Sollicitors-General have been for more than fifty years past filled up
by persons of the highest reputation for learning and integrity."1 I
am apt to think, if we look back we shall find that some of these
officers of the crown have been as deficient in learning or integrity,
or both, as we know some ministers of state have been. The house of
Representatives say, "the province has suffer'd much by their unjust,
groundless and illegal opinions"--2 Among other instances of weakness
or wickedness in some persons who have filled these offices, I shall
only mention one which now occurs to my mind--There is an act of
Parliament which exempts seamen from an impress in America: This act
was upon several occasions urged by the Americans, and it has been the
opinion of attornies and sollicitors general, at different times, that
the act was limitted to a time of war, when in truth there was no part
or clause whatever in it to justify such opinion.--Well then may it be
called a groundless opinion; and if groundless, will any one insist
that there was no defect in these instances in point of integrity, if
not of learning--Perhaps these opinions may appear to his Honor to be
founded upon wise reasons; but others who cannot see the force of
these reasons, have a right to think differently; and such a freedom
is not likely to bring dishonor upon them--It is enough for those who
are dependent upon the great for commissions, pensions, and the like,
to preach up implicit faith in the great--Others whose minds are
unfettered will think for themselves--They will not blindly adopt the
opinions even of persons who are advanced to the first stations in the
courts of law and equity, any further than the reasons which they
expressly give are convincing.--They will judge freely of every point
of state doctrine, & reject with disdain a blind submission to the
authority of mere names, as being equally ridiculous, as well as
dangerous in government and religion.--It may have been, Messirs.
Printers, too much the practice of late, for some plantation
governors, like Verres either ancient or modern, to oppress and plague
the people they were bound to protect, and, perhaps in obedience to
"orders that have come from secretaries of state"--These orders truly
were to be treated with as profound veneration, without the least
enquiry into their nature and tendency, as ever a poor deluded
Catholic reverenc'd the decree of Holy Father at Rome.--While such a
disposition prevailed, O how orderly were the people, how submissive
to government! But when once a statute or the constitution was
pleaded, which it was as dangerous for the people to look into, as it
would be for an Italian, after the example of the noble Bereans, to
search the scriptures, the secretary of state was to be informed that
the people were become rebellious; as they said of St. Paul for
preaching doctrines opposite to the humour of the Jewish Masters, that
he "turned the world upside down"--The whole ministerial cabal was
summoned; opinions were called for and taken--and however ludicrous,
to say the best of them, those opinions were, if the people did not
swallow them down as law & reason, they were told, that the freedom
they used with the characters of great men forsooth "would bring
dishonor upon them" and standing armies were sent to convince them of
the reasonableness of these opinions--I confess that "too great a
respect cannot be paid to the honorable part of the profession of the
law," but when state-lawyers, attorneys and sollicitors general, &
persons advanced to the highest stations in the courts of law,
prostitute the honor of the profession, become tools of ministers, and
employ their talents for explaining away, if possible the Rights of a
kingdom, they are then the proper objects of the odium and indignation
of the public.--A very judicious author has observed that "our
maladies and dangers have originated chiefly in the errors and
misconduct of ministers; who from defect of ability or fidelity, or
both, were unequal to the wants of a kingdom: A great genius, infinite
knowledge and infinite care, says he, are requisite to form a prime
minister; but youth and dissipation, with the trainings of the turf
and the gaming table, will now suffice to make a man master of the
most difficult trade in the world, without learning it"--Such were the
men, under whose Influence Attorneys and Sollicitors General, within
these fifty Years past, have held their places, and have even been
advanced to the highest Stations in the Courts of Law, without any
other recommendation than a servile disposition to prostitute the Law
and the Constitution, whenever their Masters should require it of
them--Such have been the Men, from whom Orders have come to Governors
and Commanders in Chief, civil and military in America! And shall we
easily be persuaded to take it for granted that such men are incapable
of abusing the high trust reposed in them, and that Orders coming from
them are always to be considered as "Significations of the pleasure of
the Sovereign."--
Your's,
A CHATTERER.
ARTICLE SIGNED "A CHATTERER."
[Boston Gazette, August 27, 1770.]
MESSIEURS PRINTERS,
I Find in the last Monday's Evening Post,1 a Piece, signed Probus; the
Intention of which seems to be, at least in Part, to show that I must
be "effectually disappointed in my Attempt to convince the World that
I am a greater Scholar than the Lieutenant-Governor of this Province"!
Now upon the Word of a Chatterer, I declare to all my kind Readers, as
well as Hearers, that I never did make the least Pretension to
Scholarship; and besides, the World must long have been so fully
convinced of the "profound Erudition" of the Lieutenant-Governor of
this Province, that it would be the highest Degree of Vanity in any
Man to think of rivaling him as a Scholar. It was obvious to common
Readers that "what comes from the King thro' his Minister, does not
come immediately from the King"--And yet every Paper of the 6th of
August led us to think that an "Expression in itself repugnant and
absurd", had, perhaps thro' Inadvertency, drop't even from a learned
Pen--So far was I from "bravely attacking the Word immediately," or
"entering into a formal Criticism," or any Criticism at all, that I
but barely mentioned it as a "little inaccuracy"; at the same Time
making the best Apology I could for it, by saying that as his Honor
had assured us he "had taken one Day only for his Reply" it was rather
to be wonder'd at, that we met with so few Imperfections of that kind.
But Probus has rectify'd the Mistake, and Probus has vindicated the
Lt. Governor of this Province as a Scholar.--We Chatterers, Messrs.
Printers, have as much Pretension to the Character of the Gentleman,
as any such formal and grave kind of folks as Probus: But I did not
think myself under any obligation "as a Gentleman or an honest Man" to
hunt after the Original, and therefore I have no Acknowlegment to make
to any one for "a faulty Neglect in not seeing it before my
Publication." I suppos'd, as any one might, that the printed Copies
were agreable to the original; and, that our Enemies may not avail
themselves of the common Artifice, in representing the Advocates for
the People as endeavoring to deceive the public I do again declare,
that "in my Conscience I thought the printed Copy to be genuine"; and
I hereby bear my Testimony, as far as that will go, against any Abuse
being offered to Probus, which, poor Man, he either is, or affects to
be under Apprehensions of, for rectifying this Mistake: But as few
persons beside his Honor the Pope, lay Claim to Infallibility, upon
due Consideration it seemeth not, that I am guilty of such high Crime
and Misdeameanour, as by any Rule in Law to be subjected to Indictment
or ex officio Information. However, I think it incumbent on you to
suffer your Readers to be advertiz'd, that instead of immediately in
his Honor's Reply to the House of Representatives, as published in
your Paper of the 6th of August, they ought to read mediately; which
may prevent some other Chatterer from rudely attempting to convince
the World that he is "a greater Scholar than the Lt. Governor of this
Province;" Such an attempt perhaps may otherwise be made at a Distance
where Probus may not have it in his Power to set right this notable
Mistake--The Word being thus restored, the Passage will remain just as
liable to the Chatterer's Exception, notwithstanding all that Probus
has said, as if it stood as it did; for the whole that was intended,
was, to show, that we ought to take the Characters of Ministers of
State into Consideration, before we conclude, as his Honor would have
us, that every Order from them comes mediately from the Crown, or is a
Signification of his Majesty's Pleasure.
There is in the same Evening Post, as well as the Boston Post-Boy &
Advertiser,2 & also in the Gazette of Thursday last, an Advertisement
wherein the same Notice is taken of this Assault and Battery of mine
upon the Scholarship of the Lieutenant Governor of this Province--I am
sorry that my poor Publication, which seems after all to be of no more
Significancy in their Opinion than "a Man of Straw" has given so great
Uneasiness to some of his Honor's Friends--This Advertiser indirectly
chargeth me with Indecency in "undertaking to answer a Governor's
Message." Now I did not undertake to anwer a Governor's Message; and
to speak plain, I did not think it worth while to undertake it--I
believe I am not alone in the Opinion, that some messages might easily
be answered, & possibly each in "one Day only": But if I had
undertaken it, where in the Name of common sense would have been the
Indecency of it? I know very well that it has been handed as a
political Creed of late, that the Reasoning of the People without
Doors is not to be regarded--But every "transient Person" has a Right
publickly to animadvert upon whatever is publickly advanc'd by any
Man, and I am resolv'd to exercise that Right, when I please, without
asking any Man's Leave--And moreover, I am free to say, that if ever a
Governor's Message should happen to be below the Attention of a
Scholar, no Person can more aptly take Notice of it, that I know of,
than
A CHATTERER.
1The Boston Evening Post, published by T. & J. Fleet.
2The Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy Advertiser, published
by Mills and Hicks.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.1
[Boston Gazette, July 22, 1771: a text is printed in Papers Relating
to Public Events in Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1856, 169-177.]
PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS-BAY
NOV. 6, 1770.
SIR,
The House of Representatives of this his Majesty's province, having
made choice of you to appear for them at the court of Great Britain,
as there may be occasion; it is necessary that you be well informed of
the state and circumstances of the province, and the grievances we
labor under, the redress of which will require your utmost attention
and application.
You are sensible that the British parliament have of late years
thought proper to raise a revenue in America without our consent, by
divers acts made expressly for that purpose; The reasons and grounds
of our complaints against those acts, are so well known and understood
by you, that it is needless for us to mention them at this time.
The measures that have been taken by the American assemblies, to
obtain the repeal of these acts, tho' altogether consistent with the
constitution, and clearly within the bounds of the Subjects Rights,
have been nevertheless disgustful to administration; to whom we have
been constantly represented by the servants of the crown and others on
this side the water, in the most disagreeable and odious light.
Whether this province has been considered as having a lead among the
other colonies, which they have never affected, or whether it is
because Governor Bernard, the Commissioners of the Customs and others,
who have discovered themselves peculiarly inimical to the Colonies,
have had their residences here, certain it is, that the resentment of
government at home has been particularly pointed against this
province: For it is notorious that we have been charged with taking
inflammatory measures, tending to create unwarrantable combinations,
to excite an unjustifiable opposition to parliament, and revive
unhappy divisions among the Colonies; and we have frequently been
censured as disobedient to government for parts of conduct which have
been in no wise dissimular to those which have been taken by other
colonies without the least censure or observation.
While administration appeared to have conceived undue prejudices
against us, our enemies have not failed to take every measure to
increase those prejudices; and particularly by representing to the
King's ministers, that a spirit of faction had so greatly and
universally prevailed among us, as that government could not be
supported, and it was unsafe for the officers of the crown to live in
the province and execute their trusts, without the protection of a
military force: Such a force they at length obtained; the consequence
of which was a scene of confusion & distress for the space of
seventeen months, which ended in the blood and slaughter of his
Majesty's good subjects.
It was particularly mortifying to us to see the whole system of civil
authority in the province, yielding to this most dangerous power; and
at the very time when the interposition of the civil magistrate was of
the most pressing necessity, to check the wanton and bloody career of
the military, the Lieutenant-Governor himself declared, as Governor
Bernard had before, that "he had no authority over the King's troops
in the province," and his Majesty's representative in Council became
an humble supplicant for their removal out of the town of Boston! What
would be the feelings of our fellow-subjects in Britain, if contrary
to their Bill of Rights, and indeed to every principle of civil
government, soldiers were posted even in their captial, without the
consent of their Parliament? And yet the subjects of the same Prince
in America who are entitled to the same freedom, are compelled to
submit to as great a military power as administration shall please to
order to be posted among them in a time of profound peace, without the
consent of their assemblies! And this military power is allowed to
trample upon the laws of the land, the common security, without
restraint! Such an instance of absolute uncontroul'd military tyranny
must needs be alarming, to those who have before in some measure
enjoy'd, and are still entitled to the blessings of a free government,
having never forfeited the character of loyal subjects.--After the
fatal tragedy of the fifth of March, the regiments under the command
of Lieut. Colonel Dalrymple were removed from the Town of Boston to
the Barracks on Castle Island, in consequence of a petition from the
town to the Lieutenant Governor and his Prayer to the Colonel; since
which, in pursuance of Instruction to the Lieut. Governor, the
garrison there in the pay of the province, is withdrawn, and a
garrison of his Majesty's regular troops placed in their stead. And
although this exchange is made ostensively by the immediate order of
the lieutenant-governor, yet it appears by the inclosed depositions,
that Col. Dalrymple in reality took the custody and government of the
fortress by order of general Gage; and therefore the lieutenant
governor has no longer that command, which he is vested with by the
royal charter.
We cannot help observing upon this occasion, that the instructions
which have of late been given to the governor, some of them at least,
directly militate, as in the present instance, with the charter of the
province; And these instructions are not always adapted to promote his
Majesty's service, or the good of the people within this province, but
often appear to be solely calculated to further and execute the
measures, and enforce the laws of a different state; by which means
his Majesty's colonies may be entirely subjected to the absolute will
of his other subjects in Great Britain, for which there can be no
pretence of right, but what is founded in mere force.--By virtue of
their positive instructions, the general assembly of the province has
been remov'd from its ancient establish'd and only convenient seat in
Boston, and is still obliged to hold its session at Harvard College in
Cambridge, to the great inconvenience of the members and injury of the
people, as well as detriment of that seminary of learning, without any
reason that can be assigned but will and pleasure: And thus the
prerogative of the King, which is a trust reposed in him to be
improved only for the welfare of his subjects, is perverted to their
manifest injury.
And what is still more grievous is, that the Governor of the province
is absolutely inhibited, as we are told, from laying before the
assembly any instruction, which he receives, even such as carry in
them the evident marks of his Majesty's displeasure: By which means
the House of Representatives cannot have it in their power to obtain
here, that precise knowledge of the grounds of our Sovereign's
displeasure, which we are in reason and justice entitled to, nor can
the ministry be made responsible for any measures they may advise to
in order to introduce and establish an illegal and arbitray government
over his Majesty's subjects in the colonies.--We have an instance of
this kind now before us; the Lt. Governor of the province having in
his speech at the opening of this session, given a dark intimation of
something intended against the province, and when the House of
Representatives earnestly desired him to explain it, that they might
have a clear understanding of what was inteded therein, he declared as
he had before done in other like cases, that he was not at liberty to
make public or to communicate by speech or message an order from his
Majesty in council which he had received, although in consequence
thereof the state of the province was to be laid before parliament. By
such conduct in the ministry it appears that we may be again accus'd
and censur'd by parliament as we have heretofore been, and perhaps
suffer the greatest injury without knowing our accusers or the matters
that may be alleg'd against us.
At the same time, by an order of parliament that the names of persons
giving intelligence to the ministry which may at any time be laid
before parliament, shall be made secret even to the members
themselves, the greatest encouragement is given to persons inimical to
the province, to send home false relations of speeches and proceedings
in public assemblies, and elsewhere, containing injurious charges upon
individuals as well as publick bodies: Some of which have been
transmitted home under the seal of the province, without the least
notice given to those individuals, or any but the few in the secret to
attend and cross-examine such witnesses. Thus even parliament itself
may be misled into measures highly injurious and destructive to the
province, by the calumny and detraction of those who are not and
cannot be known, and whose falsehoods cannot therefore be
detected.--So wretched is the state of this province, not only to be
subjected to absolute instructions, given to the governor to be the
rule of his administration, whereby some of the most essential clauses
of our charter, vesting in him powers to be exercis'd for the good of
the people are totally rescinded, which in reality is a state of
despotism; but also, to a standing army, which being uncontroul'd by
any authority within the province, must soon tear up the very,
foundations of civil government.
Moreover we have the highest reason to complain that since the late
parliamentary regulations of the colonies, the jurisdiction of the
court of admiralty has been extended to so enormous a length, as
itself to threaten the very being of the constitution: By the statute
4th Geo. 3 chap. 15, "All forfeitures and penalties inflicted by this
or any other act of parliament relating to the trade and plantations
in America which shall be incur'd there, may be prosecuted, sued for
and recovered in any court of admiralty in the said colonies." Thus a
single judge, independent of the people, and in a civil law court, is
to try these extraordinary forfeitures and penalties without a jury:
Whereas the same stature provides, that all penalties and forfeitures
which shall be incurred in Great Britain, shall be prosecuted, sued
for and recovered in any of his Majesty's courts of record, in
Westminster or in the court of exchequer in Scotland respectively.
Here is the most unreasonble and unjust distinction, made between the
subjects in Britain and America; as tho' it were designed to exclude
us from the least share in that clause of Magna-Charta, which has for
many centuries been the noblest bulwark of the English liberties, &
which cannot be too often repeated; "No freeman shall be taken or
imprison'd or disseiz'd of his freehold, or liberties, or free
customs, or be outlaw'd, or exil'd, or any otherwise destroyed, nor
will we pass upon him nor condemn him, but by the judgment of his
peers or the law of the land."
These are some of the insupportable grievances which this province has
long been laboring under, and which still remain altogether
unredressed: For although they have been set forth in the clearest
manner by humble petitions to the throne, yet such an ascendency over
us have the officers of the crown here in the minds of administration,
that our complaints are scarcely heard; our very petitions are deemed
factious, and instead of obtaining any relief, our oppressions have
been more aggravated, & we have reason to apprehend will be still
increased.