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.