the utmost freedom whatever can be warranted by the laws of your
country; nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberty by any
pretences of politeness, delicacy, or decency._ These, as they are often
used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and
cowardice. Much less, I presume, will you be discouraged by any
pretences, that malignants on this side the water[A] will represent your
Paper as facetious and seditious, or that the Great on the other side
the water will take offence at them. This dread of representation has
had for a long time in this province effects very similar to what the
physicians call an _hydrophobia_, or dread of water.--It has made us
delirious--and we have rushed headlong into the water, till we are
almost drowned, out of simple or phrensical fear of it. Believe me, the
character of this country has suffered more in Britain, by the
pusillanimity with which we have borne many insults and indignities from
the creatures of power at home, and the creatures of those creatures
here, than it ever did, or ever will by the freedom and spirit that has
been or will be discovered in writing or action. Believe me, my
countrymen, they have imbibed an opinion on the other side the water,
that we are an ignorant, a timid, and a stupid people; nay, their tools
on this side have often the impudence to dispute your bravery.--But I
hope in God the time is near at hand, when they will be fully convinced
of your understanding, integrity, and courage. But can any thing be more
ridiculous, were it not too provoking to be laughed at, than to pretend
that offence should be taken at home for writings here?--Pray let them
look at home. Is not the human understanding exhausted there? Are not
reason, imaginations, wit, passion, senses and all, tortured to find out
satire and invective against the characters of the vile and futile
fellows who sometimes get into place and power?--The most exceptionable
paper that ever I saw here is perfect prudence and modesty, in
comparison of multitudes of their applauded writings. Yet the high
regard they have for the freedom of the Press, indulges all.--I must and
will repeat it, Newspapers deserve the patronage of every friend to his
country. And whether the defamers of them are arrayed in robes of
scarlet or sable, whether they lurk and skulk in an insurance office,
whether they assume the venerable character of a priest, the sly one of
a scrivener, or the dirty, infamous, abandoned one of an informer, they
are all the creatures and tools of the lust of domination.----
[Footnote A: Boston in America.]
The true source of our sufferings, has been our timidity.
We have been afraid to think.--We have felt a reluctance to examining
into the grounds of our privileges, and the extent in which we have an
indisputable right to demand them, against all the power and authority
on earth.--And many who have not scrupled to examine for themselves,
have yet, for certain prudent reasons, been cautious, and diffident of
declaring the result of their enquiries.
The cause of this timidity is perhaps hereditary, and to be traced back
in history, as far as the cruel treatment the first settlers of this
country received, before their embarkation for America, from the
government at home.--Every body knows how dangerous it was, to speak or
write in favour of any thing, in those days, but the triumphant system
of religion and politicks. And our fathers were, particularly, the
objects of the persecutions and proscriptions of the times.--It is not
unlikely therefore, that, although they were inflexibly steady in
refusing their positive assent to any thing against their principles,
they might have contracted habits of reserve, and a cautious diffidence
of asserting their opinions publicly.--These habits they probably
brought with them to America, and have transmitted down to us.--Or, we
may possibly account for this appearance, by the great affection and
veneration, Americans have always entertained for the country from
whence they sprang--or by the quiet temper for which they have been
remarkable, no country having been less disposed to discontent than
this--or by a sense they have that it is their duty to acquiesce under
the administration of government, even when in many smaller matters
grievous to them, and until the essentials of the great compact are
destroyed or invaded. These peculiar causes might operate upon them; but
without these, we all know, that human nature itself, from indolence,
modesty, humanity or fear, has always too much reluctance to a manly
assertion of its rights. Hence perhaps it has happened, that nine-tenths
of the species, are groaning and gasping in misery and servitude.
But whatever the cause has been, the fact is certain, we have been
excessively cautious of giving offence by complaining of
grievances.----And it is as certain, that American governors, and their
friends, and all the crown officers, have availed themselves of this
disposition in the people.--They have prevailed on us to consent to many
things, which were grossly injurious to us, and to surrender many others
with voluntary tameness, to which we had the clearest right. Have we not
been treated formerly, with abominable insolence, by officers of the
navy?----I mean no insinuation against any gentleman now on this
station, having heard no complaint of any one of them to his
dishonour.--Have not some generals, from England, treated us like
servants, nay, more like slaves than like Britons?--Have we not been
under the most ignominious contribution, the most abject submission, the
most supercilious insults of some custom-house officers? Have we not
been trifled with, browbeaten, and trampled on, by former governors, in
a manner which no King of England since James the Second has dared to
indulge towards his subjects? Have we not raised up one family, placed
in them an unlimited confidence, and been soothed, and flattered, and
intimidated by their influence, into a great part of this infamous
tameness and submission?----"These are serious and alarming questions,
and deserve a dispassionate consideration."--
This disposition has been the great wheel and the main spring in the
American machine of court politics.--We have been told, that "the word
_Rights_ is an offensive expression." That "the King, his Ministry, and
Parliament, will not endure to hear Americans talk of their _Rights_."
That "Britain is the mother and we the children, that a filial duty and
submission is due from us to her," and that "we ought to doubt our own
judgment, and presume that she is right, even when she seems to us to
shake the foundations of government." That "Britain is immensely rich,
and great, and powerful, has fleets and armies at her command, which
have been the dread and terror of the universe, and that the will force
her own judgment into execution, right or wrong." But let me intreat
you, Sir, to pause--Do you consider yourself as a missionary of loyalty
or of rebellion? Are you not representing your K--, his Ministry and
Parliament, as tyrants, imperious, unrelenting tyrants, by such
reasoning as this?--Is not this representing your most gracious
Sovereign, as endeavouring to destroy the foundations of his own
throne?--Are you not representing every Member of Parliament as
renouncing the transactions at _Runyn Mead_; [the meadow, near Windsor,
where _Magna Charta_ was signed,] and as repealing in effect the bill of
rights, when the Lords and Commons asserted and vindicated the rights of
the people and their own rights, and insisted on the King's assent to
that assertion and vindication? Do you not represent them, as forgetting
that the Prince of Orange was created King William by the People, on
purpose that their rights might be eternal and inviolable?--Is there not
something extremely fallacious, in the common place images of mother
country and children colonies? Are we the children of Great Britain, any
more than the cities of London, Exeter and Bath? Are we not brethren and
fellow-subjects, with those in Britain, only under a somewhat different
method of legislation, and a totally different method of taxation? But
admitting we are children, have not children a right to complain when
their parents are attempting to break their limbs, to administer poison,
or to sell them to enemies for slaves? Let me intreat you to consider,
will the mother be pleased, when you represent her as deaf to the cries
of her children? When you compare her to the infamous miscreant, who
lately stood on the gallows for starving her child? When you resemble
her to Lady Macbeth in Shakespear, (I cannot think of it without horror)
Who "had given suck, and knew
"How tender 'twas to love the babe that milk'd her."
But yet, who could
"Even while 'twas smiling in her face,
"Have pluck'd her nipple from the boneless gums,
"And dash'd the brains out."
Let us banish for ever from our minds, my countrymen, all such unworthy
ideas of the K--g, his Ministry, and Parliament. Let us not suppose,
that all are become luxurious, effeminate and unreasonable, on the other
side the water, as many designing persons would insinuate. Let us
presume, what is in fact true, that the spirit of liberty is as ardent
as ever among the body of the nation, though a few individuals may be
corrupted.--Let us take it for granted, that the same great spirit,
which once gave Caesar so warm a reception; which denounced hostilities
against John, 'till Magna Charta was signed; which severed the head of
Charles the First from his body, and drove James the Second from his
kingdom; the same great spirit (MAY HEAVEN PRESERVE IT TILL THE EARTH
SHALL BE NO MORE!) which first seated the great grandfather of his
present most gracious Majesty on the throne of Britain, is still alive
and active, and warm in England; and that the same spirit in America,
instead of provoking the inhabitants of that country, will endear us to
them for ever, and secure their good-will.
This spirit, however, without knowledge, would be little better than a
brutal rage.----Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore the means
of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.----Let every
order and degree among the people rouse their attention and animate
their resolution.--Let them all become attentive to the grounds and
principles of government, ecclesiastical and civil.--Let us study the
law of nature; search into the spirit of the British constitution; read
the histories of ancient ages; contemplate the great examples of Greece
and Rome; set before us the conduct of our own British ancestors, who
have defended, for _us_, the inherent rights of mankind against foreign
and domestic tyrants and usurpers, against arbitrary kings and cruel
priests, in short against the gates of earth and hell.--Let us read and
recollect, and impress upon our souls the views and ends of our own more
immediate forefathers, in exchanging their native country for a dreary,
inhospitable wilderness. Let us examine into the nature of that power,
and the cruelty of that oppression which drove them from their homes.
Recollect their amazing fortitude, their bitter sufferings! The hunger,
the nakedness, the cold, which they patiently endured! The severe
labours of clearing their grounds, building their houses, raising their
provisions, amidst dangers from wild beasts and savage men, before they
had time or money, or materials for commerce! Recollect the civil and
religious principles, and hopes, and expectations, which constantly
supported and carried them through all hardships, with patience and
resignation! Let us recollect it was liberty! The hope of liberty for
themselves and us and ours, which conquered all discouragements, dangers
and trials!----In such researches as these, let us all in our several
departments chearfully engage! But especially the proper patrons and
supporters of law, learning and religion.
Let the pulpit resound with the doctrines and sentiments of religious
liberty.----Let us hear the danger of thraldom to our consciences, from
ignorance, extream poverty and dependance, in short from civil and
political slavery.--Let us see delineated before us, the true map of
man. Let us hear the dignity of his nature, and the noble rank he holds
among the works of GOD! that consenting to slavery is a sacrilegious
breach of trust, as offensive in the sight of GOD, as it is derogatory
from our own honour, or interest or happiness; and that GOD ALMIGHTY has
promulgated from heaven, liberty, peace, and good-will to man!----
Let the Bar proclaim, "the laws, the rights, the generous plan of
power," delivered down from remote antiquity; inform the world of the
mighty struggles, and numberless sacrifices, made by our ancestors, in
the defence of freedom.--Let it be known, that British liberties are not
the grants of princes or parliaments, but original rights, conditions of
original contracts, co-equal with prerogative, and co-eval with
government.--That many of our rights are inherent and essential, agreed
on as maxims and established as preliminaries, even before a parliament
existed.--Let them search for the foundation of British laws and
government in the frame of human nature, in the constitution of the
intellectual and moral world.--There let us see, that truth, liberty,
justice, and benevolence, are its everlasting basis; and if these could
be removed, the superstructure is overthrown of course.--
Let the colleges join their harmony, in the same delightful
concert.--Let every declamation turn upon the beauty of liberty and
virtue, and the deformity, turpitude and malignity of slavery and
vice.--Let the public disputations become researches into the grounds
and nature and ends of government, and the means of preserving the good
and demolishing the evil.--Let the dialogues and all the exercises
become the instruments of impressing on the tender mind, and of
spreading and distributing, far and wide, the ideas of right and the
sensations of freedom.
In a word, let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a flowing.
The encroachments upon liberty, in the reigns of the first James and the
first Charles, by turning the general attention of learned men to
government, are said to have produced the greatest number of consummate
statesmen, which has ever been seen in any age, or nation. The Brooke's,
Hamden's, Falkland's, Vane's, Milton's, Nedham's, Harrington's,
Neville's, Sydney's, Locke's, are all said to have owed their eminence
in political knowledge, to the tyrannies of those reigns. The prospect,
now before us, in America, ought, in the same manner, to engage the
attention of every man of learning to matters of power and of right,
that we may be neither led nor driven blindfolded to irretrievable
destruction.----_Nothing less than this seems to have been meditated for
us, by somebody or other in Great Britain._ There seems to be a direct
and formal design on foot, to enslave all America.--This however must
be done by degrees.----The first step that is intended seems to be an
entire subversion of the whole system of our Fathers, by the
introduction of the canon and feudal law, into America.----The canon and
feudal systems though greatly mutilated in England, are not yet
destroyed. Like the temples and palaces, in which the great contrivers
of them were once worshiped and inhabited, they exist in ruins; and much
of the domineering spirit of them still remains.--The designs and
labours of a certain society, to introduce the former of them into
America, have been well exposed to the public by a writer of great
abilities; and the further attempts to the same purpose that may be made
by that society, or by the ministry or parliament, I leave to the
conjectures of the thoughtful.--But it seems very manifest from the
Stamp Act itself, that a design is formed to strip us in a great measure
of the means of knowledge, by loading the Press, the Colleges, and even
an Almanack and a News-Paper, with restraints and duties; and to
introduce the inequalities and dependencies of the feudal system, by
taking from the poorer sort of people all their little subsistence, and
conferring it on a set of stamp officers, distributors and their
deputies.--But I must proceed no farther at present.--The sequel,
whenever I shall find health and leisure to pursue it, will be a
"disquisition of the policy of the stamp act."----In the mean time,
however, let me add, These are not the vapours of a melancholy mind, nor
the effusions of envy, disappointed ambition, nor of a spirit of
opposition to government: but the emanations of an heart that burns for
its country's welfare. No one of any feeling, born and educated in this
once happy country, can consider the numerous distresses, the gross
indignities, the barbarous ignorance, the haughty usurpations, that we
have reason to fear are meditating for ourselves, our children, our
neighbours, in short for all our countrymen, and all their posterity,
without the utmost agonies of heart, and many tears.
FINIS.
Transcriber's Notes:
18th Century English typography has been modernized for ease of reading,
for example, long-s has been rendered using an ordinary s. Spelling
conventions of the times have been maintained.
Several misprints and punctuation errors corrected.
Page 7, Added close quotes to end of quotation.
Page 13, "achievements" spelled "atchievements" Left as is.
Page 26, Added close quotes to end of quotation.
Page 43, "necessay" changed to "necessary".
Page 77, "extrardinary" changed to "extraordinary".
Page 87, "achieved" spelled "atchieved" Left as is.
Ligatures removed in ASCII Version: man[oe]oeuvres to manoeuvres,
[oe]conomy to oeconomy.