TOLITICAL WRITINGS 
 
 o F 
 
 JOHN DICKINSON, ESQUIRE, 
 
 LATE PRESIDENT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE, AND OF 
 THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 72V TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 V O L. L 
 
 W I L M I N G TON: 
 
 PRINTED AND SOLD BV BONSAL AND NfLES. 
 ALSO, SOLD AT THEIR BOOK-STORE, NO. 173, MARKET-STREET, BALTIMORE. 
 
 (Entered according to Act of Congress.) 
 

 
PREFACE, 
 
 J[ HE present age has been witness to as 
 great political phenomena, as have appeared in 
 the history of the world . 
 
 AMONG other events, we have seen America, 
 in a dignified progression, from resentment of 
 injuries to remonstrances, frtfm remonstrances 
 
 to arms, and from arms to liberty after a 
 
 vicissitude of fortunes delivered from despot- 
 ism, and establishing her freedom in a repub- 
 lican form of government, on the pure and just 
 principles of popular representation and federal 
 union) delineated in these writings. 
 
 THROUGHOUT the course of these contests, 
 the friends of liberty in Great-Britain) many of 
 them peers or members of the house of com- 
 mons, of the highest characters, were warm ad- 
 vocates for THE JUSTICE OF OUR CAUSE. 
 
 IN the year 1774, the earl of Chatham, in a 
 speech worthy of his distinguished talents and 
 
illustrious reputation, said " If we take a 
 
 transient view of those motives, which induced 
 the ancestors of our fellow subjects in America, 
 to leave their native country, to encounter the 
 innumerable difficulties of the unexplored regi- 
 ons of the Western world, our astonishment 
 at the present conduct of their descendents will 
 naturally subside. There was no corner of the 
 globe to which they would not have fled, ra- 
 ther than submit to the slavish and tyrannical 
 spirit, which prevailed at that period in their 
 native country ; and viewing them in their ori- 
 ginal, forlorn, and now flourishing state, they 
 may be cited as illustrious instances to instruct 
 
 the world what great exertions mankind will 
 
 make, when left to the free exercise of their own 
 powers. 
 
 " IT has always been my fixed and unalterable 
 opinion, and I will carry it with me to the 
 grave, that this country had no right whatever to 
 tax America. It is contrary to all the princi- 
 ples of justice and civil policy : it is contrary 
 to that essential, unalterable right in nature, 
 ingrafted into the British constitution as a fun- 
 damental law, that what a man has honestly ac- 
 quired is absolutely his own, which he may freely 
 
give, but which cannot be taken from him with- 
 out his own consent. 
 
 " PASS then, my lords, instead of these harsh 
 and severe edicts, an amnesty over their errors ; 
 by measures of lenity and affection, allure them 
 to their duty ; act the part of a generous and 
 forgiving parent. A period may arrive, when 
 this parent may stand in need of every assist- 
 ance, she can receive from a grateful and affec- 
 tionate offspring/' 
 
 SOON afterwards, in a confidential letter to a 
 
 friend, he writes " Every step on the side 
 
 of government in America, seems calculated to 
 drive the Americans into open resistance, vainly 
 hoping to crush the spirit of liberty in that vast 
 continent, at one successful blow ; but millions 
 must perish there, before the seeds of freedom 
 will cease to grow and spread, in so favourable 
 a soil ; and in the mean time, devoted England 
 must sink herself, under the ruins of her own 
 foolish and inhuman system of destruction. It 
 is plain, that America cannot bear chains. 
 Would to heaven it were equally plain, that the 
 oppressor, England, is not doomed one day 
 
to bind them round her own hands, and wear 
 them patiently. 
 
 " Luxuria inciibuit, victiimque ulciscitur orbem savior armis. 
 
 " HAPPILY, beyond the Atlantic, this poison 
 has not reached the heart. When then will 
 infatuated administration begin to fear that 
 freedom they cannot destroy, and which they 
 do not know how to love ?" 
 
 IN another letter, he says " I have not 
 
 words to express my satisfaction, that the con- 
 gress has conducted this most arduous and deli- 
 cate business with such manly wisdom and 
 calm resolution, as does the highest honour to 
 their deliberations. Very few things are con- 
 tained in their resolves, that I could wish had 
 been otherwise. Upon the whole, I think it 
 must be evident to every unprejudiced man in 
 England* who feels for the rights of mankind, 
 that America, under all her oppressions and pro- 
 vocations, holds forth to us the most fair and 
 just opening, for restoring harmony and affec- 
 tionate intercourse, as heretofore. I trust, that 
 the minds of men are more than beginning to 
 change on this great subject ; and that it will be 
 found impossible for freemen in England, to 
 
[ vii ] 
 
 wish to see three millions of Englishmen, slaves 
 in America." 
 
 IN the beginning of the year 1775, soon af- 
 ter the American papers had been laid before 
 the peers, he made another speech becoming 
 his splendid fame. These were some of his 
 
 expressions. " This universal opposition to 
 
 your arbitrary system of taxation, might have 
 been foreseen ; it was obvious from the nature 
 of things, and from .the nature of man, and 
 above all, from the confirmed habits of think- 
 ing, from the spirit of WHIGGISM flourishing in 
 America. The spirit which now pervades Amer- 
 ica, is the same which formerly opposed loans, 
 benevolences, and ship-money in this country ; 
 is the same spirit which roused all England to 
 action at the revolution, and which established 
 at a remote sera, your liberties, on the basis of 
 that grand fundamental maxim of the constitu- 
 tion, that no subject of England shall be taxed, 
 but by his own consent. 
 
 " To maintain this principle, is the common 
 cause of the WHIGS, on the other side of the At- 
 lantic, and on this. It is liberty to liberty engag- 
 ed. In this great cause they are immoveably 
 allied. It is the alliance of God and nature, im- 
 
C viii ] 
 
 mutable, eternal, fixed as the firmament of hea- 
 ven.* 
 
 " As an Englishman, I recognize to the Ameri- 
 cans, their supreme unalterable right of proper- 
 ty. As an American, I would equally recognize 
 to England, her supreme right of regulating 
 commerce and navigation. This distinction is 
 
 * " Arbitrary taxation is plunder authorized by law ; it is the support and 
 the essence of tyranny ; and has done more mischief to mankind, than those 
 other three scourges from heaven, famine, pestilence, and the sword. 
 
 " I need not carry your lordships out of your own knowledge, or out of 
 your own dominions, to make you conceive what misery this right of taxation 
 is capable of producing in a provincial government. 
 
 " We need only recollect, that our countrymen in India have, in the space of 
 five or six years, in virtue of this right, destroyed, starved, and driven away 
 more inhabitants from Bengal, than are to be found at present in all our Amer- 
 ican colonies. This is no exaggeration, my lords, but plain matter of fact." 
 SHIPLEY, bishop of St. Asapb, against the bill for altering the charter of 
 Massachusetts, &c. 
 
 " WE seem not to be sensible of the high and important trust, which Pro- 
 vidence has committed to our charge. The most precious remains of civil 
 liberty, that the world can now boast of, are now lodged in our hands ; and 
 GOD forbid, that we should violate so sacred a deposite. 
 
 " By enslaving your colonies, you not only ruin the peace, the commerce, and 
 the fortunes of both countries ; but you extinguish the fairest hopes, shut up 
 the last asylum, of mankind. 
 
 " I think, my lords, without being weakly superstitious, that a good man may 
 hope, that heaven will take part against the execution of a plan, which seems 
 big not only with mischief, but impiety" Idem. 
 
involved in the abstract nature of things : pro- 
 perty is private, individual, absolute : the touch 
 of another annihilates it. Trade is an extend- 
 ed and complicated consideration ; it reaches as 
 far as ships can sail, or winds can blow ; it is a 
 vast and various machine. To regulate the 
 numberless movements of its several parts, and 
 combine them into one harmonious effect, for 
 the good of the whole, requires the superintend- 
 ing wisdom and energy of the supreme power 
 of the empire. 
 
 " ON this grand practical distinction, then 
 let us rest : taxation is theirs, commercial regu<- 
 lation is ours. As to the metaphysical refine- 
 ments, attempting to shew, that the Americans 
 are equally free from legislative controul, and 
 commercial restraint, as from taxation, for the 
 purpose of revenue, I pronounce them futile, 
 frivolous, and groundless. 
 
 " WHEN your lordships have perused the 
 papers transmitted to us from America, when 
 you consider the dignity, the firmness, and the 
 
 [b] 
 
wisdom with which the Americans have acted, 
 you cannot but respect their cause. 
 
 " HISTORY, my lords, has been my favourite 
 study, and in the celebrated writings of anti- 
 quity, have I often admired the patriotism of 
 Greece and Rome : but, my lords, I must declare 
 and avow, that in the master states of the 
 world, I know not the people or the senate, 
 who, in such a complication of difficult cir- 
 cumstances, can stand in preference to the de- 
 legates of America, assembled in general con- 
 gress at Philadelphia. I trust, it is obvious to 
 your lordships, that all attempts to impose ser- 
 vitude upon such men, to establish despotism 
 over such a mighty continental nation, must be 
 vain/' 
 
 LORD Chatham was ably supported by his 
 friend, the excellent lord Camden, who among 
 
 other things said " when the famous Sel- 
 
 den was asked, by what statute resistance to ty- 
 ranny could be justified ?" his reply was " it 
 
 is to be justified by the custom of England, 
 which is part of the law of the land." 
 
[ xi ] 
 
 " I WILL affirm, my lords, not only as a 
 statesman, a politician, and a philosopher, but 
 as a common lawyer, that you have no right to 
 tax America. No man, agreeably to the prin- 
 ciples of natural and civil liberty, can be di- 
 vested of any part of his property, without his 
 consent ; and whenever oppression begins, resist- 
 ance becomes lawful and right.' 3 
 
 IN the year 1777, lord Chatham moved an 
 amendment to a proposed address, recommend- 
 ing measures of accommodation, and an imme- 
 diate cessation of hostilities, as necessary for 
 effectuating that purpose, which " he support, 
 ed with all the energy and eloquence, which 
 had formerly produced such mighty effects ; 
 and which must now have roused the nation 
 from its death-like torpor, had this been with- 
 in the compass of human virtue or human abi- 
 lity." 
 
 AFTER some weighty observations respect- 
 ing the conduct of ministers, he proceeded 
 
 thus " you may swell every expence, and 
 
 strain every effort, accumulate every assistance, 
 and extend your traffic to the shambles of every 
 
German despot, your attempts will be forever 
 
 vain and impotent. But, my lords, where is 
 
 the man, that in addition to the disgraces and 
 mischiefs of the war, has dared to authorize and 
 associate to our arms the tomahawk and scalping- 
 knife of the savage? To call into civilized alli- 
 ance, the wild and inhuman inhabitant of the 
 woods ? To delegate to the merciless Indian, 
 the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the 
 horrors of his barbarous warfare against cur 
 brethren ? These enormities cry aloud for re- 
 dress and punishment.* 
 
 5--nv ii 
 
 ... . . . 
 
 * The American secretary, in a letter to general Garlton, dated Whitehall, 
 March 26th, 1777, fays: " As this plan cannot be advantageously executed 
 without the assistance of Canadians and Indians, his majesty strongly recommends 
 it to your care, to furnish both expeditions with good and sufficient todies of these 
 men .- and I am happy in knowing, that your influence among them is so great, 
 that ther| can be no room to apprehend you will find it difficult to fulfil his 
 majesty's intentions." 
 
 In the " Thoughts for conducting the war from the side of Canada" by 
 general Burgoyne, that general desired " a thousand or more savages." 
 
 Colonel, Sutler was desired to distribute the king's bounty-money among 
 such of the savages as would join the army ; and after the delivery of the pre- 
 sents , he asks for - 4011, York currency, before he left Niagara. He adds, in 
 a lettu^th**- was laid on the table, in the house of commons, " I flatter myself, 
 tJ^T you will not think the expence, however high, to be useless, or given 
 with too lavifli a hand. I waited seven days to deliver them the presents, and 
 
 (JIVE THEM- THE HATCHET, WHICH THEY ACCEPTED, and PROMISED TO 
 
 MAKE tfSE OF IT. This letter is dated Ontario^ July a8th, 1777. 
 
" IT is not, my lords, a wild and lawless ban- 
 ditti whom we oppose : the resistance of Ameri- 
 ca) is the struggle of free and virtuous patriots" 
 
 IT is remarkable, that this great and good 
 man, in the year 1775, not only lays \\iejustice 
 of American claims, on the same eternal and im- 
 mutable foundations contended for in the fol- 
 lowing " Essay on the constitutional power of 
 Great-Britain over the colonies in America" pub- 
 lished at Philadelphia in the preceding year, 
 1774, but makes the same comparison that was 
 made in that Essay, between the opposition of 
 America to British measures, and the opposition 
 of Britain, to the measures of the Stuarts, re- 
 fpecting loans, benevolences, and ship-money ; 
 and also makes the same distinction between 
 taxation and regulation of commerce, tfiat is 
 asserted in that Essay, and inforces that distinc- 
 
 In another letter, colonel Butter says, " The Indians threw in a heavy fire 
 on the rebels , and made a shocking slaughter with their sfears and hatchets. The 
 success of this day, will plainly shew the utility of your excellency's constant 
 support of my univearied endeavours to conciliate to bis majesty so serviceable a body 
 of ALLIES." This letter is to sir Guy Carlton^ and dated, camp before Fort 
 Starfwix, August I5th, I777 In another letter he says, " many of the pris<A- 
 trs were, conformably to the Indian cu*tom> AFTERWARDS KILLED." More on 
 this subject may be seen in general Bitrgoyne's proclamation proceedings in par- 
 liament, &c. 
 
tion by the same arguments which in the Essay 
 are employed on that subject. He likewise in- 
 sists, as is urged in that Essay, that the ad- 
 mission of an authority to regulate commerce, does 
 not imply the concession of an authority to le- 
 gislate, for the purpose of taxation. He, also, 
 called the public attention to the extraordinary 
 
 case, which is stated in that Essay that a 
 
 period may arrive, when the parent will stand 
 in need of the assistance of her offspring. 
 
 THUS has the justice of our cause been 
 maintained by the best and wisest men in Bri- 
 tain, not only by those before-mentioned, but 
 by multitudes of others. 
 
 OF what importance our successful opposi- 
 tion has been, and is now thought on the other 
 side of the Atlantic, we may judge from the 
 following declaration of that honest, benevo- 
 lent, and enlightened statesman Charles Fox, in 
 the house of commons " THE RESIST- 
 ANCE OF THE AMERICANS TO THE 
 OPPRESSIONS OF THE MOTHER COUN- 
 TRY, HAS UNDOUBTEDLY PRESERV- 
 ED THE LIBERTIES OF MANKIND/' 
 
C *v ] 
 
 WHAT political event, in the annals of the 
 world, can be more worthy of being commend- 
 ed to the attention of nations ! 
 
 WE now behold the sun of liberty illumin- 
 ing Europe ; and we have reason to believe, 
 that its rays will reach to other quarters of the 
 globe, beaming with a benign influence on the 
 human race. 
 
 WITH such knowlege of facts, and with such 
 hopes of the future, every American who loves 
 his country, must be pleased to trace our mo- 
 mentous controversy with Greqt-Britain, from 
 its commencement in her injustice, to its termi- 
 nation in our independence ; and every friend 
 to mankind must rejoice, in contemplating the 
 actual and probable consequences of our revo- 
 lution to other nations. 
 
 IF this intelligence should be conveyed in 
 narratives, written in coolness and leisure, after 
 the agitation of events had subsided, no doubt 
 it would be agreeable : but, this collection of- 
 fers to our fellow-citizens, in a series from the 
 beginning of the year 1764, writings composed 
 
and published in the midst of the arduous con- 
 tention, while Britain with insulting pretensi- 
 ons, and relentless cruelties, was practising 
 every artifice, and straining every nerve, by 
 statutes and by swords, to bend or break us 
 into bondage : and the editors think it their 
 right and duty, to insert some testimonies con- 
 cerning several of these writings, to shew the 
 sentiments that were entertained of them at the 
 times when they were published, or soon af- 
 ter. 
 
T H E 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 O F 
 JOHN DICKINSON, ESQUIRE, 
 
 One of the MEMBERS for the County of PlilaA-fybla, in the House of As 
 of the Province of Pennsylvania, May 34th, 1764, 
 
 ON OCCASION 
 
 Of a PETITION, drawn up by Order, and then under 
 
 Consideration, of the House ; praying the King for a 
 
 Change of the Government of the Province. 
 
 Published at the earnest request of a great number of very respectable citi- 
 zens of PliladelpLiay as expressed in their address to him, dated the 6th of 
 June, 1764. 
 
~*#* On the 4th of March, 1764, George Grenvilk, then 
 Minifter, and the Houfe of Commons on his Motion, began 
 their hostile Operations againft the British Colonies on this 
 Continent. 
 
 This Speech was made in lefs than three months after, 
 about a Year and a half before the meeting of tbefrst Con- 
 grefs at New-York, on Account of the Stamp Aft y defcribes 
 the Sentiments of Adminiflration concerning Colonial Go- 
 vernment, takes Notice of the then meditated Innovations^ 
 and was followed by a regular Courfe of fuch Meafures as 
 were apprehended and alluded to* 
 
 The Change attempted did not take place. 
 
THE 
 
 \ 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF JOHN DICKINSON, Es S 
 
 MR. SPEAKER,* 
 
 WHEN honest men apprehend their coun- 
 try to be injured, nothing is more natural 
 than to resent and complain ; but when they enter, 
 into consideration of the means for obtaining re- 
 dress, the same virtue that gave the alarm, may 
 sometimes, by causing too great a transport of zeal, 
 defeat its own purpose ; it being expedient for those 
 who deliberate of public affairs, that their minds 
 should be free from all violent passions. These 
 emotions blind the understanding : they weaken the 
 judgment. It therefore frequently happens, that 
 resolutions formed by men thus agitated, appear to 
 them very wise, very just, and very salutary ; while 
 others, not influenced by the same heats, condemn 
 those determinations, as weak, unjust, and danger* 
 
 * Isaac Norrh, Efquire. 
 
bus. Thus, Sir, in councils it will always be 
 found useful, to guard against even the indignation, 
 that arises from integrity. 
 
 MORE particularly are we bound to observe the 
 utmost caution in our conduct, as the experience of 
 many years may convince us, that all our actions 
 
 undergo the strictest scrutiny. Numerous are 
 
 the instances, that might be mentioned, of rights 
 vindicated and equitable demands made in this pro- 
 vince, according to the opinions entertained here, 
 that in Great-Britain, have been adjudged to be il- 
 legal attempts, and pernicious pretensions. 
 
 THESE adjudications are the acts of persons vest- 
 ed with such dignity and power, as claim some de- 
 ference from us ; and hence it becomes not unne- 
 cessary to consider, in what light the (*) measures 
 now proposed may appear to those, w r hose senti- 
 ments from the constitution of our government it 
 will always be prudent to regard, 
 
 BUT on this important occasion, we ought not lo 
 aim only at the approbation of men, whose authority 
 
 * The controversy between the Province and the Proprietaries, was, 
 Whether the estates of the Proprietaries should be taxed as the e.tates of other 
 persons were. The Proprietaries claimed an exemption, and were supported 
 in their claim by the British Ministers. The Assembly took this opportunity 
 to attempt a change of the Government from proprietary to royal. 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 may censure and controul us. More affecting du- 
 ties demand our attention. The honour and well- 
 fare of Pennsylvania depending on our decisions, 
 let us endeavour so to act, that we may enjoy our 
 own approbation, in the cool and undisturbed hours 
 of reflection ; that we may deserve the approbation 
 of the impartial world ; and of posterity, who are so 
 much interested in the present debate. 
 
 No man, Sir, can be more clearly convinced than 
 I am, of the inconveniencies arising from a strict ad- 
 herence to proprietary instructions. We are pre- 
 vented from demonstrating our loyalty to our excel- 
 lent Sovereign, and our affection to our distrest fel- 
 low subjects, unless we will indulge the Proprietors, 
 with a distinct and partial mode of taxation, by 
 which they will save perhaps four or five-hundred 
 pounds a year, that ought to go in ease of our con- 
 stituents. 
 
 THIS is granted on all sides to be unequal ; and 
 has therefore excited the resentment of this house. 
 Let us resent- but let our resentment bear pro- 
 portion to the provocation received ; and not pro- 
 duce, or even expose us to the peril of producing, 
 effects more fatal than the injury of which we com- 
 plain. If the change of government now meditat- 
 ed, can take place, with all our privileges preserved; 
 let it instantly take place : but if they must be con- 
 
sumed in the blaze of royal authority, we shall pay 
 too great a price for our approach to the throne ; 
 too great a price for obtaining (if we should obtain) 
 the addition of four or fiverhundred pounds to the 
 proprietary tax ; or indeed for any emolument like- 
 ly to follow from the change* 
 
 I HOPE, I am not mistaken when I believe, that 
 every member in this House feels the same rever- 
 ence that I do, for these inestimable rights. When 
 I consider the spirit of liberty that breathes in them, 
 and the flourishing state to which this Province hath 
 risen in a few years under them, I am extremely 
 desirous, that they should be transmitted to future 
 ages ; and I cannot Suppress my solicitude, while 
 steps are taking, that tend to bring them all into 
 danger. Being assured, that this House will aU 
 ways think an attempt to change this government 
 too hazardous, unless these privileges can be per- 
 fectly secured, I shall beg leave to mention the 
 reasons by which I have been convinced, that such 
 an attempt ought not now to be made. 
 
 IT seems to me, Sir, that a people who intend an 
 innovation of their government, ought to choose the 
 most proper time, and the most proper method for 
 accomplishing their purposes ; and ought seriously 
 to weigh all the probable and possible consequences 
 of such a measure. 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 THERE are certain periods in public affairs, when 
 designs may be executed much more easily and 
 advantageously, than at any other. It hath been 
 by a strict attention to every interesting circum- 
 stance ; a careful cultivation of every fortunate oc- 
 currence ; and patiently waiting till they have ri- 
 pened into a favourable conjuncture, that so many 
 great actions have been performed in the political 
 world. 
 
 IT was through a rash neglect of this prudence, 
 and too much eagerness to gain his point, that the 
 Duke of Monmoutb destroyed his own enterprize, 
 and brought himself dishonourably to the block, 
 tho' every thing then verged towards a revolution. 
 The Prince of Orange with a wise delay pursued 
 the same views, and gloriously mounted a throne. 
 
 IT was through a like neglect of this prudence, 
 that the commons of Denmark, smarting under the 
 tyranny of their nobility, in a fit of revengeful fury, 
 suddenly surrendered their liberties to their king ; 
 and ever since with unavailing grief and useless 
 execrations, have detested the mad moment, that 
 slipt upon them the shackles of slavery, which no 
 struggles can shake off. With more deliberation^ 
 the Dutch erected a stadholdership, that hath been 
 of signal service to their state. 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 THAT excellent historian and statesman Tacitus ^ 
 whose political reflections are so justly and univer- 
 sally admired, makes an observation in his third 
 annal, that seems to confirm these remarks. Hav- 
 ing mentioned a worthy man of great abilities, 
 whose ambitious ardour hurried him into ruin, he 
 uses these words, " quod multos etiam bonos pes- 
 sum dedit, qui spretis qu<z tarda cum securitate, 
 prtzmatura vel cum exitio proper ant." " Which 
 misfortune hath happened to many good men, who 
 despising those things which they might slowly and 
 safely attain, seize them too hastily, and with fatal 
 speed rush upon their own destruction." 
 
 IF then, Sir, the best intentions may be disap- 
 pointed by too rapid a prosecution of them, many 
 reasons induce me to think, that this is not the pro- 
 per time to attempt the change of our government. 
 
 IT is too notorious and too melancholy a truth, 
 that we now labour under the disadvantage of roy- 
 al and ministerial difpleasure. The conduct of this 
 province during the late war, hath been almost con- 
 tinually condemned at home. We have been co- 
 vered with the reproaches of men, whose stations 
 give us just cause to regard their reproaches. The 
 last letters from his majesty's secretary of state 
 prove, that the reputation of the province hai not 
 yet revived. We are therein expressly charged 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 with double dealing, disrespect for his majesty 5 s 
 orders, and in short, accusations, that shew us to 
 be in the utmost discredit. Have we the least rea- 
 son to believe, when the transactions of this year, 
 and the cause of our application for a change, are 
 made known to the king and his ministers, that 
 their resentment will be waved ? Let us not Rat- 
 ter ourselves. Will they not be more incensed, 
 when they find the public service impeded, and his 
 majesty's dominions so long exposed to the ravages 
 of merciless enemies, by our inactivity and obstina- 
 cy, as it will be said ? For this, I think, hath been 
 the constant language of the ministry on the like 
 occasions. Will not their indignation rise beyond 
 all bounds, when they understand that our hitherto 
 denying to grant supplies, and our application for a 
 change, proceed from the governor's strict adher- 
 ence to the terras of the stipulatipns^ so solemnly 
 made, and so repeatedly approved, by the late and 
 present king ? 
 
 BUT I may perhaps be answered^ " that we have 
 agreed to the terms of the stipulations, accord- 
 ing to their true meaning, which the governor re- 
 fuses to do." Surely, sir, it will require no slight 
 sagacity in distinguishing, no common force of ar- 
 gument, to persuade his majesty and his council, 
 that the refusal to comply with the true meaning of 
 
 VOL. i. B 
 
the stipulations proceeds from the governor, when 
 he insists on inserting in our bill the very words 
 and letters of those stipulations. 
 
 " BUT these stipulations were never intended to 
 be inserted verbatim in our bills, and our construc- 
 tion is the most just." I grant it appears so to us, 
 but much I doubt, whether his majesty's council 
 will be of the same opinion. That board and this 
 house have often differed as widely in their senti- 
 ments. Our judgment is founded on the know- 
 ledge we have of facts, and of the purity of our in- 
 tentions. The judgment of others, is founded on 
 the representations made to them, of those facts 
 and intentions. These representations may be un- 
 just ; and therefore the decisions that are formed 
 upon them may be erroneous. If we are rightly 
 informed, we are represented as the mortal enemies 
 of the proprietors, who would tear their estates to 
 pieces, unless some limit was fixed to our fury. 
 For this purpose the second and third articles of 
 the stipulations were formed; The inequality of 
 the mode was explained and enlarged upon by the 
 provincial council ; but in vain. I think, I have 
 heard a worthy member who lately returned from 
 England, mention these circumstances. 
 
 IF this be the case, what reasonable hope can 
 we entertain, of a more favourable determination 
 
now ? The proprietors are still living. Is it not 
 highly probable that they have interest enough, ei- 
 ther to prevent the change, or to make it on such 
 terms, as will fix upon us for ever, those demands 
 that appear so extremely just to the present minis- 
 ters ? One of the proprietors appears to have 
 great intimacy and influence, with some very con- 
 siderable members of his majesty's council* Ma- 
 ny men of the highest character, if public reports 
 speak truth, are now endeavouring to establish 
 proprietary governments, and therefore probably 
 may be more readily inclined to favour proprietary 
 measures. The very gentlemen who formed the 
 articles of the stipulations, are now in power, and 
 no doubt will inforce their own acts in the strictest 
 manner. On the other hand,, every circumstance 
 that now operates against us, may in time turn in 
 our favour. We may perhaps be fortunate enough, 
 to see the present prejudices against us worn off: 
 to recommend ourselves to our sovereign : and to 
 procure the esteem of some of his ministers. I 
 think I may venture to assert, that such a period 
 will be infinitely more proper than the present^ for 
 attempting a change of our government. 
 
 . WITH the permission of the house, I will now 
 consider the manner in which this attempt is car- 
 ried on ; and I must acknowledge, that I do not in 
 the least degree approve of it. 
 
THE time may come, when the weight of this 
 government may grow too heavy for the shoulders 
 of a subject ; at least, too heavy for those of a wo- 
 man, or an infant. The proprietary family may be 
 so circumstanced, as to be willing to accept of such 
 an equivalent for the government from the crown, 
 as the crown may be willing to give. Whenever 
 this point is agitated, either on a proposal from 
 the crown or proprietors, this province may plead 
 the cause of her privileges with greater freedom, 
 and with greater probability of success, than at 
 present. The royal grant ; the charter founded 
 upon it ; the public faith pledged to the adventur- 
 ers, for the security of those rights to them and 
 their posterity, whereby they were encouraged to 
 combat the dangers, I had almost said, of another 
 world ; to establish the British power in remotest 
 regions, and add inestimable dominions with the 
 most extensive commerce to their native country ; 
 the high value and veneration we have for these 
 privileges ; the affiicting loss and misfortune we 
 should esteem it, to be deprived of them, and the 
 unhappiness in which his majesty's faithful sub- 
 jects in this province would thereby be involved ; 
 our inviolable loyalty and attachment to his majes- 
 ty's person and illustrious family, whose sovereign- 
 ty hath been so singularly distinguished by its fa- 
 vourable influence on the liberties of mankind.- 
 
 ALL these things may. then be properly insisted on. 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 If urged with that modest heart-felt energy, with 
 which good men should always vindicate the inte- 
 rests of their country, I should not despair of a gra- 
 cious attention, to our humble requests. Our pe- 
 tition in such a case, would be simple, respectful, 
 and perhaps affecting. 
 
 BUT in the present mode of proceeding, it seems 
 to me, that we preclude ourselves from every office 
 of decent duty to the most excellent of kings ; and 
 from that right of earnestly defending our privi- 
 leges, which we should otherwise have. The foun- 
 dation of this attempt, I am apprehensive, will ap- 
 pear to others peculiarly unfortunate. In a sud- 
 den passion, it will be said, against the proprietors, 
 we call out for a change of government. Not from 
 reverence for his majesty ; not from a sense of his 
 paternal goodness to his people ; but because we 
 are angry with the proprietors ; and tired of a dis- 
 pute founded on an order approved by his majesty, 
 his royal grandfather. 
 
 OUR powerful friends on the other .side of the 
 Atlantic, who are so apt to put the kindest con- 
 structions on our actions, w T ill no doubt observe, 
 " that the conduct of the people of Pennsylvania, 
 must be influenced by very extraordinary councils, 
 since they desire to come more immediately under 
 the king's command, BECAUSE they will not obey 
 
those royal commands, that have been already sig- 
 nified to them." 
 
 BUT here it will be faid ; nay it has been faid ; 
 and the petition before the houfe is drawn accord- 
 ingly ; " we will not alledge this difpute with the 
 governor on the flipulations, but the general in- 
 conveniencies of a proprietary government, as the 
 caufe of our defiring a change." 'Tis true we may 
 at in this artful manner, but what advantages fhall 
 we gain by it ? Though we ihould keep the fecret, 
 can we feal up the lips of the proprietors ? Can 
 we recal our meflages to the governor ? Can we 
 
 annihilate our own refolves ? Will not all will 
 
 not any of these discover the true cause of the pre- 
 sent attempt ? 
 
 WHY then, should we unnecessarily invite fresh 
 invectives in the very beginning of a moft import- 
 ant business, that to be happily concluded, requires 
 all the favour we can procure, and all the dexterity 
 we can practise ? 
 
 WE intend to surround the throne with petitions, 
 that our government may be changed from propri- 
 etary to royal. At the same time we mean to pre- 
 serve our privileges : but how are these two points 
 to be reconciled ..? 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 IF we express our desire for the preservation of 
 our privilges, in so general or faint a manner, as 
 may induce the king to think, they are of no great 
 consequence to us, it will be nothing less than to 
 betray our country. 
 
 IF on the other hand we inform his majefty, 
 " that tho' we request him to change the govern- 
 ment, yet we insist on the preservation of our pri- 
 vileges," certainly it will be thought an unprece- 
 dented stile of petitioning the crown, that humbly 
 asks a favour, and boldly prescribes the terms, on 
 which it must be granted. 
 
 How then shall we act? Shall we speak, or shall 
 we suppress our sentiments ? The first method 
 will render our request incoherent: the second will 
 render it dangerous. Some gentlemen are of opi- 
 nion, that these difficulties may be solved, by in- 
 trusting the management of this affair to an agent : 
 but I see no reason to expect such an effect. I 
 would first observe, that this matter is of too pro- 
 digious consequence to be trusted to the discretion 
 
 of an agent. But if it shall be committed by 
 
 this house, the proper guardian of the public li- 
 berties, to other hands, this truth must at some 
 time or other be disclosed, " that we will never 
 consent to a change, unless our privileges are pre- 
 served.'* I should be glad to know, with what 
 
finesse this matter is to be conducted. Is the agent 
 to keep our petition to the crown in his pocket, till 
 he has whispered to the ministry ? Will this be 
 justifiable ? Will it be decent? Whenever he ap- 
 plies to them, I presume, they will desire to know 
 his authority for making such an application. Then 
 cur petition must appear ; arid whenever it does 
 appear, either at first or last, tbat and the others 
 transmitted with it, I apprehend, will be the foun^- 
 dation of any resolutions taken in the king's coun- 
 cil. 
 
 THUS, in whatever view this transaction is con- 
 sidered, shall we not still be involved in the dilem- 
 ma already mentioned* u of begging a favour from 
 his majesty's goodness, and yet shewing a distrust 
 that the royal hand, stretched out at our own re- 
 quest for our relief, may do us an injury ?" 
 
 LET me suppose, and none can offer the least 
 proof of this supposition being unreasonable, that 
 his majesty will not accept of the government, 
 clogged, as it will be said, with privileges inconsist- 
 ent with the royal rights : how shall we act then ? 
 We shall have our choice of two things : one of 
 them destructive : the other dishonourable. We 
 may either renounce the laws and liberties framed 
 and delivered down to us by our careful ancestors : 
 or we may tell his majesty with a surly discontent, 
 
( '7 ) 
 
 u that we will not submit to his implored protec- 
 tion, but on such conditions, as we please to im- 
 pose on him." Is not this the inevitable alterna- 
 tive, to which we shall reduce ourselves ? 
 
 IN short, sir, I think the farther we advance in 
 the path we are now in, the greater will be the con- 
 fusion and danger in which we shall engage our- 
 selves. Any body of men acting under a charter, 
 must surely tread on slippery ground, when they 
 take a step that may be deemed a surrender of that 
 charter. For my part, I think the petitions that 
 have been carried about the city and country to be 
 signed, and are now lying on the table, can be re- 
 garded in no other light, than as a surrender of the 
 charter, with a short indifferent hint annexed of a 
 desire, that our privileges may be spared, if it shall 
 be thought proper. Many striking arguments may 
 in my opinion be urged, to prove that any request 
 made by this house for a change, may with still 
 greater propriety be called a surrender. The com- 
 mon observation, " that many of our privileges do 
 not depend on our charter only, but are confirmed 
 by laws approved by the crown, " I doubt will have 
 but little weight with those, who will determine 
 this matter. 
 
 IT will readily be replied, " that these laws were 
 founded on the charter ; that they were calculated 
 vot. i. C 
 
( 18 ) 
 
 for a proprietary government, and for no other,* and 
 approved by the crown in that view alone : that 
 the proprietary government is now acknowledged 
 by the people living under it,, to be a bad govern- 
 ment ; and the crown is intreated to accept a sur- 
 render, of it : that therefore by thus abolishing the 
 proprietary government, every thing founded upon 
 it, must of consequence be also abolished." 
 
 HOWEVER, if there should be any doubts in the 
 law on these points, there is an easy way to solve 
 them. 
 
 * THESE reflections, sir, naturally lead me to con- 
 sider the consequences that may attend a change of 
 our government; which is the last point I shall trou- 
 ble the house upon at this time. 
 
 IT is not to be questioned, but that the ministry 
 are desirous of vesting the immediate government 
 of this province, advantageously in the crown. 
 It is true, they do not choose to act arbitrarily, and 
 tear away the present government from us, with- 
 out our consent. This is not the age for such 
 things. But let us only furnish them with -a pre- 
 text, by pressing petitions for a change ; let us 
 only relinquish the hold we now have, and in an 
 instant we are precipitated from that envied height 
 where we now stand. The affair is laid before the 
 
C '9 ) 
 
 parliament, the desires of the ministry are insinu- 
 ated, the rights of the crown are vindicated, and 
 an act passes to deliver us at once from the govern- 
 ment of proprietors, and the privileges we claim 
 under them. 
 
 THEN, sir, we who in particular have present- 
 ed to the authors of the fatal change, this long- 
 wished for opportunity of effecting "it, shall for our 
 
 assistance, be entitled to their thanks Thanks ! 
 
 which I am persuaded, every worthy member of 
 this house would abhor to deserve, and would 
 scorn to receive. 
 
 IT seems to be taken for granted, that by a 
 change of government, we shall obtain a change of 
 those measures which are so displeasing to the peo- 
 ple of this province that justice will be main- 
 tained by an equal taxation of the proprietary estates 
 and that our frequent dissentions will be turn- 
 ed into peace and happiness. 
 
 THESE are effects indeed sincerely to be wished 
 for by every sensible, by every honest man : but 
 reason does not always teach us to expect the warm 
 wishes of the heart. Could our gracious sovereign 
 take into consideration, the state of every part of 
 his extended dominions, we might expect redress 
 of every grievance : for with the most implicit con- 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 viction I believe, he is as just, benevolent, and 
 amiable a prince, as heaven ever granted in its 
 mercy to bless a people. I venerate his virtues be- 
 yond all expression.. But his attention to our par- 
 ticular circumstances being impossible, we must re- 
 ceive our fate from ministers ; and from them, I do 
 not like to receive it. 
 
 WE are not the subjects of ministers ; and there- 
 fore it is not to be wondered at, if they do not feel 
 that tenderness for us, that 'a good prince will al- 
 ways feel for his people. Men are not born minis- 
 ters. Their ambition raises them to authority ; 
 ,and when possessed of it, one established principle 
 with them seems to be, u never to deviate from a 
 ic precedent of power." 
 
 DID we not find in the late war, tho' we exerted 
 ourselves in the most active manner in the defence 
 of his majesty's dominions, and in promoting the 
 service of the crown, every point in which the pro- 
 prietors thought fit to make any opposition, decided 
 against us ? Have we not also found, since the last 
 disturbance of the public peace by our savage ene- 
 mies, the conduct of the late governor highly ap- 
 plauded by the ministry, for his adherence to those 
 very stipulations now insisted on ; and ourselves 
 subjected to the bitterest reproaches, only for at- 
 tempting to avoid burthens, that were thought ex- 
 
tremely grievous. Other instances of the like kind 
 I pass over, to avoid a tedious recapitulation. 
 
 SINCE then, the gale of ministerial favour has in 
 all seasons blown propitious to proprietary interests, 
 why do we now fondly flatter ourselves, that it will 
 suddenly shift its quarter ? Why should we with an 
 amazing credulity, now fly for protection to those 
 men, trust every thing to their mercy, and ask the 
 most distinguishing favours from their kindness, 
 from whom we complained a few months ago, that 
 AVC could not obtain the most reasonable requests ? 
 Surely, sir, we must acknowledge one of these two 
 things ; either, that our complaint was then un- 
 just ; or, that our confidence is now unwarranted. 
 For my part, I look for a rigid perseverance in for- 
 mer measures. With a new government, I expect 
 new disputes. The experience of the royal colo- 
 nies convinces me, that the immediate government 
 of the crown, is not a security for that tranquility 
 and happiness we promise ourselves from a change. 
 It is needless for me to remind the house, of all 
 the frequent and violent controversies that have 
 happened between the king's governors in several 
 provinces, and their assemblies. At this time, if I 
 am rightly informed, Virginia is struggling against 
 an instruction, that will be attended, as that co- 
 lony apprehends, with the most destructive conse- 
 quences, if carried into execution. 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 INDEED, sir, it seems vain to expect, where the 
 spirit of liberty is maintained among a people, that 
 public contests should not also be maintained. 
 Those who govern, and those \vho are governed, 
 seldom think they can gain too much on one ano- 
 ther. Power is like the ocean ; not easily admit- 
 ting limits to be fixed in it. It must be in motion. 
 Storms indeed are not desirable ; but a long dead 
 calm is not to be looked for ; perhaps, not to be 
 wished for. Let not us then, in expectation of 
 smooth seas, and an undisturbed course, too rashly 
 venture our little vessel that hath safely sailed 
 round our own well known shores, upon the midst 
 of the untryed deep, without being first fully con- 
 vinced, that her make is strong enough to bear the 
 weather she may" meet with, and that she is well 
 provided for so long and so dangerous a voyage. 
 
 No man, sir, amongst us hath denied, or will 
 -deny, that this province must stake on the event 
 of the present attempt, liberties that ought to be 
 immortal Liberties ! founded on the acknow- 
 ledged rights of human nature ; and restrained in 
 our mother-country, only by an unavoidable neces- 
 sity of adhering in some measure, to long estab^ 
 lished customs. Thus hath been formed between 
 old errors and hasty innovations, an entangled 
 chain, that our ancestors either had not moderation 
 or leisurt enough to untwist. 
 
I WILL now briefly enumerate, as well as Lean 
 recollect, the particular privileges tf Pennsylvania. 
 
 IN the first place, we here enjoy that best and 
 greatest of all rights, a perfect religious freedom., 
 
 POSTS of honour and profit are unfettered with 
 oaths or tests ; and therefore are open to men, 
 whose abilities, strict regard to their conscientious 
 persuasion, and unblemished characters qualify 
 them to discharge their duties with credit to them- 
 selves, and advantage to their country. 
 
 THE same wisdom of our laws, has guarded 
 against the absurdity of granting greater credit even 
 to villains, if they will swear, than to men of virtue, 
 who from religious motives cannot. Therefore 
 those who- are conscientiously scrupulous of taking 
 an oath, are admitted as witnesses in criminal cases. 
 Our legislation suffers no checks, from a councif 
 instituted,* in fancied imitation of the house of 
 lords. By the right of sitting on our own adjourn- 
 ments, we are secure of meeting, when the public 
 good requires it : and of not being dismist, when 
 private passions demand it. At the same time, 
 the strict discharge of the trust committed to. us, is 
 inforced by the short duration of our power, which 
 must be .renewed by our constituents every year* 
 
 * .Appointed by the crown.. ( 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 NOR are the people stript of all authority, in the 
 execution of laws* They enjoy the satisfaction of 
 having some share, by the appointment of provincial 
 commissioners, in laying out the money which they 
 raise ; and of being in this manner assured, that it 
 is applied to the purposes, for which it was granted. 
 They also elect sheriffs and coroners ; officers of 
 so much consequence, in every determination that 
 affects honour, liberty, life or property. 
 
 LET any impartial person reflect, how contradic- 
 tory some of these privileges are to the principles 
 of the English constitution, and how directly op- 
 posite others of them are to the settled prerogatives 
 of the crown ; and then consider, what probability 
 we have of retaining them on a requested change : 
 that is of continuing in fact a proprietary govern- 
 ment, though we humbly pray the king to change 
 this government into royal. Not unaptly, in my 
 opinion, the connection between the proprietary 
 family, and this province, may be regarded as a 
 marriage. Our privileges may be called the fruits- 
 of that marriage. The domestic peace of this 
 family, it is true, has not been unvexed with quar- 
 rels, and complaints : but the pledges of their 
 affection ought always to be esteemed ; and when- 
 ever the parents on an imprudent request shall be 
 divorced^ much I fear, that their issue will be de- 
 clared illegitimate. ^Thh I am well persuaded 
 
of, that surprizing must our behaviour appear to 
 all men, if in the instant when we apply to his ma- 
 jesty for relief from what we think oppression, we 
 should discover a resolute disposition to deprive 
 him of the uncontroverted prerogatives of his royal 
 dignity. 
 
 AT this period, when the administration is regu- 
 lating new colonies, and designing, as we are told, 
 the * strictest reformations in the old, it is not 
 likely that they will grant an invidious distinction 
 in our favour. Less likely is it, as that distinction 
 will be liable to so many, and such strong constitu- 
 tional objections ; and when we shall have the 
 weight both of the clergy and ministry, and the 
 universally received opinions of the people of our 
 mother country to contend with. 
 
 I mean not, sir, the least reflection on the church 
 of England. I reverence and admire the purity of 
 its doctrine, and the moderation of its temper. I 
 am convinced, that it is filled with learned and with 
 excellent men : but all zealous persons, think their 
 own religious tenets the best, and would willingly 
 
 * Some late acts of parliament shew WHAT STRICT REFORMATIONS are 
 to be made in the colonies. 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
see them embraced by others. I therefore appre- 
 hend, that the dignified and reverend gentlemen of 
 the church of England, will be extremely desirous 
 to have that church as well secured, and as much 
 distinguished as possible in the American colonies; 
 especially in those colonies, where it is overborne, 
 as it were, by dissenters. There never can be a 
 more critical opportunity for this purpose than the 
 present. The cause of the church will besides be 
 connected with that of the crown, to which its prin- 
 ciples are thought to be more favourable, than 
 those of the other professions. 
 
 WE have received certain information, that the 
 conduct of this province which has been so much 
 censured by the ministry, is attributed to the influ- 
 ence of one religious society. We also know, 
 
 that the late tumultuous and riotous proceedings, 
 represented in so strong a light by the petition now 
 before the house, have been publicly ascribed to the 
 influence of another religious society. Thus the 
 blame of every thing disreputable to this province 
 is cast on one or the other of these dissenting sects. 
 Circumstances ! that I imagine, will neither be for- 
 gotten, nor neglected. 
 
 WE have seen the event of our disputes concern- 
 ing the proprietary interests ; and it is not to be 
 expected, that our success will be greater, when our 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 opponents become more numerous ; and will have 
 more dignity, more power, and as they will think , 
 more law on their side. 
 
 THESE are the dangers, sir, to which we are 
 now about to expose those privileges, in which 
 we have hitherto so much gloried. Wherefore ? 
 To procure two or three, perhaps four or five hun- 
 dred pounds a year, (for no caculation has carried 
 the sum higher) from the proprietors, for two or 
 there or four or five years, for so long and something 
 longer, perhaps, the taxes may continue. 
 
 BUT are we sure of gaining this point ? We are 
 not. Are we sure of gaining any other advantage ? 
 We are not. Are we sure of preserving our privi- 
 leges I We are not. Are we under a necessity of 
 pursuing the measure proposed at this time? We 
 are not. 
 
 HERE, sir, permit me to make a short pause. 
 Permit me to appeal to the heart of every member 
 in this house, and to entreat him to reflect, how far 
 he can be justifiable in giving his voice, thus to 
 hazard the liberties secured to us by the wise foun- 
 ders of this province ; peaceably and fully enjoyed 
 by the present age ; and to which posterity is so 
 justly entitled. 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 BUT, sir, we are told there is no danger of losing 
 our privileges, if our government should be chang- 
 ed, and two arguments are used in support of this 
 opinion. The first is, " That the government of 
 the crown is exercised with so much lenity in Ca- 
 rolina and the Jerseys " 1 cannot perceive the 
 
 least degree of force in this argument. As to 
 Carolina, I am not a little surprized, that it should 
 be mentioned on this occasion, since I never heard 
 of any privileges that colony enjoys, more than the 
 other royal governments in America. The privi- 
 leges of the Jerseys, are of a different nature from 
 many of which we are possest ; and are more con- 
 sistent with the royal prerogative. 
 
 INDEED 1 know of none they have, except that 
 the people called Quakers may be witnesses in cri- 
 minal cases, and may bear offices. Can this indul- 
 gence shewn to them for a particular reason, and 
 not contradictory to the rights of the crown, give 
 us any just cause to expect the confirmation of pri- 
 vileges directly opposite to those rights, and for 
 confirming w r hich no such reason exists. But per- 
 fcaps the gentlemen, who advance this argument, 
 mean, that we shall purchase a change at a cheap 
 price, if we are only reduced to the same, state with 
 the Jerseys Surely, sir, if this be their mean- 
 ing, they entirely forget those extraordinary privi- 
 leges, which some time ago were mentioned. 
 
How many must we in such a case renounce ? 
 I apprehend, it would prove an argument of little 
 consolation to these gentlemen, if they should lose 
 three fourths of their estates, to be told, that they 
 still remain as rich as their neighbours, and have 
 enough to procure all the necessaries of life. 
 
 IT is somewhat remarkable, that this single in- 
 stance of favour in permitting an affirmation instead 
 of an oath, in a single province, should be urged as 
 so great an encouragement to us, while there are 
 so many examples of another kind to deter us. In 
 what royal government besides the Jerseys, can 
 one of the people called Bakers be a witness in 
 criminal cases, and bear offices ?* In no other. 
 What can be the reason of this distinction in the 
 Jerseys ? Because in the infancy of that colony, 
 when it came under the government of the crown, 
 there was, as appears from authentic vouchers, an 
 ABSOLUTE NECESSITY from the scarcity of other 
 proper persons, to make use of the people called 
 ^takers in public employments. Is there such a 
 necessity in this province ? Or can the ministry be 
 persuaded, that there is such a necessity ? No, sir, 
 those from w r hom they will receive their informa- 
 tion, will grant no such thing ; and therefore I 
 
 * It is said, that a Quaker was lately committed to goal in New* York, 
 because he would not swear in a criminal case. 
 
( So ) 
 
 think there is the most imminent danger, in case 
 of a change, that the people of this society will lose 
 the exercise of those rights, which, tho' they ARE 
 
 IN TITLED TO AS MEN, YET SUCH IS THE SITUA- 
 TION OF HUMAN AFFAIRS, they with difficulty can 
 find a spot on the whole globe where they are 
 allowed to enjoy them. It will be an argument of 
 some force I am afraid, that the church of England 
 can never expect to raise its head among us, while 
 we are encouraged, as it will be said, in dissenti- 
 on : but if an oath be made necessary for obtaining 
 offices, of honour and profit ; it will then be expect- 
 ed that any of the people called Quakers who are 
 tempted to renounce their principles, will undoubt- 
 edly make an addition to the established church, 
 
 IF any other consideration than that which has 
 been mentioned, was regarded in granting that in- 
 dulgence in the Jerseys, tho' no other is exprest, 
 it seems not improbable, that the nearness of this 
 province might have had some weight, as from its 
 situation it afforded such strong temptations to the 
 inhabitants of the Jerseys to remove hither, had 
 they been treated with any severity. 
 
 THEIR government in some measure was formed 
 in imitation of our government ; but when this is 
 altered,, the English constitution must be the mo- 
 del, by which it will be formed. 
 
. ( S ) 
 
 HERE it will be said, " this cannot be done but 
 by the parliament ; and will a British parliament 
 do such an act of injustice, as to deprive us of our 
 rights?" This is the second argument, used to 
 prove the safety of the, measures now proposed. 
 
 CERTAINLY the British parliament will not do 
 what they think an unjust act : but I cannot per- 
 suade myself, that they will think it unjust, to place 
 us on the same footing with themselves. It will 
 not be an easy task to convince them, that the peo- 
 ple of Pennsylvania ought to be distinguished from 
 'all other subjects, under his majesty's immediate 
 government ; or that such a distinction can answer 
 any good purpose. May it not be expected that 
 they will say, " No people can be freer than our- 
 14 selves ; every thing more than we enjoy is licen- 
 44 tiousness, not liberty : any indulgences shewn 
 44 to the colonies heretofore, were like the inclul- 
 44 gencies of parents to their infants ; they ought 
 44 to cease with that tender age ; and as the colo- 
 44 nies grow up, to a more vigorous state, they 
 44 ought to be carefully disciplined, and all their 
 
 44 actions regulated by strict laws. Above all 
 
 44 things it is necessary, that the prerogative should 
 44 be exercised with its full force in our American 
 <c provinces, to restrain them within due bounds, 
 44 and secure their dependence on this kingdom. "* 
 
 * The subsequent conduct of Great Britain^ has fully evinced her resolution 
 to adhere to such political maxims as these. 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 I AM afraid, that this will be the opinion of the 
 parliament, as it has been in every instance, the 
 undeviating practice of the ministry. 
 
 But, sir, it may be said, " these reasons are not 
 " conclusive, they do not demonstratively prove, 
 44 that our privileges will be endangered by a* 
 " change." I grant the objection: but what stronger 
 reasons, what clearer proofs are there, that they 
 not be endangered by a change. 
 
 THEY are safe now ; and why should we engage 
 in an enterprize that will render them uncertain ? 
 If nothing will content us but a revolution brought 
 about by ourselves, surely we ought to have made 
 the strictest inquiries what terms we may expect ; 
 and to have obtained from the ministry some kind 
 of security for the performance of those terms. 
 
 THESE things might have been done. They are 
 not done. If a merchant will venture to travel 
 with great riches into a foreign country, without a 
 proper guide, it certainly will be adviseable for him 
 to procure the best intelligence he can get, of the 
 climate, the roads, the difficulties he will meet with, 
 and the treatment he may receive. 
 
 I PRAY the house to consider, if we have the 
 slightest security that can be mentioned, except 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 opinion (if that is any) either for the preservation 
 of our present privileges, or gaining a single advan- 
 tage from a change. Have we any writing ? have 
 we a verbal promise from any minister of the 
 crown ? We have not. I cannot therefore conceal 
 my astonishment, that gentlemen should require 
 a less security for the invaluable rights of Pennsyl- 
 vania, than they would demand for a debt of five 
 pounds. Why should we press forward with this 
 unexampled hurry, when no benefit can be deriv- 
 ed from it ? Why should we have any aversion to 
 deliberation and delay, when no injury can attend 
 them ? 
 
 IT is scarcely possible, in the present case, that 
 we can spend too much time, in forming resoluti- 
 ons, the consequences of which are to be perpetu- 
 al. If it is true, as some aver, that we can now 
 obtain an advantageous change of our government, 
 I suppose it will be also true next week, next 
 month, and next year : but if they are mistaken, it 
 will be early enough, whenever it happens, to be 
 disappointed, and to repent. I am not willing to 
 run risques in a matter of such prodigious import- 
 ance, on the credit of any mail's opinion, when by a 
 small delay, that can do no harm, the steps we are 
 to take may become more safe. Gideon, tho' he 
 had conversed with an " angel of the Lord" would 
 
 VOL. i. E 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 not attempt to relieve his countrymen, then sorely 
 opprest by the Midianites, least he should involve 
 them in greater miseries, until he was convinced by 
 two miracles that he should be successful. I do 
 not say, we ought to wait for miracles ; but I think 
 we ought to wait for something, which will be 
 next kin to a miracle; I mean, some sign of a 
 favourable disposition in the ministry towards us. 
 1 should like to see an olive leaf at least brought 
 to us, before we quit our ark. 
 
 PERMIT me, sir, to make one proposal to the 
 house. We may apply to the crown now, as free* 
 ly as if we were under its immediate government. 
 Let us desire his majesty's judgment on the point,* 
 that has occasioned this unhappy difference between 
 the two branches of the legislature. This may be 
 done without any violence, without any hazard to 
 our constitution. We say the justice of our de- 
 mands, is clear as light ; every heart must feel the 
 equity of them. 
 
 IF the decision be in our favour, we gain a con- 
 siderable victory ; the grand obstruction of the 
 
 * This point was one of the stipulations approved by the crown, in favour 
 of the proprietors, with respect to the taxation of their estate. The governor, 
 one branch of the legislature, insisted upon inserting in the bill then under consi- 
 deration, the words of the stipulation ; and thus adhered to the stipulation. 
 The house of assembly, the other branch of the legislature, insisted upon tax- 
 ing the proprietary estate, without being thus bound. 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 public service is removed ; and we shall have more 
 leisure to carry our intentions coolly into execution. 
 If the decision be against us, I believe the most 
 zealous amongst us will grant it would be madness 
 to expect success in any other contest. This will 
 be a lingle point, and cannot meet with such diffi- 
 culties, as the procuring a total alteration of the 
 government. Therefore by separating it from other 
 matters, we shall soon obtain a determination, and 
 know what chance we have of succeeding in things 
 of greater value. Let us try our fortune. Let us 
 take a cast or two of the dice for smaller matters, 
 before we dip deeply. Few gamesters are of so 
 sanguine a temper, as to stake their whole wealth 
 on one desperate throw at first. If we are to play 
 with the public happiness, let us act at least with 
 as much deliberation, as if we were betting out of 
 our private purses* 
 
 PERHAPS a little delay may afford us the pleasure 
 of finding our constituents more unanimous in their 
 opinions on this interesting occasion : and I should 
 choose to see a vast majority of them join with a 
 calm resolution in the measure, before I should 
 think myself justifiable in voting for it, even if I 
 approved of it. 
 
 THE present question is utterly foreign from the 
 purposes, for which we were sent into this place* 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 There was not the least probability at the time we 
 were elected, that this matter could come under 
 our consideration. We arc not debating how 
 much monev we shall raise : what laws we shall 
 
 I 
 
 pass for 'the regulation of property ; nor on any 
 thing of the same kind, that arises in the usual par- 
 liamentary course of business. We are now to 
 determine, whether, a step shall be taken, that 
 may produce an entire change of our constitution. 
 
 IN forming this determination, one striking re- 
 flection should be preserved in our minds ; I mean, 
 " that we are the servants of the people of Pennsyl- 
 
 " varna" of that people, who have been induced 
 
 by the excellence of the present constitution, to 
 settle themselves under its protection. 
 
 THE inhabitants of remote countries, impelled 
 by that love of liberty which all-wise Providence 
 has planted in the human heart, deserting their 
 native soils, committed themselves with their help- 
 less families to the mercy of winds and waves, and 
 braved all the terrors of an unknown wilderness, in 
 hopes of enjoying in these woods, the exercise of 
 those invaluable rights, which some unhappy cir- 
 cumstance had denied to mankind in every other 
 part of the earth. 
 
 THUS, sir, the people of Pennsylvania may be 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 said to \\xvz-pnrchased an inheritance in its consti- 
 tution, at a prodigious price ; and I cannot believe, 
 unless the strongest evidence be offered, that they 
 are now willing to part with that, which has cost 
 them so much toil and expence. 
 
 THEY have not hitherto been disappointed in 
 their wishes. They have obtained the blessings 
 they sought for, 
 
 WE have received these seats by the free choice 
 of this people, under this constitution ; and to pre- 
 serve it in its utmost purity and vigour, has always 
 been deemed by me, a principal part of the trust 
 committed to my care and fidelity. The measure 
 now proposed has a direct tendency to endanger 
 this constitution ; and therefore in my opinion, we 
 have no right to engage in it, without the almost 
 universal consent of the people ', exprest in the plain- 
 est manner. 
 
 I THINK, I should improperly employ the atten- 
 tion of this house, if I should take up much time 
 in proving, that the deputies of a people have not 
 a right by any law divine or human, to change the 
 government under which their authority was dele- 
 gated to them, without such a consent as has been 
 
 mentioned. The position is so consonant to 
 
 natural justice and common sense, that I believe it 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 never has been seriously controverted. All the 
 learned authors that I recollect to have mentioned 
 this matter, speak of it as an indisputable maxim. 
 
 IT may be * said perhaps, in answer to this ob- 
 jection, " that it is not intended to change the 
 
 " government, but the governor." This, I appre- 
 hend, is a distinction only in words. The govern- 
 ment is certainly to be changed from proprietary to 
 royal; and whatever may be intended, the question 
 is, whether such a change will not expose our pre- 
 sent privileges to danger. 
 
 IT may also be, said, " that the petitions lying 
 44 on the table, are a proof of the people's con- 
 " sent." Can petitions so industriously carried 
 about, and after all the pains taken, signed only 
 by about thirty-five hundred persons, be looked on 
 as the plainest expressions of the almost univer- 
 sal consent of the many thousands that fill this pro- 
 vince ? No one can believe it. 
 
 IT cannot be denied, sir, that much the greatest 
 part of the inhabitants of this province, and among 
 them men of large fortunes, good sense, and fair 
 characters, who value very highly the interest they 
 have in the present constitution, have not signed 
 
 * This was frequently said in the house. 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 these petitions, and as there is reason to apprehend, 
 are extremely averse to a change at this time.: 
 Will they not complain of such a change ? And 
 if it is not attended with all the advantages they 
 now enjoy, will they not have reason to complain ? 
 It is not improbable, that this measure may lay the 
 foundation of more bitter, and more lasting dissen- 
 tions among us, than any we have yet experienced. 
 
 BEFORE I close this catalogue of unhappy con- 
 sequences, that I expect will follow our request of 
 a change, I beg leave to take notice of the terms 
 of the petition that is now under the consideration 
 of the house. 
 
 THEY equally excite in my breast surprize, 
 
 and grief, and terror. This poor province is alrea- 
 dy sinking under the weight of the discredit and 
 reproaches, that by some fatality for several years 
 past, have attended our public measures ; and we 
 not only seize this unfortunate season to engage 
 her in new difficulties, but prepare to pour on her 
 devoted head, a load that must effectually crush her. 
 
 We inform the king by this petition, that 
 
 Pennsylvania is become a scene of confusion and 
 anarchy : that armed mobs are marching from one 
 place to another : that such a spirit of violence and 
 riot prevails, as exposes his majesty's good sub- 
 jects to constant alarms and danger : that this 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 tumultuous disposition is so general, that it cannot 
 be controuled by any powers of the 'present govern- 
 ment ; and that we have not any hopes of return- 
 ing to a statv of peace and safety, but by being 
 taken under his majesty's immediate protection. 
 
 I c A N K o T think this a proper representation of 
 the present state of this province. -Near four 
 months are elapsed, since the last riot: and I do not 
 perceive the least probability of our being troubled 
 With any more. The rioters were not only success- 
 fully opposed, and prevented from executing their 
 purpose ; but we have reason to believe, that they 
 were convinced of their error, and have renounced 
 all thoughts of such wild attempts for the future. 
 To whose throat is the sword now held ? -What life 
 will be saved by this application ? Imaginary dan- 
 ger ! Vain remedy ! Have we not sufficiently felt 
 the effects of royal resentment ? Is not the author! - 
 Ity of the crown fully enough exerted over us ? does 
 |it become us to paint in the strongest colours, the 
 follies or the crimes of our countrymen ? To re- 
 [iiire unnecessary protection against men who 
 [intend us no injury, in such loose and general ex- 
 pressions, as may produce even the establishment 
 
 f)f AN ARMED FORCE aillOllg US ? 
 
 WITH unremitting vigilance, with undaunted 
 virtue, should a free people watch against the en- 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 fcroachments of power, ancj remove every pretext 
 for its extension. 
 
 WE are a dependent colony ; and we need not 
 doubt that means will be used to secure that depend- 
 ence. But that we ourselves should furnish a 
 reason for settling a MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT 
 upon us, must exceed the most extravagant wishes 
 of those, who would be most pleased with such a 
 measure. 
 
 WE may introduce the innovation, but we shall 
 not be able to stop its progress. The precedent 
 will be pernicious.-- If a specious pretence is 
 afforded for maintaining a small body of troops 
 among us now, equally specious pretences will ne- 
 ver be wanting hereafter, for adding to their num- 
 bers. The burthen that will be imposed on us for 
 their support, is the most trifling part of the evil. 
 The poison will soon reach our vitals. Whatever 
 struggles we may make to expel it, 
 
 H<eret lateri let halls arundo 
 
 THE dart with which we are struck, will still 
 remain fixed too firmly fixed, for our feeble hands 
 to draw it out. Our fruitless efforts will but irri- 
 tate the wound : and at length we must tamely sub- 
 
 VOL. j. F 
 
( 42 ) 
 
 mit to- 1 quit a subject too painful to be dwelt 
 
 upon. 
 
 THESE, sir, are my sentiments on the petition 
 that has occasioned this debate. I think this nei- 
 ther the proper season, nor the proper method, for 
 obtaining a change of our government. It is uncer- 
 tain, whether the measures proposed will place us 
 in a better situation, than we are now in, with 
 regard to the point, lately controverted : with re- 
 spect to other particulars it may place us in a worse. 
 We shall run the risque of suffering great losses. 
 We have no certainty of gaining any thing. In 
 seeking a precarious, hasty, violent remedy for the 
 present partial disorder, we are sure of exposing 
 the 'whole body to danger. I cannot perceive the 
 necessity of applying such a remedy. If I did, I 
 w r ould with the greatest pleasure pass over to the 
 opinion of some gentlemen who differ from me, 
 whose integrity and abilities I so much esteem, 
 that whatever reasons at any time influence me to 
 agree with them, I always receive a satisfaction 
 from being on their side. If I have erred now, I 
 shall comfort myself with reflecting, that it is an 
 tnnocent error. Should the measures pursued in 
 consequence of this debate, be opposite to my opin- 
 ion ; and should they procure a change of govern- 
 ment with all the benefits we desire ; I shall not 
 envy the praise of others, who by their fortunate 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 courage and skill have conducted us unhurt through 
 the midst of such threatening dangers, to the wish^ 
 ed for port. I shall cheerfully submit to the cen. 
 sure of having been too apprehensive of injuring 
 the people of this province. If any severer sen- 
 tence shall be passed upon me by the worthy, I 
 shall be sorry for it ; but this truth I am convinced 
 of; that it will be much easier for me to bear the 
 unmeritted reflections of mistaken zeal, than the 
 just reproaches of & guilty mind. To have conceal- 
 ed my real sentiments, or to have counterfeited 
 such as I do not entertain, in a deliberation of so 
 much consequence as the present, would have been 
 the basest hypocrisy. It may perhaps be thought 
 that this however would have been the most politic 
 part for me to have acted, It might have been so. 
 But if policy requires, that our words or actions 
 should belie our nearts, I thank God that I detest 
 and despise all its arts^ and all its advantages. A 
 good man ought to serve his country, even tho' 
 she resents his services. The great reward of 
 honest actions, is not the fame or profit that follows 
 them, but the consciousness that attends them. To 
 discharge on this important occasion, the inviola- 
 ble duty I owe the public, by obeying the unbiassed 
 dictates of my reason and conscience, hath been 
 my sole view ; and my only wish now is, that the 
 resolutions of this house, whatever they are, may 
 promote the happiness of Pennsylvania. 
 
THE 
 
 LATE REGULATIONS 
 
 RESPECTING THE 
 
 BRITISH COLONIES ON THE CONTL 
 
 NENT OF AMERICA, 
 
 CONSIDERED, 
 
 In a letter from a gentleman in Philadelphia, to his friend in London- 
 
 Prosunt minus recte excogitata; cum alias incitent saltern ad veritatis investigationem. 
 
 FULB. A BARTOL. 
 
 PRINTED AT PHILADELPHIA, 1/65. 
 
T H E 
 
 LATE REGULATIONS 
 
 RESPECTING THE 
 
 BRITISH COLONIES, 
 
 CONSIDERED. 
 
 S IR, 
 
 I last wrote to you and said, " that the 
 " late measures respecting America, would not 
 " only be extremely injurious to the colonies, but 
 " also to Great-Britain," I little thought I was 
 entering into an engagement, which would oblige 
 me to exceed the usual limits of a letter : but since 
 you desire to have at large the reasons in support 
 of this opinion, and I always think it my duty to 
 comply with your requests, I will endeavour in the 
 clearest manner I can, to lay my sentiments before 
 you. 
 
( 48 ) 
 
 THE American continental colonies are inhabited 
 
 ittaWEiM.*"*. .- < . 
 
 by persons of small fortunes, who are so closely 
 employed in subduing a wild country, for their sub- 
 sistence, and who would labour under such diffi- 
 culties in contending with old and populous coun- 
 tries, which must exceed them in workmanship 
 and cheapness, that they have not time nor any 
 temptation to apply themselves to manufactures. 
 
 HENCE arises the ^importance of the colonies 
 to Great-Britain. Her prosperity depends on her 
 commerce ; her commerce on her manufactures ; 
 
 * It has been said in the house of commons, when complaints have been 
 made of the decay of trade to any part of Europe, " that such things were not 
 worth regard, as Great-Britain was possest of colonies that could consume 
 more of her manufactures than she was able to supply them with." 
 
 " As the case now stands, we shall shew that the plantations are a spring of 
 wealth to this nation, that they tvork for us, that their treasure centers all bert y 
 and that the laws have tied them fast enough to us ; so that it must be through 
 our own fault and mismanagement, if they become independent of England''' 
 
 DAVENANT on the plantation trade. 
 
 " It is better that the islands should be suppliecLfrom the northern colonies 
 than from England y for this reason ; the provisions we might send to Barladoes, 
 'Jamaica, &c. would be unimproved product of the earth, as grain of all kinds, 
 or such product where there is little got by the improvement, as malt, salt, 
 beef and pork ; indeed, the exportation of salt fish thither would be more ad- 
 vantageous, but the goods which we send to the northern coloniet y are such, 
 whose improvement may be justly said one with another, to be nezr four-Jiftbs of 
 the value of the whole commodity, as apparel, houshold-furniture, and many 
 other things." Idem* 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 her manufactures on the markets for them ; and 
 the most constant and advantageous markets are 
 
 " New- England is the most prejudicial plantation to the kingdom of 
 land; and yet, to do right to that most industrious English colony, I must con- 
 fess, that though we lose by their unlimited trade with other foreign plantati- 
 ons, yet we are very great gainers by their direct trade to and from old England. 
 Our yearly exportation? of English* manufactures, malt and other goods, from 
 hence thither, amounting, in my opinion, to ten times the value of what is im- 
 ported from thence ; which calculation I do not make at random, but upon 
 mature consideration, and, peradventure, upon as much experience in this very tradt t 
 as any other person will pretend to ; and therefore, whenever reformation of 
 our correspondency in trade with that people shall be thought on, it will, in 
 my poor judgment, require GREAT TENDERNESS, AND VERY SERIOUS CIR- 
 CUMSPECTION." 
 
 Sir JOSIAH CHILD'S discourse on trade. 
 
 " Our plantations spend mostly our English manufactures, and those a all 
 sorts almost imaginable^ in evregious quantities, and employ near tiuo-thirds of all 
 ur English shipping ; so that we have more people in England, by reason of our 
 plantations in America?* Idem. 
 
 Sir JOSIAH CHILD says, in another part of his work, " that not more than 
 fifty families are maintained in England by the refining of sugar." From 
 whence, and from what Davenant says, it is plain, that the advantages here 
 said to be derived from the plantations by England, must be meant chiefly of 
 the continental colonies. See notes to page 59 and 60. 
 
 ** I shall sum up my whole remarks on our American colonies, with this ob- 
 servarion, that as they are a certain annual revenue of several millions sterling 
 to their mother country, they ought carefully to be protected, duly encouraged, 
 and every opportunity that presents, improved for their increment and ad- 
 vantage, as every one they can possibly reap, must at last return to us with 
 interest." BEAWES'S Lex mere. red. 
 
 " We may safely advance, that our trade and navigation aie greatly in- 
 creased by our colonies, and that they really are a source of treasure and naval 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
( 50 ) 
 
 afforded by the colonies, as in all others the f rest 
 of Europe interferes with her, and various accidents 
 Inay interrupt them. The benefit from hence is at 
 present immense ; but in future times when Ame- 
 rica shalf be more fully peopled, must exceed with 
 prudent management the warmest wishes of a Bri- 
 tish patriot. 
 
 OUR chief productions are provisions, naval 
 Stores, furs, iron and lumber. A few colonies 
 yield tobacco and indigo. Some of these commo- 
 dities are necessary to Great-Britain ; but all that 
 she requires are vastly insufficient to pay for her 
 manufactures which we want. The productions 
 of some of the southern colonies may perhaps be 
 equal to their demands, but the case is widely dif- 
 
 power to this kingdom, since they work for wj, and their treasure centers lere* 
 Before their settlement, our manufactures were few, and those but indifferent ; 
 the number of English merchants very small, and the whole shipping of the 
 nation much inferior to what now belongs to the northern colonies only. 
 These are certain facts. But since their establishment, our condition has altered 
 for the better, almost to a degree beyond credibility. Our MANUFACTURES 
 are prodigiously increased, chiefly by the demand for them in the plantations, 
 where they AT LEAST TAKE OFF ONE HALF, and supply us with many valu- 
 able commodities for exportation, which is as great an emolument to the mo- 
 iher kingdom, as to the plantations themselves." 
 
 POSTLETHWAYT'S univ. diet, of trade and commerce. 
 
 f " Most of the nations of Europe have interfered with us, more or less, in 
 divers of our staple manufactures, within half a century, not only in our wool- 
 len, but in our lead and tin manufactures, as well as our fisheries." 
 
 POSTLETHWAYT, Hid. 
 
ferent with the northern ; for in these, the import- 
 ations from Great-Britain are computed to be 
 generally more than double the value of their imme-. 
 diate exhortations to that kingdom, 
 
 THE only expedient left us for making our remit- 
 tances, is to carry on some other trade > whereby we 
 can obtain silver and gold, which our own country 
 does not afford., Hence it is evident, that if our 
 taking off and paying for her manufactures, is bene- 
 fi.cial to Great-Britain, the channels by which we 
 acquire money for that purpose, ought to be in- 
 dustriously kept open and uninterrupted.. 
 
 OUR trade with Spain > Portugal and the foreign 
 plantations in the litest -Indies have chiefly answered 
 this end, though with much difficulty, the mother 
 country having long since drawn the * commercial 
 
 * As far as regulations are requisite to confine the commerce of the colo- 
 nies to British subjects and to Britisb ships ; to give Great-Britain the prefer- 
 ence in being supplied with naval stores, so essential to her strength at sea ; 
 with commodities necessary for carrying on her woollen manufactures, or such 
 articles as can bear, high duties upon them, and thereby make a considerable 
 addition to the revenue ; or as. far as they are requisite to prevent the colonies 
 from being supplied with any thing in the place of Britisb manufactures, they 
 may be reasonable. These regulations, it is apprehended, establish the basis, 
 of the Britisb power ; and form such a firm connection between the mother 
 country and her colonies, as will produce all the advantages she ought to wish 
 for, or that they can afford her. Any further attempt to shackle some of the 
 colonies in favour of others, or to advance the revenue in America by restrain- 
 ing her trade, is but regulating by a severe exercise cf power, what wants no 
 
( 52 ) 
 
 cords with which the colonies are bound, extremely 
 tight upon them. Every thing produced here, 
 that Great-Britain chooses to take to herself, must 
 be carried to that kingdomf only every thing we 
 choose to import from Europe, must be shipped in* 
 
 Great-Britain -heavy duties have been laid on 
 
 our importations from the foreign plantations. 
 
 HOWEVER under all these restraints and some 
 others that have been imposed on us, we have not 
 till lately been unhappy. Our spirits were not de- 
 
 regulation, and, losing by too much haste to gain. (See notes to page 62. ) 
 Unnecessary and irritating restrictions, will at last cast contempt and hatred on 
 those substantial ones, that length of time, and the natural reverence of colo- 
 nies for their mother country, would have consecrated ; for discontented 
 xriSds are not apt to distinguish. " Narrow-limited notions in trade and 
 planting, are only advanced by, andean only be of use to particular persons, 
 but are always injurious to the public interests, in preventing the full employ- 
 ment of our own people, and giving our rivals and competitors in trade, the 
 opportunity of employing greater numbers of theirs, producing greater quan- 
 tities of merchandizes, and underselling us at foreign markets." 
 
 PQSTLETHWAYT'S univ. diet, of trade and commerce. 
 
 f Montesquieu, speaking of the contract made by Poland for selling all her 
 corn to Dantzick ONLY ; and another of the like nature between some Indian 
 princes and the Dutch for spices, says ; " these agreements are proper for a 
 poor nation, whose inhabitants are satisfied to forego the hopes of enriching them- 
 tslves, provided they can be secure of a certain subsistence ; or for nations, whose 
 SLAVERY consists either in renouncing the use of those things ivhich nature has given 
 them; or in being OBLIGED TO SUBMIT TO A DISADVANTAGEOUS COM- 
 MERCE." 
 
 * Except salt from any part of Europe for the fisheries of Newfoundland,. 
 New-England, Neiv-York and Pennsylvania ; and a few things from Ireland. 
 
( S3 ) 
 
 pressed. We apprehended no design formed 
 
 against our . liberty. We for a long time enjoyed 
 peace, and were quite free from any heavy debt, 
 either internal or external. We had a paper cur- 
 rency which served as a medium of domestic com- 
 merce, and permitted us to employ all the gold and 
 silver we could acquire, in trade abroad. We had 
 a multitude of markets for our provisions, lumber 
 
 and iron. These allowed liberties, with some 
 
 others we assumed, enabled us to collect considera- 
 ble sums of money for the joint benefit of ourselves 
 and our mother country. 
 
 BUT the modern regulations are in every circum- 
 stance afflicting. The remittances we have been 
 able to make to Great-Britain., with all the license 
 hitherto granted or taken, and all the money brought 
 among us in the course of the late war, have not 
 been sufficient to pay her what we owe ; but there 
 still remains due, according to a late calculation 
 made by the English merchants, the sum of four 
 millions sterling. Besides this, we are and have 
 been for many years heavily taxed, for the payment 
 of the debts contracted by our efforts against the 
 common enemy. These seem to be difficulties 
 severe enough for young colonies to contend with. 
 The last { sinks our paper currency very fast. 
 
 $ While the quantity of paper currency is proportioned to the uses for it, 
 : c must be beneficial ; and therefore to sink it below that quantity, must be 
 
The former sleeps off our silver and gold in a tor- 
 rent to Great-Britain, and leaves us continually 
 toiling to supply from a number of distant springs, 
 the continually wasting stream. 
 
 TITUS drained, we are prohibited by new and 
 stricter restraints being laid on cur trade, from pro- 
 curing these coins as we used to do : and from insti- 
 tuting among ourselves bills cf credit in the place 
 of such portions of them as are required in our in- 
 ternal traffic ; and in this exhausted condition, our 
 languishing country is to strive to take up and to 
 totter under the additional burthen of the STAMP 
 
 ACT. 
 
 IN defence of the prohibition to institute bills of 
 credit, it may be said, that some few colonies, by 
 " injudicious emissions of paper currency, did 
 *' great injury to individuals. '* It is true : but 
 it is as true, that others J always supported the 
 credit of their bills in such a manner, that their 
 emissions were of vast benefit both to the provinces 
 and to Great-Britain. The inconveniencies under 
 which the colonies laboured before these emissions 
 are well remembered, and were -produced by the 
 
 f No attempt "was ever made in this province and some others, to pay ng* 
 lisa debts any otherwise than according to the rate of exchange ; and no com- 
 plaint was ever made of injustice from the depreciation cf the currency. 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 same cause that distresses us at this time ; that is, 
 by Great Britain" 's taking off all our gold and silver. 
 There was then so little money among several of 
 them, that a stop was put in a manner to buying 
 and selling, and even shop-keepers were obliged to 
 barter their goods for food. The effect produced by 
 these emissions was surprizing - trade revived ; 
 and the remarkable and immediate * increase of our 
 
 * Value of the exports from England 'to Pennsylvania at different periods. 
 In 1723 they were ,15,991 *9 4 
 
 1/30 - - - 48,59* 7 5' 
 
 1737 - - - 56,690 6 7 
 
 - 75>19S S 4 
 
 In the year 1723 the first bills of credit were emitted in Pennsylvania, t* 
 the value of 45000. In 1728, part of the first emission being then sunk, 
 30000 more were emitted. It appears from the account above, that in seven 
 years from 1723 to 1730, the exports increased 32,599 8 I sterling. In 
 I 738> great part of the preceding emissions being then sunk, there was an 
 emission and re-emission amounting in the whole to 80000. In five years 
 afterwards it appears by the account above, the exports increased near 
 20000 sterling. 
 
 In later times when larger emissions have been made, the exports have pro- 
 portionably increased. In 1755 55000 were emitted : and in 1756 30000. 
 In 1757, the exports amounted to 268,426 6 6. Afterwards our emission* 
 were still greater, and in one year of the war, the exports rose to more than 
 700,000 sterling. 
 
 It is not pretended, that the increase of our importations is scldy owing to 
 the emissions of paper money ; but it is thought to be a very great cause of 
 that increase. It is undoubtedly owing in part to the increase of the people 
 by propagation, and the influx of foreigners. But such great and sudden in- 
 creases as have been mentioned in the short space of seven or five years, from 
 to 1730, acd from 1737 to 1743, could not in any great degree proceed 
 
importations shewed how advantageous they were 
 to Great-Britain. If any inconveriiencies were fear- 
 ed from this kind of currency, means might have 
 been found to prevent them, without utterly aboU 
 ishing it : but now, the apprehension of mischiefs 
 that might have been more easily obviated, has 
 deprived us of real benefits. 
 
 PERHAPS no mode could be devised more advan- 
 tageous to the public, or to individuals, than our 
 method of emitting bills in this province for our 
 own use. They are lent out upon good security, 
 chiefly real, at the interest of free per cent. The 
 
 from the increase by propagation ; and at that time I thiuk foreigners did not 
 flow in upon us in such numbers as they since have done. In the war large 
 sums were brought among us for the maintenance of the fleets and armies, it 
 is true : but that our currency was then of great utility is evident, because 
 \vhen the greatest quantity of it was passing, bills of exchange were lower 
 than they were for a long time before, or have been since. 
 
 It may by objected, that the complaint of the scarcity of money in America y 
 particularly in this province cannot be well founded, as we have lately had 
 bach large emissions. 1 arn very sensible how liable persons are to errors in 
 questions of this nature, and therefore I thiuk myself obliged to speak with 
 diiEdeace on the subject. Perhaps the following observations may in some 
 measure answer the objection. 1st. About one half of the emissions is sunk, 
 sndly. A very great part of the bills now circulating, are passing in the 
 neighbouring provinces, jdly. Our gold and silver are sent to Great-Britain^ 
 so that but small quantities thereof are now current among us and therefore 
 we must almost entirely rely on our paper for the medium of domestic com- 
 merce. Lastly. It does not seem probable, that we should have heard such 
 great complaints of the scarcity of money, if the extreme restrictions of our 
 commerce, had act ?o generally prevented our usual methods of acquiring it. 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 borrowers are allowed a long term for payment, 
 and the sums borrowed being divided into equal 
 portions, they are obliged to pay one of these with 
 the interest of the whole, every year during the 
 term. This renders the payments very easy ; and 
 as no person is permitted to borrow a large sum, a 
 great number are accommodated. The conse- 
 quences of such regulations are obvious* These 
 bills represent money in the same manner that mo- 
 ney represents other things* As long therefore as 
 the quantity is proportioned to the uses, these 
 emissions have the same effects, that the gradual 
 introduction of additional sums of money would 
 have. People of very small fortunes are enabled to 
 purchase and cultivate land, W T hich is of so much 
 consequence in settling new countries, or to carry 
 on some business, that without such assistance they 
 would be incapable of managing : for no private 
 person, would lend money on such favourable 
 terms * From the borrowers the currency passes 
 into other hands, increases consumption, raises the 
 prices of commodities, quickens circulation, and 
 after communicating a vigour to all kinds of indus- 
 try, returns in its course into the possession of the 
 borrowers, to repay them for that labour which it 
 may properly be said to have produced. They 
 deliver it, according to the original contracts, into 
 the treasury, where the interest raises a fund with- 
 out the imposition of taxes, for the public use. 
 VOL. i. H 
 
WHILE emissions are thus conducted with pru- 
 dence, they may be compared to springs whose wa- 
 ter an industrious and knowing farmer spreads in 
 many meandering rivulets through his gardens and 
 meadows, and after it has refreshed all the vege- 
 table tribes it meets with, and has set them a grow- 
 
 ing, leads it into a reservoir, where it answers 
 
 some new purpose. 
 
 IF it could be possible to establish a currency 
 throughout the colonies, on some foundation of this 
 kind, perhaps greater benefits might be derived 
 from it, than would be generally believed without 
 the trial. 
 
 WITH respect to the restrictions laid on our trade 
 to foreign plantations, it has been alledged, as a 
 reason for them, that our islands ought to be en- 
 " couraged." They ought to be: but should the 
 interest of one colony be prefered to that of another? 
 Should the welfare of millions be sacrificed to the 
 magnificence of a few? If the exorbitant profits of 
 one colony must arise from the depression of ano- 
 ther, should not such injustice be redressed ? 
 
 THERE is a vast difference to be made in calcu- 
 lating the gains of any particular branch of busi- 
 ness to the />", and to individuals. The ad- 
 vantages to the last may be small, and yet great to 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 the first, or the reverse. The statutes made to 
 restrain the trade of the continent in -[favour of the 
 islands, seem to tend rather towards promoting 
 
 f " The agents for New-York, in their contest with the sugar colonies, 
 affirmed, That their winters heing severe, obliged them to take off more o 
 the woollen manufactures of this kingdom (for which they remitted gold and 
 stiver) than all the islands f Jamaica cxceptedj //// together ; and which 1 believe 
 
 has remained un contradicted/' 
 
 BEAWES'S Lex. mere, red, 
 
 If one province THEN exceeded all cur West-Indies , except Jamaica, in this 
 particular, what proportion would that single island bear NOW to all the rest 
 of the continental colonies ? 
 
 The following account of the exports from ENGLAND to the northern colonies, 
 and to the West-India Islands^ will shew they were nearly equal some time 
 ago ; that those to the northern colonies now vastly exceed, and arc prodigiously 
 increasing, while those to the islands have continued nearly the same. 
 
 From 1744 to 1748, inclusive. 
 Northern Colonies. West-India Islands. 
 
 1744 -- 640,114 ia 4 .... 796,113 17 9 
 
 1745 - - 534,316 a 5 .... 503,669 19 9 
 1746- - 754,945 4 3 - - - - 47^,994 19 7 
 1747 - - 726,648 55 - - - - 856,463 18 6 
 1748- .- 830,443 16 9 .... 734,095 15 3 
 
 Total 3,486,368 I a Total 3,363,33? 10 ip. 
 Difference 122,930 10 4 
 
 3,486,268 I 3, 
 
 From 1754 to 1758, inclusive, 
 Northtrn Colonies. West-India Islands. 
 
 1754 - 1,246,615 i ii - - 685,675 3 o 
 
 1755 - 1,177,848 6 10 - - 694,667 13 3 
 
 1756 - 1,428,720 18 10 - . 733,458 16 3 
 
 1757 - 1,727,924 a 10 - - 776,488 o 6 
 
 1758 - 1,832,948 13 10 - - 877,571 19 ii 
 
 Total 7,414,057 43 - Total 3,767,841 ia II 
 
 Difference 3,646,215 ii 4 
 
 7,414,057 4 3 
 
^.partial than general, interests ; and it appears to 
 me no parodox to say, that the public would be as 
 great a gainer, if estates there were so f moderate t 
 that not a tenth part of the West- India gentlemen 
 who now sit in the house of commons, could obtain 
 that frequently expensive honour. 
 
 IT is allowed by those well acquainted with the 
 islands, that they cannot supply Great-Britain and 
 
 Total for the northern colonies, in the first term - 3,486,268 I $ 
 in the second term - - - 7,414,057 4 3 
 
 Increase, 
 
 Total for the West-India islands, iw the first term - 3,363,337 10 iq 
 Ditto, in the second term ... 3,767,841 12 II 
 
 Increase, only 0,404,504 a j 
 
 The difference between the employment afforded to the manufacturers of 
 England^ by the northern colvnies and by the West-India islands, is still greater 
 than it may appear to be from the first view of the preceding account : for a 
 much greater quantity of East-India goods is exported to the last than to the 
 first ; and the English manufactures consumed by them generally derive their 
 value from the richness of the materials, many of which are brought from fo- 
 reign countries, but those we consume, chiefly derive their value from the 
 work bestowed upon them, (Vide note to pages 48, 49 and 50.) 
 
 | Vide note to page 51. 
 
 f " A great advantage which the French have over the English in their su- 
 gar colonies, is their agrarian luiv, whereby monopolists are prevented from 
 engrossing too much land ; so that the number of whites is greatly increased, 
 the land improved, more commodities raised, the planters olligtdto a mere fru- 
 gal "way of living, and all things rendered cheaper. By these means Martinlco can 
 muster 16,000 fighting men ; but Jamaica, which is near three times as large, 
 only 4000." TUCKER on trade. 
 
these colonies with sugar and other articles^ and 
 that they can by no means consume the productions 
 of these colonies ; yet in * favour to them, we are 
 almost entirely prevented from sending these pro- 
 ductions to any other markets. Hence it follows, 
 that we are frequently obliged to sell our commo- 
 dities to them at so low a price, as not to pay the 
 first cost and freight; while we, being in a manner 
 prohibited from getting the West-India producti- 
 ons, for which we have occasion, any where else 
 but from them, must pay extravagantly for them* 
 
 NOR is this management attended, as it is pre- 
 sumed, with any benefit to the mother country, but 
 with a disadvantage ; either where the production's 
 
 * It is recited in the 6th of Geo. ad. ch. 13, now made perpetual, " that the 
 sugar colonies could not carry on their trade ON AN EQUAL FOOTING with the 
 foreign sugar colonies, without some advantage and relief given to them by 
 Great-Britain." That advantage GIVEN by Great-Britain was to compel the 
 continental colonies to take their productions at any price they please to ask 
 In short, to grant them a MONOPOLY for sugars. This was takingyV-ow one in- 
 deed to give to another ; but goes not to the rcet of the evil ; as the next pre- 
 f eding note evidently shews. For if Great-Britain should sacrifice her own in- 
 terests and those of her continental colonies still more, if it be possible, to the in- 
 terest of these islanders, they never ivill " carry on their trade ON AN EQUAL 
 FOOTING with the foreign sugar colonies," until there is the fume moderation 
 in their estates, and the same frugality in their living. By a very singular 
 disposition of affaire, the colonies of an absolute monarchy are settled on a republi- 
 can principle ; while those ef a kingdom in many respects resembling a common- 
 zuealib, arc cantoned out among a fciv lords vested with despotic power over 
 myriads of vassals, and supported in the pomp of Bassas by tLrir slavery. 
 
of the foreign plantations are consumed among us, 
 or re-exported to Europe, By the compulsion on 
 us to take from our islands, the price of their pro- 
 ductions is raised on the people of Great-Britain. 
 The revenue would be increased by this restriction 
 being taken off, as we should willingly pay a mo- 
 derate duty upon importations from the French and 
 Spaniards, without attempting to run them ; while 
 a very considerable duty would be paid on the f 
 sugars of our islands, which, instead of coming to 
 us, would then go to GreatErltaln. Besides, what- 
 ever extraordinary price we pay for the productions 
 of our own islands, must lessen our demand for 
 British manufactures ; since it is an (undeniable 
 
 f The restriction on the trade of the colonies to foreign plantations for molas- 
 ses, is particularly hurtful and impolitic, as the molasses brought from thence 
 was distilled for the fsLcries, the Indian and other trades, the profit of which 
 centered in Great- Britain. 
 
 i This cannot he disputed by any one who is acquainted with America. The 
 increase of a man's wealth there shews itself in a greater consumption of Bri- 
 tish manufactures of all kinds This reasoning in favour of the continental 
 
 colonies' trade with foreign plantations, is confirmed by what sir Josiah CbilJ. 
 mentions of New-England He says, ?" England loses by the unlimited trade of 
 this colony to other foreign plantations, but gains by her direct trade to old 
 Envljnd, from whence she exports manufactures to ten times the value of her 
 imports." (See the note to page 49. "> What vas it then that enabled Neiv- 
 England to pay ten times the value of her imports to England^ut the fro/its of her 
 trade to foreign plantations ? This appears to be a direct authority in support of 
 the arguments hereafter used. Tt seems therefore that Great-Britain of late, 
 through too great eagerness to gather golden fruits, has shaken the tree before 
 they were full grown. With a little patience they would ripen, and then of 
 themselves drop into her lap. 
 
truth, that what we should save in that way, would 
 be chiefly spent in this. It may also justly be ad- 
 ded, that our commerce with the foreign plantati- 
 ons, carries to them very considerable quantities of 
 British manufactures, for their consumption.** 
 
 IF our importations from them should be re-ex- 
 ported to Europe, the profits would center in Great- 
 Britain, according to the usual course of our trade. 
 The statute passed in the twenty-fifth year of 
 
 rt The inhabitants of our colonies, by carrying on a trade with their foreign 
 neighbour*) do not only occasion a greater quantity of the good* and merchandizes cf 
 Europe iting sent from Icnce to them, and a greater quantity of the product of 
 America to be sent from them hither, which would otherwise be carried from, and 
 brought to Europe by foreigners, but an increase of the seamen and navigation in 
 those parts, which is of great strength and security, as well as of great advant- 
 age to our plantations in general. And though some of our colonies are not 
 only for preventing the importations of all goods of the same species they produce, 
 but suffer particular planters to keep great runs of land in their possession tmculii- 
 vattd, with design to prevent new settlements, whereby they imagine the 
 prices of their commodities may be affected ; yet if it be considered, that the 
 markets of Great-Britain depend on the markets of ALL Europe in general, and 
 that the European markets in general depend on the proportion between the 
 annual consumption and the ivhoh quantity of each species annually produced by ALL 
 nations ; it must follow, th^t whether we or foreigners are the producers, carri- 
 ers, importers and exporters of American produce, yet their respective prices 
 in each -colony fthe difference of freight, customs and importations considered) 
 will always bear proportien to the general consumption of the whole quantity of 
 each sort, produced in all colonies, and in all parts, allowing only for the usual con- 
 tingencies that trade and commerce, agriculture and manufactures are liable 
 to in all countries." 
 
 POSTLETHWAYT'O Univ. Diet, of Trade and Commerce. 
 
 * Sec the preceding notev 
 
 
Charles the second, indeed mentions this practice 
 as injurious. It might be so, if regarded without 
 its attendant circumstances ; but if they are taken 
 into view, and it be considered, that if we do not 
 carry these productions to Europe, foreigners will, 
 no mischief seems likely to ensue from our becom- 
 ing the carrier s.f 
 
 THE restriction also with regard to our iron, is 
 thought particularly severe. Whenever we can 
 get a better price in Great Britain, than elsewhere, 
 it is unnecessary ; whenever we can get a better 
 price in other places, it is * prejudicial. Cargoes 
 composed of this metal, provisions and lumber, 
 have been found to answer very well at the Portn- 
 
 \ See the preceding note. 
 
 * If Great-Britain really takes off from Sweden iron to (he value of 
 . 200,000, according to the calculation that has been made, yet fhe does not 
 lose all that sura. Not to insist on the merely political advantage of having a 
 commerce with that protestant kingdom, which hy being beneficial to her, may 
 more firmly attach her to our interest, it may be observed, that the trade gf 
 Great-Britain to Sweden^ it 13 for iron in the gross, "which is afterwards worked 
 >ip, and large quantities of it re-exported ; so that money may thereby be 
 brought into the kingdom, and a great number of hands is employed. There 
 is a vast difference between this trade, and that to France, from whence the 
 importations into Great-Britain are merely for consumption, without affording 
 any employment to her people, or any profit by re-exportation. Besides, if the 
 colonies can get more by carrying their iron to foreign ports, than to Great- 
 Britain, fa md if they cannot, there is no occasion of a law to compel them to 
 carry ij to Great-Britain j they M, ill be more able to make larger demands for 
 British manufactures ; so that Great-Britain will gain the profit* of our iron, 
 to make up her loss by what she takes from 
 
 1 
 
 ic takes ir 
 
gucse and some other markets ; and as the last ar- 
 ticles are frequently very low, and our foreign trade 
 is reduced to so few commodities, the taking away 
 any one of them must be hurtful to us. Indeed, to 
 require us to send all our iron to Great-Britain, is, 
 in the opinion of some of our most judicious mer- 
 chants, to require an impossibility : for as this ar- 
 ticle is so heavy, and such small Quantities can be 
 sent in one vessel, they assert, that we cannot find 
 freight directly home for one half of it. 
 
 BESIDES the circumstances already mentioned 
 to prove the injurious consequences of the late 
 restrictions, there is another, which has great force 
 in persuading me that our trade ought by all means 
 to be more encouraged and extended at this time, 
 
 than was formerly necessary. Our settlements 
 
 then comprehended only ar narrow strip along the 
 shore of the ocean ; they were less populous ; and 
 their distanct from the sea ports being small, they 
 were supplied with every thing they wanted from 
 
 thene, without any length of inland carriage. 
 
 But now we have penetrated boundless forests, 
 have passed over immense mountains, and are daily 
 pushing further and further into the wilderness, 
 the inhabitants of these remote regions, mu^t of 
 necessity hold very little intercourse with those 
 which are near the sea, unless a very extensive 
 VOL. i. I 
 
( 66 ) 
 
 commerce shall enable these to supply them with 
 such quantities of * foreign commodities as they 
 want, and at such prices as they can afford to pay. 
 Every restriction on our trade, seems to be a re- 
 striction on this intercourse, and must gradually 
 cut off the connection of the interior parts with the 
 maritime and the mother country. 
 
 BUT it is unnecessary to endeavour to prove by 
 reasoning on these things, that we shall suffer, for 
 we already suffer. Trade is decaying; and all cre- 
 dit is expiring. Money is become so extremely 
 scarce, that reputable freeholders find it impossi- 
 ble to pay debts which are trifling in comparison to 
 their estates, If creditors sue, and take out exe- 
 cutions, the lands and personal estate, as the sale 
 must be for ready money, are sold for a small part 
 of what they were worth when the debts were con- 
 tracted. The debtors are ruined. The creditors 
 get but part of their debts, and that ruins them. 
 Thus the consumers break the shop-keepers ; they 
 break the merchants; and the shock must be felt as 
 far as London. Fortunate, indeed, is the man who 
 
 * It Is apprehended, that if the greatest part of the commodities demanded 
 by the back country should not be British but West-Indian, yet it must be be- 
 neficial to Great-Britain to promote this trade by all means. For if the coun- 
 try nearer the sea grows rich by supplying them with the productions of the 
 West-Indies ) these will certainly consume greater quantities of British manu- 
 factures. 
 
can get satisfaction in money for any part of his 
 debt, in some counties; for in many instances, af- 
 ter lands and goods have been repeatedly advertised 
 in the public gazettes, and exposed to sale, not a 
 buyer appears. 
 
 BY these means multitudes are already ruined, 
 and the estates of others are melting away in the 
 same manner. It must strike any one with great 
 surprize and concern, to hear of the number of debt- 
 ors discharged every court by our insolvent act. 
 Though our courts are held every quarter, yet at 
 the last term for the county of Philadelphia alone, 
 no less than thirty-five persons applied for the 
 benefit of that act. If it be considered, that this 
 law extends only to those who do not owe any sin- 
 gle debt above .150, that many are daily released 
 by the lenity of their creditors, and that many more 
 remove, without their knowledge, it will not be 
 difficult to form a judgment of the condition to 
 which the people are reduced, 
 
 IF these effects are produced already, what can 
 AVC expect, when the same causes shall have ope- 
 rated longer \ What can we expect, when the ex- 
 hausted colonies shall feel the STAMP ACT drawing 
 off, as it were, the last drops of their blood ? From 
 whence is the silver to come with which the taxes 
 imposed by this act, and the duties imposed by 
 
( 68 ) 
 
 other late acts, are to be paid ? Or how will our 
 merchants and the lower ranks of people, on whom 
 the force of these regulations will fall first, and 
 with the greatest violence, bear this additional 
 load ? 
 
 THESE last are to be considered in a very differ- 
 ent light from those of the same classes in Great- 
 Britain. There the nature of their employments, 
 and the plenty of money give them very little occa- 
 sion to make contracts in writing ; but here they 
 are continually making them, and are obliged to do 
 so. The STAMP ACT, therefore, will be severely 
 felt by these, in whose welfare the prosperity of a 
 state is always so much interested ; and * transfers 
 of property, that ought, in new countries particu- 
 larly to be made as easy as possible, will be much 
 discouraged. From the necessity they are under 
 of making contracts to be executed afterwards, the 
 lower ranks of people here are frequently engaged 
 in law suits ; and as the law is already a very hea- 
 vy tax on the subject in all parts of the British 
 
 * In the present scarcity of money, the sellers of lands, &c. always insist 
 on having part of the purchase-money in hand. The buyers, unless they hap- 
 pen to be rich men, find it impossible to comply with this term, unless they 
 borrow money, which cannot now be done- but in very small parcels from dif- 
 ferent persons each of these must have a bond ; and each of those bonds 
 must pay a stamp-duty of one shilling sterling, if the sum be above ten pounds 
 and under twenty and if above twenty pounds and under forty, one shilling 
 and six pend? sterling besides a heavy duty on the original contract. 
 
dominions, this act will render it destructive here ; 
 for the necessities, the follies, and the passions of 
 mankind, will not suffer them to cease from har- 
 rassing one another in that way. 
 
 NEITHER are the merchants here by any means 
 able to bear taxes, as they do at home. A very 
 great number of them there put such stocks into 
 trade, as would be thought large fortunes among 
 us ; and our merchants would think themselves very 
 happy to leave oif business with such estates as the 
 others begin with. I speak of the merchants in 
 general ; for we have on the continent individuals 
 who are rich, but their number is too inconsidera- 
 ble to deserve any notice on this occasion. Besides, 
 the interest of money being lower at home than it 
 is here, those who trade on borrowed stocks, can 
 do it to much greater advantage there than we can. 
 Indeed, among us it is almost impossible to get 
 money to trade upon at any rate. How unequal, 
 under the present disadvantages, a merchant's com- 
 merce will be to the payment of all the taxes impos- 
 ed by the STAMP ACT on his policies, fees with 
 clerks, charter parties, protests, his other notarial 
 acts, his letters, and even his advertisements, expe- 
 rience, I am afraid will unhappily prove. 
 
 THUS, I apprehend, that this act will be ex- 
 tremely heavy on those who are least able to bear 
 
( 70 ) 
 
 it ; and if our merchants and people of little sub- 
 stance languish under it, all others must be affect- 
 ed. Our mode of taxation, hath always been by 
 making as exact an estimate as could be formed of 
 each man's estate ; by which means, our taxes 
 have been proportioned to the abilities of those who 
 were to pay them. Few persons are employed in 
 the collection of them ; their allowance is very 
 
 moderate ; and therefore theexpence is small. 
 
 No excessive penalties, no tribes of informers, no 
 dreadful and detestable courts are necessary. This 
 I imagine, is the mode of taxation, which in young 
 colonies, will be found to be least oppressive and 
 destructive, and certainly the most equal : but by 
 the STAMP ACT, the J wealthy who have money to 
 let out at interest, or to make purchases, and 
 undoubtedly ought to pay the most towards the 
 public charges, will escape these taxes, while the 
 whole weight of them will fall on the necessitous 
 and industrious, who most of all require relief and 
 encouragement. 
 
 BUT it may be said, " That the merchants will 
 " not be affected by these taxes, because they will 
 " raise the prices of their goods in proportion, and 
 " that at length all taxes must arise from lands" 
 
 \ If a rich man buys land, it is generally from the distressed, and therefore 
 the seller's situation will oblige him to pay for the deed when the other insists 
 on it ; and when a man borrows money, every body knows who pays for the 
 bonds and mortgages. 
 
( 7' ) 
 
 THIS rule seems more applicable to very popu- 
 lous and rich countries, where the manufacturers 
 and landholders through necessity or the force of 
 fashions, have pressing demands upon the mer- 
 chants, than to such a country as this, where a great 
 majority of the people live on their lands in a very 
 plain way. For by practising a strict frugality and 
 industry, we may render ourselves more independ- 
 ent of the merchants, than the circumstances of 
 more populous and wealthy states will permit the 
 other classes of their people to be. The high pri- 
 ces therefore which our merchants impose upon 
 their goods, will discourage the sale of them, and 
 consequently they must " be affected by the tax- 
 " es," which oblige them to raise the prices in this 
 manner. 
 
 HOWEVER, granting that all taxes must arise 
 from lands ; it follows, that where the profits of 
 the lands are small, they can bear but small tax- 
 es. The more labour is bestowed on them, the 
 greater the profits will be, and the taxes may be. 
 In old populous countries there is an opportunity 
 of bestow ing this labour, and the manner of doing 
 it is well understood. Thus in England, the pro- 
 fits of land are so great, as to support a very large 
 number of nobility and gentry in splendor, and to 
 afford means of raising taxes to an amazing amount. 
 Nor are the workers of the land unrewarded ; for 
 
( 72 ) 
 
 the farmers have such long leases, and other en- 
 couragements, that they thrive and live comforta- 
 bly, and many of them are very wealthy. 
 
 How different is the case in America ? The 
 inhabitants being scattered thin through the coun- 
 try, and labourers being very scarce, they think 
 themselves fortunate, if they can clear their land, 
 fence it, and any how put their grain into the 
 ground in season. Manuring or j- improving soils 
 is not known, except in some small closes near 
 cities ; but every one must be content with what 
 his land will yield of itself. With this it must be 
 considered, that at least four fifths of the people in 
 America, live upon farms either of their own, or 
 rented, and spend their small profits in maintaining 
 their families ; and it frequently happens from the 
 length and severity of our winters, that the whole 
 produce of a man's farm is not sufficient to main- 
 tain his family and stock. 
 
 f * Further, it may be observed, that our lands are not sufficiently culti- 
 vated, even where they are capable of great improvement. Hence large 
 tracts serve only to maintain a small number of people. If we ask, why our 
 lands (meaning in Scotland) are so ill cultivated, besides the OBVIOUS CAUSES 
 arising from the POVERTY and UNSKILFULNESS of many of our farmers, the 
 SHORTNESS OF THEIR LEASES, and other things which will occur upon the 
 least reflection, it is not a little owing to a want of inclination for agriculture, 
 &c," DISSERTATION on the number* of mankind. 
 
.( 73 ) 
 
 WE are informed, that an opinion has been indus- 
 triously propagated in Great-Britain, that the colo- 
 nies are { wallowing in wealth and luxury, while 
 she is labouring under an enormous load of debt. 
 Never was there a greater mistake. This opinion 
 has arisen from slight observations made in our 
 cities during the late war, when large sums of 
 money were spent here in support of fleets and 
 armies. Our productions were then in great de 
 mand, and trade flourished. Having a number of 
 strangers among us, the people, naturally not unge- 
 nerous or inhospitable, indulged themselves in 
 many uncommon expences. But the cause of this 
 gaiety has ceased, and all the effect remaining, is, 
 
 \ " It is certain, that from the very time Sir Walter Raleigh, the fa- 
 ther of our English colonies, and his associates, first projected these establish- 
 ments, there have been persons who have found an interest, in misrepresenting, 
 or lessening the value of them The attempts were called chimerical and 
 dangerous. Afterwards many malignant suggestions were made about sacri- 
 ficing so many Englishmen to the obstinate desire of settling colonies in coun- 
 tries which then produced very little advantage. But as these difficulties 
 were gradually surmounted, those complaints vanished. No sooner were 
 these lamentations over, but others arose in their stead ; when it could be no long- 
 er said, that the colonies were useless, it was alledged that they were not use- 
 ful enough to their mother country ; that, while we were loaded with taxes, 
 they were absolutely free ; that the planters lived like princes, while the inha- 
 bitants of England laboured hard for a tolerable subsistence. This produced 
 customs and impositions, which, if grievous to the plantations, must turn to 
 our disadvantage, as well as theirs, and consequently become detrimental to 
 both." POSTLETIIWAYT'S univ. diet, of trade and commerce. 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
( 74 ) 
 
 that we are to be treated as a rich people, when we 
 are really poor. TuHy mentions a man who lost 
 an honourable office, by the homely entertainment 
 he gave the people of Rome, when he could have 
 afforded a better ; but W T C have lost vastly more by 
 the imprudent excess of kindness, with which we 
 have treated the people of Great-Britain who have 
 come among us, at an expence that did not suit 
 our fortunes* 
 
 To all the disadvantages that have been menti- 
 oned, it must be added, that our markets are much 
 more precarious than those at home. It is com- 
 puted, that one half of the people there live in 
 cities, and consequently there must be a perpetual 
 domestic demand for the productions of the earth ; 
 and foreign markets are not far distant for the over- 
 plus. Here the quantity sold for consumption 
 among us is small, and most of the foreign mar- 
 kets are very remote. 
 
 THESE reasons induce me to think, that the co- 
 lonies, unless some fortunate events, not to be ex- 
 pected, should happen, cannot bear the restricti- 
 ons and taxations laid upon them by their mother 
 country, without suffering very severely. What 
 then can we do ? Which way shall we turn our- 
 selves ? How may we mitigate the miseries of our 
 country ? Great-Britain gives us an example to 
 
( 7* ) 
 
 guide us. She teaches us to make a distinction 
 between her interests and our own. Teaches ! She 
 requires commands insists upon it threatens 
 compels and even distresses us into it. 
 
 WE have our choice of these two things to, 
 continue our present limited and disadvantageous 
 commerce or to promote manufactures among 
 ourselves, with a habit of ceconomy, and thereby 
 remove the necessity we are now under of being 
 supplied by Great-Britain.^ 
 
 IT is not difficult to determine which of these 
 things is most eligible. Could the last of them be 
 only so far executed, as to bring our demand for 
 British manufactures below the profits of our 
 foreign trade, and the amount of our commodities 
 immediately remitted home, these colonies might 
 revive and flourish. States and families are enrich- 
 ed by the same means ; that is, by being so indus- 
 trious and frugal, as to spend less than what they 
 raise can pay for^ 
 
 WE have examples in this province, which if 
 imitated by others, must unavoidably produce the 
 most happy effects for us : I mean the examples of 
 the industrious, frugal, honest Germans. Their 
 lands are as well cultivated as tjiey can be in this 
 new country, and they have the good sense to re- 
 
'( 76 ) 
 
 quire very little provisions and clothes more than 
 they can get from their own farms^ and make with 
 their own hands. If we only consider for a mo- 
 ment the consequences of such a conduct, should 
 it be general, we must be convinced it must pro- 
 duce commerce, since all superfluities would be 
 exported ; and the owners having few demands in 
 return, that commerce would of course produce 
 wealth. 
 
 f 
 
 INDEED we shall be compelled, I apprehend, 
 generally to imitate these examples. The late 
 regulations, and our constant remittances to Great- 
 Britain, have extremely lessened the quantity of 
 money among us, and yet these remittances are not 
 sufficient to pay for those things we require from 
 home. Necessity will teach us two ways to relieve 
 ourselves. The one, is, to keep the British manu- 
 factures we purchase longer in use or w r ear than 
 we have been accustomed to do. The other, is, 
 to supply their place by manufactures of our own. 
 I do not suppose our difficulties will immediately 
 produce expert artists among us ; but as the inha- 
 bitants here generally reside on their lands, and 
 live in a plain rustic way, they will be able to sup- 
 ply themselves with many articles. Some author, 
 and I think Keyslcr, says, that in Switzerland eve- 
 ry family has all the trades in it that are necessary 
 for its use. Their work is not, it may be presumed, 
 
( 77 ) 
 
 at all in the taste of London or Paris, but it serves 
 their purpose ; and their coarse clothes and simple 
 furniture enable them to live in plenty, and to de- 
 fend their liberty. Something of this kind will be, 
 nay, already is, practised by us. It is surprising 
 to see the linen and cloth that have been lately 
 made among us. Many gentlemen in this city 
 dress now in suits produced, manufactured, and 
 made up in this province. The cloth is not equal 
 in fineness to the best broad- cloth, but it is warm, 
 strong, and not very homely ; and when the British 
 workmen understand that they may meet with bet- 
 ter encouragement here than they do at home, I 
 believe in a few years we shall have very different 
 kinds of cloth among us from these we now make. 
 Instances are not wanting to justify the most san- 
 guine expectations on this head. Spain used for- 
 merly to be entirely supplied with cloths from Eng- 
 land ; but in the reigns only of their two last kings, 
 Philip the Vth, and Ferdinand the Vlth, their 
 manufactures have been improved to such a degree, 
 even by that proud and indolent people, that this 
 commerce has entirely ceased in most parts of that 
 kingdom. The same thing has happened in France, 
 notwithstanding the destructive wars in which she 
 has been continually involved. Switzerland some 
 time ago spent large sums of money in foreign com- 
 modities ; but now they make excellent cloths, and 
 good silks, though the scheme at first laboured un- 
 
( 78 ) 
 
 cler very great difficulties. That country used also 
 to be supplied by Savoy with wine ; but the duke 
 laying a duty upon it, the Switzers remonstrated, 
 but in vain. At last some of the principal men 
 promoted the cultivation of vines, though their pre- 
 decessors had never planted any. The result 
 exceeded their hopes, f " The demand for the 
 Savoyard wine daily decreased, and instead of the 
 precarious advantage arising from this impolitic 
 duty, the certain revenue was irretrievably lost, 
 and the industrious subject deprived of the benefit 
 of his labour," 
 
 " BEFORE the settlement of these colonies," says 
 Postletbwayt, " our manufactures were few, and 
 those but indifferent. In those days we had not 
 only our naval stores, but our ships from our neigh- 
 bours. Germany furnished us with all things made 
 of metal, even to nails. Wine, paper, linens, and 
 a thousand other things, came from France. Por- 
 tugal supplied us with sugar ; all the products of 
 America were poured into us from Spain ; and the 
 Venetians and Genoese retailed to us the commodi- 
 ties of the East Indies, at their own price." 
 
 THE astonishing alterations in all these particu- 
 lars, are too well known to need enumeration. 
 
 * Keytar. 
 
( 79 ) 
 
 THESE instances, and many others that might 
 be mentioned, may convince us, that nothing is 
 too difficult for men to effect, whose hearts are filled 
 with a generous love of their country ; and they 
 may convince the world of the dangers that attend 
 provoking innovations in commerce. A branch of 
 trade once lost, is lost forever. In short, so strong 
 a spirit is raised in these colonies by late measures, 
 and such successful efforts are already made among 
 us, that it cannot be doubted, that before the end 
 of this century, the modern regulations will teach 
 America, that she has resources within herself, of 
 which she never otherwise would have thought. 
 Individuals, perhaps, may find their benefit in op- 
 posing her use of these resources ; but I hope very, 
 very few, will wish to receive benefits by such 
 means. The man who would promote his own 
 interests by injuring his country, is unworthy of 
 the blessings of society. 
 
 IT has hitherto been thought, by the people of 
 Great-Britain, and I hope it will still be thought, 
 that sufficient advantages are derived by her from the 
 colonies, without laying taxes upon them. To re- 
 present them as an " expensive appendage of the 
 " British empire, that can no other way repay the 
 " trouble and treasure they cost her," is certainly 
 one of the greatest errors ; and to spend much 
 time in refuting this notion, would be unnecessary. 
 
Every advantage accruing to the colonies by their 
 
 connection with the mother country, is amply 
 
 dearly paid for, by the benefits derived to her 
 
 from them, and by the restrictions of their com- 
 merce. These benefits have been allowed by the 
 best writers to be immense, and J consist in the 
 various employment and the support they afford her 
 people. If the colonies enable her to pay taxes, is 
 it not as useful to her, as if they paid them ? Or, 
 indeed, may not the colonies with the strictest 
 propriety be said to pay a great part of those taxes, 
 when they consume the British manufactures load- 
 ed with the advanced prices occasioned by such 
 taxes ? Or, further, as the colonies arc compelled to 
 take those manufactures thus * loaded, when they 
 might furnish themselves so much cheaper from 
 other countries, may not the ciffercnce between 
 these prices be called an enofmous tax paid by them 
 to Great-Britain ? May they not also be said to, 
 pay an enormous tax to her, by being compelled to 
 carry their most valuable productions to her alone, 
 
 f Chiefly ; even the supplying her with naval stores, &c. being inconsider- 
 able, when compared with the other advantages. 
 
 * " If it be asked whether foreigners, for v/hat goods they take of us, do 
 not pay on that consumption a great portion of our taxes ? It is admitted they 
 do." POSTLETHWAT r's Great-Britain s true system. 
 
 By the consumption of British manufactures in America, we pay a heavier 
 tax to Grtat-Britjin, than if they were consumed at home. For in the brin^r- 
 
( 81 ) 
 
 and to receive what she pleases to give for them, 
 when they might sell them at other markets to 
 much greater advantage ? Lastly, may they not 
 be said to pay a heavy tax to her, in being prohibit- 
 ed from carrying on such manufactures as they 
 could have employed themselves in with advan- 
 tage, and thus being obliged to resort to her for 
 those things with which they might supply them- 
 selves ? If these things are true, and can they be 
 denied ! may not the mother country more justly 
 be called expensive to her colonies, than they can 
 be called expensive to her ? 
 
 WHAT would France give for such expensive 
 
 dominions ? Would she refuse the empire of 
 
 North- America, unless the inhabitants would sub- 
 mit to any taxes she should please to impose? Or 
 
 ing them here, a vast number of merchants, factors, brokers and seamen are 
 employed, every one of which must have such a profit, as will enable him to 
 support himself and his family, if he has any, in a country where every thing 
 is dear by reason of the high taxes. 
 
 So far was the parliament from thinking in the last war, that any further 
 taxes should be laid on the colonies, so convinced indeed were they that we 
 had exceeded our abilities in the supplies \ve gave to the crown, that several 
 sums of money were granted to us as indemnifications for the too heavy expen- 
 ces in which we had involved ourselves. 
 
 The sums thus given, paid part of our debts, but we are still labouring un- 
 der the remainder. 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
( 82 ) 
 
 would she not rather afford them her utmost pro- 
 tection, if ever they should be wretched enough to 
 require it, for one half of the emoluments Great- 
 Britain receives from them ? In short, the amaz- 
 ing increase of the wealth and strength of this 
 kingdom, since the reign of queen Elizabeth, in 
 whose time the colonies began to be settled, appears 
 to be a sufficient proof of their importance : And 
 therefore I think it may justly be said, that the foun- 
 dations of the power and glory of Great-Britain 
 are laid in America. 
 
 WHEN the advantages derived by the mother 
 country from her colonies are so J important and 
 evident, it is amazing, that any persons should ven- 
 ture to assert, " that she poured outlier wealth and 
 " blood in the late war, only for their defence and 
 " benefit ; and that she cannot be recompensed for 
 " this expence and loss, but by taxing them." 
 
 
 IF any man%ho does not choose to spend much 
 time in considering this subject, would only read 
 the speeches from the throne during that period, 
 with the addresses in answer to them, he will soon 
 be convinced for 'whose benefit Great-Britain 
 thought she was exerting herself. For my part, I 
 should not now be surprized, if those who main- 
 
 J; Vide note* to pages 48 and 49. 
 
tain the above-mentioned assertions, should con- 
 tend, that Great-Britain ought to tax Portugal. 
 For was not that kingdom " defended by the troops 
 " and treasure.of Great-Britain?" And how can 
 
 she be " otherwise recompensed for this expence 
 "-and loss ? If the protection of Portugal, though 
 
 no taxes are received from thence, was beneficial 
 
 to Great-Britain, infinitely more so was the pro- 
 
 tection of the colonies. 
 
 So far I must beg leave to dissent from these 
 gentlemen, that if the colonies, by an increase of 
 industry and frugality, should become able to bear 
 this taxation, it will, in my apprehension, notwith- 
 standing be injurious to Great-Britain. If the 
 sum be trifling, it cannot be worth the discontent 
 and unhappiness the taking it will produce among 
 so many faithful subjects of his majesty. If it be 
 considerable, it must also be hurtful in another 
 respect. 
 
 It must be granted, that it is not merely the 
 bringing money into a nation that makes it weal- 
 thy, but the bringing money into it by the general 
 industry of its inhabitants. A country may perpetu- 
 ally receive vast sums, and yet be perpetually poor. 
 It must also be granted, that almost all the money 
 acquired by the colonies in their other branches- 
 of trade, is spent by them in Great-Britain, 
 
( 84 ) 
 
 and finds employment for her people. Whatever 
 then, lessens the sum so spent, must lessen that 
 employment. This I think will be one conse- 
 quence of the STAMP ACT: for our demand will 
 be as much less for British manufactures, as the 
 amount of the sums raised by the taxes. So much 
 the fewer British merchants, artists, seamen and 
 ships will be employed by us, and so much the 
 more distressed at first, and afterwards so much 
 the more frugal, f ingenious, laborious and indepen- 
 dent will the colonists become. 
 
 IT is evident from the concurrent testimony of 
 her own most noted authors on this subject, that 
 Great-Britain is sure of having our money at * 
 last ; and it appears no difficult matter to determine, 
 whether it is better to take it in taxes or trade. 
 Suppose the STAMP ACT, enforced by uncommon 
 penalties and unheard of jurisdictions, should pick 
 up every piece of gold and silver that shall wander 
 into the plantations, what would Great-Britain 
 gain by this measure ? Or rather what would she 
 not lose, by attempting to advance her revenue by 
 means so distressing to commerce ? 
 
 f Great-Britain will not only lose in such case, the annual amount of the 
 taxes, but the people of America establishing manufactures through dis- 
 content, will in time entirely withdraw their intercourse with her. And 
 therefore her loss of the whole American trade, may be justly attributed tq 
 this inauspicious beginning. 
 
 * See notes to pages 48 and 49. 
 
( 85 ) 
 
 BUT if the late restrictions shall not prove profita- 
 ble^ perhaps they may by some be called prudent 
 for another reason. We are informed that many 
 persons at home affect to speak of the colonists, as 
 of a people designing" and endeavouring to render 
 themselves independent, and therefore it may be 
 said to be proper as much as possible to DEPRESS 
 them. This method for securing obedience, has 
 been tried by many powerful nations, and seems to 
 be the constant policy of commonwealths : but 
 the attempt in almost every instance from Athens 
 down to Genoa, has been unsuccessful. Many 
 states and kingdoms have lost their dominions by 
 severity and an unjust jealousy. I remember none 
 that have been lost by kindness and a generous con- 
 fidence. Evils are frequently precipitated, by im- 
 prudent attempts to prevent them. In short, we 
 never can be made an independent people, except 
 it be by \ Great-Britain herself; and the only way 
 
 I " If we are afraid that one day or other the colonies will revolt, and set 
 up for themselves, as some seem to apprehend ; let us not drive them to a ne- 
 cessity tofftl themselves independent of us; as they it//// do, the moment they 
 perceive that they can be supplied with all things from iviMn themselves ', and do not 
 need our assistance. If we would keep them still dependent upon their mo- 
 ther country, and in some respects subservient to their views and welfare ; let 
 us make it their INTEREST always to be so." TUCKER on trade. 
 
 " Our colonies, while they have English blood in their veins, and have re- 
 lations in England, and WHILE THEY CAN GET BY TRADING WITH us, the 
 stranger and Create r they grow, the more this crcvjn and kingdom Vttyget by them ; 
 
( 86 ) 
 
 for her to do it, is to make us frugal, ingenious, f 
 united and discontented. 
 
 But if this event shall ever happen, which Provi- 
 dence I hope will never permit, it must be when 
 the present generation and the present set of senti- 
 ments are extinct. Late measures have indeed 
 excited an universal and unexampled grief and 
 indignation throughout the colonies. What man 
 who wishes the welfare of America, can view with- 
 
 and nothing but such an arbitrary power as shall make them desperate can 
 bring them to rebel." DAVENANT on the plantation trade. 
 
 " The northern colonies are not upon the same footing as those of the 
 south ; and having a worse soil to improve, they must find the recompence 
 some other way, which only can be in property and dominion : upon which 
 score, any innovations in the form of government there, should be cautiously 
 examined, for fear of entering upon measures, by which the industry of the 
 inhabitants be quite discouraged. 'Tis ALWAYS UNFORTUNATE fora people, 
 either by CONSENT or upon COMPULSION, to depart from their PRIMITIVE 
 INSTITUTIONS, and THOSE FUNDAMENTALS, by which they were FIRST 
 
 UNITED TOGETHER." Idem. 
 
 f The most effectual way of uniting the colonies, is to make it their com- 
 mon interest to oppose the designs and attempts of Great-Britain, 
 
 " All wise states will veil consider how to preserve the advantages arising 
 from colonies, and avoid the evils. And I conceive that there can be but TWO 
 ways in nature to hinder them from throwing off their dependence ; one, to 
 keep it out of their foti-fr, and the other, out of their iv'ilL The Jirst must be 
 by force ; and the latter, by using them tvcll, and keeping them employed in 
 such productions, and making such manufactures, as will support themselves 
 and families comfortably, and procttrt il-em ivi-alib toy^ and at least net prejudice 
 their mother country. 
 
( 87 ) 
 
 out pity, without passion, her restricted and almost 
 stagnated trade, with its numerous train of Devils 
 
 taxes torn from her without her consent Her 
 
 legislative assemblies, the principal pillars of her 
 liberty, crushed into insignificance a formidable 
 force established in the midst of peace, to bleed her 
 into obedience the sacred right of trial by jury, 
 violated by the erection of arbitrary and unconsti- 
 
 Force can never be used effectually to answer the end, voi&ovt destroying the 
 coknics tlemsefoes. Liberty and encouragement are necessary to carry people 
 thither, and to keep them together when they are there ; and violence will 
 hinder both. Any body of troops considerable enough to awe them, and 
 keep them in subjection under the direction too of a needy governor, often 
 sent thither to make his fortune, and at such a distance from any application 
 for redress, will soon put an end to all planting, and leave the country to the 
 soldiers alone, and if it did not, -would eat up all tie profit of the colony. For this 
 reason, arbitrary countries have not been equally successful in planting colo- 
 nies with free ones ; and what they have done in that kind, has either been 
 by force at a vast expence, or by departing from the nature of their government^ 
 andjfWft such privileges to planters as were denied to their other subjects. And I 
 dare say, that a few prudent laws, and a little prudent conduct, would soon 
 give us far the greatest share of the riches of all America t perhaps drive many 
 of other nations out of it, or into our colonies for shelter. 
 
 There are so many exigencies in all states, jo many foreign ivars, and dctxcstlc dis- 
 turbances, that these colonies CAN NEVER WANT OPPORTUNITIES, if they watch 
 for them, to do -what they shall find their interest to do ; and therefore we ought to 
 take all the precautions in our power, that it shall never be their interest to act 
 against that of their native country ; an evil which can no otherwise be avert- 
 ed, than by keeeping them fully employed in such trades as ivill increase ihtir 
 ivn y as well as our wealth ; for it is much to be feared, if we do not find em- 
 ployment for them, they may find it for us. The interest of the mother coun- 
 try, is always to keep them dependent, and so employed ; and it requires all 
 her address to do it ; and it is certainly more easily and effectually done by gentle 
 and insinsible methods, than by power alone." CATO'S letters. 
 
I 88 ) 
 
 tutional jurisdiction and general poverty, discon- 
 tent and despondence stretching themselves over 
 his unoffending country ? 
 
 THE reflections of the colonists on these melan- 
 choly subjects, are not a little embittered by a firm 
 persuasion, that they never would have been treated 
 as they are, if Canada still continued in the hands 
 of the French. Thus, their hearts glowing with 
 every sentiment of duty and affection towards their 
 mother country, and expecting, not unreasonably 
 perhaps, some marks of tenderness in return, are 
 pierced by a fatal discovery, that the vigorous 
 assistance which they faithfully afforded her in ex- 
 tending her dominions, has only proved the glori- 
 ous but destructive cause of the calamities they now 
 deplore and resent. 
 
 YET still their resentment is but the resentment 
 of dutiful children, who have received unmerited 
 blows from a beloved parent. Their obedience to 
 Great-Britain is secured by the best and strongest 
 ties, those of affection ; which alone can, and I 
 hope will form an everlasting union between her 
 and her colonies. May no successes or suspicions 
 ever tempt her to deviate from the natural gene- 
 rosity of her spirit And may no dreadful revo- 
 lution of sentiments ever teach them to fear her 
 victories, or to repine at her glories. / am, &c. 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 1 HAVE omitted mentioning one thing that seems 
 to be connected with the foregoing subject. 
 
 WITH a vast expence of blood and wealth, we 
 fought our way in the late war up to the doors of 
 the Spanish treasuries, and by the possession of 
 Florida, might obtain some recompence for that 
 expence. Pensacola, and the other ports in that 
 country, are convenient places, where the Spani* 
 ards might meet us, and exchange their silver for 
 the manufactures of Great* Britain, and the provi- 
 sions of these colonies. By this means, a com- 
 merce inconceivably beneficial to the British sub- 
 jects, might be carried on. This commerce the 
 Spaniards wish and have endeavoured to carry on. 
 Many hundred thousand dollars have been brought 
 by them to Pensacola to lay out there ; but the men 
 of war on that station have compelled them to take 
 back their cargoes, the receipt of which, it may 
 from thence be presumed, would be destructive to 
 
 the interest of Great-Britain. Thus we receive 
 
 less advantage from Florida, now it belongs to us, 
 than we did when it was possessed by our enemies ; 
 for then by permission from the Spanish governors, 
 
 VOL. i. M 
 
( 90 ) 
 
 to trade there, we derived considerable emolu- 
 ments from our intercourse with them. 
 
 UPON w r hat reasons this conduct is founded, is 
 not easy to determine. Sure no one considers 
 Florida in the same light with these colonies, and 
 thinks that no vessels should be permitted to trade 
 there, but British shipping. This would be to 
 apply the acts of navigation to purposes directly 
 opposite to the spirit of them. They were intend- 
 ed to preserve an intercourse between the mother 
 country and her colonies, and thus to cultivate a 
 mutual affection > to promote the interests of both, 
 by an exchange of their most valuable productions 
 for her manufactures ; thereby to increase the ship- 
 ping of both ; and thus render them, capable of 
 affording aid to each other. Which of these pur- 
 poses is answered by prohibiting a commerce, that 
 can be no other way carried on ? That is, by forbid- 
 ding the Spaniards to bring their wealth for us to 
 Florida, which is an unhealthy sand-bank, held by a 
 garrison, at a great expence of money, and a great - 
 .er of lives, that cannot for ages, if ever it will, 
 yield a single advantage to Great-Britain, but that 
 she refuses to enjoy. 
 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 I N 
 
 P ENNSTL V AN I A, 
 
 SEPTEMBER 11, 1765. 
 
 JL HE house resumed the consideration of their 
 resolution of yesterday, to appoint a committee of 
 three or more of their members, to attend a general 
 congress of committees from the several assem- 
 blies on this continent, to be held at New -Tor k, 
 on the first of October next, and after some time 
 spent therein, 
 
 JResohcd, 
 
 That Mr. Speaker, Mr. Dickinson, Mr. Bryan, 
 and Mr. Morton, be, and they are hereby nomi- 
 nated and appointed to attend that service/' 
 
THE 
 
 ROUGH DRAFT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Resolves of the first Congress, 
 
 HELD AT NE W.YORK, IN THE TEAR 1765. 
 
 E, the Deputies from the colonies of 
 Massachusetts Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, 
 New- York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the lower 
 Counties on Delaware, Maryland, and South-Caro- 
 lina, in.general congress assembled, DECLARE, 
 
 1. THAT his majesty's subjects in these colo- 
 nies, owe the same allegiance to the crown of Great 
 Jlritain, that is due from his subjects born within 
 the realm. 
 
 2, THAT all acts of parliament, not inconsistent 
 with the principles of freedom, are obligatory on 
 the colonists. 
 
3. THAT his majesty's liege subjects in these 
 colonies, are as free as his subjects in Great Bri- 
 tain. 
 
 4. THAT it is inseparably essential to the free- 
 dom of a people, that no taxes be laid upon them, 
 but with their own consent given personally, or by 
 their representatives. 
 
 5. THAT the people of these colonies are not, 
 and from local circumstances cannot be represented 
 in the house of commons in Great Britain. 
 
 6. THAT the only representatives of the people 
 of these colonies, are the persons chosen therein 
 by themselves for that purpose. 
 
 7. THAT no taxes can be constitutionally impos- 
 ed on the people of these colonies, but by their 
 grants made in person or by their representatives. 
 
 8. THAT the power of granting supplies to the 
 crown in Great Britain belonging solely to the 
 commons, and consequently all such grants being 
 only gifts of the people to the crown, it therefore 
 involves an inconsistency with the principle and 
 spirit of the British constitution, and with reason, 
 for the commons of Great Britain to undertake to. 
 give to his majesty, according to the terms of the 
 
( .95 ) 
 
 late act of parliament, entituled, " An act for grant- 
 ing certain duties in the British colonies and plan- 
 tations in America," &c. the property of the co- 
 lonists. 
 
 9. THAT trial by jury is the inherent and inva- 
 luable right of every freeman in these colonies. 
 
 10. THAT the late act of parliament passed in 
 the fifth year of his majesty's reign, entituled, " An 
 " act for granting and applying certain stamp du- 
 " ties and other duties, in the British colonies 
 " and plantations in America," and by imposing 
 taxes on the inhabitants of these colonies, and by 
 extending the jurisdiction of the courts of admi- 
 ralty, is subversive of their most sacred rights 
 and liberties. 
 
 11. That the duties imposed by the said first 
 mentioned act, will be, from the peculiar circum- 
 stances of these colonies, extremely grievous and 
 burthensome. 
 
 12. That the restrictions imposed by several late 
 acts of parliament on the trade of these colonies, 
 must of necessity be attended by consequences 
 very detrimental to the interests of Great- Britain 
 and America. 
 
13. That the prosperity of these colonies depends 
 on the reservation of their rights and liberties, and 
 an intercourse with Great-Britain mutually affec- 
 tionate and advantageous* 
 
 14. That it is the indispensible duty of these 
 colonies to the best of sovereigns, to the mother 
 country, and to themselves, to endeavour by legal 
 and dutiful addresses to his majesty, and both 
 houses of parliament, to procure the repeal of the 
 " act for granting and applying certain stamp 
 " duties," of all clauses whereby the jurisdiction 
 of the admiralty is extended as aforesaid, and of 
 the other late acts for the restriction of American 
 commerce. 
 
 15. That it is the right of the British subjects on 
 this continent to petition the king, and lords and 
 commons in parliament assembled, whenever they 
 judge their liberties and interests to be so far affect- 
 ed, as to render such applications necessary." 
 
A N 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 I N 
 
 BARBADOES. 
 
 OCCASIONED BY A LATE LETTER FROM THEM 
 
 T o 
 THEIR AGENT IN LONDON. 
 
 ST A NORTH-AMERICAN. 
 
 THIS WORD, REBELLION, HATH FROZE THEM UP 
 
 LlKE FISH IN A POND. SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 PRINTED AT PHILADELPHIA, IJ* THE YEAR i;66. 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A D the charge of REBELLION been made by 
 a private person against the colonies on this conti- 
 nent, for their opposition to the Stamp Act, 1 
 
 should not have thought it worth answering. 
 
 But iv hen it was made by men vested with a public 
 character, by a committee of correspondence, repre- 
 senting two branches of legislature in a considerable 
 government, and the charge was not only approved^ 
 as it is said, by those branches, but was actually 
 published to the world in news-papers, it seemed to 
 me to deserve notice. I waited some time, in hopes 
 of seeing the cause espoused by an abler advocate ; 
 but being disappointed, I resolved, " favente Deo," 
 to snatch a little time from the hurry of business, 
 and to place, if I could, the letter of those gentle- 
 men to their agent, in a proper light. 
 
 It is very evident from the generality of their 
 accusation against their " fellow -subjects on the 
 " northern continent ;" of the expressions they use 
 in the latter part of their letter, when they speak 
 of the " violent spirit raised in the North- Ameri- 
 " can colonies," and from what follows, that they 
 do not apply the opprobrious term they use, only to 
 those few of the lower rank, who disturbed us with 
 
( 100 ) 
 
 two or three mobs in some of the provinces, nor to 
 any other particular class of people ; but that the 
 censure is designed for ALL the inhabitants of these 
 colonies who were any way concerned in the opposi- 
 tion that has been given, and consequently that the 
 modes of that opposition are thereby condemned. 
 Two considerations therefore have induced me to un- 
 dertake their defence. First, to vindicate ihe ho- 
 nour of my country, which I think grossly and 
 wantonly insulted. Secondly, to refute opinions, 
 that in unfortunate times, may, if adopted, be inju- 
 rious to liberty. 
 
 . Many good pieces, have been published in these 
 colonies, to shew their title to the rights claimed by 
 them ; the invasion of those rights by the Stamp 
 Act ; the other hardships imposed on them, and the 
 bad consequences that probably would follow these 
 measures ; but nothing has appeared, at least I 
 have seen nothing that I recollect, in defence of the 
 principle on which the opposition has been made, 
 and of the manner in which it has been conducted. 
 These are points entirely new ; and the considera- 
 tion of them is now rendered necessary, by the pub- 
 lic reproach that has been thrown on the people of 
 this continent* 
 
A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 I N 
 
 BARBADOES, 
 
 TO THEIR AGENT IN LONDON- 
 S I R, 
 
 IN compliance with the united resolution of 
 tc the two branches of our legislature, of which we 
 44 have severally the honour to be members, and to 
 " compose their committee of correspondence, we 
 " are now to desire you to lay our complaints be- 
 " fore his majesty and the parliament, on the hard- 
 " ships which this community labours under, by 
 44 the imposition of the stamp duties, lately put 
 " in force amongst us. We have, indeed, sub- 
 " mitted, with all obedience, to the act of parli- 
 " ament ; yet our submission has, by no means, 
 " arisen from any consciousness of our ability to 
 '* bear the burden of these taxes, or from the want 
 
C 102 ) 
 
 " of a due sense of the oppressive weight of them 
 " in all its parts, but from a principle of loyalty 
 44 to our king and mother country, which has carri- 
 44 ed us above every consideration of our own dis- 
 44 tresses : yet, if we have suffered without resist- 
 44 ance, we have learnt by it to complain withrea- 
 44 son ; and, since we have raised no clamours from 
 44 our own fears, we must surely have the better ti- 
 44 tie to remonstrate from our feelings. But, with 
 44 respect to the manner in which our grievances 
 41 in this case, along with so good a proof of our 
 44 obedience to the laws of our mother country, are 
 i4 to be reported to his majesty and the parliament, 
 44 we must refer ourselves to your good judgment 
 44 and discretion ; so much better circumstanced 
 44 as you are on that side of the water to judge for 
 44 us, than we can do at this distance for ourselves; 
 44 and so perfectly assured asVe are also of your 
 44 ability and zeal, in the conduct of every matter 
 44 of importance that can be intrusted to your 
 44 agency for this country's service. To you, sir, 
 44 therefore we give the power, in the name of our 
 44 council and assembly, to present such a memo- 
 44 rial, or memorials, to his majesty, and the two 
 44 houses of parliament (if to all be necessary) as 
 44 to yourself shall seem most proper and advise- 
 44 able ; setting forth the anxiety and distresses of 
 * 4 our country, under this new and extraordinary 
 44 burden of taxation, by which we not only find 
 
( 103 
 
 " ourselves loaded with a charge more than is 
 44 proportioned to our circumstances, but deprived 
 " also of a privilege, which renders the oppression 
 44 beyond measure grievous. We see two of the 
 44 most important objects to such a colony as ours, 
 44 trade and justice, crouching under the load of 
 u these new duties ; and by the manner in which 
 44 the duties have been imposed, we find too the 
 44 most valuable of all our civil rights and liber- 
 44 ties sinking along with them. The design of 
 " this new and extraordinary charge upon our 
 44 country is, towards defraying the expences of 
 44 defending, protecting and securing, the colonies 
 44 of AMERICA. But what new and extraordinary 
 44 expence has this colony put the nation to, for 
 4t the expence of maintaining of troops quartered 
 " in the several provinces of NORTH- AMERICA, 
 " for the protection and security of those parts of 
 44 the British dominions ? This is just as reason- 
 " able, and just as merciful too, as it would be to 
 44 impose a heavy mulct on the inhabitants of this 
 44 place, by way of a punishment for the present 
 44 REBELLIOUS opposition given to authority, 
 44 by our fellow-subjects on the northern continent. 
 44 But if we are to be subject to the power of the 
 44 parliament of Great-Britain in our internal 
 44 taxes, we must be always liable to impositions, 
 44 that have nothing but the will of the imposers 
 i4 to direct them, in the measure, since we have 
 
" there no representatives to inform them of the 
 " true state of our circumstances, and of the degree 
 " of our strength to bear the burdens that are im- 
 " posed. How far, indeed, we are intitled, by the 
 u constitution of ENGLAND, or our own peculiar 
 " charter, to an exemption from every other inter- 
 " nal tax, than such as may be laid upon us by the 
 " representatives of our own people, in conjunction 
 " with the two other branches of our legislative 
 " body, <we cannot positively say ; but this is cer- 
 " tain, that we have enjoyed that privilege, that 
 " seeming birth-right of every BRITON, ever since 
 " the first establishment of a civil government in 
 " this island, to the present time. And why we 
 " should at this period be condemned to the loss 
 " of so inestimable a blessing of society, we can 
 " see no cause ; since the present period has af- 
 " forded some instances of loyalty and affection 
 " to our king and mother country, which might 
 " rather have intitled us to new favours from the 
 " crown and nation, than have left us exposed to 
 " any deprivation of our old and valuable rights. 
 ct Yet how far it may be prudent and necessary to 
 " press this last consideration in your memorial 
 " to our superiors, must be referred to your good 
 " judgment ; for as we mean to obtain a redress of 
 " our grievances by a dutiful representation only 
 " of our case, so would we have any thing avoided 
 " in the stile and substance of that representation^ 
 
" as might give offence to those from whom only 
 44 our redress can come, our appeal being to the 
 44 very powers by whom \ve think ourselves op- 
 44 pressed ; tho' we may remonstrate to them with 
 " justice, <we cannot reproach them without dan- 
 " ger ; and the most effectual means of giving 
 *' ourselves all the merit we hope for, and intend, 
 44 both with our sovereign and the parliament, will 
 44 be, we think, by giving our complaint on this 
 *' matter the complexion of our conduct, shewing an 
 44 humble submission to authority, even under the 
 " most painful heart-burnings of our community, 
 44 at its severe decrees. But great as our distresses 
 " are, upon account of this new taxation in its 
 <c general course, we are yet fortunate enough not 
 u to have suffered so much greater, as by the par- 
 44 ticular calamity you seem to have apprehended 
 44 for us, on the supposed seizure of the North - 
 44 American traders ; for the masters of those ves- 
 44 sels, producing certificates at our custom-house, 
 " that no stamp papers were to be had at the ports 
 " they came from, have been admitted to an entry 
 " of their several ships and cargoes, being suppos- 
 44 ed only liable to the penalties inflicted by the 
 44 Stamp Act, and of these no notice have been 
 44 taken ; so that our danger from the circumstances 
 44 you suggested to the ministers is over. But we 
 44 see another arising from the violent spirit raised 
 VOL. i. O 
 
" in the North- American colonies against this act, 
 *' which threatens us with the same ill conse- 
 '" quences ; we mean, from their avowed resent- 
 " ment at the people of this island, for having so 
 " tamely submitted to the act, which they had been 
 " pleased so resolutely to oppose. This having 
 " led them te some extraordinary attempts (as we 
 '" have been informed) to prevent any vessels com- 
 " ing hither with provisions for our support, how 
 " far a combination of this kind, which has to 
 '*' struggle with the private interests of so many 
 " individuals, can be formed amongst them, we 
 " may at first be led to doubt; yet, on a second 
 '" re view of things, how far the excesses of popular 
 " fury, which has no bounds, may hurry away all 
 u those individuals, to their own, as well as our 
 'V immediate prejudice, we may reasonably fear ; 
 " and we think it, at least, necessary to make men- 
 " tioli of it to you, that you may take this, amongst 
 " all the other unhappy consequences we may feel 
 " from that injurious act, into your proper consi- 
 *' deration." 
 
 N. B. The words in italics are those animad- 
 verted upon in the following address ; and are print- 
 ed in that manner, to be more easily distinguished, 
 and referred to bv the reader. 
 
ADDRESS, &c. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 1 AM a North -American, and my intention- is 
 in addressing you at present, to answer so much 
 of a late letter from you to your agent in London, 
 as casts unmerited censure on my countrymen. 
 After this declaration, as you entertain such unfa- 
 vourable 'sentiments of the " popular- fury" on 
 this continent,. I presume you- expect to be 
 treated with all the excess of passion natural to a 
 rude people. You are mistaken. I am of their 
 opinion, who think it almost as infamous, to* di's- 
 grace a good cause by illiberal language, as to 
 betray it by unmanly timidity. Complaints may 
 be made with dignity ; insults retorted with decen- 
 cy ; and violated rights vindicated without violence? 
 of words. 
 
 You have nothing therefore to apprehend from 
 $ne, gentlemen, but such reflections on, your QQII-, 
 
duct, as may tend to rouse that remorse in you, 
 which always arises in the minds of ingenuous per- 
 sons, when they find that they have wounded by 
 their rash calumnies, the honor of those who merit 
 their highest esteem, their warmest praises. 
 
 I KNOW there are in the island of Barbadocs, 
 many men of sense, spirit, and virtue ; and there- 
 fore I choose to consider you rather in the charac- 
 ter of such, whose understanding, resolution, and 
 integrity, have been drugged by some pernicious 
 draft into a slumber, than of those, who with irre- 
 trievable depravity, want all the qualities requisite 
 to make them serviceable to their countrymen, or 
 just to others. 
 
 HAD I only heard, gentlemen, that you had called 
 the behaviour of these colonies, a "REBELLI- 
 OUS OPPOSITION given to authority," I should 
 have thought it a vain attempt, to aim at convinc- 
 ing you, how unjustifiable an aspersion that expres- 
 sion contained ; because I should immediately have 
 concluded, that you were so ignorant of the rights 
 of British subjects, and so insensible of all concern 
 on the invasion of those rights, that any man who 
 should endeavour to shew you your error, would 
 engage in as unpromising a project, as if he should 
 think to communicate an idea of sound to the deaf, 
 or of colour to the blind. 
 
WHEN I read your letter, however, with an 
 agreeable surprize I observed, that you, at the same 
 time you have made the attack, have laid the foun- 
 dation of a defence for my countrymen. Permit 
 me to erect the superstructure, though I had much 
 rather see it. built by more skilful hands. 
 
 You acknowledge, the u burthen of the taxes 
 " imposed by the Stamp Act, to be oppressive in 
 44 all its parts ;" that you are thereby not only 
 " loaded with a charge more than is proportioned 
 " to your circumstances, but deprived also of a 
 44 privilege, which renders the oppression beyond 
 " measure grievous:" that you " see two of the 
 44 most important objects, TRADE and JUSTICE, 
 44 crouching under the load of the new duties ; 
 44 and by the manner in which these duties have 
 ' 4 been imposed, find too the most valuable of all 
 " your civil rights and liberties sinking along with 
 44 them." 
 
 You say that if you " are to be subject to the 
 44 power of the parliament of Great-Britain, in 
 44 your internal taxes, you must always be liable 
 44 to impositions, that have nothing but the WILL 
 44 OF THE IMPOSE RS to direct them in the mea- 
 44 sure." With what consistency you afterwards 
 hesitate, and 4t cannot say," whether the privilege 
 of taxing yourselves, exclusively belongs to you, 
 
( "0 ) 
 
 or talk of a " SEEMING birth-right," I will leave- 
 to be determined by yourselves, or the agent to 
 whose " good judgment and discretion," you with 
 such strange, I had almost said "-humble submiss- 
 " ion," " refer" your most important affairs. 
 However your sentiments soon veer about again, 
 and you speak of " an inestimable blessing of sod - 
 " ety ;" of " old and valuable rights ;" and even 
 hazard the hardy appellation of " severe decrees.'* 
 
 WHEN it is so evident that all these assertions 
 are equally true with regard to yourselves, and 
 " your fellow-subjects on the northern continent," 
 it affords no slight cause of amazement, to see in 
 the same letter that contains these assertions, the 
 opposition to those confessedly destructive mea- 
 sures, branded as " REB-ELLIOUS." Wherefore 
 this needless stroke against your " fellow-sub- 
 " jects. ; " Could not your " principle of loyalty" sink 
 you to a satisfactory depth of humiliation, . unless 
 you flung yourselves down with such a rage of 
 prostration, as to spatter all around you ? Wa's not 
 your surrender of " the most valuabk of all rights 
 tc and liberties " sufficiently completed by your 
 declaration, that you u COULD NOT POSITIVELY 
 <c SAY you 'were intitled to thern^ without reproach-^ 
 ing those who have the misfortune of differing so 
 widely from you in their sentiments, that they had 
 rather die than make such a declaration ? 
 
( 111 ) 
 
 To talk of your " charter," gentlemen, on this 
 occasion, is but weakening the cause, by relying on 
 false aids. Your opinion on this head seems to 
 be borrowed from the doctrine of the unhappy 
 Stuarts. They thought, or pretended to think, all 
 the liberties of the subject were mere favours grant- 
 ed by charters from the crown. Of consequence, 
 all claims of liberties not expressly mentioned in 
 those charters, were regarded as invasions of the 
 prerogative, which according to them, was a power 
 vested in the prince, they could not tell how, for no 
 better purpose, than to do as he pleased. But 
 what said the nation ? They asserted, that the royal 
 charters were declarations but not gifts of liber- 
 ties, made as occasions required, on those points 
 in which they were most necessary, without enu- 
 merating the rest ; and that the prerogative was a 
 power vested in one for the benefit of all. 
 
 KINGS or parliaments could not give the rights 
 essential to happiness, as you confess those invaded 
 by the Stamp Act to be. We claim them from a 
 
 higher source from the King of kings, and 
 
 Lord of all the earth. They are not annexed to 
 us by parchments and seals. They are created in 
 us by the decrees of Providence, which establish 
 the laws of our nature. They are born with us ; 
 exist with us ; and cannot be taken from us by any 
 hujnan power, without taking our livens. In short, 
 
( "2 ) 
 
 they are founded on the immutable maxims of rea- 
 son and justice. It would be an insult on the divine 
 Majesty to say, that he has given or allowed any 
 man or body of men a right to make me miserable. 
 If no man or body of men has such a right, I have 
 a right to be happy. If there can be no happiness 
 without freedom, I have a right to be free. If I 
 cannot enjoy freedom without security of property, 
 I have a right to be thus secured. If my property 
 cannot be secure, in case others over whom I have 
 no kind of influence, may take it from me by taxes, 
 under pretence of the public good, and for en- 
 forcing their demands, may subject me to arbitrary, 
 expensive, and remote jurisdictions, I have an ex- 
 clusive right to lay taxes on my own property either 
 by myself or those I can trust ; of necessity to judge 
 in such instances of the public good ; and to be 
 
 exempt from such jurisdictions. But no man 
 
 can be secure in his property, who is " liable to 
 " Impositions, that have NOTHING BUT THE WILL 
 " OF THE i M POSERS to direct them in the mea- 
 44 sure ;" and that make "justice to crouch under 
 " their load." 
 
 THUS you prove, gentlemen, that the fatal act 
 you allude to in these expressions, is destructive of 
 our property, our freedom, our happiness : that it 
 ir> inconsistent with reason and justice ; and sub- 
 versive of those sacred rights which GOD himself 
 
( us ) 
 
 from the infinity of his benevolence has bestowed 
 upon mankind. 
 
 YET after these expressed or implied concessi- 
 ons, you term the opposition made by my country- 
 men to the execution of this imagination can- 
 not supply me with an epithet equal to my meaning 
 
 act, " REBELLIOUS." 
 
 PRAY> gentlemen, let me not mistake your no* 
 tion of " humble submission to authority." Do 
 you maintain, that because the parliament may le- 
 gally make some laws to bind us, it therefore may 
 legally make any laws to bind us ? Do you assert, 
 that where power is constitutionally vested in par- 
 ticular persons for certain purposes, the same obedi- 
 ence is due to the commands of those persons, when 
 they exceed the limits of that power, as when they 
 are restrained within them ? Do you say, that all 
 acts of authority are sanctified by the mere pleasure 
 of their authors, and that " humble submission " is 
 due to them, however injurious they may be to 
 
 those over whom they are exercised or that the 
 
 oppressed ought to content themselves with " giv- 
 " ing the COMPLEXION of your CONDUCT" to 
 TALE petitions and that all other opposition is 
 " rebellious?" 
 
 VOL. i. P 
 
GREATLY I am afraid, that you have published 
 to the world too convincing proofs, that you hold 
 these sentiments ; sentiments, which I solemnly 
 profess are so horrible to me, that I cannot wish 
 the infection of them even to the bitterest enemies 
 of my country. 
 
 HAVE you considered, gentlemen, the importance 
 of the points to which your political creed may be 
 applied ? What is your opinion of the revolution, 
 that made the British liberty and British glory 
 blaze out with their brightest lustre ? Had you 
 lived in those days of ignorance, with what lucky 
 assistance might you have propped up the tottering 
 tyrant, by maxims of law to prove, that kings can 
 do no wrong ; and texts of scripture to shew, that 
 submission is due to the powers that be ! 
 
 IT is as manifest, that the great and good men 
 who then placed the throne in the temple of liberty, 
 disdained your sentiments, as it is, that if they had 
 approved them, you would not at present enjoy the 
 satisfaction of being ruled by a prince whose virtues 
 do honour to his rank. All the happiness you 
 possess, you owe to the force of the principle, which 
 you now reproach \ and your professing your reso- 
 lution to persist in an " humble submission" to 
 ats that you expressly say, " make your oppress- 
 " ion beyond measure grievous," and destroy " the. 
 
44 most valuable of your civil rights and liberties," 
 is deserting and betraying as much as you can, that 
 principle, on which the constitution of Great-Bri- 
 tain is established A principle that has operat- 
 ed differently among these colonies, as became 
 them, from what it did in that kingdom at the me- 
 morable period abovementioned - not in action, 
 but negatively in a refusal to act, in a manner de- 
 structive to them. 
 
 LET me speak plainly. In such a cause to pre- 
 varicate or fear, is worse, if possible, than falshood 
 or cowardice. Good breeding in private life, or 
 good behaviour in public life, can never require a 
 deviation from truth or virtue. Our obligation 
 to these, is co existent with us, and unchangable.. 
 No other relation therefore can dissolve or diminish 
 the primary, unalterable duty. 
 
 Do you believe, gentlemen, that parliaments 
 ver did, or never will do wrong ? Do you profess* 
 an infallibility in politics, which you ridicule in 
 religion ? If any man should tell, the present par- 
 liament, they are all-wise and all-perfect, I am per- 
 suaded, it would be esteemed a wretched insult 
 both on their understanding and piety. Say they 
 are the wisest and justest assembly on earth ; and 
 you say right. But human wisdom and human 
 justice partake of human frailties. Such is 
 
lot of our nature and to bestow the attributes 
 of heaven on mortals, who to day are, and to-mor- 
 row are not, is the wildness of adulation. 
 
 SURELY, you cannot persevere in your error. If 
 the stamp-act, DETESTABLE as you have described 
 it, cannot wake you from dreams of submission, yet 
 is there no idea of danger or distress which your 
 fancy can represent to you, that you think would 
 
 justify you in something else than petitioning ? 
 
 Have you no " feelings" by which you might be 
 tortured a little beyond " remonstrating ?" / do not 
 It now what is dreadful to YOU, nor can I form the 
 least guess what would be so : but suppose to your- 
 selves an act of parliament commanding you to do 
 or suffer something the most dreadful in the world 
 
 to YOU : something ten thousand times more 
 
 dreadful- -^to YOJ I mean- -than " oppression 
 " beyond measure grievous;" " crushing justice 
 " under insupportable burthens;" or u sinking 
 " the most valuable of all civil rights and liber- 
 44 ties." Whatever that would be \.Q you, the 
 Stamp act is to my countrymen. 
 
 HERE permit me, gentlemen, to ask, whether in 
 such a case you would " humbly submit," tho' it. 
 should be in your power effectually to refuse ? To 
 make your conduct consistent with the sentiments 
 avowed in your letter, you must. Would you ? 
 
( "7 ) 
 
 Then, if what we are told of the ancient C a pp ado- 
 dans be true, you would exhibit the second in- 
 stance since the creation of mankind, of a people 
 choosing to be slaves. Would you refuse ? What 
 then becomes of your " principle of loyalty,' 7 and 
 your " obedience to the laws of your mother coun- 
 *' try ?" If so, they are only fine words, with 
 which you intend to purchase some sort of reputa- 
 tion with some sort of people ; you are then loyal 
 and obedient, as you call yourselves, because you 
 apprehend you cannot safely be otherwise ; and the 
 pretended virtues you claim, like forced fruits, par- 
 take too strongly of the manure that gave them 
 growth, to afford any agreeable relish. Thus you 
 reduce yourselves to the miserable dilemma of 
 making a choice between two of the meanest cha- 
 racters of those who would be slaves from incli- 
 nation, tho' they pretend to love liberty and of 
 
 those who are dutiful from, fear, tho' they pretend 
 to love submission. 
 
 PARDON me, gentlemen, if I attribute to you the 
 virtue, which your excessive modesty disclaims. 
 Since you were deterred from reproaching, by the 
 cautious consideration, that you could not " rc- 
 " proach WITHOUT DANGER;" I am. almost per- 
 suaded, that you would prefer refusal to slavery, 
 if you were assured, that you could " refuse WITH- 
 
 " OUT DANGER." 
 
You greatly injure me, gentlemen, if you ima- 
 gine from what I have- said, that I am not a hearty 
 friend to my king, his illustrious Family, to Great- 
 Britain, or to the connection between her and these 
 colonies. In what I am now to say, I shall speak 
 not only my own, but the universal sentiments of 
 my countrymen, I am devoted to my gracious so- 
 vereign, and his truly royal house, by principle and 
 affection. They appear to me to have been called 
 by Providence to the throne ; not to have gained it, 
 by the least share of the guilt, or even of the art, 
 that has so often exalted the most unworthy to. 
 
 the most splendid stations. They have risen 
 
 with brightness upon the world, in due course, to 
 shed blessings over mankind ; and all history can- 
 not furnish an instance of a family > whose virtues 
 have had a more auspicious influence on the happi- 
 ness of men, particularly of their subjects. Their 
 government does not afford only gleams of joy, but 
 rheers with a flowing uniformity, except when 
 some evil spirit interrupts our felicity But these 
 interruptions have never lasted : can never last, 
 while princes of the line of Brunswick preside over 
 us. Their amiable qualities are hereditary ; these 
 render, if I may be allowed the expression, our 
 happiness hereditary; and I might therefore be 
 justly deemed very deficient in sense or integrity, 
 if it was not among my most ardent prayers, that 
 the sceptre of his dominions may be held by ouy 
 
present monarch and his family, till time shall be no 
 more. 
 
 As to Great-Britain, I glory in my relation to 
 her. Every drop of blood In rny heart is British ; 
 and that heart is animated with as warm wishes for 
 her prosperity, as her truest sons can form. As 
 long as this globe continues moving, may she 
 reign over its navigable part; and may she resem- 
 ble the ocean she commands, which recruits with- 
 out wasting, and receives without exhausting, its 
 kindred .streams in every climate. Are these the 
 sentiments of disloyalty or disaffection ? Do these 
 sentiments point at independency ? Can you be- 
 lieve it ? Will you assert it ? I detest the thought 
 with inexpressible abhorrence, for these reasons ; 
 first, because it would be undutiful to our sove- 
 reign ; secondly, because it would be unjust to our 
 mother country ; and thirdly, because it would be 
 destructive both to her and to us, 
 
 THE British nation is wise and generous. They 
 can distinguish between a disgust to government, 
 and to the administration of it ; a distinction, which 
 bad ministers are continually striving to confound. 
 They set up their passions for the interests of their 
 king and country ; and then, whoever is offended 
 with their conduct, is convicted by a very plain de- 
 duction of ministerial logic, of being an enemy to 
 
( '=0 ) 
 
 his king and country. No farmer dislikes the 
 sun ; but if it collects such thick clouds as too 
 much intercept its beams, surely the poor man who 
 sees all his hopes sickening and withering, may 
 very innocently dislike the gloom, and wish the 
 reviving rays may be felt again. The British na- 
 tion aims not at empire over vassals : And must, 
 I am convinced, be better pleased to hear their 
 children speaking the plain language of freemen, 
 than muttering the timid murmurs of slaves* Can 
 you believe, gentlemen, that they will be better 
 pleased with the " stile and substance of your re- 
 " presentation," than with the honest transports of 
 North-American breasts, so exactly like what they 
 feel, when they think themselves injured ? If there" 
 is any people whose character it is, to submit to 
 wrongs, basely pretending to prefer the pleasure of 
 those who offer them, to their own welfare or ho- 
 nor, while cowardly hatred and malice lurk rank- 
 ling and "heart-burning" in their bosoms, watch- 
 ing, wishing opportunities of dire revenge, it be- 
 longs not to Britojis, or their true sons. They can 
 neither dissemble injuries, nor unreasonably resent 
 them. These are vices of little, cruel minds. 
 Much better, much safer is it for all parties, parti- 
 cularly when we contend with noble spirits, man- 
 fully to speak what we think, and thereby put it in 
 
 their power such will always have it in their 
 
 inclination to give us ample satisfaction. They 
 
know that those who are most sensible of injuries, 
 are most sensible of benefits. There can be no 
 friendship between freemen and slaves ; ami I have 
 the strongest hopes that our mutual affection will 
 henceforward be more cemented than it hitherto 
 
 has been on their part, because we have proved 
 
 ourselves worthy of their esteem ; and on our 
 part, because their generosity will excuse the man- 
 ner in which we have proved it. 
 
 SUPPOSE all this continent had imitated your 
 example, and had repeated your doleful, doubtful 
 notes, from one end of it to the other: had ac- 
 knowledged upon their knees, " that they could 
 " not positively say whether they were intitled to 
 *' the exemption" they required, was there the 
 least probability of their obtaining it ? I do not 
 object to the probability, for want of justice or of 
 affection towards us in our mother country; but for 
 want of proper attention, which the artifices of our 
 enemies in support of their own darling measures, 
 would always have prevented. 
 
 EVERY man must remember, how immediately 
 after the tempest of the late war was laid, another 
 storm began to gather over North- America. Every 
 wind that blew across the Atlantic, brought with 
 it additional darkness. Every act of the adminis- 
 
 VOL. i. Q 
 
( 122 ) 
 
 tration seemed calculated to produce distress, and 
 
 to excite terror. We were alarmed -we were 
 
 afflicted. Many of our colonies sent home petiti- 
 ons ; others ordered their agents to make proper 
 applications on their behalf. What was the effect? 
 They were rejected without reading. They could 
 not be presented, u without breaking through a 
 rule of the bouse." They insisted upon a right, 
 that, it " was previously determined should not be 
 admitted." The language of the ministry was " that 
 they would teach the insolent North-Americans, 
 the respect clue to the laws of their mother coun- 
 try." They moved for a resolution " that the 
 parliament could legally tax us." It was made. 
 For a bill It was framed. For its dispatch It 
 was past. The badges of our shame were prepar- 
 ed too gross too odious even in the opinion of 
 that administration, to be fastened upon us by any 
 but Americans. Strange delusion ! to imagine that 
 treachery could reconcile us to slavery. They look- 
 ed around : they found Americans O Virtue ! 
 
 they found Americans, to whom the confidence of 
 their country had committed the guardianship of 
 her rights, on ivbo?n her bounty had bestowed all 
 
 the wreck of her fortunes could afford, ready 
 
 to rivet on their native land, the nurse of their 
 infancy, the protectrix of their youth, the honour- 
 er of their manhood, the fatal fetters which their 
 information had helped to forge. They were to be 
 
gratify ed with part of the plunder in oppressive of- 
 fices for themselves and their creatures. By thcse^ 
 that they might reap the rewards of their corrupti- 
 on, were we advised by these, that they might 
 return masters who went out servants, were we 
 desired to put on the chains, and then with shack- 
 led hands to drudge in the dark, as well as we 
 could, forgetting the light we had lost. " If I 
 44 forget thee, let my right hand forget her cun- 
 44 ning if I do not remember thee, may my tongue 
 44 cleave to the roof of my month." 
 
 WHEN the intelligence of these astonishing 
 things reached America, 
 
 44 then flam'd her spirit high.'* 
 
 WHAT could she do? send home petitions again? 
 The first had been treated with contempt. What 
 
 could be expected from a second trial ? We 
 
 knew, that the humble petition of meek, pious, 
 venerable bishops, supplicating for the laws and 
 religion of their country, had been called a false 
 and seditious libel by a daring administration, who 
 were resolved to have no law but their own plea- 
 sure. We knew, that the liberty of our fel- 
 low-subjects had been lately so boldly invaded, 
 even in our mother country, in that spot where 
 the dignity of the empire may be said more peculi- 
 
arly to reside, that their oppressors were hardly 
 stopped in their career, by the united voice of an 
 injured and offended people. We knew, that the 
 men who designed to oppress us, held up to those 
 whose assistance they were obliged to use, speci- 
 ous pretences of immediate advantage, while every 
 remoter mischief, every disagreeable truth was art- 
 fully concealed from them. They were persuaded, 
 that they were to promote their own interests, the 
 public interests, by adopting the new- in vented po-. 
 licy proposed to them. In short we knew, in what 
 line every thought and act relating to us, ran. All 
 was arbitrary, rigid, threatening, dreadful. What 
 
 resource had we ? We wondered and wept At 
 
 last, imploring the divine protection, and appealing 
 to the British goodness, we were driven by appre- 
 hension and affliction into a conduct, that might 
 justly have rendered us to the humane, rather ob- 
 jects of pity, than resentment ; but which you, gen- 
 tlemen , are pleased to call a " rebellious opposition 
 to author ity," 
 
 How much farther these colonies might have 
 gone; how much farther it would have been pro- 
 per for them to go, I will not pretend to say. I 
 confine myself entirely to your state of the case, 
 and to their behaviour in that case. My soul sick- 
 ens at the scenes that obtrude themselves on my 
 imagination, -while I reflect on what might have 
 
happened. My attention turns with unspeakable 
 pleasure to those brighter prospects now * opening 
 on my country, and the approaching times, when 
 thro' the mercy of ALMIGHTY GOD, to whom be 
 ascribed everlasting glory, the inhabitants of these 
 colonies, animated with sentiments of the most per- 
 fect gratitude, confidence, affection, and veneration, 
 justly heightened by the engaging clemency of our 
 amiable sovereign, and the endearing tenderness 
 of our excellent mother country, shall be diligently 
 and delightfully employed in demonstrating, that 
 they are not unworthy of the blessings bestowed 
 upon them. Great-Britain has been long distin- 
 guished she must be now perpetually celebra- 
 ted, for her moderation. This is her peculiar praise. 
 Other states have been as great in arms ; as learned 
 in arts ; but none ever equalled her in moderation 
 a virtue, and the parent of virtues. 
 
 I AM very sorry that these colonies had any rea- 
 son given them to think they were right in going 
 so far as they lately did : yet tho' many things have 
 been done, that I sincerely wish had not been 
 done, I should be glad to know what particular part 
 of their conduct has provoked you to issue, if I 
 may use one of your expressions, so *' severe a 
 ki decree' ' against them. 
 
 * The news of the STAMI- ACT being repealed, arrived while this piece was 
 in the press. 
 
( 126 ) 
 
 DID the resolutions made by their several assem- 
 blies in vindication of their rights, deserve such a 
 censure ? You grant they were founded on truth 
 and justice. Can it be criminal to maintain these ? 
 Perhaps you think they were guilty, in forming 
 and persisting in their universal determination not 
 to use stamped papers, as they were commanded to 
 do. No man can be blamed for doing any thing, 
 which if he had not done, he must have committed 
 a worse action. Remember the opinion you have 
 expressed of the liberties for which these colonies 
 were struggling. Had they accepted the stamped 
 papers, they would not only have betrayed them- 
 selves, and you, whose prosperity they wish from 
 a generosity of temper, of which they hope you will 
 hereafter give them more agreeable proofs than you 
 have yet done, but they would also have basely be- 
 trayed ages yet unborn, to a condition that would 
 have rendered their birth a curse. You think " a 
 " memorial or memorials" would have relieved 
 them, if they had " humbly submitted;" that is, 
 that injuries that could not be prevented by a re- 
 gard to justice, liberty and the happiness of milli- 
 ons, might be redressed by well-penned petitions. 
 No ! The right would have been surrendered by 
 our act a precedent would have been establish- 
 ed by our acquiescence, for perpetual servility. 
 Where would the demands of ministers, where 
 would the miseries of America have stopped ? 
 
I BELIEVE your island and its neighbours have 
 been more fortunate in " memorialising" than this 
 
 continent. Had we any reason to expect relief 
 
 from the conduct proposed ? Has any thing hap- 
 pened since, to shew that we should have succeed- 
 ed by it? Let any person consider the speeches 
 lately made in parliament, and the resolutions said 
 to be made there, notwithstanding the convulsions 
 occasioned through the British empire, by the 
 opposition of these colonies to the stamp act, and 
 he may easily judge what would have been their 
 situation, in case they had bent down and humbly 
 taken up the burden prepared for them. What 
 would have been their fate, since they have oppo- 
 sed, if one man the victor of his country's foreign 
 and domestic foes, had not by his wisdom and 
 virtue, checked the rage that deception might art- 
 fully have kindled in the most honest and humane 
 people upon earth, heaven alone can tell. 
 
 WHEN the exclusion bill was depending in the 
 house of commons, col. Titus made this short 
 
 speech " Mr. speaker, I hear a lion roaring in 
 
 " the lobby. Shall we secure the door, and keep 
 " him there : or shall we let him in, to try if we 
 " can turn him out again." 
 
 CAN it be possible, gentlemen, that our stopping 
 on this continent the importation of goods fronx 
 
( 128 ) 
 
 Great-Britain, has brought your resentment upon 
 us ? If it has, it is the first time that industry and 
 frugality have met with such hard judges. 
 
 THE only thing I can think of besides, which 
 might induce you to treat my countrymen as you 
 have done, is the behaviour of the mobs composed 
 of the lower ranks of people in some few of the 
 colonies, to those who were favourers of the stamp 
 act But surely that could not produce so gene- 
 ral an accusation of " your fellow- subjects on the 
 ic northern continent." It was indeed a very im- 
 proper way of acting ; but may not these agonies 
 of minds not quite so polished as your owji, be in 
 some measure excused ? if as the absolute monarch 
 of Judca, said " oppression maketh a wise man 
 " mad ;" and if as the loyal committee of corres- 
 pondence in Barbadoes says, u the subversion of 
 justice" and "the most valuable of all civil rights 
 41 and liberties" is " oppression beyond measure 
 " grievous." It is needless to dwell longer on this 
 head ; but if you choose to inquire into the circum- 
 stances of every mob that has happened here, tak- 
 ing for granted that the stamp-act is constituti- 
 onal, I believe even you, on cool consideration, 
 would not term any of them a rebellion. 
 
 UPON the whole, I acknowledge, that a regard 
 to themselves* has influenced the inhabitants of 
 
( 120 ) 
 
 these colonies ; but it was not a regard void of the 
 truest loyalty to their king, the warmest affection, the 
 profoundest veneration, for their parent country. If 
 my father, deceived and urged on by bad or weak 
 men, should offer me a draught of poison, and tell 
 t would be of service to me, should I be unduti- 
 ful, if, knowing what it is, I refuse to drink it ? or if 
 inflamed by passion, he should aim a dagger at my 
 heart, should I be undutiful, if I refuse 'to bare mv 
 breast for the blow ? Or should I act like a man in 
 us senses, if I swallow the dose or receive the 
 stroke, in expectation that those who prompted or 
 provoked my father to the action, would afterwards 
 
 give me a certain antidote or balsam especially 
 
 if they would probably get a large part of my 
 estate ? I will beg leave to trouble you, gentlemen, 
 with one more comparison. If a fortune of im 
 mease value comes into my possession by being 
 led on me, as the lawful son of my father, which 
 t.H then had been held solely by him, and my ene . 
 mies should persuade my excellent parent to at 
 tempt to bastardize me, and take the whole into 
 his hands again, I not having the least prospect of 
 "happiness without it, and he not having the least 
 
 ccasion for it should I be undutiful, if after 
 
 ndeavouring by intreaties to prevent his proceed 
 ngs, I carefully record all the proofs of my being 
 Animate, stop the circulation of all false voucher* 
 VOL. i. R 
 
( -3 ) 
 
 to the contrary, decline the correspondence of those 
 who join with him, and even break the head of 
 man, who slanders my honour and my title, by 
 spreading an opinion that I am basely born .' With 
 how much less reason will the charge of undut 
 ness be made against me, if I have regularly ad- 
 vanced for my father all such sums as he has fro 
 time to time required, and have assured him by my 
 professions and behaviour, that he shall have all the 
 profits of the estate, allowing me a comfortabl 
 maintenance, if he will suffer it to continue in my 
 possession and all the world knows, that by | 
 condition annexed to this estate, I cannot part with 
 it, without acknowledging myself to be a bast 
 
 To conclude -gentlemen I know none of 
 
 you ; not even one of your names. I mean no per- 
 sonal reflections in this address. I detest them. 
 If you should take any thing I have said, so mucl 
 in that way, as to feel uneasiness from it, I shall 
 very sorry. Neither do I intend any reflections o 
 your country, tho' you represented her when you 
 attacked mine. I always detested these loose asper- 
 sions, that ever give most pain to bosoms that hon- 
 our and delicacy have rendered most sensible ; an< 
 this detestation has been greatly increased sin 
 within these few years, we have seen such loads of 
 obloquy thrown upon a * nation, whose magn; 
 
 * The Scot*. 
 
('Si ) 
 
 mity in bearing them, will be sufficient I hope, to 
 procure them the esteem of those, who have been 
 so much blinded by passion, as to deny it to their 
 other numerous virtues and accomplishments. Your 
 island is respectable. Your private characters may 
 be amiable ; but in a public capacity, you have 
 cast a most high and unprovoked censure on a gal- 
 lant, generous, loyal people. You have propagated 
 a set of sentiments, and have promoted a tenor of 
 conduct, that may be hurtful to the cause of free- 
 dom. I have engaged with too unequal arms per- 
 haps to oppose you ; but to fail in such a contest, 
 will afford me some kind of pleasure. I wish you 
 every blessing that men can enjoy ; and as a foun- 
 dation and security of all the rest, I wish you a true 
 love of liberty. 
 
 A NORTH-AMERICAN. 
 
THE 
 
 FARMER'S LETTERS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 INHABITANTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH COLONIES. 
 
 PRINTED AT PHItyADELPHIA, 1767. 
 
THE FARMER'S LETTERS in this collection, are 
 published from the Virginia edition of them in 
 3.769, the only copy the editors have been able to 
 procure. The preface to that edition, is believed 
 to have been written by Richard Henry Lee, after- 
 wards president of congress. 
 
 IN May, 1768, Dr. Franklin had the letters re- 
 printed in London, and in a preface strongly recom- 
 mended them to the attention of the public. In 
 that preface he says, " As I consider our fellow 
 " subjects of America as reasonable creatures, I 
 " cannot but be astonished, that since there ap- 
 " pears to be an extreme diversity of sentiment, 
 " between us and them, concerning the power of 
 " parliament to impose taxes in America, there 
 " has not been any address made to their reason ; 
 " that none of our able and learned writers has at- 
 " tempted to convince them that they are in the 
 " wrong, by clearly proving, either by the common 
 " law of nations, or by the terms of their funda- 
 *' mental constitutions, that they are subject to be 
 " taxed by our parliament, though they have no 
 ?' representatives in it. 
 
( 136 } 
 
 "Ox the contrary, as often as any news arrives 
 " of the discontents in America, there is but one 
 
 " cry u we must send an army, or a fleet, and 
 
 *' reduce them to reason" 
 
 " IT is said of a choleric people, that with them 
 "it is but a word and a blow. I flatter myself, 
 " that Great-Britain is not so choleric, and that 
 " she will never go so far as to strike her colonies, 
 " or if she should ever think herself obliged to go 
 " so far, at least that the word will precede the 
 " blow, and that she will speak reason to them. 
 
 " To do this clearly, and with the greatest ap- 
 " pearance of success, in dissipating their prejudi- 
 " ces and rectifying their errors, if they have any, 
 " it is necessary to be informed, what are their 
 " prejudices and errors ; and before being able to 
 " refute them, or to admit their reason or their ar- 
 44 guments, it is assuredly needful to know them. 
 
 " IT is with this view, that I propose to re-print 
 " here the following letters, lately published in 
 
 " America and I hope their publication will 
 
 " draw forth a satisfactory answer, if they can be 
 " answered. In that case, I shall have accom- 
 " pi i shed my object, &c." 
 
( 137 ) 
 
 IN 1769, they were translated into French, and 
 published at Paris. 
 
 To fhew how those letters were received on this 
 continent, it may be sufficient to insert the follow- 
 ing address, selected out of many, from news- 
 papers published at the time. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
BOSTON, March 21, 1768. 
 
 At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of this town 
 met at Faneuil-Hall, on Monday the 1-j.th inil. for the choice 
 of town officers for the ensuing year, upon a motion made, and 
 seconded, it was voted that the THANKS of the town be given 
 to the ingenious AUTHOR of a course of letters publifhed at Phi- 
 ladelphia, and in this place, figued A FARMER ; wherein the 
 rights of the American subjects are clearly stated, and fully vindi- 
 cated; and Dr. Benjamin Church, *John Hancock, Esq. -j-Mr. 
 Samuel Adams, JDr. Joseph Warren, and John Rowe, Esq. 
 were appointed a committee to prepare and ptiblish a letter of 
 thanks accordingly. 
 
 March 24. 
 
 At an adjournment of the meeting of the freeholders and other inha- 
 bitants of this town, the following letter was reportedly the committee 
 appointed for that purpose p , viz. 
 
 To the Ingenious AUTHOR of certain patriotic let- 
 ters, subscribed A FARMER. 
 
 MUCH RESPECTED SIR! 
 
 W HEN the rights and liberties of the numer- 
 ous and loyal inhabitants of this extensive conti- 
 nent are in imminent danger when the inveterate 
 
 * John Hancock, afterwards president of congress, and governor of Mas- 
 sachufetts. 
 
 f Samuel Adams, afterwards member of congress, and governor of Mas- 
 sachusetts. 
 
 \ Joseph Warren, afterwards general Warren, who fell gloriously fighting 
 for the liberties of his country, in- the ever memorable battle of Bunker V 
 Hill. 
 
( 139 ) 
 
 enemies of these colonies are not more assiduous 
 to forge fetters for them, than diligent to delude 
 the people, and zealous to persuade them to an in- 
 dolent acquiescence. At this alarming period, 
 when to reluct is deemed a revolt, and to oppose 
 such measures as are injudicious and destructive, 
 is construed as a formal attempt to subvert order 
 and government ; when to reason is to rebel ; and 
 a ready submission to the rod of power., is solicit- 
 ed by the tenders of place and patronage, or urged 
 by the menace of danger and disgrace : It is to 
 YOU, worthy SIR ! that America is obliged, fora 
 most seasonable, sensible, loyal and vigorous vin- 
 dication of her invaded rights and liberties : It is to 
 YOU the distinguished honour is due ; that when 
 many of the friends of liberty were ready to fear its 
 utter subversion ; armed with truth, supported by 
 the immutable laws of nature, the common inherit- 
 ance of man, and leaning on the pillars of the Bri- 
 tish constitution ; you seasonably brought your aid, 
 opposed impending ruin, awakened the most indo- 
 lent and inactive to a sense of danger, reanimated 
 the hopes of those, who had before exerted them, 
 selves, in the cause of freedom, and instructed 
 America in the best means to obtain redress. 
 
 NOR is this western world alone indebted to your 
 'vyisdom, fortitude and patriotism ; Great-Britain 
 also may be confirmed by you, that to be truly 
 
great and successful, she must be just : that to op- 
 press America, is to violate her own honours, de^ 
 feat her brightest prospects, and contract her 
 spreading empire. 
 
 To such eminent worth and virtue, the inhabit- 
 ants of the town of Boston, the capital of the pro- 
 vince of the Massachusetts -Bay, in full town meet- 
 ing assembled, express their earliest gratitude : ac- 
 tuated themselves by the same generous principles, 
 which appear Avith so much lustre in your useful la- 
 bours, they will not fail warmly to recommend, and 
 industriously to promote that union among the se- 
 veral colonies, which is so indispensably necessary 
 for the security of the whole. 
 
 THOUGH such superior merit must assuredly, in 
 the closest recess, enjoy the divine satisfaction of 
 having served, and possibly saved this people ; 
 though veiled from our view, you modestly shun 
 the deserved applause of millions ; permit us to in- 
 trude upon your retirement, and salute the FAR- 
 MER, as \hz friend of Americans, and the com- 
 mon benefactor of mankind. 
 
 The above letter was read, and unanimously ac- 
 cepted by the town, and ordered to be published 
 in the several news -papers. 
 
 Attest. WILLIAM COOPER, Town-Clerk. 
 
FROM THE BOSTON GAZETTE. 
 TO THE PRINTERS. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 Ton are desired to publish tJx inclosed. Tours y A FARMER. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 IT is impossible for me to express the reveren- 
 tial gratitude, with which I receive the very great 
 honour, you have been pleased to confer upon me 
 by your late letter. 
 
 THE rank of the town of Boston ^ the wisdom of 
 her counsels, and the spirit of her conduct, render, 
 in my opinion, the approbation of her inhabitants, 
 inestimable ; and therefore I shall ever place this 
 testimony of it, among the chief blessings of my 
 life. 
 
 LOVE of my country engaged me in that attempt, 
 to vindicate her rights, and assert her interests, 
 which your generosity has thought proper so high- 
 ly to applaud ; and if my humble labours prove use- 
 ful to the good people of these colonies A glory ! 
 beyond which my ambition never wished to rise 
 I am persuaded that this happy effect must flow 
 from the influence and lustre bestowed upon them 
 by your favourable notice. 
 
 NEVER, till my heart becomes insensible of all 
 worldly things, will it become insensible of the 
 unspeakable obligations, which as an American I 
 owe to the inhabitants of the province of Mass a- 
 
( '42 ) 
 
 chusetts-Bay, for the vigilance with which they 
 have watched over, and the magnanimity with 
 which they have maintained the liberties of the 
 British colonies on this continent. 
 
 MAY the same sacred zeal for the common wel- 
 fare, the same principles of loyalty to our excellent 
 sovereign, of affection to his illustrious house, and 
 of duty to our beloved parent kingdom, which have 
 uniformly actuated and guided your colony, ani- 
 mate and direct every other, so that at length that 
 union of sentiments and measures may be firmly 
 formed, which as you, gentlemen, most justly ob- 
 serve, " is so indispensably necessary for the seen- 
 44 rity of the whole. " 
 
 AMONGST my warmest wishes these will ever be 
 
 that the province of Massachusetts-Bay may 
 
 rejoice in a perpetual prosperity ; that the town of 
 Boston may always flourish with a dignity becoming 
 the capital of so very respectable a state ; that the 
 purity of her intentions, the prudence of her designs, 
 and the vigour of her actions, may constantly con- 
 found the machinations of her enemies ; and that 
 the virtues of her present inhabitants may be trans- 
 mitted down from age to age, that so the latest 
 posterity in these colonies, may never want faith- 
 ful guardians of American freedom. 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
 Pennsylvania, April II, 1768. 
 
LETTERS 
 
 FROM A 
 
 FARMER. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 I AM a farmer, settled, after a variety of for- 
 tunes, near the banks of the river Delaware, in the 
 province of Pennsylvania. I received a liberal 
 education, and have been engaged in the busy 
 scenes of life ; but am now convinced, that a man 
 may be as happy without bustle, as with it. My 
 farm is small ; my servants are few, and good ; I 
 have a little money at interest ; I wish for no more; 
 my employment in my own affairs is easy ; and 
 with a contented grateful mind, undisturbed by 
 worldly hopes or fears, relating to myself, I am 
 completing the number of days allotted to me by 
 Divine goodness. 
 
( 144 ) 
 
 BEING generally master of my time, I spend a 
 good deal of it in a library, which I think the most 
 valuable part of my small estate ; and being ac- 
 quainted with two or three gentlemen of abilities 
 and learning, who honour me with their friendship, 
 I have acquired, I believe, a greater knowledge in 
 history, and the laws and constitution of my coun- 
 try, than is generally attained by men of my class, 
 many of them not being so fortunate as I have been 
 in the opportunities of getting information. 
 
 FROM my infancy I was taught by my honoured 
 parents to love humanity and liberty. Inquiry and 
 experience have since confirmed my reverence for 
 the lessons then given me, by convincing me more 
 fully of their truth and excellence. Benevolence 
 towards mankind, excites wishes for their welfare, 
 and such wishes endear the means of fulfilling them. 
 These can be found in liberty OL!J, and therefore 
 her sacred cause ought to be espoused by every 
 man, on every occasion, to the utmost of his power. 
 As a charitable, but poor person does not withhold 
 his mite, because he cannot relieve all the distresses 
 of the miserable, so should not any honest man sup- 
 press his sentiments concerning freedom, however 
 small their influence is likely to be. Perhaps he 
 14 may touch some wbeel,"^ that will have an effect 
 greater than he could reasonably expect . 
 
 f Popc ? 
 
( 14-5 ) 
 
 THESE being my sentiments, I am encouraged 
 to offer to you, my countrymen, my thoughts on. 
 some late transactions, that appear to me to be of the 
 utmost importance to you. Conscious of my own 
 defects, I have waited some time, in expectation of 
 seeing the subject treated by persons much better 
 qualified for the task ; but being therein disap- 
 pointed, and apprehensive that longer delays will be 
 injurious, I venture at length to request the atten^ 
 tion of the public, praying, that these lines may be 
 read with the same zeal for the happiness of British 
 America, with wliich they were written. 
 
 WITH a good deal of surprize I have observed, 
 that little notice has been taken of an act of parlia- 
 ment, as injurious in its principle to the liberties of 
 these colonies, as the stamp act was : I mean the 
 act for suspending the legislation of Ne\v-Tork. 
 
 THE assembly of that government complied' with 
 a former act of parliament, requiring certain provi- 
 sions to be made for the troops in America, in every 
 particular, I think, except the articles of salt, pep- 
 per, and vinegar. In my opinion they acted impru- 
 dently, considering all circumstances, in not com- 
 plying so far as would have given satisfaction, as 
 several colonies did : But my dislike of their con- 
 
 VOL, i. T 
 
( 146 ) 
 
 duct in that instance, has not blinded me so much, 
 that I cannot plainly perceive, that they have been 
 punished in a manner pernicious to American free- 
 dom, and justly alarming to all the colonies. 
 
 IF the British parliament has a legal authority to 
 issue an order, th,at we shall furnish a single article 
 for the troops here, and to compel obedience to that 
 order, they have the same right to issue an order 
 for us to supply those troops with arms, clothes, 
 and every necessary ; and to compel obedience to 
 that order also ; in short, to lay any burthens they 
 please upon us. What is this but taxing us at a 
 certain sum, and leaving to us only the manner of 
 raising it ? How is this mode more tolerable than 
 
 the stamp act ? Would that act have appeared 
 
 more pleasing to Americans, if being ordered there- 
 by to raise the sum total of the taxes, the mighty 
 privilege had been left to them, of saying how 
 much should be paid for an instrument of writing on 
 paper, and how much for another on parchment ? 
 
 AN act of parliament, commanding us to do a cer- 
 tain thing, if it has any validity, is a tax upon us 
 for the expence that accrues in complying with it ; 
 and for this reason, I believe, every colony on the 
 continent, that chose to give a mark of their re- 
 spect for Great Britain, in complying with the act 
 relating to the troops, cautiously avoided the men- 
 
( H7 ) 
 
 tion of that act, lest their conduct should be attri- 
 buted to its supposed obligation. 
 
 THE matter being thus stated, the assembly of 
 New-Tork either had, or had not, a right to refuse 
 submission to that act. If they had, and I imagine 
 no American will say they had not, then the parlia- 
 ment had no right to compel them to execute it. 
 If they had not this right, they had no right to 
 punish them for not executing it ; and therefore no 
 right to suspend their legislation, which is a pu- 
 nishment. In fact, if the people of Neiv-Tork, can- 
 not be legally taxed but by their own representa- 
 tives, they cannot be legally deprived of the privi- 
 lege of legislation, only for insisting on that exclu- 
 sive privilege of taxation. If they may be legally 
 deprived in such a case, of the privilege of legis- 
 lation, why may they not, with equal reason, be 
 deprived of every other privilege ? Or why may 
 not every colony be treated in the same manner, 
 w T hen any of them shall dare to deny their assent to 
 any impositions, that shall be directed ? Or what 
 signifies the repeal of the stamp act, if these colo- 
 nies are to lose their other privileges, by not tamely 
 surrendering that of taxation ? 
 
 THERE is one consideration arising from this sus- 
 pension, which is not generally attended to, but 
 shews its importance very clearly. It was not nc- 
 
( H8 ) 
 
 -cessary that this suspension should be caused by 
 an act of parliament. The crown might have re- 
 strained the governor of New -York, even from call- 
 ing the assembly together, by its prerogative in the 
 royal governments. This step, I suppose, would 
 have been taken, if the conduct of the assembly 
 of New-York had been regarded as an act of diso- 
 bedience to the crown alone ; but it is regarded as 
 an act of f " disobedience to the authority of the 
 British legislature." This gives the suspension 
 a consequence vastly more aifecting. It is a par- 
 liamentary assertion of the supreme authority of 
 the British legislature over these colonies, in the 
 point of taxation, and is intended to COMPEL New- 
 York into a submission to that authority. It seems 
 therefore to me as much a violation of the liberties 
 of the people of that province, and consequently 
 of all these colonies, as if the parliament had sent 
 a number of regiments to be quartered upon them 
 till they should comply. For it is evident, that 
 the suspension is meant as a compulsion ; and the 
 method of compelling is totally indifferent. It is 
 indeed probable, that the sight of red coats, and 
 the sound of drums, would have been most alarm- 
 ing ; because people are generally more influenced 
 by their eyes and ears, than by their reason. But 
 whoever seriously considers the matter, must per- 
 
 I See the act of suspension. 
 
eive, that a dreadful stroke is aimed at the liberty 
 of these colonies. I say of these colonies ; for the 
 cause of one is the cause of all. If the parliament 
 may lawfully deprive New -Tor k of any of her rights, 
 it may deprive any, or all the other colonies of 
 their rights ; and nothing can possibly so much 
 encourage such attempts, as a mutual inattention 
 to the interests of each other. To divide, and thus 
 to destroy, is the first political maxim in attacking 
 those, who are powerful by their union. He cer- 
 tainly is not a wise man, who folds his arms, and 
 reposes himself at home, viewing, with unconcern, 
 the flames that have invaded his neighbour's house, 
 without using any endeavours to extinguish them. 
 When Mr. Hampderi's ship-money cause, for three 
 shillings and four pence, was tried, all the people 
 of England, with anxious expectation, interested 
 themselves in the important decision ; and when the 
 slightest point, touching the freedom of one colony 
 is agitated, I earnestly wish, that all the rest may, 
 with equal ardour, support their sister. Very 
 much may be said on this subject ; but I hope, 
 more at present is unnecessary. 
 
 WITH concern I have observed, that two assem- 
 blies of this province have sat and adjourned, with- 
 out taking any notice of this act. It may perhaps 
 be asked, what would have been proper for them 
 to do ? I am by no means fond of inflammatory 
 
( 150 ) 
 
 measures ; I detest them. I should be sorry that 
 any thing should be done, which might justly dis- 
 please our sovereign, or our mother country : but 
 a firm, modest exertion of a free spirit, should 
 never be wanting on public occasions. It appears 
 to me, that it would have been sufficient for the 
 assembly, to have ordered our agents to represent 
 to the king's ministers, their sense of the suspend- 
 ing act, and to pray for its repeal. Thus we should 
 have borne our testimony against it ; and might 
 therefore reasonably expect that, on a like occasion, 
 we might receive the same assistance from the other 
 colonies. 
 
 Cone or di a res paring crescunt. 
 Small things grow great by concord 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
 November 5. 1767. 
 
 The day of King WILLIAM the Third's landing. 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 1 HERE is another late act of parliament, 
 which appears to me to be unconstitutional, and as 
 destructive to the liberty of these colonies, as that 
 mentioned in my last letter ; that is, the act for 
 granting the duties on paper, glass, &c. 
 
 THE parliament unquestionably possesses a legal 
 authority to regulate the trade of Great-Britain, 
 and all her colonies. Such an authority is essential 
 to the relation between a mother country and her 
 colonies ; and necessary for the common good of 
 all. He, who considers these provinces as states 
 distinct from the British empire, has very slender 
 notions of justice, or of their interests. We are 
 but parts of a 'whole ; and therefore there must 
 exist a power somewhere to preside, and preserve 
 the connection in due order. This power is lodg- 
 ed in the parliament ; and we are as much depen- 
 dent on Great-Britain, as a perfectly free people 
 can be on another. 
 
 I HAVE looked over every statute relating to 
 these colonies, from their first settlement to this 
 time ; and I find every one of them founded on this 
 
principle, till the stamp-act administration.* Alt 
 before, are calculated to regulate trade, and pre- 
 serve or promote a mutually beneficial intercourse 
 between the several constituent parts of the empire ; 
 and though many of them imposed duties on trade, 
 yet those duties were always imposed with design 
 to restrain the commerce of one part, that was in- 
 jurious to another, and thus to promote the general 
 \velfare. The raising a revenue thereby was never 
 intended. Thus the king, by his judges in his 
 courts of justice, imposes fines, which all together 
 
 * For the satisfaction of the reader, recitals from the former acts of parlia- 
 ment relating to these colonies are added. By comparing these with the mo- 
 dern acts, he will perceive their great difference in expression and intention. 
 
 The 1 2th Charles, chap. 1 8, which forms the foundation of the laws relat- 
 ing to our trade, by enacting that certain productions of the colonies should be 
 carried to Englind only, and that no goods shall be imported from the planta- 
 tions but in ships belonging to England, Ireland, Wales y Berwick, or the plants.' 
 tuns, "&c. begins thus : " For tie increase of shipping, and encouragement of the ra- 
 *' -vigation of this nation, wherein, under the good providence and protection of 
 " GOD, the wealth, safety and strength of this kingdom is so much concern- 
 ed," Ufo. 
 
 The I5th Charles II. chap. 7. enforcing the same regulation, assigns these 
 reasons for it. " In regard his majesty's plantations, beyond the seas, are inha- 
 " bited and peopled by his subjects of this his kingdom of England ; for ths 
 *' ma'uiiaining a greater correspondence and kindness bettveen them, and keeping them 
 " in a firm x er dependence upon it, and rendering them yet more beneficial and 
 " advantageous unto it, in the further employment and increase of English shipping 
 " and seamen, vent of English woollen, and other manufactures and commodi- 
 " ties, rendering the navigation to and from the same More safe and cheap, and making 
 " this kingdom a staple, not only of the commodities of those plantations, but 
 
( 153 ) 
 
 amount to a very considerable sum, and contribute 
 to the support of government : but this is merely 
 a consequence arising from restrictions, that only 
 meant to keep peace, and prevent confusion ; and 
 surely a man would argue very loosely, who should 
 
 u also of the commodities of other countries and places for tie supplying of them ; 
 ** and it being the usage of other nations to keep their plantation trade to 
 " themselves," 15* c. 
 
 The 2Jth Charles II. chap. 7, made expressly " for the better securing the plan" 
 " tation trade" which imposes duties on certain commodities exported from one 
 colony to another, mentions this cause for imposing them : " Whereas by one 
 act, passed in the lath year of your majesty's reign, intituled, An act for en- 
 fouragement of shipping and navigation, and by several other laws, passed since 
 that time, it is permitted to ship, &c . sugars, tobacco, &c, of the growth, tsV. 
 of any of your majesty's plantations in America, bV. from the places of their 
 growth, &c. to any other of your majesty's plantations in those parts, IsV. 
 an-d that -without paying custom for the same, either at the lading or unlading the 
 aid commodities, by means whereof the trade and navigation in those commo- 
 dities, from one plantation to another, is greatly increased, and the inhabitants 
 of divers of those colonies, not contenting themselves viitb being supplied -with those 
 commodities for their own use, free from all customs (while the subjects of this your 
 kingdom of England have paid great customs and impositions for what of 
 them have been spent here) but contrary to the express letter of the aforesaid laivs, 
 lave brought into divers parts of Europe great quantities thereof, and do also 
 vend great quantities thereof to the shipping of other nalions, who bring them 
 into divers parts of Europe, to the great hurt and diminution of your majesty's 
 customs, and of the trade and navigation of this your kingdom ',for the prevention 
 thereof, &c. 
 
 The 7th and 8th William III. Chap. 11, intituled, " An act for preventing 
 frauds, and regulating abuses in the plantation trade," recites that, " notwith- 
 standing divers acts, toV. great abuses are daily committed, to the prejudice of 
 the English navigation, and tit Itss of a great fart of the plantation trade to thi* 
 
 VOL. I. U 
 
( '54. ) 
 
 conclude from hence, that the king has a right to 
 levy money in general upon his subjects. Never 
 did the British parliament, till the period above 
 mentioned, think of imposing duties in America, 
 for the purpose of raising a revenue. Mr. Grenmlle 
 
 kingdom, by the artifice and cunning of ill disposed persons \ far remedy whereof, 
 &c. And whereas in some of his majesty's American plantations, a doubt or 
 misconstruction has arisen upon the before mentioned act, made in the 2jth 
 year of the reign of King Charles II. whereby certain duties are laid upon 
 the commodities therein enumerated (which bylaw may be transported from 
 cne plantation to another, for the supply of each others wants'* as if the same 
 were, by the payment of those duties in one plantation, discharged from giv- 
 ing the securities intended by the aforesaid act?, made in the I2th, azd and 
 23d years of the reign of king Cbarks II. and consequently be at liberty to 
 go to any foreign market in Europe" \5"c. 
 
 The 6th Anne, chap. 37, reciting the advancement of trade, and encou- 
 ragement of ships of war, bV. grants to the captors the property of all prizes 
 carried into America, subject to such customs and duties, as if the same had 
 been first imported into any part of Great- Britain, and from thence exported, 
 
 This was 2. gift to persons acting under cemm'usions from the croivn, and therefore 
 it was reasonable that the terms prescribed in that gift, should be complied 
 with -- more especially as the payment of such duties was intended to give 
 a preference to the productions of British colonies, over those of other colo- 
 nies. However, being found inconvenient to the colonies, about four years 
 afterwards, this act was,ybr that reason, so far repealed, that by another act " all 
 prize goods, imported into any part of Great-Britain, from any of the planta- 
 tions, were made liable to such duties only in Great- Britain, as in case they had 
 been of the growth and produce of the plantations." 
 
 The 6th George II. chap. 13, which imposes duties on foreign rum, sugar 
 and molasses, imported into the colonies, shews the reasons thus - " Where- 
 as the welfare and prosperity of your majesty's sugar colonies in America, arc 
 of the greatest consequence and importance to the trade, navigation and strength 
 
( '55 ) 
 
 first introduced this language, in the preamble to 
 the 4th of George III. chap. 15, which has these 
 words, " And whereas it is just and necessary, that 
 a revenue be raised in your majesty' 1 s said domini- 
 ons in America, for defraying the expences of de- 
 fending, protecting, and securing the same : we 
 your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the 
 commons of Great-Britain, in parliament assem- 
 bled, being desirous to make some provision in this 
 present session of parliament, towards raising the- 
 said revenue in America, have resolved to ^n?? and: 
 grant unto your majesty the several rates and du- 
 ties herein after mentioned," &c*. 
 
 A FEW months after came the stamp act, which 
 reciting this, proceeds in the same strange mode of 
 expression, thus "And whereas it is just and ne- 
 cessary, that provision be made/br raising a fur- 
 tber revenue within your majesty s dominions in 
 
 of this kingdom ; and whereas the planters of the said sugar colonies, have of 
 late years/a//^ into such great discouragements that they are unable to improve 
 or carry on the sugar trade, upon an equal footing with the foreign sugar colo- 
 nies, without some advantage and relief be given to them from Great- Britain ; for 
 rtmedy ivbereof, and for the good and welfare of yonr majesty's subjects" &c. 
 
 The 29th George II. chap. 26, and the 1st George III. chap* 9, which conti- 
 nue the 6th George II. chap. 13, declare, that the said act hath, by experience, 
 been found useful and beneficial, \s?c. These are all the most considerable 
 atatutes relating to the commerce of the colonies ; and it is thought to be utter- 
 ly unnecessary to add any observations to these extracts, to prove that they 
 were all intended solely as regulations, of trade. 
 
America, towards defraying the said expences, we 
 your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the 
 commons of Great-Britain, &c. give and grant," 
 &V. as before. 
 
 THE last act, granting duties upon paper, &fc. 
 carefully pursues these modern precedents. The 
 preamble is, " Whereas it is expedient that a re- 
 venue should be raised in your majesty's dominions' 
 in America, for making a more certain and ade- 
 quate provision for defraying the charge of the ad- 
 ministration of justice, and the support of civil 
 government in such provinces, where it shall be 
 found necessary ; and towards the further defray- 
 ing the expences of defending, protecting and se- 
 curing the said dominions, we your majesty's most 
 dutiful and loyal subjects, the commons of Great- 
 Britain, &c. give and grant, &>V." as before, 
 
 HERE we may observe an authority expressly 
 claimed and exerted to impose duties on these co- 
 lonies ; not for the regulation of trade ; not for the 
 preservation or promotion of a mutually beneficial 
 intercourse between the several constituent parts 
 of the empire, heretofore the sole objects of parlia- 
 mentary institutions ; but for the single purpose oj 
 levying money upon us. 
 
( 1.57 ) 
 
 THIS I call an innovation* ; and a most danger- 
 ous innovation. It may perhaps be objected, that 
 Great-Britain has a right to lay what duties she 
 pleases upon her exportsf, and it makes no differ- 
 ence to us, whether they are paid here or there. 
 
 To this I answer. These colonies require many 
 things for their use, which the laws of Great-Bri- 
 tain prohibit them from getting any where but 
 from her. Such are paper and glass. 
 
 THAT we may legally be bound to pay any gene- 
 ral duties on these commodities, relative to the re- 
 gulation of trade, is granted ; but we being obliged 
 by her laws to take them from Great-Britain, any 
 special duties imposed on their exportation to us 
 
 * " It is worthy of observation, how quietly subsidies, granted in forms usual 
 and atcustomable (though heavy) are borne ; such a power hath use and custom. 
 On the other side, what discontentments and disturbances subsidies/ttzwz^ in a 
 neiv mould do raise (such an inbred hatred novelty doth hatch J is evident by exam- 
 ples of former times." 
 
 Lord Coles ad Institute, p. 33, 
 
 f Some people think that Great-Britain has the same right to impose dutici 
 on the exports to these colonies, as on the exports to Spain and Portugal, b*c. 
 Such persons attend so much to the idea of exportation, that they entirely 
 drop that of the connection betivecn the mother country and her colonies. If Great- 
 Britain had always claimed, and exercised an authority to compel Spain and 
 Portugal to import manufactures from her only, the cases would be parallel : 
 but as she never pretended to such a right, they are at liberty to get them 
 where they please ; and if they choose to take them from her, rather than from 
 other nations, they voluntarily consent to pay the duties imposed on them. 
 
( 158 I 
 
 only, with intention to raise a revenue from us only y 
 are as much taxes upon us, as those imposed by 
 the stamp act. 
 
 WHAT is the difference in substance and right, 
 whether the same sum is raised upon us by the 
 rates mentioned in the stamp act, on the use of pa- 
 per, or by these duties, on the importation of iU 
 It is only the edition of a former book, shifting a 
 sentence from the end to the beginning. 
 
 SUPPOSE the duties were made payable in Great- 
 Britain ? 
 
 IT signifies nothing to us, whether they are to be 
 paid here or there. Had the stamp act directed, 
 that all the paper should be landed at Florida, and 
 the duties paid there, before it was brought to the 
 British colonies, would the act have raised less 
 money upon us, or have been less destructive of 
 our rights ? By no means : for as we were under 
 a necessity of using the paper, we should have been 
 under the necessity of paying the duties. Thus, 
 in the present case, a like necessity will subject us, 
 if this act continues in force, to the payment of the 
 duties now imposed. 
 
 WHY was the stamp act then so pernicious to 
 freedom ? It did not enact, that every man in the 
 
( '59 ) 
 
 colonies should buy a certain quantity of paper 
 No : it only directed, that no instrument of writing 
 should be valid in law, if not made on stamped pa- 
 per, &c. 
 
 THE makers of that act expected that the confu- 
 sions that would arise from the disuse of writings, 
 would compel ihe colonies to use the stamped paper, 
 and therefore to pay the taxes imposed. For this 
 reason the stamp act was said to be a law that 
 'would execute itself. For the very same reason, 
 the last act of parliament, if it is granted to have 
 any force here, will execute itself, and will be at- 
 tended with the very same consequences to Ameri- 
 ca n liberty. 
 
 SOME persons perhaps may say, that this act lays 
 us under no necessity to pay the duties imposed, 
 because we may ours jives manufacture the articles 
 on which they are laid ; whereas by the stamp act 
 no instrument of writing could be good, unless 
 made on British paper, and that too stamped. 
 
 SUCH an objection amounts to no more than this, 
 that the injury resulting to these colonies, from the 
 total disuse of British paper and glass, will not be 
 so afflicting as that which would have resulted from 
 the total disuse of writing among them ; for by 
 that means, even the stamp act might have been 
 
eluded. Why then was it universally detested by 
 them as slavery itself? Because it presented to 
 these devoted provinces nothing but a choice* of 
 calamities, imbittered by indignities, each of which 
 it was unworthy of freemen to bear. But is no in- 
 jury a violation of right, but the greatest injury ? 
 If the eluding the payment of the taxes imposed by 
 the stamp act, would have subjected us to a more 
 dreadful inconvenience, than the eluding the pay- 
 ment of those imposed by the late act ; does it 
 therefore follow, that the last is no violation of our 
 rights, though it is calculated for the same purpose 
 the other was, that is, to raise money upon us^ with- 
 out our consent ? 
 
 THIS would be making right to consist, not in 
 an exemption from injury , but from a certain de- 
 gree of injury. 
 
 BUT the objectors may further say, that we shall 
 suffer no injury at all by the disuse of British paper 
 and glass. We might not, if we could make as 
 much as we want. But can any man, acquainted 
 with America, believe this possible ? I am told 
 there are but two or three glass-houses on this con- 
 tinent, and but very few paper-mills ; and suppose 
 
 * Either the disuse of writing, or the payment of taxtt imposed by others 
 ii'ltloitt our consent. 
 
more should be erected, a long course of years 
 must elapse, before they can be brought to perfec- 
 tion. This continent is a country of planters, farm- 
 ers, and fishermen ; not of manufacturers. The 
 difficulty of establishing particular manufactures in 
 such a country, is almost insuperable. For one 
 manufacture is connected with others in such a 
 manner, that it may be said to be impossible to 
 establish one or two, without establishing several 
 others. The experience of many nations may con- 
 vince us of this truth. 
 
 INEXPRESSIBLE therefore must be our distresses 
 in evading the late acts, by the disuse of British 
 paper and glass. Nor will this be the extent of 
 our misfortune, if we admit the legality of that act. 
 
 GREAT-BRITAIN has prohibited the manufac- 
 turing iron and steel in these colonies, without any 
 objection being made to her right of doing it. The 
 like right she must have to prohibit any other ma- 
 nufacture among us. Thus she is possessed of an 
 undisputed precedent on that point. This au- 
 thority, she will say, is founded on the original 
 intention of settling these colonies ; that is, that she 
 should manufacture for them, and that they should 
 supply her with materials. The equity of this 
 policy, she will also say, has been universally ac- 
 
 VOL. i. W 
 
knowledged by the colonies, who never have made 
 the least objection to statutes for that purpose ; and 
 will further appear by the mutual benefits flowing 
 from this usage, ever since the settlement of these 
 colonies. 
 
 OUR great advocate, Mr. Pitt, in his speeches 
 on the debate concerning the repeal of the stamp- 
 act, acknowledged, that Great-Britain could re- 
 strain our manufactures. His words are these 
 
 " This kingdom, as the supreme governing and 
 legislative power, has always bound the colonies 
 by her regulations and restrictions in trade, in na- 
 vigation, in manufactures in every thing except 
 
 that of taking their money out of 'their pockets, 
 without their consent." Again he says, " We may 
 bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and 
 exercise every power whatever, except -that of tak- 
 ing their money out of their pockets, without their 
 
 HERE then, my dear countrymen, rouse your- 
 selves, and behold the ruin hanging over your 
 heads. If you ONCE admit that Great-Britain 
 may lay duties upon her exportations to us, for the 
 purpose of levying money on us only, she then will 
 have nothing to do, but to lay those duties on the 
 
 articles which she prohibits us to manufacture 
 
 and the tragedy of American liberty is finished. 
 
We have been prohibited from procuring manu- 
 factures, in all cases, any where but from Great- 
 Britain (excepting linens, which we are permitted 
 to import directly from Ireland.} We have been 
 prohibited, in some cases, from manufacturing for 
 ourselves ; and may be prohibited in others. We 
 are therefore exactly in the situation of a city be- 
 sieged, which is surrounded by the works of the 
 besiegers in every part but one. If that is closed 
 up, no step can be taken, but to surrender at dis- 
 cretion. If Great-Britain can order us to come 
 to her for necessaries we want, and can order us to 
 pay what taxes she pleases before we take them 
 away, or when we land them here, we are as abject 
 slaves as those in wooden shoes, and with uncomb- 
 ed hair, 
 
 PERHAPS the nature of the necessities of depen- 
 dent states, caused by the policy of a governing 
 one, for her own benefit, may be elucidated by a 
 fact mentioned in history. When the Carthagini- 
 ans were possessed of the island of Sardinia, they 
 made a decree, that the Sardinians should not raise 
 corn, nor get it any other way than from the Cartha- 
 ginians. Then, by imposing any duties they would 
 upon it, they drained from the miserable Sardinians 
 any sums they pleased ; and whenever that oppress- 
 ed people made the least movement to assert their 
 liberty, their tyrants starved them to death or sub- 
 
mission. This may be called the most perfect kind 
 of political necessity, 
 
 FROM what has been said, I think this uncontro- 
 vertible conclusion may be deduced, that when a 
 ruling state obliges a dependent state to take cer- 
 tain commodities from her alone, it is implied in 
 the nature of that obligation ; is essentially requisite 
 to give it the least degree of justice ; and is insepa- 
 rably united with it, in order to preserve any share 
 of freedom to the dependent state; that those com* 
 modifies should never be loaded with duties, for the 
 sole purpose of levying money on the dependent 
 state. 
 
 UPON the whole, the single question is, whether 
 the parliament can legally impose, duties to be paid 
 by the people of these colonies only, for the sole pur- 
 pose of raising a revenue, on commodities which 
 she obliges us to take from her alone, or, in other 
 words, whether the parliament can legally take 
 money out of our pockets, without our consent. If 
 they can, our boasted liberty is but 
 
 Fox ct prceterea nihil. 
 A sound and nothing else. 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
( 165 ) 
 
 LETTER 1IL 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 I REJOICE to find that my two former letters 
 to you, have been generally received with so much 
 favour by such of you, whose sentiments I have 
 had an opportunity of knowing. Could you look 
 into my heart, you would instantly perceive a zea- 
 lous attachment to your interests, and a lively re- 
 sentment of every insult and injury offered to you, 
 to be the motives that have engaged me to address 
 you. 
 
 I AM no further concerned in any thing affecting 
 America, than any one of you ; and when liberty 
 leaves it, I can quit it much more conveniently 
 than most of you : but while Divine Providence 
 that gave me existence in a land of freedom, per- 
 mits my head to think, my lips to speak, and rny 
 hand to move, I shall so highly and gratefully va- 
 lue the blessing received, as to take care, that my 
 silence and inactivity shall not give my implied as- 
 sent to any act, degrading my brethren and myself 
 from the birthright, wherewith heaven itself " bath 
 made us free*"* 
 
 * GAL. v. i. 
 
SORRY I am to learn, that there are some few 
 persons, who shake their heads with solemn moti- 
 on, and pretend to wonder, what can be the mean- 
 ing of these letters. "Great-Britain" they say, 
 " is too powerful to contend with ; she is determin- 
 " ed to oppress us ; it is in vain to speak of right on 
 u one side, when there is power on the other ; when 
 " we are strong enough to resist, we shall at* 
 " tempt it ; but now we are not strong enough, and 
 " therefore we had better be quiet ; it signifies no- 
 " thing to convince us that our rights are invaded, 
 " when we cannot defend them ; and if we should 
 tc get into riots and tumults about the late act, it 
 " will only draw down heavier displeasure upon 
 
 WHAT can such men design ? What do their 
 grave observations amount to, but this that these 
 colonies, totally regardless of their liberties, should 
 commit them, with humble resignation, to chance^, 
 time, and the tender mercies of ministers. 
 
 ARE these men ignorant, that usurpations, which 
 might have been successfully opposed at first, ac- 
 quire strength by continuance, and thus become 
 irresistable ? Do they condemn the conduct of these 
 colonies, concerning the stamp-act ? Or have 
 they forgotten its successful issue? Ought the colo- 
 nies at that time, instead of acting as they did, to 
 
have trusted for relief, to the fortuitous events of fu- 
 turity ? If it is needless " to speak of rights" now, 
 it was as needless then. If the behaviour of the 
 colonies was prudent and glorious then, and suc- 
 cessful too ; it will be equally prudent and glo- 
 rious to act in the same* manner now, if our rights 
 are equally invaded, and may be as successful. 
 Therefore it becomes necessary to inquire, whe- 
 ther " our rights are invaded." To talk of " de- 
 " fending" them, as if they could be no otherwise 
 *' defended" than by arms, is as much out of the 
 way, as if a man, having a choice of several roads 
 to reach his journey's end, should prefer the worst, 
 for other no reason, but because it is the worst. 
 
 As to " riots and tumults," the gentlemen who 
 are so apprehensive of them, are much mistaken, 
 if they think, that grievances cannot be redressed 
 without such assistance. 
 
 I WILL now tell the gentlemen, what is " the 
 " meaning of these letters." The meaning of 
 them is, to convince the people of these colonies, 
 that they are at this moment exposed to the most 
 imminent dangers ; and to persuade them immedi- 
 ately, vigorously, and unanimously, to exert them- 
 selves, in the most firm, but most peaceable man- 
 ner, for obtaining relief. 
 
( 168 ) 
 
 THE cause of liberty is a cause of too much dig- 
 nity, to be sullied by turbulence and tumult. It 
 ought to be maintained in a manner suitable to her 
 nature. Those who engage in it, should breathe 
 a sedate, yet fervent spirit, animating them to acti- 
 ons of prudence, justice, modesty, bravery, hu- 
 manity and magnanimity. 
 
 To such a wonderful degree were the ancient 
 Spartans, as brave and free a people as ever exist- 
 ed, inspired by this happy temperature of soul, that 
 rejecting even in their battles the use of trumpets, 
 and other instruments for exciting heat and rage, 
 they marched up to scenes of havock and horror, * 
 with the sound of flutes, to the tunes of which their 
 
 steps 1 kept pace " exhibiting," as Plutarch 
 
 says, " at once a terrible and delightful sight, and 
 " proceeding with a deliberate valour, full of hope 
 " and good assurance, as if some Divinity had sen- 
 " sibly assisted them." 
 
 I HOPE, my dear countrymen, that you will, in 
 every colony, be upon your guard against those, 
 who may at any time endeavour to stir you up, un- 
 der pretences of patriotism, to any measures dis- 
 respectful to our sovereign and our mother coun- 
 try. Hot, rash, disorderly proceedings, injure the 
 
 * Plutarch in the life of Lycurgus* Archbishop Potltr's Archreologia Grxca. 
 
reputation of a people, as to wisdom, valour, and 
 virtue, without procuring them the least benefit. 
 I pray GOD, that he may be pleased to inspire you 
 and your posterity, to the latest ages, with a spirit 
 of which I have an idea, that I find a difficulty to 
 express. To express it in the best manner I can, 
 I mean a spirit, that shall so guide you, that it will 
 be impossible to determine whether an American's 
 character is most distinguishable, for his loyalty to 
 his sovereign, his duty to his mother country, his 
 love of freedom, or his affection for his native soil. 
 
 EVERY government at some time or other falls 
 into wrong measures. This may proceed from 
 mistake or passion. But every such measure does 
 not dissolve the obligation between the governors 
 and the governed. The mistake may be cor- 
 rected ; the passion may subside. It is the duty 
 of the governed to endeavour to rectify the mistake, 
 and to appease the passion. They have not at first 
 any other right, than to represent their grievances, 
 and to pray for redress, unless an emergence is so 
 pressing, as not to allow time for receiving an an- 
 swer to their applications, which rarely happens. 
 If their applications are disregarded, then that kind 
 of opposition becomes justifiable, which can be made 
 without breaking the laws, or disturbing the pub- 
 lic peace. This consists in the prevention of the op- 
 
 VOL. 1. X 
 
( 1 7 ) 
 
 pressors reaping advantage from their oppressions , 
 and not in their punishment. For experience may 
 teach them> what reason did not; and harsh me- 
 thods cannot be proper, till milder ones have failed. 
 
 IF at length it becomes undoubted, that an inve- 
 terate resolution is formed to annihilate the liber-* 1 
 ties of the governed, the English history affords^ 
 frequent examples of resistance by force. What 
 particular circumstances will in any future case 
 justify such resistance, can never be ascertained* 
 till they happen. Perhaps it may be allowable to 
 say generally, that it never can be justifiable, until 
 the people are fully convinced, that any further 
 submission will be destructive to their happiness. 
 
 WHEN the appeal is made to the sword, highly 
 probable is it, that the punishment will exceed the 
 offence ; and the calamities attending on war out- 
 weigh those preceding it, These considerations 
 of justice and prudence, will always have great in- 
 fluence with good and wise men. 
 
 To these reflections on this subject, it remains to 
 be added, and ought for ever to be remembered, that 
 resistance, in the case of colonies against their mo- 
 ther country, is extremely different from the resist- 
 ance of a people against their prince. A nation 
 may change their king, or race of kings, and retain- 
 
ing their ancient form of government, be gainers by 
 changing. Thus Great -Britain, under the illus- 
 trious house of Brunswick, a house that seems to 
 flourish for the happiness of mankind, has found a 
 felicity, unknown in the reigns of the Stuarts. 
 But if once we are separated from our mother coun- 
 try, what new form of government shall we adopt, 
 or where shall we find another Britain, to supply 
 our loss ? Torn from the body, to which we are 
 united by religion, liberty, laws, affections, relati- 
 on, language and commerce, we must bleed at 
 every vein, 
 
 IN truth the prosperity of these provinces is 
 founded in their dependence on Great-Britain ; 
 and when she returns to her " old good humour, 
 " and her old good nature/' as lord Clarendon 
 expresses it, I hope they will always think it their 
 duty and interest, as it most certainly will be, to 
 promote her welfare by all the means in their 
 power. 
 
 WE cannot act with too much caution in our dis- 
 putes. Anger produces anger ; and differences, 
 that might be accommodated by kind and respect- 
 ful behaviour, may, by imprudence, be enlarged to 
 an incurable rage. In quarrels between countries, 
 as well as in those between individuals, when they 
 have risen to a certain height, the first cause of 
 
( 17* ) 
 
 dissension is no longer remembered, the minds of 
 the parties being wholly engaged in recollecting 
 and resenting the mutual expressions of their dis- 
 like. When feuds have reached that fatal point, 
 all considerations of reason and equity vanish ; and 
 a blind fury governs, or rather confounds all things. 
 A people no longer regards their interest, but the 
 gratification of their wrath. The sway of the 
 Cleans * and Clodius's y the designing and detesta- 
 ble flatterers of the prevailing passion becomes 
 confirmed. Wise and good men in vain oppose 
 the storm, and may think themselves fortunate, 
 if, in attempting to preserve their ungrateful fellow 
 citizens, they do not ruin themselves. Their pru- 
 dence will be called baseness ; their moderation will 
 be called guilt ; and if their virtue does not lead 
 them to destruction, as that of many other great 
 and excellent persons has done, they may survive 
 to receive from their expiring country the mourn- 
 ful glory of her acknowledgment, that their coun- 
 sels, if regarded would have saved her. 
 
 THE constitutional modes of obtaining relief, are 
 those which I wish to see pursued on the present 
 occasion ; that is, by petitions of our assemblies, 
 or where they are not permitted to meet, of the 
 people, to the powers that can afford us relief. 
 
 * Clcun was a popular firebrand of Athens, and Clodius of Rome ; each of whom 
 plunged his country into the deepest calamities. 
 
( '73 ) 
 
 WE have an excellent prince, in whose good 
 dispositions towards us we may confide. We have 
 a generous, sensible and humane nation, to whom 
 we may apply. They may be deceived, they may, 
 by artful men, be provoked to anger against us. I 
 cannot believe they will be cruel or unjust ; or that 
 their anger will be implacable. Let us behave like 
 dutiful children, who have received unmerited 
 blows from a beloved parent. Let us complain to 
 our parent; but -let our complaints speak at the 
 same time the language of affliction and veneration. 
 
 IF, however, it shall happen, by an unfortunate 
 course of affairs, that our applications to his majes- 
 ty and the parliament for redress, prove ineffectual, 
 let us then take another step, by withholding from 
 Great- Britain all the advantages she has been used 
 to receive from us. Then let us try, if our ingenui- 
 ty, industry, and frugality, will not give weight to 
 our remonstrances. Let us all be united with one 
 
 spirit, in one cause. Let us invent let us work 
 
 let us save let us, continually, keep up 
 
 our claim, and incessantly repeat our complaints 
 But, above all, let us implore the protection of that 
 infinitely good and gracious Being, " by whom 
 kings reign, and princes decree justice*." 
 
 Nil desperandum. 
 
 Nothing is to be despaired of. 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
 * PROV. viii. 15. 
 
( 174 ) 
 LETTER 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 N objection, I hear, has been made against 
 my second letter, which I would willingly clear up 
 before I proceed. " There is," say these objectors, 
 tc a material difference between the stamp-act and 
 " the late act for laying a duty on paper, &c. that 
 " justifies the conduct of those who opposed the 
 tc former, and yet are willing to submit to the lat- 
 " ter. The duties imposed by the stamp-act were 
 " internal taxes ; but the present are external, and 
 " therefore the parliament may have a right to im- 
 " pose them." 
 
 To this I answer, with a total denial of the pow- 
 er of parliament to lay upon these colonies any 
 " tax" whatever, 
 
 THIS point, being so important to this, and to 
 succeeding generations, I wish to be clearly un- 
 derstood. 
 
 To the word " tax" I annex that meaning 
 which the constitution and history of England re- 
 quire to be annexed to it ; that is -- that it is an 
 imposition on the subject, for the sole purpose of 
 levying money. 
 
( 175 ) 
 
 IN the early ages of our monarchy, certain ser- 
 vices were rendered to the crown for the general 
 good. These were personal:* but, in process of 
 time, such institutions being found inconvenient, 
 gifts and grants of their own property were made 
 by the people, under the several names of aids, tal- 
 lages, tasks, taxes and subsidies, &fc. These were 
 made, as may be collected even from the names, for 
 public service upon "need and necessity)*." All 
 these sums were levied upon the people by virtue 
 of their voluntary giftj. Their design was to sup- 
 port the national honour and interest. Some of 
 those grants comprehended duties arising from 
 
 * It is very worthy of remark, how watchful our wise ancestors were, lest 
 their services should be increased beyond what the law allowed. No man was 
 bound to go out of the realm to serve the king. Therefore, even in the con- 
 quering reign of Henry the fifth, when the martial spirit of the nation was 
 highly inflamed by the heroic courage of their prince, and by his great success, 
 they still carefully guarded against the establishment of illegal services. 
 " When this point (says lord chief justice Cok:) concerning maintenance of 
 wars out of England, came in question, the commons did make their continual 
 claim of their ancient freedom and blrtlrlglt, as in the first of Henry tbefftb, and 
 hi the seventh of Henry tie fftb, &c. the commons made a PROTEST, that 
 they were not bound to the maintenance of war in Scotland, Ireland, Colics, 
 France, Normandy, or other foreign parts, and caused their PROTESTS to be 
 entered into the parliament rolls, where they yet remain ; which, in effect, 
 agrccth with that which, upon like occasion, was made in the parliament of 
 25th Edward I." 2d Inst. p. 528. 
 
 f 4th Inst. p. 18. 
 
 \ Reges Ailglize, mhll tale, nisi cotivosati: frimis ordinilius, et asstniienie papula 
 susdpiuttt. Phil. Comines. ad Inst. 
 
( 176 ) 
 
 trade ; being imposts on merchandizes. These 
 lord chief justice Coke classes under " subsidies,'* 
 and " parliamentary aids." They are also called 
 " customs." But whatever the name was, they 
 were always considered as gifts of the people to the 
 crown, to be employed for public uses. 
 
 COMMERCE was at alow ebb, and surprizing 
 instances might be produced how little it was at- 
 tended to for a succession of ages. The terms that 
 
 These gifts entirely depending on the pleasure of the donors, were propor- 
 tioned to the abilities of the several ranks of people who gave, und were 
 regulated by their opinion of the public necessities. Thus Edward I. had in 
 his nth year a thirtieth from the laity, a twentieth from the clergy; in his 
 aad year a tenth from the laity, a sixth from London, and other corporate 
 towns, half of their benefices from the clergy ; in his 23d year an eleventh from 
 the barons and others, a tenth from the clergy, a seventh from the burgesses, 
 5sV. Humes Hist, of England, 
 
 The same difference in the grants of the several ranks is observable in 
 other reigns. 
 
 In the famous statute de tallagio nm concedendo, the king enumerates the se- 
 veral classes, without whose consent, he and his heirs never should set or levy 
 
 any tax "nttllum tallaglum, vel anxU'ium per nos, vel liter eda nostros In regno nostro 
 
 fc/naiurfeu levetur, sine voluntatc et asscnsu arcbiepiscopornm, episcoporum, comitum, ba- 
 ronum, mUitum,burgensittm, et aliorum liberorum com. dc regno nostro." 34th Edward I. 
 
 Lord chief justice Cole, in his comment on these words, says " for the quiet- 
 ing of the commons, and for a perpetual and constant laia for ever after, both in 
 this and oiler like cases, this act was made." These words are plain, without ary 
 scruple, absolute, without any faving" 2d Coke's Inst. p. 532. 533. Little did the 
 venerable judge imagine, that " other like cases" would happen, in which the 
 spirit of this law would be despised by EnglislnxeK,\he posterity of those who 
 made it. 
 
( 177 > 
 
 have been mentioned, and, among the rest, that of 
 tax," had obtained a national, parliamentary 
 meaning, drawn from the principles of the constitu- 
 tion, long before any Englishman thought of impo- 
 sition of duties, for the regulation of trade. 
 
 WHENEVER we speak of " taxes" among Eng- 
 lishmen, let us therefore speak of them with refer- 
 ence to the principles on which, and the intentions 
 with which they have been established. This will 
 give certainty to our expression, and safety to our 
 conduct : but if, when we have in view the liberty 
 of these colonies, we proceed in any other course, 
 we pursue a Juno* indeed, but shall only catch a 
 cloud. 
 
 IN the national, parliamentary sense insisted on, 
 the word " taxf" was certainly understood by the 
 congress at New -Tor k r whose resolves may be said 
 to form the. American " bill of rights." 
 
 The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth resolves are 
 thus expressed. 
 
 * The Goddess of empire, in the heathen mythology ; according to an anci- 
 tient fable, Ixion pursued her, but she escaped in a cloud. 
 
 f In this sense Montesquieu uses the word" tax," in his I3th book oltpiritof 
 laius* 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
( '78 ) 
 
 III. u THAT it is inseparably essential to the 
 "freedom of a people and the undoubted right of 
 " Englishmen, that NO TAXJ be imposed on them, 
 " but with their own consent, given personally, or 
 " by their representatives.'' 
 
 IV. " THAT the people of the colonies are not, 
 " and from their local circumstances,' cannot be, 
 " represented in the house of commons in Great- 
 " Britain." 
 
 V. " THAT the only representatives of the peo- 
 " pie of the colonies, are the persons chosen therein 
 " by themselves; and that NO TAXES ever have 
 ' been, or can be constitutionally imposed on them, 
 " but by their respective legislatures." 
 
 VI. " THAT all supplies to the crown, being free 
 " gifts of the people, it is unreasonable, and in con- 
 " sistent ivitb the principles and spirit of the Bri- 
 " tish constitution, for the people of Great-Bri- 
 " tain to grant to his majesty the property of the 
 " colonies." 
 
 HERE is no distinction made between internal 
 
 \ The rough draught of the resolves of the congress at New-Tork are now ia 
 my hands, and from some notes on that draught, and other particular reasons, I 
 am satisfied, that the congress understood the word " tax" in the sense here 
 contended for. 
 
( '79 ) 
 
 and external taxes. It is evident from the short 
 reasoning thrown into these resolves, that every 
 imposition " to grant to his majesty the property of 
 " the colonies" was thought a "tax;" and that 
 every such imposition, if laid any other way, than 
 u with their consent, given personally, or by 
 " their representatives," was not only " unreason- 
 " able, and inconsistent with the principles and 
 " spirit of the British constitution," but destruc- 
 tive u to the freedom of a people." 
 
 THIS language is clear and important. A " tax 
 means an imposition to raise money. Such persons 
 therefore as speak of internal and external 
 " taxes" I pray may pardon me, if I object to that 
 expression, as applied to the privileges and inte- 
 rests of these colonies. There may be internal 
 and external impositions, founded on different 
 principles, and having different tendencies; every 
 u tax" being an imposition, though every imposi- 
 tion is not a " tax." But all taxes are founded on 
 the same principle ; and have the same tendency. 
 
 EXTERNAL impositions, for the regulation of 
 our trade, do not u grant to his majesty the proper- 
 " ty of the colonies" They only prevent the co- 
 lonies acquiring property, in things not necessary, 
 in a manner judged to be injurious to the welfare of 
 the whole empire. But the last statute respecting 
 
us, " grants to his majesty the property of the 
 " colonies ," by laying duties on the manufactures 
 of Great-Britain which they must take, and which 
 she settled them, on purpose that they should take. 
 
 WHAT " tax*" can be more internal than this ? 
 Here is money drawn, IK it bout their consent , from 
 
 * It seems to be evident, that mr. Pitt, in his defence of America, eluring 
 the debate concerning the repeal of the stamp-act, by " internal taxes," meant 
 any duties " for the purpose of raising a revenue ;" and by " external taxes," 
 meant duties imposed " for the regulation of trade." His expressions are 
 these " If the gentleman does not understand the difference between internal 
 and external taxes, I cannot help it ; but there is a plain distinction between 
 taxes levied for the purposes of raising a re-venue, and duties imposedybr the regu- 
 lation of trade, for the accommodation of the subject ; altho', in the consequen- 
 ces, some revenue might incidentally arise from the latter." 
 
 These words were in mr. Pitt's reply to mr. Grenvllle, who said he could 
 cot understand the difference bet -veen external and internal taxes. 
 
 In every other part of his speeches on that occasion, his words confirm this 
 construction of his expressions. The following extracts will shew how positive 
 and general were his assertions of our right. 
 
 " It is my opinion that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax upon the co- 
 lonies." " The Americans are the sons, not the bastards of England. 'Taxation 
 is no part of the governing or legislative power." " The taxes are a voluntary 
 gift and grant of the commons ahr.e* fn legislation the three estates of the realm 
 are alike concerned, but the concurrence of the peers and the croivn to a tax, is 
 only necessary to close with the form of a law. The gift and grant is of the 
 eommons alone." " The distinction between legislation and taxation is essentially neces- 
 tary to liberty." " The commons of America, represented in their several assem- 
 blies, have ever been in possession of the exercise of this their constitutional 
 right, of giving and granting their oiun money. They ivonltl have been SLAVES, 
 ij tiny had net evjuyed it" " The idea of a virtual rcprescr.tuticn of Amtriia in 
 
a society who have constantly enjoyed a constituti- 
 onal mode of raising all money among themselves. 
 The payment of this tax they have no possible 
 method of avoiding ; as they cannot do without 
 the commodities on which it is laid, and they can- 
 not manufacture these commodities themselves. 
 Besides, if this unhappy country should be so lucky 
 as to elude this act, by getting parchment enough, 
 in the place of paper, or by reviving the ancient me- 
 thod of writing on wax and bark, and by inventing 
 something to serve instead of glass, her ingenuity 
 would stand her in little stead ; for then the parlia- 
 ment would have nothing to do but to prohibit 
 such manufactures, or to lay a tax on hats and 
 
 this house, is the most contemptible idea that ever catered into the head of 
 nian. It does not deserve a serious refutation." 
 
 He afterwards shews the unreasonableness of Great- Britain taxing America, 
 thus " When I had the honour of serving his majesty, I availed myself of 
 the means of information, which I derived from my office, 7 speak therefore 
 from knowledge. My materials were good. I was at pains to collect, to digest, 
 to consider them ; and 7 will be bold to affirm, that the profit to Great-Britain 
 from the trade of the colonies, through all its branches, is two millions a year. 
 TLis is the fund that carried you triumphantly through the last war. The 
 estates that were rented at two thousand pounds a year, threescore years ago, 
 ar e three thousand pounds at present. Those estates sold then from fifteen 
 to eighteen years purchase ; the same may now be sold for thirty. You otvc 
 this to America- This is the price that America pays you for her protection" " 1 dare 
 not say how much higher these profits may be augmented ." " Upon the 
 whole, t will beg leave to tell the house what is really my opinion ; it is, that 
 the stamp-act be repealed absolutely, totally, and immediately. That the rea- 
 son, for the repeal be assigned, because it was founded oa aa errenhus principle" 
 
woollen cloths, which they have already prohibited 
 the colonies fro m supplying each other with ; or 
 on instruments or tools of steel and iron^ which they 
 
 4 
 
 have prohibited the provincials from manufactur- 
 ing at all*: and then, what little gold and silver 
 they have, must be torn from their hands, or they 
 will not be able, in a short time, to get an axf, for 
 cutting their firewood, nor a plough, for raising 
 their food. In what respect, therefore, I beg leave 
 to ask, is the late act preferable to the stamp-act, 
 or more consistent with the liberties of the colo- 
 nies ? For my own part, I regard them both with 
 equal apprehension ; and think they ought to be 
 in the same manner opposed. 
 
 Habemus quidem senatus consultum, tanquam 
 
 gladium in vagina repositum. 
 We have a statute, laid up for future use, like a 
 
 sword in the scabbard. 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
 * " And that pig and bar iron, made in his majesty's colonies in America, 
 may be further manufactured in this kingdom , be it further enailed by the autho- 
 rity aforesaid, that from and after the twenty-fourth day of June, 1750, no 
 mill, or other engine, for slitting or rolling of iron, or any plating forge, to work 
 with a tilt hammer, or any furnace for making steel, shall be erected ; or, after 
 such erection, continued in any of his majesty's colonies in America" 23d George 
 II. chap. 29. sect. 9. 
 
 f Tho' these particulars are mentioned as being absolutely necessary, yet 
 perhaps they arc not more so than glass in our severe winters, to keep out the 
 cold from our houses; or than paper, without which such inexpressible con- 
 fusions must ensue. 
 
LETTER V. 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 JL ERHAPS the objection to the late act, impos- 
 ing duties upon paper, &c. might have been safely 
 rested on the argument drawn from the universal 
 conduct of parliaments and ministers, from the first 
 existence of these colonies, to the administration 
 of mr. Gr entitle. 
 
 WHAT but the indisputable, the acknowledged 
 exclusive right of the colonies to tax themselves, 
 could be the reason, that in this long period of 
 more than one hundred and fifty years, no statute 
 was ever passed for the sole purpose of raising a 
 revenue on the colonies ? And how clear, how co- 
 gent must that reason be, to which every parlia- 
 ment, and every minister, for so long a time sub- 
 mitted, without a single attempt to innovate ? 
 
 ENGLAND, in part of that course of years, and 
 Great-Britain, in other parts, was engaged in seve- 
 ral fierce and expensive wars ; troubled with some 
 tumultuous and bold parliaments ; governed by 
 many daring and wicked ministers ; yet none of 
 them ever ventured to touch the palladium of Ame- 
 
TIC an liberty. Ambition, avarice, faction, tyranny, 
 all revered it. Whenever it was necessary to raise 
 money on the colonies, the requisitions of the 
 crown were made, and dutifully complied with. 
 The parliament, from time to time, regulated their 
 trade, and that of the rest of the empire, to preserve 
 their dependence, and the connection of the whole 
 in good order. 
 
 THE people of Great-Britain, in support of their 
 privileges, boast much of their antiquity. It is 
 true they are ancient ; yet it may well be question- 
 ed, if there is a single privilege of a British sub- 
 ject, supported by longer, more solemn, or more 
 uninterrupted testimony, than the exclusive right 
 of taxation in these colonies. The people of Great- 
 Britain consider that kingdom as the sovereign of 
 these colonies, and would now annex to that sove- 
 reignty a prerogative never heard of before. How 
 would they bear this, was the case their own ? 
 What would they think of a new prerogative claim- 
 ed by the crown ? We may guess what their con- 
 duct would be, from the transports of passion into 
 which they fell about the late embargo, though laid 
 to relieve the most emergent necessities of state, 
 admitting of no delay ; and for which there were 
 numerous precedents. Let our liberties be treated 
 with the same tenderness, and it is all we desire. 
 
EXPLICIT as the conduct of parliaments, for so 
 many ages, is, to prove that no money can be levied 
 on these colonies by parliament, for the purpose of 
 raising a revenue, yet it is not the only evidence in 
 our favour. 
 
 EVERY one of the most material arguments 
 against the legality of the stamp -act, operates with 
 equal force against the act now objected to ; but as 
 they are well known, it seems unnecessary to repeat 
 them here. 
 
 THIS general one only shall be considered at 
 present ; that though these colonies are dependent 
 on Great-Britain ; and though she has a legal 
 power to make laws for preserving that depen- 
 dence ; yet it is not necessary for this purpose, nor 
 essential to the relation between a mother country 
 and her colonies, as was eagerly contended by the 
 advocates for the stamp-act, that she should raise 
 money on them without their consent. 
 
 COLONIES were formerly planted by warlike na- 
 tions, to keep their enemies in awe ; to relieve their 
 country, overburthened with inhabitants ; or to dis- 
 charge a number of discontented and troublesome 
 citizens. But in more modern ages, the spirit of 
 violence being, in some measure, if the expression 
 
 VOL. i. Z 
 
may be allowed, sheathed in commerce, colonies 
 have been settled by the nations of Europe for the 
 purposes of trade. These purposes were to be at- 
 tained, by the colonies raising for their mother 
 country those things which she did not produce 
 herself; and by supplying themselves from her with 
 things they wanted. These were the national ob- 
 jects in the commencement of our colonies, and 
 have been uniformly so in their promotion. 
 
 To answer these grand purposes, perfect liberty 
 was known to be necessary ; all history proving, 
 that trade and freedom are nearly related to each 
 other. By a due regard to this wise and just plan, 
 the infant colonies, exposed in the unknown cli- 
 mates and unexplored wildernesses of this new 
 world, lived, grew, and flourished. 
 
 THE parent country, with undeviating prudence 
 and virtue, attentive to the first principles of colo- 
 nization, drew to herself the benefits she might 
 reasonably expect, and preserved to her children 
 the blessings, on which those benefits were found- 
 ed. She made laws, obliging her colonies to car- 
 ry to her all those products which she wanted for 
 her own use ; and all those raw materials which 
 she chose herself to work up. Besides this restric- 
 tion, she forbad them to procure manufactures 
 from any other part of the globe, or even the pro- 
 
ducts of European countries, which alone could 
 rival her, without being first brought to her. In 
 short, by a variety of laws, she regulated their 
 trade in such a manner as she thought most condu- 
 cive to their mutual advantage, and her own wel- 
 fare. A power was reserved to the crown of repeal- 
 ing any laws that should be enacted ; the execu- 
 tive authority of government \vas also lodged in 
 the crown, and its representatives ; and an appeal 
 was secured to the crown from all judgments in the 
 administration of justice. 
 
 FOR all these powers established by the mother 
 country over the colonies ; for all these immense 
 emoluments derived by her from them ; for all their 
 difficulties and distresses in fixing themselves, what 
 was the recompense made them ? A communicati- 
 on of her rights in general, and particularly of that 
 
 great one, the foundation of all the rest that 
 
 their property, acquired with so much pain and 
 hazard, should be disposed of by none but them- 
 selves* or, to use the beautiful and emphatic 
 
 language of the sacred scriptures, " that they should 
 c ' sit every man under his vine, and under his fig- 
 " tree, and none should make them 
 
 * The power of taxing themselves, was the privilege of which the EngllJ* 
 were, " -witL reason " particularly jealous. HUME'S Hist, of England. 
 
 f Mic. iv. 4. 
 
( 188 ) 
 
 CAN any man of candour and knowledge deny, 
 that these institutions form an affinity between 
 Great-Britain and her colonies, that sufficiently 
 secures their dependence upon her ? Or that for 
 her to levy taxes upon them, is to reverse the nature 
 of things ? Or that she can pursue such a measure, 
 without reducing them to a state of vassalage ? 
 
 IF any person cannot conceive the supremacy of 
 Great-Britain to exist, without the power of laying 
 taxes to levy money upon us, the history of the colo- 
 nies, and of Great-Britain, since their settlement, 
 will prove the contrary. He will there find the amaz- 
 ing advantages arising to her from them the 
 
 constant exercise of her supremacy and their 
 
 filial submission to it, without a single rebellion, or 
 even the thought of one, from their first emigration 
 to this moment And all these things have hap- 
 pened, without one instance of Great-Britain^ 
 laying taxes to levy money upon them. 
 
 How many British authors^, have demonstrated, 
 that the present wealth, power and glory of their 
 
 J It has been said in the house of commons, when complaints have been 
 made of the decay of trade to any part of Europe, " that such things were not 
 worth regard, as Great-Britain was possessed of colonies that could consume 
 more of her manufactures than she was able to supply them with." 
 
 " As the case now stands, we shall shew that the plantations are a spring of 
 wealth to this nation, that they work for us, that their treasure centers all here , 
 
country, are founded upon these colonies ? As con- 
 stantly as streams tend to the ocean, have they 
 been pouring the fruits of all their labours into their 
 mother's lap. Good heaven ! and shall a total ob- 
 
 and that the laws have tied them fast enough to us ; so that it must he through 
 our own fault and mismanagement, if they become independent of England." 
 
 DAVENANT on tic plantation trade. 
 
 ct It is hetter that the islands should be supplied from the northern colonies 
 than from England ; for this reason, the provisions we might send to Barla- 
 does, Jamaica , &c. would he unimproved product of the earth, as grain of all 
 kinds, or such product where there is little got hy the improvement, as malt, 
 salt, beef and pork ; indeed the exportation of salt fish thither would he more 
 advantageous, but the goods which we send to the northern colonies, are such, 
 whose improvement may be justly said, one with another, to be near four Jifths 
 of the value of the whole commodity, as apparel, houshoid furniture, and many 
 other things." Idem. 
 
 " New-England is the trost prejudicial plantation to the kingdom of England; 
 and yet, to do right to that most industrious English colony, I must confess, 
 th.tt though we lose by their unlimited trade with other foreign plantations, 
 yet we are very great gainers hy their direct trade to and from Old England. 
 Our yearly exportations of English manufactures, malt and other goods, from 
 hence thither, amounting, in my opinion, to ten times the value of what is im- 
 ported from thence ; which calculation I do not make at random, hut upon 
 mature consideration, and, peradventure, upon as much experience in this very trade, 
 as any other person will pretend to ; and therefore, whenever reformation of 
 our correspondency in trade with that people shall he thought on, it will, in 
 my poor judgment, require great tenderness, and very serious circumspection" 
 
 Sir Jo si A II CHILD'S discourse on trade. 
 
 " Cur plantations spend mostly our English manufactures, and those of all 
 sorts almost imaginable, in egregious quantities, and employ near tivo thirds of all 
 tur English shipping ; so that v/c have more people in England, by reason of our 
 plantations in America.'" Idem. 
 
livion of former tendernesses and blessings, be 
 spread over the minds of a good and wise nation, 
 by the sordid arts of intriguing- men, who, covering 
 
 Sir JOSIAH CHILD says, in another part of his work, " that not more than 
 fifty families are maintained in England by the refining of sugar." From 
 whence, and from what Davenant says, it is plain, that the advantages here said 
 to be derived from the plantations by England^ mult be meant chiefly of the 
 continental colonies. 
 
 " I shall sum up my whole remarks on our American colonies, with this 
 observation, that as they are a certain annual revenue of several millions ster- 
 ling to their mother country, they ought carefully to be protected, duly en- 
 couraged, and every opportunity that presents, improved for their increment 
 and advantage, as every one they can possibly reap, must at last return to us> 
 with interest." BEAWES'S Lex. Merc. Red. 
 
 " We may safely advance, that our trade and navigation are greatly increas- 
 ed by our colonies, and that they really are a source of treasure and naval pow- 
 er to this kingdom, since they ivork for us, and their treasure centers here. Before 
 their settlement, our manufactures were few, and those but indifferent ; the 
 number of English merchants were very small, and the whole shipping of the 
 nation much inferior to what now belongs to the northern colonies only. 
 These arc certain facts. But since their establishment, our condition has altered 
 for the better, almost to a degree beyond credibility. Our manufactures arc 
 prodigiously increased, chiefly by the demand for them in the plantations, 
 where they at least take off one half, and supply us with many valuable commo- 
 dities for exportation, which is as great an emolument to the mother kingdom, 
 as to the plantations themselves.'' 
 
 POSTLETHWAYT'S tuilv. diet, of trade and commerce. 
 
 " Most of the nations of Europe have interfered with us, more or less, in 
 riivers of our staple manufactures, within half a century, not only in our wcoi- 
 Icn, but in our lead and tin manufactures, as well as our fisheries." 
 
 POSTLETUWAYT, ibid. 
 
 " The inhabitants of our colonies, by carrying on a trade with their foreign 
 neighbour t ) do net only occasion a greater quan!i!y of Lls goods and merJ?anJ:z?> ',' 
 
their selfish projects under pretences of public good, 
 first enrage their countrymen into a frenzy of passi- 
 on and then advance their own influence and inte- 
 
 Europe being sent fron: hence to tb:m, and a greater quantity of the product of 
 America to be sent from them hither, tubich -would otherwise be carried from, end 
 brought to Europe /;y foreigners, but an increase of the seamen and navigation in 
 those parts, which is of great strength and security, as well as of great advant- 
 age to our plantations in general. And though some of our colonies arc not only 
 for preventing the importations of all goods of tie same species they produce but suf- 
 fer particular planters to keep great runs of land in their possession uncultivated, with 
 design to prevent new settlements, whereby they imagine the prices of their 
 commodities may be affected ; yet if it be considered, that the markets of 
 Great-Britain depend on the markets of ALL Europe in general, and that the 
 European markets in general depend on the proportion between the annual con- 
 sumption and the whole quantity of each species annually produced by ALL nations ; 
 it must follow, that whether we or foreigners are the producers,carr/Vr.r, im- 
 porters and exporters of American produce, yet their respective prices in each 
 colony (the difference of freight, customs and importations considered) will al- 
 ways bear proportion to the. general (omsumption of the tvbole quantity of each sort, 
 produced in all colonies, and in all parts, allowing only for the usual contingencies 
 that trade and commerce, agriculture and manufactures, are liable to in all coun- 
 tries." POSTLETIIWAYT, ibid. 
 
 " It is certain, that from the very time tlr Walter Raleigh, the father of our 
 English colonies, and his associates, first projected these establishments, there 
 have been persons who have found an interest, in misrepresenting, or lessening 
 the value of them. The attempts were called chimerical and dangerous. Af- 
 terwards many malignant suggestions were made about sacrificing so many 
 Englishmen to the obstinate desire of settling colonies in countries which then 
 produced very little advantage. But as these difficulties were gradually sur- 
 mounted, those complaints vanished. No sooner were these lamentations over, 
 but others arose in their stead ; when it could be no longer said, that the colo- 
 nies were uteletf, it was alledged that they were not useful enough to their mo- 
 ther country ; that while we were loaded with taxes, they were absolutely 
 free ; that the planters lived like princes, while the inhabitants of England la- 
 boured hard for a tolerable subsistence." POSTLETHWAYT, ibiJ. 
 
rest, by gratifying the passion, which they them- 
 selves have basely excited. 
 
 HITHERTO Great- Britain has been contented 
 with her prosperity. Moderation has been the rule 
 
 r " Before the settlement of these colonies," says Postlethivayt, " our manufac- 
 tures were few, and these but indifferent. In those days we had not only our 
 naval stores, but our ships from our neighbours. Germany furnished us with 
 all things made of metal, even to nails. Wine, paper, linens, and a thousand 
 other things came from Fiance, Portugal supplied us with sugar ; all the pro- 
 ducts of America were poured into us from Spain ; and the Venetians and Geno- 
 ese retailed to us the commodities of the East-Indies, at their own price. 
 
 " If it be asked, whether foreigners, for what goods they take of us, do not 
 pay on that consumption a great portion of our taxes ? It is admitted they do." 
 POSTLETHWAYT'S Great-Britain's True System. 
 
 " If we are afraid that one day or other the colonies will revolt, and set up 
 for themselves, as some seem to apprehend, let us not drive them to a necessity 
 to feel themselves independent of us ; as they will do, the moment they per- 
 ceive that" they can be supplied ivith all things from within themselves" and do not 
 need our assistance. If we would keep them still dependent upon their mother 
 country, and, in some respects, subservient to her views and welfare ; let us make 
 it their interest always to be so." TUCKER on Trade. 
 
 *' Our colonies, while they have English blood in their veins, and have rela- 
 tions in England, and "while they can get by trading 'with us, the stronger and great- 
 er they grow, the more this croiun and kingdom will get by them ; and nothing 
 but such an arbitrary power as shall make them desperate, can bring them to 
 rebel." DAVENANT on the plantation trade. 
 
 " The northern colonies are not upon the same footing as those of the south; 
 and having a worse soil to improve, they must find the recompense & ome other 
 way, which only can be in property and dominion : upon which score, any 
 innovations in the form of government there, should be cautiously examined, 
 for fear of entering upon measures, by which the industry of the inhabitants 
 
( 193 ) 
 
 of her conduct. But now, a generous humane peo- 
 ple, that so often has protected the liberty of stran- 
 gers, is inflamed into an attempt to tear a privilege 
 from her own children, \vhich, if executed, must, 
 in their opinion, sink them into slaves : and for 
 
 Tae quite discouraged. 'Tis afavays unfortunate for a people, cither by 
 
 l>r upon compulsion, to depart from their primitive instil nitons, and \lt9t fundamental* t 
 
 by which they HTCTC^frjtf united together, ," Idem. 
 
 x< The most effectual way of ur.iiir.g the colonies, is to make it their com- 
 mon interest to oppose the designs and attempts of Great-Britain. 
 
 " All wise states will well consider how to preserve the advantages arising 
 From colonies, and avoid the evils. And I conceive that there can be but tvjo 
 ways in nature to hinder them from throwing off their dependence ; one to keep 
 it out of their poiuer, and the other, out of their ivill. The first must be by 
 force; and the latter, by using them ive!l, and keeping them employed in such 
 productions, and making such manufactures, as will support themselves and 
 families comfortably, am! procure them wealth too, and at least nor prejudice their 
 mother country. 
 
 " Force can never be used effectually to answer the end, -without Jest raying tie 
 tolonies themselves. Liberty and encouragement are necessary to carry people 
 thither, and to keep them together when they are there ; and violence will 
 hinder both. Any body of troops, considerable enough to awe them, and keep 
 them in subjection, under the direction too of a needy governor, often sent thi- 
 ther to make his fortune, and at such a distance from any application for re- 
 dress, will soon put an end to all planting, and leave the country to the soldiers 
 alone, and if it did not, ivould cat up all the profit of the colony. For this reason 
 arbitrary countries have not been equally successful in planting colonies with 
 free ones ; and what they have done in that kind, has either been by force, at 
 a vast expence, or by departing from the nature of their government, and givir.g 
 such privileges to planters as were denied to their oiler subjects. And I dare say, that 
 a few prudent laws, and a little prudent conduct, would soon give us far the 
 greatest share of the riches of all America, perhaps drive many of other nations 
 out of it, or into our colonies for shelter. 
 
 VOL. 1. 2 A 
 
( '94 ) 
 
 what ? For a pernicious power, not necessary to 
 her, as her own experience may convince her ; but 
 horribly dreadful and detestable to them. 
 
 IT seems extremely probable, that when cool, 
 dispassionate posterity, shall consider the affecti- 
 onate intercourse, the reciprocal benefits, and the 
 Unsuspecting confidence, that have subsisted be- 
 tween these colonies and their parent country, for 
 such a length of time, they will execrate, with the 
 bitterest curses, the infamous memory of those 
 men, whose pestilential ambition unnessarily, wan- 
 tonly, cruelly, first opened the sources of civil dis- 
 cord between them ; first turned their love into 
 jealousy ; and first taught these provinces, filled 
 v/ith grief and anxiety, to inquire 
 
 Mens ub I matcrna est ? 
 Where is maternal affection ? 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
 ** There are sot}; any exigencies in all states, so many foreign ivars^ and domestic 
 disturbances, that these colonies can never ivant opportunities, if they watch for 
 them, to do ivlat they slallfndtleir interest to do; and therefore we ought to take 
 all the precautions in our power, that it shall never be their interest to act 
 against that of their native country ; an evil which can no otherwise be averted, 
 than by keeping them fully employed in such trades at ivill increase their own, 
 as well as our wealth ; for it is much to be feared if we do not find employ- 
 ment for them, they may find it for us ; the interest of the mother country, is 
 always to keep them dependent, and so employed ; and it requires all her ad- 
 dress to do it ; and it is certainly more easily and effectually done by gentle and 
 insensible methods than by flower alone." , C ATO'S Lttfrrs. 
 
LETTER 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 IT may perhaps be objected against the argu- 
 ments that have been offered to the public, concern- 
 ing the legal power of the parliament, ^ that it has 
 " always exercised the power of imposing duties 
 " for the purposes of raising a revenue on the pro- 
 4 > ductions of these colonies carried to Great-Brit- 
 " aiu, which may be called a tax on them." To- 
 this objection I answer, that this is no violation of 
 the rights of the colonies, it being implied in the 
 relation between them and Great-Britain, that they 
 should not carry such commodities to other nati- 
 ons, as should enable them to interfere with the mo- 
 ther country. The imposition of duties on these 
 commodities, when brought to her, is only a conse- 
 quence of her parental right ; and if the point is 
 thoroughly examined, the duties will be found to be 
 laid on the people of the mother country. What- 
 ever they are, they must proportionably raise the 
 price of the goods, and consequently must be paid 
 by the consumers. In this light they were consi- 
 dered by the parliament in the 25th Charles II. 
 chap. 7. sect. 2. which says, that the productions 
 vf the plantations were carried from one to another- 
 
free from all customs, " while the subjects of this 
 44 your kingdom of England have paid great cus~ 
 44 toms and impositions for ipbat of them have 
 " been spent here" &c. 
 
 BESIDES, if Great-Britain exports these com- 
 modities again, the duties will* injure her o\vn trade, 
 so that she cannot hurt us, without plainly, and 
 immediately hurting herself; and this is our 
 check against her acting arbitrarily in this respect. 
 
 * IT may be perhaps further objected, 44 that it 
 " being granted that statutes made for regulating 
 
 * If any one should observe that no opposition has been made to the legal- 
 ity of the 4th George III. chap. 15. which is thcjirst act of parliament that 
 ever imposed duties on the importations into America, for the expressed purpose 
 of raising a revenue there; I answer First, that though the act expressly 
 mentions the raising a revenue in America, yet it seems that it had as much in 
 view the '* improving and securing the trade between the same and Great- 
 Britain?' which words are part of its title : and the preamble says, " Where- 
 as it is expedient that new provisions and regulations should be established for 
 improving the revenue of this kingdom, and/cr extending and securing tie navi- 
 gation and commerce between Great-Eritain and year mejetty't dominions in America, 
 which by the peace have been so happily extended and enlarged," &c. Se- 
 condly, all the duties mentiencd in that act, arc imposed solely on the productions 
 und manufactures of foreign countries, and not a single duty laid on any producti- 
 on or manufacture of our mother country. Thirdly, the authority of the 
 provincial assemblies is not therein so plainly attaded as by the last act, which 
 makes provision for defraying the charges of the " administration of justice,'' 
 and the " support of civil government." Fourthly, that it being doubtful > 
 whether the intention of the 4th Gearys III. chap. 15. was not as much to regu- 
 Itlz trad:, as to raise a revenue, the minds of the people here were wholly ert- 
 
( 197 ) 
 
 " trade, are binding upon us, it will be difficult 
 <; for any persons, but the makers of the laws, to 
 u determine which of them are made for the regu- 
 " lating of trade, and which for raising a revenue ; 
 '*< and that from hence may arise confusion." 
 
 To this I answer, that the objection is of no force 
 in the present case, or such as resemble it ; because 
 the act now in question, is formed expressly " for 
 ^ the sole purpose of raising a revenue" 
 
 HOWEVER, supposing the design of parliament 
 had not been expressed, the objection seems to me 
 of no weight, with regard to the influence which 
 those who may make it, might expect it ought to 
 have on the conduct of these colonies. 
 
 IT is true, that Impositions for raising a revenue , 
 may be hereafter called regulations of trade ; but 
 names will not change the nature of things. In- 
 
 grossed by the terror of the stamp-act ; then impending over them, about the in- 
 tention of which there could be no doubt 
 
 These reasons so far distinguish the 4th George III. chap. 15. from the last 
 act, that it is not to be wondered at, that the first should have been submitted 
 to, though the last should excite the most universal and spirited opposition. 
 For this will be found, on the strictest examination, to be, in the principle on 
 which it is founded, and in the consequences that must attend it, if possible, 
 more destructive than the stamp-act. It is, to speak plainly, a prodigy in 
 ur laws ; not having one British feature. 
 
( J9S ) 
 
 deed we ought firmly to believe, what is an un-, 
 doubted truth, confirmed by the unhappy expe 7 
 rience of many states heretofore free, that unless the 
 most watchful attention be exerted, a new servi- 
 tude may be slipped upon us, under the sanction of 
 usual and respectable terms. 
 
 THUS the Cxsars ruined the Raman liberty, 
 under the titles of tribunicial and dictatorial au- 
 thorities old and venerable dignities known in 
 
 the most flourishing times of freedom. In imitati- 
 on of the same policy, James II. when he meant 
 to establish popery, talked of liberty of conscience, 
 the most sacred of all liberties ; and had thereby 
 almost deceived the dissenters into destruction. 
 
 ALL artful rulers who strive to extend their pow- 
 er beyond its just limits, endeavour to give to their 
 attempts as much semblance of legality as possible. 
 Those who succeed them may venture to go a lit- 
 tle further ; for each new encroachment will be 
 strengthened by a former. " That which is now 
 " supported by examples, growing old, will be-. 
 " come an example itself,*" and thus support 
 fresh usurpations. 
 
 A TREE people therefore can never be too quick 
 in observing, nor too firm in opposing the begin. 
 
 * Tacitus. 
 
nings of alteration either in form or reality, re- 
 specting institutions formed for their security. The 
 first kind of alteration leads to the last ; yet, on 
 the other hand, nothing is more certain, than that 
 the forms of liberty may be retained, when the sub- 
 stance is gone. In government, as well as in re- 
 ligion, " the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth 
 life." t 
 
 I WILL beg leave to inforce this remark by a 
 few instances. The crown, by the constitution, 
 has the prerogative of creating peers. The exist- 
 ence of that order, in due number and dignity, is 
 essential to the constitution ; and if the crown did 
 not exercise that prerogative, the peerage must 
 have long since decreased so much as to have lost 
 its proper influence. Suppose a prince, for some 
 unjust purposes, should from time to time, advance 
 so many needy, profligate wretches to that rank, 
 that all the independence of the house of lords 
 should be destroyed ? there would then be a mani- 
 fest violation of the constitution, under the appear- 
 ance of using legal prerogative. 
 
 THE house of commons claims the privilege of 
 forming all money bills, and will not suffer either 
 of the other branches of the legislature to add to, 
 
 l Cor. iii, 6 
 
( 200 ) 
 
 br alter them ; contending that their power simply 
 extends to an acceptance or rejection of them. 
 This privilege appears to be just : but under pre- 
 tence of this just privilege, the house of commons 
 has claimed a license of tacking to money bills, 
 clauses relating to things of a totally different kind, 
 and thus forcing them in a manner on the king and 
 lords. This seems to be an abuse of that privi- 
 lege, and it may be vastly more abused. Suppose 
 a future house, influenced by some displaced, dis- 
 contented demagogues, in a time of danger, should 
 tack to a money bill, something so injurious to 
 the king and peers, that they would not assent to 
 it, and yet the commons should obstinately insist 
 on it ; the whole kingdom would be exposed to 
 ruin by them, under the appearance of maintain- 
 ing a valuable privilege. 
 
 IN these cases it might be difficult for a while to 
 determine, whether the king intended to exercise 
 his prerogative in a constitutional manner or not ; 
 or whether the commons insisted on their demand 
 factiously, or for the public good : but surely the 
 conduct of the crown, or of the house, would in 
 time sufficiently explain itself. 
 
 OUGHT not the people therefore to watch? to 
 observe facts ? to search into causes ? to investi- 
 gate designs ? And have they not a right of judg- 
 
ing from the evidence before them, on no slighter 
 points than their liberty and happiness ? It would be 
 less than trifling, wherever a British government 
 is established, to make use of any arguments- to 
 prove such a right. It is sufficient to remind the 
 reader of the day, on the anniversary of which tho 
 first of these letters is dated. 
 
 . I w i L L now apply what has been said, to the pre- 
 sent question, 
 
 THE nature of any impositions laid by par- 
 liament on these colonies, must determine the dc- 
 sign in laying them. It may not be easy in every 
 instance to discover that design. Wherever it is 
 doubtful, I think submission cannot be dangerous : 
 nay, it must be right ; for, in* my opinion, there is 
 no privilege these colonies claim, which they ought 
 in duty and prudence more earnestly to maintain 
 and defend, than the authority of the British par- 
 liament to regulate the trade of all her dominions * 
 Without this authority, the benefits she enjoys 
 from our commerce, must be lost to her : the bless- 
 ings we enjoy from our dependence upon her, 
 must be lost to us. Her strength must decay ; her 
 glory vanish ; and she cannot suffer without our 
 
 partaking in her misfortune. Let us therefore 
 
 cherish her interests as our own, and give her eve- 
 
 VOL. i. 2 B 
 
ry thing that h becomes freemen to give or to re- 
 ceive. 
 
 THE nature of any impositions she may lay upon 
 us may, in general, be known, by considering how 
 far they relate to the preserving, in due order, the 
 connection between the several parts of the British 
 empire. One thing we may be assured of, which is 
 this ^whenever she imposes duties on commo- 
 dities, to be paid only upon their exportation from 
 Great-Britain to these colonies, it is not a regulati- 
 on of trade, but a design to raise a revenue upon 
 us. Other instances may happen, which it may 
 not be necessary at present to dwell on. I hope 
 these colonies will never, to their latest existence, 
 want understanding sufficient to discover the inten- 
 tions of those who rule over them, nor the resolution 
 necessary for asserting their interests. They will 
 always have the same rights, that all free states 
 have, of judging when their privileges are invaded, 
 and of using ail prudent measures for preserving 
 them. 
 
 ^uo circa v iv ite fortes^ 
 Fortiaque adversis opponitc pectora rebus. 
 Wherefore keep up your spirits, and gallantly 
 oppose this adverse course of affairs. 
 
 A FARMER, 
 
( 203 ) 
 
 LETTER 
 
 taY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 1 HIS letter is intended more particularly fcf 
 such of you, whose employments in life may have 
 prevented your attending to the consideration of 
 some points that are of great and public import- 
 ance : for many such persons there must be even 
 in these colonies, where the inhabitants in general 
 are more intelligent than any other people what- 
 ever, as has been remarked by strangers, and it 
 seems with reason* 
 
 SOME of you, perhaps, filled, as I know your 
 breasts are, with loyalty to our most excellent 
 prince, and with love to our dear mother country, 
 may feel yourselves inclined, by the affections of 
 your hearts, to approve every action of those whom 
 you so much venerate and esteem* A prejudice 
 thus flowing from goodness of disposition, is amia- 
 ble indeed, I wish it could be indulged without 
 danger. Did I think this possible, the error should 
 have been adopted, and not opposed by me. But 
 in truth, all men are subject to the frailties of na- 
 ture ; and therefore whatever regard we entertain 
 fjr t!i2 persons oF those who govern us, we should 
 
( 204 ) 
 
 always remember that their conduct, as rulers^ 
 may be influenced by human infirmities. 
 
 WHEN any laws, injurious to these colonies, are 
 passed, w r e cannot suppose, that any injury was 
 intended us by his majesty, or the lords. For the 
 assent of the crown and peers to law^s, seems, as far 
 as I am able to judge, to have been vested in them, 
 more for their own security, than for any other 
 purpose. On the other hand, it is the particular 
 business of the people, to inquire and discover 
 what regulations are useful for themselves, and to 
 digest and present them in the form of bills, to the 
 other orders, to have them enacted into laws. 
 Where these laws are to bind themselves, it may 
 be expected, that the house of commons will very 
 carefully consider them : but when they are mak- 
 ing laws that are not designed to bind themselves , 
 we cannot imagine that their deliberations will be 
 cautious and scrupulous, as in their ow 7 n case. 
 
 * Many remarkable instances might be produced of the extraordinary inac- 
 tention with which bills of great importance, concerning these colonies, have 
 passed in parliament ; which is owing, as it is supposed, to the bills being 
 brought in by the persons who have points to carry, so artfully framed, that 
 it is not easy for the members in general, in the haste of business, to discover 
 their tendency. 
 
 The following instances shew the truth of this remark. When mr. Gren- 
 t/illej in the violence of reformation, formed the 4th of George III. chap. IJth. 
 fcr regulating the American trade, the word " Ireland'" was dropt in the clause 
 
I AM told, that there is a wonderful address frc^- 
 quently used in carrying points in the house of 
 commons, by persons experienced in these affairs. 
 That opportunities are watched and sometimes 
 
 relating to our iron and him ber, so that we could send these articles to no 
 part of Europe, but to Great-Britain. This was so unreasonable a restriction, 
 and so contrary to the sentiments of the legislature for many years before, 
 that it is surprising it should not have been taken notice of in. the house. 
 However the bill passed into a law. But when the matter was explained, 
 this restriction was taken off by a subsequent act. I cannot positively say 
 how long after the taking off this restriction, as I have not the act, but I 
 think, in less than eighteen months, another act of parliament passed, in 
 which the word " Ireland" was left out, just as it had been before. The 
 matter being a second time explained, was a second time regulated. 
 
 Now if it be considered, that the omission mentioned struck off with ens 
 word so very great a part of our trade, it must appear remarkable ; and equally 
 so is the method, by which rice became an enumerated commodity. 
 
 " The enumeration was obtained (says mr. [a~\ Gee} by one Colt, a captain 
 of a ship, employed by a company then trading to Carolina : for several ships 
 goinp from England thither, and purchasing rice for Portugal, prevented the 
 nfor; said captain of a loading. Upon his coming home, ha possessed one mr. 
 JLoivnJes, a member of parliament (ivho "was very frequently employed to prepare 
 bills) with an opinion, that carrying rice directly to Portugal, was a prejudice 
 to the trade of England, and privately got a clause into an act, to make it am 
 enumerated commodity ; ly which means he secured a freight to himself. But the 
 donsequence proved a vast loss to the nation." 
 
 I find that this clause, "privately got into an zct" for the benefit of captain Cole t 
 to the " vast loss of the nation" is foisted into the 3d and 4th Anne, chap, fth, 
 intituled, " An act for granting to her majesty a further subsidy on wines and 
 merchandizes imported," with which it has no more connection, than with 
 34th Edward I. the 34th and 35th of Henry VIII. and the ajth of Charles II. 
 tcbifb prtvide, that no person shall it taxed but ly himself or hh representative. 
 [] Gee on trade, page 33. 
 
( 206 ) 
 
 votes are passed, that if all the members had been 
 present, would have been rejected by a great majo- 
 rity. Certain it is, that when a powerful and artful 
 man has determined on any measure against these 
 colonies, he has always succeeded in his attempt. 
 Perhaps therefore it will be proper for us, whenever 
 any oppressive act affecting us is passed, to attri- 
 bute it to the inattention of the members of the 
 house of commons, and to the malevolence or am- 
 bition of some factious great man, rather than to 
 any other cause. 
 
 Now I do verily believe, that the late act of 
 
 j 
 
 parliament, imposing duties on paper, fcfc. was 
 formed by mr. Grermille, and his party, because it 
 is evidently a part of that plan, by which he endea- 
 voured to render himself popular at home ; and I 
 do also believe, that not one half of the members 
 of the house of commons, even of those who heard 
 it read, did perceive how destructive it was to Ame- 
 rican freedom. For this reason, as it is usual in 
 Great- Britain, to consider the king's speech as the 
 speech of the ministry, it may be right here to con- 
 sider this act as the act of a party, perhaps I should 
 speak more properly, if I was to use another term. 
 
 THERE are two ways of laying taxes. One is, 
 by imposing a certain sum on particular kinds of 
 property, to be paid by the user or consumer, or 
 
by rating the person at a certain sum. The other 
 is, by imposing a certain sum on particular kinds 
 of property, to be paid by the seller. 
 
 WHEN a man pays the first sort of tax, he knows 
 with certainty that he pays so much money for a 
 tax. The consideration for which he pays it, is 
 remote, and, it may be, does not occur to him. 
 He is sensible too, that he is commanded and oblig- 
 ed to pay it as a tax ; and therefore people are apt 
 to be displeased with this sort of tax. 
 
 THE other sort of tax is submitted to in a very 
 different manner. The purchaser of any article, 
 very seldom reflects that the seller raises his price, 
 so as to indemnify himself for the tax he has paid. 
 He knows that the prices of things are continually 
 fluctuating, and if he thinks about the tax, he 
 thinks at the same time, that he might have paid 
 as much, if the article he buys had not been taxed. 
 He gets something visible and agreeable for his 
 money ; and tax and price are so confounded toge- 
 ther, that he cannot separate, or does not choose to 
 take the trouble of separating them. 
 
 THIS mode of taxation therefore is the mode 
 suited to arbitrary and oppressive governments. 
 The love of liberty is so natural to the human 
 iieart, that unfeeling tyrants think themselves oblig- 
 
( 203 ) 
 
 ed to accommodate their schemes as much as they 
 can to the appearance of justice and reason, and to 
 deceive those whom they resolve to destroy, or op- 
 press, by presenting to them a miserable picture of 
 freedom, when the inestimable original is lost. 
 
 THIS policy did not escape the cruel and rapacious 
 Nero. That monster, apprehensive that his crimes 
 might endanger his authority and life, thought pro- 
 per to do some popular acts, to secure the obedi- 
 ence of his subjects. Among other things, says. 
 Tacitus, " he remitted the twenty-fifth part of the 
 ** price on the sale of slaves, but rather in sbc-w 
 " than reality ; for the seller being ordered to pay- 
 " it, it became part of the price to the buyer."* 
 
 THIS is the reflection of the judicious historian; 
 but the deluded people gave their infamous emperor 
 full credit for his false generosity. Other nations 
 have been treated in the same manner the Romans 
 were. The honest, industrious Germans, who are 
 settled in different parts of this continent, can in- 
 form us, that it was this sort of tax that drove them 
 from their native land to our woods, at that time 
 the seats of perfect and undisturbed freedom. 
 
 TKEIR princes, inflamed by the lust of power, 
 and the lust of avarice, two furies that the more 
 
 * Taiituis Ann. book 13. sect. 31. 
 
( 209 ) 
 
 they are gorged, the more hungry they grow, trans- 
 gressed the bounds they ought, in regard to them- 
 selves, to have observed. To keep up the decep- 
 tion in the minds of subjects, " there must be," 
 says a very learned author,! " some proportion 
 between the impost and the value of the commo- 
 dity ; wherefore there ought not to be an excessive 
 duty upon merchandizes of little value. There are 
 countries in which the duty exceeds seventeen or 
 
 eighteen times the value of the commodity. In 
 
 this case the prince removes the illusion. His sub- 
 jects plainly see they are dealt with in an unreason- 
 able manner, which renders them most exquisitely 
 sensible of their slavish situation." From hence 
 it appears, that subjects may be ground down into 
 misery by this sort of taxation, as well as by the 
 former. They will be as much impoverished, if 
 their money is taken from them in this way, as in 
 the other ; and that it will be taken, may be more 
 evident, by attending to a few more considerations, 
 
 THE merchant or importer who pays the duty 
 at first, will not consent to be so much money out 
 of pocket. He therefore proportionably raises the 
 price of his goods- It may then be said to be a 
 contest between him and the person offering to buy, 
 who shall lose the duty. This must be decided 
 
 f Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, book 13, chap. 8, 
 
 VOL, i. 2 C 
 
by the nature of the commodities, and the purcha- 
 ser's demand for them. If they are mere luxuries, 
 he is at liberty to do as he pleases, and if he buys, 
 he does it voluntarily : but if they are absolute ne~ 
 cessaries, or con*Qcniencie$, which use and custom 
 have made requisite for the comfort of life, and 
 which he is not permitted, by the power imposing 
 the duty, to get elsewhere, there the seller has a plain 
 advantage, and the buyer must pay the duty. In 
 fact, the seller is nothing less than a collector of 
 the tax for the power that imposed it. If these du- 
 ties then are extended to the necessaries and con- 
 veniencies of life in general, and enormously in- 
 creased, the people must at length become indeed 
 " most exquisitely sensible of their slavish situati^ 
 " on." Their happiness therefore entirely depends 
 on the moderation of those who have authority to 
 impose the duties, 
 
 I SHALL now apply these observations to the late 
 act of parliament. Certain duties are thereby im- 
 posed on paper and glass, imported into these co- 
 lonies. By the laws of Great-Britain we are pro- 
 hibited to get these articles from any other part of 
 the world. We cannot at present, nor for many 
 years to come, though we should apply ourselves 
 to these manufactures with the utmost industry, 
 make enough ourselves for our own use. That 
 paper and glass are not only convenient, but abso-. 
 
lately necessary for us, I imagine very few will 
 contend. Some perhaps, who think mankind grew 
 wicked and luxurious, as soon as they found out 
 another way of communicating their sentiments than 
 by speech, and another way of dwelling than in 
 caves, may advance so whimsical an opinion. But 
 I presume no body will take the unnecessary trou- 
 ble of refuting them. 
 
 FROM these remarks I think it evident, that we 
 must use paper and glass ; that what we use, must 
 be British ; and that we must pay the duties im- 
 posed, unless those who sell these articles, are so 
 generous as to make us presents of the duties they 
 pay. 
 
 SOME persons may think this act of no conse- 
 quence, because the duties are so small. A fatal 
 error. That is the very circumstance most alarm- 
 ing to me. For I am convinced, that the authors 
 of this law would never have obtained an act to 
 raise so trifling a sum as it must do, had they not 
 intended by it to establish a precedent for future 
 use. To console ourselves with the smallness of 
 the duties, is to walk deliberately into the snare 
 that is set for us, praising the neatness of the work- 
 manship. Suppose the duties imposed by the late 
 act could be paid by these distressed colonies with 
 the utmost ease, and that the purposes to which 
 
( 212 ) 
 
 they are to be applied, were the most reasonable 
 and equitable that can be conceived, the contrary 
 of which I hope to demonstrate before these letters 
 are concluded ; yet even in such a supposed case, 
 these colonies ought to regard the act with abhor- 
 rence, for who are a free people ? Not those, 
 over whom government is reasonably and equita- 
 bly exercised, but those, who live under a govern- 
 ment so constitutionally checked and confronted, 
 that proper provision is made against its being 
 otherwise exercised. 
 
 THE late act is founded on the destruction of this 
 constitutional security. If the parliament have a 
 right to lay a duty of four shillings and eight-pence 
 on a hundred weight of glass, or a ream of paper, 
 they have a right to lay a duty of any other sum on 
 either. They may raise the duty, as the author 
 before quoted says has been done in some coun- 
 tries, till it " exceeds seventeen or eighteen times 
 " the value of the commodity." In short, if they 
 have a right to levy a tax of one penny upon us, 
 they have a right to levy a million upon us : for 
 where does their right stop ? At any given number 
 of pence, shillings or pounds ? To attempt to limit 
 their right, after granting it to exist at all, is as 
 contrary to reason as granting it to exist at all, is 
 contrary to justice. If they have any right to tax us 
 then, whether our own money shall continue in 
 
( 213 ) 
 
 our own pockets or not, depends no longer on z/s, 
 but on them. " There is nothing which" we can 
 call our own ; or, to use the words of mr. Locke 
 44 what property have we in that, which another 
 44 may, by right, take, when he pleases, to him- 
 4 - self?"* 
 
 THESE duties, which will inevitably be levied 
 
 upon us which are now levying upon us 
 
 are expressly laid for the sole purpose of taking 
 money. This is the true definition of 44 taxes." 
 They are therefore taxes. This money is to be 
 taken from us. We are therefore taxed. Those 
 who are taxed without their own consent, express- 
 ed by themselves or their representatives, are 
 slaves. We are taxed without our own consent, 
 expressed by ourselves or our representatives. We 
 are therefore SLAVES, f 
 
 Miserabile vulgus. 
 A miserable tribe. 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
 * Lord Camdens speech. 
 
 f " It is my opinion, that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax upon the 
 Colonies." " The Americans are the sons, not the bastards of England" " The 
 distinction between legislation and taxation is essentially necessary to liberty." 
 " The commons of America, represented in their several assemblies, have ever 
 been in possession of this their constitutional right, of giving and granting tbeir 
 fitvn money. They would have been slaves, if they had not enjoyed it." " The 
 
( 214 ) 
 
 LETTER 71IL 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 IN my opinion, a dangerous example is set in 
 the last act relating to these colonies. The power 
 of parliament to levy money upon us for raising a 
 
 idea of a virtual representation of America in this house, is the most contempti- 
 ble idea, that ever entered into the head of man. It does not deserve a seri- 
 ous refutation." Mr. PITT'S speed on the stamp-act. 
 
 That great and excellent man, lord Camden, maintains the same opinion^ 
 His speech in the house of peers, on the declaratory bill of the sovereignty of 
 Great-Britain over the colonies, has lately appeared in our papers. The fol- 
 lowing extracts so perfectly agree with, and confirm the sentiments avowed 
 in these letters, that it is hoped the inserting them in this note will be ex- 
 cused. 
 
 " As the affair is of the utmost importance, and in its consequences may in- 
 volve the fate of kingdoms, I took the strictest review of my arguments ; I re- 
 examined all my authorities ; fully determined, if I found myself mistaken, 
 publicly to own my mistake, and give up my opinion : but my searches have 
 more and more convinced rue, that the British parliament have " no rigbt to 
 tax" the Americans ." " Nor is the doctrine new ; it is as old as the constitu- 
 tion ; it grew up with it ; indeed it is its support." " Taxation and representa- 
 tion are inseparably united. GOD hath joined them : no British parliament 
 can separate them : to endeavour to do it, is to stab our vitals." 
 
 " My position is this I repeat it I will maintain it to my last hour 
 taxation and representation are inseparable this position is founded on the laws 
 of nature ; it is more, it is itself an eternal laiu of nature ; for whatever is a 
 man's own, is absolutely his own ; no man hath a right to take it from him without 
 bit consent, either expressed by himself or representative ; whoever attempts to da 
 
C 215 ) 
 
 a revenue, is therein avowed and exerted. Regard- 
 ing the act upon this single principle, I must again 
 repeat, and I think it my duty to repeat, that to me 
 it appears to be unconstitutional. 
 
 No man, who considers the conduct of the parli- 
 ament since the repeal of the stamp-act, and the 
 disposition of many people at home, can doubt, 
 that the chief object of attention there, is, to use 
 mr. Grenville's expression, "providing that the 
 
 it f attempts an Injury ; ivhoever does it, commits a robbery ; lie throws doivn tie disttnc* 
 
 tlon between liberty and slavery," " There is not a blade of grass, in the most 
 
 obscure corner of the kingdom, which is not, which was not ever represented, 
 since the constitution began : there is not a blade of grass, which, when taxed, 
 was not taxed by the consent of the proprietor" " The forefathers of the American! 
 did not leave their native country, and subject themselves to every danger and 
 distress, to be reduced to a state of slavery. They did not give up their rights: 
 they looked for protection, and not for chains, from their mother country. 
 By her they expected to be defended in the possession of their property, and 
 not to be deprived of it : for should the present power continue, tb^re is nothing 
 which they can call their oivn ; or, to use the words of mr. Locke, " "what prspe rty 
 have they in that, -which another may, by right, take, when he pleases, to himself?" 
 
 It is impossible to read this speech, and mr. Pitt's, and not be charmed with 
 the generous zeal for the rights of mankind that glows in every sentence. 
 These great and good men, animated by the subject they speak upon, seem 
 to rise above all the former glorious exertions of their abilities. A foreigner 
 might be tempted to think they are Americans, asserting, with all the ardour 
 of patriotism, and all the anxiety of apprehension, the cause of their native 
 land and not Britons, striving to stop their mistaken countrymen from op- 
 pressing others. Their reasoning is not only just it is, as mr. Hum says of 
 
 the eloquence of Demosthenes, " vehement." It is disdain, anger, boldness, 
 
 freedom, involved in a continual stream of argument. 
 
( 2,6 ) 
 
 dependence and obedience of the colonies be assert- 
 ed and maintained." 
 
 UNDER the influence of this notion, instantly on 
 repealing the stamp-act, an act passed declaring the 
 power of parliament to bind these colonies in all 
 cases whatever. This however was only planting 
 a barren tree, that cast a shade indeed over the co- 
 lonies, but yielded no fruit. It being determined 
 to inforce the authority on which the stamp- act 
 was founded, the parliament having never renoun- 
 ced the right, as mr. Pitt advised them to do; and 
 it being thought proper to disguise that authority 
 in such a manner, as not again to alarm the colonies; 
 some little time was required to find a method by 
 which both these points should be united. At last 
 the ingenuity of mr. Grenville and his party ac- 
 complished the matter, as it was thought, in u an 
 " act for granting certain duties in the British co- 
 " lonies and plantations in America, for allowing 
 " drawbacks," &c. which is the title of the act 
 laying duties on paper, &c. 
 
 THE parliament having several times before im^ 
 posed duties to be paid in America, it was expect- 
 ed, no doubt, that the repetition of such a measure 
 would be passed over, as an usual thing. But to 
 have done this, without expressly "asserting and 
 " maintaining" the power of parliament to take 
 
our money without our consent, and to apply it as 
 they please, would not have been, in mr. Gren- 
 vi/le's opinion, sufficiently declarative of its supre- 
 macy, nor sufficiently depressive of American free- 
 dom. 
 
 THEREFORE it is, that in this memorable act we 
 find it expressly " provided, " that money shall be 
 levied upon us without our consent, for purposes, 
 that render it, if possible, more dreadful than the 
 stamp-act. 
 
 THAT act, alarming as it was, declared, the mo- 
 ney thereby to be raised, should be applied u to- 
 " wards defraying the expences of defending, pro- 
 *' tecting and securing the British colonies and 
 " plantations in America :" And it is evident 
 from the whole act, that by the word " British" 
 were intended colonies and plantations settled by 
 British people, and not generally, those subject to 
 the British crown. That act therefore seemed to 
 have something gentle and kind in its intention, 
 and to aim only at our own welfare : but the act 
 now objected to, imposes duties upon the British 
 colonies, " to defray the expences of defending, 
 protecting and securing his majesty's dominions in 
 America. " 
 
 VOL, 1. 2D 
 
( 218 ) 
 
 WHAT a change of words ! What an incom- 
 putable addition to the expences intended by the 
 stamp-act! " His Majesty's dominions" com- 
 prehend not only the British colonies, but also the 
 conquered provinces of Canada and Florida, and 
 the British garrisons 0/ Nova- Scotia; for these do 
 not deserve the name of colonies. 
 
 WHAT justice is there in making us pay for 
 <c defending, protecting and securing" these pla- 
 ces ? What benefit can WE, or have WE ever de- 
 rived from them ? None of them was conquered 
 for us ; nor will " be defended, protected or se- 
 cured" for us, 
 
 IN fact, however advantageous the subduing or 
 keeping any of these countries may be to Great- 
 Britain, the acquisition is greatly injurious to these 
 colonies. Our chief property consists in lands. 
 These would have been of much greater value, if 
 such prodigious additions had not been made to 
 the British territories on this continent. The na- 
 tural increase of our own people, if confined within 
 the colonies, would have raised the value still high- 
 er and higher every fifteen or twenty years : besides, 
 we should have lived more compactly together, and 
 have been therefore more able to resist any enemy. 
 But now the inhabitants will be thinly scattered 
 over an immense region, as those who want settle. 
 
ments, will choose to make new ones, rather than 
 pay great prices for old ones. 
 
 THESE are the consequences to the colonies, of 
 the hearty assistance they gave to Great-Britain in 
 
 the late war a war undertaken solely for her 
 
 oivji benefit. The objects of it were, the securing 
 to herself the rich tracts f land on the back of 
 these colonies, with the Indian trade ; and Nova- 
 Scotia, with the fishery. These, and much more, 
 has that kingdom gained ; but the inferior animals 
 that hunted with the lion, have been amply reward- 
 ed for all the sweat and blood their loyalty cost them, 
 by the honour of having sweated and bled in such 
 company. 
 
 I WILL not go so far as to say, that Canada and 
 Nova-Scotia are curbs on Neiv - England ; ihecbain 
 of forts through the back woods on the middle 
 provinces; and Florida on the rest: but I will 
 venture to say, that if the products of Canada, No- 
 va-Scotia and Florida, deserve any consideration, 
 the two first of them are only rivals of our northern 
 colonies, and the other of our southern, 
 
 IT has been said, that without the conquest of 
 these countries, the colonies could not have been 
 " protected, defended and secured.'* If that is true, 
 it may with as much propriety be said, that Great- 
 
( 220 ) 
 
 Britain could not have been " defended, protected 
 " and secured," without that conquest : for the 
 colonies are parts of her empire, which it as much 
 concerns her us them to keep out of the hands of 
 any other power. 
 
 BUT these colonies, when they were much 
 er, defended themselves, before this conquest was 
 made, and could again do it, against any that might 
 properly be called their enemies. If France and 
 Spain indeed should attack them, as members of 
 the British empire, perhaps they might be distress- 
 ed ; but it would be in a British quarrel, 
 
 THE largest account I have seen of the number 
 of people in Canada, does not make them exceed 
 90,000. Florida can hardly be said to have any 
 inhabitants. It is computed that there are in our 
 colonies 3,000,000. Our force therefore must in- 
 crease with a disproportion to the growth of their 
 strength, that would render us very safe, 
 
 THIS being the state of the case, I cannot think 
 it just that these colonies, labouring under so many 
 misfortunes, should be loaded with taxes, to main- 
 tain countries, not only not useful, but hurtful to 
 them. The support of Canada and Florida costs 
 yearly, it is said, half a million sterling. From 
 hence we may make some guess of the load that is to 
 
be laid upon us ; for WE are not only to " defend, 
 " protect and secure 7 ' them, but also to make " an 
 " adequate provision for defraying the charge of 
 " the administration of justice, and the support of 
 " civil government, in such provinces where it 
 " shall be found necessary." 
 
 NOT one of the provinces of Canada, Nova-Sco- 
 tia, or Florida, has ever defrayed these expences 
 within itself: and if the duties imposed by the 
 last statute are collected, all of them together, ac- 
 cording to the best information I can get, will not 
 pay one quarter as much as Pennsylvania alone. 
 So that the British colonies are to be drained of the 
 rewards of their labour, to cherish the scorching 
 sands of Florida, and the icy rocks of Canada and 
 Nova-Scotia, which never will return to us one far- 
 thing that we send to them. 
 
 GREAT-BRITAIN 1 mean, the ministry in 
 
 Great-Britain, has cantoned Canada and Florida 
 out into^j? or six governments, and may form as 
 many more. There now axe fourteen or fifteen regi- 
 ments on this continent ; and there soon may be as 
 many more. To make " an adequate provision" 
 for all these expcnces, is, no doubt, to be the inhe- 
 ritance of the colonies. 
 
( 222 ) 
 
 CAN any man believe that the duties upon pa- 
 per, &c. are the last that will be laid for these pur- 
 poses? It is in vain to hope, that because it is im- 
 prudent to lay duties on the exportation of manu- 
 factures from a mother country to colonies, as it 
 may promote manufactures among them, that this 
 consideration will prevent such a measure, 
 
 AMBITIOUS artful men have made it popular, 
 and whatever injustice or destruction will attend it 
 in the opinion of the colonists, at home it will be 
 thought just and salutary.* 
 
 THE people of Great-Britain \vill be told, and 
 have been told, that they are sinking under an im- 
 mense debt that great part of this has been con- 
 tracted in defending the colonies that these are 
 
 so ungrateful and undutiful, that they will not 
 
 contribute one mite to its payment nor even to 
 
 the support of the army now kept up for their " de- 
 
 " fence and security," that they are rolling 
 
 in wealth, and are of so bold and republican a spi- 
 rit, that they are aiming at independence that 
 
 the only way to retain them in " obedience," is to 
 keep a strict watch over them, and to draw off part 
 of their riches in taxes and that every burden 
 
 * " So credulous as well as obstinate, are the people in believing every tt>'tng t 
 which flatters their prevailing passion. HUME'S Hist* of England. 
 
laid upon them, is taking off so much from Great- 
 
 Britain. These assertions will be generally 
 
 believed, and the people will be persuaded that 
 they cannot be too angry with their colonies, as that 
 anger will be profitable to themselves. 
 
 IN truth, Great-Britain alone receives any be- 
 nefit from Canada, Nova-Scotia, and Florida ; and 
 therefore she alone ought to maintain them. The 
 old maxim of the law is drawn from reason and 
 justice, and never could be more properly applied, 
 than in this case. 
 
 %ui sentit commodum, sentire debet et onus. 
 They who feel the benefit, ought to feel the burden. 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
LETTER IX. 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 HAVE made some observations on the purpo- 
 ses for which money is to be levied upon us by the 
 late act of parliament. I shall now offer to your 
 consideration some further reflections on that sub- 
 ject : and unless I am greatly mistaken, if these 
 purposes are accomplished according to the ex- 
 pressed intention of the act, they will be found ef- 
 fectually to supercede that authority in our respect- 
 ive assemblies, which is essential to liberty. The 
 question is not " whether some branches shall be 
 
 *' lopped off?" The axe is laid to the root of 
 
 the tree ; and the whole body must infallibly per- 
 ish, if we remain idle spectators of the work. 
 
 No free people ever existed, or can ever exist, 
 without keeping, to use a common, but strong ex- 
 pression, " the purse strings," in their own hands. 
 Where this is the case, they have a constitutional 
 check upon the administration, which may thereby 
 be brought into order without violence : but where 
 such a power is not lodged in the people, oppress- 
 ion proceeds uncontrouled in its career, till the go- 
 
( 225 ) 
 
 verned, transported into rage, seek redress iil the 
 midst of blood and confusion. 
 
 THE ingenious mr, Hume, speaking of the Anglo- 
 Norman government, says " princes and minis* 
 ters were too ignorant, to be themselves sensible 
 of the advantage attending an equitable administra- 
 tion, and there was no established council or as- 
 sembly, which could protect the people, and by 
 withdrawing supplies, regularly and peaceably ad- 
 monish the king of his duty, and insure the execu- 
 tion of the laws" 
 
 THUS this great man, whose political reflecti- 
 ons are so much admired, makes this power one of 
 the foundations of liberty* 
 
 THE English history abounds with instances, 
 proving that this is the proper and successful way 
 to obtain redress of grievances. How often have 
 kings and ministers endeavoured to throw off this 
 legal curb upon them, by attempting to raise money 
 by a variety of inventions, under pretence of law, 
 without having recourse to parliament ? And how 
 often have they been brought to reason, and peace- 
 ably obliged to do justice, by the exertion of this 
 constitutional authority of the people, vested in 
 their representatives ? 
 
 VOL. i. 2 E 
 
( 226 ) 
 
 THE inhabitants of these colonies have, on num- 
 berless occasions, reaped the benefit of this autho- 
 rity lodged in their assemblies. 
 
 IT has been for a long time, and now is, a con- 
 stant instruction to all governors, to obtain a PER- 
 MANENT support for the offices of government. But 
 as the author of the administration of the colonies 
 says, " this order of the crown is generally, if not 
 universally, rejected by the legislatures of the colo- 
 
 THEY perfectly know bow much their grievances 
 ^vould be regarded, if they had no other method of 
 engaging attention, than by complaining. Those 
 "who rule, are extremely apt to think well of the 
 constructions made by themselves in support of 
 their own power, These are frequently erroneous, 
 *and pernicious to those they govern. Dry remon- 
 strances, to shew that such constructions are wrong 
 and oppressive, carry very little weight with them, 
 in the opinion of persons who gratify their own in- 
 clinations in making these constructions. They 
 CANNOT understand the reasoning that opposes 
 their power and desires. But let it be made their 
 
 interest to understand such reasoning and a 
 
 wonderful light is instantly thrown upon the mat- 
 ter ; and then, rejected remonstrance becomes as 
 clear as " proofs of holy writ.*" 
 
 * Shakespeare. 
 
( 227 ) 
 
 THE three most important articles that our as- 
 semblies, or any legislatures can provide for, are> 
 
 first the defence of the society ; secondly 
 
 the administration of justice ; and thirdly -the 
 
 support of civil government. 
 
 NOTHING can properly regulate the expence of 
 making provision for these occasions, but the neces- 
 sities of the society ; its abilities ; the coiweniency 
 of the modes of levying money in it ; the manner in 
 which the laws have been executed ; and the con- 
 duct of the officers of government : all which are 
 circumstances, that cannot possibly be properly 
 known, but by the society itself; or if they should 
 be known, will not probably be properly considered 
 but by that society. 
 
 Ir money be raised upon us by others, without 
 our consent, for our '' defence," those who are the 
 judges in levying it, must also be the judges in ap- 
 plying it. Of consequence the money sa id to be 
 taken from us for our defence, may be employed to 
 our injury. We may be chained in by a line of 
 fortifications obliged to pay for the building and 
 
 maintaining them and be told, that they are for 
 
 our defence. With what face can we dispute the 
 fact, after having granted that those who apply the 
 money, had a right to levy it ? For surely, it is much 
 easier for their wisdom to understand how to apply 
 
( 223 ) 
 
 it in the best manner, than how to levy it in the 
 best manner. Besides, the right of levying is of 
 infinitely more consequence, than that of applying. 
 The people of England, who would burst out into 
 fury, if the crown should attempt to levy money by 
 its own authority, have always assigned to the 
 crown the application of money. 
 
 As to the " administration of justice" -the 
 judges ought, in a well regulated state, to be equally 
 independent of the executive and legislative powers. 
 Thus in England, judges hold their commissions 
 from the crown " during good behaviour ," and 
 have salaries, suitable to their dignity, settled on 
 them by parliament. The purity of the courts of 
 law since this establishment, is a proof of the wis- 
 dom with which it was made. 
 
 BUT in these colonies, how fruitless has beeil 
 every attempt to have the judges appointed " dur- 
 " ' in S d behaviour ?" Yet whoever considers, 
 the matter, will soon perceive, that such commissi- 
 ons are beyond all comparison more necessary in 
 these colonies, than they were in England. 
 
 THE chief danger to the subject there, arose from 
 the arbitrary designs of the crown ; but here, the 
 time may come, when we may have to contend 
 
 with the designs of the crown, and of a mighty. 
 
kingdom. What then must be our chance, when the 
 laws of life and death are to be spoken by judges 
 totally dependent on that crown, and that king- 
 dom sent over perhaps from thence filled with 
 
 British prejudices and backed by a STANDING 
 
 army supported out of OUR OWN pockets, to 
 
 " assert and maintain" OUR OWN " dependence 
 *' and obedience." 
 
 BUT supposing that through the extreme lenity 
 that will prevail in th- government through all 
 future ages, these colonies will never behold any 
 thing like the campaign of chief justice Jeffreys, 
 yet what innumerable acts of injustice may be com- 
 mitted, and how fatally may the principles of liber- 
 ty be sapped, by a succession of judges utterly in. 
 dependent of the people ? Before such judges, the 
 supple wretches, who cheerfully join in avowing 
 sentiments inconsistent with freedom, will always 
 tneet with smiles ; while the honest and brave men, 
 who disdain to sacrifice their native land to their 
 own advantage, but on every occasion boldly vindi- 
 cate her cause, will constantly be regarded with 
 frowns. 
 
 THERE are two other considerations relating to 
 this head, that deserve the most serious attention. 
 
 Br the late act, the officers of the customs are 
 .impowered to enter into any HOUSE, warehouse, 
 
shop, cellar, or other place, in the British colonies 
 or plantations in America, to search for or seize 
 prohibited or unaccustomed goods," &c. on " writs 
 granted by the superior or supreme court of justice, 
 having jurisdiction within such colony or plantation 
 respectively." 
 
 IF we only reflect, that the judges of these courts 
 are to be during pleasure that they are to have 
 " adequate provision'*' 1 made for them, which is to 
 continue during their complaisant behaviour that 
 they may be strangers to these colonies what an 
 engine of oppression may this authority be in such 
 hands ? 
 
 I AM well aware that writs of this kind may be 
 granted at home, under the seal of the court of ex- 
 chequer : but I know also, that the greatest assert - 
 ors of the rights of Englishmen have always strenu- 
 ously contended, that such a power was dangerous 
 to freedom, and expressly contrary to the common 
 law, which ever regarded a man's house as his cas- 
 tle, or a place of perfect security. 
 
 IF such power was in the least degree danger- 
 ous there, it must be utterly destructive to liberty 
 here. For the people there have two securities 
 against the undue exercise of this power by the 
 crown, which are wanting with us, if the late act 
 
( 231 ) 
 
 takes place. In the first place, if any injustice is 
 done there, the person injured may bring his action 
 against the offender, and have it tried before inde- 
 pendent judges, vt\vz are* no parties in committing 
 the injury. Here he must be tried before depend- 
 ent judges, being the men who granted the writ. 
 
 To say, that the cause is to be tried by a jury, 
 can never reconcile men who have any idea of free- 
 dom, to such a power. For we know that sheriffs 
 in almost every colony on this continent, are total- 
 ly dependent on the crown ; and packing of juries 
 has been frequently practised even in the capital of 
 the British empire. Even if juries are well inclin- 
 ed, we have too many instances of the influence of 
 
 over-bearing unjust judges upon them. The 
 
 brave and wise men who accomplished the revolu- 
 tion, thought the independency of judges essential 
 to freedom. 
 
 THE other security which the people have at 
 home, but which we shall want here, is this. 
 
 IF this power is abused there, the parliament, 
 the grand resource of the oppressed people, is rea- 
 dy to afford relief. Redress of grievances must 
 
 * The writs for searching houses in EngLnJ, are to be granted " under the 
 seal of the court of exchequer," according to the statute and that seal is kept 
 by the chancellor of the exchequer, ^tb Insi. page 104. 
 
( 232 ) 
 
 precede grants of money. But what regard can we 
 expect to have paid to our assemblies, when they 
 will not hold even the puny privilege of French 
 
 parliaments that of registering, before they are 
 
 put in execution, the edicts that take away our 
 money. 
 
 THE second consideration above hinted at, is this. 
 There is a confusion in our laws that is quite un- 
 known in Great-Britain. As this cannot be de- 
 scribed in a more clear or exact manner, than has 
 been done by the ingenious author of the history of 
 New - Tor k i I beg leave to use his words. " The 
 state of our laws opens a door to much controversy. 
 The uncertainty with respect to them, renders pro- 
 perty precarious, and greatly exposes us to the 
 arbitrary decision of bad judges. The common 
 law of England is generally received, together with 
 such statutes as were enacted before we had a le- 
 gislature of our own ; but our courts exercise a so- 
 vereign authority, in determining what parts of the 
 common and statute law ought to be extended : for 
 it must be admitted, that the difference of circum- 
 stances necessarily requires us, in some cases, to 
 REJECT the determination of both. In many in- 
 stances, they have also extended even acts of par- 
 liament, passed since we had a distinct legislature, 
 
 which is greatly adding to our confusion. The 
 
 practice of our courts is no less uncertain than the 
 
( 233 ) 
 
 law. Some of the English rules are adopted 
 others rejected. Two things therefore seem to be 
 absolutely necessary for the public security. First, 
 the passing an act for settling the extent of the 
 English laws. Secondly, that the courts ordain a 
 general set of rules for the regulation of the prac- 
 tice.' 7 
 
 How easy it will be, under this " state of our 
 laws, 7 ' for an artful judge, to act in the most arbi- 
 trary manner, and yet cover his conduct under spe- 
 cious pretences ; and how difficult it will be for the 
 injured people to obtain relief, may be readily per- 
 ceived. We may take a voyage of 3000 miles to 
 complain ; and after the trouble and hazard we have 
 undergone, we may be told, that the collection of 
 the revenue, and maintenance of the prerogative, 
 must not be discouraged and if the misbehavi- 
 our is so gross as to admit of no justification, it 
 may be said, that it was an error in judgment only, 
 arising from the confusion of our laws, and the zeal 
 of the king's servants to do their duty. 
 
 IF the commissions of judges are during the plea- 
 sure of the crown, yet if their salaries are during 
 the pleasure of the people, there will be some check 
 
 upon their conduct. Few men will consent to 
 
 draw on themselves the hatred and contempt of 
 
 VOL. i, 2 F 
 
those among whom they live, for the empty honour 
 
 of being judges. It is the sordid love of gain, 
 
 that tempts men to turn their backs on virtue, and 
 pay their homage where they ought not. 
 
 As to the third particular, "the support of civil 
 tc government," few words will be sufficient. 
 Every man of the least understanding must know, 
 that the executive power may be exercised in a 
 manner so disagreeable and harrassing to the peo- 
 ple, that it is absolutely requisite, that they should 
 be enabled by the gentlest method which human 
 policy has yet been ingenious enough to invent, 
 that is, by shutting their hands, to " ADMONISH" 
 (as mr. Hume says) certain persons "of their du- 
 ly." 
 
 WHAT shall \ve now think when, upon looking 
 into the late act, w^e find the assemblies of these 
 provinces thereby stript of their authority on these 
 -several heads ? The declared intention of the act 
 is, "that a revenue should be raised in his majes- 
 ty's DOMINIONS in America, for making a 
 more certain and adequate provision for defraying 
 the charge of the administration of justice, and 
 the support of civil government in such provinces 
 where it shall be found necessary, and towards fur- 
 ther defraying the expences of defending, protect- 
 ing and securing the SAID DOMINIONS. 
 
LET the reader pause here one moment and 
 
 reflect whether the colony in which he lives, 
 
 has not made such " certain and adequate provi- 
 sion" for these purposes, as is by the colony judged 
 suitable to its abilities, and all other circumstan- 
 ces. Then let him reflect whether if this act 
 
 takes place, money is not to be raised on that co- 
 lony without its consent, to make " provision" for 
 these purposes, which it does not jndgs to be suit- 
 able to its abilities, and all other circumstances. 
 Lastly, let him reflect whether the people of that 
 country are not in a state-of the most abject slavery, 
 whose property may be taken from them under the 
 notion of right, when they have refused to give it. 
 
 FOR my part, I think I have good reason for vin- 
 dicating the honour of the assemblies on this con- 
 tinent, by publicly asserting, that THEY have made 
 as " certain and adequate provision" for the pur- 
 poses above-mentioned, as they ought to have made, 
 and that it should not be presumed, that they will 
 not do it hereafter. Why then should these most 
 important trusts be wrested out of their hands ? 
 Why should they not now be permitted to enjoy 
 that authority, which they have exercised from the 
 first settlement of these colonies ? Why should 
 they be scandalized by this innovation, when their 
 respective provinces are now, and will be, for se- 
 veral years, labouring under loads of debt, impos- 
 
ed on them for the very purpose now spoken of? 
 Why should all the inhabitants of these colonies 
 be, with the utmost indignity, treated as a herd of 
 despicable stupid wretches, so utterly void of com- 
 mon sense, that they will not even make " ade- 
 quate provision" for the " administration of jus- 
 tice, and the support of civil government" among 
 them, or for their own " defence" though with- 
 out such " provision," every people must inevit- 
 ably be overwhelmed with anarchy and destruction? 
 Is it possible to form an idea of a slavery more 
 complete, more miserable, more disgraceful, than 
 that of a people, where justice is administered, go- 
 vernment exercised, and a standing army main- 
 tained, at the ex pence of the people, and yet with- 
 out the least dependence upon them ? If we can find 
 no relief from this infamous situation, it will be 
 fortunate for us, ifmr. Grcnvillc, setting his fertile 
 fancy again at work, can, as by one exertion of it 
 he has striptus of our property and liberty, by ano- 
 ther deprive us of so much of our wider standing, 
 that, unconscious of what we have been or are, and 
 ungoaded by tormenting reflections, we may bow 
 down our necks, with all the stupid serenity of ser- 
 vitude, to any drudgery, which our lords and mas- 
 ters shall please to command. 
 
 WHEN the charges of the " administration of 
 " justice," the " support of civil government," 
 
and the expences of " defending, protecting and 
 44 securing" us, are provided for, I should be 
 glad to know, upon what occasions the crown will 
 ever call our assemblies together. Some few of 
 them may meet of their own accord, by virtue of 
 their charters. But what will they have to do, when 
 they are met ? To what shadows will they be re- 
 duced ? The men, whose deliberations heretofore 
 had an influence on every matter relating to the 
 liberty and happiness of themselves and their con- 
 stituents, and whose authority in domestic affairs 
 at least, might well be compared to that of Roman 
 senators, will now find their deliberations of no more 
 consequence, that those of constables. They may 
 perhaps be allowed to make laws/or the yoking of 
 hogs, or poundi?ig of stray cattle. Their influence 
 will hardly be permitted to extend so high, as the 
 keeping roads in repair, as that business may more 
 properly be executed by those who receive the 
 public cash. 
 
 ONE most memorable example in history is so 
 applicable to the point now insisted on, that it will 
 form a just conclusion of the observations that 
 have been made. 
 
 SPAIN was once free. Their cortes resembled 
 our parliaments. No money could be raised on the 
 subject, without their consent. One of their kings 
 
C 238 ) 
 
 having received a grant from them to maintain & 
 war against the Moors, desired, that if the sum 
 which they had given, should not be sufficient, he 
 might be allowed, for that emergency only, to raise 
 more money without assembling the cortes. The 
 request was violently opposed by the best and wis- 
 est men in the assembly. It was, however, com- 
 plied with by the votes of a majority ; and this sin- 
 gle concession was a precedent for other concessi- 
 ons of the like kind, until at last the crown obtain- 
 ed a general power of raising money, in cases of 
 necessity: From that period the cortes ceased to 
 be useful, the people ceased to be free. 
 
 Venlenti occurrite morbo. 
 Oppose a disease at its beginning. 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
239 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 J/HE consequences, mentioned in the last let- 
 ter, will not be the utmost limits of our misery and 
 infamy, if the late act is acknowledged to be bind- 
 ing upon us. We feel too sensibly, that any minis- 
 terial measures* relating to these colonies, are 
 soon carried suscessfully through the parliament. 
 Certain prejudices operate there so strongly against 
 us, that it may be justly questioned, whether all 
 the provinces united, will ever be able effectually, 
 to call to an account before the parliament, any mi- 
 nister who shall abuse the power by the late act 
 given to the crown in America. He may divide 
 the spoils torn from us in what manner he plea- 
 ses, and we shall have no way of making him re- 
 sponsible. If he should order, that every governor 
 shall have a yearly salary of 50001. sterling ; every 
 
 * " The gentleman must not wonder he was not contradicted, when, as 
 minister, he asserted the right of parliament to tax America. I know not ho\v 
 it is, but there is a modesty in this house, ivbich does not choose to contradict a minls- 
 itr. I wish gentlemen would get the better of this modesty. If they do not,p<'r- 
 collective body may begin to alatt of its respect for tit represent.i!i"-jt." 
 
 Mr. PITT'S -tperst* ' 
 
chief justice of 30001. every inferior officer in pro- 
 portion ; and should then reward the most profli- 
 gate, ignorant, or needy dependents on himself 
 or his friends, with places of the greatest trust, be- 
 cause they were of the greatest profit, this would 
 be called an arrangement in consequence of the 
 " adequate provision for defraying the charge of 
 the administration of justice, and the support of the 
 civil government :" and if the taxes should prove 
 at any time insufficient to answer all the expences 
 of the numberless offices, which ministers may 
 please to create, surely the members of the house 
 of commons will be so " modest" as not to "con- 
 tradict a minister," who shall tell them it is become 
 necessary to lay a new tax upon the colonies, for 
 the laudable purposes of defraying the charges of 
 the " administration of justice, and support of ci- 
 vil government" among them. Thus, in fact, we 
 shall be taxed-)- by ministers. In short, it will be 
 in their power to settle upon us any civil, ecclesias- 
 tical or military establishment which they choose. 
 
 f " Within this act (statute de tallaglo non concedenJo} are all neiv offices erect- 
 ed with neiv fees, or old offices with ne-iufccs, for that is a tallage put upon the 
 subject, which cannot be dene without common assent by act of parliament. 
 .And this doth notably appear by a petition in parliament in anno 13, Henry IV. 
 where the commons complain, that an office was erected for measurage of 
 cloths and canvas, with a new fee for the same, by colour of the king's letters 
 patent, and pray that these letters patent may be revoked, for that the king- 
 could erect no offices with new fees to be taken of the people, who may not so 
 be charged but by parliament." id In>t. p. 553. 
 
WE may perceive, by the example of Ireland, 
 how eager ministers are to seize upon any settled 
 revenue, and apply it in supporting their own pow- 
 er. Happy are the men, and bappy the people who 
 grow wise by the misfortunes of others. Earnest- 
 ly, my dear countrymen, do I beseech the Author 
 of all good gifts, that you may grow wise in this 
 manner ; and if I may be allowed to take such a 
 liberty, I beg leave to recommend to you in gene- 
 ral, as the best method of attaining this wisdom, 
 diligently to study the histories of other countries. 
 You will there find all the arts, that can possibly be 
 practised by cunning rulers, or false patriots among 
 yourselves, so fully delineated, that, changing 
 names, the account would serve for your own 
 times. 
 
 IT is pretty well known on this continent, that 
 Ireland l&s, with a regular consistency of injustice, 
 been cruelly treated by ministers in the article of 
 pensions ; but there are some alarming circumstan- 
 ces relating to that subject, which I wish to have 
 better known among us. 
 
 |THE revenue of the crown there, arises princi- 
 pally from the excise granted u for pay of the army, 
 
 f An inquiry into the legality of pensions on the Irish eitablishment, by 
 Alexander M'Attly, esq. one of the king's council, fc^V. 
 
 VOL. 1. 2 G 
 
and defraying other PUBLIC charges, in defence 
 and preservation of the kingdom" from the ton- 
 nage and additional poundage granted ^ for protect- 
 " ing the trade of the kingdom at sea, and aug- 
 
 " meriting the PUBLIC revenue" from the 
 
 hearth money granted as a " PUBLIC revenue, 
 
 for PUBLIC charges and expences." There are 
 some other branches of the revenue, concerning 
 which there is not any express appropriation of 
 them for PUBLIC service, but which were plainly 
 so intended. 
 
 Mr. A-PAuly concludes his piece in the following beautiful manner. " If 
 any pensions have been obtained on that establishment, to serve the corrupt pur- 
 poses of ambitious men. If his majesty's revenues of Ireland have been employed 
 in pensions, to debauch his majesty's subjects of both kingdoms. If the treasure of 
 Ireland has been expended in pensions, for corrupting men of that kingdom to betray 
 their country ; and men of the neighbouring kingdom, to betray both. If Irish 
 pensions have been procured, to support gamesters and gaming-houses , promoting 
 
 a vice which threatens national ruin. If pensions have been purloined out 
 
 of the national treasure of Ireland, under the mask of salaries annexed to pub- 
 lic offices, useless to the nation ; newly invented for tht purpuses of 'corruption. If 
 Ireland, just beginning to recover from the devastations of massacre and rebelli- 
 on, be obstructed in the progress of her cure, by sivarms of pensionary vultures, 
 freying on'her vital*. If, by squandering the national substance of Ireland, in a 
 licentious, unbounded profusion of pensions, instead of employing it in nourishing 
 and improving her infant agriculture, trade and manufactures, or in enlightening and 
 reforming her poor, ignorant, deluded, miserable natives (by nature most amiable, 
 most valuable, most worthy of public attention If, by such abuse of the national 
 substance, sloth and nastincss, cold and hunger, nakedness and wretchedness, popery, 
 depopulation and barbarism, still maintain their ground ; still deform a country, 
 abounding ivith all the riches of nature, yet hitherto destined to beggary. If such 
 pensions be found on the Irish establishment ; let such be cut off: and let the 
 periidious advisers be branded withindelible'characters of public infamy ; ade- 
 quate, if possible, to the dishonour of their crime." 
 
OF these branches of the revenue, the crown is 
 only trustee for the public. They are unaliena- 
 ble. They are inapplicable to any other purposes, 
 but those for which they were established ; and 
 therefore are not legally chargeable with pensions. 
 
 THERE is another kind of revenue, which is a 
 private revenue. This is not limited to any pub- 
 lic uses ; but the crown has the same property in it, 
 that any person has in his estate. This does not 
 amount, at the most, to fifteen thousand pounds a 
 year, probably not to seven, and is the only revenue, 
 that can be legally charged with pensions, 
 
 IF ministers were accustomed to regard the 
 rights or happiness of the people, the pensions in 
 Ireland would not exceed the sum just mentioned : 
 but long since have they exceeded that limit ; and 
 in December 1765> a motion was made in the house 
 of commons in that kingdom, to address his ma- 
 jesty on the great increase of pensions on the Irish 
 establishment, amounting to the sum of 158,6851. 
 in the last two years. 
 
 ATTEMPTS have been made to gloss over these 
 gross encroachments, by this specious argument 
 " That expending a competent part of the public 
 " revenue in pensions, from a principle of charity 
 44 or generosity, adds to the dignity of the crown ; 
 
( 244 ) 
 
 " and is therefore useful to the public" To give 
 this argument any weight, it must appear, that the 
 pensions proceed from " charity or generosity 
 only" and that it " adds to the dignity of the 
 crown," to act directly contrary to law. 
 
 FROM this conduct towards Ireland, in open vio- 
 lation of law, we may easily foresee what \ve may 
 expect, when a minister will have the whole reve- 
 nue of America in his own hands, to be disposed of 
 at his own pleasure ; for all the monies raised by 
 the late act are to be " applied by virtue of warrants 
 " under the sign manuel, countersigned by the 
 " high treasurer, or any three of the commisioners 
 u of the treasury." The RESIDUE indeed is to be 
 
 / 
 
 " paid into the receipt of the exchequer, and to be 
 " disposed of by parliament." So that a minister 
 will have nothing to do, but to take care, that there 
 shall be no residue, and he is superior to all coii- 
 trouL 
 
 BESIDES the burden Q pens ions in Ireland, which 
 have enormously increased within these few years, 
 almost all the offices in that poor kingdom, have 
 been, since the commencement of the present cen- 
 tury, and now are bestowed upon strangers. For 
 though the merit of persons born there, justly raises 
 them to places of high trust when they go abroad, 
 as all Europe can witness, yet he is an uncommon- 
 
245 
 
 ly lucky Irishman, who can get a good post in bis 
 NATIVE country. 
 
 WHEN I consider the mannerf in which that 
 island has been uniformly depressed for so many 
 
 J- In Charles the second's time, the house of commons, influenced by some 
 factious demagogues, were resolved to prohibit the importation of Irish cattle 
 into England. Among other arguments in favour of Ireland, it was insisted- 
 " That by cutting off almost entirely the trade between the kingdoms, all tie 
 natural bands of union 'were dissolved, and nothing remained to keep the Irish in 
 their duty, but force and "violence." 
 
 u The king says mr. Hume, in his history of England) was so convinced of 
 the justness of these reasons, that he used all his interest to oppose the bill, and 
 he openly declared, that he could not give his assent to it with a safe consci- 
 ence. Eut the commons were resolute in their purpose." " And the spirit 
 of tyranny, of which nations are as susceptible as individuals, had animated the En- 
 glish extremely to exert their superiority over their dependent state. No affair could 
 be conducted with greater violence than this by the commons. They even 
 went so far in the preamble of the bill, as to declare the importation of Irish 
 cattle to be a nuisance. By this expression, they gave scepe to their fastion, 
 and at the same time barred the king's prerogative, by which he might think him- 
 seif intitled to dispense with a law, so full of injustice and bad policy. The lords 
 expunged the word, but as the king was sensible that no supply would be giv- 
 en by the commons, unless they were gratified in all their prejudices, he was 
 obliged both to employ his interest with the peers, to make the bill pass, and 
 to give the royal assent to it. He could not, however, forbear expressing his 
 displeasure, at the jealousy entertained against him, and at the intention which 
 the commons discovered, of retrenching his prerogative. 
 
 This law brought great distress for some time upon Ireland, but it has occa- 
 sioned their applying with greater industry to manufactures, and has proved in 
 the issue beneficial to that kingdom." 
 
 Perhaps the same reason occasioned the " barring the king's prerogative" in 
 the late act suspending the legislation of Nciv-Tork, 
 
( 246 ) 
 
 years past, with this pernicious particularity of 
 their parliament* continuing as long as the crown 
 pleases, I am astonished to observe such a lo^e of 
 liberty still animating that loyal and generous na- 
 tion, and nothing can raise higher my idea of the 
 integrity and piiblic spirit\ of a people, who have 
 
 This we may be assured of, that ive are as dear to his majetty, as the people 
 of Great-Britain are. We are his subjects as well as they, and as faithful subjects ; 
 and his majesty has given too many, too constant proofs of his piety and virtue, 
 for any man to think it possible, that such a prince can make any unjust dis- 
 tinction between such subjects. It makes no difference to his majesty, whether 
 supplies are raised in Great-Britain, or America ; but it makes some difference 
 to the commons of that kingdom. 
 
 To speak plainly, as becomes an honest man on such important occasions, 
 all our misfortunes are owing to a lust of foiuer in men of abilities and influence. 
 This prompts them to seek popularity by expedients profitable to themselves, 
 though ever so destructive to their country. 
 
 " Such is the accursed nature of lawless ambition, and yet what heart but 
 melts at the thought ! Such false, detestable patriots, in every state, have led 
 their blind, confiding country, shouting their applauses, into the jaws of shame 
 and ruin. May the wisdom and goodness of the people of Great-Britain, save 
 them from the usual fate of nations. 
 
 *' mentem mortalia tangunt" 
 
 * The last Irish parliament continued thirty-three years, during all the late 
 king's reign. The present parliament there has continued from the beginning 
 of this reign, and probably will continue till this reign ends. 
 
 f I am informed, that within these few years, a petition was presented to 
 the house of commons, setting forth " that herrings were imported into Ire- 
 land from some foreign parts of the north so cheap, as to discourage the British 
 herring fishery, and therefore praying that some remedy might be applied in 
 that behalf by parliament." 
 
preserved the sacred fire of freedom from being 
 extinguished, though the altar on which it burnt, 
 has been overturned. 
 
 IN the same manner shall we unquestionably be 
 treated, as soon as the late taxes laid upon us, shall 
 make posts in the " government," and the " admi- 
 u nistration of justice" here worth the attention 
 of persons of influence in Great-Britain. We 
 know enough already to satisfy us of this truth. 
 But this will not be the worst part of our case. 
 
 THE principals, in all great offices, will reside in 
 England, making some paltry allowance to depu- 
 ties for doing the business here. Let any man 
 
 That upon this petition, the house came to a resolution, to impose a duty of 
 two shillings sterling on every barrel of foreign herrings imported into Ireland ; 
 but afterwards dropt the affair, for fear of engaging in a dispute with Ireland about 
 lie ri 
 
 So much higher was the opinion, which the house entertained of the spirit 
 of Ireland, than of that of these colonies. 
 
 I find, in the last English papers, that the resolution and firmness with 
 which the people of Ireland have lately asserted their freedom, have been so 
 alarming in Great-Britain, that the lerd lieutenant, in his speech on the aoth of 
 last Oflober, " recommended to that parliament, that such provision may be 
 made for securing the judges in the enjoyment of their offices and appointments, 
 daring their good behaviour, as shall be thought most expedient." 
 
 What an important concession is thus obtained, by making demands becom- 
 ing freemen, with a courage and perseverance becoming freemen ! 
 
consider what an exhausting drain this must be 
 upon us, when ministers are possessed of the pow- 
 er of creating what posts they please, and of affix- 
 ing to such posts what salaries they please, and he 
 must be convinced how destructive the late act will 
 be. The injured kingdom lately mentioned, can 
 tell us the mischiefs of absentees ; and we may per- 
 ceive already the same disposition taking place 
 with us. The government of New -Tor k has been 
 exercised by a deputy. That of Virginia is now 
 held so ; and we know of a number of secretary- 
 ships, collectorships, and other offices, htld in the 
 same manner. 
 
 TRUE it is, that if the people of Great-Britain 
 were not too much blinded by the passions, that 
 have been artfully excited in their breasts, against 
 their dutiful children, the colonists, these conside- 
 rations would be nearly as alarming to them as to 
 us. The influence of the crown was thought by 
 wise men, many years ago, too great, by reason 
 of the multitude of pensions and places bestowed 
 by it. These have been vastly increased since, f 
 
 f One of the reasons urged by that great and honest statesman, sir William 
 Temple, to Char'es the second, in his famous remonstrance, to dissuade him 
 from aiming at arbitrary power, was, that the king " had few offices to be- 
 stow." HUME'S History cf England. 
 
 " Though the wings of prerogative have been dipt, the influence of the 
 rrown is greater than ever it was in any period of our history. For \vhen we 
 
( 249 ) 
 
 and perhaps it would be no difficult matter to prove 
 that the people have decreased. 
 
 SURELY therefore, those who wish the welfare 
 of their country, ought seriously to reflect, what 
 may be the consequence of such a new creation of 
 offices, in the disposal of the crown. The army, 
 the administration of justice, and the civil govern- 
 ment here, with such salaries as the crown shall 
 please to annex, will extend ministerial influence as 
 much beyond its former bounds, as the late war 
 did the British dominions. 
 
 consider in how many boroughs the government has the votes at command ; 
 when we consider the vast body of persons employed in the collection of the 
 revenue, in every part of the kingdom, the inconceivable number of placemen, 
 and candidates for places in the customs, in the excise, in the post-office, in the 
 dock -yards, in the ordnance, in the salt-office, in the stamps, in the navy and 
 victualling offices, and in a variety of other departments ; when we consider 
 again the extensive influence of the money corporations, subscription jobbers 
 and contractors, the endless dependencies created by the obligations conferred 
 on the bulk of the gentlemen's families throughout the kingdom, who have re- 
 lations preferred in our navy and numerous standing army ; when I say, we 
 consider how wide, how binding a dependence on the crown is created by the 
 above enumerated particulars, and the great, the enormous weight and influ- 
 ence which the crown derives from this extensive dependence upon its favour 
 and power, any lord in waiting, any lord of the bedchamber, any man may be 
 appointed minister." 
 
 A doctrin to this effect is said to have been the advice of L H . 
 
 VOL. i. 2 H 
 
BUT whatever the people of Great-Britain may- 
 think on this occasion, I hope the people of these 
 colonies will unanimously join in this sentiment, 
 that the late act of parliament is injurious to their 
 liberty, and that this sentiment will unite them in 
 a firm opposition to it, in the same manner as the 
 dread of the stamp-act did. 
 
 SOME persons may imagine the sums to be raised 
 by it, are but small, and therefore may be inclined 
 to acquiesce under it. A conduct more dangerous 
 to freedom, as before has been observed, can never 
 be adopted. Nothing is wanted at home, but a 
 precedent,-\ the force of which shall be established, 
 
 by the tacit submission of the colonies. With 
 
 what zeal was the statute erecting the post-office, 
 and another relating to the recovery of debts in 
 America, urged and tortured, as precedents in sup- 
 port of the stamp-act, though wholly inapplicable. 
 If the parliament succeeds in this attempt, other 
 statutes will impose other duties. Instead of tax- 
 
 f " Here may te observed, than when any ancient law or custom of parli- 
 ament is broken, and the crown possessed of a. precedent, how difficult a thing 
 it it to restore the subject again to bis former freedom and safety*" 
 
 id Coke's Inst. page 529. 
 
 " It is not almost credible to foresee , when any maxim or fundamental laiv of 
 this realm is altered (as elsewhere hath been observed what dangerous i 
 tiitncies do follow." $tb Cokes Inst. page 4!. 
 
ing ourselves, as we have been accustomed to do, 
 from the first settlement of these provinces, all our 
 usual taxes will be converted into parliamentary 
 taxes on our importations ; and thus the parlia- 
 ment will levy upon us such sums of money as they 
 choose to take, without any other limitation than 
 their pleasure. 
 
 WE know how much labour and care have been 
 bestowed by these colonies, in laying taxes in such 
 a manner, that they should be most easy to the 
 people, by being laid on the proper articles ; most 
 equal, by being proportioned to every man's cir- 
 cumstances ; and cheapest, by the method directed 
 for collecting them. 
 
 BUT parliamentary taxes will be laid on us, 
 without any consideration, whether there is any 
 easier mode. The oply point regarded will be, the 
 certainty of levying the taxes, and not the conve- 
 nience of the people on whom they are to be levied; 
 and therefore all statutes on this head will be such 
 as will be most likely, according to the favourite 
 phrase, " to execute themselves*" 
 
 TAXES in every free state have been, and ought 
 to be, as exactly proportioned as is possible to the 
 abilities of those who are to pay them. They can- 
 not otherwise be just. Even a bottentot would 
 
comprehend the unreasonableness of making a poor 
 man pay as much for " defending" the property of 
 a rich man, as the rich man pays himself. 
 
 LET any person look into the late act of parlia- 
 ment, and he will immediately perceive, that the 
 immense estates of lord Fairfax, lord Baltimore,* 
 and our proprietaries, which are amongst his ma- 
 jesty's other DOMINIONS to be "defended, pro- 
 " tectecl and secured" by the act, will not pay a 
 single farthing for the duties thereby imposed, ex- 
 cept lord Fairfax wants some of his windows gla- 
 zed ; lord Baltimore and our proprietaries are 
 quite secure, as they live in England. 
 
 I MENTION these particular cases, as striking 
 instances how far the late act is a deviation from 
 that principle of justice,' which has so constantly 
 distinguished our own laws on this continent, and 
 ought to be regarded in all laws. 
 
 THE third consideration with our continental 
 assemblies in laying taxes, has been the method 
 of collecting them. This has been done by a few 
 
 * Maryland and Pennsylvania have been engaged in the warmest disputes, 
 in order to obtain an equal and just taxation of their proprietors estates : but 
 this late act of parliament does more for those proprietors, than they them- 
 selves would venture to demand^ It totally exempts them from taxation 
 
 though their vast estates are to be " secured" by the taxes of other people. 
 
( 253 
 
 officers, with moderate allowances, under the in- 
 spection of the respective assemblies. No more 
 was raised from the subject, than was used for the 
 intended purposes. But by the late act, a minis- 
 ter may appoint as many officers as be pleases for 
 collecting 1 the taxes ; may assign them *wbat sal a- 
 ries be thinks " adequate;" and they are subject 
 to no inspection but his own. 
 
 IN short, if the late act of parliament takes effect, 
 these colonies must dwindle down into " common 
 corporations," as their enemies, in the debates con- 
 cerning the repeal of the stamp act, strenously in- 
 sisted they were ; and it seems not improbable that 
 some future historian may thus record our fall. 
 
 " THE eighth year of this reign was distinguish- 
 ed by a very memorable event, the American colo- 
 nies then submitting, for the FIRST time, to be 
 taxed by the British parliament. An attempt of 
 this kind had been made about two years before, 
 but was defeated by the vigorous exertions of the 
 several provinces, in defence of their liberties. 
 Their behaviour on that pccasion rendered their 
 name very celebrated for a short time all over Eu- 
 rope ; all states being extremely attentive to a dis- 
 pute between Great-Britain, and so considerable a 
 part of her dominions. For as she was thought to 
 be grown too powerful, by the successful conclusion 
 
of the late war she had been engaged in, it was 
 hoped, by many, that as it had happened before to 
 other kingdoms, civil discords would afford oppor- 
 tunities of revenging all the injuries supposed to be 
 received from her. However, the cause of dissen- 
 tion was removed, by a repeal of the statute that 
 
 had given offence. This affair rendered the 
 
 submissive conduct of the colonies so soon after, the 
 more extraordinary ; there being no difference be- 
 tween the mode of taxation which they opposed, 
 and that to which they submitted, but this, that by 
 the first, they were to be continually reminded that 
 they 'were taxed by certain marks stamped on every 
 piece of paper or parchment they used. The au- 
 thors of that statute triumphed greatly on this con- 
 duct of the colonies, and insisted, that if the peo- 
 ple of Great-Britain had persisted in inforcing it, 
 the Americans would have been, in a few months,, 
 so fatigued with the efforts of patriotism, that they 
 would have yielded obedience. 
 
 " CERTAIN it is, that though they had before 
 ct their eyes so many illustrious examples in their 
 " mother country, of the constant suscess attending 
 tc firmness and perseverance, in opposition to dan- 
 " gerous encroachments on liberty, yet they quiet- 
 " ly gave up a point of the " last importance.' 1 '" 
 From thence the decline of their freedom began^ 
 
( 255 ) 
 
 and its decay was extremely rapid ; for as money 
 was always raised upon them by the parliament, 
 their assemblies grew immediately useless, and in 
 a short time contemptible: and in less than one 
 hundred years, the people sunk down into that 
 lameness and supineness of spirit, by which they 
 still continue to be distinguished." 
 
 Et majores vestros & posteros cogitate. 
 Think of your ancestors and your posterity. 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
LETTER XL 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 1 HAVE several times, in the course of these let- 
 ters, mentioned the late act of parliament, as being 
 \h^ foundation of future measures injurious to these 
 colonies ; and the belief of this truth I wish to pre- 
 vail, because I think it necessary to our safety. 
 
 A PERPETUAL jealousy, respecting liberty, is 
 absolutely, requisite in all free states. The very 
 texture of their constitution, in mixt governments, 
 demands it. For the cautions with which power is 
 distributed among the several orders, imply that 
 each has that share which is proper for the general 
 welfare, and therefore that any further acquisition 
 must be pernicious. Machiavel* employs a whole 
 chapter in his discourses, to prove that a state, to 
 be long lived, must be frequently corrected, and 
 reduced to its first principles. But of all states 
 that have existed, there never was any, in which 
 this jealousy could be more proper than in these 
 colonies. For the government here is not only 
 772 ix t, but dependent, which circumstance occa- 
 
 s discourses book 3 cbap* I- 
 
( 257 ) 
 
 sions a peculiarity in its form, of a very delicate 
 nature. 
 
 Two reasons induce me to desire, that this spi- 
 rit of apprehension may be always kept up among 
 
 us, in its utmost vigilance. The first is this 
 
 that as the happiness of these provinces indubita- 
 bly consists in their connection with Great- Britain, 
 any separation between them is less likely to be 
 occasioned by civil discords, if every disgusting 
 measure is opposed singly, and while it is new : 
 for in this manner of proceeding, every such mea- 
 sure is most likely to be rectified. On the 
 
 other hand, oppressions and dissatisfactions being 
 
 permitted to accumulate if ever the governed 
 
 throw off the load, they will do more. A people 
 does not reform with moderation. The rights of 
 the subject therefore cannot be too often consider- 
 ed, explained or asserted : and whoever attempts 
 to do this, shews himself, whatever may be the 
 rash and peevish reflections of pretended wisdom, 
 and pretended duty, a friend to those who injudi- 
 ciously exercise their power, as well as to them, 
 over whom it is so exercised. 
 
 HAD all the points of prerogative claimed by 
 Charles the first, been separately contested and set- 
 tled in preceding reigns, his fate would in all pro- 
 
 VOL. i. 21 
 
bability have been very different ; and the people 
 would have been content with that liberty which is 
 compatible with regal authority. Butf he thought, 
 it would be as dangerous for him to give up the 
 powers which at any time had been by usurpation 
 exercised by the crown, as those that were legally 
 vested in it. This produced an equal excess on 
 the part of the people. For when their passions 
 were excited by multiplied grievances, they thought 
 it would be as dangerous for them to allow the 
 powers that were legally vested in the crown, as 
 those which at any time had been by usurpation 
 exercised by it. Acts, that might by themselves 
 have been upon many considerations excused or 
 extenuated, derived a contagious malignancy and 
 odium from other acts, with which they were con- 
 nected. They were not regarded according to the 
 simple force of each, but as parts of a system of 
 oppression. Every one therefore, however small 
 in itself, became alarming, as an additional evidence 
 of tyrannical designs. It was in vain for prudent 
 and moderate men to insist, that there was no nc- 
 
 f The author is sensible that this is putting the gentlest construction on 
 Charleys conduct ; and that is one reason why he chooses it. Allowances 
 ought to be made for the errors of those men, who are acknowledged to have 
 been possessed of many virtues. The education of this unhappy prince, and 
 his confidence in men not so good or wise as himself, had probably filled him 
 with mistaken notions of his own authority, and of the consequences that would 
 attend concessions of any kind to a people, who were represented to him, us 
 aiming at too much power. 
 
259 
 
 cessity to abolish royalty. Nothing less than the 
 utter destruction of monarchy, could satisfy those 
 who had suffered, and thought they had reason to 
 believe, they always should suifer under it, 
 
 THE consequences of these mutual distrusts are 
 well known: but there is no other people mention- 
 ed in history, that I recollect, who have been so 
 constancy watchful of their liberty, and so successful 
 in their struggles for it, as the English. This con- 
 sideration leads me to the second reason, why I 
 14 desire that the spirit of apprehension may be 
 44 always kept up among us in its utmost vigi- 
 44 lance." 
 
 THE first principles of government are to be 
 
 looked for in human nature. Some of the best 
 
 writers have asserted, and it seems with good rea- 
 son, that 44 government is founded on % opinion ." 
 
 * Opinion is of too kinds, Wn. opinion of INTEREST, and opinion of RIGHT. 
 By opinion of interest, I chiefly understand, tie sense of the public advantage ii'Licb 
 is reaped from government ; together with the persuasion, that the particular go- 
 vernment which is established, is equally advantageous with any other, thai cou/J 
 be easily settled. 
 
 " Right is of two kinds, right to power, and riabt to property. What preva- 
 lence opinion of the first kind has over mankind, may easily be understood, by 
 observing the attachment which all nations have to their ancient government, 
 and even to those names which have had the sanction of antiquity. Antiquity 
 always begets the opinion of right." " It is sufficiently understood, that the ->/>;/;/- 
 tn of rlglt to property, is of the greatest moment in all matters of govern- 
 ment" KUME'S Etws. 
 
CUSTOM undoubtedly has a mighty force in pro- 
 ducing opinion, and reigns in nothing more arbi- 
 trarily than in public affairs. It gradually recon- 
 ciles us to objects even of dread and detestation ; 
 and I cannot but think these lines of mr. Pope, as 
 applicable to vice in p-olitics, as to vice in ethics. 
 
 " Vice is a monster of so horrid mien, 
 " As to be hated, needs but to be seen ; 
 " Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, 
 " We first endure, then /?z(y, then embrace." 
 
 When an act injurious to freedom has been once 
 done, and the people bear it, the repetition of it is 
 most likely to meet with submission. For as the 
 mischief Q$ the one was found to be tolerable, they 
 will hope that of the second will prove so too ; and 
 they will not regard the infamy of the last, because 
 they are stained with that of the first. 
 
 INDEED nations, in general, are not apt to think 
 until they feet ; and therefore nations in general 
 have lost their liberty : for as violations of the 
 rights of the governed, are commonly not only J spe- 
 cious, but small at the beginning, they spread over 
 the multitude in such a manner, as to touch indivi- 
 
 Omnia maJa exempla ex Lords initiis orta bunt. 
 
 SALI.LST, Bell, Cat. S. 50, 
 
duals but slightly, f Thus they are disregarded- 
 The power or profit that arises from these violati- 
 ons centering in few persons, is to them consider- 
 able. For this reason the governors having in view 
 their particular purposes, successively preserve 
 an uniformity of conduct for attaining them. They 
 regularly increase the first injuries, till at length 
 the inattentive people are compelled to perceive the 
 
 heaviness of their burthens. They begin to 
 
 complain and inquire but too late. They find 
 
 their oppressors so strengthened by success, and 
 themselves so entangled in examples of express 
 authority on the part of their rulers, and of tacit 
 recognition on their own part, that they are quite 
 confounded : for millions entertain no other idea 
 of the legality of power, than that it is founded on 
 the exercise of power. They voluntarily fasten 
 their chains, by adopting a pusillanimous opinion. 
 
 f " The republic is always attached with greater vigour, than it is defended: 
 for the audacious and profligate, prompted by their natural enmity to it, are ea- 
 sily impelled to act by the least nod of their leaders : whereas the HONEST, I know 
 not why, are generally slow and unwitting to stir ; and neglecting always the 
 BE.GINNINGS of 'things , are never roused to exert themselves, but by the last 
 necessity: so that through IRRESOLUTION and DELAY, when they would be 
 glad to compound at last for their QJDIET, at the expence even of their HO- 
 NOUR, they commonly lose ibem BOTH." CICERO'S Orat. for SEXTIUS. 
 
 Such were the sentiments of this great and excellent man, whose vase abi- 
 liries, and the calamities of his country during his time, enabled him, by mourn- 
 ful experience, to form a jus>t judgment on the conduct of the friends and ene- 
 tnics of liberty. 
 
( 252 ) 
 
 " that there will be too much danger in attempting 
 
 " a remedy," or another opinion no less fatal, 
 
 " that the government has a right to treat 
 
 " them as it does." They then seek a wretched 
 relief for their minds, by persuading themselves, 
 that to yield their obedience, is to discharge their 
 duty. The deplorable poverty of spirit, that pros- 
 trates all the dignity bestowed by Divine Provi- 
 dence on our nature of course succeeds. 
 
 FROM these reflections I conclude, that every free 
 state should incessantly watch, and instantly take 
 alarm on any addition being made to the power 
 exercised over them. Innumerable instances might 
 be produced to shew, from what slight beginnings 
 the most extensive consequences have flowed : but 
 I shall select two only from the history of England. 
 
 HENRY the seventh was tlie first monarch of that 
 kingdom, who established a standing body of arm- 
 ed men. This was a band of fifty archers, called 
 yeomen of the guard : and this institution, not- 
 withstanding the smallness of the number, was, to 
 prevent discontent, J " disguised under pretence of 
 " majesty and grandeur." In 1684 the standing 
 forces were so much augmented, that Rapln says 
 " The king, in order to make his people fully 
 tl sensible of their new slavery, affected to muster 
 
 \ RjpMs History of Er>!ur,J. 
 
*' his troops, which amounted to 4000 well armed 
 
 " and disciplined men." 1 think our army, at 
 
 this time, consists of more than seventy regiments. 
 
 THE method of taxing by EXCISE was first in- 
 troduced amidst the convulsions of the civil wars. 
 Extreme necessity was pretended for it, and its 
 short continuance promised. After the restoration, 
 an excise upon beer, ale and other liquors, was 
 granted to the f king, one half in fee, the other for 
 life, as an equivalent for the court of wards. Upon 
 James the second's accession, the parliament J gave 
 him the first excise^ with an additional duty on 
 'wine, tobacco, and some other things. Since the 
 revolution, it has been extended to salt, candles, 
 leather, hides, hops, soap, paper, pasteboards, mill- 
 boards, scaleboards, vellum, parchment, starch, 
 silks, calicoes, linens, stuffs, printed, stained, %?c. 
 wire, wrought plate, coffee, tea, chocolate, fcfc. 
 
 THUS a standing army and excise have, from 
 their first slender origins, though always hated, al- 
 ways feared, always opposed, at length swelled up 
 to their vast present bulk. 
 
 THESE facts are sufficient to support what I have 
 said. 'Tis true, that all the mischiefs apprehended 
 
 f 12 Cbar. II. chap. 23 and 24. 
 \ I James II. chap. I and 4. 
 
by our ancestors, from a standing army and excise, 
 have not yet happened: but it does not follow from 
 thence, that they will not happen. The inside of 
 a house may catch fire, and the most valuable apart- 
 ments be ruined, before the flames burst out. 
 
 The question in these cases is not, what evil has 
 
 actually attended particular measures but what 
 
 evil, in the nature of things, is likely to attend 
 them. Certain circumstances may for some time 
 delay effects, that were reasonably expected, and 
 that must ensue. There was a long period, after 
 the Romans had prorogued his command to \ ^. 
 Publilius Pbilo, before that example destroyed 
 their liberty. All our kings, from the revolution 
 to the present reign, have been foreigners. Their 
 ministers generally continued but a short time in 
 authority ; J and they themselves were mild and 
 virtuous princes. 
 
 f In the year of the city 428, " Duo singularia hsec ei vlro primum con- 
 tigere ; prorogatio imperil non ante in ullo facta, et acto honore triumphus." 
 
 Liv. n. 8. chap. 23. 26. 
 
 " Had the rest of the Roman citizens imitated the example of L. Quttttius, 
 who refused to have his consulship continued to him, they had never admitted 
 that custom of proroguing of magistrates, and then the prolongation of their 
 commands in the army had never been introduced, "which very thing was at 
 length the ruin of that commonwealth." 
 
 MACHIAVEL'S Discourses, B. 3. clap. 24. 
 
 \ I don't know hut it may be s^iid, with a good deal of reason, that a quick 
 rotation of ministers is very desirable in Great-Britain. A minister there bns 
 
A BOLD, ambitions prince, possessed of great 
 abilities, firmly fixed in his throne by descent, 
 served by ministers like himself, and rendered ei- 
 ther venerable or terrible, by the glory of bis suc- 
 cesses, may execute what his predecessors did not 
 dare to attempt. Henry the fourth tottered in his 
 seat during his whole reign. Henry the fifth drew 
 the strength of that kingdom into France, to carry 
 on his wars there, and left the commons at home, 
 protesting, " that the people were not bound to 
 serve out of the realm." 
 
 IT is true, that a strong spirit of liberty subsists 
 at present in Great-Britain; but what reliance is 
 to be placed in the temper of a people, when the 
 prince is possessed of an unconstitutional power, 
 our own history can sufficiently inform us. When 
 'Charles the second had strengthened himself by the 
 return of the garrison of Tangier, England (says 
 RapinJ saw on a sudden an amazing revolution; 
 saw herself stripped of all her rights and privi- 
 leges, excepting such as the king should vouchsafe 
 to grant her : and what is more astonishing, the 
 English, themselves, delivered up these very rights 
 and privileges to Charles the second, which they 
 
 a vast store of materials to work with. Long at/ministrations are rather favour- 
 able to the refutation of a people abroad, than to their libtrty, 
 
 VOL. i. 2 K 
 
had so passionately, and, if I may say it, furiously 
 defended against the designs of Charles the first." 
 This happened only thirty-six years after this last 
 prince had been beheaded. 
 
 SOME persons are of opinion, that liberty is not 
 violated, but by such open acts of force ; but they 
 seem to be greatly mistaken. I could mention a 
 period within these forty years, when almost as 
 great a change of disposition was produced by the 
 secret measures of a LONG administration, as by 
 Charleses violence. Liberty, perhaps, is never ex- 
 posed to so much danger, as when the people be- 
 lieve there is the least ; for it may be subverted, and 
 yet they not think so* 
 
 PUBLIC disgusting acts are seldom practised by 
 the ambitious, at the beginning of their designs. 
 Such conduct silences and discourages the weak, 
 and the wicked, who would otherwise have been 
 their advocates or accomplices. It is of great con- 
 sequence^ to allow those who, upon any account, 
 are inclined to favour them, something specious to 
 say in their defence. Their power may be fully 
 established, though it would not be safe for them 
 to do whatever they please. For there are things, 
 which, at some times, even slaves will not bear. 
 Juli us . Caesar , and Oliver Cromwell, did not dare 
 to assume the title of King. The Grand Seignor 
 
dares not lay a new tax. The king of France 
 dares not be a protestant. Certain popular points 
 may be left untouched, and yet freedom be extin- 
 guished. The commonalty of Venice imagine 
 themselves free, because they are permitted to do 
 what they ought not. But I quit a subject that 
 would lead me too far from my purpose. 
 
 BY the late act of parliament, taxes are to be 
 levied upon us, for " defraying the charge of the 
 
 44 administration of justice the support of civil 
 
 *' government and the expences of defending 
 
 64 his majesty's dominions in America." 
 
 IF any man doubts what ought to be the conduct 
 of these colonies on this occasion, I would ask him 
 -these questions. 
 
 HAS not the parliament expressly, avowed ikeir 
 intention of raising money from us/<?r certain pur- 
 poses? Is not this scheme popular in Great- Britain? 
 Will the taxes, imposed by the late act, answer 
 those purposes ? If it will, must it not take an im- 
 mense sum from us ? If it will not, is it to be ex- 
 pected, that the parliament will not fully execute 
 their intention when it is pleasing at borne, and not 
 opposed here ? Must not this be done by imposing 
 new taxes ? Will not every addition, thus made to 
 our taxes, be an addition to the power of the British 
 
legislature, by increasing the number of officers em- 
 ployed in the collection ? Will not every additional 
 tax therefore render it more difficult to abrogate 
 any of them ? When a branch of revenue is once 
 established, does it not appear to many people invi- 
 dious and undutiful, to attempt to abolish it ? If 
 taxes, sufficient to accomplish the intention of the 
 parliament, are imposed by the parliament, what 
 taxes will remain to be imposed by our assem- 
 blies ? If no material taxes remain to be imposed 
 by them, what must become of them, and the peo- 
 ple they represent ? 
 
 f " If any person considers these things, and 
 " yet thinks our liberties are in no clanger, I won- 
 u der at that person's security '* 
 
 ONE other argument, is to be added, which, by 
 itself, I hope, will be sufficient to convince the 
 most incredulous man on this continent, that the 
 late act of parliament is only designed to be a pre- 
 cedent, whereon the future vassalage of these colo- 
 nies may be established. 
 
 EVERY duty thereby laid on articles of British 
 manufacture, is laid on some commodity, upon the 
 exportation of which from Great- Britain, a draw- 
 back is payable. Those drawbacks, in most of the 
 articles, are exactly double to the duties given by 
 
 j- Bcmosthenes's ad Philippic. 
 
( 269 ) 
 
 the late act. The parliament therefore might, in 
 half a dozen lines, have raised much more money, 
 only by stopping the drawbacks in the hands of the 
 officers at home, on exportation to these colonies, 
 than by this solemn imposition of taxes upon us, 
 to be collected here. Probably, the artful contri- 
 vers of this act formed it in this manner, in order 
 to reserve to themselves, in case of any objections 
 being made to it, this specious pretence t(> that 
 41 the drawbacks are gifts to the colonies, and that 
 u the late act only lessens those gifts." But the 
 truth is, that the drawbacks are intended for the 
 incouragement and promotion of British manufac- 
 tures and commerce, and are allowed on exportati- 
 on to any foreign parts, as well as on exportation 
 ,to these provinces. Besides, care has been taken 
 to slide into the act, some articles on which there 
 are no drawbacks. However, the whole duties laid 
 by the late act on all the articles therein specified 
 are so small, that they will not amount to as much 
 as the drawbacks which are allowed on part of 
 them only. If therefore, the sum to be obtained by 
 the late act, had been the sole object in forming it, 
 there would not have been any occasion for " the 
 commons of Great-Britain, to give and grant to 
 his majesty rates and duties for raising a revenue 
 IN bis majesty' f s dominions in America, for making 
 a more certain and adequate provision for defraying 
 the charges of the administration of justice, the 
 
support of civil government, and the expence of 
 defending the said dominions;" nor would there 
 have been any occasion for an f expensive board of 
 commissioners, and all the other new charges to. 
 which we are made liable. 
 
 UPON the whole, for my part, I regard the late 
 act as an experiment made of our ^disposition. It 
 is a bird sent out over the waters, to discover, whe- 
 ther the waves, that lately agitated this part of the 
 
 world with such violence, are yet subsided. If 
 
 this adventurer gets footing here, we shall quickly 
 find it to be of the t kind described by the poet. 
 
 " Infclix vates" 
 
 A direful foreteller of future calamities, A FARMER. 
 
 f The expence of this board, I am informed, is between four and five thou-. 
 sand pounds sterling a year. The establishment of officers, for collecting the 
 revenue in America, amounted before to seven thousand six hundred poundj 
 per annum ; and yet, says the author of " the regulation of the colonies," " the 
 whole remittence from all the taxes in the colonies, at an average of thirty 
 years, has not amounted to one thousand nine hundred pounds a year, and in 
 that sum seven or eight hundred pounds per annum only, have been remittee^, 
 from North- America. 
 
 The smallness of the revenue arising from the duties in America, demon- 
 strates that they were intended only as regulations of trade : and can any person 
 be so blind to truth, so dull of apprehension in a matter of unspeakable impori- 
 ance to his country, as to imagine, that the board of commissioners lately 
 established at such a charge, is instituted to assist in collecting one thousand 
 nine hundred pounds a year, or the trifling duties imposed by the late act ? 
 Surely every man on this continent must perceive, that they are established for 
 the care of a neiv system of revenue, which is but now begun. 
 
 \ Dira catene," &c. Virgil, Mndd 3. 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 MY DEAR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 SOME states have lost their liberty, by parti- 
 cular accidents : but this calamity is generally ow- 
 ing to the decay of virtue. A people is travelling 
 fast to destruction, when individuals consider their 
 interests as distinct from those of the public. Such 
 notions are fatal to their country, and to themselves. 
 Yet how many are there, so 'weak and sordid as to 
 think they perform all the offices of life, if they 
 earnestly endeavour to increase their own toeaitb, 
 pQiver, and credit, without the least regard for the 
 society, under the protection of which they live ; 
 who if they can make an immediate profit to them- 
 sefocs, by lending their assistance to those, whose 
 projects plainly tend to the injury of their country, 
 rejoice in their dexterity, and believe themselves 
 intitled to the character of able politicians. Mise- 
 rable men ! Of whom it is hard to say, whether 
 they ought to be most the objects of pity or con- 
 tempt. But whose opinions are certainly as detest- 
 able, as their practices are destructive. 
 
 ^^IB 
 
 THOUGH I always reflect, with a high pleasure, 
 on the integrity and understanding of my country- 
 
( 272 ) 
 
 men, which, joined with a pure and humble devo- 
 tion to the great and gracious Author of every bless- 
 ing they enjoy, will, I hope, insure to them, and 
 their posterity, all temporal and eternal happiness ; 
 yet when I consider, that in every age and country 
 there have been bad men, my heart, at this threat- 
 ening period, is so full of apprehension, as not to 
 permit me to believe, but that there may be some 
 on this continent, against whom you ought to be 
 
 upon your guard men, who eitherf hold, or 
 
 expect to hold certain advantages, by setting exam- 
 
 f Tr is not intended, by thesr words, to throw any reflection upon gentle- 
 men because they are possessed of offices : for many of them are certainly men 
 of virtue, and lovers of their country. But supposed obligations of gratitude* 
 and honour, may induce them to be silent. Whether these obligations ought to 
 ie regarded or not, is not so much to be considered by otheis, in the judgment 
 they form of these gentlemen, as whether they think they ought to be regarded. 
 Perhaps, therefore, we shall act in the properest manner towards them, if we 
 neither reproach nor imitate them. The persons meant in this letter, are the 
 tase spirited wretches , who may endeavour to distinguish themselves, by their sordid 
 xeal in defending and promoting measures, which they Inoiv, beyond all question, 
 to be destructive to the just rights and true interests of their country. It is scarce- 
 ly possible to speak of these men with any degree &[ patience it is scarcely possi- 
 ble to speak of them with any degree of propriety -for no words can truly 
 describe their guilt and meanness but every honest bosom, on their being men- 
 tioned, \\i\\feel what cannot be expressed. 
 
 If their wickedness did not blind them, they might perceive along the coast 
 of these colonies, many men, remarkable instances of wrecked ambition, who, 
 distinguishing themselves in the support of the stamp-act y by a courageous 
 mpt of their country, and of justice, have been left to linger out their 
 "able existence, vathout a government, col lectorship, secretaryship, or any 
 $5|iT commission, to console them as ivell as it could, for loss of virtue and re- 
 ^Btion while numberless offices have been bestowed in these colonies on 
 
( 273 ) 
 
 pies, of servility to their countrymen men, who 
 trained to the employment, or self taught by a na- 
 tural versatility of genius, serve as decoys for draw- 
 ing the innocent aftd unwary into snares. It is not 
 to be doubted, Jaut that such men will diligently 
 bestir themselves on this and every like occasion, 
 to spread the infection of their meanness as far as 
 they can. On the plans they have adopted, this 
 is their course. This is the method to recom- 
 mend themselves to their patrons. 
 
 people from Great-Britain, and new ones are continually invented, to foe thus 
 bestowed. As a fciv great prizes are put into a lottery to tempt multitudes to 
 
 lose, so here -a^di there an American has been raised to a good post. 
 
 " Apparent rari nantes in giirgite vasto." 
 
 Mr. Grcnvillt'j indeed, in order to recommend the stamp-act, had the unequalled 
 generosity, to pour down a golden shower of offices upon Americans ; and yet 
 these ungrateful colonies did not thank mr. Grewoille for shewing his kindness to 
 their countrymen, nor them for accepting it. How must that great statesman 
 have been surprised, to find, that the unpolished colonies could not be recon- 
 ciled to infamy by treachery? Such a bountiful disposition towards us, never ap- 
 peared in any minister before him, and probably never will appear again : for 
 it is evident, that such a system of policy is to be established on this continent, 
 as, in a short time, is to render it utterly unnecessary to use the least art in 
 order to conciliate, our approbation of any measures. Some of our countrymen 
 may be employed to fix chains upon us, but they will never be permitted to 
 /joIJthcm afterwards. So that the utmost, that any of them can expect, is 
 only a temporary provision, that may expire in their own time ; but which, they 
 may be assured, will preclude their children from having any consideration paid 
 to them. Natives of America must sink into total neglect and contempt, the mo- 
 ment that their country loses the constitutional powers she now possesses. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 L 
 
FROM them \ve shall learn, how pleasant and 
 profitable a thing; it is, to be for our SUBMISSIVE 
 behaviour IDC!! spoken of at St. James's, or St. 
 Stephen^ ; at Guildhall, or the Royal Exchange. 
 Specious fallacies will be drest up with all the arts 
 of delusion, to persuade one colony to distinguish 
 herself from another, by unbecoming condescensi- 
 ons, which will serve the ambitious purposes of 
 great men at home, and therefore will be thought 
 by them to intitle their assistants in obtaining them 
 to considerable rewards. 
 
 OUR fears will be excited. Our hopes will be 
 
 awakened. It will be insinuated to us, with a 
 
 plausible affectation of "wisdom and concern, how 
 prudent it is to please the powerful how danger- 
 ous to provoke them and then comes in the per- 
 petual incantation that freezes up every generous 
 purpose of the soul in cold, inactive expectation 
 " that if there is any request to be made, compli- 
 ance will obtain a favourable attention." 
 
 OUR vigilance and our union, are success and 
 safety. Our negligence and our division^ are dis- 
 tress and death. They are worse they are 
 
 shame and slavery. Let us equally shun the be- 
 numbing stillness of overweening sloth, and the 
 feverish activity of that ill informed zeal, which 
 busies itself in maintaining little, mean and narrow 
 
275 
 
 opinions. Let us, with a truly wise generosity 
 and charity, banish and discourage all illiberal 
 distinctions, which may arise from differences in 
 situation, forms of government, or modes of reli- 
 gion. Let us consider ourselves as men freemen 
 Christian freemen separated from the rest of 
 the world, and firmly bound together by the same 
 rights, interests, and dangers. Let these keep our 
 attention inflexibly fixed on the great objects, which 
 we must contiually regard, in order to preserve 
 those rights, to promote those interests, and to 
 avert those dangers. 
 
 LET these truths be indelibly impressed on our 
 minds that we cannot be HAPPY, without being 
 FREE that we cannot be free, without being secure 
 in our property that we cannot be secure in our 
 property, if without our consent, others may, as by 
 right,, take it away that taxes imposed on Jis by 
 parliament, do thus take it away that duties laid 
 for the sole purpose of raising money, are taxes 
 that attempts to lay such duties should be instantly 
 and firmly opposed that this opposition can never 
 be effectual, unless it is the united effort of these 
 provinces that therefore BENEVOLENCE of tem- 
 per towards each other,, and UNANIMITY of coun- 
 sels, are essential to the welfare of the whole 
 
 and lastly, that for this reason, every man amongst 
 us, who in any manner would incourage either 
 
dissention, diffidence, or indifference, between these 
 colonies, is an enemy to himself, and to bis coun- 
 try. 
 
 THE belief of these truths, I verily think, my 
 countrymen, is indispensibly necessary to your 
 
 happiness. 1 beseech you, therefore, f " teach 
 
 them diligently unto your children, and talk of 
 them when you sit in your houses, and when you 
 walk by the way, and when you lie down, and 
 when you rise up.'* 
 
 WHAT have these colonies to ask, while they 
 continue free ? Or what have they to dread, but 
 insidious attempts to subvert their freedom ? Their 
 prosperity does not depend on ministerial favours 
 doled out to particular provinces. They form one 
 political body, of which each colony is a member. 
 Their happiness is founded on their constitution, 
 and is to be promoted, by preserving that constitu- 
 tion in unabated vigour, throughout e^ery part. 
 A spot, a speck of decay, however small the limb 
 on which it appears, and however remote it may 
 
 seem from the vitals, should be alarming. We 
 
 have all the rights requisite for our prosperity. 
 The legal authority of Great-Britain may indeed 
 lay hard restrictions upon us ; but, like the spear 
 of Telepbus, it will care as well as wound. Her 
 
 f Deuteron. vi. 7. 
 
( 277 ) 
 
 unkindness will instruct and compel us, after some 
 time, to discover, in our Industry and frugality, 
 surprising remedies if our rights continue unviola- 
 
 tcd : for as long as the products of our labour, 
 
 and the rewards of our care, can properly be called 
 our own, so long it will be worth our while to be 
 industrious and frugal. But if when we plow 
 sow reap gather and thresh we find, that we 
 plow sow reap gather and thresh /<?r others, 
 whose PLEASURE is to be the SOLE LIMIT- 
 ATION bow much they shall take, and how much 
 they shall leave, WHY should we repeat the unpro- 
 fitable toil ? Horses and oxen are content with 
 
 that portion of the fruits of their work, which 
 their owners assign them, in order to keep them 
 strong enough to raise successive crops ; but even 
 these beasts will not submit to draw for their mas- 
 ters, until they are subdued by whips and goads. 
 
 LET us take care of our rights, and we therein 
 take care of our prosperity.* " SLAVERY IS 
 " EVER PRECEDED BY SLEEP." Indivi- 
 duals may be dependent on ministers, if they please* 
 States should scorn it ; and if you are not want- 
 ing to yoursehes, you will have a proper regard 
 paid you by those, to whom if you are not respect- 
 
 able, you will be contemptible. But if we have 
 
 already forgotten the reasons that urged us, with un- 
 exampled unanimity, to exert ourselves two years 
 
 * -Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, book 14, chap. 13. 
 
( 278 ) 
 
 ago if our zeal for the public good is worn out 
 
 before the homespun clothes, which it caused us to 
 
 have made if our resolutions arc so faint, as by 
 
 our present conduct to condemn our own late suc- 
 cessful example if we are not affected by any 
 
 reverence for the memory of our ancestors, who 
 transmitted to us that freedom in which they had 
 
 been blest if ive are not animated by any regard 
 
 for posterity, to whom, by the most sacred obliga- 
 tions, we are bound to deliver down the invalu- 
 able inheritance THEN, indeed, any minister 
 
 or any tool of a minister or any creature of a 
 
 tool of a minister or any lower -\ instrument of\ 
 
 administration, if lower there be, is a personage 
 whom it may be dangerous to oflend. 
 
 f " Instrumenta rcgni," Tacitus' s Ann. look 12, sect. 66. 
 
 \ If any person shall imagine that he discovers, in these letters, the least 
 dislike of the dependence of these colonies on Great-Britain, I beg that such 
 person will not form any judgment on particular expressions, but will consider 
 the tenor of all tJ:e Idlers taken together. In that case, I flatter myself, that every 
 unprejudiced reader will be convinced, that the true interests of Great-Britain 
 are as dear to me, as they ought to be to every good subject. 
 
 If I am an enthusiast in any thing, it is in my zeal for the perpetual de- 
 pendence of these colonies on their mother country. A dependence founded en 
 mutual benefits, the continuance of which can be secured only by mutual affccti- 
 ens. Therefore it is, that with extreme apprehension I view the smallest seeds 
 of discontent, which are unwarily scattered abroad. /V/ty or sixty years will 
 make astonishing alterations in these colonies ; and this consideration should 
 render it the business of Great-Britain more and more to cultivate our good 
 dispositions towards her : but the misfortune is, that those great mm, who are 
 
279 ) 
 
 I SHALL be extremely sorry, if any man mis- 
 takes my meaning in any thing I have said. Offi- 
 cers employed by the crown, are, while according 
 to the laws they conduct themselves, intitled to le- 
 gal obedience and sincere respect. These it is a 
 
 wrestling for power at home, think themse^es very slightly Interested in the 
 prosperity of their countrv^ty or sixty years hence, but are deeply concerned 
 in blowing up a popular clamor for supposed immediate advantages. 
 
 For my part, I regard Great-Britain as a bulwark, happily fixed^betwecn 
 these colonies and the powerful nations of Europe. That kingdom remaining 
 safe, we, under its protection, enjoying peace, may diffuse the blessings of 
 religion, science, and liberty, through remote wildernesses. It is therefore in- 
 contestibly our duty, and our interest, to support the strength of Great-Britain* 
 When confiding in that strength, she begins to forget from whence it arose, 
 it will be an easy thing to shew the source. She may readily be reminded of 
 the loud alarm spread among her merchants and tradesmen, by the universal 
 association of these colonies, at the time of the stamp-act, not to import any of 
 her manufactures. 
 
 In the year 1718, the Russians and Sivrdes entered into an agreement, not 
 to suffer Great-Britain to export any naval stores from their dominions but in 
 Russian or Swedish ships, and at their own prices. Grtat- Britain was distressed. 
 Pitch and tar rose to three founds a barrel. At length she thought of getting 
 these articles from the colonies ; and the attempt succeeding, they fell down to 
 fifteen shillingi. In the year 1756, Great-Britain was threatened with an invasion. 
 An easterly wind blowing for six weeks, she could not man her fleet, and the 
 whole nation was thrown into the utmost consternation. The wind changed. 
 The American ships arrived. The fleet sailed in ten or fifteen days. There 
 arc some other reflections on this subject, worthy of the most deliberate atten- 
 tion of the British parliament ; but they are of such a nature, that I do not 
 choose to mention them publicly. I thought- it my duty, in the year 1765, 
 while the stamp-act was in suspciice, to write my sentiments to a gentleman of 
 great influence at home, who afterwards distinguished himself, by espousing 
 our cause, in the debates concerning the repeal of that act. 
 
duty to render them ; and these no good or prudent 
 person will withhold. But when these officers, 
 through rashness or design, desire to inlarge their 
 authority beyond its due limits, and expect impro- 
 per concessions to be made to them, from regard for 
 the employments they bear, their attempts should 
 be considered as equal injuries to the crown and 
 people, and should be courageously and constantly 
 opposed. To suffer our ideas to be confounded by 
 names, on such occasions, would certainly be an 
 inexcusable weakness, and probably an irremedi- 
 able error. 
 
 WE have reason to believe, that several of his 
 majesty's present ministers are good men, and 
 friends to our country ; and it seems not unlikely, 
 that by a particular concurrence of events, we have 
 been treated a little more severely than they wish- 
 ed we should be. They might not think it pru- 
 dent to stem a torrent. But what is the difference 
 to 7/5", whether arbitrary acts take their rise from 
 ministers, or are permitted by them ? Ought any 
 point to be allowed to a good minister,* that should 
 be denied to a bad one ? The mortality of minis- 
 ters, is a very frail mortality. A may succeed 
 
 a Sbelburne A may succeed a Conivay. 
 
 '* Ubi imper mm ad ignaros aut minus foonos pcrvenit ; noi'itm illud exemplum 
 ab dignis & idoneis, ad indignos & non idoneos transfartur. 
 
 Sail. Bell. Cat. 50. 
 
( 28 1 ) 
 
 WE find a new kind of minister lately spoken 
 of at home " the minister of the house of com- 
 " mons." The term seems to have peculiar pro- 
 priety when referred to these colonies, ivitb a dif- 
 ferent meaning annexed to it, from that in which 
 it is taken there. By the word " minister," we 
 may understand not only a servant of the crown, 
 but a man of Influence among the commons, who 
 regard themselves as having a share in the sove- 
 reignty over us. The " minister OF the house" 
 may, in a point respecting the colonies, be so 
 strong, that the minister of the crown in the house, 
 if he is a distinct person, may not choose, even 
 where his sentiments are favourable to us, to come 
 to a pitched battle upon our account. For though 
 I have the highest opinion of the deference of the 
 house for the king's minister, yet he may be so 
 good-natured, as not to put it to the test, except it 
 be for the mere and immediate profit of his master 
 or himself. 
 
 BUT whatever kind of minuter he is, that at- 
 tempts to innovate a single iota in the privileges 
 of these colonies, him I hope you will undauntedly 
 oppose ; and that you will never suffer your- 
 selves to be either cheated or frightened into any 
 unworthy obsequiousness. On such emergencies 
 you may surely, without presumption believe, that 
 
 VOL. i. 2 M 
 
( 282 ) 
 
 ALMIGHTY GOD himself will look down upon 
 your righteous contest with gracious approbation. 
 You will be a " band of brothers" cemented by the 
 dearest ties, and strengthened with inconceiv- 
 able supplies of force and constancy, by that sympa- 
 thetic ardor, which animates good men, confederat- 
 ed in a good cause. Your honour and welfare will 
 be, as they now are, most intimately concerned ; 
 and besides you are assigned by Divine Provi- 
 dence, in the appointed order of things, the protect- 
 ors of unborn ages, whose fate depends upon your 
 virtue. Whether they shall arise fat generous and 
 indisputable heirs of the noblest patrimonies, or the 
 dastardly and hereditary drudges of imperious task- 
 masters, YOU MUST DETERMINE, 
 
 To discharge this double duty to yourselves, and 
 to your posterity, you have nothing to do> but to 
 call forth into use the good sense and spirit of which 
 you are possessed. You have nothing to do, but 
 to conduct your affairs peace 'ably, prudently, firmly , 
 jointly* By these means you will support the cha- 
 racter of freemen, without losing that of faithful 
 subjects a good character in any government 
 
 one of the best under a British government. 
 
 You will prove, that Americans have that true 
 magnanimity of soul that can resent injuries, with- 
 out falling into rage ; and that though your devo- 
 tion to Great-Britain is the most affectionate, vet 
 
you can make proper distinctions, and know what 
 you owe to yourselves, as well as to her you will, 
 at the same time that you advance your inter estSj 
 advance your reputation you will convince the 
 world of the justice of your demands and the purity 
 of your intentions. While all mankind must, with 
 unceasing applauses, confess, that you indeed de- 
 serve liberty, who so well understand it, so passion- 
 ately love it, so temperately enjoy it, and so wisely ', 
 bravely, and virtuously assert, maintain, and de- 
 fend it. 
 
 " Certe ego liber tat cm, qua mibi a parente meo 
 " traditaest, experiar: vcrum id frustra an ob 
 " rem faclam, in vestra manu situm est, quiri- 
 " tcs." 
 
 FOR my part, I am resolved to contend for the 
 liberty delivered down to me by my ancestors; 
 but whether I shall do it effectually or not, de- 
 pends on you, my countrymen. 
 
 " How little soever one is able to write, yet 
 " when the liberties of one's country are threat- 
 4C ened, it is still more difficult to be silent." 
 
 A FARMER. 
 
Is there not the strongest probability, that if 
 the universal sense of these colonies is immediately 
 expressed by resolves of the assemblies, in support 
 of their rights, by instructions to their agents on 
 the subject, and by petitions to the crown and par- 
 liament for redress, these measures will have the 
 same success now 7 , that they had in the time of the 
 stamp-act D. 
 
 THE END OF THE FARMER'S LETTER? 
 
A N 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL POWER OF GREAT- 
 BRITAIN OVER THE COLONIES IN 
 AMERICA ; 
 
 WITH THE 
 
 RESOLVES 
 
 OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE PROVINCE 
 OF PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 AND THEIR 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO THEIR REPRESENTATIVES 
 IN ASSEMBLY. 
 
 PRINTED AT PHILADELPHIA, IN THE YEAR I774 
 
 / 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE, 
 
 SATL7RDAT, JULY 16, [1774.] 
 
 1 HE committee for the [province of Pennsyl- 
 vania'] met according to adjournment. 
 
 JOHN DICKINSON, Doctor WILLIAM SMITH, 
 JOSEPH READ, JOHN KIDD, ELISH A PRICE, WIL- 
 LIAM ATLEE, JAMES SMITH, JAMES WILSON, 
 DANIEL BROADHEAD, JOHN OKELY, and WIL- 
 LIAM SCULL, are appointed to prepare and bring 
 in a draught of instructions. 
 
s88 
 
 Monday, July 18. * The committee appointed 
 to bring in instructions, reported, that they had 
 made a draught, which they laid upon the table. 
 
 Moved, That they be read - which was done. 
 
 Tuesday, July 19. Upon a motion made and 
 seconded, agreed that the draught of instructions 
 brought in by the committee, and which were read, 
 be re -committed to the same committee. 
 
 Wednesday, July 20. The committee having 
 brought in a draught of instructions, the same were 
 debated, amended and agreed to. 
 
 Thursday, July 21. The instructions were sign- 
 ed by the chairman. -- The committee in a bod}*, 
 waited on the assembly then sitting, and present- 
 ed the same. 
 
 IT having been moved, that the essay of the in- 
 structions first proposed to be given to the honour- 
 
 * The committees of the counties having been invited, by the committee 
 for the city and county of Pb'iladdpbla^ to meet them at Pblladelpbia on the 
 Jjthof July ; this committee thought it their duty, to make some preparation 
 in the business, that was to be laid before the provincial committee by them. 
 On the 4th of July they appointed a committee for this purpose ; and this 
 measure enabled these appointed by the provincial committee to bring in a 
 draught so soon. 
 
able assembly of Pennsylvania, by the provincial 
 committee assembled at Philadelphia, the 18th in- 
 stant, might be abridged, leaving out the argument- 
 ative part, so as to be more proper for instructi- 
 ons, the same was agreed to ; but resolved at the 
 same time, that the whole work ought to be pub- 
 lished, as highly deserving the perusal and serious 
 consideration of every friend of liberty within these 
 colonies. 
 
 Agreed unanimously, That the thanks J of this 
 committee be given from the chair to JOHN DICK- 
 
 \ Mr. Dickinson being absent this day, on account of the funeral of a relati- 
 on, the next day the chairman, in a very obliging manner, delivered to him 
 from the chair the thanks of the committee ; to which he replied : 
 
 '* Mr. CHAIRMAN, 
 
 " I heartily thank this respectable assembly for the honour they have confer- 
 red upon me, but want words to express the sense I feel of their kindness. 
 The mere accidents of meeting with particular books, and conversing with 
 particular men, led me into the train of sentiments, which the committee are 
 pleased to think just ; and others, with the like opportunities of information, 
 would much better have deserved to receive the thanks, they now generously 
 give. I consider the approbation of this company as an evidence, that they en- 
 tertain a favourable opinion of my good intentions, and as an incouragement 
 for all to apply themselves, in these unhappy times, to the service of the pub- 
 lic, since even small endeavours to promote that service, can find a very valu- 
 able reward. I will try, during the remainder of my life, to remember my 
 duty to our common country, and, if it be possible, to render myself worthy 
 of the honour for which I now stand so deeply indebted. 
 
 " I thank you, sir, for the polite and affectionate manner, in which you have 
 communicated the sense of the committee to me." 
 
 VOL. i. 2 N 
 
C 290 ) 
 
 INSON, esquire, for the great assistance they have 
 derived from the laudable application of his emi- 
 nent abilities, to the service of his country in the 
 above performance. 
 
 Extract from the minutes, 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON, clerk of tie commttte. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 VV HEN the committee for preparing a 
 draught of instructions was appointed, it was 
 considered, whether it would not be proper, to 
 form some kind of a sketch, however imperfect 
 it might be, of all the grievances, of the colo- 
 nies, and of course of their constitutional rights. 
 
 SUCH an attempt, tho' very rude, might be 
 improved by better hands; and it seemed abso- 
 lutely necessary, no longer to confine ourselves 
 to occasional complaints and partial remedies, 
 but, if possible, to attain some degree of cer- 
 tainty concerning our lives, liberties and pro- 
 perties. 
 
 IT was perceived, that if the instructions 
 should be formed on this plan, they would com- 
 
C 292 ) 
 
 prehend many and very important positions, 
 which it would be proper to introduce, by pre- 
 viously assigning the reasons, on which they 
 were founded. Otherwise, the positions might 
 not appear to the committee to be just. From 
 this consideration it became necessary, to ren- 
 der the instructions long and argumentative ; 
 and whoever candidly reflects on the import- 
 ance of the occasion, will think such a method 
 very justifiable. 
 
 THE draught of instructions being brought 
 into the provincial committee and read, and no 
 objection being made to any of the principles 
 asserted in them, it was not thought necessary, 
 that the argumentative part should continue 
 any longer in them. The committee, that 
 brought in the draught, therefore moved, that 
 this part of the instructions might be separated 
 from the rest. Whereupon the draught was 
 re-committed, for this purpose, to the com- 
 mittee, that brought it in. This was done. 
 
SEVERAL additions have been made to the 
 other part, now called " An Essay/' &c. since 
 the vote for publishing. The additions are dis- 
 tinguished by crotchets, thus ] and in these 
 it was not thought necessary to observe the 
 ftile of instructions. The notes have been al- 
 most entirely added since the vote. 
 
 August 1, 1774. 
 
" OF the various instructions, on this occasion, 
 those which were drawn up by a convention of de- 
 legates, from every county in the province of Penn- 
 sylvania, and presented by them, in a body, to the 
 constitutional assembly, were the most precise and 
 determinate. By these it appears that the Pennsyl- 
 vauians were disposed to submit to the acts of na- 
 vigation, as they then stood, and also to settle a 
 certain annual revenue on his majesty, his heirs and 
 successors, subject to the controul of parliament, 
 and to satisfy the demands of the East- India com- 
 pany, provided their grievances were redressed, 
 and an amicable compact ivas settled, which, by 
 establishing American rights in the manner of a 
 new magna charta, would have precluded future 
 disputes." 
 
 RAMSAY'S History of the American Revolution, vol. I. fage 134. 
 
RESOLUTIONS, &c. 
 
 At a provincial meeting of deputies chosen by the 
 several counties, in Pennsylvania, held at Phila- 
 delphia, July 15, 1774, and continued by ad- 
 journments from day to day. 
 
 PRESENT, 
 
 For the city and county of Philadelphia, 
 
 Thomas Willing, Joseph Moulder, 
 
 John Dickinson, Anth. Morris, Jun. 
 
 Peter Chevalier, George Gray, 
 
 Edward Pennington, John Nixon, 
 
 Thomas Wharton, Jacob Barge,, 
 
 John Cox, Thomas Penrose, 
 
 Joseph Reed, John M. Nesbit, 
 
 Tho. Wharton, jun. Jonathan B. Smith, 
 
 Samuel Erwin, James Mease, 
 
 Thomas Fitzsimons, Thomas Barclay, 
 
 Dr. William Smith, Benjamin Marshall, 
 
 Isaac Howell, Samuel Howell, 
 
 VOL. 1. 2O 
 
Adam Hubley, William Moulder, 
 
 George Schlosser, John Roberts, 
 
 Samuel Miles, John Bayard, 
 
 Thomas Mifflin, William Rush, 
 
 Christoph, Ludwic, Charles Thomson. 
 
 Bucks, 
 
 John Kidd, John Wilkinson, 
 
 Henry Wynkoop, James Wallace. 
 
 Joseph Kirkbride, 
 
 Chester, 
 
 Francis Richardson, Hugh Lloyd, 
 
 Elisha Price, John Sellers, 
 
 John Hart, Francis Johnson, 
 
 Anthony Wayne, Richard Reiley. 
 
 Lancaster, 
 
 George Ross, Emanuel Carpenter, 
 
 James Webb, William Atlee, 
 
 Joseph Ferree, Alexander Lowry, 
 
 Matthias Slough, Moses Erwin. 
 
 Tork, 
 
 James Smith, Thomas Hartley. 
 
 Joseph Donaldson, 
 
 Cumberland, 
 
 James Wilson, William Irvine. 
 
 Robert Magaw, 
 
Berks, 
 
 Edward Biddle, Thomas Dundas, 
 
 Daniel Broadhead, Christopher Schultz. 
 
 Jonathan Potts, 
 
 Northampton, 
 
 William Edmunds, John Okeley, 
 
 Peter Kechlein, Jacob Arndt. 
 
 Northumberland, 
 William Scull, Samuel Hunter. 
 
 Bedford, 
 George Woods. 
 
 Westmoreland, 
 Robert Hannah, James Cavett- 
 
THOMAS WILLING, Chairman, 
 CHARLES THOMSON, Clerk. 
 
 AGREED that, in case of any difference in senti- 
 ment, the question be determined by the deputies 
 voting by counties, 
 
 THE letters from Boston of the 13th of May 
 were then read, and a short account given of the 
 steps taken in consequence thereof, and the mea- 
 sures now pursuing in this and the neighbouring 
 provinces ; after which the following RESOLVES 
 were passed. 
 
 UN AN. I, 1 HAT we acknowledge ourselves, and 
 the inhabitants of this province, liege subjects of 
 his majesty king George the third, to whom they 
 and we owe and will bear true and faithful allegi- 
 ance,. 
 
 UN AN. II. That as the idea of an unconstitu- 
 tional independence on the parent state is utterly 
 abhorrent to our principles, we view the unhappy 
 differences between Great-Britain and the colonies 
 with the deepest distress and anxiety of mind, as 
 fruitless to her, grievous to us, and destructive of 
 the best interests of both. 
 
UN AN. III. That it is therefore our ardent de- 
 sire, that our ancient harmony with the mother 
 country should be restored, and a perpetual love 
 and union subsist between us, on the principles pf 
 the constitution, and an interchange of good of- 
 fices, without the least infraction of our mutual 
 rights. 
 
 AN. IV. That the inhabitants of these colo- 
 nies are intitled to the same rights and liberties 
 WITHIN these colonies, that the subjects born in 
 England are intitled to WITHIN that realm. 
 
 UN AN. V. That the power assumed by the 
 parliament of Great-Britain to bind the people 
 of these colonies, " by statutes IN ALL CASES 
 " whatsoever ," is unconstitutional ; and therefore 
 the source of these unhappy differences. 
 
 UN AN. VI. That the act cf parliament, for 
 shutting up the port of Boston, is unconstitutional ; 
 oppressive to the inhabitants of that town ; danger- 
 ous to the liberties of the British colonies ; and 
 therefore, that we consider our brethren at Boston 
 as suffering in the common cause of these colonies. 
 
 UN AN. VII. That the bill for altering the ad- 
 ministration of justice in certain criminal cases 
 within the province of Massachusetts-Bay, if pass- 
 
( 302 ) 
 
 cd into an act of parliament, will be as unconstitu- 
 tional, oppressive and dangerous, as the act above- 
 mentioned. 
 
 UN AN. VIII. That the bill for changing the 
 constitution of the province of Massachusetts-Bay, 
 established by charter, and enjoyed since the grant 
 of that charter, if passed into an act of parliament, 
 will be unconstitutional and dangerous in its con- 
 sequences to the American colonies. 
 
 UN AN. IX. That there is an absolute neces- 
 sity, that a congress of deputies from the several 
 colonies be immediately assembled, to consult to- 
 gether, and form a general plan of conduct to be 
 observed by all the colonies, for the purposes of 
 procuring relief for our suffering brethren, obtain- 
 ing redress of our grievances, preventing future 
 dissensions, firmly establishing our rights, and. re- 
 storing harmony between Great-Britain and her 
 colonies on a constitutional foundation. 
 
 UN AN. X. That, although a suspension of the 
 commerce of this large trading province, with 
 Great-Britain, would greatly distress multitudes 
 of our industrious inhabitants, yet that sacrifice, 
 and a much greater, we are ready to offer for the 
 preservation of our liberties ; but, in tenderness to 
 the people of Great-Britain, as well as of this coun- 
 
303 ) 
 
 try, and in hopes that our just remonstrances will, 
 at length, reach the ears of our gracious sovereign,' 
 and be no longer treated with contempt by any^of 
 our fellow subjects in England, it is our earnest 
 desire, that the congress should first try the gent- 
 ler mode of stating our grievances, and making a 
 firm and decent claim of redress. 
 
 XI. RESOLVED, by a great majority, That yet 
 notwithstanding, as an unanimity of counsels and 
 measures is indispensibly necessary for the com- 
 mon welfare, if the congress shall judge agreements 
 of non-importation and non- exportation expedient, 
 the people of this province will join with the other 
 principal and neighbouring colonies, in such an as- 
 sociation of non-importation from and non-export- 
 tation to Great-Britain as shall be agreed on, at 
 the congress. 
 
 XII. RESOLVED, by a majority, That if any 
 proceedings of the parliament, of which notice shall 
 be received, on this continent, before or at the 
 general congress, shall render it necessary in the 
 opinion of that congress, for the colonies to take 
 farther steps than are mentioned in the eleventh 
 resolve ; in such case, the inhabitants of this pro- 
 vince shall adopt such farther steps, and do all in 
 their power to carry them into execution. 
 
UN AN. XIII. That the venders of merchandize 
 of every kind, within this province ought not to 
 take advantage of the resolves relating to non- im- 
 portation in this province or elsewhere ; but that 
 they ought to sell their merchandize, which they 
 now have, or may hereafter import, at the same 
 rates they have been accustomed to do within three 
 months last past. 
 
 UNAN. XIV. That the people of this province 
 will break off all trade, commerce, and dealing, 
 and will have no trade, commerce, or dealing of 
 any kind with any colony on this continent, or with 
 any city or town in such colony, or with any indi- 
 vidual, in any such colony, city or town, which shall 
 refuse, decline, or neglect to adopt, and carry into 
 execution such general plan as shall be agreed ta 
 in congress. 
 
 UNAN. XV. That it is the duty of every mem- 
 her of this committee to promote, as much as he 
 can, the subscription set on foot, in the several 
 counties of this province, for the relief of the dis- 
 tressed inhabitants of Boston. 
 
 UNAN. XVI. That this committee give in- 
 structions on the present situation of public affairs 
 to their representatives, who are to meet next week 
 in assembly, and request them to appoint a proper 
 
number of persons to attend a congress of depu- 
 ties from the several colonies, at such time and 
 place as may be agreed on, to effect one general 
 plan of conduct, for attaining the great and import- 
 ant ends mentioned in the ninth resolve* 
 
 VOL. I. 2 P 
 
INSTRUCTIONS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 COMMITTEE 
 
 REPRESENTATIVES IN ASSEMBLY MET. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 1 HE dissensions between Great-Britain and 
 her colonies on this continent, commencing about 
 ten years ago, since continually increasing, and at 
 length grown to such an excess as to involve the 
 latter in deep distress and danger, have excited the 
 good people of this province to take into their seri- 
 ous consideration the present situation of public 
 affairs. 
 
 THE inhabitants of the several counties qualified 
 to vote at elections, being assembled on due notice, 
 have appointed us their deputies ; and in conse- 
 quence thereof, we being in provincial committee 
 met, esteem it our indispensible duty, in pursuance 
 of the trust reposed in us, to give you such instruc- 
 tions, as, at this important period, appear to us to 
 be proper. 
 
WE, speaking in their names and our own, ac- 
 knowledge ourselves liege subjects of his majesty 
 king George the third, to whom " we will be faith- 
 " ful and bear true allegiance.'* 
 
 OUR judgments and affections attach us, with 
 inviolable loyalty, to his majesty's person, family 
 and government. 
 
 WE acknowledge the prerogatives of the sove- 
 reign, among which are included the great powers 
 of making peace and war, treaties, leagues and alli- 
 ances binding us of appointing all officers, 
 
 except in cases where other provision is made, by 
 grants from the crown, or laws approved by the 
 
 crown of confirming or annulling every act of 
 
 our assembly within the allowed time and of 
 
 hearing and determining finally, in council, appeals 
 from our courts of justice. " The prerogatives are 
 
 limited,'" *as a learned judge observes, " by 
 
 bounds so certain and notorious, that it is impos- 
 sible to exceed them, without the consent of the 
 people on the one hand, or without, on the other, a 
 violation of that original contract^ which, in all 
 
 * I Blacksione 237. 
 
 \ And though we are strangers to the original of most, states, yet we must 
 not imagine that what has been here said, concerning the manner in which civil 
 societies are formed, is an arbitrary fiction, For since it is certain, that all ci- 
 
( SP9 ) 
 
 states impliedly, and in ours most expressly, sub- 
 
 sists between the prince and subject. For these/ 
 
 prerogatives are vested in the crown for the supporl 
 
 vil societies had a beginning, it is impossible to conceive, how the members, of 
 which they are composed, could unite to live together dependent on a suprcac 
 authority, without supposing the covenants above-mentioned. 
 
 BuRLEMAOJJl's Princ. ofpol. lava. -vol. 2.fa t 29. 
 
 And in fact, upon considering the primitive state of man, it appears mos* 
 certain, that the appellations of sovereigns and subjects, masters and slaves, 
 are unknown to nature. Nature has made us all of the same species, all equa/, 
 all free and independent of each other ; and was willing that those, on whom 
 she has bestowed the same faculties, should have all the same rights. It is 
 therefore beyond all doubt, that in this primitive state of nature, no man has 
 of himself an original right of commanding others, or any title to sovereignty. 
 
 There is none but God alone that has of himself, and in consequence of his 
 nature and perfections, a natural, essential, and inherent right of giving law* 
 to mankind, and of exercising an absolute sovereignty over them. The cass 
 is otherwise between man and man, they are of their own nature as imlepend- 
 ent of one another, as they are dependent on God. This liberty and independ- 
 ence is therefore a right naturally belonging to man, of which it would be 
 unjust to deprive him against his will. Idcm ^ ^ affg ^ 
 
 There is a beautiful passage of C/V to this purpose.* Noting is *, rc 
 greeablt to the Sufreme Deity t that governs Ms un , v , nf> tLan chfit socles la-^ully 
 established. 
 
 When therefore we give to sovereigns the title of God's vicegerents upon 
 earth, this does not imply that they derive their authority immediately from 
 God, but it signifies only, that by means of the power lodged in their hand,, 
 and with which the people have invested them, they maintain, agreeably to 
 the views of the Deity, both order and peace, and thus procure the happiness 
 of mankind. 
 
 Idem, page 40. 
 
 a Nihil est illi principi Deo, qui omnem hunc mundum regit, quod quidem 
 
( 3 10 ) 
 
 of society, and do not intrench any farther on our 
 natural liberties, than is expedient for the main- 
 tenance of our civil." 
 
 BUT it is our misfortune, that we are compelled 
 loudly to call your attention to the consideration of 
 
 another power, totally different in kind limited, 
 
 as it is alledged, by no " bounds," and J " wear- 
 u ing a most dreadful aspect, 7 ' with regard to Ame- 
 rica. We mean the power claimed by parliament, 
 of right, to bind the people of these colonies by 
 statutes, " in all cases whatsoever" a power, 
 
 But it will be here objected, that the scripture itself says, that every man 
 ought to be subject to the supreme powers, because they are established by 
 God.b I answer, with Cntiiis, that men have established civil societies, not 
 in consequence of a divine ordinance, but of their voluntary motion, induced 
 to it by the experience they had had of the incapacity which separate families 
 were under, of defending themselves against the insults and attacks of hnman 
 violence. From thence (he adds) arises the civil power, which St. Peter > for 
 this reason, calls a human power , c though in other parts of scripture it bears 
 the name of a divine institution^ because God has approved of it as an establish- 
 ment useful to mankind. 6 
 
 All the other arguments, in favour of the opinion we have been here refut- 
 ing, do not even deserve our notice. In general, it may be observed, that ne- 
 ver were more wretched reasons produced than upon this subject, as the reader 
 may be easily convinced by reading Pujfendorf on the law of nature and nations, 
 who, in the chapter corresponding to this, gives these arguments at length, 
 and completely refutes them.f Idem, page 42, 43. 
 
 \ I Blackstone 2 JO. 
 
 b Rom. xiii. * i Ep. rhap. 2. v. 13. d Rom. xiii. I. 
 
 e Grotius of the right of war and peace, book I. chap. 4 fee. 7, 12. No. 3. 
 
 f See the law of nature and nations, book VII. chap. 3. 
 
as we are not, and, from local circumstances, can- 
 not be represented there, utterly subversive of our 
 natural and civil liberties past events arid rea- 
 son convincing us, that there never existed, and 
 never can exist, a state thus subordinate to another, 
 and yet retaining the slightest portion of freedom 
 or happiness. 
 
 THE import of the words above quoted needs no 
 descant ; for the wit of man, as we apprehend, can- 
 not possibly form a more clear, concise, and com- 
 prehensive definition and sentence of slavery, than 
 these expressions contain. 
 
 THIS power claimed by Great-Britain, and the 
 late attempts to exercise it over these colonies, pre- 
 sent to our view two events, one of which must 
 inevitably take place, if she shall continue to insist 
 on her pretensions. Either, the colonists will sink 
 from the rank of freemen into the class of slaves, 
 overwhelmed with all the miseries and vices, proved 
 by the history of mankind to be inseparably annex- 
 ed to that deplorable condition : or, if they have 
 sense and virtue enough to exert themselves in 
 striving to avoid this perdition, they must be in- 
 volved in an opposition dreadful even in contem- 
 plation. 
 
Honour, justice and humanity call upon us to 
 hold, and to transmit to our posterity, that liberty, 
 which we received from our ancestors. It is not 
 our duty to leave wealth to our children : but it 
 is our duty, to leave liberty to them. No infamy, 
 iniquity, or cruelty, can exceed our own, if we, 
 born and educated in a country of freedom, intitled 
 to its blessings, and knowing their value, pusillani- 
 mously deserting the post assigned us by Divine 
 Providence, surrender succeeding generations to a 
 condition of wretchedness, from which no human 
 efforts, in all probability, will be sufficient to ex- 
 tricate them ; the experience of all states mourn- 
 fully demonstrating to us, that when arbitrary pow- 
 er has been established over them, even the wisest 
 and bravest nations, that ever flourished, have, in 
 a few years, degenerated into abject and wretched 
 vassals. 
 
 So alarming are the measures already taken for 
 laying the foundations of a despotic authority of 
 Great-Britain over us, and with such artful and in- 
 cessant vigilance is the plan prosecuted, that unless 
 the present generation can interrupt the work, 
 while it is going forward, can it be imagined, that 
 our children, debilitated by our imprudence and 
 supineness, will be able to overthrow it, when com- 
 pleted ? Populous and powerful as these colonies 
 may grow, they will still find arbitrary domination 
 
( 3*3 ) 
 
 not only strengthening with their strength, but ex- 
 ceeding, in the swiftness of its progression, as it 
 ever has done, all the artless advantages that can 
 acrue to the governed. These advance with a regu- 
 larity, which the divine Author of our existence has 
 impressed on the laudable pursuits of his creatures : 
 but despotism, * unchecked and unbounded by 
 
 any laws never satisfied with what has been 
 
 done, while any thing remains to be done, for the 
 
 * As virtue is necessary in a republic, and in a monarchy honor, so fear Js 
 necessary in a despotic government : with regard to virtue, there is no occasi- 
 on for it, and honor would be extremely dangerous. 
 
 Here the immense power of the prince is devolved intirely upon those to 
 whom he is pleased to intrust it. Persons capable of setting a value upon 
 themselves would be likely to create revolutions. Fear must therefore depress 
 their spirits, and extinguish even the least sense of ambition. 
 
 MONTESOJJIEU'S Spirit of Laws, vol. I. book lll.cbap. 9. 
 
 An idea of despotic power. 
 
 When the savages of Louisiana are desirous of fruit, they cut the tree to the 
 root, and gather the fruit. S This is an emblem of despotic government. 
 
 Idem, book V. cbap. 13. 
 
 The principle of despotic government is fear ; but a timid, ignorant, and 
 faint spirited people have no occasion for a great number of laws. 
 
 Every thing ought to depend here on TWO or THJIEE ideas; therefore there 
 is no necessity that any new notions should be added. When we want to 
 break a horse, we take care not to let him change his master, his lesson, or 
 his pace. Thus an impression is made on his brain by t\\o or three motions 
 and no more. Idem. book. V. cbap. 14. 
 
 S Edifying letters, II eoll. p. 315. 
 VOL. I. 2 Q 
 
m 
 
 accomplishment of its purposes confiding, and 
 
 capable of confiding, only in the annihilation of 
 all opposition holds its course with such unabat- 
 ing and destructive rapidity, that the world has be- 
 come its prey, and at this day, Great-Britain and 
 her dominions excepted, there is scarce a spot 
 on the globe inhabited by civilized nations, where 
 the vestiges of freedom are to be observed. 
 
 To us therefore it appears, at this alarming pe- 
 riod, our duty to God, to our country, to ourselves, 
 and to our posterity, to exert our utmost ability, 
 in promoting and establishing harmony between 
 GreauBritain and these colonies, on a constituti- 
 onal foundation, 
 
 FOR attaining this great and desirable end, we re- 
 quest you to appoint a proper number of persons to 
 attend a congress of deputies from the several colo- 
 lies, appointed, or to be appointed, by the repre- 
 sentatives of the people of the colonies respectively 
 in assembly, or convention, or, by delegates cho- 
 sen by the counties generally in the respective co- 
 lonies, and met in provincial committee, at such 
 time and place as shall be generally agreed on : and 
 that the deputies from this province may be induc- 
 ed and encouraged to concur in such measures, as 
 may be devised for the common welware, we think 
 it proper, particularly to inform you, how far, we 
 
apprehend, they will be supported in their con- 
 duct by their constituents. 
 
 \_In this place was inserted the argumentative 
 part, which in this publication is called u An 
 " Essay."] 
 
 THE assumed parliamentary power of internal 
 legislation, and the power of regulating trade, as of 
 late exercised, and designed to be exercised, we 
 are thoroughly convinced, will prove unfailing and 
 plentiful sources of dissensions to our mother 
 country and these colonies, unless some expedients 
 can be adopted to render her secure of receiving 
 from us every emolument, that can in justice and 
 reason be expected, and us secure in our lives, pro- 
 perties, and an equitable share of commerce. 
 
 > 
 
 MOURNFULLY revolving in our minds the cala- 
 mities, that, arising from these dissensions, will 
 most probably fall on us and our children, we will 
 now lay before you the particular points we request 
 of you to procure, if possible, to be finally decided ; 
 and the measures that appear to us most likely to 
 produce such a desirable period of our distresses 
 and dangers. We therefore desire of you 
 
 FIRST. That the Deputies you appoint, may 
 be instructed by you strenuously to exert them- 
 
selves, at the ensuing congress, to obtain a renun- 
 ciation, on the part of Great -Britain, of all powers 
 under the statute of the 35th of Henry the eighth, 
 chapter the 2d. of all powers of internal legisla- 
 tion of imposing taxes or duties internal or 
 
 external and of regulating trade, except with 
 
 respect to any new articles of commerce, which the 
 colonies may hereafter raise, as silk, wine, &c. re- 
 serving a right to carry these from one colony to 
 
 another a repeal of all statutes for quartering 
 
 troops in the colonies, or subjecting them to any 
 expence on account of such troops of all sta- 
 tutes imposing duties to be paid in the colonies, 
 that were passed at the accession of his present 
 majesty, or before this time ; which ever period 
 
 shall be judged most adviseable of the statutes 
 
 giving the courts of admiralty in the colonies great- 
 er power than courts of admiralty have in England 
 of the statutes of the 5th of George the se- 
 cond, chapter the 22d, and of the 23d of George 
 
 the second, chapter the 29th of the statute*for 
 
 shutting up the port of Boston and of every 
 
 other statute particularly affecting the province of 
 Massachusetts-Bay, passed in the last session of 
 parliament. 
 
 IN case of obtaining these terms, it is our opi- 
 nion, that it will be reasonable for the colonies to en- 
 gage their obedience to the acts of parliament com- 
 
monly called the acts of navigation, and to every 
 other act of parliament declared to have force, at 
 this time, in these colonies, other than those above 
 mentioned, and to confirm such statutes by acts of 
 the several assemblies. It is also our opinion, that 
 taking example from our mother country, in abo- 
 lishing the " courts of wards and liveries, tenures 
 " in capite, and by knight's service, and purvey- 
 " ance," it will be reasonable for the colonies, in 
 case of obtaining the terms before mentioned, to 
 settle a certain annual revenue on his majesty, his 
 heirs and successors, subject to the controul of par- 
 liament, and to satisfy all damages done to the East- 
 India company. 
 
 THIS our idea of settling a revenue, arises from 
 a sense of duty to our sovereign, and of esteem for 
 our mother country. We know and have felt the 
 benefits of a subordinate connexion with her. We 
 neither are so stupid as to be ignorant of them; 
 nor so unjust as to deny them. We have also expe- 
 rienced the pleasures of gratitude and love, as well 
 as advantages from that connexion. The impressi- 
 ons are not yet erased. We consider her circum- 
 stances with tender concern. We have not been 
 wanting, when constitutionally called upon, to assist 
 her to the utmost of our abilities; insomuch that 
 she has judged it reasonable to make us recompen- 
 ces for our overstrained exertions : and we now 
 
think we ought to contribute more than we do, to 
 the alleviation of her burthens. 
 
 WHATEVER may be said of these proposals on 
 either side of the Atlantic, this is not a time, ei- 
 ther for timidity or rashness. We perfectly know, 
 that the great cause now agitated, is to be conduct- 
 ed to a happy conclusion, only by that well temper^ 
 ed composition of counsels, which firmness, pru- 
 dence, loyalty to our sovereign, respect to our pa- 
 rent state, and affection to our native country, unit- 
 ed must form. 
 
 BY such a compact, Great-Britain will secure 
 every benefit, that the parliamentary wisdom of 
 ages has thought proper to attach to her. From 
 her alone we shall continue to receive manufac- 
 tures. To her alone we shall continue to 
 
 carry the vast multitude oj enumerated articles of 
 commerce, the exportation of which, her policy 
 has thought fit to confine to herself. With such 
 parts of the world only, as she has appointed us to 
 deal, we shall continue to deal ; and such commo- 
 dities only, as she has permited us to bring from 
 them, we shall continue to bring. The executive 
 and controlling powers of the crow r n will retain 
 their present full force and operation. We shall 
 contentedly labour for her as affectionate friends, 
 
in time of tranquility ; and cheerfully spend for 
 her, as dutiful children, our treasure and our blood, 
 in time of war. She will receive a certain income 
 * from us, without the trouble or expence of col- 
 lecting it without being constantly disturbed by 
 complaints of grievances, which she cannot justify, 
 and will not redress. In case of war, or in any 
 
 * The train of officers, employed by Great-Britain, consume a very large 
 part of what she takes from us. She therefore increases our distresses to make 
 up for that consumption. They will hereafter grow more and more oppress- 
 ive, \ve more and more uneasy, she more and more disturbed. We could raise 
 the same sum in a much more easy, equal, and cheap manner, than she can do. 
 The attention of small states extends much more efficaciously and beneficially 
 to every part of the territories, than that of the administration of a vast em- 
 pire. The representatives in assembly, -wlo are taxed, ivhen the people are taxed, 
 and accountable to them, will have double motives to take care, that the raising 
 and expending money is managed in the best way. The house of commons would 
 not bear to examine every particular relating to the just taxation of every county 
 on this continent, and to Kttle all the accounts fairly. If they could go through 
 the immense labour, it would be impossible for them to do any other business. 
 In short, by not doing it, they would be unjust ; by doing it, they would be 
 useless. Equity and reason demonstrate, that such a power belongs not to them. 
 We have had remarkable instances on this continent some few years ago, of 
 the crown being according to all the forms of business charged with articles, that 
 never went to the use of the crown." These were perquisites, and who could 
 be so puritanical as to blame the civil word. It is said, our barracks cost about 
 .8000 of this money and that the barracks at another place, not deserving a 
 comparison with ours, cost .40,000 sterling. We built our own, ourselves , 
 and were as saving and careful as we could be, it mafy be supposed. If money 
 is raised upon us by parliament ; of one thousand pounds, taken out of our 
 pockets, not one hundred, in all probability, will be usefully applied to the ser- 
 vice of the crown. Deficiencies will ensue they must be supplied other 
 acts are made still others till our h unrepresented blades of grass" too fre- 
 
 h Speech of Lord Camden. I Blackstone, *7O. 
 
( 3 20 ) 
 
 emergency of distress to her, we shall also be rea- 
 dy and willing to contribute all aids within our 
 power : and we solemnly declare, that on such oc- 
 
 quently and clcsely cut down and exposed to the burning heat of an unsetting 
 sun, ever " in its meridian" perish to their deepest roots. 
 
 " There is not upon earth (says the exceUent Gordon] a nation, which hav- 
 ing had unaccountable magistrates, has not felt them to be crying and consuming 
 mischiefs. In trath, where they are most limited, it has been often as much as a'* 
 whole people could do to restrain them to their trust, and to keep them from vi- 
 olence ; and such frequently has been their propensity to be lawless, that 
 nothing but a violent death could cure them of their violence. Some men 
 will never think they have enough, whilst they can take more ; nor be content ivith a 
 fart, when they can seize the whole." i 
 
 " That the business of most kingdoms has been ill managed, proceeds from 
 this ; it imports the loiver rank of men only, and the people (whose cries 
 seldom reach the prince, till it is too late, and till all is past remedy) that mat- 
 ters should \>e frugally ordered, because taxes must arise from their sweat and 
 labour. But the great ones, who heretofore have had the prince's ear and 
 favour, or who hoped to have him in their possession, were swayed by another 
 sort of interest ; they like profusion, as having had a prospect to be gainers by 
 it, they can easily set their account even with the state ; a small charge upon 
 their land is more than balanced by a great place, or a large pension''*' 
 
 See the lord keeper North's account of abuses in the conduct and disposal of 
 the public money in the time of king Charles II. I Those who, in our times, 
 are the conductors of the same kind of dirty work, may compare tie modern in- 
 genious ways and means with those of their worthy predecessors. 
 
 Among others, pretended want of money in the treasury, in order to have 
 
 a pretence for giving an exorbitant price for necessaries. Lending the 
 
 crown AT EIGHT PER CENT, money which was raised at five and six. Pay- 
 ing with the public money, pretending it to be private, and taking interest. Dc- 
 
 i Cato's LET. in. 78. 
 
 fc Daven. Jl. 362. I Dalrymp. MEM. II. 84. 
 
( 321 ) 
 
 casions, if we or our posterity shall refuse, neglect 
 or decline thus to contribute, it will be a mean 
 and manifest violation of a plain duty, and a weak 
 
 predating the public debts and funds, buying them of tie lolclers at half their worth, 
 and afterwards by interest getting them paid in full. Pretending to give up all pow- 
 er in recommending to places for a consideration, and then insisting on recom- 
 mending still, and so getting both ways. Rolling over losses upon the crotvn, or 
 public, while the gain tuas to sink into private pockets. A father stopping a large 
 sum in his own hand, which was to have been paid the public creditors. Be- 
 fore he can be brought to account, he dies. The money sinks into the pocket of his heir. 
 He obtains a pardon of all his father's debts. Gross frauds in office found out. 
 Then neiu officers and salaries set up as checks. The new prove as great knaves 33 
 the old, and form a scheme of collusion and mutual understanding. But the public 
 pays for all, and the poiver of thf court is strengthened. An old placeman begs 
 leave to sell. Pockets the money, and by and by, through interest, gets a new 
 place gratis. Extravagant men squander their own money in their public em- 
 ployments of embassadors, governors, &c. and charge the public with more than 
 they -have really spent, while what they really spent was ten times more than 
 necessary. The business of old offices transferred to new : but the prof t* of the old 
 still kept .*, though become sinecures. An old servant of the public retires upon 
 a pension. He who succeeds him, by interest, gets it continued to him. Ano- 
 ther gets an addition to his salary, and then sells his place for a great deal 
 more than it cost him, and so an additional load is laid on the public : for the 
 addition must be continued, because the place was bought. An annual sum is 
 granted by the public for a public use, as keeping up a harbour, or the like. 
 A private man, by interest, gets a grant ofthejobb : the public concern is neglect- 
 ed, and the public pocket picked. Crown lands perpetually begged and given 
 away to strengthen the court interest. The crown constantly kept in debt, 
 and parliament solicited to pay those debts occasioned merely by the voracity of 
 the court. Commanders of fleets order a superfluous quantity of stores. By collu- 
 sion between them and the store masters, this superfluous quantity is sold again 
 to the king, and the money sunk in their pockets. Sometimes the store-masters 
 gave receipts for more than ivas received into the king's stores, and the money ivat 
 divided among tie plunderers. The king's works done by the day, whereas it would 
 
 VOL. I. 2 11 
 
( 322 ) 
 
 and wicked desertion of the true interests of this 
 province, which ever have been and must be bound 
 up in the prosperity of our mother country. Our 
 union, founded on mutual compacts and mutual 
 
 Lave been cheaper by the great. Money pretended to be coined gratis. List* 
 of large sums newly coined produced. But the contrivance was to make the 
 pieces unequal, and then the too heavy pieces were' carried back to the mint, 
 and the profit sunk in private pockets, &c. 
 
 Secret service is a huge cloke thrown over an immense scene of corruption ; 
 and under this cloke tve must not peep. Our court-men tell us, there must be large 
 sums expended in this way, and those sums cannot be accounted for ; because the 
 services done for them must never be knoivn. But we find, that the commons 
 A. D. 1708 addressed queen Anne for accounts of pensions paid for secret ser- 
 vice to members of parliament, or to any persons in trust for them ; and that 
 ** the queen ordered said account to be laid before tie bouse" 
 
 Contracts are a great fund of ministerial influence. It is well known, that 
 our ministry do not accept the most reasonable offer ; but the offer which is 
 made by those who have the greatest parliamentary interest ; and that in war 
 time, every man, who furnishes for the government, is enriched; in France the 
 eontrary ; which shews, that we manage our public money much tvorsc than 
 the French ministry do theirs. In the late war it is notorious, that several of 
 our purveyors and commissaries got estates sufficient to set them up for earls and 
 dukes. But as Burnet n says, " the regard, that is shewn to members of parlia- 
 ment among us, causes that few abuses can be inquired into, or discovered. 
 
 POL. Disqy, toot V.page 274^-277. 
 
 What redress could a poor plundered, unrepresented colony obtain against 
 a VerrtS) supported by a strong parliamentary influence. We know what se- 
 veral governors of Minorca have dared to do. A governor of Gibraltar ha 
 ventured to oppress even the garrison of that important place. The very 
 drudgery of examining accounts, would probably secure him. If Cast, the in* 
 juries could not be recompensed. A successor might prove as bad " 
 provincia plorat." The victorious province weeps. 
 
 10 DKB. COM. rv. 119. n HIST. OWN TIMES, HI. 279. 
 
( 233 
 
 benefits, will be indissoluble, at least more firm, 
 than an union perpetually disturbed by disputed 
 rights and retorted injuries. 
 
 SECONDLY. If all the terms abovementioned 
 cannot be obtained, it is our opinion, that the mea- 
 sures adopted by the congress for our relief should 
 never be relinquished or intermitted, until those 
 relating to the troops, internal legislation, im- 
 position of taxes or duties hereafter, the 35th of 
 
 Henry the 8th, chapter the 2d, the extension of 
 
 admiralty courts, the port of Boston and the pro- 
 vince of Massachusetts-Bay , are obtained. Every 
 modification or qualification of these points in our 
 judgment, should be inadmissible. To obtain them, 
 we think it may be prudent to settle some revenue 
 as above-mentioned, and to satisfy the East-India 
 company. 
 
 THIRDLY. If neither of these plans should be 
 agreed to, in congress, but some other of a similar 
 nature shall be framed, though on the terms of a 
 revenue, and satisfaction to the East-India com- 
 pany, and though it shall be agreed by the congress 
 to admit no modification or qualification in the 
 terms they shall insist on, we desire your deputies 
 may be instructed to concur with the other depu- 
 ties in it ; and we will accede to, and carry it into 
 execution as far as we can. 
 
FOURTHLY. As to the regulation of trade 
 
 we are of opinion, that by making some few amend- 
 ments, the commerce of the colonies might be set- 
 tled on a firm establishment, advantageous to Great- 
 Britain and them, requiring and subject to no fu- 
 ture alterations, without mutual consent. We 
 
 desire to have this point considered by the con- 
 gress ; and such measures taken, as they may 
 judge proper. 
 
 IN order to obtain redress of our common griev- 
 ances, we observe a general inclination among the 
 colonies of entering into agreements of non-impor- 
 tation and non-exportation. We are fully convin- 
 ced, that such agreements w^ould withhold very 
 large supplies from Great-Britain, and no words 
 can describe our contempt and abhorrence of those 
 colonists, if any such there are, who, from a sordid 
 and ill-judged attachment to their own immediate 
 profit, would pursue that, to the injury of their 
 country, in this great struggle for all the blessings 
 of liberty. It would appear to us a most wasteful 
 frugality, that would lose every important possessi- 
 on by too strict an attention to small things, and 
 
 lose also even these at the last. For our part, 
 
 we will cheerfully make any sacrifice, when neces- 
 sary, to preserve the freedom of our country. But 
 
 other considerations have weight with us. We 
 
 wish every mark of respect to be paid to his ma- 
 
jesty's administration. We have been taught from 
 our youth to entertain tender and brotherly affecti- 
 ons for our fellow subjects at home. The inter- 
 ruption of our commerce must distress great num- 
 bers of them. This we earnestly desire to avoid. 
 We therefore request, that the deputies you shall 
 appoint may be instructed to exert themselves, at 
 the congress, to induce the members of it, to con- 
 sent to make a full and precise state of grievances 
 and a decent yet firm claim of redress, and to wait 
 the event, before any other step is taken. It is our 
 opinion, that persons should be appointed and sent 
 home to present this state and claim, at the court 
 of Great-Britain. 
 
 IF the congress shall choose to form agreements 
 of non-importation and non-exportation immedi- 
 ately, we desire the deputies from this province will 
 endeavour to have them so formed as to be binding 
 upon all, and that they may be PERMANENT, should 
 the public interest require it. They cannot be 
 efficacious, unless they can be permanent ; and it 
 appears to us that there will be a danger of their be- 
 ing infringed, if they are not formed with great cau- 
 tion and deliberation. We have determined in the 
 present fituation of public affairs to consent to a stop- 
 page of our commerce with Great -Britain only ; 
 but in case any proceedings of the parliament, of 
 which notice shall be received on this continent, 
 
( 326 ) 
 
 before or at the congress, shall render it neces- 
 sary, in the opinion of the congress to take further 
 steps, the inhabitants of this province will adopt 
 such steps, and do all in their power to carry them 
 into execution. 
 
 THIS extensive power we commit to the con- 
 gress, for the sake of preserving that unanimity of 
 counsel and conduct, that alone can work out the 
 salvation of these colonies, with a strong hope and 
 trust, that they will not draw this province into any 
 measure judged by us, who must be better ac- 
 quainted w r ith its state than strangers, highly inex- 
 pedient. Of this kind, we know any other stop- 
 page of trade, but of that with -Great-Britain^ will 
 be. Even this step we should be extremely afflicted 
 to see taken by the congress, before the other mode 
 above pointed out is tried. But should it be taken, 
 we apprehend, that a plan of restrictions may be so 
 framed, agreeable to the respective circumstances 
 of the several colonies, as to render Great-Britain 
 sensible of the imprudence of her counsels, and yet 
 leave them a necessary commerce. And here it 
 may not be improper to take notice, that if redress 
 of our grievances cannot be wholly obtained, the 
 extent or continuance of our restrictions may, in 
 some sort, be proportioned to the rights we arc 
 contending for, and the degree of relief afforded us. 
 This mode will render our opposition as perpetual 
 
as our oppression, and will be a continual claim 
 and assertion of our rights. We cannot express 
 the anxiety, with which we wish the consideration 
 of these points to be recommended to you. We 
 are persuaded, that if these colonies fail of unani- 
 mity or prudence in forming their resolutions, or 
 of fidelity in observing them, the opposition by 
 non- importation and non-exportation agreements 
 will be ineffectual ; and then we shall have only 
 the alternative of a more dangerous contention, or 
 of a tame submission. 
 
 UPON the whole, we shall repose the highest 
 confidence in the wisdom and integrity of the ensu- 
 ing congress : and though we have, for the satis- 
 faction of the good people of this province, who have 
 chosen us for this express purpose, offered to you 
 such instructions, as have appeared expedient to 
 us, yet it is not our meaning, that by these or by 
 any you may think proper to give them, the depu- 
 ties appointed by you should be restrained from 
 agreeing to any measures, that shall be approved 
 by the congress. We should be glad the deputies 
 chosen by you could, by their influence, procure 
 our opinions hereby communicated to you to be as 
 nearly adhered to, as may be possible : but to 
 avoid difficulties, we desire that they may be in- 
 structed by you, to agree to any measures that 
 shall be approved by the congress, the inhabitants 
 
( 3*8 ) 
 
 of this province having resolved to adopt and carry 
 them into execution. Lastly We desire the de- 
 puties from this province, may endeavour to pro- 
 cure an adjournment of the congress, to such a day 
 as they shall judge proper, and the appointment of 
 a standing committee. 
 
 AGREED, that John Dickinson, Joseph Read, 
 and Charles Thomson, be a committee to write to 
 the neighbouring colonies, and communicate to 
 them the resolves and instructions. 
 
 AGREED, that the committee for the city and 
 county of Philadelphia, or any fifteen of them, be 
 a committee of correspondence for the general 
 committee of this province. 
 
 Extract from the Minutes, 
 
 CHARLES THOMSON, cM of tie committee. 
 
A N 
 
 ESSAY,* &c. 
 
 1 HE authority of parliament has within these 
 few years been a question much agitated ; and great 
 difficulty, we understand, has occurred, in tracing 
 the line between the rights of the mother country 
 and those of the colonies. The modern doctrine of 
 the former is indeed truly remarkable ; for though 
 it points out, what are not our rights, yet we can 
 never learn from it, \vhat are our rights. As for 
 
 example -Great-Britain claims a right to take 
 
 away nine- tenths of our estates have we a right 
 
 * This piece has been written in such haste, under so great indisposition, 
 and amidst such a confusion of public affairs, that it is hoped, its inaccuracies 
 will be looked upon with indulgence. If longer time could have been bestow- 
 ed upon its correction, it would have been at least shorter, if not more exact. 
 The first appointment of a committee to form a draught of instructions, was 
 made en the fourth of last month. See note on the extract, dated the l8th of 
 July. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 S 
 
( 330 ) 
 
 to the remaining tenth ? No. To say we have, 
 
 is a " traiterous" position, denying her supreme 
 legislature. So far from having property, accord- 
 ing to these late found novels, ive are ourselves a 
 property. 
 
 WE pretend not to any considerable share of 
 learning ; but, thanks be to divine Goodness, com- 
 mon sense, experience, and some acquaintance 
 with the constitution, teach us a few salutary truths 
 on this important subject. 
 
 WHATEVER difficulty may occur in tracing the 
 line, yet we contend, that by the la\vs of God, and 
 by the laws of the constitution, a line there must be, 
 beyond which her authority cannot extend. For all 
 these laws are J " grounded on reason, full of jus- 
 tice, f and true equity," mild, and calculated to 
 promote the freedom and welfare of men. These 
 
 J PARLT. Deb. 7. 409. " What of that ? Shall not we give judgment, be- 
 cause it is not adjudged in the books before ? We will give judgment according 
 to reason, and if there be no reason in the books, I will not regard them." 
 
 Speech of Anderson, lord chief justice of the queen's bench, in the reign of 
 Elizabeth. GOULDSB. REP. 96. edit. 1653. 
 
 f " It seems to me, that the natural justice, which is a duty of man, ought 
 to be stiled the parent, and nourisher, of every other virtue : and assuredly, with- 
 out this habit, a man can neither moderate his desires, nor be brave, nor wise. 
 For, it is a harmony, and peace, of the whole soul ; with a full concert of words, 
 and actions : and the dominion of such a habit may be rendered more conspicu- 
 
( 33 1 ) 
 
 objects never can be attained by abolishing every 
 restriction, on the part of the governors, and extin- 
 guishing every right, on the part of the governed. 
 
 SUPPOSE it be allowed, that the line is not ex- 
 pressly drawn, is it thence to be concluded, there is 
 no implied line ? No English lawyer, we presume, 
 will venture to make the bold assertion. " The 
 4t king may reject what bills, may make what 
 " treaties, may coin what money, may create what 
 " peers, and may pardon what offences, be pleas- 
 
 ous, if we examine the other habits of virtue. For the good of these is pri- 
 vate, respecting the individual ; but the good of natural justice respects whole 
 systems, and throughout the universe."--* 
 
 In the celestial system of the world, as it marshals out the universal rule of 
 things, which are thus decreed by God ; it is providence, and harmony, and right. 
 In a civil state, it is justly called peace, and good order. In a domestic state, it is 
 the like mindedness of husband, and wife, towards each other ; the good will of 
 subordinate members. In the body, it is health, zndfymmetry of parts ; which 
 are principal things, and much beloved by every living creature. In the soul, 
 it is wisdom ; that wisdom which arises amongst men, from the knowledge of 
 causes, and from natural justice. 
 
 Since therefore, this habit doth thus instruct, and preserve, the whole and 
 every part; rendering all the same, in heart, and in tongue, why may it not 
 be saluted, by the universal voice ; the parent and nourisher of every virtue." 
 
 POL. PYTH. Luc. apud STOBJEUM,/^ 105. edit. Tiguri, 1559. 
 
 " Of i. AW there can be no less acknowledged, than that her seat is the bosom 
 of GOD, her voice the harmony of the world : all things in heaven and earth 
 do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not ex- 
 empt from her power." 
 
 HOOKER'S, Ecclesiastical Policy, book thtfrst, at the end. 
 
( 332 ) 
 
 " es." J But is his prerogative respecting these 
 branches of it, unlimited ? By no means. The 
 words following those next above quoted from the 
 " commentaries on the laws of England," are 
 " unless where the constitution hath expressly, or 
 .*' by evident consequence, laid down some excep- 
 " tion or BOUNDARY ; declaring, that thus far the 
 " prerogative shall go, and no farther." There 
 are *' some boundaries" then, besides the *' ex- 
 ** press exceptions ;" and according to the strong 
 expression here used, " the constitution declares 
 " there are." What " evident consequence" forms 
 those " boundaries ?" 
 
 THE happiness of the people is the end, and, if 
 the term is allowable, we would call it the body of 
 the constitution. Freedom is the spirit or soul. As 
 the soul, speaking of nature, has a right to prevent 
 or relieve, if it can, any mischief to the body of the 
 individual, and to keep it in the best health ; so 
 the soul, speaking of the constitution, has a right to 
 prevent, or relieve, any mischief to the body of the 
 society, and to keep that in the best health. The 
 * 4 evident consequence" mentioned, must mean a 
 tendency to injure this health, that is, to diminish 
 the happiness of the people or it must mean noth- 
 ing. If therefore the constitution "DECLARES by 
 
 \ l BLACKSTONE'S COM, 250. 
 
( 333 ) 
 
 " evident consequence " that a tendency to dimin- 
 ish the happiness of the people, is a proof, that pow- 
 er exceeds a " boundary," beyond which it ought 
 not to " go ;" the matter is brought to this single 
 point, whether taking our money from us without 
 our consent, depriving us of trial by jury, changing 
 constitutions of government, and abolishing the 
 privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, by seizing 
 and J carrying us to England, have not a greater 
 tendency to diminish our happiness, than any enor- 
 mities a king can commit under pretence of pre- 
 rogative, can have to diminish the happiness of the 
 subjects in England. To come to a decision upon 
 this point, no long time need be required. To 
 make this comparison, is stating the claim of par- 
 liament in the most favourable light : for it puts 
 
 \ " Of great importance to the public is the preservation of this personal 
 liberty : for if once it were left in the power of any, the highest magistrate, to 
 imprison arbitrarily, whomever he or bis officers thought proper, (as in France 
 it is daily practised by the crown) there ivould soon be an end uf all other rights and 
 
 immunities." " A natural and regular consequence of this personal liberty is, 
 
 that every Englishman may claim a right to abide in his oivn country so long as he 
 pleases^ and not to be driven from it unless by the sentence of law. Exile or 
 transportation is a punishment unknown to the common latv." " The king can- 
 not constitute a man lord lieutenant of Ireland against his will, nor make him a 
 foreign ambassador. For this might in reality be no more than an honorable 
 exile." I BLACKSTONE, 135 to 138. 
 
 " These precedents collected by the reverend and learned judge, chief justice 
 Anderson, and all written with his own hand, do fully resolve for the mainte- 
 nance of the ancient and fundamental point of liberty of the person t to be regained 
 by habeas corpus ^ when any one is imprisoned." PARL. Hist. 7. 413. 
 
( 33* ) 
 
 the assumed power of parliament, to do, " IN ALL 
 " CASES WHATSOEVER," what they please, upon 
 the same footing with the acknowledged power of 
 
 the king, " to make what peers pardon what 
 
 " offences, &c. be pleases." But in this light, 
 that power is not intitled to be viewed. Such is 
 the wisdom of the English constitution, that it 
 " declares" the king may transgress a " boundary 
 " laid down by evident consequence," even by 
 using the power with which he is expressly vested 
 by the constitution, in doing those very acts which 
 he is expressly trusted by the constitution to do 
 as by creating too many or improper persons, 
 peers ; or by pardoning too many or too great of- 
 fences, &c. But has the constitution of ENGLAND 
 expressly " declared," that the parliament of Great- 
 Britain may take away the money of English colo- 
 nists without their consent, and deprive them of 
 trial by jury, &x ? It cannot be pretended. True 
 it is, that it has been solemnly declared by parlia- 
 ment, that parliament has such a power. But that 
 declaration leaves the point just as it was before : 
 for if parliament had not the power before, the de- 
 claration could not give it. Indeed if parliament 
 is really " omnipotent/' * that power is just and 
 constitutional. 
 
 * I BLOCKS-TONE, 161. 
 
( 335 ) 
 
 We further observe, that the constitution has not 
 expressly drawn the line beyond which, if a king, 
 shall "go," resistance becomes lawful. The learn- 
 ed author of those commentaries, that notwithstand- 
 ing some human frailties, do him so much honour, 
 has thought proper, when treating of this subject, 
 to point out the "precedent" of the revolution, as 
 fixing the line. We would not venture any reflec- 
 tion on so great a man. It may not become us. 
 Nor can we be provoked by his expressions con- 
 cerning colonists ; because they perhaps contain 
 his real, though hasty sentiments. Surely, it was 
 not his intention to condemn those excellent men, 
 who casting every tender consideration behind 
 them, nobly presented themselves against the ty- 
 ranny of the unfortunate and misguided Charles's 
 reign ; those men, whom the house of commons, 
 even after the restoration, would not suffer to be 
 censured. 
 
 WE are sensible of the objection that may be 
 made, as to drawing a line between rights on each 
 side, and the case of a plain violation of rights. 
 We think it not material. Circumstances have 
 actually produced, and may again produce this 
 
 question. What conduct of a prince renders 
 
 resistance lawful ? James the second and his fa- 
 ther violated express rights of their subjects, by 
 doing what their own express rights gave them no 
 
( 336 ) 
 
 tide to do, as by raising money, and levying troops, 
 without consent of parliament. It is not even set- 
 tled, what violation of those will justify resistance. 
 But may not some future prince, confining himself 
 to the exercise of bis own express rights, such as 
 have been mentioned, act in a manner, that will be 
 a transgression of a " boundary" laid down by 
 " evident consequence," the " constitution declar- 
 " ing he should go no further ?" May not this 
 exercise of these his express rights, be so far ex- 
 tended, as to introduce universal confusion and a 
 subversion of the ends of government ? The whole 
 may be oppressive, and yet any single instance le- 
 gal. The cases may be improbable ; but we have 
 seen and now feel events once as little expected. 
 Is it not possible, that one of these cases may hap- 
 pen ; if it does, has the constitution expressly 
 
 drawn, a line, beyond which resistance becomes 
 lawful ? It has not. But it may be said, a king can- 
 not arm against his subjects he cannot raise mo- 
 ney, without consent of parliament. This is the 
 constitutional check upon him. If he should, it 
 would be a violation of their express rights. If 
 their purses are shut, his power shrinks. True. 
 Unhappy colonists ! Our money may be taken from 
 us and standing armies established over us, with- 
 out our consent every expressly declared consti- 
 tutional check dissolved, and the modes of opposi- 
 tion for relief so contracted, as to leave us only 
 
( 337 ) 
 
 the miserable alternative of supplication or vio- 
 lence. And these, it seems, are the liberties of 
 
 Americans. Because the constitution has not 
 
 " expressly declared" the line between the rights 
 of the mother country and those of her colonists, 
 
 therefore, the latter have no rights. A logic, 
 
 equally edifying to the heads and hearts of men of 
 sense and humanity. 
 
 WE assert, a line there must be, and shall now 
 proceed with great deference to the judgment of 
 others, to trace that line, according to the ideas we 
 entertain : and it is with satisfaction we can say, 
 that the records, statutes, law-books, and most ap- 
 proved writers of our mother country, those " dead 
 " but most faithful counsellors" (as sir Edward Coke 
 calls them) u who cannot be daunted by fear, nor 
 ''muzzled by affection, reward, or hope of pre- 
 4C ferment, and therefore may safely be believed," 
 confirm the principles we maintain. 
 
 LIBERTY, life, or property, can, with no con- 
 sistency of words or ideas, be termed a right of 
 the possessors, while others have a right of taking 
 them away at pleasure. The most distinguished 
 authors, that have written on government, declare 
 it to be " instituted for the benefit of the people ; 
 14 and that it never will have this tendency, where 
 
 VOL. r. 2 T 
 
( 338 ) 
 
 44 it is unlimited." Even conquest* itself is held 
 not to destroy all the rights of the conquered. Such 
 is the merciful reverence judged by the best and 
 
 * " But in order to say something more particular concerning this subject, 
 let us observe that the natural state of nations in respect to each other, is that 
 of society and peace. This society is likewise a state of equality and independ- 
 ence, which establishes a parity of right between them ; and engages them to 
 have the same regard and respect for one another. Hence the general prin- 
 ciple of the law of nations is nothing more than the general law of sociability, 
 which obliges all nations that have any intercourse with one another, to prac- 
 tise those duties to which individuals are naturally subject. 
 
 *' These remarks may serve to give us a just idea of that art, so necessary 
 to the directors of states, and distinguished commonly by the name of polity. 
 Polity considered with regard to foreign states, is that ability and address by 
 which a sovereign provides for the preservation, safety, prosperity and glory of 
 the nation he governs, by respecting the laws of justice and humanity ; that is, 
 without doing any injury to other states, but rather by procuring their ad- 
 vantage, as much as in reason can be expected. Thus the polity of sovereign! 
 is the same as prudence among private people; and as we condemn in the lat- 
 . ter any art or cunning, that makes them pursue their own advantage to the 
 prejudice of others, so the like art would be censurable in princes, were they 
 bent upon procuring the advantage of their own people by injuring other nati- 
 ons. The reason of state, so often alledged to justify the proceedings or enter- 
 prises of princes , cannot really be admited for this end, but inasmuch as it is 
 reconcileable with the common interest of nations, or which amounts to the 
 same thing, with the unalterable rules of sincerity, justice, and humanity." 
 
 " Grotius indeed acknowledges that the law of nature is common to all nati- 
 ons ; yet he establishes a positive law of nations contradistinct from the law of 
 nature ; and reduces this law of nations to a sort of human law, which has ac- 
 quired a power of obliging in consequence of the will and consent of all or of 
 a great many nations. He adds, that the maxims of this law of nations arc 
 proved by the perpetual practice of people, and the testimony of historians. 
 
 See Grotlut, rights of war and peace : preliminary discourse, sect. 18. and 
 fecok I. chap. I. sect. 14. 
 
( 339 ) 
 
 wisest men to be due to human nature, and fre- 
 quently observed even by conquerors themselves. 
 
 PROTECTION and obedience are reciprocal duties. 
 
 " But it has been justly observed that this pretended law of nations, contra- 
 distinct from the law of nature, and invested nevertheless with a force of 
 obliging, whether people consent to it or not, is a supposition destitute of all 
 foundation.? 
 
 " For I. all nations are with regard to one another in a natural independ- 
 ence and equality. If there be therefore any common law between them, it 
 must proceed from God their common sovereign. 
 
 " 2. As for what relates to customs established by an express or tacit con- 
 sent among nations, these customs are neither of themselves, nor universally, 
 nor always obligatory. For from this only that several nations have acted to- 
 wards one another for a long time alter a particular manner in particular cases, 
 it does not follow that they have laid themselves under a necessity of acting al- 
 ways in the same manner for the time to come, and much less that other na- 
 tions are obliged to conform to these customs. 
 
 " 3. Again ; these customs are so much the less capable of being an obliga- 
 tory rule of themselves, as they may happen to be bad or unjust. The profes- 
 sion of a corsair or pirate, was by a kind of consent, esteemed a long while as 
 lawful, between nations that were not united by alliance or treaty. It seems 
 likewise, that some nations allowed themselves the use of poisoned arms in 
 time of war.** Shall we say that these were customs authorised by the law of 
 nations, and really obligatory in respect to different people ? Or shall we not 
 rather consider them as barbarous practices ; practices from which every just 
 and well governed nation ought to refrain. We cannot therefore avoid ap- 
 pealing always to the law of nature, the only one that is really universal, when- 
 ever we want to judge whether the customs established between nations have 
 any obligatory effect. 
 
 p See PufFendorf, law of nature and nations, book a. chap. 3. sect. 23. with 
 Earbeyrac's notes. 
 
 i See Virgil, JEncid, book 10. verse 139. with the ijth note of the Abbe 
 des Fontaines, 
 
IN fine, a power of government, in its nature 
 tending to the misery of the people, as a power that 
 is unlimited, or in other words, a power in which 
 
 " 4. All that can be said on this subject is, that when customs of an innocent 
 nature are introduced among nations ; each of them is reasonably supposed tq 
 submit to those customs, as long as they have not made any declaration to the 
 contrary. This is all the force or effect that can be given to received cus- 
 toms ; but a very different effect from that of a law properly so called." 
 
 . Princ. of nat. laiu, I vol. page 196 199. 
 
 These reflections of the learned and benevolent professor, deserve great 
 consideration, in estimating the claims of belligerent powers to interfere in 
 the commerce of neutral nations. 
 
 The law of nations, as it is called, partakes too largely of articles imposed 
 by the stronger on the weaker powers : but these can never abrogate the eter- 
 nal laws of reason and justice. It is also worthy of observation, that those ar- 
 ticles may be so altered, that the amendments will have a direct tendency to 
 discourage wars, and consequently to promote the blessings of peace. 
 
 " But I will conclude with that which I find reported by sir John Davis, 
 who was the king's sergeant ; and so, by the duty of his place, would no doubt 
 maintain, to the uttermost of his power, the king's prerogative royal ; and yet 
 it was by him thus said, in those reports of his upon the case of tanlstry customs" 
 " That the kings of England always have had a monarchy royal, and not a 
 monarchy signoral ; where, under the first, saith he, the subjects are free men, 
 and have property in their goods, and freehold and inheritance in their lands ; 
 but, under the latter, they are as villains and slaves, and have property in 
 nothing. And therefore, saith he, when a royal monarch makes a new con- 
 quest, yet, if he receives any of the nation's ancient inhabitants into his pro- 
 tection ; they, and their heirs after them, shall enjoy their lands ?.nd liberties 
 according to the laws." And there he voucheth this precedent and judgment 
 following, given before William the conqueror himself, viz. 
 
 " That one Sberborn, at the time of the conquest, being o\vner of a castle and 
 lands in Norfolk) the conqueror gave the same to one Warren a Norman ; and, 
 
( 34-1 ) 
 
 the people have no share, J is proved to be, by 
 reason and the experience of all ages and countries, 
 cannot be a rightful or legal power. For, as an 
 excellent bishop of the church of England argues, 
 
 Sbarlorn dying, the heir claiming the same by descent according to the law, it 
 was, before the conqueror himself, adjudged for the heir, and that the gift 
 thereof by the conqueror was void. 7 ' r PARL. DEBATES, 7 vol.pjge. 304. 
 
 See also Ptfffttvbrftlj&t of nature and nations, book. 3. chap. 8. and book. 
 2. chap. 6. 
 
 \ " In a free state, every man, who is supposed a free agent, ought to be, In 
 some measure bis own governor, and therefore a branch, at least of the legislative 
 foiver ought to reside in the ivbole body of the people. And this power, when the ter- 
 ritories of the state are small and its citizens easily known, should be expressed 
 by the people in their aggregate or collective capacity, as was wisely ordain- 
 ed in the petty republics of Greece, and the first rudiments of the Roman stat^. 
 But this will be highly inconvenient, when the public territory is extended to 
 any considerable degree, and the number of citizens is increased. In so large 
 a state as ours, it is therefore very wisely contrived chat the people should da 
 that by their representatives, which it is impracticable to perform in person." 
 
 I BtACKSTONFj IjS. IJp. 
 
 The above quoted words are sufficient of themselves to refute the notion of 
 " virtual representation" of Americans in parliament. 
 
 As to the argument drawn from the similitude between the case of those in 
 England, not qualified to vote by their property, though possessed of a consider- 
 able share, as proprietors of the funds -- the East-India company -- mer- 
 chants ---- manufacturers, &c. and the case of colonists, the true answer is, that 
 there is no resemblance whatever between the cases. A few propositions 
 will prove it : but it may be proper to premise 1st. If representation was 
 intended by the constitution of England, a complete representation was intended ; 
 for the reason of having any, requires having a complete one, *s bting the best. 
 
 r See Davis's reports, Lond. 1628. page 41. 
 
J " the ends of government cannot be answered by 
 a total dissolution of all happiness at present, and 
 of all hopes for the future." 
 
 2cUy. If a complete representation was intended by the constitution, every defect 
 
 in the representation, is against the intention of the constitution. 3dly. If a re- 
 spectable part of the people in England is not represented, /'/ is a defect. 4thly. 
 If therefore, the intention of the constitution is to be regarded as the constitution, it in- 
 volves a plain absurdity , to infer a greater defect being constitutional, from a tmteUerdc* 
 feet which is unconstitutional. Jthly . The intention of the constitution must be regard- 
 ed, and practices inconsistent with its design, must be amended by it, if the happiness 
 which it means to promote and secure, is to be regarded. 6th ly. If there ia 
 not such a representation in England, as the constitution requires, there ought to be. 
 As to the resemblance above supposed. 1st. If many inhabitants of England 
 HAVE NOT a right to vote in the choice of members of the house of commons, 
 there are many who HAVE. adly. Not one inhabitant of the colonies, has that 
 right. 3dly. Some representation is better than none, though a complete one can- 
 not be obtained. The first, is a defect of mode, the latter an extinction of the sub- 
 stance. There is, to a nice observer of nature, a perceptible difference between a 
 deformed man and a DEAD man. 4thly. Proprietors of the funds, &c. tho' 
 they have no right to such vote, as proprietors, &c. may yet have it under ano- 
 ther character, as freeholders , &c. Jthly. When acting as freeholders, \&c. they 
 may take care of their interests as proprietors, Is'c. for 6thly. Their being pro- 
 prietors, &c. does not disqualify them, from acquiring and enjoying a right to 
 t>uch vote by becoming freeholders, &c. but ythly. Ey acquiring and enjoying a 
 
 right to such vote, the colonists must cease to be inhabitants of the colonies 
 
 Sthly. Their being inhabitants of the colonies therefore disqualifies them from acquir- 
 ing and enjoying the right to such vote. pthly. If those not intitled to such 
 vote in England were not bound by statutes made there, they would not be bound 
 by statutes, nor taxed at all, though possest of great property but lothly 
 The colonists are bound and taxed by the acts of their assemblies. llthly. Even 
 those not intitled to such vote in England, and incapable of obtaining it, have 
 this protection, that representatives and their electors are bound by the laws made, 
 as well as the rest of the people and the connections between the representatives , 
 their electors , and the rest of the people, all living together in the same kingdom, 
 
 t HOADLEY'S Disc, on government. 
 
( 343 ) 
 
 THE just inference therefore from these pre- 
 mises, would be an exclusion of any power of par- 
 liament over these colonies, rather than the admis- 
 sion of an unbounded power. 
 
 are so many and so intimate, that even the actually unrepresented cannot be af- 
 fected, unless the representatives and their electors are affected also. lathly. To- 
 tally different is the condition of colonists, if bound by statutes generally. By 
 tiie acts of parliament for raising a revenue in America, the commons use the 
 words, "give and grant." Can men give and grant what, they have not? Did 
 any of those acts take a single penny out the pocket of a single giver zndgrantor? 
 No. So far from it, th&t if there is any truth in the proverb, and money saved is 
 money got, these " dona ferentes" gentlemen put money into their pockets by 
 their s " loyal and dutiful" generosity. Every individual of them acquired by 
 bestowing. Pretencions thus to give, are such contradictions to fact and sense, 
 that in making them a sanction of injustice is sought from a principle of the con- 
 stitution, and in describing them, a solecism in speech becomes a proper expres- 
 sion. It must be acknowledged however, that the commons are more than 
 sound divines, for they improve upon the text, c and" count their loss for gain." 
 
 Statutes might grind us, while not an elector in England would know or re- 
 gard our sufferings if acquainted with them, he might think the statutes inflict- 
 ing them, JUST and POLITICAL. An open avowal has been made in parlia- 
 ment that it is u " the indispensiUe duty of parliament, TO TAX THE COLO- 
 NIES ;'// order to ease the gentry and people of Great-Britain" Let not Americans 
 ever forget the lordly words ! To understand them fully we should consider 
 
 Our dispute includes not only the present taxes laid upon us. The univer- 
 sal property of England was interested in mr. Hampdens suit, about a few shil- 
 lings. If the ciown had a right to those shillings, it had a right to every shilling 
 of every man in the kingdom. Great-Britain is about ONE HUNDRED AND 
 FORTY MILLIONS OF POUNDS STERLING in debt. If she can pay 
 
 s Preambles to statutes for raising a revenue in America. 
 
 c Pbilippians iii 7. 
 
 u These words are extracted from the protest of the lords on the repeal of 
 the American stamp-act sec. 6. 6 1 lorJ< were against the repeal, 33 of them 
 signed the protest. 
 
( 34,4, ) 
 
 WE well know, that the colonists are charged 
 by many persons in Great-Britain, with attempt- 
 ing to obtain such an exclusion and a total hide- 
 
 any fart of that debt, by taxing us, she may pay the whole by taxing us, if we 
 can raise the money. If we cannot, yet as we are upbraided continually in 
 pamphlets and papers with the richness of our houses, our furniture, our equi- 
 page, our tables, and our dress, she may be made to think we abound too much 
 in these conveniences. If we are reduced to the condition of French peasants, iC 
 is no matter. We belong to the people of Great-Britain : and all British sub- 
 jects but Americans, may do what they please with their own. " It is her indis- 
 pcnsible DUTY," say their lordships, " to ease herself by taxing us ;" and sure- 
 ly there is virtue enough left in a British parliament, notwithftanding all the 
 dreadful intelligence British writers send us over, to perform that " duty," ex- 
 actly. But this is net all. There are certain wicked Frenchmen and Spaniards, 
 that in every period of twenty or thirty years oblige Great-Brituin to add thirty 
 or forty millions to her debt. Upon an average, since the revolution, she runs 
 annually in debt about a million and an half. Can it be expected, her ministers 
 will be kinder to us, than they have been to her ? Where will the demand 
 upon us, where will our wretchedness flop, if \ve have not resolution enough 
 to defend ourselves ? 
 
 A statute intended to have force on the people of Great-Britain, is the case 
 of A STATE acting upon ITSELF. A statute intended to have force on the peo- 
 ple of America, is the case of ONE state acting upon ANOTHEK. The people of 
 Great-Britain, who in the first case are subjut to the ftatute in the second, arc 
 the absolute sovereigns 'who impose it on others. 
 
 " Virtual representation" then, as applied to colonists is, to borrow expres- 
 sions of the excellent archbishop Tillitscn, on another occasion, altering only 
 two words " an absurdity of that monstrous and massy weight, that no hu- 
 man authority or wit are able to support it. It will " make the very pillars 
 of St." Stephen's " crack, and requires more volumes to make it good than 
 Would fill" Westminster-Hall. 
 
( 345 ) 
 
 pendence on her. As well we k^ow the accusation 
 to be utterly false. We are become criminal in the 
 sight of such persons, by refusing to be guilty of 
 the highest crime against ourselves and our poster- 
 ity. Nolumus leges Anglice mutari. This is the 
 
 rebellion with which we are stigmatized. [We 
 
 have commited the like offence, that was objected 
 by the polite aud humane Fimbria, against a rude 
 senator of his time. We have " disrespectfully 
 refused to receive the ivbole weapon into our bo- 
 dy." We could not do it, and I he. But that 
 must be acknowledged to be a poor excuse, equally 
 inconsistent with good breeding and the supreme 
 legislature of Great- Britain.^ 
 
 FOR these ten years past we have been inces- 
 santly * attacked. Hard is our fate, when, to escape 
 the character of rebels, we must be degraded into 
 
 Yet this tnoft despicable notion has been thtfretaut, for our fellow subjects* 
 clapping muskets to our breads, and taking our money out of our pockets. 
 
 *4Geo. 3, chap. 15. 4. Geo. 3, chap. 34.5. Geo. 3, chap. 12. 5 Geo. 3, 
 chap. 45. 6 Geo. 3, chap. 13. 6 Geo. 3, chap. 52. 7 Geo. 3, chap. 41. 
 7 Geo. 3, chap. 46. 7 Geo. 3, chap. 59. 8 Geo 3, chap. 11. The resolves that 
 
 colonists may be tried in England under the 35 Hen. 8. The blockade of 
 
 Boston the Rhode-Island court, &c. &c. 
 
 v " Win their hearts, and you may soon have their Lands and purses" was 
 the advice of old lord Burlci^b to queen FAlzabdh. She \vas wise enough to 
 take it. The world knows the consequences. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 U 
 
that of slaves : as if there was no medium, between 
 the two extremes of anarchy and despotism, where 
 innocence and freedom could find repose and 
 safety. 
 
 Why should we be exhibited to mankind, as a 
 people adjudged by parliament unworthy of free- 
 dom ? The thought alone is insupportable. Even 
 those unhappy persons, who have had the misfortune 
 of being born under the yoke of bondage, imposed 
 by the cruel laws, if they may be called law r s, of 
 the land, where they received their birth, no soon- 
 er breathe the air of England, though they touch 
 her shore only by accident, * than they instantly 
 become freemen. Strange contradiction, f The 
 same kingdom at the same time, the asylum and 
 the bane of liberty. 
 
 The statutes .since the 8th year of this reign, relating to the colonies, follow 
 one another much in the same quick manner as before : hut they could not be 
 collected. Many of the statutes here mentioned, particularly those relating to 
 the admiralty courts and the commissioners of the customs, are connected with 
 a multitude of other statutes, by being compared with which, the artifices 
 nyill appear, that gradually departing from the laws of England, have at length 
 invested these courts and commissioners with such nev/, unreasonable, uncon- 
 Ititational and dangerous powers. 
 
 * Somerset's case. 
 
 f- To this contradiction, the following may be added Her policy at once to 
 keep peace with her natural tnemus, and to provoke her natural friends > whose 
 
 assistance one day 'and that day seems to be approaching in the vicissitudes 
 
 of human affairs, great as she is, she may want ; her interests, as she thinks. 
 
( 347 ) 
 
 To return to the charge against us, we can safely 
 appeal to that Being, from whom no thought can be 
 concealed, that our warmest wish and utmost am- 
 bition is, that we and our posterity may ever 
 remain subordinate to, and dependent upon our 
 parent state. This submission our reason ap- 
 proves, our affection dictates, our duty commands, 
 and our interest inforces. 
 
 IF this submission indeed implies a dissolution 
 of our constitution, and a renunciation of our li- 
 berty, we should be unworthy of our relation to her, 
 if we should not frankly declare, that we regard it 
 with * horror ; and every true Englishman will ap- 
 
 to protect and to oppress PROTESTANT countries to abhor a large standing 
 
 army, and yet voluntarily to put herself under the absolute necessity, of per- 
 petuating an immensely large one, to govern the many millions of slaves she ex- 
 pects soon to have on this vast continent. Two of the shrewdest, though not 
 best, emperors, that ever lived, Augustus and Tiberius, prohibited every man of 
 distinction from setting his foot in Egypt, w because of the importance of that 
 province to Rome. But Great-Britain, as if these numerous provinces, much 
 more remote from her, than Egypt from Rome, were of little consequence, will- 
 ingly obliges herself to trust a mighty armed power into the hands of a subject, 
 in these colonies, the tempting interest of which subject and of the people, may 
 engage them to unite in establishing an independent empire, on her own 
 model. Great-Britain ought not to forget, that Rome was ruined by keeping 
 standing armies in her provinces. 
 
 * The Priwrnates had revolted from the Rsmans, but were reduced. The 
 question was, what judgment should be given against them. This is 
 account of the glorious affair, in the 2i(l chapter ef his 8th book. 
 
 w Tac. 
 
plaud this just distinction and candid declaration, 
 [Our defence necessarily touches chords in unison 
 with the fibres of his honest heart. They must vir 
 brate in sympathetic tones. If we, his kindred, 
 should be base enough to promise the humiliating 
 subjection, he could not believe us. We should 
 suffer all the infamy of the engagement, without 
 finding the benefit expected from being thought as. 
 contemptible as we should undertake to be.] 
 
 BUT this submission implies not such insupport^ 
 able evils : and our amazement is inexpressible, 
 when we consider the gradual increase of these colo- 
 
 " Quum ipsa per se res anceps esset, prout cujusquc ingenlum erat, atrocius 
 fnitiusve suadentibus ; turn incertiora omnia unus ex Privernatib.us legatis fe- 
 cit, magis condkionis, in qua natus esset, quam praesentis necessitatis, memor: 
 qui, interrogates a quodam tristioris sentential auctore, quam panam meritos Pri- 
 uernatcs cenceret ? earn, inquit, quam mcrentur, qui se libertate digrtos cement : cujus 
 qHum feroci response infestiorea factos videret consul eos, qui ante Privernati- 
 um causam impugnabant ; ut ipse benigna interrogatione mitius responsum eli- 
 ceret, ^uid, si pcenam, inquit, remittimus vobis, qualem nos pacem iiobiscum habituros 
 speremui ? Si bonam dederitls, inquit, Iff jidam, tfJ* perpduam : si malam y baud diu- 
 turnam. Turn vero minari, nee id ambigue Privernatem quidam, & illis vo- 
 cibus ad rebellandum incitari pacatos populos, pars melior senatus ad meliora 
 responsun^ trahere, & dicere, viri, ty liberl^ vocem auditam, an credi posse, ullum 
 populum, aut hominem ddnique, in ea conditions, cujus eum pteniteat, diutius, quam ne- 
 case sit, mansurum ? Ibi pacem cssejidam, ubi voluntarii pacati tint : neque eo loco, 
 vbi servitutcitt esse vdint,Jidcm spcrandam esse. In hanc sententiam maxime consul 
 ipse inclinavit-animos, identidem ad principes sententiarum consulares, uti ex- 
 audiri posset a pluribus, dicendo, Eos demum, qui ni'inl, prceterquam de libertate^ 
 cogiteni, dignos esse, git: Romani Jiant . Itaque & in senatu causam obt'nuere, & 
 ex auctoritate Patrum latum ad populum cst, ut Privernatibus CIVITAS 
 
 TUR." 
 
( 349 ) 
 
 nies, from their slender beginnings in the last centu- 
 ry to their late flourishing condition, and how pro- 
 digiously, since their settlement, our parent state 
 has advanced in wealth, force and influence, till she 
 is become the first power on the sea, and the envy 
 of the world- that these our better days should not 
 strike conviction into every mind, that the freedom 
 and happiness of the colonists are not inconsistent 
 \vith her authority and prosperity. 
 
 THE experience of more than one hundred years 
 will surely be deemed, by wise men, to have some 
 weight in the scale of evidence to support our opini- 
 on. We might justly ask of her, why we are not 
 permitted to go on, as we have been used to do 
 since our existence, conferring mutual benefits, 
 thereby strengthening each other, more and more 
 discovering the reciprocal advantages of our con- 
 nection, and daily cultivating affections, encour- 
 aged by those advantages ? 
 
 [WHAT unknown offences have we committed 
 against her within these ten years, to provoke such 
 an unexampled change in her conduct towards us ? 
 In the last war, she acknowledged us repeatedly, 
 to be faithful, dutiful, zealous and useful in her 
 cause. Is it criminal in us, that our numbers, by 
 the favour of Divine Providence, have greatly in- 
 increased ? That the poor choose to fly from their 
 
( 350 ) 
 
 native countries in Europe to this continent ? Or ? 
 that we have so much improved these woods, that 
 they are not only very valuable to us, but also high- 
 ly beneficial to Britain herself? 
 
 IT cannot with truth be urged, that projects of 
 innovation have commenced with us. Facts and 
 their dates prove the contrary, f Not a disturbance 
 has happened on any part of this continent, but in 
 consequence of some immediately preceding provo- 
 cation. 
 
 To what purpose ? The charge of our affecting 
 one great, or many small republics, must appear as 
 contemptible a madness to her, as it does to us. 
 Divided as we are into many provinces,! and inca- 
 
 j- " The winds lift up the waves," said a wise man yet we read of 
 
 a weak man, who scourged waves but he had not raised them. To excite 
 
 commotions, and then to scourged/or being excited, is an addition to the wildness 
 of a Xerxes, reserved more particularly to distinguish the present age, already 
 sufficiently notorious hy the injuries offered to the rights of human nature. 
 
 \ The genius of a JSeecaria, suggested to him the condition of a large em- 
 pire verging into servitude the only plan for saving it, and the diffi- 
 culty of executing that plan. "An overgrown republic (says he) can only be 
 saved from despotism, by subdividing it into a number of confederate republics. But 
 how is this practicable ? By a despotic dictator, who with the courage of Sylla, 
 has as much genius for building up, as that Roman had for pulling down. If 
 he be an ambitious man, his reward, will be immortal glory ; if a philosopher, 
 the blessings of his fellow citizens will sufficiently console him for the loss of 
 authority, though he should not be insensible to their ingratitude." 
 
pable of union, except against a common danger, 
 she knew, that we could not think of embarking our 
 treasures of tranquility and liberty, on an ocean of 
 
 What was argument in Italy, is reality to Great-Britain, with this additional 
 circumstance in her favour, that she must always continue, if she wisely con- 
 ducts her affairs, though less than all, yet greater than any. ^ The immense 
 advantages of such a situation, are worthy the closest attention of every Briton. 
 To a man, who has considered them with that attention, perhaps it will not 
 appear too bold to aver, that, if an archangel had planned the connection be- 
 tween Great-Britain and her colonies, he could not have fixed it on a more last- 
 ing and beneficial foundation, unless he could have changed human nature. 
 
 A mighty naval power at the head of the whole that power, a parent state, 
 
 with all the endearing sentiments attending the relationship that never 
 
 could disoblige, but with design the dependent states much more apt to 
 
 have feuds among themselves she the umpire and controuler those 
 
 states producing every article necessary to her greatness their interest, that 
 
 she should continue free arid flourishing their ability to throw a considerable 
 
 weight into the scale, should her government get UNDULY POISED she 
 
 and all those states PROTESTANT are some of the circumstances, that de- 
 lineated by the masterly hand of a Beccarla, would exhibit a plan, vindicating 
 the ways of heaven, and demonstrating that humanity and policy are nearly related. 
 An Alexander, a C<esar, a Charles, a Lewis, and others, have fought through 
 fields of blood, for universal empire. Gnat- Britain has a certainty, by population 
 tind commerce alone, of attaining to the most astonishing and well founded power 
 the world ever saw. The circumstances of her situation are new and striking. 
 Heaven has offered to her, ghry and prosperity without measure. Her wise minio- 
 ters disdain to accept them and prefer " a pepper corn" 1 
 
 So directly opposite to the interest of Great-Britain, has the conduct of ad- 
 ministration been for some time past, that it may safely be affirmed, that if their 
 view was, to establish arbitrary power over Great-Britain, schemes more dan- 
 gerous could not have been laid. To profess this purpose, would ensure a de- 
 feat. Any man, who had such a design, would first take the opportunity of 
 
 peace, TO SET ONE PART OF THE SUBJECTS AGAINST TUB OTHER. 
 
 Thtt might be done in the following manner. 
 
 *. Air. Nufrtnfs speech. 
 
blood, in a wandering expedition to some Utopian 
 port. The history of mankind, from the remotest 
 antiquity furnishes not a single instance of a people 
 
 Let every session of parliament produce a fresh injury. Give no rest, of hope 
 of rest. Let insult added to insult, fill up the vacancies between the sessions. 
 Tease and persecute into opposition. Then let ministers themselves rejoice in the 
 freedom of the press. .Let every action of the oppressed be exaggerated. Let 
 innumerable false invectives be venied in pamphlets and news-papers . Let all the pro- 
 vocations and excuses te concealed from public sight as much as possible. Load the 
 devoted with the terms of traitors and rebels- Nearly in this way Scotland was 
 treated by the arbitrary ministry of Charhs the first. But the parliament and 
 people of England had common sense and virtue. The base deception cculd not past 
 upon them. They saw the snare laid for them ; and resented it so deeply, that aa 
 army of Englishmen fled before an army of Scotchmen at Neivburn. For once it 
 \vas glorious to fly. But it required English heads and Engliih hearts to under- 
 stand and to act the part. 
 
 Thus the colonies have been treated. At last a civil war may be worked 
 up. It should be considered, as lord Mansfield expresses it whether " the play 
 is \\orth the candle." In such a war, every victory will be a defeat. If the 
 colonies are subdued, vast sums must be raised, and a prodigious army must be 
 supported, to keep them in subjection. Great-Britain must feel the weight of 
 that influence, added to the power of the crown. The colonies are increasing. 
 Who can compute the extent and effect of such an influence ? x Undone by her 
 
 x " But, on the other hand, it is to be considered, that every prince, in the 
 first parliament after his accession, has by long usage a truly royal addition to 
 his hereditary revenue settled upon him for his life ; and has never any occasi- 
 on to apply to parliament for fupplics, but upon some public necessity of the 
 whole realm. This rcftorcs to him that constitutional independence which at 
 riU first accession seems, it must he owned, to be wanting. And then, with 
 regard to po ; <ver, we may find y-erhaps that the hands of government are at least 
 sufficiently strengthened ; and that an English monarch is now in no danger of 
 being overborne by either the nobility or the people. The instruments of pow- 
 er are not perhaps so open and avowed as they formerly were, and therefore 
 are the less liable to jealous and invidious reflections ; but they are not the 
 weaker upon that account. In short, our national debt and taxes 'besides 
 the inconveniencies before-mentioned^ have also in their natural consequences 
 thrown such a. weight of power into the executive scale of government, as we 
 cannot think was intended by our patriot ancestors ; who gloriously flruggled 
 
( 353 ) 
 
 consisting of husbandmen and merchants, volunta- 
 rily engaging in such a phrensy of ambition. No. 
 Our highest pride and glory has been, with humble 
 
 victories, she mint resign her LIBERTY to some future monarch with her colonies , 
 unless she first loses them in another, way. If she is unfortunate, public cala- 
 mities may make great changes. Such changes seem to be intended by seme 
 men. Great-Britain has been led into the rubicon. She has not yet past it. 
 We consider the hostilities already practised, as the manoeuvres of a ministe- 
 rial war. We know the machinations formed against us, and the favourite 
 publications industriously spread abroad, to excite a jealousy of us among our 
 British brethren. TT 'c know how acceptable to many an earthquake would be 
 to " sink some of the colonies in the ocean" and how pleasing, to employ the 
 rest " in raising staple commodities:" that we are thought " too numerous," and 
 
 for the abolition of the then formidable parts of the prerogative, and by an un- 
 accountable want of foresight established this syftem in their stead. he entire 
 collection and management of so vast a revenue, being placed in the hands of the croivn t 
 have given rise to such a multitude of new officers, created by and removeable 
 at tue royal pleasure, that they have extended the influence of government to 
 every corner of the nation. Witness the commissioners, and the multitude of de- 
 pendents on the customs, in every port of the kingdom ; the commissioners of excise, 
 and their numerous subalterns, in every inland district : the postmasters^ and their 
 servants, planted in every town, and upon every public road ; the commissioners 
 efthe stamps, and their distributers, which are full as scattered and full as numer- 
 ous ; the officers of lie salt duty, which, though a species of excise, and conducted 
 in the same manner, are yet made a distinct corps from the ordinary mana- 
 gers of that revenue ; the surveyors of houses and ivindoivs ; the receivers of the 
 (and tax i the managers of lotteries ; and the commissioners of hackney coaches; all 
 which are either mediately or immediately appointed by the crown, and re- 
 moveable at pleasure without any reason assigned : these, it requires but little 
 penetration to see, must give that power, on which they depend for subsist- 
 ence, an influence most amazingly extensive. To this may be added the fre- 
 quent opportunities of conferring particular obligations, by preference in !oans t 
 subscriptions, tickets, re?>iittjntes, and other mon.y transactions, which will greatly in- 
 crease this influence ; and that over those persons whose attachment, on ac- 
 count of their wealth, is frequently the most desirable. All this is the natu- 
 ral, though perhaps the unforeseen, consequences of erecting cur funds of cre- 
 dit, and to support them, establishing our present perpetual taxes : the whole 
 of which is intirely new since the restoration in 1660 ; and by far the greatest 
 part bince the revolution in 1688. And the same may be said with regard to 
 
 VOL. i. 2 W 
 
unsuspecting duty* to labour in contributing to 
 elevate her to that exalted station, she holds among 
 the nations of the earth, and which, we still ardently 
 desire and pray, she may hold, with fresh accessions 
 of fame and prosperity, till time shall be no more. 
 
 liow much it would be judged by some for the interest of Great-Britain, if a 
 pestilence should sweep off " a million and a half" of us. These wonderful 
 lucubrations have not escaped us. But here we are, by Divine Providence, three 
 millions of souls. What can be done with us ? If we were to be considered, 
 
 the officers in our numerous army, and the places which the army has created. 
 All which put together, gives the executive power so pursuasive an energy 
 with respect to the persons themselves, and so prevailing an interest with their 
 friends and families, as will amply make amends for the loss of external pre- 
 rogative. 
 
 " But, though this profusion of offices should have no effect on individuals, 
 there is still another newly acquired branch of power ; and that is, not the in- 
 fluence only, but Deforce of a disciplined army : paid indeed ultimately by the 
 people, but immediately by the crown ; raised by the crown, officered by the 
 crown, commanded by the crown. They are kept on foot it is true only from 
 year to year, and that by the power of parliament ; but during that year they 
 must, by the nature of our constitution, if raised at all, be at the absolute dis- 
 posal of the crown. And there need but few words to demonstrate how 
 great a trust is thereby reposed in the prince by his people. A trust, that is 
 more than equivalent to a thousand little troublesome prerogatives. 
 
 " Add to all this, that, besides the civil list, the immense revenue of almost se- 
 ven millions sterling, wkich is annually paid to the creditors of the public, or 
 carried to the sinking fund, is first deposited in the royal exchequer, and 
 thence issued out to the respective offices of payment. This revenue the peo- 
 ple can never refuse to raise, because it is made perpetual by act of parliament ; 
 which also, when well considered, will appear to to be a trust of great delicacy 
 and high importance." 
 
 I BLACKSTONE'S COM. book I. chap. 8. page 334 336. 
 
 * It has been suggested," that subjects sometimes err, by not believing that 
 princes mean as well as they do." But the instances are numerous, where prin- 
 ces and their courtiers err, by nt>t believing, that subjects mean as well as they 
 do, 
 
( 355 ) 
 
 THESE being our sentiments, and, we are fully 
 convinced, the sentiments of our brethren through- 
 out the colonies, with unspeakable affiiction, we 
 
 only as 15 PROTESTANT allies, we ought to be esteemed by a wise people. 
 Such a people certainly would not be careful to disunite us from their interest- 
 to make us foes when they might have us friends. Some states have thought 
 it true policy to grant greater indulgences to remote dominions, than were en- 
 joyed by themselves : and this policy has been much applauded. The enjoy- 
 ment of valuable privileges by inferior states, under the protection of a supe* 
 rior, is a strong bond of dependence. Why should we prefer a dependence on 
 Great-Britain to a dependence on France, if we enjoy kss freedom under the for- 
 mer, than we may under the latter ? " Firmissimum imperittm, quo oledientes GAU- 
 DENT,' or as lord chief justice Cole expresses it, in his comment on the 2jth 
 of Edivard the third, " the state of a king standeth more assured by the love 
 and favour of the subject, than by the dread and fear of laws, &c." a Ought 
 
 z Great-Britain put herself to a very considerable expence last war in de- 
 fence of Portugal, because that kingdom was her ally, and she derived, great 
 advantages from an intercourse with her. But what are those advantages or 
 the affections arising from them, when compared to the advantages and affec- 
 tions that connect these colonies with Great-Britain ? Words cannot express 
 the surprize, that men free from passion must feel, on considering her impolicy, 
 in labouring to disjoin from herself the only true friends she has in the world. 
 If her ministers were pensioners of France and Spain, they could not pursue 
 measures mort pleasing and advantageous to those kingdoms. 
 
 a " During all our happy days of eoncord, partly from our national moder- 
 ation, and partly from the wisdom, and sometimes perhaps frem the careless- 
 ness of our ministers, they have been trusted in a good measure with the en- 
 tire management of their affairs ; and the success they have met with ought 
 to be to us an ever memorable proof, that tbr. inn art efgoventfttnt consists in 
 not governing too much. And why should friendship and gratitude, and long at- 
 tachments, which inspire all the relish and sweetness of private life, be suppos- 
 ed to be of no weight in the intercourse between great communities ? These 
 are principles of human nature, which act with much greater certainty on 
 numbers than on individuals. If properly cultivated they may to. us be pro- 
 ductive of the noblest benefits ; and, at all events, will neither lessen the ex- 
 tent of our power, nor shorten the duration of it." 
 
 Bishop of St. ASAPH'S Sermon, page 13. 
 
 If rulers would but listen to the voice of reason and experience, they would 
 learn this important truth, that men are more easily and effectually governed 
 by mildness than by severity. 
 
( 356 ) 
 
 find ourselves obliged to oppose that system of do- 
 minion over us, arising from counsels pernicious 
 
 both to our parent and her children to strive if 
 
 it be possible, to close the breaches made in our 
 former concord and stop the sources of future ani- 
 mosities. And may GOD" Almighty, who delights 
 in the titles of just and merciful, incline the hearts 
 of all parties to that equitable and benevolent temper, 
 which is necessary, solidly to establish peace and 
 harmony, in the place of confusion and dissension. 
 
 THE legislative authority claimed by parliament 
 over these colonies consists of two heads firft, a 
 general power of internal legislation ; and secondly, 
 a power of regulating our trade ; both, she con- 
 tends are unlimited. Under the first, may be inclucl- 
 
 Great-Brttain to despise the advantages she actually receives ivitb safety from us, 
 because by the adoption of Spanish maxims, she might ivith danger extort more ? 
 
 It is the duty of every colonist to oppose such maxims. They threaten ruin 
 to our mother country and to us. We should be guilty of treason against 
 our sovereign and the majesty of the people of England, if we did not oppose 
 them. England must be saved in America. Hereafter, she will rejoice that we 
 have resisted and thank us for having offended her. Her wisdom will in a short 
 time discover, the artifices that have been used by her worst enemies to enflame 
 her against her dutiful children ; that she has supported not her own cause, 
 but the cause of an administration ; and will clearly distinguish, which will most 
 conduce to her benefit, safety, and glory, tvell treated and affectionate colonies, or 
 millions cf slaves, an unnatural increase of her standing forces, and an addition to the inf,:;* 
 wee of the crcivti, defying all calculation. 
 
( 357 ) 
 
 ed among other powers, those of forbidding us to 
 fworship our Creator in the manner we think most 
 
 acceptable to him imposing taxes on us 
 
 collecting them by their own officers inforcing 
 
 the collection by admiralty courts or courts martial 
 
 abolishing trials by jury establishing a 
 
 standing armyj among us in time of peace, with- 
 
 f See Canada bill. 
 
 \ The army under the command of general GAGE, in the province of Mns- 
 
 sacbusetts-Bay alone, amounts to several thousand men kept there -without 
 
 foment of their assembly, and to be augmented as the general shall think proper. 
 
 " I must own, sir, I can see but one reason for raising at this present juncture, 
 this additional number of troops, and that is to strengthen the hands of the 
 minister against the next elections, by giving him the power of disposing of 
 (ommissions to the sons, brother ?, nephews, cousins, and friends of such as have in- 
 terest in boroughs into some of which perhaps, troops may be sent to procure 
 the free election of their members, in imitation of the late Czarina sending 
 her troops into Poland to secure the free election of a king. 
 
 " But still there is one thing more fatal than all I have yet named, that must 
 be the consequence of so great a body of troops being kept on foot in England, 
 and -will It the finishing stroke to all our liberties. For as the towns in England will 
 not be able much longer to contain quarters for them, most of those who keep 
 public houses being near ruined by soldier's billeted on them ; so on pr^h'nce ofihc 
 necessity of it t barracks will be built for quartering them, which will be as so 
 many fortresses ivitb strong garrisons in them, erected in all parts of England, ivhiJi 
 tan tend to nothing, but by degrees to subdue and enslave the kingdom. 
 
 " But if ever this scheme should he attempted, it will be incumbent on 
 every Englishman to endeavour to prevent it by all methods, and as it would be 
 tie last stand that could be ever made for our liberties, rather than suffer it to 
 be put in execution, IT WOULD BE OUR DUTY TO DRAW OUR SWORDS, AXD 
 NEVER PUT THEM UP, till our liberties iuere secured, and the authors of our intend- 
 
out consent of our assemblies paying them 
 
 ed slavery brought to condign punishment- I hope I Shall be forgiven, if (luting 
 
 the debates I shall take the liberty of speaking again ; for 1 am determined tofght 
 inch by inch, every proposition that tends, as I think this does, to the enslaving 
 my country." 
 
 Lord Viscount GAGE'S Speech in 1739. Parl. Deb. book nth, pag. 388. 
 See Montcsq. on standing armies. 
 
 A minister declared in the house of commons, that he should " alway* 
 consider it as a part of the constitution, that the military fhould act under the 
 civil authority." But, by order, the commander in chief of the forces has pre- 
 cedence of a governor, in the province under his government. By his majesty's 
 order, transmitted in a letter dated the 9th of February, 1765, from the 
 secretary of state to the commander in chief, it is declared, " that the or- 
 ders of the commander in chief, and under him, of the brigadiers-general, 
 commanding in the northern and seuthern departments, in all military 
 affairs, shall be SUPREME, and must be obeyed by the troops, as such, in all the 
 eivil governments in America. That in cases, -where no specific orders have been 
 given by the commander in chief, or by the brigadier-general commanding in 
 the district, the civil governor in council, and where no council there subsists, 
 the civil governor, may, for the benefit of bis government, give orders for the 
 marching of troops, the disposition of them, for making and marching detach- 
 ments, escorts, and such parely military services within his government, to 
 the commanding officer of the troops, 'who is to gi<ve proper order for carrying the 
 same into execution : PROVIDED they are not contradictory ts, or incompatible ivith y 
 any order he may have received from the commander in chief, or the briga- 
 dier-general of the district." 
 
 In May, 1769, the house of representatives for Mas saehu* cits-Bay, requested 
 governor Bernard " to give the necessary and effectual orders for the removal 
 of the forces by sea and land out of the fort of Boston, and from the gate of the 
 city, during the session of the said assembly ;" to which he answered- " gentle- 
 men, I have no authority over his majesty's ships- in this port, or his troops within 
 this town, nor can I give any orders for their removal. 
 
 May 3 1, 1769. fra. Bernard" 
 
( 359 ) 
 
 with our money seizing our young men* for re- 
 cruits changing constitutions of governmentf 
 
 Thus, our governors, the captains-general and commanders in chief, repre- 
 senting the sovereign, and known to the constitution of these colonies, are 
 deprived of their legal authority, in time of peace, by an order and a perpetual 
 dictatorial power established over us. To accomplish this great purpose, it was 
 thought proper during the last war, to change the mode of granting military 
 commissions, and to pass that to the general in America under the great seal* It 
 is not known, whether this uncommon formality has been observed with regard 
 to the mijor-generals of the respective " DISTRICTS." 
 
 * The Germans have been justly celebrated in different ages, for sagacity 
 in promoting the arts, and for martial spirit ; yet how unhappy have they 
 been made in a short period of time, by that single engine of arbitrary power, 
 a standing army. Their distress was wrought up to such a degree, that thou- 
 sands, and tens of thousands, relinquished their native country, and fled to the 
 
 wildernesses of America. It was a way of thinking and acting that became 
 
 them. For Germans may truly be called the fathers of Englishmen. From b Ger- 
 many came their ancestors, and the first principles of the constitution. Gzr- 
 mans therefore seem to be more justly intitled than other foreigners to the 
 blessings of that constitution. To enjoy them, in this free country as it then 
 was, they came here, but HOW unfortunately find, arbitrary government and a 
 standing army pursuing them even into these woods. Numbers of them now 
 in these provinces, have served in the armies of the several princes in Germany, 
 and know well, that one reason with their rulers, for putting swords into their 
 hands was to cut the throats of their own fathers, brothers, and relations who 
 should attempt to relieve themselves from any part of their miseries. Their 
 former sovereigns are now completing, it is said, the cruel tragedy of tyranny. 
 They will not suffer those they have made wretched, to seek for a more tole- 
 rable existence in some other part of the globe. It is their DUTY, say these 
 unfeeling princes," to be unhappy, and to renounce all hopes of relief." They 
 are prohibited from leaving their country. Those who have already escaped 
 
 f Bill for changing the constitution of 
 b I BLACKSToxE,pagc. 147. 
 
( S6o ) 
 
 stopping the press declaring any action, even a 
 
 meeting of the smallest number, to consider of 
 peaceable modes to obtain redress of grievances * 
 
 high treason taking colonists to Great-Britain 
 
 to be tried f exempting " murderers" J of colo- 
 nists from punishment, by carrying them to Eng- 
 land , to answer indictments found in the colonies 
 
 shutting up our ports prohibiting us 
 
 from slitting*]" iron to build our houses, ma- 
 king || hats to cover our heads, or clothing to cover 
 the rest of our bodies, 8cc. -\\. 
 
 into these colonies, remember what they and their parents suffered In German^. 
 The old tell the stories of their oppressions to the younger; and however i-r.~ 
 probable it may appear on the other side of the Atlantic, it is asserted by persons 
 well acquainted with this people, that they have very little inclination TO SUF- 
 FER THE SAME CRUELTIES AGAIN ill America. 
 
 * General Gage's proclamation, dated June 29, 1774. 
 
 \ Resolves in the house of lords on 35th Hen. 8. chap. ctd. 
 
 \ Bill for the administration of justice, &c. 
 
 Boston act. 
 
 *i| 23d Geo. i chap. 29. 
 
 jj 5th Gco. a. chap. 33. 
 
 f4 If Great-Srtiam has a constitutional power to prohibit us from slitting 
 iron as sbs bjs done, she has a constitutional power, that is, a r>W>/, to prohibit us 
 from raising- grain for our food; for the principle that supports one law, will 
 support the other. What a vast demand must be made on her for this article, 
 and how firmly would her dominion be established, if we depended wholly on 
 her for our daily bread ? Her modern writers consider colonists as slaves of 
 
IN our provincial legislatures, the best judges 
 in all cases what suits us founded on the im- 
 
 Great-Britain shut up in a large workhouse, constantly kept at labour, in procur- 
 ing such materials as she prescribes, and wearing such clothes as she sends. 
 Should she ever adopt the measure abovementioned, and on our complaints of 
 grievances, withhold food from us -what then ? why then, on her principle- 
 it would be our right TO BE STARVED. To say in such casc\~vc should have 
 
 any other right, would be a " trailerous and rebellious denial of the supreme legis- 
 lature of Great-Britain" for she" has power of right to bind us by statutes in all 
 eases whatsoever." 
 
 Let not any person object that the supposition of such a case is the suggesti- 
 on of fancy. The Carthaginians, those masters in the sublime politics of commerce 
 politics that have produced so many dreadful scenes upon earth, forbad the Sar- 
 dinians to raise corn, in order to keep them in due subjection. The East-Indies t 
 St. Vincents, the proceedings at Rhode- Island, and the Boston act, &c. give rise 
 to many alarming apprehensions in America. There are few men on this con- 
 tinent would be as much surprized at that measure, as at some late measures. 
 The beginning justifies any apprehensions. Power debauches the affections 
 The improbability of cases happening, is no answer in such important conside- 
 rations. The laudable spirit of commerce may be inflamed into rapacity and 
 cruelty in a nation as well as in an individual. We must regard the POW- 
 ER claimed by Great-Britain, not solely her ivi/lor contingencies depending on that 
 if/7/. If she affixes no limits to her fo-wer, why should we affix any to its effects ? 
 " I know (says mr. Hoadly) it is next to impossible, that any such case should 
 happen : but if buch things be said, and such cases, in effect, be put, it is necessa- 
 ry to speak, up'-n the supposition of such cases. And methinks it is but a narrow 
 spirited proceeding in us to go just no farther in our notions, than a compliance 
 with our oivn present condition for ceth us ; to exclude from our regard the condi- 
 tion of all other nations, and all cases, but just that, which hath happened last of 
 all in our own." 
 
 That the plan of governing us, by withholding necessaries of life, has been con- 
 sidered, and in what light colonies arc viewed at home, the following extract* 
 will partly shew. 
 
 VOL. i, 2 X 
 
( S62 ) 
 
 mutable and unalienable rights of human nature, 
 the principles of the constitution, and charters and 
 
 " It appears that the original and grand evil attending them was, the settle- 
 ment of so considerable a part in a climate incapable of yielding the commodities 
 wanting in Britain. 
 
 " These northern colonies, long after their disadvantageous nature was known, 
 were continually increased by fresh migrations from Europe ; which, as I before 
 observed, ought totally to have brcn prevented, and such migrations have been 
 en couraged only to the beneficial colonies. 
 
 " Since the late war, Britain laid the trade of the colonies under some very- 
 strict regulations, which certainly cut off many inlets by which they formerly 
 received much Spanish and Portuguese coin. The principle upon which such re- 
 gulations were formed, of securing to the mother country alone all matters cf 
 commerce^ I have already attempted to prove just and necessary. 
 
 " When once their supernumeraries are become manufacturers, it will re- 
 quire more than British policy to convert them into planters. 
 
 "* l I must think this point of such great importance, as to extend probably 
 
 to the annihilation of manufactures in our colonies To conclude, it is in the 
 
 proposed settlement on the Ohio we must first look for hemp and flax ; as such 
 great numbers of the old American farmers have removed and settled there, which 
 may, in those fertile tracts, be cultivated in such abundance, as to enable us to 
 undcrsel all the world, as well as supply our own consumption. It is on those 
 high, dry, and healthy lands that vineyards will be cultivated to the best ad- 
 vantage, as many of those hills contain quarries of stone, and. not in the un- 
 healthy sea-coasts of our present colonies. To these we should bring the set- 
 tlers from Europe, or at least suffer none to go north of New-York ; by which 
 means our numbers would increase in those parts, where it is our interest they 
 should increase ; and the report of the settlers from the new colony on the Ohio, 
 would be a constant drain of people from our unprofitable northern ones, by 
 which means they would, in future times, as well as the present, be prevented 
 froM extending their manufactures. 
 
 " What I shall therefore venture to propose, is, that the government, through 
 the means of a fcrv merchants acquainted with the American trade, that can be 
 
grants made by the crown at periods, when the 
 power of making them w~as universally aeknow- 
 
 tolerably depended upon, should establish factors at Boston, Philadelphia, Neiv- 
 Turk, and a few other ports, for the sale of such cargoes of British manufactures 
 as should be consigned to them ; and to consist of such particularly as tvsre most 
 manufactured in the province, with directions immediately and continually to tin- 
 dcrsel all such colony manufactures. By this means the operation of the sue- 
 t-ceding measures, from, the number of hands rendered idle, would be so much 
 the easier to be executed. 
 
 " The ships which carried out such cargoes should be large bulky ones, of 
 eight, nine hundred, and one thousand tuns burden, for the sake of bringing 
 large quantities of deals, &c. back, at a lefs proportionate expence ; and pre- 
 vious to their arrival in America, cargoes of these should be ready for them. 
 The colonists should be engaged to work their iron mines, and get the pro- 
 duct ready in bars, &c. and vast quantities of deals and squared timber ready 
 for loading the ships : all which, on the certain and immediate prospect of a 
 sale, would easily be effected ; as it is well known they have more than once 
 proved to the legislature, that they could supply all Europe with these articles, 
 had they but the demand. 
 
 " But I laid it down as a rule to proceed upon, that trade, filling, and manu- 
 facturing, were put an entire stop to among the colonies. 
 
 " If the sugar islands contained ten millions of people, as a^titute of necessa- 
 ries as they are at present, Britain would be as sure of their allegiance as ske 
 is at present provided no power more formidable, than herself at sea arose for 
 their protection. 
 
 " The first dependence of our colonies, as well as all their people, is, to 
 change the terms a little, upon corn worked into bread, and iron wrought 
 into implements ; or, in other words, it is upon necessary agriculture and neces- 
 sary manufactures ; for a people who do not possess these, to think of throwing 
 off the yoke of another who supplies them ivith them, is an absurd idea. This is 
 precisely the case with our sugar islands. Let us suppose the continental colo- 
 nies to be as happy in the necessary agriculture as they really arc, but to be abso- 
 lutely without man:>fact:ires, could they throw off their allegiance to Britain, nc 
 
ledged by the parent state, a power since frequently 
 recognized by her, subject to the controul of 
 
 their numbers what they would ? No, certainly ; for that is nothing more 
 than supposing they should throw off their allegiance to hoes and spades, and 
 coats and shoes, which is absurd to imagine : can any one imagine that a rebel- 
 lion can be carried on among a people, when the greatest success mud be at- 
 tended with the loss of half the necessaries of life ! 
 
 " The following, among other effects relative to this point, would be the 
 consequences of the flan sketched out in the preceding section. 
 
 " The people would depend on Britain for those necessaries of life which re- 
 Jult from manufactures. 
 
 " The cultivation of staples would be more profitable to them than any 
 other employment whatever. 
 
 " The sale of those staples would depend on Britain. 
 
 " The people would all be spread over an immense country as planters ; 
 none of them collected in towns. c 
 
 " To which circumstances I shall add, in respect to Britain 's further po- 
 licy. 
 
 " That she should abide by the boundaries fixed already to the old colonies, 
 that of the rivers heads ; and all further settling to be in ne-w colonies, where- 
 ver they were traced. 
 
 " That she should keep the inland navigation of the continent, that is, of all 
 the great lakes and navigable rivers, to herself, and not suffer any sets of men 
 
 c " This point, which is of infinite importance, would pretty fully be occasi- 
 oned by other parts of the plan. But, to ensure so great a point, no new towns 
 should be suffered, nor even villages ; than which nothing cculd be easier to 
 manage : nor would they be any where necessary, but by the magazines of na- 
 val stores for loading ships. All possible decrease of numbers in the cities al- 
 ready inbeir.g, should be effected. So systematically absurd is it to found 
 
 towns and cities, as Britain has hitherto constantly done, in all the colonies she 
 has formed." 
 
the crown, as by law established, is vested the ex- 
 clusive right of internal legislation. 
 
 to navigate them, and thereby communicate from one part of the continent to 
 another. 
 
 " That she should never suffer any provincial troops or militia to be raised, 
 but reserve entirely to herself the defence of the frontiers, d 
 
 " That she should throw whatever obstacles she could, upon all plans of 
 communication from colony to colony, or conveniencies of speedy removals from 
 place to place. 6 
 
 " That in proportion as any colony declined in staples, and threatened not 
 to be able to produce a sufficiency of them, the inhabitants should receive 
 such encouragement to leave it, as more than to drain its natural increase, un- 
 less new staples were discovered for it. 
 
 " This is noiv the case with those I have distinguished by the title of the 
 northern colonies ; insomuch that Nova-Scotia, Canada, Neiv-England, Nciv- 
 Tork, Netv-Jeney, and Pennsylvania, would be nearly of as much benefit to this 
 country BURIED IN THE OCEAN, as they are at present." 
 
 Political Essay*, published in Louden, under ministerial patronage. 
 
 The conduct of administration corresponds exactly with the sentiments of 
 this modern writer, and with the measures pursued by Plilip the second of 
 Spain against the LOIV Countries. The reasons given by one in administration for 
 attacking the colonies, feem to be copied ; with some small alterations on ac- 
 count of religion , from the famous advice of the unfeeling d .ke of Aha, that 
 " specie retinendas dignitatis," cost his master, his glory, his happiness, and hii 
 provinces and sunk his country into distresses, from which she is not yet re- 
 
 " Specie tuendi finium, jugum liberis provinciis meditatur." 
 
 STRADA, lib. 2. 
 
 e Thus Rome divided Maccdon into several departments, and forbade their 
 intercourse with one another ; that is, not only with thc'ir o^vn countrymen, 
 but even with their iclations and friends, residing in a different department. 
 
SUCH a right vested in parliament, would place us 
 exactly in the same situation, the people of Great- 
 
 covered. " At vero dux Albanas ARMA & ULTIONEM, contemleb.it, us-.'cum 
 Izesx auctoritati principis remedium. Quippe ceteris artibus ac diuturna faci- 
 litate nihil aliud efFeccum, quam ut regi cbedientia, rebellious timor adimere- 
 tur. Postulasse frlnclpio Belgas, ut Hispanus e provlncia miles exced-;ret -. id 
 scilicet unum deesse constantes ad quictem populorum. Num propterea, Imps- 
 trata externorum miss'ione quievisse ? An potius & confidentius efflagitasse, ut 
 clavo deturbaretur GRANVELLANUS. At uniu* forte naufragio complacatos 
 fuisse ventos. Quin immout liccntia crcscit facilius homines a nostra facilita- 
 te securi llbdlh deridiculis > faglgiosis conipirationibus improbis palam carmini- 
 bus minis precibus armatls extorcerent quod averent obstinatis invrrec^nJ.*: 
 legationibus Hispaniam FATIGARENT Hie quoque visum clementiae princi- 
 pis aliqua indigna posccntibus indulgere. Enim vero quid ex ilia indulgentia 
 relatura, nisi ut votorum ubique compotes, non parendo ; subditos sese oblivis^ 
 cerentur, obseqium dediscerent, atque exuta principis reverentia, communicata 
 provinciarum defectione, tanquam culpas societate tutiores, humana omnia con- 
 trectats semel libertati post haberent. Nunc vero non unlus dvitatis, sed fro- 
 vlndarum consensu peccatum esse in regem. Nee quia rebelles in presentia 
 conquiescant, minus ferociae animis inesse, resumpturos atique vires, ubi melunt 
 vltionis abjecerint. Sic ille PRONUS AD ASPERIORA, disserebat." 
 
 STRADA de bello Sefguo t \&. 6. 
 
 It is evident that the Brlilsl ministers have diligently studied StraJj. and 
 the other authors who have transmitted to posterity the pleasing and instruc- 
 tive annals of Philippic policy, as every measure they have taken, is founded on 
 a precedent fet by that celebrated school of humanity. 
 
 Aha is the favourite master on his conduct they keep their eyes steadily 
 and reverently fixed, and it may truly be said they follow him with no une- 
 qual steps. Great, good, and wise men ! whom fome future Puffendorf or Tem- 
 ple will duly celebrate. 
 
 " In 1564, GRANVILLE was removed from the council, to appease the peo- 
 ple. Their joy was short lived ; for as the same measures were pursued, it 
 soon began to be said publicly, that though his body was removed from, bis spirit 
 
Britain would have been reduced to, had James 
 the first and his family succeeded in their scheme 
 
 still influenced the council. Upon application for a relaxation of the edicts, it 
 was said, that moderation bud only made mutters ivorse, and the observation of them 
 \vas again enjoined upon more severe penalties than before. 
 
 " At length an ASSOCIATION was entered into, for mutually defending 
 each other. This being signed by above 400 persons of quality, who all pro- 
 tested, that they meant nothing but the honor of God, the glory of the king, 
 and the good of their country, they met and PETITIONED, that the proclamation, 
 might be revoked: but die king would consent to no mitigation. Good advice 
 was given to him. But the duke VAlva't violent counsel, ivho proposed tie 
 entire abolishment of tie liberties of tie provinces* was most pleasing, and followed. 
 The cruel duke was sent into the Low Countries with a powerful army. The 
 counts D'Egmont and Horn, were immediately seized, on a pretence that they 
 had underhand, spirited up the people's disajftctisn. They were afterwards exe- 
 cuted. All who had signed the association or petition were declared guilty of S 
 HIGH TREASON, and ans'.verable for what had happened. A council, called; 
 from its cruel proceedings, h THE COUNCIL OF BLOOD, was erected for 
 trying the accused, from ivhich there ivas no appeal. (NoTE WELL) Alva himself 
 tried the accused in their otvn country , where their friends and -witnesses might at- 
 tend them, where the pains of death itself might be mitigated, by seeing 
 
 with their dying eyes, that they expired beloved and lamented. Here the dis 
 ciples exceed their tutor. This is too great a consolation to be indulged to a 
 
 colonist. He must be carried 3000 miles across the ocean that he may 
 
 not only die, but be insulted in his last moments, with the mockery of a trial, 
 where the clearest innocence stands no chance of acquital, and with the for- 
 mality of a sentence founded on a statute past before the colonies existed. On 
 the approach of the army, the prince of Orange and other lords fled; and being 
 summoned to appear before the council, in default thereof were condemned. 
 
 f " LAY THT.M AT MY FEET." Lord North's speech. 
 S See. Gen. Gage's proclamation. 
 
 h Resolutions in parliament for trying coloniots in England. Rhode Island 
 Court. Late acts for Massachusetts-Bay. 
 
of arbitrary power. Changing the word Stuarts 
 for parliament, and Britons for Americans, the 
 
 and their estates confiscated. Aha treated all, the innocent and guilty with such 
 rigor, that it gave rise to the following saying of a Spanish officer " Harcttci 
 fraxerunt templa ; boni nihil faxerunt contra : ERGO omnes debent patibttlari" 
 
 Pujfendorf's introduction Art. " Spain" and " the United Provinces." 
 
 Sir William Temple's account of the disturbances in the Lotu Countries agrees 
 exactly with the foregoing extracted out of Pujfendorf, hy which it will appear 
 with what a surprizing exactness of resemblance the affairs of the colonies 
 have been carried on by administration. 
 
 " The war with France being concluded, it was resolved to keep up the 
 troops in these provinces, and that the states should support them, which by a 
 long course of Avar was grown customary." When Philip would have put 
 Spanish garrisons into some of their towns ; and for the sake of their admitting 
 them quietly, gave the command to the Prince of Orange and Count Egmont : 
 they told him plainly, " that all the brave stands they had made against the 
 power of France, availed them but little, if they must at last be enslaved by 
 another foreign power." Puff. " The hatred of the people, the insolence of the 
 troops, with the charge of their support, made them looked upon by the in- 
 habitants in general, as the inttrunttnis oftbfir oppression and slavery, and not of their 
 defence, ivhen a general peace had left them no enemies : and therefore the States be- 
 gan here their complaints, with a general consent and passion of all the nobles, 
 as well as towns and country. And upon the delays diat were contrived or 
 fell in, the states first refused to raise any more monies either for the Spaniards 
 pay, or their own standing troops : and the people ran into so great despair, 
 that in Zealand they absolutely gave over the working at 'their dykes, suffering 
 the sea to gain every tide upon tie country, and resolving, as they said, rather to be 
 devoured by that element, than by the Spanish soldiers ; so that at last the king 
 consented to their removal. Another grievance was the appointment of neitt 
 judges, i and those absolutely depending on the king, &c." 
 
 i Admiralty courts. Rhode-Islam, court for enforcing the statute of 35 
 Hen. 8. Act for regulating the government of Massachutetts-Bay. Act for admi- 
 nistration of justice, &c. 
 
arguments of the illustrious patriots of those times, 
 to whose virtues their descenclents owe every bless- 
 
 " GRANVILLE, strained up to the highest his master's authority and the ex- 
 ecution of his commands, while the provinces were resolute to protect the li- 
 berties of their country, against the admission of this new and arbitrary judica- 
 ture, unknown to all ancient laws and customs of their country. The king at last con- 
 sented to GRAXVILLK'S recess. Then all noise of discontent and tumult was appeas- 
 ed. But quickly after the same counsels were resumed. The disturbances then 
 grew j/m/ter than before. But by the prudence and moderation of the dutchess 
 of Parma, the governess, the whole estate of the provinces was restored to its 
 former peace. This dutchess, and the duke of Fcria, one of the chief ministers 
 in Spain, thought and advised, that the THEN PRESENT PEACE OF THE PRO- 
 VINCES OUGHT NOT TO BE INVADED BY NEW oqcAsioNs, nor the royal au- 
 thority lessened, by the king being made a party in a war upon his subjects. 
 But the king was immoveable ; he dispatched Alva into the low country at the 
 head of ten thousand veteran Spanish and Italian troops, under the command of 
 the best officers, which the wars of Charles the fifth, or Philip the second had bred 
 up in Europe ; which, with two thousand more in the provinces, under the com- 
 mand of so old and renowned a general as the duke of Aha, made up a force, 
 which nothing in the low countries could look in the face with other eyes, than 
 of astonishment, submission or despair. This power was for the assistance rf 
 the governess, the execution of the laws, the suppressing and. punishing all who had 
 been authors or fotaentors of the late disturbances. k On his arrival the governess 
 having obtained leave of the king, retired out of the province. The duke of 
 Alvj. was invested in the government, ivitb powers iiever before given to any go- 
 vernor. A council, called the council of blood, 1 was erected for the trial of all 
 crimes committed against the kings authority. The towns stomached the breach 
 of their charters, the people of their liberties, the knights of the golden fleece the 
 ebarter -jf their order, by these new and odious courts of judicature ; all complain of 
 the disuse of tie staffs, m of the introduction of armies, but all in vain. The king 
 
 k See speeches in parliament, and preambles to the late acts. 
 1 See note in page 367. 
 
 m Frequent dissolutions of assemblies and their total uselessness, if parlia- 
 ment taxes us. 
 
 VOL. i. 2 Y 
 
( 37 ) 
 
 ing they now enjoy, apply with inexpressible force 
 and appositeness, in maintenance of our cause, and 
 
 was constant to what he had determined. Aha was in his nature cruel 
 and inexorable. The new army was fierce and brave, and desirous of no- 
 thing so much as a rebellion in the country. The people were enraged, 
 
 but awed and unheaded. All was seizure and process; confiscation and 
 
 Imprisonment;' Hood and horror; insolence and dejection; punishments 
 
 executed, and meditated revenge. The smaller branches were lopt off a 
 pace ; the great ones were longer a hewing down. Counts Egmont and Horn 
 lasted several months ; but at length, in spite of all their services to Charles 
 the fifth, and to Philip, as well as of their new merits in quieting of the pro- 
 vinces, and of so great supplications and intercessions as were made in their fa- 
 vour, both in Spain and Flanders, they were publicly beheaded at Brussels , which 
 *cemed to break all patience in the people ; and by their end to give those 
 commotions a beginning, which cost Europe so much blood, and Spain a great 
 part of the low country provinces. The war begun, Alva had atjirst great 
 *ucces3. Moved with no rumors, terrified with no threats from a Irolsn and 
 unarmed people, and thinking no measures or forms were any more necessary to 
 be observed in the provinces ; he pretends greater sums are necessary for the/./y 
 and retoard of his victorious troops then were annually granted upon the ling's re- 
 quest by the states of the provinces : f JVbfc, Here our ministers have again improv- 
 ed upon Philip*s\ for they have taxed us, without making requests.) n And 
 therefore demands a general tax of the hundredth part of every man's estate, 
 to be raised at once: and for thefuture, the twentieth of allimmovable, and the 
 eighteenth of all that was sold. The states with much reluctancy consent to the 
 first, as a thing that ended at once. They petition the king, but without redress / 
 draw out the year in contests, sometimes stomachful, sometimes humble with 
 the governor : till the duke, impatient of delay, cause* the edict, "without consent 
 
 n Another advantage the British ministers have over the Spanish in depth 
 of policy, is very remarkable. Spain was a great empire. The Low Countries 
 a mere speck, compared with it. Spain was not a maritime state that depend- 
 ed upon them for the supply of her revenue. Had they been sunk in the sea, 
 she would scarcely have felt the loss. Her prospect of success was almost cer- 
 tain. France, her then inveterate enemy, exhausted by a civil war, and divided 
 into two powerful parties. Every circumstance is directly the reverse to Great- 
 Britain in her present contest with the colonies. " Siquidem verissimum est, 
 igncm tectis injicere, et injecto spatium tnodumque. Statuere, non esse in ejus- 
 tiein manu.' STRADA, lib. 7. 
 
in refutation of the pretensions set up by their too 
 forgetful posterity, over their unhappy colonists. 
 Confiding in the undeniable truth of this single po- 
 
 tfthc states, to be published. The people refused to pay ; the soldiers begin to levy 
 by force ; the townsmen all shut up their shops ; the people in the country forbear the 
 market ; so as not so much as bread aad meat is to be bought in the town. The 
 duke is enraged ; calls the soldiers to arms ; and commands several of the inhabi- 
 tants ivho refused the payments , to be hanged that very night upon their sign posts ; 
 which moves not the obstinacy of the people. And noiv the officers and the guards 
 are ready to begin the executions, when news comes to town of the taking of the 
 Briel, by the Gueses, and of the expectation that had given of a sudden revolt 
 in the province of Holland. 
 
 " This unexpected blow struck the duke of Alva, and foreseeing the conse- 
 quences of it, because he knew the stubble was dry, and now he found the fire 
 was fallen in, he thought it an ill time to make an end of the tragedy in Bra- 
 bant, whilst a new scene was opened in Holland ; and so giving over for the 
 present his taxes and executions, applies his thoughts to the suppression of this 
 new enemy that broke in upon him from the sea. And no<w began that great 
 commotion in the Loiv Countries, which never dvwWbut in the loss of those pro- 
 vinces, when the death of the royal government gave life to a new common- 
 wealth." 
 
 Observations upon the UNITED PROVINCES of the Netherlands by sir Wil- 
 liam Temple* 
 
 Philip and his junto of cabinet ministers thought themselves no doubt very 
 wise, and politic as so many Macliiavcls. But what says, and will say man- 
 kind as long as the memory of those events is preserved ? That their counsels 
 were despicable, their motives detestable, and their minds like those described 
 by the bifhop of Lerida, that exactly resembled the horns of the cows in bib 
 country little^ " hard and crooked." 
 
 Beggars they were called so in contempt, when \\iey petitioned. The peo- 
 ple thereupon assumed that name, perhaps to keep up the memory of an inmh 
 
 tc cas toned by their loyalty. 
 
( 372 ) 
 
 s'tion, that, " to live by one man's f will, Became 
 the cause of all men's misery," they generously 
 suffered. And the worthy bishop before men- 
 
 j- Hooker. " For a man to be tenant at ivlll of his liberty, I can never agree 
 to it. It is a tenure, not to be found in all Littleton." 
 
 Speech of sir Edivard Coke. 
 
 " Eliam si domlnut non sit molfstitf ) tcimen mlscrrlmum est, posse si vclit." 
 
 CICERO. 
 
 -" The free, 
 
 Know no getitle tyranny." ROWE. 
 
 The whole country of the seven United Provinces is not as large as one half 
 of Pennsylvania : and when they began their contest with Philip the second for 
 their liberty, contained about as many inhabitants as are now in the province 
 of Massachusetts-Bay. Philip's empire then comprehended in Europe, all Spain 
 and Portugal, the two Sicilies, and such provinces of the Low Countries as adher- 
 ed to him many islands of importance in the Mediterranean the Milanese 
 and many other very valuable territories in Italy and elsewhere. In Africa and 
 Asia, all the dominions belonging to S/j/w'and Portugal ia America the im- 
 mense countries subject to those two kingdoms, with all their treasures and 
 yet unexhausted mines, and the Spanish Wai-Indies. His armies were numerous 
 and veteran, excellently officered, and commanded by the most renowned ge- 
 nerals. So great was their force, that during the wars in the Loiu Countries, 
 his commander in chief the prince of Parma, marched twice into France, and 
 obliged that great general and glorious king Henry the fourtii, to raise at one 
 time the fiege of Paris, and at another, that of Roan. So considerable was the 
 naval power of Philip, that in the midst of the same wars, he fitted out his 
 dreadful armada to invade England. Yet seven little provinces, or counties, as 
 we should call them, inspired by one generous resolution " to die free, ra- 
 ther than to live slaves," not only baffled, but brought down into the dust, that 
 erormous power, that had contended for universal empire, and for half a cen- 
 tury, was the terror of the world. Such an amazing change indeed took place, 
 that those provinces afterwards actually protected Spain against the power of 
 France. 
 
( 373 ) 
 
 tinned, who, for strenuously asserting the princi- 
 ples of the revolution, received the unusual honour 
 of being recommended by a HOUSE OF COMMONS 
 to the sovereign for preferment, has justly observ- 
 ed, that misery is the same, whether it comes from 
 the hands of MANY or of ONE. 
 
 tc IT could not appear tolerable to him (meaning 
 inr. Hooker, author of the ecclesiastical policy) to 
 lodge in the governors of any society an unlimited 
 authority, to annul and alter the constitution of the 
 government, as they should see fit, and to leave to 
 the governed, the privilege only of ABSOLUTE SUB- 
 JECTION in all such alterations;* or to use the 
 parliamentary phrase, " in all cases whatsoever." 
 
 FROM what source Can Great-Britain derive a 
 single reason to support her claim to such an enor- 
 mous power ? That it is consistent with the laws 
 of nature, no reasonable man will pretend. That 
 it contradicts the precepts of Christianity, is evi- 
 dent. For she strives to force upon us, terms which 
 she would judge to be intolerably severe and cruel, 
 if imposed on herself. " Virtual representation" 
 is too ridiculous to be regarded. The necessity of 
 a supreme sovereign legislature internally superin- 
 tending the whole empire, is a notion equally unjust 
 
 f Ho AD LEY'S disc, en gcvcniir.cnt. 
 
( 374 ) 
 
 and dangerous. " The pretence (says mr. justice 
 Blackstone, speaking of James the first's reign) for 
 which arbitrary measures, was no other than the 
 
 TYRANTS PLEA Of the NECESSITY OF UNLIMITED 
 
 POWERS, in works of evident utility tothef public, 
 the supreme reason above all reasons, which is the 
 salvation of the king's lands and people." This 
 was not the doctrine of James only. His son un- 
 happily inherited it from him. On this flimsey 
 foundation was built the claim of ship-money, &c. 
 Nor were there wanting men, who could argue, from 
 the courtly text, that parliaments were too stupid or 
 
 f With such smooth words may the most dreadful designs be glossed over. 
 
 " There are some men who call evil, good, and bitter, sweet. Justice, i* 
 
 now called popularity and faction" Purl. hist. 8. 193. 
 
 " A man shall not unprofitably spend his contemplation, that upon this occa- 
 sion considers the method of GOD'S justice (a method terribly remarkable in 
 many passages, and upon many persons, which we shall be compelled to remem- 
 ber in this discourse,) that the same principles, and the same application of those 
 principles should be used to the wresting all sovereign power from the crown, 
 which the crown had a little before made use of for the extending its authori- 
 ty and power, beyond it's bounds, to the prejudice of the just rights of the subject , A 
 SUPPOSED NECESSITY was then thought ground enough to create a power, and 
 a bare averment of that necessity to beget a practice to impose -what tax they thought 
 convenient upon the subject, by writs of ship-money never before known, and a 
 supposed necessity now, and a bare averment of that necessity, is as confidently, 
 and more fatally, concluded a good ground to exclude the crown from the use 
 of any power, by an ordinance never before heard of, and the same maxim of 
 " salus populi suprema lex," which had been used to the infringing the liberty 
 of the one, made use of for destroying the rights of the other." 
 
 Lord Clar-etiddjfs hist. book. 5> p^JC. 54. 
 
( 375 ) 
 
 too factious to grant money to the crown, when it 
 was their interest and their duty to do so. This 
 argument however, was fully refuted, and slept 
 above a century in proper contempt, till the poste- 
 rity of those, who had overthrown it, thought fit to 
 revive the exploded absurdity. Trifling as the pre- 
 tence was, yet it might much more properly be 
 urged in favour of a single person, than of a multi- 
 tude. The counsels of a monarch may be more se- 
 cret. His measures more quick. In passing an 
 act of parliament for all the colonies, as many men 
 are consulted, if not more, than need be consulted, 
 in obtaining the assent of every legislature on the 
 continent. If it is a good argument for parliament, 
 it is a better against them. It therefore proves 
 nothing but its own futility. The supposed advan- 
 tages of such a power, could never be attained but 
 by the destruction off real benefits, evinced by facts 
 to exist without it. The Swiss Cantons, and the 
 United Provinces, are combinations of independent 
 states. The voice of each must be given. The in- 
 
 j- Thus the patriots of Charles's days argued " It is not, that skip-money 
 
 hath been levied upon us, but it is, that thereby ship-money is claimed, which 
 is the gift and EARNEST PENNY OF ALL WE HAVE : it is not, that our per- 
 sons have been imprisoned, for the payment of ship-money, but that our PER- 
 SONS and LIVES are, upon the same ground of laiv delivered up to will anJ plea- 
 sure, ft is, that our BIRTH-RIGHT is destroyed, and that there hath been an 
 endeavour to reduce us to a loiver state than -villainage. The lord might tax hi 
 villain, de haut et dc basse, might imprison him, but his LIFE was bis awn ; 
 THE LAW SECURED HIM THAT." Lord Clarendon, 
 
( 3/6 ) 
 
 stance of these colonies may be added: for stating 
 the case, that no act of internal legislation over them 
 had ever been past by Great-Britain, her wisest 
 statesmen would be perplexed to shew, that she or 
 the colonies would have been less flourishing tfran 
 they now are. What benefits such a power may 
 produce hereafter, time will discover. But the colo- 
 nies are not dependent on Great- Britain, it is said, 
 if she has not a supreme unlimited legislature over 
 them. " I would ask these loyal subjects of the king 
 (says the author of a celebrated invective against 
 us) f what king it is, they profess themselves to 
 be loyal subjects of? It cannot be his present most 
 gracious majesty, George the third, king of Great- 
 Britain, for his title is founded on an act of par- 
 liament, and they will not surely acknowledge that 
 parliament can give them a king, which is of all 
 others, the highest act of sovereignty, when they 
 deny it to have power to tax or bind them in any 
 other case ; r.nd I do not recollect, that there is any 
 act of assembly, in any of the colonies for settling 
 the crown upon king William^ or the illustrious 
 house of Hanover *." " Curious reasoning this." 
 
 t See note on these words " Therefore a power of regulating our trade, 
 
 involves not in it the idea of a supreme legislature over us." 
 
 * " The controversy between Great- Britain and her colonies reviewed." The 
 learned gentleman who wrote this piece, has thought proper to quit his argu- 
 ment, step out of his way, personally ahuse and severely attack the writer of 
 
( 377 ) 
 
 f It is to be wished the gentleman had " re collect '* 
 ed" that without any such " act of assembly,*' 
 none of the colonists ever rebelled. What act of 
 parliament is here meant ? Sure;y not the llth of 
 
 the " Farmer's Letters." His principal objections are the following, and the 
 answers here given may perhaps be sufficient to shew with what force his ob- 
 jections are generally urged, 1st. He says, " the v. riter of the letters, tell us, 
 that the drawbacks which are allowed on some articles upon their exportation 
 from England, amount to mere money than all the duties together which are 
 laid upon them on their arrival in the colonies will produce. I believe it is the 
 first time that the colonies of any state have complained of the injustice of the 
 mother country in laying taxes upon them, which were not sufficiently heavy, 
 nor was it ever before discovered that the proper means to redress the grievan- 
 ces of any people, were to increase their taxes" Page l6. Ansivcr. The truth of 
 the assertion in the letters is not denied. It is assumed, by the author of the 
 " controversy," as the foundation of his argument. If then, parliament would 
 have raised more money, " by staffing the drawbacks, than by laying the duties 
 to be paid in the colonies," ivby were they laid ? From respect for parliament 
 it must be supposed, they were laid for some purpose. It was not for the sake of 
 the money. For what then ? To establish a PRECEDENT for taxing the colonies, 
 says the writer of the letters. The author of the controversy does not deny 
 it ; but enters into a dissertation upon the more and the less, which is not the 
 point in question, icily. The writer of the letters says, that " an act of parlia- 
 ment commanding us to do a certain thing, if it has any validity, is a tax upon 
 us, for the expence P that accrues in complying wit!* it." In reply to this, the 
 author of" the controversy" enumerates many instances of sovereignty subject- 
 ing tic colonies to expcnce, which he supposes may be legally exercised WITUIN 
 
 P This sentence related to the dissolution of the assembly of New-Tori, for 
 
 rot complying with the act of parliament for supplying the troops.- 1 Last 
 
 session of parliament an act was passed for the more commodious quartering of the 
 troops in America. It is not yet come over ; but deserves the attention of the 
 colonists, even if it has not the remarkable features, that distinguish the produc- 
 tions of the last session. 
 
 f Idem, page 17. 
 VOL. I. 2 Z 
 
( 378 ) 
 
 Henry the seventh, chapter the 1st, in favour of a 
 
 king de facto. Probably the 12th and 13th of 
 
 William the 3d, chapter the 2d, " for the further 
 limitation of the crown, See." is intended. And, is 
 
 the colonies " BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT." Pages 23, 24. Amiver. The pro- 
 .priety of this supposition is denied, and remains to be proved. " Absurdities 
 and contradictions" are plentifully attributed to the writer of the letters, be- 
 cause he will not acknowledge, that the power of parliament " to regulate 
 trade, and preserve the connection of the whole empire in due order," involve* 
 in it a power to " tax the colonies," or " to put them to any exfence" parlia- 
 ment shall .please. A person of such sagacity as the author of the controversy, 
 might plainly huve perceived, if his resentment had not prejudiced his candor, 
 that the writer of the letters, was unwilling to give up any point, which he 
 then thought essential to the freedom and wdfore of his country, and at the same 
 time was q unwilling to propose any new subject of dispute. Justly has the 
 
 q " If any person shall imagine that he discovers, in these letters, the least 
 dislike of the dependence of these colonies on Great-Britain, I beg that such per- 
 son will not form any judgment on particular expressions, but will consider the 
 tenor of all the letters taken together. In that case, I flatter myself, that every un- 
 prejudiced reader will be convinced, that the true interests of Great-Britain are 
 as dear to me, as they ought to be to every good subject. 
 
 " If T am an enthusiast in any thing, it is in my zeal for the perpetual tl.- tenderer 
 of these colonies on their mother country. A dependence founded on mutual 
 bcneftS) the continuance of which can be secured only by muiual affections. 
 Therefore it is, that with extreme appre hension I view the smallest seeds of 
 discontent, which are unwarily scattered abroad. Fifty or sixty years will make 
 astonishing alterations in these colonies; and this consideration should render 
 it the business of Great-Britain more and more to cultivate our good disposi- 
 tions towards her : but the misfortune is, that those great men who arc 
 wrestling for power at home, think themselves very slightly interested in the 
 prosperity of their country ffty or sixty years hence, but are deeply concerned 
 in blowing up a popular cl amour for supposed immediate advantages. 
 
 " For my part, I regard Great-Britain as a bulwark, happily fixed between 
 these colonies and the powerful nations of Europe. That kingdom remaining 
 safe, we, under its protection, enjoying peace, may diffuse the blessings of 
 religion, science, and liberty, through remote wildernesses. It is therefore in- 
 contestibly our July, and our interest , to support the strength of Great-Britain. 
 
it imagined, that the words " dominions and terri- 
 tories thereunto belonging" in that statute, form his 
 majesty's title to the sovereignty of these colonies ? 
 The omission of them might have looked odd ; but 
 
 author of the controversy observed that " it would be endless to trace this 
 
 doctrine of taxes through all the consequences" page. 23. 3dly. The writer of the 
 letters says, " we are as much dependent on Great-Britain^ as a perfectly free 
 people can beon another." On this the author of the controversy kindly observes, 
 that " it is a pity the learned editor (the English editor, it is supposed) has not 
 given the public a dissertation on that most ingenious and instructive passage.'* 
 
 When confiding in that strength, she begins to forget from whence it arose, 
 it will be an easy thing to shew the source. She may readily be reminded of 
 the loud alarm spread among her merchants and tradesmen, by the universal 
 association of these colonies, at the time of the stai/tf-act, not to import any of 
 her manufactures* 
 
 " In the year 1718, the Russians and Swedes entered into an agreement, not 
 to suffer Great-Britain to export any naval stores from their dominions but in 
 Russian or Swedish ships, and at their own prices. Great-Britain was distressed. 
 Pitch and tar rose to three pounds a barrel. At length she thought of getting 
 these articles from the colonies ; and the attempt succeeding, they fell down to 
 ffteen shillings. In the year 1756, Great-Britain was threatened with an invasion. 
 An easterly wind blowing for six weeks, she could not man her fleet, and the 
 whole nation was thrown into the utmost consternation. The wind changed. 
 The American ships arrived. The fleet sailed in ten or fifteen days. There 
 are some other reflections on this subject, worthy of the most deliberate atten- 
 tion of the British parliament ; but they are of such a nature, that I do not 
 choose to mention them publicly. I thought it my duty, in the year 1765, 
 while the st.'.mp-act was in suspcnce, to write my sentiments to a gentleman of 
 great iniiucnce at home, who afterwards distinguished himself, by espousing 
 our cause, in the debates concerning the repeal of that act. 
 
 FARMER'S LETTERS, xii- 
 
 If the author of " the controversy" had seen the letter above referred to, 
 he would have found, that, the difference between the PREROGATIVE in Great- 
 Britain and in America, and the exercise of internal legislation by parliament 
 over the colonies, with some other points therein mentioned, were represented 
 in the strongest terms the writer of the letters could use, as unjust, and cer- 
 tainly tending in a few years to produce the deepest discontents. The time is 
 at length come, when silence in America on these subjects would be stupid or 
 criminal. 
 
what force is added by their insertion ? The set- 
 tlement of the crown of England, includes the set- 
 tlement of the sovereignty of the colonies. King 
 William is mentioned and will the gentleman 
 
 page. 25. Anstver. American understandings discover no inconsistency in the idea 
 of" a state being dependent, and yet perfectly free," and their temper is so 
 moderate that they would be content with that degree of freedom, which is 
 compatible with a dependence. If the proposition puzzles British understand- 
 ings, it. is presumed to be, because Britons will not give themselves the trouble 
 to think of any dependence, but of such as is destructive of all freedom ; though 
 they themselves are dependent in some measure on others, ^ly. The writer of 
 
 the letters says " if money be raised upon us by others without our consent 
 
 for our defence, those who are the judges in levying it must also be the judges 
 in applying it. [Or CONSEQUENCE, the money, said to be taken from us for our 
 defence, may be employed to our injury. We may be r chained in by a line of 
 
 fortifications obliged to pay for the building and maintaining them and 
 
 be told that they are for our defence] With what face can we dispute the 
 fact after having granted that those who apply the money, had a right to levy 
 it ? For surely it is much easier for their wisdom to understand hew to apply 
 it in the best manner, than how to levy it in the best manner. Besides the 
 right of levying is of infinitely more consequence than that of applying. The 
 people of England, who weuld burst out into fury if the crown should attempt 
 
 r The probability of this measure taking place, i.s confirmed by the CANADA 
 bill, a political device so extraordinary, as to excite surprize even in those co- 
 lonists who live in the year 1774. By this bill, it is said, the l?g'nlatijc power 
 is lodged in the governor and a few men, not Jes-s than seventeen nor more 
 than twenty-three, appointed and remove-able by the crov- n ; and the govern- 
 ment becomes wholly military. c i'rials ly jury are aibolished, though multi- 
 tudes of Enfjhh subjects settled there on the inc'Hiragenient given by the 
 king's proclamation in 1763 Ihe French laws are res.crtd, and all the coun- 
 try en tht: back of these colonies is added to Canada, 2nd ^iit itntLr the same military 
 government. This is indeed to be " Gained //;." Nothing is wanting to com- 
 plete the plan, but our money, to defray the t-xpcnce of erecting strong holds 
 among our woods and mountains^ and to bribe our Indians ; and then the expres- 
 sion of " leafing our sivonls into ploughshare^ will be reversed in an extraordina- 
 ry manner ; for our " plough-shares" will furnish the very " swords" that are 
 to cut our own throats. 
 
venture to say, that William was not king of Eng- 
 land, and sovereign of these colonies, before his 
 title was " declared" or " recognized" by u an 
 act of parliament?" The gentleman slurs over 
 
 to levy money by its own authority, have always assigned to the crown the 
 application of money." 
 
 From these words relating to Ci application" the author of " the controversy" 
 deduces a " proof," that the writer of the letters is very deficient in " his 
 knowledge of the constitution," s &c. nfiver. Is this treatment generous ? 
 In such questions ought the attack to he turned from the cause to the man ? 
 Tke writer of the letters, pretends not to be distinguished, as a " critic on 
 government" nor for " justness or elegance of composition.' f Surely, even the 
 author of " the controversy" must now be convinced of his aversion to writing, 
 as that performance, with all " the justness and elegance of its composision, 
 knowledge of the subject handled, and constitutional learning displayed in it," 
 and employed to puli to pieces the reputation of the writer of the letters, has 
 riot rouzed him during so many years since its publication, to make a single 
 effort in vindication of his character. Was it imagined, that every objection 
 was just, because not replied to ? Many reasons, besides a fear of encountering 
 objections, may prevent an answer. In truth, he cannot be called a volunteer 
 author. He never DiD,and never DARED to write, but ivhsn the honor or interest 
 
 of hi country was assaulted when duty compelled every one to contribute 
 
 what assistance he could in her defence and when he hoped, the cause 
 
 would draw some kind of a veil over his defects. He expected, he might es- 
 cape as the Spartan youth did, with some slight censure for engaging improper- 
 ly armed, but that his motive would excuse him from a severe one. How 
 well founded the present reproach is, will now be considered. One would 
 imagine, that a man of common sense on reading the foregoing extract from 
 the letters, would understand the writer plainly to mean by " Itwing" the 
 power of " taxing"' and by " applying" the power of " tiafloyimg" the money 
 
 Page 25. 
 * Pages ^^ and 25. 
 
this case. His zeal for the " illustrious house of 
 Hanover " would be little gratified, by infering, 
 that because the two^ouses with the consent of the 
 nation, made a king, therefore the two houses can 
 
 raised by taxing ; or in other terms, the actual expenditure of it. This meaning 
 is evident the conclusion being express, that " if others may be judges in ap- 
 plying money, OF CONSEQUENCE // may be employed to our injury" and then 
 
 follow some instances, in which it " may be so employed." All this is very 
 clear. How then does the very ingenious gentleman open his way to the 
 \vriter of the letters, to give him this violent blow ? By a dexterity worthy of 
 
 imi f ation tfjvitijialle. He leaves out of his quotation, all the ivords inclosed 
 
 within the last crotchet, beginning at the words " of consequence" and ending at 
 the words " oar defence," that shewed beyond a possibility of doubt in what sense 
 
 the word " applying" was used takes no notice of the omission imposes 
 
 another sense on the word and then insults, may it be said, over the sup- 
 posed mistake of saying, " that the people of England have always assigned to 
 the crown the application of money." 
 
 What sense be or others may assign to the word " application," is not the 
 point : but whether the word, taken in that sense which the writer of the letter* 
 expressly annexed to it, is used ivitb propriety by him, or whether it is used in 
 fucb a manner, as to " pfove he is very deficient in his knowledge of the consti- 
 tution ?" By that word, as he defines it, positively as language can declare any 
 meaning, he intends, the actual expenditure and "employment" of money and is 
 the reader to be tricked out of that definition^ and anotbir sense shuffled in, mere- 
 ly to impeach a man's character by slight of pen ? 
 
 HAS not the constitution " assigned to the crown the actual expenditure and 
 employment of money ?" Is not this power part of the executive ? Does not Mr. 
 justice: Blailstor.e mention this power, to shew the vast influence of the crown? 
 He particularly takes notice of it with respect to the army in these expressi- 
 ons "paid indeed ultimately by the people, but immediately by the crown ; rais- 
 ed by the crown ; officered by the crown ; commanded by the crown." 
 
 I BLACKSTONE, 330. 
 
( 3% ) 
 
 make laws. Yet that conclusion would be as jus- 
 tifiable as this that the assent of the colonies to 
 
 an election of a king by the two houses, or to the li- 
 mitation of the crown by act of parliament, proves 
 
 Is not the word " application" used here too, not only properly, at defin<(t t 
 but properly, in a constitutional sense ? 
 
 True it is, that the word is sometimes used as synonimous with appropriation, 
 though this latter seems to be the fittest word to mean the designation of money 
 to particular purposes in acts of parliament. Could it be possible, that the au- 
 thor of" the controversy" should imagine, the writer of the letters could be 
 ignorant of such designation or appropriation of money by parliament, when 
 one can scarcely open a book of statutes, without observing them ? Parliament 
 may accommodate grants of money to public necessities and may call officers 
 .of the crown to account for money, but these powers no more prove the actual 
 expenditure and employment of money to belong to parliament, than the power of 
 calling officers of the crown to account for injurious leagues, or declarations of 
 .war, proves the power of parliament to make leagues or to declare war. Besides, 
 it being contended against the colonies, that the " sovereign po-wer"* is lodged 
 in king, lords, and commons, the same persons may tax and expend, to what .ox- 
 cess and in what manner THEY PLKASE, while the colonies will have no KIND 
 OF CONTROUL over them : and, that such an union of those powers, is uncon-* 
 stitutional and dangerous to the colonies in extreme, was the point the writer 
 of the letter inoffensively ventured to insist on. 
 
 Exactly in the sense here contended for, arc the words " appropriation" and 
 " application" used in some of the best authorities. Bishop Ellys, in his tracts 
 on liberty, page 31, says " The parliament, at present, in granting money, 
 does for the most part appropriate it to particular services, whereby the applica- 
 tion of it is more effectually secured." " When any aids are given, the common* 
 only do judge of the necessities cf the crown, which cannot be otherwise made 
 manifest to them, than by inquiring, haw the money which hath been granted, 
 and revenue of the crown, is expended and applied^ " Out of the aids given by 
 
 a Words of the (cmyiom at a conference with the lords. 
 
( 384. ) 
 
 a right in parliament to bind the colonies by statutes 
 *' in all cases whatsoever." In such great points, 
 the conduct of a people is influenced solely by a re- 
 gard for their freedom and happiness. The colonies 
 have no other head than the king of England. The 
 person who by the laws of that realm, is king of that 
 realm, is our king. 
 
 parliament, (which hy the law of England are appropriated, and ought to lavf 
 been em filled in the common profit of the whole realm ^ many large sums of money, 
 during the times of such heavy taxes upon the people, have been diverted under 
 the head of secret services, and for taldriet^ bounties znd J>cnsions t &c." v 
 
 Some other unfairnesses there are in this famous piece, that need only be 
 viewed, to be refuted ; but of which, it may be said, if a " precedent" establish- 
 ed by the respectable gentleman himself, can procure pardon for the expressi- 
 on, that" they are not intitled to notice." How could he venture to assert as 
 he dots, that " the purpose of the letters was to excite resentment in the co- 
 lonies against their parent country, and to push them on to a separation from 
 her." The letters prove the contrary. Few men have exprest a warmer zeal 
 for the connexion, than the writer of them ! Yet his reputation is to be at- 
 tacked on every account, and a charge even of disloyalty directly levelled against 
 him. The author is welcome to take what other licenses he pleases in 
 his reprehensions of the writer ; but he ought not to have denied his integrity. 
 Their intentions must stand the test of a tribunal, that decides for eternity, 
 May they then appear equally pure. 
 
 True indeed ere those words of lord Clarendon. <( Let no honest man 
 
 that is once entered into the lists, think, he can by any skill or comportment, 
 prevent these conflicts and assaults but let him look upon it as a purgatory he 
 is unavoidably to pass through; and constantly performing the duties os' 
 integrity, and ujbrisltness, depend upon PROVIDENCE, and time, for a vindica- 
 tion. 
 
 v Address of the house cf commons to queen Anne. 
 
 ry history. 
 
( 385 ) 
 
 A DEPENDENCE * on the crown and PARLIA- 
 MENT of Great-Britain, is a novelty a dreadful 
 novelty. It may be compared to the engine invent- 
 ed by the Greeks for the destruction of Troy.-f It 
 is full of arrned enemies, and the walls of the con- 
 stitution must be thrown down, before it can be 
 introduced among us. 
 
 WHEN it is Considered that the king, asking of 
 England, has a power in making laws the power 
 
 of executing them of finally determining on 
 
 appeals of calling upon us for supplies in times 
 
 of war, or any , emergency that every branch 
 
 of the prerogative binds us, as the subjects are 
 bound thereby in England and that all our in- 
 tercourse with foreigners is regulated by parlia- 
 
 * This word " dependence" as applied to the states connected with v - 
 land, seems to be a new one. It appears to have heen introduced into the 
 language of the law, by the commonwealth act of 1650. A " dependence on 
 parliament" is still more modern. A people cannot be too cautious in guard- 
 ing against such innovations. The credentials of the imperial embassadors to 
 the states of Holland, were directed" to our faithful and beloved." The words 
 seem to be very kind ; but the cautious states discovered that this was the 
 stile of the imperial chancery in writing to the -vassals of tie empire. The ques- 
 tion was, whether the credentials should be opened ? and it was urged, that a 
 solemn embassy ought not to be disappointed, for a few trifling words. But 
 the states resolved to send them back unopened, which they did. Other cre- 
 dentials were then sent, with a proper direction ; and the cmbassadors were 
 well received." Arcana imp det pagc J?6 
 
 f 7 Co 18. 
 VOL. I. 3 A 
 
( 386 ) 
 
 men!. Colonists may " surely" be acknow- 
 ledged to speak with truth, and precision, in an- 
 swer to the " elegantly" exprest question " what 
 king it is," Sec. by saying that " his most graci- 
 ous majesty George the third," is the King of Eng* 
 
 land, and therefore, " tbe*king" they profess 
 
 themselves to be " loyal subjects of?" 
 
 Wfc are aware of the objection, that, " if the 
 king of England is therefore king of the colonies, 
 they are subject to the general legislative authority 
 of that kingdom." The premises by no means 
 warrant this conclusion. It is built on a mere sup- 
 position, that the colonies are thereby acknowledg- 
 ed to be within the realm, and on an incantation 
 expected to be wrought by some magic force in 
 those words. To be subordinately connected with 
 England, the colonies have contracted. To be sub- 
 ject to the general legislative authority of that king- 
 dom, they never contracted, Such a power as may 
 be necessary to preserve this connection she has. 
 The authority of the sovereign, and the authority of 
 controuling our intercourse with foreign nations 
 form that power. Such a power leaves the colo- 
 nies free. But a general legislative power, is not a 
 power to preserve that connection, but to distress 
 and enslave them. If the first power cannot sub- 
 sist, without the last, she has no right even to the 
 first, the colonies were deceived in their con- 
 
C 287 ) 
 
 tract and the power must be unjust and illegal ; 
 
 for God has given to them a better right to pre- 
 serve their liberty, than to her to destroy it. In 
 other words, supposing, king, lords and commons 
 acting in parliament, constitute a sovereignty over 
 the colonies, is that sovereignty constitutionally 
 absolute or limited? That states without freedom, 
 should by principle grow out of a free state, is as 
 impossible, as that sparrows, should be produced 
 from the eggs of an eagle. The sovereignty over 
 
 the colonies, must be * limited. Hesiod long 
 
 since said, " half is better than the whole ;" and 
 the saying never was more justly applicable, than 
 on the present occasion. Had the unhappy Charles 
 remembered and regarded it, his private virtues 
 might long have adorned a throne, from which his 
 public measures precipitated him in blood. To 
 argue on this subject from other instances of par- 
 liamentary power, is shifting the ground. The 
 connection of the colonies with England, is a point 
 of an unprecedented and delicate nature. It can 
 be compared to no other case ; and to receive a 
 just determination, it must be considered with re- 
 
 * " Ncc R E G I BU S Injinita aut liber a pottitas, was the constitution of our Ger- 
 man ancestors on the continent, and this is not only consonant to the principles 
 of nature, of liberty, of reason, and of society, but has always been esteemed an ex- 
 press part of the COMMON LAW of England, even when prerogative ivat at the 
 
 li*best. n I BLACKSTONE, 233. 
 
( 388 ) 
 
 ference to its own peculiar circumstances, f The 
 common law extends to colonies ; yet mr. justice 
 
 f The learned judge, (in vol. I. pag. 107.) says this country was not" vn- 
 inhabited when discovered and planted by the English. &c. but ought to be con- 
 sidered as a conquered, ceded, or Infidel country. Our American plantations are prin- 
 cipally of this latter sort, being obtained in the last century, either by right of 
 conquest and driving out the natives (with what natural justice, I shall not at pre- 
 sent inquire) or by treaties : and therefore the common law of England, as such, 
 has no allowance or authority there, they being no part of the mother coun- 
 try, but distinct (though dependent) dominions. They are subject however 
 to the controul of the parliament." 
 
 According to this doctrine, the colonists are considered /// a legal in civ by 
 the parent state, " as infidels or conquered people" not as her children with her 
 consent establishing societies for her benefit. Though not a single man of the 
 " infidels or conquered" people, should now be found to reside in each colony; 
 yet a political contagion is communicated to Englishmen in secula seculorum, be- 
 cause Indium once fished in the rivers, and hunted in the woods \ithh be their 
 " condition* then according to the law laid down by the judge, " they are sub- 
 ject not only to the controul of parliament" but the " king may alter and impose 
 Y 
 
 Tt is not known, what the learned judge means by the word "principally" 
 perhaps he alludes to the ill directed humanity and justice of the first settlers of 
 some colonies, who purchased the lands from the natives, for valuable and 
 satisfactory considerations. It was a very useless exercise of their virtues, for 
 their posterity. If they had by accident settled an " uninhabited" country, the 
 invaluable rights of the common law would have attended them ; but when 
 they dared to obtain a settlement by humanity zndjustice, they ybr//W all rights 
 of the common law to the latest succeeding ages. Can this be laiv ? Every case 
 quoted by the judge, it is humbly apprehended, makes a distinction between 
 stages or societies composed of English subjects, and those composed of " conquer' 
 ,rd" people, &c. and that ti'is is the only distinction warrantable by those cases. 
 
 i Bhckstone, 107, and the cases there cited. 
 
Blackstone says- " such parts of the law as are nei- 
 ther jiecessary'nor convenient for them, as the juris- 
 
 That the conquerors should be considered AS the conquered, the expellen of the na- 
 tives AS the expelled natives, and the Christian possessors and oivners by fair purchases 
 from those ivho lad a right to sell, AS the infidels no longer possessing or owning, seems 
 to involve a confusion of ideas, little agreeing with the strength of reason that 
 informs the common law. 
 
 It is very remarkable, how our ablest antagonists are perplexed in framing 
 their arguments against us. Even the learned judge does not express himself 
 with his usual perspicuity : but the want of it is well atoned, if we, colonists, 
 can be thereby Deprived of the benefits of the common law, and be absolutely 
 subjected to the king ; for these courtly tenets are the only consequences deduci- 
 ble from the curious argument that tends to involve these colonies, in the misfor- 
 tunes of " conquered, ceded, or infidel countries." The " controul of parliament," 
 is asserted to be supreme, in every case. Whecher the colonies were settled in 
 " uninhabited countries," or in " conquered, ceded, or infidel countries," makes 
 no difference as to that point. 
 
 Another learned gentleman has discovered, that we " are not intitled to as 
 great a degree of freedom as Ireland" Why ? " Because Ireland was a conquered 
 country." This remark does not seem to remove the difficulty. Let us hear 
 the point a little more explained. " Ireland it is true was conquered, but certain 
 concessions were made to the people. These were the terms granted them, but 
 England \s obliged to keep no terms with the colonists." At every step these 
 gentlemen take, those writers, who have contributed so much to the glory of 
 
 their country, turn upon them, and directly oppose them. They at first 
 
 shrink before these venerable advocates for liberty and humanity but recol- 
 lecting themselves, they distinguish and refine, in order to take away the sub- 
 stance of every argument, and to whittle down a Hooker and a Lode into a 
 
 Lestrange and a f "timer. After taking these liberties, they at length grow 
 
 bold enough to arraign the authority of any man, even mr. Lode himself, if 
 his writings cannot, by all this art, be turned to their purpose. 
 
 We need not be surprised after this, that every colonist, who ventures ho- 
 nestly, to assert, as well as he can, the cause of his native land, should be treat- 
 ed with little respect. The colonies have always been on the defensive. It it 
 
( 390 ) 
 
 diction of the spiritual courts, &c. are therefore 
 not in force.'' If even the COMMON LAW, in force 
 within the realm of England, when the colonists 
 quitted it, is thus abridged by the peculiar circum- 
 stances of colonies, at least equally just, and con- 
 stitutional is it, that the power of making new laws 
 within the realm of England, should be abridged 
 with respect to colonies, by those peculiar circum- 
 stances.^; 
 
 Loped tley will always continue so. But the author of" the controversy" charges 
 them with great cunning, a left handed wisdom, that must disgrace any people 
 because they have not resisted, in places where they were not immedi- 
 ately attacked. " It is the artifice of the managers, on the part of the 
 
 colonies, to avoid general questions, and to keep back and conceal conse- 
 quences, least the unsuspecting people of England should too soon catch the 
 alarm, and resolve to withstand their first attempts at independency." w 
 
 That is they have acted just as the " unsuspecting people of England" have 
 
 done in their controversies with the crown. They confined themselves from 
 time to time, to a demand of redress, for the injuries offered them. This be- 
 haviour of the colonistSjWould, by some persons, be deemed modest and respect- 
 ful. Now indeed the conduct of administration demonstrates to us, that we must 
 enlarge our views, and endeavour to take a prospect of all the mischiefs necesa- 
 rily attending a claim of boundless power with an unbounded inclination to 
 exercise it. The gentleman may perhaps call for fire and faggots to extirpate 
 our political heresy ; but we trust, and trust Jirmly, that, the sense and genero- 
 sity of the good people of England, will discover and defeat the present plan 
 against tlelr liberties, as they have already so many other schemes of that ten- 
 dency that they will behold their dutiful children with compassionate love, 
 
 and with just indignation those unrelenting enemies, from whom they can ex- 
 pect no other favour, but that England " shall be the last they will devour." 
 
 | The author of tke controversy, in page 31 of his work, argues thus con- 
 cerning the legislative power of Great-Britain over the colonies. " The lands 
 
 w Page 15. 
 
( 39* ) 
 
 THE laws of England with respect to preroga- 
 tive, and in other instances, have accomodated 
 
 in all the colonies having therefore been clearly shewn to be part of the domi- 
 nions of Great-Britain, and the possessors of them to hold them under authori- 
 ties and titles derived from the British state, mr. Locke would require no other 
 proof of the right of the legislative power of Great-Britain to the obedience of 
 the possessors of those lands ; for speaking of the^ manner by which a man 
 tacitly makes himself a subject of any country or government, he says, 
 
 " It is commonly supposed, that a father could oblige his posterity to that 
 government of which he himself was a subject, and that his compact held 
 them ; whereas it being only a necessary condition annexed to the land, and 
 the inheritance of an estate, which is under that government, reaches only 
 those who will take it on that condition, and so is no natural tie or engage- 
 ment, but a voluntary submission ; for every man's children being by nature 
 as free as himself, or any of his ancestors ever were, may, whilst they are in 
 that freedom, choose what society they will join themselves to, what common- 
 wealth they will put themselves under ; but if they will enjoy the inheritance 
 of their ancestors, they must take it on the same terms their ancestors had it, 
 and submit to all the conditions annexed to such a possession.'' " Whoever 
 (says he in another place) by inheritance, purchase, permission, or otherways, 
 enjoys any part of the lands so annexed to, and under the government of, that 
 commonwealth, must take it with the condition it is under ; that is, of submit- 
 ting to the government of the commonwealth under whose jurisdiction it is, 
 as far, forth as any subject of it." page 31. The ingenuity of the gentleman 
 is here again remarkable. Mr. Locke in his eighth chapter on civil govern- 
 ment " of the beginning of political societies," immediately before the words 
 abovementioned " whoever by inheritance," &c. speaks of a man who 
 " unites his person which was before free to a society for the securing and regu- 
 lating of property, and sithmits to the community those possessions which he has 
 or shall acquire, that do not already belong to ar>y other government." These 
 words the gentleman not thinking quite to his purpose in this place, separates 
 from the words of his quotation, and so gives mr. Lode's conclusion without 
 his premises. However three pages after, he is so candid, as to give the pre- 
 mises without the conclusion. How, or why ? to support this most curious 
 *ii*tuiction, that mr. L.*ele, In. that celebrated part o his argument, where 
 
( 292 ) 
 
 themselves, without alteration by statutes, to a 
 change of circumstances, the welfare of the people 
 
 speaking of " government taking the property of subjects," he says " what 
 property have I in that) ivhicb another may by right take from me ivhen be pleases" * 
 " means no more" than that the supreme legislative power has no right to take 
 the property of others without their consent, " for the private use or purpose of 
 the legislative " So that according to this construction, the constitution of a 
 well established government, or the freedom of a people, depends not on the 
 great right which GOD has given them " of having a share in the government 
 of themselves," whereby their property is secured, but merely, on the 
 "purpose? to which the property taken from them without their consent, is 
 applied by those who thus take it. And yet this gentleman has severely attack- 
 ed the writer of the letters, for using the word " purpose" in a much more: 
 eonjined sense, in saying, a " tax is an imposition on the subject for the sole pur- 
 pose cf levying money." 
 
 Mr. Lode, in the preceding chapter, speaking of monarchy says, " that 
 absolute power purifies not mens bloods. For if it be asked, what security or 
 fence arises in such a state, against the violence and oppression of the absolute 
 ruler ? the very question can scarce be borne. They are ready to tell you it 
 deserves death, only to ask after safety. Betwixt subject and subject they will 
 grant there must be measures, laws and judges for their mutual peace and se- 
 curity : but as for the rule r, be ought to be absolute, and is above all such circumstan- 
 tes : because he has power to do more hurt and wrong, it is right when 
 he does it. To ask how you can be guarded from harm or injury on that side, 
 where the strongest hand is to do it, is presently the voice otfactisn and rebel- 
 lion" But here our opponent may come in with another distinction. " Mr. 
 Lode speaks here of an absolute ruler, not of absolute rulers. Lilly proves that 
 there is the singular number, and the plural number. A power that mr. 
 Lode would have held illegal in a Pislstrattts or a Stuart, he would have held 
 legal in the four hundred of Athens, or the parliament of Great-Britain." Let 
 the distinction be allowed its due weight. Can it be believed that such a 
 friend to mankind, as Mr. Lode was, could ever think absolute dominion v just 
 
 x Page. 33. 
 
 ^ " Absolute dominion Ijoivever placed, is SO far from being one kind of civi! ic.'- 
 ff\\ that it is as inesmitient with it, as slavery is with properly." 
 
 Loii?s,<.->\\ civil govt. page I7-J- 
 
( 393 ) 
 
 so requiring. A regard for that grand object per- 
 petually animates the constitution, and regulates 
 
 or legal ? Would not such a sentiment directly oppose those principles, his 
 benevolence induced him to take so much pains to vindicate and establish ? 
 
 Would the sound of the words " dependence " " subordination " 
 
 " within the realm " " pait of the dominions " &c. have convinced 
 
 him, that it was " the indispensible duty of parliament to ease the gentry and 
 
 people of Great-Britain by TAXING the colonists without their consent ?'" 
 
 and that it was the indispensible duty of the colonists on constitutional principles 
 to submit to such taxation ? The learned say that the too rigid attention of the 
 mind to one idea sometimes is the cause of madness. So rigid has been 
 the attention of many heads in Great-Britain to the idea of dependence, that 
 it seems to have occasioned a kind of insanity in them ; and by ruminating, 
 speechifying, snd enacting about it and about it, they have lost all ideas of jus- 
 tice, humanity, law and constitution, and in short of every quality that used to 
 distinguish men from the rest of this creation, and Englishmen from the rest of 
 mankind. But mr. Loch's understanding, even in the present whirl of the 
 political world, \\ouldhave preserved him, just and tenacious of his principles. 
 The case he puts, and on which the author of " the controversy" argues, is that 
 of a submission to the terms of government in a coinmonivealt'j . The question be- 
 tween Great-Britain and the colonies, is, ivbat are the terms of their connection 
 under all the circumstances of it. 
 
 It is not recollected that mr. Locks ever insinuates, that the parliament of 
 Great-Britaim might bind the people of Ireland by statutes, " in all eases ivlat- 
 sosvtr." Yet there was in his time a famous dispute concerning the authority 
 of parliament over that kingdom. So far was he from favouring the claim of 
 parliament, that it is hoped, it can clearly be proved, he favoured the other 
 side of the question. 
 
 His friend mr. Molineux, in a letter dated Mircl 15, 1697-8, tells him of 
 his intentions to visit him when he could get loose from business : " but 
 this I cannot hope for, till the parliament in England rises. I should be glad 
 to know from you, when that is expected, for indeed they bear very hard 
 upon us in Ireland. How justly they can bind us, 'without oar consent and repre- 
 scntatives) I leave the author of the two treatises on government to consider" 
 
 VOL. i. 3 B 
 
( 394- ) 
 
 all its movements unless unnatural obstructi- 
 ons interfere 
 
 " Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa perartus 
 " Mens agltat molem, & magno se corpore mis- 
 cet." 
 
 ANOTHER argument for the extravagant power 
 
 of internal legislation over us remains. It has 
 
 been urged with great warmth against us, that 
 " precedents" shew this power is rightfully vested 
 in parliament. 
 
 meaning mr. Locke's two treatises one on government the othfr on civil 
 government ; though they are published alfo as one treatise, the first book of 
 which is under the first title, and the second book under the second title. 
 
 Mr. Locke, in his answer dated April 6, 1698, says, " amongst other things 
 I would be glad to talk with you about, before I die, is that which you sug- 
 gest at the bottom of the first page of your letter. I am mightily concerned for 
 t\i& place meant in the question you say you \vill ask the author of the treatise 
 you mention, andivlsl extremely well to it, and would be very glad to be inform- 
 ed by you tuhat -would be best for it, and debate with you the way to com- 
 pose it : but this cannot be done by letters : the subject is of too great extent, 
 
 the views too large, and the particulars too many to be so managed. Ccme 
 
 therefore yourself, and corns as ivell prepared as you can. But if you talk with 
 Others on that point there, mention not me to any body 6n that subject ; only let you 
 and I try what good ive can do for those tubom ive ivisb -well to ; great things have 
 sometimes been brought about from small beginnings -well laid together" 
 
 Mr. Mdlnsux quickly after came over from Ireland to- England, to see mr. 
 
( 395 ) 
 
 SUBMISSION to unjust sentences proves not a 
 right to pass them. Carelessness or regard for 
 the peace and welfare of the community, may cause 
 the submission. Submission may sometimes be a 
 less evil than opposition, and therefore a duty. 
 In such cases it is a submission to the divine au- 
 thority, which forbids us to injure our country ; 
 not to the assumed authority, on which the unjust 
 sentences were founded. But when submission be- 
 comes inconsistent with and destructive of the pub- 
 lic good, the same veneration for and duty to the 
 divine authority, commands us to oppose. The 
 all wise Creator of man imprest certain laws on his 
 nature. A desire of happiness, and of society, are 
 two of those laws. They were not intended to de- 
 stroy, but to support each other. Man has there- 
 fore a right to promote the best union of both, in 
 order to enjoy both in the highest degree. Thus, 
 while this right is properly exercised, desires, that 
 seem selfish, by a happy combination, produce the 
 welfare of others. " This is removing submission 
 from a foundation unable to support it, and injuri- 
 ous to the honour of GOD, and fixing it upon much 
 firmer ground.* 
 
 No sensible or good man ever suspected mr. 
 Hooker of being a weak or factious person, " yet 
 
 * Hoadley's discourse on government. 
 
he plainly enough teacheth, that a society upon ex- 
 perience of universal evil, have a right to try by 
 another form to answer more effectually the end:, 
 of government" and mr. Hoadley asks " would 
 the ends of government be destroyed, should the mi- 
 serable condition of the people of France, which 
 hath proceeded from the king^s being absolute, 
 awaken the thoughts of the wisest heads amongst 
 them ; and move them all to exert themselves, so 
 as that those ends should be better answered for 
 the time to come ?" 
 
 WHAT mind can relish the hardy proposition, 
 that because precedents have been introduced by 
 the inattention or timidity of some, and the cunning 
 or violence of others, therefore the latter have a 
 
 right to make the former miserable that is, 
 
 that precedents that ought never to have been set, 
 yet being set, repeal the eternal laws of natural jus- 
 tice, humanity and equity.* 
 
 * I could never think 
 
 " A mortal's law of power or strength sufficient 
 
 " To abrogate the unwritten law divine, 
 
 " Immutable, eternal, not like these 
 
 *' Of yesterday, but made e'er time began." 
 
 SofbotleS* Aiitfg. Fra*t. Traasl. 
 
 It should be considered, whether it ever was or ever can be the true interest 
 f a kingdom or state, to violate the laws of natural justice, equity and humani- 
 ty. These laws may be called the laws of GOD. Can they be broken with 
 impunity ? The scriptures are full of lessons on this subject, and history fur- 
 
( 397 ) 
 
 THE argument from precedents begins unlucki- 
 ly for its advocates. The first produced against 
 us by the gentleman before mentioned, was an act 
 passed by the commonwealth parliament in 1650 to 
 " punish" Virginia,'\ Barbadoes, Antigua, and 
 Burmudas, for their fidelity to Charles the second. 
 So ancient is the right of parliament to u punish" 
 colonists for doing their duty. But the parliament 
 had before overturned church and throne, so that 
 there is an older " precedent" set against these. 
 
 THAT parliament sat amidst the ruins that sur- 
 rounded it, fiercer than Marius among those of 
 Carthage. Brutal power became an irresistible 
 argument of boundless right. What the stile of 
 
 nishcs instances sufficient to alarm oppressors, if they would attend to them. 
 All the glories of Claries the bold, Charles the fifth, Philip the second, 
 Charles the twelfth, Lewis the fourteenth, and a numerous list ef distin- 
 guished princes, were overcast, when unrelenting cruelty came to preside over 
 their resolutions. From Athens to Genoa the observation holds true. Let not 
 the opinion be condemned as presumptuous, before it be fully inquired into. 
 It is worth an inquiry. 
 
 England has been prosperous in many civil wars, but they were in defence of 
 
 liberty. She never engaged in one against liberty. Would to Heaven, she 
 
 would set the world the much wanted example of lenity in government. 
 
 Mankind might gain by it. The other mode has been sufficiently tried, and 
 proved to be impolitic and ruinous. 
 
 f This loyal, generous colony preserved its principles with such spirit, not- 
 withstanding the oppression abovementioned, that in January^ 1659, they threw 
 off all obedience to the parliament, replaced the king's governor, and proclaim- 
 ed Charlu the second, several months before the restoration iu Europe. 
 
( 398 ) 
 
 an Aristotle could not prove, the point of a Crom- 
 well's sword sufficiently demonstrated. Innocence 
 
 and justice sighed and submitted what more 
 
 could they do ? The restoration took place, and a 
 legal parliament would not doubt but it had as ex- 
 tensive a right as an illegal one. The revolution 
 succeeded, and with it methods for blending toge- 
 ther the powers of the king and people in a manner 
 before unknown. A new political alembic was 
 fixed on the great principle of resistance, and in it, 
 severe experiments were to be made on every other 
 principle of the constitution. How the boldness of 
 ministers and contempt of the people have increased 
 since that period, not a man the least acquainted 
 with English history can be ignorant. The colo- 
 nies were in a state of infancy still in a state of 
 
 childhood. Not a single statute concerning them 
 is recollected to have been past before the revolu- 
 tion, but such as related to the regulation of trade. 
 " Precedents" were afterwards made, that, when 
 they grew up, the authority of a master might suc- 
 ceed that of a parent. 
 
 PRECEDENTS, it is apprehended, are no other- 
 wise regarded in the English laws than as they 
 
 establish certainty for the benefit of the people 
 
 according to the maxim " miserable is the ser- 
 vitude when the laws are uncertain." Precedents 
 militating against the welfare or happiness of a peo- 
 
( 399 ) 
 
 pie, are inconsistent with the grand original prin- 
 ciple on which they ought to be founded. Their 
 supposed sanction increases in proportion to the 
 repetitions of injustice. They must be void. In 
 subjects of dispute between man and man, prece- 
 dents may be of use, though not founded on the 
 best reason. They cause a certainty, and all may 
 govern themselves accordingly. If they take from 
 an individual one day, they may give to him the 
 next. But precedents to overthrow principles ', to 
 justify the perpetual oppression of all, and to im- 
 pair the power of the constitution, though a cloud 
 of them appear, have no more force than the vo- 
 lumes of dust that surround a triumphal car. They 
 may obscure it : they cannot stop it. What would 
 the liberties of the people of England have been at 
 this time, if precedents could have made laws in- 
 consistent with the constitution ? Precedents tend- 
 ing to make men unhappy, can with propriety of 
 character be quoted only by those beings, to whom 
 the misery of men is a delight. 
 
 " IF the usage had been immemorial and uniform, 
 and ten thousand instances could have been pro- 
 duced, it would not have been sufficient ; because 
 the practice must likewise be agreeable to \\\e prin- 
 ciples of the law, * in order to be good : whereas 
 
 * This is a maxim of law, that {f a bad usage ought to be abolished." 
 
this is a practice inconsistent with, and in direct 
 opposition to theirs/- and clearest principles of the 
 ! - to those feelings of humanity,, out of 
 
 which mankind will not be reasoned, when power 
 advances with gigantic strides, threatening disso- 
 lution to a state - to those inherent, though la- 
 tent powers of society, which no climate, J no time, 
 no constitution, no contract, can ever destroy or 
 diminish. "|| 
 
 A PARLIAMENTARY power of internal legisla- 
 tion over these colonies, appears therefore to us, 
 equally contradictory to humanity and the consti- 
 tution, and illegal. 
 
 f Letter on general warrants. 
 | I JBlackstone, page 245 
 
 (j Equal distribution of justice, zndfree enjoyment of property > arc the great ob- 
 jects of society : and no time, precedent, statute, or institution should deter men from 
 keeping tbete UPPERMOST in their thoughts." 
 
 Mr. Humes History of England. 
 
 t( The jurisdiction of the star chamber, martial taw, imprisonment by war- 
 rants from the privy council, and other practices of a like nature, though estab- 
 lished for several centuries ; were scarce ever allowed by the English to be parts 
 of their constitution : the affection of the nation for liberty still prevailed over all 
 precedent , and over all political reasoning : the exercise of these powers, after being 
 long the source of secret murmurs among the people, was, in fulness of time, 
 solemnly abolished, as illegal, at least as oppressive, by the whole legislative 
 authority." id. To these instances may be added the late practice of genera! 
 warrants that had the sanction of precedents, even since the revolution. 
 
( 401 ) 
 
 As to the second head, a power of regulating our 
 trade, our opinion is, that it is legally vested in par- 
 liament, not as a supreme legislature over these co- 
 lonies, but as the supreme legislature and full re- 
 presentative of the parent state, and the, only judge 
 between her and her children in commercial inte- 
 rests, which the nature of the case, in the progress of 
 their growth admitted. It has been urged, with 
 great vehemence against us, and seems to be 
 thought their fort by our adversaries, " that a pow- 
 er of regulation is a power of legislation, and a 
 power of legislation, if constitutional, must be uni- 
 versal and supreme in the utmost sense of the 
 words. It is therefore concluded, that the colo- 
 nists, by acknowledging the power of regulation, 
 have acknowledged every other power. On this 
 objection we observe, that according to a maxim 
 of law, " it is deceitful and dangerous to deal in 
 general propositions." The freedom and happi- 
 ness of states depend not on J artful arguments, 
 
 t Our chance of success would be slight indeed, if it depended on subtletie* 
 of reasoning. Who can resit the skilful and courageous attacks of those ,-/- 
 tons, who have not long since distinguished themselves in the polemical fields ? 
 Have they notfroveJ to the satisfaction of thousands, the non-existence of 
 
 matter the necessity of human actions consequently the innocence 
 
 of them the comfortable mortality of the soul that virtue is.a name- 
 vice a jest liberty a nonentity Christianity an impostureand, with due 
 
 detestation be it mentioned ; that " we have no idea of power , nor of any be 
 endowed vTith any power, MUCH LESS of Mf endowed with infinite power ?" 
 
 VOL. i. 3 C 
 
but on a few plain principles. The plausible ap- 
 pearance of the objection consists in a confused 
 comprehension of several points, intirely distinct 
 in their nature, and leading to consequences direct- 
 ly opposite to each other. There was a time, when 
 England had no colonies. Trade was the .object 
 she attended to, in encouraging them. A love of 
 freedom was manifestly the chief motive of the ad- 
 venturers. The connection of colonies with their 
 parent state, may be called a new object of the En- 
 glish laws. That her right extinguishes all their 
 
 rights, rights essential to freedom, and which 
 
 they would have enjoyed, by remaining in their pa- 
 
 " With explosions of learning, and flushes of wit, these well trained troops 
 would keep up a terrible fire of artillery and small arms against us undisciplin- 
 ed Americans. We must not meet them in the shock of battle. Tbat -uiculd b: 
 madness in tie extreme. We must make the most of our natural advantages. 
 'Tiers we are safe ; and all the forces that can be brought to the assault, will 
 never be able to prevail against us. To drop the metaphor. " Inquiry ceases 
 t,o be rational, and becomes both whimsical and pernicious, when it advances as 
 far as some late authors have carried it, to controvert the first principles of 
 knowledge, morality, religion, and consequently the fundamental laws of the 
 British government, and of all well regulated society." 
 
 Mr. Seattle on truth. 
 
 It has been asserted by some men distinguished as historians, that the zeal 
 of the reformers in religion engaging them to think liberally on that subject, 
 led them to think with like freedom in civil affairs, whereby the government of 
 
 England received its greatest improvement. If the sentiment is just, may it 
 
 not be inferred, that contempt for religion, must necessarily introduce an indif- 
 ference for all the just rules of government and the principles of the constit- 
 
( 403 ) 
 
 rent state, is offensive to reason, humanity, and the 
 constitution of that state. Colonies could not have 
 been planted on these terms. What Englishman, 
 but an ideot, would have become a colonist on 
 these conditions ? to mention no more particulars, 
 " that every shilling he gained, might rightfully be 
 
 taken from him trial by jury abolished the 
 
 building houses, or making cloths with the materi- 
 als found or raised in the colonies prohibited 
 
 and armed men set over him to govern him in eve- 
 ry action ?" 
 
 HAD these provinces never been settled had 
 
 all the inhabitants of them now living, been born 
 in England, and resident there, they would now 
 enjoy the rights of Englishmen, that is, they would 
 be free in that kingdom. We claim in the colonies 
 these and no other rights. There no other king- 
 dom or state interferes. But their trade, however 
 important it may be, as the affairs of mankind are 
 circumstanced, turns on other principles. All the 
 power of parliament cannot regulate that at their 
 pleasure. It must be regulated not by parliament 
 alone, but by treaties and alliances formed by the 
 king without the consent of the nation, with other 
 states and kingdoms. The freedom of a people con- 
 sists in being governed by laws, in which no altera- 
 tion can be made, without their consent. Yet the 
 wholesome force of these laws is confined to the li- 
 
mits of their own country. That is, a supreme 
 legislature to a people, which acts internally over 
 that people, and inevitably implies personal assent, 
 representation, or slavery. When an universal 
 empire is established, and not till then, can regu- 
 lations of trade properly be called, acts of supreme 
 legislature. It seems from many authorities, as if 
 almost the whole power of regulating the trade of 
 England was originally vested in the crown. One 
 restriction appears to have been, that no duty 
 could be imposed without the consent of parlia- 
 ment. Trade was little regarded by our warlike 
 ancestors. As commerce became of more import- 
 ance, and duties, and severities were judged neces- 
 sary additions to its first simple state, parliament 
 more and more interfered. The constitution was 
 always free, but not always exactly in the same 
 manner. "By the feodaL law, all navigable ri- 
 vers and havens were computed among the regalia, 
 and were subject to the sovereign of the state. 
 And in England it hath always been held, that the 
 king is lord of the whole shore, and particularly is 
 guardian of the ports and havens, which are the in- 
 lets and gates of the realm ; and therefore, so early 
 as the -reign of king John, we find ships seized by 
 the king's officers, for putting in at a place that was 
 not a legal port. These legal ports were undoubt- 
 edly at first assigned by the crown ; since to each 
 of them a court of portmote is incident, the juris- 
 
( 405 ) 
 
 diction of which must flow from the royal authority. 
 The erection of beacons, light- houses, and sea 
 marks is also a branch of the royal prerogative. 
 The powers of establishing public marts, regulat- 
 ing of weights and measures, and the giving autho- 
 rity to, or making current, money, the medium of 
 commerce, belong to the crown. By making peace 
 or war, leagues and treaties, the king may open or 
 stop trade as he pleases. The admiralty courts 
 are grounded on the necessity of supporting a ju- 
 risdiction so extensive, though opposite to the usu- 
 al doctrines of the common law. The law s of Ole~ 
 ron were made by Richard the first, and are still 
 used in those courts.-' In the " marc clausum," 
 are several regulations made by kings.* Time for- 
 
 * The power of regulating trade, was Carried so far by the crown, as some- 
 times to impose duties ; and queen EU-x.abf.llj obtained several judgments in the 
 exchequer on such regulations. Lord chief justice Coke answers the argument 
 founded on these in a inst. 62, 65. Princes aimed at too much power - 
 exceeded due bounds- - their imprudence produced " grievances" - and the 
 people who always suffer, when their rulers are weak or wicked, would no 
 longer trust such opportunities of cpprestion in their hand. -- --The power of // 
 pressing seamen, shews the extensive authority in naval affairs trusted to " the 
 
 trown." 
 
 I BLACKSTONE, 419. Foster's rep. 154. 
 
 So extremely averse were the EHglhl to foreign affairs, and to the exercise 
 even of parliamentary authority concerning them, that though the nation was 
 justly provoked against the French king for the injury done to Ed-ward the 1st. 
 by withholding Aquitaiw and his other inheritances (as lord chief justice Coke 
 observes in his ad inst. page 532.) and by some cruel actions of Frenchmen 
 against Englishmen, and had in full parliament granted him aids, subsidies, for 
 
bids a inore exact inquiry into this point: but such 
 it is apprehended, will on inquiry be found to have 
 
 the maintenance of his wars in foreign parts, yet in the CONFIRM ATIONES 
 CHART ARUM, Ed. 1st, therein taking notice," that many men doubted, whe- 
 ther these grants ly parliament might not turn in serfage of tLem and their heirs, 
 as f recede/its, -expressly declares in those statutes, that such grants shall not be 
 drawn into custom." The comment says " it was holden that the subjects 
 of tie realm ought not to contribute to the maintenance of the king's wars out 
 if the realtx but this matter was never in quiet, until it was more particularly 
 explained by divers acts of parliament.'* The comment then mentions several 
 acts declaring that no Englishman shall be bound to contribute to the king's wars 
 tmt of England^ in Scotland, Gascoigny, Ireland, Calan, (though tbttetbret lastVfClC 
 countries dependent on England) and says, " these acts cf parliament are hut de- 
 clarations of the ancient law vt England But here may be observed, that when 
 any ancient law or custom of parliament" (such as before mentioned by making 
 acts relating to foreign wars) " is broken, and the crown possessed of a prece- 
 dent, how difficult a thing it is, t restore tbe subject again to bis former freedom and 
 s-J/ity.'' 2 Inst. 527 529. 
 
 The author of" the controversy," who with a liberality of sentiment becom- 
 ing a pleader against freedom, and the best interest of mankind, counts, " sta- 
 tute books" " ministers" " king's council" page 77, 78. " scraps 
 
 of journals" page 81. and ordinances of " the rump parliament" page 
 
 87. among his " DEITIES" psge 78 ; and grieves that we poor " infidel" 
 colonists will not pay his idols the veneration his zeal judges due to them, has 
 collected a good many fragments of proceedings in the house of commons from 
 the year 1614 to 1628. The amount is this, that the ministers of the crown 
 insisted, that parliament could not make laws for America ; that the commons 
 doubted ; but at length in 1624, came to an opinion, that the king's patent for 
 
 " a woncjjoly of fishing on the coasts of America was a grievance" that a 
 
 " clause of forfeiture" against those who interfef ed in the fishery was void 
 and past a bill " for a free liberty otfshing" &c. It appears in the debates that 
 
 the fishery was free before tie patent ivas granted These extracts do not shew, 
 
 what became of the bill in the house of lords. One mr. Brooke said in 1621 
 " \Ve may make laws here for Virginia, for if thr ';ng gives consent to this bill 
 past here and by the lords, this will controul the patert." 
 
been the power of the crown, that our argument 
 may gain, but cannot lose. We will proceed on 
 a concession, that the power of regulating trade is 
 vested in parliament. 
 
 COMMERCE rests on concessions and restricti- 
 ons mutually stipulated between the different pow- 
 ers of the world ;f and if these colonies were sove- 
 reign states, they would in all probability be re- 
 stricted to their present portion,* The people of 
 
 It seems, as if the notion of the king's regulating power still prevailed, but, 
 that " a clause oi forfeiture" in such regulations was void. So much had the 
 power of parliament grown since king John's reign. Nor does it appear to 
 have been unreasonable as commerce became of more consequence. The in- 
 stance here mentioned, related to a regulation of trade ; and however the 
 king might have accommodated the point with the other branches of the le- 
 gislature, the whole proceeding is immaterial. If it was a right actually en- 
 joyed by Englishmen to fish en the coasts of a plantation and a grant by the 
 
 crown of the fishery to the people of the plantation excluding the people of 
 
 England, could not divest tbcm of their right or, " if by the king's giving 
 
 his consent to a bill passed by lords and commons," " the patent might be 
 
 controuled ' it does not follow, that the king, lords, and commons could 
 
 divest the people of the plantations of all tbeir rights. 
 
 f Case of the Ostend East-India company. 
 
 * " Another light, in which the lawsi of England consider the king with re- 
 gard to domestic concerns, is the arbiter of commerce. By commerce, I at pre- 
 sent mean domestic commerce only. It would kad me into too large a field, if I 
 \vcreto attempt to enter upon the nature of foreign trade, its privileges, regula- 
 tions, and restrictions ; and would be . also quite beside the purpose of these 
 commentaries, which are confined to the laws of England. Whereas no muni' 
 cipal laws can be sufficient to order and determine the very extensive and tomplicated af- 
 fair t of traffic and msrtlatutize ; neither can they bave a proper authority for this pur- 
 
( 4o8 ) 
 
 England were freemen, before they were mer- 
 chants. Whether they will continue free, they 
 tbemsehes must determine, ffow they shall trade, 
 must be determined by Germans, French, Spani- 
 ards, Italians, Turks, Moors, &Y. The right of 
 acquiring property, depends on the rights of others : 
 the right of acquired property, solely on the owner. 
 The possessor is no owner without it. " Almost 
 every leaf and page of all the volumes of the com- 
 mon law prove this right of property.' 7 ! Why 
 should this right be sacred in Great-Britain, " the 
 chief corner stone" in the solid foundation of her 
 constitution, and an empty name in her colonies ? 
 The lamb that presumed to drink in the same 
 stream with a stronger animal, though lower down 
 the current, could not refute the charge of incom- 
 moding the latter, by disturbing the water. Such 
 power have reasons that appear despicable and de- 
 testable at first when they are properly enforced. 
 
 /mst. For, as these are transactions carried on between subjects of independent 
 states, the municipal laws of one will not be regarded by the other. For which 
 reason the affairs of commerce are regulated by a law of their own, called the 
 law merchant or &.* mercatorla, which all nations agree in and take notice of. 
 And in particular it is held to be part of the law of England, which decides the 
 causes of merchants by the general rules which obtain in all commercial coun- 
 tries ; and that often even in, matters relating to domestic trade, as for instance, 
 with regard to the drawing, the acceptance, and the transfer of inland bills of 
 exchange." 
 
 f Parlia.hist. 
 
FROM tins very principle arose her power : and 
 can that power now be justly exerted, in suppress- 
 ion of that principle ? It cannot. Therefore, a 
 power* of regulating our trade, involves not in it 
 
 * This distinction between a supreme legislature and a pov/er of regulating 
 trade, is not a new one. We find it clearly made, by the judges of England, at 
 a period, when the modern profitable mode of blending together in parliament 
 the authorities of the crown and people, had not extinguished all reverence for 
 the principles of the constitution. 
 
 By the statute of the ad of Henry 6th. ch-4, Calais was confirmed a staple place 
 for the wool exported from England, Wales and Ireland. Some wool shipped 
 from this last kingdom, was consigned to SLiice, in Flanders. The ship by stress 
 of weather was forced into Calais, where the wool was seized as forfeited. The 
 chief question in the exchequer chamber was, whether the statute bound Ire- 
 land. In Rich. 3, 12, the case is thus reported. " Et ibi quoad ad primam 
 questionem dicebant, quod terra Hibernix inter se babet parliamentum & omni- 
 modo curias prout in Anglia, & per idem parliamentum faciunt leges & mutant 
 
 leges, & NON OBLIGANTUR PER STATUTA IN ANGLIA QJJIA, NON IIIC 
 H4BENT MILITES PARLIAMENT! ; sed HOC intelligitur DETERRIS PRO REBUS 
 IN TERRIS TANTUM EFFICIEND J Sed PERSONS EORUM SUNT SUBJECTI 
 
 REGIS et tanquam subject! erunt obligati ad aliquam rem extra terfam illam fa- 
 ciendum contra statutum, sicut habitantes in Callesia, Gascoignla, Guienne, &c. 
 dum fuere subjecti ; & obedientes erunt sub admiralitate Anglite de re facia super- 
 altum mare ; et similifer breve de errore de judiciis redditis in Hibcrnia in banco 
 regis hie in Anglia." 
 
 Brooke, lord chief justice of the common pleas, mentions the case almost in 
 
 the same words, title parliament 98 but 90 says " the chief justice was 
 
 of opinion, that the statutes of England shall bind Ireland, which was in a manner 
 agreed by the other justices ; and yet it was denied the former day : YET note, 
 that Ireland is a realm of itself, and has a parliament in itself." 
 
 Here ic may be observed,^/, that the reason assigned by the judges, why 
 the statutes of England bind not the people of Ireland, though specially named, con- 
 
 VOL. i 3D 
 
the idea of supreme legislature over us. The 
 first is a power of a preserving " protecting" na- 
 
 taias a constitutional principle, the sine qua non of freedom. Secondly^ that the 
 people of Ireland^ as subjects of the king, were " under the admiralty of England as 
 to things done on the high sea ;." which is a strong confirmation given by the judges 
 of England, to the supposition before made, of the power of regulating trade be- 
 ing formerly vested in the king. Thirdly , that the opinion of the chief justice, 
 and of the other justices, such as it was, " reddendo singula singulis, & secun- 
 dum subjectam materiam," proves at most, only that Ire/and was bound by statutes 
 regulating their trade, for such was the 2 Henry 6th. ch. 4th on which the case arose. 
 Fourthly, that Brooke>a. man cf great eminence and dignity in the law, appears 
 by his note, to have been dissatisfied with the judgment, tho' only on a statute 
 
 of regulation, for this reason of such weight with an Englishman " because 
 
 Ireland 'is a realm of itself, and has a parliament within itself." Fifthly^ that 
 the authority of the crown, including the regulation of the trade of Ireland, and 
 sending writs of error there, were sufficient restraints, to secure the obedi- 
 ence and subordination of that kingdom. This reason seems to have held its 
 ground, till lord chief justice Co&'s time ; and though a great reverence is en- 
 tertained for his memory, yet it can never be acknowledged, that an " obiter 
 dietum" of his, or of any other man, is a rule of law. In Calvin's case, the chief 
 justice reciting the foregoing case, says, " Hibernla habet parliamentum, and 
 faciunt leges, & nostra statuta non ligant eos QJJI \ non mittunt milites ad parli- 
 amentum which, adds he, is to be understood, unless they be especially named) 
 And does the " especially naming them," give them a representation, or re- 
 move the injustice of binding them without it ? This observation in plain Eng- 
 lish would run thus. " Our statutes do not bind the people of Ireland^ when, 
 we do not intend to bind them, because^ they are not represented in our parlia- 
 ment : but our statutes bind them, when \ve intend to bind them." What is 
 this but saying " that to speak of their not being represented, is a mere jar- 
 gon ; and the sole point is, \vhether it is our w/7/to bind them" or in other 
 
 words " that our statutes do not bind them, for a reason, as strong as man 
 
 can give, and so acknowledged by us to be, which yet, is no reason at all : for, 
 where there is no occasion, for its operation, it applies not ; and where there 
 
 is occasion, it is of no force." His lordship had just before taken notice 
 
 that " a writ of error did lye in the king's bench of England of an errone- 
 ous judgment in the king's bench of Ireland ;" and perhaps that led him in 
 the course of his argument to imagine, there might be a like pre-eminence 
 
ture. The last, as applied to America, is such a 
 power as mr. Justice Blackstone describes in these 
 
 of the parliament of England over that of Ireland. That this was his reason 
 seems certain, because at a meeting of commissioners to consider of a projected 
 union between England and Scotland, at which the chief justice was present. 
 Moor, 796, it is said " that parliament has power over Ireland, as is proved by 
 that a writ of error may be brought of a judgment in the king's bench of Ire- 
 land ." In the fourth inst. he also says the people of Guernsey, Jersey and Man, 
 are not bound by the statutes of England, unless they are specially named. Yet 
 whoever examines the statute relating to Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey and Man, 
 will have very little cause to believe, that it has been thought in England, that 
 statutes would generally bind the people of those countries, notwithstanding 
 the subjection of Ireland, and the other islands, the many distresses of the for- 
 mer, and the weakness of the latter have afforded opportunities cf extending 
 such a power over them. With respect to all these places scarce a statute can 
 be found of any period, but for the regulation of their trade. The same obser- 
 vation may be made as to Gascoigny, Guienne and Calais. Justice Wylde in 3 
 
 vent. 5, said, "he had seen a charter whereby these places were recited 'to be unit- 
 ed to England by mutual pact. And writs of error run there." " Wales was a con- 
 quered country, and the people submitted to Edivard the first de alto et basso." 
 
 Whatever pretence the chief justice's opinion was founded on, it has been 
 carefully repeated in many law books since. Whether his lordship meant, that 
 statutes of England could bind the people of Ireland, in taking away trials by 
 jury, taxing them, and indeed, " in all cases whatsoever" or only in preserv- 
 ing their subordination, as by regulating their trade, which was the case refer- 
 red to in his comment, does not appear. The parliament in declaring the de- 
 pendence of Ireland, did not venture to claim a power of binding the people of 
 that kingdom " in all cases whatsoever." a With respect to all these declara- 
 tions, however, as they are made to refer to us, we may answer as the lion did 
 to the man in the fable. 
 
 Much the same arbitrary construction has been made on the question ; whe- 
 ther a man could be tried in England on a charge of committing treason in 
 
 a Nor, to this day does the English parliament tax them, &c. And therefore 
 the inference is just, that neither they nor the chief justice meant such a power 
 
( 413 ) 
 
 words, " whose enormous weight spreads horror 
 and destruction on all inferior movements." The 
 fii-iit is a power subject to a constitutional check. 
 Great-Britain cannot injure us by taking away our 
 
 - In queen Elizabeth's reign, " Gerrade, chancellor of Ireland, moved that 
 question to the council of the queen, and it was held by Wray, Bier, and Ger- 
 rarJc, attorney general, he could not, because he was a subject of Ireland and 
 not of England, and if tried in England, he could not be tried by his peers." 
 Diet-, 360. Afterwards, to gratify the queen's resentment against some rebels, 
 they were tried in England- and thus passion and complaisance made very 
 good law against reason and justice. 
 
 Having mentioned Calvin's case, it may not be improper to observe, that 
 if the author of " the controversy" had taken the trouble of reading it, he 
 might have found his perplexities removed on the question that has given him 
 so much anxiety, and brought such a load of reproaches on the colonies. He 
 is provoked at our insolence for pretending to be any thing more than aliens 
 in England, while we deny the power of parliament to bind us " in all cases 
 whatever." In that case, the gentleman would have discovered, that the judges 
 of England held, that a man born in Scotland, under the allegiance of James 
 the first, after his accession to the throne of England, was intitled to all the 
 rights of a subject born in England', though the objection, that statutes of Eng- 
 land could not bind Scotland, or a man residing there, who held lands in Eng- 
 land, was mentioned in the course of the argument. That great difficulty be- 
 ing got over, if the gentleman, will go a step farther, and perceive some little 
 distinction between colonies proceeding out of the loins of England, and the 
 " conquered'' countries of Ireland and Wales, the countries of Gascoigny, Guienne, 
 
 and Calais, " united by mutual pact to England" and the islands of Guernsey, 
 
 &c. " lying within the four seas, whose sovereigns annexed them to England :" and will 
 only allow the colonists a little more regard than hprvfest in law books for those 
 countries, and about as much as has been actually observed towards them by parlia- 
 ment, he will have no further occasion to say severe things of those, who are 
 willing to esteem him ; and then, if he can persuade his worthy countrymen to 
 adopt his sentiments, their anger will no longer give pain to those who almost 
 adore them. 
 
( 4*3 ) 
 
 commerce without hurting herself immediately. 
 The last is a power without check or limit. She 
 might ruin us by it. The injury thereby to her- 
 self might be so remote as to be despised by her. 
 
 THE power of regulation was the only band that 
 could have held us together ; formed on one of 
 
 those " original contracts," which only can be 
 
 a foundation of just authority. Without such a 
 band, our general commerce with foreign nations, 
 might have been injurious and destructive to her. 
 Reason and duty reject such a licence. This our 
 duty resembles that of children to a parent. The 
 parent has a power over them : but they have 
 rights, which the parent cannot take away. Hea- 
 ven grant that our mother country may regard us 
 as her children, that if by the dispensation of Pro- 
 vidence, the time shall come, when her power de- 
 creases, the memory of former kindnesses may 
 supply its decays, and her colonies like dutiful 
 children, may serve and guard their aged parent, 
 for ever revering the arms that held them in their 
 infancy, and the breasts that supported their lives, 
 while they were little ones. 
 
 IT seems, as if the power of regulation might 
 not inaptly be compared to the prerogative of mak- 
 ing peace, war, treaties, or alliances, whereby 
 
( 414 ) 
 
 " the whole* nation are bound, AGAINST THEIR 
 CONSENT :" and yet the prerogative by no means 
 implies a supreme legislature. The language held 
 in " the commentaries" on this point is very re- 
 markable. " With regard to foreign concerns the 
 king is the delegate or representative of the people ; 
 and in him, as in a center, all the rays of his people 
 are united ;f and the SOVEREIGN POWER quoad 
 hoc is vested in his person. "f Will any English- 
 man say these expressions are descriptive of the 
 king's authority, within the realm. ct Is the SOVE- 
 REIGN POWER within that vested in his person ?" 
 He is stiled u sovereign" indeed ; " his realm is 
 declared by many acts of parliament an empire, 
 and his crown imperial." But do these splendid 
 appellations, the highest known in Europe signify, 
 that " sovereign POWER is vested in his person 
 within the realm ?" We have a full answer in the 
 commentaries. " The meaning of the legislature, 
 when it uses these terms of empire and imperial, 
 and applies them \o the realm and crown of Eng- 
 land, is only to assert, that our king is equally 
 sovereign and independent within these his domini- 
 ons ; and owes no kind of subjection to any poten- 
 tate upon earth." Thus we maintain, that with re- 
 gard to foreign affairs, the parent original state, 
 44 is the delegate or representative," of the entire 
 
 * I Blackft. 252, 257. f Idem. 252. j Idem. 257. 
 
( 415 ) 
 
 dominions, " the sovereign power OJJOAD HOC is 
 vested" in her. Her acts under this power, " irre- 
 vocably bind the whole nation." But yet this 
 power by no means implies a supreme legislature. 
 
 THE exercise of this power by statutes was ab- 
 solutely necessary ; because it was, and could only 
 be lodged, as the laws of the parent state stand, in 
 the supreme legislature of that state, consisting of 
 king, lords, and commons ; and statutes are the 
 modes by which their united sentiments and reso- 
 lutions are exprest. It is universally acknowledg- 
 ed in Great-Britain, that it infers no power of tax- 
 ation in king and lords, that their limited authori- 
 ty is used in cloathing, gifts and grants of the 
 commons with the forms of law nor does it in- 
 fer supreme legislature over us, that the limited 
 authority of king, lords, and commons is used in 
 cloathing regulations of trade with the forms of 
 law. 
 
 THIS power of regulation appears to us to have 
 been pure in its principle, simple in its operation, 
 and salutary in its effects. But for some time past 
 we have observed, with pain, that it hath been 
 turned to other purposes, than it was originally de- 
 signed for, and retaining its title, hath become an 
 engine of intolerable oppressions and grievous tax- 
 ations. The argument of an eminent judge, states 
 
the point in a similar case strongly for us, in these 
 
 words. " Though it be granted, that the king 
 
 hath the custody of the havens and ports of this 
 island, being the very gates of this kingdom, and is 
 trusted with the keys of these gates ; yet the infer- 
 ence and argument thereupon made, I utterly deny. 
 For in it there is mutatio hypothesis, and a trans- 
 ition from a thing of one nature to another ; as 
 the premises are of a power only fiduciary, and in 
 point of trust and government, and the conclusion 
 infers a right of interest and gain. Admit the 
 king has custodiam portuum, yet he hath but the 
 custody, which is a trust and not dominium utile. 
 He hath power to open and shut, UPON CONSIDE- 
 RATION OF PUBLIC GOOD TO THE PEOPLE AND 
 
 STATE, but not to make gain and benefit by it : 
 the one is PROTECTION the other is EXPILA- 
 
 END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 SHE 
 
 
 
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