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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Common Sense
+    
+This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online
+at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
+you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
+before using this eBook.
+
+Title: Common Sense
+
+
+Author: Thomas Paine
+
+Release date: July 1, 1994 [eBook #147]
+                Most recently updated: August 9, 2021
+
+Language: English
+
+
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMMON SENSE ***
+
+
+
+
+COMMON SENSE;
+
+addressed to the
+
+INHABITANTS
+
+of
+
+AMERICA,
+
+On the following interesting
+
+SUBJECTS
+
+    Of the Origin and Design of Government in general,
+    with concise Remarks on the English Constitution.
+    Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession
+    Thoughts on the present State of American Affairs
+    Of the present Ability of America, with some
+    miscellaneous Reflections
+
+A new edition, with several additions in the body of the work. To
+which is added an appendix; together with an address to the people
+called Quakers.
+
+Man knows no Master save creating Heaven
+Or those whom choice and common good ordain.
+
+Thomson.
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+Printed and sold by W. & T. Bradford, February 14, 1776.
+
+MDCCLXXVI
+
+
+
+Common Sense
+By Thomas Paine
+
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet
+sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit
+of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of
+being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of
+custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than
+reason.
+
+As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of
+calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might
+never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated
+into the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his
+own Right, to support the Parliament in what he calls Theirs, and as
+the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the
+combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the
+pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either.
+
+In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every
+thing which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as
+censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise, and the
+worthy, need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose
+sentiments are injudicious, or unfriendly, will cease of themselves
+unless too much pains are bestowed upon their conversion.
+
+The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.
+Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but
+universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind
+are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are
+interested. The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword,
+declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and
+extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the
+Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling;
+of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the
+
+AUTHOR
+
+P.S. The Publication of this new Edition hath been delayed, with a
+View of taking notice (had it been necessary) of any Attempt to
+refute the Doctrine of Independance: As no Answer hath yet appeared,
+it is now presumed that none will, the Time needful for getting such
+a Performance ready for the Public being considerably past.
+
+Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the
+Public, as the Object for Attention is the Doctrine itself, not the
+Man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say, That he is unconnected
+with any Party, and under no sort of Influence public or private,
+but the influence of reason and principle.
+
+Philadelphia, February 14, 1776
+
+
+
+OF THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF GOVERNMENT IN GENERAL,
+WITH CONCISE REMARKS ON THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION.
+
+Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave
+little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only
+different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our
+wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our
+happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter
+negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse,
+the other creates distinctions. The first a patron, the last a
+punisher.
+
+Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its
+best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an
+intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same
+miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without
+government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish
+the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge
+of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of
+the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear,
+uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver;
+but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a
+part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest;
+and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every
+other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least.
+Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it
+unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely
+to ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is
+preferable to all others.
+
+In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of
+government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some
+sequestered part of the earth, unconnected with the rest, they will
+then represent the first peopling of any country, or of the world.
+In this state of natural liberty, society will be their first
+thought. A thousand motives will excite them thereto, the strength
+of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for
+perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and
+relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five
+united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a
+wilderness, but one man might labour out of the common period of
+life without accomplishing any thing; when he had felled his timber
+he could not remove it, nor erect it after it was removed; hunger in
+the mean time would urge him from his work, and every different want
+call him a different way. Disease, nay even misfortune would be
+death, for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable
+him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather
+be said to perish than to die.
+
+Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly
+arrived emigrants into society, the reciprocal blessings of which,
+would supersede, and render the obligations of law and government
+unnecessary while they remained perfectly just to each other; but as
+nothing but heaven is impregnable to vice, it will unavoidably
+happen, that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties
+of emigration, which bound them together in a common cause, they
+will begin to relax in their duty and attachment to each other; and
+this remissness, will point out the necessity, of establishing some
+form of government to supply the defect of moral virtue.
+
+Some convenient tree will afford them a State-House, under the
+branches of which, the whole colony may assemble to deliberate on
+public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will
+have the title only of Regulations, and be enforced by no other
+penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man,
+by natural right, will have a seat.
+
+But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase
+likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated,
+will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every
+occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations
+near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out
+the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to
+be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are
+supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those who
+appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole
+body would act were they present. If the colony continue increasing,
+it will become necessary to augment the number of the
+representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony
+may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into
+convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the
+elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the
+electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections
+often; because as the elected might by that means return and mix
+again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their
+fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflexion of
+not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange
+will establish a common interest with every part of the community,
+they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this
+(not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of
+government, and the happiness of the governed.
+
+Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode
+rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the
+world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. freedom
+and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our
+ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or
+interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of
+reason will say, it is right.
+
+I draw my idea of the form of government from a principle in nature,
+which no art can overturn, viz. that the more simple any thing is,
+the less liable it is to be disordered; and the easier repaired when
+disordered; and with this maxim in view, I offer a few remarks on
+the so much boasted constitution of England. That it was noble for
+the dark and slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When
+the world was over run with tyranny the least remove therefrom was a
+glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject to convulsions,
+and incapable of producing what it seems to promise, is easily
+demonstrated.
+
+Absolute governments (tho' the disgrace of human nature) have this
+advantage with them, that they are simple; if the people suffer,
+they know the head from which their suffering springs, know likewise
+the remedy, and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures.
+But the constitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the
+nation may suffer for years together without being able to discover
+in which part the fault lies, some will say in one and some in
+another, and every political physician will advise a different
+medicine.
+
+I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing prejudices,
+yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the component parts of
+the English constitution, we shall find them to be the base remains
+of two ancient tyrannies, compounded with some new republican
+materials.
+
+First.--The remains of monarchical tyranny in the person of the king.
+
+Secondly.--The remains of aristocratical tyranny in the persons of
+the peers.
+
+Thirdly.--The new republican materials, in the persons of the
+commons, on whose virtue depends the freedom of England.
+
+The two first, by being hereditary, are independent of the people;
+wherefore in a constitutional sense they contribute nothing towards
+the freedom of the state.
+
+To say that the constitution of England is a union of three powers 
+reciprocally checking each other, is farcical, either the words have
+no meaning, or they are flat contradictions.
+
+To say that the commons is a check upon the king, presupposes two
+things:
+
+First.--That the king is not to be trusted without being looked
+after, or in other words, that a thirst for absolute power is the
+natural disease of monarchy.
+
+Secondly.--That the commons, by being appointed for that purpose,
+are either wiser or more worthy of confidence than the crown.
+
+But as the same constitution which gives the commons a power to
+check the king by withholding the supplies, gives afterwards the
+king a power to check the commons, by empowering him to reject their
+other bills; it again supposes that the king is wiser than those 
+whom it has already supposed to be wiser than him. A mere absurdity!
+
+There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of
+monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet
+empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required.
+The state of a king shuts him from the world, yet the business of a
+king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different
+parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the
+whole character to be absurd and useless.
+
+Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the king,
+say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in
+behalf of the king; the commons in behalf of the people; but this
+hath all the distinctions of a house divided against itself; and
+though the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined
+they appear idle and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the
+nicest construction that words are capable of, when applied to the
+description of some thing which either cannot exist, or is too
+incomprehensible to be within the compass of description, will be
+words of sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot
+inform the mind, for this explanation includes a previous question,
+viz. How came the king by a power which the people are afraid to
+trust, and always obliged to check? Such a power could not be the
+gift of a wise people, neither can any power, which needs checking,
+be from God; yet the provision, which the constitution makes,
+supposes such a power to exist.
+
+But the provision is unequal to the task; the means either cannot or
+will not accomplish the end, and the whole affair is a felo de se;
+for as the greater weight will always carry up the less, and as all
+the wheels of a machine are put in motion by one, it only remains to
+know which power in the constitution has the most weight, for that
+will govern; and though the others, or a part of them, may clog, or,
+as the phrase is, check the rapidity of its motion, yet so long as
+they cannot stop it, their endeavors will be ineffectual; the first
+moving power will at last have its way, and what it wants in speed
+is supplied by time.
+
+That the crown is this overbearing part in the English constitution
+needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its whole consequence
+merely from being the giver of places and pensions is self-evident,
+wherefore, though we have been wise enough to shut and lock a door
+against absolute monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish
+enough to put the crown in possession of the key.
+
+The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of their own government by
+king, lords and commons, arises as much or more from national pride
+than reason. Individuals are undoubtedly safer in England than in
+some other countries, but the will of the king is as much the law of
+the land in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead
+of proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the people
+under the more formidable shape of an act of parliament. For the
+fate of Charles the first, hath only made kings more subtle--not
+more just.
+
+Wherefore, laying aside all national pride and prejudice in favour
+of modes and forms, the plain truth is, that it is wholly owing to
+the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the
+government that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in
+Turkey.
+
+An inquiry into the constitutional errors in the English form of
+government is at this time highly necessary, for as we are never in
+a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue
+under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we
+capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any
+obstinate prejudice. And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute,
+is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in
+favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from
+discerning a good one.
+
+
+
+OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION.
+
+Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the
+equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance;
+the distinctions of rich, and poor, may in a great measure be
+accounted for, and that without having recourse to the harsh ill
+sounding names of oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the
+consequence, but seldom or never the means of riches; and though
+avarice will preserve a man from being necessitously poor, it
+generally makes him too timorous to be wealthy.
+
+But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly
+natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is, the
+distinction of men into kings and subjects. Male and female are the
+distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but
+how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and
+distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and
+whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
+
+In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture
+chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there
+were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into
+confusion. Holland without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this
+last century than any of the monarchial governments in Europe.
+Antiquity favors the same remark; for the quiet and rural lives of
+the first patriarchs hath a happy something in them, which vanishes
+away when we come to the history of Jewish royalty.
+
+Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the
+Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was
+the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the
+promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honors to their 
+deceased kings, and the christian world hath improved on the plan by
+doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of
+sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor
+is crumbling into dust!
+
+As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be
+justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be
+defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty,
+as declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves
+of government by kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture have
+been very smoothly glossed over in monarchical governments, but they
+undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their
+governments yet to form. "Render unto Cæsar the things which are
+Cæsar's" is the scripture doctrine of courts, yet it is no support
+of monarchical government, for the Jews at that time were without a
+king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans.
+
+Near three thousand years passed away from the Mosaic account of the
+creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king.
+Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases,
+where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of republic administred by
+a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it
+was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the
+Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous
+homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder,
+that the Almighty ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of a
+form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of
+heaven.
+
+Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for
+which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. The history of
+that transaction is worth attending to.
+
+The children of Israel being oppressed by the Midianites, Gideon
+marched against them with a small army, and victory, thro' the
+divine interposition, decided in his favour. The Jews elate with
+success, and attributing it to the generalship of Gideon, proposed
+making him a king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son and
+thy son's son. Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a
+kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of his
+soul replied, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule
+over you. The Lord shall rule over you. Words need not be more
+explicit; Gideon doth not decline the honor, but denieth their right
+to give it; neither doth he compliment them with invented
+declarations of his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet
+charges them with disaffection to their proper Sovereign, the King
+of heaven.
+
+About one hundred and thirty years after this, they fell again into
+the same error. The hankering which the Jews had for the idolatrous
+customs of the Heathens, is something exceedingly unaccountable; but
+so it was, that laying hold of the misconduct of Samuel's two sons,
+who were entrusted with some secular concerns, they came in an
+abrupt and clamorous manner to Samuel, saying, Behold thou art old,
+and thy sons walk not in thy ways, now make us a king to judge us
+like all other nations. And here we cannot but observe that their
+motives were bad, viz. that they might be like unto other nations,
+i.e. the Heathens, whereas their true glory laid in being as much
+unlike them as possible. But the thing displeased Samuel when they
+said, Give us a king to judge us; and Samuel prayed unto the Lord,
+and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people
+in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but
+they have rejected me, THAT I SHOULD NOT REIGN OVER THEM. According
+to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought
+them up out of Egypt, even unto this day; wherewith they have
+forsaken me and served other Gods; so do they also unto thee. Now
+therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit, protest solemnly unto
+them and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them,
+i.e. not of any particular king, but the general manner of the kings
+of the earth, whom Israel was so eagerly copying after. And
+notwithstanding the great distance of time and difference of manners,
+the character is still in fashion. And Samuel told all the words of
+the Lord unto the people, that asked of him a king. And he said,
+This shall be the manner of the king that shall reign over you; he
+will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots,
+and to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots (this
+description agrees with the present mode of impressing men) and he
+will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties,
+and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest, and to
+make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots; and he
+will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks and
+to be bakers (this describes the expence and luxury as well as the
+oppression of kings) and he will take your fields and your olive
+yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants; and he
+will take the tenth of your feed, and of your vineyards, and give
+them to his officers and to his servants (by which we see that
+bribery, corruption and favoritism are the standing vices of kings)
+and he will take the tenth of your men servants, and your maid
+servants, and your goodliest young men and your asses, and put them
+to his work; and he will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall
+be his servants, and ye shall cry out in that day because of your
+king which ye shall have chosen, and the Lord will not hear you in
+that day. This accounts for the continuation of monarchy; neither do
+the characters of the few good kings which have lived since, either
+sanctify the title, or blot out the sinfulness of the origin; the
+high encomium given of David takes no notice of him officially as a
+king, but only as a man after God's own heart. Nevertheless the
+People refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but
+we will have a king over us, that we may be like all the nations,
+and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our
+battles. Samuel continued to reason with them, but to no purpose; he
+set before them their ingratitude, but all would not avail; and
+seeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, I will call
+unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain (which then was a
+punishment, being in the time of wheat harvest) that ye may perceive
+and see that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the
+sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the
+Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the
+people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said
+unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die
+not, for we have added unto our sins this evil, to ask a king. These
+portions of scripture are direct and positive. They admit of no
+equivocal construction. That the Almighty hath here entered his
+protest against monarchical government is true, or the scripture is
+false. And a man hath good reason to believe that there is as much
+of king-craft, as priest-craft, in withholding the scripture from
+the public in Popish countries. For monarchy in every instance is
+the Popery of government.
+
+To the evil of monarchy we have added that of hereditary succession;
+and as the first is a degradation and lessening of ourselves, so the
+second, claimed as a matter of right, is an insult and an imposition
+on posterity. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth
+could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference
+to all others for ever, and though himself might deserve some decent
+degree of honors of his cotemporaries, yet his descendants might be
+far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the strongest natural
+proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature
+disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into
+ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.
+
+Secondly, as no man at first could possess any other public honors
+than were bestowed upon him, so the givers of those honors could
+have no power to give away the right of posterity, and though they
+might say "We choose you for our head," they could not, without
+manifest injustice to their children, say "that your children and
+your children's children shall reign over ours for ever." Because
+such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the
+next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool.
+Most wise men, in their private sentiments, have ever treated
+hereditary right with contempt; yet it is one of those evils, which
+when once established is not easily removed; many submit from fear,
+others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the
+king the plunder of the rest.
+
+This is supposing the present race of kings in the world to have had
+an honorable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we
+take off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace them to their
+first rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better
+than the principal ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage
+manners or pre-eminence in subtility obtained him the title of chief
+among plunderers; and who by increasing in power, and extending his
+depredations, over-awed the quiet and defenceless to purchase their
+safety by frequent contributions. Yet his electors could have no
+idea of giving hereditary right to his descendants, because such a
+perpetual exclusion of themselves was incompatible with the free and
+unrestrained principles they professed to live by. Wherefore,
+hereditary succession in the early ages of monarchy could not take
+place as a matter of claim, but as something casual or complimental;
+but as few or no records were extant in those days, and traditional
+history stuffed with fables, it was very easy, after the lapse of a
+few generations, to trump up some superstitious tale, conveniently
+timed, Mahomet like, to cram hereditary right down the throats of
+the vulgar. Perhaps the disorders which threatened, or seemed to
+threaten, on the decease of a leader and the choice of a new one
+(for elections among ruffians could not be very orderly) induced
+many at first to favor hereditary pretensions; by which means it
+happened, as it hath happened since, that what at first was
+submitted to as a convenience, was afterwards claimed as a right.
+
+England, since the conquest, hath known some few good monarchs, but
+groaned beneath a much larger number of bad ones; yet no man in his
+senses can say that their claim under William the Conqueror is a
+very honorable one. A French bastard landing with an armed banditti,
+and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the
+natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original.--It
+certainly hath no divinity in it. However, it is needless to spend
+much time in exposing the folly of hereditary right; if there are
+any so weak as to believe it, let them promiscuously worship the ass
+and lion, and welcome. I shall neither copy their humility, nor
+disturb their devotion.
+
+Yet I should be glad to ask how they suppose kings came at first?
+The question admits but of three answers, viz. either by lot, by
+election, or by usurpation. If the first king was taken by lot, it
+establishes a precedent for the next, which excludes hereditary
+succession. Saul was by lot, yet the succession was not hereditary,
+neither does it appear from that transaction there was any intention
+it ever should. If the first king of any country was by election,
+that likewise establishes a precedent for the next; for to say, that
+the right of all future generations is taken away, by the act of the
+first electors, in their choice not only of a king, but of a family
+of kings for ever, hath no parrallel in or out of scripture but the
+doctrine of original sin, which supposes the free will of all men
+lost in Adam; and from such comparison, and it will admit of no
+other, hereditary succession can derive no glory. For as in Adam all
+sinned, and as in the first electors all men obeyed; as in the one
+all mankind were subjected to Satan, and in the other to Sovereignty;
+as our innocence was lost in the first, and our authority in the
+last; and as both disable us from reassuming some former state and
+privilege, it unanswerably follows that original sin and hereditary
+succession are parellels. Dishonorable rank! Inglorious connexion!
+Yet the most subtile sophist cannot produce a juster simile.
+
+As to usurpation, no man will be so hardy as to defend it; and that
+William the Conqueror was an usurper is a fact not to be
+contradicted. The plain truth is, that the antiquity of English
+monarchy will not bear looking into.
+
+But it is not so much the absurdity as the evil of hereditary
+succession which concerns mankind. Did it ensure a race of good and
+wise men it would have the seal of divine authority, but as it opens
+a door to the foolish, the wicked, and the improper, it hath in it
+the nature of oppression. Men who look upon themselves born to reign,
+and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of
+mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world
+they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they
+have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when
+they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and
+unfit of any throughout the dominions.
+
+Another evil which attends hereditary succession is, that the throne
+is subject to be possessed by a minor at any age; all which time the
+regency, acting under the cover of a king, have every opportunity
+and inducement to betray their trust. The same national misfortune
+happens, when a king worn out with age and infirmity, enters the
+last stage of human weakness. In both these cases the public becomes
+a prey to every miscreant, who can tamper successfully with the
+follies either of age or infancy.
+
+The most plausible plea, which hath ever been offered in favour of
+hereditary succession, is, that it preserves a nation from civil
+wars; and were this true, it would be weighty; whereas, it is the
+most barefaced falsity ever imposed upon mankind. The whole history
+of England disowns the fact. Thirty kings and two minors have
+reigned in that distracted kingdom since the conquest, in which time
+there have been (including the Revolution) no less than eight civil
+wars and nineteen rebellions. Wherefore instead of making for peace,
+it makes against it, and destroys the very foundation it seems to
+stand on.
+
+The contest for monarchy and succession, between the houses of York
+and Lancaster, laid England in a scene of blood for many years.
+Twelve pitched battles, besides skirmishes and sieges, were fought
+between Henry and Edward. Twice was Henry prisoner to Edward, who in
+his turn was prisoner to Henry. And so uncertain is the fate of war
+and the temper of a nation, when nothing but personal matters are
+the ground of a quarrel, that Henry was taken in triumph from a
+prison to a palace, and Edward obliged to fly from a palace to a
+foreign land; yet, as sudden transitions of temper are seldom
+lasting, Henry in his turn was driven from the throne, and Edward
+recalled to succeed him. The parliament always following the
+strongest side.
+
+This contest began in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and was not
+entirely extinguished till Henry the Seventh, in whom the families
+were united. Including a period of 67 years, viz. from 1422 to 1489.
+
+In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that
+kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. 'Tis a form of
+government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood
+will attend it.
+
+If we inquire into the business of a king, we shall find that in
+some countries they have none; and after sauntering away their lives
+without pleasure to themselves or advantage to the nation, withdraw
+from the scene, and leave their successors to tread the same idle
+round. In absolute monarchies the whole weight of business, civil
+and military, lies on the king; the children of Israel in their
+request for a king, urged this plea "that he may judge us, and go
+out before us and fight our battles." But in countries where he is
+neither a judge nor a general, as in England, a man would be puzzled
+to know what is his business.
+
+The nearer any government approaches to a republic the less business
+there is for a king. It is somewhat difficult to find a proper name
+for the government of England. Sir William Meredith calls it a
+republic; but in its present state it is unworthy of the name,
+because the corrupt influence of the crown, by having all the places
+in its disposal, hath so effectually swallowed up the power, and
+eaten out the virtue of the house of commons (the republican part in
+the constitution) that the government of England is nearly as
+monarchical as that of France or Spain. Men fall out with names
+without understanding them. For it is the republican and not the
+monarchical part of the constitution of England which Englishmen
+glory in, viz. the liberty of choosing a house of commons from out
+of their own body--and it is easy to see that when republican virtue
+fails, slavery ensues. Why is the constitution of England sickly,
+but because monarchy hath poisoned the republic, the crown hath
+engrossed the commons?
+
+In England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give
+away places; which in plain terms, is to impoverish the nation and
+set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to
+be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and
+worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to
+society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that
+ever lived.
+
+
+
+THOUGHTS ON THE PRESENT STATE OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS.
+
+In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain
+arguments, and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to
+settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of
+prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings
+to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he
+will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously
+enlarge his views beyond the present day.
+
+Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle between
+England and America. Men of all ranks have embarked in the
+controversy, from different motives, and with various designs; but
+all have been ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms,
+as the last resource, decide the contest; the appeal was the choice
+of the king, and the continent hath accepted the challenge.
+
+It hath been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who tho' an able
+minister was not without his faults) that on his being attacked in
+the house of commons, on the score, that his measures were only of a
+temporary kind, replied "they will last my time." Should a thought
+so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present contest,
+the name of ancestors will be remembered by future generations with
+detestation.
+
+The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the
+affair of a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but of a
+continent--of at least one eighth part of the habitable globe. 'Tis
+not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually
+involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected, even to
+the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is the seed time of
+continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be
+like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a
+young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read
+it in full grown characters.
+
+By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new æra for
+politics is struck; a new method of thinking hath arisen. All plans,
+proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of April, i.e. to the
+commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last year;
+which, though proper then, are superseded and useless now. Whatever
+was advanced by the advocates on either side of the question then,
+terminated in one and the same point, viz. a union with Great-
+Britain; the only difference between the parties was the method of
+effecting it; the one proposing force, the other friendship; but it
+hath so far happened that the first hath failed, and the second hath
+withdrawn her influence.
+
+As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which,
+like an agreeable dream, hath passed away and left us as we were, it
+is but right, that we should examine the contrary side of the
+argument, and inquire into some of the many material injuries which
+these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected
+with, and dependant on Great-Britain. To examine that connexion and
+dependance, on the principles of nature and common sense, to see
+what we have to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect,
+if dependant.
+
+I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished
+under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same
+connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always
+have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind
+of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived
+upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty
+years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But
+even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that
+America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had
+no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by
+which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and
+will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.
+
+But she has protected us, say some. That she has engrossed us is
+true, and defended the continent at our expence as well as her own
+is admitted, and she would have defended Turkey from the same motive,
+viz. the sake of trade and dominion.
+
+Alas, we have been long led away by ancient prejudices, and made
+large sacrifices to superstition. We have boasted the protection of
+Great-Britain, without considering, that her motive was interest not
+attachment; that she did not protect us from our enemies on our
+account, but from her enemies on her own account, from those who had
+no quarrel with us on any other account, and who will always be our
+enemies on the same account. Let Britain wave her pretensions to the
+continent, or the continent throw off the dependance, and we should
+be at peace with France and Spain were they at war with Britain. The
+miseries of Hanover last war ought to warn us against connexions.
+
+It has lately been asserted in parliament, that the colonies have no
+relation to each other but through the parent country, i.e. that
+Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, and so on for the rest, are sister
+colonies by the way of England; this is certainly a very round-about
+way of proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true way
+of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France and Spain never
+were, nor perhaps ever will be our enemies as Americans, but as our
+being the subjects of Great-Britain.
+
+But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame
+upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages
+make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true,
+turns to her reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly
+so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been jesuitically
+adopted by the king and his parasites, with a low papistical design
+of gaining an unfair bias on the credulous weakness of our minds.
+Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new
+world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and
+religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled,
+not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of
+the monster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny
+which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their descendants
+still.
+
+In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits
+of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry
+our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every
+European christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment.
+
+It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount the
+force of local prejudice, as we enlarge our acquaintance with the
+world. A man born in any town in England divided into parishes, will
+naturally associate most with his fellow parishioners (because their
+interests in many cases will be common) and distinguish him by the
+name of neighbour; if he meet him but a few miles from home, he
+drops the narrow idea of a street, and salutes him by the name of
+townsman; if he travel out of the county, and meet him in any other,
+he forgets the minor divisions of street and town, and calls him
+countryman, i.e. county-man; but if in their foreign excursions they
+should associate in France or any other part of Europe, their local
+remembrance would be enlarged into that of Englishmen. And by a just
+parity of reasoning, all Europeans meeting in America, or any other
+quarter of the globe, are countrymen; for England, Holland, Germany,
+or Sweden, when compared with the whole, stand in the same places on
+the larger scale, which the divisions of street, town, and county do
+on the smaller ones; distinctions too limited for continental minds.
+Not one third of the inhabitants, even of this province, are of
+English descent. Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or
+mother country applied to England only, as being false, selfish,
+narrow and ungenerous.
+
+But admitting, that we were all of English descent, what does it
+amount to? Nothing. Britain, being now an open enemy, extinguishes
+every other name and title: And to say that reconciliation is our
+duty, is truly farcical. The first king of England, of the present
+line (William the Conqueror) was a Frenchman, and half the Peers of
+England are descendants from the same country; therefore, by the
+same method of reasoning, England ought to be governed by France.
+
+Much hath been said of the united strength of Britain and the
+colonies, that in conjunction they might bid defiance to the world.
+But this is mere presumption; the fate of war is uncertain, neither
+do the expressions mean any thing; for this continent would never
+suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants, to support the British
+arms in either Asia, Africa, or Europe.
+
+Besides what have we to do with setting the world at defiance? Our
+plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will secure us the
+peace and friendship of all Europe; because, it is the interest of
+all Europe to have America a free port. Her trade will always be a
+protection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her from
+invaders.
+
+I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation, to shew, a
+single advantage that this continent can reap, by being connected
+with Great Britain. I repeat the challenge, not a single advantage
+is derived. Our corn will fetch its price in any market in Europe,
+and our imported goods must be paid for buy them where we will.
+
+But the injuries and disadvantages we sustain by that connection,
+are without number; and our duty to mankind at large, as well as to
+ourselves, instruct us to renounce the alliance: Because, any
+submission to, or dependance on Great-Britain, tends directly to
+involve this continent in European wars and quarrels; and sets us at
+variance with nations, who would otherwise seek our friendship, and
+against whom, we have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our
+market for trade, we ought to form no partial connection with any
+part of it. It is the true interest of America to steer clear of
+European contentions, which she never can do, while by her
+dependence on Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of
+British politics.
+
+Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace, and
+whenever a war breaks out between England and any foreign power, the
+trade of America goes to ruin, because of her connection with
+Britain. The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it
+not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be wishing for
+separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer
+convoy than a man of war. Every thing that is right or natural
+pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of
+nature cries, 'Tis time to part. Even the distance at which the
+Almighty hath placed England and America, is a strong and natural
+proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, was never the
+design of Heaven. The time likewise at which the continent was
+discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it
+was peopled encreases the force of it. The reformation was preceded
+by the discovery of America, as if the Almighty graciously meant to
+open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should
+afford neither friendship nor safety.
+
+The authority of Great-Britain over this continent, is a form of
+government, which sooner or later must have an end: And a serious
+mind can draw no true pleasure by looking forward, under the painful
+and positive conviction, that what he calls "the present
+constitution" is merely temporary. As parents, we can have no joy,
+knowing that this government is not sufficiently lasting to ensure
+any thing which we may bequeath to posterity: And by a plain method
+of argument, as we are running the next generation into debt, we
+ought to do the work of it, otherwise we use them meanly and
+pitifully. In order to discover the line of our duty rightly, we
+should take our children in our hand, and fix our station a few
+years farther into life; that eminence will present a prospect,
+which a few present fears and prejudices conceal from our sight.
+
+Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary offence, yet I am
+inclined to believe, that all those who espouse the doctrine of
+reconciliation, may be included within the following descriptions.
+Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men, who cannot see;
+prejudiced men, who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men,
+who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this
+last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more
+calamities to this continent, than all the other three.
+
+It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the scene of
+sorrow; the evil is not sufficient brought to their doors to make
+them feel the precariousness with which all American property is
+possessed. But let our imaginations transport us for a few moments
+to Boston, that seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and
+instruct us for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no
+trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city, who but a few
+months ago were in ease and affluence, have now, no other
+alternative than to stay and starve, or turn out to beg. Endangered
+by the fire of their friends if they continue within the city, and
+plundered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present
+condition they are prisoners without the hope of redemption, and in
+a general attack for their relief, they would be exposed to the fury
+of both armies.
+
+Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over the offences of
+Britain, and, still hoping for the best, are apt to call out, "Come,
+come, we shall be friends again, for all this." But examine the
+passions and feelings of mankind, Bring the doctrine of
+reconciliation to the touchstone of nature, and then tell me,
+whether you can hereafter love, honour, and faithfully serve the
+power that hath carried fire and sword into your land? If you cannot
+do all these, then are you only deceiving yourselves, and by your
+delay bringing ruin upon posterity. Your future connection with
+Britain, whom you can neither love nor honour, will be forced and
+unnatural, and being formed only on the plan of present convenience,
+will in a little time fall into a relapse more wretched than the
+first. But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then
+I ask, Hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed
+before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to
+lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by
+their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you
+have not, then are you not a judge of those who have. But if you
+have, and still can shake hands with the murderers, then are you
+unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and
+whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a
+coward, and the spirit of a sycophant.
+
+This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by
+those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without
+which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of
+life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror
+for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal
+and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed
+object. It is not in the power of Britain or of Europe to conquer
+America, if she do not conquer herself by delay and timidity. The
+present winter is worth an age if rightly employed, but if lost or
+neglected, the whole continent will partake of the misfortune; and
+there is no punishment which that man will not deserve, be he who,
+or what, or where he will, that may be the means of sacrificing a
+season so precious and useful.
+
+It is repugnant to reason, to the universal order of things to all
+examples from former ages, to suppose, that this continent can
+longer remain subject to any external power. The most sanguine in
+Britain does not think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot,
+at this time, compass a plan short of separation, which can promise
+the continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is now a
+fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connexion, and Art cannot
+supply her place. For, as Milton wisely expresses, "never can true
+reconcilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so
+deep."
+
+Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. Our prayers have
+been rejected with disdain; and only tended to convince us, that
+nothing flatters vanity, or confirms obstinacy in Kings more than
+repeated petitioning--and nothing hath contributed more than that
+very measure to make the Kings of Europe absolute: Witness Denmark
+and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do, for God's
+sake, let us come to a final separation, and not leave the next
+generation to be cutting throats, under the violated unmeaning names
+of parent and child.
+
+To say, they will never attempt it again is idle and visionary, we
+thought so at the repeal of the stamp-act, yet a year or two
+undeceived us; as well may we suppose that nations, which have been
+once defeated, will never renew the quarrel.
+
+As to government matters, it is not in the power of Britain to do
+this continent justice: The business of it will soon be too weighty,
+and intricate, to be managed with any tolerable degree of
+convenience, by a power, so distant from us, and so very ignorant of
+us; for if they cannot conquer us, they cannot govern us. To be
+always running three or four thousand miles with a tale or a
+petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, which when
+obtained requires five or six more to explain it in, will in a few
+years be looked upon as folly and childishness--There was a time
+when it was proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease.
+
+Small islands not capable of protecting themselves, are the proper
+objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is
+something very absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually
+governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite
+larger than its primary planet, and as England and America, with
+respect to each other, reverses the common order of nature, it is
+evident they belong to different systems: England to Europe, America
+to itself.
+
+I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment to
+espouse the doctrine of separation and independance; I am clearly,
+positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it is the true
+interest of this continent to be so; that every thing short of that
+is mere patchwork, that it can afford no lasting felicity,--that it
+is leaving the sword to our children, and shrinking back at a time,
+when, a little more, a little farther, would have rendered this
+continent the glory of the earth.
+
+As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination towards a
+compromise, we may be assured that no terms can be obtained worthy
+the acceptance of the continent, or any ways equal to the expence of
+blood and treasure we have been already put to.
+
+The object, contended for, ought always to bear some just proportion
+to the expence. The removal of North, or the whole detestable junto,
+is a matter unworthy the millions we have expended. A temporary
+stoppage of trade, was an inconvenience, which would have
+sufficiently ballanced the repeal of all the acts complained of, had
+such repeals been obtained; but if the whole continent must take up
+arms, if every man must be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while
+to fight against a contemptible ministry only. Dearly, dearly, do we
+pay for the repeal of the acts, if that is all we fight for; for in
+a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a Bunker-hill price
+for law, as for land. As I have always considered the independancy
+of this continent, as an event, which sooner or later must arrive,
+so from the late rapid progress of the continent to maturity, the
+event could not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking out of
+hostilities, it was not worth the while to have disputed a matter,
+which time would have finally redressed, unless we meant to be in
+earnest; otherwise, it is like wasting an estate on a suit at law,
+to regulate the trespasses of a tenant, whose lease is just expiring.
+No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before
+the fatal nineteenth of April 1775, but the moment the event of that
+day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh
+of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended
+title of father of his people can unfeelingly hear of their
+slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.
+
+But admitting that matters were now made up, what would be the event?
+I answer, the ruin of the continent. And that for several reasons.
+
+First. The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the
+king, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this
+continent. And as he hath shewn himself such an inveterate enemy to
+liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power; is he, or
+is he not, a proper man to say to these colonies, "You shall make no
+laws but what I please." And is there any inhabitant in America so
+ignorant, as not to know, that according to what is called the
+present constitution, that this continent can make no laws but what
+the king gives leave to; and is there any man so unwise, as not to
+see, that (considering what has happened) he will suffer no law to
+be made here, but such as suit his purpose. We may be as effectually
+enslaved by the want of laws in America, as by submitting to laws
+made for us in England. After matters are made up (as it is called)
+can there be any doubt, but the whole power of the crown will be
+exerted, to keep this continent as low and humble as possible?
+Instead of going forward we shall go backward, or be perpetually
+quarrelling or ridiculously petitioning.--We are already greater
+than the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter endeavour
+to make us less? To bring the matter to one point. Is the power who
+is jealous of our prosperity, a proper power to govern us? Whoever
+says No to this question is an independant, for independancy means
+no more, than, whether we shall make our own laws, or whether the
+king, the greatest enemy this continent hath, or can have, shall
+tell us "there shall be no laws but such as I like."
+
+But the king you will say has a negative in England; the people
+there can make no laws without his consent. In point of right and
+good order, there is something very ridiculous, that a youth of
+twenty-one (which hath often happened) shall say to several millions
+of people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or that act
+of yours to be law. But in this place I decline this sort of reply,
+though I will never cease to expose the absurdity of it, and only
+answer, that England being the King's residence, and America not so,
+makes quite another case. The king's negative here is ten times more
+dangerous and fatal than it can be in England, for there he will
+scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for putting England into as
+strong a state of defence as possible, and in America he would never
+suffer such a bill to be passed.
+
+America is only a secondary object in the system of British politics,
+England consults the good of this country, no farther than it
+answers her own purpose. Wherefore, her own interest leads her to
+suppress the growth of ours in every case which doth not promote her
+advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A pretty state we
+should soon be in under such a second-hand government, considering
+what has happened! Men do not change from enemies to friends by the
+alteration of a name: And in order to shew that reconciliation now
+is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm, that it would be policy in the
+king at this time, to repeal the acts for the sake of reinstating
+himself in the government of the provinces; in order, that he may
+accomplish by craft and subtilty, in the long run, what he cannot do
+by force and violence in the short one. Reconciliation and ruin are
+nearly related.
+
+Secondly. That as even the best terms, which we can expect to obtain,
+can amount to no more than a temporary expedient, or a kind of
+government by guardianship, which can last no longer than till the
+colonies come of age, so the general face and state of things, in
+the interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants of
+property will not choose to come to a country whose form of
+government hangs but by a thread, and who is every day tottering on
+the brink of commotion and disturbance; and numbers of the present
+inhabitants would lay hold of the interval, to dispense of their
+effects, and quit the continent.
+
+But the most powerful of all arguments, is, that nothing but
+independance, i.e. a continental form of government, can keep the
+peace of the continent and preserve it inviolate from civil wars. I
+dread the event of a reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more
+than probable, that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or
+other, the consequences of which may be far more fatal than all the
+malice of Britain.
+
+Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity; (thousands more
+will probably suffer the same fate) Those men have other feelings
+than us who have nothing suffered. All they now possess is liberty,
+what they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having
+nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. Besides, the general
+temper of the colonies, towards a British government, will be like
+that of a youth, who is nearly out of his time; they will care very
+little about her. And a government which cannot preserve the peace,
+is no government at all, and in that case we pay our money for
+nothing; and pray what is it that Britain can do, whose power will
+be wholly on paper, should a civil tumult break out the very day
+after reconciliation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I
+believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an independance,
+fearing that it would produce civil wars. It is but seldom that our
+first thoughts are truly correct, and that is the case here; for
+there are ten times more to dread from a patched up connexion than 
+from independance. I make the sufferers case my own, and I protest,
+that were I driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and
+my circumstances ruined, that as man, sensible of injuries, I could
+never relish the doctrine of reconciliation, or consider myself
+bound thereby.
+
+The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good order and
+obedience to continental government, as is sufficient to make every
+reasonable person easy and happy on that head. No man can assign the
+least pretence for his fears, on any other grounds, than such as are
+truly childish and ridiculous, viz. that one colony will be striving
+for superiority over another.
+
+Where there are no distinctions there can be no superiority, perfect
+equality affords no temptation. The republics of Europe are all (and
+we may say always) in peace. Holland and Swisserland are without
+wars, foreign or domestic: Monarchical governments, it is true, are
+never long at rest; the crown itself is a temptation to enterprizing
+ruffians at home; and that degree of pride and insolence ever
+attendant on regal authority, swells into a rupture with foreign
+powers, in instances, where a republican government, by being formed
+on more natural principles, would negociate the mistake.
+
+If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance, it is
+because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their way out--
+Wherefore, as an opening into that business, I offer the following
+hints; at the same time modestly affirming, that I have no other
+opinion of them myself, than that they may be the means of giving
+rise to something better. Could the straggling thoughts of
+individuals be collected, they would frequently form materials for
+wise and able men to improve into useful matter.
+
+Let the assemblies be annual, with a President only. The
+representation more equal. Their business wholly domestic, and
+subject to the authority of a Continental Congress.
+
+Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten, convenient 
+districts, each district to send a proper number of delegates to
+Congress, so that each colony send at least thirty. The whole number
+in Congress will be at least 390. Each Congress to sit and to choose
+a president by the following method. When the delegates are met, let
+a colony be taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after
+which, let the whole Congress choose (by ballot) a president from
+out of the delegates of that province. In the next Congress, let a
+colony be taken by lot from twelve only, omitting that colony from
+which the president was taken in the former Congress, and so
+proceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their proper
+rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into a law but what is
+satisfactorily just, not less than three fifths of the Congress to
+be called a majority.--He that will promote discord, under a
+government so equally formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in
+his revolt.
+
+But as there is a peculiar delicacy, from whom, or in what manner,
+this business must first arise, and as it seems most agreeable and
+consistent that it should come from some intermediate body between
+the governed and the governors, that is, between the Congress and
+the people, let a Continental Conference be held, in the following
+manner, and for the following purpose.
+
+A committee of twenty-six members of Congress, viz. two for each
+colony. Two members from each House of Assembly, or Provincial
+Convention; and five representatives of the people at large, to be
+chosen in the capital city or town of each province, for, and in
+behalf of the whole province, by as many qualified voters as shall
+think proper to attend from all parts of the province for that
+purpose; or, if more convenient, the representatives may be chosen
+in two or three of the most populous parts thereof. In this
+conference, thus assembled, will be united, the two grand principles
+of business, knowledge and power. The members of Congress,
+Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national
+concerns, will be able and useful counsellors, and the whole, being
+impowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority.
+
+The conferring members being met, let their business be to frame a
+Continental Charter, or Charter of the United Colonies; (answering
+to what is called the Magna Charta of England) fixing the number and
+manner of choosing members of Congress, members of Assembly, with
+their date of sitting, and drawing the line of business and 
+jurisdiction between them: (Always remembering, that our strength is
+continental, not provincial:) Securing freedom and property to all
+men, and above all things, the free exercise of religion, according
+to the dictates of conscience; with such other matter as is
+necessary for a charter to contain. Immediately after which, the
+said Conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be chosen
+comformable to the said charter, to be the legislators and governors
+of this continent for the time being: Whose peace and happiness, may
+God preserve, Amen.
+
+Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for this or some
+similar purpose, I offer them the following extracts from that wise
+observer on governments Dragonetti. "The science" says he "of the
+politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and
+freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should
+discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of
+individual happiness, with the least national expense.
+
+Dragonetti on virtue and rewards."
+
+But where says some is the King of America? I'll tell you Friend, he
+reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal
+Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in
+earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the
+charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the word
+of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know,
+that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is
+king. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free
+countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.
+But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the
+conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the
+people whose right it is.
+
+A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man
+seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will
+become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a
+constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have
+it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and
+chance. If we omit it now, some Massanello ¹ may hereafter arise,
+who laying hold of popular disquietudes, may collect together the
+desperate and the discontented, and by assuming to themselves the
+powers of government, may sweep away the liberties of the continent
+like a deluge. Should the government of America return again into
+the hands of Britain, the tottering situation of things, will be a
+temptation for some desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and in
+such a case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear the
+news, the fatal business might be done; and ourselves suffering like
+the wretched Britons under the oppression of the Conqueror. Ye that
+oppose independance now, ye know not what ye do; ye are opening a
+door to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government.
+There are thousands, and tens of thousands, who would think it
+glorious to expel from the continent, that barbarous and hellish
+power, which hath stirred up the Indians and Negroes to destroy us,
+the cruelty hath a double guilt, it is dealing brutally by us, and
+treacherously by them.
+
+¹ Thomas Anello, otherwise Massanello, a fisherman of Naples, who
+after spiriting up his countrymen in the public market place,
+against the oppressions of the Spaniards, to whom the place was then
+subject, prompted them to revolt, and in the space of a day became
+king.
+
+To talk of friendship with those in whom our reason forbids us to
+have faith, and our affections wounded through a thousand pores
+instruct us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears out the
+little remains of kindred between us and them, and can there be any
+reason to hope, that as the relationship expires, the affection will
+increase, or that we shall agree better, when we have ten times more
+and greater concerns to quarrel over than ever?
+
+Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye restore to us
+the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitution its former
+innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain and America. The last
+cord now is broken, the people of England are presenting addresses
+against us. There are injuries which nature cannot forgive; she
+would cease to be nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive
+the ravisher of his mistress, as the continent forgive the murders
+of Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable
+feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his
+image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the herd of common
+animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be
+extirpated the earth, or have only a casual existence were we
+callous to the touches of affection. The robber, and the murderer,
+would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our
+tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.
+
+O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny,
+but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun
+with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and
+Africa, have long expelled her--Europe regards her like a stranger,
+and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the
+fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.
+
+
+
+OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA,
+WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS.
+
+I have never met with a man, either in England or America, who hath
+not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries,
+would take place one time or other: And there is no instance, in
+which we have shewn less judgment, than in endeavouring to describe,
+what we call, the ripeness or fitness of the Continent for
+independance.
+
+As all men allow the measure, and vary only in their opinion of the
+time, let us, in order to remove mistakes, take a general survey of
+things, and endeavour, if possible, to find out the very time. But
+we need not go far, the inquiry ceases at once, for, the time hath
+found us. The general concurrence, the glorious union of all things
+prove the fact.
+
+It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies;
+yet our present numbers are sufficient to repel the force of all the
+world. The Continent hath, at this time, the largest body of armed
+and disciplined men of any power under Heaven; and is just arrived
+at that pitch of strength, in which no single colony is able to
+support itself, and the whole, when united, can accomplish the
+matter, and either more, or, less than this, might be fatal in its
+effects. Our land force is already sufficient, and as to naval
+affairs, we cannot be insensible, that Britain would never suffer an
+American man of war to be built, while the continent remained in her
+hands. Wherefore, we should be no forwarder an hundred years hence
+in that branch, than we are now; but the truth is, we should be less
+so, because the timber of the country is every day diminishing, and
+that, which will remain at last, will be far off and difficult to
+procure.
+
+Were the continent crowded with inhabitants, her sufferings under
+the present circumstances would be intolerable. The more sea port
+towns we had, the more should we have both to defend and to lose.
+Our present numbers are so happily proportioned to our wants, that
+no man need be idle. The diminution of trade affords an army, and
+the necessities of an army create a new trade.
+
+Debts we have none; and whatever we may contract on this account
+will serve as a glorious memento of our virtue. Can we but leave
+posterity with a settled form of government, an independant
+constitution of its own, the purchase at any price will be cheap.
+But to expend millions for the sake of getting a few vile acts
+repealed, and routing the present ministry only, is unworthy the
+charge, and is using posterity with the utmost cruelty; because it
+is leaving them the great work to do, and a debt upon their backs,
+from which they derive no advantage. Such a thought is unworthy a
+man of honor, and is the true characteristic of a narrow heart and a
+pedling politician.
+
+The debt we may contract doth not deserve our regard if the work be
+but accomplished. No nation ought to be without a debt. A national
+debt is a national bond; and when it bears no interest, is in no
+case a grievance. Britain is oppressed with a debt of upwards of one
+hundred and forty millions sterling, for which she pays upwards of
+four millions interest. And as a compensation for her debt, she has
+a large navy; America is without a debt, and without a navy; yet for
+the twentieth part of the English national debt, could have a navy
+as large again. The navy of England is not worth, at this time, more
+than three millions and an half sterling.
+
+The first and second editions of this pamphlet were published
+without the following calculations, which are now given as a proof
+that the above estimation of the navy is just. See Entic's naval
+history, intro. page 56.
+
+The charge of building a ship of each rate, and furnishing her with
+masts, yards, sails and rigging, together with a proportion of eight
+months boatswain's and carpenter's sea-stores, as calculated by Mr.
+Burchett, Secretary to the navy.
+
+                                                   £
+                                                [pounds
+                                                sterling]
+For a ship of   100    guns              =      35,553
+                 90                      =      29,886
+                 80                      =      23,638
+                 70                      =      17,785
+                 60                      =      14,197
+                 50                      =      10,606
+                 40                      =       7,558
+                 30                      =       5,846
+                 20                      =       3,710
+
+And from hence it is easy to sum up the value, or cost rather, of
+the whole British navy, which in the year 1757, when it was at its
+greatest glory consisted of the following ships and guns:
+
+Ships.   Guns. 		   Cost of one.   Cost of all.
+                           Cost in £ [pounds sterling]
+  6      100                     35,553     213,318
+ 12       90                     29,886     358,632
+ 12       80                     23,638     283,656
+ 43       70                     17,785     764,755
+ 35       60                     14,197     496,895
+ 40       50                     10,606     424,240
+ 45       40                      7,558     340,110
+ 58       20                      3,710     215,180
+ 85     Sloops, bombs
+        and fireships, one
+        with another, at     }    2,000     170,000
+                                         ------------
+Cost                                      3,266,786
+Remains for Guns                            233,214
+                                         ------------
+                                          3,500,000
+
+No country on the globe is so happily situated, or so internally
+capable of raising a fleet as America. Tar, timber, iron, and
+cordage are her natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing.
+Whereas the Dutch, who make large profits by hiring out their ships
+of war to the Spaniards and Portuguese, are obliged to import most
+of the materials they use. We ought to view the building a fleet as
+an article of commerce, it being the natural manufactory of this
+country. It is the best money we can lay out. A navy when finished
+is worth more than it cost. And is that nice point in national
+policy, in which commerce and protection are united. Let us build;
+if we want them not, we can sell; and by that means replace our
+paper currency with ready gold and silver.
+
+In point of manning a fleet, people in general run into great errors;
+it is not necessary that one fourth part should be sailors. The
+Terrible privateer, Captain Death, stood the hottest engagement of
+any ship last war, yet had not twenty sailors on board, though her
+complement of men was upwards of two hundred. A few able and social
+sailors will soon instruct a sufficient number of active landmen in
+the common work of a ship. Wherefore, we never can be more capable
+to begin on maritime matters than now, while our timber is standing,
+our fisheries blocked up, and our sailors and shipwrights out of
+employ. Men of war, of seventy and eighty guns were built forty
+years ago in New-England, and why not the same now? Ship-building is
+America's greatest pride, and in which, she will in time excel the
+whole world. The great empires of the east are mostly inland, and
+consequently excluded from the possibility of rivalling her. Africa
+is in a state of barbarism; and no power in Europe, hath either such
+an extent of coast, or such an internal supply of materials. Where
+nature hath given the one, she has withheld the other; to America
+only hath she been liberal of both. The vast empire of Russia is
+almost shut out from the sea; wherefore, her boundless forests, her
+tar, iron, and cordage are only articles of commerce.
+
+In point of safety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the
+little people now, which we were sixty years ago; at that time we
+might have trusted our property in the streets, or fields rather;
+and slept securely without locks or bolts to our doors or windows.
+The case now is altered, and our methods of defence, ought to
+improve with our increase of property. A common pirate, twelve
+months ago, might have come up the Delaware, and laid the city of
+Philadelphia under instant contribution, for what sum he pleased;
+and the same might have happened to other places. Nay, any daring
+fellow, in a brig of fourteen or sixteen guns, might have robbed the
+whole Continent, and carried off half a million of money. These are
+circumstances which demand our attention, and point out the
+necessity of naval protection.
+
+Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up with Britain,
+she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean, that she shall
+keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose? Common sense will tell
+us, that the power which hath endeavoured to subdue us, is of all
+others, the most improper to defend us. Conquest may be effected
+under the pretence of friendship; and ourselves, after a long and
+brave resistance, be at last cheated into slavery. And if her ships
+are not to be admitted into our harbours, I would ask, how is she to
+protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles off can be of little
+use, and on sudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore, if we must
+hereafter protect ourselves, why not do it for ourselves? Why do it
+for another?
+
+The English list of ships of war, is long and formidable, but not a
+tenth part of them are at any one time fit for service, numbers of
+them not in being; yet their names are pompously continued in the
+list, if only a plank be left of the ship: and not a fifth part, of
+such as are fit for service, can be spared on any one station at one
+time. The East and West Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other
+parts over which Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon
+her navy. From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have
+contracted a false notion respecting the navy of England, and have
+talked as if we should have the whole of it to encounter at once,
+and for that reason, supposed, that we must have one as large; which
+not being instantly practicable, have been made use of by a set of
+disguised Tories to discourage our beginning thereon. Nothing can be
+farther from truth than this; for if America had only a twentieth
+part of the naval force of Britain, she would be by far an over
+match for her; because, as we neither have, nor claim any foreign
+dominion, our whole force would be employed on our own coast, where
+we should, in the long run, have two to one the advantage of those
+who had three or four thousand miles to sail over, before they could
+attack us, and the same distance to return in order to refit and
+recruit. And although Britain by her fleet, hath a check over our
+trade to Europe, we have as large a one over her trade to the West-
+Indies, which, by laying in the neighbourhood of the Continent, is
+entirely at its mercy.
+
+Some method might be fallen on to keep up a naval force in time of
+peace, if we should not judge it necessary to support a constant
+navy. If premiums were to be given to merchants, to build and employ
+in their service ships mounted with twenty, thirty, forty or fifty
+guns, (the premiums to be in proportion to the loss of bulk to the
+merchants) fifty or sixty of those ships, with a few guardships on
+constant duty, would keep up a sufficient navy, and that without
+burdening ourselves with the evil so loudly complained of in England,
+of suffering their fleet, in time of peace to lie rotting in the
+docks. To unite the sinews of commerce and defense is sound policy;
+for when our strength and our riches play into each other's hand, we
+need fear no external enemy.
+
+In almost every article of defense we abound. Hemp flourishes even
+to rankness, so that we need not want cordage. Our iron is superior
+to that of other countries. Our small arms equal to any in the world.
+Cannon we can cast at pleasure. Saltpetre and gunpowder we are every
+day producing. Our knowledge is hourly improving. Resolution is our
+inherent character, and courage hath never yet forsaken us.
+Wherefore, what is it that we want? Why is it that we hesitate? From
+Britain we can expect nothing but ruin. If she is once admitted to
+the government of America again, this Continent will not be worth
+living in. Jealousies will be always arising; insurrections will be
+constantly happening; and who will go forth to quell them? Who will
+venture his life to reduce his own countrymen to a foreign obedience?
+The difference between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, respecting some
+unlocated lands, shews the insignificance of a British government,
+and fully proves, that nothing but Continental authority can
+regulate Continental matters.
+
+Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is,
+that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet
+unoccupied, which instead of being lavished by the king on his
+worthless dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the
+discharge of the present debt, but to the constant support of
+government. No nation under heaven hath such an advantage as this.
+
+The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being
+against, is an argument in favour of independance. We are
+sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united.
+It is a matter worthy of observation, that the more a country is
+peopled, the smaller their armies are. In military numbers, the
+ancients far exceeded the moderns: and the reason is evident. For
+trade being the consequence of population, men become too much
+absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the
+spirit, both of patriotism and military defence. And history
+sufficiently informs us, that the bravest achievements were always
+accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With the increase of
+commerce, England hath lost its spirit. The city of London,
+notwithstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with the
+patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing
+are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and
+submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel.
+
+Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in
+individuals. It might be difficult, if not impossible, to form the
+Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety
+of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population,
+would create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being
+able might scorn each other's assistance: and while the proud and
+foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament,
+that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the present
+time is the true time for establishing it. The intimacy which is
+contracted in infancy, and the friendship which is formed in
+misfortune, are, of all others, the most lasting and unalterable.
+Our present union is marked with both these characters: we are young
+and we have been distressed; but our concord hath withstood our
+troubles, and fixes a memorable area for posterity to glory in.
+
+The present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which never
+happens to a nation but once, viz. the time of forming itself into a
+government. Most nations have let slip the opportunity, and by that
+means have been compelled to receive laws from their conquerors,
+instead of making laws for themselves. First, they had a king, and
+then a form of government; whereas, the articles or charter of
+government, should be formed first, and men delegated to execute
+them afterward: but from the errors of other nations, let us learn
+wisdom, and lay hold of the present opportunity--To begin government
+at the right end.
+
+When William the Conqueror subdued England, he gave them law at the
+point of the sword; and until we consent, that the seat of
+government, in America, be legally and authoritatively occupied, we
+shall be in danger of having it filled by some fortunate ruffian,
+who may treat us in the same manner, and then, where will be our
+freedom? where our property?
+
+As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all
+government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I
+know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let
+a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of
+principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to
+part with, and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head.
+Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good
+society. For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is
+the will of the Almighty, that there should be diversity of
+religious opinions among us: It affords a larger field for our
+Christian kindness. Were we all of one way of thinking, our
+religious dispositions would want matter for probation; and on this
+liberal principle, I look on the various denominations among us, to
+be like children of the same family, differing only, in what is
+called, their Christian names.
+
+In page forty, I threw out a few thoughts on the propriety of a
+Continental Charter, (for I only presume to offer hints, not plans)
+and in this place, I take the liberty of re-mentioning the subject,
+by observing, that a charter is to be understood as a bond of solemn
+obligation, which the whole enters into, to support the right of
+every separate part, whether of religion, personal freedom, or
+property. A firm bargain and a right reckoning make long friends.
+
+In a former page I likewise mentioned the necessity of a large and
+equal representation; and there is no political matter which more
+deserves our attention. A small number of electors, or a small
+number of representatives, are equally dangerous. But if the number
+of the representatives be not only small, but unequal, the danger is
+increased. As an instance of this, I mention the following; when the
+Associators petition was before the House of Assembly of
+Pennsylvania; twenty-eight members only were present, all the Bucks
+county members, being eight, voted against it, and had seven of the
+Chester members done the same, this whole province had been governed
+by two counties only, and this danger it is always exposed to. The
+unwarrantable stretch likewise, which that house made in their last
+sitting, to gain an undue authority over the delegates of that
+province, ought to warn the people at large, how they trust power
+out of their own hands. A set of instructions for the Delegates were
+put together, which in point of sense and business would have
+dishonoured a schoolboy, and after being approved by a few, a very
+few without doors, were carried into the House, and there passed in
+behalf of the whole colony; whereas, did the whole colony know, with
+what ill-will that House hath entered on some necessary public
+measures, they would not hesitate a moment to think them unworthy of
+such a trust.
+
+Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued
+would grow into oppressions. Expedience and right are different
+things. When the calamities of America required a consultation,
+there was no method so ready, or at that time so proper, as to
+appoint persons from the several Houses of Assembly for that purpose;
+and the wisdom with which they have proceeded hath preserved this
+continent from ruin. But as it is more than probable that we shall
+never be without a Congress, every well wisher to good order, must
+own, that the mode for choosing members of that body, deserves
+consideration. And I put it as a question to those, who make a study
+of mankind, whether representation and election is not too great a
+power for one and the same body of men to possess? When we are
+planning for posterity, we ought to remember, that virtue is not
+hereditary.
+
+It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are
+frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes. Mr. Cornwall
+(one of the Lords of the Treasury) treated the petition of the New-
+York Assembly with contempt, because that House, he said, consisted
+but of twenty-six members, which trifling number, he argued, could
+not with decency be put for the whole. We thank him for his
+involuntary honesty. ¹
+
+¹ Those who would fully understand of what great consequence a large
+and equal representation is to a state, should read Burgh's
+political disquisitions.
+
+To Conclude, however strange it may appear to some, or however
+unwilling they may be to think so, matters not, but many strong and
+striking reasons may be given, to shew, that nothing can settle our
+affairs so expeditiously as an open and determined declaration for
+independance. Some of which are,
+
+First.--It is the custom of nations, when any two are at war, for
+some other powers, not engaged in the quarrel, to step in as
+mediators, and bring about the preliminaries of a peace: but while
+America calls herself the Subject of Great-Britain, no power,
+however well disposed she may be, can offer her mediation. Wherefore,
+in our present state we may quarrel on for ever.
+
+Secondly.--It is unreasonable to suppose, that France or Spain will
+give us any kind of assistance, if we mean only, to make use of that
+assistance for the purpose of repairing the breach, and
+strengthening the connection between Britain and America; because,
+those powers would be sufferers by the consequences.
+
+Thirdly.--While we profess ourselves the subjects of Britain, we
+must, in the eye of foreign nations, be considered as rebels. The
+precedent is somewhat dangerous to their peace, for men to be in
+arms under the name of subjects; we, on the spot, can solve the
+paradox: but to unite resistance and subjection, requires an idea
+much too refined for common understanding.
+
+Fourthly.--Were a manifesto to be published, and despatched to
+foreign courts, setting forth the miseries we have endured, and the
+peaceable methods we have ineffectually used for redress; declaring,
+at the same time, that not being able, any longer, to live happily
+or safely under the cruel disposition of the British court, we had
+been driven to the necessity of breaking off all connections with
+her; at the same time, assuring all such courts of our peaceable
+disposition towards them, and of our desire of entering into trade
+with them: Such a memorial would produce more good effects to this
+Continent, than if a ship were freighted with petitions to Britain.
+
+Under our present denomination of British subjects, we can neither
+be received nor heard abroad: The custom of all courts is against us,
+and will be so, until, by an independance, we take rank with other
+nations.
+
+These proceedings may at first appear strange and difficult; but,
+like all other steps which we have already passed over, will in a
+little time become familiar and agreeable; and, until an
+independance is declared, the Continent will feel itself like a man
+who continues putting off some unpleasant business from day to day,
+yet knows it must be done, hates to set about it, wishes it over,
+and is continually haunted with the thoughts of its necessity.
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+Since the publication of the first edition of this pamphlet, or
+rather, on the same day on which it came out, the King's Speech made
+its appearance in this city. Had the spirit of prophecy directed the
+birth of this production, it could not have brought it forth, at a
+more seasonable juncture, or a more necessary time. The bloody
+mindedness of the one, shew the necessity of pursuing the doctrine
+of the other. Men read by way of revenge. And the Speech, instead of
+terrifying, prepared a way for the manly principles of Independance.
+
+Ceremony, and even, silence, from whatever motive they may arise,
+have a hurtful tendency, when they give the least degree of
+countenance to base and wicked performances; wherefore, if this
+maxim be admitted, it naturally follows, that the King's Speech, as
+being a piece of finished villainy, deserved, and still deserves, a
+general execration both by the Congress and the people. Yet, as the
+domestic tranquillity of a nation, depends greatly, on the chastity
+of what may properly be called national manners, it is often better,
+to pass some things over in silent disdain, than to make use of such
+new methods of dislike, as might introduce the least innovation, on
+that guardian of our peace and safety. And, perhaps, it is chiefly
+owing to this prudent delicacy, that the King's Speech, hath not,
+before now, suffered a public execution. The Speech if it may be
+called one, is nothing better than a wilful audacious libel against
+the truth, the common good, and the existence of mankind; and is a
+formal and pompous method of offering up human sacrifices to the
+pride of tyrants. But this general massacre of mankind, is one of
+the privileges, and the certain consequence of Kings; for as nature
+knows them not, they know not her, and although they are beings of
+our own creating, they know not us, and are become the gods of their
+creators. The Speech hath one good quality, which is, that it is not
+calculated to deceive, neither can we, even if we would, be deceived
+by it. Brutality and tyranny appear on the face of it. It leaves us
+at no loss: And every line convinces, even in the moment of reading,
+that He, who hunts the woods for prey, the naked and untutored
+Indian, is less a Savage than the King of Britain.
+
+Sir John Dalrymple, the putative father of a whining jesuitical
+piece, fallaciously called, "The Address of the people of England to
+the inhabitants of America," hath, perhaps, from a vain supposition,
+that the people here were to be frightened at the pomp and
+description of a king, given, (though very unwisely on his part) the
+real character of the present one: "But" says this writer, "if you
+are inclined to pay compliments to an administration, which we do
+not complain of," (meaning the Marquis of Rockingham's at the repeal
+of the Stamp Act) "it is very unfair in you to withhold them from
+that prince, by whose nod alone they were permitted to do any
+thing." This is toryism with a witness! Here is idolatry even
+without a mask: And he who can calmly hear, and digest such doctrine,
+hath forfeited his claim to rationality--an apostate from the order
+of manhood; and ought to be considered--as one, who hath not only
+given up the proper dignity of man, but sunk himself beneath the
+rank of animals, and contemptibly crawls through the world like a
+worm.
+
+However, it matters very little now, what the king of England either
+says or does; he hath wickedly broken through every moral and human
+obligation, trampled nature and conscience beneath his feet; and by
+a steady and constitutional spirit of insolence and cruelty,
+procured for himself an universal hatred. It is now the interest of
+America to provide for herself. She hath already a large and young
+family, whom it is more her duty to take care of, than to be
+granting away her property, to support a power who is become a
+reproach to the names of men and christians--Ye, whose office it is
+to watch over the morals of a nation, of whatsoever sect or
+denomination ye are of, as well as ye, who are more immediately the
+guardians of the public liberty, if ye wish to preserve your native
+country uncontaminated by European corruption, ye must in secret
+wish a separation--But leaving the moral part to private reflection,
+I shall chiefly confine my farther remarks to the following heads.
+
+First. That it is the interest of America to be separated from
+Britain.
+
+Secondly. Which is the easiest and most practicable plan,
+reconciliation or independance? with some occasional remarks.
+
+In support of the first, I could, if I judged it proper, produce the
+opinion of some of the ablest and most experienced men on this
+continent; and whose sentiments, on that head, are not yet publicly
+known. It is in reality a self-evident position: For no nation in a
+state of foreign dependance, limited in its commerce, and cramped
+and fettered in its legislative powers, can ever arrive at any
+material eminence. America doth not yet know what opulence is; and
+although the progress which she hath made stands unparalleled in the
+history of other nations, it is but childhood, compared with what
+she would be capable of arriving at, had she, as she ought to have,
+the legislative powers in her own hands. England is, at this time,
+proudly coveting what would do her no good, were she to accomplish
+it; and the Continent hesitating on a matter, which will be her
+final ruin if neglected. It is the commerce and not the conquest of
+America, by which England is to be benefited, and that would in a
+great measure continue, were the countries as independant of each
+other as France and Spain; because in many articles, neither can go
+to a better market. But it is the independance of this country of
+Britain or any other, which is now the main and only object worthy
+of contention, and which, like all other truths discovered by
+necessity, will appear clearer and stronger every day.
+
+First. Because it will come to that one time or other.
+
+Secondly. Because, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to
+accomplish.
+
+I have frequently amused myself both in public and private companies,
+with silently remarking, the specious errors of those who speak
+without reflecting. And among the many which I have heard, the
+following seems the most general, viz. that had this rupture
+happened forty or fifty years hence, instead of now, the Continent
+would have been more able to have shaken off the dependance. To
+which I reply, that our military ability, at this time, arises from
+the experience gained in the last war, and which in forty or fifty
+years time, would have been totally extinct. The Continent, would
+not, by that time, have had a General, or even a military officer
+left; and we, or those who may succeed us, would have been as
+ignorant of martial matters as the ancient Indians: And this single
+position, closely attended to, will unanswerably prove, that the
+present time is preferable to all others. The argument turns thus--
+at the conclusion of the last war, we had experience, but wanted
+numbers; and forty or fifty years hence, we should have numbers,
+without experience; wherefore, the proper point of time, must be
+some particular point between the two extremes, in which a
+sufficiency of the former remains, and a proper increase of the
+latter is obtained: And that point of time is the present time.
+
+The reader will pardon this digression, as it does not properly come
+under the head I first set out with, and to which I again return by
+the following position, viz.
+
+Should affairs be patched up with Britain, and she to remain the
+governing and sovereign power of America, (which, as matters are now
+circumstanced, is giving up the point intirely) we shall deprive
+ourselves of the very means of sinking the debt we have, or may
+contract. The value of the back lands which some of the provinces
+are clandestinely deprived of, by the unjust extention of the limits
+of Canada, valued only at five pounds sterling per hundred acres,
+amount to upwards of twenty-five millions, Pennsylvania currency;
+and the quit-rents at one penny sterling per acre, to two millions
+yearly.
+
+It is by the sale of those lands that the debt may be sunk, without
+burthen to any, and the quit-rent reserved thereon, will always
+lessen, and in time, will wholly support the yearly expence of
+government. It matters not how long the debt is in paying, so that
+the lands when sold be applied to the discharge of it, and for the
+execution of which, the Congress for the time being, will be the
+continental trustees.
+
+I proceed now to the second head, viz. Which is the easiest and most
+practicable plan, reconciliation or independance; with some
+occasional remarks.
+
+He who takes nature for his guide is not easily beaten out of his 
+argument, and on that ground, I answer generally--That independance
+being a single simple line, contained within ourselves; and
+reconciliation, a matter exceedingly perplexed and complicated, and
+in which, a treacherous capricious court is to interfere, gives the
+answer without a doubt.
+
+The present state of America is truly alarming to every man who is
+capable of reflexion. Without law, without government, without any
+other mode of power than what is founded on, and granted by courtesy.
+Held together by an unexampled concurrence of sentiment, which is
+nevertheless subject to change, and which every secret enemy is
+endeavouring to dissolve. Our present condition, is, Legislation
+without law; wisdom without a plan; constitution without a name; and,
+what is strangely astonishing, perfect Independance contending for
+dependance. The instance is without a precedent; the case never
+existed before; and who can tell what may be the event? The property
+of no man is secure in the present unbraced system of things. The
+mind of the multitude is left at random, and seeing no fixed object
+before them, they pursue such as fancy or opinion starts. Nothing is
+criminal; there is no such thing as treason; wherefore, every one
+thinks himself at liberty to act as he pleases. The Tories dared not
+have assembled offensively, had they known that their lives, by that
+act, were forfeited to the laws of the state. A line of distinction
+should be drawn, between, English soldiers taken in battle, and
+inhabitants of America taken in arms. The first are prisoners, but
+the latter traitors. The one forfeits his liberty, the other his
+head.
+
+Notwithstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of
+our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions. The
+Continental Belt is too loosely buckled. And if something is not
+done in time, it will be too late to do any thing, and we shall fall
+into a state, in which, neither Reconciliation nor Independance will
+be practicable. The king and his worthless adherents are got at
+their old game of dividing the Continent, and there are not wanting
+among us, Printers, who will be busy in spreading specious
+falsehoods. The artful and hypocritical letter which appeared a few
+months ago in two of the New-York papers, and likewise in two others,
+is an evidence that there are men who want either judgment or
+honesty.
+
+It is easy getting into holes and corners and talking of
+reconciliation: But do such men seriously consider, how difficult
+the task is, and how dangerous it may prove, should the Continent
+divide thereon. Do they take within their view, all the various
+orders of men whose situation and circumstances, as well as their
+own, are to be considered therein. Do they put themselves in the
+place of the sufferer whose all is already gone, and of the soldier,
+who hath quitted all for the defence of his country. If their ill
+judged moderation be suited to their own private situations only,
+regardless of others, the event will convince them, that "they are
+reckoning without their Host."
+
+Put us, say some, on the footing we were on in sixty-three: To which
+I answer, the request is not now in the power of Britain to comply
+with, neither will she propose it; but if it were, and even should
+be granted, I ask, as a reasonable question, By what means is such a
+corrupt and faithless court to be kept to its engagements? Another
+parliament, nay, even the present, may hereafter repeal the
+obligation, on the pretence, of its being violently obtained, or
+unwisely granted; and in that case, Where is our redress?--No going
+to law with nations; cannon are the barristers of Crowns; and the
+sword, not of justice, but of war, decides the suit. To be on the
+footing of sixty-three, it is not sufficient, that the laws only be
+put on the same state, but, that our circumstances, likewise, be put
+on the same state; Our burnt and destroyed towns repaired or built
+up, our private losses made good, our public debts (contracted for
+defence) discharged; otherwise, we shall be millions worse than we
+were at that enviable period. Such a request, had it been complied
+with a year ago, would have won the heart and soul of the Continent-
+-but now it is too late, "The Rubicon is passed."
+
+Besides, the taking up arms, merely to enforce the repeal of a
+pecuniary law, seems as unwarrantable by the divine law, and as
+repugnant to human feelings, as the taking up arms to enforce
+obedience thereto. The object, on either side, doth not justify the
+means; for the lives of men are too valuable to be cast away on such
+trifles. It is the violence which is done and threatened to our
+persons; the destruction of our property by an armed force; the
+invasion of our country by fire and sword, which conscientiously
+qualifies the use of arms: And the instant, in which such a mode of
+defence became necessary, all subjection to Britain ought to have
+ceased; and the independancy of America, should have been considered,
+as dating its æra from, and published by, the first musket that was
+fired against her. This line is a line of consistency; neither drawn
+by caprice, nor extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of
+events, of which the colonies were not the authors.
+
+I shall conclude these remarks, with the following timely and well
+intended hints. We ought to reflect, that there are three different
+ways, by which an independancy may hereafter be effected; and that
+one of those three, will one day or other, be the fate of America,
+viz. By the legal voice of the people in Congress; by a military
+power; or by a mob: It may not always happen that our soldiers are
+citizens, and the multitude a body of reasonable men; virtue, as I
+have already remarked, is not hereditary, neither is it perpetual.
+Should an independancy be brought about by the first of those means,
+we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form
+the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it
+in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to
+the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The
+birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men, perhaps as
+numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of
+freedom from the event of a few months. The Reflexion is awful--and
+in this point of view, How trifling, how ridiculous, do the little,
+paltry cavellings, of a few weak or interested men appear, when
+weighed against the business of a world.
+
+Should we neglect the present favorable and inviting period, and an
+Independance be hereafter effected by any other means, we must
+charge the consequence to ourselves, or to those rather, whose
+narrow and prejudiced souls, are habitually opposing the measure,
+without either inquiring or reflecting. There are reasons to be
+given in support of Independance, which men should rather privately
+think of, than be publicly told of. We ought not now to be debating
+whether we shall be independant or not, but, anxious to accomplish
+it on a firm, secure, and honorable basis, and uneasy rather that it
+is not yet began upon. Every day convinces us of its necessity. Even
+the Tories (if such beings yet remain among us) should, of all men,
+be the most solicitous to promote it; for, as the appointment of
+committees at first, protected them from popular rage, so, a wise
+and well established form of government, will be the only certain
+means of continuing it securely to them. Wherefore, if they have not
+virtue enough to be Whigs, they ought to have prudence enough to
+wish for Independance.
+
+In short, Independance is the only Bond that can tye and keep us
+together. We shall then see our object, and our ears will be legally
+shut against the schemes of an intriguing, as well, as a cruel enemy.
+We shall then too, be on a proper footing, to treat with Britain;
+for there is reason to conclude, that the pride of that court, will
+be less hurt by treating with the American states for terms of peace,
+than with those, whom she denominates, "rebellious subjects," for
+terms of accommodation. It is our delaying it that encourages her to
+hope for conquest, and our backwardness tends only to prolong the
+war. As we have, without any good effect therefrom, withheld our
+trade to obtain a redress of our grievances, let us now try the
+alternative, by independantly redressing them ourselves, and then
+offering to open the trade. The mercantile and reasonable part in
+England, will be still with us; because, peace with trade, is
+preferable to war without it. And if this offer be not accepted,
+other courts may be applied to.
+
+On these grounds I rest the matter. And as no offer hath yet been
+made to refute the doctrine contained in the former editions of this
+pamphlet, it is a negative proof, that either the doctrine cannot be
+refuted, or, that the party in favour of it are too numerous to be
+opposed. Wherefore, instead of gazing at each other with suspicious
+or doubtful curiosity; let each of us, hold out to his neighbour the
+hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line, which, like
+an act of oblivion shall bury in forgetfulness every former
+dissension. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct; and let none
+other be heard among us, than those of a good citizen, an open and
+resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind
+and of the FREE AND INDEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA.
+
+To the Representatives of the Religious Society of the People called
+Quakers, or to so many of them as were concerned in publishing the
+late piece, entitled "The Ancient Testimony and Principles of the
+People called Quakers renewed, with Respect to the King and
+Government, and touching the Commotions now prevailing in these and
+other parts of America addressed to the People in General."
+
+The Writer of this, is one of those few, who never dishonours
+religion either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination
+whatsoever. To God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the
+score of religion. Wherefore, this epistle is not so properly
+addressed to you as a religious, but as a political body, dabbling
+in matters, which the professed Quietude of your Principles instruct
+you not to meddle with.
+
+As you have, without a proper authority for so doing, put yourselves
+in the place of the whole body of the Quakers, so, the writer of
+this, in order to be on an equal rank with yourselves, is under the
+necessity, of putting himself in the place of all those, who,
+approve the very writings and principles, against which your
+testimony is directed: And he hath chosen this singular situation,
+in order, that you might discover in him that presumption of
+character which you cannot see in yourselves. For neither he nor you
+can have any claim or title to Political Representation.
+
+When men have departed from the right way, it is no wonder that they
+stumble and fall. And it is evident from the manner in which ye have
+managed your testimony, that politics, (as a religious body of men)
+is not your proper Walk; for however well adapted it might appear to
+you, it is, nevertheless, a jumble of good and bad put unwisely
+together, and the conclusion drawn therefrom, both unnatural and
+unjust.
+
+The two first pages, (and the whole doth not make four) we give you
+credit for, and expect the same civility from you, because the love
+and desire of peace is not confined to Quakerism, it is the natural,
+as well the religious wish of all denominations of men. And on this
+ground, as men labouring to establish an Independant Constitution of
+our own, do we exceed all others in our hope, end, and aim. Our plan
+is peace for ever. We are tired of contention with Britain, and can
+see no real end to it but in a final separation. We act consistently,
+because for the sake of introducing an endless and uninterrupted
+peace, do we bear the evils and burthens of the present day. We are
+endeavoring, and will steadily continue to endeavour, to separate
+and dissolve a connexion which hath already filled our land with
+blood; and which, while the name of it remains, will be the fatal
+cause of future mischiefs to both countries.
+
+We fight neither for revenge nor conquest; neither from pride nor
+passion; we are not insulting the world with our fleets and armies,
+nor ravaging the globe for plunder. Beneath the shade of our own
+vines are we attacked; in our own houses, and on our own lands, is
+the violence committed against us. We view our enemies in the
+character of Highwaymen and Housebreakers, and having no defence for
+ourselves in the civil law, are obliged to punish them by the
+military one, and apply the sword, in the very case, where you have
+before now, applied the halter--Perhaps we feel for the ruined and
+insulted sufferers in all and every part of the continent, with a
+degree of tenderness which hath not yet made its way into some of
+your bosoms. But be ye sure that ye mistake not the cause and ground
+of your Testimony. Call not coldness of soul, religion; nor put the
+Bigot in the place of the Christian.
+
+O ye partial ministers of your own acknowledged principles. If the
+bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by
+all the difference between wilful attack and unavoidable defence.
+Wherefore, if ye really preach from conscience, and mean not to make
+a political hobby-horse of your religion, convince the world thereof,
+by proclaiming your doctrine to our enemies, for they likewise bear
+arms. Give us proof of your sincerity by publishing it at St.
+James's, to the commanders in chief at Boston, to the Admirals and
+Captains who are piratically ravaging our coasts, and to all the
+murdering miscreants who are acting in authority under him whom ye
+profess to serve. Had ye the honest soul of Barclay ¹ ye would
+preach repentance to your king; Ye would tell the Royal Wretch his
+sins, and warn him of eternal ruin. Ye would not spend your partial
+invectives against the injured and the insulted only, but, like
+faithful ministers, would cry aloud and spare none. Say not that ye
+are persecuted, neither endeavour to make us the authors of that
+reproach, which, ye are bringing upon yourselves; for we testify
+unto all men, that we do not complain against you because ye are
+Quakers, but because ye pretend to be and are not Quakers.
+
+¹"Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it
+is to be banished thy native country, to be over-ruled as well as to
+rule, and set upon the throne; and being oppressed thou hast reason
+to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man: If after
+all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the
+Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy
+distress, and give up thyself to follow lust and vanity, surely
+great will be thy condemnation.--Against which snare, as well as the
+temptation of those who may or do feed thee, and prompt thee to evil,
+the most excellent and prevalent remedy will be, to apply thyself to
+that light of Christ which shineth in thy conscience, and which
+neither can, nor will flatter thee, nor suffer thee to be at ease in
+thy sins."
+
+--Barclay's address to Charles II.
+
+Alas! it seems by the particular tendency of some part of your
+testimony, and other parts of your conduct, as if, all sin was
+reduced to, and comprehended in, the act of bearing arms, and that
+by the people only. Ye appear to us, to have mistaken party for
+conscience; because, the general tenor of your actions wants
+uniformity: And it is exceedingly difficult to us to give credit to
+many of your pretended scruples; because, we see them made by the
+same men, who, in the very instant that they are exclaiming against
+the mammon of this world, are nevertheless, hunting after it with a
+step as steady as Time, and an appetite as keen as Death.
+
+The quotation which ye have made from Proverbs, in the third page of
+your testimony, that, "when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh
+even his enemies to be at peace with him"; is very unwisely chosen
+on your part; because, it amounts to a proof, that the king's ways
+(whom ye are desirous of supporting) do not please the Lord,
+otherwise, his reign would be in peace.
+
+I now proceed to the latter part of your testimony, and that, for
+which all the foregoing seems only an introduction, viz.
+
+"It hath ever been our judgment and principle, since we were called
+to profess the light of Christ Jesus, manifested in our consciences
+unto this day, that the setting up and putting down kings and
+governments, is God's peculiar prerogative; for causes best known to
+himself: And that it is not our business to have any hand or
+contrivance therein; nor to be busy bodies above our station, much
+less to plot and contrive the ruin, or overturn of any of them, but
+to pray for the king, and safety of our nation, and good of all men:
+That we may live a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness and
+honesty; under the government which God is pleased to set over us."-
+-If these are really your principles why do ye not abide by them?
+Why do ye not leave that, which ye call God's Work, to be managed by
+himself? These very principles instruct you to wait with patience
+and humility, for the event of all public measures, and to receive
+that event as the divine will towards you. Wherefore, what occasion
+is there for your political testimony if you fully believe what it
+contains: And the very publishing it proves, that either, ye do not
+believe what ye profess, or have not virtue enough to practise what
+ye believe.
+
+The principles of Quakerism have a direct tendency to make a man the
+quiet and inoffensive subject of any, and every government which is
+set over him. And if the setting up and putting down of kings and
+governments is God's peculiar prerogative, he most certainly will
+not be robbed thereof by us; wherefore, the principle itself leads
+you to approve of every thing, which ever happened, or may happen to
+kings as being his work. Oliver Cromwell thanks you. Charles, then,
+died not by the hands of man; and should the present Proud Imitator
+of him, come to the same untimely end, the writers and publishers of
+the Testimony, are bound, by the doctrine it contains, to applaud
+the fact. Kings are not taken away by miracles, neither are changes
+in governments brought about by any other means than such as are
+common and human; and such as we are now using. Even the dispersion
+of the Jews, though foretold by our Saviour, was effected by arms.
+Wherefore, as ye refuse to be the means on one side, ye ought not to
+be meddlers on the other; but to wait the issue in silence; and
+unless ye can produce divine authority, to prove, that the Almighty
+who hath created and placed this new world, at the greatest distance
+it could possibly stand, east and west, from every part of the old,
+doth, nevertheless, disapprove of its being independant of the
+corrupt and abandoned court of Britain, unless I say, ye can shew
+this, how can ye on the ground of your principles, justify the
+exciting and stirring up the people "firmly to unite in the
+abhorrence of all such writings, and measures, as evidence a desire
+and design to break off the happy connexion we have hitherto enjoyed,
+with the kingdom of Great-Britain, and our just and necessary
+subordination to the king, and those who are lawfully placed in
+authority under him." What a slap of the face is here! the men, who
+in the very paragraph before, have quietly and passively resigned up
+the ordering, altering, and disposal of kings and governments, into
+the hands of God, are now, recalling their principles, and putting
+in for a share of the business. Is it possible, that the conclusion,
+which is here justly quoted, can any ways follow from the doctrine
+laid down? The inconsistency is too glaring not to be seen; the
+absurdity too great not to be laughed at; and such as could only
+have been made by those, whose understandings were darkened by the
+narrow and crabby spirit of a despairing political party; for ye are
+not to be considered as the whole body of the Quakers but only as a
+factional and fractional part thereof.
+
+Here ends the examination of your testimony; (which I call upon no
+man to abhor, as ye have done, but only to read and judge of fairly;)
+to which I subjoin the following remark; "That the setting up and
+putting down of kings," most certainly mean, the making him a king,
+who is yet not so, and the making him no king who is already one.
+And pray what hath this to do in the present case? We neither mean
+to set up nor to put down, neither to make nor to unmake, but to
+have nothing to do with them. Wherefore, your testimony in whatever
+light it is viewed serves only to dishonor your judgement, and for
+many other reasons had better have been let alone than published.
+
+First, Because it tends to the decrease and reproach of all religion
+whatever, and is of the utmost danger to society, to make it a party
+in political disputes.
+
+Secondly, Because it exhibits a body of men, numbers of whom disavow
+the publishing political testimonies, as being concerned therein and
+approvers thereof.
+
+Thirdly, Because it hath a tendency to undo that continental harmony
+and friendship which yourselves by your late liberal and charitable
+donations hath lent a hand to establish; and the preservation of
+which is of the utmost consequence to us all.
+
+And here without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely
+wishing, that as men and christians, ye may always fully and
+uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in
+your turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example
+which ye have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may
+be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.
+
+
+
+F  I  N  I  S.
+
+
+
+
+On Common Sense
+
+"No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of style, in
+perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple
+and unassuming language."
+
+Thomas Jefferson
+
+"A pamphlet called 'Commonsense' makes a great noise. One of the
+vilest things that ever was published to the world. Full of false
+representations, lies, calumny, and treason, whose principles are to
+subvert all Kingly Governments and erect an Independent Republic."
+
+Nicholas Cresswell
+
+"I dreaded the effect so popular a pamphlet might have among the
+people, and determined to do all in my Power to counteract the
+effect of it."
+
+John Adams
+
+"Its effects were sudden and extensive upon the American mind. It
+was read by public men."
+
+Dr. Benjamin Rush
+
+"Have you read the pamphlet Common Sense? I never saw such a
+masterful performance.... In short, I own myself convinced, by the
+arguments, of the necessity of separation."
+
+General Charles Lee
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes
+
+This production of the Bradford edition of Common Sense retains the
+original characteristics of the document--the author's use of
+capitalization (large and small), spelling, and italics.
+
+The page numbers of this version of the book were my invention, for
+ease in reading the HTML document. The page numbers can more
+accurately be called paragraph numbers. They match the paragraph
+numbers in the edited text of 'Common Sense' from the National
+Humanities Center.
+
+In one case, the text refers to page forty (see our Page 130). We
+provided a link to the appropriate part of our document but retained
+the page number specified by Paine. Our page numbers are not carried
+over to the Kindle, E-PUB, and text documents produced by Project
+Gutenberg.
+
+The section "On Common Sense," containing quotes about Common Sense,
+have been added by this transcriber.
+
+
+
+
+
+        
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