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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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