 
 the
 
 SUBJECTS. 85 
 
 the noble Britons are" enkindled at it; and Ven- 
 geance and War are immediately refolded upon. 
 Then the Miniftry are all in a Hurry ; new 
 Levies are half -formed, and half difciplined : 
 Squadrons at Sea are half-manned, and 
 the Officers mere Novices in their Bufinefs. 
 In fhort, Ignorance, Unfkilfulnefs, and Con- 
 fufion, are unavoidable for a Time ; the ne- 
 cefiary Confequence of which is fome Defeat re- 
 ceived, fome Stain or Difhonour caft upon the 
 Arms of Britain. Then the long wimed for 
 Opportwnity comes at laft ; the Patriot tears, 
 the Populace clamour -and addrefs, the Miniftry 
 tremble, and the Adminiftration links. The 
 minifterial Throne now being vacant, the Pa- 
 triot triumphantly afcends it, adopts thofe Mea- 
 fures he had formerly condemned, reaps the Be- 
 nefit of the Preparations and Plans of his Prede- 
 ceffbr, and, in the natural Courfe of Things, 
 very probably gains fome Advantages ; this re- 
 ftores the Credit of the Arms of Britain : Now 
 the Lion is roufed, and now is the Time for 
 crufhing our Enemies, that they may never be 
 able to rife again. This is Pretext enough ; 
 and thus the Nation is plunged into an Expence 
 ten Times as great, and made to raife Forces 
 twenty Times as numerous, as we're complained 
 of before. << However, being now victorious, 
 " let us follow the Blow and manfully go on, 
 ' and let neither Expence of Blood nor of Trea- 
 F 3 " fure
 
 86 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Et fure be at all regarded , for another Cam- 
 " paign will undoubtedly bring the Enemy ro 
 " fubmit to our own Terms, and it is impoflible 
 " that they mould ftand out any longer." Well, 
 another Campaign is fought, and another, 
 and another, and another, and yet the Enemy 
 holds out ; nor is the Carte blanche making any 
 Progrefs in its Journey into Britain. A Peace 
 at laft is made: the Terms of it are unpopular. 
 Schemes of exceflive (Economy are called for 
 by a new Set of Patriots ; and the fame Arts 
 are played off to dethrone the reigning Mini- 
 fter, which he had pradtifed to dethrone his Pre- 
 deceflbr. And thus the patriotic Farce goes 
 round and round ; but generally ends in a real' 
 and bloody Tragedy to our Country and tc* 
 Mankind. 
 
 2. THE next in this- Lift- is the hungry Pam- 
 phleteer, who writes for Bread: The Miniftry 
 will not retain him on their Side, therefore he 
 muft write againft them, and do as much Mif- 
 chief as he can in order to be bought off. At 
 the worft, a Pillory, or a Profecution is a never- 
 fuiling Remedy againft a political Author's 
 ftarving-, nay, perhaps it may get him a Pen- 
 fion or a Place at laft : In the Interim, the Pro- 
 vince of this -Creature is to be a Kind of Jackali 
 to the Patriot-Lion ; for he beats the Foreft, 
 and firft ftarts the Game; he explores the reign- 
 ing Humours and Whim of the Populace, and 
 
 by
 
 SUBJECTS. 87 
 
 by frequent Trials difcovers the Part where the 
 Miniftry are moft vulnerable. But above all, 
 he never fails to put the Mob in Mind, of what 
 indeed they believed before, that Politics is a 
 Subject which every one underftands, except 
 the Miniftry j and that nothing is fo eafy as to 
 bring the King of France to fue for Peace on his 
 Knees at the Bar of a Britifli Houfe of Com- 
 mons, were fuch and fuch at the Helm, 
 
 as honeft and uncorrupt as they ought to be. 
 " But alas ! What fhall we fay ! French Gold 
 " will find an Admiffion every where ; and what 
 *' can we expect, when the very Perfons, who 
 *' ought to have faved' us, have fold their 
 " Country ?" This is delightful ; and this, 
 with the old Stories of Agincourt23\& Creffy, re- 
 gales, nay intoxicates, the Mob, and infpires 
 them with an Ethufiafm bordering upon Mad- 
 nefs. The fame Ideas return -, the former Bat- 
 tles are fought over again ; and we have already 
 taken Pofieflion of the Gates of Paris in the 
 Warmth of a frantic Imagination : Though it 
 is certain, thatjeven were this Ci rcunift anc^eyer 
 to happen, we ourfelves fhould be the greatelt 
 Lofers , for the Conqueft of France by England* 
 in the Event of Things, would come to the fame 
 Point as the Conqueft of England by France -, 
 becaufe the Seat of Empire would be trans- 
 ferred to the greater Kingdom, and the letter 
 would be made a Province to it. -[The phi- 
 F 4 lofophic
 
 88 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 lofophic Dr. FRANKLIN adopts the fame Ideas 
 in regard to the prefent Conteft between North- 
 America and Great-Britain. He fuppofes, agree-? 
 ably to the Newtonian Philofophy, that there is 
 a mutual Attraction and Gravitation between 
 thefe two Countries ; but neverthelefs, that the 
 Powers of Gravitation and Attraction being fo 
 much ftronger in the vaft Continent of North- 
 America-) than in the little Spot of Great-Britain, 
 it therefore follows, that the former will fwal- 
 low up, or abforb the latter, and not vice verfa. 
 The prefent aftonifhing Emigrations from Great- 
 Britain and Ireland feem to confirm the Hy- 
 pothefis of this eminent Philofopher but too 
 well : And it were greatly to be wifhed, that 
 the magical Spell, which is made to chain this 
 our Ifland to thofe immenfe Regions, weredif- 
 folved 'e're it be too late.] 
 
 3. NEAR a-kin to this Man, is that other 
 Monfter of modern Times, who is perpetually 
 declaiming againft a Peace, viz. the Broker, and 
 the Gambler of Change-alley. Letters from 
 the Hague, wrote in a Garret at Home for Half 
 a Guinea ; the firft News of a Battle fought (it 
 matters not how improbable) with a Lift of 
 the Slain and Prifoners, their Cannon, Colours, 
 &c. Great Firings heard at Sea between Squa- 
 drons not yet out of Port; a Town taken be- 
 fore the Enemy was near it; an intercepted 
 Letter that never was wrote ; or, in fhort, any 
 
 Thing
 
 S U B J E C *T S. 89 
 
 I 
 
 Thing elfe that will elate or deprefs the Minds 
 .of the difcerning Multitude, ferves the Pur- 
 pofe of the Bear or the Bull to fink or raife the 
 Price of Stocks, according as he wifhes either 
 to buy or fell. And by thefe vile Means the 
 Wretch, who perhaps the other Day came up 
 to London in the Waggon to be an Under-Clerk 
 or a MeiTage Boy in a Warehoufe, acquires fuch 
 a Fortune as fets him on a Par with the greateft 
 Nobles of the Land. 
 
 4. THE News- Writers are a fourth Species of 
 political Firebrands : A Species which abounds 
 in this Country more than in any other; for 
 as Men are in this Kingdom allowed greater 
 Liberties to fay, or write what they pleafe; 
 fo likewife is the Abufe of that Blefling carried 
 to a higher Pitch. In fact thefe People may be 
 truly faid to trade in Blood: For a War is their 
 Harveft , and a Gazette Extraordinary produces 
 a Crop of an hundred Fold : How then can it 
 be fuppofed, that they can ever become the 
 Friends of Peace ? And how can you expect 
 that any Miniflers can be their Favourites, but 
 the Minifters of War ? Yet thefe are the Men 
 who may he truly faid to govern the Minds of 
 the good People of England, and to turn their 
 Affections whitherfoever they pleafe ; who can 
 render any Scheme unpopular which they diflike, 
 and whofe Approbation, or Difapprobation, are 
 regarded by Thoufands, and almoft by Millions, 
 
 as
 
 90 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 as the Standard of Right or Wrong, of Truth 
 or Falfhood : For it is a Fact, an indifputablc 
 Fact, that this Country is as much News mad, 
 and News ridden now, as ever it was Popery- 
 mad, and Prieft-ridden, in the Days of our Fore- 
 fathers. 
 
 5. THE Jobbers and Contractors of all Kinds 
 and of all Degrees for our Fleets and Armies ; 
 the Clerks and Paymafters in the feveral De- 
 partments belonging to War ; and every other 
 Agent, who has the fingering of the public 
 Money, may be faid to conftitute a diftinct 
 Brood of Vultures, who prey upon their own 
 Species, and fatten on human Gore. It 
 would be endlefs to recount the various Arts 
 and Stratagems by which thefe Devourers 
 have amafied to themfelves aftonifhing Riches, 
 from very flender Beginnings, through the 
 Continuance and Extent of the War : Confe- 
 quently, as long as any Profpect could remain 
 of fqueezing fomewhat more out of the Pockets 
 of an exhaufted, but infatuated People ; fo long 
 the American War- hoop would be the Cry of 
 thefe inhuman Savages , and fo long would 
 they ftart and invent Objections to every Pro- 
 pofition that could be made for the reftoring 
 Peace, becaufe Government Bills would yet 
 bear fome Price in the Alley 7 and Omnium and 
 Serif, would ft ill fell at Market. 
 
 6< MANY
 
 SUBJECTS. 91 
 
 6. MANY of the Dealers in Exports and Im- 
 ports, and feveral of the Traders in the Colonies, 
 are too often found to be afiiftant in promoting 
 the Cry for every new War ; and, when War 
 is undertaken, in preventing any Overtures to- 
 wards a Peace. Do you not fathom the Depth 
 of this Policy ? you are not able to compre- 
 hend it. Alas ! it is but too eafily explained ; 
 and when explained, but too well proved from 
 Experience. The general Intereft of Trade, 
 and the Intereft of particular Traders, are very 
 diftincl: Things , nay, are very often quite op- 
 pofite to each other. The Intereft of general 
 Trade arifes from general Induftry ; and, there- 
 fore can only be promoted by the Arts of Peace: 
 JBut the Misfortune is, that during a Peace the 
 Prices of Goods feldom fluctuate, and there are 
 few or no Opportunities of getting fuddenly 
 rich. A War, on the contrary, unfettles all 
 Things, and opens a wide Field for Speculation ; 
 therefore a lucky Hit, or the engroffing a Com- 
 modity, when there is but little at Market, a 
 rich Capture, or a Smuggling, I fhould rather 
 fay a traiterous, Intercourfe with the Enemy, 
 fometimes by Bribes to Governors and Officers, 
 and fometimes through other Channels ;--or 
 perhaps the Hopes of coming in for a Share in 
 a lucrative Job, or a public Contract : Thefe, 
 and many fuch like notable Expedients are che- 
 rifhed by the Warmth of War, like Plants in a 
 
 Hot-
 
 92 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Hot Bed -, but they are chilled by the cold lan- 
 guid Circulation of peaceful Induftry. 
 
 THIS being the Cafe, the warlike Zeal of 
 thefe Men, and their Declamations againfl all 
 reconciliatory Meafures, are but too eafily ac- 
 counted for , and while the dulcis odor lucri is the 
 governing Principle of Trade, what other Con- 
 duel; are you to expect ? 
 
 BUT what if the Men of landed Property, 
 and the numerous Band of Englijh Artificers and 
 Manufacturers, who conftitute, beyond all 
 Doubt, the great Body of the Kingdom, and 
 whofe real Interefts muft be on the Side of Peace 
 what if they Ihould not be fo military in their 
 Difpofitions as thefe Gentlemen would wifh they 
 were ? Why then all Arts muft be ufed, and in- 
 defatigable Pains be taken to perfuade tkem, 
 that this -particular War is calculated for their 
 Benefit ; and that the Conqueft of fuch, or fuch 
 a Place would infallibly redound both to the 
 Advantage of the landed Interefts, and the Im- 
 provement and Extenfion of Manufactures. 
 * l Should (for Example) the Englifli once be- 
 " come the Matters of Canada, the Importation 
 " of Skins and Beavers, and the Manufacture 
 *' of fine Hats, would extend prodigioufly : 
 *' Every Man might afford to wear a Beaver Hat 
 " if he pleafed, and every Woman be deco- 
 " rated in the richeft Furs ; in return for which 
 " our coarfc Woollens would find fuch a Vent 
 
 ^ throughout
 
 SUBJECTS. 93 
 
 " throughout thofe immenfe Northen Regions 
 ' as would make ample Satisfaction for all our 
 " Expences." Well, Canada is taken, and is 
 now all our own : But what is the Confequence 
 after a Trial of fome Years' Pofiefilon ? Let 
 thofe declare who can, and as they were before 
 fo lavifh in their Promifes, let them at lafl prove 
 their AfTertions, by appealing to Fact and Ex- 
 perience. Alas ! they cannot do it : Nay, fa 
 far from it, that Beaver, and Furs, and Hats 
 are dearer than ever : And all the Woollens, 
 which have been confumed in thofe Countries 
 by the Native Inhabitants, do hardly amount to 
 a greater Quantity than thofe very Soldiers and 
 Sailors would- have worn and confumed, who 
 were loft in the taking, defending, and garrifon- 
 ing of thofe Countries. 
 
 " HOWEVER, if Canada did not anfwer our 
 " fanguine Expectations, fure we are, that 
 " the Sugar Countries would make Amends for 
 "all: And, therefore, if the important Iflands 
 " of Guadaloupe and Martinico were to be fub- 
 ** dued, then Sugars and Coffee, and Chocolate, 
 " and Indigo, and Cotton, &c. &c. would be- 
 " come as cheap as we could wifh ; and both the 
 " Country Gentleman and the Manufacturer 
 " would find their Account in fuch Conquefts 
 " as thefe." Well, Guadaloupe and Martinico 
 are both taken, and many other Iflands befides 
 
 are
 
 94 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 are added to our Empire, whofe Produce is the 
 very fame with theirs. Yet, what Elegance of 
 Life, or what Ingredient for Manufacture, is 
 thereby become the cheaper ? And which of all 
 thefe Things can be purchafed at a lower Rate, 
 at prefent than before the War ? Not one can 
 be named. On the contrary, the Man of land- 
 ed Property can tell but too circumftantially, 
 that Taxes are rifen higher than ever, -that the 
 Intereft of Money is greater ; that every addi- 
 tional Load of National Debt is a new Mort- 
 gage on his exhaufted and impoverifhed Eftate; 
 and that, if he happens to be a Member of 
 Parliament, he runs the Rifque of being bought 
 out of his Family Borough, by fome upftart 
 Gambler, Jobber, or Contractor. 
 
 THE Englijh Manufacturer, likewife, both 
 fees and feels, that every foreign Material, of 
 Ufe in his Trade is grown much dearer, that 
 all Hands are become extremely fcarce, their 
 Wages prod igioti fly raifed, -the Goods, of 
 courfe, badly and fcandaloufly manufactured, 
 and yet cannot be afforded at the fame Price as 
 heretofore, that, therefore, the Sale of Englijh 
 Manufactures has greatly decreafed in foreign 
 Countries fince the Commencement of War ; 
 and what is worfe than all, that our own Co- 
 lonies, for whofe Sakes the War was faid to be 
 Undertaken, do buy Goods in Holland., in 
 
 Italy,,
 
 SUBJECTS. 95 
 
 Italy and Hamburgh^ or any other Market where 
 they can buy them cheapeft, without re- 
 garding the Intereft of the Mother-Country, 
 when found to be repugnant to their own. All 
 thefe Things, I fay, the Englifh Manufacturer 
 both fees and feels : And is not this enough ? 
 Or muft he carry his Complaifance ftill far- 
 ther, and never be a Friend to Peace 'till it be- 
 comes the Intereft of the Trader to befriend 
 it likewife ? Surely, furely, this is rather too 
 much to be expected. In one Word, and to re- 
 turn to the Point from which we fet out, the In- 
 jtereft of the Trader, and the Intereft of the King- 
 dom, are two very diftinct Things; becaufe 
 the one may, and often doth, get rich by that 
 Courfe of Trade, which would bring Ruin and, 
 Defolation on the other. 
 
 7. THE Land and Sea Officers are, of courfe, 
 the invariable Advocates for War. Indeed it is, 
 their Trade, their Bread, and the fure Way to 
 get Promotion ; therefore no other Language 
 can be expected from them : And yet, to do 
 them Juftice, of all the Adverfaries of Peace, 
 they are the faireft and moft open in their Pro- 
 ceedings ; they ufe no Art or Colouring, and 
 as you know iheir Motive, you mull allow for it 
 accordingly. Nay, whether from a Principle 
 of Honour natural to their Profefllon, or from 
 what other Caule I know not; but fo it is, that 
 
 they
 
 6 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 they very frankly difcover the bafe and difm- 
 genuous Artifices of other Men. And the Au- 
 thor of thefe Sheets owes much of his Intelli- 
 gence to feveral Gentlemen of this Profefiion, 
 who were Eye and Ear Witnefies of the Facts re- 
 lated. 
 
 BUT after all, What have 1 been doing ? and 
 how can I hope for Profelytes by this Kind of 
 Writing ? It is true, ill regard to the Points 
 attempted to be proved, I have certainly proved 
 that, " Neither Princes nor People can be 
 " Gainers by the moil fuccefsful Wars : ~ 
 " v Trade in particular will make its Way 
 " to the Country where Goods are man- 
 <c factured the beft and cheapeft : But con- 
 " quering Nations neither manufacture well 
 " nor cheap: And confequently muft fink 
 in Trade in Proportion as they extend in 
 " Conqueft." Thefe Things are -now incon- 
 teftibly clear, if any Thing ever was fo. 
 But, alas ! Who will thank me for fuch 
 Leflbns as thefe? The feven Clafles of Men 
 juft enumerated certainly will not ; and as 
 to the Mob, the blood-thirfty Mob, no Ar- 
 guments, and no Demonftratioris whatever, 
 can perfuade them to withdraw their Vene- 
 ration from their grim Idol, the God cf 
 Slaughter. On the contrary, to knock a 1 
 Man on the Head is ta take from him his 
 All at once. This is a compendious Way, 
 
 and
 
 SUBJECTS. 97 
 
 and this they underftand. But to excite that 
 Man (whom perhaps they have long called 
 their Enemy) to greater Induftry and So- 
 briety, to confider him as a Cuftomer to 
 them, and themfelves as Cuftomers to him, 
 fo that the- richer both are, the better it 
 may be for each other ; and, in mort, to 
 promote a mutual Trade to mutual Benefit : 
 This is a Kind of Reafoning, as unintelligi- 
 ble to their Comprehenfions, as the Antipodes 
 themfelves. 
 
 SOME few perhaps, a very few indeed, 
 may be ftruck with the Force of thefe 
 Truths, and yield their Minds to Conviction ; 
 
 Pojffibly in a long Courfe of Time fheir 
 
 Numbers may encreafe ; and pojjibly^ at laft, 
 the Tide may turn ; fo that our Pofterity 
 may regard the prefent Madnefs of going to 
 War for the Sake of Trade, Riches, or Do- 
 minion, with the fame Eye of Aftonifhment 
 and Pity, that we do the Madnefs of our 
 Forefathers in fighting under the Banner of 
 the peaceful Crofs to recover the Holy Land. 
 This ftrange Phrenzy raged throughout all 
 Orders and Degrees of Men for feveral Cen- 
 turies ; and was cured at laft more by the 
 dear-bought Experience of repeated Lofles 
 and continual Difappointments, than by any 
 good Effects which cool Reafon and Re- 
 G flection,
 
 Q$ POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 fleftion could have upon the rational Fa- 
 culties of Mankind. May the like dear- 
 bought Experience prevail at laft in the prc- 
 fentCafe! 
 

 
 
 
 TRACT 
 
 III. 
 
 Letter from a Merchant in London 
 
 TO HIS 
 
 NEPHEW in AMERICA. 
 
 DEAR COUSIN, 
 
 OUR Letters gave me formerly no 
 fmall Pleafure, becaufe they Teemed to 
 have proceeded from a good Heart, 
 guided by an Underilanding more en- 
 lightened than is ufually found among young 
 Men : And the honeft Indignation you exprefs 
 againfl thofe Artifices and Frauds, thofe Rob- 
 beries and Infults, which loft us the Hearts and 
 G 2 Affections
 
 ioo POLITICAL AND COMMER-CIAL^ 
 
 Affections of the Indians^ is particularly to bt" 
 commended ; for thefe were the Things, as you- 
 jtiftly obferved, which involved us in the moft 
 bloody and expenfive War that ever was known i 
 ahd thefe, by being repeated, will ftimulate the- 
 poor injured Savages to redrefs their Wrongs, 
 and retaliate the Injury as foon as they can, by 
 fame Means or other. You did therefore ex- 
 ceedingly right, in manifefting the utmoft Ab- 
 horrence and Deteitation of all fuch Practices. 
 
 BUT of late I cannot fay, that I receive the 
 'fame Satisfaction from your Correfpondence : 
 You, and your Countrymen, certainly are difcon- 
 tented to a great Degree ; but whether your Dif- 
 content arifes from a Defire of Change, and of 
 making Innovations in your Form of Govern- 
 ment, or from a miitaken Notion, that we are 
 making Innovations in it, is hard to fay. 
 
 GIVE me Leave, therefore, to expoftulate 
 with you, on this flrange Alteration in your 
 Conduct. You indeed talk loudly of Chains, 
 
 arid exclaim vehemeritly againft Slavery : 
 
 But furely'you- do not fufpect", that I can enter- 
 tain the 1 moil diftant Wifh of making any Man 
 a Slave, much lefs my own Brother's Son, and 
 my next of Kin. So far from it, that whether 
 I can make you a Convert to my Way ofthink- 
 rng or not, I mal! flill act by you as my neareft 
 Relation , being always defirous of allowing 
 that Liberty to others, which I hope ever to en- 
 joy
 
 -S U B 'J E C T S, 
 
 joy myfelf, of letting every man fee with 
 his own 'Eyes, and act according to 'his own 
 Judgment : This I fay, I would willingly in- 
 dulge every Man in, as far as ever is confident 
 with good Government, and the public Safety. 
 For indeed Governments there muft be of fome 
 Kind or other , and Peace and SuboFclination 
 are to be preferved ; other-wife, there would 
 be no fuch Thing as- true- Liberty fublifting in 
 the World. 
 
 IN PurfuaHce therefore of this rational Plan 
 of Liberty, give me Leave to a(k you, young 
 Man, What is it you mean by repeating to me 
 fo often in every Letter, The Spirit of the tonfti- 
 rution ? I own, I do not much approve of this 
 Phrafe, becaufe its Meaning is fo. vague and in- 
 determinate , and becaufe it may be made to 
 ferve all Purpofes alike, good or bad. And 
 
 indeed it has been-mv conftant Remark, That 
 
 -when Men were at a Lofs for folid Arguments 
 and Matters, of Fact, in .their political Disputes, 
 
 they then had Jlecourle to the Spirit of the Con- 
 
 -.ftitution as to their Jaft Shift, and the only 
 Thing they had to fay. An American for Ex- 
 ample now inftfts, .That according to the Spirit 
 
 . of the Englijh Constitution, he ought not to be 
 taxed without .his,, own Confent, given either by 
 
 .^himfclf, or byla Reprefentative in . Parliament 
 chofen by himfelf. Why ought he not ? And 
 
 . doth the Conftitution fay in fo many Words, 
 
 that
 
 102 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 that he ought not ? Or doth it fay, that every 
 Man either hath, or ought to have, or was in- 
 tended to have a Vote for a Member of Parlia- 
 ment ? No, by na Means : The Conftitution 
 fays no-fuch Thing. But the Spirit of it doth -, 
 and that is as good, perhaps better. Very well : 
 See then how the fame Spirit will prefently wheel 
 about, and afiert a Doclrine quite repugnant to 
 the Claims and Pofitions of you Americans. 
 Magna Charta, for Example, is the great Foun- 
 dation of Engli/h Liberties, and the Bafis of the 
 Englifli Conftitution. But by the Spirit of 
 Magna Chart a, all Taxes laid on by Parliament 
 are conjlitutional, legal Taxes ; and Taxes raifed 
 by the Prerogative of the Crown, without the 
 Confent of the Parliament, are illegal. Now re- 
 member, young Man, that the late Tax of Du- 
 ties upon Stamps was laid on by Parliament ; 
 and therefore, according to your own Way of 
 reafoning, muft have been a regular, conftituti- 
 onal, legal Tax. Nay more, the principal End 
 and Intention of Magna Charta^ as far as Tax- 
 ation is concerned, was to aflert the Authority 
 and Jurifdiction of the three Eftates of the 
 Kingdom, in Oppofition to the fole Prerogative 
 of the King : So that if you will now plead the 
 Spirit of Magna Charta againft the Jurifdidlion 
 of Parliament, you will plead Magna Charta 
 againft itfelf. 
 
 LEAVING 
 
 D
 
 SUBJECTS. 103 
 
 LEAVING therefore all thefe miffing, unftable 
 Topics, which, like changeable Silks, exhibit 
 .different Colours, according as they are viewed 
 in different Lights i let us from the Spirit of the 
 Conftitution., come to the Conftitution itfelf. 
 For this is a plain, obvious Matter of Fact ; 
 and Matters of Fact are faid to be ftubborn 
 Things. Now the firft Emigrants, who fettled 
 in America., .were certainly Englifli Subjects, 
 fubject to the Laws and jurifdiction of Parlia- 
 ment, and confequently to parliamentary Taxes, 
 before their Emigration; and therefore fubject 
 afterwards^ unlefs fome legal, conftitutional 
 Exemption can be produced. 
 
 Now this is the Queftion, and the fole 
 ,Queftion between you and me, reduced to a 
 plain, fimple Matter of Fact. Is there therefore 
 any fuch Exemption as here pretended? And 
 if you have it, why do not you produce it ? 
 " The King, you fay, hath granted Charters of 
 " Exemption to the American Colonies." This 
 is now coming to the Point ; and this will bring 
 the Difpute to a Ihort Ifllie. Let us therefore 
 firft enquire, Whether he could legally and con- 
 ftitutionally grant you fuch a Charter ? And 
 lecondly, Whether he did ever fo much as at- 
 tempt to do it ? And whether any fuch Charters 
 are upon Record ? 
 
 Now, upon the firft fettling an Englifli Co- 
 lony, and before ever you, Americans, could 
 
 have
 
 104 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 have chofen any Reprefentatives, and thetefore 
 before any Aflembly of fuch Reprefentatives 
 could have poflibly met, to whofeLaws, and 
 to what legislative Power were you then fubjecl;? 
 To the Englifli moft undoubtedly ; for you could 
 have been fubject to no other. You were 
 Engliflimen yourielves ; and you carried the Englifli 
 Government, and an Englifli Charter over along 
 with you. This being the Cafe, were you not 
 then in the fame Condition, as to Constitutional 
 Rights and Liberties, with the reft of your 
 Fellow- Subjects, who remained in England? 
 Certainly you were. I moft cordially agree, 
 that you ought not to have been placed in a 
 worfe , and furely you had no Right to expect 
 a better. Suppofe, therefore, that the Crown 
 had been fo ill advifed, as to have granted a 
 Charter to any City or County here in England, 
 pretending to exempt them from the Power 
 .and Jurifdiction of an Englifli Parliament; 
 what would the Judges ? What would the 
 Lawyers ? nay, what would you Americans have 
 faid to it ? Apply this now to your own Cafe ; 
 for furely you cannot wifh to have it put upon 
 a fairer Footing ; try, therefore, and fee, and 
 then teil me i is it poffible for you to believe, 
 that the King has a Power veiled in him by the 
 Conttirut'on of dividing his Kingdom into feveral 
 independent States, and petty Kingdoms, like 
 the iicpurchy in the Times of the Saxons ? Qr 
 
 can
 
 SUBJECTS. 105 
 
 can you really imagine, that he ceuld crumble 
 the parliamentary Authority and Jurifdiftion, 
 were he fo minded, into Bits and Fragments, by 
 afiigning one Parliament to one City or County, 
 another to another, and fo on ? Is it poflible, I 
 lay, for you to believe an Abfurdity fo grofs and 
 glaring ? And yet grofs and palpable as this Ab- 
 furdity is, you muft either believe it, or adopt a 
 ftill greater, viz. that, though the King cannot 
 do thefe ftrange Things in England^ yet he can 
 do them all in America ; becaufe the Royal 
 Prerogative, like Wire coiled up in a Box, can. 
 be ftretched and drawn out to almoftany Length, 
 according to the Diftance and Extent of his 
 Dominions. Good Heavens ! what a fudden 
 Alteration is this ! An American pleading for 
 the Extenfion of the Prerogative of the Crown ? 
 Yes, if it could make for his Caufe ; and for 
 extending it too beyond all the Bounds of Law, 
 of Reafon, and of Common Senfe ! 
 
 BUT though I have for Argument's Sake, and 
 merely to confute you in your own Way, here 
 fuppofed, that the Crown had been fo ill-advifed, 
 as to grant Charters to the Colonies fo uncon- 
 ftitutional and illegal, as thefe undoubtedly muft 
 
 have been i yet the Fad itfelf is far otherwife * ; 
 
 for 
 
 
 * Our former Princes claimed a Right, and frequently 
 exercifed the Power of levying Taxes; without the Confent 
 
 of
 
 io6 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL. 
 
 for no fuch Charters were ever granted. Nay, 
 many of your Colony Charters affert quite the 
 contrary, by containing exprefs Refervations of 
 Parliamentary Rights, particularly that great 
 one of levying Taxes. And thofe Charters 
 \vhich do not make fuch Provifoes in exprefs 
 Terms, muft be fuppofed virtually to imply 
 them i becaufe the Law and Constitution will 
 not allow, that the King can do more either at 
 home or abroad, by the Prerogative Royal, than 
 the Law and Conftitution authorize him to do. 
 
 HOWEVER, if you are flill doubtful, and if you 
 would wifh to have a Confirmation of this Argu- 
 ment by fome plain Fafr, fome linking Proof^ 
 and viiible Example, I will give you one ; and 
 Such an one too, as mall convince you, if any 
 tiling can, of the Folly and Abfurdity of your 
 Portions: The City of London? forlnltance, 
 a Body Politic as refpedable, without Offence, 
 
 of Parliament. But upon fettling the Colonies, this fuppofed 
 Right which coil Charles I. his Crown, and bis Life, was 
 sot infilled on irv any of the Charters, and was exprefsly 
 given op ia that which was granted to Lord Baltimore for 
 JgSarjlatul. Now this Claufe, which is nothing more than 
 the -Renuciation of ckj'sdxe Prerogative, is quoted in our 
 Kc\vf paper?, as if it was a Renunciation of the Rights of 
 Parliament to raife Taxes. Whereas the King in that 
 -Charter iUpulated only/^r bimfelf, his Heir*, and Succe/fars* 
 not to raife Taxes by Virtue of the Prerogative Royal ; 
 which certainly he might do, and which was very proper 
 to be done for the Encouragement and Security of a new 
 Colony. But he could not ftipalate for the Parliament ; 
 .act! indeed he did sot attempt 10 do it. 
 
 as 
 
 '
 
 SUBJECTS. 107 
 
 as the greateft of your Colonies, with Regard to 
 Property, and fuperior to many of them with 
 refped to Numbers ; this great City, I fay, the 
 Metropolis of the whole Briti/h Empire, hath 
 long enjoyed, before the Colonies were ever 
 thought of, the threefold Power of Jurifdidion, 
 JLegiflation, and Taxation in certain Cafes : Bun 
 no Man in his Senfes ever yet fuppofed, that the 
 City of London either was, or could be exempted 
 by thefe Charters from Parliamentary Jurifdic- 
 tion, or Parliamentary Taxes; and if any Ci- 
 tizen mould plead the Charters in Bar to Parlia- 
 mentary Authority, or refufe to pay his Quota 
 of the Land Tax, becaufe that Tax is not laid 
 on by an Ad of the Lord-Mayor, Aldermen, 
 -and Common-Council -, I do not fay, indeed 
 that the Judges would commit him to Newgate ; 
 but I do verily believe, that they would order 
 him to another Place of Confinement, much 
 fitter for a Perlbn in his unhappy Situation. 
 
 AND now, my good Friend, what can you 
 fay to thefe Things ? The only Thing which 
 you ought to fay is, that you did not fee the 
 Affair in its true Light before , and that you 
 are fincerely forry for having been To pofitive in 
 a wrong Caufe. Confuted mod undoubtedly 
 you are beyond the Poflibility of a Reply, as 
 far as the Law and Conftitution of the Realm 
 are concerned in this Queftion. But indeed it 
 feems to me by certain Pafiages in your Letters, 
 
 that,
 
 *IO8 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 that, though you raife a terrible Outcry agairift 
 the fuppofed Violation of your Charters , you 
 yourlelf would not reft the Merits of your Caufe 
 upon the Proof of fuch a Violation ; and that 
 you would rather drop that Point, than attempt 
 tojuftify the Charge if called upon to do it. 
 
 WHAT then is it, which you have next to 
 offer? Oh! The Unreafonablentfs ! the In- 
 * c juftice ! and the Cruelty of taxing a free Peo- 
 " pie, without permitting them to have Repre- 
 " fentatives of their own to anfwer for them, 
 " and to maintain their fundamental Rights and 
 " Privileges !" 
 
 STRANGE, that you did not difcover thefc 
 bad Things before! Strange, that though the 
 Britijh Parliament has been, from the Begin- 
 ning, thus unreasonable, thus ##/'#, and cruel to- 
 wards you, by levying Taxes on many Com- 
 modities outwards and inwards, nay, by "lay- 
 ing an internal Tax, the Poft-Taxfor Example, 
 on the whole Britijli Empire in America ; and, 
 what is ftill worfe, by making Laws to affect 
 your Property, your Paper Currency, and 
 even to take away Life itfelf, if you offend 
 againft them :- --Strange and unaccountable, I 
 .day, that after you had fuffered this fo long, you 
 Mhould not have been able to have diicovered, 
 .that you were without Reprefentatives in the 
 .EritiJJi Parliament, of your own elefting, 'till this 
 ^enlightening Tax-upon Paper opened your Eyes ! 
 
 And
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 And- what a Pity it is,, that ybivhave been. Slaves 
 for fo many Generations, and yet did not know 
 that you were Slaves until now. 
 
 BUT let that pafs, my dear Coufm ; for I 
 always choofe to confute you in your own Way. 
 Now, if you mean any Thing at all by the 
 Words unreafonable, unjuft, and cruel, as ufed 
 in this Difpute; you muft mean, that the 
 Mother Country deals worfe by you, than by 
 the Inhabitants of Great -Britain; and that fhe 
 denies certain conftitutional Rights and Privi- 
 leges to you abroad, which we enjoy here at 
 home. Now pray what are thefe constitutional 
 Rights and Liberties which are refufed to you ? 
 Name them, if you can. The Things which 
 you pretend to ailedge are, " The Rights of 
 " voting for Members of the Briti/h Parliament; 
 * and the Liberty of chufing your own Repre- 
 * c fentatives." But furely you will not dare to 
 fay, that we refufe your Votes, when you come 
 hither to offer them, and choofe to poll : You 
 cannot have the Face to aflert, that on an Elec- 
 tion Day any Difference is put between the Vote 
 of a Man born in America, and of one born here 
 in England. Yet this you muft aflert, and 
 prove too, before you can fay any Thing to th 
 prefent Purpofe. Suppofe therefore, that an 
 American hath acquired a Vote (as he legally 
 may, and many have done) in any of our 
 Cities or Counties, Towns, or Boroughs ; fup- 
 
 pofe,
 
 no POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 pofe, that he is become a Freeman, or a Free- 
 holder here in England; on that State of the 
 Cafe, prove if you can, that his Vote was ever 
 refufed, becaufe he was born in America:-- Prove 
 this, I fay, and then I will allow, that your Com- 
 plaints are very juft-, and that you are indeed 
 the much injured, the cruelly treated People, 
 you would make the Word believe. 
 
 BUT,, my good Friend, is this fuppofed Re- 
 fufal the real Caufe of your Complaint ? Is this 
 the Grievance that calls fo loudly for Redrefs ? 
 Oh f no, you have no Complaint of this Sort 
 to make : But the Caufe of your Complaint is 
 this ; that you live at too great a Diftance from 
 the Mother Country to be prefentat OUT Engli/k 
 Elections, and that in Confcquence of this 
 Diftance, the Freedom of our Towns, or the 
 Freeholds in our Counties, as far as voting is 
 concerned, are not worth attending to. It may 
 be fo ; but pray coniider, if you yourfelves do 
 choofe to make it inconvenient for you to come 
 and vote, by retiring into diftant Countries, 
 what is that to us ? And why are we to be re- 
 proached for committing a ' Violation on the 
 
 * Birth -rights of" Engliflmen, which, if it be a 
 
 * Violation, is committed only by yourfelves r' 
 It feems, you find- it to be your particular In- 
 tcreft to live in the Colonies ; it feems, that 
 you prefer the Emoluments of refiding there to 
 your Capacity, or Capability (take which Word 
 
 you
 
 SUBJECTS. m 
 
 you pleafe) of refiding and voting here. Now 
 this is your own free Choice , and we leave you 
 at full Liberty to act as you think proper : But 
 then, are we obliged to alter our Political Syf- 
 tem merely to accord with your Convenience ? 
 Are we to change and new model our fixed and 
 ancient Conftitution, juft as you (hall fee fit to 
 command us ? and according as it fhall pleafe 
 you to remove from Place to Place ? And is 
 this the Cornplaifance, which you expect the 
 Mother Country Ihould mew to her dutiful 
 Children ? Yes, it is -, and you demand it too 
 with a loud Voice, full of Anger, of Defiance, 
 and Denunciation. 
 
 HOWEVER, the Lion is not always fo fierce as 
 he is painted 5 and 'till we are beaten into a 
 Compliance, it is to be hoped, that we may be 
 allowed to expoftulate with you in a few harm- 
 lefs, unbloody Words. Granting therefore, that 
 the Colonies are unrepreiented in the Britifli Par- 
 liament : Granting that two Millions of People 
 in America have, in this Refpect, no Choice, nor 
 Election of their own, through the Neceflity of 
 the Cafe, and their Diftancc from the Place of 
 Election:- What would you infer from this 
 ConcefTion ? And wherein can fuch Kind of 
 Topics fupport your Caufe ? For know, young 
 Man, that not only two Millions which are the 
 utmoft, that your exaggerated Accounts can be 
 fwelled to ,- I fay not only two Millions, but 
 
 fix
 
 ii2 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 fix Millions at lead of the Inhabitants of Great-* 
 Britain, are ftill unreprefented in the Britifti 
 Parliament. And this Omiffion arifes, not from 
 the Neceffity of the Cafe, not from confuking 
 Intereft and Convenience as with you, but from 
 original Ideas of Gothic ValTalage, from va- 
 rious Cafualties and Accidents,- -from Changes 
 in the Nature of Property, --from the Alteration 
 of Times and Circumftances, and from a 
 thoufand other Caufes. Thus, for Example, 
 in the great Metropolis, and in many other 
 Cities, landed Property itfelf hath no Repre- 
 fentative in Parliament ; Copyholds and Leafe- 
 liolds of various Kinds have none likewife, 
 though of ever fo great a Value. This you* 
 yourfelf very well know-, becaufe when you 
 were here laft, you knew, that I was pofTefTed 
 of confiderable landed Property in London, and 
 of feveral Copyhold and beneficial Leafeholds, 
 in the Country, and yet that I never had a Vote. 
 Moreover, in fome Towns neither Freedom, 
 nor Birth-Right, nor the ferving of an Appren- 
 ticelhip, mall entitle a Man to give his Vote, 
 though they may enable him to fet up a Trade : 
 In other Towns the mod numerous, the molt 
 populous and flourifhing of any, there are no 
 Freedoms or Votes of any Sort ; but all is 
 open ; and none are reprefented. And befides 
 all this, it is well known, that the great Eaft- 
 India Company, which have fuch vaft Settle- 
 ments,
 
 SUBJECTS. n 3 
 
 ments, and which difpofe of the Fate of Kings 
 and Kingdoms abroad, have not fo much as a 
 (ingle Member, or even a fingle Vote, quatenus 
 a Company, to watcih Over their interefts at 
 home. What likewife (hall we fay in regard to 
 the prodigious Number of Stock- holders in our 
 public Funds ? And may not their Property, 
 perhaps little ihort of ONE HUNDRED MILLIONS 
 Sterling, as much defer ve to be reprefented in 
 Parliament, as the fcattered Townfhips, or 
 flraggling Houfes of fome of your Provinces 
 in America ? Yet we raife no Commotions ; we 
 neither ring the Alarm -Bell, nor found the 
 Trumpet; but fubmit to be taxed without being 
 reprefented, and taxed too, let me tell yoiij for 
 your Sakes. Witnefs the additional Duties on 
 our Lands, Windows, Houfes j alfo on our 
 Malt, Beer, Ale, Cyder, Perry, Wines, Brandy> 
 Rum, Coffee, Chocolate, &c. &c. &c. for de- 
 fraying the Expences of the late War, not for- 
 getting the grievous Stamp-Duty itfelf. All 
 this, I fay, we fubmitted to, when you were, or 
 at lead, when you pretended to be, in great 
 Diftrefs i fo that neither Men, almoft to the 
 laft Drop of Blood we could fpill, nor Money, 
 to the laft Piece of Coin, were fpared : But all 
 was granted away, all was made a Sacrifice, 
 when you cried out for Help; And the Debt 
 tvhich we contracted on this Occafion, is fo ex- 
 traordinary, as not to be parallelled in Hiftory. 
 H It
 
 H4 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 It is to be hoped, for the Credit of human Na- 
 ture, that the Returns which you have made us 
 for thcfe Succours, and your prefent Behaviour 
 towards us, which perhaps is ftill more extraor- 
 dinary, may not be parallelled likewife. 
 
 BUT as you Americans dp not chufe to re- 
 member any thing, which we have done for 
 you;- though we, and our Children mall have 
 Caufe to remember it 'till lateft Pofterhy ; lee 
 us come to the Topic, which you yourfelves do 
 wifh to reft your Caufe upon, and which you 
 imagine to be the Sheet Anchor of your State 
 Veffcl. "You are not reprefented , and you 
 " are Two Millions -, therefore you ought not 
 " to be taxed." We are not reprefented ; and 
 we are Six Millions ; therefore we ought not to 
 be taxed. Which now, even in your own Senfe 
 of Things have moft Reaion to complain ? 
 And which Grievance, if it be a Grievance, de- 
 ferves firft to be redreffed ? Be it therefore fup- 
 pofed, that an Augmentation ought to take 
 place in our Houie of Commons, in order to 
 reprefent in Parliament the prodigious Numbers 
 of Britifh Subjects hitherto unreprefented. In 
 this Cafe the firft Thing to be done, is to fettle 
 the Proportion. And therefore if Two Millions 
 (the Number of Perfons actually reprefented at 
 prefent) require Five Hundred and Fifty-eight 
 Reprefentatives (which I think is the Number 
 of our modern Houfe of Commons) how many 
 
 will
 
 SUBJECTS. 115 
 
 will Six Millions require?- The Anfwer is, 
 that they will require One Thoufand Six Hun- 
 dred and Seventy-four Reprefentatives. Now 
 this is the firft Augmentation, which is to be 
 made to our Lift of Parliament Men. And 
 after this Increafe, we are to be furnifhed, by 
 the fame Rule of Proportion, with Five Hun- 
 dred and Fifty-eight more from the Colonies. 
 So that the total Numbers will be Two THOU- 
 SAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY REPRE- 
 SENTATIVES IN PARLIAMENT ! A goodly Num- 
 ber truly ! and very proper for the Difpatch of 
 Bufinefs ! Oh, the Decency and Order of fuch 
 an AfTembly ! The Wifdom and Gravity of 
 Two Thoufand Seven Hundred and Ninety Le- 
 giflators all met together in one Room ! What 
 a Pity is it, that fo hopeful a Project mould not 
 be carried into immediate Execution ! 
 
 BUT, my noble Senator, for certainly you 
 yourfelf intend to figure away in fuch an auguft 
 Affembly,---permit an old Man to reveal one 
 Secret to you, before you proceed any further 
 in your reprefenting Scheme That the Com- 
 plaint itfelf of being unreprefented, is entirely 
 falfe and groundlefs. For both the Six Millions 
 at home, and the Two Millions in the Colonies, 
 are all reprefented already. This perhaps may 
 ftartle you , but neverthelefs this is the FacT:. 
 And though I have hitherto ufed a different 
 Language merely to accommodate myfelf to 
 H 2 your
 
 n6 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 your Ideas, and to confute your Folly in your 
 own Way, I muft now tell you, that every Mem- 
 ber of Parliament reprefents you and me, and 
 our public Interefts in all eflential Points, juft as 
 much as if we had voted for him. For though 
 one Place, or one Set of Men may elect, and fend 
 him up to Parliament, yet, when once he be- 
 comes a Member, he then becomes the equal 
 Guardian of all. And he ought not by the Duty 
 of his Office,to (hew a Preference to his ownTown, 
 City, or County, but in fuch Cafes only, where 
 a Preference mall not be found to interfere with 
 the general Good. Nay, he ought in Confcience 
 to give his Vote in Parliament againft the Senfe, 
 and againft the Instructions of his Electors, if he 
 fhould think in his Confcience, that what they 
 require, is wrong in itfelf, is illegal or injurious, 
 and detrimental to the public Welfare. This 
 then being the Cafe, it therefore follows, that 
 our Birmingham, Manchefters, Leeds, Halifaxes, 
 &c. and your Boftons, New-Torks, and Phila- 
 delphias, are all as rtaHy, though not fo nominally 
 reprefented, as any Part whatfoevcr 1 of the 
 Britifti Empire:- -And that each of thefe Places 
 have in fact, inftead of one or two, not lefs 
 than Five Hundred and Fifty-eight Guardians 
 in the Britifli Senate. A Number abundantly 
 fufficient, as far as human Prudence can fuggeft, 
 or the prefent imperfect State of Things will 
 
 permit,
 
 SUBJECTS. 117 
 
 permit, for the Security of our Rights, and the 
 Prefervation of our Liberties. 
 
 BUT perhaps you will fay, That though it 
 may be a Senator's E>uty to regard the Whole 
 rather than -a Part, and to be the equal Protector 
 of all ; yet he will, in fact, regard that moil, 
 which can beft promote his own Intereft, and 
 fecure his Election another Time. It may be 
 ib: For who can guard againft all Portability of 
 Danger ? And what Syftem can there be deviled, 
 but may be attended with Inconveniences and 
 Imperfections in fome Refpect or other ? Never- 
 thelefs, if your general Objection proves any 
 thing, it proves a great -deal too much: For it 
 proves that no Man -ought to pay any Tax, 
 but that only, to which the Member of his own 
 Town, City, and County, hath particularly 
 aflented : Becaufe all other Members being 
 chofen by other Peribns, and not by him, and 
 perhaps .by Perfons in an oppofite Intereil are 
 therefore not his Reprefcntatives, and confe- 
 .quently not the true Guard ians of -Jiis Property. 
 Being therefore without a Representative in fuch 
 a Parliament, he is under no Obligation to obey 
 its Laws, or pay any of its Taxes. 
 
 WHERE now, my Friend, will you turn? 
 And what can you do to extricate yourfelf -from 
 the .Difficulties wh'ch arife on all Sides on this 
 O.ccafion? You cannot turn about, and fay, that 
 *he other Reprefentatives, wnom this Man never 
 H 3 chofe,
 
 n8 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 chofe, and for whom he had no Vote to give, 
 and againft whom perhaps he had particular 
 Exceptions, have nevertheleis a Right of taxing 
 him becaufe he makes a Part of the Body 
 Politic implied in, and concluded by the refti - 
 you cannot lay this, becaufe the DOCTRINE of 
 IMPLICATION is the very Thing to which you 
 object, and againft which you have raifed fo 
 many Batteries of popular Noife and Clamour. 
 Nay, as the Objection is entirely of your own 
 making, it muft go ftill further : For if your 
 Argument is good for any thing, it is as good 
 for North- America as it is for Great- Britain; and 
 confequently you muft maintain, that all thofe 
 in your feveral Provinces who have no Votes 
 (and many Thoufands of fuch there are) and 
 alfo all thofe Voters, whofe Reprefentarives did 
 not expresfly confent to the Act of your Aflem- 
 blies for raifmg any of your own provincial 
 Taxes, ought not to be compelled to pay them. 
 Thefe now are the happy Confequenees of your 
 'own Principles, fairly, clearly, and evidently 
 deduced : Will you abide by them ? 
 
 BUT however, not to pum you into more 
 Abfurdities of this Kind, let us wave the pre- 
 fent Point, and come to another. For, after all 
 your doleful Complaints, what if it mould ap- 
 pear, that thefe Five Hundred and Fifty-eight 
 Parliamentary Guardians, who reprefent you 
 only by Implication^ have, in fact, been kinder and 
 
 more
 
 SUBJECTS. 119 
 
 wore bountiful to you Americans, than they have 
 been to their own Eritljh Voters, whom they 
 reprefent by Nomination ? And, what if even 
 this Argument, fo full of Sorrow and Lamen- 
 tation, fhould at laft be retorted upon you, and 
 made to conclude, like all the reft, the very Re- 
 verfe of what you intended ? This, I believe, is 
 what you litrie -expected : But neverthelefs, this 
 is the Cafe : For if there be any Partiality to 
 be complained of in the Conduct of the Briti/k 
 Parliament, it will appear to be a Partiality in 
 Favour of the Colonies, and againft the Mother 
 Country. Do you demand my Authority for 
 this Afifertion ? I will give it you : The Sta- 
 tutes of the Realm are my Authority, and 
 furely you cannot demand a better. By thefe 
 then it will appear, that a Colon ift, who is con- 
 fequently fubordinate to the Mother Country in 
 the very Nature of Things, is neverthelefs put 
 upon a better Footing, in many Refyefts, than 
 an Inhabitant of Great -Britain. By thefe it will 
 appear, that the Parliament, like an over-indul- 
 gent Parent of his favourite, froward Child, 
 hath been continually heaping Favours upon 
 you, of which we are not permitted to tafte. 
 Thus, for Example, you have your Choice, 
 whether you will accept of my Price for your 
 Tobacco, or after bringing it here, whether 
 you will carry it away, and try your Fortune 
 at another Market : But I have no Alternative 
 H 4 allowed
 
 I2O POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 allowed, being obliged to buy yours at your 
 own Price ; or elfe to pay fuch a Duty for the 
 Tobacco of other Countries, as muft amount 
 to a Prohibition. Nay, in order to favour 
 your Plantations, I am not permitted tp 
 plant this Herb on my own Eftate, though 
 the Soil mould be ever fo proper for it. 
 Again, the fame Choice, and the fame Alterna- 
 tive are allowed to you, and denied to me, in 
 regard to Rice ; with this additional Advantage, 
 that in many Refpedts you need not bring it into 
 England at all, unlefs you are fo minded. And 
 what will you fay in Relation to Hemp ? The 
 Parliament now gives you a Bounty of 81. per 
 Ton for exporting your Hemp from North- 
 America; but will allow me nothing for growing 
 it here in England ; nay, will tax me very fe- 
 yerely for fetching it from any other Country 
 though it be an Article moft eflentiaily necef- 
 fary for all the Purpofes of Shipping and Navi- 
 gation. Moreover in refpect to the Culture of 
 Raw Silk, you have an immenfe Parliamentary 
 Premium for that purpofe , and you receive 
 further Encouragements from our Society for 
 Arts and Sciences, which is continually adding 
 frem Rewards : But 1 can receive no Encou- 
 ragement either from the one, or from the other, 
 to bear my Expences at firft fetting out; though 
 moft undeniably the white Mulberry- Trees can 
 thrive as well on my Grounds as they can in,
 
 SUBJECTS. i 2I 
 
 Switzerland, Brandenburg Denmark, or Sweden, 
 where vaft Quantities are now raifing. Take 
 another Inftance : Why fhall not I be permit- 
 ted to buy Pitch, Tar, and Turpentine, with- 
 out which I cannot put my Ships to Sea ; and 
 Indigo, fo ufeful in many Manufactures ; why 
 lhall I not be permitted to purchafe thefe Ar- 
 ticles wherever I can, the beft in their Kind, 
 and on the beft Terms ? No, I fhall not ; for 
 though they are all Raw Materials, which there- 
 fore ought to have been imported Duty free, yet 
 I am reftrained by an heavy Duty, almoft equal 
 to a Prohibition, from purckafing them any 
 where, but from you : Whereas you on the 
 .contrary are paid a Bounty for felling thefe very 
 Articles, at the only Market, in which you could 
 fell them to Advantage, -viz. the Engli/ti*. 
 
 MUCH more might have been faid on this 
 Subject ; and the like Obfervations might have 
 been extended to the Sugar Colonies : But I 
 forbear. For indeed enough has been faid al- 
 ready (and, as it expofes our Partiality and In- 
 fatuation a little feverely, perhaps too much) 
 in order to prove to the World, that of all Peo- 
 ple upon Earth, you have the leaft Realbn to* 
 complain. 
 
 <~n ?fti 
 
 "" > 31'Kt l f&'tf* 
 
 Jf Thofe who have not the Statutes at large, may fee the 
 Things here referred to, and many others of the like Sort, 
 in Croucbis or Saxly's Book of Rates. 
 
 BUT
 
 122 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 BUT complain you will; and no iboner is 
 one Recital of imaginary Grievances filenced 
 and confuted -, but, like the Hydra in the Fable, 
 np ftarts another. Let us fee, therefore, what 
 is your next Objection, which I think, is the laft, 
 that with all your Zeal, and Goodwill, you 
 are able to mufter up." The Inexpediency 
 " and Excefilvenefs of fuch a Tax ! a Tax ill- 
 ct timed in itfelf, and ill digefted ! unfeafonably 
 *' laid on ! and exceeding all Rules of Propor- 
 " tion in regard to the Abilities of thofe who 
 " are to pay it !" 
 
 Now, my Friend, had there been any Truth 
 in thefe Aflertions, which I fhall foon make to 
 appear, that there is not ; but had there been, 
 the Plea itfelf comes rather at the lateft, and out 
 of Place from you : From you, I fay, who 
 peremptorily object to the very Power and Au- 
 thority of the Britifli Parliament of laying any 
 internal Taxes upon the Colonies, great or 
 fmall or at any Time feafonable, or unfeafonable. 
 And therefore had you been able to have 
 proved the Illegality of fuch a Tax, it would have 
 been quite fuperfluous to have informed us af- 
 terwards;, that this Ufurpation of your Rights 
 and Liberties was either an exceflive, or un- 
 feafonable Ufurpation. But as you have failed 
 in this firft Point; nay, as all your own Argu- 
 ments have proved the very reverfe of what 
 you intended ; and very probably, as you your- 
 
 felf
 
 SUBJECTS 123 
 
 felf was not originally quite fatisfied with the 
 Juftice of your Caufe , and muft have feen 
 abundant Reafon before this Time ta haVe al- 
 tered your former hafty, and rafh Opinion ; I 
 will therefore wave the Advantage, and now de- 
 bate the Point with you, as though you had ac- 
 knowledged the Parliamentary Right of Taxati- 
 on, and only excepted to the Quantum, or the 
 Mode, the Time, or the Manner of it. 
 
 Now two Things are here to be difcufled ; 
 firft, the pretended Exceffivenefs of the Tax ; 
 and fecondly, the Unfeafonablenefs of it. As to 
 the Exceffivenefs of the Stamp Duties, the Proof 
 of this muft depend upon the Proof of a pre- 
 vious Article, the relative Poverty, and Ina- 
 bility of thofe who are to pay it. But how do 
 you propofe to make out this Point ? And after 
 having given us for fome years paft fuch Dif- 
 plays of your growing Riches and encreafing 
 Magnificence, as perhaps never any People did 
 in the fame Space of Time ; how can you now 
 retract and call yourfelves a poor People ; Re- 
 member, my young Man, the feveral Expoftu- 
 Jations I had with your deceafed Father oh the 
 prodigious Increafe of American Luxury. And 
 what was his Reply ? Why, that an Increafe of 
 Luxury was an infeparable Attendant on an In- 
 creafe of Riches; and that, if I expected to 
 continue my North- American Trade, I muft fuit 
 my Cargo to the Tafte of my Cuftomers j and 
 
 not
 
 124 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 not to my own old-fafhioned Notions of the 
 Parfimony of former Days, when America was 
 a poor Country. Remember therefore the Or- 
 ders given by him, and afterwards by you, to 
 have your Aflbrtment of Goods made richer, 
 and finer every Year. And are your Gold and 
 Silver Laces ; your rich Brocades, Silks and 
 Velvets i -your Plate, and China, and Jewels;- 
 your Coaches and Equipages, your fumptuous 
 Furniture, Prints, and Pictures. Are all thefe 
 Things now laid afide ? Have you no Concerts, 
 or Afiemblies, no Play Houfes, or (Naming 
 Houfes, now fubfifting ? Have you put down 
 your Horfe Races and other fuch like Sports 
 and Diverfions ? And is the Luxury of your 
 Tables, and the Variety and Profufion of your 
 Wines and Liquors quite banifh.ed from among 
 you ? Thefe are the Queftions, which you 
 ought to anfwer, before an Eftimate can be 
 made of your relative Poverty, or before any 
 Judgment can be formed concerning the Excef- 
 fwenefs of the Tax. 
 
 BUT I have not yet done with you on this 
 Head. For even though you were poor (which 
 you know, you are not, compared with what 
 you were Thirty Years ago) it may neverthe- 
 lefs happen, that our relative Poverty may be 
 found to be greater than yours. And if fo, when 
 a new Burden is to be laid on, the proper Quefli- 
 on is, which of thefe two Sorts of poor People, is 
 
 the
 
 SUBJECTS. 125 
 
 the beft able, or, if you pleafe, the leaft unable 
 to bear it? efpecially if it be taken into the 
 Account, that this additional Load is an Ame- 
 rican Burthen, and not a Britijh one. Be it 
 therefore granted, according to what you fay, 
 that you are Two Millions of Souls ; be it alfo 
 allowed, as it is commonly afierted, that the 
 Public Debt of the feveral Provinces amounts 
 to about 8oo,oool. Sterling j and in the next 
 Place, be it fuppofed, for Argument's Sake, 
 that were this general Debt equally divided 
 among the Two Millions, each Individual 
 would owe about the Value of Eight Shillings. 
 Thus Hands the Account on one Side. Now 
 we in Britain are reckoned to be about Eight 
 Millions of Souls j and we owe almoft One 
 Hwndred and Forty-four Millions of Money -, 
 which Debt, were it equally divided among us, 
 would throw a Burthen upon each Perfon of 
 about 1 81. Sterling. This then being the State 
 of the Cafe on both Sides, would it be fo ca- 
 pital an Offence, would it be High-Treafon in 
 us to demand of you, who owe fo little, to con- 
 tribute equally with ourfelves, who owe fo much, 
 towards the public Expences-, and fuch Ex- 
 pences too as you were the Caufe of creating ? 
 Would it be a Crime of a Nature fo very hei- 
 nous and diabolical, as to call forth the hotted 
 of your Rage and Fury ? Surely no : And 
 yet, my gentle Friend, we do not fo much as 
 
 afk
 
 126 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 afk you to contribute equally with ourfelves, we 
 only demand, that you would contribute fame- 
 thing. And what is this fomething ? Why truly 
 it is, that when we raife about Eight Millions 
 of Money annually upon Eight Millions of 
 Perfons, we expect, that you would contribute 
 One Hundred Thoufand Pounds (for the Stamp 
 Duty upon the Continent alone, without com- 
 prehending the Iflands, cannot poflibly amount 
 to more) I fay, we expect, that you mould con- 
 tribute One Hundred Thoufand Pounds to be 
 raifed on Two Millions : That is, when each of 
 us pays, one with another, Twenty Shillings per 
 Head, we expect, that each of you mould pay 
 the Sum of One Shilling ! Blum ! blufh for 
 Shame at your perverfe and fcandalous Beha- 
 viour ! Words ftill more fevere, and perhaps 
 more juft, are ready to break forth, through an 
 honeft Indignation : But I fupprefs them. 
 
 PERHAPS you will fay, and I think it is the 
 only Thing left for you to fay, in Excufe for 
 fuch Proceedings, that you have other Public 
 Taxes to pay, befides thofe which the Britifh 
 Parliament now requires. Undoubtedly you 
 have, for your Provincial and other Taxes are 
 likewiie to be paid : But here let me afk, is not 
 this our Cafe alfo ? And have not we many other 
 Taxes to difcharge befides thofe which belong 
 to the Public, and are to be accounted for at 
 the Exchequer ? Surely we have : Witnefs our 
 
 County
 
 SUBJECTS. ',27 
 
 County Taxes, Militia Taxes, Poor Taxes, Va- 
 grant Taxes, Bridge Taxes, High Road and 
 Turnpike Taxes, Watch .Taxes, Lamps and 
 Scavenger Taxes, &'c. &c. fcff.'-r-all of them as 
 numerous and burthenfome as any that you 
 can mention. And yet with all this Burthen, 
 yea, with an additional Weight of a National 
 Debt of 1 81. Sterling per Head, we require of 
 each of yon to contribute only One Shilling to 
 every Twenty from each of us ; yes; and this 
 Shilling to be fpent too in your own Cquntry, 
 for the Support of your own Civil and Military 
 Eftablilhments ; together with many Shillings 
 drawn from us for the fame Purpofe. Alas ! 
 had you been in our Situation, and we in yours, 
 would you have been content with our pay ing 
 fo fmall, fo inconfiderable a Share of the Public 
 Expences ? And yet, fmall and inconfiderable 
 as this Share is, you will not pay it. No, you 
 -will not! And be it at our Peril, if we de- 
 mand it. 
 
 Now, my Friend, were Reafon and Argu- 
 ment, were Juftice, Equity, or Candour to be 
 allowed by you to have any Concern in this 
 Affair, I would then fay, that you Americans 
 are the mod unfortunate People in the World 
 in your Management of the prefent Controverfy. 
 Unfortunate you are, becaufe the very Attempts 
 you make towards fetting forth your Inability, 
 prove to a Demonftration, that you are abun- 
 dantly
 
 128 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 dandy able, were you but truly willing to pay 
 this Tax. For how, and in what Manner do 
 you prove your Allegations ? Why truly, by 
 breaking forth into Riots and Infurre&ions, and 
 by committing every Kind of Violence, that 
 can caufe Trade to ftagnate, and Induftry to 
 ceafe. And is this the Method which you have 
 chofen to purfue, in order to make the World 
 believe, that you are a poor People ? Is this the 
 Proof you bring, that the Stamp Duty is a 
 Burthen too heavy for you to bear ? Surely, if 
 you had really intended our Conviction, you 
 would have chofen fome other Medium : And 
 were your Inability or Poverty the fingle Point 
 in Queftion, you would not have taken to fuch 
 Courfes, as muft infalliby render you ftill the 
 poorer. For in fadr., if, after all your Com- 
 plaints of Poverty, you can ftill afford to idle 
 away your Time, and to wafte Days, and 
 Weeks, in Outrages and Uproars ; what elfe 
 do you prove, but that you are a prodigal, and 
 extravagant People ? For you muft acknow- 
 ledge, that if but Half of this Time were 
 fpent, as it ought to be, in honeft Induftry and 
 ufeful Labour, it would have been more than 
 fufficient to have paid double the Tax which is 
 now required. 
 
 BUT you will ftill fay, that though the Tax 
 may be allowed (nay indeed it muft be allowed) 
 to be very moderate, every Thing confidered, 
 
 and
 
 SUBJECTS. 129. 
 
 and not all excefilve; " It may neverthelefs 
 " be laid on very unfeafonably ; it may be 
 " wrong-timed, and ill-digefted." 
 
 Now, here 1 muft own, that I am fomewhat 
 at a Lois how to anfwer you, becaufel am not 
 quite certain that I underftand your Meaning. 
 If, for Example, by the Term ill digefted, you 
 would infinuate, that the American Stamp Duty 
 would grind the Faces of the Poor, and permit 
 the Rich to efcape; - that it would affect the 
 Necefiaries, and not the Superfluities of Life ; 
 that it would prevent the Building of Houfes, 
 or the Clearing of Lands, or the Cultivation of 
 Eftates already cleared , or laftly, that it would 
 diminifh the Number of your Shipping, or ftop 
 the Pay of your Sailors : If thefe, or any of 
 thefe are the Evils, which you would lay to the 
 Charge of the Stamp Duty, nothing upon Earth, 
 could be a falfer Charge , and you could not 
 give a ftronger Proof either of your Defect in 
 Judgement, or Want of Jntegrjtry, than by ut- 
 tering fuch Aflertions as thefe*, -Afiertions, 
 which both daily Experience and the Nature of 
 Things evidently demonftrate to be void of 
 Truth. We in Britain ha^e been fubject to a 
 Stamp Duty for many* very many Years; a Duty 
 much higher than that which is intended for 
 America , and yet we know by long Experience, 
 that it hath not been attended with any of the 
 dreadful Confequences which are here fuppofed, 
 I AGAIN,
 
 130 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 AGAIN, as to the wrong-timing, or the Un- 
 feafonablenefs of this Tax : If by this you mean- 
 to fay, that it was laid on, at a Time, when you 
 were poorer, and lefs able to bear it, than you 
 were before ;- that \sfalfe alfo. For you never 
 were richer, and you never were more able to 
 contribute your Quota towards the general Ex- 
 pences, than at the Juncture of laying on this 
 Tax. To prove this, let it be obferved, that 
 juft before this Event, you had not only, 
 been draining the Mother Country by the irh- 
 menfe Sums drawn from us to pay our Fleets 
 and Armies, when acting in Defence of America-^ 
 -and that your Jobbers and Contractors had 
 not only been fucking Our Blood and Vitals by 
 their extortionate Demands ^ but you had alfo 
 been enriched t)y the Spoils, and by the Traffic 
 "of the numerous Colonies of France and Spain. 
 For you were continually acting the double 
 Part either of Trade, or War, of Smuggling, 
 or Privateering, according to the Profpcct. of 
 greater Gain. And while we at Horde were 
 exerting our utmoft to put a fpeedy End to the 
 War by ah 'honourable Peace, you on the con- 
 trary were endeavouring to prolong it as much 
 as poffible ; and were fupplying our Enemies 
 with all Manner of Provifions, and all Sorts- of 
 warlike Stores for that Purpofe. . Nay, be- 
 caufe a Part of thefe ill-gotten Riches was 
 kid out in Enrtifti Manufactures (there being 
 
 * ^ \ O 
 
 at 

 
 SUBJECTS. 131 
 
 at that Time hardly a Poffibility of purchafing 
 any but Englifh, when our Fleets were abfolute 
 Mailers of the Sea) your Advocates and Au- 
 thors trumpeted aloud the prodigious Profits of 
 this North- American Trade ; not confidering, 
 or rather not willing that we fhould confider, 
 that while a few Individuals were getting Thou- 
 fands, the Public were fpending Millions. 
 
 ONCE more : If by the Epithet unfeafonable^ 
 you would be underilood to mean, that there 
 was no need of taxing you at all at that Juncture ; 
 becai'.fe the Mother Country -wasftill as able to carry 
 the additional Load, which you had brought upon 
 her^ as flie had been to bear all the reft : If this b,e 
 your Meaning, I mud tell you once for all, 
 that you are egregioufly miftaken. For we can 
 bear no more : We cannot fupport ourfelves 
 under heavier Taxations, even were we ever fo 
 willing ; we have drained every Nerve already, 
 and have noRefources left for new Impofitions. 
 Therefore let what will come of the prefent Af- 
 fairs, let the Stamp Duty be repealed, or not ; 
 ftill the Expences of America mult be borne by 
 the Americans in fo.r e Form, or under fome De- 
 
 u 
 
 nomination or other. 
 
 BUT after all , perhaps you meant none of 
 thefe Things , perhaps you meant to infinuate 
 (though it was Prudence in you not to fpeak 
 out) that the late Act was ill-contrived and ill- 
 timed; becaufe it was made at a Juncture, when 
 I 2 neither
 
 132 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 neither the French nor Indians were in 1 your Rear 
 to frighten, nor the Englifh Fleets and Armies 
 on your Front to force you to a Compliance. 
 Perhaps this was your real Meaning ; and if it 
 was, it mull be confdfcd, that in that Senfe, 
 the late Act was not well-timed ; and that a 
 much properer Seafon might have been chofen. 
 For had the Law been made five or fix Years 
 before, when you were moving Heaven and 
 Earth with your Cries and Lamentations , not 
 a Tongue would then have uttered a Word 
 againft it; all your Orators would have difplayed 
 their Eloquence on other Topics ; and even 
 American Patriotifm itfeif would at that Seafon 
 have made no Difficulty of acknowledging, that 
 the Mother Country had a Right to the Obe- 
 dience of the Colonies in Return for her kind 
 and generous Protection. 
 
 UPON the Whole therefore, what is the Caufe 
 of fucfi an amazing Outcry as you raife at pre- 
 fent? Not the Stamp Duty itfeif; all the 
 World are agreed on that Head ; and none 
 can be fo ignorant, or fo ftupid, as not to feej 
 that this is a mere Sham and Pretence. What 
 then are the real Grievances, feeing that the 
 Things which you alledge are only the pre- 
 tended ones ? Why, fome of you are exafperat* 
 ed againft the Mother Country, on account 
 of the Revival of certain Reftrictions laid upon 
 
 their
 
 SUBJECTS. 133 
 
 .their Trade : I fay, a * Revival; for the fame 
 Reftriction have been the Handing Rules of 
 Government from the Beginning ; though not 
 enforced at all Times with equal Stridtnefs. 
 During the late War, you Americans could not 
 import the Manufactures of other Nations 
 ^which it is your conftant Aim to do, and the 
 
 * Ever fmce the Difcovery of America, it has been the 
 Syftem of every European Power, which had Colonies in that 
 Part of the World, to confine (as far as Laws can confine) 
 the Trade of the Colonies to the Mother Country, and to 
 exclude all others, .under the Penalty of Confifcation, sV. 
 from partaking in it. Thus, the Trade ofjthe Spanijh Co- 
 lonies is confined by Law to Old Spain, the Trade of the 
 Brazils to-PortugaI,-~t]\e Trade of Martinico and the other 
 French Colonies to Old France, and the Traqe of Cur&coa 
 and Surinam to Holland. But in one Inftance the, Hol{apders 
 make an Exception (perhaps a wife one) viz. in the Cafe 
 of Euftatia, which is open to all the World. Now, that- 
 the Englijb thought themfelves entitled to -the fame Right 
 over their Colonies, which other Nations claim over theirs, 
 and that they cxercifed the fame . Right by making what 
 Regulations they pleafed, may be leen by the following 
 A&s of Parliament, viz. 12 of Car. II. Chap. 18. 15 of 
 Car. II. Ch. 7.- 22 and ,23 of C. II. Ch. 26 25 ofC. II. 
 Ch. 7. 7 and 8 of Will. III. Ch. 22. 10 and 1 1 of W. III. 
 Ch. -21. 3 and 4 of Ann. Ch. 5 and 10. 8 of Ann. 
 Ch. 13. 12 of Ann. Ch. 9. i of G. I. Ch. 26. 3 of 
 G. I. Ch. 2i. 8 of G. I. Ch. 15 and 18. 11 of G. I. 
 Ch. 29. 12 of G. I. Ch. 5. 2 of G. II. Ch. 28 and 35. 
 3 of G. II. Ch. 28. 4 of G. II. Ch. i c. 5 of G. II. 
 Ch. 7.ando. 6 of G. II. Ch. 13. 8 of G. II. Ch. 18. 
 u.ofG. II. Ch. 29. 12 ofG. II. Ch. 30. 1.3 of G. II. 
 Ch. 4 and 7. -15 and 16 of G. II. Ch. 23. with many- 
 others of a later Date. I might alfo mention the Laws 
 made in the Reign of his prcfent Majefty ; but as thefe 
 .Laws arc now the Point of Controverfy, I forbear. 
 
 I 3 Mother
 
 134 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Mother Country always to prevent) fo conve- 
 niently as you can in Times of Peace -, and 
 therefore, there was no Need of watching you 
 Jo narrowly, as far as that Branch of Trade 
 was concerned. But immediately upon the 
 Peace, ihe various Manufactures of Europe, 
 particularly thofe of France, which could noc 
 find Vent before, were Ipread, as it were, over 
 all your Colonies, to the prodigious Detriment 
 of your Mother Country -, and therefore our 
 late Set of Minifters acted certainly right, in 
 putting in Force the Laws of their Country, in 
 order to check this growing Evil. If in fo 
 doing, they committed any Error i or, if the 
 Perfons to whom the Execution of thefe Laws 
 were intruded, exceeded their Inftructions ; 
 there is no Doubt to be made, but that all this 
 will be rectified by the prefent Adminiftration. 
 And having done that, they will have done all 
 that in Reafon you can expect from them. But 
 alas! the Expectations of an American cany 
 him much further : For he will ever complain 
 and fmuggle, and fmuggle and complain, 'till 
 all Reftraints are removed, and 'till he can 
 both buy and fell, whenever, and wherefoever 
 he pkafes. Any thing Ihort of this, is flill a 
 Grievance, a Badge of Slavery, an Ufurpation. 
 oft the natural Rights and Liberties of a free 
 People, and I know not how many bad Things 
 befides. 
 
 BUT,
 
 SUBJECTS. 135 
 
 : BuT, my good Friend, be affured, that thefe 
 are Reftraints, which neither the prefent, nor 
 any future Miniilry can exempt you from. 
 They are the (landing Laws of the Kingdom; 
 and God forbid, that we mould allow that di- 
 penfing Power to our Minifters, which we fo 
 juftly deny to our Kings. In fhort while you 
 are a Colony, you muft be fubordinate to the 
 Mother Country. Thefe are the Terms and 
 Conditions, on which you were permitted to 
 make your firft Settlements : They are the 
 Terms and Conditions on which you alone can 
 be entitled to .the Afiiftance and Protection of 
 Great-Britain-, they are alfo the fundamental 
 Laws of the Realm ;- and I will add further 
 that 'if we are obliged to pay many Bounties for 
 the Importation of your Goods, and are excluded 
 from purchafing fuch Goods, in other Countries 
 .(where we might purchaie them on much 
 cheaper Terms) in order to promote your In- 
 tereft ;---by Parity of Reafon you ought to be 
 fubjcfr. to the like Exclufions, in order to pro- 
 mote ours. This then being the Cafe, do not 
 expect,, from the prefent Miniflry, that which is 
 impoffible for any fet of Minifters to grant. 
 All that they can do, is to connive a while at 
 your unlawful Proceedings. But this can be 
 '.but of fhort Duration : For as foon as ever 
 frefh Remonftrances are made by the Britijb 
 Manufacturers, and Britifli Merchants, the Mi- 
 I 4 niftry
 
 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 niftry muft renew the Orders of their Predc- 
 ceffors -, they muft enforce the Laws ; they 
 muft require Searches, and Confifcations to be 
 made ; and then the preient Minifters will draw 
 upon themfelvcs, for doing their D#/y, juft the 
 lame Execrations, which you now bcftow upon 
 the laft. 
 
 So much as to your firft Grievance ; and as 
 to your fecond, it is, beyond Doubt, of a Na- 
 ture ftill worfe. For many among you are forely 
 concerned, That they cannot pay their Britifli 
 Debts with an American Sponge. This is an 
 intolerable Grievance ; and they long for the 
 Day when they (hall be freed from this galling 
 Chain. Our Merchants in London, Briftol, Li- 
 uerpooli GlafgoW) &c. &c. perfectly underftand 
 your many Hints and Inuendoes to us, on this 
 Head. But indeed, left we mould be fo dull as 
 not to comprehend your Meaning, you have 
 fpoken out, and propoled on open AfTociation 
 againft paying your juft Debts. Had our Debt- 
 ors in any other Part of the Globe, had the 
 French or Spaniards propofed the like (and furely 
 they have all at leail an equal Right) what 
 Name would you have given to fuch Proceed- 
 ings ? But I forget : You are not the faithlefs 
 "French or Spaniards: You are ourfelves : You 
 are honeft Engiiflimen. 
 
 YOUR third Grievance is the Sovereignty of 
 Great-Britain: For you want to be independent: 
 
 You
 
 SUBJECTS. 137 
 
 You wifh to be an Empire by itfelf, and to be 
 no longer the Province of another. This Spi- 
 rit is uppermoft -, and this Principle is vifible in 
 all your Speeches, and all your Writings, even 
 when you take fome Pains to difguife it. 
 " What ! an Ifland ! A Spot fuc.h as this to 
 <c command the great and mighty Continent of 
 * c North- America ! Prepofterous ! A Continent, 
 " whofe Inhabitants double every five and 
 " twenty Years ! Who therefore, within a Cen- 
 " tury and an Half will be upwards of an 
 " hundred and twenty Millions of Souls ! - 
 " Forbid it Patriotifm, forbid it Politics, that 
 *' fnch a great and mighty Empire as this, ' 
 " fhould be held in Subjection by the paltry 
 ** Kingdom of Great- Britain ! Rather let the 
 c Seat of Empire be transferred > and let it be 
 " fixr, where it ought to be, viz. in Great 
 " America /" 
 
 Now my good Friend, I will not (lay to 
 difpute with you the Calculations, on which 
 your Orators, Philofophers, and Politicians have, 
 for fome Years pad, grounded thefe extravagant 
 Conceits (though I think the Calculations 
 themfclves both falfe, and abfurd) ; but I will 
 only fay, that while we have the Power, we 
 may command your Obedience, if we pleafe : 
 And that it will be Time enough for you to 
 purpofe the making us a Province to America, 
 
 when
 
 138 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL. 
 
 when you (hall find yourfelves able to execute 
 the Project. 
 
 IN the mean Time, the great Queftion is, 
 "What Courfe are we to take ? And what arc 
 we to do with j0, before you become this great 
 and formidable People ? Plain and evident it 
 is by the Whole Tenor of your Conduct, that 
 you endeavour, with all your Might to drive us 
 to Extremities. For no Kind of Outrage, 
 or Infult, is omitted on your Part, that can ir- 
 ritatelndividuals, or provoke a Government to 
 chaflife the Infolence, not to fay the Rebellion, 
 of its Subjects ; and you do not feem at all dif- 
 pofed to leave Room for an Accommodation. 
 In fhort, the Sword is the only Choice, which 
 you will permit us to make ; unlefs we will 
 chufe to give you entirely up, and fubfcribe a 
 Recantation. Upon thofe Terms indeed, you 
 will deign to acknowledge the Power and Au- 
 thority of a Britifti Parliament -, that is, you 
 will allow, that we have a Right and a Power to 
 give you Bounties, and to pay your Expences $ 
 but no other. A flrange Kind of Allegiance 
 this ! And the firft that has ever yet appeared 
 in the Hiftory of Mankind ! 
 
 HOWEVER, this being the Cafe, fliall we now 
 compel you, by Force of Arms, to do your 
 JDuty ? Shall we procraflinate your Compul- 
 fion ?- : Qr {hall we entirely give you up, and 
 
 have
 
 SUBJECTS. 139 
 
 feave no other Connexions with you, than if 
 you had been fo many fovcreign States, or In- 
 dependent Kingdoms ? One or other of thefe 
 three will probably be refolved upon : And if 
 it fhould be the firft, I do not think that we 
 have any Caufe to fear the Event, or to doubt 
 ofSuccefs. 
 
 FOR though your Populace may rob and 
 plunder the Naked and Defencelefs, this will 
 not do the Bufmefs when a regular Force is 
 brought againft them. And a Briti/h Army, 
 which performed fo many brave Adtions in 
 Germany^ will hardly fly before an American 
 Mob; not to mention that our Officers and 
 Soldiers, who patted feveral Campaigns with 
 your Provincials in America, faw nothing either 
 in their Conduct, or their Courage, which could 
 infpire them with a Dread of feeing the Pro- 
 vincials a fecond Time. Neither mould we 
 have the lead Caufe to fufpect the Fidelity of 
 our Troops, any more than their Bravery ,-~- 
 notwithftanding the bale Iniinuations of fome of 
 your Friends here (if indeed fuch Perfons de- 
 ferve to be called your Friends, who are in rea- 
 lity your greateft Foes, and whom you will find 
 to be fo at the laft) , riotwithftanding, I fay, their 
 Insinuations of the Feafibihty of corrupting his 
 Majefty's Forces, when fent over, by Means of 
 large Bribes, or double Pay. This is a Surmife, 
 as Y/eak as it is wicked: For the Honour of the 
 
 Britijh.
 
 14 
 
 Briti/h Soldiery, let me tell you, is not fo eafily 
 corrupted. The French in Europe never found 
 it fo, with all their Gold, or all their Skill for 
 Intrigue and infmuating Addrefs. What then, 
 in the Name of Wonder, have you to tempt 
 them with in America, which is thus to over- 
 come, at once, all their former Senfe of Duty, 
 all the Tyes of Confcience, Loyalty and Ho- 
 nour ? Befides my Friend if you really are fo 
 rich, as to be able to give double Pay to our 
 Troops in a wrong Caufej do not grudge, let me 
 befeechyou, to give one third a Jingle Pay (for 
 we afk no more) in a right one: And let it not 
 be faid, that you complain of Poverty, and 
 plead an Inability to pay your juft Debts, at the 
 very Inftant that you boaft of the fcandalous 
 Ufe which you intend to make of your Riches. 
 
 BUT notwithftanding all this, I am not for 
 having Recourfe to Military Operations. For 
 granting, that we mail be victorious, ftill it is 
 proper to enquire, before we begin, How we are 
 to be benefitted by our Victories ? And what 
 Fruits are to refult from making you a con- 
 quered People? Not an Increafe of Trade; 
 that is impofiible: For a Shop-keeper will 
 never get the more Cuftom by beating his Cuf- 
 tomers : And what is true of a Shop-keeper, is 
 true of a Shop-keeping Nation. We may in- 
 deed vex and plague you, by ilationing a great 
 Number of Ships to cruize along your Coafts; 
 
 and
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 'and we may appoint an Army of Cuftom-houfe 
 Officers to patrole (after a Manner) two thou- 
 fand Miles by Land. But while we are doing 
 thefe Things againft you, what mall we be doing 
 for ourfehes ? Not much, I am afraid : For we .. 
 mail only make you the more ingenious, the 
 more intent, and the more inventive to deceive 
 us. We mail fharpen your Wits, which are 
 pretty ftiarp already, to elude our Searches, and 
 to bribe and corrupt our Officers. And after 
 that is done, we may perhaps oblige you to buy 
 the Value of twenty or thirty thoufand Pounds 
 of Briti/h Manufactures, more than you would 
 otherwile have done,---at the Expence of two or 
 three hundred thoufand Pounds Lofs to Great- 
 Britain, fpent in Salaries, Wages, Ships, Forts, 
 and other incidental Charges. Is this now a 
 gainful Trade, and fit to be encouraged in a 
 commercial Nation, fo many Millions in Debt 
 already ? And yet this is the bed, which we 
 can expeft by forcing you to trade with us, 
 againft your Wills, and againft your Interefts? 
 
 THEREFORE fuch a Meafure as this being evi- 
 dently detrimental to the Mother Country, I 
 will now confider the fecond Propofal, viz. to 
 procraftinate your Compulfion. But what good 
 can that do ? And wherein will this Expedient 
 mend the Mattter ? For if Recourfe is to be had 
 at laft to the Military Power, we had better be- 
 gin with it at firft ; it being evident to the whole 
 
 World
 
 142 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 World, that all Delays on our Side will onlf 
 ftrengthen the Oppofidon on yours, and be in- 
 terpreted by you as a Mark of Fear, and not as 
 an Inftance of Lenity. You fwell with too 
 much vain Importance, and Self-fufficiency al- 
 ready -, and therefore, ftjould we betray any 
 To':en of Submiffion -, or mould we yield to 
 thcie your ill-humoured and petulant Deiires \ 
 this would only ferve to contirm you in your 
 prefent Notions, viz. that you have nothing more 
 to do, than to demand with the Tone of \uch0- 
 rity, and to infift with Threatening* and De- 
 fiance, in order to bring us upon our Knees, 
 and to comply with every unreasonable Ir-j unc- 
 tion, which you mall be pleaku to lay upon us. 
 So that at lall, when the Time Pnall come of 
 apoealing to the Sword, and of deciding our 
 Differences by Dint of Arms, the Confequence 
 of this Procraiti nation will be, that the Struggle 
 will become fo much the more obitmatc-, uiid 
 the Determination the more bloody. Nay, the 
 Merchants themfeives, whole Cafe is truly piti- 
 able for having confided fo much to your Ho- 
 nour, and for having truiled you with fo many 
 hundred thoufand Pounds, or perhaps with fome 
 Millions of Property, and for whole Benefit 
 alone fuch a Sulpenfion of the Stamp Ab could 
 be propofed j they * will find to their Coifo, 
 
 * The Event has feverely proved this Conjecture to be 
 but too juftly founded. 
 
 that
 
 SUBJECTS. 
 
 that every Indulgence of this Nature will only 
 Turnifh another Pretence to you for thefufpend- 
 ing of the Payment of their juft Demands. In 
 fhort, you declare, that the Parliament hath no 
 right to tax you-, and therefore you demand a 
 Renunciation of the Right, by repealing the 
 Act. This being the Cafe, nothing lefs than a 
 Renunciation can be fatisfactory ; becaufe no- 
 thing elfe can amount t a Confeffion, that the 
 Parliament has acted illegally and ufurpingly in 
 this Affair. A bare Sufpenfion, or even a mere 
 Repeal, is no Acknowledgement of Guilt ; nay, 
 it fuppofes quite the contrary ; and only poft- 
 pones the Exercife of this ufurped Power to a 
 more convenient Seafon. Confequently if you 
 think you could juftify the Non-payment of your 
 Debts, 'till a Repeal took Place, you certainly 
 can juftify the Sufpenfion of the Payment 'till 
 we have acknowledged our Guilt. So that aioer 
 all, the Queftion may come to this at laft, -war. 
 Shall we renounce any Legiflative Authority 
 over you, and yet maintain you as we have hi. 
 therto done ? Or mail we give you entirely up, 
 unlefs you will fubmit to be governed by the 
 fame Laws as we are, and pay fotnething to- 
 wards maintaining yourfelves ? 
 
 THE firft it is certain we cannot do; and 
 therefore the next Point to be coofidered is 
 (which is alfo the third Propofal) Whether we 
 'are to give you entirely up ? And after having 
 
 obliged
 
 144 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 obliged you to pay your Debts* whether we are to 
 have no further Connection with you, as a de- 
 pendent State, or Colony. 
 
 Now, in order to judge properly of this Af- 
 fair, we muft give a Delineation of two Political 
 Parties contending with each other, and ftrug- 
 gling for Suoeriority :---And then we are to 
 confider, which of thefe two, muft be firft 
 tired of the Conteft, and obliged to fub- 
 mit. 
 
 BEHOLD therefore a Political Portrait of the 
 Mother Country ; a mighty Nation under one 
 Government of a King and Parliament, firmly 
 refolved not to repeal the Act, but to give it 
 Time to execute itlelf, fteady and temperate 
 in the Ufe of Power, -not having Rccourfe to 
 fanguinary Methods,- -but enforcing the Law 
 by making the Difobedient feel the Want of it, 
 -determined to protect and cherifh thofe Co- 
 lonies, which will return to their Allegiance 
 within a limited Time (fuppofc twelve or eigh- 
 teen Months)-- and as determined to compel 
 the obftinate Revoltcrs to pay their Debts, 
 then to caft them off, and to exclude them for 
 ever from the manifold Advantages and Profits 
 of Trade, which they now enjoy by no other 
 Title, but that of being a Part of the Eritifli 
 Empire. Thus ftands the Cafe: and this is the 
 View of Things on one Side. 
 
 OBSERVE
 
 SUBJECTS. 145 
 
 OBSERVE again a Profpect on the other; viz. 
 -a Variety of iittle Colonies under a Variety of 
 petty Governments, Rivals to, and jealous of 
 each other, never able to agr^e about any thing 
 before, and only now united by an Enthufiaftic 
 Fie offalfe Patriotifm ; a Fit which neceffarily 
 cools in Time, and cools ftiil the fafler, in Pro- 
 portion, as the Object which firft excited it is 
 removed, or changed. .So much as to the 
 general Outlines of your American Features -, 
 but let us now -take, a nearer View of the Evils, 
 which by your own mad Conduct you are bring- 
 ing fo fpeedily upon yourfclves. 
 
 EXTERNALLY, by .being fevered from the 
 .Britijh Empire, you will be excluded from cut- 
 ting Logwood in the Bays of Campeache and 
 Honduras^ 'from riming on the Banks of 'New- 
 foundland^ on the Coaft of Labrador , or in the 
 Bay of S/. "Lawrence, from trading (except by 
 Stealth) with the Sugar Iflands, or with the 
 Bfitifli Colonies in any Part of the Globe. You 
 will alfo lofe all the 'Bounties upon the Impor- 
 tation of your Goods into Great Britain : You 
 will not dare to ieduce a fingle Manufacturer or 
 Mechanic from us under Pain of Death,; be- 
 caufe you will then be confidered in the Eye of 
 the Law as mere Foreigners, againfl: whom. 
 
 O ', O 
 
 thefe Laws were made. You will lofe the Re- 
 mittance of 300,000!. a Year to pay your 
 Troops , and you will lofe the Benefit of thefe ' 
 K Troops
 
 146 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Troops to protect you againft the Incurfions of 
 the much injured and exafperated Savages ; 
 moreover, in Cafe of Difference with other 
 Powers, you will have none to complain to, none 
 to afllft you : For affure yourfelf, that Holland* 
 France, and Spain, will look upon you with an 
 evil Eye; and will bee particularly on their 
 Guard againft you, left fuch an Example fhould 
 infect their own Colonies , not to mention that 
 the two latter will not care to have fuch a Ned 
 of profeffed Smugglers fo very near them. 
 And after all, and in Spite of any thing you can 
 do, we in Britain mall ftill retain the greateft Part 
 of your EuropeanTra.de ; becaufe we mail give 
 a better Price for many of your Commodities 
 than you can have any where elfe ; and we mall 
 fell to you feveral of our Manufactures, efpeci- 
 ally in the Woollen, Stuff, and Metal Way, 
 on cheaper Terms. In Ihort you will do then, 
 what you only do now; that is, you will trade 
 with us, as far as your Intereft will lead you, 
 and no farther. 
 
 TAKE now a Picture of your internal State. 
 When the great Power, which combined the 
 fcattered Provinces together, and formed them 
 into one Empire, is once thrown off; and when 
 there will be no common .Head to govern and 
 protect, all your ill Humours will break forth 
 like a Torrent: Colony will enter into Bicker-' 
 
 ings and Difputes againft Colony ; Faction will 
 
 D i o . 
 
 intrigue
 
 SUBJECTS. 147 
 
 intrigue and cab il againft Faction-, and Anarchy 
 and Confufion will every where prevail. The 
 Leaders of your Parties will then be fetting all 
 their Engines to work, to make Fools become 
 the Dupes of Knaves, to bring to Maturity 
 their half-formed Schemes and lurking Defigns, 
 and to give a Scope to that towering Ambition 
 which was checked and retrained before. In 
 the mean Time, the Mafs of your People, who 
 expected, and who are promifed Mountains of 
 Treafures upon throwing of?, what was called^ 
 the Yoke of the Mother Country, will meet 
 with nothing but fore Difappointments: Difap- 
 pointments indeed ! For inttead of an imaginary 
 Yoke, they will be obliged to bear a real, a 
 heavy, and a galling one: Inftcad of being 
 freed from the Payment of ioo,oool. (which 
 is the ntmoft that is now expected from them) 
 they will find themfelves loaded with Taxes to 
 the Amount of at lead 400,000! : Inftead of an 
 Increafe of Trade, they will feel a palpable Dc- 
 creafe , and inflead of having Troops to de- 
 fend them, and thofe Troops paid by Great-En- 
 tain,ihey muft defend them!elves,and pay them- 
 felves. Nay, the Number of the. Troops o be 
 paid, will be more than doubled ; for tome rnuft 
 be Rationed in the back Settlements to protect 
 them agamft the Indians, whom they have fo 
 often injured and exafperatecl, and others alfo 
 on each Frontier to prevent the Encroachments 
 K2 of
 
 148 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 of each Sifter Colony. Not to mention, that 
 the Expences of your Civil Governments will be 
 neceffarily increafed ; and that a Fleet, more or 
 lefs, muft belong to each Province for guard- 
 ing their Coafts, enfuring the Payment of Du- 
 ties and the like. 
 
 UNDER all thefe Prefllires and Calamities, 
 your deluded Countrymen will certainly open 
 their Eyes at laft. For Difappointments and 
 DiftrefTes will effectu ate that Cure, which Rea- 
 fon and Argument, Lenity and Moderation, 
 could not perform. In fhort, having been fe- 
 verely fcourged and difciplined by their own 
 Rod, they will curfe their ambitious Leaders 
 and deteft thofe Mock- Patriots, who involved 
 them jn fo many Miferies. And having been 
 forfeited with the bitter Fruits of American 
 Republicifm, they will heartily wifh, and peti- 
 tion to be again united to the Mother Country. 
 Then they will experience the Difference between 
 a rational Plan of Conftitutional Dependence, 
 and the wild, romantic, and definitive Schemes 
 of popular Independence. 
 
 AND you alfo, after you have played the 
 Hero, and fpoke all your fine Speeches j after 
 you have been a Gtiftavus Vafa^ and every other 
 brave Deliverer of his Country ; after you have 
 formed a thoufand Utopian Schemes, and 
 t?een a thoufand Times difappointed ; perhaps 
 even you may awake out of your prefent po- 
 litical 
 -.. # ' >*
 
 SUBJECT S. 149 
 
 litical Trance, and become a reafonable Man 
 at laft. And aflure yourfelf, that whenever 
 you can be cured of your prefent Delirium, 
 and mall betray no Symptoms of a Relapfe, 
 you will be received with Affection by 
 
 Tour true Friend, 
 
 And faithful Monitor* 
 
 A* B 
 
 " i''?. 1 ' '; ' : 
 
 qiCi 
 
 TRACT
 
 v 
 
 > y\^*W/2xCrt& 
 
 T R A C 
 
 T 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE 
 
 True Intereft of Great-Britain 
 
 SET FORTH 
 
 In REGARD to the COLONIES; 
 
 And the only Means of 
 
 Living in Peace and Harmony with them. 
 
 VERY flrange Notion is now induf- 
 trioufly fpreading, that 'till the late 
 unhappy Stamp- Act, there were no 
 Bickerings and Difcontents, no 
 Heartburnings and Jealoufies fubfifting between 
 the Colonies and the Mother Country. It feems 
 'till that fatal Period, all was Harmony, Peace, 
 and Love. Now it is fcarcely poflible even for 
 K4 the
 
 152 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 the moil fuperficial Obfcrver, if his Knowledge- 
 extends beyond the Limits of a Newfpaper, 
 not to know, That this is entirely falfe. .And if 
 he is at all converfant in the Hiftory of the Co- 
 lonies, and has attended to the Accounts of their 
 original Plantation, their Rile, and Progrefs, 
 he muft know, that almoft from the very Be- 
 ginning, there were mutual Difcontents, mutual 
 Animofities and Reproaches. Indeed, while 
 theie Colonies were in a mere State of Infancy, 
 dependent on their Mother Country, not only 
 for daiiy Protection, but almoft for daily Bread, 
 it cannot be fuppoled that they wouW give 
 themfelves the lame Airs of Self-fufEciency and 
 Independence, as they did afterwards, in Pro- 
 portion as they grew up to a State of Maturity. 
 But that they began very early to fhew no other 
 Marks of Attachment to their ancient Parent, 
 than what arofe from Views of Self-Intereft and 
 Self-Love, many convincing Proofs might be 
 drawn from the Complaints c/, and the Inftruc- 
 tions to, the Governors of the refpective Pro- 
 vinces ; from the Memorials of our Boards of 
 Trade, prefented from Time to Time to" his Ma- 
 jeftv's Privy Council againft the Behaviour of 
 the CoJonifts j from the frequent Petitions and 
 Re rrt on (trances of our Merchants and Manu- 
 facturers to the fame Effect j and even from the 
 Votes and Resolutions of feveral of their Pro- 
 vincial Affemblies againft the Intereft, Laws, 
 
 j 
 and
 
 SUBJECTS. 153 
 
 and Government of the Mother Country , yet 
 I will wave all thefe at prefent, and content my- 
 felf with Proofs (till more authentic and unex- 
 ceptionable , I mean the public Statutes of the 
 Realm : For from them it evidently appears, 
 that long before there were any Thoughts of 
 the Stamp- Act, the Mother Country had the 
 following Accufations to bring againft the Co- 
 lonies, viz. i ft. That they refufed to fubmit to 
 her Ordinances and Regulations in Regard to 
 Trade. idly, That they attempted tc frame 
 Laws, and to erect Jurifdictions not only inde- 
 pendently of her, but even in direct Oppofition 
 to her Authority. And 3dly, That many of 
 them took unlawful Methods to fkreen them- 
 felves from payingthejuft Debts they owed to the 
 Merchants and Manufacturers of Great Britain. 
 
 THESE are the Objections of the Mother- 
 Country to the Behaviour of the Colonies long 
 before their late Outrages, and their prefent Con- 
 duct :~-For even as early as the Year 1670, it 
 <.ioth appear, that MANY COMPLAINTS (the very 
 V/ords of the Act) had been made againft the 
 American Proprietors of Ships and Vcfiels, for 
 engaging in Schemes of Traffic, contrary to 
 the Regulations contained in the Act of Navi- 
 gation, and in other Statutes of the Realm made 
 for confining the Trade of the Colonies to the 
 Mother Country. Nay, fo fenfible was the 
 Parliament, above an hundred Years agq, that 
 
 Pro-
 
 154 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Profecutions for the Breach of thofe Laws would 
 be to little or no Effeft, if carried on in Ame- 
 rican Courts, or before American Juries, that it 
 is exprefsly ordained, " It fhall, and may be law- 
 " ful for any Perfon or Perfons to profecute 
 " fuch Ship or Veffel [offending as defcribed in 
 " the preceding Section) in any Court of Ad- 
 " miralty in England \ the one Moiety of the 
 " Forfeiture, in Cafe of Condemnation, to be 
 " to his Majefty, his Heirs, and Succeflbrs ; and 
 " the other Moiety to fuch Profecutor or Pro- 
 " fecutors thereof." [See 22 and 23 of Ch. II. 
 Cap. 26, 12 and 13.] And we find, that 
 two Years afterwards, viz. 25 of Ch. II. Cap. 7. 
 the fame Complaints were again renewed , and 
 in Confequence thereof higher Duties and ad- 
 ditional Penalties were laid on, for the more ef- 
 fectually enforcing of the Obfervance of this 
 and of the former Laws : But in Spite of all 
 that was done, Things grew worfe and worfe 
 every Day. For it b obferveable, that in the 
 Year 1696, the very Authority of the Englifli 
 Legiflature, for making fuch Laws and Regula- 
 tions, feemed to have been called in Queflion ; 
 which Authority, therefore, the Parliament was 
 obliged to affcrt in Terms very peremptory , 
 and I may likewife add, very prophetical. The 
 Law made on this Cccafion. was the famous 
 Statute of the 7th and 8th of WM. III. Cap. 7. 
 wherein, after the Recital of " divers A6ls 
 
 " made
 
 SUBJECTS. , 55 
 
 " made for the Encouragement of the Naviga- 
 . " tion of this Kingdom, and for the better fe- 
 *' curing and regulating the Plantation Trade, 
 ' it is remarked > chat notwithftandingfuch Laws, 
 " great abufes are daily committed to the Pre- 
 judice of the Englifli Navigation, and the 
 " Lofs of great Part of the Plantation Trade 
 " to this Kingdom, by the Artifice and Cunning 
 " of ill difpofed Perfons." Then, having pre- 
 fcribed fuch Remedies as thefe great Evils 
 feemed to require, the Ad: goes on at . 7. to 
 ordain, " 1 hat all the Penalties and Forfeitures 
 " beforementioned, not in this Act particular- 
 " ly difpofed of, ihall be one third Part to 
 " the Ufe of his. Majeily, his Heirs, and Suc- 
 " ceflbrs, and one third Part to the Governor 
 " of the Colony or Plantation where the Offence 
 " ihall be committed, and the other third Pare 
 " to fuch Perlbn or Perfons as (hall fue for the 
 " fame, to be recovered in any of his Majeity's 
 " Courts at Weftmti$ff) or in the Kingdom of 
 " Ireland, or in the Courts of Admiralty held in 
 " his Majelty's Plantations refpectively, where 
 " fuch Offence mall be committed, at the Plea- 
 "fare of the Officer or Informer , or in any othec* 
 " Plantation belonging to any Subject of England* 
 ** wherein no EfToin, Protection, or Wager of 
 " Law (hall be allowed ; and that where any 
 44 Queftion fhall arile concernmg the Importa- 
 " tion or Exportation of any Goods into or out
 
 156 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 of the faid Plantations, in fuch Cafe the Proof 
 " fnall lie upon the Owner or Claimer; and 
 " the Claimermall be reputed to be thelmpor- 
 " ter or Owner thereof." 
 
 Now here it is obvious to every Reader, that 
 the Sufpicions which the Parliament had for- 
 merly conceived of the Partiality of American 
 Courts, and American Juries in Trials at Law 
 with the Mother-Country, were fo far from 
 being abated by Length of Time, that they 
 were grown higher than ever , becaufe it ap- 
 pears by this very Act, that the Power of the 
 Officer or Informer was greatly enlarged, hav- 
 ing the Option now granted him of three dif- 
 ferent Countries for profecuting the Offence ; 
 whereas in the former of Charles II. made 16 
 Years before, he had only two. Moreover it 
 was this Time further ordained, that the Onus 
 probandi mould reft on the Defendant, and alfo 
 that no * EfToin, Protection, or f Wager of 
 Law mould be allowed him. 
 
 BUT above all, and in order to prevent, i 
 poPiible, every Sort of Chicane for the future, 
 and to frustrate all Attempts of the Colonies, 
 
 * An Eflqin fignifies, in Law, a Pretence or Excufe. 
 
 f A Wager at Law, is a Power granted to the Defen- 
 dant to Jhvear, together w"th other Compurgators, that he 
 owes nothing to the Plaintiff in the Manner fet forth. It 
 is eafy to fee what ufe would have been made of fuch 
 Power, had it been allowed. 
 
 either
 
 SUBJECTS. 157 
 
 cither to throw off or evade the Power and Ju- 
 rifdiction of the Mother Country,-- It was at 
 9. " further enacted and declared by the Au- 
 " thority aforefaid, that all Laws, Bye-Laws, 
 " Ufages, or Cuftoms, at this Ttime^ or which 
 " hereafter fhall be in Practice, or endeavoured* 
 " or -pretended to be in Force or Practice, in any 
 " of the faid Plantations, which are in any wife 
 " repugnant to the before-mentioned Laws, or 
 " any of them, fo far as they do relate to the 
 " faid Plantations, or any of them, or which are 
 " any ways repugnant to this prefent Act, OR 
 
 " TO ANY OTHER LAW HEREAFTER TO BE MADE 
 
 " IN THIS KINGDOM, fo far as fuch Law lhall 
 " relate to, and mention the faid Plantations, 
 *' are ILLEGAL, NULL, AND VOID TO ALL IN- 
 
 *' TENTS AND PURPOSES WHATSOEVER." 
 
 WORDS could hardly be devifed to exprefs 
 the Sentiments of the Englifli Legiflature, more 
 fully and ftrongly, than thefc have done : And 
 if ever a Body of uninfpired Men were endowed 
 with a Spirit of Divination, or of forefeeing, 
 and alfo of providing againft untoward future 
 Events, as far as human Prudence could extend, 
 the King, Lords, andCommonsof the JEra. 1696, 
 were the very Men. For they evidently forc- 
 faw, that a Time was approaching, when the 
 Provincial Afiemblies would difpute the Right 
 of American Sovereignty with the great and 
 general Council of the Britijh Empire : And 
 
 therefore
 
 158 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 therefore they took effectual Care thar whenever 
 
 the Time came, no Law, no Precedent, nor 
 
 ' * ' 
 
 Prefcription fhould be wanting, whereby the 
 Morher Country might affert her conilitutional 
 and inherent Right over the Colonies. 
 
 BUT notwithstanding thefe wife Precautions, 
 fOme of the Colonies foun 1 Ways and Me ins to 
 evade the Force and Meaning even of this ex- 
 prefs Law, at leaft for a Time, an 1 'till the 
 Legiflature could be fufficiently apprized of the 
 Injury defigned. The Colonifts, who pracVifed 
 thefe difingenuous Arts with mod Succefs, were 
 thole who were endowed with chartered Govern- 
 ments, and who, in Confequence of the extra- 
 ordinary Favours thereby indulged them, could 
 nominate or ele<5t their own Council, and (if 
 my Memory doth not fail me) their own Go- 
 vernors likewife; at leaft, who could grant 
 fuch Salaries to their Governors, and with fuch 
 Limitations, as would render them too depen- 
 dent on the Will and Pleafure of their Pay- 
 Mafters. Hence therefore it came to pafs, that 
 in the Colonies of Rhode I/land and Ft evidence 
 Plantations. Connecticut, the Maj[achufet\ Bay, 
 and New Hampfliire ; the Governors of thele 
 Provinces fuffered themfehes .to be -perjuaaed to 
 
 rive their Sanction to certain Votes and Kdblu- 
 
 
 
 tions of their Aflemblies and Councils ; whereby 
 
 Laws \vcre enaded firft to iffue out Bills of 
 Credit to a certain Amount, and then to make 
 
 a
 
 SUBJECTS. 159 
 
 a Tender of thofe Bills to be confidered as an 
 adequate Difcharge of Debts, and a legal Re- 
 leafefrom Payment. A moft compendious Me- 
 thod this for getting out of Debt ! And were 
 the like Artifice to be authorized every where, 
 I think it is very evident, that none but the. 
 moft ftupid Ideot would be incapable of dif- 
 charging his Debts, Bonds, or Obligations ; and. 
 that too without advancing any Money. 
 
 HOWEVER, as foon as the Britifli Legislature 
 came to be fully apprized of this Scheme of Ini- 
 quity, they paired a Law, " to regulate and 
 " reftrain Paper Bills of Credit in his Majefty's 
 " Colonies or Plantations, of Rhode- I/land and 
 " Providence Plantations, Connecticut ^ the Maf- 
 " fachufefs Eay^ and New HampJJiire^ in Ame- 
 " rica , and to PREVENT THE SAME BEING LE- 
 " GAL TENDER.S IN PAYMENTS OF MONEY." 
 This is the very Title of the Statute ; but for 
 further Particulars, and for the different Regula- 
 tions therein contained, confult the Act itielfj 
 24th of George II. Cap. 53, Anno 1751. 
 
 Now will any Man after this dare to fay, that 
 the Stamp-Act was the firfl Caufe of DifTention 
 between the Mother Country and her Colonies ? 
 "Will any Man dill perfift in maintaining ib grofs 
 a Paradox, that 'till that fatal Period, the Co- 
 lonies {hewed no Reluctance to fubmit to the 
 commercial Regulations, no Difpofition to con- 
 teft the Authority, and no Delire to Queftion 
 
 the
 
 160 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 the Right of the Mother Country ? The Man 
 who can maintain thele Paradoxes, is incapable 
 of Conviction, and therefore is not to be rea- 
 ibned with any longer. " But the Stamp-Act 
 "made bad to become ivorfe : ~ The Starnp- 
 t(r Act irritated and inflamed, and greatly en- 
 " creafed all thofe ill Humours, which were but 
 " too predominant before." Granted , and I 
 will further add, that any other Act, or any 
 other Meafure, of the Brit i/h Government, as 
 well as the Stamp- Act, if it were to compel 
 the Colon ifts to contribute a fingle Shilling to- 
 wards the general Expence of the Britifli Em- 
 pire, would have had the fame Effect. For, 
 be it ever remembered, that the Coloniits did 
 not fo much object to the Mode of this Tax- 
 ation, as to the Right itfelf of levying Taxes. 
 Nay, their Friends and Agents here in England 
 were known to have frequently declared, That 
 if any Tax were to be crammed down their 
 Throats without their Confent, and by an Au- 
 thority which they difallowed, they had rather 
 pay this Scamp-Daty than any other. 
 
 BUT indeed, and properly fpeaking, it was 
 not the Stamp- Act which increafed or heightened 
 thefe ill Humours in the Colonifts j it was rather 
 the Reduction of Canada^ which called forth 
 thofe Difpolitions into Action which had long 
 been generating before , and which were ready 
 toburft forth at the firft Opportunity that mould 
 
 offer.
 
 SUBJECTS. 161 
 
 offer. For an undoubted Fact it is, that from 
 the Moment in which Canada came into the 
 Poflcffion of the Englijh^ an End was put to 
 the Sovereignty of the Mother- Country over 
 her Colonies. They had then nothing to fear 
 from a foreign Enemy ; and as to their own do- 
 meftic Friends and Relations, they had for fo 
 many Years preceding been accuftomed to tref- 
 pafs upon their Forbearance and Indulgence, 
 even when they mod wanted their Protection, 
 that it was no Wonder they fbould openly re- 
 nounce an Authority which they never thoroughly 
 approved of, and which now they found to be no 
 longer necefiary for their own Defence. 
 
 BUT here fome may be apt to afk, 4i Had the 
 " Colonies no Provocation on their Part ? And 
 " was all the Fault on one Side, and none on 
 " the other?" Probably not: Probably there 
 were Faults on both Sides. But what doth this 
 lerve to prove ? If to exculpate the Colonies in 
 regard to their prefent refractory Behaviour, it 
 is needlefs , for 1 am far from charging our 
 Colonies in particular with being Sinners above 
 others-, becaufe I believe (and if 1 am wrong, 
 let the Hiftory of all Colonies, whether antient 
 or modern, from the Days of Thucydides 
 down to the prefent Time, confute me if it can) 
 I lay, 'till that is done I believe, that it is the 
 Nature of them all to afpire after Independence, 
 and to fet up for themfelves as foon as ever they 
 L find
 
 162 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 find that they are able to fubfift, without being- 
 beholden to the Mother-Country. And if our 
 Americans have expreflfcd themfelves fooner on 
 this Head than others have done, or in a more 
 direfr. and daring Manner, this ought not to be 
 imputed to any greater Malignity, or Ingrati- 
 tude in them, than in others ; but to that 
 free Conftitution, which is the Prerogative and 
 Boaft of us all. We ourfelves derive our 
 Origin from thofe very Saxons, who inhabited 
 the lower Parts of Germany, and yet I think it is 
 fufficiently evident, that we are not over com- 
 plailant to the Defendants of thefe lower Saxons, 
 i. e. to the Offspring of our own Progenitors; 
 nor can we with any Colour of Reafon, pretend 
 to complain that even the Boftonians have treated 
 us more indignantly than we have treated the' 
 Hanoverians. What then would have been the 
 Cafe, if the little infignificant Electorate of 
 Hanover had prefumed to retain a Claim of So- 
 vereignty over fuch a Country as Great-Britain, 
 the Pride and Miftrefscf the Ocean ? Arid yet, 
 I believe, that in Point of Extent or Territory, 
 the prefent Electoral Dominions, infigniricant as 
 they are fometimes reprefented, are more than 
 a Moiety of England, exckifive of Scotland and 
 Wales : Whereas the whole Ifland of Great- 
 Britain, is fcarcely a twentieth Part of thofe vail 
 Regions which go under the Denomination of 
 North- America. 
 
 ' 'BESIDES,
 
 SUBJECTS. 163 
 
 BESIDES, if the American Colonies belonging 
 to France or Spain y have not yet fet up for In- 
 dependence, or thrown off the Mafk fo much 
 as the Englifli Colonies have donewhat is this 
 fuperior Referve to be imputed to? Not to 
 any greater filial Tendernefs in them for their 
 refpeftive antient Parents than in others ; not 
 to Motives of any national Gratitude, or of na- 
 tional Honour ; but becaufe the Conftitution 
 of each of thofe parent States is much more 
 arbitrary and defpotic than the Conftitution of 
 Great-Britain ; and therefore their refpective 
 Offsprings are * awed by the Dread of Punim- 
 ments from breaking forth into thofe Outrages, 
 which ours dare do with Impunity. Nay more, 
 the very Colonies of France and Spain? though 
 they have not yet thrown off their Allegiance, 
 are neverthelefs as forward as any in difobeying 
 the Laws of their Mother Countries, wherever 
 they find an Intereft in fo doing. For the Truth 
 of this Fact, I appeal to that prodigious clan- 
 deftine Trade which they were continually carry- 
 ing on with us, and with our Colonies, contrary 
 to the exprefs Prohibitions of France and Spain : 
 And I appeal alfo to thofe very free Ports which 
 the Briti/h Legiflature itfelf hath lately opened 
 
 * But notwithstanding this Awe, it is now pretty gene- 
 rally known, that the French Coloniits of Hifpaniola en- 
 "deavoured lately to lhake off the Government of Old France, 
 and applied to the Britijh Court for that Purpofe. 
 
 L 2 for
 
 164 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL. 
 
 for accommodating thefe fmuggling Golonife to 
 trade with the Subjects of Great-Britain^ in Di- 
 obedience to- the Injunction of their Mother- 
 Countries. 
 
 ENOUGH furely has been faidon this Subject ; 
 and the Upfhot of the whole Matter is plainly 
 this, That even the arbitrary and defpotic 
 Governments, of France and Spain (arbitrary I 
 fay, both in Temporals and in Spirituals) main- 
 tainiheir Authority over their American Colonies 
 but very imperfectly; in- as much as they can- 
 not reftrain them from breaking through thofe 
 Rules and Regulations of exclulive Trade ; for 
 the Sake of which all Colonies feemed: to have 
 been originally founded. What then lhall. we 
 fay in Regard to inch Colonies as are the Ofi> 
 fpring of a. free Conftitution ? And after what 
 Manner, or according to what Rule, are our 
 own in particular to be governed, without ufing 
 any Force or Compulfion, or purfuing any 
 Meaflire repugnant to their own Ideas of civil 
 or religious Liberty ? In fliort, and to Him up. 
 all, in one Word, How fnall we be able to ren- 
 der thefe Colonies more fubfervient to the Ii>-_ 
 cerefts, and more obedient to the Laws and Go- 
 vernment of the Mother Country, than, they 
 voluntarily chitfe to be? After having pondered 
 and revolved the Affair over and over, I con- 
 feis, there feems to me to be but the five follow- 
 ing Propolis, which, can poffibly be made,, viz.
 
 SUBJECTS. 165 
 
 i ft, To fuffer Things to go on for a while, 
 as they have lately done, in Hopes that fome 
 favourable Opportunity may offer for recovering 
 the Jurikliction of the Britijh Legislature over 
 her Colonies, and for maintaining the Authority 
 of the Mother- Country. Or if thefe tempo- 
 riiing Meafures mould be found. to. ftrengthen 
 and confirm the Evil, inftead of removing 
 .it; vthen, 
 
 2dly, -To attempt to perfuade the Colonies to 
 fend over -a certain Number of Deputies, or 
 Reprefentatives to fit and vote in the Britifli 
 Parliament; in order to incorporate America 
 and Great-Britain into one common Empire. 
 Or if this .Propofal mould be found impra&i- 
 cable, whether on Account of the Difficulties 
 attending'ittm this Side of the \ Atlantic y or be- 
 caufe that the Americans themfelves -would not 
 concur in> fuch a Meafure; then, 
 
 3dly, To declare open War againft them 
 as Rebels and Revolters-, and after having 
 made a perfedl Conqueft of the Country, then 
 -to govern it by military Force and defpotic 
 Sway. Or if this Scheme mould be judged 
 (as it ought, to be) the mod deftrucYive, and the 
 lead eligible of any ; then, 
 
 4thly, To propofe to confent that America 
 
 fhould become the general Seat of Empire; 
 
 and that Great-Britain and Ireland fhould be 
 
 governed by Vice-Roys fent over from the 
 
 L 3 .Court
 
 166 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Court Refidencies, either at Philadelphia or 
 New-Tork) or fome other American imperial 
 City. Or if this Plan of Accommodation 
 fliould be ill-digefted by home- born En^li/hmen^ 
 who, I will venture to affirm, would never fub- 
 mit to fuch an Indignity -, then, 
 
 5thly, To propofe to feparate entirely from 
 the Colonies, by declaring them to be a free 
 and independent People, over whom we lay no' 
 Claim ; and then by offering to guarantee this 
 Freedom and Independence againft all foreign 
 Invaders whomfoever. 
 
 Now thefe being all the Plans which, in the 
 Nature of Things, feem capable of being pro- 
 pofed, let us examine each of them in their 
 Order. 
 
 FIRST SCHEME. 
 
 AND ift, as to that which recommends the 
 furFering all Things to go on as they have 
 lately done, in Hopes that fome favourable Op- 
 portunity may arife hereafter for recovering the 
 Jurifdidtion, and vindicating the Honour of the 
 Mother Country. 
 
 THIS Propofal is very unhappy at firflr 
 fetting out ; becaufe it takes that for granted, 
 which Hiftpry and Experience prove to be falfe. 
 It fuppofes, that Colonies may become the more 
 obedient, in Proportion as they are fuffered to 
 grow the more headftrong, and, to feel their own 
 Strength and, Independence ; than which Sup- 
 
 pofition
 
 SUBJECT S. 167 
 
 : pofition there cannot be a more palpable Ab- 
 -furdity. For if a Father is not able to govern 
 his Son at the Ages of 14 or 1 6 Years, how 
 .can it be fuppofed that he will be better able 
 when the Youth is become a Man of full Age 
 and Stature, in the Vigour of Health and 
 Strength, and the Parent perhaps more feeble 
 and decrepid than he was before ? Befides, it is 
 a Fact, that the Colonies, from almoft one End 
 of North- America to the other, have already re- 
 voked from under the j urifdiction of the Britiffi 
 LegiQature , - each Houfe of Affembly hath 
 .already arrogated to itfelf a new Name, by 
 (tiling itfelf an HOUSE OF COMMONS ; ia Con- 
 fequencc of .which Stile and Title, they have 
 already, declared, that the Britifh Houfe of Com- 
 mons neither hath, nor ought .to have, any- 
 Right to intermeddle in their Concerns. Now, 
 after they have advanced thus far already, what 
 Rhetoric would you ufe for calling thefe Re- 
 volters back? And is it at all probable, that the 
 Pro/incial Aflfrmblies would be induced by the 
 Force of Oratory to renounce their own Impor- 
 tance, and to acknowledge- that to be a Crime^ 
 which both they, and the People whom they re- 
 prcfent, glory in as fheir Birth-right and un- 
 aliemibk Frerpgative ? The Man that can lup- 
 .poie thele filings, muft have a moil extraordi- 
 nary Opinion of his own Eloquence. 
 
 JL 4 BUT
 
 1 68 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 BUT here perhaps fome may be inclined to 
 aflk, Why would you meddle with the Colonies, 
 at all ? And why not fufFer Things to remain 
 in ftatu quo ? The obvious Anfwer to which 
 Queftions-is this, * That it is not the Mother- 
 Country which meddles with the Colonies, 
 but the Colonies which meddle with the 
 Mother-Country: For they will not permit her 
 to govern in the Manner me ought to do, and 
 according to the original Terms of the Conftitu- 
 tion , but are making Encroachments on her 
 Authority every Day. Moreover as they in- 
 creafe in Riches, Strength, and Numbers, 
 their civil and military Eftablifhments muft ne- 
 cefTarily increafe likewife -, and feeing that this 
 Circumftance is unavoidable, who is to defray 
 the growing Expences of thefe increafing and 
 thriving Colonies ? " The Colonies themfelves 
 
 O 
 
 " you will naturally fay, becaufe none are fo fit, 
 * c and none fo able :" And perhaps fome Ame- 
 rican Advocates will likewife add, " That the 
 
 * See the preceding Letter from a Merchant in London to 
 his Nephew in America ; wherein it is proved, to aDemon- 
 ftration, that the Powers, which the Colonies will not allow 
 the Mother-Country xo<w to exercife over them, are no other 
 than what always belonged to her from the very firft Period 
 of their Settlements, and according to the original Terms of 
 their Conlliiution. The Qoeftion therefore is, Which of 
 the two, the Colonies, or the Mother-Country, ufurps on 
 the legal Rights and confutation aj Privileges of the other ? 
 
 f r- i 
 
 " Colonies
 
 SUBJECTS. 169 
 
 " Colonies do not refufe to defray thefe Ex- 
 " pences, provided they (hall be the fole Judges 
 *' of the Quantum to be raifed, or the Mode 
 ** of raifing it, and of the Manner of its Ap- 
 " plication," But here lies the Difficulty, 
 which remains yet to be folved : For jf the Co- 
 Jonies are to be allowed to be the fole Judges in 
 thefe Matters, the Sovereignty of the Britifli 
 Legiflature is entirely at an End; and thefe Co- 
 lonies become in Fadt, as much independent of 
 their Mother-Country, as we are independent of 
 Hanover or Hanover of us ; only indeed with 
 this Difference (which an American always chufes 
 to forget) That whereas we lay a Duty on all 
 raw Materials coming from the Electoral Do- 
 minions, we give a Bounty on thofe which are 
 imported from the Colonies. Befides, many 
 will be apt to afk, Could not this Matter be 
 compromifed in fome Degree ? And will nothing 
 lefs content the Colonies than a total Revolt 
 from under the Jurifdi&ion of the Mother- 
 Country ? Some well-meaning Perfons have 
 
 propofed, that each Colony, like each County 
 here in England, fhould be allowed to raife 
 Taxes for its own internal Ufes, whilft the Britifli 
 Parliament, the fovereign Council of the Eritijh 
 Empire, fhould prefide over the whole ; and 
 therefore fhould enact fuch Laws for the levjr- 
 ing of thofe general Taxes, as are to be applied 
 for the common Protection, the Good, and Be- 
 nefit
 
 170 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 nefit of all. But the Misfortune is, that the Co* 
 Ionics will not confent to this Partition of Power 
 and Jurifdiction i confequently any Scheme of 
 this Nature is utterly impracticable. Indeed the 
 late Stamp- Ad itfelf was no other than a Part 
 of this very Scheme : For the Money to be 
 raifed by that Tax, was to be applied to the 
 file Ufe of the Colonies, and to be emended no 
 where elfe but in die Colonies. Nay it was net 
 the Moiety, nor yet the third, nor the fourth 
 Part of the Sum which Great- Brit am was to 
 .have railed on the fame Account, and to have 
 expended in the ftme Provinces :--- So anxious 
 was the ancient indulgent Parent not to lav too 
 
 ^-> 
 
 heavy aBuiden on he. favourite Children. But 
 alas! Favourites of all Kinds feldom makethofe 
 returns of Giatitude and Obedience, which 
 might be expected. For even as to that bottled 
 Loyalty, which the Colonies have hitherto pro- 
 fefled to maintain towards his Majefly King 
 George^- -this Hands, and mud ftand, according 
 to their prefent political Syftem, on as precari- 
 ous a Footing as any of the reft of our Claims : 
 Por if the Britijh Parliaments have no Right to 
 make Laws to bind the Colonies, they certainly 
 ought not to be allowed to prefcribe to them who 
 Jhall be their King , much leJs cxught they to pre- 
 tend to a Right of enacting, That it fhail be a 
 moil capital Offence, even HIGH TREASON 
 itfelf, in a Colonift to dare to controvert the 
 
 Title
 
 SUBJECTS. 171 
 
 Title of any Prince or any Family, to the 
 American Throne, whom the Briti/h Parliament 
 fhall place thereon. 
 
 BESIDES, fome of thofe lower Houfes of 
 Affembly (which each Province now affects to 
 call its Houfe of Commons) have already pro- 
 ceeded to greater Lengths of Sovereignty and 
 Independence than a Britifli Houfe of Commons 
 ever prefumed to do except in the Days of the 
 grand Rebellion. For they have already arro- 
 gated to themfelves a Power of difpofmg* as 
 -well as ofraijing the public Monies, without the 
 Confent of the other Branches of the Legifla- 
 ture , which is, in fact, nothing lefs than the 
 Erection of fb many fovereign and independent 
 Democracies. Nay more, there is a general Com- 
 bination and Confederacy entered into among 
 them all : For each Houie of AfTembly hath 
 lately appointed a (landing Committee for cor- 
 refponding with the (landing Committees of 
 other Provinces, in order the more effectually to 
 oppofe the Authority and Jurifdiction of the 
 Mother-Country. 
 
 WHAT then is to be done in fuch a Cafe? 
 Evident it is beyond a Difpute* that timid and 
 temporifmg Meafures ferve to no other Purpofe 
 but that of confirming the Colonies in their 
 Oppofition, and flrengthcning them in their 
 prefent Revolt. 
 
 SCHEME
 
 172 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 SCHEME II. 
 
 WHEREFORE the 2d Propofal is, To attempt 
 to perfuade the Colonies to fend over a certain 
 Number of Reprefentatives to fit and vote in 
 the Britifli Parliaments, in order to incorporate 
 America and Great Britain into one common 
 Empire. 
 
 * THIS is the Scheme of a very womhy Gen- 
 tleman, eminently verfed in the Laws and Con- 
 flitution of Great-Britain^ and what is ftill 
 better, a real, not a pretended Patriot. Let us 
 therefore examine it with as much Refpecl and 
 Deference to -his Opinion, as the Caufe of 
 Truth will permit -, which I am well perfuaded, 
 is full as much as he would require. 
 
 HE begins with obferving very juftfy, Page 4, 
 *' That the Subjects of the Crown of Great- 
 < Britain^ mud (i. e. ought to) continue to be 
 *' fo in every Refpect, in all Parts of the 
 ** World, while they live under the Protec- 
 " tion of the Britifli Government ; and that 
 " their crofting the Atlantic Ocean with the 
 " King's Licence, and refiding in America for 
 ".the Purpoies of Trade, cannot affect their 
 . 
 
 * See a Pamphlet, " Confiderations on the Expedi- 
 " ency of admitting Reprefentatives from the American 
 " -Colonies into the Britijb Houfe of Commons." Loxdon, 
 .printed for B. WHITE, 1770. ' 
 
 legal 
 
 .
 
 SUBJECTS. 173 
 
 u legal Subjection to the governing Powers of ^ 
 " the Community to which they belong. 
 
 " BUT yet he obferves, that the total Want 
 " of the Reprefentatives in the great Council of 
 " the Nation, to fupport their Interefts, and give 
 " an Afifent on their Behalf to Laws and" Taxes 
 " by which they are bound and affected, is a 
 " Misfortune, which every Friend to Liberty and 
 " equal Government muft be forry to fee them 
 " labour under, and from which he muft wifli 
 " them to be relieved in a regular and conftitu- 
 " tional Manner, if ' fuch Relief can pojjibly be af- 
 " forded tlierr^ without breaking the Unity of the 
 '* Britifh Government" 
 
 HE therefore proceeds, at Page i o, to propofe 
 his Scheme for remedying this Misfortune -, 
 viz. " That about eighty Perfons might be ad- 
 " mitted to fit in Parliament, as Members of 
 " the Commons Houfe of Parliament for all 
 " the King's Dominions in America, the Weft- 
 " Indies, as well as North- America \ and that 
 * l their Stile and Title fliould be, THE COM- 
 " ?.;rss TONERS OF THE COLOXIES IN AMERICA.'** 
 After this he goes on to fix the Numbers re- 
 quifite to rcpreient each Colony, their Qualifi- 
 cation, and the Mode of their Election ; alfo 
 the Time of their continuing in Office, and the 
 Manner of their being re-elected, or fuperfeded 
 by others, if that Ihould be judged neceflary : 
 In all which, tho* the Propofals are not quite 
 
 con-
 
 174 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 confident with the Unity of the Britifli Govern- 
 ment, yet as he has obviated the Principal Dif- 
 ficulties, it would be both ill-natured and unjuft 
 to fpy out every fmall Fault, or to magnify Ob- 
 jections. 
 
 BUT when he came to give us the Form, the 
 Extent, and the Limitation of thefe Com- 
 miffions; nay, when he propofes to circumfcribe 
 the Authority and Jurifdiction of the Britijh 
 Parliament itfelf, even after it hath beeri 
 ftrengthened by the Acceffion of thefe Colony- 
 Reprefentatives ; there, I humbly apprehend* 
 the Importance of the Subject mould prepon- 
 derate over mere Deference and Complaifance. 
 Nay I will go ftill further, and add, that if the 
 Meafnres propofed mould be fhewn to have a 
 Tendency to beget endlefs Jealoufies, Quarrels, 
 and Divifions, between the Mother- Country 
 and the Colonies, inilead of proving a Means 
 of Reconciliation, and a Center of Union, the 
 Gentleman himfelf,-! am fully perfuaded, would 
 be among the firft in rejecting his own Plan. 
 Let us therefore now defcend into Particulars. 
 
 AND ift, it is propofed, Page n, That they 
 (the Commiffioners), mould receive a Commif- 
 fion in Writing from their Electors (viz. the 
 * AiTemblies in each Province) " IMPOWERING 
 
 " them 
 
 * Qftre, Whether it is intended that the lower Houfes 
 in each Aflembly ftiould have the ible Right of voting for 
 
 thefe
 
 SUBJECTS. 175 
 
 them to fit and vote in the Britifli Houfe of 
 14 Commons, and confuk with the King, and 
 " the- great Men of the Kingdom, and the 
 " Commons of the fame in Parliament aflem- 
 " bled, upon the great Affairs of the Nation, 
 " and to CONSENT on the Behalf of the Province, 
 " for which they were chofen, to fuch Things 
 " as mall be ordained in Parliament, &c. 
 
 Now this Perm might pafs very well among 
 ourfelves at Home, where the Majority are not 
 continually on the Watch to fpy out every Flaw, 
 real or imaginary: But in regard to the Colo- 
 nifts, and efpecially an AfTembly of Colonifts, 
 the Cafe is widely different : For it is well known 
 that their Wits are perpetually at work to avail 
 themfelves even of the Shadow of an Argument 
 to oppofe the Right and Authority of the 
 Mother-Country. Therefore they will imme- 
 diately fcize on the Words Impowering and Con- 
 fent, and reafon after the following fallacious 
 Manner : - " The Aflemblies who elecled the 
 c Commiflloners, have a Right to inftruct 
 
 thefe Commiflloners ? Or both Houfes jointly ? If the 
 former, then the Colony Governments would become ftfll 
 more demmratical than they now are, tho' already fo, to 
 luch an exceflive Degree, as to bealmoft incompatible with 
 any Idea of Monarchy : Bu-t if each Houie is to vote ft- 
 parately, what Jars and Faftions, and reciprocal Re- 
 proaches, would this occafion ! And how would they be 
 able to agree ? In fhort, cither Way, the Profpeft is alarm- 
 ing ! 
 
 "*) 
 
 " them j
 
 176 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 " them , and thefe Inftru&ions, when properly 
 <c drawn up, are no other than fo many Trufts 
 " or Powers granted to them from Time to 
 " Time, by the Affembly which elected them -, 
 " which Affembly hath therefore a Right to con- 
 " tract or enlarge their Commiffion, as they 
 * fhall find it to be the Intereft of the Province 
 " fo to do. Confequently, if thefe Commif- 
 " fioners fhould at any Time vote contrary to 
 " their Inftructions, that is, to their Commiffion, 
 " it follows, that in thefe Refpects they have 
 " exceeded the Bounds prefcribed by their 
 " Electors. Therefore, being themfelves pro- 
 " hibited from voting, and having no Authority 
 " to vote in fuch a Queftion, every Law wherein 
 " they gave their Suffrage, affecting the Interefts 
 * c of the Colonies in general, or any Province in 
 " particular, is, ipfo fatto, null and void. 
 
 AGAIN, <c The Colony Commiflioners are 
 '" to give their Confent in Behalf of the Province 
 " for which th".y are chofen^ to fuch Things as/hall 
 " be ordained in Parliament. This is the Foun- 
 " dation and Corner-Stone of all the Buiidino- : 
 " And therefore, if fuch or fuch Commiflioners 
 " did not give their Confent in Behalf of the 
 " Provinces for which they were chofen, then 
 " it follows, of Courfe, that no Law, affecting 
 " the Interefts of fuch respective Provinces, is 
 " obligatory, no Tax due or payable, nor any 
 <l Regulations made by the pretended Authority 
 
 11 of
 
 SUBJECTS. 177 
 
 " of the Britifli Parliament without the Con- 
 " fent of fuch CornmifTioners, are to be at all 
 " regarded by the American Electors."- --Thefe 
 are a few of thofe blefied Conclufions, which 
 the Politicians on the other Side of the Atlantic 
 will certainly draw from the Terms and Expref- 
 fions contained in fuch a Form. And what is 
 ftillworfe, both our own hare-brained Repub- 
 licans, and our Mock-Patriots at Home will as 
 certainly adopt the fame Language, and echo 
 back the fame fpecious, tho' falfe Allegations, 
 from one End of the Kingdom to the other. 
 Indeed many there are, even among ourfelves, 
 who, with the moft honeft and upright Inten- 
 tions, are at a Lofs at prefent how to dilintangle 
 themfelves from thefe fallacious Reaibnings. 
 For having unhappily learnt in Newfpaper Dif- 
 fertations, and from Coffee-houie Harangues, 
 that the Deputies fent to the great Council of 
 the Nation, are the mere Attornies of thofe who 
 elected them; the Inference is but natural, 
 that thefe Attornies ought to do as they are bid, 
 and that, in Cafe of Competition, they ought 
 not to prefer their own private Opinions to the 
 Judgment of their Conftituents.- I fay, this 
 Inference is natural; nay it is neceflfary, juft, 
 and true, were the Premiles but true from 
 whence it is deduced. 
 
 WHEREFORE, having often had the Advan- 
 tage of hearing no lefs a Perfon than the late 
 M ex-
 
 178 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 excellent Judge FOSTER, that true Friend to 
 all reafonabk Liberty, Civil and Religious, I 
 fay, having often heard him difcourfing on the 
 Rife and Origin of Parliaments, I will venture 
 to lay his State of the Cafe before my Reader, 
 hoping that it may remove all his Difficulties (if 
 he has any) and work the fame Fulnefs of Con- 
 viction in his Mind, which it did in mine. 
 
 " To reafon accurately, faid this upright and 
 *' able Lawyer, on the Origin of Parliaments, 
 " we muft trace the Matter up to its conftituent 
 " Principles. Now the firft Idea which flrikes 
 " one on this Occafion is, that of a large Af- 
 " fembly of different Tribes of Warriors, either 
 " preparing for fome military Expedition, or 
 *' got together, after a Victory, to [hare the 
 " Booty, and divide the Lands among the Con- 
 " querors. When all are met together in one 
 " Place, they chufe a Committee for managing 
 " their Affairs , having found it impracticable 
 " to tranfact any Bufinefs of Confequence in 
 " any other Way. Now this Committee, 
 " chofen by the whole Nation, actually afiem- ' 
 " bled, gives us the firft rude Draught of a na- 
 " tional Parliament, or a national Council. 
 " But in Procefs of Time, and when the Nation 
 " had made large Conquefts, and was cantoned 
 " into diftant Provinces, it was found to be ex- 
 " tremely inconvenient to aflemble the whole 
 " Nation together into one Place. Therefore 
 
 " the
 
 SUBJECTS. 179 
 
 " the next, and indeed the only Expedient, was, 
 <c that each Canton, or each Diftricl:, which could 
 " affemble, mould be authorized toelecl a De- 
 puty, or Deputies, not for it f elf alone, THAT 
 ** is THE.GRAN-D MISTAKE, but for the Nation 
 16 at large, which could not aflemble ; and the 
 " Powers to be granted to fuch Deputy, or 
 " Deputies, were juft the fame as ths Nation 
 " would have granted to them, had it been ac- 
 *' tually airembled. Hence therefore it comes 
 *' to pafs, that each -Deputy reprefents the whole 
 " Nation in general, as much as if he had been 
 " elected by the whole Nation ; and confe- 
 " quentiy fuch a Deputy is the Attorney (if lie 
 " muft be called by that Name) not of any one 
 " particular Tribe, Society, or Diftricl, but of 
 " the whole collefti'vely : So that it becomes the 
 " Duty of his Office to take Care of the Interefts 
 " of all the People in general, becaufe he repre- 
 " feats them all. In Ihort, he cannot, confiftently 
 * 6 with the Duty which he owes to the whole, 
 " pay any Deference to the Requeft, Indruflion, 
 " Remonftrance, or Memorial, of his particular 
 * c Eledors, except in fuch Cafes only wherein 
 " he is convinced in his Confcienoe, that the 
 " Meafures, which they require him to purfue, 
 *' are not incompatible with the public Good" 
 
 THUS far this great Judge of the Britifh Con- 
 
 ftitution. And tho' many important Inferences 
 
 might be drawn from hence, which would ef- 
 
 M 2 fe&ually
 
 180 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 remove thofe Difficulties, with which the Sub- 
 ject has of late,been artfully and itudioufly per- 
 plexed (and particularly in the Cafe of the 
 Expulfion * of a Member of the Houfe of Com- 
 mons) yet I fhall content myfclf with one general 
 Remark at prefent ? viz. That as each Clafs of 
 Men, each Society or Diftrict, throughout the 
 Britijh Empire, are as much reprefented by 
 thofc Deputies, whom they did not perfonally 
 elect, as they are by thofe whom they did , it 
 therefore follows, that there is no need, that the 
 Deputies, particularly elected by them, fhould 
 give their perfonal Confent to any Acts of the 
 Legiflature , becaufe A Vote of the Majority is 
 in fact a Vote of the Nation to all Intents and 
 Purpoies. 
 
 BUT it is now high Time to attend to another 
 Part of this Gentleman's Plan for admitting 
 Coijimiflioners from the Colonies to fit and vote 
 in the Britijh Houfe of Commons. 
 
 AND that is, 2dly, the Extent of their Com- 
 mifiion, and indeed theboundary Line prefcribed 
 to the Britijfi Parliament itfelf, whenever it fhall 
 interfere in American Affairs. For it feems (fee 
 
 * Surely the Nation might have expelled Mr. WILKES, 
 or have l>uck his Name out of the Lilt of Committee, 
 h;/, ''. been ..iTeiTibl<-d, ana had it thought proper fo to do. 
 WJi ir:e- fhual hinder the Deputies of the Nation from 
 doing ;hc lame Thing ? And which ought to prevail in this 
 Cafe, the Nation in general or the County of Mi4dlefex ? 
 
 P. I 4 )
 
 SUBJECTS. 181 
 
 P. 14) "That this legifhtive Power of Parlia- 
 " ment mould be exercifed butfeldoM) and on Oc- 
 " cafions of great NeceJJlty. Whatever related to 
 " the internal Government of any particular 
 " Colony (fuch as raifing the neceflary Taxes for 
 " the Support of its civil Government, and 
 " pafllng Laws for building Bridges, or Churches, 
 " or Barracks^ or other public Edifices ) fhould be 
 " left to the Governor and Afiembly of that 
 " Colony to tranfact among themfelves, unlefs 
 " in Cafes where the domeftic DifTentions of the 
 " Colony put a Stop to public Bufinefs, and 
 " created a Kind of Neceffity for the Interpofi- 
 " don of the fupreme Legiflature. But when 
 " any general Tax was to be impofed upon all 
 " the American Colonies for the Support of a 
 War^ or any other fuch general Purpofe , or 
 " any new Law was to be made to regulate the 
 " Trade of all the Colonies ; or to appoint the 
 " Methods by which Debts owing from the In- 
 *' habitants of one Colony to thole of another, 
 " or of Great-Britain^ fhould be recovered ; or 
 " to direcT: the Manner of bringing Criminals 
 *' to Juftice who have fled from one Colony to 
 " another , or to fettle the Manner of quar- 
 " tering the King's Troops in the feveral Co- 
 " Ionics \ or of levying Troops in them, and 
 " the Number each Colony fhould contribute; 
 " or to fettle the proportionable Values of difFe- 
 " rent Coins that mould be made current in the 
 M 3 *' feveral
 
 182 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 " feveral Provinces , or to eftablim a general 
 " Paper-Currency throughout America -, or for 
 " any other general Purpofe that relates to fe- 
 " veral Colonies : In thefe Cafes the Authority 
 " of Parliament mould be employed," 
 
 HERE now is a Kind of Barrier fet up be- 
 tween thefe two contending Powers, the Britiflt 
 Parliament, and the Provincial Afftmblies ; 
 a Barrier, which muft be held fo facred by both 
 Parties, as to limit their respective Pretenfions, 
 and to extinguish all further Claims. Let us 
 therefore fee how well this Scheme is calculated 
 to anfwer fuch good Purpofes. 
 
 AND firft it is faid, that the Parliament ought 
 to interfere but feldom -, and then only on Oc- 
 cafions of great Neceffity. Now here permit me 
 to afk, Who are to be the Judges of what isfel- 
 dom or what is frequent? Moreover, who is 
 to determine between the Parliament and the 
 Provincial Aflemblies, when there is a great 
 Neceffity for the Interference of the former, and 
 \vhen there is but a little one, or none at all ?--- 
 , Obvious it is, to all the World, that thefe jealous 
 ' Rivals will never fettle fuch Points among 
 themfelves ; and if they will not fettle them, in- 
 deed if they cannot, who is to be their common 
 Umpire or Referee? Befides, granting even 
 that this Difficulty could be got over in fome 
 Degree, another formidable one immediately 
 ftarts up, like another Hydra ; viz. What are 
 
 thefe
 
 SUBJECTS. 183 
 
 * * 
 
 thefc Colony Agents to do in our Houfe of 
 Commons, when no Colony Bufinefs happens 
 to be tranfa&ed ? Are they to remain as fo 
 many MUTES, without fpeaking a Word, or 
 giving a fingle Vote for Weeks, or Months, or 
 perhaps for a whole Scfllon together ? Or are 
 they to fit and vote in all Briti/h Caufes, great 
 or fmall ; notwithftanding that the Briti/h Se- 
 nators are precluded from voting, excepting in 
 extraordinary Cafes, in refpeft to the Colonies ? 
 In either Cafe here feems to be fomething in- 
 troduced into the Britifli Conftitution of a very 
 heterogeneous Nature ; fomething very repug- 
 nant to that Unity of Government, which the 
 Gentleman himfelf allows ought to be preferred 
 to every other Confideration : And I will add 
 further, that if the Colony-Commiflioners are 
 to fit and vote in all our Caufes, tho* our Britijk 
 Reprefentatives are reftnined from voting in 
 theirs, perhaps ninety-nine Times in an Hun- 
 dred, this will be the fetting up of one of the 
 mod partial, unequal, and unjuft Syftems of 
 Pacification, that ever yet appeared in the 
 World! 
 
 WE therefore proceed to another weighty 
 Objeftion againft the prefcnt Plan. The Terms 
 of this new Compaft are declared to be, Tha^t 
 the Colony Afiemblies mail be invefted with the 
 Right of internal and provincial Jurifdiction and 
 LegiQation ; while the Britifh Parliament, even 
 M 4 after
 
 184 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 after the Accefiion of thefe 80 Colony Com- 
 miffioners, fhall be content to retain only that 
 
 which is external and general. But here, 
 
 alas ! the very fame Difficulties return which 
 prefied fo hard before : For who is to judge 
 between the Eritifli Parliament and the Provin- 
 cial Affemblies in thefe Refpects? Who will 
 venture to afcertain in every Cafe what is ex- 
 ternal and general ; and what is merely internal 
 and provincial ? Nay indeed, may not the very 
 fame Things juftly pafs under both Denomina- 
 tions, according as they are feen from different 
 Points of View ? Surely they may ; and to 
 convince any Man of this, let him attend to the 
 very Catalogue of Articles, with which this Gen- 
 tleman hath himfelf prefented us. For at 
 Page 1 4, he obferves, " That whatever related 
 to the internal Government of any particular 
 " Colony, fliould be left to the Governor and 
 " Affembly of that Colony to tranfact among; 
 44 themfelves " among which Articles belong- 
 ing to internal Government, be enumerates the 
 building of Barracks, and of other PUBLIC Edi- 
 fices , and yet both he and every Man muft al- 
 low, that the building of Barracks, Forts, and 
 FortreiTes, the making of King's Docks and Ca- 
 reening Places for the Navy, the laying out of 
 military Roads, and the providing of Magazines 
 for Provifions and military Stores, confidered in 
 another View, are of a general Nature-, in the 
 
 Erection
 
 SUBJECTS. 185 
 
 Erection and Prefervation of which, the whole 
 Britijh Empire is deeply intereited. And yet 
 were the Briti/h Parliament to frame Laws, and 
 to levy Taxes on the Americans for thefe Pur- 
 pofes, what Outcries would immediately be 
 raifed againft the Mother-Country ! Every 
 Fortnefs, nay every Barrack, would be defcribed 
 as an odious Badge of Slavery, and every little 
 Magazine would be termed a Monument of 
 Tyranny and defpotic Power, and a Preparative 
 for deftroying the few Liberties that were left. 
 Again, at the Bottom of the fame Page, he 
 declares, that the Authority of Parliament 
 fhould be employed in fettling the Manner of 
 quartering the King's Troops in the feveral Colonies* 
 I will not object to the Interpofition of Parlia- 
 ment in fuch a Cafe : For I well know that if 
 the Parliament did not interfere, the Troops 
 would very often have no Quarters at all ; and 
 yet this very Circumftance would afford an 
 American Afiembly the mod inviting Opportu- 
 nity for Exclamation and Oppofition. " What! 
 " The BritiJJi Parliament to take upon them to 
 " fettle the Manner of quartering the Troops in 
 ** our own Province, and on our own Inhabitants ! 
 " Who fo proper Judges as ourfelves, when or 
 " where, or after what Manner they Ihould be 
 " quartered? And how came the Gentlemen, met 
 " at Trtftminjfer, to be acquainted with the Cir- 
 " cumftances of our People, and the Situation 
 
 "of
 
 i86 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 " of Places, better than we, who refidc on the 
 Spot ? No ! Thefe Ads of the Britijh Parlia- 
 " ment are all bare-faced Encroachments on our 
 " Liberties, and open Violations of our Rights 
 *' and Properties : They are the Chains which 
 " our pretended Protectors, but in Reality our 
 <l Egy/tf/tftfTafk-Mafters, have been long forging 
 " for us. Let therefore all unite, and man- 
 * c fully refift them ; let us poftpone the paying 
 " of Debts, and enter into a general Affbciation 
 *' to refute their Goods, to diftrefs their Trade, 
 <c and to harrals our cruel Enemies by every 
 " Method in our Power; and if we are thus 
 44 united, they muft yield^ as they did before" 
 In fhort it would be endlefs to recount all the 
 Topics which fuch a Scheme as this Gentleman 
 has propofed would certainly furnilh to every 
 popular Declaimer in every popular Aflembly ; 
 and the more improbable, the more abfurd and 
 unjufl his Harangues were in Point of found 
 Argument and juft Reafoning ; fo much, gene- 
 rally fpeaking, the more greedily would they be 
 received. 
 
 HOWEVER, there is one Point more which I 
 cannot omit, bccaufe it will throw a further 
 Light on this Matter, and difclofe a new Scene 
 of patriotic Manoeuvres, and the Wiles of Po- 
 liticians. At Page 13, this Author lays down 
 a general Rule for the Conduit of Parliament 
 with Refpeft to America, viz. " That it ought 
 
 to
 
 SUBJECTS. 187 
 
 * to be made a ftanding Order of both Houfcs 
 " of Parliament, never to pafs any Law, whe- 
 " ther for impofmg a Tax, or for regulating 
 " Trade, or for any other Purpofe whatfoever 
 " relating to any of the American Colonies, 'till 
 " one whole Year after the firft reading of the 
 " Bill -, unlefs it be to renew fome expiring 
 '* Laws of great Importance, and of immediate 
 " and urgent Neceflity, fuch as the Act for 
 " billeting the King's Troops, and perhaps fome 
 " few others that might be fpecially excepted in 
 * 4 the Order." 
 
 THIS is the Reftridtion in Point of Time, 
 which our Author propofes to lay on the Par- 
 liament of Great-Britain. " They never muft 
 " pafs any Law for impofmg a Tax 'till one 
 " whole Year after the firft reading of the Bill :" 
 Why ? " In order to give the feveral Colonies 
 " an Opportunity of making proper Reprefenta- 
 ' tions againft it, and to prevent the Parliament 
 " from making injudicious Laws, not fuited 
 " to the Condition of the Colonies." A fine 
 Contrivance truly ! and a moft effectual Expe- 
 dient to prevent the Parliament from ever 
 making any Laws to oblige the Americans to 
 difcharge their Duty towards the Mother- 
 Country: For this Gentleman might have 
 known, indeed it is hardly poffible that the 
 Fact could have efcaped his Notice, had he re- 
 collected it, that this very Circumftance of a 
 
 -v- , 
 
 J ear s
 
 i88 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 Tear's Procraftination was the main Engine eni- 
 ployed to batter down the late Stamp-Aft. 
 When the Duty on Stamps was firft propofed, 
 the Americans made as little Objection to it, as 
 could be fuppofed to be made to. any new Tax 
 whatever. Nay, feveral of their popular Ora- 
 tors and Leader's ufed confiderable Intereft to be 
 employed as Agents in the Diftribution of thefe 
 Stamps. But when the Outs and the Pouters 
 on this Side the Water, faw the Advantage 
 which the Minifter gave them by a whole 
 Year's Delay, they eagerly feized the Op- 
 portunity; Emiflaries and Agents were dif- 
 patched into all Quarters , the Newfpapers 
 were filled with Invectives againft the new- 
 intended Tax. It was injudicious ! it was ill- 
 timed ! oppreffive ! tyrannical ! and every- 
 Thing that was bad ! Letters upon Letters were 
 wrote to America to excite the People to afibciate, 
 to remonftrate, and even to revolt. The mod 
 ample Prom ifes were made from hence, of giv- 
 ing them all the Afiiftance which Faction, and 
 Clamour, and Mock-patriotifm, could mufter 
 up. 
 
 WELL, their indefatigable Endeavours proved 
 but too fuccefsful with an infatuated People : 
 For a violent Storm was raifed againft the Mi- 
 nifter for the Time being, and overfet him, as 
 they intended. Our patriotic Outs then became 
 the miniftcrial Ins-, and therefore the Storm hav- 
 ing
 
 SUBJECTS. 189 
 
 ing now done its Bufmefs, they had no further 
 Occafion for it, and wifhed it to fubfide. But 
 here they found themfelvesegregioufly miftaken. 
 For the Americans had, in their Turn, learnt the 
 Art of making Tools of them, inftead of being 
 made Tools by them : So that having been 
 taught by thefe Preceptors to feel their own 
 "Weight and Independence, they were not to be 
 wheedled by foothing and cajoling Letters to give 
 over their Enterprize, or to become atraftable, 
 obedient People for the future. In fhort, hence 
 it came to pafs, that even during the Continu- 
 ance of this new and favourite Adminiftration, 
 the American Spirit was rifmg all the while, in- 
 ftead of finking. And as like Caufes will always 
 produce like Effects, efpecially fince Things 
 have been fuffered to grow to fuch an Heighth, 
 evident it is to common Senfe, that any future 
 Attempt of the Eritijh Parliament to levy a Tax 
 on America^ will meet with no better a Fate than 
 the Stamp-Adi: has done. Moreover, a Year's 
 Delay in laying it on will juft^fo much Time 
 given the Colonies to prepare for Battle -, and 
 Woe to that Adminiftration which (hall purpofe 
 it ; for they will certainly be overturned by 
 the fame Arts and Managements which the for- 
 mer were, and with much greater Eafe. 
 
 I fhould now have done with this Gentleman's 
 Scheme, were it not that I find him, at Page 28, 
 
 making
 
 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 making a Kind of Apology to the Americans for 
 the Conduct of our Parliament in paying the 
 King's Debts of his Civil Lift. And I own 
 myfelf more hurt by this Paragraph, than by 
 all the reft of his Pamphlet : For as I am tho- 
 roughly perfuaded, he wrote from Conviction, 
 and not from any fmifter Views, one is forry to 
 find fo able, fo honeft, and upright a Man, 
 carried away by the Torrent of the Times to 
 fiich a Degree, as to adopt Notions, which are 
 almoft too crude for a Club of Livery Politici- 
 ans met in fome blind Alley at a City Ale- 
 houfe. His Words are thefe : " It is certain, 
 Cl that no fnch (exorbitant) Grants as are above 
 " mentioned have been made, unlefs in the fmgle 
 " Inftance of the Sum of 513,000! granted to 
 " his prefent Majefty for the Difcharge of the 
 " Debts of his Civil Lift. And in this Cafe I 
 c can eafily fuppofe, that a Motive of Com- 
 * pafllon for a Number of innocent Perfons,' 
 ** who would otherwife have been Sufferers from 
 * that Load upon his Majefty's Revenue, and 
 " an aiTe&ionate Defire of relieving their ex- 
 " cellent Sovereign (who has in no Inftance en- 
 <c deavoured to violate the Liberties of his Sub- 
 " je&s) from the unworthy Streights and In- 
 * c conveniences, ill becoming the Royal Dignity. 
 *' into which fome of his Minifters had brought 
 " him by the injudicious Management of his Re- 
 *' .venue, may have induced many Members of 
 
 the
 
 SUBJECTS. i 9 
 
 TC the Houfe of Commons to confent to this 
 ** Grant, without any View to their own private 
 ** Intereft ; though at the fame Time I ac- 
 " knowledge it to be, conjidering all its Circum- 
 " fiances i a dangerous Compliance, and not 
 " worthy to be drawn into Example." 
 
 Now if the Compliance of the Parliament 
 in difcharging this Debt was dangerous, the 
 Reafon mud be, becaufe the Circumftance of 
 contracting the Debt itfelf was really infamous ; 
 therefore ought not to be avowed, but had bet- 
 ter be fupprefTed in Tendernefs to the Royal 
 Caufe. But can this Author point out any fuch 
 infamous Circumftances, if he were minded to 
 ma&e the Difcovery ? I dare anfwer for him, 
 that he cannot. And as I will not fuppofe that 
 he has more Tales to tell than any other private 
 Gentleman, and much lefs that he himfelf was 
 an Accomplice in, or privy to any fuch Scenes 
 of Iniquity as are here insinuated, I will now 
 undertake to prove to him and the World, how 
 as great a Debt as this, nay, a much greater, 
 might have been contracted in the Space of ten 
 Years, without the leaft Impeachment of Wade, 
 Profufion, Mifmanagerhent, or any other Mif- 
 fipplication whatfoever. 
 
 EVERY Office, Dignity, Rank, or Station, has 
 a certain Character to fuftain, which ncccfiarily 
 requires a correfpondent Train of Expences; 
 fo that whether you confider the Demands upon
 
 192 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 a King with a Salary of 8oo,oool. a Year, or the 
 Demands on a private Gentleman with only a 
 clear Rental of 8ool. a Year, the Scale of Ex- 
 pences muft be proportionate, the Demands and 
 Expences being relative one to the other. 
 
 WE will therefore Reafon on what we are 
 moft converfant with (and with Refpeft to which 
 we may be allowed to be competent Judges) 
 viz. on the Cafe of a young Gentleman of a re- 
 fpeftable ancient Family, juft come to take Pof- 
 feflion of an Eftate, which clears him 8ool. a 
 Year. 
 
 ift. THEREFORE being appointed Sheriff of 
 the County, he muft and ought to go through 
 that expenfive Office in fuch a Manner as would 
 refle<5t no Difgrace on himfelf, or the refpefta- 
 ble Family from which he is defcended (and 
 the Office of Sheriff belonging to a private Gen- 
 tleman is of much the fame Import in Point of 
 Expence, as the Circumftances of a Coronation 
 in refped to Majefty.) 
 
 2ndly. MANY Deaths and Funerals within the 
 above-mentioned Period create another Article 
 of Expence, which muft be borne ; with this 
 peculiar Circumftance attending it, That tho* 
 he muft bury a Grandfather fuitable to his 
 Rank, alfo an Uncle, Aunt, a Brother and 
 Sifters, yet he himfelf acquires no Addition of 
 Fortune by their Deceases.
 
 SUBJECTS. 193 
 
 gdly. SEVERAL Marriages in the Family, and 
 his own * in particular, bring on a third Charge, 
 which furely in Reafon and Confcience ought 
 not to be objected to. 
 
 4thly. Six or feven Chriftenings and Lyings - 
 in, expenfive Articles in all Families, necefla- 
 rily happen from the Circumftance of the Cafe, 
 to be peculiarly expenfive in this : And yet nei- 
 ther the young Gentleman himfelf, nor any of 
 his Friends and Well-wifhers to the Family, 
 ought to be fuppofed even to have wifhed to 
 have faved theie extraordinary Charges. 
 
 5thly, A Train of unexpected Vifitants bring 
 
 on another heavy Load j and though they were 
 
 .nor invited, yet, as they chofe to come, they 
 
 mull be received with an Hofpitality fuitable to 
 
 * Some flirewd Politicians have been wife enough to aflc, 
 -Why did not his Majefty marry a large Fortune, in order to 
 re-imburfe fome of thefe Expences ? What large Fortune 
 would thefc Wifeacres have wiflied him to have married ? 
 A Dutchy or Principality on the Continent, in order to en- 
 gage us itill more in Continental Meafures ? Or was it to 
 be a large landed Eftate at Home, to be annexed to the 
 Crown like another Dutchy of Lancafter ? This would 
 have had a fine Influence on Electioneering, and Englijh 
 Liberties. But perhaps they meant, that he fhould have 
 gone into the City, ana have paid his AddrefT--s to Mifs 
 futmle, the rich Grocer's Daughter, or to Mifs Re/counters, 
 the Heirefs of the great Broker in ' Change- Aliey. And 
 to be fure, fuch a Match as this would have corresponded 
 rarely well with the fublime Ideas of City-Politics. Our 
 antient Nokility would have been delighted in giving the 
 Precedency to fuch illuftrious Princes o/ the Blood. 
 
 K .his
 
 194- POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 his and their Dignity, and the Relation of 
 Friendfhip and Family Ties fubfifting between 
 them. 
 
 ADD to all this, 6thly, The uncommon Dear- 
 nefs of all Sorts of Provifions, which for. fome 
 Years paft hath exceeded any Thing known in 
 former Times ; and which alone hath actually' 
 fwelled the Amount of Houfe -keeping in every 
 Family to a very confiderable Sum. 
 
 Now the young Gentleman having fupported 
 himielf under thefe feveral PreiTures and grow- 
 ing Expences for ten Years together, at laft is 
 obliged to requeft his neareft Friends and dear- 
 Relations to .grant him fome Afflftance -, be- 
 caufe he is 513!. or almoft three Quarters of a 
 Tear in Debt. Heavens! What a Sum! And 
 is this all againft which. fuch loud Outcries have 
 been raifed? Yes, this is all! Therefore, indig- 
 nant Reader, whoever thou art, Englishman or 
 American^ lay thy Hand on thy Heart, and afk 
 thyfelf this plain Queftion, What wouldft thou 
 have thought of fuch a young Man, had he been 
 thine own Son, thy Grandfon, or the Heir-ap- 
 parent of thy Fortune? And what Sort of Treat- 
 ment would he have deferved at thy Hands ? 
 Therefore, mutato nomine But I will add no 
 more : Let Nature and Humanity, Juftice and 
 Equ.ty, plead their own Caule. 
 
 WE have now, I think, very fufficiently dif- 
 cufled every Part of this Gentleman's Plan : Nay 
 
 we
 
 S U B J- E C T S. 195 
 
 have amply and particularly fhewn, that his 
 Apology to the Americans in Behalf of the Britifk 
 Parliament, for paying the Arrears of his Ma- 
 jtfty's Civil Lilt, was quite a neediefs Thing. 
 For if no ftronger Proofs can be brought of 
 their Venality and Corruption than this Inftance, 
 they dill may.be fafely.trufted witivthe Guardi- 
 anfhip of thofe Liberties and Properties, which, 
 they .have hitherto not only preferved, but aifo 
 ftrengthened and encreaied to a Degree un- 
 known before in this, or any other .Country. 
 "In one Word, the Scheme of an Union under 
 our prefentConfideration,, is offucha Nature. 
 as would neceiTarily tend to exafperate both Par- 
 ties., inftead of mollifying or reconciling.,either. 
 And as, the Americans have already given us to 
 underftand, both in their Provincial Afiemblies, 
 and at their General CongrefTes, that -they wiH 
 not accept of an Union with us ; and as 
 Great-Britain ought not to petition for it ; furely 
 roore need not be .added for laying the Scheme 
 afide. Indeed the "Gentleman himfelf, towards 
 the Clofc of jiis I^amphlet, exprefles but little 
 Hopes of its Succefs : For, after all, the beft 
 JUfe he can put it to, feems to be the Juftifica- 
 tion of the Mother-Country in declaring War 
 .againft the Colonies, in order to oblige them tp 
 Jubmit to her Authority, and to return to their 
 ^Obedience. So that this Scheme of Pacification 
 
 N.2 #
 
 196 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 K to end in a War at laft. Therefore we arc- 
 now come to confider the 
 
 THIRD SCHEME. 
 
 THE Expediency of having Recourfe to 
 Arms, in order to compel the Colonies to fub- 
 mit to the Authority and Jurifdiftion of the fu- 
 preme Council of the Britijh Empire, the Parli- 
 ament of Great Britain. 
 
 IN regard to which important Point the Gen- 
 tleman reafons after the following Manner : - 
 " After fuch an Offer (of an Union, as above 
 " defcribed) and the contemptuous Refufal of 
 " it by the Colonies, we may well fuppofe, that 
 " they (the Inhabitants of Great-Britain) will 
 " act as one Man, to fupport the juft and law- 
 *' ful, and necefiary Authority of the fupreme 
 " Legiflature of the Britijh Nation over all the 
 *' Dominions of the Crown. The Juftice of 
 *' their Caufe will give Vigour to their Meafures ; 
 ** and the Colonies that mall have the Folly and 
 *' Prefumption to refift them, will be quickly 
 " reduced to Obedience.*' 
 
 IT is poffible, nay indeed it is very probable, 
 that if a War was to be fpeedily undertaken, be- 
 fore Great-Britain and Ireland had been too 
 much exhaufted of their Inhabitants, emigrating 
 to North-America, - the Forces of the Mother- 
 Country might prevail, and America, however 
 unwilling, be forced to fubmh. But alas! 
 Victory alone is but a poor Compenfation for all 
 
 f **t-t *v? ft-- the 
 
 ': * A
 
 SUBJECTS. 197 
 
 the Blood and Treafure which muft be fpilt OR 
 fuch an Occafion. Not to mention, that after a 
 Conqueft of their Country, the Americans would 
 certainly be lefs difpofed, even than they arc at 
 prefent, to become our good Cuftomers, and to 
 take our Manufactures in return for thofe Inju- 
 ries and Oppreflions which they had fuffered 
 from- us : I fay, Injuries and Opprejfions : be- 
 caufe the Colonies would moft undoubtedly 
 give no fofter aji Appellation to this Conqueft, 
 tho' perhaps it would be no other in itfelf, than 
 a juft Chaftifement for the manifold Offences 
 they had committed. Moreover as the Ameri- 
 cans are endeavouring even at prefent to fet up 
 all Sorts of mechanic Trades in order to rival us, 
 or at leaft to fuperfede the Ufe of our Manu- 
 factures in their Country, can any Man fup- 
 pofe, that their Ardor for fetting up Manufac- 
 tures would be abated, by their being forced to 
 deal at the only one European Shop, which they 
 moft -detefted. 
 
 BUT what is ftiil worfe, if poffible, though, 
 the Eritifli Troops might over-run the great Con- 
 tinent of North- America at firft, it doth by no 
 Means follow, that they could be able to main- 
 tain a Superiority in it afterwards for any Length 
 of Time : And my Reafon is, becauie the go- , 
 verning of a Country after a Peace, is a much 
 more arduous Talk, in certain Circumftances, 
 than the conquering it during a War. Thus 
 N for
 
 198 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 for Example, when a Peace enfues (and furel'y 
 it is not intended that we fhall be for ever" in a 
 State of War) then a civil Conftitution of feme 
 Kind or otfier muft .necefiarily be eftablifhed y 
 and in the Cafe before us, there feems to be no 
 other Alternative, but either the permitting the 
 Colonies to enjoy once more thofe Advan- 
 tages of Englijk Liberty, and of an Englijk 
 Conftitution, which they had forfeited -, or 
 'elfe a Refolution to govern them for the 
 future by arbitrary Sway and defpotic Power, 
 If the latter mould be the Plan adopted, 
 I then humbly fubmit it to be duly weighed 
 and conlidered, what a baleful Influence 
 this Government a la Prujfe would have 
 on every other Part of the Britifli Empire. 
 England free, %x\& America in Chains ! And how 
 foon xvould the enflavcd Part of the Conftitution, 
 and perhaps the greater, contaminate the free 
 and the letter ? Nay, as America was found to 
 increafe in Strength and Numbers, an Army of 
 Englifn-born Soldiers (for no others could be 
 trufted) firft of 50,000, and afterwards per- 
 haps of 100,000, would, fcarcely be fufficient 
 to keep there turbulent Spirits in Awe, and to 
 prevent them, at fuch a prodigious Diftance 
 from the Center of Government, from break- 
 ing out into Infurreclions and Rebellions at 
 every favourable Opportunity. But if the 
 former were to prevait, and a Return of Engli/h 
 
 Liberties
 
 SUBJECTS. 199 
 
 Liberties was again to take Place, it muft alfo 
 follow, that the Syftem of Trials by Juries 
 muft return with them : And then, when Ame- 
 rica (hall grow ftronger and flronger every Day, 
 and England proportionably weaker, how is an 
 Infurrection to be quelled in America ? And 
 what Englijh Officer, civil or military, would 
 dare to do it ? Nay, I afk further, granting that 
 he was fo brave, or rather fo fool-hardy, as to 
 attempt to do his Duty, who is to protect him 
 in the Execution of his Office ? Or how is he 
 to be preferved, by due Forms of Law , againft 
 the Determination of an American 'Jury ? A 
 Tumult is excited-, the Military is called 
 forth ; the Soldiers are infuhed ; many per- 
 haps wounded, and fome even killed. The 
 Patience of the Officers worn out, and in their 
 own Defence, they are obliged to give the Word 
 of Command tofre. The Relations of thcfe 
 who fell by this Fire, bring on an Appeal of 
 Blood. The American Jury find the Officers 
 who commanded, and perhaps the whole Corps 
 who fired, guilty of wilful Murder j and then 
 all the Power of the Crown, legally exerted, is 
 not able to fave the Lives of thefe poor innocent 
 Men. * Pitiable fure is fuch a Cafe; and yet it 
 
 * Since the firft Edition of this Pamphlet, an Ad has 
 paft for remedying the Evils fojuftly apprehended relative 
 to the Cafe of Appeals of BlooJ.Bct ItiJl, tho' this Diffi- 
 culty is removed, many and various ones yet remain. 
 
 N 4 is
 
 20o POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 is a Cafe which would and mull frequently then, 
 happen in the natural Courfe of Things, ac- 
 cording to our legal Conftitution. 
 
 PERHAPS it might be faid, that American 
 Juries are as confcientious as other Juries in 
 bringing in their Verdicts according to Law -, 
 and that it is very uncharitable even to fuppofe 
 the contrary. Be it fo : But the Queftion here 
 runs on, What will be the Suggeftions of Con- 
 fcience in the Breaft of an American on fuch an 
 Occafion ? What would be his Ideas of Law y 
 Juftice, or Equity, when England and America 
 flood in Competition? Certainly, if ever the 
 Inhabitants of that Country mould come (and 
 they are for the moft Part come already) to be 
 fully perfuaded, that the Briti/h Parliament hath 
 no Right to make Laws either to tax or to go- 
 vern them [and- the having once beaten them 
 will not be taken as a convincing Proof that 
 we always have either the Right or the Power 
 to beat them] then every Attempt towards 
 throwing off this odious Yoke, would appear in 
 their Eyes as fo many noble Struggles for the 
 Caufe of Liberty : And therefore the bafe 
 Engltfli Hireling, who would dare to injure this 
 facred Caufe, deferved to die a thoufand Deaths. 
 Such undoubtedly would be the Language, and 
 fuch the Sentiments of the great Majority of 
 Americans, whenever fuch a Cafe mould happen. 
 In a Word, an erroneous Conference, and a 
 
 falfe
 
 SUBJECTS. 201 
 
 falfe Zeal, would have juft the fame bad Effects 
 in the new World refpecting civil Government, 
 as they have formerly had in the old, in regard to 
 Religion : And therefore, either Way, whether 
 we fhould treat thefe Americans as an enflaved 
 People, or whether we (hould reftore to them, 
 after a Conqueft, the fame Conftitution which 
 we enjoy ourfelves, the Event would finally come 
 to this, That England would be the greateft 
 Sufferer-, and that America is not to be govern- 
 ed againft its own Inclinations. Wherefore let 
 us now come to the 
 
 FOURTH SCHEME. 
 
 To confent that America fhould become 
 the general Seat of Empire, and that Great- 
 Britain and Ireland Ihould be governed by 
 Vice-Roys fent over from the Court Refidencies 
 cither at Philadelphia, or New-Tork, or at fome 
 other American Imperial City. 
 
 Now* wild as fuch a Scheme may appear, 
 there are certainly fome Americans who ferionfly 
 embrace it : And the late prodigious Swarms 
 of Emigrants encourage them to fuppofe, that 
 a Time is approaching, when the Seat of Em- 
 pire muft be changed. But whatever Events 
 may be in the Womb of Time, or whatever 
 Revolutions may happen in the Rife and Fall 
 of Empires, there is not the leaft Probability, 
 that this Country mould ever become a Pro- 
 vince to North- America. For granting even, 
 
 that
 
 2O2 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL. 
 
 that it would be fo v/eakened and enfeebled by 
 thefe Colony-Drains, as not to be able to defend 
 itfelf from Invaders, yet America is at too great 
 a Diftance to invade it at firft, much lefs to de- 
 fend the Conqueft of it afterwards, againft the 
 neighbouring Powers of Europe. And as to 
 any Notion that we ourfelves mould prefer an 
 American Yoke to any other, this Suppofidon 
 is chimerical indeed : Becaufe it is much more 
 probable, were Things to come to fuch a dread- 
 ful Crifis, that .the Englijh would rather fubmit 
 to ^French Yoke, than to an American ; as being 
 the lefler Indignity of the two. So that in mort, 
 if we muft reafon in Politics according to the 
 Newtonian Principles in Philofophy, trie Idea 
 of the kfTer Country gravitating towards the 
 greater, muft lead us to conclude, that this 
 IQand would rather gravitate towards the Con- 
 tinent of Europe, than towards the Continent of 
 'America -, unlefs indeed we mould add one Ex- 
 travagance to another, by fuppoiing that thefe 
 American Heroes are tq conquer all the World. 
 And in that Cafe I do allow, that England muft 
 become a Province to America But 
 
 Solamen miferis facias habuijje doloris. 
 
 DISMISSING therefore this Idea, as an 
 idle Dream, we come now laftly to confider the 
 FIFTH SCHEME. 
 
 To propofe to feparate entirely from the 
 North-American Colonies, by declaring them to 
 
 be
 
 SUBJECTS. 203: 
 
 be a free and independent People, over whom 
 we lay no Claim j and then by offering to guar- 
 rantee this Freedom and Independence againft 
 all foreign Invaders whatever. 
 
 AND, in faft, what is all this but the natural 
 and even the neceffary Corollary to be deduced 
 from each of the former Reafons and Obferva- 
 tions ? For if we neither can govern the Ameri- 
 cans, nor be governed by them ; if we can 
 neither unite with them, nor ought to fubdu 
 them , what remains, but to part with them 
 on as friendly Terms as we can ? And if any 
 Man mould think that he can reafon better from 
 the above Premifes, let him try. 
 
 BUT as the Idea of Separation, and the 
 giving up the Colonies for ever, will mock many 
 weak People, who think, that there is neither 
 Happinefs nor Security but in an over-grown 
 unweildly Empire, I will for their Sakes enter 
 into a Dilcufllon of the fuppofed Difadvantages 
 attending fuch a Disjunction , and then will fet 
 forth the manifold Advantages. 
 
 THE firft and capital fuppofed Difad vantage is, 
 That, if we feparate from the Colonies , iue Jhall 
 lofe their Trade. But why fo ? And how does this 
 appear? The Colonies, we know by Experience, 
 will trade with any People, even with their bk~ 
 tereft Enemies, during the hotteft of a War, 
 and a War undertaken at their own earned Re- 
 queft, and for their own Sakes, the Colonies, 
 
 I
 
 2O4 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 I fay, will trade even with them, provided they 
 lhall find it their Intereft fo to do. Why then 
 fhould any Man fuppofe, that the fame Self- 
 Intereft will not induce them to trade with us ? 
 With us, I fay, who are to commit no Hoftilittes 
 againft them, but on the contrary, are ftill to 
 remain, if they pleafe, their Guardians and Pro- 
 tcftors ? 
 
 GRANTING, therefore, that North- America 
 was to become independent of us, and we of 
 them, the Queftion now before us will turn on 
 thisfirtgle Point, CantheColonifts, inageneral 
 Way, trade with any other European State to 
 greater Advantage than they can with Great- 
 Britain ? If they can, they certainly will ; but 
 if they cannot, we mail ftill retain their Cuftom, 
 notvvithftanding we have parted with every 
 Claim of Authority and Jurifdi&ion over them. 
 Now, the native Commodities and Merchan- 
 dize of North-America^ which are the moft fale- 
 able at an European Market, are chiefly Lumber, 
 Ships, Iron, Train-Oil, Flax-Seed, Skins, Furs, 
 Pitch, Tar, Turpentine, Pearl Afhes, Indigo, 
 Tobacco, and Rice. And I do aver, that, ex- 
 cepting Rice and Tobacco, there is hardly one 
 of thefe Articles, for which an American could 
 get fo good a Price any where elfe, as he can in 
 
 O O * * 
 
 Great- Britain and Ireland. Nay, I ought to 
 have excepted only Rice -, for as to Tobacco, 
 tho* great Quantities of it are re-exported into
 
 SUBJECTS. 205 
 
 France, yet it is well known, that the French 
 might raife it at Home, if they were permitted, 
 much cheaper than they can import it from our 
 Colonies. The Fact is this, The Farm of To- 
 bacco is one of the five great Farms, which 
 make up the chief Part of the Royal Revenue ; 
 and therefore the Farmers General, for Bye- 
 Ends of their own, have hitherto had Intereft: 
 enough with the Court to prohibit the Cultiva- 
 tion of it in * Old France^ under the fevereft Pe- 
 nalties. But neverthelefs the real French Pa- 
 triots, and particularly the Marquis de Mirabeau, 
 have fully demonftrated, that it is the Intereft 
 of the French Government to encourage the Cul- 
 tivation of it , and have pointed out a fure and 
 eafy Method for collecting the Duties ; which 
 was the fole Pretence of the Farmers General for 
 ibiiciting a Prohibition. So that it is appre- 
 hended, that the French Government will at laft 
 open their Eyes in this Refpect, and allow the 
 Cultivation of it. Tobacco therefore being 
 likely to be foon out of the Queftion, the, only 
 
 * Great Quantities of Tobacco are permitted to be raifed 
 in French Flanders, Alface, and all the Pa'is conquifes, 
 i. e. the newly conquered Provinces ; becaufe the Inhabitants 
 of thefe Countries are indulged in many Liberties, which 
 are denied to the Provinces ot Old France. But the Farmers 
 General keep a llrift Watch, that none of this Tobacco 
 fliall bs permitted to be brought into Old France, except 
 by themfelves or their Agents. And the Penalty againft 
 Smuggling in this Cafe is very cruel and fevere. 
 
 remaining
 
 206 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 remaining Article is Rice : And this, it muft 
 be acknowledged, would bear a better Price at 
 the Hamburgh or Dutch Markets than it gene- 
 rally doth in England. But as this is only one 
 Article, out of many, it mould be further con- 
 fidered, that even r.he Ships which import Rice 
 into England^ generally bring fuch other Pro- 
 duce as would not be faleable to Advantage 
 
 D 
 
 in other Parts of Europe : So that, there is no 
 great Caufe to fear, that we mould conftderabfy 
 lofe the Trade even of this Article, were the 
 Colonies to be difmembered from us. Not to 
 mention that all the Coafts of the Mediterranean 
 and the South of Europe are already fupplied 
 with Rice from the Colonies, in the fame Man- 
 ner as if there had been aa actual Separation ; 
 no Rice-Ship bound to any Place South of 
 Cape-Finiftere being at all obliged to touch at 
 any Port of Great Britain. So much, therefore, 
 as to the ftaple Exports of the Colonies. 
 
 LET us now confider their Imports. And 
 here one Thing is very clear and certain, That 
 \vhateverGoods, Merchandize, or Manufactures, 
 the Merchants of Great-Britain can fell to the 
 reft of Europe, they might fell the fame to the 
 Colonies, if wanted : Becaufe it is evident, that 
 the Colonies could not purchafe fuch Goods at 
 a cheaper Rate at any other European Market. 
 Now, let any one caft his Eye over the Bills of 
 Exports from London, Erijlol^ Liverpool, Hull, 
 
 Glafgow*
 
 SUBJECTS. 207 
 
 ^ &c. &c. and then he will foon difcover 
 that excepting Gold and Silver Lace, Wines, 
 and Brandies, fome Sorts of Silk and Linens, 
 and perhaps a little Paper and Gunpowder; I 
 fay, excepting thefe few Articles, Great Eri- 
 tain is become a Kind of a * general Mart 
 for moft other Commodities : And indeed were 
 it not fo, how is it conceiveabje, that fo little a 
 Spot as this Ifland could have made fuch a Fi- 
 gure either in Peace or War, as it hath lately 
 done ? How is it poflible, that after having con- 
 tracted a Debt of nearly One Hundred and 
 Forty Millions, we mould neverthelefs be able 
 to make more rapid Progreffes in all Sorts of 
 Improvements, ufcful and ornamental, public 
 and private, agricolic and commercial, than 
 any other Nation ever did ? Fact it is, that 
 thefe Improvements have been made of late 
 Years, and are daily making : And Fads are 
 ftubborn Things. 
 
 BUT, fays the Objectpr, you allow, that Gold 
 and Silver Lace> that Wines and Brandies,--- 
 
 * I am credibly informed, that it appears by Extracts 
 from the Cuftom-huufe Books, that more Englifl) Goods 
 are fent up the two Rivers of Germany, the Wefer and the 
 Elbe, than up any two Rivers in North-America. Yet the 
 North-Americans and their Partilans are continually up- 
 braiding us, as if we enjoyed no Trade, worth mention- 
 ing, except that with the Colonies. 
 
 fome
 
 o8 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 fome Sorts of Silks, fome Sorts of Paper, 
 Gunpowder, and perhaps other Articles, can 
 be purchafed at certain European Markets on 
 cheaper Terms than they can in England : And 
 therefore it follows, that we fhould certainly 
 lofe thefe Branches of Commerce by a Separa- 
 tion, even fuppofing that we could retain the 
 reft. Indeed even this doth not follow , becaufe 
 we have loft them already, as far as it was the 
 Intercft of the Colonies, that we Ihould lofe 
 them. And if any Man can doubt of this, let 
 him but confider, that the Lumber and the Pro- 
 vilion Vefiels, which are continually running 
 down from Bo/Ion, Rhode I/land, New-York, 
 PJiiladelphia, Charles-Town, &c. &c. to Marti- 
 xico, and the other French Iflands, bring Home 
 in Return not only Sugars and Molafles, but 
 alfo French Wines, Silks, Gold and Silver Lace, 
 and in fhort every other Article, in which they 
 can find a profitable Account : Moreover thofe 
 Ships which fail to Euftatia and Curacoa, trade 
 with the Dutch, and confequently with all the 
 North of Europe, on the fame Principle. And 
 as the Ships which fteer South of Cape-FiniJlerre, 
 what do they do ?- Doubtlefs, they purchafe 
 whatever Commodities they find it their Intereft 
 to purchafe, and carry them Home to North- 
 America. Indeed what mould hinder them from 
 adting agreeably to their own Ideas of Advan- 
 tage
 
 SUBJECTS. 209 
 
 tage in thefe Refpects ? The Cuftom-houfe 
 Officers, perhaps, you may fay, will hinder them. 
 But alas ! the Cuftom-houfe Officers of North- 
 America, if they were ten Times more numerous, 
 and ten Times more uncorrupt than they are, 
 could not poflibly guard a tenth Part of the 
 Coaft. In fhort theie Things are fo very no- 
 torious that they cannot be disputed ; and 
 therefore were the whole Trade of North- 
 America to be divided into two Branches, viz. 
 the Pofantaty, refulting from a free Choice of 
 the Americans themfelves purfuing their own 
 Intereft, and the Invcluntary, in Confequence 
 of compulfory Afts of the Britifli Parliament ;-- - 
 this latter would appear fo very fmall and incon- 
 fiderabk, as hardly to deferve a Name in an 
 Eitimate of national Commerce. 
 
 THE 2d Objection againft giving up the Co- 
 lonies is, that fuch a Meafure would greatly de- 
 creale our Shipping and Navigation, and cori- 
 iequently diminifh the Breed of Sailors. But 
 this Objection has been fully obviated already: 
 For if we lha-11 not lofe our Trade, at ieaft in 
 any important Degree, even with the Northern 
 Colonies (and moft probably we mail encreafe it 
 with other Countries) then it foil- ws, that nei- 
 ther the Quantity of Shipping, nor the Breed 
 of Sailors, can fuffer any coniiderao^ Dimi- 
 nution : So that this Suppoiition is merely 
 O a
 
 2io POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 a Panic, and has no Focindation. Not to merr- 
 tion, that in Proportion as the Americans mall 
 be obliged to exert themfelves to defend their 
 own Coafts, in Cafe of a War ; in the fame 
 Proportion fhall Great-Britain be exonerated 
 from that Btrden, and fhall have more Ships 
 and Men at command, to protect her own 
 Channel Trade, and for other Services. 
 
 THE gd Objection is, That if we were to 
 give up thefe Colonies, the French would take 
 immediate PofTeffion of them. Now this 
 Objection is entirely built on the following 
 very wild, very extravagant, and abfurd Suppo- 
 fitions. 
 
 i ft, IT fuppofes that the Colonifts themfelves, 
 who cannot brook our Government, would 
 like a French one much better. Great-Britain, 
 it feems, doth not grant them Liberty enough ; 
 and therefore they have Recourfe to France to 
 obtain more : -That is, in plain Englijh, our 
 mild and limited Government, where Preroga- 
 tive is afcertained by Law, where every Man 
 is at Liberty to feekfor Redrefs, and where po- 
 pular Clamours too often carry every Thing 
 before them,- is neverthelefs too fevere, too 
 oppreffive, and too tyrannical for the Spirits and 
 Genius of Americans to bear -, and therefore 
 they will apply to an arbitrary, defpotic Govern- 
 ment, where the People have no Share in the 
 
 Le-
 
 SUBJECTS, 211 
 
 Legiflature, where there is no Liberty of the 
 Prefs, and where General Warrants and Lettres 
 des cachets are irrejtfiible t 'm order to enjoy greater 
 Freedoms than they have at prefent, and to be 
 refcued from the intolerable Yoke, under which 
 they now groan. What monftrous Abfurdities 
 are thefe ! But even this is not all : For thefe 
 Americans are reprefented by this Suppofition, 
 as not only preferring a French Government to 
 a Britijh, but even to a Government of their 
 cwn modelling and chujing ! For after they are 
 fet free from any Submiflion to their Mother- 
 Country ; after they are told, that for the fu- 
 ture they muft endeavour to pleafe themfelves, 
 feeing we cannot pleafe them ; then, inftead of 
 attempting to frame any popular Governments 
 for redreffing thofe Evils, of which they now 
 fo bitterly complain, they are reprefented as 
 throwing themfelves at once into the Arms of 
 France \- -the Republican Spirit is to fubfide; 
 the Doctrine of paflive Obedience and Non- 
 refiftance is to fncceed ; and, inftead of fetting 
 up for Freedom and Independence, they are to 
 glory in having the Honour of being numbered 
 among the Slaves of the Grand Monarch. 
 
 BUT 2dly, This Matter may be further con- 
 
 fidered in another Point of View : For if it 
 
 fhould be faid, that the Americans might ftill 
 
 retain their Republican Spirit, tho* they fub- 
 
 O 2 mitted
 
 212 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 mitted to a French Government, becaufe the 
 French, through Policy, would permit them fo 
 to do j then it remains to be confidered, whether 
 any arbitrary Government can difpenfe with 
 fuch Liberties as a republican Spirit will require. 
 An abfolute Freedom of the Prefs ! No Con- 
 troul on the Liberty either of Speaking or 
 Writing on Matters of State ! Newipapers and 
 Pamphlets filled with the bittereft Invectives 
 againft the Meafures of Government ! Aflfoci- 
 ations formed in every Quarter to cry down 
 Minifterial Hirelings, and their Dependents ! 
 . The Votes and Refolutions of the Provincial 
 Aflemblies to affert their own Authority and 
 Independence ! No landing of Troops from 
 Old France to quell Infurrections ! No railing 
 of new Levies in America / No quartering of 
 Troops ! No building of Forts, or erecting of 
 Garrifons ! And, to fum up all, no raifing of 
 Money without the exprefs Confent and Appro- 
 bation of the Provincial American Parliaments 
 firft obtained for each of theft: Purpofes ! 
 Now I afk any reaibnable Man whether thefe 
 Things are compatible with any Idea of an ar- 
 bitrary, deipotic Government ? Nay more, 
 whether the French King himfelf, or his Mi- 
 niilers, would wifh to have fuch Notions as 
 thefe inftilled into the Subjects of Old France, 
 Yet inHilled they mull be, while a Communi- 
 
 ;u *>; cation
 
 SUBJECTS. 2-13 
 
 'cation is kept open between the two Countries ; 
 while Correfpondences are carried on ; Letters, 
 Pamphlets and Newfpapers, pafs and repafs,; 
 and in fhort, while .the Americans are permitted 
 to come into France^ and Frenchmen into Ame- 
 rica. So much therefore as to this Clafs of Ob- 
 jections. Indeed I might have infifted further, 
 that Great-Britain alone could at any Time pre- 
 vent luch an Acquifition to be made by France^ 
 as is here fuppofed, if ,fhe fliQuld think ft ne- 
 ceflary to interfere, and if fuch an Acquifi- 
 tion of Territory would really and truly be an 
 Addition of Strength in the political Balance 
 and Scale of Power*. But furely I have faid 
 03 enough; 
 
 *.The Phxnomenon of that prodigious Increafe of Trade, 
 which this Country has experienced fince the happy Revo- 
 lution, is what few People can explain ; and therefore they 
 cut the Matter (hort, hy afcribing it all to the Growth of 
 our Colonies : But the true Principles and real Caufes 
 of that amazing Increafe are the following : 
 
 1. The Suppreffiqn .of various Monopolies and exclufive 
 Companies exifting before, for foreign Trade. 
 
 2. The Opening of Corporations, or the Undermining 
 of exclufive Privileges and Companies of Trade at Home; 
 or what comes to the fame Thing, the Eluding of their bad 
 Effects by Means of legal Decifions in our Courts of Law. 
 And N. B. The like Obfervation extends to the Cafe of 
 evading the Penalties of the Aft 5th of Queen Elizabeth, 
 againft excrcifing thofe Trades to which Perfons have not 
 ferved regular Apprenticeships. 
 
 3. The Nqrfing up of new Trades and new Branches of 
 Commerce by Means of Bounties, and national Premiums.
 
 314 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 enough ; and therefore let us now haften briefly 
 to point out the 
 
 Manifold Ad-vantages attendant onfuch a Scheme. 
 
 AND ift, A Disjunction from the Northern 
 Colonies would effectually put a Stop to our 
 prelent Emigrations. By the Laws of the Land 
 it is made a capital Offence to inveigle Arti- 
 ficers and Mechanics to leave the Kingdom, 
 But this Law is unhappily luperfeded at pre- 
 fent as far as the Colonies are concerned. 
 Therefore when they come to be difmembered 
 from us, it will operate as ftrongly againfl 
 them, and their Kidnappers^ as againft others. 
 And here it may be worth while to obferve, 
 that the Emigrants, who lately failed in fuch 
 
 Mul- 
 
 4. The Giving of Drawbacks, or the Return of Duties 
 on the Exportation of fuch Goods as were to have paid a 
 Duty, if ufed and confumed at Home. 
 
 5. The Repeal of Taxes formerly laid on raw Materials 
 coming into the Kingdom. See g. G. I. C. 15. 
 
 6. The Repeal of Taxes formerly laid on our own Ma- 
 nufactures, when exported. See ditto. 
 
 7. The Improvements in various Engines, with new 
 Inventions and Diicoveries for the Abridgement of La- 
 bour. 
 
 8 Btrter Communications eftablifhed throughout the 
 Kinpd .' . by Means of Turnpike Roads and Canals, and 
 the ipc:t..iy Conveyance of Letters to every great Town and 
 noitj PL.ce of Manufacture, by Means of Improvements 
 in ci:.- ' 11- Office. 
 
 9. 1 1 . ppy Difcoveries and Improvements in Agriculture 
 arm in the mechanic Arts. 
 
 io. Larger
 
 SUBJECTS. 215 
 
 JMultitudes from the North of Scotland, and 
 more efpecially from the North of Ireland, 
 were far from being the mod indigent, or the 
 lead capable of fubfiiling in their own Country. 
 No ; it was not Poverty or Neceffity which 
 compelled, but Ambition which enticed, them 
 to forfake their native Soil. For after they 
 began to tafte the Sweets of Induftry, and to 
 partake of the Comforts of Life, then they 
 became a valuable Prey for thefe Harpies. 
 In fliort, fuch were the Perfons to whom 
 thefe Seducers principally applied^ becaufe 
 they found that they had gotten fome little 
 Subftance together worth devouring. They 
 therefore told them many plaufible Stories >- 
 xhat if they would emigrate to North-America^ 
 
 i a. Larger Capitals tha* ufual employed both in Huf- 
 .bandry and Manufa&ures ; alfo in the Importation and 
 .Exportation of Goods. 
 
 Now all thefe Things .co-operating together would ren- 
 der any Country rich and flouriming, whether it had Co- 
 lonies or not : And this Country in particular would have 
 found the happy Effects of them to a much greater De- 
 gree than it now doth, were they not counter-acted by our 
 .Luxury, our Gambling, our frequent ruinous and expen- 
 jive Wars, our Colony-Drains, and by that ill-gotten, 
 and ill-fpent Wealth, which was obt ined by robbing, 
 .plundering, and ftaiving the poor defencelefs Natives of 
 the Rajl-Indies. A Species of Villainy this, for which the 
 Englijh Language had not a Name, until it adopted the 
 Word Nabobing, 
 
 04 they
 
 2i6 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 they might have Eftates for nothing, and be- 
 come Gentlemen for ever; whereas if they 
 remained at Home, they had nothing to ex- 
 pect beyond the Condition of a wretched 
 Journeyman, or a fmall laborious Farmer. 
 Nay, one of thefe falfe Guides was known 
 to have put out public Advertifements, fome 
 few Years ago, in the North of Ireland, wherein 
 he engaged to carry all, who would follow 
 him, into fuch a glorious Country, where 
 there was neither Tax, nor Tithe, nor Land- 
 lord's Rent to be paid. This was enough : 
 It took with Thoufands : And this he mis-ht 
 
 O 
 
 fafely engage to do. But at the fame 
 
 Time he ought to have told 'them (as 
 Bifhop Berkeley 'in his Queries juftly obferves) 
 That a Man may pofTefs twenty Miles fquare in 
 this glorious Country, and yet not be able to 
 get a Dinner. 
 
 2dly. ANOTHER great Advantage to be de- 
 rived from a Separation is, that we fhall then 
 fave between 3 and 400,000!. a Year, by being 
 difcharged from the Payment of any civil or 
 military Eftabli^iment belonging to the Co- 
 lonies : For which generous Benefaction we 
 receive at prefent no other Return than invec- 
 tives and Reproaches. 
 
 3dly. THE ceating of the Payment of 
 Bounties on certain Colony Productions will 
 
 be
 
 SUBJECTS. 217 
 
 be anjther great Saving-, perhaps not lefs 
 than 200,000!. a Year: And is very re- 
 markable, that the Goods imported from 
 the Colonies in Confequence of thefe Boun- 
 ties, could not have been imported into any 
 other Part of Europe, were there a Liberty 
 to do it -, becaufe the Freight and firft Coft 
 would have amounted to more than they 
 could be fold for: So that in Fa<5t we 
 give Premiums to the Colonies for felling 
 Goods to us, which would not have been 
 fold at all any where elfe. However, when 
 the prefent Bounties mail ceafe, we may 
 then conlider, at our Leifure, whether it 
 would be right to give them again, or not; 
 and we mail have it totally in our Power 
 to favour that Country mod, which will 
 fhew the greateil Favour to us, and to our Ma- 
 nufactures. 
 
 4thly. WHEN we are no longer connected 
 with the Colonies by the imaginary Tie 
 of an Indentity of Government, then our 
 Merchant Exporters and Manufacturers will 
 have a better Chance of having their Debts 
 paid, than they have at prefent : For as 
 Matters now (land, the Colonilts chufe to 
 carry their ready Cam to other Nations, 
 while they are contracting Debts with their 
 Mother- Country -, with whom they think 
 they can take greater Liberties: And pro- 
 vided
 
 218 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 vided they are trufted, they care not to 
 what Amount this Debt mall rife: For 
 when the Time for Payment draws on, they 
 are feized with a Fit of Patriotifm ; and 
 then Confederacies and Aflbciations are to dif- 
 charge all Arrears , or, at leaft, are to poftpone 
 the Payment of themjzne die. 
 
 5thly. AFTER a Separation from the Co- 
 lonies, our Influence over them will be 
 much greater than ever it was, fmce they 
 began to feel their own Weight and Im- 
 portance: For at prefent we are looked 
 upon in no better a Light than that of 
 fcobbers and Ufurpers -, whereas, we mall 
 then be confidered as their Protectors, Me- 
 diators, and Benefactors. The Moment a Sepa- 
 ration takes Effect, mteftine Quarrels will 
 begin : For it is well known, that the 
 Seeds of Difcord and Diflention between 
 Province and Province, are now ready to 
 fhoot forth ; and that they are only kept 
 down by the prefent Combinations of all 
 the Colonies againft us, whom they un- 
 happily fancy to be their common Enemy. 
 When therefore this Object of their Ha- 
 tred lhall be removed by a Declaration on 
 our Parts, that, fo far from ufurping all 
 Authority, we, from henceforward, will af- 
 fume none at all againft their own Confent; 
 jthe weaker Provinces will intreat our Pro- 
 tection
 
 SUBJECTS. 219 
 
 tection againft the ftrongerj and the lefs 
 cautious againft the more crafty and de- 
 figning : So that in fhort, in Proportion as 
 their factious, republican Spirit (hall in- 
 trigue and cabal, fhall fplit into Parties, 
 divide, and fub-divide, in the fame Pro- 
 portion fhall we be called in to become 
 their general Umpires and Referees. Not 
 jo mention, that many of the late and pre- 
 fent Emigrants, when they mail fee thefc 
 Storms ariling all around them, and when 
 their promifed earthly Paradife turns out 
 to be a dreary, unwholefome, inhofpitable, 
 and howling Wildernefs, many of them, I 
 fay, will probably return to us again, and take 
 Refuge at laft in Old England, with all its 
 Faults and Imperfections. 
 
 LASTLY. Our Weft- India Iflands them- 
 felves will receive fjgnal Benefit by this 
 Separation. Indeed their Size and Situation 
 render them incapable of fubftradting all 
 Obedience from us ; and yet the bad 
 Precedents of their Neighbours on the 
 Continent hath fometimes prompted them 
 to (hew as refractory a Spirit as they well 
 could. --But when they come to perceive, 
 what are the bitter Effects of this un- 
 tractable Difpofition, exemplified in the 
 Cafe of the North-Americans^ it is proba- 
 ble, it is reafonable to conclude, that they 
 
 will
 
 2.2O POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 will learn Widom by the Mifcarriages and 
 Sufferings of thele unhappy People-, and 
 that from henceforward they will revere 
 the Authority of a Government, which has 
 the feweft Faults, and grants the greateft 
 Liberty, of any yet known upon Earth. 
 
 BUT after all, there is one Thing more, 
 
 to which I muft make fome Reply. 
 
 Many, perhaps moft of my Readers, will 
 be apt to afk, What is all . this about ? 
 And what doth this Author really mean ? 
 -Can he ferioufly think, that becaufe he 
 hath taken fuch Pains to prove a Sepa- 
 ration to be a right Meafure, that there- 
 fore we mail feparate in good Earneft? 
 And is he ftill fo much a Novice as not 
 to know, that Meafures are rarely adopted 
 merely becaufe they are right, but be- 
 caufe they can ferve a prefent Turn ? 
 Therefore let it be afked, What prefent 
 Convenience or Advantage doth he propofe 
 either to Adminiftration, or to Anti-Admi- 
 niftration, by the Execution of his Plan ? 
 This is coming to the Point, and without 
 it, all that he has faid will pafs for no- 
 thing. 
 
 I frankly acknowledge, I propofe no pre- 
 fent Convenience or Advantage to either - y 
 nay, I firmly believe, that no Minifter, as 
 Things are now circumftanced, will dare to 
 
 do
 
 SUBJECTS. 221 
 
 do fo much Good to his Country; and as 
 to the Herd of Anti-Minifters, they r I am 
 perfuaded, would nor wifh to lee it done; 
 becaufe it would deprive them of one of 
 their moft plentiful Sources for Clamour 
 and Detraction : And yet I have obferved, 
 and have myfelf had fome Experience, that 
 Meafures evidently right will prevail at 
 laft : Therefore I make not the leaft Doubt 
 but that a Separation from the northern 
 Colonies, and alfo another right Meafure, 
 viz. a complete Union and Incorporation with 
 Ireland (however unpopular either of them 
 may now appear) will both take Place within 
 
 half a Century : And perhaps that which 
 
 happens to be firft accomplifhed, will greatly 
 accelerate the Accomplifhment of the other. 
 Indeed almoft all People are apt to ftartle 
 
 at firft at bold Truths : But it is ob- 
 
 ferveable, that in Proportion as they grow 
 familiarized to them, and can fee and con- 
 fider them from different Points of View, 
 their Fears fubfide, and they become re- 
 conciled by Degrees: Nay, it is not an 
 
 uncommon Thing for them to adopt thofe 
 fatutary Meafures afterwards with as much 
 Zeal and Ardor, as they had rejected them 
 before with Anger and Indignation. 
 
 NEED I add, That the Man, who will 
 have Refolution enough to advance any bold 
 
 un-
 
 222 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 unwelcome Truth (unwelcome I mean at its 
 firft Appearance) ought to be fuch an one 4 
 whofe Competency of Fortune joined toanatu- 
 tural Independency of Spirit, places him in 
 that happy Situation, as to be equally indifferent 
 to the Smiles, or Frowns either of the Great, 
 or the Vulgar ? 
 
 LASTLY, fome Perfons perhaps may wonder, 
 that, being myfelf a Clergyman, I have faid no- 
 thing about the Perfecution which the Church 
 of England daily fuffers in America^ by being de- 
 nied thofe Rights which every other Seel: of 
 Chriftians fo amply enjoys. I own I have hi- 
 therto omitted to make Mention of that Cir- 
 cumftance, not thro' Inadvertence, but by De- 
 fign ; as being unwilling to embarrafs my gene- 
 ral Plan with what might be deemed by fome 
 Readers to be foreign to the Subject : And 
 therefore I mail be very fhort in what I have to 
 add at prefent. 
 
 THAT each religious Perfuafion ought to 
 have a full Toleration from the State to wormip 
 Almighty God, according to the Dictates of 
 their own Confciences, is to me fo clear a Cafe^ 
 that I mall not attempt to make it clearer ; and 
 nothing but the maintaining fome monftrous 
 Opinion inconfiflent with the Safety of Society, 
 and that not barely in Theory and Specula- 
 tion, but by open Practice and out-ward Actions, 
 I fay, nothing but the avowedly maintaining of 
 
 fuch
 
 SUBJECTS. 223 
 
 fuch dangerous Principles can juftify the Magif- 
 trate in abridging any Set of Men of thefe their 
 natural Rights. It is alfo equally evident, that 
 the Church of England doth not, cannot fall 
 under the Cenfure of holding Opinions- incon- 
 fiftent with the Safety of the State, and the Good 
 of Mankind, even her Enemies themfelves 
 being Judges : And yet the Church of England 
 alone doth not enjoy a Toleration in that full 
 Extent, which is granted to the Members of 
 every other Denomination. What then can be 
 the Caufe of putting fo injurious a Diftinclion 
 between the Church of England* and other 
 Churches in this Refpect ? The Reafon is plain. 
 The Americans have taken it into their Heads to 
 believe, that an Epifcopate would operate as 
 fome further Tie upon them, not to break loofe 
 from thofe Obligations which they owe to the 
 Mother- Country ; and that this is to be ufed as 
 an Engine, under the Mafque of Religion, to 
 rivet thofe Chains, which they imagined we arc 
 forging for them. Let therefore the Mother- 
 Country herfelf refign up all Claim of Authority 
 over them, as well Ecclefiaftical as Civil ; let 
 her declare North- America to be independent 
 of Great- Britain in every Refped whatever ;--- 
 let her do this, I fay, and then all their Fears 
 will vanifli away, and their Panics be at an End : 
 And then, a Bimop, who has no more Connec- 
 tions with England either in Church or State, 
 
 than
 
 224 POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 
 
 than he has with Germany r , Sweden, or any othe'r^ 
 Country, will be no longer looked upon in Ame- 
 rica as a Monfter but a Man. In Hurt, when 
 all Motives for Oppofmon are at an End, it 
 is obfervable, that the Oppofition itfelf ibon 
 ceafes and dies away. In a Word, an Epifcopate 
 may then take Place-, and whether this new 
 Ecclefiaftical Officer be called from a Name 
 derived from the Greek, the Latin, or the Ger- 
 man, --that is, whether he be ftiled Epifcopus, 
 Superintendent, Supeivifor, Overfeer, &c. &c. 
 it matters not,---provided he be inverted with 
 competent Authority to ordain and confirm Inch 
 of the Members of his own Perfuafion, as mall 
 voluntarily oiler themfelves, and to inipect the 
 Lives and Morals of his own Clergy. 
 
 FINIS.
 
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