security, and persuade ourselves that there is no danger They are
daily administering the opiate with multiplied arts and delusions,
and I am sorry to observe, that the gilded pill is so alluring to
some who call themselves the friends of Liberty. But is there no
danger when the very foundations of our civil constitution tremble? -
When an attempt was first made to disturb the corner-stone of the
fabrick, we were universally and justly alarmed: And can we be cool
spectators, when we see it already removed from its place? With what
resentment and indignation did we first receive the intelligence of a
design to make us tributary, not to natural enemies, but infinitely
more humiliating, to fellow subjects? And yet with unparallelled
insolence we are told to be quiet, when we see that very money which
is torn from us by lawless force, made use of still further to
oppress us - to feed and pamper a set of infamous wretches, who swarm
like the locusts of Egypt; and some of them expect to revel in wealth
and riot on the spoils of our country. - Is it a time for us to sleep
when our free government is essentially changed, and a new one is
forming upon a quite different system? A government without the least
dependance upon the people: A government under the absolute controul
of a minister of state; upon whose sovereign dictates is to depend
not only the time when, and the place where, the legislative assembly
shall sit, but whether it shall sit at all: And if it is allowed to
meet, it shall be liable immediately to be thrown out of existence,
if in any one point it fails in obedience to his arbitrary mandates.
Have we not already seen specimens of what we are to expect under
such a government, in the instructions which Mr. HUTCHINSON has
received, and which he has publickly avow'd, and declared he is bound
to obey? - By one, he is to refuse his assent to a tax-bill, unless
the Commissioners of the Customs and other favorites are exempted:
And if these may be freed from taxes by the order of a minister, may
not all his tools and drudges, or any others who are subservient to
his designs, expect the same indulgence? By another he is to forbid
to pass a grant of the assembly to any agent, but one to whose
election he has given his consent; which is in effect to put it out
of our power to take the necessary and legal steps for the redress of
those grievances which we suffer by the arts and machinations of
ministers, and their minions here. What difference is there between
the present state of this province, which in course will be the
deplorable state of all America, and that of Rome, under the law
before mention'd? The difference is only this, that they gave their
formal consent to the change, which we have not yet done. But let us
be upon our guard against even a negative submission; for agreeable
to the sentiments of a celebrated writer, who thoroughly understood
his subject, if we are voluntarily silent, as the conspirators would
have us to be, it will be consider'd as an approbation of the change.
"By the fundamental laws of England, the two houses of parliament in
concert with the King, exercise the legislative power: But if the two
houses should be so infatuated, as to resolve to suppress their
powers, and invest the King with the full and absolute government,
certainly the nation would not suffer it." And if a minister shall
usurp the supreme and absolute government of America, and set up his
instructions as laws in the colonies, and their Governors shall be so
weak or so wicked, as for the sake of keeping their places, to be
made the instruments in putting them in execution, who will presume
to say that the people have not a right, or that it is not their
indispensible duty to God and their Country, by all rational means in
their power to RESIST THEM.
"Be firm, my friends, nor let UNMANLY SLOTH
Twine round your hearts indissoluble chains.
Ne'er yet by force was freedom overcome.
Unless CORRUPTION first dejects the pride,
And guardian vigour of the free-born soul,
All crude attempts of violence are vain.
Determined, hold
Your INDEPENDENCE; for, that once destroy'd,
Unfounded Freedom is a morning dream."
The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution
are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them
against all attacks. We have receiv'd them as a fair Inheritance from
our worthy Ancestors: They purchas'd them for us with toil and danger
and expence of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with
care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on
the present generation, enlightned as it is, if we should suffer them
to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated
out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Of the
latter we are in most danger at present: Let us therefore be aware of
it. Let us contemplate our forefathers and posterity; and resolve to
maintain the rights bequeath'd to us from the former, for the sake of
the latter. - Instead of sitting down satisfied with the efforts we
have already made, which is the wish of our enemies, the necessity of
the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection,
deliberation, fortitude and perseverance. Let us remember, that "if
we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it,
and involve others in our doom." It is a very serious consideration,
which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn may
be the miserable sharers in the event.
CANDIDUS.
ARTICLE SIGNED “VALERIUS POPLICOLA."1
[Boston Gazette, October 28, 1771; the text is also in W. V. Wells,
Life of Samuel Adams, vol. 1., pp. 427-432.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,
THE writer of the history of Massachusetts Bay tells us, that "our
ancestors apprehended the acts of trade to be an invasion of the
rights, liberties and properties of the subjects of his Majesty in
the colony, they not being represented in parliament; and according
to the usual sayings of the learned in the law, the laws of England
were bounded within the four seas, and did not reach America.
However, they made provision by an act of the colony, that they, i.e.
the acts of trade should be strictly attended from time to time" -
The passing of this law of the colony, and thus making it an act of
their own legislature, he says, "plainly shows the wrong sense they
had of the relation they stood in to England " - And he further adds,
that "tho' their posterity have as high notions of English Liberties
as they had, yet they are sensible that they are Colonists, and
therefore subject to the controul of the parent state." As I am not
disposed to yield an implicit assent to any authority whatever, I
should have been glad if this historian, since he thought proper to
pronounce upon so important a matter, had shown us what was the
political relation our ancestors stood in to England, and how far, if
at all, their posterity are subject to the controul of the parent
state. - If he had vouchsafed to have done this, when he published his
history, he would have rendered the greatest service both to
Great-Britain and America, and eased the minds of multitudes who have
been unsatisfied in points of such interesting importance.
Mr. Locke, in his treatise on government discovers the weakness of
this position, That every man is born a subject to his Prince, and
therefore is under the perpetual tie of subjection and allegiance;
and he shows that express consent alone, makes any one a member of
any commonwealth. He holds that submission to the laws of any country,
& living quietly & enjoying privileges & protection under them, does
not make a man a member of that society, or a perpetual subject of
that commonwealth, any more than it would make a man subject to
another, in whose family he found it convenient to abide for some
time, tho' while he continued under it, he were obliged to comply with
the laws, and submit to the government he found there. Every man was
born naturally free; nothing can make a man a subject of any
commonwealth, but his actually entering into it by positive
engagement, and express promise & compact.
If the sentiments of this great man are well grounded, our historian
before he asserted so peremptorily that the ancestors of this country
as colonists were subject to the controul of the parent state, should
have first made it appear that by positive engagement, or express
promise or contract, they had thus bound themselves.
Every man being born free, says another distinguished writer, the son
of a citizen, arrived at the years of discretion, may examine whether
it be convenient for him to join in the society for which he was
destined by birth. If he finds that it will be no advantage for him
to remain in it, he is at liberty to leave it, preserving as much as
his new engagements will allow him, the love and gratitude he owes
it.2 He further says, "There are cases in which a citizen has an
absolute right to renounce his country, and abandon it for ever";
which is widely different from the sentiment of the historian, that
"allegiance is not local, but perpetual and unalienable": And among
other cases in which a citizen has this absolute right, he mentions
that, when the sovereign, or the greater part of the nation will
permit the exercise of only one religion in the state; which was the
case when our ancestors forsook their native country.
They were denied the rights of conscience. They left, it however with
the consent of the nation: It is allowed by this historian that they
departed the kingdom with the leave of their prince. They removed at
their own expence and not the nation's, into a country claimed and
possessed by independent princes, whose right to the lordship and
dominion thereof has been acknowledged by English kings; and they
fairly purchased the lands of the rightful owners, and settled them
at their own and not the nation's expence. It is incumbent then upon
this historian to show, by what rule of equity or right, unless they
expressly consented to it, they became subject to the controul of the
parent state. - The obligation they had been under to submit to the
government of the nation, by virtue of their enjoyment of lands which
were under its jurisdiction, according to Mr. Locke, began and ended
with the enjoyment. That was but a tacit consent to the government;
and when by donation, sale or otherwise, they quitted the possession
of those lands, they were at liberty, unless it can be made to appear
they were otherwise bound by positive engagement or express contract,
to incorporate into any other commonwealth, or begin a new one in
vacuis locis, in any part of the world they could find free and
unpossessed. - They entered into a compact, it is true, with the king
of England, and upon certain conditions become his voluntary
subjects, not his slaves. But did they enter into an express promise
to be subject to the controul of the parent state? What is there to
show that they were any way bound to obey the acts of the British
parliament, but those very acts themselves? Is there any thing but
the mere ipse dixit of an historian, who for ought any one can tell,
design'd to make a sacrifice to the ruling powers of Great-Britain,
to show that the parent state might exercise the least controul over
them as Colonists, any more than the English parliament could
exercise controul over the dominions which the Kings formerly held in
France, or than it can now over the inhabitants of the moon, if there
be any?
By the charter of this province, the legislative power is in the
Governor, who is appointed by the King, the Council and House of
Representatives. The legislative of any commonwealth must be the
supreme power. But if any edict or instruction of any body else, in
what form soever conceiv'd, or by what power soever backed, can have
the force and obligation of a law in the province which has not its
sanction from that legislative, it cannot be the supreme power. Its
laws however salutary, are liable at any time to be abrogated at the
pleasure of a superior power. No body can have a power to make laws
over a free people, but by their own consent, and by authority
receiv'd from them: It follows then, either that the people of this
province have consented & given authority to the parent state to make
laws over them, or that she has no such authority. No one I believe
will pretend that the parent state receives any authority from the
people of this province to make laws for them, or that they have ever
consented she should. If the people of this province are a part of
the body politick of Great Britain, they have as such a right to be
consulted in the making of all acts of the British parliament of what
nature soever. If they are a separate body politick, and are free,
they have a right equal to that of the people of Great Britain to
make laws for themselves, and are no more than they, subject to the
controul of any legislature but their own. "The lawful power of
making laws to command whole politick societies of men, belongs so
properly unto the same intire societies, that for any prince or
potentate of what kind soever upon earth to exercise the same of
himself, and not by express commission immediately and personally
receiv'd from God, or else from authority deriv'd at the first from
their consent, upon whose persons they impose laws, is no better than
mere tyranny. Laws therefore they are not which publick approbation
hath not made so.3 This was the reason given by our ancestors why
they should not be bound by the acts of parliament, because not being
represented in parliament, the publick approbation of the province
had not made them laws. And this is the reason why their posterity do
not hold themselves rightly oblig'd to submit to the revenue acts now
in being, because they never consented to them. The former, under
their circumstances, thought it prudent to adopt the acts of trade,
by passing a law of their own, and thus formally consenting that they
should be observ'd. But the latter I presume will never think it
expedient to copy after their example.
The historian tells his readers that "They (the people of this
province) humbly hope for all that tenderness and indulgence from a
British parliament, which the Roman senate, while Rome remain'd free,
shewed to Roman colonies" - Why the conduct of Rome towards her
colonies should be recommended as an example to our parent state,
rather than that of Greece, is difficult to conjecture, unless it was
because as has been observed, the latter was more generous and a
better mother to her colonies than the former. Be that as it may, the
colonists have a right to expect from the parent state all possible
tenderness; not only as they sprang from her, and are subjects of the
same King, but as they have greatly contributed to her wealth &
grandeur: And we are willing to render to her respect and certain
expressions of honor and reverence as the Grecian colonies did to the
city from whence they deriv'd their origin, as Grotius says, so long
as the colonies were well treated. By our compact with our King,
wherein is contain'd the rule of his government and the measure of our
submission, we have all the liberties and immunities of Englishmen,
to all intents, purposes and constructions whatever; and no King of
Great-Britain, were he inclin'd, could have a right either with or
without his parliament, to deprive us of those liberties - They are
originally from God and nature, recognized in the Charter, and
entail'd to us and our posterity: It is our duty therefore to
contend for them whenever attempts are made to violate them.
He also says that "the people of Ireland were under the same
mistake" with our ancestors; that is, in thinking themselves exempt
from the controul of English acts of parliament. But nothing drops
from his pen to shew that this was a mistake, excepting that
"particular persons in Ireland did pennance for advancing and
adhering to those principles." The same mighty force of reasoning is
used to prove that this colony was mistaken, viz. "They suffer'd the
loss of the charter." Such arguments may serve to evince the power
of the parent state, but neither its wisdom nor justice appears from
them. The sense of the nation however was very different after the
revolution. The House of Commons voted the judgment against the
Charter a Grievance; and a bill was brought in and passed that house
for restoring the Charters, among which that of this province was
expresly mentioned; notwithstanding the mistake abovemention'd was
one great article of charge against it. But the parliament was
proroug'd sooner than was expected, by reason of the King's going to
Ireland.
Our historian tells his readers by way of consolation, that "it may
serve as some excuse for our ancestors, but they were not alone in
their mistaken apprehensions of the nature of their subjection"; and
he appears to be mighty glad that "so sensible a gentleman as Mr.
Molineux, the friend of Mr. Locke, engag'd in the cause". But we
want no excuse for any supposed mistakes of our ancestors. Let us
first see it prov'd that they were mistakes. 'Till then we must hold
ourselves obliged to them for sentiments transmitted to us so worthy
of their character, and so important to our security: And we shall
esteem the arguments of so sensible, and it might justly be added,
so learned a gentleman as Mr. Molineux, especially as they had the
approbation of his friend Mr. Locke to be valid, while we see
nothing to oppose them, but the unsupported opinion of Mr.
Hutchinson.
VALERIUS POPLICOLA.
1 Attributed to Adams by Wells and by Bancroft, and also by the
annotations of the Dorr file of the Gazette.
2 Mr. Vattel, law of nature and nations.
3 Hooker's Eccl. Poi.
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. 184-187.]
BOSTON Octob 31 1771.
Sir
I Inclose a printed Copy of a Resolve of the Council of this
province, whereby Junius Americanus is censurd for asserting that
the late Secretary Oliver stood recorded in the Councils Books as a
perjurd traitor. You may easily suppose that the Friends of America
for whom that Writer has been & is a firm & able Advocate, resent
this Conduct of the Council whose Ingratitude to say nothing of the
Injustice of this proceeding is the more extraordinary as Junius
Americanus has taken so much pains to vindicate that very Body
against the malignant Aspersions of Bernard & others. There was
however only Eight of twenty six Councellors present when they were
prevaild upon by an artful man to pass this Resolve. You will see by
the inclosd some remarks upon the former proceedings of the Council,
or rather a recital of parts of them, by which I think it appears
that the Assertion could not be groundless nor malicious; nor can it
be false if their own publication is true. I can conceive that the
Design of the first mover of this Resolve was to injure the Credit
of all the Writings of Junius Americanus, which I believe he very
sensibly feels, & also to make it appear to the World that the
Council, as they had before said of the House, had departed from &
disavowd the Sentiments of former Assemblys; and that this Change
has been effected by the Influence of Mr. Hutchinson. With Regard to
the Council, it is hardly possible for any one at a distance to
ascertain their political Sentiments from what they see of their
determinations publishd here in general, for it has been the
practice of the Governor to summon a general Council at the Time
when the Assembly is sitting & of Course the whole Number of
Councillors is present - but in their Capacity of Advisers to the
Governor they are adjournd from week to week during the Session of
the Assembly & till it is over when the Country Gentlemen Members of
Council return home. Thus the general Council being kept alive by
Adjournments, the principal & most important part of the Business of
their executive department is done by seven or eight who live in &
about the Town, & if the Governor can manage a Majority of so small
a Number, Matters will be conducted according to his mind. I believe
I may safely affirm that by far the greater Number of civil officers
have been appointed at these adjournments; so that it is much the
same as if they were appointed solely by our ostensible Governor or
rather by his Master, the Minister for the time being. You will not
then be surprisd if I tell you that among the five Judges of our
Superior Court of Justice, there are the following near Connections
with the first & second in Station in the province. Mr Lynde is
Chiefe Justice; his Daughter is married to the Son of Mr Oliver, the
Lt Govr; Mr Oliver another of the Judges is his Brother; his Son
married Gov Hutchinsons Daughter; & Judge Hutchinson lately
appointed, who is also Judge of the probate of Wills for the first
County, an important department, is the Govrs brother. Besides which
the young Mr Oliver is a Justice of the Common pleas for the County
of Essex. Mr Cotton a Brother in Law of the Govr is deputy Secretary
of the province & Register in the probate office under Mr
Hutchinson; a cousin german of the Govr was sent for out of another
province to fill up the place of Clerk to the Common pleas in this
County; & the eldest Son of the Govr will probably soon be appointed
a Justice of the same Court in the room of his Uncle advancd to the
superior bench. I should have first mentiond that the Gov & the Lt
Gov' are Brothers by Marriage.
The House of Representatives, notwithstanding the Advantages which a
new Governor always has in his hands I have reason to think will be
so firm as at least not to give up any Right. The Body of the people
are uneasy at the large Strides that are made & making towards an
absolute Tyranny - many are alarmd but are of different Sentiments
with regard to the next step to be taken - some indeed think that
every Step has been taken but one & the ultima Ratio would require
prudence unanimity and fortitude. The Conspirators against our
Liberties are employing all their Influence to divide the people,
partly by intimidating them for which purpose a fleet of Ships lies
within gun Shot of the Town & the Capital Fort within three miles of
it is garrisond by the Kings Troops, and partly by Arts & Intrigue;
by flattering those who are pleasd with Flattery; forming
Connections with them, introducing Levity Luxury & Indolence &
assuring them that if they are quiet the Ministry will alter their
Measures. I fear some of the Southern Colonies are taken with this
Bait, for we see hardly anything in their publick papers but
Advertisements of the Baubles of Britain for sale. This is the
general Appearance of things here while the people are anxiously
waiting for some happy Event from your side the Water - for my own
part I confess I have no great Expectations from thence, & have long
been of Opinion that America herself under God must finally work out
her own Salvation.
I have been told by a friend that a Manuscript has been sent from
hence upon the Subject of the Tryals of Preston & the Soldiers, for
your perusal entitled a Hue & Cry &c. Had I seen & thought it
answerable to what I have heard of it, I should have endeavord to
have had it publishd here. I wish it had been or still might be
publishd in London if you have seen it & think it worth while,
subject entirely to your Correction and Amendment. But after all
what will the best & most animating publications signify, if the
many are willing to submit & be enslavd by the few.
I wrote you about a fortnight past by Capt. Hood1 & can add nothing
more at present but that I am sincerely
your friend & hbl servt
1 See above, page 230.
TO JOSEPH ALLEN.
[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text is in W. V. Wells,
Life of Samuel Adams, vol. i., pp. 342, 343.]
Nov 7 1771
DEAR KINSMAN
As you are just now setting out on the Journey of Life, give me
leave to express to you my ardent Wish that you may meet with all
that prosperity which shall be consistent with your real happiness.
I cannot but think you have a good prospect; yet your path will in
all probability be uneven: Sometimes you must expect like all other
Travellers, to meet with Difficulties on the Road; let me therefore
recommend to you the Advice of one of the Ancients, a Man of
sterling Sense, tho a Heathen. "OEquam memento Rebus in arduis,
servare mentem." In the busy Scenes of Life, you may now and then be
disposd to drive on hard, & make rather too much haste to be rich;
you will then be upon your Guard against Temptations which if
yielded to, will poison the Streams of all future Comfort: You will
then in a more particular manner, impress upon your mind the advice
of an inspired writer, to "maintain a Conscience void of offence." I
do not flatter you when I say, you have hitherto supported a good
reputation: You will still preserve it unsullied; remembering that a
good name is your Life.
ARTICLE SIGNED "CANDIDUS."
[Boston Gazette, November 11, 1771.]
Messieurs EDES & GILL,
WE read that "Jeroboam the Son of Nebat made Israel to sin": For
this he "stands recorded" and repeatedly stigmatiz'd, in the sacred
volumn, as a "perjur'd Traitor," and a Rebel against GOD and his
Country. However mysterious fawning priests and flatterers may
affect to think it, Kings and Governors may be guilty of treason and
rebellion: And they have in general in all ages and countries been
more frequently guilty of it, than their subjects. Nay, what has
been commonly called rebellion in the people, has often been nothing
else but a manly & glorious struggle in opposition to the lawless
power of rebellious Kings and Princes; who being elevated above the
rest of mankind, and paid by them only to be their protectors, have
been taught by enthusiasts to believe they were authoriz'd by GOD to
enslave and butcher them! It is not uncommon for men, by their own
inattention and folly, to suffer those things which an all-gracious
providence design'd for their good, to become the greatest evils. If
we look into the present state of the world, I believe this will
hold good with regard to civil government in general: And the
history of past ages will inform us, that even those civil
institutions which have been best calculated for the safety and
happiness of the people, have sooner or later degenerated into
settled tyranny; which can no more be called civil government, and
is in fact upon some accounts a state much more to be deprecated
than anarchy itself. It may be said of each, that it is a state of
war: And it is beyond measure astonishing that free people can see
the miseries of such a state approaching to them with large and
hasty strides, and suffer themselves to be deluded by the artful
insinuations of a man in tower, and his indefatigable sychophants,
into a full perswasion that their liberties are in no danger. May we
not be allow'd to adopt the language of scripture, and apply it upon
so important a consideration; that seeing, men will see and not
perceive, and hearing, they will hear and not understand?