Representatives not to rescind the resolution of the former house,
of which I gave you a particular account in my last, was an
immediate prorogation of the general assembly, and the next day a
dissolution, agreeable to the orders of a minister of state! -
Governor Bernard in a subsequent letter to lord Hillsborough,
pressed his lordship for further orders respecting the calling a
new assembly; and acquainted him that "when the usual time should
come, it would be quite necessary that the governor should be able
to vouch positive orders for his not calling the assembly, if he
was not to do it," and he adds that, "with regard to calling the
new assembly in May, it would require much consideration." By the
Charter of this province, which is a Compact between the Crown and
the People, it is ordained that a General Assembly shall be called
on every last Wednesday in May yearly: Did gov. Bernard then think
that his lordship, to whom in one instance at least, he had
surrendered the power of the governor of the province, could by
another order rescind that effectual Right of the Charter? It
would in truth require much consideration with one, even of his
lordship's peculiar turn of mind, before he would assume an
authority to put an end to the constitution of the province: He
had gone far enough already. - The Charter further ordains, that
the assembly shall be held "at all such other times as the
governor shall think fit." Not as lord Hillsborough shall think
fit, for he is not the governor. Could the governor think that the
people were so stupid as to be satisfied with his vouching -
orders for neglecting that which it was his indispensable duty to
do as governor of the province; and by neglecting which, either
with or without his lordship's orders, there would be an end to
the supreme legislative power; the establishing of which, as Mr.
Locke says, is the first and fundamental positive law of the
commonwealth. The general assembly is constituted by the charter,
the legislative of the province; having full power and authority
to make all such orders, laws, statutes, &c. not repugnant to the
laws of England, as they shall judge to be for the good and
welfare of the province. - "The first framers of the government,
not being able by any foresight to prefix so just periods of
return and duration to the assemblies of the legislative, in all
times to come, that might exactly answer all the emergencies of
the commonwealth, the best method that could be found, was to
trust this to the prudence of one, who was always to be present,
and whose business it should be to watch over the commonwealth."
Hence the charter provides, that the governor who is to reside in
the province, and who, being always present, must be acquainted
with the state and exigences of the public affairs, shall have
full power and authority to adjourn or dissolve the assembly, and
call a new one from time to time as he shall judge necessary: But
our governors have of late given up this power of judging - to a
minister of state; residing at a thousand leagues distance, and
therefore utterly unable to determine, if it was lawful for him to
do it, at what time the necessities of the state might require the
immediate exertion of legislative power. This ministerial
manoeuvre, to speak in modern language, which threatens the
destruction of the constitution, will, it is hoped, be the subject
of national enquiry, when the present confusion in Britain and
America shall, as it must soon, be brought to a happy issue. "The
legislative is sacred and unalterable in the hands where the
community has fixed it." In this province it is fixed by the
community, in the hands of the Governor, Council and House of
Representatives: In their hands therefore, it ought to rest sacred
and unalterable; to be sure as long as the express conditions of
the compact are fulfilled. - Lord Stafford, and many lords and
great men before him, suffered death for attempting to overthrow
the constitution of the state. - Their crime was called, and I
supposed justly called, Treason: It surely could not have been
treason therefore, to have disturbed and resisted them in their
mad attempts, even though they might have produced the orders of a
king - What punishment awaits those who have manifestly attempted
to overthrow the constitution of the American colonies, the time
which we hope for, and is hastening on, will determine. If the
very being of the legislative of this province is for the future
to depend upon the mere will and pleasure of an arbitrary minister
- if he may take it upon him to dictate such measures as he pleases,
and to dissolve them, or which is the same thing, order an obsequious
governor to do it, upon their non-compliance with his will and
pleasure, surely we have little to boast of in such an assembly. The
charter may be taken away in tarts as well as in the whole: And it
seems by some later ministerial mandates and measures, as if there was
a design to deprive us of our Charter-Rights by degrees. An attempt
upon the whole by one stroke would perhaps be thought too bold an
undertaking. His lordship could not indeed have chosen a more
effectual step to deprive us of the whole benefit of a free
constitution, than by attempting to controul the debates and
determinations of the House of Representatives, which ought forever to
be free, and suspending the legislative power of the province, for
their refusing to obey any mandate, especially when it is not only
contrary to their judgments and consciences, but, as it appeared to
them, absurd. It is a pitiful constitution indeed, which so far from
being fixed and permanent as it should be - sacred and unalterable in
the hands of those where the community has placed it, depends entirely
upon the breath of a minister, or of any man: But it is to be feared
from this as well as other more recent instances, that there is a
design to rase the foundations of the constitutions of these colonies,
and place them upon this precarious and sandy foundation. - I have
seen a letter from the agent of this province to the government here,
dated so long ago as March the 7th, 1750; wherein he says, "I am
afraid there is at bottom in the minds of some, a fixed design of
getting a parliamentary sanction of some kind or other, if possible,
to the King's instructions on this occasion;" which was the redressing
the inconveniencies proceeding from the paper bills. And in another
letter of the 12th of April following, he writes, "Since my last, I
have found too great reason to confirm my apprehensions, that some
persons of consequence here, are determined, if possible, to put the
future use of the credit of the several governments of New England,
wholly under the power of an instruction; and what tendency that
may have to introduce the King's instructions into the government
of the other colonies, in other instances, I need not observe
This design seems to be conducted with great art." The fears of
that watchful agent, there is reason to apprehend, from the
perfect good understanding that now exists between the ruling men
in the American department, on both sides the atlantic, may very
soon be far from appearing groundless. Instructions have of late
been so frequent, and in every instance so punctiliously obeyed,
that there is reason to fear, unless greater attention is had to
them, they soon will be established as rules of administration, not
only to governors as servants of the crown, but to legislatures. The
enforcing them seems to be conducted with equal art on this side of
the water at present, to that with which the original design of
introducing them was conducted on the other side, when that agent
wrote. They may soon therefore be regarded as fixed laws in the
colonies, even without the sanction or intervention of parliament
Principiis obsta, is a maxim worth regarding in politics as well as
morals, and it is more especially to be observed, when those who are
the most assiduous in their endeavours to alter the civil
Constitution, are not less so in persuading us to go to sleep and
dream that we are in a state of perfect security. - What benefit
is it to us to have a governor residing in the province, invested
with certain powers of judging -, and acting according to his own
judgment, for the good of the people, if he submit to be made a
man of wire, & for the sake of preserving the emolument of a
governor, with the name only, is turned this way or that, as the
minister directs, without any judgment of his own? And of what use
can a legislative be to us, without the free exercise of the
powers of legislation? Liable to be thrown out of existence for
not acting in conformity to the will of another? Can there be any
material difference between such a legislative and none at all?
The original constitution of this province, the charter, required
the convening of a new general assembly in May: The public
exigencies might have required it sooner: But governor Bernard was
determined in neither of these cases to convene an assembly, if he
could but vouch the positive orders of the minister, who had no
right or legal authority at all to interpose in the matter. "The
using of force upon the people without authority, and contrary to
the trust reposed in him that does so, is a state of war with the
people;" This is the judgment of one of the greatest men that ever
wrote. "If the executive power, being possessed of the power of
the commonwealth, shall make use of that force to hinder the
meeting and acting of the legislative, when the original
constitution or the public exigencies shall require it, the people
have a right to reinstate their legislative in the exercise of
their power: For having erected a legislative, with an intent they
should exercise the power of making laws, either at certain set
times or when there is need of it, if they are hindered by any
force from what is so necessary to the society, and wherein the
safety and preservation of the people consists, they have a right
to remove it by force." From this instance of the dissolution of
the assembly of this province, as well as that of the suspension
of the legislative of New York, for refusing to execute an act of
parliament, requiring them to give and grant away their own and
their constituents money for the support of a standing army,
posterity will form a judgment of the temper of the British
administration at that time: Whether a different disposition has
since prevailed, will appear from the measures they have taken in
general; and particularly from the answers to the addresses,
petitions and remonstrances which we have lately seen. One would
have thought that the American legislative assemblies had become
too harmless bodies to have been the object of ministerial rage,
since the passing of acts of parliament for the sole purpose of
raising revenues at the expence of the colonists, without their
consent, and for appropriating those revenues as they should think
proper. The most essential Rights of American legislation, are
those of raising and applying their own monies for the support of
their own government, and for their own defence: By the late
revenue acts, these rights are in effect superseded; the
parliament having already granted, such sums as they please, out
of the purses of the colonists, for the same purposes. Thus the
shadow of legislation only remains to them: Their importance is at
an end. They may indeed, as the Pennsylvania farmer observes,
whose works I wish every American would read over again, "They may
perhaps be allowed to make laws for yoking of hogs or pounding of
stray cattle: Their influence will hardly be permitted to extend
so high as the keeping roads in repair; as that business may more
properly be executed by those who receive the public cash." Their
substantial rights and powers, lord Hillsborough himself should know,
are as really annihilated by these acts, as they would be, if they
were deprived of all existence. "Upon what occasion, says that elegant
writer, will the crown ever call our assemblies together, when, the
charges of the administration of justice, the support of civil
government, and the expences of protecting, defending and securing us,
are provided for" by the parliament? "Some few of them may meet of
their own accord, by virtue of their several charters: But what will
they have to do when they are met? To what shadows will they be
reduced? The men, whose deliberations heretofore, had an influence on
every matter relating to the liberty and happiness of themselves and
their constituents, and whose authority in domestic affairs at least,
might well be compared to that of Roman senators, will find their
determinations to be of no more consequence than that of constables."
- And this will not be the utmost extent of our misery and infamy
CANDIDUS.
TO ARTHUR LEE.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text, with variations, is
in R. H. Lee, Life of Arthur Lee, vol. ii., pp. 177-183.]
BOSTON Sept 27 1771
SIR
I am greatly indebted to you for your several Letters of [the 10th
and 14th of June].
To let you know that I am far from being inattentive to the favors
you have done me I inclose you a Letter I wrote you some time past,
but was prevented putting it in the Bag by an Accident. I have since
been confind to my house by Sickness & by a late Excursion into the
Country I have fully recoverd my Health.
I take particular Notice of the Reasons you assign for a whole
Session of parliamt being spent without one offensive Measure to
America. You account for our being flatterd that all Designs against
the Charter of the Colony are laid aside, in a manner perfectly
corresponding with the Sentiments I had preconceivd of it. The
opinion you have formd of the ruling men on both sides the Atlantick,
is exactly mine and as I have the most unfavorable Idea of the Heads
or the Hearts of the present Administration, I cannot hope for much
Good from the Services of any man who can submit to be dependent on
them.
I was pleasd with the petition & remonstrance of the City of London -
but are not the Ministry lost to all Sensibility to the peoples
Complaints, & like the Egyptian Tyrant, do they not harden their
Hearts against their repeated Demands for a redress of Grievances.
Does it not fully appear not only that they neither fear God nor
regard Man, but that they are not even to be wearied, as one of their
ancient predecessors was, by frequent Applications. What do you
conceive to be the Step next to be taken by an abused people? For
another must be taken either by the ministry or the people or in my
opinion the nation will fall into that ruin of which they seem to me
to be now at the very precipice. May God afford them that Prudence,
Strength & fortitude by which they may be animated to maintain their
own Liberties at all Events. By your last letter you appear to resolve
well; if ever the Spirit of impeaching should rise in Britain. But how
is it possible such a Spirit should rise. In all former Struggles the
House of Commons has naturally taken Sides with the people against
oppressing Ministers & Favorites. But whether that is the Case at
present or not, is no secret to the World. We have indeed heard little
of the Business of impeaching since the Revolution. A corrupt
ministerial Influence has been gradually & too insensibly increasing
from that OEra, & is at length become so powerful (for which I think
the Nation is particularly beholden to Sir R. Walpole) as to render it
impracticable to have even one capital Object of the peoples just
Vengeance impeachd. The proposals you were so kind as [to] favor me
with, I cannot but highly approve of. I communicated them to two or
three intimate & judicious friends who equally approvd of them. But
they cannot be carried into Execution till the present parliamt is at
an End. And if it is not to be dissolvd before the End of its
septennial Duration, is it not to be feard that before its Expiration
there will be an End of Liberty. If I mistake not there is an Act of
parliamt whereby the Seats of placemen and pensioners in the House of
Commons (who were not such at the time of their Election) shall be
vacated, & their Electors have a right to the Choice of another if
they see proper. Perhaps there never was a time when the Advantages of
this Law were more apparent. Would it not then be doing the most
important Service to the Cause of Liberty if the Gentlemen of the Bill
of Rights, who I pray God may be united in their Councils, would exert
their utmost Influence to prevail upon the Constituents of such rotten
Members to claim that privilege & make a good Use of it? If there is
any Virtue among the people, I should think this might easily be done.
If it be impracticable, I fear another general Election wd only serve
to convince all of what many are apprehensive, that there is a total
Depravation of principles & manners in the Nation, or in other Words
that it is already irrecoverably undone.
We are in a State of perfect Despotism. Our Governmt is essentially
alterd. Instead of having a Gov exercising Authority within the Rules
& Circumscription of the Charter which is the Compact between the King
& the People, & dependent upon the people for his Support, we have a
Man with the Name of a Governor only. He is indeed commissiond by the
King, but under the Controul of the Minister, to whose Instrucctions
he yields an unlimitted Obedience, while he is subsisted with the
Money of that very people who are thus governd, by virtue of an
Assumd Authority of the British Parliament to oblige them to grant
him such an annual Stipend as the King shall order. Can you tell me
who is Governor of this province? Surely not Hutchinson, for I cannot
conceive that he exercises the power of judging vested in him by the
Constitution, in one Act of Govt which appears to him to be
important. The Govt is shifted into the Hands of the Earl of
Hillsborough whose sole Councellor is the Nettleham Baronet. Upon
this Governor aided by the Advice of this Councellor depends the time
& place of the Sitting of the legislative Assembly or whether it
shall sit at all. If they are allowd to sit, they are to be dictated
by this duumvirate, thro the Instrumentality of a third, & may be
thrown out of Existence for failing in one point to conform to their
sovereign pleasure, a Legislative to be sure worthy to be boasted of
by a free people. If our nominal Governor by all the Arts of
perswasion, can prevail upon us to be easy under such a Mode of
Government, he will do a singular piece of Service to his Lordship,
as it will save him the trouble of geting our Charter vacated by the
formal Decision of parliamt & the tedious process of Law.
The Grievances of Britain & the Colonies as you observe spring from
the same root of Bitterness & are of the same pernicious Growth. The
Union of Britain & the Colonies is therefore by all means to be
cultivated. If in every Colony Societies should be formd out of the
most respectable Inhabitants, similar to that of the Bill of Rights,
who should once in the year meet by their Deputies, and correspond
with such a Society in London, would it not effectually promote such
an Union? And if conducted with a proper spirit, would it not afford
reason for the Enemies of our common Liberty, however great, to
tremble. This is a sudden Thought & drops undigested from my pen. It
would be an arduous Task for any man to attempt to awaken a
sufficient Number in the Colonies to so grand an Undertaking. Nothing
however should be despaird of.
If it should ever become a practicable thing to impeach a corrupt
Administration I hope the Minister who advisd to the introducing
arbitrary power into America will not be overlookd. Such a Victim I
imagine will make a figure equal to Lord Strafford in the Reign of
Charles, or de le Pole & others in former times. "The Conduct of the
Judges touching 'Juries" appears to be alarming on both sides of the,
Water & ought to be strictly enquired into. And are they not
establishing the civil Law which Mr Blackstone says is only permitted
in England to the prejudice of the Common Law, the Consequence of
which will prove fatal to the happy Constitution. I observe that one
of your proposals is that a Law may be made "subjecting each Candidate
to an Oath against having used Bribery" to obtain his Election. Would
there not be a danger that a Law by which a Candidate may purge
himself by his Oath would exclude some other more certain Evidence
than the Oath of one who has already prostituted his Conscience for a
Seat than his own Declaration of his Innocence even upon Oath? I am of
opinion that He who can be so sordid as to gain an Election by Bribery
or any other illegal means, must be lost to all such feelings as those
of Honor or Conscience or the Obligation of an Oath. With Regard the
Grievances of the Americans it must be owned that the Violation of
the essential Right of taxing themselves is a Capital one. This Right
is founded in Nature. It is unalienable & therefore it belongs to us
exclusively. The least Infringement on it is Sacrilege. But there
are other Methods taken by Lord Hillsbro & punctually put into
Execution by Govr Hutchinson, which in my Opinion would give a mortal
Stab to Our essential Rights, if the Parliament had not by their
declaratory Act claimd Authority to make use of our money to
establish a standing army over us & an host of pensioners and
placemen civil & ecclesiastical, which are as terrible as an Army of
Soldiers. And if the Commons of this province cannot impeach, we have
nothing to rely upon but the Interposition of our friends in Britain,
or the ultima Ratio.
Inclosd you have a Copy of the protests of divers patriotick
Clergymen in Virginia against an Episcopate in America. It is part of
the plan the design of which is to secure a ministerial Influence in
America, which in all Reason is full strong enough without the Aid of
the Clergy. The Junction of the Cannon & the feudal Law you know has
been fatal to the Liberties of Mankind. The Design of the first
Settlers of New England in particular was to settle a plan of govt
upon the true principles of Liberty in which the Clergy should have
no Authority. It is no Wonder then that we should be alarmd at the
Designs of establishing such a power. It is a singular pleasure to us
that the Colony of Virginia tho episcopalian should appear against it
as you will see by the Vote of thanks of the House of Burgesses to
the protesting Gentlemen; they declare their protest to be "a wise &
well timed opposition." I wish it could be publishd in London. I had
the pleasure of knowing Mr Hewet who was in this Town about two years
ago in Company with Mr Eyre of Northhampton County, in Virginia, who
is a member of the House of Burgesses. I did not then know that Mr
Hewet was a Clergyman.
I fear I have tired your patience & conclude by assuring you that I
am in strict Truth
Sir Your friend & hume servt
P.S.-The Bearer hereof is William Story Esqr formerly of this Town,
but now of Ipswich a Town about 30 Miles East. He was Deputy Register
in the Court of Vice Admiraltry before & at the time of the Stamp Act
& would then have given up the Place as he declared but his Friends
advisd him against it - he sufferd the Resentment of the people on the
26 of August 1765, together with Lt Govr Hutchinson & others for which
he was recompencd by the Genl Assembly, as he declares in part only.
He tells me that his Design in going home is to settle an Affair of
his own relating to the Admiraltry Court, in which the Commissioners
of the Customs as he says declare it is out of their power to do him
Justice. One would think it was never in their Power or Inclination to
do any man Justice. Mr Story has always professd himself a Friend to
Liberty for many years past. I tell him that I make no doubt but you
will befriend him as far as shall be in your power in obtaining
Justice, in which you will very much oblige,
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, September 30, 1771.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,