reason, that a quick rotation of ministers is very desirable in
Great-Britain. A minister there has a vast store of materials
to work with. Long administrations are rather favourable to the
reputation of a people abroad, than to their liberty.
A bold, ambitious Prince, possessed of great abilities, firmly fixed
in the throne by descent, served by ministers like himself, and
rendered either venerable or terrible by the glory of his successes,
may execute what his predecessors did not dare to attempt. Henry
IV. tottered in his seat during his whole reign. Henry V. drew the
strength of the kingdom into France, to carry on his wars there,
and left the Commons at home, protesting, "that the people were not
bound to serve out of the realm."
It is true, that a strong spirit of liberty subsists at present
in Great-Britain, but what reliance is to be placed in the temper
of a people, when the prince is possessed of an unconstitutional
power, our own history can sufficiently inform us. When Charles II.
had strengthened himself by the return of the garrison of Tangier,
"England (says Rapin) saw on a sudden an amazing revolution; saw
herself stripped of all her rights and privileges, excepting
such as the King should vouchsafe to grant her; and what is more
astonishing, the English themselves delivered up these very rights
and privileges to Charles II. which they had so passionately, and,
if I may say it, furiously defended against the designs of Charles
I." This happened only thirty-six years after this last prince had
been beheaded.
Some persons are of opinion, that liberty is not violated, but by
such open acts of force; but they seem to be greatly mistaken. I
could mention a period within these forty years, when almost as
great a change of disposition was produced by the secret measures of
a long administration, as by Charles's violence. Liberty, perhaps
is never exposed to so much danger, as when the people believe there
is the least; for it may be subverted, and yet they not think so.
Public-disgusting acts are seldom practised by the ambitious,
at the beginning of their designs. Such conduct silences and
discourages the weak, and the wicked, who would otherways have been
their advocates or accomplices. It is of great consequence, to
allow those, who, upon any account, are inclined to favour them,
something specious to say in their defence. The power may be fully
established, though it would not be safe for them to do whatever
they please. For there are things, which, at some times, even slaves
will not bear. Julius Cæsar and Oliver Cromwell did not dare to
assume the title of King. The grand Seignior dares not lay a new
tax. The King of France dares not be a protestant. Certain popular
points may be left untouched, and yet freedom be extinguished. The
commonality of Venice imagine themselves free, because they are
permitted to do, what they ought not. But I quit a subject, that
would lead me too far from my purpose.
By the late act of parliament, taxes are to be levied upon us, for
"defraying the charge of the administration of justice, the support
of civil government--and the expences of defending his Majesty's
dominions in America."
If any man doubts what ought to be the conduct of these colonies on
this occasion, I would ask them these questions.
Has not the parliament expressly avowed their intention of raising
money from us for certain purposes? Is not this scheme popular in
Great-Britain? Will the taxes, imposed by the late act, answer
those purposes? If it will, must it not take an immense sum from
us? If it will not, is it to be expected, that the parliament will
not fully execute their intention, when it is pleasing at home,
and not opposed here? Must not this be done by imposing new taxes?
Will not every addition, thus made to our taxes, be an addition to
the power of the British legislature, by increasing the number of
officers employed in the collection? Will not every additional tax
therefore render it more difficult to abrogate any of them? When
a branch of revenue is once established, does it not appear to
many people invidious and undutiful, to attempt to abolish it? If
taxes, sufficient to accomplish the intention of the Parliament, are
imposed by the Parliament, what taxes will remain to be imposed by
our assemblies? If no material taxes remain to be imposed by them,
what must become of them, and the people they represent?
[57] "If any person considers, these things, and yet not thinks our
liberties are in danger, I wonder at that person's security."
[57] Demosthenes's 2d Philippic.
One other argument is to be added, which, by itself, I hope, will be
sufficient to convince the most incredulous man on this continent,
that the late act of Parliament is only designed to be a precedent,
whereon the future vassalage of these colonies may be established.
Every duty thereby laid on articles of British manufacture, is laid
on some commodity upon the exportation of which from Great-Britain,
a drawback is payable. Those drawbacks in most of the articles, are
exactly double to the duties given by the late act. The Parliament
therefore might in half a dozen lines have raised much more money
only by stopping the drawbacks in the hands of the officers at home,
on exportation to these colonies, than by this solemn imposition
of taxes upon us, to be collected here. Probably, the artful
contrivers of this act formed it in this manner, in order to reserve
to themselves, in case of any objections being made to it, this
specious pretence--"That the drawbacks are gifts to the colonies;
and that the act only lessens those gifts." But the truth is, that
the drawbacks are intended for the encouragement and promotion of
British manufactures and commerce, and are allowed on exportation
to any foreign parts, as well as on exportation to these provinces.
Besides, care has been taken to slide into the act[58] some articles
on which there are no drawbacks. However, the whole duties laid by
the late act on all the articles therein specified, are so small,
that they will not amount to as much as the drawbacks which are
allowed on part of them only. If, therefore, the sum to be obtained
by the late act had been the sole object in forming it, there would
not have been any occasion for the "Commons of Great-Britain to give
and grant to his Majesty, rates and duties for raising a revenue in
his Majesty's dominions in America, for making a more certain and
adequate provision for defraying the charge of the administration
of justice, the support of civil government, and the expences of
defending the said dominions"----Nor would there have been any
occasion for an [59]expensive board of commissioners, and all the
other new charges to which we are made liable.
[58] Though duties by the late act are laid on some articles, on
which no drawbacks are allowed, yet the duties imposed by the act,
are so small, in comparison with the drawbacks that are allowed,
that all the duties together will not amount to so much as the
drawbacks.
[59] The expence of this board, I am informed, is between four
and five thousand pounds sterling a year. The establishment of
officers, for collecting the revenue of America, amounted before
to seven thousand six hundred pounds per annum: and yet, says the
author of "The regulation of the colonies," the whole remittance
from all the taxes in the colonies, at an average of thirty years,
has not amounted to one thousand nine hundred pounds a year, and
in that time, seven or eight hundred pounds per annum only, have
been remitted from North-America.
The smallness of the revenue arising from the duties in America,
demonstrated that they were intended only as regulations of trade;
and can any person be so blind to truth, so dull of apprehension in
a matter of unspeakable importance to his country, as to imagine,
that the board of commissioners lately established at such a charge,
is instituted to assist in collecting one thousand nine hundred
pounds a year, or the trifling duties imposed by the late act?
Surely every man on this continent must perceive, that they are
established for the care of a new system of revenue, which is but
now begun.
Upon the whole, for my part, I regard the late act as an experiment
made of our disposition. It is a bird sent over the waters, to
discover, whether the waves, that lately agitated this part of the
world with such violence, are yet subsided. If this adventurer
gets footing here, we shall quickly be convinced, that it is not
a phenix; for we shall soon see it followed by others of the same
kind. We shall find it rather to be of the [60]breed described by the
poet--
"_Infelix vates._"
A direful foreteller of future calamities.
A FARMER.
[60] "Dira cælæno," Virgil, Æneid 2.
LETTER XII.
_Beloved Countrymen_,
Some states have lost their liberty by particular accidents; but
this calamity is generally owing to the decay of virtue. A people
is travelling fast to destruction, when individuals consider their
interests as distinct from those of the public. Such notions are
fatal to their country, and to themselves. Yet how many are there so
weak and sordid as to think they perform all the offices of life,
if they earnestly endeavour to increase their own wealth, power,
and credit, without the least regard for the society, under the
protection of which they live; who, if they can make an immediate
profit to themselves, by lending their assistance to those, whose
projects plainly tend to the injury of their country, rejoice in
their dexterity, and believe themselves intitled to the character
of able politicians. Miserable men! of whom it is hard to say,
whether they ought to be most the objects of pity or contempt, but
whose opinions are certainly as detestable as their practices are
destructive.
Though I always reflect with a high pleasure on the integrity and
understanding of my countrymen, which, joined with a pure and
humble devotion to the great and gracious author of every blessing
they enjoy, will, I hope, ensure to them, and their posterity,
all temporal and eternal happiness; yet when I consider, that in
every age and country there have been bad men, my heart, at this
threatening period, is so full of apprehension, as not to permit me
to believe, but that there may be some on this continent, against
whom you ought to be upon your guard. Men, who either [61]hold
or expect to hold certain advantages by setting examples of
servility to their countrymen--Men who trained to the employment,
or self-taught by a natural versatility of genius, serve as decoys
for drawing the innocent and unwary into snares. It is not to be
doubted but that such men will diligently bestir themselves, on this
and every like occasion, to spread the infection of their meanness
as far as they can. On the plans they have adopted, this is their
course. This is the method to recommend themselves to their patrons.
[61] It is not intended by these words to throw any reflection
upon gentlemen, because they are possessed of offices; for
many of them are certainly men of virtue, and lovers of their
country. But supposed obligations of gratitude and honour may
induce them to be silent. Whether these obligations ought to
be regarded or not, is not so much to be considered by others,
in the judgment they form of these gentlemen, as whether
they think they ought to be regarded. Perhaps, therefore
we shall act in the properest manner towards them, if we
neither reproach nor imitate them. The persons meant in this
letter, are the base-spirited wretches, who may endeavor to
distinguish themselves, by their sordid zeal, in defending
and promoting measures, which they know, beyond all question,
to be destructive to the just rights and true interests of
their country. It is scarcely possible, to speak of these men
with any degree of patience. It is scarcely possible to speak
of them with any degree of propriety. For no words can truly
describe their guilt, and meanness. But every honest man, on
their being mentioned, will feel what cannot be expressed.
If their wickedness did not blind them, they might perceive,
along the coast of these colonies, many skeletons of wretched
ambition; who after distinguishing themselves, in support of the
Stamp-act, by a couragious contempt of their country, and of
justice, have been left to linger out their miserable existence,
without a government, collectorship, secretaryship, or any
other commission to console them, as well as it could for loss
of virtue and reputation--while numberless offices have been
bestowed in these colonies, on people from Great-Britain, and
new ones are continually invented to be thus bestowed. As a few
great prizes are put into a lottery to tempt multitudes to lose,
so here and there an American has been raised to a good post--
"_Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto._"
Mr. Grenville, indeed, in order to recommend the Stamp-act,
had the unequalled generosity, to pour down a golden shower
of offices upon Americans; and yet these ungrateful colonies
did not thank Mr. Grenville for shewing his kindness to their
countrymen, nor them for accepting it. How must that great
statesman have been surprised to find, that the unpolished
colonists could not be reconciled to infamy, by treachery?
Such a bountiful disposition towards us never appeared in any
minister before him, and probably never will appear again. For
it is evident that such a system of policy is to be established
on this continent, as, in a short time, is to render it utterly
unnecessary to use the least art in order to conciliate our
approbation of any measures. Some of our countrymen may be
employed to fix chains upon us; but they will never be permitted
to hold them afterwards. So that the utmost that any of them
can expect, is only a temporary provision, that may expire in
their own time; but which, they may be assured, will preclude
their children from having any consideration paid to them. The
natives of America, will sink into total neglect and contempt,
the moment that their country loses the constitutional powers
she now possesses. Most sincerely do I wish and pray, that every
one of us may be convinced of this great truth, that industry
and integrity are the "paths of pleasantness, which lead to
happiness."
They act consistently, in a bad cause.
They run well in a mean race.
From them we shall learn, how pleasant and profitable a thing it
is, to be, for our submissive behaviour, well spoken of in St.
James's, or St. Stephen's; at Guildhall, or the Royal Exchange.
Specious fallacies will be drest up with all the arts of delusion,
to persuade one colony to distinguish herself from another, by
unbecoming condescensions, which will serve the ambitious purpose of
great men at home, and therefore will be thought by them, to entitle
their assistants in obtaining them, to considerable rewards.
Our fears will be excited; our hopes will be awakened. It will be
insinuated to us with a plausible affectation of wisdom and concern,
how prudent it is to please the powerful--how dangerous to provoke
them--and then comes in the perpetual incantation, that freezes up
every generous purpose of the soul, in cold--inactive--expectation
"that if there is any request to be made, compliance will obtain a
favourable attention."
Our vigilance and our union are success and safety. Our negligence
and our division are distress and death. They are worse--they are
shame and slavery.
Let us equally shun the benumbing stillness of overweening sloth,
and the feverish activity of that ill-informed zeal, which buries
itself in maintaining little, mean, and narrow opinions. Let us,
with a truly wise generosity and charity, banish and discourage
all illiberal distinctions, which may arise from differences in
situation, forms of government, or modes of religion. Let us
consider ourselves as men--Freemen--Christian men--separated from
the rest of the world, and firmly bound together by the same rights,
interests, and dangers. Let these keep our attention inflexibly
fixed on the great objects, which we must continually regard, in
order to preserve those rights, to promote those interests, and to
avert those dangers.
Let these truths be indelibly impressed on our minds--that we cannot
be happy without being free--that we cannot be free without being
secure in our property--that we cannot be secure in our property,
if, without our consent, others may, as by right, take it away--that
taxes imposed on us by parliament, do thus take it away--that
duties laid for the sole purposes of raising money, are taxes--that
attempts to lay such duties should be instantly and firmly
opposed--that this opposition can never be effectual, unless it is
the united effort of these provinces--that, therefore, benevolence
of temper toward each other, and unanimity of counsels are essential
to the welfare of the whole--and lastly, that, for this reason,
every man amongst us, who, in any manner, would encourage either
dissention, diffidence, or indifference between these colonies, is
an enemy to himself and to his country.
The belief of these truths, I verily think, my countrymen, is
indispensably necessary to your happiness. I beseech you, therefore,
[62]"Teach them diligently unto your children, and talk of them when
you sit in your houses, and when you walk by the way, and when you
lie down, and when you rise up."
[62] Deut. vi. 7.
What have these colonies to ask, while they continue free? Or
what have they to dread, but insidious attempts to subvert their
freedom? Their prosperity does not depend on ministerial favours
doled out to particular provinces. They form one political body,
of which each colony is a member. Their happiness is founded on
their constitution; and is to be promoted by preserving that
constitution in unabated vigour throughout every part. A spot, a
speck of decay, however small the limb on which it appears, and
however remote it may seem from the vitals, should be alarming.
We have all the rights requisite for our prosperity. The legal
authority of Great-Britain may indeed lay hard restrictions upon
us; but, like the spear of Telephus, it will cure as well as wound.
Her unkindness will instruct and compel us, after some time, to
discover, in our industry and frugality, surprising remedies--if
our rights continue inviolated. For as long as the products of
our labours and the rewards of our care, can properly be called
our own, so long will it be worth our while to be industrious
and frugal. But if when we plow--sow--reap--gather--and thresh,
we find, that we plow--sow--reap--gather--and thresh for others,
whose pleasure is to be the sole limitation, how much they shall
take, and how much they shall leave, why should we repeat the
unprofitable toil? Horses and oxen are content with that portion
of the fruits of their work, which their owners assign to them, in
order to keep them strong enough to raise successive crops; but
even these beasts will not submit to draw for their masters, until
they are subdued with whips and goads. Let us take care of our
rights, and we therein take care of our property. "Slavery is ever
preceded by sleep."[63] Individuals may be dependant on ministers,
if they please. States should scorn it----And, if you are not
wanting to yourselves, you will have a proper regard paid you by
those, to whom if you are not respectable, you will infallibly be
contemptible. But if we have already forgot the reasons that urged
us, with unexampled unanimity, to exert ourselves two years ago;
if our zeal for the public good is worn out before the homespun
cloaths which it caused us to have made--if our resolutions are so
faint, as by our present conduct to condemn our own late successful
example----if we are not affected by any reverence for the memory of
our ancestors, who transmitted to us that freedom in which they had
been blest----if we are not animated by any regard for posterity,
to whom, by the most sacred obligations, we are bound to deliver
down the invaluable inheritance--Then, indeed, any minister--or any
tool of a minister--or any creature of a tool of a minister--or any
lower [64]instrument of administration, if lower there may be, is a
personage, whom it may be dangerous to offend.
[63] Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, B. 14. C. 13.
[64] "_Instrumenta regni._" Tacitus An. b. 12. s. 66.
If any person shall imagine that he discovers in these letters
the least disaffection towards our most excellent Sovereign, and
the parliament of Great-Britain; or the least dislike to the
dependance of these colonies on that kingdom, I beg that such
person will not form any judgment on particular expressions, but
will consider the tenour of all the letters taken together. In
that case, I flatter myself that every unprejudiced reader will
be convinced, that the true interests of Great-Britain are as
dear to me as they ought to be to every good subject.
If I am an Enthusiast in anything, it is in my zeal for
the perpetual dependance of these colonies on their
mother-country.--A dependance founded on mutual benefits, the
continuance of which can be secured only by mutual affections.
Therefore it is, that with extreme apprehension I view the
smallest seeds of discontent, which are unwarily scattered
abroad. Fifty or sixty years will make astonishing alterations
in these colonies; and this consideration should render it the
business of Great Britain more and more to cultivate our good
dispositions towards her: but the misfortune is, that those
great men, who are wrestling for power at home, think themselves
very slightly interested in the prosperity of their country
fifty or sixty years hence; but are deeply concerned in blowing
up a popular clamour for supposed immediate advantages.
For my part, I regard Great-Britain as a bulwark happily fixed
between these colonies and the powerful nations of Europe.
That kingdom is our advanced post or fortification, which
remaining safe, we under its protection enjoying peace, may
diffuse the blessings of religion, science, and liberty, thro'
remote wildernesses. It is, therefore, incontestibly our duty
and our interest, to support the strength of Great Britain.
When, confiding in that strength, she begins to forget from
whence it arose, it will be an easy thing to shew the source.
She may readily be reminded of the loud alarm spread among her
merchants and tradesmen, by the universal association of these
colonies, at the time of the Stamp-act, not to import any of
her manufactures.----In the year 1718, the Russians and Swedes,
entered into an agreement, not to suffer Great-Britain to export
any naval stores from their dominions, but in Russian or Swedish
ships, and at their own prices. Great-Britain was distressed.
Pitch and tar rose to three pounds a barrel. At length she
thought of getting these articles from the colonies; and the
attempt succeeding, they fell down to fifteen shillings. In
the year 1756, Great Britain was threatened with an invasion.
An easterly wind blowing for six weeks, she could not man
her fleet, and the whole nation was thrown into the utmost
consternation. The wind changed. The American ships arrived.
The fleet sailed in ten or fifteen days. There are some other
reflections on this subject worthy of the most deliberate
attention of the British parliament; but they are of such a
nature, I do not chuse to mention them publicly. I thought I
discharged my duty to my country, taking the liberty, in the
year 1765, while the Stamp-Act was in suspense, of writing my
sentiments to a man of the greatest influence at home, who
afterwards distinguished himself by espousing our cause, in the
debates concerning the repeal of that act.